Mauritius 11.12.16 - 26.12.16

In my 15 days staying at the Royal Palm in Mauritius I have been;

Relaxing by the pool, swimming, water skiing and canoeing.

Playing tennis

Enjoying the beach

Out on the boat

Swimming with dolphins

It was so amazing to see them swimming around, they are so fast. I managed to follow a pod under me for a while and then they were off but then I hear some more and I look to my right and there were more swimming right next to me!

Snorkeling

We went out on the glass bottomed boat many times to the reef. I saw so many different types of fish - some with long noses, some spotted and striped and others very tiny or large. I also saw some starfish, octopuses and clams. The zebra fish were so friendly and got very close to us, it was so amazing to see them so up close.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had lunch on the beach - it was such a lovely setting with the clear turquoise water lapping on the beach. In the evening there was a big party with carols and drinks by the pool before my wonderful meal of pepperoni pizza and chocolate dessert. Before we danced the night away at the bar.

Christmas Day

It started with Santa arriving at the hotel on water skies. Then off to the magic show before the presents for the children were handed out, I even got pulled up to help with the act - very amusing as it evolved me trying to throw a ball into a large pocket. A late breakfast of pancakes with Nutella before we spent the day chilling, reading and swimming of course. In the evening I had lasagna at the Italian, it was delicious.

I think I broke someone's heart in Mauritius...I had an employee of the hotel try to serenade me with his singing, he kept telling me I was beautiful, gave me a red rose and finally plucked up the courage to ask me out for drinks. Fortunately I had to work so no drinks night for me.

My journey from Goa to Mauritius

What another experience to add to the many I have had...

Firstly I had to say goodbye to some great people at the Jungle, some friends I hope to see again. Then an hour drive to the airport with a fantastic taxi driver.

My flight to Delhi was fine. Get a pre-booked taxi and another couple get in, the taxi driver drops them at their hotel then to mine. Turn up at the hotel for the night and Kritika arrives to take me out for dinner. I also got to meet her mum. It was great to see Kritika again before I left India. Go to settle in for a few hours kip to find the dirty sheets with hair all in the bed. Nice!

Not a good night's sleep with all the shouting in the corridors. Up at 4 am to get to the airport. This is where the issues start...

I get to the airport with plenty of time, line up to check in. I'm not allowed to check in. Firstly a problem with my passport and visa which gets taken away and checked with immigration. It was all fine, I get it back then the next problem was with my flight out of Mauritius...they needed the ticket number, I only had the booking number. I even find the flight online in manage my booking they still don't believe that I have a flight booked, then they asked where my visa was for South Africa, "I don't need one" I replied. Off to the manger I go. He was very kind and sorted out the problem for me and printed out my ticket details. Finally I am allowed to check in with not long to go until the flight was to leave, I had no time to get water or breakfast.

The flight was fine, got some food and sleep. The girl next to me fell asleep on my shoulder.

Arrived in Mauritius

Had an hour wait in the passport control line...nearly to not be allowed into the counrty. Second issue! The man was grilling me about my onwards flights...
"You fly from Cape Town to the UK?" He said.
'No, I'm flying to Hong Kong' I replied.
"Then you have a flight home?" He questioned.
'No I am flying to Australia, I don't have a flight home.'
"You must have a flight home!"
'No I'm staying in Australia.'
"So you are Australian? What is your address there?" Questioning me more.

We just kept going around in circles.

'I have a visa to work there, I don't know where I am staying yet.' I was telling him.
"Where is your visa? It's not in your passport." He said confused.
'I have an e-visa, so it's not in my passport.' I explained.
"Oh"
'I have the visa paperwork, would you like to see?'
"Yes...This is not your visa!" He seemed more confused.
'I know this is the number of the e-visa,' trying hard to explain.

He works in passport control...how does he not understand!!!

Eventually he stamps my passport and let's me in, phew.

Then I was on my way to collect my bag and an hour ride in the taxi to the Royal Palm. It was great to see the Gilbertson's again. The kids have grown since I last saw them.

