Monday, October 31, 2005
Saturday, October 29, 2005
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 8
Breakfast: Spanish Omelet, Milk Coffee & Chicken Veg Soup
12.09.2005
Manali literally means the 'Home of Manu'. Manu is the mythological character who is supposed to have survived when the world was drowned in Flood. He then came to Manali and recreated human life. Thus, the area of Manali is sacred and Hindus treat the temples over here as pilgrimage. With altitude of 1950m and 3000m above sea level, Manali is a cold place with sun rarely find its place to shine on Manali. Manali offers the best of northwestern Himalayan beauty, second only to Kashmir valley. The twin towns of Kullu and Manali, approximately 40 km apart lie on the Beas river valley. The Beas river if snow fed by scores of tributaries originating in the glacial peaks surrounding the valley. The highest peaks average 6000 to 6500 m above sea level.
Again, we were promised a semi deluxe bus but turn out to semi crappy bus. It was raining cat and dog that night. The road there were bad and full with pot holes. Plus, the bus driver was a psycho driver with an attitude. He stopped whenever he like and he was pressing the honk more than he hit the brake paddle. Lucky for me, it was not a full bus and the back seat (number of 5 seats) were empty. And needless to say, I conquered the 5 seats as my bed. As the night usher in and we grew much more comfortable in the bus, we started slowly to doze off.
We reached the foothill of Kullu valley at 6.30 in the morning. The bus journey up to Manali was awesome. It was the first and finest of its kind. I never see such magical view in my life. We passed through fruit market where lots of apples were being sold. We also passing through apple plantation, steady rocky mountains stood before my eyes, covered mostly by the fogs. It was cold at the foothill, some 15 degree or something. The road was very tiny- just fit for one vehicle and it was zigzagging all the way. The line of mountain view was beautified by its water fall.
We arrived at the top at around 11.30 am, Central Manali. The reception was crazy and heart pounding. We were awaited by group of opportunist and when they seen us arriving, they were chasing us and jumping and shouting and hitting hard on our bus. At first glance, it looks like a riot or something. I wasn’t afraid but I knew some people in the bus were freaking out. It remind me of Beatles’s riot situation in Japan or the one that happen with Guns n’ Roses during tour. Anyway, it was a false alarm. They were just sticking their ads on our bus and were chasing us to sell us all sort of services. It was still raining and the weather was increasingly cold and chill. The wind didn’t help much either, contribute even more the cold climate. We were breathing fog and bathing in rain water. We took a van to Vaishit village, somewhere around old Manali. With Lonely planet, the bible for travelers, we checked in Both guest house immediately. The guest house was run by an old Tibetan man. What visible from our roof top was the fast flowing Manali river, mountain side, rocky hills and snows covering the peak of every mountains.
If in any part of India, the local will invite you with a cup or glass of Masala tea, then the tradition in Manali is also the same, but the only different was they welcome you with their local specialties; the hash. Manali is one of the largest state in India that produce a quality hash. This probably because of its natural endowment and relatively cold climate.
Still exhausting from the long bus ride from Delhi, we decided to take a rest at Blue heaven café, located alongside the small Vaishit road leading up to the hot spring. We ordered a Israeli foods, Chinese foods and Lassi. The owner offered us a joint, the standard warm welcoming from the Manalian. It was my first drug experience after the Bhang story in Udaipur. It was real good. In Vaishit, Manali, we found a Shisha look alike café and we chilled there with its Nepalese owner and all his band of Nepalese band of young bunch. It was a nice place and we hung out there very often till the last day in Manali. It has a pool table, large room furnished with flat screen TV, layback interior, mattress on the floor and most importantly- we can play our own choice of music. I treated myself a very exquisite dinner, with my own CD played on the air- Buena Vista Social Club. I ordered a Chicken sizzler chips and 2 glass of black tea. After the dinner, the boss and the cook joint us at our dining table, and they started to roll a joint, a fat one, and we started to smoke away the best thing on earth. After dinner, we also shooting pools at Basho for a few game.
Second day also raining but not heavy. It was very down and depressed kind of weather. People don’t talk to people that much. We were all busying shivering and breathing in and out the cold air and gathering fog. We went to Basho for our breakfast. The side that we didn’t went yesterday night was actually a wide balcony, offering us one of the most beautiful landscape towards the peak of mountains, covered with snows and shaded by the fog, wet by the rainy water. Also visible in our eyes was the Manali river, flowing healthily and splashing hard on the rocks. I ordered a black tea and a butter toast omelets. The weather didn’t improve much. In facts it got worse, getting even much colder. So I went to the Hot Spring to bath the hot water. The shower looks like a small pool with a boiling hot water. It looks like one of the emperor’s wife garden in the ancient kingdom of China we used to watch on TV. Lots of locals especially kids were bathing in the hot spring. The moment I dip myself onto the water, I felt a severe burn on my flesh and skin. It was really hot. But after a while, the cold temperature adjusted my hotness of the spring.
We went to Old Manali where most of the happening places were located there. It was a Manalsu café. I can’t believe my eyes and ear for, for a while I thought I was In Europe. The café was very English-ish. The pub were playing a radio station from America (satelite radio). Few tables was occupied, by mostly foreigners and their local friends. The café was fully cover with glass. This café was built above the Manali river and hence the view surrounding us was the life of Manali river. The radio station was playing song from John Mayer and Sinead O’ Connor before I requested to play my own CD, comprising the compilation of Billy Joel’s Piano man, Pink Floyd’s money, CCR’s Bad moon rising, Train’s Drop of Jupiter, Sting’s message in the bottle and lot more. Then I played on REM greatest hits, songs like Imitation of life, Everybody hurts, Man on the moon, Happy shiny people and so on. Other guest were whistling and singing around and the boss was happy with my CD.
My all time top 5 REM song:
1. Man on the moon
2. Electrolite
3. Everybody hurts
4. The great beyond
5. At the end of the world
We ordered Chicken fried rice, Garlic cheese Naan, cold beers and we hung out for about 4 hours. We couldn’t go anywhere because the rain was again, cat and dog. It was a weather that one will prefer to stay put and enjoying good music and good smoking. In the evening we did nothing much but loafing at Basho, smoking joint, drinking, eating chips and shooting lot of pools. The highlight of that night was when I narrowly and competitively beat the local champion on the table. It was awesome.
Last day at Manali was full of sunshine. It is like a festival and celebration for the people for to see a sunshine is almost impossible in Manali. We hung out at Basho for breakfast and smoke our last joint before we bade farewell to Manali and hello to McLeod Ganj.
Breakfast: Spanish Omelet, Milk Coffee & Chicken Veg Soup
12.09.2005
Manali literally means the 'Home of Manu'. Manu is the mythological character who is supposed to have survived when the world was drowned in Flood. He then came to Manali and recreated human life. Thus, the area of Manali is sacred and Hindus treat the temples over here as pilgrimage. With altitude of 1950m and 3000m above sea level, Manali is a cold place with sun rarely find its place to shine on Manali. Manali offers the best of northwestern Himalayan beauty, second only to Kashmir valley. The twin towns of Kullu and Manali, approximately 40 km apart lie on the Beas river valley. The Beas river if snow fed by scores of tributaries originating in the glacial peaks surrounding the valley. The highest peaks average 6000 to 6500 m above sea level.
Again, we were promised a semi deluxe bus but turn out to semi crappy bus. It was raining cat and dog that night. The road there were bad and full with pot holes. Plus, the bus driver was a psycho driver with an attitude. He stopped whenever he like and he was pressing the honk more than he hit the brake paddle. Lucky for me, it was not a full bus and the back seat (number of 5 seats) were empty. And needless to say, I conquered the 5 seats as my bed. As the night usher in and we grew much more comfortable in the bus, we started slowly to doze off.
We reached the foothill of Kullu valley at 6.30 in the morning. The bus journey up to Manali was awesome. It was the first and finest of its kind. I never see such magical view in my life. We passed through fruit market where lots of apples were being sold. We also passing through apple plantation, steady rocky mountains stood before my eyes, covered mostly by the fogs. It was cold at the foothill, some 15 degree or something. The road was very tiny- just fit for one vehicle and it was zigzagging all the way. The line of mountain view was beautified by its water fall.
We arrived at the top at around 11.30 am, Central Manali. The reception was crazy and heart pounding. We were awaited by group of opportunist and when they seen us arriving, they were chasing us and jumping and shouting and hitting hard on our bus. At first glance, it looks like a riot or something. I wasn’t afraid but I knew some people in the bus were freaking out. It remind me of Beatles’s riot situation in Japan or the one that happen with Guns n’ Roses during tour. Anyway, it was a false alarm. They were just sticking their ads on our bus and were chasing us to sell us all sort of services. It was still raining and the weather was increasingly cold and chill. The wind didn’t help much either, contribute even more the cold climate. We were breathing fog and bathing in rain water. We took a van to Vaishit village, somewhere around old Manali. With Lonely planet, the bible for travelers, we checked in Both guest house immediately. The guest house was run by an old Tibetan man. What visible from our roof top was the fast flowing Manali river, mountain side, rocky hills and snows covering the peak of every mountains.
If in any part of India, the local will invite you with a cup or glass of Masala tea, then the tradition in Manali is also the same, but the only different was they welcome you with their local specialties; the hash. Manali is one of the largest state in India that produce a quality hash. This probably because of its natural endowment and relatively cold climate.
Still exhausting from the long bus ride from Delhi, we decided to take a rest at Blue heaven café, located alongside the small Vaishit road leading up to the hot spring. We ordered a Israeli foods, Chinese foods and Lassi. The owner offered us a joint, the standard warm welcoming from the Manalian. It was my first drug experience after the Bhang story in Udaipur. It was real good. In Vaishit, Manali, we found a Shisha look alike café and we chilled there with its Nepalese owner and all his band of Nepalese band of young bunch. It was a nice place and we hung out there very often till the last day in Manali. It has a pool table, large room furnished with flat screen TV, layback interior, mattress on the floor and most importantly- we can play our own choice of music. I treated myself a very exquisite dinner, with my own CD played on the air- Buena Vista Social Club. I ordered a Chicken sizzler chips and 2 glass of black tea. After the dinner, the boss and the cook joint us at our dining table, and they started to roll a joint, a fat one, and we started to smoke away the best thing on earth. After dinner, we also shooting pools at Basho for a few game.
