Entry No.18 by Josh

After a night of birthday celebrations with out matey in Pokhara and a few other people we met before and others we hadn't, we spent the next day walking around the lake. We tried to get to the Pagoda at the top but after finding no way to get there other than hiring a boat we pathetically gave up and went to a bar to play some scrabble (they had a board) and have some drinks.We met up with Leo and a couple he was with and had another beer and said we would meet them later. As it turned out, we didn't meet them partly because we couldn't find where they were staying and also we were very short of funds. Later that day we bumped into a couple of friends we had met on the trek, Chris and Joke, a dutch couple. After a 7% Nepalese beer we happily passed out at our room. What a productive day. The next two days were spent doing more of the same really but with less beers. Partly because the only thing anyone seems to do in Pokhara is get stoned, and partly because we had no money, we didn't end up doing too much for these days. The highlights were Clare getting an ear piercing, playing cards, watching the Cricket World Cup and me buying a copy of Mein Kampf (honestly nothing to do with all the annoying Israelis we met on the trek). The bus to Kathmandu took 8 hours and I read 1984 and Animal farm on the same journey, a bit of a George Orwell marathon. We found a nice cheapish room and relaxed, its surprising how exhausting sitting down on a bus doing nothing can be. We had three days to spend in Kathmandu with not too much money, and that wasn't a very exciting thought really. We found out that Clare's friend who we were going to stay with in Thailand with had a family problem and had to fly home to England which was really sad for her, and also for Clare who was really looking forward to seeing her. Over the next few days we did our usual chilling out and exploring activity around Kathmandu, checking out Durbar square without paying for it so we couldn't stay long. Our last day in Kathmandu was quite sad as we had found out the night before that my dog Mazy had died the day before so we went out and toasted her and had some nice food and played with a puppy (reincarnation?). We had an early night though as we were to fly to Bangkok the following day. So leaving Nepal was quite sad as we had really enjoyed our time here but we were also happy to be leaving the big cities as we were definitely ready to.
The flight in terms of the steadiness and comfort was horrible, but when you looked out the window it was the most amazing flight we have ever been on. You fly out of Kathmandu and right over the Himalayas so you can see a wide view of all these snowy mountains including Everest, its really a nice way to take off. Arriving in Bangkok is not so beautiful, but it was actually nice arriving somewhere with a bit of a Western feel and 24 hour electricity. Was nice to leave Sari and Curry culture after a long time being within it. Our time in Bangkok was spent shopping around the markets, eating some really good food (Muesli every morning), and also spending a whole day at MBK, a huge shopping center with amazing range of things at really good prices. We bought all the gifts we can carry with us, which isn't very much so the family will have to make do with small things. The day after we shopped, we met a couple who went to St. Gregs a couple of years younger than us, but whose brothers were in Clare's year at school. We went for a beer with them that evening, even though we were still hungover from the night before, which wasn't a very good idea, and we didn't want to become part of the 'lad' culture all over Thailand. We bought bus tickets to Phuket, thinking that south-east Thailand would still be flooded and then spent our last day in Bangkok like every other day. I was told by a market salesman to 'Fuck off Fussy' because I wouldn't buy his t-shirt because it was too big. I also got my ear pierced and spent my last night in Bangkok staying up until 4 in the morning watching the Spurs v Real Madrid game. The bus journey to Phuket, due to leave at 6pm and arrive at 10am, actually left at 9pm and arrived at 5pm but the bus itself was really nice, but it was a shame to waste a whole day on it. In Phuket we stayed in the town as it was the cheapest area to stay and only a bus journey away from the beach areas etc Our Guesthouse was actually the same one that Leonardo Di Caprio stayed in from the film 'The Beach'. If you have seen the film then it is the one where he meets Robert Carlyle. Phuket was very very touristy and expensive but we kept ourselves entertained by buying all our meals and drinks from 7/11 shops and exploring on foot. In general it was very disappointing and we booked a boat to Koh Phi Phi for a few days afterward. Koh Phi Phi is an island that was hit badly by the Tsunami and I have been before with my family just after the Tsunami and the place was a wreck. When me and Clare arrived it was completely unrecognisable and the whole island was covered by hotels and beach bars like it probably was before the Tsunami. We actually found that nobody there even really talked about it. It was a very expensive island but very beautiful and lots of fun. We spent one day going round a few islands from a boat and snorkeling. It was quite good value for money and one of the islands contained 'Maya bay', where 'The Beach' was filmed. We were expecting to be blown away by it but actually, it is really horrible and touristy. The water is dirty and boats are everywhere, including 'Booze cruisers' full of 'lads' getting 'smashed'. The island is a tourist trap where people can camp on the beach for about 50 quid a night. It was OK to spend an hour there but definitely not as good as we were hoping, oh well, back to Koh Phi Phi. Other than that, there is not much to say about Phi Phi apart from that it had quite a nice small memorial park for victims of the Tsunami. Also, I found the area that my family and I were cleaning up when we stayed here about 6 or 7 years ago and that was strange but not too different from how it was then. Even the hotel we stayed in at the time that had survived the Tsunami from being raised on a hill was still there. After Koh Phi Phi, we went to Krabi on the west coast of mainland Thailand. I had been here before as well and although the streets are lined with dive shops, restaurants, bars and resorts, we actually really enjoyed it because it is very quiet. The beach isn't very nice so tourists tend not to stay here. We relaxed here for a couple of days and on our third day here celebrated Songkran (Thai New Year). In the South it is celebrated for only one day as opposed to three up North but it is really crazy. Its just a water fight all day long and people drinking and having fun. Its really cool and not many places in the World could have a New Year as good as that.
