The Wobble

150 years before ayuthaya became the capital of Siam/Thailand, sukhothai was the centre of the thai civilization. Again the bloody Burmese and their conquering dispositions put paid to the town forcing the thais to move further south. I figured it was definitely worth a shout on the way up to chiang mai. 60 miles to the east of sukhothai is the city of Phitsanulok which given that it is on the main bangkok to chiang mai rail and roadway made it the ideal place to base my visit to the old city.

The train ride from the south took 6 hours. It was a day train to the seats were laid out with their backs to the window, the carriage was pretty full and I was the only johnny foreigner in the carriage so all eyes were on me. I don’t mind it to be honest, its different to the attention you get in india where most people have at least some grasp of english. Here you can tell that the people are just itching to ask about you and probably more to tell about themselves but that insurmountable barrier lies at least for the time being between us. The train ride was on culinary level, a blast. Given the layout of the seats, it made for the perfect gangway for the seemingly endless parade of food hawkers. They sold fruit, drinks, meats, breads, sweets and some stuff I couldn’t even begin to describe. One lady who was selling fish decided to take a break in our carriage, right across from me her wares stank to the heavens. Shocking smell, twas bad enough for even the locals to tell her to be on her way.

The food I got myself was pretty tasty, now I am guessing at what it was but it was something like 10 beef sausage balls coated in cabbage with soy sauce and full red chillies to give it that extra little purchase. I sat with great satisfaction the chili sweats for quite some time. You get a good idea of the landscape that makes up central thailand when you travel like this, by day! Something alot of people miss out on when they take the night bus or train up to chang mai. But that said they don’t really miss alot. The land is incredibly flat and and seemingly endless array of rice fields. Its well drained but apart from that there is very little to draw your attention away from the culinary circus.

I eventually arrived into Phitsanulok train station, figured the best place to stay would be the youth hostel. So the routine of getting the rickshaw to drop you out there commences again, this time though my adversaries weren’t mere mortal men I was used to dealing with, these were the most fearsome, the most intimidating of all creatures. Women!! I tried every trick I have picked up to get a better price but they wouldn’t budge. Eventually I conceded and payed the price to be dropped out to the hostel.

The hostel was quite a building, it seems to have been a proper old barn house bar at some stage. Everything was made out of wood and the steps everywhere were uneven and potentially ankle destroying. It had a proper ramshackle, thrown together, patched up vibe about it. The overgrown ivy or Thai equivalent gave it the feeling that it hadn’t been touched in years. I was met my wan, a guy who used to work there and was calling over on a ceile to his old work mates. The lonely planet had described it as the main backpackers haunt but it was missing backpackers, I was the only person to stay there for two nights. When Wan told me I was the only person there I think he detected my disappointment as I was looking forward to some company. He immediately offered to take me out on the town that night, get something to eat and grab a few beers. I was taken aback by such generosity, it was the first time a proper local has been this open.

So into town we went in his ac car (first time in an ac car since, ooooh November). We got something to eat at the towns night market, overlooking the large river that passes through the town. The food was top notch. Afterwards we took a walk around the local markets, snacked away before finding another open air bar overlooking the river where we took in the views and the Liverpool fulham match. Wan is also a liverpool fan so we had plenty to talk about…

The next morning I jumped on the bus out to sukhothai. I rented a bike and took it around the old city. The first thing that distinguishes it from ayuthaya is that it stands totally separately from the new town. Apart from various restoration projects it remains untouched. Surrounded by an old wall the town is pretty big and takes some time to make your way around. The main buildings of interest are religious in theme and separated mostly by little woods and some larger ponds. It is proper picnic territory, a really beautiful setting. The shade of the trees give much respite from the sun.

After a couple of hours I made my way back to Phitsanulok where I met up with Wan again. This time we went for a thai massage. Now banish any lurid images that spring to mind, this parlour was in the basement car park of the local shopping mall. Hardly on a par to the seedy backstreet places you hear about in the nations capital. The massage itself was okay, twas nice but certainly it was no revelation. I took more amusement from the interaction with the masseurs who worked there. Not sure if they get many Irish lads there. They all had a go a massaging my calves (very strong sir) and they found that my hands were very soft. Hardly the most flattering attribute for a grown man descended from the aran islands.

We went for a beer afterwards and we had a very good conversation where I learnt a good deal about what its like to live in town in central thailand. They are very proud of their town and rightfully so, I had a fantastic time in a town that is really beautiful, has a buzzing night life, markets, restaurants and history to booth. Wan was at a loss to explain why no one visits here, people preferring to bypass in a semi slumber on the night time buses up to chiang mai.

I took my own bus to chiang mai the next day – I am really glad I took this little detour.

