Baan Thai Cookery School - Chiang Mai

Being so much fascinated by the Thai kitchen what else could be better thank staffing your belly with all sorts of culinary delights - as a matter of fact in Chiang Mai at the Songkran - on a street food festival: to learn preparing the dishes yourself. So I went out to look for a cooking school, which is plenty around here offering from day courses to 2 weeks long programs - and proving the deliciousness and healthiness of the Thai kitchen, they are very popular.

I choose Baan Thai, which means Thai home, as the school is located in a traditional Thai home with its old furniture and atmosphere. We started with a visit to the local market to purchase the ingredients for the 5 dished we were supposed to prepare during the day. The abundance of fruits, herbs and vegetables never seen before made me and my camera tick, so hopefully I can share a lot of pictures and try remembering also some of the names - as my parents are constantly questioning us about our diet; now here comes a full introduction.

We started with a Thai welcome snack, which was a fruit plate: honey mango, melon, rosy apples and lychee. Than we continued with preparing a Phad Thai, which is THE Thai fast food: rice noodles with chicken, egg, tofu, garlic, spring onion, bean sprouts and as most Thai dishes fish sauce, oyster sauce, cane sugar, lime and nuts. Do not get scared, I am not going to write down all the recipes, just wanted to give an idea about the basic differences to Hungarian Gulyas.

The feast continued with Tom Yum Soup - Hot and Sour Soup, Crispy Catfish Salad, Green Curry with Chicken and Rice and finally Water Chestnuts in Coconut Milk. Yes, we prepared this all for ourselves and we all ate them (Tomek got a belly squeeze from not being given a spoonful). And we had to prepare the green curry in a huge basalt mortar - even if at the end our chef admitted, that now knowing the usage of the mortar we can use a blender... But the most important spice we learned today was the smile, which has to be constantly on your lips, because Thais believe this gives the extra taste to the food.

Ayuthaya

Being stuck in Bangkok because of visa processing to Vietnam we decided to take a day trip to (one of) the formal capitals: Ayuthaya. It is 86 km North from Bangkok and I know it is boring, but it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was the Siamese royal capital from the 14th till the 18th century, when Burmese took it over and almost completely destroyed it. Today not too much is left to be proud of other than the ruins, as a silhouette reminding the once illustrious city. Three rivers meet here and most of the ancient ruins by canals, making it a really idyllic option to discover the sights on boat ride or bicycle.

We have chosen the later option, as usual pushing the pedal when the Sun was at its peak, so we had to take it really slowly with a lot of breaks and trying to drink at least a portion of the liquids we have lost by perspiration. Amazingly sometimes only by sitting sweat run all over us just like when sitting in a Finish sauna.

I am not even trying to list all the temple ruins there are to visit and the ones we saw, hopefully our photos in the Gallery will talk for themselves. But the elephants! I have to mention them after we fell in love with these creatures in Nepal; there is a so called Elephant Kraal, which used to be the spot for the annual wild elephant show, now functioning much in a similar fashion except that it is mostly for the tourists, not for the royal family. Luckily these species seem to have have a better treat than their sisters in Chitwan, having a huge area for their walkabout and a number of babies similarly charming and playful as we already experienced. They are beautifully decorated with paintings already preparing for the biggest Thai festival, the Songkran, starting on the 12th turning the whole country upside-down till the 15th of April. Probably we should better equip ourselves also than at Holi Festival in Nepal...

Koh Tao - Turtle Island

Yess, we are certified PADI Open Water Divers!!! It took us 4 days, a lot of very fascinating theory lessons and 4 open water dives. After we managed to relax and forget all the possible accidents and became comfortable with breathing only through our (otherwise your nose runs full of salty water or your mask sucks in your face like a vacuum cleaner) it is soo great fun! We saw all kinds of tropical fish and different corals, sometimes eyeing with a big buffer fish with one broken tooth in the front or swimming in the middle of a cloud of fish. It is so funny that they come close to look into your eyes or just swim next to you as if you were one of them. But the most fascinating thing about diving - at least for me - is the neutral buoyancy; it negates gravity and you are weightless like in a vacuum or space. You can turn up-side down, flip or "fly" over a coral, stay still and enjoy the view from above. You can see and touch the air in water as it bubbles up in huge umbrella shape shiny balloons when divers exhale. Unfortunately we did not see whale sharks nor turtles, but at least we have an incentive to continue making more bubbles. One of our next course may be underwater photography, but until then you have to accept pictures from public galleries...


We decided to cut our seaside vacation for the time being and return to Bangkok to head further North in Thailand. Though the fascinating electric storms, the turtles, the lagoons, the blue eyed cats and funny dogs all around and our Eden-like bungalow home secluded in the jungle will make us miss this place.

Koh Tao

A peaceful island - without hoards of tourists - this is how we have chosen it among scores of other islands we were looking at. Secondly a paradise for diving. Not that we had a clue how to dive but we came with the idea of learning how to do it. So we enrolled ourselves for a PADI Open Water Diver Course - after it we should be certified to dive wherever...assuming we pass all the examinations. Today was our second day and both of us feel a bit exhausted. All the magic we are doing under water does not come without a price. The first day was hard on me - today was hard on Rita. On the first day we boarded a boat - went to the sea - put on 18kg of gear on us and we told to jump of the boat. I felt like committing suicide and right about to drawn with all this things on my back - fortunately I floated. The second day we spent over two hours under water practicing all kind of emergency things like running out of air, losing your mask etc. This time Rita had hard time - somehow she could not make her nose not want to take in water :) - she recovered but I was totally exhausted by the end of the lesson.

As to the island - it is much more developed than we expected and can host much more people than anticipated (though no package tours seem to come here). Although at beginning it looked bad and seemed we will be frying on the beach with zillions of people we managed to find partly secluded lagoon on the southern end of the island. In principle we sometimes feel that we are almost the only ones there. Honestly, it is heavenly. For Rita it was even better than that in the hammock on the veranda of our lovely house. Today however, the hammock gave up after both of us boarded it. Rita is very much in despair and the owners of our resort seem not to have a new one for us - so I guess we will be buying a portable hammock for our own sake.


