Varanasi, Gangees, Ghats and some R&R

Well hello fellow readers, i am now revived after a good 8 hours sleep, which is probably the most i have had since my trip. I am now in Agra, home of one of the seven wonders of the world the 'Taj Mahal'. We have a free day today which is good as we  have been pretty much non stop for the last 4 days. I ended my last post on the way to Varanasi, deemed the most holy place in India and the river Ganges, so we'll pick it from there. So after our last disastrous hotel, we were all hoping for something with a little more class, though to be honest, that wouldn't be hard. We were not to be disappointed, we pulled into the Hotel grounds, yes that's right it actually had grounds, we drove up the drive way and I suddenly felt we were no longer in India. The hotel looked modern, the staff all wore matching uniforms, there was no rubbish blowing round, the grass was green and flowers blossomed. Every one's face lit up, the long drive and the nightmares from the previous hotel were soon a distant memory. The mood soon got even better when we found out there was a pool, priority then was binning the bags fishing out the swimming gear and getting down to the pool. Pool was clean but water wasn't as cold as we all hoped. still it was heaven. After a an hour or so in the pool we retreated to the rooms, they were clean and tidy, nice bathroom and hot and cold running water, this was luxury and on par with probably a 3* hotel in the UK which for India is pretty good. We all met in the bar at 7ish, the bar was cool, low lighting and and sheesha's if you wanted one. Most went to the restaurant for food myself, Caroline, Joe, Fred, (Goon bag as we now called him) Warren and Kate stayed in the bar, ordered bar food, cocktails and Sheesha's, everyone was up for a few drinks. Few hours past and the usual suspects were soon left, the party gang as we have now been named. So Joe, myself, Caroline and Kate. The Sheesha bar was closing at midnight, so we moved to another bar on the hotel grounds, we were the only ones there, more cocktails, whiskeys and beers followed and the barman 'Sanjay' was cool and loving the westerners got wrecked. At this point we had already decided we were going to stay up all night as we had to be up for sunrise meaning a 5am start to get down to the Ganges to watch the locals bathe in the Ganges, a every day ritual for Indian's to wash away sins, and purify themselves in the sacred water of the Ganges. So we all thought that we would feel worse if we went to bed and had to get up at 4am to get down to the river, all night drinking and fun was the plan.

4.15 came, think we must have dropped off for all of 20mins, so awoke still pissed. showered and got down to reception. Rickshaws had been ordered and 3 per rickshaw we headed down to a Ghat on the Ganges to witness sunrise and the locals bathing in the Ganges. What an awesome experience, Even for 5am it was busy, people everywhere, lots of tourists too, come to watch and experience this everyday morning ritual. Sunrise was amazing over the Ganges and got some amazing pics. Joe was probably the worst of the 4 of us that stayed up, he clearly was still hammered and made the morning amusing with some funny comments, he would pay later, ha ha. We then headed to where the dead are cremated in public on the edge of the river Ganges. This is a Spiritual Pilgrim, The body is put on a pile of burning logs, and has to be kept there until it completely burns.Hindu's believe that once you pass the body is not required and that only the spirit is needed to live on. This was a strange experience, our guide lead us to one of the 84 ghats that are spread out on the river Ganges, we were going to watch a body burn. I hear some of you say that's a little morbid, perhaps you are right, however these are public cremations and something i really wanted to experience. As we approached ash filled the air, it suddenly hits you that this may contain particles of a human, freaky or what. The guide lead us up to the Ghat, luckily a cremation had already been started well before we arrived, the fire was now just simmering and you couldn't make out that a human had recently been cremated, however that didn't take away the eery feeling. We walked around the simmering Ghat, people were now dousing the flames with water, what was the most freaky thing was, was that a dog stood in the middle, gnawing away at something, I dismissed any thought of what this may have been. It was a surreal one in a life time experience, one that I am glad i saw and though it may have not been right, perhaps being still a little bit pissed may have taken the edge of the experience, the whole morning had been an amazing and so glad i got to see and experience these Hindu rituals.


We were back at the hotel for 8am for breakfast. The party gang had brekkie and then headed back to bed for an hour so before we got picked up at 10 to visit a Mosque, Silk factory and Carpet factory. We all made it for 10 apart from Joe, he decided that bed and sleep would be more interesting, I remember thinking lightweight and i'll give him siome shit for not making it out later. I was soon having to retract that thought as in all honesty the Silk and carpet factory was just about them trying to get you to buy goods, not being funny but how the hell will i fit and carpet in my backpack for the next 5months! Joe for sure had the right idea, we did however find a macdonalds, of course minus any beef burgers as the cow is sacred in India, so it was all chicken, Veg and fish burgers, still perfect hangover cure. After stuffing our faces the pool was calling, the sun beaming and what better way to spend the day when slightly hungover. We chilled for the rest of the day. The evening there was a pool party, tables were laid out next to the pool and a DJ pumped out some tunes, we ate and then swam and drank some more, of course usual suspects attended though Goon bag was replaced by Claire, she was loving the pool. We all had an early night ready for a 5am start as we had a long, long day the following day, 13 hours in total.

Varanasi had been amazing, not just the experience of the Gangees and Ghats but nice hotel, good laughs and maybe a little kanoodling ;o). Keep well peeps.

