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INDIA
YES, today, the 2nd of October, we've spent 2 full days in Delhi, and no bad reports to make.
Anna and me are very happy that we've visited Egypt first. This was a great country to prepare ourselves for India. It is crowded, just a little more than Cairo. It is very warm. Just a little bit more humid than Luxor. And of course totally different!! Today is Gandhi's birthday, so everything is closed. In two days, we're of in a deluxe bus to Dharmsala, after that... we don't know yet. Talk to you again real soon!!!
Today is the 6th of October. Still warm, still crowded and polluted Delhi... no, we haven't left yet to Dharamsala. Why? Because me, Anna, had to cure a bug I got in Egypt, some kind of "alien" bacteria stuck in my digestive system! The weapons to fight it: antibiotics, lots of antibiotics!! Dennis has been luckier, and I don't get it, because he's not as careful as I am. Anyway, the doctor here was very competent (recommended by the embassy) and I'm feeling fine. The cure will be finished in 3 days. Well, Dehli... what can I say? I am not sure I can give you a good description. First of all, the pollution is far worse than what you can imagine. The electric current is not stable and sometimes, as we're waiting for our meals in the restaurant, the power falls out! But they're well equipped and all have power generators that run on the SAME fuel as: rickishaws, scooters, cars, buses, etc... The only "things" moving on ecological fuel (except humans) are cows. Lots of them! Besides these negative points, there are quite some nice things to say as well: The food is great!! Not at all spicy (yet) and very cheap, in lots of variety(compared to Egypt). The pleasures for the eyes, every day!! Things you never ever will see in a western civilisation, pass by in a colourful parade constantly. Women in beautiful sari's, men from different classes, and different religions, in traditional clothing, but with white sneakers and mobile phones. The cultural heritage over the past centuries!! It is really impressive to be here, among all these nice and bad things, it is not heaven, and it is not hell, it's just India.
13 October 2000, Dharamsala, Mcleod Ganj, India
Anna and I have spent 4 days over here, and really welcomed the clean air, the friendlier people and the much cooler climate. This village has in many ways much more to offer than Delhi. This spiritual haven which incorporates a lot of tibetan refugees, including the Dalai Lama and its whole Tibetan Government, has an atmosphere unique in its kind. Numerous meditation courses given by Lama's, yoga schools with their own guru's, not to mention all the other spiritual activities such as Astrology, Reiki, spiritual massages, learning to use the moonlight, hugging trees, well you get the point. Some are good and ask no money for their courses at all, others are probably only after our hard-earned money. All this can be found within a 2 kilometer radius, in this place with only backpackers from all over the world, and all have on thing in common: they want to change, something or someone... Just outside the village, you encounter a beautiful nature, resembling Switzerland in a certain way, where it is really quiet and peaceful. You have nice walks, meet people who are more down to earth and want to escape the new age circus-like center, because it does seem that way from time to time. Sadly, there are also too many vehicles for such a small town and people throw paper and plastic in the streets. Just like everywhere, tourism has its positive and negative sides, but still, it brings money to people who really need it (Tibetan Refugees).
In the evening, we have really great talks with people from everywhere. Imagine the place: a very small cozy poorly lit "Chai" shack (tea house). People there can order drinks, eat very cheap meals, listen to music, have conversations or just listen, play chess, read other people's writings or write themselves in books. Last night, we talked untill 2 am, it was a huge brainstorm, about society, good and bad, emotions, perception of time, science, past, present and future.
All in all with lots of fun and good intentions for everybody!
Something else: we are both really healthy and have no problems whatsoever.
Tonight, we are invited by a very nice Swiss teacher from Thurgau to visit her school for Tibetan Refugees, where she teaches them english. Tonight, they have a disco and singing evening... it will actually remind us what Dharamsala is mainly about: giving the Tibetan refugees a place to stay, where they can preserve their own culture and religion.
Anyway, we'll have fun!!!
Talk to you soon...
6 November 2000, New Delhi, India
We are back again in Delhi, after only having spent a few days in Rajasthan. We've heard before we went there, that it is indeed a beautiful place, but nothing more than that. It was true.
In Jaipur there was the Wind Palace and the City Palace.
Very big and old, but dead at the same time. It was like
looking at a postcard, it didn't feel like it was actually there. Anyway, after that, on the bus to Udaipur. Only 14 hours later, lying on our too short but very wide hotel bed (our feet always stick out) in hotel Minerva.
A little bit more tranquil than Jaipur, but still more a big tourist place than real authentic India. Of course this place is known for the James Bond movie: "Octopussy" which is playing there in every hotel, every evening at 7
o'clock! And the Lake Palace was just a palace in the lake...
So we took a bus out of there, back to Delhi. But this time, we took the wrong bus. We did end up in Delhi, only it took us roughly 16 hours, on a local bus.
In the end, the two of us turned out to be the only ones that made the whole trip from A to B!! It stopped at every little bus stop on the way, with people getting on and off.
Tomorrow we'll leave for Gaya, from where we'll go to Bodhgaya,
a major place/destination of worship for Buddhists around the world. They believe this is the place where the Prince Siddharta became Buddha (got enlightened). We plan to stay there for about 5 days, after which we'll visit Varanasi. From there we'll inform you again. Untill then...
