Travels and Updates - East Feast

How much time has passed since I wrote last? How long ago was that?.......Say Chile...2006... 3 years ago! Wow now that’s a lot of time...A lot of time for a 'hitchhiker-at-heart' like me to have stayed put in one place! Yup am happy to say travel has happened in the past 2 years and more than 2 trips and really exciting ones at that! Time to put them all down, even if it’s a one liner (although am going to try not to do that!) I'll try to do justice to it because sometimes my memory deceives me. Let’s see....

 The first trip I did after I came back from Chile 2005 was to the east of India during April- May of 2007 with my family.... Awesome, mum still has her LTCs (Leave Travel Concession for those of you who didn’t know) and the good news is we can do another trip before she retires. Kashmir may be…Yummy! Anyway, so this east trip was really great. We did three major places: Kolkata, Gangtok and surrounding places and Darjeeling. My first time to all these places.

 Kolkata was very very hot but that city has an old world charm that is so unique to it. Its bustling with people and colors and the best thing is there is a certain humility to that place which is quite endearing.  Of course we went to the usual touristy- must – see places – the Victoria Memorial, Kalighat, Belur math, Howrah bridge and those other places. But the bonus definitely was that I met up with Arjun (a friend from college who is a Bengali) went to his ancestral house with walls on the ground floor more than 3’ thick and got treated to an authentic Bengali dinner by his mom. Yummy!

 From Kolkata we headed to Gangtok via Siliguri. Ah, Gangtok. Definitely one of the best tourist places in India. So clean and traveler friendly. Actually cleanliness is one of the tourism USPs of the state of Sikkim I think. Gangtok had the right amount of chill that belongs to a hill station perched on the Shivalik hills of the eastern Himalayan range, at an altitude of 4,715 ft. Its winding, steep roads, the native people around, its little shops that sells cute little Sikkimese things – it belongs to someplace out of this world. From Gangtok we went around to a couple of close by places – to the Rumtek Monastery, the Changu (Tsango) lake, the Baba mandir, Nathula Pass (the Indo- China border) and some other places.

 The most memorable of all the places and the entire trip was the ride up to Changu lake, Baba mandir from there and back. My words won’t do justice to the beauty of the place and the respect you feel for our Indian army men posted in those places. Whether you are a travel freak or not, Changu lake is one of the places in India you should see. Only seeing is believing the beauty of that place. You could view my pictures of that trip on my Picasa album – http://picasaweb.google.com/pprathigna/EASTFEAST#

 Darjeeling was next on the schedule. Oh, I forgot to mention that on the descent from Gangtok there is a Black Cat Commando training centre which is soooo hot! So I was all drooly just looking at their campus, am not sure what I’d do if I spotted some of them! Slurp!!! We also stopped at river Teestha along the way  to raft a little distance. Rafting was so much fun although the rapids were mostly small and about 3 or 4 big ones. Quite an adventure it was and it was my first time. So after a short swim in the river and feeling all hip after rafting we back on our bus headed to Darjeeling.

 Hmmm…..Darjeeling! You know apparently when my mum was in school and she was asked what she wanted to do in life, she wrote that she wanted to honeymoon in Darjeeling! And guess what, she wasn’t the only one with such ambitions in life, many girls of her times wanted to do the same too….hahaha.  Innocent I think! Anyway, Darjeeling I think was a great place some years ago. But now it’s quite commercial. Another case of tourism killing the charm and beauty of a place when not put into practice sensibly and sensitively.  The streets are filled with tourist buses and loads of people who do not belong there. There is no essence true to the place. We looked around the place,  did some shopping and decided to go to  the Tiger Hills to witness the breath-taking sunrise that almost everybody gaga-ed about.  We woke up at 4 in the morning to get to the hills in time, picking up on our way some tea sellers who started their day and business every day by selling tea to the early risers who came to witness the sun rise. We got on top, got ourselves the best viewing point, and waited. We waited and waited. Till well past 7 .00 when the day had already began and it seemed to be a bright one! The Sun had failed us at Tiger Hills. It turned out that the morning clouds hid the sun behind it, cutting off our view, the way it happened ninety percent of the times when people went up the hill to watch the Sunrise, as our guide told us later on. So much for waking up so early while on a holiday! Then we went to a couple of more places – the zoo, some tea estates, some parks and so on.

