To die for... Is fashion wearing out the world?

I don't think I've ever had such an awful hang over before, word of advice wine, amaretto and vodka is potentially the worst drinking combo you could ever have. And I lost at poker twice, not sure I was in any state to play the second time round though!

Anyway so I spent this morning being sick a lot but the cleaners had cleaned our kitchen so that was nice. Went to my TV production exam and speedily went through it, luckily it wasn't particularly hard. Slept for the rest of the day then went to the library at about 7 to have one last group meeting for my video project before Easter. I can not wait for filming! we have managed to get permission to interview one of the zoo keepers and access into the Lemur woods while the keeper is cleaning it and feeding them. Steve Backshall eat your heart out !! I shall be sure to wear my 'Mrs Steve Backshall' top. 

I am now trying to start on my final fashion project for the year. We have to write an article for a magazine, I've decided to try and write one on the Labour behind the labels. It interests me and Im not really sure what I think about it, I'd love to do a massive research project on it though and actually see if what were being told is true or not, Its likely to be a bit of both. Im reading this book at the moment called 'To die for' by Lucy Siegle http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780007264094 Its pretty good id deff recommend it, I find the chapter on throw away fashion so interesting, it has got to that point where if something gets a whole in or a stain on instead of sewing it up or washing it we just throw it away and buy a new one especially when things from places such as primark are so cheap. I remember when my little brother was cycling around the garden and ripped the sleeve of one of my dresses that was on the line, instead of getting rid of it I sewed it back on again and now its as good as new ! Though Im only half way there, I still buy a ridiculous amount of clothes and because i don't throw any away my wardrobe is ridiculously big. My aim after reading that book is to sort through them all and send the ones I don't need to a charity shop. Especially since festival season is coming up and I go a little crazy with all the new stock the stalls sell.

Anyway ones I've written the article I shall put it up here for all to read :)  Also here are two illustrations I did trying to improve my illustration skills and not give up on doing fashion illustrations, think its important to keep doing stuff that isn't just uni work :)

How time fly's !

This day last year me and Giselle would of been on our way to London, I remember the exact feeling sat in the car driving away from the house slightly flustered turning to Giselle and thinking shitting hell were not coming back for another 2 months. How I crave that feeling of adventure again.
I some how have managed to get my self back into practically the same routine i was in before I went despite claiming the trip was 'life changing'. I try to get involved and keep active  but all that does is get me ending up going to meeting after meeting to stuff I'm not really sure I care about. With the teasing thought that won't go away 'you could drop out of uni at any moment and go anywhere you wanted' I mean what's stopping me? Giselle used to message me all the time about how she was thinking of dropping out, we both knew she wouldn't just as we both know I wont. I was speaking to my friend Tom a while ago and he was talking about leaving. After questioning him on this, he replied saying that nah he wouldn't drop out but he can still moan about doing it. And its true even though we know we wont do it, moaning about it or threatening to do it is part of the fun.
Also Happy Holi and Happy international women's day :)

Happy Pancake day peeps !!

        I hope you are all stuffed with pancakes !

I was meant to be spending my evening writing an essay about the production process in television, but after my two friends came round with pancake mix singing 'All star' by smash mouth announcing they were off to Prestons local alternative night club 'The Warehouse' I decided what the hell, the essay can wait. 

Despite it being London fashion week most of my fashion class have jetted of to Berlin which meant I could have a lye in. Yesss! On top of that it was 'Challenge' week in connections, which involved a lot of questions about wires, the internet and block diagrams. My team (Super team we named out selves) did not win but only two marks off! next time guys. 

When I came to Preston for my interview Giselle came with me and with in two hours of wondering around Preston she had found the nicest tea cafe ever! 'Mystery Tea House', if your ever in Preston you have to go and not only try there endless list of exciting teas but also their mushroom soup which is heavenly and comes with a life time supply of thick bread. http://www.mysteryteahouse.com/ <check it out here, maybe even buy some nice tea? I suggested to my friend he should by some tea for his girl friend, he didn't. This time I opted for a green banana smoothie and my friend had cactus tea, it was so good we've planned a girl date there tomorrow. 

Here's to a crazy night out and an early start tomorrow morning !

I can't get this song out my head now!

Holographic fashion shows ?!

