First impressions of the Himalaya

And finally Himalaya. Already a week I am lingering around in the lower Himalaya area. The trip from LONAVALA was quite exhausting and very long: With the public bus to Mumbai; horrible suburban train ride to the airport; in the airplane I met Dutch Jorrit who spontaneously decided to join me travelling to the North; in Delhi we took the night train to Kalka meeting my Russian friend Anna Libkhen with her Russian friend Ellen and 3 Austrian guys; arriving in Kalka at 5.00 am and changing to a bus to go up to Shimla (capital of the State of Himachal Pradesh); arriving there at 8.30 am.; Breakfast ; then spontaneous decision to continue our trip on the same day to Naggar in the Kullu Valley with a hired jeep; finally arrived in this nice little village after 36h ouf travelling. In Naggar we stayed 3 nights recovering from this very exhausting trip and getting used to the altitude of 2000 meters above sea level. The scenery is beautiful here and reminds me a lot on some areas in the Swiss mountains. Even though we are on 2000 meters, we are still in the lower areas of the Himalaya but we can see the snow covered peaks of some higher mountains already. Poeple are nicer here than in the south and it is slightly more organized and cleaner (though only slightly!!). Tibet and Nepal are close which is visible in the a lot of the customs here. Though still mainly hinduistic, buddhism is sensible much more than in the south; the culture is 'quiter' and less chaotic; the traditional clothes look more Tibetan; the architecture is 'wooden-mountain-rural'! The physical appereances of the local population is on avarage already quite 'Asian-looking'. I must say, I appreciate poeple here more than in the South of India and I am eager and curious to go still further up.
However, after three nights we moved further up to VASHISHT which is just 2 km away from the very touristic place MANALI. Anna Libhken and her gang rushed further already, up to Leh, whereas Jorrit and myself decided to move on in a lower pace and enjoy this lovely littel valley a bit longer. We are here 3 nights already, doing some hiking, breathing in the atmosphere of this mountaineous-rural-indian scenery, being cheered by the Hippie-israeli-scene here (you are definitely an outsider when you don't wear either dread-locks, Batik-clothes or red-dyed hair; being stoned from dusk till dawn is standard of course!!!) . Anyway, the groove here is 'shanti', the official language Hebrew and Humus and Fallafel are standard-meals in every restaurant. I must say, I have arrived in another world here. Traveller's groove and feeling; suddenly India can be also nice at once. But it's definitely not India, that's the point. This is a traveller's bubble of fake Indian spirituality and real hedonism. Anyway, I must say, why not??? for a certain time it can be certainly relaxing. But in the long run, definitely not my thing. So we are in Vashist right now, Jorrit and me, and we met some nice young Israeli girls whom we intend to travel with, more concretely, to go to the SPITI valley for a few days which ethically belongs to Tibet and which is on an altitude over 3000 meters above sealevel. Sounds exciting.
Vashisht itself is a mixture between Hippie-resort and rural Himachalian mountain-farmer village with a hot well. This well is really nice since there is public bath in the center of the village fed with hot water by this well (or better; a small basin) where all the local Indians take their dayly (or rather weekly) bath in public; women haver their own bath which is seperated and protected by walls against lecherous male looks. Every night at 11.30 pm the water is changed so also westerners dare to enjoy the pleasures of this relieving public Indian spa. Yes, finally travelling and - as I said - another world which I so eagerly waited for.
Cheers.
Misho.

