Asia

Mother India

December 5, 2007

A young sweaty rickshaw-wallah passed me down my backpack and insisted I follow him on foot through the narrow alleyways that buffer the Varanasi ghats (wide riverside steps). As respectfully as I could, I squeezed passed a convoy of the dead being carried to their flaming finale on the cremation ghats. As we arrived at […]

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Bl**d, Swe*t and B*rders!

November 28, 2007

I lied. Forgive me. I told you I was going to hire a motorbike. I did not. I told you I was heading through Nepal’s eastern Terai. I did not. I told you I would now be in Darjeeling. I am not. I don’t know what came over me, it wasn’t intentional but I feel […]

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A Spring of Surprise

November 19, 2007

A lingering cold. Perceptions. An Irish pair. Gore-tex. An English doublet. Love. Salmon Rushdie. An endless line. One Australian. Two Australians. A city in protest. A solo Swede. The Himalaya. The afterlife. A pondering sadhu. Shooting stars. A rickshaw ride. Vegetable moussaka. Expectations. An averted disaster. Central Asia. Spirited Away. Nepali Sherpas. A blazing sun. […]

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A Rapid Realisation

November 10, 2007

‘Don’t try to out run it’. The message was clear. ‘Right, forward!’. A second, equally forceful instruction, delivered with intent. ‘Can you climb a tree?’. My heart now pounded with panic at my chest, pleading me to cease this needless onslaught. ‘Forward, together!’, boomed out, like a roll of thunder roaring through my head. ‘If […]

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The Kites of Kathmandu

October 27, 2007

‘Look at that man cuddling the little chicken, all together now, aww…’. Cluck cluck, whoosh. Everywhere we looked in Kathmandu, animals were – quite literally – losing their heads. ‘Ahem’, I overlooked the mishap and calmly continued, ‘look at the fluffy sheep’. Baa baa, swoosh. ‘Hmmm, look at the goat’. Bleat, bleat. Slash. ‘Ohmigod, there’s […]

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Himalayan Homework

October 20, 2007

For these four, mind-blowing days it felt as if I were living within a high school English project. My former English teacher, Mr Zaidi would slowly sweep back his black, spiraling locks, knowingly adding to the tense finale of his class. He’d draw breath to fuel a husky, magnetic voice before swiftly declaring through a […]

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Tibetan Toy Soldiers

October 8, 2007

I couldn’t do anything but stand there. Kids of every age took turns to scramble up and over me as if I were a long lost climbing frame, those that couldn’t quite conquer the summit of my shoulders grabbed my hands and insisted I span, and span, and span. Surrounding walls were decorated by endless […]

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