Ash Goes Global

Epilogue

2006-03-05T21:55:00.000+05:30

well, some people managed to discover it already, so the word is out. I am, officially, back in the UK and well slept!

I arrived back at home at 9:30am yesterday, GMT, after 12 hours on a plane and 4 hours in Doha, Qatar. I flew with Qatar Airways, who were lovely. I even got one of those crazy packs with the toothbrush and earplugs and socks and eye-covers! so my life is complete.

The food was edible too, except for the items that I wouldn't eat anywhere, like fried mushrooms (breakfast). And they had stickers you could put ont he back of your chair saying 'do not disturb' or 'wake me up for meals' etc. The downside, for such a long flight, is they didn't have the little screens in the back of the seats. So there was only one in-flight movie to choose from, and, as is tradition, they were all crud. They had a great classical music thing on the audio menu, but halfway through the flight it started again. Which makes you wonder why they have the DJ pretending it's all live...

On the first flight, I was sitting next to a Swiss lady, who was a laugh. very talkative, which makes the flight pleasant, especially when the film was Chicken Little! she even gave me a soft-cheese triangle for my roll, and gave me her kitkat too. good times.

Got a shock in Qatar, when I bought a tall caffé latté... was 19QRs (Qatar Riyals) which is $5.32US or £3.04GB. what craziness is this?? I've been paying a maximum of 90NRs ($1.25 79p GB) for real coffee! oh welcome to the West!

coming in to land at Gatwick, the pilot announced the outside temperature as -5'C, which was followed by the collective groans of all the idiots who decided to travel in shorts and Tshirts... I mean... it's the first days of March... it's England... they were all british people... what do they really expect?

but it is cold here, even when you're wearing a fleece. It wasn't hot in Nepal... long sleeved shirt by day, thin-medium fleece by night. but it's warmer than here anyhow.

You can see my last few pictures, from Swayabhunath here. I'm having to get used to british keyboards again... in the east, the speech marks key is the same as the quote marks/ apostraphe key, and the @ key is the 2 key. it's more logical I'm sure, but after getting used to that, i now have to revert back!

Also using phones is hard after 2 months. using a payphone at Gatwick I had to dial about 5 times before i got it right... i think you have to dial fast and accurately for it. And calling for a pizza here was also hard. And I had to remember my address and everything! I've been saying 'none' when asked abroad... too much hard work to find out the hotel addresses.

And so, it remains to draw this portion of the blog to a close, as I am no longer a traveller. It will stay, in case I decide to go off again, and so you can be nostalgic with me.

Peace, and thanks for dropping by!
-ash

'down the track came a hobo hiking, And he said "boys i'm not turning..."'

2006-02-28T21:15:00.000+05:30

Today was another relaxing day. These come most regularly, When I wake up too late in the day to bother doing anything. This occurs because I drink lots of coffee in the day, as we shall get to later, and stay awake until the small hours reading abou tPhileas Fogg and so forth.

So today I went and had lunch and coffee, and read what passes for newpapers out here. It seems like President Bush's planned visit to New Delhi on Wednesday has been lavishly spent upon by the taxpayers of the US and India. As if both countries don't have more pressing things to spend money on than flying armoured limos, fighter jets, helicopters, 250 secret service agents etc. to India, and drafting extra police, and loading the hotel roof with anti-aircraft missiles and emplyoing 'electronic warfare' systems along the roads to be travelled (whatever that means). Sounds like millions of dollars (and billions of rupees) up in smoke. I hope he has terrible insomnia thinking about that. But I doubt it. Probably has a box of Kalms.

Anyways...

I had the pleasure of spending 3 hours in a resteraunt reading my book and having caffeine and carlsberg, which was pleasant but expensive. Expensive, that is, for an evening in Nepal. Not for England. cost me Rs900 including tip, which is under 8pounds. I had a burrito, a Mirinda (think fanta, but Pepsi-co. They don't have tango), carlsberg (650ml), caffe latte, hot chocolate and a chocolate brownie sundae. You tell me if that's cheaper in England... I've been away too long to remewmber ;o)

The book in Question is Code to Zero by Ken Follett, the last of whose books I read (Whiteout) impressed me enough to try more of his. This one is set in the USA, and reminds me a bit of Grisham's stories, but I'm only 150 pages into 450 so far.

I finished Round the World in Eighty Days last night... It's readable even when one knows the ending, which is always good.

I have been informed that today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. I didn't know this until about half an hour ago, so didn't plan any pancakes into my diet. But I had a burrito, which was chicken and cheese and salad and salsa wrapped in a tortilla (not a traditional burrito, but nice enough). And what is a tortilla if not a mexican pancake made from corn, rather than wheat, flour? Yes, in via the backdoor and all the happier.

Now I must ponder whether or not I am going to do something for Lent. I shall be partaking of the Lent Blog again, so please do feel free to pop in and read. Some of you seasoned bloggers may remember the Advent Blog, or even last year's lenten one.

I also bought some CDs today, as my listening material needs suppliments so as not to bore me. Laurence will be thrilled to bits to learn that I bought a Radiohead compilation. I also bought Bob Marley's Legend and the theme from the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou? which i have tried for many ages of men to find in shops in the homeland, to no avail. So that's rather wonderful. It is a film all must watch.

I'm told It's snowing in Stevenage at the moment... Here it seems to be getting warmer. It's now more like late Summer in the UK, and it was more like mid to late Autumn when I arrived. fun fun. Still wearing fleeces in the evening... or at leat wearing them when walking to and from the outdoor resteraunts where I like to munch and lunch.

Au Revoir, mon amiees! (can't do accents here, remember?)
-ash

2006-02-27T22:06:00.000+05:30

Today I visited a Buddhist temple which overlooks the Kathmandu Valley. It is called Swayabhunath or something like that, and is a whole complex of temples and shrines and a monastery attached. There are underground caves, which are closed to the public, and there is a huge main Stupa with the eyes of the Buddha painted on, as on mosy stupas in Nepal, and the question-mark nose which is Nepali for One, and symbolises the wholness of the world, and how we are all one.

There are Hindu shrines within the complex too, which seems odd to me... one wouldn't expect to see the Guru Grand Sahib in Church pews... but then Buddhism is often thought of as more a philosophy than a religion. Some choose to follow it religiously, as some follow the god of Aristotle. And Buddhism has a healthy attitude to people of other faiths anyway.

There is a Temple in New Delhi which is shaped as a lotus flower and made of white marble. I posted a picture of it some weeks ago. This is a temple of the Ba'hai faith, and They too have a similar attitude. The Lotus Temple is open to people of all faiths to utilise and to practise their devotions in the gardens. When we were in Delhi, it was Republic Day, and so all the monuments were packed. Many Indian people had come in to celebrate Republic Day, then did some sightseeing after the festival.

This attitude toward other faiths, although alien to us Western monotheistics, is very healthy I think. It breeds a respect that is so evidently lacking in most expressions of the western faiths.

At the Stupa, the views of Kathmandu were immense. Kathmandu lies in a valley, and the stupa is on a hill (not a huge hill) at the West of the city. I have taken a fair few pictures of the monuments and a couple inside the shrines (as one would expect, this is not always aloud). some didn't come out greatly... My camera has a longer shutter speed if you turn off the flash (to compensate for the moron who turns it off), and consequently a few pictures blurred. But I have tried to retake them by changing the aperture speeds... it just means they are a bit dark (too many reflective shiny things for flash).

I shall upload soon... it's a bit difficult to find decent computers here. I had an argument with the guy in the decent place over the price of blank CDs, so I'm having to make do with the hotel (which is slower than a snail on sand).

it's been ages since I've had to upload actually... I keep thinking it's all GUI but it's not! have to remember how to do it in DOS again :S

adieu!

And not, when I came to die, realise that I had not lived...

2006-02-26T21:14:00.001+05:30

Well, since it's the weekend, and since most religions worship on a weekend day, and since most of the places I want to visit are temples... I haven't done any sight-seeing today or yesterday.

Today, I went for dinner at the New Orleans Cafe where I had a rather huge chicken-wrapped-in-bacon with barbecue sauce. Nice. And then, as I was leavng, they said they were having live music later in the evening. So I returned at 7pm...

The Music was wonderful. They had a group with native drums (which may be called Tam Tams or Tablar or something entirely not that) and a western acoustic guitar, and a more local guitar. And later a Tibetan Guitarist joined the mix. Was really brilliant. The drum guy was superb... he had a five minute solo that crescendo-d into some seriously warp-speed drumming. wicked cool.

