A North Indian Fairytale

We arrived in Udaipur at the beginning of April, after our last few relaxing months in South India; we prepared ourselves for the hustle and bustle of the Indian city and for the new found sights of Rajasthan. How pleasantly surprised we were when we arrived and found a different world to what we had prepared for and imagined, the city felt calm with an air of beauty around it. We arrived in the evening and came into the city with the sound of beautiful prayers and Indian music being played, I instantly felt I was in an Indian fairytale and could see why Rajasthan was described as the land of the kings and a place where maharajas once settled. We had planned two weeks for exploring Rajasthan, as mentioned in a previous post the weather was starting to bake during the day and between 12-5pm you really have to hide inside as its too hot to do anything, therefore we felt longer than two weeks maybe silly as we didn’t want to spend every afternoon inside when in beautiful India.  We worked out where we both wanted to explore, due to Rajasthan being new to both of us and what we wanted out of this part of the trip. Rajasthan is full of forts, deserts, palaces and lakes and we knew our next few weeks would be filled with wonder and beauty.
Udaipur was our first stop in royal Rajasthan, we arrived at our guesthouse and secured a beautiful room looking out onto lake Pichola, (giving its name by the flooding of Pichola Village to make the lake, when thinking of a village at the bottom of a lake it always feels a bit fairy tale esk, as to think of hidden homes and another world once lived before the lake was made). Lake Pichola is the main attraction in Udaipur, all the hotels are centered around it and everywhere has roof top restaurants with the most magnificent views, luckily our new abode being one of these. We enjoyed our first fine feast on top of our guesthouse and felt very satisfied, taking in the sounds and sights before us preparing us for our next few days in this magical city. We secured three days in Udaipur and spent them mainly wandering around the streets purchasing lovely miniature Rajasthan art, buying beautiful home wares and generally just talking with locals and learning more about how the city works, we made friends with a little boy who was crying one morning as he wanted a banana and not an orange, Sam kindly went and purchased a banana for him and from this he and his family waved and smiled every morning at us when heading into the cities walls. We found an amazing spot for watching sunset with the locals and although the ever persistent ‘dress up as a prince photo’ was demanded we managed to enjoy the beauty of the sun setting over the land of fairytale dreams. We enjoyed wandering around the city palace and relaxing in the bathing room under the heat of the morning sun, sadly the palace is one of the main tourist hot spots so a number of tour operators work the floors with their translation and audio tapes, we jumped onto a couple of English tours but overall made up our own stories of the Maharaja that once lived there and took what we saw from the beauty of the Palace. My favorite room was the peacock room where magnificent tiled mosaics of peacocks stood strong on the walls making the room glisten and gleam from the vibrant colorful tiles. One afternoon we took some time out and went and lazed at a lovely hotel using the pool facilities, which was ever needed in the 40 degree heat. We used our second last evening to attend a cooking course that had been recommended to us by both our brothers and good friends, Shashi cooking class. We searched for where we thought she was based but found a derelict building with a haggard sign up, after speaking with a local business man he informed us she had moved and called her son who arranged the class for us. On arrival at Shashi home she informed us she had moved due to renovating works and was now renting this new flat (very different to the ‘typical’ Indian kitchen I had seen in family and friends photos) this place was a new build well to do spacious living area, we assumed the classes were paying off! I must admit I was a little nervous at the start of the class as didn’t really know what to expect but it turned out perfect and for the £6 we paid we definitely got our money’s worth. The class was made up of Sam and I and a group of others, we learnt how to cook so many different dishes but in the most simplest and basic form, it was great to be part of such a basic class but feeling that you were learning something new and exciting. We cooked nans, parathas and my favorite panner dishes, even being told how to make panner when home, (yes please), the energy was brilliant and it was such an experience to be part of. Shashi herself is an incredible woman and up to a number of years ago she couldn’t even speak English, after the death of her husband she started the cooking classes and now is one of the most recommended activities in Udaipur, her beauty is outstanding and her passion shines through as she teaches. When we finished the 5hrs of kitchen time we all sat down and embraced the feast we had just prepared, there was so much food it was a kings and queens feast and it was enjoyed just as much as cooking it had been.
With our time coming to an end we spent the following day walking the city and indulging in the splendor that had been given to us in our few days exploring Udaipur.