 By the end of 10 days, I think all of us had quenched our traveler’s thirst and ready to head back to the lives we had escaped from.  On our way back from Darjeeling we made a quick stop at Siliguri for a night. Oh that reminds me, I lost my wallet during our onward journey from Siliguri to Gangtok and hence I remained broke for most part of trip. From Siliguri it was back to Kolkata and then back to Bangalore.

 So that was about my awesome trip to the east of India and to the Himalayas. Himalayas – the power of those mighty mountains – it always makes you want to go back to it. Other than the unpleasant bit of losing my purse and all my money, that trip was indeed  super sooper!

This post has been longer than expected. Well good in a way because I remember better than I thought I would. So the next trip in the next post.

 

Travel report for the MF.....

Although this happens to be an academic report, the travel and cultural bit of it is quite interesting....As usual it brought back all those one million sweet memories associated with a journey to a Far Away Land! :)
http://www.meltonfoundation.org/Academic/exp_ab_rep/prathigna_2006.htm

Some things I want to remember for the rest of my life:

1. On top of The Great Wall in China:

It was a cloudy day. But inspite of that I could see the wall lining the mountains for miles and miles. I sat on the window opening of one of the watch towers looking out into the vastness. The many many green mountains, clouds in between, The Wall, trees, and myself- that feeling is indescribable. I have never felt so close to myself or to nature before. I was humbled by the view I saw in front of me. Nothing mattered anymore. No one.... every thing seemd so inconsequential and miniscule before the magnitude and vastness of these mountains. There were several of us at that tower. Each had found her own corner and looked out. That was one of the best half hours I spent with myself. I will always remember....

2. Atop Mt. Huashan, China:

We reached the top of the East peak climbing 12kms for 7 hours. The climb wasnt easy by any measure. For an amatuer trekker climbing an elevation of 2200 mts of harsh rock above sea level is quite a feat! But the feeling of accomplishment once we reach the peak, our destination, is immense. We were there to watch the Sun rise. Looking down from the East peak, I saw rough, cold and brutal rock mountains all around me. It was a mixed feeling, one of having supreme accomplishment for having successfully climbed these mountains and the other of complete submission before the might of those fierce rocky mountains. Once again I felt insignificant before this manifestation of nature. We tiny little human beings are negligible, our feelings, emotions, happiness, success, sorrow everything that we strive for in life are negetated in front of the mighty Huashan. But at the same time, I felt more powerful because I had climbed it. It was like I had conquered mt. Huashan.
But I think the feeling of insignificance was stronger than that of conquest. Climbing Mt. Huashan will always stay with me.

3. The dock by the road in Vina del Mar, Chile:

It was at sunset. The sky was going from an Orange to red to blue. I sat at the dock looking into the pacific ocean. It was a clear blue sky with stars twinkling around a half moon. I could see Valparaiso at a distance - a mountain of shimmering gold. The lights of the city behind me. I listened to the Pacific. Calm in the centre while roaring at the shore. Beating so fiercely against the stubborn rocks. Just like a woman. The view was enchanting. The ocean has always intrigued me. And I think it will never cease to do so. I just sat there looking at it. Everything around me ceased to exist. I was alone. Just me and the ocean and the sky. I cant put down in words what I thought or what I felt. It was beautiful.

El Yo Yo!

When we were checking out the list of hostels on the internet, where we could stay for the night in Valparaiso, El Yo Yo figured somewhere at the end. Without deciding on any of them we headed to Valparaiso and decided to check out the hostels once we were there.


Since El yo yo was at a walking distance from the bus station we decided to look it up first. After what seemed to be a really long hike and getting lost a couple of times in between we finally reached El Yo Yo. Painted with bright graffiti, quite characteristic of Valparaiso, the door seemed to be hidden somewhere on the wall. We walked in and were greeted by the now-settled-in-valparaiso Californian owner of the hostel. Since we were way too tired to check out any other place we decided to stay for the night in El Yo Yo. I think it was meant to be.

With 8 Chileans, 2 British, 1 Spanish, 1 Swiss, 1 German, 1 French and 2 Indians staying there, it was quite an inter cultural mix of people. A barbeque party was planned for the night and we signed up for the same as we had no plans for the night. I think the fact that rohan and I were the only 2 and we dint know much about the city and we wanted to have fun was what made us sign up. Honestly if we were a bigger group of friends traveling, we would have hung out by ourselves, not really socialized and had our own fun. It would have been good too but definitely never come close to what followed that night. I think it was our need that pushed us to socialize and have a great time! And wow, did we have a great time or what!!!

