Pictures HERE!

So, Delhi was ridiculously hot, about 45 during the day, and 30ish at night….
I had to get out of there as soon as I could…

So I decided to take a bus and go to Dharamsala for a while, Which is a small area way up north-west india. In the Himalayas.

The bus ride was pretty good, an easy 13hours…I didnt really know anything about the place before going there. But everyone kept telling me it was a great place to go. And I also knew it was an important place for Tibetains since this is where the Dalai Lama live, with his government in exile…But that was pretty much it.

So I woke up at about 6am, still in the bus. Looking through the windows I saw the massive snowy peaks of the Himalayas. I knew right away, that this was the perfect place for me to finish this adventure.

So I made it to Mc Loed Ganj, which is a few km north of Dharamsala main village. The place is beautiful. Tons of small colorful houses and shops build on a hill. It is also where the Tibetain governement is based.

I didnt do much while there, mostly hanging out with random people, trying out all the various restaurants… and walking around. My plan was to go there and do nothing, and I achieved it sucessfully!

Oh, but I actually did something usefull with my time. I spent some time working as a volunteer, teaching english and french  to Tibetain refugees. And it was an amazing experience overall. I didnt know much about the Tibetain culture and their history. I mean, I knew what happend. But when you have a guy in front of you telling you his side of the story, what happened in his village, how he had to leave his parents behind and escape…walking only during the night , for a month, through the mountains..all that for just for a little piece of freedom…it really get into you. And it make you realize many things…

I fell in love with the Tibetains people, they are so respectful and peaceful. Even after everything they had to go through, they still see the positive side of life. And try to be as happy as they can. And enjoy life as much as they can….Maybe because its part of their religion and way of life? But anyhow, it was a very good and positive experience for me to spend time with them,  and to learn more about their culture.

And now,I fully support their cause…FREE TIBET!

So yeah, I spent most of my time hanging between McLoed, Bagsu and Dharamkot…all very beautiful place…it was the perfect place to finish this trip :)

It was also nice, because I was meeting again with people I have seen all around india for the past few months…everyone seemed to be up there at this time. We all went different ways, but we all ended up there for a reason…

But anyway, my time was running out, and I had to leave…
So after another 13hours bus ride, I got back in the chaos of Delhi this morning…
Tomorrow I am taking my last train, to go to Bombay, it should take about 22hours to get there…from there I will go directly to the airport, to catch my flight back to Toronto…

to be continued?

So, I am back in India (Delhi), and I was able to upload the pictures from Nepal :)

Kathmandu pictures: HERE!

Himalaya Trekking pictures: HERE!

Enjoy!

Pictures HERE!

So, one morning, while having a coffee, a girl came to me and said “feel like trekking?”. I didnt think much and said “of course!”

Nepal is known worldwide as one of the best place for trekking. I couldnt miss that opportunity.
So I bought a detailed map, went to get our trekking permits, and left Kathmandu.

We took a bus to Sundarijal, about an hour north of kathmandu. To the entrance of the Shivapuri Wildlife reserve. This is where the road end. From there, you have no choice to walk. So we walked..and walked..and walked…, for 7days. Using trails that has been used for centuries by the Sherpa and the villagers…

We went through so many beautiful small villages, where people live only off agriculture and farming. It was amazing to see all those small villages living the most basic life possible…Most of the people were charming, and very happy to see us. Everynight we were staying in a different village, from big multiple-rooms lodge to small family home.

And dont forget that there is no road to get there, people there really live by themself…

We walked in average 5-7 hours a day. We went through rain, burning sun, ice storm, snow, freezing fog and the ice cold nights.

Sometimes I wondered if I was really going to make it to the Lauribinayak pass and Gosaikund, which were our main goals. At 4600m altitude. But there was nothing else to do, except to keep going.

So afer 6 days, we made it to Gosaikund, at 4300m altitude. The village was beautiful, right next to Shiva’s sacred lake. It has an amazing view of the snowy mountains. But cold as hell.

