4 months or so later...

Hey to all of those who actually read this!

I have been hounded by several of you for not writing anything on here for so long, so here goes with the catch up!

Since we last spoke I have been to India, Malaysia, Indonesia and I am now engaged...

Firstly, India... When my exams were over a friend and I went to India for three weeks. Arrived in Mumbai and it is hard to explain my first impressions as I didn't really know what to expect, but it was very different to what I was used to. We arrived very early in the morning so I was glad to get some sleep at my friend's house. The next day we headed to Pune in preparation for the wedding I was going to. It was rather overwhelming when I got there as there were so many people... But they were all very welcoming and I could not have asked for more food!!! That evening I stayed at my friend's uncle's house which was really nice! The next day we went back to the previous house to board the sleeper bus! Very crowded - but I had a very nice spicy veggie burger! After a 5 hour journey through the night we arrived at the wedding venue. The wedding lasted for three days! I had never seen so many people with so many different outfits! I met so many people and ate so much food! It was an unforgettable experience for sure! Especially because I was forced to dance... and as many of you know that doesn't happen often! It was then sleeper bus back and I spent a few more days at my friend's uncle's house.

The next segment of my India trip was New Delhi and Agra. I got a two hour taxi from Pune to Mumbai airport to fly Kingfisher to Delhi. I was pretty impressed with Kingfisher - internal flight with a meal and full entertainment system - I could  not complain at the price I paid - and I got my emirates air miles  too! When I arrived I was met by my driver who took me to the hotel and I checked in etc. The room was very nice and was only about £25-30 a night! I am very grateful to my friend's dad who organised the car and the hotel for me - I would have had no clue otherwise! The first day I relaxed and had a rest, I also had a banana split in the Baskin Robbins next door :) The next day I was out of the hotel at 6am to head to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It was great to see the sunrise over the dusty landscape during the drive! That's another thing - roads in India... pretty scary to say the least! Agra isn't exactly a friendly place for tourists, the car was surrounded by people banging on the windows and when I got out I was instantly surrounded by people trying to get me to ride their camel or rickshaw or whatever... I eventually paid about 20p to get this guy to take me to the gate! Inside it was amazing and is truely something everyone has to see in their lifetime! I was rather proud of some of the pictures I managed to take! After seeing inside I walked through some of the side streets and looked at the marble cutting shops and it was fascinating. After looking around a bit longer, due to the length of the drive and the time of day we had to head back to Delhi. I would love to visit the whole golden triangle one day, I was a little disappointed that I didn't get time to see Fatehpur Sikri. The rest of my days in Delhi were spent visiting the main sites such as Raj Ghat (memorial to Mahatma Gandhi), the India Gate, Red Fort, Qutab Minar etc. I also did some souvenir shopping obviously! I then flew back to Mumbai to meet back with my friend.

The next day we headed to Calcutta (Kolkata) by sleeper train - 33hrs!!! It wasn't that bad though - I did the obvious and SLEPT! The train stations were a little overwhelming - people everywhere, cases everywhere... but all seem to know where they are going... I obviously didn't! When we got to Calcutta we got a taxi to the house - I think it was very early morning so I slept as soon as we got to the house. I was amazed in both Mumbai and Calcutta by how many street dogs there are - they are everywhere. The next day I met with a few of my friend's friends and went for food etc. However, the  next day I fell ill, so most of my time in Calcutta was spent in bed... it wasn't a good week! However, I was well looked after by everyone and still met a lot of wonderful people! Christmas day was rather odd as I was still feeling rather off, but I did manage to go to an event at the boat club which was a nice family event and was a nice evening. I will remember something from Calcutta though - leaning on taxi doors is not a good idea... especially when going around corners... I nearly ended up on the road! On boxing day I headed to the airport to get my flight back to Mumbai so I could get my flight back to Singapore. The problem was I had a 7hr gap between landing and my flight to Singapore. I went to go to the waiting room and the guy wouldn't let me in as I was so early, unless I paid for a visitor's pass. However, by this point I had no money. I went to see if I could find an ATM, but all of them were INSIDE the airport... so I went back to the guy and eventually he let me in! After which I sat and fell asleep on and off for 7hrs whilst trying to look after all of my stuff! I then got my Quantas flight back to Singapore!

Arriving in Singapore is another story... Quantas lost my luggage... It ended up flying to Brisbane and Singapore Airlines had to fly it back the next day, but I guess it is better than it being lost forever, especially when it was all of the clothes I own in Singapore! Also Quantas gave me $100 so it is not all bad! I then went to my hotel by shuttle bus to get a bad night's sleep worrying about where my luaggage was. I also could not sleep as I was looking forward to Tess arriving in Singapore too much! She was to arrive the next day at 4pm.

Right I think that's enough for now, I will write about when Tess was here a bit later or another day. I think that's enough to read for now!

Thanks for reading!

Hope you are all well!

Graham

Sorry! :)

Right! First of all! Sorry to those who actually bother to read my blog, I have been rather busy with uni work and I haven't been able to blog for the last few weeks!

However, saying this, I haven't done that much to talk about either! Exams will be coming up in a few weeks tike so I am trying to get a lot of work in before that and then I can enjoy myself in Indian and in Singapore and KL, when Tess comes to visit!

