Trip back to Pune 20th-21st Oct 09

Well we were told that our bus departed Mapusa at 5.30pm so we were cutting it fine as we wanted to catch the local bus but taxi's were 5 times the price and I also enjoy catching the bus. So once we got to Mapusa after worrying we would be late (we were right on time by the way) we found out that there wasn't a bus leaving until 7.30pm and we had been told the wrong time :0 to make matters worse our travel company hadn't phoned up to confirm our seats, thankfully we were able to work it out so it was all ok. This meant we had to find a place to stay for 2 hours and as Mapusa has literally no cafes and restaurants around the bus station we ended up relaxing in Baskin and Robbins, in the end everything turned out fine and we spent our time reading until we had to get on the bus. The bus ride went really quickly and we arrived in Pune before I knew it. It was really nice arriving just as the sun began to rise, almost peaceful as there were fewer vehicles on the road. As my bag was in the hold I rushed out to grab it only to find that it was damp and smelt like fish, it appeared that someone was transporting fish in the hold and when the ice melted the water had run onto my bag = bag and cloths stinking of fish :( not really what I wanted to wake up to, only up side is we managed to get meter price from the bus station back to Sangam (rickshaw drivers usual try to get as much out of you as possible as they assume you a tourist and don't know any better, which is extremely annoying when you live locally and know exactly how much the ride should cost) So on returning to Sangam I got straight to laundry, even before having breakfast, and I ended up trying to wash the fishy smell from my bag and clothing for the rest of the morning :( with an hours stop for my Hindi lesson. The day got worse when me and the Sweds went to buy train tickets to go to Agra only to find that they were sold out :( it really wasn't my day. But at the end of the day things seem to have picked up; we have a travel agent looking at alternative forms of transport and my cloths and bag no longer smell of fish YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!