Going Global

Oh to the joys of Shisha

2007-04-28T23:27:00.000+01:00

Moving to the Middle East for the first time has been an interesting experience for a variety of reasons. One of the things which I am learning to appreciate, no infact love is the Middle Eastern shisha.

The shisha can be found across the Middle East and Asia and is one of the traditional ways of smoking. They are found in the hundreds of cafes which are spead across the island in an assortment of sizes. In the evenings Arabs from all backgrounds converge on them to smoke, chat and play games.

Without a doubt the shisha is the thing which brings the people together. Basically in a nutshell its a pipe which you smoke through a tube. The substance (be it apple, grapes etc) is below the charcoals at the top and when you breath in the substance kinda goes through the water. Now I don't understand the technique or how it works but its fun. Alas I am also realising that one night smoking is the equivalent to 20 cigarettes!!! So by the time I come back from Bahrain no doubt my lungs will have taken a severe hitting so I must frequent the gym more often!

So anyway the key to a good shisha is the coals. Back home in the UK it is really difficult to get good coals that get hot enough to make the 'process' work well enough. Here it doesn't seem to be a problem as you raise you hand giving a signal which results in a man scurrying over to you with 'fresh' hot coals ready to 'replace' you diminished stock. Within a minute your shisha is refreshed and your ready to go all again!

So tonight (like an other 2 nights this week) I joined some friend for a smoke and played backgammon in the middle of the 'Indian' suburb of the city. Here I was, 27 years old, learning to play a quintessential English game surrounded by Indian and Arabian men!

Afterwards we headed to the beach, well rocks as Bahrain doesn't have any beaches, to sit and chat. There is a lot going on in Bahrain as it is very much at a crossroads at it trys to compete with the other Middle Eastern states. Needless to say it is an interesting time to live in Bahrain.

i'm in Bahrain

2007-04-21T09:20:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

It's been a while, heck months since I last posted. The reason for this slackness is due to the fact that I have been working my arse off! Yeah sad excuse but its true. Alas I also had no internet at home (well I had a wireless signal I could 'sometimes' pick up - a la free).

Anyway to cut a long story short I have now moved to Bahrain! Yeah my employer asked me 'do you want to go to the Middle East?' Now ordinarily I would jump at the opportunity but as a) i couldn't drive, b) knew the summer was coming and c) wanted to live in London for the summer, i said no. Well fat lot of good that did as they sent me anyway!

So here I am in Bahrain experiencing the 'joys' of Bahraini taxi drivers on a daily basis and wondering/debating/contemplating life!

So yeah lots of posts to follow shortly but first things first I have to head down to the Souk in the Old Town to get a £1 haircut!

The trials & tribulations of house hunting

2006-08-28T19:29:00.001+01:00

Currently I am navigating the complicated channels of house hunting and its proving to be difficult to say the least. Essentially I have simple criteria - be near work! Unfortunately in London nothing is ever that simple.

So over the weekend I experienced the array of house hunting options. The first house I saw was out in the Docklands, lovely Chinese guy was the housemate, but the area was dodgy to say the least. Got lost trying to find the damn place. Then when I found it the litter packed streets and general run-down look of the neighbourhood made me feel like I was in some kind of American gheto, albeit in London. Scratch that option.

Next place was near work and was dodgy in every way. The landlord was of Bangladeshi heritage and spoke with a thick Indian accent. As he showed me the room he was at pains to stress '£160 pounds peeer week sir, very good price, all bills incluusive so noo problemm for you' with a 'wink wink' of his right eye. I thought I'd chat to him as he interested me (for all the wrong reasons) so played the Trowers 'Anglo-Middle Eastern Law Firm' card and found out the man has 20 houses now which he rents out to 112 tenants! Every house has no front room and from the feel of the place I looked at there was NO communial atmosphere. Plus the man wanted 5 weeks rent deposit and only 1 weeks rent upfront! Very weird and I dare say dodgy indeed. Scratch that option.

