Monday, 27 April 2009
Goaliscious
Hello!
Long time no blog.
So, I've been ill and in hospital, followed by five days in Goa.
I got E.Coli and spent two days in hospital in Agra (Taj Mahal land)...they stuck needles in me and fed me pills, and whilst that may sound fun to some of you, it ain't all it's cracked up to be. The Taj Mahal is, though....it's fantastically beautiful and I could see why it's one of the seven wonders of the world. It's pearlescent marble structure shimmers translucently in the blood red sunset of a hazy Indian twilight. So there.
Goa is awesome, and I'll definitely be back, although it's very touristy in places. The beaches are beautiful, and I've spent the time scootering around, going to the gym, shaving my head and getting a henna tattoo. When in Rome...
My henna tattoo is a bit blurry, though.....I went in the sea too soon afterwards and it ran (see pics). And the same day I scootered to the beaches (Anjuna and Vagator) and got hideously sunburned; trekking round with my backpacks today has been SO painful it's ridiculous. Seriously, it's ridiculous. I've got loads of Aloe Vera gel that I keep slopping on myself which is helping, though.
I'm in Mumbai at the moment enjoying a super-duper coffee; I haven't been to sleep since yesterday morning (apart from 2 hours on the train) and I need to stay up til Thailand. Whilst I realise "Thailand" isn't a measure of time, I won't be getting there til 0630 tomorrow, and then I need to find a hotel and check in. The whole world is swaying at the moment.
Rajasthan was great, but Goa was better. I realise now how little you can live comfortable on (about £14 a day)....for any of you aware of the painful amount of money I've spent thus far, this is a revelation. But, 'tis a lesson learnt and I need to live super-budget from now on til I earn money DJing in Oz.
I'm going to see Ferry Corsten, Bodyrox, and Sandy Rivera play in Bangkok on Thursday and will give them the new Darling Hoare track (Control). If you haven't checked it out please do so at www.willdarling.co.uk. If you like it I'll send you the download link!
I'm meeting some really great people, but I miss everyone in Blighty, so please email me with what's going on. Don't be stingy!
So! Until next time...
Long time no blog.
So, I've been ill and in hospital, followed by five days in Goa.
I got E.Coli and spent two days in hospital in Agra (Taj Mahal land)...they stuck needles in me and fed me pills, and whilst that may sound fun to some of you, it ain't all it's cracked up to be. The Taj Mahal is, though....it's fantastically beautiful and I could see why it's one of the seven wonders of the world. It's pearlescent marble structure shimmers translucently in the blood red sunset of a hazy Indian twilight. So there.
Goa is awesome, and I'll definitely be back, although it's very touristy in places. The beaches are beautiful, and I've spent the time scootering around, going to the gym, shaving my head and getting a henna tattoo. When in Rome...
My henna tattoo is a bit blurry, though.....I went in the sea too soon afterwards and it ran (see pics). And the same day I scootered to the beaches (Anjuna and Vagator) and got hideously sunburned; trekking round with my backpacks today has been SO painful it's ridiculous. Seriously, it's ridiculous. I've got loads of Aloe Vera gel that I keep slopping on myself which is helping, though.
I'm in Mumbai at the moment enjoying a super-duper coffee; I haven't been to sleep since yesterday morning (apart from 2 hours on the train) and I need to stay up til Thailand. Whilst I realise "Thailand" isn't a measure of time, I won't be getting there til 0630 tomorrow, and then I need to find a hotel and check in. The whole world is swaying at the moment.
Rajasthan was great, but Goa was better. I realise now how little you can live comfortable on (about £14 a day)....for any of you aware of the painful amount of money I've spent thus far, this is a revelation. But, 'tis a lesson learnt and I need to live super-budget from now on til I earn money DJing in Oz.
I'm going to see Ferry Corsten, Bodyrox, and Sandy Rivera play in Bangkok on Thursday and will give them the new Darling Hoare track (Control). If you haven't checked it out please do so at www.willdarling.co.uk. If you like it I'll send you the download link!
I'm meeting some really great people, but I miss everyone in Blighty, so please email me with what's going on. Don't be stingy!
So! Until next time...
