the days are just packed

if you wonder what i do with so much time on my hands-- well, let me tell you, the days are just packed and time flies by:

sleeping: 9 hours
eating and waiting for food: 4 hours
reading: 3 hours
Yoga: 1,5 hours
swimming, beach activities: 3 hours
shower, changing clothes: 1 hour
internet: 1 hour

that leaves 1,5 hours a day that you can easily spent just watching people on the beach or the fisherman sorting out their catch, talking to people.....

last night i went out (a proper night out, involving dancing and alcohol). was fun dancing on the beach surrounded by coconutpalms with the pale moon above you. went to bed at 2, got up this morning at 8, to go to my yoga class. right now i am ready for a siesta and some ice in the sunshine.

the final countdown

it is coming to an end, slowly but it is. 4 more days to go and then i have to leave this idyllic spot to face a 24 hour journey to get back home, home meaning germany. at this point (after travelling for more than 48 hours) this is really not that shocking and i am not worried about the trip at all. after 3 month in india i am pretty tough when it comes to getting to places.
i have not started to worry yet about how to fit all my things into my backpack and i will do do that for another 3 days. i might be close to the 20 kg limit that the airline allows you to carry. i worry about that later as well. worry when the time comes.

johanna has left this morning, at 5 am. exchanged very tired goodbuy hugs and i went back to bed for another 5 hours of sleep. met a new friend at the beach as soon as i got up this morning. so i guess i am not meant to be alone in this country.
went to blue planet for breakfast, stroked "my" cat there. she comes to visit me every day, her fur is cream-colored and ever so soft and despite the fact that she is full of fleas, i love her dearly and allow her to sit on my lat while i eat my breakfast consisting of muesli fruit curd (yogurt).

worst problems at the moment:
my tan lines and my peeling shoulders....what am i going to eat for dinner? where to go for beers?i guess one might say, i don't really have issues at the moment.

beach-sun-beach-swim

it is amazing how little you can do and not get bored. i spent my days reading, laying at the beach, swimming, eating (pineapple!), taking a walk along the shore, watching movies, drinking beer or cocktails, writing mails, occasionally do some laundry...
the sea is so warm, it is like a bath tub. even at night (me and johanna went for a midnight dip last night) the water has a pleasant temperature. during the day the water feels like 30 degrees.
yesterday we got up early to go on a boat trip to see the dolphins. we saw many of them, jumping out of the water and coming quite close to our boat. it was beautiful!
johanna and i are good travel companions! especially here in palolem we take things easy and just go with the flow. we spent a lot of time on our balcony watching people, smoking a cigarette and eating pineapple or drinking a beer at night. we play like little kids in the water and have a lot of fun. johanna sleeps like 14 hours a day and i tease her about it but then i just get up and go for a swim in the morning and read until she gets up. we never argue but seem to be on the same level. the beauty of our friendship is that we can have amazing conversations but also enjoy silence and be comfortable in each others company even when not talking.
we seem to complete each other: she has the torch and the pocket knife, i have the sunscreen and the bug repellent. just little things like that, make it seem like we were meant to meet. she is leaving tomorrow and i will surely miss her.

our favorite restaurants:

the blue planet: organic food, belongs to a german woman. amazing breakfast, they have scrambled tofu and great juices.
smuggler's inn: british pub, the owner is from the uk. great food though a little pricey. the best thing is that they have a little room where you can watch movies and they have a decent selection to choose from.
cuba: nice place to chill at night, though they do not have our favorite brand of beer.
cafe del mare: chilled location to hang out after dinner, can smoke the waterpipe, the cocktails are so so (the add sprite to a mojito....what can you do????).

traveling to paradise

...was quite adventurous, as usual. we took a rickshaw from hampi to hospet (30 min.), then a local train from hospet to hubli. local train means that there is no seat reservation, you just get on and hope you can fit in, somewhere. well, we got on and (miracles happen in india, you just have to believe in it!) even got seats. sitting on a wooden bench for 4 hours was challenging, especially because there were 6 people sharing the bench that was made for 3 persons. well, lets just say, that i had a puking infant next to me, who manage to get most of the puke on the bench, but some of it on me. that's how the journey started and i was not so happy for some parts but then the humor got the better part of me and we just laughed it off. what else to do? we had dinner at the railway station in hubli, got on the right train (after being yelled at my some clerk at the tracks...so random!), managed to sleep a little and - much more important- woke up in time to get off the train at 6 am in the morning. then took 2 rickshaws and a bus and...tatataaaa...here we are. safe and sound!

