Bolivia!!

Have spent an incredible 4 days in a gorgeous, sleepy town called Salta in Northern Argentina, going horseriding, enjoying cafe and backpacker culture, as well as grilled rare steak on the farm, olives, French cheese and fine wines - very very relaxing, and photos to follow soon!

This morning I arrived in Bolivia, a country I´ve been desperate to visit for a long time! Am in a southern town with incredible red mountains and not much else, getting aclimatised to the altitude and hiding from the very fierce sun. So far Bolivia has not disappointed; I think it´s going to be a much more extreme experience than Argentina, or indeed anywhere else in South America! The culture is very evidently more Andean than the European vibe of Argentina, and the landscape is eerie, beautiful and like nothing else I´ve ever seen before. 95% of the roads are unpaved - the rains wash them away every year, so think tractor moved dirt and gravel and that´s pretty much it. I love it.

Today I am jumping on another beloved overnight bus to Salta in Argentina, before crossing into Bolivia next week. I´ve hardly spent any time in Buenos Aires, but I need to leave for 2 reasons;

1) I wish to make it to La Paz before Christmas
2) Buenos Aires is so cool that if I don´t leave soon there´s a real danger I´ll spend the whole 10 weeks here!

Adieu for now...

So,

most of November has passed in a bit of a blur...a blur of travelling all over the South East, to Alabama, Louisiana et all, meeting students and helping my organisation get their program together, and learning all the sorority/fraternity lingo along the way. College football games, movies, enjoying autumn and time with friends. And to cap it off, a perfect week diving in Panama at the end of November to get my visa (and tan) renewed!

This, however has not been the main reason I´ve been so silent. I´ve spent much of this month reflecting and making tough decisions, as after completing our college tour it became very clear that the projects I´d come in to work on had come to a very natural close, and wouldn´t pick up again until about September next year! So, despite it making me very sad to do, about two weeks ago I came to the decision to leave early, and spent that time fitting in as much as possible with all the people I´ve come to love so much out here. I know that I´ll miss everyone I´ve been living and working with like crazy, but I´ve gotten so much out of my time in the States. Working with wonderful, talented people, living like a Southerner, and on a personal level it´s given me a ton of confidence to start my own business at some point in the future, which is something I´ve wanted to do for a long time. On a professional level I know that I´ve had an impact on Global LEAD, and that´s not something I want to lose - if I were to stay another 2 months my impact here would be limited.

So, new plan, yesterday, at 3am in the morning, I arrived in Buenos Aires, a place I´ve wanted to see for a long time! I´m going to spend the next 2 months travelling through Argentina and Bolivia (hopefully Chile too), practicing my Spanish, reading too much and getting to know this beautiful part of the world. My itinerary is very bare at the moment so any suggestions are welcome!

More on South America once I´ve actually gotten started on travelling, for now I just wanted to post up what was happening...

How embarrasing...

My first ever bit of published photography...and it's a fart gag. Oh well, we all have to start somewhere! See photo 35 ;)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/travel_images/article6892412.ece?slideshowPopup=true&articleId=6892412&nSlide=35&sectionName=TravelTravelImages

Begin it now...

How can I never have heard of this before? I can't WAIT for November!!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano

Gameday!

My weekends recently have been uber-American, spent watching American football! In the South the University teams seem to be the most popular, rather than the professional leagues, which is really nice. Our local team are the University of Georgia - the Bulldogs, and I've either been to or watched most of the games since I arrived.

The games themselves are complicated, with lots of pauses but the sense of exhiliration when a team scores is palpable - I've been to 2 games in person now, and they both topped watching football in the Maracanã in Rio.

What's most remarkable is the pre-game activity, where over 100,000 people congregate to tailgate - gather outdoors, enjoy the sun, socialise, eat, drink and be merry. The whole town is overrun with people looking forward to the game and soaking up the atmosphere. I'm sure any Europeans would agree, that at home this would be an invitation for; a) rain; b) pickpockets, and; c) fights. Here, everyone just gets along and enjoys the party EVEN THE PEOPLE FROM THE OPPOSING TEAM.

I'm a convert.

Relaxing at home today, making tablet - yum.

Global Fellows

Probably the best thing I'm working on at the moment is a graduate employment program for Global L.E.A.D. - despite only having a 5-strong team, there is such fast growth that new people are needed, so I'm working on a 20 month program that will bring in some go-getters to work with us across the world on program logistics, country expansion and product development. There's another one in the pipeline for marketing and business development. We're marketing it as 'MBA 3.0' - come and learn how to do things by working with young entrepreneurs and learn your stuff that way. Despite it being in the early stages we've already had much more interest from amazing people, and buzz generated than we'll ever be able to accomodate in terms of staff numbers, but it's so encouraging seeing people getting behind the program. We'll be starting application processes soon, and I can't wait to meet the people who will be helping to push Global L.E.A.D. to the next level.

The Pinky and the Brain school of effective meetings...

Amazing meeting yesterday - one of my colleagues is going to meet Richard Branson's mum next week! Charm offensive at the ready, laserquest won last night and today I'm going to my first live American football game - go Bulldogs!

American Woman!