Anyway, that was our last stop in Thailand and the South was actually quite disappointing really. Everywhere is crammed with tourists and the prices are so high it put us off really. Even Thai people aren't as nice down south as they are more driven by scams on tourists. We met a few people who have been coming to Thailand for years and years and even they say they wont be coming back because of how bad everything has got. Was a shame really but all in all Thailand was very nice, we just prefer the North and central Thailand around Bangkok I think. We have spent less than a week in Malaysia so far, and have sort of rough plans as to what we are going to do. We have flights to The Phillipines on the 1st of May so in the next twelve days we have to spend getting to Kuala Lumpur. We have already spent a few days on the island of Penang, where we explored the streets which was really fun and also learnt a bit about its history, visited the fort amongst other things. They have some good food there and the whole city has a really nice atmosphere. They have a toy museum, Tropical fruit farm which had really high entrance fees so we didn't go but we did stroll into the floating Mosque, which if it wasn't full of Muslims, would have been really nice. The building was amazing, but Islamic rules and regulations meant we had separate entrances based on gender and things like that so we didn't stay to watch an open prayer session or anything, and didn't stay too long. We have since got a boat from Penang and are now at the Island of Langkawi, which is the main island in a cluster of 99 islands in total. It is quite a nice time to be in Malaysia as its not high season and the weather is still OK. We have spent a couple of days here reading and relaxing and will probably leave tomorrow to go back to the mainland and make our way very slowly down to Kuala Lumpur.

Entry No.17 by Josh

The bus took us to Dumre from where we had to get a local bus to Besi Sahar. Adamant that I wasn't going to be ripped off by the bus owner (it was private, not government) we managed to haggle the price down to 100 rupees (90p) for the 3 hour journey. The journey was pretty dull and uncomfortable and we were feeling guilty when we got off after realising that we were actually paying less than the locals, that we had haggled too far. Oops. Besi Sahar is a small town and there isn't much to do there. Like most of Nepal, electricity is irregular so after finding a room for 2 pounds and some food, we spent the rest of the day playing cards and chilling out. The following morning we actualyl started the trek after an early start and a big breakfast. In our heads we had a rough idea as to how far we would get each day and where we woudl stop, and that was roughly the same as our dated trekking book recommended. I was carrying about 15kg and Clare had about 10kg so walking for a long time can be quite tiring. For the first three hours we were walking through pretty little paddy fields, crossing dodgy bridges and walking through villages which was really nice, and occasionally getting a view of a snowy peak as a treat that we would get used to in a few days. We arrived at where we thought we would spend the first night before midday so we stopped for a drink and carried on. The afternoon was quite difficult but by around 5pm we had arrived at Bahundana for a well earnt rest. We ate what we would go on to eat nearly eery night, Dal Bhat. Dal Bhat is basically a refillable platter of curries. You get as much rice as you like, a vegetable curry and a lentil soup thing, with a poppadum if you are lucky. It is the ideal energy food because you eat so much of it, but its very tasteless so gets so boring after a while. After a good nights rest we left at around 9am for another days walking. Much of the same sort of scenery on the second day left us in a town called Chyamche where the path was blocked due to a road being built and them having to dynamite some of the rock. Nevertheless we took the lower path to the next town thinking we only had a two more hour walk and hoping we would arrive by 5pm. After 4 hours of walking however, including 30 minutes in darkness, we finally arrived in Tal, our destination for the night. We had walked way too far that day and it turns out we had covered three days walking in only two. We made a deal to take it a bit more easily from that point onwards. The next day we only walked for around 6 hours, and the day after that for another 6. The views all along the way were amazing. The mountains were amazing and some of them well over 6,000 metres (18,000 feet roughly) and there were waterfalls all along the way. After a couple of thousand metres altitude you have to be careful how much you climb each day because of altitude sickness. However, we seemed to just take it as it came and we were fine so we were quite lucky with that. On the 5th day Clare did feel a little bit sick though so to be safe we only walked for about 2-3 hours. After arriving in Manang on our 5th afternoon we spent the whole 6th day there to acclimatise. It is more built up than some of