Inken Veins

Hitting rock bottom

2009-06-17T15:50:00.001+02:00

(SIPPED SOME CHANG IN CHIANG MAI / THE LIGHT OF DHARMA / LAO LAO, BABY! / DAMN SAM, I’M STUCK IN NAM! / THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF THE CAMBODIAN BEACH BUNNY)

Rewind. . Rewind. .

From Thailand Mar/09

Let’s pick up back where we left off: in Bangkok. Had a wonderful time together with Joseph/Jose and Stephen (doctor to be, Irish, Mr Confident ;=) who i met in Wat Mahathat, where they were doing a one week Vipassana retreat. Brilliant spending time together with Joseph, who was ordained as a monk in different wats (monasteries/temple complexes) in Thailand over the last three years and - according to him - only for my doing got outta Wat Mahathat for a couple of days, before boarding a plane to Sri Lanka to pursue his life's quest: following in the footsteps of Buddha. (Read: my powers of persuasion not amounting to more than leaving it entirely up to him if he wanted to come along or not, except i might have been the only one staying outside the wat and having a good time at that. Obviously.) Hope you're doing alright, palls!

Thailand Mar/09

Twice changed the date on my bus ticket to Chiang Mai cuz kept meeting and going out with people, Bangkok residents as well as fellow travelers - going out for two weeks straight, what a relief after India's poor bar scene and very limited night life! On the bus to Chiang Mai met Kwannie, graphic designer from Rotterdam with Hong Kong roots.

From Thailand Mar/09

Arriving at 6 am after a sleepless night we eventually found a place to crash and after a welcome nap had a look around town (the old part of Chiang Mai is literally littered with wats).

From Thailand Mar/09

Then headed back to the bar and club scene near Moon Muang, where we were staying, dominated by working girls and western sleaze balls. Hanging out with Kwannie, who all the bar girls thought to be a Thai girl as well, watching the girls ply their trade and getting grossed out by disgusting (white) men.. Fascinating stuff!

Woopy! Blogger just ate the rest of my post.

From Thailand Mar/09

Grrrrrrrrrr...

From Thailand Mar/09

Guess we'll have to do it all over again..

From Thailand Mar/09

So, anyway.

From
Thailand Mar/09

After a couple of days Kwannie went off on a three day trek and i just hung around, got dragged off the street mid-afternoon to join an extended family and friends for a couple of drinks and some deep fried onion and ginger to go with it, the exact occasion for the celebration still eludes me..

From Thailand Mar/09

..did the flimsiest bit of writing. (All that forcible drinking, remember?)

From Thailand Mar/09

We met back up for another couple of days.

From Thailand Mar/09

The very same night we met up again, we headed down to a more remote, louder and trashier alley, with bars opening up to one another like a covered market. I let Kwannie have her pick amongst the sleaze bars. Lo and behold! Before i even had the time size up the joint, we'd ended up in the one and only full blown lady boy bar. Talking about tapping straight into the nerve center!

From Thailand Mar/09

We had to buy him/her ;=) a couple of drinks, obviously, but the endearing Coco was a pretty straight talker and pulled no punches broaching the subject of a what being a lady boy entailed.

From Thailand Mar/09

Highly recommended, if you can deal with warding off x amount of advances, that is.. :)

From Thailand Mar/09

When we parted Kwannie headed down South and i took my leave to do a bit of Vipassana at Wat Umong, which proved to be a bit of a drag.

From Thailand Mar/09

Then again, a very instructive experience altogether. Never thought Buddhist monks could be so confrontational and in your face..

From Thailand Mar/09

The time i didn't spend meditating i read up on Dharma....

From Thailand Mar/09

..aka Buddha's teachings, aka higher insight, the facts about life..

From Thailand Mar/09

..the lowdown, the shit..

From Thailand Mar/09

..the one and only truth pointing towards the path to put an end to all suffering and through which one might eventually attain Nirvana..

Thailand Mar/09

From Thailand Mar/09

- not high on my to do list, but deeply involving and more than just a bit enlightening all the same.. :)

From Thailand Mar/09

Moved on to Wat Doi Suthep.

From Thailand Mar/09

Supejb experience, rocked my world!

From Thailand Mar/09

Very positive, supportive crew of monks - helping out loads.

From Thailand Mar/09

Had my first experience of non-selfhood*..
*(Bit technical, prefer not to go into it here and now, remind me to explain it to you later on if you so please.. :)

From Thailand Mar/09

..which sorta fried my circuits..

From Thailand Mar/09

.. gave me a major/minor identity crisis for the remaining day..

From Thailand Mar/09

..and made my meditation master monk

From Thailand Mar/09

(too many alliterations i do agree)

From Thailand Mar/09

..rejoice over my quick progress.

From Thailand Mar/09

Then again, trying my hardest to explain what had actually occurred red my mum and sis a couple of days afterwards, my sis coolly pointed out to me that this sort experience is nothing out of the ordinary when doing meditation.

From Thailand Mar/09

What relief!

From Thailand Mar/09

There i was getting all worked up over nothing.. ;=)

From Thailand Mar/09

Sadly had to leave Doi Suthep as my visa was running out..

From Thailand Mar/09

..would've loved to stay on a whole lot longer. Definitely planning to pass by another time before heading home.

From Thailand Mar/09

From Chiang Mai (along with a bunch of guys from Brazil, Italy, Japan.. who met in Australia and who i ran into at the local bus station all buses for the day being sold out) had to get a minibus to Chiang Kong, where i managed to accidentally get a free night's lodging. (Only found out at the border crossing the next day.) But the Gods weren't backing me all of the way. The next morning i got fined 500 Bat for overextending my visa by a day!

Laos Apr/09

Crossed the Mekong to Laos, used up my last dollars for my visa and got ready to board a two day slow boat down to Luang Prabang. Funny lil' scene in Huay Xai : apparently i was the only tourist in ages to check out the street food (tasty rice paste with peanuts or fresh fig wrapped in salad or herb leaf) seen as how the locals couldn't stop chuckling over my rather poor attempts at dialoguing in Lao, phrasebook in hand..

From Laos Apr/09

Despite being on an absolutely overcrowded (80+ peeps) i was absolutely blown away by the unfolding vistas, the village life along the river banks and hillsides, the cascading mountains along the Mekong changing colours with the rising and setting sun.

From Laos Apr/09

Pfff!!

From Laos Apr/09

Incredible stuff!

From Laos Apr/09

Right up my alley.

From Laos Apr/09

At the guest house in Pak Beng met James (Melbourne), Jacobi (Vancouver) and John (London), who'd been traveling together for a couple of weeks. Had the most hilarious dinner at an Indian/Lao restaurant, where, as it happened, the waiter managed to be even more stoned than us. (Hadn't smoked in months, so it was quite the merry coincidence.)

The day after our arrival in Luang Prabang John took off with two friends (very happily newly engaged and near broke) for a 3 day motorbike trip and i consequently found myself the best value room in town: a double and a single bed for 40.000 Kip! Woohoo! The House Gods obviously digging my ass (limited number of puns intended ;=) i wandered down the street along the Nam Kham river..

From Laos Apr/09

.. passed by plenty of soon-to-be-even-more-gorgeously-decked-out wats..

From Laos Apr/09

..meditated a bit..

From Laos Apr/09

..had a chat with the monks..

From Laos Apr/09

..checked out the local cuisine (a piece of coconut waffle, some full grain noodles with coriander, a noodle soup with loadsa fresh herbs and vegetables, long beans.. green mango with a ginger-garlic-fermented-fish-and-chili-in-abundance sauce! – chewed the fat with a chef, working in a tourist restaurant down town and speaking perfect English, who just happened to drop by for a intestine/entrails extravaganza soup. Yum!)

From Laos Apr/09

..and i couldn't help but notice that Luang Prabang was definitely growing on me...

From Laos Apr/09

And that was even before i hit the bowling alley. All bars in LPB are kindly requested by the cops to close shop at 23.30, in respect of local inhabitants who generally get up before sunset. Except for a one or two local discos that stay open till 1, the bowling alley is the only place that, outta the center and plenty outta the way not to disturb any neighbours, stays open till 3/4. (A simple matter of slipping the odd envelope.) The one and only place to go …and you can bowl?! (I confess to being that kind of person who just gets a natural high off bowling.) Throw in a bar, music and in no time you find yourself going from one alley to the next - cheering people on, chatting, having a laugh. Ah! Bowling in LPB..

Met Emma, bubbly dentist from Belfast, and Shane, same same minus the dental record and plus an unappeasable urge to party hard, one night over at the bowling.

From Laos Apr/09

I will always remain eternally indebted to Em for sticking by me when, upon visiting the waterfalls half an hour outside LPB, I jumped off a rock and banged my left wrist and lower right arm into the some more rock, before bumping my head; the water being less transparent and consequently less deep than I assumed. Rising outta the water a stream of bloody red water running off my arm, s’pose I upset my fair share of wimpy souls. ;=) Good thing quite a few people do carry their first aid wherever they go. More good luck that Em was around to nurse my ever so slightly concussed self and to see me through the remainder of the day and the one following..

The very next day at dinner we ran into Sarah, who - never at a loss for words, makes my talkativeness seem pretty mild :) - at first did sorta come across as yer regular IT girl straight outta London, with a great sense of Northerner sarcy humour thrown in for good measure.. Sarah had just gotten into town after a grueling three day bus journey from Sapa (N-Vietnam), personally, I still wonder how she managed to spend such along time over such a short distance :), so to cheer her up we obviously had to take her out bowling.. Killer Mekong Whiskey – smells, looks and tastes like rum, tho’ no one dares say what it actually is –, lime, coke – not that much for banged up ol’ me - and hilarity ensued.

From Laos Apr/09

The following days we spent hanging out together trying not to get completely wet as people started preparing for Pi Mai aka Lao New Year. A shame just as Pi Mai hit LPB Em had decided to head down to Vang Vieng.

Then again, you win some, you lose some.. I managed to convince Ine, scrumptilicious friend from back in Brussels on her way down from Delhi, to give South-Thailand a miss and get her sassy ass over to Lao not to miss out on Pi Mai. Not only did she get herself a direct flight from Bangkok, she also brought me more than two kilos of Côte d’Or black chocolate! (70% Pure cacao with shards of caramelized cacao. Aw! God! Sweet bliss!!!)

From Laos Apr/09

After months of living almost completely deprived of real chocolate – it’s a barren wasteland out there, people –, the one I couldn’t get a hold of and as a result found myself dreaming of incessantly: cacao. I confess, as so many of my compatriots, I’m heavily addicted to cacao. I did bring about three quarters of a kilo of chocolate myself – far too little in hindsight, less than 100gs a week is pure madness – and since I wasn’t entirely sure that Ine was coming over up to a few weeks in advance and as I couldn’t risk not having any chocolate to go on for the coming months if anything went wrong I was heavily rationing what little chocolate I had left.. Oh, Ine! My saving angel!!! Those thousand kisses I owe you still are soon coming your way!

Right, enough about that... Back to Pi Mai. Pi Mai or Lao New Year is also called the water festival, meaning that anyone at every give time is in their right to soak you top to bottom. Be it with a hose, bucket, pot or any other container. If upon being drenched you stick around for a lil’ bit and your assailants aren’t too farang (Lao term for foreigner, originally referring to ol’ Frenchy ;=) to know how to show good manners, no doubt they’ll invite you round for a toast – mmmh, more Beer Lao! :) – honouring Lao people’s amazing hospitality you of course buy a round in return.

From Laos Apr/09

The fun bit is that whoever is in control of pouring the drink - depending on the number and how thirsty people are all of you share one or two glasses – collects the emptied glass, perhaps fills it up with some more ice, tops it up and sends it down to whoever he or she thinks should drink next. No peer pressure whatsoever, of course! As your conversation generally runs outta steam fairly quickly – eh, the ubiquitous linguistic barriers stopping people from truly interacting and becoming one ;=) - you say your goodbyes, get up and walk a couple of meters down the street another family or group of friends calls you over to have a drink with them. And again a bit onward..

Yup Pi Mai is one hell of good party. Kids with super soakers running allover the place, wee bitty smallish to absolutely massive sound systems and dancing people on every street corner, groups of people cruising along on pick up trucks, more often than not in the company of a humongous barrel of water. And for days on end there’s an all out war going down with people doing battle with flour and dyed water, smearing your face, body, clothes and whatnot with engine grease, red and blue dye.

