tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40236434588767159502024-03-13T09:34:53.682+06:00The Bhutanical Adventures of Dave GreenA Year in the Land of the Thunder Dragon and Beyond...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-32036200756844926222021-03-24T03:04:00.003+06:002021-03-24T03:04:47.273+06:00Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty Covered by David Green (www.davidgreenson...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B0Ye7TVB8es" width="320" youtube-src-id="B0Ye7TVB8es"></iframe></div><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-13394651966118582092020-08-30T18:58:00.001+06:002020-08-30T18:58:21.156+06:00To the Democratic Republic of Congo Go I<p>Here we are again back on the blog I set up for my adventure to Bhutan some years back. This time around it's quite the adventure. I'm off to Lubumbashi in DRC to take up the position of Head of Secondary in a brand new school. It's going to be fluid. Full of unseen challenges and rewards, both professionally and personally. I'm excited about getting back to Africa. When I was motorbiking around Uganda I accidentally went into the no-man's land on the Congolese border. An army man chased me and brought me back, leading to a spectacularly hilarious conversation with a plain-clothes border master who tried to pull the old 'your visa isn't valid' trick as a means to extract dollars from me. I managed to squeak out of that one with my dollars intact, but that's the closest I got. </p><p>Obviously the DRC has a reputation and some of my loved ones have expressed concern about me going. I'm no idiot but I'm also aware of all the cognitive biases that lead us to draw conclusions about faraway places. In my experience most places have people and people are people. That said, I shall take care and be sensible. I'll be looked after; the guys at the school will look after me :-)</p><p>I'll be posting here as and when I'm able or inspired so check in if you'd like to know what it's like. And wish me luck xx</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyY9RfNicVzd8PON7td1h5xysnHbw8LVqFJJ__nDP3s-0fPpYmoBMJ_5Sj9-_beowodsKHSXYFdOFtQMwixd4kzIwakjHkNoW_0jq7JPzou-TMrDw6NT1xLf-od2DxM18U8FnqBxAmSVI/s1408/Screenshot+2020-08-30+at+13.57.36.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyY9RfNicVzd8PON7td1h5xysnHbw8LVqFJJ__nDP3s-0fPpYmoBMJ_5Sj9-_beowodsKHSXYFdOFtQMwixd4kzIwakjHkNoW_0jq7JPzou-TMrDw6NT1xLf-od2DxM18U8FnqBxAmSVI/s640/Screenshot+2020-08-30+at+13.57.36.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-27687135879665980262018-10-11T07:56:00.001+06:002018-10-11T07:56:35.707+06:00Solfamara!!! I’m in a band!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the concerns i had before leaving the UK was about music. I’d juat crowdfunded £6k to make an album and I ‘should’ have been all hands to the greasy pump to promote it and get everybody to listen to it. I never felt comfortable with all that jazz. But I was dead proud of what we’d made. The reality of the situation came slamming down at the album launch, which despite being magical and lovely and wonderful was a barely-break-even affair, and only really because all the splendidly talented and very busy super-musicians who played on the album did the launch gratis. But to get that full band out on the road, I’d need to get gigs paying close to a grand. To get those sort of gigs you need to ‘be someone’ or have a decent following on things like social media. Have you ever run a social media marketing campaign. Urgh. So in the summer I did a few solo gigs like I always used to do. Great fun, but not GREAT fun like standing on a stage with 7 or 8 instruments, minds and souls all playing together. I could have tried to get a band together in the UK. I didn’t. I moved to Kenya, wondering what musical adventures I’d stumble into.<br />
<br />
Here we go... Solfamara. A band. We’ve played 3 gigs already, one in a cool as eggs nightclubat the witching hour, one warm up practice gig in a tent and then this Sunday just gone, a two set, twenty song gig. The video footage was a bit ropey, but this track came out alright. Feelin’ Good.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-37449536907717168022018-10-10T11:39:00.003+06:002018-10-10T11:56:14.465+06:00You're Never On Your Own<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I found some time to scribble a song and then record it, rough around the edges, all good fun. A song for anybody wondering whether or not to jump in the river and go swimming to somewhere entirely different and new. It doesn't matter where you go - you're never on your own :-)<br />
<br />
In the meantime, Solfamara, the band I've joined, went gigging this weekend and it was fab. Soooo much fun. Footage to come soon.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You're Never On Your Own</div>
</h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I've been walking in these feet so long I do not know where we belong</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My love, just sing along: cos I do not know quite yet where we belong.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We can find most anything we need</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In a landslide or another's eye<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(oh the way she looks at me)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But hold on - don't wash yourself clean.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This river's running faster than you can feel<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(if you let it in)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Heaven knows there's no place I'd rather go than right here in this moment.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Welcome home, wherever you may wander or where those feet do roam.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You're never lost in life.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You're never on your own.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Take care of what you find there.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You're never on your own.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Ease that weary mind.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You're never on your own.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You'll be alright.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.davidgreensongs.com/">www.davidgreensongs.com</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_r6Ft_UjcVDWzk2eymomPQ" target="_blank">YouTube</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-39197201933781943052018-10-07T13:03:00.000+06:002018-10-07T13:03:16.745+06:00Video evidence - yes I am really here....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here you go folks, with some shameless plugging of the last track of the album. I wonder how many of you reached it :-)<br />
<br />
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<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/unsteady-on-our-feet/1305970650" target="_blank">The Bluest Skies </a></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(written with just a stick and no guitar whilst walking across Spain !)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Swallows Dive in a heat haze shimmering
Fish fly in the river there, glistening
I'm gonna sit right here and take it all in
You walk by like a ghost in a hurricane
Blown by, you don't feel anything
Sit right here and take it all in
The rest of the world is a distant dreaming thing
Far from the city on the mountain's skin
Go you and I with brand new wings
We changed our lives
We don't ever have to go back and be it again
Do you get the feeling it will be alright
Do you get the feeling it will be just fine
When I'm walking and you're walking by my side
There's nothing but the bluest skies
I don't have a destination
I don't have cares to mention
I don't have worrying on my mind
Don't have no fear of failure
Don't let that chain derail you
Hold your head up high and walk on by</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/unsteady-on-our-feet/1305970650" target="_blank">Buy it on itunes :-)</a></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-3798414334486321542018-10-04T09:25:00.001+06:002018-10-04T09:25:26.384+06:00Update... I'm here...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">So
what's been happening?</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I've been here over a month
now, settled into a groove... it's time to send a mission report back to my
loved ones and anybody else who may alight on this blog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Greensteds
School, Nakuru, Kenya, Earth Date 2018...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">All is well. I am fine. I am happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My life is what I'd hoped for and more. It'll do :-) What did I want? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">To
be healthy.</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I am. I eat smoothies every morning
with banana, avocado, dates, flax and chia seeds, magic powders, ginger,
turmeric, yoghurt... there's a danger it's too healthy and my body won't cope. I swim some days, play
football twice a week at least, and there's yoga on Mondays and pilates on
Tuesdays. Most mornings I throw myself up on the wooden frame of my porch and
do pull ups too. Why not?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUswepKmRErWpQRZVUaKIsuoEaJSI5aJ2_5nc2v3WGH4kPOpDs-9xdAaYzzQLLu5yKHqQRRYWCBmanJDW8tbT-Jm9cV4ik1SKF1HIlSBbyjrtK7XTz_siXHZqG1sa01_zwT6u_zmwimk4/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1a9b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUswepKmRErWpQRZVUaKIsuoEaJSI5aJ2_5nc2v3WGH4kPOpDs-9xdAaYzzQLLu5yKHqQRRYWCBmanJDW8tbT-Jm9cV4ik1SKF1HIlSBbyjrtK7XTz_siXHZqG1sa01_zwT6u_zmwimk4/s320/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1a9b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">To
have more space and time.</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I do. My little home
overlooks the rift valley. Storms swirl in the distance, birds flutter, mist
crowds the trees in the mornings and no dawn is ever the same. I see it through
my window at the foot of my bed – I've stopped shutting the curtains to let it
in. My commute is, on a good day, about 45 seconds, but I still have almost
complete privacy up in paradise villas, as my neighbors and I affectionately
call our cul-de-sac. A small but massive benefit of this – I don't drive
anymore except for the rare occasions I take charge of somebody else's car, which is exciting for the novelty.
Well-being boost of not sitting in a car everyday doing the same journey... unquantifiable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I also employ a cleaner, which is expected - a way to filter some of the earnings into the local economy, and quite frankly, it's fabulous.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdBYfSo0ouQEwNrjmRDsZ4c-QgMUWiGXK0UWfKCGkDOYdRlNtQl-Bg_HRW0v1WWAgH9yB3G_JWuAHtt8VyFh9Px2PCfpaeCn4MIjqGqmEmSOdnGSqrz0P9fJ1llLZp-xiybsQC9te1G4/s1600/IMG_1042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="1600" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdBYfSo0ouQEwNrjmRDsZ4c-QgMUWiGXK0UWfKCGkDOYdRlNtQl-Bg_HRW0v1WWAgH9yB3G_JWuAHtt8VyFh9Px2PCfpaeCn4MIjqGqmEmSOdnGSqrz0P9fJ1llLZp-xiybsQC9te1G4/s640/IMG_1042.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">To
be able to teach.</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> I can. Class sizes are between 10
and 18, which means I can form relationships quickly and target the learning to
individual needs... you know... teach. Every circumstance has its challenges,
and they exist here, but with the numbers trimmed to where they should be
(perhaps a little beyond), everything unmanageable about comprehensive
education becomes manageable. The argument in the UK used to be economic and is
now structural too, but 30 kids in a classroom is just not conducive to any form of real education (leaving aside the absurd curriculum),
never was, never will be. They can tinker with the system as much as they like
but they'll make no progress until they find a way (or divert the money from
the Capital) to make class sizes practical. Rant. Can't help it. I'm programmed
to throw mud at psychopaths and millionaires. I am also teaching in a private
school in Kenya... I know. It hasn't escaped my attention, but herein lies
complexities to be tackled another time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-44l-sjB_C9OV1hki0Ll349XtJyRh79tJ_lNsY_mpEPpWBYOJBktGts7mbct8PlFFVD-aOjI3TFeq-z9_vtB5VY9fSZ-BPktk1HqjTR4UVzRZLLSARWRaURwh8N0jkbRMdyDSpNfcUM/s1600/IMG_1103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-44l-sjB_C9OV1hki0Ll349XtJyRh79tJ_lNsY_mpEPpWBYOJBktGts7mbct8PlFFVD-aOjI3TFeq-z9_vtB5VY9fSZ-BPktk1HqjTR4UVzRZLLSARWRaURwh8N0jkbRMdyDSpNfcUM/s320/IMG_1103.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">To
run with the river of life.</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> And experience new things.
