Two birthdays, six days of trekking and one night in a local village

Namaste! Lots of things have happened in the last two weeks, and that’s just what I needed after that week of sickness and rest! But let’s start from the beginning…

First thing was Maira’s 20. birthday last week Tuesday. Being far away from home I tried to make it a day full of surprises for her, and I think I did pretty well… We had a nice day starting with a yummy chocolate brownie in bed and a proper breakfast at one of the nicest cafes in Lakeside, Pokhara. After that we went for a one-hour paragliding session with the most amazing views of the landscape surrounding Pokhara – hills, mountains, rivers, small villages, fields and in the far distance the highest mountains of the world (which we unfortunately couldn’t see too well due to some haziness…). It was nice, but after about hald the flight both of us started to feel kind of funny in the stomach and tried very hard not to let the breakfast see daylight again, ehem… Well, we succeeded and in the end landed safely on the ground again, ready for some more birthday cake! In the evening we then went out for some curry and cocktails with a German guy we had already met in Kathmandu and accidently bumbed into again that night, and then stumbled into bed quite late…

The next day started early, the taxi to Nayapur picked us up at 8am. From there, we started our six day trekking experience together with our guide Gonga (a 23 year old woman from Pokhara) and a porter, Bina. I at first had some serious issues with having somebody else carry my luggage, but in the end it turned out to be really fortunate that we had taken her along – Maira got very sick on the second day and had to return to Pokhara the next morning and Bina accompanied her and brought her home safely. Together with our guide Gonga I went on, carrying my own stuff now, and was so lucky as to meet Jana on the way. Jana had just spent 7 weeks volunteering in the school of a local village and was now on a little trekking trip with her host dad Dhurba and as they had the same route, we decided to go on together. We had an amazing time wandering through the most beautiful landscapes, ranging from millet and potato fields along small villages to bewitched woods along small waterfalls and deep canyons… In the distance and high above us were the Annapurna mountains; once or twice we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them, but most of the time they were not visible due to thick clouds. Our days usually started early (breakfast at 6:30 or 7:00am) and we walked something between 5 to 9 hours every day. Some of the days were quite hard, well, we had to crawl up some thousand steps to cover the 2500m from Nayapur up to Poon hill. But it was absolutely worth it, the little guest houses were very cozy (some of them had quirky ovens in the living rooms made out of old oil cans…), and we even made the aquaintance of a snowman and a yak! And we had a little birthday celebration for Jana yesterday, including the obligatory tika (hindu blessing) on the forehead and a flower chain around the neck…

So, with lots of sore muscles and aching feet I returned to Pokhara yesterday, and – after checking on Maira, she’s fine now – went to the little village where Jana has volunteered for the last weeks. Her hostdad Dhurba was so kind as to invite me to stay at his house for a night (and of course eat plates full of Dhal bat), and I was happy to join them and check out the local village life. It took us a very shaky hour to cover the 12 kilometers by bus, and then Jana showed me around a bit. It was rather shocking to see the condition of the local  public school (no glass windows, teaching material or decoration, just plain wooden benches and a blackboard) – it altogether seemed to me that life in the village here in Nepal is somewhat like it must have been some centuries ago in Europe. My hostfamily (which was rather rich by the local standards) lives in a little stone (!) house with three rooms and a kitchen with a fire stove made out of clay, and of course without running water, but at least they have electricity (even if only for a few hours a day).  They were all very kind to me, and I enjoyed my stay at their house very much! I mean, all of us know that many people live under such conditions, but then they don’t actually know what it’s like… I am very thankful to Jana and her hostfamily to have given me the opportunity to actually experience such a way of life and I am very sure that this will help me to appreciate even more all the facilities and opportunities I have back home (e.g. being able to open the fridge and eating a variety of different food, hot running water and electricity 24 hours a day, being an eduacted woman with the freedom to decide what I want to do with my life…).

So today I returned to touristy Lakeside from that little trip into the past, and (of course not without a really nice breakfast!!!) started to sort out all kinds organisational stuff for the next days,  such as collecting air and bus tickets, selling old books, writing my weblog entry… Tonight we’ll have a couple of cocktails to celebrate Jana’s birthday properly and then we’ll head back to Kathmandu tomorrow. There we’ll spend a lazy day in Thamel again, and then, on Friday, I’ll fly out to Bangkok already!!! Geeze, time really is flying by!

So, my dear friends, that’s it for now. I probably have forgotten at least half of what I was meaning to write, but at least you have some sort of an update now…. Oh, and I managed to upload a few pics, though these do not resemble the collection of amazing pictures I was able to take during the last days…

I hope you’re all well!!!! Speak soon!

Rearranging our plans

Heya!

