Distorted Reality Stories [or DRS]:
J'en avais que 15
The story of Mr Cap
The lover who lived near Dalston Kingsland
a story in which the protagonist is learning
FLY
Keir & Camilla ♪
Only Madness Allowed in RedUK
Description:
Quelques choses à savoir sur moi :
- Eclate de rire pour un rien 笑
- Cherche des autocollants
- Possède une boite de Canette Coca Cola qui est vide pour faire de la Musique
- N'aime pas Coca Cola
- Aime prendre des photos sans talent
- Est végétarienne depuis plus de 9 ans
- Aime le Punk Rock
- Est Anarchiste Libertaire sûrement.
- Aime Vivre
- Bertrand m'a manqué.
- Bertrand c'était le nom de mon blog.
- Je vis en Angleterre maintenant
- Va à des Gigs sans connaître les groupes qui jouent.
- Est presque Bilingue (Anglais/Français) (Le Presque est à souligner parce que certains ne le comprennent pas)
Soundtrack of My Life
SIKKIM
NATURAL HEIGHTS
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Stay in Sikkim
NATURAL HEIGHTS
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Stay in Sikkim
Where to stay in Sikkim
Gangtok is a great location to keep as a base as most of the sites are accessible from there. Especially, as a foreigner, some areas located more toward north might be more difficult to access due to the need of additional permits or not even allowing foreigners. Gangtok is lively with great restaurants and coffee places, markets. Most Travel Tour Agents are also located in this city. The place is built on hills, so be ready to go up and down the streets to go from one attraction to another.
Accommodation in Gangtok
_We decided to settle in Summit Denzong Hotel & Spa for our stay in Gangtok because of the nice reviews. The place was nice, however we'd recommend that, for the price, you stop somewhere else. Our experience was resumed to issues with our room(s) – that can happen to anyone and anywhere, however instead of trying to make us happier, the staff – although nice did not end our frustration. We only managed to have a chat with the manager, who was, we must say, very attentive and apologetic.
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The location of Summit Denzong was perfect as it was less than 5 minutes walking distance from Tibet Road and MG Marg – our favourite hangout spots in town.
At the end of our stay, after talking to many people from the region, we were advised to go for homestay in this setting. We have missed out on this opportunity; however, this is a recommendation you will be able to take further.
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Fixing our room issues at Summit Denzong Hotel & Spa
Gangtok
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Best Places to eat & drink
Taste of Tibet -MG Marg, Arithang, Gangtok, Sikkim 737101
Taste of Tibet was the first food place we had tried in Gangtok, we had a very warm welcome from the food, our stomachs were happy!
Our order: Hit beer (strong local beer served in a huge bottle), Veg Thukpa & Chicken Momos for my friend.
Hamro Bhansa Ghar -
Tibet Rd, Arithang, Gangtok, Sikkim 737101This place was quite a good find, we popped in after a long day out and a huge appetite, craving for Chow Mein & a good drink – in hope to find the local alcohol.
Our order: Chow Mein (Veg & Egg) – Drinks: Old Monk & Coke + Plum wine. The Old Monk happened to be served in measures of 60ml only and cheaper than a 30ml elsewhere. We only found out about that after a repeat of our drink order. Plum wine is a local wine from the main region too.
Our order: Chow Mein (Veg & Egg) – Drinks: Old Monk & Coke + Plum wine. The Old Monk happened to be served in measures of 60ml only and cheaper than a 30ml elsewhere. We only found out about that after a repeat of our drink order. Plum wine is a local wine from the main region too.
Vishal Gaon, Gangtok, Sikkim 737102
Korean Food on the menu, you can also grill your food from the table. Service was amazing and relaxed as we were the only customers at that time, the staff took great care of us.
My dish: Bulgogi Mushroom Set (sadly no photo left)
My dish: Bulgogi Mushroom Set (sadly no photo left)
Café Live & Loud -
Tibet Road, Gangtok, Sikkim 737101
Love cocktails? This place Is definitely for you. They also do Live Music and Club, we were unfortunate to come over the week and missed out on that – although we received a Love Letter on the balcony, it did make our evening.
Our order: Kiwi Ice Tea Cocktail (Whisky, Rum, Vodka, Triple Sec, Brandy, Kiwi Crush, Lime Juice, Suga and Top of Coke) & Veggie Momo! – I sadly cannot remember my friend's order but she had a piece of cheese in her cocktail!
Tibet Road, Gangtok, Sikkim 737101
Love cocktails? This place Is definitely for you. They also do Live Music and Club, we were unfortunate to come over the week and missed out on that – although we received a Love Letter on the balcony, it did make our evening.
Our order: Kiwi Ice Tea Cocktail (Whisky, Rum, Vodka, Triple Sec, Brandy, Kiwi Crush, Lime Juice, Suga and Top of Coke) & Veggie Momo! – I sadly cannot remember my friend's order but she had a piece of cheese in her cocktail!
