Scotland in pictures

Five'll get you started.

See... It doesn't always rain in Scotland

The Edinburgh castle
It costs £10 ($25!!!) to go inside, but it's free to look at from far away.

I can't remember what this was
But it's pretty, no?

The Scott Monument
That's Sir Walter Scott, not a Star Trek reference...

Canadian Hot Dog Bagel £1.99
Is that one menu item? Three? What would it be?

Vegemite tales

29 May 2005
Globetrotter Inn, Edinburgh

Can't sleep. Presumably this is because I've done almost nothing but sleep for the past 2 days.

So now I'm lying here awake, and I'm thinking about food. More specifically, I'm thinking about brown toast with butter and Vegemite.

Not that my stomach could hack it right now, even if it were on offer...

In the morning there will be toast, both white and brown. There will be butter. And, of course, the staff will all have their little jars of Vegemite. We guests, however, will get jam.

Life is so unfair sometimes.

Unmasked

I went to see my new doctor today. We sat down to go through all the medical history papers. She asked me questions about how I lost my voice and where I was when I got sick and where I'd been and what I'd been doing.

'I'm sorry. I don't want to alarm you, but I think I need to go put on a mask'.

She kept her mask on and continued asking questions. Then she disappeared for what seemed like quite a while. When she came back, she said it was probably nothing, but that I should go to the emergency room right away for all manner of tests and bloodwork and X-rays.

What was supposed to be a one-hour doctor visit somehow became a six-hour emergency room non-event. The last hour and a half of the evening was spent waiting for somebody to discuss my results with me so that I could go home. The results were in, the nurse told me; it was just a matter of waiting for a doctor to come and go over them with me. An hour and a half for a doctor to tell me that I had a run-of-the-mill flu and it was nothing to worry about.

Yes, thank you. I knew that. Ya big bunch of paranoid monkey-brains...

Calcutta in pictures, part two

A few more gems for ya...

A little piece of Brampton in the heart of Calcutta
There's a chain of coffee shops in India called Barista. They're very, very western and seem to be the hangout of all the rich local teenagers in their jeans and tiny t-shirts. We went there for lunch one day. I had a combo: cappuccino, Texan potato sandwich and a free bag of Lays. It came to 62 rupees. Lisa had the same thing, but didn't use the word 'combo'. Hers was 85 rupees.

Oh look it's another little piece of America
Oh. No, never mind. It's gone.

A busy Calcutta street

Even in Calcutta...
And, yes, my group-mates ate there. Ugh.

Danger!

Calcutta in pictures

I still have more posts to enter, but I'm going to take a break for a bit. Before I go, though, I'll upload a visual feast for you.

The view somethingwards from out hotel rooftop

Looking down the alley from our hotel

The morning walk to Prem Dan
Walking on the railroad tracks just feels so wrong, and is therefore strangely satisfying.

Ous afternoon transport back from Prem Dan
These auto-rickshaws are about the size of a golf cart and have about the same horsepower, yet they drive on the street and carry as many as eight people.

The Modern Haircutting SALOON
Could I get a sasparilla with that?

My little friend
Again... 'Cause I can't stop showing her picture. Every time I passed her she'd get up and trot along beside me for a ways, trying to get me to play and wrestle with her.

A traffic jam of goats

I have a lot more pictures left to post, but I've started messing up the titles and skewing the images all funny. Maybe I should go find some lunch.

I'll show you irony

29 May 2005
Globetrotter's Inn, Edinburgh

Psst! Hey you! Remember when we were in India? You said you thought it would be funny if I survived India with nary a gurgle from my tummy, while all around us people were dropping like flies, only to get food poisoning in Scotland. Right. Frickin' hilarious.

For some reason, I keep thinking it was you who said it, but it can't have been. You weren't even with us in India, were you? That must be just my own deep-seated resentment of you and my desire to blame you for something.

But enough about me. Let's talk about you. Whoever you are...

Since this was your idea, I just wanted to let you know how much I hate you. Even as I write this, my stomach loudly voices its agreement.

I'm writing tonight because I finally feel well enough to. I've actually eaten two pieces of toast and two tins of thin soup today. Oh, and some Immodium. Mustn't forget that...

Was it really food poisoning or was it just a stomach flu? Was it actually a BAD cheese sandwich? Or was it merely an unpleasant cheese sandwich shortly before a case of the flu? I don't know. I don't care, really.

