"Giselle's kidneys hurt, so does her leg and her scarf keeps falling off and it apparently is all my fault, what a poo head." Quote from Alicia's diary.
Giselle's paranoia is slowly growing. She seems to have the need to jump up every morning and run in her mummy liner across the room to look through the eye piece. I'm not sure what she is expecting to see. But i've decided just to leave her to it.
Last night we enjoyed watching ice age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Giselle pointed out the strong likeness between me and the character Sid. It was uncanny.
Today we leave for Pushkar YAY, i am not upset in the slightest to be leaving Jaipur, sorry just too many annoying people about. We caught a public bus to Ajmer (we have decided we like public buses and there a lot cheaper). As soon as we stepped of the bus a man rushed up to us, "Pushkar" I nodded, "come,come with me", we said no and that we were catching a bus. "no, no the buses to Pushkar don't run from here, i will take you in my rickshaw". Giselle looked at him like he was stupid and said "yes they do, thank you" and walked in the direction of the buses. It didn't take long for us to find a man shouting Pushkar repeatedly at the top of his voice out of a bus. The journey was very cramped but we were in a jolly mood and it was only for half an hour.
On the bus we met a lovely German man who told us that his hotel was rubbish but walked us to the main road through Pushkar where he said we would find lots of hotels. Walking through the street we noticed a few things, firstly lots of tourists secondly no rickshaw drivers !! Plodding along minding our own business,this middle aged bold man with a strong London accent came out of nowhere. "You leaving or just arriving?" we told him we were arriving. He was stood next to a German girl who looked around our age. They both excitedly told us that they were in a guest house that was really good and cheap. The Londoner told us he would walk us there. We followed him despite only just meeting him and feeling a little paranoid. He was right the guest house was really nice and cheap.
The Guest house was called Maruda Guest house and was owned by an oldish man who had amazingly big glasses and even more than most Indians liked to waggle his head around. But the guy we saw the most of was called Bublua and was around mine and Giselle age and was lovely.
Later that evening we bumped into the Londoner and German girl again who introduced them selves as Steve and Vera. We spent the evening with them in a great restaurant called 'real out of the blue' you can't go to Pushkar and not go there. Also met one of the waiters called Sunny, the best way I can describe him is imagine an Indian version Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and that's close to what Sunny was like. We think he had potentially had had to many bhang lassies for a life time.
There was some sort of festival on tonight but my tummy was feeling a little iffy so i went to bed. Giselle how ever stayed up on the roof top and saw a shooting star :( . We also got told that some people get stuck in Pushkar, and that the guy in the room next to us has been here for 2 months. It's nice but small and the lake is no way as pretty as Phewa Tal in Pokhara, or the mountains for that matter. There are two cool looking mountains (maybe hills) that have temples on them, i think me and Gis are going to get up early one day and climb it.
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Monday 25 April 2011
"Nice Moustache" (4th April)
Woke up with a big blister on the bottom of my foot. It hurts. For along long time I couldnt find the first aid kit. We both sat on the bed wanting to blame and murder the other person. Admittedly the first aid kit was meant to be in my rucksack but in my defence i was really quite ill when we left Agra and just shoved everything i could find in it.
After a long stressed morning we found it under the pillow on our bed "see it wasnt in my rucksack" I joked. Though it seems we didnt bother investing in blister plasters. "We decided it was a con and that we could just use normal plasters" Giselle reminded me. Ohhh stupid past me.
I don't think i ever bothered mentioning this in my previous blogs but while we were in Nepal people kept on calling me 'Sir', now i didnt think it was personally aimed at me, but the longer i stay here the more concerned i get that they may think im actually a man.
Hobbling through Jaiper nice and sweaty and not feeling the most attractive i've ever felt. Two men in a rickshaw came and swerved past me, "Nice mustache! hahaha".......oh :( Giselle looked like it was the funniest thing anyone had ever said, EVER. Me on the other hand am now more paranoid by the day that my little moustache is more prominent than i would like it to be... it also put me in a foul mood.
Giselle was very excited about seeing the Observatory and it was very exciting. It was however very very sunny which meant i was practically forced to where my prescriptioned sun glasses which aren't the most fashionable thing to put on your face (I'm sure they made mustache look good though). "If you hold onto my arm you could look like a blind person" Giselle told me as though to make me feel better, thanx Gis, I stated that it would be pointles for a blind person to go to an Observatory.
We wondered around dotting from one bit of shade to the next. We also saw the largest sundial in the world, it was very big. We were looking at the last sun dial when two guys walked up to Giselle and asked for a photo, Gis clearly said one, they took it, then one of them put his arm round her, Gis wasn't impressed. They went away and then returned because the other one wanted a photo with her, she kindly said yes (I would of definitely yelled at them to leave me alone by now.) I left them to it. Then one of them asked for a kiss, Giselle said no, but he went to go kiss her one on the cheek anyway and tried to get a photo of it. Me being a big stress head yelled at them. "SHE SAID JUST ONE PHOTO!" then grabbed Giselle and we went. I'm certain the two guys hate me, but they were most definitely pushing their luck.
On the way back to the Hotel we passed a guy prodding man who was half slumped up against a wall and half laying on the ground. We didn't want to hang around as there was already a small crowed forming. The man on the ground had clearly past away. I didn't know the difference between a sleeping man and a man who had just died could be so different, but he was completely lifeless.
After a long stressed morning we found it under the pillow on our bed "see it wasnt in my rucksack" I joked. Though it seems we didnt bother investing in blister plasters. "We decided it was a con and that we could just use normal plasters" Giselle reminded me. Ohhh stupid past me.
I don't think i ever bothered mentioning this in my previous blogs but while we were in Nepal people kept on calling me 'Sir', now i didnt think it was personally aimed at me, but the longer i stay here the more concerned i get that they may think im actually a man.
Hobbling through Jaiper nice and sweaty and not feeling the most attractive i've ever felt. Two men in a rickshaw came and swerved past me, "Nice mustache! hahaha".......oh :( Giselle looked like it was the funniest thing anyone had ever said, EVER. Me on the other hand am now more paranoid by the day that my little moustache is more prominent than i would like it to be... it also put me in a foul mood.
Giselle was very excited about seeing the Observatory and it was very exciting. It was however very very sunny which meant i was practically forced to where my prescriptioned sun glasses which aren't the most fashionable thing to put on your face (I'm sure they made mustache look good though). "If you hold onto my arm you could look like a blind person" Giselle told me as though to make me feel better, thanx Gis, I stated that it would be pointles for a blind person to go to an Observatory.
