Hellllllo Colombo!

Monday 9^th March 2015

My last day in India! I loosely packed up most of my bits and pieces (it’s wonderful having a case full of clean clothes thanks Haze!!) and uploaded a few photos before heading out to lunch.

We walked to the shops about 15mins away and had lunch in an Italian restaurant upstairs. The food was pretty great and the setting was lovely upstairs with big windows and lots of light.

We stopped by the shop and got some essentials for the flat (bounty bars) before walking back and finishing off my packing.

It was 3pm so I figured I should head to the taxi stand and off to the airport I wanted to get there a bit earlier than needed in case there was any issue with me switching passports but actually it was a breeze and no one really questioned it. (I have been travelling on my NZ passport but it now has less than the required six months validity to enter a new country so I switched to my UK one but the potential issue was not having an Indian visa in my UK passport when I was leaving the country but they just looked at both at check in and when I went through customs they just looked at my /NZ one)

I treated myself to an ice-cream while I waited for my flight to board. It was the first time I had ever remembered to order a veggie meal so it was a shame it was a bit crap! I watched a movie dozed and listened to tunes and before I knew it I was in Sri Lanka.

I cleared customs and immigration fairly swiftly and before long I was in a car heading towards my hostel along with two other English girls heading to the same place.

By the time we arrived it was late and everyone in the dorm was already in bed so I crept in got what I needed quickly update the world to my whereabouts and went to bed. It was super-hot so I was glad for the tiny fan above my head.

Tuesday 10^th March 2015

I had such a great first day in Sri Lanka (considering I spent three hours sat in a visa office that’s saying something) it was so hot in the dorm last night even with a fan buzzing just inches above me, so I ended up waking up kind of early and then dozing for a while and then Facebooking in bed for a while.

By the time I got up showered and had abused the free tea and toast the morning was half over but I had spoken to several people about getting a new Indian visa and I knew where to go and what to do.

I headed out in a bright green Rickshaw an as I was too lazy to fill out the online form myself opted to pay the $2 to have someone do it for me I also had to get new photos taken as id somehow managed to bring the regular sized ones I had but not the square ones that are still in my backpack.

Once he form was completed printed off signed and everything was all square I crossed the road to the visa office and stood in a queue to go in at the door there was a guy checking the paper work and I was missing a form so was sent out to go do that it cost 3.50 Sri Lankan Rupees but my smallest note was a ripped up 20 so I got the form for free whoop!

Instead of re-joining the queue like a good English girl I Indian styled it and went right up to the counter the guy checked over my paperwork and sent me up to the first floor to wait. I was number 86 and they were up to 61 when I arrived the number started off ticking steadily by but then got to 75 and stopped it seemed they had a technical difficulty and were urging anyone whose visa application wasn’t urgent to come back tomorrow (they were still letting new people in though…) no one seemed in any rush to move and so I stayed put as well I really didn’t want to have to hang about in Colombo for a day longer than necessary.

The problem lasted about an hour and then the system came magically back to life and before I knew it it was my turn at the counter. All that waiting and all the man did was check my form matched my passport, I paid and was told to return next week (the 17^th) to drop off my passport and then I could collect it with my visa in it on the 18^th. Success!

I came out of the cool air conditioned visa centre into the heat and humidity of the day and started walking whilst having a wee geez at the map they gave me at the hostel. I decided to hit up the national museum to get a lesson on the history of the place. I soon realised I was walking he wrong way and turned straight into three very smiley school boys who stopped to interrogate me on who I was where I was from and did I watch cricket? (As well as “who is your second favourite team?” “ummm Sri Lanka of course!”) thy asked me where I was going, I told them and within about 2 seconds they had waved down a bus and put me on it all the while cheering as I drove off.

 When I got there I walked around to find the ticket counter and considering half the museum is closed for restoration I thought it was a bit cheeky that they were still charging full price but I got my ticket and joined the throngs of school kids who were there on a school field trip. The museum was pretty good I especially enjoyed the Hindu and Buddhist carvings and the entire section on agriculture complete with creepy ass paper mache people.

