Monday April 9th 2012. On this day, the cremation and burial ceremony for the late Princess Bejaratana Rajasuda, daughter and only child of former King Vajiravudh (commonly known as Rama VI), was taking place at the Sanam Luang grounds in front of the Grand Palace. She had passed away already in July the previous year, now was the time for the cremation service. The day had been announced a public holiday and many people dressed up in black or white and travelled to the capital for a chance to pay their respects and maybe get a glimpse of the King. I had just got off the plane in the early afternoon and breezed through the near empty immigration area of Suvarnabhumi Int'l airport, which was a relief considering the turmoil and congestion of the last few ... read more

On our third day in Ladakh it was finally time for our first longer excursion. We were still quite groggy in the morning after yet another exhausting night; it seemed we were not yet fully recovered from the change of altitude. The thought of leaving the warm bed, now a fortress of blankets and jackets layered on top of each other like the Earth's geological strata, and setting foot on what must surely be ice cold tiles in the bathroom felt just as alien and uninviting as trying to walk on the moon without an encounter suit. Then there was the promise of hot water nagging in the back of my head, I just knew I would be in for disappointment on that front. But surely the hotel manager had reassured us that yes hot water ... read more

(continued from previous blog entry) Not far west from Leh lies the village of Phyang, separated from the capital city by one of those seemingly endless ridges of mountains which make Ladakh a land of interconnected valleys. Originally, the provincial government had planned to build a road through Phyang to connect it with the Nubra valley in the north, but the villagers had opposed the idea and eventually the road came to be built near Gangles village instead, across the now famous Khardung La mountain pass. Instead the main reason to visit Phyang is the goempa located here. The highway out of Leh is lined by military camps and several units have their homes here. Bases are swamped with buildings in various state of construction, corrugated steel storage facilities and hordes of the ubiquitous Ashok-Leyland trucks ... read more

Groan... waking up from a delirium of weird dreams at one in the morning. I suspect yesterday's cacophony of new impressions and a slight overheating of the brain had something to do with it. At 2.30 we pack our gear and head out to the lobby where a car awaits to take us to the airport. The flight to Leh is scheduled at 4.50 am and we are dropped off at Indira Gandhi Int'l again. To enter the building you have to pass manned checkposts at the doors where armed soldiers inspect passports and tickets. They do take their time in a sort of self-important fashion, playing with reading out or names aloud, tasting the weird syllables, juggling them around. I feel so much safer from terrorism already. Eventually we are let inside the terminal and ... read more

As the end credits of yet another bland (and censored) romantic comedy have long petered out on the overhead screen, the line to the toilet fizzled out and the last unruly passenger has come to rest beside you, hogging the middle armrest and dozing off under his blanket, warmed by the two gin & tonics he had to help wash down that unidentifiable excuse for meat and mashed potatoes (sorry we're out of chicken) from the late night dinner, when the flight attendants have stopped peddling the useless tax free produce and when nothing exudes from the economy class cabin but the stench of 200 uncomfortably sleeping passengers, that is when the world slowly comes back to life. Looking out from my window (by discreetly and gently reopening the blind that was ordered down by the ... read more