We wondered around dotting from one bit of shade to the next. We also saw the largest sundial in the world, it was very big. We were looking at the last sun dial when two guys walked up to Giselle and asked for a photo, Gis clearly said one, they took it, then one of them put his arm round her, Gis wasn't impressed. They went away and then returned because the other one wanted a photo with her, she kindly said yes (I would of definitely yelled at them to leave me alone by now.) I left them to it. Then one of them asked for a kiss, Giselle said no, but he went to go kiss her one on the cheek anyway and tried to get a photo of it. Me being a big stress head yelled at them. "SHE SAID JUST ONE PHOTO!" then grabbed Giselle and we went. I'm certain the two guys hate me, but they were most definitely pushing their luck.
On the way back to the Hotel we passed a guy prodding man who was half slumped up against a wall and half laying on the ground. We didn't want to hang around as there was already a small crowed forming. The man on the ground had clearly past away. I didn't know the difference between a sleeping man and a man who had just died could be so different, but he was completely lifeless.
Sunday 24 April 2011
"You have nice boobs.....if thats alright" (3rd April)
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MUTI !
All the guys were out in force today. I think it took double the amount of time to get anywhere. "Would you like some chai with me?"..."You look like Shakira"..."You Swedish"..."Why do girls say no when they mean yes"..."Why are English people always in a rush"..."don't you want to learn about our culture and not just look at the buildings"... I could go on.
My favourite was a guy who started talking us."Your very pretty"..."thanx" I said (convinsing my self that he really meant it and didnt just say that to every girl he sees.) We walked a little bit more. "You have nice boobs"...Interesting...i'm going to admit i'm not used to some one being quite that forward. I just stared at him with what i imagine was a very confused and 'what's wrong with you' look. To which he replied in a slightly nervous voice "umm if thats alright"...my look just got more confused and intense. If thats alright !? he slowed down walking, I obviously was not giving him the response he was looking for.
The hawa mahal wasn't as good as i wanted it to be and people seemed more interested in taking a photo of me and giselle than the actual building anyway. We sat down in the shade drinking some nice cold water. YUM. Opposite us was a young guy sat by himself, looking hot and stressed, I had seen him earlier trying to tackle a bunch of rickshaw drivers. He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Me and Gis turned to each other, yep "He's been in India too long".
The City Palace was exciting and alot of it was in the shade YES! But it was ruined when we left to walk home and a rickshaw man wouldnt leave us alone. Giselle was far nice to him than i felt like being. He found it funny.
All the guys were out in force today. I think it took double the amount of time to get anywhere. "Would you like some chai with me?"..."You look like Shakira"..."You Swedish"..."Why do girls say no when they mean yes"..."Why are English people always in a rush"..."don't you want to learn about our culture and not just look at the buildings"... I could go on.
My favourite was a guy who started talking us."Your very pretty"..."thanx" I said (convinsing my self that he really meant it and didnt just say that to every girl he sees.) We walked a little bit more. "You have nice boobs"...Interesting...i'm going to admit i'm not used to some one being quite that forward. I just stared at him with what i imagine was a very confused and 'what's wrong with you' look. To which he replied in a slightly nervous voice "umm if thats alright"...my look just got more confused and intense. If thats alright !? he slowed down walking, I obviously was not giving him the response he was looking for.
The hawa mahal wasn't as good as i wanted it to be and people seemed more interested in taking a photo of me and giselle than the actual building anyway. We sat down in the shade drinking some nice cold water. YUM. Opposite us was a young guy sat by himself, looking hot and stressed, I had seen him earlier trying to tackle a bunch of rickshaw drivers. He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Me and Gis turned to each other, yep "He's been in India too long".
The City Palace was exciting and alot of it was in the shade YES! But it was ruined when we left to walk home and a rickshaw man wouldnt leave us alone. Giselle was far nice to him than i felt like being. He found it funny.
Not much happened today....but i still miss carlos now. (2nd April)
I realise I have missed out the 1st April, my bad im not sure what happened on that day but im guessing it wasnt that exciting.
I'm not sure what is wrong with the people at our hotel but so far no matter how much we try and make it easy for them to understand they still like to serve us stuff we havent ordered. They also keep offering us beer and their laundrey service.
After eating the breakfast (that was different to what we asked for) we headed into the city, very busy with the most rickshaw drivers ive ever seen. We told them we liked walking and they always replied "Yes, yes walking is good for the health".
We had planned to go to the City palace today but after getting into town we realised we still had our pen knife and bits on us which we didnt think we'd be able to take in with us. Instead we just wondered and looked in lots of shops. My favourite was a clothes stall which we had been yelled at to have a look at from the other side of the street. We thought why not and went to have a gander. The young guy who worked in the shop was called Carlos and was one of the funniest people ive met in India. I mean none stop laughing and was throwing high fives all over the place. We didnt buy anything from him in the end but did have a lovely time.
On our way back out the pink city (which isnt really all that pink) we went in search of a tasty dinner option. I mean there is nowhere to eat in Jaiper ! we bumped into a couple who were also having a similar problem.
Eventually found some where. WHoopps.... hmmm accidentally walked into a slightly pricey upper class restaurant. Ohwell we thought, lets just treat our selves. It was very tasty and there ice tea was the best.
We went home and watched Robo cop and robo cop 3 (dunno what happened to robocop 2)
I'm not sure what is wrong with the people at our hotel but so far no matter how much we try and make it easy for them to understand they still like to serve us stuff we havent ordered. They also keep offering us beer and their laundrey service.
After eating the breakfast (that was different to what we asked for) we headed into the city, very busy with the most rickshaw drivers ive ever seen. We told them we liked walking and they always replied "Yes, yes walking is good for the health".
We had planned to go to the City palace today but after getting into town we realised we still had our pen knife and bits on us which we didnt think we'd be able to take in with us. Instead we just wondered and looked in lots of shops. My favourite was a clothes stall which we had been yelled at to have a look at from the other side of the street. We thought why not and went to have a gander. The young guy who worked in the shop was called Carlos and was one of the funniest people ive met in India. I mean none stop laughing and was throwing high fives all over the place. We didnt buy anything from him in the end but did have a lovely time.
On our way back out the pink city (which isnt really all that pink) we went in search of a tasty dinner option. I mean there is nowhere to eat in Jaiper ! we bumped into a couple who were also having a similar problem.
Eventually found some where. WHoopps.... hmmm accidentally walked into a slightly pricey upper class restaurant. Ohwell we thought, lets just treat our selves. It was very tasty and there ice tea was the best.
