Suite Life

We awoke in Anuradhapura ready to move onto Dambulla. I was really sick throughout the night with sickness, fever, intense pressure in my head etc etc and so hadn't slept a wink. I have been soooo ill and I am still quite ill, even though I think I may be over the worst of it now. The car journey took about 2 hours (ever journey takes twice as long with our driver, lord knows why!!) and I had to spend the journey led across the back seat on Mike and concentrate on not throwing up. We arrive at our hostel in Bandulla and we had made sure we booked somewhere with satellite t.v as with me being ill and in an area where there is NOTHING to do at night we wanted to make sure Mike had something to do. We got there and it would do, not amazing and not terrible. The staff seemed sweet etc. However, there was no t.v which means Mike would have to stare and talk to the wall all night, and it was only 4pm. He went to reception to enquire as to where our t.v was and suprise suprise- it was being repaired. Despite the fact there was no cable socket in the room whatsoever so the were blatantly lying. They didn't even offer us a new room with a t.v as no t.v was working. So he came back to the room and we looked for somewhere else to stay as we had already spent x-amount of nights with nothing to do in th evening with no t.v or anything and now I was ill he really needed something to keep him occupied. We booked a deal at a nice hotel, a little pricey for travellers but I was too ill to care. We went to the car and then they all of a sudden had a better room for us, too late as we had already paid for the new room, and we did tell them we would look for somewhere else, and the fact they lied again about the t.v as we heard the other t.vs working so....we left.
We arrived at our new lush hotel and it was amazing. As we sipped our welcome drinks we spotted a wild elephant. We were shown to our room and had been given a free upgrade to a suite which was AMAZING, my photos do not do it justice! It had a living room, bedroom and huge bathroom. 2 televisions, a 2 people jacuzzi bath, a monsoon shower room etc etc etc.

 

So then we ordered room service as I was too ill to sit in a restaurant and chilled for a bit. We decided to treat ourselves further (and make me feel better) by having a 'couples spa treatment'. This was certainly an experience. It started by having a foot scrub and then Mike and I having to get into our paper undies which cracked me up as it looked as though Mike was wearing a nappy. Then we led down next to each other and both got an all over body scrub. When this was done Mike was told to get in the shower first so I set to wait until the lady wouldn't leave the room until I got in with him (she insisted). After the shower we were led outside to a stone bath filled with wam water, chopped lemon and limes and a hint of lavender. We got in and chilled, until the lady came out bringing us iced tea, ginger tea and orange segments which meant I was desperately trying to cover my shame not knowing which hand to move to accept my drink. When we got out we dried off and went back inside to our couples beds and recieved a full body and head massage. Bliss. Although I was glad when it was over as I was starting to feel dizzy and faint again. The next morning (this morning) we set off to Kandy but stopped off at the rock temple and Buddah temple in Bamdulla on the way. Also halfway along the journey we stopped at this spice village which was free of charge (in other words they all want a tip and there is a massive shop at the end with massively steep prices) which was really interesting although I was counting down the seconds for it to end due to the ol' sickness and diziness coming back in full swing. We did get a little 10 minute massage using organic products though and they demonstrated their 100% natural hair removal cream on Mike's leg which worked wonders! I wish they chose to demonstrate on my upper lip though! The curse of having dark thick hair! So we arrive in Kandy and rest before going out to dinner at a place calles Lyons. It was recommended by Lonely Planet and didn't dissappoint- although we ordered too much food....again, that or they think all Westerners are fat little piggies and are greedy. I had red chilli chicken and Mike tried th devilled chicken which I thought was a little adventurous for him, he is such a baby when it comes to spice! Tomorrow we are going to take our time seeing some of the sights and I am going on a wild hnt to find some postcards and souvenirs. Lordy knows I am a sucker for holiday tat!