It's so nice to be really, really excited about a job again. I've been settling into my new team over the past week or so, and I'm really enjoying having a new project to get to work on and start generating ideas around. It's quite a busy schedule and so far I've been to 3 different states; 2 for work, one for play - was at the beach in Florida this weekend! There's so much going on and so many new people to meet, have gone from meeting students to other NGOs to professors, and everyone else in between! Yesterday I went to a birthday lunch with some Southern belles who support Global L.E.A.D, and who thoroughly inducted me into Southern culture! My host family have been amazingly welcoming, and I feel settled in here already, which is really nice.

I'm still getting used to how much space there is, and how much driving there is - I have been to more varieties of drive through in the last week than I ever imagined existed. Naively I assumed driving through was limited to fast food, but you can do drive through banking and oil changes here, as well as food, ice cream, conveniences, and coffee.

I've even heard it whispered that one can get drive-through daiquiris in Louisiana. Naturally I'll be working tirelessly to either confirm or deny these rumours at the earliest possible opportunity - watch this space!

New Home

I'm about to start my second day in my brand new home in Atlanta, Georgia. Today's the first day of work, and I couldn't be happier. I'm really happy to be able to stay somewhere for a decent stretch of time, and I'm incredibly fortunate to get to do it here - I've spent the weekend settling in and getting to know my host family, and they're amazingly warm and welcoming. There's an incredibly strong sense of community here, and I can't wait for work to start, and the next 5 months!

Enjoying family, friends, festival and CATNAPPING!

Waiting

It's now the last of the last days, and I'm in Bangkok waiting for a flight in about 6 hours which will take me back to London. Reading books and listening to Florence & The Machine on Youtube. In a way I've been waiting to come home for the past month - travelling is amazing, and I've loved the time I've spent here, but it's not so thought consuming as trying to forge a life for yourself elsewhere. I cannot wait to see my friends and family. I even missed the cats (especially Garfield Wannabe, but The Noisy One too - I expect that'll last all of about 30 seconds once I'm actually home). Looking forward to the next month of family, friends visiting, the Edinburgh festival and finally preparing to go to the US!

The sun has got his hat on....finally

Ahem. Forgot to mention that my last post title was an allusion to the very grey weather that has been hanging around Koh Tao for as long as I've been here, but no more! Just in time for my last scuba dive this morning there was a beautiful sunny day that makes a day on a boat absolutely gorgeous. Tomorrow morning I am heading back to Bangkok, where I will spend 24 hours trying desperately to make all of my stuff fit into my backpack for the plane (suspect will end up wearing several layers of clothing for the flight) then I am flying back to London - wooohooooo!!!

Sand, sea and...?

No news recently, as I've been having a marvellous time diving every day, and have also tried my hand at freediving, which is training to dive on one breath. You can get to around 20 metres with a bit of practice, and the really good guys can get to around 80.

Scuba is a dream - an underwater world that you float slowly through. Letting things capture your attention then drift away, interacting with a world that's not your own. Freediving is a little more intense, and takes it out of me both mentally and physically, but I'm glad I tried it. It's all about pushing a limit - breathing carefully, preparing yourself mentally then diving into the blue and feeling the water press down on you. Feeling like your breath won't last then pulling yourself deeper anyway. Realising that you can do it, and relaxing and enjoying the dive. Then the rush as you head to the surface and all the air in your lungs starts to expand, pushing you out of the water faster and faster until you shoot to the surface. I kind of like it. I think.

I'll be back in London in 6 days then home with my nearest and dearest in about 9 - I can't wait, it feels like it's been much longer than it has!

I've been unable to upload photos for quite some time, but I got some scuba photos today as part of a course and have put them up here. A lot of them need to be cropped, but taking them was a lot of fun!

Under the sea

Yesterday I went out sea diving for the first time, and I'm officially hooked - despite roughish conditions (it's a bit stormy here) it was amazing! I'm so glad I have booked a long course to do here, and I've already decided that once it's over I'm going to stick around and take another course in freediving. The rest of Thailand will need to wait for another trip...

Take me to the beach...

Have come to an island on the Andaman Coast of Thailand to spend a week doing a PADI dive course - it's beautiful here, with lots of people, lots going on and of course beautiful beaches and reefs. Hurrah!! Over and out for the next while...

Thank you! And more buses

If only they had numbers, I'd be writing them down in a notebook. Honestly.

I'm on my way back to Thailand to check out the culture in the north and the beaches in the south! Which of these will succeed in winning the most of my precious time remains to be seen, but I (and many of my nearest and dearest) are well capable of making educated guesses. On the way I've stopped back at Siam Reap for the night, where I can have a nice evening in a pretty place with lovely people and delicious food, rather than the evening I would have if I stayed in a town on the border (horrible food, ugly town and sleeping in a sitting position adopted to keep the furniture propped up against the door).

I'm excited to be on the road again however I'm also more sad than is reasonable about leaving Phnom Pehn, a city I've spent a grand total of 3 days in. They were a fun 3 days though, and I felt extremely at home and comfortable there. I don't know if this is due to the city itself or to my friends who made me so welcome there and took such good care of me, but I did have an awesome time - if I didn't have other extremely exciting plans lined up for the next 6 months I would be sticking around here for quite a bit longer! Whatever it was I owe a huuuge thanks to my friends on the rapidly growing Cambodia team for showing me around - it was so nice to catch up with everyone! Keep doing what you're doing, going from strength to strength, demonstrating your incredible commitment and integrity and showing everyone how it should be done - you guys are doing an amazing job.

