http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/weltenwanderer/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from weltenwanderer en-us Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:30:35 +0000 Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:30:35 +0000 Together with Adi and Melanie I left Hampi on a bus to Bangalore the ITcapital of India. We stayed there for one night. The city is noisy and dirty but also incredibly western full of fastfood restaurants and huge stores. From McDonalds to Levi's everything is there...My 2 friends continued to Kerala and I took a nightbus to Pondicherry at the southern eastcoast. Pondicherry is a small f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Pondicherry/blog-127308.html A month on the Andaman islands seemed to be quite a long time. But now when I look back it is simply incredible how quickly these weeks have passed by...At the 10th of February I arrived in Port Blair the little capital of the Andaman islands. It was obvious for me from the beginning on that the life on these little islands east of the mainland is very different. The omnipresent overcrowdedness http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andaman-and-Nicobar-Islands/blog-137747.html Together with dhammabrother Jeroen from the Netherlands I left Aurangabad to go to Goa. With the bus we went first to Pune and from there continuing to Goa. We had heard that Arambol was one of the most quiet beaches in the busy Goascene so we went there. Taking the local bus to Arambol I was impressed by the beautiful scenery of Goa like a different world within India. Beautiful green nature http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Arambol/blog-121837.html With Sandie and BJ I took the longest busride in local buses so far destination Hampi. With 6 different buses and about 3 hours waitingtime at a busstation we arrived at 4 am in the morning in Hosped. There we slept at the bus station for about 3 hours to take the first connection in the morning to Hampi. Hampi is actually a tiny village in a huge and amazing landscape of strange rockformatio http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Hampi/blog-121839.html The vipassanacourse ended in the morning of the 31rst of Dec. I intended to go directly to Aurangabad to be able to visit the ancient caves of Ellora... Connecting with fellow meditators who are traveling too we ended up being a huge group of about 15 dhammapeople taking the train to Aurangabad. Although we haven't been communicating during the course until the last day it was as if we had kno http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Aurangabad/blog-121830.html From Mumbai I continued to a little town called Igatpuri. Exactly in time to start the 10days Vipassana meditation course I have had already registered for when I was in Bolivia.In Igatpuri you find DhammaGiri the seat of the Int. Vipassana Research Institute and biggest Vipassanameditation center in the world.Vipassana is a nonsectarian and nonreligious meditationtechnique discovered by B http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/blog-121824.html From Jodhpur I took a long trainride to Mumbai the biggest metropolis of India. Arriving in the morning at the trainstation the first reaction was ESCAPE I have to leave instantly this is too much for me I was absolutely overwhelmed by the masses of people the noise simply everything. But I stayed and I didn't regret.Staying at the only cheap place you can find in Koloba the dormitory http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-121818.html Last stop in Rajasthan was Jodhpur also called the blue city because of its many blue buildings in the old part of the town. A smaller but busy city with an amazing fortress the Mehrangarh fort. The fort is still owned by a Maharaja those emperors who used to rule Rajasthan in earlier times...In Jodhpur I met 2 very sympathic norwegians in my hostal Didrik and Fuscha from Oslo and we spent http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-121813.html From Pushkar I went back to Jaipur to catch the train to Jaisalmer a small town with a beautiful fortress in the desert not far away from the border to Pakistan...Having 3 days time there I spent one day exploring the village and the next day I went on a camelsafari for one and a half days which was really good fun. Near the fortentrance I found the government authorised bhangshop where I p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-121808.html Because I wanted to be at a 10 day Vipassanameditation course near Mumbai starting at the 20 of Dec. I had to schedule my way down through Rajasthan to Mumbai. Certainly not the way I like to travel normally I booked my traintickets in Delhi giving me only a few days at some of the interesting destinations in the state of Rajasthan...From Delhi I went south to Agra having a short stop in Vrind http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-121799.html The transit from Peru to India was really long... Nelly and Khai two friends I met on the conference in Iquitos who are living in Miami came to visit me at the airport during my stopover there... It was fantastic to see them again With many hours delay I finally landed in Delhi after nearly 48 hours transit incl. waiting times at the airports. Arriving early in the morning with horrible jetla http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-121791.html I had to get 2 visas one for India and a transitvisa for the US because of a stopover in Miami on the way to Delhi.The idea of passing 2 weeks in the unappealing capital of Peru only to get my paperwork done was not so nice... But things turned out differently and I actually passed an amazing time in Lima with very nice people...Syloh came with me and we stayed in Miraflores a save but quite ex http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/blog-121787.html On the way to Lima Shyloh and I decided to stop for a few days at Huacachina a real oasis near Ica and famous Nasca... Surrounded by huge sanddunes you don't think you are in Peru anymore a real desert right at the coast of Peru. Actually there is not much to do there but I really enjoyed the warm sun and walking in the desert after so many weeks of high altitude and cold temperatures in th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-121783.html Arriving in Cusco was the beginning of a longer stay... Through email contact I met my friend Shyloh from the Iquitosconference the very first day in Cusco again. He had been in Ecuador after the conference also living in the jungle with a shaman and his family and just returned from there...Moreover he had organised an ayahuascaceremony with Kevin Furnas a western shaman who also had been at http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/blog-121780.html Leaving the amazing salar I took a bus back to La Paz and from La Paz back into Peru. This time I stopped in Puno at the peruvian part of the Titicacalake. Actually a rather uninteresting and filthy city it is famous because of its floating islands. A tribe called the Uros has been living for a long time under rough conditions directly on the lake. They built their islands as well as their boa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/blog-121776.html After Sucre all 3 of us went into different directions again. My next stop was Potosi the highest city of the world at 4000m and famous for its mining history. I wanted to visit the mines but in the night I got incredibly sick bad stomach and full altitudesickness. I had a nightmare of night freezingly cold in a bad accomodation having to go to the toilet every 10 minutes and of course the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-121771.html Back from the Yungas I got a cold and felt quite sick being back high up in the Andes again. From La Paz I took a bus south to Sucre the capital of Bolivia. Situated far less high than La Paz this city is easier to handle also because Sucre is much smaller and less hectic.The first 2 days I spent mostly in bed trying to get rid of my cold. On the 3rd day Katha and Miri arrived in Sucre as we ha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Chuquisaca-Department/Sucre/blog-121765.html From Copacapana it was an 4 hours busride to La Paz the biggest city in Bolivia situated around 3600m high in the Andes on a marvelous plateau sourrounded by snowcovered mountains...Arriving there I had to start to chewing cocaleafs and drinking cocatea to adapt to the extreme altitude and cold temperature. Walking around in La Paz can be a hard task in the beginning because you get tired and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-121757.html Due to the fact that my peruvian visa had already expired for more than 2 weeks I got only 2 month I continued directly from Arequipa to Bolivia.Reaching the amazing lake Titicaca on 3000m I crossed the bolivian border to reach a little town called Copacapana situated at the bolivian part of lake Titicaca.Copacapana is the gate to the Isla del Sol the Sun Island. The Sun Island is the mytholo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Isla-del-Sol/blog-121755.html Leaving with a bus from Pucallpa over the mountains to Lima it was one of the most horrible busrides I have had. The first 10 hours of the 18 hours busride climbed the mountains on a terrible road and I got breathing problems due to the quick increase of altitude... Moreover a blackuniformed guy with a pumpgun came on bord in the night to protect us on a dangerous part of the journey where no p http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/blog-121750.html