Immigration Bribe And The worst Hotel In the World

Hello peeps, i am a few days behind so this is written as it happens but haven't had chance to post it due to having fun and lack of WIFI, so some of this is in the past tense even if its seems like its current, now i am babbling but you get the picture. We are currently heading from the city of Gorakhpur where we stayed last night to what the Indians see as the most holy city and one of the oldest inhabitable city's in the world Varanasi. Just a short drive of around 400KM however due to the Indian road conditions which I'll come to later this was going to take around 10 hours, in Josh with no AC and blistering heat. So i finished my last blog by saying that we had Chitwan in  Nepal and heading for the Nepal, Indian border in Sonniel. It was only around a 4 hour drive however getting through Immigration and customs as been known to take hours and hours. So we left Chitwan at around 8am to pouring rain, huge contrast to the previous day. We reached the border around midday and by now the sun was out and humidity up. We approached the border and you instantly knew that the gorgeous country of Nepal was soon ending and the chaos, smell and dirtiness of India was quickly approaching. Immigration was a 2 stage process, first we had to exit Nepal and go through Nepalese immigration and then drive 100M further to the Indian immigration. Now for those of you that know India, there is no dedicated parking area, there are no paths, the shops, stalls, shacks basically sit on the road, so even for Immigration we just park up in the midst of rickshaws, taxi's, motorbikes, bicycles and people. Jodie and Paul collect all passports and head to the Nepal immigration 'shack', yep that's right a shack just set back from the road, no dedicated or official building, just a shack. The heat was now soaring, the truck was like a sauna, sweat poured from all of us. some of us decided to get dinner and here we had a taste of what was to come, an open shack with an open kitchen under a canopy, flies, dirt and nostril burning smells filled the air, this was going to be the usual for the next 10 days. We ate lunch, not bad but its not the taste you have to worry about, its what your 'really' eating, how old, fresh is it and how many flies have you got extra with it. Paul and Jodie returned an hour later, all good on the Nepal side. So we travelled 100M down the road and parked outside the Indian immigration 'shack'. This time they wanted to see us all, so well jumped out and waited for the passports to be stamped, this is where I mentioned yesterday and of course could only happen to me there was an issue with my visa. Even though i had applied for multiple entry and it clearly stated this on my visa that had been stuck inside my passport i was missing a stamp. Because i had already been to GOA then went to Nepal and now re-entering India this was classed Multiple, of course i knew this hence applying for the multiple, the India embassy in the UK should have also stamped my passport. i was advised that i wouldn't be able to enter, straight away i knew i was going to have to pay, the Immigration man with a slight smirk on his face said no problem, RS850, which is about £10, OK its not the end of the world but he was blatantly scamming, but what could i do, they wouldn't stamp unless i paid the cash, so i coughed up the RS. As we got back on the bus and drove off i saw him at the window he looked at me and just laughed, with gritted teeth i mumbled a few choice words! We then sat for about an hour in the town of Sonniel as the traffic was at a stand still, there was no reason for it apart from sheer volume. For those of you that have never been to India, there are no rules, no highway code and lots of lorries, the streets barely 10M wide have to carry cars, taxi's, motorbikes, bicycles, lorries, rickshaws and people, that's in both directions, overtaking and horn beeping is the highway code, no one has any patience, non at all, so what happens is that anything and anyone just squeeze into any gap they can, even if they cant get round, over taking with a on coming traffic? not a problem just flash and beep your horn and eventually someone will slow down and let the other pass, so basically its a game of chicken and that is no word of a lie. However messed up this highway sysyem is though, it seems to work, in all this traffic mayhem i have only seen one crash, OK i may have seen 1000's of 'near' crashes but no real accidents! So eventually we were on our way, we arrived late in Gorakhpur. I really don't want to say much about this place as it was a shit hole, sorry for the language. It was 8pm when we arrived, there was more horn beeping than ever, it was smelly and dirty. That was just the city, the hotel, well what can i say it was 5 star, and by that i mean -5 star. It was the most disgusting, dirty hotel i have ever stayed in. The toilet was a traditional Indian toilet in the floor, but it was black with

Varanasi was amazing and we did so much so when not so tired as i have been travelling all day today and this blog has taken 4 days to write I'll let you all know about it, its not 29th August and i am in Agra! Yeh few days still to update you on and will do at some point. hope you are all well.

Safari, Ring of Fire and elephant Washing

Hello all, hope everyone is good, its a big one today as have hadn't had Internet access and also being having lots of fun. So woke up early in Beach Camp Site, didn't sleep well at all. Had been raining all night. The scenery however in the morning was awesome, mist surrounded the mountains and hills, great site to wake up and with the river now fast flowing due to rain, the soothing sound of the water and the quietness of the valley you couldn't ask for a more peaceful start to a day. We had breakfast set off for Chitwan National park where we are going to be spending the next 2 days. The drive again was about 4 hours. However it was a wet journey, would seem Josh has a few holes and due to the rain most the window seats were wet. I managed to get one that had water still dripping in as it was raining, my left leg was soaked with 20mins, though didn't bother me, its part of it, at one point i switch the other side of the bus to get more awesome scenery pics within 10 Min's my right leg matched the left, at least it didn't look so odd now. We stopped in a small town for diesel, as like all the towns we passed through and even Kathmandu we were the center of attention, people just stare, some smile, some try and sell us food and fruit. We arrived in Chitwan just in time for lunch. 'Rhino Lodge' is the name of where we are staying, is pretty cool with a main restaurant were we have all our meals, the room nice and clean and the whole complex is full of green vegetation, again very chilled and quiet, which Jodie the leader advised to make the most of as we head for India tomorrow and its going to be hectic. So we had lunch and set off on a 2 hour safari, we had 2 open jeeps and we were looking for the elusive Bengal Tiger, there is only about 100 in the park but i think i knew as did everyone else that i had more chance of sleeping with Olivia Wilde than seeing one, i am not going to say much about the Safari, it wasn't that great we didn't see anything but Deer and came back with bruises from all the jolting around.

Dinner was at 7, a few of us decided that we would have a few beers as we didn't have to travel tomorrow. There were lots of little shops just outside lodge area, so rather than use the bar we bought spirits and mixers. Myself and Joe bought a big bottle of whiskey for less than a tenner and a bottle of vodka, i could see the night getting messy. Myself, Joe and Gunar or Fredrick has he likes to be called or as Aussie Kate nicknamed him goon bag, went for a beer before dinner at a local Bar. Gunar is from Sweden, probably in his mid to late 30's he works for Ericsson and works on the telecommunications side on the switches so had something in common, he quite quiet but a good guy an when you getting him talking he comes out of his shell. Dinner was good but wasn't feeling too hungry. After dinner we found a table in the Garden and around 9 of us began playing Ring of fire drinking game, within 30mins the whiskey was gone, i cant really tell you much after this, things are slowly coming back to me, most went to bed after the game but myself Joe, Kate and Caroline stayed up late drinking and attempting to chat, all i can say was that Joe and Kate sounded like they had a good night ;o).

Woke up at around 10am the next day, chucked some clothes on and went to see who was about, the sun was out and it was hot and i mean hot. As i was chatting to a couple of the guys randomly an elephant walked through the complex garden with a man guiding him, he waved me over and suggested me to follow him, he was off to the river to wash the elephant, he asked if i wanted to join, at this point i'd better mention that we had already been told that this wasnt permitted due to the river that the elephants are washed in are infested with crock's, now, still being pissed from the night before of course i thought that this was a great idea and followed the elephant down to the river, Claire one of the girls of the group also came down, we trudged down to the river through thick mud and stood taking photo's, the elephant boy beckoned me in the water, i guess he was about 10m out, i looked at Claire and asked if she was coming, i think no way was the answer, i slipped my shirt off and in i went, the river wasnt deep at all and at deepest were the elephant was, was only knee high. The elephant lay on its side basking in the sun intermittently spraying water on itself while myself and elephant man scooped water on him, the man then offered me to stand on the elephants belly as it lay on its side, i hopped up and luckily Claire was taking pictures. Claire by the way, is a Kiwi and before this trip was working in England as a teacher, she is now on her way back home.For the firtst 2 days i thouhght that her naqme was 'Cle' or cleo', at the end of the 2nd day she asked me what i thkught her name was, 'Cle' i asid hesitantly, she laughed, and said in her best english accent 'claire' whoops!!. The elephant man then asked if i wanted to ride the elephant in the water, i started to now realise that this may cost some bucks, so i politley declined and waded back to shore. what an awesome experience, not every day you get to wash an elephant in a croc infested river, which by the way in my still slightly drunken state didnt even cross my mind once.

