Two Australian’s arived last night. It’s fun to have other Aussie’s around. Today is my last day in Raxaul. I leave tonight.
It’s been fun living here. There are some great people I am surely going to miss. But it’s also nice to move onto the next stage in my trip. I would like to achieve more before I go home.
Lot’s of travel coming up. I have five train tickets in my room worth about $100 Australian in total. Should be fun.
I think it’s time to catch up on some stuff that’s happened to me lately. Last Monday I went and got a hair cut. Now this is something I had been fearing for some time. I am in India and I don’t know how they do hair cuts except it involves those straight razors. I was very scared of getting a dirty razor. I don’t really like the idea of getting AIDS.
In the end though I decided I must go for it. I took the British Pharmacist who is always up for a walk. So we found a hair dresser which one of the Indian guys recommended. I sat in the chair and got my hair cut. I didn’t have any say in what I got. I just sat there and got it cut. He used a fresh razor blade too!
I just downloaded Khe Sanh from http://allofmp3.com. Very very cool. Next on my list is Down Under, then some Norah followed by John Mayer.
I have finished my four day workshop. So tired. A lot of work in running a four day workshop I must say. Anyway the 11 attendes are now much more comfortable opening up pc’s. My voice is sore and I think I am getting a bit sick.
I leave Raxaul at 00.45 on Wednesday. So I am going to get some closure on this part of my life. I go onto to visit 4 hospitals over a period of a month. Then spend a month helping out central office.
Thankfully I only gave away two of my prizes so I have a lot of chocolate left to eat.
I was woken up at 4.30am by music from a Hindu temple outside. I have had enough of these stupid Hindu festivals. Why do they have to blare out music at 4.30am.
Anyway went back to sleep eventually. Done my first day of presentations. I talk way to quickly when doing presentations but I find it hard to go slow. I don’t think people understood me. But they laughed at my solitare jokes.
The labs went pretty well. People spontaneously decided to install windows 2000 3 or 4 times for practice. CRAZY!!!!
I have runaway for now.
I have to run a four day workshop on Tuesday. I am so not ready. It could be quite interesting. Let’s hope I am good at making up stuff on the spot. On the plus side I do have Lidnt chocolate to help me through the pain of it all.
I am back at Duncan hospital now. Coming back here originally felt like coming home. After about an hour I changed that to comming to stay with good friends. The place isn’t comfortable enough to be home. Plus key people aren’t around.
Anyway it’s nice to be back here. Though Raxaul really does smell very foul at times. Stupid open gutters.
I am still alive. Catching the train tonight to Raxaul. I hate that 25hour train trip. Not much else to tell. Been madly shopping. Lost my ticket and some other stuff early today. So had to run around sorting that out today.
I had some Coke today it was SO good. I had almost forgetton how good a nice cold bottle of Coke can be.
John Howard has been elected yet again as Prime Minister of Australia. As a sign of morning I shall not be displaying the aussie flag on new posts. I may change back to showing it at a later date. Hopefully I’ll become British or Canadian cause there goverments are much better.
I am now out of Utrulla!! At last I made it.
I got on a train at Gonda with a sleeper class ticket which got upgraded to a 3rd class AC ticket. Thankfully some nice people from Utrulla helped me get my ticket.
The train was early getting into Gonda but alas the sateagra is NEVER allowed to be ontime. We managed to lose 2 hours through the night. I was going to spend the day in a nice posh hotel. I got to the hotel after negotiating a taxi fair down from 540Rs to 300Rs, only to find no rooms were availible for me.
So back to the madhuban hotel for tonight, then onto the EHA guest house hopefully. So much for luxury. But at least I have TV and AIR-CON. Plus macca’s subway and pizza hut.
Smooth roads are so good.
I am now out of Utrulla!! At last I made it.
I got on a train at Gonda with a sleeper class ticket which got upgraded to a 3rd class AC ticket. Thankfully some nice people from Utrulla helped me get my ticket.
The train was early getting into Gonda but alas the sateagra is NEVER allowed to be ontime. We managed to lose 2 hours through the night. I was going to spend the day in a nice posh hotel. I got to the hotel after negotiating a taxi fair down from 540Rs to 300Rs, only to find no rooms were availible for me.
So back to the madhuban hotel for tonight, then onto the EHA guest house hopefully. So much for luxury. But at least I have TV and AIR-CON. Plus macca’s subway and pizza hut.
Smooth roads are so good.
I feel so sorry for many of the little girls here. Their families are poor with lots of children. Most families only want male children, who can support the parents. Parents will spend much more on their male childrens care then on the females. This leads to most female children not getting more then the cheapest care availible. Often the choice is made to let them die rather then spend a small amount on money.
Wives also get a pretty raw deal here. Their sole purpose is to have as many children as possible and raise them. Of course the man is NEVER infertile so if the woman fails to concieve she gets sent back to her parents. And no arguing with the husband. Apparently some women aren’t allowed to utter their husbands name even. Grrr.
Rural Northen India needs a few bus loads of feminists with semi-automatic weapons if you ask me. They’d need the guns to protect themselves, not to kill all the men.
Another thing I never imagined it would be possible to survive on a few US Dollars a day. Here it is possible if you don’t have 8 children. Though not a good life of course.
I still haven’t made it. I have plans to leave at 5.30pm. The problem is I don’t have a ticket at the momment. There are only 30 odd seats availible on the train. I don’t think it should be a problem. I really must leave this place!!
There was a party though last night which was a little bit of fun. But kids are far to loud!!
I am going to try and break out of the hell hole that is Utrulla. After being held here four days as a captive of sickness. I am going to try to get to the big smoke. Delhi is calling my name. I believe that only with Western food will I ever be truly cured of this sickness that is binding me in Utrulla. Time to break free. The train leaves a bit after 7pm localtime. That means attempting to get a lift out of here at 5pm local time. I shall keep you posted on how sucessful I am.