the last little bit of India and the first bit of Nepal!

So... this will be the absolute last of india. Promise!
We left yoga capital Rishikesh for Dalai Lama home Dharmsala. Doesnt look amazments here but believe us, it was.
Our view from our hotel. Not that bad eh!
Totally okay way to start your morning.
Went for a walk around the area.
Found a Messiah car.

We were thinking of getting a tattoo or a piercing. Big business in Dharamsala.
 
One day, which was a sunday, i.e., indian playday, we went to Bhagsu and found this fun-packed place! Bless.
Just a very, very typical indian working place.
But! However great and wonderful India has been it was time to leave for Nepal. And to make it just a bit more interesting we took the 4day- four buses and a train - route.
Our last indian bus.
And our final view of India. By this time, it wasn't hard to leave. At all.
 
Oh look! It's Nepal!
Pokhara!
Can it get any better than this?


 
 
 
James and his crew.
 
We went out rowing on da lake.
 
The sunset was absolutely epic.

 


Wonderful! (And then we had to paddle back in panic to not be stuck on the lake in complete darkness)
 
Today we got up at a grusome 4.30 to watch the sun rise over the Himalayans. Unfortunately, we are in Nepal at the absolute worst time ever (monsoon) so you can never see the Himalayans due to all the clouds. Still cool though! Thought we would be more or less alone up there this morning. 
But, we werent. 
 
Views were still really cool though.
 
 
 
Realising our planning have been completely off the last few months and that we are visiting Nepal in the worst time ever, with daily/nightly storms and clouds constantly covering the sky, we have had to do some deep re-thinking. Unfortunately we wont be able to do our 10 day trek which we had planned (yes, we had!), nor will we be able to go to any wildlife parks (shame, cause we had been practicing on how to out stare a tiger). But tomorrow we are off to Kathmandu were we are gonna do some hard core cultural things. And we are totally not gonna let it get to us that we missed Pokhara looking like this:
 or that we missed trekking here:
Doesn't matter!!!!

Bye bye India (part 2)

Reet, time for part 2 of our fairwell update about India!
 
We're actually kickin' it in Nepal now, which we've been doing since getting here on Saturday night. We left India on Wednesday afternoon on an absolute mission, arriving in Pokhara, Nepal, 4 days later. We are talking 4 dog solid days of buses, trains and jeeps in over 40 degrees.
 
Stick that in your Chapateh!
 
Evelina also worked out that it would have cost us the same to take a 50 minute flight from Delhi when we were 3 days into it. Pure face.
 
But! You've gotta love all that aswell because it's such a mental experience travelling in India, and the more testing it is, the more character building it is. Jumping on a 12 hour bus journey feels like a walk on Weggy park, now.
 
Anywho, here's the last load of Picceh's from our ridiculously amazing time in India.
 
Enjoy em!
 
 
Here's Evelina, advertising Manali's natural spring water. In reality, it's probably filtered Delhi rat bath water. Ratteh.
 
We followed water fall all way tut top.
 
 
Citeh.
 
 
Himalayanz.
 
I honestly had no idea, Evelina was taking a photo.
 
AMAZING!
 
 
Some cute, lickle, Tibetan school Kiddies we met one morning. A couple of them started doing one-arm press-up's, to impress us. So funny.
 
I caught a cold. Meh.
 
 
 
We left Manali and bus'd it south to Rishikesh. This bus was jammed.
 
 
Wait there..what the hell is that in front of our bus!?
 
Oh, it's alright...it's just a load of Indian men, going down the road in a giant bag of potatoes.
 

Sometimes Indian men like to dye their hair orange. This man decided to dye his tash, orange, aswell. Each to their own.

 
 
This is Rishikesh. The Yoga capital of the world. 
 
 
 
We went to the abandoned ashram, where the Beatles hung out, taking loads of drugs. They wrote most of the white album while they were there so they must have been on some good shit.

 
At the gates to the ashram, we found these 2 European hippies.They claimed that they'd spent the last 2 years walking the grounds, trying to figure out which gate was the way out. They were clearly out of their minds on LSD.
 
We took them under our wing and gave them names. Dodge and Phil.

 
Then we started a band.
 
 
 
The daily ceremony, held on the ghats in Rishikesh. The dude in red is a megastar around those parts.
 
 
We did yet more treking up to the hills. Well worth it for the view.
 
 
Where there is water. There is Indian men in pants.
 
 
View from 'The Beatles' cafe.
 
 
Pure.
 
Oh dear. Looks like the rest of the India snaps are gonna have to go in the next blogg update because the camera batterie's just gone.
 
Ah, well... be back soon with the rest of them and maybe even a few newbies from Nepal. And those one's are beauties!
 
Thanks for reading!
 

Bye bye India (part 1)

Easeh peeps.
 
We've neglected you again...
 
SORREH!!!
 
Well, we're here now and we've got loads of boodiful piccehs for y'all to enjoy. Actually, this update is mostly gonna be picceh's because we've got a bus to catch in a few hours. We're finally leaving India to go and check out Nepal. It's gonna take a pair o' days but it'll be worth it. Anyway, we couldn't leave India without documenting all the shizz we've been up to, during our time up North. It's been a hoot and a half, i tell thee. 
 
Here we go! 
Just like being down Citeh market, intit! 
 

The bulls you get up north make the southern one's look like lickle babeh bulleh's! 
 
 
Some more bull shizz, here. This time, me with a stone one. It might be a hippo. 
 
 
I don't know...
 
 
The north's got a bit of a mediteranean feel to it, in some places. 
 
 
 
Beauteh.

 
We took an early morning, 2 hour trek, up to the caves above lake Rewalser. We met this dude on the way up. 
 

It was a hell of a climb, i tell thee. 
When we got to the top, we were met by nothing but the sound of thousands of tibetan flags, blowing in the wind. It looked and sounded absolutely AMAZO. Such a powerful place. 
 
