16/11/08 - MALAWI AND TANZANIA

I really enjoyed Malawi. It is a very interesting place, one of Africa’s most densly populated and poorest countries and yet it has a lot of infrastructure. I think that this is due to all the foreign investement in the country. In southern Malawi, in the Mulanje region one out of the fifteen tea planatations are owned by a local business person. There were big resorts throughout the country and so overpriced, many other sort of companies that were obviously not owned by locals. It was sad for me to see this and then learn that the people in the country were so poor. It meant that most of the money that I was spending didn’t always go to the local people, despite as much as I tried. I also heard that there was a lot of corruption in the country. Everything from volunteers making a veggie garden for the children to sell to raise money for their education and the teachers were the ones taking the veggies to sell for themselves. Despite this apparent lack of wealth, the majority of Malawians I met were beautiful people, so helpful and cheerful. In most other countries I’ve been in there is always a mix of the good and the bad, however in Malawi I was spolit with meeting so many good people.

In general as a tourist I expect to be overcharged for a marjority of things I do and buy. In Malawi I felt as though even though the mark up was obvious it wasn’t an unfair mark up. It was only a few kewcha more than the locals. Where as, in Tanzania it is often triple the local price and despite resistance to the unfairness of the price often I’m not given a choice. I have to pay the price or not get what I want. It is an interesting dynamic that is set up here. Almost as though every person operating with tourists knows that if no one negotiates on the price then they will all benefit. The Tanzanians don’t cut in other people’s business and they will always back up the same price offered. Apart from the frustrations of being constantly over charged, Tanzania is a beautiful country. Most people are really helpful and friendly.

It has been a marathon effort to get to Northern Tanzania though. Right now I’m at the bottom of Kilimanjaro. Which is really cool for me. However it has been four days of consistent travel with some gruelling bus trips. I am feeling really drained and fried and easily irriated. Yesterday has to have been one of the hardest days travel yet. Just because I was feeling so tired and for no other reason. The other drama though was how to deal with people to lie straight to your face and lead you to believe a bus trip will take six hours and it reallys is ten!

From Nhkata Bay I travelled to Mbeya in southern Tanzania. It was a long day and despite leaving very early, still arrived well after dark. Then the next day travelling to Dar es Salaam was another marathon bus trip. Dar es Salaam didn’t leave a great impression on me, so the next day I went to the beach in just south of Dar es Salaam. Which despite it’s beauty wasn’t overly appealing. Again leaving early to get to Moshi was exhausting for me. Catching daladalas (the mini van, public transport) to ferries to two other daladalas to get to the bus station to get a bus to Moshi. So now I’m at the bottom of Mt Kilimanjaro and I think that I’ll stay here for a day or two. The drama is that it has taken four weeks to get here and I have just under five left. So that means a whole lot more travelling to find my south in time for the flight in December.

Tanzania is a beautiful country. It is amazing how different a few kilometers can make on the landscape. There is much more greenery here, more banana trees. I am amazed at how beautiful Africa is, the sky is so big, the land so vast and it sometimes feels as though all of it will engulf you in half a second if you let it. So easy to just disappear into land and feel the enormity of this contient. It is beautiful. I love the space and yet at the same time I feel connected. It is an interesting paradigm.

I am really enjoying not being on a bus at all today. It is a good feeling. Now I have come as far north as I wanted to, I think I’ll visit the volcanic craters and then start heading south in the middle of the week. So ma please understand if I haven’t messaged it is because there is no internet on the bus.

Much love and blessings to you all.

11/11/08 - MALAWI

Malawi is such a beautiful country! Africa is truly an amazing and awe insipiring place. The landscape itself is just so beautiful, it definately makes the long bus trips so much easier when you have something so beautiful passing by. The sun is hot, but with a different intensity to the Australian sun, it feels as though it is burning right through you, however I haven’t ended up nearly as sun burnt as what I would of if I was under a Queensland sun. There are so many amazing trees and other plants. I love Africa!

It was a sad week two weeks ago, Torren, the Wonder Dog passed on. I was rather upset and still am! So the past couple of weeks have been very sad. The ease of travelling is that there can be many things to distract you from the loss of one of my favourite beings.

