Reaching Varanasi train station at 4.30 am, after exiting as usual atorickshaw touts pestering. I think I was a bit of an exception as I was always mistaken to be Nepalese or an Indian self, most of the time. Though it’s still too much hassle dealing with touts. I wanted to go to Shanti Guesthouse located by Ganges River 4 km from train station with the biggest attraction of the Ghat (steps for ritual bathing), and the first issue to get there, the auto rickshaw tried as possible as he could to steer me away to HIS choice.

Most hotels in Varanasi operate in commission basis where auto rickshaw gains a fat commission out of traveler’s pockets. So this autorickshaw came with the reason that Shanti Guest house was expensive and the one he wanted to take me Yogi Lodge was much better. And he promised he won’t charge for extra ride after seeing Yogi Lodge then decided not to stay. It was really early morning and the only vehicles on the road were rickshaws and the auto one. Arrived at main road, Yogi Lodge located further walk inside narrow alley, the owner says there’s no single bed or dorm available. I knew he’s playing along with this notorious scam. OK fine, bring me to Shanti Guest House, the one I wanted in the first place. But this autorickshaw again cornered his word and reluctant to bring me reasoning narrow alleys the vehicles not allowed for another 2 km. I couldn’t believe he was in every effort to let me stay at that place for fat commission. A dead end that I paid him 30 Rupees for the ride by a 50 Rupees note. They always perpetually do not have small change similar as travelers! And later asked for an excuse to change it, he sneaks into the alley to the Yogi Lodge discussing about his shares to the owner. He was thinking I’ve surrender to his game.

You’re not getting my money that easy! After he gave the balance of my money his took off but stopped at the dark corner not far from the scene. And I walked away not to the Hotel he was scamming me in. He followed me and said ‘ go to the Yogi Lodge, it’s dark and Shanti Gueshouse is 2km far in narrow alley, you’ll be lost’. Haha his mission to rip me was failed. Wandered around the main street, people started to begin their day, and I caught the rickshaw driven by this young kid to the nearest stop at the Ghat.

It’s amazed me how the locals working really hard to make a living in a rough, cold condition, from the crack of the dawn till midnight. I felt sympathize of this kid cycling on a gentle climb that the burden forced him to walk the rickshaw that riding it. I found the hotel with the help of another kid who were sort of touts as well, offering for other hotel close by.

Rooftop mattress (bed) that I checked in was the best accommodation I’ve stayed. Only 50 Rupees ($1) per night. Just above the Manikarnika Ghat, the main burning Ghat and the most auspicious place for Hindu to be cremated. The view towards the Varanasi Old town, Ganges River and the Ghat was insane! India is truly a multidimensional country.

In the morning I walked along the narrow, dirty, stinky, messy alley of the old town where the Manikarnika Ghat always is at the end point no matter which way one took. A line up of dead bodies was handled by outcasts known as Doms, and carried through the alleyway to the Ganges on a bamboo stretcher swathed in cloth. The corpse was doused in the Ganges prior to the cremation (photos not allowed to be taken during cremations). Huge piles of firewood are stacked along the top Ghat. They were weighed for the price of cremation can be calculated. The corpse was laid on top of woods, then some more woods on top of the corpse, fire ignited, THIS IS WHERE LIFE MEETS DEATH!

A world class ‘people watching’.

The next day walking along the main street, I was enjoying every second of chaotic street. Surrender to the unknown in India, you’ll remember it as long as you live. It’s nowhere to be found this slice of cultural wonder in this modern world. Rickshaw ride to the train station for outgoing train to Delhi, I had a blissful ride seeing cow, rickshaw,pedestrian,everything you could amagine loaded into the same street, I SIMPLY LOVE IT !

