Chai Tea Recipe

Well, it is a rainy day, so I am hibernating in an internet room, and promissed I would do my chai tea recipe that I found on the net and addapted a little.

Ingredients (provides 4 cups)
1. Water 3 cups
2. Milk 2 cups (50/50 cream is real good for this too, but use 1 cup)
3. Cloves 3-4
4. Cinemon sticks 1 or 2
5. Cardomen pods 4 (1/2 tea spoon if powder form)
6. Black Pepper 4-8 corns (dependent on taste)
7. Ginger (fresh) 8 pea sized amounts (I used way more just for personal taste)
8. Tea 1 or 2 tea bags or 2 tea spoons of black tea. (I find one tea bag is enough)

(If you can find the following ingrediants at an Indian Supermarket, Jhopadpattis, Tamasuic, Shree Ram, then add them! I could not find them)

Instructions

1. Crush spices (items 3-6) together. I used a bean/soup can against the base of the pan because I did not have a pesstle and mortar.

2. Grate ginger into pan, I love to add lots but try just adding 8 pea sized amounts to begin with, approximately a table spoon.

3. Add water and sugar. Sugar is a must even if you generally do not have sugar in your tea. It brings out the flavour in the spices. Boil, then simmer for 2 minutes.

4. Add milk and tea and simmer for 15 minutes, although I got impatient and only simmered for 5 minutes but longer is better.

When I was a loner liveing in my caravan I would not add the milk but simmer the water for 15 minutes with the tea and sugar. Then I would put the tea in a flask, so that I could get instant chai by microwaving some milk and then adding some chai mixture from my flask. For some reason the tea tasted better when I left if for a few hours in the flask.

5. Cieve the chai mixture into cups and drink!

The spell check is in spanish, so can not find my spelling errors, I know there will be some!

Week 14 - 16 Pokaraha, Bandipur, Old Delhi, Bangkok

Pokaraha



Another visit to Pokarah to pick up my bag after rafting, end up staying longer than I wanted. Pokarah is like a Sunday afternoon. I go fishing with the motel owner, I stayed with him the last time, he tells me many interesting stories on our trip. He tells me of land he has bought for foreign friends and wives that he has found for others, he tells me of his french friend who is very happy with his two wives! Monogamy is now illegal in Nepal. He tells me of his friend who sunk to the lake floor a week ago and has not been found. He tells me of a Buddhist friend he helped build a house but now the Buddhist refuses to be his friend because he catches fish, says he he doesn't want the devil in his house! He tells me of a couple in their 20s who committed joint suicide by tieing a rock round their waist, they were from different castes and one family refused marriage.



I usually head left into town but this day I decide to head left towards the mountain of Serangkot (spelling?) and things turn a little twilight. I pass a German man who is dressed in pyjamas and is off his head speaking to himself. I get offered mushrooms all along the road. A strangely aggressive man tries to sell me mushrooms and weed, when I decline and walk away he tries one last time to sell me something and asks me if I would like a Nepali marriage! No thank you sir, marriage is far from my mind, although by Nepali standards I should have been married for 8 years and have 3 kids by now. Everyone enquires about your marital status, it seams quite popular for people to come to Nepal to find a bride.

Journey from Pokaraha to Bandipur
I get this large Jeep to Bandipur from a nearby town. I am awkwardly on the back shelf, with half my body hanging out the back and one arm pit in some poor chaps face. I think I am slowly killing him as I ditched my deodorant a week before in order to save space in my backpack. I think he is complaining about me, I feel embarrassed, so I brake the ice and motion to them that I smell and everyone on the jeep laughs at me. This seems to open up a discussion with the other passengers about me, they talk in Nepali and look and me and then laugh, I just laugh too!

Bandipur
Incredibly relaxing place, an old town with beautiful architecture situated in the hills.



There is about 8 other tourists in this town, i hang with 5 of them. Alex, a French man living in Malaysia about 35, French, a German man about 40, Marrie, a French girl about 24, Tadeus a Dutch man about 20. It is great to hang out with such a diverse set of people, we just relax outside in the evenings and drink chai.



I do a couple of walks around Bandipur, very atmospheric. I head to Mukundeswari to a Magar shrine with my new friends. The walk goes through some dense forest and it is difficult to make any ground, we soon get split up but we finally make it and the temple looks like a stone shed, quite funny. People have left offerings, all I have is a biscuit, so I throw that in and Alex throws in a cigarette.