Our next stop on our Rajasthan trail was Pushkar, a good friend of mine had told me about the beauty Pushkar had to hold and my vision of this Aladdin like world with bazaars, lakes and religion was embraced into my mind, on reading up about Pushkar I read descriptions and similarities to that of Varanasi (another part of India in which we visited in 2011), Varanasi is a very religious part of India and my experience had been slightly surreal and daunting, the difference I read about Pushkar was that it was smaller and the element of death was not so prevalent as in Varanasi (people go here to die and are carried through the streets and burnt at the Ghats, meaning you see a lot of dead bodies, which is very moving but also for one who isn’t comfortable with death, it’s hard to cope with). We arrived in Pushkar in the evening, which I realized over the next two days is the best time to be in Pushkar, we headed to the lake and sat listening to the evening prayers, the sound was beautiful and so enchanting I felt I had just arrived in a land of an Indian fairy tale. We sat watching sunset around the lake for over an hour and the beauty of people bathing, believing and embracing one another was a very special moment, one I felt privileged to be able to watch and share. Our first full day in Pushkar we spent wandering the streets, looking at the local market stalls and hiding from the midday sun drinking cold coffees, the town is busy with tourists, shoppers and sellers during the day and has a completely different feel to that of an evening, it was great to be part of the hustle but with Pushkar being so small by the afternoon we were ready to head back to the lake as we had seen the sights of the town and enjoyed our bumble around. The lake again was as magical as the day before, this time we walked further around and enjoyed watching the scene from another lakeside angle.

The following day we decided to hire a scooter and head out around Pushkar, something we are delighted we did as we had the most enjoyable day getting lost in the Pushkar desert. We had been told to head to two Shiva temples and through a few local villages, we attempted to do this but got completely lost and managed to clock up around 40miles on the scooter, luckily we found petrol, as always in India it’s just a man in a village with a two litre plastic bottle full for £2, score.  Getting lost however was not a bad thing as we managed to see peacocks roaming around in the wild, we talked with a group of men at their chai stall for over an hour (bearing in mind they spoke little English and us no Hindi) in the end we decided to leave when conversations became so mixed up they thought Sam played in the IPL (we were trying to explain we are going to watch a game of the IPL). We basked in the sunshine of the roadside and met a man and his camel along the way, we drove through villages with children that became so excited at two white people one attempted to pull me off the scooter in excitement and enjoyed the open desert roads with amazing plants growing wild. At the end of the day we were so tired, we treated ourselves to a nice meal at a swanky hotel and listened to the evening prayers from the rooftop, that evening as we headed for our night bus we felt blessed at our time in Pushkar and felt a special something at the beauty it beholds.

Our next stop was Jaisalmer and we arrived in the early morning to a hoard of camel safari sellers and hotel pushers, Sam and I had only just woken so were still a bit dreamy when we jumped into a 4x4 stating they would take us to our hotel, luckily for us they did but after a few minutes of ‘no I don’t want your hotel’ we escaped to our exquisite hotel, after waking the owner up we got our room and rolled into shower, we decided we would head out and explore that morning as we knew by afternoon the desert heat of 40+ would not be our friend and sleep could be welcomed nicely at this point. We spoke with the owner and booked our camel safari for the following day so used this day to enjoy the walls of the Jaisalmer fort, Jaisalmer is renowned for its camel safaris, it’s basically where everyone comes to head out for that unique experience, Jaisalmer is also centered around an old fort, where in which people now live inside the walls of the fort with home, shops and business. We visited the fort both in the morning and afternoon and found the inside of the fort so different to how I had imagined, I wanted their to be more of a magic about it but sadly the structure had been damaged with homes being made and the sewerage system was so bad the whole place stunk of toilet, which for me was not how the inside of a castle fort would have smelt! We did however stop and talk to a man who owned a bookshop inside the fort and after taking up a chair and chatting for around an hour, the smell subsided and the interest of watching people live inside the walls took over and an understanding of how people lived became apparent. One of the main challenges with being in India is the puzzlement and attempted understanding of how people live, and not just the people with no money but the ones who do have money, no one seems to care where they rest their head and sense of living seems to be just something that happens rather than embracing the beauty of living. I challenge my thoughts with this, as is it just because I am now in a place where I lead a comfortable life and can have the things I need that make me ‘comfortable and content’, maybe for some Indian people they can’t imagine this therefore live with what they have, whereas for me being comfortable is more than one room in a cramped living environment. It then leads me to the question of how I believe I am not materialistic but are we all materialistic in a modern day society where things essentially do make us happy?! It’s a question I think I will ask throughout my whole time away, and hopefully I can find an answer I become more comfortable with, allowing me to carry on learning and developing as a 30yr old women.

