R A J A S T H A N

Rajasthan

We headed out of Delhi after an awful day as Dad had been mugged on the  
metro. A gang of horrid men got onto the metro in rush hour and  
push and shoved whilst stealing his phone and wallet. We spent the  
rest of the evening running around Delhi's police stations trying to  
report the incident and get a crime number. Every police station was  
the wrong one!
Eventually we made it to the train  station, just in time to get onto  
our overnight train to Ranthambore.
We decided to leave all the bad feelings in Delhi and start to begin to  
enjoy India again!
Ranthambore was brilliant. We stayed in a lovely Safari hotel called  
The Raj Palace and spent the early mornings and evenings searching for  
the famous Indian tiger.
Our first safari was exciting, we saw lots of deer, beautiful  
peacocks, crocodiles and monkeys but no tiger!! Although many people were  
disappointed I still had a lovely day as the tiger reserve was so  
amazing- it was stunning with so much wildlife to see and hear!

The next day we set off for another safari hoping this time we would  
spot a tiger. Berwyn bought a safari hat and we nick named it the  
"lucky hat" hoping it would help our luck out!
A few minutes into the park I spotted something on the hill about 20  
metres away from us, I looked again and saw it was a leopard!! I  
couldn't believe my eyes, I quietly had to tell the driver and  
everyone couldn't believe it! The guide said they never see leopards  
as the were so shy. Better still the Leopard was having dinner! He had  
blood dripping around his mouth whilst chewing on a huge deer! I was  
happy to have spotted it!

A few moments after, we spotted a jeep who told us they'd seem a tiger!  
So we quietly rushed off to find it. And we did. Such a beautiful  
India Tiger lying amoungst the luscious long grass also eating her  
kill- another deer!

We waited for ages just staring at the beauty. It was so exciting. She  
was so lazy- and didnt move from behind the grass for a very long  
time. But when she did it was worth the wait, and we all got our  
special photograph!
Ever since that day we will always called Berwyns hat the lucky hat!  
We tried telling the other local guides that we had seen a leopard  
too, but they wouldn't believe us!

The next morning we got up very early and headed into the park to try  
and see the tigers on their morning trip to the lake. We all thought  
we'd never beat yesterdays experience. Until we heard the loud cry of  
the deer which apparently means 'danger' and a few moments later the  
most beautiful tiger came strolling down the path! Metres away from  
the vehicle. We were completely stunned.

We had spoken to many people staying around the park and they hadn't  
seen a tiger- so we felt so so lucky- coming all the way was so worth  
it. A highlight of the entire trip.

Next stop Udiapur- this place was one of my favourite Indian towns. It  
even reminded me of somewhere in Europe. Its full of tiny little  
streets with towering pretty buildings. Lots of lovely cafes,  
restaurants and shops.
We stayed in a very unusual Heritage Hotel which was stunning. Full of  
amazing furniture and incredible art work.
Mum and I had some art lessons- such a lovely way to spend our time.  
The teacher was fantastic! I did 2 silk paintings, an elephant and a  
peacock. I'm even impressed with them- which shows how good the  
teacher was because I'm the most unarty person!

Jodhpur
The Blue City.

Here Mum and I got very ill. We caught a horrid sickness bug which  
many others also had.
So unfortunately we missed out on quite a lot here.
On our last day we mannaged to visit the incredible Fort and complete  
the audio tour. However we were still very weak and I begun to get an  
ear infection!
So Jodhpur for me wasn't a pleasant place to be. There was lots more  
to explore that I missed out but I felt the overall city was very  
dirty and stinky and I was glad to be leaving!

We reached Jaiselmer after 7 hours on a local bus.
Jaiselmer was incredible. We arrived to the fort as we were staying  
inside. They call it the golden city. The fort it beautiful and looks  
like something out of an Indian fairy tale!
Jaiselmer is so close to Pakistan and surrounded by desert hence the  
golden city!
The fort is full of great tiny shops selling leather everything!
At this point mum and I were slowly starting to feel better even  
though I was still deaf! So we decided to arrange a Camel Safari- we  
drove for hours in the back of a jeep with our turbans on to protect  
us from the sand and to look the part of course!
Just before we met our Camels a sand storm begun- very exciting, sand  
was everywhere!

We got onto our Camels and went on our Safari through the Rajasthany  
Desert. It was wonderful!

