Manic Manipal
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Thom
07 Januari 2015 | India, Manipala
Here we are, India. Finally we've arrived, after a plane journey of around 13 hours. That might not be long for some of you who read this blog, but for someone who has only travellled by plane for 4 hours, this was quite an exciting part of the journey. Up until the moment when I realised they didn't really have the best choice of movies and decided to work on my unfinished paper.
Anyway, we arrived in Mumbai and after about two hours, trying to get through security check, we made our way to the taxi stand and got swindled for the first time (probably the first of many). After having paid extra for a cab with AC (we'd have to wait at least half an hour for one without AC according to the man behind the desk and it was 5am by this point so..), we got directed towards a little van with an ancient-looking man. The air coming through the open window was indeed very cooling. If it was worth the extra money is a different question, but oh well, we just wanted to sleep!
The hostel we booked was somewhere very close to the slums. Greeted by some scruffy stray dogs and a grumpy receptionist, our eyelids as heavy as rocks, we made our way to our room and fell asleep. Probably the worst hostel I've ever stayed in. But to be honest, I kinda liked it, immediately being thrown into it. The room was tiny, with the bed basically taking up everything but two square meters to put your bags. A piercing smell, somewhere in between stale urine and mould, rising up from the sink and toilet; dark moist stains on the ceiling and wall; black (pubic?) hairs on the bed; and a plasma tv, proudly hanging above the bed.
After a couple hours of sleep, we went to meet Nicole and Steffie and moved our bags to their hostels. Quite the improvement I must say. We didn't do too much in Mumbai, mainly tried to get rid of our jetlag. We visited some sights, walked around, and tasted our first Indian dishes (which are amazing).
And the experiences just kept coming.. Pushed into a little cubicle with mattress, we set off on the nightbus to Goa. There were some fun travellers that were on the bus, highlight being the two Russians that almost forced us to drink their vodka and interrogated us about Crimea and Putin. One long, bald, and shorts that were so short that they revealed almost everything when he sat down. The other a bit shorter, with his large sweaty belly rubbing me several times as he tried to pass. Both smelling like alcohol. Both talking nonsense to us (in Russian). But they were kind.
Okay, I'll stop havering soon. We arrived in Manipal after a trainride from Goa to Udupi, which is located next to Manipal. The hostel we're staying in is modern and nice, the rules a bit less so. Boys and girls dorms are separated and forbidden territory for the other sexe; we're not allowed to go to the beach; and there's a 11pm curfew. But, we found an amazing house where we will be moving into on Friday probably. Also had our first introductory meeting today at uni and met our teachers, who all seem very nice. We'll be starting courses on psychiatric social work and medical social work on Friday and will be doing field work each Tuesday and Wednesday from next week on. We also have class on Saturday, but they seem rather flexible about it. Fortunately. We already planned our first trip away this weekend, to Gokarna!
Anyway, we arrived in Mumbai and after about two hours, trying to get through security check, we made our way to the taxi stand and got swindled for the first time (probably the first of many). After having paid extra for a cab with AC (we'd have to wait at least half an hour for one without AC according to the man behind the desk and it was 5am by this point so..), we got directed towards a little van with an ancient-looking man. The air coming through the open window was indeed very cooling. If it was worth the extra money is a different question, but oh well, we just wanted to sleep!
The hostel we booked was somewhere very close to the slums. Greeted by some scruffy stray dogs and a grumpy receptionist, our eyelids as heavy as rocks, we made our way to our room and fell asleep. Probably the worst hostel I've ever stayed in. But to be honest, I kinda liked it, immediately being thrown into it. The room was tiny, with the bed basically taking up everything but two square meters to put your bags. A piercing smell, somewhere in between stale urine and mould, rising up from the sink and toilet; dark moist stains on the ceiling and wall; black (pubic?) hairs on the bed; and a plasma tv, proudly hanging above the bed.
After a couple hours of sleep, we went to meet Nicole and Steffie and moved our bags to their hostels. Quite the improvement I must say. We didn't do too much in Mumbai, mainly tried to get rid of our jetlag. We visited some sights, walked around, and tasted our first Indian dishes (which are amazing).
And the experiences just kept coming.. Pushed into a little cubicle with mattress, we set off on the nightbus to Goa. There were some fun travellers that were on the bus, highlight being the two Russians that almost forced us to drink their vodka and interrogated us about Crimea and Putin. One long, bald, and shorts that were so short that they revealed almost everything when he sat down. The other a bit shorter, with his large sweaty belly rubbing me several times as he tried to pass. Both smelling like alcohol. Both talking nonsense to us (in Russian). But they were kind.
Okay, I'll stop havering soon. We arrived in Manipal after a trainride from Goa to Udupi, which is located next to Manipal. The hostel we're staying in is modern and nice, the rules a bit less so. Boys and girls dorms are separated and forbidden territory for the other sexe; we're not allowed to go to the beach; and there's a 11pm curfew. But, we found an amazing house where we will be moving into on Friday probably. Also had our first introductory meeting today at uni and met our teachers, who all seem very nice. We'll be starting courses on psychiatric social work and medical social work on Friday and will be doing field work each Tuesday and Wednesday from next week on. We also have class on Saturday, but they seem rather flexible about it. Fortunately. We already planned our first trip away this weekend, to Gokarna!
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