Bouncing arounD

Now here, soon there

2010-07-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

After a couple days of rest in Bhagsu, just above Dharamsala it was time ot move to Manali, the setting off point for Leh, a desert moonscape 6000m high...

Myself and Ilan and Noam, an Israeli couple from the last hike bought tickets on a minibus to ride in comfort and style 10 hours through thenight to Manali. I think I was th eonly one riding in comfort and style though...While all of our seats reclined I was in themiddlein front and got to stretch my legsout betweenthe driver and co pilot seat. Also I didn't have anyone puking next to me the entire journey. The bus was driving a little faster than one would think it could and taking turns like one of those motor cycle racers thjat drops his knee to the gournd...Being in front I was cool but a poor gilr in the back was constantly decorating theoutside of the vehicle with her dinner and whatever else her body could eject. As it was a semi private bus we figured we could ask the driver to take it easy, and we were figuring correctly. We were able to ask..he jsut didn't want top listen, or not for free. He said for 1000 rupees he would slow down....

When we arrived there were 2 options for staying, each on the opposite side of the valley and each a tuk tuk ride away.... I wanted to go where my friend was staying and as soon as my Israeli friends heard there were more Israelis in the other place they wanted to head there to get into the Israeli connections... I thought this was a little funny, but it turned out to be the excat connection we needed. That same mornign they found out where to rent horses from a group of Israelis ready to embark on a 25 day trek....

We had the name 'mule union' and the next mornig setout to find them. One would think this would be ab easy task in a 2 steet town.... It took Ilan and I 2 hours to track them down. First no one had heard of them and thought we were nuts...then we were told they are near the telephone exchange. So we tracked down the telephone exchange and started asking around, and no one had heard of the place...Then we found a cmaping store that knew it existed but not where and sent us to the tourist office. We went to the building (hut) marked tourist office in big letters and they turned out to not be the tourist office,just a taxi stand. They sent us to the real tourist office, written in even bigger letters. They turned out ot be the bus reservation office, and sent us around the corner to the tourist office. Third time was a charm, we entered the cleanest building north of Delhi, galss doors, wood panels, open space and were guided perfectly to the Horse man union!

We climbed one of the narrowest staircases in existence and met the horsemen! They are 10 men in a tiny room all smoking under a no smoking sign... We planned a 5 day trip over a beautiful pass and just had to confirm a day later...
The day we went to confirm the horseman told us we couldn't do the trip as there was too much snow on the pass for the horses.... So we had to change our plans and he recommended a 10 day trip for us...The funny thing is I had met a guy the day before who went over the pass and said there is 10 feet of snow, no way horses can do it...I said he was wrong...the horse man told us no problem.,..so the next day I had to go tell him he was right...

So we planned our 10 day trip, from Darcha to Padum....feel free to google it, up the Zanskar valley...or you can wait 14 days for pics:)

Of course planning for the first trip we were told horses can carry 40 kilos. We double and triple checked this. Then on booking for the 10 day trip the man tells us horses carry 40kilos on flat ground but less going up hill....So it looks like we will be pack horses for at least the hardest part of our trip!
Shopping for dry goods was a blast, we also got a pressure cooker....flour for chapatis....a hardcore Indian stove and lots of yummies... tomorrow we head to Darcha, 7hours bus to Keylong, 2 more to Darcha, and Wednesday morning if all goes well we set off with our guide who started walking to Darcha with the horses on Sunday....

Thats all for now!
Here is a quote: You can't control what happens but you can control your reactions to it

Trekking in the mountains!

2010-07-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

Since I am about to go on my next trek, it seems like a good time to write about the last one. It all came together in a fun way... When I was in Rishikesh some people thought I was an Israeli and asked me in Hebrew if I had any books to trade...I said I only had English books and they said ok...we laughed for a sec about my Hebrew and that was that....

A week later in Bagsu, a hamlet near Mcleaod Ganj, the home of the Dalai Lama, I was in an internet cafe and noticed a nice map on the wall... I asked the guy there about trekking and he said he had 2 people trying to make a group... He gave me their e-mail address and I sent them a message... We had plans to meet the next day and when I went to meet them (with a friend from South Africa) it turned out they were the people who asked me for the book in Rishikesh.... We were joined with another Israeli couple and made plans to go on a 5 day trip...

We set off with our guide and 3 or 4 porters who carried all the food and tents...we just needed to carry clothing water and sleeping bags... Day one was a nice climb to Triund, a couple rock houses overlooking Mcleod Ganj and Dharamsala...

John (from SA) and I were sharing the blue tent... put up in a wonderfully exposed area on a ridge. No problem...The guides made us popcorn, soup, tea and supper and we got ready for bed.... At some point I woke up in a wonderful storm with our tent shaking like a paint mixer. The rain was pouring and the thunder and lightning were making a magnificent show. It didnt take to long for me to realize that the tent was not going to survive the storm. It was only a matter of time so I curled up in my sac and enjoyed until the pegs were pulled out of the ground, a cord tore and the tent collapsed on us. In order to enjoy the storm as long as possible I had paked all my clothes and other stuff into my bag and had my rain jacket ready to go. So I got out and tried to see if the tent was fixable...it was not... It was fun holding the tent in the crazy wind and seeing the outline of Jon's head sitting up inside it...Points to our guide for showing up at that time and helping us get into the rock shelter/hut him and the porters were staying in... The morning called for yoga and a good breakfast, both of which I enjoyed and we all set off....

One of the couples we were with had their own tent and the other got lucky as I chose to be in the tent that collapsed and theirs survived...

Day 2 saw us going up and up, great views and we came across many herdsmen driving their flocks...The ground although high up was very well fertilized,so much so that it looked like God dropped 10 million tons of chocolate covered raisins on the ground. Unfortunately they didn't taste as good.

We were above the trees, either by elevation or lack of soil and climbed on up to our night's shelter, a cave.

Inside and out...you could see one of the porters making chapati (flatbread) with his hands

The next morning we were supposed to awake at 4:30 and get ready to head over a high pass...Unfortunately the rain that crept into the cave at night had not let up and the conditions were too dangerous to go over. Our guide came up with another plan for our next three days. While we couldn't do the pass, by staying on this side of the range we didn't have to take a 10hr bus ride at the end of the trip...we also didn't get the crazy view that the pass supposedly offers...

The clouds lifting...

My camera skills were not adequate to capture all the wildflowers but this area we came to was a bed of white yellow and purple beauty!

That night we hiked down to a Hindu temple and set up the tents there....

The next day we went down some more to a river where we jumped in and then had lunch
Here is some interesting flora by the river....

Crossing the river was fun and we continued up to a village for our last night

Some locals

It turned out the village is where all the porters were form and they got their hands on some booze after dinner... wihout even sharing they drank themselves silly. Gravity played some mean tricks on them and somehow they were recovered enough in the morning to make breakfast...
Here is the view across the valley on the way down

We made it down and took a jeep back home...

Amritsar, the golden temple...and a few last pics from Rishikesh

2010-06-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple random shots from Rishikesh

Most worshipers of Shiva are not potheads I don't think...but these guys are funny to see....

Even funnier to see was this guy! Enlarge and look at his logo! (you will understand better if you are form Montreal!) It was just pointed out to me that it says Foxboro, I read it as Roxboro which is next to where I grew up....oops.... as Obiwan Kenobi said..."your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them";

Here is the Golden Temple of the Sikhs.... I had a magnificent time here...I only ended up in the city of Amritsar becasue there was no bus that day from Rishiklesh to Dharamsala and instead of an extra day in Rishikesh I took a night train to Amritsar and I am lucky I did...

;

To get into the temple you need to wait in a long line walking on the walkway...it moves slow and it is crowded but everyone is so excited to get inside. It took me a few tries to find someone who spoke enough English to tell me about what is going on inside...From what I gathered there is the original copy of their bible that is being read all day every day and it takes 3 days to read it all...the men switch every 2 hours...I got to see the book,....it is 1341 pages long or so and the pages are huge! so is the writing....its the biggest book I have ever seen, almost 2 meters wide!

Take a moment and imagine this at night with lights twinkling off of it

Even more beautiful were all the Sikhs who were visiting, by the thousands! They are all housed for free....tourists like me too...and all fed for free in a giant kitchen....hundreds of people volunteer to peel veggies, serve food and do dishes....

Upstairs in the temple there was a man reading another copy slowly, it was beautiful and I sat for a meditation to his singing...I was peaceful all that day...he also came to talk to me when he switched off..I think he was excited to see a westerner stay longer than just a peek in the room....He was pretty swell....The Sikh seemed very open to all religions...the idea of one god and many ways to go there...that's a little like the Hindu philosophy....

There is a ceremony at the Indian Pakistani border every night where they close it until the morning. It is supposed to be quite the show, and it was... Getting in meant 3 security checks and body searches, and then we were seated at a grandstand...here is one of the flamboyant soldiers...

In the back you can see Pakistan, and in the front me having a moment for my father! They were selling cold diet coke and I wanted to have that fatherly connection. In the yoga universe they say everything is one and one is everything, and we are all connected, and since my dad has replaced most of his blood with diet coke, by having some I was one with him for a while :)
Happy Father's day!

The soldiers were all dressed with funny hats and did some crazy marching to and form the border...and the poeple all wnet nouts, treying to outdo the Pakistanis on the other side...At one point the commanders of both sides shake hands and then walk away, each stepo sending their feet so high they almost touch their foreheads, and arms swinging wildly...This was quite a presentation by 2 countries that are not exactly peaceful neighbours!

Afterward I went to a bar with two friends I met on the trip to the border. It was a bit of a shock to me, and one of those 'you don't know what you've got till its gone moments'...After living in Rishikesh and the ashram I had forgotten that there is alcohol and meat in the world. The bar was a beer and chicken bar...according to the menu... Rishikesh is a dry town and restaurants can't sell meat... I found it quite nice...no drunks wondering the streets, and the restaurants don't even have to say they are 'Veg'...(Interestingly, in India if a restaurant serves meat they have signs saying "non-veg" Its the opposite of home...)
We had some fun table neighbours....

The next pics are form the journey between Amritsar and Dharamsla...

These are two bycicle porters...one for parcels and one for people....I like this dude's uniform...

On the way we passed atleast 10 army bases, they were hugs fomr the road and probably much bigger in what you can't see...they had gate posts with armed guards and it reminded me of how nice it is to be in Canada most of the time...'

This is the wildest vehicle I have seen...either a 3 wheeld car or an extended tuk-tuk.... The wheel is only attached on one side, not both like a motorcycle and the whole thing can be described as being Bad Assed!

Trek to the Source of mother Ganga (the ganges)

2010-06-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

I went to Uttar Kashi to visit the Sivananda Ashram and to go visit a cave in Gangotri. The cave is where Swami Vishnu Devananda did his practice before going to the west and where he returned many times. I had heard about it in Canada and always wanted to see it. While I was at the ashram we did the 5 hour drive to Gangotri to see the cave, and returned to Uttakashi. While there I found out Gangotri is the setting off point for the pilgrimage to the source of the Ganges but I didn't feel too inspired to do the trek.

Back at the ashram I was talking with a girl from Switzerland who was thinking of it, and she convinced me to go. It turns out that later she decided not to go but I was now inspired. The second inspiration came from a Mexican friend who suggested going to Topovan, a climb higher than the glacier itself.

There was another guest visiting the yoga center, Arun Jit who came from Kerala, south India and he wanted to go to the source as well. He had never done any hiking and was ready to leave in sandals, so I had my worries but leave we did!

We hired a jeep to do the drive to Gangotri, and it was beautiful and a little scary seeing a car that had fallen off the road and dropped about a kilometer into the river... we stayed a night buying supplies that we needed. He got some shoes, which proved to be useful and we got GORP...good ol' raisins and peanuts.

We woke up early, had some food and set off.

The journey is one that most Hindus dream of taking once in their lives and there were many people of all ages on the trail. The Trail was the best one i have ever been on in the mountains. It is wide as a sidewalk, and so smooth you dont need to watch where you are walking. I have never been so high in the mountains walking so easily!

We came across many babas, holy men and swamis on the journey. What exactly makes a man holy I don't know but it did add a touch of magic to the trek every time we crossed their paths. Many of them have been walking all the way from Rishikesh, adding weeks to the journey, and adding obstacles to the crazy roads!

After walking for 14km we came to:

Where most pilgrims stay for the first night...here is the view of it from higher up:

We stayed in an ashram there...I think ashram means guest house...and there are also yoga ashrams in India and the world where you stay and do yga..but this was a regualr ashram...but also irregular in its own way. It is the place with the pointed white triangle. There we stayed for 5 dollars including all meals. Food time was great with lots of people in a big open sided room freezing together and eating sloppy food! The rooms were quite musky and maybe if you lean real close to the next picture you can smell what was growing on the pillows!

The rooms were half underground with a corrugated tin roof and many people crammed into some of them... One was full of swamis, the most crowded but that is probably because they don't pay. Some of the swamis, who are renunciates were interesting, and some seemed to be people unning away just living off everyone else. Some appreciated if you gave them some nuts and some would take huge handfuls thinking you live to support them.
When we arrived at the ashram I treid to do some yoga, starting with some sun salutations, the more aerobic part. At the Sivananda ashram we had done up to 40 in one set, and here I couldn't breathe after one and a half! It was the first time I felt the full effects of alttude! It was interesting and a little scary...Had a bear started shasing me it would have mauled me in a split second as opposed to the full second it would take lower down (no one can out run a bear) Luckily there are no bears here, but we did see some nice deer and goats.
We had heard form the forest officers that you can only stay in the park for 2 days and that it was illegal to go to Topovan, a climb above the source. We also met some girls who did go to Topovan so we were a little perplexed.
At the ashram we met a guide who said he could take us up to Topovan...I was a little unsure with the idea as my partner seemed to struggle on the easy trail to Bhojbaso, and boots were recommended to go up higher. Arun had been awating quite a bit on the first day but he was so adamant about heading up higher that I gave in. Out guide sad hew worked fr the foresty deoartment so we wouldnt get into trouble. We planned to head to Topovan for the day, jump into the Ganges ont he way down and sleep again at Bhujbaso.
Two swamis asked if they could join us if we hire a guide as they wanted to go but hiad no money. We set off with one more Indian friend. After 20 minutes the guide said Arun and the other Indian could not go on as they were not fit enough and we were going to go much higher. I said this would be a probblem as that left me as the only one paying and I didnt want to foot the whole bill. after almost no time the guide decided that Arun was ok to make it up! I immediately lost faith in the guide, and Arun was as determined as ever to go. And go we did! Straight up!

It was quite an arduous climb and I had to keep screaming at the guide to wait for Arun as he was almost out of sight. The guide was not even breathing hard and kept smoking! It was incredible, but he was used to the elevation...We were vlimbing up to just over 4000 meters if my info is correct. I too had to stop every minute and catch my breath, it was very challenging.... I felt like I had put on 2oo kilos and tried to run the New York Marathon backwards in 40 degree weather....
Once we reached the top it was great to see a wide open valley with nothing in the immediate vicinity to climb!
The frst thing we saw is a guy who built his home under this rock! Zoom in if you can!

Then we met a lady with a similar set up, most of the 'home' is under a rock but they build walls with smaller rocks and keep warm enough..I thin kthese are some people praticing true yoga, isolating themsleves and gioing deep iunside...But they do still get some visitors...As a matter of fact they get enbough visitors to keep them busy all day...so I revise my statement, I have no I dea what they are doing there, but they are fortunate to have sauch a swell place to live!

Here is Arun and I up in Topovan...He had never seen snow before and it was fun to be there with him for that experience...I also threw a snowball at him...I couldn't resist.

5:30 am Topovan...right after my moring business I noticed the surroundings and couldn't go back inside... The sun was playing all kinds of games on the peaks!

Here is where we stayed up in the moutnains! It was an awesome guest house run by a 23 year old guy practicing silence. He still spoke with hand gestures and grunts so I didn't see what the difference was but he was funny and made good food.

The guy was also a little weird.Fot instance at night after dinner was done (which we all eat in silence, a nice idea), I wanted to wash my dishes, use the facilities (there are no facilities to speak of but I am giving the tamer description and go to sleep. He would allow me to leave. I felt a little awkward, so I sat listening to the Hindi for another half hour. It was a nice time up until then...It was myself and Arun, our friend and co-hiker Rahul, and 3 monks. I did some chanting for them which they seemed to find amusing and mostly listened to a conversation I didn't understand. When I needed to go though it was weird to be told no. After a while I jsut got up and went to do my business and wash my plate in the freezinf water...I went to bring my plate back and the silaent monk gestured and grunted m\for me to come back in, but nknowing we had a 23km hike in the moring I jsut said goodnight and went to bed. In the moring Arun said he had the same problem when he tried to leave and ended up stayiiing until everyone decided to go sleep.

In this pic is Rahul and the silent monk who was dressed like a cowboy. One minute he is like that, then in the traditional robes doing a Hindu ceremony then dressed like a hiker in old long jons...he was a weird one!

The silentm monk wanted to see some yoga postures, I thought ot learn some yoga, but h ejust wanted to watch...when it was clear he wouldn't participate I stopped showing off :) I was holding the hope for a while that he would turn out to be an asana master and show me a few things I needed for my practice but he seemed to be as lost as the rest of us...and quite in need of friends by his deep attachment to us amusing him the night before. He did make some great food and have a contagious laugh!

