Why when I went to buy an outfit for the desert did I end up looking like I was going to a fancy dress party as a pirate?

India; One of the worlds busiest and dirtiest countries is a treat to travel around. The cities are buzzing, the landscapes are attractive and the history is awe-inspiring. However after two weeks I was ready to leave. This is partially due to the fact that I was beginning to grow tired of the constant hassle that comes with travel in India and partially because I was so looking forward to the next segment of my trip.

Following my departure from the blue city of Jodhpur where I wrote my last blog entry I arrived in the desert oasis town of Jaisalmer. A stunning town built entirely from sandstone and rising majestically from the desert. After a day looking around the town and its fort I decided that I wanted a slightly more in-depth desert experience than peering at the desert from the balcony of my hotel. So I booked myself onto a desert safari and took off into the desert for a couple of days riding a camel. This was probably the best part of my time in India. I had chai with desert-dwellers, roamed dune seas, slept in the desert under the stars and learnt how to ride a camel, all whilst dressed as a pirate. This was not intentional. My guide instructed me to purchase some light clothes in town before I left to wear in the desert, but for some reason my well thought out purchases (amounting to around 2 pounds for a shirt, trousers and a head-scarf came together to make me look like I was auditioning for a part in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie (I do think this was largely down to the fact that I did not know how to tie the headscarf properly so ended up wearing it as a bandanna). However after 1 and a half days in the desert my groin was very happy that the trek had come to an end. Any longer and a don't think i would have sat down properly for a week.

My next stop was Agra and using the ever efficient Indian train network I arrived after 36 hours and a brief stop in Delhi I arrived. Agra itself is a fairly unattractive and unspectacular city that would see few tourists if it wasn't the home of India's best known monument, the Taj Mahal. The Taj itself does not disappoint, but the town offers little else to do or see, so I jumped on a train to my last stop in India, Varanasi.

Varanasi is the city the most spiritual city in Hinduism. For a Hindu to break free of the cycle of life-and-death he must die in Varanasi and have his body deposited in the Ganges river (either thrown in with weights or as ash). It is deeply spiritual and horrendously dirty. How Indian people can bathe in it I do not know. Aside from the dead bodies floating in the river, hundreds or bodies are burnt every day on the banks, animals are washed in the waters and the sewage of approximately 1 million people pumps into this river, yet people are still happy to bathe and wash their clothes in it. Needless to say I steered clear of taking a dip, and following a day where I took a boat ride and wandered the maze that is the ghats of Varanasi I decided to make haste and take the journey up to Nepal. I was surprised myself how quickly I completed my itinerary in India. I had thought that I would spend at least 3 weeks traveling around India if not a month. However in 2 weeks I had done everything i wanted to do and left the country feeling satisfied. The speed with which this was achieved was in part down to my exuberance and partly due to the fact that whilst India was a fascinating country to experience, I never felt comfortable. whether it was the over-persistent touts of Jaisalmer and Agra, or the swarms of locusts in Varanasi. I never once lingered in a place longer than it took me to take in the sights and spent most my nights not in hotels, but taking night trains.

Anyway, now I am in Pokhora in Nepal where I hope to hike in the Himalayas, go paragliding and relax in the cool mountain air. I will update you all soon.

Phil

India: Dirty, noisy, hectic... and I love it!

Hello all

Welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am writing this post from an internet cafe in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The city itself is stunning, especially when viewed from it's central attraction; the enormous hill fort of Jodhpur. The fort itself rises above the city, perched atop cliffs, with the only route up being a steep hill climb on the east side of the fort. It is not surprising to discover that despite numerous attempts the walls of the fort were never breached. However despite the beauty of the imperious red sandstone fort itself, rising from the relatively unattractive desert scrub landscape of Eastern Rajasthan; the true beauty of this bastion is the views it offers of the surrounding city. The vast majority of the houses are painted blue, which contrasts beautifully with the landscape. However the city is not just appealing to look at from above; walking through the labyrinth of streets you encounter many of the sights, sounds and aromas (admittedly not all pleasant) of a living Indian city. Be it strolling through a bazaar, down a back alley, or weaving your way through a herd of cows that has decided to take up residence on a main street for the afternoon. One of the most unusual features about India is the presence of stray cows throughout cities. Apparently they cannot be forcibly moved for religious reasons (basically, cows are like Jesus), so instead they are often found in shops or blocking roads. A group of builders on a building site near where I am staying in the city were greatly frustrated this morning to discover that a cow had decided to use the site as a resting place, forcing the builders to have to abandon work until it moved from the only working entrance to the site.

