Delhi

Day 6.Not a great day yesterday. After the hell that was Delhi, being shut up in a small room with lots of other people who had dared to transit through Delhi airport, they do their upmost to make the experience as unpleasant as possible-they really hate transit passengers there. I was lucky I was only starved, confined and shouted at for 8 hours, there were others who had done 18-24 hours. A certain camaraderie was established though, and hands were shook as people escaped. I got talking to a gay Filipino guy(from Pampanga) on his way back to work(in an American base)in Afghanistan! He assured me that these conditions were normal in Delhi. I did raise the issue with him that the Philippine government had banned Filippinas working in Afghanistan and Iraq, he told me that if you paid the right people in the Philippine immigration dept, that was not a problem. So after a very nice and brief stop in Munich, (I went outside and watched a polo match, and Lufthansa kindly provide free hot drinks and newspapers in the airport) I arrived in good cheer at Prague. I was then stuck in customs for 7 hours. I learnt a valuable lesson yesterday, never assume things will run smoothly, and sleep whenever you get the chance-don't wait. I was so tired that I began to hallucinate as I tried to stay awake. The customs hall would visually blur into one and the sounds of the people became a very sharp echo. I found myself continuously shaking myself out of these mini-trips to see people watching me, and wondering what the hell is that hippy on? Sleep deprivation-the ultimate high!
Luckily I suppose, when I finally arrived (midnight)at the Pensione (hotel) it was in the middle of nowhere. Otherwise I would have been tempted to have a walkabout, the temptation to explore is very strong in a new place. As it was I went straight to sleep, and slept like a log.
I had a walk around before breakfast this morning, and it is very pretty near the Pensione, I must be in the suburbs. I will probably have a quick look around Prague before heading back to the airport, and then I'm not sure.

Prague

Day 7.
I am here again in the hell that is the transit lounge in Delhi. I have been on the road for a week now. I seem to be on my way back to Singapore, not sure where to then.
I had a fantastic morning yesterday in Prague. I managed to have a 4 hour walk around the city. It was a warm spring day, and I even managed to top up the old tan. Prague is surely the beautiful city in the world. The architecture is simply breathtaking, and the Czechs really know how to treasure and take care of their heritage. Prague really is a friendly lovely place. It is not cheap anymore, but probably cheaper than London. It is a must see city, you haven't seen Europe unless you have seen Prague. I prefer it to Paris or Rome, although Barcelona is hard to beat, but I think that's because of the beaches. The flight from Prague to Munich is a short flight-40 minutes, but the countryside in between is very pretty. The plane flies low so the view was as clear as a bell. I could see cyclists and even people walking in the countryside. For possibly the first time i found myself thinking 'I wish I could drive' i would love to explore the whole area of Southern Germany into Austria and across to the Czech Republic. There are so many small villages, valleys, rolling hills, lakes, and forests. Unlike Northern Germany and Europe, it really is unspoilt by industry and large cities. At times from the air it looks as though someone has laid down a velvet rug, the greens and yellows of the fields look so clear and smooth. Definitely on my list of places to take the kids, not sure about the driving though. Again I was most impresses in Munich by how helpful and friendly the Germans are. I realised that my German is better than my Cantonese, it always surprises me how much I can understand. Most people mistook me for a German, and I tried my best to speak German to them, but i am very rusty. The more I see Europe, the more I think I would rather my kids grew up there rather than England, but we can't always get what we want.

Airports

Day 4. In Delhi airport.
On a scale of 1-10 I decided to rank some of the airports where I've spent some time.
Singapore-10
Seoul-9
Hong Kong-8
Helsinki-7
Copenhagen-7
Heathrow-5
Los Angeles-5
Chicago-5
San Francisco-5
Toronto-5
Gatwick-4
Detroit-4
Atlanta-4
Penang-4
Manchester-3
Liverpool -3
Manila-1
Delhi - -3


Yes, Delhi has been that good. Enough said. Munich and Prague airports to follow.
Munich-8
Prague-7
Bangkok-5

Penang

Is in a hotel in Penang.I came here about 13 years ago, wasn't too impressed then either.Georgetown is a bit of a faded traveller's hangout.Not sure why they come here really, same old reggae bars etc, but there are no great beaches here or fantastic temples. In fact it was busier and its redeeming factor 13 years ago was that it must have neen how Hong Kong looked years ago, but now even that life has gone.The Chinese have moved out to the huge malls and entertainment complexes in the suburbs.Nervertheless it has been great to get off the road and see something new even if I only arrived at 11pm. I have been stuck in either the Philippines or China for years now, nice to see the other Asia again.