We hang with this old lady in the small farming town of Mukundeswari, very entertaining. She gives Alex and French a big bag of potent weed, so they are very happy!



Journey from Bandipur to Old Delhi
I leave Bandipur Thursday at 10am and arrive in Old Delhi Friday at 6pm. A total of 32 hours spent on 3 buses. I get on a bus in Bandipur, the conductor tells me he is going to the border town and takes my money, half way there he tells me that he is not going there anymore and that I need to transfer onto another bus, after I share a joke with him about being a liar he gets me onto a new bus for free. I finally make it over the border and get some beautiful cheap Indian food and head towards the bus stand, a man outside the bus says that I need to buy a ticket from his office, I sense that I am potentially entering some sort of scam. I try to get on the bus but a man who looks like 50 Cent is blocking my way. I try to ask a guy who was on my Nepal bus whether he paid already but he does not understand me, I also ask the bus driver and he just shrugs. I follow my con man and he trys to make me pay 1000 rupees for the bus ticket, I know this is way too much, I shout at him that this is a commission scam but as I am doing this the bus starts to pull away and he tells me that I won't be getting on the bus at all. I manage to get him down to 500 rupees and board the bus. 50 cent boards the bus and takes my fake ticket and swaps it for a real ticket, with a cost of 350 rupees written on it. I Didn't lose too much in the end and under the circumstances I did well to get on the bus at all! When the guy from my Nepal bus understands what happened and that I have not much money left, he buys me food all along the way, I say no but he insists, he feels bad that I got ripped off. I trust this guy, so I accept him buying me food, after 9 weeks of travel in India, I can instantly tell who is good and who to avoid. He also travels all the way to Delhi and even gets me a good deal with the little money I have left on a rickshaw to Old Delhi. My journey on the bus travelled through some of the poorest parts of India. Every time the bus stopped I would get attacked by mosquito's, but thankfully they disappeared when the bus moved and air was flowing through. The whole journey was surprisingly not that bad, I drifted in and out of sleep and had about 10 different people sit next to me. If you had one of those speeded up videos, I would be in the same spot for 24 hours, while people all around the bus would be whizzing on and off.

Old Delhi
Arriving in Delhi was my most nervous experience, just because of all the horror stories I had heard. Two friends from Nepal told me to go to Old Delhi away from the tourist area and I never regretted it for a moment. I arrive at the Jama Masjid, a Muslim temple, designed by the same architect that designed the Taj Mahal. It is a large square surrounded by 4 storey buildings housing hotels, shops and restaurants, there are little alleyways spurring from the square, selling the most delicious cheap food that I have found in India. This is the most vibrant place I have been to ever! On my arrival at night, my eyes are wide open with all the life this place contains, there are pig heads and kebabs being cooked on large flames and just a mass of people everywhere. I find a hotel, take off my shoes and my feat are badly swollen from the travel, it takes 2 days for the swelling to go down. I wake up early and look out onto the square, two men are throwing old meat into the air and a group of eagles swoop down to collect it. all around the square people are walking up from a night of sleeping on the street. After staying here for 3 days I realise these are workers who have no homes, they have most likely come from surrounding areas. The people sleep rough but in a good, non threatening, non drunk/drugged up way, just a thing they have to do to get by before they start another day of work the next morning.



My whole stay in Old Delhi is based around food, it is all I think about, it is the best way I can become part of this place, even for a short while. The food here is so cheap but absolutely amazing, the restaurants are mainly for the poor workers who sleep around them, but they accept me when I eat with them, they make sure I pay the right sum of money, that I get a free top up of food if I am entitled and they order the waiters around for me! The owners dislike me, but I don't care as the customers make me feel at ease and welcome. My favourite place is a chai shop, like a Muslim version of a pub, I go there twice a day and start to get to know the regulars and the young waiters smile on my return, I can't communicate at all, I get friendly with an old Muslim man, he is maybe 70 and I feel frustrated that I cannot understand him, he could tell me so many fantastic story's from his time in India, he also gets frustrated at not being able to communicate. We communicate through gestures, he buys me chai and offers me a beadie (small cigar type thing), I buy him chai. Learning a language is key, I want to learn Hindi so much. My typical breakfast is big, I eat poori (puffed pastry/bread) with pea and potatoe curry, masala chai, sweet banana's, lassi (a beautiful yogurt type drink). I am stuffed and content. Meals typically cost me 12rs, that is 15p (30cents).