Here is our bedroom...It was quite chilly especially cause we didn't know we would be sleeping over, we had decided to stay again at Arun's insistence and shivered the night away.

In the moring we headed down the steep slope and finally made it to the source of the Ganges! The white in the back in the glacier!

It was quite cold but we all made it in and washed away all our sins!

The hike out was quite beautiful and we made it back to Gangotri before dark.. We passed out and got ready to head back early the next morning.

One of the best parts of the whole experience was doing it with Arun. It made me realize how special this trip is to so many people! For me it startd out as a fun hike, but became a little bit more meeting all the pilgrims along the way. Everyone we crossed was very excited to be there, having come from all over India! People carried empty bottles in to bring water from the source abck to their loved ones. Seeing people sitting at the source and just enhoying being there was also quite special and led to a pleasant atmosphere.

I highly recommend this trip to anyone who loves nature, glacier water, and sin cleansing....

Sivananda Kutir

2010-06-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

For 2 years I have wanted to visit the Sivananda ashram on the banks of the ganges and I finally got my chance. I was quite lucky as they had a course going on (that has a year waiting list) and they usually don't accept guests at that time. I had happened to e-mail my teacher from Canada who happened to be teaching the course in India and he invited me to come and participate in most of the classes. It was a fun experience and I got to have lots of training, daily meditations, philosophy lectures and some of the best food I had on my whole trip...

I thought the bridges in Rishikesh were unique (for the language police, yest I know 2 bridges can't be unique but I hope you got the meaning...) but it turns out there are many such bridges crossing the river all the way along...

Here is my favorite bovine we passed on several silent walks...when they thought we were too full of energy for sitting meditation...

Here are the cooks...the one on the right is also a priest and they are super hard working and super kind...I learned a lot just watchign them work...they didn't stop but were always content...

My karma yoga was to do the dishes... I got to know them very intimately over the three weeks I was there...Towards the end I got promoted and chopped lots of veggies as well.

Three weeks of yoga was just what I needed and was hoping for and it was great to do. The course was full of people from around India and the world that made it extra special and it was also proof that if you ask for something, no matter how unlikely it can happen...

Some sights in Rishikesh

2010-05-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

Jeep stand in Rishikesh... a cross between a tax and a bus

Skyping with some nursery students in Montreal...Now they know a little about India and I know a little about them...young kids are full of love!

These monkyes were cute this day and the next day attacked me for my bananas! I had to throw 2 at them to keep them away...it was kind of scary as they were charging me.

Ganges...

The bridge... if your not dodging cows you are dodging motorcycles... Have you ever been in a cow/motorcycle traffic jam on a bridge? I have!

Those Jews sure do wonder...

Anything wrong with this picture? At least the EEnglish ees spellled praughporlee

Dinner party at my home...

Trip to a waterfall...we had a great time and on the way down ran into some people who told us the real one was another 300meters or so higher up...we thought we had arrived...

Cooking class

You can walk all around this temple going higher and higher ringing bells and visiting a plethora of deities...

Inside the temple...

NHL in India!

2010-05-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

If you are Canadian you must be following the Habs, and if not you should be! (Both Canadian and following the Habs)

(this was written for school children after the Canadiens eliminated Pittsburgh and I didn't feel like retyping it)

I got to see the whole game but it wasn't easy! That is because it was on at 4:30 in the morning here! First of all the game is not on TV, they would rather watch cricket, a British version of Baseball! So I needed to find an internet cafe where I could either listen to CJAD online or find it streaming on the internet! Internet cafes only open at 9am and no one wanted to get up so early for me! Then I remembered that I had seen a computer somewhere. I had a home made supper at my friend's hotel the other night, and the family has a computer. So I went there and asked if I could watch at 4:30 int the morning and they said YES! So I had to share a room with my friend, set an alarm at 4:30 and try not to wake my friend up. What a nice person to let me do this! Then one of the family members of the hotel also set an alarm to get up and let me into their house, and I got on the intenet and found that I was able to watch the whole game! I had even bought some popcorn the night before to eat while I watched.

The game finished just in time for me to go to yoga!
Go Habs GO!!!

Delhi and Agra

2010-05-06T08:09:00.001-07:00

New Delhi is under construction. Or better yet construction is over New Delhi. Everywhere you look there is a new over pass, highway or sky train. There are metros going in, streets being remade and a crane on ever corner. This is not an exaggeration. There is so much construction that they can't reroute the traffic as the next street has an elevated highway going up and the one after is being dug up to put in a metro. So you walk, cycle and drive around all the heavy machinery. Its a little scary! I was joined in this adventure by Shani, who I had visited in Hong Kong a few months ago.

We started out on a Monday and it turns out that just about all the tourist areas in Delhi are close don Mondays! So we had a nice tour of the city trying to find some sights which we did. I don't remember the name but we some some grand old fort type thing, not the red fort which was closed, and got ready for our early morning train to Agra.

Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal and a few other world heritage sights. We hired a cab for the day and were taken to all the highlights. The first being a fort built by Emperor Akbar for his 3 wives. One Christian, One Hindu and one Jedi. I mean Muslim. It was quite beautiful but it was too hot to care! On the way we had a yummy lunch with one dish being a fruit curry, with bananas, grapes and some other tasty treats. It was fantastic and a meal I wont soon forget. There was some great architecture, especially in one of the wives rooms, and this was one lucky man...although I think his end was not so super.... He didn't even get to blow up a death star like Admiral Akbar... (see: 'Return of the Jedi' He's the red fish like guy)

We were getting friendlier with the cab driver and he wanted to take us to his home to talk a little English with his son. We went along and had some tea, and a little slightly awkward talk. We met the rest of the family, a daughter and another son, and the wife, and they invited us back for dinner. I had been wanting a home cooked meal for a long time and we were both quite excited. The youngest son had never been to out next destination so he came along with us. It was a Grand Fort, and fun to appear to be a western family with an Indian child. It seemed like security was looking at us a little funny but that was fun too.
There was a view from the taj from this place and again great architecture. All the stuff, except the Taj seemed to be made of the same red sandstone and the same design, all beautiful but a little repetitive.

Next stop was the Taj and I will give a few words of personal background. I like to label myself as visitting 'real' areas of countries, and trying to avoid the craziest tourist areas. I had no full desire to see the taj, and ony Shani did. I will be forever grateful to her. As soon as we walked through the gate and saw the building my heart and breathing stopped. I was pie eyed. What a magnificent building! The everything about it.... color, proportions, lines, curves all blend into absolute beauty. No picture will do it justice, nor any description.
If you are a Muslim,
do the haj,
every one else,
go see the taj.

Okay no more poetry and Muslms should see it too...but as a once in a lifetime journey this one is worth it.
There is nothing more I can say.

We lest after dark and headed back to the cabbies home. There as a powerfailure so we sat on the roof under a full moon. The heat was quite high up there and the daughter and grandmother produced fans and began to fan Shani! Indian hospitality is awesome! We had tasty food, they had asked what we wanted to which I shouted Bhindi! (Okra or lady finger) and a couple otehr curries as well as bread and water.

I think they even bought some bottled water for us. It was great. Shani got to try on a Sari...

I think they were a little sad when she did not purcahse it (where do you wear one in Hong Kong?) and we said our goodbyes...

The next morning we caught a train...it was an hout late but we eventually got on and upgraded out of crazy class to sleeper class and had a good ride back to Delhi, followed by a local bus ride to our hotel.

On this bus the shoulder wraps of ladie's Saris were blowing in the wind a couple feet out the windows, so our bus had beautiful multi colored flags blowing alongside it!

Either that day or our first day in Delhi we popped in on a movie during the hot part of the day, a great move in the heat... and at ngiht (deffinately that night) we went to the Red Fort (closed on Monday) for a sound and light show. It was great for a while. There were speakers and maybe 20 clored lights going on and off tellin gthe history of the fort. With jsut sound effects it made your imagination work more than watchign TV and I enjoyed the medium quite a bit. I didn't enjoy the mosquitoes and Shani was as bored as I was itchy so we both were happy to take off. We went to dinner by bicycle rickshawa t a fancy restaurant with live music. The food was tasty and the music good but on bad speakers, as is most amplified music in India.

The next daywewent for a a yoga class at the Sivananda center in south Delhi. While I really enjoyed the class the highlight was being in a residential neighbourhood, clean and quiet, and very surprising. Next was a cooking class nearby. We go tit out of the lonely planet and while we had fun it was a super disappointment. We paid 1200 hundred rupees each, about $30 top watch a nice man cook mediocre food. While we each made a flat bread, he did everything else. We had both done other classes where you go to the market, learn about the food and everyone gets their own mini kitchen to cook on. We had a 100 rupee meal and paid 1100 rupees to watch someone make it. Good business! Also it was in another neighbourhood, in an upscale apartment. Change my view of dirty dusty loud Delhi. Going back we had tuk Tuk driver offer us a reasonable price without even trying to bargain. I almost fainted. It was a great wayto head home.

The next day I was off to Rishikesh to get a little more into the yoga!

Serve Love Give Purify Meditate Realize!
Swami Sivananda

Two stories...for the price of one

2010-04-30T02:03:00.000-07:00

Story number 1

A short time ago in this very galaxy I was passing some time in Mumbai with a group of German tourists. We were a total of five people and a cab fits four. We needed a cab and didn't want to pay for two so we found a driver that would take all of us. As we were on our merry way, and it was a merry way indeed, the small plot of this story came into being. While the traffic is just on the far side of insane and the confusion on the very far side of unimaginable, it all moves at a relatively slow pace. This means police officers don't need to be in vehicles to monitor traffic, they just stand anywhere in the road and flag down whomever they suspect of breaking the law. Or rather whomever they have time to flag down. They are never still for long and while they are taking care of one infraction they are undoubtedly missing a thousand others. In order to catch them all, half the population would need to be in traffic enforecement and then there would be no people around to be driving and therefore no money from tickets to pay the officers. That is how balance comes in capitalism... or it might be, I didnt take to much time to think about it. Anyhoo, we were flagged down for having too many people in the taxi. The fine was somewhat substantial, but as the driver made us pay, it was not so bad split between five. When the cop saw that we were paying, after giving the man the receipt, he handed half of the money back to us. (Can you imagine having that happen in any other country in the world? India is simply incredible)...
Now here is the punchline of the story. What made me decide to write about it and hopefully makes it worth reading to you.
After it was all done the cop escorted us back to the cab, and told us to hop in! Once you pay the fine you are allowed ot go on breaking the law! We proceded unhindered to our destination and that ends one more adventure in babysitting. Just kidding, in India.

Story number 2 (it is possible I wrote about this months ago but I dont think so)

A little longer time ago at a hill station not so far away we were hiking in the moutains with our trusty guide. You could trust him to know lots about the ecosystem, trust him to show you many villagers and crops and trees and grasses and trust him to stop every now and then to repack a beady cigarette with some sweeter smelling plants and light it up. It was a gorgeous day with a shining sun and burned forearms on the horizon. We visited several hill tribe villages and each one gave us some chai... In Canada when you have a chai, it is black tea spiced with cardamom and clove and cinamon and often other spices and some milk. Here that is known as masala chai, and regular chai is black tea, sugar and milk, and available on every square foot of realestate in the country. The name of most of the tribes we visited is 'Toda' (Toe-da). After we received our tea I asked our guide how to say thanks in their language as they did not speak one of the main languges in the region. He said in their language there is no word for thank you. I am assuming it is not a concept they have. Maybe it is just a given that you give what you can, and people will do the same for you. The punchline here is that in Hebrew Toda (Toe-da) is the word for thank you. So while they dont have a word for it, the name of their tribe is Thanks.
Toe-da for reading.

Khumba Mehla...Haridwar + Rishikesh

2010-04-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Khumba Mela is the largest religious festival i the world, over 3 million people show up to bathe in the Ganges river. It occurs every 3 or 4 years and this year, once every 12 years is the 'big one'. I had to stop in... Holy men come out of the mountains and many people show up....

MORE TO COME

Aurangabad..Ellora!

2010-04-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

I headed to Aurangabad where you can get to the Ellora caves,which turned out to be the most magnificent thing I have so far scene on this trip!

I got in in the evening and in the morning I met a Hollander, Wald in the hotel and we headed together to a fort, a mini Taj and then the caves.

The fort was quite old and built to withstand crazy attacks. It is actually up on a mountain but there are many stone walls to cross and a moat as well before you can get there.... The main doors, giant wooden ones have spikes on them so elephants cant bust them down... at least not safely...

The next stop was the baby taj mahal, a replicate in mini, built by some dude.... pretty but not necessary...

The next part was truly the best... The Ellora caves are all cut right out of a cliff face.... There are 30 odd temple/caves, some just a large room with small quarters for monks off to the sides, and some with intricately carved pillars, huge statues... The main attractin number 16 is a whole courtyard and temple...

first you walk through an archway, then you ar in a huge open space with elephant statues,

Keep in mind the elephant wasnt brought in, it was also carved out, so when they made the courtyard they laft parts with rock for such carvings!

In the middle is a temple, cut down from the top, and on the sides caves cut into the cliffs with more statues inside...

If you were planning a building you would pic the site and transport the materials and then put them together. Here they did the opposite, its almost a negative building in concept. They brought the building idea to the sight of the materials and cut away the open spaces to leave the buildings where they "already were", under and in the rock... The lines are all straight, the ceilings flat, perfect square, octogon and round pillars, and thousands of tons of rocks moved.

Here are some more pics...

Can you believe who I found?

2010-04-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen...

What you are about to read may amaze you so take a seat if you are not already cushioned by your posterior...

People search for many things in life, such as for meaning, wealth, happiness, lost socks and much more... but these are nothing compared to the ultimate search.... This search is one that you have no doubt embarked on at least several times in your life. You have perhaps done it alone, perhaps with friends or even with children and loved ones. Maybe even with cousins Jon and Leah... It is a search that took you across all landscapes and even a moon scape, all from the comfort of home... I took it a step further... not even on purpose...

What I found is not a what but a who....In India you might expect it to be a great sage, or a naked Baba or a relative of Ghandi, but no, this is much more incredible. This person is harder to find than a needle in 3 haystacks, than a tuk tuk driver not trying to rip you off and even more difficult to locate than a button in a zipper factory.

Douglas Adams in "A hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" is searching for the ultimate question to the ultimate answer (which is 42), but I found THE ANSWER to an even more ultimate question!

For years the entire world has been asking this question, some people succeed in finding an answer, but none have come as close as I....

Of course the ULTIMATE QUESTION is....

WHERE'S WALDO?

And the answer:

Arombol, Goa, India

Same same!

As you know Waldo is always wearing his outfit, and while at 40 degrees I was understanding about the hat,

he did wear this outfit for all of the 15 days I was staying at this guest house restaurant....
So.... Mystery solved!
(Side note: While he was in the same outfit every day don't let this make you think Indian people are not clean, they are the cleanest people I have ever met....which is incredible with the amount of dust often around, his clothes were probably washed often and put right back on as they dry in a matter of minutes...and one morning I did see him in blue shorts...but just for a few minutes)

Arambol number 2

2010-04-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Arriving at Pernem station I found an older Italian couple to share a cab with and we headed to Arombol...Upon arriving I set out to find the restaurant where Babu works and after 10 minutes I found it right near the internet place. he recognized me and went to get my passport. It was there and looks like all the pages are intact. So hard part is done time to relax.

I found a hut on a cliff for 100rupees, around $2.30 and made it my home. I met two girls who were my neighbors and we decided to have dinner together. It was the second night of passover and I ordered a bottle of wine and told them I would have to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

I started with baby Moses in a basket, then his 'vision', which made me wonder if we drink 4 cups of wine to remember what Moses did before he had a lengthy conversation with a bush that was on fire. We also dipper out fingers into the wine and onto a napkin 10 times, and drank atleast one cup while reclining. All in all a good seder with live music....

Most of the rest of my time here has been spent swimming, reading and walking. The ocean is great and there are often beautiful birds circling over head. A couple friends saw dolphins swimming in the ocean in the early morning but I have not been so lucky...

Tomorrow I take a 10 hr train to Mumbai, and then off to some cave temples the following day...

Go, Going, Going Back to Goa

2010-03-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

I caught the 6:55 am train to Goa. The most exciting part about this whole trip is my bag! I don't have it! I left it in Mumbai at the guest house and am traveling with my day pack! It is wonderful and it makes me want to send my big bag home!

The train ride was exciting in two ways. First I read a lot of Biology, and second I blew my nose more than I ever have in any other 10 hour period! I am most definitely allergic to either Indian cities or their musty hotel rooms... After wheezing asthmatically through the night (same as in Ooty) my nose didn't stop running....it was trying to keep up with the train and it did...

The Snot Rocket

One of my favourite things about India is the acceptance of the snot rocket as a means of nasal clearing. Pinch your nostril and blow! This wonderful means of cleansing the sinuses is not looked down on here by the enlightened folk as it is at home.... And lucky for me.... My nose would have been redder than a rabbi caught in a bakery on passover.... The doors of all the train cars are always open, and this along with a sink was to be my relief.