Adios,

Phil

Its a tough one to pronounce – you can imagine the difficulty I had at the bus station when I had to get the correct bus. Think its something like Ah-u-tee-ah. So where is ayutthaya? First of all it is not in cambodia, its a small town about an hour north of Bangkok. I had the best of intentions to make it to cambodia but circumstance had other ideas. I had it all planned out, get the boat from Ko Pha Nang, a bus to Surat Thani where I would then jump on the night train to Bangkok from here twas a 6 hour bus ride to the border, walk across to jump on another bus that would take 5 hours or so to take me to the city of Siam Reap.

First of all the train was an hour and a half late, the spin was okay. The guy sitting across from me had less english than I had thai, we did make a swap at one stage. I traded 1 can of chang beer for one of his dessert things. At first I thought it was just a bread roll but inside there was lots of sweet jam goodness – tasty stuff. I arrived into bangkok feeling like a zombie, its impossible to get a solid sleep while in motion. I made my way with some skill across the city to collect a new phone. The public transport in the city is superb. I was able to jump on the metro, the sky train and the skywalk to make my way to the shopping centre I had been in before, into the nokia shop where I bought a nice little phone for myself. It makes calls, it sends texts and it allows me to check up the bbc sports website when there is a soccer match on so that will be enough for me. By the time I got my stuff together I figured it was time to find the largest cup of caffeine to wake myself up again.

While munching through the toasted ham and cheese sandwich that accompanied my coffee it occured to me that this could be the last couple of hours that I spend in thailand, what have I seen? What can I tell people about thailand that makes it unique. Given the nature of the islands and its clientele, you don’t exactly get emersed in a foreign culture. Everything is geared towards you and your home comforts, don’t get me wrong its lovely n all but not really that different than what you would get on a european sun holiday. So with these thoughts in my head, guilty thoughts. I resolved to give thailand a few more days at least. My new plan was to head to a town up north of bangkok, not that far away. If I still wasn’t digging the place well then I could jump borders with relative ease.

So to ayutthaya. It fitted the bill nicely. It used to be the capital of the siam kingdom before those pesky burmese came in and ransacked the place, after which the local king up sticks and found a new capital in bangkok. The burmese it seems were the local version of the vikings back in the day. So there is plenty of historical fodder in the town, time to get acquainted so to speak. The bus journey was short and incredibly unspectacular. This part of thailand is incredibly flat and built up so you see no countryside at all.

I got dropped off in the town, not sure what part of the town. The next hour of traipsing in the intense heat and humidity, ignoring the overcharging tuk tuk drivers I was convinced that the street lined with guest houses was just around the corner. I was in a serious state, sweating absolute buckets. I eventually gave in and asked the local policeman how to get to tonys place, the accomodation listed in the guide. Got there eventually, threw the bags down and took the most eagerly awaited shower of my life. The room was okay, it would’ve been a whole lot better if the walls were sealed. I got devoured that night by the flood of mosquitos. Really having a tough time with the little cretins in general, its the only thing that is constantly annoying me on this trip….

Tonys place, the room apart is a great place to hang out. I supped on a few beers and didn’t venture much further than the 7-eleven to pick up a new toothbrush. I woke up the next morning though with a re-invigorated desire to get out and explore. The town, which is on an island where 4 rivers meet, is awash with historical monuments from the old Siam/Kyhmer era, the new town was built around the old town so finding the monuments was a bit like a treasure hunt. I rented out a bike and took to the streets. It was great fun, the heat was serious but the breeze from cycling made it a bit more bearable. Given the island nature of the town the next bit is just pure typical of my luck, at the furthest point from the bike rental shop I could have been (while still being on the island) my back tire gave way – could’ve been the heat that did the damage but I reckon the size of my arse also played a part. I searched around for someone who could fix it and luckily enough I found this family who took me in, I thought yer man was just gonna give me enough air to get me back within walking distance of home but no, down he got and with some serious skill and speed took the wheel apart and repaired the tube, had me back on the bike within 10 minutes. Class stuff, the whole family were sitting out the front of their house, not one of them had a word of english but I could tell they were giving their daughter a serious slagging about the white boy.

Back on the bike I made my way back towards home, on the way I found the local market. I love markets, the one in jodhpur in india was amazing. This one was also up there. Thais love their meat, there was any amount of fish, chickens, pork or beef stalls. I parked the bike and took a wander, now time and again the stench of fish would go close to knocking you out but I made it through. I sat down at one stall, not a random stall, the stall which I thought was serving the tastiest looking food. This old man was eating this rice dish that looked superb, I pointed to the dish and said that I wanted that. Now this is where things get lost in translation, the woman who ran the stall thought I wanted the actual food that was on the old mans plate – she muttered something and the poor man, heartbroken looked at me with dispair. I copped it straight away and frantically gestured for her to throw a new dish together that I wasn’t out to steal the food from his mouth… We laughed about in the end, the dish did the job nicely aswell.

