The real India

It is so easy for me to romanticise about India, especially once I have left, so I am writing this on my last day here, before crossing the border into Nepal tomorrow, because I want to remember it as it is.

India is wonderful but it is also awful. I took a journey today from Kushinagar back to Gorakhpur in a shared jeep which had ten passengers! My hips squeezed between the door and the man next to me, I realised that the only way to cope with this situation is to laugh and to watch life happen as we fly past beep beeping the horn. I had an awful day, it started with a local bus ride to Kushinagar where the men stared and stared at me. I've grown quite used to my celebrity status here in India, but I would appreciate it if they would let me know why I'm so well known... The more polite ones ask "Madam, 'scuse me madam, can we have snap? Madam, one snap please..." and the less polite ones just get the mobile phone out and take pictures. Oh, what a picture it must be, tangled hair, filthy glasses covered in dust, sweaty face, it must make an attractive photo to show the folks! But, in all honesty, as a young woman traveling alone in India it can be very intimidating to be stared at by a big group of men as I stand waiting for a bus, or to constantly be shouted at by men who want to take you photo or sell you something, or rickshaw men or touts of all kinds. They all want to know where my husband/boyfriend is, why would I possibly want to travel alone? And why, more importantly, am I not married already? Why don't I have a husband? It seems very hard for them to categorise me when it is not in relation to a man. A friend of mine was asked to sleep with a man she had just met on the sleeper train late at night! She told him off very sternly and he asked he why not!! She gave him the whole story and told it to him straight! Men here don't treat women as equals, we are defined by our relationships to them, and when a woman is independent and not with someone then she is up for grabs, and she must want to be grabbed, right?

One thing, which nobody here seems to notice , are the piles of garbage everywhere. It is filthy, the rubbish piles up anywhere and everywhere. People throw down plastic wrappers wherever they happen to be when they have finished with them. The whole country is treated like one big landfill site, and no-one seems to mind! Plastic bottles and wrappers all over the place, dirtying the whole place and the cows wade through and do a good job disposing of anything that could possibly be edible. The cows, oh how I love the cows. Not confined to any field, they are free to roam as they so please, and so they do. They stand where they want, go where they want, shit where they want. Even if it means the traffic has to go around them for an hour. There is always traffic, and it seems to flow fairly well, and I'm sure there are rules of the road but I still haven't quite caught on... Crossing the road is not really an art, which I stupidly first thought it was, but more just a case of becoming a part of the traffic and assuming that everyone will notice which path you are taking and avoid you. Which seems to be what everyone does, whilst making as much noise as possible so that everyone knows where you are and what you are doing. However, since everyone is making as much noise as they can, it doesn't seem to have an effect, and so, a horn really just means that there is a vehicle somewhere within hearing range, but don't worry about changing you path, they will avoid you. The streets are in poor condition and the cars turn up so much dust that at the end of a journey I am covered in dirt, hot and usually not someone you would want to meet! They pack people into every type of vehicle and usually the car/bus/auto will have been on the road for 20years (or at least it looks like it!). I love watching auto-rickshaws whizz by with 10 people hanging out of them but it's not so much fun being in one...

There is constant noise, even at night it doesn't stop. People hold conversations in the hall of the hotel in the middle of the night or in the temple beside the sign that says "silence please". And there are people everywhere. On a journey of 10 hours in the local bus from one town to the next there will be people around, women with piles of straw on their back, kids in school uniform walking home, cycle-rickshaws... There are just always people and houses. There is no uninhabited space. All space is used for something. And half of the houses look like they are unfinished with bricks uneven at the end of the wall and metal rods sticking up on the top of the house. And no-one has a proper door, they all have garage doors for front doors, whether this opens onto a shop or the front room!

There are people selling things from carts on wheels, they sit on their cart all day next to a woman selling the same thing, next to another guy selling the same thing. Or they sell from a little concrete hut with pepsi painted on the side. There is advertising everywhere, all cement walls have advertising posted on them and there are signs hanging everywhere.

But saying all this, there is something wonderful about watching life happen in India as you fly by on a bus, or in a jeep. It is like it has happened this way for thousands of years and no matter who you are, it isn't going to change. India is as it is. And Indians are as they are.

Varanasi

Leaving McLeod Ganj makes me sad, as I feel so at home there, but having decided I must make the most of the rest of my time in India I know realise I'm a bit scared of leaving! It's such a calm little haven that returning to regular old (crazy chaotic) India is a bit of a thought. But the ticket is booked and here I go... (What an intrepid explorer I am!)

First part of the journey - night bus to Delhi. First mistake - eating before getting on the bus. I immediately started to feel ill, how could I not have remembered that we are in the mountains and the only way down is along twisted roads? So an hour into the journey I was sick. Sorry to the poor girl sitting next to me but I did feel so much better when there was nothing in my stomach! Next problem - my chair back won't stay in one position, it moves from vertical to horizontal of its own accord, so now I'm apologising to the girl behind me! But the worst thing was that we passed a terrible accident on the road. Two young boys killed on their bike. It was horrible. I hope they didn't suffer and died before they felt the pain, but how horrible to think that their lives just ended like that, driving along the road.

I spent the day in Delhi, in the Tibetan colony called Manju-ki-tilla, and it was the best day I have ever had in Delhi. For those who don't know of my issues with Delhi, I dislike it so much I paid extra to fly direct to Amritsar this time so that I could avoid Delhi (which happened but the flight got cancelled and I had to fly via Mumbai, the best laid plans and all that!) But the Tibetan colony is a walled in compound with rabbit warren streets and no cars.

Then off to the train station to go to Varanasi... Now Varanasi gets a bad rap in all the guide books and everyone tells you it is the place in India where you will be most harassed and people will rip you off left right and centre. Bags stolen on trains into and leaving the city, pick-pockets all over the place, beggars everywhere, scams to get your money in anyway possible, rickshaw drivers trying to take you to a different hotel (where they get commission) by telling you your hotel is closed/has burnt down/is full etc etc. So I was prepared, I knew what was going to happen the moment I stepped on tot the train let alone off it! I'm on to you Varanasi, don't even think about trying to pull a fast one, this girl knows the score!

