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

Can you get tired of paradise?

Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I apologise for the delay since my last installment, but despite a brief period of time in Kuala Lumpur to submit my request for an Indian Visa I have spent all my time on islands off of the east coast of Malaysia and Thailand. This has been great, but unfortunately internet access is expensive and unreliable, so I have not had the chance to update my blog. Even for this update I have had to steal a photo off the computer as it would not upload any of mine (hence why it is fairly rubish). but it should give you an idea of what the place I am staying looks like as it was taken here. I am currently in Pulau Perentian off the East coast of Malaysia. I should be here till Friday, and then I am heading down to the Malay rainforest at Taman Negara.

As I have said I have effectively spent my last 3 weeks on Thai and Malaysian islands. First stop was Ko Phangnan where I stopped for around a week, chilling out on the perfect Haad Yuan, a beach only accessible by boat, with no road connections. This meant that I had a beautifully undeveloped beach to chill out on in the day, before taking in the nightlife just a short boat ride away on Haad Rin. This nightlife included the infamous Full Moon Party, which was a great night of fun and excesive drinking, as were the previous few nights.

Next stop was just a short boat journeyh from Ko Phangnan to Ko Tao, the diving capital of Thailand. Here I spent a few days diving in the beautifully clear water of the Thai islands. I also had a chance to get my advanced diving licence, getting to do some deep dives and a night dive. The night dive was a fairly stange experience, but great fun and very interesting, geting to see fish sleep.

I then headed onto Malaysia, firstly to Kuala Lumpur and then onto the Perentian Islands. However I will have to cut this installment short as the islands electricity has gone out and the generator will only run the internet for a few minutes, so the computers are being turned off.

I will speak to you all soon

Phil

A bit or a rant

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am back in Thailand having spent the last couple of weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe on Haad Yuan a perfect beach on the east coast of Ko Phangan. I stayed here four years ago when I was in Thailand and had an amazing time, and I am glad to say that little has changed. There are no roads to the rest of the island as the beach is surrounded by mountains and the only way to get to the beach is by boat. It is also perfectly located as it is only a 5 minute boat ride from Haad Rin, the beach at the core of the island's famous 'Full Moon Party' which I will be attending later in the week. But until then I will just have to relax on the beach, or enjoy the view from the balcony of my 3 pound a night beach hut.

I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks and will be nice to relax on the beach for a bit. Since my last post I have spent the majority of my time travelling through Vietnam. Vietnam was an interesting country to visit; at times fascinating, but more often than not frustrating. Before Vietnam there had not been a country on this trip that I had disliked. I had bad experiences in Venezuela, but I enjoyed my time in the little fishing village of Santa Fe and in the South of the country. However I disliked Vietnam. It is not the setting, the limestone cliffs of Halong Bay are beautiful, the colonial town of Hoi An has some attractive architecture and beers are 10p at the 'Bia Hoi's' in the frantic cities of Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). But the thing that ultimately led to my dislike for Vietnam was the people.

Travelling around Vietnam you are constantly confronted by the image of 'Uncle Ho'. There is a picture of him in every house and shop, there are bill boards up throughout the cities and countryside and he's on the currency. In many ways then it is a pity that his influence is little felt. Don't get me wrong, i'm no Marxist, however I find it somewhat ironic that the country that fought and won one of the most iconic wars of the 20th century in a bid to be free from capitalism (and thus greed) by installing a communist government is the home of by far the greediest, selfish people I have ever encountered. Admitedly the country is no longer communist, but the lasting effects are felt, and it seems that 'equality' leads to greed. Everyone is trying to sell you something, and will follow you pestering you until you purchase it. The Vietnamese also expect you to pay 10 times what the locals pay, and when you refuse they become insulted 'because you can afford it'. One taxi driver decidded to change the price of my taxi from the original 10 dollars he quoted from the airport to 100 dollars. This came at a point when I was already frustrated with Vietnam, so I just got out of the car and walked off. The guy got out of his car to try and stop me, but being from Vietnam his diminutive stature was not particularly intimidating (he was about 5 foot tall) and his push was 'the straw that broke the camels back' so to speak, which resulted in me throwing him to the ground and him retreating back to his taxi. So I guess I got a free taxi out of it. My Australian hostel owner even gave me a free beer when I told him telling me I did the right thing as he'll think twice next time.

My theory about what causes this attitude towards foreigners from the Vietnamese is a feeling in the country that we should make up for past injustices. Seeing a 'documentary' on the Vietnam war whilst visiting the Vietcong tunnels was frankly hilarious. The best way I can sum it up is to compare it to the scene in Team America where the Film Actors Guild (FAG) are talking about Iraq before America: 'Iraq was a happy place before the Americans arrived where the children danced under rainbows with their gumdrop smiles'. They then go on to talk about how disgusting the weapomry used by the US was before glorifying their own weapons which are nearly equally as bad. Sorry about that, i'll end my rant there.

Fortunately Cambodia was a far more enjoyable experience. The people were friendly, not overly pushy and talked to you with a smile on their face. The ruins at Ankor What were aslo one of the most spectacular archeological sites Ihave seen on this trip (no mean feat).

Anyway I best be off, as I have some relaxing to do.

I will speak to you all soon, hopefully reporting more enjoyable experiences.

Phil

Why do lots of women in Bangkok have adams apples?

Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am currently writing to you from Luang Prabang in Northern Laos, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful towns in the entire of South-East Asia.

The town sitting in the forest covered mountains of Northern Laos and lieing on the Mekong river, the natural setting is undoubtedly stunning. However it is not just the natural setting, the town is a French colonial jewel, and the town blends perfectly it's natural beauty and it's buddhist and French architecture.

However it is not just Luang Prabang in Laos that is beautiful. I have been generally impressed with this stunning country, which is a pleasant change from the hectic lifestyle of Japan and Thailand. Laos is how I imagine Thailand was 30 years ago, before all the development began. In Laos there is a feeling of true South-East Asian culture that is lacking in the tourist fronts that exist in Thailand.

This is not to say that I disliked Thailand, in fact my time in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) was very enjoyable, but it is a different kind of fun. In Laos I am enjoying the culture, in Thailand I loved the nightlife. Whether in Chiang Mai, or Bangkok I rarely got it before sunrise and I doubt this will change when i return to Thailand in a few weeks for the Full Moon Party.

However I best go as I am heading out to try some of the spectacular Laon (I think that's right) cuisine. Tomorrow I head into Vietnamwhere I will spend a couple of weeks before heading into Cambodia.

I will speak to you all soon.

Phil