From Laos Apr/09

Part of the traditional ceremonies involve crossing the Mekong to pay homage to a cave with Buddha statue especially decked out for the occasion, but it seemed that we, like most people, got bogged down around the food and drink stalls on one big slushy river bank instead. There we had quite an enlightening chat with a supremely nice thirty-something couple. The fiancé, who for starters already had a hard time understanding English, was plenty wasted and getting progressively more incoherent and unpredictable as time advanced. As most Lao people I had met up to then, they struggled to pronounce my name, saying Ham or something along those lines and apparently finding this quite hilarious. As it turned out ‘ham’ means penis in Lao. For some odd reason this seemed to please Sarah beyond compare, as she seemed to find this the funniest thing since making up word jokes in primary school. Eh, the intricacies of tickling people’s funny bone. Oh, well. Thank God she never relished in calling me thus in public.

From Laos Apr/09

Pi Mai, Pi Mai, Pi Mai! If only could go back right now, getting soaked, water running down your back, having a drink or two, dancing on street corners, doing the boogaloo. Which reminds me: who’s up for Pi Mai 2010?

Leaving LPB behind – not in tatters, but rather disheveled after a mass exodus the previous day – we also bused down to Vang Vieng.

From Laos Apr/09

Vang Vieng, currently more renowned for its tubing – more for 18-20 year olds getting absolutely wasted in the process of trying to get laid; if only I were that innocent still; oh, and apparently last year bout 8 kids managed to somehow kill themselves while doing so, something to with slides and zip lines perhaps.. Sounds more like sheer silliness to me!

From Laos Apr/09

That very same VV boasts a stunning countryside with more Mekong style cascading hills, dramatically gnarled lime stone hilltops, beautiful dried up rice paddies, a delightful stream and a couple of lagoons where one can go for a swim to get away from the oppressive heat.

From Laos Apr/09

Here Sarah bravely embarked on her crusade to rid me of my rather dramatic t-shirt tan, to no avail, sadly; and managed to lose her phone and camera with about a month of pictures she hadn’t backed up earlier - amongst other, no doubt cultural-historically more significant pics, the Pi Mai festivities, parade, us looking like a total pair of banged up clowns, our first and very memorable night at the bowling and so on.. Hope ya won’t kill me for bringing this up, Sal, I share your loss, luv.

From Laos Apr/09

Next up: Vientiane, capital of Lao, somewhat underwhelming, some nice wats and a funny national monument, scorching heat, a bit too much to bear between 10am and 4pm.

From Laos Apr/09

As I stuck round in order to pick up my various visas on our last day in Vientiane Ine day tripped to a nature reserve quite a few miles outta town. And upon returning to the station – trouble with getting the right bus, being driven round in circles only to arrive to an arid, barren park, all day long in the blistering heat – Ine was so worn out, her central nervous system just decided: that’s it no more of this heat! So she changed her ticket for Pakxe right there and then, preferring to venture out to the mountainous provinces North of LPB.

From Laos Apr/09

Had to say I was also fairly worried about what to expect further down South since the Mekong had but entirely dried up down in Vientiane, exposing a vast river bed and a diminutive stream relatively far off in the distance.

Having come all this way just to head back up did seem somewhat silly to me, so I promised Ine we’d meet up somewhere along the North-East and Sarah and i pushed on to the 4000 Islands together. Thank God we did!

From Laos Apr/09

There was absolutely no shortage of water down in Lao’s Mekong delta. We stayed in Dong Det in a pretty traditional bungalow shed alongside the river (more of the same we had back in VV) with an almost overly friendly German stoner and his Lao in-laws.

Had a brilliant day out on Mike’s boat..

From Laos Apr/09

..we made it back just in time before a massive storm front was about to hit us.

From Laos Apr/09

Pretty fierce lightning, lemme tell ya! From Dong Det Sarah had to get back to Vientiane to hop on a flight for Hanoi to arrive just in time for her friend’s birthday. And I had to haul my ass all the way back up to LPB.

From Laos Apr/09

Quite a treat.

From Laos Apr/09

No, really I didn’t mind terribly much.

From Laos Apr/09

The landscape is just so damn spectacular I made sure I kept my eyes peeled.

From Laos Apr/09

Back in LPB I was so exhausted I wasn’t sure I would go bowling once more or not.. The mere thought! :)

Met up with Ine in the fabulous village of Nong Khiaw/Kiew.

From Laos Apr/09

More dazzling Mekong scenery..

From Laos Apr/09

..chewing the fat with a group of locals playing petanque (jeux de boules) already sweetly wasted in preparation for the 1st of May celebrations the following day, a friendly Indian just down the street and a big bottle of moonshine Lao Lao – the local rice liquor -, s’pose we had ourselves a combination which packed quite a punch!

From Laos Apr/09

Too bad I needed to leave so soon, would’ve loved to stay on a couple more days with Ine in beautiful Lao getting up to all sorts of impish tricks and stocking up on the adorable sticky rice I would soon come to miss..

Vietnam May/09

What a change Vietnam turned out to be.

From Vietnam May/09

Joined a couple from London and two guys from the Isle of Jersey crossing the border and also making their way to Hanoi.

From Vietnam May/09

A rather hellish journey if ever I experienced one. Let’s just say I apart from a handful of rice I didn’t eat all day, the others agreed to pay way to high a price for the trip and even then the driver had the nerve to have a two hour break, three to four hours outside Hanoi, at midnight, mind you, awaiting “other driver” - the bastard being just too much of a lying lazy prick to drive us there himself as proved apparent later on -, and he consequently spent that time sadistically pushing all our buttons, cowardly backing out of every confrontation, plain simply enjoying torturing a group of exhausted travelers who just happened to pass the wrong border crossing. Great introduction to a country.

Sadly, Hanoi didn’t prove that much better..

From Vietnam May/09

Nice enough place, if only the people living there were as nice as other Vietnamese people. Instead, half of the people I had to do business with in Hanoi try to cheat you, pretend not to know any English if the situation fits them, can prove extremely obnoxious while you’re actually trying to buy something off them. Go figure! I strongly advise anyone considering traveling to Nam to just skip Hanoi and do without the pain in the ass it’ll prove. I’ll spare you the details, ‘fraid I could go on for a bit to long, ‘fraid I was forced to stay in Hanoi for way to long..

From Vietnam May/09

The next day round I somehow managed to drag my comatose self outta bed just in time to check outta the hotel I wasn’t intent in spending another night and somehow found my way into a travel agency where a truly smashingly nice girl helped me out big time, assisted me in buying a SIM card as well. Spent the remainder of the day doing the ol’ zombie shuffle fumbling my way around town and checking into the same hotel lacking the energy to look out for a replacement. Next day I had another funny exchange with the guy at the reception holding my visa hostage - great fun Hanoi! – before being picked up for a three day tour to Halong Bay.

From Vietnam May/09

Stunning place!

From Vietnam May/09

Oh, and i put my experience meditating to good use and convinced myself to face up to my vertigo, ignore the tearing wind and climb a very wobbly metal lookout tower, more like one hell of a 'rusty cage' really. (Aye, admittedly one of my favourite Soundgarden tracks!) Honestly, just looking at those pictures I’m already getting slightly vertiginous. Any idea how badly I suffer from fear of heights vertigo? If you can’t tell from my face.. A word of warning for y’all folks out there reading this: it’s one ugly, ugly sight… Anyway, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

From Vietnam May/09

Returning to Hanoi I met back up with Sarah who’d just come down from Sapa, second time round.

From Vietnam May/09

We spent a couple of days partying hard with the expats down and around Mao’s bar.

From Vietnam May/09

Then got on a bus to Nim Binh; forgetting to drop us off the driver did manage to get us on bus passing in the opposite direction and we eventually made it to Nim Binh, where the super friendly owner of our soon to be hotel was already awaiting our arrival. Hats off!

Nim Binh offers more Mekong/Halong Bay fare, be it on land.

From Vietnam May/09

Best way to move around is by hiring a motorbike. Very entertaining all in all, apart from the fact that I managed topple the bike on me left foot. Cut my foot clean open exposing the two muscles underneath. Ouch! With all the blood gushing outta me wound – a substantial puddle was forming underneath - the people at the café insisted I end my protests and let them help me... by opening up three cheap ass local brand filter cigarettes and apply the strands of tobacco as a suture!? - if only they’d used rolling tobacco or some grass for that matter ;=) - only to come out with some proper gauze two minutes later.

From Vietnam May/09

Luckily a field ‘hospital’ was nearby. There I managed to get all the tobacco out using isobetadine soaked gauzes while the nurse, who first started none too subtly poking at the tobacco with an oversize pair of pinchers, was away to get me some local anesthetic. Good thing Sarah was game enough to hold my lower leg in an effort to apply a tourniquet as the nurse stitched me up butcher/(pre-)war/DIY style.

From Vietnam May/09

Well, in any case cheapest field surgery ever: only 15$ for 7 stitches, local anesthetic, meds and three cans of coke at 1$ a pop.

From Vietnam May/09

Next day we bused back to Hanoi where they hooked me up to intravenous antibiotics to be administered three times daily. Woohoo! In the mean time Sarah got us a nice ground floor room with bath as I could hardly do any stairs. Nevertheless, when I wasn’t on the IV drip, Sarah – “I’m so surprised about your energy” - continued for the duration of her remaining days in Asia to drag my crippled ass around town – loadsa cab fares combined with the miracle of crutches.

From Vietnam May/09

After Sarah left I hit a bit of a slump. Trying to keep my foot up as much as possible, as the IV was taking more time than originally projected, I was pretty much confined to my hotel room. A week onwards only 6 stitches came out instead of 7. Funny business. Some days later I was finally able to get the hell outta Hanoi, so I made like a banana and split for ancient imperial city Hue.

From Vietnam May/09

There I spent two more days shut in at my hotel as the rain wouldn’t let up, uploading pictures, downloading music (my first fresh batch in 8 months) and having another stab at this blog update. The Imperial City, the many pagodas and royal burial tombs surrounding the city proved interesting..

From Vietnam May/09

..but as with most Vietnamese architecture and arts and crafts..

From Vietnam May/09

..too similar. (Again, despite often having remarkable settings as a backdrop, Vietnamese architecture is unimpressive compared to its greater Chinese examples. Nice try, tho’. Keep at it, I’d say. ;=)

From Vietnam May/09

Next stop on my way to Saigon: Hoi An. I literally wizzed through as my visa would soon be running out, all I can say is it seemed plenty laid back, but not that interesting; and the Cham ruins of My Son; diminutive, peanuts compared to the Indian temples it derived its architecture from.

From Vietnam May/09

24 Hour bus journey to Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City during which I met Nicolette, Dutch (therefore not to be trusted;=) currently living in Spain, planning to move back to Amsterdam, and Jaimy, aspiring, though I prefer ‘struggling’, poet and proud inhabitant of Kentucky, and spent the following days hanging out together. Loved the newly opened Indian restaurant we went to on our first night into town. Greatly enjoyed Saigon’s energy..

From Vietnam May/09

..amazed by how modern the place is; though perhaps not so surprising as the US practically blew Vietnam in its entirety to smithereens or at least did their very best to “bomb them back into the Stone Age” as one American general magnanimously suggested the US military would do if the Viet Cong didn’t ”draw in their horns”. Was deeply touched by the War Remembrance Museum..

From Vietnam May/09

..aka the French and American War Crimes Museum.

From Vietnam May/09

Had a ball savouring the street food and not getting run over when crossing, one respect Saigon luckily didn’t live up to its reputation.

From Vietnam May/09

Absolutely adored the more traditionally styled pagodas in Cholon..

From Vietnam May/09

..Saigon’s old Chinese district.

From Vietnam May/09

Once more on the bus, for the Mekong delta this time.

From Vietnam May/09

Nice enough boat rides.

From Vietnam May/09

The Cambodian border crossing: the coziest I've ever seen.

From Cambodia Jun/09

Final destination: Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

From Cambodia Jun/09

Met up again with Em, who'd been working as a volunteer in a dental clinic and a local school for the past 5 weeks.

From Cambodia Jun/09

Visited a local NGO together called Tiny Toones, founded by a Long Beach, Ca. gang member who got deported back to Cambodian and first started out helping addicts and now focuses on teaching kids break dancing, helping them sort out their lives in the process.

From Cambodia Jun/09

Spent two nights of culinary extravaganza, and for (almost) no money really..

From Cambodia Jun/09

Ended up getting invited round to a very fancy karaoke joint: private room, 4 hostesses, the lot! by the very friendly and soon-to-open-her-new-spa-similar-to-the-ones-they-have-in-Singapore-but-with-cheaper-labour-of-course girlfriend/mistress of a high official at the ministry of foreign affairs, s'pose what one could call the enemy of this fair nation's people, as the Cambodian government is one of the most corrupt globally, one nonprofit worker telling Em that only 4% of the aid handed over the government actually waters down to those in need of it!

Skipped town for a few days at the beach in Sihanoukville..