I came out of the museum and it felt cooler (inside was just cooled by fans which just seemed to be blowing the hot air around) I walked around the corner to the Vihara Mahadevi Park and chilled under a tree enjoying the view of the random stable of horses in the middle of the park. I left after about 30mins as I went from being completely alone to being surrounded in close proximity by about six men and since the park was pretty empty I don’t think that was accidental.

I decided to head to a café and fair trade store that had been recommended to me by a friend I wanted to walk there so I whipped out my trusty map and was seen by a policeman who soon had me going in the right direction (I’d just like to note that I was already going the right way)  he asked the standard questions and as soon as he learnt I was from New Zealand launched into a hearty talk about cricket before crossing me across the road and trying to get me to take a tuk tuk (“its 2km you can’t walk that far!!!”)

It didn’t take me long to find the place and along the way I stopped off to check out a market and get some fruit and nuts it was all pretty cheap and they had a load of organic produce which was grand.

I got to Barefoot and took a look around the shop it was full of beautiful things but I couldn’t even afford a postcard the prices were so ridiculous! I made my way to the courtyard café and had a beautiful meal and fresh juice whilst reading my book. There was also a photography gallery so I checked that out before heading on my merry way.

Down the road I went into an electronics store to buy an adapter as the plugs here are different it was a bargain at 100 rupees and I had a great chat with the man about Sri Lanka and cricket.

I wanted to walk back to the hostel but wasn’t completely sure I would recognize the street to turn down and the map ended before it got as far as the hostel so when I got to the maps edge I decided to get a tuk tuk. It was on a meter and the guy was a cheeky fucker and drove up and down a bit to get a few extra km on the clock but I was too pleased with my day and full of good food to give any fucks so I paid him and got out.

The hostel gate was locked so I had to ring the bell and wait for the groundskeeper to let me in. once inside I downed a bottle of water and chilled out there wasn’t anyone about so it was just me and the dog Mila chilling up a (slightly smelly on her behalf) storm.

Wednesday 11^th March 2015

It was a bit of a late start today and by the time we headed out (some pals from the hostel and I) I was the hottest part of the day.

We got the bus to Pettah where there are huge fruit and veg markets as well as roads and roads of all sorts of tat

We walked up and down taking loads of pictures and I got two avocados and two mangos for little more than $1NZD. We stopped for a wee snack of a veggie roti thingy before continuing onto the Old Dutch hospital which has been done up as a swanky area full of bars and boutique shops and spas.

We sat and had a drink at one of the many bars but had to sit inside as they are not allowed to serve drinks outside during the day. It was okay though as we could watch Sri Lanka beat Scotland at the cricket (see I’m paying attention so when peeps want to talk about it I know my stuff!)

It was late afternoon by the time we got the bus back it was so hot and crowded that it was hard not to fall asleep. It was such a crush of bodies on the bus that we went quite a bit past our stop before we could get to the driver to tell him to stop but it had cooled down enough that the walk back was pleasant.

We stopped off in the supermarket and I got 5L of water (which I drank in less than 24 hours and still felt de-hydrated!) back at the hostel we chilled I ate avocado on toast and almost cried that my mangos were way over ripe (they looked okay but were super sour!)

About 7.30pm we got our shit together to head to a bar for the weekly pub quiz the hostel joins up with a team of expats forming a super team (we came second losing in the tie breaker round which was super disappointing) obviously I was a huge contribution to the team giving them Granite is an igneous rock, ornithology is the study of birds and that the Simpsons has aired 26 series who knew I was such a fountain of knowledge!.

We stuck around chatting to people for a bit after the quiz then headed back to the hostel sitting up Instragram-ing pictures of 5l bottles of water…

"Smak- Full of natural goodness"

Thursday 12^th March 2015

Today was a mix bag of weirdness I started off the morning with free tea and toast and some research about Sri Lanka and (more specifically trying to work out if I’ll have time to see everything I want to!)

I headed out into the day before the sun got too hot and clambered aboard a bus heading for Galle Face Green to get a glimpse of the sparkling Indian Ocean I got there in the end but not quite as I had planned. Whilst on the bus a Sri Lankan man started chatting to me he had overheard me telling the conductor where I wanted to go and he wanted to make sure I got down at the right stop as it was a bit of a walk from the bus stop.

