So we are currently enjoying refreshingly yummy mocktails with banana shami kebab and dahi ke sholey after a dip in the pool (opened especially for us) and a hot shower with white clean towels. Oh and complimentary tea, coffee and chocolate. Really hardcore backpacking basically.
Truthfully, we got a little nervous last night; the first scam has made us weary and perhaps over-paranoid but after being offered another 'package tour deal' by the Love Guru's friend and some other shady business we felt fed up, overwhelmed and unsure.
Back to the 'gap yah' experience, I may have called my Mother... "Mummyyy... Any chance you'd like to pay for us to stay in a pricey hotel tonight while we sort ourselves out and get comfortable?".
Oops.
Anyway now we are finally rolling on with our journey. Our train tickets are booked (by ourselves thank you very much all you India travel agents) and we have a good plan. Exciting times ahead and we will post soon!
These past few months have been a hectic bundle of earning money through about five different jobs and planning an exciting three month trip through Asia with my friend, Amy.
We arrived in India on the 16th and we plan move up towards Nepal, back into India, and fly into Thailand before also exploring Laos. We're pretty excited but three months is a long time! Due to popular demand (and parental anxiety) we have decided to blog about it. Since this has turned into a lifestyle blog, I think that this is an appropriate place to jot down our experiences here in Asia.
We won't post everyday and we will take it in turns to write a post. We hope that you will enjoy reading about our travels and that this will reduce the number of emails or calls from my (Mamie's) Mother.
17th March 19:31 by Amy
Day 1. Painful first impressions
Overwhelming, stressful and 'general mind fuck' would be the most accurate way of describing the first day of this backpackers' trip slash crazy adventure.
It begins with us exiting Delhi airport, groggy and anxious, where we were affronted by a large crowd of Indian taxi drivers. Once we worked out the exchange rate, we arranged a pre-paid taxi to take us to our Hostel, New King... or so we thought. Lesson 1. Listen to your hostel when they advise you to let them pick you up from the airport *cough cough* Mamie.
E-mail received 17/03 3:14
Dear Guest
This is from hostel where you made a reservation for today. We are really worried about you, could you please tell us exactly what happened with you. You might have met some people who might have told you that there are from hotel and invatebily they have told you that your booking not confirm. Or may be local taxi driver took you to so called Tourist information & they have told you a same & they must have tried tried to sell you a expensive package for rajasthan. They have even told you that the hotel has transferred your booking to their branch hotel but it's all SCAm you never spoke to us it was one of them who are making you fool. Pls reply to this ASAP & I will get all your momey back. Just let me know name of hotel you are staying I will come to pick u up Thanks
The realisation that the phone call made from the 'hostel'' to the 'tourist agency' may have been fake came to me at 3am in our new hotel. We had been completely fooled by a well-dressed man in an official looking office. Since we thought our first hostel was unable to take us and because we were told we were unsafe travelling alone, in our vulnerability we were charmed into paying a large sum of money for a travel package around India. How humiliating. I personally had spent the day with this horrible aching feeling of unease - we didn't know who we could trust. We spent the evening calling up hotels to check that they'd booked us in.
Day 2. Shanti Shanti
Although we had been scammed, we now had someone on our side who said, quote; 'I'm going to screw with these people's happiness! Shanti shanti. [the Indian take on 'akunamatata'] Would you like some tea?' The man running New King looked like a mix of the love guru and someone from Aladdin. He was also so chilled I knew our second day would be a complete contrast to the previous, and it was. We were backpacking, seeing the real Delhi and not being chauffeured around in a taxi.
There were plenty of opportunities to get our cameras out in Old Delhi. Highlights for me were the mosque Jami Masjid (where Mamie and I were dressed up in floral overalls and had to take off our shoes) and walking around the general hustle and bustle of Delhi which was never dull. The markets reminded me of Marrakech - with the crowded streets, beeping horns and haggling- this time in rupees. There was also the attention we got from locals. We felt like celebrities with constant photo requests. It's definitely not been a boring first two days and we're going to bed very happy with a stomach full of Lassie.
Now I'm back home, snuggled in my bed and full after indulging in a plate of greasy fish n' chips, it's time to tell you about my exciting day at the ME Hotel for London Fashion Week. I should add here that I managed to get this temporary assistant work because, as you might remember if you follow what I get up to, I worked for Mark a couple of years ago.
To start with, the ME. A five star hotel and 'the place to be' especially during this glamorous, upcoming week, the ME is located just opposite Somerset House on The Shard. The view from the showing room itself was spectacular and from the moment you walk in, you'll notice that everything is smooth, black, marble and pretty classy.
And what about Mark Fast's AW13 collection? Three models were late- one arriving with only ten minutes 'till the show and thus sending us into ultra-panic mode- but once the guests were settled, Little Dragon (a good choice may I add) started playing through the sound-system and the girls started strutting into the room. You're going to mock me, but, well... the thing is... I kinda forgot my phone downstairs and I didn't actually get any good shots. I knowww, I'm sorrryy I hate myself too! This means that while most of the photos in this post are mine, the ones of the actual show aren't. There is a bonus to this because you can spot me, though blurry, in the background of some of the shots I found on Fashionising.com.
A multitude of feathery fringes, sleek silhouettes and hints of skin
under beautifully crafted and inspired knits, Mark's trademark style ran
through the collection. It's clear however that his designs have
progressed, becoming more elegant and mature. To me, Mark understands an
interesting balance between baring skin and covering up. He works
creatively with fabrics and introduced knitwear on a whole new level
into the world of fashion.
The collection reminded me a little bit of Ostriches and Flamingos, but it was actually inspired by this really arty film that I've forgotten the name of.... oops.
