You arrive at a hostel…Have a few drinks with other travellers and end up all jokingly agreeing to tagging along to a fellow 2 English lads and their trip up north for a night.
Information passed on to us:
Length of time to travel there (and then again back) via our hired Indian taxi driver – 4 hours each way
Length of actual time to travel there (and then again back) – 8 hours each way
Cost of visiting the Corbett National Tiger Reserve Park – R$ 1,000
Actual amount to visit the park – R$4,600
Now noted: Trust no information given to you by locals. Stick to foreign travellers knowledge and advice.
Of course, another thing to remember is that ‘winging it’ in India isn’t the best idea and things tend to need to be booked plenty in advance due to the large population.
For example, taking such a random trip up north without booking accommodation can cause you to hostel crawl until you are finally able to find ONE small room with ONE bed. At this point beggers simply can’t be choosers. So….three in a bed and the little one said ‘Can we turn the fan off? Else I will get the sniffles.’
As bizarre as it all may sound, it actually happens to be the best nights sleep I’ve had since I had my own proper bed in my London flat.
These guys were the best company I could only have dreamed of meeting at the very start of my trip. I feel like I have known them for a lifetime even though it’s only been 4 days. And I believe that we have given each other knowledge, memories and dances that will stick with us for a lifetime.
Examples:
I am now able to make a flower out of napkins (which we then all taught the locals after they were bamboozled by our beer bottle vase of napkin flowers)
I can now do the ‘jungle skank’ along with changing a lightbulb at the same time as stroking a cat, juggle, pick cherries, start up lawn mowers and feed some chickens. Not even with pictures could someone understand this without having been there at the time.
I have found out that magic tricks are my new passion and intend on perfecting a certain this, that and other.
In return, I have been able to make ‘awkward turtles’ something so much more special and meaningful that I could have ever imagined. The meaning of such a gesture will always bring back beautiful memories. Likewise with green blub-blubs.
I have also been able to dip out of my ‘posh’ speaking (father, goodness, cheerio, tar tar, lavatory) by slipping in the odd ‘totes, what evs, maybs babes, deffo)
All I hope is that we will genuinely keep in touch and jungle skank it up back at our motherland. If the Indian locals are amazed by it, congratulating us and shaking our hands then the English better watch this space!
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