It's a strange thing at first to see a cow walking down the road towards you. Your first thought maybe, "Who let the cow out?" The answer is, no one let the cow out. There is no 'out' because there is no 'in'. Cows are holy animals and cannot be harmed and definately not killed and eaten!
Here are some lovely buffolows taking a strol in Pondicherry...
Now for some elephants in Mysore...
Monkeys making a bit of a racket. Check out the little baby one!
And Ponys left to wander the streets...
Hope you like these random pictures. I'm sure I'll come across more animals wandering about aimlessly. So if you have space and want to give any a home, let me know and I'll post them over.
One more thing, I've managed to sort out my comments section. So you don't need an account to post a comment. Click on 'comments at the bottom of this blog and type away! Be great to hear from you :)
Well work has well and truly started again. The new set of volunteers arrived in September and Emma and I gave training on topics such as culture, religion, expectations and culture shock. We also visited a HIV/Aids centre, and two NGOs (non governmental organisations). All in all it was a success.
The training week passed very quickly and we could barely believe it when we found ourselves on a train (in my case for over 50 hrs to Udaipur!). I think as we had already done training with the previous volunteers, we were more confident with what we were doing and so it flew by.
After 5 days doing work mixed with sightseeing, I met up with Emma in Indore.The photo below shows Gandhi dwarft by the traffic and billboards of the city. It’s not a touristy place at all, so it has quite a different feel. I’ve seen only one other white person other than Emma during the past week. Very few people speak English and they expect you to speak Hindi. The food is AMAZING!!! It’s good all over India, but here every meal we’ve had has surprised us.
Anyway enough talking about food! The reason we’re in Indore (and not Outdoor – sorry, one of my Dad’s jokes which Ste has on more than one occasion tried to claim for himself) is to meet some of our partner organisations. We haven’t got any volunteers here this year, but we might have some next year, so we need to check how everything is.
One partner organisation is a Deaf and Blind school. We visited and talked to them. After we’d finished they invited us to celebrate the Navratri festival by watching the staff and children carry out the gurba dance the following day. We agreed.
So Emma and I went back and sat down to watch. After about 5 minutes we were pulled up and given 2 wooden sticks each and showed how to hit them together in time to the music. We joined in and had a great laugh. We danced for over an hour in different formations and a few breaks for water. It’s the most exercise I’ve done in a long while.
All the staff got really into it and you could easily believe you were in a Bollywood movie with people prancing about in the unique way Indians do. People just lost all their inhibitions and lost themselves in the music. You could just see it on their faces and feel it in the air. I had a brilliant time. I know I’ll never forget this experience.
Hi lovely blog peep! Sorry it’s been a while. Work got very busy, and then I went on holiday for a week. I think I’ll fill you in about my holiday first, then go back and catch up with work stuff. You know, prioritise :0) I decided to go to Ooty for my week off, a hill station in Tamil Nadu (the same state as Pondicherry). I was explaining to my mum that I’d decided not to travel far, as I needed to rest. I estimated it would take me around 12 hours on a bus to get there. “12 hours?! That sounds far to me!” said mum. And I agree in England, it does. But as I’d recently completed a 50 hour train journey, it sounded like a piece of cake to me.
So off I went. I fell asleep on the bus a couple of hours into the journey, and apart from being rudely awaken to check my ticket at midnight, I slept all the way.
Hill stations were created by the British as an escape during the very hot season. So all the sensitive Brits would head up to the top of mountains, live there for a few months (until the heat became bearable in the cities), then go back. I was surprised to feel how cool it was. I needed my hoody during the day, and a thick blanket at night. But it was a really nice change to snuggle under a blanket, rather than sweating it out in Pondicherry.
In Ooty I read in the big colonial style YWCA lounge, ate homemade Indian chocolate (which was surprisingly nice!) and went site seeing. This included walking round the lake and race course, wandering in the rose and botanical gardens and a little shopping.
