India is alweer een aantal maanden geleden... Het lijkt alweer zo ver terug, maar als ik foto's kijk, muziek luister of met reisgenoten erover praat, komt het gevoel van daar zijn weer helemaal terug. En steekt de heimwee nogsteeds stiekem de kop op! Gelukkig wel wat minder dan de eerste twee maanden.
Terug ga ik zeker! Op wat voor termijn valt nog te bezien, maar ik heb nog zoveel plaatsen die ik in India wil bezoeken. Daar kan ik nog heel wat weken mee vullen. We zullen het zien.
Ik vind het een beetje onzin om een nieuwe blog aan te maken dus ik ga hier voorlopig lekker verder bloggen over allerlei andere dingen :) Waaronder m'n moestuin! yeah!
De tuinkriebels hebben toegeslagen, de eerste zaailingen staan al op de vensterbank en in mijn hoofd is bijna geen plaats meer voor andere dingen dan zaden, zaaien en plaatjes van hoe mooi mijn tuin er wel niet uit gaat zien dit jaar :) Vorig jaar was het een grote onkruid ellende na m'n lange reis. Zo lang in de steek gelaten worden vind geen enkele tuin leuk. Dus dit jaar wordt het beter. Ik heb nog geen concrete vakantie plannen en het word in elk geval niet meer dan 'n maand. Gewoon lekker onkruid wieden, boontjes, sla, aardappels, pompoenen, wortels, venkel, spinazie en nog veel meer oogsten en natuurlijk lekker in de zon aan het werk. Nu alleen nog hopen op een goede zomer!
Thursday 26 February 2009
Monday 18 August 2008
Peanutbutter, clean streets and festivals
It's a big shock to be back again.
August the 14th we landed on Schiphol Airport again with the 7 of us. The 12th we already left Sanne, John, Aline and Anil behind in Trivandrum. It was weird to split up. All the time it was like we were not complete. It's a strange feeling not to have everyone around anymore. I miss the game playing the chats and pouncing with Loek, John and Rishi. I miss the big adventure that we were doing with the 11 of us.
Right now i'm writing from the computer at my parents house. I'm just back from a heavy weekend of Music, Mud and Beer at the Lowlands music festival. (went there same day we landed in the Netherlands again). It was great, but my emotions were all mixed up.
I found it very hard to deal with the big differences. At lowlands people spend awefull amounts of money on beer, chips and other fastfood. I couldn't get the picture of the begging children and men and women out of my mind when facing this. the first two days i even found it hard to really have fun, while on the other side of the world, people are in hunger and worrying about the rain that doesn't come. We hoped it would stay dry for the whole weekend. (which didn't happen by the way, but only on the last day people could go mud-sliding on the slopes)
Here its clean, cold, rainy and the trains run in time.
I ate my first sandwich in weeks and even the pasta at the camping tasted like some luxurious dish. I enjoy the clean toilets, with plenty of toiletpaper, the bath, the couch and most of all being with my family and friends again.
I miss the Dosa's for breakfast, the tasty indian spices and the chai-guys on the train. The potato fields in the polder are empty without colourfully dressed women working in the field and i can't take a rikshaw to the citycentre anymore. Tomorrow, the first thing i will do is cycle again. I'm already looking forward.
I still owe you the stories of the last few days. My last post was from Ernakulam. Just before we went to the internetcafé, I heard that one of my guinneapigs died on monday. It was sad news that first didn't got into my mind. Few minutes later tears would flow and a feeling of being powerless got on to me. I was so far away and i had not been able to take care of her during the last days. It still makes me sad. This afternoon i was at least able to cudle the other one that's all alone now. It was nice to have some arms around me and that people of the group cared :)
6th of august
That day we took off to Munnar. In short there are only few words to describe that; beautifull, amazing and incredible. The teahills are just so nice to see. It's all green, with colourfull women picking the leaves from the top of the bushes.
The night before, we took our last nighttrain from Tirumala to Ernakulam. It's a pity, because i really like the Indian night trains. Once you are settled it gives a quite cozy feeling and its nice to talk with eachother while just sitting there relaxed. When we boarded the train, Anil already took care of some food. There was a big bunch of rice wrapped in banana leaf, several sauces in little plastic bags and there were chappati's (which i didn't take). We ate it from the little tins that belong to my lunchbox and listened to some music (John and I were in one compartement). Meanwhile we were amazed by the heavily snoring Indian lady that was lying there as well. Luckily I wasn't bothered by it during the night.