We went home and watched Robo cop and robo cop 3 (dunno what happened to robocop 2)
Friday 22 April 2011
Jaipur - If i find out it was a monkey that messed with the TV signal im going to kill them all (31st March)
Last night was the worst night of the whole trip, woke up with a bit of a fever and spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Despite us finding a giant half eaten bug in there. We don't know what it was and worse what ate half of it, but it wasn't there when we arrived.
We considered canceling our bus and leaving for Jaipur once i was better but it would of been a waste of a lot of money and we wanted to try and find a cleaner hotel. The bus journey was surprisingly good and i wasn't ill at all, some one nice must of been looking down on me that day.
Jaipur was the most metropolitan city we had been to, with real cars !! Our bus pulled over for its last stop not in the bus station just to confuse us. Luckily Giselle had worked out where she thought we were and we headed of with out the aid of rickshaw drivers. Jaipur seems to be expensive. We settle for a hotel which has clean rooms and a TV YES ! ( Even in India its nice to sit down and watch a film occasionally)
Though to remind me i was still in India that evening half way through watching something the signal completely went. I sat and watched the black and white fuzzy screen cursing who ever had fucked with the signal. (Ill and feeling extremely sorry for myself).
Please Please take some time to read about Read International, if you think it sounds like a worth while charity a few pennies would really help as little or as much as you like thank you.
http://www.justgiving.com/Alicia-Silvester
We considered canceling our bus and leaving for Jaipur once i was better but it would of been a waste of a lot of money and we wanted to try and find a cleaner hotel. The bus journey was surprisingly good and i wasn't ill at all, some one nice must of been looking down on me that day.
Jaipur was the most metropolitan city we had been to, with real cars !! Our bus pulled over for its last stop not in the bus station just to confuse us. Luckily Giselle had worked out where she thought we were and we headed of with out the aid of rickshaw drivers. Jaipur seems to be expensive. We settle for a hotel which has clean rooms and a TV YES ! ( Even in India its nice to sit down and watch a film occasionally)
Though to remind me i was still in India that evening half way through watching something the signal completely went. I sat and watched the black and white fuzzy screen cursing who ever had fucked with the signal. (Ill and feeling extremely sorry for myself).
Please Please take some time to read about Read International, if you think it sounds like a worth while charity a few pennies would really help as little or as much as you like thank you.
http://www.justgiving.com/Alicia-Silvester
"What happens if i'm sick on the Taj Mahal?"......"They'll probably arrest you" (30th March)
Made it to Agra in one Piece, yessss. Though it seems something in the train was trying to eat me alive. My feet are covered in bites.
We booked into a hotel that had a nice view of the Taj Mahal and had some breakfast. I didnt end up finishing all of mine as i was put off by the two dead ants floating in my drink. I'm unsure how many I'd already drank.
We had decided we were only going to stay in Agra one night as this is what was advised in the blogs and the travelers we had spoken to.We regret this and think we could of stayed longer.
The Taj Mahal cut a massive chunk out of our budget but it was beautiful (750rs each). Unfortunately as soon as we had made it through the gates I felt reasonably ill. "What happens if I'm sick on the Taj Mahal?"...."They'll probably arrest you." I then proceeded to find the toilets.
Unfortunately for Giselle her trousers split due to all the sitting i was wanting to do. She later found a safety pin at the steps of the Taj. (She took this as a good sign). We ended up splitting up as i was spending alot of time in the toilets and Giselle was spending alot of time not sitting down.
The toilets were not the nicest, the taps didn't work but the floor was covered in water which just annoyed me. There was also a lady out side who I think was wanting me to pay, I'm not sure, I wasn't going to though it would of cost me a fortune, and there was a sign saying tourists didn't have to pay which i pointed at angrily as i left.
Me and Gis met up later, "I like the Taj Mahal" Giselle stated, "I like the toilets" I meant to say I like the dogs. Oh well, it had been a long day. That evening we watched the best bits of the cricket semi final, India against Pakistan, India won and there were a few fireworks. Well done India !
A young English man who was also watching the cricket broke one of the chairs when he sat on it which was pretty entertaining and me and Giselle had to refrain our selves from laughing to much.
The one thing I regret was not buying a mini Taj Mahal in a snow globe keyring. We joked about it but thought it may be a waste of our money (how wrong we were). We have been looking for two ever since.
We booked into a hotel that had a nice view of the Taj Mahal and had some breakfast. I didnt end up finishing all of mine as i was put off by the two dead ants floating in my drink. I'm unsure how many I'd already drank.
We had decided we were only going to stay in Agra one night as this is what was advised in the blogs and the travelers we had spoken to.We regret this and think we could of stayed longer.
The Taj Mahal cut a massive chunk out of our budget but it was beautiful (750rs each). Unfortunately as soon as we had made it through the gates I felt reasonably ill. "What happens if I'm sick on the Taj Mahal?"...."They'll probably arrest you." I then proceeded to find the toilets.
Unfortunately for Giselle her trousers split due to all the sitting i was wanting to do. She later found a safety pin at the steps of the Taj. (She took this as a good sign). We ended up splitting up as i was spending alot of time in the toilets and Giselle was spending alot of time not sitting down.
The toilets were not the nicest, the taps didn't work but the floor was covered in water which just annoyed me. There was also a lady out side who I think was wanting me to pay, I'm not sure, I wasn't going to though it would of cost me a fortune, and there was a sign saying tourists didn't have to pay which i pointed at angrily as i left.
Me and Gis met up later, "I like the Taj Mahal" Giselle stated, "I like the toilets" I meant to say I like the dogs. Oh well, it had been a long day. That evening we watched the best bits of the cricket semi final, India against Pakistan, India won and there were a few fireworks. Well done India !
A young English man who was also watching the cricket broke one of the chairs when he sat on it which was pretty entertaining and me and Giselle had to refrain our selves from laughing to much.
The one thing I regret was not buying a mini Taj Mahal in a snow globe keyring. We joked about it but thought it may be a waste of our money (how wrong we were). We have been looking for two ever since.
"Whats my name?...I dont' know my name"....."You can call me black...because im black! hahaha"......awkward laugh (29th March)
Today is our last day in Varanasi, we leave this evening for our first over night train ride to Agra, ahhh ! Hopefully we make it alive and with out getting our stuff stolen.