Next up was a house also in Wapping with two Kiwi tenants. The house wasn't that bad actually, decent size, Sky TV, leather couches but the flatmates were unusual to say the least. One was wasn't there and was referred to as 'a girl who is 4,8 doesn't say anything and you would barely know she existed' whilst I spent 10 minutes chatting to the other flatmate and still couldn't figure out if it was a man or a women! Despite this strangeness was definitely considering it until I found out i would have to move in next weekend which is too soon for me. Alas scratch that option as well.

So here I am commuting from Kent 25 hours a week and trying to get a place before I start at Trowers at the end of the month. House hunting is a pain in the arse and right now its driving me nuts but alas its got to be done.

So if anyone reading this knows of a place going in Wapping soon LET ME KNOW!

Cheers

The view from Gokyo Ri

2006-08-10T18:34:00.000+01:00

View from Gokyo Ri, originally uploaded by goingglobal.

This is the view taken from the top of Gokyo Ri which is some 5,400 metres up. The views are absolutely stunning from here as it is surrounded by mountains and overlooks the Gokyo glacier and lakes.

However, the three hour climb is at a 30-45 degree angle and never seems to end but is worth while in the end as the views overlook the mountains and the glacier below. From this photo you can see the main glacier and the third lake below. In the distance the second lake which you have to trek by is also visible.

The settlement of Gokyo is just by the lake and is to small to see from this height as its some 300 metres down. Unfortunately when we reached the top the clouds covered most of the mountains with Everest only showing itself briefly for a few seconds.

Still any trek in the Everest Region must include ascending Gokyo Ri for the views over the valley and glacier. A magical sight indeed.

Prayer flags by the 3rd lake

2006-08-06T20:16:00.000+01:00

Prayer flags by the 3rd lake, originally uploaded by goingglobal.

Here is a picture taken towards the end of the trek to Gokyo. The lake in the background is the 3rd lake with Tibetan/Sherpa prayer flags flying.

It's wedding season

2006-08-06T16:27:00.000+01:00

The first weekend of August is apparently the busiest weekend of the year for weddings and this year it was my uncles turn to gracefully arrange to get married on this day. So the entire family, including distant far flung relatives whose names and faces I cannot remember, turned up for wedding in a beutiful church which is hundreds of years old in the middle of rural Kent.

Have to say it was a great wedding. The wedding ceremony was led by a female Vicar who, with her thick funky glasses and curly hair, made everyone very relaxed and run a very modern ceremony. She didn't even wear shoes! Now that is modern!

Even the hyms, not my favourite things I must say, were good, including 'Lord of the Dance' which I remember being pretty much the only song I enjoyed at school when we were forced to sing in extremely boring assemblies! So I gleefully sung along to the song, didn't fall asleep (that used to happen a lot in Church for me) and really rather enjoyed it as the ceremony contained some odds and ends I have never seen before. For example, they lit two candles which represented 'both families' and then later in the ceremony lit a larger single candle representing them. The vicar proclaimed that they have to light this candle every anniversary to show their love and commitment to one another

Afterwards the assembled troop departed for the reception which was being held in the grounds of the bride's (Vicky) parents place. The marquee was magnificent and was placed in the grounds of the house with the animals moved nearby. Have to say the day was a lot of fun. Everyone had a really good time and the family got to together for the first time since our nan passed away. Grandad spent a lot of the day smiling and I think he was proud that his youngest son had finally got married and that he had found the love of his life at last. Even my cousin Dan was back from Dubai for the weekend to attend the wedding.

So all in all a rather good weekend. As the 4th wedding I think I have attended in the last two years I have noticed it appears to be wedding 'time' for most my friends and young relatives. No doubt this 'trend' will continue as I have another two weddings on the horizon! Think if this pace continues I'll end up feeling like one of the characters from 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'! Still can't complain, they are jolly good things to attend and involve lots of drinking!

September calling

2006-07-21T18:36:00.000+01:00

Its been a long time since I last updated my blog for a variety of reasons. Due to unforeseen circumstances I am now back in the UK and things are now beginning to return to normality.