Besos!!

Ps. for anyone who does have 6 months to spend in an awesome place the expansion initiative of AIESEC to Cambodia currently have some amaaaaaazing internships available

Yesterday was spent at Toul Sleng, or the S-21 prison and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Naturally pretty heavy stuff. Somehow even being right where it happened, seeing the photographs of the victims and the blood-stains that have been left on the cell floors, it's still difficult to believe that humans can do that kind of thing to each other. Or maybe not difficult to believe - just impossible to understand.

Phnom Pehn

I'm honestly starting to think that no matter how uncomfortable it has the potential to be, I will never be able to give up bus travel in other countries - weird, I know, but I'm an addict. I think it's because it lets me see so much life that I'd otherwise miss out on. Of course, if you can give me an air-conditioned bus with a reclining seat then so much the better, but still; on this trip it's let me see so much that I strongly suspect it will be a permanent feature in any future travel plans. Roadtrip!

I'm currently in the Pearl of Asia, Phnom Pehn and during my six hours on the bus here I saw tiny villages and bigger cities, old men getting around on oxcarts, and whole families getting around on one motorbike (bringing back fond memories of India!). I noticed that all of the rural houses in Cambodia are built on stilts, saw little children running after bicycles, and families getting on with their daily work and trying to escape the heat.

The city here is more developed than I thought it would be, with some impressive old monuments and beautifully aged old French-style buildings all over the place. There are people all over the public parks playing badminton and volleyball, cooking food on the streets and spending time en familie - the rain has quelled the heat, making everyone spill onto the streets to enjoy the gray skies! Tomorrow is likely to be a very heavy day, as we're going to the Genocide museum and the Killing Fields, however for tonight I have a load of friends from London living here so I'm off to enjoy a long dinner and night out!

Indiana Jen

Today was spent at Angkor Wat, an enormous temple complex once home to SE Asia's largest ancient civilisation, and Cambodia's most famous landmark.

I went expecting a very touristy experience, however despite large numbers of tourists the place didn't have that sort of atmosphere at all. Instead, I found a lush, green paradise with beautiful old temples that had fallen to ruin and been reclaimed by a jungle - it felt like I'd fallen into a set from an old Indiana Jones film. The tourist set up there is pretty slick, and the sites are well run and taken care of, however this is done in a very unobtrusive way. You're free to wander around the old ruins, listening to crickets hissing and watching butterflies floating by, making the whole place extremely peaceful and relaxing despite the numbers of people.

The thing I liked about it the most was that the preservation attempts seem to be keeping the buildings intact, without ignoring the past few centuries when the jungle has moved in! I'm sure in most instances it would create more damage trying to untangle the forest from the buildings than just letting it be, but it creates an amazing other-worldly atmosphere. There are ancient, imposing old stones and carvings with huge tree roots tangled all over them, wild grass and parts of old walls and statues littered around, with lush canopy overhead and the sounds of the forest buzzing all around. Most people tend to wander around in a bit of a daze; it feels like walking around a huge fairy's grotto.

One of the most impressive things I've ever seen - the dodgy border crossing was well worth it! One day one of the 400 (no joke) photos I took should make it up here.

Minibuses and Border Rackets

I've just arrived in Siam Reap, Cambodia after a brief 1-and-a-half days in Bangkok. It's late at night but the city seems to be very tourist friendly, a little rainy and muddy and with lots of nice places to eat! The place I'm staying in is very calm and relaxed which is good, as the journey was a little eventful!

I was met at 7am this morning by a nice, airconditioned minivan. As I sat back, watching the countryside speed by from my fresh, cool haven I silently congratulated myself on choosing such a pleasant transport method. No boring airports or delayed planes, but more comfortable than a local bus, this won't be a bad way to travel to Siam Reap at all, no problems! I've got this travelling lark sorted. Big mistake.

Around 4 hours in, the van pulls over, and we are met by a company representative offering visa services - visa services meaning trotting up to the border for you to get your visa, then trotting back with it, while you kick back and eat in their restaurant. No no, not this time thank you! Having been told his services are not required our host promptly abandons us, leaving me and 5 others to walk up to the border solo.

Getting through the Thai customs is easy and comfortable - so far, we're still congratulating ourselves on avoiding the sneaky visa touting service. On the other side of Thai customs, the point at which we need to start getting our visa we discover that sneaky visa touting service is sneakier and more determined than we had previously realised. Our guide shows up again, ushers us through a health check channel where a themometer is shoved in my ear and I am handed a yellow slip of paper assuring me that I don't have swine flu (always a comfort).

At this point our guide asks where we want to go - visa service, or visa on arrival? VISA ON ARRIVAL of course!... Except that after 5 minutes of filling out forms in front of a police officer, said police officer instructs us to give him 1,300 baht (the official visa cost is 700). Suspicion aroused we start looking for the office, only to discover that our guide has "mistakenly"directed us to the wrong office...hmmm. Mr Police Officer, who obviously didn't read the handbook on serving the public interest, offers us a discount on his services. In return, somebody steals his pen. A small victory for tourists all over the world, I feel.

