“So, did you find yourself?”

When my friend returned from travelling her work colleague asked her, “So, did you find yourself?” The old cliché goes that you ought to “find yourself” somewhere in between the muddy litter of a Cambodian “slum”…or nestled in between the petals at a Thai water-festival. If you’re lucky, you might “find yourself” at the bottom of a very black coffee in a dirty, back street bar or somewhere on a sunset horizon in the middle of nowhere. Just maybe it’s in the eyes of an Indian boy or inscribed on the lovers tombs at the Taj Malhal? You get the idea. I know it wasn’t in the sky when I jumped from 15,000 ft, and it wasn’t on the floor either, when I drained the rum bottle dry. Everyone who travels (it seems) is searching for something. A better understand of life and often their purpose within it. (Or maybe we’re all just running.)

As my five months draws to a close I have been trying to savour every last minute. Travelling all over south India by public bus and public train has been easy and really cheap. (You can take a six-hour journey and pay just over one English pound.) At first we were told that it’s very hard to navigate yourself around India, especially compared to somewhere like South East Asia. It does seem that way if you attempt to book any buses or trains in advance. Trains and buses all appear to be fully booked for weeks. We found the only way to travel is to just turn up at the bus station and get on a bus. People hanging off the sides, not a westerner in sight, shoving amazing deep fried things in your face, it’s never boring. Train is my absolute favourite way to travel. The countryside is stunning, the greens of the rice field are almost too green, dotted with coloured shacks and women working in the fields. The windows and doors are thrown open and all you have to do is get the wind in your hair, sun in your face and the echos of “Chai Chai” in your ears.

From Varkala we travelled to Kumily by old Ambassador car, the only car we’ve had to take with just the three of us. We stayed right on the edge of Periyar Wildlife Park in a gorgeous home stay, with the best dosa meal so far. We did a day’s safari, an elephant trek and washed, and got washed, by the elephant. The elephant’s name was Lashmi and the Muhoot showed us how he could control the huge animal by impressive touch and voice commands.

From Kumily we took the public bus to Madurai, staying in the worst place I have EVER had to stay. An English prison cell would have been much nicer. (I will upload photos). We visited the coloured temple here (sorry, I have forgotten the name) and I found these even more impressive than the Taj Malhal. They were enormous, and intricately painted with thousands of coloured statues. We then spent the rest of our night drinking cold coffees on various roof top bars to avoid our rooms from Hell. At 200R a punnet of apricots was more expensive than that room… but however cheap, it should not have looked like “someone had blown their brains out on the walls” (Ryan’s pretty accurate description).

From Madurai we travelled to Munnar. The tea plantations were vast and stunning. We stayed with a curious old man called Joesph, who invited us into his sitting room for tea, biscuits and circular chat that revolved around who we were (as he kept forgetting) and us needing to be back before half seven to avoid being attacked by an elephant. We crept back past midnight on several occasions like naughty (slightly pissed) teenagers, but never once did we see the dangerous elephant that “eats everybody’s cabbages”. Joesph drew us hand drawn maps of walks to take around the plantations, and a few of us went for a lovely trek with breathtaking views of sprawling tea and mountains.

From Munnar we travelled back to Cochin to see our friend Louise, and then took the night train to Gokana, where we have been stuck ever since. A hut on Om beach costs 3 pound a night and a bottle of rum can be purchased for under one pound…the days have started to blur into one long, hot and sunny mesh of goodness. Tonight we are getting a night bus to Hampi, and after a few days travelling on to Goa, where we will end our trip. It’s been beautiful and we’ve met some lovely people.

It’s very surreal that my five months is almost over and I’ll be back in the UK all too soon. I expect your wondering; did I “find myself”? Nope, I don't think so...but I’m not exactly sure what that means. I wanted to gain a better understanding of life. I went into the homes of extremely deprived Cambodia children and families, and made friends with Cambodian girls and young men of my own age. I saw both Australian City life and life out in “the bush”. I observed life in towns with a three hundred population and cities with a 15 million population. I was invited into an Indian Slum, talked with people who had arranged Indian marriages and met other travellers with all sorts of “understandings” about life along the way. This has helped, but it’s also given me a lot more questions than before. One thing I know, I will never take the freedom I have as an English woman for granted ever again. And secondly, I will try to make the most of this freedom everyday and the opportunities that I have, and don’t necessarily deserve. The incredible people I have met and some of the things these people are doing with their lives is probably what has impacted me the most. I thought this five months would have cured the travelling bug, but it seems by scratching at an itch (that would have eventually gone away) I have just made it all the more itchy. (Which means I might now be screwed for life.) I hope this is just one of lots more travelling adventures...

I will upload more photos when I am back in England and maybe write again...Although I hope to see you all in person (I fly back on Friday 11th Feb). I am coming home! It's SO surreal. (I also want to say I am not tanned, I've been tanned at intervals but won't be returning brown).

My brain is just trying to process what happened in the last five months. So bring a jumper to the airport and put the kettle on...because have I got some tales to tell.