We enjoyed that evening on the roof of our hotel, looking over at the fort with its stature and beauty. The next morning we woke early to head out onto our camel safari, now as blogged earlier I was unsure about doing this but after a lot of reading, speaking with like minded friends and questions to the man at our hotel I decided to go for it. It was an experience I will never forget but one that left me with uncertainty afterwards whether I agreed with camel riding. We were luckily in our group to only have three people (Sam and I being two of those three), we took a 2hr trip through the desert and it was just magical, the silence, the antelopes/spring bok prancing around, the passing goats, the stature and beauty of the camels and the prettiness of the open desert was just a sight I couldn’t have imagined or wished for, I felt so happy inside it was pure joy to be experiencing. My camel was six and was a male named babalou, he was the smallest of the camels and was definitely a bit uncertain at taking instruction, he looked after me well though and enjoyed taking his own journey whilst trotting through the desert (he also enjoyed licking Sam’s camel, which to our child like amusement was hilarious). We took shade from the blazing sun and enjoyed chai and a tasty (spicy) lunch, read our books and snoozed, the camels enjoyed a roll around in the sand and eating a bush (that we were told was like chocolate for them). After our rest we took back to our camels, the gormless beauties that they were and rode for another hour or so onto the Sam Sand dunes, I could have yelped with happiness when I saw them, I have never experienced sand dunes like it and felt in awe at the clear untouched sand lying in front of us. The camels plodded onto the dunes and with a humpty bumbty ride we arrived at our evening rest spot, we were told that five more people were joining us for the evening, which although I had enjoyed the day alone it felt safer knowing more people would be camping out with us.

Sam and I went to do the obvious in sand dunes and attempted to play in front of the setting sun, me unsuccessfully falling on my face, Sam managing a few pristine hand stands and of course the camera was capturing all the fun. It felt surreal being out on the Thar desert (the Thar desert borders India and Pakistan), my insides were so excited and I just felt I was definitely having one of those experiences that I couldn’t have at home. We enjoyed our evening meal and chatted with the others, getting handy travelling tips from a lady that lived in Indonesia and talking with others about their experiences of volunteering in India. We sneaked into our beds at around 10pm and Sam and I smiled gleefully at the magnificence of camping in the desert, under the stars in India, I fell asleep fully aware of why I had wanted to go traveling, for days and nights like this.

We awoke the next morning early, ate an interesting breakfast and started making our way back, we were on the camels for another hour, before arriving back at our 4x4 to take us back to our hotel. I was so ready to get off by the end, my bum was sore, my ribs felt like they had been on a workout and my thighs, let’s just say ouch. I also wondered at this point how the camels felt, the main man told me they would be back out this afternoon as had another safari and from talking with him it seemed over busy season it was daily safaris that occurred. I understand camels are used like horses for transporting goods but something inside of me felt uneasy at how much these camels were used and how tired they must get at the daily carrying of tourists and all the equipment/food needed for the safari. I decided that because I was asking these questions I obviously wasn’t comfortable with the camels being over worked and therefore decided that although the experience was out of this world I would think twice about riding a camel as a tourist attraction. 

What was weird after coming to this was the overwhelming sense of sadness I felt that the experience was over, I felt like what I feel like after an amazing holiday/festival and that it really was a once in a lifetime experience, so although I felt sad about the camels I was pleased I had done it (yes, contradictory I know) but this blog is about honesty and that’s how I felt. We enjoyed our last evening on the rooftop again, enjoying our last evening in this magical city, sleep took us well that night and we woke up early ready for our next stop, Punjab. 

Photos for those who are not on facebook:
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South India cont..

As the midday sun comes out and the temperature becomes uncomfortable I thought I would hide away and update you all on a new blog entry, and our travels since my last writing. 

