Holidaying in the New World

Himalayas

tog — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:49:00 GMT

I'm in Rishikesh, just below the Himalayas. It's bloody raining! This is a very holy place, with many ashrams and temples. it is also the point in which the river ganges forms from the himalayas. it is very touristy because this is the place visited by the Beatles in 1968. its strange to think how much tourism can be created from such a short trip 40 years ago.

Before arriving here, i spent a few days in Jaipur. everyone in this city claims to have some kind of telepathy or voodoo powers. one character told me to be careful around water, and that my future lay in a business partnership overseas. as much as you don't want to believe it, there is a small part in the back of your mind that questions it. as a result i am being more cautious than usual around water (i am staying by a rapid moving river).

i had an amazing rickshaw driver though. he looked like an indian version of norman cook, but with an added nike earring. i was with him on st. paddy's day and it turned out he was an alcoholic. very reassuring news!

Was walking down the alley of my guest house when who did i see walking towards me? only bloody ruby clift! what a small world. spent a nice day with her and her boyf on the river beach.

am in Dharmasala, in Himachal Pradesh. this is the home of the dali lahma in exile. im staying in an ashram in the woods. have just met an australian buddhist monk that lives here. he looks such a peaceful guy until he opens his mouth, and a course australian accent emerges.

i was wrong about about the australian monk, what a lovely man! i had a brilliant conversation with him. turns out his father is a large, labouring beer lout. i'd love to be a fly on the wall at one of their family getogethers. i am yet again travelling with two italians. we are staying in a beautiful ashram amongst the mountain woodland. we are the only non-buddhists staying.

have just found out have an indian pop star moving in next door in london! that should be interesting.

Mcleod Ganj is my favourit place in india based on expectations. the only downside is when my trave companion starts going on about nostradamus and how he predicted hitler and franco.

am in manali at the moment, staying with a new zealand guy who looked like superhans

To The North

tog — Sun, 1 Mar 2009 19:32:00 GMT

Have been staying hampi. it is a ruined city this very reminiscent of the jungle book. the town is filled with monkeys that swagger around the ruins as if kings.

there are also regular sighting of cobras and crocodiles. have been staying in a hut next to a 'baba'. this a term given to old indian 'gurus' who sit around all day meditating and smoking a chillum. he has dreadlocks down to his ankles and tells me he has always been celibate, although he has adopted 8 children. 'baba g' has been very quick to ask me for a donation. he becomes very ambiguous when i ask him what the money is for; his perfect english suddenly becomes broken.

have spent 3 full days constantly travelling to the north. i am staying in pushkar, rajasthan. it is a small town surrounding a sacred lake in the middle of the desert. i came here with three italians that are from the north of italy and speak german. they are complete stoners who do very little else.

my german speaking companions are no student interrailling types. they are hard working, rough handed, nitty gritty european mountain folk. they are called carman, mauritz and christian. i spend most of my time with the boys, often playing pool. whenever, this happens i cant help feeling that we are being filmed for some wartime film. they look made for the army. they always have a small indian cigrette hanging from their mouths (called a beedie), and have wardrobes that look like they have been directly lifted from apocalyse now.

Have moved to western city of Jaisalmer. the centre of the town has a beautiful fort, that is the only inhabited in india. i have been staying in the fort wal, with great views of the surrounding thar desert.

one of the main attractions of the city is the camel safaris which is the main industry it seems. i spent three days in the desert with some iranians, a faroese and some amazing south koreans. the koreans were so funny, on the first day bringing chicken to be cooked in the evening meal. the funniest of the three was one character called 'teddy', who after half a beer became so drunk. gotta love asian drunk people.

the camels were amazing, with great names such as mr. india, simon, big boy, mr. bean and monkey. i was riding big boy, who was a dominant shire horse figure of a camel. he constantly groaned and made dinosaur like sounds. he was also guilty of farting, loudly and very, very regularly. by the last day, i was getting pretty confident around the camels, only to be head butted by simon as i turned around.

it is now the colour festival, a two day period where everyone in the street throws colour over each other. unaware that you should prepare for this by putting coconut oil on, i am now covered in colour that wont come out. it does not help that every indian person that sees me thinks this is the funniest thing they have ever seen.

Did you know?

tog — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:25:00 GMT

These words were taken from the indian languages:

Veranda, Bungalow, sandal, pyjamas, shampoo, jungle, turban, caste, chariot, chilli, cardamon and yoga.

My Italian conpanion and i are staying with an italian woman in Kovalam beach, near trivandrum. the woman is having an illicit affair with an indian toy boy from the village, big local gossip.

the woman is hard and stubborn, the kind of character you wouldn't want to cross. the affair seems to be quite serious. as a result, she is very careful what she does and says in public. she has become annoyed with me and my friend as we haven't been as sensitive to local feeling. this town is a lazy seaside town. money is made from the tourists, most of which can be directly taken from curry houses in england. they personify the curry house. most are ageing couples that eat very large meals in the evening, in total silence.

there is a lot of curtain tweeking here, so gossip is one of the main past times. the italian woman's house has a large white roof terrace. when everyone was out, i thought i'd take the opportunity to do a spot of naked sunbathing. she came back an hour or so later and had a go at me. nudity here is not cricket, so since that inccident, are relationship has been a bit strained.

to take a break from strict rules of the italian woman's house, we headed to kanniyakumari, the southern most tip of india. this is the point where 3 seas meet, the indian, bay of bengal and lakshadweep. no one really speaks english, and eating rice with your hands is the only way. the food is very good, but the sauces are very runny and the with rice, it proves quite a challenge.

the food has been very good, although constantly spicy. i tried the meat, but won't be again! i eat a lot of meals with paneer. it is indian cheese similar to mozerella. it makes a really nice alternative to meat. a really nice indian drink i had never tried in england is the lassi. it tastes like a mixture of milk and yoghurt, with sugar and sometimes cardoman. also available is the bhang lassi, which is mixed with ganja.

im currently killing 12 hours of time in bangalore, before a train to hampi tonight. its the second largest manufacturer of software in the world and this is very visible. the building are high and ralentless, the roads are wide filled with constant traffic. the only positive of the incoming wealth is beautiful parks with a wide variety of trees, monkeys and birds.

The Frolics

tog — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:32:00 GMT

Bonjour! heres a few snippets of the trip so far:

i'm travelling down the south west coast of at the moment. i began in goa- stay away. what a waste of time. i believe 20 years ago this would have been great, but now it is filled with wannabe hippies and bland thirty something middle england couples.

i then moved onto karnataka, gokarna to be precise. this place is filled with real deal hippy. dreadlocks in abundance, tatoos, dogs, fire sticks. most of the men wear banana hamocks. im tempted to get one as my tan lines are getting quite noticable.

i travelled down to kerala with a french man, israeli girl and italian girl. all total characters. the frech man is classically french, stubborn and poncy. the israeli girl has just finished compulsory 2 years in the israeli army. she was based on the gaza strip! she got some stories! the italian girl is a total hoot. i don't know if you have ever seen the jack dee sitcom 'lead balloon', but she talks just like the magda character.

indians are so generous. we met a couple of local lads who invited us to stay with them. their house is deep in the jungle. of course they gave us their beds and they slept on the floor.

This country is pretty big. what strikes you when travelling on the train is the wide rivers you cross that don't even appear on the map. waters 20 times as wide as the thames!

Indian people love to use their horns, be it motor bike or car, or tuktuk. some even have 3 different horns for front back and sides. it drives you crazy, they are so loud!