Category Archives: India

Yummy yummy in my tummy

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When it comes to the free food which was given on a daily basis, I assumed that it would be the cheapest and simplest of grub. It’s not as if we were currently under pressure to donate anything. Here they could clearly just end up losing money. I did joke around with friends and family saying that I hope they had a buffet and that I could eat as much as I wanted. This was an absurd suggestion but humorous and ideal to consider. It turns out that it wasn’t such a crazy mental hope. We did actually Read more [...]

Day 1

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At 4am, I wake up to the morning dong of the beginning. I'm anxious to what my day has waiting for me. Then comes a ringing bell which gets louder and louder the closer it gets to my room. Tiredness quickly passes my body as I jump up with full excitement. I turn my lights on and head for the bathroom. It's half way through washing my face with a white face wash that I realise my bathroom light has a dodgy connection. It blinks a few times and then stays off. The light from my actual room isn't bright Read more [...]

Day 0

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I have just arrived at my Vipassana centre and have fully registered and collected my bed sheets. after being given my room number, I enter the tiny simple home which will be mine for the duration of my stay. The course doesn't technically start till tomorrow and so today we are able to talk, take pictures and use our phones etc. Due to the fact that the following 10 days WILL be in pure silence, I've decided to close myself away in my room for most of today. I wish to make as little contact with Read more [...]

Vipassana

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For 10 days I have decided to book myself into a Vipassana Meditation Centre. Vipassana is one of India’s most ancient meditation techniques. It was rediscovered by Gotama the Buddha more than 2,500 years and has since become increasing popular throughout the world. Vipassana means to see things as they really are through natural self-observation. One starts my observing the natural breath to concentrate the mind. With this sharpened awareness, one then proceeds to observe the changing nature of Read more [...]

Stepping off my train

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So I finally get to Patna and my feet are able to walk upon a steady ground again. I'm hot but happy and on the move yet again. It's just come to my attention the hours which have been spent/dedicated in order for me to get to my final destination of Bodgaya. Start in Puducherry. Spend 5 hours on a train to Chennai Twiddle thumbs for 30 hours at Chennai train station Spend 45 hours on a train to Patna Waste another 3 hours walking around in the dripping hot sun to realise that apparently Read more [...]

Peaceful sleeping

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Throughout my train travels there has always been someone (if not many) who just creepily watches you sleeping. The beauty about the great Indians which surround me is that they don't! I'm sure originally they found it an interesting situation to be surrounded by people of black and white skin, but after that they were just as happy to make conversation with us as they were the others. It was nice to be treated the same. As if the colour of my skin didn't make me a bizarre species which needed Read more [...]

Ham dos hei

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Okay, well that phonetic attempt to write the Hindi translation of 'We are friends'. The Indian's I met are the nicest I have met so far. Constituting mainly of three guys and a stunning girl. They are all studying at university together and so maybe because of that and having female company themselves, they were able to respect me more compared to others. But we are all chatting and I have a great Hindi lesson. I'm now able to say that I need a bottle of water, ask for someone's name, tell others Read more [...]

What does one do on a train for two days?

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Being stuck on a train for so long was bound to be a boring journey dragged out by every second. I assumed that having fun on a train would be impossible. To me it was inevitable that no matter how hard I tried to make it otherwise, this was going to be a horrible travelling experience. This is where I was wrong. After feeling the need to feel more refreshed, I whacked on a white face mask and even got three others involved in the fresh fun. The best bit about it was that neither one of Read more [...]

Shower Power

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After having had an interesting sleep, I woke up feeling great other than a bit sweaty and grimy. I had further made friends with all my neighbours from every direction. So much so that I actually (stupidly) left all my luggage including passport and what ever little change of money I have completely unattended on my berth, to walk 4 carriages away from it. Trust these guy and gals 100%? I'm not sure I would say I did. Maybe 98.6%. Though I believed in giving them all the benefit of the doubt until Read more [...]

Train time to think.

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Since Coimbatore, I have wondered a few things but delayed actually thinking about them until now. Why wait till now? Well I wasn't going to waste time of fun to think. That would be ludicrous. Waiting for when you have little to no option other than to think on a 2 day train journey seemed more of a logical idea. First thing which seems to ponder my mind, the more I introduce myself to others, is why I find it so easy to just bounce from place to place without any plan, any company or without Read more [...]