Such a cool place. 
 
We even did some meditation up there. PANG! 
 
We just had to gerra lickle picceh of ourselves. 
 
 
After lake Rewalsar, we jumped on a buss to Manali. Perhaps the craziest buss route in the world, you basicly spend 10 hours darting at full speed around cliff edges and over taking everyone on blind corners. Citeh. 
 
 
 
This is what Manali looks like. 
 
 
And this is what Evelina looks like, getting warmed up for a 25 minute walk to a waterfall. 
 
 
I think she's ready. 
 
 
Water!!! 
 
 
 Manali is pretty amazing. 
 
 
Tibetan women, guiding their cows down by the water fall. 
 
 
Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles per hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, hen house, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at 15 miles. Your fugitive's name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him.

That's all for now folks. Part 2 coming up in a few days! 

trains trains trains and mountains.

The unbelievable laziness that Goa brought out in us has drastically been replaced with the full on madness that only India can give you. We left Goa on Tuesday to go to Mumbai were we stayed one night to take another train to Ambala in the north of India. That train was like the madest train there ever could be, even in India. Pure clown express from crazy town. It was unreal. It had everything! It was incredibly hot and it was FULL of people. We thought it was a lot of people from the beginning, but we were not crammed and were able to play guitar while getting to know some really sound people, but after a couple of hours more and more people came on and when we looked down the aisle it was unreal. It was people everywhere! I am not exaggerating if I say it was like a whole village was taking up the carriage. And when it was lunch time, oh my. Food everywhere. And of course as it is on indian trains, it's not only passengers taking up precious space, but also the every-five-minute chai/coffe people (which is everything but "would you like some coffee?" but rather CHAAAI CHAI CHAIIII????!) and everyone else wanting to sell something great, like illuminated toys, color books, padlocks and chains. Not to forget the musicians! The only time we experienced something like silence on this train was when we stood by one of the doors trying to get some air and a muslim man comes up, unrolling his carpet and doing his prayers. But that was probably the only time. We also met probably 5-6 lady boys calling James darling and me their sister asking us to give them money (we didn't). The funny thing with this train was as well that the people who didnt have a ticket just stayed on, so when it was time for bed the family who had been sitting with us (with their three naughty kids) the mum and the kids laid down on the floor between our berths and the dad was sitting on James' bed. After a while though he was laying on James. Great night that was. Forgot to mention as well that this train was 27 hours and after this train we had another 2-3 hours on another train until we'd reach Kalka, so sleep was precious. But however tough it was at times, we really had loads of fun as well. We travelled with a Scottish man, a Danish woman and a Chinese woman, all super sound with funny and interesting stories to tell. However, when we got of at Ambala and got on the last train to Kalka, we were knackered and was looking forward to some quiet and easy hours. And when we got on the train, it was like a dream, almost empty. Oh yeah it was just what we wanted, so we thought we'd play some cards. Then a kid comes up begging for money, this happens once in a while, and your not really meant to give them money because they are probably not the ones getting them anyway. So we said no and carried on playing, then he opened the box he had been carrying and I totally froze. I said to James I cant concentrate when he's around, and James was like ah, but just ignore him. I couldnt believe how calm he was!! Then James saw what was in the box as well (which I thought he had done all along) and he saw the snake. A SNAKE!! Ahhhhhh, it was soo rank. God. Anyway after that, the rest of the train journey went fairly smoothly, even if the memories of that horrible snake made us shiver, and we finally arrived in Kalka. 
 
The next day we got up in the early early morning to catch the toy train up to Shimla. Our third toy train! They are amazing. And this one was absolutely wonderful. The views were extraordinary. At first we were sharing our cabin with a guy who was really interested in us, and couldnt stop talking. At one point he was reading to us from the lonely planet, just to keep the conversation going. He also thought it was so beautiful when James was trying to tune the guitar and he told me I was so gentle (gentle??!). However, he didnt have a reservation so he had to give up his seat to someone who actually did and this someone was an 86 years old gentleman who also was very inquisitive, but absolutely lovely. He asked at one point if we were together by own choice and if our parents had approved. He also asked if James' beard is by own choice. We answered yes on all of them. 
 
Anyway, we were in Shimla for five days and it is absolutely amazing up there. It is like Switzerland in India. Surrounded by mountains, no cars allowed on the main road so it is well quiet, ah it is amazing. Yesterday we went on a half an hour trek (that it only took half an hour by the way indicates that we are 'absolutely fit' as stated on a board at the start) to the monkey god Hanuman's temple with a massive orange statue of the god. Very cool. However, much of our time in Shimla has been dedicated to one man we met on the street on our first night, Gaj. He is an astrologists who has taught us meditation and breathing exercises. It has been a turbulent, emotional and amazing few days!! We were talking about astrology just a few weeks before meeting him, basically saying that we dont believe in it all that much. Well, we have changed our minds now. 
 
And so, today we said goodbye to our dear Gaj and took the bus up to Resalwar lake where we are now. Unfortunately I was unable to enjoy the scenery on our way up as I was hanging out of the window getting sick together with half the bus (they say it is easy to see which us goes up here due to the stripes on the bus...). But now we are here and it is beautiful! And very tibetan. Tomorrow we are gonna check out some caves.
Here's some snapz!
 Train music!
On the train with our new scottish friend. Just when the heat, chai wallas and ladyboys gets a bit too much.
 
And the happiness of finally arriving in Kalka!
A cool bean man in Kalka.
A little sunset walk.
Our third toy train!
Our new friend M.R Lall!

Train jamming.

 
How beautiful can it get?!
New crazy land in shimla!
Shimla view!
 
