The Drama Bus!!!

hi Rekha and everybody!!

Me and my lovely girlfriend Gemma are going back to Edinburgh in January for her big 30!! We have booked a four star hotel (no more of those hostels!!) and we cant wait as we are there for 4 days. We are also tempted at doing a one day haggis tour but it will be so so cold!!

Life is back to normal and we are both really down at work and both want to quit and get back on the drama bus!!

Rekha we would apprecitae more pictures if you have any good.

Hopefully we will all keep in touch as I want my free accomodation in India with yourself and my farm stay in Oz with Erica!!

Still think of last month and smile and Gemma misses it as much as Recka.

I know ive said it before but thanks to you all for making the trip a really fun time if only we could do it all again!!

Hello!

It feels very strange making a post on someone else's blog. Rekha invited me to do so, however, and so here I am testing things out! It works, Rekha!

Miss you!

final day of the trip - London..

today just walked and shopped around London. Took the tube from Waterloo to Westminister,walked out of the tube station there, entered Big Ben road, went along the Westminister Bridge towards South Bank, along the Thames :)- towards Vauxhall Bridge.

I was tired of walking and then turned into the 'Tate Britain' museum for a 15 minute sightseeing,guess whom I saw there ? SHWETA BACHCHAN :)- finally i saw a celebrity in London and a desi one too ..

I chatted with her a bit and then gave my regards to the Big B!! as of she would remember but then it is courtesy isnt it ? Then I was all excited...

Well finally landed at Oxford Street into Primark, oh My God that place is full of malls.. did my shopping.. and finally took the tube to Bond Street and then to Waterloo..

Then the 2 hour train ride to BOurnemouth at Roops' house...

my trip is done for now.. tomorrow I take the bus to Heathrow terminal 4 from B'mouth and catch the BA afternoon flight to Bangalore....

Adios UK for now... I will be back...

When the Scottish Highlands meet the Gangetic plains....

The "India Alba" fusion was an excellent experiment. An hour of pure traditional music,pleasing to the mind and soul. How beautifully the bagpipes blend with our tabla,someone was not wrong when he said 'Music is universal'. Impartially speaking though,the Indians were far far ahead,this was evident from the difficulty the bagpipe artiste was facing to do an alap in Raga 'Kaafi' ( Hindustani) but, the attempt is truly commendable. Overall, an excellent experience. The tabla artiste was the hero of the evening...

My day tour to Loch Lomond was very nice, once again got to see the Highlands. My God, it is heavenly. Am hurting because, in a couple of hours, I leave this beautiful country, the beautiful people- warm and friendly,the stunning landscapes, the rich history, the streets - Royal Mile, the Haggis office, the festival,the music and above all, the ultimate freedom of spirit that reverberates in this place, it is a tough thing to leave happiness when you are in the middle of it.

But am glad, in another week, I will be home with my people, my home, bed, food and music and work ofcourse. God is very kind to me, especially the last 2 days, I am sure he listened to everything I told him...

My travels have made me a better person for sure, but my Scotland trip has changed me forever. Being amidst nature's unknown forces - animate and inanimate ,has mellowed me down. My pride has given way to some kind of humility,one that has realized that beyond all men,lies a force that is tough to oppose and it is best to take it in one's stride and live to the fullest. And it has taught me the true power of prayer!!

My bus to London leaves at 10 PM and it is 6.30 PM now....

Edinburgh festival - am there right time in the right place

My faith in destiny is complety reinforced.. :) Now I know that beyond me ,there lies an enormous power that controls everything. I also know that the simpest way to get that power to work for me, is by prayer! I'm back in Edinburgh,right amidst the festival and I have only words to thank HIM for putting me in the right place at the right time!

My original plan was to go to Edinburgh on the 9th by an overnight train and stay there on thr 10th and get back on the 11th. But, I had journeyed for 4 days and I wasnt in the mood,hence I decided to postpone to 10th instead. Right decision! Because there wernt any night trains on 9th, or rather all trains are booked for overnight jounreys, I learnt later...