I had a nice sleep and after we arrived in Ernakulam we got some rikshaws to a hostel. Not to stay there, but just to freshen up.
While i was taking a shower, the boys came into the room and started complaining about mine (and later Aline's as well) singing. (I wish i was a punkrocker). It turned out that there was no proper wall between our, and their shower, so they could hear it quite clear. *oops*
Just some seconds later we heard Rishi again saying *Boeuf*
We went to the internetcafé, bought some lunch and around 5 the car arrived to take us to munnar. It was a very nice 13 seater van. When we arrived at Munnar it was already dark. We stayed in a small cozy house of a friend of a friend of Anil. It was cold in the hills.
The next day we made a tour with the bus through the hills, visited the Tata tea museum and went for some boating. Because of strong winds the boats were not running. On the way to the boats we spotted some wild elephants across the lake, very nice to see. But sad at the same moment. On the same spot there were also elephants that lived in captivity and had to cary humans on their back all day. I'm not really fond of these kind of 'attractions'.
We bought a lot of tea at the museum and after the trip we did some shoppings in Munnar. We planned to cook ourselfs that night and it turned out to be great. Almost everyone was helping and who didn't, helped with the dishes. The food was nice and it was even more nice to have some (safe) salad again!
8th of August
The next morning we took off to Allepy (Allepuza). We wanted to make a tour around the backwaters there, but because of a huge boatrace and constructionwork on a bridge, there were no boats running. So we shopped a bit, had some lunch at a tiny restaurant and went back to the hotel. At night Loek and John found a hotel where they sold beer. So we went there around 11, but the bar was already closing. It was a quite dodgy place with all drunky man so we just bought some beer and went back to the hotelroom of the boys, to annoy Rishi. The next morning we took off to Trivandrum, our final destination already!
9th of August
On the way to Trivandrum we booked a cheap hostel and at arrival Loek and I checked the rooms. They looked neat and pretty clean. This turned out to be a result of the fact that they just chased away the cockroaches that were appearing later on. I guess its all part of the experience and i wasn't really bothered by it.
The first night we went to a big shopping centre where i bought heaps of fabric, another churidar-top and a purse. We also bought a beautifull saree for Anil's mother. We had some dinner in a small restaurant again and went back to the hostel. The next day the beach was on the program. Except for Loek and Rishi, who went to the most southern tip of India. Together with Arianne, Sanne, John en Caroline I went to the beach at Kovalam. We took a taxi that waited for us the whole day. It is a very nice beach, we had good breakfast, i got seriously sunburnt and payed way to much for a big picknick-sheet. It was a nice day.
The next day Yoga and meditation was on the programm. Thanks to the efforts of some people we finally had appointments on that. The yoga was very nice and the meditation was also a very nice experience.
That evening we had dinner with the whole group at Kovalam Beach. There was a speech of the whole group for Anil and one from Anil to the whole group. We went back to the hostel where i started to pack my bag (around 11 pm). Sanne already hopped in her bed, she was not leaving yet. by 2 am i was all packed. I chased away a whole family of ants from my bag (there were sweets in it) and made a last picture of the cockroach. Meanwhile it was raining cats&dogs outside. I decided to take a shower, but as soon as i opened the door to the bathroom i found out i didn't have to use the tap. Water was coming down from the ceiling like a shower. Now we knew why the cockroaches sometimes were on their back suddenly. I took a shower, tried to dry myself without getting even more wet and went to bed at 2:15am. The alarm rang at 3:15, i got up, stacked away my mosquito net and got my bags ready.
12th of August
4 am
We went to the airport at Trivandrum. There we had to wait for a few minutes untill we could check in. It was a sad happening. It just didn't feel right to split up after so many days being together. We said goodbye to Anil, Aline, Sanne and John and checked in. After the check-in some tears tried to fight themselfs free. The flight was quite relaxed and at Delhi we arranged some prepaid taxi's. The last days we spent in the Youth hostel, writing our diary, sleeping and dreaming of the nice part of going home (bread, cheese, clean toilets, family and friends ... ).
pictures and maybe some more stories that i forgot will follow soon :)
August the 14th we landed on Schiphol Airport again with the 7 of us. The 12th we already left Sanne, John, Aline and Anil behind in Trivandrum. It was weird to split up. All the time it was like we were not complete. It's a strange feeling not to have everyone around anymore. I miss the game playing the chats and pouncing with Loek, John and Rishi. I miss the big adventure that we were doing with the 11 of us.