 

Mambo Madness

So after the Everton game, I was made to watch another football game- kills my soul a little each time. After this we went back to the beach front restaurant 'Mambos' to have a few more drinks. The right decision. It was so much fun and the atmosphere was amazing! There were fireworks, one of which shot under the sun lounger of a particularly....lets say 'busy' couple; which made me laugh and also panic as to whether they were ok or not- they were fine. There was also a DJ boothe and the music was awesome. Just verything about it was cool. I set Mike a task of goign over to this German couple and asking them if they wanted to join in in our drinking game as everytime we have met people it is because of me- Mike is really shy. It was quite cute, he had to pluck up the courage and everything! He eventually got up, started walking over, and then bottled it and came back to sit down. I had to use the countdown technique on him; "If you don't go by the time I have counted down from 10, I will go"....and once I came to 0 he marched straight over and thankfully they consented and came over. I wish I could remmeber their surnames as they were really nice and fun. We all ended up getting really drunk and Mike was sick all over the floor next to him, then caried on. As I went to the bathroom I saw someone take a photo of me, so naturally I marched straight over to the two men and demanded to know what they were playing at!!! They were not expecting that. I demanded to see and then told them to delete it and they claimed they didn't know how as he had only had this mega fancy camera for a week. This was not good enough. It was one Sri-Lankan guy and one French and whilst I was trying to get my own way I was trying to concentrate on not getting distracted on Frenchie's accent. Sri-Lankie then gave me a sob story about how he took the photo because I looked like this woman he loved but she went missing and for a second he thought I was her. Hmmmmmm. At this point Mike and the German couple found m and hoisted me up to go and dance so I couldn't further this incident. If I was sober I would not have got suckered into that b******t story. So I go dance, Mike had to stay sat down as he was a little peaky, and I danced like it was 1999. The next day was a write off and we couldn't spend it on the beach anyway as it was cloudy and windy, but it was till warm so we lazed in the hamocks and squishy sofas talking about how the squirrels nicked Mike's chocolate seashells.
I also have to take this opportunity to talk to you about the guy who appeared to own our cabanna hotel. He was from Putney, England. In his lat 30s early 40s. Fat, round, short and sweaty. He HATED doing any work. You had to go to him whilst he was munching on yet more pancakes, to order food. He would sigh at having to do the great task...of yelling for one of his workers and then telling them the order so he didn't have to move. Mike and I play a game sometimes (especially for long waits in airports) where we make up the personal background for a randomer standong by. For Putney guy I came up with, lived in his mothers basement till 38 playing world of warcraft and looking at amputee porn, got sick of his elderly mother washing him wrong and dating other men, packed his bags and got a one way ticket to Arugam Bay to live, sweating himself on the beach and getting the locals to perform his demands and fantasies instead, Mike said he lived in England and moved out to AB the same week a young boy went missing from off his street, never to return. Both seem very apt for this man. He was DJ behind his desk of pancakes and beer, which consisted of plugging his i-pod into speakers. All the serial killers classic gay type idols, not the type of music you expect a man of his age to have on his playlist. The real scary one was when he put the soundtrack to 'The Exorcist' on quite loudly- sent shivers and all I could think was 'Is this what he was listening as he disposed of the young boy and his mother?'. To make things worse I eventually (when he moved) got a glimpse of this huge tattoo he had on his back. I stupidly asked him what it was. He designed it whilst drunk......it was 'Death' mixed with a Terry Pratcher character called 'Chaos'. Thank God we were checking out that day. He belongs in a 'League of Gentlemen' series.
We moved on to Polonnaruwa, which we used as a resting stop for the night, watched a bit of t.v, read, got an early night etc. We then headed to Anuradhapura, which is where we are now.We are here for 2 nights, tonight being our last night. Last night we arrived at an awkward time so the only option was to chill really, plus I wasn't feeling 100%. We are about to head out and see a few sights and then tonight it is chill agin, it is one of those places where there is NOTHING to do past 5/6pm really. Not even any restaurants about really. Maybe a rest will do us good. Tomorrow we are heading to Dambulla for one night.
 

Scorpion in my Skirt!!!

At last, we are in BEAUTIFUL Sri-lanka. After arriving in Colombo, we decided to go straight to bed, it was about midnight after all. The next day we got up and went to explore a bit. We went to a Temple, which was really peacfull and chilled, I love the smell of incense. We also checked out a little bakery recommend by Lonely Planet. Absolute dump but the food was good. That evening we to a seafood (yuk yuk sick sick) called 'The Golden Mile' as a treat. It has been visited by Princess Anne and Richard Branson. You have to cross some wooden railway tracks to get there (with no signal system) and then you arrive at this beachside location. It was beautiful and a very romantic setting, despite the songs being played were mainly sad love songs. Mike ordered a baked lobster dish and as I can't stand seafood I went for a mistake. Mine was rubbish and Mike's was superb, I should have stuck to what they are good at. We even got a little fire eating entertainment from a random man on the beach wanting some dinero.
The next day we moved on to Yala National Park and treated ourselves to a hotel located within the actual safari park called Chaaya Wild. It was beautiful. It took hours and hours to get there but we had a little stop off at a sea turtle sanctuary on the way, and it was a beautiful scenic journey. When we arrived though I immediately spotted a load of animal dung on the bed.....the warmest of welcomes I am sure. I went to reception (an elephant crossed me on the way) and got them to sort it whilst Mike and I headed to the bar. We then went to dinner and Mike was in heaven as the had fresh bread that didn't taste like sugar. We were so happy. You definately miss the little things when you are away for so long. After a couple of glasses of wine we went back to the room to get an early night before our 5am start to go on a morning safari.