From my last entry, I think I recall it was in Blantyre. Since Blantyre I really haven’t travelled all that far away. I headed to Mt Mulanje and went hiking there for three days. Mt Mulanje is spectular, I ran out of words to describe how amazing that place is. I thought that it was a mountain you walk up one side and down the other. Well from seeing it this is what I thought. I was so very wrong, Mt Mulanje is a Natural Reserve of many different peaks and plateus. The first day was climbing up granite rock and through grasslands to a plateu that was filled with wildflowers. It was bush fire season and so there were many areas that were burnt due to the burning off. Even still it was just beauitful, you could see how the plants and trees survived the fires and it actually helped them to grow more. In the Mulanje area there were so many plants and animals that are specifically from that area. It was cool as. The second day, the plan was to hike up Saptiwa, the highest peak at 3002 m. However the weather didn’t allow us to go up. The day was spent in a cedar wood cabin near a fire. It was pretty cool, in some ways it was a bit dull in some ways, but such a beautiful place to be it was difficult to complain.

So on the third day, we hiked up Saptiwa, leaving at first light. Such a beautiful and challenging climb. A lot of the time actually climbing was required, scrambling up the grantie rock, crawling under the big bolders or through the dense shrubs and rainforest-y areas. Coming down was a lot harder, but faster, requiring more control which is difficult to work against gravity in that way. The view from the top of Saptiwa, when the weather is good is just magical. I think that would be the most appropriate word to describe Mulanje, magic! I felt as though I was in a different world, almost at the top of the far-away tree.

I love Africa when the sun sets. It feels as though all the world is changing colour. It is a beautiful experience.

Upon returning to Mulanje town, we decided to travel back to Blantyre that night and then head to Senga Bay on Lake Malawi. Blantyre didn’t hold a lot of appeal for me, it was good to get stuff done like finally call the family. I tell you what, working out how to use the phone system here proved to be an achivement in itself. Finally when I did, I just churned through the phone cards. I had a man selling them outside my phone booth just waiting for me to finish the last lot he sold me. By the time I finished, he felt like a good old friend!

Lake Malawi is beautiful. It is the third largest lake in Malawi and feels like the ocean. It is so cool to be swimming in what you would expect to be the sea and it all be fresh water. Didn’t do a whole lot in senga bay. Got to see some cool local muso do their thing. Oh also in Blantyre, so the Black Missionaries play. A fantastic local reggae crew that have a huge following in Malawi. It was fantastic.

Now I’m in Nhakarta Bay, further north on Lake Malawi. Not sure where to next from here. Probably continue north to Tanzania. I can’t describe this place. The photos will have to do the job for me.

Much love and blessings

heids

02/11/08 - SOUTH AFRICA, SWAZILAND, MOZAMIBQUE AND MALAWI

There has been much travelling this past week and a bit. South Africa seems to be unique to the rest of the Southern African countries I’ve travelled in. Or maybe it was the small bit that I saw from being in Johannesburg. Johannesburg seems to be in a world of it’s own, where people keep to themsevles behind their big fences and razor wire. I don’t like to make judgements or to generalise about people. So I won’t. In saying that though, I felt that some places and people in South Africa challenged my world view. It was interesting for me to be there and have this realisation, I have been told that South Africa is as unsafe as what I was told by numerous other people, which again was a new way of thinking for me. To be so cautious when walking down the street by myself. Swaziland was similar but different to the parts of South Africa I experienced. People were friendly and there weren’t all the warnings to be so cautious. The warnings weren’t regarding my physical safety as such, but more regarding my stuff.

Dan and I traveled to Swaziland by public transport. The Chapas are pretty fantastic if you have patience and time. One thing that I have become more used to on this trip is that things nearly always take longer than what you expect and being agtitated about it doens’t help anything. The chapas leave when they are full and so one trip we were waiting longer than the journey itself for the mini bus to fill up. Swaziland is a beautiful place, they love their king and still had signs up celebrating his birthday from a couple of months ago. It is a country that allows multiple wives, the last king had one hundred wives, I think. So that meant he had over four hundred sons or something crazy like that. I learnt that a man could buy a decent piece of land for two cows and a good wife for twenty. It was a pretty cool and chilled place. I would have liked more time there, however with limited time in Africa we decided to keep moving.

