Ouff

Let's all agree I'm da bezt at blogging. I might post more. I might not. The first thing on my to-do list is to finish up my diary, in which I've only completed India. Pretty much like on this blog......... So I'm about 30 extremely adventurous days behind. Damn it. Oh well

Please just enjoy this happy baby goat while I drown in my own procastination

xx

India summary

Hello peeps, I am not very good with blogging hehe whoopsie but now I'm in Thailand and I have some time to share my amazing India experience. Trying to keep it short, which I'm not very good at, but here we go:

DELHI 11-13 January

I already posted about Delhi, so all you need to know right now is that I enjoyed it though I didn't understand or know anything about India when we were there. I thought it was quite messy and dirty and the traffic made me a little stressed. If I could've done one thing differently it would be reading about the city before arriving. I found Delhi ok, but didn't feel a connection.

JAIPUR 13-15 January 

After 4 hours by bus, we arrived in Jaipur, which has the nick name "Pink City" because of all its buildings with a terra cotta colour (was supposed to be pink) in the Land of the Kings, Rajasthan. The first day we viewed the sunset and the organized chaos (traffic) from a roof top. There was a kite festival going on as well where the kids went crazy and the sky was filled with kites. I had my first Lassi here and it was amazing! We went to see PK, a Bollywood movie, at the cinema, and then we had a couple of drinks with some other Norwegian backpackers. The next day we visited Amber Fort then Hanna, Nanna and I got ourselves traditional Indian attire (sarees) which we wore to our dinner where we watched a muppet show and some dancers. We got to join them on "stage" and it was weird and fun.

TORDI SAGAR 15-16 January 

After 4 hours by bus we arrived in Tordi Sagar which was a small village with 5K habitants. We stayed at the only guest house with two other groups of backpackers. When we first arrived we had an orientation walk where we got to see some of the people who lived there. I got to try to make a pot for Lassi (yoghurt shake) in clay the old fashioned way, but I dropped it and it sucked. Aura told me it was ok to take a walk alone, and so I did. I passed the girls' school as they were done and they all ran over to me, touching my hair and skin. One girl, Ashna invited me to see her family's property and it was amazing how welcoming and warm they were without knowing English. I had to run back to the hotel, and 10 kids were running with me and it was a complete feelgood moment. Our group went on a camel cart ride to a sand dune which we climed and watched the sunset from while having masala tea. After that we had a bonfire with the other backpackers and got henna tattoos from one of the local girls.

AGRA 16-18 January 

The 16th we were on the bus for freaking 10 hours to get to Agra, the city of Taj Mahal. When we got there we were exhaused but HAPPIIII because wifi wohoo so we just had dinner that night and went to bed. The 17th we went to Red Fort, then Baby Taj which is hmm kinda obviously a tiny Taj Mahal. After that we went to the hotel and changed to our Indian outfits because we wanted to look good for the 3000 pics we were about to take in front of Taj Mahal. It was so great and majestic, and seeing it live was like diving in to a postcard. We stayed for 3 or 4 hours, and I'm pretty sure we weren't left alone for 5 minutes without someone asking for a picture with us haha. It's fun but really weird. Like people are seriously handing over their babies for us to hold for a picture.

ALIPURA 18-20 January 

We left like 7am to take the train to Orchha but it was delayed, like all trains in India. Ever. From there we took a bus to Alipura, to a 300 years old castle which was the only guest house in town. I was freaked out becaus it was dark and old and scary, and there were lots of tiny doors leading to creepy rooms but we slept really well. We went to see some old religious temples, which were covered in Kama Sutra figures. That was weird. At night I felt sick for the first time, but luckily it passed quickly. We went for an orientation walk on the 20th and got to visit a girls' school.

ORCHHA 20-21 January 

We went to Orchha after the orientation walk in Alipura, where we stayed at a nice resort in tents. The tents were big and had a regular bathroom and AC so they were pretty legit. In the evening we walked around town and joined a prayer (?) at the hindu temple. The whole town blacked out for a while, which also happened in Tordi btw and it's pretty common in India. On the 21 we took a guided tour through the Jhansi Fort, and then we went to a cooking class! Nanna and I walked around town for a bit and got some more henna done, which was so much better then the one in Tordi. 

NIGHT TRAIN 21-22

We got to the train station in Orchha around 10pm to take the night train to Varanasi. It was delayed by a couple of hours but I was sitting next to a girl my age named Gurumeet and we talked and played games and tought eachother about our countries. We got on the train around 01:00 and luckily it wasnt too dirty tho I'm pretty sure I got bitten by some bedbugs or something. We were on the train for 16 hours, and my "bed" was between a lady who was talking A LOT in her sleep and a guy snoring like crazy. We got a little crazy for a minute and did some squats (damn Ebba, you work out?) but except from that we were pretty much sitting in the same position.