The carriage on the train is filling up an hour before we depart and I meet my traveling companions for the night, a young Indian man and his Japanese girlfriend, a mother and daughter who are very quiet but full of smiles, a 20 year old Guy and two old Indian men who seem like life long friends. We push our bags under the seat and we all padlock them there! The men are having a chat and after a while the older ones get out some food and offer it around. "No thanks" I say (I've been warned about this, drugged food from strangers on the train who then rob you or worse). But they insist in their Indian way and I figure that since their eating it it probably isn't drugged ( my detective skills are improving by the day). It's yummy and I ask if they made it. This cause much laughter, even from the two younger boys who can't know who made the food, and one man turns to me and still grinning informs me that his wife made it. So now we are all friends, and they were the most lovely, interesting train friends I could have hoped for. We chat about India, about the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama (who they told me is a guest in their country, he is a spiritual leader and as such he is welcome as long as he wants to stay) and about the differences between Europe and India. Then we all say good night and set up the beds and next thing you know it's morning and the chai wallah is shouting chai up and down the carriage. One of the guys opens the carriage door and I drink my chai standing at the door watching the mist rise and the sun come up over the fields and villages on the outskirts of the city. What a lovely way to start the day...

The train pulls into the station and hundreds of people descend onto an already busy platform. I am immediately spotted by an old man "hello madam, (I'm getting quite used to being addressed as madam!) I have auto-rickshaw, I take you to your hotel, I charge you Indian price not tourist price" "how much" I say warily. "60rupees" I don't even try to bargain! This is exactly the amount the hotel man told me it would cost and I am so floored by this that I immediately accept and off we go to his rickshaw, and he drives straight to the hotel! I even tip him I am so happy! I walk into the hotel and the owner greats me, "hello Joanna, how was your journey? Any problems?" No. The answer is no! I've made it all the way here and not had any trouble! Somethings got to give! He shows me to my room and I have a view of the Ganges from the balcony! Life is sweet. (No electricity and no hot water but who cares, life is good.)

After a shower and some breakfast I head out, straight down to the Ganges. This is after all the the most holy of Hindu cities and the Ganges is an important part of this. It is lined with ghats which are access points all along the bank where people come to bathe. It is immediately obvious that this first ghat is where the washer wallahs work. Men and women stand knee deep in the river scrubbing and ringing out clothes and young boys run up the steps to spread them out on the steps. There are sheets and trousers and sari's and all sorts hanging on lines or laid out on the ground drying in the sun.

The next few ghats have some bathers and the main ghat has plenty of sadhus and holy men offering to bless every passer by. One young man in the river washing his cows, making sure they were sparkling clean. Then, as I turn the corner I see smoke, and then fire. The burning ghat, where people are cremated. I stop and watch. Stretchers with bodies laid out on top, wrapped first in plain cotton and draped in gold and covered in flowers, are carried down to the river by the family and purified in the water before the ceremonial robes and flowers are removed and he body is put onto individual pile of wood for the fire to be lit. There must be 8 fires burning, with bodies in various stages of cremation, a torso but no legs, or a body but looking small and misshapen. It doesn't smell. Nobody cries. Death as a part of life. Men sift through yesterdays ash in the river hoping to find a nose ring, an earring or some other small piece of gold they can sell. The barber sits at the top of the stairs shaving the heads of men who have lost a parent. Once the fire stops burning the ash is thrown into the Ganges. Hindu's believe that if you die in Varanasi, you leave the cycle of life and death forever, and many walk for days, weeks, months or even years to die here.

Unfortunately at this point I have to tell of a little scam that seems to be popular at the burning ghat, and I was warned by a friend of this before I got here... A man comes up and starts telling the tourist about the burning ghat and the Hindu belief etc and how much it costs to buy a kilo of wood and how many kilos are required to burn one body. Then, he takes you to the building next to the "hospice" (not a hospice, just an empty building) where you are blessed by an old granny and asked to help those in need by purchasing a kilo of wood, two kilos, whatever you can afford to help those in the hospice who will die and cannot pay for the cremation. It's crafty, and works well because it is hard to say no to such a worthy cause, except when you know that the hospice is a mile up river and the "donation" to the cause is going straight into his pocket! But it is tricky to get out of, and I made a small donation, which granny looked totally unhappy about, and made a hasty exit.

After wandering along the river past the ghats for over an hour I decided to see what was behind the big buildings lining the river and succeeded in getting totally lost in a maze of old narrow streets selling toys, clothes, boxes, pans and pretty much anything and everything. A nice shop owner saw me looking lost, laughed at me and put me in a cycle rickshaw to take me back to the Ganga!

That evening I took a boat ride down the river to watch the puja at the main ghat, a religious ceremony. Holy men chant and wave candles and incense about and candles float down the river in little paper bowls with flower petals.

The best time to visit the Ganga, to really get a feel for what happens on the river is t dawn. Before it gets light it seems like the whole town is at the Ganges. They come here to bathe, and say their prayers as they wash in the holy waters. It is believed that the Ganges water is so sacred it will wash away the sins of many lifetimes. One little kid was playing in the water, splashing about and having a great time, when her mum told her to do her prayers, so she dutifully stood up, filled her bowl with water and poured it into the Ganga as she should, then went back to playing. Men at one ghat, women at another, kids at both. Women walking into the Ganga fully dressed, submerging themselves in the murky water. Men in underwear washing themselves and cleaning their mouths with the water. It's an amazing thing to see, and it is really quite breathtaking and in a funny sort of way it is quite beautiful to watch people, performing a practice that generations have done before them. This is what is so great in India, just watching life happen. It is just life for the people who live here, but for a foreigner it is so fascinating, so mystical, so spiritual and unusual and often so simple and beautiful.

So, really Varanasi has been my favourite Indian city so far. It is beautiful and the people have been nothing but kind and helpful. I'm still waiting for something bad to happen before I leave, Varanasi you have 14 more hours until my train leaves for Bodhgaya...

TCV

Being here always makes me feel so lucky, so happy and so grateful - for the life I have and the opportunities I have.

Today I went to the Tibetan Childrens Village 49th aniversary day. It is a good walk from the main town of McLeod, 15mins up a steep hill to Dharamkot, then another 25mins of a lovely walk through the forest, past the most beautiful stupa with prayer flags blowing in the wind and then down into the village. It is quite big, with lots of houses and a big school. The school has over 1000 pupils, all Tibetan kids living here in India. They learn Tibetan, English and science etc as well as Tibetan culture. And for the annual celebrations they put on a show and invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama (who couldn't attend) and His Holiness Karmapa, who did attend and gave a speech (in Tibetan so no idea what he was saying...).

