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Published: September 22nd 2012
Ok. You know what? Stuff it. I said it will take too long to explain what it's like being in India. But do you know what? Here it goes. Stories that are coming from my travel diary. Somethings will not be for the light hearted or someone with a weak stomach. So read on. Laugh. Cry. Squirm in disgust. Smile and remember where you are and what you have, as I'm going to start to describe my life as I've seen it. I'll start with the day I was writing this blog...
As I started this blog, I was sick lying in bed holding my stomach. It sucked but was bound to happen. I had a bucket besides the bedand a toilet close by, so thats one positive thing. But when you get the "travel bug" in India... It's not a thing you want, nor a place you want to be in. I can still joke though. Like:
If you eat some curry, then run straight for a dunny - DIAHHOREA! DIAHHOREA!
If Immodium doesn't work, your rings gonna hurt - DIAHHOREA! DIAHHOREA!
That night was a "Team America" style of throwing up, rehearsing the New Zealand "Haka"on
the toilet, then passing out in my bed.
There's so many Israeli people in this area that the Indians can speak a bit of Hebrew and their first guess where I'm from is Israel. Arrgghh I must of lost my Australian accent! Wait - I'm from 'straya ya gronk. It must be the Charas eating away their brain! ...or the beard that I got. This whole area is like a hippy town. Anyway here was a day for me to remember:
4th September
Me & a travel buddy, Yoni had just come back from the Nubra Valley. We found a cheap guesthouse & then had lunch. Yoni met his friend & we searched for a Motorbike then while we had already made our decision to rent one out, his friend still stood there thinking about it. It started to get cold at night so we went back to the guesthouse to get our jumpers. Along the way, we couldnt find the side street because there was no power in the town like usual. Then the side street that we thought was ours, we seen something odd. Maybe 6 old, skinny Indians all breaking their backs trying to pull
a 2-3m tree log up a hill with a rope. They were putting 2 skinny logs under it so the log could roll. We went down & helped them. Everytime the small log underneath would slide out, the Indians wouldnt care how heavy the log was. They would always try to lift this big log with their hands in order to slide the small log underneath again. No matter how many times I would give them an example of how to lift and keep their back straight - they didnt give a rats ass man. I'm telling you! They DO NOT give a flying F@%. They just want to break their backs. It also came so close to wiping a Royal Enfield(a motorbike) out it wasnt funny. So close that it was either Krishna, Shiva or any god looking down at that motorbike. It was just pure luck. Again, I had tried to warn them about the bike but it was like it wasn't even a topic I should have talked about. Just pull! It took us maybe 30 minutes to pull this bloody log up this bloody hill. At the end though, the Indians smiled so big showing their
3 teeth, while shaking our hands so much, touching their hearts, then running back down to what looked like to drag another one up! Yeh one is enough for us! We FINALLY found our guesthouse. Too bad the outside gate was locked. We couldnt get in! So, I climbed up a tree to jump over a big stone wall, landing, then having a look at this gate. What the? So, wheres the lock? There wasnt one? I just yanked the gate hard from the inside and it opened. Oh man, are you serious! We spent 5 minutes at this gate when all we needed to do was just give it a bit of power? Walking back, we couldnt find our friend so we thought to go to the main street in town. Which is when we seen people crowding around this place that it was so odd. So naturally we went and had a look. I tried to ask people what was going on but they all looked in a panic. We seen and heard 5 cars reversing and beeping their horns, coming out of a skinny alley. Thats when we seen what was going on. As people gathered and
walked through the alley, a building emerged. Thick black smoke was coming from a store and towering into the sky. More people came and everyone was just watching this building on fire. There was only the smoke at the time. A guy came and just started screaming "BLAAARRGGHHH!!! BLAARRRGGGHH!!!" and pushing maybe 5 people at a time, out of the way, away from the building. Then he headed our way. Me and Yoni started to walk backwards then I said "Go left!". As the guy screamed and charged at us, I went left and seen Yoni go... straight. The guy didnt get any of us, but now I was standing down an alley where I looked up and the building was right next to me. I seen Yoni and we ran to a safe distance. We were back, staring at this building. At once the windows exploded and the fresh oxygen fed the fire so fast, that flames immediately blazed out of the shop into the street. I seen this guy run up with a small plastic water can and throw it on the fire. It didn't make sense and NO WAY was it going to work. Yet, I too
looked immediately to the side and seen more water cans. As I grabbed one and ran to the fire, there was NO THOUGHT to it. My body decided what to do while my mind had the above thought it wouldnt work. I was with two guys staring straight into a fire and throwing probably 1L on a blazing fire. As I turned around I seen 5 people with water cans. When I refilled from the local water(an open metal drum), there were 10 people there. By the time I threw 4 water cans on, it was 20 people each time throwing 20L of water every 10 seconds. The crazy thing was - it worked. It was purely, power in numbers. I cannot explain how the action of this one man was so expotential. A shiver still runs down my spine. What was even crazier: India being India, powerlines about head height, and then I seen the next concern - a frayed electric wire was hanging so low to a puddle of water. Again, logic tells me that the wire(live or not) close to water is still SO F@*KING DANGEROUS!!! C'mon man, it's serious. No. They dont give a sh!t. Nah,
no way, I cant understand anything here. They just went INTO the shop. It was minutes ago ON FIRE! They were picking things up and getting intoxicated from the strong smoke in the air. I was 10 metres back and still was covering my mouth. They were IN the shop with NO protection. Sorry to say this but F@* me, nah, unbelievable. Everyone was standing around and an awning fell off and almost landed on a guys head. He looked at it calmly then focused back on staring at what people were doing in the shop. Meanwhile, people picked up the awning and jammed it back in place. You wonder why the first blog was points of facts and questions. Whoa, man it's too much sometimes always asking "why?". So the night ended with so much adrenaline running through my veins, that I barely blinked and was hard to get to sleep.
