The flight

 Hi everyone,

Welcome back to the blog and my rantings about my travels.

I've arrived safely in Bangkok after a long flight and have hardly slept.  Needing a rest!

Before I left my Uncle, who I was staying with, felt pity for me as I was doing a long flight in economy. Not that he was willing to help me out but he did give me his sympathy. I, however, having done many a long bus, train and plane journey thought it would be fine.  I flew with Finnair as they were the cheapest but there were far off the best. The first flight was delayed and the next was so cramped and full. No TVs, the most horrific food, unfriendly stewards etc. In the future I'm going to invest that extra 30 pounds to have decent food, an extra 2 inches of leg room and a more pleasant flying experience.  I will update properly when my mind is working.

Off to a CS party tonight but before that I'm getting a massage as I need somewhere to sleep and its cheaper than getting a guesthouse! The jet lag has hit me hard. That combined with the dull ache that is persisting from my root canal work on Wednesday and the humidity is killing me.

Hey, I know I have been rubbish recently with updates and Im sorry. Im coming home soon and i'll tell you everything about everythng when I get back.

Ben and I have split up but its amicable and we're having a lot of fun over here despite the fact we're being harassed to within an inch of our lives. I'll answer questions when I get home but Im happy and Ben is happy and there is nothing to worry about apart from what clothes to wear when we go out partying on my return!

Don't want to come home. Having far too much fun over here and just not ready to leave it all. I love the maddness, the chaos and the completely illogical way of doing most things. I love the people, the religion and the language. Home seems so dull once you've spent time over here and I know Im going to get itchy feet again soon. There is never enough time to see everything and I do understand that but there is so much that I've missed over here due to lack of time. I'll definately be coming back. There have been things I hate and that have driven me to insdanity and there have been times that i've cracked and screamed at horrible locals. But all the bad stuff seems to fade into insignificance when I look back on my 2 months here.

Im now in Pushkar and taking it slowly. I don't feel like doing anything for my last few days and its not raining here making it a good place to chill. Unfortunately there is no alcohol or meat which sucks hairy donkey cock but I suppose there are benefits to that. And we have wine and whisky that we snuck into the place.

Cant wait to see you guys again. X

Kerala

If its not a crappy connection its a crappy keyboard. Typical.

IN the south in kerala now with Ben and its beautiful down here. So peaceful and full of palm trees. Gotta watch your head a bit for falling coconuts but its so pretty!  We did a backwaters trip on a hosueboat and its one of the nicest, most luxurious things I've done over here. The boat was HUGE and was just for us with a crew of 3 (including a chef). Got coconuts on arrival, fruit bowl, tea, the biggest meals and we just cruised through the backwaters watching people washing, swimming, goats and cows grazing and just soaked up the view. Apart from the mosquitos and the bugs it was so lovely.

We also went to a coastal resort further south called Varkala. Beautiful place but it rained pretty much constantly. Lovely sea food and good music. We hired out a scooter for the day and a geordie came with us and we cruised around the villages. Was a lot of fun. Got completely lost and got harrassed by a drunk guy, who was steaming with whisky, who wouldn't move from the front of the bike. We drove to a jetty further away and were sitting down and admiring the view when he came back and started to talk to us in Malayalum, which is the most difficult language in the world. So funny. He then sat behind Ben with one of his legs around him making ben rather uncomfortable. We got up and left fairly soon afterwards.

Had a hilarious train journey the other day. Ended up sitting to a business man who was also a lyric writer and his musician friend. Turned out they were returning from a meeting with some filmm director about possibly doing the music for a movie. The funniest people in the world. They whipped out their cd and gave it to us and then whipped out a flute and started playing. They then gave us the flute! We had a little bit of wine left which we shared with them and they downed in one go-indians don't always appreciate the finer subtleties in taste.

Now we're in Cochin and its lovely and chilled. Not much to do but wander around and relax.  Having a really nice time with Ben, who is still recovering from jet lag. I love sleeping so Im taking full advantage of it and having a lot of naps! Craving tea-need tea. I rely on the stuff over here.

Its hot and sticky and rains a lot. Is it much different in the UK? They've stopped making jokes abou the flooding at home in the indian newspapers so I'm assuming its better....Home in 10 days! xxx

Calcutta

Hey hey-I left calcutta a few days ago now but wanted to tell you about my experiences. I couchsurfed again with a gentleman named Rudro and his wife and their lab and maid. Nice people but lived very busy lives. Saw the beautiful victoria memorial, museums and a few other sites around the place. I really liked the place-its filled with yellow cabs and isn't as poor as I thought it would be. The place is filled with really tall apartment blocks and there were so few beggars compared to the rest of india. Its fairly clean and although its polluted the smells mask the smell of piss.

Went out for dinner at one of the top 20 country clubs IN THE WORLD-was very nice! I so rarely do anythign remotely luxurious that it was a welcome change to the dingy restaurants that I eat in most of the time.

Got a good drenching in Calcutta as well-I had just come out of the victoria memorial with an american guy that I'd been walking around with when the monsoon rains started and boy did it rain hard. Gotcompletely soaked to the point that when I bent over to try and work out the best way for us to find some shelter a continous heavy stream of water flowed off my cap and also off my nose making the book very difficult to read and resulted in my book getting partially destroyed (its still in a better nick than my se asia on a shoe string one).  No taxis would let us in as they were all scared as the roads had flooded a few days before and se we continued to drip and eventually got in a horse drawn carriage driven by a boy who could have been no older than 12. Im completely against child labour but desperate times call for desperate measures. The boy then took us no more than 200m and demanded the full fare. We gave him 20 rupees despite a huge protest and spent the next 20 minutes tryign to flag down another cab. Why does everything here have to be so difficult?!?!?! Usually everyone here is harassing you and begging you to get in their vehicle and come into their cafe. As soon as the rain starts the taxi drivers aren't interested and the cafes close. Bloody typical.

Bought myself another saree and have been getting lots o compliments as well as even mroe stares than usual. Its fun tho-I like sarees.

Darjeeling

Yet again I made the mistake of making another good friend who I can't travel with as he is based in Darjeeling and Im on the move. I wish I had found people going the same way as me in India. I don't think I've been doing it in a backwards way. Its frustrating tho to be so alone. Ben comes in a few days and I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to have someone to share my travels with and someone who I can reminisce with in times to come.

Brendan, a canadian diplomat at the mere age of 26 due to being lucky with a grant proposal, and I went to the planters club. A beautiful reminant of when the 'britishers' were here and owned the tea plantations. A lovely place for a sophisticated cuppa!

Im now in Kolkata and enjoying the city. Only here for a couple of days and determined not to rush it. Staying with a guy and his wife from couchsurfing.com but they don't seem to be so happy! Still, I have a bed and I feel welcome enough! He's a lawyer and she works for an NGO. They have a huge smelly chocolate lab and its nice to have a dog around even if he does slobber constantly!

Home in a few weeks and kinda thinking about changing my flights so I can stay out here a bit longer. Probably won't but its so temptng! India has finally got me and I love it. Absolutely love it. The thought of living in a country with a reasonable amount of sanity seems a bit dull after you've travelled and lived in a place such as this. But at least Edinburgh is beautiful and I have wonderful friends to see! xxx