We chatted about our lives and I learnt that back in the day he had studied and lived in London for five years and that when it was time to return home he had bought a car and driven overland all the way to southern Indian where he got a boat across! He also said that years ago he had owned a small gym in Colombo but it hadn’t worked out and the business had failed but that he was now a contractor (for what exactly got a bit lost in translation) he also told me about his daughter who lives in Melbourne and as always we chatted about cricket. He was a friendly man and was very keen that I got a good impression of Sri Lanka and warned me to stay away from tricksters. He is one of my favourite people I have met travelling and I wish him all the best.

I got off the bus and attempted to find where I wanted to go but think I turned wrong somewhere I was consulting my map when a guy asked me where I was going he said it was close by and he was going that way so we could walk together I was a little sceptical of him but I thought what the hell along the way he asked if I had visited the Gangarama temple I said I hadn’t but wanted to go there today he said we were close so we popped in there first.

The temple is pretty colossal and is full of statues of Buddha in his various forms carved in wood, stone, crystal, glass, ceramic and even elephant ivory. The temple itself is pretty sprawling and we walked around checking out all the nooks and crannies. 

The sun was out in full force and the stone pavers underfoot were almost unbearable to stand on and the carpet runners did little to stop the heat so I was glad when we walked into a shady courtyard in the middle of which stood a beautiful Bo Tree. The limbs are so large and heavy that in several places pillars have been erected to support them. Tradition goes that you fill up a silver cup of water and walk around the tree pouring splashes of water on various parts of the tree whilst sending up a prayer, so that’s what we did.

The temple also has a bunch of random ancient printing presses dating back to when the English were large and in charge and in control of the newspapers the equipment stands in a corner falling into disrepair and gathering dust.

Out the back of the temple in a small lonely courtyard is an elephant chained to a post. Although she was healthy looking she did have an aura of sadness and her beautiful intelligent eyes seemed to be telling me that she longed for the jungle. My new pal wanted me to touch her and pose for pictures but I felt that would be insulting her intelligence and o instead sent her a silent apology that people are so selfish as to chain a gorgeous animal to a post and a prayer that she might return to the jungle one day.

The last stop before leaving the temple was the museum which was filled with all manner of things from gold plated Buddha idols to jewellery to old fashioned cameras to rusty old swords. It was somewhat interesting but a bit neglected.

After the temple we walked past Beira Lake which was cute. It was surrounded by people taking shade under the many trees. I finally got to Galle Face Green after a ridiculous rickshaw ride in which even after arguing with the stupid man I got massively ripped off which left me feeling pretty pissed off, and in turn I didn’t really enjoy the sea I took a few pictures and left on foot to go and find some food.

Along the way a rickshaw driver stopped me and asked where I was going, determined to ignore him I pressed on but he was persistent I told him that I had no money for a ride as id been ripped off spectacularly and he was so upset on my behalf he offered to give me a ride for free I wasn’t really keen but he kept insisting so off we went. It turned out to be a right laugh as he was about to stop for lunch anyway and insisted I join him we sat in the park eating his delicious Sri Lankan packed lunch and chatting about life. (For once we didn’t talk about cricket!) After a wee while I wanted to continue on my journey and he was so nice he wanted to drop me off at the hostel (which was miles away) for free but I said that was too kind of home but I’d just take the bus. He made sure I knew which bus and where from and returned to work. This man and the one from the bus defiantly made up for the shitty rickshaw driver so I was happy.

As delightful as it was I felt bad eating the Rickshaw dudes lunch so I was still pretty hungry and so resumed my walk for food. I had been on my way to Milk and Honey which is a vegetarian/vegan café I had been recommended. It was super cute but a bit hard to find (randomly tucked down the back of an early learning centre type kids store!) the food was delicious and I whiled away an hour or so eating and reading my book.

Feeling pretty satisfied I went in search of the bus stop it was east to find and I was proud of myself for remembering where to get off. I arrived in good time as moments after sitting down the heavens opened up and it poured with rain. The shower was thunderous and heavy but only lasted about 10mins and the sky cleared into a brilliant pink sunset.

