Weekend away.

Daya and I went with Ben and Vinu to Dharwad and Hubli. Twin cities 8 hours from Bangalore.

So first off was an 8hour train ride in the day. Was fun to start with, but after a few hours it did start to get boring. Its a good thing I had my camera, mp3 and a good book! Walking up and the down the train was lots of fun aswell, the staring never ceases. Standing on the edge of the train because the doors are wide open was also really fun, I didn't get to close to the edge though.

Arrived at Dharwad station at 10pm-ish, waited for the hotel people to pick us up and arrived at a very very nice hotel. Dharwad was really different to Bangalore, theres heaps of people, heaps more buses aswell! I really enjoyed it though.

We went to a school of music which was just out of Hubli, in a village. Driving through the village was an eye opener, this is India. The children are such gorgeous children, I love them. Women walking fetching water, carrying it on their heads, living in small hut-like houses. Makes you super grateful for what you have.

At the school it was so cool. The children all ran up to the car when we arrived saying 'Namaste' and asking our names, they were too cute. The school had a whole heap of huts and little houses. They learnt Indian instruments and music, and also did academic studies, its like all of the children were homeschooled. It was so cool. I absolutely loved it. Music and children are my passion, so sticking them both together like that was cool :)

The real experience was also taking a sleeper train back to Bangalore. There were these little booths all down the train. In each little booth there were 3 bunks on each side, and 2 across from the booth. It was actually really comfortable to sleep and it was quite fun. I really enjoyed it and would do it again anytime.

India has captured the other half of my heart (NZ will permanently own half :)

I love it.