5th - 6th September (Pangong Lake)
Wait? Something happened the next day? Of course. It's "Incredible India". What do you expect? So, I'll TRY to keep this one shorter.
Anyway we rented out this 150CC motorbike(what was I thinking). First, we headed to
1 of the only 2 petrol stations nearby. The rental guy told us 1 full tank should be enough to get there and back. The petrol light was flashing but we luckily made it to the petrol station. I didn't get it, until cars flew by me that I needed the horn in almost every situation. All was well until we had to climb the hill. We were 2 people on a 150CC. Seriously, what was I thinking! Maybe the smoke had got to me! The hill was 5,360m(17,586FT) high! Yoni's daybag melted as he put it too close to the exhaust. Riding that motorbike... A nightmare. It got to the point where Yoni would jump off, walk to the top of the next corner, while I would be cursing at this bike to go faster than 5km/hr... and Yoni would always beat me to the corner. The motorbike sounded really sick - as if the carby was dirty/gone, or crap petrol. It wouldnt want to rev out in 1st gear, then all of a sudden it would. We reached an Army Base. They ripped this bike apart and eventually just threw the air filter out and screwed everything back
together. Ok, yes! Let's go! 10 minutes later we had already gotten so far up this bloody hill. After that, same story. 7km/hr zig zagging so the engine wouldnt stall riding up a hill. It worked a bit. Yoni still had to jump off 5 or 6 times. Every corner was never ending, but the feeling of seeing the top "YYEEEEWWWWW!!!". It was cold and snowing at the top. There was even free HOT tea at the top. The rest of the trip was just coasting down to the magical Lake high in the Himalayas. It was a bumpy ride, but no dramas. The lake was stunning. Every minute the water would change colour from clouds. I even seen a rainbow. We stayed at a homestay and ate in the familys' kitchen/bedroom/loungeroom. It's just one room but they use it for everything. We watched a Bollywood film "The Hero" then went to go to bed when the guy stopped us. As we had tried to bargain for the room but it was still "too expensive" for us. So we chose the backpacker option of the tent for 200 Rupees. Anyway, when the guy stopped us he ordered us to sleep
Dog with broken leg and two tails
Ein Hund mit gebrochen Bein und zwei Schwanzein the room, no extra charge. Thats how I'm experiencing India - out of nowhere they open their hearts. The next day, we checked out the lake again. Yoni, for some reason wanted to go for a quick swim in this freezing water. I didnt try to stop, neither did the police. But they were laughing and yelling out "Crazy man, crazy man". As we just started to leave the lake, the petrol light was now on the last bar. We still had a mountain to pass, and then 60km to the second petrol station in the town Karu. It started to rain, then the higher we went it was hailing. Plus the bike was going so slow, struggling to get up this hill. I cursed so loud and long, that I hoped the bike actually could hear and would keep going. Then, the bike stopped and was not going to move even with one person. We were nowhere near the top. Plan B: push. We got around two corners, and it was too tiring. Plus I was getting headspins probably from the altitude. Next idea: push, but have the engine on, and accelerate so the bike would go up
3km/hr. We got to a RELATIVELY flat incline. We jumped on, and bike crawled up at first 5, then 10, wait 20km/hr! YES! It's back! Zig zagging again at steep parts, it was starting to snow when we seen what looked like a roof! Then the roof was a house! YES YES YES! THE TOP! The petrol light had been flashing since the lake. We warmed up with some free tea, then headed off down the hill. I threw the bike in a high gear and just let it roll ALL THE WAY DOWN. We rolled 60km with this petrol light flashing to Karu. And we made it! We filled up a little, had lunch, then headed for Leh. Riding a bike in Leh was madness. We gave the bike back and walked off and relaxed for the rest of the day!