From Cambodia Jun/09

..where I absolutely relished finally being able to go for a swim after having had to mind my foot for so long, plus getting back to my writing. And managed to get rid of my t-shirt tan – well, for the most part.. ;=)

From Cambodia Jun/09

Oh, and saw Em waste a fortune at the roulette wheel in one of Snouky Snouk’s very flash casinos, that we visited accompanied by fellow high rollers Edith and James, scientists at the very cutting edge of the molecular spectacular, originally from Dublin but in hiding in London. - Oops! Sorry about that.. – So, there we were just about to move to the VIP room high on dreams and schemes of cleaning the house in one of our trade mark baccarat blow outs. (If you are right now thinking of a singer I ain’t carrying any of your bets in the near and distant future! ;=) Positioned smack bang in the middle between the wall sized glass window opening to the card counting room to my back and the blackjack table in front, sitting up perfectly straight as I was being watched by any number outta the 25 eyes in the sky, I got the fear and had a minor mental breakdown convinced they mighty set security on us - card readers par excellence of world renown - any time soon and have their goons put the hurt on us pretty badly, break our hands and kick our ribs in, and.. – NO! Not the face!

From Cambodia Jun/09

Luckily we all got away scot-free, collected our various bags and apparel and moved on to bother the street vendour one block down flogging pretty exotic fortified wine - as of yet unbeknownst to the wider international public but predicted to stand out as one of Cambodia’s finer export products in the very near future!

With Em heading back to Phnom Penh to put in her last week at the dental clinic I stayed on a couple more days and sorta got my laundry done in between trying to make sense of my notes on story outlines, on miscellaneous themes for philosophical musing and various other nonproductive topics. - That was until i also needed to head back for PPenh to say bye to Em and meet up with her, her colleagues, Edith and James, before Em shot off to Singapore and E & J made for Lao..

From Cambodia Jun/09

..and to lock myself to a pc screen for three consecutive days in order to get this damned blog sorted.

From Cambodia Jun/09

Just to find that non-cooperative hardware..

From Cambodia Jun/09

..would hold me hostage for yet another day.

From Cambodia Jun/09

Well, s’pose I’ll hang out in town for another day or so, getting some practical stuff outta the way, before heading back to the beach and my writing pad. Looks like I’ll even give Angkor a miss. After traveling so much all I wanna do is write. No point in running around anymore. This is what I came out here for and what makes me happier than all else.

As for next month: plan to do more of the same but then out in Thailand. After that I’ll come swinging by London for about five days (July 31st till August 4th) before pussyfootin’ my way back to Belgian terra firma.

From Cambodia Jun/09

Oh, and last but not least: I booked my gran’s apartment at the beach from the 28th to the 31st of August. The usual suspects are hereby invited. (For now it looks like we might even wanna head out there a couple of days earlier. Sounds like a plan? Be sure to let me know.)

Also hope many peeps will join us for Pukkelpop the weekend prior to our coastal exploits. And if you’ve unsuspectingly been invited round to my sis and Anthony’s wedding I’m sure I’ll see you there.

Well.. It’s is a wrap! This entry should more than make up for whatever sensitive information I might at some point or other have tried to convey..

Hope you’re (well.. the majority of you at least ;=) doing a-OK!
If not.. Why not go for a walk and have a go at torturing a lesser life form? No partners or children about? Why not plan invading a neigbouring country? Or just ruin some random stranger’s happy-go leisure time instead. Other people’s happiness can so easily be sabotaged. Why! Now you’re getting the hang of it! Why, yes of course! Feel free to experiment with some tricks and ploys of your own. There you are! That should help you get rid of those nasty summer blues!

Loadsa - collecting-more-scars*-than-i-feel-i-need-to-impress-girls..-if-only-lady-Fortuna-'d-agree - luv,
-hx.

*And for a change not of the emotional kind.. Woohooo!

Ps: if so inclined, you can always reach me at +855 99 485 305.

Pps: quite like Dizzee Rascal's Bonkers - just came up on internet radio - dirty flirty! :)

Picasa to the rescue!

2009-04-29T12:31:00.007+02:00

OK. Still no full on blog update with tales of what i've (supposedly ;=) been up these last weeks next to tantalizing, incriminating pictures and all that..
I've truly had all my 'free' :) time eaten up by sorting and uploading pictures - the occasional stabs at writing something somewhat coherent - pff - afraid i'll need a bit more time still..

From Thailand Mar/09

For now, i'll let you fill in the blanks: feel free to make up your own story connecting the different pictures.. (Eg. How did i injured my head? ..'Fraid i don't recollect. :) Not that all the people i've been meeting these last two months have had their picture taken, but the most prominent characters generally make their feature appearance.
http://picasaweb.google.com/hansjpanz/LaosApr09#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hansjpanz/ThailandMar09#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hanzuman/ThailandMar09#

Loadsa - Finding Ways to Remember i Mustn't Forget about The Power of The Now* ;=)- luv,
-hx.

*..And Planning to Allow My Poor Ol' Self
To Enjoy the Benefits of Feeding One's Mortal Shell
More than Once Every Eight Hours
Instead of Remaining Stuck to A Computerized Automaton...

Hence this poorly written one line sketch entitled: "The Power of The Now"
- Now... No. Now! No. ... -NOW! ... Grmph!!! :)

Ps: In case you'd like to reach me in the next couple of days - till May 2nd, when i'll be in Vietnam since my Lao visa is running out - my Lao number is: +856 (0)207550795. Oh, and because of time zones, the movements of sun, earth and all, summer time and what not, 1pm Brussels Mean Time :) equals 6pm Lao time.. (Oh, and i'll post my Vietnam number with the next update, just send me a line if you can't wait till then..)

A dream you dream together is reality

2009-03-06T13:52:00.002+01:00

From Thailand Mar/09

Bangkok nights..

From Thailand Mar/09

Ain't none..

From Thailand Mar/09

Too bad! ;=)

From Thailand Mar/09

Finally made it to Bangkok.

From Thailand Mar/09

And i'm loving..

From Thailand Mar/09

every minute of it!

From Thailand Mar/09

Even though i hardly have ventured out much beyond Kao San road..

From Thailand Mar/09

Bangkok's backpacker heartland/tourist bedlam so to say.

From Thailand Mar/09

Meeting the most incredible people and when i'm not in Kao San or ever so slightly hungover..

From Thailand Mar/09

i've been practicing meditation at the Wat Mahadhat temple complex.

From Thailand Mar/09

Even ventured out once before sunrise to have myself some 'breakfast with mindfulness' ;=) followed by three and a half hours of meditation, then on to lunch and 'personal time with consciousness'.

From Thailand Mar/09

Though, since i didn't enroll in the intensive meditation retreat and no one really explained me these terms, after lunch i just chatted with some people who had already been there for two days of full on meditation. Brilliant conversations.

From Thailand Mar/09

What else? The people - fellow traveler or local, the food, the surroundings.. What a change from India. A welcome breath of fresh air. The last weeks in India had been pretty tough on me. And though Calcutta was brilliant, i was glad to finally move on to South-East Asia.

From Thailand Mar/09

What follows is a short breakdown of my last weeks in India.

From India Jan/09

Right, rewind-rewind...
Remember last when i told you about the Ellora and Ajanta caves?

From India Jan/09

So, Ilaria had decided to move on to Bombay - where we would meet up - after Ellora, but i wanted to spend one more day on the Ajanta caves. After which i headed down to Jalgoan to catch my overnight train to Bombay. (Which was of course a bit late.. Again.. Yawn.) Waking up the next morning, just moments before my arrival, seeing the high rise outta the open windows, i was immediately buzzing with anticipation. Finally, a proper big city. How wonderful!

From India Jan/09

And Bombay didn't disappoint: beautiful boulevards with colonial architecture, surprisingly easy to move about the (touristic) center, no where near Mumbai, the congested maximum city i expected.

From India Jan/09

For once, i didn't go slumming :) Didn't feel that interested to go on a tour and play the role of some rich bitch looking in at the lives of those poor sods stuck in Dharavi slum, so no Slumdog Millionaire stories from this end. (Except that AR Rahman, the composer who won best soundtrack + best song oscar is nicknamed 'the Mozart of Madras'!? I'm still at a loss how they came up with that one.. Poor Wolfie ;=)

From India Jan/09

I did, however, go round to visit Jeanne Devos, a Belgian nun who's the founder and national coordinator of the National Domestic Workers Movement. This organization defends the rights of women and children working (read: often slaving away) as household helps, and intervenes to liberate those who do live as household slaves and adding insult to injury, often have been abused in the past.

From India Jan/09

Maybe have a glance at their site: ndwm.org and who knows, make a donation. My preliminary donation was a chocolate covered pie. :)
I was forced to. Since Jeanne Devos and my grandmother are related i had to honour the most basic of family customs: you can't have people over for coffee without there being some (read: an abundance of) pie.

From India Jan/09

What else? I greatly enjoyed the good food and great company of Pratap, the owner of Pratap Lunch Home (Janmabhoomi Marg, Fort Area). I can still hear him starting off a new piece of conversation with a proper curse and knowing, ah this one's gonna be good. And he never let me down. :) Great man.

From India Jan/09

We had some darn good chats. Sure did. So, do go there for an affordable drink, some of the best biryani and pilau rice i've tasted in India and pretty damn decent sea food, especially considering the price. Trust me, the place is a gem. If you wanna get a taste of Bombay proper, you now know where you should be heading for.

From India Jan/09

After Mumbai/Bombay (check the previous posts) i traveled further down South, first to Kolhapur (Maharashtra), then through Karnataka - Bijapur, Hospet, Hampi, Gokarna and Mysore.

From India Feb/09

After Mysore i went to Kannur to see the theyyam, a ritual of spirit possession, and there i also had the most loveliest of times with the local fisherman down at the harbour. (No pun intended.;=)

From India Feb/09

Next up was beautiful but sadly too touristy Fort Cochin, where i came up with another story idea. Sorta about what love is all about. Let's just say that, among other people, my friends in Brussels might find interesting.. (That they in one or other distorted form might feature in it.) Not that any of these things are in any way related. Obviously. ;=)

From India Feb/09

In Cochin i met the delightful Julia, who was sitting on the rocks near the seaside enjoying some the last rays Indian sunlight before heading off to Mumbai the next morning and then back to London. Too bad we didn't meet before.. She hosts 'the only weekly short film evening in London' have a look at shortandsweet.tv to see a small collection of interesting shorts.

From India Feb/09

Pretty hard to resist the fishmongers who set up shop down the road from the old Chinese fishing nets. So i decided to have a proper bit of fish indeed: grilled tiger prawns and langoustines (small type of lobster). But don't feel the need to get all envious, they were slightly overcooked. :=)

(No really, i could've killed these guys working at the fish restaurants - the type where you can bring round the fish you bought at the fish market and they'll cook it for ya. Lying bastards. If there's one thing that really pushes my button it's the blatant dishonesty of some Indians. Not the fact that they're trying to make an extra buck. Fine by me. If you're going to cheat a bit of money out of some tourists at least have the brains to lie to them properly. First telling someone the price is x and later on all of the sudden it's doubled?! Yeah, i'm very sorry too, mate. That's just insulting people's intelligence, innit? - Oh well.. Seems at the time i wrote this i was still quite upset over the struggle it can be to have to deal with all this while traveling India. In case you can relate, a word of advise: best to avoid Chennai/Madras.)

From India Feb/09

Anyhow, i was more then happy to leave Cochin for Alleppy. Or as the locals call it Alappuzha, which each time i came across it on a shop front reminded me of the animated movie Madagascar and the illustrious 'Fooza'. Alappuzha aka 'A la puzha', so to say. And you could hear them too: sitting round in the garden late at night on a full moon the surrounding forest really came alive.

From India Feb/09

Talking about which, back in Alleppy i stayed at some madman's place. Frustrated over a failed marriage (my guess he cheated on his wife: he claimed it to be impossible for a man to stay faithful to a women for more than two years - go figure..) and the subsequent ruin of his career in advertisement and loss of a number of family businesses (he went on a two year bender and throughout his family took care of him) on the other hand he was a very creative and quite fascinating guy, though he could use a bit of anger management.

From India Feb/09

Then again his guest house was lovely, nevertheless i was more than relieved to leave the place after two nights. And he hooked Gael and Antoine, two brilliant French guys straight outta university, and me up with a pretty decent canoe. With which we were able to ply our way through the small channels and waterways where the locals live, outta the way of the big canals the houseboats navigate. Yup, them backwaters were amazing. Highly recommended to each one and all of you.

From India Feb/09

Leaving Kerala and my French companions behind i didn't know i was going to spend the following weeks moving from one place to another without finding any of 'em that captivating/enjoyable (with the exception of Hyderabad, maybe), without meeting any fellow travelers, not being able to find a halfway decent place to write, catching a major cold.. Best to be brief then.