We set off determinedly and find the right office back down the road. Here there is a sign telling us the right cost ($20 or 700 baht). Definitely more promising than before, but a grave looking police officer tells us we must pay $25 or 1000 baht. After pointing to the sign and refusing, I am asked to stand and wait* (read - *stew) whilst the efficient and professional border officials have a cup of tea. Not being in the habit of bartering for my visas this is slightly unnerving, as is arguing with border officials - something which defies every ounce of reason and logic I have. However, 5 minutes later the official slides open the window and tells me, that just this once he will do my visa for $20 with 100 baht on the side. He leaves me to mull this over, and then a few minutes later slides open the window again. By this time I'm ready for him, and have hit upon what is now my new magic phrase. Sure! I'm happy to pay the extra (x) baht. If you give me a receipt. The window bangs shut, only to slide open again. "OK, OK visa $20 - just don't tell you friends, OK?!"

Feeling flush with victory, we all head over the border, only to find that our minivan and driver have disappeared. Luckily it's possible to call someone who should be with him, and we all convene at a meeting point a few minutes later. Said driver and minivan are nowhere to be found. After an hour of waiting we begin to feel that said driver may have done a runner in the minivan. Half an hour later driver shows up, sans minivan and starts sheparding a lot of people towards a rickety old bus - this was not the kind of bus they show you in the tourist office. This was the kind of bus you usually see in articles about 3rd world poverty, with chicken crates strapped to the top. Yes, it's official ladies and gentlemen - we have been had. A further 5 hours in the new bus (sweaty, sleepy hours, with pretty countryside whizzing past outside) and we are dropped into a veritable pit of tuk tuk drivers waiting to take us to our respective hotels. I've just checked into mine, and am heading for some Khmer food now - tomorrow Angkor Wat!

Last weekend in Beijing

Last English class - all my best students!

Watching this...

here...


food with friends...


I ♥ hotpot...


...digesting and shisha...


...sophisticated, mature and responsible appreciation of Beijing's nightlife...


...before a nutritious morning meal...

I will MISS this!!

Last day in Beijing...

And I'm starting to appreciate how special that "where did the time go" feeling makes each experience. Tomorrow Thailand!

A sunny day and a great wall...

A snapshot of my weekend includes a Colombian party, hotpot (delicious), goodbye parties, KTV (karaoke), and an amusing incident that is sadly not mine to tell but that involves a silly friend, a full time kung-fu student, some headstands, some Baiju, a close encounter with a kitchen sink then floor then later stitches for a minor injury and a chin bra. Alex, your parents would be so proud.

After all the excitement it's amazing that we ever made it, but a sunny day yesterday saw some intrepid explorers from as far as the UK, NZ, Oz, Indonesia, Singapore and the Ivory Coast head up to a reasonably tourist free section of the great wall to marvel at it's greatness and add it to our China experience, and we had a gorgeous time.

In the end, getting to the non-touristy bit was almost as big an adventure as the Wall itself. First we all had to meet in a central location at an unheard of hour to catch a bus for an hour outside of Beijing. This accomplished we then tackled the more difficult task of engaging a minivan to take us the rest of the way. This ended up taking longer than the first bus journey, mainly because one particularly enthusiastic driver who wanted us to pay him a sum roughly equal to our combined monthly salary followed us around for an hour screaming at any other driver who tried to speak to us, and screaming at us for not going with him. An important note to remember when engaging in any sales based activity in China is that the customer most definitely does not come first; terrified people tend to haggle less than the ones you charm!

We then had a longer drive through some beautiful scenery to get to the right place. It's amazing just how beautiful the scenery becomes right outside of Beijing - rugged and green and lush. The wall itself was worth our long trip - the midday heat quickly convinced us to get the cable car halfway up the hillside (cheaters) and cut the steep climb to 20 minutes. We deliberately chose a quiet spot to visit the Wall at, so the spot we were in was a little unpolished, rugged and we spent some happy hours rambling over the broken pathway and admiring the view.

The only disappointment of the day was that the wall right at the highest point was blocked off. We made it our aim, only to find that there was a sign up prohibiting people to climb up the last tower, and warning of a fine for doing so, stating safety as the reason. The path was actually fine - the reason it was blocked was that all the postcards being sold in the visitor shops below were taken from that hill, and the company who operates the tourist attractions at the part of the wall have a vested interest in making it difficult for people to get up there to take their own pictures. A young security guard from a private company came out to warn us off, which nobody was happy about, however during the course of our "negotiations" he did let slip that if we wanted to go to the company in Beijing and pay for a "permit" the way would magically become safe! It's extremely frustrating that in a society where common property is perhaps the most important principle that people can do this kind of thing, but sadly it happens often. In such a rule-obsessed, question averse culture someone with the slightest bit of savvy can make up some rules and fines and then hire some unquestioning young men in polyester uniforms to enforce them, and unless they're caught at it (in the unlikely scenario where someone complains to the government about it) they're free to continue with absolute impunity.