So we headed back to the lodge, it was now so and humid that i was dripping with sweat, everyone was, you could even breathe without getting a sweat on. I showered, which turned out to be futile, within minutes i was again in a pool of sweat, oh well so i thought a drop sun soaking was called for, Joe joined me, within 10mins it looked as if we had both just stepped out the shower, not pretty but i guess we should be thankful for no rain. I was hoping it would cool down for the afternoon as we were on a elephant trek at 3. 3 o'clock came it was no cooler. We had 4 elephants between the group with 4 on each elephant sat in a square shaped crate, you each sat in a corner with your legs hanging over the side. I didn't have high hopes after the safari however 10mins in we came across a Rhino. Its the first time i have seen a Rhino in the flesh, it looked like a tank, must have weighed near on a ton. We trekked for another 1 hour or so, pictures in abundance were taken, i think in the last few days i have taken well over 500 photo's. we saw another Rhino and its baby pretty cool and then just wondered round, again looking for the elusive Bengal Tiger, no chance!!!

We were leaving the lodge first thing in the morning, so we all chilled for the rest of the day, went to dinner for 7 and then were treated to some local traditional dancing, was pretty cool, even if it was over 85% humidity. Again a few of us stayed up having a few drinks but definitely nothing like the night before. At this point i need to tell you about another guy on the trip, Karl. Karl is 27 and from London, he is without doubt the character of the group. This evening he would have me and the rest of the guys in stitches, he likes playing games and when i say games i mean just random games that he makes up. His favourite is a game called 'The compliment game', the idea of the game is that you have to stare in the eyes of the other person and give them a compliment, this can be a truth or just something random, the loser is the one that laughs 1st after you give them the compliment. We went round the table, Karl beat everyone, his facial expressions, tone and some of the comments he came up with literally had us all nearly wetting our pants, he is a  fun guy who so far as kept us all entertained. I think one of the funniest things he said was when Aussie Kate randomly offered him a plank off, just before they started, he said stop and announced that he couldn't do it until he had a 'number 2', we thought he was joking, but he was soon skipping back to his room, what a legend!

Sorry for the long blog but after 2 great days in Chitwan we had a 10 hr drive across the Nepal border into India, which was interesting and i had to pay out 850 rupees due to not having the right visa!! I'll update you on this in the next blog, and also i will describe in detail, OK maybe not in detail the worst hotel i have ever stayed in, Gorakhpur! all i can say is WTF!! keep well all.

Beach Camp site, Rafting and Bus Surfing

22 August 2011 - hello all, hope everyone is good and well. so yesterday I started the dragoman tour and what a great first day we had. In total there is 13 of us, however 2 of them, an Estonia couple didn't meet at the hotel meet point as they randomly got married the day before, so would meet us at the 1st campsite. (little fact for you on Estonia's, they were there wedding ring on the same finger but on the left hand, thought I'd chuck that in as i haven't given any facts for a while). So we set off from the hotel 11 of us plus Jodie the tour leader and Paul the truck driver at around 9am, we had brief talk on our transport for the next 16 days, 'Josh' is the name our truck and he is a beauty. he truck is a huge overland vehicle and seats up to 24 people, the front and back the roof comes off and it has seats so you can sit on top of the bus. Our first stop for the night would 'Beach Camp resort just outside a place called 'Mugling' and would take around 4hrs even though this was less than 100KM away, reason being was the roads, potholed and at times not even surfaced and this was a main road. However the scenery was spectacular, with the Himalayan mountain range all round us as we drove, luckily 'Josh' had windows that drop right down which meant we could take some great pictures, i think in 4 hrs i took well over 100.The journey went quick i think because i was sat with 'joe' Joe is from England and same age as me, same mentality, he is a good laugh and down to earth. We arrived at the campsite just before midday, it wasn't what i was expecting, the site was right on the river, the mountain range in background, very peaceful and beautiful, was perfect start to the tour. It had little huts that where as big as a garden shed which is where we were going to be sleeping, 2 up. We had lunch in the communal area, food was good as always, as it has been most days in Nepal. We chatted and then we asked if we wanted to do rafting, 5 of us were up for it. Myself, Joe and Kate and the 2 Estonia's who had met us at the camp. Kate is 27 from Australia, she is cool too and always up for a laugh and loves taking the piss out of me, think she is just flirting!! Rafting was only around 10KM down river and not many rapids, however typically the one big one we had hit me straight on (as I was at the front) i lost my balance and over i went, the water was fast flowing but when i surfaced managed to grab the rope on the raft and i was pulled in, everyone was in hysteric's and though the rafting was quite lame, made the trip more entertaining, of course as always i seem to provide the laughs even if it is at me, all good fun. we finished the rafting and walked up to the road to wait for a local bus, oars, raft and canoe in tow. The bus came after 10mins or so, our guide said we could sit in top,  so we hauled the gear up and jumped on top, got a grip of what we could on the roof rack and away we went. for those that have been on these Nepali roads you know it isn't exactly a Sunday cruise, bumpy, fast and hair raising, was great though and probably better than the rafting! rest of the day was chilling, get to know each other, a few beers and a good dinner. We then had a campfire by the river and we all sat around chatting and drinking beer. Around 10ish everyone went to bed, myself, Joe, Kate and Caroline stayed up chatting. Caroline is from London, she is 25, has a great big infectious smile and again just chilled and laid back, also really into Buddhism and Hinduism. Was cool just chilling and getting to know one another. Tomorrow we head off for Chitwan National park. Looking forward to this section of the trip. Keep well all.

PS - I am going to start putting the date as now Internet is rare so writing offline and then uploading when i can.

Monkey Temple and Dragoman Group

G'day peeps, Has been a scorching day today in Kathmandu, hottest day yet on my trip. Woke up not feeling so great. Went out for food last night and some kind of Chicken curry, when i say chicken i am really not sure what it was, didnt look like chicken and it definatley didnt taste like it, i was going to query it but decided just to keep thinking it was chicken, its done now so no point even thinking of what it may have been. I then decided on a few drinks, made my way to 'Sam's Bar' is Thamel, great little bar, very chilled and relaxing. No back packers so just plonked myself at the bar and chatted to the owner who was from Austria but married a Nepalese man and had been in Nepal for 16 years. She was very cool and well travelled, would recommend Sam's highly to anyone visiting Nepal. So feeling shit this morning may have been the food or the 7 or 8 whiskeys i sunk. Anyway had to change hotels as meeting the Dragoman group, so packed up and checked out. I am now in the Hotel Tibet, its a more up market hotel and for the first time in a week had a hot shower. However this hotel is part of my trek so now sharing. In with an Aussie guy called Warren. Checked in and dropped off  bag and went straight out to the Monkey Temple or as the Nepalese call it ' Swayanabath'.  It is a very old sacred stupa and is inhabited by many monkeys, hence the name 'Monkey Temple'. The temple is situated north of Kathmandu on a hill top and can be seen from miles around. It's a beautiful place and even though tourists flock in numbers the same amount of Hindu's and Buddhist's can be seen offering blessings and praying. I felt a little awkward taking pictures as it didnt seem quite right but everyone else was and no one seemed to mind. The Monkeys roamed free and if you had food would snatch it from your hand, these monkeys were not shy. 

After the temple i headed back to Thamel for food and a wonder round, was feeling a lot better and now soaking up the sun, i do love the sun. Headed back to the Hotel for the welcome meeting with Dragoman group, there is a mixture of ages and nationalities. Aussie, English, NZ and Swedish. Everyone seems pretty cool and we ate dinner at the hotel. Have an earlish start tomorrow, 6am to get on the road. Maybe unable to blog for a while, i am sure most of you will welcome the break ;o). Will catch up soon, keep well 'my friends'.