VARANASI 22-24 January

Had some dinner when we first came to Varanasi, and just hung out with the group a little. Varanasi is a holy city with the river Ganges running through it. We got up really early for a boat ride during sunrise where we also saw many people doing morning rituals/cleansing in the river. Cremations were also happening, which was a weird experience but you couldn't really see that much. Then we slept for a minute before seeing silk production, which was interesting but honestly not that exciting. Later, we watched the sunset and some weird fire show befor dinner. Then sleep sleep sleep again and a little partying at night. The day after we could do whatever so Hanna, Nanna and I grabbed a tuktuk to go to Blue Lassi (which is pretty much mandatory to visit while in Varanasi), and had the best Lassis ever with banana, coconut and pomegranate. We went back to the hotel but I was really craving another one so I went back alone. It was actually the best feeling just listening to music really loud in the back of the tuktuk while watching the Varanasi life. We took a plane back to Delhi.

DELHI 24-25 January 

We arrived kinda late in Delhi the 24th and had a "goodbye-dinner" at a nice restaurant with the group. We had made a song for our tour guide to Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel, and it was pretty good I must say. Some of us had a little party after that. It's crazy how fast I got know some of these people even wih completely different background, age and perspective. Travelling with strangers for two weeks straight really does something to you. I know I'll miss them, but hopefully I'll see some of the, in not too long. Hanna, Nanna and I left the 25th in the morning for Thailand.

January 12 Delhi

Tjollahopp

Today was absolutely amazing! We started off by going to something called the Salaam Balaak Trust which is a place where kids live upto 6 months while an organization called Planeterra look for their parents or a safe, more pemanent home. The kids were welcoming and happy to keep a conversation with the few English words they knew. Our guide, Ejaz, told us his story about living on the street for 6 months when he first came alone to Delhi. He was escaping from his father who forced him to become a priest. Now, he is on good terms with his family and finishing high school while working as a guide. The visit was touching, but in a good way. He told us about the many sad destinies though, especially for young girls who get married at the age of 14 and prostitution where they get about 500 rupies a day ($8). Our everyday guide told us that India is good on paper, the money is just in the wrong hands. It is weird and hard to see all the homeless people begging for money, but we are trying to accept that this is their reality, and it is better helping through an organization than handing out money.

We have asked quite a few people to take their picture, because of the amazing colours and patterns they wear as their everyday clothing.

After the shelter, we went to see the greatest Mosque in India, Jama Masjid, and it was funny how suddenly Hanna, Nanna and I became the attraction. People were gathering around us to get a picture with us because of our skin and hair. The same happened in front of the Red Fort. One guy even tried to figure out whom would be a good match with his son. I didn't get any of the pictures because they all used their cells. It was probably one of the weirdest experienses of my life, I swear I was in more pics than on graduation.

We also went to a Sikh temple and I couldn't stop thinking "I am loveSikh" haha. It was pretty sick (ha). Anyways, we had to walk barefooted and wash our feet in this holy water that some (eww) people drank from... There were not that many people there so we were able to help the ladies make rooti in a stone oven. The Sikh temple is open for everyone, and there is free food for whomever's hungry. 

Here's just some random people in beautiful clothing

I had Pao Bhaji and Rajkachori for lunch which was delicious, then Hanna, Nanna and I went shopping. The three of us and our everyday guide, Aura, went for dinner where I had Aloo Jeera (?). I'm scared I'm going to get "Delhi Belly", food poisoning in other words, but I think I'll be fine as long as I stay away from meat, eggs, raw veggies and street food. And tap water of course. Luckily most Indians are vegetarians and specialists on spicy dishes which I love.

Please ignore any bad spelling, I don't feel like reading through it right now.

Nighty night world, Talk2YaL8er

P.S. If you ever go to India, travelling with G Adventures is a great experiense, especially with our amazing guide who's stuck with us for two weeks. I absolutely recommend this.

January 11 Delhi

Yohoo peeps

India is crazy! The traffic is insane, but everyone knows exactly what they're doing. We had to cross the street earlier, and that involved walking with my shoulders raised through a roundabout with three lanes and everyone honking. Our guide said "to get your license in India you need three things; good horn, good breaks and good luck". We walked around the area today with our new friend David from Austria, who was really helpful and calming in this madness. There are many families living on the streets and the kids come running after us, touching and begging for money. We try to ignore it, because they're already getting help from local organizations, but it is weird and creepy and sad. We met our group today for dinner (I had Dal Tadka, which was spicy lentils with veggies), and we were honestly pretty shocked. We thought we would travel with people our own age, but we are the youngest ones and then there's someone around 30, and some around 60. But everyone are nice and easy to talk to so we are excited to travel with them for two weeks! It's cold here and we only brought summer clothing (whuupsi), but the ladies we're travelling with let us use their jackets, they're very kind :)

So here we are from Norway, Austria, Australia, Spain, Canada and South-Korea.

I didn't take many pictures today because I just had to feel how things were, but tomorrow we're going to Old Delhi and I'll bring my camera.

Stay tuned! xx

Why I am doing this

Hey,

I'll be blogging now that I'm going away for a while to keep y'all updated on my awesome 3 months in India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. Plus I'm doing this because I always forget stuff so it'll be like a public diary I guess. I'm leaving this Saturday with my two friends, Nanna and Hanna, and it's gonna be legendary and you will be jealous. You're welcome. There's gonna be a whole bunch of pictures, so prepare dear readers :)

Catch you on the flippety flop

Jeg skriver på engelsk for mine internasjonale bekjente. Google translate er jo fint hvis du ikke skjønner.