Of course, traditionally Rita has met some friends in our bathroom - this time it is a HUGE gecko - at least 30 cm long. The sound they make is amazing. GECKO - GECKO seems to be echoing everywhere but usually in the evening time. In the evenings we usually move to another lagoon which is about 10 minutes walk with a torch through the water of the lagoon. All perfect - just the idea of letting my breathing device out of my mouth tomorrow at some 10 meters below does not make me look forward to the next day :)

Krung Thep Maha Nakhon

Alternatively Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, shortly City of Angels or for westerners Bangkok is our first destination in Thailand. Arriving to the Suvarnabhumi International airport in Bangkok feels as if the time machine fast forwarded and spat us out a couple of centuries in the future. We already felt pink having the opportunity to fly the Royal Thai Airlines hoping for special treatment and the corporation did deliver on our expectations. We felt double twisted partially not having been pampered with the luxuries of the "Western" world in the last three months, on the other hand being very badly mistaken for thinking there is nothing which would outgrow the development, as we know in our Western world.

Though Bangkok is probably too big to label it hyper-modern, having various very different districts, marvelously merging the traditional Asian element with the ultra modern. There is Chinatown with its' buzzing markets selling food we had not even the possibility to guess if they were animals or vegetables, the touristy Banglamphu, where we also ended up for accommodation purposes, or the futuristic Siam Square with its shopping malls and air conditioned sky train. This is our fourth day here and we still have not quite got a grip; as usual, in the first few days we stick out like an exclamation mark for tourist rip-off, than in addition we stumble about the eating having mostly no English menus or English speaking staff and the food does not look like anything else we saw before - though whatever we taste is heavenly. Thirdly, the city is like an open air sauna with over 35 Celsius degrees and so humid that if you are not wet due to constant perspiration then you are because of the moist from the air. Hence we decided to apply some immediate changes: we halved our backpacks and bought a couple cloths on the weekend market matching the climate, which was a hilarious experience with its endless variety of product offered on an incomprehensible size of territory. We stopped eating at restaurants with four times higher prices than the street stands, which are delicious, safe and you just point at the other customer's plate if you like it to be safe with your order. And to scare out the scams from irresistibly smiling and polite locals Tomek instructed me to behave just as unfriendly as I am when I am not especially nice. :))) (First I got offended, but eventually the trick works...)

We paid our visit to Ko Ratanakosin, the ancient royal district with its splendid temples and Royal Palace - which we had to leave due to the royal family's coming-and-going under serious security arrangements and scrolled through the amulet market selling zillions of different artistic realization of Buddha and quite impressing variety of lingams. Yesterday evening we ended up in one of Bangkok's largest shopping malls, the MBK for all the services our rustic honeymoon did not allow us to enjoy until recently; just to name one we spoiled ourselves with a one our Thai foot massage. We crossed the river to visit the Wat Arun with one of the numerous ferry services criss-crossing the water and functioning as one of the most effective transportation means in the otherwise busy, but very decently organized traffic.

After four days out of the "forest" we feel the call of moving on; tomorrow we take a night train to the South to the island of Ko Tao, famous of its clear waters and being relatively off the beaten track.

Kathmandu Valley

We decided to spend our last few days of Nepal in Kathmandu, while waiting for our Thai visa and shredding tears over our failed visit to Tibet. We rented a scooter hoping to have a smoother way around with a small vehicle, which served us right. Driving in Kathmandu in general is as crazy as it gets; a lot of honking, jams, taking over from left and right, but once you acquired the unwritten rules of the game it is not as stressful as it looks. And asking for the direction does not require the hassle to get off the bike; there is always another rider 10 cm away on your left and on your right, in your back and front :)

Our first destination was the famous Kathmandu landmark: Bodhnath, the largest Buddhist stupa. It feels like little Tibet, full of monks in red and orange robes and surprisingly few tourists walking around turning the praying wheels. The stupa is surrounded by a lovely round square (if that makes sense in any other language than English...) with a relaxed but cheerful ambient - kids feeding pigeons, elderly Tibetan ladies chatting and laughing aloud, small shops selling beautiful handicraft and random tinkling of the bells after each donation.

On our way back we stopped by at Pashupatinath, Nepal's most important Hindu temple complex which stands on the banks of the holy Bagmati river. Unfortunately most of the temples are for "Hindu only", but for cashing a handsome 250 NRS fee you can enter the site and enjoy the splendid view of the various temples, cremation ghats (where members of the Royal family were cremated after the massacre in 2001), monkeys and locals dressed as Hindu gods for being photographed. It felt a little bit like being in India again, though the Newari architecture has unmistakeably found its way beautifully melting with the Indian Hindi temple style. On our way out our curiosity led us to an elders home located in an ancient temple building complex, which was such a shocking view that we could not escape for some time. The rectangular building was occupied by very badly fed elders, sleeping all over in little chambers, cooking tea on the stairs or entertaining themselves with singing religious songs. Though it seemed we were the ones most oppressed by the experience, the tenants were cheerfully welcoming us with the usual "Namaste!"- which I find the nicest greeting, meaning "I greet the God in you".

Our third and arguably the most impressive destination in the Valley was Patan, the City of Beauty what its Sanskrit name, Lalitpur means, very well deserved. Legend says the city was established by the great Buddhist emperor, Asoka in 250 BC, but the majority of temples and buildings are the heritage of the 16th century Mallas rule. We think its beauty competes of Kathmandu's with its over a 1200!!! temples and shrines scattered all over the city, with its artistic vein famous of its craftsmanship and trade of handicraft. The Durbar square is a massive concentration of the most impressive temples - unfortunately again mostly for "Hindus only". It captivated us so much that we decided to return to visit the Patan Museum the next day to find our way in the complex, interlinked symbolism of Hinduism and Buddhism, which live so peacefully together in Nepal that you can hardly tell the difference.

Tomorrow, after a month in Nepal we fly to Bangkok. We wish the best for the coming elections which hopefully brings some stability to Nepal. It is a country with tremendous attractions for much more visitors than at the moment dare to take the risk to come here. And the risks are really not so severe if you have enough humor for things like the daily scheduled blackouts - more punctual than you can imagine - Swiss watches cannot keep up with the precision.