So I sat and had much good real genuine proper coffee. And scribbled in my notebooks. And was even convinced to try the (bloody good I must say) choccy cake. Naughty but oh so very right.

And I read some excerpts from Walden (HDT), which have worked their way into my composition, along with selected quotes from Wasteland (TSE). What I wonder is, is, is, is whether any of you noticed a quotation I made recently? your prize will be eternal glory. Or a pat on the back.

Am currently reading Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne who, it transpires, was a Frenchman. This surised me, because the lead man (Mr. Phileas Fogg) is a very English Gentleman. but there we go. It's a good read, and very accessible as far as things from the reign of Vicky go (I think, of course, of that wretched Dickens fellow... I don't rate him I'm afraid dears. Good stories, but such a poor way of telling them).

Anyway, that's enough Wilmer Web for me for now...
au revoir,
-ash

2006-02-23T18:44:00.000+05:30

Well, I've not done a lot today that's worth blogging about... I decided to have a relaxed day.

One thing though... I have noticed that many resteraunts will play Western music when white people come in. More often than not, this is a sun-distorted tape with the following:
1) Titanic theme
2) something by Boyzone
3) something by the Spice Girls
4) Candle in the Wind by Elton John

and, on one unfrortunate occasion in mid february, Last Christmas by Wham.

'If there were water we could stop and drink'

2006-02-22T13:37:00.002+05:30

Greetings Friendes, Family, Fans, CIA Operatives and Well Wishers...

yes.

Well, yesterday I came here to the Hotel Florid, and booked a room for today. Then, this morning, the owners of Via Via Cafe (as I recently complained in an email to my mum, there is no way of making the acute accent on the 'E' with these keyboards. Is most annoying, as it makes me look stupid) told me that someone had cancelled a booking early in the morning, and I could stay on if I want. Regrettably, though, I had already laid down two nights worth of tenure for this place, so I had to decline; I had already packed too, but that is a lesser issue.

It's rather a shame, really, as I was getting to quite like the Belgians who ran the place... they are very helpful and friendly, and rather amusing to boot. This morning I was chatting to a guy who was either from a northern state of the USA, probably west coast, or, more likely, Canada. I didn't think to ask at the time, as I was pretty sure he was American... but the more I pondered it, the more I'm thinking Canadian. Different manner, and the accent is slightly different (well, a lot different from some parts).

Anyway... I'm now at Florid. Which is pleasant enough... I even seem to have a balcony... which is one more access port I have to check I've locked. The room opposite can access the same balcony, so could, if it was occupied, come into my room via my outside door. Unlikely, granted, but one has to be vigilant.

Kathmandu is a huge place. The tourist hub is Thamel, which is where I'm encamped. It's all good fun. One of the Belgian guys was telling me the best places to visit, and which ones were walkable and which I should get a cab to. He also suggested the prices I should negotiate with the cabby... he he. Nice chap.

Via Via only had guidebooks in French, so it was a little harder for me to discifer the useful information. I got the jist, but not quite as much as by having it explained to me. I'm drastically out of practise with French, and I was never super at it anyway. I got a B at GCSE and haven't touched it since... something I hope to remedy in time.

If you ever get the oppourtunity to read Fry's The Stars' Tennis Balls, do. It is truely masterful. I'm now reading Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland, who has become something of a favourite author of mine since I read Girlfriend in a Coma when I was in a book club a year or two ago.

Today, I need to confirm a flight booking, and pay for it; and go shopping for cheap electronic gizmos.

So adieu to all, and have fun et cetera.

Oh, and, for Jan's benefit, my toe is now fine, thankyou. My two second toes, however, being the longest, seem to have got damages whilst trekking. It's utterly painless, but the nails are an interesting shade of burgundy.

'If there were water we could stop and drink'

2006-02-22T13:37:00.001+05:30

Kathmandu 2

2006-02-20T15:45:00.000+05:30

Well...
I am arrived and so forth. Checked into my room, which is a small but comfortable affair. There is a recess in the wall, into which is set a colourfully painted wooden fish, a candle stick with candle, and a small dichroic spotlight to illuminate the fish and add to it's weirdness.

I have a large futon bed (It claims to be queensized, but it is very much a liar); I have a wall cupboard with nice strong brass handles which i can use a padlock to hold shut, thus providing a safe for me to leave all my more expensive crap. I have a towel, a chair, a small table-stool thing, and a plug socket. There is a bathroom down the hall, and another downstairs.

There is a bar and resteraunt upstairs, which is closed on mondays so the owners can have a day off once a week. They are, however, in there if I need to speak to them. There is apparently a lounge and a nightclub, however, owing to the rabbit-warren-esque nature of the building (which is probably down to it's alleged age of over a century), I have so far not passed by them.

According to the noticeboard, a range of activities are availible, notabley Introductions to Pottery (2-4days, 9-5, 15Euro a day) and Indian/ Nepali cooking (3 hours each, 5Euro). Both are tempting... but, as we shall discover anon, may prove ellusive.....

Yes, leading on from the afore-mentioned courses and, indeed, the even more formerly mentioned 'queen-size' bed, is something of a conundrum. Or, rather, a problem. You see, When one books a double bed, one usually has two persons sleeping in it. And, because this is a European-owned establishment (Belgian, for the precise), one is charge per person, and not per room. The upshot of which is, that if one is occupying a space for two, then one pays the price of two. In other words, I am having to pay double-fare because there are no single rooms availible.

Which leads me on, of course, to the facte that I may well decide to vacate the place in favour of a premesis with single rooms in the not-too-distant future, so as to afford myself. Unless a single room vacates in the next day or two, which, I have been told, is possible but not necessarily likely. It may also be, upon discussion with the management, that I can wangle a deal.

And so I have managed to fill an entry with little more than talk of a room... cunningly disguising, it is my hope, that all I have done since I arrived an hour and a half ago is check-in to the the hostel, check the hostel out, then get my arse down the street to the nearest internet haunt... which is, I am delighted to inform, considerably cheaper than in Pokhara... over 300% i think, but I'm rubbish at mathematics, so here's the numbers: Pokhara: Rs99/hour Kathmandu: RS30/hour. Speed: pretty much the same, but older machines... non-optical mouse with no scroll-wheel, and infuriatingly tiny monitors.

Also, I am now well into the Stephen Fry book, having suffered a 7 hour bus journey. And, although it has a slow start, it is really rather good....

KTM

2006-02-19T18:15:00.000+05:30

Well, It appears I am definately leaving for Kathmandu tomorrow morning! I have booked a place via the internet... but, unfortuntely, I booked quite late and have ended up with a double bed. The downside to this is that I have to pay for 2 people instead of one. So I have only booked one night, and I will likely leave for somewhere else on Tuesday. It's just not cricket really. Unless a single room frees up and I happen to like the place, of course.

Also, the price doesn't include Tax, which is one of those things I find extremely annoying. They try to make the place look cheaper, but it's all lies. Normally, I don't go in places that don't add the tax, but i needed a room! So I will have to find out what the tax rate is when I call them (i have to call to confirm for some unknown reason... amaeturs clearly).

Anyway, I'm gonna go now, as there's a film I want to watch, and I need to continue packing.

oh yes, do all remember to leave comments... I get bored otherwise. These things are interactive for a reason... I can talk to walls without paying 80p an hour.

of books and marble and other such things

2006-02-18T17:20:00.000+05:30

I have now booked a bus ticket to Kathmandu, hopefully. The people at the Hotel did it for me, but I haven't seen the woman today (not unusal, don't panic!).

I am now reading Whiteout by Ken Follett. It is utterly gripping! It's always hard to talk about books without giving away the plot... But I can say I like the way he spends time developing all of his characters and not just one or two. Even the more minor Characters have time spent on them, and i think that's a rare thing in modern authors. Very much to his credit.

I nearly bought Crime and Punishment today... the book was at a very good price (roughly 1.60GBP) but the guy didn't want to make a sensible offer for my Harry Potter book. When second-hand bookshops buy books off you, ettiquette is, in my experience, that they offer you about half of what they plan to sell it for (which is about half the RRP normally). Given I bought it for 1000RS i think offering 200Rs is an insult. So i decided not to buy from him either.