After unpacking, I watched the kids play in the pool with a blow up doughnut and for dinner I had a Indian curry, just in case I was missing Indian food!

Things I will and won't miss about India and some tips.

Well...India was such a different experience to any other counrty that I have visited before. I loved learning about the culture, religion and trying new foods.

The things I will miss:
The friends I made,
The food I enjoyed,
The lovely architecture.

The things I will not miss:
The roads...amount of traffic!
The Indians not knowing what personal space is in a queue,
And the tuk-tuk drivers not knowing where they are going!

Some tips for others travelling to India:
• I never suffered with a bad tummy so take pro-bioticis before you go, every day you are there and a week after you have left. Still take some imodium just in case.

• a sleeping bag liner...it was such a life saver, I had a very dirty bed one night.

• go with half a suitcase you will need the other half for all the things you will buy.

• at markets always barter, you can always get it much cheaper.

• say no to people wanting photos with you...especially men, you don't know what they will use it for.

2nd time in Goa 04.12.16 - 10.12.16

After a long 3 hour drive from Pune to Mumbai then a delayed flight to Goa and again another taxi ride...I finally got to the Jungle.
I arrived late so I had the security man show me to my room, kingfisher...to find that the sheets are not clean and a pair of shorts in the bed so the security man went and get me some clean sheets and helped me change them. Then he took me to show me the common area, he was like off you go and make some friends but I was so tired I went and unpacked and got into bed.

I spent the week catching up on my blog, making new friends, eating and drinking and spent some time at the beach.

My first day I decided to take a trip to the beach and guess what I found there...yes cows!  They are everywhere in India. In the evening I found some people chilling so I joined them and went out for a drink...I was super hungry after not eating for 11 hours so Abdo, Glen and I went in search of food and came across Goa's Ark - delicious food. It was then time to meet everyone again for the rave, we all tried to get into the beat but gave up, some went back to the Jungle but I went with the boys to the beach were we sat listened to the rave behind, watched the waves lap on the beach and saw the distant boat lights flashing.

The next day I went down to the beach with Alex and Devon...we lay down on a sun bed, the next minute I have a cow headbutting me off it! Frisbee time, we played a game that if you didn't catch it you had to loose a limb I ended up trying to catch it with my head. In the evening we were going to go out and everyone was chatting at the hostel...when suddenly Alex and I saw a flash of light in the sky; what was it! We went to investigate just in case aliens had landed but we only found a very comfortable chair so ended up chatting for hours before it was bed time as the others decided that 1am was the best time to start going out to party.

Up early the next morning for the market. Glen, Alex and I spent ages going around the colorful stalls. Glen got annoyed with all the men selling drums, drumming them in his ear...with a hangover it's not great! Alex brought a whole new wardrobe and many women saying 'come look at my stall' then men (only selling mens cloths) 'come have a look see what you like'...I don't think I will find anything for me in there! I just brought a very big sheet for the beach. Then in the afternoon it was time to test it out with another trip to the beach.  As most people went out the night before they were all having an early night so we got sat playing card games. Then it was off down to the beach with Alex and a guy from Denmark (whos name escapes me) to find some music to dance to. We found a reggae/jungle night and with a sand dance floor we were set.

Thursday was just a morning chilling and after lunch I headed down to the beach with Devon, Alex, Glen and Max. This time I actually got into the sea, it was quite warm; the boys played frisbee. Pub quiz night...I was in team one and we called our selves 'The Fact Hunt', we actually won the quiz with 17 points but we would have got more if the boys had listened to me and put Europe down as the answer to the question - which continent has the most heritage sites? - anyway we still won. For winning we got a crate of beer to share, as I am not a beer drinker I was nice enough to share mine out. 2nd place was Devon's team with 16 and 1/2 points but they won a round of shots because they won the best team name of 'The Sexy Quizners'.