Tansen

On the of 21st of March we took a deep breath and instead of making our return to Pokhara the same way we came, we decided to make a round trip with a stop-over in Tansen. All together we ended up making a more than 400 km trip in 6 days returning to our "home" by the 22nd.
We had a 6 hours ride in front of us with a wonderful serpentine along a gorge with an azure river climbing the mountain for the last 2 hours. We were warned that strange things can happen on the way having the festival of colors, one of the biggest Hindu holidays, called Holi, in Nepalese Fagu. We were a bit at a loss how to celebrate Easter this year, but our Nepalese friends made it sure that we did not have to suffer from lack of entertainment; traditionally Holi stands for celebrating colors and water. The former represents emotions, the latter welcomes the coming Monsoon and in practice colored water in smaller or bigger balloons is thrown on each other. Luckily we looked exotic enough to be let free by kids hijacking the highway by banners and stones at the village borders, but we had to give in on the mountain road. On the last 2 hours of our ride small settlements followed each other with raging youngsters collecting money and masking you in all colors, women singing and dancing - not less demanding, though without the coloring part. It took us some time before we understood why did I get a big punch on my back driving through one of the female cordons and next time we got through with 20 NRS and a handful of red powder in my face and a big smile from the guys. We agreed to take our Holi experiences as a substitute for Wet Monday...

By the time we arrived to Tansen the city was in full speed celebrating and Tomek also got some purple in his face, so we looked equally embraced by the local folklore, receiving welcoming comments from the receptionist when finally we found a place where we could wash ourselves. Clean and happy after stuffing our bellies we made ourselves lost in the steep narrow streets of Tansen to discover an absolutely non-touristic, medieval-like town and its' Newari architecture. To be fair, the place has a great charm and potential, but what comes to its historical heritage there is a lot to improve - especially in order to establish it as an attraction for visitors, as it ought to be.

On the 22nd after a morning walk and a good breakfast we took off to our last day ride, a gorgeous route to ride a bike; it is a good 5 hours trip if you are not in a rush through mountains with lovely small villages with amethyst color rivers, with awesome smelling evergreen forests, terraced valleys all through the way. We were soooo happy - no traffic and cordons whatsoever - that we decided to continue discovering countries on the bike; you get a great deal more out of a place sticking your nose out of the bus or car.

Royal Chitwan Park

After gaining some speed and confidence riding the bikes without any major problem to Bhandipur, we decided to further endeavour to the Terai region in the South, to Royal Chitwan National Park. We got almost at ease with the traffic and road conditions: you ought to blow the horn if overtaking someone, because they do not hear you nor look into the mirror; buffaloes, cows, suicidal chicken and dogs have rights over all other vehicles, though if you beep to them they mostly follow the left hand rule - yeah, I forgot to mention that there is left hand rule in Nepal. You can imagine a couple of funny traffic situations when Rita insisted driving on the right lane despite of a bus coming ... The scenery was marvellous, though we had to concentrate hard on the in the road or not rarely fight our way through rocks where all of a sudden without notice the road ended - then a couple of meters later it continued due to land slides or stone avalanches. Anyway, after 4-5 hours of riding we ended up on dirt roads taking over elephants and we understood that we must have arrived to Sauraha, a small village next to the park, where we planned to accommodate ourselves for a couple of days.

We found the best accommodation we ever had during our trip with very helpful and friendly hosts and after a cool shower and some food we sat back on the bikes to ride to the Elephant Breeding Center to watch baby elephants. Soon we became the main attraction, when Tomek decided one cookie is enough for the not that small baby elephant and the baby started chasing him all around the yard, Tomek running in the front of the elephant which was attempting to catch the bag of cookies with its' trunk. When understanding that all the tourists are laughing at him and the cookies will not be his, the baby got so offended that later did not want to accept the cookies even from Rita...

Nevertheless we got so much into the elephant idea that next morning we decided to participate the elephant bathing at the river, where the village elephants go for a bath every day following their morning work. This would be already enough of an attraction, but the real fun starts when you join them and they play with you. I do not think I am able to describe better than the photos the fun of sitting on the back of an elephant who is giving you a shower with its' trunk full of water and than goes down on all four knees and puts you under water. To finish with they let you wash them (with a piece of rock), being petted, lying on their sides, completely exposed and enjoying. Not much different from what the tourists are going through - becoming children for a few hours forgetting all about themselves.

Quite exhausted after 2 hours we headed to our jeep safari to the jungle, where we saw crocodiles, rhinoceroses - one of them started chasing our jeep with a not too friendly intention, a python, all kinds of birds and termite homes, a captured baby tiger who became a human flesh gourmet together with her mom and two siblings killing a dozen of villagers before being hunted down. Next morning we enrolled for a 2 hours elephant ride in the jungle, which was quite an experience; if you expect a joyride, forget it. It is shaky, you have to cling hard to the small box 4 of us were seated in not to fall and constantly watch for branches hitting your head, as surprise surprise you travel as high as the top of the smaller trees. We were disappointed how the elephants were treated by the drivers who, often were pinching their skin so hard that it was bleeding, but we learned also amusing things, like that they understand 40 to 5o Hindi words, how silently they walk, that they go through basically anything from thick forest to rivers and their fellows in the forest do not run away despite of us sitting on the top. We witnessed a rhino cooling in a mud pond right next to us not moving even the ear when we passed by.

To make our stay more exciting Rita's bike broke down a couple of times leaving us in-between two villages on a dirt road, but after being able to maneuver through some 30 cows on the road we acquired a liking of the feeling that if anything can happen everything will do eventually happen. :)))

P.S.: Did you know that lizards in Nepal speak to each other? That they give a sound similar to a bird singing and can walk up-side-down on the ceiling?

Bandipur

After our arrival back from the mountains to Pokhara we decided to chill out a bit and acquire new skills. We were contemplating long whether one of us should acquire them and teach the other or both of us should go for the training. In the end we both went to the school for intensive one day training. It was a great experience and a great school run by a British Dutch couple who set their own business in Nepal after quitting their successful corporate careers.

They have given us courage to build on our new knowledge. We rented two motorbikes a day later not without hesitation and drove around Pokhara. The following day we embarked on an 80km ride passing several levels of induction to riding a motorbike. First we went to the post office in the center getting acquainted with the hectic Nepalese traffic (a' la Indian big cities), then moved on to the highway in the mountains. We practiced our skills by trying to avoid the cows, buffaloes, dogs, goats and chicken beside watching out for the usual participants of the traffic (starting with horse carriages ending with lorries). At the end of the highway we encountered a 10km serpentine ascending to Bandipur which lies 1000m above the seal level. All in all we made it and we were rewarded by a very nice evening in a very romantic town that seems to have been left undisturbed by last couple of centuries.