We managed to catch the sun quite a bit yesterday I'm guessing from our long walk. We spent most of the day on the roof top of our restaurant as we had to check out early and couldn't travel to far from our hotel. Sambo didn't seem to be working but another chatty waiter was. He had decided to nick name us Chocolate and Honey as we had ordered one chocolate and one honey pancake the night before. "Good morning Chocolate and Honey" he said cheerfully. After not believing we were sisters, then asking when our birthdays were and looking at our Zodiac signs (I had the same one as him which made him happy). He came out with "What's my name?....I don't know my name" me and Giselle looked at each other, I nearly asked him what he liked on his pancakes as this seemed to be how me and Gis got ours, but before I could he came out with "You can call me Black" me and Giselle unsure of what to do again looked at each other. He laughed out loud patted us both on the back and continued "because I'm black, hahaha"...(This reminded me a lot of Ishaw and his white trouser bad, white people good statement.)
Black seemed to find him self reasonably hilarious. I'm nearly certain if i called a black person Black in England I'd get punched, or at least called racist.
We found Sambo downstairs watching the cricket, we said our goodbyes and headed on our way. I think we upset our hotel because we refused to take there rickshaw as we new they were over charging us and we could get one cheaper. Later we found out they forgot to charge us for some of the food we had. Sorry guys we didn't intentionally rip you off.
On the train most of our carriage was full of tourists, we were sharing our section with two Turkish ladies and two Swedish girls.
Bye Varanasi till next time.
We managed to catch the sun quite a bit yesterday I'm guessing from our long walk. We spent most of the day on the roof top of our restaurant as we had to check out early and couldn't travel to far from our hotel. Sambo didn't seem to be working but another chatty waiter was. He had decided to nick name us Chocolate and Honey as we had ordered one chocolate and one honey pancake the night before. "Good morning Chocolate and Honey" he said cheerfully. After not believing we were sisters, then asking when our birthdays were and looking at our Zodiac signs (I had the same one as him which made him happy). He came out with "What's my name?....I don't know my name" me and Giselle looked at each other, I nearly asked him what he liked on his pancakes as this seemed to be how me and Gis got ours, but before I could he came out with "You can call me Black" me and Giselle unsure of what to do again looked at each other. He laughed out loud patted us both on the back and continued "because I'm black, hahaha"...(This reminded me a lot of Ishaw and his white trouser bad, white people good statement.)
Black seemed to find him self reasonably hilarious. I'm nearly certain if i called a black person Black in England I'd get punched, or at least called racist.
We found Sambo downstairs watching the cricket, we said our goodbyes and headed on our way. I think we upset our hotel because we refused to take there rickshaw as we new they were over charging us and we could get one cheaper. Later we found out they forgot to charge us for some of the food we had. Sorry guys we didn't intentionally rip you off.
On the train most of our carriage was full of tourists, we were sharing our section with two Turkish ladies and two Swedish girls.
Bye Varanasi till next time.
It is at the Ghats of Varanasi where we get to see life and death together. (28th March)
Up around 5 am and onto a rowing boat on the Ganga's ready to see the sun rise on what is considered the most sacred river, where its said you can see life and death together. The sun rising was pure bliss, it felt so peaceful in a city when i first arrived felt so busy. As we got rowed past all the ghats, we went from family's washing together, to a middle aged man dressed in white meditating at the waters edge completely at piece with the world to the burning ghats, where a body was being cremated. It was like seeing every step of life in front of you.
We think we got over charged for our boat ride as we had gone with our hotel id recommend just going down to the ghats and bartering with the boat men yourself, we paid 100rs each but i know some people who got it for 50 rs each.
It felt quite breezy today (i now think its just we had never been up that early before). Because of this i left my scarf in the hotel room when we walk down the ghats, i instantly regretted this as there is little shade and the sun soon picked up. Giselle kindly lent me hers (thanx dude) We walked for around an hour round the ghats and passed lots of woman washing meters of fabric which then covered the steps and made multiple rainbows. After awhile the heat was getting a bit too much so decided to try and get a rickshaw back to our ghat. We came across a group of auto rickshaw drivers, told them where we wanted to go and they started arguing with each other occasionally shouting prices. It was great they were just bartering between them selves. Out of no where a cycle rickshaw man came and shouted the cheapest price, "yes, well go with him"..."noo nooo he cycle rickshaw you want auto rickshaw". We explained we didn't actually care as long as we got from A to B . "oooh auto rickshaw to the back, cycle rickshaw win" he replied..
That afternoon we decided to start on our postcards, our mum had kindly got us blank postcards for us to draw our own pictures on. Yes! time to bring out our artistic talent and you'd think after a year of studying pure art id have some. It appears not, Giselle finds it reasonably hilarious that all of my drawings look like a five years olds done them (id like to say quirky). I'm afraid we have failed to send any ones postcards, so if you were expecting one and haven't received it don't take it personally it is just that me and Giselle are rubbish and not that we secretly hate you. we love you all.
Giselle had spent a lot of time drawing an accurate drawing of a monkey holding a kite for our little brother which she gave to me to look at. ( At this point i had a mini premonition that the card got caught by the wind and blown away.) I gave the card back to Giselle, and then a monkey jumped onto the roof top and was trying to get into the restaurant kitchen. I turned to watch, heard Giselle do a little squeak behind me and assumed it was just a like scared squeak in response to seeing a monkey, it was actually that Giselle's monkey holding a kite postcard had blown away. I am now nearly certain i have psychic powers.
We think we got over charged for our boat ride as we had gone with our hotel id recommend just going down to the ghats and bartering with the boat men yourself, we paid 100rs each but i know some people who got it for 50 rs each.
It felt quite breezy today (i now think its just we had never been up that early before). Because of this i left my scarf in the hotel room when we walk down the ghats, i instantly regretted this as there is little shade and the sun soon picked up. Giselle kindly lent me hers (thanx dude) We walked for around an hour round the ghats and passed lots of woman washing meters of fabric which then covered the steps and made multiple rainbows. After awhile the heat was getting a bit too much so decided to try and get a rickshaw back to our ghat. We came across a group of auto rickshaw drivers, told them where we wanted to go and they started arguing with each other occasionally shouting prices. It was great they were just bartering between them selves. Out of no where a cycle rickshaw man came and shouted the cheapest price, "yes, well go with him"..."noo nooo he cycle rickshaw you want auto rickshaw". We explained we didn't actually care as long as we got from A to B . "oooh auto rickshaw to the back, cycle rickshaw win" he replied..
That afternoon we decided to start on our postcards, our mum had kindly got us blank postcards for us to draw our own pictures on. Yes! time to bring out our artistic talent and you'd think after a year of studying pure art id have some. It appears not, Giselle finds it reasonably hilarious that all of my drawings look like a five years olds done them (id like to say quirky). I'm afraid we have failed to send any ones postcards, so if you were expecting one and haven't received it don't take it personally it is just that me and Giselle are rubbish and not that we secretly hate you. we love you all.