Another quirky thai thing (could well be asian) cropped up on my way back. The heat was serious, so its vital that you get fluids in at every opportunity. I passed this stall, where this man and his son where sitting under the shade of their giant picnic umbrella – his business was soft drinks. But all his drinks were out in the heat, I asked him for one, but one that was cold. He picked one of the top, filled a plastic bag with some ice he had stored in a bucket then proceeded to top the bag up with the coke and ice and stuck a straw plump in the middle of it all. I cycled back to tonys place with a plastic bag full of ice and coke 🙂 it works!!!

Had a few beers that night and made arrangements to head further north the next day, thailand isgrowing on me….

ciao ciao

Alex Garland has a lot to answer for, from the ko sahn road I took an overnight bus to the port of surat thani to connect with the ferry that services Ko Tao, Ko Phan Nang and Ko Samui. The trip took 15 hours in total and apart from the temperature you’d swear you were back on that school tour you went on back in primary school. There was barely a thai person to be seen anywhere along the route. Needless to say the night bus though better than the indian ones still made for an uncomfortable night. It makes you really drowsy when you don’t get proper sleep and you end up traipsing around the place like a zombie.

On the boat though someone else took the initiative and rather curiously enquired as to whether I was irish or not? Does it stand out that much?? The person who asked was a dude called bobby from limerick, at the start of this trip around south east asia we got talking and ended up rooming for the next couple of days. The first port of call litterally is a place called thong sala in the south west corner of the island, we shared a taxi with a bunch of young swedish kids just out of school who were as bronzed and beautiful as they were dim and boring. Seriously, time and again myself and bobby came out with absolute pearlers only for it to fall on the blankest of blank faces…. Way to stereotype a nation phil!! Well lets just say I’ll leave my mind open. Its not like the irish representatives who were there already did much for our nations reputation. A couple of rowdy bucks from baldoyle had myself and bobby calling for them to bring back the old iron curtain and stick it around the pale. One of these jokers asked me why did I go to india? I explained all about the food, the mountains, the sights etc etc to which he replied ‘Yeah that sounds good n all, but I just can’t stand those bloody pakis…….’ Tumbleweed….

Life on the beach is one for a lazy sod, you’d think it would suit me down to the ground but on that first beach I just couldn’t relax. There was always something on at night but that left you in a cycle of drinking a little too much and not being able to do anything the next day other than lounge around in a hammock. After 5 nights there and minus bobby I headed to the remotest beach on the island called bottle beach. It can only be reached by boat and there was nothing to do there other than gaze at my extending navel and take the occasional dip in the bounty ad sea… 3 lads from sunderland I met previously joined me here and we got on great. Their sense of humour is very dry and right down my alley. I was in stiches laughing most of the time I was there. There was a good atmosphere at this beach, we met up with some more irish people and a bucket load from england and canada. One of the locals went a little loco  with one of the sunderland boys over was was very little so that unfortunately hastened our exit from that little bit of paradise. I would recommend that beach to anyone willing to make the effort….

I spent my last few days on ko phan nang at the lucky resort on the west coast of the island. I was with the sunderland lads, a lad from cork and a girl from canada. Lucky was more than the name of the resort, the main tout for the place picked us up at the local shop/atm. After some negotiation on the price we took the place, the spin up was something else. All piled in the back of a 4×4 jeap the tout tom took off as it he had never driven a car before. We were in the ditch twice and at one stage he absolutely buckled a sign that had CAUTION written across it that was in the middle of the road. Shakingly we got out off the taxi and went for a swim in the pool, some beers in the sun and some snorkling before getting down to some serious noshing at the local restaurant.

And thats pretty much what I got up to over the last 2 weeks. I am now off to cambodia, I am reading a book about the killing fields to inform myself a little more about the place and what I am going to be confronted by. It will make a change from the slothful existance of the last couple of weeks but after india I think I deserved it….

Adios,

Phil

Hey All – I’ve posted up another batch of photos on my facebook.
Should be able to see them here

Leaving calcutta was funny – after going through the quietest airport I have ever been in we found ourselves stood outside with a bus waiting for us. When everyone got on the bus took off and stopped a distance that was barely longer than the bus itself where our airplane was parked. Brilliant Brilliant india, I can’t wait to go back 🙂

Arriving into bangkok for alot of people is a massive culture shock and for me it was no different – though in my case the shock came from being in a place that was so clean, with air conditioning. I felt absolutely filthy after calcutta, calcutta is a pure kip in so many ways. The dirt is unreal. Most of my clothes are ruined so its time for a new warddrobe and where better than bangkok to get suited and booted.

Having had to leave india so quickly I was pretty unprepared for thailand, I didn’t really do any research on where to stay or what to see. Figured I would purchase a local guidebook, get myself to a beach and then read all about the place. I got a tip for a nice hotel on the notorious Ko Shan road so I jumped on a bus from the airport and made my way to this mad house. First thing that hits me is the humidity of the place, its like being in a kettle, its not like the heat in india at all. I should’ve realised there and then that my spf 15 wasn’t going to cut it in these conditions – but more about that mistake later… I slowly inched my way down the street, peering at every sign looking for the rikkas hotel – The place was huge, couldn’t miss it. It had a pool and is without doubt the cleanest thing I have been in since I last visited the dentist.

