Langkawi and Koh Lipe - this Chistmas climbing to the first spot on the bests'..

On Langkawi we stayed at the Malibest resort, recommended by Viks and Harry, my friend in KL too - it was okay, nothing special but close to the beach and 30 EUR for a night; apart from the huge amount of mozzies we had to deal with it was fine.

After a failed try to get some coffee from Viva Italia in the morning - the "Indian juice" was close to disgusting... - had some nice breakfast at the Tomato place, and then hit the roads of Langkawi on a bike... well, scooter, to be more specific. We cruised to the north side of the island, eventually found the Black Sand beach, had some coconut water at a beautiful spot further up north, ran around, cought a bit of a rainshower to cool down; and then couldnt resist a thai dinner in the eve, even though Thailand was only a day away.

My memories of how far I had to go 2 years ago failed me when planning the morning and we ended up at the pier waaaay to early before the boat departure time - it was an 8.30am departure that we arrived for at 7.45, and we didnt leave until 9.45 - rather annoying.... but then, a few hours later we reached Koh Lipe, and put a smile on both our faces that didnt disappear until we had to leave for Phuket 3 days later.

Here are the some of the photos Dave took - yes I am having my camera with me from now on, too... :) - just so that you know what I am talking about if you havent been on Koh Lipe yet..



Varin Beach resort was home for the 3 days: 1800 THB for a night including breakfast - 45 EUR, a newly built bungalow with AC, clean and sweet, the breakfast nice enough that kept us going until 3-4pm every day.

The beach on this island is exactly what I remembered: the most beautiful of all the places I have been to. Needless to say, it was the company that made these few days absolutely mindblowing, and the island was the second biggest part of it of course: just picture perfect, warm sea so clean its hard to believe, white sand, palmtrees, simply magical. After spending the whole day at the beach, had a few JDandCokes, and then hit another beachbar for a few more on Christmas eve, had a pad thai just because we could, sent a lantern to all of you with our best wishes, swam and snorkelled during the days, walked around, read a book on the porch, watched a movie as part of the afternoon nap, played frisbe on the beach with Ken, 12 year-old from Thailand, had killer longislandiceteas at Naomi's Monkeybar, laughed and laughed some more and hoped the magic would never end.... :D I was really considering just staying there until all my money ran out, but common sense won, left Koh Lipe with Tigerlinetravel.com, heading to Phuket on the 27th...

Next up is Koh Tao for NYE/day and then back to Phuket for January with all kinds of new excitements, such as cooking class and thai massage class and kitesurfing and yoga and beach and sunshine and diving..... aaaaaahhhh so very sweet... :)

Asia baby - first stop: KL

And another Asia chapter started on the 20th of December, right on my lil brothers birthday: after the painful 18-hour trip - though without any dealys due to snow or airports being closed down etc - landed in KL, safe and sound, ready to enjoy every minute of this..... awesomeness..... :D

My neighbour on the plane this time was Edward Cullen's twin-brother, this scary but in some ways kinda beautiful guy from Ukraine, with whom I had a short, and for him - I am assuming - painful conversation: it all started about 20 minutes after I took my sleepingpill.. I was still trying very hard to make some sense but did not succeed at all... And then needless to say, I only managed a 2 hour nap while he, taking my backup pill, slept the whole way to Kuala.

Regardless of the short sleep, I was so excited to see Dave that my good energies got me out of the airport within 20 minutes, and landed at the door of that fabulous hotel room an hour after I touched ground - not a bad effort at all!
The first stroll in the afternoon took us to KLCC and the fav chickenrice shop, then, the second one to Waikiki - god that place changed so much!!! Nothing even slightly resembles to the good old Waikiki bar, its empty and sad, the stuff is ignorant, the drinks are expensive and horrible, not sure I'd want to go back there again. Speaking of empty, it was scary how dead KL was, nothing comparable to the Asian mess I was used to in the past.

The first night with the body-clock-mess was not the best and I only managed a few hours sleep, but spending half of the next day at the hotel pool cured it all.... I thought....
We went to Jln Alor for some char kway tiao and fried stingray for lunch, then to Times Square and convinced Dave to get on the indoor rollercoaster with me - that was AWESOME! I remember trying to get Bernard and everyone else to go with me but it just never happened while living in KL - glad I didnt miss out on it this time. :D it was really cool!

Here are Dave's pics from KL and Langkawi:



Missing out on meeting Sharm and the boys due to their busy schedules, then Nong, my lovely Indonesian massage lady due to some major miscommunication - I was verymuch looking forward to see Jit and meet his son and wife finally. We grabbed some wine and chocolate and took a taxi from KL Sentral to Sunway Pyramids - funny enough, I havent been to that place until now. Jit picked us up with Rahul, had a crazy drive with the 6 year-old wrestling Dave on the back seat, and after some drinks at their lovely home we went for this HUGE chinese dinner: gingeronionchicken, meehoon, sweetandsourpork, friedporkribs, rice, friedveg, x huge bottles of beer and god knows what else - I was ready to die by 11pm when we got back to the hotel.

Well, dieing came a few hours later.... After all the beer and the whiskey at Jit's we finished a bottle fizz and I honestly thought at 4am that I was just having the hangover kicking in... but then the travellers nightmare became reality: the next 5 hours I spent on/around/by the toilet in complete misery... Then, when the antibiotics came back after only 2 sec of contemplating staying within the stomach in the morning, I decided to do pack, get to LCCT, on the plane and find a doc on Langkawi if I didnt get any better. I was in agony. Weak from the "toilet-excercise", lack of sleep and food plus the flying - oh man I was no happy chicken. Survived though, Dave was sweet and patient and took good care of me, and so all the sickness was gone by the morning - lucky enough, had a full day to spend on Langkawi! :)