In abundance. In just over a month I've been... holy moly... I can barely begin
to list it all. Climbing in Hell's Gate, swimming in geothermal spas, Lake
Boringo (wow), Lake Elementita, Lake Naivasha, hippos, giraffes, wild boar,
birds, birds, birds, and people! I'm lucky to be living next door to Meg and
Rose who basically tell me what to do with my spare time, and for the moment,
I'm happy with the arrangement. Every weekend has been fabulous and in a week
we're all off to Mozambique to cuddle whale sharks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image may contain: 1 person, standing, sky, ocean, child, outdoor, nature and water" height="320" src="https://scontent.fnbo1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/42858892_10155738304257747_8957084073092710400_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_eui2=AeETJX66LmFEtiteSH7od_EeOZG7GHNK839auzMVc7KWHuYs8Ie5hp-n6C9iHoIS0c5Qsju5enuRTNtLlw2Odl8uDqC826x-J210C1r2yeRr6w&oh=00e5528139a0a397d338ca71004782af&oe=5C1963A6" width="320" /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">To
rekindled my gratitude.</span></b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the days. For every morning of wake up
and smell the life pulsing through you. I felt it so strongly during and after
Bhutan, but somewhere along the way, I got worn down by stuff – it's my fault perhaps.
Commuting contributed, and parochialism, the sleazy politics of a gouty,
decaying nation (I became Irish just before I left), the prevalent attitude of
'yes it's all screwed up, but we must look after ourselves before we do
anything about it', and - grrrr - house prices (blurgh). And none of the above
really... just having good stuff to do, a bit of space to be creative, lots of
variety, good people around and no absurd levels of pressure in work is enough.
And of course, the blissfulness of mornings on my porch. I had much of this on the farm in Brinsea, and I was grateful for it, but not the 30 minutes in the car I had to spend to see my city friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Anyway, this school has a good vein of humanity flowing
through it, and a healthy respect for life, which is not synonymous with 'work'.
I can do the work and live, without too much compromise. This is a good thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyAeC_VZmpZSNc9T5bGQHyTs0SyNm4YyZcvaAM65n5H4Ls35neTi_H0z6Si_FAOgZsVP4RiVducPFTqWufAk_DRfdWRqXe0cE4Hnb94PXgmNUc-6l9PS-9IBsuwL_DZ9rKIs0usiaW2dw/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1ab6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyAeC_VZmpZSNc9T5bGQHyTs0SyNm4YyZcvaAM65n5H4Ls35neTi_H0z6Si_FAOgZsVP4RiVducPFTqWufAk_DRfdWRqXe0cE4Hnb94PXgmNUc-6l9PS-9IBsuwL_DZ9rKIs0usiaW2dw/s320/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1ab6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">To
decouple my concerns from money.</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> In Bhutan I spent
a year with no relationship whatsoever with my bank account. The money I earned
was never enough to afford any kind of meaningful savings, but it was more than
enough to live on, and there was nothing to buy in the shops. I checked my bank
account once to see that – oh surprise – nothing had changed. Similar (ish)
story so far: during the week, I spend nothing and never think about money. At
the weekends, I spend without thinking. Net result – no thinking. I don't know
if I'm rich or poor anymore </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span lang="EN-US"> The company who hosts my website wants $400 dollars for the
next 3 years. Ouch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8_hnWsBfStSDz8QXrq8NZ3lGLCQ9qXlQyUqCGU8a2jnFBbLe_8kTg_DZBxlvdQ-Uia3ul-4xsyDLaY_7r37pEsMpjbB_JEootX-NVo6NktM6iILaRauP8VxA_scJZZNJNmysQWLYfiU/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1b6c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8_hnWsBfStSDz8QXrq8NZ3lGLCQ9qXlQyUqCGU8a2jnFBbLe_8kTg_DZBxlvdQ-Uia3ul-4xsyDLaY_7r37pEsMpjbB_JEootX-NVo6NktM6iILaRauP8VxA_scJZZNJNmysQWLYfiU/s320/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1b6c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">The big
surprise...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1)
The Band</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> On Sunday I'm playing with Solfamara, the
band I've joined. Piano, bass, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, drums,
bongos/percussion, saxophone, singing shared by me, the drummer and the
saxophonist. Practice room is 20 seconds walk from my house. And they're all
amazing. Most of them are working here with the kids so are super talented and
technical too... I'm having to life my game and learn. We had a trial gig last
Sunday. Imagine how surreal it was... I'm walking out onto the stage, the only
white guy in the room (festival-style tent), with four guys behind me and we
launch into You Can Call Me Al and everybody gets up dancing. I play By The
River next with the band, and everyone is still dancing and hollering out and
having fun and it feels like... where the hell am I and how did this happen???
I can't wait for the gig this weekend. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><b>The Big Irritation...</b></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p>I'm up writing this at 5:45 am because I got fed up with the mozzies that have suddenly swarmed into existence after lulling me into a false sense of security, and the crappy net I brought won't stop falling into my face. The mozzies can bite through the gaps. I eventually got up and thwapped five, all bloated with my blood. Blurgh.</o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><b>In Conclusion</b></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">That's a brief (ish) update of me. I'm well - all is good for now. I've
written 4 songs in the past few weeks which is a good indicator of my sense of
well-being, but I haven't made any progress at all with the novel, which is
still tantalizingly close to the end. The plastics drive will continue and my new
batch of crime fighting superheroes are limbering up. I'm coaching a football
team, and a local team has asked me to play for them too. That's it. Newsround over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There's always shadow sides and
complexities to the way we live our lives; they have to be explored and
interrogated because therein lies the edges of our self and the lines of our
values, but for now...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Next stop Mozambique.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for tofo" height="213" src="https://www.neverendingfootsteps.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/tofo-street.jpg" width="320" /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-66723280276288147092018-09-04T15:31:00.003+06:002018-09-20T19:31:19.855+06:00The 'Beyond' Begins...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="p1">
<div class="p1" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
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<span lang="EN-US">This was always about Bhutanical
adventures, and wow! What an adventure that was in the Land of the Thunder
Dragon. Years have passed by but these restless wandering legs of mine don't
settle easily... so the 'Beyond Bhutan' bit finally begins...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12px;">
<span lang="EN-US">(warning - this post is a bit 'involved')<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12px;">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h2>
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #eeeeee; font-size: large;">Part 1</span></h2>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I was idling by a river last week enjoying
the play of light and the maundering burble of purling waters. Like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lJqllC7LjpkibGr9pK69SjBLzyyuGVdIuSNaQgPwfhzjtOe7tXyo2pozJBDp3lhqxAy3L-KoRPYBPuwlSHapexQ0yk_M9Gk7NqLz7qYgVx3rCeNVJZoy9I2Bw2jafeWzVjp37n8LvY8/s1600/IMG_0578.MOV" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lJqllC7LjpkibGr9pK69SjBLzyyuGVdIuSNaQgPwfhzjtOe7tXyo2pozJBDp3lhqxAy3L-KoRPYBPuwlSHapexQ0yk_M9Gk7NqLz7qYgVx3rCeNVJZoy9I2Bw2jafeWzVjp37n8LvY8/s320/IMG_0578.MOV" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="p4" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I was wondering
about 'Africa'. Why? Because I'm going there. For 2 years. I've taken a
teaching job near Nakuru in Kenya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I've been wondering
about 'Africa' since leaving Bhutan. I thought to myself, "if I ever do
this again, where would it be?" And there was nowhere else: Himalaya or
'Africa'. Kenya is my way in because that's where I found the school I
wanted. There's plenty of reasons to go. You probably know most of them.
There's plenty of reasons not to go too. This post is largely about reasons.
But it was written in Great Britain before leaving. That Great country of
ours. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KS9iGXZ8L0"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">Still
Great, after all these years.</span></b></a> Some people might want to stop reading
now (eek), but here we go...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">'The UK' - a
relatively safe and splendid pocket of the world. You can still live well if
you find a decent job and work hard (ish), eating Argentinian beef and New
Zealand lamb, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/shortcuts/2018/aug/08/posh-tonic-what-fever-trees-success-tells-us-about-late-capitalism"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">mixing
gin and tonics</span></b></a> and watching millionaires kick footballs. All the
natural teeth have long ago been pulled - we killed anything wild that
might kill us. The '<i>insert adjective</i>' Empire furnished us with such
an absurd headstart that wealth still runs like rivers through select channels
- some of my friends don't even need to work much because their family houses turn
the work of those less fortunate into an income for leisure; the landed gentry
has swelled to encompass those who still stick their flags in the ground
of liberals and socialists, an impossible balancing act. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Old Blighty has its
share of devils - it's an aggressive country with a government that excels in
sophisticated corruption, visibly on the decline with tatty airports and
falling apart schools and hospitals (see 'sophisticated corruption'), not to
mention being peopled largely by functioning workaholic/alcoholics - but as
Kylie opined, better the devils you know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The fabric is tearing
on this idyllic couch of ours and even when it feels hunky-dory - perhaps after
a stroll in the white-washed countryside and a few pints with a pie - tiny
cracks are chasming. We tell ourselves its ok, partly because pessimism isn't
really allowed, and <a href="https://phys.org/news/2009-07-recycling-bad-environment.html"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">we
recycle</span></b></a>! And we're all good people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It's ok!</span></b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Unless you have kids.