One morning we woke up to this. Indian men dancing and singing! Best way to start your morning!
A very hot man and a
 
beautiful background.
A couple spotted us and ran up to me handing over their baby so they could take a picture of us. Good thing I have such a natural way with babies.
Then we hiked up to the monkey god.
There he is.
Big monkey small Evelina.
We had to have sticks to scare of the monkeys (there where loads!!!), from nicking our stuff. James took the opportunity to practice some Kung Fu. The monkeys up in Shimla by the way are unbelievable! Gaj told us that they like to steal peoples glasses and will only give them back in return for icecream. He also new about one particular monkey who used to knock on the door and simply reach out his hand for food.
 
I was practicing my balance.
Monkeys playing by monkey god's feet.
Newly blessed kung fu trekker!
And this is completely different from Goa, but it has to come up! It's too funny.
 
 

Tropicalitiez.

Well.
 
I've just seen that we haven't been anywhere near this bad boy for about a month. I suppose we just haven't found the time, what with all the sweet funk all we've been doing on the beach everyday. That's right. For the last four weeks we have done nothing but max out. And oh how glorious it has been! The thing is, is that we should actually be back in Sweden right now, working and freezing our little Indian bums off. But we're not. We're unemployed n' kickin' it in south India. 
 
100% CITEH.
 
After lazeing around in Kerala, eating loads of fish and drinking nuff beers, (Beer is mostly served in tea pots down there because most places don't have a booze licence. I am sure that the local police are completely clueless to this ingenous disguise) we decided to head up to Goa for a bit and do exactly the same up there. We went back to where it all began, just a few months ago, in Vagator.
 
What a good move. 
 
Our days have been pretty much the same. We get up, do our morning exercise and yoga on the balcony (Yes, you did just read that), then head down to Goa's finest beach shack, Santana's for a spot of breakfast. After that we go swimming, tan our bodies, meditate (You read that aswell) and then pop back into the shack for a coke and a few rounds of shit head. After the day at the beach is done we head back to our room, sit on the balcony and play guitar and maybe even sip on a vodka tonic or two. Does it get any better than that? I doubt it.
 
Our evenings have been full of the usual madcap heroics. We've been to loads of parties and met loads of character's. We were at the night market just t'other night where we danced with some of the greatest loons i'm sure the market has ever seen. Seriously. These dudes were straight off the clown burger express, all the way from crazy town. They had moves like nothing we had ever seen before. One of them, a short, round Indian fellow, took a perticular liking to Evelina and insisted on teaching her his signiture move of crouching down to the floor and rolling his hands around like some kind of crazed ape. Evelina played along and somehow made it look good. It was all hilarious and an absolutely wicked night, full of dancing and booze. Teh. 
 
Perhaps the highlight of our time so far in Goa, was the Christening reception we attended. We were invited by chance, by a lovely bloke called Joseph, as we were heading back to our room one afternoon. He'd had a couple kingfisher's too many and asked us to come along and make his daughters christening a night to remember.
 
Free booze and a curry buffet?
 
Don't mind if i do.
 
We got ourselves all dressed up and took a taxi down to Santa Cruz, just 45 minutes down the road. By the time we got there we were about half an hour late. But you're on Indian time here, so it turned out that we were actually 2 hours early. We sat around feeling very unsure of what to do with ourselves and debating if it would be rude to start getting the free drinks in before the other guests arrived. We did.The other guests then finally turned up and by half past 8 everyone was seated and waiting for the party to start. Me, Evelina and 200 Indians. We continued to drink.
 
The party was hosted by a local Reverend . He was a mixture of Burt Reyolds and Bob Monkhouse, but Indian. 
He talked the talk but his timing was well off. Actually his talk was a bit whack at times aswell. At one point, he said:
''In the good old days, when the Portuguese were here'' 
You can't say that, they're all Indian!
Unfortunatly, he was also up against an incredibly tough crowd that night. They didn't really say or do anything. We'd been expecting pure Bollywood craziness. But no. 
He tried to warm them up with a game. He asked If anyone in the crowd had 12 childen or more and if they did then they would win a prize. Ha! Nobody did (as if) so he went down in figures until he found an old women who had 8 kids, which she won a prize for. Fair play to her. You could actually play that game on a Leicester council estate, couldn't you?
He did get everybody up on the dancefloor once though, for the blessing of the baby and 'the march'. But it was a struggle. After pleading with the crowd to get out of their seats without any response, what so ever, the akwardness became too much to bare, so me and Evelina, the unknown tourists, got up and walked to the front.
 
And it didn't stop there. We then 'lead the march'. Oh yeah, we were all over it. The Reverend even thanked us over the microphone, and asked if he could get a round of applause for Evelina and James. Complete silence. By now we were a bit drunk and feeling well crazeh so when the band started playing it didn't take long before we took to the stage again. The dancefloor was empty apart from 2 little kids, jumping up and down. We jived and samba'd to the smooth sounds of local goan cover band 'Brother's in arms' and the watchful eyes of 200 Indians. It was an absolute hoot i tell thee. We continued to prance around like a pair of European show ponnies until we were too knackered to carry on so we gave back the floor to the 2 jumping, kids and went for another drink.
The dance floor situation got a bit better when Brothers in arms started playing some more modern tunes, but the one thing that got everybody out of their seats was the announcement that the buffet had opened. Then they knew how to move. It was like a buffalo stampede.
After the food, the party died down and me and Evelina took a taxi home, feeling very happy with ourselves. So cool to experience something like that. 
 
Anyway back to the present day. We arrived in Arambol yesterday morning after dissing off Anjuna. We weren't really feeling the vibe there and the place we stayed at, Peace land (Piss land), was stink. 
So now we're in sweet Arambol again, where for the next week we shall continue to master the art of doing as little as possible.
 
Now, check these out!
 
 
 We bought our first camera. Ah, bless.
 
 
Citeh.


This is often the backdrop to our evening meals. Boodiful.


This is actually when an Indian bus is NOT crowded. They hang out the windows when it is.