We travelled to Maupto the capital of Mozamibque on Sunday of last week. So a week ago now. The scenery is just amazing, I find it difficult to describe. When the sun sets the whole land changes colour. It is just maginifcent! Mozamibque is a fantastic place. I was really drawn to the Latino influences there and yet it is still so very much African! I enjoyed being by the beach again. I learned sadly that the civil war that occured in Mozamibque for many years was actually initiated by the South African Apartied government in order to stop their support of the African National Congress. Shockingly they started and finaced the majority of the war, which had no purpose whatsoever expect to disrupt the country’s stability. There is no evidence of the impact of the war in the country that I saw. I know I was there for such a short time and so didn’t have enough time to learn more about it. Mautpo is a cool city, we decided not to stay longer than a day though and so we missed out on the cool music that was happening there. We arrived late on Sunday night and there would be nothing happening until the weekend so it didn’t seem worth while waiting around for it.

From Mautpo we travelled to Tofo, which is right on the beach. It is so beautiful there and I spent three days surfing. There was heaps of other things to do there, like suba diving and snorkelling with Whale Sharks and Manta Rays. It was goregous in Tofo. I was rather content surfing though. I got to see Jellyfish though when I was surfing.

I really enjoy traveling by public transport here, they always play some sort of music, which has mostly been good. We had some funky Afro Latino tunes on most of the trips. Although recently it has changed to more RnB stuff that I’m not so much of a fan of. The people are pretty helpful.

From Tofo we traveled to Blantyre in Malawi. This was a marathon trip! Took two days on buses, ferries, taxies and chapas. We had to spend a night sleeping on the bus in Choimoio because the buses don’t travel at night time. In not speaking Portugese we weren’t told this, however it worked out really well in the end as we could actually strech out. Yesterday was another full day on the buses and chapas.

Out of the cities, Mozambique is pretty much a scattering of little villages. They make their houses out of mud brick with thacthed roofs. They look beautiful and blend beautifully into the scenery. The African sky is massive and it feels as though it may engulf you at times. I have spent many hours just staring off into the distance in awe of the beauty of the land. It is interesting to see the how the introduction of new building materials hasen’t changed a lot. The people still build their homes in the same style and the same way just with the new materials. The houses are mostly round and appear to be one whole room inside. I am not certain of this.

Travelling to the northwest of Mozamibque, we travelled to the hotter part of the country with a dry wind that was pretty consistent. It was almost as though it was a desert with large Boab trees, smaller shurbs, lots of villages. These trees are beautiful. I am amazed by how beautiful they are. So large and massive trunks, and so tall. They have such big roots that no other plants grow near them. I love seeing these trees.

Now I’m in Malawi, again in crossing the boarder I find that I am in a similar but such a different place. Malawi appears to be poorer than its neighbour. From what I’ve experienced so far the people and the land is beautiful.

I hope all is well with you in your world.

Much love and blessings

hids

23/10/08 - SOUTH AFRICA

Well, it has been a week. A rather long and emotional week. From my last entry, I was in Kathmandu and about to leave on a long long long bus trip to Delhi. The bus trip was even more uncomfortable than expected. The bus itself was fairly good, however pretty much everyone around me was throwing up. We left around 5pm and drove to the boarder, arriving around 1am, but then we stayed there for 5 hours. This was great for me, as I slept pretty much slept that whole time, but apparently there was someone who was snoring so loudly that most people just got off the bus and chatted outside the whole time. We then had a crazy wait at customs, where it seemed as though they were going through absolutely everything before they let us into the country. We drove for pretty much 8 hours straight, not stopping until around 2/3 pm for breakfast, to only drive for another 12 hours to stop around 2am for dinner. We did have a few side of the road pee breaks which were an event in themsevles, trying to find a private place along a busy road. I managed to get myself stuck in mud and had a mission to pull my shoes out, but was all good.

After arriving in Delhi, I was pleasantly feeling more at ease. I think Varansai was too… something, I’m not sure what, but I quite liked Delhi. Not what I was expecting and I didn’t feel the frustration that I felt when I left India. So a restful two days in Delhi and on a plane to Abu Dabhi and then to Johannesburg. My gosh, we had a twelve hour stop over in Abu Dabhi, it was only meant to be for two hours in the middle of the night, but ended up being so long because of the fog. It was crazy, they cancelled all flights and couldn’t tell anyone when they would be leaving because they had to wait until the weather cleared. We were lucky and got to leave the next day, I heard that some people were having to wait until the day after before they could fly home. We arrived in Johannesburg rather tired indeed, very thankful to be here.

