I almost made it (again!) to an easy confluence but fate (or disorganisation) meant that it was not to be. The Andaman islands had been a destination I'd wanted to visit for many years - another of those exotic places that seemed terribly difficult/expensive to get to until fairly recently. So when I discovered I had the time and money while on my Indian trip, I couldn't resist the temptation of a few days on a tropical island. Besides, I'd realised that there was an unvisited confluence on Havelock Island, and I figured it should be easy to get to. The [View Full Entry]

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Kolkata is crumbling...it has been for years. Some say that it's because the government controls rents and tenure (to protect the poor) to the point where landlords have no incentive to maintain their buildings. Others think that it's because the centres of power and commerce have shifted away to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc. Yet others believe that Capital has fled or is undermining the elected Marxist government by refusing to invest and shifting funds elsewhere. Whatever the reason, urban decay is an unavoidable part of the scenery...much of it has a poignancy as you ponder the crumbling a [View Full Entry]

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While the north-west corner of Arunachal is very Tibetan, the centre is populated by several different (though related) and colourful tribes who generally live in hillside villages, and practice a mix of padi-rice and shifting (jhumm) cultivation. Houses are generally made from local bamboo/timber, and thatched with palm leaves or straw. We had arranged for a 10day extension to be added to our original 10 day permit, when Ann and I dropped back into Bomdilla on our way back out of the Tawang area. The ever-helpful Mr. Tsering Wonge had organised that he would fax the extension to us (Yes you [View Full Entry]

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One of my main reasons for travelling to Arunachal Pradesh in the first place was to visit the Tawang valley in the far north-west corner of the state. This is definitely the Himalayas and very Tibetan. In fact before the British took control of it, it was a district of Tibet. Almost as soon as we entered Arunachal, we began to see Tibetan prayer flags. The Kameng river which we travelled up for the beginning of the journey is fast-flowing and in a steep forested valley - some spectacular rainforest which gradually gives way to more temperate species of trees, [View Full Entry]

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From Shillong we moved rapidly southward to Silcha, in Assam again. Well, rapidly is a bit of mistatement! Firstly we found that we couldn't get any shared jeep transport, and were at a loss how to procede until a helpful local took us to a suburb of Shillong where a private bus company had an office. After hanging around for awhile, we were finally on our way in a big bus. It wasn't long before we encountered massive traffic jams, as hundreds of lorries head up and down this narrow road, carrying all manner of goods and fuels. At times [View Full Entry]

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Shillong has quite a few betting shops - and the betting is on the result of lots of arrows being fired at a target. Jay and I made our way to the obscure location on the outskirts of Shillong, and observed the daily shooting. The shoot starts in the late afternoon, and there's "on-course" betting so, as an Australian of course, I felt obliged to place a bet. Basically hundreds of arrows are fired into a target in a period of 4 minutes and those that stick are counted. The bet is on the last one or two digits of the [View Full Entry]

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Shillong is high in the hills of Megahalaya. In fact, almost from the moment our shared Sumo ( a model of 4wheel drive about the size of a Toyota Landcruiser) started out from Guwahati, we climbed slowl, continuously up a very winding and crowded road. Along the way we passed through heavy rain and hail - not uncommon, so it was just as well we were not motorcycling as originally planned!! Shillong was the capital of Assam state when it encompassed all the "seven sister states" that now make up the North east of India. So it is full of pieces [View Full Entry]

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There are some scenes you need to see, to get a feel for a culture. Some beautiful, some challenging.... (check back here often, because I'll be adding a lot here after my initial publishing...) But first: Bihu Festival , a moment of fame, and a small world. When I headed for Assam, I had a vague knowledge that a festival would be happening around the time of my arrival. I didn't stop to consider the likely side-effects: lack of accommodation. Eventually accommodation was found, at an inflated price (for India) - but such problems were a minor inconvenience to pay for [View Full Entry]

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Gauwahati, ASSAM Quite a bit of time since I really wrote about what's happening - or at least it feels that way. Kolkata was very much about adjusting to India. Just cashing some cheques was a very bureaucratic process, involving being shepherded through dark and dingy offices to the appropriate official, completing the necessary Foreign Exchange forms, and then receiving a big brass numbered token, which I had to present to the cashier in another part of the bank. It was a sign of things to come. Similarly a brief excursion into the market turned into a battle of wits with [View Full Entry]

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Bling...you can Google for it... and you'll find whilst originating in Rap culture, its use as a term for anything flashy , jewellry etc , is now wide-spread. Certainly in the car and motorcycle accessory area the term is widely used especially for decorative personalising accessories. It seems the Thais have a natural flair for bling....in fact they probably invented it and some Gangsta stole it off them. When you look closely at Thai temples they usually have lots of coloured mirrored glass (not to mention gold!) - classic bling. From Temples to tooth-braces....everything can be blinged [View Full Entry]

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