We ended up staying twelve days in Gokarna, Kudle beach really is a dream and the beach is so pristine and idilic it just seemed silly to head elsewhere, with our basic hut and our adopted puppies we felt right at home and did nothing more then bask in the sun, eat, read and enjoy having the restaurants dogs around us. It felt nice to be based somewhere and not be on the move but also somewhere that doesn’t have that over the top traveler feel. Om beach seems to pull more of this crowd in and we did venture there for a day but soon left as was craving the quietness of Kudle and the comforts of our hut. We celebrated the Indian festival of colour, Holi festival when on Kudle and were covered like rainbows in vibrant colours, it was nice to enjoy the energy from others and smile and celebrate in the jovial way a festival of such beauty should. 

We eventually packed our bags and moved from Gokarna, heading to Goa, we felt it was time to move on and experience another part of India rather then getting too settled at Sunset Café beach huts. We got the train up to Goa and decided our first stop would be Palolem, we arrived at Palolem and sadly it was totally different to what my view of this idyllic peaceful beach would be, I knew Goa was a tourist spot for package holidays but had been told Palolem was different to the more popular beaches, my first thought was the opposite to this, the beach was lined with bars and restaurants and everywhere was offers of buy one get one free and nasty music. We managed to find a coco hut in budget that was set back from the beach, the room was clean with a comfy bed and suited us both, we spent our first few days on the beach and tried to soak into the palm lined beach, sadly I started to really dislike the place though and the general vibe was just so different to what was in my head, we decided that the following day we take a trip to old Goa to get away from the beach and the general feeling of drinkdrinkdrink. That afternoon though we decided to take a stroll to the right side of the beach and came across a treat of a stay, the cozynook www.cozynookgoa.com, stood nestled in the corner at the very end of the beach, its general feel was of beauty and its rooms were gorgeous, it reminded me of Mango Bay in Vietnam mangobayphuquoc.com, the rooms were basic but stood strong and just looked a dream to stay in, we decided to enquire but on our budget we just felt we couldn’t splash out so agreed we would enjoy the rest of the afternoon there and come hang out here for the remainder of our Palolem stay. The rest of the afternoon was blissful with good sounds, cocktails and comfort. Whilst lazing we noticed across the tide a bar on the far corner, we couldn’t work out how to get across as the tide was high, we watched throughout the day as people took the venture across and then vanished, we decided at about 5pm to take our chances, like a magical night time Glastonbury stroll we ventured across and with water up to our waist we came across the Sundowner, it was amazing, one coconut tree bar selling beers and cocktails and the most serene sunset views. My vision of Palolem was suddenly coming into view and I was feeling very very happy. 
The next day we still decided to head to old Goa, heading out on the bus we enjoyed the bangra music and windy streets on our journey there and a bus ride is India is always an experience you wont forget, when we reached old Goa it was a totally different atmosphere from the hustle and bustle of the left side of the beach, there was a relaxed sense with a real European vibe, we bumbled around the streets and basked in the midday sun, visiting the churches and really soaking in the bliss and beauty. 
The following day we headed back to cozynook and after a delightful morning took the plunge and decided to move in, we booked three nights to start off with, but with the enjoyment of the place and the smiles on our faces we ended up staying four, it was a treat and a half, we ate good food, drank amazing drinks and just generally buzzed around totally chuffed at finding this dream haven. Were already planning our next trip and definitely staying in one of the deluxe rooms. 

Our next stop was to Arambol where I was doing a five day yoga course with Himalayan Iyengor Yoga Centre www.hiyogacentre.com, the course was a real self journey and was 4hrs over 5 days, yoga started at 7.30am each morning and was a different yoga to the usual Ashtanga yoga I practice, it was a overwhelming experience and definitely allowed me to learn certain aspects of the yoga I would bring into my own practice. The group was really nice and my northern bonds brought me to a new friend from Glasgow, it always helps having someone you can talk over the class with and we enjoyed our daily discussion of what we had learnt and what we will take away. The course brought up a range of emotions as certain asanas were really moving and took me to a new place in my yoga practice, the inner quietness I felt was really powerful and something I defiantly a feeling I still felt after the course completed. Iynegor Yoga uses a lot of props which is something I sadly won’t use as much of but did enjoy learning more around grounding oneself and trying out something that challenged me to another level, I even managed a full wheel unassisted, which is something I have been practicing and unsuccessfully failing at, so yeah to me. I was really proud of being part of something like this and felt experiencing it in India just made the time more special. 

