To Mumbai. After the attacks, although I wanted to be careful about not becoming a bit of a terror-site voyeur, It was not all complete coincidence that my first stop offs were CST (aka Victoria terminus the badly terrorised train station), Leopold's Cafe (which was a must anyway after reading Shantaram- upstairs in particular just how I imagined it) and the police barricaded Western-side of The Taj Mahal (where the severe effects of the fire could be seen through the extensive restoration works). My first night found me in The India Guest House as I mentioned before, and I got a [View Full Entry]

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India. A nation of contrasts. The Haves and the Have-nots. The stinking rich to the stinking poor. Sending men into space for exploration at the same time as sending men to their graves from starvation. The Darkness and the light. (Ok, that last one might be taken from the novel White Tiger- you should read it, it’s a good book.) And now me. I have spent the first half of my monthly budget counting every Paise so that I can spend a few days living like a king. Here is something I wrote when I was hardcore budgeting on my journey [View Full Entry]

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I have got a bit slack at the old blogging, particularly considering I was at a computer all day everyday in Bhopal. The Indian internet, which claims to be broadband at the clinic- presumably when its not too busy sipping Chai and swatting the endless onslaught of mosquitos was not what held me back from writing this time. It was infact fear. Not of living within 400 metres of a highly toxic factory which is still claiming the lives of thousands. Not of worrying about what I may do next time the headband wearing, goatee sporting, peculiarly limping middle aged hippy [View Full Entry]

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I think I am going to change the style of these blogs into more frequent snippets, considering I now have 24/7 broadband access and am looking for any distraction from this tedious literature review I have to do. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I am not a happy bunny at the moment. I will tell you about Khujuraho and The gas disaster and the Sambhavna Clinic, Bhopal where I am volunteering for the next two weeks and am currently residing, another time. When I am a little less grumpy. I should not really be complaining just because I have to do one piece of written [View Full Entry]

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So picking up from last time, I made my way from Bardia to Delhi by riding local buses, the roof of a hard-top tuk-tuk, a cycle rickshaw at the remote and touristless border crossing of Banbassa and finally a very slow bus into Delhi. I spent a few days in Delhi, and managed to gather a crew to hit the mean streets of Jaipur and Agra with. Will and Ed were engineering grads who were travelling from Kathmandu to Delhi on a Royal Enfield when I met them in Bardia. Again in Delhi I saw them with their bike looking in [View Full Entry]

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I am back in India now. Back to the urine drenched streets and the relentless touts. Back to finding the cheapest hotel room with the minimum number of dead rats. Back to dealing with Tuktuk drivers with acute attention deficit disorders. Back to India. And I love it. To be fair, Nepal boasts all these charming traits as well, but it all feels much more touristy around Kathmandu and Pokhara, which covers the "real" Nepal under a soft, Western-sensitive blanket full of Gurkha Beer and buffalo steaks. Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed my time in the tourist swarming areas, [View Full Entry]

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Been in Nepal for about five days now, and will give the general gist of what I have been up to, mainly as this blog doubles as my journal, so sorry if it gets a bit tedious. I headed to Pokhara from Varanasi through a delightful array of Indian transport, starting with a 45 minute Rickshaw ride (oh how guilty I felt for the frail old man cycling my enormous rucksack and western bulk to the station). The night train arrived according to IST (Indian Standard Time ie. much later than timetabled) and took me to Gorakpur where I jeeped [View Full Entry]

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So away I galavant from Antara, with the ambulance as my private vehicle escort and Rach and Nat as my entourage (just in case they are reading this... oh how I will grieve the loss of their good company. No, genuinely, I had a really great time with them and Suman, Kelly and Amanda, it will me missed!) I wave goodbye at Howrah Train Station, Kolkata, and set off into the fray... Before I went, I had my "official welcome meeting" by the literary society at Antara, literally like an hour before my planned departure. I had to prepare some creative [View Full Entry]

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I am writing this with about three people staring over my shoulder watching the screen, and every key that I press. Although the fact that they have not reacted to me just writing that statement suggests that they do not even read English. It is just one of those things that you put down as a “cultural thing”. I find it quite interesting how a waiter may try and take your plate away three or four times before you are finished, shaking your head often means “Yes” and snorting phlegm from your throat in a horrifically loud, rasping sound does not [View Full Entry]

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Tourists attacked with iron rods and choppers. Was a particularly heavy statement we came across in the West Bengal Telegraph under a leading article entitled "The Hills on the brink of flare up". Darjeeling, in the North of the state rests in the Himalayas. It is famous for its tea, and more notably, for its Gurkhas with 95% of the surrounding population being this distinct, proud race, originally from Nepal who gave us sherpas such as Tenzing Norgay (joint first on Everest) and a formidable fighting force alongside the British in WW2. But they were also apparently responsible for bric [View Full Entry]

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