the other towns we have stayed in, it even has a cinema room where we watched 'Into the Wild' and the power is more frequent. There are even some lodges with power in the rooms, but we couldn't afford that. In Manang, I had to get my shoes repaired as I was doing the trek in some cheap fake Hi-Tec trainers, and it was much cheaper to get those fixed, than to buy some boots in Manang. We also bought some walking sticks for when we crossed the pass, as we both we wearing only the cheapest equipment we could find and our shoes had no grip at all. The following day we left Manang and because of the altitude climb we could only go to a village three hours away, where everyone on this trek makes a stop. The town was called Yak Kharka and surprise surprise had a lot of Yaks. We tried some Yak cheese which was very good and chilled out playing cards with some friends we had met on the way. The next day would be our last stop before crossing the 5,500 metre pass. We stopped in a town called Throng Pedi where the winds were so strong and the temperature so cold that we had to stay inside for the day. At this point we hadn't showered for about 5 days so we were feeling pretty grim and defintely ready to cross the pass even just to get to a proper town where we could wash. We woke at around 5am on the big day thinking that we would be early. After eating breakfast we started the km climb uphill at around 5.45am. Typically, we were actually last to leave the town so got caught behind a French tour group who were so slow climbing that they had to strart walking for the day at 2am. We overtook almost everyone who had left before us, even though the walk was very tough. It took about 3 and a half hours to get to the top but the last hour was especially difficult because it was just so steep and we were freezing our bollocks off. The pass itself was a little overrated but the walk up to it was beautiful and we took some amazing photos of the sun rising over the peaks. Clare was a little bit sick at the top, and not wanting to risk it getting worse at this altitude we decided not to stay at the top for too long. The long descent down takes around 4 hours and at some points you can't help but run because it is so steep. The sticks we had bought were so helpful, despite making us look ridiculous. By the end of the day it was a really nice relief and felt like a great achievement when we arrived in Muktinath. After checking in at the Bob Marley guesthouse we had a cold shower (not out of choice) and a good dinner. It was our new found friend Phill's 55th birthday somehwere in town but we couldn't find him so we just relaxed by ourselves. The next day we walked another double day, and ended up getting to Jomson, quite a big stop, by the late afternoon. We actually found a place with a gas shower so we decided to stay there and shelter from the shitty weather that had followed us that day. We also walked past a YacDonald's that day, which sold only Yak Meat as a fast food restaurant, quite funny at the time. From Jomson, and on our 12th day, we walked a long way to Kalopani where we spent the night drinking and playing cards with Chris and Joke, a dutch couple we had spent some of the day with and had met earlier on the trek. This turned out to be the last night  of the trek as we made the decision to get the bus to Pokhara the next day. We had seen most of the good points on the trek and Clare's blisters were becoming unbearable and her shoes broken so the decision made sense. Clare could no way walk the next day so it would seem like a wasted day just hanging around in some small town hoping her feet would be OK the next day. It turned out that most people don't even walk as far as we did so our 12 day trek in what the guidebooks say should take 17 days was a good achievement anyway considering all of our equipment was the cheapest stuff you could find in the country. It took a whole day of travel to get to Pokhara because the roads are just winding round mountains on stones and they feel like a death trap. At one point, Clare even suggested getting out and walking on her bad feet, rather than sitting on the bus. Arriving in Pokhara at around 8 o'clock after our bus broke down and us having to get a taxi for the last 10 minutes, was definitely a relief. After finding a cheap room we went out for some drinks. We have been in India and Nepal for three months now, and since my Mum and brother left, we haven't had much to drink. So these few beers we had definitely took their toll on us and we were absolutely hammered by the time we got home. We have spent the next two days exploring Pokhara, which feels like a nice place. Its very laid back, but also very touristy, which for once isn't such a bad thing after trekking for two weeks and feeling millions of miles away from home. We are just going off to meet our friend to have a late birthday celebration and will spend the rest of our time in Nepal relaxing before going to Bangkok on the 1st. Overall, its been an amazing country, and their government adverts are actually true when they say 'once is never enough'.