After a quick shower and a little rest I took to ko sahn road with the single intention of getting a little merry. I met a couple of canadian girls in a bar and spent the night regaling them with my indian adventure 🙂 They were on the long road home from korea and counted (I kid you not) portlaoise as one of their ports of call along the way. On my way back from the bar I felt a little peckish and went to source some tasty thai goodness. I noticed a few local lads hanging around one particular stall so I made my way over to them and got what they were having – whats good enough for them is more than good enough for me. Noodle soup, pretty harmless usually. Within 30 seconds of the first bite passing my lips I was sitting on a door step on the ko sahn with tears pissing out of my eyes. I must have been some sight, I was in bits. Like a blind man I made my way back to the hotel room where I ran a bath and dunked my head straight into it. Tasty stuff though!!

Not very proud about the next bit – I woke up the next morning with a savage meat craving. Have had neither bacon nor beef in 4 months. I set off looking for a classy place where I could break the drought with a bit of dignity but I am a weak person. I’m blaming my need to escape the heat, escape into burger king and its triple whopper burger with extra bacon. Feel free to mock and judge but until you have spent some time in india being denied these two things I think you would be more sympatethic then.

Back to bangkok, after my burger I took off exploring. Its a massive city so I only really got a glimpse of what it is like. I took a ride on the river boat to the central dock, which then connects with a levitating luas like skytrain that goes right into the heart of the city. My plan was to take the skytrain out of the city and walk back in via sukhummit road. I liked this city, its very clean and if I was here with a healthier bank balance I could certainly do some damage in the seemingly endless rows of shopping centres and malls. They were shooting a bollywood movie in one of them which I found amusing and a little distressing in that I recognised all the stars. Twas interesting to sit there a while and watch the whole process take place.

Prostitution is something which springs to alot of peoples minds when it comes to bangkok. You don’t have to scratch the surface too much to witness it either. My little tour took me right through the red light zone – I find it quite funny to be honest. You see young attractive thai girls standing out on the street trying to seduce all that pass. Its a common sight to see and men and women from the western world walking around with a thai partner half their age. Its a little sickening and unnerving. I walked back to the skytrain and back down to the non existant ferry. Missed the last one by 20 minutes. Had to get my first spin in a tuk tuk in bangkok to drop me back. Some power in those yokes!!!

back to ko sahn and the pub for a few beers. The street is like a really hot version of temple bar. Its t-shirt heaven, I’d say there must be a couple of hundred thousand t-shirts for sale on the street. Picked up a few and some naff swimming shorts for my trip to the beach. I left the next day for ko phan nang and island off the east coast…. Hammock and chang 🙂

Have made it to thailand and the ridiculously beautiful ko phan nang(think bounty advert!!) – the internet costs here are extortionate…..

Will report in detail soon 🙂

Later,

Phil

I set here in the middle of a sudden and pretty scary thunderstorm in calcutta. Its my last night in india. Time to look back, time to sum the last 4 months up. They have been just simply incredible, a really wonderful experience. 4 months ago seems like such a long time ago, I was so nervous walking out of the departure gates of mumbai international airport in the wee hours of the 30th of november. I cursed myself for picking such a notorious place to start off the adventure but in hindsight I couldn’t have picked a better place. If you can survive mumbai you can survive absolutely everything else that I have seen in this country, to take it even further than that I actually enjoyed that sprawling mess of a place. You need to take your time and give yourself a chance to adjust.

Goa was a let down I have to admit and anyone that I have gotten on with that I have met her agrees wholeheartedly with that assessment. The beaches of Kerala are much better, much friendlier places. Hampi is an amazing place, the landscape there is awesome. It is also well set up for lazy buggers like myself 🙂 After there it was xmas by the beach for spending the guts of january hunting down the best temples that tamil nadu has to offer. From there it was a trip up the land of kings, Rajasthan is an amazing state. There is so much there for everyone. After a week in the capital and a trip to the taj with diarmo I headed north to the mighty himalayas before returning back to the capital where my journey has been cut short. A quick dash over to calcutta and I am now ready to leave india. It feels weird to type those words. I am going to miss so much of the place, the food, the chai, the silly chats with shop keepers, the train trips, the mountains, the forts this country has so much to offer. There are elements which I will not miss, in my opinion the country needs to clean up its act on a lot of things that we take for granted in the west. The caste system needs to go, its fcked up. They need to install a proper system to ensure that every kid has a access to an education, its the only way out of poverty. Begging needs to be made illegal, it fosters a horrible element in society. Giving to these people very often that not only serves to perpetrate the situation. They need to introduce a waste management system, you can walk for days without seeing a bin. You can arrive at the most beautiful waterfall only to see that its base is destroyed by peoples careless littering. In the cities it only serves to feed the horrible sanitary conditions where vermin and disease amongst the poor is rampant. Its these fundamental things that stop alot of people coming here and it is a pity because as I have mentioned before it is a wonderful place.