At the moment I am living with my auntie and uncle in Faversham and trying to organise work in the city. It's really proving to be a very frustrating excercise regarding the patience of a saint at times. You see the problem is I only need work for two months before starting with Trowers at the end of September. I have been rather truthful with agencies and told them I only need work for 8 weeks. With hindsight honesty might not be the best policy as most agencies seem disinterested in a candidate who can commit for such a short period of time. Then there is the problem with my resume. You see I am skilled, especially in I.T. and H.R. but am rather a 'jack of many trades and a master of none!' So with no 'solid long term' experience I find myself just short of positions I know I can do, especially in I.T.

Had the funniest experience yesterday with a agency in the city. Jeni, a really outgoing friendly Australian from Perth, spent something like an hour with me trying to work out a timeline for my last 6 years. In the end the timeline took up something like 5 pages with a variety of employment and an even larger amount of travelling. By the end of it I realised that I really need to spend sometime in one place and perhaps keep my feet on the group, of course with the occasional week here and there spent diving from planes or trekking mountains allowed! The poor girl said she had never seen a candidate 'quite as wide as me in what I have done'. Of course take into account I have done everthing from I.T. support through to selling forklifts and you can see what she means!

I also went 'flat shopping' to see what's on offer in the city for when I started work in September. Turns out if I can find another person there are heaps of well priced options. A two bed flat right in the heart of the city would set me back no more than £150 a week! I mean isn't that a bargain! I may even get en-suite which would be a first for me! The thought of walking to a gym and then straight to work without all that commuting crap is very appealing.

So I await September with a sense of expectancy and eagerness not felt in many years. For the first time in my life I am going to start a career, albeit as a lawyer, and I feel perhaps I am about to turn the page and embark on a new period of my life. At times the thought of me dressed in a suit providing legal advice makes me chuckle, God knows what my friends think. But it'll be a challenge I'll relish.

Bring it on!

update

2006-06-08T11:08:00.000+01:00

As some of you might know I am no longer travelling. A few weeks back I got a phone call when I was in the middle of no-where rural China informing me that my nan had passed away. Although I love travelling its at times like this that you realise the imporantance of family so I headed back home at break-neck speed. I was largely raised by my grandparents and my nan seemed very fit and healthy so it has come as a bit of a shock to myself and the rest of the family.

I think I got from Kunming to Newton Abbot in 35 hours! This involed two taxi's, two plans, 1 train and 1 underground and lots of movement! When I walked through the door of my grandads place in Devon I felt emotionally and physically drained but it was good to be there for the family at a hard time for us all.

I shall endeavour to update the blog from my journals when I get round to it.

Will changes!

2006-05-07T15:55:00.000+01:00

You know people join diets, run like mad, do all manner of crazy and wild things just to lose weight. You know what the simple solution is? Come travel to Asia! Yeah in what 4 months of travel in Asia I think I have lost between 5-10kg's. Not sure exactly how much, all I know is where I previously had a belly of about '6 months' I now have a reduced belly of about '2 months'. Yep the baby has got smaller! My 'one tub' is no more!!!

Now don't want to go into the details, but needless to say the mixture of Asian food, physical activities (Everest eat your heart out!), lack of appartite and of course 'Asian belly' has helped!

God knows what I'll be like when I finish!

Northern Thailand

2006-04-22T10:11:00.000+01:00

Chiang Mai
I was last in Thailand a few months back at the beginning of my whistle stop tour of Asia and had the luck to visit Chiang Mai back then. The city is rich in history and culture and is a remarably easy and laid back place to visit. Arriving into Thailand with my Australian friend Dave I met up with TG, a friend since the age of 2, to travel together for a while. They had never been to Chiang Mai and were eager to 'sample' the cities many delights.

So with a strong recommendation about the cooking course at The Chilli Club they left early in the morning to learn the art of Thai cooking.

Thai master Kickboxing
One of the things which has always interested me about Thai culture is the kickboxing. Hundreds of years old the sport basically consists of two men going into a ring and beating the shit out of each other! Unlike American wrestling this sport is no holds bars and just about anything goes, including kneeing, punching and of course kicking. Their no play acting here and no one is stupid enough to think what is happening is anything else but real.

So paying the rather steep 400 Bhat price tag we jumped into a tuk-tuk for our nights entertainment. Arriving into a rather normal looking boxing ring we learnt that we were in for a rather special treat. One of the fights had a western Englishman fighting which was an uncommon and rare occurence. Everyone appeared to be excited at this prospect, us at seeing 'one of our own fight' and the Thai's obviously happy at seeing a foreigner get the crap kicked out him!

