KAZIRANGA WILD LIFE SANCTUARY: APRIL 3
Why haven't I uploaded stuff onto the Blog? I don't have a memory stick with me because I didn't expect the power to be on - or, if it was on, for the Web connection in the cubicle behind the Chemist shop to be operative.
I rode in from WILD GRASS to find quinine for night cramps. I have new medication proscribed by a heart specialist in Gangtok. The anti-cramps pills don't work. I have had cramps in my feet and legs the past three nights. Hurts like hell and I can't get to the bathroom safely. That explains the chemist...
Does he have quinine?
No.
I shall try a jungle Doctor (Tribal!). Surely Jungle docs proscribe quinine for malaria.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
TRIBALS
KAZIRANGA WILD LIFE SANCTUARY; APRIL 3
Define Tribals in order of National importance:
Tourist Attractions.
Country people considered inferior.
Country people for whom the Government hasn't built schools.
Or hospitals...
Add the following from talking with an Assamese University Professor.
Was he Tribal?
Certainly not. His people invaded Assam a few centuries ago. Originally they came from Thailand.
Thus we have a fourth definition of Tribal: Losers...
Define Tribals in order of National importance:
Tourist Attractions.
Country people considered inferior.
Country people for whom the Government hasn't built schools.
Or hospitals...
Add the following from talking with an Assamese University Professor.
Was he Tribal?
Certainly not. His people invaded Assam a few centuries ago. Originally they came from Thailand.
Thus we have a fourth definition of Tribal: Losers...
WILD GRASS
KAZIRANGA WILD LIFE SANCTUARY: MAY 2
Great day yesterday - except for the standard problems of Internet and power. Power cuts are called Load Shedding - great terminology! The load shedding last two, three or four hours at a time, occur at least once and usually twice and often three times daily. I am staying at WILD GRASS. Check it out on the Web.
Yesterday in the Sanctuary a rhino walked down a grass swathe by the river and up over the track immediately behind the jeep. All hell broke loose a few minutes later. The rhino was charging at us down the track - so the forest ranger said as he tried to load his rifle. He was still trying when two buffalo charged by through the forest in one of those male on male power struggles.
Also seen, Jungle fowl. So they are wild chickens - no. Chickens are domesticated Jungle Fowl.
Great day yesterday - except for the standard problems of Internet and power. Power cuts are called Load Shedding - great terminology! The load shedding last two, three or four hours at a time, occur at least once and usually twice and often three times daily. I am staying at WILD GRASS. Check it out on the Web.
Yesterday in the Sanctuary a rhino walked down a grass swathe by the river and up over the track immediately behind the jeep. All hell broke loose a few minutes later. The rhino was charging at us down the track - so the forest ranger said as he tried to load his rifle. He was still trying when two buffalo charged by through the forest in one of those male on male power struggles.
Also seen, Jungle fowl. So they are wild chickens - no. Chickens are domesticated Jungle Fowl.
TIGER HILL
DARJEELING: APRIL 3
I don't care for gloom – even Historic, as in castles and Tudor manor houses. The Mayfair Hotel, Darjeeling, is a rare beast amongst Heritage buildings: rooms are light. It is also a hotel where guests talk to each other. The library boasts six-seater sofas and opulently comfortable armchairs. Barefoot diplomats from the US Embassy in Kathmandu share a beer with a couple of Brits. All four were up before dawn to witness sun rise from the peak of Tiger Hill – in company with a few hundred Indian tourists. What did they see? Cloud. How was the cloud? Damp and depressing. Ah, well...
I don't care for gloom – even Historic, as in castles and Tudor manor houses. The Mayfair Hotel, Darjeeling, is a rare beast amongst Heritage buildings: rooms are light. It is also a hotel where guests talk to each other. The library boasts six-seater sofas and opulently comfortable armchairs. Barefoot diplomats from the US Embassy in Kathmandu share a beer with a couple of Brits. All four were up before dawn to witness sun rise from the peak of Tiger Hill – in company with a few hundred Indian tourists. What did they see? Cloud. How was the cloud? Damp and depressing. Ah, well...
BUBBLY BLISS
DARJEELING: APRIL 3
I have transported my miseries to the Mayfair Hotel. The Mayfair does luxury. The manager throws wide the curtains on a close-up of cloud. No cloud and the view would stretch for a few hundred miles. When did the cloud last lift? February? Or was it January? Or December? I don't give a damn. Keep the view. Get rid of the manager (politely). Gush steaming water into the bath. Add a full bottle of Molton Brown hoarded from the Umaid Bavhan Palace. Hang the DON'T DISTURB sign on the door. Shush now...Don't even breathe. Grandpa is meditating in bubbly bliss...
I have transported my miseries to the Mayfair Hotel. The Mayfair does luxury. The manager throws wide the curtains on a close-up of cloud. No cloud and the view would stretch for a few hundred miles. When did the cloud last lift? February? Or was it January? Or December? I don't give a damn. Keep the view. Get rid of the manager (politely). Gush steaming water into the bath. Add a full bottle of Molton Brown hoarded from the Umaid Bavhan Palace. Hang the DON'T DISTURB sign on the door. Shush now...Don't even breathe. Grandpa is meditating in bubbly bliss...
MEDICATION WON'T SUFFICE
DARJEELING: APRIL 2
Bollywood is shooting a movie at the Hotel Swiss. A tall, slim, very Gay Thirties wears a woollie hat with a bobble. I'm unsure as to his title but he's the man who makes things happen. My camera is beyond him. I traipse from camera shop to camera shop. Darjeeling scores an A+ for vertical streets, an X- for camera technicians. The film crew eat packed lunches and packed dinners leaving me as the only guest in the dinning room. My head hurts. My shoulder hurts. My back hurts. My right knee hurts. These pains are to be expected in an old fool who falls off a bike (even riding zero Ks an hour). Medication won't suffice. I need laughter and a smidgen of five star luxury. The Swiss is a small charming Heritage building and I am not registering a complaint. However, dispelling my misery requires more. For instance a bubble bath...
Bollywood is shooting a movie at the Hotel Swiss. A tall, slim, very Gay Thirties wears a woollie hat with a bobble. I'm unsure as to his title but he's the man who makes things happen. My camera is beyond him. I traipse from camera shop to camera shop. Darjeeling scores an A+ for vertical streets, an X- for camera technicians. The film crew eat packed lunches and packed dinners leaving me as the only guest in the dinning room. My head hurts. My shoulder hurts. My back hurts. My right knee hurts. These pains are to be expected in an old fool who falls off a bike (even riding zero Ks an hour). Medication won't suffice. I need laughter and a smidgen of five star luxury. The Swiss is a small charming Heritage building and I am not registering a complaint. However, dispelling my misery requires more. For instance a bubble bath...
WILD LIFE SANCTUARY
I saw at least thirty black rhino yesterday. Am now trying to upload Blog before the next electricity cut.
Monday, April 26, 2010
KAZIRANGA WILD LIFE SANCTUARY
OK, I am in Kaziranga, Assam. My telephone doesn't work in Assam. Heavy storms over the past days and electricity has joined internet in being haphazard. I shall ride an elephant tomorrow and see black rhino, deer, buffalo and wild boar - many birds - though unlikely to see tigers as grass is too long. Have been trying to upload Blogs from memory stick here at a computer back of the local chemist! No luck...
Maybe the chemist (also a journalist and filming as I write) can make a suggestion. Cheers to all. Yes, and I AM HAVING A GREAT TIME!
Maybe the chemist (also a journalist and filming as I write) can make a suggestion. Cheers to all. Yes, and I AM HAVING A GREAT TIME!
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