There is an art not only to the snot rocket, which for your sake I will not go into, but also to sticking your head out of the door of a moving train... Apparently there is some large number of people who annually fall out of trains, but the enjoyment of having the open door is too much to keep them closed! Can you imagine via rail allowing you to hang outside the train....
Thinking about it the art might just be common sense....hold on very tight to the handles, and then slowly stick out your head...be prepared for a passing train to scare you half to death and then open your eyes! If you are successful, and you will know this as you are still alive, then you can slowly remove one hand from the handle and place it on your nose... the rest you can guess....
So the people near me must have thought i was the owner of the worlds smallest bladder, I got up and went for a walk every 10 minutes for the whole ride... I felt like an old man who just seems to always have water dripping out of his nose and I am not looking forward to returning to any city soon! I hope to ask an Ayurvedic doctor about these allergies.... The only thing my western doctor ever did was tell me I had asthma and give me a puffer... (long story short, as soon as I moved out of my parents' shag carpeted home my 'asthma' was gone) So we will see if eastern ideas can help.

I arrived in Goa, cabbed with some Italians to the beach and went to find the Seaview guesthouse and Babu....

Bombay, Mumbai, and a fool

2010-03-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a city known as Bombay. Once upon a later time it became known as Mumbai. In this time no one knows what to call it the city hasn't noticed at all.

In Goa local people call it Bombay, usually, in Mumbai many people call it Mumbai, and I have not figured out what is up. Iti s possible it has to do with different factions of the people, those in power like names that reflect them, not the last dynasty, but after that I am just guessing...

Here is the story.... At the Arombol beach I had heard there was a lake of fresh water, just around the cliffs at the end of the beach. I had a train ticket for the night train but still time to go to the lake. I headed there and it was beautiful! The best part of Goa that I had seen! And there were trails heading to the mountains... There is also the ocean 100m from the lake and this beach was even quieter than Arombol's... i immediately wanted to stay but I had my train ticket so after a dip in the ocean and the lake I headed back to gather my bags... On the way I stopped at an internet cafe to get some money as I was down to my last rupees!

The trip from the beach to the city is a 10 hour train ride which I elected to do at night... I had met a French couple on the platform who suggested a guesthouse in the city and that is where I decided to go when I arrived. So I entrained for the 10 hour journey and found my bed. (Have you ever heard of the word entrain? I like it, it is in books written in English by Indian authors but I had never heard it before) Here is a funny thing I had heard about trains... There are gay Indian men in saris, the wraparound body sarongs that women wear... and what they do on the train is a great business model... Almost zero output and they get paid not to perform. Rumor has it that they come up to you and if you don't pay them then they lift up their skirt and show you that third leg of man, the hindu Lingam, the snake on the train!!
Well one of these men came up to the compartment I was sharing with a family and the father jsut stood up and let him have it for a bit until he walked away, keeping all epidermis that was covered still covered.

While detraining I met a group of Germans, who asked me if I had an idea for a guest house and then we went off together to find the one the french coupe spoke of....

Two of the four Germans were acting as guinea pigs for a company making a patch to keep away that dreadful de-solidifier.... the muddy backwaters of the underpants, diarrhea. For trying a new preventative drug they received something over $2000 Canadian each for their trip, and a little red dot on the arm...

While getting our rooms I realized that my passport had not made the trip to Mumbai with me! The last time I remembered using it was when I took out money in Arombol and I hadn't needed it since. I had given it to the guy to take my info and then used a computer and then left...

My first instinct was to be excited as I really wanted some more time at the beach! I settled into Mumbai with the Germans and tried to figure out a way to make sure my passport was still at the cafe....
I remembered I had run into a girl I knew form Montreal at the beach and found her on Facebook, but she was already gone. My next idea was to call random guest houses on the beach until I found an English speaker which I did on my second try. His name is Babu, and I gave him rough directions to the internet cafe and he told me to call him back in 10 minutes...
I did and he sad that he didn't have it, then he said "just kidding, I got it"...not only did he have my passport but also my sense of humor! So I was able to rest easy, enjoy 2 days in Mumbai and plan my return to the beach!

One of the Germans, Aga, they all have names but it is easier to refer to them collectively, had a local friend and they invited me to join them for the day....We went to an animal market, not my favorite place it was like a mini zoo. As all the cages were mini and filled with cats or dogs or birds... It was sad but there were some neat species.... we walked and cabbed around and ended at the beach were on Sundays (and it was Sunday) thousands of people turn out for the sunset... it was crowded with a fun festive atmosphere, and we made friends with some kids who wouldn't leave us alone... never give a kid some popcorn when you have a full bag of it that he can see!!!

As it was the first night of passover I tried to get to a seder, and called the chabbad Rabbi... He asked me to e-mail him and he would send me the details... This he failed to do and I didn't get to go to a seder. I did get to have time to say goodbye to the friends form the train I had been rooming with and planned to take the 10 hour ride back to Goa the next morning...

Beaches

2010-03-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

For the last 3 weeks or so I have been living on various beaches, sleeping in huts that are made of paper and enjoying the ocean...
The beach, or rather the waves have been more fun than I can remember and I keep diving into them, getting knocked over and floating on my back when it is a little calmer. One of the neatest things I have seen, or maybe noticed for the first time, is how the water comes at you. It might be due to the very gradual slope of the beach, but after you stand knee deep for a while, a wave will come and after it you are waist or chest deep. It is like a wall of water (not tsunami size, just under a meter) coming at you. It is a neat effect to look at, very similar to canoeing up to a beaver dam, you can see the higher level of water just behind the dam, sitting there....
Hopefully your imagination can make that as neat for you as it is for me... If not imagine something else really cool and dwell on that for a bit... Ill give you a sec!

Ok, so this whole area is something of a little Italy... there are pizza and pasta restaurants everywhere and the 'western' food is better quality than the Indian... One has to work hard for a tasty Indian meal here.

The first beach area was Gokarna, where there are 4 beaches, one more remote than the next, lots of guest houses, restuarants, hippies, and Indian men there too look at all the female white skin they can take in. It is a little gross and I am happy to not have to worry about it...I may never be able to give birth but I can rest on the beach without some dirty man sneaking pictures of me.

From Gokarna I (along with Sarah my pretend wife in public to help her with these men) went to Goa. This is a Portuguese colony, and the architecture sure proved it! We started in one of the main cities whose name I forget and it was beautiful. It was like colonial Mexico, and it was clean! People were friendly and not staring and a good time was had.

*Tangent
I was reminded that on the way to Goa we had a few hour stop over in Bangalore, and a funny thing happened... I was walking on a pedestrian overpass, and an Indian guy was walking towards me and he touched my chest and then my face! It was a little weird, but apparently not too rare, I just wish I had been quicker to touch his face too.... I think that is the best way to deal with it, although normally it is just stares and it is fun to stare back...
*end tangent

We headed to Anjuna beach, which had some party music...got to dance to the trance which was lots of fun...This was where the 'Goa Trance' scene started and fluo-dreaded hippies dance-stomped across the planet! It was my own personal haj that is now comlete... (sorry no glo sticks)

After Anjuna we went to Arombol, a quieter beach but quite similar, and I got divorced! My pretend wife headed on her way and I stayed to enjoy some more Tom Robbins books and the sea....

The Crazy Barber of Hampi

2010-03-14T03:33:00.000-07:00

Out for a walk in town I noticed a barbershop, or rather a man cutting hair in a square hut. I decided to ask how much for a head shave as the heat was incredible and I had not shaved my head or face in over a month...Goodbye jewfro...

He said for 300rps he would do it... After that I was kind of committed and I submitted to it. There were a couple people sitting around and the place was a little dank. I hopped on the chair and the barber got out his tools... First he shaved a bit with the electric razor to make sure it wasn't too short for me, then he got out the scissors and went mad on my head...in less than a minute he clearcut as much as he could, mad like a logger on the day before the Green party officially takes power... Then he grabbed the buzzer and is mad efficiency shaved my head in what seemed like 12 passes. The last time this was done it took the lady in Thailand 40 minutes to shave my head... she went over it and over it in different sizes, pulling and yanking and tearing at my scalp. While the mad barber of Hampi was as gentle as say the grill on a MAC truck, he only needed less than five minutes to complete the job.

Next up was my face. He took a new blade and inserted it into the razor. He brushed some cream across my beard, and began. In no time it was over. Each masterful stroke precise and methodical. If I could shave that fast with a blade I would probably attempt it from time to time.

The barber offered me a head massage. Just an extra 50 rupees. Why not? I thought Thai massages rearranged the body in a wholly painful and inhuman manner, but have you ever had your ears cracked? The massage mostly consisted of him beating down and slapping my head in all manners possible. He composed 2 symphonies and at least 3 Ragas on my scalp, intermittently squeezing my cheeks,m ears and anything else protruding from my head! It was painfully almost kind of good. But only almost. He did two of the craziest things at the end.
Number one: He cracked my neck. First he put his arms around my neck like he wanted to kill me, then he rocked me gently once or twice than...WHAM!!! snap! I thought I might have died! Knowing what was coming next and that it was useless to complain I tried to loosen up for side two. It was just as scary! Even more as I knew it was coming!

Number two: He 'cracked' my ears! He put one hand on my head and held the top of my ear with the other. Then I didn't know why but it quickly became apparent he leaned in real close. (This was also the time I smelled the alcohol on his breath and thanked some nonexistent omnipotent deity that he hadn't sliced my throat!) So he suddenly yanked down very hard on my ear and I hear this sound almost like a crack! That is what he was waiting to hear too! While this was painful it had immediate blissful effects. I was still scared for the other side but in a slightly anticipatory way. When that was done and he slapped my scalp a few more times I actually felt like I was floating. It was a super massage!

Sarah, who I have been traveling with, was sitting in the room talking the whole time...I wanted some sympathy for the horror my head endured and noticed that she had missed the whole thing... not one to want to let a weird and painful experience escape a friend I suggested that she get one too... It was fun to watch!!

After it was done the barber and his friends who slowly poured in were ready to eat. They put a mat on the floor (after wiping away my hair) and set out food, and beer. They were quite adamant that we eat and drink with them, offering beer every 30 seconds...They had also closed the door before this party started... After a long enough sit I wanted some fresh air, and walking out it seemed like all the locals sitting across the dirt road at a small store were looking at us with sad looks in their faces...like they looked down on what goes on in the little barbershop and anyone who partakes in it...Another traveler had been 'stuck' inside drinking since he had his shave much earlier in the day...

So that is the story of how I had my head and face shaved by a drunken Indian...tune in next time for the story of my full body wax!

Hampi

2010-03-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

A friend of a friend mentioned to my friend who mentioned to me that Hampi looks like where the Flintstones live. The friend of my friend who relayed this to my friend who told me was quite correct! Minus the dinosaurs the landscape was all there. It even seemed to repeat the same 4 scenes as you walked by just like when they are off for a run or drive powered by Fred's feet!

The place is boulder heaven, or rather boulder earth, in boulder heaven all the boulders would probably get leighed as they arrived. Although some might look like they are wearing Leighs as the Hindu festival of Holi just passed I am pretty sure the rocks don't know up from down and are vibrating at another level than us.

So picture mountains made of boulders and heat so hot the eggs fry inside the shell. It is even reported that a gecko dropped 3 eggs 2 of which were cooked inside! The ideal time to be awake in Hampi is between 5am and 10am as well as 6pm to 10pm although I was rarely up that late!

To get to Hampi we took a bus at around 10am leaving Ooty for Bangalore, which we reached around 7pm. We found a night bus to Hampi laving a few hours later and had some grub and an internet break. The night bus had beds like a sleeper train and was quite comfy! Of course the bus couldn't go to Hampi, it stopped in Hampi's bastard brother town Hospet, controlled by the Tuk Tuk Mafia so you could pay another 100 rupees to go to Hampi. Then when you reach Hampi you need to hire a boat to cross the river to get to the guesthouses! Yup, another Mafia...apparently someone tried to build a bridge that mysteriously collapsed!

So we crossed the river and settled in at some incredibly early hour. The first day was appointed a do nothing day in the hammocks and it was fine!

Hampi was a one day on one day off schedule, fully necessary. We stayed at Goan corner, as suggested by Ido, a friend from Thailand and he couldn't have been more right! The food was great, the atmosphere relaxed and ample room for hammocks outside every room which all seemed to be quite clean!

Our first trip was to explore all the ruins, which is the main attraction of Indians to Hampi. There used to be a huge civilization, kings and all...temples, bathhouses, markets and more temples, even giant elephant stables!
Vishnu (I think) withthe head of a lion:

Lotus building:

Underwater Shiva temple...right out of the legend of Zelda!

We saw more than enough of it in the heat and headed back across the river and home. Home also had a wood burning oven where they made delicious pizzas! I should have told them about bagels too!

(Hey Lumer how am I doing with shpeleeng??)

Seeing a sunset on the rocks was another fun adventure, and a beautiful moment. We also headed to a giant resevoir blocked by a huge dam... this was fun but what a shvitz we had! Days started in Hampi with early morning yoga followed by a rest, food and another rest, then time to do something... By this time it was toohot and this led to great difficulty in peeling the hammocks off ourselves, creaming u and heading into the sun...It actually felt like heading into the sun. Talking to my dad who asked the temperature I said it was somewhere just over 30C. Then I found out it is closer to 40 than 30! That explained a lot!
So to go to the reservoir we decided to rent bikes, not the ones with motors! Sarah and I were both a little unsure about safely returning to the starting point in one piece on a motorized vehicle...

So in above 30 temp we headed out for a 40 minute ride uphill, except for one drop towards a river that we had to bike up the other side! What a trip! And when the dam was insight there was one final uphill challenge to get to it! At this point we found some shade beside a building and lay down for over an hour! After much focus we mustered the willpower to get up and head towards a spot where we could hop in the water... The area was full of boulders and flooded so you need to find one protruding from the water at a shallow enough angle to climb back out. One of us made it in and the other was a bit of a princess, and since I left my tiara at home I was the lucky one to go swimming! (This moment actually helped inspire my next destination...the ocean!)

Heading back was easier as it was all downhill minus the climb up the river bank, only a couple hundred meters of difficulty. If you ask me what I did that night I would tell yo I have no recollection, but I bet the sleep was real good!

The main focus in Hampi for westerners is rock climbing, or more specific here, bouldering, something I wanted to but never got around to doing. In the morning yoga always won out and in the afternoon I was too tired to learn a new sport... so that is still on the to do list...

The last thing we had to do was see a sunset at the Hanuman temple... he is a monkey god and of course after climbing 600 steps to the temple it was covered in monkeys! The temple was small but beautiful and the view was the best I had seen in Hampi... I was trying to decide where to go next, to some caves north of Mumbai or first to the beach... I am typing now 200 meters from the ocean...it wasn't really a choice!

Ooty, or Udhagamandalam if you prefer

2010-03-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Ooty and began the hunt for a guesthouse... after a pricey one we found the green view (or green valley) guest house. As soon as we took a room an Italian, David, asked if we wanted to do a hiking trip the next morning... I was quite game, as that is what we came to do. Then a guy I had met at the ashram came walking down the hall with his yoga mat and we had a funny reunion...what are the odds that we would be in the same hotel on the same floor right across fro each other 1 week after last meeting?! He let me know that the roof was great for yoga (the asanas part...there are many other parts of yoga other than the moving of the body! There is also a big part involving not moving the body or mind for that matter and also on how to conduct yourself... if you are bored or interested look up yamas and niyamas)

That night the German from the ashram (Yan) and his friend, the Italian and his friend (Sarah) and Sam and I all went out for a feast that couldn't be beat and didn't get up until the very next morning to start our hike!
Actaully we started with some yoga and breakfast and then met our guide.

Rajiv was/is a super interesting fellow. He knows lots about the local flora and fauna and even more about everything. It was hard to find a topic he couldn't converse about and he took a real pleasure in showing us around. We were so excited about the cooler temperatures that we didn't realize the sun was equally strong as in the rest of India! We all got great burns but it was worth it! The scenery was completely unexpected, beautiful mountains and grasslands and we walked through a tea plantation, picking some for ourselves...

There were many people working with giant baskets hanging on their backs strapped to their foreheads, and they were moving a little faster than us... All tea comes form the same plant, white, green and black that is, obviously mint is something else! It depends what part of the leaves you use and how it dries...if you take just the one new budding leaf that will be for white tea which is what we did and it was really yummy!

After that day we were quite tired but agreed to go for another hike the next day! That night was dinner and bed again! Somehow I was quite allergic to my room and couldn't stop sneezing all night... During the days it took a couple hours for my nose to stop running too...it was pleasant and unpleasant for me in Ooty!

The second hike was even more incredible than the first...we walked through rolling hills of grassland, something I have always wanted to do! Not to need a trail but not being in a flat field, it was just beautiful...
Both days we stopped to visit hill tribes who served us chai and we relaxed and saw where they lived... On the first day we got carrots picked right out of the ground, they were incredible! The best part was how juicy they were, almost like a fruit!

It was hard to decide if I should head back south into Kerala where there are beaches and the other Sivananda ashram in the south or head north towards Hampi, but in the end Hampi won and I set off with Sarah, a British lass who had been sharing the guest house with us in Ooty...

Ooty was really beautiful and there was much more to explore in the city that I didn't get too. Lots of Indian tourists go there as well, so there are shopping districts and restaurants on the mountainsides. If there weren't cows roaming the streets and rivers of poop and sewage lining the roads it could almost have been a city not quite entirely unlike something you would find in BC... That might have made it sound a little smelly, which it was, but no worse than anywhere else...what I was really trying to say is that if you are in India got to OOTY!