Local alcohol
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It is always nice to discover the regional alcohol when traveling, although this one gave a lot of hard work to find.
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If you wish to undertake the endeavour to find the local alcohol place: it is located near the Denzong Cinema Hall, on the road opposite the flyover / bridge. You would have to go down a few steps and then on your left. The place is run by a woman and there is a separate room for men and women so if you are traveling with other ladies, you won't have to feel uncomfortable.
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If you wish to undertake the endeavour to find the local alcohol place: it is located near the Denzong Cinema Hall, on the road opposite the flyover / bridge. You would have to go down a few steps and then on your left. The place is run by a woman and there is a separate room for men and women so if you are traveling with other ladies, you won't have to feel uncomfortable.
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Trying out local alcohol on our last day in Sikkim
SIKKIM
NATURAL HEIGHTS
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Our journey to Sikkim
NATURAL HEIGHTS
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Our journey to Sikkim
The road
A long journey is needed to reach the lands of Sikkim. The main point of connexion is Siliguri, accessible with flights from Kolkata, Delhi and more - although we took a different path. As I reached India, and more specifically Delhi on the Thursday, I was already on my way to Sikkim from the next day.
I flew to Patna in the first place to meet my friend Somidha and get started on the way to Siliguri the same evening by train. We boarded the Capital Express for a 12h journey, arriving only 2h late at my friend's relatives place in Siliguri. From Siliguri we booked a cab for a 8h drive to the city of Gangtok. It is important to know that only authorised drivers can access the region as the road can be dangerous with landslides during monsoon or even ice over winter.
Somidha in the Capital Express from Patna to Siliguri
Accessing Sikkim
Sikkim requires a special permit for access. Getting information about this permit has proven to be a nightmare. As advised, I first enquired at the immigration office of New Delhi airport, however officials could not really understand what I was asking for. My second option was to go to the FRRO office in Delhi, which was fortunately next to my friend's house. No luck neither, I was told to email somebody, which I did, and the person redirected me to two other email addresses with a dead end. Anyway, I had my passport and ID photos ready with me, hoping to find a possibility to get the permit on the way.The permit is called « Inner Line Permit » I managed to access it from the Rangpo checkpoint itself, it is free and quick to get from there, especially if there's no-one else waiting. You can only remain in the region for a limited time and will need to provide your plan, state how many days you are staying, as well as hand over photos and copies of passport. I didn't have my passport copies but there is a photocopy shop next to the office. You are then given a stamp on your passport and a paper stating your rights of stay in the region. Always keep this carefully with you, as you might be asked to show it in different places and hand it back once you return to the checkpoint.
Our vehicle at Rangpo checkpoint, East Sikkim
About Sikkim
Interesting facts
Geography – Sikkim is bordering with Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, Siliguri is the point of connexion and traffic, where roads meet. The region is divided into East Sikkim, West Sikkim, South Sikkim and North Sikkim and the main capital is Gangtok.
Military – You are likely to find numerous checkpoints, as your Indian VISA is not covering this part of the country. You will then need a permit to access the region and you will be asked to show it at different checkpoints. Borders are covered with military camp, Black Cat Army in order to protect India from Chinese invasion.
Military – You are likely to find numerous checkpoints, as your Indian VISA is not covering this part of the country. You will then need a permit to access the region and you will be asked to show it at different checkpoints. Borders are covered with military camp, Black Cat Army in order to protect India from Chinese invasion.
Hidden view of military camps in Sikkim
Quotes - You will find many life quotes that will attract your attention on the way as road signs, to keep soldiers and drivers motivated and patriotic. A few ones we decided to remember:
Weather
The weather in Sikkim is a lot colder than other regions in India, due to the altitude. Temperatures were in between 12 to 27 degrees during the monsoon season depending on the sites. Scarf and warm jacket are recommended for comfort. Again, due to the monsoon season, some sites were difficult to access because of landslides, going in an appropriate vehicle with a certified driver is extremely recommended. During winter, because of the snow and the ice you may also need chains on your wheels.
Life. It kicks you out of your goals while making you feel fully immersed in comfort. Looking at yourself in the mirror, you see this face, that kind of face, full of reassurance, yet full of sleep, embedded with hope and thoughts of defeat. It kicks you hard. Your plans are put into action, and yet, you do not feel fulfilled by promises because of this somewhat that tells you “I am not in accordance with your core principle of conduct”. You act as a bot would, and yet, your brain gets this filled up feeling of eternity, as if it cannot die, as if it could live for a thousand lives ahead of the one of your dead human body. Parallel universes are cotangent with madness. Has the world told you how much it hates you? If so, continue to persist so life can at least go on, in a forever fashion, as you, human, designed it.
