The travel blogging is back!

Note: This is the first part of a final three part article that completes our time in Vietnam. The next part will be auto posted in 4 days and the third part 4 days after that.

This was the last stop on our tour of Vietnam and almost the last stop in the whole of South East Asia. It had been a long winding road up this thin and sunny country. A long winding road inside us too; as the further we travelled around SEA the more we felt changed by our time here. We wanted it to be an ending to remember. Luckily, the Vietnamese were only too willing to provide one hell of a party to see us off.

This was because in a few days it was Tet. To the Vietnamese this is Xmas, New Year’s Eve and everyone’s birthday all on the same day.

We arrived in Hanoi by, the now commonality, of a “Crush Bus” and were dumped unceremoniously on the outskirts of the city by the corner of a set of turnpikes. Traffic ran seemingly in all directions around us as we negotiated our bags off the bus.

Sitting on the sidewalk for a few moments, we almost fell prey to the taxi drivers who descended on the arriving tourists like fisherman who have just spotted a large shoal of fish. Cesca and I watched as the newer tourists were netted, gutted for cash, placed in small packed tins and driven off into the city. Clearly the bus company had dropped us here as a way of supporting outrageous taxi fees, probably for some sort of kick back. I looked around; the Hotel was probably only 30 meters away as the crow flies, but from here, well most would pay anything to get away from all this traffic. Cesca waved away all prowling taxi drivers and we sat on our bags and waited. After a while, we were the only tourists left and indeed the bus moved on as well. Only a few unlucky taxi drivers remained.

Good. We were ready.

We approached one and offered a price, a fair price.

He demanded a ridiculous price.

We all laughed and the game begun.

I remember thinking that seen from a distance through the eyes of, say, an observer from another planet, what was happening here would look like some sort of strange and ancient ritual dance. The Taxi driver and we moved around each other twisting and swaying, we were all pointing at maps and towards distant objects. We were haggling with big arm gestures and subtle head nods or shakes. At moments, we would turn away with a wave of a hand dismissively, and then strangely come back almost as if we had forgotten something whereupon it would all begin anew. The taxi driver would throw up his arms and cry out deploringly, and then hold his hands apart in an unmistakable gesture of reasonableness. There was lots of counting on fingers.

The observer from another planet might say to himself that, “Surely all this cannot just be for a taxi ride?” and when his fellows asked him later, he would probably theorise that we were conjuring up some sort of God.

Eventually all the moves were made and the strange waltz ended with my saying, “Look mate, do you see anyone else here except us? Don’t you want to get paid?”

The taxi driver sighed and considered the truth in this fact. “Ok,” he said. He conspired to look wounded.

It was at that point that I realised that we had in fact lost this exchange; as although a $30 taxi had cost us $10, it was actually only worth $5. No matter, he had been a worthy opponent and I respected that.

The bus company we used to move around Vietnam is called Sinh Cafe. As mentioned in previous posts all Vietnamese cafes are in fact tourist offices. The Sinh Cafe office was the location we now departed in the taxi. However, I was surprised to spy another office with the Sinh Cafe logo on the drive in, “Look baby,” I said pointing out the window, “another Sinh Cafe, it’s probably a little closer for when we leave.”

“And there,” she said point in a different direction.

“Oh and another there,” I said. “Hang on…”

“They’re all over the place!”

Indeed, on the journey into the heart of the city, we came across no less than 18 Sinh Cafe’s, all with the correct logo, all with the correct adverts, but all fake.

Some were laughably so; containing nothing more than a single bedraggled looking person sitting on what looked to me like an upside-down bucket. Others had taken the deception so seriously that they looked more professional than the real thing; investing in moulded plastic counter tops and sporting large hi resolution posters. We counted them off as the Taxi pulled into the narrow streets that make up the old quarter. The traffic, mostly an endless train of mopeds, was everywhere. A few more turns and the streets narrowed again. Now the shops took on a strange and more “touristic” look. I started to see western style bars, street food vendors, and endless travel agents amongst which were dotted infinite fake Sinh Cafes. We were in the tourist quarter now; a place as much removed from the city’s true life as it was possible to get.

The Taxi dropped us off, spat out our bags and was instantly gone into the throng of bikes. We walked down a narrow alley to our hotel. There is no shortage of hotels in Hanoi, of course, but trying to find one with good reviews, had space and was open over this period was difficult. The staff was unusually brusque considering I had cash in my hand, and I came to the initial conclusion that we had annoyed their sensibilities merely by being born. At the time, this manner seemed strange, but now I can see that this was a New-year for them and they would rather be with their families.