I awoke to get ready for the safari, and went to the bathroom to put on my skirt. As I picked it up, a huge scorpion fell out of it. I mini screamed and called for Mike whilst keeping my eye on its stinger all the time. We had no time to faff as we didn't want to be late so Mike put a water bottle holder over it with a glass on top to weigh it down, he would sort it when we were back if it hadn't escaped. Needless to say, I didn't go to the toiet that morning! The safari was beautiful and the scenery was amazing. I was most happy with seeing the crocs and getting excited everytime something went into the swamps for a drink hoping for a croc to snap it up- Mike found this sick. Each to their own I say. We also managed to a glimpse of a leopard- which caused traffic, yes traffic, in a safari park! It was just lyng there and was quite a way away so yes it was amazing but not worth the mayhem it caused. Utter chaos of drivers shouting at each other to move so their tourists could see it better, jeeps full of old age pensioners just sat there watching it for AGES, eager young people with their mega lens cameras snapping at what sounded like 200 photos per second etc. You can see come of the photos above.
After the safari we had a 4 hour drive to a sleepy little mountain village called Ella. It was beautiful yet again. There isn't much to do there other than the waterfalls and to chill/eat so that is what we did. We stayed in a family run hostel where the woman was so kind and sweet, although you were never sure where she was actually looking so you just look where you imagine her eyes would be pointing. She made us a traditional Sri-Lankan breakfast which was a nice experience. I liked the fact it wasn't in a restaurant/focused towards the tourists. This was the real deal. I thought it was delicious, Mike struggled a bit with it and kept to the 'scrambled egg'. It included homemade rosti (a flat bread, almost like chappati but thicker) and a mild potato dish. I was in heaven as growing up I hated broth (I still do) and so when mum would make it I would just fish out the potatoes and a little juic, squish them flat inbetwen a slice of heavily buttered sliced white bread and chomp down on my tattie sandwich. This is what I did for this breakfast. Below are some snaps of Ella:

Some men washing in the pool at an interval in the waterfall.

 

After one night in Ella we headed to a beach location called Arugam Bay (pronounced Arugam-beh). We are here for 3 nights and are currentl on our second. It was another 3/4 hour drive from Ella. On arrival there was a bit of hassle as to whether we wold be allowed into the area due to Muslim riots over the 'Innocence of Muslims' video. After about 30mins of waiting at the border though we were allowd through. We arrived at our hotel which is a litter of beach cabannas on the beach front.Great value for money. On our first night we explored a little but there isn't much to do apart from the beach and due to our time of arrival we went out for a fw drinks and sat up in a wooden cabanna sipping tequila surises and Lion beers. Mike taught me a new drinking game and I lost so it was an early night for me. I have to mention I am the Western Whale of the hotel. All the girls are no bigger than a size 6 and a lot taller than me. Gits. At least I get to eat chips! They can share the same diet as the decaying dogs passed out near by. Muwahaha. Today we got up and found out some kind of animal (we guess squirrel) has eaten all of Mike's chocolate shells (it wasn't me, I think they are gross) and have taken my RayBan sungalsses. F**k!!! So annoyed!!! anyway, we headed to the beach and had a good swim, Mike was ecstatic when a wave bigger than my self sent me head over heels and down to the sand beds of the sea- the graze hurts!!! The waves are big and the current is strong!! We went for luch a long way down the beach at a place called Mambo's.

