Ok. Everyone. I feel great!

My illness and my anxiety have totally vanished and I now have some idea of what I'll be doing in the next month!

Strange thing happenned on the day after the last post, me and Kim were walking to see a Bollywood movie when we noticed some crowds in a nearby park. We wondered over were totally shocked to see the Dalai Lama given a talk to the citizens of Pune. The Dalai lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists - he led them from Tibet when China invaded and has travelled everywhere in the World to spread his message of peace. He's one of the most important leaders in the world so, even though his speech was in Tibetan (translated to Hindi) and only a little English was spoken it was still very cool to see him in the flesh after watching him on t.v so much.

As of today I am the tenant of a penthouse room overlooking a pretty river (though probably very polluted, I'm about 2km downriver from where they cremate people (well most of a person :( and cast them in the river) in Koregaon Park. I worked out it was cheaper to rent a room than stay in hotels if I'm here in Pune for a while. It's a few minutes walk from the Osho ashram and in a really cool area full of good restuarants (I get the fun part of stuffing myself now that I have a lot of weight to gain). My room has it's own big roof garden and is really good value so I'm very happy :)

So now my plans for Pune are

1. I've contacted an organisation that places volunteers in schools for disadvantaged children in Pune. I'm waiting for a reply still (it's only been a day so far) but they hold a meeting in Pune each Saturday. I'd ideally like to volunteer teaching at one of the centres as I feel that would be really worthwhile.

2. Next weekend we're going to see a Bollywood movie and try and get an ayurvedic massage, acupuncture and loads more at a centre a Sikh guy called Parvinder recommended to us. On Apr 7-8 me and Kim are going to try to visit the Ellora and Ajanta caves which look amazing.

3. If I can't do volunteering I'm going to attend the Osho ashram for a while (people I've met say you need a few weeks to get the most out of it). i'm going to learn meditation, and all sorts of new age mind and body techniques and totally hippy myself out.

So now I feel totally settled into India and I love it - just talking to shopkeepers and rickshaw drivers is fun because you learn so much about their way of life. One guy pointed out that many of the city buses drive lopsided. I asked him why. He said "the buses crash so often overtaking (bus drivers are really reckless) that everyone crowds on the left side so they have the best chance of survival...... such a crazy country.

Oh yeah - anyone wants to come to Pune and peace out at an ashram - get a plane ticket, a visa and come on over and stay with me!

Hope you're all well (I saw the bbc world service weather today - it's 36 degrees here and not humid - which feels great, mock mock mock) :p