Arambol itself was quite interesting, the same as Ajuna which is where we ventured after Arambol, because everything was starting to close down it really felt as if our time in South India was coming to an end, like there was no need to stay, as there wasn’t much to be staying for, with the closing of season soon approaching we enjoyed our last few days on the beach and prepared for our beast of a train journey up to North India.

We arrived in Rajasthan last night, sadly we didn’t plan this part of the trip as well as we hoped, its turning into Summer time in India meaning throughout the day its blazing and not the best for ambling around the dreamy streets and bazaars, we have managed to get an adorable room with lake view so have decided to use this as our hideaway and then spend the mornings and afternoons exploring, the city has such a beautiful feeling and I am so excited for the next three days here and the next few weeks in fairytale Rajasthan.

Link to photos - i have added more to the old album so scroll down to the new ones:

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India - A Love/Hate Affair

Since arriving in India I think I have asked myself a hundred questions about myself, my reason for travel, my reason for organised fun, my map of where we must be when and most importantly if I am strong enough to manage a whole eleven months away from family and friends , now some of you may laugh at this last statement but for me it’s probably why I have never travelled longer than five months before and why every time I move away from home I always pulled back to where my family is and where I feel I belong. Being close to my family is so important and when on my last trip my step grandmother passed and for me there was no question I needed to be at home and be there for my family, in our family there has always been things occurring and being apart from my Moomin is like losing a limb, she has always been my rock and sometimes I do wonder without her I may just crumble, luckily with wifi and skype its working out alright, with the aid of viber I have been able to speak to family and friends weekly, kept up to date with the Grandparents and kept in the loop with anything going on, it’s also important for me to be able to offer an ear to those friends going through difficulties and even if I am not there in person I can be there on the phone. 

So in answer to the other questions, I have been reading a book lately and have been able to answer a number of these questions and I realise my structure comes down to the fact I need to make sure (in my mind) things won’t fall through, there is a plan and this plan makes me feel safe. Its most probably the first time in my life where I actually do feel fully safe in who I am and therefore I have come to realise why I am questioning my sense of organisation when it’s got me to where I am, in a place of commitment, contentment, happiness and safety. I guess which then leads me to another question of why have I chose this journey of travel, does there have to be a why? For me yes, it makes sense to have one and I hope over the next eleven months it comes to me, it’s interesting, you hear people talk of finding themselves, meeting likeminded people and obviously experiencing new cultures. I think the latter definitely holds strong for me, as for the others I am not sure how much of a journey to find myself I am on anymore, I think a number of hours in a counseling room in Streatham helped me with that journey, but also my own learning in becoming a counselor myself has defiantly allowed me to find an inner peace within my soul and with others who I have had challenging relationships with, where peace has either been made or I have removed their toxicity from my life, allowing a deeper sense of happiness is  found. Spiritually I believe I am always on that journey, working out where my faith lies, when I told a friend once I didn’t believe in god, she asked me why not, I told her I just didn’t believe someone created the world and don’t believe a lot of the bible, she told me she was shocked I could think so one way when god can be anything, this friend told me she too didn’t believe in god as the bible states but she said for how spiritual she felt I was didn’t I believe in a higher power, to which I replied yes, to which she said, well there’s your god. I was slightly dumbfounded by such an easy explanation but it really got me thinking and I realized there is something in me that does believe in something, what that is maybe this travel trip will help me find out. I read an amazing book a few weeks back it was called the colour purple (Alice Walker) and in it a character explains god as the colour purple, this I like, there has been times when I have felt a strong sense of peace and whatever that is maybe that’s my god, to actually finally feel peace within myself at 30 is a pretty beautiful thing and maybe this whole trip is being took as I am eventually happy and free to do it, so why not. 

Let’s begin.
We decided to start this trip in India, somewhere we had both been before, I had only travelled a small part of India so was excited to get right into the heart of it and have our first few months taking in the delight of what it had to offer. We headed down to Pondicherry, somewhere I had always wanted to go, Sam constantly asking me why, my reply, I just want, it sounds so beautiful and that was what we found. Pondicherry has a mix of French, Indian citizens and has a real diverse experience when you go there; you have this idealistic French part of the town then across the road a manic Indian way of life. We spent two days wandering the streets, taking in the sites, people watching and smiling at the colours of the houses around us. It felt nice to be there and a real sense of relaxed from the typical entry into India, the hustle and bustle was quite calming and we were left to enjoy our days humbling and bumbling. 