 Mike ordered crab- I think it was a bit too much work for the meat he got- plus he got annoyed with all the flies and scar riddled cats tha kept on coming over. All the other  people were there with surf boards- we were there playing chess followed by ping pong, because we are too cool for school. We are now sat in a restaurant bar that was showing the everton game for Mike and serving more tequila sunrises for me, win! Arugam Bay is great, hot, chilled and just a nice change of pace from all of the travelling.

 

 

Gummy Grins

It has been ages since I last updated my blog, for this I pologise as now I can't remember much. I will try and update more often from now on in. So, I left you saying we were about to go off to a NAtional History Museum....YAY!!! I was actually looking forward to it. It was......just so......laughable? remedial? non-existent? It was based on a university campus, we walked in and it was basically a bunch of animals painted on the walls, something you would see in a nursery. There was hope yet though...another room.....filled with dead stuffed birds and displayed as though they had just been found in an ancient duty cave, picked up, been knocked about a bit on the journey to the museum, and slung on their backs in a dusty glass cabinet with a scrawling of a name pinned to it.After this we went to a National Mountain museum. What a waste of time. I need to learn to put my foot down with Mike, but at least we got a good photo out of it...Mike stood next to a model of 'Big Foot'. The rest of our time in Pokhara was really chilled, just nosing about exploring, eatig, drinking and relaxing really. It reall is a wonderful place but we were ready to move on when we left. Yet another 8 hour bus journey back to Kathmandu. I woud get the seat behind an annoying little boy who was travelling alone with his mother who was one of these over-bearing, 'my son is God and master' types and generally let him be a noisy annoying little brat. He kept turning round and eyeballing me which I can cope with but then he kept trying to grab at Mike's face whilst Mike was sleeping, to which I gave him a certain freakily pulled face (think an evil elephant man who has had a stroke) and he stopped turning around after then. Another thing that annoyed me was that his mother asked me to move seats so her son could put his seat right back. NO!!!! Anyway, we arrive in Kathmandu and head out of the carpark to find a tuktuk to take us to our hostel. No one seemed to know it or the address (isn't it funny how they always know somewhere else that will take us....very good price) when eventually an ancient old man with barely any teeth came peddling over on his bike (think horse and carriage, just a lot smaller and a push bike, not a horse) and said he knew it. I asked him to tell one of the taxi drivers as he wouldn't be able to fit our backpacks and us on but he just went on ahead and pilled our bags onto his contraption. I wanted the world to open up and swallow us whole. He wouldn't take no for an answer and we didn't want to insult him and his charming gummy grin. We went slower than walking. It was so so bad. He finally stopped after what seemed like a life time trying to stay half onto the 'vehicle' and we realised he had brought us to the wrong place. After sich an ordeal I tipped him massively (not to western standards) and went inside and just stayed where he took us. Our last two nights in Nepal were pretty uneventful, we just shopped a bit and sent some stuff back to England. We wanted to chill really as the next flight day was going to e a long long day.

