Epilogue

When we last joined our hero, he was enjoying Berlin getting ready to leave Germany for home, and finish his Langan Adventure once and for all!

Well, it's all over, I guess. I'm back in england now, and everything's a little like a weird dream, A place I sort of remember...and love! It's really good to be back home, I've been dieing to get back for a bit. I've been home about 4 days now.
Looking back at the whole trip...It really was the best thing I've ever done. I couldn't recommend it more, the whole experience of saving, planning and then going (and also coming back!) is such an experience, you really can't get it anywhere else. repeat. you can't get it anywhere else!
I didn't go for as long as some people, I didn't come back especially changed. So it's not like I'm enlightened or anything. But its just so worthwhile living a life where you jump from exciting amazing place at will, money in your pocket doing what you want, where you want. I mean, it really is the whole world at your feet and if you have enough of the green, you can do whatever, whenever. And that's an exciting concept. If you have the sand you can stick with it and save and get out there. I definitely have the bug now, there are so many places I want to go, south america, the middle east, the united states, europe...
I guess I really feel traveling is more of a way of life than anything else...once you get settled into something like that it just IS a way of life! You meet so many great people, do so many great things...I mean, it's not all good. Mostly it's mixed, you know, loving some things and hating others, just like the people you meet!
So now I'm settling down, doing bits and pieces, unpacking, seeing friends. Getting ready for uni, that's the next big thing. and learning how to drive! I hope I see anyone reading this soon, I've missed a lot of people.
Anyhoo, Its been great, and these blogs have been a real statue in my travels, a place I can record thoughts and feelings. So I hope you've enjoyed reading them, and I hope people who've been reading them maybe have thought about going traveling themselves, lifes too short NOT to do something like this.
So thankyou all for joining me on my Langan Adventure, it's been real.

Laurence Langan

14th May 08

Berlin, Loving Europe and missing home (or am I?)

When we last joined our hero, he was in Prague leaving for Berlin, and but a week away from the end of his magnificent Langan Adventure...

First off, I think I love Berlin as much if not more than Prague. We're staying in this fun and convinent little hostel in the east, right outside the tube. Graffitti ranging from gang tags to gigantic muriels adorn the streets, and the more you get into Berlin the more you see how varied it is. Some places are a concrete urban nightmare, others gothic masterpieces, others plastic and glass buisness goliaths and others brutal reminders of a deeply disturbing history...
Plenty to do as a tourist. We saw bits of the Wall, the reichstag, checkpoint charlie, museums, galleries, climbed a huge tower...its really interesting to see up high which used to be east and which used to be west. Its clear thanks to the concrete blocks juttinmg out of the eastern landscape.
The city feels cultured like prague just deeper. More complex. The tube is larger, but just as easy to get round, plenty of places to shop too! Methinks joe would like this arty city.
Me and sam found on our second night the best bar ever, part 70's shiek part leftovers of east berlin, th eplace is warm and friendly serving lots of beer and absinthe. Great city.
Dad got in yesterday! I feel I'm settling back into family life (and british life) already! Tonight we went to the Opera! The Magic Flute, no less!
Europe is a wonderful place, its cemented in my 'places I want to come back to' list. Apart from the fact we've been eating out of lidyl till dad got here, its been great!
It's just now...well tommorow I'm coming home. Back in India I couldn't wait later on in Europe I could have waited longer, and now I just don't know. Do I want to get back to the comforts of home? But I love this life so much! But its full of stres, and those comforts get dull and old real quick...but its normal and theres money and stability, not to mention comic books...and GTA4!
Tonight I feel like its a little bit of lose-lose, win-win. I'm tired. Sigh. But I also feel like I've fulfilled all the places I want to go travelling for now...obviously theres still hundreds of places Iw ant to go, but for now I'm ready to settle...or am I? I heard a couple of times that coming home was the hardest part, but not in the way I expected!
I think I just want to get it over with, whatever. Let tommorow rush past, and be home in time for breakfast. and my own bed. Which has got a fair amount fo use from cath and her friends, I hope all have vacated by the time I get back. (Hint hint, cath cath, clean clean, my room room)
Tommorow is relaxing by a lake just outside of Berlin. Our flights in the evening, we'll be beack super early in the morning and the next day...perhaps my final blog!
Oh and for those less clever than me, or those to busy playing GTA4 (or medal of honour apparentley, Joe you have a funny way for compensating for a lack of next gen...) there IS a NEW DARK KNIGHT TRAILER online, you would be fools to miss it. Not to mention an awesome incredible hulk second trailer too! (the first one also kicks ass). I'll be seeing you all very soon!!!!!