The first two fights were 'minor' ones involving kids who couldn't have been much older than 15 or 16. Basically they take part to get some experience and watching them walk up the steps to the ring I couldn't help but be impressed by their effort and sheer determination. Admitedly I wondered how stupid they were for wanting to fight but felt it was best to keep those kind of feelings to myself!

Two of the fights ended early due to injuries to the fighters. The others went the full period (usually there are five rounds of 3 minutes). The English fighter in his second fight was up against an experienced fighter of 100 fights. Looking even balder than me Justin was a youngster from the south of England in his early twenties. I'll give him credit for putting up a fight and not getting knocked out but rather unsurprisingly he lost the fight through a points decision.

The night was very enjoyable and Thai Kickboxing is definitely an experience which I would recommend to people. Provided of course you don't get the creeps watching people getting beaten to a pulp!

The decision

2006-04-20T10:25:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

Thanks to you all for your emails since I started travelling. I think its' been a very long 7 months and you won't be surprised to hear that its still not yet over! After my last email, which I know was depressing and grim, I have decided that it's about time to tell you my plans and to ask for any help or advice you may be able to provide on the matter.

You see ever since I was a kid I dreamed of doing the overland route between London and Singapore. It's one of those mystical 'i wish' dreams we occasionally have on a Sunday afternoon whilst relaxing reading the travel section in the paper. Well I now have the chance of doing just that dream, well most of it anyway. You see a week ago, less actually, I was thinking I would travel overland through Nepal into Tibet and onto China and then pick up the Trans-Mongolian through Mongolia and Russia. Well people getting shot, strikes and Nepal basically shutting down dismissed that dream rather rapidly. So now I find myself in Thailand picking up 'that dream' from Bangkok.

So here's the challenge. I have three months, yep three months, to do the following Thailand - Laos - Vietnam - China - Mongolia - Russia - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania - Poland - Czech Republic - Germany - Netherlands - HOME. It's particularly challenging as a) I have run out of money so its credit card all the way and b) I have no experience or should I say clue about China, Mongolia and Russia. Some people have already been immensely helpful with advice on China (thanks Kate and Alena) but anyone who has experience or ideas on some of these countries I would appreciate advice a great deal. Currently in the north of Thailand, heading over the border into Laos for about a week before moving into northern Vietnam.

Take care,

Will

ps Since leaving Nepal the situation has got even worse. Just read that there is a 18 hour, yes 18 hour, 'shot-to-kill' curfew being imposed. What a complete mess. Interesting article can be found at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2142960,00.html

Let the journey commence

2006-04-17T11:52:00.000+01:00

It's very weird how things can change remarkably so quickly, one minute I was booking a bus to Pokhara, the next I had decided to fly instead to Thailand thousands of miles away. The reason being the protest, burning tyres, shottings and associated problems one finds in an uprising by the people!

So I found myself in a matter of a few days in Thailand contemplating what I was going to do for the next few months. I had intended to travel overland from the south of India to London via Nepal onto Tibet and into China. However, the uprising in Nepal swiftly put a stop to this intended itineria. So instead I am contemplating a different 'route' home. Starting in Thailand I head into northern Laos, down to the capital picking up a visa for Vietnam. Then crossing into Vietnam I head north into Southern China. Then working my way from Kumming north I head to Chengdu, then Xi'an and finally onto Beijing. With a fairly lengthy pitstop in Beijing I then either head through Mongolia and Russia home or go the old 'Silk Route' through the 'stans' into Russia and then to Europe. Whatever happens I have to be back in the UK for my uncles wedding on the 5th August.

Let the journey commence!

Nepal and Everest

2006-03-26T17:27:00.000+01:00

Well I am back in Nepal after nearly 8 long years and can't help but wonder why it has taken me so long to return. I have been lucky in my life to have visited some 25 or 30 countries and Nepal remains without a doubt the most special and unique place. Whether its the people, the culture or the landscape it never ceases to amaze me and keep me in awe. Walking around Kathmandu again after spending a month or so in India is a relaxing and very enjoyable experience, especially due to the lack of harassment which is commonplace next door.

