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Published: November 12th 2006
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hello, i'm getting a bit slack keeping up with this blog, i'm just going to briefly summerise the last week, so that i can catch up to where i am now! i'm sure the photos will speak much better than my words (and spelling) anyway!
so after agra we were driven back to delhi by our stressy driver. i'm so relieved to be rid of him and to have our freedom back. we head north on the overnight sleeper to shimla, an old british hill station in the foothills of the himalaya. have to change trains at 5 am to a 'toy train' that snaked around the mountains and hills on a narrow guage track. this was spectacular, the train was old, but would have been really splendid in its time. you could imagine all the colonial brits, wearing their fancy clothing, heading up there to retreat from the heat in days gone by! mike and i weren't looking quite so glamourous!
we spent 3 nights here, enjoying the cold weather (it was freezing at night, definatly not flip flop weather), and open spaces! did lots of walking and visiting of old british buildings, it was definatly much needed respite
time after the crazyness of rajesthan!
from here it was back to delhi (again), mike and i misread the time of our train and missed it, so had to get a taxi 3 hrs down the mountain to get the connecting train. thankfully the toy train we missed is v slow so we made it in time. back to delhi late evening, and straight to sleep.
as part of our rajesthan trip they threw in a days sight seeing in delhi for us, so we spend the day being driven around the 'sights', really can't be arsed today, so would literally get out the car, take a snap and move on to the next place. saying that, we went to indira gandi's house, read all about the amazing things she did and found out about her life. she was, sadly, assinated here so it was quite an experience.
after this the driver tried to steal my mobile. i realised it was missing from my bag (which i had literally left in his car for 5 mins) and he 'miraculously' found it after mike and i had searched everwhere for it. it was turned off and i never turn it
off, so i know he had it! what a git!
we then get the overnight train to mumbai. once again, another fantastic 16 hr sleeper journey, all food and drinks included and a good nights sleep!
i loved mumbai and spent 3 nights there. it is so much more organised, cleaner and quieter then delhi, and has some amazing architecture! i shopped, ate, drank, saw a few sights and starred as an extra in a bollywood film called 'hey baby', look out for it. it'll be coming to a cinema near you soon!
so mike and i were 'headhunted' to be extras in this film. well i say headhunted, but really we were packed into a a bus with 40 other tourists with the promise of 500 rupees, lunch, dinner and tea and water. seemed fair. what they didn't tell us was that it was 1 1/2 hr drive away, and we would be sitting in a dirty hall as hot as a green house for most of the day, not quite the image i had of bollywood.they did our hair and makeup and gave us some dodgy costumes, luckily i managed to escape with quite a
nice silver spangly number! felt glamourous for about 5 mins untill the heat and the dust started getting to me! the first scene was set in a night club, the set was amazing and massive, there was a huge dance cast. we had to stand around as if in night club, then when the music came on we all had to dance, it was so so funny. mike and i had prime position at the front (being small does have its advantages sometimes), so hopefully were in shot! this took ages as they did so many takes, practicing the camera angles and dances etc. then the 'stars' come out just at the end, and they had to go through it all with them. long and tedious, but fun! so another 5 hrs waiting and then same again, slightly different scene, but same music and more dancing, it was so funny watching the boys boogie in these dodgy 80's suites they had as costumes. all the waiting around was boring and hot but i met loads of people, and spent ages chatting to all sorts. then the auzzies decided beer was needed and the waiting became much more fun, and the
scary monkeys at the hill top temple in shimla
you have to hire a stick to keep them from pick pocketing you! dancing a lot looser! we didn't leave the set till nine, so went straight to the pub to spend our 500 hard earned rupees on more beer. i actually had a late night, most nights i'm in bed by ten thrity because everything shuts down, it was a real treat, and i didn't turn into a pumpkin at midnight!
from here i spent an extra night in mumbai while mike gets the overnight sleeper coach down to goa. so i spend the evening with an auzzie couple that were my co-stars in the movie. i didn't fancy 12 hrs on a coach at night so i flew the next morning! from the sounds of it it was the best decision i have made so far. mike had to share a 'coffin-like bed' with an indian guy that was just a bit too close for comfort, cockroaches were being blown out of the aircon vents and scurrying all over him, and he forgot to take warm clothes, so froze. by the end of the night, he told me he was spooning his 'bunk buddy' just so stop himself getting hypothermic! thankfully my 'kingfisher' flight was great, budget airline, but much
better than easyjet. it was luxury, and all for 30 pounds!
i arrived two hrs north of the beach i needed to be at........and managed to wing a lift in a taxi down to a beach 1/2 way with 2 lecurers and their PHd student from sydney uni. they were lovely, wouldn't let me pay them and offered me somewhere to stay if i ever go to sydney, how lovely! they were studying plant life in india or something along those lines! then i got a bus from that beach to mine and arrived bang on five pm which is the exact time i have arranged to meet mike in this specified cafe, hows that for timing!
So i'm now on Palolem Beach, south goa, and its paradise! all that is here is a long streach of white sand lined with palm trees, a few beach shack restaurant/ bars, and beach huts. just what the Dr ordered. we arranged to meet some of our bollywood co-stars here, so we were all out last night drinking beers under the stars. today i've spent sunbathing, swimming in the bath temperature sea and eating fresh pineapple from the beach fruit sellers!
Taj Mahal Hotel Mumbai
we treated ourselves to high tea here mmmm! I've got five nights here before heading further south to kerala.
sorry if i've gone on as usual! missing everyone loads. keep in touch. katie x
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Ben Spashett
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I wish i was with you!
I had a long conversation, with some person i didn't know, at a party about India! I would love to be in Bolloywood film!! lucky you!