It was the last full day I had in Penang. But as far as I am concerned, I already saw what I came here for. This day was just a plus. We woke up early for breakfast of the same old chicken rice sold next to the hotel. I really love their chicken rice there. :)

After that, we went to

Final day of Kathmandu sightseeing and saving one of the best for last.  The Swayanbunath (nicknamed Monkey Temple) dates from the 6th century and the holiest of all stupas outside of Tibet.  Just a 2 km walk from Thamel, braved the typical narrow streets of the Kathmandu suburbs dodging cars and motorbikes loudly beeping their way through the streets and breething in the rich aromas of various spices and josticks.

Swayanbunath visible from half a mile away standing on top of a hill.  The normal guide touts waiting for business but 1 no was enough to detract their attention.  A stiff 300 step climb that gets steeper as you get higher to where the stupa resides.  Almost a little disappointed when I reached the top as nowhere near as impressive as Boudnath and currently covered in scaffolding.  However found my coffee shop for reasearch purposes.

History and legend of complex very impressive which justifies why it is the most revered stupa, where a prayer made here is worth 13 billion that are made elsewhere.  Not one to normally buy in to religious hype,  it sounds a lot to me, so made a circuit of the prayer wheels surrounding the stupa.  The surrounding area is full of Tibetan exile monks that come here as the closest they may come to the centre of Buddhism.

The nickname Monkey temple fully justified as the hills overrun by hundreds of them.  Completely placid and far too occupied laying their territory against their peers than be bothered about tourists walking around their patch.  Most monkeys happy for people to walk past within touching distance.  Entertained by one adolescent quite happily masturbating on a tree branch within 2 foot of where I was standing.  Oh the smallest things are so entertaining !!

The complex contains a couple of other stupas including another 1500 year old construction where the monk sealed himself in waiting for the Gods .............................

 The hill behind Swayanbunath covered in prayer flags.

 Many monks around and all very welcoming and friendly. 

Returned to Thamel and in much need of a hair cut, decided to risk a local barber with the view that if it went horribly wrong, it could be shaved off and not look out of place in Tibet. However cut was suprisingly good.  Before I could escape, I was talked in to having the full cut throat razer shave. Equivalent of going through a car wash as got a preshave moisturise, wash, lathered up with foam, shaved twice before getting an ice rub before aftershave, finishing with a good slap around the chops !!  Refusing the final step of a massage, I was was trapped as the barber pulled me in every direction a sitting person can be, cracking every bone in upper body.  In a state of shock, my 150 rupees had increased to 450, but $5 still not bad for what I got !

Met up with Dave and Nina for a final night treat of steak in the renouned KToo restaurant.  Really good.  Got a complimentary Irish coffee before we called it a night to travel in very different directions tomorrow (me - Tibet, Dave - England, Nina - Chitwan).

Arrive in Phonm Penh from HCMC after 6 hours by bus. The Tuk tuk driver recommended this hotel to us, after take a look for a while, actually its not so bad hotel, but no lift, its so hard to getting up and down as they only have a long stairs to each floor. The bed was so hard :) with sheet are so so...TV with HBO (this one is nice) even sometimes fuzzy, open air bathroom (which is a bit uncomfortable)especially if you stay with other people. A not so bad hotel but *Just Stay there Only if you....* :) I think price is worthed to the services and facilities. The area of the hotel are close to the river bank, restaurant, and museum...this one is good.

A friend from CS posted an ad on FB for an all expense expat trip sponsored by World Bank and organized by Indonesian Ecotourism. The itinerary seemed exciting, and the fact that it was all for free seemed to good to be true.Since the trip fell on a long weekend due to a national holiday, what was there to think about.

I then went on to invite my good friend Jed,who is a professional photographer for Time Out Jakarta and is thrilled at the prospect of getting tons of great pictures.

Meeting at a Convention Center in the city after lunch, Jed and I excitedly awaited to see the other expats we were meeting and if there was of course anyone good looking. We were not failed. A total of 18 expats from the USA, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, Germany, UK, Ireland, India, Hungary and of course the Philippines, from CS, friends of CS and friends of friends. Half travellers, half backpackers, some who have just been in Jakarta for a few months to several years, and some just passing through, it was an interesting combination.