So, I head back to cousin's and then stow away my luggage there.Cool. On thr 10th, I come up to London again thinking of spending the afternoon there and taking an overnight train to E'burgh,but I learn to my dismay that all overnight trains are full... Ahhhhh! I remember a tear or two making its way to the brim of my eyes...Wait! there is a train in the evening (of 10th) that reaches E'burgh on the same evening by 9.30 PM.. Sounds like a plan but where the hell was I going to stay overnight ? Streets ? Alone at 2 AM ? Nah.. the station ? no way... I was just debating and then something overtook me and I got on the train, not thinking about anything else.. I had to get somewhere to stay, I would... the whole universe conspired last night to get me here.. :)-

So, I get to E'burgh finally, walk across the street from the station and land at St Christopher's Inn (where it all began about 3 weeks ago) and lucky me FINDS a bed...just for one night though.. (yesterday) Good so far... will think about tomorrow later.. I go up the streets and see so much celebration that I forget myself,the fact that am lonely and that am crazy... I feel happy and at peace with myself.. not sure why but this place feels like home..

Wake up this morning ,checkout and go hunting again for a room tonight... One guy told me that there is nothing for less than 100 quid and am like,oh Shucks!, need to stay on the streets tonight perhaps....Then I walk upto the haggis office to book a day tour for tomorrow (Sunday), I love these tours.. I have done 3 of them already and it is worth every pound I pay them... Well, I go upto the haggis office, meet my tour guides from the last trips.. exchange pleasantries and then walk down to a youth hostel down the street( where i stayed once as well) and as I step in, I see a lady checkout!! Deal done, got a bed for tonight for 22 bucks.. dirt cheap....

Am happy and singing as I go up to the bus station and get a ticket for tomorrow's journey back to London...Then,I bought myself a ticket to an Indian-Scottish fusion of music - classical and tradtional,violin and bagpipes, tabla and cittern for tonight... lovely.. am back on the streets watching the street shows and people, it rains and I stop at a soup place to have green peas and lentils soup... yummy....

Will go out again now and shop a bit.. PLan to buy a 6 pack of Irn Bru for consumption in Bangalore. I should have bought a ticket to the tattoo beforehand.. missed that but yesterday saw a horde of huge horses being loaded into a truck after the tattoo event.. and I heard the event from the outdoor walls of Edinburgh castle, saw brilliant fireqworks at 12 AM and lots of military people in different uniforms.. the Scottish kilts are beautiful..

This is the craziest thing I have done and am glad am crazy!!

This city is celebrating life at the moment.. and my true Sagittarian spirit is, as well!!

Cornwall coast exploits and memories of Scotland...

I took another haggis tour to the Cornwall coast,and the Cornish region is brilliantly beautiful.. sidelined beaches and greenery all along with little villages inbetwen the valleys, I close my eyes and take it all in.. am trying to live as much as i can fully in these moments,days of my life.. God knows what turn life shall take when I get back home..

I soaked myself on the seas of the Cornish coast to my heart's content,till the saltiness of the water came up on my tongue....a beautiful feeling it is...I can say that I soaked my soul in the beaches, but but.. my heart is left behind in the highlands of Scotland...a part of me shall live in that wonderful country forever..dunno why I feel at home there amidst the lush valleys,the smell of peat burning and the music notes of the bagpipes,the rains suddenly pouring out on me from nowhere as i walk up a hill,again to be cleared up and the sun coming out again,leaving behind its colors in a rainbow,the pubs and the people,the ferries,the beans in sauce,ice cream,my friends,the yellow bus,the hopping-on/off daily,dragging my luggage,youth hostels.... and finally Edinburgh..where it all began... the most beautiful place on earth.. voices within me that sound like music.. is this a dream ? whatever... i only know that I have left a part of me there,etched forever...

Back to England and thereafter...

am back to Bournemouth now.. yesterdsy went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare and then to Oxford, so essentially,my travel was more of academic a purpose!! It felt very nice to step on the floor that little Shakespeare played on,in that creaky single-storeyed wooden home with a lovely garden infront. Then hdeaded out to Oxford and took the city sightseeing hopon-hopoff bus. Oxford is a great place, so many colleges and so much of learning spirit emanates from there. Well, I did not do much other than seeing the colleges etc, might have wanted to go to the museum where Einstein's relativity theory is still scribbled apparently!

Today I headed out to London, went to Picaddilly Circus and walked the streets,then took the tube to Lords,but I was late for the tours.. going there early tomorrow. Felt so good to be in a cricket stadium and see Rahul's poster stuck up right in the front :)-

I took almost 4 lines of the London Tube today going here and there,it is fun and so neat, you almost can go anywhere to anywhere in a few minutes..
am living life as a Londoner would do.. that is a grt feeling..

am going back to Edinburgh next week .. my next blog,shall be wholly dedicated to this wonderful city and my sentiments associated with it. Because, to write on Edinburgh,is a pleasure and I want to do it well..