From India Feb/09

Two facsinating bus rides through beautiful Kerala, one to Trivandrum (Kerala) and from there to Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu), the most Southern part of India, where two oceans meet. Which sounds impressive but not being way out at sea Kanniyakumari really wasn't that great an idea.

From India Feb/09

Overnight train to Madurai.

From India Feb/09

Nice enough temple complex.

From India Feb/09

They were repainting the lot to be ready by April 9th in celebration of Shiva and his marriage to his consort, Parvati.

From India Feb/09

Fell ill.

From India Feb/09

Forced to stay in Madurai.

From India Feb/09

Luckily there were some great restaurants, one of which had a menu with evening specials reading like a dictionary of local specialties. Have a look at the '7 flavour uttapam' below.

From India Feb/09

Another pretty bus ride from Madurai to Villupuram and from there Pondicherry. Arriving at 3am dead tired, nearly got into a fight with another lying cabby - half my size, he had balls, i have to grant him that much - who threatened me with his black belt in tennis. You just can't stay mad at them for too long when they say such inane stuff, can you now?

From India Feb/09

Bus to Chennai (Tamil Nadu), where i arrived too late to catch a connecting train to Hyderabad, so i was forced to stay the night. Imagine a weary traveler in a comedy of errors with each and everyone he meets - walking out of the station till the moment he goes to bed - lying to get as much money out of him as possible. With the exception of a couple of nice people at the juice bar and restaurant. You can always trust the people working in small time businesses tourists rarely frequent to be as truly hospitable and dead charming. At least in India.. :)

From India Feb/09

Arrived real early in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), well actually Secunderabad, where i spent a record 4 hours to get my tickets to Bhubaneswar and Calcutta sorted - red tape and pushy Indians always trying to jump the queue.. Divine!

From India Feb/09

Had quite a good time wandering round Hyderabad.

From India Feb/09

Had a chuckle over 'black bag central' - the surreality of all of the sudden being surrounded by walking talking black ghosts..

From India Feb/09

With fake Louis-Vuitton and Fendi bags, of course.

From India Feb/09

Treated myself to a good biryani twice daily.

From India Feb/09

Could've visited a lot more.. but was happy to leave all the same.

From India Feb/09

Boarded a 20 hour train to Bhubaneshwar (Orissa).

From India Feb/09

Arriving at Bhubaneshwar i was lucky enough to find an internet cafe where i could use skype to call some of my family and friends. Lovely. Too bad i didn't have the time to move to Puri and due to not being able to get any proper sleep - too much noise throughout the night due to a religous festival - i couldn't be arsed to spend another 2-3 hours on a bus to and fro the sun temple at Konark or to drag myself down the long snaking road round the local temples in the blistering heat.

Culcutta (West Bengal) luckily proved to be more my cup of tea.

From India Feb/09

Staying at Sudder St. i could again meet up with some fellow travelers.

From India Feb/09

The first (and only) item on my to do list, i had to go round to Mother Theresa's orphanage to meet up with little Joshua, whose future adoptive parents asked me to go round, take some pictures and shoot a movie or two. Since they will have to wait another couple of months now a new judge is appointed and due to the transition a lot of cases are left pending.

From India Feb/09

Brilliant experience. Walking in and having in no time ten, twenty kids pulling at you to come play..

From India Feb/09

I really enjoyed Calcutta.

From India Feb/09

The city may be a bit gritty and all - highest density of beggars i've ever seen - it's a vibrant place.

From India Feb/09

West-Bengal prides itself to be the intellectual and cultural center of India and they might just have a point.

From India Feb/09

The food's great too.

From India Feb/09

And walking through old Chinatown, now a predominantly Muslim quarter, being the only white kid or tourist in miles..

From India Feb/09

Highly recommended.

From India Feb/09

So, do go to calcutta y'all!

Well, for all those of you who've made it this far..

Loadsa - please no ping pong!!! - luv,
-hx.

Idea mobile keeps reminding me that it's Valentine's day week - so why haven't i been out on an impulse shopping spree?

2009-02-04T12:20:00.022+01:00

From India Feb/09

Last time i wrote was back in Mysore. I did manage to visit the Maharajah's palace (completed in 1912, replacing the previous, wooden palace which burnt down in 1897) before leaving.

From India Feb/09

Never seen so much stucco ornamentation on roofs and pillars, and so many elaborately carved or inlaid doors and door frames. Funny detail: i again overheard a guide stressing that all the mirrors and chandeliers are (made of) Belgian glass, and coming to think of it all other palaces along my way where they made mention of the glassware, they claimed it to be Belgian.

From India Feb/09

Honestly dunno if they just use an Indian, antiquated term for crystal or if all of it was actually made in Belgium. However, i did notice back in Haridwar on a restaurant mirror a sticker boasting its Belgian mirror making techniques of the highest quality standard (and something to do with copper?).

From India Feb/09

Oh, and forgot to mention that back in Gokarna i stayed at the most wonderful place: Namaste Farm Yoga (spiritualland.com).

From India Jan/09

Because in three days the entire place was going to be occupied by a group of Russians for the coming two weeks, Oliver, the owner offered me
the most beautiful room for a bargain. He was never going to be able to rent it out for two nights anyway, since people normally stay for minimally a week to take part in the yoga classes included in the price.

From India Jan/09

Showing me the room i immediately went: Wow! A lava rock boulder making up the wall of the entrance and bathroom! And such a spacious room, with a raised platform surrounded by wood paneling opening out unto the green hills and the bay of Kudle beach below! Phew! Incredible! Too bad i'll never be able to afford this - way above my budget, i'm afraid.. But then he offered me the room that is normally 1200rs a night for just 500rs for two nights. Pretty hard to refuse such a sweet deal, ah! I just had to comply. :)

As promised and announced more than once, here, finally, it is: the completion of my Varanasi chapter.

From India Dec/08

The last day i spent with Prabhat, Kamal and family, they took me round to the Maha Devi temple. A minute after walking in the priests started ringing the solid temple bells in the inner courtyard and all other faithful soon joined in. Within seconds of being caught up in this auditory assault my inner voice echoed the line 'Ring out the bells for he is dead', reminding me of my grandfathers both of whom died while i was away on Erasmus exchange about four years ago, and as sudden i found myself struggling with all my might not to burst out in sobs. Peculiar, as i heard that line reverberating in my head i was convinced it was from WH Auden's Funeral Blues (which must of you will certainly also know from John Hannah's moving reading in Four Weddings and a Funeral). Only some days afterward i had a look at the poem and found out i was mistaken.

From India Jan/09

On New Year's eve i met Ilaria - Italian, from Torino, very relaxed person, great sense of humour (or was that just me? ;=) and with her very own way of expressing herself, which i found 'molto divertente'. I actually passed her by walking along the Ghats - she was sitting in an outside chai stall talking with 'her Baba', our eyes locked and i immediately felt drawn to go round and have a chat with her.

From India Jan/09

Then i reconsidered: i hadn't yet walked alongside the Ghats and i really didn't want the sun to go down in a bit before having done so. Anyway she most probably would come walking down in the same direction - only one way to go - in a while too. But then she didn't.

From India Jan/09

At the same chai stall on my way back i met a superbly nice Welshman, who spent the last two (or was it four? i can't recall) years in Darjeeling, and was now lost for direction what to do next apart from knowing he wanted to lead a more active/productive life. He informed me there was a small acoustic concert later on in an organic restaurant/coffee bar. We immediately hit it off. Just a few minutes after meeting me she already agreed to come along to Kajuraho with me.

From India Dec/08

Apart from that New Year's eve was a rather quiet affair: some pretty nice singer/songwriters performing at the coffee joint, and then round to my guest house's rooftop restaurant for a beer. (Cobra, the best beer in India so far, though Kingfisher blue might be as quaffable). Though i did manage to nearly get my head blown clear off by a bottle rocket. The kids in the street apparently enjoyed targeting our humble abode..

From India Dec/08

Oh, and another funny thing: apparently people in Varanasi like to dress goats in woolen pullovers on New Year's eve..

From India Jan/09

The next days Ilaria and i managed to always meet up along the Ghats and never a dull moment between us.. :)

Leaving Varanasi, at the railway station we met Ray, Mexican American from California and already working as a professor of literature in Seoul despite only being in his mid-thirties. (The train was only an hour or two late, which considering the fog - back then Delhi was almost entirely ground down to a gridlock for some days because of the dense fog - wasn't too bad.)

From India Jan/09

The three of us traveled together to Kajuraho..

From India Jan/09

Decided to stay at the same hotel..

From India Jan/09

Have dinner together..

From India Jan/09

Yada yada yada.. :)

From India Jan/09

And from Kajuraho the three of us got on a very early morning bus to Orcha..

From India Jan/09

And together decided to stay another day, since we all agreed the place was too darn beautiful.

From India Jan/09

God, looking back at the pictures - remembering the vultures perching on the cenotaph chatris (Mughal and Hindu term for a domed kiosk on the roof of a temple or tomb), walking along the riverbank - that first day was definitely one of the most beautiful days of my life as far as traveling goes, one stunning discovery after the other.

From India Jan/09

After Orcha Ray went on his way to Rajasthan, first stop Pushkar, and Ilaria and me traveled further down to Aurangabad to see the Ellora caves. And for the first time round we were not able to actually get the seats we booked (the Indian Railways have no problem with overbooking and putting people on waiting lists) so Ilaria and me spent one particularly interesting sleepless night.

The Ellora caves, and the Mount Kailash temple in particular, all hewn from massive rock surfaces, were absolutely stunning beating the Taj Mahal ten times over as a must see. If y'ask me, that is, of course. ;=)

From India Jan/09

Next: the Ajanta caves. They too were more than alright, but generally it was too dark to see much of the paintings (you're better off buying the book, i advise) and the caves themselves aren't as impressive as those in Ellora. But still no complaints here, i had a lovely day there.

From India Jan/09

Well, this is more than enough for now. At this rate - yesterday i spent 7 hours sorting through and uploading pictures, today another five on this - if i spend any more time blogging and uploading pictures i might as well get paid for it. ;=) What i do need to mention, though, is that i'll probably be back in Belgium somewhere late summer/early fall, for i'm expected to attend my sister's marriage, and delighted to do so! And i'll be leaving India on the 1st of March, when i'll be flying out to Bangkok from Calcutta.

Alright then. Next time round more on Kerala (i visited Kannur, Fort Cochin and did the backwaters), Madurai (where i'm writing from) and Pondicherry (my next stop).

Loadsa - Be my Valentine? :) - luv,
-hx.

Hurt as it might, 'm tryin' hard to resist any wordplay on Mysore..

2009-02-02T17:40:00.004+01:00

Hey, how y'all? Doin' alright? I most definitely double darn well do hope so.

Greeting y'all sinners from relaxed Mysore, old capital of the Wodeyar empire (we're still in Karnataka, just so you know) and renowned throughout India for its historical legacy of good government - trust me: a rare commodity in India. The place also boasts a big fekkin' whopper of a palace and, lemme tell ya, it truly is h-h-huuuge!!! Haven't even had the time to visit yet, so that's just my impression of standing outside the gates looking in.

This is already my third night in Mysore and by the look of it i might even stay here another day or two longer.. Yup, yup. For i finally found (excuse the convoluted style ;=) what i was sorta lacking in Hampi and Gokarna: quiet places to comfortably put my feet up, go through my notebooks, let my mind wander and jot down some old and - hopefully - mostly new ideas.

Amazing thing, one's imagination. On the bus from Mangalore to Mysore looking outta the window to the hilly countryside with its tropical vegetation i came up with the basis of a children's book. And i've been elaborating on it simply by going through my notebooks, dreaming off and putting down to paper whatever interesting ideas pass through me. Great fun that! If i can ever make a living outta this i'll be one happily dreamin' kid!

(Just to get things straight, this is of course the most fun part of writing: as long as the ideas keep a-coming - there's the rub! - and you needn't yet worry how you're gonna put together, i.e. write the whole damned thing. In this stage, the sky is the limit. If you can make it up it has a right to exist. - See: "There's nothing you can make that can't be made", The Beatles, All You Need Is Love. - And the fun part of imagining things is, if you've been at it long enough - remember childhood? - you really needn't do much whatsoever, just time to loaf about and keep your ol' noggin open to whatever stuff might manifest itself in your daydreaming. Perhaps you might have to ask yourself the occasional 'What if.. ?' to further explore some or other concept. But apart from that there really isn't much you can do to force inspiration from flowing.
Except by, in my case that is, stimulating my associative powers by applying myself through studying (the workings/inner logic of) any type of interesting subject. Or by just going out and stealing ideas from the most diverse possible sources. The better you are at hiding your sources, which generally translates as the wilder your associations, the greater your creativity.
Erm.. In case you were wondering/in any way interested, now you've got some idea what i've been doing apparently wasting my time, days, weeks and months on end... Setting myself up for a good ol' batch of daydreaming. That's right!)