 I loved it.

 It was so relaxing and a lot  more comfortable than it originally looked 

and the guides were great.
When we reached our base we drank sandy chi and waited for our camp  
fired cooked dinner. Considering what they had to cook with they  
did pretty well!

Jaipur The Pink City
We arrived into Jaipur at 4:30am after another overnight journey.  
However this one was a lot more stressful. We booked our tickets  
online but were on the waiting list. We were told that its fine and  
that we would get tickets on the day. However only Berwyn was allocated  
a bed and the three of us were ticket-less. Kind of stupidly we all  
boarded the train hoping that the TT (ticket master) would find us  
something. He did up until midnight. Then we were official bed/ 
homeless. It wasnt the best experience as the train was jam packed  
with nowhere for us to even sit. Luckily a man who was high up in  
the Indian Army was in Berwyns carriage he took pity on us and demanded to  
the guard that we were all allowed to pile in the tiny carriage!  
Berwyn gave mum and I his bed and he and Dad tried to sleep on the floor!
So our first day was rather weary- we still made the effort to see yet  
another fort!
The evening was perfect. Mum took us to Rambar Palace where she once  
stayed during a grand tour of India with my Aunty.

The palace was stunning. We arrived just on time as there were 6  
beautiful elephants all decorated on their faces with pretty chalk  
colours. There was also lots of horses and Camels but I don't notice  
them when Elephants are around!!
That really made Jaipur brilliant as we were leaving for a train at 3  
and at 4 our huge elephant festival begun- we were so gutted to be  
missing it. So thanks to mum taking us to the palace we still saw some  
Elephants in Jaipur!

We boarded the train to Agra and said goodbye to Rajasthan! It was  
definately worth going to, the people are very friendly and each place  
was so different from the last.

We woke up very early in Agra to begin our walk towards the Taj Mahal.  
The 8th March is a very special day in Northern India as its the Hindu  
festival of Holi. They celebrate by throwing coloured powder/paint all  
over eachother. It was amazing to see- bright colourful powder  
everywhere... On the people, dogs, tuk tuks and even some on us!  
Berwyn was got by a child using his water pistol!

The Taj Mahal was incredible just how I imagined it. It was not a let  
down at all. The only irrating thing was our bossy tour guide who kept  
making us pose for cringing photos- mum and I were in no mood for a  
photo shoot at 7am !

After leaving the wonder of the world we headed back to Delhi in a  
taxi and our driver was a ray of lovely colours!!

The journey back to Delhi saw the Holi festival in a different light.  
We lost count of the car crashes we witnessed and we even saw a woman  
beating her husband to death on the side of the road. For the festival 

and for some even everyday they make home brewed alcohol which in fact poisons  
them and even kills them. Many men were lying on the road side truly  
out of it. And the time was about 11am!
So arriving into Delhi safely was a huge relief as I would say 80% of  
the drivers were drunk!

We spent the last few days in Delhi getting ready to all go our  
separate ways. Dad worked all weekend in the hospital doing training,  
while we tried to get mums train journey to the Himalayas all booked.  
On the sunday mum got her train from new Delhi to Rikikesh where she  
was going to the Ashram! She was meant to by going with my Aunty, but  
unfortunately my great uncle is very unwell and she looking after him.  
Mum was unsure whether to just go home and visit the ashram another  
time. However we all encouraged her to go- knowing she would regret  
not going once she was back home. So she did it! We were all so proud  
of her- travelling alone in India is hard enough let alone visiting an  
Ahran for the first time and staying for 2 weeks. She was up everyday  
at 5am for prayers and Yoga!

On Monday Dad flew back to England, whilst Berwyn and I were meant to be  
flying to Sri Lanka. Kingfisher airline had cancelled our flights  
numerous times. We eventually were reschelduled, however we went via  
every Indian city possible! 15 hours later we arrived into Colombo -1  
one bag!!



Sent from my iPod

I N D I A part two.

