Category Archives: Travel

It’s extremely hot and much busier than London. And there’s a funny smell. Weird.

Collected my Nepalese visa today and am ready to get moving again with a brief detour to Everest Base Camp. I’ve always childishly amused myself by giving bogus and increasingly outlandish occupations on visa application forms (gymnast, chimney sweep etc), … Continue reading →

After two days dodging checkpoints to get to Lhasa it’s not quite the “holy city” i was expecting. The Chinese have transformed it into something of a Tibetan theme park for moneyed western tour groups (hence the checkpoint dodging bit … Continue reading →

China was a bit weird, and the Chinese like to stare. A lot. They don’t seem to recognise that it’s rude and will unflinchingly stare at you in restaurants, bus stations, even when your taking a shit. The reason I … Continue reading →

The first major town we hit was Kashgar, where there were lot’s of middle aged American tour groups there for the famed Sunday market, the same reason we were there. Faced with the prospect of the first Saturday night in … Continue reading →

I was elated to discover on crossing the border into China that the mainstay of western Chinese meals appeared to be that ubiquitous Asian dish “Meat on a Stick”. Woo-hoo!!! The Chinese border crossing was exciting though. Everybody on the … Continue reading →

I managed to get a beer in the smugglers bazaar, sitting in the “narcotics” section in a stall with piles of opium and heroin on one side, and another pile of Afghan hash on the other. While i was there … Continue reading →

I should point out that that there were some women allowed into Sufi Night. I saw four in total but they had to sit at the back. In a cage.

Lahore! “Sufi night”! There were seven of us (white folk) ushered through the middle of a throng of hundreds and sat down in front of the makeshift alter, which was enough to make me a wee bit paranoid. This was … Continue reading →

It’s not dangerous (unless you want it to be), and the “Death to America” squad generally keep to themselves, planning their evil schemes in the privacy of their cave/tea shop/gun making factory or wherever . The vibes changed the moment … Continue reading →

India had it’s good points and bad points, though compared to other countries with similar attractions it’s bad points go off the scale. Seeing as I wasn’t interested in joining an ashram, finding myself, smoking copious amounts of cheap hash … Continue reading →

Tomorrow I pick up my Pakistan visa (finally) and wave goodbye to India for at least a couple of months (Delhi for good!!!) and look ahead to some more high Himalayan action and, er, islamic fundamentalism. It’s been interesting. I’ve … Continue reading →