In fact, this attitude was to be found almost everywhere on that day. They say not to travel at Tet, and yet we had no choice, I remember wondering how well this was going to work out.

We went out for a walk around the city and tried to get out of the tourist bubble. As these things go, there is lots to see here. There is the park area around the lake, which functions as a sort of meeting point and place of celebration,

…the street market with its fresh fish and a million smells,

…and the church area with high-end coffee shops and moneyed wealth. Then there is the amazing way that the city planners have laid out the shops; all are collected together according to type. So, one street has only spice shops full of strange things in jars that smell incredible,

…while another has fake money sellers who sell stacks of fake $ notes used in funerals.

One street we walked down was full of nothing but people noisily hammering out tin buckets.

Cesca and I really enjoyed our walk that day.  When we arrived back we looked into a 3 day trip to the legendary Halong Bay, and be back for Tet proper.

Something you have to come to terms with when picking a trip to Halong Bay is that you cannot make a correct choice. That is one that doesn’t, somehow, try very hard to rip you off. It is a kind of like a shell game, in that the entire edifices of the travel agents, brochures, glossy posters, special money-off deals and so-called impartial advice is setup to convince you that what you are sold is somehow relevant or bares any relation whatsoever to what waits for you when you get there.

It does not.

So, in order to assist readers considering the options, remember that there are really only three price brackets:

Under $50: For which you are probably kidnapped and buried alive at midnight. At least that is the impression that the woman in the hotel conspired to give us when we enquired about the “cheaper deal.” It is impossible to buy this deal or more likely it probably does not exists at all.

$80 – $140: If you do not look rich, then you are pushed firmly towards this bracket. While the price range here appears large, do not let that fool you into thinking that one boat is actually going to be better than another. Whatever your hotel or travel agent tells you, WHATEVER, the boats are effectively randomised. This is the range in which to bargain hard.

$140+: You can pay up to $1000 without trying in this bracket. The boats promise to be truly splendid for this much, but remember that they are all going to the same places and taking the same trips off the boat. However, I am sure that if you pay enough, you will get an amazing experience.

Cesca and I were offered two options in the second bracket and she pointed to the one she liked. The women pointed to the other.

“What about this one?” the very short, female hotel manager asked.

“No that one please,” said Cesca smiling and pointing again at the brochure on the left.

“Ok then,” she replied with a nod to the one on the right, “I book you this one.”

“No, I said that one,” Cesca said pointing, “I like the look of this boat more than that one.”

The women picked up the brochure and considered the picture of the boat carefully. “You go better on other one.”

“Why?”

“Boat better.”

Cesca was getting annoyed but her voice remained very calm (only I – as her husband – could pick up the anger), “I… want… that… one.”

The women looked at Cesca as though questioning the innocence of someone choosing a tour based on the picture on the brochure, which clearly, she knew, was nothing to do with anything. Cesca was looking very determined and I could see the lady weighing up her options. She broke first, and waved a hand smiling, “Ok ok ok. This one.”

“Thank you.”

Of course, the next day, we got on the bus and found that we were on the other boat tour…

The next part is coming in four days…

Regards,

Basho

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This is a recipe based on one by the great Jamie Oliver and the original is available online at his site.

I love well cooked lamb, the way the juices flow from the intensely flavourful meat together with the texture with real bite, well roasted is simply the quintessential British dish. This is my idea of cooking on a Sunday; instead of sitting there basting meat, sweating over potatoes or cutting up veg, this dish is entirely prepared in advance and then just left in the oven for four hours. That’s four hours down the pub, entertaining your guests or making love to your wife.

Four hours well spent!

After which, you will be presented with a lamb dish fit for a king and tasting succulent enough to entice even the most ardent beef fanatic.

I have made this dish many many times and there is a knack to it and a few simple rules that can really help turn this into something special.

What you will need:

1 large high sided roasting dish.