Giselle had spent a lot of time drawing an accurate drawing of a monkey holding a kite for our little brother which she gave to me to look at. ( At this point i had a mini premonition that the card got caught by the wind and blown away.) I gave the card back to Giselle, and then a monkey jumped onto the roof top and was trying to get into the restaurant kitchen. I turned to watch, heard Giselle do a little squeak behind me and assumed it was just a like scared squeak in response to seeing a monkey, it was actually that Giselle's monkey holding a kite postcard had blown away. I am now nearly certain i have psychic powers.
Thursday 21 April 2011
"I think Mary Poppins would really like it here" Giselle (27th March)
Never under estimate monkeys. I'd just started to think that they wernt that bad and they wernt really that bothered about us humans. Then a silly baby monkey had to go ruin their reputation.
We had just had breakfast on the hotel roof top YUM! and had started to head down the stairs to our room. On the way down i spotted a mummy monkey and two baby ones sat right out side the window. The window had no glass but had some bars in the way. "Gis look at the monkeys, haha they can't get us cuz theres bars in the way !". I should of realised then i had jinxed us. We had got quite close to the window to look at them, the mum didnt seem bothered in the slightest and neither did the babies to begin with, then out of nowhere one of the babies went mental and launched its self at the window screeching in a horrible monkey way and rattling the bars. Obviously me and Giselle freaked out. As soon as the baby had jumped the mum had followed also looking like she wanted to kill us."Ahhh shit man !!" we ran away very very fast. "Dude did you see that monkeys arm! i thought she had got you!" I was too busy running away to notice but apparently the mummy monkeys arm had stretched through the bars and had tried to grab my sleeve. It may not sound that dramatic to you but im am definatly counting it as a near death experiance.
The rest of the day was slightly more relaxing. Giselle broke some guy called Mogallys heart by not going to his tea shop. We saw a cow and bull being forced to make babies or as the indian man put it "they make sex." we also tried out Dolphin restaurant which was nice and had a lovely view of the sun setting and all the kites (not the bird kind) being flown all around the city, which braught Giselle to the conclusion that Marry Poppins would really like it in Varanasi. After waiting along time to order a pancake we gave up and went to pay the bill, the waiters were all sat round the tele watching Cricket (If people didnt no its the Cricket world cup atm and india are obsessed with it).
Every evening at the main Ghat they a have a Puja celebration, the purpose is to communicate with the gods of the Ganga. The young priests perform it with a mixture of prayers, songs and rituals. We hadnt bothered going down yesterday evening so decided we should check it out. We headed down and there were crowds on crowds of people, it involved a lot of standing around and people wanting you to buy flowers to give to the gods and people wanting to put a thumb print of paint on your forehead only then wanting us to give them money.We stayed for most of it, it was pretty with lots of candles and bells being rung. We were quite far back and couldn't see all that was going on, because of this and to avoid getting stuck we decided to leave early and head back to the hotel.
Another early morning start tomorrow :) night night Varanasi
We had just had breakfast on the hotel roof top YUM! and had started to head down the stairs to our room. On the way down i spotted a mummy monkey and two baby ones sat right out side the window. The window had no glass but had some bars in the way. "Gis look at the monkeys, haha they can't get us cuz theres bars in the way !". I should of realised then i had jinxed us. We had got quite close to the window to look at them, the mum didnt seem bothered in the slightest and neither did the babies to begin with, then out of nowhere one of the babies went mental and launched its self at the window screeching in a horrible monkey way and rattling the bars. Obviously me and Giselle freaked out. As soon as the baby had jumped the mum had followed also looking like she wanted to kill us."Ahhh shit man !!" we ran away very very fast. "Dude did you see that monkeys arm! i thought she had got you!" I was too busy running away to notice but apparently the mummy monkeys arm had stretched through the bars and had tried to grab my sleeve. It may not sound that dramatic to you but im am definatly counting it as a near death experiance.
The rest of the day was slightly more relaxing. Giselle broke some guy called Mogallys heart by not going to his tea shop. We saw a cow and bull being forced to make babies or as the indian man put it "they make sex." we also tried out Dolphin restaurant which was nice and had a lovely view of the sun setting and all the kites (not the bird kind) being flown all around the city, which braught Giselle to the conclusion that Marry Poppins would really like it in Varanasi. After waiting along time to order a pancake we gave up and went to pay the bill, the waiters were all sat round the tele watching Cricket (If people didnt no its the Cricket world cup atm and india are obsessed with it).
Every evening at the main Ghat they a have a Puja celebration, the purpose is to communicate with the gods of the Ganga. The young priests perform it with a mixture of prayers, songs and rituals. We hadnt bothered going down yesterday evening so decided we should check it out. We headed down and there were crowds on crowds of people, it involved a lot of standing around and people wanting you to buy flowers to give to the gods and people wanting to put a thumb print of paint on your forehead only then wanting us to give them money.We stayed for most of it, it was pretty with lots of candles and bells being rung. We were quite far back and couldn't see all that was going on, because of this and to avoid getting stuck we decided to leave early and head back to the hotel.
Another early morning start tomorrow :) night night Varanasi
Sunday 17 April 2011
Varanasi with all its wonders (26th March )
I'm afraid as things have got busier i have been on the computer alot less, im sorry ! Varanasi is slowly turning into a distant memory so these blogs may be less detailed and shorter but i shall do my best to make them as exciting and accurate as possible.
Varanasi turned out to be one of my favorite places and definitely my favorite city. While we were there we came across a treasure of a restaurant that did the best mint and lemon mocktails ever which was very refreshing. It was called Phulwari restaurant and was off the main street, had comfy seating and lovely staff. Though one of the waiters was a bit strange and reminded me and Giselle of either Quasimodo or Igor. After refreshing our selves with one of their drinks we went of on a mission to find our selves a nice Shalwar Kameez, we wondered around a few shops and settled on two that we liked. We had no idea how much some one would pay for them, so just tried to use our initiative and ended up paying 500rs for each of them which is around 7 pounds i think. I love mine, and feel a lot like a princess in it.
The nice thing about Varanasi is that because it is so busy if you say no to some one they tend to just move onto the next tourist which meant we could wonder around fairly quickly and not have to stop for a conversation every 5 seconds. This is however where we first experienced people wanting to take photographs. Some people make it obvious, some ask and some try and sneakily hide and do it. I have now got used to it and in less I'm in a foul mood just let them get on with it, though i think half of India have a photo of me looking reasonably pissed of at them.
