Hey all! The first leg of my trip has been amazing, we spent the first five days in orientation where we were shown all the sights so we could get the feel of the culture.

Day 1.
After flying over Afghanistan for 20 minutes, which was a bit uncomfortable, we landed in India, Delhi at 11 am there time. After security check and some questions on if we had swine flu or not we got on a coach. They were loading our bags on the top of it when we got there and I was asked for change or a tip, I politely refused and he turned and said something to his mate on top of the bus, so I spent the rest of the 7 hour journey worried my bag wasn’t going to turn up at the other end!
The rest of the journey I spent sweating huge amounts, squashed next to two people I didn’t know staring out the window at dodgy driving, cattle, shacks, tuk-tuks (the weird little bike things with a van sized back that can fit about 10 Indians on when required!), we saw a camel, I slept a bit and saw some of Delhi city which was filled with awesome buildings – used for call centres and shanty housing used by the people that worked in them.
We spent the night in Agra in a nice hotel with air-conditioning and a shower! Here we met everyone and eat the first of many nice dishes. They don’t eat meat here so they substituted chicken for cheese but you wouldn’t even know because of the flavours!

Day 2.
We had an early start today to go to the TajMahal so that we could avoid all the street beggars and sellers, even though it was 6am when we walked past a field they were already playing cricket and doing exercises! There were hundreds and hundreds of people and it was a Thursday aswell! The Taj was absolutely amazing, smaller than I thought but it was stunning, especially with the sun rising behind it! I could write a little more but why not save the facts for when I get home hey! (Note: it is my birthday when I get home).

From the Taj Mahal and Agra we got back on the bus and travelled to Jaipur, it was the same bus journey but this time when we stopped at traffic lights (the first time in India I had seen traffic lights!) a man came over with a monkey on a stick, when we took photos he made us give him money! For the 3 days we stayed in Jaipur we were with a family, so as soon as we arrived we got dropped off. Our family were really nice, the boy was a bit mental and we spent most of are time there trying to make him feel happy! He in turn went through our bags and stole chocolate, sweets and games!

Day 3.
Day 3 we had a Hindu lesson to learn the basics, which I’m sure you’ll hear me try and say when I’m back! I keep on getting laughed at over here when I attempt it, or I ask them something in Hindi and they answer in English! It makes no sense!

From there we went into town and caught a Bollywood flick! It wasn’t quite Bollywood as such, it was more an Indian style American thriller. It was rubbish actually! Also, in India they take babies in there who fart and burp and also talk on their mobiles! 8 by 10 photograph was the name of the film, it had an interval in the middle and that was about it! We went to McDonalds before it where I read an English paper about Pakistan aiming missiles at India! It was spelt Paki, which is something common here and was only about them wanting to aim the missiles not actually aiming them!

Day 4.
We went for a little shop today in Bazaa, which sounds like bizarre and was a bit like one too! We got ourselves all the garms, some shirts Indian style and a long man dress, which is called a Kupta. One of the lads couldn’t get out of his Kupta, which was a funny joke between all the lads and the locals. Another guy thought the shopkeepers wouldn’t let him have the shirt he wanted because they kept on taking it off him. You have to pay for stuff down stairs was the first reason they took it and the second was to put a cover over it. He at one point banged the desk and demanded it back! I was cracking up!

The family took us out in town for the evening, in full attire! Myself and the three housemates I was put with and the family. They took us first for some sheesha in a café in town. It was really good and with it we had some strong American coffee, something we don’t get at camp! The sheesha isn’t strong or anything just leaves you with a clear head, after we finished we left a big tip which works out as only a pound back home and took photos with all the waiters. Then Anju and her husband took us to a really fancy restaurant in town that looked like it could have been in London. After a meal which fed 8 of us comfortably we got the bill, which came to 1200 rupees, 12quid! It was amazing food as well and we had 4 waiters on our table through the night. Unreal!

Day 5.
This morning we got up early again and packed for our bus, which took us to Amber Fort, an 18 mile long security wall around the King of Jaipurs Palace, a magnificent sight! We took an elephant ride up to the Palace itself, which was proper funny! I tried to film myself on there and nearly fell off in the process! The men that ride them beat them with a stick though, which wasn’t nice. The elephants were really cool and posed for pics, I reckon that was down to the stick rather than the fact they enjoyed it! Bought some musical instruments off the street sellers and played a bit, it was like a party horn but it got some of the locals cheering!

We had some free time when we got back from there because our train was delayed so a few of us went for pizza in town. We took Tuk-Tuks there, which was fun and scary at the same time, weaving in and out of traffic! All hyped up and full of pizza we took them back home, home not being as easy to find as pizza hut! All four Tuk-Tuks got lost separately! It was also a race to get back before 7 when our bus was leaving for the train station. We managed to make it thanks to a map of Jaipur I had, although the bus was loading! One of the other Tuk-Tuk drivers demanded 400 rupees off the other guys. We all got a train, an overnight one, from Jaipur to Himachal Pradesh. A 16 hour, smelly train journey. Before we loaded the train we stood at the station for 2 hours being watched by everyone, it’s a common thing for Indian people to stare and stare and stare! Quite scary too!

Day 6 and 7 and so on … Himachal Pradesh and Camp Bangla (where I’m staying)

We arrived in Punjab in the afternoon and walked across the tracks to the station, which is different to back home! Another bus ride to get excited by… this time round the coach had PVC on the seats and the driver had an overly large rear-view mirror! With the heat I don’t know why anybody would choose PVC as a head rest cover, (any jokes on a driver with a fetish please send back). 4 hours after driving up the mountain and on the edge of a cliff on a single lane, we made it to our camp or home for the next nine weeks! It was amazing! Himalayan mountains to the north, grassy hills to the south, river to the east and I haven’t seen the west yet! Monkey’s everywhere and stray goats, cattle and dogs fill the streets. We are 2,500 feet high, the air is clear, the weather is baking, and it’s all amazing!

So far a monkey has chased me, a monkey has broken into a bedroom and we have been up and down the mountain to where I am working, once again on a dodgy cliff! The rain has come, storms have come - both lightning and electric storms and power cuts. We have eaten awesome food, been into the market which is rubbish but they sell meat there!

I have been having the best time so far, although I do really miss home! I miss the food, the ability to drink alcohol when I want, I really miss everyone, as soppy as that sounds and even though all 46 people here are really cool!

Now the story is similar, everyday we go to the school, we have some labouring in the afternoons but even that’s cool because of the surroundings.

On weekends we can go off and explore so I’ll write again once we have had a few weekend excursions … until then!