First blog

Hello there! This is my first blog!

I'm going to write up as much as I can remember of the last dream that I can remember, if you're with me! I had this dream 2 nights ago. I'm going to write it in the present tense because it helps me to remember it more clearly....

I've just arrived in India (I've never actually been to India but would love to go), and I've got a lot of luggage with me because I'm going to be staying in a hotel rather than backpacking around. I get into big horse-drawn bus(!) which is being driven by a rather sleezy character - a man in his 50's whose overweight and who has little respect for anyone other than himself. As the 'bus' pulls off I can just about make out the horse's ears at the front of the carriage which is very high up. The driver keeps whipping the horse and making it go faster and faster so that we're speeding along at a crazy pace. I shout at the man "slow down!" and he laughs thinking that I'm just scared of the speed, but I'm actually really angry with him for being so cruel and driving the poor horse so hard. I shout again, "slow down for God's sake! I really hate how you're treating that animal and if you don't slow down I'll get off the bus and you won't have my money!" The driver pulls on the horse's reins and we slow down and a middle aged English lady whose travelling with her husband turns to me and congratulates me on my assertiveness.

As we continue to travel along a wide red dirt track, the driver keeps turning around in his seat trying to grope me. I find him totally disgusting - he's a stereotypical lecherous man, the kind that has no respect for women and who is quite likely alcoholic (hey, I'm dreaming so I'm allowed to judge!). I move seats so that I'm far away from him, and as I look out of the glassless windows I see a beautiful mountainous landscape covered with dense lushious forest. Eventually we arrive at a hotel and loads of Indian men in hotel uniform rush towards the bus to help us get out and to carry the luggage. I pay the driver a very specific amount of money - the payment has to be ten notes, each to the value of '20' (but it's not rupees, it's a currency I don't recognise), and then I have to tip him, and the English lady guides me about this by pointing to a notice in the bus which states that the tip should cover the cost of a new shirt (as the driver gets very sweaty whilst working and needs lots of changes of shirt!?!).

Once inside the hotel I feel a bit scared - it's the first time I've ever been abroad on my own and I feel like everyone can tell that I'm nervous and clueless, I feel like all of the hotel staff are staring at me as I'm taken through lots of corridors and swinging doors until I get to an open plan bar area which is sheltered but one wall is totally open to the garden outside. I'm told to sit at a high bar table and a lady comes over with lots of rough pieces of poorly photo-copied paper. She signs me in to the hotel and as she goes through the checking-in process I realise that she's British and that she seems very confident and self-assured. I ask her lots of questions, and feel like I really don't know what's happening - it's like I'm here at this hotel in India, but I don't remeber planning or booking anything, and I don't really know how I even came to be here! She walks off to do something else, and I drink the drink I've been given and see that there's another girl at another table who's also checking-in to the hotel. She's laughing loudly and talking so that everyone can hear what she's saying, and I get the sense that she's very aware of this!

Shortly after I'm shown to my room, room number 17. An oriental lady in a formal skirt and blazer unlocks the door for me, and on the other side of the door is a curved staircase, half-way up and on the left is an open-plan area with a desk and chair and on the desk are a vase of flowers, a telephone and cables for internet connection. At the top of the stairs we walk straight into the bedroom area. It's fairly basic but comfortable. The lady asks me if I want anything and I ask for some tea - lemon tea I think, and then I'm left alone. [will finish this blog later Xx]