On our second day we went to a beach side café and whilst there, I bumped into a friend who is very close to me, I sadly haven’t seen her for a number of years due to certain circumstances but it felt like that was why I was meant to be there, the madness is this friend lives around the corner from my Mums house but due to it being too difficult to see one another on a personal level it finally felt right to see each other, here in India, in beautiful Pondicherry. We embraced and chatted for some time and agreed that on my return we would be in contact again, my heartfelt warm and happy knowing she would be back in my life, I couldn’t believe this was the start of my journey, wow what a beautiful way to begin. 

We moved on from Pondicherry to meet our friends Beth and Cian for Beth’s 30th birthday, 6 days in and meeting friends, I felt very lucky, how could I miss home when home was with me in India. We spent the day looking for our houseboat and making sure it had a sun deck (Ms Liddle's must have) in order to experience the Kerala’s backwaters the way they should be. Our mission was completed and we managed to get a bargain price, a crew and a beautiful houseboat for 2 days and 2 nights. The next 2 days were a highlight of the trip so far, we chatted the days away, enjoying the true beauty of what was in front of us, there was so many amazing birds and people watching was just beautiful, to see everyone getting along in their day to day doings, using the backwaters as we use motorways, it was another world and a world I was so pleased to be exploring. The crew were a treat and we enjoyed so many wondrous treats when on the boat, being pescaterian  is definitely worth it in South India, the food prepared is amazing and every bite is just a spice delight, we ate like kings and queens and all felt satisfied with our money being well spent. Sam and I had lugged a bottle of Moet for Beth’s birthday and it was joy to see how happy she was with the gift, we cooled it and had it lunch, giggling at us ‘travelers’ dining on Moet on our boat at lunch time. Our evenings were taking up playing scrabble and stop the bus, with raucous laughs and giggles at who needed a cuddle and who/why would you smack in the face (celebrities this is) – all in the name of a stop the bus category, it was true friendship at its best and I felt so lucky to be sharing this experience with my adorable husband and two very good friends. 

Our trip sadly had to come to an end and Beth and Cian moved onto Sri Lanka and us to Varkarla, we spent a week in Varkarla, literally just relaxing on the beach, eating amazing food and enjoying the sun’s rays underneath our sun shelter. It was a good week, with extra lbs put on and happy smiley faces. On our last day, whilst having breakfast at our favorite restaurant we were told a pod of dolphins had come close to the shore, we went onto the cliff in anticipation and managed to see them, swimming, bobbing and enjoying the currents, it was a sight of beautiful nature at its best and I couldn’t have asked for a greater gift as we left the Varkarla cliffs.  

From Varkarla we moved to Periyar, again another highlight and took a trek to Periyar National Park, we met a really lovely man who used to work at the park who advised us to take the border trekking trail around the park. What a result, the trek was amazing, we were told we may see no wildlife and to look at the trek as a beautiful walk around an amazing park, it seemed our luck was in though, throughout the whole day we came across 18 elephants, ahhh, amazing and a number of other wonderful wildlife. It’s strange in India, animals are worshipped/used in so many different ways, I watched a dog die yesterday and no one would help (apart from me and two other tourists) dogs are literally like feral foxes and nobody has any care or concern for them, but cows are worshipped??!! The other thing I hadn’t realized before coming to India was how elephants are used; yes I had seen pictures but closed my eyes as didn’t like it. Since being here though I have defiantly found how strong I feel about the use of elephants as working and tourist means, they offer elephant rides everywhere and it breaks my heart that people think it’s acceptable to ride/use these beautiful animals. I just don’t get it, seeing these animals in the wild was where they belonged and not for the use of entertainment or work. One thing India is bringing out is definitely my sense of being pescaterian and how animals should be treated whatever animal – I now lie with the argument around camels, as a friend said are camels not used the same as horses, I need to sit with this one. 

After the amazement of Periyar we moved to Munnar and stayed in the hills in a lovely home stay, it was really nice to just be in and a home stay and not eating out every night, this is something I knew would be a struggle for me as I love being in my home doing the things I like and cooking, to have to eat out every night feels like such a burden and Munnar offered what I needed in staying in and enjoying the tranquility of eating with a family. The Munnar hills were beautiful, being surrounded by tea and spice plantations was kind of surreal but it was lovely blissfully wandering around and soaking in the atmosphere of workers and tea smells. 