Well tomorrow morning I am heading with mates to Jiri to commence the Everest Trek for three weeks. The first time round in 1999 was one of the greatest times of my life. Spending three weeks in the mountains is a liberating and exhilerating experience. This time round two of my best mates from Australia have joined me and no doubt it'll be a lot of fun.

So there will be no updates from me for the next three weeks as, well I will be hundreds of miles away from civilisation. When I return I will update my blog as I have a lot to publish on India and provide a full account of the Everest Trek.

I guess that's it for three weeks! Everest awaits!

Udaipur

2006-03-20T10:49:00.000Z

The city of Udaipur, located in the south of Rajastan, is famous for its lake and floating palace which formed the backdrop to the Bond film Octopusy. To this day whenever you walk round the streets of the city at every corner you see signs advertising the film being shown like its some advertising campaign for the city.

The place itself is really rather pleasant which means you could quite easily stay here for days on end without really getting bored or feeling the need to move on. Many of the hotels have restaurants which overlook the lake providing some truly outstanding views, especially around sunset. The streets are densely packed crawling with people and animals mostly cows.

Myself and Tito decided one evening to head up to the main temple on a hill overlooking the valley. The views were pretty damn impressive as the lake providing a glimpse of the huge size of the lake. Whilst we were up there Tito and an Australian girl we had been hanging out with got approached by the normal Indians hassling them for either sex (in the girls case) or drugs (in Tito's case). I'm getting to the stage now were I pretty much have a policy of not talking to these kind of people in tourist places. Elsewhere I love meeting Indians but not around tourist destinations as they inevitably lead to them either wanting something or to sell you something.

Zen and the art of Cricket madness

2006-03-20T10:48:00.000Z

One of the greatest things about India is book-post. India as the 3rd largest printer of English language books in the world is trying to encourage people to buy and send books abroad. So they subsidise books being posted via India post. Basically you rock up to a post office with up to 5KG's of books which you can post home via sea mail. Now admitedly this might not be the fastest way to send something but the cost in insanely cheap. For 5 KG's the cost is a mere $3! Yes that is not a miss print its $3.

Now the only problem is trying to post them. Taking my treasure trove of books I headed for a packer. Seeing the man at work was impressive as he cut the books and beautifully wrapped the package in silk and neatly sealed the box for a mere 10 pence cost. However, as I headed to the main GPO aware that it may shut early as it was a Saturday I was confronted by what I can only describe as a fire breathing Indian female dragon. I arrived just 2 minutes late, yes 2 minutes, and she promptly told me 'go away we are shut, come back Monday' even though the rest of the post office would be open until 5pm. My tuk-tuk driver informed me there was another post office which may have later opening times so we raced through the densely packed streets of Udaipur expecting to find it also shut. However, what I found was a room full of men who were unable to help me until 4pm when the 'bookman' returned. So as the thought of sitting there for 2 hours waiting went through my mind I asked the manager who was busy writing 'where's the nearest TV show I can watch the cricket?'

'You like cricket?' 'Of course I am English' I responded and we proceeded to chat about cricket for the next 5 minutes until he said 'ah I can do your book-post for you' as he happily filled in the forms and processed it. It was interesting as everyone in the office had refused to help me. You see in India EVERYONE is passionate about cricket, absolutely mad about it, so if you chat about cricket, be it team selection, form etc you will make friends very quickly. In this case it turned out most useful saving me two hours of sitting and waiting!

Video of the Indian Head Wiggle

2006-03-19T05:55:00.000Z

I have been advised by Evane (a.k.a 'tech guru') that I could upload videos so people can see them. Well I have now uploaded a brief video of the 'Indian Head Wiggle' taken by myself and some friends in Udaipur for you to see.

It can be found at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLvMCKr4LB4

Hope you enjoy it

Will signing out

Holi madness!

2006-03-18T10:52:00.000Z

Holi madness!, originally uploaded by goingglobal.