Right I am going to sign off this now, this is the last of the wobble. I am off to thailand tomorrow – I don’t really have a clue what I am going to do there because it has come on alot quicker than I anticipated. Having survived 4 months here I reckon I should be okay…

Over and out,

Phil

I stood there in disbelief, the words coming out of her mouth.

‘Its over, you have to leave….’.

So after 4 months a divorce is on the cards, the lady at the desk in the FRRO office in dehli informed me that the only visa they could issue me was an exit visa which is valid for 14 days from the day you apply for it. I applied for it 9 days previously so that gave me 5 days to legally reside within the sovereign borders of Hindustan on this visa. I had other options though I could apply to get my old visa re-issued but that would take the guts of 5 days queuing, hanging around a sweltering dehli metropolis, dealing with pedantic senseless government officials. I didn’t come traveling to spend weeks in queues. There was also the option of going to nepal for 10 days and applying for a brand new visa over there. Sounds good in theory but if you are keeping an eye on politcal events in this part of the world you would be aware that they are having presidential elections in nepal for the first time ever on the 10th of april, already there have been trouble from the maoist insurgents. Last week they blocked the road from dehli to kathmandu hoping to intercept a convoy of trucks carrying what they described as weapons and arms to find the expected troubles. The nepalese government denied this, stating that the trucks were merely carrying riot gear ahead of the elections. Add to this election situation the trouble that exists across the border in lhasa has made its way across the border to kathmandu with the chinese embassey being attacked and infiltrated by irate buddhist monks. All in all it makes nepal an unappealling place at this point in time. Going there would be foolhardy.

So the third and last option was to leave the country permanently – my flight from calcutta to bangkok was originally set for the 18th of may. I needed to move this forward to the first of april as the visa expired on the second. So exit plan needed, and needed quickly. First port of call was the Jet Airways office in connaught place in dehli to change the flight. I grabbed a rickshaw from the frro into town, normally it costs about 80 ruppees but the driver only asked for 40. I was flabberghasted, he must be the only taxi driver in the the whole of india that undercuts tourists. alighting in connaught place I threw a 100 ruppee note on top of the requested 40 – he was a happy man!! Changing the flight was no hassle at all, it cost nothing so I was set for the 1st.

It was 6 o’clock on the 27th of april 2008, I was starving and thirsty. I felt like spoiling myself so I dragged my sweaty ass into the Zen restaurant in the middle of connaught place where they had to my delight cans of draft guinness. 1 can cost twice as much as my entire meal but it was worth it. With that good grub inside me I set about finding accommodation for the night, found a place that was both pricey and not very nice but for 1 night it would do. Threw down the bags and went off to the railway station to book myself a ticket on the first available train to calcutta.

The train left dehli at 7.10 friday morning and arrived in calcutta (almost 1500 miles away) at 8.30, sounds quick? I’m afraid it was anything but, for it was saturday morning when I got off the train. I traveled in the 2ac section of the train which keeps the train carriage at a nice temperature for the duration of the journey – it was boring as hell. You cannot look out the windows because they are so thick and dirty, you cannot sit out on the step because it messes with the AC, its not exactly too safe either. The only entertainment I had took place between the two pains of glass that made up the double glazed window as every couple of minutes two tiny mice would jump up and fight over what food they could find in that tiny gap. A much bigger mouse lurked underneath my seat which drove me into keeping my feet up on the seat at all times, all in all it wasn’t the most comfortable of journeys.Calcutta:

When you hear the word calcutta you almost automatically associate it with poverty, filth, disease, death – all the darkest elements of human existance. It used to be the capital of india before the country got independence. Since then though things have gone mostly downhill, the indian government in an attempt to shed any britishness virtually built itself a new capital in dehli and left calcutta short on public funding. The partition of the country into India, east pakistan (later bangladesh) and west pakistan. In creating east pakistan they split the state of Bengal into two which resulted in the largest ever migration of human beings, its estimated 10 million people moved into calcutta. No city could cope with that, famine and all its trappings was inevitable. The situation became dire and attracted the likes of mother theresa to come and work amongst the poor, the sick and the dying right here.

The train pulled into Howrath station on the west bank of the river Hooghly. I had read on the train that traffic in the city was bad and getting from the station across the bridge to where most of calcutta lies is a total pain in the hole. A quicker alternative is to grab the ferry which zig zags its way up and down the river. Out of the station I followed the signs for Baba ghat. The smell of the river was intense, dried fish and emptying sewers make quite an aroma. Once you get used to the smell you can then enjoy the quick trip across. The boat also gives you a great view of the bridge which spans 450 metres, it is some structure, banned from taking any photos you just had to admire the workmanship – (some day dave, some day!!!), it is reputedly the busiest bridge in the world.