Silver foil enough to cover the above twice.

ingredients:

1. 1 un-boned shoulder of lamb (make sure that it is fully defrosted and warm enough to manipulate)
2. Olive oil (I use the Extra Virgin for this, but either is fine)
3. 1 whole bulb of garlic, pealed into its cloves
4. Fresh rosemary sprigs (the standard packet is fine, if you have your own then about a handful)
5. 2 red onions, peeled and quartered
6. 3 carrots, chopped
7. 2 sticks of celery, cut into short pieces (even if you hate celery – like me – this dish benefits for including it)
8. 1 large leek trimmed and cut into pieces
9. 4 tomatoes, halved
10. 2 bay leaves
11. Fresh thyme sprigs (same deal as the rosemary)
12. 2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
13. 1 bottle of red wine (more about wine selection below)

Optional:

• A little mash potatoes
• Or perhaps some bread

Wine choice:

When cooking with wine the temptation is to buy wine from the low end of the spectrum of price, that it makes no difference to the foods taste.  This is simply not true; it does. The choice of wine is always vital to the taste of anything and buying a really terrible or unsuitable wine will greatly reduce the quality of the final dish. Check that the wine is good with Lamb is the basic advice. Most will note this on he bottle. Anything that say “good with pizza” is not some thing you should really be drinking, let alone cooking with!  I tend to aim for a bottle of about £5-£6. This is because of a simple fact about globalisation (you can skip this if you want):

Wine costs a finite amount to market, bottle, ship and tax.  Say that out of the cost of your average bottle this amounts to £2. So if you pay £4 for the wine, half the money that has gone out of your pocket was not spent on the making of the wine.  More often that than not, all things being equal, this will mean that the wine maker had less ability to make a good wine.  If, however, you pay £6 for the wine, now as before £2 goes into the marketing etc, but now a whole £4 goes to the wine maker enabling him to make a better wine. So for only adding £2 to your wine choice you are gaining a £4 value in the potential quality of the wine.

Of course, there are exceptions in everything and super markets can reduce wines to clear, some areas can have a reduction for currency fluctuation and indeed some growers cant make a good wine with £20 in their pocket, but it is a rule of thumb that works and is used in he wine trade itself. I find it very accurate when buying wine made in Europe for example.

So which should you go for?  Well, I think that heavy wines are out, they will overpower the meat. So no Pinot. Nothing with too much fruit, so no shiraz.  You want something that add a velvety taste to the dish, but at the same time you want something that pleases the red wine drinkers with a hint of the most commonly drunk wine types.  So, to that end I usually chose a Cabernet mixed with a Merlot.

“A Merlot!” you cry, “Didn’t I see on Sideways that Merlot is the worst wine in the universe?”

Well, yes to the character in Sideways the Merlot is the worst of all wines, and the entire Merlot producing industry took a hit thanks to that idea presented as fact in that otherwise excellent film.  The facts are these.  Firstly, the worst wine in existence to the be found in the Carrefour shops at French ferry ports.  It is the one in white 3lt drums with dubious label, “Red Wine” affixed on them. In wine terms they are the equivalent of the 3-minute-warning and contain nothing that is fit for drinking. I watched a documentary on the subject of this “wine” that would make your eyes water. Secondly, there are good wines in every possible variety and basing your drinking choices on the grape type only is going to lead you to the wrong way and straight into the arms of the ever so slightly unscrupulous major producers who are quite willing to rest very firmly on their laurels and produce wines that vary massively over two or three years.

This is that I bought for this dish, it cost £4 from M and S.

The wine choice

Preparations and cooking instructions:

• Firstly, preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Do this first.
• Lamb shoulder can sometimes be very very fatty. To combat this trim a little of the thickest positions.  Sure this fat will melt and become taste, but there is a tipping point where the fat saturates the entire dish.  So trim a little, but leave enough to roast with.
• Rub the lamb with the Olive oil, some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Cut small incisions all over the lamb and poke rosemary leaves and quartered cloves of garlic into each one.
• Put the rest of the garlic cloves, onions, carrots, celery, leeks and tomatoes to the tray, then tuck the remaining herbs under the meat.

My dish waiting for cooking time

• If you need to you can leave the dish at this point cover with cling film and it can sit for a few hours.
• When ready to cook pour the tinned tomatoes over the top, followed by the wine. The wine should not be right at the lip of the tray.  If you cant fit it all in then drink the rest (bonus!)

Ready to Go!

• Cover the tray tightly with a double layer of foil. Make sure to tuck the foil tight against the rim of the tray, if possible you want to make any leaks unable to run down the side of the disk.
• Put it into the oven. If you are at all worried about leaks of wine into the oven, put a silver foil sheet under the disk to catch the drips.
• Turn down the oven temperature to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3 and cook for 3½ to 4 hours. You are looking to make the lamb soft, the fat to have melted and the bone just able to pull out of the shoulder.  Pull out the worst excesses of twig.
• Season with salt and pepper if needed! Don’t miss this step!