Entry No.16 by Clare

We arrived in Darjeeling around 10am after about 20 hours of travel, we found our homestay run by a lovely Indian couple Wan-chuck and Doenka (his wife) which we stayed for about 3 days in their home, they were very sweet making us tea all the time even in bed! Our first day we were still very tired so we went exploring, Darjeeling was so good looking, lush tea plantations and beautiful crop fields down the valleys. There was also a nice english couple staying at Wan-chuks homestay and two Spanish ladies, we spend our first night up talking with them. The following morning we went out early to the 'Happy Valley Tea Plantation' which supplies Harrods Knightsbridge exclusively first flush tea. The plantation was really nice and you an walk around for free for as long as you like. We made some photos into disc and had lunch. In the afternoon we took the 'joy ride' train for a 2 hour round trip across the towns and villiages. We stopped at Ghum and visited the trains museum. After we returned we went to a pub called Joey's for a drink, weird to be in a pub. The next morning we were getting up at 4.30am to visit tiger hill for sunrise but Josh felt a little sick so we couldn't go :( Instead we got up later and went to the Zoo (best of India and highest alltitude Zoo in the world) which was great, for about 1 pound we saw lots of great animals such as red pandas, tigers, brown bears, yaks, tibetan wolf etc. There was also a Himalayan Climbing Museum which was very interesting, we found out Everest is named after an English man. Later we went tea shopping, Josh tried some of 'the best tea in the world' but probaly was wasted on him a bit. We got up the following day to leave India, Wan-chuck and his wife made us a lovely breakfast before we set off looking for a jeep. We arrived at the border to Nepal about 3pm, it was very easy to cross and fast. The bus to Kathmandu left the boarder and 5pm and we arrived at 10am after some shockingly bad roads and slow travel. We met a guy who took us to his hotel which was nice for 5 pounds per night, unfortunetly Nepal has unpredictable power which is an issue for light and hot water. We needed to start planning for our trek we intended to do of The Annapurna Circuit so we sold our India Loney Planet and brought a 15 years old Nepal trekking guide. The next morning we went to get our trekking permit and TIMS card. This took a while as nobody seems to know where to go, this cost us 40pounds which was more than I expected. We also went out looking for walking shoes, Jackets, gloves, thermals as it is very cold this time of year and we only turned up in Nepal in shorts and flip-flops. We pretty much spend the next day  doing the same thing and we booked our flight to Bangkok for 1st April too. We leave tomorrow for Besi Sahar to start our 16 days of walking!

Entry No.15 by Clare

We arrived in Jodhpur and 6am, after we had a very bumpy bus ride in a double sleeper facility so we found a hotel and got a few more hours sleep. After waking around midday we went to visit the Mehrangarh Fort, huge, beautiful, amazing view over the old blue city and we had a free audio tour guide, uncharacteristically. We walked around the clock tower and market areas selling fabrics and incense after. We had dinner at our guest house in the restaurant which we were waited by and cooked for by the same receptionist who checked us in earlier. We Checked out early the next morning and caught a bus to Jaipur. Along the journey we saw various crashed vehicles by the side of the road which wasn't comforting. We didn't arrive until 7pm and persisted to find a guesthouse on foot at the Rick-shaw drivers here are renowned to adding a lot of commission to a room rate and found a nice one run by a family who told us lots of times 'Rickshaw drivers are cheats, never use them and you will be happy', so we didn't. We ended up eating pizza for dinner, it was good. We went out to do the walking tour of the old city and temples the next morning written in the Lonely Planet guide book, this was very unsuccessful and we just kept getting lost, we saw lots of litter and animals eating litter, it was very hectic and I think the tour was bad and the instructions were badly written. We wanted to go to the cinema and watch a Bollywood film but they didn't have English sub-titles. so we didn't Later that day we spent some time trying to stream the Brighton match which ended at a 3-0 loss (Sorry Josh, out of the FA Cup). The next morning we caught a bus to Agra and arrived at 4pm. After everything we heard about Agra we expected a terrible place but we were pleasantly surprised. Again the problem with the commission for Rickshaw drivers we spent ages for time searching on foot. We found a nice place with a courtyard, lots of monkeys around and a good price. We headed straight for a roof top place to get our first view of the Taj Mahal, we spotted lots of playful monkeys and saw the top of the palace, we also enjoyed our first beer in two weeks. We left our room early the next day, left our bags in storage and went straight to the palace. Wow its amazing in the flesh. We had to pay 750 rupees (12.50) and Indians pay just 20 rupees (40p) which is very unfair but we did get a free water. You wouldn't believe how amazing and bright the white marble is and the gardens there are also delightful. We spent a few hours taking photographs and walking around all the temples and Museums also. Next we walked about 3km to the Agra Fort, what a beautiful fort too. Small courtyards, view points, walled garden ares and a few monkeys a great place to see. We had to catch our train about 8pm to Varanasi where we met two Japanese guys also in our carriage, lots of stares for men so Josh let me have top bunk and he had middle (what a gentleman). Loooooong train, we arrived about 6am and then had to get a three hour bus which we met an American couple. So happy when we finally arrived, we walked about 5km until we didn't know where we were, it was so hot with our bags also, we got a cyclo which took us about 5km for 50 rupees and it must have been such hard work with all our bags we gave him 100. We then had to get a Rickshaw to the Ghats to find a room, everywhere was really expensive and we wanted a nice room for my 21st birthday the next day. We didn't end up getting anything too nice, for 450 rupees Ganges river view and hot shower. We napped and went for a walk around Varanasi, a very calm place with lots of yoga, meditation classes etc. We found a cheap restaurant to watch cricket world cup and eat noodles, I really wanted a beer but nowhere sold any (Varanasi the holiest place apart from Bodhgaya in India) so we had to go to a really posh hotel which sold them 200rupees each! (3pounds), but it was my birthday the next day. My birthday we woke and Josh gave me a few small things (candy phone, pashmeana, cashew cookies) and went went for breakfast at a little cafe called Aum. I had a lovely whole salad and Chai and Josh had a Burrito thing. We took a boat ride for 2 hours down the Ganges to see all the ghat and burning ghats (most people who die in India get brought here to be burnt by all their male family and ashes put into the Ganges with jewellery, which also has 140aprox open sewers running into it, and people consider this water a holy and sip and bathe in it everyday...crazy). We saw one person being burnt and many other bodies in line, it was very interesting. After we visited a Nepalese Temple which lots of images of Karma Sutra. We visited the Fort and Museum during the afternoon, this wasn't as nice as the other forts we have visited, wasn't very well maintained. Mid afternoon we had carrot cake and chai! That evening we went to The Brown Bread Bakery which is a non-profit Tibetan Restaurant (profits go to a local charity for homeless children) and met some people there who had just been in Nepal, the restaurant had a live Indian band which was nice too. We had a nice evening there and ended up having a couple expensive 'Government' beers in our hotel room. The next day we booked our train for Bodhgaya, we got some new booked and relaxed in a cafe checking up on e-mails etc. After a light breakfast we had to rush to catch our train, once we had arrived we realised our train tickets were for the next day,. It was really annoying and not worth going back into Varanasi so we had to wait around for 6 hours until the next one. We found a grotty restaurant to kill a few hours. After our train was delayed another hour and because it started to really rain our train was very slow. We met a really nice Irish guy who is volunteering for a year in Calcutta to work with the homeless (brave), we also met an Indian guy who teaches and doesn't get home until midnight everyday and leave his home at 6am. The Irish guy told us there is a lot of trouble in Darjeeling at the moment which is our next stop. We arrived at midnight and met two Russian girls who we shared a Rickshaw from Gaya to Bodhgaya and all found a cheap room together to sleep in. We found a new cheaper room in the morning in a little village area the next morning and found a lovely Tibetan cafe run by refuges. We visited the temple and tree that the Buddha became enlightened. Lots of monks and Buddhists here, meditation gardens and small gardens just to read which we did for a while, it was very nice. We tried Momos that evening - little vegetable dumplings. Bodhgaya is a very nice town in India, less traffic and litter but lots of disabled beggars which is sad. The next day we went to visit a rural village, it was great, animals everywhere. There was lots of lush food growing everywhere it didn't feel like India at all, more like China countryside. After we visited some Mountain Caves which had little shrines inside and monks meditating. This mountain was quite a climb and a few begging children too, we found a spot at sat looking over the countryside and in the distance Bodhgaya, bliss. We walked around the refugees markets (witnessed a Monk buying a BB gun) during the afternoon and ate dinner at the lovely Tibetan Cafe. Today we had to go into Gaya to sort out some money. During the day it is chaos! cars everywhere beeping, hot, everybody stares at you more than ever! we saw a poor puppy that got its paw run over by a bike and will probably be a broken paw forever in India :(  After this we visited the Thai Monastery which was a beautiful building and the Archeological Museum. Now here we are 6.21pm 28th February about to make our photos into discs and looking forward to tomorrow leaving for Darjeeling!

Entry No.14 by Josh

I think its fair to say that the problem with India is that there are too many Indians, and most of them just don't care. They ruin what is a really beautiful country by not caring at all about the environment in that they are living in, so as a result they are actually living in their own shit. For example, when we arrived in Mumbai I went off to look for a room to stay in. I went to the salvation army hoping to get some cheap dorm beds and as I arrived there was a man squatting out the front doing a poo. Then I went in and asked about the prices and when I came out the same man tried to shake my hand and sell me hash, and was then offended when I didn't want to shake my hand. We didn't want to stay there after that because I didn't want to leave the room and walk into human poo. The I walked around the corner and saw  man emptying a whole bag of poo (probably his own) onto te base of a tree on a pavement, so I gave up on that whole area.
