It's the People, Not the Place.

A lot of travelers will tell you that it's "The people, not the place" that makes a trip.  This is true to an extent. However, even if you met a naked Cheryl Cole / Brad Pitt in Baghdad I think you'd find it difficult to say it was the best trip ever.  The ones who say "It's the journey, not the destination" are full of shit though.  When was the last time your EasyJet flight was the highlight of your holiday?  If it ever was, you need to find a better holiday spot.  Over the last week we have met some fantastic people and I do believe that this has made the destinations more enjoyable.  Let me quickly tell you where we have been before I name names; Jodpur, Udiapur and Mumbai.  Jodpur wasn't really up to much, it had a fort (like every other city in Rajistan) and not much else other than a posh restaurant which we utalised more for it's beer and spirit collection than anything else.  I'm not sure if I mentioned how difficult it is to get a beer in Northern India?  I've had about three since I got here.

Shashi and the Cleanest Kitchen in India.

Udaipur had a lot more to offer.  It was a really chilled out place with lots of good shopping, some decent sights and a few activities worth having a go at.  Apparently some of the scenes in Octopussy were filmed there too, although I don't know the film well enough to confirm or deny that and I'd never believe a word a local said.  We decided to go for an Indian cooking course which was actually more like a boot camp.  Shashi, our instructor was a very harsh mistress indeed.  If you weren't pounding the life out of the garlic cloves the way she wanted, she'd pound the life out of your balls.  We made load of different traditional Indian dishes and they were all amazing.  As well as the amazing food, our teacher, Shashi had a particularly interesting background.  Before we started she gave us a little insight into her life and the events that had lead  to her to running the cooking classes.  About nine years ago her husband (of an arranged marriage who she said she loved very much) sadly died.  This is sad for anybody who experiences this sort of shock but because of her religion, the grieving process is much different to what you'd expect from a typical British person.  She had to remain silent and entirely covered up for 45 days, only eating when the sun was down.  After this 45 day period she was allowed to talk but not leave the house for one year.  It was only at this point that she could start to build up her life again and eventually opened the doors of her house to allow travellers to partake in cooking classes.  I can't imagine why she had to do this, it seems a little extreme.  That said, I've also learned that back in the day some Indian women (who are still alive) would cremate themselves with their dead husband as a mark of respect?! Anyway, she's a strong woman.  I'm lucky enough to know a few.

I think this is the work of Udaipur's very own Banksy.

After Udaipur we headed for Mumbai on a 17 hour sleeper train.  Not the most comfortable journey given that we were sharing our beds with cockroaches and rats but we have found the perfect solution to these little nuisances......Valium.  Valium is available over the counter here and its really cheap.  I haven't been down back alleys doing deals with dodgy drug lords, nor is this the beginning of a slippery slope which ends up with me dying from an overdose in a crack den in Camden.  It just helps to get some sleep on the night train.  We'd heard a lot of mixed things about Mumbai.  Some people hate it and some people love it.  One person even said it was worse than Delhi; A statement that should never be taken lightly given that Delhi is the benchmark of grimnesss.  But to be honest, Mumbai is my favorite place so far.  Without being too patriotic, you can really see the influence of the British rule in Mumbai and in fairness it's done the place a massive favour.  Simple things like pavements, zebra crossings and a ban on rickshaws make it easy to get around and enjoy all that it has to offer.  I think there was even a bin somewhere.

Classic Bollywood Film Posters

We decided to take a slum tour one day to see what it's like in the real poverty stricken areas of the city.  In my mind a slum was somewhere that the real poor people live, in shacks, with no food, water or electricity and have terrible lives.  I couldn't have been more wrong. The Dharavi slum was as clean as some of the major cities we've been to, has reasonable living conditions that include clean running water and electricity for 2 hours each day and there is a sense of community there greater than anywhere I have ever been.  They say it is a city within a city.  The slum itself is only 1.6 square kilometres big but it is home to over one million people.   In most cases if you are born in the slum, you live, work and die there.  However, these people are not ill educated or living in disease riddled streets for the most part.  Although I must admit a saw quite a few dead rats knocking around in the alleys.  If even the rats can't handle it, that says something.  We met doctors, engineers, teachers and all other kinds of people that you would meet on the streets of Newcastle.  The difference is that the people here are happy with their lot.  They don't look over their neighbours fence to see what kind of car they have so that they can keep up with the Jones's, they look over the fence to make sure their neighbour has enough food and water.  Just to clarify, the aforementioned fence is purely metaphorical, we're not talking about people who have decked back gardens with patio heaters here.  It's difficult to describe but it's certainly opened my eyes. It's not an easy life in the slum by any means, but it's a life that we could all learn from in some way I think.

Breakfast Time in Goa.

We've now landed in the beaches of Goa which is total contrast to where we have just come from.  There are two things to do here; Sunbathe and get drunk.....and that's exactly what we'll be doing for the next few days.  Its a funny thing that you should need a holiday from traveling, but you do.  It's not quite the same as your standard two week holiday,  It takes effort, patience and lots of planing.

Lessons learned this week:

1. India is more of a continent that a country.  It changes dramatically from state to state.
2. If anyone says anything about going to Kashmir, they are a crook.
3. There are three options when ordering cornflakes in Goa.  With cold milk, hot milk or beer.
4. The only people on the planet who are whiter and more "lager loutish" than the Brits are the Russians.

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