Evelina, looking simply divine.


The night market rooftop club. This is where shit gets dark.

This guy's got scale issues.

 
Mans was like bare playin' beach cricket, nah. Braappp!
 
 
Evelina took her eyes off her mango for 2 seconds and look what happened. Cheeky cow!
 
 
Many a morn have looked like this. Lakchita, the daughter to the owner of Santana's, terrorising us with her devilish foolery. She is a lof of fun though. Here's a few snaps of her in action:
 
 
 
 
 
Hahaha. God, this made us laugh.
 
 
We got all powder painted up for Holi. This is when we saw our reflection.
 
 
Keepin' it LE3.
 
 
Look at those faces.
 
 
It's party time, Baba.
 
Thankyou for reading peeps. Back soon!
 

Keralan life!

Okay, after some serious thinking we have finally decided to stay out longer. We couldnt really get used to the thought of going back to a cold Sweden in just over a week. For my part, I don't have uni until September so there's nothing really that I need to get back to. For James, on the other hand, staying out longer meant that he had to quit his job, which definitely wasnt an easy decision, considering how much he loves his job and his friends there, but after some time we realised that going back to Sweden in a week just doesnt make sense, we have to grab this opportunity, so, we are staying out. And it feels great! 
Right now the plan is to stay in India til the end of April and then go to Nepal and do some volunteer work until some time in June. How exciting!!!! Hurray!
 
It's been quite some time since we wrote, things (life) has come in between. But last time we posted we were in Ooty, after that we went to Cochin in Kerala. Hmm, cosy Cochin. A little fishing village with loads reminiscents from the colonizers, especiallyt the English and the Portugeese. Feels like we didnt do much, more than walking around basically. And EATING! Lovely lovely food!
 
After Cochin we went on a houseboat through the backwaters. Ah beauuuuutiful! And after our night at the boat/sauna we went to Varkala where we are now. Here in Varkla we're doing some serious chilling out, with the biggest news being that I've got a tan. And not just a reddish-pink kind of color, oh no, a proper tan. I am actually brown. Maybe not dark brown, but definitely brown. This has never happened in my life before. I wish those indian girls in Arambol who pointed out how pink I was, called me chicken lollipop and laughed, could see me now. 
 

Sunset juice in Cochin.
 
The big Chinese fishing nets you see everywhere in Cochin. The fishermen seems happy to show you how it works, and letting you help them. We did that and got after it asked for a small donation of 500 rupees... One night we bought fresh fish from the fishermen and went down to one of the restaurants nearby who cooked it for us! Wonderful it was!
We went to the island just outside Cochin one day to go to the beach. They had some weird sort of pony riding for adults going on, and the route seemed to be back and forth to where we were laying.
Our backwater houseboat! (or someone elses maybe, but they all look the same. Except that everyone else seemed to have sunbeds but us. On the other hand we had like ten plastic chairs, maybe they thought that would even things up...)
 
We stopped by to watch the fishing boats in a nearby village. 
Loads of fish! Probably 10 of those baskets in the boat. 
When we parked the boat they let us try to go in their small boat. Everyone has a boat around here and they are so used to it. We could barely look around without thining the boat would turn over, whereas they were like running in and standing in the boats. Anyways, we got to try to row for a bit, which we did and several times crashed in to walls, trees and peoples fishing nets, until they called us back. 
And we enjoyed yet another indian sunset.

After the backwaters we went down to Varkala where we have been just over a week now. This is the garden at our hostel, and yes, it is just so wonderful.
The sea here is so beautiful, and absolutely massive!
The beer is served in teapots so that the police wont find out and fine them for not having license. The police must think that their are a lot of tea drinking people here. 
On our way to one of the beaches, the more secluded one where you almost have the place for yourself. 
To get there you must first pass the ice cream temple.
To be able to enjoy the sunset.
Life here is not at all hard. 
 
 
And here's some pictures I meant to put up ages ago, but never had time to. But now! Oh, time is no longer a problem.
 
A park in Delhi. It is very important not to leave an ugly mark.
Us in the park, hopefully not leaving an ugly mark.
A house in Delhi. Hopefully with a competent person in front of it.
The toy train going up to Ooty. Bit more people than in the first class carriage. An adorable thing indian girls do is screaming their hearts out when you go through a tunnel. Like as it was a roller coaster. At first it's kind of fun, but I think we went through about 20 tunnels. In the end it wasn't as cute anymore.
The amazzzing view!
Hot man in front of astonishing view.
Life reflection moment.
Miniature train.
And monkeys!!
 
 
Turns out it was not only the trains that were miniature.
Oh yeah, the paddle boat!
 
The botanical gardens.
Where we met loads of cute green kids.
And saw boys playing.
James behind tree.
Me at look out point.
 
 
My arms after horse riding.
And more monkeys!
 
Will be better at updating, promise.
Cheers for reading!

ooty the beauty

INTENSE! That's how it has been the last few days. Last time we wrote we were in Agra, and yes, we did see the amazzzing Taj Mahal (there is absolutely no other whatsoever reason to go to agra) and oh yes, it is truly a wonder. A marvellous wonder. How we marvelled. And then we went to Delhi. Dont really know what to say about Delhi, its a big city, we basically just walked around at Connaught Place, the main tourist/western/rich-indian shopping place, built like a round-about, where you are guaranteed (guaranteed I tell thee!!) to get lost. Am sure Delhi is great in many aspects, but we were just so ready to head back south and didnt really have the will-power to go exploring, so when we headed for the airport the next day it just felt so so right. Oh yeah. Now we're in Ooty. Oh, Ooty. How lovely it is. Ooty is a hill station, about 2000 metres up and well cute! With a great deal of luck and persistency (and a nice little extra 500 rupees in the conductors pocket) we got the final two seats at the 5 hour toy train up here, and how mind-blowing it was! Yet again, we marvelled. The scenery up here is just astonishing, so diverse and green and plush and flowery and lovely. And the monkeys, not to forget! At one station where we stopped for a nice little bit of pakora and chai, the monkey army arrived. Hilarious. 
 