Other short stories are things like seeing women, young or old, snorting snot up to their throat and spitting it out. Such a nice sound, the golly.
I was in Manali and a parade of people were passing me holding something on their shoulders covered by a white net. The man next to me
that was sewing up my shoes and bag, stopped and started praying. He told me it was a dead body about to be burned and the ashes were going to be put in the river. It was a bit full on.
Anything to do with poo, it's happened to me. I've now overcome my fear of wiping a babys bum. Stood in crap(human or dog I don't know), with thongs on. The crap went on my feet, through my toes. Slipped over and my hand went in crap. Had crap on my pants and threw them out. Had an emergency at 5,200m and had to do an "Indian crap". In every single case - thank god I have always had a big packet of baby wipes and hygiene gel everywhere I went. Life saver.
When I trekked in Ladakh with Yoni, through the Stok Range and Markha Valley, I felt like Bear Gryllis. We found apricot trees to eat food, drank fresh spring water, and our only guide to a path was following donkey crap and footprints. We did 2 high passes(4,920m & 5,200m) in which were so exhausting but the achievement of getting to the top is
worth every second. Along the way we needed no camping gear, just our legs. We stayed at "Homestays", which is 500 Rupees per person(not negotiable), for a bed, dinner, breakfast, a packed lunch for your trek, and all the chai you can drink. I thought it was too good of a bargain. When you finish your dinner, they refill it! Or breakfast! Or chai! It was only until the 3rd day of our 4 day trek that I seen the other story. The cheerful old lady gave us Chapatti's for breakfast until we were full. Then as I grabbed one more, there was maybe 7 left. I cant remember what I asked but she said "yes, the rest are for me, husband, son, grandson, whole family!". From my point of view, I dont think they like the homestay thing that much. They are self reliant and grow everything on the farm, so I can't see why they want alot of cash. The whole thing puts their cooking and supplies off balance. You don't eat with them as the guidebook puts it, maybe because they're embarrassed to let people see how little they eat. Still unsure whether they enjoyed having to
care for trekkers, but it was very, very handy to have a place to stay in every village if we wanted it.
Another thing that has surprised me, is that I have seen more respect and care for a cow in Australia. Ok, we eat them, but while they're alive, they're treated better in Australia. And they're supposed to be holy here in India. I was asleep at the time but Yoni said a cow was running away and a guy threw a big sized rock and it hit the cow on the cheek. Same thing in Vashicht - a cow had gotten too far away from the owner and asked me to scare it back to her, as I was close. I looked like Nicole Kiddman in the movie "Australia" as she was trying to get her horse to move. The lady kept doing an action of whacking or kicking, but I didnt want to boot the crap out of a cow. I just pushed it a little and it got the idea. As the cow went in the direction of the owner, the lady had a thick stick and began striking this cow. THUD! THUD! THUD! Man
oh man. Or I see cows tied up from a 1 metre rope. An Indian traveller tried to tell me they don't do that, but the eye doesn't bullsh!t. I am yet to see Indians stop their car and wait for a cow, or a cow near a person and they touch it as if they cherish it - as I've heard from stories. It could be a north India thing.
I seen a guy get hit by a van. He was lucky. As the van hit him he kinda bounced and took a step, then was hit again as the van was stopping. If he didnt get that step in, he was easily going under. He was walking on the side of the road just like everyone else. The weirdest thing was, he yelled at the driver, then the driver drove a couple of metres, stopped. The driver said something, then the guy jumped in and they drove off!
Don't hitch hike in India. I've done it 4 times now, 2 times were fine, but the other 2 were bad experiences. Especially after last time, that was my last. I was heading back down from Khir Ganga(heaven),
and 4 Indians were walking back with me. They offered me a lift back to town as the last bus had gone, and it was a 4hr walk. One guy was so drunk that he joined me on the back of the Ute type of truck. The driver had no common sense at all. It was raining and the dirt road was so muddy. Still, he sped so fast down the windy road with no barriers. No matter how loud I screamed and cursed for him to slow down he wouldn't. Kicking the truck - nothing. I positioned at every corner to jump off in case the Ute went off the cliff. He was so stupidly fast that at 3 corners he locked the brakes up and it went sideways close to the edge. He talked on the phone, then started drinking the rest of the Whiskey bottle(half full) the other guy was drinking earlier. In 10 minutes the bottle was empty. He never even slowed down for oncoming cars. I yelled and cursed at him the whole way down for him to stop. Nothing. I just had to hang on. The first corner at the town I jumped off
as he slowed down for the corner. They didnt even notice me gone. Far out, worst decision ever.