Road to Hell

The Everest flight was fantastic, although you don't get as close as you want to be. They are views you won't forget in a hurry, and the journey....well.lets just say my heart started racing when I saw the biscuit tin plane we were going on, I wondered why we couldnt go on one of the newer models right next to it but held my tongue and was greatful I have already received the last rights. Onwards and upwards we went, the plane just about witholding the turbulance and heading towards the mountains. W got invited up to the cockpit one by one which Mike seemed excited about, but I politely declined as the thought of being in such close proximity to germ ridden strangers freaked me out, I made sure Mike took the camera up with him though ;) At the end of the flight the air hostess gave you the option to buy a dvd of the mountain flight (yeah right!!!) or a fashionable t-shirt with a big cartoon-esque picture of Everest on it with big bold cartoon letters saying 'I haven't climbed Everest, but I have touched it with my heart'....and this point I just took one look at Mike and he at me and laughed our heads off thinking 'who on earth would by that!!', well, after that thought a load of Chinese and Japanese tourists bought them eagerly and put them on straight away, taking many photos of each other. They sure showed us. Just to make this flight's mrchandise a little bit more cringeworthy, they then ll handed us a piece of paper, I turned it around and it was a certificate to say I had done the flight. I think my sister's boyfriend Jado would be in his element here with the amount of cheesy tat he could buy Jane, especially the t-shirt (as a joke)!! I almost got it for her myself to add to her cheesy t-shirt collection.
The nxt morning we were up bright and early again to catch a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara. It took roughly just under 8 hours. Well worth it due to the scenic route, driving past lush green mountains more or less the whole way. I tried to snooze for a lot of it but found it difficlt due to the bumpy roads and the fact I was overly conscience about my head accidently slipping off my lovely clean travel pillow onto the musty curtain smothered in brown stains. We arrive in Pokhara and go straight to our hostel which is great (minus the constant powercuts leading to me sweating like a Christmas ham) and the bathroom is clean so I can relax. We go and explore and as a treat for Mike, I found a steak house and after hi not having cow since England I thought this would be nice for him. We find it and alarm bells were ringing, we had to go to the back of a crumbling building with workmen's tools and rubble lying everywhere, up a staircase back from the Flintstones age and into a sweaty hot room overlooking the street. Then the menu worried me as there were so many things on it (I think it is one Mr Gordon Ramsey who has put this idea in my head, lots of things on the menu=bad quality). I ordered peppered steak as I haven't eaten meat since the UK and waited with a vodka coke anxiously. It was DELICIOUS!!! Teaches me for judging too fast. The steaks were the size of two cows! Mega meat sweats!! We then head to a bar and got massively drunk with some young University of Leicster students. After the lock in (about 5am) we got outside and due to it pouring it down with rain, we jumpd a cab. I was in drunken laughing hysterics as the taxi man couldn't drive more than a meter without stalling. When he did get going he was going in the wrong direction so we thought he knew a short cut, it turned out he didn't, it took about 5 mins to get him to stop the taxi as he just wouldn't listen. We told him to take us back where he got us from as he clearly didn't know where our hostel was. He had no idea how to get us ack to where he picked us up from. I was terrified!!! I quickly thought of a famous hotel and told him to take us there knowing they would sort us out. We arrive and get a taxi through the hotel, run into it and duck down like two escapees as the original taxi driver would not leave until we paid him. We got away and got back to our hostel at about 6.30am.
The next day we just chilled with our hangovers. Mike started teaching me how to play chess. Yesterday we went to a mountain museum (happy happy joy joy). Did some souvenir shopping and then headed to a live music blues bar, it was really relaxed and fun. Travellers would just get up and play/sing together (they all could play an instrument or sing, not just noise). Today we have been to the second largest lake in Nepal called Lake Phewa Tal, mike rowed. We ended up having the typical row that couples do trying these activities together, especially when he kept crashing into boats and got us stuck to another boat, and I blamed him for not getting a guide (wrongly so yes but I was hot and aggitated). Beautiful views yet again. We are now sat in a cafe and about to head off to the natural history museum.

Shangri-bLAh

WHOOPEEEE!!! We have arrived in Nepal! Kathmandu to be precise.

By the way, SpiceJet are the most incompitent airline I have ever flown with. However, as you approach Nepal, you forget all about their rude service and petty laws as below is the sight you are greeted with:

Note the mountain popping through the clouds

 

There are many more photos I took that are similar to this but you are only treated to one, it takes forever to upload one on here!! Haha.

After waiting in the long immagration queues, putting up with people pushing in front as apparently only the English adhere to the queue system (it is becoming more and more apparent as we go on through this trip) we wnt outside expecting to see our hostel guy with our names on a board...no such thing. However, we saw the sign for the hostel....called Shangri-La. So we showed them our confirmation and they nodded and put us on a customised mini van....bit fancy for a hostel?!? Then we noticed one of the other men just tipped the bag guy 1000rs....(about £10)...again....bit much. Then as we were on our way...somthing clicked. This was for the famous hotel chain Shangri La. Ohhhh S**t! We arrive and my fears were confirmed. So me being a bit of an impulsive idiot at times, decided we were staying the night regardless. I was shattered, dirty, and wanted to dye the silvers out of my hair.

Today we went sight seeing to a lovely small garden called 'Garden of Dreams'. It was quaint and relaxing and obviously a place for tourists- saying that it wasn't too busy. Mike tried a Nepalese beer (he wants to try the beers of the world) and he got a little tipsy off one- which made us worried as the beer didn't display a percentage!

 

After the gardens we went to Hanuman-dhoka Durbar Square and visited a number of places in this infamous square. It is also known as 'freak street' apparently.

This was my favourite image there.  It is called 'Kal Bhairav'. It represents deity Shiva in his destructive manifestation. It was used by the government as a place for people to swear the truth. I wish I had a better photo but the camera died on me.