happy happy

Last night I was sitting by the beach in a little cafe, watching the sun setting above the sea, enjoying the 18C and fine air - it was magical on its own. I was reading my book, sipping my cafe con leche, and was thinking, how amazingly lucky I am, having everything in my life that makes one happy: the location, the cafe, the huge crepe con nutella, my book, the great past few days of kitesurfing and getting to know some great people; the fact that by now I can have a Spanish conversation without any issues..... Then just now after deciding to skip the last class due to the amazing weather, mi madre espanola bringing me a glass of wine to the terrace while I am waiting for lunch to be ready, enjoying my cigarette and the sunshine (23C, should I mention it); my family and friends looking forward to see me back at home - or to be more specific, a few places around the world - and vica versa; the prospect of having to see Peti, my parents and grandparents, having my mom in Budapest for the coming weekend; Mags and her happiest news; and of course the plans for the next months: to start with, in less than 2 weeks and I will be in paradise, with the best person to be in paradise with... :) QUE BIEN!?! I did have some difficult days with hangovers and way too much than necessary thinking, but I made some decisions that already make my life easier, and I am sure, more than ever before that all will work out perfectly fine, exactly the way it should. There is simply no other option. And either the way is, it will be the best for all of us. :)

Tarifa

Saturday night, 10pm, in a hostel, Melting Pot in Tarifa - friendly, clean, great location, no complains -, after having some chinese takeaway, among a bunch of OZs, Brits and French, the latter playing instuments in the kitchen, the open fireplace and liter bottles of Cruzcampo keeping us warm, outside wind is blowing with 35knots - its even stronger than it was during the day, when I gave kitesurfing the first try.. :) The morning was particularly painful again - not sure what was I expecing from a Saturday morning, but the 'yeah lets go for one drink, just one' last night, that ended up being about 10, at 4am, dancing in a nearby club like maniacs with Ms England, Rob and Anthony, without any dinner, didnt help at all. 

So, what I started saying is, I was just looking at my picasa site and found about 20 pervert fuckers who added me as their favorite, god knows doing what with my pictures. Its disgusting! So, watch out people!

Anyway, looking forward to a whole day on the beach tomorrow, and have to admit, my bed tonight too.... It seems I am indeed getting old!

3rd of the Malasemanas

3rd week in Malaga and I dont even have time to do my homework anymore.

 

As bad as the weekend started off, I was considering flying over to Amsterdam for this coming weekend, just to get out of here. I went out with my lil friends on Friday - needless to say, the hangover that followed was ridiculous... I guess I am getting old too.. I spent most of Saturday in bed in misery, crazy headache, shitty weather, then Justin, my friend who showed up on my doorstep with Dave back in August, called and cancelled our plans for Granada for the Sunday eve, leaving nothing much to look forward to - ajjjj I wasnt happy. Then in the afternoon I put myself together, got on the bus and went to visit Salva and Lorraine who live about an hour away from here. By the time I got there i was ready to die but they had a little surprise for me: an invitation to Salva's sisters house to a proper Spanish family get together. When we arrived at 10.30 (pm), there were still no signes of dinner, but 4 kids were running around like crazy chicken - made me have second thoughts about ever wanting to have kids -, with 6 adults making more noise than a whole school of kids at home, but it was awesome in the end, had such a great time, I was really greatful that I didnt stay in.

 

Sunday was yoga day: a 5 hour workshop where Marjan, my Dutch friend invited me. I met some great people there: Lori, the instructor with energies out of this universe, Ingrid the hairdresser I am going to pay a visit to tomorrow, Lota the Sweedesh lady living in paradise, and 8 others - it was SO good to be among people with compeltely different origins and lifes and ages but having the similar interests and somewhat the same goals in life...; self realization, love and happyness, ultimately.. Finally the weather cleared up too, after lunch we took Marjan's dogs for a walk to the hills, and then came the best part of the day: the massage therapist angel Marjan offered to treat me before me leaving: I got a 2-hour-long massage. Yaaaaay!! What a lovely day! Topped it off with another nice meal and then Marjan even drove me home - the happy smiling Zsofi was back by the time I got to bed, with absolutely nothing to complain about.

 

Monday afternoon, after considering the options for the coming long weekend, i decided against Amsterdam and instead, booked a kitesurf course in Tarifa.. woohoo! Then Justin called that they ended up in Malaga with his folks so, I met him in the eve after my salsa class; went dancing again yesterday; arranged a movie and tapas night for tonight; got invited for a salsa eve for tomorrow and finally booked tickets for the Alhambra for the 11th - I literally dont have more than 2 hours free in a row until I leave Spain. Thats how I like things to be. :)

 

Most exciting of all of course is, the kitesurfing this weekend - though it is not warm at all, I am so much looking forward to it!!! While looking for accomodation I realized how similar it is to when I was working: you have to be at a place at a certain time, so you pull up googlemap, and instead of major airline websites you search on skyscanner, and instead of looking for rooms in the Hilton or Marriott, you go for hostelworld and couchsuring......... - and you can easily take a 0 off from the end of the total costs.. Awesome! :)

The news are: found wifi at the apartment yesterday (...) and, a salsa class - 3 times a week it is, dancing with the locals for a few hours....... Muy bonita!!! :) 

Malaga cont.

On Wednesday morning, day 3 at school, I managed to explain my landlady what I wanted for breakfast – I took it as quite a big achievement; the progress I made in a week would make you all very proud of me... J

Struggling with a nasty cold though for a few days I was my most antisocial self during almost the whole week, and still squeezing in 7-8 hours of studying every day it just got to me on Thursday night. I went for the first run on the playa – what shall I say, 20C, sunset, sea breeze and all those beautiful people, great music on the iPod and my salad and a mango waiting for me at home…. – I had a great exercise and finally slept like a baby afterwards. Then the mission for Friday was, to take down everyone's numbers and convince my lil' classmates to take me out dancing later that night. It took me about 3 minutes – and by the time the A1 group paella started cooking, we had a plan in place: cook the paella, eat the paella, don't go back to school in the afternoon, start drinking latest at 1.30 pm, vamos a la playa, drink some more there, go home to shower and change, meet at 8 for some tapas, go downtown around 10 and don't stop causing trouble until Saturday morning. J It worked out quite well I have to say.  The paella was awesome, I was drunk by 1.49pm – for the first time –; got a bit more drunk by the sun was down, had some not so smart conversations, then a bit of food and was downtown as agreed, in an Irish pub (but of course, where else) drinking Guinness and having tequila shots just because, and then went dancing…….. thank god the drinks there were not the cheapest so in the end nothing horribly outrageous happened. The hangover yesterday was a more than painful of course – I haven't been drinking since the leavingparty in Prague, so all the wine and beer and shots were a wee bit harsh on the system. Oh well. Today is run-on-the-beach and go-to-see-Picasso day, with some icecream and sunshine – if only I wasn't alone in bed, it could easily be one of those perfect days..