For now, lemme say i'm quite enthralled by the main character. She's got gusto. One screwy kid. And a minor to boot! :) I'll need to put together quite a bit more stuff to flesh out the story, but i hope to put a first excerpt online in some weeks time..

OK. Okay, enough for today. Amazing how each time i set out to finally pick up where i left off back in Varanasi. De nouveau.. La prochaine fois? I'm not doing it on purpose, trust me.

Loadsa 'if-my-imagination-were-a-squirrel-you-could-be-in-my-nutsy-worl' luv,
-hx.

Wow! We're going to Gokarna!

2009-01-27T10:47:00.011+01:00

From India Jan/09

Once again, i have to start off thanking all of you out there who put in time to send me the most wonderful supportive and uplifting mails and messages!!! A shame i'm not able to recharge the credit on my mobile - some problems with idea, my provider, in Karnataka - but i'll be sure to let you know when i do manage to get the thing up and running again.

From India Jan/09

OK. So i left Hampi and am back in Hospet awaiting my midnight bus to Gokarna. And i think my body is finally more or less approaching proper health.

From India Jan/09

Hampi was actually quite alright. Boulder strewn landscapes dotted with temples as far as the eye can see. The main bazaar is way too tourist oriented for my taste and my room was a hell hole - never seen so much paint come off a couple o' walls. Then again, i s'pose you can't have it all, can you now?

From India Jan/09

Shortly after arriving i met Natalia, a researcher in social studies specializing in addiction from St-Petersburg. And we've been meeting up and going about exploring the place together on a daily basis, occasionally accompanied by Lex - short for very relaxed - her Russian travel companion.

From India Jan/09

Apart from that i've been mustering up all my energy to keep myself busy going through my notebooks, which 'll definitely keep me entertained for another couple of days.. A darn slow process this is proving, but i'll be damned if i don't get this thing on the rails and up 'n' running. So bear with me and in some weeks time you might find something else to read on this blog spot apart from my adventures in this reelin' world.

From India Jan/09

Oh, and to please popular demand: here's a picture with me in it - for lack of a better/other one, i'm afraid..

From India Jan/09

The internet joint is closing shop in a minute so i gotta break off here. Report to you on the mystery woman everyone keeps asking about and much more next time round!

Loadsa luv for a lil' help from my friends,
-hx.

Shoulda never eaten those ice creams..

2009-01-24T09:54:00.006+01:00

Hi-de-ho! We're back among the living! In beautiful Hampi to be exact..

First of all: thanks to all who sent an encouraging line over the last week. Much appreciated! After saying goodbye to Bombay and my company there, i sorta hit a bit of a rough spot. Weighed down by homesickness and a bit of general metaphysical ennui across the board (what to do when i come back, what with life, the universe, my tiny meaningless existence, desires, loneliness and the mountains of writing i still need to do..) in no time i found myself down in a hole. The hole first being my hotel room in Bijapur, then my room in Hospet (near Hampi).

In Bijapur i actually stayed longer than i first planned just because the only affordable room i could find also had a television set, with HBO (non-stop movies! = very bad company for someone lacking a) proper impulse control and b) a general sense of purpose). The night i wrote my last mail they were gonna show The Departed followed by Children of Men. Just what i needed to cheer up! All day i had been looking forward to my lil' treat.. But then the cable got cut off, hence no telly for the next twelve hours. What a bummer, man.

Gathering what little sense of self-preservation i still had left, i got my self-pitying ass on a bus to Hospet. Only to arrive too late to catch a connecting bus to Hampi. And again the only moderately priced room available.. Had a tv. History repeating..
Well, not exactly.
After dinner, which was so spicy - the further South i travel the more people seem to use green chilies and cayenne powder as we do onion and salt - that i quite feared burning a hole in my stomach, i got myself an ice cream off a local street vendor. Well, it was more of a mixture of half-frozen Badam (almond and slightly saffron flavoured) milk and a scoop of ice cream. Digging in i knew i was seriously risking some sorta food poisoning, but there weren't any other options available and my stomach was killing me, so down the hatch it went.. And since i'd already gone that far, i didn't pass up on another ice cream 15 minutes later - all to put out the fire in the belly, y'know.. Consequently, ever since i've been blessed with a major case of the runnies, which i'm still battling relying on the combined blessings of coke, plain bread/rice and bananas. I think i'm winning though. Time is (supposed to be) on my side.. And at least in Hampi the bakeries are a bit more tourist oriented, which means they don't sell bread or vegetable puffs littered with green chili shrapnel. :)

Ok, gotta go. Hopefully i'll be able to upload some pictures next time, when i'll also try and continue where stopped last time back in Varanasi..

Loadsa 'runnier than thou' luv,
-hx.

Holed up in Bijapur

2009-01-17T09:19:00.014+01:00

From India Dec/08

'Bout damn time i sat down and got to work on another blog update..

Well, here goes!

Last time i wrote i a proper post i was on may way to meet Bruno and Radhe back in the deep dark heart of Uttar Pradesh, Rajpur, aka the middle of nowhere. :) Well, after 24 hours of bussing i finally got to Bahjoi, the nearest, rather smallish town. There i met Bruno and Radhe who'd already gone shopping for all the ingredients to put together a big Christmas dinner. And that evening we even managed to bake a pie in the newly built oven. Ah, good company and home made food.. Quite a treat, that! Them Ashramites sure done save my Christmas!

Boxing day i spent doing my washing, getting a proper haircut (a first, even for me! i asked Bruno if he had a big pair of scissors and he tuned round with some massive garden shears, which i, of course, couldn't refuse.. snipedy snap and my hair was a couple of inches shorter) and going downtown with the boys so Bruno could do some last minute shopping. The next day after the car breaking down twice - luckily it'd only run outta gas - we sped down to Moradabad, where Bruno did some more shopping and the both of us had to get a train: he back to Delhi, me to Varanasi.

From the time i walked in the ticket to when i finally reached Varanasi: 24 hours for a 12 hour journey.. Hazaaah! But then again back in Varanasi i met people who'd been stuck in stations (Delhi, Agra) twice as long as i had, only to spend another 18-24 hours on the train.. My Cockney/Gujarati friend held the record: 33 hours for a 12 hour journey!

From India Dec/08

Each and every night in Varanasi i would meet up with him - a natural born talker - and chat about India, world politics, his Gujarati roots.. You can see him in the picture with another good talker from Tel Aviv, who he loved to grill about Israeli politics and all.. Great fun, shooting the breeze on a Varanasi rooftop restaurant before going to bed..

From India Dec/08

On the train in met Prabhat, a lovely character, who works as a molecular engineer, on his way to meet his university friend Kamal, a professor in agricultural economics. And we immediately hit it off: chatting 'bout, life, relationships, family and friendship.. Good stuff!

From India Dec/08

The next two days Kamal and Prabhat took me round to various temples (Varanasi's main Shiva, Hanuman and Maha devi temples), the Ganga Aarti (the fire ceremony in honour of Shiva and Mother Ganga/Ganges) and back round to Kamal's house for lunch, meeting up with Kamal's wife and daughter, and for more talks about life, friendship, marriage.. and some rooftop kiting! Showing me an absolutely wonderful time and more proof of Indian hospitality, the importance of family ties and friendship. Impressive!

From India Dec/08

Being rowed down the Ganges just before sunrise was another unique experience. Just as i was nearing Assi Ghat i met three Russian guys who were friendly enough to let me jump in with their boat.

From India Dec/08

Watching people bathing, praying, beating clothes against a rock, seeing cremation ceremonies as the sun rises over the Ganges and Varanasi's ghats..

From India Dec/08

Leaves a lesser souls awestruck.

From India Dec/08

The next days i always went down to the burning ghats and chatted a bit with the people there explaining you the ceremony and which body died of which disease or accident, how richer or poorer people get on with their burning preparations..

From India Dec/08

Or i just sat there, writing a bit, breathing in bits of a burning person (they do use ground up sandalwood among other things to mask the scent), watching people dry sheets and clothes, a little billy goat pissing on one of the sheets, a man chasing it away with mock threats, his chum asking him what he's gonna do now, with that sheet, men sitting by and chatting, playing cards, going up close to the fire and having a proper look, as goats, cows and water buffaloes graze on paper ribbons, newspapers and the flowers cast aside next to the water's edge after the body has been submerged in the Ganges and thus blessed, seeing the 'untouchables' in charge of the burning using a long pole to fold the burning corpse double, looking on on as a rice paper kite cut loose twirls down right in front of my feet and is smashed to bits by a grinning kid with a stick, who then runs of to join his laughing friends, only for the torn bits to be eaten by a goat some minutes later, getting up to the railing myself, where yet another guy from Manali (half of Manali must move down to Varanasi for the winter) comes up to me and asks me if i don't need something to smoke.. No thanks. See ya, mate. And more people walk up as another body is being carried down to the river. And the burning and the bustling life surrounding it, all those people, the straying animals, the whole damn show just goes on and on.. And you just go very silent.

From India Jan/09

So, now i sorta allowed myself to get stuck in Bijapur, a quirky type of small Indian city: no non-Indian tourists to be seen - for two days i was the only white boy in town; the place is littered with Muslim monuments ..and booze joints. Funny combination.

I passed by Kolhapur on my way here, just to see one of India's weirder Maharaja palaces: the Shree Chhatrapati Shahu Museum, aka the Maharaja's new palace. "Designed by 'Mad' Charles Mant, the British architect who fashioned the Indo-Sarcenic style of colonial architecture ... a cross between a Victorian train station and the Addams family mansion" (LP).

From India Jan/09

Quite the ticket, this one! The place just brims with stuffed hunting trophies, exquisite furniture, memorabilia of historical meetings and events. But next to the prerequisite arms rooms it also features ash trays and lamps made out of animal skulls and bones.. Ever seen a black lacquered tiger spine for a walking stick? Or a lamp stand whose base is the absolutely massive and equally ugly pink foot of some (extinct?) bird? Or a crouching stuffed elephant decked out with solid silver riding seat?

From India Jan/09

The place even had a Durbar Room, where the Maharajas received their official guests, and it definitely matched the ones i've seen in European courts for sheer quality and style of (over-)decoration. For example, it also featured imported Neo-Gothic tiles, great stain glass windows, the works! Just a shame you weren't allowed to take pictures (i wonder why.. ;=) so i could only sneak a few shots here and there, after hanging around for a bit, testing my luck. Sadly none of them turned out any good. :( Well, at least i tried my best to give you an inside look..

From India Jan/09

I'm spent. I'll just have to explain you next time round how i got holed up in Bijapur, how i passed New Year and all that came to pass afterwards..

Loadsa 'Lord almighty, i'm so homesick for family and friends' luv,
-hx.

Out with the old!

2009-01-07T15:25:00.001+01:00

Ahum. Only one week late, but still: my very best wishes to you all for this new year! Especial thanks for those who called me on new year's eve! (A pity i ran out of credit after the second call.. ;=)

Out with the old (the year Paul Newman died and other catastrophies) and in with the new (according to local newspapers and Varanasi sadhus 2009 promises to be a heck of a lot better than 2008 - ain't that the spirit!) i say!

I didn't sleep last night and an having a bit of a hard time putting a proper (read coherent) mail together, so i'll guess you'll gonna have to wait another couple of days; but then - by golly! - will i give you full information, documentation and what not concerning my whereabouts and all the shenanigans i have been up to lately.

In short, i left Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi) for Madhya Pradesh; went to Khajuraho (which i enjoyed more than the Taj Mahal), then Orchha (my favourite place in India so far, absolutely breathtakingly beautiful!) and i am now in Aurangabad to see the Ellora and Ajanta caves tomorrow.

Ok, report back to you soon.*

Loadsa 'Happy New' Luv,

-hx.

*i tried two other times to upload pictures, but i have been particularly unlucky and always short of time to update my blog..

I'll be spending Christmas eve.. on a sleeper bus to Agra :(

2008-12-24T06:28:00.000+01:00

From India Dec/08

Lord, almighty! How i miss not being home for Christmas. There, I said it. I confess: there's nothing like celebrating my birthday with friends in Brussels and then spending two days with both sides of the family - the mouthwatering food, the old wine, the entire family, being all together.. Gosh, how i love that stuff! Oh, well.. Next year i'll surely make up for my absence! It's a promise.

I want to thank everyone for their lovely mails. I only received one sms (Ine and Michiel were the lucky ones). Some people wrote me that they tried to sms or call, i'm sorry if you couldn't get through, the connection on my mobile comes and goes in Udaipur. Maybe there's also too much (international) traffic in this period. I dunno. In any case, I wanna give everyone who did (attempt) to text, call or write me a super big hug! I'm so grateful to you all. Heartfelt thanks.