There were two shows; one at 15:30 one at 16:30. I only watched the
first onebut as I was handling the queue for the second and directing
the guests through to the show, I was lucky enough to meet Pixie Lott. Okay, so
by meet I mean that I opened an elevator door for her- haha!- but I didn't stop there. Not long after Pixie came
along Delilah. One of my three lesbian crushes (the other two being Shingai Shoniwa and Rihanna), Delilah is quite often my go to playlist and there was no way I could have held my excitement.
I've even written about her on here! After the idea that I was indeed
standing next to my one true love started to sink in, I thought 'f**k
it* and stepped forward to proclaim that love. "Can I just say that I
love you". I went there. Delilah seemed pleased though, so I hope she
enjoyed the show and I look forward to seeing her again (another gig
soon please?).
My effort to capture a photo of Delilah.
There was another song played during the show, and though I knew the song and even knew the words I couldn't place the name or the artist, so I will leave you here with the wonderful Little Dragon song called 'Ritual Union' which was the first on Mark's playlist.
So this is the surprise that I mentioned last time. I've got a great post coming for you guys later because I have bagged myself work at London Fashion Week 2013 with Mark Fast! Okay so yes, I'm not quite yet sitting front row, but one step at a time eh? I'm so excited for today and I'm going to make the most of it; maybe if I'm brave enough I'll be handing out my blog-business cards to every passer by.
Here's a little taster of what I'm wearing (vintage velvet print trousers for a bargain £10) before I dash off to the Strand. Speak later, or maybe if you're a lucky one too, see you today at Somerset House.
I have not posted often enough because I have been distracted by a) Temple Run 2 (gah so exciting) and b) business prospects. Oh and by business prospects I mean working £5 an hour as a bartender/ waitress for some sh***y hospitality company that I just want to scream at. I go from doing a Gucci Shoot in the Barbican Garden room to serving tea and coffee in the Barbican Garden room. Wah.
But it's fine, my life will lead somewhere somehow. Like, I've got a lot of cool things going on like photography shoots and blogging jobs but none of them are paid, so I guess I have to make ends meet.
However lets talk about other things. Lets discuss the new Temple Run.
For those of you who don't know what Temple Run is (time to come out from under that rock...), it's an incredible iPhone game in which you jump, slide, swipe to turn and tilt the phone to collect coins, avoid obstacles and ultimately escape the three derranged monkeys that are running after you from the Temple. It's free, which is always good, and I don't want to start a war but I actually prefer it to Angry Birds. In fact, I never really got into Angry Birds.
Anyway, the new Temple Run hits whole new levels of dope. The paths are curved so it's more interesting, there are ropes and trams to slide down rather than just the same path for hours (if you can last that long), and this time you're running from some terrifying lumbering monster which I cannot name. So yeah, give it a try.
I honestlycannot believe that I just used up a blog post writing about Temple Run... welcome to my life.
Talking of the Barbican however, one good thing did come out of working
that shift. The Rain Room is an exhibition at the Barbican in which a
group of art students questioned 'what if we could control the weather'.
Almost the entire room is raining but camera sensors detect where you
walk and you stay dry. I thought I had missed the exhibition but luckily
I spotted the queue as I left work and despite the hour and a half
wait, I convinced my friend, Amy, to sit with me. Ultimately we actually
became more obsessed with taking photos because the lighting in the
room was so good. I mean, it was pretty cool but you had to walk so slowly
for it to work! Give it five years and I'm sure the technology will be
ready. Anyway the exhibition is open until March, queue closes at
approximately 6pm, and you all still have a lot of time to check it out
if you're lucky enough to be in London. I'd like to show you some of
what we got out of The Rain Room although I'm afraid that we only had my
iPhone for photographs. (ps. Amy kept accidentally calling it the red
room of rain haha!) (for those that haven't read 'Fifty Shades Of Grey', there is a key feature called the Red Room of Pain). However we also made a small video and then wasted more of our time at home editing it, making it arty, and timing it with some indie music called 'Tim (The Manhole)' by Everything Everything. Maybe let me know what you think. If you're into the music, check out more of Everything Everything; they recently released a new album called 'Arc' and it really is incredible.
I've decided to include some Everything Everything songs to finish this post because they really deserve the attention. Also, they're an upcoming band who I'm pretty sure are going to do well this year and I like to be pretty savvy and know-it-all about my music (I have to apologise for being annoying haha!).
Until next time! London Fashion Week is coming up and for the first time ever I feel like writing about it and staying on top of the shows. I also have a little surprise for you... watch this space!
So there are a few sales that are still being dragged out to catch out mugs like me who don't know how to stop spending and save up instead for traveling... hmph. Boo you whores. And honestly, I don't know whether making this post was a good idea or a bad idea; bad because I just found so many things that I really have to resist purchasing but good because I have transferred that 'buying energy' into creative 'blog-making' energy, if that makes sense.
Anyway, for you, my dear lovely readers, here is an assortment of sale items that I have put together from some of my personal favourite (and most visited) online sales. Shopping from the comfort of my bed? Oh yes.
High Shine Hotpants
£13.50 from £25 Don't judge me... I'm preparing for crazy twerking at the London Major Lazer gig in May. Must be prepared with hot pants if I want Diplo to notice me. (#slutmove).
URBAN OUTFITTERS with a 20% student discount for limited time only!
Deena & Ozzy Red Leather Studded Barrel Bag
£50 from £90 I recently read an article in the Evening Standard about 'Bucket bags' being the new 'IT item'. Honey, I've been carrying my bucket around for a year and a half now and I'm telling you, move over Bucket and enter the Barrel.