Malaga day 1

The first half an hour at my hostess', Paqui's villa in Malaga was a wee bit painful after the previous mess in Morocco and the 40 hours without any sleep, I have to admit. Paqui is a 60 year old sweet lady, a mindblowingly excellent cook, who refuses to cooperate in English at all, no matter how hard you try... Now, with me having absolutely no way to express what I want in Spanish, there were some interesting moments me trying to explain that the reason I needed a washingmachine was not because I didn't have one in Hungary and only managed to bring dirty clothes with me, but that I spent the last week and a half in the air, on the road, on a camel, airport, tent, desert, bus etc……. J But, managed in the end, god bless the hands, with which you can tell whole stories without speaking any common language. So, for 20 eur per day, I get accomodation, breakfast and lunch - needless to say, the food is so good, that one of my newest cuests is to understand whatever Paqui says so that I can take her recipes with me when I leave.

 

The casa I am staying at is on a street that ends at the beach, 200m from the school (sooo bloody far…), and it is more a villa than a house, beautiful and HUGE! Today while I got lost on the way to school (to be very specific, I had no idea which way I was supposed to go so decided to try my luck and bump into it eventually… it worked!) I saw all kinds of shops nearby, post office, banks, restaurants, amazing parks and gardens, and of course the sea, all of it within 10 mins walking away. One challenge I have with the home: it is rather cold with the single windows and no heating whatsoever. Even though the weather is beautiful: 16-18C, sunshine, blue skies during the day, the 12-14C during the nights is a wee bit cold without any heating or a proper pajama.. Oh well. The center is half an hour walk away and – forgot to say - I have a Japanese flatmate among others (the rest I don't have an inventory of, yet..), and so far I saw two poodles around, too...

 

First day at school was FUN! I got giggles when I left in the morning with my backpack, a sandwich packed in serviettes, already half an hour late from the official starting time when I got out of the door….  Ooooooooooh good old times – and they are back!

 

To start the studies, all new students had a shorter or longer conversation with a teacher depending on the level of Spanish each of us had. Then a written test followed, and, guess what! Since I understood almost everything that was said and knew the basics of the grammar, I got a level higher than an absolute beginner! Yaaaaaaaaaay! I was so proud of myself… :D The agreement is, that I do my best to catch up with the others in my class and see in a week if I manage… There are 7 of us on the same Spanish adventure, a Swedish, a Belgian, another Hungarian lady, an American, an Austrian and a French, an interesting mix I have to say. The others all have been learning Spanish for a while, a few months to a year they said – yep, there is a wee bit of catching up to do on my end. There is free wifi in the school and a little café, lessons start at 8.30 and go until 2pm – after which I am back home just in time for lunch..

 

Next up is a hunt for a pre-paid simcard, then a walk on the beach before it gets dark, and a few hours study before bedtime – I seriously love the fact that I don't have anything else to do than sleep, eat, go to school and study…. Life is still awesome dear friends. J

Morocco

Ending in a proper clusterfuck with my (god damned) easyjet flight and no sleep for 28 hours, the Morocco-trip became almost twice as expensive as expected and I left the country with a rather bitter than sweet taste in my mouth. Apart from the horrible exit, naturally there are some really sweet memories I wouldn't change for anything. The (public) highlights were the desert with the hotel of 1000 stars (I think we saw most of the shining spots and dots, along with half-a-dozen shootingstar-per-hour); the camel ride among endless sand dunes that I only saw on the national geographic before; breathtaking sunsets; the annoying millions of flies; the sweetest pots of tea on earth; the excitement before and the refreshing feeling after the hammam (it's the local spa experience, a must do in Morocco!!), the tasty tajine meals; madness on the main square of Marrakesh; a 15 hour overnight busride that was not at all something I would be missing; the craziest reasons for excessive taxi fares; riad owner with 7 kids; no Rick's in Casablanca; illiterate locals speaking 4-5-6 languages – all in all, an absolutely crazy experience!

Next few

I left Rishikes today. Almost cried on a few occassions, some of the 'see-you-laters' ended up being a bit more emotional than I thought they would be.. :) How so sweet!

I would love to but cant give you any nice summary of the past month, the feelings and thoughts are a bit mixed in my head right now - I am probably just more tired than anything else... Most of the day was spent in a car again - listening to music after a month, now let me tell you, a true life-changing experience - 8 hours and finally got to Delhi, which is just loud and polluted and I really cant be asked to deal with 12million people at the moment. Tomorrow is the Taj trip and then back to Hunagry for a few days... looking forward, looking forward.

Yep, this is what I was going to tell you: I can be seen, dragged out for beers, meals, etc until next Friday noon, then - VERYSUPERAWESOME lucky me, I am on my way to Morocco......... wooohooo! :)
Then, 4 weeks Malaga, one at home with Mom, and then over to South-East Asia for a while, starting on the 20th of December! :D

...............shall I continue? :P

Silence vol.2

The mornings, right after breakfast became the most precious part of the days for me.

By 9am I am done with the first hatha class, meditation, shower and food, the body is awake and well-fed, the mind is calm and well-rested, and until about 10am when the first lecture starts, I have a patch of sunshine in front of my cottage where, like old people do back at home in the villages, I just sit and enjoy - as hilarious as it may sound for some –, the sound of the river, the dozens of different kind of birds going mental and the conversations of the favorite pets.. It is really special.