From India Dec/08

A quick update of what i've been up to these last days. From Pushkar i moved on to Bundi, another lovely Rajasthani city with its beautiful palace, fort and old city walls. Bundi, however is a bit different from most other places, like Jodhpur the majority of the city is painted blue to ward off the mosquitoes. In Bundi i met up with Nicolas, a proudly unemployed guy about my age from Ardeche. We met back in Amritsar and had been trying to meet up again for a week or two, so we both relished finally seeing one another again. That first evening sitting on the rooftop just chatting away till late at night (1 am ;=) was quite a blast. The next day we walked past Nawal Sagar Lake and the 'erstwhile luxurious summer palace of Sukh Mahal' where Rudyard Kipling stayed and supposedly found some inspiration for a number of scenes in 'Kim'. Then on towards Khshar Bagh, an abandoned plot of land walled off and watched over by an errand guard, who just as we were planning to climb over the wall took us along and unlocked the gate. Hiding inside were more monkeys and the most beautifully sculpted cenotaphs of the kings and queens of Bundi, each ruler wanting to outdo their predecessors.

From India Dec/08

Next i went to see the city palace (not as impressive as Jaisalmer but nice) and we had dinner with two girls heavily into yoga, massage, ayurvedic medicine and on their way to Goa to teach some classes there, that i met back in Pushkar. Afterward we took the train to Udaipur, spending half of the journey in the 'luggage room', where there were no smelly feet or Indians hassling us. 'On the road' stuff, with the door flying open once and again, the landscape whizzing past, 'comme dans les westerns' - to quote Nicolas.

From India Dec/08

The next days we met up with the Australians (Jacob, Tim and Cam) i also met in Amritsar (some days before Nicolas arrived), and with their friends Alex and Owen, an identical twin, also from Melbourne. Quite a different approach to traveling altogether: a lot more partying! Which was brilliant, especially when you're in such welcoming company. Too bad they had to catch a plane to Goa and we couldn't celebrate my birthday together. Which was a damned shame. Bit of heart breaker that.. Damn you, Jacob! ;=) But we had loads of fun all the while we were together, sure enough.

From India Dec/08

So, yesterday, my birthday, i just spent wandering around town some more with Nicolas and meeting Alex for a while along the way to sunset point, which was nice. But just as those last days with Rosie, the British girl i traveled along with to Haridwar and Rishikesh, again with Nicolas - yesterday and today - i find myself in the company of someone who just can't stop complaining about India, people, little things that annoy them, nonstop, quoi! And when you say something, no matter what, in no time they start aiming their negativity at you as well. God, how tiring! So, in the end i just shut up and sorta try to steer them/their discourse to less troubled waters. A near impossible job, that! Really makes one think how awful such complaining is to be around, and if i made my fellow human being suffer much of the same. Hope not. Jeez! The horror, the horror! :)

From India Dec/08

So, yes, we (Nicolas et moi, Alex didn't have the money to come along) did go to a fancy restaurant yesterday night, lovely surroundings (the batteries of my camera were down so no pictures, might get some later on this afternoon). But except for one dish: nizami handi, a real specialty made with (semi)dried vegetables, the food wasn't that special. Oh my! There i go - complaining as well. Contagious, i better watch out. Therefore, i'm getting on a bus to Agra (+14h) and from there to Bruno's ashram (another 5/7h) so i can at lest spend Christmas eve in loving surroundings. And so i can say goodbye to Bruinoogje before he heads off to more temperate climes (i.e. Belgium).

From India Dec/08

Well, a very, very merry Christmas to you all!
Loadsa 'cacao deprived & more than just a lil' xmas/homesick' luv,
-hx.

Back in P-P-Pushkar / You don't know how lucky you are, boy..

2008-12-14T15:51:00.000+01:00

From India Dec/08

And... we're back in crazy ol' Pushkar, which is now so quiet and relaxed. Amazing what a difference a Mela festival/camel fair makes! :) They're digging out the lake now, cleaning up the place with bulldozers and cranes. Yup, the big Pushkar make-over, i guess..

From India Dec/08

Met up again with Bruno and Karolien this morning. Came into town with a direct 'luxury' bus, which of course dropped us (Gerome, very relaxed, amply pierced and tattooed guy from Nancy and me) off at the bus station in Ajmer, but we were supah-doopah lucky in having a bus leave for Pushkar in the next 15 minutes. The roads being pretty deserted at 5 something in the morning, our driver didn't mind showing off his rally driving skills, which were damn fine - though a bit scary when speeding into blind turns, dippers flashing happily.. :)

From India Dec/08

Would have loved to stay a bit longer in Jaisalmer. Brilliant place. Absolutely fascinating to walk around town and to be surrounded by those splendid havelis and to see new houses, hotels and hostels being erected with the same/similar traditional balconies, overhanging canopies and other ornamentation.

From India Dec/08

And just as i was walking up to the bus station i ran into Cam, one of my Australian buddies, who i hadn't been able to reach since they had run outta credit on their mobile. Gonna try and meet up with them in Udaipur in a couple of days..

OK, suppose now is about as good as any time to report some more on what we did in Pushkar 'bout a month ago..

From India Nov/08

Remember having a good time running along with Bruno and meeting up with some of his friends from back when he spend half a year in Pushkar. Also greatly enjoyed having a bit of time to sit, hang around and read (AFTh. 'Advocaat van de hanen' - superieure beschrijvingen, af en toe beetje gezochte/degoutante beeldspraak, maar fascinerend boek, zeer zekerst ;=).

And erm.. Apart from going to the Camel Fair..

From India Nov/08

..and having a general stroll or two, three around town, we only once got up early in the morning to have a look at the procession of pilgrims bathing, brass march band and protesters carrying Hindu inspired political signs all included in the mix.

From India Nov/08

Oh, and on the eve of the full moon, the proper time to have a dip and wash away one's sins, or say, accumulation of bad karma, and to receive blessings outweighing the regular everyday Pushkar dip by a 1000-fold (not bad, ah? :) - on that very moonlit night we did a-mix with pilgrims many and pushy. Verily we did, get slightly trampled, nearly slip and have a dip ourselves, shake many a stranger's hand till the sun arose and away we went heading back to snuggle up nicely in our warm bed shared with big butch Bruno, the rugged outdoor mensch/creature.

From India Nov/08

That evening Radee arrived just as we were getting ready to head for the bus to Agra. The bus, however, was so incredibly uncomfortable that after a couple of hours we all (excepting three utter outdoor nutters ;=) decided to just spend the night in Jaipur and continue our journey in a proper sleeper bus the coming night.

From India Nov/08

Wandered round Jaipur's many bazaars, past it's palaces and the odd grand observatory of old, in an all together enjoyable, though be it a bit short day.

From India Nov/08

The bus for once arriving as scheduled, we had all the time in the world to go and watch the sun rise from the opposite river bank. And after visiting the Taj Mahal (free entrance, but a maddening 750rs for a complimentary water bottle and compulsory shoe protection kit;=) and Agra's Red Fort..

From India Nov/08

..we only needed to board another auto riksha, train, bus (which took forever and was being driven by an absolute madman, who had a ball crashing full throttle into potholes, consequently catapulting the back seat, being us, towards/into the roof) and finally, a mini van (which we managed to fill up as the proverbial sardines) to get to Bruno's and Radee's ashram.

From India Nov/08

Enough for now.

Loadsa 'Pushing our luck in Pushkar' Luv,
-hx.

In Jaisalmer, a fairy tale kinda place - straight outta a thousand and one nights..

2008-12-13T17:24:00.001+01:00

From India Dec/08

Imagine an old city with gobsmackingly pretty city walls and defenses, an absolute gem of a fort and plenty of Havelis, ornately decorated residences, all lusciously carved out of golden sandstone. Welcome to Jaisalmer, a place i find hard not associate with Aladdin & co.

From India Dec/08

Arrived here very early morning after yet another freezing cold train ride (have remember to buy a woolly hat and a blanket, maybe). Think i'll be staying here another day or two.

From India Dec/08

In comparison Bikaner..

From India Dec/08

..was 'alright', this, however, is the real deal.

I cannot upload any pictures to this pc, so i'll add them next time. Oh, but i have added caption to the following pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hanzuman/IndiaNepalOct08

Loadsa 'messed-up-sleeping-pattern' luv,
-hx.

A quick word from 'Semi-Enlightened' monkey capital Rishikesh

2008-12-09T16:02:00.000+01:00

Right, another quick one today..

From India Dec/08

Finally left Amritsar and the Golden Temple behind and i am now in Rishikesh, 'yoga capital of the world'. :) Not that i've already jumped in and have started stretching-breathing-humming-buzzing like i should, sadly none of that stuff. :( But i had a great day wandering round the place, next to the river bank. Met some more Ozzies and sorta locals: two Sadhuesque guys; one from Agra, the other from Assam. Ah, and a very nice, bit older Italian guy from Milan, who spoke no French, English (or Hindi for that matter) whatsoever and who was here with a friend of his who's completely into Krisha and has been coming here on and off for some 30 years.

From India Dec/08

Yesterday and the day before i spent in Haridwar, one of the top seven holy cities of India, and home to the next Kumbh Mela in 2010, a religious festival that goes on for some months and draws a couple of millions of pilgrims. (There's also the Maha (Great) Kumbh Mela, held in Allahabad, and that one drew 100 million celebrants in 2001. Nearly makes the annual haj to Mekka look like a smallish pilgrimage, doesn't it? :)

From India Dec/08

Haridwar is also home to a hilltop Mansa Devi (a wish-fulfilling goddess) temple which you can via a cable car. The way to the cable car is lined with prasad/souvenir (food/flower offerings used in religious ceremonies) stalls and souvenir/prasad stalls. Once off the cable car, the way to and from the temple is lined with all sorts of food stalls, two cafeterias and more prasad and souvenir stalls. Great fun, walking up to a Hindu temple and feeling like entering a theme park.

From India Dec/08

OK, gotta close off. Tomorrow i'm taking the bus back to Haridwar and a night train to Bikaner, Rajasthan. There'll be meeting up with my three favourite Ozzies and a couple of friends of theirs, even more Ozzies! Woooha!!!

Loadsa 'semi-enlightened' luv,

-hx.

Singh is King!

2008-11-29T14:57:00.000+01:00

From India Nov/08

Woohaaah! Things sure are alright at this end!

From India Nov/08

Spent my first night and day at the Golden temple complex and, i gotta say, i'm mightily impressed by how well the Sikhs run this show. Everyone's allowed in as long as you take your shoes off and cover your head (and a hankie'll do, no sweat :) and in addition: they offer free accommodation, free food, water and chai round the clock. Donations are appreciated, of course.

From India Nov/08

So today i was finally able to spend a proper, full afternoon going over the notes for the theater play i'm writing for Arnaudje. Sweet bliss, being able to just sit, read and work as the pilgrims pass in front of me. I think i might hang around and spend another couple of days here, enjoy my good Sikh hosts pampering me and get some proper writing done.

From India Nov/08

And talking 'bout catching up on some long overdue writing.. I'll continue my adventures from whence i last stopped: back in Harni Mahadev. Strange thing how to an outsider a couple of busloads of Indians on a pilgrimage to a religious festival can at first sight appear to be no different from people just hanging around and lounging the day through, maybe helping out in the kitchen or with that evening's show.. Then again, i only once visited the place's temple; was already heading for bed when Bruno proposed to have a look. And to be fair, i wasn't much up for the droning mantras and accompanying DIY jingle-jangle, shake your dish and bangle music making... Let's just say that tired ol' moi can be a bit of a grumpy ol' soul. ;=)

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OK. That was two days ago. I'm still living it up at the Golden Temple. Had an old Sikh explain me and Brieu (a young French guy from Nancy doing a internship at a Tibetan high school) in somewhat mysterious wording and with a good helping of rhetorical flourishes what Sikhism is all about. Yesterday (Sunday, y'know) the temple got far too busy to get some work done. Yesterday afternoon me and some Australian girl (forgot her name) had a look at the kitchen facilities and were shown round some of the restorative works at an old part of the temple which used to house, amongst other things, a prison and which has a four story deep cellar. Afterward together with three Australian guys and three British girls (who were 18/19 and some months out of high school) helped out picking peas out the pods and washing the stainless steel thali dishes. Oh, and walking back from the dining hall to our dorm we were mobbed by a group of youngsters who all wanted to talk, shake hands or take a picture with us, and just then i spotted the young, married couple i'd met earlier that day, this time with their some years old kid. They said that they had been waiting around for an hour to meet me again. Outta the blue! Without having agreed to meet back up or anything, just like that! Amazing stuff. Can hardly describe how that made me feel, let's just say it was an incredibly touching.