Loving Nepal

Namaste from Nepal, well for those of you that saw my recent FB update, I am in love with Nepal. So last night i wrote i was off out for a few drinks, well lets say this was a slight understatement. I left the Guesthouse at around 7.30pm, which by the way is just on the out skirts of Thamel, which is pretty much the main tourist hive of Nepal. Thamel is a network of side streets, only just wide enough to get a car down, they are lined with Shop after shop, after shop. Its a tourist haven, selling everything from Buddha's, 100% cashmere pashmina's (lots and lots of these shops), lots of clothing shops selling trekking and hiking gear (of course given where we are), i mean i must admit more of these shops do sell the same stuff but its wonderful seeing it. There also many, many Tour operators being so close to the Himalaya's, offering Trekking, white water rafting, jungle safari and so on. In the midst of all these shops there of course plenty of bars and restaurants and it was these last night that i was mostly interested in. I found a nice little place to eat with a balcony which overlooked one of the streets. So far on my travels through India, the food has been amazing, so as I am Nepal i had to try the local cuisine, this did not let me down, again i had an awesome meal. I then wondered around looking for bars, i had noted a few from lonely planet so headed for those, i was soon listening to some live music in Reggae bar, met some people from Switzerland and they invited me to sit with them, for some reason (perhaps feeling bloated still from the food) i went onto whiskeys quite early and stayed on them, i cant remember much else about the night, other than i jumped in a Rickshaw to get back to the Guest house as i couldn't remember the way, i wish i hadn't, the guy said he knew where it was, he lied! I ended up on a tour of Nepal at 3am, he had to ring the guest house in the end to find out where it was, i don't how long we were going round for but when i was walking around today i saw the last bar i was in, it was a 5min walk! Drinking i bad for you!

So today i wasn't feeling that great but had a cold shower and felt better. I grabbed a map from the front desk of the guesthouse and headed for the famous Durban square. The sun was out and it was hot but i was loving it, i must have walked near on 10 miles today, it was a great day for photography, i visited some temples, and did one of my famous past times people watching, took lots of photo's, got very hot and walked nearly half a marathon but i was just in awe of this lovely city, the people, the food the way of life. Its sop busy everywhere, cars, bikes, Rickshaws horns being constantly beeped yet it still seems all so relaxing and chilled, perhaps that's because everyone is high on Cannabis, anything legit that someone tried to sell me, if I declined was always followed by 'ok, you want some Hash instead, i have good smoke, best in Nepal', of course i always politely declined. I wanted to see the Monkey Temple today but in the end i was feeling too tired, after i have posted this i think i will have a nap then get some food later and take my camera with me, that way i wont be tempted to 'get on it' again, though never, say never! Tomorrow i need to move Hostels as tomorrow night i meet with my group as my tour starts the day after with Dragoman, i almost wish i hadn't booked it now and then i could have stayed much longer in Nepal, well 15 days that i am allowed on my visa anyway, oh well the tour should be good. I managed also to find a place that did clothes washing over night as there doesn't seem to be any laundrettes, its only £4 so all good. I'll put some photo's up soon. Keep well all.

PS. I picked up another book today 'In to the wild' i have seen the film and thought it was great, i am sure the book will just be as good. I'm not onto my 4th book in just over 7 days, soon i might start actually getting books with words and not just pictures ;o).

3 Flights, A Rude Indian and Kathmandu

Morning, afternoon, evening, whichever time of day it is where you are in the world. Hope that you are well and having a good day. Hopefully its a little better than mine! So i had to be up and out of bed for 4am ready for my 4.30am taxi to GOA Airport. My sleeping pattern is still not great since arriving in India and i am not even starting to feel tired until around 1am every night, last night was no exception, i think i finally drifted off at around 2am, i woke to my alarm at 4am, not feeling all that great, i had packed my bag  before i had gone to bed (if you can call 2hrs sleep going to bed) so just had the normal last minute things to pack after a ice cold shower which put a bit of life back in me. Taxi arrived but it was pissing down with venom, it was a short walk/run from the hostel to the car, but i still got soaked to the bone. taxi ride was around 40mins and 'Jonny' my taxi driver was very friendly and spoke perfect English, the time flew, however distance and time of day the taxi cost me RS1000, (around £13) most i have spent on anything in one go since being in India. My flight left at 6.30 on time, i was flying with Kingfisher airlines, same company that make the beer. I checked my itinerary and confirmed that it would be around 3hrs 50 to Delhi where i changed, after an 1hr 15min captain advised we were descending and would arrive in Mumbai in 10mins.. WTF.. i racked my brain, had i got on the wrong flight? surely i couldn't have, i wouldn't have been allowed, I thought security in America was bad, India is 10 times worse, they check you ticket, then double check it and then triple check it all in the space of like 5mins, with the person who just checked before standing 20Ft away. i checked my itinerary again, 1stop, i just presumed that meant my stop in Delhi, i guessed not. Sat on the run way in Mumbai we advised to stay on the plane, great no change, which makes sense but i had spoke to soon, we then asked to get off, and make away to another plane, which meant going back out to the terminal and back in, going through security again, what a pain on the arse, it was only 8.30am and i was already getting on my second flight. we left about an hour later, i had my second breakfast of the day. We arrived in Delhi about 2hrs later, it was around 11am and i now had to wait until 13.25 for my flight to Kathmandu, i was now starting to feel shattered and needed a smoke so decided i had a few hours so i left the Terminal for some 'fresh air' this turned out to be a bad idea, as i should have gone straight through to 'transfers' this would have meant not going through security again, however that wasn't the issue, 'imigration' was, even going out of Delhi you had to fill out a immigration card, these were handing out when you got your ticket, of course I already my ticket from GOA, as it was handed to me then, long story short what should have been a 2 hour wait or so in the departure lounge turned out to be a 2min wait in the departure lounge, after Immigration of which i am sure they go at snails pace on purpose, nearly getting into a fight with a very rude Indian man who came under the barrier at immigration and pushed in front of me, i advised there was a queue, he looked at me as if i was speaking on a foreign language, OK i was but i know the little git understood, i told him again, this time he he started waving and cursing in Hindu at me, i stood my ground and we shuffled forward, he wasn't getting in front of me and the people behind hadn't cared he had pushed in, in the end the barrier narrowed, i pushed my way in front and made myself as wide as possible so he couldn't even try to get past, the severely pissed him off and he cursed away for a good few minutes, i said nothing and got called to immigration desk.. TWAT!!! I am now writing this on my 3rd flight of the day, of course when you read it i wont be, but just killing some time. I must say Kingfisher seem a little disorganised on the ground but in the air and the service they provide is brilliant, even on the short flights i have been on, so smaller planes there is TV's for everyone, as much space as i had on my 747 from London, i have had food now on every flight and on this one i got free kingfisher beer (which was so needed) and the flight is only 1hr 30min, can you imagine that on sleazy jet?? you might get a sandwich and a drink but you would have to pay, you def wouldn't have a a TV on every seat and you'd have as much space as a battery hen.

