Well as the title says Friday the 13th wasn't such a lucky one for me. I'd succumbed to the dreaded Delhi belly and it literally was the worst food poisoning I've ever had, not that I've had it that much due to being a veg. But it just seemed to be a million times worse being away from home, in the heat and not having not having anywhere particularly comfortable to curl up and feel sorry for myself. Aside with all the lovely things that go with food poisoning, my body decided it was appropriate to give up completely and just pass out. I was on the phone to Jon but said I had to go pretty quickly as I thought I was going to be sick again. I was sitting on the edge of my bed with an agonising chest pain and feeling like I was going to have a heart attack. I used to faint a bit when I was younger so I'd felt that feeling before so knew I wasn't actually going to have a heart attack...but by the time I'd established this in my head I'd passed out and fallen backwards onto the floor. I woke up feeling that weird feeling when you faint of not remembering how you got from up there to down where you are. The oddest bit was not being able to feel my hands and having to wait until I could to get up off the floor. However I felt a million times better after that and had probably the best sleep I've had here since I've been here so I'm pretty glad that my body decided to be so dramatic.
I've had a lot on my mind about what my experience here is going to be like over the next few months (see last post as to why and I will update on the situation a little bit later) and it was keeping me awake at night. So Rosie suggested that I keep a journal to write my thoughts in before I go to bed so I have a clear mind to go to sleep on (and also for those thoughts you don't want everyone to know). Sarah who I'm staying with has been keeping one since she's been travelling in South Africa and Australia and also said it helped. It really has and I've been sleeping a lot better since. It's also really nice to write again, I used to write a lot and haven't the last few years so I've been getting a buzz from putting pen to paper (and finger to keyboard) again.
Aside from the yuckyness of Friday I had a good weekend. We decided to dive into the Lonely Planet and go and see a couple of things Mumbai has to offer. On Saturday we went to Dobi Ghat, which is the largest human powered washing machine in the world. It doesn't sound very interesting but it was quite cool to see all the different colours hung up in huge long rows and to see something quite ordinary being done in a completely different way to how we do it (and it definitely beats the bucket in the corner of my room that is my washing machine). We then went to the Ghandi museum, I must confess I don't really know a lot about Ghandi but it was really interesting and good to learn about someone who is so important to the history of the country I'm calling home for a few months.
This week has been all about getting excited for Goa. We're travelling down on the sleeper train tomorrow at 11pm and 12 hours later there we'll be! Even though I know it's not exactly going to be the Orient Express I'm actually pretty excited for the train. For some reason I've always wanted to go overnight and sleep on a train, and now I get to do it and end up somewhere exotic...we'll see how excited I feel once I've done it.
It's summer at the moment in India and May is the hottest month so its approaching the end of the season in Goa. We read on the news that there's an end of season festival happening on the weekend that we'll be there so it'll be nice to do a wee bit of partying and enjoy the beach. It'll be strange to be back in that frame of mind again as I've only had a couple of drinks since I've got here. Alcohol is something that's quite prevalent in my life at home but I haven't really missed it whilst I've been here since it's not as readily available and it's not really the done thing here. That's fine though as if I'd wanted that sort of experience I would have gone somewhere like Australia but that's not what I wanted to get out of this trip so I'm happy with it. Not going to lie though, I mightly appreciated the beer we had in Mumbai city on Friday night (I never drink beer at home). It's amazing how much more you appreciate things when they aren't on your doorstep.
I'm just going to touch quickly on what's happening with regards to certain things that aren't quite right here without being too negative. As most people will know by now, it turns out that I'm going to be on my own in Mumbai when Sarah and Amanda leave after we get back from Goa. This was quite a shock and has affected my trip so far quite a lot and is something I'm not too happy about. The project I've been placed at in the afternoon also isn't quite what I thought would be and what I'm doing isn't reflected in what I was told when I booked (see last post). I decided that by staying in Mumbai and at the project I'm not going to get the experience I wanted and would probably meet my friends in Thailand in August not really feeling that great and go home feeling deflated. So taking that and a couple of other factors into consideration I contacted i-to-i (the company I booked the trip through) and told them that I wasn't happy. To cut a long story short, it looks like I'm going to be moving to a project in Goa. The only thing I know is that there are three volunteers there which is a big step I'm the right direction. I've only just got the ball rolling with that one and don't want to get my hopes up too much yet but I'm feeling a hell of a lot better about everything and am crossing my fingers for a good result on this one. Will keep you all posted.
On a better note I want to list a couple of the weird and wonderful things I've seen here so far that make this city such an interesting one:
- Motorbikes, apparently a suitable method of transport for a family of five!
- Parking, only seems to be allowed on even days of the week e.g 2nd, 4th etc.
- Taxi drivers, they think it's ok to turn down your custom if they don't like where you want to go.
- McDonalds, only £2 for a whole meal (sort it out UK). Highlights being McPaneer and McTikka Masala. I haven't actually eaten one yet but I'm needing a break from curry so think that might be one for the train tomorrow night.
- Lincoln Road Market, I thought European markets were bad for trying to get you to buy stuff but this really was something else. You couldn't move for someone trying to sell you something (doesn't help being white as they all think you have money/they can overcharge you). Got a pair of hareem trousers for 150 rupees though (about £2) so definitely can't complain there and I can't wait to see what the Goan markets have to offer.
The next time I post will probably be in Goa or when we get back so fingers crossed for an exciting weekend and good news!
Thinking of everyone at home and missing you all lots, thank you for all the lovely messages people keep sending me, it's much appreciated and I'll reply to them all when I can :)
Love from
Holly
xxx
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Location:Krishna Chandra Rd,,India
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