Then it niggles at you deep down that this lingering simulacrum of a cosy
existence, be it carved out or inherited, just isn't going to last. In ye olde
times, people used to leave things for the next generation; the new norm of
borrowing forward doesn't work when the next generation is facing bankruptcy,
both <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/29/millennials-struggling-is-it-fault-of-baby-boomers-intergenerational-fairness"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">economic</span></b></a> and <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gertrude-schaffner-goldberg/leaving-something-to-futu_b_5333221.html"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">environmental</span></b></a>. <i>Barring
a miracle of science or the supernatural, we are the dying embers of the
profligate age and our children's children look set to be the first ashes.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">A friend once told me that
the arrival of children signals the end of despair because you can't have a
child and simultaneously not have hope. She didn't mean that the child brings
this hope into your life. She meant that if you love your children, your heart
will break and break again if you let hope slip. So you fudge it or mangle it
or make do if you have to - you make it not go away, even if it means a
loosening of principles, a shift in politics, changes in behaviour. Or a
pulling down of shutters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">What do we do in a
world of<span style="color: #ffd966;"> </span><b><span style="color: #ffd966;"><span style="color: #ffd966;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/21/arctics-strongest-sea-ice-breaks-up-for-first-time-on-record"><span style="color: #ffd966;">ridiculously
melting away ice</span></a>,</span> <span style="color: #ffd966;"><a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/climate-change-made-2018-european-heatwave-up-to-five-times-more-likely"><span style="color: #ffd966;">heatwaves</span></a>,</span> <a href="https://plasticoceans.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwk_TbBRDsARIsAALJSObBY-RxR1tlwn1zquiyyXb16jT0QOi0IRhkZHS1j_fn3f6WqR-q4KsaAmbDEALw_wcB"><span style="color: #ffd966;">plastic
up to our knees</span>,</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-of-ecological-armageddon-after-dramatic-plunge-in-insect-numbers"><span style="color: #ffd966;">species
armageddon</span></a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/15/why-silicon-valley-billionaires-are-prepping-for-the-apocalypse-in-new-zealand"><span style="color: #ffd966;">tech-billionaires
buying bunkers</span></a></span></b> and <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fire-fire-everywhere-the-2018-global-wildfire-season-is-already-disastrous_us_5b5a1271e4b0de86f494ed28"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">forests
burning</span></b></a>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Quick! Buy a house and
hide in it. Work more. Only allow manageable quantities of the world in. Strive
hard for comfort and security, resist change. Buy I-Pads. Shop on Amazon. Watch
football or Netflix. Get drunk. Pull the shutters down, for God's
sake. Get through. Eeeek... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In the Chinese
Classic <i>Yueh Chi</i> - the Memorial of Music - it states
that: <i>music expresses the accord of heaven and earth. </i>In that
case...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGMYdalClU"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">We've slipped out of tune
with the world. Our way of life lacks basic harmony.</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
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Back to the purling
waters. What was I thinking about, sitting there wondering at the ripples? That
I could make a simple choice...<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>1)</b> Be like the water that pools at the edges
(supporting a narrow biome of life but growing fetid with time - symptoms:
hoarding stuff, buying houses, seeking security, pretending we'll live forever
etc).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>2)</b> Be like the water that purls and meanders
in the middle (playing with the light and keeping pace with the fizzling of
existence - symptoms: minimal stuff, tread lightly, engage with new experience,
live as if you'll be dust).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went for the second
option. This time. Perhaps as much out of habit as principle, but I
shunned the security of the backwaters and slipped into the river. Great
Britain is a backwater, for sure. From the vantage point of Bhutan it resembled
a doddery, old, farting, retired general trying to get the VHS working and
banging on about the sodding war all the time. I do love it. Parts of it. But I
wish it would stop wetting itself and dribbling on about immigration and the
royal family. I wish it would drop the Great and be honest about its place in
the world. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So I won't be putting
fuel under the belly of the banks by buying a house and I certainly won't <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/30/generation-rent-can-your-landlord-be-your-friend"><b><span style="color: #ffd966;">rent
it for profit</span></b></a>, pension or travel money to those less fortunate than me.
I may be an idiot on this front, but if I acted otherwise, the feeling that I
was something worse would gnaw at me. RANT: nobody should charge rent way
beyond the cost of their mortgage just because 'the market' says so, especially
to people they have the temerity to call friends; a free house should be enough
- shame on you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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(I mentioned this to
Ammato, my new neighbour - exactly this - and I asked him if he thought I was
an idiot, and he turned to me and said - NO! you re a socialist. Thank you
Ammato - you are the first person who hasn't treated me like a weirdo for it.
He went on to point out that socialism is not possible any more, so I may still
be the idiot. Capitalism has crept into everything; we used to call it greed,
now we call it necessity, when often it isn't. In Kenya, the government
actively legislates against socialism, possibly as a reaction to the failed
'socialist' states that emerged out of the post-independence scramble, mostly
headed up by egomaniacs who confused socialism for industrial revolutions and
the gathering of huge personal wealth and stature... where was I?) <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I certainly won't
change the world or any of these things. In Kenya I'll see wholesale corruption
on a crazy scale amid a Chinese land grab and an infrastructure campaign that's
being replicated all over the continent. If Russia and the Middle East now own
London, the Chinese are getting hold of Africa, which makes Mrs May's trip all the
more desperate and hilariously out of touch. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'll try to keep pace
with the fizzling of existence and playing with the light by going somewhere
alien and unfamiliar and find myself being... me. I'll strip back again, live
with less and tread lightly with small footprints. I'll go with the living
waters and try to put my concerns, cares and fears where they belong... in the
air. Fear makes us run to our fenced-off back gardens, and I get it - it
should. But let the wind have my fears, as it will one day have all of me when
this ends and I go back to the river. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bhutanese monks are
taught to envision their own annihilation and the end of everybody they know
and love on a daily basis. It's terrifying in our culture, liberating theirs.
We cling to permanence where there is none, they cleave to transience and change.
So - move to Africa. Why bother with <i>why</i> when you've got <i>why
not</i>? As the deputy head said to me, of course coming out here is nuts, but
you get to live in Africa! Meanwhile half the world is struggling to survive.
The other half is struggling to live well. And the Earth is struggling to keep
it all going, and more people are coming everyday to add to the mindless
trampling. But the light still plays on the rushing waters that purl and fizzle
and give life, time ticking by inexorably, as a steady illusion that binds our
egos to it all. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take your clothes off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let go your industry. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let slip some ambition. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jump in and go swimming
:-) <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: large;">Part 3</span></b></h4>
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Is this why I am going
to Kenya? Not entirely. I was forced to drive at 30mph on an empty four-lane M5
at midnight. That contributed too - bring on the flow of unregulated traffic,
let slip the controls. So partly, that too. And of course, lions. And hippos.