Bandipur is a living museum of Newari culture. It was a former stop-over for the traders between Tibet and India. Nowadays it lost its significance due to new routes. The town is car free and no new buildings are being constructed except for renovation of old ones. The rain has not stopped us from exploring the little paths in the town and admiring breathtaking views of the lowlands surrounding Bandipur. In the late evening we had a very nice traditional Nepalese candle light dinner - dal bhat - matching the medieval atmosphere there was not a single power generator in town. The silence was making us deaf, the darkness uneasy. Since all the guesthouses and hotels were booked out we ended up staying the night at a traditional house which was not designed for people over 150cm tall. I guess our ancestors a couple of hundreds years ago were a bit shorter than today. Besides the candles, our room was decorated with Nepalese royal family photos.

Next morning following a bunch of nicely dressed girls in uniforms we discovered the local Notre Dam School set up by Japanese nuns. It turned out to be the best kept building in town with over 630 students from the age of 5 up to 18 with an outstanding international teacher collective.

Our next destination is a 3 hour ride to Royal Chitwan National Park.

Annapurna Sanctuary Trek

It took us 6 days to climb to the Annapurna Base Camp. Our starting point was a bit below 1000m above sea level - our final destination was at 4130 meters; high enough to make me feel what AMS is.

We decided about the route and overnight stops quite much depending on our physical and mental condition, which is needless to say was not always in perfect synchrony and shape ... Our first day was quite short due to the fact that we wanted a smooth start from Pokhara - both of us recovering from some sort of sickness - but it was straight four hours of uphill climb - right to Dhampus were we spent the first night. We learned fast a couple of principles about the mountain: the earlier you weak up, the better chances you have to see the 8000 m peaks and finish your daily "penitence" around 3 pm, by when usually the rain, but at least threatening clouds covered everything. While walking (with 14 kg on your back) you are sweating like a dog, but as soon you stop you start freezing and with very few exceptions there is no heating nor hot water at most of the lodges. There is no safe drinking water, so the boiled and filtered water you buy at the lodges will change its' color to urine's, thanks to the iodine. And finally, every step you take towards the heart of the mountain, the further away you get from civilization: more specifically, you cannot change your mind halfway, when you had enough. The way to get out is the same as to get in. There is no other transportation means than your own feet, in more critical situations you might end up in a big basket on the back of a Sherpa, who carry unbelievable weights, like a sick women we saw one day.

Lodges are quite an interesting concept - they are all very similar in the way they are organized - all have almost the same menu (due to the fact that the lodges and the prices they charge are controlled by some central organization - so every menu has a funny stamp on the front page). The only heating is a kerosene burner under the table of the dining room during the evenings for extra charge. The higher we got the closer the temperature fall to zero - and the higher the prices became - no wonder as somebody had to carry all the stuff on his back.

The second day from Dhampus to Tolka was mostly spent in the clouds; though we were walking in a rhododendron forest just blossoming with wonderful huge red flowers, we hardly saw more than 2 m around us. We decided to call it a day around 3 pm and enjoyed the hospitality of the village medical man and his family at a gorgeous lodge with hot water in bucket. Believe or not we were as happy as kids in the swimming pool, with this solution. In the evening we joined the most weird celebration; it was the day of Shiva, a day off at school and a national bank holiday, which peaked in bonfires all over the mountain-side, singing, beating drums, dancing and smoking pot - because Shiva is the God of marijuana for Hindus. So as the only non locals we found ourselves in the middle of a circle of women, dancing, chewing sugar cane burned in the fire and tried to grasp what is going on. It seriously felt like a medieval witch Saturday, until men arrived and we decided to sneak back home in the pitch dark with our head torch (whoever invented that piece may be blessed!)

With a fresh 7 am departure we took off the next day to Jinhu, where we hoped to sink in the hot springs. We arrived at 4 pm with a 1 hour egg veg. noodle soup and cheese lunch break (as all the days) by when it started raining and we had to run against time before it would get dark. Nevertheless we decided to walk the extra 45 minutes to the river, where three steaming tiny pools were waiting for us, only us, as we were the only and last ones who would walk 1,5 hours in rain for sitting in hot water while cold water is poring from above. It was worth, no matter what, all our pain was gone and we saved ourselves from a cold shower, too....

From Jinhu we made it to Bamboo the next day, maybe the most stretchy walk, finishing at almost 6 pm. We were again running from the possibility to say farewell to the daylight before getting out from the forest, which was more of a jungle with languors and all kinds of beast as we learned later (e.g. Himalayan black bear, leopard, brown bear, wild elephant, etc.) The last stretch to Bamboo was almost a test for our marriage - here the psychic and physical conditions were equally under test - but we luckily made it just before dark, soaking wet from the rain to the Buddha Guest House in Bamboo, where we had hot shower and excellent food.

On our 5th day we targeted Deurali on 3100 m, the last settlement before the base camps. Here we left the jungle behind and entered the land of snow, crossed avalanches and rivers on shaky bridges, started to feel that the air is getting thin, but from our lodge we saw the clouds from above, the peaks covered with snow behind us and more stars on the clear black sky at night than possible.

For the 6th day we had the two base camps to climb with more than 1000 m elevation from Deurali: the Machhapuchhare Base Camp on 3700 m, and finally the Annapurna Base Camp on 4130 m. Here we had to take alternative routs due to avalanches, should have done the walk before noon, when the snow melts and new avalanches are possible, but we did not. Rita got it in her head, that there is no oxygen and she cannot breath, which slowed us down having the question at 12.30 pm at M.B.C whether we risk to make the last bit to A.B.C in the melted snow or not. Well we did, though it was the second test of our marriage, and it took us double the time (3 hours walking in snow till your knees, your boots in icy water in the bottom) as it normally takes, but the reward was breathtaking - hahaha... Let the photos talk for themselves, I anyway knocked myself out with light symptoms of AMS after a great chess match with Rita. Luckily we did not have to descend in the middle of the night and the following morning we could enjoy the views of the glacier, the 6000 m plus peaks surrounding us in 360 degrees and the small sanctuary. It felt like in an ancient Greek theatre. We were glad not to have set the target to climb the remaining 4000 m, not at this time at least... It took us another 3 days to climb down with night stops at Dovan and Chhomrong, with a record double speed compared to the way up and when we reached 2000m mark the summer has finally arrived. However happy we were to leave the peaks alone, arriving to Naya Pul at 6 pm on the 9th day where we found a Toyota Corolla from '73 to bring us back to Pokhara, getting back down made us feel uneasy. All the hassle of busy streets, people everywhere made us want to go back "to our mountains" - only the hot shower, warm hotel room made us feel that for now we definitely want to stay in the lowlands.