The next morning I woke up at sunrise, pretty sick, massive headache, altitude sickness (at this altitude you have only about only 57% oxygen). But I found the energy to climb up to the view point at 4600m. And it was totally worth it. I was not really sure what I was going to see there, but I had to get there.

So after climbing through the steep trail. I found myself on top of the clouds, with the most amazing view of the himalayas I could ever imagin…
Then I realised I made it, after all I had been through, I was there, on top of the world…looking at some of the highest mountains in the worlds.

The feeling was amazing. And very intense….but after a while, I realised that I was also alone…How could I describe all this beauty to the people?  No picture could explain or describe the feeling of that moment…And I was feeling a little bit selfish about it all…

I guess this is one thing I will have to keep for myself…

Anyway, after that I made it down to Dhunche, where the road starts to get back to kathmandu. Only to find out that the Maoists had started a rebellion against the gouvernement while we were in the mountains. Which mean that everything is closed, no public transport, no bus..nothing..

So I was stuck there for 2days, until a bus who was dropping some tourist agreed to take us back to kathmandu for a price.

So I made it to kathmandu. The city was locked, nothing open, except between 6pm and 8pm when the stores were allowed to be open…But the food supply were running scarce…There was no way to find a working ATM…and since all the public transport were stopped,  no way out of the city…

And nobody knew for how long…
It was very chaotic…

During the day, if you needed to buy something, you had to enter the store from the side door and hide inside until you were done….making sure the maoists were not in the street when you got out…because they would burn the place if they found out it was still open…(and they did..yes)

Also, some restaurant were open, but with very limited menus (since there was no way to get food supply), and you had to hide from the windows while eating…

Sometimes it was a very weird feeling to be stuck in there…and not very pleasant…

One morning I went downstairs, only to find out about 100 anti-riot squad next to my place…The atmosphere was very tense and hectic…I was really wondering what was happening, until I found out they were there because the people decided to have a “peace rally” against the maoist rebellion.

The next morning, the rebellion was over.

Apparently the maoist were getting sick, and tired, and realised that the “rebellion” was not working as they though it would…

So after 7 days, they decided to stop it.

While stuck there, I was able to gather some funds, and buy myself a flight tickets to leave Nepal. The original plan was to leave Nepal by land, back to India…But it would have been impossible, due to the city lockdown…So I had to find a backup, in case the rebellion lasted as long as they said it would (they were talking until about the 27-28th)

Anyway, things are slowely getting back to normal here in kathmandu now…and I have a flight back to india on the 14th…

to be continued…

Namaste

Pictures HERE!

So, I made it to Nepal…I had a 1 night transit in india, and had visa issue, but it seems that I am the luckiest guy on earth, and I made it without any problem :)

The city is great, the people are friendly and charming. The architecture is also amazing.

I spent most of my days walking around the small busy streets, visiting nice temples…meeting interesting people.

The place is just great, and very cheap! I am able to have a great dinner for under 1$.

I also spent an evening in an orphanage recording children signing. You should hear those kids, they are the best..and they are simply beautiful :)

One night we ended up in an hindu temple, where they do the puja celebration, and where they do the body cremation, next to a sacred river.

I have never seen a cremation before, and I must say. The feeling is weird, strange, and beautiful. There was a big ceremony at the same time, with people dancing, music, and random hindu ritual I cannot really explain.

Anyways, I dont have much time to write right now.

And I am also leaving tomorrow for a 10-14 days trek in the Himalayas.

I doubt I will be able to communicate in any way. But I will post more when I come back to Kathmandu.

Namaste

Pictures HERE!

Arugam Bay,

It has been amazing, simply the best…I was really not expecting that.

The bay is beautiful, the beach is amazing, the water is hot and the chillies are red and spicy!

I spent the first few days walking for hours around Arugam and Panama, the area is amazing. There is wild elephants down the road, peacocks, lizards, huge turtles..and beautiful colorful birds  :)

It feels great just to walk around and see all those things living freely around you.

I did surf a little bit, but its pretty expensive, so I wasnt able to afford it as much as I wanted, but I had a great time.