The barbeque was meant to start by 9. so after taking a good long walk around the city we headed back to the hostel to be there in time for the party. Initially Rohan and I kept to ourselves but soon figured that the night was gonna be quite a drab if we dint make friends soon! A ``HOLA`` was all it took to hit it off with a group of Chileans. And what followed can easily pass for one of the craziest nights I have had in quite sometime now!
The best thing about a youth hostel any ever in the world is that most people there speak English. So its easy to communicate. And even if some people don’t, well there are others who could translate! More and more people joined in until the whole (almost whole) hostel was one big group of people talking, eating, drinking, smoking! And we spoke about every other thing in the world. And we Indians enlightening the world about caste, cows, couples et all back in India! (oh what a cliché!!!!) As long as people are interested, most often they are, it always works! The exchange of information is so intense but you hardly even feel it…and mostly hardly even remember it the morning after! And for people looking for more, more than information can be exchanged…blame it on the booze!!!!

Anyways all of us sat around the dinner table eating the yummy barbeque- pork, chicken, beef, potatoes, salads, it was really tasty, drinking ron, smoking and talking. It was great. And I think I learnt quite a bit of Spanish too which unfortunately I don’t remember now!
So we sat at the dinner table till about 2 in the morning. It was the 18th of September. The Chilean National Day. And of course we were going to celebrate it. There was so much energy at the dinner table and we weren’t going let it go a waste by sleeping!
So we all decided to head to a discotheque near the port and dance the night away. The streets of Valparaiso seem as lively at 2 in the morning as they are at 9 in the night! So we were a bunch of 15 people, complete strangers 6 hours ago, now good friends, heading out to have more fun.

The disco was great. Too bad I don’t remember its name. But it was an old building overlooking the pacific jam packed with people and playing loud Spanish music. And boy! did we dance!!! It was crazy. And this is kinda funny…this one Chilean boy not from the hostel asked if he could dance with me… it was ok I thought… what a flirt he was!!! It was so funny! I just pretended not to understand him…play dumb…it helps!!! Of course my “Indian conscience” is right in its place no matter how drunk or not drunk I am and therefore keeps me from acting “funny”….which is great I think!!!! Anyways after “tactfully” avoiding him we continued to dance and dance and dance more. God, I swear I could not move a bone later! The disco decided to close by 5.30 in the morning. Had it remained open longer, we probably would have had to sleep on the streets as we would have been dead to walk back to the hostel! All of us pulled ourselves back to the hostel (which is on a hill)…got there by 6 in the morning…sat around in the lounge (ahem, some people were doing more than just sitting!!) and finally hit the bed by 6.30 in the morning…
What a night it was!!!

It might seem like no big deal… we had some good dinner and went out dancing. But the difference is the fact that all of us were strangers with the intension of having a good time together. It doesn’t matter where you are from, what you speak, what you do, or how old you are…. Nothing really matters as long as there is an intension and that night the intension was quite clear…all of us wanted to have a good time together. I cannot say if we will keep in touch in the future ( though email ids were exchanged) or if our paths ever cross again (that’s a very remote possibility) but that night we all were great friends and we had a great time together….something I will remember for a long time to come.

Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le...Viva Chile!!!!!

Finally its time that I made entries in my travel blog! I have been here in Chile for almost a week now and god it feels like ages! We arrived on the 10th of September leaving behind all the mess that we had to go through in order to organize out travel- visa, transit visa, permission, etc. etc.- and looking forward in anticipation and excitement our stay in Chile!
And now I realize that all the trouble we took is going to be totally worth it!

Well this trip is not going to be much of traveling unlike in china. Although I am going to be visiting atleast four places for sure. First of all, Santiago where we are right now and going to be till the 27th of September. And then the symposium starts, first at Vina Del Mar, then in Temuco and then in Pucon. All these places are supposed to be tourist havens excepting Temuco which is like a smaller version of Santiago.
Vina is a beach city and Pucon is a skiing resort! Wow! Am sure its gonna be awesome!