Finally arrived in Kathmandu, the view from the window on the plane was amazing even if the weather is cloudy and rainy. Got to immigration filled out the forms for a visa and paid $25 dollars for the privilege for 15 days stay. Luckily i had booked a taxi from the airport to my guest guest house, there was a nice young man holding my name up as i exited the terminal, get in!! The drive from the airport was total chaos, it was worse than Mumbai, i left GOA with almost 20 bites, little fckers and also the humidity is far less, temp is about 23 degrees no sun but perfect. The guesthouse is quirky but perfect for my what i need it for, i also have free Wifi. I think i might head for few beers or 2 tonight.. why not eh!??!?!! Keep well people and hope the blogs aren't too long.

Lazy day and Black out

Hello followers, Its going to be just a short one today. Have just chilled out, read and wrote a bit, and some time in my own thoughts. Its now 11pm and i have to get up at 4am to get a taxi at 4.30 to take me to the airport to catch my flight to Nepal, its not a direct flight and i have to stop over in Delhi. So its 3hrs 50min to Delhi, 1hr 30min stop over and then 1hr 45min from Delhi to Kathmandu in Nepal. Not too bad. So i will be leaving India for a short while, but i will be back in a week or so. I am joining an overland trip in Nepal which is 16 days and starts in Kathmandu and ends in Delhi, i booked this through Dragoman, their link is on the right hand side of my blog. I am going to miss GOA and especially Gabriel's Guest House, i am now the only guest here as Thore went home this afternoon, i feel like royalty. Its been raining all day and we had a blackout for about 2hrs, only a candle and my head torch for light, was pretty cool though as i sat on my balcony with just a candle reading a listening to the rain. cant praise this guest house enough, its not 5* or even 3* its simple and basic but the family that run it are amazing, friendly, helpful and man can they cook, tonight i had Shark fish.. WOW!  So i guess next time i'll be addressing you will be from Nepal. Keep well all.

'My Friend', Brad Pitt and a Soccer Match

Hello friends and followers, hope you are all well. Another shortish blog today as has been another chilled out day. The sun seems to have been absent for the last few days, though its still warm and very humid with a few rain showers or shall we say down pours. The morning i spent on my own, i needed some me time, i walked to the beach which was pretty much deserted apart from a couple of fisherman, fishing with just fishing line, a hook and prawns for bait, it didn't look easy however its some of the Goan peoples only way of making money, they catch the fish and then sell it on to the shops and restaurants. I sat reading my newly purchased book, 'Every second counts' by Lance Armstrong'. I have read his 1st one, 'Its not about the bike'. I loved the first book, very inspiring and thought provoking. 'Every second Counts' is just as good, I know that some people think Lance Armstrong is big headed and arrogant but the man has determination, guts and doesn't know the meaning of giving up, there is a quote he uses often which i think is so true, 'pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever'. Even if you are not into cycling I would recommend this book to anyone. So after reading a few chapters, breathing in the sea air and listening to a few Tunes on the old Ipod i headed back to the hostel to see how Thore had got on at the Medical center. It was an all clear, he didn't have Malaria, which still meant that he might have passed a bug to me ;o). After spending much of the day in bed yesterday he was feeling better and we headed out for late lunch, early evening dinner. Afterwards we walked around the shops, looking at tat and fake brand clothing, getting hassled by every shop keeper, 'my friend, my fiend, i have good price' 'maybe, put why the hell would i want a skirt or handbag' i thought. This 'my friend' thing was starting to annoy me, not to be rude but I'm not your friend, if i were you would shout 'Lee, Lee, i have good price' I know their trying to be friendly but i seem to have a thousand new friends in Goa now. We then came across a local football match, the pitch, which was just hard mud, literally had no grass, was just in the middle of town, we thought this was just a kick around but soon saw scooters and cars lined around the pitch watching, there was a proper ref and linesman, the standard however was as good as a few lads kicking a ball round a street. As we were watching a guy asked if we wanted to buy a ticket, as i looked at it, it was a bingo ticket, not a book of them just random bingo tickets, at half time someone shouted out a load of numbers just as in Bingo, the whole thing was surreal but funny. We left the match and walked towards the beach when we were approached by what looked like Indian tourist's, not locals, they asked if their friends could have their photo taken with us, a little dubious we said OK, they put their arms round us and the guy snapped away, soon we were being asked again by some other guys, we didn't quite get it, i can only assume wherever they live in India they don't see many westerners, though one guy did say to me 'Brad Pitt, you are Brad Pitt? yes?  i replied 'no of course not, i am much better looking, don't you think?'.... OK that didn't happen but in my head it did. Its my last day in GOA tomorrow before i have an early start Friday (3am) to catch a 6.30 flight to Nepal a Delhi, I'll be back in Delhi at the beginning of September so just a connecting flight to Nepal. I'll probably just chill tomorrow too, Thore is leaving and as its off season in GOA there really isn't much to do without getting a taxi, chilling is good with me. Keep Well.

PS. The Kingfish in Masala sauce last night was amazing ;o).

'You can only really understand another, when you have understood yourself first'

Elephant, Spices and a Sick German...

Had the worst nights sleep, was so hot and woke every 30mins or so, think the sun burnt back may have had something to do with that, maybe!!! However i felt pretty good despite lack of sleep, i guess when your doing nothing you don't need loads of sleep. Got up at 9 and had poached egg on toast, nothing like home comforts. I was feeling a lot better than Thore though, he looked liked death warmed up when we met to set off on our elephant and spice plant tour, he was running a fever, headache and felt sick but still wanted to go. Took just under an hour to get to 'Sahakari Spice Farm' near Ponda, about 13KM past Old GOA which we were going to visit on way back. To be fair elephant ride was pretty poor, only had about 5mins on him (Baboo) and the guy riding him reminded me they take tips.. 'oh really! do you', i said, cheeky git! i gave him RS100 and not with a smile. I am sure i paid the same amount for the elephant ride in Thailand and we were on that one for at least 30mins and we didn't just walk round a car park. Anyway, onto the Spice tour, that was pretty cool, though at this point Thore had to pull out and lay down, the fever and sickness had got the better of him. Spent 30mins on a guided tour and learnt a few things, Saffron for example is the most expensive spice in the world followed by Vanilla, yep that's right i am back with the facts! I also learnt how hot a regional Chili was. The tour guide lady explained that this one (she showed us one growing) was 2800 times hotter than you can buy in the shops in India, it was tiny at this stage of growing and of course asked if anyone wanted to try one, everyone declined.... except me of course, always one to try new things, i hardly spoke for the rest of the tour and not a good idea to touch your eye afterwards either! Another fact for you, unrelated to Spices, Lee's a dick! ha ha. We finished the tour and part of the deal was a traditional Goan lunch, this was amazing, like the curry the other night, just so tasty, Thore settled for Naan and boiled rice, at this point i suggested we just go straight back to Hostel and forget about 'Old GOA', there was no argument from him, i may go to Old GOA tomorrow. Tonight was supposed to be my last night at Gabriel's guest house before i was going to stay somewhere else for 2 nights before heading to Nepal but its so nice here, its family run and they are more than helpful and friendly so going to stay the whole duration. I am going to be doing enough travelling when i get to Nepal for 16 days, so peace, quite and relaxing is all good with me for now. Thore is off to the medical center as he is getting worse, hope he hasn't got Malaria or more importantly a bug which he might give to me!! OK Malaria is more important but gotta look after number one, right??!?! (Sorry Thore, only messing)

I am able to update today's blog today as i am just going to stay at the Guest house tonight read and listen to some music. The owner is cooking for me 'kingfish' in Masala with Rice, I even got to choose it, I say for me as its only me and Thore left at the guest house (it is off season) and i don't think he will be eating tonight... not looking forward to the kingfish at all, ;o).

