Honest Omissions - looking beyond the gay-eye

Monday, 7 October 2013

What makes a Travel Blogger then?!

Great little infographic and interesting to see how we are perceived. BTW in comparison let me just mention: I fit between 18 - 30, and soon the 31 - 40 group I have all the technologies but usually take my Phone, Camera and Tablet with me I have visited 25 countries thus far, and usually make between 6 - 10 trips outside of UK per year, plus a further 4 - 10 trips within the UK. I most often visit Berlin and London. I only have one blog I earn no money from my blog yet The main social media is Facebook and G+, and I don't use Pinterest anymore (I got bored of it) Enjoy

A Profile of the Modern Travel blogger – An infographic by the team at Sandymount Hotel

Friday, 4 October 2013

India - a world of contradictions

I'm full of contradictions - I know it! I like to travel to discover new places, but really there's no place like home. I love to wonder and enter my own world but I love to be surrounded by people and entertain. I'd like to make a simple life but I make it more complex. I like to get up early but I love my bed!

So really India should have felt like home - instead it mirrored the realities of my own contradictions and the challenges they bring.

Poor - rich

India is one of the BRIC countries, growing faster than most with huge investment. New areas of cities are owned by the rich ad powerful building huge complexes. The middle class enjoys Shopping Malls, cinemas and international cuisine. Side by side leaving among the poor, manual laborers, homeless, people living in shantytowns; One earning a couple of dollars an hour, another struggling to earn that in a day - let alone the mega wealthy.

Apparent in every part of the world, but here it's even evident in the social classes and interaction between these groups. It accentuates the split, the gap and the distance that is seen at home - it makes you shudder. Not even the homeless have access to clean water or toilets.

Trust

Trust is misplaced here. Someone you know talks of trust, and someone you meet on the street talks of trust. The word is miss-used and potentially misunderstood – especially for a British traveler. It is thrown around like it’s a commodity, and it does soon become a monetary factor. Trust is rarely used in Britain, it’s a term that’s implied by conclusion not as a matter of fact.

Money

It makes the world go round. But in India it is a factor that’s essential but loses it’s value with every word you utter. Haggling is the norm, and frustration becomes the cause. The contradiction is – you can buy products cheaper in the UK than you can in India if your haggling skills are not up to scratch. I can assure you that many items I bought could have been purchased at the same or less than in the UK, especially small trinkets like magnets, postcards and posters.

Transport

The world is your oyster in India, you can take a train, a car, a taxi, a helicopter taxi, an auto-rickshaw or a poor man can pull you along like you are the cart and he is the horse. But you get nowhere fast. You spend more time negotiating the fare for the journey than you do actually travelling.

Food

India is renowned for its food, either you will end up with Delhi Belly/Kolkata Splutter or you will dine in the finest of restaurants (actually even then there’s no guarantee) but try actually spotting restaurants, or at least somewhere you’re will to allow your stomach to be abused by. Unfortuantely I found I was eating the same thing day in day out, and only if I had travelled with someone else could I have had diversity!

These are just a few areas I can refer to – but it gives you an idea of the epic differences between Europe and India.

Enjoy your trip as best as possible. But I can certainly say, India is interesting, even if it is not my cup of Green Tea!

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Dipping the toes In Delhi

4 hours by Volvo bus and I was in Delhi ISBT bus station from Agra. My hotel a rather extravagant (for me) stylish property called Hotel Blueberry. That evening Rohit from Pink Vibgyor met me to take me around Cannaught Place and check out a popular hang out for gay people - the aptly named Bar King Street just below Cruise Bar. However it was pretty empty AND this was Friday.

Saturday morning I hopped on the metro - opened only in 2002 and expanding fast - it's modern and well designed. Within 40 minutes I was at my first tourist sight, just 21R and no haggling with the rickshaws drivers. It was a 15-minute walk to Qatab Minar but worth it, incredible architecture that had been well preserved.

Back on the metro and up to Parliament building then to walk along Raj Ghat to India Gate. Parliament is impressively large, the walk to India Gate is reminiscent of Champs Elysées from which it was time for an easy KFC lunch at Connaught Place where I met a fellow gay traveller who was from Costa Rica - we shared stories and experiences over fried chicken legs before going our separate ways.

For dinner I took myself to experience the Main Bazaar, a shopping street but also a tourist hub of small Indian restaurants and hotels. From here I again met Rohit to make our way to Noida for the gay party at M Lounge - the only way of finding out about gay nightlife in Delhi is to be on an invite list. It's worth contacting local guys through Planet Romeo/ Gay Romeo. Noida is another city connected to Delhi about 45 minutes by metro from the centre.

Sunday brought a slight hangover but I headed to explore the Red Fort and Old Delhi. It was hectic, hot and noisy - it became too much for me. The hassle from touts was ruining the experience and lack of visible restaurants was also making my stomach scream. So I decided to head back to Main Bazaar for food.

I took a helicopter taxi from Red Fort who agreed to a 30-minute journey to Main Bazaar with a small tour along the way, unfortunately 60 minutes later I was still sat on a bumpy road. He did though take me to a local area where they dry flowers herbs and chilies for trading - watching the local lads pull large truck loads of goods.

Delhi shuts shop early on Sunday, so by 4.30pm many stores had closed. I was dropped at my point of request and ended in an argument with the driver for over-payment, I refused to pay much more than we agreed. We agreed 70R for 30 minutes, he quoted me 100 rupees for an hour, he tried charging 140R - the tourist police got involved listening to both sides of the story and then told the driver to move on, I too left in a hurry. It didn't feel good trying to be conned

TOP TIP - always shake and agree a deal with set parameters, but honestly I would avoid all cycle rickshaw/helicopter drivers in future.

After dinner on Main Bazaar I headed to Connaught Place to meet local Indian gay lads in thw local cruising park. I spent a few hours walking around and speaking to different groups of gay lads to find out about gay life here in Delhi. (Read my blog post – Gay Delhi) It was their weekly chance to get together and feel comfortable in public, the park was really quite busy and the lads welcoming and friendly. There were also a few groups of trans people and some openly available escorts. At the sunset the park began to empty.

Destinations