Anyway, on our second day in India we got up and went straight to the jetty and got a ticket for a boat to Elephanta Island, which is about an hours boat journey away and on it has quite a lot of caves with sculptures around the sides. It was quite interesting, especially as nobody knows when they were made or anything so we had a nice walk around there. Entry price for foreigners was 25 times the amount for Indians which was annoying but it still was only about 4 quid. On the island Clare had a monkey climb onto her back and steal a drink from her back and wegot some good photos of that. When we arrived back in Mumbai we went to the house where Gandhi used to stay when he was in Mumbai. It was free to enter and was really well presented with some good displays including letters Gandhi sent to Hitler and Eisenhower. We then walked along the beach which is really filthy and polluted and you can't even swim in becausethe water is too dirty, so it wasn't the best beach I have been to. The following day we booked our bus tickets to Ahmedabad for the evening and planned to go and walk around a slum. Most people don't like the idea of walking round the slums, partly because they think it is dangerous and partly because it can be seen as disrespectful, but I am not that fussed about it, as long as you aren't intrusive. So anyway, Clare wouldn't let me go alone but wouldn't come with me without a guide so we had to find someone who could guide us there. We found the only company that does trips there and called them up to say we will go that afternoon. The company is well run and most of the profits go to NGO's working in Mumbai and also don't let you take pictures. We walked around the Dharavi slum for about 2 and a half hours and it was really interesting. There are 1.3 million people living in a space of around 1.1 square miles so its really busy all the time, especially in the residential area. The Dharavi slum is quite a resourceful one and the biggest in Mumbai, so it has factories and sweat shops in it which is where most people work. Nobody begs there and everyone works so its fairly self sufficient, like a town within the city. The children were sweet but really dirty, going from pooig on the floor to shaking your hand. We were told that only 1% of the population in Dharavi use the public paying toilets and only 30% use the free dirtier ones, meaning everyone else just uses the floor. Also, it is the slum that some scenes in Slumdog Millionaire are shot, including a Muslim Mosque scene apparently, and also the scene where the mum dies. our bus was delayed so we had to wait in the street for a couple of hours and then we got changed to a bus that was terrible. All the seats were brokenso they went far back and dug into the person behind. Some places had been sold to three different people and in general the bus was tiny and horrible. It was along journey including a half hour stop when a tyre burst but when we arrived in Ahmedabad it was a nice relief. After finding a room, we went to a Textile museum, and had a free tour of the grounds. It is in an amazing building on amazing grounds which was a lot more impressive to me than the Hindi weaving etc. We then had some food with two other tourists we met on the tour. The next day we made a 6 hour bus journey to Udaipur in Rajasthan. We had a leaflet we found for a guesthouse here so decided to go there. The whole time we have been away, we have never had a guesthouse that represents value for money as much as this one. We decided to go for the deluxe room for 192 rupees (about 3 pounds). We have our own TV, hot powerful shower, internet access and our room leads on to a rooftop restaurant with board games and amazing views. Also, we are the only guests there so its so peaecful. As a result, we have ended up staying here for 5 nights. In these 5 nights we have visited a few of the artificial lakes in the area, created hundreds of years ago. They are really beautiful and we have had a small picnic next to a large one out of town. We were the only people there and it was really nice, apart from the fact that you can't swim in it because of the crocodiles. We have also looked around the Palace in town which is huge ad a really beautiful building, and the walls are covered in stories and pictures about the people who have lived here. Udaipur also has lovely sunset viewpoints which we have used. Yesterday was Valentine's day so after being at a lake for a picnic we went to the ladies shrine and the lotus pools and I played football with some Indian kids. So Joel, if you are reading then your volleyball you bought has travelled from Palolem to Udaipur, before I gave to some kids. Then we went out for a meal and a Bhang Lassi in the town centre to celebrate Valentine's day and today we have been relaxing (easy to do in this town) and have found a bus to Jodhpur tomorrow.

Entry No.13 by Clare

Josh and I explored Siam Square and the surrounding Malls, we both brought really cool headphones in MBK. Later that evening we went out for a drink and a stroll. We meet two nice American girls who working in Bangkok in a private school. After we went back via checking the Brighton score (3-1). The following day we spent most of the day on the internet sorting pictures etc. We spent the second half of the day relaxing in our guest house, we watched 'The Hangover' and had an early night. Our last day in Bangkok, we had to checkout and pack by 12.We had the whole day to kill until 5pm so we watched 'Eat Love Pray' in the guest house charged everything and read. We arrived at the airport just after 6pm and our flight went about 8.30pm. Luckily our 3 stop had been upgraded to 2 stops. We arrived at Mumbai airport about 12pm, our next flight wasn't until 10am so we had a long wait. After arriving in Trivandrum (Kerala) at 2pm we  had to wait about an hour for Jackie and Joel and the airport with nothing there.