And colour. This sort of thing:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Next post will be less intense :-) and more
'pictures'</span><!--EndFragment-->
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-52286160782741714992017-07-24T05:02:00.003+06:002017-07-24T05:02:39.775+06:00Writing Myself Back into Bhutan...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm writing my character into Bhutan in the novel I'm working on and it's bringing back so many lovely memories of my times there. Starting with this! The legendary landing at Paro (see link below). When I was doing this I was up in first class (one of the only chances you get to fly first class without spending a fortune to do it), and almost all of us were teachers excited and giggly about what we were doing. Most of us had applied in March, found out we were going several months later, but didn't know which school we'd be at until late November. We finally arrived in the New Year - the year of the Male Water Dragon having dreamed about the moment for at least year, for some of us, like me... decades.<br />
<br />
When I was 21 I went into Waterstones and stood looking at a wall of Lonely Planets. I was going travelling for a year. But I hadn't decide where. Hours later I left with the Bhutan book and felt absolutely sure that was where I was going. But then I read the tourist tax info - 250 dollars a day!!! I couldn't go to Bhutan for a year on a student loan and savings from a year in London. So I shelved it and got the round the world ticket that I ended up having to throw away in Tasmania because it expired after a year and I was nowhere done with travelling after one year. In the year of the Male Water Dragon I had hit the age of reason. I was 35. That's 14 years I waited. I had to get qualified as a teacher first, then teach a bit. Now I'm 40 and I have to remind myself sometimes that I am the kind of person that makes his dreams come true instead of wondering about them.<br />
<br />
When the wheels struck the excitement fizzled. When the doors opened the clean high Himalayan air hit and it dawned on us - we were here. We had finally arrived! On the runway some of us stalled with emotion. I remember Reidi standing with her hand on her chest taking gasps. I was giddy. That was one of the best days of my life, paving the way for the creation of memories that I will never lose and will always shine with brilliance when I look back at them. I've often thought of returning. Maybe one day I will. But for now, I have to land Alex, get him safely to Thimphu, find him a suitable Gho and then drive him up to the lost valleys where an ancient brotherhood is waiting for him. Where better for an ancient brotherhood to hide away :-)<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_nQ8KazQnE" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_nQ8KazQnE" target="_blank">Landing in Paro</a></h3>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-47967078628983137232015-12-05T14:11:00.002+06:002015-12-05T14:11:46.539+06:00A Small Voice with a Lot to Say<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Democracy in Bhutan is unique in that the people did not ask for it - it was imposed by the king against the will of the people!</div>
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Following the pledge to become carbon neutral... they've now become carbon negative!</div>
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Can the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development match the spirit and action of Bhutan.</div>
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To do so the UN must stay relevant and reflect the geopolitical reality of today.... a wake up call from the closest thing we have to enlightened government</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/src=%22https://www.youtube.com/embed/FeEj5RpEfRs%22" target="_blank">Click to hear Tsering Tobgay's speech to the UN</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/src=%22https://www.youtube.com/embed/FeEj5RpEfRs%22" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6J6JG8tdXnocsM3JTwIALJn1cOyFO3-5Z6NvwwgUEzQzKjd9FkIt4AhkayG1PU8Tg4H9nAcAsjHZstydqk_HhlKCUrNnZC08mqr0ooM8MzGdzHifXSOoDlhsAZrRZ69q4CDvNgqSEiE/s320/tobgay-AFP.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-2130192736981490392015-03-25T00:41:00.001+06:002015-03-25T00:41:42.805+06:00A Virtual Drive Through Bhutan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is a great set of pictures, reminds me of a home I once had. </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/03/a-virtual-drive-through-bhutan/388454/" target="_blank">A Virtual Drive Through Bhutan</a></div>
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Such a great country to travel through and be in. My home is just off camera to the right on Number 10 - The Phuentsholing-Thimphu Highway. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIfWz8Um_JHRQjVddwi58Wgk8CCfdOql0nQfXuJ3hwiPUhA9SlgweicXYtjU9byldPR_TfsbWnG-J9vGfQF6lVuVV9aj3fkrgxLfwNhSidaXrlWlvpzgII9QY-CMIpQpZeQgQOlM-EFg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-24+at+18.40.04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIfWz8Um_JHRQjVddwi58Wgk8CCfdOql0nQfXuJ3hwiPUhA9SlgweicXYtjU9byldPR_TfsbWnG-J9vGfQF6lVuVV9aj3fkrgxLfwNhSidaXrlWlvpzgII9QY-CMIpQpZeQgQOlM-EFg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-24+at+18.40.04.png" height="226" width="400" /></a></div>
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The first time I drove this road I was being dropped off at the school I had been assigned to for the year - Pakshikha MSS. It was winter time and the landscape was all brown and scrubby, like I imagine California to be. As the year rolled by I went up and down the road many times, sometimes in a packed out bus, sometimes in hitched rides or taxis, sometimes in the cars I borrowed from the Principal and the Vice-Principal (such generosity). Each new journey was different from the last as the landscapes changed with the seasons. </div>
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I was amazed when I first saw this waterfall barrelling out of the forest. They came from everywhere of course - the landscape dripped from all directions where once it had all been dry. The water brought leeches, clever ones that knew where to sit in wait - door handles, banisters etc. The banked up muddy-loose rocks ran with rivulets that burst from the undergrowth and scuttled across the road. Of course they brought landslides with them. The Himalaya is a shifting landscape. The roads of Bhutan are always falling apart and being put back together.</div>
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I'd love to travel them again.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-818409710637193922015-03-08T17:42:00.003+06:002015-03-08T17:42:46.728+06:00New Website!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After years of being in the webbie wilderness, I've finally thrown together a website. It can be found here:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://davegreen.org/">davegreen.org</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's got writing. And music. And pictures. And stuff.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why now? Well, I'm sitting on 3 novels, some travel literature and a few non-fiction titles, and I've got over 40 songs recorded, so it's time to stop navel-gazing and get out there.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first travel piece is available now through Amazon kindle or via Createspace as a paperback.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://davegreen.org/portfolio/meanderings/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4wcH4MYno9MbDjr0KX7HxB1qTH-dTI3DvVxZqGD-cwNc386e91Mm_lZK-tb5bgJAksDdkTCDCn7ok2Km36vTpiRm-FYZgrOH_wkyGgtBAqartytYLeP3XL18k_myuUIhYcSGRU8IQAI/s1600/41fyzUhoWVL.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
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<div style="border: 0px; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
They say that most doomed romantic relationships end too late, that all the messy stuff happens in those clingy months of denial when you know it’s over but you won’t let go and face the uncertainty of whatever comes next.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
The same can sometimes be said of travel; there’s a time to go and a time to return.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
After nine months in Asia, the author lands in Australia to find that all the air has escaped from his adventure balloons. Desperate to avoid going home he embarks on the rudderless trajectory of a lovelorn idiot. Luck and happenstance guide him into (and out of) love-at-first-sight romances, near-death experiences and a spell as a crime-fighting superhero.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Anything to avoid the plane home.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-74659239285732513652014-09-23T22:09:00.004+06:002014-09-23T22:09:45.987+06:00Amazing Documentary About Bhutan.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Such a beautiful landscape. Such great people. Such change happening, and yet still so.... Bhutanical!!!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040y72t" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040y72t</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-80809922458897128502013-09-01T16:48:00.000+06:002013-09-01T16:48:00.427+06:00Bhutan to Scotland.....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recent article posted on the Bhutan Canada Foundation site. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://bhutancanada.org/update-from-an-alumnus-dave-green/"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">http://bhutancanada.org/update-from-an-alumnus-dave-green/</span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I stride on into my next adventure in Scotland, thoughts stray back often to Bhutan. Whenever I see that picture of my house up on the hill, nestled in jungle, light streaming down the valley, I fly back there and hear the chirrups, smell the lush clean high air, hear the voices of the kids from downstairs, the creak of my floorboards, smell the earthy woodness of my home, see the mists rolling up, loitering over the school, drifting towards me. The walk to school is something I will always remember - 10 minutes of disappearing into the forest, birds of prey 20ft above me, water trickling and gulping around me, gravel crunching, then breaking out into a chorus of smiles as I ventured into the school. Such great friends made, such good times had, despite the difficulties that every now and then felt as tho they were besetting me. All growth. Extension. Experience. I hear now of teachers going back, some to teach, some to visit, and I wish I'd managed it before leaving Asia, but at the same time, it's probably not going anywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now I'm in Scotland, having somewhat landed on my feet in a very good school in the countryside (I've heard it referred to as remote several times... remote it ain't!). Who knows what's coming next. Trips into the mountains, no doubt, and hopefully, visits from friends :-)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNnFYrm6kVfdmXjnUh-XAkM9iK42oSooDC_xS4Xzok7g7u7giUO9TKOg7VxWUir7ys2zHcmD4TABr-lUFyI5iKAZpQLFU1N5Ra4G_5H5OwRAOwhvh87uybnXi277H17R3tbwsIvwSAYpI/s1600/IMAG0074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNnFYrm6kVfdmXjnUh-XAkM9iK42oSooDC_xS4Xzok7g7u7giUO9TKOg7VxWUir7ys2zHcmD4TABr-lUFyI5iKAZpQLFU1N5Ra4G_5H5OwRAOwhvh87uybnXi277H17R3tbwsIvwSAYpI/s400/IMAG0074.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dollar Academy - my new school</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqjyQROWG0ZFO1kbTUZvPD5Ie99595liplh5OKwdhyJfY-t4pG1v99yk_WFduQ0fsSwkVj21PAlKvDGTNOqozb66NfeVyg60ussM734_lRk8IGeA3ELrMvRM8yZ712N0dMCSV-RSwt76U/s1600/IMAG0079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqjyQROWG0ZFO1kbTUZvPD5Ie99595liplh5OKwdhyJfY-t4pG1v99yk_WFduQ0fsSwkVj21PAlKvDGTNOqozb66NfeVyg60ussM734_lRk8IGeA3ELrMvRM8yZ712N0dMCSV-RSwt76U/s400/IMAG0079.