After a few days I travelled to Mysore. A supposedly 4 hour bus journey turned into about 5 and a half, and swerving round mountain roads didn’t make the journey any more enjoyable! The views were pretty amazing though.
Once in Mysore, I had a look around then headed over to the palace for the weekly ‘lighting’. Every Sunday the palace is lit up by thousands of light bulbs. Doesn’t sound like much, but as you will hopefully see from the photos, it was pretty special.
Over the next couple of days, I went to the steam railway museum (most engines were made in England around 1900s), had a tour around the inside of the palace, went to the top of Chamundi hill, and visited the famously colourful market. As you can see below, there was no end to the bright and eye catching sites there!
I was sad to leave Mysore, as there were many other things I would like to have seen. However I needed to catch the bus to Mudumali National Park, where I would be staying the night. On the way through the park I caught something black in the corner of my eye. I sat up just as the bus driver started to point in the same direction. It was a cuddly black bear. I say cuddly because I was inside the bus. Otherwise it would be a ferocious, mean bear, lol. Anyway, it headed quite quickly into the bush and disappeared. I was later to find out how rare an occurrence that was! That evening I went to the elephant sanctuary, although as far as I could tell most of the animals had been captured and tamed for no other reason but tourism, which was a shame. A few of the babies had lost parents and so had to be taken in though.
The next day, after a rare silent night, I went on an hour tour of the park. I saw a peacock, lots of deer and a pack of wild elephants. Pretty cool. I told the rangers how I’d seen a bear and they were shocked, but said a few do live in the park.
No time for lolling about, as I needed to go back to Ooty. I wanted to get back reasonably early, so I could get an early night in preparation for a trip on a steam train the following day. The mountains railway was given World Heritage status in 2005 and it did not disappoint. I can’t do it justice by my words, or even the few photos below. All I can say was that it was breath taking. I mean the real kind of breath taking, not just an expression. I could barely contain my amazement at the scenery.
I took the train to Coonor, an hour away from Ooty. It passed all too quickly, but I knew I’d be returning on the train later. I was at a bit of a loss as what to do in Coonor, as I wasn’t sure what was worth seeing. So I looked in my guide book and went to the first thing I saw. A view point called the Dolphin’s nose. It said a taxi should be hired for around Rs 400, as buses are infrequent. Thankfully I was just in time for a bus, so it cost me Rs4. Nice little saving there! I wasn’t expecting much, so I was completely surprised when I arrive to see a waterfall in the distance, rolling hills, and a spectacular view over the surrounding area.
While I was chilling looking at the view, I ate a bag of crisps. I noticed a monkey come over, so I put my crisps in my hand bag. They look cute, but don’t even try giving them food. They will get aggressive and one bag of crisps just won’t be enough! Thinking I was suitably protected with my crisps stowed away, I took some photos. But the monkeys decided to let me know they weren’t stupid. They walked over to me, glancing at my face and at my bag, and then tapped on my bag. I love this photo, but I do look a bit apprehensive!
I asked a guy working at the view point when the bus back into town would be. He said 14:00. He also said he was going into town, so would call me when we needed to start walking to the bus stand. So at about 13:30 we started walking and reached the ‘bus stand’ (a corner of a path with a rock on it to sit) at about 13:45. He then said goodbye and walked in another direction. I was a bit confused, as I thought he was going into town too, but ok. 10 mins late he comes back with a motorbike and says something to me. I said “pardon?”. He said “To Coonor, come on”. I didn’t need asking twice.
I got on and we drove through the mountains and tea plantations towards Coonor. It was brilliant. The amazing view, the cool wind rushing around and the surprised stares of onlookers. It took 25 mins of winding country roads to get to the town centre, but it passed far too quickly. I got off and asked how much money I could give him, and he looked at me confussed. Then he realised what I said and smiled, and said "no charge". To most people that sounds like an nice thing of him to do. But to any Westerner whose stayed in India, they will know that's a bit of a miracle. People are more often than not out to get money from you. It's sad to say, but often true. So I was astounded he wouldn't take anything.
