Good evening all!

Im currently sitting on a computer with a mountain in front of me and the sea 20 steps behind me! Since my last blog a lot has happened, I have left mumbai and come south meeting some amazing people and seeing some amazing sights along the way.

So I left mumbai on saturday, catching an early 6,55am train with Kim and janner - I had the most amazing experience on the train, it was one of my favourite things I have done so far. After finding our sleepers (for the second time after a crazy indian family got on the train and started yelling at us for lieing on their beds - we quickly realised we were in the wrong carriage) we settled down with Janner and Kim on the top bunks and I took a bottom one so that I could look out of the window ... and what a good choice I made! The trip from mumbai to goa is know to be one of the most beautiful with steam topped mountains, water falls and acid yellow fields. After a wander around the train I quickly realised I could hang out of the side or sit in the doorway with nothing between me and the landscape apart from fast moving air and obviously imminent death if I decided to jump?! I sat there for hours listening to my ipod and just taking in the sights that before now I have only seen on postcards.
The whole atmospere of the train was right up my street with indian families all sharing one bed, food sellers constantly walking past shouting which delicassy they had - the smell of which would make anyones mouth water. and little boys selling hot chai - Chai is a tea which is sweetened with cardamen pods and sometimes honey, its sweet, hot and really delicious. Since the train I now have a cup every morning, its only costs about 5p for a mug so its not a luxury by cost but to me it is a luxury by taste! ... yum!

I met some brilliant people on the train as well, firstly I met Alba and Tess - two spanish girls who are not only pretty but very intelligent with a lot more to say than most. Tess makes me laugh a lot with the tales of her hippy mum and crazy siblings - I will never forget the story of her uncles funeral! it had us all in fits of laughter!
I then also met Jyouso and peter, Jyouso is from finland and now the baby of the group as he is only 20, peter is from South Korea a strict catholic and one of the sweetest boys I have met in a long time. Both of them gentlemen through and through!
I am still travelling with all 4 of these people now and having a ball in their company.
We also met 2 indian boys who were film students on their way to goa to enter their short film on economics into a film fest, All of us stayed in a hostel in Anjuna (north Goa) together until the two indian guys had to go back to mumbai, which was actually kind of welcomed as the night before they left they got drunk and showed us pics of us all that they had taken on the train without us knowing?!

Goa was amazing, I want to go back there before I leave india and would recommend it to anyone wanting a hippy beach holiday with incredible weather and a dash of culture. On our second day jyouso, peter, tess and alba went to the south beaches on motorbikes so me Kim and ozzy Janner decided to hire mopeds and see as much of the north beaches as possible. Within 10 mins of getting on it I crashed into a bush causing no harm to me or the bike but due to mine and kims fits of laughter it took janner 5 mins to get my bike out haha. To be honest I do have a few cuts on my foot to remind me of the incident but when my cuts fade my friends with always remind me as it is now a constant joke within our group.
After my crash I took it easy and actually benefitted from it, I took in my beautiful surroundings, got chatting to a guy on another bike for a bit lol and my confidence grew in the end. Which meant by day 2 of the bikes I was off!! Zooming around without a care in the world. We stumbled onto some great beaches but if you pick the wrong beach and stumble onto an indian tourist hot spot you will be surrounded in minutes by people taking pictures of the white folk, a wall of paparazzi like we are lady gaga and madona or something- its rude, its irritating and a lot of the time embarrassing but its part and parcel of being a guest in their country.

Like I said Goa is just beautiful and after a crazy time in mumbai its nice to relax and calm down, the hostel we stayed in was beautiful and a reasonable 150 rupees a night each (2 pound 20p ish) I actually stole a throw from my bed because I loved it so much! Its now my blanket for the beach. It was at this hostel that we met the legend that is Alexandros, now known as the italian mr bean - im not kidding he looks similar and without talking he can make us all laugh. One night at a beach bar he was showing us pictures on his camera from home and then said "and this is my favourite picture!" we all were intrigued until he showed us and we realised it was the back of his girlfriends head?! he followed this by telling us how his mum used to think he might be a monkey due to his feet and immense hair?! I think you had to be there, which me and kimberley were and believe me, we havent laughed soo much for a long time!

Yesterday I caught my first indian bus, infact I caught 4 indian buses taking about 9 hours to get from goa to Gokarna. The buses were cool, it was nice to sit back and take in the scenery as it wound round and up a mountain. I got a similar butterfly feeling as I did hanging out of the train. India at its best is when no one is watching! I believe that through and through - if people just stop trying to sell me things and leave me alone I could fall in love with this country. Its land scape its religion and the idea that a little is enough for those who dont want.

We arrived in Gokarna last night and all deciding to head to Om beach - so named because its 3 curves creating the infamous indian symbol of Om. Om over here is known to be the first noise ever made and is now used in deep meditation - you will find the symbol littering the houses, shops and roadsigns as a healthy reminder of the worlds creation.
Om beach is as surrean as its name, gated and gaurded their are no seller, no tourists, only the "guests" who inhabit the 3 little beach side hostels. The accomodation is cheap at only 75 rupees each (1 pound ish) and although basic it is clean and pleasant. Today I went with mr bean and the 2 spanish in Gokarna itself. Its a lovely little town, the people are friendly and helpful (for the first time since I came to india) and everyone seems pleased to see us. Welcoming in anyway they can and assisting when ever necessary, even our taxi driver said he would wait 1.5 hours for us to walk round and then he would bring us home. We tipped him greatly for his kindness, a mere 50p to us but a 2 day wage to him.

Anyway I will leave it there for now and say good night or happy tea time to most of you lot :)

I miss you all and I want to say thanks for all the emails and messages you send me - makes me remember how far away from home I am and how I should make the most of this experience.

Love

Laura aka Jones
P.s. I have to call my self jones now as I have found out Lorda (which sounds like laura in hindi) means dick! ....so jones it is! - I did wonder why people giggled when I said my name?! lol

xx