I was also able to convince the guesthouse where I live to let me use their kitchen. So we spent a day gathering ingredients, getting fish from the fisherman and veggies from the market.. I ended up cooking a huge batch of rice, fish & veggies curry with friends. It was a great night, I missed cooking a lot.

But, the best night in Arugam was when we decided to go camping in the cave at “crocodile rock”.

The place is basically a huge rock, about 1 hour walk from the village. Next to the sea. From which you can see the sunset and the sunrise. We ended up with a nice mix of about 10 people from all around the world.

We picked up a few kilos of fresh fish from the market and a bunch of veggies and cooked them all up on the campfire. and of course, beers ;)

Funny story about the fish; by the time we started cutting them,  it was nighttime, and we had to cut them down the rock, to clean them in the fresh water pond. But when some local saw that, they told us it wasnt a really good idea, because crocodiles are in the pond, and the fish smell would attract them..So 1 guy ended up cutting the fish quiclky, while I was checking out for crodociles, with a half working flashlight…The adrenaline rush was pretty good…

At the end , the meal was simply amazing.

But the best time is when me and a canadian girl decided to go swim in the sea late at night…
When we entered the water, we started seeing lights around us in the water…Glowing plankton!

Hundreds of tiny little lights were appearing in the water everywhere around us! They glow when you disturb them, so when you move a little bit in the water, you are just surrounded by little dots of light…

So think about it, its late a night, the sky is covered with stars, there is not one cloud, you are there, in Sri Lanka, on an empty beach, swimming in the sea, surrounded by hundreds of little glowing organisms…

That was one of the most beautiful moments in my life!

We all slept there, and were lucky to have an amazing sunrise in the morning.

That night was just perfect, no other words to describe it…perfect!
This is life as it should be!

On another note, the plans have changed again. I will not be staying in Sri Lanka until may as I was supposed to. I am heading to Nepal on saturday.

How did that happened?

While eating at the restaurant, I met a girl from Spain who is heading to Nepal. We ended up spending a lot of time together. And one day, while walking on the beach, she said laughing “Why dont you come to Nepal with me??”.

I though about it for about 3 minutes and a half…and said yes.

Why?

Since going to india, I had Nepal in the back of my head, for some reason I really wanted to go there… And I remembered, while in Delhi, I met a guy from Sherbrooke, who was heading to nepal alone. And I said to myself “If I didnt have those tickets to go to Sri Lanka, I would totally follow him”

And now I get to Sri Lanka, and meet this girl, who offer me to go with her… I think life has given me enough signs…I must go…

So I changed my flight back to India for april 17…
We came back to Colombo yesterday…I fly back to India tomorrow, meet up with her in Chennai on sunday morning, then together we fly to Kathmandu.

So yeah, at first, when I got my flight tickets to go to Sri Lanka, I didnt know anything about the country, I had no idea why I was going there…

But I think I know now.

And I know that I will be back, because this country look and feel amazing!

and the spices are tasty!

to be continued ;)

So, I left Delhi…Leaving Marylin behind was very hard :(

Anyway, getting to Arugam Bay in Sri lanka was not very easy…

I had to take a 40hours train to Chennai, spent 1 night there. then a plane to Colombo in the morning, then 1.5hours bus to get to the bus station, wait 5hours, then a 10hours horrible bus ride to get to Pottuvil, then a Tuk-Tuk to Arugam bay…

oh and I would like to thank Jet Airways for upgrading my free flight tickets to first class..it was awesome! and Thanx for all the beers. I must confess, I think I abused the mini-bar a little bit ;)

So yeah, I finally made it to Arugam Bay, which is a small bay at the south-east side of Sri lanka. Beautiful beach, amazing ocean, and some the friendliest people alive. Oh and there is about only 15 tourists in the bay at the moment. I feel lucky to know about this place.

Anyway, I dont have much to say now, since I just arrived, except that I have hooked up the with the local surf crew and im starting surf lessons tomorrow.

to be continued

Pictures HERE!

