The Ordinary

A line of monkeys ran in front of me on my way to work this morning to steal the chapatti I could smell cooking in the kitchen, and I didn't blink an eye lid. Have I become so used to India now that it's becoming mundane? Well the past 4 days have been a bit of a low point for myself and Nathan, as JP and Fil were shipped back to Delhi for a week in the office, me and Nathan were initially feeling very fortunate to be staying here in Rishikesh where the rafting and outdoor part of the work is. However being stuck in the office wasn't what we were expecting, and doing the equivalent of 4 hours of work spread over 5 days was slightly frustrating, with the river so close I could taste the holy water of the ganges on my tongue. The office work isn’t hideous, what gets me is when there’s no work to be done but we have to hang around anyway just in case something comes up, time we kill by playing online chess (hours spent rinsing Nathan), and the occasional visit from our friend Sam who raft guides for a company down the road. Time we could be spending on the water or having a day off which we haven’t been given so far. I feel like I am moaning but I feel it’s important to document exactly how I am feeling and not just all the good stuff, as my good friend Nick was saying to me today how it looks like I am on a holiday, which for the most part it is brilliant, however I guess social media creates a rose tinted view of my time here.

It isn't all fun and games

One of the main things that is a struggle for me is the food situation, rice, dhal, veg curry and chipatti 3 meals a day takes its toll. Saying this, the cooks do try and make it exciting by occasionally putting in a new vegetable, yesterday I actually got excited when I opened the dinner pot to find cauliflower, what is my life? Fil found a special place in my heart when he and JP returned with bourbons; it’s hard to describe how much love I had for him at that point. Just a small taste of home is such a great moral booster its really quite extraordinary how much food can effect me. Having the 3 guys here does have its uses. I would definitely have more struggles without them, we have all become a nicely close knit group out here and I feel very lucky to have them here with me (this isn’t all about the bourbons I swear). It's so nice to have people to chat through the things were all going through and have something familiar in this crazy new life. 

The most exciting breakfast we have (and I do get sadly excited about this one)

Sounds cliché, but going for a run out here is brilliant for clearing my head, I sometimes close my eyes and I feel like I am at home doing my normal Saltram route (I don’t close my eyes on the steep mountain bits don’t worry mum).

Strike a pose! A dog that accompanied me on some of my run

I am very happy with how comfortable and safe I feel here, coming out I’m not going to lie from what I had been told about India, I did think there was a strong possibility of me being kidnapped. But now I feel very comfortable and especially here in Rishikesh all the locals are incredibly friendly and welcoming. Yesterday on our drive back me and Nathan got our boogie on in the back of the car with some Indians in the car behind who were busting some moves. Also the staff here are brilliant and even the language barrier doesn’t stop us having banter.  

Bed bugs:

Every morning I seemed to be finding 1 or 2 dead lice on my sheets, and more and more bites which became a pretty bad rash all over my body. It was time to act, I went on a bit of a killing spree as I found the source of the lice in the wood of my bed, I then opened my mattress and found 2 running around in there. It was very uncomfortable going to bed which is meant to be the one safe and comfortable place, feeling covered in bugs all night. My friend Gabbar drove me to Rishikesh on his motorbike to see the doctor who gave me a load of pills to take which sorted me right out!

My favorite street dog (scruffy) I let him hide in the toilets so he could get some peace from the road 

I say I am getting used to this place but I don’t think anyone can ever get so used to India that they still don’t get surprised now and then. At the market yesterday the crowd of people parted ways like the sea to reveal a bull and donkey sprinting towards us, the bull then proceeded to slide tackle some stray dogs in an attempt to turn a corner and then the madness all ran off into a side alley. Just when I was beginning to think this place was becoming normal.

