hey hey hey!

right!from wen i last wrote, we left our bamboo hut in allepey and got a train to Kochi which didnt take that long.on ariving, we got a tuk tuk to Fort Kochi, but our driver was running v low on fuel so he had to drive pretty slowly, extra slowly!(as they all seem to drive slowly here anyway to preserve fuel)everyone has been advising us to stay in a homestay, which basically is whr ppl open up ther home to guests and they live there aswell! our driver drove us to his friends place which we looked at and it was lush!(even by english standards!like a hollywood home!)R500 for the three of us(me, kim and elena),then we checked in the lonely planet and found a place called santa cruz, which wasd more expensive and looked like wat i im,agin a prison cell to look like!so we went back to Orion homestay.(cant remember if i mentioned whr we left torq?in varkala, which is like a tourist resort weith beach and bars, torqs day consisted of drinking and eating till the morning and falling asleep torq style whereva he was , the strolling back to the hotel arounnd 6-9am, then sleeping till arpund 3pm then starting again!it was here in a bar called funky art cafe that he lost his camera!basically,the nite before we wer to leave for allepey he awoke at about 8/9pm so he wasnt gona sleep tillthe mornin, the girls and i went to bedf about 10/11pm and torq mqnaged to get back at 8am, but knew that he woulnd be ready to leave in 2hours, cos he takes an eternity to do everything, like get ready, pack etc, but still manages to leave things behind!)

anyhow, we didnt arrive in Kochi till evening, so we just went out to dinner.The next morning we were awoken by the nextdoor neighbour watering the plants and thre water was going over the fence into mour garden onto a hard plastic container!after that they proceeded to wash clothes trhe tradional way(banging them on rocks!)we couldnt reali sleep after that!so up we got and had breakfast ,egg, toats^&juice aND TEA AND HEADED INTO jEW TOWN.here wer saw the oldestsynagogue ion india and a very weathered police stn!the ppl wernt actually jewish, but mainly northern indians, like kashmir etc, and they look more like morrocons or turks.(in the south the ppl were considerabl;y darker.)in the evening we went to see a Katakali show, which is like a ballet/opera/pantomime. before the show, u can watch th men put their makeup on, the colours consist of green, red,yellow,white and black and are all naturally made from diff rocks scrapped onto coconuty oil.the makeup is kinda tribal and clothes like panto clothes, but with bells around their ankles.the actors dont talk, just make noises, a bit like mr.bean, which amused me and the girls.each emotion was shown a different way, thru sign language, and facial(eye and mouth)movements.in the background, there was a drummer, a sitarist and a guy who sand and played various percussion instruments.it was entertaining, although some of the scenes went on a bit and were quite repetative. it was outsaide here that i got talking to a guy who offered to give me a whole body ayurvedic massage for R50!was gona do it, but gota biot dubious!he then followed us round for a bit saying hell wait till were ready, but i fink he eventually got the hint! we then had dinner in a lil restaurant called the taj mahal.i was talkin to an old man outside called baby,and his sister, we cudnt understand each otyher so just spoke anyway and kept laughing!we stayed in the orion for our final nite and got awoken as if by clockwork at7am by the neighbours, same drill!!we packed opur bags and had oyur last shower for a few days!! thebn we headed off to see the chinese fishing nets and made ourt way rto the train station whr we had our prebooked tickets that our host had gotton for us on the black market, with R300 commission!we a taxi driver took us to the ferry dock for free, but only cos he was on commision toi take ppl into certaimn shops, wetha or not wre bort anything! the ferri ride was ok, we didnt have seats and it was packed, but we entertained the passenges by our outbursts of song and dance by the village people!hahaha!back in Kochi we had our last meal togeva of ........Pizza HUt!~i gota masala pizza! here we saw mr johnson! he bought each of us an icecream!AAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhh!(thats wat we all sed wen we got it!!)

this is sadly whr me and kim parted company with elena.she she was headed for bangalore and mysore.she cudnt manage to geta ticket as she wa sbeing messed about so she headed tio the bus depot.kim and i went shoppping for our48hour train joiurney and some feltips and colorin books and chess/backgammon/draughts travel set! at the traiun stn, wre found out that all the train drivers in sth india were on stike for more pay.......indefinitely! we reeali had to get up nth 4 kim tyo see the taj mahal b4 she left to get her flight to mumbai from delhi. we had to queue to get our refund and a man advised us to get a bus(not an govt one )to bangalore whr we ciould geta train!this is wat we did hoping we wud see elena there, but she gota govt bus and she sed it stank so she as gettin off early!!

