My journey to India and a thank you

Thanks to all wonderful people such as my Family, "second Family" and best Friends who accepted, mentally supported my dream and journey to India. Especially for Mum and Dad, who had a hard time worrying as I didnt want any Mobile phone etc with me and therefor wasnt able to be contacted(which was important to me). They probarbly longed to recieve my few emails I sent whils my visit there..;) It was an incredible journey both spiritual,emotional, educational and a lesson of life! I am treasured with all beautiful memories and the hard, challenging but amazing time in this beautiful country where your feelings change like a rollercoster hundreds of times per day from loving the people, culture and country up to asking yourself what on earth you are doing there and are very close to book your flight back asap..;)I always had waited for the "culture shock" to hit me when I was there, as everyone talks about it..maby I was too "prepared" for it but it never arrived..it arrived in a total different time and place than I would of expected which was when I arrived back "home" in Switzerland..I had a tough time coping with everyday life and our standards and wealth here and poor Mum and Dad got so terribly sick of the sentence: "In india they dont have or would or are .."et cetera. It was long after I had arrived (maby 1.5 Months) that I started to kind of "fit in" here again and start living the life I was given, appreciating how lucky and gifted I am to have all these things I do, aswell as a beautiful, wonderful Family and Friendships who accompany and support me trough my life in good and bad times..Special Thank you from my deepest heart to Mum, Dad, Lars, Nina, Ghedey, Ursulina, Inge, Christina and John, Kim, Tracy and Michelle, Jill and all the wonderful friends that have supported, helped, guided and believed in me during the past year!!and all the wonderful friendships I have made whilst my travels will be treasured forever in my heart..:)Now enjoy my blog and lets chat soon..I will have all the India Photos printed for those who want to see the over 1000 pix;)

Himalayas

After having enough of the Indian Flatland, the pollution and strained nerves due to terrible noise, pushy and pungent locals(i know they just need to survive with doing a good salesmen job..)et cetera et cetera.., I decided to go up to the Himalayas with the next possible Bus I could get before turning totally loopy..I had originally planned to fly up to Srinagar which is in the state of Kashmir and stay on a Houseboat on Dal Lake..due to Bomb attacks the past days from the Pakistani(its very close to the pakistani boarder)and a bad feel about it, I changed plans. So I drove up to Dharamsala with a bus the next morning. To admit, buses arent appealing to me in europe but not my cup of tea in India at all..prefer trains ten times over a bus! The 12 or 13 Hours busride up to the Himalayas was very exhausting due to holding on to the window as the seat almost fell apart with every bump. Of course driving about 220 km/h didnt help, especially with dints in the streets or streets made of pebbles;) As usual I didnt have a plan where I was going to stay once getting there and I followed a reccomendation of an english guy(living in japan) to stay somewhere in upper bhagsu instead of McLeod Ganj if I wanted to enjoy peace and beauty, which I did so. The first night I found a little hotel in Bhagsu but didnt feel comfy at all..pretty spaced out..had bad dreams and bad energies around me plus there was people constantly stoned of mushrooms and other psychadellic drugs. So the next morning whilst exploring and hiking I found this cute, amazing little gueshouse run by a local family in between Dharamkot and upper Bhagsu..I feld at "home" immediatly and thats where I spent the next few Weeks:) This part of India is amazingly beautiful..I enjoyed it so much I didnt want to leave..even though experiancing the heaviest monsoon fall I ever have or could of imagined..but you know what, it didnt bother me at all! (well didnt make it easy at times because clothes etc never really dried properly)I enjoyed its beauty and energy..Also I got to k now the tibetan culture and people, as its the region where the tibetan refugees live. I was and am amazed and totally in love with the culture and their views! They is a tremendous difference between them and indians probarbly due to their religion. I couldnt belife how lovingly kind they are..and was impressed and felt honoured to learn more about Buddhism. Next to all the other amazing things I experianced I met some lovely people (locals and travellers)and found a Tibetan Master whom trained me to be a traditional tibetan massage therapist. I went to his Place every single day to learn..mostly by doing and him showing me as his english wanst all that fabulous! Very impressive!
All I can say is that I am totally IN LOVE with the Himalayas and know that I will go back there sometime soon to explore and get to know even more..as I have only, unfortunately, seen a tiny part of it! Its energy is AMAZING!!!!

