Swimming to Cambodia

So, I am in Siem Reap now, the nearby town for Angkor Wat. It was a 14 hour journey from Bankok, which is ridiculous as the distance is not far at all. But the road is in a terrible state and mostly unmade. So it made for a dusty, bone-shaking ride.

Siem Reap is touristy, but fairly civilised and I'm in a very nice, clean hotel. I've been to the temple complexes these past two days on back of a motorbike taxi. I've been to a few historical sites in my time, but this has to be one of the most amazing!

Went to the privately-run Landmine Museum today, started up by a local who was forced into the Khmer Rouge army. An astonishing collection of mines and other ordnance that he has dug out of the ground, after probing about with a pointed stick.......

Bangkok daze

I'm still in Bangkok and am enjoying it - didn't the first time I was here. The city has done something about the traffic -still v.heavy, but it does move now and the air has the appearance of being very clear. Much better than the Pak/India mega-cities I've been to.
The city has all the look of a modern metropolis of the future, with fantastic skyscraper architecture and skytrains whizzing between the gaps.

A chicken sandwich from Calcutta airport (I was hungry and desperate) gave me a parting present of food-poisoning shortly after my arrival in Thailand. Just about over that now.

For the last day, I've been hanging out with a French Canadian (Martin) and a fellow Brit (Callum) and their company has helped lift my spirits considerably. The three of us did the obligatory exploration of the dodgy areas of the city last night. I picked up a bag of fried locusts for 20 Baht. I'd always thought these insects to be an underused source of animal protein and been keen to try them - a bit like prawns, I expected. Well, not really! They were quite tasty the way they'd been cooked, but no flesh - just a crunchy sensation of dry legs and skin. Callum relieved me of one of them and I passed another to the friend of a hooker that Martin was chatting to. A bit of exoskeleton just fell out of a gap between teeth twelve hours later. Ugh.

I'm getting my visa (hopefully) for Camodia tomorrow. The embassy here seemed very efficient with no waiting at all and a promise of next-day service. Excellent, Along with Laos (the most heavily bombed country inhistory) and Vietnam, these three countries are a testament to the UShaving *the* modern history to be ashamed of

requiem for John

Well, John travelled faithfully all the way with me from UK to the Bay of Bengal, kept me company and helped create some memorable times. But now I've done the dirty and dumped him in Orissa, at Puri beach. But I believe he's gone to a good owner. A local Indian in Puri who was auspiciouslyalso named John (Christian) and played well, but was being hampered by not having a decent guitar.

I gave up on trying to find a boat across the Bay of Bengal (they don't appear to exist - for passengers anyway) and took a flight from Calcutta to Bangkok,where I am now. Calcutta was dirty and a mess, but I survived the experience!

I was with an Aussie (called John) for a half-day who was mind-numblingly crude (like, really disgusting), but also friendly & helpful. There are plenty of backpackers around now, but only very occasionally do I find a kindred spirit with whom to feel comfortable. Strangely, I anticipated before leaving the UK that Indian and Thailand would be the most challenging for me on this aspect, mainly because the twenty-somethings are all in their cliquesand the locals don't find tourists a novelty/interesting. Still, it is a breath of fresh air to be back in civilisation here in Thailand and I'm hoping my zest for the journey will return before too long.

PS since posting the above, I've received a couple of emails from Ashish and Preetham (two of my dear Indian friends that I met in Kanha nat. park) who expressed upset over my parting of John and whether his new owner would be worthy. Will, let me reassure A and P and other readers that the new owner, also 'John' by name, is a committed musician, has been recorded on CD in Calcutta (for his singing, accompanied by other musicians) and asked me for the words and chords to 'Pale Blue Eyes' even before I'd thought of passing on the guitar to him. So, that particular song will not have seen its last with that guitar. John is setting up a project for local volunteers to litter-pick on the beach at Puri and is purchasing rubbish baskets for this purpose (I gave a small donation). The beach really needs this. He also teaches science voluntarily in the local school (and was trying to set me up to do the same, but I'd already arranged my flight). So, I think he should be a worth owner - if only he'd let me beat him at chess, just the *once* !!!!

Purification

I've been here at the beach for over a week and the days seem to be slipping by in a fairly seamless kind of way. Since my outgoings for bed and food amount to only a few quid a day, if inertia gets the better of me, I could quite easily spend the rest of my days here. It's now about 35 degrees in the day (their 'winter' is coming to an end), but with the sea breeze the climate here is just about ideal

Yesterday a couple of fishermen took me out to sea in their 'boat' (essentially a few solid logs tied together - very heavy) for the sunrise. We didn't get to see the turtles or dolphins they said were out there, but did see other boats doing their fishing business. There are plenty of Olive Ridley turtles to be seen here - unfortunately they're all dead on the beach. Orissa state is suffering thousands of turtle deaths a year and conservationists are calling for more to be done to protect this endangered species.

The day before that, it was a day trip out to Konark to see the world-famous Sun Temple. A really amazing pile of intricately-carved stone that on its 24 gigantic stone wheels, really does look as though the seven straining stone horses will pull it into motion at any moment. The detailed 'eroticism' (ready bawdyness) of the stone carvings rival those of Khajarohao.

I've been doing some reading & thinking re. the maths/space/dimensions stuff, but making headway is slow going. Yet to do any writing on this one......

All in all, a very relaxed sojourn with occasional chats with friendly tourists/locals. Bit of guitar playing, bit of chess playing (I've lost every single game).

How am I going to cope with Calcutta (Kolkata) after this???