I do leave Old Delhi occasionally and get the underground, I head to a bar with an American to New Delhi. The underground tannoy tells me, among other things, not to make friends with strangers, I find this baffling, is this just while using the underground? or is it everywhere? I feel I need more information on this statement, how am I supposed to get along if I don't make friends with strangers, all friends start out as strangers.

It happens to be FA cup night, didn't even know it was on or that the new Wembley was finally complete, the bar had some drunk English people it it, it felt wrong, all the Indian people where staring at the leery English! Wanted to be back at my chai shop! I buy Time Out and try to do other things in New Delhi, but seam to fail each time. I try to see a famous Indian musician but it is sold out, I chat to some rich Indian ladies outside, they make me laugh, they are so snobby. I try to go to a free painting class but I arrive late, I try to go to the modern art museum but it is closed on Tuesdays, ahh well! When I am away from Old Delhi, I just constantly think of its food, each time my new adventure in New Delhi fails I scurry back to the safety of Old Delhi. I spend a Sunday at the Old Red Fort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fort), get a little board so head to a Sikh Temple, spend the afternoon listening to awesome tabla music, there is food and the floor is comfy, before I know it, the day is over.

I want to stay in Old Delhi much longer, it is a short romance, but like short romances it ends on a high.

That's it for India. Wooops, I forgot to go to the Taj Mahal!!

Bangkok

Bangkok is much better than I thought it would be, it's great being in a modern place again. Finally buy a charger for my MP3 player and a new camera and some DEET mozzie spray, finally!. Hang with some english and danish people and watch some covers band, skoot round town with them in this noisy tuk tuk thing. My room is the size of two single beds and has no windows but I love it and it's cheap.

It feels like a mid trip re-charge, I spend a lot of time at malls and do most of the tourist sights and watch some kick boxing, outdoor markets and eat crab for breakfast at a floating market.

Week 9 (I think) - Bye India - Varanasi

Varanasi

What to say. I lay on my bed after the first day exhausted, thinking "what the f*ck!". The people here are intense, really spoilt my karma, there were good bits but I could only take one day of harassment before leaving early for Nepal.

Watching the morning pilgrims was excellent, but I fealt I was intruding on something very important to them, there were a mass of tourist boats watching the Indian pilgrims wash away their sins in the River Ganges.



I get dropped off at the Burning Ghat and get greeted by a guide, he takes me into the thick of a cremation ceremony, I don't look at anything, just the guide, I feel like I should not be here, a family is carrying a body to a fresh pale of wood, the guide says "look, a burning foot". No woman are allowed at the Ghat as if there is any crying then this will effect the spirit achieving nirvana. The guide also rips me off, this is the first time in my ten week stay. He is a nice chap and takes me upstairs to a building by the Ghat to see some old folk, he tells me that they stay here until they die and cannot afford to pay for their cremation, so he asks for a donation, I am emotional from seeing the cremations and even though I question it in my head I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt. I find out later that this man has been doing this for ages and bribes the police. Pretty low. I walk past him later and he comes after me asking to talk, I call him a "lier" and he says "that is what he wanted to talk to me about", I repeat "liar", he eventualy goes away. Later a holy man trys to con me, really persistent in me going with him. I hate Varanasi and I hate India at this point.



A pilgrim (alive)

The best bit of the whole town was using the crazy cycle rickshaw drivers, I had one old dude who had a red stained smile from all the chewing tobacco, I instantly like this comical fella. The old fella nearly takes out a cyclist who veers into our path, the rickshaw driver abuses him while laughing for extra effect, I join in with the laughter at the cyclist, the cyclist gets pretty angry which makes us laugh more. All the way home the driver sings and cackles as he cycles, he turns around occasionally to speak to be in Hindi, I only mutter "acha". My favourite person in India in my least favorite place in India.



Goodbye India
India has been fun, messed up, tiring, spiritual, enlightening, annoying, beautiful, ugly. It has had the most friendly people I have ever met but also some of the worst people I have ever met. India is contradictory but I have loved all places even Varanasi in parts. India has had a really good effect on me, especially the people, culture and religions.

Week 4 - 8 Indore, Guruyavor Festival, Kollam Backwaters, KodaiKannal, Hampi, Hyderabad, Ajanta, Ellora, Kandwar, Maheshwar

Guruyavor
Headed back north for a festival. Elephants, dancing, music and chanting, was a great town too, no tourists so no hastle. The photo's of the festival didn't come out, but this is at the elephant sanctuary, where they keep all the temple elephants for the area. At the festival I met a police man, he started asking me loads of questions, do you work? no. Are you married? no. Are you here with family? no. Are you here with friends? no. The more questions he asked, I sware the more he thought I was the devil!