Right now i'm writing from the computer at my parents house. I'm just back from a heavy weekend of Music, Mud and Beer at the Lowlands music festival. (went there same day we landed in the Netherlands again). It was great, but my emotions were all mixed up.
I found it very hard to deal with the big differences. At lowlands people spend awefull amounts of money on beer, chips and other fastfood. I couldn't get the picture of the begging children and men and women out of my mind when facing this. the first two days i even found it hard to really have fun, while on the other side of the world, people are in hunger and worrying about the rain that doesn't come. We hoped it would stay dry for the whole weekend. (which didn't happen by the way, but only on the last day people could go mud-sliding on the slopes)
Here its clean, cold, rainy and the trains run in time.
I ate my first sandwich in weeks and even the pasta at the camping tasted like some luxurious dish. I enjoy the clean toilets, with plenty of toiletpaper, the bath, the couch and most of all being with my family and friends again.
I miss the Dosa's for breakfast, the tasty indian spices and the chai-guys on the train. The potato fields in the polder are empty without colourfully dressed women working in the field and i can't take a rikshaw to the citycentre anymore. Tomorrow, the first thing i will do is cycle again. I'm already looking forward.
I still owe you the stories of the last few days. My last post was from Ernakulam. Just before we went to the internetcafé, I heard that one of my guinneapigs died on monday. It was sad news that first didn't got into my mind. Few minutes later tears would flow and a feeling of being powerless got on to me. I was so far away and i had not been able to take care of her during the last days. It still makes me sad. This afternoon i was at least able to cudle the other one that's all alone now. It was nice to have some arms around me and that people of the group cared :)
6th of august
That day we took off to Munnar. In short there are only few words to describe that; beautifull, amazing and incredible. The teahills are just so nice to see. It's all green, with colourfull women picking the leaves from the top of the bushes.
The night before, we took our last nighttrain from Tirumala to Ernakulam. It's a pity, because i really like the Indian night trains. Once you are settled it gives a quite cozy feeling and its nice to talk with eachother while just sitting there relaxed. When we boarded the train, Anil already took care of some food. There was a big bunch of rice wrapped in banana leaf, several sauces in little plastic bags and there were chappati's (which i didn't take). We ate it from the little tins that belong to my lunchbox and listened to some music (John and I were in one compartement). Meanwhile we were amazed by the heavily snoring Indian lady that was lying there as well. Luckily I wasn't bothered by it during the night.
I had a nice sleep and after we arrived in Ernakulam we got some rikshaws to a hostel. Not to stay there, but just to freshen up.
While i was taking a shower, the boys came into the room and started complaining about mine (and later Aline's as well) singing. (I wish i was a punkrocker). It turned out that there was no proper wall between our, and their shower, so they could hear it quite clear. *oops*
Just some seconds later we heard Rishi again saying *Boeuf*
We went to the internetcafé, bought some lunch and around 5 the car arrived to take us to munnar. It was a very nice 13 seater van. When we arrived at Munnar it was already dark. We stayed in a small cozy house of a friend of a friend of Anil. It was cold in the hills.
The next day we made a tour with the bus through the hills, visited the Tata tea museum and went for some boating. Because of strong winds the boats were not running. On the way to the boats we spotted some wild elephants across the lake, very nice to see. But sad at the same moment. On the same spot there were also elephants that lived in captivity and had to cary humans on their back all day. I'm not really fond of these kind of 'attractions'.
We bought a lot of tea at the museum and after the trip we did some shoppings in Munnar. We planned to cook ourselfs that night and it turned out to be great. Almost everyone was helping and who didn't, helped with the dishes. The food was nice and it was even more nice to have some (safe) salad again!
8th of August
The next morning we took off to Allepy (Allepuza). We wanted to make a tour around the backwaters there, but because of a huge boatrace and constructionwork on a bridge, there were no boats running. So we shopped a bit, had some lunch at a tiny restaurant and went back to the hotel. At night Loek and John found a hotel where they sold beer. So we went there around 11, but the bar was already closing. It was a quite dodgy place with all drunky man so we just bought some beer and went back to the hotelroom of the boys, to annoy Rishi. The next morning we took off to Trivandrum, our final destination already!
9th of August
On the way to Trivandrum we booked a cheap hostel and at arrival Loek and I checked the rooms. They looked neat and pretty clean. This turned out to be a result of the fact that they just chased away the cockroaches that were appearing later on. I guess its all part of the experience and i wasn't really bothered by it.