It’s me again – this time from Pokhara, Nepal. We left Kathmandu on Monday, hoping that we would leave the dust and smog of that city behind us as well… But that didn’t really happen, it seems to be some kind of a fog coming up here from Rajasthan, covering the whole of Nepal. It’s bit sad, really, that we can’t even see the mountains, but at least it rained a couple of times in the last days (the first rain I’ve come across in nearly two months!!!), clearing it all up a bit…

However, I sadly have to admit that – after having been in Nepal for almost a week now – I have felt rather sick most of the time: first it was simply a headache due to the foggy smog in Kathmandu, then a pretty bald cold came along, resulting in a rough two days spent in bed with fever and – again – diarrhea (thought I had left that behind in India, haha). So that’s where I am now: the fever is gone, but I’m still terribly weak and nauseous. And I started to become terribly frustrated because I want to explore this country, go trekking, be outdoors, enjoy the mountains… and instead I’m stuck in the hotel room. So that was why, today, we had the brilliant idea to extent our stay in Nepal and skip our little trip to Varanasi (too much hassle to get there anyway). This way, I’ll have enough time to actually be in this country and get to know it before I fly out to yet another country – Thailand. Two weeks are just not long enough for Nepal, especially if you fall sick…

So, I guess that’s all my news, keep your fingers crossed for me guys that I’ll quickly recover my strength so that I can hit the trekking paths soon!

Cheers, and speak soon!

Rajasthan, Taj Mahal, lots of colour and hello to Nepal

Geeze, guys, lots has happened since my last entry, so I’ll try to sum up the most important bits and bobs as good as I can…

We left Mumbai on March 5th and headed up to Udaipur – again in a sleeper-bus. We’ve spent a few nights in theses buses by now, but it was different every single time. We’ve had buses filled with western tourists and hardly any incidents, and some bus rides where we’ve been the only white women amongst Indian men. This has been fine the other time, when one of the guys working for the bus company was all crazy about us, but very polite, so that he really made us feel comfortable and even brought us some chai to our little booth! This time, however, all the men were rather young and unpolite and the bus was rather shabby, so that the curtains didn’t really give us much privacy: one time in the middle of the night, Maira woke up, finding that the curtains had been drawn apart so that one of the guys could shamelessly stare at us sleeping (and he didn’t even looked away when Maira opened her eyes…!). Can you believe that?! I felt really odd when Maira told me later, you know you’re just so vulnerable while asleep, and those guys had nothing better to do than to take advantage out of that! Grrr. It was one of those moments in which it would have been really nice to travel with a guy. But oh well, at least Maira and I had each other, I wouldn’t have wanted to be all alone in that situation…!

So, we reached Udaipur that morning, and quickly found a nice hotel room with a nice view upon the lake and the palace(s). The woman running the hotel was a very sweet lady, and cooked VERY tasty Indian food, served by her son in the romantic privacy of the hotel rooftop terrace. We spent a few days in this city at the border of the desert, visiting some impressive palaces which reflected the romantic streaks of the 22 kings that lived there in the past centuries… There were courtyards with impressive fountains that were only designed for the pleasure of the king with his numerous wives, and rooms that gloomed from all the glass and gold on walls and furniture. Here, unless anywhere else in India, we felt like being in some oriental place, and a very beautiful one!

So, after three days we left Udaipur again – however, not without spending several hours getting frustrated by the bureaucracy of the Indian post system while trying to send home a packet…. Grrrr, sometimes the most simple things that you assume to take not more than 5 minutes turn out to be a day-filling activity, and of course this always happens when you’re tight on time anyway… And when you then have to catch a bus, but the rickshaw driver doesn’t bother turning up, you’re in real trouble… Well, that’s India for you!

Anyhow, we somehow made it to catch the bus and arrived in Agra (close to Delhi and home of the Taj Mahal) the next morning. After checking in our hotel we checked out the Taj Mahal, which – I have to admit – really is one of the most impressive and beautiful buildings I’ve seen so far. However, I found that it looses some of its mysterious charisma the closer you get to it, but it was worth paying the impressive entry fee of 750Rs (ca. 12 Euro), at the very least to take some pictures of yourself in front of this famous site; and, of course, to also pose on numerous pictures with Indian guys or families ( „one quick picture, madam, pleeeeeaaaase!“) – I wonder on how many living room walls I will end up, haha.

We originally had planned to stay in Agra for one day only and then head to Delhi by train in order to catch our flight. However, we discovered that India would be celebrating the ‘Holi festival’ on that day, so we decided to treat ourselves with the luxury of a four-hour taxi ride directly to the airport the next morning in order to take part in the celebrations. ‘Holi’ is one of the biggest festivals in North India, celebrating the beginning of spring with loads of load music, lights, bonfires and – most importantly – colour! So, that morning, wrapped in old clothes and well equipped with bags of powder in the brightest colours, we hit the rooftop of our hotel. There, we had a splendid time throwing colour over every person we met and rub it into their skin, hair and clothes; together with the water bombs thrown by kids from other houses and the loud music from everywhere – well, maybe you can imagine in what kind of a mess that ended, hehe! But it was fun, and it was an easy and relaxed way to meet new people, some of who we were hardly able to recognize again once they had taken a shower… So we spent the rest of the day (and most of the night) with the ‘Holi crew’, including a trip to the backside of the Taj Mahal during sunset…

