My First Taste of India - Kolkata

It's hard not to come up with a cliche line to describe my first impressions of India.  Nothing can prepare you for it.  The place is a sensory overload that to date writing this post has not ceased.  Arriving in Kolkata airport at 12:30am wasn't the greatest plan, but unavoidable.  i didnt know the area, I didnt know anyone in the city, didn't have any rupees on me, and there was no ATM in the international terminal.

I'll just note here that I am finishing adding to this post over two weeks after arriving so some of the cultural insights written come from slightly more than 5 days experience :)

A Night at Kolkata Airport

My friend Lakshman (Liam) was in Delhi and was flying into Kolkata the following morning. He had booked a room at Hotel Airways, aparently right by the airport.  But as i walked out of the terminal, I was confronted with at least a few hundred taxi drivers who's eyes all lit up with hope as they saw this somewhat lost foreigner loaded with bags looking around for some clue as to where gate 2 was. very shortly i found myself back inside the terminal (you're only allowed in with a valid ticket) and spoke to the guy with the biggest gun.  He told me the nearest atm was only 300 meters away at the domestic terminal but also that my hotel was about a 10-15 minute walk away.  He then added that if he were me, he'd stay here in the terminal for at least a few hours 'to be safe'.. hmm ok i think i'll take that advice mr giant gun. After sitting down for about 30 seconds, a lone white girl with an expression on her face i assumed similar to that found on myself a few minutes earlier came by and asked if she could sit with me for a few minutes as she'd just had the same experience. Her name was Sabrina, she had arranged for a hotel to pick her up from the airport but they didnt show, after letting her know what mr gun told me, we agreed to wait it out together.

Not long after we migrated to where a french girl Sarah was sleeping, the only comfortable looking piece of real estate in the airport.  Turns out she was sleeping there until 11am waiting for a flight out.  By that time I'd decided that considering Liam was flying in at 8am and these girls were there on their own why not wait it out til morning.

Morning arrived and Sabrina and I said goodbye to Sarah and met with Liam before taking a prepaid taxi to Sudder St, the traditional cheap backpacker area of Kolkata.

First Day In Kolkata

Wow.  Driving in Kokata (and anywhere else in india it seems) is an amazing experience. The method, as i hear is common in many asian countries, seems to be roughly to use your horn not to alert danger, but instead to let others know where you are while doing whatever you feel you need to do to get to your destination.  In practice this means the horn is blarlng pretty much constantly.  Strangely enough, I felt completely at east the entire ride and have every time i've been on the road since arriving.  There is a flow and awareness that just works.  I think it may be tougher to be at ease on bigger roads with faster traffic but in the rickshaws and taxi's i've been in so far it's not a problem.

Liam is a devout Vaishnava (hare krsna), and wanted to visit his spiritual master in Kolkata, I joined him at another devotee's house where we were able to eat some delicious, homecooked indian food prepared by the devotee's sister. Amazing.

Eventually we retired to our cheap hotel and I was able to sleep after being awake for over 36 hours and being punched in the face by india for an entire day. Loved it.

Impressions Of Culture

The next 5 days saw me adjusting to the culture that is India, or more specifically - Kolkata.  The people interact and behave so differently compared to our Western counterparts, for the unaware there could be some serious freaking out happening.  India is a tough tough place to live.  Everyone can assume this much but experiencing it is simply phenomenal. Kolkata is one of the few places left that actually has human powered rickshaws. These guys are seriously hardcore. So skinny they have ribs showing, no shoes they pull people around the city for pittance.  This is a country where (most) people are very aware of what it means to do a hard days work, with many people I spoke to working more than 16 hour days.

As a result of the tough life, generaly speaking have a pretty touch exterior. A hardened outer shell which is simply necessary to get by in everyday life.  But there is so much heart underneath.  I would imagine many visitors to India never looking beyond this barrier.  As a foriegner in the country, you are confronted with outright staring and stern face that initially seems to say 'What the hell are you doing in my country'  you give a smile in our familiar western fashion and get absolutely no response, just the same piercing stare that seems to penetrate through to your core.  But with a few handy pieces of cultural knowledge it isn't hard to get people to show their hearts, and often huge smiles alongside.  Reading Shataram in the month prior to arrival was imensely helpful, as was watching Liam deal with locals after visiting India so many times.  The most prominent tip I gained from reading that book was most definitely the explaination of the infamous head-wobble.  For those who havent read it, Shantaram goes on to explain this phenemomon. It is primarly used no so much as 'yes' but more as 'I agree with you', but in terms of dealings with strangers, as an initial interaction it somewhat states 'I am a peaceful man'.  I tried it immediately and tho it's a hard physical action to master, I'd put it at about 95% of the time returned with a subtle wiggling response and usually a beaming smile to go with it.

It seems everyone is an entropeneure.  Business exists on every level imaginable.  From the foodstands serving up delicious and extremely cheap food, freshly cooked, to the guy on the side of the street who's invested his money soley in a small amount of mothballs to sell, presumably in hopes of making a little more money to purchase something a little easier to sell. Slowly this seems to be how people make something of themselves on the street.  With the amount of people swarming the city, it is very easy to imagine anyone selling anything here could do well..