Sivananda Ashram, Madurai

2010-03-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to gettign to the ashram and it did not disappoint! What a great place to deepen a yoga practice and have great food at the same time! It had been a while since I woke up daily at 5:30 for meditation and followed it with a full 2 hours of yoga...not to mention 2 more hours in the afternoon and often another meditation. I arrived right at the end of a Teacher Training Course and got to join in on some of their classes which was a challenge...

I had classes with a wide variety of teachers, learning much each time... It is great to see how different people can change the emphasis of a class and make something different in the same format...

After 13 days I decided to head out as the heat was unbearable... The whole day, pretty much the time between the Asana classes it was too hot to be outside or inside... I would try to find some shade for reading but it was quite crazy! I met someone who said he was going somewhere cold with mountains and hiking so I headed off with him...

The day we met we had headed into Madurai to use the net and see the temple which was quite impressive.

We took off the day the new TTC started, after seeing the morning Puja, where the newbies were initiated...it was a neat Hindu purification ceremony led by the priest...

The trip to Ooty required a long train ride, a night at a hotel and then a special train ride up into the mountains...

It so worked out that the Gold Medal Olympic hockey game was to be played at 1:30am the night we were in the hotel! I looked through all the channels and found it on ESPN very blurry but visible! I actually felt like an American as I couldn't see the puck! So I had 1 hour of sleep that night and then woke up and watched 3 periods of hockey...It looked like the game would finish just in time for my train but alas it was tied up right at the end! For a while I was worried but we scored 5 minutes before I had to leave for my 5:15am train! How perfect!The only imperfect part was the announcer for the game! He was British and had no idea about anything to do with hockey...It was a laugh and my roommate was British but he slept through the game...otherwise I would have been shitting on the announcer to him non stop...After the first period he said how they had played a great half! Man oh man!
Pics and more to come soon!

Tiruvanamalai

2010-02-26T01:08:00.000-08:00

I took a bus to Tiruvanamali arriving at around 1am...This night was a festival for Lord Shiva, where the people walk 14km around a mountain chanting...or at least I think they are chanting, I arrived too late at night! My Tuk Tuk driver had to go to 5 different hotels until we found one that had a room and then I apparently did not tip him enough for his effort...Live and learn... Here are some pics of the holy temple in Tiruvanamalai...There were many of these giant structures... around the gates and inside, it is a huge complex but I was feeling a little camera shy

Getting blessed by an elephant...It is a Shiva temple and Shia's son is Ganesha, the kid with the head of an elephant who is also worshipped in southern India...He removes obstacles...I wonder and assume that this is has something to do with the elephant here...

I am guessign this fellow was part of the parade at night!

One of the many forms of transport!

These guys were my neighbors in the hotel...

This is a Dosa, a typical south Indian breakfast...it can come with some potato or other food inside and a couple dipping sauces...The hard part is to tear it with one hand!

Here I am with Kiran, who was the nephew of the owner of m hotel and who showed me around and helped me out! We went on a bike around the mountain stopping at a few ashrams and seeign what was up...some famous folks have ashrams int he area and while it is a popular place I wanted to go to the Sivananda ashram to continue the line of study I am used too

After a rough night of getting to know the floor of my bathroom and a day of recovery I headed to Madurai and The Sivananda Ashram...

Movie Star!

2010-02-24T03:54:00.000-08:00

On my last day in Mahabalipuram I was in an internet cafe in the morning and this man came to me and said "you're going to be in a movie today!" I thought this was a little weird but I had met a couple of swedes the night before who said they were going to be extras in a movie so I knew it was for real. He told me I would be with him all day and that I would get 700 rupees for my work and meals... I asked him if I could get to Tiruvanamalai that night and he assured me I could. Having learned from the past I made him promise if I couldn't he would put me up for the night in Chennai and that he would also get me to the bus station either way. We shook hands and he said he would be back for me in half an hour...I hurried to pack...

The first good sign is that half and hour later he was back...actually on time! I couldn't believe it! I headed with him to his car at another guest house and we waited for 2 British extras to get there gear and we headed to some science center building half an hour away. First they fed us and it was tasty, and then work started...

There were about 100 school children walking up the driveway to the main entrance and me and a British girl, dressed in our normal clothes had to walk down the other way... it seemed to be a big budget movie as all the kids had special made uniforms and it was a large production (I think)....

It turns out that it was a really big movie with one of India's most popular stars....

From this set we headed to the next one in Chennai... Here some of us got costumes! Check me out! I am supposed to be a scientist... Note the padding stripes on my knees!

I got this cool outfit from the Outfit bus, it was an old bus with all kinds of clothes and a sewing machine outside... They did lots of on the spot work for some of the actors...

We waited for while outside, then got to go to an airconditioned area inside...it was in a convention hall redecorated to show off new robots...after sitting for an hour we went back out for lunch! It was a feast! And what a feast! So yummy! Best part of the day!
Then we got to wait some more and finally they were ready to shoot! I had to walk past some exhibits and point them out to some younger Indian girls as if I was explaining things! I had lots of fun making up what to say! Unfortunately it made them burst out laughing but hopefully no one will notice and the scene will make the film! Then we had to do it a couple more times, sometimes I was alone just browsing...we all had similar things to do, but the two Brits might have a closeup!In the same scene we at least a hundred kids being shown around by a guide... and many other people looking around...It must have been very hard to organize all this...apparently the kids' school gets paid for their involvement... It was also fun to be the token white guy! It was like the opposite of a Hollywood movie....
Here is a car that was later covered with bullet holes!

You can see all the people trying to catch a glimpse of the star....he was not there but no one would listen...every once in a while security would push them all back and then 2 minutes later they would be climbing the fence...I felt funny being there while it was not such a big deal with hundreds of people trying to push their way in!

As it got dark I was worryinbg about catching my bus abnd they kept tellin gus just one more scene, and then I went to look for the car with my bag and everyting in it and it was gone! I panicked that they took some of the other extras to the train and I had lsot everything...but after 5 frantic minutes I found everyone and they had jsut moved the car... The man in charge of the extras, who was super kind then said ok no more scenes and paid a taxi to take me to the bus station.... It was a fun day! And I made about 15 dollars learnign how movies are made!

Mahabalipuram

2010-02-24T01:50:00.000-08:00

From Chennai I headed to Mahabalipuram, which was a great destination to start in. It is a tourist town, with many guest houses, internet cafes and white people. Normally all things I hope to keep to a minimum around me but I really needed a few days of comfort! The area is famous for stone carvings, many people all over making small and large ones, and then there are the very large 1000yr old ones!

This is carved right into a rock mountain!

There was a priest on the street doing a puja to Hanuman, who is the monkey demi god seen later below, and I watched and got 'blessed'...for a few ruppes ofcourse!

There is a fellow mmaking beautiful art...it looks like he puts each drop of flour down one at a time, but whathe has, and has to sell are rollers, height of a toilet paper roll, but much skinnier with holes around it in a design...he fills it with colored flour and then rolls it on the ground!

Here is an old temple bythe beach...While there were many poeple swimming, after thailand this beach was very unappealing...one reason is that the locals use it as a toilet... Im also spoiled bywhite sand and aquamarine water! (That seems like a funny expression, as if I am describing water twice with the word water... as if saying the pea was a greeny greenish green)

A funeral ceremony in town... I thought it might be a wedding, there were instuments and dancers in the small parade!

Another carved hillside at the 5 Rathas

Met some friends upa hill, they very badly wanted me to take their photo...

Just at the top of town a huge park filled with ancient carvings!

These elephants are lifesized...

Mahabalipuram has many yoga studios and massage parlors and I had one decent class there.... Just after I arrived most of the 'master' teachers headed to a certain region to celebrate a Shiva festival...so I realized I should head off...I was planning on going to Tiruvanamalai as there is a Shiva temple there but I got sidetracked!

India

2010-02-19T22:17:00.000-08:00

Greetings from India....

Flying in to India was great, I had 2 flights one better than the next. The first one was from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. While I didn't get to go the the Malaysian rain forest at least I got to see lots of it! Most was beautiful, you can see winding rivers and imagine all the life below!
The next part was lots of clearcuts. Huge! Giant! Sad! But we like our forest products...
Leaving KL for Chennai, India they bumped me to business class.

This was quite swell and I lived like a king for 3 or 4 hours! My chair turned into a bed, they brought food and drinks every 15 minutes and my TV screen we pretty big...

When I landed it was already 10pm and I had no idea what to do! Coming out of the airport there are thousands of peole waiting for arrivals with signs of all sizes and shapes....I exchanged some money and got a cab. I had a man from the company walk me to the cab and he really wanted to carry my bag. I figured this was a service and said OK. When we got there he wanted a tip and all I had was a 50 rupee note...My 25 minute cab ride was prepaid at 250rs so I had to tip this guy a lot of money....
I had the name of one hotel I found online and asked the cab to take me there. When I arrived I found it more expensive than it was advertised and found another spot. The next morning my adventures began.

So far I had no problem on the trip without a guidebook or any city maps...Most hostels had maps of the local town and there were always people around to help... In Chennai it was very different! I didn't even know what part of the city I was in...nor how big it was...I thought I was flyin into a small city, not a giant busy 'metropolis'. I headed out not knowing where I was going or what I was doing, but it was exciting! New sights sounds and smells all around.... The idea of lanes in the roads are slightly different than what I am used to and cars and Tuk Tuks go everywhere while scooters and bikers weave through them... Being a pedestrian is a good challenge and son to be part of the Pan Asian games!

There were so many food stands and restaurants and I wanted to visit them all...but how many breakfasts can you have in one morning? If you read that as a rhetorical question than you have misread. The answer is three.

Breakfast in south India is usually a Dosa, this is a large thin pancake often with some potato curry inside and one or two dipping sauces as well...A red one and a white one made from coconut. You use your right hand to eat and it is hard to learn to tear the pancake with only one hand! But it is apparently a learnable art as millions of people succeed at it even as you read this!

I noticed some guys staring at my yellow Crocs so I went to say hello and we spoke for an hour...

He is putting something akin to chewing tobacco in his mouth...

I wanted to find the MRTS, I didnt know if it is a subway or a train but either way it passed not far from where I was and not far from where I wanted to go..(according to the internet)

So I went about asking folks where the nearest station was. One man very surely told me to walk 10 minutes in a certain direction and I would be there. I did so and when I arrived I asked where it was. Someone else pointed back the way I came and said 10 minutes that way. Then the next person said go two streets and take a left. I did and was introduced to a dead end....Apparently this is about as fast as you can get around in cities here! So I hopped in a tuk tuk...3 wheel taxi and headed to the Sivananda yoga center for a class.... This helped ground me but the teacher was tough and did things to my body that I felt for the next 3 days... He did not adjust me gently...

The folks at the yoga center we very kind, maybe they noticed my unease at ebing in the city... They fed me and then suggested I head to Tiruvannamalai, a nice town on the beach with some ancient temples and carvings and this is what I did the very next day....

Hong Kong

2010-02-10T01:05:00.001-08:00

Of all the places int he world to visit I never put much consideration
into seeing Hong Kong. I like nature, clean air and and not a fan of
the banking (mainly the lines suck) and I like to see the open sky (unless it is blocked my huge mountians). So when I realized I was going to go to Hing Kong I had surprised myself. But I have been known to do
weirder things in the past and will hopefully continue to do even weirder things int he future.
Here is the bag a lucky kid had on the plane!

And the sky!

The Hong Kong airport was very polite, just like the rest of the area!

A friend I had met in Thailand, Shani, had said I am welcome to visit
her in Hong Kong if ever I wanted, and the more I thought about it the
more it seemed like a good idea. How often is one able to pop into
Hong Kong? With out taking into consideration that going to HK on my
way to India was like someone going from Montreal to Toronto on their
way to New York, I was off!

And what a place..

Being in Hong Kong is like being inside an M.C. Escher painting
crossed with a melting pot of society. Roads, building,s and
escalators criss and cross and zig together (I didnt notice any
zagging) You can drive up to a building, with the road on the ground,
and be at the tenth floor and the elevators go down. When you go down
you emerge again on the ground. There are certainly some laws of
physics being broken but as there is no physics police Hong Kong gets
away with it. There is an 800 meter long escalator going up or
down...you can go down until 10am then up the rest of the day, and too
much more to describe.

As traffic can be deadly there are helpful hints all around!

The buildings area whole other story that
will have to be described my pictures to save me thousands of words.(actually you just need to see it for yourself)

These are during the nightly light shows! These lights are not fixed and move to the music! Every night at 8pm...

The people are a whole other story. I used to think Montreal was
multicultural...Now I know what multicultural means. Hong Kong seems
to have a representative from every corner of our round world. It is
fascinating.

What is similar to Montreal is a mountain in the city that you can go
up and presumably see the whole area from. I did not get to do this
as it was very cloudy and we saw lots of water vapor. Occasionally a
building would wipe the water from its face and we would be able to
glimpse the windows and a blurred shape. Fortunately on the way down
we were seated on the top floor of a double decker bus and actually
had an amazing view. Possibly to most exciting bus ride I have been
on. I saw round towers, and square ones, some that were a bit of both,
there was a building on stilts, and other unimaginable
constructions...

Every time we went out we happened to go by Hong Kong park... This is an interesting place in the center of town. The is an aviary, with hundreds of cool and interesting birds,

its a giant screened in multi level area...you start in the canopy height and slowly wind down, also cool plants on the trees...

There are some interesting fountains and a super veggie Dim Sum/Tea house. Everyone has to order a tea and then the waiter comes and does the proper tea ceremony for whatever you ordered! It can get quite elaborate, and it was all served with a smile!

Shani is a chazan in a reform shul and I went for Shabbat service. It was great to see a non sexist (in my opinion...some people think putting women in the back because it is the man's job to pray and the woman's to raise kids as not sexist...if you think so tell me why!) services. Also a woman chazan with a great voice! You can barely get me into a synagogue in Canada but put me in Hong Kong and the Payis is already growing!
After too short a time I was off to India!

Ko Bulon

2010-02-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

Greetings!
I have fallen behind and will now attempt to catch up some....

Leaving Surin I headed back to Kao Lak for a night in Pak Bara, and then in the morning headed off south to get to Ko Bulon, an island a German man had recommended. This was to be my last venture in Thailand before taking off. I spenf one night in Pak Bara, the port town and took the ferry the next morning. 3 tour operators wanted to sell me the boat ticket all at different prices and after buying the cheapest one I went to sleep. In the morning I noticed there was also a ticket booth at the marina selling the ticket for 50 baht cheaper... Such is life!

Pak bara is a fishing town...

The speed boat headed to the island and met local boats to transfer us to shore. You pay 50 Baht for this. It must be a way to increase local profit. I went to a place called Jungle hut which had a super friendly staff and said I could stay in a tent for 50 Baht a night. They thought I wanted one of their tents and when they saw I had my own said I could stay for free! Super kind people. Of course for this reason I ate plenty at their restaurant so everyone won.
The island is divided in 2 parts with a giant hill in the middle and a 15 minute walk to the other side. The other side is where the snorkeling was so it was good exercise. Right at the top was a bar called the Bong hut or Bong bar and it had a couple Rasta Thais who were of course always smiling and happy to see you. It made for a nice stop before going down the other side. The place smelled like a concert and no one seemed to mind.

After 3 nights I moved my tent to the other side on the beach but had to walk 200 meters for a toilet. It was well worth it to see the sun rise!

One f the coolest things about the island is the hornbills! Giant birds with giant yellow horns! I saw one in a tree and one on the ground that then took off. I missed the exact moment of takeoff as something was scratching me inside my shirt which i shook out...then scratched my arm and pulled a very weird and scary looking caterpillar thing out of my sleeve. By then the bird had just spread its wings and started up. It was a great sight... It almost made me forget to shiver about the weird thing that was with me for who knows how long!
Some activities I engaged in at this island included lying in my hammock, sitting in my hammock, seeing if I can find knew ways to lie and sit in my hammock and sitting in my hammock while reading, listening to music, and finding knew ways to sit and read and listen to music in it. After all this work and excitement I was lucky to have a hammock to relax in! I also went swimming and snorkeling and walked up and down the ill a few times a day. I also learned world history (audio books are great) and stood on my head.

The island is not to exciting to talk about but it is a great place for the above mentioned activities. The reefs are not as beautifuil as the other places but it is much more quiet and relaxed.

On the last day I hopped the boat back to pak bara and then took a bus to Phuket, where IW as flying out of.

Phuket treated me well, but I did not have time to explore the beaches, I only saw the city proper. It is now full of resorts and fance stuff, and I probably would not have gone to see it if I had the time. I had one last foot massage and got on the airport shuttle.

The flight to Hong Kong had some beautiful clouds....

Surin Islands

2010-01-24T20:53:00.000-08:00

Returning from the similan islands the boat I was on went to a different port than the one I left from. I had asked an american girl working on theboat where I should stay and she offered me the floor of her hallway. The hallway was quite wide. So with nothing left to worry about I headed to Khao Lak.

Nomi (who takes videos of snorkelers on day trips so gets to snorkel every day) lives in a thai neighbourhood and it was interesting to see what the average home could look like. A narrow apartment, with an open room, a closed bedrooom and a small kitchen, no fridge. And a carpark. I stayed for 2 nights making plans to go to Surin...the boats were full on the first day. The town was very expensive and there are a number of resorts up the beach... I had no idea this was around...

