so much news.......................

sorry for the super huge delay in updating this. internet access has been
pretty sparce to be honest and when i could get it i was mostly emailing people telling them that i was still alive (after iran at any rate)

so, when i last wrote this i had just arrived in iran (tebriz to be precise) and was being laughed at by the locals wherever we went. it turns out that the long kaftan tops that we were wearing are what the locals wear in bed as pj's. pity no one told us!!! after tebriz we headed to zanjan where everything was closed because it was a friday AND presidential election day. so we did nothing really except look for bananas (thats how exciting that town is) and talk to a few locals (who asked me specifically if i minded wearing clothes that were so different to the locals. the black kaftan came out the next day and thats how it remained for the duration of my time in iran). it was libbys birthday though so there was an awful traditional iranian meal (p0verall the food was awful which i was shocked at really) but was followed by some really fab bday cake with happy birthday written in farsi on it. it was also in zanjan that i heard that rachel had a little baby boy!!! for the first time on the trip i wanted to go home.

then came tehran! it is such a massive city and i guess i wasnt really expecting that. while the women are all covered up, they are wearing skinny jeans and coats with sinched in waists; turns out its their way of rebelling. we went to some jewel museum (boring even though its one of the highlights of the country). but the great thing about going their was that i saw bobby sands st so had an idea where it was to walk back to and get my photo taken there. for those of you who dont know, the iranian government renamed the st that the british embassy is on to piss them off! genius! we arrived at the (5 star) hotel and setteld in to a fab meal in the revolving restaurant on the 17 floor. from here we could see a massive lightening storm with fork lightening hitting the ground. so when we saw black smoke rising from various parts of the city, we assumed that this was due to that. how wrong we were! within a few mins (and thanks to bbc worldnews) we found out about the riots. at the beginning they were located in one particualr area of the city, but they soon spread and were outside our hotel. we could see riot police throwing tear gas and people hurling bricks and wood around the place. there were also random fires around the place and people riding around the place on motorbikes chanting things. it was all like something out of a movie. but it did mean that we were confined to the hotel so no photo at bobby sands st for me. after tehran we headed to esfahan, which was so lovely! finally! we had a lovely first evening walking about for a little bit but were asked to stay in the hotel for our own safety. that night everything was really calm so we thought it was all over. turns out it was just the calm before the storm!!! the following day we had a tour of the city which was nice but it was so hot in the headscarf that i really wasnt that bothered about it. i did see how they made persian rugs though but thankfully managed to resist buying one! that resolve wouldnt last much longer! we werent back in the hotel long when the riots started in esfahan. this time we were closer to the st and people told us to let the world know about the cage that they live in. it was all v eye opening. we also heard (on the local news) that one person had been killed in tehran; turns out it was really 8. this was about a week before the bbc reported anything about people being killed. the news was pure propaganda and not anywhere close to the truth. we had to go back to tehran to catch a flight to karachi, not something any of us were looking forward to (tehran that is, not the flight). there were more rallies (pro and anti) but none outside out hotel this time. though we did have to drive right through a pro-whatshisname rally. the people didnt seem to be anti-western at all, which is what that whole party seems to stand for, but were just out supporting the man that they voted for. as for the votes, to say it was rigged is an understatement. 300,000 extra votes were cast for the president than people who could actually vote. one man in the running (who came third) admitted that he had bribed 300,000 people to vote for him, but only got 200,000........ i could go on but you get the point. all in all, i was damn glad to get out of iran and be abke to contact the outside world again. all the phone networks and websites were shutdown the second the riots started. i couldnt even get onto my ucd email!

but to be fair, iran was beautiful, im just not sure i would ever go back.

but then it was time for lovely lovely pakistan! one of the best places so far, despite pretty much everyone being sick at some stage or another. its such a colourful country and the people are so
genuinely lovely. they are so interested in where you are from and just want to talk to you! it really set me up for india, as i assumed that they would be quite similar. i could not have been more wrong! one of the highlights of pakistan was the closing ceremony between the border with india. its literally like a danceoff between the countires! it was brilliant and worth going to pakistan just for that. im not really sure what else to say about pakistan; i just adored it and want everyone to know that what you see on the tv is not what it is like at all. you will struggle to find nicer people anywhere else in the world!