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View From My New Home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqvUsEacC2H6xQFxYfjm6u59dd9Nkn5Wh8kUpswhnvbBkD7ABPGGARcp1TzMmPCPSh4mTODZKBSJp4HJyS7rqolRo24VLxj4lVl2OAXMlZWwWTBtKmn6hcMSrModNjKWeE7Oxr-GLG6Q/s1600/IMAG0092.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqvUsEacC2H6xQFxYfjm6u59dd9Nkn5Wh8kUpswhnvbBkD7ABPGGARcp1TzMmPCPSh4mTODZKBSJp4HJyS7rqolRo24VLxj4lVl2OAXMlZWwWTBtKmn6hcMSrModNjKWeE7Oxr-GLG6Q/s400/IMAG0092.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's My Home Up There on the Left</td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rEQXJ-4l98k/UiMa919Gh1I/AAAAAAAAA8s/HeOuiS6Peus/s1600/IMAG0096.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rEQXJ-4l98k/UiMa919Gh1I/AAAAAAAAA8s/HeOuiS6Peus/s400/IMAG0096.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Up on the left Again... passing in a blur<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-34558634257843642962013-07-24T19:34:00.001+06:002013-07-24T19:36:35.131+06:00From Kathmandu to Manchester... Reflections of Asia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All things come to an end. All things must begin. Nothing stands still. </span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I left Kathmandu nearly two months ago and haven't written a thing here since. Should I stop blogging? Maybe I should. But I can't leave the Bhutanical Adventure hanging from a paraglider like I did. Here's a blog for all the amazing people I met along the way on the streets, cities, villages, fields, mountains and airports of Asia.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I cast glances back over the last 16 months it's interesting to see what comes bubbling up from recall first. Inevitably, it's people. I've never really understood the 'bomb around the world fast as you can ticking off sights' type of travelling. Temples are buildings, stones neatly arranged, often stunning, always symbolic with stories that go back far and inevitably have some interesting or disturbing aspects to them, but no matter how striking their sunset silhouettes, no matter how compelling their symbols and stories might be, there's no <i>actual</i> life in them; they don't look back at you. They don't question or challenge or reach out to you the way a person does. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRTBkdwA8DgF3u6AJHP62wQWRpFj1rOMZpBbJx4kMwDu3AQgxZQSNqQXafooWLkwN63ND2Ti7FGjUc5p7nkXHxUIpGVs-MqqoU2RHV5hPEgx3WzVzqe8si0swg-XKngwsZ_btFE-wpsDo/s1600/1008721_385875364850768_239100144_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRTBkdwA8DgF3u6AJHP62wQWRpFj1rOMZpBbJx4kMwDu3AQgxZQSNqQXafooWLkwN63ND2Ti7FGjUc5p7nkXHxUIpGVs-MqqoU2RHV5hPEgx3WzVzqe8si0swg-XKngwsZ_btFE-wpsDo/s640/1008721_385875364850768_239100144_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So what do I see in those first flash images of remembering? I see Charles and the staff of the Atlanta gathered on the street to wave me off. I see my friend Arvind splayed out asleep on the floor, taking a break from his own wild party, Mayoor harmonising with me on Across the Universe, my friend 'Satan' rolling his eyes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bee and Om leaning lazily on Baby Rasta'a counters. Hari's character transforming as the first glass of rice wine hits his belly. Sipping outrageously expensive red wine with Sigi in the Garden of Dreams or tucking into yet another Red Snapper with the American lad who wanted me to help him overcome his fear of fish. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PHLUU4W6YRTQmvt5xglIsKYii66rzyZPsavlm8u-yvYr7GHgwZgQKTSc-MGITOtBIGqYy4Gw0CloYu2gMKOCu2BWudaelhLutztU6gwsmhH2-A7uu_1OXtifA7zdmxqzKgI9xgNj16A/s1600/1001630_10201263123198888_912111023_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PHLUU4W6YRTQmvt5xglIsKYii66rzyZPsavlm8u-yvYr7GHgwZgQKTSc-MGITOtBIGqYy4Gw0CloYu2gMKOCu2BWudaelhLutztU6gwsmhH2-A7uu_1OXtifA7zdmxqzKgI9xgNj16A/s640/1001630_10201263123198888_912111023_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Martin and Tara diving deeper than I ever could do to get the scuba mask I let fall into the tropical waters. Being smashed against the rocks with Linnea. The BCF-ers, cocktails in hand, dancing madly to 'Firework' in Mark's living room. The buzz of the couple of hours spent playing with a band in Thimphu. Ashley laughing, Iman, laughing, Reidi, laughing, Martha making weird noises (rest in peace you beautiful and funny soul). </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSV6JdXFAhh-XyP2CfYfpqkXtDOzJDh5fXm9uJZClnazE9sXxoYeEa1sPz77YJ-2H8IT8iVu6mDAJ4Z39eN_7AOBfPbefYo2INR3VNm1gu7tHjjRiXtj3TIClZZVvN3BR_OYHjk-sAyc/s1600/423780_2710407653799_1287685682_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSV6JdXFAhh-XyP2CfYfpqkXtDOzJDh5fXm9uJZClnazE9sXxoYeEa1sPz77YJ-2H8IT8iVu6mDAJ4Z39eN_7AOBfPbefYo2INR3VNm1gu7tHjjRiXtj3TIClZZVvN3BR_OYHjk-sAyc/s640/423780_2710407653799_1287685682_n.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gold-panners in Burma showing off their haul, the kids shouting out A for Apple at the top of their voices, drowned out by all the other classes crammed into the 1-room school. The mysterious Snow telling me she loves me and me not believing her (!). Ayurveda acolytes assaulting me with endless reductions to vata-pitta-kapha. Noorin's surprise birthday jollies. Late night narrative structure conversations with screenwriters on the streets of Bangkok. Devouring Chinese New Year fish with Zoe. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMJvo_gf1scUc0_clgzqGKg1A7dyMdvFM6ljCWzufDEuwAw2FFlM42ghfhZmmc-76bIt6MniLGuCzNGv-tMQDSM5SbGmMiY4VwqCofnKa-I8tw0Dx3uqYT0x7ZhM7YESZTT_sgXC9jRo/s1600/217832_253386738112938_567387367_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMJvo_gf1scUc0_clgzqGKg1A7dyMdvFM6ljCWzufDEuwAw2FFlM42ghfhZmmc-76bIt6MniLGuCzNGv-tMQDSM5SbGmMiY4VwqCofnKa-I8tw0Dx3uqYT0x7ZhM7YESZTT_sgXC9jRo/s640/217832_253386738112938_567387367_n.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Epic snooker-a-thons with New Yorkers in backrooms of Burmese bars. The walk to the waterfall that wasn't there. Strangers approaching with probably menace through the late-night haze of Kathmandu. Desperate runs through Bangalore to save friends in trouble, policemen like robots, impervious to my rage. Paranoid Cumbrian climbers. Endless games of chess. Paul and his big planets, trying to sell me his shoes! The way Robyn giggled at every one. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwY9uRRjOelk2Ho7CMhJMd2278_E8sCk1PkB3kVbsYSvHgPMAqF1VJxWWF7QPcBTZ37BQubv-GckZFGhtCa8Fvs07ryR0TRBKn4xdIQwUMHFVvxOv3pygwAsfBf27rVzUyJXvYUK5sgmA/s1600/477683_10151151468344231_1928037408_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwY9uRRjOelk2Ho7CMhJMd2278_E8sCk1PkB3kVbsYSvHgPMAqF1VJxWWF7QPcBTZ37BQubv-GckZFGhtCa8Fvs07ryR0TRBKn4xdIQwUMHFVvxOv3pygwAsfBf27rVzUyJXvYUK5sgmA/s640/477683_10151151468344231_1928037408_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The way my crazy Russian friend sang 'Start Wearing Purple' as he prepared the infamous Russian Smoking Machine that I never tried (his disappointment at my polite refusals). Riding through the jungle in the exhaust fumes of people I hardly knew, no clear idea where we were going. The monk who saved me when I was lost in the jungles of Myanmar (3am) and the music festival stumbled upon prior to my addled walk into nowhere. The kid with the tattoo tears who killed a man in prison and taught me some moves. French-gypsy guitar madness in the reggae bar. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2RSeIj5GBG8-WvCzQ5TUtcXk0JGagReEZrAutAsD3SNiE-tdeuiIxpjZiYOOLYVTx6WTXYkZ3oQMns_jSgPS7n05u_DK8FFDMIQrN2zncNZkSZFqzjncvNJvZ_sPmOgvIk6VSwixVJEo/s1600/332694_10151154386219231_1969619911_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2RSeIj5GBG8-WvCzQ5TUtcXk0JGagReEZrAutAsD3SNiE-tdeuiIxpjZiYOOLYVTx6WTXYkZ3oQMns_jSgPS7n05u_DK8FFDMIQrN2zncNZkSZFqzjncvNJvZ_sPmOgvIk6VSwixVJEo/s640/332694_10151154386219231_1969619911_o.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Ahsley throwing her arms around me and planting a smacker as i took my final taxi to my final plane home... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">...the list could go on and will never be complete. Thanks to everybody who made this latest adventure more sparkly than it might have otherwise been. You're all fabulous. I hope to see you all again. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ifZiDToVb-dyXhxmdvMufAgF1rHjVLnYpTqtIA573xPjzyK8w2pd5bm6FXSeNNJh_b8ceSyAWel59JLezgmsiamnOmSWGLYJKG_HvTy3zlIslpYIwhi4CgtLmgJvK6PMzwcAHL1TNNk/s1600/150741_10200215383661575_492118550_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ifZiDToVb-dyXhxmdvMufAgF1rHjVLnYpTqtIA573xPjzyK8w2pd5bm6FXSeNNJh_b8ceSyAWel59JLezgmsiamnOmSWGLYJKG_HvTy3zlIslpYIwhi4CgtLmgJvK6PMzwcAHL1TNNk/s640/150741_10200215383661575_492118550_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What drew me home? Family. Friends. My new nephew!!! And the next grand adventure of life, whatever it may be... </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqennlqHf-nGRdGQ-dQ-uSqMGP_1fMbL_0jvsS9GPBclXPqaCb1ohT4LGj2JlP2zuZfCFSNTQ4L-7f8q8ENBpWJ8VSVhUjBcKIh1RY5TYPrW_qXtbg1mQt61mHDHtEc7k5xVA6bZCWF4g/s1600/902028_326108167492331_769204436_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqennlqHf-nGRdGQ-dQ-uSqMGP_1fMbL_0jvsS9GPBclXPqaCb1ohT4LGj2JlP2zuZfCFSNTQ4L-7f8q8ENBpWJ8VSVhUjBcKIh1RY5TYPrW_qXtbg1mQt61mHDHtEc7k5xVA6bZCWF4g/s640/902028_326108167492331_769204436_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-50308943761228416312013-04-11T17:26:00.000+06:002013-04-11T17:26:36.504+06:00Paragliding in Nepal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Flying...</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxeRIPZf3JFOBHK4dxhWO2Xh3yFgTD0CmIErIaDtgz7wYT9Zm8tA9zYiLH52w_4qUVkcMbVdNBd6u-QuQra' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-40265738371270037472013-04-09T12:13:00.000+06:002013-04-09T12:32:48.288+06:00Out of India and into Nepal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well. India happened pretty quickly and with hardly any blogging. It was bonkers. I'll try to cover it quickly here and leave room later for some reflections. This is quick - I've got to dash with no sparing of the horses. Time for my first bullet-point blog...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">1)</span> It was hot. Too hot. Nothing to do but die in the afternoon hot. That hot. Sweaty me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">2)</span> I went in to a recording studio one very hot afternoon with an ice cream and met two fabulous fellows and we turned the random trip into a commitment of sorts - a day of recording. This was traumatic. I had completely forgotten how dead a 'dead room' sounds. Like your singing into a piece of concrete. So I had a hard time digging out any kind of feeling, but I think we got there in the end. Should hear the tracks in a week or so. Good version of the Hat Song, one hopes, and another one I wrote about returning home from an all-nighter with the girl of your dreams, only to find out she's dreaming about the guy of her dreams. Who is not you. Oh dear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">3)</span> The toilet hose is a magnificent invention and should be exported into our culture. I may export it into my bathroom if I ever get one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">4)</span> The couch surfing guys I met opened my eyes to couch surfing, which is a good thing to have one's eyes opened to and a far more engaging and connecting way to see places - straight to the locals, but straight to more broad-minded and open-hearted folk generally.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">5)</span> The police are painfully useless. Sorry, but I found myself screaming vitriol into an officers face while a friend of mine was in serious trouble and he was doing nothing whatsoever about it. He somehow managed to keep smiling afterwards. Awkwardly, I hope, but still. Smiling. And doing nothing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">6) </span>India has a remarkable amount of people. Remarkable and unmanageable. I can't imagine how governance works here, but then again, from conversations I've had and from experiences too, I'm led to believe that it sorta doesn't.