I arrived at the surin islands and was hoping for better luck with my tent. It turned out they had a whole campground for people with tents and it was also 80 baht, under 3 dollars a night. There is some snorkelling form the beach and they do 2 trips a day for 2 hours each to other places that are spectacular.

After 3 days I went top another campground which had more travellers, every one in tents... It was relaxing, there was a mangrove forest, dry in low tide and knee deep in high. In high tide you can walk into the mangrove area and see baby sharks swimming around your feet! They are no dangerous but the bigger ones are scary.

Look in the topright corner of the pic below

On one snorkel trip, I was in a shallow area and 3 meters away a shark swam by... It was only 1.5m but big enough to lok fierce although it is mostly harmless...

On other trips I saw giant eels and an octopus along with forests of coral and a really weird crab...

There are many hermit crabs here,

Hanging out on the beach... The tides came in right up to the hammocks

There were many Koreans travelling around this area, and I learned a little of Korea...

The local boats...

Similan Isalnds!

2010-01-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

Before leaving Bangkok for probablky the l;ast time I had one more thing I wanted to do. To visit the neighbourhood I went to on my first day where I was trying to meet my couchsurfing host. As that failed (her sister was sick) I left the area and always wanted to go back without my big bag to explore. The area has no white people and seemed like fun to walk around.

I hoppedon the metro thinking I remembered the station to get off at, it had been alost 2 moinths, and sure enough it was the wrong neighbourhood where I ended up. I was on a big street and I picked a direction and started walking.. I went through a small market and after 20 minutes I thought I recognized an intersection... Somehow I stumbled on the right place! I was thrilled and walked on... The area was not full of hirises but small apartments and stores and it was great to see an area that is the type that I am guessing most people in Bangkok live in.

There were lots of stalls with many things...

Here is some dragonfruit...

The sidewalk...This is why I wanted to come back without my bag!

Similan Islands!!

An hour boat ride form the town of Kao Lak takes you to the Similan Islands... Divers paradise and travellers too. I hear you could camp with your own tent on the 8th out of 9 Islands and the boat I took which was also a snorkel tour boat was going to drop me there. I got out all excited and the tour operator went to help me get a tent site. The man incharge of the park didn't seem to open and started telling me I couldn't put my tent and I would have to rent theirs. Then I said the website said it was ok, and he and the woman started talking and their voices raised...This is veryunusual for Thai people who never raise voices even when very angry... Then he pointed at me and then to the ocean..."get off my island"... This was getting very weird... I asked what was happening and he put his wrists together in the "I will have you arrested" sign.

At this point I didnt want to stay anyways and felt very akward. I had barely said more than two words to this man. The tour lady was also furious and told me to wait. She called Island 4 which is the only other Island where you can stay and said I could stay there but in one of their tents. I said ok as I had already paid 30 dollars to get out there.

We went to Island 4 and the people were frinedly. It was 400 Baht, ~$12 to rent their tent, and I jsut decided to mention I had mty own...They said ok, just for me I can put my tent for 80 Baht, ~$3.50... Somehow I was very lucky and my stay in paradise began... Everyone who works on the diveboats or other tourist places says they never heard of someone else being allowed to put up their own tent...

This (above) is the view form the lookout of Island 4... On the bottom is the back beach where the sun rises, a 5 minute walk from the tents on the other side. The dark patches in the water are corals...

On one of the days I went for a dive and I snorkelled on all the others...The water is incredibly clear, visibility as good as a brand new bathtub! I saw a sea snake, thousands of fish (including a lion fish) hard and soft corals and much more!

I didnt realize how popular this area is... There are many families and 'rich' tourists, I am the only one with a backpack...Its fun to be in a different atmosphere but not as relaxing.

One night I went for a swim and the ocean was phosphorescent! Every tme you move the water around you lights up! A crazy experience!

Here is the view from Island 8

And the famous rock on island 8

A crab on the beach in Kao Lak

I went here after the Similans to get to my next destination. This is one of the areas that was it hard by the tsunami and there are now warnign signs all over.

Here is a pitcher plant! It eats insects! You can see them being dissolvedin a liquid if you look into the pitcher!

Ko Samed

2010-01-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

Through a friend I met in Vientiane I met two more Israelis, Shani and Inbal and headed to Ko Samed with them. It is an Island 4 hours form Bangkok and many Thai tourists head there over new years. It was very interesting! At night the restaurants put out tables on the beach with beautiful lights... But this is a dangerous area! There are many fireworkes and people don't seem to think about where they set them off! It gets quite scary!

The freakiest firework experience was a group of Thai guys who had 1 meter long thin ones. They would shoot out around 20 colorful flares each. They decided to use them as laser guns! What they didnt realize was that if they didnt hit their target the shot would keep going towards all the other people! It was frightening but hilarious!

After 2 nights Shani had to return to work and Inabl and I headed to the tip of the island to put up my tent for the very first time! The tip is a peninsula and it was almost deserted...We paid about a dollar each per night to stay in paradise....

You could see sunrise and sunset form the same point!

Hammock time!

Tea time!

Goodbye sun!

There was snorkellig right where we were camping and we also walked up the road a few tiomes to some resorts for a change of pace and menu... The park had cheap food and it was tasty but it was the exact same rice and mixed vegetables at every meal! Yet somehow it went down quite well each time!

Snorkelling was almost scary as the visibility was not greatbut there were still many big fish...so you would only see thewm when they were very close...the colors were great and I saw many things I had never seen before!

Bangkok yet again!

2010-01-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

After not liking Bangkok so much the first time I was back. I was also on a holy mission to get a tent. On my way I passed a railroad crossing... The man with the flag waves down the carts and rolls the white barrier across the street.... And this is at a major thoroughfare...

I found my tent... and went to the weekend market with another Israli friend a a Canadian too.

The Sith are the lords of the dark side of the force. If you didnt knwo this please take a moment and watch Star Wars, Episodes 1-6.

In the same market in a corner I came across this!

After one visit to the empirail palace which I felt was a waste of time I decided to return with a small group of friends. This time I enjoyed it much more... maybe it was the weather...

So on the way to the palace we met a guy who said it was Sunday and the palace is closed until afternoon. I got upset with him and told my freinds we should just go... eventually we did, but I got some looks for being rude. At the corner of the palace it happened again with a stranger walking up to us being helpful and telling us the palace was closed cause its Sunday. I was mad again and we left. Two minutes later we arrived at the palace to find it closed...Just kidding it was open! These people tell you with a straight face that it is closed and eventually will try to sell you some other tour under the guise of being helpfull. So my rudeness was vindicated! I don't usuallythink it is ever good to be rude but when someone is obviously lying to your face and trying to take advantage of you it is hard to be too friendly.

The next place we went was Wat Arun. I had been wanting to go since my first visit to Bangkok but every time it was feasible to go it was too late in the day and it was closed. Its an old wat and on the side of the river...I found it very beautilful.

lkjl

Here is one example of some Bangkok archetecture...

We went to eat in a crazy foodcourt with aquariums in the center of the tables!

Freaky xmas deco!

Vang Vieng and Vientiane

2010-01-06T17:29:00.000-08:00

Vang Vieng is spring break with no rules. It is anarchy gone mad, it is another world. It is a small town along a river with beautiful muontains. As you walk through the town all you hear is family guy and friends playing at every bar and restaurant. Sometimes you can catch the simpsons or a movie. The reason for this is that by the time people get to the restaurants they are smashed, high, drunk, tripping, pie eyed, messed up or coming down.

The main attration of the town is floating down the river for a few hours in a tube. The river is lined with bars. Each bar has a giant slide or zipline to catapolt you into the water and they serve lots of drinks and shots and the famous bathtub made drink Lao lao. This is along with 'happy pizza' that will make you see god and the devil or both and the same. My first zipline... you hold a bar then let go over the river was fun until my feet hit the ground in the river... I didnt break any bones but I realized safety might be an issue hear, and as the river was running low at the time I didnt go for any more of the 'attractions'. As you walk through town there are drunk and screaming tourists googlyeyed and unable to deal with the feeling that the laws of gravity seem to be on holiday too. What could be better than to plop down for 4 hours of family guy! At the bars you can get the 'happy pizza' either green or fungus, you can buy spliffs or go for the happy 'O' tea. I didnt go for this but I did enjoy the fact that happy hour at the bars mean a spliff with every order. So why was I here you might ask? One reason is that Sam (remmeber Sam? form the last post) well he was there and we hgappened to be destined to run into each other everywhere... As well there is stuning scenery and some good hiking...Aparently caves too but it was closed when I went. Here is the way up this knob... There was a sign saying this way to go up the ountain, I had thought it was a day hike, but it was only 15 minutes, but well worth it...

On top I founs this neat nest/hive that I watched for al ong time...so cool to see the wasps goingin and out, crawling all over each other...I pointed it out to some other peole and except for one man eveyone freaked out!

The view of Vang Vieng

The mountains the river runs through...

This is the Knob

I headed next to Vinetiane the capital of Laos to get a Visa for Thailand...Here is my one picture of the city... I was happy not to have to spend too much time there... On the street the dy I arrived I once again bumped into Sam who was on his way to a nature reserve for a night....

My hotel had a strict policy w\hcih helped explain my sudden popularity...

It is not every night I walk home and have 5 or 6 beautiful girls (atleast they all looked like girls) try to pic me up... Then I realized they were more interested in my wallet than me... but i felt like a star for a while... It takes on night to get a visa which gave me a day to walk around some which I did with a girl I met at the Thai embassy. We happened to be eating at the smae indian restaurant a 30 minute walk form the embassy so that was to large a coincidence not to talk about. At night I was half spectating and half participating in a conversation about Israle between to very opposite ends of the spectrum. On side was a right wing Israeli... and the other a left... while I am usually left sided they both had great arguments, many dates and facts and truly elieved with their hearts whatthey were saying. It was very interesting...

The next day I received my visa and headed to the night train to Bangkok.... Guess who was in my car?? Thats right, SAM! The last Sam sighting was in the morning at the Bangkok train station but who knows...maybe he is right next door... and maybe he is looking over your shoulder..if he is say Hi for me!

Whe I crossed the border to thailand...you take a short train to the border, wlak across and get on the sleepr train to Bangkok, this army officer was taking pictures of the people coming through. So I smiled and took out my camera and took a pic of him. Luckily he smiled and thought it was funny... It is generally not good to joke at borders....

The night train was great, it is very comfy and I slept most of the way...It was also christmas eve and when I woke I found to my dismay that Santa had not found me! (Last year I got a pair of socks)

Luang Prabang!

2010-01-06T06:54:00.001-08:00

I arrived in Luang Prabang...yes that is the name of the city with nowhere to go... It was night and time to find a bed... While walking around someone called out a hello to me... I found this amusing as I knew no one there but it turned out to be a guy I met on the second boat ride. He had just got into a room with two beds and was wondering if I wanted to split it. Perfect...

First we went out on the town to eat... and ended up at a veggie buffet at a night market... you get to fill u p your plate as much as possible with food for less than a dollar.... Across from us was a girl on her own so after dinner she joined us to walk around the night market...

In the pic is Sam (roomate) and the girl... She had an urge to try some special food.... Cow Brain! And she bit into it with no hesitation... A true champion of bravery!

To be accommodating we just left the key at the reception of the hotel so we could both go in and out... From that point we barely saw each other anymore for 2 days but kept doing the same things a few hours apart! I woke up early the next morning to see the monks doing their rounds receiving food...

That day I was off to waterfalls... after seeing the monks Sam was gone so I left him a note about the waterfalls... when I went to check later he was not there... After a great day at some beautiful falls (lost the pics) I got a message at the room that Sam went to the same place... And like that for 2 days we kept following each other without touching base...
Luang Prabang is apparently a beautiful French colonial city with great architecture... I must have missed it... I found it alright but nothing to make it a world heritage site as it is... One funny moment was when someone tried to sell me drugs directly in front of the police anti drug squad building! You hear rumors of people selling stuff to tourists and then making more money turning them in to the cops but this was too much!

After 2 days it was off to Vang Vieng...where you will never find the more wretched hive of scum and villany....

Jesus... Alive and well In New Zealand!

2010-01-06T06:26:00.000-08:00

This day is a travel day. A day of travel by boat. The first boat trip is a 1 hour trip back down the river to the town I started in...Then a roughly 5 hour journey further down the Nam Ou river until it joins the Mekong, just before Luang Prabang, my destination.

There had been a group of New Zealanders at the hostel we were at, and they were all part of the same family. I happened to be sitting next to them on the hour long boat trip down the river. After just finishing an article discussing archeology in Israel I was ripe with ideas of historical inaccuracies in the bible.

I mentioned some of these to my seat mates and we kept talking. Then it came up that they were pretty hardcore Christians (my term...meaning biblical literalists)... I don't know how to handle such a situation. One wants to respect everyone for their beliefs, but it is hard when someone is believing that the earth is no more than 10 000 years old. As well as the belief that if they had not been indoctrinated (my term) at a young age they would surely have chosen to believe in a 2000 yr old reform rabbi as the son of God. It goes even deeper as since I do not choose to accept Jesus I will not be continuing on to the kingdom of heaven with the rest of them. This is no metaphor, it is real. I want to accept everyone but this seems to be based on not wanting to know truth and facts and just choosing to believe in things. Is it harmless? Or not? Choosing to disregard facts... Carbon dating for one... is deluding yourself... but as they are praying for me I should be happy with them... but the craziest thing is that they probably don't even believe in Yoda!

So the boat ride was interesting, we had a good discussion and I am as hard headed in my beliefs as they are in theirs... But the reason of if you accept Jesus you have nothing to lose and if you don't then you might be making a huge mistake doesn't seem to convince me!

The next part of the ride had some of the nicest scenery I have ever experienced. It was around 5 hours, but much more comfortable. The first boat was very squishy, everyone sitting on low benches on the floor, but this time there were individual seats, and even a place to stand up and take in the whole view!

I walked up to the front of the boat (luckily the boat had a roof on it) and there is a gap in the roof were you can stand and enjoy the view... This next pic looks to the front...

And this one is looking towards the back at a fellow taking advantage of the view...

mmm....Mountains!

Here you can see mans impact on the land...

And a great sunset on the water!

Where we are going there are no roads!

2009-12-25T02:32:00.000-08:00

The first photo is form the boat as we pulled into Muong Ngoi...

This town has one road and no cars! I don't even think I saw a motorbike...so the air was super! We stayed at a guest house in the center of town mainly because of a talkative lady who ran the place and it had comfy hammocks! One of the first things to do was to construct a new Channukiah, (blogger is telling me I am not spelling Channukiah right but it is offering no better suggestions.... a wise man once said to me, only bring up a problem when you have a solution, so f*ck off blogger and lets build Chanookyahs!)

This is possibly the first even Chanoukiha built by a Lao man. He is hammering bottlecaps into a piece of wood for us! We lit the candles in a restaurant and attracted some curiosity from the locals....

From the town you can hike half an hour to a cave...there is a man charging 10000kip, around 7 dollars to go to the cave and to the villages up the road. The cave was neat and the village was alrtight...The scenery was great! Here is a harvested rice field...with a low cloud cover... It was cloudy every day until noon when in 3 minutes the sun would come out and kick your ass for the next 5 hours...

Another field deepr in... It was expensive ot hire a guide to go up a mountain and I figured I could just do it on my own...I was very wrong... There are the beginnings of many trails, and afer a few minutes i was crouching so low I could smell my feet. Then the trails would end, and with a few more thorns in my skin then when I started I would head down and try another... After a few of these I decided to walk in the fields and that a guide would be necessary to get to the top of one of these mountains...

I don't think it was Santa Clause, but someone was dropping presents over this part of Laos... Here are a few relics, they are all over, turned into planters, benches and anything else you can think of... The USA has left many of these gifts all over the country... I think they were trying to boost the economy as the metal can be sold...The only catch is that bombs are prone to exploding.

Here is the view form a restaurant at sunset... This is why I have been wanting to climb one of these mountains!

The next day I had my chance... We were a group of four and our guide... It was Isreal time for the day and my companions were very kind to keep the conversing to English... It is incredible that most people I meet speak as good English if not better than I do French. I grew up with French around me and they only learn English in school... Shouldn't all Montrealers be completely fluent? French is forced on us so hard and every action has an opposite reaction, I think most of us push it away. This type of learning doesnt allow for any enjoyment. There is little or no push to explain how incredible it is to know another language...To be able to communicate with more people..and French leads to Spanish and Italian and romance!

Back to the trek

We went the cheap route on a guide and looked and through our hostel got one that spoke no English (or Hebrew)... But he had a machete and the shoes every other guide weras...They look like dress shoes but they are on peice of rubber...

We started by being canoed across the river and then hiking in a field...We followed a stream for a while and then headed up.... For short bursts we were on something resembling a trail then climbing a dry streambed...and clombing is the right term, over rocks and boulders and trees... The whole time I had my head bent low as while our guide was constantly using his machete he is much shorter than all of us... That is my greatest complaint of Thai and Lao guides... Part way up our guide stopped for a swig of Lao Lao... Home made rice whiskey... we had water... The climb was tough and fun...at one poitn our guide told us to wait and he took off to find out whre to go...a few minutes later he was back and up we went. As we were nearing the top he left us again and we were just tlaking for what seemd like a while when we wondered if he was cming back at all... We were somewhere up in the jungly mountains, with no discernable trail near us... After what felt like 15 minutes but was probably closer to 10 we heard him... And he led us through throns and over rocks to a great lookout!

