update from kerala...

ok so i've been very bad at keeping this updated and so much has happened but i'll try and keep it brief!it would be alot easier if i could upload photos but one takes an hour so i'm gonna wait until i return home!
Right so i left Mussoorie and needless to say i'd grown attached to the place despite the misty weather and the never ending supply of dhal so i was kinda sad and scared about the next part of my trip.
I went back down to Delhi and instantly couldn't wait to get out of it; maybe if i'd been with somebody else but delhi alone is very depressing.
Tuesday -Agra, the Taj was amazing, I had a great guide (Vicky) who took some great photos; my personal favorite was when he got to me to lounge on the bench for the infamous picture with the Taj in the background and pointed out some really interesting highlights on the building (the Albert Einstein spot in the marble being one!). Like any foreigners that have been there i was asked to appear in multiple 'snaps', and finally having individual photos taken with each child from a large Indian family before the group family shot with me in the middle. it's the strangest thing and unfortunately during this trip i have ended up gracing the pages of too many random family photo albums looking sweaty and red faced...but hey maybe that's why the like us so much!
wednesday- goa (via mumbai...narrowly missing the terroism); which was beautiful but extremely wet...not ideal sunbathing conditions. However i managed the impossible and got extremely burnt even thought there was no sun???
Finally i arrived in Kerala on Saturday. place is very different to the north...most importantly because the men always wear sarongs (don't worry dad i'll pick you up one), they actually look kinda comfortable but i think if i wore one i would get more weird stares than a man in a skirt would normally get. Malaylam is the language and i struggle to even say thank you, and very few people can speak english so i'm feeling like everything is being lost in translation. I'm staying in the hospital in quite basic accommodation where bucket showers with cold water are readily available, my room-mate is a very friendly extremely large spider who has kinda taken control of the bathroom, although all is good because if i want to get away from it all i can always go for a walk in the rain! hospital is good but tough i have been constantly quizzed by a delightful consultant with a Hitler moustache only to come up trumps for all the answers....he definitely thinks i'm probably lying that i'm a medical student and he gave me the afternoon off to go shopping...he finally realized what my level was. treated myself to a saree and a man sarong (official terminology lungi) that i'll wear in the confines of my room, i'm sure the spider will appreciate it. i await some form of conversation but the outlook is bleak....

bad times...

So many due to my own stupid fault i lost my new fancy phone somewhere on the mountain...and some lucky person happened across it and decided that they would like a new android and kept it for themselves. unfortunately this means i have lost all the numbers of people i have met just far which couldn't have come at a worse time cos now is when i need them! Anyways on the bright side I had an opportunity to experience the Indian judicial system at great length...very educational. This entailed me being taken from police station to lawyer and a few strange places in between standing like a mug whilst everybody spoke in Hindi and then I was told to "come". I had to write a letter certifying that I had lost my phone, then I had to pay a lawyer to certify that I had certified I'd lost my phone to then' pay' the police to write report saying I'd lost my phone. the things i learned during this experience: it matters when you've lost your phone if you are single and thus who your father is, i don't know why this has any baring on how i managed to lose my phone but the fact i'm daughter of Gerart lynch...(yes this is how the lawyer spelt your name on the official legal document dad) seems to affect the manner in which i lost the phone. another important lesson...the police are corrupt and all they seem to do is stamp letters for money. oh and also apparently you must cancel your phone not because the thief in question maybe downloading dirty pictures onto your stolen phone at your expense but because they often get up to terrorist activity under you name???i think this is where education ends. getting a new phone was an experience in itself that required 3 forms of id, again my father's name and a passport sized photograph...perhaps this lengthy process is to deter the terrorists?
sorry rant over moving on...I'm leaving Mussoorie on sunday and going back down to Delhi and around for the next week...i'm sad to be leaving here and scared of the great unknown of the next part of my trip but i'm really excited! I'll let you know how it all goes...until then x