my first impression of india was good. we were in a city called amritsar, the home of the most amazing sheik golden temple. it was so peaceful there, even though there were a couple of thousand people around. the people there were lovely and friendly, quite like the pakistani people. but the place was filthy! people were literally living in the middle of rubbish dumps on the side of the roads. not to mention the cow shit! after amristar we headed for delhi. it was hot (at least 45 degrees every day and about 35-40 at night), it was dirtier than i had expected, and it smelt like a urinal! mostly because it is one big urinal! thankfully we were only there for one full day and i did get to see some Ghandi things (and angels and demons, the lure of an
airconditioned cinema was too great for some of us!). i was never so happy to leave somehwere in my entire life when we headed for agra the next day. for those of you who dont know, agra is the home of the taj mahal. agra itself is a dump if im honest and the people there turned me off india completely. they only saw us as dollar signs and nothing else. we saw both the sunrise and the sunset at the taj, which were both lovely but not quite the wow that i was expecting. it was also in agra that i started to spend money on things! i bought some marbel things that are made in the same manner and of the same stones as the taj.

after agra was varanassi, the most holy hindu city in india. its on the bank of the ganges river and is where people come to die and be cremated. varanassi was more like what i had pictured india to be; colouful and jammed with people! i also spent an absolute fortuen on the most beautiful silk duvet cover! but at this stage, i (and the rest of the group) were so sick of india that we just wanted to leave for Nepal.

ah nepal! it was the place i was most looking forward to, and its even better than i expected! its a lot like india in some ways; there are straw shanty towns and cows wandering about all over the place. but instead of having rubbish and dirt everywhere, there are really pretty gardens and the most gorgeous children imaginable playing and welcoming us to nepal. our first night in nepal was spent in lumbini where buddah was born. then we headed to a place called chitwan;
somewhere everyone should go! its a small little town on the banks of a river in the middle of a national park. the river is surrounded by jungle. in the morning we walked into the jungle after taking a boat ride on crocodile infested waters! though we didnt see any other animals, the walk was really lovely. after that it was time to go to an elephant reserve. there were loads of baby elephants (so cute) including the only surviving set of twins to ever be born! they were so friendly and all they wanted was cookies! we had a quick change of clothes before heading back down to the river to bathe with the elephants! best thing ever! you sit on the elephants back and they walk into the river and spray water at you! it was sooooooooo much fun and something everyone should do once in their lives! after some lunch it was time to head back into the jungle, this time on elephant back. we were a lot quieter this way and saw rhinos, deer, monkies and all
kinds of snakes! it was such an incredible experience! unfortunately though, we had to leave chitwan, though we did end up in pokara which is in the foothills of the himalayas. its so beautiful there. we stayed right beside a really beautiful lake and were meant to get up to watch the sunrise over the himalayas. unfortunately the monsoon had other ideas! we did have a lovely day of chillaxing though! even if it invloved a trip to the hospital to sort out my (and others) dodgy stomachs. thankfully it seems to be working now.

we had to lave pokhara for kathmandu the following day. the drive through the countryside was absolutely spectacular. no photos could ever do it justice! kathmansu is manic! and dirty! but we were only here for one night before most of us headed to a place called the last resort. its in the mountains near the tibetan border. its where you can go to bungee jump or bungee swing, go climbing mountains or generally just chill. i did the latter, though if i had had the proper shoes for the hout hike back up i would have done the bungee swing. next time i think.

im back in kathmandu now. we were supposed to go fly around everest this morn but the clouds had other ideas. fingers crossed for tomorrow! then we have to head back to india to catch a flight from calcutta to bangkok. thankfully this time in india its more of a drive to get there rather than doing things. im not looking forward to going back there. thank god for thailand in a few days!

until next time........................

all in all, i hated india and LOVE nepal!!!!!!