I spent 5 days in Kolkata, but more than see the sights of the town, as indicated above I was more focused on absorbing the culture.  Liam and I visited a couple of temples one Kali temple which was pretty crazy, jam packed with people pushing and shoving to give their offerings, and another Gaudia Math temple that was astonishingly humble in contrast, we also looked at an incredibly old cemetary and a few other sights.

We then booked a train and headed north to the ISKCON (Hare Krsna) spiritual centre - Mayapur.

A Few Photos (see facebook...)

Seoul, Korea

Decent flight but terribly hungover, I followed Scott's quite detailed directions to his flat in Sinchon, Seoul. This included an hour long bus ride that luckily dropped me virtually at the door.  The previously described week in London left my immune system decimated and I pretty much got sick on arrival in Seoul.  This wasnt great, but as I had Scott's place to stay at and no flight out (hence timeline to squeeze into) I could relax and get better, which is precisely what I did to start with.  Unfortunately Seoul was experiencing it's first week of snap cold.. it was below zero.. this I wasnt expecting, cold sure, but not this cold! It hampered me getting better a little but still enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm just glad I hung onto the winter jacket and thermals i'd been dragging around. 

I went out several times with a few of Scott's friends, had a few nights on the drink and generally just enjoyed korean life as Scott does, which was great. I didnt have any big plans there.. I spent nearly 12 nights in Seoul and became very fond of the place.  The city is big and wide roads carry heavy traffic for most of the time. There are over 20 million people in the greater Seoul area so it's quite a busy place. There's a pretty good nightlife, wth absolutely no shortage of bars and clubs to attend and everyone is very peaceful.  Though I'm sure it exists, i can't really imagine much violence there at all.

Seoul is not a great place for vegetarians.  There was one restaurant i frequented that was 100% vegan with many options right by Scott's place in Sinchon.  I must have dined there at least 10 times. I'm sure there's more options around, but they aren't obvious.

There isnt really any need for a detailed acount of my visit. but here are some highlights of the visit include:
- Going down to one of the US army base's and watching Scott teach baseball to 10 year olds.

- Bungee Jumping off a 45m platform over a big lake

- Dining at a traditional Korean restaurant (shoes off eating on the floor, kimchee pancakes etc)
- Spending time with Scott, and meeting some of his unbelievably generous friends.  Guests, it seems do not pay for things in Korea.. (Thanks Sooyon and Jeesoo!)

- Hiking up a mountain in the heart of Seoul with Sooyon, a friend
of Scott's who offered to take me, and having a 360 degree view of the
city.

- Visiting the Korean War History Museum. This place was amazing! I spent about 4 hours learning what the country went through during that time which is really quite recent.

..and they had some giant missiles

- Checked out some crazy 15th century palaces

- and spending some great times catching up with Scotty! Thanks again bud!

United Kingdom

Two Very Different Tales

After a very nice flight over sitting next to a dude from Germany who roasted coffee for a living and taught me quite a bit about coffee I touched down at Franfurt's international Airport in Germany.  Going through TWO seperate security searches including one that swabbed my guitar with something and analysed it in an explosives detection machine I made it to my connecting flight to continue on and land at Heathrow Airport.  Petrified by reports of  hardcore border patrol in the UK and knowledge of two friends who have been deported for making simple mistakes answering questions i nervously spoke to the customs lady who asked a couple of simple expected questions about where i'm going and where i've been and sent me on my way. *sigh*  I get so stressed at these security points, it's so irrational but something i just cant let go of even without a shred of actual reason.

My visit to the UK, as it turned out, was divided into two distinctly different experiences that could not be further apart in description.  After collecting baggage I boarded a bus to Bath. 


Bath
A quaint and well preserved Roman town that hosts the UK's only natural hot springs refered to cryptically as The Roman Baths.  This town was incredibly beautiful, all the buildings were made of stone and there exists local government policies to prevent any buildings of a modern nature from ruining the towns heritage.

My cousin Belinda and her husband James live in an amazing and huge house that they've recently renovated with their 3 gorgeous children all under 6 years old Joshua, Thomas and Alexandra. They generously allowed me to stay as long as I liked in their 3rd floor guestroom which will easily be the height of luxury that I experience for my entire trip.  After the last month in Vancouver and especially the last weekend, relaxing and taking things down a notch was precisely what I needed to prepare for the journey ahead. Children are so humbling and grounding.  I became good friends with her youngest Alex who is the cutest little girl you'd see, at 2.5 years she's at that age old enough to be very vocal and opinionated about everything, and young enough to not have developed any sense of inhibition or insecurity, so pretty much every thought is converted to speach. It's a hilarously beautiful age.

Whilst in Bath I was treated to lunch at old traditional pubs and nice restaurants almost daily, strolled the town a few times visiting hundreds of years old buildings like Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths, played tennis with James at the country club, helped make party packs for Thomas's Birthday, played Wii with the boys, watched Eastenders nightly, finished my the brilliant book i was reading Shantaram, it was an extremely relaxing week and I am very grateful to have had the chance to visit my cousin and her beautiful family.  