The final and brilliant result

To serve:

This is a big dish.  The wine should have firmed up a little and be a sauce, the veg should have retained a little bite and the herbs should have added a great flavour.

I always heat my non-metallic plates in the microwave.

I take off the meat and cut the lamb like bread.  I then lay the meat and spoon over the sauce and veg. You could do a little mash to go alongside, but believe me, you don’t need to.  Perhaps some bread to mop up, but again people are not going to be hungry after this.

So there we have it.

Please feel free to add any comments you have about your experiences with the dish, so any thing you think I may have missed.  Please do check out Jamie’s website as well as original credit is his.

Regards,

Basho

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There is a popular, and perhaps even factual adage, which goes like this:

“Never upgrade a Windows product; always do a fresh install”

Today I put that to the test.  I have been Installing and configuring Windows since the days of 3.1. My first exposure to the product range was Windows 2, which my father had on his PC.  My first professional exposure was the task of migrating 3.1 to Windows 95 at Spandex Plc in Bristol, way back when I was only a 14 year old IT intern. Since then I have developed a career in IT and now, at 32, have a Chartered IT Professional award from the British Computer Society. I say this, because it is important that my background and knowledge level is clear.

This is as much a guide as anything else, so in that spirit here is what you need to do to upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium.

Things to consider.

1. If your original computer came with Vista.  That is, it either had it installed when you bought it, or has a “Ready for Vista” sticker on it. This means that Microsoft knows about your machine and it reaches the standards they set for their software.  Half the battle here, and half the errors in previous upgrades, would have been due to non standard equipment that confuses the upgrade.

2. Which version of Windows 7 you want to go to. There are numerous charts on the Net about this, but essentially I am keeping this easy and going from Premium to Premium.  I am doing this because Professional is over twice the price, and I am going to try and see if I need it before I go for it.

3. The price of the software. As usual, and much lampooned, Microsoft have produced something like twenty versions of this product. I have gone for the Premium Upgrade package, which i bought, in all places, at Tesco’s supermarket. This was £56 and a quick price check via the red eye app on my iPhone told me that this was a good price.

Things you need.

1. Your upgrade DVD

2. Your laptop

3. A portable hard drive

4. A large glass of wine

Now, one of those, you may think, is not an actual requirement to upgrade Vista to Windows 7. All I can say is, “You obviously haven’t done this before”. Upgrading is going to take ages. Ages. There will be moments in the upgrade when you wonder if it has crashed, if it ever going to finish. It will probably look stuck on something at least once; endlessly ruminating at a low percentage.

This is all normal.  If you do the upgrade while stressed, high on coffee, arguing with your wife or in a hurry: then you will fail.

For me, a nice glass of wine, supper on the way and a long Sunday afternoon; that long dark teatime of the soul, is completely relaxing and the upgrade will not and cannot stress me out.

Even an professional IT person is prey for his emotions. I once saw a guy kick a £250,000 server because it failed a backup. Failed a backup. As in, it was not backed up and he was kicking it! Seriously, pray heed my advice and whatever your poison is; take a wee drop to relax.

Frankly, if my PC were waterproof, I would do these things in a warm bath with Cesca massaging my back!

Here we go.

1. Scan your computer with your anti virus.

Do this overnight the day before as this takes ages.

2. Defragment your computer. (Time = 16:00)

These two steps are vital. a fragmented computer will possibly triple the upgrade time. Mine is not usually fragmented, but this could take a while itself.

3. Uninstall everything you don’t need. (Time = 16:31)

It is vital that you go through your computer and remove all the junk you have installed over the months you have been stuck with Vista. It is especially important to remove anything that interacts with the desktop. So Rocket Dock, Google Chat, etc. Plus all the little applications that sit in the bottom right (by the clock), anything that isn’t made by Microsoft, came with a major product or came with the machine should be removed. I also uninstalled my firewall as I am sure that it is not going to be compatible. Since my Anti Virus is a free one, I uninstalled that too.

4. Backup your documents. (Time = 16:51)

Backing up is something we all should do more of. Now is the time to copy off your important documents, photos and pictures. If the install fails, you probably wont lose them, but just in case and you should be doing it anyway.

5. Check your disk space. (Time = 18:10)

You need lots of free space to install Windows 7. There is an official number, but on a laptop; the more the better. This is due to the RAM disk the upgrade will (probably) create, the more space that there is for this, the less likely your are to have problems.

