Tibetan Refugees, Golden Tempels, Desert, Camels and the Taj Mahal!

Sorry, I know it's been a while, but we were just too busy the last couple of weeks! Now Ede has gone back to Germany and I'm back in Delhi, with loads of time to fill you in on the latest events!
So after Manali we spent 3 lovely days in Dharamshala, or more precisely in McLeod Ganj, where the Dalai Lama has his official residence. On the first day it was raining pretty hard and we spent it almost completely at the Tibetan Childrens Village (TCV), where the -mostly orphaned- children of tibetan refugees can live and learn. A wonderful place- so good, that I immediately tried to apply as a teacher there, which unfortunately is most likely to not work out, since I am not a real educated teacher... The next day we looked at the Tibetan Museum and visited the home of the Dalai Lama- rather walked around it, of course! And in the evening I was in for a special treat, since we were actually able to find a "cinema" showing the newest Harry Potter movie in this small little mountain town! On the third day it was already time to move on again, since we had lost too much time before in Manali, and we headed for Amritsar near the Pakistani boarder. There we got up early in the morning the following day, in order to look at the Golden Tempel, the holiest monument of the Sikh. For this we had to dress "appropriately", in other words cover up completely, but hey, funny picture!
We had planned to take a bus to Bikaner from there, but there was none available the next day. Since we didn't want to spend more time there, we decided to head back to Delhi, from where -or so we thought- it would be easier to get a train connection to Jaisalmer, which was our next destination. Back in Delhi we saw, that there were no possible train connections for a couple of days, and since Ede didn't have that much time left before having to return to Germany, we decided to hire a car and driver for the last part of our trip (very posh, I know!).
With this driver we then left Delhi the next day and finally arrived in Bikaner in the middle of the night. The next morning we looked at the fort and the RAT Temple there (I could feel my grandmother turning in her grave!), before continuing on to Jaisalmer. There, almost in the desert, it was probably even hotter than in Delhi, but less humid and thus a little more comfortable. Also, our nice hotel had a pool, and so we spent the rest of the day "beating the heat"!
The following day then took us all the way into the Thar Desert, after having explored the city of Jaisalmer for a while, which basically looks like a giant sand castle! We watched the sunset over the desert and had loads of fun, playing around in the sand like little children (I think the other tourists were a little astonished...). After dinner, we went back into the desert via camel-cart, taking actual beds with us, and spent what was left of the night after the whiskey was finished under the stars. Early the next morning we were awakened by heat and sunlight, and after breakfast, the actual camel safari started. We rode our camels through the desert for about two hours, before stopping for lunch in the shade of some small trees. After lunch, until about 5 o' clock it was not possible to do anything but lie around in the shade, because it was SO hot!!! After this extended lunch break we rode on for about another one and a half hours, before we set up our beds for the night. We spent another beautiful night in the desert and saw some of the most amazing shooting stars ever...
The next morning we returned to "base camp" and afterwards to Jaisalmer, where we had a great dinner with MEAT (only vegeterians there!), cooked by our very own driver!
Our next stop then was Jodhpur which I was unfortunately unable to completely enjoy, as I was sick again. Inspite of this, we were able to see the impressive Meherangarh Fort, where we took part in one of the most interesting tours I have experienced so far.
From the "blue city" of Jodhpur (in former times, the blue paint was a sign for Brahmans living there, today it is still used as bug repellent!) we continued on to Udaipur, passing the Ranakpur Temple on the way. After all the desert landscape, the green hills and lakes of Udaipur were a welcoming change, and we really enjoyed exploring the town and the area around it. By then I had started taking antibiotics and was feeling a little better, unfortunately I was also getting paranoid, though (fuck bacteria and fuck sideeffects!)... this became so bad, that when I was talking to Ahmad on the phone from Pushkar, he decided to come and see me there- its a 450km, 10 hour journey from Delhi to Pushkar... Despite of all the madness we were still able to look at the holy lake in the middle of the town, where we were blessed or something like that and unwillingly henna-painted, before we were asked to "donate" a larger sum of money to charity... That's India, baby ;-)
Then we headed for Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, now with two drivers, two cars, two boys and me in the middle... things there got kind of crazy, too, so I'll just mention the highlights: first bathtub in 6 months and probably the best fish I have ever eaten in a billion-star hotel, thanks to my boyfriend!! We also did some shopping, blankets, wall hangings and stuff like that, which resultet in more madness and confusing discussions about honesty and taking commission... but hey, we got some really nice things!!
The last stop of our pathetic parade was finally Agra and the Taj Mahal. It was a bit weird looking at the ultimate monument of love with two guys at my side but the beauty of the place succeeded in pushing all conflict aside for a while and we witnessed the Taj being bathed in the light of the first morning sun- stunning.