It was my best day in India so far. The whole holiday was brilliant. Saw lots and relaxed a bit too. Brill.
This post is pure food and drink. As you will see, I don't have much problem finding things to eat here :)
Do you like the llok of the fruit below? Well don't be eating it if you're on a diet, cause its made out of sugar! They're Indian sweets which they've molded to resemble fruit. Pretty impressive, non?
Uttampam is mainly potato with different stuff mixed in. The one below has herbs, vedge and a little cheese. The stuff in the pot is samba, the white stuff is coconut and the orange is gorge, but I've no idea what it is! Post if you know...
Tea anyone?! Don't forget those pinkies! Here I was having a traditional, very sweet, chai. Loved the cute cup!
Below is a pic taken in a restaurant in Pondy. It's called a Masala Dosa. It's like a really crispy pancake with herbs and things in. As this one was a Masala one, it has a curry potatoe thing inside too. And yes, it is as big as my head, but yes I did eat it all!
Lastly, the amasing Tali, litterally meaning 'meal'. You get rice/chapati with lots of different dips and things. Don't expect a knife and fork though. It's all about getting your hands in and ignoring your mothers voice in your head telling you not to play with your food :)
Well the monsoon is well and truly here. You may have seen on CNN etc that there's floods in Mumbai (which we got caught up in) and it doesn't seem much better else where. Work has started to slow down, as we can't get out of our guest house room. The rain is just making anything impossible. It's frustrating as it means our days off are getting eaten up, sitting in rooms looking out at the rain. We have to do a certain things in each area, and so when it's not raining we do that. Then the rain comes and we do nothing :( Hopefully things will get better, but the monsoon is supposed to last until September. Seems like a long way away at the moment!
The orientation finished in Pondicherry a few days ago, so the hectic journey to Mumbai started. We got a bus from Pondicherry and after 4 hours of sweating, watching a Tollywood film (the souths version of Bollywood), and trying to avoid people sleeping on us, we arrived in Chennai. We headed straight to the train station to stock up on food supplies for the mamouth 30 hr journey to Mumbai. At 22:30 we got on the train and fougth with our bags until we were happy they were securly padlocked to the bottom bunks. After that we pretty much went straight to sleep with inqusitive India eyes peering at us from all directions of the carriage.
In the morning we were woke by Tamil words and a scattering of english, such as "Omlette! Chai! sweets!" I ignored the food sellers pacing up and down the carrage as long as I could. Then at 9:00 I gave in and decided to wak up.
The day sped by, possible because there was nothing to measure time by. It all kind of merged into one. We decided that it was like having a day in bed, but people brought food to you, rather than having to go downstairs for it. We sat and read, chatted, listened to music, etc. We didn't get hastled much either, which was good.
As for the food, we concluded that if someone ate and drank everytime a seller walked down the isle, you would burst after an hour. There was barely 2 minutes between one seller and the next shouting what they had to offer. It kind of dissapeared into the general background noise after an hour or two. The things on offer ranged from a whiskey bottle full of honey, vegetable biriyani, flowers or and a lassi. You couldn't ask for anything else!
So after the full day, we then slept again until 04:00 the next morning. We were rudley awaken by the guards and 'guided' off the train. We had arrived in Mumbai.
I've realised I've not provided much info on what I'm going to be doing here. So If you're interested, read on. If you're not, you have my complete support to keep on surfing the web :)
I'm working for a volunteering not for profit organisation which send volunteers to India. The main aim is to increase global citizenship within young people from the UK. The idea is that the amount of help you can actually provide in a few months in India is limited. However the young person can make a much bigger and longer term impact by the choices they make when they return to the UK. As a young person with first hand experience of living in India, they can make informed decisions for the rest of their life.
