DavidFordJournal

Im(Puri)

INDIA | Thursday, 28 Jan 2016 | Views [479]

A moment ago I looked up at the blue/grey evening sky to see around a dozen buzzards circling over the stretch of fisherman's beach here at Puri. On my first morning I took a walk along this same stretch, stepping over and around mooring ropes, and counted ... Read more >

Tags: beaches, books, filth

Photos: David_photogallery_Namchi2

INDIA | Sunday, 24 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Bye Bye Namchi, Te Ta Sikkim

INDIA | Sunday, 24 Jan 2016 | Views [340]

Roman has been trying to teach me some Nepali. Dog is koocur (?), thank you is danyabad, how are you? is costachia (?), tea is chia, good bye is bye bye or te ta. So Te Ta Sikkim and thank you for a good stay.  I am now in Silaguri and on my ... Read more >

Holing up in Namchi

INDIA | Friday, 22 Jan 2016 | Views [340]

I arrived in Namchi in the early afternoon and selected the Rough Guide hotel least difficult to find. This being on the plaza, which is like a market town shopping centre. For the last 3 days I have been holed up Clint Eastwood style (well!) with my ... Read more >

Tags: nothing much, waiting

TW(&W)M - 5 - Tashiding, a Step Too Far?

INDIA | Thursday, 21 Jan 2016 | Views [405]

Another long night of unbroken and dream rich sleep over, a bowl of runny porridge (part) consumed, Mafa and I started on another, of course, steep climb up stone encrusted paths and concrete steps to Tashiding monastery, the most sacred of all Sikkimese ... Read more >

Tags: farewells, monasteries

TW(&W)M - 4 - It's a (relatively) Long Way to Tashiding

INDIA | Thursday, 21 Jan 2016 | Views [402]

After a comfortable and warm night and a copious Rani breakfast of Millet porridge and fruit, buckwheat pancakes and tea I set out with Mafa for a mooch around Yoksum starting with a visit to a(nother) local gompa. Gompa having been bypassed we continued ... Read more >

Tags: forests, monasteries, mountains, trecks

TW(&W)M - 3 - Where it all started

INDIA | Wednesday, 20 Jan 2016 | Views [376]

Waking up this morning I was left with a choice whether to stay another day on the hilltop and maybe make my way to Gyalshing the following day for the weekend market or to head on for Yoksum to be reunited with my bag and possibly with Mafa. Consulting ... Read more >

Tags: hills, walking

TW(&W)M - 2 - Tara's Footprint

INDIA | Wednesday, 20 Jan 2016 | Views [444]

The second morning in Pelling entailed a relatively early rise to have breakfast and pack before a 10.30 shared jeep would take Mafa and I to Lake Khecheopalri, a sacred lake for Buddhists and Hindus alike some two hours distant.  Unsurprisingly ... Read more >

Tags: homestay, sacred lakes

Travels with (and without) Mafa - Pelling

INDIA | Wednesday, 20 Jan 2016 | Views [449]

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Namchi called Frets. Unsurprisingly it has pictures of Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler et all on the wall and rock music is playing. The owner is called 'Jerry', his father, David, is a minister somewhere. I'm in friendly ... Read more >

Tags: jeeps, monasteries, walks

Photos: David_photogallery_Tashiding

INDIA | Wednesday, 20 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Photos: David_photogallery_Namchi/Rabangla

INDIA | Wednesday, 20 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Photos: David_photogallery_Yoksum2Tashiding

INDIA | Wednesday, 20 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Photos: David_photogallery_Yoksum

INDIA | Wednesday, 20 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Photos: David_photogallery_Khecheiopalri

INDIA | Tuesday, 19 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Photos: David_photogallery_Pelling2

INDIA | Tuesday, 19 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Photos: David_photogallery_Pelling

INDIA | Tuesday, 19 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery

Major Tom to Ground Control

INDIA | Tuesday, 19 Jan 2016 | Views [352]

A brief blog to let on that I'm still extant. I'm now in an internet cafe in Namchi, South Sikkim, having spent the last 8 days or so in West Pelling without an internet connection. I am loving Sikkim and will write further in the next few days of travels ... Read more >

Harry Pelling

INDIA | Friday, 8 Jan 2016 | Views [511] | Comments [1]

Harry Pilling was one of my favourite childhood cricketers. He was a batsman for Lancashire and, from what I can remember, particularly good off the back foot. He was also, not unconnected I'm sure, very short of stature. I particularly liked it when ... Read more >

Tags: cricket, nostalgia, school

Still Ill

INDIA | Wednesday, 6 Jan 2016 | Views [576] | Comments [1]

I find myself once more in the Coffee Shop (not Cafe), having consumed another veggie burger (how many is that?) and nursing my first cold of the trip. The last few days have been really quiet partly because of the cold, partly because I don't really ... Read more >

Tags: books, illness, music

Photos: David_photogallery_Gangtok7

INDIA | Wednesday, 6 Jan 2016 | Photo Gallery