embleywembley

Flying To and Arriving in Bangkok!! I waited eagerly for my taxi to arrive at Hotel Relax whilst looking out of the door to the manic traffic outside. My heart was pounding and I was getting more and more nervous, but he arrived a little bit late due to the rush hour (it's always rush hour in Paharganj). He was a friendly and jolly man who said he was 32, but I think he meant he was 42. He told me all about his family; his wife and two children aged 10 and 15. I told him about my family, the shocking fact that I wasn't married and he asked me questions about England as we were driving through the busy streets of Delhi to the Indira Ghandi International Airport. I was panicking for no reason. ... read more

In all honesty, I'm pretty sick of India now. It started a while ago when in Delhi and visiting the tourist attractions and I started to notice that people were really staring at me. I'm not sure why I didn't notice it before. Perhaps it was because people hadn't stared at me so much before or perhaps it was because I hadn't noticed it so much... maybe due to being with other friends and not paying much attention to it. It started being more noticable when I was with my family. I had stupidly assumed that because my Dad was of Indian origin, when he arrived in India, he would fit in and people would think we were more Indian. I was so, so wrong, When he arrived, with my Mum who's very English and my ... read more

meeting the family. seeing the sights, Taj Mahal, The Hanids in Haridwar, Rishikesh, My Dad and me, Amritsar and the Golden Temple, The cancelled train scenario, Pushkar for Holi, Shimla and return to Delhi.... read more

Delhi. I feel like a local. I have not been anywhere near as intimidated as I thought I would in Delhi, in fact, I have felt very relaxed ever since I arrived... apart from the slight issue with the phone top-up going a bit skew-whiff. I met a guy called Ajit, through a friend (a French girl from England) I made in Pushkar. We met up a couple of times and as his mother lives in Allahabad, he was taking the train there to go and stay with her for a week. After a quick goodbye drink and some food in a bar crammed with Indians and the few English people in Paharganj at the time - all gathered to watch the England vs India cricket match - Ajit had to make his way to New ... read more

Lots to say about this place... soon...ish :-)... read more

from Rajasthan...... read more

also coming soon... ish... read more

coming soon... technically we were in Valparai but that's not listed here... ... read more

Ever since I arrived in India, I have been thinking more and more about my heritage and where half of me originates from. My Dad's family are originally from Pakistan in the Punjab region and although he was brought up in Kenya, his family are traditional Pakistani Muslims living now in Pakistan, Kenya and England. My only involvement with my Dad's side of the family was for large family gatherings or when we visited smaller family groups for weekends in Middlesex... Hounslow, Kingston and the like. i remember being scared and shy when I met members of my Dad's side of the family and this was mostly down to not understanding the language, but also because the men in the family could be large authoritative figures and sometimes quite intimidating. Apparently, when I was very young, ... read more

Right, so I know I haven't updated my blog for ages, but I have written most of it. I use my small HP netbook to type blog entries in my spare time... the thing is, I haven't really had any spare time lately. I've been sharing a room with Kelly for three weeks now, so whilst before, when I was alone I could write my blog before going to bed, now, Kelly and I chat and I don't really get my own quiet time as much. I've decided not to write day by day anymore, as it's unrealistic at the moment. Maybe when I'm travelling on my own again, I'll spend the time doing it, but at the moment, there's too much going on. I'm either on the move on buses, trains or rickshaws, or staring ... read more