And, today started with a particularly sweet little surprise and a bigger than usual smile... J

 

This is the 3^rd day of silence, and I came to realize so many more details and patterns all around… nothing superficial just things one wouldn't usually pay attention to.

I also forgot the silence mode once which was kinda funny, I just asked a question in the morning and after I got the answer only realized that I was not supposed to talk. J oh well, all those nice habits we have.

The other thing is, that since I had to finalize my plans in Delhi for the weekend, I couldn't avoid going online to check mails, and of course I got carried away reading all that came in during the last week… which kinda answers D's question – in case D is D as in Miss Comms Director…. - with your job, I am having some challenges imagining any silent days for you…. On a serious note though, what they teach here, is that no matter how long for, it may be an hour at home every now and then, but closing all communication channels and doing cleaning for instance or cooking or meditation, or walking in silence does wonders for everyone. I can only second that from the past month's experiences. Its really nothing much else one can do here but quiet the mind as much as possible and deal with it!

 

Silence – as it is said – is one of the 5 practices everyone should follow to a certain extent… it just seems to me that, not only for these practices but for all the goals this tradition sets for its followers, one has to be a millionaire and have a full-on life-factory around, that supports all the needs of the individual. I mean, meditation is indeed beneficial and an amazing thing if you can do it, but – in my own personal experience – all together it takes about half a year of hard enough work with oneself, 4-5 hours a day at least, to be able to finally sit in meditation and enjoy it for over an hour. Try to find 4-5 hours every day in your life for half a year, without completely changing your current lifestyle.. I just don't think this is the only way for most of us.

 

As close as I get to the end of the week I realize how much I love this place and the people. Even in silence, the smiles worth more than any words, the good vibes do get to you no matter how much you are trying to close yourself in. It is indeed a patch of heaven in the crazy chaos around. I am glad to know how to spend "quality time" alone without books or even music; realized that my hips will never be painfree again unless I do exercise every day, I have to admit that I came to feel a special admiration for my washingmachine at home and also, deliberately avoided dishwashing during the past month, and that even though I tried.. - I never ever want to see my legs unshaved again. J

 

Today, is the last washing day, tomorrow is packing day, Friday is shopping day, Saturday driving day, and Sunday is TajMahal, then the flight back to freezingcold Hungary - -2 this morning??? WHAT?! - for a few days at least. J I am looking forward to see you friends!

Silence

Following a spontaneous breaking the rules, whereby on Sunday night we went out (of the ashram) with Noa, bought a pack of cigarettes and 2 pieces of chocolate each, sat down opposite the ashram entrance and talked about love and the big questions of life in general for hours, she had a great idea: why don't we do the 3 day silence, before I leave at the end of the week?

As the silent Thursdays never ended up being silent (at all), this seemed to be just the perfect idea to finish my stay with.. We also agreed before shutting the mouth that we'd go 'downtown' on Friday in the morning to do my gift-shopping and hunt down some proper food too – Noa still has 3 weeks to go so, hopefully it will help her cravings for a while longer.

 

After the first half a day – which was not difficult at all, apart from dealing with some of the people not understanding why is the never quiet Hungarian just shaking her head or nodding – there is one thing I am absolutely certain of already: it saves so much energy not to talk, it is fascinating. It was kind of a relief today not having had to explain anything, answer any questions, have the weather talk etc… and while I thought it would make me go nuts having to deal with my thoughts only, the mind is a lot quieter than I ever managed to quiet it down to with any sort of relaxation so far. Lets see how the next two days go.

Himalayas

Another record was broken: 172 km in 11 hours, with 2 half-hour breaks. That makes it 17.2 km/hour – WOW!

The first day of the trip we spent on the road, winding, narrow, literally, half of it washed away by landslides and the monsoon this year. The drops we drove right next to, about 2000m above sea level sometimes made me sweat so badly, that I actually came to appreciate the air-conditioning. Lucky enough the car we travelled with was a really good 4WD, spacious inside and we got the best driver in the region – thanks to him we did not have any issues apart from the exhaustion. It was confirmed again that next to the break, the most important second bit on any car is the horn around here, when the traffic got a bit heavier during midday, you couldn't hear anything else just these ridiculous tunes – made me practice meditation a few times, trying not to go completely mad.

The views where so overwhelming that I could not hold the ears back: huge, I mean HUGE mountains around, waterfalls on every half a mile, the Ganges 2000-2500m below, fog in the valleys below and the sun coming up, godbeams (I like this word.. J) breaking through the clouds……….. Magical!

We had breakfast and lunch at roadside cafés; stopped at the birthplace of the Ganges (Devprayag) where the 2 different colored streams of the Bhagrati and the Alakananda becomes the holy river; stopped at a monument where John had to have a photo taken, after having read the 'The man eating leopard of Rudraprayag' when he was 15; and had to take a 30km detour (2.5 hours) because of a landslide that made the "National Highway" closed. I tell you that 30km of horror was the longest 30km of my life. We reached our destination in the town of Okhimath around 6pm, did some yoga, meditation, had dinner and were out by 9, hoping for the morning to come quicker, for us to be able to set off on our hike and finally, finally see those breathtaking views of the Himalayas. 