Once off the ferry it was off to find some accommodation, calcutta has tonnes of hotels so there is something here for every budget. I got one just off sudder street right in the middle of all the action. My first impressions of calcutta are very similar to the ones I had in mumbai. Its alot more crowded than dehli but people seem to be more laid back than in mumbai. The streets are dirty but there are sections of the town which are affluent and some others retain alot of the britishness of old. Over the first two days there I walked alot, the traffic was too bad to get public or private transport, it was waaay too hot to be packed into a sardine can with wheels besides!! I took a walk out to the maidan which is a massive park that runs close to the banks of the river, there were plenty of cricket matches going on. I sat and watched one for the guts of half an hour, it was bloody hot so I was happy enough to take my time. I took in a walk around the Victoria Memorial building which was in the same park, its a massive building – white marble. Standing up close you needed your sunglasses on, it was a bit like the taj in that respect. From here I walked up park street and across to the darker side of calcutta. Park street first of all is the main shopping and eating out place in calcutta, it is lined up with coffee shops, bars, restaurants, shops etc etc its a good place to hang out and read your book. The food is excellent here with all the restaurants I managed to fit in satisfying my massively high standards 🙂 Down at the end of Park street the affluence quickly comes to an end. I turned up left heading towards Mother theresas Motherhouse, her residence and now where her tomb is kept. I was running a little early so took my time to explore some of the neighbourhood. It was rotten, it stank and was filthy beyond belief. I walked past this rubbish skip where this young lad, reckon he was about 10 years of age was crouched over ontop of it – defaecating into it. He saw me, bent further down to pick up a rock. And this was a rock, he pegged it at me hitting me at the very base of my back. Little prick!!! He then had the cheek to ask for money – ‘chello baba!!’ I shouted at him, its a useful phrase, I advise anyone visiting here to learn it. He wasn’t long on his way…

I called into mother theresas shrine after this little incident, rubbing my back a little from my previous encounter I took a look around what is I suppose what you’d expect, a very modest building. Its mostly used as a residence for the sisters and very little of it is open for access to the general public. The shrine itself is a simple enough large white marbled tomb, I guess any embellishments wouldn’t fit in with the character of the woman. There is also a mini-museum there where they deal with her early life from Serbia to rathfarnham to bengal. All in all its a simple yet fitting tribute to a very admirable person.

From the motherhouse I went to my hotel and retired for the evening. Today was spent chasing my tail getting ready for my flight out of india tomorrow. It has gone so quick, quicker because of the dopes in the immigration office. But more on them later….

Ciao for now,

Phil

After the stress and strain of having to deal with irish and indian bureaucracy (please note that very difficult word to spell) I took off for the yoga capital off the world, Rishikesh in the state of Uttaranchal. Rishikesh is at the foot of the himalayas and those charlie bird fans amongst you should already know that it is also one of the first major towns on the holiest river off the lot, the ganges (pronounced ganga) and is therefore a pretty big Hindu pilgrimage site. It is 7 hours on a bus outside of dehli which isn’t that big of a distance in indian terms so it fit the bill for by bid to escape the bad vibes and the oppressive heat that was in dehli.

The bus ride there was the usual butt numbing experience though I don’t really mind them at this stage, you tend to switch off and retreat into your own little world breaking out every now and again to answer the same old questions ‘ what is your country?’, ‘where?’ ‘Holland?’ ‘Iceland?’ ‘Ah the UK!!’ then its ‘What is your job?’, ‘What is your salary?’ ‘You have job in India?’ ‘ You are on Holiday for 6 months?????’ ‘What is the number for irish embassey – I get visa, I get job in your country!!’.

I travelled last friday – good friday in christian countries, Happy Holi in India. The festival of colour which they celebrate mostly in the north to mark the end of winter (they don’t do winter in the sunny south!). The tradition on this holi day is to splash the country and everyone in it with water or colour – preferably both. This pretty much gives young and old alike license to run around drenching anyone they see with coloured powder and garden hoses. I only learnt about this late late late in the day – I did see some people covered in colour but I didn’t realise the extent of the festival until I got off the bus in Rishikesh. Normally when you get off the bus you negotiate with the waiting throng of taxi men for the fare to get to the hotel of your choice – this takes a minute or two, you must always retain the threat that you can walk away at any minute. This option was not available to me this time because as soon as I got off the bus this little lad from a rooftop across the street had his fathers garden hose aimed right at me and lets just say he had a prodigious aim. Drenched, 110% saturation at least I climbed into the back of a cab belonging to a sniggering taxi man.

I stayed at the green hotel across the river ganges. The hotel took a bit of finding, the streets were busy with tourists and local people here on holiday for the weekend, also a long weekend here. The other side of the river is connected via two pedestrian only bridges (guarded by hoardes of hungry monkeys, they are also very often blocked by beasts of the bovine nature!!). First impressions of the Ganges? Its surprisingly beautiful, I was kinda expecting the dirty, filthy sewer like stream that you hear about from various sources. I guess as this is a point where it emerges from the biggest mountain range on earth that it is relatively clean. I still wasn’t tempted to take a dip. When it gets up as far as Varanasi it is meant to be pretty rancid, one factoid from the guidebook tells us that the international limit of faecal bacterial matter in water for it to be considered safe is 500 parts per 100ml – the ganges there has 1.5 million, Holy crap!!!