And they always try to say 'ah but it's second hand now...' as if anything in their shops is new... all of it is what they have bought off tourists or the backs of lorries. They could not afford to buy from the publishers.

Instead, I bought a book by Stephen Fry... The title is something like 'Stars' Tennis Balls' but i shall let you know for sure. We eventually did a straight swap, this book being 400Rs. I'm willing to accept that, as they already had the Harry Potter in question on their shelves at slightly less than 1000, they are okay. and it's only 80p.

I keep ketting woken up by a psychotic cockeral. The sun comes up here around 5:30-6am. the cockeral crows repeatedly from about 3:30-4am. I am very very close to killing it and demonstrating to the locals how to cook chicken without bones. It is, however, easier to use ear-plugs.

I think the hoteliers think I'm odd... I do spend about 21 of every 24 hours in my room. But there isn't much to do here once you've done trekking. I could do paragliding, but it's not quite within budget. ($75 USD is a lot cheaper than the UK, but still not within my budget unfortunately). If it was in season, I would get a boat and sail or kayak around the lake a few times, but they don't do it until summer unfortunately. (they won't even let me hire a boat on my own, which is what i would prefer to do anyway... seems a bit odd, given it's a pretty calm lake).

So really, all you can do is stay in the hotel... which has a nice garden, but if you try to read there the staff will talk at you and not take the hint. Or you can go to resteraunts and read and buy coffee. Or you can buy things. I choose to stay in my room and read, where it is quiet and free. I miss British (or European in general i'm told) coffee houses, where you can buy one cup of coffee and stay there all day. Here you feel under pressure to leave once you finish your food or drink.

Bars are different. But the local alcohols are pretty bad. Most of the beer is Danish, which is good, but it is expensive and comes in huge bottles. I'm convinced too much local liquor will make you blind. It all tastes vaguely like ethanol, regardless of what it's meant to be... I've tried Whisky, rum and apple-brandy with joel, and we both agreed the difference is pretty marginal.

marble
An interesting thing is Marble. In the UK, it's a bit posh to have marble work surfaces in the kitchen, for example. So much so that some people buy plastic ones that look like marble. We seem to use wood for most things like that, including stairs and floors. Here, even the cheapest places use marble for everything! The place we stayed in Mumbai had marble shelves in the room. Here in Pokhara, the floors and skirting boards and stairs are all marble. Yet it's an average hotel.

In fact, on the landings they've actually carpeted over the marble floors. And in the bathrooms, for some reason, they have tiles. I'd have thought it more likely to have marble bathrooms than corridors. Most odd.

I think it's actually considered a bit cheap and chearful out here. Marble is, to them, as cheap pine floorboards are to us. Not at all a status symbol. Most interesting how people's ideas etc. vary in places around the world.

2006-02-16T16:09:00.000+05:30

Two peices of news to report today, in reverse chronological order.

2) In desperate need, following the aftermath of 1), i decided to lunch in a posh resteraunt. I needed coffee and a sandwich, and was moderately certain they'd have filter coffee. So i ordered filter coffee and a toasted cheese, pineapple and chicken sandwich.
It's raining outside. classic accompanyment (pathetic fallacy, oh yes).
and the waiter approaches me, warily, no doubt noting the look of pained disgruntledness on my face, and tells me that there is a power cut and they can't use the filter coffee machine.
Being merciful, and not wishing particularly, to explain to him how to make filter coffee without electricity and with the aid of his sock, and guessing that he wouldn't understand if i did, I said 'okay, i'll have instant.'
It was cheap instand, vile, and i left half of it. But the sandwich was okay. Not as good as if i had made it, but worth paying for anyway.

1) I'm having a shower, wearing my flipflops as I do so, to make sure i don't contract any dodgey foot fungus from a bathroom which, although seemingly clean, probably isn't.
I slip.
I do what i always do when i slip, and flail about from something to grab and stop myself falling and possibly causing a small earth tremour the other side of the world (which would normally be somewhere around here, so maybe the other side would be home).
I grab the sink. Seems a safe bet in the millionth of a second i have to calculate the most strong fixture in the room... the mirror wouldn't help and the towel rail would probably just laugh at me and jump off the wall.
Regrettably, however, I had failed to take into account the differences in bathroom-fitting techniques that exist once one enters the international sphere.
The sink, it transpires, was not attached to the wall at all. It, instead, is held up by gravity. In the wall are set two small lengths of protruding angle-iron, upon which the sink sits. Not even a small screw to hold it in. oh no. Just gravity.
Well, what with me trying to hold on to it for dear life, and the angle iron being so badly corroded that it was fractured all the way along, the sink did not prevent me from falling to a rikter-scale-registering doom.
Instead, the sink came leaping out of the wall, and landed on the big toe of my right foot, while I land in a heap.

So, gathering my wits, I inspect the damage. I decide the angle-iron could be bent back into shape and i could maybe lift the sink back on and balance it enough that noone would know........

but, alas, the sink was in several peices, as i discovered when i turned it the right way up. One big peice, and several rather large holes.

So i'm in a different room now, and the plumber is coming tomorrow. I couldn't discifer whether i'm going to be billed or not, because their english was worsened by their mild panic... but i'm sure we can negotiate something if i promise not to sue them.

My toe, incidentlally, is fine. bled quite a bit, adding to the carniage, but nothing that a bottle of antiseptic (which, forseeing disaster, I bought for 16p a week ago) and a lot of dabbing couldn't fix.

Happy days :o)

15th Feb

2006-02-15T18:18:00.000+05:30

Well! i've finally managed to get on here. I have no idea why, but this place hasn't let me even view the blog the last few days. My leading theory was that it couldn't handle 2 google-powered sites at once (gmail and blogger). But i'm multi-tasking now, so who knows.

I finished reading John Grisham's The Broker. Now I am reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which I got a part-exchange on. It is very pleasant having so much time to read and do little else... Not having to worry about work etc. But all the same, i need to move on from Pokhara. I'm getting bored with it. I'm planning to get bus tickets to Kathmandu for Monday. I shall try and book tomorrow.

Watched a bit of Love Actually yesterday... it made me laugh that it was all set at Christmas when it was the Valentine's Day special... but oh well. It's a funny film... full of good British actors. rock on.

The hotelliers keep reminding me that they are happy to clean my room for me. I don't quite know why they want to do it... I've concluded they must charge extra for it, and have therefore told them that i don't require that service and that if i do I will ask. So far, seems to have stopped them going on about it. I don't want anyone ,cleaning my rooms in hotels. If i suspected they had a spare key I'd start padlocking things up in the room. I never leave the key in reception when i go out. In budget hotels, you have no way to guarantee the cleaners aren't light-fingered. They probably aren't paid much. At least in rich-people hotels you know if something got nicked they'd probably replace it ten-fold to guard their reputation. As much as these people are friendly, why give them invitation to enter my room when i'm not there?

Anyways... i'm still waiting for a clear day to go up to the Stupa. It seems to be a glorified look-out tower, so no point going when it's misty, as it invariably is in Pokhara. oh well.

I don't think I mentioned that I nearly got locked out of the hotel twice. for some reason, these people decided to lock the gate at quater to ten. So that when I arrived, I had to jimmy it open, then bang on a lit hotel window for someone to un-bolt the front door.

The hotel is fast displeasing me. all hotels in this day and age should have a 24-hour check-in. And they could at least publish a time they plan to lock up each day if not. really is quite morose. I do have no doubt, however, that I could kick in the flimsy wooden door without exerting any real effort. Good to know as a backup, even if it doesn't make you feel that secure!

on the plus side, my tailor-made combat trousers are very comfy and serving well... it does seem a bit odd getting combats tailored, but oh well.

Must dash,
ciao

Back home at last

2006-02-14T16:37:00.000+05:30

Joel: finally arrived back home on English soil on Sunday 12th of feb a full 2days later than it should have been. The simple reason for this is Gulf Air and the fact they are incredibly disorganized as an airline!

Quick rundown of events since leaving ash goes as follows;
Got to Pokhara airport at 10ish to check in but found that for whatever reason the plane was delayed until 1pm. So I just sat down in the airport which was basically a room that led out onto the tiny airstrip. What was funny however, was recognising many of the westeners who were also waiting as some of the people we had spotted during the trek. I would later found that a son and daughter pair from Holland would be delayed with me on the flights to London, which was bizarre.

Eventually boarded the 15 seater jet to Kathmandu which took just over 30mins and was
a bit of a bumpy ride - especially the landing - but fun nonetheless with fairly good views, albeit between the clouds.