And the kids dance and sing and play music and the vast majority of Tibetans from the surrounding towns seem to attend. Lots of shops, cafes and hotels in town which are run by Tibetans are all shut for the day so that families can go and spend the day there. And the monks have a day off too! The junior and middle schools joined together (over 500 kids) to put on a cool display, spelling out various things like THANK YOU INDIA, CO2 SAVE WORLD, and making a picture of a stupa. Then once they were in these formations they would all move their arms in the same way, and each of them had a pink band on the left arm and a green band on the right, and from up above looking down on them it looked really good! And they offered thanks to the Dalai Lama for helping them to set up their lives in Inida with dignity and grace. It was a really sweet ceremony.

On my walk up to the village I met a lovely Tibetan monk who showed me where to go (thank goodness or I'd never have found it!). And when we arived the kids were all sitting on the ground of the dirt playing field, in front of the audience, with the Karmapa sitting at the top in the middle. And at least a thousand people were all perched on the steep hills around the field watching and listening to the proceedings. As always with these things here, it felt totally laid back and like a very open affair. All welcome! Although there were far fewer western travellers had made it that far up the hill away from the town! I love the way that it is so normal here to be sitting in the dirt (everyone else knew to bring some cardboard to sit on to stop their clothes getting dirty!) on a steep hill which is not exactly ideal for sitting on, under the trees. And how normal it is to walk there with a monk! The culture and religion are so close, and the monastic community is so well respected and so large that no-one looks twice at the monk sitting in the chai shop, or walking down the street on his mobile phone and mixing so freely with the lay people. And I love also how it seems so normal to have one of the highest Tibetan Lama's there, well of course he'd attend, what else would he have to do?! It feels like they play such a massive role in the lives of all the people here and that there are so many opportunities to see them or even meet them or go to teachings - it's just fantastic!

At the end of the show I flowed in the same direction as the crowd to be led round to the back of the school field where everyone was having lunch, so I joined in and had some momos.

I came back via the stupa, which has a very special atmosphere, totally calming, and walked slowly down the hill towards McLeod which looked so small in the distance down below...

Next time in India...

So, there is a big jump, both in time and space, between the last post and this one...

Via New Zealand (awesome, beautiful, fantastic), Fiji (beaches, sea, sand) and the US (I love the USA!! California - LA, Yosemite NP, San Francisco. East coast - Boston, Woodsville, NH and NYC) then home to the UK, London, Edinburgh and Inverness (mum's 60th!).

And now I'm back in India!! Again!!

Back to the wonderful Tibetan town of McLeod Ganj. Doing a course at the meditation centre then going to teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In the morning on the days of the teachings the whole town flows in the same direction, down the hill to the temple. Monks and nuns in their maroon robes - some with maroon hats and maroon bags . An open top carrier truck goes past with about 30 monks inside and hanging off the sides! All the Tibetans walk down carrying cushions to sit on, the women looking lovely in their beautiful thupa dresses, usually a plain colour with a shirt underneath and a bright, stripy apron on top. Everyone joins their respective queue, Tibetans and Sanga (monastics) one way, foreigners another, and files through security.

It is simply wonderful, sitting outside the temple, under the trees which create some much needed shade from the sun, surrounded by Tibetans. His Holiness walks past, into the temple (which is packed with people) and we all bow down as he passes. Then half way through each session the monks serve everyone tea (no idea how many people but a huge number!). So round they come with huge teapots and pour the butter tea in the morning and milk tea in the afternoon. Everyone gets their cup/bowl/bottle out ready for the tea and lots of people bring cartons of milk as an offering which the monks then carry back to the kitchen. Butter tea is an interesting experience! Just make sure you aren't expecting sweet tea as it is salty and has a lovely skim of oil floating on the top...

Then everyone drinks tea and watches the monkeys jumping on the roof or around the trees. All the kids run around and get grabbed by a random stranger who want to give them a cuddle or play a game with them. It's a very laid back affair. The whole town shows up to hear His Holiness speak, even though most of it is so in depth not many of us understand what he is talking about!! Many older Tibetans sit through the whole thing spinning their prayer wheels or going round and round their mala's reciting mantras. And on the last day of the first four day's teachings, His Holiness give a Tantric initiation and even more people show up! The place is packed, inside and out, and people recite the initiation.

It is a great experience, and for the second set of teachings His Holiness speaks in English!! So now we all get the jokes!! And what a wonderful laugh he has!! Even when I don't get the joke, his laugh still makes me laugh!!

So this is my second time here, and it feels like coming home. It is so lovely, to feel so easy in a town I hardly know, yet I feel so welcome.

May this not be the last of my Tibetan adventures.


PS I would just like to add a massive THANK YOU to India, and the wonderful Indian people. It may be a full on country, which can immerse and totally overwhelm the senses and at times it can be very intimidating. But which other country in the world would allow thousands of refugees from their neighboring country, fleeing from persecution from the next world superpower, to not only set up home but to completely take over the town and swamp the surrounding area with their culture and religion? They seem not to be worried at all as the Tibetans build temples, monasteries, set up shops and run businesses. How wonderful, to be so sure of your own culture, and so proud of the diversity within your own country that you can allow those in need a place to live. It seem fitting that for the celebration of it's 50th year of independence from the British in 1997, the India government used the slogan "Unity in Diversity". And recently His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been celebrating his 50th year living in exile in India - the place he now calls home.

Welcome to beautiful Sydney

How funny it is to be back in the Western world and how quickly I seem to fit straight back in.  But it's also strange to now see our world from a different perspective - to know that so many in the world don't live like this.  How funny it now seems all the things we caught up in here, and the totally superficiality of it all.  

I am living in Sydney now and it is really lovely to have unpacked my stuff properly for the first time in months.  I am living in a flat in Newtown, which is a really cool but slightly grungy part of Sydney (kinda like Camden).  The flat is clean (apart from a few cockroaches which appear in the kitchen at night) and light and my flatmates are really friendly.  My room is unfurnished, but I have managed to acquire a double blowup mattress, a small bedside table and a small set of drawers - all through good fortune and other peoples kindness, and now my room looks great!  I think that if I had arrived here straight from home I wouldn't have been happy with this for three months, but for me right now it is absolutely perfect - I really don't feel like I want or need anything else in my little room.  

Sydney is a fun city.  And all the better for having two of my old London flatmates here at the moment, Marisa and Anne.  It's great being shown around by locals, you see so much that you wouldn't have the chance to see as a tourist.  