close to paradise

people, i am in goa, palolem beach. it is amazing. the beach is so white, the ocean so warm, the sky so blue. the beach is a little enclave, you see hills in the distance and there are fishing boats at the shore. it is ever so idyllic. we stay in a beach hut with a little balcony that looks out on the ocean. johanna who only wanted to spent a few days here is thinking about staying the whole week. the place sucks you right in. we got here this morning around 8, have been swimming in the ocean twice since then, ate organic food at a charming little cafe, met some isrealis that we befriended in hampi...life is good. how in the world am i going to life without the wonderful fruits here: the sweetest pineapples, papayas, coconuts (not technically a fruit, friends, i am aware of that)...? life here is good, like a said, paradise. still 40 degrees but with the ocean breeze you don't notice it and if you are too hot? you just go for a dip. i hope i am not making anyone jealous???

hampi

hampi is magical. some archeologists discovered ruins of a complete village that was built in the 14th and 15th century some 30 years ago. before this the village was practically a ghost town. now it is revived and full of tourists. it is off season now, though. rather quiet. we have 40 degress every day, at night still 30 degrees. a few days were unbearably hot, but there is a lake nearby where we went swimming twice (after the second time i lost my bikini on the way...so good thing we are going to goa tonight, where i will be able to buy a new one....). we were not immediately charmed by this place but took 2 days to fall in love. the landscape is ravingly beautiful. huge rockformations, red spoil, green wheat and rice fields, a river wiht bathing ghats just like in varanasi and pushkar where people wash, swimm, bathe, shave, live.... and then there are the ruins. simply amazing. the ruins are spread out over a large aera, temples (one underground), public bath, queen's palace, elephant stables, quuen's bath...water pavillion...the masonry contains small details that stun and amaze you. one of the temple is part of the UNESCO world heritage and has musical pillars that look so fragile and delicate and still manage to survive all those years.
we watched the elephant that lives in a temple here in the village being washed at the river yesterday morning. great fun.
we rented scooters to explore and bikes twice. went to a monkey tmeple, climbed up 600 stairs (at 9 in the morning, because any time after that the heat kills you) and managed not to freak out too much when 50 monkeys surrounded us.
swam at the lake, despite the sign, that swimming is prohibited because of the crocodiles.
watched a movie every night (fight club, snatch, 21 grams, fear and loathing in las vegas, city of god).
have a favourite place to eat called the mango tree. the restaurant is outside underneath a huge mango tree. the restaurant has 4 plateaus where you sit on the fllor and a swing (which i love and spent many hours on). the view from there is such a treat: rice fields, cows and birds, the mangos above you (not ripe yet, it is not the season), coconut palms, the river, some wehite wached houses with straw-thached roofs in the distance as well as some of the enormous rocks that you see all over Hampi.
it is so close to paradise.
we live on hampi island. in order to get there you need to take a boat or wade through the river (water up to your hips). last boat is a 6. in case you miss it you cross the river in a little carcole (which is basically a large weaved basket)- you get wet feet but otherwise it is loads of fun. or course you pay a furtune for the boat after 6. on our side of the river the guesthouses are amazing, great view, beautiful garden, fields behind the houses. we loved it.
our guesthouse belongs to a supernice woman and we enjoyed staying there a lot. we spent quite some time on the bed-swings in front of our room looking up at the palm and mango trees above you.
now i am heading to goa, the beach. about one person a week dies from falling coconuts there!

all there is left for me to do is read and get a tan. johanna will be coming with me so it is promising to be loads of fun.
cheers to you all!

future plans

i forgot to mention. will be moving again, traveling once more for 24 hours. leaving early tomorrow morning for hampi in karnataka, long way towards the westcoast. heard it is a magical place! everyone told me to go, so i do.

pondi

took am extended day trip from mamallapuram to pondicherry. spent one night here, leaving my big bag with johanna here in mamallapuram which was such a relieve--travelling light for a change! pondicherry is ever so lovely, i was quite charmed by it. many buildings from the times when it was a frensh colony. borad and paved streets that are clean and easy to walk on. guys, you actually have road signs here, just imagine. i got a childish thrill out of pronouncing the frensh names and just loved the feel of the place. nice sea breaze, made the heat tolerable, same as here in mamallapuram.
went to see the aurobindo ashram, founded by aurobindo-now a famous guru. i bought a book about him and are determined to read more about his ideas. also went to the paper factory that belongs to the ashram where handmade paper is being produced. i was in paradise....you can walk around and see who they produce the paper and then of course there is a showroom where you can shop. they had the most lovely things you can imagine. just walking around and looking at the colorful paper made me happy. may, yes, you would say: simple mind, simple pleasure!
went to the pondicherry museum where a random collection of old coins, stones, minerals, furniture, paintings, and exhibits from a dig near pondicherry where shown. quite loved it for the chaotic atmosphere, felt more like a flea market than anything. this is what i love mostabout india, there is so much space for development, scope for the imagination!!!
also went to explore the gorgous bontanical garden. all in all i was glad that i went, could have spent much more time there, though. next time!