Day 2's destination was the little lake, Deoria Tal – a holy place of course -, for which we set off from this tiny little village called Sari. We got a local guide there, Umendra – not that we needed him as the treks were pretty obvious, but it was nice to have someone local telling us stories ('us' being, me, Mr Kenguru and Silvia, latter who lives in the ashram and arranged the whole trip – big thanks to her again!!), and someone who had enough common sense to tell us when to turn back to reach the village before the night fell. The lake turned out to be only a 2-hour long hike so we decided to continue towards Chopta, the starting point for the Day 3's hike, which we never reached as, towards 3pm the skies fell down with heavy rain and - "white rain", as our cook later explained, not knowing the word for - snow J, on the higher peaks. The cook by the way did a miracle that night: he put ginger and black pepper into the chai latte – so, I have a new favorite drink dear friends, after all…   

On Day 3, we agreed to pick Umendra up at his village at 5am – which meant a bloody early start and still we ran late as I predicted… - so after the hour long drive to Chopta, the following half an hour delay didn't make any difference, and we decided to have a quick breakfast at the start of the trail. It turned out to be the best meal I have had so far in India; nothing special just a paratha, but so tasty… SO tasty!!! It was freezing cold that morning – yes, I did make use of the winter coat finally, and was already looking forward to the sleepingbag I carried all the way along with me, for those 3 nights… anyway.

The hike was with a 1400m altitude difference but gradually going upwards so nothing extremely difficult. I have to admit though that I felt the last 300m after Tungnath on 3800m, it was the classical having had to stop after every 20-25 steps to catch up with the breathing. The weather was clear until Tungnath too where it immediately became  overcast – and as unfortunate as we were, we missed out on the best 360' views in the region on Chandrasila peak. We had the csucscsoki (peak choc-bar) but no cigi this time (shocker), and started to head down after we'd been done with the photos; it was really getting cold. On the way back, John and Silvia insisted on doing prayers at the temple on Tungnath but I was too cold (and not excited about the prayers at all to be very honest), so I headed down, absolutely loving the me time and silence; warmed up at the first sunny spot and enjoyed the amazing views of the snow covered peak of Chaukhmba (7200m above sea level, the highest peak that is visible at this part of the world).

Down at our breakfast spot I gave in to the temptations and ordered a cup of Maggi noodles – I don't thin I ever appreciated the plastic food that much before. It was a 10 minute release from curry-overdose, a great thing after a while for my European stomach.. ;) In the afternoon the weather turned into full-on winter, we saw snow slowly covering the mountains around us so we headed back to our base, went for a stroll and saw the Omkreshwar temple in Okimath, had an early dinner, a nice rest, and started to head back to Rishikesh at 9am the following day.

This time the 172 km only took 8 hours, even with making a stop at a cave – another holy spot, me restless to get back to the ashram but J&S has to meditate (I dont blame them, in the end this was their purpose of the trip..), I go along but freak out on the few rats that start to crawl way too close to the spot where I sit, J&S not realizing any of this at all, I run away, and so in the end I promise myself yet again, that noone will ever get me do anything which I am not at least 90% sure of. J

Quick facts: the highest point we were on was 'only' on 4090m not the previously announced 5000+; I learnt that for such hights we would have needed to drive twice the distance from Rishikesh. Unfortunately we still had to spend 2 days in the car and only hiked for another 2, but considering the time constrains of J&S it was not much more I could have done unless setting off on my own. The costs – again because it was not a trip alone – came down to approx. 110 EUR each, including the car, driver, all meals, accommodation, and guide and tips as well. Well worth it, I have to say!

If you need a guide, do contact Umendra Negi, here is his contact details:

trekking guide or tent-accommodation in uttrakhand india
name  Umendra singh negi
mobil no 08958647802
                09456534062
email  umendra.negi100@gmail.com

Halftime

I have been thinking what might be exciting enough to share, but its not much I can come up with. Every day is really almost the same, the only thing that is changing daily is the base-ingredient for the curries. :)

Apart from that, well... I am no longer falling asleep during classes and became almost 100% certain that meditation is just not the way for me. It went really well for the first week, but then my mind became so pre-occupied with stuff, that it seems I need more than this month to develop a meditation routine, where I manage to spend more than 10 minutes without having the greatest or worst ideas screaming through my head, making me dizzy. But its all good. I got some great tips from the teachers here on asana sequences and "tricks" on some poses, which already worth this whole trip.

Of course there is more than that to it. I met some incredible people; apart from the initial 5 of guests; a group of 4 from Ecuador who I really hope to visit next year - Gustavo led the best class I have had here so far -, the teachers and students of the ashram - together make this place amazing. The daily 2 yoga sessions along with the healthy diet and overall peace of mind resulted in me losing a few kilos (not that it was planned or wanted, but its allright I guess.. ;)) and got me back in a reasonably good shape, somewhere where I was during summer last year. I am sure it will be all past tense after the first 3 weeks back in Europe.

I still haven't figured anything new about life but it has never been part of the plans. The rather simple life with hardly any conversations (apart from the mails) helped to put some long-overdue feelings to rest and clear up some new ones, which is a great result on its own. And in 2 days I will be in the Himalayas and I guess that will be life-changing on its own too.

I never made it to the kitchen so there will hardly be any recipes for those of you at home; the kitchen and main chef - though latter seems to be a kind man - are not convincing enough for me to have a closer look at food-preparation, and I rather not find out what have I been eating for the past 2 weeks... :)

DHL just managed to deliver my netbook after over 2 weeks - and they made me pay 70 EUR as income duty - about which neither me nor Allan, who sent it over, was informed of in advance. Take my advise and use Fedex or UPS instead, I promise you its only trouble with DHL!

Rishikesh in practice

I thought to share some practical bits which i found/would have found useful for the trip-preparation.

Keeping in mind that I am only here for a month (October) and I will spend most of my time in the ashram, it will be very specific info – but you know, if only one person finds it useful.......

Money matters – I would not worry about exchanging money before flying in, get cash out at the first ATM, right at the airport and save the commission fee. There are indeed quite a few ATMs available around here in town too, only challenge is, that they many times are out of money. I was going to come to Rishikesh by taxi straight away and knew that it costs 2600 INR, so 3500 kept me going for quite a while. The first breakfast cost me 55 INR, which is about 1 EUR, in general a meal starts (in touristy Rishikesh) at about a 100 INR (curry, naan and drink). A t-shirt or a pair of easy trousers for yoga practice or running around are about 100-150 INR each, if i was to come again i wouldnt bring any of these with me; what you get here is the same you get in a shopping mall at home, its just the price that is missing a 0 from the end...