We then prepared ourself for the over 7 hr travel, 2 hours by bus to the Bantan port, then our bus boarded a huge cargo ship together with tons of trucks and other buses.Another 2 hours was spent going around the grubby ship with an expectedly dirty set of toilets but a beautiful view of the sunset.
Getting off at the Merak port in Lampung we then set out for an over 2 hour bus ride to the hotel.

Surprisingly we stopped first at a festivity at a local official's house which looked more like a mansion, and which we were bombarded by Dangdut music on speakers while eating from the buffet dinner. My first full meal in the region made me lose a bit of my appetite as the spices were too strong. I ended up gobbling down on fruits.

After dinner a traditional dance was presented and the dancers went off the stage to get an expat partner each. Mine was extremely shy and we ended up doing the same steps till they returned as graciously to our seats.

Two of our companions were invited to sing onstage as the live singers seemed to be wanting a break, and the two accepted without thinking twice as they were already drunk out of their wits. They hadn't stopped chugging down whiskey and beer throughout the bus ride together with their companions. They honestly didn't give a good representation of the group as they sang out a song that they just seemed to have created with a repetition of the word 'faggot'. Boy was the rest of the group glad that the audience generally just understood Bahasa.

Close to midnight we reached the hotel, dead tired yet a few still raced to the pool after we got our welcoming drinks aka orange juice. The rest of us rushed to our rooms to hit the sack.

The room was a surprise. It was worse than the first hotel I tried in the region. The furnishings must have seemed nice and with taste a decade before but at that time it was just an old, musty, insect infested place.

With three of us in the room, one donning her nightgown without showering and immediately snuggling on the single bed, another Filipina who listened to her yoga cd and me reading a bit after our showers sharing the queen sized bed. Off we went to la-la land as the next day was bound to start early and end late.

A 'fun' mission trip that involved attending a small group and 2 services. Spent mostly on the road as the hotel was too far from all the places we need to go to. All in all it was still an eye opening experience.

Time for a bit of an adventure with the plan of using the local buses for some sightseeing around the Kathmandu Valley, taking in Bhaktapur and Nagarkot.

With the taxi driver to the bus station offering to do the tour for $30 before reducing his price to $10, I was determined to do it by bus.  The 1st leg to Bhaktapur cost 50 rupees (40p).  The local buses much better than anticipated as a little 20 seater bombed along much better roads with the driver also playing DJ.  As ever, US rock ballads always popular with a big presence of Bon Jovi, Guns'n'roses and Red Hot Chillis. 

Journey provided contrasting vistas with big investment improving the highway system with western quality tarmac roads, whilst passing the usual 3rd world views of locals scrummaging through the waste dumps looking for anything of value, discarding useless items in to the river below (I'm always perplexed why tips are always situated next to rivers that then get blocked with pollution). Locals nice enough to give me a nudge when we got to Bhaktapur and time for more sightseeing.

Successfully applied my new tactics of a high coffee shop, but really no need in Bhaktapur.  Famed for being untouched by tourism, regardless of its claim to fame for its own Durbar Square being used as the set for the Little Buddha, really no hastle at all other than kids wanting to practise their English and test their knowledge of capital cities.  Again a former capital of the Kathmandu valley, many of the monuments over 400 years old and built by past kings when Bhaktapur was the most important city in the valley.  Bhakptapur split across 4 main squares, but sadly many of the mounments here were destroyed in a big earthquake in 1934, so many of the buildings only reconstructions.  European money has ensured they are good replicas from photos taken previous.  Fewer monuments than either other Durbar Square (mainly because some monuments are still awaiting being re-built), a short but pleasant walk around Durbar square.  Containing the historic Golden Gate, I was much more impressed by the 12th century active Buddhist monastery found through the gate.  Able to look in to the monastery, but non Buddhists not allowed to go inside.  Still able to see the historic statues and wood carvings within the courtyard.