 

Congestion on the bridge - locals are always asking for photos with us

The time Nathan was sexually assaulted by the street dog

I think the main reason for me feeling slightly down the past couple of days was the contrast from the excitement of the start of India, everything being up in the air, the culture is so different and the things that now seem normal to us were, in the beginning unfamiliar and novel. The last few days in the office I guess was a bit of a reality shock, its not going to be fun and games all the time and I'll have to get used to the non existent structure and ever changing plans. When the constantly new experiences started to fade and I began to settle in I suppose I wanted a taste of the beginning were the novelty of the small things; eating with my hands, having a bucket bath, all the animals, made me gaze in amazement. I'm okay with it now though, India has so much to offer and I know this year I am going to have plenty more moments that take my breath away.

I am not the best person at articulating my feelings, but my friend Nathan who is out here with me has done a brilliant blog  on the culture shock of India which is a great read. Hope you enjoy as I won't be posting for a few weeks as the programs begin tonight and by the sounds of it I am not going to be getting any time to spare.

Lost in the mountain

The days we've spent here at Bull's Retreat have been pretty smashing, safety kayaking in the morning for the raft and chilling out in the afternoon. I've been appreciating this every day as at some unknown point two of us will be sucked back to the office in Delhi. This day came last Friday when we were told that two will be leaving on Monday. Therefore today we decided to go on a hike. Being surrounded by wildlife and vast forests the adventurer in me was keen to go and get lost in them, turns out in reality this isn't so fun.

Me, Nathan and JP set off around half 9 eager to get a look at the temple we were told awaited us at the top. The journey up the mountain was through a thick forest on not a well trodden path (probably because we took the wrong one), we were met by enormous spider webs with the biggest spiders hanging in them. The person at the front had the job of clearing a path, I have to admit initially me and Nathan were being wet wipes about it, wincing when we almost walked into one and got a face full of spider. But by the end JP was practically taking down the webs with his face (although I'm not sure if this was on purpose). Insects were a rather large part of our journey up, further into the forest I heard Nathan let out a cry of pain as he ran towards me and JP hitting something off his body. Initially I thought he was just over reacting, so gave little sympathy saying it was probably just a mosquito bite. Hearing this I'm sure whatever creature it was decided it was time for me to get a taste and stung me in the same spot it had Nathan. I of course reacted exactly like Nathan had as it stung like a bitch. We then made a swift exit of that area.

Nathan bravely taking on the spiders

This picture doesn't do those monsters justice

We followed the path to a farm where we were met by a gorgeous dog, this was not like the street dogs we are used to. I enjoyed petting his well groomed fur, an upgrade from the flea bitten rugged coats I am used to petting from the road dogs. His owner was a lovely old man who took us into his garden which had 3 beds in it and a small brick hut next to them. He offered us fruit and then showed us the way to get down to the road as he didn't seem to understand the word temple so we gave up searching for it.

Found some Water buffalo

By now it was 1pm so we began our descent down the mountain, our path crossed an old river bed so we followed it down which led to some large waterfalls. These were too big to climb down so we traversed across the mountain, where we found ourselves on a non existent path leading to sheer drops. We turned back to renegotiate the waterfalls, there was some consideration of using vines to descent the waterfall, Bear Grylls style, however we decided against it. Before we began the journey up the dry stream we'd followed down, we all had a cute (and sweaty) group hug, and with some classics from Leona Lewis and Adele covered by moi, we made the long slug back up the mountain. After A LOT of going the wrong way, we finally found the right way and made it to the road by 4pm. 4 vehicles went by before we managed to get a lift, not too shabby for my first hitch hike.

Nathan following the dried up river

For what was meant to be a 4 hour hike, we made a real pigs ear out of it, but we had a type 2 fun adventure nonetheless.

Rafting Expedition

On our way to the start point of the 2 day expedition, driving in convoy, the loading truck with all the kit in ahead of us. Out flies my paddle, brought the day before (it would only be mine) onto the road, quick pit stop to safely secure the paddles and were off again. The drive was a little bumpy, some sheer cliff edges and massive land slides from the rainy season, didn't seem to slow the crazy Indian driving.

