Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival

Just had three days at the Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival. We stayed in the van at Radnor's End Campsite - super little site and in walking distance of the town. The weather was glorious and there was a lovely atmosphere at the festival. Someone said "It is as if all the kids have gone to Glastonbury and left their parents at Hay-on-Wye!" Our first session on Friday evening was to see Geoff Dyer, author of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varinasi. He spoke really well and was at the same time surprisingly modest and funny. At the end he was awarded the Bollinger prize for comedy writing by James Naughtie. We had an early start the next day to listen to Tobias Hill at 9 o'clock. He was brilliant. He read some of his poetry (which we tried to get hold of in the bookshop but failed) and excerpts from his book The Hidden. He talked intelligently and passionately about his work. Talented and handsome - what more could you ask for?

After a quick coffee we were off to hear Marina Hyde talk about celebrity culture. She was great - she talks as well as she writes and we could have done with a much longer session. Then we had a leisurely picnic before our next session - so leisurely that we mistook the time and were actually late for Marcus Brigstocke and team who were doing a comedy review of the daily papers. It was OK but a bit of a mixed bag. M.B. is obviously very talented and genuinely funny but the rest of the team were a bit hit and miss.

Our evening session was Mark Lawson talking to David Simon. A great session - David Simon is really perceptive and interesting to listen to. He signed my copy of Homicide with great charm (even though he was probably exhausted - it was a huge queue) and had time to chat about some of the characters in The Wire.

On Sunday we went to hear Kate Summerscale talk about The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. Rosie Boycott chaired the session with effortless skill and anyone who had not read the book must have been enthused to go out and buy it. I wanted my copy signed but suspected there would be a huge queue and we had another session starting soon. So Bill nipped out a few minutes from the end and was third in line - the two ahead of him had not been to the session. She seemed genuinely pleased when I told her I had chosen the book for my reading group.

Vince Cable was, as expected, very good - he was greeted as a conquering hero by a rapturous audience! John Harris was a superb chair - though I felt he was reining himself in a bit.....

We were really looking forward to the final act of the festival - Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden. Oh dear, quite a disappointment. "I wonder who the third chair is for?" said I - but my heart sank when Carrie Quinlan walked out onto the stage. We had seen her with Marcus B and we were not impressed. She appeared to have done no preparation and did not seem to have a clue how to act as the chair - and neither Barry Cryer nor Graeme Garden seemed inclined to help her. There were some embarrassing silences and it took about twenty minutes before it really got going.

Nonetheless Hay Festival continues to go from strength to strength.

Spring in the garden

Well, spring has really sprung and the garden is looking very lush. Bluebells, daffs and hellebores have all been lovely. The shreddings from the trees we had cut down in autumn are being used all over the garden (although the pile doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. I wonder is neighbours are sneaking in at night and adding to it....)
Some good news on the wildlife front. We have seen no squirrels recently but have heard that a neighbour is trapping and killing them. So well done to her - she deserves a medal.
I have started growing some veg from seed but am pretty relaxed about it. If they grow, they grow and if they don't I will go to Sainsburys. Gone are the days when I actually wept when my carrots were all demolished overnight by slugs. Life is too short to worry about garden pests.
So roll on the summer!

Carry on Kerala!

This blog is going to look as if I went from Thailand to India. Not true! I went home for a week in between.

All is going well here on Kovalam beach. Our hotel is fairly basic but very clean. Only problem is the frequent power cuts.... these happen at least once a day and can last up to an hour. The beach is long and sandy and there are excellent waves. They hire out body boards and I have seen a couple of surfboards. Sundown is a great time to watch the locals come down to go in the sea. The young men strip off to their shorts but the girls and women go in the sea in their saris - but seem to really enjoy themselves.

They have a very strange attitude to alcohol here. Beer can be bought at government shops but restaurants are not supposed to sell it so it is not on the menu. However they all sell it. But you are given a pottery mug to drink out of and the bottle has to be kept on the floor in case the police walk past. Strangely this doesn't apply to wine which is served in the normal way.

India is just as I remember it - colourful and chaotic.... I have been trying to photograph the colourful lorries they use here with religious murals painted all over them.

My friend Val knows lots of people in the area (through her earlier visits and her charity work). One friend took us out to his house a few miles inland. His village consists of a small cluster of very simple houses. Local children came to look at us and we took their photos. One girl of about ten brought a little sister who took one look at me and burst into tears and had to be hurried away! Scary white people!

Some friends of Val came to visit her here at Kovalam. They used to run a children's home for Global Care. I joined them at a local restaurant and soon after introductions and a few social pleasantries the husband said to me: "And do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?" My philosophical answer was clearly beyond his knowledge of English and the point was not pursued.

We went on an organised tour last week and when we stopped in the local town Trivandrum we saw about 150 women sitting on both sides of the road cooking up a sort of porridge in a pot balance on three bricks with a wood fire underneath. Each woman had her own pot and her own fire. This was a practice day for a huge Hindu festival that is going on today. 2.5 million (yes, 2.5 million!) women are gathered in the town today to cook this special porridge and make an offering at the temple. With all the smoke and chaos I think it is a good idea to stay away from the town today. But you can see the festival on http://www.attukal.org/

On Sunday I went on a trip inland to see a Temple Elephant Festival. No-one seemed able to quite explain the religious significance but I this it is a dedication of the elephants to the temple god. The elephants (about forty of them) were all resplendent in their decorations and were preceded through the streets but very energetic drummers. It was really great to watch. At one point an elephants seemed to want to go in the wrong direction and all the people standing nearby fled! Apparently sometimes an elephant runs amok and people get killed. We were watching from a rooftop so felt fairly safe.