The first night there was good fun, the locals were going loco. They had a big soundsystem and dancing stage set up for Holi. The music was mostly hindi – some of it isn’t half bad, alot of it is pretty dire, but its lively enough to have a bit of craic. I was flummoxed after the days journey so I sat down and watched the locals strut their stuff. It was the usual case of 2 or 3 groups of men throwing some fantastic shapes with some girls dancing their own way out around the extemities, I don’t blame anyone for not jumping in. It resembled a rugby ruck at times and they do take a very relaxed approach at refereeing the breakdown – the new zealand back row would be in their element here. The prize for the most surreal moment must go to the time when they stopped the music and asked all the foreigners to get up on the dancefloor – up stepped a good few brave soldiers. The music started again, that international standard, an anthem no less – ‘The Vengaboys are coming’ – by the banks of the ganges. Not what I expected, hilarious though.

Rishikesh quietened down something serious after holi, most of the indian people staying there went back home on the sunday leaving the more sedate yoga crowd. I had a great time wandering from cafe to cafe drinking chai and reading some books. Every now and again I would ask one of the new agers about their courses or just life in general. One girl was doing a course on ‘Absolute Space’ – She asked me my opinion and wasn’t too amused when I defined it as the gap between my two ears. Oh well.

It sure was hot in rishikesh – temps where in the late 30s during daylight. When the sun went down though a surprisingly strong breeze came down from the mountains, it served as a nice release from the heat. All in all I had a good time in rishikesh, I planned ahead my trip (which was time wasted as you will soon find out) and had a really relaxing and lazy time. I would recommend it to anyone who fancied a break from dehli for a couple of days, I know if I ever get into yoga I will kick myself for not signing up at one of the ashrams for a course in it as it is one of the massive draws off the place – maybe next time though. Besides I wouldn’t have been able to cope with the 6 o’clock starts.

I headed back to dehli thursday morning, back into the running circus that is the FRRO. More on that to come…..

I have uploaded the latest batch of photos here ,

Ciao,

Phil

I woke up in Manikaran to some perfectly blue skies. All off a sudden I questioned my desire to leave the town, I felt myself wanting to know what was beyond where I turned back the previous day. But despite this pang and the protestations of the hotel clerk who put on an oscar worthy performance when he heard that I was going to leave a day earlier than I had informed them when I checked in, I jumped on the first bus out of manikaran. This bus was just going to the town of kullu which was about halfways to manali so I needed another bus from there to complete the journey. All in all it took about 4 hours, a relative blink of an eye.

The first two hours were complete torture though. I decided to take the front seat up beside the driver as the view was unimpeded and there was plenty of room for my two bags. What I didn’t count on though was the position of the speaker which was directly above my head. For two full hours really bad hindi music blasted out of this noise box, for two hours I plotted a way to sever the wire that connected the antiquated cassette deck to the offending speaker. But it wasn’t to be, I swapped buses in the town of kullu and got on the road at last to manali.

The road up to manali goes through the kullu valley, its pretty wide so it doesn’t have the same impact as the other two valleys I have travelled up. The last few kms leading into the town itself is lined up by either big ugly hotels or bigger uglier signs for hotels that are off the main road. As a first impression for a place it really sucked, though I have to admit from what I have heard of the place I wasn’t that surprised. The bus station is right in the middle of the old town, when I arrived the place was swamped, it was friday after all and the place was full of indian couples around for the weekend. Luckily enough there was a tout at the bus stop who was peddling his last free hotel room, reckoned it was worth at least a look. Managed to bargain him down to half the asking price for a really nice room with hot water and a big tv I could catch the weekends soccer on. Sweeeet out!!

After sorting out the room it was off for some grub and then bed, luckily enough I found a place that served some good pizza to almost, almost banish the memory of the previous nights misadventure. Back to bed and some snooze. Woke up early the next morning and made for the old part of the town, creatively titled ‘Old Manali’. It is such a departure from the new part, traditional black slated rooftops dot the landscape under the inevitable set of snow peaks, the most beautiful ones I have seen so far!! I sat in one cafe and devoured a bowl of muesli while I pondered the climability of the pretty large hill that looked tiny between two of the big peaks. I asked the doode who worked in the cafe if I could climb it and he muttered something not even the enigma war machine could decipher but being a generally optomistic kind of person I reckoned it was a positive response, so off I set. The first mile or so leads up to a fairly well visited temple, after that following the path was a solitary exercise with the exception of some mountain ladies (hardly the most flattering adjective) bringing down rather large bundles of sticks on their back. I figured that they were from the village that the sign back in manali pointed to that was 4 miles out of town. So curious to see what the village was like I went in the direction from where they came.

