Scooters, scooters and more scooters!

After my last breakfast in Bangkok I set off for the airport. I was quite proud of myself because I managed to get there with time to spare using the metro and bus which only cost 60 baht in total (1.50€)! Rather than 12€ In a taxi! 

I was sat next to two Vietnamese students and they were excited to hear about my travel plans and to recommend places I should visit, so I made a point to note them down! 

Once I had arrived in ho chi Minh I found the bus to the city centre (25 cents) and found a good hostel! Off to the night market now for some pho 😊 oh and it is really quite impossible to imagine just how many scooters are zooming around the city! Looking forward to exploring tomorrow! 

ayuthaya

Despite sweating profusely for the majority of the day, i had a lovely time travelling an hour outside of bangkok to a small city called aythaya. I attempted using the minivan service which only cost 60 baht (1.50 €) and it was comfortable. I met a friendly italian on the bus and we decided to do some exploring together. After a bit of temple-admiring, we had lunch with the locals and spotted some elephants!
I realised today that I will be taking an awful lot of pictures of buddhas during this trip!!

apparently only the head of this buddha was found after a fire and a tree kept it safe

A delicious green papaya salad with rice a soup. My lips eere burning for half an hour afterwards but it was so worth it.

first day in bangkok

The busy weekend market! So tempting...

After not sleeping very well, i managed to get myself up and ready for a day exploring bangkok. The city is huge and i headed firstly to the weekend market. Packed with clothes, art and food stalls this maze could keep anyone busy for hours! I had to resist buying too much because my small ruclsack is already rather full. From there i went to the grand palace and checked out the reclining budda. Sadly the weather wasn't that great with a few showers here and there and it wasn't all too much fun on my own but luckily i got talking to an italian and an english couple who have been travelling for a year in australia and have also been to burma. They shared some great information with me and i told them about christian and my india trip, which was their next destination. Was a lovely evening!   

The grande palace

There are rather a lot of buddhas!!!

Delhi to Bangkok!

The last few days in India were spent in Delhi. What a chaotic, hectic city! I can't say I love the city but it was an experience to add to my list of many I have gained so far. Christian and I met with an old friend of his who he went trekking with 7 years ago and his wife, that was really nice. They have been married for 3 years already and were shocked at pretty much everything Christian and I told them about ourselves. 

The Indian culture compared to western cultures is significantly different but from our discussion neither is better than the other. They all have pros and cons. For example the Indians are very family-orientated and get together very frequently, they often all live together! We found this was a pro but it's just our western mindset that the kids fly from the nest after they turn 18 and have more freedom to study, travel and not instantly get married, for example. 

After a tearful farewell at Delhi airport, I left Christian to get his flight to hamburg and I had to wait a little while for my flight to Bangkok. It was a long journey and I arrived at my hostel at 9pm, managed to shower, eat something, chat to some travellers then fall into bed. 

My first impression was a little tainted because it was dark when I arrived but

today I will be exploring this buzzing city and will let you know what it's like later..to be continued! 

pushkar

After a week of working in jaisalmer, we have dropped the cameraman off in jodhpur for him to go home and we have travelled on to pushkar. A very different city from what i have seen so far.
We were driven by one of the producer's drivers which was a lot more relaxing than with the bus. He picked us up at 5 am and we arrived in pushkar at 9 after we had a short stop at the driver's brother-in-law's house for chai. The best chai we have had is without a doubt at the family homes we have been invited to. Families are very proud of their homes, even if it is very basic with a few rooms with matresses on the floor and a small kitchen. The family traditions are also very interesting. Most families from grandchildren to great grandparents live together in one house. The daughters are married off and have to go and live with the husband's family and the sons stay put. It seemd to work well, grandparents are there whenever a babysitter is needed, there are lots of children and everyone chips in with the housework.
Anyway, pushkar is regarded as a very holy city with a large lake right in the middle were all of the religious ceremonies take place throughout the day. It is not as hectic and chaotic as other cities and is definitely more backpacker/hippy orientated. i am looking forward to a few relaxing days here after a busy working week.

Oh...and i forgot to mention the monkeys!

  Inn Seventh Heaven...our hotel

snake, water, gun

During our horrendously hot train journey back to kochi last week, we entertained ourselves by talking to the family who sat opposite us.the kids were obviously bored and hot so we started playing rock, paper, scissors. We were soon told that in india they call it snake, water, gun and the boy had fun eating christian's biscuits and laughing at our new game.
The indians we have met on trains or buses have been very friendly and love telling us about their jobs, marriages, families and religion. They are also shocked to hear that christian and i are not married and only boyfriend and girlfriend, a concept that they are not at all used to.

filming

Holiday time is now on hold as we start working in jaisalmer with the cameraman who flew over from rostock. We are filming the different production areas of Christian's leather bags because he wants to show his customers exactly how and in what conditions the bags are made. This is an important topic so we are filming a lot. The producers are both very nice and we had fun zooming around the city on the mopeds filming the workers. They were all happy to see christian again and enjoyed being bollywood stars for the day. We all drank chai together and played with the kids.
In the afternoon we started filming a project for gusti where pens and writing books will be given out to children in villages. The kids who don't go to school here are poor and don't have a lot so when we started giving the things out yesterday they all got very excited. One little boy put his pen in his shirt pocket straight away and looked very proud (indian men always seem to have a pen in their shirt pocket).
It was a long day in the heat but worth it.