India
Once Jackie and Joel had arrived it was lovely to see them. We got a very small taxi to the area of guest houses and found a nice one called ' Princess Inn'. Trivandrum didn't have an awful lot to do so we walked around for a while and got some dinner in a nice veggie restaurant. We were all very tired so we all had an early night. We checked out the hotel the following morning and went to catch a train to Varkala. For 12 rupees each we sat in the seated area. Once we arrived and got a rickshaw to the beach area we found a nice hotel on the quieter side of the beach with hammocks outside and odd  wall art. Joel, Josh and i went for a stroll along the beach and a swim in the sea.The waves were really rough and we were playing some games together when a large wave swept me under and throw me onto the sand which left a big graze on my chin, oouchie. We had a drink on the balcony and went out for dinner, we found a nice veggie restaurant on the beach strip and played pictionary on the DS. We went to a Tibetan Chill-out Bar for 'Full Moon Party' after which was very tame but good fun nevertheless. The next morning we went out for breakfast together and Josh, Jackie and I went to explore the town centre whilst Joel went to explore the Seafront area. The town didn't have very much, a few fruit stalls, sari shops, bakery's and was quite dirty. The roads had cars and bikes in every direction and everyone constantly beeps, the men in Kerala for about 40 years old and wear a sheet wrapped around as a skirt and every women wears a Sari. Later that evening we went for dinner and drinks at the 'Rock n Roll' bar for cocktails.
We left the following morning for Alleppey for two days. We went for a boat trip on the backwaters which was really nice, peaceful with two old locals rowing us(eco friendly option). Alleppey was a dirty town which we did walk around for a while. We visited the beach also which was very dirty also our room did occupy a few cockroaches too. We traveled by bus to Cochi next, we had to get a ferry (5rupees) after the bus over to Fort Cochin where we stayed in a very pink guesthouse for one night. We hired some 'Ferraris' and had a tour of the towns Museum, an Art Gallery, Spice Shop, Chinese fishing nets which was very touristy. Later that day Jackie and I went to watch the traditional dance show, this wasn't quite the dance we expected. We  decided to go to Goa for the rest of Jackie and Joel's holiday as there didn't seem to be enough to do in Kerala for 3 weeks. We went caught a train which took 15 hours and got a rickshaw to Palolem beach, Palolem is beautiful. We go some rooms just off the beach for a very reasonable rate and spent  5 days here.  We all had a good sleep and went walking around the beach area and went swimming the first day, in the evening we watched 127 hours at a restaurant in the garden on a big screen. Jackie and I visited a Wildlife Sanctuary the next morning about 7am, this was nice but we didn't see anything too exciting, just a couple of monkeys, some rescued deers but it was a lovely walkabout. We spent the nice few daytimes swimming in the sea, visited the market, relaxing and playing cards. One afternoon we hired kayaks are went out and looked around the Island area. We went to a pub quiz one evening, 20 questions and we all took part independently, Josh won the first place prize of a lovely t-shirt and the collected money (460rupes) and Joel was second place with a lovely cap. The last night in Palolem there was a silent disco in which Joel attended and i believe it was rather a good evening, this silent disco is every Saturday night and very popular.
We left for Panjim and arrived at the hotel we booked for one night, we went out for lunch and relaxed for the day. In the evening we went to the Wine festival which had live singing and dancing performances on stage, lots of food and drink stools, we brought some wine and sat on a park bench. We found a very nice bar on the way home we popped into overlooking the river and some nice Portuguese buildings. We went to a spice plantation the next morning. It was very interesting seeing where they all come from. You can also bathe elephants there, we didn't though. They supply you with a really nice lunch served in a banana leaf. We left for Anjuna afterwards. We found some nice big rooms with outside sitting area, fridges in a place called 'Paradise' which we spent 3 nights. Jackie and I went for a massage the first morning, it was really weird because you have to get completely naked, but this was OK its a strictly women on women basis and i really enjoyed it. Later that day we visited a animal rescue center. There were lots of sick dogs and cat and even a seagull and two pigs. This was a really well run rescue center for India and they seem to really care about animals. In the evening we went to dinner with Richard, our hotel guest neighbour from Latvia.
There was a really big Flea Market we spent a long time walking around the next day, Jackie and i brought some henna and stamps which we had fun playing with in the evening, we also visited Baga beach. We had booked a nice new hotel about 1km down the road for Joel's 23rd birthday for 2 nights which we arrived about 12pm, this hotel had a really nice pool and garden area and has lots of yoga classes. We spent the whole day by the pool swimming etc. In the evening we found a lovely  restaurant called 'Bean Me Up' but sadly Jackie wasn't well and had a very bad night. The following day was Joel's 23rd birthday, Jackie was too ill to get up so the three of us went to Arambol Beach. This beach was very hippie and not busy, we spent the day here, the boys played volleyball and football. We arrived back and had dinner at the hotel Jackie was a bit better but Josh hand I weren't feeling well so we didn't go to Baga with Joel that evening. The next day was Jackie and Joel's last day. We relaxed by the pool for a few hours and went out to the Saturday Night Bazaar in the next town. This was a really nice market, entertainment, bars. music, it felt like a music festival, it was very hippie too. We went to go to 'Bean Me Up' but it closes on Saturday because it goes to the market so we found a nice restaurant in Vagator for our last meal and it was very nice. When we got back to the hotel, we stayed up and had a bottle of wine (Jackie and Joel were not leaving until 4pm taxi pick up), after we all sat in the room and had a little nap, it was sad to see them leave :(.
