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Greetings from the banks of the Ganges. Toni and I are in Mr Chatterjee's home town, Serampore , just along the river from Kolkata. Last week I was telling you about our last day in Nepal, getting a Tika blessing and then travelling to Varanasi on Buddha Air. If you missed it, you can catch up here . Varanasi is very wet, crazy, busy, noisy as hell, holy cows everywhere, but despite all that, it's surprisingly clean and tidy! I was pleasantly surprised. Plus, we found the people open and friendly and didn't at all get hassled or swamped by beggers. We went looking for Varanasi silk, real silk.. Because it's something special if you can get it. These days, polyester has been improved so much that it's hard to tell the difference (at least when it is new) and the traders in most touristy areas of India will sell you the fake silk because of the huge profit they can make. However, there is something special about the real Varanasi silk. It has that Billionaire v...

Greetings from Varanasi, India Happy October - can you believe it is October??!! It's also Dashain (Nepal's main holiday - like Christmas) and in India Durga Puja - actually the world's biggest (under the radar) celebration. Buddha air services has only one international flight.   And we took it, it goes to Varanasi.   From one holy city to another. Last week I was telling you about Dashain - the Nepali Christmas - and flying kites. And our trip to Bhaktapur, a nearby city which is surprisingly nice, but hides a secret the Gen Z are angry about. I made a YouTube video about it see below.. or check last week's news here . The Tika blessing Our last day in Nepal was a major holiday and a special day in the Dashain festival.. We were lucky and honoured to be invited to the family home of one of our suppliers - the Lokta paper guy . Like Christmas they have lots of traditions.. including flying kites on the roof, and the Tika blessing ceremony. This is tradition...

Greetings from Kathmandu It's been a really interesting week.. here living in the aftermath of the Gen Z revolution.  Last Friday I had just arrived and made this YouTube - Meeting the Gen Z ..  and the newsletter for last week here . Since last week's newsletter Toni from Spain has arrived. He was a little apprehensive about coming given all the news. But like me he is happy to be here. The manager of the hotel where we are staying told me they had many cancellations. He was so happy that we turned up - we got an upgrade to the best rooms!  At this time of year the beginning of the climbing and trekking season, normally they are full.. but at breakfast we see maybe only two or three other guests.  The other day Bicky our Lokta paper supplier took us on a trip to a nearby city to visit a ceramics factory.. Bhaktapur - first time I have been there they have a place called Pottery Square where local artisans sit and make pottery. But there is so much more in this epic...

Greetings from Kathmandu, Nepal. Last week I was debating whether to make this scheduled trip.. the airport was closed and protests were turning to riots and reports of police brutality.. and all happening right in the business area around my hotel where I had booked to stay. Also in last week's news, lots of drama everywhere.. nobody has noticed Temu is a channel for Russian goods into the UK . If you missed it you can catch up here . Meanwhile, I was being well informed by my friends and suppliers in Kathmandu. The situation had changed rapidly, massive drama going on including the flagship Hilton hotel being burned down. But the army restored order, the government resigned and collectively went into hiding, the Gen Z protests actually worked with huge impact. Historic times. In the end my flight was not cancelled, and the airport was open again.. so I stuck with my plan and went for it. The first thing I did was to find actual Gen Z protestors and interview them .. I dis...

Greetings from Yiwu, China Where the temperature has fallen to around 30c much more comfortable.. I was telling you about the heat (40c plus) in last week's news and much more.. if you missed it  you can catch up here. This week we have been running every day. Tomas, Coco and me.. running round our suppliers making things happen at pace as only they can in China - and especially in Yiwu. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!  It's a Yiwu state of mind...I'm sure there should be a hip-hop song about it. Yiwu City - you can make it here. Actually, you can make almost anything here. Correction. Re - Tax on candles.. Slight correction on last week's newsletter .. where I mentioned: we just got news that the EU and the UK are imposing (Trump like) tariffs on candles of 75% from this month... well, the UK is  not imposing  this (so far) just the EU.. I understand that the EU is trying to protect candle manufacturers from cheap Chinese imports.. but h...

Greetings from Yiwu in China Hope you are doing well and ready for the week. It's very hot here, as hot as I can ever remember being.. Last week I was telling you about life in Bali and how a BBC journalist called me around midnight (Bali time) from the UK.. if you missed it and want to find out why you can catch up here . On Sunday evening Bondhan (Our man in Indonesia) drove me to the airport, my time here seemed far too short and lots of jobs not really finished.. but anyway, I had a night flight to Guangzhou, China, to catch. Bali airport these days is super efficient, and like a dream to drift through, everyone is so kind and thoughtful even the security and passport control.. Bought some last-minute gifts, a glass of wine in the lounge and then ambled to the gate to board a China Southern night flight to Guangzhou. On board, there are only a few business class seats, so get very fussed over.. more wine and more food than I can eat. Really delightful, friendly servi...