The first night we went to a big shopping centre where i bought heaps of fabric, another churidar-top and a purse. We also bought a beautifull saree for Anil's mother. We had some dinner in a small restaurant again and went back to the hostel. The next day the beach was on the program. Except for Loek and Rishi, who went to the most southern tip of India. Together with Arianne, Sanne, John en Caroline I went to the beach at Kovalam. We took a taxi that waited for us the whole day. It is a very nice beach, we had good breakfast, i got seriously sunburnt and payed way to much for a big picknick-sheet. It was a nice day.
The next day Yoga and meditation was on the programm. Thanks to the efforts of some people we finally had appointments on that. The yoga was very nice and the meditation was also a very nice experience.
That evening we had dinner with the whole group at Kovalam Beach. There was a speech of the whole group for Anil and one from Anil to the whole group. We went back to the hostel where i started to pack my bag (around 11 pm). Sanne already hopped in her bed, she was not leaving yet. by 2 am i was all packed. I chased away a whole family of ants from my bag (there were sweets in it) and made a last picture of the cockroach. Meanwhile it was raining cats&dogs outside. I decided to take a shower, but as soon as i opened the door to the bathroom i found out i didn't have to use the tap. Water was coming down from the ceiling like a shower. Now we knew why the cockroaches sometimes were on their back suddenly. I took a shower, tried to dry myself without getting even more wet and went to bed at 2:15am. The alarm rang at 3:15, i got up, stacked away my mosquito net and got my bags ready.
12th of August
4 am
We went to the airport at Trivandrum. There we had to wait for a few minutes untill we could check in. It was a sad happening. It just didn't feel right to split up after so many days being together. We said goodbye to Anil, Aline, Sanne and John and checked in. After the check-in some tears tried to fight themselfs free. The flight was quite relaxed and at Delhi we arranged some prepaid taxi's. The last days we spent in the Youth hostel, writing our diary, sleeping and dreaming of the nice part of going home (bread, cheese, clean toilets, family and friends ... ).
pictures and maybe some more stories that i forgot will follow soon :)
Tuesday 5 August 2008
Dear diary, ode to the dosa.
I'm in love. Not in India, but with India. We've spent a day on the coutryside again today after we arrived this morning @ 4 am. I really liked to see all the big cities untill now, but the countryside is just magic. I can already see myself living in one of the colourfull little houses with the laundry on the roof and busy with making some scentfull spicy dinner.
With dosa's ofcourse.
Dosa's are, often huge, pancakes made of fermented rice and gram flour. on one side they are crispy, the other side stays white and a bit stickyt. In between (they fold it once or twice) there are often spiced potatoes with onions. Like this it is called ' masala dosa'. It is served on a big Iron plate, or on a banana leaf, wrapped in newspaper. They come with two kinds of dipsauce. One creamy kind made of peanuts and one spicy kind made of transparent stuff. I love them and everybody's laughing when i want a dosa again. I'm already renamed miss Dosa by Anil ;)!
For the rest things are going pretty good. My health is better now and except for a cold with a runny nose (despite the hot weather here in Mutyalapadu) i have nothing to complain about.
John and Loek decided quite some time before i write this that they wanted to have a shave at an Indian barber. Just for the nice experience. But untill now that didn't happen and since they are too lazy and don't want to do it themselfs the beards are becoming bigger and bigger. It won't be long 'till they will also need a 'beardnet' when travelling (like the older Indian men have sometimes). I don't think its gonna get that far though. Now i'm typing this part of my diary on the blog, they already had a shave and it was really nice to see how that goes. Pictures will be there later because i don't have a usb-port here. I'm already happy when the computer doesn't fall apart while i'm typing i guess.
The last day in Hyderabad was nice. we visited a museum, climbed the Char Minar and went bangle-shopping. also i bought some traditional lunch boxes (they're awesome!). Not very handy that i have to carry them around all the time, but they are just too hip!.
For the first time since i'm here i got sunburnt. the sun is more sharp in the south and its very dry. But it was not as bad as it looked and its all fine now.
After hyderabad we went on to Kadapa, Anil's home town. There we met his family and some friends and i got my hair flowered (with jasmin flowers, they smell goooood) and i have another Henna-tattoo. This one lasts longer and is made by female friends of Anil. Its a beautifull one and i hope to still have it when arriving back in the Netherlands again to show everyone ;).
At this moment we are in Ernakulam. we go to Munnar tonight. i don't have much time so there's much more to come :)
Love from sunny Kerala,
Zoe
With dosa's ofcourse.