Here is the town we were staying in and the valley with the rice fields form the other pics...

Somehow our guide stumbled onto the trail on the way down and we got to the bottom skidding and skiing and sliding and grabbing...It was fun... Once down we had to walk in a river to get out... we didnt know this was coming and it was fun and scary being barefoot in a stream where the bottom is not always visible... When we got back to the boat to cross the river there was no boat! Yonathan (husband to Efrat seen above) and I had been tlaking about swimming back and this was the last bit of motivation we needed ... Our guide found a boat to use and we used our arms... It was refreshing after a full days exercise....

Laos 2,Luang Namtha and Nong Kiaw

2009-12-22T20:10:00.000-08:00

Laung Namtha is a good stopover on the way to Nong Kiaw, a great town on a river.... Here is anold temple seen during a day bike ride... There are someiterestig details in the fading paint, and many gruesome scenes of torture like in Nan...

There were many school kids heading home

This bridge was too scary for me to bike across but she had no problem ona motorcycle... A small window into how we can adapt to any situation...

From Luang Namtha I was on a local bus to Nong Kiaw and we stopped onthe side of the road for a pee and some food. It is interesting to see what was for lunch! When I went to take the picture this guy moved! He was still alive.... and so plump and yummy!

The bus station was on one side of this bridge and the guesthouses on the other... Right away I felt great being here!

Here is the view from the bridge...

Walking in the town the childrenwere all camera happy!

Here is a school just out for lunch

Looking at the river all I wanted to do was to canoe! And so it came to pass... Another guy had the same idea and we hired 3 boats between the 7 of us and tried outluck on the river... A canoe made out of strips of 2 by 8s and other radom and not so random peices of wood does not handle like the boats I am used to... Also going upstream on an unfamiliar river is not easy. but it is lots of fun! I started in the back and unbeknownst to me my friend in the front was getting quite upset with our constant spinning around and inability to go in a straight line! I felt like I was doing a pretty good job. Of course once we switched places it became obvious that even the inventor of the canoe, sir John A.Paddle McUpriver would have been hardpressed to go in a straight line.

After several 200 meter jauntsof walking theboat upthe faster partso the current, and several quite lovely paddles on slower water we stopped at anideal beach for lunch and rest.

That night was the second nigth of Channukahand we made a Channukiah and some Latkes (thanks to Yonatan) and had a little celebration

There is a town up river called Muang Ngoi, it is only accessible by boat and the ideal spot to continue to... The town Iwas leavig had no phone ATM or internet (although there were signs for wireless buti never saw it in use) and theplace we headed to didnt even have motorize vehicles! Here is the boat!

And the view!

Arriving in Laos

2009-12-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

Crossing into Houei Xai Laos...

From the boat you walk up a ramp and wait in a jumble of people to get a visa...After a while a man came up to me, he had been handing out forms and asked me for my passport...I handed it to him and he disappeared... 15 minutes ater people further up the ine near a window started calling out for a Canadian...I waked up and my passport had a visa in it...I just had to pay... Take a look at the pricing for Visas...then look at Canada!

What have we done to have to pay more than any other country in the world to visit Laos?

Once across and at the bus staion itwas time for sticky rice to enjy as we headed on the crazy bumpy road to Vieng Poukah...

They are all for breastfeeding in Vieng Poukah! Good show!

We were ony there for a night and went on a hike with 2 guys form Switzerland and a guy from France...so the french was flowing on this trip...

Here is lunch on the first day of the hike... Our lead guide and one of the Swiss guys... There is dried fried fish, rice, veggies, a pork dish, and fried bananas in dough for dessert!

This is our home for the night, a cabin in a village.we kept the roosters out at night but there cockadoodledoing came in anyways...

Here is out other guide getting dinner ready...It is neat to see how much work goes into making a chicken when it does not come wrapped in Styrofoam and plastic.

Here is what came of the chicken...They added a bowl of greens after...

Outside we had some pigheaded guards...

They were cute and ate anything...

Here is I think the headman in the village enjoying smoking a cigarette out of a bamboo bong.

On the second day we came to another village, here is a spirit sign on the entrance, If these are new you are not supposed to enter the village as they are doing a ceremony...

Pai Again

2009-12-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

From the cave lodge we headed back to Pai for the rice festival at an organic farm. I stayed next door to my original cabana space, but went back there to grab my hat that I had forgot.

We were at the festival for the final day and rented motorbikes to ride the 5 kms out of town to get there. That night representatives of local hilltribes perfomed music and dance and there was food and fun. They lit giant torches and we saw a grand full moon.

The next day we headed back to Chiang Mai to catch a bus towards the border. In Chiang Mai we found a veggie buffet and ate until it hurt and then had some more...there was a yummy bamboo dish and some other great stuff...
We stayed at a hostel run by a frnech coupe and all the signs said veggie restaurant too...that is what attracted me.... It turned out the restaurant had converted to the dark side and they hadnt changed the signs...
For breakfast we went to where I had done the cooking class....and then went to the bus station for the several hour trip to the border town, Chiang Kong.
We arrived around dark and left in the morning.... the highlight is that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was playing and as we all felt like him after being in the caves and jungles and I had been singing the music almost every day it was great to hear it played out loud...

In the morning the lady at the hostel loaded us into the back of her pickup and drove us to the border. I was on my last day of my Thai visa and got out just in time. We took a boat across the Mekong and ined up to get into Laos...

Cave Lodge

2009-12-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

After running into a Quebec friend at just the right time we left Pai towards Soppong, or Pang Mappa if you prefer. We were riding on the local bus doors open and peope possessions rolling out down the mountain... I enjoyed the view, oreos and some Tom Robbins.
From the bus stop it is an 8km trip to Ban Tam, the village where the lodge is. We went by motorbike/taxi, but this time I was prepared. I put some of my heavier objects in my day pack and handed it to the driver to store between his legs.... Then big pack on my back I hopped on and off we went.

The cave lodge is a beautfu pace to stay, it has a large covered deck on a steep slope with bungalows on the slope leading down to a river. There is also a dorm and my friend and I opted for this. We were there for roughlyt a week and had the area to ourselves the whole time. Basically it was a private room for half the price.

That very night was an interesting one. A group of Japanese tourists were due to arrive. It turned out that they were form a hilltribe in Japan coming for a cultural exchange with the local hiltribe. After arriving they put on their traditional dress and prepared for the ceremonies to come. From what I gathered from the animals on their headdresses and my limited knowledge of local hilltribes they both could have been practicing some form of Animism and this may be what catalysed the exchange.

In good stereotype the Japanese (keep in mind they are from a somewhat remote hilltribe) took constant photos, wanting pics of us as well, and pics with us and pics without us, it was lots of fun.

Once eveyone was together there was a parade to the center of town and then some music and dancing. 2 localmen put on a costume similar to a chinese new year dragon ony the head was a skull similat to an antlered deer. (real skull) The frontman was the head and the man in back was bent over the whole time mabe holding the waist of the front man. They put on a fantastic show and in the fading ight could easiy have been mistook for a real creature. The movements weere perfectly co-ordinated and they danced in a very jerky but smooth way. Hows that for a descirption? Every noe and then a local would put some money into the circle wherew the dance was going on and they would pause, dance up to the money and then the head would look around and then scoop it up. Everyone seemd to enjoy.
The japanese demonstration was a little quieter with some songs we were abe to repeat and then we retreated to the lodge for supper.

While the dorm was cheap, eating was not but the food was great. (especiay the garic bread which had huge shuncks of garic and was so strong I did not once get attacked by a vampire the entire time)
http://cavelodge.com/ for info
The lodge is the only place I have been that gives you a map of the area so you can go hiking on your own. We did this, along with a gemran coupe and walked a ridgeline which had beautiful views and found a couple small caves that were fun to explore. We were huinting for a cave on the map that we couldnt find. While the map was not drawn to scale it did suffice and on it was the statement" You can't get ost" which proved to be true.
Another day we took a trip with a guide to 3 caves. This was a super day. The caves were all what they called adventure caves and included some climbing, crawling and scrambling.
The most exciting was the cave that has a 30 meter waterfall inside... We got to the mouth which had a very small river running into it and went in. After a few meters we put down our bags and turned on our headlights. We had to duck down to get under a part, but that part never really lifted again. We were on our hands and knees crawling in a foot of water with our backs scraping on the ceiling.

It was very difficut but just doable to keep the camera pocket out of the water (mostly). This cave was not for the claustrophobic, nor the hydrophobic. Nor the arachnaphobic as there were some waterspiders jumping around in there too fighting the current.
It turned out tha we came to the top of the waterfall and got to lookdown at it.It is supposedy 30 meters but it is hard to see that from the top...but it was quite an adventure... One of the other caves contained great stalagtites and mites, while the other had some seashell type fossils...

Our guide was Mr. Wat and he was super. Lots of the time were were hiking through grass taller than us and thicker than any afro and he would part it with his bamboo staff, a thai moses dividing the green see. We came across rice and been farms, ans saw how beens are first taken out of the pods....beating them witha stick over and over...and then sorted more finely by women shaking them in large bamboo baskets with very low sides, kind of like a giant frying pan...they had some perfect technique that ejected the fluff but kept the beans.

We also came across peanuts growing and ate them right out of the ground. They are very different when not dry!

Another day I took a day long kayak trip down the river which was fun and we got to explore a few more caves. Part of the trip was 2 minutes kayaking through a giant cave called Nam Lod. We returned to the mouth of this cave atngiht to witness the swifts returning to nest. There were hundreds if not thousands passing every second....It was fantastic to watch.... They fy quite beautifully... As an avid nature video fan I knew what to look for...the predator birds that hang around the mouthes of such caves. I saw a couple flying high, and a few minutes later I saw what I was waiting for...
At first I didnt realize it fr what it was, I saw a swift spiraling down, ike one of the helicopter seeds falling fomr a tree in Quebec. Then the predator swept down and snatched it in its claws and took off. It mus have grabbed it and snapped its neck or wing, dropped it and then grabbed it again.
Each night there was a fire at the lodge.... the lodge is pretty much outdoors, not what the name suggests and it was slightly cool but in a pleasnat way inthe evenings.
Julie (my hiking partner) had heard of a rice festival in Pai so we headed there on our way to the Lao border.....
I will add more pics when I have some time...

Pai

2009-12-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

Pai is pronounced like paille, French for straw, and I cant think of a good pun or joke to go along with that so if you do feel free to add it in the comments. I changed a setting so you don't need gmail to leave a comment, anyone can, so please do! Yes I mean you... I can see you sitting in front of a screen with a keyboard at arms length....don't be shy!

This is as good a time as any to say Happy Channukah to anyone who enjoys lighting up a bunch of candles in a row.... I am actually time traveling to a moment before Channukah to catch up, but today is the 8th day or so.

Back to Pai.

Pai is a town on the river filled with hostels, restaurants and bungalows. It is also famous with Thai tourists since a movie was filmed there a few years ago. Getting there can be a trap as many tourist offices around Thailand offer buses there at 3 times the price of the normal bus and each day you meet people who learned a little lesson. I settled into a quiet bungalow across a the river and had my very own half comfortable hammock at the place known as Chai Niz. There are some great waterfalls around Pai and the best one I went to was a great adventure.

To reach it you need to head out of town early (the first time we had to turn back and the second time I went alone) as it is a 3 hour hike each way.

The last place on the road/trail before you get into the river is a coffee shop'/farm/soon to be commune. It is land owned by a Thai guy with neat dreadlocks and a super grin. His answer to just about everything is why not. But not just why not. If you say it out loud (please do, why not?) you sound nothing like him. 'Why not' comes out of his mouth like a question mark discovering itself. It is the beginning and end to a deep philosophy. It is a jovial slap in your face that wakes you up and makes you ask if you really meant what you just said and if you are honest with yourself when you speak. It makes you feel like the world is at your fingertips. As you are no doubt at a computer right now the world is at your fingertips, but it is a shadow of the world. Why not throw it out the door and follow it for a walk....(once you finish reading of course)

After being counseled on the first day at noon not to head out for the waterfall for fear of getting lost in the dark I came back the following morning ready to go.

The trail criss crosses a river constantly and is a fun challenge. Sometimes it is on the right, sometimes on the left and sometimes you are just walking up the river. After 2 hours there is a challenging part where you have to do some rock climbing and from then on you are struggling up the center balancing on rocks and tricky stuff for a while. The end is a trail again and then you get to a nice fall with a shallow pool for swimming.

I climbed up passed the waterfall where I found some huts probably used by cattle herders to rest in. When I came down there were a few other adventurers and we headed back together. On the way back the trail headed up away from the river and back down again after just enough time to make us doubt it would. It turns out there was a path going up and over the tricky part of the hike that we all missed on the way in. Its always fun to have and adventure and even better to avoid it on the way back when you are tired and ready for an easier hike...

In Pai there is a restaurant called the curry shack that serves up yummy grub and can give you a coconut curry in a coconut...

Next step is the cave lodge...

Chiang Mai

2009-12-18T05:50:00.000-08:00

One thing I wanted to do in Chiang Mai, one of the main things to do is to take a cooking class. I went to May Kaidee's, a veggie restaurant to get some info. As I was devouring a great meal someone kept piing dishes on the table behind me until it was full. Two girls were doing the class and this was all their creations. They came down to eat just as I finished and it turned out they both had upset stomachs from the day before and could barely eat. In the interest of not wasting food I was invited to join them and I feasted as they nibbled. So I had two Australian friends to hang out with and then we met up to explore some markets and believe it or not have dinner. There was a musical quartet playing at the restaurant, each instrument was new to me and it was quite pleasant.
The following day I had my own cooking class, and another feast.

We were a group of 4 and made 10 dishes each. We didn't learn to make the curry pastes which I think is the most important part as most of the rest of it is just frying food and adding coconut milk... We made some tasty treats which should be repeatable in Canada and got so full we looked like Buddhas. The Chinese kind that is as Thai and Lao Buddhas don't have the big belly. They are stretch Buddhas... If the Chinese Buddha is shaped roughly like John Goodman, the Thai and Lao ones are more like Golden Gumbys.

I also wet for a haircut....
I hadto repeatmany times I wanted my head completely shaved, and my face too... she shaved me with an electric, then a small electric, then an even smaller one like lint remover, and then finally an ordinary bic blade...

If you have ever crawled into a very small enclosed space with no ventilation and fired up an old Diesel generator while smoking a dozen cheap cigars and burning some rubber for good measure then you may have a good idea what it is ike to go for a stroll in Chiang Mai. You would just need to add a bunch of Watts to your sealed box and surround it with a moat.

If there was ever a car/motorbike free day in Chiang Mai it would be a great city to visit, but until that happens gas masks should be common issue. To escape the fumes I hopped a bus to Pai...

Nan to Chiang Mai

2009-12-03T03:15:00.000-08:00

Nan Province has its capital Nan city. From Pua (the town near the national park) I headed there. The bus is a pickup truck with benches and just smooth enough to read on.
In Nan I stayed a simple hostel with a large room and comfy bed. The town was alright, some interesting temples,

one with a room of mannequins containing scenes from hell. They were burning, being torchered, having liquid poured down their throats and one monk flying like an angel on top. It was right next to a Wat with a 4 giant Buddhas, once facing each direction. This is all in the same compound.

One day I rented a bike and roamed the countryside, stopped for a curry and returned, all this while my laundry was laundered... it was about time after a week of hiking... Here is a river I went along

The highlight of Nan was a Buddhist restaurant. It is open to serve Buddhists and is a local vegan restaurant. I had heard of these but they are mainly for locals and don't advertise. You get a large bowl of brown rice and then there is a buffet to add as much as you want on top. There were veggie dishes and some imitation meats. It was the cheapest meal I had had, 50 cents, and it was one of the tastiest.

From Nan I headed to Chiang Mai, the second largest city in the country. Bangkok and area has around 11 million people and Chiang Mai 200 000. Still a large city and it was great. I arrived on Sunday evening in time for a night market. It was very different than Bangkok as no one actively sought you out to buy things. The attitude was warm and friendly, and there were musicians in the street. To be continued....

Hiking in and around Doi Phukha National Park

2009-12-03T02:21:00.000-08:00

One day I rented a scooter and headed to the hills. It was hard to remember to stay on the left side of the road, but gradually I stayed out of scary situations.

The mountains reflected the shining sun and every now and again I would stop to look out at the view. My destination was another national park and a waterfall. I found a great lookout,

a path by a river

and I scooted around the park to the waterfall where I had a dip and met a couple Thai guys.

After a few days in the park I started to know the staff. I met one assistant director Mam, and she spoke English and helped me change my menu. I had the same thing breakfast and supper for a few days as I don't have the vocabulary to ask for anything else.

Mam had invited me along to go with a group of staff to a waterfall the next morning. When I showed up another friend (the other assistant director) implied that everyone was ready and waiting for me... I said I had to eat and gobbled down my food. After I finished, he sat down to start eating and said we still have some time. Language barriers are a fun thing!

The next thing i learned is the outing was changed and I was going on a park patrol. I got into the back of a pick up with 10 guys in camouflage and carrying semi automatic weapons. I was joining them on a trek to see who if anyone was cutting the forest in a park. We stopped half way to pick up another truck with soldiers and headed into the mountains. After a long ride on a trail I would have had trouble walking on, bordered by cliffs and beautiful scenery, the truck came to a stop and we continued on foot. A line of Thai officers and yours truly.

