Serial yo-yo diarist looking for commitment

I have always intended to keep a diary. Every now and then I start one up (case in point this blog). But each time I peter out after only a few entries. I am a serial yo-yo dieter, or rather diarist. As I grow older, I find my days rushing past and increasingly difficult to recall the "special" moments that make up a lifetime.

So I'm going to start up my diary again. This time I commit to make at least an entry per week. In the past, I kept waiting for the amazing to happen so I could write about it. This time I'm going to focus on the everyday. After all, everyday happens everyday and in a billion years insight everyday will be anthropologically amazing.

So here goes nothing.

Day 2 - Oxford and the Cotswolds

Up with the birds for a walking tour of Oxford and the Cotswold. When I say walking... I mean some minor staggering around in mud and cobblestone with a good cones of underground, rail, and coach travel. Had a good time but completely ruined my shoes tromping through the fields. However there was a certain amount of glee watching 30+ grown adults try to tip toe through a muddy field slipping and sliding and then trying to de-muddify their shoes by dragging, pounding, and grinding on the villages pristine cricket pitch (sacrilege) all while trying to avoid the enthusiastic greetings of a pack of cocker spaniels. Ahh village life.

St John's Church - Burford

Coronation Chicken Sandwich - Warwick Hall Burford

The Cotswolds are beautiful. The village of Minster Lovel was idyllic and creepy (think artificially manicured and period perfect cottages owned by the super rich or Disneyland meets Stepford Wives). Bursford (and its coronation chicken sandwich - poached chicken bits in mild curry mayo) was quintessentially British. Loved St. John's church (Bursford). The local rector was inviting. Laughed at the crypt of the much hated local woman, which was both creepy and deeply satisfying. She was so hated that, after her death, they exorcized her spirit, bottled it, buried it under a bridge, and then spent the next hundred or so years making sure that the water of the river covering the bottle was sufficiently deep enough to ensure her spirit never escaped. While alive, she apparently enjoyed the sound of peasant being crushed to death beneath the wheels of her carriage. What a sweetheart.

Oxford was exactly like I pictured it in my dreams, except somehow in miniature. Its really weird to think so many influential people came out of, what feels like, such a small place (and space). The tour walked us through Trinity College, caught a glimpse of Balliol, the old Ashmolean, the new Ashmolean, Radcliffe Camera, bits of the Bodleian Library, etc. Too little time to explore. Would have loved to gone into the library.

Radcliffe Camera - Oxford

Trinity College - Oxford

Details:

• Places visited Burford, Minster Lovel, Oxford
• Paddington Station closed for servicing, re-routed via Marleybourne
• England is fucking cold. Not even below zero, yet still able to chill you to the bone. How's that possible.
• 20 car pile up on highway near Minster Lovel - one fatality. 
• Dinner at Lilly Tandoori (about 2 minutes walk from hotel). Vegi Thali. Disappointingly bland. 

Budget for the day:

1. 2.00 Housekeeping tip
2. 58.00 Walking tour of Oxford & Cotswolds (include train, underground, charter bus, entrance, and guide)
3. 2.00 St. John's Church donation box
4. 9.00 Lunch - Warwick Hall cafe - coronation chicken sandwich and tea
5. 5.00 Snack - Tea and scone at Oxford covered market
6. 3.00 Cough drops - Boots Oxford
7. 13.00 Dinner - Lilly Tandoori - Vegetarian Thali 

Day one - a cold, cold, cold journey

Against all odds I made it (to London).  New Westminster was a blizzard-ing winter wonderland. I ate dim sum (including shrimp) before a long international flight (admittedly not the best decision I have ever made given my low dietary tolerance for seafood). AND I survived a 10 hour flight (including delay) with a damned chest cold. I coughed, hacked, and spread my "gift".  I'm sure my fellow passengers aboard the cramped and full AC flight were delighted to arrive and part ways with my sorry ass.

So now down to the details: 

• Ibis Earl's Court
• Easy access by tube (Picadilly from Heathrow to Earl's Court) and then a 10-minute walk through a lovely residential neighbourhood
• Check-in was smooth
• Room is very North American in size and amenities. Huge by English standards)
• No fridge
• Free wi-fi
• Flat screen TV
• Coffee/Tea in-room
• Tub and shower combo. Tub is a good depth
• Really big (if scratchy) towels
• Within a two-minute walking distance from all of your necessities (i.e. grocery, off-license, electronics stores, banks, pubs, restaurants, etc.)
• Neighbourhood looks mainly Middle Eastern. 
• Masala Express - Dinner
• A hole in the wall of the best kind
• Truly volcanic lamb vindaloo (yummy)
• Cost was 9.50 including rice and a drink

Notes to self:

1. Cut rate International adaptors from Army and Navy did not work. Had to buy a replacement.

Budget for day:

• 21.00 - Oyster card with 15.00 credit
• 5.00 - universal adaptor replacement
• 10.00 - Masala Express dinner with tip
• 3.00 - oranges and tea
• 4.00 - water and crisps (Walker's Variety pack)
• total - 43.00

Steve & Yvonne's Dino Extravaganza - Day One

We're almost finally on our way to Dinosaur National Park and our two day Dino Dig. I haven't been this excited for a long time. One more item about to be scratched off my bucket list. Currently, I'm at the YVR airport bar Vino Volo eating some charcuterie while waiting on Mr. Quilala. Ah the luxuries of life.