At the junction of Durbar and Basantapur Sqs is a red brick, three-storey building with some incredible intricately carved windows. This is the Kumari Bahal, home to the Kumari, the young girl who is selected to be the town's living goddess until she reaches puberty and reverts to being a normal mortal. The building, in the style of the courtyarded Buddhist vihara (monastic abodes) of the valley, was built in 1757 by Jaya Prakash Malla.
Inside the building the three-storey courtyard, or Kumari Chowk, is enclosed by magnificently carved wooden balconies and windows.

There were many wonderful sights in this area, google it for more information as there are too many to type about.

 

 

 

 

Taj Mahal and the Bog of Eternal Stench.

My trusty readers, those of you who are cool enough to recognise the film I am referencing in my post title....... score yourself 10 points.

We left Jaipur to go to Agra. Now prior to this visit I had been warned by people that Agra is a hole....I still went with an optomistic view. We arrived and our hotel was down some back street, although it all looks like back streets so for all I know we could be on the most famous strip. The hotel was half decent, a little over priced for the service and you could hear your neighbours go to the toilet (you could even hear what they were going to the toilet for), but at least it was clean. We decided to have a walk around the local area to see what we may find....the smell actually made me wretch in the street, and everytime my mouth opened a dust cloud scented with crap got lodged in my throat which made me bail on the walk back to the hotel. Mike bravely decided to soldier on to find me some paracetamol. When he came back he had the most delightful story to tell me about how he had just seen a young boy having a poo in the middle of the street, he also kindly reinacted it for me, facial expressions and sounds included.
We obviously went to visit the Taj Mahal. We were up and ready to go for 6am to beat the queues. Apparently 20,000 people visit a day. It was amazing! Our guide was fantastic and explained hoe taj means Crown and Mahal means Palace. It is called the Taj Mahal as it looks like a palace with a crown on top. It took 22 years to build and 22,000 workers to build. Each petal of each tiny flower would take about 3 days to carve. It is filled with precious stones in the walls, which disgustingly, people have tried and in some cases succeeded to pluck out. You can't see the orginal graves anymore due to the bomb scare that happened in the famous Taj Hotel in Mumbai- security has really tightened up in posh hotels and tourist sights. Exact replicas of the graves have been placed in the Taj. We didn't do the 'Princess Diana' seat as even at 6am- the queue was too big and it was taking forever. Not to mention we were both dripping with sweat and looking gross- you can spot i'm English a mile off because of it, Mike keeps getting asked if he is Indian.  Here are a couple of shots:

 

So now we have moved on to Varanasi. We arrived at an awkward spot, where I was made to wind down this maze of 2 meter wide backstreets, again...they were an attack on the senses. It seemed to go on forever and I hardly had time to look up as I was too busy avoing all the human crap and cow pats that were on the floor, and god knows what else. We arrive at this hostel, which seemed it might be ok. It had a new little puppy so that lifted my spirits a little, until we were finally allowed in our room which had ants crawling in through the window, cracks and holes around the windows letting mosquitos in, damp sheets....but I could cope with all of this, I just took a deep breath and took out my sleeping bag to avoid their sheets. I then needed the bathroom.......the seat was covered in BROWN water, the bottom of the bowl was full of S**t that wouldn't flush. There was a leak in the ceiling, the shower towel was soaking wet and stained brown (not an old stain), there was a rabid dog that wouldn't shut up and screaming kids, no wifi which was promised, I could go on forever, but to sum it up, I was too grossed out, tired and furious to even cry. Mike seeing how upset I was (I really have to be careful with my health as I have no spleen and a really weak immune system, I can't risk getting ill and whilst abroad I certainly can't afford it), he suggested we move hotel. So we did. It was awkward but I just packed my bag, ignored the owners and walked out into the rat maze from hell.  At one point I thought I wouldn't make it out alive. But alas, I did, and I am now somewhere clean. We went to see the fort which was ok- a little disappointing. Hope to go on a boat ride tomorrow morning to see the cremations before we leave tomorrow to go back to Delhi for the night.

Only 2 more nights left in India.

I'll Never Do It Again= INDIA (apart from to visit family)

Glad I have done it, it has taught me a lot. It has certainly made me realise how lucky I am and how grateful I should be for everything my parents have given me, however, I won't be doing it again, it is a reall difficult journey in so many ways.  

 

Next Stop: NEPAL