6. Finally, you can start. Put in the DVD. (Time = 18:12)

7. The problems screen. (Time = 18:15)

Half way through the options I got this screen.  These are applications not compatible with Windows 7, or may screw the upgrade. Notice that iTunes is here. I quit the upgrade and removed all of these apps. I can always put  them back when I finish.

8. Restart the upgrade. (Time = 18:26)

8. The final result. (Time = 20:57)

As predicted, I did have a screen where the system sat on 38% for an hour and then jumped to 80%. This is classic Microsoft and nothing to worry about. The system also restarted about 3 times. When this happens do not touch anything. Dont press anything, don’t answer any message that pops up suggesting “press button to boot from CD” or “Chose operating system to load”. The upgrade will make all the choices; let it.

Wait.

Finally, you are asked for your Product Key, this is probably attached to the inside of the box, under the ‘manual’,

So, I am now on Windows 7!  Great, and it only took 5 hours. You notice that I did all this without Internet access (I have none at home), and when I get to a cafe later, I will do the online registration and patching.

Have I had any problems since upgrading? Only one. When my machine starts I get some sort of Intel error pop up. This is probably going to be sorted later today when I update via the internet.

Overall, the upgrade was the most painless I have ever encountered. I would go so far as to say that it was easy. At one point I was showing my wife the install going and accidentally ejected the DVD!  Upon putting it back in, the system carried on flawlessly. Phew.

Does this mean that Microsoft have changed? Only time will tell. But, as a new Windows 7 user, I can say that I am very happy!

Regards,

Basho

Items used in this post:

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Well, my 3 guest posts for Rohan clothes are now up at their site (www.rohantime.com). The latest one focusses on a experience with a Cloudbase jacket while in India and here it is.

Note. I have received nothing from Rohan for writing these posts. I get no affiliate payments, no cash or reward in any way. Just the knowledge that people appeciate them, and a chance to thank Rohan for some amazing products.

More posts for Rohan may be coming, and rest assured more travel blogging is coming very soon; in fact it is already written.

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This is a cross post written by Basho, originally posted on www.rohantime.com

Why this train?

This night on this train? The Calcutta to Delhi train is one of the classic overnight Indian journeys. In India the train service is split into multiple classes. You have the scrum and battle of unreserved third, and frankly that class scares me. Then you have reserved third that is not much better, but at least you don’t need to fight for your seat, not that you would particularly want it when you get it. Then you have 3rd sleeper, which requires a career in Olympic gymnastics to use as each birth has beds stacked in triplicate up the wall. Next comes 2nd AC, which is where we aim for. It is like 3rd, but the beds are in the much more reasonable double bunks and you get a pillow. Or at least you should. It is a very late train tonight when we join at Agra, and the rest of the hundred person carriage is fast a sleep, something that I will not be able to join them in as, (a) the snorers have started in earnest and (b) I don’t have a pillow.

Trying to be as quiet as possible I search the small berth for the missing item. The white sheets are folded in place at the end of the bed, as is the rough and itchy looking blanket, but there is no sign of the pillow.

It was at this point that my Rohan Cloudbase Jacket came to my rescue. You see Rohan gear often comes with a built in “packpocket”. This nifty hidden section allows the entire Jacket to stuff into a small zippered pocket. It is great for packing into small nooks and crannies of ones rucksack saving on space when not in use. It also makes the jacket into a neat little pillow shape. A quick rummage though my rucksack and I have it.

You never know when a something designed for one use will be perfect for another. For some, being able to pack down ones jacket into a pocket would be an over-the-top feature and hardly essential. But for me, it is the little

features that add the most weight when the chips are down. This is what I was telling myself as I tried to sleep on the train, but as I said the snorers had started in earnest and the decibel rating of the man across from me, by far the worst, is like a clap of thunder. What to do? Unzipping the packpocket I extract one arm of the jacket and zip it back up enough to secure it, thus giving me what is essentially a soft headed mace. I concentrate for a moment on what I am going to do and then swing it out across the gap between our two beds. It clonks into his body and in the same motion I snap it back and slam down my head onto it. The man wakes and looks around in confusion and anger, but I am innocently asleep. Then he turns over, mumbles something in Hindi and goes back to sleep. Only this time without snoring.

Success! Yes sir, you can never tell when a small feature can be used for a triple purpose. I will promise to keep innovating if Rohan does!