The rest of the early evening I spent reading and chilling out waiting for Verity to arrive form the airport.

 This Stupa supposedly contains some of Buddhas hair

 Hindu Temple on the way to Gangarama

 The Bo Tree

 Old timey printing presses

 Sad Elephant

The sea and Galle Face Green

Delhi

Monday 2^nd March 2015

I woke up earlyish this morning and thought I’d get a wee workout in my plan was to do a little 5x20 circuit of squats, press ups, lunges and tricep dips but after two sets I was on struggle street and only did three. After that I did a bit of yoga and was exhausted.

I managed to make it to the kitchen where I ate breakfast standing up at the counter because walking to find a chair was too hard. But after I refuelled I was grand.

After getting myself ready for the day (of doing nothing since it was horrible and rainy and the park across the road was flooded) I sorted out my laundry and then sat on my arse.

It was a very lazy day spent reading and researching Sri Lanka. By the time the afternoon rolled around I was already aching like nobodies business (lesson learnt NEVER STOP EXERCISING AGAIN) in the evening we had a feast of Indian food and watched a movie.

Tuesday 3^rd March 2015

I woke up feeling like id been hit by a truck (seriously body how you can be this unfit???) but dragged myself out of bed and onto my mat I managed to get in a quick circuit and a pretty good yoga session before I decided food was needed.

Once I was fed, showered, dressed and make-uped we headed to the shops to get some groceries it’s about a 15min walk to the supermarket and we wondered about marvelling at all the things on offer (um did someone say Whittaker’s chocolate and an entire shelf full of griffins biscuits!)

Loaded up with stocks we headed back to the flat in time for a late lunch. There was sunlight streaming in through the big lounge windows so I lay on the floor and dozed and read. When it was time to get up I was so stiff I could barely move!

In the evening we cooked a hodge podge meal of vegetarian burritos in the microwave as the flat is yet to get a gas bottle (it’s a long process that requires permits and what not in true Indian bureaucratic style) it was surprisingly good and there were plenty of treats for dessert.

Wednesday 4^th March 2015

Today was a day spent indulging ourselves! After a morning of yoga we headed to Vasant Kunj to the huge mall complex where we spent a ridiculous amount of time shopping in two of the three malls. I desperately needed a new bra after pulling the underwire out of my favourite one when it was digging into me I gave it to Zach way back when we were still Rickshaw Running and it spent the remainder of its days occupying some space on the back seat. I also got myself a t-shirt with slightly longer sleeves to cover up my tattoo for Sri Lanka as I’ve been told repeatedly to be careful with ‘religious’ tattoos there.

Midway through our shop fest we stopped and had an amazing mouth-watering six course lunch, which understandably took several hours lounging in comfy chairs while dish after dish appeared in front of us.

By the time we actually got back to the flat it was after 7pm and we were still so stuffed from lunch that dinner was a slice of banana bread and a cup of green tea in front of a movie.

Thursday 5^th March 2015

My yoga mat was calling to me early today so I pulled myself out of bed and spent about an hour there after a few months of barely any practice my body has been rebelling against any inverted postures but today standing on my head felt like the most natural thing in the world and I almost nailed a scorpion pose (but celebrated to soon and fell down)

I spent the morning nibbling away on several breakfasts, reading and organising all my flight and visa documents for Sri Lanka.

In the afternoon we headed to the bakery for some afternoon tea of Whoopee pies and green tea before getting a taxi to the Qutab Minar Complex.

We got tickets and audio guides (we were pretty much the only people with audio guides but they were great and only 100 rupees) we wondered about listening to the commentary on the various areas of the complex and taking millions of photos (including some with Indian tourists and some of Indian tourists in hilarious Bollywood poses)

The highlight of the complex is the Minar itself which is 73m high comprised of four stories, and is built of sandstone and marble. Construction started in the 11^th century and was completed by several generations. Inside is a spiral staircase leading to the top for reportedly fantastic views but I wouldn’t know as the staircase is closed off to the public and has been for several decades (according to one website it’s because people kept committing suicide by hurling themselves off the top)

By the time we had wondered about the whole place (and I had spent an age playing with a tiny puppy dog) it was early evening and we were starving. We got a rickshaw back to Vasant Vihar and popped into the local store to stock up on fruit an veg and bread for the long weekend as its Holi tomorrow (the rickshaw driver gave me a rose and the fruit man gave me two oranges to celebrate) we then got some dinner and chilled out for the evening.