Writing about the life that can be led on his Earth is a passion that will never end, an endless dream - may i be spotted for a repeat of my own verses, how careless is that. So many dreams entangled together. Repeating words, accents, is the same as repeating life, love and other humans.
Writing about the life that can be led on his Earth is a passion that will never end, an endless dream - may i be spotted for a repeat of my own verses, how careless is that. So many dreams entangled together. Repeating words, accents, is the same as repeating life, love and other humans.
“What do you do in life?”
“I study. I am on a second Master, also in my last year of phd.”
“Oh, that must be a lot of work. Very impressive. What field are you into?”
“Mathematics”
Camilla was stunned by his brain.
“Are you a musician also?”
“How did you guess?”
“Your fingers, they have this curve. Do you play the cello or the violin?”
“The violin”
“How come? Why did you make this choice, isn't it a lot of work for you?”
“When I was a kid I attended a special school as I had a lot of troubles during my childhood. At that school, there was a girl. During music lesson, whenever we'd listen to compositions, she'd look at the sky, through the window, drowning her soul within the sunset of the day. I really did notice that it was only for the violin. She never looked at the world in this manner when there was no violin playing. She'd solely dream to the vibration of the violin strings. I composed and wrote music for her, which I wanted to play with a violin. Had I just started playing that she died. She killed herself. I swore to myself that I should never give up, so that, at least, she could remain alive somewhere in this world. A world into which she got lost.”
“It is such a sad and yet, beautiful story.”
“Life is futile, you know. Only the music and the souls we love matter. It is indeed like, following a rhythm and creating the beat with our hearts. As long as her soul remains in this world, I will hang on onto life and the strings of the violin. I wish to live everyday of this life on Earth so I can look in the depth of her eyes at every single sunset. She stole my heart, it will then remain by her side for an infinite eternity”
“What was her name?”
“I do not know. I have never known. She didn't speak to anyone, no-one was speaking to her. One of the lonely souls rejected from the world of humans but always welcomed by the warmth of the universe.”
photo by febri sym "he plays her fav melody"
“I study. I am on a second Master, also in my last year of phd.”
“Oh, that must be a lot of work. Very impressive. What field are you into?”
“Mathematics”
Camilla was stunned by his brain.
“Are you a musician also?”
“How did you guess?”
“Your fingers, they have this curve. Do you play the cello or the violin?”
“The violin”
“How come? Why did you make this choice, isn't it a lot of work for you?”
“When I was a kid I attended a special school as I had a lot of troubles during my childhood. At that school, there was a girl. During music lesson, whenever we'd listen to compositions, she'd look at the sky, through the window, drowning her soul within the sunset of the day. I really did notice that it was only for the violin. She never looked at the world in this manner when there was no violin playing. She'd solely dream to the vibration of the violin strings. I composed and wrote music for her, which I wanted to play with a violin. Had I just started playing that she died. She killed herself. I swore to myself that I should never give up, so that, at least, she could remain alive somewhere in this world. A world into which she got lost.”
“It is such a sad and yet, beautiful story.”
“Life is futile, you know. Only the music and the souls we love matter. It is indeed like, following a rhythm and creating the beat with our hearts. As long as her soul remains in this world, I will hang on onto life and the strings of the violin. I wish to live everyday of this life on Earth so I can look in the depth of her eyes at every single sunset. She stole my heart, it will then remain by her side for an infinite eternity”
“What was her name?”
“I do not know. I have never known. She didn't speak to anyone, no-one was speaking to her. One of the lonely souls rejected from the world of humans but always welcomed by the warmth of the universe.”
photo by febri sym "he plays her fav melody"
My grandmother had a very soft voice and I inherited it from her. She had this kind of voice that may be tiny, close to a whisper, thus in order to hear it you had to come closer and be even more attentive to what she had to paint with her words.
In our current world, I have been told a thousand times to increase my voice, put more weight into it, as people cannot hear my speech properly, especially during public speaking and situations. It is not only about the voice, but also about being agreeable – not letting things be but accepting situations even if we need to be out of our way a little bit – or a lot.
At times if you have a soft voice and an agreeable personality, you may also feel like you are not respected as you should, or you may also not acquire what you would desire, unlike when using a more authoritative voice (I despise authority).
Somehow, this is your choice to set the tone, how do you want your relation to be with the person standing in front of you or on the other line of the phone? How much power are you ready to gain or lose in this interaction? What are you ready to lose and what kind of opportunity do you wish to gain?
I believe that, in a first place, you may set the tone with authority, people will certainly do things you need to get done, however, they will leave their heart at home and accomplish the task without it. There will also be times and opportunities you will never experience, people you will never meet.
A couple of stories that happened during my trip that resolved around this reflection.
