Hannah is currently on VentureCo’s Himalaya Venture in India and Nepal. The 12 week Venture includes a development project in a village in Rajasthan, as well as an expedition, involving camel treks, tiger safaris, deserted beaches, mountain biking, rafting and the Everest Base Camp trek.

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Diary of a Himalayan adventure: Update Two Hannah May writes... "Our trip to Diu on India’s west coast has been fantastic. It was owned by the Portuguese until 1961 so has a distinctly European feel to the architecture, albeit with Indian ramshackle charm. It took us an age to get here. First by sleeper train, and then three public buses and a rickshaw. This had the benefit of taking us off the tourist trail. When we stopped at one bus station a crowd of about 80 Indian men formed, staring at us through the window. On another leg of the journey, Bethan's family photographs were passed around the entire bus and a 70 year old man in a white turban asked to listen to her MP3 player! We eventually arrived at the old converted church we were staying in to be greeted by a cold beer, BBQ and bed, which happened to be on the roof. The romantic setting did lose some of it's charm however, when at 4am when we woke up freezing and had to sleep in Bridget's room on her yoga mat! The next day, we rented the ricketiest bikes on the whole of Diu and set off to explore the island. We found a nice beach and went for a dip, Indian style. Basically getting your kit off in public is a big no-no (unless you want to be ogled, groped or chased down the road with a broom) so into the sea we go fully clothed! More beer and another BBQ followed along with loads of silly drunken games. Next day we took the bikes further afield across the island to a little fishing village and a secluded beach. We frolicked in our swimwear to our hearts content (not in the village you understand!) and then had our most expensive dinner to date, at a beastly £2.30 a head! After another day of cycling and swimming, we made the trip back to the station and boarded the sleeper train for Jodhpur. Unlike our journey in plush A/C comfort to the beach, we opted for S class this time. We were awoken several times by burps and belches, every time we stopped several Indians decided to chat next to our bunks. At one point an Indian gentleman decided to sit on Georgia while she was still sleeping! Having said that, it was still a laugh, just quite a tiring one! We got to Jodhpur early and went to explore. It's a great place, full of beautifully decorated rickshaws and everyone seemed really friendly. There are people, traffic and of course, cows everywhere. As well as having a look around, we also bought our clothes for project. We are now visions in fake Reebok shorts and bad T-shirts, ready for work on Friday. We are actually staying in Mandor in an amazing little guest house run by a lovely family who say we must treat it as home. It's from here we left for the first day of project, a 10km cycle away! We were greeted by garlands and crystalised honey, the village elders dancing to some traditional drums, women dressed in brightly-coloured saris balancing pot plants on their head, hundreds of children and a camel! We were then shown the classrooms we are going to renovate. They were in a pretty sorry state, literally a dark empty room, with peeling walls and nowhere for the children to sit. The project involves us constructing some desks and chairs for the children to sit at and wiring in fans and lights to two classes, building a new kitchen and stove and painting the classrooms. It’s absolutely fantastic to see how happy they are to have someone coming to help and we are all excited to get started. Over the next few days we got stuck in to the project. The wall of the kitchen went up very quickly and the desks started to take shape. The kids are used to us now and are very cheeky. They are also extremely helpful and have been sawing, drilling and painting. My new best friend Laxshman helped me paint the desks cherry red, he did it with aplomb but unfortunately his skill didn’t quite match his enthusiasm. Work ground to a halt for a couple of days as the whole of India celebrated Holi, a major religious festival. Basically, everyone gets two days off work to throw paint at each other. You start off pelting brightly coloured powder, then everyone moves onto squirting water pistols so it turns into paint, these then get abandoned in favour of buckets. When the paint runs out, you start throwing mud! Lovely and Sanjay from the guest house also had a special paint, an Indian concoction of dubious origin which they slap on your face. It’s bright pink and doesn’t come off for about a week. Nicole and Lucy still have pink hair! When we got back to project we continued with our tasks until three of us were taken on a wander round the village with one of the elders. This culminated in us being shown into a house and being shown how to make chapati, drinking tea and then being dressed up in saris! No Westerners apart from VentureCo have made it to the village before. They find us quite amusing anyway, but with the dressing up they went into overdrive! I had my nails painted by a rather over-excited 15 year old, was squeezed into an attractive peach number, draped in jewelry and given the tika mark usually reserved for someone who is married! All this was accompanied by uproarious Hindi laughter. It was so nice to se the women on their own for once, especially in their homes. Being at the village is a fantastic way to experience an Indian way of life you would not usually see. We have taken a couple of weekends away to Pushkar and Udaipur, both of which have been great fun, allowing us to explore the surrounding area. We have one last week of project left before we travel onto Jaisalmer and our camel safari!" Click here >> for arriving in India Click here >> for taking part in Hoil and renovating classrooms Click here >> for camel trekking Click here >> for trekking in the mountains Click here >> for elephant riding in Chitwan National Park Click here >> for Everest Base Camp Click here >> for bungy jumping, white-water rafting and home Name: VentureCo Address: The Ironyard, 64-66 The Market Place, Warwick Click here >> for details of this placement Click here >> to see all of VentureCo's placements Click here >> to email VentureCo Tel: 0845 344 7523