Dosa's are, often huge, pancakes made of fermented rice and gram flour. on one side they are crispy, the other side stays white and a bit stickyt. In between (they fold it once or twice) there are often spiced potatoes with onions. Like this it is called ' masala dosa'. It is served on a big Iron plate, or on a banana leaf, wrapped in newspaper. They come with two kinds of dipsauce. One creamy kind made of peanuts and one spicy kind made of transparent stuff. I love them and everybody's laughing when i want a dosa again. I'm already renamed miss Dosa by Anil ;)!
For the rest things are going pretty good. My health is better now and except for a cold with a runny nose (despite the hot weather here in Mutyalapadu) i have nothing to complain about.
John and Loek decided quite some time before i write this that they wanted to have a shave at an Indian barber. Just for the nice experience. But untill now that didn't happen and since they are too lazy and don't want to do it themselfs the beards are becoming bigger and bigger. It won't be long 'till they will also need a 'beardnet' when travelling (like the older Indian men have sometimes). I don't think its gonna get that far though. Now i'm typing this part of my diary on the blog, they already had a shave and it was really nice to see how that goes. Pictures will be there later because i don't have a usb-port here. I'm already happy when the computer doesn't fall apart while i'm typing i guess.
The last day in Hyderabad was nice. we visited a museum, climbed the Char Minar and went bangle-shopping. also i bought some traditional lunch boxes (they're awesome!). Not very handy that i have to carry them around all the time, but they are just too hip!.
For the first time since i'm here i got sunburnt. the sun is more sharp in the south and its very dry. But it was not as bad as it looked and its all fine now.
After hyderabad we went on to Kadapa, Anil's home town. There we met his family and some friends and i got my hair flowered (with jasmin flowers, they smell goooood) and i have another Henna-tattoo. This one lasts longer and is made by female friends of Anil. Its a beautifull one and i hope to still have it when arriving back in the Netherlands again to show everyone ;).
At this moment we are in Ernakulam. we go to Munnar tonight. i don't have much time so there's much more to come :)
Love from sunny Kerala,
Zoe
Monday 28 July 2008
Rain, rest and a serious lack of chocolate
Im writing from Hyderabad now. We arrived this morning round 3 am at the place of a friend of Anil. He offers us his appartement for free. Its a very nice apartment and we will stay here for 3 nights and three days. Tomorrow we will do another excursion to ICRISAT an institute.
Yesterday we were in Utnoor. A small village where solidardad supports a project of organic cotton growing. The farmers converted 2 years ago and this year they will sell their yield for the first time as certified organic. This will be certified by SKAL, the Dutch label for organic products. In this way the farmers earn more money and they don't have to purchase artificial fertilizers and pesticides, which are huge investments for these farmers. I find it really interesting to hear about this wonderfull kind of projects. It really makes me smile to see that there are people that despite the enormous polution in india, are doing their best to make things better for people and planet. And im not the only one smiling. When we asked the farmers if they were happy they converted, we didn't need our translator to hear the answer. about 20 big smiles appeared on the faces of the colourfully dressed women and the more sober dressed men.It was a really nice village with open, nice and warm people that for the first time, didn't gave me the feeling that i was some kind of rare species in a Zoo. They showed us their fields, we dirtied our shoes on the last moment in the rich clayey soil and went back to the car.
Contrary to the day before, John managed not to put his feet in the shit. That certain day he was warned by an Indian guy ' watch out, shit' when he stepped into something smelly that defenitely was not from the farm animals...
We went back to the office where we could freshen up a bit and went with one big car and a small one to Hyderabad. Because the cars were too small to also put the luggage inside, it was put on the roof... Too bad the driver didnt got the purpose of our raincovers and placed our bags with them facing down, making our backpacks into perfect fish-bowls. Despite several times of asking for plastic cover, there was no plastic available and the drivers seemed to lazy to make it into an effort to search for some. We decided to hope it would stay drie.Ofcourse it didnt (its the rainy season *duh*) And after a while of driving in a nice monsoon rainfall we asked again. And again no response. they said there was no plastic available at this time of night. So at least we convinced them to turn the bags around to prevent them of getting more wet. The rest of the way we had quite some rain and i was really angry at the drivers for their non-caring behaviour for our luggage.
In the sleeping place it turned out that only some trousers, the lonelyplanet and some books got a bit moisty so i was releaved it wasnt that bad. My luggage stayed quite dry so i was quite lucky.