The best thing about Sydney is that it is on the water - everything focuses on the sea.  The beaches are lovely, not beautiful like the ones in Western Australia, but really pretty with reddish sand and (cold) clear water with great waves.  I have seen my first surfers and it looks like so much fun but I'm not going to brave the freezing cold water and I'm happy to watch!  Bondi beach is where all the backpackers and the rich, bronzed and beautiful live, (all reasons I am not living there!) and there is a stunning walk along the coast from Bondi to Coogee beach.  It goes along the coast, along some cliffs past several cute little beaches and through one of the nicest cemeteries I have ever been to, the names on the graves caught my eye - so many very Scottish, Irish and English names.  The waves crashing on the rocks, the sun blinding in the sky and the strong wind straight off the sea - it is the most perfect way to clear your mind.  It really doesn't feel real to me that this is part of a city.  

I went out with some friends in Manly, which is north from where I live and to get there I have to take a ferry!  The ferry pulls out of the harbour right next to the Opera House and the bridge.  It couldn't be more tourist friendly if it tried and the postcard will never look as good as the real thing.  It is odd seeing the Opera house for the first time, it is an image i have seen a thousand times and this makes seeing it, and standing beside it very surreal.  But standing at the back of the boat as it pulls out of the harbour and looking back at the bridge, the opera house and the city is something I know I will not get tired of.  It is just beautiful.  And what a fabulous way to come home from the pub at midnight on a friday night - the city all lit up and the seagulls flying along beside the boat.  

And from the boat you can see what a green city Sydney is.  Beaches line the shores, the houses come down to the water but there are trees among all the houses, and there are no skyscrapers outside of the CBD.  The botanical gardens run from the opera house along the coast and on the opposite shore the zoo keeps a large area green.  

I wasn't planning on making Sydney home when I first arrived in Australia, but having friends here pulled me in and I'm glad.  It is a nice place to live for a few months.  

Life

Isn't it funny - life generally. The people you meet and the way things are. At one job I have a boss who thinks I'm "strange" for traveling alone and at the other the manager thinks (like me) that it's the best way to travel. It's funny how quickly I have settled back into western society but also funny the things I miss. The travellers and the other people I meet here are so different to the people I met in Asia. And it's odd not being a traveler anymore and having to work. Hmmm... both good and bad!

Arriving back in the western world...

It was so odd arriving in Australia. I had been looking forward to it for ages, and when i booked the trip i was worried i hadn't left enough time to spend here. But after spending my last 2 weeks in Asia on a beautiful Thai island i was very sad to leave. And more than a little nervous at how things would be back in the western world.

In many ways it is great to be here, and in many ways I have fitted back in really easily, I know how things work here and i speak the language! I know which shops to buy things in, and food is recognisable! But there are many less appealing things too, like having to stay in cheap accommodation in hostels and sharing a room with 5-9 other people, having to really think about how much things cost because i can't afford whatever i want now.

But the things which really shocked me, and are still confronting me every day is how much emphasis we put on superficial things in life. Appearance is considered so important here. In most of Asia, outside the big cities it isn't something i have really had to think much about for the past 5 months. But here, we are obsessed by it. I feel like I'm constantly being bombarded with adverts telling me I'm not skinny enough, my skin isn't flawless enough, I need to wear make-up, I ought to love shoe shopping and high-heels, it just goes on and on... Not to worry - the ad's promise me a quick fix solution to these problems.

It's such a highly stressed society. No-one can move fast enough. Got to have the latest phone, got to keep up with everyone else. Because why? We already have so much. And I'm not meaning that we should all be contented just to have food, water and shelter. But to every now and again step back from our own reality and be grateful for these most simple, and fundamental, things. More than half the world works just to have these things and many die because they don't. We don't have to. We take these things for granted.

And, here I am arriving back from Asia, having met some other travellers who I've really gotten on with and I'm expecting the travellers here to be the same.  It took about 5 seconds to realise that the travellers in Australia are a little different to the ones in SE Asia, who are themselves, a little different to the ones in India. Travellers in Aus, seem to be here mostly with working holiday visa with the intention of taking a year out and partying as much as possible.

So, I decided to see a bit of the west coast and then head on over to Sydney to see Marisa who is home for a couple of months.

I responded to an ad from a Swiss guy looking for people to travel with him on a road trip in his car. And on the 4th of March we set off for three weeks around Western Australia. Me and my three beautiful boys. We had so much fun. Four very different personalities, but we got used to each other quickly and ended up having a blast.

Australia, (in case you hadn't realised, like me) is HUGE. The state of western Australia is many times the size of the UK. From Perth to Exmouth(our most northern destination on our trip) is 2100km. But Broome, which is still in W. Aus is another 2000km along the coast NE from there. Trips in Aus. have to be calculated in days, not hours. And everything worth seeing is so far apart!

After finally getting out of Perth on the first day we made it to the Pinnacles, some strange rocks which stick out of the desert planes. And this being Australia, there isn't just one or two, there are hundred over a fairly big area. We drove around and made the mistake of deciding to walk about. Our first encounter with the flies seemed bad but was nothing compared with what was to come!!

The next day we drove up the coast and stopped off at the beach. It was stunning. White soft sand, clear blue, turquoise and green waters, just perfect. All the beaches along the west coast are like this. And usually fairly quiet too. I've never been much of a fan of beaches or swimming in the sea but in western Aus I couldn't help but want to jump straight into the water and play in the sand! Later we fed the kangaroos at a wildlife rescue sanctuary where they rescue the animals after being hurt on the road or orphaned. They are very cute, and quite gentle for such large animals, though i wouldn't like to put this to the test, i reckon they've got a lot more power in those scrawny little arms than it looks. We camped in a cute little caravan site and made full use of the pool!! Nearly all campsites here have pools and BBQs - God bless Australia. We had dinner and played cards and realised at about 11.30 that we had been sitting in the corner of the BBQ area called the beer and bullshit corner - how appropriate.

We carried on up the coast the next day making a small (200km) detour to meet Prince Leonard, the Prince of Hutt River Province. Have a look at the website! www.principality-hutt-river.com The heat was unbelievable - dry and dusty and with flies all over the place. We sent some postcards with Hutt river stamps, and the boys had their passports stamped by the prince himself! We finally arrived in Kalbarri town which is next to a National Park but i was not in the mood to look around - I was so hot, tired and pissed off with all the flies! They just gather around you and go for your nose and eyes and most horribly your lips. But thankfully they dissappear when it gets dark and we had a BBQ that night and played cards. In the morning we fed the pelicans before making our way up to Monkey Mia which is famous for the dolphins which come into the shallow waters every morning.

The campsite was lovely and we headed straight for the sea when we arrived! At dinner, Brendan introduced the rest of us to goon, basically, cheap white wine in a box, called goon as this is the aboriginal word for pillow, and goon was to become our new travelling buddy, turning up at dinner most nights and staying well after dinner was finished. After dinner we sat on the beach and Brenden pointed out the southern cross in the sky! In the morning we got up early and went down to the sea and sure enough the dolphins were there, along with a huge crowd of tourists. They were totally at ease, swimming about in the shallows with all the people watching.