Scotland -end of 8 day tour

today , the scotland tour ended. and what a fantastic one.. I decided to stay over another day at edinburgh, we all did. I have found a bunch of nice friends from all over the world, and we have been going out every night almost.. all of us are dead tired but guess happy.... tonight we all wud be at edinburgh will cathc up with them now...

well.. a lifetime experience this has been.. and Haggis tours are great... recommend them to anyone who comes to travel in these parts...

more later.... friends waiting at Irish bar!!! tonight is some festival on the streets of edinburgh and what galore it is... just witnessed some fantastic costumes on the road... I love Edinburgh.. i can live there and happily too.. and they have an Indian restaurant as well.. more on INdian restaurants in UK later..

Ullapool day 1

Ullapool is the quaintest town i have seen in scotland and it is awesome, am finding it tough to use the right description in my blogs, yeah what happens when there is a lot of beauty around you is this...

The drive from Orkney coast to Ullapool was extremely scenic with so many pictire perfect landscapes,i feel am in heaven..

one thing i notice is that in these places they make it so easy for travellers,one doesnt feel foreign at all. In Scotland,everyone is especially friendly and waving a hand or greeting all the time. The climate makes them nice ? i wonder...

I bought a chanter in Edinburgh, a poor cousin of the expensive and charming bagpipe. It is quite a task to blow it..ufff...


have taken some nice pictures.. will try to post a few.. so much for now.. i realize that it is becoming increaisngly difficult to write but maybe i'll let some pics dot he talking...

IRN BU rocks had two last night and i cudnt sleep at all.. caffeine... and sugar... but it tastes great...

Scotland - day 3

Yeterday took a ferry from mainland Scotland to a small set of islands called the Orkney Islands. I let myself free on the deck and it felt so cold, and wondeful with the wind hitting on my body from all directions..

also saw a couple of excellent prehistoric neolithic sites in Orkney,very informative the guides were and the preservation was par excellence. Those iron age men built such nice houses out of stone, with all luxuiries too...

I have found a nice group of people from all over the world, we went out last night , general fun stuff... nice decent people, we have gud laughter sessions..

stayin at a place called Kirikall since yesterday, full of beaches,greenary and lakes, some scenice routes they are..

it is tuf to write an experience in such a short time, and it is next to impossible to describe how i feel at the moment.. Edinburgh is the most beautiful city in the world, the Scots men are sexy and wild.. hahah

ok more later...

Land of Scots..

am addicted to a \scottish drink ... yes.. :)- a soft drink called IYRN BRU... thrice in the last three days... Scotland is the best place on earth, its history is awesome and beauty is beyond words.. another journey into another world... more later.. btw am writing this from a haunted castle where i stayed last night.. the walk to the pub from the castel was a gud couple of mles over a hanging bridge and deep lake underneath..

Country roads,take me home.....

saw a lot of countryside in the last few days,soaked in breathtaking beauty of nature, lakes,mountains,walked lots of towns,met lots of people, Indians, nice fun catching up halfway across the world,it is an exhilarating experience.

Danced till 2 am last night in a disco, feels gud when you are not drunk and you see everyone around you drinking and acting funny, but i guess i get high without drinking too.. dancing does that to me!

stayed at an nglish farmhouse yest,excellent veg breakfast home-made by the lady herself.. wow... mighty nice..

Ambelside in Lake district is awesome.. very nice town... Edinburgh is the best town in the world..too many things to write but bloody costs a pound for 20 minutes.. more later..

by the way, got some wonderful compliments from people, from men..:) some told me, i look ravishingly beautiful,some told me 'my boyfriends back home must be damn lucky',
and more... feels nice.. people here check women out really but the best thing is they compliment a lday very well!

hahaha.. so much for now.... the pictures will have to do the talking later on...

-Little India aka Tiny dancer aka Dynamite Tigress aka vallamrekha
( these are some of my new names given to me by some new people i met so far )

the drive from england to scotland is worth this life and many more.. Country roads... take me home...

