Filed under: Travel
A cold yet pleasingly steady England. To be up and out of the Tsunami zone and into a hot bath within 2 days is strangely disarming. I feel as if I am betraying the local people left behind in this tragedy. Now, more than ever, people in these regions need the income from tourism to help them get back on their feet. The areas most hit obviously need the most help. But, in the badly affected places, the infrastructure is simply too strained to be able to support any further drain on water and food resources that visitors would bring. We actually left the Andamans following our intended schedule. There were enough supplies on Havelock to support the people there and many fellow travellers were choosing to stick to their original plans. Of course, news of the wider reach of the waves and the associated images that have been in the media all around the world hasn’t quite filtered round the islands yet. Believe me – I was choked by what the news showed on the plane coming home. We were blissfully unaware just how close we were.
So, now that we are home and safe with friends and family, what can anyone do to help? GIVE MONEY. Either donate to a specific organisation, such as the Red Cross and Oxfam, that are already based in some of the affected regions and doing excellent work. Or the Disasters Emergency Committee is running an appeal where you can also donate online. How much can you afford? Double it. Incredibly, even these sites are starting to buckle under the sheer enormity of things but please keep trying.
If you are looking for information about the situation in the Andaman Islands, an Andaman-Tsunami website has been created for those seeking to post or find out news.
Filed under: Travel
Chennai, India. We have just arrived from the Andaman Islands and the extent of the Tsunami’s devastation is only just starting to hit home. Sleeping in a simple hut on the beach, we were woken by a serious rumble in the morning and we certainly got a bit wet but, as there are no communications on Havelock Island, we did not know what was happening in the outside world. The lack of information and rumours just caused more panic. When we left yesterday, people were still camped out in the hills for fear of another quake. Water and food supplies were low but not desperate. When a lady from the British High Commission met us at the airport, we realised people must have been worried. I didn’t quite expect us to make the news though! Anyway – we and all the other people who were on Havelock Island (the same should go for Neil Island too) are safe; there were no casualties. As we head home, my heart goes out to all those touched by this tragedy.
Filed under: Travel
Chennai, India. Catching a lift with an Indian family and their kitchen sink, my nose is pressed close to the window. Sacred bulls stand dazed in the heavy traffic – either mesmerised by headlights or bewildered by the neon and noise of the night market. I catch my partner’s eye and we smile. Yep – we are back in India.
Filed under: Photos, Travel
Kandy, Sri Lanka. After nearly four hours sat in a cybercafe, I have managed to upload some photos. Email me for the password
Filed under: Travel
Ella, Sri Lanka. We woke at 3am this morning, after only getting to bed at 1am (beers under the full moon on a beautiful beach – just too enticing!) and arrived at Uda Welawe National Park to catch the dawn troop of elephants. As the mist cleared, we stalked the odd beasties in our jeep – all that was missing was a voiceover from David Attenborough. I like elephant footprints.
Filed under: Travel
Mirissa, Sri Lanka. We’ve been doing a fair bit of diving lately and, a couple of days ago, we saw a turtle. I’ve never seen one so close. He effortlessly banked round right in between us, as we made our ascent from the deep. You could even see his smile – chuckling at how clumsy we looked trying to be fish.
Filed under: Travel
Mirissa Beach, Sri Lanka. Sun, sea, surf, snorkelling… Oh and a bit of diving. Nuf said really
Filed under: Travel
Colombo, Sri Lanka. A busy city, yes. But a world away from the busy we’ve left behind in India. The traffic goes in the same direction, on the correct side of the road. And on tarmac roads too! With pavements and everything.
After a month of curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner it has been a welcome treat to find a place serving culinary delights such as sushi and a cool beer. This really is a little cosmopolitan heaven. Although, seeing Christmas decorated plastic palm trees in a shopping mall is perhaps stretching even my ideas of consumer utopia a little too far. And, I have to admit, I found it a little disconcerting riding the elevator up the west tower of the World Trade Centre – Colombo’s very own twin towers.
Filed under: Travel
madurai, tamil nadu. i don’t believe it – we have just spent the last four days surrounded by complete mayhem and i get to an internet cafe to upload our photos and it says the data is corrupt! technology schmechnology.
last night we wandered around the spell binding temple again, taking it all in, and were duly blessed by the holy painted elephant. then, as we stepped out into the heavy evening, the sky and streets were suddenly alive with a non-stop assault of bangs, squeals and cascading colours from a second wave of diwali attack. mothers in saris lit mischievous firecrackers and dads dueled with fireworks of ever increasing size. we escaped to a rooftop and watched the beautiful battle unfold around us. the thick air becoming even thicker with gunpowder smoke and the smell of incense.
and, of course, this morning the sacred cows were out in force – happily munching on all the spent munitions littering the streets.
Filed under: Travel
madurai, tamil nadu. i have sought a brief air-conditioned solace from the war zone of deepavali firecrackers out in the streets. it seems nothing is spared by kids letting off bangers – bottles, fruit, bikes, cows – all are no match for the fireworks that they are armed with.
the temple this morning was equally crazy, in a very different way; sacred painted elephants wandering about between the butter throwing, prostrating and chanting devotees. we explored the temple, through the labyrinth of corridors, shrines and ceilings – decorated with elaborate stories of various deities in fantastical detail. the noise and buzz of holy activity created a truly magical atmosphere. it felt like wandering round an indiana jones movie.
Filed under: Travel
madurai, tamil nadu. we have a room on the roof of a hotel that has amazing views of the city and sunrise this morning was rather special. the huge temple towers, thought to be decorated with 3.3 million brilliantly painted sculptures, dominate the vista. while the chants, wails, toots and beeps rise from the chaotic streets of the bustling holy city below. you can feel the excited anticipation as everyone prepares for deepavali. this is a very different india to goa and kerala – and i think i’m going to enjoy it.
