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Published: February 11th 2012
Yep, India is pretty crazy. We’ve been here five days now, and there’s quite a bit to tell, so I’ll start from the beginning…
The flight was brilliant – we had our own little TV screen with On Demand remote controls so we could pick our own individual films or TV shows. We both decided to watch One Day, which left us both bawling our eyes out :/ for at least 20 minutes.
It took two hours to get through customs and bag pick up, which was fine for us, but maybe not for the wee guy who was picking us up – bless him, he was sat in the scorching sun holding a sign with my name on for two hours – I’ve never been so pleased to see a total stranger in my life. A massive crow (there’s loads of them)<span> landed right next to us, I said is that Russell Crow, Joanne said, nah looks more like Cheryl Crow. We got into our transfer car type thing… and what came on the radio….. Cheryl Crow! It’s the ONLY time we’ve heard anything other than Indian music. It must be a sign. Not sure what it means though.
The drive to the hostel was mental. We were trying to work out what the rules of the road are. We came to the conclusion, there are none. Not one. The whole time we were in Mumbai, we were so shocked that we didn’t see a major accident. We saw a teeny tiny bump, and neither party were really that bothered, everyones cars are battered. We would never have found the hostel had it not been for getting a transfer. The address gave it away that it was really hidden… behind so and so, next to thingy, across from whats it, and opposite McDonalds. The hostel was okay… nothing exciting to report. Oh, we didn’t have a window in our room, in fact there were no windows in the whole place!
The next morning I woke up not really knowing where I was… I could hear some weird sounds… a dog barking, a cockerel crowing and a rickshaw tooting :/<span> we hired a car and a driver that day (about 14 pounds for 8 hours!) and we headed off to Elephanta Island, with our new friend Alex in tow.
Friday morning…. we hired a rickshaw (ace, totally love it, now , at first its a bit scary!) and braved the 30 min drive to the train station. We managed to find our train and carriage no problem. Our carriage friends for the next 27 hours were 6 Indian women, all about 60+, and they were massive gossips/chatterboxes. They found everything we did really funny, and giggled at us loads! Especially when I tried to climb up to my bunk bed. The train journey was fine, it whizzed by, we ate loads of yummy food, drank loads of coffee, played a few games, and attempted to chat to the women, but didn’t get very far. A few smiles and laughs worked wonders with them though.
Arriving in Kerala the heat hit us like we never imagined it would. We’d been living in jeans in Mumbai for the last three days! We got a rickshaw to the beach house… it was an amazing 30 minute journey, Kerala is beautiful, and I knew that I was going to love it here just from that journey!<span> We met Katie here at the beach house, Ahhh and the beach house. The pictures don’t do it justice at all. The beach is literally a stones throw from the house.
We asked a couple of people in the house what the deal is with regards to wearing shorts and tshort on the beach, they said its fine, so off we trotted to the beach – it was ROASTING! We paddled a bit and sat chatting watching the sun come down. Within minutes of us sitting down a young boy came over (16 years old) he introduced him self and said that he works for some organization helping to keep the beach safe… he asked us if we had any tobacco or cigarettes, we were like no, but you’re WAY too young to be smoking! Turns out he was trying to trick us, as you’re not allowed to smoke or drink on the beach, or pretty much in any public place in Kerala. Then… he looked really awkward and said “Can I just ask why you’re errrrr dressed in errrr that way” :/ turns out, that we’re not allowed to wear shorts and a top, and that the way we were dressed would make men want to rape us, so we headed back to the house!
Dinner was amazing… it was the first time we’d eaten non veggie, we had praws, dhal, some vegetables, chapattis, and fruit. YUM. I’m definitely not going to lose loads of weight when I’m here like I was hoping.
That’s pretty much where we are now. Its now Saturday morning at 11am. Last night a massive storm hit, I got bitten alive, and I have a cold! (the guy who owns the house gave me some special tea with loads of herbs and spices, and garlic in – I’m stinking of it – but it seems to have worked and I’m feeling loads better) but other than that, its ace, I love it and I’m looking forward to going out for a bike ride soon (with my trousers and sleeves on!). We’ve got one more night in the beach house, then who knows next! Something involving a house boat and elephants we reckon!
Missing you all lots, leave me some nice comments below please if you may <span>😊 xxx
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Tomek
non-member comment
First;)
:) wow, really enjoyed reading it...felt like i was there. Great writing, keep it coming! x