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">7) </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I rode a jet ski for the first time</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: large;">Now I'm in Nepal. </span>It is COOL. Temperature-wise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is the culmination of the dream and I've patiently waited 15 months to go see the big mountains, having been tantalized by their proximity during my time in Bhutan but given no opportunity to get close. So tomorrow I'm rafting and camping. The day after I'm paragliding near the Annapurnas. Next week I head out to Langtang with a port/guide for 3 weeks of trekking. Of course, I've got my back problems to worry about, but drawing inspiration from Jane McGonigal, I've devised an ingenious gaming strategy to minimise my discomfort and defeat my evil nemesis... the sciatica. It''s all about keeping them discs happy and grabbing as many power-ups as you can ;-)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For those of you who haven't heard her remarkable story - click here... </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jane McGonigal</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(why is everything suddenly so <i>remarkable</i>?)</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-75397818130523391962013-03-18T20:48:00.001+06:002013-03-18T20:48:58.921+06:00Relaxing in the Great City of Bangalore <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm in Bangalore. It's great. I'm staying with a few friends. One is Mayoor. I met him in Bhutan when he was couch-surfing in Gedu with Professor Istvan, the Professor in question being the closest and pretty much only 'westerner' friend near my school in Pakshikha. One day he arrived with Istvan, clomping along the feeder track and, finding me well-disposed to the offering of tea to pilgrims, he tarried a while and we became friends. He stayed again on the way back from his travels, filled my hard-drive with some of the best films ever made and then kindly offered me his couch whenever it might come in handy. I took the offer very seriously and now here I am in Bangalore. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The other guy is Arvind. His home seems to be a nexus of the international couch-surfing community and a social hub in the local area - a great place to hang out and find good conversation or sneak up to the roof terrace for a spot of reading or the figuring out of a song. In short, it's the perfect place to take a rest from the whizziness of India and find some inspiration. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Next week I have a job interview for a position I'm really keen on. I need to get work starting in September so I can enjoy my own work and the travel, but this one is a really good one that excites me. Fingers crossed. Tomorrow I'll leave all my stuff here and travel light to Goa, where I could rent another bike and spend a few days exploring the coastline and the countryside. I'll be back here for the Holi festival - a nationwide technicolour snowball fight of bright powders. </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Having met two very amusing and seemingly talented music producers this afternoon, I may record a few tracks before I move on, just to bottle the songs that I wrote in Bhutan, and because its fun to go into studios, especially when it doesn't cost hundreds of pounds per day! This notion got me thinking about music a bit and I dug out some old recordings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's one... a live-ish version of By The River, and incidentally the one I remember my mother saying she liked the best. Apparently the song suited my singing. A convenient happenstance.</span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F83785099" width="100%"></iframe>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-88933111331076913222013-03-06T14:03:00.001+06:002013-03-06T14:03:47.904+06:00An Idiot Abroad - First Travels in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I'm in India. In Calicut,
Kerala, to be precise, and the getting here was anything but
straightforward. Before I hopped over the ocean from Bangkok to
Chennai, fellow traveler folk kept saying the same things about
India to me over and over again, focusing on the relative difficulty
of travelling in such an outrageously big, unregulated and poorly
infrastructured 'country'. It is staggering that a landmass this huge
and varied can get by with just one central government and that
everybody takes its authority seriously! How can they possibly
govern? Small is beautiful, they say, and something this massive is
just plain daft, any notions of government fundamentally unfit for
purpose.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway, comments from friends
and fellow teachers in Bhutan, along with the general banter that you
hear 'on the road', made me question whether or not I really wanted
to do this - travel in India, a place of caste systems and dowries,
of commonplace and 'acceptable' destitution, where the ratio of men
to women is 10:1 (I have been told this twice but haven't checked it
out), and where the hottest news stories all seem to focus around the
rapes that are purportedly commonplace. I'd seen evidence of most of
this on forays over the border from Bhutan, but I'd also seen the
colour, the vibrancy and felt the buzzy energy that people get hooked
on. It was time to have a go, I decided, and besides, one of the
Canadian teachers from Bhutan is currently studying Ayervedic massage
in Kannur and needs 'models' to practice on. Off I verily went...</span></div>
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<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Chennai was big and dusty and
looked exactly the same as Jaigon, the border town with Bhutan, only
bigger. The same mounds of festering rubbish filled the streets, the
air was a cloying fug of exhaust fumes and food, everybody seemed to
be busy buying or selling something with furrowed brows. But nobody
hassled me at all. I took a 3 hour walk around the city and not one
person approached me. The next day, it took only 20 minutes of the 45
autorickshaw drive to the bus station for my eyes to start stinging
from the pollution. Happy to leave Chennai behind, I boarded an
Aircon sleeper bus at 8pm for Kodaikanal, a mountain retreat town
where the temperature would be lower and the pollution less!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had hoped to sleep. I didn't.
Every time the bus lurched around a corner I nearly fell out of the
narrow bunk, and with my backpack wedged in at the foot of the bed, I
couldn't properly stretch out. I ended up watching Amelie on my
laptop and then catching a few hours kip before arriving at 5am in
the refreshingly cold air of Kodai. </span>
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</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Three days later, I left Kodai
for Calicut, but this is where the idiot in me found ascendency. To
be fair, regular injections of lies and misinformation by Indians
didn't help. Trains are hard to book in India. For one thing, they're
always full because there's simply too many people here. For another,
you can't book them online if you don't have contact details in
India. Thirdly, you have to know where your train came from and where
its final destination is in order to book a segment of its route. I
decided to put my fate on this first occasion in the hands of a
booking agency. They told me the trains were all full, but noted that
the third class air con sleeper carriage only had one person on the
waiting list.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'What happens if the waiting
list doesn't clear?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'You will be accommodated –
101% sure.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He told me that a waiting list
of 1 would usually clear, and I saw that in other classes, there were
waiting lists of up to 50, so it seemed reasonable. He told me that
if it didn't clear, then seats are always held back in different
classes for emergencies, and that even more seats were held back for
idiots abroad. I had 3 chances, hence his 101% surety. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first stage of the travel
was a 3 hour public bus to Pakapal (or similar) at 12pm, followed by
a 2 hour bus to Coimbature, where the train to Calicut would be
waiting. At 11:30am I was still in the post office waiting (reasons
of delay: unknown) to send a parcel of wooden toys for my nephew.
Priorities David!!! It was in this post office with the clock ticking
that I realised I didn't have the pen drive with my friend's contact
details on. I walked briskly back to the internet cafe where the
agency was and, lo and behold, it was still there. Phewee – an
early reprieve for the idiot. I took a motorbike taxi back, hurled
the parcel into the international parcel-shifting leviathon and then
jumped onto my bus for a 3 hour bounce down to the plains. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pakapal. As I disembarked, the
bus driver called me back. I'd left my Nalgene water bottle and fancy
karabiner on the bus. Thanks!!! Idiot reprieve number 2. I found the
connect and had 50mins to wait, so I wedged my big pack in behind
some seats on the bus and indulged in a chai in a nearby stall that
gave me a good view of the bus and my bag that was sequestered
therein. Then the bus started moving. People started piling in. The
bus was leaving. I leapt from my chair and bolted out across the
tarmac, leaving behind a half-drunk chai... and my Nalgene bottle...
AGAIN. Only this time I had no way of getting it back. Idiot abroad;
Nalgene bottle lost forever. Irritating misinformation: that was not
50mins at all! It was less than 10. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Coimbature. I had to get across
town to the train station and a couple of policemen kindly told me
the way. I made my way through the backstreets in the darkening
twilight, cursing the bottle of wine and the chocolates I'd brought
from Bangkok as a gift to my friend in Calicut. I hate travelling
with a big bag, the immobility, the sweatiness and the spectacle of
it. It was dark when I reached the train station. I made my way to
the information kiosk:</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'I have this ticket. Is it
okay?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She checked a computer,
smiling. Then she scribbled something on the paper I'd given her and
the smile vanished. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'WL3'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Which meant – Waiting List:
3. There had only been 1 there when I bought it! But no, she told me,
there had been 5. It was there clearly enough on the ticket if you
knew where to look and could understand the code: WL5. In the time it
had taken the booking agent in Kodai to march across town and book
the ticket, 4 more people had jumped the queue ahead of me, a fact
that the booking agent had made no reference to whatsoever. I wonder
how this would have affected his 101% surety? It didn't escape my
notice that 5 going down to 3 was the same as 2 going down to zero –
that I would have been on the train had the waiting list information
I'd booked with been correct. The information woman directed me to
the booking kiosks. Off I trundled.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I finally reached the
front of the line, sweaty and heavy, I handed my ticket over and
asked the same question:</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'I have this ticket. Is it
okay?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He asked for 60 Rupee. I gave
it to him. Best not to quibble.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'This ticket... It's okay?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Yes.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'It is valid?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Yes.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Irritating misinformation.
