It's been ages since I did this blog, for which I apologise

I've had a pretty hectic month! The whole thing has been spent mainly in Bangalore, where I've been working as a journalist for RAVE magazine. It's a music and arts magazine which covers both Indian and international music news. It's been pretty amazing to take part, I've made loads of good friends and would recommend volunteering to anyone who's traveling. It's the perect way to really dive into the local culture.

The city of Bangalore (or Bengaluru, whichever you like) is awesome. It has the traditional Indian feel (dogs, cows, rickshaws) but is cleaner than Agra, safer than Delhi and offers as much Western culture as it does Indian. If you come here check out MG Road and Brigade Road for shopping, and Church Street for bars and restaurants. Bangalore was the first place we got steak in India, but it wouldn't wield Marmite or Ribena. We had to go as far as Goa until we found each.

So that's another thing we've been doing - traveling in the surrounding regions of Bangalore on the weekends. We went to Pondicherry, which is beautifully odd. Designed by French settlers in the colonial period, it doesn't feel like India the way Bangalore does. The Indian locals generally speak fluent French, the streets are named things like 'Rue de Alexander Dumas', the streets are clear of traffic after 11pm. It's unreal. We stayed at a place called Rosema Ayuraverda, which was a guesthouse resort outside the main city. There were 8 of us there, we had a pool to ourselves, the guy who ran it organised us a party. It was amazing. Definitely recommended.

We also traveled back to Goa with the friends we've made here. It's just nice to get out of the city and breath some fresh air. And party with mates. I won't ramble on about it as we've covered Goa already, but it's one of the nicest places I've been in India - well worth the 16 hour overnight coach ride.

So, our time in India is drawing to a close. It's a country I'll miss, and one I'll visit again at some point. In 6 weeks we've travelled the length of the country and I feel we've touched the tip of the iceberg.

Favourite moments:

1. Surviving our first rickshaw ride
2. The Taj Mahal
3. The surreal local amateur dramatics group on our 1st night here.
4. Getting into the Times Of India
5. Watching Slumdog Millionaire (or 'Slumdog Chorepati', as it's called here) and understanding the subtleties

Next Tuesday we move on to Sri Lanka to work at an elephant orphanage. Until next time!