Im half way through writing a blog post for the last few weeks but while I was trying to write my 3000 word essay i got distracted and found these videos on YouTube of holographic fashion shows and I'm in awe of them. I was getting excited about how people were making fashion films, but holographic fashion shows in front of a live audience is insane ! Apparently they have been around for a while! clearly i need to try and stay more up to date with what's happening in the fashion world, both these videos are from a few years ago but man there good (though the video quality for both is pretty awful, sorry). I love how they make the show a piece of art, not just about the clothes, fashion really is so much more than clothes.

'You can feel rather than think.' Tom Ford

I've decided that out of everything in life I hate editing, its the moment you realise all the shots you've filmed are completely crap and don't fit together at all...you have no time to re-film so are forced to make the best of a shitty situation, the only thing that could make it worse is if the tutor Rob decides to at random show your less than perfect film :( I left the media factory at university feeling reasonably sorry for my self, to just get into the kitchen before a group of student ready to party arrived. After mingling for a bit I decided their loud laughs were to much for my stressed brain.

Now, I'm aware since starting uni I've put on weight, not loads but enough for me to be like OHhhh :(. Its especially depressing when you sister is as fit as a fiddle about to run the London marathon. As I walk into my room and sit down I hear an almighty rip. Fucking great. Yep my only pair of jeans now have a nice rip across my thigh. Dear God I know Im getting fat but I don't feel taking my only pair of jeans away from me on an already pissy day was quite necessary. Thanks alot.

I remember sitting near the top of Sarangkot point in Nepal talking to two girls about what courses we were going to be studying. As they asked me I looked my self up and down thinking do you think they'l believe me if I say fashion? Since then I decided it would be fun to study media production as well. I didn't tell the university it was because me and Giselle had spend many hours discussing who we would cast as who if we ever decided to make a film about our lives, or which of our friends we could make a reality documentary on. Instead I told them it was because I had an inkling fashion film was the future, and to be fair that isn't far from the truth. Who needs a still image when you could have a video of your clothes moving. At the moment "MOVE" a fashion film for Rachel Roys spring collection 2011 is my favourite. Genuinely can't get enough of it!

Since watching 'A Single man' last year Ive slowly but surely started to become abit obsessive over Tom Ford. Is it possible for one man to be that perfect? An amazing designer and film maker! I recently watched a documentary on him which just made me love him even more, You should definitely check it ohttp://www.fulltimeford.com/2011/12/14/own-visionaries-watch-the-full-tom-ford-episode-now/ .

Anyway Giselle's coming to visit next week so I shall try and do something exciting but until then here's part of one of my favourite quotes...from Tom Fords film of course ;)

"A few times in my life I've had moments of absolute clarity. When for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think and things seem so sharp and the world seems so fresh. I can never make these moments last, I cling to them but like everything, they fade."

So long 2011

I admit I failed pretty miserably at keeping my blog going after I came back from India, maybe one day ill go back and fill it all in.

Heres one last post for 2011 and a fresh start for 2012..

I left you guys in the Thar desert, I wish I could tell you me and Giselle loved it so much we couldn't leave and have been riding around on camels ever since....In my dreams. Though it would of meant we would of  missed out on riding Connors motorbike in Jaisalmer, going for tea at Michael Jackson's (aka Sonu's) house in Pushkar. Having and Indian cooking class with the Indian version of Jamie Oliver in Udaiper. Being seriously grumpy in Mumbia (humidity beyond belief). Being even grumpier on the nearly 24 hour bus journey from Mumbia to Goa. Arriving at Palolem beach in Goa looking and feeling like the most disgusting person to walk the planet but in time to watch the Royal wedding at a beach bar. We spent the last ten days of our trip in a beach hut which cost around £3 a night between the two of us...crazy I know ! Despite a family of ants who tried to make home in our bed it was the most relaxing ten days of my life. We even managed to with the help of a lovely young man called Sanjay rent out a moped and go explore and play a game of cricket with the locals on the beach...of course both me and Giselle were pretty horrific! On our last night our friends Sanjay and Vijay set off some fire works on the beach for us ( the local dogs were less impressed by this). We got up before sun set and got in the taxi in the pitch black, unable to hold back I looked at Giselle and was like fuck man this is it, Im not sure if im going to be able to live in England after seeing this amazing country. Looking back I laughed, 2 months ago i was cursing Giselle for bringing me to this place, telling my self i just had to make it to the other end alive. Now I was dreading going back home. We arrived in England with no sleep and serious culture change, only to find our parents thought we were coming home the next day. "WHAT!?" I was about to have a breakdown, with £10 left to my name we headed to get the tube to Giselle's friends house. To make it worse half way there my shoes  that had lasted me the whole trip broke, I mean the whole sole of one of my shoes fell off. I sat on the tube with one shoe on thinking how the day before had been spent lazying on a beautiful beach. People asked me was it life changing. I thought for ages probably not, it was fun though, now im not sure, nearly 8 months later Im still babbling on about it. The most mental 2 months of my life ! So thanx Gis for dragging me along.