Just a quick on the mozzie front i lasted 3 days, they have now found me and i have about 10 bites, litle fckers!!!! Keep well peeps. Ruffy.

Sunburn and Curry Delight

Bonjour followers, well that is if i have any left after my last 3 mammoth posts, I'll keep this one short and sweet, as i dint want you to get too bored of my ramblings. I know i do go on abit but as i am away for 6months I'm trying to keep it detailed not just for you guys but me too! Anyway, was feeling good this morning even after 13hr train journey and then straight out late night drinking, though to be fair it was so chilled i might as well have been asleep. It would seem that i have brought the sun with me, not had much sun in GOA for a few weeks, that changed today, scorching hot, went to the beach and chilled. It was Indian independence day today and even though its off season for GOA it was rammed, the beach was crazy. Being a true Brit got burnt baldy on my back, i am sure it will be golden brown tomorrow. In the evening headed out with Thore (his real spelling) the German guy and found a cool little restaurant on the beach serving traditional India curry, i have only one word WOW, for those curry lovers out there i can guarantee you haven't tasted a good curry until you have had one in India, it was full of spices but not too hot and it was so creamy, best curry i have ever had, by far. Headed back after dinner full to bursting though the 2mile trek back walked that off. Tomorrow going on a 'spice plantation' tour and taking a ride on a Indian Elephant. should be fun. Thanks for reading. Keep well. Ruffy.

PS Congratulations to Cherry and Ben on their baby girl Summer. Glad she finally made it, even if she didn't want to wave me off.

Moldovi Express to GOA, Rickshaw Mayhem and 'Curlies'

Today i left Mumbai for GOA. The day didn't start as i had wished. The previous night i had asked the nice man at the Residency Hotel desk whether i could have a wake up call for 5.30am sharp as i had a train to catch at 6.30am 'no problem sir, no problem' he assured me with a big confident smile, how could i doubt him. I am awoken the next day by the room phone ringing, brilliant i thought, however this thought soon turned to panic as i picked up my watch, 6am? SHIT!!! i had to shower, pack, check out and get to the train station and find my train (10min walk) in 30mins. 13hrs on a train i thought I'm not going to be smelling that great anyway so skipped the shower, packed, gave reception a mouthful about my wake up call and ran (well as much as you can with  23KG backpack) to the station. For a Sunday morning at 6.30am CSTM Mumbai was as busy as Kings Cross at rush hour. I found my train on the board and rushed to the platform. As yet due to how the allocate the seats, i didn't know where i was sitting, all i know it was '1AC', i found the 1AC carriages and on each carriage was a list of names and which cabin you were in. I found mine, i was the only name on my cabin, i jumped on and found the cabin, it was a 7ft by 4ft room with  a bed, power points, lights and blacked out windows (which i didn't like as i couldn't take pic's) i was definitely travelling in style, OK, it was old, looked disgusting and falling apart but it had a bed and was spacious and had not AC but a huge fan, it will do me! The journey was long but uneventful apart from the dubious spicy chicken i bought from one of the vendors that walked past every 15mins or so, i hadn't had time to pick up any food before getting on the train as advised by many previous travellers i had read up on but i was starving, so i opened the foil tin that my so called chicken came in, it smelt good but there was something about it that didn't look right, i contemplated just putting the lid back on and going hungry but thought fck it, its meat and banished any thought of what it might have been out of my head and  devoured the lot thinking the whole time 'it is chicken, its is chicken'. I also made the porter's (who came to check i was OK every now and again) day, he popped his head in at one point as i was fishing a Pear Drop from its bag, he looked at me as to say 'what are they?' i offered one and his eyes lit up, he returned 5mins later, asking of he could have a couple more for his friends, of course i knew that they were for him, i took a few for myself and gave him the rest of the pack, his face was a picture, so thankful yet so pleased  like a little boy in sweet shop, he thanked me a thousand times and wondered off, i felt humble and pleased with myself that such a simple gesture would have probably made his week!

I arrived in Thivm - GOA at around 8pm, i still had a 25min Taxi ride to Calangute where i was staying for the next 5 days. I had already booked a guest house, so showed the taxi man the address to Gabriel's guest house and we were off. As i was filling out the forms in reception the was suddenly darkness, pitch black, the whole area had a power cut, i had read not uncommon for GOA, it was back on in 5mins but happened a few times more in the next few hours. When in reception i ended up chatting to a German guy Tore and his friend Anoop from Mumbai, they were soon inviting me to a party at a place called 'Curlies' on Anjuna beach, they were leaving at 11pm, i was tired, hungry and minging but of course, i obliged. We met up at 11 ini reception and we were also joined by a french guy and 2 girls. Now 6 of us and too many for 1 taxi, Anoop and Tore had a bike so they jumped on that. The rest of walked to the main road for a taxi, not one in sight and Curlies was 8KM away, we saw a Rickshaw outside a shop and we asked the guys inside who's it was, i very plump, energetic Indian guy came bouncing out, we bartered a price which took a while and we all squeezed in, bearing In mind a Rickshaw is meant for 2 people not 4. It was uncomfy and one of the girls sat on our laps. We soon realised why the plump Indian taxi driver was energetic, he was SHIT faced!! by now it was too late and i was sure that he probably done this as many times as i had, had hot dinners. even so, it was a hair raising experience, he was a maniac, i am pretty sure he thought he was an F1 driver. About 10mins in, i think the fresh had hit him, as he went quiet and slowed down, however a little too quiet, yep he was nodding off, we gave him a shake and he was back with us, we had to do this a couple of times for the next 10mins! Arriving at Curlies, a beer or 10 was def needed. Curlies was basically a huge shack on the beach, was perfect, we had sheesha's, hot food and dance music, it was busy but laid back and everyone was chilled and friendly. Had a few 'Kingfishers' at £1.20 a pint, sat on the beach chatting till 4am'ish and got a taxi back, this time with a sober driver!

Sorry for the multiple posts i have had no internet access, its not 12pm on Monday 15th and i am finally seeing some sun. keep well all.