After thinking we would spend the day hiking we actually went for a quick route down the hill - a zipwire! Over a beautiful lake, before heading back to the start again to sleep on our long bus journey home. Am now starting my last week before heading off again, and saying goodbye to all my students! I can't believe it's time to leave again - I've had a very different experience in China than the one I had in India, but this has been a very good thing. My life here has been pretty uncomplicated and unchallenging but it's been so valuable to have some time like that to spend thinking about where I'm going and the different things I want to achieve in my life over the next few years. And life in China has been just that - blissful, ordinary, daily life - I still can't believe how quickly it came to feel like home here, despite the language and cultural barriers. I definitely wouldn't hesitate to spend more time living here in the future.

Need to focus...

Burying one's head in the sand is not an effective way to deal with bureaucracy, nor does it magically zap piles of documents into oblivion. Any suggestions for where I ought to have this tattooed?

The Diary of a Beijing English Teacher...

I've learned the most about life in China from talking to my many different students, who come from all walks of life and usually have something interesting to say! I teach people who wish to improve their spoken English, either for work, leisure or just wishing to learn more. The classes are pretty informal which leaves ample opportunity for going off the beaten-English path, and most of the tangents that we end up on in any class will give me a little more insight into the Chinese way of life, history, society and the way of thinking.

The biggest overall insight I've gotten into the national psyche is how accepting people are of the status quo. It's something that I notice more and more as I get used to life here. Things are accepted as they are without any questions being asked. This seems to provide more and less freedom in equal measure - on an individual level people seem more comfortable expressing their personalities, opinions and different interests, as explanations or self-analysis are not de riguer here. On the other hand this obviously takes place within a certain assumed set of behaviours, beliefs and boundaries, and obviously it means that people don't ask questions regarding authority, society and so on. Whether or not Chinese people desire social or political change this creates obvious limitations and stagnation in areas ranging from equal rights right along to innovation - when nobody asks how current or new technologies can be applied in different situations or used in different ways we miss out on a lot of the unexpected, high-impact stuff, and those kind of questions just aren't asked here, which seems like a huge loss to me as there's so much human potential in China. It would be easy to assume that this limitation comes from China's more recent history - but this is always the easiest assumption, and whilst Communism has had a profound impact on the national psyche, and accentuated a lot of these characteristics in almost all cases it's easy to trace things back much further than the Cultural Revolution.

All well and good, but what does it have to do with teaching? Finding conversation starters was a real problem at first - people don't respond well to questions, and never return questions any more complex than "what is your name?". Even in general conversation, people tend to make statements - they never, never ask questions. Asking how people are, something I automatically frame as a question whatever the language in Mandarin is a statement. Ni hao ma? You fine? My Chinese speaking friends tell me the no-questions thing is a prominent characteristic of the Chinese language. It's occasionallly forced me to find far more inventive ways of getting conversations started, but once you can ask things in the right way, people are very open, up to and including criticising the governement or government policy, although this is obviously in a private context and people still shy away from talking about any changes they would like to see. This kind of insight alone has made me really glad that I chose to teach English here - as I'm living in a very Westernised area the looking glass into China has been really valuable to my experience.

Of course, in addition to the life lessons and observations about Chinese life there are also many comedy moments the better ones of which I'll post up at a later date!

You've never eaten dog? But it's DELICIOUS!!

Unlikely as it may seem, the above is a quote from a German friend who's currently living in Beijing!

My culinary adventures here have been not quite a daily thing, but nevertheless enlightening. The food is wonderful! It's easy to find really delicious food, both in restaurants and supermarkets, and the best thing is that there is absolutely tons of variety; food from all the different regions of China, local specialities and international food that's pretty reasonable. Of course, there's one golden rule; eat first, ask later. Which is easier than it sounds - I've unquestioningly eaten bullfrog and every kind of animal innard available without being nearly as upset by it as I imagined I would be. Thankfully I have managed to avoid dog and cat so far (I think), and I've yet to do anything other than take pictures of the scorpion, beetle, cockroach and whole snake kebabs that are on offer in some of the food markets.

Despite all the nice restaurants I've been enjoying cooking for myself most nights since I arrived, something that I've not given any time to since university if I'm very honest. Isn't it funny how much you can miss doing simple things, without even realising it? I've missed the whole process of cooking regularly - going to the supermarket and looking at all the fresh ingredients, buying simple stuff along with a few special ingredients, then getting home at night and deciding how I'm going to put them all together. The whole thing makes me very happy! And supermarket visits here are always a colourful experience - scores of people pushing and shoving, hundreds of kinds of fruit and veg across rows and rows, people cooking fresh food to sell, and of course the fresh meat and fish counters, which quickly give way to the ...live tanks, for people who like their food extra fresh. Huge fish, as well as turtles and frogs float around in crowded tanks looking miserable. If you get really lucky sometimes you even get to witness a particularly spirited fish make it's bid for freedom. If you're really really lucky it will smack into an unsuspecting shopper on the way and mayhem will ensue...

Option C, None of the Above....

My dad sent me a very nice email some weeks ago, politely enquiring if the reason I hadn't updated my blog in so long was; a. I was too busy at work, or; b. having to much fun?...