At Kathmandu I found my way to the hotel which was a pretty sweet set up in the tourist thamel area of Kat. Had a little wander around the place which was load of shops and bars it would seem, but seeing as I had no money left to spend I didn't linger too long. Next morning I had to get up bright and early at 6am for the flight at 9.30. Got to Kat airport (which was indeed a proper international airport although still nothing special) at 7 and joined the long queue outside going through security checks. I quickly found that this would be the first of many pointless bag and body checks over the next three days that were sometimes no more than 10meters away from one another having just gone through an xray machine anyways!!

Well, it wasn't long before we found out the plane was delayed, and that it was more delayed, and then that it couldn't land because of weather (which seemed to be clear!?!) and then wouldn't be able to take off after a minimum of 12hrs cos of a fault, or was it because the pilot needed a rest, or maybe because the flight had been diverted to Kolkota, or wait a minute did you just say Dakar... you get the picture, many reasons and excuses all as bad as the other and all signaling a web of lies that, with hindsight and speaking with ppl who have flown with Gulf Air in the past, they delay flights so as to fill one plane once rather than pay for lots of planes to fly only being a 1/4 full! Ridiculous, especially when many of these ppl had suffered up to 60hr delays several times in the past.

Basically it finally left the ground at 11am flying to Abu Dhabi, and once there the whole debacle repeated itself and we left at 11am (once again) for London, arriving at 3ish due to time change (gaining 4hrs).

There were plus points as well tho, mainly that I got to meet a lot of cool ppl who were on the flights, all waiting together. Notably; a very friendly and helpful ex British gorkha who bought me many cups of tea, coffee and even a box of local tea to take home; a cop from leicester who i had a beer in Kat with also; Dutch sisters who went with me and nick the cop to explore Abu Dhabi; the aforementioned Dutch pair; and a few Indian/Nepali guys who smiled a lot and spoke very sketchy english, hehe. Also it was good in Dhabi to leave the airport lounge and travel with a few guys into Abu Dhabi and see the sights of an incredibly rich area full of 'malls,' beaches, luxury yachts and high rise buildings.

The one good thing Gulf Air did sort out was top notch 5* accommodation overnight, one in Kat and one in the first class transit hotel in the Abu Dhabi airport. However, overall they had no communication skills with the passengers, meaning we always had to find out what was going on and pretty much beg them to let us receive somewhere to sleep in Abu Dhabi.

The morale of the story; never, ever, under any circumstances fly Gulf Air! Not too harsh I don't think, hehe.

Anyways I now leave this blog completely for Beck's posts and wish him all the best for his travels and places he decides to visit - Have a quality time mate and bring back lots of stories!

Adios, Joel

P.S our driver from india (the man of many names: Manuel, Nandeep, Narindeer....) phoned me at home just as i walked in the door after flights and rattled of something about buying a new car and me and ash being very good friends who should use him again, hilarious and unexpected, top bloke tho!!!

"over the sea and far away..."

2006-02-11T20:18:00.000+05:30

Well i'm writing now from a power cut! the power has been out a good few hours. This internet place has a genny (good idea!) but no UPS (bad idea). The upside is i can use the net. The downside is that everytime the generator power supply fluctuates, the computers restart. UPS would help them a LOT. most places have it. UPS is a back-up battery that keeps the computer running through momentary and extended power glitches up to about half an hour, depending on it's age. they are cheap. The main use is to do what i said, or give you time to safely shutdown if you have big servers.

anyways, geekiness aside...

i woke up today and that particular masterpeice of film The Mighty Ducks was on. And I have also watched Legally Blonde 2, which is very funny.

Yesterday i searched all the bookshops for Henry David Thoreau's Walden... in vain i'm afraid. And i can't read books online... it hurts my eyes.

it appears i can touchtype... all the lights went out. Which implies this new machine i am now on does indeed have a UPS battery on it. awesome. (i moved).

yeah... so anyway, i bought some candles to conserve torch power... i have a couple LED torches, so all is well really... but ya know. I figure if i use candles more than electric lights i'll be helping save the planet.

still managing to dodge mr. over-enthusiastic-let-me-give-you-an-expensive-tour, so that is good.

Here's a dillema for you. I have more time than ever before to read, yet it is harder than normal for me to obtain books i want. If i decide to read Wilbur Smith or Tolstoy or Ken Follet, there will be no shortage of books. maybe i'll buy War and Peace ;oP

Ken Follet. There's a thing... In England, he never seems to be that popular. He lives in or near Stevenage, which is where I live. His wife is our MP, and so he's in the community a lot. And, frankly, he's a bloody nice bloke. But, you don't see that many of his books around, considering how many he's written.

But out here, his books are EVERYWHERE. every bookshop in india and nepal i've been to has at least 3 of his titles in, and normally more than one of each. and most of the books in those shops will have been bought off of tourists second-hand. Maybe he appeals a lot to travellers?

I think I might read one of his books while I'm out here. I nearly bought one called WhiteOut, as I remember reading a positive review of it, and it looks pretty interesting. I have a copy of John Grisham's The Broker to read too, from Joel. so i shall probably do that before i buy anymore books. They are a pain to transport, and i've already got to lug the absurdly impractical and cumbersome Lonley Planet around... you'd think they could print it on rice paper or something like the Bible and the dictionary are... or make a CD-Rom. crazy people. It doesn't suprise me so many people sell them on at the first oppourtunity. It's useful, sure, but so BIG!

Today i bought a gore-tex bivvy bag. cost me 8pounds including a pair of gore-tex fleece-lined gloves. (haggled). in england, those bivvies are like 100 pounds. It's a bit snug in there, but i'm quite snug in a lot of things ;oP it's not the army-issue one, it's a Northface one, but hey. i think that's why it's a bit more snug. if i find a better one i'll trade.

anyways, the power is back now, so i'll sign off and see if there are any good movies on.

Later.

Then there was one...

2006-02-09T17:48:00.000+05:30

Well, Joely left me today for Kathmandu, and he flies from there back to England tomorrow. Today I spent a long time writing some postcards, and also Watched Hollow Man on Star Movies. I think Love Actually is on Tuesday, and DodgeBall is on on the 12th. So with that and my books, i don't really need to leave the hotel. Except to eat and stuff.

I also bought a wrist watch so that i can tell the time now that Joel has left. I did buy a small digital alarm clock, but it got thrown at a brick wall several times as a result of manufacturing defects. Ahem.

Some worker guy at the hotel keeps pestering me to go sight-seeing with him, so i am now entering and leaving in stealth mode.

There was an Awesome storm a little while ago. Cut off the power and everything, there were hail the size of marbles. crazy, but good fun to watch. Luckily, the PC in this cafe has UPS so i could quickly send my emails before i lost them!

other than that, i might go eat soon. so... au revoir for now mon amigoes,
and safe journies Joel!

pictures!

2006-02-08T17:54:00.000+05:30

Well, I'm now uploading pictures from our Trek... The itinerary was thus:
day 1: Pokhara- Tikitunga
day 2: Tikitunga- Ghoripani
day3: Ghoripani- Ghandruk
day 4: Ghandruk- Dhampus
day 5: Dhampus- Pokhara.

Pictures!
1) Phewa Lake, Pokhara
2) Tibetan flags on a bridge. Day1 on the way to lunch.
3) Joel and Kamal at Tikitunga
4) Joel and Kamal on the track
5) mountain spring
6) Annapurna Range, from Poon Hill
7) same
8) the rising sun reflecting on the snow. view as above.
9) Sun rising over the hills, view from Poon Hill
10) rising sun shining on Annapurna hills
11) Joel, Kamal and me by the Poon Hill sign (for proof!)
12) same
13) Fishtail Mountain. Noone has ever survived climbing this peak.
14) mountains from halfway down Poon Hill
15) me, halfway down Poon Hill.
16) a pet deer, Ghoripani. This thing danced a lot, but we caught him when he was still.
17) stairs!
18) Poon Hill, with the tower on top. From a neighbouring hill.
19) Annapurna South (i think).
20) cattle in a stable, on the way back to Pokhara.

TREKKING

2006-02-07T18:20:00.000+05:30

Hello again from Pokhara!

