Post-Korea adventures

OK, so it's been a while since I made an entry, but here's a shot at trying to sum up what's been going on since I left Korea. I made my way to Delhi via Hong Kong, I as with every departure became nostalgic about the good times which had been had and in effect was reluctant to leave. Delhi was everything that I remembered, my taxi driver was your stereotypical half crazy, possibly drunk, fairly incompetent, un-roadworthy taxi wielding Taxi driver. He was great, between brief glances at where he was driving he was pointing out the construction sites of the stadiums for the upcoming Commonwealth games, I call them construction sites due to the fences around the site, but it appeared that there has yet to be any construction of these much needed stadiums, I'm awaiting the date of the Games and will be amused to hear if the setting is ready, or in the more than likely case not, maybe they can postpone them for a while, international sports on Indian time (i.e. late).

I spent a day in Delhi doing very little, and made my way by train to Kolkatta to meet Celine, a French girl I met in India two years ago. The ride was its usual slow paced, nicely ventilated (due to the lack of closeable windows), urine smelling ride, but that's India, and that's what I come to experience. Being the usual few hours late I arrived in Kolkatta, said my goodbyes to the interesting Bangladeshi men I had been sharing a compartment with and left for Sudder Street, the PharaGanj of Kolkatta. The time on the train was interesting, despite the efforts of the highly religious Bangladeshi men I was not converted to the one true God idea, what works as proof for faith for some is somehow lost on me. One man in an attempt to save my soul from eternal damnation due to my lack of acceptance made things very clear; taking my hand in his he held my index finger in a firm but non-threatening way, he explained in a educating tone, "see your finger, hard inside, soft skin outside, hard nail on the end. Not your parents, one true God." he finished this sentence with a finger raised in the air, I nodded as if considering his words of wisdom, but inside simply felt a desire to bring up more complicated, scientific explanations for such human characteristics, but decided to refrain, he was after all attempting to help me. In all an interesting ride. In Kolkatta I checked into a dodgy hotel and took a walk, on returning to the hotel I ran into Celine, it was great we talked shit and drank in a gloomy seedy Kolkatta Bar.

After a few days we made our way to Darjeeling accompanied by a twosome from LA named Matt and Becca, they are a brother an d sister travelling together, her fairly well travelled, and him a very green young guy currently studying in Oxford. Unfortunately Darjeeling was closed due to a strike. We spent two days in an awful India-Nepal border town named Siliguri, awful, but we did meet a cool South African guy named Rob.

We were able to enter Sikkim after two days with a semi-permanent halt to the strike, apparently the Government were willing to re-enter negotiations to allow 'Gorkhaland' to become a state within India independent of West Bengal, though Political I have no emotional attachment to the cause, and as a selfish human being just thought of the inconvenience which it had caused me.

To put it simply Sikkim is a must see place, I'll post some pictures, but if you like trekking, quiet, peaceful and cheerful people and beautiful scenery. I leave it for you to decide.

I made my way back to Kolkatta with two Korean guys I met hiking, Hee Seung and Yeong hoon, amazing guys, great conversation and very kind for helping me with my Korean. We stayed in a guesthouse dominated by Asian travellers, it was a great international mix, I had a cool Christmas and met many great people.

After that I came to Puri in Orissa where I am now, it was manic for the first few days with accommodation hard to find and little of the usual touting you get in India's tourist areas, I spent my first night sleeping on the roof of a guesthouse, but that was OK. New Years came around and good times were had by all.


This just about brings me up to date, so I shall say my goodbyes, hopefully it won't be so long before I make another entry.