Varanasi, total Sun eclipse and buddhas place of enlightenment

Well I didnt expect being able to go to Varanasi to be honest..it was a dream and a destination I really truly wanted to go to as people say its magical and very energetic atmosphere..Was sitting having breakky in one of Delhis Rooftop Cafes one morning after getting back from my Rajasthan trip and all of a sudden I hear this swiss accent(talking english to japanese people)..I must say I had to smile because the swiss accent is definately NOT one you miss!haha..anyway turned out the guy, Mesum, was from St.Gallen which is just the town next to mine, where I too grew up and went to school..(well parts, some was here and some in Melbourne)Anyway he was just off to Varanasi by train that morning with some Japanese friends of his to see the total sun eclipse which hereafter was due 3days later. He "invited" me to join them, so I spontaneously deccided to book the next train which was due to leave the next morning and mee them in Varanasi. I must say, a journey on Indias trains is worth a travel to India its self! Lots of people hate it but I find it quite revelling! Of course I never booked first class as I find it interesting to travel the way the locals do plus you meet interesting people (locals and tourists) whilst train rides. Though I treat myself with the middle class as the budet one is very basic with no seats and about 100people per 1m square;) I shared my cabin with a guy from Japan, America, Croatia, ireland (well he more acted as he was Jesus from bethlehem though and is convinced he is one of the 56 god`s whom will return to earth in 2012), a guy from brazil and 4(well there were only supposed to be 2 seats but as indians are they squeeze extras in)Indian men,very nice,offering us home made food they cooked for the journey!So 14hours later I arrived in Varanasi, exhausted but full of new energy as it was incredibly amazing! So I spent 5 fantastic days in Varanasi, exploring, unforgettable impressions and experiances, feeling feelings I have never thought existed and philosophize and think intense about life and death wherefor there isnt a boarder existing inbetween in Varanasi which you strongly get to feel. I was lucky to see the total suneclipse( second in my life!)We got up at 5:20 (pretty much as usual as our bodies functioned according to the sun)and experianced the amazing feel of the eclipse! One of the days we took a trip to Sarnath. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India. Singhpur, a village one km away from the site, was the birth place of Shreyansanath, the eleventh Jain Tirthankar of the present age (Avasarpini), and a temple dedicated to him, is an important Jain pilgrimage. )Its the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Isipatana is mentioned by the Buddha as one of the four places of pilgrimage which his devout followers should visit, if they wanted to visit a place for that reason. It was amazing to see everything and a total different feel to Varanasi even though not too far away..a very hot day (as all of the 5 in Varanasi)..
Oh, by the way..I stayed at a place just at the Ganges River (the holy river), sometimes feeling as under a spell as I enjoyed the view of its beauty and magic and watching the hundreds of monkeys play,steal food and clothes off people etc..(well I must say that sometimes they can get a bit scary when they jump at you and show you their teeth kind of telling you to bugger off). As you can see I could go on and on..but to tell you the most important bits (so I dont forget and keep drifting off,sorry)at first I was pretty shocked by Varanasi, at the same time in love with it!As I had mentioned before, the boarder of life and death does not exist in my eyes..and its a place hard to describe!People washing, bathing, brushing teeth, doing their morning toilet duties, praying, perform their rituals, playing, cowes bathing, rubbish floating, and dead bodies swimming around in the River all in one..at the riverside they have the burning ghats constantly in use, where dead bodies get burnt, allowing the ashes to be sweapt away by the river. Its amazing how different you start seeing death in such places..
I think thats about the most important..who feels like more details (well actually on the whole India trip)feel free to contact me;)