Alot of Varanasi was spent on the roof top restaurant of our hotel, it seemed this is also were all the other tourist spent most their time. We loved it, the view was amasing and the food was tasty. But the restaurant was way over staffed which meant the waiters had alot of time to sit next to us and have extensive conversations about anything. The most memorable waiter being Sambo, who first came up to us when we were watching the hundreds of monkeys jumping around on the roof tops. Giselle later thought that Sambo might of been a bit 'special' as she put it, i now also think this is a possibility.
Sambo told us all about Varanasi and the millions of festivals that go on in India. In return we tried to tell him about some English celebrations. Pancake day for example "hahah you have a day for eating pancakes!"..."You eat them all day!?, hahahaa!?" and easter "You give each other chocolate eggs! Why? hahah" and he found that some people decorate boiled eggs and roll them down the hill even funnier. We continued to try and explain halloween, bonfire night and in Ireland St.Patricks day.
He had seen on a documentary that somewhere has a day for celebrating Tomatoes and seemed reasonably disapointed when we said that we didnt think it was England. Sorry Sambo.
In the near future you shall be hearing about our adventures in the desert with a lovely Canadian guy called Conner, but until then here is the link to his blog http://www.connormckenna.com , I hope to be this cool when I'm 26.
Varanasi turned out to be one of my favorite places and definitely my favorite city. While we were there we came across a treasure of a restaurant that did the best mint and lemon mocktails ever which was very refreshing. It was called Phulwari restaurant and was off the main street, had comfy seating and lovely staff. Though one of the waiters was a bit strange and reminded me and Giselle of either Quasimodo or Igor. After refreshing our selves with one of their drinks we went of on a mission to find our selves a nice Shalwar Kameez, we wondered around a few shops and settled on two that we liked. We had no idea how much some one would pay for them, so just tried to use our initiative and ended up paying 500rs for each of them which is around 7 pounds i think. I love mine, and feel a lot like a princess in it.
The nice thing about Varanasi is that because it is so busy if you say no to some one they tend to just move onto the next tourist which meant we could wonder around fairly quickly and not have to stop for a conversation every 5 seconds. This is however where we first experienced people wanting to take photographs. Some people make it obvious, some ask and some try and sneakily hide and do it. I have now got used to it and in less I'm in a foul mood just let them get on with it, though i think half of India have a photo of me looking reasonably pissed of at them.
Alot of Varanasi was spent on the roof top restaurant of our hotel, it seemed this is also were all the other tourist spent most their time. We loved it, the view was amasing and the food was tasty. But the restaurant was way over staffed which meant the waiters had alot of time to sit next to us and have extensive conversations about anything. The most memorable waiter being Sambo, who first came up to us when we were watching the hundreds of monkeys jumping around on the roof tops. Giselle later thought that Sambo might of been a bit 'special' as she put it, i now also think this is a possibility.
Sambo told us all about Varanasi and the millions of festivals that go on in India. In return we tried to tell him about some English celebrations. Pancake day for example "hahah you have a day for eating pancakes!"..."You eat them all day!?, hahahaa!?" and easter "You give each other chocolate eggs! Why? hahah" and he found that some people decorate boiled eggs and roll them down the hill even funnier. We continued to try and explain halloween, bonfire night and in Ireland St.Patricks day.
He had seen on a documentary that somewhere has a day for celebrating Tomatoes and seemed reasonably disapointed when we said that we didnt think it was England. Sorry Sambo.
In the near future you shall be hearing about our adventures in the desert with a lovely Canadian guy called Conner, but until then here is the link to his blog http://www.connormckenna.com , I hope to be this cool when I'm 26.
Friday 8 April 2011
Varanasi "Brace your self"... 25.03.2011 (because i am so behind im going to start dating the blogs :))
I'm sorry if this post isnt very good, this is the second attempt. The first time a computer man came along and pulled out a wire, resulting in my computer blacking out and me loosing everything..."ooo woow, were you writing lots?"....yes, yes i was. Oh well.
Underneath the title Varanasi in the lonely planet it tells me to brace myself for one of the most blindingly colourful, unrelentingly chaotic and apologetically indiscreet places on earth. . This did nothing but scare me. It seems to be like Marmite, either people love it or they hate it.
What if i hate it !?!
The train journey was ok, but everyone was staring at us. That i can generally handle, but then a guy came and sat next to me who was nothing but annoying. I just tried my hardest to ignore him, and did not give him my phone number or email address (how ever persistent he was).
Finally arrived, its the first place I've felt really nervous about going. Stepped off the train and straight away a man started talking to us and wanting us to follow him. We tried to ignore him, we walked out and while Giselle was telling him to go away an officer opened a barrier for us to walk through. On the other side were a few other scared looking tourists and a nice tourist information's. They gave us a map, pointed us in the right direction and told us the name of the street we wanted to be on.
Off we went to brace the swarm of rickshaw drivers. We got in the auto rickshaw and told them where we wanted to go. First they said they couldn't take us there, then that it was a big place were abouts did we want dropping. I was getting stressed. "just somewhere on that street" we told them. It carried on for a while. "Just drop them off and then they'll pay you" one of their friends laughed. It felt like they were being rude so i grabbed my rucksack and headed of to find a different rickshaw man who was actually going to take us some where. After a few more arguments we got one.
As we were driving down the street i gradually began to relax, this doesn't look so bad ! Colour every where, it was busy but in an exciting way! got of the rickshaw put our rucksacks on and headed in the direction he pointed us. Fabric shops filled the streets, along with rickshaw drivers shouting at us and cows just wondering as they please. We got so happy we even started singing "noo, nooo" at the persistent shop keepers, one of them even laughed at us.
WUHOOOOO I DON'T HATE IT ! :D
As our rucksacks began to get heavier we decided to go find our hotel. In the distance we saw a young guy who looked like he could be English, we headed in his direction. "Are you English?" we asked maybe a bit too enthusiastically. "Yes" he laughed. His name was Daniel, he told us where he had stayed and we had a short but sweet conversation with him before he had to leave to go to Pushkar. We didn't end up staying where he stayed but found a nice place called Puja guest house, with an amazing view of the Ganges river and of all the monkeys that were jumping from rooftop to rooftop. This is also where we met Sambo one of the waiters who liked to talk alot, but was very lovely all the same.