18th of November 2000,
Today we are in Varanasi, but let us tell you first about Bodhgaya... Bodhgaya turned out to be a very nice place. Of course, on the first day, tired and sweaty because of travelling, we were a bit disappointed. After a good night of sleep in the Buthanese Monastery, we visited the small town and its beautiful monasteries: Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Tibetan... Almost every buddhist community has a temple and a monastery there. We also spent a lot of time at the Mahabodhi Temple, where there's a grand-grand-grand-grand son of the Bodhi Tree, the original tree where Buddha got fully enlightened. The temple and the tree are inside a park, where pilgrims and tourists can meditate, walk around, do prostrations, sit quietly or just chat in a very pleasant and quiet environment. In the evening especially, the place has a magic atmosphere, because of the incense burning and the light of thousands of candles...
We also visited the site where the biggest statue in the world will stand. It will be completed in about 4 years and measure about 150m high. The statue will be of Maitreya Buddha (Buddha of Love) and will be a symbol of peace on Earth.
Now let us tell you about our journey between Bodhgaya and Varanasi (about 230km) that took us 22 hours!!!!!!!!!!! We left Bodhgaya at 7:00 to Patna. Patna is the capital of Bihar, and Bihar is the poorest province of India. We had to go to Patna, because all the trains leaving from Gaya, a town near Bodhgaya were fully booked. Partly because of the eye-operation camp that was going on in Bodhgaya. (This was a huge organisation where they would operate 14.000 people in 2 weeks time!!) When we arived in Patna at 12:00 we had breakfast in a fancy restaurant, but still, we saw there the biggest rat ever. Anyway, then to the station. The only seats available for the same day were on a mail-train in sleeper class. Sleeper class is one of the cheapest tickets. (The cheapest is roof-class) This train was still running on steam and left the station exactly on time, at 15:00 but stopped 10 minutes later for an hour or so and then moved some more just to stop again... This went on for a while. Around 18:00 when it started to get dark, the lights in the train wouldn't come on. Being in there with probably the poorest people wasn't really comfortable. When we finally arrived at a station, it would stop for half an hour, while people were coming in and out with peanuts, tea, and necklaces... Around 21:00 a friendly Indian who was sitting in the same train the whole trip, suggested that it might be a good idea to switch trains, 'cause it seemed to him that the train was experiencing engine-failure. But it could also have been track- or signal problems. So, at 22:00, we arrived at a small station called Buxar, this was only 100 kms away from our final destination, Varanasi! At 23:30, the train to Mughal Sarai came, the station 12 kms away from Varanasi, from which we were planning on taking a rickshaw to Varanasi. When we arrived in Mughal Sarai, at 1:30, we were told not to take a rickshaw, because of safety reasons, but to wait for the next train. This train came at 2:30 and dropped us in Varanasi at 3:30, dead tired, hungry and filthy.
Not all trains are like this, but that day there were major problems. Luckily for us there were nice people that really helped us, offered us tea and helped carrying our heavy bags. And nobody asked us to show our tickets. In Varanasi we went to this homely guest house, called Kumiko, run by this Japanese woman and her Indian husband. We went to bed right away. The next day, when Anna woke up, the first thing she said was: "Toilet-paper!" and she ran off. But nevertheless we both got horribly sick and had to see a doctor. We've spent the last 3 days in the hotel room, in bed, with fever and diarrhea. Anyway, tomorrow we're going to visit this town and tell you more about it, next time....
Mumbai, Tuesday the 28th of November
We arrived here in Bombay this morning after a 24 hour train ride from Agra. Agra was a quiet city, where all there is to do is to visit the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. We had planned our arrival in Agra for Thursday, so that we could visit both sites on Friday. Why? Because, except on Friday, we would have had to pay the equivalent of 50 guilders (about 35 CHF). And what do they do with the money? After seeing the poorly maintained gardens and waters, it seemed like the money was going into only a few people's pockets!! Fortunately, Friday is free, even though the guards tried to make us believe that we had to buy a ticket, and unfortunately, on that particular day, it was very foggy... But still, the Taj Mahal is really beautiful and surreal, a little "dead" if you ask us (the tombs that we visited in Egypt were full of life, atmosphere, as if they had just been finished the day before) and we both preferred the Agra Fort.
The train ride from Agra to Mumbai was supposed to take 24 hours and it did just that, to our big suprise. We got dinner in the train and slept pretty good.
Well, Bollywood, as some people call this city, because of all the Hindu films being made here, is not that bad at all. Except for the prices here, which are double compared to any other major city in India, the city is not as polluted, distracting or poor as you'd expect. Of course, like in any big city, there are poor areas. We have seen, this far, palm trees along the seaside boulevard, tall buildings and colonial houses and... no cow shit in the streets: pretty nice, huh?
It is only our second day here, but after travelling for some time, you can tell quite fast how a city is. The plane to Bangkok, via Dubai is leaving on the fifth of December, and we don't mind being on it. As you know, we're staying only 2 months instead of 3, and honestly, we prefer it this way. This last week in India is going to be spend looking back at the last two months, and looking forward to the coming ones. But not taking in the present, 'cause our senses are oversaturated, we had enough of the smells, tastes and looks of India for now. It might be premature to say that we'll come back, but I really think that we will. To Bodhgaya for instance to see the finished Maytreya Buddha, or to Goa and Jaisalmer. There are a lot of places we didn't visit, it would have not been in our time schedule or in our budget, or it just might have been too much of the same....
As for good things, India has inspired us a lot of good thoughts. This is a sentence that we've read in Bodhgaya and it expresses a bit of that. We don't know who wrote it!!!
"Succesful is the person who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of the children; who leaves the world better than they found it; who has never lacked appreciation for earth's beauty; and who never fails to look for the best in others or give the best of themselves."
Anyway, that's it for now, check back with us in a week for more exciting news.
7th of December: We are now in Thailand, we skipped Nepal, so read more news about us in the section "Thailand".
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