Addendum:

It’s strange, but the journeys that stay with you, the ones that matter are often the ones that were a trial at the time. Indian transport is a vital part of any visit to India; at once so efficient that web booking is possible and yet so chaotic that you end up packed like sardines. My favourite memory is getting a last minute ticket to Shimla on the mountain toy train and having to be in the locals birth. Making so many new and close (in the on-your-lap sense) friends was a lot of fun. Sometimes it is the barriers, such as language, that bring us together as much as others, such as ticket class, keep up apart.

My advice: see every time you get on a train as a chance, an oportunity, to connect in ways that perhaps, if you had the choice, you wouldn’t select.

By Basho

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Last night, Question Time: the BBC’s ‘political debate’ show, invited the leader of the BNP onto the panel. This caused a lot of furore in the papers and calls for the government to refuse to appear or send in a ‘bug gun’ to shoot the BNP down. The result was that veteran politician Jack Straw was dispatched to inform what the government think of the BNP. They were not happy about being on such a panel with him.

However, I say they should be.

The most important thing for a democracy to be is open. Openness is the armour and the sword that truly defeats racism, or indeed any sort of ‘ism. What openness says is that, “you may not skulk in the dark throwing angry lies or extreme opinions about without having the spotlight put on you.” This has led to a peculiar creature being born in the halls of power; politicians who are not allowed to have their own views. That is to say, they are not allowed to express them. They must toes a party-line, or stand as an independent. Keeping quiet and “on-message” is so important that it is almost impossible to get a straight and direct answer from any politician and the attempt to do so is the format of many a new program and debate show.

Question Time is such a show and, for the purposes of pretending to host real debates, it has a panel.  Panels are a format that pitches the political group directly towards the audience. This is not the platform for debate between the people in the panel as they are not truly facing each other. Rather it is supposedly a way of answering the audience’s questions on a one to one basis. The entire panel are allowed to sound off on a subject and they are supposed to answer only for themselves. However, often, and this is not discouraged, they actually sound off on the people who have spoken before them. Therefore, a Labour MP may go first and a Tory then spends 3 minutes trying to blow the Labour argument to pieces. There is very little time for counterargument, so basically the experienced politicians have no choice but to be very ‘safe’ in what they say and even more ‘on message’ than normal.

Enter Mr Griffin.

Leader of the far-right party; the BNP

All countries have a broad spectrum of political opinions. In the average European country, the majority opinion will be Christian Democrat. This means two things. Firstly, the Christian part refers to the ethical framework of their moral and legal system being based on the Christian-religious morals of the previous ages. The democrat part is a statement of belief in the powers of a democracy, something most Europeans strongly support and have fought for in the violence of Europe’s past. However, this is the majority. Amongst the rest of the people there will be a more fractured subset and independent groups of people who want to be different. There are the Liberals, the Communists, the Anarchists (all very similar in nature) and many others, including the Monster Raving Loonies, the True Natural Law party and even the ‘far right’. The BNP are a far right party that define themselves by wanting, what is at the very least, a “strong” change in Britain:

Non “natural” British out. As if being British can be defined by mere genes.

They say that this change is to defend against the modern genocide of the British people, but the truth is this is not a British question. In fact, it has been with us (and all nations) since the dawn of time.

It is the Question of “foreigners”.

The Magna Carta, England’s first document of rights and lauded at all levels as the first step towards democracy, actually contained directly racist views in it. In its case against the Jewish people, who it advised against borrowing from. Such sentiments against so called “foreign influence” have always been debated and indeed inflamed by the racist policies contained within a minority. However, having such people in the democracy is a vital part of the political process.

Why?

Because democracy only works is it is totally representative of all the views in the country rather than just the majority.

There comes a time when the prevailing winds and tribulations require a change in leadership in the Commons. This tends to drift between the two main Christian Democratic parties, but in the past has drifted the way of the Liberals or further. This is in response to general feeling in the country and the situations and challenges to be found in the world. Such change become meaningless without freedom to debate it. People like Griffin throw the others into 3d, his views provide the contrast for the others.

For example, Churchill is often exposed as a Tory hero. However, keep in mind that his actions during WWII (such as the bombing of Dresden) would be illegal today. I am not suggesting that they were anything but necessary back then, rather that we could not realistically judge where he would stand today. In fact, it is important to remember that Churchill was a member of a Liberal government as well as a Tory Prime minister; he was able, as was more acceptable in MPs back then, to change his point of view as needed.

Churchill, considered the greatest ever British politician.