It's a bit more posh than my normal nosh but then again it is much less expensive than buying a boxed dinner onboard the flight. So really its a cost saving measure. Yup. That is my lie and I am sticking to it. Now bring on the sparkling water. 

Riding elephants in Jaipur

AK and I rode an elephant today. A big one. Her name was Moti or Jewel in Hindi (not to be confused with Modi, the Indian prime minister). Such a lovely girl. She took us up to the top of the fort. The ride was as smooth as butter, if butter were being churned by a slow moving cement mixer. Check one off my bucket list :-) As a bonus we also rode on a camel, his name was Raja.

Moti the elephant & AK

The fort was beautiful. It's a lot of building for a single family dwelling. The only down side of our adventure was today was the really really annoying photo vendors. I hate being pestered to buy things I didn't ask for or want in the first place.

We also visited:

• Palace of the winds
• Palace on the water
• Monkey temple (which smelly and sans monkey)

Tomorrow onward to Goa.

Varanasi, Ayurvedic Massage, & Toilets

I was scared to come to Varanasi. I was dreading coming face-to-face with filth, desperation, and death. All of the guidebooks talk about it as an assault on the senses. It warns you about the touts, the dangers of its streets, and the dirtiness of its streets and waters. All things I fear. Colour me surprised when we get here to find something completely different.

Varanasi is very very beautiful, hauntingly so. It is strangely serene, immensely spiritual, and perfectly pure. It is as if the smoke from its externally burning funeral pyres covers the city in a blanket of serenity. People seem at peace with life and all its angry chaos. Maybe it is the effect of Mother Ganges or the purity of the believers' heart that centers this city. It almost makes me want to bathe in her waters.... fortunately or unfortunately, I can't get over the all of the bits life's flotsam and jetsam (think puja offerings, excrement, laundry, garbage, human remains, etc.) that are also included with the water to dip a toe in.

A couple of days ago as part of our guided tour if the city, AK and I had our first Ayurvedic massage. I was directed into a room by a burly man with an impressive porn moustache where I was met by a tiny tiny woman who proceeded to tell me to strip and get on the table facing up. Without any warning, she then proceeded to oil me up and, just as she started to pummel my right breast (yes you heard right...breast not chest) with vigour, she gave me a smile and asked me my name and where I am from. I learned two things in that moment. One - I am easy to interrogate. Two - my breasts have a range of motion that I was previously not aware of. I'm not sure I needed to know either of those two facts.

Ahhh... toilets. India has been a surprise. Everywhere we have gone, we have been met with clean, if somewhat damp due to the manual bidet system, facilities that puts North American potties to shame. Thank gods. I have however, learned to hoard toilet paper. Given the state of my bowels, it is a commodity more precious than gold.

Our time in Varanasi is almost up. We're off to Amritsar next. 

Varanasi and misc. photos

AK and I have made it to Varanasi. Unlike our Agra to Gaya overnighter, this trip was a breeze. Train was only 45 minutes late, our driver found us at the station, and our hotel is blessedly bug free.

Bodhgaya was beautiful. I don't have any photos of it as the the temple does not allow tablets or computers within its boundary. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to visit. It is definitely a place I would visit again. The Kundan Bazar Guest House was great and super clean but very buggy. It's not really the hotel's fault. The entire area was alive with critters and despite their valiant efforts nature cannot be kept out. Also... in the land of Buddah it seemed wrong to kill them... so we sucked it up and let everything live and let live. Ohmmm.

While I still have a Internet connection... here are some photos.

Red Fort, Delhi - AK in front of the receiving house

Hardiwar's, Chandi Chowk, Delhi

next time I go I'm going to get the waffles. 

The veg thali meal was excellent.

Red Fort, Delhi - an oasis in an otherwise chaotic Delhi. 

AK and me rockin' the Indian outfits in Chandi Chowk

Delhi - The ladies only section of the Metro

Guwara Bangla Sahib, Delhi

Gudwara Bangla Sahib, Delhi - at the holy pool

Jantar Mantar, Delhi

Home@F37 Hotel, Delhi - home sweet home.

Agra, India - Taj Mahal