The put on (Sadhu temple)

Confluence rapid on the Bhagirathi this is at low water apparently

We paddled 20km of the Alakananda which was pretty easy grade 2-3 stuff, the occasional fun surf wave. After 90 minutes we arrived at Devaprayag where the two points of the river joined. (Shown in the above photo) we climbed onto a guys roof to get a good view of the rapid, this was low water as the damn was soon to release, making the water 90% higher! Therefore we decided to avoid what would've most likely ended with us all drinking a lot of Bhagrathi water. Just before lunch we paddled past the locals who had come to the river to bathe in Ganga's holy water.

Just before arriving at camp

The camp set up was simple; fire for food, and camp fire for drying clothes, toilet off in the bushes in a hole preferably. We buried Nathan in the sand so built the fire next to him so he could share the warmth and still chat to us all.

Nathan keeping warm

I had my second wild poo which went surprisingly well, leaves were to hand and Nathan's tips about using water to create a steady flow were very useful. The evening was spent with whiskey in hand around the camp fire. (To get the food and supplies the team rafted to the other side where the road was to retrieve from the car, they rafted back in the dark).

JP, Gabbar, Fil, Me, Nathan, Deepak

Arjun preparing dinner

After a night under the stars we woke up and had homemade chi which was delicious! I dried off my bikini the same way I cook my mellows. Putting on a warm bikini was heavenly, even though the cold wasn't an issue at all. Breakfast was the most enjoyable meal I have had so far, risotto with onion, pepper and tomato, for an expedition trip I seriously was expecting the food to not be up to much but we appeared to be living in luxury. I am also really getting the hang of eating with my hands now, cutlery is so over rated.

Undecided about my temperature

I then went for ANOTHER poo, I don't know what was going on with my bowels, maybe the excitement of an outdoor poo went to my head. But anyway this time I perfected it, doing it in daylight did make the whole process a lot easier.

Looking out to the river this morning I saw what I thought was a monkey, then as he came closer I realised it was a man, In a loin cloth ferry gliding across the river with a bag on his head, it was rather a lot to take in at 6 in the morning. He was a fisherman who set his net up on our side of the river which could only be accessed by swimming, I don't know what was wrong with his side of the river. But he had at least 7 big fish in his net. When I went for a wander towards the jungle which we have been told are home to tigers, leopards and snakes, I bumped into the wild fisherman who said he had just seen a tiger. Naturally I kept exploring, a little more excited now, clambering along the rocks I heard a rustling in the jungle, then a large rock fell next to me, this was enough, I ran back to camp with my tail between my legs. I envisioned shere Kahn leaping from the trees.

Selfie with Sheila

Sheila investigating JP's BA

The day was spent on the river, traveling 28km, it was mostly grade 2-3 similar to the day before. However we ended with the Wall rapid, highly spoken about by all the staff here, the big grade 4. It was big, the huge waves were great fun, it was the ferocious boiling water that caught us off guard, I had to put in a roll as my boat was sucked under in a big ugly boil.

Found some rose's floating in the river

This is what we came for

On the way to the river

Wow! It's going to be hard for me to put into words how much fun I have just had. My aching cheeks may be a good indication of the amount of smiling I've been doing today. It's been long awaited but today we finally got to kayak down the Ganges from marine drive to Rishikesh, 24km, with fast flowing water this took us around 3 hours. Not only was the river itself fantastic, but the atmosphere in this area is so unique, after finishing the Golf course section which was so big I had to take a second to breathe when it was over, we found ourselves at what I can only describe as a river market. There were mini water falls where people were bathing and all along the rocks people had set up stalls selling food, idyllic. All the rafters stop off here to jump in off the rock jumping area and get some grub after a super day on the water.

Preparing for our first taste of the Ganges

Its a small world after all: We met our friend Sam on the river who also studied at Uclan

Feeling very fortunate

River side market

Fancy pot noodle for lunch

I should probably mention how we got to Rishikesh as I have just skipped from Delhi to here, my apologies but I was too excited to talk about the river. We left Delhi on the luxury night bus, I guess it was luxury for India, we had air con and considerably less flies in our bus than the economy ones. We arrived at 4:30am and got a solid hour sleep before the day began. The day consisted of preparing the camp for the clients, setting up the ropes course which the monkeys tested out for us.