Cochin
We reached Cochin by a local hot and sweaty bus. The bus station was 

big and run down.As we were looking for an STD (phone box not  
sexually transmitted desease) I spotted a man I thought I new. He  
stared at me and then shouted 'Lauren'! It was a friend of my parents.  
Sivan- I had met him on my other trips to India. It was so strange to  
bump into him, Cochin is such a huge busy city. Sivan is a great man,  
from an extremely poor village. He met my parents and aunty 15 years  
ago on a train. Since then Sivan has done so well and started his own  
website company! He really is the original white tiger! He proudly  
showed us around his new office and we had a great laugh as he blared  
out ABBA from his new laptop!
Later that day we checked into Hotel Princess in Fort Cochin. The room  
was tiny and pretty dull, it was definately over priced. The next day  
we woke up feeling like the place was haunted. We both had experienced  
very strange dreams and had seen things in the room...
Whilst packing up our stuff as we had decided to look for a better  
room, cock roaches had appeared from underneath the bed, so we were  
happy to be going!
After checking into a cheaper and far better place, we went for a long  
walk around Cochin fort area.
We went and observed the old traditional Chinese fishing nets. Which  
are great to see but unfortunately won't be around for much longer as  
their not economically efficent, as it take four man to lift one out  
of the water!
We wondered along the water front and saw the Jewish Synogue and Dutch  
Palace.
Cochin had changed such a lot since I was last there 20 years ago. The  
fort area was far more up market with lots of swanky restaurants and  
art galleries. It great to see such a lovely place being appreciated  
by so many travels, and its a great way to for the lives of the locals  
to improve.
 From researching a little about the state of Kerala, it tells us that  
Kerala is the most educated state in the whole of India. The lives of  
its people also have a better quality of life and live upto 10 years  
longer than the average Indian. However a few years back there weren't  
enough jobs available for the educated people. This led to depression,  
alcoholism and Kerala being the state with the most suicides. However,  
thanks to Tourism hundreds of new jobs have been created and all the  
entrepreners have their chance to make great business.

After spending a few days in Cochin we took the ferry across (2.5  
rupees/3p) the estury to Ernkalum Junction train station.
There we got on the train foe Calicut. We had pre booked our seats on  
Cleartrip so we didnt have to worry about about having to lean against  
the toilet this time!
The jouney was great- I was getting very excited as we were making our  
way to Calicut as my mother was flying from England the following day.
We took advantage of all the sellers on the train selling delious  
snacks. We had plenty of Chai and coffee to drink, and we were  
adventurous enough to risk all the tasty food- however we had no clue  
what we were eating!
The next day we woke up early. I could hardly wait to meet my mother.  
I hadn't seem her for six months. We have such a close relationship so  
being so far away from her for such a long time was quite challenging.
We made it to the airport on a local bus, that way we saved about 350  
rupees. We checked that her flight had landed and we headed to the  
arrivals gate. I love observing all the families waiting for their  
relative to arrive. I was wonder how long they have waited to see one  
another and try snd figure out their story. The arrivals gate is  
always a happy place to be. I only ever go when I'm meeting someone  
close to me.
We waited quite a while, lots of kind Indians came over and chatted to  
us. They all wanted to know who we were waiting for and where we were  
going next. Its so nice when the locals just want a friendly chat and  
aren't trying to you something!
Soon after, mum arrived, it was so lovely seeing her, I gave her the  
biggest hug.
We got a pre paid taxi to drive us to Wayanad. The journey was hectic,  
up the wining mountain roads, mum hadn't adjusted to the Indian roads  
yet so was gasping everytime our driver over took on a hair pin bend!
Eventually we arrived in Kalpata, a tiny town in the district of  
Wayanad.
We stayed in a hotel called 'Palm Royal'. It was a really nice hotel  
for Berwyn and I as the standard was a lot higher than our usual  
budget accommodation.
The next day we figured out the local bus routes and finally reached  
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctury. We had a great adventure trip through the  
jingle in a jeep! We saw lots of wild elephants, so it was really  
exciting!

The next day we arrived a taxi to take is to our next destination. We  
wanted to go by bus and save lots of money but because some roads were  
through the jungle and passed through 3 India states, Kerala, Karnatka  
and Tamil Nadu, so there wasn't a bus route.
The jouney was stunning- well worth the money. It was like a tour of  
India's finest countryside. We pottered through the Nilgiri Hills  
amongst the tea and coffee plantations.
  We even came across some elephants!