Taumadhi Toll square is about 100 metres away from Durbar.  Smaller again, but dominated by the 5 tiered and tallest pagoda temple in Nepal.  Equally impressive are the 10 statues guarding the steps.  In the face of such history, local kids happy to play table tennis in the lower levels of 400 year old temples. 

Continuing on to Potter Square, walked down through alleyways with locals getting on with normal life (either manning a shop front, or washing - either clothes or themselves).  Get a feeling of being in 19th century England.  Everything very relaxed and apparently not used to hard selling.  I'd not seen more than 10 tourists all day.  A quick visit to Dattatraya square with a 14th century temple and intricate examples of wood carvings.  Finished by seeing a couple of Buddhist statues sculpted in the 15th century.  When the king saw the statues, he was so impressed, he cut off both hands of the sculptor so he couldn't re-create the work elsewhere.  So nice !! 

Another good little town with so much history.

Got another local bus on to Changu Narayan temple.  A hilltop fort, just 30 minutes from Bhaktapur, dates back ot the 5th century.  Still looking in good condition and with an array of stone statues that surpass anything found in Nepal museums (including a 7th century statue featured on the Nepal 10 rupee note) , passed 30 minutes around the temple complex.  However getting a little cultured out.  Time for some mountains.

A bus back to Bhaktapur, before a new one up to Nagarkot.  Nagarkot situated on the rim of the Kathmandu valley, it provides the best views of the Langtang Himalaya range within a days trip from Kathmandu.  A slow 90 minute climb up the hillside in another relatively comfy bus.   The 4 buses taking over 3 hours and cost a total of 105 rupees (90p).  Sadly, by the time I arrived, and at 1950 metres we were in the clouds.  No view to be had yet.  Found a hostal and a restaurant that actually had Stoke v Wigan on (before the 2nd half got replaced by the Nepal equivalent of X Factor :-( ).

Up in time for the sunrise but looking out of the window, cloud worse than ever - a pea soup as they would say in old London town. Got dressed anyway to have a wander to find I was locked in the hostal so kind of thankful not an amazing sunrise.  Went back to bed.  A lazy breakfast didn't result in any improvement in the weather and not able to see further than 20 metres.  You can't win 'em all.  Went to get the bus back to Bhaktapur and luck changing as a bus ready to go.  Or maybe luck not changing as bus rammed and standing room only.  Bus clearly made for Nepalese as roof only 5 foot high and spent the next 45 minutes with my neck and ear pressed against the roof.  Definitely a new winner for the most uncomfortable bus journey :-(.  An easy bus connection to Kathmandu and I was back at my hostal for lunch time. 

Bumped in to Dave who had decided to bring forward his return to England and leaving in 2 days time.  Set up meal together with Nina and then a North African shisha bar with cover band and Liverpool v Arsenal match on.  Nina liking the shisha, Dave and I watched the footy.  One more day before we split in different directions.

I'm probably not as bad as I seem. I was having a sad day yesterday and I missed everyone.

Rudolph you didn't contribute to my mood, your little letter was lovely and actually helped my mood (as they always do). So thank you so much. Sylvia thanks for the advice, I had heard of SAD, but coming from a country full of sunshine it's not something I ever thought I would have to look out for myself.

Yesterday I was just feeling a little (ok, a lot) sad and alone, and the weather here really doesn't help, I am sick and tired of always feeling so cold, I am well and truly over this cough I have, of always seeing grey sky and feeling so far away from all the people I love. Thinking about Samba dancing on the beach with a handsome man is a nice thought Rudolph (thanks :)), and listing to my Brazilian music and learning Portuguese are a couple of the things I do to help me through.

Once again, I had just logged in and the power went out. It's all these little things that happen, pile up and bug the heck out of me. I tried to take a shower last night but my water wouldn't heat. Matt asked me if I ever have trouble with my hot water. Only ALL the time. At least I am not alone in my cold shower misery.