(I also added pictures from Rishikesh & Haridwar, check earlier post)

So,

There is not much to say about Agra, I did not like the place…Yes the Taj Mahal is beautiful and all…But the city itself,  meh…

All the stores are very overpriced,  for example, for a pack of cigarettes that sell for 30rs everywhere else in india. There some store were trying to sell it for 100rs…ridiculous…. an apple juice that sells for 85rs,  185rs! anyway, you get the idea…

The main reason I think is that a lot of tourist there are “package tourist”, families, and old rich people  that are in organised tour and short vacation…that have no idea of the real indian prices…

also the people there are very agressive about selling me stuff I dont need, and offering me stuff I dont want…

About the Taj Mahal,  yes its beautiful and all. But I had seen it so many times in pictures and movies, that I was not really surprised….and also, its not really worth the massive 750rs entry fee…

im still glad I saw it in person…but meh…

the great thing about Agra though, is the super Mc Maharaja combo at McDonald= win!

Anyway, I am back in Delhi now,  I will stay here until April 1st, then I take the train all the way south to Chennai…then I fly to Sri Lanka on the 4th!

to be continued…

Namaste

Pictures HERE!

So I took the bus to Rishikesh. The ride was pretty painful, major traffic jam and very hot. 9 hours later we made it. We had issue finding a room since Rishikesh was completely full because of the Kumbh Mela, but we ended up finding a nice place right in front of the Ganga.

Rishikesh is beautiful, nice little holy village on the side of the ganga, in the middle of the mountains… Beautiful beaches and colorful people.

I didnt do much for the past 2 weeks. Just eating, chilling, walking around and sleeping. Oh what a painful life this is ;)

We did go on a Rafting trip on the Ganga. Which was very entertaining, and the scenery was beautiful. The water was a little bit cold though…but it was very refreshing!

We also spent a day in Haridwar for the Kumbh Mela. Which is a big massive sadhu gathering. They gather to bath in the ganga. Every 4 years there is a Kumbh Mela, and every 12 years is a bigger one. This year was the big one. I didnt go on the big bath day, since I am not a fan of crowds, and there was going to be millions of weirdos sadhus bathing at the same time in the Ganga. I waited a few days after, when things calmed down a little.

We spent most of the day hanging with a bunch of sadhus and gurus smoking chillum. They were great! The only thing they do, is smoke, eat, talk, and smoke more…..These guys are really funny, it was a great experience to spend time with them. Also most of them didnt speak english at all, so communication was an issue, but noting a few hand signs cannot fix.

Anyways, we are leaving later today, heading south to Agra to check out the Taj Mahal…

To be continued…

Pictures HERE!

So,  we left Ooty the next morning. We took a bus to Calicut. The bus ride was long and painful, and very stressful. We arrived late in Calicut so we decided to stay there for the night…

The next morning we took a train to Mangalore, When we arrived there. We found out that our next train wasnt leaving until 10:30 at night…so we went to grab some food, then back at the train station…

I was not able to get a Sleeper tickets to go to Delhi. I had to buy a General ticket. Sometimes when you buy a general ticket, you are able to talk to the train conductor, and you are able to upgrade your ticket to a Sleeper one, if there is place available…I met a young indian guy who was very friendly with me, and helped me find the train conductor once the train arrived, he explained him my situation..(That I was doing a 40 hours train ride to Delhi, and had only a general ticket)…
Marylin had also a general ticket, but she was getting out in Goa, which is only a 5-6 hours train ride… crappy, but totally possible to do in general section…

The verdict with the Train conductor was that there was a sleeper ticket available from Goa to Delhi, Great! exactly whatI wanted…So we got in the train, in the general section…Im not sure if you know what the general section of an indian train is like, but let me explain you:

The general section is the cheapest way to travel in the train…This is where all the poor, the homeless, and the nasty stuff happen. The compartment is made for 50 peoples, and there is probably 3 times that much…you are lucky if you have a seat…(if we can call those things seats)
Anyway, im sure you get the idea…
Even the ticket guy doesnt even come in to verify if people have tickets…So if you are in for a long journey, there is no way to survive in there… But for a few hours, its definately the cheapest way to move around…

So we got to the Goa train station at about 4h30 in the morning, I said goodbye to marylin. And ran into  the sleeper compartment. I found my bed, layed down to sleep, only to be woken up 5 minutes later by a guy with a reserved ticket for that bed… I didnt think it was possible since the train conductor told me it was free from Goa…So I went to talk to him again. Apparently he misunderstood when we said I needed a ticket from Goa to Delhi. He though I wanted Mangalore-> Goa…The seat was in fact reserved from Goa to Delhi…great!

