i would rather walk by your side as a ghost than enter heaven without you. chou Yun Fat to Michelle Yeo crchng tgr hddn drgn who says he's going to heaven anyways...... well my travel plans have changed a tad and i will lurk a little longer in varanasi to catch one night of the music festival where all the best musicians and artists from all around india gather and play music all night for five days. Ad i really mean al night..... the concerts start at 8pm and go till 6am the next morning! this will be wild! [View Full Entry]

---

---

Did I also mention to my list of animals goats, ducks, squirrels and rats? when i mention these animals I don't mean to day I just saw one or two I mean to say that these different species represent whole social subgroups like the sadhus, buddhists or shop keepers etc. i used to like all the animals here at varinasi but as each day passes I hear more stories of their anti-social habits and it's not just shitting in the street I'm talking about. Lara got charged by a bull the other night The monkeys as you know are outrageous theives [View Full Entry]

---

---

I woke up today at 5:00am and dress to go to the ghats. It was still only the early morning half light and the divine coolness in the air. I followed the alleys to Pandey ghat (the ghat closest to my guest house) and walked northward. People are only beginning to arrive and many are taking their morning shit as they watch the su rise of over the Ganges. Others are just sitting peacefully greeting the appoaching day and I am assailed by boatmen offering me a ride. Well that's what Im here for so I jump in a boat with [View Full Entry]

---

---

My djembe teacher is a petit man with shoulder length hair, his hands are beautiful and eloquent hands of a tabla and we play djembe i a kind of beautiful eloquent way too...He taught me Din Din Na Na Din Na.... and when he praised me I would completely lose my focus and ose the rhythm completely. It's strange how you often search for one thing and end up discoving somthing cmpletely the opposite of what you thought you'd get. Here was I thinking I would be getting a lesson in rhythm and started to realise that what I was [View Full Entry]

---

---

Was this city made for me or what?!!!!!! thanks to everyone's good wishes before i departed, my trip seems to be flanked with many guardian angels (or Ganeshes as they say here). I am staying in the Kumiko Guest house in the Old city. The Guest house is run by the illustrious Kumiko San and her Indian husband and international son. the heat here is dry and baking and there is not much to do at high noon but to try and avoid it as best you can. The old city is like a myriad of alleyways filled with people, cows, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Doesn't the last day of work seem so sweet!? Hoorah for annual leave. This is my first proper job ever and I have become innitiated into the world of designated free time enjoying weekends and now a wonderful 4 weeks annual leave! I'm basically all ready to leave on the 11th and there's not much for me to do in the mean time except potter about, stewing in my own anticipation which I have stymeed in this past month since booking the ticket. Now I can drop the whhole blase attitude of dissinterest and indulge a childish attitude of "are we [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well the ticket is booked to go from Sydney to Delhi on the 11th April returning on the 30th April. That makes three weeks for exploration in Rajastan and hopefully one pilgrimage to Varanasi. For those who are interested the ticket was booked online for $978 AUD but after taxes and travel insurance the total looks more like $1426. Yes it is a wonderful experience to know that you've set in motion a set of events and it's really going to happen. India is no longer just a nice place to visit. I'll be joining a couple of market friends there. [View Full Entry]

---

---