at bangalore, we looked around and went to the internet shop to see whr torq was .he was gettin his train at 11.30 am.for abitr before our train arrived.5the train dint take as long as we thought~! just a day and a half. in agra we mwet a autorickshaw man called bobby who took us to Maya, we wer readin extracts from his book, travellers had written in and they had sed not to go tpo o whr we wer gona go and it seemed real, cos of the expressions they had used in enghlish! Maya was nice, warm shower(we dint have one for about 3days!!!YUK!)huge bed, and clean!torq rang kim , but thr was no apace in our hotelso he went to anotha one.we had breakfast togeva!torq looiked like he had lost a lot of weight! he had hios camera back(aparantlym, the manager of tyhe bar he spent hios time in, had it in his bed room!)

amyway, we ended up meeting bobbys 'brother' ASlam who was tio be our driver and guide for the next2days.afte rgetting ready, he took us to see the red fort, and advised us to not get guides and keep our belongings on us, out of sight. aftyer this we went shopping around town, with aslam laughing all the time(he told us he grows cannabis in his backgarden and called it his chocolarte!),singing andf driving ion the wroing side of the road.Scary!!

that evening, we sat upstairs in the restaurant and kim and trorq drank beer outa mugs and we hada lil portable fire!there wasa midget who worked there who was like a lil michael jackson with his dancing!our waiter fedus a sob story about how hes so poor and earns R700/month and hasa wife and kids at home, but me and kim didnt clock that he wash fishing for a tip! torqw was like, i fink he wasnt some money guys! we gave him our change ofR175, his weeks wages and he left. after this we took torq home in a tuk tuk, just aswell, cos he couldnt get in, the gate was locked and he didnt think to press the bell!haha!

the next day, we got up at 6am to see the sunrise over the taj mahal, but aslam seed it was too smoggy, so we went to see the baby taj first(this was built first by someone for his parents).there was noone there, just us and we got sum wkd pix!!a man put sum shoe bags on our feet then chargee us R10, then tried to charge us anothja R10 tro take thgem off!Cheeky!

after this we went to see the taj mahal ad aslam took us a backway first where we got fantastic pics of it reflecting in the water and as the sun came out from behind the clouds!nice!the taj mahal was magnificent, up i wasnt too impressed, up close! in side there is two tombs of the king and his wife, but u cant take pix inside.the indians werre takin pix, so i took one aswell, but felt bad after!i still have the pix tho, .

From here, we took a train to jaipur, (the pink city)rajasthan!WE HAD PREBOOKED OUR HOTEL, kONARK.thank goodness!omg! soooooooooo noisy!so much hustle and bustle!i hada headache and an earache all day!this was more like wat i imagined india to be like!cars,pushbikes,motorbikes,rickshaws,tuktuks,elephants,camels,donkeys,horses,cows,goats,dogs and kids,allin the road at the same time!frightening to cross the road!the markets were nice!sooo many colors!my eyes just lit up everywhere i looked!i bought some bangles, some shoes(which i sent home with kim) and a waistcoat.torq got a tailor made shirt(R700)and bells for his ankles.kim gota scarf.

after this we got the govt bus to delhi!OMG! the windows had holes in them(i think handles used to replace the holes once upon a time!)and even iof u closed them, the wind and the bumpy roads made them open again!we wernt prepared for this at all!i had to get my sleepibng bag out!i ended up keep moving seats so i could warm a different part of me(depending whr the windows were and if there as someone blockiong the window!)man!wen we stopped off toi go to the toilet!no one spoke english so i asked some one in hindi(shochaleh) and he directed me in hindi, with the famous hand flick!!me and kim found our way there and it was behind a brickwall, with a gap at the bottom ,a pole and 2 bricks to stand on! GHETTO!!wat an experience!outside here, a lady started a coinvo with me in hindi!its from this point that i realise how much of a local i looked!i just smile an nod!we then got tea to keep us warm.wallon arriving in delhi,tired,cold dishevelled,hungry and fed up,as they do, a guy met us from the bus and sed all the hotels werre booked apart from his,his was the cheapest, blah de blah de blah!!it was 2am, but i still wanted to l;ook around, but kim and torq wanted to go there cos its only for one nite, and kim wasnt gona stay and torq isnt money conscious, cos wen he runs out, he sed his dad'l just put anotha 2grand in his bank!anyhow,2 against one and wasa bit grumpy so we stayed.me and kim sorted wat shell take for me and wat ill take of hers and at 3.30am we took her to the airport.im kinda glad i was tired, cos u just get on with things and say goodbye.i tried to get my years supply of hugs and kisses b4 she walked away though!