We also got some chill time

The next day the clients arrived, we went on a walk with them down to the river. It was so refreshing to have a conversation with a girl, it occurred to me then that I have been surrounded by men. The group were so lovely, a great laugh on the river and we spent the evening with them where the men taught me Punjabi dance moves and I shared with them my club classics. The dancing was brilliant but when we tired we moved onto a singing game which was equally enjoyable, all my years shower singing finally paid off. When they were singing Hindi songs the guy next to me was explaining to us the meaning of the song he did this a couple of times, but caught me off guard when he turned to me and said "Thank you for coming into my world", I thought bloody hell I've done one days rafting with this guy and he's getting all deep, I think the look of confusion and gratitude on my face made him realize that I had misunderstood that he was only translating lyrics for me and not declaring his appreciation for me entering his world.

Day 2:
Today was technically my first day of work at Bulls Retreat. Me and Vicky were the safety kayakers for the raft of clients, however Vicky forgot his spray deck and paddle, not the essentials or anything. So I was in the raft for the day as I lent him my stuff. Turns out this wasn't so bad because I got to have a go at steering and commanding the raft which was good fun! We stopped off half way down the river and were met by JP and many other crew members with the children of the people in the raft. We then spent a few hours playing beach games before finishing off the last section of river. Today was a great insight into what life is like working here and yes the money may be poop, but this is really living!

My buddy who always walks to and from work at my side

One of my favorite parts of rafting, dragging the clients in off the water

 

Whipping the raft into shape

Taj Mahal

Being based in Delhi we felt it was probably a good idea to give the Taj Mahal a visit. However I had previously believed that the famous tomb was in Delhi, I was sadly mistaken. The Taj Mahal is in the city of Agra, a 3 and a half hour drive south. We hired a car and driver and rocked up to Agra like royalty. We even splashed out on a guide so we could get some of the history of the place.

Spotting a white woman in India is rare but was a selfie really necessary?

Being a classic tourist (I was aiming to grab that cloud)

The Taj Mahal was a sight to see, the archistructure was impressive with the 4 pillars angled away from the main tomb to protect the central building in case of an earthquake. The Taj Mahal for many people brings about connotations of love, the tomb was comissioned by a Mughal Emperor for his favourite wife, (he had 3), very romantic. The translucent white marble mausoleum reflects the moonlight and in the morning it reflects pink. (Apparently our guide was worth the money). However the inside is pretty basic, two tombs in the centre and a load of sweaty tourists walking around them, would'nt come into my definition of a 'wonder of the world'.

Making of the stones that make up the design in the image above 

After seeing the 5th man made wonder of the world, our guide took us to a place where the stones where hand crafted. Some of the table peices take years to make but they were extremley beautiful. Taken in by the beautiful translucent marble we all made some purchases for our people back home. 

"Get off my land!"

On the way back we stopped off at services which had a pizza hut, don't get me wrong I love Indian food, but it was so refreshing to not have a rice dish for a change, we all gave in and had pizza, worth every rupee. 

Staff Training

The next day, Dilshad, Akshay, Sarah, Raekka and I drove to the MHE camp in Damdama, not going to lie, I felt bereft to leave the  aircon which had been my saviour from the Indian heat. I was told I'd be staying in the camp for 2 nights so I packed light. However we stayed for 5 (hand washing of pants was necessary). We're beginning to realise that what were told is not written in stone, things change very last minute for us here.

The view from my tent

Glamping

At the camp me and Sarah soaked eachother with the hose, making the heat no longer an  issue. Myself and Raekka entertained Sarah all day as Akshay and Dilshad had meetings with the MHE crew. When they left, I stayed at the camp with the crew and joined them in watching a cricket game going on in the adjacent field and I had  some small conversations with some of the crew as they only knew a few english words. They  were all very welcoming and friendly.

