It’s been a long slow recovery. Marie is still away on her trip to survey a cross section of Bhutanese farmers and distributers to better understand the dairy chain. It’s her first time leading a team and she’s loving it. I, on the other hand, have been moping around the house for a couple of… Continue reading Recovery
Category: Asia
All countries I’ve visited in Asia
The Turning Point
The one thing that I enjoyed on the way back from India was reading a book I’d picked up at a shop in Varanasi. It’s called Turning Point by Fritjof Capra, one of my favourite science writers. He talks about some of the major problems the world is facing – health, environment, economic – as… Continue reading The Turning Point
Road Poetry
Indian Road Poetry – posted by the Indian Border Roads Organisation, mainly on steep windy mountain roads. Enjoy the Scenery Don’t join the Scenery Don’t mix Drink with Driving Alert Avoid Accident Accidents Don’t Happen They are Caused Speed is a Knife that Cuts Life Speed Thrills But Kills Drive Don’t Fly and stuck cheekily… Continue reading Road Poetry
Angry
I’m home, but the trip has left me exhausted and angry – violently angry if it wasn’t for being exhausted. Perhaps it started with the rusty nail in my samosa, but I think I was still laughing at that stage. More likely it began with the bicycle rickshaw trip to Varanasi Station. The driver wanted… Continue reading Angry
Idyllic Evening
So many memories they’re running away from me. We’ve eaten every meal at the Alka hotel where we stay as it’s too hot to go out much. Bought ticket for trip back to Siliguri from a guy in the corridor of a shopping arcade. He had his own shop (sitting outside it) but if he… Continue reading Idyllic Evening
Train Bullets
Wrong keyboard and foggy head so will keep to bullet points. back and forth to get ticket but still waiting list 1-4. climbed balcony to escape hotel, still WL1-4 saw chief reservation superintendant to get general ticket on 11:40 train stuffy, hot, humid, reminded me of Romania train, so I started talking to locals. university… Continue reading Train Bullets
Mt K
We spent most of last night in Joey’s pub having a drink, eating a Sunday roast and watching the world cup. It was great to see Australia hold out Brazil so well, even if we lost. The loss was made worse by the Indian bartender who was a really sore winner. We’d bet him backing… Continue reading Mt K
Lost Loyalties
I managed to meet Brady by leaving an email for him arranging to meet at the local tourist pub for the Iran / Portugal game. He’d taken longer than me to get up here the day before, so was waiting for me a couple of hours after I actually arrived. He’d actually managed to get… Continue reading Lost Loyalties
Arrive in Darjeeling
This is my first timd in rural India. I left Phuentsholing this morning on a bus to siliguri then came to darjeeling to meet brady at the youth hostel, but it seems to be closed. Now I’m in an internet cafe hoping to find a message from him. Losing travel partners is a frexuent event… Continue reading Arrive in Darjeeling
Judge
Yesterday I spent a long day judging the RIM student projects. I thought it would be fun and a great experience, but I didn’t think about how tough it would be. We worked from 9am until 8:30pm to get them all done and in that time, as well as looking at every part of their… Continue reading Judge