Weather – October at the bottom of the Himalayas is the best month weather-wise, they say. When I arrived to Delhi, it was midnight, humid (though not as bad as KL for instance) and 28C. The morning was pretty much the same, maybe a little cooler, around 24-25C. In Rishikesh the humidity is a little less, days are – towards the middle of the month still – hot, around 30C with rather strong sunshine (every day I wish I was in another country for an hour and could put my bikini on), the evenings are perfect temperature, around 22C lets say, but the mornings are getting a bit cooler. At the beginning of the month it was like the eve, but now, 2 weeks later, i have 2 longsleeves on when i get up in the morning – keep in mind thats 5am though! In the ashram they have airconditioning and ventillators too everywhere – how convenient; but you should not forget that the electricity is sometimes off for half a day when some light clothes come really handy. During the past 2 weeks it rained once for about half an hour, but that was it. I have heard that in the mountains it already goes below 0 – I tell you more when I am back from the track next week (HA!) :)

Clothes - considering the weather and the prices, apart from underware and a pair of flipflops, I wouldnt bring anything else with me. I am already sorry that I cant stuff my bag with all the beautiful clothes they are selling here. On the other hand I am glad I bought winter clothes for the hike and the going back to ice-land, I dont think I would be happy having to look for a rainproof jacket or a good pair of hikingboots here.

Cosmetics and co – well, i appreciate my own toothbrush and floss but the rest was really not necessary to be carried all the way. Shampoo, conditioner, a few tiny bags of washing powder and soap, toothpaste cost about 50 INR – so, I felt like an idiot carrying that all across from home.

Mosquitos – yes there are some but nothing more than in the city in Budapest for instance. Malaria is not a problem around here, people I talked to, who’d lived here for many years said they never had or heard of any issues so far. Mosquito repellent – buy it here, cheaper and works wonders with the local mozzies.

Food – something everyone seems to be so concerned about, but to be honest I still dont understand why. The rule everyone should keep in mind: eat simple food, and not too much of anything thats new, and you will be okay! Now, of course I was the first one breaking this and stuffed my face the first time I was downtown with a whole plate of some verysalty and yuck looking curry, buttermilk, and a curdy dessert – I would never go for either of these at home! – and of course I spent the next few days drawing circles around my loo in misery. Forget the palinka dear Hungarian friends, at least dont bring it for the sake of better digestion. Just be smart! Fruits and veggies you find everywhere, even restaurants/cafes serve fresh fruit salads with papaya, pineapple, banana, apple, grains and the optional curd of course. You can easily live on that and naan/rice for a few weeks, trust me on that. In the ashram there is one thing missing very much from the meals, the variety of fresh fruits and veggies. The fresh part of the story is a banana in the morning (no, not red...) salad of cucumber, radish and a slice of tomato for lunch, and in the evening its an apple. The curry – I just figured, almost always tastes the same; when I saw a few days ago that lunch was cucumber curry – I was horrified – but after tasting it, it really wasnt any different from the meal we had the day before. :D and yes I had to admit, when I saw boiled potatoes 2 days ago, I waited an hour until everyone finished and used all the tricks it took to get some.

Accommodation – not much experience there as I am staying in the ashram (which is honestly paradise on its own), but, if you want to come to this part of India to do yoga or spend a few days wondering around; there are hundreds of ashrams here, all categories and prices, and it takes about 2 seconds to find accommodation around Ramjhula and Laxmanjhula, the nicer parts of the area (I wouldnt recommend the Rishikesh market area, it doesnt seem to be anything appealing to me – for accomodation, that is).

Internet and phones – there is internet cafes around, and though the connection is not the fastest at most places, it doesnt take much to find a place where you can write an email or two. At smaller shops the challenge is, that the computers are so old that for instance skype doesnt run on them, or it takes an hour to boot, but hey, dont expect the best service ever. The other challenge is when the power is out, it happens daily that it goes, sometimes there is no electricity for hours. Practice patience, thats what i can say. Nevertheless, my vodafone mobile works perfectly, one thing I cant do is start calls (thankfully). On the other hand there are long distance phone boots (STD, hahahahha) on every 3 meters, so phone-issues can be solved pretty easily too.

Transportation – I seriously would recommend to stay in Delhi overnight if you arrive late; the roads are so bad that it is a suicide to drive a long flight anyway. You can also take the train, which they say is perfectly fine provided you buy a 2^nd or 1^st class ticket, no experience there so, cant say yes or no. Local way of going is by riksas, if you share with others (once I did with 12 other passengers + driver + me!!!! J ), and it cost me 10 INR which if i had the riksa on my own would have cost 100. Makes sense, no?

And at last, locals and safety – honestly, I have no idea. Everyone tells me never to go out of the ashram at night – which I wouldnt do anyway; and I have heard of some missing female tourists etc, but, thank god, no bad experience with this. Amazing is the mix of foreigners you find in Ramjhula/Laxmanjhula; the one time when I was downtown, in a little cafe called Office (VERY highly recommended!!!! The guys working there are friendly and smiling, the atmosphere is great and the fruit salads are something to die for, plus they have the best chai in the region too...), there were Americans, Germans, Israelis, me, a Korean girl, Brits, French, an Italian guy, a Japanese, and 3 Russian ladies - go figure. I guess you could spend a lifetime sitting in the same spot talking to the weirdest people you have ever seen. The locals are usually veryfriendly, the only thing I just hate is when young guys, driving riksas are adjusting the rearview mirror and watch you instead of the road, all the way, up the hill, down the hill, around the cow, into the puddle. Aaaaaa! And of course there are the million cows, and begging old fellas (yogis? Not sure in most cases...), I think there must be dozens of them on every squaremeter.

And, AND my friends, the Ganges, is not a running shitflow! It doesnt smell nor look like it, not at this part of India though, at the bottom of the mountains.