I was also lucky enough to be there for Guy Fawkes night.  My generation of Australian's aren't really too familiar this celebration as far as I know as it was effectively abolished in the late 70's when the sale of fireworks was banned..  Goes something like this:  Some time in the 1600's a guy called Guy Fawkes was caught trying to blow up the house of parliament killing everyone sitting within it, but was caught before executing the plan.  He and co-conspirators had managed to stash 800kg of gunpowder under the building but didn't get to light it...  I've yet to work out whether the people are celebrating the attempt or the foiling of the plot, but in any case it's an entertaining event that is celebrated by the lighting of fireworks all over the place, seemingly over the course of a week, but culminating on both the 5th Novermber and the nearest Saturday night with a big show of fireworks, and (in the two cases I saw) a ridiculously granduouse bonfire. The Saturday night party was put on by the owner of an incredibly lavish mansion on a massive property with all the trimmngs.. All in all a luxurious and relaxing trip.

Bath Abbey

insanely huge organ inside the abbey


Royal Circus


Ridiculously Huge Bonfire

London, Brighton and the Astor Kensington Hostel
In as I said complete contrast I arrived by train to London on the 11th November by train, took the tube to Gloucester Road station and walked the few hundred metres down to the hostel I'd randomly picked known as the Astor Kensington.  This place wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing of places i've stayed, but in a very short amount of time I was without doubt that I'd made a great choice.  Run by extended-staying travellers who all seemed to be staying in the hostel, I went out on the first evening in a hostel organised trip to a local pub running a quiz night.  Here I met a great crew of people which lay the foundations of a week of partying.  I also met Jessica, who as it turned out was doing almost the exact opposite trip to me, starting with a journey around sth east asia, staying for a week in London then moving on for an extended working holiday in Canada.  Naturally we had a lot to talk about, I gained a bunch of advice for the next leg of my trip and a buddy to do some sightseeing with.
 
The next day (wed) we ventured to Brighton down by the sea and witnessed some epic scenes of the old Brighton Pier which burnt down but the steel skeletal remains in the water, the nearby newly built Brighton Pier 2.0 containing a number of tacky casino type setups and a carnival.  After that we cruised the town and visited Brick Lane, a famous area of Brighton where narrow lanes full of (mostly jewlery) shops intertwine, ate (Fish and) chips on the beach and strolled some of the town before catching the train back to

The old burnt down Brighton Pier


The new Brighton Pier down the beach

Jess walking down The Lanes (doesnt really do it justice..)

Thursday I caught up with a friend Lauren and checked out Camden Town and markets, great tasting cuisine and botique shopping there, we also looked at Oxford and Regent streets, the heart of materialism in london. Left very quickly.  Then walked the length of Hyde park before heading to Portabello St. and back to the hostel, where I met Paula another frined from Melbourne and we joined in on the weekly hostel 'cocktail night' (5 bottles of rum poured into a trough off ice and topped up with pine, orange and tropical

juices, all you can drink for 5 pounds) - a pretty entertaining evening.

Lauren at the markets in Camden Town

Friday I met up with Jessica again and we ventured to shoreditch in an amazingly disapointing attempt to view some of Banksy's street art in east london.  Had a curry and generally just wandered the area. I said goodbye to Jess as she was leaving the following day and Jumped on a train out to Canary Island to catch up with a friend from highschool Cheryl and her boyfriend Ben at their flat.  We drank some wine and ended up down at the local pub (who all turned in shock as we entered the door) and played pool with them and continued drinking throughout the evening.

The following day was pretty miserable and raining, hungover I woke up in Cheryl's spare bed and forced myself to do something touristsy. Not realising it was Saturday, The Tower of London turned out to not be the best choice. It wasn't just raining either - it was hammering down and occasionally sideways.. so windy my umbrella proved practically useless. I did find it interesting, and with a lot less crowd i may have spent more time but i have to admit i was out of there pretty quickly.

I packed all my bags ready on saturday afternoon as i had a suspicion the evening would be messy and i needed to get up and leave somewhat early.  One of the hostel staff Stacey was leaving and a big party had been organised with a view to hit a bar in Camden Town afterwards. As this was my last night it did seem appropriate to celebrate with my new friends.  It started off with a reenectment of thursday night's cocktail event and after that 'unlimited' source had vanished we did indeed continue onto a bar in Camden and I tell you, I havent hit it that hard in a long while. The bar closed at about 4 and after a dirty falafel from a street vendor waiting for what turned out to be a bus full of other drunkards trying to get home i think i eventually hit the pillow around 6am. 

Bye London
Needless to say my 15 hour travel journey to Seoul the following day wasnt the greatest experience.  Completely erasing the week of relaxation in Bath, London had ruined me. I'm sure now you understand these two sides the UK had to offer :)

Astor Fun

Paula, Christian, Myself and Jessica


The Crew at the Astor Kensington Hostel