My classes are over for another day and I had all great classes. Tomorrow is 'Black Wednesday' as Sugar dubbed my Wednesday. All the teachers hear about how many classes I have on a Wednesday and cringe. I don't tell them four of the classes are my toughest. Last week was actually very good, and I will do something fun with them this week too. I have to come up with so many different lesson plans for the one week because the levels of English of each class vary so much and what works really well with one class will not necessarily work well with all of them. Even planning with this in mind, sometimes I have to switch halfway through a lesson because something may not work for a particular class. I can't tell you how handy all my acting training has come in with this job. Long ago I learnt to ad-lib, and boy do I need to be able to think on my feet sometimes in this job. It is a real challenge, but I love it so much.

I realised this morning when I was heading off to work, that with my four days off over the weekend (I usually only have three), I was missing my kids. Those happy little faces lighting up when I walk in the door, I tell you, it's addictive.

Matt and I were given our parts of the song 'Seasons in the Sun' to sing this morning. He and I have to sing a verse each on our own. Yay! I can't tell you how thrilled I am about that. My verse is...

Goodbye Michelle it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
Lovely flowers everywhere
I wish that we could both be there...

...and then we get to join in the chorus with all the other teachers. I have warned them, I will cry and to have the tissues ready. I take no responsibility for my actions.

Ok, now that my waiver is in place, I probably won't need it and will be fine on the day.

____________________________________________________________________________

Holy cow kids, have a read of my stars today. I thought I'd check our what they have to say.

Now that most folk are slowing down for a little while, you can start to get some speed up once more. The holiday season, so far, has been something of an endurance test. You have found it hard to feel frivolous because you have been focusing intently on something profound. You have been resolving a big personal issue - or coming to terms with some fact that is difficult to fully accept. This has taken a lot out of you, but it is proving to be a very necessary process and, as you are about to find out, a very profitable one.

Ok, so things may start looking up for me. Yippee, I was only just thinking to myself that I'm sure it's not going to be as bad as I imagine. Yeah, money, that will come in handy if I am going to go anywhere for my February holidays. :)

River rafting with church friends. I didn't know that there was a nice river to explore so close to home.

Starting off with a long ride around the mountains of Rizal in the early morning, shifting to a crazy dump truck ride across the river, the men carrying the huge rubber boat to the river while the women trekked alongside as if in a novena, and finally going rafting across the bubbling river in two batches with almost 8 people each time.

The trek to the river seemed harder than the rafting in the middle of the day. After which was an assortment of humble food for lunch, anything tasted great for hungry mouths.

A one day, but the first and last experience I've had so far of river rafting.

My Hotel in San Pedro Street catches the eye of the passersby because of its one of a kind color. The color speaks for itself that, that hotel has very hospitable and accommodating people, and has facilities that can beat with other hotels. My Hotel personnel can speak niponggo as well. It’s a plus factor specially if they have Chinese guests. My Hotel offers best value in all rooms and foods including drinks…. My Hotel is equipped with security cameras for the safety of the guests. MyHotel has best location. near shopping malls, churches of different religion, parks,hospital, clinic, drug stores and the peoples choice-"tyangge"...

Visiting Davao City is a one of a kind experience that you will surely miss.Davao offers it’s finest beauty to the people, a beauty that will surely mesmerize your eyes. Davao City is a typhoon free zone, a tourist destination and speaks for a genuine Filipino people. Davao has many things to offer, from foods, drinks, parks, beaches and resorts, clubs, bars and hotels that will make visitors and other guests get the bliss that they wanted. Hotels?! Davao City is proud to its new established hotel in San Pedro Street. Now, you can visit Davao City with less expensive, MyHotel offers the cheapest room rates, thumbs up taste of foods and amenities. Feels like heaven while staying at MyHotel. Discover the beauty of Davao City, Philippines now, and make MyHotel your home while in Davao.