Well, now I'm back in Delhi, a bit "travel-weary" and just relaxing and enjoying time with Ahmad... It's still hot, but starting to rain and to get better, and hey, we have airconditioning and a DVD-player, so who needs the indian street-chaos, anyway...?!

Leh, Manali and spectacular roads in between

Hey, we're back- still in Manali right now but moving on to Dharmshala tomorrow. Unfortunately, I spent the last 4 days in bed here sick, one day Ede even got sick, too, but today we had a lovely day walking around town, sitting in cafes and playing chess on a river bank! Due to the illness, that's just about all we did in Manali, but it is a very beautiful place in a valley with a river running through it, surrounded by mountains and forest and with cute little streets with loads of shops and cafes.
The trip here from Leh took us 19 hours- we crossed the second highest motorable pass in the world (about 5500 m) and were able to witness an astonishing landscape ranging from forests over glaciers to almost desert-like wilderness. But I can tell you, even the most beautiful scenery loses some of it's charm after about 12 hours of bumpy "road" and no sleep!
But let me tell you about Leh, wich was quite an experience- very close to what I would imagine Tibet to be like.
On our first day there we climbed up to the old Leh Palace overlooking the town, which is not in use anymore, thus empty, but still posesses an incredible amount of spiritual energy! We felt so peaceful, no, at peace when we were sitting up there, surrounded by buddhist prayer flags...
The next day we just stayed in the town which is lovely by itself, doing some shopping (cheap and colourful clothes- paradise for me!!) and eating a lot of tibetan food which they also have there. On day three we decided, we needed to get out of the city as not to go crazy (happens to both of us after approximately three days at most), so we took a bus to Thiksey, about 20km away. There we looked at the Gompa, which actually turned out to be a whole city of houses, temples and balconies- very impressive and very beautiful! From there we walked about 4 km to Shey, passing a whole field of Stupas, in the middle of which we had a small picknick. Then we decided to not return to the road, but to climb up to Shey Palace from the back. We underestimated the altitude, the sun and also the immense amount of strength you need to wald uphill in the sand, but we finally managed to reach the old ruins of the palace (and were very proud of ourselves, too!). After a short rest we climbed down to the still intact part of the palace, and there we had our most amazing experience yet. We were able to witness a buddhist religious ceremony! At the back of the room was the Lama, who was reading from a book, and in front of him, women were sitting on the ground, chanting and repeating the words he was reading. This had such an overwhelming effect on us, that we were actually both close to tears and sat down on the ground next to them, listening in silence and feeling the energy. When the chanting was over, some monks sitting on the side began playing drums and trumpets and also reading lines from a book, all at once and all different, which resulted in a weird, hypnotizing mixture of sounds. At the same time, tea was being passed around to the women, and when a little girl came over to us and offered us a cup, too, we felt more happy than words could describe. The ceremony ended with the women receiving cookies and bread, and there too, we were included. We left the Palace in a sort of trance, with big smiles on our faces and everyone smiling back at us!
We tried to catch a bus back to Leh, but none came, so we tried stopping a private bus and succeeded- next thing we knew, we were in a bus full of veterinary medicine students, singing Greenday songs and taking pictures with them! Talk about a crazy but perfect day!!!
After this experience we decided, that we didn't need a lot more action for our last day in Leh and just looked at the nearby Shanti Stupa and played chess in a nice little cafe. At eleven in the evening we packed our things in the dark because of another power-out and left for Manali at around one in the morning. The rest of the story you know.
I'm now glad I packed all the meds that I've been carrying around uselessly for the last four and a half months and appreciating being healthy again! Sometimes you just need to feel miserable for a couple of days to be able to appreciate, how good you actually have it!! Looking forward to Dharmshala and McLeod Ganj which will be our final destination there and who knows- maybe we'll even get to see the Dalai Lama...?!