Whilst I've definitely been having a lot of fun the answer was actually c. the Chinese media censors have taken exception to blogger, and blocked it. I haven't been able to access it in weeks. The 20th anniversary of Tiananmen was last Thursday, so it seems the censors did some pre-emptive blocking to stem the tide of posts on the subject. Blogger is actually still blocked, however I've just learned I can access it using a proxy server - exciting but unfortunately it means no photos for now!

So an update to now is in order - I arrived in Beijing at the end of April, as planned. It's a lot more Westernised than I ever expected, and I've grown to love it here very very quickly. I'm teaching English to mature learners which is less strenuous and less rewarding than teaching to children but also means that I get to have fascinating conversations with all kinds of people - my students range from married couples to cancer scientists, policemen to people with mafia links (!), make-up artists to housewives and I literally never know what conversations I'll have at work from one day to the next. What's even better is that my colleagues are young and great fun, and of course there are some AIESECers here to spend time with, so it's easy to spend time enjoying the cultural scene, nightlife and amazing restaurants here.

Beijing itself is extremely cosmopolitan, ever changing, and a veritable temple to commercialism. When I arrived in the airport two people offered to sell me sim cards before I'd even had my visa checked, and when that part arrived an electronic panel on the desk invited me to smily-face rate the service of the guard ( :) ? :/ ? :( ?). There seem to be malls and European brands everywhere, as well as markets and people on the street. I'm aware that this doesn't characterise the whole of China, or even of Beijing - I live and teach in a very prosperous area, however the entrepreneurial spirit seems to be consistent regardless of how modern an area you're in. Sales is part of the national psyche and skill set, and I'm convinced that they probably teach it in schools.

To avoid a marathon I'll write more about my life here over the coming days. The most important thing's already been covered - the environment here is amazing, challenging and comforting at the same time. I'm already starting to feel sad about my imminent departure - despite practical challenges here I love the people and lifestyle and could easily see myself coming to live here again for a longer time.

One Wedding, 4 Camels, Good Friends and My Last Day!

Have just returned to Jaipur after a hectic and incredibly enjoyable 2 weeks, and am packing my things, and meeting friends to say goodbye before heading to China!

After a short trip to Pushkar following my last post, I finished up my microfinance report and bid adieu to Cecoedecon, before hitting the road in the sleeper berth of an optimistically-dubbed "luxury" bus to Jodhpur. Luckily however I slept pretty well (my friend, however did not have it so easy!), and we were greeted early morning in Jodhpur by an exhausted Ankit, who also managed to show us Jodhpur palace on the way to a hotel to sleep! After a quick rest and a reunion with some old friends from the UK MC, we headed to Ankit's for breakfast and to enter the wedding whirlwind!

It was an absoutlely incredible experience, and amazing to get to be truly involved in the wedding. Ankit's family were incredibly welcoming and warm, and we spent the first day getting to know everyone at home, before going to a dinner and heading to the wedding venue the next morning. The wedding lasted 2 days, which for lucky us was spent going to the functions in late afternoons and evening, eating delicious food, and spending the mornings enjoying the truly beautiful location on a lake in the countryside. On the first evening, we got to perform in the big dance show that the groom's younger brothers put on for him - we'd practiced for as long as possible after arriving, and had amazing fun doing our Bollywood dance! I'm not sure if there's any videographic evidence but if there is I'll put it up here...

Following the wedding we took a quick trip to Jodhpur fort, before speeding off to catch our bus to Jaiselmer. Jaiselmer's the last town before the desert, and extremely hot at this kind of year. The tourists had all deserted (no pun intended), and the town and beautiful fort were ours to explore. Naturally given these conditions we decided that the only thing to do was to make for the desert on a two day camel safari! We headed out into the Thar desert, about 40km from the India-Pakistan border, and visited tiny villages and tried to make our camels run. It was very hot but we spent the hottest part of the day hiding from the sun playing Uno! and embracing the surreal... At night we ate in the dark (we were proper camping - no running water, no toilets, no lights) - absolutely delicious food, then pitched our cots on sand dunes and fell asleep talking and counting shooting stars - I'd recommend it to anyone, heat is nothing! There was some amazing wildlife to see; lots of Indian antelope - kind of a cross between deer and antelope so quite big, and very fast. I'm not sure what the name is in English but it's not a creature I've seen before. To my endless relief we didn't see any scorpions, and despite snake tracks we didn't see any of those either - although our guides assured us that if we liked they'd hunt some down for us to have a look at - eek!

After bidding a fond farewell to Jaiselmer we made an epic 24 hour journey across 3 states to get to hippy-haven Rishikesh. I finally got to travel by train! It was very convenient and comfortable - I could quickly get used to the overnight trains. And, after experiencing the buses in other states, I'm limiting my previous (hasty) statement about "loving travelling by bus" to the buses in Rajasthan, which are pretty serviceable! There goes my wish to be an intrepid local traveller... Rishikesh was made famous by the Beatles - they wrote most of The White Album in an ashram in the hills here, and since then it's been a favourite with backpackers, for good reason. It's beautifully situated at the start of the Himalayas, and on the Ganges - we headed there to do some serious chilling before the end of our holidays. Being so far up in the north, and close to the mountains it is pleasantly cool - I never thought I'd welcome being chillly at night before coming to India - and very beautiful. We covered all of the bases including bathing in the Ganges (or gingerly paddling, ahem), ayurvedic massage and a bit of self-inspired (self-led) yoga, and enjoyed lots of good food and bracing mountain air.