All in all - it was an amazingly changing environment - you never knew what will happen in the next hours - like for instance a sudden haze making us soaking wet from tip to toe - but after a good 6 to 8 hours trekking you always loved your food - no matter what it was. By the end of most of our days we looked just like the poor beast on the picture that was carrying our luggage :) Of course this is a joke - in reality we were one of the few that made the trek without using porters or guides, but it just added to the similarities between the buff and us.

Pokhara

We decided to leave something to discover in Kathmandu for the next time and took a 7 hours bus ride to Pokhara, the second biggest city in Nepal. We stay in tourist quarters with lots of cozy restaurants all by the lake. We found a very nice hotel where we have spent already a couple of days preparing for our trek - having some bicycle rides around the city, trekking to World Peace Pagoda and recovering from Tomek's third ?! food poisoning. Visiting a private hospital is a scary experience here - I cannot even think what the public must be like. We managed though to find a doctor trained in Lvov in Ukraine so Tomek entertained himself in a mix of Russian, Ukrainian and Polish (he loved Polish TV shown in Lvov).

We both agree that the hotel we found is the nicest so far during our trip - quiet, clean and cozy with 24 hours hot water (it is much colder up here so it is quite important factor). Electricity though is very scarce - we are having here more blackouts than both of us have ever seen in our entire lives...I think it cannot get much worse than this for a local population. Hopefully, the new agreement reached here between the quarreling parties and the government will improve the situation soon.

Today after arriving at 5.30am at the gate of a closed airport and waiting, then already at the airport until 10.30am for our flight to Jomson, to depart we learned that since three days not a single flight to that destination due to weather conditions has taken off. So we have new plans. We canceled the tickets and decided to start tomorrow with a 10-14 days Annapurna Sanctuary Trek to the Annapurna Base Camp. It might therefore take some time before we are back online. We leave you time to digest our pictures more thoroughly :)

Kathmandu

Walking the streets of Kathmandu after our adventurous arrival felt like heaven: fresh bakery products, real coffee, ATMs on all corners, hemp, not to mention the zillion beautiful small shops offering local products and tibi csoki!!!! You can immense yourself endlessly in the crowd, just scrolling the streets, discovering the overwhelming beauties of the city, shopping, enjoying the various culinary delights from basically all around the World. Though we are experimenting all kinds of local goodies wherever we travel, we always forget to mention them, so here the must try is the daal bhaat tarkari (lentil soup, rice, with curried vegetables and spinach) and the Tibetan kitchen with its' momo, noodle soup and tea (with butter and salt).

We nested in a hotel in Thamel, THE tourist quarter, which is loud of live rock and blues in the evenings (I guess it is the cultural heritage of the hippies hitting on the city in the 60's), from where we started our discoveries. One of the first and most amusing one is that in Kathmandu Valley there are three parallel times existing; if you open The Himalayan Times, the daily paper, you will find out that it is 2064 according to the Nelapi calendar, at the same time 1127 for the local Newars, and the rest of the World is living in its' illusionary year 2008.

Here comes the next surprise: this is the first country or contemporary culture I personally came across with, where they worship a living God, to be precise a Goddess. Kumari Devi lives in a wonderful palace (see the picture on the left) on Durbar Square, which is the architectural wonder of the Newar people's culture, who used to reign the Valley till the 17th century, now they represent 6% of the population with about 1 million representatives. Kumari Devi is a girl between 4 and a 10 plus, who is considered to be the reincarnation of Vishnu and her selection is a similar ritual to the selection of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. She goes every now and then on strike like in 2005, but she is still to be seen on religious festivals a couple of times per year. Unfortunately we did not have the luck to see her, only on postcards.

I do not know what is wrong with most of the religions over here, but women are treated very awkwardly; just to mention one aspect, you are not allowed to enter the temple when you have your period (just like in the Russian Orthodox Church and in Hinduism), and poor Kumari Devi is also considered "unclean" after her first menstruation, when she falls from the throne of gods and shall continue her life as a mortal, ordinary human being. To make it worse it is considered unlucky to marry a former Goddess!

We took long walks to discover the UNESCO Wold Heritage site Durbar square and lose our way among the architectural treasures of the 17th century Newar culture, also to the non-touristic quarters south from Durbar square, where we could see the contrast between the real life of locals and the staged tourist district of Thamel. The photo on the right illustrates well the water supply situation and the dependence on springs, which also serves as major laundry spots for local women. There are several Buddhist an Hindu sites in the close nearby of the city, one of them is Swayambhunath stupa, or Monkey Temple for easier pronunciation for tourists, which is one of the most ancient Buddhist shrines in Kathmandu. The view is splendid from this hill-top, and the sweaty climb is made entertaining if you have something to offer to the louring monkeys, just be careful, they can get quite aggressive.

I shot hundreds of photos and I feel I could still not capture the city, which is to a great extent because of the various faces of the local people. However well equipped the city is (for tourists) you cannot forget the conditions we saw on the way to the capital; tanks scroll the streets, there are armed police and soldiers everywhere, long ques for petrol due to the country-wide shortage and pre-announced hours long black-outs in the mornings and evenings. Amazingly locals take it cheerfully; you hear no complaints nor accusation.

From Bodhgaya to Kathmandu

It has been so far the most trying trip: to get out of India: we left Bodhgaya on the 23rd of February in the morning and on the 25th of February 4 am we arrived to Kathmandu, Nepal. We had lots of adventures this time - new kind of adventures.

The train trip to Patna took us 6 hours instead of the scheduled 2. Arriving to Patna, especially after the South is a bullet in the head: the hotels were booked, they were and no value for money - or maybe we landed in the middle of high season business event... Rickshaw drivers offered sky high prices and we had extremely hard time to get it lower or get a ride at all. Finally we decided to escape from the place with the 10 pm governmental night bus to Raxaul, which is the border city to Nepal, with the naive hope to make it through to Nepal.