pondicherry beach

loving mamallapuram

i have a really good time here. love the beach, love the ocean, the smell of fish. it is so hot here. the people say the summer is starting, that means that we have temperatures above 35 degress every day. can not sleep without the fan going but i love the heat and i deal quite well with it. visited many old temples and an orphanage. this place has been famous for stone carving for decades and you see people working on sculptures all over town. it is a small but touristic place with many people trying to sell stuff to you but it is still enjoyable. the south is very differnt from the north. they drink coffee here instead of the chai-that i am addicted to at this point! the chai here is not as good as up north though. otherwise the food is different but i have to dedicate more time to the food that just a few lines. i love indian food whereever i go and here it is more spicy and obviously seafood is popular (not with me, still not).
the language here is no longer hindi but is a regional dialect called tamil. the state i am at is called tamil nadu! people often speak english amongst each other as in the south there are many more dialects spoken than up north.
i have been badly bitten by mosquitos and try hard not to scratch all the time! apparently the bugs love my blood- just my luck.
turns out that johanna from the uk and i get along great. i am going to pondicherry tomorrow and then meet up with here again in mamallapuram. afterwards we are heading to the westcoast to a small place called hampi which is a favourite among backpackers and i quite excited to go and see it. i heard it is magical.
so i am embarking on another 24 hour journey on monday! travelling this time is going to be exciting as we are on a waiting list for the traintickets and do not actually know if we can get on the train until we get there in the morning but at least this time i will not be on my own.

me and india: a love-hate-relationship

if there was a bollywood movie made from my travels in india, i sure hope it would have a happy ending, but some challenging moments would come up before, that is for sure as well. most days, i wake up and feel a deep love for this country and its people: indians are so friendly and interested in you. they love to communicate and chat. they can not say no to you....they claim that everything is possible in india. and it is, for good and for worse things to happen. tragedies and miracles happen daily and it is up to you how to handle them.
yes, india teaches me patience. otherwise you can not deal with it, not at all. getting used to the fact that nothing is fast here, things have their own pace and you should not disturb that by trying to mess with than. if you need to go to the postoffice to send a few postcards, this is not a matter of minutes, this will take about 10-15 at least, depending of how many people are waiting in front of you. the clerk has to be willing to interrupt whatever he is doing at the present and spent a few precious moments with you. then he sells you stamps which you have to glue onto the postcards yourself with a little bottle of glue, that sits on the counter. the glue takes forever to dry but you need to do it properly otherwise the stamps come off again. when that is done you pay and you can be sure that whatever bill you hand to the clerk he will NOT have change but sends someone to a ear by shop to have it changed. after receiving your change you need to insist that he stamps the postcards while you are watching, otherwise they take the stamps of your cards and resell them. the monthly pay of a post office clerk is about 2200 rupies per month---so if i were in his shoes, i would maybe try to earn a little money on the side as well.
on the other hand it can be really annoying having to bargain about everything in india- starting with toilet paper, food, clothes, and ending with transportation. you get really tired of that every once in a while. but i have to say i am an expert at it at this point. you develop feeling of what things cost. or should cost. today i had so many people trying to rip me off that after some time, you get really pissed of and it is hard not to think that people just want your money!!!!
being on your own, also not an easy thing in this country. not at all. most days i am alright and i can cope with the indian chaos. however, there were many situations in the past when i was ever so happy to have tzur and manu with me.
when travelling from orcha to khajuraho i was so sick to my stomach and wherever i sat down (in order to not pass out) people gather and stared or try to sell stuff. i was so sick and sick of india at the same time. suffering is one thing, suffering in public like this a completely different thing. i don't know what i would have done without tzur that day who patiently walked me to the bathroom and bought me water and held my hand.
varanasi for example is also not the best place to be on your own. the streets are dingy at night and i was glad not to be on my own. mamallapuram is small and i feel safe here. so no worries!!!

mamallapuram

the 40 hours train ride turned out to be a 44 hour train ride followed by 3 hours on a bus but yes, I MADE IT. the train was late for over 4 hours but you don't really mind it as after such a long journey-what are 4 hours, really?
i am now officially in the south of india and sort of start the second part of my trip. being without my beloved travel companions that i spent the last month and a half with is hard and weird, though. it is so much more easy to travel with friends, shared responsibility and you always have someone to cheer you up.
however, the train ride was much more fun that i expected, the time flew by. met some fascinating people. there was a couple (he from japan, she from australia) that were in my compartment and entertained me for quite some time. i actually slept well, both nights, wrote endless pages in my diary and tried to catch up and listened to music for hours. very relaxing. did not mind the time in the train, the bus ride was a bit more exhausting, but rather short.
so now i am here and tomorrow i go out to explore. met a girl from the uk and we are meeting for breakfast and then discover this village together. i am excited to see the temples at the beach.

