The Wagon

I heard an interesting statistic recently - that around 70% of the pictures posted on Facebook contain people in some state of inebriation.

A quick look through some of my 600-odd "Photos of Me" on Facebook shows that my proportion of drunken photos is much closer to 100%! Thankfully, those days when a camera was an essential accessory on a night out are long since gone; and certain friends have started to grow out of the tendency of snapping every embarrassing situation on their camera phone.

I'm currently at the tail end of a 5 day bender. As a result of this, my wallet is considerably lighter, I haven't had a clear head since Christmas Eve, and I don't even want to think about my poor liver. This seems to have been a running theme throughout December, with work functions, birthdays and general merriment with old friends.

A few Sundays ago, after a particularly heavy Friday and Saturday, I uttered those famous words "I'm never drinking again". This seems to be an increasingly frequent occurrence, with the hangovers getting worse as I get older. Anyway, in my fuzzy-headed state, something must have clicked, because I turned to my brother and said to him "I won't drink during the whole of 2012".

He laughed it off, and offered me a small bet, saying that this would be the easiest £50 he'd ever made. I'm a stubborn bastard at times, and his certainty in my lack of willpower has served to change this flippant comment into something that I'm actually going to try to do!

Since I've told various friends and family members about my plan, I've been met with a mixture of reactions: disbelief and ridicule being the predominant two. Interestingly, some people are actually angry at the fact I'm trying to do this, saying that I'm just being stupid. Even more eye-opening is that fact that noone has said that what I'm doing is a sensible idea.

Admittedly there is a loophole in this bet, in that I'm allowed to drink outside of the UK. This was largely because I had a couple of music festivals booked for next summer, and the prospect of doing those in a state of sobriety is extremely unappealing!

So why am I doing this, you ask?

I'm not a violent drunk, I don't put cigars out in people's eyes like Joey Barton, don't make racial slurs against bathroom attendants like Cheryl Cole, and don't start fights.

Most of the time I don't sing loud football chants in the middle of the street (unlike others I know!). I don't even try to cook food at stupid hours in the morning, setting off fire detectors in the process (again, another unnamed friend)!

There are a number of reasons for me doing this, which I'll list out:

a) My hangovers have got to the state where I'm spending entire Saturdays and Sundays in a zombie-like state, not talking to anyone, not shifting my behind off the same spot on the sofa, and watching hours of Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory re-runs.

Not a good use of time if you ask me.

Add in a headache that feels as though I've gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson, and a stomach that still burns from last night's booze, and that should be enough to put anyone off!

b) From a financial point of view, the amount I've spent boozing this past year could have bought me a small Carribean island. Once you factor in dinner, club entry, a couple of rounds of drinks, a dodgy late night takeaway, and a taxi back to Bushey, I'll be lucky to see change from £100. This would be fine for something that happens once every few weeks, but when its a bi-weekly thing, then it puts a serious dent in the bank balance.

c) This past year, I have, at various stages, played a weekly game of five-a-side football, and studied Kung Fu/San Shou. Arguably my fitness, at various stages this year is better than its ever been. Then my good friend alcohol comes along, and ruins all that hard work that's taken place during the year. In 2012, I'm looking to concentrate on my fitness in a big way, and really make a go of some type of martial art. Admittedly I'm not a very good footballer or martial arts student, but I do try hard, and an unpolluted body may actually help me to improve.

d) The prospect of getting one over on those who don't believe I can do it is very enticing!

How the hell am I going to achieve this?

Sadly, alcohol has become an integral part of life in London. For both work and social occasions, it is important to have a drink, in order facilitate conversation. Its difficult to think of a city event where booze doesn't play a key part. I respect people who are tee-total but wonder how they manage to make a success of life in London, and especially in financial services, where drinking is the key to networking. I guess I'll be finding this out soon enough.

Again, apologies to the full-time teetotallers but on occasion, I feel like a more eloquent, interesting person after a couple of drinks - a feeling I know is shared by a few of my peers. Interesting things also have more of a tendency to happen after a few drinks!

Accordingly, I will ensure that I am not the first person to go home from a night out, and will try to reenact my drunken persona as best as I can, in my sober state!

And if I'm with you in the pub, please don't say to me "come on mate, just one pint, no-one needs to know...". I'm a sucker for peer pressure!

How likely am I to actually achieve this?

Admittedly, I myself have doubts over whether I can accomplish this or not.