I have been mostly applying for internships and summer schemes so when I return I can at least try and save a bit of money, rather than put myself into more student debt, as well as get some experience.

Anyway - very short - but nothing much to mention at the minute that I can think of! I will blog later in the week when I remember what I was actually going to say! :)

Hope you're all well!

Singapore Grand Prix 2009!!!

Hey Everyone!

I haven't blogged since I went to the Grand Prix on sunday as I have been quite busy with uni stuff, I have my first exam tomorrow...

The F1 was absolutely amazing! It down to the track early afternoon to watch the Formula BMW Pacific, Carerra Asia Cup and Aston Martin Asia Cup - the Aston Martin one was good since 1st and 3rd place went to a Singaporean which I am told is very rare! After all that I just walked around and bought loads of merchandise! And then I heading up to my seat for the build up on the screens. I then went down to watch all the drivers come past of the back of vintage cars for the pre-race parade, got pretty close to them all which was pretty cool! There was a storm I could see to the south of Singapore but obviously it was headed somewhere else! Could have been an interesting race! I watched the start of the race in my seat but then I went down to a piece of fence at turn 17 that only those from out grandstand could get to, it was empty, so I went right up to the fence and watched the rest of the race from there as I could still see the screens! Was an amazing evening, one which I will not forget in a hurry! My ears were still ringing the next day, even though I had earplugs! I'm sure without them my ears would have bled!

I haven't been up to much else other than catching up with uni work. I have my three day aviation law exam tomorrow - have a 4000 word essay to write which should be fun... Will let you know how it goes!

Anyway that's all for now!

Speak soon!

Singapore GP Friday Practice!

Hey everyone!

Had an amazing evening last night - yes it was only the practice but it was still really good! I got there around 3pm to watch the Formula BMW practices and the Aston Martin Asia Cup practice. They both have qualifying tonight too! Last night I just sat and had a subway on my grandstand (Bay grandstand) and I witnessed Grosjean stuffing it into the wall right in front of me! I then had a walk around the 'walkabout' area and listen to a band called Ozomatli which were actually quite good to listen to and then had a few Tiger beers and explored to see where I could get a close up and I found an area where I could get right up to the fence! I am thinking I might go and walk around for the practice this evening and then go to my stand for the qualifying! I didn't leave until about midnight last night. Practice is at 7pm and the qualifying is at 10pm tonight! Should be another good night!

However, I was so tired from the flight etc that I actually fell asleep on my laptop last night while uploading the  pictures!

Anyway - speak soon! Hope you will all be watching the qualifying!

Brisbane Day 6/7

Hi everyone!

Couldn't blog yesterday... disaster! We headed down on the train to Surfer's Paradise yesterday on the Gold Coast, however to our surprise it was soon engulfed by a red dust cloud... you may have seen it on the news, but it is said to be the worst dust cloud in 40 years to hit the coast. According to the news it is red outback soil being blown by the high winds towards the coast... good day for the beach when the sun is blocked! Got some good photos of it though! We had to come back early but was good to witness that!

Today is my last day in Brisbane, I am off for a hair cut and then the botanic gardens before heading to the airport. Bit annoying that the last train goes to the airport at abpout 7.40pm brisbane time, when my check in isn't until about 23:15 - I guess I will just sit and do some work - better than paying a 45 dollars for the taxi again!

Anyway - that's all for now! I will maybe blog in the airport later if I can get on the internet, if not speak to you all when I am back 'home' in Singapore!

Speak soon!

Brisbane Day 5!

Hey Everyone! Hope you are all well!

I have been whale watching today just off Moreton Island! It was amazing! I got a courtesy bus from the centre of Brisbane out to the boat about half hour away and then we boarded for morning tea and cake! We then travelled out to sea for about an hour and then we saw the whales! It really was good! Pictures are pretty poor though since you can't exactly to tell them to pose in certain positions when you want them to - so when they do you are not prepared, but I got a few! We then had a buffet lunch - beef, chicken legs, salad etc. contrast to what I have had in Singapore! While we were eating the whales were rolling over etc out of the windows :)

Then we headed around Moreton Island for a viewing of the wrecks that have been put there as an artifical reef! We saw a few turles around there! Looks like a very nice beach out there and you can also snorkel the wrecks if you want to!

When I got back to Brisbane I just took a walk along the south bank to have an ice cream which was nice and refreshing after the day! However, even though I had used factor 50 sun lotion I soon found I have caught the sun a little today - I'm guessing it won't turn into a tan!

We are off to 'Surfers' Paradise' Beach tomorrow on the Gold Coast, so will let you know how that is tomorrow!

Anyway - I have to be up at 6.45am to get the bus and was on the water for 5hrs so pretty tiring - will probs just have a lazy evening now!

Speak to you all soon!

Brisbane day 4!

Had another good day today!

Went on the ferry again up the river to the Uni and I met up with Liz and Anuja from Nottingham which was really good! Nice to see soom more faces from home!

Me and Chris then took an evening ferry down to the other end of Brisbane and got some really nice pictures of Story Bridge and the city! Then we took an epic walk back!

Any ways - speak longer soon!