Rajasthan

The most colourful State in India..a tailors dream..The state where every city has its own colours and fabrics are made, coloured and exported worldwide.
Before I got to Jaipur, I visited Fatepur Sikri; a city and a municipal board in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The historical city was constructed by Mughal emperor Akbar beginning in 1570 and served as the empire's capital from 1571 until 1585. Though the court took 15 years to build, it was abandoned after only 14 years because the water supply was unable to sustain the growing population.The surviving palace and mosque are a tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site itself is a ghost town.
My first city in Rajasthan was Jaipur which is the capital of this state and also called the pink city. Its much more sophisticated than the cities I have been to up to now..You can feel that people here have more money and are better off than other cities around in the states I have been to previously. Jaipur is the first planned city of India, located in the semi-desert lands of Rajasthan. The city which once had been the capital of the royalty now is the capital city of Rajasthan. The very structure of Jaipur resembles the taste of the Rajputs and the Royal families. At present, Jaipur is a major business centre with all requisites of a metropolitan city.
I stayed at a cute family run Guest House a little out of the main city centre which was really pleasant and I felt secure in this doubtful area (a few bad experiances made!!)I enjoyed fantastic Rajasthani food whilst staying here. Rajasthan is known for a little spicier cuisine compared to the other states which of course was a culinary delight for my spice loving tongue:)
Amongst all the other things I visited a tailor shop a little outter town where locals showed me how they produce all the beautiful quilts, beddings, saris, and and and! very impressive..Of course they were able to talk me in to having my own salwar kameez, a traditional dress worn by both women and men. I was very excited and it was done in no time and home delivered to my guest house(included in the price)..payed next to nothing for it!
Coughing trough monsoon filled, muddy, strongly polluted streets and the bad experiance walking home one night made things easy to move on for me..back to delhi trough some abandoned towns and cities..

Agra

Agra..a terribly dirty, loud, rough and unpleasant city..very violant and not nice..to be honest, one of the worst cities I have ever been to! I prefer Delhi ten times over Agra..but of course I had my reasons for coming here as you all would know:) Ever since I have read the Book "The peacock Princess" followed by the "Queen of Roses" by Indira Sundaresan which is the story of the Shah Jahan whom built the Taj Mahal for his much loved wife, I knew that I needed to visit that amazing piece of Art of building one day..six years and a few months, experiances and education about India later I finally was able to fulfill my dream..I was so very excited I could hardly wait to drop my bags off at the Hotel and walk down to the entrance of the Taj!!I think I would of run to the Taj if I could of but seeing it was ridiculously HOT that was almost impossible without the risk of fainting to a heat stroke. Almost discrimination paying Rs 750 where as Indians pay Rs 25. They just try to get money out of everything those Indians..smart smart!But annoying!
Anyway..my godness..the Taj Mahal..the most amazing, magical, breathtaking building I have ever seen and stood infront of in my whole entire life! I felt like I got enlightend or some surreal magical thing has entered my world..Just stunning!!After walking around and in the Taj, taking hundreds of Pictures and posing for and with Indian people, their families and babies, sweating about two buckets of sweat as it was the hottest day I have experianced in my life, I sat in front of the Taj for about 4 hours enchanted of its beauty and magic feel on a little bench in one of the gardens infront surrounded by heat and squirrels running up and down in front of me..
Amazing..cant even say more to it!!!!