 Squirrel that was kicking about

 Taxi to Qutab Minar. I LOVE Ambassadors 


Inside the taxi

Haze and I and the Qutab Minar 

 Haze and I and the Hindu pillars in the Mosque at the Qutab Minar

 The Qutab Minar itself

 Bollywood poser

 Hindu Temple pillars that were Incorporated into the mosque

 Haze learning about the Minar

 My new best friend! 

 A different view

 The sun going down through one of the old gateways

 The back of the mosque complex

The never completed ruins of what would have been a super tower!

The Rose the rickshaw driver gave me for Holi

Friday 6^th March 2015

HAPPY HOLI!!!

Before my eyes were even open this morning I was thinking about standing on my head on so that’s what I got out of bed and did. I did about 45mins of yoga before I got fed up with my body being fa too inflexible to do what I want it too.

After sitting around a bit having breakfast and seemingly endless cups of tea I headed out to find some colour. Being in a residential area and that all the shops were closed and that India was playing West Indies in the cricket the normally bustling streets were empty. I took a wonder about and stumbled across a couple of guys clearly ready to spend the day taking on whoever crossed their path they had two massive trays with piles of coloured powder and a huge bucket full of water balloons and water pistols.

As I approached they both grabbed water bombs and I sent them my biggest fuck off vibes and told them not to dare they then grabbed handfuls of colour and stared at me with questioning faces I laughed and told them it was ok and they covered me in colour and wished me a Happy Holi. The same thing happened a few doors down.

What I found weird was the lack of woman and children on the street there were plenty of blokes about but all the woman seemed to be holding back from the fun up on the balconies while there wasn’t a child in sight!

Everyone I passed wished me a “Happy Holi “the spirt on the street seemed very festive but when I got water bombed form a car I decided it was time to beat a retreat!

Back in the flat I changed out of my colourful clothes and attempted to wash my face and hands which remained slightly stained my ears were full of powder and I had to take out all my earrings to try and get the colour off.

All that excitement had left me hungry so I made some lunch and then sat in the sunshine for the afternoon enjoying the laziness of a holiday and avoiding the water bombers!

Sometime in the afternoon a circuit blew leaving half of the house without electricity but in no particular logical sense as in each room some of the lights and power points worked but not all luckily the fridge and the Wi-Fi didn’t have a breakdown.

In the evening we got a taxi to Hauz Khas village which is an area with a bunch of bars and restaurants we wondered through the streets looking for somewhere to eat and settled on somewhere (I didn’t take not of the name) and had massive burgers and extremely alcoholic cocktails.

About half way through the meal the DJ turned the volume up ridiculously high on the extremely crap tunes he was playing (did someone say Macarena and Gasalina???) and the place filled with some ridiculous tourists who loved it and went nuts dancing as though they had stuck their fingers in plug sockets and downing bottled water like it was nobody’s business.

After eating we had a walk around to see if there was any live music but it all seemed to be karaoke and so we found a rickshaw and headed home.

Holi pics!

Saturday 7^th March 2015

We played shopper and tourist today. We started off at Dilli Haat which is a market (we had to pay 20 rupees to get in which was weird but it had everything you could ever want)

We spent the morning walking around shopping (Haze got me a beautiful Kurta) and stopped for samosas for lunch before heading into old Delhi.

We went to the Red Fort and got audio guides so that we could learn all the history of the place. It isn’t very well maintained and map is hard to follow but the audio guide is full of great information.

As we came to the end of the walk around the grounds thunder began to rumble and as we started the long walk back to the car it began to rain cats and dogs, before we were even halfway there we were soaked through so we sacked off the rest of the day’s activities and headed home for hot showers and dry clothes.

