Whataday

The trip from Huey Xai to Luang Prabang by "slow boat" takes 2 days - compared to the speed and noise of the fishermen seen along the river, the expression seems preposterous: our modernized junk-boat carries from 80 to 120 people. Its shape long and slender, its single aisle, a wooden roof and open windows, rows and rows of what used to be car seats, an exposed truck engine roaring in the back, make the whole thing seem the weirdest trip on a plane from another dimension. In the morning of the second day, I get down to the boat at 7am. Although it is "scheduled" to leave at 9am, I know from yesterday's experience that getting a "bad seat" (a wooden planck so near the next row of wooden planks that you barely can squeeze ... read more

Back to the future (or ahead to the past?) Here's the last one, as I prepare myself for returning to civilization (should I put quotes or not?). In the last month I could not update the site as I struggled with some sort of bacteria which I contracted probably along the way, while eating something on the street or, more likely, drinking tap water....I guess this is how things happen, a small one-time concession, a slight exception to the rule of care turns into a BIG MISTAKE with loads of consequences. In my case, it was one night where I woke up in my guest house room at 3am with an incredible thirst. As I did not have bottled water, i decided not to use my super url=http://www.rei.com/pwr/product-reviews/Camping-Hiking/Filters-and-Purifiers/Portable-Water-Filters/MSR/p/695265-MSR-MiniWorks-EX-Filter.html water purifier (which saved me several times) and ... read more

After being back from Nepal, I can finally state my feelings of uneasiness about what is supposedly "the best place to go if you want a rest from India". All along, I could not really figure out the reasons why I didn't really enjoy Nepal as I was supposed to, but now that I'm back in Hindustan, I think I have pinned it down. NEPALI SCENES (I): WHERE YOU CAN TELL WHO IS WHO Kathmandu is a beautiful city -- the scene alone of Durbar square at sunset is worth all the trouble to get there. One little detail is that Kathmandu, one of the only two flatlands of a country where 80% of the population leaves in mountainous areas, is incredibly polluted. Literally, half of the vehicles of the city are pieces of crap, scrappy ... read more

10 REASONS* TO ESCAPE TO INDIA * Music and colours * B&B (Babas & Bitches) * Bathing in the Ganges * 33 thousand Gods & Goddesses * Eating w/ your hands * Dharamsala * No beer! * Chai * Money * Cows * Super-clean cooks & pissing habits * "Just for you, my friend!" 10 REAS... read more

Perils of the extra step... Hello from Oooom land! This entry will be about the inconveniences of this enchanted land traversed by the Holy River Gange (as conveniently shown by the pictures I've uploaded), and above all, the inconveniences of going the extra step with one of the activities which are so diffused here, namely Yoga. As a matter of fact, I am still recovering from yesterday's accident -- after celebrating two days ago the birthday of a big Swami here with lots of chanting on a boat in the river (which left me already with quite some neck pain for the humidity and the sun), I decided to put renewed effort the following day. So, at 4.45 am I bravely got up, did one hour of meditation and chanting (while sitting in the awkward lotus ... read more