From my point of view, if I have even a couple of months where my body is unpolluted, then I'm happy. I set myself an ambitious target deliberately so that (to paraphrase the great Bill Nicholson) even if I fail, there'll be an element of success!

Of course, it may all go to pot, and I may have a drink in the first week of January, in which case the past hour writing this blog was completely wasted (no pun intended)! As Mihir said, this may well be the easiest £50 he will ever make.

I'd like to stress the fact that I'm NOT an alcoholic - my poor mother is probably reading this blog, getting ready to march me to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting right now! I do like a drink, be it a social pint, a bottle of wine over dinner, and, on occasion, a full scale bender, ending in some dingy late night kebab shop.

I'm sure I'll miss it, for the majority of this year, but hopefully, there will be some benefits from my hiatus.

In the meantime, I advise any shareholders of Anheuser Busch or Diageo that your profits may be down this year!

Apologies if this blog was a bit rambling - I am hungover after all!!

As Frank Sinatra once said:

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day"

Well, I guess I'm going to be one of those people next year!!

Anyway, much love

Nihal

x

The Missing Blog

The unthinkable has happened... My 5 months abroad has come to an end! This seemingly endless plethora of experiences has finished and now all that looms ahead of me is a life of corporate slavery. Oh well, as they say, 'Shit happens'.

I'm not writing the post trip analysis just yet; instead, I'll fill you in on the last 3 weeks.

My last blog focused on a two day meditation retreat and all the spiritual trials that went with this. I assure you that this blog will be of a very different ilk.

After the retreat, I did the inevitable, and went for a well deserved lager. Following on from this, I met up with Harshiv, and after much deliberation, we took the decision to make the short journey from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai (confusing, I know). The intention was that we were to do some unspoilt, natural treks in Chiang Rai. To our immense annoyance, we discovered that the treks in Chiang Rai were as equally touristy as the Chiang Mai treks, and that they were doubly as expensive. Never ones to let disappointment stand in our way, we created our own plans for the day, visiting the White Temple. This contingency plan surpassed all of our expectations, as we were treated to one of the quirkiest temples I'd ever seen - comic book supervillains on the walls, hands reaching up from hell at the entrance, and shimmering white architecture. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

From Chiang Rai, we took the extended 36 hour journey to South Thailand. By now, I'm quite used to the many delights of extended bus journeys, but this particular journey represents somewhat of a sore moment because we were cheated on no fewer than 3 separate occassions. Ignoring the fact that the total sum lost was only about 7 quid, its still frustrating to be subjected to the locals trying to take advantage of you.

We finally arrived by long tail boat to Railey Beach, Krabi. It was like something from a movie - emerald green waters and white sands enclosed by imposing rocks on all sides. Again, its something that words don't do justice to.

Having arrived in Krabi, we set to work on destroying every iota of spirituality that I'd attempted to attain on the meditation retreat. Beers beers beers were the order of the day. We met up with Bimal, and the days were spent on the beach, whilst the nights were spent drinking copious amounts of beer, listening to reggae music, and playing pool and assorted card games. Not a bad existence if I do say so myself. This cycle of laziness was broken only by the crazy decision to... wait for it... go rock climbing! Now most of you know me as more of a bookworm/ beer guzzler/ video games enthusiast than an outdoor sportsman, so God only knows what I was doing when I agreed to climb these rocks. I actually exceeded all expectation, and found that I had a certain talent for climbing - it seems that my skinny frame is actually useful for something. The climbing itself was a gruelling experience - there are stages when you feel like you can't go on, and everyone at the bottom is urging you to carry on climbing; then, when you do reach the top, you feel like you've really achieved something. Amazing.

This feeling of achievement was rewarded with... yes, you guessed it, some more beers. I'd had more of the infamous "Chang-overs" during these four days in Railey than I'd had during the whole of the preceding five weeks in Thailand!

Following on from Krabi, we spent a night on Koh Phi Phi. Phi Phi is a small island that was devastated by the 2004 tsunami - prior to that, it was being built up as one of Thailand's premier tourist locations. The island has since recovered, and home to some of the country's best beaches. Seeing as we only had a day there, we toured the main Phi Phi Don, as well as the smaller Phi Phi Lay, taking the time to do some snorkelling, visit various beaches and lagoons, including Au Maya - made famous by the film, The Beach. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe these beaches. They literally leave you dumbstruck - amazing.

