I have no idea. Glaciers, mountains, Argentian Steaks (lots of them), Chilean Hitchiking, que mas, volunteering in the campo of Bolivia, in the gorgeous town of Sucre (that I might add is making me think I’d like to go back for another 6 months to learn more spanish, and help the people here a bit more). No really.
Crossing the border into peru tomorrow for our final month, for a week of hammock swinging down the amazon, then 2 weeks sitting on a beach in columbia, before we head home.
Then, well, I have about 15000 photos that need post processing, and some credit cards to pay off.
The blog well, I dont know, As much as this is supposed to be a holiday, i feel like we havent had time to even look at it.
I’m really looking forward to getting back and putting this trip into a bit more context, cos at the moment, it feels like the best rollercoaster ride, that never stops.
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago at 11:51 pm. Add a comment
Photo Gallery – Old London Town
It was really weird returning to London after 10 months. But that’s not to say I wasn’t looking forward to it. Even though it was in the middle of November, and we had come from the relatively opposite climate of Delhi. I was excited from the moment we got into UK airspace. The view of the Thames that cold morning as we descended was amazing. Then it was the small stuff that I never got around to taking photos of. Like the tube platforms with business people all around. Or the parks that I took for granted for so long. The people in this relatively hugely wealthy city, going about their daily business. My friends who I was so happy to see after such a long time. Anna’s sisters and other family, who inside this cocoon of a city were only too happy to see us and hear our tales. The drinking with mates in pubs from the east end to the Gloucester Road, the dinners, specially home cooked just for us. The walks along the beaches, windswept and freezing, all the while catching up on everything that had been going on since we were far far away.
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 11:34 pm. 1 comment
Photo Gallery – Pokhara
There have only been really two instances since I started travelling asia about 8 months ago where the local music has really moved me. I mean yes, I hear different interesting music every single day. Its everywhere from the public transport when it blares out of the cheap speakers of over packed buses on a trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, or on the streets of Delhi, when DVD shops play hindi pop music loud enough to hear down the street, or even to the young men who on the train from Jaisalmer to Jaipur turn their tinny mobile speakers as loud as they can go, to share with the carriage the sounds of punjaby hymns for all. This is great, and even memorable I hope, but its different to when you actually begin to understand a culture simply by experiencing the full extent of the traditions through their music. Both of these times the music has been played live. The first happened in Bali, where we saw a performance of the Ramayana story in Ubud, where the tribal sounds just got right underneath my skin, and the second, I can feel right now. In this dark hotel room, with the light of the laptop the only thing I can see, it is Diwali in Pokhara, Nepal. The people in this heavily, touristic town, have totally forgotten about what we are doing, and are spending their evening really partying. Just sitting here, only listening is awesome, and the pitch of the womens voices changing to the rhythm of the local sounding drums is mesmerizing on its own. They have been playing and singing and dancing just below us for the last 4 hours.
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 11:30 pm. Add a comment
Photo Gallery – Kathmandu
Even though the guidebook made the truth about Kathmandu reasonably clear, for some reason I expected the town to be more like a village, quiet and quaint with small shops selling trekking gear by old men with long beards, all of whom had scaled Everest at one point or another. Kathmandu, whilst in places retains some sort of Nepali charm is well and truly a capital city. It oozes pollution, traffic, poverty, with very little sign of the impeding Himalayas just a few kilometres away. It does however have a lot of people. Outside the tourist areas, we found a city bursting at the seams with Diwali celebrating families on every street corner, dancing, singing, drinking, and having fun. And it was a great time to see festivities, and despite staying there only a couple of days, most of which was recovering from a very long bus and train trip, we still didn’t manage to completely avoid the saddest part of the city. The fact that competing on every street corner with the locals, were Gore-Tex clad mature tourists inflating the prices on two week breaks to do base camp and get the hell out of there.
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 11:27 pm. 1 comment
Photo Gallery – Melaka – Malaysia Tea Rooms
‘You like teaaa?’ the womans voice immediatly cut through the barage of sales pitches that become an everyday part of travelling through south east asia. From the ‘Hello Misters!’ in Sumatra, to the ‘You need transport?’s in Bali, I was immediately bemused by this old woman standing at the entrance of dark narrow laneway entrance, in this historic part of Malaysia.
‘I show you my tea house. Yes, you come in relax, I show you special chinese tea!’
It was about six in the evening, and we hadnt had a drink in 2 hours. The heat of the day although starting to die off, still left small sweat patches soaking through our t-shirts. I like tea, and my british companion certainly did. Her small figure, and friendly nature enchanted us, and so when the offer of a chance to re-hydrate presented itself, we didnt take much more convincing than that.
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 11:23 pm. 1 comment