last day in varanasi

varanasi. if you spent your days around the ghats you might think this is a small and spiritual place and a close community as you meet the same people every day. just like pushkar. however, when you actually head out into the city you are back in reality and you will not forget for a single minute that Varanasi has about 1,5 million inhabitants. as all major cities: crowded, crazy busy, traffic is unbelievable, the roads ever so bad, the smells (stench, really) breathtaking and the noises deafening.
despite all this i quite like the city. this morning we woke up to an amazing thunderstorm- lightening, thunder and loads of rain. went on for about 30 minutes, wild! manu, tzur and ricky (another woman from israel we met here in varanasi)left today for nepal and it was that the weather was changing accordingly as everything else was about to change.
i have not quite realized yet that i am on my own again, after being with tzur and manu for almost a month and a half. long time in india. traveling is so intense and you spent so much time together that 45 days are rather like knowing someone for 1 year. it is going to be interesting for the next few days to see how i cope with doing everything on my own again. bought a good book as tonight i am enbarking on my journey to the south. varanasi to chennai. train ride for (attenion, attention!) 40 hours (!!!). from chennai i am either going to a small village called manallapuram or pondicherry. i guess i make up my mind while being on the way or really take whatever bus shows up first. after pondicherry i have a few places that i want to see but not yet a fixed idea where to head next. just go with the flow!

a truely magical experience was the boat ride on the ganges at sunrise. very peaceful and the light was amazing! watching the pilgrims bathe, praying, doing yoga, washing their clothes, children swimming in the water...

at night there are big ceremonies going on at the main ghats after sunset: hundreds of people gather to watch it or participate. either on the ghats or from the water. there are several priests praying, bringing candles, burning incense...drums are being played, mantras sung...flowers, food, sweets, etc...are offered to the gods.
last night on the water i saw two skulls floating by.

for dogs this seems to be a particularly terrible place to be. nowhere in india yet have i seen the dogs in a worse condition than here ( i do not know how they manage to stay alive!). i hope that they too enter the nirvana if they die in varanasi! skinny dogs you see all over india but this... the poor creatures suffered enough for serveral life times. there seems to be a skin disease that many of the puppies have, meaning there is basically no fur left! nb: yes, i do care about the humans, a lot and many times a day your heart just skips a beat because of the suffering! however, the dogs are kicked and ill-treated by everyone!!! they are the lowest creatures here and so i feel that someone has to feel pity for them too!

travelling since leaving pushkar

travels: pushkar-agra-oracha-khajuraho-varanasi

after leaving pushkar we (that is still manu from portugal, tzur from israel and me) went to agra, just to see the taj mahal. most disenchanting moment so far, was not impressed by the taj AT ALL. by a postcard or go to a restaurant nearby and enjoy the roof top, save a fortune and are better of. anyway, so left agra the same day to jhansi and then further to orcha, ugly city, polluted, crowded. long trip with a train and rickshaw...arrived at night.
orcha: ever so lovely, beautiful temples from the 16th century. picturesque and very peaceful. got sick on the last day though. just barely survived the horrible bustrip to khajuraho. claustrophobic busseats, 30 degrees, no fun at all. khajuraho was fun, small town as well, a bit more hassle than in orcha but still quiet enough. met an australian woman again that we saw in orcha. spent a lot of time with her. interesting life, raised 7 children, 3 adopted, lived in so many countries. very inspiring conversations.
then trip to varanasi. got up at 3:30 in the morning, worried a lot about our driver showing up, eventually he did. we left just 50 minutes late. everything is possible in india. it really is. even though we started to late AND had a flat tire on the way we still made it to the trainstation in time.
varanasi: much less crazy than i expected. busy city but very spiritual. walking along the ghats (the steps that lead down to the ganges), watching the pilgrims, the sadhus, the buffalows bathing--you have entertainment enough. i can just spent your days sitting at the ghats watching life. sadhus are holy men who (very much like monks) own nothing, life off what people give them and dedicate their life to studying the holy texts...and smoke up, a lot. they dress in orange (holy color), have dreads, long beards, and most of them are really friendly and like to talk. they invite you to their little home- which is a fireplace underneath a plastic sheet and then their roll a joint and share their wisdom with you. watching the ganges is amazing with the changing lights during the day. at night people go down to pray (puja) and send of little bowls with flowers and candles in them as an offering to the gods. then the little burning boats float down the river and it is an absolutley stunning sight.
expexted the water to be really disgusting and smelly but for india it is not so bad (considering what kind of things happen at the river banks all day you expect it to be much worse). the cremations of the bodies take place directly at the ghats (not all of them, just a few burn bodies) and you can watch while they stack the wood, then bring the body that is covered with cloth...and then they light it on fire.
we are all a little sick (there seems to be a thing going on, loads of travellers we talked to are and were sick) and i think tomorrow we might rest and plan the next days.