I woke up today to the wonderful natural sounds of my blackberry ringing.  Oh the good times.  It was my dad and he was worried about where I was.  I love it.  After I told him I was fine I went back to bed for another 3 hours and then finally made my way outside.  I spent about 1.5 hours on the internet updating this blog and replying to messages on facebook and then eventually made my way to see Dave Bolon at Sri Lanta, his resort.  The four of us sat in the sun, read, had some beers - everything you would want to do in Koh Lanta.  I went snorkelling as well but unfortunately the vis was horrible and the stuff I did see was nothing in comparison to Phi Phi.  Kevin brought a Waboba ball from South Africa.  Most fun thing ever I will say.  It is a small soft ball, the size of a hackey sack, but its main purpose is to bounce on water.  So you and your friend stand about 40 feet apart and skim it off the water while throwing it to each other.  Super fun.  After a while in the sea, we decided to play the same game in the 10 foot long pool.  Perhaps not the best idea.  The worse idea though was allowing these two cute english kids (about 8 and 10) to play with us and to include their waboba ball in our game.  So now there are five of us, all children really, skimming balls off the waters surface in a 10ft long pool at a 5 star resort.  Is it weird that I always find myself in inappropriate situations?  After the game, we decided to head next door to Mong's Bar for some sundownders and to watch the beautiful sunset.  Sundowners turned into Vodka Red Bull Buckets and then into dinner and byt the time we knew it, 5pm was 10pm and we hadn't moved more then 2 feet.  Dave got super drunk, which was great because he was havin an amazing time, but his gf ouldn't have any of it.  I can tell you this, from hanging with the couples, I'm either going to be single for life, or I need to be in a Dave Barnett situation where both parties of the couple are super independant of each other but still love spending time together.  Just watching the whole scenario, I think I would have run into the ocean and never come back.  Yay single.  Yay independance.  Yay FREEDOM.  One of my biggest accomplishments in my life I think is the fact that at 29 I have worked hard enough to enjoy freedom within my work.  I can go to and from my office when I please, take vacations when I please, etc.  Its about getting the job done, not how many hours you work in the office.  Anyway - the point is that I have worked my way up to these opportunities.  To give them up by having a gf who wants control over everything.  No Thanks.  Now taking applications for beautiful, independant, loving gfs :)  Anyone?  After Dave and Tammy left, the gf of the other couple, Lara, pointed out a group of girls to me that were next to our table.  I looked up into the sky and said thank you.  Time to once again, fall in love.  I sat down with them and started to chat - 2 sisters (20 & 23) - both unbelievably beautiful.  I have said it before but these take the cake, bar none.  One is a student in China as an exchange, one is an on-air television presenter (or was) in Paris, where they all live.  They were all so cool, we had the best chat, from surface stuff like ever been to Canada to dee deep thoughts like religeon and the universe and all that.  Really, I am so happy I sat down with them.  After about 1.5 horus, the mom went to bed and the two girls and I just hang out, and listened to msic (their favourite band: pink floyd - done, in love now) and shared a dish on the menu entitled Spec. Cig?  Seriously, it was on the menu.  How funny is that.  Afterward, I went to bed, watched some news, and fell asleep knowing I had yet another amazing day. 

The Nepal Exit and India entry check point was my first impression of India. Nothing too far from how I imagined it would be, I watched Hindi movie back home and Indian ethnic are also in my home country. In fact the ‘Bollywood’ movies were a favorite pastime among Malays and still are. It was a very chaotic bazaar scene, the street seller frying, boiling, roasting, peeling, on the busy road where on the same road Lorries, pedestrians with huge load on their back, cows, rickshaw all trespassing. And the road couldn’t get any dustier and dirtier.