We had some nice Biryani for lunch (typical rice dish for this area) and now i'm here, in a small inernetcafe. As a last surprise i have some nice pictures. the two above ones are at the farm yesterday. The one with the dot on my forehead is at the themepark where i ate my dheli-belly food
and below there is the Taj-Mahal group picture and a cockroach in our Hotel sink *eeeek* :P I'm really craving for chocolate, but they don't sell any proper stuff here... together with crispy salad thats what i miss most of the dutch food. And all my dropjes are gone by now... But for dinner and lunch the indian food is too good to be true!
write to you soon!
Thursday 24 July 2008
Internet in Indian time ;)
Slow Internet... like everything in India, you can at least double the time when someone says that something will take 5 minutes, that we will meet in an hour or that the taxi will arrive in a few minutes. Also the trains are always delayed. And actually i'm really getting used to it. Indian people are not in a hurry and under the thumb of their watch. I like it. But the bad side is that i cannot really upload pictures because it takes a lot of time. Maybe i will try later and figure something out with the size of the pictures.
Yesterday we've seen the Taj Mahal and went to a restaurant where we had a lot of powercuts after eachother, pretty funny actually. And its better when it happens in a restaurant than in a busy trainstation.
Now we are in Jhamal, it is pretty hot and sunny here, although its almost dark right now. I do not have much time, we want to go back to the hostel before it gets really dark so this is it for now. I hope to write more later because I'm still full of stories!
Namaste!
Zoe
Yesterday we've seen the Taj Mahal and went to a restaurant where we had a lot of powercuts after eachother, pretty funny actually. And its better when it happens in a restaurant than in a busy trainstation.
Now we are in Jhamal, it is pretty hot and sunny here, although its almost dark right now. I do not have much time, we want to go back to the hostel before it gets really dark so this is it for now. I hope to write more later because I'm still full of stories!
Namaste!
Zoe
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Chai Chai, Beautifull Cities, Delhi Belly and Spicy food
Hi everyone!
Finally some news from India on my blog! To start I can tell you that i really love it here! The arrival in Delhi was overwhelming. Our first experience with the Indian traffic was scary, but we are quite used to it by now. The taxi drivers are experts in using their horns (claxons) to tell others they are about to pass or just to make others drive faster once the traffic light turned green.
The hostel was quite nice and Anil taught us some basic do’s and don’ts to survive in the social Jungle of India. After an amazingly good night on a amazingly hard mattress we explored Delhi. First by foot, then again by taxi to visit the FAO office to have a lecture. Very interesting and again we had some Chai or coffee there. About chai i will have to tell you a bit more. Chai is supposed to be a milky tea, that is very sweet and to which some herbs are added. Our first experience with it was until now the worse; The chai in the hostel sucked. I am not a fan of milk anyway and on top of that a vegan so i try to avoid it from now on. Indians must be real sweet tooths!
After some sight seeing in Delhi and getting trapped in the first tourist-shop where we were dropped by our van-driver it was time to move on.
With the night train to Dehradun, where we would arrive next morning. There we would be picked up by someone from the Navdanya farm. This is a farm, founded by Vandana Shiva (google it) and strives towards more biodiversity and fair chances of farmers.
The property was beautifull and we stayed in a nice room. To my opinion we had the best food until now at that place. The food was cooked in the common kitchen, everybody could help. The second day we did that by peeling peanuts. After breakfast, dinner or lunch everyone cleaned their own utensils , plates and cups. The atmosphere was amazing there and we had great lectures, of which one was about handspun clothes, of which i bought one yesterday in Jaipur.
After 3 nights in this nice place and a lot of delicious organic mango’s and bananas later, we had to move on. On the last day we went to Mussoori. This is a village at 2 km altitude in the mountains near Dehradun. It was a nice city and we had a walk there in the cooler, cleaner and less humid mountain air. It was nice to have a familiar climate for a while. In Dehradun it was about 30 degrees and really humid; even our outdoor towels didn’t dry fast enough.
When we came back from the mountains we packed our last things, drank the last chai-chai or choffee (chai with John’s instant coffee) and entered the taxi. Once at the trainstation we had our usual delay.
Indian trains somehow tend to have at least 1.5 hours of delay, but surprisingly enough they always arrive around the planned time. Very strange. But i don’t think one of us will complain about the NS (Dutch rail ways also know as Niet Snel), because half an hour is just nothing. During this waiting we experienced our first powercut outside. Because we had a lot of luggage everybody stressed to pull out a torch to light the luggage; it can be an easy target of theft in the dark.
