Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I love planning - I just don't bother following plans

There's a lot going on with me at the moment, between work, career planning, my upcoming weekend in Sweden, and getting to see my man tomorrow for the first time in a month. But, as always, India's on my mind.

I received my visa in the mail today (YAYYYYYYYYYY!) so all is well and good in the world of travel (not only does this mean I can travel to India in a couple of weeks, it also means I have my UK passport back... which means I can go teach in Sweden this weekend without worrying about lying to the border guards). The only thing I still have to arrange is travel insurance.

Anyway, I figure it's time to start compiling a list of things I want to do while I'm there. It's not going to be a very long or comprehensive list; I'm still so overwhelmed by it all, and I think the best way to survive will be to just to go with the flow. But it can't hurt to list a few "must dos," lest I get caught up in the excitement and forget. This is also your moment to make recommendations, should you have any!

The general plan: Hang out in Delhi for a couple of weeks, with a side trip to somewhere in the Himalayas.

To do list:
- Shopping!!! Buy lots of cheap and beautiful clothes, scarves, jewellery, etc. (and possibly have some items custom made by a tailor)
- Learn to haggle so that I don't go bankrupt achieving the former
- Ride an elephant
- Do some volunteering
- Do some yoga
- Try some Indian dancing
- Learn some rudimentary Hindi
- Visit the Akshardam Temple (thank you, Alain)
- Visit Chandni Chowk
- Go to a Bollywood cinema
- Immerse myself in Indian culture; get to know some locals
- Take some pretty pictures
- Write some travel narratives
- Get a henna tattoo and my eyebrows threaded
- Cross the road without getting killed
- Not get too violently ill
- Begin to think of London as the boondocks

That's it... that's all she wrote! If you know of any good tailors, yoga or dance studios, salons, shopping districts, or elephant-riding places in Delhi, please feel free to name drop here. Your omg-you-can't-miss-this insider tips are also more than welcome. I'm more into doing/experiencing than I am into sight seeing, but I'm gonna want to do some of both. Perhaps ideally at the same time.

1 comment:

  1. ooh, those all sound soooo good! elephants, yoga, TEMPLES, you are so lucky! what an incredible experience. how will you ever be able to come back to london?? :P

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