Anywayzz, we've been here like 3 days now and its been so great! We've been in the botanical garden, we've explored the artificial lake on a paddle boat (oh yeah) and we have been on a four hour horse ride, which made us unable to walk normally for a good few days. Yeah, it's been great, and it feels like we've done a lot so tomorrow we'll try to catch the toy train going back to head for Kerala the day after. Nice life. 
 
Okay, was just about to put up some pictures when the battery went... Heres the ones I got anyway:
 

Agra is not the greatest of cities...
 
But we followed the three wise men and reached the Taj
 
 
And we marvelled!
 
 
Massive it is!
 
And then we came to Delhi. I only have one photo of Delhi. Great one.
 
Then we went to Ooty and jumped on a couple of horses. The least lame photo of too many.
We passed the teaplantations

And we managed to get the toy train back down again. First Class! Very happy about that.
Very happy indeed.

Will try to do a proper update soon!

Cheers for reading!

JAIPZ'

 
Turns out that a diaper would have actually come in really handy in Udaipur.
 
But hey...that's a different story. 
 
Oh how the last few days have been full on. India is anything but easy at times. Especially the travelling. It can be seriously rough at times.
Me and Evelina left Udaipur last Tuesday night and took a gruelling 8 hour night train, in which people shouted and blew whistles(Why?) throughout pretty much the entire journey.Not to forget the crazy eyed, bogus policeman giving me evils. Who, might i add, had a funkin' rifle hanging off his shoulder. Classic India. 
We made it anyway and at 6 in the morning we finally arrived in Jaipur. Also known as 'The city of victory' or 'The pink city'. Yes, it's pink. But it's that kind of pink what yoh dolleh gets what yoh mam got yoh when she gets dead dirteh. There are hardly any sidewalks either which means we found ourselves walking on the roads half the time. And oh how they like to bezz it. We even ended up in Maccy D's a couple of times just to escape the madness. I'm having a reet moan here but the place really is India when it gets proper tough. You can't love em all, eh! Citeh. 
 
It's not all bad with Jaipz' though. We hired a rickshaw and went to an absolutely amazing place called "Amber fort'. A big, ancient, fort just out of town, built up on a massive hill side. The views from the top of it were stunning, as was the unbelievable amount of detail gone into pretty much every room you stepped into.It was magical stuff and definetly made it worth the trip. 
 
We now find ourselves in Agra, since arriving late last night after being stuck on the train for an extra 2 hours, just 10 minutes from our destination, for no apparent reason, only to be met off the train by a drunken rickshaw loon who went mental because we told him to lob on. Again, classic India. 
 
Right, enougth of the moaning. I bloody love India and so does Evelina and today we're off to see one of the 7 wonders of the world.
 
THE TAJ. 
 
In the meantime, slam your eye balls on these essential picz. 


A nice little walk way we found in the old part of town. 
 

Typical Jaipz' street life. 


Check that out. 
 
 
Oh dear.
 
 
The view over the old town palace and park.
 
 
Evelina found her star sign. 
 
 
As did manz. 
 
 
Amber fort. Look at that!
 
 
Citeh.
 
A section of the fort, called The Jai Mandir (Hall of victory). 
 
 
One of it's many windows.
 
 
We stuck around for sunset, which was well worth it.
 
 
Without a doubt, the highlight of the day. We found this dude strutting his stuff on one of the walls, on our way up to the Fort. 
 
 
What an absolute hero. Would you look at that face! 
 
 

Don't forget your diaper in Udaipur.

Oh kay. The weeks keep passing by way too quick here. Mumbai really treated us well. Despite all the madness of the city (or maybe because of it) we had a wicked time. The slum tour was mind-blowing and very impressive and the day after we went on a toy train up to the hill station of Matheran just outside Mumbai with loads and loads of monkeys! We didnt know what was to come when we called Hampi monkey town... James fed a monkey with some pieces of chocolate, dropping chocolate in the monkeys mouth kind of thing, monkey wasnt too impressed so after a while he simply just nicked the whole bar.
 
So yeah, after that we spend the last day chillaxin around Mumbai, bit gutted that the night club we had been looking forward to go to - Polly Esther, with afro wig waiters and Saturday Night Fever illuminated dance floor - was closed for renovations. But we pulled ourselves together, went for a drink at a weird place were president Clinton once were  to jump on a 17 hour train for Udaipur (or you-diaper as James likes to call it) the next day. Here in Udaipur it is all about the palaces and rooftops, and yes it is beatiful.We've been on a boat and to the city palace museum - good. Today we feel a bit out-palaced though and probably not gonna do much. The traffick here, as everywhere in India, is mad! The roads and lanes are so narrow, but despite that and the people, cows, donkeys and the occasional monkey people still drive like it is a matter of life or death. 
 
Tonight we're taking the train to Jaipur (pink city) which is said to be one of the most chaotic places in India. Great!
 
 
In the need of a beer.
Jimmy boy found his jimmy boy.
 
found a park in mumbai for some proper napping.
 
considering to buy a pair of "rainbans"
 
busy on the train back from the slums.
neighbour lads playing.
 
Advertising Lonely Planet.
 
Toy train!
we were high up.
interesting surroundings.
happy travellers.
 
 
James and monkey at look out point.
 
monkey babies!
 
James on train.
 
Sunset from train.
James was gutted when he realised his newly bought Casio is a Gasio. GUTTED.
 
but cheered up when we found Flash chocolate.
 
Balcony life in Udaipur.
 
Shoe guy painting my shoe in fish shit while delighted to be photographed.
 
checking the water.
 
photo with man in red.
Nice.
We took the boat and it was windy.
 