We had a lazy day, reading, going to a lookout point to see the sharks in the waters below, playing tennis and swimming in the pool . But most importantly we bought fly nets! Lovely green netting to go over your head! Whoever came up with this idea is a genius!

We left Monkey Mia the next day and drove to Carnarvon. Not a very exciting little town but the flies weren't so bad! On the 10th we drove up to coral bay, stopping to snorkle on the way. I hadn't snorkled before but i borrowed Brendan's snorkle stuff and it was amazing.   There were so many fish!  Maybe a stupid statement but  never really thought about how many little fish there are in the sea!  Little bright blue ones in small groups, big flat silver/grey fish, green fish, coral, and the boys even saw a shark and a giant turtle!  

The next couple of days we spent just chilling out, reading books, sitting on the beach, having BBQs and enjoying the pools at the campsites as we made our way to Exmouth.  The Ningaloo reef in this area has good snorkeling too.   After Exmouth we started on the road to Karijini National Park, stopping one night in a road house where there were millions of grasshoppers, who we had fun trying to keep out of our tent, and loads of frogs in the showers!  It was sucha funny place - like out of an American movie, where the only thing on the road is this petrol station where the pumps are from the 50s and most of the vehicles going by are long-distance trucks.  The boys who work there do long shifts and live on site - there's not even a town around where they might live!  I can't imagine living there - it is truely in the middle of nowhere!

The next day we got to Karijini NP and set up camp in the mot basic campsite, and headed off for the first of many gorge walks, walking down into Dales gorge and finding a beautiful waterfall (Fortesque Falls) with a perfect natural swimming pool at the bottom.  It was so hot and this was the most perfect end to the day.  We had a BBQ that night by torch light as there are no lights in the park and looked up at the Milky Way which was so clear and bright.  We hung our rubbish up in a tree that night as there are no bins and we didn't want the dingos to get at it but in the middle of the night Brendan woke up to see a dingo approaching our tent!  He yelled at it and it ran away (my hero!) but in the morning we found all our rubbish all torn up and lying all around our camping patch!!  

The next day was bound to be baking hot again so we set off early for a walk in the gorge.  It is so much cooler down in the gorge and we had stunning walk through the gorge with all the different rocks and waterfalls and pools.   We spent three days walking through the different gorges in the NP and each one was more beautiful than the last.  It was a wonderful place and easily the highlight of our trip.  It is so special to be surrounded by nature - being able to see the layers in the rocks which formed more years ago than i can comprehend.  And being so far from a town as well is just lovely for a few days.  But the heat in the day and having no shade can be tough - the sun in Australia is so much stronger than anything else i have experienced.  I have managed to get around Asia for 5 months and only been sunburnt once, and I've not even picked up much of a tan, but after just a few weeks in Australia I'm browner than I've ever been!  

We spent the next two day in the car driving back to Freemantle just outside Perth where we booked into a hostel.  It's a sweet wee town, on the coast, with a "cappuccino strip" and hundreds of backpackers working in the cafes.  Ralf, Brenden and I went over to Rottnest Island for a night, hired bikes and cycled round the whole island.  It was a lovely end to our trip.  

We had so much fun on our road trip and I am so glad to have been traveling with these lovely boys and I was sad to say goodbye when it was time to catch my flight to Sydney.  It was really nice to see western Australia, I think the things i will remember are how much time we spent outdoors, which I guess you have to when camping, the flies, the extreme heat, the pools at the many campsites, the BBQs, Karijini NP, the boys, Maggie (our car), driving along roads for miles and miles where the scenery doesn't change and there isn't really anything much to lok at out the window, and just how absolutely massive Australia is!!  How long roads can be! 

Thank you Asia.

I am so sad to be leaving Asia. This is a very special place. It has given me so much. And it is the people who make it so special. They have shown me so much about life, about ways to live and how to be happy. And they have done it in a quiet, peaceful, friendly way, never pushing or insisting but offering help when asked for.

It has been more than i thought it could be! I dreamed of my travels and wondered what they would bring me, but i never imagined or dared to believe it would be as good as this, or as life changing. I have been thinking about all the places i have been, the people i have met, the things i have seen, the things i have experienced and there have been so many moments when i have just felt like the luckiest girl in the world. The people I have met have made this trip so special. Not just the wonderful people who i have made real life long friendships with but also the people i met, day to day, the people who run the guest houses, Internet shops, food stalls. So many have taught me about how to be, how to act, how to be kind, how to be courteous and how every action and word has a knock on effect. How important it is to have a positive impact on those you meet. I am going to try to write done the things i will take with me from this wonderful trip and all the things that make Asia so special.

It's the man sweeping the streets in Singapore who looks at me smiles and pops his top teeth out and sucks them back in with a big grin, which gets even bigger when i laugh at him.

It's climbing up to the sixth storey of a car park Kuching, Borneo, and finding the most fantastic seafood stalls, who will cook up fresh prawns in black pepper sauce.

It's the madness of India, the dirt and heat all mixed together. It is packed with people but they don't seem to mind. It's being woken every morning by the sound of a man hacking up and knowing that I am so lucky not to have that as my alarm bell for the rest of my life. But it's the poverty, the child with rags and no shoes, his dirt covered, tear stained face holding out his hand for a few rupees, and the mother who goes from rickshaw to rickshaw as they stop at the lights hoping someone will give a few rupees to her and her child. And the piles of rubbish all over the place. Seeing the plastic bottle you put in the bin being thrown into the river to be washed downstream... Nothing is a surprise in India, everything is just the way it is...

It's the peace of Laos, the calm and the beauty. The smile of each person when you say thank you in their language "kawp tchai". It's the slow mindful way there make your food and help you out.

It's the smells, the spices of India, the urine and sewage, the cow smell and dirty dog smell. It's the incense and flowers from the temple on the corner. It's the coconut in Thailand and the seafood in Malaysia.

It's being in India and realising that you now think it's normal having to swerve onto the other side of the road into the 3 lanes of oncoming traffic to avoid the cow milking it's calf in the middle of the roundabout. And you think you've got a slow, bad driver when he actually stops at road signs. It's unpaved roads and bumpy journeys in old buses with seats that are no longer attached to the floor. But it's also reaching Thailand and being so happy to have air con buses and flat smooth roads.

It's the banter and the bartering and realising that nothing has a fixed price and everything is for sale. It's the constant hassle to buy but no problem when you don't.