travels

Me In Detroit


I have decided that I like the U.S. I am now sat in Detroit airport for the umpteenth time over the last few weeks. The people are genuinely friendly. I was in LAX last night, flying over Los-Angeles at dusk was brilliant. Wow! What a city, it is absolutely huge, I haven't been so impressed landing at a city since the old Hong Kong airport(although planes do still fly over the city sometimes). I had a great view from the business class seat of my Philippine airline flight(that sounds better than the reality, they still only have 2 movies!), as the plane flew right over downtown LA, and then over most of the city to LAX. Of course I was imagining all the guns, cops, and Hank from Californication in the streets below. I was just as starstruck as I took off 3 hours later for Detroit. I did manage to mingle, and people-watch as I smoked myself to death outside the airport for an hour. I found the people and staff much cooler(in a positive sense) than those in Atlanta, Detroit, or Chicago, although San-Francisco is still up there. So California is definitely on my list for a longer visit. I have been surprised by the sheer number of people here, and of course the size of the country. It's a little like China, but with white people, and black and brown people. The sheer myriad of peoples here is astounding-Indians, Filipinos, Russians, Africans, Chinese.....A lot of people are still trying to live that American dream. It makes Europe feel small. I haven't met any yobs on the streets or trains or in the airports-unlike the UK, where yobs rule every public place. The people here seem to be nice to each other and surprisingly intelligent, of course Europe is like that-just not the UK. Next time you are in Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester airports, have a good look around and listen to the people there. Listen to the language and have a peek in the bars. Don't even bother with the train stations, bus stations, cinemas, supermarkets, or other public places-it's just too depressing. It is nice to blend into the hotchpotch of people and not get noticed. Yesterday I was in Manila, which can be a bit much sometimes, with people stopping staring and pointing-and even taking photos(think it must be because they think I look like Jesus 'Mummy why does Christ our Lord smoke so much?')!
Me in Chicago


I am glad that we don't have the same crime as they do here, but I have my doubts as to how that affects everyday life here, not as much as low-level violence affects life in the UK I think.
I'm waiting for a flight to Chicago now, and hope to get downtown again for a couple of hours, and then it is back to Manila via Seoul, and then I'm not joking, probably back here to Detroit. Seoul has very fast free-wifi in its airport, and I should be able to post this and any pics when I get there, and call my boys and wife on messenger who I miss very much. I spent a very boring week hanging around Mui-Wo last week, it's no fun when it's cool and rainy ,I would rather be flying.
Update(7hrs later)-I am now at Chicago O Hare airport, waiting for a flight to Seoul which is 8 hours away from now. It is nearly 6pm, so too late for me to head downtown so i will wait here. At times like these it is hard to stay awake-it is 6am Hong Kong time. I will now go to Hong Kong from Seoul and then onto Penang in Malaysia, from there I have no idea. I am never too sure how bad I look as the days pass, i have not had a chance to take a shower or sleep in a hotel yet, which is not too bad as it is only 48 hours since I left Lantau. A border Guard called me 'young man' earlier, but he looked younger than me, it must be a sign of getting old(or vain) when being called young gives you a boost.
Eruptions.
I have seen at first hand the chaos caused by the volcanic eruption, which is causing almost as much trouble as it is to try and pronounce the bloody thing! Hong Kong airport was eerily quiet and calm on Sunday, a lot of flights head to Europe from there, but as it's easy to get to from the city, most passengers had simply stayed away. Manila was as manic as ever, but that has nothing to do with the volcano, they don't really have direct flights, it is always manic. In fact it is the worst airport in the world, lazy immigration guards, surly ground staff, very few people working there seem to want to be working there. I asked 5 security guards/porters how to get from one terminal to the other last week, and every one of them told me to take a taxi, and denied the existence of a shuttle bus which I eventually found. If a management team was to try and improve Manila airport, it would have to fire 90% of the staff there for incompetence and corruption. I digress- but it is the pits.
I could see some big queues in LAX(immigration and customs were a joy by the way, including the large number of Filipinos working there!) but I wasn't really taking much notice. It was only in Chicago that I have seen the full effects, Chicago being one of the main European hubs for North America. At all of the airlines serving Europe, the queues were massive, full of very worried people pushing and shoving, shouting and crying. The main problem being that it seemed to be airlines themselves dictating policy, for example United Airlines were flying to London, but BA wasn't, although they did have one flight to Glasgow-best stay in Chicago really. Scandinavian Airlines were flying but Air France were not. This may of course have more to do with where the cloud is than the airlines choice, but I can see flying to Europe being hell for the next week or so. I wouldn't have minded getting stranded in London myself, or if you were on holiday in Cyprus or in Australia, being a week late back to the UK surely would have been a bonus.
As you can tell I am pretty bored, and actually I am just trying to stay awake, so on that note I'll go and have another fag.
Update(another 3 hours later) I have just nipped into the toilet to change my socks, noxious is an understatement. I'm airside now and only another 2 hours before the flight, and then 14 hours up to the Arctic and down again to Korea. I don't think I'll see much this time, I was fascinated last time and stayed awake the whole time, as I thought ' well, this is definitely a place I'll never visit so I may as well watch it from above' . Didn't see any polar bears though!
Heard on CNN that the UK are using naval ships to get people back home, very exciting indeed. It's just what Gordon Brown needed a couple of weeks before the election, sending in the military to help stranded Brits from the perils of France. D-day again, this time rescued from bad wine and rudeness, I can see Gordon winning a huge majority, unless they accidently rescue the thousands of Iraqis, Afghans and other illegal immigrants camped out near Calais.