Or on the LONG bus ride from Leh to Manali it wasn't rare to see people throwing up out of the bus window. Or people that joined the ride halfway to steal your seat, as we stopped for lunch or a pee break. It was easy for me, just sit down like noone was there. If my bum near their face didnt scare them, then my weight did and they jumped up. But Yoni - well the locals seen him as weak or having too much sympathy. From Keylong to Manali, in the morning, an old guy was in his seat. He thought about it twice and said he'll stand(for 10hrs?). I told him to just sit down, the guy will find a place to sit down. Then the Indian traveller we met tried to tell him to sit down, then told the guy to stand up. Meanwhile the two Indians next to me were holding their nose and laughing AT him. After 3 people were telling this guy to stand up, he stood up, then found a place to sit
elsewhere. Yoni sat down. But at the lunch break there was another problem with the seats. A guy was in mine. I squeezed in between 2 guys and sat down. The guy still tried to claim a tiny corner of the seat but I just pushed him off with my bum. An old lady was in Yoni's seat plus another guy. A hippy Sweden guy came back and got the guy to get up out of his seat and the old lady remained there. Yoni came in and didnt want to tell her to move. After the hippy guy, me, the Inidan traveller, and other people on the bus all told him to sit down, or the old lady to stand up - the 2 Indians next to me couldn't take it annymore. They bursted out with laughter. I did too, then the whole bus was laughing. All of a sudden, the hippy guy started to defend the old lady saying "c'mon she's old" "it's not that much further" or "she's sick, look at how she's acting". Yoni had made his decision to stand. Again the 2 Indian guys next to me were laughing saying that "yah she's a good
actor". About an hour later the woman started throwing up out of the bus window. And I thought I was starting to know India.
When I go to bed, first I lock the door, then I use the toilet and then lock that door. Check the windows and lock them. Cover the pillow with any shirt, jump in the sleeping bag inner. Then jump into bed and cover my head with the sleeping bag inner. Finally I pull the blankets up! Same procedure for the locks, if you leave. Lock everything. If you have a bike lock or chain, lock your bag to your bed. It's just the way it is here!
In a certain hippy town you could buy anything over the counter at the Chemist, or should I say drug store. He asked if I wanted Ketamine(what is that?), later finding out it's like Horse tranquilisers. I met some Pom's who asked him what else could he get. He replied Opium! It's not only that, there's practically no limit on the quantity. Is 500 pills a good idea on how many you can buy!
As I probably wrote before - there are too many stories
on a daily basis for me to remember! But the good news is that I too bought some drugs from the drug store. Hardcore anti-biotics! And my belly is no longer unstable like jelly! I'm feeling better again :-) Plus! I already know what my Christmas present is! Anna will be visiting me in Australia for Christmas and New Year's!!! I've never been so excited to get home, have a few beers, eat a meat pie with tomato sauce, catch up with family & friends, see my girlfriend again. It feels like paradise!
...Wait I just stepped in crap again. Back to reality.
Jason :-P
DEUTSCH
Als ich dieses Tagebuch angefangt habe, ich war im Bett krank. Ich hatte ein Kotzeimer neben meinem Bett und ein Klo in der Naeh und das war etwas Positiv. Aber krank in Indien ist nicht was du moechtest! Niemals! Was meine ich von "krank"? Durchfall und kotzen auf einmal. Und spontan.
Der Abend war kotzen brutal, und aufs Klo wie der Neu Seelander "Hakka". Brutal.