Right now there are only two things I do know.
1. I don't recommend the cheese sandwiches at the Edinburgh train station.
2. I really hate you. Whoever you are...

Randoms

27 May 2005
Highlander Explorer bus, Scotland

The Edinburgh paradox: From wherever you are to wherever you're going, it's uphill.

1987 is alive and well and living in Scotland. I can't even count the number of times I've heard Walking on Sunshine, Love Shack, Nothing's Gonna Stop us Now... Now we're driving through the Scottish highlands listening to my local boys singing If I had a Million Dollars.

Rumour has it that Edinburgh employs a person to walk around the city on Monday mornings, collecting all the traffic cones from the tops of the statues.

Rebus's Edinburgh is not the one I've seen. Not by a long shot.

Dude in front of me is hitting on the chick next to him. She asked what this stop was. The guide had told us, but she said she'd forgotten. He told her it was the Blackfriars monument and chided her for forgetting and made a big deal of it. And he somehow actually used the word 'aiiiiight' (or however one spells it).

By the way, for the record, just so you know... It was the Black Watch monument. Idiot.

Colourful

26 May 2005
Regis Hairstylists, Princes Street, Edinburgh

I've got colour on my hair, so I've got 45 minutes to sit and think. Sit and write. Sit and drink instant coffee (Blech! I asked for tea.). Sit and stare vacantly into the mirror. Sit and whatever. Just so long as I sit.

I'm tired. Sitting is good. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. The Highland Explorer. I can turn my brain off and on as needed. Castle Doune. Waterfalls. Lochs. Mountains. Stone circles. A whisky distillery.

It's not Skye, but I think it will serve its purpose in being as unlike the Calcutta experience as possible.

But then... It's a tour, which is of course a group thing. If I don't want to be part of a group, then why do I keep signing myself up for things that involve so much group togetherness? And If I do want to be part of a group, then why do I hate it so much when I am?

Whenever I find myself in a group, every part of me rebels. I kick and fight and struggle to be set free. Once I achieve my freedom, I spend a little bit of time on my own, ruing the day I ever joined myself to any group.

A few minutes/hours/days pass and suddenly, impulsively, for no discernible rhyme or reason, I run out and find a group to attach myself to.

And the whole process begins again.

Am I really still searching for some elusive community of people who will tolerate and even embrace my double standards, my whims, ambitions, apathy, strange passions, incomprehensibility, megalomania, my need to dominate all situations? What kind of community would that be? Why would I want any part of it?

I have a tendency to resent any team that would have me on it. That probably says something, doesn't it?

I wonder what colour my hair will be.

Making plans...

27 May 2005
Globetrotter Inn, Edinburgh

Well, I did it: cancelled my reservation in Skye. Booked a room at the Globetrotter Inn in Edinburgh. Selected and paid for a Highlands tour for tomorrow. I've also chosen a tour for Saturday as well. Not sure why I didn't book it yet. Guess I'll do that later.

I'm disappointed I won't make it all the way to Skye, but relieved that I've lightened my load. It's much simpler to go for day tours, leaving my stuff locked in a locker.

The hostel here is well removed from the city centre. They run a shuttle bus every hour. We're technically still in Edinburgh, but the feeling here is quite rural. We're bounded in on three sides by green and on the fourth by water.

I wish I could move today. Well, I could, but I'd forfeit the money I've paid at Highlanders. I don't really like it there, but I'm not bothered enough to lose out on money I've paid already. Tomorrow will be here soon enough.

Chocolate soup

26 May 2005
Chocolate Soup Café, Royal Mile, Edinburgh

They actually make their hot chocolate from scratch here. I ordered a mochaccino because I could. I'm only not allergic to the very finest things, you see.

I'm not loving the hostel where I'm staying. It feels a bit like I'm staying in somebody else's home. And that person doesn't really want to talk to me...

Everybody else there is really long-term. They seem really friendly with one another, but it kind of feels like peering through the windows of some cool secret gang you're not a part of.

Also, there are eight of us in a room smaller than my bedroom back home. And since they're long-term that means a whole lotta luggage. There's no room to sneeze. And you know I always need space to sneeze.

Plus the bathrooms are just... er... weird.

I've heard good things about the Scotland's Top Hostels chain. I'm staying with them when I get to Skye. Guess I should have stayed with them here, too.

Ah well... I go back there each night to sleep and that's it.

I do believe the city has now woken up. And I've finished my fabulous mocha. Time to get going.