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Last night in Rajasthan
This is Christine and me at Jodhpur....the Blue City
Me playing a bard's instrument....badly.
Udaipur....this was the view from hotel terrace!
Udaipur at Tiger Lake....a secret place the hotel manager showed me. We drove around drinking beers listening to banging CDs I made him on a killer stereo! Then I swam in lake.
"HELLO WILLIAM....THIS IS GOD". Hi God.
Road safety isn't that high on the list of priorities.
Ace lav.
So....I've now left Rajasthan and I'm in Agra...saw the Taj Mahal today; I'll put up pics in the next couple of days; it really is a wonder of the world.
Above are a few choice pics of Rajasthan; there'll be more on Facebook for anyone interested.
I can honestly say I'm desensitized to beggars and salemen; I guess it's like smoking ten packs of fags to give up. I never thought I could look into the eyes of a one-armed child with a baby asking for food and feel numb, but I suppose that's what a constant barrage of monkey-whipping entertainers and Kashmir salemen will do.
Below is a video of one of the finer entertainment shows. That's my voice at the end, and I'm being sarcastic:
First three weeks!
Right....a brief history of the past three (very full) weeks of my life!
26/03/09
Arrived in Delhi airport at 0230. 23 degrees C, mozzie heavy, and none of the cash machines were working. After sizing up a dodgy taxi driver and his mate and determining I'd have a chance of defending myself if they wanted my kidneys, I reluctantly succumbed to the promises of being abel to stop at an ATM on the way to the hotel. I climbed into the 50's banger with "Tourist" daubed messily on the side in red paint (or human blood), and true enough, the boys came good and took me to the hotel. But it was closed.
To cut a long story short I ended up in a gammy tourist office at 3:30 in the morning and parted with loads of cash to go up to Kashmir forbidden zone. The smarmy travel agent was proper smarmaliscous.
28/03/09
Arrived in Kashmir, and got off the plane in shorts and T-shirt to find it was 9 degrees and raining. Money well spent, I thought....am I back in London?
Got picked up my travel agent's brother and driven to Dal Lake (see facebook). Awesomely beautiful, and the fact we drove passed literally thousands of army stockades and troops all armed with Kalishnikovs just made it exciting. I stayed on a famous Dal Lake houseboat, and the evening I got there there were 3 English girls and 2 English boys leaving the next morning so we had a party on the boat and got battered....listening to tunes off my laptop. We were living with the travel agent's family; some brothers and a dad and kids and that. It was nice for a bit but quite oppressive. It was like being in a Landmark seminar (but not in a good way), except they kept trying to sell us expensive trips and shit jewellery! I've never been called "brother" and "son", and "you're different to other tourists....this is family" so much in my life.
30/03/09
Agree to part with an embarrassingly large amount of my year's budget (even after a day of negotiation) to go trekking in the Himalayas and then spend two weeks in Rajasthan. It was completely worth doing....seriously. Check facebook.
3/04/09
Fly back to Delhi, stay with the travel agent and his Delhi family (mum and 2 other brothers). Get on really well with one brother called Shabir (see pic on lake above....he was in Dal lake and came back to Delhi). 29 and wants to open a nightclub too.
05/04/09
Now I'm in the middle of my Rajasthan tour! Highlights include:
Having a well sound driver who's great for banter and has awesome turbans.
Being in a 5.3 point earthquake and being told 30 seconds more and the hotel we were in would have collapsed.
DJing in Jodhpur in Friday night.
I'm sitting next to a pool in Pushkar typing this, and I'm the only man in a hotel full of girls; well, about 8 europeans; you'll forgive me for attending to more pressing matters....
26/03/09
Arrived in Delhi airport at 0230. 23 degrees C, mozzie heavy, and none of the cash machines were working. After sizing up a dodgy taxi driver and his mate and determining I'd have a chance of defending myself if they wanted my kidneys, I reluctantly succumbed to the promises of being abel to stop at an ATM on the way to the hotel. I climbed into the 50's banger with "Tourist" daubed messily on the side in red paint (or human blood), and true enough, the boys came good and took me to the hotel. But it was closed.
To cut a long story short I ended up in a gammy tourist office at 3:30 in the morning and parted with loads of cash to go up to Kashmir forbidden zone. The smarmy travel agent was proper smarmaliscous.