Partying, accomadation shrinkage and a new langan

When we last joined our hero, he was in Prague, getting ready to sample it's famous nightlife...

Well...they weren't far off about the nightlife! Prague really has something for every party hound. In the nights I've been here I've had some fun, albeit expensive, nights. Pub Crawls are essential, the great thing about a pub crawl is its an automatic group of friends to all go out and party with! Especially since there always offering you free beer and free shots and free absinth...slight headache this morning. Wonder why. Anyhoo, the clubs are a lot of fun too, if your into that sort of thing, I visited a heavy dancehall club, which was a fun experience, ad a club with 5 (yes 5!) floors, with music ranging from trance to r and b and of course the inevitable cheese room (doing a conga lineto Kiss by prince was a highlight). I'd love to come back to prague someday, just as long as I know I won't come back with any money, since that's how Its starting to look like over this end! Europe is very expensive, but money is there to be spent. Just not on presents for anyone at home...
I've had culture to, though! the visit to the dali/mucha museum was great, exactly what I came to europe for! Museums too, the national one and the torture museum and er...the sex machines museum. They'll be getting my therapy bills...just don't ask me about the ever changing fetish slideshow.
I saw as well the awesome film, Iron Man. it was at something called a 'cine party' which meant afterwards you had robotic dancers and a competition to build the best iron man suit out of cardboard and dressing up materials in one minute. not to mention free KFC and beer.
Accomadation has gotten a little crazy, when we got here places right in the centre were completley free and easy, we werehaving no problems. Now out of nowhere, its not just Prague that's completley booked up, it's thewhole of europe! which is unfrotanate because we've decided to go on to Berlin which could prove to be slightly more costly...
But that's not too important, because a great plus of going to Berlin is we're going to meet up with our dad for the last couple of days of our trip! yay! so tonight it's off to germany, and eactly one week today we'll be off to Britain! Tally Ho!

Goodbye to the east, Hello Europe and a hole in my pocket

When we last joined our hero, he was getting ready to leave the east once and for all, and about to welcome in a more european city break...

So, my time in the east is at an end. Just not in the way I'd originally planned...If you look at my prolouge I was not even thinking about coming to europe. In fact I was going to avoid it on purpose, been to it, seen it, need something new and dangerous...
India is the real location that should keep on giving. It's so cheap it makes it the perfect beach resort and its so bohemian it's great for the budding hippy in all of us. There's also so much to see, the country will always give you something new and exciting. But I guess I'm tired of what the east has for backpackers. This is my first time! I want to do some more stuff in the time I have left and europe just seemed to offer it. The buildings, the nightlife, the art, the culture. And so me and Sam set off to Prague, where I am now. And so far its been one of the highlights of the entire trip.
We set off on the 30 hour mega airport fest late on the 23rd and arrived early on the 25th. I can keep a straight face completleÿ when I say it was completley hassle free and even enjoyable. I can't see why anyone gets stressed at airports, I just have a good time at them. Especailly heathrow. Being back in England was wonderful, there were chesseburgers and xbox magazines and cups of tea and recognisabel signs and pavement that matched the sky...sniff! it was all I could do to go home right then! but no I came to Prague. And even the taxi ride was really nice. we couldn't find our beds in the dorm at first, but we muddled through and are now real hostel people.
And Prague is just so beautiful. The museums and the buildings and the bridges are all so...european! two and a half months of asia and its so good to be somewhere with a different style. Its got a mix of gothic and baroque...stuff I don§t really understand but like I said its very european. It feels warm and inviting, but a challenge at the same time.
I love this city. Tommorow I try the famous nightlife, the best in europe we've heard. Tonight I catch up on sleep, and try to avoid spending! I'm eager to come back with a bit of money, and the aforemetioned hole in my pocket is the fact you can no longer get rooms for 75p and meals for 1:50!
on a more final note, I can now see and end in sight to my travels. Mid India I was looking forward to getting back to my beloved Britian. And since the end of varkala more and more I want to keep travelling...sigh, such is life! I suppose I´ll be back within the next 2 weeks, maybe a bit more. me and sam are trying to reach the 3 month mark (7th May), but we should see you all just after then! (those that are in norfolk, anyway)
In superhero news, It is essential I try and see Iron Man when its released, one of the cinemas seems to be having a launch party. repulsor rays on!

PS
you have no idea how hard it is typing on a chzech keyboard. Joe woul dhave smashed the damn thing by now!

Violence, getting out, and back in the city

When we last joined our hero, he was in the beach resort of Varkala, starting to make his way out of India...