Well right now we are in Santiago which is the Capital city of Chile and the biggest and the most populated one too. Out of the 17 million odd people in chile 7 million of them live in Santiago. Phew! That’s a lot. Even though the city is really massive, most of its parts are well connected by the metros (which are excellent and a very efficient and convenient way of transportation) and the buses. So except for getting swindled miserably by the taxi driver from the airport to the city, most of the other internal travel in the city has been quite peaceful and uneventful! And cheap too! :)

The day we arrived here and 2 days after, the weather was unbearably cold. We were falling short of being adequately dressed even after 5 layers of clothing! (but of course it hasn’t been as bad as that one time in Brugge, Belgium when I thought I was going to die out of cold. Honest! I really thought I was going to die!) Anyways these days the weather is much better with the days being sunnier and brighter and hence a little warmer. Well the winter is almost coming to an end. Its officially over on the 21st of September!!! So the days are much Springy now…. :) The nights are still so cold but of course you are not much a victim when you are sleeping under 5 layers of blankets!

People here are really warm and friendly. The Chileans are known for their good spirits. Though most people don’t speak English, communication has never been much of a problem. Well we are now able to manage a little in Spanish…Spanglish! Actually, many of the words in Spanish are quite similar to those in English and comprehending them isn’t much of a hassle. People here are very hospitable too. Right now it seems like the entire nation is celebrating the national day which is on the 18th of September. These guys are one helluva patriotic people. And primarily, I guess, they only need a reason to party! We were already invited to two such parties and both of them were great! One was at the architectural university and the other at a church. The one at the church was called a fonda.
It was great, with all the music, dance, eating, drinking, everything!

So that’s about it from me right now. Will write in more in sometime as more eventful things unfold! Till then, adios!

PS: “We” refers to Rohan and me.

updates in the pipe line!

this has been overdue for really long, but unfortunately even this time i wont be able to update
1. Am a Freak (part 2)
2. My awesome coorg trip.
these 2 trips i have been wanting to write about but seems like lifes moved on much ahead since then and right now it would be more appropriate to write about my chile trip (still trippin ;)!!! )
ofcourse i am goin to write abt the above 2 things maybe a little later.
untill then its chi chi chi le le le! viva chile.....

Am a Freak!!! (Part 1)

Ok this one is long due. This I am picking from my travel journal I maintained when I went to china. Infact this was one of my first entries after landing in Hangzhou. Quite an adventurous one! Here goes.......

Date: 04, September 2005
Time: 12.30 AM
At Yang's house in Hangzhou.

So I am finally here, sitting in Yang ,my host's house, and writing this journal before hitting the bed. How I got here is one hell of an adventure story.....

I got to Shanghai airport by about seven in the morning and after finishing all the formalities at the airport (the airport authorities and the ambience of the airport is so cold and intimidating) I was out by 7.30 AM. Though I knew I had to get to the train station next, I was unsure of how to get there. Vaguely remembered the directions Divya had posted on her blog(not that it helped much, I should have come better prepared!). Anyways in the course of getting there, 2 women even tried conning me to take a taxi to I dont know where! Trying to ask for directions with several people seemed futile as neither did they understand me nor did I understand them... I even showed them a picture of a train trying to figure out where the station was!

Finally I stopped this gentleman, Mr Ding (some complete stranger) and asked him if he knew english and where the train station to Hangzhou was. The man was kind enough to tell me that the 2 girls accompanying him were also headed to Hangzhou. Call it my gutts, desperation, foolishness or whatever you will, I asked him if I could join them and he obliged! So we went down to his car, a cool BMW, and he drove us all (Lee, Xin and me) through Shanghai to the bus station. In truth, I had no clue where we were going, if he was going to drop us all the way to Hangzhou, or the train station in Shanghai, or the bus station or where! But somehow I just lt myself trust them... I know its the craziest thing to do..be in a new country where you dont speak or understand their language , directions or anything and hitch-hike with a couple of strangers....phew! what the hell was I thinking!

Anyways, thank god for me, these guys turned out to be real sweet people! We stopped for breakfast in Shanghai in this place called Bi Feng Tang (?) and that was my introduction to Chinese food. It seemed like quite a hip place and I was unsure of its charges. So I chose not to eat anything and settled to drinking some water which I thought came free like in any other restuarant back in India! well, I figured later on that chinese drink tea (which was pretty good) with their food like the way we drink water, and water cost some money! After breakfast, Mr. Ding dropped us off at the bus station and believe it or not he even paid for my bus ticket!!!! Were these people nice or what! I felt quite uncomfortable about the whole thing, insisted that I would pay up for my ticket but he wouldn't budge. So in return I gave him a pack of agarbhattis I picked up from Foodworld back home. Thats all I had that I could give.

So finally I was on the bus to Hangzhou, and all through the journey I Slept.