Love you all, peace!

10 days in Kashmir

Upon our arrival in Kashmir we were, first of all, pleasently surprised by the nice weather- 30 degrees, moderate humidity and a cool breeze compared to 45 degrees, high humidity and no air at all in Delhi! The second pleasent surprise was the houseboat which was really very lovely.
We spent our fist day there relaxing and eating great indian food. On the second day we explored some of the city of Srinagar which wasn't very exciting, since everything was closed, due to a strike (I have never seen so much military presence anywhere else!). Then we went for a boat ride on and a swim in the lake. On day three we took a jeep to Pahalgam National Park in order to do some trekking there. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and our campground next to a river a perfect spot! After putting up the tents we explored the surrounding area and visited the houses of some gypsie people living there. In the evening it got quite cold and I was very glad that I hadn't thrown away my jeans yet! We looked at the beautiful starry sky and went to sleep to the sound of the river flowing past our tent.
The next day we went on an eight hour hike through mountains, forests and over rivers. Again, we just couldn't believe the beauty around us and had a great time walking. When we got a bit tired on the way back we rode on the horses that came with us, which was also very nice (I think nicer for me than for Ede, though!!). Day two of our trekking was supposed to take us high up to a mountain lake, but I was very tired from the first day of walking and also felt a bit sick- probably caught a cold because of the 40 degree temperature change between Delhi and Pahalgam! So we only walked uphill for about an hour. There we reached a beautiful river bed and I decided to just stay there, while Ede went for another three hours of hiking and climbing. Then we had some lunch and then slowly made our way back to our campsite, passing more gypsie houses, horses, sheep and cows on the way. We took a bath in the ice-cold river and then passed the time with a couple of games of chess before going to sleep for the last time in this lovely place. The following day was basically just spent with packing up things and returning to Srinagar, where we met J.A. who had really kept his promise and came to see us! We had a fun evening on the boat, talking until 4 in the morning and looking at the stars from the rooftop. The next day, Ede and I had another shot at exploring Srinagar, this time more successful than the last! In the evening, we again met up with J.A. and his friends and went to a pretty fancy hotel, where we sat in the garden, having a couple of drinks and some great dinner. J.A. invited us on a fishing trip for the next to days and we happily accepted. So the next morning we packed our things together and again took off, this time in the other direction. At noon we reached a small village next to a river, and the guys did some fishing while I had some rum instead! We spent the night all together on matresses in a room of a gypsie familys home- the people there were so nice and the whole atmosphere so peaceful, that none of us really wanted to leave the next day, but J.A.'s friend had to go back, so we left after the guys had done some more fishing.
We spent our -finally- last day in Srinagar organizing some things and taking some more pictures of the people and the town and then went to the home of J.A.'s family for dinner. It was a wonderful evening with great food and lovely people, and we felt very privileged to be able to take part in something genuine like this, which is probably not possible for all tourists who come to Kashmir. And as one can see (again), everything happens for a reason, and most of the time, things that seem bad in the beginning turn out good in the end- you just have to let them happen and "go with the flow of life". By now I am very happy to have met J.A., although you can't exactely say that we had a good start together!
Now Ede and I are in Leh, Ladakh, a buddhist town in the middle of the mountains at 3500 m altitude. So far I can say, that this is one of the most peaceful and vibrant places I have ever been to, but details will follow in the next post!
So much for now, take care, and always try to see the good behind the bad... life is beautiful.

INDIA- How I ended up in a houseboat in Kashmir.