 
 
Luckily, James felt freaky fresh!
Stopped over at an island.
which basically was a(nother) palace.
 
with elephants.
and crocodiles.
when we went back James found a new friend.
 
and got home sick. Still straight from L.C.
 
 

MUMBAI

Oh.
 
Yeah.
 
It's been one hell of a week, but we've finally made it to the big boss of India's cities.MUMBAI. The only place on earth, outside of Leicester, where the people still dare to dream.
 
We finally gathered the will to drag ourselves from the glorious beaches and just pure easeh life of Goa, last Friday morning. We took a 12 hour train journey from Thivim(or summat) that made about 11 stops before reaching Mumbai. It sounds like a mission but it really wasn't. Evelina's been on loads of trains in India before but it was my first time. It was mental to say the least. The sounds those things make, especially when you go through a tunnel, are nothing short of the gooleh train down at Billy Bates.All that's missing is a chav in a gorilla costume jumping out and squirting you in the face with a water pistol. Pure Citeh. Seriously though, those things are LOUD. There's also a lot of noise coming from inside the cabin's with what seemed like a constant flow of people selling food and drink. 'CHAI CH CH CHAI CHAI COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE CHAI CH CH CHAI CHAI' was the soundtrack to the whole journey. And funk me can those people shout. It was a great experience though. Loved every minute of it, nah.
 
We finally got to Mumbai at 10pm Friday night. What a smack in the face you get when you step into this city. Everybody says it but you can't understand it until you see it for yourself. You suddenly feel yourself get on your guard, because it really is naffin like the chilled pace of Goa we left just half a day ago. We made our way through the massive crownds of people and out of the station and jumped in a taxi to our hotel in Colaba.. I thought they drove like loons in Goa but this truely is LOON CITY when it comes to driving. When we got to our room, we decked out on the bed for a bit (much needed) and then headed out for some food. Where else but the famous, Leopold's. I'm reading Shantaram at the minute so it was very cool to be sitting in the very place that a lot of the book revolves around. These days it's something of a tourist attraction so they charge dollars for everything, but who gives a funk, it was full of interesting people to observe and they had beer. Citeh.
 
Since then we've been spending a lot of time exploring the streets and just soaking up the atmosphere on offer.We have big plans over the next few days boss, starting out with a visit to the slums this afternoon. It's gonna make Beaumont Leys look like Notting Hill. 
 
Here's a few piccehs of our adventures! 
 
A picceh from the temples of Hampi.
Lickle puppehs. 
You'd better believe it. 
r.
Evelina feelin loveleh
 
Cock's town. A classy joint.
Lunch on the train.
Our digs on the train.


Sexy food. 
A crowded Mumbai buss.
A typical busy street. 
 
This was hilarious. We walked into the Bank of India and ended up on our knees in front of a shrine. 
 
 
And we were made to sit beside the shrine. Very odd.
 
Speaks for itself, really. 
 
 
Sheer. As my main man, Dawson would say. 
 
 
 
Outside Victoria station. 
 
Sleepy taxi driver.
 
 
OOHYA BEAUTEH!!!

 
Ooh that looks luvleh...
 
Ah wuh right, it woh luvleh.
 
Che
 

Temple extravaganza!

We left inner-peace haven for arambol last saturday, and arambol is just lovely! 
 
Yoga paradise beach, doesnt look that great but it is!
 
sunset in mandrem.
 
where we stayed in mandrem. very interesting interior.(Sexy man not included)
 
arambol!
 
indian men playing at the beach
 
we had a nice pizza. Natural harvest material.
 
and watched the sunset
 
we went to hilltop - full on trance. so much fun!
 
liking the palm trees.
 
chillaxin' 
 
 
 
yet another sunset pic, cant get enough of them!!
 
after a few really good days in arambol we packed our stuff together and went on a night bus to hampi where we are now. this journey was really proof of how indian travelling is! first we thought like, yeah night bus to hampi is alright, only take 12 hours, its coool! when we got to the bus station there's a political thing going on with one man on a stage singing to an audience of no one, so the traffick is jamed and no buses are going from the usual place so our taxidriver drop us off where he thinks the bus should depart from (pure guessing), which we realised after some thinking and talking with a couple of spanish dudes cant be right so we went to another place where the spanes found their bus but we couldnt find ours. anyway, finally the bus basically found us and we got on it, and it was well nice!! like double bed super comfy, great. after a bit they told us that the engine is broke so we need to change the bus, but they will continue to drive this one for another six hours. so at two in the morning, well tired, we got off the bus to change for the other and i stepped in cow shit. it wasnt a great moment. but after me cleaning my shoe and foot off with whatever at hand we finally got on the bus and arrived in hampi yesterday morning. 
Hampi at dawn. Boodiful. 
after a quick snooze at our deluxe room we went on temple sightseeing, most likely much more intense than the intense silence concert. i thought it was a great idea to dress entirely in black of some reason. its not like its hot to walk around loads of stone in 35 degrees anyway..
 
giant stone ganesh!
 
big temple.
 
another big ganesh.
 
Monkey town.
 
So many monkeys...so little time.
 
bazaar and water supply - 16th century
 
i thought i saw a rat but it was only a squirrel. im cool with squirrels. 
another temple.
 
and another temple.
 
where we met a bunch of indian school girls who taught us to count to ten in hindi.
 
Well cute!
 
water for palace people.
queens bath.
 
we started to get tired.
 
but the monkeys woke us up!
can never have too much banana.
 
went in to another temple, got blessed and finally found inner peace.
 
very peaceful.
Very Citeh. 
peaceful sunset on boulder mountain. 
 
today we had breakfast with this view and in a few hours we'll head back to arambol. mmm, dear arambol.
 
