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Published: November 15th 2009
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After three months already spent here in this Incredible India we realise that 6 months is definitely not enough and that we are for sure coming back for a second round.
“If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't , you're right!” First stop Kolkata, with hundredandninety percent humidity and monsoon rain. We mingled among the people, cows, chickens, goats, drinking chai on the street corner, looking at all the beautiful women in their bright coloured saris, heavy jewellery from nose to toe and henna painted hands and feet, avoiding getting runned down by racing cars, that use their horns instead of their breaks, auto rickshaws, cyklerickshaws, running rickshaws, trams, raging cows and bulls, men walking the crowded streets with 6 meter long steelbars on their heads and whatever you can think of to not carry on your head, they do. So much to look at, so many new impressions, it's like living a week in a day.
We tried our very best to get lost at least once a day, actually, Vince likes to get “lost” with a map in his hand and me, I like to be illogical and follow my
sense of direction. A few arguments have occurred whether I actually have one or not, but with this combination we find very interesting places and we always find our way back home, with or without a map.
“I was so sad for loosing my shoes until I found a man without feet!” Street life, is really living up to its name in India. So many people live their whole life in the streets, the man with the little shop of 2m² turns it in to his living room/kitchen/bedroom in the night time, and the street functions as a public toilet/shower, anywhere.
And of course all the people without the little shop, they just live on and of the streets, in any way they can. Life is hard for some people in India, poverty is very high, highest among women and children, and some times it is hard to swallow your breakfast when you have a mother with a little one on her arm hanging on your arm asking for some food.
“Give a man a fish he's got food for a day, learn him how to fish he's got food for a lifetime” We learn to
get around in this country and soon we are sitting on the train towards Darjeeling, a little picturesque town at the foot of the Himalayas 2134 meters above sea level. It was all hidden in a mist when we arrived, and after a while we understood that we were actually above and in the clouds, therefore the mist.
So what do you do in the tea capital of India in rainy season..
We enjoy the rainy days and even more the days with sunshine and a view that reaches all the way to the tops of the Himalayas.
Trekking was off the schedule because of back issues and landslides, but we found our own ways around and spent three weeks enjoying the surroundings of Darjeeling.
“Don't think of yourself as an ugly person, think of yourself as a beautiful monkey!” Found out from Sonam, the lady that runs “Sonams kitchen” and serves the nicest coffee in north India, about a place in Sikkim, Chakung. So we decided to have a look. A jeep ride down the mountain on winding roads between teaplantations and stunning views took us across the border to Sikkim.
We got picked up and brought
up another mountain to the family house of Khangsarpa.
A lovely family that took us in and treated us like king and queen for the two weeks we stayed there. They had a beautiful old house with a big garden where they grew almost everything we put in our mouths, completely organic, which they were and should be, very proud of.
“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted” It was a step back in time, drinking the water from the mountain, the food got cooked over fire in clay ovens and tasted amazingly nice, the meat hanged up for drying over smoky fires, the cow got milked in the morning, Tuesday shopping in the market, heating water over the fire for showers and in the kitchen ruled the housekeepers, two beautiful ladies from the orphanage, the next door neighbours.
They really took care of us, and the night before we left they made a party for us with wonderful food, Nepali singing and dancing, filling us with Tongbas, millet beer made on the spot with millet seeds put in a bamboo tube that is filled, and refilled and refilled and refilled with hot water, drunken with straws
and it can get your head spinning and it's also very tasty.
“If I knew the world ended tomorrow, I still would plant a tree today” Time to move on, but before we did so we were asked to plant a tree. Bhaila had started a beautiful custom that every tourist plants a tree. So we dug a hole and planted our sweet guava tree to help fill peoples mouths and help the planet to stay green and healthy.
We got blessed in buddhistic manors by grandmother, for good luck on the way, and a tear filled goodbye from Bhaila, our host and friend that made us feel fantastic for two weeks.
Goodbye to our new little friend Chukkie, a 9 year old energyfilled little lady that kept me busy and also, is a delight to hang out with. And everyone else, mama, uncle and cousins and dogs and workers and other travellers, 'till the next time.
Back to Darjeeling shortly before we head for Varanasi.
But that is a different story.
“Going to a temple doesn't make you a saint, likewise standing in a garage wouldn't make you in to a car”
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jelle
non-member comment
jullie verhaal is een feest om te lezen, de oneliners zijn ongelooflijk grappig, tenminste, ik lach!? in een deuk! Wij (ik, linde, gouwe) zijn onlangs bij Tieme geweest. Was ook al een feest. Ben nu weer terug in NL. Kouwe doesjjjj....