Yes my dears, I have made it to the other side of the world to India!
After an exhausting 36 hour journey from Panama City to New Delhi I met up with my friend Ede who flew in from Germany at the airport. We got a taxi to take us to a hotel we had picked out of the Lonely Planet but half way there the driver explained he couldn't take us there for some strange reasons, and we had to go to the tourist information first. Since there was nothing else we could do we agreed, although it already seemed very strange to us, especially since the "tourist information" was located in some dark alley...
There, they called several hotels for us, which apperently were all booked up because of some festival that was taking place in Delhi for the next week. By this time I was really frustrated and in desperate need of sleep! At that point the guy from the tourist information offered us, that we could spend the night at his appartement and I thankfully accepted. His friends picked us up and took us to his place where we immediately went to sleep. The next morning, we wanted to buy a bus ticket to Dharmsala and the guy from the tourist information (his name shall not be mentioned here, in order not to ruin his buisness, therefore I will refer to him as "J.A." from now on...) offered to call the company for us. They told us, that all buses going north from Delhi were also booked for the next six days! Since we didn't intend to spend the next 6 days in Delhi, J.A. offered us a flight to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, including a 7 night stay on a houseboat on Lake Dal. Although we didn't like the idea of "being stuck" in one place for a whole week and hadn't intended on flying at all, we let us be talked into the trip and went to get the money.
Then we had some lunch and explored some of the chaotic old town of the city. At some point we decided to do a little research on bus tickets and hotel rooms ourselves, as the story with the festival seemed stranger every minute we thought about it more... Of course we found out, that there WERE bustickets as well as hotel rooms available! I started to panick, because I had also left my passport, Visa card, etc. at J.A.'s appartement and we took the next Riksha back. There we confronted J.A. with our "new information" and told him, we wanted our money back! A three-hour discussion followed, in which we all admitted, having made some mistakes and finally agreed on the plan, that we should fly to Srinagar, see how we liked it, and that we could get our money back once we returned to Delhi, in case we didn't. After this exhausting dispute, J.A. invited us to go to a bar with him. We had a couple of drinks and a good time and returned to the appartement around two in the morning. I was really tired and ready to go to bed, but that's when J.A. started talking... he confessed everything- that the taxi driver was paid for taking us to his office, that the phonecalls to the hotels had actually been phonecalls to his friends and finally that -of course- there was no festival! We were shocked but glad at the same time, that we had finally been told the truth, and we liked J.A.. So we asked him to come and visit us in Srinagar, where he was from, anyway, and he agreed.
The next day we were on our way to Srinagar.