Culture shock, Poverty and Death Taxi

After reliving my taxi experience from the airport to my hotel in my head last night, its a wonder how i am actually able to write this today. I said in my last blog i was unable to verbalise the experience, i am still not sure if i can but here we go. So I stepped off the plane, through immigration, customs and picked up my bag, that was a breeze, took all of 15mins. Next was finding a taxi but more importantly i was gagging for a smoke, so I followed the hordes of people who i was sure were heading for the taxi rank, which of course they were, i didn't get in line straight away but looked for any locals that maybe smoking, i didn't want to spark up were i shouldn't and get fined or banged up within the 1st 5mins of arrival. I looked outside it was peeing down, it was muggy and miserable, however this was more than a little deceiving, as i stepped out of the terminal doors to what i can only imagine what a back draft of a fire would feel like, the humidity hit me instantly, it was like walking into a steam room, only i was fully clothed and carrying a 23KG back pack. Now i will admit, i am a bit of sweater but no word of a lie within 2-3mins sweat was pouring from my brow, i just wanted to get into a taxi and see those 2 little letters on the dash 'AC', of course i didn't do this, being a hardcore smoker (i can hear my mum and dad tutting, sorry!) i needed my fix, it had been almost 14 hours, i needed that nicotine intake, so i found smokers corner made the most of the 'fresh air' and then made a be-line for the taxi queue. I agreed a price with the driver of which i had read up on, and we were off, i asked how far and he replied in very broken English 12K, i was thinking great maybe 20mins, 30 max with traffic. Oh no, no, no.. we left the airport i tried make conversation with the driver but his English was as good as my Hindu, and to add at this point he had the worst BO ever, OK its hot and humid but come on, quite ironic that nearly every advertising board i saw was advertising 'Sure for men, it wont let you down' now either it had seriously let my driver down or he just hadn't seen the 1000's of billboards dotted around Mumbai. So we sat in silence for the whole journey. This turned out not to be bad thing, as it made me take in my surroundings, i knew i was in for poverty and a culture shock, i have seen this in other countries however nothing compared to this. Poverty jumped out at me from every direction, it was so much that i was unable to take it all in, there were people everywhere, hundreds, thousands, every corner, sat outside every shop, buildings, bus stops, crossing the roads playing chicken with the traffic. The side of the roads had 1ft deep muddy water, rubbish and dirt floating in it, the pavement, or lack of was broken and and turned to mud every few hundred meters, men, women, families with small children slept on the side of the road, small children ran around naked. cows, sheep and dogs waded through the muddy water searching for anything edible to eat, these were just a few examples of what i saw, but in all this woe and poverty everyone seem content, they went about their business doing what they were doing, it was their way life, they had no other choice, they seemed to have accepted that this is what their life will be like. Now please i have been in Mumbai only 2 days, not even that so i am only commenting on what i have seen and read, I don't hate what i have seen, i am not waiting to get 'out of town' it is what it is, yes it is shocking in places and saddening, but its not my city i don't live here, i just respect my surroundings the country i am in and embrace the experience. when people see this sort of poverty the first thing they usually say is, it makes yo think how lucky you are, i am going to be a sheep and say exactly the same, you really do have be thankful for what you have, where you live, how clean it is. We have imbeciles in England rioting for no reason killing people and here in India there are families living on the side of the roads, i think perspective springs to mind.

Now i started off by saying 'i wonder how i am actually able to write this blog', well my fellow friends its all related to the traffic and highway code they use here India. Rule 1. Beep your horn, lots and lots, Rule 2. Beep your horn, lots and lots. Rule 3. Ignore traffic signals, Rule 4, ignore other drivers, Rule 5, Gain 100 points for every pedestrian you nearly kill. Seriously, how no one killed us and how we didn't kill some one else i will never know. At one point a mixer truck came so close to hitting us side on that i could actually see the guts of the thousands of flies splattered on the trucks grill, as i was so sure it was going to hit us, i slid across the back seat to the other side, at this point my non English speaking driver laughed loudly looked back at me and said 'welcome to India', he was right this was India, so after i took my heart from my mouth I also started laughing, from then on in, it was just what it was.

I have to be up at 5.30am tomorrow to catch a 6.30am train to GOA, however I did have a wonder around this evening and if i have ever felt like a black sheep, today was it, i didn't see, not 1 other westerner in the whole 2-3 hours i was wondering around, not that i was bothered, but you can imagine i was certainly seemed to be the center of attention on the streets of Mumbai for a couple of hours. Walking around the smell of the city also became More apparent, it was (one for my mate Rich) 'pungent, kinda stings the nostrils, and not in a good way' ;o). I found a nice little India restaurant, probably posh for India. i went for something called 'Fish shashlik' on asking what this was he said fresh fish (i didn't catch  which fish he said it was) with veg, rice and sauce, perfect i thought. 10mins later the 'mound' appeared, OMG was that really all mine. Since leaving the restaurant i have renamed my 'Fish Shashlik' to 'fish mess' just like the 'eton mess' but less sweet and not as nice to look at. The reason, the 'mound' consisted of Rice, green beans, cauliflower, peas, sweetcorn, fish and fries, topped of with what they called traditional Indian sauce or to me and you gravy!! hahaha.. this concoction of food was just literally piled up on my plate with the fish sat on top, don't get me wrong it was all nice and the fish was lovely ( i do love fish) but i didn't even finish half of it! Anyway as i parted with around 700 rupees and got up to leave the table i glanced at the next table, 4 youngish local guys around my age, they were also tucking into a 'Fish mess'.. between the 4 of them!!!!!! Keep well all.

Bristol to Mumbai

Hello from Mumbai, India. OK, I finally arrived to my first destination, I have to admit all in all the first bit of travelling has gone pretty swimmingly, i really hope i am not speaking too soon especially as i have to get on a 9 hour Train journey tomorrow from one of the busiest train stations in the world i am told its pretty hectic, i look forward to this experience especially at 6am after almost 12hrs of travelling the day before. So as i said, the outward journey from Bristol all went pretty smoothly. I started with a 2hr 20min coach journey from the Center of Bristol to Heathrow Airport T5. Not the biggest bus station in the world and probably only 10 seats for 15 gates but what else do you need. I did end up chatting to a gentleman while i was waiting, he was also off to Heathrow and to India, i had made my first friend. It turns out however he was off to Delhi and then up to the Himalayas.. cycling.... yep that's right cycling. As the convo progressed i found out he was a keen cyclist, had ridden many countries including the Rockies.. pretty impressive, it made my lands end to John O'Groats ride that i did last year like a walk in the park. What the conversation did do was make me really miss my cycling, i haven't really ridden since LEJOG last year as i sold my bike for the cash towards this trip.. when i am back 1st thing i am going to do is buy a brand new spanker!!! So, bus journey uneventful, i did however start reading one of my books, 'More awkward situations for men' by Danny Wallace, for those that dont know Danny's books, he wrote such books as 'Yes Man', he is a great writer and his books are written as he thinks it, i would fully recommend both the books i have mentioned, especially 'More Awkward Situations for Men' real life experiences which every man and women i guess go through. So arrived at T5 no queue at check in, brilliant, however i soon found out why, when the lady gave my ticket she said 'middle rows only left' i checked my watch, i was 3 hours early? as everyone else been camped out? she soon explained that everyone 'check's in on-line' nowadays and you can choose your seat, i looked at her with the expression on my face  which said 'not fcking everyone love'! so i politely said 'middle seat it is then'. I will leave it here as i only have an afternoon and 1 evening in Mumbai and though i am hanging out of my arse, I want to go and explore this crazy city, i know i havent mentioned much about Mumbai but thus far i am unable to put in to words how to describe it, i have only had an hour taxi drive from the airport to the hotel but i am lost for words, even in my very tired state due to not sleeping on the plane i was fully aware of my surroundings, i need to take in, even that hour journey experience before i can put something in words. Keep Well.