However, I have only actually been in Jodhpur for a couple of days, my first stop was Mumbai. Mumbai was a very interesting city. The city is vast and home to millions of people, the majority living in abject poverty. However the centre of the city where I was based looks more like the centre of Manchester than the rest of India. The buildings are largely in the Georgian or Victorian style o British architecture and line broad, clean streets. This is because Mumbai was the main port used by the British to ship goods from India (one of the main monuments in Mumbai is a giant arch on the seafront known as teh 'Gateway to India') and as such was subject to great development by the British in the 19th century. This results in Mumbai now being India's most cosmoplitan city. It is the home of Bollywood and by Indian standards, a vibrant bar scene. However, this is nor what I came to India to see. and it lacks the charm of the other cities I have visited.

My other stop before Jodhpur was the city of Udaipur. It is a beautiful town built upon a lake in Southern Rajasthan and is full of temples and palaces. However the defining image of the town is the spectacular Lake Palace. Built in the centre of the lake, it rises from the water in bright white marble which reflects of the lake to create a stunning mirror image. It's beauty has not gone unnoticed and the town and palace was used as a location in the James Bond film Octopussy.

Anyway I best be off. Ronight I am taking an overnight train to Jaisalmer, a desert oasis town in Eastern Rajasthan. I will speak to you all soon.

Phil

Goodbye 'paradise'. Hello 'chaos'

Hello everyone.

Anyone that has read the last few installments of my blog may have noticed a running theme. Basically that I have been sitting around on an island doing not a lot apart from sunbathe and drink beer. This is because in the last month, to be honest I have done not a lot other than sunbathe and drink beer. At least by my standards. I mean i've got my advanced scuba licence, i've hiked through the Malaysian rainforest, i've partied at the full moon party and explored the Islamic architecture in Kuala Lumpur. However if I look back through my trip then by comparison I have had a very lazy month. However I think it was necessary.

Now I know this may sound ridiculous to those of you that hold down full time jobs, but traveling constantly is tiring. And after 9 months where i stopped in 3 places for more than 4 days and 1 place for more than a week, I was very tired. I need a holiday from my holiday so to speak. In actual fact, when I wrote my last post I was more than ready to leave behind my life of rest and get back to some 'proper traveling'. I asked in my last post if you could tire of paradise. And the answer is ultimately yes. Or at least for me it is yes. The only reason that I have spent the last week on another 'paradise' island off the Malaysian coast was because one of best friends, Keval, happened to be there. I enjoyed the week greatly, but more for the company than for the location. This is not because it was not beautiful, it was (see above). We were staying on the stunning Pulau Tioman, but unlike my companions, I was not blown away. Possibly because for me it was more of the same, possibly because I am a traveler at heart and am not content when i am not moving around at light speed exploring.

We shall see. Tomorrow I fly to India and according to friends and other travelers I have met on the way, this is set to be one of the most chaotic legs of a trip that has already had a fair amount of chaos. And I welcome it. I miss South and Central America. South-East Asia is too easy, it lacks edge. I am now entering the final leg of my year away, albeit a long one. I will be traveling overland from Mumbai to St Petersberg, via Katmandu, Shanghai, Beijing, and Mongolia.
If I want to get back to real traveling, I may as well jump in at the deep end.

Maybe chaos is my paradise?

Speak to you all soon

Phil