Sailing to Panama

Ok, so the good news is, I've made it to Panama! The bad news is, that I can't really tell you how the trip there actually was because no words could ever describe it.
The feeling I had when the bay of Cartagena had finally disappeared, and all you could see around you was water, is probably the most amazing I've ever experienced.
We sailed for 48 hours, day and night, and the whole time I felt so unreal, so small and so FREE.
When we got to the San Blas Islands that feeling didn't really change much, because it was paradise. White sand, palm trees, the most beautiful colors and the most beautiful people- it all seemed so peaceful and just to good to be real.
We had a nice group of people on the boat, too, although it didn't really matter, as we were all just staring in awe and not talking much. Our captain, David, didn't talk that much either, but he was a great guy and an experienced sailor, and we felt very safe with him. That first day on the islands we actually got to do some "real sailing" when a pretty strong wind and rain came up and the boat was leaning at a 45 degree angle! So much fun!!
That night we also met another captain, Adrian from the Attila, and his friend Nestor, one of the indigenous Kuna people, and we ended up getting pretty drunk! After that things with David were easier, too, and he actually started talking to us- turned out that he's a pretty funny guy, as well!
The next day we spent on Nestors island, looking at the way people lived there, having lunch at the beach and playing with Nestors six (!) little girls. It was such a great community there, and again we felt like we were in paradise. After a beautiful sunset we all returned to our boat, the Tango, and had an even bigger party than the night before, including dancing on deck!
Unfortunately the party was over at about eleven o' clock, as everybody was very tired (and very drunk- we had started at noon!). Adrian and I were the only ones left, so I went with him on his boat where we talked almost until morning. At eight the Tango pulled up to our boat, as it was time to leave the islands and head for the mainland, but instead of going with her, I packed my things and put them on the Attila. And that was the moment I officially left the "gringo-trail", stopped being "just another traveller" and started living!!!
I had an amazing day with Adrian, just sailing around the islands with no particular goal, stopping every now and then to swim or to have a beer, and I never felt better in my life.
The next day he had to pick up two tourists, in order to take them to Cartagena, and together with them and two other random guys we had met we started another party on the boat. Because of this, none of us was really up for doing much sailing the next day (and I didn't want to leave, either!!), so we just stayed at the islands, relaxing for another day, cooking our own food and not partying quite as hard for a change!
The day after that, my seventh day at sea, it was finally time to say goodbye to the San Blas Islands, Attila and Adrian and to the things I had fallen so much in love with- the wind, the rocking of the boat at night, the feeling of freedom you have on your "own" boat, in short, THE SEA.
I took a small plane to Panama City and spent the last two days, trying to cope with culture shock and "land-sickness" (the damn ground just won't stop moving!). Funny enough, I met two people from the Tango here, one of the other captains, Kevin, is sleeping right next to me and I have the most beautiful bed in the whole house, from which I can see the sea... that all kind of helps to cope with the overwhelming feelings I have, because I think I've found what I set out to look for. The life I have experienced in that last week in the Caribbean is exactely the kind of life I want to live. On one hand, this is a very good feeling and I'm very happy, on the other hand though, I now have to figure out, how I am going to go about it to make the dream come true, and that is a very frightening thought at the moment.
It's a good thing I'm flying to India in four days, there I can hopefully sort some things out and find to myself again. Until then I just want to do nothing, see nothing and just "rest my weary head".
My love goes out to all of you, who understand or at least accept what I have just tried to tell you, you are the true friends.

Columbia

Well, it´s been a while! Tonight will be my last night in Columbia and actually in South America, tomorrow I will be sailing to Panamá! So let me tell you about the last month in this beautiful country...
After spending one more day in Popayán I took a bus to Cali. It was incredibly hot there! I arrived on a Thursday night and just wanted to party for the weekend, and that´s exactely what I did!
Luckily, there were a bunch of really nice people in my hostal, because going out in Cali by yourself isn´t a good idea... We spent three nights in a row in different "Salsathekas", drinking and trying to dance with the locals, as the places weren´t touristy at all. In the daytime it was pretty much just chilling, reading and learning some more spanish. I even took two Salsa classes, as well!
On Sunday mornig I wasn´t feeling too well, but I thought I just needed some rest after the wild weekend. By evening though, I started getting a fever, and in the night it actually went up to 40 degrees! I felt like shit and things kept getting worse, so on Tuesday I decided to go to the hospital. "Toncillitis" was the diagnosis and I was treated right away with really strong antibiotics. After another day of relaxing in Cali, I felt strong enough to travel on to Salento, a small town in the "Zona Cafétera" on Thursday. There I spent another three days relaxing, looking at a coffee plantation and taking a short hike through the "Cloud Forest", where you could see the "Waxpalm", the national tree of Columbia. On Sunday I continued on to Bogotá, where I only spent two days. The city isn´t really that pretty, except for the old town, which I looked at in one day. The next day I went north of Bogotá, to look at an underground salt cathedral which was pretty impressive! I also booked my boat trip to Panamá, and since I only had one week left then to get to Cartagena, I decided to skip Villa de Leyva, a colonial town north of Bogotá, but to go straight to St. Marta instead.- My only nightbus-trip in Columbia, 20 hours!!
When I got off the airconditioned bus the next day, I was shocked by the 38 degrees at the Caribbean coast (in Bogotá we had about 18...)! I went straight to Taganga, a small pueblito, very close to St. Marta, where I spent the rest of the day trying to catch my breath in a hammock... The next two days were all lying around at the beach!
On the third night I met André again, who, as it turned out, had been in Taganga the whole time, for an entire month! Of course we had to celebrate our reunion, and so I had to cope with only three hours of sleep, since I wanted to catch the nine o clock boat to Tayrona National Park.
We arrived at the stunning beach after about one and a half hours, which were enough time for me to meet three other girls. Together we rented some hammocks and I spent pretty much the rest of the afternoon sleeping at the beach! Next morning, we hiked to the "Pueblito" together, the remains of an ancient town within the park. It was extremely hot and humid, and when we returned after almost five hours we didn´t want to do much more than to relax at the beach again. After another night in the surprisingly comfortable hammock it was time to leave the park again and to get back to Taganga. I met André and his friends again, and we spent another night partying at the beach with loads of rum, singing and other "typical Columbian things" ;-)
Then, after another ridiculously short night it was time to say goodbye to André, who of course couldn´t be bothered to leave "yet", and to Taganga, and to -finally- head off to Cartagena.
Here I arrived last night and spent the day walking around the beautiful old town for almost eight hours! It´s so pretty here, and I really wish I had more time, but tomorrow at two my boat leaves for Panamá, and first the San Blas Islands!! I´m really gettting excited now, going to meet Ingrid, who is also here, for a "good-bye-South-America-drink" and then going to sleep for the last time on this continent...