UK Diaries - day 4

.. i have just about 11 minutes to write this blog... too less for my expereinces of the day but lemme not waste anymore time.my first day of Haggis tours turns out to be better than expected... thanks to Dave our very passionate tour guide who loves his job and does it to the best... i lotsa ppl from different countries ..most of them girls and a couple of boys too.. we are having fun... had lunch at a little viallage called 'Laycock'.. these English villages are beauty personified... my mind goes back to the growing up days of fairy tales,Pride and Prejudice,etc.. am seeing it all in front of me..

the English cakes,toast,muffins all are grt... so yummy...

now I did a tour of the Roman Baths.. what an architectural beauty ,the Bath city is... have taken pictures but might load it later... let me see....

yest had dinner at an Indian place 'Shola' in Central London's Oxford Street.. London is fashonable,happening... but these towns are fantastic and the villages are magnficent..

these Brits know how to handle their monuments...

pity we dint leanr this from them...

one thing i notice(smnell) is some beautiful perfume..some flowery fragrance..frome veryone here.. :-) .. am addicted to it now.. all the girls in my bus have it on..

my luggage planning went as little haywire... am now carrying a big piece of luggage.. but willmanage it somehow... Pain has its own pleasures... :-)


will try to end the post with Mac's tag line - am lovin' it......

more later...

London Diaries - day 2

today I walked a lot a lot...:-) my legs hurt as i blog now...but what a beauty London is..So small a city,especially Central London is hardly any big but it houses almost all the important buildings,monuments,roads,etc.The best thing however about this city is its Tube network.

Taking the train from Bournemouth to waterloo station, I next connected to the Westminister using the Jubilee line of Tube. 1 minute of underground travel and I was in the heart of the city. My first visit was,to a burial ground!!,not of ordinary mortals but men and women who defined history,wrote poems,fought wars and the like. I went to the Westminister Abeey,the building is so beautifully constructed like a cathedral. Every foot I keep in thata place, I step on someone's grave. So today, I had the likes of Churchill,Darwin,KIpling and Newton under my feet -:), this is must see place for lovers of history! 10 GBP entrance fee,worth it..

Next I walked upto the Buckingham Palace from Westminister to towards Victoria. A mile of distance,streets lined with buildings, very nice. As the palace was closed for public until 28th, I spent time outside clicking pictures,then headed out to Green Park next door. The walk from the palace gate to Green Park is a beautiful one,called the 'Queen's walk'.This is a road inside the Green Park itself and is so windy,green and healthy. Sat for an hour there and ate some grub..Lots of people spending their weekend out there.

Next I wwalked upto the Trafalgar Square,my God it is huge and filled with tourists,ofcourse nothing to beat The Times Square in NY,nevertheles this one is really nice and happening a place. From there,I walked upto Scotland Yard! And then took the overbridge to Waterloo via the London Eye' Southbank. Nice walking route. LOts of people...

So much for now... am sleepy

London Diaries.. - Day 1

Reached London safely today.Flight was excellent,British airways is British in all sense of the word. Small world.. I met a friend from my area who was on transit to USA and we shared the best seats next to each other.Never felt scared,bored nothing on the flight.
BA served good meals - breakfast was Indian and sakkath!!

London from the aerial view is beautiful.As the plane was landing,quaint buildings and green-hued expanse of land separated by the Thames was visible,seeming to appear from the clouds,breathtaking sight!

Heathrow airport is huge,commonplace and full of Indians :-),very easy to get through.Terminal 4 is excellent,exchanged travellers' for 100 GBP,bought a calling card,did all the walking for a full one hour before boarding a national express bus to Bournemouth where my cousin stays.

I have to say, Mass transport in UK has impressed me. The bus was an hour late,but kept speed and drove so smooth,it appeared as if I was on BA 118 flight..I saw the tube underground station at Heathrow ( what an infrastructure!)

The bus journey was very pleasant, thanks to a gentleman sitting next to me with whom I bonded a lot. He belonged to Bournemouth and had lots of tell me. Very interesting company. He has 3 daughters aged 18,15 and 10 and was telling me all about bringing up daughters etc. Sounded so much nice and homely..He invited me home, so very kind. I'm planning to pay him a visit.. my God this is getting better by the day!

Travel is so much fun..

UK has impressed me with its dainty little things, contrast to US. UK reminds me of India,maybe the colonial effect, I dunno. But the area where my cousin lives is a beautiful town along the sea coast, her balcony overlooks the sea.The town is visible from her house and it reminds me of old Bangalore, MG Road,etc

The road-side cafes and he village pubs are so grand that they appear to be situated out of a fairy tale as i see them with my own eyes..

Maybe thats why it feels like home...

on your mark,get set,go....

this is the beginning of a series of world travels,a dream I have chased from childhood... I request all my readers to wish well for me. Watch this space for my travel stories starting now..

-Saaveri@lonelyplanet