From Munnar we made our way to Hampi which was definitely where the love/hate relationship started, Hampi is a place so many people have talked about to me, telling me how much I would love it, how tranquil it is and beautiful. I did find it to be this but also I found it to be a place I didn’t enjoy and felt it had lost its beauty by catering for the stereotypical backpackers dream – nightmare to me, where we stayed was literally full of travelers, there was no culture, beauty just everyone smoking weed, talking of how drugs should be legalized and how many bang lassi people had had, really? Is this what it’s about??!! After a second night of random rubbish school disco music we decided to pack our bags and get out of there. 

It did however offer one day of blissful tidings, where we hired a moped and enjoyed a number of temples, we climbed to the Hanuman Temple on the evening and it was total beauty, we enjoyed the chanting of the Sadhus, watching young boys learn prayer and took in the beauty of Hampi from the skyline, another highlight to add to the travel bank. We then climbed across a number of boulders and enjoyed watching sunset over the beautiful town. At this point Hampi was what I had been told, peaceful, and beautiful and a delight to enjoy. 

Our next jaunt on the trip was to our favorite beach in India, Kudle beach in Gokarna, We arrived Saturday and managed to get a room in our favorite basic beach huts, Kudle beach is a dream beach with a few cafes, a relaxed vibe and a strong sense of peacefulness in the air. Since Saturday I have been practicing my yoga in the morning, reading most of the afternoon, submerging in the warm sea and enjoying the rays, we have over a week here and with approaching our first month yesterday I feel were celebrating in the perfect curly way. 

Photos so far…    

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enjoy (even without a facebook account you should be able to see these snaps - copy and paste into tool bar and fingers crossed)

A brief hello - India time.

I have realised it's been a few weeks since I have blogged and thought this morning it will be a few weeks more before I get a proper one uploaded as wanna do the first month of our trip justice with a nice juicy post. Therefore I felt I would just do a quick update and a few phone photos I have taken. We decided not to bring a computer away (which now being away we have realised could have had its plus's with the ease of uploading pictures) but heyho Internet cafés it is! 

We arrived with a smooth journey and actually the first two weeks has been really easy (I say easy for India, them words don't normally work together from my last experience of travelling in India). We have moved around a few places and are enjoying a week at the beach this week, moving on Tuesday to see some elephants in one of India's beautiful national parks. 

I promise a big blog soon but for now enjoy a few simple shots. 

Empowering thinking.

I use this blog as a way to express my thinking that’s going on inside me and a way to document changes that have been occurring in my life, 2013 was a great year of change in terms of my career life, the year was started by gaining a counselling placement at a women’s based service in SE London, my role would be the volunteer counsellor and I would be working with women exiting street prostitution, I was offered a 3hr a week space at the service and started my year working with 3 women every week, the placement work was incredible and I was so pleased to work with such incredible women with story's of strength and courage but also sadness and pain. I volunteered for 8 months before decided to end my time here and that came about due to an incident with another worker where I was horrified by her behaviour towards me and her unprofessionalism. 

Sadly the incident I encountered with the women is one that I have encountered many times with other women, going back to my school years to obviously present day. It really set me off on a spiral of trying to understand the behaviours of women, something I have being doing anyway over the past four years when looking at my own life journey with myself and how I have acted and behaved. My journey of my own understanding started when I moved to London and met beard, he has strengthened me in ways I can’t even describe but not only that he has made me unearth a part of me I wasn't even aware of that part of me that believes in things at a deeper level and not just on a surface level, the biggest of that is how important I am as a women in today’s world – my feminist beliefs have really grew in me and made me open my eyes to the way women are treated in society and the objectification of the female form. 

With this I decided to apply for a course with an amazing organisation called Women and Girls network http://www.wgn.org.uk/about-us who are a women based service who believe in women healing women they work with women and girls who have been affected by all gender forms of violence and offer a range of therapeutic services from counselling to body work. The course I completed with them was Counselling and Therapeutic Interventions for working with women affected by gender based violence. Like my Counselling the course has given me greater insight into the impact women face in society and has definitely been of great learning curve for me as a professional. Today I finished writing my essay around feminist theory and empowerment models and similar to how I work already the main focus of the work is to empower the client to see the strength they have in themselves. When writing my essay today some of the key messages in feminist theory is around the women understanding the wider context in which they live and not holding the problem as an individual problem but a wider societal one. The three main components are around the women developing these beliefs in her as they have made taken away from her by her abuser and society. Whilst writing and studying the same message kept coming across that society and media impact on how women are treated and it just makes me frustrated that in 2014 were still fighting for gender based violence to be taken seriously and recognise its not the women’s fault but the male who is carrying out the violence. 
The empowerment model of therapy used is a beautiful model it just saddens me we need specific empowerment models when really why don’t humans empower each other, wouldn’t the world be a nicer place to live?