The Summer was as always packed fall of festivals and amazing people old and new. Trying out naked sauna's, Sky diving, flooding tents and getting dreads. Mine and Giselles last festsival was greenbelt, hanging around in Cheltenham we went for a meal at a gorgeous Turkish restaurant. Just as we left the man told us to wait and gave us both a turkish/ cyprus good luck charm. It was the same charm Giselle had insisted on taking to India that I spoke about in my first blog post.  What a nice way to end an adventure packed gap year.

So long 2011 you were pretty intense.....(do you know what else is intense???....Camping !)

"I could keep a fish alive under my arms today" Giselle (15th April)

Back in Jaisalmer, My bag seems to have most of Tharu desert in it.  We tried to change to a more expensive room with an en-suite but was unsuccessful, so am still have to run across their living room to get a shower.

Woke up missing the desert and not enjoying the return of mosquitoes. After asking if my hair looked ok Giselle replied saying I looked like a female version of Russel Brand, but I could work it. I'm sure there was meant to be a compliment in there some where.

The day was spent wondering round a folk museum, folllowing a family of pigs and trying to get away from staring men on boats on the tiny lake jaisalmer has to offer.

That evening we met up with Connor and some French-Canadian guys (they possibly had the most attractive accent any one could ever have) That night instead of treking back to our hotel room we just slept on the roof.

This is carzy, as if I'm sleeping on the roof of a massive fort in the middle of a desert for free !?  Have got less than a month left of this amazing adventure. But right now i couldnt be any more content :)

OHH WOW ! (14th April)

The morning was well spent doing jump shots in the sand :)

high five jump ! 

Kamal said goodbye to us and we were on our way. It wasn't till we stopped for water that we realized Connors saddle wasn't attached to his camel "OH WOW !" Abai continued to moan about how rubbish children were (Kamal was meant to of done Connors camel).

"Abia ! can we stop I'm starting to feel dizzy"..... Abai stopped straight away, jumped of his camel "Oh WOW" he said while helping Giselle down. We sat under a bush for awhile and Abia squeezed water over her head scarf.  

Either because he was worried about Giselle or because we were running late he started to make the camels run/ jog. My only thought was thank god I was wearing a sports bra. 

Your making my mustache droop. (13th April)

Connor told us the story behind his mustache today. Apparently when he had gone to an Indian barber they had refused to shave it off. "No no I think I want it all off " Connor had replied. The barber then got his friend who also insisted on Connor keeping it. In the end Connor figured if more than one person thought it looked good he should keep it. He then proceeded to tell us about a phrase that we had not heard but apparently everyone in India says it, 'Your making my mustache droop,' you say it when some one has made you unhappy. Me and Giselle tried it out later in the trip and got a very blank response from the Indians, we now think Connor may have just made this up.

Kamal returning with our water bottle.

At lunch time we had settled down for a nap under a tree, when Abai started chanting something. I was just ignoring him but he started getting louder and more intense. Me and Giselle sat up to see Abai stood up with his hands out chanting staring at a mini whirlwind coming towards us. AHHH ! Sadly Abai's chanting didn't stop it. Me and Giselle curled up into a ball and Connor ran behind the tree. No damage was done except that Connors turban fell off and we were covered in twiggs and little thorns that had been all over this part of the desert. The whirlwind had taken our water bottle with it but Kamal ran after it for us. 

Sun setting on our last night in Thar desert.

Kamal was sat on his camel behind me and after being in conversation with him for a while he came out with "guess how old I am"... hmmm, I thought he was about twelve, but to be safe I aimed higher. "um 13 ?"..."Higher !" he grinned. "um 14"..."um 15" ...higher than that ! hmmm he is definitely not 15... "16 ?"..."YES !.. I am a little bit short for my age". He later informed Giselle that he was only a few years younger than her sister. Oh dear.