It's the magic of each different country. Each one with it's customs and cultures which are mixed so strongly with their religions and spirituality that they can almost no longer be separated. India, this place like no other, where all religions and spiritual ways are revered and respected. Where the Hindu caste system is deeply ingrained. With temples on top of mountains and people making pilgrimages over thousands of miles. It's the willingness of the Indians to accept the leader of a different religion to their own as a refugee from his own country and to treat him with respect. And to happily live side by side with the thousands of his people who followed and turned McLeod Ganj into a Tibetan town not an Indian one. And it's the Tibetan monks with their saffron red robes and mobile phones. It's the continual sounds of "om mani padme hom" being chanted in every cafe and in every monastery. It's the monks debating, clapping, stamping and laughing and smiling.
It's Thailand where the King is a demi-god to be praised and the Buddha is the teacher to follow. With all the gold Buddhas housed in lovely Thai temple. And Laos, where the temples are not so extravagant but old and with atmosphere. Malaysia with it's mixture of Muslims and Chinese Buddhist/Taoists. Where some women wear headscarves, some full burkas and others high heels and short skirts. And Brunei, with the most beautiful Islamic architecture, and the most extravagant marble mosques.

It's the amazing food! The spices, the coconut milk, the tom yam, the noodles, the curry, the rice rice rice rice rice rice rice rice rice..... The night market in Brunei. And the excitement of finding an Italian restaurant run by an Italian in Chiang Mai! It's the awful food which leaves you running to the toilet every hour for 3 days! And how do they make profit on a meal that costs less than a pound?

It's actually learning you prefer squat toilets!

It's swiss cottage and swiss hill. And arriving in Chandigargh with Frida and the 2 of us wondering if we had fallen asleep and woken up in a different country!

It's McLoed Ganj, the Dalai Lama arriving home in his car, doing the kora, Buddhism, Richard, Venerable Deyke, Ruth, Lucy and Frida again. It's Este, and Hedwig, Tibetans and meditation. It's learning tibetan cooking in Llamos kitchen and seeing the whole milky way in the sky then snuggling up in my sleeping bag at night.

Walking in the rainforest in Laos and Borneo, and in the Cameron highlands in Malaysia. Gazing in wonder as the sun sets over the slow vast Mekong in Laos. Hiring 1950s bicycles in Luang Prabang and the 7 of us cycling round the town.

The people and moments i remember.

Sitting on the back of Victors motorbike, wind blowing in my face, the sun going down, arriving at the temple and hundreds of others already at this out of the way temple. Trekking in the Himalayas with Johnathan, Frida and Ofir. Being so proud of myself for managing the first day, then getting altitude sickness and food poisoning the next day!

Leila, my first friend.

The old man who ran the internet shop at Swiss cottage in Rishikesh and who thought i was lovely.

It's meeting Sophie and Ryan in Vientiane in the dorm.

In Thailand meeting Cassie, Nick, Brad and Simon in Pai and realising how many great people there are in the world. In Borneo meeting Bruno, Lucy, Amanda, the lovely guy who ran the guest house in Kuching(!). The wonderful Abdul in Brunei who shows tourists around, just to put good feeling into the world and so that when he travels people will show him around.

It's the endless shopping malls beyond your imagination in Malaysia. And the Wonderful chance meetings you have that lead to lasting friendships. Maryam, who let me live at her condo with her for nearly 2 weeks in total! And her lovely friend Sahal who drove us around. And it's the amazing conversations and the amount you can learn from each person you meet. The beautiful Saudi girls who had me over for tea.

And Thailand, 0h my beautiful Thailand! what can I say! Backpacker heaven! How I love thee! You give me a comfy bungalow to rest my weary head in and you massage my back and feet! What a wonderful country and what wonderful people. The lovely Thai people, the fabulous food, tom yam mmmmmm.

And it's the chances I have had to learn about people, people from all over the world. And the chances to learn about meditation and Buddhism. I am so very lucky to have had all this - may I never forget that.

I wish i could remember all the things i had done and all the experiences i have had, but in a way it doesn't matter if i can remember or not because they have happened and have marked me and Asia I am so grateful for all you have given me.

I take it back...

Ok, I take it back, KL is not a particularily multi cultural place and Thailand is once again the most fab place to be a backpacker! People of different races may live here in KL but I would not feel comfortable living here! I am so fed up of standing out in a crowd. All i want is for people to look at me and just see another person, and for them not to even be interested enough to look. I am tired of always being whistled and hissed at for attention. I do not want men on motorbikes to shout at me as they go by and i might kill the next man who tells me he loves me the moment he sees me!!!

Why is my white skin so interesting? Does my blonde hair actually make me any different? I don't mind little kids pinching me or hiding behind their mums and peering at me because i look dfferent. I dont even mind women who look at me because they do it in a friendly way and don't generally ask me anything rude, they are just interested in where i'm from and what i'm doing here just as i am interested in them and their lives. But i am so tired of men pestering me and who think it is ok to talk to me and treat me differently from the women from their own culture. And this isn't just Malaysia, it has been all through my travels. Sometimes it feels like men don't see just a women, they see a white women, a foreigner on her own. They see $$$ signs and casual sex.

I am so ready to be back in a properly multi-cultural place. London rocks because i honestly don't think anyone even sees what race anyone is anymore because we are all races and all Londoners. But maybe i am sadly mistaken, because i am a white girl in london with friends from all over the world. Maybe it is different for other races living there. I hope not - because racism and stereotyping due to race/ethnicity is the stupidest thing! Maybe we are defined by the culture we are brought up in but this is not defined by the colour of our skin.

I can't wait to get to australia, I'm very excited to get back to normality- a job and a flat. And also to a culture i am familiar with. I have loved travelling, and i know i will do it again, but it is hard work being surrounded all the time with the unfamiliar. Five months has been enough, i feel tired and ready to get back to reality!

Beach bum

Ah, the life of a beach bum is pretty good, and very lazy. So in between all the sun-worshipping i will update my blog for all you lucky people with snow back home (i am very jealous, i love the snow!)



I am in Langkawi, a small island off northwestern Malaysia, and very close to Thailand. It is just beautiful, and i think my favourite tropical island so far. White sand, blue skies, warm blue sea, just like a postcard. And now that Chinese new year holidays are over it is fairly quiet too.