Such changing is not welcomed today.

The parties in a democracy are an indication of the distribution of the views held by the collective. Therefore, there will always be a ‘nationalist’ viewpoint and in fact that is important. Without a representation of such views, groups of people, perhaps large groups, would be feeling significantly marginalised and possibly become more violent. Bring them into the limelight and such behaviour will not stand the scrutiny. This worked with the Irish Terrorist parties far better than ignoring or banning them did. To me, the real danger in a democracy is that the system will degenerate into a two-part state. An issue found currently in the US, where the two parties are essentially identical and all non-mainstreamed voices are silenced. What silencing them does is disenfranchise minority opinion and lead to a system where the majority party has no checks and balances whatsoever. This leads to agendas being forwarded, without challenge, and that can be monstrous. Consider the US invasion of Iraq, all dissenting voice, all of it, was viciously attacked in the press. The fact that the majority had whipped itself up into frenzy and stopped listening to any other voices meant that the disastrous invasion went ahead with enormous backing.

This lead to over 500,000 people being killed.

Half a million.

Minority opinion is vital to a healthy running democracy. It is a way of taking the pulse of a nation. It does not need to be feared or encouraged; it just needs to be heard.

So, if that is enshrined in the democratic system, what is the problem?

The problem is over-exposure. The parties that appeared on the Question  Time panel know all too well that it is not a debate show. None of them treated it as such and all of them attacked Griffin. By allowing the BNP onto the show, they feared that it will expose the racist minority view to more people than it naturally appeals to. What Mr Griffin said on the show was illuminating: he said very little. He stayed away from the central message of his party, a message that carries the explicit notion of the “natural superiority” of the “whites” and instead focussed on a view that is only the tip of that iceberg: immigration.
Not surprising really.

The panel attacked Griffin relentlessly for what they claimed he said in other formats and at other times, while at the same time criticising him for defending himself using the same methods. He did not rise to it at all and that was a worrying sign for it shows that he isn’t just a racist idiot; he is also a politician.

The BNP knows that merely being invited onto Question Time was a success. The other parties know it too and unfortunately turned the program into an attempt to discredit the viewpoint of the BNP and not debate them. Perhaps the BBC really knows that any proper debate comes from the people watching the show at home. In my household, the program lead to a serious debate that went on for hours and continued this morning. Debate that turned angry and upset. Debate that was personal and like the drawing of a wound. In other words: debate that was vital. I suspect that this was a pattern repeated all up and down the country.

That is good for the whole democratic process itself.

At the moment, the government does not want debate on anything. They sign up to things like the European Treaty without asking the people or anyone else.  They never asked if we should go to war with Afghanistan. They are not interested in actually engaging with any dissenting voices and do everything they can to silence them. They never engage in debate at all when not in parliament, they instead focus only on “message.”

By putting Griffin on this popular show and having MPs attack him, the BBC has allowed the real debate to open.

So what is my opinion on all this?

I am a philosopher and my political opinion is quite close to anarcho-syndicalism or perhaps social libertarian. My political hero’s are Voltaire, Ghandi and Lao Tzu. What I believe in is egalitarianism:

a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals and have the same political, economic, social, and civil rights

As a moral philosopher and having travelled around the world, I find myself becoming more liberal. I find myself disliking the corporate ruled world we are in, seriously disliking wars in other countries for religion and oil, not afraid of anyone whatsoever and against the aggressive over policing of the people in the UK.

I remain pro choice, pro gays, pro Europe, but anti newspapers, anti celebrities and anti globalisation.

I have many friends (about 40% of my chums) from ethnic backgrounds, but to me they are all British. Not black, not “them and I”, but British.

I do not care for Mr Griffins views, and I will not argue them here nor link to them (raising his profile on the web – try goggle for the worst of it). I do not believe in the hate filled manifesto he has written, but on the other hand; I feel that such voices are not only to be heard, but also to a certain extent protected. Griffin may have abhorrent views, but I would rather he has the chance to spout them in public, where he can be challenged, than in a private room where all debate is lost and with it: our cultural love of democracy.

As Voltaire himself said, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

Regards,

Basho

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The site keeps improving and it is thanks to you, the readers.

