With 1.6 million workers, the Indian Railway System is reportedly the second largest employer on the planet. In my train loving mind it's a fabulous system. You can travel almost everywhere. I do suspect though, that when the British left in 1947 that they dismantled the cleaning department and perhaps took all of the cleaning staff back home with them.  I'd been lulled to a wonderful sleep by wonderful train sounds and woke up refreshed. I was drinking ...

Elenka and I almost always have miserable luck when booking a place to stay in advance. Lonely Planet had given The Emerald Gecko a glowing appraisal. Maybe they just drove by and took some photos; it does look nice.Emerald Gecko's rather large two storey cabinas as it turned out were without toilet, expensive, an overall grand waste of space. The beach was rocky and the staff unfriendly.The following morning we rented a motorbike and went off in search of Ut...

To get to Havelock Island, it's a two-and-a-half hour ferry ride from Port Blair on South Andaman Island: Elenka was having a late afternoon nap. I was sitting in the outdoor common area of the place we're staying when this tall guy approached with a plate of leftover food. I pegged him right away by his accent. Russian, they're all over the place here. "Where is dog?" he said.“You mean my dog, the one who's over on my porch, drinking my wa...

I picked up a weathered old copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Korak, Son of Tarzan (1916) the other day and started reading. On page 1, crew members from a sailing ship called the Marjorie W, take what they refer to as a long boat, up the Ugambi River for a paddle. On the northern bank of the river they suddenly hear and see a white man, 'naked, but for a loin cloth' screaming for help.The following is a one line excerpt:"Wot the 'ell?" ejaculated one...

Did you ever swear at yourself aloud, and perhaps under your breath at airport security for confiscating your little plastic bottle of water before you board an airplane? India has a unique way of dealing with the thirsty. The security official simply removes the bottle cap, hands you back the bottle and asks you to take a good, big gulp. Provided you don't fall to the ground in writhing pain, you're given back the cap and left to water yourself at will.