The next morning, while we were sitting in the taxi to the airport, we decided that this luxury transport option was definitely worth every darn rupee – not only because we were able to enjoy ‘Holi’, but also because it saved us having to fight our way through Delhi using public transport – it was already enough to look at and smell this city covered in yellow smog while passing through its suburb in the safety of a car… And so we got to the airport on time, killed a few hours in the food court of the airport and finally boarded the plane to Nepal. It was a bit of a weird feeling to leave India after seven weeks during which I found that I actually love this country more than I dislike it, but hey, I will be back again for a few days at the end of March before heading over to Thailand, so that made it a bit easier to say good-bye…

So, here I am now, in Nepal. Unfortunately, we only got a glimpse of the mountains while flying into the country as there were loads of clouds (he first clouds I’ve seen for seven weeks!!!), but what I saw already looked very promising! Since our arrival yesterday we’ve spent most of our time relaxing in some nice, western garden cafe, as we both feel a bit exhausted and worn out, I guess we just need a day’s break to take some rest and adjust to the new country – especially after the last few days. Kathmandu with its many western style restaurants and side lanes is quite good for that (although it’s covered in smog, you can actually feel it in your lungs!). From what I can say so far, Nepal is in some respects quite similar to India (food, bargaining, pollution, price levels etc.), but very different in others, e.g. there’s A LOT less honking, it’s cooler (you actually have to put on a sweater in the evenings…) and the people look and behave differently; they act in a less intrusive manner and many women wear western style clothes… I like it so far, and I can’t wait to actually explore this country and its culture! We plan on staying in Kathmandu and its surroundings for a couple of days, before heading the Pokhar, from where we want to go trekking for five or six days. I particularly look forward to get out there, to be in and with the nature for a while, far away from pollution and noise!

Phew, I’ve written quite a novel here, but – if you really made it all the way down here – you should be updated now! For pictures check out http://lisa.gezeiten.org…

Hope you’re all good and healthy!!!! Speak soon!

On how to become a Bollywood-star in Mumbai…

Heya guys!

We’ve been in Mumbai since last Saturday, and I have to say that this city is a lot less worse than I expected it to be – it’s reasonable clean (if you ignore the yellow dust cloud that you can see around the city if you go out on a boat) and not so terribly noisy after all for a city with some 16 millions inhabitants. However, as half of the population lives in slums, the difference between the rich and the poor becomes extremely visible. It is a city of contrasts, in any aspect…

The day we arrived we’ve been ‘casted’ right away by a ‘Bollywood agent’ while walking down Colaba courseway who asked us whether we wanted to be part of a Bollywood movie. We thought ‘why not?’ and the next morning were picked up by our ‘agent’ and brought to an outdoor studio at the other end of the city. We spent a good 10 hours at the set, most of which we were standing around in the heat, longing for some shadow, while waiting for instructions („go here!“ – „go there“ – „start walking“ ….). At one point, the people there dressed me up as a nun (what a perfect fit, haha), but I never actually got around to wear the costume during a shoot. Towards the end of the day, while waiting for our ride back to the city, a couple of Indians started talking to Maira and me, eventually resulting in a marriage proposal for me, which I guess was actually meant to be quite serious („you’re nice, he likes you, you are beautiful, he wants to marry you“). Luckily, that guy’s phone rang which gave me an excuse to quickly turn around, walk away and talk to somebody else… Besides that, our ‘agent’ called several people on the set, who handed over their phones to me, in order to convince me to do some ‘voice doubling’ the next day, and/or to come out to a nightclub with him and his friends that night, because „you seem really nice“…

So, eventually, after one day of tasting Bollywood, I decided not to become a Bollywood star (I surely had enough starting points… haha), but rather to stick with my planned career. All the heat, the admirers, the stress, no, that’s not for me…

The one really good thing that came out of this Bollywood day was the acquaintace of some Swedish people, two of whom we are currently sharing a room with. They are really nice, and we spent a lot of time together in the last couple of days eating some western food, visiting some airconditioned shopping malls and watching a Hollywood film – these things somehow make you feel good once in a while, they remind you of home… Hach. We also went on a trip to Elephanta Island with them yesterday, where we visited some old Hindu caves.

Besides that, we’ve been trying to figure out where to next go from here, there are so many options… We kind of longed for a few days at the beach in Goa again (it’s getting increasingly hot up to a point at which the heat is quite hard to handle, especially in a city), but decided against it. We’ll go up to Udaipur, Rajastan tomorrow, and then to Agra and Delhi from where we’ll catch a flight to Nepal at the end of next week. I’ll be very sad to leave India, let me tell you!

So, I guess you’re updated now. I’ve uploaded a bunch of new pictures to my photo page, so make sure you check them out!

Take care folks, and I’d be delighted if you’d write me a couple of lines from your wintery lifes once in a while if you feel like it!