(1) In Gangtok, my friend and I booked a hotel of a higher price than our usual budget to have the chance to relax and treat ourselves. However, it has been a stressful experience, every single day of our stay, something would happen. As we were in a 4 stars hotel, we were trying to ask for compensation or an upgrade. We lost time & energy because of these matters, all were small matters, especially if you look at them in singularity, but the accumulation of them wasn't a great experience. In the end we had a very small compensation for this, which was one free breakfast. We were aware that people we know would have got a room upgrade straight away in full honesty. We kept our tone low, repeatedly said “thank you”, “sorry”, “please” with meaning and shy smile. In the end we had the chance to talk to the manager about the number of issues we encountered. His attentive ear was comforting, and we could also feel his caring attention to what we had to communicate.
(2) I was then travelling by myself to Jaipur – as solo female traveller – I also booked my stay in a hotel that is more frequented by Indians since foreigners tend to go closer to the city centre. I briefly asked a question about the rules of the hotel to the staff. The day after, when returning from sightseeing, I went into the garden of the hotel to relax before my cab to the airport was scheduled to arrive. Suddenly, the person I have just mentioned came to talk to me as he could sense my energy – he happened to be the owner of the hotel – as well as the 3 other main hotels of the region. I also had a brief – yet amazing conversation with him about the history of the region, astrology, sciences as well as the history of his family. Fascinating. Just before I had to leave, he brought an Indian delicacy made by his mother – which was very good by the way!
After sharing these two short adventures with you, you may understand the point I was trying to make above. You choose how you want to interact with people; therefore you also choose your priorities in terms of gain and loss. There is no good or bad way, I know if I had other desires and used another method to meet my aims, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to experience these interactions. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to open these conversations. I have so many other stories like so, however I chose to illustrate with these two since they are the ones that made me reflect a lot about this topic.
Have you ever thought about this? How would you usually react?
Flying is now accepted as a common way of transportation we travel by air on a everyday or weekly basis for leisure, family, work, holidays, different projects.
Did we ever start or stopped taking care of our travels? I have always been fascinated by air travel. The first time I boarded on an aircraft I was 7 years old, leading toward Tunisia with both my parents. I then took my second flight, however first time on my own, when I was 8 years old to learn how to sail in Brittany, France. That was it. After that, every single year I was making my way somewhere else. Sometimes with family, on my own, or with friends during my teenager years. The most frequent journey I used to fly were Morocco – France / France – Morocco and fell in love with their landing technique.
If there was something I was / and sometimes I am still scared of it, it is about the landing. However, after more documentation and conversations about my own feeling, I agreed that Royal Air Maroc was to be my favourite airline, because they are trained to handle a perfect landing and only disappointed me once, which, might also have been caused by the weather.
AIRLINES
If I had to answer this question myself, as of today, RAM & Emirates have rarely disappointed me, and, for reasons that were out of their control. Somehow, Arabs seem to have some of the best aviation schools in terms of piloting, but also how you are being taken care of when you are journeying from the check-in to the end of your trip. They all have sorted me out with a brilliant smile, and it does matter.
ROUTES
From temperature change, welcoming on arrival, landscapes while landing, my two favourite routes have been LDN-DXB for its landscape mainly & Casablanca-OUA for the fact that you always fly at the same time, the best time in the world. From end of afternoon, you still have a beautiful view of the palm tree leading you to a night-time painting that makes you melt and breathe the mosquito.
Another stunning route has been Addis Ababa – Dar Es Salaam / Dar Es Salaam – Addis Ababa, flying over the African continent is a film made of wonders, with a clear weather you can see huge mountains and the coast is astounding when landing.
AIRCRAFT
In some aircraft, if you are young enough and show your passion for aviation, they might let you fly in the cabin of the pilot. Not all airlines allow that though and so far – I am only aware of one of the airlines which is on my “not to fly with list” that is operating in this manner. In other words, I didn't really get my luck and I am now growing old.
I will be fully honest by saying that I do not remember the exact names whenever I am flying long distance but enjoy noticing the differences. I am always looking at the aircraft I will be boarding beforehand to study it, and it is quite fascinating.
AIRPORTS
Before booking my journeys, I am always ensuring which airport I shall go through. As per previous negative experiences of almost being arrested, it is important that – although I have nothing to hide apart from my own personal privacy – I avoid trouble. It may seem lucky that I am a European passport holder, however, my family name on the passport is from North Africa, hence my profiling created numerous problems in various places, such as Istanbul where the police came to question me in front of everyone at the gate to make me feel lost as a criminal.
Regarding technical aspects of airports, from WIFI, corners to have a snooze at, shops open at night, currency accepted and where to charge my phone from, I usually check beforehand on one of my top websites “Sleeping at Airports” to know what to expect and analyse a solution beforehand.
How do you enjoy flying? Do you pay attention to these details whenever you are? If so, what would you answer to these questions (favourite airlines, routes, aircrafts, airports etc.) I would love to hear more from you, down here in the comments.
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