Second day also raining but not heavy. It was very down and depressed kind of weather. People don’t talk to people that much. We were all busying shivering and breathing in and out the cold air and gathering fog. We went to Basho for our breakfast. The side that we didn’t went yesterday night was actually a wide balcony, offering us one of the most beautiful landscape towards the peak of mountains, covered with snows and shaded by the fog, wet by the rainy water. Also visible in our eyes was the Manali river, flowing healthily and splashing hard on the rocks. I ordered a black tea and a butter toast omelets. The weather didn’t improve much. In facts it got worse, getting even much colder. So I went to the Hot Spring to bath the hot water. The shower looks like a small pool with a boiling hot water. It looks like one of the emperor’s wife garden in the ancient kingdom of China we used to watch on TV. Lots of locals especially kids were bathing in the hot spring. The moment I dip myself onto the water, I felt a severe burn on my flesh and skin. It was really hot. But after a while, the cold temperature adjusted my hotness of the spring.
We went to Old Manali where most of the happening places were located there. It was a Manalsu café. I can’t believe my eyes and ear for, for a while I thought I was In Europe. The café was very English-ish. The pub were playing a radio station from America (satelite radio). Few tables was occupied, by mostly foreigners and their local friends. The café was fully cover with glass. This café was built above the Manali river and hence the view surrounding us was the life of Manali river. The radio station was playing song from John Mayer and Sinead O’ Connor before I requested to play my own CD, comprising the compilation of Billy Joel’s Piano man, Pink Floyd’s money, CCR’s Bad moon rising, Train’s Drop of Jupiter, Sting’s message in the bottle and lot more. Then I played on REM greatest hits, songs like Imitation of life, Everybody hurts, Man on the moon, Happy shiny people and so on. Other guest were whistling and singing around and the boss was happy with my CD.
My all time top 5 REM song:
1. Man on the moon
2. Electrolite
3. Everybody hurts
4. The great beyond
5. At the end of the world
We ordered Chicken fried rice, Garlic cheese Naan, cold beers and we hung out for about 4 hours. We couldn’t go anywhere because the rain was again, cat and dog. It was a weather that one will prefer to stay put and enjoying good music and good smoking. In the evening we did nothing much but loafing at Basho, smoking joint, drinking, eating chips and shooting lot of pools. The highlight of that night was when I narrowly and competitively beat the local champion on the table. It was awesome.
Last day at Manali was full of sunshine. It is like a festival and celebration for the people for to see a sunshine is almost impossible in Manali. We hung out at Basho for breakfast and smoke our last joint before we bade farewell to Manali and hello to McLeod Ganj.
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 7
10.09.2005
The time from Jaisalmer to Delhi by train took us 19 hours. Andrew and Kee took 2nd class AC, I opted the cheapest solution, the sleeper lower class. In the train, I met two traveler, who travel the same class and same compartment with me. French guy name Chris and Adam from Wales. We did some ice breaking. Chris was more quiet and cooler type while Adam and I had more things to crap about. Soon after the train took off, I took a short nap that seems like forever. But it was not forever, I awaken 2 hours after that, to find my view from the inside of the train, setting on the empty desert, villages and sometime small town. The class that we were in was the lowest. That means open door, crappy window, little smelly and unorganized, and yes, overcrowded especially where we reached at Jodhpur train station. The majestic view while on the route to Delhi, before the night set in, was simply marvelous. Kids were running around, amaze by the presence of us aliens, waving in complete happiness and curiosity at us foreigners, cows and other animals were wandering around and all in all it was a very simple setting of a small village in the desert, under the clear dusty sky and for a moment like that, everything in my surrounding were peaceful.
On this route, I started out my new book, given to me by Martin & Ina in Udaipur, Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. This is a book that narrated by a guy in his thirty something. In this book, he chronicle all his bittersweet past of his relationships and his obsession with records and music scene. His recent break up with his girlfriend prompted him to reanalyzed all his past relationship, the whats that had went wrong and while he was narrating about his seems-meaningless--kind-of-life, he also narrated about his fascinating thought about relationship and records. One of the best thing in this book was the “All time top 5 things list”.
In many ways, HIGH FIDELITY is a "guy" romantic comedy, a book about relationships after the age of 30, a book about societal expectations for men, a book about "recovery" from damaging relationships. Along the way it gives great insight into how guys think, male paranoia ("Is he better than me? [i.e. Bigger?]"), male insecurity and fear and sadness. Also the tendency of men to be a little narrow-minded (overly focused [ie, the top 5 lists]) at times, even misanthropic. I love this book because I really related to the main character; we live in a materialistic age where at a certain point you start to feel foolish if you haven't established a "career." Rob's (the main character) a passionate guy, passionate about music -- not a dullard, and yet he remains the way he always was, without much career ambition, content to indulge his passions. I love this book because I can relate to the Rob’s characters especially at the moment of writing this journal.
Rob kind of feel guilty because he was the kind of chap that is demanded by the society, like establishing career of sort and that was exactly the state I am in now. Also because of his obsession on music and how he often judge people by the music collection he had, and honestly that was what I do most of time, on people. What kind of people he or she is if he or she is a avid listener of Jazz or Blues. What if he or she listen to Beethoven or Mozart or phantom of the opera. He is cool if he talks about cultural revolution in the 60s or Jimi Hendrix or if he thought Claptop is God. Sometime I categorize people as boring people if they are not fond with music for living life without music is like a living life without life.
Though our conscious mind are clear but sometime, we still (Rob and I) still feel inferior in comparison to people around us. In my case is to see my friends going so far in their career, measuring their achievement by what’s new materials that brought and the place they visited and so forth. I was talking to my friend yesterday and I was kind of expressing my thought of finding the right girl. For me, Physical look is always not the most important criteria. I think I put more importance in the type of music they listen and type of book they read or movies they watch or social-political issues they know and talk about rather than the mere look. I value much more on their character, attitude, personality and charisma. How they present themselves or behave in this sick society of ours. I love someone that can share common interest or subject with me hence she can be not only my partner but my best friend. Yes, you may say this is childish or selfish but that was me, even now at the age of 25. Seems like a joke but hey, that’s me. And because I see that in Rob and therefore I was so thankful to Nick that in all his great mind he somehow knew a character that are somewhat like me- therefore I am not abnormal.
I really love this book, I do. If you are not the reader, then you might want to check out the movie, which starring John Cusack and Jack Black. OK, now I am gonna feature my first all time top 5 list in this journal.
My all time top 5 books
1. Shantaram by Gregory Roberts
2. Conversations with God by Neale Walsch
3. Jim Morrison: Life, Death & Legend by Stephen Davis
4. Kane & Abel by Jeffrey Acrher
5. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The train stop for a 15 minutes rest at one of the mid rail station. The sun was already unseen anywhere. Chris and I went down and feed ourselves with some local variety, taking a cigarette break and breathing the fresh air of Indian outskirt. When the train continue its journey, I was seating at the door, washing my eyes with the serenity of the greenery of farm field and life of the villagers. The train passed through lakes, empty fields, hills, desert and all the way until we it stopped again at Jodhpur train station. At the time of stopping I was still reading High fidelity and was listening to:
Song: Be here now, sound of love, beauty, see the sun by James Iha, Jump, Running with devil, Ain’t talkin’ about love, cradle will rock by Van Halen and Ray Charles’s Greatest Hits.
My all time top 5 singles:
1. Tiny Dancer by Elton John
2. Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel
3. Ordinary world by Duran Duran
4. Why don’t you & I by Santana & Chad Kruger
5. Don’t go away mad by Motley Crue
My all time top 5 album:
1. The Ballads by R.E.O Speedwagon
2. Nevermind by Nirvana
3. Child of the light by Ernie Smith
4. Aquarius by Amir Yussof
5. Clapton Chronicles by Eric Clapton
So I put on greatest hits of The Beatles and closed my eyes for the night. The train stopped at Jaipur station at 5am and arrived at Delhi at 11:30. Andrew and Kee parted with me for our own destination. They went to Agra for the infamous Taj Mahal and I went on to meet Maneesh, my friend. I had been to the Taj Mahal somewhere during winter last year so it will be stupid to waste my budget for a second time, plus, Agra is not a fancy one will for more than one and if minus the Taj, no one will probably go there at all. Maneesh was a trainee in Malaysia some 4 years ago and we lived nearby then. Maneesh took me Connought place (CP), Zen restaurant, for a round of Foster beers and fried chilly potatoes. It was a classy Chinese restaurant. The beers on the hot shiny day was really great. Then we went to his house some 50 Km away, in Vasundhara, Ghazianbad. Maneesh’ s wife cooked us a very nice dinner with good appetite. Prior to that, we went to the temple of Lord Shiva. We did nothing much but catching up some old times stuff and moment that gone before our eyes. I met up with Andrew and we took a bus to Manali, which will take us 18 hours miserable ride up the mountain and hill side. Kee met up with a French girl in her early thirty something and they decided to go to Varanasi- the mother of all holy place, instead.
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 6
A View from my guest house in Jaisalmer
09. 09. 2005, Jaisalmer day 1.
Nothing much has been done during day one. My brother and I went to Gadi Sagar. It is a tank, south of the city walls, once held the town water supply, and befitting its importance in providing precious water to the inhabitants of this arid city, it is surrounded by small temples and shrines. The beautiful yellow sandstone gateway arching across the road down to the tank is the Tilon-ki-Pol, and is said to have been built by a famous prostitute, Tilon . When she offered to pay to have this gateway constructed, the Maharaja refused permission under it to go down to the tank and he felt that this would be beneath his dignity. While he was away, she built the gate , adding a Krishna temple on top so that king could not tear it down. After Gadi Sagar, we took a long walk to Jaisalmer fort. One thing funny about India or while traveling was you kept meeting the same people you met along the way, people that you thought you will never meet again- and suddenly, boom, out of the blues, you bum into him or her. Sometime India seems to be so small for you keep bumming into people. While I was at the foothill of Jaisalmer fort, wandering around the bazaar, I bum into the handsome looking Austrian guy, Hannes, my neighbor in Udaipur. That night, we had a dinner at our guest house and I started reading Kassim Ahmad’s Hikayat Hang Tuah.
10.09.2005, Jaisalmer day 2.
