Hey guys,

So ive just spent a week in Mayapur, a hare krshna compund near krishnager, about 4 hours drive from kolkatta. Ill fill you in on whats happened. The first thing i saw when i left the plane (after much hassle no-one seemed to believe i would want to go to india and kept stopping me to ask where i was supposed to be haha) was a hairless cat sitting on a chair breast feeding hairy kittens...this is in customs... haha. Anyway we immediatly found Amy and Imo and our driver and began our long ass drive, but it didnt seem so long because we were so engrossed in the scenary. We were in real rural india. Fields, mud huts, etc. and every few km's a bunch of people playing volley ball they love it here! We arrived at night so luckily our room was really nice, four single beds a couch a balcony and a private bathroom - luxury in india! and we were literally next door to the temple. However i couldnt believe how fricken cold it was- the coldest winter they've ever had so typical when i packed clothes for hot weather! it was down to 4 degrees one night! That morning and almost every there after me and janavi woke up at 6 got ready and went to temple, excruiating in the cold weather. This for me was an amazing experience, inside are four main stages holding dieties, the first is a lion/man i forget the name, but he protects the temple from evil etc, the second is 5 men, the third krshna his long time gf and her 8 dopis and the last a guru. All the dieties are giant statues and ar worshipped sveral times a day, this consists of chanting, drums, symbols and dancing and at certain times everyone pays ovasence, which is when you touch your forehead to the floor. It was honestly incredible to have such an experience, after all the dieties are worshipped, you can drink some of the things offered to them- like rose water and a milky drink, and you can touch the holy fire presented to them then touch your head and heart, all these things are supposed to cleanse and pruify you. soooo im prettty holy by now :). We quickly became locals at the resturant a few minutes walk from us Dovingas - the men would fight over who served us coz we tipped haha and we ate things like cheese paratha and chow mein for breakfast mm mm mm. we also all became super addicted to Appy a really yummy carton drink of apple juice if u didnt get tht from the name!). During the days we went and saw the cows, they have a huge stable full of them and you can feed and pet them. We went to navadwip a small local market a boat ride over two rivers away, one being the ganges, here the market is under a huge tree! and we were the only white people at all no tourists here. its the Real india. The worst part for me was all the stray dogs! everyone would look at me weird coz i would talk to them but they were so lonely! and they're all flea infested and mangey, one cute one lived in the compound and i named him buddy! he was such a happy god always following us wagging his tail.. janavi said he just walked funny coz hed been run over but i like my idea better! They'res heapsa puppies everywhere as well ive patted a few because they're not so mangey at first. but they're all SO CUTE. the saturday night we were there they had a procession happening, where they take out the dieties and put it on a carriage covered with flowers and towed by bulls and its gets taken around the compound in a big circles, it follows a band of boy playing instuments and dancers and elephants all dressed up and its stops frequently to make offerings. so awesome. and best of all i got to wear a sari i bought! fun fun! we also payed a visit to the elephants a couple days later both are young but ones alot smaller we got to pat them but tryed to avoid letting them grab us with their trunks they dont know they're own strength! at one point the keeper tryed to show us a trick the older one did where it takes a coin pretends to swallow it and gives it back, however it actually swallowed it and spent a good 15 minutes dry reaching before it spat it back out hahaha awkard!

Another night all the women stayed up literally all night and sowed together garments for the dieties literally made of flowers! we didnt go but at temple the next morning they were presented and looks so amazing. that night the smaller dieities of krshna and his women (lol) were on a flower platform and literally showed with flowers for an hour- to the point you couldnt see them thru all the petals then they would move some away then throw more, people came from all over to see it the temple was so packed people were getting kicked out! and after there was a huge dancing party- indian dancing is so cool, all the ladies have synchronised dances and dance together in a line and all the men go crazy!

One day we took a flat bed rickshaw (a metre by metre of flat wood attached to 2 big wheels and pulled along by a old indian man on a bycycle lol) down the road and checked out a few of the different temples, all with significant meanings for example one was where krshna met his bestest buddies and so on so that was cool. ON our last morning there we went to the 4.30AM programme at the temple as well at the 7AM, the earliest one is so cute because the dieties are in there pj's still and they dont turn the lights on just yet, also everyone chants quietly to awake them nicely! other than that the only different thing to the 7am programme is theres a tree everyone walks around and pay ovansence too, its said the tree is actually a goddess and everything thats offered to krishna must contian one of her leafs. then we left and began the next leg of our adventure!!!