It´s been great, and I will definitely be back!!!!

Cross your fingers for me, that everything goes well on the boat, I love you all very much!!

Getting to Columbia...

In my last entry I said, I was hoping for more excitement to come... well, I hadn't quite imagined it this way.
Early in the morning my guest father brought me to the bus for the ecuadorian-columbian border.
As usual, I put my big back pack in the luggage room underneath the bus and took my small backpack with me. After about an hour, there was a police control and everybody had to get off the bus. I asked the driver, if I had time to use the bathroom and he said "sure". When I got back from the toilet, my bus was gone.- With my big backpack in it!!
Since the police was still there, I told them what had happened. They got into the car with me, and together we started chasing after the bus. At this point I felt relatively confident, since after all, I was with the POLICE and they knew the busnumber, as they had just checked it before. Well, you shouldn't compare them with our police in germany.
When we still hadn't caught up to the bus after about 20 minutes, they explained to me, that they couldn't continue on any further, as this was now no longer their "area of responsibility". So they wrote me a note with the number of the bus and dropped me off by the side of the road! That's when I started panicking!
I stopped the next bus going in the direction I had to go and explained to the driver what had happend. And I was in luck.- The driver put up a chase a la "Speed" and after about half an hour we actually managed to catch up to the bus! We cut in front of it, forcing it to stop, and together with the driver I stormed the bus and got my bag back, yelling at the driver "hijo de puta"!
The rest of the trip to and across the border was without further incidents (otherwise I probably would have had a heartattack!!) and I arrived at my first stop in Columbia, Pasto, at about 5 p.m.
The next day, I took a bus to Popayan, a nice little town about 6 hours north of Pasto, and on the trip there I got a first impression of why people say, "Columbia is the most beautiful country in South America"...
In Popayan I checked into a hostel where I soon met another german girl. Together we decided to take a trip to St. Augustin, an archaeological site another six hours from Popayan in the middle of nowhere, as there was not much to do in Popayan.
The road there was the worst one I've been on so far- the "Highway to Hell"! Six hours of unpaved road up and down the mountains, jumping in the seat about 20 cm high every couple of seconds- our backs and heads hurt even the next day! But bravely we went on a four hour hike, looking at a good portion of the stone sculptures here in the area. It was a nice day and in the evening we enjoyed a great dinner at our swiss-run hostal with other german (or swiss-german) speaking people! Funny, I'm in the middle of nowhere in Columbia and everybody speaks german!
Well, after two nights here it is now time to return to Popayan, as we have no more clean clothes and also no more money! There I will meet up with Ingrid, the french girl from the rafting trip in Tena, and together we will continue on to Cali (after the "backpack-episode" I'm kind of sick of traveling in buses on my own...). Anne is leaving for Ecuador, so unfortunately I won't be able to continue traveling with her. Gotta go, bus is leaving for the "highway to hell"... fuck!!!