So, come to India! It definitely worth the experience – and I havent even seen any of it yet.

Labjegyzetek az India mail-ekhez

...A sokkhatas a szegenyseg miatt volt baromi meglepo, hogy itt ugy elnek gyakorlatilag szarkupacok tetejen emberek, hogy vigyorognak hozza, eleg sokat raadasul.

Itt az ashramban rend van es tisztasag - mar amennyire ez lehetseges - de a varosban peldaul valami fantasztikus a kupleraj. Minden jarmu dudal vagy ha negylabu akkor mekeg/beget/stb, bevett szokas hogy a hasznalt cuccokat - barmi legyen is - csak ugy kiejtik a kezukbol az emberkek. Kepzelheted, ez a 30 fokban eleg erdekes egyveleget eredmenyez.

Itt eszakon mondjuk az a jo, hogy tenyleg kozel a Himalaja az eszmeletlen mennyisegu zoldterulettel, es az a kimondott buz ami mondjuk Kuala Lumpurban van, az itt nem erezheto. De azert van kosz rendesen.

Nem beszelos nap vegulis nem volt, kerdeztem hogy hogy van ez, es azt mondtak hogy hat, semmi sem tokeletes es ittsem mukodik minden ugy ahogy az el van kepzelve.... Probalkoztunk aztan Leah-val egy nap magancsenddel, de a reggeli 10oras eszmecseren olyan gondolatok meg kerdesek merultek fel, hogy nyilvanvalo volt, tobbet er a kerdes a hallgatasnal. :)

Jovo het kedd-pentekre tervezes alatt van a hegymaszas! Az utolso hetre terveztem ezt - valahogy ereztem meg a mult vasarnap esti varosnezes elott hogy meglehetosen bekavar beleszagolni az eletbe az ashramon kivul (sok ember, zaj, kavalkad, minden inger amitol itt el van zarva az ember), de, baromi sokat hultek az ejszakak par nap alatt, meg pont meglesz ket het mulva es 4 nap aram meg folyoviz nelkul annyira nem vicces ugy, ugyhogy maradtunk John-nal (o az ausztral ujbaratom) a jovo hetben. Nagyon jo lesz ez!

Aztan, pont egy hetem lesz meg hogy ismet belecsucsuljek az idill-be meg a contentment/focus/inside - mix-be, aztan irany Delhi, a Taj Mahal mert hogy azt latni kell, aztan meg hazafele. Rohan az ido, meg akkor is ha itt ugy tunik orakig all neha..

Rishikesh

Believe it or not, 220 km took us (me and Sandi Prawat, the driver) 6.5 hours to make. Needless to say I was so exhausted after the nearly 36 hours of travelling, that I looked closer to a zombie than any human being by the time I arrived to the ashram. The two ladies, Silvia and Maryon welcomed me at the reception area of the ashram, where they take care of all the practical stuff like mailing, administration, bookings etc, and have 2 computers with internet access – there you go, try to get away from cyberspace! J

So, to cut this rather short, I got keys to my apartment (which later I had to leave due to a herd of yellow bees that were there earlier than me), and when started walking towards the house I realized how beautiful this place was: the mountains in the back, you can hear the Ganges in the distance, breathtaking gardens with butterflies, flowers and trees and green grass, my new favourite pets the cows – and the 2 calves, Fules and Barni, well fed and beautiful, unlike the ones you see on the side of the roads outside the ashram. A pitch of paradise in the middle of absolute chaos.

Later I learnt that there are approx. 80 residents here, students from all around the globe, some of the Indians are with their families, people from South Korea, UK, the States, Italy, Holland etc. - and the 6 guests: apart from myself, Leah from Israel, John from Australia, Ale from Mexico, Magda from Poland and Master Happy (not kidding, that is his name), a Buddhist monk from Malaysia. J

Due to the bees I ended up sharing a house with Leah, this beautiful Jewish girl with such a deep voice that would make you fall asleep even if you were in the middle of a rave party I think. She is very interested in everything you have to say, has some interesting thoughts on world peace and of course thorough insights on every day life in Israel, and she is particularly funny when it comes to conversations on different nationalities and countries: she admittedly doesn’t have a clue about geography – but she doesn’t need to, she is great!

After the first half a day which I spent in half-coma, I honestly was not quite ready to start the routine on Tuesday morning, at 4.30.. yes, AM! Let me share how a day looks like, and with that I think I won’t have to write a single word for the next 3 weeks. Every day is almost the same, the 2 lectures after breakfast and at 8pm are the ones that are changing daily, today for instance there is a 2 hour self-study which I decided to use to put down the promised mails. Other than this weekly 1 self study day - which is supposedly the silent day but I figured no one is silent - there is not much time during the day to quickly check mails and reply to anything urgent and read the notes I get from you. So, apologies if I don’t reply to all, just keep sending me news from your sides of the oceans.. J

So, 4.30 wake-up bell rings; 5am: morning prayers. This is – sorry to say – but rather a hassle for me, the prayers don’t mean anything to me and as my heart is not there, I just struggle and ask myself in every minute, what exactly am I doing here at 5am in the morning, instead of being in bed, curled up.... Then 5.15 is the first yoga class with Geeta, who sings with a voice I could never describe. If you think of hindi songs you heard, now she is the one singing them. By the class finishes it is around 7am, and the sun is up – the Himalayas in the background, mist over the grounds, crisp clean air, and the one thing you hear is the mantras from the close-by temples. At 7 there is a pranayama (breathing practice) session, then 7.30-8.30 meditation. At 8.30 is breakfast – and let me tell you about the meals. You can help to serve food –which, for some weird reason I really like doing, but the one thing I haven’t managed yet, to get into the kitchen.. It is somewhere between 10 and 30 people having meal, sitting on the ground, in complete silence, the rest of the residents are having their own food in their homes (I guess). Breakfast is toast, for lunch and dinner you get chapati. There is banana for breaky, cucumber-tomato-raddish mix for lunch and an apple for dinner, as dessert. There is always soup, a veggie curry and rice/pasta as the mains, lunch, breakfast, dinner. You can get hot milk (which is close to yoghurt but not quite, not even a lassi so closest to milk) or water, chai in the morning. VERY simple, and VERY tasty!!! You also find clear water dispensers on every 10 meters, so no worries, there is water to drink around, not only the Ganges.