Oh last night in the desert, I think me and Giselle have decided we are going to stay in Jaisalmer a couple of extra days.

First night in the desert ! (12th April)

Giselle and Connor on their camels :)

The 3 day camel trek was incredible and Giselle now officially loves the desert and wants a pet camel even more.

Our treking companion was called Connor and I think since being home I have turned him into a crazy charactature. A canadian guy with a thick moustache fashioning full white linen with black boxers, a dark green turban and sandles which had been patched up with a pink leather square. If only every one dressed like this. He was a lovely guy and I think made me and especially Giselle feel alot better about the amount of bad luck we often get.

After lunch on the first day as we were getting on our camels Connor climbed on only to tear a hole in the top back of his trousers. Me and Giselle found it incredibly hard not to wee our selves laughing. I felt a little bad as we didn't really know him, I only hoped he didn't mind. "It's fine, it's funny, I'd be laughing too if I was you" Connor replied everytime we apoligized for our hysterics. Once we arrived at the village Connor was trying to decide what to do about the medium sized hole in the back of his trousers. Abai the camel leader insisted on Connor using his turban to wrap it around his waist to cover the hole. I don't think Connor was too enthusiastic about the idea but Abai left him little choice. So off into the village we went with Connor now wearing a wrap around skirt.

Me and Giselle at lunch time in the desert.

Once we had invested in what was very expensive fanta we were off again. This time a young boy joined us who ironically was called Kamal. Giselle "Are you alright camel", Kamal "Yes thank you".

That evening we were treated to traditional desert songs and a scrummy meal  (I can now make chapatis! YAY). I also learnt where the northern star is which is always usful if you get lost in the desert, and I now have a million jumping shots of Giselle along with a million shots of me not quite jumping (this is evidently a skill i need to work on).

And whats a good evening if you cant have an indepth conversation about how amazing Lord of the Rings is ?

Connor also managed to break his sun glasses :(
Sleeping under the stars, so peacful.
night night xxx

Jaisalmer Fort basically a giant sand castle (11th April)

We arrived in Jaisalmer at around 6.30 am, a man knocked on our door and asked if we were German, I grumpily replied no. It turns out he owned a hotel in the fort and was just trying to find all the tourists on the bus.
Normally we would find our own way and look around a few hotels but he offered us a really cheap jeep to the fort. We looked around and decided to stay in their cheapest double room, 100rs a night, bargain ! It had a shared bathroom which at the time we didn't realised would be so annoying. Everytime you needed the bathroom you had to run across their living room, in front of the Tv which usually had a group of young men watching it, only to get to the other side and find out the bathroom was already engaged.

We have booked a 3 day camel trek with our hotel, I think Giselle is paranoid which is annoying me. I'm looking forward to it and have a good feeling about it. Giselle hates it when I say I have a good feeling "YOUR JINXING IT !!!" she normally yells back.

Typical Indian keyboard

After Giselle had sent a paranoid message to our parents telling them exactly which hotel we were in, which room and the exact time we were leaving tommorow and that if we hadn't emailed them again by 15th April to panick as we had most likely been abducted or worse. I'm sure the email was of great comfort to our mother.I sent her one telling her Giselle has a paranoia problem and that everything was fine. We went to a lovely restaurant called 'OM restaurant' and had some scrummy rice pudding. They do the best rice pudding out here. I burnt my tongue though, I think its just ultra sensitive as Giselle managed to gobble hers down without any burnt tongue related problem.

"Giselle is being a grumpy piss head and now I'm annoyed and stressed and am going to sleep" Alicia's diary.

Bye bye Pushkar......see you in a few days ! (10th April)

This is a horrific photo, but we were just so happy
in our bus bedroom !

"WHAT!? This isn't the right bus stop?" I look at Giselle who I imagine was mirroring my horrified face as we try and work out if the Indian man is just trying to con us into using his rickshaw or if we really are at the wrong bus station. "Who decided to put two bus stops in Pushkar anyway?!" Giselle looks at her watch, we have about 20 minutes till our bus is due to leave....can we run across Pushkar in time to catch it?

We decide yes... there was no way we were going to pay 100rs for a rickshaw.

