from Mysore... components..

It is sunny here, a bit polluted, but the area that I am in is more a suburb, so it is reasonably clear of fumes..
The yoga shala (studio) is about 200meters from my house. The coconut stand is only a further 50 or so meters. And that's where we congregate when we feel sociable or want to meet up to go places. Waiting times and lingering times are taken up with sipping coconut water through a straw, and sometimes we get the coconut men to crack the nut open completely to scoop out the flesh. Yum.

Then there is Anu's the internet cafe which also serves a lunch and dinner buffet. But it's the exact same food at lunch and dinner time, so going twice a day is not very exciting. But Ganesh, Anu's husband is super friendly and helpfull and organises cars/drivers and helps with getting one's bearings.

Also there is Tina's which is good for breakfast, sitting on mats around a coffee table high table, ordering porridge, roties, omletts... And spirulina drinks. (spirulina looks like a witches brew, it is actually algea..)

And there is Shakti house which has proper tables, but takes an eternity sometimes to actually receive one's dinner.
And Chakra house, again mats on the floor and much debated safety of food served, but I love their pancakes..

So these are the main food haunts near the shala. there is only really the Dashpakash which serves super cheap thali (a plate with several dishes each containing variations of curry, with side dish of rice, chippaty and bits and pieces, but relatively bland). And the Grean Leaf at which one really can only eat twice a week or otherwise it really will be a case of serious waddling and bursting clothes..

And thank heavens for Coffee Day, our Star Bucks equivalent, well, sort of, It's the one place to have coffee and mocha and that sort of western stuff. (Some of the above places try to offer coffe, but only Shakti house comes close to coffee, actually I really like their's too, but the places around the shala area are only open limited hours of the day, whereas Coffee Day is open all day!)

I thought I had made my mind up about staying here until the end of february, but i am not really feeling good, and what's more my joints are not good. the practice is too hard. And the people here aren't necessarily the best to speak to when it comes to concerns like that, I have overheard many speaking about their various injuries and they just carry on..

My shoulders are lightly damaged from the jumps that involve you swinging your legs through. And then the elbows are now done in from trying to compensate and protect my shoulders.. And for some obscure reason my knees are stiff and sore. I have never felt any problems there before. So that is a lot of joint issue for 3 weeks practice.

And it feels bad missing a day.. I missed one already last week because I had such bad sunburn on the back of my legs that I couldn't bend or straighten them.

It all comes down to Ahimsa I think.. (First rule of yoga: the rule of non-harm.. to anybody including one self, in word, deed or thought..)

..people I met..

This is Dan who has been my Cauffeur several times.. And made me feel quite at home.


Richard, on the first day I met him. The person not in the photo is Agnius. Which is of course just very usefull information to you.


Esther, from England but living in Japan. Also known as my traffic guardian and driving instructor.

Showing off my new Nepalese ring from the Tibetan Settlement, by the pool at the Southern Star Hotel, on the 25th of december.


This was taken after a long conversation with the monks at the Tibetan Settlement in Karnataka, India. On the 24th of December 2006.

topiary

In Cambodia...

... strategies to gain custom....

Run your potential customer over... This is guaranteed to create a need for transport. (Knowing the long route to the hospital will create extra revenue..)
Point out that you had to use petrol to drive your customer, obviously these foreigners don't know how an engine runs... Insist on extra payment for petrol and state that your original quote was for sitting in the tuck tuck, only, but not for actually going somewhere in it...
Hussle your customer into submission...If she says no 5 times and looks angry then she really does mean :"yes, please, why don't you keep asking..?"
If you see the customer get out of a tuck-tuck, then when she is ready to enter another, pounce on her immediately! There is no such thing as arrival! Make this clear to the customer.
The customer does not know that the tuck-tuck-journey is their reason d'etre. If the customer is not inside a tuck-tuck then the customer can not possible achieve happiness, contentment and will in fact suffer from the excess burden of dollar....

Bangkok Themepark..

The Soho of Bangkok, Banglampuh...
Risked my life on the back of motorcylce taxis today and am very glad about my temporary laps of sanity... without which I would never have been so reckless.
Still not doing very well at recovering from my imported flu, but am flying out to Cambodia tomorrow. Although am not entirely certain that this is a good idea...
However, I have been sold half the contents of the pharmacy around the corner and that gives me some amount of confidence that I have whatever medication it may take to conquer this virus.

Did I mention the strange red marks that are forming on my knees and ankles..?
I also suffer from imaginary insect bite syndrom... I can be seen twitching in regular inbtervals, certain that something bit me. Nothing did except for one lone mosquito who has left a deep red-purple bruise behind...

Over the Seven Seas and the seven mountain with the seven dwarfs I will be..

...

(The photograph above is by Peter Hagerty who documented my performance on saturday the 11th of November 2006)


I am beginning to make some sense of the leaving chaos, have made all the calls one can think of to make (banks, phone, airline company... to let everyone know everything they may feel they need to.)

I am still short of a lodger, which is crazy, considering that I am renting out my room for less than it would cost to rent a shoebox under a bridge in Warrington, or some other random place..
Perhaps Adam from Museum Man will be interested.. It is all very tight for time.
Departure: saturday 5am, and then take off at 9.20am. Arrival in Thailand some crazy amount of hours later. Point of final destination (Cambodia) maybe by next week wednesday, thursday.

Now I just want to sleep.