South Africa is such an interesting place. Everyone has big fences with either barb or electric wire at the top, there are so many places that apparently we shouldn’t go because we are likely to be mugged. I feel confused by all the information we are given and if I really should be all that afraid. I understand the need for caution but in some ways I am not sure if it is maddness or not. For example catching the public taxi around, people are saying that the type of transport is pretty much what Asian buses are like, however it is a bad thing and there are more comfortable options. I am finding it sad that so many people feel so limited and then there are people who say that it is rather safe and you just need to be cautious as with all travelling. I don’t know, I’m still trying to work out what is ok and not.

We went to the Apartied musem, my gosh! this place is overwhelming. The history is so distressing for me and so against my ideals in many ways. I really enjoyed the time spent there, however I didn’t have enough time to finish everything. I found it really fanastinating part of the history here. I have a lot more understanding for the way that things are now from going there. Afterwards we headed out to Soweto for a couple of days. Such an interesting place and to learn more about how it was twenty years was just fastinating. The history and culture is so rich, I felt rather safe here, more so than in comparison to Jo’burg.

On Tuesday, we left for a three day safari in Kruger Park. It was amazing, we got to see the Blyde Canyon Reserve along the way as well. I really enjoyed seeing the animals in the wild. We got to see a lot, elephants, garffies, cheetah, vultures, rhinos, impala, waterbuck, minki blue, ah, there were just so many I can’t remember them all. It was fantastic though and I really appreciated that trip. Right now, I’m in Nelspruit, just near the Mozambique and Swaziland boarder. I think we’ll head to Swaziland tomorrow, but we’ll see what happens.

South Africa is beautiful, the country is just amazing and the majority of people I’ve met have been beautiful as well. I am feeling very overwhelmed by this perceived threat and supposed safety concerns. I have been spoilt in Australia where these issues don’t exist as overtly as what they seem to here. I am not sure if it is because I am so unaware half the time of such issues or there is a lot that I’m not seeing, but it is confronting to have to be so cautious.

I am looking forward to the rest of my time here. There is so much to do, the challenge is to decide what that is. The challenge for me personally is to trust myself and not just what other people say. To acknowledge, but not to rely on as the sole and only truth. My experience is that most people here are so very friendly and helpful. I hope it stays that way.

I hope all is well in your world.

Peace and blessings

hids

12/10/08 NEPAL - Kathmandu

Since coming back from trekking, it has been a wonderful week, but rather uninteresting. As I was not well, I’ve spent the last week chilling in Kathmandu. There has been their major hindu festival on for the year, called Dashain. It is most interesting and unusual for me. This festival, everyone returns to their home towns, it is a very family orientated time. So Kathmandu has been relatively quiet. Thankfully though, as when it is busy there are just so many people and cars. Pretty much if a car can fit down a street it will go, so there are many situations where you’re caught between cars, scooters, motorbikes, rickshaws and other pedestrains. Can be a bit of momentary chaos! The major tradition of this festival is with animal scarfices, I read that about twenty buffalos and hundred goats are scarficed, they kill a buffalo in one movement with a hook knife. I didn’t wish to see any of this, but was told by a friend. Then for good luck with travel, they put a bit of blood and skin on the front of their cars and on the tyres. I also read that apparently on this day, no airplane will leave the airport until it has been blessed. All the temples and shrines that are around the city and covered with splattered blood as well. It has been a good time to be in Kathmandu and to see how the Nepali people celebrate such a time. It is a similar feeling to Christmas, expect without the present giving, commericalised nature of the time.

Some of Dan’s friends from Brissy are travelling through Nepal too. So we’ve been spending the nights chatting over beers about the state of the world and particularly the Aussie dollar. Rather a blow to the budget traveller to have it drop so much in a matter of weeks. We decided the world is ending and this is just a start of it, but there is always hope.

Thankfully my stomach seems to be doing better. My cold isn’t going anywhere particularly fast, but at least I’m no longer in as much pain as I was this time last week.  Tomorrow we leave for Delhi, sadly, as I am enjoying being in Nepal. However we fly to Johannesburg on Wednesday and the bus is going to take around thirty six hours. I have learnt to never ask the question ‘how many people can you fit on a bus?’, the answer is always one more including their dog, chicken, goat, small child or anything else that you can through into the mix. I am learning to laugh at the situation of an overcrowded bus on a very steep road, with a large drop on one side, and more people climbing into, onto, on top of the bus. Some of the drivers appear to be a bit suicidal, however they seem to have a whole lot of skill and luck when it comes to the roads.  I do have to admit though, that I don’t think about it much when I’m on the bus, too caught up in the scenery to worry about the driving. Other people I’ve met have been really uncomfortable with the roads.