28/03/09
Arrived in Kashmir, and got off the plane in shorts and T-shirt to find it was 9 degrees and raining. Money well spent, I thought....am I back in London?
Got picked up my travel agent's brother and driven to Dal Lake (see facebook). Awesomely beautiful, and the fact we drove passed literally thousands of army stockades and troops all armed with Kalishnikovs just made it exciting. I stayed on a famous Dal Lake houseboat, and the evening I got there there were 3 English girls and 2 English boys leaving the next morning so we had a party on the boat and got battered....listening to tunes off my laptop. We were living with the travel agent's family; some brothers and a dad and kids and that. It was nice for a bit but quite oppressive. It was like being in a Landmark seminar (but not in a good way), except they kept trying to sell us expensive trips and shit jewellery! I've never been called "brother" and "son", and "you're different to other tourists....this is family" so much in my life.
30/03/09
Agree to part with an embarrassingly large amount of my year's budget (even after a day of negotiation) to go trekking in the Himalayas and then spend two weeks in Rajasthan. It was completely worth doing....seriously. Check facebook.
3/04/09
Fly back to Delhi, stay with the travel agent and his Delhi family (mum and 2 other brothers). Get on really well with one brother called Shabir (see pic on lake above....he was in Dal lake and came back to Delhi). 29 and wants to open a nightclub too.
05/04/09
Now I'm in the middle of my Rajasthan tour! Highlights include:
Having a well sound driver who's great for banter and has awesome turbans.
Being in a 5.3 point earthquake and being told 30 seconds more and the hotel we were in would have collapsed.
DJing in Jodhpur in Friday night.
I'm sitting next to a pool in Pushkar typing this, and I'm the only man in a hotel full of girls; well, about 8 europeans; you'll forgive me for attending to more pressing matters....
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Post from the mountains
So, this a post I wrote two weeks ago to stay sane in the Himalayas....I'm copying it from my notebook:
(01/04/09)
Ok, Wednesday evening. I'm in a two-man dome tent that my cook put up, although it may has well have been erected by a holy cow. With BSE. I hope I don't get blown off the mountain (it was erected on an exposed mound), although all this talk of erections, exposed mounds and being blown off is encroaching on my spirituality, man. In a good way.
This is my way of maintaining sanity*, as I'm not exactly fluent in Hindi, and my cook and pony boy barely speak a word of the Queens'.
Faruq is a superb cook, though....just had a great chicken ruby, and now I'm going to get an early night as trekking tomorrow will be long and hard (encroach, encroach).
I met the gypsy children from the village today, and they are the sweetest kids; they run up and say Hello and all want their pictures taken. Also, there's an amazing 3000 year old temple in the middle of the village! Paths right through it; no fences, no warnings, nothing!
Anyway, I feel like Captain Cooke....scrawling in my manuscript by candlelight in a tent in the wilderness. If only I had a "sweet Maude" to miss....then perhaps she could come up the mountain and get blown off with me...
(01/04/09)
Ok, Wednesday evening. I'm in a two-man dome tent that my cook put up, although it may has well have been erected by a holy cow. With BSE. I hope I don't get blown off the mountain (it was erected on an exposed mound), although all this talk of erections, exposed mounds and being blown off is encroaching on my spirituality, man. In a good way.
This is my way of maintaining sanity*, as I'm not exactly fluent in Hindi, and my cook and pony boy barely speak a word of the Queens'.
Faruq is a superb cook, though....just had a great chicken ruby, and now I'm going to get an early night as trekking tomorrow will be long and hard (encroach, encroach).
I met the gypsy children from the village today, and they are the sweetest kids; they run up and say Hello and all want their pictures taken. Also, there's an amazing 3000 year old temple in the middle of the village! Paths right through it; no fences, no warnings, nothing!
Anyway, I feel like Captain Cooke....scrawling in my manuscript by candlelight in a tent in the wilderness. If only I had a "sweet Maude" to miss....then perhaps she could come up the mountain and get blown off with me...
At Last!!!
Finally, compadres!! A blog has been created! I'm off out for the day now but will start to fill in the blanks tonight....photos, banter, people I've met, places I've played.
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