Es gibt so viele Israeler leute dass der Inder ein bisschen Hebrewisch/Judisch sprechen kann und
der Inder immer sagt "Hallo, Sie kommen aus Israel oder?" Arrgghh wo ist mein Australisch ausspraeche! Es muess die Charas sein dass der Inder raucht. Diesen ganzen Platz ist ein "Hippydorf". Nah dann, hier ist einen Tag ich nie vergessen kann:
4. September
Ich und ein Reisefreund "Yoni" sind erst von Nubra Tal zurueckgekommen. Wir haben ein billiges Gaesthaus(schlafen ja. Nicht trinken!) gefunden und dann Maltzeit am Mittag gemacht. Yoni hatte sein Freund getroffen und wir haben fuer ein Motorrad gesucht. Wir haben schon entscheidet aber sein Freund hatte nocht nicht entscheidet. Am Abend es war kalt und wir sind zum Gaesthaus fuer unsere Pullovers gegangen. Wir haben unsere Gasse nicht gefunden weil da kein Sturm wie Normal war. Wir haben eine Gasse gefunden und etwas kommisch gesehen. Wascheinlich 6 alten, duennen Inder ziehen ein 2-3m Baum mit einer Seil auf die Gasse. Die hatten zwei duenner Aest unten. Wir haben die Inder geholfen. Jedes mal die Aest unten sind ausgeruecht, die Inder hatten auf jedem Falls "Scheiss egal" gedacht. Die haben immer das Baum zu aufheben mit ihren Haende probiert. Ihre ruecken wuerden schon kaputt! Scheiss egal ob ihren Ruecken gebrochen ist, aufheben! Das Baum
war auch sehr knapp von ein Motorrad. Sehr knapp! Es war nur glueck! Es hatte 30 Minuten gedauert aber endlich war das scheiss Baum oben. Beim Ende die Inder war sehr gluecklich. Lachen mit 3 Zaehne und uns bedaenken. Wir haben ENDLICH unseres Gaesthaus gefunden. Peck dass das Tor geschlossen war. Ich bin auf einem Baum geklettert und den Mauer uebergesprungen. Ich habe das Tor angeschaut. Was der Teufel?!? Kein Schloss! Ich habe erst das Tor mit kraft geziehen und es ist geoeffnet! Oh mei... Im ernst! Wir waren beim Tor fuer 5 Minuten und nur Kraft gebraucht? Wir sind zurueckgegangen aber Yoni's Freund nicht gefunden und erst zur Stadt spazieren. Wir haben viele leute in einem Platz. Es war sehr kommisch. Nah, sau kommisch. Natuerlich haben wir da geschaut. Ich habe leute gefragt aber kein Antwort. Die leute schaut in einer Panik. Wir haben 5 Autos von einer Gasse zurueckfahren gehoert und gesehen. Dann auf einmal ich habe es gesehen. Leute sind voll Gas durch die Gasse gelaufen. Da war ein Shop. Dicke schwarze rauchen ist aus von das Shop gelommen. Kein Feuer nur rauchen. Dann einen Mann ist gekommen schreien "BLAAARRGGHHH!!! BLAARRRGGGHH!!!". Er drueckt 5 leute auf einmal
weg von dem Shop. Dann er ist nach uns gelaufen. Ich und Yoni sind zurueckgegangen und ich sagte "Links!". Ich bin links durch eine Gasse gelaufen und Yoni ist... Gerade gelaufen. Wir hatten Glueck und ich habe Yoni nochmal gesehen. Wir waren schon wieder vor dieses Shop starren. Auf einmal die Fenster sind explodiert und Luft hatte die Feuer aus den Fenster geblasen. I seen this guy run up with a small plastic water can and throw it on the fire. It didn't make sense and NO WAY was it going to work. Yet, I too looked immediately to the side and seen more water cans. As I grabbed one and ran to the fire, there was NO THOUGHT to it. My body decided what to do while my mind had the above thought it wouldnt work. I was with two guys staring straight into a fire and throwing probably 1L on a blazing fire. As I turned around I seen 5 people with water cans. When I refilled from the local water(an open metal drum), there were 10 people there. By the time I threw 4 water cans on, it was 20 people each time throwing 20L of water
every 10 seconds. The crazy thing was - it worked. It was purely, power in numbers. I cannot explain how the action of this one man was so expotential. A shiver still runs down my spine. What was even crazier: India being India, powerlines about head height, and then I seen the next concern - a frayed electric wire was hanging so low to a puddle of water. Again, logic tells me that the wire(live or not) close to water is still SO F@*KING DANGEROUS!!! C'mon man, it's serious. No. They dont give a sh!t. Nah, no way, I cant understand anything here. They just went INTO the shop. It was minutes ago ON FIRE! They were picking things up and getting intoxicated from the strong smoke in the air. I was 10 metres back and still was covering my mouth. They were IN the shop with NO protection. Sorry to say this but F@* me, nah, unbelievable. Everyone was standing around and an awning fell off and almost landed on a guys head. He looked at it calmly then focused back on staring at what people were doing in the shop. Meanwhile, people picked up the awning and jammed
it back in place. You wonder why the first blog was points of facts and questions. Whoa, man it's too much sometimes always asking "why?". So the night ended with so much adrenaline running through my veins, that I barely blinked and was hard to get to sleep.
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Great Information
Hi, Thanks for the information. Do post some kullu manali pics. Its a great place.