So my role consists of supporting the volunteers. In practical terms this means providing in country training, and visiting them at their place of work. The volunteers will be working all over India, and so my colleague and I will be going to various places. Once we have visited them twice, we'll head back to Pondicherry ready to receive some new volunteers in September, and start the whole thing again. Brilliant! Well, I hope so :)
My colleague and I stayed in Chennai for 2 days, then headed off to Pondicherry. Pondicherry is where the volunteer training will take place and so where we needed to be to start organising it all. The task of preparing a 5 day orientation for 7 volunteers is quite daunting, especially as I have only been in India a week myself!
Anyway, we took the 4 hour bus journey to Pondicherry, and somehow I slept for a fair bit of it. I say 'some how' because there was (of course) the buses horn going off every 6 seconds, dust flying through the windows (can you call them windows when there's no glass and it's just a whole?), and we had our rucksacks where our legs should have been. But as many of you will know, Ruth will not miss her sleep! Regardless of what's going on :)
I'm not sure how many of you have the pleasure of recieving photos from Jo C's of funny Ugandan signs (like BEWARE! falling Mangos), but I saw a great sign as we flew past in the bus. It said 'Buy one shoe, get the other free!'. Well you can't beat that can you?!
Pondicherry is a very nice place which has a very meditaranian kind of feel. It was colinised by the French and so we have the benefit of croissants, pastries and really nice bread! Didn't think I'd get that in India. Pondi is on the coast, and the flat is about a 10 min walk from the beach. It's quite rocky near the water, so you can't go swimming. But if you pretended all the people around you were English, you could be a blackpool beach. You can like plastic toys, games and anything else that you think is a great idea, but you never use again. They sell popcorn and ice lollys. Honestly, it's quite bizare sometimes!
And below is a pic of the lovely Pony flat, where we stay when we're not travelling around.
Here is one last pic of Pondy in the monsoon. It was pretty cool to get caught up in it! Anyway, I best be off and do some work. Hope you're all well!
Hey all! Can I just first say a big thank you for your facebook messages. It's been really nice to read them all. You're such stars!
Now lets move onto what's been happening. The flight to Chennai ran smoothly, apart from the connecting flight was about 2 hours late. Not the end of the world though. At the airport I was hit by a wall of heat, as I got off the plane. Hmmm, could be interesting working when its around the 40s! I quickly got into a taxi and found I had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Soooo hot! No AC in this car, I'll tell you. After um-ing and ar-ing, I eventually got to the hostel where my colleague was staying. It was nice and had lots of character, but not the newest of buildings. But for the price, it was fine.
Anyway, a few of my first thoughts about India... - They love to honk there horns. And I mean ALL the time. You're in trafic jam - honk your horn. You're at a red light - honk your horn. The road's clear - guess what? Honk your horn! - Chat up lines exist even in India. Emma and I were asked when bying SIM cards "are you single and ready to mingle?" Nice. - They love spicy food. Pretty obviuos, but ou try eating a massive pancake thing with a potatoe curry thing in the middle at 8:30 a.m. I suprised myself though. I quite liked it!
I know it's been a short one, but will update soon. Just wanted you all to know I've arrived safe and am well.
Hello lovely blogger readers. Tomorrow I will begin my Indian adventure, and you are most welcome to join me (be that by reading what I'm up to, or by jumping on a plane!). My role as India volunteer coordinator will consist of training UK volunteers in India, and then visiting them at their respective placements. Consequently I get to travel all over the place. So get ready to hear lots of place names and many amusing stories of what happens on 20 hour train journeys.
Well, I guess that's it for now. I best be off as bags wont pack themselves (well mine doesn't any way. If yours does, keep it quite, otherwise everybody will be after it).
Make sure you leave comments (by clicking on '0 comments') and let me know what you're up to. It'll be awfully lonely in blogger land if you don't!
God bless and next time I'll be in contact from India. Woop woop!
Monkeys making a bit of a racket. Check out the little baby one!
And Ponys left to wander the streets...
Monkeys making a bit of a racket. Check out the little baby one!
And Ponys left to wander the streets...
Anyway, I best be off and do some work. Hope you're all well!