And today, i've to admit to being a bit hungover. Went out for a beer in grand company: the three Ozzies (Jacob, Tim and Cameron) and an American (Tyler) and a New Zealander (Mathew) who had both arrived from Pakistan, the stories they had to tell, wow! Pakistan sounds like a blast! (No pun intended :). Jacob being the lovely feller that he is he had to go and order another 5 beers (of between 5,25% and 8,25% ;=) which we didn't succeed in downing all. Safe to say we all had our fair share. And that in a holy city, some minutes from the temple complex, in the middle of a quite deserted street. For shame! :)

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From India Nov/08

But back to Harni Mahadev: one day (could've been a Saturday or a Sunday or any other day, i don't remember) there were a number of wedding ceremonies taking place. Walking past the colourful screens that lined the complex we (Bruno, Karolien, Linde et moi) were invited in, paraded in front of some of the couples, their families and company (often asking me to pose for a picture with them), and ushered along, through huge crowds of pretty frigging ecstatic young boys, who all wanted to shake our hands, pushing and grabbing at us, like one a big human whirlpool.

From India Nov/08

We then were quickly appointed to be the guests of honour, Bruno and me donned with an appropriate turbanesque hat, and taken to the kitchen where safely tucked away and out of the clutches of the crowds we were served a sweet festive meal. The head of the organizing committee explained us that this year 86 couples of the Sonar caste (Sonar people are none to wealthy silver/gold smiths and jewelery makers) got married that same day. For about 100-150 years Rajasthan's Sonar people have their marriages on that particular date as a general cost saving measure. The date traditionally stays the same the location varies. Lucky us, right?

From India Nov/08

Next stop: Pushkar, it's mela and camel festival. Lovely bus ride across the hills separating Ajmer and the desert valley of Pushkar, plenty of grey monkeys and cacti. We stayed at right up close to Pushkar's holy lake in a wonderful backpackers guesthouse/hippy haunt. The first night, since all rooms were taken we slept in the most charming of tents, which i sadly forgot to take a picture of. Oh, well. First impressions: quite a number of our fellow lodgers already had quite a bit too much ganja and looked more than just a bit bewildered.

From India Nov/08

No doubt the constant drone of the various temples, blasting their chanting and/or freaked out distorted electronic organ music at full volume, in combination with the at times slightly hectic hustle and bustle, the continuous swirl of crowds passing and pushing through the somewhat narrow shopping streets that make up most of Pushkar's center, had a hand in them looking so fazed. Ah, Pushkar! Has to be (sorta) unique for housing an organization whose sole function is: sending back young Israelis fresh outta the army who've taken a bit too many drugs and have kinda lost their marbles.

Enough for today. Just this: I'm currently grooving to The Hickey Underworld 'Future Words', absolutely supejb single, that! (Check it out fer yerselfves @ www.myspace.com/thehickeyunderworldmusic).

Oh, and if some one can explain me how to include pictures (from Picasa) in my posts that'd be lovely! (I somehow can't seem to. Hmmm...)

Loadsa 'all inclusive Sikh' luv,
-hx.

Ps: And keep me posted 'bout how yer all doin', ya lazy bastards! You know i (might not) mean you :) Ooops! ..Must be the drunken Australian still wandering round somewhere inside of me ;=) Ta-ra!

The long winded description of an altogether uneventful couple of hours (Nov. 24/08)

2008-11-27T15:16:00.000+01:00

So.. What have i been up to these last weeks?

When i last wrote i was heading for Ajmer, near Pushkar, where i was supposed to meet Bruno & co. But they were actually holed up in an ashram in Harni Mahadev (a tiny 'holy' village some kilometers from Bhilwara) where a religious festival in honour of 'Lord' Krishna was being held (including daily four hour long re-enactments of scenes detailing the life of Krishna from the Mahabharata). Interesting trip, that. My train had a bit of a delay (2hs), so i only arrived in Ajmer at 10pm, the next train to Bhilwara was at only at 0.50am (next bus at 1.30am)..

From India Nov/08

However that train was also slightly in delay, arriving at the station at 3.50am. Then after being dropped by the autorikshaw i called Bruno to come pick me up, but his mobile had apparently stopped working.. So there i stood, 5.30am, completely trashed after three days of being stuck on or waiting for the right bus or train. Nice little square, this. Cool black Shiva temple. Hmmm... Luckily, the tea house/juice bars were already/still (?!) open and their owners, an insomniac rickshaw driver and some other Indians wandering about the place pointed me in the 'right' direction.

From India Nov/08

Should i go past or into this monastery lit up like a Christmas tree? Could this be right? Miraculously, i managed to find the right building and Bruno & co's room - right at the first attempt! However, i'd already started walking away when i didn't spot Bruno straightaway. But then i was greeted and motioned inside by a slight, skinny Indian in very elementary Sadhu garb (a Kaupina* and another very basically draped piece of unstitched cloth) with a thick bunch of rastas, who jumped about the place quite ecstatically. (Or was that just me and my sleep deprivation?) 'Namaste! Namaste! Welcome! Welcome!' Hi Radee. First a hug. Then could i finally drop down and crash? But where was Bruno? Goddamn it! There my lil' bastard lay, fast asleep for f*** sake! Lord Almighty! If i weren't so tired i would've strangled him with much glee, lemme tell ya.

From India Nov/08

But instead, he took care of me first. In less than two hours (7.10am i heard someone saying), there he was jumping on top of me, teasing and taunting. Funny business that karma, ah? Impossible to go back to sleep. Instead introduced myself to Silvie (bit mad, great fun, buddy type, kept a travel sketchbook), Philippe (partner of aforementioned, slightly less silly, bang enthusiast, very good at Ayurvedic body cleansing rituals, tho ;=), Linde (vegan and psychology student, twice afflicted - what cross to bear, right? ;=) But a good talker with a great sense of humor! Tho a bit anal marking off her lil' sleeping place and ordering people about, guess she'll kill me for that last remark, so be it :), David (jovial, active fellow traveler, nr1 supplier of bananas) and Karolien (completely enthralled by Radee, his chanting and yoga, fair enough, but her constant inane laughter and high pitched outta key singing - sessions that went on and on, literally, without end - drove me round the bends more than once, 'fraid we'll never be good friends, a good kid, no doubt it, tho).

Prrrff, my brain still lacks a bit of the ol' sleep i suppose, seem to be doing ages putting together the right words. In a day or two i'll report more on being invited to 86 Indian weddings in the same time, the slightly maddening theater that is Pushkar, Bruno's ashram, traveling through Himachal Pradesh and escaping food poisoning walhalla by a hair's breadth in Shimla - lil' hint: never trust old people (with electrical appliances). Okay?

Loadsa luv,
-hx.

* A sorta loin cloth, which traditionalist Brahmin still wear and which has the added benefit that Sadhus can just pull it a bit tighter when being assailed by sexual urges, great fun that, no? :)

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!!! (Nov. 23/08)

2008-11-27T15:15:00.000+01:00

I'll write a proper mail tomorrow. Arrived in Dharamsala at 6 something this morning, after a grueling 10 hour bus ride with no sleep whatsoever and cold, Jeez Louise! Now i'm in McLeod Ganj, the Dhalai Lama's hide out, spent most of the day working quite hard at doing nothing much, just dragging my ol' self about the place. Gonna have some dinner (chowmein, anyone?) now and hit the hay. Till tomorrow.
Luv,
-hx.

A quick word before the internet thingedy place closes (Nov. 20/08)

2008-11-27T15:14:00.000+01:00

From India Nov/08

i did it! i broke the code! Unlocked the mysteries of the universe, so to speak.. I.. I.. found a clean place in India!
It's called Chandigarh and it's only 3 1/2 hours (in theory, 5 in reality) from Delhi.
It actually looks frightfully organized in a Western sorta way. Chandigarh, erm... Ow, gotta stop writing, time's up!
I'll try and write a decent mail tomorrow (or the day after, no really, i shall.. hopefully, also include some pictures ;=)
Loadsa luv,
-hx.

Back in Delhi - On our way to Pushkar (Nov. 07/08)

2008-11-27T15:07:00.000+01:00

Arrived from Gorakhpur at 6.30, an hour late but for once i rather relished being late. Meant i could just drop of my bag at the cloak room (sounds a lot fancier than the rat infested storage room it really is :=). Had my first banana lassi of the day.. Still looking for a good bookshop to exchange my Nepal guide for an India guidebook, loads of bookstores only open at 12 and my train is scheduled to leave at 11.45..

From India - Nepal Oct/08

So what have we been up to in the meantime? Spending a couple of days in Chitwan National Park. Jungle walk - not that many animals to be seen. A drive with a jeep - spotted some more animals. And a ride on an elephant's back - plenty of wildlife! Especially enjoyed the elephant ride.

From India - Nepal Oct/08

Our 'Super mega bad elefante' was called Shang Shang Kali. Kali being "Shiva's consort in her most bloodthirsty incarnation", also "an incarnation of the tantric goddess Shakti, a pre-Hindu deity linked to the worship of female mystical power". I'm just quoting this off the top of my head, of course. :) Quite a 'bigun' she was too, our 35 year old lass, and thanks to some inspired invocations ('She's a super meany! Evil Queeny! Shang Shang Kali! Rocks the tepee!') and more Shang Shang Kali chanting we won the elephant race and made it back first to the lodge.. Woohoo!

From India - Nepal Oct/08

Also had quite a ball swimming with a rather grumpy elephant earlier that day (the name and age are still a mystery to me since the guy nearly didn't speak any English) but at least i had ol' grumps all to myself, which sure was a treat.

From India - Nepal Oct/08

After the elephant walk time for a goodbye-and-fare-thee-well dinner with my Dutch and the odd Belgian co-travelers. Must say that over the last two weeks i've been quite taken by them. Nice bunch. That morning i had a listen to the cd of Frans, a doctor who also helped me out with an ORS solution during the trekking (back when i could really use some :) Nice record, very basic: two men on acoustic guitar, the occasional vocal/instrumental flourish, a good helping of the ol' life affirming lyric. One of the songs featured the following refrain: 'En altijd de vriendschap als motor', which more or less translates as: 'And always friendship propelling us', which i found rather moving. I'd love to share it with you but i'm afraid i'll be forced to buy the full album first ;=)

From India - Nepal Oct/08

The following day the bus dropped me a little along the way so i could board a bus for Bhairawa and then onto Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Arrived there just in time for a quick visit and a bit of cycling past monasteries and temples representing the various Buddhist nations and denominations. And then the sun went down and i back to my bit shabby hostel in a rather run down part of town (let's just say i visited some other places in the center - they were charging a bit too much) not too many brick walls among the shanty town shops and tea houses surrounding the hostel. But the dahl bhat/thali the place served was quite brilliant and i had some fun drinking tea with the ever present locals before that.

From India - Nepal Oct/08

Well, must be off - to find me a good guidebook, have me a spot of brunch and catch me a train to Ajmer, where i hope to meet Bruno and co.

Next time i'll include some pics, and who knows i might even have started a proper blog by then.
Let's keep on dreaming, shall we :)

Loadsa luv,

-hx.

Pokhara today, Chitwan tmrw (Nov. 01/08)

2008-11-27T15:04:00.000+01:00

So, back to the writin' pad..

Another tricky keyboard so u'll hav to bear with me :)

Arrived back in Pokhara yesterday afternoon from six days of trekking the ABC circuit round the Annapurnas. Six days of upset bowel syndromes, rumbly tummy and the like.. But i survived. Quite well, only really being slowed down a single day. Have to admit that i'm not really the trekking type; after the third day, thru an amazing rhododendron forest the largest of the world, or so they claim :) i'd quite had it. But then again, the whole trek really wasn't that physically challenging (except for the added internal adventure bonus) for me so, well there u go.. Oh, just the one afternoon it rained (evidently ;=) i spotted a double rainbow! Had forgotten all about their existence. Headed back from our lodge to take a picture but it'd gone. Suppose there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Made friends with our guide (who spent five years in the jungle with the Maoist rebels) and the porters, who nicknamed me Bandre after some local comic actor (u go figure! :) tough boys, jeez!

Ai! Mi estomago is doin' completamente better now, so i've already devoured a 75cl cup of freshly blended fruit - devine - and eaten at a local street stall - a crumled assortment of samosas and fried vegetable balls drenched in a bean and lentil soup with plenty of chili and other spices, yum yum!! Beats the tourist food ten times over and for a fraction of the price, u gotta pitty those who never try the real local grub.

Today i'v taken some Swiss chic out for brunch and a spin round the lake (in a boat, mind u) and that was about it, really. Oh, yeah and had a French lady use my shower. What a day, ah?

