JULY 2010 - trip summary with photos

[CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY]

Thanks for bumping this CSS.. Missed it the first time round I think. Great report and some nice pics.

How did the tattoo hold up with all the walking, was it sore?

ha ha, no it was all good. fortunatly it wasnt on anywhere that hurt whilst walking about. being on the bloody coach home was a nighmare though, every which way that i wanted to sit and lay involved it touching something.

[moby69]

Hey CSS , did you ever get to India ?

Well dude , did ya ?

[CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY]

Hey CSS , did you ever get to India ?

Well dude , did ya ?

yes mate i did..... but unfortunatly it was by far my least favourite country (which is saying somethind as nepal is up there in the top 3)....

our first stop of the trip was mumbai and i have to admit i was very very green to what it would be like. it was a real shock... horrendous. i had made the mistake of pre booking our hotel as well, so we ended up in the suburb of 'khar' which is borderline slum, when we should have done the normal thing of heading into the centre and finding friendly backpacker places. we only lasted 2 days in mumbai before we decided to leave, seeing all that poverty and filth was too much for us middle class noobies, so we headed straight over to the other side of the country, by train (another mind bending experience) to madras. i did get offered hash out side victoria termainal in mumbai before leaving, but i was not comfortable enough in my surroundings to think about buying it.

madras, was no different... another heaving mass of poverty and filth.... being at the very beginning of our trip we well into saving money mode, so we were going for the cheapest rooms in the city, to save pennies, and we got to stay in some of the worst places ill ever go to. in doing so we saved maybe 4 pounds a night, which we thought was great, but by the time we got to australia it was 4 pound a beer any way so we should have just stayed in better places in india because saving made no diffference at all ha ha. again, we were not settled enough to go looking for hash yet in madras.

below madras we found pondicherry and mamalapuram, which finally gave us a taste of what we thought india would be... indian imagery, fabric shops, music etc. not the fucking horrid chaotic shit holes that the cities are. we quite enjoyed our time in thoose two towns, but we were still thinking of cutting our time short in india, and getting to nepal early, so headed way up north, toward sikkim. the plan was to go to darjeeling, but there were riots going on, so a curfew was put on darjeeling/west bengal, so we had to carry on past to sikkim.

this is where our luck changed. because of the closure of darjeeling, all tourist heading that way had the choice of going further north, which most decided on. after two weeks we finally met some other europeans and we were able to relax with new friends. a few nights in nother god awful town (siliguri) but by now we were relaxing a bit and were able to laugh off all the mentalness and crap, rather than just be shocked and offended by it.

we all headed to sikkim, by jeep, up and through and over the himilayan foothills... this was the first time our hearts actually swelled with amazement and joy. one of the most stunning car rides in the world. going many kilometers into the sky, through jungly forest, driving in the clouds and coming accross woden villages, like you would only imagine...

sikkim was amazing, no spitting, no dead animals, no feaces on the floor, no chaos... green hills, yaks, curries, beer that wasnt full of oily preseratives, waterfalls, more curries, wonderfull music, and a really great bunch of people. we made friends with an american lady and her indian/goan husband. we had beers and curries every night and he sorted out a nice bit weed for me. it was awfull weed though, bush (as to be expected) but harsh and week. still, it was a long time coming, and still welcome. the walking was amazing up there, and we stayed quite a while there. we spent longer in sikkim than we did in the rest of mainland india...

we started to learn how to back pack whilst up there too. i have to admit, that we were not ready to do mumbai and madras, but we did them, and the shock is something ill never forget... whilst in sikkim we learnt how to deal with everyday things, like buses, markets, hotel touts etc. all simple stuff, but so intense when youve never experienced that type of life....

after sikkim, we made the short jeep ride into eastern nepal, and from there on, we had the greatest experince of our lives....nepal is just magnificent (if not horrendously fucked up politically).... we smoked heartily in all but 3 countires and really really loved our time. we were able to joke about our india experinces pretty quickly, we became greatfull that we had those experinces even though we were not enjoying ourselves at the time.

once youve done india... everywhere is easy and functional.

imagine india is like shopping at tk maxx.... thus vietnam is like harrods.... and so thailand is like harrods with a personal shopper.

...........................

if your interested, here are our photos of our shortend time in india...

south: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... d7b0a62a2b

north: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... fca3640bb9

cheers

[Boner]

Those pics are amazing CSS.

[titus wong]

Nice impromptu travelogue of ur India adventures. Ur honesty was refreshing.

[schererbuzz]

Killer pics. How much was the henna tat?

[moby69]

Great review and pix man .
I'd often wondered how you got on .
Judging by the pix the North is the place to go .
Wanted to ask what was the crack smoke wise .
Was it mainly hash , and what was gettin hold of it like ?

[CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY]

Killer pics. How much was the henna tat?

well, at the time it was 80 rupees ot the pound, and the henna was something like 40 rupees.... and i suspect we paid way to much, as we were tourists, who hadnt learned how to barter yet... definatly paid to much, as a whole meal would cost us 100 rupees. still not complaining, we were happy with paying cheap prices, and they were happy to be paid too much.

Great review and pix man .
I'd often wondered how you got on .
Judging by the pix the North is the place to go .
Wanted to ask what was the crack smoke wise .
Was it mainly hash , and what was gettin hold of it like ?

as i said, we didnt get into smoking in india, till we were about to leave, so i cant really say from experience, but from chatting to people out there, ive been told you get a good supply of both weed and hash every where. however the weed is always outdoor bushy stuff, whereas the hash can range from the bottom quality, right up to some of the best in the world. i believe that weed in some states is decriminalised for use in religious goings on, but hash is definatly illegal all over..... but still very available.

nepal though.... oh my god. stoner paradise..... weed really lives up to its name, as a weed over there.... it grows absolutly EVERY WHERE... and i mean everywhere. it is as prolific as the nettle is in england. and amazingly, it started right on the border. so there must be a concious culling of wild bush weed on the indian side, whereas its just every where 100 meters over the border. you get outdoor weed, picked straight out of the himalayan valley, which rivals any skunky hydro stuff for flavour and high. and you get the greatest hashes possible, direct form the source. if it wasnt for the dysentry, maoists, power cuts, cholera, leprosy, corruption, etc etc. nepal would be the best place ever ha ha ha

here is a picture of the first time i picked up in nepal.... the hotel we arrived at near 'chitwan national park' had ganja plants outisde it, some of which were female so i was picking all the little bits of bud off, and was gonna dry them out. a hotel worker asked if i would want to buy some, and said it would cost 200 ruppes (180 nepalese rupees = £1). i said definalty, gave him the money and did'nt even ask how much i was gonna get... a couple of joints for £1.10p would make me very happy..... but this is what i got!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... 1252580889

and it was amazing stuff.... not an exageration... it was rocket fuel!

[moby69]

It must of been mental .
I can't believe what you got for a quid .