It was late afternoon anyway so we didn’t miss out on much, so once dry we parked ourselves in front of several movies and ate the night away.

The Red Fort

Sunday 8^th March 2015

Today was a great day. I got up did some yoga chatted to mum on skype for a while and the electrician came and fixed the shorted circuit.

Around midday we left for lunch that ended up lasting most of the day we went to the Lodi Gardens restaurant for Sunday brunch with a couple that live in Delhi and that have mutual friends with Haze and John. It was an unlimited buffet with more food than was imaginable all set in a beautiful garden courtyard which was perfect as the sun was out.

We ate and ate from about 1pm until after 4pm when we had to leave as they were shutting down the place and the food was all gone! (I was pretty gutted that I left it a bit late for the dessert table as a lot of the good stuff was gone)

When we finally dragged ourselves away it was still pretty nice so we went for a wonder around Lodi Gardens taking pictures of the tombs, the parrots and the beautiful scenery (we also saw a man casually masturbating in the middle of the path which wasn’t so great)

On the way out we played on the fitness equipment for a while but there was thunder rumbling and we thought it best to avoid the same situation as yesterday and get to the car before the heavens opened up.

We drove home and promptly slipped into food comas on the sofa for several hours before having cake for tea (yip that’s right we clearly hadn’t had enough food and stopped at the bakery on the way home for cake) and not leaving the sofa for the rest of the evening.

 g

Lodi Gardens fun!

I head to Delhi

Thursday 26^th February 2015

It was a relief to wake up feeling better this morning. We got up early as we were taking a drive out to the national park that’s close by but by the time we actually got moving and had breakfast it was 10am.

The drive took a little over an hour and once inside the park we headed for the lake only to discover that it no longer exists and clearly hasn’t for quite some time as there are now houses built there. The drive was still pretty fun (apart from one horrible section of unsealed road that went on for about 5km of bumpy hell)

We attempted to have a motorbike riding lesson but as usual two guys on a bike appeared from nowhere and wouldn’t leave they didn’t really speak English but parked their bike in front of me and asked the usual questions “where you are from?” “Where you are going?” “What is your good name?” all without understanding the answer or really caring. Every time I went to drive off they would make random noises and in the end I sacked it in as they threw me off my game

We drove back a different way (unintentionally as we missed a turn but it worked out for the best since we missed the unpaved road section) we came into Varanasi on the south bridge where we witnessed two altercations with the same policemen on motorbikes the first was a car driving the wrong way across the bridge the policeman immediately began waving his hitty stick at the car and held up all the traffic and made him turn around (rightly so) the second the policeman was actually clubbing a rickshaw driver over the head (again he was driving the wrong way across the bridge)

We parked up at the Assi Ghat which is the furthest south and found some food (including apple pie and ice-cream!!!) then had a little wonder about before driving back to the old town. We parked up and Mark got a Bhang Lassi and played Tetris for the rest of the night while I looked at flights to Nepal.

Friday 27^th February 2015

We mixed it up a bit this morning and headed out for breakfast we wanted puri bhaji but were out of luck and had to settle for idly. After eating we walked a bit before getting annoyed with all the traffic

We headed back to the guesthouse for some tea and a bit of a chill out before setting out on an adventure to find spark plugs. It was actually a pretty easy find and on the way back we stopped off at the train station for me to get a ticket to Delhi. I tried tourist quota and there was one ticket left but it was 2AC having never travelled anything other than sleeper it better be worth the extra rupees (I could have waited in line and got a tadkal (“emergency”) ticket but last time we did that in Jaipur it took about six hours so I just paid the extra.

We took a drive through the Benasi Hindu university campus (the travel man at our guesthouse tells me it’s the 3^rd largest university campus in the world but I’m not sure if that’s actually true or not) the campus is pretty massive and a lot of the buildings are beautiful. Driving through it seemed a bunch of the students had started celebrating Holi early as there were tons of guys running around covered in coloured powder (the fact that they were all screaming “Happy Holi” at us was another clue)

Since we were at the southern end of the river we decided to park up and have some food. Drawn in by the apple pie from yesterday we went to the same place and had massive thalis followed by apple pie.