Well, trying to leave this country has been a stress and a strain, but tomorrow thats exactly what I'm doing. STA truly are useless, despite telling us that they were a free and easy, youthful ticket service that could change your ticket when needs be this turned out to be a half truth. Sure, they can change the date, and if your really lucky change the destination on domestic flights, but as to international flights, like changing the things that would be of ANY USE TO TRAVELERS then, no, they can't.
Trying to get to europe has taught me something about backpacking: don't use STA. STA and other travel agents are OK...its just that I didn't know of the existence of E-Tickets. You can book online a few days before the flight, bring a printout and a passport and, boom, your on. No commission, No hiked prices, nothing.
Sigh, but never mind. Our last few days in Varkala were interesting, as soon as I left the internet cafe, writing on this very blog that there wasn't anything to update you on, we go down to the local hot spot, the funky art cafe and theres some argument between the waiters and some other Indian bloke. He's yelling about "It's your mistake!" the owner and waiters are trying to calm everything down, but a punch or two is thrown and they have to get this guy out. Problem is, he's brought friends. With sticks. Next thing we know, the waiter is running from two shirtless men with said bludgeons, unfortunetly he falls and starts begging them to not hurt him. They're not listening. They knock him and his friend around a couple of times, they scarper inside again. Except guess which two westerners are sitting on the outside right next to where the stick men are attacking? Thats right, dear reader, Me and my bro. We, are understandably a little worried and just keep out of it, I left my bat-suit in the cave. This is clearly going to go from bad to worse. It does. More people turn up, they smash a bottle, go to stab someone in the kitchen, a light get smashed, someone starts doing in the walls and before you know it, the aggressive gang is smashing up the place, breaking in the lights, the bottles, the food, the amps, the instruments, even the tables. The westerners all get out and head for the bar down the road. All this is awful for the owner, because not only is his place getting smashed up, this is the most packed his bar has been in weeks, because it's low season, and he just lost out on everyone paying for their food. A more violence inclined westerner tries to get involved with a plastic chair, his friends drag him off.
It's a pretty major event, and is on my mind for the next few days because it all seemed a little too planned...not just some drunken brawl. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, and I never did find out exactly what was going on, and it probably was just some random drunk thing, but guys don't usually bring bats with them to a bar, and god knows something like that doesn't happen because someone gave someone the wrong change. It also wouldn't surprise me if there was a protection racket or something...other westerners seemed to think so too. One girl I met had a more believable spin on the drunk thing, she was planning on leasing a guest house there, so she knew a lot of people around. "These people work 15 hours a day, seven days a week, they sleep in the restaurant for 3-4 hours if they're lucky, and they do all this for the high season of about 6 months. In the low season, there's not enough tourists coming in, not enough money to go round so tensions are understandably high."
She was very interesting girl, big, blonde and american, came over for a few months and had decided to stay a few years. She'd manage to organise the only party we ever saw in Varkala, so she was a great person to know. It seemed horrible the idea of working like that, I worked 8-10 hours day 5 days a wekk for 5 months. That was unpleasant. And despite it seeming believable there could be something more sinister going on...I just can't quite sell myself on it, looking back.
Varkala was wonderful, met a few interesting people in the 2 weeks we were there, unfortunetley we only met them in the last couple of days. At night you can see a horizon of fishing boats and their lights, it's got to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
But we needed to leave. We're a bit tired of the east, I like its prices, I love the experience and I hope to come back here soon...but I need rolling hills, castles, museums, clubs, bars, good food! Prague has some of the best nightlife in europe so we here, its also a stunning city almost built for backpackers and stag nighters, so that was our aim. To get to Prague. But to get to Prague, we need to get our ticket changed and to get our ticket changed we needed to go north to Enarkulam. Which is where I am now.
At first it was a nightmare getting the ticket changed, we'd settled in changing the date and then getting a flight from London to Prague. At first we were told we couldn't get one till May 2nd. Ouch. We hadn't planned on two more weeks in India...we could have managed it and had fun but our heart was now set on Europe. Then we couldn't change the ticket till Monday. Damn. Then when we did go back on Monday a whole load of earlier flights has opened up and we could get out of India as early as we liked, so our journey starts tommorow, we'll be in Prague early morning on the 25th. Like really early morning. Like 1AM in the morning. Try finding a cheap way into the city then after long flights and hours waiting in airports for a connecting flights. Fun is not a word I would use. Still, we're couch surfing to make it cheap as chips (and a bit more complicated. Yay!)
Enarkulam is great, by the way, we found a cheap hotel with a TV and theres plenty of ways to shop and wait around for the travel agents to open. Not least the Subway down the road. We had sunday buffet the other day in the swankiest hotel in town, where we got some hilarious characatures made of us, I'll try scanning them on at some point. Why they drew me driving a car and Sam playing guitar, I'll never know.
All this means, by the way, I'll have a few hours in merry old england! I have time to nip into london, grab some fish and chips, and get back (kidding). It will be interesting to feel the weather. When I am safe in Prague, I hope to be writing an upbeat blog to tell all my journey was stress free. Oh, and this does mean, since Europe you have to survive on slightly more than 5 pounds a day, that the money will be running out faster, and so will my time backpacking. But hey, me and Sam are nearly ready to come home, after one more continent under our belt, we should be back early May, a week or two before we originally planned to return. Wish me luck!