Outright lie.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB">On
the platform I asked around and two security guards told me to stick
with them, that they'd help me. When the train came they ushered me
onto the 3</span><sup><span lang="en-GB">rd</span></sup><span lang="en-GB">
class AC and told me to wait until the ticket man came – he would
accommodate me. But the ticket man was a busy individual, and, to my
chagrin, the grumpiest man I've thus far met abroad. After waiting
for nearly 15 mins I pushed gently through a small crowd of refuge
seeking kow-towers and proffered my ticket. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After a summary glance:</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'No chance.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'What?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'No chance. No vacancy.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Well, what do I do?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'No vacancy. Go away.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I did. With no where else to
go, I sat by a bin/sink combo at the end of the carriage and read
some of Rupert Sheldrake's book about the failings of science to see
through its own axiomatic dogma and take itself seriously. It's a
credit to Rupert that I was so easily distracted from stink of the
bin and the dollop of curry 3 inches from my feet that seemed to move
when you didn't look at it, freeze when you did.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All of a sudden the security
guards were looming over me with expressions of confusion. At the
precise moment I looked up, the ticket man came through the other
door, and there we all were, players in a dumb farce all staring at
each other.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'I have no idea where to go or
what to do.' I said. Honesty seemed the best policy.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'You can't stay here. You must
go.' The grumpy ticket man replied.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The chief security guard laid
his hand on the ticket man's arm, but there was no shifting him. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'You must go to general class.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Where is it?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'All the way down. Just keep
going.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB">General
class. It sounded ominous. I picked up my stupidly big bag and
started walking the length of the train. For anyone who has never
seen the trains of India, they stretch from one end of the galaxy to
the other at least, if not further. Some scientists, unable to
measure them using the tools available at the time, mistakenly
ascribed to them the quality of being infinite. And like everywhere
else in India, they are rammed with people, with corridors narrow
enough to permit the movement of one person at a time. I donned my
finest and most polite Englishman-abroad voice and </span><span lang="en-GB"><i>I
do beg your pardoned</i></span><span lang="en-GB"> myself all the way
down the train. Everybody was very nice to me.</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pushing through a throng of
people I came to a dead end. Where is general class? I was told that
it was sectioned off, that you can only get there by getting off the
train and walking down the platform. My fears about general class
were compounded; it was isolated from the rest of the train. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the little crannie where the
door would have been to the next compartment, I spied a space, the
only one I'd seen that was big enough to accommodate me and my bags.
I pushed my way through and put my big bag up against one wall.
Against the other, I put my small bag, and then, with ass on big bag
and feet on small, I wedged myself in and closed my eyes. The air was
full of filth. I was sitting next to two toilets. Every time a door
opened, a cloud of human waste gas came spilling out to surround me.
Why? I thought to myself. Why do people do this? </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At the next station I jumped
off and walked down the platform, but where General Class was
supposed to be, I found what could well be described as a Final
Solution transport carriage, except it had windows. People were
crammed in standing, as packed as a tube in King's Cross at rush
hour, spilling out. There was no way I'd be able to get myself and my
bags on. My only other option was the toilet-jam, or finding
somewhere else illegal to be on the train, with the likelihood of
being shifted again or booted off. Just then a chap I recognised from
the throng by the toilet doors approached me and told me he was
taking a bus, that he hadn't got a ticket at all and was thus being
booted ashore. His destination was the same as mine. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'How long will it take?'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'3 hours.'</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Irritating misinformation. It
would take 6 hours. I didn't know this. I decided to trust him and
off we went on an autorickshaw across town to a bus stand. I still do
not even know the name of the place. Thus began an unexpected 6 hour
ordeal through the night. It was 11pm. I'd left at 12 noon. I
wouldn't arrive at Calicut until 4am, but there my worries would not
end. As soon as I boarded this bus I dug out the pen drive to get my
friend's phone number, and it was then that I realised the biggest
mistake had been kept from me until the end... she wasn't even in
Calicut. She lived in a town called Kannur, another hour's bus
journey from Calicut. The scale of my idiocy was immense. I finally
knocked on her door at 5:30 am, exhausted and desperate for good
sleep. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My first two journeys in India
were both, in their own ways, pretty rubbish. I made enough mistakes
along the way to be held responsible but I was also continually led
astray by this strange culture of giving advice when the giver has
none to give, or of giving wrong information for reasons I can't
quite fathom. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kannur is a good reward and a
great place to recover for such a strange journey. The people here are laid back and the massages are
free and plentiful. I get unctions shoved up my nostrils that burn
down to my neck and make me cough up 'kapha'. I swim beneath a full
moon in the Arabian Sea. There's still rubbish strewn everywhere,
along the beach, piled up beneath cliffs, as if living in paradise
is just too much for people to bear and they feel compelled to spoil it by soiling it. Oh, and the beach is longer than an Indian train.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-76149494504873053392013-03-02T19:05:00.001+06:002013-03-02T19:05:03.142+06:00For the Lovely People of Pakshikha...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This one's for all my friends in Pakshikha MSS. A new year begins, and I'm not there, so here's a meander down memory lane. What a great time I had with such fantastic people. Hopefully I'll be back to say hello, shoot some dice and have a good dance-off, but my fate in that regard is in the hands of others.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This is nearly 10mins long! I make no excuses because the year was, well, much longer, and lots of stuff happened. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='400' height='330' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxEK34bjuwa8t7pVHvb4BneQF7i85oQLbDuO3NkV68KW2fJAuqlTgVm9zceuCpSjzLICtqwdnfFZFH1gPj8nQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-16073190451335514272013-02-17T12:44:00.001+06:002013-02-26T21:24:25.449+06:00The Surgical Removal of My Physics... a Magic Bean<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: large;">Surgical Removal of Physics!</span></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">What's
he on about? </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">You may well ask this question and you'd be right to do so. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I've had a
lump on my head for a long time - probably 5 or 6 years at least. A
sabacious cyst. Something to do with hair follicles, but I think it<span style="font-size: small;">'s genesis</span> had something to do with me getting <span style="font-size: small;">my </span>head kicked in during the final of the Gloucestershire League Cup Final. Some <span style="font-size: small;">thug</span> drove his bladed boot into my noggin and the cut went right through to the bone on my forehead, severing the nerves to one side of my head. I was numb of there for months, and when I rubbed the Poetter-esqu<span style="font-size: small;">e </span>scar later, I woulld feel the same rub mys<span style="font-size: small;">teriously rendered by a phantasmal </span>finger on the top of my head.... in the same placce where the lump developed. Coincidence? Who knows. It was freaky though. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I <span style="font-size: small;">n</span>ever really
minded my lump. I enjoyed having an obvious deformity. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">People would say: "<i>You have a
lump on your head</i>". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I'd say: "<i>I know</i>". </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sometimes I'd detect a
disapproving tone in their voice, which made me like my lump even more. For this reason, I kept it: </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">'<i>Yes, I may have a funny lump on my head that makes you feel a bit icky for some reason, but you must love me anyway.</i>' </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Or tolerate me. Or do whatever you'd normally do to someone like me without a lump. Perhaps I took my lump too seriously. With tender love and care, my lump grew
and grew atop my already funny-shaped head. When students or teachers
would ask me what it was, I would give them a conspiratorial look and whisper: </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">"<i>It's where I keep my physics</i>". </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">My second brain, an add-on, a
physics plug-in. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I
was in the gym a while back (crazy but true) rowing myself stupid as if I was Andy
Kirkpatrick preparing his neglected body for a month for a month of vertical wall scramblinngs<span style="font-size: small;">. </span>When I desweated myself with a towel I spied blood. Holy moly! All
that hard rowing had obviously angered my little lump. Benign lumps are fine; angry
ones are not. So I went to hospital and, after having a
health-screening that confirmed I was generally as fit as a fiddle (aside from the chronic pain in my back that doesn't register in tests), I paid a
splendidly ludicrous sum of hard cash to a polite doctor who numbed my head with a nee<span style="font-size: small;">dle, cut a hole </span>and, with much scraping and yanking, pulled out what
looked like a baked bean with all the tomato sauce washed off. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Honestly. A bean. It may have been magic. I'll never know. She threw it away.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is p</span>erculiar to feel somebody cutting away at your head, to feel the scrape
of metal on bone, but to have no pain. I could hear it and feel the
tugs and vibrations, but without the alarm bells of my nervous system sounding in what I imagine would have been
rather unpleasant fashion, <span style="font-size: small;">I was strangely divorced from the event. It was happening 'up there' be<span style="font-size: small;">hind me, to somebody else.</span></span> What a glorious thing anaesthesia is.
And hospitals in general. Good ones. Ones that make you feel like you're in Star Trek. The newer <span style="font-size: small;">ones, obviously</span>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">So.