I have appreciated this week, hanging out with some really cool people, there have been numerous locals and other travellers that we have been spending a fair bit of time with and just taking it easy. Seems to be what the doctor ordered, as in looking to the next part of my journey is going to involve a lot of travel very quickly. I love Nepal and the Nepali people and the landscape. There is a sad reality of those who have extreme needs and they rely on tourist for their survival. However there seems to be a few who are scamming and don’t need as much as what they appear they do. I feel as though I’m in no position to judge this though. The people here are so friendly and I’ve enjoyed having the freedom to take tea with some locals who just want to chat. It’s been pretty cool.

So that is about all from this last week. I look forward to Africa, but I am sad to leave Nepal. Definitely a place I will revisit in my life. Here’s to hoping the Aussie dollar becomes stronger very quickly.

Much love and blessings to you all.

Heids

06/10/08 - NEPAL - Langtang Trek

It has been an interesting last week. Nepal is beautiful, the mountains are beautiful, it is truly a magical part of the world. After traveling for a day by bus to Syabrubesi in the Langtang National Park area, we hiked up to some hot springs - Tato Pani east of the Langtang Trail. It was very special there, the water was so very hot, it had been pooled in some man made concrete pools. I couldn’t stay in the water it was so hot. There were so many wildflowers and animals. The scenery was divine, challenging hike after spending two months traveling around on buses and trains and planes. But so worth the effort! The next day we hiked back to Syabrubesi, going down was so much faster than going up and gave a good preparation for the rest of the trek. The third day, we hiked to Lama Hotel at around 3000 m. This was challenging and still rewarding, the Langtang trail follows the valley up, walking next to the river all the way. It was beautiful, always being able to hear the water rushing down in masses. Next day, hiked to Langtang village at the foot of Langtang Mountain, which is about 7000 m high. Truly impressive! Seeing the snow capped mountains, I ran out of adjectives to describe how magnificent these mountains are. Spectacular was frequently used! The following day was a hike to Kyanjin Gompa at 3800 m, you could feel the difference in the air. It felt so still at times and other times was so harsh. This day we hiked up Kyanjin Ri at 4773 m, (I think I have these names right), this was a challenging climb but from the top I felt like I could touch the sky. Kyanjin Gompa is a village that is surrounded by mighty mountains, it is almost as though it is an amphitheater of mountains. Tsergo Ri was the next challenge for our fifth day, at 4984 m I am pretty sure it is the highest I have ever climbed. Every step was worth it for the view. I am finding it difficult to describe the beauty of the Himalayas, I do not think I can capture it in words or images. Although the many photos I took have done a better job then my words are.

After descending, our guide wanted to hike back to Langtang village. I had a pretty bad headache and hoped descending would help. Which it did to a small degree. That night I developed some very painful stomach cramps, not sure what it was due to and eventually we ended up walking all the way back to Syabrubesi the next day. I have to say that was the hardest day of hiking I have ever had to do. I ended up giving up my pack to our guide, for the first time ever not finishing a hike carrying my gear. Not that it made much difference, it took me over ten hours what our guide said we could have done in seven. We arrived into town some time after dark. The next day was another long trip on the bus back to Kathmandu, there was no doctor in town and thought it would be best to get help instead of resting. The pain wasn’t getting better or worse either, so it wasn’t too concerning, just uncomfortable. After arriving in Kathmandu, I went to the government hospital, which is a rather depressing place, but the service was very good. The doctors said that I have peptic disease, which I think sounds worse than what it is. I think it is is a build of stomach acid and now I am taking antacids and hoping that it will go away soon enough. I hope anyway. It hurts a lot when I don’t eat anything, and so I now am carrying around crackers with me so that i don’t have an empty stomach.

It was a disappointing way to end the trek, it was so beautiful there and then not to notice any of it because of the pain I was experience on the last day. The way it goes I guess. So now I am just trying to rest and let my stomach heal. There are ideas to go rafting and mediation courses, but we will see what goes down. Only a week left in Nepal before heading to Africa. That’s very exciting!

Much love and blessings.

hids

25/09/08 - NEPAL

I am so happy to be in Nepal. I know my last post might have sounded a little negative, my time in India wasn’t negative at all. I really enjoyed India, I just struggled with some parts. There is a significant difference in Nepal. It is like a breath of fresh air not to be hassaled every time ever turn.

