Several things I can add to my FB message which are post-blog reading extras:
I am glad you are feeling better, that soiunds absolutely horrendous. Still, at least it was a quick intense bug rather than a long seven day hellish india ruiner. Be careful please!
Secondly, does anyone in India need any concubines to live the life of luxury in a palace? I haven't found a job for the summer yet. Could you pass on my details?
Finally, I am so impressed with your description on Holi- it is like listening to a miss. whatever her name was RS lesson. We learned about Holi, remember? I got 10/10 for that piece of work. What did you and your friends in your green satin skirts get? (I'm pretty sure this was pre table football friendship began....) xxx
Ele
So glad you can come to Amy's party! Carly and I had got together and mentioned paying for your ticket but now Matt has saved us the cash so we can buy another few bevvies - excellent, Matt: You are most definitely always welcome.
SO Glad you did the Taj Majal at sunrise - it's sensational isn't it? And you are so right about the Taj being one of those places that lives up to it's expectations. Breathtaking.
I'm loving hearing about all the Indian idiosyncrasies, it's placing me right back in Delhi/Agra, and giving me a burning desire to get out to the countryside.
Love hearing about it all; keep it coming ho face x
Ele
It's all sounding Wonderful!! And I love LOVE reading all about your experiences.
Shameless yesterday: "Staying in, watching your mates talk about their love lives on Jeremy Kyle..." Quality. Absolutely quality. I cannot wait for the day that you take Matt on to Mr Kyle's show to determine a biological link between your partner and your baby. Please!
In other news: We've all munched our way through mounds of easter eggs; I am going to a wedding on Friday (family member. Champagne here I come!) and I have an interview next week for a job.
It snowed here earlier this week! And it settled for at least twenty mins; then it turned to the mandatory slush. Dad and I went for a jog, from home to Weston Turville and jogging from Weston Turville to the Trusthouse Forte my Dad nearly got in a fight with a driver who didn't drive round us (as we were running along the road there being no pavement) but just straight past very fast and nearly threw us in the bushes - my Dad turned round and put his middle finger up (whilst maintaining his jogging speed, naturally) and then nearly got hit by another car in the process. We got home ok. Just.
P.s. how do I post my resume in one of these Indian love-finding-shops?
P.P.s. if you can buy dried Chai tea for me (like teabags or summat) can you get some? Only if youre coming home and carrying it won't be an issue. About a kilo ought to do it. (Seriously though, if it is at all possible to get some please could you?)
Carly
That was another excellent installment! You sound like you are experiencing the whole travelling experience- the amazing coupled along with the frustrating and the confusing. And the obligatory nob head in the group. But your patience is saintly, I am highly impressed!
The chocloate tea sounds fit. The infested water to clean an elephant does not sound quite as fit. You'll get one of those worms which goes into your foot and lives in your belly, and the only way you can coax it out is by holding your mouth open and a mars bar just outside so it sniffs it and wiggles up and out. I can't wait for this entertainment in about 6 months time.
Carly
Me and my dad'll sell those paintings for that bloke- pass on our number.
Muv
Thank you for not accelerating the advance of my grey hairs by telling me AFTER you have been draping yourself out of high speed trains and wandering around amongst tigers with not so much as a feather to defend yourself. Amazing blog, Katie, loved every bit if it!
Mark
Katie, you have no idea of the levels of trauma you are causing me by being in India while I am not. I feel I am on the brink of needing therapy. Your blogs are causing all kinds of brilliant memories to come flooding back. I can remember when I was in Pushkar (I hope you are going there because the lake is beautiful), I climbed up a hill with 400 steps with a temple at the top where I met two young Indian guys (about 19 years old, and obviously married) who got very excited to hear I was not married as they concluded I must therefore live a life of non-stop sexual adventure. They kept the conversation very clean by asking me 'How many girls you f***ing in England?'.
Another time, I was on a train going from Ahmedabad to Mumbai and I was chatting to this Indian guy about my age who told me he was gay (and regularly hooked up with other gay guys in Mumbai he met on the internet) yet he was married and had 2 kids. I asked him what his wife would do if she found out and he said she already knew, along with pretty much everyone else in his family, but they all went along with the arranged marriage thing anyway!
Regarding the annoying girl: she sounds like the kind of person I hate. I suggest you just murder her. The police will be too busy covering up their own criminal activities to be bothered to investigate. You can dump her in Lake Puskar or maybe even the Ganges if you're going that way. Better still, they cremate people down at the ghats in Varanasi, so just throw her in with the rest of them and destroy the evidence!
By the way, I had some delicious biryanis on trains in India when I was there! Then again, I did get almost fatally ill a couple of times, so maybe I am not the best example to follow.
xxx xxx xxx
AJ
Looking forward to seeing your photos Katie, especially of the wildlife. You would have been lucky to have seen a leopard or tiger on that one occasion on the mountain. We sometimes spent all day with an experienced guide in the tiger reserves with no sightings, but when you do, it's really exciting.I'm not mad about Indian train travel either. We were warned not to eat any of the food that they sold on the train and fortunately had it delivered to us at stations from 'known' sources. Glad you have avoided the bugs so far!
Carly
Steady on mother teresa.
Crolla
Well, that was a truly inspiring blog post Miss Mancock, and it definitely made me feel extremely grateful for the bowl of Heinz tomato soup I was eating, although I was slightly alarmed to read you have been hanging out of high speed trains - Please stop this, its dangerous!!
This seems to be a life changing journey for you, and it's a great read for me!! Sport Relief touched upon Indian poverty last weekend, I can't believe how fast the population is growing, quite worrying. Your description of the Bollywood movie was hilarious, I was almost crying with laughter, incidentally I've been receiving yet more strange looks in the staffroom.
I have decided at long last, I'm going to unleash my hip-hop diva self on the streets of London, by enrolling on a series of 'Street Dance' lessons. I have my first lesson in two weeks, so I'm going to purchase some baggy trousers and a hoody so I look the part. If I get good enough I may even showcase my new moves upon your return.
Jules seems to be having a fab time in the US. Her photos look great. Hope you both get chance to meet up. Well that's it from Camp Crolla for today. Have fun but stay safe and keep away from open doors on high speed trains xxxx
Mark
Ok Katie, let's contrast our lifestyles.
You are enjoying the magnificent and breathtaking landscapes, and immersing yourself in the vibrant and diverse cultures, of the most enthralling and fascinating country on the face of the planet.
I, on the other hand, get to sit on an anti-ergonomic chair all day long and respond patiently and politely to such members of society as a woman I spoke to today in her fifties who threatened to take me to court (yes, actual court) for asking for her mother's maiden name, because her mum has been dead for 2 years and she has already asked that no-one ask her for her mother's maiden name, as losing a mother is 'not like losing an arm or a leg', and anyone whose mother is dead would OBVIOUSLY find it deeply traumatic to be asked to confirm their mother's maiden name. This woman then went on to educate me that if you ask someone not to do something and then they do it, this is illegal. Katie, I implore you, wherever your career as a lawyer takes you, please never forget this most sacred and fundamental principle of all jurisprudence: if you, as an individual citizen, ask someone not to do something and then they go ahead and do it, that is the definition of illegality.
Please excuse me while I trawl the internet to find someone to make a suicide pact with.
Muv
Rotten slide show this. The interval has been going on for ages.Perhaps if I go to the Ladies, powder my nose, have a drink in the bar, there'll be something worth looking at when I get back.