Just heard about a man in the UK who has been accused of bestiality with horses and cows. The judge refused him bail as he said the defendant didn't have a stable address. True story!
Update-Just landed in Seoul, internet access- yeah!!
Me in Manila!

2 Buddhas

I have just returned from the village to pick up my laundry, and I was asked why I was back on the island and where were the family?-3 times. It's nice that people care but after the hundredth time I have decided to spice up the story a bit, and this will be my answer next time;
Whilst trekking in the Himalayas we met the Dalai Lama, who after a brief chat with my youngest son, decided that he was the living incarnation of himself. I did question the logic of this as I didn't understand how this could be, as he was still alive, so that would mean there are 2 of them, and I didn't see any financial advantage of him being the next Dalai Lama. After a brief negotiation, I went happily on my way, having been rewarded with a modest payment and a share of any royalties from tie-in books etc in the future. I threw in my eldest son for good luck-in for a penny, in for a pound! The wife wasn't overjoyed at the arrangement, being a Christian and all. In fact she kicked up an almighty fuss, and ran away with a travelling circus we met at the next town. Apparently she is now a lion tamer, she said taming lions was a synch after living with me for 10 years. The boys have had their heads shaven and are studying meditation and Tibetan. Not sure it will last though, as although saintly, I think the Dalai Lama has bitten off more than he can chew with my two.