We came to a couple areas that were burned, one already had a rice field in it and the other was very fresh.

The people doing the burning are a hill tribe called the Hmong. The problem is that they have no other place to grow food and live off an average weekly Canadian salary for an entire year. You can't fine them, if you put them in jail their family can starve and it is their land in a sense. It is an interesting conundrum as maybe some endemic plant species will go extinct, but the people need to eat. The park passes the info to the police and I wasn't able to understand what happens next. The guys also gave me many forest foods to try, here are some nuts I had to crack open, some had bugs inside and others were yummy..

It was a fun day with lots of sticky rice!

The next trip was supposed to be a hike for a couple hours. This time it was many of the staff of the park and a couple guides who also work there. The trail went up to the highest peak in the area and it was unused since the year before. The frontman was constantly swinging his machete to clear the trail, and stopped a couple times to blow into a bamboo flute and summon flocks of birds. They were small quick birds and about 40 would show up, and they danced around the canopy. There were aso cool insects...

Then it turned out we were hiking all the way back to the park along a ridge, which happened to be an ancient trail used for hundreds of years (but still full of vines and prickly things)

We came across a giant stick insect, about 35cm long,

a couple patches of flowers on the ground that looked like sunny side up eggs,

and many many many leaches. They stick up in the air as if imitating a rocket ready for takeoff, except they blast off up your boot and seal up to your skin tighter than a space station airlock. You have to pull pretty hard to get them off.

The views were amazing, only we didn't see them as we were in a cloud all day. After five days and nights of clear skies we had 2 days of fog. It was a mystical hike.

Here is Mam and OK (I hope that I have the name right) enjoying dinner, Mem is incharge of the park staff and OK is in charge of the park patrols.... They helped me have this super experience...

One of the best parts at the park was the sunrises and sunsets. it was easy to see both in a quiet atmosphere....
As I was getting ready to leave I saw this insect on a urinal...I later saw a giant one in Chiang kong...you can barely tell its an insect the way the wings fold!

A neat plant on the side of the road

2009-11-25T04:30:00.001-08:00

Jumping ahead a bit in my travels here is an awesome plant I saw on the side of the road. I have been searching for it each time I'm in a semi tropical climate. I saw it once at a friend's place, and never forgot how cool it was. Now I finally found it occurring naturally, well almost naturally, but after stroking many leaves of similar looking plants in many forests I was finally rewarded!

Doi Phuka National Park

2009-11-24T03:39:00.000-08:00

From Bangkok I headed into northern Thailand, to the town of Pua and the to the national park. I was trying to find a bamboo hut guest house that had not existed for a few years (I didnt know that) and I turned up at the park. The ride was fun in the back of a truck where I met some young moks, sitting shyly far away form a small group of school girls around their own age.

I started off staying in a little hut for $10 a night and then switched to a tent which was $1 a night! I got the tent form a freind who worked at the park, along with many other fun things. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The Bamboo cabana I was staying in was a 10 minute walk straight up hill from the hitchen area, so it was always nice to walk down for a meal annd back up, at evening time i would walk down at sunset enjoying the colorful clouds and walk back up in the dark with a full sky of stars. 4 of the 6 nights were incredibly clear.

The park has one 4 km trail in the forest with crazy trees and vines, and then the next day I hired a guide to go to a waterfall and a cave.
Here is the view on the way to the cave, and the entrance from inside...

We had lots of fun. In the cave I wanted to shut off all the lights and enjoy the darkness and the guide got a little spooked and had to turn his light back on. There were a few bats near the entrance and a river further back. On the way in and out we passed field where corn and rice were growing or had just been harvested, and there were some people flying up and down the trail with 3 huge sacs of rice somehow strapped to their scooters!

The field were on very steep mountain sides, i was hoping my foot would help make this more obvious but it is hard to show mountain steepness in a photo.

We ran into spiders and other insects

and then headed to a waterfall. On the way down we passed cut out pools for fish farming, and then took a dip in the water. On the way we stopped at the guides house and had lunch. He had a dried and fried fish and I had lots of sticky rice and beans still in the pod. I had so much sticky rice I thought I would sink in the pools at the waterfalls.

Bangkok

2009-11-20T01:43:00.000-08:00

Bangkok is crazy.
My introduction was going to an all thai neighbourhood to couchsurf. When I reached the neighbourhood I found an internet cafe to find the girls address. I had a message from her that she was caring for her sick sister and couldnt have me over. Too bad, but I got to see an interesting part of town. I got back on the metro and had to get to where the airport bus could have taken me if I had stayed on it.

Side note:On the bus we were going on 6 lane wide roads, 4 going the opposite direction and 2 in ours. But this would change form time to time when our bus or other people woudl head into the oncoming traffic lane and then cut back into the proper one at the last second! Sometimes we would take over 2 lanes on the other side! It was quite scary. Then we would sit without moving for at least 5 minutes, then move very fast for 150 meters, then sit again for 5 minutes. No exaggerating.
End of side note.

So I took the metro close to a tourist area and needed a taxi or something the rest of the way. A taxi driver asked me where I wanted to go and I told him, we made a price and headed to the cab. Except the cab was a scooter! I had my bag on my back, hanging off the back of the scooter, trying to pull me to the asphalt, and we were swerving through traffic, going up and down and sideways, and each time we accelerated I was sure I would fall off! Some times we accelerated going uphill and I saw my body boucing down the road! (I was pryaing my bag would protect me like a turtle shell) Somehow I managed to hang on... and made it alive. Since then I have scooted without a giant bag and its lots of fun dodging traffic. Its just that when your bag is wider than the sccoter the driver mightnot thnk about this as he goes between cars.... Atleast I got a droky helmet that woul keep my pulvarized brains from scattering too much should I have fallen.

I tried to spend time away form the crazy parts and in the quiet parts. It is funny how you can cross an insane street, go through a gate and be in the serenity of a temple. There are many Buddhist Wats (temples) all over... You can sit down and enjoy a meditation or the great detail in design.

Even Ronald is a closet Buddhist. I wonder what the cows think?

Here is a view of Bangkok from the top of the golden temple... On the way down you get to ring bells of all sizes

More temple...

Night time Temple

Standing Buddha.... Here I have yet to see the jolly fat Buddha, maybe that is another sect

When he gets tired he reclones just like the rest of us

Outside a temple, there were many of these

One wayto get around is by boat bus....

Here is a Wat I have yet to visit but want to, seen form theboat

There is an area of Bangkok called Pat Pong, and like the name suggests it is the Ping Pong capital of the whle country. It is a very popular sport and they even have special athletes who perform shows... all the tuk tuk (little three wheel taxis) want to take you to see a ping pong show as they get commission if you go in... far more than the 20 cents they charge for the ride... Once you get to the district you are harrassed constantly to go see a show! It is a little to intense and out merry group declined all the offers.

As Bangkok is a capital of sex tourism there are organizations trying to help make it clean and safe. One is a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. They provide pills and condoms to sex trade workers. Here is their mascot captain condom... Look closely...

We had a delicious veggie meal...

There are also many thai massage parlors that turn you into a pretzel and then force your body into other positions and in the end you feel great although you are unsure if all your limbs are still attached. A 2 hour massage is 10 dollars and you can get a half hour foot massge super cheap. The food is cheap and yummy but there are springroll standds all over. I say but as this is not a good thing due to the high level of addictiveness. It is somewhere between cocaine and morphine, bordering on the morphine side. Just typing this makes me long for a return to Bangkok, although not much else does!

I was staying in a party neighbourhood and didnt get to see much more of Bangkok than the temples and that area, maybe I will return and see more, but the mountains are calling so north I go!

Bangkok

2009-11-09T01:42:00.000-08:00

When Socialism is pushed beyond a certain point it becomes totalinarianism. Capitalism, on the other hand, if carried to its extreme, becomes anarchy. Anyone who doubts the accuracy of this last observation has never walked the streets of Bangkok.
-Tom Robbins, Villa Incognito

Om Om Om, Im in Rome!

2009-11-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Rome! Where to begin. In Rome I was quite lucky to have the chance to stay at the Sivananda yoga center. I arrived late at night, showered and slept. We had daily meditation at 7am and it was nice to get grounded. I was able to take yoga lessons and through them pic up some Italian! As the class is always following the same form I was able to participate, and know what the teacher was saying. With the exception of a few moments when I was in a different posture than the rest of the calss! Each day I went for a walk and explored a super old and interesting place.

Here is the best photo I have ever taken: (Unfortunately the angles are a coincidnece but I love this shot!)

So this is at the vatican. That is in St. Peters' Cathedral and it is in the dome up top. It was incredbible to see the construction!
Here is one of the paintings in the Vatican Museum about war. I didn't take pictures of the other thousands of pics about war. (I also didnt take a picture in the sistine chapel (unlike one of my sisters) as it is illegal!) Back to war, a wonderful theme for the head region of christianity. The only thing I think less apropriate would be many half and fully naked muscular men climbing all over each other.... Oh wait, that was the theme of almost all the other paintings. I did have some trouble understanding this. The paintings are incredible works of art but not what I expected from such an anti-sexuality institution. I was also a little freaked out by the amount of power the church had/has in order to build and maintain such a place. Here is a view of the area people congregate to view his holiness the pope.

It is also the place people applaud a man who thinks people dying of Aids is better than using condoms. I can't accept this (and neither should the millions of people who follow him) Due to this and other facts of close minded unacceptance I had trouble fully enjoying the vatican. This pic is also from up on the Dome of st Peters, which offers a great view of Rome, and I was wishing I had a giant rainbow flag saying "Gay is Okay" to hang from up there... Of course this would have been a good way to meet the swiss guard!

Here is one quote by the new pope from the New York Times:

"Pope Benedict said Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
The Church should also protect man from the destruction "

Atleast he is recognizing something environmental...

So the next day I figured I would see something with more of a Pagan history!

This is the Roman amphitheatre... It is incredible to think that this stadium could hold more people than the largest hockey arena and it is over 2000 years old...granted it is not in perfect working order anymore but wow... It was complete with bathrooms, sections for different classes of poeple.... and an area for carnage and mayhem... Unfortunately the Pagans enjoyed seeing men kill wild animals and each other. If only it was colder and they could have been playing hockey....

Here is some monument or other I came across.... as large as it looks it is even larger. People just like to build things... The skill and effort must have been huge...

A beautiful fountain... There were many but this one was especially great for me...

That is the end of the Europe portion of the trip. Next stop is Bangkok, with 5 hours in Cairo airport....

For me the best part of Europe was my first stop, Paris. I loved the churches there more than anywhere for 2 reasons. They had the most stained glass, much of it quite psychdelic and so very colorful. I also loved how you could see all the bricks and arches. In Germany and elsewhere it was covered with plaster, in Rome all covered with furnishings of incredible design and grandure but just not as impressive for me. Also there was much more beauty in some of the simplicity which when looked at carefully was not simple at all.

Poland is the country I would most like to return to as I didnt have much time to explore it and the bit of nature I experienced just felt right to me. Maybe it was the similarity with eastern Canada, maybe its a little in my genes and maybe its just a swell spot.

In the Cairo airport they had a Prayer room, I asked one guy on his way out if it would be ok to go in and meditate, he said no and I was a little offended but not sure why. I almost accidently offended alot of people back though. I went to a washroom at the airport and right in front of me was this:

I was reaching for my fly and at the same time wondering what the bars were for. Then it hit me, this is to wash your feet!

All I could think of next is why is this not in the bathroom at Concordia university near the people's potatoE, (maybe it is now.) That bathroom is next to the Muslim prayer room and there are always many people doing accrobatics to wash their feet in the bathroom sinks. This would make life easier for lots of folks.

It was fun being in an Arabic speaking country, I have alway loved the sound of the language and hope to spend more than a few hours in one soon... It was also interesting seeing people dressed religiously from head to toe along side people dressed rather scantily from head to toe. What a culture! I dont want to get into the Burka debate, but I must say it is incredibly intriguing to be able to see someone through only their eyes. Is it the mystery of what is underneath, or the purity of not judging someone by their body, or something mystical about people who chose to believe strongly in a faith? I think the magic is not being able to avoid looking someone in the eye and having a personal contact. Maybe this is not the desired effect of the burka and maybe it is, either way the whole world would be a little closer if we looked right into each others eyes from time to time.

Om Shanti

Krakow and Budapest

2009-11-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

Staying in Krakow I was couchsurfing, www.couchsurfing.org where people put there couches on line and you can crash on them. I might have already mentioned I was staying with Nathalie and Vojtek (sorry about the spelling), and here is a breakfast that she made!

This is a shopping mall in krakow...

We went to a veggie restaurant in Krakow and on the posterboard there are two special people! Always nice to run into swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnu just like that! www.sivananda.org

Here is Natalie outside the restaurant! Thanks for the 'couch'!!!!!

Castle in Poland, I never pictured Poland having castles and being as magnificent as it is! I want to go back and explore more. Krakow is just incredible, and the poeple were great. There are also lots of good mountains to climb!

They sell giant bagels on the street, felt like home!

From this church a trumpeter plays a song every hour, it is the warning song when enemioes are cmoing, and the story goes that once the mongolians came and while he was playing he was shot with an arrow right through the trumpet. So the guy plays until the very note where the old lookout was shot. he does this 4 times on the hour, once in each dirstion, and then just stops in midnote in the middle...

For Natalie!

To go to Budapest I had a sleeping train! This is the best way to travel! Lying down! I would opt for this on day trains too, but in this case you save a hotel and a day as you ride and sleep at once. I hade this whole room to myself, and when I woke up in Budapestit turned out we were no where near budapest. We missed a conncection in the night and then the 2 other passengers got off andI had the entire car to myself..I was like a king the rest of the way, with the train attendant as my guy that helps the king. Too bad we could barely communicate!

So I arrived 5 hours late...

Budapest! a Synogogue....

Cool building...

Cool Graffiti

I am such an artist!

The main Cathedral.... none compared to France for me with all the stained glass there...

Here is the coolest vegetable I have ever seen! Click on the picture to get a good look!

Metro in Budapest...Very noisy

I stayed with Denes a freind of Leslie's who I had met before in Montreal. I actually stayed at his siter Roni's. The follwoing day we went to a Turkish bath, there are lots of them in Budapest...who would have guessed! It was underground, one big bath, then some smaller hotter ones... a stem room that got crazier as oyou went deeper, same as the sauna...Denes was able to do it, I was staying in the childs room...still a humid 50 degrees celssisu and more than enough for me... there was also some super cold water that was more to my liking...EH!

To fly to Rome I too Wizz air, a low cost airline. The flight was super cheap and the plane bright pink...the funniest part is that the seats are not given. A shuttle with doors on both sides took us to the plane and it was a free for all! The people around me were planning strategies to get the best seats... what side the shuttle would pull up on..who to trip to get there first etc. Somehow I ended up with a whole row to myself while most others were full... This is one advantage to not showering!! (Just kidding, I was fresh from the sulfur bath! Maybe that is worse!)

Finding my Roots

2009-11-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

Irving (Usher) Dym was an interesting man. He came to Canada at an unknown age before world war 2. He believed strongly in drinking a dozen raw eggs a day for optimum health and that hockey was fixed. He lived to almost 100 and I have just heard rumors from a friend who went to an anti corruption seminar that hockey is very possible fixed. So here is a man who knew what he was talking about. (usually :)... side note: He convinced me to drink an egg once... Im going to stick to yoga.

So Zeidi taught himself English reading newspapers on the mountain and started a company in Montreal that is still in the family today and fathered 5 children, one of whom being my mother.
But where did he come from?

The answer took me to south eastern Poland to the town of Lesko.

It is not a large town, and it was my first experience where I was just about the only English speaker. After a 5 and a half hour bus ride I hiked up a hill into the center of the town and through hand signs got a hotel room. All I knew about the place is that there is an old synagogue and a Jewish cemetary. And Zeidi came from there...
First I headed to the synagogue...

It is now an art gallery which I believe was a great way to preserve the building. A friendly lady let me in for free and gave me a pamphlet with some history.

She also showed me that there is a little dungeon where Jews were kept prisoner.

The ark and other artifacts are now gone but it looked pretty swanky in the photos.

Lesko used to have a large Jewish community, dating back to around 1600! Being here is what made the holocaust feel more real to me than even Auschwitz. The current Jewish poulation of Lesko is ZERO. Except for those who fled before the war they were all killed.

There was a list on the wall of Jews from the town that were killed.

Recognize any names? Click the lower photo! A friend in Krakow said that Dym means the smoke that comes out of a chimney.

After the synagogue I went to the cemetary, thinking maybe I could find a gravestone with a familiar name... This proved impossible, partially because being one of the oldest cemetaries in Poland there were ltos of stones, and many were illegible.

There was a castle in the town... I got to it just before dark...

Any town that sells Star Wars magazines is cool by me :)

Here is the town center

And a view of the church as I headed back to the bus station

One more story from Zeidi is that He was once out in a field at night and suddenly the sky opened up and he saw God.

I thought maybe I could have a similar experience so i walked out of the town into a field at night and saw the sky. There was no supernatural force that showed up but it was fun to think that while even though the town is surrounded by fields it is possible that this could have been the very same one Zeidi walked in.