PS I found a place selling half price comic books (so now it was 10p a comic instead of 20p!). I went a bit bezerk. My bag is now a lot heavier.

Books, Chilling out and a possible change of plans

When we last joined our hero, he was on Varkala beach, South India , taking some well needed R+R...

I am pleased to say that I'm having a much better time in the south of India than the North. The beach life was really what me and Sam have needed, we're in complete hedonistic mode, getting up late, breakfast, beach, dinner, internet, sleep, repeat. Its a hard job but someones got to do it. SO I suppose there's not much to update you all on...I've been continuing my enjoyment of the prose novel, pausing on The Amber Spyglass to read some other brilliant books. (I won't do the major ego trip of writing page long reviews of each one, but since theres not much to update you on and these books have been a great experience, I'll give you brief summaries of my experience with each one)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas I picked up first, I wasn't going to bother because I knew it would be very alike to the film, but reading that first line, I was hooked (We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold). Hunter S Thomspon is a genius, he's hilarious, inspiring and outrageous with a deep resentment/confusion with the United States. His point of view I'll find invaluable, I think, when it comes to studying the country during the next four years.
Catcher in the Rye is one of Joe's bits of media found immensly brilliant and inspiring (along with Six Feet Under and the West Wing), and that he desperately wants to convert me to! Although I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as he, and millions of people across the world, the book is interesting and (as it is famous for) deeply relatable. Almost creepily relatable, how a book from the 40's can still, I believe, represent much of the youth of today. Lots of remants of Joe Burnham/Sam Cooper/Amy Soyka. A brilliant vision of alienated youth and New York. Its best to read it when your 13-17, though as it clicks more with that age range. I'd recommend it to Parents and Teachers most of all, I believe that's where the book can do the most good!
Around the world in 80 days has been a secret love of mine for a while, however I've only ever read it in a very faithful graphic novel adaption in my childhood. Having read it in the original prose form was a wonderful experience for me (this edition had Wallace and Gromit on the front cover too!) its a really witty, enthralling and entrancing adventure, especially for a backpacker. It's filled with some wonderful characters and moving moments. I now love it even more knowing that it really is as accessible as any graphic novel adaption despite being written over a hundred years ago!
I'm now trying to find something in Science Fiction or a Thriller, but time grows short here in Varkala. Well, not short, I like it here (apart from the food, maybe) but me and Sam are craving something else, something maybe a little less eastern perhaps...I don't want to cement anything yet, but I guess our plans have changed a little. Europe is beckoning towards us...well, once I've actually got something settled in a week or so, I could provide more concrete plans then.
Anyhoo, there probably won't be much more to update you all on till we get to Kochi, but I'll see about another blog maybe when I find another book!

Varanasi, Harder Times and Australians

When we last joined our hero, he was travelling up from Kolkata to the holy city of Varanasi...

India is treating me a little roughly. Which is unfair, because I really want to enjoy this country...especailly after having such a good time in Kolkata! still its got much better, but I can't help feeling a little homesick after trying to get to varanasi...

First of all, 14 hours on an Indian train is rubbish. Well...I guess that was pretty obvious. I got pretty sick in the north of being stared at like a godamn zoo animal. No atchully, I'd like to be treated like a zoo animal, zoo animals get smiled at, zoo animals get respect. White people get the look of 'what the hell are you doing here, you unholy abomination'. the place was cramped and we were the only ones on the train that didn't get sheets. It was a sleeper carriage, thank god.

Still can't argue with the price, cheap as chips, and we also disovered from a student on the last 2 hours of our trip that it was the worst train on the whole varanasi line. So, hopefully the others won't be so bad.