i didnt want to spent anouther night in delhi, was too busy, and just shops everywhere and wanted to get to nepal asap to spend as much time before thailand.we left our stuff at the hindustan,i went down with my stuff as torq packed and watched sport on tv and told the man he was ready to checkout but he hada dodgy belly and was on the toilet!he laughed!but torq was still up there an hour later!

we went to the train stn to get our tix, but u can only reserve4hours in advance, so we went down and tried to get tix, but u can only get tix earliest 2hrs prior!aaaaaaaaaahhhh!!torq didnt wana rush and get a train in 2hours so we thought wed get the 8.40, but come the time, it was booked up!aaaahhh! i got quite mad!so we couldnt go that day.we checked ot and went to anothe rhotel called hotel shivish.sooooooooooo noisy, but had room service!the next day i went internet shop while torq got ready,but it kept erasing wat i had written, so i had to start writing this again!o well! wen igot back at12pm, the man asked us to checkout, i brought my stuff downstairs and waited for torq!i went out again and wen i got back cos torq was sposed to meet me he dint ansa the phone, so i went up n he wass mad cos he had left his shoes at hindustan!!

we took our bags to the train stn and got r tix and i waited while torq went to the othjer hotel to get his shoes back.......they didnt have them!

on the train to varanasi, was pretty uneventful, we had biriyani and veg cutlets . on arriving there, we met a guy who want to 'help' us!tryin to put our bags in a hotel wen we wernt even staying and telloin us thr wert rats in the left luggage room!we sed we like drats! indeed, on the sign, it sed not to keep food in our stuff cos of rats!he became our driver, Raju. he sedR350 for the day.

he took us to various temples.one of which we saw bpoys with swords and a banner, i asked wat was going on, thinkin, a fight or demo, but not that sopectacular!they went college there and were doin national service and used the swords to \cut the grass!here torq played catch with a kid andf bought him a cake..i got more bangles here. after ythis we went to motherindia tempole and we paid R10 to take pix inside, there was a cast of india at the bottom that took 7years and 7ppl to make!

the next temple was my fave, altho we dint go inb! the monkey te\mple! we saw the monkeys outside and bought them eclairs and fed it to them!

our tuk tuk broike down!we pushe dit to the mechanics!thisa was in a rough ghetto area!we looked in the factories where kids make beautiful silk saries and turbans for weddings! io took pix of kids and they all wanted to be in ! then while we waited for the tuktukl to be fixed, we wer talkin to the kids and they were like flies tos***! we wer swarmed with them and raju was gettin the hump!after he toold us that its a bad area and they cuda stolen from us and b4 he hit one and they wer gona bring thr families.wen we walked away, one thre a stone on my head!we had dinne rin a german bakerya and bought tinned fish andf bread to make sarnies!5to tin opener was a piece of metal, torq thought he could use it and made a mess ansd found ot that he was using it upside down!

the govt bus to sounauli was cold and more rickety, i hurt my neck and back, but im ok now!we had to pay extra for a seat for aour bags(ended up bein the same price if we had gota tourist coach!)torq put his shoe son his bag and it musta fallen out the window!down to one more pair!

wen we arrived, we walked to the indian immigration where the guy offered me R10000 to spend the nite with him!!!then we walked across the border, but battrys dint work in my camera and torqs was gone and the power was out in sonauli! so we crossed the border andfthen got our visas while torq charged his camera an i charged my battery!then we walked back again, got it had gotton busier by then and lotsa trucks, so the police on the border walked top the traffic of thrucks andf stopped them and told me to stand under the sign while torq and the guy got my picture for me! i was laughing my head off!

we had breakfast in a restaurant that fed everyone else first, all i wanrted was ia hot lemon!then we got a cyclerickshaw to the bus for lumbiniR12o nepalese!the bus was R30 each.cold, and i wa sby the windo n trhe oncomin traffic drive so close!

we r now in a village and itseem like a nice lil community.dont no the name of r hotel, but they dopnt speak english, the guy is called tapa and wife ama.the shower isa cold and the sink is a pump from the well!had noodles for breakfast.torq just came in and thinks he has lost the room key!!!haha!

better go now, bin here for ages.oh, btw. R100 ind=R160nep!

;op x