Yesterday my day started at 4am after a very festive shin dig the previous night with a great bunch of friends that I had made in Hampi. I walked to the river where a very kind Indian had to secretly transport me across the river from Hampi Island to Hampi itself in a large wooden basket known as a coracle (in the pitch dark because the boat doesn't normally start running until 7am :). I then got a rickshaw from Hampi to Hospet arriving in time for my first train. However, sadly it arrived 3hours late. With hold ups on the track throughout the day we got to Goa 5 hours late, which sadly took the beach out of the equation :(. It was a long train journey but with company from another guy from Holland it was managable. I was hoping to have a 7 hour stop over where i would enjoy some sand & good food at Ajuna beach in Goa, but plans soon changed & I had to high tail it onto a local connecting train allowing me to catch my later train from Thivim to Mumbai. 26hours later I arrived in Mumbai & was ready for a shower! On a happier note a met some beautiful people including a group of 46 Myanmar/Indian children and adults (from the northeast of India) who were travelling back from Goa after a yoga competition. I amused myself by teaching them some hand clapping games and trying to converse in incredibly broken English. My 26 hours was absolutely nothing compared to their epic journey of 5 days and many transfers between trains and buses. I think that's why I met them so I would realise I had it incredibly easy compared to some.
Hampi (the last stop on my journey in India) was a piece of paradise. The scenery was filled with palm trees, banana plantations & oodles & oodles of boulders, stretching as far as the eye could see. I filled in my days bouldering with friends, doing yoga on the plateau of a morning (flat section of rock amongst the boulders) and enjoying good food and conversation in the octagonal eating space of our accommodation. My bed was located on the rooftop of the building under a mozzie net with plenty of stars in view. Who could argue with this for just 50 rupees a night (just over $1)?! I enjoyed being able to pick up my day pack & go exploring amongst the boulders of a day knowing I wasn't going to be hassled by a rickshaw driver or walk past a pile of trash in the street.
Gokulam (just out of Mysore) where I completed my month of yoga was fantastic. I became good friends with 2 other Aussies, an American & a Finish girl in the Indian family home I was staying in. We were all doing some form of yoga while there. I also found it fascinating to get back into music. I have so much respect for musicians after taking lessons recently. I could feel the left & right hemispheres of my brain working overtime as I thought about where to place my hand on the drum, what note to say, how hard to hit the drum, etc. I improved enough to be able to play some cool combo tunes on the drums. I was loving it! My teacher played in a concert one night at the palace which a friend & I went to watch. It was phenomenal to see how fast the drums can be played & how interesting they sound when played with a violin & clay pot.
I am now in Mumbai doing a few last things before flying out to PNG, via Australia tomorrow. I have made contact with a friend of a friend from Brisbane who has been working & living in Mumbai for the last 3 years. She kindly offered me her couch for the night & met me at the train station this morning (a very settling feeling in a city that has a similar population to the entire country of Australia!) Together we shared breakfast before she ducked off to work for the day. The food is fantastic down south...I'm going to miss the dosa's, idli's and uttapum's!! I'll just have to cook them won't I!
I hope the preparations for Christmas are going well.
Nellie xo
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