When I was told goat was for dinner, I wasn’t expecting to see a live goat arrive on a lead, they let me hold it and I began to stroke him, until I realised it wasn't the smartest idea to get attached to an animal that would soon be my dinner. He was around 3,000 RPS (£34) and lasted 15 people for 4 meals. (Don't read on if your a big goat fan). They pulled the lead up to its ears to pull the head down towards the bucket, the executioner then  struck it 3 times but the blade was too blunt so it only made the goat sink lower to the ground and  let out a horrible wail, then they began cutting it halal style. The head was brought onto a tarp  followed by the body. They then gutted it which I was surprised to have been done with no gloves,  and all bracelets kept on. The insides looked like something from the film alien. The body was stuffed with  mango leaves to prevent burning and then chucked onto the fire. Once cooked they cleaned the  body, pouring water into it which they swirled and chucked out, it reminded me of emptying a  kayak as the goat now had a cockpit looking hole in its stomach. The goat was then brought round  to the eating area outside the kitchen and cut into pieces, some of which landed on my toe. When  it was brought out it looked very much like how it was before, it also tasted slightly of how it smelt  before therefore it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience. The crew were extremely welcoming and hospitable, always bringing me more goat which I felt obliged to eat, washing it down with Whiskey helped do the trick.

The goat burning

We had two days of staff training, so getting the down low and day to day activities of what happens at Bull's retreat, soon to be our work place. Some of the crew started a game of cricket at the end of the day, loving sports I ran over to join them. J.P, Fil and Nathan were particularly  hilarious to watch as they attempted to throw and hit the ball.

JP showing the Indians how its done

We worked hard in the day, and had fun parties in the night, work hard play hard if you like. One of the crew, Vicky had had a baby so the first night was a special party, JPs birthday was 3 days before so that was another party, and in between we just had parties for party sake, Indians love to find any excuse to drink. But you can’t blame them when the local liqour is 100 RPS Kinnu (orange flavoured) which we had every night. The evenings were the times we began to really bond with the crew, the more Kinnu we had the better their english became, and apparently our hindi. We learnt some essentials Pani (water), Dahannivad (thankyou), Sharab (alcohol). We taught eachother card games and shared our music, it was times like these where the language barrier didn't seem so high.

Ahh Kinnu

5:30 am: Myself, Nathan, J.P, Fil and some of the MHE crew who also managed to drag themselves out of bed went on a morning trek to the old MHE camp now lived in by Sadhu’s (buddhists) who abstain from all material  possession. Lucky for us, guest means god for them so we were lovingly welcomed and went into  their Mandi temple. One of  them called for the dogs “Pira, Pira, Pira” and 8 puppies came hurtling towards us from the heavens, I was in bliss. It came to 9am and I had already seen 8 puppies, what more does one desire in a morning. Today I am  feeling particularly fortunate for all these new things I get to experience, every day here so far has been  such an adventure.

The Ridge

River crossing 

अतिथि का मतलब है भगवान

Pedalo River crossing

Puppies!

Add caption

Birds nests

Clean up of camp:
The Gardening tools were interesting; a machete which was fun to use, I got slightly too carried away, slashing the hell out of the grass until I realised how much I was sweating and calmed down a bit. The slightest  effort in the heat of the day causes extreme sweat, I was positively dripping when me and Nathan  used the lawn mower which was extremley basic, a handle with blades which took 2 people to drag across the lawn. Each night here we slept on our beds  under the stars, the mosquitos did not show us mercy, as I foolishly braved the night without a mosquito net, "my mosquito cream will protect me", famous last words.

JP snug as a bug

When we ran out of goat, we went to the market and brought chickens, (another warning for vegetarians to stop reading) their throats were slit and then thrown into a bin  where their reflexing bodies ran around for around 10 seconds, they were then skinned in front of us. Nathan got a splash of blood on his leg which I found highly amusing.

Its no KFC

In the morning we got a rickshaw to the metro, tips for rickshaw users:
1. Set a price before you get in (even doing this they will still ask for more when you arrive at your destination)
2. Know where you are going and get up the location on google maps (we were dropped off on the side of a road next to nothing and told it was the visa office)
3. Get a seat at the side, you get a good Indian breeze.
4. If you secure this seat, don't stick your head out of it or it will get taken off by oncoming rickshaws.
Happy Rickshawing

Our first Rickshaw