So my time in Nepal has been and gone and the three-week course in India has kick-started without a hitch. We finished our 12-day trek up to Annapurna Base Camp (4130m) and back, spent some time chilling out and rowing across the lake in Pokhara to climb 300m up to the 71st World Peace Pagoda (man, were we sweaty after that! haha TMI Turkey), then we took the 8-hr bus trip back to Kathmandu, spent a night there where we were introduced to Newari (a caste of Nepali people) culture where we sat on the floor, drank local ‘wine’ (Rakshi – ranges from 20%-80% alcohol) and ate with our hands. Soooo fun! :) The next day, Sammy, Michael, Kate and I took a 3-4hr bus trip almost to the Tibetan Border where we (not Kate) jumped off the 163m bridge above the raging river... Sammy and Mike did it twice, opting for the bungee, then the canyon swing. I was happy with just the bungee. I’ll try to pop the video up on facebook for you to have a laugh at.
Leaving Josh behind again, we got to Mumbai late afternoon after a very delayed flight out of Kathmandu Airport, got into a private rental car plus driver (long distance taxi) and drove about 3 ½ hours to Pune, were we checked into a room with four very hard single beds with protests from the girls about Michael being a snorer. He didn’t. We got dinner at about 10pm and then went to bed, having a very lazy morning. After buying bananas and chapatti bread of the street for breaky at 11am, we checked out and went to meet the bus to Jamkhed. It was nice to see the other AMS students and meet a few of the other people doing the course. After waiting around for 3 hrs for the bus, we spent a further 3-4hrs driving very fast along a narrow road, weaving in and out of motorbikes, rickshaws and trucks. An exhilarating experience.
I snapped up my own room, sharing a five bed, three bedroom flat with two of the girls in the course. Two bathrooms, and a common area, quite a luxury! It was AMAZING to have my own room, my own space, after spending the last three weeks sharing. I stayed up til 11 o’clock! :)
Got woken up buy the crows cawing outside my window 2am, 5am, and 7am, before my alarm at 7:30, had some breaky and went to our first class (after a quick skype chat with Thomas!) We went on a tour of the preschool and the kids were adorable!! I want one!! Then a tour of the hospital – it really is amazing what they can do with so little resources.
After lunch we went into town and it was a scary experience trying to buy “shalwar kameez” (Indian clothing). So many colours, so many small sizes. “No, no bigger, that is all,” was the common response I got. I bought a dress/top to wear over my pants and may venture in at a later date to get something tailor made so it can be bigger.
Have learnt a little bit of Marathi language and we’ll be heading out to a village where we can try it out, with my new top :)
Gotta change my flight because nuffy me booked the wrong date out of Pune... hopefully they’ll let me without too much extra charge.
Much love xx Hay
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