Lauren on the move

The 18 hour train journey to Mumbai was quite enjoyable. I spent much of the time chatting to a young German policeman who had just begun his travels in India. The family opposite us did not speak much English, however, a female Indian student and another man added more interest to the conversation later in the evening. The man even offered around his interestingly spiced parantha bread. Mumbai is expensive. Admittedly I could have avoided being ripped off by the taxi driver on the way to the hotel if I had been a bit more awake and made more effort. Having to deal with dodgy metered taxis rather than bartering with autos came as a bit of a surprise. Mumbai has made the sensible move of banning the polluting autos from the city centre, but instead ... read more

My desire to do voluntary work in India brought me back to Jaipur, where I had arranged to spend one month teaching English at Ladli. I arrived back in the city on 27 December after an 18 hour train journey from Varanasi. I did not know what to expect from the next month and did not even know where I was going to stay beyond the rather grotty and overpriced guesthouse I had initially booked myself into. Things all went well from the start. That day a phone call from Prabhakar Goswami, husband of Abha Goswami who founded i-india, phoned to tell me that three Americans were going to be starting volunteering at the same time as me, that he had found them a house to rent where I could live too if I wished and ... read more

As the tour drew to an end I realised that it was high time to get out the India Lonely Planet and work out precisely where in the country I was going to head next. My original plan to travel to warmer south India was now out of the question since I had arranged to return to Jaipur in January…so where else should I visit, and more precisely, where should I spend Christmas? I spent a few days in Delhi after the tour getting used to my return to solo backpacking…I swiftly moved out of the overpriced area the tour had based us in and got an auto to Paharganj, the backpacker and budget heart of Delhi. A nightmare for touts, but a hive of cheap hotels and guest houses. There was only really one place ... read more

Moving around: Local buses...these are fine if you are only going a short distance and can ignore the occasional man standing on the pavement masturbating at the sight of western women (luckily only a sight we were subjected to once on our first trip!) Not recommended for long journeys, however, since the seats are rock hard and designed for very small people. On the 8 hour bus journey between Delhi and Mandawar I was unlucky enought to end up next to the most heavily built Indian man I have seen, who was forced to squash himself into an itsy bitsy middle seat and crushed me the whole way. The poor man was trying hard not to flatten me, seeing as I was giving many hints, but nevertheless, it was a painful journey! The 'deluxe' buses are ... read more

So I'm back in Bangkok sorting out the many things I need to do before flying to India on 23 November. Despite a lonely, tearful start when I was wishing I could go straight to India and miss out Thailand, I've had a great time, seen and done amazing things and met wonderful people. Now, seven months and seven countries down I am about to embark on the final and most challenging, vibrant country of my trip...India. Starting with a three week trip with Intrepid around Rajastan and the Golden Triangle region I will venture beyond...hopefully finding an opportunity to do some voluntary community work and to explore one of the most contradictory, spiritual, poverty stricken and culturally entrancing countries there are to be visited. Crazy, hectic, amazing, inspiring, stressful, colourful, eye-opening, food poisoning inducing, at ... read more