Had the hottest food of my trip here, with the first one for breakfast, really gave the day a kick start, so much better than caffeine. I nibbled on a chili which was with my thali at lunch, thought it was mild, so ate it whole, I lost vision for a while, I fealt my eyes dilate and lost myself for a couple of seconds!

Got on a bus to the next town. Two minutes into my 8 hour journey and I got the same fealing I get when I decide to ride a rollercoaster, I really wanna get off! Somehow the big lime green bus is faster than everything on the road, the driver doesn't seem to care that he can't see round a corner when overtaking. He bulldozes his way through the crowded road, I notice that there is a sign at the front of the bus that states 'Super Fast', no shit! In future I will pass on the super fast lime green slugs. We pass other buses that only have fast written on them, they seem the better option. The fat man next to me falls asleep on my shoulder, not sure how he can. We start to make ground on another Super Fast green slug, I get excited and start to enjoy the chase, we lose him and the driver seems upset, but we approach a fast looking saloon. We soon pass the saloon as the saloon uses his brakes, my bus driver does not, he only uses a horn that is permanently being pressed. I hope the horn will wake the fat man as my shoulder hurts. I got used to the bus journeys but nothing has been as fast as the first, little disappointing!

Kollam
Headed here for a boat trip, good little trip and met some really nice people, was sad to say goodbye. Travelling is strange, everything is fleeting, nothing is final.



Wanted to leave Kollam ASAP, so got the next train to Madurai. Due to language problems I never get the full details of my transport trips, I am happy just to get a ticket with the correct destination on. I thought it would just be a 4 hour journey east by doing rule of thumb on the map, but the train heads all the way to the tip of India and back up to my stop in a big U shape, so I end up being on my wooden chair from 5pm to 6am, not sure why it was not a sleeper train, ended up being a fun trip trying to communicate with the local travellers, would love to find out their storeys.

Madurai
I hated this town, like some others to begin with, but places grow on you and you leanr to deal with the new environment. But I end up loving the place. It is famous for its beautifull architecture. Language here is a big problem, all the hindi food words I learnt are no use, not sure what language is spoken here.



There are very few street lights, so the walkways are lit by flourescent lights from shops, which makes you feal like you are walking through a Bollywood film set, makes the twon feal warm and exciting.



The room I rented here, was probably the worst I have ever been in. If you were to eat marzipan for two weeks solid and then if at the end of the two weeks you were to have a shit, that is what my room smelt like!
I went to open the window, but this opened onto a small area bound by other hotel rooms/windows, in this small area, 3 floors down, was a mass of rubbish and a mass of mosquito's. I slept with the window closed. The saving grace was a balacony, where met other travellers and had a drink with them, at times India can be lonely for a single traveller, so this was a nice change.

The hindu face paint is a lot more dramatic here than in other towns, I like the style, some have triangles, some flag like rectangles and the bets is four stripes smeared with the fingers, again I didn't take photographs. I would become religous, just so I could dress like this.

KodaiKannal
My favourite place so far, wicked nature and loads of chilling, spent a week here, was really cold at night and all the Indian people wore retro jumpers and bobbles hats. There were so many retro clothes here, better than Camden, was like a little clothes gold mine on this Indian hill, was sad I did not buy more than a jumper and cardigan, forgot to get a Yamaha anorak thing





Hampi
Nice chill out place and nice old things! Some good signs of civil engineering to, always nice to see!



Hyderabad
Liking this place, the bits I love the most about India but also the bits I hate most. Hung with a lass from Denmark here and then onto Ajanta with her, was good to have company for the big towns.






Jannes photo of me sharing a joke with the traffic police!


Jannes photo of some young lads at Makkah Masjid Mosque. Unfortunately there was a bomb here just 10 weeks after I left killing 5.

Ajanta/Ellora
Great places, temples cut into rocks, my photo's were naff though.