Now I'm lumpless. No longer will my climbing helmet press all of it's
weight onto one raised divet on my skull. No longer will people pass comment on the shape of my head (probably not true - one of my best friends told me I had a head the shape of an alien). When I reach up to give my old <span style="font-size: small;">friend</span> a companionable pat, I feel nothing but stitches, the sad signature of a magic bean that is no more, a magic travelling bean that has mov<span style="font-size: small;">e</span> on to new adventures without me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">But will I lose my physics? This is my concern<span style="font-size: small;">. </span>I
shall have to test myself and find out. </span></div>
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</script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-62297650541530122022013-02-15T14:28:00.001+06:002013-02-21T18:54:28.651+06:00Burma by Bike - The Road Movie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy2hgzGNWw0q2QHAjueaX7whBAND4znjoCb-_aMKevAp7RMUyqYBH5q0D27LiHN_CseS1jC-tcdRaQvtXNVtw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Motorbike rented from:<a href="http://mandalaymotorbike.blogspot.in/" target="_blank"> http://mandalaymotorbike.blogspot.in/</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can thoroughly recommend them. Zach is a legend.</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-12232682502725291132013-02-13T09:24:00.000+06:002013-02-13T09:24:07.201+06:00Burma by Bike... the Road to Mandalay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's been a while. Why? Because I've been working hard on finishing Jacks. It's going well. I'm pulling 7 hour days of scribbling in The Atlanta, working through the chapters, sewing the complicated threads that hold the funny shaped book together. It's slightly weirdifying and I'll be glad when its over, but I'm thankful for the momentum and focus this place inspires.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To take a break, I flew over to Burma for a few weeks, hired a motorbike and tried to get lost in the countryside. It might have been a reaction to missing Bhutan and wanting to get back tot he villages. The experience certainly was similar in some ways: smily faces, small communities, Buddhism, pagodas everywhere and hardly anybody trying to scam you (I don't think anybody in Bhutan ever tried to rip me off). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Of course, the two countries have one very massive difference - their governments. Although there is a reformist leadership in Myanmar now, you still come across rather disturbing aspects of control. They had a list of who lived where and they'd do night time 'raids' to see if anybody was not where they were supposed to be. If you stayed over at your cousins house, for instance, they might end up in prison for their hospitality. Up in the northern territories where I was, it was normal for the locals to have to pay protection money to the rebel Shan armies. Not just money, but men. They would leave you with one son and take the rest. I kept coming across villages with no men in. As usual, it's the normal people who get caught between the rock of the leviathon and the hard place of the freedom fighters. Civil wars are terrible things. Many that I spoke to didn't like either side and just wanted to be left alone to work their farms, dig up gold or just raise their families.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I won't write too much here because I'm considering putting a little e-book together about the adventure, but the bike definitely opened the country up in ways that backpacking wouldn't have. With a tiny 15l rucksac and the freedom of the bumpy roads I found myself in the company of gold-miners, soldiers, teachers, tea factory workers and bridge-builders, slept in chicken farms, restaurants and pagodas, found random festivals, musical and cultural and even managed to get lost in the jungle in the middle of the night (where I found the pagoda to sleep in). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Anyway, here's a few random pictures:</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-89795520301065200662013-01-17T13:07:00.002+06:002013-01-17T13:07:21.976+06:00The Search for the Disembodied Genii...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tomorrow I get on a plane and I go to Mandalay, from which I take a motorcycle (a little one) and head out into the countryside, hopefully to find some real villages and meet some real people. Bangkok is whirlwind of modernity, where maserati showrooms and prostitution commingle within easy distance, where you find malls filled with characterless human sandwich boards advertising Gucci and Zara and all the other rubbish brush up against legless beggars in the street, a place of great progress and development if ever there was one. Back to the villages where legless beggars are helped onto benches and brought tea. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I go for just one week. I imagine I may extend, but this is supposed to be a short break in my writing. The Atlanta has been wonderful. I came here with an ambition to get the unwieldy monster that is 'Jacks' finished, a book I've been working on for a good number of years - 12 if you count the short story that I had published in Australia many years back, the kernal from which it all sprouted. Unfortunately, the publication of my first book - Music of Maninjau - left such a sour taste in my mouth that the idea of finishing another book just didn't appeal. The publisher was called Bluechrome. Th other authors call it Bluechrime. They disappeared off the face of the Earth sometime around 2009. Abducted by aliens perhaps. Or bankrupt and on the run. The trail goes dead very easily, even when we follow the timeless imperative to 'follow the money'. But enough fleeing from the unpalatable. It's time to finish one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Atlanta is a haven for writers and I'm lucky enough to have been able to arrange a sort of patronage for my time here. It has an energy that is conducive to both creativity and concentration, perhaps due to the amount of words that have been scribbled in its lobbies and writing rooms. The walls are filled with signed copies of authors that have worked here or used it as a place to cogitate and find inspiration. One such author is Elizabeth Gilbert, writer of Eat Pray Love, a book I haven't read, but I have watched her fascinating TED lecture about what happened when her book went bonkers. She found herself anxious at her writing desk for the first time in a long time. Why? Because she knew her 'best work' was probably behind her, or at least her most successful one. The follow up would be expected to be a disappointment. The critics would be waiting. She thought this was ludicrous, so she got interested in the process a bit more. Where do ideas come from? What fires creative flow?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Her research took her back to the Greeks and Romans, as research often does. Back in days of yore, the word genius meant something external to the person to which it was applied. We say Newton and Einstein were geniuses. In ancient times, an artist would be said to have a genius, a disembodied 'other' that dripped ideas into the host. The artist as channeller, interpreter, muse, voice-piece. But it was more of a collusion - the artist works with the genius. She liked this idea. As long as she turned up for work every day, people couldn't be too harsh if her next book was a bit rubbish - I did my bit, but the genius... well he wasn't on form. Well, I guess the Atlanta is a good place for these little disembodied spirits of creation because I've been writing at a pace I've never before managed. When things seize up, I go take a swim, drink a coffee, have a massage... whatever. Next tie I sit down, there's fresh produce in my mind to munch on. I hope to finish a full draft of Jacks before I fly tomorrow. I hope to complete final tweaks when I return. I hope to finish in three weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is good news, but it means I inevitably have to swim in publishing waters again. I swam with a shark and brushed up close to a jelly fish on Koh Tao. That was fine. This is different. So I either try to get an agent, one who can convince me that Jacks is good enough to cut above the water and make some kind of splash, or I publish it myself through Amazon, both e-book and conventional paperback. In the former case, royalties will be about 10%. Unless it goes bonkers and sells like hot da vinci codes, you never really see a return, but you do have chances at prizes, you get reviews easier, and you don't have take the full burden of being a salesperson. In the mainstream, you really have to be near the top or you're nowhere and your book disappears. In the latter case, I get 70% and I keep hold of my work but I miss out on the possibility of distribution and marketing, the elusive 3 for 2 Waterstones deal that shifts books en masse etc. I'm tending towards going my own way. Anyone who writes fiction for money is clearly bonkers, and I'm a teacher. I only try to write books that I haven't read or seen before, which makes publishers nervous. This nervousness is a telling symptom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway, if anyone out there has any opinion on this, or thinks they might be able to help with finding a really good agent, I'd be interested to hear from you. It's a big decision. In the meantime - for the next week - I plan to wash it all from my mind and let the wind in my hair (beard) whisk me away. TO BURMA! And don't spare the horses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Elizabeth Glbert's Fascinating Lecture: <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html?utm_expid=166907-12&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Fsearch%3Fcat%3Dss_all%26q%3Delizabeth" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-74013123362211737402013-01-16T12:27:00.002+06:002013-01-16T12:27:46.728+06:00A Word Cloud of the Challenges and Rewards of Voluntary Teaching in Bhutan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is a word cloud of the last post. Do I have nothing better to do? Yes.</span></div>
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<a href='http://worditout.com/word-cloud/150529' title='Click to go to this word cloud on WordItOut.com'>"The Rewards and Challenges of Teaching in Bhutan"</a><br />Click on the link above to see this word cloud at <a href='http://worditout.com' title='Transform your text into word clouds!'>WordItOut</a>. You may also view it on this website if you enable JavaScript (see your web browser settings).</p>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4023643458876715950.post-81049876976858048302013-01-16T11:26:00.000+06:002013-01-17T11:24:37.381+06:00What a Year! Challenge and Reward in Pakshikha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've been reflecting on what I achieved at Pakshikha MSS, a school not even a year old when I joined, barely fitted out with the necessary equipment to teach, staffed by a young group of teachers, managed by a dynamic, ambitious and young principal, isolated on a hillside with no internet and unreliable fax and phone, home to over 500 children. There were many challenges for the school - water supply, beautifying what began as a dusty establishment and grew into a lush learning environment, developing administrative procedures and establishing roles...in short... working things out, defining the school. What a great environment to be in! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In Bhutan, I worked harder than I have in any other job. Why? Because I was given the opportunity to do so! And because it meant more - the impact was tangible with the kids and with the school and that drove my motivation to take on more responsibilities and keep saying YES! Gratitude fired me on too, genuine gratitude, like that which I will always have for the people who looked after me there and taught me valuable lessons about being happy. The sense of achievement and reward for my efforts were always immediate and real. In a new school, much needs to be done. In a developing country with resourcing and skillset challenges, your talents (and I mean you now!), whatever they are, can make a real difference instead of being stifled. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To anyone feeling this way at home, under-appreciated, under-used, stifled or bored, I would say to you - go somewhere that actually needs you. Forget about money for a while and choose to give and get back stuff of actual value instead. A developing country still values education, right across the strata of society, including the kids - you will get gratitude for having chosen the noble profession of teaching, a gratitude that is thin on the ground elsewhere. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Incidentally, I checked my UK bank balance twice in Bhutan. I checked my Bhutan balance perhaps half a dozen times. I mean it when I say 'Forget about money for a while.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here's a record of what I did in addition to my teaching responsibilities. I post it because I'm proud of it, more than I realised when I had to put it together. And I'm grateful for it. Every box in this table represents another moment of trust and another opportunity, another challenge that I threw my arms open to and delivered on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And all of this happened with a timetable that looked like this for the first 6 months </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(55 minute periods, 33 out of possible 37!):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of course, the last 6 months was not like this - we shaved it down to 24 periods. Still 3 more than I taught in the UK. Ayeeesh. But it was worth it. It was great, every minute of it (that's not quite true, but it's close to the truth)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you want to teach in Bhutan, or if you want to help an organisation that places people like me in places like this then start here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.bhutancanada.org/</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1