Oh by the way, most confusing of all: the 3.5 hour time difference to Europe.... And the ‘yes’ that in most cases mean a ‘rather not’ and definitely seem to be an ‘absolute no’..

After breakfast you have about an hour to rest, shower, get yourself together – for the first few days I literally fell asleep in every possible 2 minutes, being that the meditation, breathing practice or a yoga-pose on the ground, I was out by the 4^th breath... 10-11.30am is the first lecture, then comes another pranayama session at 12.20, 1pm lunch, 2pm digestive breathing class (which is again a great spot to fall asleep immediately), 2.30-4pm another lecture, 4pm tea time (or internet for me), and then comes the very best part of the day, 4.15 hatha yoga class, finally. The yogis leading these classes are simply brilliant! 5.30pm is guided relaxation (where again I tend to fall asleep), 6.30 pranayama, 7pm dinner, 8pm lecture or special program which the first night was singing – hehe, and the day closes with 9pm prayers. So, loads of food, sleep, meditation and exercises – absolutely no complains at all!

And, my favorite pet just poked his head in through the door. These two are so peaceful, and make me laugh like an idiot every time I see them.

India

India

So, Dhanyawad was the first word I learnt in hindi, from Ranjana, at her apartment in Delhi right after I set foot in India, meaning thank you.

I met Ranjana on the plane right after take-off from Schiphol. She was sitting next to me reading a book on Reiki so there was no doubt we had to have a conversation sooner than later. She was born and raised in India but has been living in Amsterdam for over 22 years with her family: also Indian husband and 2 kids. I heard so many great things about them that I am really looking forward to meet them next time I am in Holland, must be an amazing 4.. well, if they are anywhere close in kindness to the mother, it must be a therapy to spend time around that family.

After the flight-long conversation this angel convinced me not to take off for Rishikesh right after arrival to Delhi at midnight, but wait for the morning instead, to avoid any “problems” that might arise in the middle of the night during the 7 hour ride. She offered me to stay at her apartment in the centre of Delhi, a gated community that was something similar to the apartment I lived in KL. Actually, I had some weird flashbacks feeling the 30C, crazy humidity and pollution, ghekkos running up and down the walls, and with the horns of trucks and cars and rikshas, it seemed to be a louder and dirtier version of Kuala Lumpur. And the first curry, orka with chapati – yumm it was tasty.

A few (3) hours later I was on my way – and the mix of the lack of sleep, the travel-stress and the long journey put my head into a different universe - riding through the outskirts of Delhi it really felt like I was watching Slumdog Millionaire, the live version. The suburb definitely took over the 1^st place from Manila as the poorest spot I have seen so far, super-pollution, gazillion cars, roads so bad that sometimes they just dissolve: when you see a truck coming straight in your lane towards you on a 2x3lane road, you know that there is no pavement on the other side of the fence, for a few hundred meters at least. An hour into the trip, looking towards east I finally saw the sun, so surreal like a dream, the only thing that was good to look at, such a colour that I made my driver stop the car and tried to take a photo. Later when it got light I saw cows hanging out EVERYWHERE, horrible dirt and filth, a dentistry that looked so disgusting that all your teeth probably would have fallen out by the time you made it to the dentist’s chair, stray dogs, fat monkeys, kids in their best (probably only) set of clothes waiting for a ride to school, food stalls on the side of road – metal containers, to be more specific in the middle of piles of rubbish – their owners sweeping round, like it made any difference.

And you could see those wide and honest smiles and a lot of kind faces; love I guess, that keeps everyone going.

:)

Preparations

After project apartment finally reaching its end today, I guess it is really high time I start packing for India, rather sooner than end of next week. Needless to say, its the mental packing that will have to be thoroughly done, the sleepingbag and socks and Teva are easy to be put in a bag. Its the preparation for the change in weather, food, water, physical and mental excercises, the different bed, smells, colors and scariest of all, thoughts are whats going to make these 4 weeks special.

One thing I am certain about: I am on the right way. I decided to go for this trip back in April, and tough my life took so many turns since that would even make a 1000year-old stone castle dizzy, the India plans are still the same, have been all the way through. More and the pics will be online soon.. :)

Cat-ness

My cat-virginity has just been taken...... second puss i ever got along with, is now sleeping in my lap...... HA! Dont you ever even try to tell me that people cant change! :)

News

Its been a while... :)

Since the return to Europe in 2008 - 2 and a half years ago - the journey took a completely different direction than what i ever counted with. I spent 10 months in Holland doing a project for DHL, weekly trips to Belgia, learnt to live life the Dutch way, had some (rather interesting and exciting) experiences like never before, almost died in the middle of it but hey.. whatever doesnt kill you........

Then in March 2009, with a new project paying the bills, i moved back to Budapest, in with Andi, had about a hundred flights within Europe and Asia/Oceania throughout the year - yeeey, finally managed to make my way to NZ!!!! - and, AND, in November i bought the apartment in the middle of Budapest i had been working for! :) I decided that the place where i would like to have the family one day and grow old is Hungary - not that this absolutely stands right now, but people who know me are aware, in my books its not really the place or circumstances that make it HOME..

....i was reading some of the old posts and i have to say, i was very tempted just to delete the whole thing... But then i thought, even if the feelings and thoughts not always relevant today, these bits are all part of the me, bricks of the me, pretty solid ones too. So the archive stays - among my docs.. -; its all part of the current picture in the end.

So, kedves Weisz Peti particularly, let me tell you where i am now in my world, what are the plans and dreams and thoughts; for the English-only speaker friends: posts written in Hungarian = you probably dont want to know or read it anyway.. ;)