Leaving India proved by more of a draining then expected. We had a night bus to Raxaoul on the boarder and then a day bus to Kathmandu. The night bus was awful, I can honestly say one of the worse bus trips. There was no place to store our luggage, so the fella showing us to the bus put it out feet! Literally leaving us with no room at all. Thinking this was a rather stupid idea, Dan put his bag in the aisle, allowing me to have just a little bit more space. But there was another fella who decided to use his bag as a bed and slept on it for most of the night. We had to laugh at the one. We had a movie on the way, it was random old school Indian movie that was just… well strange is putting it lightly. The plot is hard to explain, but the essence was that a man loved a woman, he was the superhero, the only thing the villians would do is try to rub against the women, one killed herself because of it. The hero also died, but he had a dog who avenged both deaths and managed to video tape a killing and get the baddies into trouble with the police. So picture that plot with some Indian songs, oh it looked like it was made in the seventies. It was really strang! The only good thing about the movie was that it covered up this consistent beeping noise that the driver just didn’t seem interested in trying to make go away. So all night the bus beeped. So I didn’t get must sleep at all, maybe half an hour right towards the end. Although I think without the beeping I still would have struggled to sleep with all the swerving, breaking and bumping of the road. I was grateful to arrive at Raxaoul and for the beeping to stop, however it didn’t stop there. We were greeted by an onslaught of rickshaw drivers who were to take us to a fella’s office until the boarder opened. I wasn’t interested in getting in a rickshaw and they wouldn’t listen to us. The fella from the office tried to convince us to take the rickshaw and at one point refused to tell us where the boarder was because we weren’t going in the rickshaw. It was crazy! Eventually he understood that we wanted to walk and walked with us to the office. We headed to the boarder to be met with, on either sides, officials who wanted some sort of payment foro one thing or another. It justdidn’t seem to end. The drama was that we had given all our money to the bus ticket people and so we didn’t have any money to give them.  It was getting all too much. We managed to get into Nepal ok and arrive at Kathmandu rather tired.

Now the last two days have been spent trying to work out what to do with the next three weeks. Hoping to get to Tibet, unfortunately I don’t think it will be possible with time and money. But that is ok, cos there is heaps here in Nepal. Tomorrow is a very exciting day as we head off to hike the Langtang trek north of Kathmandu. It will take us ten days. So that is the lastest from the last couple of days. I am so very excited about the mountains! I know it is going to be challenging but fantastic!

I should probably go and get some sleep. So much love and blessings to you all.

heids

22/09/08 INDIA oh India

Well the last week and a bit has been such a rollercoaster. There has been a myraid of emtions, travelled many kilometers and am rather grateful to be heading to Nepal tonight. I think I shall start where I left the last post. I don’t really remember what I wrote, but I know it was around Pushkar.  Well Dan was not well in Pushkar, so we arrived there at some unknown hour of the morning to be welcomed by a number of guesthouse workers trying to sell their guesthuose. It was ridiculous just trying to get off the crowded bus, where people were sleeping in the aisles and three people were in one seat. Then the men pushing the guesthouses, I am sure that they thought I was a blabbering fool, as I felt anything I said was rather incoherent.

 After some good rest, we went to see the town of Pushkar. An interesting little town on a lake. The lake was said to have formed when Brahma dropped a lotus flower there.  A very good doctor came to see Dan, which has got him feeling better after some anitbotics and a whole lot of rest.

In Pushkar I realised why so many travellers become disillusioned with India. Sadly, my experience left me with feelings that have only intensified in the last week. While visiting the Brahma temple, I was somehow caught up in a ceremony with a holy man who asked for a significant donation. I tried to explain my finanical situation as respectfully as I could and yet felt pushed into giving a ‘donation’ a lot larger then what I intended. The money wasn’t so much the issue for me, I have learnt that money comes and goes so quickly that I would rather not get too caught up in counting it. The drama for me was that it was a religious ceremony and yet it did not feel geniune nor did he. So many times I have been asked for money and I am overwhelmed with my frustrations towards the situation. There are so many people here, and their poverty is so great! The needs are intense and so they will do what they can to meet so those needs. It saddened me that people use spirituality to maniuplate people into giving. I do not write this lightly either. I feel like people will so easily play on emotions to get money. I feel as though the majority of Indians I have met only seek interactions that will lead in their financial benefit. Please don’t get me wrong though, there have been a few occassions of interactions that have been geniune and I know that not everyone here has this opinion. But being a white tourists really has it downfalls in being able to enjoy a country.