In the train there was the normal chaos of seats that weren’t properly booked, but at least this time it weren’t ours. After a tiring night with kids crying we arrived again in Delhi. Here we had some hours of free time before we could catch our next train to our destination; Jaipur. We stayed in a ‘ rest room’ where there were not so many people, so it was more relaxed to sit there for a while. When we were waiting at Delhi the first time, we tried to play a game of Uno, but this was such a ‘ tourist attraction’ for the Indian people there, that we had to quit. It was not safe to have so many people gathered around us with all the luggage and valuables we were carrying.
That caution is important was clear after an attempt to steal my wallet while i was about to board the train. Too bad for the bastard, but i noticed, slapped his hand and he left. I felt angry that someone had the guts to touch my money, it’s not like we don’t have to work for it because we are from Europe. But it was a good lesson and i am more carefull in messy situations since people like this take advantage of this.
Ok, enough of the bad sides of the trip until now! India is an amazing country, once i got used to the chaos i can enjoy the beautifull buildings, colourfull dressed women everywhere, the totally different habits and the oh-so-tasty food. Also the heat is nice when you stay relaxed.
Jaipur
When we arrived at the station of Jaipur i got overwhelmed by the totally different atmosphere here. My first impression was that it was more friendly than Delhi and not as stressed. The traffic is not as busy and it is not as crowded with people that are simply everywhere. But still there are the big opposits, which is the same as in Delhi. From one second to another you can smell urine or jasmine, garbage or incense, food or cowdung. When you see a nice building, it’s very likely that on the side there is an alley that, to us, looks more like a trash bin and smells like hell. There are little shops that sell everything you can imagine ranging from clothes, incense, spices, bicycles, cookware, bangles and foods to flower chains, fruits, chai and games.
Jaipur turned out to be less ‘ friendly’ than i expected. The people are more grumpy and sometimes eaven sneaky and dodgy. They are more ‘aggressive’ towards tourists, especially the beggars.
Yesterday we roamed around the little streets, had a nice lunch and after that went to a kind of theme park where we got a bindhi (red spot on forehead), traditional meal and a lot of attractions like henna tattoo ( i have one! :D), puppets theatre and a kind of fair with swings etc.
The food was really nice, but not really safe; result: my very first Delhi Belly! Very nice... i wasn’t really happy with it, but it’s getting a bit better and i could still join with the program of today.
Today we went with a AC (airco) van to do some sightseeing around and in Jaipur. We saw the city palace, water palace, Amber fort and i bought my first souvenirs and a booklet, because my diary is already getting pretty stuffed with stories!
Tonight we will depart to Agra to see the magnificent Taj Mahal, Agra fort and some other things. It will be a tiring night though, because we will travel between 24h and 6 am. But it is really worth it. I am loving India and I am really willing to have a lack of sleep for that
There is much much much more to tell, but i will stop now, hope that dinner will bring something nice and not too spicy to safe my stomach today!
Namaste!
Zoe
Ps. If you want to reply on the blog you need a Gmail account. You can also email ofcourse!
Finally some news from India on my blog! To start I can tell you that i really love it here! The arrival in Delhi was overwhelming. Our first experience with the Indian traffic was scary, but we are quite used to it by now. The taxi drivers are experts in using their horns (claxons) to tell others they are about to pass or just to make others drive faster once the traffic light turned green.
The hostel was quite nice and Anil taught us some basic do’s and don’ts to survive in the social Jungle of India. After an amazingly good night on a amazingly hard mattress we explored Delhi. First by foot, then again by taxi to visit the FAO office to have a lecture. Very interesting and again we had some Chai or coffee there. About chai i will have to tell you a bit more. Chai is supposed to be a milky tea, that is very sweet and to which some herbs are added. Our first experience with it was until now the worse; The chai in the hostel sucked. I am not a fan of milk anyway and on top of that a vegan so i try to avoid it from now on. Indians must be real sweet tooths!
After some sight seeing in Delhi and getting trapped in the first tourist-shop where we were dropped by our van-driver it was time to move on.
With the night train to Dehradun, where we would arrive next morning. There we would be picked up by someone from the Navdanya farm. This is a farm, founded by Vandana Shiva (google it) and strives towards more biodiversity and fair chances of farmers.
The property was beautifull and we stayed in a nice room. To my opinion we had the best food until now at that place. The food was cooked in the common kitchen, everybody could help. The second day we did that by peeling peanuts. After breakfast, dinner or lunch everyone cleaned their own utensils , plates and cups. The atmosphere was amazing there and we had great lectures, of which one was about handspun clothes, of which i bought one yesterday in Jaipur.
