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Just thought I should do an update.
After getting back from the maldives, we went to Mamallapuram and hung out amongst the temples and the jewellery shops (the latter are very dangerous)... We all got sick though (probably from eating clean food in the maldives for two weeks!). The temples were cool and carved out of/into huge boulders. I have also been immortalised in many an Indian's photo album - "oh madam, just one photo please" (as the whole group lines up to have their photo taken with you) - I think I have finally had a glimpse of what it is like to be a celebrity, but in my case my fame came from the colour of my skin - easy hey?! I said bye to the girls for about 4 weeks and did the mission train trip from the east to the west coast (Kerala) with Suenje (from lismore of all places).
Varkala was a cool town, it was good to chill out at the beach. The sand was black, but it was really sparkley and made awesome sandcastles! I avoided all sightseeing and pretty much did nothing but swim, eat, drink and be merry for a week - good times! Fort Cochin was really clean, it almost felt like I wasn't in India anymore... weird, very weird. Me, Suenje and James had an epic trip out to a beach (which wasn't too pretty but hey it had sand and sea water so who can complain?) and ended up being surrounded by 2 classes of girls on an afternoon walk. They really wanted to see us swim, so we did. It is an odd experience having a skill that you take for granted admired by 60 kids! We then started frisbee lessons with them, it was cute, their coordination definitely took a bit of warming up.
After Kerala, I went and did my first 10 day Vipassana Meditation course (for those who haven't heard of it you can check out the website at www.dhamma.org). It was a pretty amazing experience - very challenging and very rewarding. It is interesting living inside your own head for 10 days. On day 4 of the course I turned 23! But because we aren't allowed to talk I had to sing happy birthday to myself in my head :) I did get an awesome full moon for my birthday though, which I got to admire at 4am in the morning (and yes... we were up at 4am for 10 days in a row). The food on this course was also some of the best I have had in India. I was a happy camper. When I finished Vipassana I went to Sai Baba's ashram for a few days. It was interesting going back 10 years later. There were so many changes in the village - the roads weren't even dirt anymore! Erik and Lynn (Jat, one of my school friends parents) were there too. It was really nice to hear some stories from home and to be adopted into a family!
Right now I am hanging out in Hampi (reunited with the girls - YAY). This is one of my favourite places of India. The bouldering is awesome (but my fingertips are so very very soft and the granite is sooooo rough!). The temples are also good, there is one temple that has pillars that people play like drums. We have been hanging out heaps at this really pretty lake too, it is a nice little bike ride out there. We have also managed to acquire some smirnoff vodka for christmas so yeah looks like it will be a good one!
So merry christmas and a happy new year/woodford!!!!
love and light to you all,
frey xo
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