Day 2 in Jaisalmer is the most highlighted event in Jaisalmer for we were about to do the thing we never do in our life, which is riding on the camel, deep into the desert, and spent a night there. We woke up 6.30 in the morning. The morning was glory as most of the inhabitant in the villages were already awaken. Even the boars, the cows and the goats were starting to get busy with their own business, whatever that may be. We were group of 7 people. The other 4 was a French couple and Juergen and Hannah, from Germany. While on the way to the starting point of the desert, the jeep took us to two of the famous monument. It was there that I got to know Juergen and Hannah better. My brother though that Hannah look like Wynona Ryder.
Outside one of the monument, there was a small hut, with an old man boiling up a tea. We just sat there enjoying our morning tea. I lighted up two bidi, with the play of matches, one for me and one I offered to Juergen. Bidi my friend, is a thin, often flavored, Indian cigarette made of tobacco wrapped in a tendu or temburini leaf and secured with colored thread at one end. They are smaller than regular cigarettes, but more potent. Because they do not have a filter and are wrapped in nonporous leaves, a smoker needs to inhale more often and more deeply to keep them lit. One bidi produces three times more carbon monoxide and nicotine, and five times more tar than a regular cigarette. It is a road to hell as we know it and your lungs is on the frying pan before you realize it.
We reached the surface of the desert at around 8.55 am and the weather was still chilling. Few camel man and theirs camels were already waiting for us to embark a remarkable journey to the deep sahara. I was being given a young and inexperience camel. How I do I tell? The camel was constantly protesting and just when he was at the blink of going berserk, the chief camel man, Gomu, decided to change the young camel with his own personal camel, name Tiger. So, Gomu and his entire team of camel man, namely, Bazu, prem, fakir and Amir, lead our expedition. The sun gradually showing up in the sky, hitting the sky so gloriously, and blazing down on our flesh and skin. It was that kind of typical sunshine or sun blaze in the middle of the desert. After about 4 hours into the desert, we finally saw a big tree, surrounded by an empty land of desert. We decided to take a rest there and the band of camel man, which is also our friend, prepared us a lunch. It was not a fancy lunch. In fact, it was only a meal with too much simplicity in it. They cooked us Bajee, Chapatti and maggi noodle. It was simple yet delicious. I think what make it so delicious was the atmosphere. I mean it was a desert and we were eating a freshly cook food. What else could we ask? It is almost the same with having grill marinated shark or king fishes in Goa. Juergen, Hannah and I took a walk around the huge and hot and bother desert, picking up some very nice desert stone. In the middle of that desert, one guy approached us to sell us cold soft drinks and cold beers. Ha, that was really funny. Though I didn’t buy any beer, only soft drink, the seller was kind enough to lent me his small bike to me, to ride around the desert. Wow, I was wandering, yes, some might had ride a camel in the desert, but what about Motor bike in the desert?
It was a almost 3 hours rest. The camels were hanging around while most of us either talking, taking a short nap or doing our own thing. Me, I was hanging around with my brother’s MP3 player, blasting some classic Malay songs namely Kain cinta putih, Dalam Gerimis and Masih Aku Terasa. The experience of riding into the desert is like straight out of Arabian night fable. The desert citadel is truly a golden fantasy in Thar Desert.
The best thing about the camel ride was when we reached the sand dunes. It has a truly glorious stretch of sweeping sand dunes. We were all amazed by the sand dunes. It seems like all the sweat and burn out finally paid off. We were completely forgotten about all the hardship through the desert, and the ache in between our thigh, thanks to the camels.
Juergen and I quickly befriended with the desert and the sand dunes. We jumped from high above and blanketing ourselves with the sands. It was really nice. After that, I joint my brother to witness the sunset. It was beautiful. When the darkness ushered in and the stars starting to appear on sight, the camel man started to cook us dinner. After dinner, we adjourned to some get-together moment, where Gomu and his band of camel man, gathered around and singing us some folk and desert songs. The wind of desert stared to blow lazily but striking softly onto our skin into our bones, making us chill and shivering as the time moves on to the early morning. With a beautiful place like that, I put on Lionel Ritchie’s love songs- and begun to cherish the time spent with Hannah.
And that’s all- I fall asleep soon after. The magical night of the desert happen to me when I woke up in the middle of the night. We were just sleeping like that, without any tent (weather was clear). So when I open my eyes, looking up the open sky, I couldn’t believe myself what I seen and what I felt. For a brief moment, I thought I was floating in a paradise, and the gravity were pushing me not to its direction but nearer and closer to the swimming pool of bright and shiny starts. That was what I felt. It was the most beautiful view on the midnight sky I ever see in my life, the desert night. I didn’t close my eyes for a long while, enjoying the view and occasional shooting stars.
After breakfast, and after shitting behind some bush, we left the sand dunes, around 8.30 in the morning. This time I didn’t get to ride Tiger but were given Rocket instead. Rocket was ride by one of the French, who left us just before the night roll its curtain in night before.
Just about 2 hours before we reached the surface of the desert again, we separated with Juergen and Hannah. They did longer days for the camel safari while we did only one and the half day. Juergen and Hannah were great and interesting people. Juergen especially, was very talkative and funny too.
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 5
Jodhpur: Meherangarh fort08.09.2005
Jodhpur stand at the edge of the Thar desert and was citadel of the ancient Marwar kingdom. This bustling desert city is the second largest city in Rajasthan after Jaipur and has landscape dominated by the massive Meherangarh Fort topping a sheer rocky ridge.
The old city is fenced by 10 km long wall with eight Gates leading out of it. The new city is outside the walled city. We left Udaipur that night, the post bhang lassi night and arrived at Jodhpur, in the dead of the morning, somewhere around 4.30 am. We took a auto rickshaw to Sardar market. The market was completely empty and was without a slight of human being, except for band of pariah dogs, roaming around the market, marking and preserving their territory. The weather was cold and chilly. The dark sky was in the midst of transition to bright sky. There was an empty cart somewhere nearby the clock tower. I was unrest and I laid flatly, my nose facing up the sky and without I realize it, I fall into darkness and my soul left me to his better place until I heard someone were talking. We were approached by a nicely dressed gentleman who wanted to show us his family guest house. The guest house was Gopal guest house. After we clean ourselves and, we went to the rooftop for a round of breakfast. The sun was still shy away from the face of the earth, hidden behind the thick clouds. It was simply amazing/beautiful. There it was, the majestic view of the blue city. There I stood tall and proud and lay my eyes on the blessed blue city. According to the local, The Brahmin used to paint their roof blue but nowadays, every one also follow the tradition irregardless of caste. I ordered a noodle onions, strawberry milk and half fried eggs. We were served by a very cute little girl, daughter of the guest house owner, Shalu. Her younger and playful brother name was Sunir.
The first place we went was Jaswant Thada, the graceful marble cenotaph of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. This main memorial has been built like a temple with intricately carved marble stone that is sculpted by the genius artesian. After hanging around and did nothing but enjoying the atmosphere and surrounding from the top of the square, we left the structure and walk alongside the rocky uphill towards the majestic Mehrangarh fort. The infamous fort was built by titans and colored by the morning sun.
This fort is one of the largest fort in India. This magnificent fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres atop a 125-metre high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan. To commemorate historic victories three gates are found in the fort. Within the fort, several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces are found. After the fort, we went downhill through the villages of blue rooftops houses until we found a roof top restaurant. Outside the guest house, there was this twenty something dude were showing us his collection of foreign currency. He was asking about Malaysian notes. We didn’t have anything but a RM 10 note. The trick was, we gave him the note and he invited us to the same amount of RM 10 worth of meals. Well, the funny thing was, the trick work on so many people. We met this bearded, completely Rastafarian guy, name Amir, from Israel. Then I went on to ordered Rajasthani thali and glass of banana lassi after few pages of Shantaram. Then an English traveler were tricked to the rooftop as well. His name was Gavin and his all time number one favorite British band was Queen.
We left soon after and in the evening, we were wandering in the bustling bazaar. We arrived at the guest house around 6pm. I used that time to read up the rest of Shantaram and we had a our dinner at the rooftop before entrained to Jalsalmer that night itself.
The journey to Jalsalmer by train took us about 7 hours. We arrived at Jalsalmer or the golden city at 5.30 in the morning. We took the sleeper class. The ride was smooth and nap was good until we woke up slightly before we arrive. Sands were everywhere- because the journey to Jalsalmer did pass through the desert.
We took a jeep from railway station to Hotel Renuka. After checking in, we went straight to the rooftop restaurant where we met two kitchen helper from Kashmir, Suvinder and Darson. This rooftop offer us one of the most fantastic view towards Jaisalmer fort, one of the world’s finest and greatest fort. This for is now under UNESCO list of endangered fort and it’s under severe protection and perseverance. This fort otherwise known as SONAR QUILA or the Golden fort, rising from the sand , the mega structure merges with the golden hues of the desert ambience and the setting suns in its most colorful shades gives it a fairy tale look. The name Jaisalmer induces a dramatic picture of utter magic and brilliance of the desert. The hostile terrain not with standing the warmth and colour of people is simply over whelming.
We were busying chatting with Darson and Suvinder. It was raining that morning and the weather was kind of chill. Darson and Suvinder was obviously a funnyman. They served us two glasses of hot masala chai.
Jodhpur stand at the edge of the Thar desert and was citadel of the ancient Marwar kingdom. This bustling desert city is the second largest city in Rajasthan after Jaipur and has landscape dominated by the massive Meherangarh Fort topping a sheer rocky ridge.
The old city is fenced by 10 km long wall with eight Gates leading out of it. The new city is outside the walled city. We left Udaipur that night, the post bhang lassi night and arrived at Jodhpur, in the dead of the morning, somewhere around 4.30 am. We took a auto rickshaw to Sardar market. The market was completely empty and was without a slight of human being, except for band of pariah dogs, roaming around the market, marking and preserving their territory. The weather was cold and chilly. The dark sky was in the midst of transition to bright sky. There was an empty cart somewhere nearby the clock tower. I was unrest and I laid flatly, my nose facing up the sky and without I realize it, I fall into darkness and my soul left me to his better place until I heard someone were talking. We were approached by a nicely dressed gentleman who wanted to show us his family guest house. The guest house was Gopal guest house. After we clean ourselves and, we went to the rooftop for a round of breakfast. The sun was still shy away from the face of the earth, hidden behind the thick clouds. It was simply amazing/beautiful. There it was, the majestic view of the blue city. There I stood tall and proud and lay my eyes on the blessed blue city. According to the local, The Brahmin used to paint their roof blue but nowadays, every one also follow the tradition irregardless of caste. I ordered a noodle onions, strawberry milk and half fried eggs. We were served by a very cute little girl, daughter of the guest house owner, Shalu. Her younger and playful brother name was Sunir.