The next morning Josh and I left for Mapusa where we were getting our bus to Mumbai, we arrived at about 12pm and had to wait around until 7pm. Mapusa had nothing to do, especially as it was a Sunday. we sat in a park for a while, walked around and sat in cafes. Our bus took 13 hours and was surprisingly OK, but it wasn't very easy to sleep. We went to Coloba area to find a room, it was hard as nobody had checked out. We got one eventually which his very small and no window, also Mumbai rooms are a lot more expensive than Goa. We slept for a few hours and went for an explore. We tried a street Paneer (Indian Cheese) Kebab and went to the Sassoon Dock next to the Gateway of India which is very beautiful. Now we are here about to spend our first night in Mumbai and tomorrow we are visiting the Elephanta Island!

Entry No.12 by Clare

Day 125- We took a taxi to Siam square and walked around a few malls. We visited China Town later,  full of Jewellers and took a taxi to Khao San for a look around the market area. Later we found some nice food at a place called Ethos, they sold Hummus and Falafals it was really good. We left for Pattaya the following morning only to find it was impossible to find reasonable priced accomodation (as this point we didn't really have any knowledge of Pattaya's rep) we had to settle for a room for about 11 pounds (cheapest by far in town) in a motel which sold room in 3 hour slots and the room was covered in mirrors and had a price list on the wall for different condoms, beer and lubricant, lovely. In the evening we found a bar which had a really good live band playing western covers called 'Tattoo Bar' with a nice atmosphere which made up for it. We went to check out the beach about 12pm the next day (full of fat white tourists) and we read and swam for a few hours. Food was equally as expensive so we had to hunt around for a bit of food afterwards and we went to 'Tattoo Bar' again for the evening. We went to another part of the beach the next day where they charge tourists an extortionate amount for jet skiis and relaxed there for the day, later we watched lots of football at the 'Heineken Bar' with Brighton winning against Portsmouth in the FA Cup Josh was vey happy. We left Pattaya in the morning for Rayong, we hadn't researched to much as our Lonely Planet didn't even have it listed but we had heard it is very peaceful. Once arriving we had to get a map and then find out to get to our guest house on the beach about 10km out of the town. When we arrived to the 'Reggae Guesthouse' there was a note that the gone out and to watch a DVD until they get back, so we did. Once you get out of Rayong centre its a quiet sea front with a handful of small shops and about 20 tourists there at any time, it was also very beautiful. Our room once checked in for 350Baht had a massive balcony over looking the ocean and was hand painted with lots of Reggae designs, the first night we stayed in. After a lie in we caught a bus into the main town to get some food supplies for the next few days from the big Tesco. We bought bread, peanut butter, plastic cheese, few snacks and drink. After returning we went for a really nice swim in the sea, warm clear water and the beach is so quiet you get your own section. We relaxed on our balcony with a few beers in the evening. The next day we spent relaxing on the beach reading, swimming, reading, swimming, it was nice. Our guest house had a BBQ in the evening, we didn't eat at but we joined after for a few drinks with the other guests and Jono the Manager from Exeter. In the morning we wanted to visit the fruit and veg market, we walked about 4km but couldn't find it so we walked back. We realised we hadn't walked quite far enough (most people get the bus there) so we went for another swim and after we caught the bus there and brought some juicy pineapple. We also stopped in on a schools sports day opposite and watched the kids playing a football match (with the school's permission). The evening we watched a DVD with Jono and the German guy. We got up early to leave the guesthouse to catch a bus back to Bangkok. We arrived at 3pm and had to first collect our Indian Visas. We couldn't find a cheap enough room in the area so we headed back to Khao San Road area back to the guesthouse we stayed last time. We had some dinner and had to book our flights to India, we then brought some new books and postcards to send home and read in the guesthouse lobby. The next morning we sent out our postcards and found out pricing to send our package home. We found out the flight was cancelled (stressful) so had to try and find another, we did and sadly 50 pounds more each. We went to our guesthouse and collected everything to send home and went back to the Post Office. On our way back we got some Rupees and got some food. We went for a little look around the markets before dark and went back to watch 'Inglourious Basterds' in our guesthouse. Today we have just been out around Siam square, MBK, Central World and Paragon. We both brought some really cool headphones for about 4 pounds each and are going to watch some football in a little while.