Christmas Merriment and Yurting joy.

For those of you who I have been around recently would have heard me say I can’t believe how quickly 2014 has come around, my last blog was about moving out and now we only have two weeks left at our friends and three weeks till our trip, so with that hasn't time flown by….

Christmas was beautiful, I read my blog from last Christmas this morning and it’s interesting to look at where I was there to where I am now, I was reapplying for university, living in our flat and making decisions for my future. I guess at least the latter is still true, decision making is always at the forefront of my mind and my friends know I am always planning and making changes to my life, I am not happy sitting content and I don’t know what that’s about but as a Counsellor I could definitely look for a deeper meaning, today I will just look at as an excitement for adventure and filling my life with goodness!

After the intensity of my most recent course it was nice to spend 2 weeks relaxing at Christmas, I love being in my family home, it makes me feel very happy and relaxed and the feeling of Christmas is so strong it’s like a magic in the air. The run up to Christmas was nice but without being in our own nest it didn't feel the same and I missed that Christmassy feel of decorating a tree, crafting decorations and hanging stockings, so to arrive in Newcastle to my Mum’s grotto was bliss and filled me with delight.

We always stay in on Christmas eve, I used to go out but feel being at home is special and important, we eat delicious food, swap a Christmas present, put our Christmas PJ’s on and watch something Christmassy, its beautiful and I know it will be a tradition I will carry on when I have kids. Sam and I spent Christmas apart (again) this year which was hard and didn't feel right but it was what we decided due to our trip, I missed sharing Christmas morning with him and speaking on the phone is never the same as being present together. After this year we agreed next year we would be together and the year after (fingers crossed) where in our own place and have agreed it would be spent in our home – together, yeah!

Sam arrived on the 27th and we went and spent two nights in a Yurt at Wild Northumbrian http://www.wildnorthumbrian.co.uk/ , it was a present I bought for Sam in November but I thought booking it over Christmas would be a delight and would be really magical, it certainly was that. We stayed in the Merle Yurt and agreed to have our Christmas here, we took our family dog – bowdog and spent two glorious nights with Wild Northumbrian in the beautiful Kielder Forest. For those of you who don’t know Kielder it’s another amazing part of Northumberland and recently won the best darkest skies (basically meaning there is no light pollution so the stars are incredible), the yurt had been decorated beautiful and when we arrived they had the log burner going and the candles on, we spent the evening drinking mulled wine and feasting on veggie stew, exchanging gifts and talking of our Christmas days, I felt so happy and blessed it was more than I could have asked for.

The next day we enjoyed breakfast, watched Bow running around (and under) the Yurt and enjoyed the beauty of the scenery around us, wild northumbrian is positioned in a beautiful area and it was just incredible to be out in December in the wonderful countryside. We found a nice walk to go on that day and walked a good 8 miles through Kielder national park, the dog loved it and enjoyed the freeness of the country air, we had our cameras out and got some lovely shots of our walk and the beaming sunshine surrounding us.

NYE was spent in with the family, eating delicious food and enjoying plenty of sparkle; it was nice to not be out and about and just enjoying family time.

Flower Fever

After many a festival with my fave friends wearing beautiful flower garlands I decide it was time for me to try my hand. After making my feather headband I felt more confident at giving it a whirl, I had had a look at a few of my friends styles and stored all the ideas in my head for my craft session. 

With a night to myself I made my room I to a flower haven and got the sewing machine at the ready. It was really fun making, gluing and stitching and was really happy with the final results - so much so I made a few more for friends. 

Can't wait till 2015 when I head back to Glastonbury! 

Mine.

My lovely friend Rosa's (Christmas gift - which she told me she loved)

Caroline's.

My feather headband (don't think I blogged this).

I have been really enjoying try all these new projects out and my confidence in craft projects is growing so much, 2013 was a good year for learning.