When Cesca and I started travelling, the site took a hit in readers as the content changed, now that we are back the content is being split between travel writing and others it is back and growing.  I am very happy with this year,

• We posted over 30 large featured articles on travel and I have 6 months worth to come.  The first is next week (Wednesday probably)
• We started our own video channel and this has been a great success.
• We started posting some of our 57 thousand travel photos.
• We have had comments from Travel guide writers, clothing producers, watchmakers, US army colonels, Martial arts masters, long lost uncles, long lost cousins of people mentioned in articles, hundreds of friendly visitor comments and over 20 thousand spam attempts (99% of which were auto blocked – phew!).
• Thanks to this site we have made over £100 for charity in donations (a number you can help increase right now!)
• Both Cesca and my content has been sought out and featured all over the web, drawing comments from a very wide and strange range of people.  Showing that the name Outside Context was well chosen!
• for the first time, advertising has brought in revenue worth mentioning. It all helps pay the hosting.

Here is the breakdown of pure uniques according to my server logs.

If you enjoy reading something on here, or even if you don’t (especially if you don’t), please comment, dig, stumble or continue to email me.

And finally – many thanks, you all make my day.

Basho

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Found in Hanoi airport. Is this for the children or their poor
suffering parents? I mean, difficult children are one thing, but
‘especially’ difficult children must be a nightmare. Perhaps this is
to pay for their ASBO’s?

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This is a cross post written by Basho, originally posted on www.rohantime.com

Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Northern India. Escaping to the cool of the mountains was essential after the 40 degree heat of the deserts of Rajasthan. Up here the bright sun is tempered with the breeze blowing off the snow covered mountains of Tibet, visible in the distance but over 80 miles away.

Trying to plan for the unexpected, when limited to 25kg of weight in your pack, can be daunting. Warm clothes usually take up lots of space and weigh you down. Wet weather clothes often won’t pack down tight and can stay wet for days after use. Not to mention breakages. When you are doing all sort of activities from brush-cutting in the Australian Outback, crossing the sering deserts of Jaisalmer on a camel, bungee jumping off the bridges of New Zealand or hiking through the jungles of the Thai/Burma border, you need clothes that can stand up to abuse and yet still be smart enough to wear in a top Singapore Restaurant.

Thankfully, we spent the time and effort to research our choices. I knew that we would need clothes that were going to be welcome anywhere, with subtle branding that hinted only at the unspoken quality in the build and materials. After almost a year of constant travel only the Rohan clothes show little or no sign of wear and tear. My Rohan “Cross Border” trousers look as good today as they did on day one. Which is a lot more than I can say for my others from a competitor; those have needed stitching more than three times. Other great buys include the “Cloud Base” Rohan jacket that not only dries extremely quickly, but is ultra light and packs down into itself. I was able to take it into the Jaisalmer desert just in case; a freak storm hit the sands that night and I was the only dry camper. Also, when not in use, it doubled as a brilliant pillow cushion. By far my favourite item is my “Travel Linen” shirt which is very soft and as tough as nails. I wore it trekking in the Thai jungles and yet it was also smart enough to wear in a top Mumbai restaurant without raising an eyebrow.

Our Rohan clothes have performed unwaveringly, they have been washed in everything from New Zealand’s industrial machines to the hand-wash Dhobi Ghats of Mumbai and yet retain their original colours and shapes. Francesca points out that we have sent many items back to England over the months, but we both still have all our Rohan clothes. Also, that her choices retain a feminine look for the evening and yet are every bit as tough as the men’s items. Being able to throw off the “backpacker” label is vital to fitting in with the locals everywhere from the high-class wine tastings of Australia to the street vendors of Laos.

Today in Shimla, we are both eying up those snow covered Himalayan peaks in the distance and planning our next trek. I know we will be going to Rohan for our kit no matter where the next adventure takes us.

Basho

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This priest walks in the footsteps of his forefathers. This is
Sarnath, home to the deer park where the newly enlightened Buddha came
to give his first teachings. How amazing that morning must have been,
and I wonder what the priest thinks as he considers the ruins of
former Buddhist temples. The great Indian king, Asoka, built temples
and stupas to Buddha here to honour the great man’s achievements. Just
out of shot are the first carvings of Buddhist law written down
anywhere, and indeed one of the first ever attempts by a government to
influence the thinking of its people. It failed to convince and after
the king passed Buddhism was marganalised by the ever eclipsing power
of Indian Hinduism. This deer park is one of the few things left of
that faith. But not all is lost, the four lion headed statue of
Asoka’s state is even now the symbol of the Indian government. A
testament to a great king. As for Buddha himself, he needs no statues,
no temples, as he said, “Buddhism is the boat across the river, once
on the other bank you don’t need it”.

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