After 3 nights in this nice place and a lot of delicious organic mango’s and bananas later, we had to move on. On the last day we went to Mussoori. This is a village at 2 km altitude in the mountains near Dehradun. It was a nice city and we had a walk there in the cooler, cleaner and less humid mountain air. It was nice to have a familiar climate for a while. In Dehradun it was about 30 degrees and really humid; even our outdoor towels didn’t dry fast enough.
When we came back from the mountains we packed our last things, drank the last chai-chai or choffee (chai with John’s instant coffee) and entered the taxi. Once at the trainstation we had our usual delay.
Indian trains somehow tend to have at least 1.5 hours of delay, but surprisingly enough they always arrive around the planned time. Very strange. But i don’t think one of us will complain about the NS (Dutch rail ways also know as Niet Snel), because half an hour is just nothing. During this waiting we experienced our first powercut outside. Because we had a lot of luggage everybody stressed to pull out a torch to light the luggage; it can be an easy target of theft in the dark.
In the train there was the normal chaos of seats that weren’t properly booked, but at least this time it weren’t ours. After a tiring night with kids crying we arrived again in Delhi. Here we had some hours of free time before we could catch our next train to our destination; Jaipur. We stayed in a ‘ rest room’ where there were not so many people, so it was more relaxed to sit there for a while. When we were waiting at Delhi the first time, we tried to play a game of Uno, but this was such a ‘ tourist attraction’ for the Indian people there, that we had to quit. It was not safe to have so many people gathered around us with all the luggage and valuables we were carrying.
That caution is important was clear after an attempt to steal my wallet while i was about to board the train. Too bad for the bastard, but i noticed, slapped his hand and he left. I felt angry that someone had the guts to touch my money, it’s not like we don’t have to work for it because we are from Europe. But it was a good lesson and i am more carefull in messy situations since people like this take advantage of this.
Ok, enough of the bad sides of the trip until now! India is an amazing country, once i got used to the chaos i can enjoy the beautifull buildings, colourfull dressed women everywhere, the totally different habits and the oh-so-tasty food. Also the heat is nice when you stay relaxed.
Jaipur
When we arrived at the station of Jaipur i got overwhelmed by the totally different atmosphere here. My first impression was that it was more friendly than Delhi and not as stressed. The traffic is not as busy and it is not as crowded with people that are simply everywhere. But still there are the big opposits, which is the same as in Delhi. From one second to another you can smell urine or jasmine, garbage or incense, food or cowdung. When you see a nice building, it’s very likely that on the side there is an alley that, to us, looks more like a trash bin and smells like hell. There are little shops that sell everything you can imagine ranging from clothes, incense, spices, bicycles, cookware, bangles and foods to flower chains, fruits, chai and games.
Jaipur turned out to be less ‘ friendly’ than i expected. The people are more grumpy and sometimes eaven sneaky and dodgy. They are more ‘aggressive’ towards tourists, especially the beggars.
Yesterday we roamed around the little streets, had a nice lunch and after that went to a kind of theme park where we got a bindhi (red spot on forehead), traditional meal and a lot of attractions like henna tattoo ( i have one! :D), puppets theatre and a kind of fair with swings etc.
The food was really nice, but not really safe; result: my very first Delhi Belly! Very nice... i wasn’t really happy with it, but it’s getting a bit better and i could still join with the program of today.
Today we went with a AC (airco) van to do some sightseeing around and in Jaipur. We saw the city palace, water palace, Amber fort and i bought my first souvenirs and a booklet, because my diary is already getting pretty stuffed with stories!
Tonight we will depart to Agra to see the magnificent Taj Mahal, Agra fort and some other things. It will be a tiring night though, because we will travel between 24h and 6 am. But it is really worth it. I am loving India and I am really willing to have a lack of sleep for that
There is much much much more to tell, but i will stop now, hope that dinner will bring something nice and not too spicy to safe my stomach today!
Namaste!
Zoe
Ps. If you want to reply on the blog you need a Gmail account. You can also email ofcourse!
Saturday 12 July 2008
2 Daaaays!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! only 2 nights left. Its saturday now and i'm really pretty nervous now. But i'm still very much looking forward to the adventure thats awaiting us in India :) Mondaymorning, 7 o clock at schiphol airport and one hour later, we are really on the way to our big adventure;
Finally India!
Zoë
Finally India!
Zoë
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