Next stop on our whirlwind tour through South Thailand - Koh Samui. This is probably the most famous of South Thailand's islands - it boasts an international airport and is home to dozens of top end hotels and restaurants. These high levels of tourism meant that the island had lost any charm it once possessed - an authentic Thai restaurant is non existent on Samui, and prices have been hiked up accordingly too. That's not to say we had a bad time there - Sunny and Hinesh arrived in Thailand, and we spent the days playing American football on the beach, and the evenings frequenting the local nightlife.

All of this drinking was building up to one big finale - Koh Pha Ngan AKA the venue for the world famous Full Moon Party. Now my clubbing days seem to be behind me - give me a nice pint in a small pub over a sweaty, noisy, pretentious club any day; however, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Full Moon Party and all of the preceding nights were pretty amazing. Yet again, its difficult to provide an image using my writing, but try and imagine several thousand people dancing on the beach, covered in fluorescent paint, watching the sun rise - pretty cool, huh? Yet again, the days were spent recovering from hangovers, whilst the nights overlapped into the early hours of the following day. Quite a gruelling regime for my poor liver, but it was worth it!

After the climax of the Full Moon Party itself, a rest was greatly needed, so we made the short trip over to Koh Tao. A welcome respite from the madness of the previous few days, we spent the time chilling out, playing football and American football, and swimming. Our pledges to 'not drink for the rest of the trip' were duly broken, and we had some evening fun there too!

Last stop on my extended holiday was a brief couple of days in Bangkok. Ideally, this stop would have been avoided, but with work looming ahead, I had to go and get some suits made. There's something greatly satisfying about going to a tailor, picking out the exact fabrics and styles, getting measured up, and paying only a fraction of what you'd pay for an off-the-rack suit in the UK. I'm sure you'll see the results of my trip to the tailor when I start work.

Sorry about the mundanity of this entry. Listening to life on the islands clearly isn't even half as fun as being there, and you'll have noticed a certain pattern to my lifestyle there.

I'm now back in the UK. I lost my phone earlier in the trip, so I no longer have anyone's mobile number so I would be grateful if you could email/ text me your numbers. Mine is still the same.

Lots of love,

Nihal

Guys, sorry about the delay in posting. I'm on the islands; internet is extremely expensive, time is limited and activities are few, so expect a full post in a few days.

Nihal

Monk-eying Around

OK, so titles aren't my strong point. I never professed to be a creative individual - give me a topic and I can write factually about it, but ask me to come up with something by myself... that's a different story.

So you're all intrigued as to what this title means. I won't keep you in suspense for much longer.

South East Asia has a strong Buddhist culture - this is documented by the dozens and dozens of photos I've taken of the various temples. The monastic tradition is still very strong here - its an honour for families in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia to send their oldest child to be ordained as a Buddhist monk. Its a common sight to see lines of young monks queuing up to collect alms in the morning (see my Laos blog for pictures). I've always been fascinated by Buddhism, and I have a lot of respect for the religion (as I do for most of the other world religions). I studied Buddhism for GCSE religious studies, and even though I haven't extended this study recently, I always welcomed the opportunity to learn more about it.

Anyway, looking through the Lonely Planet, I happened to stumble across something called "Monk Chat". What this "Monk Chat" lacks in name, it makes up for in substance - it offered foreigners the experience of spending two days at a meditation retreat in Chiang Mai, being instructed by some of the Buddhist monks. This program ran once a week, and I wanted to indulge my fascination. Initially, I had attempted to visit this retreat two weeks ago, but I was thwarted by the small matter of a Buddhist festival. No problem - I just decided to visit the retreat on my return.

So what did it consist of? The program was labelled as an introduction to meditation so it was intended to provide us with the basics and give us a taste of what meditation involved. So I arrived at the temple on the afternoon of the first day - and the temple itself was stunning. We were provided with a two hour talk on Buddhism, what the main precepts were and how meditation fits in to Buddhism. Much of it was what I had learnt at GCSE, but bearing in mind that that was almost 7 years ago now (I feel old!), it was nice to gain a refresher.

From there, we were taken by minibus to the retreat. The journey was about half an hour in total. and the retreat was a stunning location in the Chiang Mai countryside. It was completely deserted, and us 20 participants were the only occupants. It was there that we were informed that we were expected to maintain complete silence for the duration of the retreat!! We were given a surprisingly tasty dinner but everyone was very disconcerted by their inability to talk to the person sitting opposite them.