I had visited Mudamalai 10 years ago with my family and had one of the  
best times of my life- so I was so excited to return.
Mudumalai is 322 square kilometres of jungle which has one of the  
largest populations of elephants in India.
We stayed in a lovely jungle resort called Safar Land. It was perfect.  
We did a morning trek to the mountain point. Unfortunately the morning  
mist was heavy and we didnt spot anything but we did burn a few  
calories!
The afternoon we spent sitting my the beautiful river and mum and I  
wrote a poem!
Sitting on an Indian rock,
Forgetting about the English clock,
Watching the river water rush,
This really is what I call lush.
Listening to the chirping birds,
Dreaming of seeing the elephant herds.
Crouching under the the Nilgiri Hills,
For just that moment time stood still.

Later that day we went on a Safari in some sort of bus... It wasn't  
that great and we didnt see hardly anything. However afterwards we  
headed down the river where the local mahouts had kept their elephants  
for the night. So we took lots of lovely pictures and watched the  
local kids wash and play fright in the river while their parents did  
the daily washing.

The next day we arrived in Ooty. Ooty was found on the early  
nineteenth century by the British. It was a lovely place. High up on  
the Nilgiri Hills. Perfect temperature, hot in the daytime and nice  
and cool on the evenings- no wonder the British wouldnt leave! It was  
a delightful town- growing potatoes, tea, coffee and fruit.
We visited the Ooty Tea Museum and Factury. It smelt delious! And at  
the end we were even more happier to discover they were selling  
Homemade Chocolate.... Although it tasted rubbish!! Just like fake  
advent calandar chocolate!!
The following morning we boarded The Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway. It  
looked like a tiny toy train.
Although there was no room for anyones luggage and it was possibly the  
most uncomfortable train we had ever been on it was still very fun!  
And of course the views were pretty spectactular!
We stopped off at the stunning hill stations along the way and stocked  
up on our delicious Chi.

A few hours later we arrived in Coinbatore. A very busy industrial  
city. We visit this city every time we come to the motherland, because  
our family friends live here. Aunty Preetha, Uncle Pradip and Pranaya.
Unfortunately Pradip was away working but we were still met by Preetha  
and Pranaya.
We had a lovely day with them. They look us to a really posh and  
delicous restaurant for Lunch. After lunch we drove for a while into  
Coinbators suprisingly beautiful countryside. Finally we arrived to  
Isha Ashram and Yiga Centre. It was a very special place. We went into  
the Temple and got blessed with fire and flowers. We dipped our feet  
in the blessed enery pool, it was magical in there. Then we went and  
meditated in the golden done. Which is made out of balancing bricks  
and no cement. It is meant to survive a earth quake. We
Aunty Preetha  bought me a strength band. She tied it around my left  
wrist. I hope it lasts forever.
That night we got our first Indian night bus with my Mother! I was do  
impressed she was fine with it. It was a luxury bus though!
We arrived in Pondicherry at 4am. Luckily our hotel let us sleep in  
the lobby ss it was far to early to check in.
Pondicherry is a town on the east coast of Indian- it is very popular  
with tourists as parts of the town are French. So has lots of little  
bakeries and some posh European restaurants. The promonard is nice and  
clean and becomes really busy with the locals in the evening. Behind  
the expensive sea front area, are many back roads full of homeless  
Indians. The most we have seen after being on India for over a month.  
There wasn't much begging but you couldn't help but notice the  
families including children and babies sleeping near the awful  
stinking canals.
My Dad met us in Pondicherry. It was a  great reunion after such a  
long time.
The next day we visited a Leprocy project that my patents had been  
working with. My dad went to do some training and mum Berwyn and I  
just had a tour of the project and saw all the fantastic work FECT had  
been doing.  In India Leporasy is something that local people don't  
fully understand due to the lack of education- so they are freightened  
of the people who suffer with the disease. They don't want them in the  
village and they can't even enter the buses.
An extremely kind couple who began FECT went around the villages and  
started collecting all the people that had been abandoned. They  
brought them back to their own home. It started with a shed type  
building in the garden and now with the funding they had recieved they  
have made the 50 lepers a beautiful home/hospital. It was so great to  
see what they had achieved. Their next step is to use the roof of the  
building for childrens after school clubs- and there was even talk of  
an orphanage.
The next day we headed to Prangapetiti for the day. This was a village  
where I had done some volenteering work with my friend carl a few  
years ago. It was so great to visit the people who I lived and worked  
with again.