And that's it! Some photos are below... I can't believe that my time in India has come to an end so quickly. Despite some frustrations I have developed an enduring affection for this crazy country, and especially for the friends I've met here and shared my experience with - it's a time I'll always remember fondly. Even though I can't quite process the fact that I'm leaving, that this is the last time for who knows how many years that I'll see the buildings and streets that quickly (and unexpectedly) became familiar and comforting, as well as all the people who have made my experience, another part of me can already feel how much I'll miss it, and how lucky I've been to have the opportunity to be here.

I'm not sure I've quite managed to captuare the vibrancy of India in all of my posts here - the things that amaze every day, as well as the things that make me want to scream on a daily basis! But whilst I was travelling I read a book that comes close to doing it some justice - Out of God's Oven by Dom Moraes and Sarayu Srivatsa. It's a journalistic book which manages to capture elements of the society, culture, history, colonial legacy, religion and politics of India, and comes some way to reaching the modern essence of the country - for anyone who's interested I highly recommend it.

Next stop Beijing! I'm so excited to go and see China - I don't know what to expect at all, but will update as soon as I can. And for tomorrow; happy 21st to my little brother - I can't believe I'm missing your big day! Will be thinking of you. All my love xxx

2 Weeks and 3 days??

How did the time go by so quickly?

I'm now wrapping things up at work, all set for my last day on Tuesday, when I'll head to Johdpur for the wedding of a good friend's brother, before spending 10 days travelling ridiculous distances with good friends.

It's strange to reflect on just how quickly my time here has gone, but I'm looking ahead to Beijing, and I cannot wait. I'll be teaching English close to the centre of Beijing, and staying with a family on-site. Aside from wishing that I'd actually opened the "Easy Peasy Mandarin" book that I was so sure I'd study religiously every night as I was cramming it into my backpack, I'm feeling pretty much set.

I'll go with very fond memories of India - I have had an amazing time here, despite challenges, and I definitely hope to visit again to tour the South of the country.

And now I'm doing even more onward planning - the job that I thought I'd be starting back in London in August has been delayed until February 2010, and I'm currently trying to organise more work abroad in...the USA! Visa procedures are excessively traumatic (though an Indian person might tell me that it's just my karma for the number of people who I didn't sympathise enough with as I coached them through the equally traumatic process of coming to work in the UK), but stay tuned for more news once it's all sorted!

An afternoon of storytelling

Had another field visit to the HQ of our microfinance organisation today, and spent the afternoon sitting on mats in a cool, breezy room listening to the stories of the women who founded and now govern the organisation.

Stories about men not allowing their wives to participate in the self help groups when they started, saying that they were bound to fail, and later swallowing their words and asking their wives to join... About the organisation's staff investing their own money into the first groups to show that they were trustworthy, and win the confidence of the villages they were working with. About organising rural women to protest against corruption in local government, secure aid in times of disaster and insist that they themselves are able to monitor the distribution of funds... Stories of overcoming deeply ingrained prejudices and huge levels of adversity to create a solid organisation that sustainably and positively impacts the lives of it's members, and is growing exponentially year on year.

These visits are without a doubt the best part of my job. The energy with which the women approach their task, the sheer scale of their determination and what that has led them to achieve couldn't fail to be inspiring, even for the most jaded cynic. Today the president of the organisation told me that over the years, since the self help groups have become more and more ingrained into the communities they operate in, they've gradually started to notice the younger girls become quite bold. Listening to them for the afternoon makes it easy to understand where they learned their boldness!

Certainly microfinance is no cure for all the world's ills. Objectively viewed it's a good way to achieve small-scale democratisation of capital, and the model is not without flaws, nor applicable universally, nor immune to abuse. But for giving people the means to sustainably improve their livelihoods, and more importantly empowering them to take the necessary action to achieve this for themselves I firmly believe that it deserves all the hype.

Relaxing Weekend

Eating good food with friends, sari shopping, then heading to a hilltop fort for a view of Jaipur and the sunset...

The Rules of the Road

I should start this post with an apology, as the title is deliberately misleading... I'm sure that everyone will have seen the famous photos and videos of Indian roads, and already have (very correctly) assumed that the principal rule of the road is simply there are no rules.

In general, the approach towards driving is similar to the approach towards many things here; "every man for himself". If India had a motto, this would be it, however on the roads it could easily be extended to; "every man, dog, camel, horse and (occassionally) elephant for themselves".

Whilst always entertaining it's safe to say that in a country of 1.4 billion people, this isn't necessarily the healthiest attitude to take - all jokes aside traffic accidents are one of the biggest causes of mortality in India. Yet, in fairness on many roads that I see here the chaos does seem to be the only option. Many very busy roads are quite simply too small to deal with the volume of traffic that needs to use them, and without widespread and heavy investment in widening them and improving the surfaces, it's not easy to see any alternative to some good old fashioned crazy driving.

