Socks, Calvin, Bollywood and some luxury 5 star living!

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Hello from the Himalayas!! Yes I have reached Darjeeling and today I actually rejoiced at being cold (yes I know this is me!). I have had to buy another jumper and reintroduce my feet to those strange things called socks and shoes but its so lovely to not be drowning in my own sweat for once! Getting here has been a bit of a mammoth mission but more of that later. So i think last time i wrote i was the other end of this giant country by the beach. Well i spent a few days there checking out the old stuff before i did a 24 hour train ride to get me to Hampi. This is the place everyone i meet tells me to go and it really is beautiful. Its surrounded by boulder strewn paddy fields, rocky hills and old abandoned temples which being out of season were getting few visitors. I stayed in a little thatched hut with my own hammock outside, played Indiana Jones exploring all the old empty temples, and hired Kalvin the very cool scooter to cruise around the countryside. I had a great time poodling around the local villages and exploring random dirt tracks much to the apparent amusement of the locals. I would of stayed longer but the offer of free 5 star accommodation in Goa was too much so I headed to the beaches once more, to meet up with Jemma and her family for a few days in their lovely resort. It was with slight shame dressed in ali-baba trousers and a lovely shade of black dirt that I sneaked in to the resort but the opportunity of a proper shower and a pool was too good to miss. I had a lovely few days with them, working on my tan and removing my permanent layer of dirt but feeling I had gate crashed the wedding party they had come for enough I left before the main event. From Goa I decided to head to Mumbai as Claire and Kev were there for a few nights and so after a 20 hour night bus i arrived for what i planned to be a 2 day stay. I ended up staying for a week, i liked it so much.
Its a cool city, very metropolitan in places with some amazing old buildings, wide boulevards and a very friendly atmosphere. I went to the movies, walked around showing my knees and shoulders (and no one blinked!), drank beer, had a lovely evening with Claire and Kev and started my Bollywood career. Yes, that is right although the likelihood is that they will cut us out, I may just be a blur in a Bollywood film. I spent a day in the middle of a desert just outside Mumbai, hanging around with the stars! I (along with 4 other backpackers) got our own aircon trailer, free food, drink, to see the film being made and star in the background as extras! It all probably sounds far more exciting than it actually was but it was interesting to be on set and see some Bollywood stars in person (has anyone heard of Imran Khan? No until then nor had I!)Anyway for all this hard work they paid me £8 which i rightfully spent on the first glass of wine i have had in 3 months (god it was good!)! Apparently the agent man thought I was so good I was also offered the opportunity to audition for a voiceover part. The conversation went something like this:
“Hi Marion, this is Barry from Bollywood”
“Hi Barry. How are you?”
“good thanks. So are you still interested in this voiceover part”
“yes, of course”
“excellent, well there is an audition tomorrow night”
“Ok.”
“Good. Do you have a nice dress you can wear?”
“Why do i need a nice dress if its a voice over? Surely its all about my voice not my looks”
“yes, but its my day off tomorrow. I thought we could go for a few drinks after the audition?”
“Hmm, well i only have jeans and a smart top with me and if we go for drinks can I bring my friend?”
Strangely enough my reluctance to pimp myself off for a voiceover role in Bollywood meant Barry never called me back  therefore my dreams of a Bollywood career rather died a sudden death!
Licking my wounds I eventually decided to leave Mumbai and head back to Varanasai (probably my favourite place in the whole of India), stopping off at some cave temples i wanted to see. This involved a night train to the caves, a 3 hour round trip to see the caves and then jumping straight on another 24 hour train journey that night to Varanasi. The first part of the journey went well, the caves were very cool and we made it back to the station to pick up the next 24 hour train journey. Sadly though there were no tickets available to we had to go on the waiting list to see if any became available. Despite asking several people no one seemed exactly sure what we could do if there were none but the general opinion was we should get on the train and then if necessary upgrade our tickets. Being obedient people we therefore did this only to be greeted by a very angry ticket collector who yelling and screaming at us threw us into the general class section of the train. Here we could not move, there was not even enough space to take our bags off. We stood by the lovely toilets for a while slowly accepting our fate that we may just be stuck there for the next 24 hours. While we had accepted it, it seemed every Indian man in the train had not and so at the next station we were duely marched off to see the ticket conductor. Apparently there were no beds or seats available but for £7 some miraculously appeared! Whether we bribed our way onto the train I have no idea, he just asked us for £7 and we got a bed for the night. The next day more people with tickets arrived so we had to vacate them and spent a good few hours sat in the doorways watching india whizz by before once again everyone insisted we came to sit down! Nearly 48 hours after leaving Mumbai we eventually pulled into Varanasai. Returning to get our packs from the first carriage we’d been in we found all the lights out for some reason and 2 policemen sat next to our bags (I think they thought we’d left them as 2 bombs!). Having a seat to unlock them I suddenly felt something rather hard under my bottom. I pulled the thing out only to find it was a rather large shotgun! What could I do i laughed and handed it back!
It was great returning to Varanasai. Coming out onto the Ganges again the view still takes my breath away - it really is a magically crazy place. I stayed for a few days not really doing much just enjoying being there before i got yet another 27 hour train ride to Darjeeling. Set with views of the 3rd highest peak in the Himalayas its a strange place. An old English hill station there are a few old colonial buildings dotted around but the majority of it is typical Indian craziness. The people though are beautiful. A mix of Indian with Nepalese and Chinese they really are stunning and maybe a little more relaxed than their north Indian comrades. Sadly the weather is misty and cloudy so the views are not great, I have seen the Himalayas for all of maybe 5 minutes today! So I think i may give up my ideas of hiking and instead head to possibly the hiking capital of the world - Nepal. Its another 24hour journey to Kathmandu but once i’m there the crazy long journeys are over i think. Wish me luck and I will look you up from over the border!
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P.S No photos this time cos I can’t get them off my memory card. Will try off a CD in Kathmandu.Sorry!

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Comments

[James Bonsall]

Baldy!
Nice picture on the top left - I thought you'd shaved all your hair off!