From there, we were given our first class. Sitting meditation, of the concentration meditation variety. This lasted for an hour, and its surprising how difficult it was to concentrate on the stimulus offered to us (in this case, the noise provided by a ringing bowl). The monk said that initially our minds would be 'like a monkey', and that was a fitting description - the mind jumped from thought to thought to thought. This was proceeded by the slightly strange "walking meditation", and the sleep inducing "lying down meditation". After an extensive session, we were released at 9pm (still maintaining complete silence), and were in bed by 10pm.

The next morning, we had the pleasure of a 5am start. This was followed by some counting meditation and yoga at 5:30, and to be fair, this actually managed to wake us up.

After this, we were instructed to practise some more of our sitting down meditation. At 7:30 we did something quite different, and were given the task of offering alms to the monks. In the Buddhist monastic tradition, monks do not cook or provide food for themselves; instead, this is provided to the monks by the local lay community. This means that the monks have more time in which to practice meditation and chanting (not burdened by the need to prepare food). The way that one of the monks put it was that 'the lay community look after our bodies, and we look after their minds - providing advice and counsel when needed'. This was followed by a well deserved breakfast for ourselves.

At 9am, we were finally granted permission to speak again - during a very interesting Discussion Session with some of the monks. It was very informative, and they answered many questions that the participants had about meditation and Buddhism. From there, we had another couple of hours of meditation practice, before lunch, and then the bus back to the temple. A very intense and interesting 24 hours.


So what did I think of this?

If anything, it has heightened my respect for Buddhism and for the South East Asian way of life. I like the way that the monks and lay community work in harmony together.

My respect for Buddhism has also increased. It strikes me as a very pragmatic religion, labelling itself as "The Middle Path" between excess and ascetism. In contrast to many of the other world religions, it forgoes talk of creators, gods, and much of the ceremony associated with religion, and instead is focussed on improving oneself as a person. The five precepts of Buddhism are to refrain from taking life, from stealing, from commiting sexual misconduct, from lying, and from taking intoxicants. Elementary yet useful. In place of a god, they follow the teachings of the Buddha, but it is just that - the teachings - Buddha is not revered as a god, and in fact, his teachings are more important than he is. This means that the Buddhist religion is free from the stories, and colourful gods of Hinduism, or from the devotion to one god of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The monks are free to leave and join the order as they please (obviously not frivously) - as Buddhism feels that life is centered around impermanence.

There are elements of the religion that I disagree with too. My main uncertainty is the Buddhist attitude towards vegetarianism. The monks told me that ideally, they would eat vegetarian food, but that in reality, they will eat meat if it is given by those offering alms. The reason for this is that the monks do not wish to cause extra trouble for those preparing the food, and will just eat the same dishes that the family do. This is at odds with their principle of not killing, and I brought this argument up at length with the monk.

And the meditation? It was interesting. The concept behind it is to attain total focus on one thing, and it is infinitely harder than it looks. I feel that it would be very useful in day to day life - it would heighten one's skills of concentration. However, I was barely able to attain even a few seconds of total concentration - its something that requires years of training.

Before I end this blog, I don't want people to be afraid that I've suddenly gained religion or spirituality. I'm still a devout agnostic! It was an eye-opening experience though, and definitely an incredible opportunity.

By the way, this whole programme was run on donation - food, accomodation and all.

Hope everyone is well,

Nihal

On the last episode, our noble hero was trapped on a tropical island off the Thai coast... how would he escape from there?? Stay tuned in to find out...

So Koh Chang was great. We had fantastic food, the beach was beautiful, deserted and not full of people peddling unwanted goods, and the beach parties were also awesome. This was somewhat ruined by the rain that started on Day 3, and refused to leave us for the rest of the stay. When it rains on a beach paradise there's really not all that much to do, except to hole yourself up in your room and curl up with a good book. Unfortunately, my book wasn't good, so by the third day of torrential downpours, we decided to leave the island.

Back to Bangkok it was then. We decided this because we felt that rain in Bangkok would be less of a barrier to activities than rain in Koh Chang. Fair assessment I think.

Anyway, during the course of our previous stay in Bangkok, I had visited about a dozen temples, frequented a similar amount of markets, eaten tens of Pad Thais, and been accosted by uncountable numbers of tuk tuk drivers. That's Bangkok done then, right?