As for the driving itself - in common with most things in India, the keywords are enterprise and innovation. There's no such thing as "dangerous driving", just the ability to make creative use of space - thus it's never unusual to see some brave fellow cycling down the wrong side of a 5-lane road , normally with his wife perched side-saddle on the back. To help everyone drive crazily together there seem to be some general guidelines, the most useful of which I've listed below;

• Drive on the left (optional)
• Lane markings, wing mirrors, indicators and traffic lights are for decorative purposes only
• Use of full beam headlights at night is compulsory (anyone flashing their lights as they pass really likes your motorbike. Stud.)
• If you're lucky enough to find a pavement low enough to drive on, it would be a sin not to use it
• Use of indicators and checking of blind spots are inconvenient, and designed for sissies and girls
• So are seatbelts and motorcycle helmets
• So is insurance
• Your primary means of communication is the horn - the louder the better. If it breaks, you're done for - a short beeping translation note...

Short beeps - "I'm changing lane/turning/speeding up/overtaking/not stopping for that red light/not letting you out."
Medium beeps - "Get out of my way" (with varyng degrees of annoyance)
Long beep - "Please try not to crash into me as I speed along the wrong side of the road" (mainly used by truck drivers)

Having said all that, I'll confess to secretly loving traveling by road here - before I arrived I saw train travel as the epitome of any trip in India, but after only a few bus journeys I absolutely love the sights to be seen when traveling by road (some pictures here). Often it's the only time when you can get a good look at Indian daily life, while remaining relatively unobserved - for anyone traveling in India I definitely recommend jumping on a bus in the daytime to see what you can see...

Coolest day!

Last Friday myself and my new colleagues (some students from the US) spent the day on a field visit, way away from our office, in the Chaksu district of Rajasthan. One of the microfinance organisations I've been studying was holding it's 4th Annual General Meeting, so we went along to see some of the actual impact of the organisation on it's members. Not knowing what to expect, I ended up having one of my best days here so far - the entire event was incredible.

There were over 550 women from rural villages attending - they in turn represented 145 autonomous Self-Help Groups who actually make up this particular microfinance organisation. The picture below is of me with the president of the organisation, who absolutely kicks ass - she's been in the organisation since it started 15 years ago, knows and is trusted implicitly by seemingly all of the women in the organisation (around 1,600), runs everything and everyone like clockwork and has had such a huge impact on the lives of women across the district that a few years ago she was flown to the White House to meet the President.

We arrived early morning in the middle of a downpour - which didn't do much to dampen the atmosphere - and got to light the ceremonial lamp to mark the start of the meeting! The event was a really nice way to see what a huge difference the organisation has made in the area. The basic operation involves establishing small, local self help groups of women who save money together, and allowing them to borrow small sums of money (providing the only alternative that doesn't involve an extortionately high-interest lender; needless to say in rural areas the majority don't possess the kind of capital required for a traditional bank loan), that they can use to fund income-generating activities such as handicrafts or agricultural work. This model has been well tested (and proven) throughout Asia and the rest of the world as a way to substantially improve the quality of life of rural families - because they work with, and effectively borrow from their neighbours people are very committed to the self help groups. The loan default rate is around 1%.

I'd argue though that the economic benefits are actually topped by the social impact that's come from economically empowering the women (and it is only for women - again and again this has been shown to be the most effective way to ensure repayment, and ensure the money goes into families). Rajasthan is famously very traditional in outlook - whilst it's amazing to see such an old culture being well preserved and blended in with modern life, it often means that in rural areas opportunities for women and girls are all too few. The ongoing dowry system financially cripples families, who thus devote few other resources to females (sadly more advanced pre-natal screening also means that there is an increasingly high incidence of female foeti being electively and sometimes forcibly aborted). There is a low literacy rate amongst rural females, who are often married early and without any means of earning are entirely dependent on their husbands or families. Some families still practice purdah, whereby married women are required to veil their whole face in the presence of men other than their husband - as several parts of the same family often live together this can mean that even at home a woman has to cover up, to avoid her father-in-law or brothers-in-law seeing her face. This is much more common in rural areas but even in Jaipur the practice exists, although it's difficult to see how widespread it is as obviously the women rarely venture outdoors.

Therefore giving the women here the opportunity to make a small independent income is only the tip of the iceberg - contributing to the household generally automatically improves their standing and treatment, as well as allowing investment in things like education for their families. Needless to say it's also a huge self-confidence booster, particularly as the organisation regularly run skills-building workshops teaching the women basic leadership skills, and the knowledge needed to run small enterprises. Finally, because there are so many members involved in the organisation (1,600) they've started to exercise increasing levels of influence with local government and policy makers, people that individually the members wouldn't ever have a chance of accessing.

In short, the day was completely inspirational. It was also special as I haven't had much of a change to interact with Indian women other than the women I live with, which is a real shame. Women mainly stay at home, so it's easy to look down a street here without seeing a single female face (which can feel eerily lonely), and even if I do by chance meet women, unless they're from the educated middle class it's quite rare for them to have much English. I'll definitely remember it as one of my favourite days of the whole trip - more photos of voting and dancing below!

Pictures from Holi!!

Look for me on the right!!