We get there, and the student is good enough to show us the tourist office, and thats where the trouble started. You see, valued reader, Varanasi is part of the nasty commision scheme in India. You see, if a tuk tuk takes us to a hotel, they get a hefty 'finders fee' called a commision. However the 3 oldest places to stay in Varanasi don't do this, because they're well priced (you know your in a good place when your breakfast costs more than your room!) and respectful, not 2 bit scam artists. So what do the drivers do? they tell you these places have burned down or flodded, they destroy the signs to these places but the most common thing to happen is that hotels simply change they're names to almost be exactly the same as the decent hotels but with extra additions to the name. so instead of the yogi lodge its 'the new yogi guesthouse' or 'the real yogi inn'. Problem is, different name, same big prices.

Anyway, outside the tourist office As per usual, someones offering us a taxi/tuk tuk, the usual respectful 'no' treatment was what we gave him. He followed us still, in some vain attempt to charm us, into the telephone office where we we're gonna call our hotel to come get us. We call them, they're on our way.

We now realise CAPTAIN CON ARTIST went to his mate round the corner a few minutes later and RELAYED EVERYTHING WE SAID ON THE PHONE to him and wrote 'Langan' on a piece of paper and came round to get us into his tuk tuk.

Guy comes in we say 'aren't you supposed to be wearing a yogi lodge shirt?'

'yeah, thats my brother, hes at the tuk tuk!'

Get to the tuk tuk. No brother. 'We aren't getting in.'

After a brief discussion with the various tuk tuk drivers around us (including CAPTAIN CON ARTIST) the driver swore on his and our yogi guide's honour (a serious thing in India) that he worked for the lodge. We wanted to get to the lodge and at this point we didn't know any better. Its only as we start to realise everything he told us he could have just heard on the phone we really start to get worried.

Now, I may seem like a charming, cool headed backpacker type. I am. However, the muscle of the operation (Sam) is not so forgiving. Especially when it comes to scam artists. So when we get to 'the lodge' the tuk tuk duo are waiting to be paid and we drop the bomb shell.

'We're looking at the hotel before we pay you'. They look worried. But we get there, and they breath a sigh of relief, one more commission in pocket...until I come up with the idea, of checking the phone number for yogi lodge against the hotels card. Ah. 'The old yogi lodge'.

Sam is seeing red. I've never been so proud of my brother. He knows we're getting scammed and he gives the tuk tuk guys a choice, take us to the temple near the yogi lodge and get paid, or take us back to the rail station free of charge. They chose the second option.















The tuk tuk driver looked annoyed (especially since he wa the one who tried the honour thing) but the guy that tried to scam us just seemed to break down, it was quite pathetic all apologetic and 'slow season' nonsense. We get back to the station, and get the real guy to take us to the yogi lodge.

I am, however pleased to say that after that unpleasant experience we managed to meet some great people in our hotel (which was 75p a night. deffinatley worth the hassel). The ozzies, Gin and her father Eric, Gin (short for virginia) had been travelling around India for the past 2 months, and was heading down to Kerala too, so we gained some travel buddies! both were really easy going and easy to talk too, and helped out a lot with organising our flights down.
We've decided to skip Rajahstan...me and Sam both need to be somewhere less rushed and hectic, and to be honest we've just lost interest in anything in the north. We need a beach!
Varanasi was a busy city but with the most gorgeous Ganges view I've ever seen. Sam said he could spend days by the riverside, I'd have to agree with him it was pretty spectacular.
We also met Beth, the hippy drum circler with plenty of Indian, and paticularly, Goan tales, which was very interesting.
Probably the most fascinating traveller we've met yet is a bloke called Dan though, who was the only other person staying in our Dorm! He'd driven, yes DRIVEN from London through europe, up into russia and all the old soviet countries like Kahzakstan and Uzhbekhistan, before going itno Iran Pakistan and India. He's been going for 11 months and is going to continue through India and Bali before heading back the way he came. He loves Pakistan and now I really want to travel there!
Travelling down to Varkala was OK, it was just the damned Taxi Drivers in Mumbai that made our lives hell, that and the hotel was awful.
Still, Now I'm down on the stunning beach in Varkala, I promise to upload some pics soon! Its so good to finnaly be down here in the south where everything is a lot more relaxed. The weather, however looks like it could be swinging to a bit more monsoony, though, so I'm trying to catch the breathtaking beach for as long as I can. We've found a hotel for 1.90 a night, (and yes, its not the most attractive room I've ever been in, but 95p each a night, I'm not complaining) so we're planning to get stuck here as long as the weather will allow. Delhi belly looms, however, and I must run quickly too my room. Farewell!