Pretty much. Going back to Bangkok was like that scene in The Beach where Leo (no, I haven't read the book) revisits Koh Pha Ngan after spending a significant amount of time in paradise. He was disgusted by his fellow American tourists, thought of the place as overly loud, couldn't stand the sight of drunken louts crowding the streets etc etc. Travelling makes you a bitter individual, and personally, I'm sick of the sight of bald-headed British lager louts in their football shirts staggering down Khao San Road (ironically, this same description could have been used for me about a year ago!). Equally disgusting, yet somewhat tragically amusing, are the hundreds of old, ugly, overweight European men who have somehow managed to land themselves a young, beautiful Thai girl. You feel sorry for both the girl and the man in this situation - the girl because of the ordeal she's faced with, and the man, because you know that the girl is only after him for his money. As I said before, tragically amusing.

So having done most of the cultural stuff, we elected to have a different stay in Bangkok. We spent several hours in guesthouse lobbies, watching recent movies on their big screens. We even decided to treat ourselves to a day at the local theme park - Siam Park City. Now this was all of my childhood dreams come true - a theme park that was almost completely deserted. And this meant... wait for it... no queues for rides whatsoever! Admittedly, some of the rides were slightly dated, e.g. "African Adventure" - complete with stereotypical plastic African savage figurines burning white people at the stake, but it had some good roller coasters, and also housed a small water park. I'm sorry to destroy anyone's fantasy, but having your own theme park does mean that you ultimately get bored of the rides - by the second ride of each roller coaster, I'd already memorised each peak, fall and loop-the-loop. Can't complain though.

So Khilna went home yesterday, leaving me with a tough decision - more hell in Bangkok - waiting for friends to arrive, solitude on the islands, or back north to Chiang Mai which I knew and loved. I went with the last of the three options, and am presently staying at the guesthouse that's become known as my second home (this is my third separate stay!).

Expect more escapades and mischief soon.

I found the second volume of A Suitable Boy in a bookshop in Bangkok. My (almost unread) copy of Dostoevsky's The Idiot had to be sacrificed, but that's no great loss. I'm admitting defeat! I'm still a happy man though!

The substitute blog

I had a blog ready and waiting for you, but my brother went and got in there before me. Have a read - its much better than the one I would have written - http://www.mihirsadventures.blogspot.com/. He's got some interesting descriptions of me on there too, so that should be reason enough to read it! So rather than bore you with the same thing all over again, I've decided to give you some reflections on my trip so far.

I recently read a trashy travel novel (actually, Khilna was reading it - I'd already read it a couple of years ago, and was hijacking the book when possible), about a guy going to India on his gap year. The book contained the standard parts about drink, drugs, sex, and diarrhoea, but in it, there was an extended tirade by a Westerner towards the book's subject (a 19 year old gap year kid). Anyway, the brunt of the rant was about the fact that this flock of kids come over to a developing country, stay in traveller resorts, never interact with the locals, congratulate themselves on how "brave" and "adventurous" they've been, and leave with something to write down on their CVs - Third World experience - check. (The book was called Are You Experienced by William Sutcliffe for anyone interested). So before I start rambling and lose my point, this led me to question the whole "Gap Year" experience. Was it just another box to tick off on the list? Has it "changed me as a person"? And have I had a lot of interaction with foreign culture, learning more about the countries in question? Well, I'm sorry to say that I don't know the answer to these questions.

So what is travelling? Well its waking up every day in a foreign country, being at total liberty for what to do. I've never experienced this much freedom. You can stay in bed all day, go to a pub at 12 in the afternoon, sit and read all day - anything that takes your fancy on that particular day. When you're at home, there's always an errand to run, or someone to phone, or something on TV - here, there's nothing. Its a disconcerting but beautiful feeling. As I've said, some abuse this freedom, and spend every day in a drunken stupor, but that's not a valuable usage of their precious time. During this trip, I've had the opportunity to go tubing (twice), to go white water rafting, to bathe with the elephants, to feed elephants (on numerous occassions), to visit numerous waterfalls, to do both a Thai and Vietnamese cooking course, to see the temples at Angkor Wat - and these are just the things that I can remember. A lifetime's worth of experiences in three months.

