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Published: November 11th 2006
i am writing this a stones throw from the white sandy beach that is fringed in palm trees and beach shacks so forgive me if this is a little short as its taking up my tanning time!!so it goes without saying that goa is by far the best place in india!!we arrived a couple of days ago and its like being in heaven it really is. after everything it took us to get here we nearly cried tears of relief!!!so i will start back in delhi where i finished the last blog...we got up in the morning to go to the himalayas but mandy was really sick so we made an on the spot decision to change our plans and head south where it was warmer as being ill in this country is not something to be relished!!so we headed to the train station to get a train to Puri in the state of Orissa, east of india on the sea. cue much excitment from me at the thought of seeing beach!so we waited 12hrs to get the train in a waiting room that smelt of urinals and got on to find we had been downgraded, not good as we had a whole 40 hours on that train to kill!mandy was ill and caroline got sick so it was not the best journey, well..mainly cos we were picking the cockroaches off us as the were everywhere by this stage but i just shut my eyes and miraculously slept for most of it!on the times i was awake i whiled away the hours by pointing out the roaches climbing on mandys pillow and generally trying to contain my growing hysteria!!i was overjoyed to get to puri...well i was until we saw that the main road was a dirt track and the monsoon was still going!but it felt good to get off the train at least...we spent a few days in puri just seeing the sights...it is a small place with a big beach but we only went down once as the hawkers hassle us loads so we spent most of our time in the cafes eating good food and relaxing which has become something of an art form in itself, i am a pro!!we left puri and headed to hyderabad for our meditation course and decided to go in the sleeper cabin...a good chance to save money as it was dirt cheap!!but we got there and realised why....it was like a caged zoo...full of leering men and we felt we'd walked into a bad situation!!so we stayed awake the whole night with the gaze of virtually every man upon us, it was pretty intimidating and we were so happy to get off thats for sure. so we rocked up at Vipassana, by this time dirty and in need of much enlightment that was promised...my hopes for finding any were starting to wear thin as we walked into the gardens of the ashram and were made to sign our lives away....we stupidly handed in our money and passports and went to have breakfast, a delightful congealed lump of rice..and this was the food for the next 12 days....so being the only westerners there we soon realised this place was not for the faint hearted...we were not allowed eye contact, we had to walk on our own, we were not allowed to leave food(pretty hard as each mouthful made me want to vom) and we had to meditate all day for 12HOURS!!!!now it was actually one of the most bizarre and funniest situations ive ever found myself in...it really was mental. our first meditation session was announced by a crazy woman banging a bell where we all proceeded to file into a hall where the guru sat at the front. we all sat cross legged on our cushions and began. well i say began but really i sat there listening to the other women farting and burping there way through this session as we listened to pali tapes of some guy moaning in an unknown language at which we supposed to chant along with, i did try but the whole thing was so amusing i had to concentrate on not laughing for the full 2 hrs... this was interspersed with the overwhelming desire to fall asleep.anyway we got up at 4 the nxt morning and had another few hrs of this guy moaning on tape before we all decided enough was enough. if this is the path to enlightenment then we're off to goa!!it took us 5hrs to get our pasports back as they refused to unlock the gates...we did start to panic as they said they werent letting us leave but we protested enough and they thankfully let us out...into the monsoon with a rickshaw with no sides....we were soaked and a little less than amused by this point! so we stayed in hyderabad for a few days and met up with arpit which was great as he took us to pizzahut (western foos is a big luxury over here and way out of our budgets!) and then packed us off on a train to goa...yes the state of beaches and cocktails!!so thats where i am now and its fab it really is. the past couple of weeks have been a bit testing what with so many train rides, dodgy situations and us being sick at various points but we're here now and even though i was ill for my bday yday we tried to make the most of it by going to mambo's, a club, or should i say the only club in calangute!full of interesting dancers who seemingly knew no rythm whatsoever.....and indian MTV which we got ourselves on camera for!!fame at last. so we're planning on leaving calangute maybe today or tomo to head for quieter arambol where there will be more backpackers as this place is full of brits on tour....so i will go now back to the beach and work on my tan a bit more!will upload some photos soon so i can show u all the beach 😊 lots of love Axxx
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The Enlightened Ones
Ha ha I think you should wirte a book about your experiences babe..... Think it would be a v funny read. Planes Trains and Rickshaws...Glad you managed to escape the asylum....Sounds like a mission and a half...Well, now your all in Goa I hope you can start to relax and work that tan ! Love me xxx