Unsure of how to get there we set off on a speedy walk/ jog shouting at the people of Pushkar with our rucksacks which are around the same size as a hobbit on our backs. Eventually we got there exhausted just in time. I have never had such a high after a low, "ahhh WOW look its like we actually get a mini room!" Over night buses are more exciting than we had antisapated. It did feel like god was playing a little joke on us though as the bus slowed down after about five minutes...yep the bus was stopping at the bus station we have just run from half an hour earlier. Oh well such is life.

Me and my favorite waiter  Sunny.

Earlier that day we had said our goodbyes to Steve and Vera who were heading to Bundi and exchanged emails. We went for a last meal in 'Out of the Blue'. Sunny went serious for a moment " Your good girls, now if any one trys and sells you anything on the bus say no". Michael Jackson even left his group of friends as we walked past to say goodbye to us."You have to shake my hand" we hadn't noticed his hand that he had stretched out for us. We informed him we would be back in about a week to meet up with our friend Marcus.

As the bus drove away (from the second bus stop) I almost felt I could form a tear, I've most definatly fallen in love with Pushkar.

Sun setting in Pushkar.

Giselle has done a perfect poo (9th April)

Pushkar has started to make me very relaxed and starting to really love it here. When i first arrived i couldn't understand why people hung around here so long or 'got stuck' as we were told, now I can, it's not to do with the temples or the landscape, there is just something that keeps you wanting to stay.
We can't actually remeber how long we have been here. We haven't done anything productive, we have however still managed to spend over budget.....massive fail.
Giselle did inform me though that she did a perfect poo today which is rare and exciting when you in India.

Today feels like that first day that I've stopped counting down to when I'm going home.

"BITE BREAKDANCE BITE!" (8th April)

Instead of saving our camel experience till Jailselmer we decided to spoil ourselves and go on a hour camel ride with Vera and Steve.

As we got to where our camels were relaxing there were 3 boys around 11 years old, they were the funniest children we have met. Though i'd be just as happy as them if my life was taking my pet camel for a walk with my two best mates. The boy who was clearly in charge introduced him self as something that sounded similar to Shelia, he then continued to tell us his friends name but burst into laughter straight after and his friend didnt look to pleased, we therefore don't think it was his name.
The camels were called Breakdance, Lucky hands and Johnson. I don't think I could of picked better names if I tried.

At the half way point we got off to take pictures, Shelia (for the blogs sake this is what i'm going to call him) got breakdance and started nuzzling his head, he then proceeded to shove his hand in the camels mouth and started shouting "BITE BREAKDANCE BITE", this boy was clearly a mental.

On the way back to the hotel we bumped in Micheal Jackson he wants us to go for some Chai with him. We said no.


That night was really hot I think 25 degrees celcius, couldnt sleep. Also bought a book called Shantaram by Gregory David Robert.

"I don't think i've ever seen some one move so fast" (7th April)

Giselle couldn't sleep when we got in from our mini party so had stayed up to read, me on the other hand had got my self nice and cosey in my mummy liner ready for a nice sleep.

" AHhhh fuck dude" I said while running fast out the bed in my mummy liner flapping my arm around. A giant and i mean giant black bug had decided to land on my shoulder and woke me from my sleep. Now i wasn't wearing my glasses, so when i felt something on me to begin with i thought it was Giselle trying to get my attention,but once i realized what it was i really panicked.

Giselle a little flustered commented on the speed that i moved then was annoyed that I'd made her panic so much. The bug had flown away as soon as I'd started flapping about. It was hiding in the bathroom in a corner of the steps. It looked like a giant flying cockroach. Giselle couldn't get it so we left it.

"Whats making all the noise?" yep that's right it was a singing bug. A loud singing bug. I think i must of upset it as it sounded a lot like it was crying. I'm going to apologize to the bug now as it didn't bite me or hurt me, in fact it was very nice and potentially could of been trying to cuddle me. But my shallow ways came out and due to that fact it looked like a giant scary bug i flipped out. Don't judge a book by its cover. 

We went to sleep listening to it crying or singing not sure which and the next day Bablu caught it for us, laughing all the way as he often did.

The rest of the day was yet again spent relaxing. Invested in some new clothes, saw Sunny who claims he still hasn't slept and had a tasty Paneer korma. We told Sunny that it was good, his reply was "Really ?"