The first place we went was Jaswant Thada, the graceful marble cenotaph of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. This main memorial has been built like a temple with intricately carved marble stone that is sculpted by the genius artesian. After hanging around and did nothing but enjoying the atmosphere and surrounding from the top of the square, we left the structure and walk alongside the rocky uphill towards the majestic Mehrangarh fort. The infamous fort was built by titans and colored by the morning sun.
This fort is one of the largest fort in India. This magnificent fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres atop a 125-metre high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan. To commemorate historic victories three gates are found in the fort. Within the fort, several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces are found. After the fort, we went downhill through the villages of blue rooftops houses until we found a roof top restaurant. Outside the guest house, there was this twenty something dude were showing us his collection of foreign currency. He was asking about Malaysian notes. We didn’t have anything but a RM 10 note. The trick was, we gave him the note and he invited us to the same amount of RM 10 worth of meals. Well, the funny thing was, the trick work on so many people. We met this bearded, completely Rastafarian guy, name Amir, from Israel. Then I went on to ordered Rajasthani thali and glass of banana lassi after few pages of Shantaram. Then an English traveler were tricked to the rooftop as well. His name was Gavin and his all time number one favorite British band was Queen.
We left soon after and in the evening, we were wandering in the bustling bazaar. We arrived at the guest house around 6pm. I used that time to read up the rest of Shantaram and we had a our dinner at the rooftop before entrained to Jalsalmer that night itself.
The journey to Jalsalmer by train took us about 7 hours. We arrived at Jalsalmer or the golden city at 5.30 in the morning. We took the sleeper class. The ride was smooth and nap was good until we woke up slightly before we arrive. Sands were everywhere- because the journey to Jalsalmer did pass through the desert.
We took a jeep from railway station to Hotel Renuka. After checking in, we went straight to the rooftop restaurant where we met two kitchen helper from Kashmir, Suvinder and Darson. This rooftop offer us one of the most fantastic view towards Jaisalmer fort, one of the world’s finest and greatest fort. This for is now under UNESCO list of endangered fort and it’s under severe protection and perseverance. This fort otherwise known as SONAR QUILA or the Golden fort, rising from the sand , the mega structure merges with the golden hues of the desert ambience and the setting suns in its most colorful shades gives it a fairy tale look. The name Jaisalmer induces a dramatic picture of utter magic and brilliance of the desert. The hostile terrain not with standing the warmth and colour of people is simply over whelming.
We were busying chatting with Darson and Suvinder. It was raining that morning and the weather was kind of chill. Darson and Suvinder was obviously a funnyman. They served us two glasses of hot masala chai.
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 4
Udaipur
06.09.2005
That morning after, I met up with Martin and Ina at Dream heaven for breakfast which at that time might be a last breakfast because they were planning to leave for Jodhpur and my brother, Kee and I were suppose to depart for Jaipur. We ordered a lot and that morning seems like a breakfast spree for us. Though it was a huge bill and I was on a budget trip, I insisted to pay for the bill. Ina left us for Monu’s painting session while Martin went to the loo. The most wonderful thing happen when I was alone and when Martin was in the loo.
That morning after, I met up with Martin and Ina at Dream heaven for breakfast which at that time might be a last breakfast because they were planning to leave for Jodhpur and my brother, Kee and I were suppose to depart for Jaipur. We ordered a lot and that morning seems like a breakfast spree for us. Though it was a huge bill and I was on a budget trip, I insisted to pay for the bill. Ina left us for Monu’s painting session while Martin went to the loo. The most wonderful thing happen when I was alone and when Martin was in the loo.
There she came, one of the beautiful girl I saw twice, yesterday, one at the bazaar and the other time was during dinner time. But this time it was only the blonde, the brunette was nowhere to be seen. It was the third time I saw them and yet I don’t know them. Somewhere inside me, I knew that they were interesting people and for that reason alone, I felt compelled to approach and talk to her. I decided to hold myself together and walk to her place. It was just opposite our table but somehow the funny thing was, it seems long especially the blonde girl was looking at me coming at her. My mind must had been wandering what the hell went through her mind while I was walking towards her? Anyway, I introduced myself and we began breaking the ice. The blonde girl’s name was Maria, and she’s from Germany. A very interesting person. At only 21, she had been to so many places. She had been to Malaysia and she fall in love with Pehentian Island once. She had also been working for one year and traveling in Australia. While I was interestingly in conversation with her, her friend came, yes, the brunette, my definition of prettiness and gorgeous. She was busying snapping off the remaining of her roll. Her name is Kathrin and she is also from Germany. They are heading to Varanasi for their next destination. I was a little bit down. I mean I just met them and we are going separate ways that days itself. I guess that’s the fact. Part and parcel of traveling. You will meet a lot of interesting people while traveling.
There seems to some kind of unexplained bonding that will bring and keep us together. Even though the time spent together was brief, or the fact that we just met, but somehow it felt like we had known for quite sometime. I am not only saying it just because I met two beautiful girls, it happen to all the travelers I met, boys or girls, any country. The bonding was like we are all belong to a same nation. Like United States of Travelers, India branch. It is not a bad thing though, in fact, it is one of the good thing. Through this, you get to learn a lot through the wisdom and life experience of these people. Most of the things were indeed very interesting.
In the evening, Martin, Ina and I were dining at my guest house’s rooftop. We been talking about Bhang lassi for quite sometime and Ina and I decided to take before we left for our respective destination. Bhang Lassi is a special lassi that contains bhang, a liquid derivative of cannabis, which has effects similar to other eaten forms of marijuana. This form of drink is legal in many part of India especially in the state of Rajasthan. Hannes the Austrian guy had recommended that the best bhang we can get is the one from our own guest house. So I took Martin and Ina to my guest house that night, for one purpose and one purpose only, bhang lassi. I asked the runner to prepare me two glasses of Bhang. One was suppose to be kind of surprise gift for my brother. But not surprisingly he rejected it, despite the fact that he was smoking with us the night before. So, before the sun set, I took a one full glass, straight down to my stomach.
In the evening, Martin, Ina and I were dining at my guest house’s rooftop. We been talking about Bhang lassi for quite sometime and Ina and I decided to take before we left for our respective destination. Bhang Lassi is a special lassi that contains bhang, a liquid derivative of cannabis, which has effects similar to other eaten forms of marijuana. This form of drink is legal in many part of India especially in the state of Rajasthan. Hannes the Austrian guy had recommended that the best bhang we can get is the one from our own guest house. So I took Martin and Ina to my guest house that night, for one purpose and one purpose only, bhang lassi. I asked the runner to prepare me two glasses of Bhang. One was suppose to be kind of surprise gift for my brother. But not surprisingly he rejected it, despite the fact that he was smoking with us the night before. So, before the sun set, I took a one full glass, straight down to my stomach.
In the beginning, I didn’t feel much thing. And when Ina and Martin arrived, I ordered another one, for Ina. I was being warned by the runner that the maximum one can consume is one glass because the amount of bhang he mix was grave enough the send you to bed right away, when the effect take place. So when Ina decided to drink only half a glass- I decided not to waste such thing away and I acted out of my mind and drank away the rest of the bhang. Gradually, I begin to feel that I was being lighter, and my view became blur, and grayish, shady and my mind begin to wander faraway. Dizziness strike and at the same time I become more sleepy. The weather was getting completely dark. I remembered I was making joke with Ina and we were imitating one of the advertisement where it feature a hippo and a dog, dancing to the tune of Beach Boys’ s “The lion sleep tonight” .
And just like that, all hell break loose, hell freeze over- all of the sudden, I became hallucinated. My mind begin to see various images of animals, the characters from the movie, Madagascar. And it all jumble up with super sonic sound and techno-color shapes of geometry, in various color. And it was all moving in a complete animation. From hallucination, I became depressed and developed great sense of paranoia. At that time, I still denied my cosmic trip to the cosmic universe. I tried to convince myself that it was all just a gimmick. But the gimmick was defeated by the realism of my situation. Ina was freaking out and Martin tried hard to calm me down. My body was shivering a lot and I felt a terrible coldness. The supersonic sound was still amplifying in my head, and so are the images kept messing up with my mind. My knee and my arms at time felt like being nil by a hammer and the sound of hammering was so supersonic that I became even more paranoia. Everything scared me including the appearance of Martin. I was jive talking in both English and Hokkien. The consciousness of my mind was splitted by the shady reality and my hallucination. Last but not least, I became afraid and depressed. I started to talk nonsense and losing control of my balance. I felt like an 80 years sick old man because I couldn’t walk by myself unless I was being supported. The whole craziness was begin to contradict myself, my paranoia and my depression. My consciousness was asking me to leave for Jaipur for I had purchase the ticket and the clock was ticking, but my unconscious mind was convincing me that something bad will happen if I ever walk out of that place. If that is not all, my hearing was being block by invisible clouds. I could heard nothing but myself and everything uttered by me was being amplified and echoed. There seems to be disconnection between my senses and my mind. And when the situation became so helpless, Martin slowly took me down to the owner. My brother and his friend, Kee, was there to witness this embarrassing moment of mine. The runner was feeding me lump of butter so to lesser the effect that had been sinking in. The pain was grave. I felt like a sound of thunder was striking my hearing and the running train was hitting through my head, weakening every cells and blinding every molecules in my body. My brother and Kee decided to stay for another day, at least until I regain my strength and composure. On the bed, my state of consciousness was deteriorating. Images kept wandering inside my mind. My feeling changes constantly, from being scare to being happy to being over concern and so on. Even when I was throwing out, it was not just throwing out. The images of my hallucination hallucinate me to puke. It was a goat crawling out through my throat, forcing my throat to open wide- so I could throw everything out on the floor. And in between that late evening until early morning, I kept waking up and dozing off…I was completely in the state of delirium and was completely intoxicated. If only I follow the advice, maybe thing might be different. If only I didn’t overdose.
