My Thoughts

I just finished drinking a cup of coffee, which I realised is something I miss from home. So this got me thinking about what I do and don't miss from home.

• I miss my girlfriend, but I'm meeting her in 2 weeks, and then we travel for 5 months together :)
• I miss checking my emails in the morning over a coffee. I check my emails here every few days, but it's not the same.
• I miss sleeping in my own bed, but I love waking up in a tropical beach hut, or with in a new city, town or temple to explore.
• I love reading when traveling, but I don't miss television.
• I miss having my own transport, but I love watching foreign landscapes whizzing by on an Indian train.
• I miss surfing, but I love swimming in warm tropical waters.
• I love the cheap cost of living, but I miss the convenience of fixed prices (I don't like having to haggle).
• I miss my big music collection, but I love hearing forgotten albums on my MP3 player.
• I don't miss English winters, but I do miss a warm comfortable bed on surprisingly chilly tropical nights.
• I do miss catching up with my friends and family, but it makes it more exciting when I get home.

I love traveling.....

I have just finished reading Heinrich Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet, an astonishing look at Tibet through the eyes of an exiled Australian during and after World War II.

I have long had a fascination with Tibet, especially the Chinese occupation, which to me, with my limited understanding of the situation, seems completely unfair and hugely oppressive. The book gives fantastic insights into life in Tibet, before the people - including the Dali Lama - fled and before their ancient customs and traditions were lost to the Chinese.

When visiting Nepal a month or so ago I was fascinated by the Tibetan people there. Nepal has hundreds of thousands of Tibetan refugees. At the stupas around Kathmandu I saw many hundreds of pilgrims devoting their time and prayers to Buddha. I have long wanted to visit Tibet, but fear I would be disappointed by the forced Chinese influence. But, I have decided than on my next visit to this area of Asia I will visit Tibet and I will visit Daramasala in India, in the hope of receiving a blessing from his Holiness the Dali Lama.

I'm not a politician, so I wont get into those matters, but here is a passage that related to things I have experience recently, so much so that I though I would reproduce it (without permission, sorry HaperCollins)

"Beggars take up their station by the Cathedral door. They know very well that man is charitable and considerate when he is in the presence of God. In Tibet, as in most other places, beggars are a public nuisance. While I was building my dam the Government determined to put the sturdy beggars to work. They rounded up the thousands of beggars of Lhasa and picked out seven hundred men who were fit for employment. These were put on the job and received food and pay for their work. On the next day only half of them turned up and a few days later they were all absent. It is not a lack of work or dire necessity that makes these people beggars, nor, in most cases, bodily infirmity. It is pure laziness."

Beggars are very common in Nepal and India, and whilst some are clearly inflicted so that they cannot work, others to me seemed to simply be playing the game. The same is true in my homeland of England. The social security system there is excellent, and no one need go without food, money to live or shelter - including nationals and refugees of other nations who are visiting the UK. Yet you'll see beggars in most major towns, and thousands in London. An Australian guy (Australians seem to love attacking other nations, especially Brits) once made some damming comments about the homeless people in London, saying 'You Brits treat your homeless people very badly'. This confused me. I am fairly aware of the benefits they are entitled to. I wish I was quicker thinking as I would have asked this chap what steps Australia had taken to ensuring the Aboriginal people of Australia have their land and rights restored, since Australia's independence from Britain. Because, when I was in Australia the Aboriginals seemed to have a pretty bad deal to me.

Everywhere I travel I see the dry floors of river beds, often with just a tiny stream dribbling down one side. Why is this? Where has all of the water gone?

I've seen this is India, Australia, Spain New Zealand, Nepal and Portugal. In these dry river beds I see kids playing, cattle grazing and people collecting rocks.

Is it that I always see these rivers in the dry season? Or have we humans stopped the flow of these important rivers to use the energy for hydroelectricity?

Maybe soon I will see a rushing river, away from the Himalayan gorges.

Since being in India and Nepal I have seen lots of beggars - people who do not have enough and ask for help. I have read many times that giving money and food to beggars is discouraged because it encourages people to live this way, and stops then from finding more social ways of proving for themselves. In India and Nepal the giving of alms to religious men is a part of culture, but this can sometimes promote begging in other classes of society.

I give a little to those religious men, and rarely to others. This seems like a bad thing to do, but I am following the advice of people who know more about this than me. I reward local kids when they help me. I think this encourages work ethics, inline with tourism, which is often the best prospect for future work.

Today, whilst sitting on the balcony of the hotel, I saw an old lady carrying earth in the basket on her back which she bought into the garden of the hotel and tipped into an empty flower border. She was obviously tired. The family owners of the hotel have nicely spruced up the garden since I have been here. I get the impression they are new owners, or are making a bigger effort, which is still well above par. When the old lady was done the lady of the house took her a bowl of cooked rice and vegetables, the lady was delighted, and sat down to eat. I noticed she used a spoon, which is uncommon for the Nepalese, but I understand they use cutlery when their hands are dirty. One of the boys from the hotel they handed the lady a bottle of chilled water.

It was so nice to see this kind of community interaction. I don't think the family of the hotel looked down upon the old lady at all. She is from a different caste, the complicated class system in Nepal and India. I think the family were glad to give the lady work, and were glad to give her some of their own food.

These are the differences in cultures, how these things often do and often don't happen, but are always important.

When I walked to the World Peace Pagoda I made the mistake of following an American couple and their grown up son. The way was very unclear, and whilst following behind them they turned around saying that a local kid had said it was the other way. I thought it was indeed the other way, the Americans were not sold. The kid directed us to a steep bank were the mountain started. This looked right to me, but the American son was saying how this wasn't the track and the kid would get us lost and ask for money. My instinct said otherwise and I gave the kid NRs5 (10 cence or 5 pence) for his help. He asked If I needed a guide, I said no, and double checked it was the right way to go. The kid said yes.

I started to climb the mountain, saw more worn tracks and carried on up. I met several people who were coming down and was confident the kid had sent me on the right way. The views from the top were magnificent, as was the Pagoda. After a long rest at the top, I was coming down the mountain and met the Americans who were going up. We exchanged words on how me had made it, and passed each other. I now wish I had asked them if they had gotten lost by not following the kids advice.

I think giving to the needy is appropriate at times. I think giving people something for nothing is wrong, especially with children as they will have much better lives by going to school, and learning about Nepal, farming, business, health and English. If they beg they often don't go to school.

Today I bought some badges to sew onto my backpack, which seems quite a hippy thing to do on retrospect. However, one that I wanted was out of stock, only the display one left. The guy says no problem, he will make it by tonight. It turns out he had made all of the t-shirts, shirts, towels, blankets, badges and other numerous things in this shop. I was impressed. When it came to the price I knew the price was inflated because I was a tourist. As I prepare to barter I realised I was going to try and reduce the price by 30 or 40 pence. The badge must surely take 1 hour to make, and I would deprive him of this money? Of course not, I am very happy to pay tourist prices for a hand make product by a skilled man supporting his family. I had exchanged nemaste with his young daughter earlier. It's difficult to adjust to the inflated prices and haggling systems when your start a trip, but I have learn't that some things are worth paying for, and to not try to save a few pence that would mean nothing at home.