Blogs from Meghalaya, India, Asia - page 3

Amazingly I have spent almost a week in Delhi without either: - Killing half the population - Finding cheaper accomodation - Bitten my arm off in a fit of boredom - Tried desperately to leave I have, in fact, quite enjoyed my time here. After traveling for more than 2 months its nice to just camp down somewhere and have the same pillow for a few nights in a row. Also there have been important football games and other reasons to stay indoors and just watch tv in the evenings. Hanging out with Paroma and Raj has also been great fun. I am seeing them again tonight. Tomorrow I finally DO leave Delhi. I decided to splurge on return flights to Guwahati in Assam over in the small teardrop of India that sits between Bangladesh and ... read more

Look at my photos from Providence at face value and you will see only bright smiles and happiness. Laughing children playing and learning in a mismatch of clothing and various states of dishevel (but they all seem to have shoes). A school facility that offers shelter, running water and even electricity. The classrooms have colourful tables and chairs, murals, blackboards, pencils, chalk. Food served at lunchtime, children playing marbles. But scratch the surface and discover some shocking truths - a smile can be deceiving. My volunteer experience in India is without question the best experience I’ve ever had in my life. Life-changing you might say. This blog is of epic proportion because I never want to forget the experience. The blog lag is because I wanted to ensure my words did the experience justice. Admittance to ... read more

I've covered a few miles since my last entry! The last time I wrote I was Bhubaneswar, Orissa. I left Orissa on Monday morning at 6am on the train to Kolkata. We booked tickets through an agent but didn't really check the tickets properly before travelling. They had me down as male. The conductor came round and wasn't accepting the ticket. I had my first proper taste of the Indian way of sorting things out...Swarup asked to talk to the guy outside so they disappeared between compartments. The conductor accepted a 50Rs bribe instead of paying for a new ticket which would have been 400Rs. Later another conductor came round and was not so corrupt and we ended up having to pay again! The train was ok but we weren't in the AC compartment which we ... read more

The bus ride was one of the funniest things i have ever done. It took an hour before we even left as they had overbooked the bus!!! and they had to move everyone around, as women and men are not allowed to sit next to one another, let along sleep next to each other!!! So i got a lower birth bed/seat...it is a seat which you can totally lie flat...which was fine, they tried to make me lay down and when i said i would do it later as i did not want to sleep at 9 in the evening, they gave me a worried and confused look and then stormed away, i sat for a bit watching the country side go by and wondering if the bus would make it up the hills, as the ... read more

The bus drops us at the junction to Shillong, where the road back to Guwahati forks sharply uphill next to a small Hindu temple. It is midday and the sun is beating down on us as we re-load the bikes, which have emerged unscathed from the back of the bus - no damage and only 2 minutes to load and unload at either end, and cheaper than putting them on the train. We vow to use buses from now on if we don’t want to cycle. After a quick feast of fried rice at a small dhaba opposite the temple we are ready for the long slog uphill. We will not reach Shillong today but hope to escape the heat and get halfway up the Meghalayan Massif, an isolated 2000m high rolling plateau that sits south ... read more