Joel and I just got back from a five day trek in the mountains... or... foothills. By british standards, these are mountains... to locals they are hills. To put it in perspective, the tallest peak in the British Isles is Ben Nevis, which is a measly 1,400 Metres (approx.) The other day, before breakfast, we climbed Poon Hill to watch the sun rise over the Annapurna Himalayan Range. Poon Hill is over 3,200 Metres. an hour up, then half hour down again for breakfast before an 8 hour or so trek to the next village.

Suffice to say, it was painful at times. For me personally, it's one of the hardest things i've done ever. And I know both of us ache a lot now! Joel and our guide, Kamal, walked VERY fast. Joel even carried his own backpack... Kamal carried mine because i'm all weak and stuff.

By day 3 I had to purchase a stick because my back was hurting. We had to climb 3,280 very steep, very uneven, very rocky stairs on day 2 for the first 2 hours of the trek that day, and i was bending over a lot to do it. So now I own a stick, which helps me to stay upright and not strain my back. But it really is a stick, so i won't be taking it home on the plane... I am thinking of buying one of those funky sprung-loaded neo-metalite-alloy thingies before I leave here... will be so much cheaper than at home!

The scenery was stunning, and the whole thing thoroughly worth it. And we met some quality people along the way, which is always a bonus.

Pictures will follow, but for now we must go and tend to our blisters.
peace,
-ash

more pictures: Agra-Pokhara and MAP

2006-02-02T13:19:00.000+05:30

Hi all.
Joel and I are off Trekking tomorrow morning for 5 days, arriving back in Pokhara on the 7th in the evening. We almost certainly won't update in this time.
Here is a map of our destinations so far (click to enlarge):

Here are some pictures:

Agra
1) Monkey on the road from Jaipur-Agra
2) Fathepur Sikri, near Agra
3) The Taj Mahal... this place is truely spectacular... it's huge and so ornate. it's a marvel it was ever made!
4) Taj Mahal with reflection
5) Me, by one of the side gate buildings in the Taj Mahal complex. I'm standing on the first level of the Mosque section.
6) Entrance gateway to Agra Fort.
7) The Taj Mahal, through the lattice windows at Agra Fort

Pokhara
1) the view from the roof of our hotel.
2) same. The snowy peaks are the Annapurna Range, which we will see more clearly whilst trekking.

pictures!

2006-02-01T14:04:00.000+05:30

so many pictures to share, so little webspace. I alone took over 300 pictures since last i uploaded... but fortunately for all you lovely people, I have selected and painstakingly shortlisted some of the bestest and most coolestest ones.

so...

Goa
1) The Holy Grail. It's not Mary Magdeline at all.
2) Goan bread, filled with cheese and the contents of the above.
3) Sam

Delhi
1) The Lotus Temple, of the Ba'hai religion.
2) This plaque explains the next picture.
3) see above.
4) (Mahatma?) Gandhi memorial gardens, Delhi. this guy and others are present in the garden performing a ritual 24-7.
5) A Hindu temple.
6) Two Elephants sharing the love.

Jaipur
1) fort in Jaipur, runs all along the mountains.
2) fort again
3) entrance to fort
4) detail on a wall carving.
5) through the lattice window...
6) spice-wallah
7) building in water...
8) Royal Observatory, this instrument determines time, altitude of heavenly bodies etc. Founded by the first Maharajah of Jaipur, who became a world famous astromomer.
9) me with guy dressed as Maharahah's guard
10) biggest single peice of silver in the world. This was filled with Ganges Water when one of the Mahrahajah's came to England.
11) detail of an entrance way, City Palace, Jaipur
12) Rickshaw
13) Pillar Temple. A hindu Temple to Shiva.
14) goddess Shiva
15) Pillar Temple, front.

more will follow when we're using a better connection.

we made it to the mountains

2006-01-31T12:54:00.000+05:30

Joel: Well, it seems that we have either avoided any confrontation in Nepal or there isn't any at the moment; whatever the case we are now enjoying our third day in Nepal! The mountains look beautiful, its a little cloudy so not a crisp view but we can still just about make them out and they are BIG!

Anyways... i'll jump back to Agra for a quick fill in on events:

We had another long drive from Jaipur to Agra taking about 5hrs but it was fun getting to know our driver Manuel on the way (he wasn't really called Manuel but he reminded us of Manuel from fawlty towers and we couldn't remember his actual name, which we later found out was Nandeep!). Agra is a very busy, cluttered old city with poverty almost everywhere you look, which meant it was a lot more in your face than the other places we have been so far. The Taj was very impressive, if expensive and busy. We stayed there for a while, took loads of pics - what else are you supposed to do?! - and then got bored so we went to the fort. It worth saying that by now we were both pretty shattered from not enough sleep (we have a bad habit of staying up very late and getting up ridiculously early, a major change from Goa!) and also seeing enough sights and old buildings; so by the time we got to fort we were not too impressed pretty bored and very 'straight' with the local touts telling them exactly what to do with their ludicrous offers. I think Ashley got offered 13 chess sets in 30mins and lets just say he didn't hide his disgust from the sellers!

Manuel then took us to a friends Indian restaurant and we ate lots of quality food. Just before this though he had bought a big bottle of old monk's rum, a potently lethal spirit, which we drunk during the meal. It was then we started to question Manuel's motives thinking he was gonna make us pay for his meal, the drink and a lot more things, but the guy is quality and as he downed more shots he became incredibly funny and forgot that we didn't speak hindi. Turns out he even offered to pay for the meal, gave us what was left of the bottle and drove us to the train station getting a porter to haul our luggage everywhere; what a geezer! Suffice to say we tipped as generously as we could afford and waited for the train departure.

Arrived in a generic Indian city and got a taxi to the border, from here we went through very relaxed control points and tried to find a quick route to Pokhara. The local touts tried ripping us off for a taxi equivalent of 50quid so we told them to go away, literally. A nicer Nepali guy then arranged us to go on a local bus tomorrow and shack us up for night. His plans worked a treat and after a 8hour rickety, seriously uncomfortable, yet beautifully scenic journey we reached Pokhara and found our hostel named Noble Inn. It is costing 500NRS a night(4squids) and is pretty luxurious with a great panoramic view.

Well that's pretty much it, beck might post more later with pics, but i have bored you for long enough...credit if you read to the end though! Off to book a four or five day trek and buy stuff for cheap,
Joel and the Beckster

jaipur

2006-01-27T21:22:00.000+05:30

Well hello from Jaipur!
can't say much, as i'm paying 2.6p a minute and i'm almost 2-finger typing because the keyboard is sticking (cheeky sods).

long stpry short, some clever people sold us a tour of the golden trianngle so now we're in a 3 star hotel in Jaipur with a car and driver outside ready to do our bidding.

it's expensive, but hey,... we were done by masters.

tomorrow we go to Agra, and then on to Gorakpur and from there into Nepal via Bahairwa. Nepal is touchy at the moment, so our next internet access may be in weeks. we'll have lots of photos anyway... i'm already low on space. (well... on this card).

i'll make a map up on andy's suggestion when i next get time and access... a lot of these computers just about have MS Paint, so i wo't promise beauty or style.

That'll have to do for now... we're all poor and stuff.

-ash and Joel

Delhi

2006-01-26T12:14:00.000+05:30

Joel and I are in Delhi now, at the Smyle Inn. It's clean, so that's good. The omlette we had for breakfast was... interesting... ;os

Just before leaving Goa, we went to every shop on the town asking if they had any Marmite. and, at the very last shoppe on the edge of the town that we nearly didn't bother asking... we found a tiny wee jar of it! so all is now right in the world.

time is about to run out, so I shall update later.

Bargaining, Pics and Delhi...

2006-01-24T13:14:00.000+05:30

Well... we've encountererd some hard bargainers today! Joel had to sell Dave off because he's just too hard to carry. So, after a musical goodbye fiesta, we reluctantly took him to a music shop. Indians are suddenly very different at bargaining when they are paying you money! after over ten minutes, Joel managed to get 1100 back on it (bought for 3000). oh well, no love lost. Also, it seems noone is prepared to bargain for books around here... only trinkets and clothes etc.

I got a shirt yesterday, and the seller wanted 850Rs. After about 15 minutes of haggleing, we got him down to 400. Dillip, who works at Cozy Nook, said he would have paid 70-80Rs. but then, to them, that's a day and a half's pay. and to me, 400 is half an hour's pay. So you gotta think more about it.