The town is on the edge of some nice looking mountains that I did not have the tme to explore and the smell was very similar to two dear places to me. One was the nature smell of the Laurentians, the trees and streams brought me right back there. The other was Guatemala as many people are burning wood to heat there homes and some of the street vendors brought me to central America.

I wandered back through the town which has surely been built up a lot since the war and wondered what was there before...

If any relatives have any stories about Zeidi in Lesko add them in the comments... you need a gmail account to comment but it is easy to sign up if you dont have one. (Or just email it to Jess or me and we can post it.)

Poland - 1 Auschwitz

2009-11-04T04:54:00.000-08:00

I wanted to visit Poland as that is where one set of grandparents come from, and to see a concentration camp. What I didnt think is that I would love the country so much, and hopefully there will be time to return another day.

I arrived late at night and began myfriest couch surfing experience, staying with a couple, sleeping ontheir floor... They were super kind and helped me planand replan several trips.

The next morning I headed to Auschwitz and saw some of the worst things man is capable of doing.

work makes you free.... hmmmm.....

This was an assassination wall
This was where they sent the prisoners for extra punishment... horrible things happened inside

The end of the line...the train comes in full at Birkenau and leaves empty... People thought they were going for showers...
They were going to die. You can now walk right into a gas chamber. You can see empty canisters of gas. It is still impossible to imagine how the people felt inside. I tried to picture people I know going in to die. The people were you, me, your cousin, the man who sold you breakfast yesterday, the child in the green sweater. We went to summer camp. They went to death camp.

1 million Jews were killed here. Over 1 million people died on one small square of land.

The Israeli national anthem had always been just a song to me that I had to sing in school, and I am not a huge fan of Israel, but there was a group of Israeli students at Birkenau and hearing them sing Hatikva did move me alot. It showed that the final solution was not as final as it was planned to be. This made for a bit of positive emotion at the end of my journey.

Prague

2009-11-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

I was hopping to visit Prague, and Mareike has a freind there. So we headed off together with a rideshare to visit Martin... Here is a view of the trip form Germany...

Coming into Prague I thought someone had slipped something into my water...the buildings seemd to be dripping!

Here is Mareike and Martin enjoying the view (or they were before they turned around for a picture)

And here I am... After missing the Eifel tower in Paris I got to go to it in Prague...which is really called Praha.

We got a guided tour from our host and visited the castle where there were guards whose job it is to stay still. I think this is a great job for anyone trying to go deep into meditation, but maybe they have to be alert...

We went out to Martin's roomates' bar and had a fine ol time!

We had a little tea party outside to get out of the smoke... It seems people in Prague prefer breathing through tubes of dried plants lit on fire than without them... On the coke machine is the bar kit for another kind of dried plant...This church lights up very well at night with orange lights in the towers... Very magical

There is nothing that is not better deepfried! Like bread...mmm fried bread...with garlic butter...

Famous streetcars
Rowboat...Beata in the back...
Our little group and the theatre...A synogogue...

Some cars on the road...

One last story from Prague... a friend had given me the address of his friend who happened to live near where I was walking around... So after ringing a doorbell, making unexpected introductions and chilling a bit I had another tour guide, Kat, who had a really cute cat. She showed me aroundand took me to a great veggie restaurant that also was quite beautiful... Thanks so much!
Pretty restaurant

My veggiefied authentic Czech meal... Dumpling, beet patties and cabbage....Thanks to my Czech hosts, Martin and Beata! Czech hospitality is top notch!

It was also interesting to learn what it was like to live behind the Iron curtain, to see communist era buildings and try to imagine how life was... Lots of interesting history in Praha!

Germany and Austria

2009-10-29T08:02:00.001-07:00

Passau is a small university town on the Austrian Border..there is some fun architecture...

Does anyone who knows Yiddish find this sign funny?
I always thought Yiddish was very similar to German but it is a lot les than I believed. I did knowsome words, table, window etc., and some of the grammar is the same but thats about it. German, at least in the south is a beautiful and soft language, not what I was expecting at all. Too many movies! One funny thing is they give you balnkets at outdoor cafes to keep warm!
I was staying with a friend who took me out to a 90's night! something I didnt know existed yet, and it was lots of fun... we went out somewhere everynight, made me miss university! One evening we went for a walk to Austria...
Here was a yummy treat!
Here is the inside of the Cathedral in Passau which houses the largest organ in Europe (in the back)

This is the tip of the town, where three rivers meet, one being the Danube. (Yes I kow you can only see two!)
Passau was lots of fun, I met lots of locals, (by locals I mean Germans as they came from all over the country) and it was great being able to talk to them all... All the people I met spoke better English than most English Quebecers speak French, and they dont have the language all around them. It was very impressive to see... But as I headed east that started to change :)

From Lausanne To Passau

2009-10-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

From Lausanne I headed to Passau in Germany. Maybe not the first coice of every tourist to Germany, but I went to visit a friend (Mareike) I had made in Mexico. I took the train from Lausanne just to another village so I could get easy access to the highway and get my thumb on! This is an advertisment for something in the Lausanne train station that reminds me of my father in an old picture form a costume party!

Getting to the highway was easy enough and after 10 minutes a nice lady gave me a ride to a roundabout where i thought I would never get picked up.... there were also cops circling like piranhas and I was a little nervous...then I got a rideand everything was smooth, I met lots of nice people and also rode in a super truck the inside was all velvet:
After several more rideas I was at a truckstop on the ring road around Munich (Munchen)...which begs me to wonder why we dont pronounce city names in their local languages? I think it would make the world a more interesting place. And make it easier to get around.
So as darkenss came I had a great view of the stars but no view of a ride. The highway I wanted was off the ring road and not many trucks were taking that turn. I thought I would walk to the turn off and after a couple hundred meters some friendly policemen kindly suggested I get my ass off the side of the highway and go back to the truckstop.
The truckstop had a few fast food counters and some tables and chairs and I was informed that it was open all night which was good as it was below 0 outside! I took off my boots and put up my feet to relax... 2 minutes later an angry German Lady, obvioulsy the night manager came up to me quite angry and demended I take my feet off the chair... not a good start to a place I wanted to stay all night! She was quite scary... like a movie stereotype... One of several abnout to be shattered.... So 10 minutes later she comes back and asks if I am hitching and if I am planning to spend the night...I was worried but said yes to both, and she took me around the corner and showed me where I could sleep! she said she doesnt want people near the door to have a bad impression but I can sleep on a padded bench in the back! She was really sweet in the end!

In the mroing she came to wake me with a tea and muffin, and gave me more snacks for the road! I was on the road before sunlight and got to see Orion's belt, a favorite constellation...still no rides though so i took a gamble and cut across some fields for a few kms, got to a small town and found the highway entrance.... form there it was off to Passau! This sign made the whole night worthwhile!
The rides the previous day were great, people were feeding me, a guy bought me a road map to all of Europe, (I dont knwop how I was hitching without a map) and the next day was even nicer. A couple people brought me a litlle out of their way and my last ride was going 5km and decided to take me the 60km to Passau. It was a little scary as he went 180 for a bit on the Autobahn, but here I am!
On the Europen roadways they have lots of signs with lines through them, when you leave a town they have the name of the town with a line through it, when you leave the highway it is a picture of a highway with a line through it, and in germany they havea picture of the speed limit with a line through it, then people go very fast!!!

So I made it safe to Passau and met up with Mareike to explore a bit of southeastern Germany...

5 Days In The Alps

2009-10-23T04:45:00.000-07:00

My solo journey to the Alps got off to a rocky but lucky start. I packed for a 5 day trip... food in Switzerland for such an adventure carried a $71 price tag, and set off to a well recommended cabin. I hiked up a beautiful trail and less than an hour form the first cabin I met 2 German girls coming down saying that the cabin was locked! While it was sad to turn around had i kept going I would have reached the cabin just before dark and it would have been difficult to turn around! So goodluck and badluck all together.

I returned to Lausanne for a day and replanned a new trip. There is a hike called tours de Muverans which my gracious host Andrea recommended and I headed there. 2 of the cabins were under construction so I couldnt do the whole trip but what I did was awesome!

I set out in the rain, and as I gained altitude the temperature lost degrees. The snow was fun to be in and challenging too. The trails are marked by painted rocks which can be hard to dfind under 20 cms of snow.... it was even harder under 30! It was a fun trip to the cabin! I had no idea of the views around me and it was a surprisingly agreeable temperature for hiking... The contrast of sweating as you go up, and the sub zero temp left my body perfectly comfortable...

I arrived at the cabin in a white out and realized that the logs there were 3 times the size of the stove! Luckily I found an axe and without taking off my boots to rest I proceeded to hack at the wood. I figured it was better to do it in the light and it was a good idea as it was quite a cold evening. I sat huddled by the stove reading about the history of the planet. One day several billion years ago the earth cooled just enough that the water vapor in the air condensed just a fraction more than it had been and it rained for the very first time!

I woke up in the morning and opened the door and what a surprise! I had no idea what was around me and it was the exact moment the sun was rising above the far mountains. (somehow the next day woke up and went out at exatly the same moment too)

I had decided to stay and enjoy the view one more night and during the day I noticed this handy tool! No more need for the axe!
Here is the inside of the first floor of the caban. I call it a caban but it was more like a private castle...In peak season there are probably 60 people there and there is a guardian who cooks for you.... Most swiss hikes only require you to carry water and snacks for the trail, the rest is taken care of at the cabins, from bedding to food...you can even buy wine and beer and chocolate! A group of 11 people thought there would be this cook and they came empty handed and ended up turning around after warming up a bit.

The sun and clear night skies were with me the rest of the trip. The following day I packed up and headed to the next cabin. The trail was beautiful with a couple areas where you need chains or ropes to climb up. There was also a family of goats on the way down just calmly walking up sheer walls.

Here is the upstairs of the second cabin where I also spent 2 nights. The first night there was a school group there and it was fun to talk and play with them... they were 9-13, I am not sure this type of excursion would fly in North America, it would be 'unsafe'. They were also on a 5 day trip carrying food and everything,and I was quite impressed.

Here is my favourite litle buddy... Reminded me of a certain young Jedi!
I had a full day at this cabin and there was a trail heading up to a lookout, almost 360 degrees.... I was a little sketchy but well worth it.
Back at the cabin...
Crow!
mmm mountains
Part of the trail heading down...The drop was almost straight for 1000 meters! but the trail is wide enough to not be scary...

After the hike it was back to Lausanne and then off to Germany. It was sad to leave as the Alps were great and my host equaled them in greatness! Thanks Andrea!!!

Lausanne Switzerland...

2009-10-21T03:36:00.000-07:00

Another dream come true...I was ont the TGV!!! Tres Grand Vitesse.... Very big speed... While i had hyped it up alot, it actually didnt feel like i was going so fast... But thats another thing off my non existant list of things to do in life... Next stop Japanese bullet train...I hear they actually shoot you out of a gun!

Switzerland is the outdoorsman's paradise...or I should rephrase....It is the welathy outdoorsman's paradise... Everything in the country is very expensive, including the transportation...but atleast in this case you get what you pay for! The trains and buses which are all organized together can get you to the most remote mountain villages! All the buses in the mountains are also the postman, so it is easy to get anywhere! And you go up and up and up and up! People are living all over the mountains! They dont have alot of room on the ground so they go up for towns and villages, and not just recently some of these moutain towns are very old, with fortrsses and what not! Cows roam the mountains, each with a bell attached to its neck... A delightfully annoying symphony of noise!

I went to Lausanne in the french part of Switzerland to visit with Andrea, a friend of a friend from Montreal who I had met once before... We set off the next day to the mountains in the Zermat region....Beginnning from the town of Zinal we headed to a cabin called the Grand Mountet...
All the trails in the country are well marked by yellow signs! Very clear and well done!

We started by walking up the valley...all the hikes begin at the treeline as many areas have towns all the way up that high!

Here is the glacier we headed to, it was unbelievable and on the way down we had to cross it at asafe well marked area... still slippy though! And it is scary to look down a crevasse!

Dinner in the cabin...mmm veggies! (Andrea)

Here is the cabin, solar panels and all!We were quite spoiled with electricity...There was also a family there a couple limbers and a 70 year old couple who demonstrated to me that life does not end early...

Heading down to the glacier was a bit of a challenge, as the slope was somewhat steep, but the trail crews think of everything and there are ropes and chains in most places that require them...

Here is another glaciery pic.... this ice is very old and the glaciers creep along carving out the valleys....

This is part of the trail we tooke ot get to the cabin, you can see the rockslides go right over the passage!

Here is a view looking out from Lausanne.... The other side of the lake is France... The whole city is on a mountianside making for good exercise evry time you walk the dog, or even take out the trash!

Last few days of France

2009-10-21T02:55:00.000-07:00

Hello!

The last few days in France allowed me to see some things that i have always wanted to see...
First in Paris I went to the Pere Lachaise cemetary to visit Jim, who is not an unknown soldier as his name is on his tomb.But it was a little cloudy when i was there and i went ba bike so I was riding on the storm...and when i got to the cemetary gate I broke on through to the other side...although not like someone i know who actually did break in :)

For my last weekend, my gracious hostess Lucie accompannied me to the town of Troyes which has a rich history dating back to mideival times...It has alwas been something i wanted to see and it was awesome!

Old buildings and narrow steets...

There were similar charachters looking out at you all over the place!

Troyes had some great churches and cathedrals, here is a walkway in one of the chirches that must have taken years to carve....We also met a man carving a statue, it is incredible the amount of effort that goes into it...he was doing one half a meter high that he said takes about a month, i cant begin to fathoim how hard this peice was to make!

At the museum of Troyes I met up with my favourite princess! Although she has looked better!

At the info center i figured to ask if there was any Jewish history in Troyes, more as a joke than anything and it turns out that there is... A dude called Rashi came from there....He is a very famous scholar from about 900 years ago... His commentaries on the chumash and talmud are daily reading... (for some people)
so here is his synagogue...

I wanted to bring Lucie for Havdallah, the ceremony ot end the Sabbath, and it was also the beginning fo succot....unfortunately they had no candles or spices but we did eat some good fruit and nuts oin the succah after a very weird mincha ma'ariv ceremony...I dont think there was a rabbi around and the man leading the service kept looking to the congregatiuon for the page numbers...It was also sepphardic so i was a little lost, but it was fun none the less...The next morning I went to one and a half masses with Lucie...The one we plannned on goign to in the Cathedral...very someber singing and then we went to visist another chirch that was finishing up mass and it was more jovial, people more into it, whole other world for me.... I still hae yet to eat Jesus...
Here I am listening to an audio guide...we spent several hours walking around Troyes with these things on our ears, and it was lits of fun....

mmm... Lunch

Thanks again Lucie... :)
Next Stop..Swiss Alps!

Paris 2.0 Now in technicolor

2009-09-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Bonjour!
So here is a bit of classical Paris...
Every church has a couple organs, this is one of the grander ones,

And here in Le Marais there was a lemonstand...

They were also selling palm leaves...

This is a Jewish sector where every restaurant boldly claims to have the worlds best falafel. The one I was told I must eat at, Las de Falafel deffinately did have the worlds best falafzl, atleast until i try the next one...

There is also a Jewish art and history museum that had some ancient torahs and prayer books so,e as old as 500 years with the same writing as the ones made today... Some cool Channukiahs and even a circumcision guillotine.... (not true)

As I was walking a stampede chased me away...

That was in the grande gallerie d evolution, having stuffed animals of all types, and fish and insects, and lots to learn...`

Back in the marais there are some mideival homes and alot of other super old things...

This is how I was getting around and inthe same day I was hit by a bus and pulled over by the cops for running a red light, bith ti,es I survived without a scratch... The bus had sideswiped me just a bit; and the cops didnt want to deal with me once I started talking in English... One cop just put his palm 2 centimeters from my face and then they drove off...

Chateau Versaille and the royal thrown;

The famous gardens... Not as super as i would have thought; its al very orderly, so while pretty not very high in energy or anything naturelike;

Here is breakfast at Lucies where I am staying..... There are croissants in the bag and a couple kinds of cheese too...

Thelast comment for the day is about fat french people! there almost arent any... everytime i see someone very overweight they are speaking English! Food for thought.

Om Shanti

Paris

2009-09-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings fellow earthlings!

A new journey begins!

I hope you will enjoy following me along my merry way and share comments and suggestions as I become more and more like the famed Waldo.

The first adventure I am making is from the QWERTY keyboard to the AZERT one, so if the As come out as Qs or the M is a , you will know why! (but the best is i like to type with alot of !!!!! and on this keyboard you dont need to press shift to do so!)

So of course my first stop in Paris right away was here:

Just kidding!

I rode in from the airport and went to a hotel to meet with Leia who introduced me to Paris!

We saw a beautiful church overlooking the city, and put lots of kms under our feet.

Did you know you can`t find freedom fries anywhere here?

We attended mass at the Notre Dam Cathedral, beutiful carvings, stained glass and gargoyles to see another time. Being Vegans we cut out before having to eat the body of christ. The latin singing was great!

The next day was Musee Dorsay; with Van Goghs and monets and this statue of david after he slew goliath. I feel this museum a little antisemetic as no only wqs it a train station that sent jews to the camps but also David is not circumcised!

Feeling rather triumphant we went here:

Paris is great! So much history around every corner: from smells or urine dating back to the 1600s to beautiful buildings; winding streets, palaces, the seine;

Andd we enjoyed the baguettes with cheese... mmmmm

A+

mike