And when I woke up in the morning, Martin and Ina was already gone to Jaipur. The feeling was indescribable. It is like I was just being born anew again. My eyes still unable to absorb the amount of morning light but I was 70% sober. I felt like a newborn baby. All around me became so new and so serene. It is like the first time I see the world, after a 30 years being locked underground. My skin was so fragile and so tender. This was the only consolation and the best thing ever happen out of the bhang consumption. I wouldn’t say it paid off but somehow I felt like I had been walking for a hundred miles in a desert and then when I reach the sand dunes I was being awarded by tons of cold beer or like I was fasting for 100 days and at the end of 100 days I get to make love with Heidi Klum. The utility was at its height.
Somewhere deep inside I felt some kind of guilt that the farewell I gave to Martin & Ina was my state of delirium and intoxication and full night of jive talking.
They said once bitten twice shy. If you ask me would I do it again, I mean the bhang lassi, I wouldn’t say no, but given the right time and the right place and the right people, I might have do it again but only this time with right amount of shot.
Somewhere deep inside I felt some kind of guilt that the farewell I gave to Martin & Ina was my state of delirium and intoxication and full night of jive talking.
They said once bitten twice shy. If you ask me would I do it again, I mean the bhang lassi, I wouldn’t say no, but given the right time and the right place and the right people, I might have do it again but only this time with right amount of shot.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 3
03.09.05
(Song: Everyone by Van Morrison and followed by Wallflower girl by Better than Ezra )-at the time of writing this script
Lake Palace (City palace), when there was a water and shining sun
Lake Palace's view, in the evening
Udaipur is famous around the world as the City Of Lakes or Venice of East. Udaipur is located in the mountains of Aravali range. It is located in the southern part of Rajasthan near the Gujarat border. From Ahmedebad, we took a self proclaim deluxe bus and it took us about 6 hours ride. It was not a fancy ride. It was hot and humid, the road there almost hell and dusty. Though both of my legs were up on the seat in front of me and the window were widely open, I was sweating, my buttock were itching and my back bone were cracking. It all paid well when we arrived at Udaipur’s main town.
Jana, our friend from Germany was already in Udaipur and we took the three wheeler auto rickshaw to Udaipur new town where the city palace is. We checked in the same guest house with Jana, Nayee Haveli. The rooftop of our guest house were unbelievable. It was a brilliant view to the infamous big lake and some authentic building. The lake was dry for the past few years and we were lucky because it was raining heavily few days before our arrival.
So the lake was again re-appear, this time in its own magical way. Lot of local people were celebrating. Some were swimming and some were merely splashing water, regardless of old or young, man or women. The first thing I did was resting my ass on the chair, on the rooftop, setting my eyes on the lake- and also, was to smoke a weed. The feeling was simply marvelous. It is like stranded in an island without a water for 2 days and out of the blue you found a case of beer flowing towards your direction. At the guest house, I met Hannes from Austria, Lisa from Spain, Sunny, a seasonal traveler French lady and other Spanish guys. She later rolled a big fat joint and together she and I smoking the moment away. Immediately after that, I ordered a lassi to soothe my throat and my stomach.
(Song: Friday I‘m in love by The Cure)
In the evening, Carol, Gemma, Jana and I, the only guy, went to a rooftop restaurant for a so called reunion (with Jana) dinner. It was a great dinner. We had the rooftop all to our self. While waiting for the foods to be served, I laid my back flatly on the table, on the corner of the rooftop, just looking up the open sky and space. It was really beautiful and even more magical to see how the stars were dancing, while the wind were blowing, whispering its breath soundly onto my skin and at that particular moment- I knew one thing for sure, that the feeling inside me couldn’t be better.
Our table were set before the magnificent view towards the shiny and legendary lake and its gem, the city palace. It was awesome to see the city palace fully lighted up. It was an unforgetful night with the girls, not because I was with three girls but because I realized I was having dinner at the rooftop of one of the nicest restaurant in Udaipur, staring at the magically floating palace on the legendary Lake Piccola.
(Song: On a high by Duncan Sheik)
“Here’s another thought that kept roaming in my mind from the book Shantaram that night before I put myself to rest, eagerly to experience my maiden morning and sunset in Udaipur. “At first when we truly love someone, our greatest fear is that the loved one will stop loving us. What we should fear and dread, of course, is that we won’t stop loving them even after they’re dead and gone. For I still love you with the whole of my heart, my friend. I still love you, and sometime my friend the love that I have and can’t give it to you, crushes the breath from my chest. Sometime even until now my heart is drowning in sorrow that has no star without you, and no laughter and no sleep”.
I still remember when I reach this part where Lin express this piece of his heartache for his friend, who passed away in a accident, I almost cry. Though my eyes didn’t drop a tears, but my heart was melted away. I was crying inside as if the story was real and connected to me or my pass life. I felt like that at that time because my heart was very sentimental. Some unknown formation of chemicals in my body was developed a feeling that was so surreal that it seems I was a part of Shantaram.
(Song: Daniel by Elton John)
05.09.2005
(Song: Piece of my heart by Janis Joplin)
My first morning in Udaipur. I woke up at around 7am. The view of the city was already clear but it was still filled with natural sound and silences of nature. Jana was still sleeping and I didn‘t want to wake her up (and is the other girls). So I ordered plain omelets and cheese toast for breakfast, put on greatest hits of Janis Joplin and started to sit down to ponder about the journey thus far. Jana joined me soon after.
After breakfast, Carol, Gemma and I went to the infamous city palace in Lake Piccola. City Palace towers over the Pichola Lake. Maharana Uday Singh initiated in the construction of the palace but succeeding Maharanas added several palaces and structures to the complex retained a surprising uniformity to the design. The entry to the Palace is from the Hati Pol, the Elephant gate. The Bari Pol or the Big gate brings you to the Tripolia, the Triple gate. The highlight of City Palace is when we reached the Suraj Gokhada or the balcony of the sun is where the Maharana would grant public audiences mainly to boost the morale of the people in difficult times. The majestic view over the city and the entire lake were really something.
That day, we were suppose to meet up with Martin & Ina (both are from Germany), our fellow friend from Pune, who arrived at Udaipur the day before us. We met up with them at Lalghat guest house for lunch. The weather was extremely hot and burning. I ordered “Dum Aloo” and cheese chapati for lunch. Ina went for a drawing class with local art dealer and Martin, Jana and I went hanging around the beautiful place and village of Udaipur, separated by the lake.
That day, we were suppose to meet up with Martin & Ina (both are from Germany), our fellow friend from Pune, who arrived at Udaipur the day before us. We met up with them at Lalghat guest house for lunch. The weather was extremely hot and burning. I ordered “Dum Aloo” and cheese chapati for lunch. Ina went for a drawing class with local art dealer and Martin, Jana and I went hanging around the beautiful place and village of Udaipur, separated by the lake.
While I was cruising the bazaar, I came across two girls. They were fascinated by a two elephants walking on the street and were snapping a few shots at them. They were good looking especially the one with the brunette hair. At one of the book store, I came across Nick Hornby’s book, one of Martin’ s favorite author and I told him about it. So, for the whole afternoon, Martin and I were just wandering around Udaipur while the girls were busy at their own stuff. Martin and I went to their guest house’s rooftop restaurant, Dream heaven rooftop restaurant. Below his guest house is a art and painting shop. The owner of this painting shop, Mr. Soni, was a very nice and friendly guy. He and his brother invited us for a cups of masala chai and we ended up with Hyena drawing on our skin.
Then, we went to Monu’s painting shop to meet with Ina. Monu is 21 years old and he work at the painting shop. We were seating at the shop, watching local people and other travelers walking pass us. With Monu, we were discussing and exchanging our different set of philosophical thinking. This Monu guy was unbelievably knowledgeable and he know what he was talking about. I felt guilty after that. I mean how could I undermine their knowledge just because they didn’t go to college? He was lamenting about a Dutch traveler he met once and this Dutch traveler were complaining about the pathetic state of our current world. Monu told him that it is time for him to do something, no matter how small they might be, to change the cause. That should has been done instead of lamenting about it. If you don’t ready to do or to offer anything- then we all deserve nothing to complain about anything. Until we are ready to commit, we don’t deserve to lament.
Martin, Ina and I were dining at Dream heaven. Prior to our dinner, we bade farewell to Jana, Gemma and Carol. They left us one day earlier to continue their chosen route. Martin and Ina brought me a gift, a Nick Hornby’s novel, entitle “High fidelity”. We always talking about time and again about the movie we both know and he really want me to read it because to him it was one of the most amazing book ever written.
It was good to ordered a few bottle of cold beers after a hot day and lot of walking and slacking. The restaurant at night had a very nice setting and decoration. They were playing some good music too- reggae music. All of us were ordering their special Thali. It was very special indeed. At the restaurant, while we were chatting about forgotten but interesting conversation, again, I saw the two beautiful girls I seen while cruising the bazaar that afternoon. They were with a guy, definitely an Asian. My brother and his friend, Kee, whom I suppose to travel with, arrived that day. We finally met up in Dream Heaven. Kee went back to the guest house and we went up to the rooftop’s rooftop to have a smoking session. We smoked about two joint and were enjoying yet again the beautiful lake palace. The night was silence but distance away, we could heard some festival were going on.
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 2
Hannah & I, on the way to Tona fort.
Train station at Lonavla, that day...
02. 09. 2005
Carolina (Colombian), Gamma (Basque county) and I left Lucky 7, my apartment to the train station at around 7.30 pm. I played Fatboy Slim’s “Don’t let the man” and Blink 182’s “All the small thing” to kick start what would the greatest traveling I ever had in my life. Ya Ting (Taiwan) and Martin (Germany) were there to bade us farewell and wishes us good luck and safe journey for our traveling.
Together with the girls, and my 12 kilo bag pack and sleeping bag, we took a auto rickshaw to Pune railway station. We entrained at Pune station at 8pm. The journey to Ahmedebad, place in the state of Gujarat took us about 12 hours and we arrived at Ahmedebad at around 9.30am.