Filed under: Travel
munnar tea stations, high in the hills. this might have been a bit of a mistake as it has rained constantly for days. apparently the view from our hotel across the tea plantations is amazing – if only we could see through the mist. very atmospheric but very wet. considering the torrential rain and looming misty cloud, i was obviously quite happy to hear that the town in which we are staying is host to a famous old gentleman’s club where apparently one can while away the afternoon playing snooker, sipping a gin and tonic, surrounded by hunting trophies. i’m an english gentleman – i thought. so with a hop, skip and a rickshaw ride, we were there – the high range club. i confidently approached the golf sweater wearing manager and, with my best public school english, enquired as to whether we may avail of his facilities. he took a cursory glance at me and said no. i wasn’t wearing shoes. “but… but i’m english”, i thought, looking down at my flip flops. then turned around and left muttering to myself about golf clubs and jeans.
Filed under: Photos, Travel
somewhere in south india. my first impressions of india were mainly the stark contrasts. old ways and new ideas sit quite happily next to each other. take this broadband internet cafe i am in – looking all swish and air conditioned – while oxen lead wooden carts in the mud roads outside. it is constantly hectic yet surprisingly easy going. though it doesn’t seem as different as i thought it might – mainly i think due to the cultural barriers that can be crossed by sharing a common language. whereas south america was constantly a battle to be understood or to understand, here it is much easier. even though the place is completely crazy at times. a particular ruse that i am becoming aware of is something we have taken to dub “the elaborate faff”. it goes something like this: 1) identify a problem that everyone knows the solution to but won’t admit; 2) create a particularly elaborate diversion – ideally involving lots of running around and people getting busy; 3) faff plenty; 4) solve original simple problem behind the elaborate smoke-screen diversion. all this is done most knowingly – with lots of smiles and yes sirs and no sirs and dippings of the head. talking of head movements – one thing that has caused a few confusions is the sideways rocking of the head that indicates agreement when it looks like a negative shake at first glance from a westerner’s perception. i think we’ve gotten used to that one though – after only a few minor mis-interpretations.
anyway – i have a few photos to share with you from the last few days.
Filed under: Travel
benaulim, south goa. well we made it. rather than bore with a long winded poetic description of this place, i thought i’d let the sounds do that talking – recorded sat on a shaded terrace, in a small fishing village, just watching life.
Filed under: Media
got sent this movie clip earlier this morning. normally i just flick through things like this that get sent around but i was really taken by the style. banksy stencils in 3d motion – with an important message to boot.
Filed under: Travel
what with all this thinking about india, i’ve been spending a little longer than i sanely should checking out various indian websites. there’s a site for everything! the indian rail site seems far more efficient than our offering and i’ve learnt a thing or too about indian cooking. it’s a little worrying that when googling for a site about british food to show an indian friend – this came up second! i just love the line “After lunch the father will smoke his pipe and read the newspaper sitting on his favourite armchair while his wife washes the dishes” – under a picture of the typical family having sunday lunch. it doesn’t mention anything about trolley teas though.
anyway – here’s some indian sounds to tease the ears. sometimes, simple everyday sounds can be the most evocative things.
Filed under: Friends, London, Media, Photos, Random, Technology, Travel
this way please… go check it out, fred’s been busy.
EDIT: more here
Filed under: Media, Random, Technology
with a certain magazine deciding to strip the most important thing in the world of its capital “i”, it’s good to see some people are sticking to their guns. i mean – these things are important!
Filed under: Travel
well it’s time to get out there again. our flight is booked for mumbai – we leave in a few weeks for 3 months. time to get planning. whoop!
Filed under: Photos
now that i have a brand new digital camera in my hand, i can’t stop snapping again. i think it’s only right i try out some open source image browsing code. take a peek at what i have mostly been doing this summer 
Filed under: London
with the tube strike in mind tomorrow, here’s a quick quiz to decide whether it’s really worth going in to work…
looks like i’m going to have to stay at home 
Filed under: London, Random
summer is here. it’s time to get on that bike again. critical mass every last friday of the month
Filed under: London, Media, Random
i went to see noam chomsky talk on “Simple Truths, Hard Choices: Some Thoughts on Terror, Justice and Self-Defence” the other evening. hmm. not sure what i was expecting to hear. these sorts of issues seem to be at the forefront of peoples minds these days – with everybody bringing the subject up, whether over a beer in the pub or a picnic in the park. it’s all good and well to rant about how imbalanced power and wealth is in the world but it strikes me that a point is being missed when it becomes a “philosophical topic”. especially when that philosophising is held in the lecture halls of western universities, predominantly in the english language.
noam chomsky wouldn’t be there talking to the masses if it wasn’t for this power imbalance. we wouldn’t have been able to visit the lecture in such comfort if it wasn’t for this power imbalance. knowledge is power – and universities do well to share it with those who will recipricate the power favour by choosing english to communicate. oh look – i’m doing it myself
anyway – i left the lecture thinking that we can talk all we like saying “something must be done” but surely the consequences of such action would have to mean the west loses its grip on power and wealth in the world? maybe that would be a good thing but it would mean a very different daily reality for the people that are currently going about telling others how bad it all is.
Filed under: London, Random
i’m free! i was chuckling out aloud to myself like some deranged maniac, as i rode my bike across clapham common this morning. it had finally dawned on me that i had left my job and no longer have anyone else to answer to. so i stopped, had a cup of tea and bacon sarnie from honest tom’s tea wagon and watched the ducks. because i could. lovely.
Filed under: Random
when it rains, it pours. nine weddings in the next twelve months and counting. every which way i turn, it seems somebody else is closing the deal. congratulations to you all – you know who you are…
2 Comments