Waste

This is a true story, it is heartbreaking, disturbing and definitely a tragedy. Although I will tell it in the first person, I was not there, and the first person is fictional, as are the thoughts and sentiments of that first person. The reasons I have written it in the first person is to try and approximate the sheer horror of that person. If you don't like my language, then fuck you, because as with most people in this world you have blinded yourself to the cold hard fucking facts of life in the real world. And so I will begin;
Hong Kong is a pretty fucking good place to live, and to live in Lantau is the business. I live in Mui-Wo, which is by far the best place to live on Lantau.All this means shit if you've never been here, but you must at least know that Hong Kong is the most populated place on the planet. Well, us Gweilos (white motherfuckers) who've lived here awhile realised very quickly that we couldn't handle the city and found our way to the beautiful,tropical and quiet outlying islands-Lantau being one . Life is pretty idyllic over here, a little like Cheers but much much bigger. This is not a fuckin tourist blurb though and if you want to know more look on the net. To pay for this life we have to work, and that takes me to the day in question, where I was on the late shift and ready to go home. The office is always high stress, there are over 20 of us there, most of us British. One of the fellas hadn't turned in today, which in itself is not unusual, but nobody had heard fuck all from him for a couple of days now. Only 2 days ago it had been Bill's(made up name) birthday and a few of the lads had had a night over in Wanchai. Nothing unusual had happened, and so far as we knew nothing was amiss. It wasn't the first time that someone's dad/mum/wife had called, shit after a good night we lost people for days, that's Hong kong. Bill's Dad told me hadn't heard from Bill for 3 days, I had worked with Bill for 7 years, so I knew straight away to expect the worst. 7 years Bill was on the desk next to me, we were close. Most of us here have lived the life, but survived and calmed down with wives and kids. Bill had been married, but it didn't last-who knows why? Bill lived in Mui-Wo above the supermarket, close to the ferry, most of my Lantau friends didn't know him though as he kept himself to himself.He was still young , on the right side of 30 and as I've said had worked for our company for years. As I also said earlier, most of us had walked the fuckin walk and done the talk before we settled down, and as far as we knew so had Bill. Someone always went off the rails at times, but generally nothing a good sleep or a good divorce wouldn't cure-you know what I mean. So back to Bill's dad on the phone; He hadn't heard from him for three days and had been round to his flat a couple of times but had got no answer. He could hear the same music being played again and again though. You fuckin know where this is going and so did I at this point, but of course prayed and prayed that he'd left his telly on and was shacked up with some bird somewhere. We had no clue where Bill was, and Bill's dad didn't live on the island so I offered to stop by on my home and call him later. The sense of impending dread built as I took my normal 90 minute journey home, it was 1am by the time I got back.i had never been to Bill's flat but I knew the building and floor, and so I found myself at his door. The music was still playing, and after a while I realised it was on a very short loop, it must be a DVD. Of course there was no answer to my ringing and knocking. Hong kong is a small place and if Bill was still out on the town we would have heard, he wasn't, I knew he must be in his flat-nobody leaves their music playing like that. On the way I had called a couple of friends in the police to ask their advice about what I should do and they had been very clear-Don't put in the door, just call the police. I already knew from Bill's father that the music had been playing for a couple of days, and so called the cops.
They arrived very quickly-the island is a small place. They broke down the door. I followed them into the flat.
He was sat there rigid, frozen. On a chair facing the TV. Blood and vomit had congealed on his face. The DVD was some crap Jennifer Lopez film. There were syringes. He was dead.
They moved him and the rigor mortis was obvious, his whole body remained in the same position as they tipped his body.
I don't have the words to describe my feelings, my horror, my shock at that moment. This was my friend, my colleague. How much of our lives had we shared together? I knew he'd had history, but thought that had long gone. He was so straight at work, competent.
This was a young 33 year old, intelligent, good, hardworking man. He still had everything to live for, with so much to come. This man was not a drug addict-he was a fully functioning, highly functioning young healthy man. The anti drug adverts don't do the reality justice. Bill's petrified rigid body would scare the fuck out of anybody.
What a fucking waste!

Grief

Witness to grief.

Let it be noted that I have found the following extremely difficult to write.
I missed the ferry today by about a minute as the time on my phone was 5 minutes slow. It's not like I had to be anywhere, I had no idea where I was going-just off the island. I was on call, but as it now seems these days that was not likely. I put my shades on and thought I'll go walkabout. Pissed off that I'd have to take a longer journey but happy that I'd have time for a fag I waited for the bus and sparked up. I saw the Filipina girl walk by as she answered her phone and went to join the queue, and thought to myself, 'she looks familiar, I wonder if she knows my wife?' Within a minute I hear a commotion in the queue, it takes me a minute to determine what it is. It is the same girl screaming at her phone, my first thought is that she is shouting at her partner or possibly her employer-just another domestic problem ' Jesus, do you have to wash your laundry in public? The Chinese hate this kind of thing' You do hear a lot of crap that could take place behind closed doors here, generally not from the locals, but from the rest of us who are guests here. I was wrong, and the tone of this poor girl's voice soon made it obvious. She left the queue and I then started to understand the pure horror this girl was in. During the next minute I picked up that someone very close to her had just died in a terrible accident. I have no idea who or how, and I still have no idea who the girl was. As I listened to her desperate pleas on the phone I absolutely froze. Her pleas will remain with me for the rest of my life. I wanted to do something, I wanted to help her or at least comfort her, but for a whole host of reasons could not. The relationship between British male and Filipina females is fraught with many problems, it's just not that easy. For 3 minutes I was literally glued to the spot, as her pleading and grief grew and grew. This was a public place and I did know that as soon as she put down that phone I would have to do something and make sure that she got home or whatever. It was then that she ran towards 2 other Filipinas waiting for a taxi, and of course they immediately took her in a cab. There is a certain sisterhood and companionship that exists between Filipinas here, not always but certainly at times like this. I do hope she is okay, and that her God and her family, and even her employer will help her through this. I once received that call, and I'm not sure if you ever get over it.