The train to there was full as usual. While Carol was in another compartment, Gemma and I were in the same compartment. We took a sleeper class. I begin my train journey with the book I read at that time, Gregory Roberts’s “Shantaram”. Shantaram is a very special book brimming with an open honesty that takes you on the journey of the heart. In many ways it's a story of bare survival where the heart beat of India takes the author through the most dramatic events of India and the mind blowing, piece of intellectual philosophies of the author and his band of criminals and friends. So, after about 150 pages, I went to the door for a rest. I open the door and sat by the entrance, loosing up my legs out and feeling the splash of speeding air through my skin. I was enjoying the night scenario of the passing villages and its peaceful towns and thinking of the romantic night with Hannah, which at time, felt like yesterday. I took out my CD player, and put on Lionel Ritchie love songs namely “Stuck on you”, “ Easy”, “Hello” to resemble the night at my balcony. It was a beautiful night. It was indeed serendipity for me as we grew closer to each other. The melody of the song with the night surrounding brought me back to the time where I was fetching her back, riding the wind with Dawson’s super bike from Naughty Angel café, the night of Yerwada market where she was having the shock of her lifetime after being crazily surrounded by the local goons and how I was her hero and companion, getting her out of the madness, our time in Lonavla and Karla caves and the best moment of all, the romantic night at my balcony. I don’t usually include my personal story or mellow-ish of sort in my journal but this one I think should be exceptional because it ran in my mind when I was sitting on that train that night thinking and embracing the moment.
My all time top 5 babe I met in Pune/India
1. Kathrin (Germany)
2. Christine (Egypt)
3. Hannah (Germany)
4. Zoya (Canada)
5. Magda (Poland)
I couldn’t sleep that night. I can’t stop thinking about her, the moments with her and the many possibilities if she haven’t left India. I wasn’t complaining. I was glad to even know her even though it was a short moment. At the height of that night I was smiling and begin to shift my mind to other endless thought like what would happen to me after all nice and beautiful things come to an end and empty contemplation like the beauty and silence of the night. At around 2am, I decided to rest myself and close my eyes for the first time since I left Pune few hours ago.
I woke up 4 hours later and the sun were starting to shine the day and the dark sky gradually gone. Some local passengers started to brush their teeth and other morning cleaning by the sink. I lighted up my first morning cigarette by the door, where I was cherishing good moment few hours ago. Soon after I was being approached by an ear plucker. It was nice to let your ears being clean once in a while.
At around 9.30am, we arrived at Ahmedebad train station and we met up with Carol. From there, the chaotic train station, we took an auto rickshaw to bus station to arrange a bus ticket to Udaipur. Before I move on, here I would like to quote something beautiful from the book Shantaram, which I read night before. In one of the chapter, Vikram said to Lin: “A man has to find a good women and when he finds her, he has to win her love. Then he has to win her respect. Then he has to cherish her trust. And then he has to like, going on doing that for as long as they live. Until they both die. That’s is all about. That’s the most important thing in the world. That’s what man is yaar (friend). A man is truly a man when he won the love of good women, earn her respect and keep her trust. Until you can do that, you’re not a man…”
02. 09. 2005
Carolina (Colombian), Gamma (Basque county) and I left Lucky 7, my apartment to the train station at around 7.30 pm. I played Fatboy Slim’s “Don’t let the man” and Blink 182’s “All the small thing” to kick start what would the greatest traveling I ever had in my life. Ya Ting (Taiwan) and Martin (Germany) were there to bade us farewell and wishes us good luck and safe journey for our traveling.
Together with the girls, and my 12 kilo bag pack and sleeping bag, we took a auto rickshaw to Pune railway station. We entrained at Pune station at 8pm. The journey to Ahmedebad, place in the state of Gujarat took us about 12 hours and we arrived at Ahmedebad at around 9.30am.
The train to there was full as usual. While Carol was in another compartment, Gemma and I were in the same compartment. We took a sleeper class. I begin my train journey with the book I read at that time, Gregory Roberts’s “Shantaram”. Shantaram is a very special book brimming with an open honesty that takes you on the journey of the heart. In many ways it's a story of bare survival where the heart beat of India takes the author through the most dramatic events of India and the mind blowing, piece of intellectual philosophies of the author and his band of criminals and friends. So, after about 150 pages, I went to the door for a rest. I open the door and sat by the entrance, loosing up my legs out and feeling the splash of speeding air through my skin. I was enjoying the night scenario of the passing villages and its peaceful towns and thinking of the romantic night with Hannah, which at time, felt like yesterday. I took out my CD player, and put on Lionel Ritchie love songs namely “Stuck on you”, “ Easy”, “Hello” to resemble the night at my balcony. It was a beautiful night. It was indeed serendipity for me as we grew closer to each other. The melody of the song with the night surrounding brought me back to the time where I was fetching her back, riding the wind with Dawson’s super bike from Naughty Angel café, the night of Yerwada market where she was having the shock of her lifetime after being crazily surrounded by the local goons and how I was her hero and companion, getting her out of the madness, our time in Lonavla and Karla caves and the best moment of all, the romantic night at my balcony. I don’t usually include my personal story or mellow-ish of sort in my journal but this one I think should be exceptional because it ran in my mind when I was sitting on that train that night thinking and embracing the moment.
My all time top 5 babe I met in Pune/India
1. Kathrin (Germany)
2. Christine (Egypt)
3. Hannah (Germany)
4. Zoya (Canada)
5. Magda (Poland)
I couldn’t sleep that night. I can’t stop thinking about her, the moments with her and the many possibilities if she haven’t left India. I wasn’t complaining. I was glad to even know her even though it was a short moment. At the height of that night I was smiling and begin to shift my mind to other endless thought like what would happen to me after all nice and beautiful things come to an end and empty contemplation like the beauty and silence of the night. At around 2am, I decided to rest myself and close my eyes for the first time since I left Pune few hours ago.
I woke up 4 hours later and the sun were starting to shine the day and the dark sky gradually gone. Some local passengers started to brush their teeth and other morning cleaning by the sink. I lighted up my first morning cigarette by the door, where I was cherishing good moment few hours ago. Soon after I was being approached by an ear plucker. It was nice to let your ears being clean once in a while.
At around 9.30am, we arrived at Ahmedebad train station and we met up with Carol. From there, the chaotic train station, we took an auto rickshaw to bus station to arrange a bus ticket to Udaipur. Before I move on, here I would like to quote something beautiful from the book Shantaram, which I read night before. In one of the chapter, Vikram said to Lin: “A man has to find a good women and when he finds her, he has to win her love. Then he has to win her respect. Then he has to cherish her trust. And then he has to like, going on doing that for as long as they live. Until they both die. That’s is all about. That’s the most important thing in the world. That’s what man is yaar (friend). A man is truly a man when he won the love of good women, earn her respect and keep her trust. Until you can do that, you’re not a man…”
India: An Experimental backpacking to the North & Goa
Part 1.
21 October 2005. 15:00, at home in Penang.
I haven’t start writing yet but I have a feeling that this piece of journal will be the longest to put into words. In a nutshell, this piece of journal will touch upon my backpacking trip to the north of India, short break in Pune and Goa from 2nd of September 2005 until I left Bombay airport on the 10th of October 2005. Like many travelers, I had my own share of my experimental experience, train of thought, beautiful places to remember, amazing landscape to cherish, unforgetful journey to ponder and the very special people I met along the way. And for this memorable trip of once in a lifetime opportunity, I will write so that in twenty years to come, I can flash back my memory lane to India. I don’t have anything but my short script I wrote on my diary every morning of my traveling, in different places. India is a amazing country and to travel India is like to travel in a sort of sub continental of the globe. Every state and part of town has its own uniqueness and each with its own diversity of cultural and historical differences. The people are indeed very friendly and at time very accommodative. Lots of things has been said about India and definitely lots of things has been stereotyped against India and its people but for a person like me who had been there, right down to the corner of their villages, traveling by feet, by its local buses, crappy lower class train- my confession is, not all of them is truth. In fact, this country is amazing and my overall traveling were blissful and experimental.
So, without further ado, I would like to continue to pursue my writing of this great experience.
In my dream, I always dreamt about myself leaving my beloved country, to walk and see the world. I always dream of going to places in Europe, Latin America but India has never been in the list. Sometime, the dream was so true that it was almost real and when I woke up to reality, I almost gasped in disbelieve it was just a dream. And of course when this occurred, my day begin with cry of disappointment.
Even sometime when I was in the middle of my beautiful traveling in India, I was afraid that when everything is over and when I open my eyes, I will be crying of my dejavu dream. But thanks God now that I am back in Malaysia and to see myself so two step behind the demand of our materialistic society, to see all my friends advance in their careers with their own set of success like their material possession, I sometime smile in happiness that this was all real, that I am the same old me, broke and nowhere, because this sign and state of life prove only one thing, that I had been there and done that, that I had finally and eventually left my comfort zone, broaden my horizon and live life to the fullest without regret. This sign has shown that the time has definitely moved since I left this country sometime last year and so is my life, but in a very and uncommon way. For that I will be forever be graceful.
So now I rewind to the day I begin my 40 days traveling and let the curtain of my writing roll up for the show is about to begin. It all began back in…
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Notice
Hey Blog Army!!
Just a short notice to say that I will be travelling from 02/09/2005 until 09/10/2005 in Northern India namely the state of Rajasthan, Agra, Shimla, Manali and Dharamshala. And if time permit, I will go to Goa and Hampi again. This blog will not be updated until then. Do come back for more great songs. Carpe Diem, Ciao!!
Annabelle
Just a short notice to say that I will be travelling from 02/09/2005 until 09/10/2005 in Northern India namely the state of Rajasthan, Agra, Shimla, Manali and Dharamshala. And if time permit, I will go to Goa and Hampi again. This blog will not be updated until then. Do come back for more great songs. Carpe Diem, Ciao!!
Annabelle
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
It is a long, long, damn long and fulfilling weekend!
Friday I am in love
Hey what’s up people. I hope everyone is having a good time, one way or another. For me, it was absolutely a blast and fantastic weekend. So many great things has taken place, just like my first three months in India had happened and I was glad to be part of everything.
As I am writing this blog now, I really couldn’t believe that my days in India are number and it is really counting. Fourteen days more and I will fly away across the North region of India, all the way to the Tibetan government in-exile, Dharamshala. I guess one year living in the paradise of India had makes time travel faster than light, deeper than the ocean and higher than the mountain. And to let go all this moments and experience is truly uninvited but unavoidable. As melancholy as it may sound and as truly as I wanna hold on, but there is nothing I can do but to see life goes on. So every little hours of my remaining time does really count and I try to live life to the fullest as the final moment is ushering in. That’s why right now, I am compromising my tight budget, for more enjoyable time at the very last minute especially after few month of self-restraining on money-related events.
Anyway, back to the subject of the damn long and fulfilling weekend, which almost satisfying to the core of my heart. While others weekend started on Saturday or some even on Sunday, I started mine one day earlier, which is on Friday.