Kandwar
I stop in Kandwar for the night on the way to Maheshwar. Kandwar is not in my guidebook but is in bold on my map so I decide it should be ok. Arrive quite late, when I depart from the train there is a cow waiting on the platoform, I love the urban cows, they are so chilled. I get the cheapest room in a local hotel, a shoe box size room with no external windows, but I have about 12 mosquitto's for company. I put up my mozzie net using the room door, it takes me a long time and a lot of gaffer tape to get the net into a semi-decent state. I start to drift off, at midnight there is a knocking at my door, I open the door, the mozzie net collapses and a fat cop with a tash greats me. The cop and the hotel manager enter my room, they ask a lot of questions, make a phone call, look at my passport. Then there is a powecut, so a fat cop, the hotel manager and me occupy this shoe box room in the pitch black. I am confused. They finally seem satisfied and leave. The only explanation I get is "safety". I don't sleep well that night!

I get my train ticket to Barwaha the next day, which is halfway to Maheshwar, there is a heavy armed police presence on the streets, after a few enquiries I find out that there is a Muslim festival on and last year there was a fight with the Hindu's and Muslim's. This year things seem good though and there is no trouble, I get a few smiles and waves. I chat to a hotel worker, he is working at the hotel and teaching himself to pass a degree, he pays for his books, a copy of syllabus and the exams, lots of respect for that, he teache's me a lot about indian hoistory and the segregation of india in 1947 into India and Pakistan when the Brits left. He says the cop was extra cautious with me due to the trouble last year. Note the green Pakistan flags in the march.



Maheshwar


My new favourite place, so chilled and weird, ate at a small house each day, which had converted it's patio into an eating area, the best food I have had so far, probably because it was home cooking. Spent a lot of time chilling in the patio area with the family.

The main focus of the town is a big fort with loads of temples and house's within it.

There are a lot of Indian people here for a pilgrimage to the River Narmada, as I head up the river the atmosphere change's, smoking chillums seems to be the main focus of the day. Thier eyes are so cloudy, there is no pupil or iris just mist!



This guy was ace, lived in this little space in the fort's walls by the River. Cosy little place, offered me some Lassi.



In the evening there was a festival for Hanaman's birthday, it was a full moon and the festival was just a load of teanagers going a bit crazy. I got dragged into the mob, got water and red paint dust thrown at me and was made to dance, a circle formed aroud me, eventualy escaped. Kinda fun!



IndoreJust arrived in Indore, had to look at my bus ticket to remember! starving, so will keep it short, a little tired so may be dull. things going well, got a little bored in south India but as I headed north I started to enjoy myself again. Indore is just a stop over but cool place.

bye, email!

and a sign....

2nd/3rd Week - Gokarna, Udupi, Fort Cochin

Gokarna


Went onto Gokarna from South Goa. Loved this place, should have stayed longer. my shack was 50 rupees a night (60p), great atmosphere, loads of people just chilling and chatting, mainly English and Israeli's (spell?). It was run by this wicked guy called shanka and he had this old worker who danced to techno and slept in the corridor. There were some strange characters, one Indian bum who gets stoned all time, has one front tooth missing and the other wobbles as he speaks. He really annoys people and speaks a lot of crap but watching him is highly entertaining. The town of Gokarna was a nice escape from the beach with nice local people and temples.



Forgot to get a pic of gokarna beach, this is south goa. left ohm beach(gokarna) with a drum i traded for 100 rupees and my towel, good deal, gonna try get a drum lesson today.


Udupi
my favourite place so far, only saw 2 other tourists the 4 days I was here, a little lonely in that respect. Got recommended it by Pablo, an old aussy who was on ohm beach. There was no info in my guidebook other than a small paragraph, so the first time I did not have the rough guide holding my hand. Due to minimal tourism i was not bothered at all, as they are not dependent on tourist money, a lovely change. Saw a traditional Indian play with dancing, Hindu festivals, Indian art and some classical Indian music from famous Indian musicians, bought the cd of Ali Akbar Khan the previous day, who played. Amazing concert in the grounds of Monipal University. All these events were free. Going away from tourist areas certainly in this case has been what I was looking for, real Indian as people tell me.



This is Varanga, east of Udupi, chose it from a local guide book, hired a local guide and we got buses to the temple as I was to tight to hire a car. This has been the best temple so far, there were two, both as beautiful as each other. I liked this the most due to the tranquil setting and the surrounding area, temples that attract tourists are hard to enjoy due to the people and the scruffy surrounding area. The keeper of the temple said I was the first tourist in a year to visit, all other visitors have been Jain Hindu. The bus journey on the way back scared me as much as Rorys driving, even the beautiful Indian girls on the tv could not help, gripped the seat in front for the 40 minute journey, when I eventually arrived at my destination, I removed my hand and my fingers would not straighten, they ached bad, think i must have starved them of blood, my hand eventually came back to life.