Pictures
click here for some more goa pictures:
1) Sunrise over Palolem, from our boat
2) same
3) sunrise coming over the island, and over the starboard bow.
4) Dolphins ahoy!
5) Dolphins ahoy!!
6) kitten and mum (tiny kitten... those green circles are wine and sprite bottles)
7) kitten
8) doggies- there are dogs everywhere...
9) Cozy Nook's sea-front and bar (with me in).
10) moi
11) Joel
12) Joel (the terminator)
13) our vessel for the day.

Delhi
Joel and I fly to Delhi at 5:50pm local time tomorrow (25th Jan), where we shall spend 3 nights, including one day-trip to Agra, all being well. Staying at Smyle Inn, where they give us 30mins free internet access everyday! woo! but it's probably dial-up or something.

After this we'll start the ball rolling toward Nepal. In the good news front, the King has lifted the day-time curfew and ban on public gatherings. wise political move!

No more blog until thursday in all likelyhood, as we arrive late in Delhi and need to unpack etc.

Peace,
-ash

question

2006-01-23T16:04:00.000+05:30

for everyone who's politically aware, or can be bothered to search...
I'm researching Nepal, and why what is happening is happening. It seems to be a bit of a Spainish Civil War scenario...

there is a leftist government (maxist-lenninist) and a guerilla resistance which cites the government as revisionist for participating in the monachical parliamentary system there. The geurillas (Maoists) have waged the geurilla people's war against the government to return to a 'true democracy'.

add to this the fact that there's a monarch, who is in power because his brother
(or cousin?) killed the rest of the royal family. He sacked the government as corrupt and useless, and assumed executive powers. political leaders are under house-arrest. But there is an election for a new parliament on the 8th of February, which the Maoists don't want because they don't think it's right to have a 'autocratic pseudo-democracy'.

and a bunch of moderate leftists (who liked the old marxist-leninist government?) want to hold pro-democracy protests because of the current autocracy, but the king doesn't like it and has slapped on day-time curfews to stop it happening.

am I right on this? does anyone know anymore? this is what i can deduce from wikipedia, the CIA World Factbook and South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Whats been going down at the beach...

2006-01-23T16:00:00.000+05:30

Joel: Time to post again... well, yesterday was another chilled out day envolving very little other than reading and cathcing some sun. However, things changed when we were walking toward our hut and got a surprise. Turns out the scottish couple who we shared a booth on the train with down from Bombay have come to Palolem Beach, and they have the hut directly next to us! click here for their webby . Although we had recommended it to them we didn't know whether and when they would come, so it was a good surprise to see them relaxing on the porch. Had a bite to eat with them and caught up on events of the past few days so was good.

Today, me and beck went for a meander down the beach and across to another set of
bays/beaches which was a bit of an adventure. Found out that locals really do inhabit Goa, it isn't all european tourists at the beaches, and some of the beaches are in fact rather empty! Also found a cool shack down the beach with a mega collection of music that can be burnt on cd or mp3 player for cheap, so needless to say we made use of that. Also spotted a place selling mexican which would cure our cravings for fajita's which is top notch as we were overly fancying a change from seafood and curry!

We have also been chatting a bit between ourselves and with someother travelers we met at the bar the last few days about the barney in Nepal and how it will affect travel. But, after chatting it through and contacting people who we know who live there, we think it shouldn't be too bad at all and apart from it being awkward in terms of transport and night curfews we should get by just fine - no need to change travel plans and tickets after all.

Thats good for now will post laters again.

lobsters suck and dolphins rule.

2006-01-22T13:01:00.000+05:30

well... Joel and I went for Lobster last night. What a completely overrated crustacean it is. it wasn't even pleasant, it was just a vaguely edible mass of white crap inside a supremely armoured carriage unit. Don't eat lobster. It's not worth the effort, let alone the price!

We paid 850 Rupees each for it, down from 900 after threatening to have prawns instead. should have gone with that!

so that was a waste. On to better things.

This morning, we had to get up at 6:30 to be ready for a boat trip at 7. Regrettably, the crows decided to wake us up about 6. anyone who has any ideas on ways to destroy all the world's crows should email me for a research grant.

The boat is an interesting little craft... it is wooden and looks handmade. The peices of wood are held together with lashing rather than nails, then it has been caulked. it also has this catamaran-style outrigger on one side, which is made out of a few logs. I think this is because it has an engine on. It's odd to see these little boats with ultra-modern enguines on them! the outrigger sort of stabilises it at high speeds... it's canoe-like structure would otherwise work to its detrament.

we saw the sun rise, which we would not have been able to see from the land properly. And then we saw.... DOLPHINS! :o) we even managed to take a few photos that sort of have fin in them.

they are very beautiful creatures... there are 4 wild here. we didn't see them tooo close up.

We also saw Butterfly Beach, which is, according to Lonely Planet 'only reachable by boat' but, according to some guy we met, is actually 'just an hour's climb over the rockface away'. crazy.

We've been looking into Nepal... looks a bit hairy out there at the moment. Need to do some more research, so adios!

photos will follow, when all technology is behaving.

haggleing

2006-01-21T14:45:00.000+05:30

Dolphins tomorrow now, hopefully! we've been telling Dillip 'the day after tomorrow' for about a week... but luckily he doesn't seem to care much!

Yesterday I bought some spices, and Joel seemed thoroughly unimpressed when the spicewallah was waving spoons of stuff under his nose... he he. I bought some dried ginger root and dried aniseed flowers. yum. Managed to get them at a semi-reasonable price too, after pretending I knew what I was on about.

The Art of Haggleing...
Because Palolem is a traveller-haven, the local market people know we can afford more than locals. So they will always ask for at least double what something is worth. sometimes 3 or 4 times more. we then have to haggle them down, which is not very British and really rather daunting... especially if you don't know what something should cost!

but compare the rupee to pounds constantly in your head, and just think how much you want to pay, and don't let them bump you up too much on it... start by offering them something that isn't fair, and let them take you up to a good price instead. We're very much learning in the deep end... I don't think either of us have been to many car boot sales and had to bargain!

But we know now that a litre of water shouldn't cost more than Rs15. and so on... and you need to know where to haggle and where not to. confusing. By the end of all this we'll probably be bartering with the checkoutwallahs at Asda and trying to get a 'good price' for bananas...

We're managing to spend under a tenner each per day here at the moment. accommodation is Rs 250 a night (3.20 GBP) i had 3 toasted goan breads for breakfast at Rs 30 (38p) and joel had scrambled eggs and goan bread at Rs50 (64p). 6 bananas cost us Rs 10 (13p) and a pineapple cost us Rs 25 (32p) and that was over-priced. Dinner is usually Rs 80- 200, depending where and what we eat.

you don't haggle in resteraunts.

internet is Rs 50 an hour. In Mumbai it was Rs 20, but the computers here work and there is air-con (so we hide here when its' hot).

20/01/2006

2006-01-20T14:18:00.000+05:30

feeling a bit better today. Antibitotics must be working their magic! thank God for fruit mould. or something.

Had a cheese, onion and tomato omlette for lunch. Was lovely! they served it with Goan Bread, which is just the best bread ever. it's like a cross between crumpets and muffins. The place where we stay makes cheese tomato and onion toasties with it... they are so addictive!

Had steak last night... was vile. was definately cow... but erughh. didn't help that I was ill. probably the least i've eaten ever in a 24hour period where i wasn't fasting. crazy. had lots of water tho, and 'lemon soda' which is good.

going on a hunt for bananas later... haven't had fruit since Mumbai... vittle-tabs don't really equate.

haven't had much curry. When we were on the connecting flight, they gave us this dried out pseudo-food crud that resembled curry. and then on the train down here, they bought us a curry while we were asleep... waking up with curry under yer nose makes you feel a bit queasy... so i've formed a negative association in my head i think. prawn curry tonight.

More pics too for all our lovely people... it is possibly fair to say we have a sunset obsession... clickety click, 66.

1) sunset behind a rock
2) small ghekko type critter that Joel found above the light on our porch.
3) the light on our porch
4)-end sunsets. we walked round the side of the island to watch the sunset with the hippies. is very cool... i took a million pictures, but i've limited the upload :o)

hopefully off to see dolphins in the morning. hopefully.

dheli belly 2: the revenge.