Well, the bus broke down in the middle of the night and waited 6 hours for a mechanic to repair it. Basically the bus crew abandoned us somewhere what looked like a desert where we had tea with some sort of a family warming themselves up around fire. At 10 am when we made it to Raxaul all we had in mind was just to get out of India. We made it through the Indian immigration without falling for the officer's attempt to be paid for a service which is for free, but we had problems with the Nepali visa, as we did not have USD. So having a funny conversation with the Nepali immigration officer, who ensured us several times in a loud voice that he is not making business, he is a government officer, we paid in INR a couple hundreds more than the normal fee and were happy to enter a country which was on strike. We started hearing that there is a strike in southern Nepal but it is hard to believe what the Indians say until you really see it (we have heard so many times fascinating stories about closed or burned down places that we just said - ok - on strike? so what? - yet another attempt to sell us overpriced services) .

Birganj, the Nepali border city looked like a war zone: roads were blocked with stones and bricks, lamp posts were thorn out of their places and laid over the road, there were no cars whatsoever, all shops were closed and citizens were marching on the streets with flags. Generally as there were no cars and no horning, one could hear deadly silence around which "sounded" not too inviting. Soon we learned that we will not make it from this place to Kathmandu or Pokhara unless we take a bicycle rickshaw or a horse carriage to the neighboring town, 25 km North, called Simara. Though we did not have any cash left, we hoped for a bank or an ATM in Simara to be able to pay for our horse carriage and make our way further by bus. Well, every time we said so far that it seems things are getting better, it just got worse: Simara was in a similar chaos as Birganj, there were no cash options and we have not been eating for the last 24 hours. That was a moment, when I started to count what would my ring and earrings worth as a payment for our ride in case some miracle does not happen and can get cash. The miracle arrived in the form of two Slovakian fellow travelers, who were angels and helped us out with a loan, I guess with no hope that they would ever see their money returned. But we decided to change our original plans and took the bus to Kathmandu, hoping for better facilities and a bit of peace. The bus was supposed to depart at 4.30 pm and arrive at 10 pm, so we were not prepared for a chilling cold night ride and had no time to eat. At the end Tomek threatened the driver to call the police in order to be able to depart at 6 pm , when we already suspected that we will not arrive to Kathmandu before the following morning (worked well as the bus departed within 15 minutes). So it happened and after a half an hour walk in the pitch dark of Nepali capital (being without electricity most of the time), we bumped to the first hotel and fell asleep.

Now having an almost warm shower, some sleep in a bed and food we can again better appreciate the small goodies of life. And Kathmandu is just addictive, you will see more in the next post!

Bodhgaya

After another joyride with a night train from Kolkata we arrived 6 am to Gaya in Bihar on the 21st of February, 2008. We were attacked by a tuk-tuk driver just the minute when descending from the train and we decided not to argue too much, we took the ride to Bodgaya with 3 funny Asian girls, all together 6 of us in the rickshaw. We had to put on our jackets not to freeze and hold ourselves so strongly - Tomek to the right, me to the left of the driver - as if holding to our lives in a thick fog, still before sunrise, rambling with 50 km/hour. Finally we disembarked at our accommodation, the Royal Bhutanese Monastery (see the photo n the left below), which was fast asleep and still. Luckily the gate was open and after some coming back and forth we found a guy who showed us to our room for half the price we usually pay, with HOT water, first time in 2008 :)!

Instead of a morning meditation at the neighboring Japanese Monastery we crawled into bed and had a wonderful sleep under a wonderfully protecting mosquito net. Hot shower (hmmm), breakfast (rather lunch), a bit of mapping the neighborhood and off we went to the famous Bodhy tree, under which Prince Siddhartha Gautama transferred himself to Buddha, the enlightened - 2600 years ago. However, this very tree is obviously not 26 centuries old, it is a descendant of the original one. Besides the numerous Buddhist monasteries from all around the world - from countries like Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, Bhutan, Burma, Tibet - the main attraction is the Mahabodhi Temple erected in the 6th century by Emperor Ashoka. It is the Nazareth of Buddhism, the most important Buddhist pilgrim destination, where (female and male) from all around the globe come, pray, meditate and chant. We spent hours just sitting and watching the hundreds of orange, yellow, crimson monks, old and kids, listening to the different country's characteristic chanting.

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In the evening we headed to the Tibetan Refugee Market, where eventually we had our momo in a tent restaurant, a Tibetan speciality, much alike Polish pierogi or Russian pelmeni. The place had mud floor and walls with some kind of plastic foil roof, but seemed to be so popular that there was a choice of at least five restaurants the same kind. We joined at the Chinese Monastery lighting hundreds of tiny candles organized in the perfect shape of Chinese characters celebrating the first full Moon in 2008, which is a great event for welcoming the moonlight helping the crops' grow and harvest later on. At 10.30 pm we faced the last challenge for the day: the monastery's gates were closed and we had no cash left. Since we know no impossible we got in and had the probably most quiet and peaceful night in two months.

On the 22nd of February we decided to visit the Dungeshwari Cave Temples, where Buddha spent years of penance (see the picture on the right). Our guidebook gave very little information about the whereabouts, hence we ended up in crowded shared rickshaw rides, being dropped in the middle of nowhere, jumping on a local bus and finally entering a noisy negotiation about the tuk-tuk fare, when we the bridge crossing the completely dry riverbed and somebody understood what we were looking for. The ride was long and tiresome, so bumpy that we were jumping in our seats and had to clinch like "majom a koszorukovon" (sorry, it is in Hungarian), but we finally made it. The best thing we learned today about how to make business when you do not have anything to offer: sell coins to foreigners to be able to give it away to beggars. Unfortunately we missed to figure out how much the coins they sell are worth and how low in the bargaining phase they are ready to go. It ain't no funny! Hunted by beggars, kids and monkeys we spent a half an hour chilling at the cave, which looked really nomad with a skeleton like golden Buddha statue in it.

We closed our day with a wonderful chanting session at the Japanese monastery accompanied by drums and singing a bowl. A little bit worn out by the filth, the unbelievable poverty, the constant blackouts, the difficulties to get our laundry properly washed, the beggars, the kids clinging on you asking for whatever you have, and the constant question how to find a toilet we are closing our last but one day in India very very happy and satisfied.