Friday was my last day and night at the Jungle. Naturally it was an afternoon spent at the beach but before that for the morning I was catching up on the blog, playing card games and did a little packing. We watched the disappointing sunset on the way back from the beach and then got ready to go out. We sat chatting and drinking around in the hostel before I managed to get few to come for dinner at Goa's Ark as I really enjoyed the food there, everyone that came said the same thing! We then walked down to the beach to find a good place to party but nothing special was happening so the boys played a game of pool and back to the hostel we went. When we were at the local beach in the day they were setting up something and people were saying it was a festival. Devon and I then took a walk down there to see what was happening but we were not missing out on much so it was then time to head back to bed.

I really enjoyed my time in Goa and met some great people...thanks for a wonderful week.

Monty's time at Sangam

Monty had such great fun exploring Sangam and a little of Pune. 

He climbed the water tower

Took a ride in a tuk-tuk

Played in the playground

Feed the chickens

And finally meditated with Buddha

Week 4 at Sangam 26.11.16 - 03.12.16

Saturday 26th
This was my last weekend in Pune so we had a packed day trying to fit things in. We went to the places best for shopping - MG road and Laxmi road. I finally found the cow statue I wanted. We ate lunch at Ram Krishna a great place with great Indian food, I had Aloo Gobi (potato and cauliflower curry). In the evening as it was Lisa's last evening so we all went out to the Shisha Cafe bar for a jazz festival, some great music was played.

Sunday 27th
Sunday was spent getting lots of forms done, presentations finished and videos filmed. Stacey, Montey and I completed the Sangam treasure hunt and along the way meditated with Buddha. Had another 2 hour dance lesson in the afternoon.

Monday 28th

9th day at site...I had Joselyn come along with me to B.K.S. I first took her on a tour of the place and introduced her to the staff. When the children arrived we made a paper woven poster. This week there are many preparations for the disability day so for the afternoon we watched the children practicing their singing. In the evening Stacy and I climbed the water tower to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful and the bird were tweeting away and flying around us. As it was getting dark it was time to climb down and I started to see the bats flying around, some are so tiny and others are huge!

Tuesday 29th
10th day at site...I had Karlia come along today to visit so again I took her on a tour of the place and introduced her to the staff. We didn't get a chance to do the craft that we had planned because today there was a big dance competition all day. Lots of school had come and it was great to see all the kids enjoying themselves. When they were on stage their disabilities seem to disappear and they put on a great performance. I had yet another dance session before heading out to Kirti's (the yoga teacher) house for dinner. We meet her twin sister and then went to feed the buffalo's and cow.

Wednesday 30th
Up early in the morning for yoga before our last Hindi lesson were we carried on learning about food and how to order in a restaurant. We visited another community partner called Deep Griha society, they work in the community to offer different programmes - medical, dental and nutrition, HIV and Aids support, sponcering a child's education, clothing and health care, skills for the youth and woman to get jobs. I then spent the rest of the day finishing off my presentation for the closing ceremony and drew my star on the wall. These 4 weeks have flown by.

Thursday 1st
11th day at site...today the children were again practicing for the event on Saturday so I helped the teachers make flowers out of ribbon. On returning to Sangam the Christmas decorations were out and then we had a group Christmas photo on the roof.

Friday 2nd

12th day at site...again there were practices going on all day. I spent the morning watching the dancers. Then I helped put up all the flowers on the background of the stage, ready for the next days presentation.

 When returning to Sangam we had our closing ceremony and we had to do our presentations. Emer went first and did a talk with props, Stacey did a slide show with lots of photos. I decided to do mine as a pass the parcel game; I had everybody read out about my time at Sangam each time a layer was unwrapped. At the end of the ceremony we all planted a tree in the garden which they called 'a flowering tree'. I hope one day to come back and see how well it has grown. Because it was our last meal as a 3 at Sangam we got to choose what was for dinner...it was butter chicken with rice and puri with chocolate cake for dessert.

Saturday 3rd
We had to say goodbye to Stacey. Then it was off out with Emer and some of the SV's to watch the presentation at B.K.S. It was lovely to see all the children in their beautiful out fits. There were so many school and parents that came to watch the performances and there was even a bouncy castle and a fire truck. It was then time for me to say goodbye to the teachers and children I had been working with. This was a sad moment and they wanted me to stay and come back in for Monday. I then spent the rest of the day sorting out my things and packing.