It was a lazy, chilly Friday morning and my dream was intruded by the sound of my alarm. I was almost glued to the bed, most probably still feeling stone from yesterday’ excessive smoking session with the president of smoking club, The Polish Peter. Anyway, the dream I had must have been sweet and hopeful that I was having trouble to get out of the bed. Then, the evil thought jump onto my mind, urging and tempting me to stay on to what I was doing, neglecting of my responsibility to go to work on that day. I was very tempted but the little will I had in me was moving me hard to move but only hard enough to get me out of the bed to the living room, but not out of the house. The lump of devil’s thought already eating up my head- so I decided to start my weekend on Friday. So I fabricated bedtime story to justify my deed.
I started my happy Friday morning with one thing on my head, to copy all the cool music from Polish Peter’s laptop which I always wanted to do but defeated by a lame excuse such as no time and such. It is a new genre that I am now into, which is mostly chill-out, dance, trance & psychedelic music. I spent about two hours listening to all samples of the songs which is about hundreds of them, if not thousand and ended up with 400 songs.
Following that, I continue to read Gregory’s “Shantaram”, which took my mind and wild imagination to the life of Gregory, sensitivities and his philosophical of him and his bands of friends, enemies and fellow slum dwellers alike. I followed through his life with sometime comedic laugh, his beauty of story telling, the tragic and poignant moments, melancholy love drama through his turbulence life in the Bombay underworld. As I am typing now I am at 450 pages and half more to go. The story is about to begin. If any of you are into reading, I would really like to recommend this book to you. This book contains sublime descriptive passages of life, love, philosophy, less-than-ordinary people of Bombay but yet richer in characteristic and intellectual knowledge. It is full of beauty and charm and honestly, merely words aren’t enough to justify the worthiness of the book. I hope you read it before Johnny Depp takes it to silver screen.
Then decided not to go on with the book, as I was reluctant to finish it. It was too suspense, adrenaline rushing, too dramatic to go on. So I decided to watch few episodes of “That 70’s show”.
Without realizing much, much of the afternoon gone. The darkness was ushering in and the light and sunshine of the day was faded and subsiding. One by one of my flat-mates coming home.
That evening, Jana, the German trainee had a farewell party in about to close trainee apartment, C1. We had a party and it was great. Lots of people were there, trainees and non-trainees, including some of our Indian friends. Salvador, the new Spanish cooked for the farewell. Some of the delightful meals were Pasta, macaroni, Spaghetti, fried rice, chips, beers, vodka and rum and other alcoholic drinks. Xabi, the Spanish guy, brought along his Shisha and was preparing one when the party was at its peak. First it was Strawberry favor, than other fruity favor, and lastly, we mix the tobacco with weed and begin our trip to odyssey.
After a few round of traditional speech, by the drunk Japanese Yoshi and another drunk Norwegian girl, Trude, we proceeded the party to another level. Polish Peter and I decided to leave, and not without a bag of chips, which later at night, our snack for “That 70’s show” session.
Saturday hanging on the rooftop.
I couldn’t remember much of Saturday except for more reading, that 70’s show, smoking joint all-day round, eating and all that jazz.
But in the evening, Ina came to our place and cooked us very fine dinners. Then we were invited to Julian, the new German trainee, whom opted to stay alone, to his own welcoming party in his rooftop. We were impress by the cozy and greenery style of his rooftop ambience and surrounding.
We just hung around, basically did nothing but grooving to the dance beat, of various genre, drinking, smoking, chatting until the late hours, which around 2 in the morning. From Julian rooftop, we went back to our apartment, Lucky 7- to continue to smoke Shisha, weed, and forgotten conservation until around 4-5 in the morning.
Sunday Morning and rocking hard evening!
Despite the inadequate sleep I had, I woke up around 9.30 in the morning. Prior to that morning- I was inspired by Julian rooftop- so I invited the same people to my rooftop for a morning breakfast, which is much higher, broader, windy and more spacious. Ina and I went for a morning shopping and I brought milks, juices, and dozens of eggs, cheese, cookies and all those breakfast jazz. I started to cook and rock the kitchen while everyone still deep in their sleep. I made a very tasty and crunchy butter-garlic toast breads, 5 big plates of Peter’s special omelets- with butter garlic, black pepper, salt, thin- soya sauce and onions. At the end of my cooking, most of the pigs already awaken from their one-night-dead. The last was the stoniest smoker- The Peter Polish a.k.a. Leo.
On top of our rooftop, it was very windy, cozy and the weather was gray and blue. It was again, very serene and romantic scenario that will drive anyone into deep contemplation. All of my apartment mates were there namely Julius (Germany), Polish Peter (Poland), Barbara (Austrian), Benny (Germany), Martin (Germany), and I. Others were Barbara (Germany), new non-trainee who spent a night in our apartment, Trude (Norway) and Ina (Germany).
After chewing and swallowing the tasty omelets, and wetting our throat with juices and milks- we went up to the further up. The views of the rivers across our apartment, onto other side of town, other apartment and its rooftop were nothing but serenity. We started to roll a morning present and passing around the joint. It was great and utmost satisfying.
In the evening, my housemates and I, Sabi (Spain), Ina, Martin (another German) attended a rock concert. The even was being named “Freedom Rocks” 05 and the line up was some of the finest battle of the bands of India namely “Unbound”, “Va-yu” and “Strange muse”. It was so much better than the last one which I attended in EY. The night was a blast and was a truly rock festival. Even the Europeans gave a thumb up to those bands despite the fact that they had seen many rock festival like Green Day, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Foo Fighter etc.
The stage was not so big, enough for a 5-piece band. It was equipped with all the standard light, smoke machine and a simple backdrop. We came late and we missed the first band which the vocalist had a voice of Axl Rose. In facts they did sang two song from Guns n’ Roses; “Civil war” and “Don’t cry”.
The highlight of the night was the second band. The name was vayu. It was a four-piece band with one guitarist, bassist and drummer. The front man has the stage performance of Steven Tyler. With long hair and flowery loose surfing shirt, he and the guitarist and the drummer rock the stage, work the audience, drove out our love for rock music to yet another level. The band started with a song from Pink Floyd, followed by a hit song from Jimi Hendrix. The third was The Doors’ “Break on Through” which is the best song of the night. The rendition of the song was very powerful and full of angst. Then again, a song from Pink Floyd, Steve Morse, Deep Purple before the vocalist sighed in exhaustion. And he said tiredly to the crowd- “Ok, thanks for being here, so the next song I am going to sing is a love song from Bryan Adams…” and immediately being boo-ed by the crowds and thumbs down united-ly by the audiences. It was a joke and provocation. He then continued with a firm shout-“Ok, this is Pearl Jam for you!!” and the crowd again was drown and bathed in their own sweat and swing their arms in the air as they sang Pearl Jam’s “Alive”. From time to time, he raised an Indian national flag, as a sign of celebration of Indian independent day, which is day after. He went on to sing songs from Sting, Megadeath etc.
The third band was more hard core and more heavy metal. It was a 5-piece band, with keyboard. They sang songs like Maroon’s 5 “Harder to breath”, Steve Morse, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd’s “Another brick in the world” and other great band. When he reluctantly sing Linkin Park’s “In the end”, the crowd in the front low loose control and went nut and pushing and jumping on each other like a barbarian, bottles of beers were crashing everywhere on the floor. The empty space were spare for those barbarians which reminds me of my own acts in those gigs I attended some 9 or 10 years ago. Anyway, Martin and I were in the circle of barbarians, and it was quite violent, just like a riot but luckily nothing ugly happen. We were doing this in the spirit of rock, I suppose. The band ends their performance with Van Halen’s “Jump” and the encore was Iron Maiden’s hit song which I didn’t know.
After that, we went to a nice restaurant nearby, Ola. Polish Peter already had a joint ready and we were secretly passing among us under the table. After the dinner, we proceed what we were doing to our own apartment. Again, Sabi prepared for us a round of Shisha and we were playing trivial pursuit. At around, I was quite stone and sleepy so I went to bed just to awaken by a phone call from Tanya, around 9.30 am- to inform me that another trainee has arrived and she would like to send her to my house.
I was awoken again, from the same person, this time by a doorbell. Through the fish eye, I saw the new trainee and she was gorgeous, sexy and blonde despite the fact that I was still half-asleep.
Monday the Independent Day!!
I was semi-naked when I open that door and I was still half at sleep when I usher her to the house. The new sexy blonde name is Susan, and she is from Germany. As everybody was still asleep, I wash up and brought her and show her around, kind of orientation on Koregeon Park, Pune, India, people etc.
The whole field trip was about 2-3 hours. I was very happy to see a fresh eye and fresh reaction to many amazing things of India. She was fascinated, and occasionally grasped in disbelieve when she came across cows, stray dogs, slump, beggars, crazy traffic, key makers, camel and elephant on the street and so forth. We stopped by for her first Indian food and we ordered a set lunch of Thali and many round of Chai. The lunch was my treat, as a token of welcoming.
I found it pleasurable and kind of happy when doing orientation of the city, country and its people to newcomers. I was equally exciting as they were. It was satisfying and paid off when I see those first reaction, excitement, disbelieve, laugh through them. The last time I did this was to another German, Nills the big guy.
We walked from Lane E, along the busy and chaotic with amusement of itself North main road, passing through Lane 5, Lane 6, Pizza Hut, I-way and we stopped for lunch at Thali place, near the chips store and wine shop. From there, we walked pass through Lane 7, up to the bridge and we turned left to Kriyaginagar. Again, we walked through the 100 meters strong bridge of Kriyaginagar, and we turn left for another hour walk until German bakery. She almost see everything as I showed her the unknown places where one will truly see and experience the authentic life of Indian. We even came across the street show by some Indian self-trained professional circus freaks. It was entertaining and I rewarded them with a generous appreciation of ten rupees.
Along the North main road, we met Sabi and Barbara and Sabi on the scooter, Black Martin and Magda and Julius.
Later, we went on the scooter, to Inox to book tickets for Madagascar. It was a very funny movie. Sabi, Susan and I were on the same scooter while Julius, Benny and Julian on the other one. The ride was cool, fast and furious.
Prior to the movie, I brought to one of the best coffeehouse, Barista, which just located opposite Osho commune international. This time it was her treat.