Underneath the title Varanasi in the lonely planet it tells me to brace myself for one of the most blindingly colourful, unrelentingly chaotic and apologetically indiscreet places on earth. . This did nothing but scare me. It seems to be like Marmite, either people love it or they hate it.
What if i hate it !?!
The train journey was ok, but everyone was staring at us. That i can generally handle, but then a guy came and sat next to me who was nothing but annoying. I just tried my hardest to ignore him, and did not give him my phone number or email address (how ever persistent he was).
Finally arrived, its the first place I've felt really nervous about going. Stepped off the train and straight away a man started talking to us and wanting us to follow him. We tried to ignore him, we walked out and while Giselle was telling him to go away an officer opened a barrier for us to walk through. On the other side were a few other scared looking tourists and a nice tourist information's. They gave us a map, pointed us in the right direction and told us the name of the street we wanted to be on.
Off we went to brace the swarm of rickshaw drivers. We got in the auto rickshaw and told them where we wanted to go. First they said they couldn't take us there, then that it was a big place were abouts did we want dropping. I was getting stressed. "just somewhere on that street" we told them. It carried on for a while. "Just drop them off and then they'll pay you" one of their friends laughed. It felt like they were being rude so i grabbed my rucksack and headed of to find a different rickshaw man who was actually going to take us some where. After a few more arguments we got one.
As we were driving down the street i gradually began to relax, this doesn't look so bad ! Colour every where, it was busy but in an exciting way! got of the rickshaw put our rucksacks on and headed in the direction he pointed us. Fabric shops filled the streets, along with rickshaw drivers shouting at us and cows just wondering as they please. We got so happy we even started singing "noo, nooo" at the persistent shop keepers, one of them even laughed at us.
WUHOOOOO I DON'T HATE IT ! :D
As our rucksacks began to get heavier we decided to go find our hotel. In the distance we saw a young guy who looked like he could be English, we headed in his direction. "Are you English?" we asked maybe a bit too enthusiastically. "Yes" he laughed. His name was Daniel, he told us where he had stayed and we had a short but sweet conversation with him before he had to leave to go to Pushkar. We didn't end up staying where he stayed but found a nice place called Puja guest house, with an amazing view of the Ganges river and of all the monkeys that were jumping from rooftop to rooftop. This is also where we met Sambo one of the waiters who liked to talk alot, but was very lovely all the same.
Friday 1 April 2011
"WHATS YOUR QUALIFICATIONS?"
One of my favorite Quotes is "Everything is exactly the way it is meant to be" George Faulkner (from the film 'a single man').When i say it in my head it makes me just except whats going on, but even that didn't make today feel any better.
Got up early and got a rickshaw to Sonauli where we wanted to cross the border, it was very busy with lots of people shouting at us, we went to the tourist office on the Nepal side but it was very unhelpful so we just literally walked across the border. Once we got to the other side we got pointed to a very shabby small looking shack like building. We went in and gave them our passports, they looked through and told us that we needed to sign out of nepal before we could enter India. This meant we had to recross the border (i was a little concerned they weren't going to let us, actually nobody seemed to care how many times we crossed the border). We got our passport stamped on nepal and filled in some paper work. Then crossed the border to India again, to then fill out even more paper work and get our passport stamped.
We had no Indian rupees and people kept on wanting us to change our nepal rupees even though we had explained a million times we only had like 20 rs left so it would be more than pointless trying to change it. The man in the Indian office said we couldnt change our english money on this side and there weren't any ATM's. We were already feeling reasonably peeved off, and had crossed the border a million times.
At this point our biggest boo boo of the whole trip came (thats how Giselle later put it). A man came into the office and told us to come with him and he can get us some money, at the time it felt like he was one of the Indian border people so we went with him. Across the road into a corridor in a building. We gave him 40 pounds to change, but he protested saying that that wasn't enough for 2 people. We new it was, that was our budget for two day's nearly. "no no the ATM's are all closed for 5 day's because of festival". It sounds completely stupid now, but we were stuck at the border with no money, with our rucksacks on and very hot and stressed. We could of just of ignored him, but then what if the ATM's were closed we would have no money. We gave him another 20 quid. 60 pounds in total, he gave us the money, we took it and in a rushed manner he ushered us into a jeep to take us to Gorakhpur. We got in and only then did we check the money (big mistake). Yep thats right they completly ripped us off and only gave us about 30 pounds worth of rupees.... who ever you are we hate you.
We were both sat in the jeep filling up with rage when a child beggar kept on coming to the window, she wouldn't go away so giselle shouted no in hindi at her ( i think giselle just wants to show of her hindi skills, i on the other hand don't have any so just stuck with 'no'). The little girl went away, but then a little boy came to my window, i said 'no, sorry'... he didn't listen, so i turned to him looked him in the eyes and very firmly said "NO". He went after that, sorry but we had just been ripped off, we werent going to start handing money out willy nilly.
We had sat around for ages on buses before, were never generaly in a rush. But today we werent taking any of it. Giselle marched off the jeep and yelled at 3 guys who were just hanging around outside the jeep "We want our rucksacks down now ! we are going to take the bus"... the man hesitated and tried to change her mind, but that wasn't going to happen. The man nodded at the man on top of the jeep who then proceeded to hand us our rucksacks. We ended up getting on another jeep later, oh well. It was nearly worth it just to see the terror on the guys faces as Giselle yelled at them.
The jeep ride was fine. We got to Gorakhpur it was very busy and very few tourists, we were still unsure whether to go straight to Varanasi or to stay a night there.We would of gone straight to Varanasi but nobody seemed to speak English and the i quote the 'very helpful tourist office' that the lonely planet mentioned was closed. We waited a long time and tried to find a hotel but the ones that were near were all booked up. We then went back to the train station. It seemed the only person that spoke English was a strange man who approached us, he asked us the normal questions. Where you from? How long you been in India for? Is it your first time? then he asked us what our qualifications were. Giselle tried to answer him. But no, he wasnt taking any of it. Giselle was stood trying to say as many possible ways of describing a theater degree as possible and the man was getting more and more angry and loud for that matter. "NO, YOU DONT UNDERSTAND, WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS." We were drawing A LOT of attention to ourselves, and a boy that for some reason kept on getting hit with a slipper came and stood right next to me (we suspect he was a robber or something). I'd had enough, i don't think I've felt so mental as i did at that moment, Giselle had been doing all the talking up until that point but i stop her and said "NO, we understand you perfectly your the one that doesn't understand us!' and then told Giselle that we should leave.
We later bumped into him "haha, your trying to tease me" I'm not sure he was all there.