2006-01-19T12:05:00.000+05:30

well, spoke too soon on the Dheli Belly front. After giving me a day off, it returned with a vengance. Have just got back from the Chemist, where I got some antibiotics. should be on the mend within a week :oS unfortunately, I'll have to leave all the boozing to Joel for now, as alcohol and drugs don't mix (remember kids!).

the hassel now is to stay hydrated. Need to drink 6 litres a day of water, mixed with rehydration mixture. Unfortunately, I'm not sure we have enough of the (disgusting salty) muck, so I'll have to start improvising with table salt and a bunch of other chemicles that i can buy more locally. (chemist is about 3KM away).

so... When I'm weller, we shall be taking a boat out to see dolphins, which will be kool. for now, I need to stay near the camp. the bathrooms don't have water between 1pm and 5pm for some crazy reason. pleasant.

will maybe get more photos when we go see dolphins.

until then, Adios!

and, here's a should out to Baz :oP

Dave

2006-01-17T15:26:00.000+05:30

Yesterday we picked up a third member of the travelling team.... Dave!

Yeah after over a week without playing a guitar and getting itchy fingers, i decided to buy one from the local music seller guy. I got him down Rs1500 from 4500 to 3000 which involved me spending 30mins bartering and nearly walking out but, in the end we struck a deal and i now have 'dave' (beck's choice of name haha!). My plan is to teach beck how to play more chords and stuff and then after a week sell it before we head north for a nice sum.

The guitar itself isnt great but for 35GBP (and a free case inc.), whose complaining. Last night we saw the sun go down to the tune of Bob the legend Marley's 'Redemption Song.' Already justifying the purchase.

Dheli Belly and pictures (not of dheli belly)

2006-01-17T15:08:00.000+05:30

well, touch wood, I seem to be a bit better. Which means I can sit in the internet cafe for long enough to sort out all the pictures and upload them. We still haven't found a way to do Joel's photos tho... his camera can't shrink them, and the cybercafes have only got MS Paint. And uploading pictures that are over 1MB each would quite probably kill the Indian grid for a few years, so it's just not polite. (this is why my pictures are all so annoyingly small... I have the big versions still, so I can play with those when I go home).

Anyways, some more pictures for you all to enjoy, including one with me in it :oS clickety click.

in order of appearance:
1) a small crustacion.
2) sunset
3)beach huts
4) sunset again
5) joel being a rapper fo shiz
6) ripply sandy sunsety thingy
7) ripply watery sandiness.
8) sunset again (they just get better)
9) the lagoon- view from our porch. it empties with the tides. behind it is a jungle.
10) a crow. Him and his pals are the banes of our sleep. dang crows.
11) cows.
12) Joel playing with Dave.
13) Me playing with Dave.
14) local moggy.
15) Joel mercilessly refusing to share his tuna with local moggy.

Palolem Beach

2006-01-16T16:20:00.000+05:30

Joel: Well due to beck telling me it is def my time to post about India here goes...

Palolem beach is a great place, definitely preferable to Anjua (the toilet doesn't reek to high heaven for a start)! Not only is Palolem chilled and very relaxed but it's cheap, beautiful and the locals and tourists are all very friendly. The place we are staying in, 'Cozy Nook' certainly is its names sake and we have rented a small little beach hut looking over a lagoon which is cool. Out front as part of the 'Nook' there is a bar & restaurant area that has top quality food - both Indian and seafood, but also a cheese toasty that was most welcome after a week without cheese or proper bread (Naan bread doesn't really count, does it!). This has been our local for the last couple of days during this time we have got to know the waiter, Sam, a picture will follow before we leave. He is a good guy working ludicrous hours (8am-12pm getting a hr break for sleep at midday) and he earns peanuts as well. Still, he is very cheerful and given us a lot of local tips which is awesome.

We will be posting pics tomorrow which will include the notoriously hard to photograph ashley and other things. Ashley hasn't felt quite 100% last night and today, so hopefully that will change soon - poor bloke.

Check back laters, Joel

more pictures from mumbai, and some from Goa.

2006-01-15T17:11:00.000+05:30

hey all,
some more pictures here, cunningly organised into place-name directories for easy surfing. :oP

first, the rest from Mumbai: here.
The first two are where the Bodhiwallahs (washing men) wash the laundry.
The third is Mumbai through the smog from the Hangng Gardens.
fouth is a Snake Charmer... I have a short video clip of him saved somewhere, but i won't be uploading that until i come home to faster speeds!
fifth is a ghecko in the wall...
next two are pictures from Ghandi's house in Mumbai, which is currently being rennovated and made into a museum. He had so many books!
next is the Gateway, where we were accosted by a plethora of beggers :sand lastly there is a picture of our room at Hotel Anakool.

Goa- Palolem Beach
The star outside our hut has a lightbulb inside. very cool.
An Island only accessible at low tide. We got there just after the sunset, due to blogging.
messing about with camera settings and candles for the next 2...
palm trees by night
joel by night
joel by candle
palm trees by day
the beaches!

Arrival in Goa..

2006-01-14T16:55:00.000+05:30

After a VERY long train journey: 12 hours to be exact, Joel and I are in Goa.

We were in class AC2, which is air conditioned 2-tier sleeper. so there are 2 bunks, in cubicles of 4. The people opposite us were a Scottish couple heading to somewhere a little more upmarket than us. Very nice people though, which made the journey more interesting. We aslo spent a lot of the journey asleep (8 hours in my case, about 4 for joel). I shall post a link to Chris and Louise's (our carriage buddies) blog when i remember to bring the peice of paper to the cyber cafe (can't to accents on these keyboards... hmm) with me.

We almost missed our stop, Thivin, but Chris noticed it was ours just in time (thanks chris!) and after jumping off a train that was in motion, we arrived in Goa.

Got a cab down to Anjuna, and managed to find a room. It was an absolute hole of a place, but cheap and availible for the night. We slept well, trying not to think of when the sheets had last been washed and very glad to have brought sleepsacks and mozzy nets! Bailed at 8am without saying goodbye. Anjuna isn't really our scene... too many junkies and a party scene that is a little too hardcore.

So now we're down in Palolem, following a few bus journies. Everything you've heard about Indian buses is true, except the part about them sitting on the roof. but it's all experience.

we're now in a quaint little beach-hut affair in the north of Palolem beach, south goa. (the "shift" key here is semi-broken). it is a shack on short stilts, essentially, but is clean and in a more friendly and hygenic locale. Joel has photos...

I'll have to get him to post soon.

for now, Adios ma amigos!

peace,
-ash

pictures...

2006-01-12T17:33:00.000+05:30

our first batch of pictures from Mumbai can now be viewed here.

PS

2006-01-11T21:26:00.000+05:30

PS: if any of you techies out there know why this page doesn't display properly in IE, please let me know.... the sidebar shouldn't be at the bottom... and isn't on firefox.
ta.

Mumbai

2006-01-11T21:10:00.000+05:30

hi world. Joel and I arrived in Mumbai yesterday evening. We settled into our hostel, then went to bed about 9pm. We slept most of today, mostly due to not being able to sleep on the plane journeys.

Today we went down to Chowpatty beach and sampled the local speciality dish 'Bhel Puhri' which was very good. Was kinda like rice crispies with dried noodley bits and spices. All good.

We also booked our trains down to Goa for Friday morning about 6am! found a 'nice english lady'. She helped us book the trains etc. but her special price stings a little. but only a little thankfully.

Pictures will follow. This internet cafe seems to have disabled USB from recognising my camera and usb stick... plus it's windows 98 at best. (if anyone knows the DOS syntaxt to activate them, let me know).

more to follow, probably from Goa.

peace.

T-minus 27 hours

2006-01-09T00:55:00.000+05:30

Well, Joel and I fly off tomorrow at 10pm UK time. We then have a 6 hour and a 3 and a half hour flight ahead of us, plus 4 hours in Bahrain, before landing in Mumbai. So the next post I make will likely be on Wednesday, from India.

I've been backing up my computer files all day, along with setting up the final bits of the web infrastructure, noting down important numbers etc. All of which is frightfully good fun, as I'm sure you can imagine. But it shall be worth it.

Am quite excited now... I don't imagine I'll sleep well for a few nights. Am also slightly concerned... I feel like a child at Christmas... excited that i might get a bike, but also concerned that I will be getting a sack of coal for being naughty.

This place here, for those not fluent in Nerdish, is a blog. This is Nerdish for Web-log: a log on the web or online journal. web log -> web-log -> weblog -> blog. It's like linguistic evolution for cyber people. It allows me to update by filling in an easy peasy form and not write a bunch of code every time i want to talk about the weather.

