India for me is best described in Shantaram, a popular book among travellers. A recount about the infamous life of a gangster in Mumbai. It refers to surrendering in India and It's right, You do have to surrender. You surrender when you know your paying over the odds for something, suddenly realising 'what's a couple of quid anyway'. You surrender when the room you paid for has a century worth of mould festering on the walls and announce 'yeah, we'll take it'. ...

My arrival in goa is met by sun, sea and sand. But there's one thing missing. My mate. I arrive on the back of a motorbike to Palolem. As I walk the palm tree studded streets, lost in my thoughts in search of some breakfast I hear beeping and hollering behind me. Charlie drives by on a moped with her French passenger Precille on the back and expertly parks right in front of me, jumps off and we embrace for about 20 minutes. Precille and I make introductions and w...

Shanti shanti 10 days left alone with our thoughts. A glimpse at the introspective. We leave our valuables and voices at the entrance as we practice Buddhas technique that lives on vicariously through the students of vipassana. The 25 century old teaching shows us how to meditate, how to eradicate, eliminate and replace the misplaced hate with equanimity. Often we find that we ruminate and contemplate as our minds we manipulate. Unable to break free from old r...

The tuk tuk drives away leaving me dramatically gazing at the newly tattooed 7 on my finger. Alone in India. 3 changes on the bus and a breakdown in communication with a bus driver that leaves me waiting, eating papaya with him for about and hour and a half, eventually I end in Mcleodganj (I can't pronounce it either). The next morning I attempt to sign myself up on the vipassana course. Successfully. Racing back down to-that name I can't pronounce- and collecti...

Picture a secret enchanted broccoli Forrest, honestly. Green, not so secret, definitely enchanted and I'm pretty sure it'll be good for your health if you stayed here long enough, that's Himanchal Pradesh. Dharmsala was our first point of call. A hilltop town home to the Dalai Lama himself. With the clouds and Indian tourists engulfing the streets we meandered the monastery and walked to the waterfall. With Manali as our planned next stop we hop on one of the...