Sitting in McDonald’s trying to kill some time before meeting up with my old pal Francois, I saw a magazine called ‘Creative Thailand’ awesome … I opened it and realised it was written in thai, but an advert on the back cover was advertising a design exhibition. As a graphic/web designer with a passion for design I had to go.
Bing, bang…kok! Already seems a long way away from New Delhi. it has a real big city vibe …
We learned quite a bit after travelling in India for two weeks. To some, this is not nearly enough time to explore this massive country. We can agree to a certain extent, but we think India is a bit like Marmite; you love it or hate it. We can’t say we fell in love with India, though we did see some amazing temples, views and ceremonies.
Here’s our list of learning points and suggestions based on our brief experience here.
Jaipur was another big Indian city, population of 8-9 million, although I am not sure how they count. Our first stop was a 500 year old monkey temple, about 10km outside Jaipur, off the beaten track.
Agra was a breath of fresh air after so many days in Varanasi. We only spent one day here and aren’t sure if that was just right or too short. Either way, Team MussMart saw our first Wonder of the World, both as individuals and as a couple.
OK, I don’t think words or pictures can describe the entity of Varanasi. We stayed at a guest house ran by an Indian family who were very welcoming. We ate authentic Indian family cooked meals which were really good, enjoyed chai Marsala tea which was delicious. All sounds super cool right? Right. All was good… the first morning we went on a sunrise boat trip down the Ganges, captain of the ship Babu- a nice and friendly guy.
Two days in and no sign of ‘Delhi belly’! Hope I didn’t just jinx us.
Admittedly, Delhi is a bit overwhelming. It’s hard to walk for longer than two seconds without someone trying to sell you something, or ask for money. The side effect of this is that it makes you hesitant to talk to anyone without feeling a bit suspicious of their intentions.
8hrs flight from London and we already seems a million miles away. The taxi journey to the hotel was crazy, everyman for himself, they have lanes on the road but no one really seemed to use them! So many near misses and Katie getting all religious .. Oh Jesus Christ!
Hotel seems OK, for £4 a night…!
Its pretty hard packing for a 8 month trip but here is what we did:
Tech (mussmart)
1 x iPad
1 x nexus with keyboard
1 x Canon DSLR with extra zoom lens
2 x iPods full of hip moosic
1 x cubot mobile phone with world sim
1 x multi power adaptors – thanks to bobby c
1 x power monkey for on the go power – thanks to Jacob hall
1 x lumin aid solar light – thanks to gazlar and kelly
1 x headlamp
1 x torch
Take a look at this beauty, yet another Musson vs food USA challenge. Tonight’s contender.., a B(BBBB)LT. This pig in a sandwich features, a lettuce leaf, a couple slices of tomato oh and 1lb of Bacon thrown in for good measure.
The belly busting heart stopper is from Tony’s restaurant, Birch run, Mi… Featured on TV for its er… Crazy big BLT.
Pretty damn tasty, I didn’t finish the sandwich, it finished me… maybe a handful of bacon and half a pickle left. I really had no more to give, a fair effort I think.
Now i am bloated, uncomfortable and really looking forward to a poo.. Belch…
Stephen 🙂
the mussmarter 