Morgalogue

Mon 8 Oct 2007

Burma - Part 2

Posted by Morg under Burma
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Tue 2 Oct 2007

The Burmese Epilogue - Part 1

Burma is without doubt one of the most fascinating countries I’ve ever visited. It’s taken me a while, (3 months !) to edit down the gigabytes of photos and screeds of text I wrote about the place but I’m finally there. Well, that’s the irony - I’m not there, I’m now here. Scotland. And I’ve been glued to the BBC website following the protests over the last week with a mixture of excitement and great anxiety. I sincerely hope that the Burmese poeple can win their country back, without great loss of life. Few countries have suffered for as long. I’d love to say I detected the smell of revolution in the air but as my now out of date post says, I felt quite the opposite. No-one I spoke to was able to picture anything but a grim staus quo. Yet a collective dream seems to have come to life. In the interests of giving much needed exposure to a country that seems well off the West’s radar, and at best may contribute to that ethereal quality we call “public pressure”, here’s my tuppence: (more…)

Sun 1 Jul 2007

And so the meaning of life is …

Posted by Morg under China
[3] Comments

So dear mateys, the journey is at an end. On the eve of the celebrations to mark the 10 year anniversary of it’s return to China, I will fly out of Hong Kong tonight. Just about to head of and watch the fireworks.

The last month has been a strange journey, as much mental as physical. Despite being surrounded by the staggering beauty of Southern Thailand, I realised I was pretty much out of steam. By some series of accidents I ended up on killing time on Koh Pagnan at a full moon party which was predictably awful and my “what the fuck am I doing here ?” gland was fully raised. I went to visit Marten in Krabi and managed to go diving and look around a bit but what I took to be yet another parasitic illness turned out to be dengue fever when I got it checked out later in Bangkok. I managed (obliviously) to drink my way through it, but talk about kicking a man when he’s down. (more…)

Tue 12 Jun 2007

New Thailand

Posted by Morg under Thailand
[5] Comments

I reckon I’m one of relatively few people who has heard (or at least noticed) Brian Eno’s ambient, avante garde experiment ‘Music for Airports’, in an airport. The airport in question was Bangkok airport, at the end of my first ‘big trip’ to Asia, 9 years ago. As I pushed my way through the vaulted, 70’s styled, cathedral-like spaces swarming with global business commuters and Hong Kong jet-set, a wide-eyed 21 year-old, disorientated and still drunk from the night before, I became aware of some faint, galactic orchestral sounds ebbing and flowing into the cavernous halls like a rogue transmission from another dimension. Everyone around me seemed so oblivious to it that for a while I began to worry the noises were coming from inside my head. I was close to stopping someone and saying “Excuse me, Can you hear that ?” but a bit frightened of them saying no. (more…)

Fri 8 Jun 2007

Oh yeah …

Posted by Morg under Uncategorized
[2] Comments

Re: Biblioblography

I know most of you, quite understandably, don’t like posting your opinions on the internet for all the world to see. Just send me an e-mail. I’m more curious than ever to know what you’re reading.

Sun 3 Jun 2007

Bibliblography

Posted by Morg under General
[6] Comments

I’ve fallen a bit behind lately. It’s now June and Nepal was in April !! The computers in Myanmar were just too slow and expensive to bother with posting but now that I’m back in Thailand briefly (going to visit Marten in Krabi tomorrow) I’ll hopefully catch up - I’m determined to see this through to the end. I don’t yet know when the end will be. Possibly a little earlier than August. The next stop is China but try as I might, I can’t seem to shift an overwhelming desire to visit the small, rainy country of Scotland. I think I’m getting a bit travelled out - missing things like work, cooking, even having a room to tidy … not to mention guitars, you lot and The Pub. Anyway … if you could see the beautiful island I’m moaning from, you’d have less sympathy. On to the point : (more…)

Thu 10 May 2007

Greetings from Burma

Posted by Morg under General
[3] Comments

Hi all. Thanks once again for the nice comments about the rambling Morgalouge. Posts will be a bit erratic for a while however as publication has gone ‘underground’. Lidka and I have begun our trip around Burma - so far an extremely beautiful and friendly country but as you know, under the grip of a pretty nasty regime. I just tried to check my hotmail and got a message from the junta telling me ‘access denied’. We’ll be mainly in rural areas from now on anyway, so parents, if you don’t hear from me, please don’t worry. A friend who I met travelling mailed me from China to say that Wordpress (the engine that powers my blog) is blacklisted, so things may become trickier still. Morgalouge shall prevail though ! - I may need the help of a virtual publisher, provided I can smuggle out my words.

Anyway, the next entry, once I’ve cobbled it together, will be observations from 3 lazy weeks spent with my cousin in Thailand. Riveting stuff.

Well, I hope May is filling all of you with summer optimism. Lidka and I are having a great time (Lidka: despite the mosquitos!), tell you all about it someday soon.

Sun 29 Apr 2007

14 Days in Nepal.

Posted by Morg under Nepal
[7] Comments

It was a chance piece of good fortune that took me to Nepal. Unfortunately this came at the expense of my cousin’s bad luck. My Indian visa ran out, as planned, at the end of March when I was due to join him on a road trip through Thailand and Cambodia. A week or so earlier however, a temple employee in a pick-up truck had mown down him and his brand new chopper at a junction and he now lay in hospital with a badly broken femur. I left the bedside manner to his mum and decided to show up once he’d got the hang of his crutches and needed driving to the pub. So, a chance to see the mighty Himalaya beckoned. To quote a Willie Nelson lyric: “Fate frowned on him and then turned around and smiled at me”. (more…)

Thu 12 Apr 2007

The indescribable Varanasi

Posted by Morg under Road Stories , India
[10] Comments

Travellers in India are pulled towards Varanasi like teenage inter-railers to Amsterdam. For a Hindu, it is as important a journey as a Muslim travelling to Mecca. Every year millions of pilgrims come to bathe in the Ganges, the holiest river in India that is worshipped as a god. Some come here to die, whereupon they will be cremated on its banks, assuring them a ticket to nirvana, a loophole in the cycle of reincarnation. It is literally, a once in a lifetime experience. (more…)

Thu 12 Apr 2007

The big 3-0

Posted by Morg under General
[10] Comments

Aye … it’s happened to me too. The age of no more excuses. I’m staying with my cousin in Phitsanoulok in Thailand. He’s hurrying me out the door, so a short post - I have loads of stuff half written, which will no doubt appear over the following weeks. I’ve been trekking in Nepal and even managed to tick that classic ‘before you’re 30′ box : summiting Everest … OK, in a plane.

The Sonkran Festival is about to kick off here - 3 days of nationwide drunken waterfighting - My cousins mobile is +66 86936 8633 if you’re feeling flush.

OK, hope you’re all well. Thanks for my present mum !!

Morgalogue

Burma - Part 2

The Burmese Epilogue - Part 1

And so the meaning of life is …

New Thailand

Oh yeah …

Bibliblography

Greetings from Burma

14 Days in Nepal.

The indescribable Varanasi

The big 3-0

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