Over there -> in the sidebar, is a thing that says "syndicate" and an orange blob saying "XML". if you have an RSS news reader, you can add our atom feed. If you don't have one, you can't. What it does is check all the blogs in your list for you, so you don't need to go to them to see if they have updated. If this doesn't mean anything to you, then you are normal.

You can leave comments on all our posts by clicking the thing at the bottom that says "comments". you don't need to log in, you can post anonymously. But, if you do this, please tell us who you are (and if you have a name that lots of people have, surnames too). Then we can have conversations and stuff. Magic.

All is left to do now is to say hello to you internet-folk, and adios to you who exist in the physical UK world...

Today: finish backing up files, start packing, sleep.
Tomorrow: photocopy documents, finish packing, get haircut (nothing drastic), fly.

Stay tuned, add us to your RSS, and click some links. Peace.

First Post [Ever!] and Visa's

2006-01-05T00:48:00.000+05:30

Well this is my [Joel's] first post on this, or any blog-web-thingy for that matter, but thought I would do some updating so as Ashley doesn't feel he is doing it all. Today we both took a trip into London to sort out Visa's and, rather surprisingly, it all went swimmingly so it would seem our adventure is getting off to a good start!

Prior to going to the Indian and Nepalese embassies, we had read in a generic travel guide [Lonely Planet] that a return ticket is required as evidence that tourists are indeed tourists and they do not intend to stay in the country permanently. However, Ashley only holds an inward ticket so did not [by Lonely Planet's counsel] meet the requirements for a Visa. But, after a far too early start, a short queue to acquire a ticket number for the application process, a coffee break and then finally an hour and a half of squashing into a packed Visa office with hundreds of other wannabe Indian Visa Holders, we found out that this was, in fact, not a problem at all. By now 11.30 was already approaching and that only left us half an hour to reach the Nepal Embassy before their closing time.

Having no London AtoZ, and not remembering the location of this Embassy other than that it was somewhere near Notting Hill Gate tube station this was going to be a tall order. Nevertheless, after a nifty bit of circumnavigation around the Circle Line we managed to use our predatory insticts to direct ourselves to the Embassy with only 2mins to spare. Awesome.

Now all that is left is to pick up our passport with fresh visa stamps for India and Nepal on Thursday and we are all set!
Tickets, Check.
Insurance, Check.
Equipment, Check.
Visa, Check.
Money, Check.
accommodation at a superbly named Anukool hotel including airport pick-up, Check.
We are now completely set to Goa to India. hehe

As a quick note I did a quick practice pack and i am weigh [couldn't resist] under the 23Kg's allowance with more clothes than i am actually gonna need so it bodes well for my back.

Tickets

2005-12-14T22:59:00.000+05:30

Joel and I have finally bought plane tickets. We leave on the 9th January.

Ads for Travel

2005-11-29T00:04:00.000+05:30

Having realised how expensive it is to travel, I've decided to try and make money by using this blog. Considering I was going to keep a travelogue for all my family and friends here anyway, so I figured that I'd add a few advertisements.

I'm not sure if they all work yet, but the google ads, if you click them, should pay me a tiny amount. The other ones will pay me money if you buy from their websites after clicking there from here. So if you want glasses, contact lenses, spectacles or travel gear, outdoor gear etc. click on the links to the side, and buy :o)

Any money I earn from this venture will be credited to my bank account at HSBC, and allow me to travel the world (or india) for a little longer, and to have more adventures.

also, I'm using words I think might bring up more links, as a test.

spend spend spend :oS

2005-11-26T01:14:00.000+05:30

currently been engaged in procuring all i will need for my travels. I'm determined not to spend a fortune on the whole thing... i want my money to last me a long time, I don't want to spend it all in a week!

To travel, even on a budget, you need some gear, some of which costs. I need a mosquito net, but I am borrowing one. I probably don't need a sleeping bag, but i have one because i go camping in england. it's small, so if i decide to take it i can. I need lots of small things that get expensive. Repellant. water-purification tablets. first-aid stuff. special soaps for people who have bad washing facilities. soap to wash my clothes. a sink plug. a mug that won't smash. mess tins. something to hold water so i can wash clothes. sleepsack. good walking boots. new sandals... my old ones have served me well, but they aren't up to extended use anymore. clothes that are more hard-wearing than what i wear domestically, but are just as comfortable and not too expensive. basically, everything you need for day-to-day living, but smaller, lighter and less fragile. any liquids need to be re-bottled in bottles with screw-on lids. everything needs zip-lock bags. map. guide book. some way to hide money. small padlocks. bigger padlocks. wooden spoon, fish-slice and cooking knife: these i bought very cheap from a supermarket and modified.

lots of things, and it's getting expensive. I've been procuring things since July when I got my backpack and a few other things i needed to go camping at a festival (stove etc.). but a lot of the things i need for english camping, i don't need to back-packing and hosteling. I don't need my coleman stove. I don't need a sleeping bag necessarily. I certainly don't need a tent or rollmat. and these take up a lot of space, with clothes.

I need to learn to live with only a couple sets of clothes. minimal. light. i need to get my stuff on aeroplanes without paying extra. i need to not be carrying twenty suitcases. just a backpack and a daypack. so i have to spend more on some things than I would like. well, maybe some of the things i need will come for Christmas.

here's my question for now: do i need a travel pillow?

Credit Cards 2

2005-11-08T23:40:00.000+05:30

I now have a Credit card, with £800 credit. It does, unfortunately, charge to use abroad, but so does my debit card. But I have one now, so all is well.

Injections and Passport

2005-11-06T21:55:00.000+05:30

I have my new passport through a week or so ago. My old one had run out... they only give you a 5 year one when you are young because your face changes too much (sensible in my view). Luckily, i won't have to have additional biometrics on this, only the photo and machine-readable. My retinas: independant of government control until 2015!

I've also got an appointment to see a nurse on the 24th November to get all the vaccinations i need for India/ Nepal. May cost quite a bit, as not all of them are availible free on the NHS.

am awaiting a decision from the bank following a complaint to head office.

am searching for travel insurance. Noone will cover me for "loss pertaining to nuclear war" or if i join a revolution. he he. ok, i'm kidding, i'm just looking for cheap ones.

I have modified my backpack, so now it can be locked up.

that's all for now.

credit cards

2005-10-28T21:42:00.000+05:30

The main problem for me now is finding a bank that will give me a credit card. I need a Visa card to travel, I think. Maestro is good, but not as availible as visa. My bank won't give me one because they are muppets. If anyone knows where I am likely to be able to get one, please leave a comment. Maybe a visa debit card could work... I'll talk to the banker.

Welcome...

2005-10-22T19:04:00.000+05:30

Welcome! If you've reached here from another of my blogs, you don't need introductions. If you haven't, I'm Ash, I'm 18 and I'm "between education".

This space will become my travelogue- that is, an illustrated lecture about my travel experiences. Until I depart next year, I shall use it to document some of the pre-travel technicalities I experience on the way.

There is a very loose plan so far. I know I want to leave somewhere in late January 2006. I know I want to go to India and Nepal. Other than that, it's a mystery. Allow me to explain...

Over the last year, my travel plans have morphed a lot. At first, they included too many destinations for my budget, and I would be rushing through places, not learning. So I changed. I narrowed the sights on India, Nepal and the USA. I wanted to visit the USA because I have friends and a relative there. I have always been fascinated by India... A land where spirituality seems much more open than here in the western world. A land of colour, texture and flavour. And I want to go to Nepal, with the aim of heading northward toward the Himalaya.

There are two types of place I am always drawn to: Mountains and Sea. I always liked water. I liked to swim, I liked to sail. The sea always appeals to me, and I always find myself heading for it. I like mountains too. They call out to me. I like to walk about... I grew up in a home without a car, so mostly we walked places when I was small. Walking is about the only form of exercise I can readily enjoy, along with swimming. Hill-walking seems like a good idea.

My sights are no longer firmly set on the USA. This is mainly down to too many visa technicalities. Being a British citizen, I should be able to travel on the Visa Waiver Programme. But, being unplanned about this means I don't have a return ticket. So I can't prove I'm not trying to illegally immigrate, and so I must have a visa. And, long story short, they are expensive, time-consuming and not worth the effort.

If I can find a way in on he VWP, I'll take it. If not, who knows where I'll end up?