At the Indian immigration we (with the group of backpackers from Pokhara) were filling up the form and because everyone has to have Visa prior entering, it was very quick. Afterward everyone walked along to find transportation heading to the nearest Indian city - Gorakhpur. The most common way is shared jeep. However this wasn’t typical sharing vehicles as the driver tried as possible as he could to fit every little inch of the space! I was approached for 150Rupess ride to Gorakhpur to the already seated backseat of the jeep. There were 3 people sitting at the back where it could fit 4 and one of the Chinese or Korean passenger refused to move his bag to fit me. I could understand that due to a very tight space in public bus 8 hours ride before that, he would want to have ample space for another 2 ½ journey. The driver and the rest of their gangs harshly asked him to step out the vehicle and I felt sorry for the incident. He stood up and looks horrified, clueless as to why. Probably he and the other 2 agreed to pay 100 Rupees/person but they got more from me 150 rupees/person. So I said no I don’t want to take the space cause already tight. The Chinese travelers finally got off and the driver found another 2 passenger making it 4 people at the backseat. However the Chinese traveler was with his another companion already inside and didn’t want to wait so he filled the remaining left over on the floors and the air between them! It was like in sardine can.

And when my turn came up I was trying to get better space but unaccomplished! I sat at the front seat BUT the driver fitted another 2 passenger and including him, it was 4 people at the front!!!! Crazy! Even the gear stick was in between the legs of the passenger next to the driver. The driver was smacked into the corner that he himself struggling steering the wheel. I questioned myself how is he going to drive? Shoulder to shoulder at the front cockpit.

Welcome to India where everything is in-your-face.

So the jeep departed at the dusk and along the way locals with bicycle and pedestrian commute the same road in the dark, the Honk, beeping and high beam lighting were the course of action. It was an intense ride where the driver zigzagging to the incoming vehicles and also avoiding on hitting the pedestrian.

However he was doing that his entire life and he was GOOD actually, everything went well and we arrived at Gorakhpur Train Station around 7.30 pm. The scene at the train station, local hanging around lying on the floor waiting, people peeing in front of you, I managed to get the train ticket leaving for Varanasi at 10.30pm. While waiting around at the platform, I stumbled upon the Australian couple Mark and Catherine who were in the same journey since Pokhara,Nepal. We wanted to run and mark our seat when the train’s coming but we were fooled to know the supposed train hasn’t come, it was already fully seated with some standing not far from where we waited!

Because of foreign woman traveler the officer at the train station was concern about safety, so he asked the passenger who already sleep at the upper seat (bed chair) give away the bed chair to Catherine. Mark was sitting together with Catherine and I was standing for the half hour journey. But Indian people are close among themselves and there was no sense of your private space, everyone's shoulder to shoulder, one passenger offered me to seat next to him on the single chair beside the aisle. Mingled around and had fun chatting with them. Later afterward, one passenger gave up his seat for me and I sat and slept till reaching Varanasi.

I have so many electronic gadgets with a sticker on the bottom saying "Made in Taiwan". I always wondered what Taiwan was like.
Well, today, I'm going to Taiwan to see for myself! :-)

Guess what... the plane to Taipei leaves at 10:35 am at Chek Lap Kok... exact same time as the plane to Tokyo the week before. Coincidence?
Well, 10:35 am sounds like a nice time to travel... but it also means I have to get up at 6:30 am so I have enough time to pack my stuff, check out of the hotel, and go to the airport in time for check in. Aaaargh! :-P
What ya gonna do... just hopped on my favorite bus, Cityflyer A11. Again!

My travel companion for this trip, Chispa, was a little late this morning. But still enough time to check in. The best part: At the check-in counter, they offered us exit row seats, because they thought I was sooo tall! Cool thing, it rarely happens to me that way! :-P
Cool thing No. 2: Those exit row seats where located on upper deck of the 747! It was more like business class up there, huge seats, only 4 in a row! China Airlines rules! Haha

One hour and a few minutes later we are in Taiwan! I like it when flight times are that short! :-)
Best thing about this trip is, I don't have to take care about anything! Chispa did all the planning and booking. So far, I don't even know what hotel she picked! Well, she is smart and sophisticated, so I trust her on this thing. So for me, it's just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride! Haha :-)

Later that day, we went to Dan Shui area and to the food market near Jiantan MRT station.
A lot of nice food in those areas!! :-) (Sorry little alien for not being able to keep up with you that evening...Sigh!)