D-day Has Arrived

Hello peeps, well i said in my last blog that you wouldn't hear from me until India, well it would seem that on my final day in the UK i seem to have a spare few minutes before heading off down to the bus station. Must admit all seems a little surreal and the nerves have definitely kicked in. I am all set, bag checked, passport, money and all the essentials accounted for. I am also pretty excited now, the big wide world awaits me, i really hope it knows what it's letting itself in for. So all that remains is to say cheerio England, see you in 6 months... maybe!?!?!? and to everyone that know's me, take care all and i'll keep you updated, i know you will all be waiting in anticipation for the next dose of 'Ruffys World', even if your not and you want something to put you to sleep, then come and have a read!

I also want just want to mention in advance a huuuggeeee Congratulations to Cherry and Ben, it would seem that little baby Morgan did not want to wave me off, Cherry is already 10 days late but i saw her this morning and she is going in this afternoon to be induced, so all the best to you both and congrat's again.

Keep well everyone. Ruffy.

The Essentials.. plus a few not so essentials

As promised, below is the contents of my backpack which will hopefully suffice for the next 6months. Before I start my list I'll just tell you about my backpack, its a 'Caribee Akula 75 Travel Pack'. Before i purchased this pack a few months ago i used to use a Bergaus pack, this was big enough however you could only pack from the top, meaning that anything in the bottom you had to take out. I found this a pain in the arse, so decided for a side opening pack, which basically opens like a suitcase, much easier to access all your stuff, even the stuff buried at the bottom. I also wanted a bag with a detachable day sack so i wouldn't have to carry an extra bag when travelling from place to place. Enter the Caribee, i found this online, Caribee is an Ozzie brand, i must say i am pretty impressed with it, the main pack is 60L and those for you with math problems the day pack is 15L. It has a really good back support, a rain cover which tucks away easily you can also even zip the straps away which prevents them getting damaged while going through airport transit. So all in all, a good sturdy bag and the price at £120 i think was a steal, perhaps i should wait and see after a few weeks whether its still a steal! So onto what you have all been waiting for the 'equipment'.. here we go..

Shorts x3

T-shirts x4

long sleeved T-shirt x2

Shirts (casual) x2

Swim shorts x3 (also can be used as normal shorts)

Pair of combats (which i will be wearing on plane)

Pair of jeans x1

Rain coat (rolls up very small into a bag) x1

Fleece x1

Beach Towel  x1

Quick dry towel x1 (very useful)

Flip flops

Lightweight walking shoes (got mine from North Face a little expensive but durable, light and comfy)

Suntan lotion and after sun x1 of each

20 piece swiss army knife (every man's essential item)

Knife, fork and spoon (this is an all in one fold away contraption, pretty cool)

Head torch (with spare batteries) 

Mosquito Repellent and After bite

Toiletries (pretty self explanatory)

Travel First aid kit

Medicine (paracetamol, Imodium (lots of as i am going to India), Malaria tablets, Barroca, Multivitamins (good to have these as will give you everything you need if you cant eat properly).

Worldwide travel adaptor

Swiss Stainless steel water bottle

Mmm ok, i think that's pretty much it for the essentials, i have also got a few 'nice to haves' though i guess in today's 'techno' world they might be classed as 'must have's' 

DSLR Camera with charger and PC lead

Netbook with charger

Ipod with charger

2x 8GB USB Sticks

Well that pretty much sum's up my list, I am sure there are a couple things of have't wrote down as well as a couple if things i haven't packed either, though as i said in my previous blog i'll get it along the way. keep well.

 

1 75L backpack and 2 suitcase's!!!

Hello followers, hope you are all well. With only 3 days to go before i jet off into the sunset i thought i'd brush up on my blogging skill's, as it has been a while since I graced you with my presence. The last 2 days have been made up of mostly packing, both for my trip and all my worldly possessions and clothes that are staying behind. When i say worldly possessions I mean anything that i haven't sold. As i mentioned in my first blog i have pretty much sold everything of value that i own, the only thing i had left was my beloved Golf GTTDI which i sold last week (sob, sob), however it was all part of the plan and i am now debt free and have cash to travel, not a bad situation to be in i think!! However i did ponder for a good 15-20mins after i realised that pretty much everything i owned had fitted into 2 suitcase's, (1 of which could be classed as an over night bag) I heard a voice in my head say 'what the hell have you done' of which i replied 'fcuk know's'. Though this thought stuck with me for many minutes i soon gave myself a slap and said 'what does it matter, your doing something that most people only dream of'. Now i wouldn't recommend that anyone wishing to go on a RTW trip sells everything they posses, gets rid of their flat and moves in with a married couple, however i take some pride that i have had the courage and determination to see it through, it hasn't been easy and on many occasion i have questioned (just like today) 'what the hell am i doing'. There are many reasons why i have done what i have, some valid, perhaps some not so valid but what it proves is that when you really want to do something, when you really put your mind to it, when you have the courage to see something through, you can do anything you want.

OK, so i have told you how today i packed up my somewhat 'empty' life now to tell you about the good stuff. so yesterday consisted of a pre-pack of all my gear for my trip, I say pre-pack but when it actually came to it i realised that everything in it wasn't needed until i leave so it could all stay in. I thought this was going to be a bit of a chew on but actually it took no more than 20mins. You see, for those that don't know me that well, I am a mixture of Mr Organised, My Prepared and Mr Tidy. To your average Joe, planning a 6 month RTW trip may have been the most stressful, worrying, hair pulling experience ever but if your Mr efficient like me then its been a breeze. I realise that i am now blowing my own trumpet but eh, if i don't, who will!?!?!!? So not to bore you with in's and out's i pretty much read every travel site going, blogs, forums, travel advice you name i read it. From that i just started making mental lists of things i needed and actually when it comes down to it, its all pretty much common sense stuff and maybe its not that i am well prepared but more that, as long as you have the essentials then anything else can be bought. So back to the packing, Mmmm.. so at this point i thought it would be good to provide you all with a list of what i was taking, I know most of you probably don't care, however, peoples blogs are very useful things for other travelers (ok i admit most of what i babble about wont be useful to anyone but at least i can try and put some good tips in) and i know most people reading will be friends but i have followers as far a field as America and OZ you know!! they clearly clicked on the wrong 'ruffysworld' though as a good friend told me recently there is only 1 'Ruffy' ;o). I am going to post my 'equipment list' however this blog as gone on a little now and i have had comments like 'good blog, bit long'. Thanks.. i think!!!

So i will leave it here, with 3 days to go, i must admit i am feeling a little nervous now and seeing friends and family saying goodbye's for a while, it is a little sad! that said, watch out world Ruffy is almost out of the cage!!!! Apart from my 'equipment list' blog which i will post shortly, i am not sure if i will post again before i leave, so if not take care everyone and the next time i write, it maybe from India. Keep well.

P.S - I just realised that i hadn't explained why i had to pack up my worldly possessions, well, when i leave my friends the 'Millsy's' i am pretty much homeless, so into storage it goes, just in case you were wondering.

'We all have something to offer, this is because we are all 'unique' from this uniqueness you give your's and other people's life meaning'