I met a local along the path who had good english, he was struggling with this big sack – I offeredto help him carry the bag as his load was already full, now its a good job that he didn’t say yes as I didn’t for one second consider the slope, the terrain or the sheer dead weight of the bag. I did give him a hand lifting it ontop of the rest of his load, I’m tellin ya these himalayan men are made of stern stuff. Off he went and I figured I would follow him but after about 20 yards or so he turned and pointed up the hill and said ‘Foreigners go that way’. Hmmmm wasn’t sure what to make of that, obviously my tan and tash needs a bit more work before I am completely assimilated here. I took his order and followed the steep path. After around 5 minutes I found what he was pointing at. The Rasta Cafe – it consisted of about 20 plastic chairs in a small field about 1/4 of an acre. There was also some very basic cooking facilities. I ordered a chai and sat and gasped at the view that this little field had. The little village was perched about 200 yards down from the field, over it you could see the full Kullu Valley over to the other side and up to where it starts with some dazzling mountain peaks. There were countless waterfalls on the other side all contributing to the flow of the Beas river that flows through the valley. I stayed there for the guts of 5 hours reading my book, though the distraction that was the view meant that I didn’t get to read that much…

The following day I was wrecked and went for a walk out another road to a small village, the weather was quite poor so the views weren’t as stellar as before. I had intended to go visit a glacier that day that a few local lads recommended called Rothang but when I inquired at the bus stop as to if I could go up there they simply told me that the weather had turned and it wasn’t possible. I found out later that that same day 15 people lost their lives just out that same road when an avalanche hit their bus. This gave me and the town a massive shock – everywhere closed down as a mark of respect and I thought to myself, tis a good job I didn’t try and find another way to get up there as buses were travelling up.

I stayed in manali another day or two before booking myself a ticket on the bus 17 hour bus to dehli. The bus ride was a mare!!! Didn’t get a wink of sleep, that coupled with the fact that the lad beside me seemed intent in giving me a broken rib with his stray elbow. Never again on a nighttime bus, just ain’t worth it. I arrived into dehli last wednesday morning at 7 and made my way to the embassey where I collected my replacement passport. The muppets in there – one in particular didn’t exactly do me any favours and spoke to me with little more than contempt which was completely unnecessary. The last time I visited he never said there would be a problem getting a full passport, now he produced an 11 month passport saying that because I didn’t have my birth cert he couldn’t issue a full one!! Surely if I couldn’t prove who I was that he shouldn’t have given me a passport at all, even at that I could have easily gotten diarmo to bring over my birth cert when he came to visit me. He was a fckn dick, expected me to bloodywell kiss his feet. Asshole. I will have to go through the same crap again when I get to australia.

Worse was to come, with no sleep I made my way with my flimsy, little better than a photocopy passport to the foreingers regional registration office to get my passport restamped and a visa issued. Now this place is the reason why people get frustrated with india. I had to queue for 4 bloody hours in the sweltering heat, no food, no water. The queue was unbearably slow and their way of processing people was a pure joke. By the time I got to the top of the queue I was told I had to have a letter from my embassey stating that I was missing my passport and pretty much when I arrived into the country. I was teetering on the brink, for the first time in india I raised my voice a little but figured that it wasn’t worthwhile getting thick at an entire country so I jumped in a rickshaw and went back to the embassey to my new best friend where squirmingly I had to ask for the letter which he knew I needed but didn’t bother his hole to tell me. Oooh what would I give to get that lad out in a game of 5-aside, 50-50 tackle…. screw that a 99-1 tackle, he is getting it!!!

Eventually I got my paperwork in order and went into the main square or circle in dehli known as connaught place. I rang the hotel I stayed in before out in the tibetan colony. With all the trouble in tibet this was a little risky but having watched the news things in dehli seemed quiet enough. As I got out of the rickshaw – what I seen really put my own little travails into perspective. All along the walls were pictures of dead monks, their brutal injuries for all to see. There were countless pictures, certainly more than the 9 the chinese have publically stated. In what was a buzzing little piece of tibet in dehli 1 month previous had the air now of a funeral parlour. Every shop was closed, all the stalls empty. All that was on the streets were the clouds of flies attracted my the oppressive heat. I had to knock on the door of the hotel where the cheerful guy from a month ago was ashened faced and looked on the verge of tears. I learnt later that people from the colony were on hunger strike in dehli prison, they wouldn’t even take water. You can picture a prison cell in india being pretty rough, the temperatures got up to almost 40 degrees – imagine no water??

I stayed in the colony to catch some sleep, I watched tv and ventured out as little as possible. I was heartbroken for the tibetan people there, they just looked lost. I left for rikikesh yesterday morning – I will return to dehli, hopefully for the last time on this trip next week to collect my visa. I am going to curtail my trip in india aswell, take it back by at least a month. I have seen all that I want to see bar one or two small things and I am ready for a new country, thailand by the third week of april I reckon….

Adios,

Phil