 

no snow in goa

After a good few stressful and COLD weeks, i finally got to leave snowy sweden for glorious india. Its been so great to see what James have been up to the last few weeks, and i totally get why he has loved it. Vagator is amazing, great atmosphear and lovely people. Especially Jorgen and Emma of course, who left yesterday and we really are gonna miss! And Matt! James' friend, such a lovely guy! The three of us went out for a few drinks on Matt's last evening, where i complained about the beer to taste weird and being old, just for James to be told of by the staff that the date on the beer to be the manufacturing and not the best before date... But it was a great evening!  
 
We left to another beach yesterday which is mother-daughter-yoga paradise! Loads of tie-dye and inner-peacefulness going on here. Yesterday we passed some kind of yoga-choir, singing through the sunset. When we took out the zacappa for a drink on the porch (yes, we have a porch with our little hut where we stay, very nice!) i was thinking to myself how glad i was that noone else was out (probably meditating), otherwise we most likely would have gotten the evil eye and some swede (here's loads of swedes) to tell us to keep it down. I dont know about that. So we've decided to go to Arambol tomorrow, which i think is gonna be wicked! And we're also gonna go on the night market which i am well excited about!
 
Yeah, we really havent done too much during my first week, but thats really the whole point i think. The first few days for me was basically about laying on the beach, listening to stories about what they all had been up to before i came, and drinking whisky and rum for my cold to go away. I am cured now. But we took a few pics!
 
our room in vagator, about 15 minutes after i arrived.
 
Sophisticated Matt
 
Playing cards on moondance
 
Vagator Beach!
 
Cows chilling in the shade.
 
sunset - nice
 
Lovely Jorgen and Emma!
 
headless james reading behind giant glass.

Just call me Maxi.

What a week i've had. It feels like it's flown by but at the same time, feels like i've been here for ages. I suppose time really does fly when you've got a nappy on.(Only a few people will get that). I love that feeling of losing track of time. I've never experienced it like you do here. You'll often here someone asking what day it is and nobody has a clue what time it is. You check out the position of the sun to give you an idea. Pure old skool trickz. The majority of my week has been spent on the beach, chilling out. There's been a couple of perfect all day-ers, one day in particular was amazing. Me, Emma and Bert headed down to the beach at about 10 am for breakfast at Santana's beach hut, which is the usual hang out. I had a double espresso, 2 cheese and tomato toasts, pancakes with honey on and a pineapple juice.Twaz glorious i tell thee. After that i went for a morning swim and then lied down in the sun and listened to some tunes. We ended up staying there all day, finishing it off by putting our feet up with a couple of Kingfisher beers and watching the sunset. It was beautiful.
Beach life here, really is the shizz. People watching and animal watching have become my new hobby. You get all sorts down here, and some real odd jobs at that. It's mostly Russians, Swedes, Germans and Indians down on Vagator beach and you can mostly tell who's who just by the look of them. They go about there day in pretty much the same way though, just lazing around in the sun. There's one bloke down here, that you can't miss. He's buffed up like a WWF wrestler and he's covered in tribal tattoos from head to toe. He looks like some kind of mythical warrior, like he should be riding around on a panther with a massive sword on his back.
 
Probably German.
 
Citeh. The indian women who walk the beach trying to sell you stuff are intersting aswell. Like i said you have to pretty much ignore them or they won't leave you alone. One of them freaked me out yesterday when she suddenly changed her voice into a full on cockney accent. Some proper Oliver twist shit. 'Oh please mister, won't you buy something? Cheap as chips. Don't break me little 'art'. Auugghh it was spooky how good she was at it.
The animals are probably the most fun to watch though. I saw a cow that had decided to lay down on someone's beach towel the other day. The bloke tried to get rid of it by waving in it's face and trying to bribe it with biscuits or something. Dreaming mate. He wasn't going anywhere. Haha FACE. The dogs on the beach move in packs and they've got their own territory which they take very seriously. If a dog strays onto another pack's turf then he'd better get running. I've seen that a few times actually. THe highlight of the week though has to be the bull fight that kicked off about 20 metres infront of me, t'other day. The bigger of the two forced the other one into a tree trunk and that was that. Madcap.
 
Apart from doing funk all on the beach we have been out a few times. We went to a full on beach rave on Tuesday night in a town called Anjuna. It was how i imagined it would be. Strictly goa trance and loads of people mashed on hash. It was a right laugh, i danced on the beach with a group of Indian lads. I wish i'd filmed the funkers, they we're dancing like absolute loons! I'm sure they'll be more of those kind of nights though.
Last night we went to a night market in a town called Arambol. It was amazing. It was built up on different levels, almost like some kind of arabisn town, and packed with stalls, full of clothes,jewellry,spices etc...Bert bought himself a chess board, which he had to bargain down the price for, for a few minutes. 1400 ruppees was the final price but i reakon he could have gotten it for less. Pure Bert.
 
In one week, Evelina will be here which is funkin wicked!!! I can't wait to have her here.
 
Citeh.
 
Here are some piccehs.
 
 
Chilling with a sprite on a rooftop bar.
 
 
A gecko that lives in my room.
 

Bull fight. BADASS.


Chikitta. A cute little kid that runs around Santana's bar. She's well cheekeh.
 
 
Indian schoolgirls. There were hundreds of them!
 
 
Indian schoolboys playing footeh. FOOTEH. 
 
 
A goan sunset.
 
 
Arambol night market. Amazing!
 
 
Loveleh.
 
 
Spiceh.
 
 
Just call me Maxi. The best of the worst deoderant's i could get hold of. It's so bad.
 
 
Cheers for reading!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Easeh life.