So how much have I experienced the local culture? Not very much I'd say. Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are rites of passage for most middle-class kids these days, and the result is that you're provided with an experience that is watered down, and not "authentic". After you've got over the disappointment of not being able to stay in village huts with no electricity and running water, you realise that this isn't a bad thing, and that the local areas are just a stone's throw away from the backpacker districts - if you can just be bothered to put down the Lonely Planet and actually look for them! The fact that the route is so touristy means that things like elephant riding and the like are actually quite accessible and inexpensive - something to be grateful for.

So how have I changed as a person? The first thing to change was my attire.. Out went the Ralph Lauren Polos and True Religion jeans, and in came the linen trousers, and locally sourced T-shirts. Over here, nobody cares whether you've got the Abercrombie stag on your shirt, or the Nike tick on your shoes, instead its about comfort, and the hippy vibe! Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix t-shirts are everwhere, as are funky cotton trousers and shorts. Its a great feeling.

Losing my trainers was a blessing in disguise. As much as I loved the Adidas 3-stripe shell toes, I'm enjoying the liberating feeling of not having worn proper shoes and socks for 3 months. I'm currently on my third pair of flip flops, and as people will tell you, every pair of flip flops tells a story! My current flip flops were purchased when my beloved bamboo flip flops broke in Vietnam, just before a long bus journey. These flip flops were bought as a stop gap solution 7 weeks ago, and are still serving me faithfully to this day. They're the very same pair that accompanied me on that trek, when I had to go barefoot. Everyone knows that I've always been a strong advocate of the trainer, but I'm currently loving the feeling that a good flip flop brings!

As for other changes, travelling lets you spend a lot of time thinking about things - a luxury not afforded in the hectic London lifestyle. I've come to some important decisions about my life, and I'll let you know about these later on. I don't feel like I've become a more spiritual person, but I do feel like I have a lot more to talk about (as is evident from these overly lengthy blogs).

I've always been a fan of a good book, and being abroad has allowed me to indulge this passion. Initially, I attempted to read two stupidly complicated books (keeping the mind engaged and all) - A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, and the encyclopaedia-esque An Outline of History by HG Wells. Both attracted strange looks from fellow travellers, and both were abandoned - at 200 pages and at 500 pages respectively. I've reverted to my true passion - fiction. I hope this doesn't come across as pretentious, unneccessary or stupid, but I'll list my holiday reading, accompanied by a brief review:

The Damned United - a fantastic page turner. This book resulted in a couple of sleepness nights in China, in a desperate attempt to finish the book. A great insight into Brian Clough.

The Grapes of Wrath - possibly one of the best books I've ever read. I've always been snobby about American culture (I don't know why - just a British stigma), but this was a beautiful account of problems affecting those farmers in the Deep South in the early 1900s. I enjoyed the way that it was written by both the farmers and the big businessmen. I can't recommend it strongly enough.

First They Killed my Father - A first person account of a young girl's experience during the Cambodian genocide. A truly harrowing and upsetting book, but a great read for anyone wishing to learn more about Cambodia.

White Teeth - a book that I initially enjoyed a great deal, but that I felt became more and more laboured as it went on. Very creative, and perhaps overly so - Zadie Smith seemed to get more and more lost in her own plot.

A Suitable Boy (volume one) - I'd intended to read this book for a while, especially after having seen Vikram Seth at the Jaipur Literature Festival. It was a wonderfully convaluted account of the attempt to find a husband for one Lata Mehra. I loved it. I was lucky enough to find this book in my guesthouse, and unfortunately for me, all of the local bookshops only seemed to stock Volumes One and Three - the result being that I wasn't able to continue with A Suitable Boy. I briefly toyed with the idea of carrying the 3kg, 3000 page unabridged version, but practicality put a stop to this silly idea.

Right now, I'm reading Dostoevsky's The Idiot (cue the silly jokes) in an effort to be all intellectual, and its proving to be a slog. I did think about giving up on the book, but am now starting to enjoy it. My pride wouldn't let me give up on a third book anyway!

Anyway, enough of this fragmented, nonsensical blog. Next time, order as usual will be resumed. I'm currently on the beautiful Koh Chang, with my beautiful girlfriend. On the beach by day, at beach parties drinking tropical cocktails by night - life doesn't get much better!

Hope everyone is well,

Love to all,

Nihal

PS, after Mihir left Chiang Mai, we spent another two days there. Visited a temple, went to Chiang Mai zoo, and met up with Sagar, Ashni, Amar and their two friends. Good fun.