http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/susieg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from susieg en-us Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:07:55 +0000 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:07:55 +0000 Everything is loud. CJ and I seem to have spent most of our time following incomprehensible maps around incomprehensible streets being hooted and beeped at almost crushed out of the way. Irsquots almost like being back in India. Almost...Palermo is louder and shoutier than I remember but itrsquos also more elegant. Well some places are. The ones that pay their protection money that is... T http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Sicily/blog-281520.html Man elopes with Eunoch headline from Times of India Thurs 10 Jan 08Dalit boyrsquos eyes slit for eloping with girl Times of India Both headlines showing caste and sexual differences are still strong.Irsquom currently watching a documentary on TV about transsexuals in Iran which reminds me of an incident in Mumbai....On one of my first days in Mumbai I caught a train downtown. In order t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-250064.html The other place of interest in Jodphur is the Umaid bhawan Palace. On top of a hill stands a palacial edifice of dreamlike proportions. It has a central cupola of over 105 foot high 347 rooms a private throne room a public throne room a banquet hall an auditorium 4 tennis courts 2 marble squash courts a croquet law a simming pool a ballroom a library a nusery and a garage for 20 vehicl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-238637.html Dlehi is a much more weldcoming city than Bombay. Wide open avenues installed by the British make it much easier to get around. Old Delhi is all mosqeus and souks entwined with hanging electric cables like broken spiders webs which make you wonder how any city birds avoid electrocution.What I did see for the first time was the overt begging. Parents refuse to have their leper childrne cured so t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-237904.html So Irsquom back in India. This time itrsquos been a different experience. No barefoot children running circles round me every morning and causing havoc in classrooms no daily puja no manic monsoon and no daily enticement of adventure. This time itrsquos been champagne beaches yes I finally found a beach laugher and love. Oh and therersquos definitely been less staring.My brain s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/blog-236700.html I spent the last 2 weeks of my trip in Zanzibar. Mostly as a guest of the presidentrsquos son but thatrsquos a whole other story and probably not as exciting as it sounds. Stone Town is as you would expect a winding maze of whitewashed streets full of women swathed in black robes and bright kanga head scarves along with men in square hats pushing bikes. As the women saunter through the na http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/blog-99887.html It was one year ago that martin died. How do you adjust to that I don8217t know. What I do know is that you have to remember the good times. The smiles. The explosion of sudden laughter. What I also know is that he would have hated being in a dusty dirty truck for five days. He might have ruined his leather jacket for one.But he like anyone who knows my luck wouldn't have been surprised that http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Serengeti-National-Park/blog-92923.html 1 in 5 climbers make it to the snowcapped peak nearly 6000 m to the roof of Africa.The mountain the local and notoriously entrepreneurial Chagga tribe call 'Mountain of God' was formed 2030 million years ago during the faulting of the Great Rift Valley whose furrows run right across Tanzania as part of its trail from Lebanon to Mozambique. It has 3 main peaks Kibo the summit actually a larg http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Mount-Kilimanjaro/blog-90982.html I've now been in the country for nearly 2 months and I've just about stopped making comparisons between here and my experiences in India. Well almost. Unfair and trite as it may be it's been impossible not to. Once again I've found myself having to adapt to and soak up a different culture. But this time I feel like Irsquom wearing my own clothes. I donrsquot feel quite so lsquootherrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-85776.html Well I've booked my climb of Kili heading off on 12 September and am now wondering about the sense of taking on the biggest physical challenge of my lifehellip Am thinking it would have been far more sensible to treat myself to a luxury safari for my 34th bday rather than face the 37 degree summit. The Guardian here that's the Tanzanian version and nothing like our very own Grauniad repo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-85736.html It's been an eventful week full of the unexpected bumping into people going to weddings meeting up with AIDS consultants and gathering material for the libraryreception at Kinshai. As ever nothing ever quite goes according to expectations. So having gotten to a conference in Swahili one of the things I did was take advantage of the location and go for a hike in the Uluguru hills. These ar http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-82810.html In an attempt to get in shape for Kili Irsquom going to be running a 10km race on Sat and probably another one in a few weeks. I reckon it will be kill me or cure particularly after some overindulgences in Dar. Irsquoll be raising money for Kinshai so Irsquom looking for sponsorship. To remind you here are some of the things Kinshai does HIV testing and counseling in the offices in M http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-82574.html There is currently a big controversy over here about the film lsquoDarwinrsquos Nightmarersquo which was Oscar nominated for best documentary this year. An Austrian journalist started to investigate the Nile Perch trade in lake Victoria in the north west of Tanzania. What he exposed has enraged politicians and environmentalists alike.He claims that the area is poverty stricken due to the ov http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-81286.html After a surprisingly comfortable 8 hour bus journey from Dar I reached Moshi to the warm welcome embraces and laughter of lsquoMama Veronicarsquo the Executive Director of KINSHAI the NGO who had agreed to take me on. I couldnrsquot have had a warmer welcome and it didnrsquot just stop at the bus station. From Miko the security guard at the hostel to the local shop owner everyone is http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-79887.html Itrsquos been a hectic week of zooming up and down the country. Irsquove been in places I never thought Irsquod be involving flights and days of solid driving along dusty dirt tracks and very very bumpy roads eating bananas and oranges and packaged biscuits. Irsquom now back in Dar but have spent some time in Masasi and Mtwara about 60 km from the Mozambique border. Masasi has little http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-78415.html Blood Donors Galore That was one of the headlines in the New India Express the day after the Mumbai bombings.I was watching the news pretty much incessantly when it broke. I noticed how different the reporting of this atrocity was from the reporting of 77 just over a year ago.At first it was fairly similar confused reports about blasts uncertaintly of the timings steadily escalating death http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kollam/blog-74409.html My moves this week have been mostly dictated by trying to escape from the rain and trying to ensure I find tv and maybe even beer to watch the footie. I've managed quite well mostly thanks to a chance encounter with Katy and Ingvill 2 MA students from Kings who also took me to the only proper beach I've seen so far. Of course we couldn't swim in the sea it was way too rough but we did man http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kollam/blog-73417.html I'm now at the Kalari and it's just me and a load of oiled men in loincloths with an assortment of the most dangerously sharp weapons I have ever seen. Getting to the 'Kalari' that's Indian for 'dojo' martial arts arena was a trial in itself. It's all been a bit Kill Bill with 'The Master' not wanting to take me on at first. It involved lots of phone calls some blagging about 5 years kickbox http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-70915.html Carmen had insisted that whenever possible I stay at any Neemrana property. Before leaving London I had looked up the one in Pondicherry and it promised to lsquotake you back in timersquo. httpwww.neemranahotels.com Unfortunately or maybe fortunately for my wallet it was booked up. However as my dad has always advised me to go and use the loos in posh hotels I did go and sup a tradit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-69049.html Well Irsquove caught my first Indian train. Just.It did of course involve torn trousers running out of petrol twice hitching a lift with a random truck and clambering across railway tracks all whilst debating the adjective Matrixesque.Despite the chaos of leaving the village it was a very emotional goodbye from Arasavanankadu and no I never did work out how to pronounce it. I was given http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Mysore/blog-67703.html