Another glorious day in Goa. The weather here is perfect. It's been clear blue sky and about 30 degrees, since we arrived. Quite a difference to the sub zero temperatures back in Sweden.You can really see what a positive effect it has on the people here aswell. No one stresses about anything (unless they're driving). Naturally, having a toke on your chillum after breakfast is gonna help aswell, but even those who don't smoke are just as laid back. Even the dogs, cats, pigs and cows that roam the sleepy streets of Vagator spend most of their time chillaxin' in the sun.a. You sort of lose track of what day it is let alone what time it is. Probably because you just do what ever you want, when ever you want.I reakon this might be the perfect place to start off your travels around India. Citeh.

On sunday night, Me, Emma and Jorgen (Bert) went out for dinner with their friend, Kent. He's from Dalarna but i think he sounds like he's from Finland. After some food and some rank booze called 'coconut fenny', we headed off to a trance party at an outdoor rave place called 'Hill top'. Welcome to the 90's. The trees were painted in fluorescent paint, people were swinging around rope that was on fire and the crowd was mostly a mixture of young indians dancing like absolute loons and middle aged white hippies strolling around as if they'd seen it all a million times. It was exactly what i expected. Their was a band playing instrumental trance, which was wicked innit.I think it was a one off though and it will all be electronic from here on in. We'll see tonight anyway, when we go to another party. The place closed af 10pm. What the funk!? that's the law around here though, these days. No massive parties after 10pm. So we headed to a town called Chapora. According to Jorgen, it's freak central. Freakeh. I saw a few odd balls but nothing crazy. Crazeh.

The morning after, we got up early and went down to the beach. We had breakfast in a beach hut, looking out over the sea. Twas paradise i tell thee. The lad who works there evn calls Jorgen, Bert,Which is his middle name, Just to wind him up. Or he calls him cocunut head. I like him already.We spent the whole day there, sunbathing, eating, drinking, reading, swimming, getting a massage. Pure beach life. A young woman approached me, tring to sell me beads and sheets. She told me she liked my white chicken skin. Easeh.
All the women trying to sell stuff have exactly the same lines.Emma falls for it everytime and they don't leave her alone. You have to be a bit harsh with them otherwise they'll never give up. Didn't mind getting the massage though. You get loads of people trying to sell you shit here. I needed some sandals so i approached a woman at a market stall. I asked her how much and she said '350 ruppees'. I said i'd give her 50 and she laughed out loud and said 'what you wanna buy, choclolate?. Ha! Evelina told me she loves haggling with people over here and i see why. I reakon we'll have a right laugh buying stuff.I settled up my bill before i headed back from the beach and it came to about 50kr for breakfast, beers and lunch. Riddick. You can't get a pint in Bishops for that.

Jorgen has developed an Indian accent. In fact, it started as soon as we touched down in Mumbai. He sounds like an absolute goon. I told him to pack it in but he said he can't help it. Haha worroh wolleh. I feel well at home with Indian people which is definetly because i grew up in Citeh.

Citeh.
 
Here's a few photos!
 
 

 
Mumbai airport. Preddy dang modern actually.
 
 
The taxi ride from Goa airport to Vagator. Check out that carpet roof!
 
 
THe view from the first hostel we stayed at. Well nice.
 
 
My current bathroom. Mys pys. My mum wouldn't even step into this room.
 

The restaurant at Moondance hostel, where we're staying.
 
 
Emma and Bert on our way to the beach. Dudes.
 
 
The path down to the beach.
 
 
A smokey jungle hut.
 
 
A beach pooch, chillin in the shade.
 

Cows, eating...something.



A typical beach shack.
 
 
Bert. What an absolute Bert.
 
 
It took me at least half a day before i realised thes'e weren't original Levi's.
 
 
A typical street in Vagator.
 
Cheers for reading, who ever you are! More to come soon. This blogging lark is a reet hoot.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Same, same but very different.

I've only been here for 2 days but i've already got so much to say.After an intense 24 hours travelling (Pure knack central) starting of in Copenhagen, flying to Istanbul, then to Mumbai and then a final flight down to Goa, me and my mates, Emma and Jorgen, finally made it to Vagator at about 4pm on Friday. We had rooms booked at a hostel, that i cant remember the name of, but it was an interesting place to say the least. My room was basically a concrete box, about 10 square metres, with a tin roof. There was a shizz load of ants all up one wall, a few mosquitos flying around and a funk load of Jurassic park sounds from above the roof. NOTHING can prepare you for that. I remember asking Evelina if you get a tv in most of the hostels and receiving a look of up-most pity. My idea of how this place would look was well off. So after about 10 minutes of struggling with with the mixture of jet lag and a sudden realisation that i was actually in India.(for the next 3 months!) i thought 'funk it' and embraced it. Since then it's been brilliant. After one night we then changed hostel to go and live at a place called 'moon dance'. This place is much better, and the restaurant does wicked food. So i reakon i'll stay here for a while until i'm a bit more adjusted to everything. There isn\t much to do here apart from laze around, go swimming in the sea, read, drink, eat and generally do funk all, all day. Which is the point! And exactly what i want for a week or two. I reakon i'll become more adventurous as the days go by and check out some other places, but the tempo is gonna stay the same. Citeh.

I've already had some funny incounters with some Indian people. A dude on the buss at Mumbai airport, sat dwon next to me and instantely asked 'Where are you from?' I told him i was from England but i live in Sweden.He looked utterly confused.He asked me where i was going and i told him that i was going to Goa, and then in a couple of weeks, my girlfriend is gonna join me and we're gonna travel up north.To which he replied 'You go north? Then you have to buy the woolies!' Meaning get a jumper. Haha, love it. The taxi driver was also a character. He drove like an absolute mentalist. We must have had 10 near misses with oncoming traffic, but he knew what he was doing. I loved it, it woh like guin on nemesis wunt it. At one point he drove past a donkey that someone had covered with bright clothing and shouted 'Hey, look, it is your friend! All dressed up nice for you!' hahaha too funny.

I'll put a few photos up in the next couple of days. Right, time to get bomfunked.


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