After leaving Borneo i flew to Singapore and got the bus up to Malacca in the south west coast of Malaysia. This was an important town in the days of the British empire, and has been Portuguese, then Dutch, then British. And all these influences make it a truly fascinating place. Ruined churches, old forts, palaces, Chinatown. The European influence is everywhere, large imposing colonial buildings and old statues of former glory. I fell in love with the town. Walking around the old streets of china town and along Harmony Street, where there are old Chinese temples, mosques and churches. And all the residents are so friendly - i met a guy who makes old Chinese shoes for bound feet. He only makes them now to sell to tourists but his father and grandfather were shoe makers and made shoes for women with bound feet. The shoes were tiny! Baby sized! No bigger than a childs size 12.

Malacca was a great intro to Malaysia, to get a sense of the history here. The country has been independent (form Britain) for 50 years, and they are all very proud to be Malaysian. But the British have had a big impact here, not just that everyone speaks English. For the British, Malaysia had many resources and to make the most of them they needed workers, so they encouraged people who wanted to work to move here, (i think some time in the 19th century) and so thousands of Chinese and Indians moved here to work. The population is now a mixture of these 3 cultures, and there is much talk about the racial/cultural differences between them. But to tourists, the government wants us to know that everyone lives in harmony, and happily together. Sometimes this seems true, sometimes not. I was chatting to a guy staying in my hostel in KL about it - he is Malaysian, half chinese/half malay and he had a hard time growing up as neither community would truly accept him. He speaks only Malay, but has given up his Islamic faith and become a Christian.

Kuala Lumpur (KL) is the capital of Malaysia, and the most western place i have been, apart from Singapore. It is a really fun, young lively city. I went to see the Petronas twin towers and manages to get a ticket to go up to the skybridge which connects them and gives spectacular views over the city. And of course, this being Malaysia, at the bottom of the towers is a shopping mall - but no ordinary mall. This is where Jimmy Choo, Gucci, LV, Channel etc all have their shops in KL, so i window shopped for a few hours.

When I was in Brunei, I met an Italian guy who now lives and works in KL. He was having a party on the Saturday after i arrived for Chinese new year and he invited me along. It was like the UN, people from every where at this party! We went out to a club after and i am pleased to report that they play the same old music here that they play in the clubs back home - some things never change.

I met a lovely Iranian girl called Maryim at the party, and she invited me to a Saudi friends birthday party the next night. It was so much fun - i was pretty much the only European there, and they were all doing Persian/Arabic dancing and having a great time (all alcohol free of course - but making as much noise and having as much fun as we do!) They made me feel so welcome, and two Saudi girls (friends of Maryims) invited us to their flat for tea after the party, so at 3am we wondered across the hallway to theirs for a cup of tea.

Maryim invited me to stay at hers until i left KL so i moved into her beautiful condo(!) the next day, and I mentioned i was going to go to the Cameron Highlands for a couple of days, and she had never been so she wanted to come along. We invited her Saudi friend who drove us there the next day. We had such a fun time. Went for a long walk in the forest and in the hills, looked around a tea plantation, strawberry farm, bee farm, sat in Starbucks from11pm until 3am discussing religion/politics and our different cultures. It was amazing.

I like to think of myself as someone who knows about different religions and ideas, but really i only know about the western interpretation of these different ideas (if i know anything at all!)

But really, the things that came out, are that we are all the same. We are all just people searching for happiness, and meaning in our lives, and all religions try to offer this in different ways. But they all teach the fundamental things in life - like peace, compassion, love and they all try to instill in their followers some ethics and morals.

Also, the differences came out - they had never heard of Buddhism, Tibet and the Dalai Lama but they had a good understanding of Christianity and the fact that the 3 major religions all pray to the same God. They were not aware that in Europe and the west a woman can be granted a divorce as easily as a man. He has never felt the need to question his religion, but she has, but for me coming from the UK the right to question and openly discuss, criticise and comment on religion is a basic fundamental freedom and a basic human right.

They also both view the US as the most free country in the world, and a place where opportunity in life is possible. Where everyone can find success. Both of my new friends are very well educated and very intelligent young people and have lived and studied outside their own countries and it was fascinating for me, and i hope for them also, to be able to talk about all these fascinating things and for me i feel like i have such a greater understanding of Islam and middle-eastern culture, just from talking to them and listening to them, and from being free to ask them all my questions without either side taking offence to questions or answers.

For me, this is why i am traveling. Not just to see to world, but to experience it. To meet people who i may never have the chance to come into contact with in my own country and culture. And each of these wonderful people can teach me so much. They all show me the beauty of their own culture and they are shaping and forming my thoughts and opinions and helping me realise that there is no they, because there is no us, because there are only people, and we are all the same. And that if only we could all do this - meet and talk, laugh and discuss, wouldn't we all find a connection with each other. Wouldn't we all just get along in this world - or am i being too idealistic? I hope not.

KL

I think KL is a very multicultural place. And it's such a fun place too. People are very western, but polite, and friendly too!

Having arrived in penninsular Malaysia from Malaysian Borneo, the difference is massive. Borneo is still far more developed than i imagined it to be but Malaysia is so western I can't get over it. They all speak english, even those who have nothing to do with tourists speak english. I was having lunch today in a sushi restaurant in the food court of a very posh shopping mall at the foot of the twin towers, watching the sushi float past me on the conveyer belt and listening in to four Malaysian women out for lunch and some shopping. They all looked Malaysian, one had a muslim head scarf, and they were all chatting away in english they could have fitted in anywhere, London or New York, it was like they were from sex and the city, four girls out for lunch! They caught me smiling at them as they were laughing and said that they had been on a shopping spree, they didn't plan on it but it just happened! How familiar!

The population here is 70%Malaysian, then Chinese, then Indian, and a fair few westerners and blow me down there's some black folk here too - I stared like it was the first time i'd seen a black man! Didn't mean to but I was sure he must be just a very dark Indian! It's been four whole months since I last saw a non-white, non-asian!
70% of the economy however is in Chinese hands. And I think I have met as many Chinese as I have Malay.

Everyone dresses very well, and very western - leg warmers in 30degrees and high humidity anyone? And shopping seems to be the national sport. The malls are the national stadiums. There aren't really shops along the streets like we have on our high streets, there are just huge big shopping complexes, bigger than I have seen in the UK. And the nice ones are really nice! Beautiful lavish entrances and the lovely breeze of a/c as you walk in. I accidently found myself in one just after arriving in KL at about 2 in the afternoon and didn't find my way out until it was dark! 7 o'clock i made it back out to find it dark and raining. But i'll tell you what, it's good exercise walking round those places, I was shattered. Whoever says shopping is not a sport was a man who had never shopped in a Malaysian mall.

