One month in.....

So having been away for over a month now, i've had some time in Thailand to think about my trip in India. It's still one of those raw countries where you can have a proper backpacking adventure, but definitely not for the feint hearted.Looking back at it all, now that i've recovered from the Delhi Belly, this is my top tip. Book your train tickets in England before you travel. There are only 3 or 4 places that can do it for you (the India train booking system is a nightmare and requires you to have an Indian SIM card/number to book!), but i found India Rail who are based in Wembley to be really helpful. It's basically just a guy in a office that knows every train timetable in India off by heart. His dad use to be a train driver in India, then moved to England when he retired and set up this business. He's known as the 'Train Brain' and has won a few awards too. Needless to say, he's a bit of a geek, but, if you're after some advice on a decent route and need some pre-booked train tickets for India or Nepal, this is your guy!

10 Things i didn't know about India

1. Expect to get woken up at sunrise by the call to morning prayers from the local Mosque. Even though the majority of India's population is Hindi, there is a large amount of Muslims living in the country too.
2. They spell the word 'Quality' as 'Kwality'....amusing
3. Some marketing genius at Cadbury has come up with the plan to brand dairy milk as dairy milk silk in India. Due to the heat all over the country and the lack of refrigeration, 99% of chocolate you'll find has already melted. Cadburys have simply sold their melted chocolate as 'silky chocolate' and the Indians love it! Genius!
4. There are often power cuts or no power at all. This is very annoying!!! Thanks for the head torch Caz!
5. Almost every Indian who can speak a little English wants to talk with you. If they can't talk English  they just stare and smile....and stare some more.....then try and take a sneaky picture of you.
6. They all ask if they can see your money....this means, do i have a coin or note from England (or dollars!). They'll often accept £/$/EUR instead of rupees, as to them, it's has not only a higher monetary value, but novelty value too. Best keep a few pennies in a spare pocket and not the pocket that has your wad of cash and passport in it!
7. The first class sleeper cabins on the trains (AC1) are the equivalent of 2 bunk beds in a caravan. Cross your fingers you don't get a snorer. 
8. Almost all regions of India have their own separate language. Then comes English, followed by Hindi. Most Indians from different parts of the country will converse in English and there's a big push to use the language more and more, in place of Hindi.
9. Pepsi is their cola of choice and Dominos Pizza can be found quite easily, even in small towns. 
10. The airports won't let you enter the building until 4 hours before your flight (bring paperwork, they hate e-tickets), so for those of you wanting to bag drop having checked in on-line early, so that you can relax departure side and have a fresh shower in one of the lounges, forget about it. They don't even let you departure side until 2 hours before your flight. So by the time you go through the slow immigration and then security, you've only got time to grab a quick bite to eat, then your plane is called for boarding! If the Mumbai departure lounge is turning a profit, i'll eat my hat.

So, would i visit India again? Probably, yes, but i'd be more likely to visit the south west (Kerala) and just work my way up and down the coast from Mumbai. It's a mad country, but there is loads to see and do if you're up for a challenge!

Speaking of challenges, i'm now in Thailand and have started week 3 of my Muay Thai boxing and Krav Maga training. I'm mostly at the camp in Pattaya, or at the pool.....or beach. Or in bar :) So, with 2 weeks left to go, i need to knuckle down and skip the late nights (i was corrupted by Jason the Auzzie!) and make the most of my time here. We train in the morning from 8:30 till 10. This involves a warm up of stretching, skipping, optional weights, but compulsory jumping on a big tyre! You then have a one to one session with one of the trainers in the ring for as long as you can last. Normally it's 3 'rounds' over 10 > 15 minutes. It's a repetition of jabs, punches, knees, blocks and kicks. As i've been here for 2 weeks now, the trainers are starting to spar back by trying to trip me when i kick the pads for example. This teaches you to get you feet in the correct position very quickly, trust me! In the evening, we start around 17:30 and go through till about 20:00. It's the same drill as the morning, plus a technique class where we learn to put all the moves together and circuit training with the punch bags. The camp has about 15 people here at the minute with a constant stream of new arrivals every few days. There are French, Polish, Russians, Auzzies and Italians. The Italian guy that owns the place is the current (2012) Muay Thai world champion! He also dabbles in some MMA too ..... that's Mixed Martial Arts for those of you wondering. All of his trainers that teach us are either ex or current fighters. There was a fight night at the local stadium last week, so we got the chance to see both Christian and Simone in action.

Both fights were won by KO by the guys from Kombat Group (the place i'm training at) against the Thai locals, so it's reassuring to know i'm training and learning from the best! I'll post the results of my 4 weeks hard work when all the bruising goes down a little!