This has been one aspect of the rollercoaster ride for me, I mentioned briefly my feelings of frustration with myself for my response to these situations. Initially I was frustrated with the people who are being so demanding, however I realised that this is not fair and the feelings led to frustration for my lack of compassion to their situation. I have no right to blame people for being poor and trying to get ahead. Which progressed my feelings to anger how people could be in such a situation, how a government body, an international community allow such needs to intensify to the extent that they have. (This thoughts have not been helped with the book I have just finished about international aid and development organisations!) I am angered that such injustice exists in our world and yet nothing seems to be done about it on any significant level whatsoever! It is absurd to me that such poverty could exist when there is so much wealth in this world. How people can become so caloused and cold that they don’t have any compassion for those right in front of them! (I am mostly referring to myself in saying people.) This injustice just doesn’t make any sense to me. So the rollercoaster has continued but it has turned more into a cyclic rollercoaster. One that continues on these thoughts and feelings and ends at the same point again. I am trying to see the good aspects here, however they are hard to find. It is difficult to find balance amongst this cycle. It is difficult to see the beauty of such places as the Taj Mahal when go down the road 100m and there are people so poor!

After spending a couple of days in Pushkar, we headed to Agra, where the Taj Mahal lives. Dan was still keen to keep moving, despite not feeling so well and he spent the next couple of days in Agra resting. I went to see the Taj Mahal and the red fort, both amazing pieces of archeiture and beauty. Absolutely stunning buildings, so special. The amount of work and love that was put into the building is evident, I honestly can say that I have never seen such an amazing building so full of love before. I have to mention that the Taj Mahal is one of the few open spaces in India that I have seen that is clean! Probably the situation is not helped much by the monsoon season!

From Agra we travelled to Varansai. Now this is where my feelings intensified a whole lot more. In Varansai, rickshaw drivers are paid on commission, to avoid this we tried to get dropped off at a landmark and walk to the hotel. However our rickshaw driver didn’t seem to like this very much and dropped us at the a fair way away from where we were intending to go. After realising this, trying to get to the guesthouse was another mission. All the way along there were more people who were being ‘helpful’, however it was evident that they would get a commission if we went where they were trying to take us. Then when we do find the right way someone follows us and act like they took us there, so we end up paying more. The constant battle with people to just leave you alone is insane! I couldn’t walk down the street without someone trying to sell me something or take me somewhere and even though I had no interest in buying they still were persistant. There were a few really friendly locals who would strike up a conversation, however they would then want to take you to their shop or to see some guru. I honestly couldn’t judge if they were for real or not. It just felt like such a scam. A real shame from my end, as I fear I may have missed out on the opportunity to learn something from them. But I fear that I no longer trust people as easily, especially not Indian men. All part of the rollercoaster!

Varansai was a pretty cool city, despite the consistent hawkers. I was able to go on a boat ride on the Ganages, however I didn’t dare to swim in it, amazingly I saw people drinking, bathing, and washing their clothes with dead animals floating by, not to mention other sorts of mess! Each to their own I guess! Every evening and morning there is a ceremony to the river, it was pretty cool to watch and even despite my lack of understanding to still appreciate.

From Varansai, the plan was to head to Bodhgaya, however this did not eventuate. We arrived to our train station, about an hour away from Varansai to only discover the train will be six hours late. From our information it is not safe to travel in Bihar at night time, and as the train became further and further late we were not sure of the best thing to do. After waiting around for five hours and finding out that there is no available accommodation there for the night we decided to get a refund on our tickets and head to a hotel for the night to try again today. Again we were ‘helped’ by an insistant rickshaw driver, (by helping I mean following us around and pretending like he is telling us what to do, even though we know ourselves what we are doing!) He takes us to a hotel for the night, where he gets a commission and comes back this morning say taht the train is on time and he will take us back to the train station again (an hour away). Trusting this man, who seemed rather nice last night, we end up at the train station with tickets to a train that will be four hours late. Again arriving us at our destination at night time! Rather fed up with waiting at the same train station and pestering rickshaw drivers of Varansai we decided to get the first trian to Patna and head to Nepal tonight. A real shame to miss out of Bodhgaya, the place where Buddha was enlightened, but there just didn’t seem to be a route there that left us arriving during the day.