LONAVLA

where the hell is that??? long time not updated, I know, but right now I'm just a bit rushing around and the internet connections are not always available or not efficient (wie alles hier in Indien). ok, right now I am am Arsch der Welt in a little town between Mumbai and Pune. Actually I don't really know why I am here... I wanted to escape from the heats of Mumbai until I have my flight on Wednesday, so I went to Pune where I heard there is a pop-ashram with a guru who thinks that meditation, luxury and sex are ways on how to find harmony, your inner self and -least but not last - unison with the cosmos. Imagine how many followers he has:-) Well, the place is called OSHO MEDITATION RESORT. There is a small bookshop where he sells expensive books, you can also go on a short guided tour (which I could not because I left Pune after only one horrible night in a horrible guest-house). Anyway, there were a lot of poeple walking around in white and maroon robes, looking (I must admit) quite relaxed and satisfied (in contrast to some poeple in Auroville (which is not really an Ashram, but something similar). Well, maybe it was only a superficial impression or maybe these poeple have really found what they were looking for in life. The guesthouses were all very expensive and the one where I spent last night was one of the worse ones I have seen so far in India (and believe me, there are a lot of worse and worst accomodations here in this country).
now, just a short update since my last post; after pondicherry I went to Chidambaram, a small very ugly, filthy, typical southern Indian town with a huge temple (dedicated to Shiva; and quite impressive); then Trichy where I only saw the ROCK TEMPLE and not the biggest temple in the south of India; Trichy has a surprisingly efficient bus-service; then KODAIKANAL, a beautiful hill-station where I met Abbi; spent 4 days there and did some trekking; the longest one was 22 km downhill through the forest with an overpaid guide who introduced us some jungle-flora (first time I've seen an Avocado Tree, Coffee Tree and Cardamon Tree...!!). Well after this track which was rounded up with a horrible bus ride back to KODAI (3 hours standing in a jampacked bus; yes exactly like the pics in tv-documentaries on India! poeple squeezing in and out the bus-door at the same time; poeple fainting in the bus; poeple throwing-up in and out the bus-window.... experience India!!! that's the way India is, yep. ) Trekking in KODAIKANAL. I couldn't walk the next two days:-) Well, the place itself is beautiful, not the town though, just nature, the surroundings (it's on 2100 meters above sealevel). It's better than Ooty which was very nice too; then back to B'lore, watching Switzerland-France on my last night there (0-0, noed schlaecht; hopp schwiiz). then, finally I left Bangalore forever - or never say never -... felt a bit melanchonlic, I must admit, but not because of the city, just because of the experiences I made, simply the life I had there; then Mumbai with Nina; the first real city I've seen in India; at least the center was urban!! - alles von den Englaendern gebaut. also nicht wirklich indisch - we did some sight-seeing, visited some very good restaurants and went out one night, which was interesting; schicki-micki Indian szenis; top gestylte chicas und chicos die mit ihren stoeckelschuhen und markenkleidern ueber die auf dem gehsteig pennenden bettler steigen vor dem club; echt dekadent und wieder mal soooo bezeichnend fuer die hiesige mentalitaet; then Pune as mentioned above. I must say, Pune is definitely better than Bangalore. There is something which gives it a certain charactere. The town is very green and the infrastructure not that bad; Now, Lonavla.... close to here are rock-cut caves which are among the oldest and finest examples of Early Buddhist rock temple art in India (as Lonely Planet says!!) I'll visit them tomorrow. Wednesday flight to Delhi and then start-up heading north to the Himalaya.
Bis zum naechsten, hopp schwiiz
und gruss daheim. vermiss zueri maengisch scho chli.
Cheeers.
mi scho.

Pondicherry moncheri...

...definitely a place worth to see. the old-city with a french mediterranean flair, untypically Indian (kind of) clean and organized, good restaurants all around... it was a great and relaxing week-end in spite of the almost unbearing heat. We were a bunch of people coming here (about 15 all together) and stayed in some reed-cottages at the beach of AUROVILLE. Very hippie-indian-travelling-like and definitely very charming. Now everyone left apart of myself and I am exploring the old city with my roller bike and try to get in to this travelling-freedom-feeling. Well, yesterday it felt kind of strange all of a sudden to be totally alone after being surrounded by so many poeple all the time, all the more because it is low-season here and in this small reed-cottage resort I was and am the only-lonely guest:-)well, the resort is owned and led by an Ukrainian mid-aged lady who seems to enjoy a more easy-going and confortable way of life here at the Bay of Bengal, worshipping THE MOTHER (like almost everyone here) and avoiding the beach in front of the resort (because of the STARING, STARING, STARING... of the male local visitors here; no further comment!!!).Now I must introduce you to THE MOTHER (I just visited her tomb before here in the city; she died 1973); THE icon of Pondicherry and founder of AUROVILLE, the community who lives here nearby, trying collectively to become in unison with the cosmos. Yesterday we went there for a visit; I must say, their credo is interesting and remarkable. unfortunately, it is not really possible to get in contact with the people living there. Only the visitor center, a documentery on a screen and some exhibitions reveal the philosophy and the living-style of the community. I imagined something like an Israelian Kibbutz, but it was different. The area where the people live is huge, and is covered with a planted forest. every kilometre on the road appears another house or community building behind the trees. And the standard is definitely 'Western'. Everything is clean and organized und trotz den vielen einheimischen Touristen keine Abfallberge am Wegrand. The place seems to be a Western Enclave and reminded me more on a better-class-resort than on a kibbutz. It was interesting to see it. Unfortunately the MATRIMANDIR = the soul of the community = a giant golden golfball in the center of the area is under construction and therefore not open to the public. well, we could see it from the outside (located in the middle of artificial island) and took a few pictures. The MATRIMANDIR contains a huge cristal which has the function of an altar or somehting like that. The inhabitants of AUROVILLE visit this building for the sake of meditation. They appereantly don't worship anything there in contrast to the tomb of THE MOTHER and SRI AUROBINDO (her Indian Guru Companion - also in the tomb!!!); here, the visitors (I saw only Indians) fall on their knees and pray silently: SILENTLY!!!! this way of praying is definitely imported from France, where THE MOTHER comes from (even though she is of Egyptian-Turkish origin; well she claimed to be not from this planet anyway). Yes, Pondicherry moncheri; AUROVILLE; THE MOTHER; THE MATRIMANDIR; SRI AUROBINDO.... interesting to see and watch and observe. I think I'll stay another day and then try to get to the mountains again to flee the terrible humid heat here. Still, Pondicherry is a highlight in the South of India.
Au revoir.
Mi scho.