The security told me to get out at the next station and go back to general…there was no way in the world I was going to do 40 hours in general…So I argued a little bit, and he told me to take the crappy little seat at the end of the wagon, next to the smelly bathroom, and stay there….
I would be sitting, but at least I would be alone…without all the nastyness of general section….

So I stayed there sitting, covered with a blanket, trying my best to sleep…

At 1pm the next day. I saw my helpful friend from the Mangalore station. And he offered me his bed, since he already had a good night of sleep; Awesome! It was totally illegal for me to be there, since I didnt have a sleeper ticket,  but I didnt care much at that point…

I got a few hours of rest, then woke up, had dinner, and started talking with the people around…
Everyone around was very friendly and nice. I had some of the best conversation with random strangers…It was very nice. Especially my Mangalore friend, he was the best. We talked until the early hours of the morning…Im really glad I met him! Everything was amazing until:

I was having a cigarettes in the bathroom. The bathroom, and the door to outside are the smoking spots in the train, it is officially not legal, but no one care…everyone does it.
So I was there, very late at night, having a smoke. Then suddently, someone starts banging on the door really hard. I opened the door, then 3 cops with rifle rushed in. I was like “WTF??”
The cops started telling me that I was not allowed to smoke inside, and that I had to give them 3000rupees for the fine  (this is a lot of money here in india, about 70$CAN)…They were also very drunk, I could smell the crappy indian alchool all over them… oh and they barely spoke engligh….
So I tried to tell them I was sorry, that I didnt know. But they didnt understand what I was saying. They just kept saying “3000rupees”, pointing the rifle toward me…
At that point I knew I had to give them money, or else I would be totally fucked…I did have the 3000rupees on me, but I would never give them such amount. So I took my wallet, and gave them everything that was inside, which was about 200 and something rupees, and I told them that this was everything I had on me. (I keep all my big money in a money belt under my shirt)  They kept saying “3000 rupees”…I started getting angry, telling them again that this was everything I had….

Then they asked me for my ticket! Awesome, I have a “General” tickets, and im here standing in the Sleeper wagon, I was in for some big trouble there! But I remembered that my friend gave me his ticket earlier, so I wouldnt forget the bed number…So I got the tickets from my pocket, looked at it really quiclky, only to realise that there was my friend’s name on it, a pure Indian name…(dammit!)

I showed them the tickets really quickly, saying “see this is my bed, #59, im right there…” only to put back the ticket in my pocket before they could realize it wasnt mine….and it worked like a charm!

Then they told me to go back in the bathroom, to have a smoke (yeah really)… and finally left…
I hate crooked cops…

After talking to my indian friend, he told me that this was very common in the train late at night. Cops get drunk, then they walk around and cause trouble with foreingers…Trying to get money…

Anyway, my friend was getting out a few hours after, we went to talk to the train conductor, to change the name on the ticket, and to make it official that this was my seat now…Everything was finally sorted out!

——————————————————

So after 40 hours of train,  I finally made it to Delhi. I got out of the train station, met up with a guy from Poland, who was going in the same area as me. Shared a rickshaw to the hotel. And finally had a real rest!

Later in the evening, I went to grab a chai in a store, and met a girl from Amsterdam, who kindly invited me to join her and her friend for dinner….so we went to eat and I went back to bed…

The next day, me and her went around town, we checked the lotus temple, ishkon temple, connaught place, the underground market and the city palace…it was a very productive day actually!