Again feeling frustrated that we had been told a lie in order to get a fair, the frustrations had to been let go and just all part of the experience. I am learning to use a filter in seeing India, to not pay attention to the bad things. I know that this entry may be a little bit more negative then desired, but hopefully taht will help the letting go.

I do not wish to leave my experience of India bitterly, so I endeavour to find the good here. So let me talk about that for a little bit before I go. I have seen some beautiful countryside, absolutely amazing in fact. Some pretty cool creatures, a monkey walked into our room last night! There have been some fantastic people, a young man on the train today, drew a copy of my tattoo on my foot. It was very well done and despite the lack of interaction there was warmth. The food is fantastic, I have been grately been enjoying that. I have visisted some amazing forts adn temples and palaces that I have never experienced anything like it before. I got to ride on a camel! I have also gone through a process of separating the frustration from the situation to see the issue for what it really is. I think that would be my most important lesson of all. That I can’t blame the people, the situation is a lot bigger than just one person and so even though they are responsible for their own actions, they are not responsible for poverty. Which in itself is what is crippling people, not only physically but emotionally and spiritually as well.

Ok I know that this is a long one, made even longer by writing that! But I felt as though it was necessary to share all of my experience of India so far. Disappointing for me in some ways as I was expecting a bit more, however it has been the way it has been and so I am thankful for this experience. I am really excited about Nepal and the mountains. Hopefully I will find some time to refresh and renew my soul!

Much love and blessings to you

hids

15/09/08 INDIA - Camel Safari in the Great Thar Desert and Pushkar

Well firstly I think I have to mention that we are nowhere near Delhi or Mumbai nor do we have plans to head that way until the end of October. If you hadn’t heard, which wouldn’t be all that surprising if you hadn’t , there were bombs set of in Delhi on Saturday night. There were also threats to set some more off in Mumbai. Such a sad aspect of the world we live in.

The camel safari was pretty fun. We met some awesome people to form a group with and so our time in the desert was pretty fun. We were treated on our first night to lullabies in German, Czech and Indian. The desert was so hot that we would pretty much ride the camel and lie around in the shade for the heat of the day. It was still really cool riding the camels. The moon was nearly full so it was just gorgeous at night time. We were also honoured with the experience of visiting our camel drivers village and his home. Such friendly children and welcoming people.  Also on the way out to the desert we saw how simiple some people were living. Their homes were constructed out of cheap materials like tin, just leaning against themselves. Our camel drivers home was made out of sand and something else that I can’t remember, but ended up looking like mud. He said that it would take them two months to make and would probably last for five to ten years. His home looked beautiful in the desert landscape.

After the camel safari we returned to Jaislamer for the night and headed to Pushkar the next evening. Now the buses in India are such an experience. Pretty much the bus is never full and will always fit more people in there. On the roof and everything. We had a sleeping compartment, which was pretty cool but not a lot of space. At 3am we get rushed out of the bus, being told that we are in Pushkar. So now after a lot more sleep, I’m going to experience the town of Pushkar.

Much love and blessings

heids

09/09/08 INDIA - Mumbai, Jodphur and Jaisalmer

India has been quite a journey. So varied and yet all the same at the same time. Flew from Bangkok to Mumbai on Friday, I really liked Mumbai. Granted I was staying in the touristy area of the city, but still an amazing city. I have never experienced such traffic though, it was hetic! Just getting from the airport took over an hour, a rather painful journey. Mumbai is the place to be discovered for Bollywood! I got to be an extra in a Bollywood movie! How funny! They didn’t want to use Dan because of his beard, but all the other Bollywood scouts wanted to make him in to a star and put him Indian commercials! Quite ironic, considering the run around they gave him. My time with Bollywood was a rather dull day of sitting around in a rather ‘unique’ outfit that I would never in my life have put on. The plus side was the chance to meet some other fellow travellers and to share with them their experiences.

After Mumbai, we travelled north to Jodphur. Jodphur is a blue city, beautiful. Had the train booked for the night to Jaisalmer, so spent the day looking around the old fort. It was amazing, the arechiture, the artwork, everything about it.

Tomorrow I am going into the desert on a camel for three days. That should be real fun.

I love and struggle with India. There are so many people, which means that it is a lot harder to get around. Easy to get swept away in all the chaos. I am learning to appreciate the things that are really appealing and turn a blind eye to things more undesriable. The danger is in becoming too desenistised though. I am really enjoying India though and look forward to the rest of my time here.

Much love and blessings.