What a horrible day, i was sat feeling sorry for my self ( i think it always helps)....that's it we're going to be stuck in Gorakphur FOREVER!....
What are parents for if you cant ring them up really early in the morning from India slightly distressed? (and they thought they had got rid of us). Dad picked up the phone, Giselle "I'm sorry it's so early but were stuck in a place called Gorakphur and the lonely planet guide lied about the helpful tourist office being helpful (it had now been closed for around 2 and a half hours even though the security guard said it would be open an hour ago) we cant find an internet cafe and no one speaks English." After telling dad about the scary qualifications man we asked him if he could look online and find any information on how to book tickets (as the foreigners ticket desk seemed to be none existent) or if that fails, if he could see if there were any nice hotels that had a free room in them. He found us some hotels, thanx dad ! :)
After finally finding a hotel we settled down and tried to relax. The hotel manager booked our tickets for the train to Varanasi for 6.30 the next morning, I'm sure it cost us more than it should of but we weren't in much of a place to argue.
We also got a tv in our room YAY, theres always about two english channels, we watched 'so you think you can dance?' with some pretty talented little boy on it. Then settled down and watched 'The Prince of Persia' which we enjoyed and made the day feel a little better. :) Thank you Jake Gyllenhaal for looking so beautiful and taking my mind of being in such an unhelpful place.
Got up early and got a rickshaw to Sonauli where we wanted to cross the border, it was very busy with lots of people shouting at us, we went to the tourist office on the Nepal side but it was very unhelpful so we just literally walked across the border. Once we got to the other side we got pointed to a very shabby small looking shack like building. We went in and gave them our passports, they looked through and told us that we needed to sign out of nepal before we could enter India. This meant we had to recross the border (i was a little concerned they weren't going to let us, actually nobody seemed to care how many times we crossed the border). We got our passport stamped on nepal and filled in some paper work. Then crossed the border to India again, to then fill out even more paper work and get our passport stamped.
We had no Indian rupees and people kept on wanting us to change our nepal rupees even though we had explained a million times we only had like 20 rs left so it would be more than pointless trying to change it. The man in the Indian office said we couldnt change our english money on this side and there weren't any ATM's. We were already feeling reasonably peeved off, and had crossed the border a million times.
At this point our biggest boo boo of the whole trip came (thats how Giselle later put it). A man came into the office and told us to come with him and he can get us some money, at the time it felt like he was one of the Indian border people so we went with him. Across the road into a corridor in a building. We gave him 40 pounds to change, but he protested saying that that wasn't enough for 2 people. We new it was, that was our budget for two day's nearly. "no no the ATM's are all closed for 5 day's because of festival". It sounds completely stupid now, but we were stuck at the border with no money, with our rucksacks on and very hot and stressed. We could of just of ignored him, but then what if the ATM's were closed we would have no money. We gave him another 20 quid. 60 pounds in total, he gave us the money, we took it and in a rushed manner he ushered us into a jeep to take us to Gorakhpur. We got in and only then did we check the money (big mistake). Yep thats right they completly ripped us off and only gave us about 30 pounds worth of rupees.... who ever you are we hate you.
We were both sat in the jeep filling up with rage when a child beggar kept on coming to the window, she wouldn't go away so giselle shouted no in hindi at her ( i think giselle just wants to show of her hindi skills, i on the other hand don't have any so just stuck with 'no'). The little girl went away, but then a little boy came to my window, i said 'no, sorry'... he didn't listen, so i turned to him looked him in the eyes and very firmly said "NO". He went after that, sorry but we had just been ripped off, we werent going to start handing money out willy nilly.
We had sat around for ages on buses before, were never generaly in a rush. But today we werent taking any of it. Giselle marched off the jeep and yelled at 3 guys who were just hanging around outside the jeep "We want our rucksacks down now ! we are going to take the bus"... the man hesitated and tried to change her mind, but that wasn't going to happen. The man nodded at the man on top of the jeep who then proceeded to hand us our rucksacks. We ended up getting on another jeep later, oh well. It was nearly worth it just to see the terror on the guys faces as Giselle yelled at them.
The jeep ride was fine. We got to Gorakhpur it was very busy and very few tourists, we were still unsure whether to go straight to Varanasi or to stay a night there.We would of gone straight to Varanasi but nobody seemed to speak English and the i quote the 'very helpful tourist office' that the lonely planet mentioned was closed. We waited a long time and tried to find a hotel but the ones that were near were all booked up. We then went back to the train station. It seemed the only person that spoke English was a strange man who approached us, he asked us the normal questions. Where you from? How long you been in India for? Is it your first time? then he asked us what our qualifications were. Giselle tried to answer him. But no, he wasnt taking any of it. Giselle was stood trying to say as many possible ways of describing a theater degree as possible and the man was getting more and more angry and loud for that matter. "NO, YOU DONT UNDERSTAND, WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS." We were drawing A LOT of attention to ourselves, and a boy that for some reason kept on getting hit with a slipper came and stood right next to me (we suspect he was a robber or something). I'd had enough, i don't think I've felt so mental as i did at that moment, Giselle had been doing all the talking up until that point but i stop her and said "NO, we understand you perfectly your the one that doesn't understand us!' and then told Giselle that we should leave.
We later bumped into him "haha, your trying to tease me" I'm not sure he was all there.
What a horrible day, i was sat feeling sorry for my self ( i think it always helps)....that's it we're going to be stuck in Gorakphur FOREVER!....
What are parents for if you cant ring them up really early in the morning from India slightly distressed? (and they thought they had got rid of us). Dad picked up the phone, Giselle "I'm sorry it's so early but were stuck in a place called Gorakphur and the lonely planet guide lied about the helpful tourist office being helpful (it had now been closed for around 2 and a half hours even though the security guard said it would be open an hour ago) we cant find an internet cafe and no one speaks English." After telling dad about the scary qualifications man we asked him if he could look online and find any information on how to book tickets (as the foreigners ticket desk seemed to be none existent) or if that fails, if he could see if there were any nice hotels that had a free room in them. He found us some hotels, thanx dad ! :)
After finally finding a hotel we settled down and tried to relax. The hotel manager booked our tickets for the train to Varanasi for 6.30 the next morning, I'm sure it cost us more than it should of but we weren't in much of a place to argue.
We also got a tv in our room YAY, theres always about two english channels, we watched 'so you think you can dance?' with some pretty talented little boy on it. Then settled down and watched 'The Prince of Persia' which we enjoyed and made the day feel a little better. :) Thank you Jake Gyllenhaal for looking so beautiful and taking my mind of being in such an unhelpful place.
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