When I was last living in Nepal I remember vividly the Hindu festival of Holi. Essentially for two days, or more, Hindu's throw paint and dyes at each other throughout the Indian subcontinent. I have never quite figured out exactly why they do this but I know they sure as hell enjoying doing it!

Anyway where ever you are outside you are a 'victim' and legitimate target for them to target!

Unfortunately this is also a time when Hindu's are allowed to drink a lot of alcohol, often with some bad side-effects. Last time I was in India many women I knew got gropped and touched by men who used the occasion as a way to get closer to women than they normally do.

So although I was keen to see Holi first hand I knew that I would get my cloths destroyed and probably get annoyed by the way the women were handled. So instead I opted to spend the 14th and 15th in the desert where Holi wouldn't be quite as mad!

This photo was taken on the 13th March in Jaisalmer. The kids were really getting into the festival painting the back streets of the city pink.

Whilst we were on the camel trek many of the villages we went through were celebrating the occasion. At one particular village we had to run through with our camels as the kids chased us through the desert hurling paints and dyes at us!

Camel riding in the desert

2006-03-18T07:25:00.000Z

Camal riding in the desert, originally uploaded by goingglobal.

Jaismalner is one of the best locations in Rajastan to go on camel safari, as its in the heart of the desert. So me and my Argentinian friend Tito decided to embark on a two-day one-night safari to see the desert and experience camel riding first hand.

Now I have riden a camel before for a think a few minutes in Australia but nothing really prepared me for this experience. Riding a camel is really rather difficult as controlling it or should I say 'driving' is almost impossible. You have reins which you pull to turn the camels head in the direction you want to go but whether the camel decides to follow you is another matter. This is especially the case if the camel smells a nearby female camel in which it goes off in a totally different direction in pursuit of the lady!

Camels also smell a hell of a lot. Seriously when I came home I smelt myself and all I could smell was camel! Imagine how horses smell and multipy that by a factor of ten! They also have this habit of burping and farting rather a lot which makes camel riding in a line a rather amusing experience.

What is surprising is how tall camels are. When you are riding a camel your quite a few feet of the ground. Aside from the height camels carry an amazingly large amount of luggage on them very easily.

One of the camels which usually took the lead had its tung hanging out with saliva dripping down the side. I wondered what was wrong with it so when I asked the camel man. 'Ah that camel is horny, permanently horny! Yeah it turns out that when camels get 'excited' they dribble lots and hang their tung out as a way to attract the female camels.

Our party was an interesting collection of people. Numbering 9 we had English, Argentinian, German, Dutch, Polish and Korean which made conversations interesting.

We spent the night sleeping on a sand dune overlooking the desert. During the day the temperatures get very high but at night they really plumet substancially.

On both days we visited local villages. All the villages were either Hindu or Muslim and were never mixed. At first it was difficult to tell the difference but after a while it became obvious that in the Muslim villages the women were veiled whereas they tended not to be in the Hindu ones. As it was also the Hindu festival of Holi whenever we entered a Hindu village we got peltered with paint and dyes by the children!

All in all a very interesting experience, especially as it only cost me $18 for the two days!

Pushkar

2006-03-12T16:06:00.000Z

Pushkar from above, originally uploaded by goingglobal.

The last few days in Pushkar have been a lot of fun. On the first day in the town I got speaking to a very cool Argentinian guy I met in a cafe overlooking the lake. We decided to eat in a bar called 'Pink Floyd' of all things!

Anyway no guesses needed on the kind of music or ambience in this place. It was a very chilled out enjoyable place to chill out. We got to know a couple of Canadians called Andrea and Melissa who had been in the town for a week and just couldn't leave. Thats the kind of place Pushkar is, its damn hard to leave unless you really have to!

The following day we decided to trek to the top of the one of the hills to watch the sun set. I could have done a morning trek but couldn't see me getting my arse out of bed at 5am! So here is the view from the top of the hill!

More photos to follow soon.

Leaving Pushkar to head to Jaisalmer

2006-03-12T16:00:00.001Z

Well time has come for me to pack my bags again and head out the door. With the cricket heading for a draw or even a loss I think it is time to move on! The festival of Holi is fast approaching and I need to be somewhere where I can sit above the chaos and watch people go mad with paints!