When we came out of the restaurant we saw a man with a monkey on a chain. The monkey was clearly miserable pacing in circles the length of his chain and when he stopped pulling at it and at his collar the whole scene was just wrong and was made worse by the fact that the man was obviously using the monkey as a tool for begging.

The other thing we noticed when we came out was that the bike was leaking petrol so after driving back to the guesthouse Mark set about being all mechanic like and tried to fix it while I sat on my arse.

I managed to be somewhat productive and book a flight to Nepal which took ages as my stupid credit card wanted me to use a stupid mobile verification code but I don’t have a phone so that was a no go!

We had quite a late dinner at a somewhat average kind of place then chilled for the rest of the evening.

Saturday 28^th February 2015

As usual we were awakened by the sounds of a random Indian man on the roof next door shouting at his pigeons it’s the most bizarre thing he stands there waving a stick yelling what sounds like orders from a drill sergeant followed by pigeon coos.

We headed up to the roof and had some breakfast as sat about for a bit then I raced off to the post office to get some stamps before they closed I got there just as they were shutting up shop but managed to wheedle my way in and get my postcards sent.

Back at the guesthouse we decided enough time had passed and we could go get lunch so we walked to the German bakery and sat up on the rooftop eating bread and cake and then more cake.

We took a slow wandering walk back to the guesthouse and did a whole load of not a lot and I packed my bags before eating again and then heading to the station.

The drive there took an age it was only 3km but the traffic was horrendous and we had to deal with several round abouts which in India are pointless as no one gives way to their right everyone just plows onto the roundabout and then no one can move. Near the station was a whole lot of road works and it was so dark we couldn’t really see where to go so we parked up and walked the rest of the way.

We said our goodbyes for now and I got on the train with minutes to spare before it pulled off. It was my first time in any other class than sleeper after getting the last tourist quota ticket I was in 2AC which has ruined trains for me now! I’m not sure I can ever go back to sleeper! It was so warm and clean and there were no rats or mice crawling on my feet. They gave me two sheets two blankets and a pillow. The beds were wider. There were charging points. The toilet was clean ANDTHEDRE WAS TOILET PAPER! Basically it was luxury on wheels.

Not long into the journey a policeman came through and I had to sign a document saying I had read his guidelines for not getting drugged on the train, basically your common sense don’t take candy from strangers kind of thing.

I passed the time reading my book and then listening to tunes as I dozed and next thing you know it I was fast asleep.

Sunday 1^st march 2015

 I woke up this morning after a pretty good sleep (it’s amazing how much better you can sleep on a train when you are reasonably confident that no one is going to try and get into bed with you in the night) and arrived into Delhi about an hour late. It was pouring with rain and everyone was acting as if it was aid rather than just water and pushing each other and trampling people down in an attempt to find shelter. Getting off the platform and out of the station was difficult as everyone was hiding from the rain on the stairs and in the over bridge making moving through near impossible.

When I finally got out of the station I had the same problem at the rickshaw stand over half the people crowded into the shelter didn’t even want an auto they were just getting out of the rain meaning I kept getting pushed further and further away from the counter by people not even in the line! Eventually I used my bags to plow people out of the way and pushed my way to the front, all the while the touts were also in the shelter constantly asking me where I was going and trying to tell me I wouldn’t get a rickshaw because of the rain but that they could take me. Why people feel the need to out and out lie is beyond me.

Eventually I was in a rickshaw cruising through the near empty Sunday morning streets of Delhi the driver was a bit of a nutter and every time we had to go around a roundabout he drifted through the huge puddles which was quite fun more than once we were on two wheels.

It took about 25mins to get to Haze and Johns (my auntie and uncle) I arrived rather wet and muddy and dived straight into a hot shower and then scoffed down some peanut better toast (PEANUT BUTTEER!!!!) before we called mum on skype and chatted for almost three hours.

The afternoon was spent snacking and chatting and generally lazing about before we got hungry and braved the rain to walk 50m down the road and get some noodles for dinner. More lazing followed before I finally crashed and went to bed.