Delhi`s first impressions

After ages at the Airport where every single Person had to undergo a healthcheck beacuase of high Swine Flu Risk( especially coming from Kuala Lumpur AND Australia)and 2 Hours in Delhi, I felt as if I had been there 2 Weeks. Even though it was night and dark there were so many impressions that it was pretty overwhelming. When I first got to my Hotel Room I didnt really know what to do, where to look, where to sit,stand or not to and so on;) Pretty funny when I think back and as I have heard, pretty much the same thing happens to every Backpacking Tourist first visiting India. Not to forget to mention that a higher class Indian Hotel is to compare with , uhm id guess about a zero star Hotel in Switzerland or Australia. Very basic. A bed, a Fan (if your lucky and please, if you hate AC`s like me, an absoulute DON`T to take a room with one as its more than annoying and makes you feel like you would be cramped up in a fridge somewhere in the amazonas in summer)a standig toilet( a hole in the floor with a bucket of water to flush)and two taps..one to brush your teeth(well, not that you would want to brush you teeth with delhis water anyway..thats what I thought the first 4 weeks but then couldnt be bothered with bottled water anymore for teeth brushing and had built up somekind of non understandable immunity)and the other to fill the Bucket which you can use to shower and do your washing.
The first morning I still was kind of confused. Confused where exactly I was and what I was supposed to do with myself as soon as I had stepped out of the Hotel on to Main Bazaar in Pharaganj. The humid heat of the monsoon season, the dust, pollution, the smells( going from wonderful smells of spices, fresh chapatis, curries etc to smells that even almost made me feel sick (yes even me!can you imagine?)smells of urine, pieces of meat that had been lying in the sun for days and was way over the limit of being able to eat, sweat, and and and (sometimes even dead bodies)),the big crowd of people everywhere, the beeping of bikes, cars and Rikshas that almost makes you go deaf, the yelling, pulling and touching of the Indian salesmen that want you to go and "only have a look and not buy anything" of their shop or their brother or cousins shop, etc, hit me like a baseball bat the first day i must admit..now i think back I have to smile at myself and eventhough I really had problems handling that (especially the HUGE crowd of people, pulling and the noise)I do miss it..
Anyway,to go on..As I felt a little "lost"in that big City as a (well now i definately know)country girl, I decided that I wanted to move on from Delhi soon and see more. So I made use of the voucher I was given and booked my own personal taxi with driver for the next 2days to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal as I could almost not wait anymore after 5 years of dreaming of this day!;) I was warmly welcomed by Mustaq, a kashmiri salesman (which now I know are the WORST on talking you into something..they dont have the reputation of the worldwide best salesmen out of no where!)who offered, or better insisted I have chai with him before we got started with business..I was in the office about 3 hours and was happy to get out and finally have dinner and peace (well as much peace as you can get in delhi i guess)following a shower which really was necessary as the towel almost still was black after showering I had so much dirt on me haha..and dropping into bed dead tired..!
Oh before I forget, talking of first impressions..I really really made sure I dressed appropriately and covered up even in this heat(which by the way I LOVE, I mean the heat)but realised that it still makes it pretty difficult alone as a woman if your unsure as the Indians just feel that, feel that your a tourist and not knowing where you are going and so on..So still I did have some strange experiances in the first days in Delhi..Like one guy following me about half an hour pulling at me, coming up close to tell me how sexy he thought I was and that he wanted to f*** me and other dirty things like this..didnt really feel that comfertable but I noticed quick that it was best just to walk on, ignore him and pull away everytime he touched me.
Uhm yeh I guess that was the most important of my first day in Delhi, I could go on and on but I would have to start a book then and plus, I am only up to my first day of my Trip, so much much more to go;)

My way to India over KL

Well as you can imagine I left Claremont,Western Australia with lots of mixed feelings. One part of me was really upset and sad to leave Perth/ Fremantle, this beautiful place on earth with all I have experianced and the people that have grown to be wonderful friends to me. People that have open views, take everyone as they are and are here in good and also, as I had to experiance this year, in bad times..thanks to all of you (I don`t think I have to mention names as these people know that their meant with). The other part of me was really excited and couldnt wait to get on to that plane and flying in to my next adventure, only with myself and a backpack:)
I had a really good and quick flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, arrived there at 5:30am so it kind of was like a night out partying, without the partying part though of course! As I had lots of time, I jumped on the express shuttle train to KL Central where I wandered around the streets of KL, where everyone started waking up and making their way to work. It got busier by the hour and the tropical "warmth" definately didn`t help me remembering that I hadn`t slept the past like 24hours..So I decided to go have a relax in the park next to the Petronas Towers and enjoy a funny, asian breakfast bread and a coffee..as soon as I sat down on the beautiful steps I could only hear this terrible sound of a lound whistle trrrr trrrr trrrr...and a lady cop came up to me with a pretty angry looking face, to let me know that I am not allowed to sit and eat there as that part of the park would not open until 10am (and, you wouldn`t belife it, it was exactly 9:58) so she made me get up and walk up to the seats, which apparently were ok to sit on at this time of the day;) nevermind, so I got up and did as she told me as I know out of experiance a few years ago with a "chewing gum in my mouth- fine", that they like to hand out fines..;) After enjoying a long breakky I had to entertain myself trough walking trough the shops, where I didnt really have any interest in buying anything or even looking as my mind was one step further than my body, in Delhi;)