I was fortunate enough to spend New Year’s Eve and Day visiting two refugee camps on the Thai / Burma border (Burma is officially known as Myanmar now). A friend that I have been visiting in Thailand works on the
Life in a Refugee Camp: Thailand
The Day India Nearly Broke My Spirit
I finally had that day where India nearly broke my spirit. It’s the end of monsoon, which means the air is thick with moisture and oh so very hot. Not the kind of weather where you want to be shuffled
Returning Home: Melbourne
The day I landed in Melbourne was only 3 weeks shy of the two year anniversary of me leaving. I was really looking forward to my visit home, it had been a long time. There was a bit of nervous
Melbourne: The Things I Have Missed
I have been visiting Melbourne, which is home, for the past few weeks. I still have a couple of weeks to go before returning to Mumbai, but as I sit here on a cold, rainy day I am thinking of
Why I Choose to Stay in India?
I get asked all the time, “Why do you choose to stay in India?”. I am asked this by my Indian friends, by friends overseas, travellers I meet and most recently by my parents who are here visiting me for
Sometimes A Girl Just Need Some Girlfriends
Last week I made 5 new friends. I can’t remember the last time I made that many new friends in a week. As I have got older, meeting new people that I click with has become harder, and to be
Finding Home
I recently went through the rather stressful experience of trying to find somewhere to live in Mumbai. The options are overwhelming and also very varied in their quality and price. Coming from a country where you look up some places
Class or crass: India’s Middle Class
One of the biggest culture shocks I am now experiencing relates to what is considered to be “class” or behaviour that represents economic and social status. It isn’t something I saw much of when I was backpacking, but now that
The Joy and Curse of Solo-Travel
I love traveling on my own, I have been a solo-traveler for about 14 years now and thrive on the freedom and exhilaration of it. I guess you could say I have a strong independent streak and am comfortable in
Is the real India Invisible? – Andhra Pradesh
As I made my way down the east coast of the country, I decided to stop in a few places in Andhra Pradesh along the way, which gave me quite a “real” Indian experience. First stop was Visakhapatnam, otherwise known