Well, heading out for Chitwan National Park tomorrow morning. And in a minute, after callin' me mum :=) for the Busy Bee, great pub with live music an a good mix of locals, bikers and tourists. A'write!

Please keep the replies coming, i absolutely relish opening my mail box and having word form either one of you.

Hope you're all doing fine. If not, let me know and i'll send some good karma your way. Express delivery only :)

Loads of love,

-hx.

ps: Oh, just this: discovered somewhere this afternoon that i lost a full note card dating back from my first week on the road.. Bummer..

mOre Pix (Oct. 24/08)

2008-11-27T15:01:00.000+01:00

Arrived in Pokhara this afternoon, bit tired really.. But doin' alright :) Got up at 5.20 to get a 6 o'clock bus to Bandipur, a small medieval village, that was alright but not really living up to the billing, the views of the Himalaya were well worth it tho'..

Well, enjoy the pictures!

Loadsa luv,

-hx.

ps: voor de geinteresseerden (die 'n imaginair trema wel weten te plaatsen ;=)

Pokhara is een rustige plaats aan het Phewameer met prima mogelijkheden voor uitstapjes in de schitterende omgeving. Je kunt hier ook een mountainbike huren voor een tocht in de omgeving of naar een dorpje waar zich Tibetaanse vluchtelingen hebben gevestigd. Misschien ben je wel getuige van een indrukwekkende gebedsdienst in een van de kloosters. Een pittige wandeling naar het plaatsje Sarangkot als training voor de trektocht behoort ook tot de mogelijkheden. Liefhebbers kunnen een wandeling om het meer maken onder begeleiding van een lokale gids. Wie het liever rustig aan doet, kan een boottochtje op het meer maken of heerlijk genieten van de rust in een van de tuintjes van restaurants aan het meer.

Vanuit Pokhara, op 884 meter boven zeeniveau, rijden we naar Naya Pul op 1439 meter. Hier begint onze trekking met als eerste doel het dorpje Tirkhedhunga op 1540 meter. We lopen hier in ongeveer vier à vijf uur heen, maar dat kan, afhankelijk van het aantal pauzes dat je neemt, natuurlijk ook langer (of korter) duren. De wandeling begint rustig, maar de laatste kilometers gaan de hoogte in. Onderweg zijn voldoende theestalletjes om af en toe even bij te komen.

Trekking

Dag 12 naar Ghorepani
Dag 13 naar Tadapani
Dag 14 naar Chomrong

De tocht via het plaatsje Ulleri naar Ghorepani op een hoogte van 2775 meter is pittig. Waarschijnlijk is dit de zwaarste dag van de reis, je bent ruim zeven uur onderweg en overbrugt een hoogte van zo'n 1200 meter. De stijging wordt geleidelijker naarmate de tocht vordert; je loopt door een mooi eikenbos met vele rododendrons, die in maart en april in volle bloei staan. Het pad bestaat voornamelijk uit trappen deze dag. Ghorepani biedt een mooi uitzicht op de bergen.

De volgende ochtend kun je naar de top van Poon Hill lopen. Dit is een van de mooiste plekken om de zonsopkomst over het Annapurnagebergte te bewonderen. Het zicht over de verschillende pieken van de Annapurnaketen; de Nilgiri, de Dhaulagiri, de Hiunchuli en de Machhapuchre (de 'vissenstaart'), blijft je altijd bij.

Vanaf Ghorepani volgen we een licht stijgend pad naar Deorali, een mooie wandeldag met fantastische uitzichten naar beide kanten van de bergrug. Na de lunch in Banthanthi is het nog een kleine twee uur naar onze overnachtingsplaats Tadapani op 2590 meter. Het laatste stuk is weer een pittige klim.

Ook de dagtocht naar Chomrong is pittig te noemen, maar je wordt weer beloond met prachtige vergezichten. In Chomrong, een klein plaatsje op 2170 meter hoogte, komen verschillende wandelingen bij elkaar. Hier verblijf je het dichtst bij de hoogste bergpieken en lijkt het wel of je ze kunt aanraken.

Trekking en Pokhara

Dag 15 naar Ghandruk
Dag 16 naar Naya Pul – Pokhara
Dag 17 Pokhara

Tussen Chomrong en Ghandruk kun je kiezen uit een 'korte' route met een stevige klim en een eenvoudiger, langere route. Beide bieden weer schitterende uitzichten op de omgeving. Ghandruk, op 1939 meter hoogte, is een levendig dorpje, waar de bewoners zich voornamelijk bezighouden met landbouw. Er zijn hier restaurants, theehuizen en lodges.

Na zes schitterende dagen trekken in de bergen, dalen we weer af naar het beginpunt Naya Pul waar de bus wacht om ons naar het hotel in Pokhara te brengen. Meer nog dan tijdens het eerste bezoek aan Pokhara zal de rustieke omgeving van het Phewameer je kunnen bekoren. Je kunt hier heerlijk bijkomen van alle inspanning en voldaan terugkijken op je prestatie en een buitengewone ervaring. In Pokhara heb je weer volop keus aan restaurants en winkels.

Ghorka tmrw (Oct. 22/08)

2008-11-27T14:50:00.000+01:00

Ok, forgot me usb cable so no extra pics just yet - internet is too slow anyway, but crazily cheap, luckily! Oh, and haldf the keys only have fragments of their original print so be prepared for the occasional typo ;=)

Right, back to business. Spent last two days walking near the Himalaya range, ah and today's sunrise was very nice indeed.. 5.30 Wake up call, yeeha!

Remember my mail from yeterday? As i returned to the hotel and climbed the rooftop to watch the the sun set, there they were, the Himalayas, bleeding big mountains, mate. Quite awe inspiring, really.

The group's a bit slow and my scouting legs frequently carried me off to quieter paths today, so as not to have the constant drone of my very friendly, but oh so talkative Dutchies envelloping all around (and coming from me, i think that says quite enough :) Great fun day dreaming of just wandering round all by myself in this mighty landscape..

Back to my Bhaktapury night time adventure as promised, right? Well, having wandered the streets all day long and only getting back to drop off the food & drinks i'd bought as sun set, i headed back out a bit late. 21.30, that is. Mind you almost all shops, bars and restaurants are kindly reminded by the police/maoist army (who now run the show round here, friendly lot, really - met a number of 'em i/t middle of their training yesterday morning as we were visiting yet another temple ;=) to close up. So off i went back to my favourite square. Still managed to get myself a beer, Gorkha, very nice and new, from the local Tuborg brewery.. Anyway, up walks this guy we chat a bit, he asks me if i'd seen th pick up window round the corner. Must be some local legend me thinkst. Turns out he was talking bout the peacock windows (lovely, actually quite stunning woodwork, pictures will follow) and as luck has it he owns a store right down the street. So he starts showing me his 'all natural loom' clothing, kindly asks me to try some things on.. And no, he doesn't wanna sell me stuff, just have a look.. Anyway prices are now a third of what he'd ask at the day time. So, we chat bout this and that he sings Eight Days A Week by The Beatles, the favourite song of his favourite band.. I decide to buy one item as a gift for my sis, he then gives me a pair of trousers he thinks i should have for free. And well.. I, of course, feel obliged to buy him a couple of beers.. Yeah, money isn't everythying, you know.. So we chat some more, take in the sights of the square and up walks one of his best friends, quite saused, and obsessed with some ghost story.. Found out today that our guide also knows a ghost story occuring to his uncle. The Nepali, you just gotta love 'em..

Signing off for now, please keep me updated bout the latest developments in your lives, Belgian politics, the weather, if the cats stoppd eating, and so on..

Loadsa luv,

-hx.

Bhaktapur Rocks (Oct. 21/08)

2008-11-27T14:47:00.000+01:00

Got 15 mins of typin' on a very crancky keyboaqrd before i can go round for my dahl bhaht, cyurah & pickle fest in a local place... Mmmm, me velly hungly :) Ah, yeah, nearly forgot.. m in Nagarkot, famous for it's sunrise over the Himalaya's tho' i still have to see my first snow peaked mountain (range). Had a lotta fun with the local guide, sadly the Dut ch group keep talking typical Dutch nonsense, tr yin' to do my best (well, not too mu ch, true) but.. pfff.. i prefer the Nepali people :)
Yesterday we went to Bhaktapur, which was absolutely stunning my day started out bit moody being hassled by one guide a nd souvenir vendo ur too m any, but then i discovered the old part of town TTachupal Tole and esp. Dattatreya sq. Amazingly beautiful.. Wonderful people , even had some late night adventures there.. Tell u more together with pic s next time.. So still eatin & meetin loc al which is an ab solute treat Nepalis are a wonderful bun ch.
Well, gotta go stuff me belly.
Yam yam ;=)
Loadsa luv,
-hx.

Some Pics (Oct. 19/08)

2008-11-27T14:35:00.000+01:00

Doin' alright in Kathmandu.. Visited two temple complexes jut outside of town: Pashupatinath (Hindu, Shiva-aaaargh!!! ;=) and Bodhnath (Tibetan Buddhist). Sending y'all some pictures of New Delhi and of Bodhnath.. Check out my Tibetan homies, who I had great talks and a load of laughs with :)

Loadsa love,

-hx.

In Kathmandu (Oct. 18/08)

2008-11-27T14:15:00.000+01:00

Hiya! Just arrived in Kathmandu 'bout 2-3 hours ago.

Very interesting journey from Delhi to Gorakhpur, met two great guys: Thierry, an Englishman from some town in between Leeds and Manchester, and Dave, an Ozzie from Sydney. Dave traveled with me to Kath, Thierry left this morning for Pokhara, but we all spent the night in Sunauli. Met the Djoser group I'm gonna be traveling with the coming three weeks, bit stuffy lot, and old, gosh! average age must be somewhere up and around, erm.. forty? But hey, who knows.. Hope the coming weeks 'things 'll get mixed up a bit', a phrase I'm borrowing from Dave :=)

So, yeah, doin' fine, having a right blast of a time. Meeting Dave and some of his friends in a minute for a drink in Buddha Bar. And yah weather's lovely at this end :)

Loadsa love,

-hx.

First day in India (Oct. 15/08)

2008-11-27T14:07:00.000+01:00

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!

First off I want to thank everyone for their many and often incredibly overwhelming signs of affection. These last days I have literally stumbled from one surprise into another, amazed at all the warmth and care coming my way. Don't know where or how I deserved all of it. But one should certainly go away a bit more often… If only to reappraise those close to you ;=)

So how have things come to pass the last two days?

Saying goodbye to my mum and dad after not having slept all night... (So many lil' things to take care of still even in those last moments... Ring a bell, anyone? ;=) …Was a very emotional affair indeed, a lot more than I ever imagined. Then onto the plane to London Stansted. And finally a bit of rest, I had hoped for… None of that! Thanks to Foggy Ole England… After circling Stansted for half an hour we were informed that we would be landing in Luton and that Ryanair would provide us with bus transfer back to Stansted. Adding another 90 minutes of lost time. And I already had little time to spare to get to Heathrow.

Of course I just missed the connecting direct bus to Heathrow by one or two minutes, the following bus arriving but the next hour I hopped in a taxi. A friendly, but rather quiet, and you could've guessed it: quintessentially Indian cabby sped me past the coach, dropping me off at gate 3 well in time. Only non-Indian at check-in. Walking past security and fixed with a taste of the new Gordon's gin, I was feeling a bit more at ease… Had three seats all to myself and apart from being kept by the jingle-jangle of the 3 and 4 year old kids behind me, constantly poking the back of the chair and, the friendly staff waking me up for meals, very tasty all in all… I managed to get some short hours of sleep.

Too exhausted to even consider an attempt at taking a taxi and looking for a place to sleep I just put my feet up and tried to sleep. To no avail. Getting up, finally, having myself a lil' wash at the sink in the men's room. Then took a taxi to New Delhi train station, instead ended up at the travel information center / tour agency and whatnot I'm writing from. Good thing they already fixed me up with my connection to and from Nepal. But being dropped off with no train station in sight in some rundown square tucked away God knows where in Delhi's underbelly, deprived of sleep. Let's just say I was having my initial Indian culture shock zapping me at maximum voltage. Well, it all worked out ok. Have had my first proper Indian meal, toilet experience and got myself a sim card, my Indian number being +91 9990103973.

From India - Nepal Oct/08

Being confused how friendly, a little gay even guys interact with one another round here, or is it my lack of cross-cultural understanding and/or sleep deprivation? Confounded by not being allowed to tip for my lunch, being handed back two Rupees instead. Strange stuff these Indians are made of...

From India - Nepal Oct/08

Ah, and they also needed to take my picture for the sim card, what a mug shot! I'll post it and tell more about it next time, perhaps by then I'll have also figured out how to and what type of blog I best need to use…

Loads of love,

-hx.