Monday night completed with a very simple yet exquisite dinner invitation by Johan, Swedish guy, who live in my company guesthouse, beside my apartment. He cooked us very fine Swedish pasta, salads and toasted cheese bread, round of beers and Scotch on the rock. It was a great evening. Few more episodes of “That 70’s show” and 3 chapters of Shantaram completed my night.
All in all, it was a good time and the weekend was long. I was happy and fulfilled. 14 days more and still counting. Soon my days here will be over and I will come back knocking on employment, begging for jobs. Real life begins at the end of traineeship and I can already smells that it is stink and I don’t like it. Whatever it is, I had live it through the moments and I had seized it, for that I will feel bless forever without an ounce of regret, whatsoever.
Regards,
Peter
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Hey Man...That's cool man...
Hey Man...Wussup man...
Are you all cool?? Yesterday was cool, man....Really, I am not kidding you, man...it was real smooth and cool man...Do you know about yesterday?? Listen up, man...about yesterday, it was actually, cool man...hahaha..I don't usually talk like this.That's Leo talking. Leo who?? Yeah man..Leo from That's 70s show.
Today is wednesday. Yesterday was Tuesday and my company declared a holiday because of the constant rain and the Monsoon rock, man...Monsoon rock so hard, as hard as Led Zeppelin that my company was so freakin out that they gave out a holiday like a free condom in wal-mart, man...Isn't that cool, man???
Hey-you know what else is cool?? I don't know man...Can you tell me what else is cool??
OK, it all began yesterday when I woke up in the morning. The rain was still down on us and the morning was cold and bluesy. Then, I really wish to have another dream but you know man...when you already awake, everything is not cool anymore man....especially you have to drag your heavy ass to work. But then, a magic call to my van driver makes everything back to cool, man...He told me the company is down for one day-So, I tried for another sleep but in vain, man...
Anyway, I gotto tell you this, man...it was so cool...since I couldn't sleep again, I started my marathon on the "That's 70s show", completeted season 2 and when the night come knocking- I didn't realized that I was in the middle of season 3. Wow, that was really something cool, man...Isn't Leo??
The whole of Tuesday Morning, noon, evening, night were wasted with weed, weed and weed. Peter and I started our expedition to the hitchhiker's galaxie 5 minutes after noon. And that was our first joint of the day. Together with Barbara, the new trainee from Austria, we went to German Bakery for a breakfast. After that, I went to the train station to book my ticket to Ahmedebad, my first pit stop of my upcoming 5 weeks travelling.
It was tiring as I had to wait for almost 2 hours. The first hour was completely in vain because I was waiting in the long line. I was waiting for almost an hour just to be told that the line was meant only for Indian soldier. Well, am I an Indian soldier?? Which part of me look like and Indian? Let alone Indian soldier...Now, that's not cool, man....
Cool or not cool, that's India. I dealt with that almost every now and then. So, no sweat man...It took me another hour to book my ticket on the 2nd of September-2005.
I met up again with the Polish Peter and Barbara in Pune central. We walked back to our apartment and another joint followed. It was great, smoking along the busy messy road. We ordered lots of food and I started the series of 70s show again. We rolled and rolled again, and again. We got real stone and wasted. Then we started a party. We drank some beer from the fridge. It was cool, man...whole day doing nothing but smoking, watching the 70s and drinking, not forgetting eating up...
Before we reached home, we stopped by the wild flowing river. It was great,and cool man...to see the monsoon rocking hard on the river...It was a road full, overcrowded with human being, cars, lorries, motorbikes, bicyckes, auto-rickshaw, occasionally elephant, camel, dogs, cats and Oh....a giant frog- the size of a TWO kittens.Wow, the giant frog was real cool man...because he did nothing by the padestrian walkway but just pretending dead. Maybe he was stone too man....too much Monsoon can really drive a frog goes crazy, man...
The river was flowing fast and hard. Sprinking rain becomes heavy downpour and weather becomes really moody and mellow. It is like the Monsoon God just entertained himself with a very good wines, most probably from the wine shop nearby. I stood up tall and proud on the edge of the bridge- just beside the silver lion (Indian national icon or sort of something important)...And you know what's cool??? The view from where I stood was really extremely crazily sickingly rockingly coolingly COOL, man....
Hey man...hey listen up! In the evening, we smoke, drink and ordered pizza. Did I said Pizza?? It was Martin and Ina who ordered that Pizza. And it was cool man...because they offered me a pizza when I was stone man...Why cool? Because it was a pizza man....and it was free...and the beer too was free except for the weed which suplied by me...
Then, we went to "Fire & Ice". We partied there for a while but we ledt quite early as nothing is new for me and I was quite bored at the music. It was techno and it wasn't progressing. So I couldn't tolerate anymore and I decided to leave.
I reached home at around midnight and I started to watch 70s show again,and joint and beer and coffee.
It was cool and I was wasted, stone, and full of crap yesterday. Even when I am writing now, I am still fullof crap man...and that's cool man...
Actually- It was not cool, man...I used to do this and when it got onto you it will not be cool anymore. U know what I say, Leo?? Oh Man...U only wanna getlazy and wasted and that is no cool at all. So one day is OK but parental advisary- Don't do it everyday. Do it once in a while and that will be good for health.
Hey Polish Peter man...Do you wanna me my Fatger, man??? Hah got ya- Just joking.Sorry, now I am sober and I am going back towork and be productive again after the whole wasted day of yesterday.
I went to bed and sleep like a child. I woke up today and it was not cool man...because I have to drag my ass tooffice and try to be cool again, and that'snot cool man....because I have to pretend to be cool while I am not. I guess that's all about the cool jazz man...Ciao!
Lovingly cool man...,
Peter
Are you all cool?? Yesterday was cool, man....Really, I am not kidding you, man...it was real smooth and cool man...Do you know about yesterday?? Listen up, man...about yesterday, it was actually, cool man...hahaha..I don't usually talk like this.That's Leo talking. Leo who?? Yeah man..Leo from That's 70s show.
Today is wednesday. Yesterday was Tuesday and my company declared a holiday because of the constant rain and the Monsoon rock, man...Monsoon rock so hard, as hard as Led Zeppelin that my company was so freakin out that they gave out a holiday like a free condom in wal-mart, man...Isn't that cool, man???
Hey-you know what else is cool?? I don't know man...Can you tell me what else is cool??
OK, it all began yesterday when I woke up in the morning. The rain was still down on us and the morning was cold and bluesy. Then, I really wish to have another dream but you know man...when you already awake, everything is not cool anymore man....especially you have to drag your heavy ass to work. But then, a magic call to my van driver makes everything back to cool, man...He told me the company is down for one day-So, I tried for another sleep but in vain, man...
Anyway, I gotto tell you this, man...it was so cool...since I couldn't sleep again, I started my marathon on the "That's 70s show", completeted season 2 and when the night come knocking- I didn't realized that I was in the middle of season 3. Wow, that was really something cool, man...Isn't Leo??
The whole of Tuesday Morning, noon, evening, night were wasted with weed, weed and weed. Peter and I started our expedition to the hitchhiker's galaxie 5 minutes after noon. And that was our first joint of the day. Together with Barbara, the new trainee from Austria, we went to German Bakery for a breakfast. After that, I went to the train station to book my ticket to Ahmedebad, my first pit stop of my upcoming 5 weeks travelling.
It was tiring as I had to wait for almost 2 hours. The first hour was completely in vain because I was waiting in the long line. I was waiting for almost an hour just to be told that the line was meant only for Indian soldier. Well, am I an Indian soldier?? Which part of me look like and Indian? Let alone Indian soldier...Now, that's not cool, man....
Cool or not cool, that's India. I dealt with that almost every now and then. So, no sweat man...It took me another hour to book my ticket on the 2nd of September-2005.
I met up again with the Polish Peter and Barbara in Pune central. We walked back to our apartment and another joint followed. It was great, smoking along the busy messy road. We ordered lots of food and I started the series of 70s show again. We rolled and rolled again, and again. We got real stone and wasted. Then we started a party. We drank some beer from the fridge. It was cool, man...whole day doing nothing but smoking, watching the 70s and drinking, not forgetting eating up...
Before we reached home, we stopped by the wild flowing river. It was great,and cool man...to see the monsoon rocking hard on the river...It was a road full, overcrowded with human being, cars, lorries, motorbikes, bicyckes, auto-rickshaw, occasionally elephant, camel, dogs, cats and Oh....a giant frog- the size of a TWO kittens.Wow, the giant frog was real cool man...because he did nothing by the padestrian walkway but just pretending dead. Maybe he was stone too man....too much Monsoon can really drive a frog goes crazy, man...
The river was flowing fast and hard. Sprinking rain becomes heavy downpour and weather becomes really moody and mellow. It is like the Monsoon God just entertained himself with a very good wines, most probably from the wine shop nearby. I stood up tall and proud on the edge of the bridge- just beside the silver lion (Indian national icon or sort of something important)...And you know what's cool??? The view from where I stood was really extremely crazily sickingly rockingly coolingly COOL, man....
Hey man...hey listen up! In the evening, we smoke, drink and ordered pizza. Did I said Pizza?? It was Martin and Ina who ordered that Pizza. And it was cool man...because they offered me a pizza when I was stone man...Why cool? Because it was a pizza man....and it was free...and the beer too was free except for the weed which suplied by me...
Then, we went to "Fire & Ice". We partied there for a while but we ledt quite early as nothing is new for me and I was quite bored at the music. It was techno and it wasn't progressing. So I couldn't tolerate anymore and I decided to leave.
I reached home at around midnight and I started to watch 70s show again,and joint and beer and coffee.
It was cool and I was wasted, stone, and full of crap yesterday. Even when I am writing now, I am still fullof crap man...and that's cool man...
Actually- It was not cool, man...I used to do this and when it got onto you it will not be cool anymore. U know what I say, Leo?? Oh Man...U only wanna getlazy and wasted and that is no cool at all. So one day is OK but parental advisary- Don't do it everyday. Do it once in a while and that will be good for health.
Hey Polish Peter man...Do you wanna me my Fatger, man??? Hah got ya- Just joking.Sorry, now I am sober and I am going back towork and be productive again after the whole wasted day of yesterday.
I went to bed and sleep like a child. I woke up today and it was not cool man...because I have to drag my ass tooffice and try to be cool again, and that'snot cool man....because I have to pretend to be cool while I am not. I guess that's all about the cool jazz man...Ciao!
Lovingly cool man...,
Peter
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