Kolkata

Planning the trip to the north has been a challenge. At the beginning we thought about taking a train but it would be a trip of sixty or so hours. We wanted to split it into a couple of days trip but somehow it became very difficult time wise and it would take us over a week. Hence we decided to indulge in a bit of luxury and booked a cheap Indian airline (no way to mistaken them for any other as the safety instruction picture in our gallery shows). Anyway we took a bus from Pondichery to Chennai airport and after two hour flying time we landed in Kolkata on the 19th of February - former capital 16 million plus inhabitants. We were a bit hesitant as to going to Kolkata since we imagined that it will be tougher than Delhi. The reality exceeded our expectations. Whereas we landed in a very decent airport and without any problems got a prepaid taxi to a booked in advance hotel (this time we did not dare to go and wonder around), the way to our place was completely outer space. In fact we commonly agreed that it was a bit like in the Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior. The first thing that hits you in the eyes when you start your journey from the airport in the Ambassador (what already feels like being in the fifties) are the neons of huge new shopping malls, then slowly you start seeing rickshaws pulled by humans, and all kind of vehicles that should by law of physics and common sense not be able to move and clog the streets. The poverty, little fires on the street around which people warm themselves up blend with signs of KFC or any other western chain.

The atmosphere of the city was incredible and we both fell in love with it. The next day we started exploring it on foot (went to Victoria Memorial and Maidan park - nice and for some reason the main place for shepherds with goats). In Victoria we saw a very nice museum about Kolkata and how it was founded by the British. In fact it was so easy to walk around that we decided to stay one more day and take the explorations one step further. In short we decided to decipher the public transportation - buses. We did manage very well. They are almost for free and you just have to ask around to get to know the destination. Once though it got pretty tough as for some reason the road became blocked by the police and the driver refused to go any further. As a result we witnessed how the passengers have almost beaten up the crew of the bus as they did not want to give the money for the tickets back. Metro seems a better choice if you have the liberty of choice.

Otherwise, we have stumbled on "Social Communications 7th International film festival" screening Miklós Jancsó's movies (now after stumbling on a bakery powered by Hungarian "wheat grinding machines from 19th century" together with Hungarian cakes in Pondichery and Hungarian chicken in Bodhgaya (about this in next post) I feel like Poles are underrepresented considering the number of people leaving back home...Good job Magyarorszag ! We have also seen a great market place where we learned why most of the Indians are vegetarians :) We personally did not feel that it is by any means safe to buy meet there. I guess Indians developed such instinct instinctively.

Koklata has some kind of charm that is difficult to convey in writing. But it is something about peace between past and the future.

Everything in Kolkata coexists somehow in harmony does not disturb anyone. All in all we were was so happy about our adventures that one evening I managed to lose our mobile phone...this was the price for our happiness. I guess nothing comes for free.

Varkala & Pondichery

After reaching the southern most tip of India we obviously had to start our trip up north. Our first stop on the way to the very north was Varkala - not that far from our Ashram - right on the western coast in Kerala. In Varkala we met our Polish friends who are also touring India. Obviously our pictures can by no means be compared to his but it is definitely a good target for us to keep in mind :) Also lot of kudos for them for making it all the way from Goa in one day. It was great to see them and enjoy easy going afternoons and evenings while eating fresh fish right from the sea. We also met lots of people from the Ashram as it seems Varakala is a favorite retreat for those a bit tired of waking up at 5.30 am for meditation. So we met our Polish friends from the Ashram and at some point Rita ended up being the only "foreigner" amongst five Poles.

As usual when we arrived we did not know what
to expect from yet another place in India. What we have learned so far is ALL places are very different. There is no way of knowing what to expect. It can be awfully crowded and filthy or stunning in all aspects. One thing is for sure - every time you arrive somewhere you will be somehow surprised. Varkala for us was great. It is a stunning little beach resort with lots of beautiful little houses offering accomodation among palm trees. All of them are located on a top of the cliff right next to the sea. In fact you have to go down the stairs to reach the beach. The top of the cliff is lined with dozens of very nice restaurants and stalls selling all you can imagine but without too much harassment from the sellers if you just happen to pass-by. Therefore strolls along the cliff was always a very nice experience. The sea was a bit rough with strong currents but going in is still lots of fun. It was a beautiful setting for Valentines day! Incidentally we happened to find a lite version of India for that specific day:

After Varkala we set off with an overnight train to Pondichery. This relatively small town for Indian standards is located on the east coast of India. It was our first time on that side of subcontinent and we landed in "little France". Pondichery used to be a French colony and you can smell it everywhere - huge French consulate, baguettes everywhere, French schools and cultural center, Mediterranean type of architecture etc. Yet another setting for a relaxing day. We hired two bicycles and set off for explorations outside Pondichery and ended up in sort of slums or at least districts where life seems to have stopped some centuries ago. The contrasts in India are mind blowing - I think I have never in my life seen poverty and modern developments coexist so close to each other. In the evening we went for an open air jazz concert organized by Alliance Francaise - excellent venue and good music as such.

There was also an Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the nearby but we decided to skip it - otherwise we would never make it our of India - you can always find new things and places worth seeing.

Kanyakumari

With other terms it is Cape Comorin or the Lasnd's end. Actually it is the end of the Indian subcontinent, it is the most Southern corner of the land, where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian Sea and the Bengal Bay. This is our first destinantion after leaving the Ashram to spend a day or two to be blown away by the wind and enjoy the breeze from the ocean from the 12th to the 14th of February. The city itself is very tiny in Indian scale, onlt 20 000 people, but a real pilgrimige site with its' temples, Gandhi Memorial and all the time ongoing spiritual rituals. As we learnt, Gandhi's ashes were kept in this memorial until they were spread in the ocean. Around the main temple there is as usal a bazaar with wonderful shells from the sea and smelly spices. After Tomek sent me alone to the temle - which is devoted to the Hindu Goddess, the Devi Kanya Kumari - to check out if it is worth seeing, I had the privilige to be shown around by a pilgrim. He did not speak English, but was very keen to show me every corner and introduce me to all possible ceremonies performed by the visitors, including climbing to the rooftop. I ended up with a big black and red mark on my forehead which was eventually quite difficult to remove later the day.