I was also hugely excited to find TOPSHOP!!!! But less excited to find that the biggest size they stock here is a size 12 and that having enjoyed all the fab food on my travels, i am no longer a british size 12. Oh shit. And I was even less happy to discover that in Malaysian shops a size 12 is an XL, and asking for an XXL is just way too humiliating an experience, so I'll drown my sorrows with a latte and a muffin from the food court, yum!

Guess I'd better mention Borneo! What an adventure, and what a lovely place. It is more developed than I thought it would be, but the transport links are rubbish! People seem to have a fairly good standard of living in the cities but outside the cities everything is very basic.

But the real attraction of Borneo is the Orang-Utans, the people of the forest. Orang = people, utan = forest. And they are such fun to watch. I went to the sanctuary in Sabah, the northern part of Borneo, where they raise orphaned babies and then try to rehab them and release them back into the jungle. When they are old enough they stop living in cages and are put back into the jungle and fed twice a day. As they get more comfortable fending for themselves they are moved further into the forest until they no longer come back for food or shelter. In Sepilok rehab centre the orang utans were waiting for the keepers to arrive with the food, one even came and sat on the railing just in front of all the tourists! They are quite slow-moving and this makes them appear very graceful. I also went to another sanctuary in Sarawak, southern malaysian Borneo, just outside the capital city of Kuching. Yes, I went 3 times to see the Orang-utans, I got a little obsessed! And I loved this other centre. The keepers called the Orang-utans with an orang-utan styleeee call, and in they swung on the trees. First two small females, who grabbed some bananas and then scarpered as they heard Big Ritchie approaching! Big Ritchie, or just Ritchie to any non-Scots, is the dominant male at the centre, and the poor trees were giving under his weight as he made his way slowly to the feeding platfrom. He is about 100kg, about 1.4m tall, but with an arm span of more than 2m! And dominant males have more than 7 times an adult male humans strength, they could literally rip you in two. He has these large skin flaps on his cheeks to make him more handsome to the lady orang-utans, but how he ever gets close enough to them for the girls to be impressed is a mystery if he continues to make an entrance like that and scare them all away!

Anyhoo, am feeling tired so will write more about Borneo another time, off for a wee walk before bed. Night night, x

N. Thailand

I spent a couple of weeks in the north of Thailand and I met the most wonderful people. It's funny how when you meet people you know right away if you are going to get on.

I stayed with Susannon and Albert in a small Lisu (one of the hill tribes, who originate from Tibet and Nepal but now live around the Thai/Myanmar border) village for 6 days, just reading and relaxing. Albert is from the US and Susannon is part of the tribe. They live in a traditional teak house and live a very peaceful life in the village. It was lovely to be a part of it for a few days. Susannon is now a Christian and she took me to the Lisu Christmas party, which was basically a stage set up in a field, with a marquee roof for the audience and some straw to sit on. The Pastor gave him sermon and then several groups from the village got up on stage and sang songs or danced. It was so cute! It was the most Xmassy i felt the whole time, sitting on the straw in the cold night. I could have done with a nice cosy fire to go home to! But the only fire is the one outside they cook on, so i went home and curled up under my 5 blankets!! Northern Thailand is pretty cold in the winter!

And after this I went to Pai. A small town which is full of tourists - both western and Thai. On the first day (Xmas day) I met this old hippy guy - long hair, bright pink shorts, from California... Anyway somehow i couldn't escape him until after dinner when i had to go and call home to say merry Xmas! But the next day i went to mama's yoga class and it's the first time there have ever been more guys in my yoga class than girls! There were only 3 of us - me, Simon (English) and Brad (Aussie). They had met a few days before in a restaurant and asked me after class if i wanted to to for a cycle to the hot springs along the road - of course i did! Brad introduced me to his other half, Nick, and in those few minutes i had made some great friends for the rest of my time in Pai! They were so lovely and the next day Cassie was at yoga so she joined our little gang and then we were complete!!

It is so nice to meet people who you can really talk to and who you just understand. It doesn't seem to happen very often in life, and travelling I've met a lot of people but not many who I honestly think i will see again. But I really hope to see these guys again. They made Pai what it was - and it was fab!

And again today, I joined a group to go around the Kinabalu NP here in Borneo and there were 3 Aussie couples in the group - all middle-aged. One of the guys had had a stroke, he couldn't speak and walked slowly but without a stick, and his wife was so patient, and treated him exactly as she would have before the stroke, it is so nice to see. Sometimes people are just living their life without realising how well they do it, and how much respect they deserve for coping with the traumas they have gone through. And one of the other couples were both teachers, and really interesting people who both obviously loved their jobs and were so happy together and complimented each other so well, and it's nice to see that!

So anyhoo, I'm in Borneo now and it's stunning! Spent New Year in Singapore (where funnily enough i met more Scots than i have on the rest of my trip! We don't seem to travel round these parts much... The Dutch are definitely in the lead!). Singapore was a real shock to the system. It was like being in Europe, but where everyone is Chinese but speaks in English!? They have an overland/subway system, the MRT, and it in clean, modern and oh so quiet, i reckon it could compete with the tube for quietness. Nobody talks.

Singapore really does feel western. It is clean, tidy and efficient. And they love to shop! I have never seen so many shopping malls lining the streets! And so I figured i would go and do something i haven't done since going travelling - go to the cinema!!! It was great! Will Smith rocks!

Everywhere is air-conditioned - and so they all dress like us even though it's 30degrees and 90%humidity outside.

It seemed to me like a city of couples. And I took a walk around the city on my last night and walked along the harbour and it was just lined with couples - couples holding hands, couples kissing, couples sitting by the water, couples, couples, couples!!! But at least they show affection to each other, in some arts of SE Asia they don't even seem to touch. And in India they don't even acknowledge each other, men and women interact as little as possible. So I guess that was an improvement.

But it also made me realise how much more at home i feel in that society. In a culture where men and women can have a conversation where the first question isn't "are you married?". And that i really like western toilets, and soap being provided to wash your hands. I like wide tree-lined streets and being in cafes where the main customers are locals not foreigners (because they are the only ones who can afford it!). I like being in a society where everyone feels equal, where they all earn a fair wage, and can afford to spend S$5 on a coffee. And I like being able to walk around the city. It isn't too big, and not too small either. It was fun for a few days to be back to a reality i am familiar with. But my wallet didn't like it! Thank goodness I'm not much of a shopper or it could have been dangerous!

And now I'm in Malaysian Borneo and the digs and food are cheaper but there are so many things I want to see and do here that my budget is going out the window - oh well, I might never be here again, so I'm not gonna miss out!