Hi everyone!!
Well ive been out here for a month now so thought it was about time i gave you all an update (to brighten up your otherwise dull day back in england, haha!).
Landed in Delhi on feb 1st and completely freaked out - that place was mental!!! Needless so say we made a swift exit. We really did feel like 2 little white girls rom the country dumped in this big crazy city!! Travelled around north india for our first 2 weeks visiting Pushkar, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi, exploring lots of temples and forts. Now that Taj Mahal has made it into the new seven wonders of the world it had to be done in Agra. It looked just like a picture it was absolutly perfect and a complete contrast to the rundown streets of Agra. I was suffering from a fluey thing at the time so tried to appreciate it although spent most of my time lying across benches in a mess and getting moved on by people trying to take photos! How inconsiderate hey. Boat ride along the Ganges in Varanasi was my big highlight of the north. We saw the locals burning the dead bodies (sounds savage but really not as bad as it sounds honest!) and scattering the ashes into the river and then saw a ceremony which they hold every night to bless the river, with dancers, music and smoke. Really cool.
Then we headed down to Goa in the south on a train which took us 2 days (i reeeeaaaally dont recommend that one!!) and discovered a completely different india to the india we found in the north. The north was extremely hectic and crowded 24/7 with people staring at us constantly like we were some sort of freak show but weve found the south to be really mellow and found some cool beaches to relax on. Chilled out in Goa for 2 weeks which was lovely and stayed in a beach hut. Was fantastic waking up everyday with the sea on your doorstep! Everyone go book your summer holidays to Palolem beach in Goa - beautiful beach with cheap beer, what more can you ask for!!?
.hmmessage P{margin:0px;padding:0px}body.hmmessage{FONT-SIZE: 10pt;FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma}After getting a bit too chilled out and a bit too tanned on the beach we felt it was time for more sight seeing and went to Hampi, a lovely picturesque city in a boulderous valley with stunning rivers and lakes. Took a bike ride up to the lake and went for a swim, which was quite interesting when we realised Hannahs bike didnt have any brakes and kept running over all these indians!! Were in Kochi now, lots to do here so were hanging around for a bit. Saw some traditional indian Kathikali theatre lastnight which was really cool. Crazy make up and costumes were they use facial expressions and movement to tell the story. And going for a 7hour boat ride tomorrow through the backwaters whick looks absolutly beautiful.
India has been great if not a bit of a culture shock, but it has definatly made for an interesting experience. The sheer amount of poverty is the most shocking thing, people washing and going to the toilet in the street, beggars with numerous amounts of limbs missing hassling you for money and tiny children running around in the busy streets with new born babies asking for money. The culture has also been quite funny at times. The men over here are very touchy with other men and walk round holding hands and hugging eachother, whilst eyeing up all the white girls, with no idea that were actually thinking they might be gay!!
Will be kissing goodbye to India in 10 days and flying out to Malaysia for a short while, followed by Thailand, so more updates soon.
For those of you on facebook and checking our off exploring website, sorry about the lack of photos, the computers here are a bit dodgy and cant seem to handle the photo upload. Have attached a few here though for your enjoyment.
Hope you are all keeping well back in sunny old england :-)
Love Amy xxx