This was a Krishna Festival, so lively and void of any health and safety regulations, fireworks going off all over the place, with sparks flying onto people, the big Gargantuan chariot is pulled round the square, it nearly took out a local market stall, with the people frantically trying to get it back on track, there was an elephant leading and clearing the way for the chariot. The previous night some young Krishna's studying dentistry tried to get me to go to thier place to study the religion, they were a little to religious for me, so I showed them my two gold teeth and that seemed to disturb them and they soon left!



At first I thought this was a town with no tourist purpose, there was no obvious things to do and see. i took the advice of the local guide book and went to the port, this was the only photo I took. There were so many great photo opportunities but everyone on the port was staring at me, i wanted to find a corner where i could hide and take photo's, some people smiled and laughed at me, supposed it is not a typical tourist spot. There were about 50 birds of prey in the air all looking for scrap, some big, some small, not sure the type.

Fort Cochin


Typical tourist photo. In Fort Cochin, had a mixed start here but determined to enjoy it today, gonna hop on my bicycle and see some art. Too many people trying to extract my cash, feels fake compared to Udupi. The journey down here was hard, thought this place was closer to my last town, so just got a local train rather than express, left my hotel at 4am and got to Fort Cochin at 8pm. The seats on local trains are hard and my skinny bony ass suffered. There are 6 people squashed on a 4 person seat with some people sitting on the luggage racks. It was pure endurance, the SAS would do well to use this in their training, everyone looked to be suffering. I gave up my seat and stood, every so often a blind man or a little girl singing would pass through trying to earn money. It was my intention to get off the train 4 stops b4 but i couldn't leave, i needed an easier town, i was drained. Gonna head back.

Take care.

First Week - Mumbai, Matheran, Palolem

Having a wonderful time, met so many people both local and international, they make me feel so dull in comparison. Met one french man in Matheran, Nico, who was gong back to Paris to become a qualified clown, he does it currently as a job, he said it is like a slap stick performer, it is quite respected.

Currently in Palolem in south part of Goa state, bypassed the north as that is where all the raves and stuff is, didn't fancy that, may head back north for a day to see old Goa town. I have just mainly been chilling since I got here and ended up at this beach place. Hated it to begin with as it isn't real India, but has great sea food, bars and the scenery is pretty good too! I am in a shack on the beach front, costing only 2.50 pounds. Thought the beach resorts of India would be horrible due to traders but hardly been hassled, so pretty easy.

I think I have figured out a way that I can live in India and still have a relaxed life, I can buy textiles, silk rugs and jewelry at India Price then sell it on Ebay to Europe at their price, just need to try get a working visa!

Mumbai
I wondered why so many people looked at my suede shoes when I first got here but then I realized that the cow is sacred to hindu's, so I may have to send em home and get a new pair here. Gonna learn more about hinduism, really intriguing history to the religion

cricket in front of old colonial architecture - Mumbai. There were better things to take photo's of, but don't like the imposing nature that tourist photography seems to be, the back streets in the day and night had great character and energy. Loved Mumbai, looking forward to the other big cities.


washing in Mumbai


This chap showed me round his village, they were all real friendly


my room in mumbai

Matheran
Matheran felt like Blackpool, it is a weekend retreat for Indian people, has horse riding games and the like. No cars are allowed in the village. Didn't know what to expect as got recommended it by someone but didn't really read the guide book, in the end had great fun due to the people i has hanging with.




stayed with Ryo(japenese) and Syleve (French) in Matheran. Ryo arrived in India with only once change of clothes and had to buy a bag when hotels would not accept him due to terrorism reasons

Palolem
each small town i go to has a cow/ox thing, local people told me the sacred cows mostly belong to people



Hello from Palolem!

The Route

Being geeky, I have made a little map with my route and a key! The numbers in brackets are the weeks at each place. Geektactic!

India - 6 Weeks
Nepal - 4 Weeks
North Thailand - 1/2 Week
Laos - 2 Weeks
Vietnam - 2 Weeks
Cambodia - 1 Week
South Thailand - 3/4 Weeks
Malaysia - 1 Week
Indonesia - 2 Weeks
Australia - 8 Weeks
New Zealand - 3 Weeks
Canada - 1 year
USA - cash dependent!

That's the plan anyway, fingers crossed!