End of Raleigh

Well my 13 weeks with Raleigh have finised and I'm now in Bangalore having said goodbye to the last of our group, Antje and Jerry, this morning. The final phase sped by and the last few days have been full of emotional farewells - first with all the venturers and then with all the staff members. But I have lots of new friends to keep in touch with! Today has been the first time I've been truly on my own for almost 3 months and although it feels a bit strange I'm quite enjoying the freedom.

Bangalore is a very westernised city, full of shopping malls, offices and cafes, so occasionally it almost feels like London, although it's hot and sunny, so certainly not London in December. I had a pedicure yesterday (what decadence!) with Jo and my hair cut today so I'm feeling a bit tidier - interestingly Bangalore is the first place in India I've come across women's hair salons as most Indian women grow their hair long and don't get it cut. I also braved the Bangalore railway station 'computerised' booking office to book some onward train tickets. This involves the very Indian system of shambolic queuing to make an enquiry and then filling out a paper form with the train details you want before more queuing at another counter to pay and actually get the ticket. In true Indian style I manage to do a bit of queue barging myself to find out the train times - sometimes being female and a foreigner has its advantages ;-)

So tomorrow I'm off to Pondicherry for Christmas and then on to Trichy and Madurai for the temples. I'm also hoping to catch up with Raleigh host country venturers Manju and Siva en route. Then in January it's a full 2 weeks of relaxing yoga in Kerala.

In the meantime a big HAPPY CHRISTMAS to everyone back home!