A message to the Reading Group: I finished The Golden Notebook yesterday. Wow, what a slog! Will have lots to say about it when we meet........

Captivated by Cambodia

We are now in Siem Reap, Cambodia and have just had some very hot and hectic days looking at the wonderful temples of Angkor Wat. Each one seemed to be more spectacular than the last. We had tuk-tuk driver to take us round but still had lots of walking to do - some of them are 800 metres across - with lots of uneven and steep steps to climb. On our first day we watched the sunset at Pre Rup - along with about 150 other tourists. We were there early so had a good place to sit (even though we were perilously near a very steep drop - this meant no-one could get in front of us with their camera and tripod - yes, I mean the Japanese)

This morning we jumped lightly out of bed at 4.30 (No, that's a fib, we slouched out in a very sleepy fashion) and got our tuk-tuk for the half hour drive to the temples to watch the sun rise. This was just lovely. Thank you Eileen for all your tips. We carried them out to the letter and it all went brilliantly. The little boys trying to sell us coffee when we got there were very impressed with our wind-up torch.

One major problem visiting the temples is the number of people trying to sell you things. You can hardly move without cries of "Madame, you want cold drink? you want sarong? postcards? guide-book - very good guide-book in English? you want scarf? tablecloth? carving? statue of buddha? I know they have to make a living but I really need to learn the Khmer for "Sorry, but I already have a house full of ethnic tat" More distressing are the numerous musicians with missing limbs and signs saying they are land mines victims. There are still land mines in the vicinity and you are warned not to wander off established paths.

We had lunch at the temple complex on our first day. All was going well when Bill found an insect in his food. Fortunately it was a) dead and b) whole - nothing worse than finding only half of a life insect in your fried noodles. We said we would only pay for our drinks and we left graciously.

The traffic in this area is busy but not horrendous. Because Cambodia is much poorer than its neighbours there are fewer motorbikes and cars on the roads. However drivers seem to conform to the Buddhist Way of Driving. The rules seem to be:

-God will look after you
-If it happens, it happens
-We all have to die sometime, so don't worry

Our hotel is delightful with pretty rooms and set in a lush garden with hammocks and seats.

I hate to make anyone jealous but it is another glorious sunny day.....

Postcard from Bangkok

We are well settled in on the Khaosan Road in Bangkok. All fairly relaxing though we do one touristy thing a day. Yesterday we walked to the Grand Palace - not very far but seemed like a long way in the heat. Things in Bangkok don't change much - there are the usual tourist scams. On our way to the Grand Palace two different people told us it was closed. They do this so that they can be your guide and take you somewhere else. And tuk-tuk drivers seem to all be rogues - worse than the taxi drivers but they are bad too. We bargained with a tuk-tuk driver yesterday and agreed on a price to take up back to our hotel but then when we got in he said "First I take you to very nice place - good for you and good for me too" We just said no thanks and got out and walked away. We were talking to a young Danish woman that we have got friendly with and she said that she just wished she could get into a taxi and go somewhere without it being a battle. We know how she feels.

This morning we went to a temple called Wat Suket which is on an artificial "mountain" called Golden Mount. Nice breezy climb up and lovely views of the city. Lots of Thais there worshipping. To go inside the actual temple you have to take off your shoes and leave them outside. My Reeboks look new and I was reluctant to leave them on the steps with all the others (having just seen Slumdog Millionaire!) so put them in my bag. I told Bill nobody would want his 'cos they look so scruffy.

Some New Year celebrations are going on - fireworks and burning offerings in the street.

Last night in the restaurant we were talking about things we had lost or had stolen on holiday. Jenny the Danish lass outdid us by having lost a camera that cost 1,000 euros. But when we got back to the hotel I realised I had left my blouse on the back of the chair. Poor Bill walked back to get it for me.

Off to Cambodia tomorrow - new territory for us.

Thailand - Here we come!!!

Well, the packing is just about completed and soon we will be off to the airport for our trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Our trusty backpacks are once again being used. Mine dates from 1996 and was a leaving gift from work. It is very well travelled and is beginning to look a bit shabby (well, aren't we all?) We bought Bill's in Vietnam a couple of years ago and although it has done well so far I am dubious about its quality.
Of course, already the doubts are arising...... what have I forgotten to pack? Will the D & D Inn on the Khaosan Road have a room for us? Will we have crap seats on the plane? We have already checked in on-line (isn't that a great thing to be able to do?) but I take nothing for granted. My two great hates of flying are a) people who insist on reclining their seats as soon as they get on so that the back of their seat is in my face and b) being sat by an overweight person - nothing so irritating as having your space invaded. You see, I am getting tense already and I haven't even left for the airport.

I don't want to winge but.......

After a great Christmas Day with lots of presents and lots to eat and drink we decided to go for a walk this morning. Bill got my walking boots in from the garage - but they were filthy!

How did this come about? I always clean my boots after use. But last week a certain relative borrowed them for a night hike with the scouts. I won't publicly name and shame him but he is ten years old and his name begins with J.

So, J--, if you read this please feel free to come round and clean the caked mud off said boots. Then my credibility as a fully paid up member of the Ramblers Association will be restored.

Anyway I wore my muddy boots for the walk and nobody we met seemed to gasp in horror at the sight.