So heading on a ten hour night-bus trip into the desert. Jaisalmer is the desert frontier of the state, a fort surrounded by the desert. Its' also a great place to do camel treks which I intend to do over the next week or so.

Need to be in Nepal by next weekend for the arrival of the boys!

Next stop desert frontier!

Leaving Pushkar to head to Jaisalmer

2006-03-12T16:00:00.000Z

Drink and drugs

2006-03-12T06:33:00.000Z

India is such a diverse country with a multitude of languages, different cultures and attitudes that its almost a continent in its own right. It's no surprise then that the country has come to be known as the 'sub-continent' and I think you could spend your life travelling the country and still never 'do India'. When I was last here teaching me and friends used to joke about the travellers who we met who used to brag about 'doing India'. I mean how can you 'do' a country!

The differences across the country are reflected in the attitude towards drink and drugs. In some parts of the country its accepted to drink alcohol and not take drugs whereas in other states alcohol is prohibited and drugs openly accepted, albeit illegally. Pushkar is one such place. As the city is a sacred Hindu city it isn't possible to buy alcohol and if you want to do so it has to be through the black market. Hash and marujianna are openly accepted in the city. Upon arrival into a cafe one of the first things offered by the waiter is is some harsh. People sit passing joints around and one cannot help but wonder how this goes on so unabated. At first I sat round wondering when the police were going to come in! I choose to be cautious and politely refussed of course!

Pushkar

2006-03-10T11:41:00.000Z

Having spent a few days in Jaipur watching the cricket and generally not doing much I decided it was time to move onto the next place on the tourist trail of Rajastan - Pushkar.

The city has been an important backpacker hangout for many years due to its interesting and densly packed streets and holy lake lying in an oasis in the middle of the desert. The town is surrounded by hills and peaks which seperate the place from the surrounding desert. It's also located in the heart of the state of Rajastan within striking distance of most the other main desert cities.

Unlike Jaipur the central streets of Pushkar remain firmly the domain of the walkers and not tuk-tuk or rickshaw drivers. It's actually very liberating being able to strole down the streets without continually being pestered with 'rickshaw sir, you must have rickshaw' every metre of so. As you strole down avoiding the cow shit and assortment of animals you feel like you are really in the middle of India.

It's also a sacred pilgrimage site for Hindus' who believe one of their Gods resides in the city in (or by) the lake. Visiting the main pilgrimage temple I found myself in a horde of Hindu men and women taking all manner of offerings. Strangly judging by their cloths and appearance they seemed to come from a range of backgrounds, including the lower 'untouchable' class of people. As you climb to the top of the temple you are approached by men offering flowers to give as blessings. Call me a skepitcal person but I have heard stories of these people demanding rather large sums of money when you accept the flowers. So choosing caution I opted to sidestep these guys and visit the temple without blessings.

It's raining in the desert!

2006-03-09T12:30:00.000Z

In the desert city of Jaipur in the desert state of Rajastan and it's raining

Not exactly what I expected to find when I got here!

Gonna go out now and dance in the rain!

Willich out

Bombings in Varanasi

2006-03-08T16:08:00.000Z

With dozens of different languages, a complex mix of languages and huge spacial distances India has always been a difficult and in many ways conflicting country. Occasionally these differences spiral over into religious conflict and when they do the conflicts tend to be bloody and disturbing.

Last night bombs went off in the Hindu religious capital of Varanasi killing 25 people in temples and at the main central train station. Having been to the city 8 years ago I was particuarly disturbed as its a vibrant place and one of the few places I intended to try to visit again on this trip.

It's still not clear who placed the bombs but given the religious significance of the city and temples to Hinduism its likely to be Muslim extremists. Whilst 99.99% of the large Muslim population in India are peace abiding and adhore these acts it could provide a spark which may ignite conflict between the two religious groups in the country. The Government is calling for peace and calm but with all sights and religious buildings throughou the country on a high state of alert I can't help but feel that this might be the 'calm before the storm'. I hope and prayer that I am wrong.

It does seem like that trouble seems to be following me given the problems in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and now India. With Nepal next on the list I hope things don't spiral out of control there either.