Blogs from Pune, Maharashtra, India, Asia

Monday On Monday I went to my first slum community. I have no sense of direction in this city beyond my mental image of google maps so I have no idea where it was. I am still really hung up on sticking out like a sore white chick thumb and added to advice not to stare I can't report too much on what the place looked like. We entered by scooter off one of the main roads and straight away you are on dusty lanes about 3-5 metres wide. These are full of women preparing stuff outside their shacks, kids in various states of dress, other vehicles and your standard helping of scruffy dogs. I met a group of teenage boys who are attending a class once a week on gender equality. It was only then ... read more

Today I was going to go to Agakahn Palace where the British held Gandhi for awhile. Instead I went shopping, which I think is an equally good cultural experience! My first destination was the Koregaon Park Plaza to buy a backpack to carry my laptop in more easily. Turns out this is a VERY swanky mall and hardly anyone was in it. Tommy Hilfiger, Next, Swarovski, Accessorize, Levis and various other Western brands were selling at Western prices. Went to the Spar Hypermarket (yes, there are BIG versions here) and picked up a bag for 500 INR (the exhange rate is rougly £1:85 INR), some lychees, a mango and a papaya for another 200 (which is pretty pricey). Had a coffee then headed out to MG Road with a friend. Much more "normal" area where locals ... read more

Disclaimer: I haven't slept for more than 2 broken up hours in the last 30 so the below is unlikely to make sense. Today I broke several rules that are intended to make sure you don't get diarrohea. 1. Do not eat salad unless you know its been washed in clean water 2. Do not have any drink with ice cubes in it Whilst zonked out in a cab after a 9 hour flight and 2 hours of driving (I use the term loosely), my driver pulled into a drive-through Maccy D's and offered to buy me some food. I tried to politely refuse. The poor guy was clearly concerned that I hadn't eaten anything yet, I held fast on the food but eventually gave in to a coke. I just didn't have the energy to ... read more

So its 03:22 here, making it around 11pm back home. I woke up at 7am on the 1st, which means I am just about to sleep without doing a nodding dog impression for the first time in 40 hours. How I managed to go out clubbing from 9pm I don't know. Have just got back after 6 1/2 hours out with a bunch of people and had a great time. Went to one bar, sat outside and spent about £10 on a cocktail and a load of food. The drinks were really cheap there - around £2.50 for my cocktail, but they do charge you £5 cover to get in. Food was delicious - quite spicy but haven't had any "problems" yet. It's a warm night but with a little bit of a breeze. We then ... read more

Sorry it has taken so long to make our first in country entry, we have limited internet and I'm typing this on a phone- which isn't quick or fun at all. We had a rough start to say the least, coming out of chicago we were delayed an hour and a half which made us miss our connecting flight in london...we then had to spend 13 hours in the london airport which is something I wouldn't even wish on my worst enemies...london airport sucks. After hours of sleeping on benches and being looked at funny we finally headed to delhi- we actually needed to be in mumbai. Landing in delhi we knew the true test would be if our bags somehow made it there too. Justin found his bag right away so we had hope, that ... read more

The journey of human race is the saga of their strong survival against the most difficult situations & living environments. Their inherent strength in conquering odds of the nature lies in their in the spirit of life in extreme adverse geographical &climatic conditions around the coldest heights of mountain surrounded with the deepest forest where their lives & livings are hard to believe. They have their own ways of protecting themselves from the adverse weather conditions, arranging & procuring their food &feeding directly from the available natural stuff & their zest & zeal to establish themselves the fittest to survive in the available conditions. Coming soon with full Videos... read more

Sunday arrived in true Sunday fashion, with a stinking hangover after frequenting the Stone Water Grill, in Koreagan Park, yep you guessed, over done it again! So I got the phone call that everyone was down stairs waiting on me so off I set. I thought, well its my last weekend so why not go all out, off on the road again on the bikes. I am glad we got the Scooter this time as it was comfier and my backside felt quite bruised at this point from all the bumps we had gone over on these roads the day before. Again the culture was different with all sorts of stalls and brick-a-brack stalls all assembled up the roadside, and I have got to say a long way across the city, it took us around 2 ... read more

There was nothing better than to blow away all the cobwebs from the night before to go into the city and explore a little bit of history then go shopping. We arrived at the palace at around 15:30 just outside the hottest part of the day and the stalls were beginning to open again as they close from 1pm until 4pm due to the extreme heat. We had a walk around the Palace and its gardens which has pretty much been destroyed from uprisings in the past, but you can still see a bit of the British influence here in the decor around the city. They hold fountain light shows here every evening giving you an insight into the history of the city, which is quite interesting. After our tour of the gardens we decided to ... read more