The highlight of the day was a small boat ride to the two rock islands along the shore, one with the giant 133 ft high statue of Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar , the other a beautiful, clean and peaceful temple erected for the memory of Vivekananda, the 19th century wondering monk, who revolutionized India's spiritual life. We spent most of the day around these rocks enjoying the wind, the violent waves and the peace. In the evening we - accidentally - ended up scrolling the narrow streets of the local "residential district" along the sea side with fishermen. This are was hit by the Tsunam in 2004, but most of it was nicely renovated.

On the morning of the 14th of February we hit the road towards Varkala to meet our Polish friends from Warsaw.

Ashram

You will need a looong coffee this time; it has been quite some time that we have been only accumulating experiences but not sharing it, so now we try making it up all at once. To begin with let me state that life is beautiful; my tears were dropping today when listening to music on the train after 12 days of renouncement deprived from any "earthly" matters.

It was the 31st of January evening when we arrived to Neyyar Dam, a small village nearby Trivandrum to start a Yoga Vacation at the Sivananda Ashram. We planned some kind of yoga retreat long ago, but we were not quite sure about the where and how, especially about how we will take it. So we agreed to stay for minimum 3 days and maximum 2 weeks depending on our liking. It all began as a concentration camp - using the swami's (hindu monk) words when introducing the ashram life and rules on our first day. And it really was hard on most of us for the first few days after which actually we started to enjoy this very well organized, truly international, peaceful and strictly disciplined monastery environment. During the stay attendance at all classes is required, which meant more or less full time schedule from 6 am till 10 pm. When we checked in we received the house rules, which included items like smoking, alcohol, drugs, meat, fish, eggs, garlic or onions and pets are not allowed; mobile phones and cameras should be handed into reception upon arrival; guests are required to offer up to one hour of karma yoga per day, which means the ashram is self maintained by the guests. To respect the monastic tradition, guests shall restrain expressions of affection such as hugging or kissing in public and are advised to observe celibacy as part of the spiritual discipline. So you can imagine what a shock this schedule is particularly for one who has never done yoga before! But after the first 2-3 days we got acquainted with the place, understood that we are in the middle of the jungle, the various sounds got their meaning and place from lion roaring three times per day at feeding times at the nature reserve opposite the lake to the different bells and chanting around the clock notifying coming events of the day. Soon I will be oblivious to spiders after meeting species of the size of my palm and sharing the water with the crocodiles when swimming in the lake opposite the ashram. Eating with hands sitting on the floor became one of the comfort events of the day as we realized today that we have not sat in a chair for the last 12 days and as a matter of fact we have not sat in a car this year. No toilet paper and squating toilets were no problem after 4-5 hours of yoga excercise a day; your legs can surely hold you after a few days of practice and I will leave the no toilet paper part to your imagination to figure out with the hint that only right hand should be used for eating and serving food.

Besides the teachings the most valuable experience was the meeting with people from 40 plus different countries. After moving from one place to the other we felt some kind of belonging to some of the people we met and spent these days together. Though I have to say Hungarians were badly under represented me being the only one of the roughly 300 guests and I still have not bumped in any of my country man throughout our whole stay. Bhupendra, I hope you read our site, because we wanted to thank you so much for the cookies and your help; they served us for quite some days. And Gregg, I am grateful for you fixing Tomek's back after two years of pain; now I have my shoulder pillow:))).

Besides our normal schedule of waking up at 5.30 am, attending the morning meditation and chanting from 6 am to 8 am, yoga class from 8 am till 10 am, breakfast from 10.30 am till 11.00 am, karma selfless service from 11.00 am till noon, 12.30 till 13.30 pm coaching, half an hour tea, 2 pm to 3.30 pm lecture, 3.30 pm till 5.30 pm yoga class, 6 pm to 6.30 pm dinner, 8 pm till 10 pm evening medtation and chanting we had once a so called morning walk to the lake to see the sunrise instead of the morning meditation and one day off on Friday. We went on an excursion to the jungle to a waterfall where we could swim in the small pond which was a lot of fun until the rain started to pour like cats and dogs. We made our 2 hours walk back to the lake where boats were supposed to pick us up and give a 40 minutes ride to the ashram, but half of us did not fit to the boats and were left in the rain for another 2 hours. Still raining, no connection to civilization, 1 hour before it got dark and Tomek was in the first boat... This is an experience I will remember as one of the most trying ones not to lose my nerves, but people took it very positively which made it almost fun. Returning to the ashram we learnt though that it was not even worth to mention to locals; monsoon and tsunami obviously adjusted their standards.

If we manage with our gadgets you will soon be able to listen to an 80 years old swami woman's chanting and read more about our reflections after we digested it a little bit. Hinduism as the spiritual foundation for yoga in this particular ashram did give us a lot to debate, but buddhism is still there to discover in Nepal, Tibet and Thailand before any convertion :)

UPDATE: For more to see go to Rishio's beautiful photo collection from our life at the ashram.

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Neyyar Dam - Sivananda Yoga Ashram

Here we are - doing yoga in an ashram in Kerala already for the fifth day (I cannot really believe I made it so far considering the schedule). I have never really had anything to do with yoga in my life so I was a bit hesitant to go straight to an ashram but why have it the easy way, when you can always make life more exciting. We agreed though that Rita helps me out at the beginning in case it is tough on me.

So we arrived - in an ashram that feels a bit like a student campus on a hill, right next to a national park with lions roaring every morning and evening. Beautiful location. Right at the entry we had to surrender our mobile phones and cameras to a deposit box. In addition we cannot go out without applying for an "out pass". Kind of strict rules.

For me the toughest thing is the four hours of exercies per day. The good thing is I can still move and I guess I have never in my life been so flexible. It will be a good preparation for our hikes in Nepal.

The internet is 15 minutes per person if you sign up early enough so a more thought over post about what we experienced here will come as soon as we get out of the ashram. There is actually lots we want to share as it is definitely a new and confusing experience.

Yoga - out of office for the coming week

This is our program for at least next seven days.

5:30 am - Wake-up bell

6:00 am - Satsang (silent meditation, Mantra Chanting and lecture/reading)

8:00 am - Asanas, Relaxation

10:00 am - Brunch (wholesome vegetarian meal)

4:00 pm - Yoga class

6:00 pm - Dinner

8:00 pm - Satsang

10:00 pm - Lights out