After talking with a few tourist,  I found out that there is a new law for people holding multiple entry indian visa,  like mine. The new law consist of: If you have a multiple entry visa, and leave india, you have to wait 2 months to be able to get back in the country…This was very bad for me since I booked flight tickets for 1 month in Sri Lanka in april….That mean that I wouldnt be able to get back in india for the last month of my trip, and I would miss my flight back home….to get back in before the 2 months time frame, I needed a special permission from the indian government, great!

A portugeese girl I met also had to go to the office to get a visa extension, so we went together the next day…The office was very chaotic and disorganised, as we expected…It took about 4 hours to get everything sorted out, but we made it, so its all good…

Later that night, I was walking down the main bazaar street with some friends, when out of nowhere, a guy stopped walking in front of me, and of course, I bumped into him…When that happend, I felt something in my back pocket. I turned around, only to see an Indian guy holding my wallet in his hand…I got so angry, and quiclky pushed the guy. I was able to make him drop my wallet, then he ran away… Gabriel:1 Pickpockets:0…..

This event made me really pissed off, but I was happy with the way and how quick I reacted..

Anyway, the next day I went to visit the Red fort, and the big Mosque (which can hold 25 000 people)…The place is huge, the biggest mosque in india. It is beautiful!

Delhi is a very nice place, full of parks and nice buildings. The city look very modern and “western style”….. They also have great transportation system. Their Metro is actually cleaner, more effective and better organized than the one in montreal! I love it!

Old Delhi is actually like the india Im used to, dirty, smelly, overcrowded and polluted…but I still love it for some reason..

Also, the food is amazing, and cheap…

But yeah, marylin is flying here tomorrow, then we will head to Rishikesh the next day…

To be continued…

Namaste

Pictures HERE!

So we made it to Ooty. The bus ride was very intense and dangerous. I dont think I have been that stressed in a ride since we arrived in India. Very sharp Turn and high cliff, and the road is about as large as 1 lane in Canada. But is actually a two way road. All I can say is that I was very happy to arrive.

We arrived in Ooty, I was not expecting much from that place. But when I first saw it, I couldnt beleive how beautiful it is. Its a hillstation very high in altitude. The forest is actually a lot like northern Quebec. Filled with massive conifers and eucalyptus. Also the weather is pretty cold. during the day it get to maybe 25-30c and 10-15c at night. We can really feel the mountain air.
And it’s really funny to see all the indians with big winter coat, gloves and hat, dying of cold, when its about 10 degrees out…

The next day we went horse riding in the mountains. It was great, beautiful little path, deep in nature…The forest is really great, the smell of all the eucalyptus trees, and the air of the mountain…
Could’nt have asked for anything else…

The following day we walked around town, the place is so beautiful…small colorful houses, very friendly locals…This is one of the first time that I can really say that I felt like I was deep in real indian territory… Its great, just  look at the pictures,  they speak for themselves ;)

Also on another funny note, we had seen tons of cows walking around freely in india, but here, the horses and goats rule the streets. They just walk everywhere…

On another note, my travel plans have changed dramatically in the past few days…Its a little stupid on my side, since my budjet is running very low…but im used to doing stupid stuff anyways…

To make a short story;

-I postponed my return tickets home until june…( 2 months later than the original date)
-Im leaving south-india tomorrow, heading to north india for 1 month…
-Also since I booked all my flight tickets with Jet Airways,  I ended up with a tons of miles point, and I was able to get a roundtrip to Sri Lanka..

So, Tomorrow im heading to Delhi. Marylin is heading back to Goa, from there she is going to fly to Delhi. Since im getting pretty broke and cannot afford flight tickets, I am taking the long train ride there… We will meet in Delhi at some point….

Then we will spend a month in north india. After that Marylin is going back to Montreal…

When she leave, I am going back south to Chennai, from there I will fly to Sri Lanka for a month…Then back to Chennai in early may…Spend another month in south india..then back to Bombay at the beginning of june to fly back to Toronto…

Im not sure if you have an idea of the distance between all those places…But if my calculation are correct, that means about 6000km of train rides….pretty insane I tell you…but I think its going to be worth it ;)

to be continued…

Namaste