"Ten days, no sleep, no problem!" (6th April)

Most of today was spent wondering around and having a gander at Pushkar. We spent alot the time chilling out on the roof of our hotel. I finished my book 'Noughts and crosses' which is a childrens book but was a nice easy read and i enjoyed it though the ending was shocking. Unlike Giselle who decided to bring along Tolkiens 'Silmarillions' (you douche), despite both our attempts neither of us have got very far reading it.

In the centre of Pushkar there was another festival going on for one of there many Gods. There was a big marching band, the clarinetists still managed to smoke while playing, wedging the fag in between there fingers while playing and taking a quick drag in between each section. Local people carried a statue of the God which we think may of been Krishna (a few people told us different things but the people were partying in the Krishna temple) and people were drawing with powder paints on the pavement. They seem to have a festival every night here.

Later in the evening we met up with Steve and Vera in 'real out of the blue' again. Where Sunny looking particularly off his face told us that he hadn't slept, "Ten days, no sleep, no problem!" he said dragging every word out. When we asked for some chai his response was "Whhhhhyyyyy?", then after that every thing was followed by "Whhhyyyyy nooottt?" he said with a massive grin on his face, i mean a grin that used every muscle in his face and made his eyes squint. I can still see his walk in my head, it was a slight strut but not in quite a straight line, with a tea towel thrown over one shoulder and a joint in his other hand. What a character, all i could think was this is actually his life, every day. Yep you can actually live like that, crazy!

We got Kicked out of  'Real out of the blue' at around midnight as they wanted to close up. Me, Gis, Steve and Vera wondered back to our guest house. But not before having to walk past all the sleeping dogs. Pushkar is full of dogs, most of them mind there own buisness, some are overly friendly and annoying and the odd few like to bark at you. But when they are sleeping and you wake them up they are not the happiest. Most of them just barked at us to let them no they wernt impressed, then just as we went round the corner Steve said something loudly and a black dog got up and started barking angrily at us, we just carried on walking but realised it had started walking after us,we then started jogging, then decided actually this was one peed off dog and ran away from it very fast ! It was reasonably terrifying but it was followed with a few giggles which makes up for the scare.

Our hotel was in front of the Krishna temple and as i said earlier they were having a party. As we walked past a man at the door ushered us to enter. We all hesitated a bit but Vera and Steve decided they were going to see what was happening. We figured we were in safe hands, a girl who can speak quite a bit of Hindi and a big bold guy who looked like he could be scary if he wanted to be, so we followed.


Admittedly walking up the steps to the temple I felt a bit nervous (nearly certain they were out to murder us or steal all our belongings), took of my shoes and walked in. It didn't have a ceiling so you could see the clear sky and stars. There was a group of guys playing some music in the middle on the floor and ladies and children sat on some mats around the edge. I went with my bag and sat next to a lady who had made a space for me. Smiled and said 'namaste'. Vera and Giselle followed and sat next to me. Vera started a conversation in Hindi and the ladies looked very happy, we told them our names and shook hands. They handed out chai, we took it while putting our hands together and saying thank you a few times and bowing our head slightly (this was what Vera did so i just followed). After a while they took us all out into a court yard bit where the men sat in a circle one end smoking, this is where they took Steve. Me, Vera and Giselle got sat on a mat further down and they brought out the tastiest chapati ever with curry and some sweets that look like sweetcorn. It was tasty but spicy spicy ! I tried to eat as much as i could so as not to be rude. The girl then poured water over our hands while we washed them. Vera gave them some sweets to say thank you, which both me and Giselle made a note of to invest in. The rest of the evening or early hours of the morning i should say was spent dancing with the ladies, or me, Vera and Giselle doing our best attempt at Hindi dancing with two of the ladies. It was one of the best experience's of the trip, they didn't ask for any money or any thing in fact, they were just grateful and happy we had come and celebrated with them. And it nearly didn't happen because me and Giselle were too scared of being ripped of or taken advantage of.
This was the point that i think we decided to let go a little bit whether for better or not.

"Try to relax completely, and go with the experience. Just..... let yourself go. Sometimes, in India, you have to surrender before you win." Karla ( Shantaram an amazing book I'm reading atm)

"People get stuck here" (5th April)

"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.

"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.

"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.

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)