Thursday 19 March 2009

Hampi

So here i am in yet another magical place or so it seems on the surface....Beautiful temples, an adorable elephant Lakshmi who i got a blessing from yesterday. She put her trunk on my head, holy men, but wait! Hello where you from? You want photo? Come i take photo of you, shanti,shanti. Thank you R's50 thank you and off they go for other new unsuspecting arrivals.

I went to post a parcel at the "post office" this morning after i woke early to walk amongst the ruins. It is beautiful in the early morning and really apart from the evening the only time to do it as it is getting close to 40 degrees. So i arrive at the "post office" at 9am and wait, and wait. Eventually someone who worked at the "post office" arrived but had no key. A few moments later the big man arrived and the office was opened. I was then told to wrap my parcel. I was taken down a dingy alleyway to where a woman started sewing a bag for me. She even sealed the corners with wax, well that's the first cloth parcel i have ever sent. That cost me R's50. Returning to the office i eventually realised after being asked for my passport details that the parcel would assuredly arrive sometime in the next two weeks "for sure", we'll see.

I booked my ticket to Varanasi and leave on Sunday night and arrive on Wednesday morning going by train and sleeper coach, you can guess the journey will be grueling. I have put some pics on Facebook but it is hard both from the point of view of security as they are paranoid after the Mumbai attacks and technically as the computers abilities vary enormously. While I'm on the subject it is very hard to get into a writing flow, for example this key board doesn't print H's unless you hit the key about 10 times. So check facebook for pic's and I'll add when i can.

I'd love some interaction on my blog so comments and suggestions are welcome.

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Little Israel

Starting this is almost impossible because i have just had one of the best weeks of my life and how the hell do i describe what i have experienced?
After we left the Ashram as a group of five we headed for the hill stations and went to three of them. We loved Munar the tea plantation as it was so scenically beautiful with tea bushes as far as the eye could see. We did a bit of hiking there and found a nice lake and the next day hired a rickshaw to take us around for the day. All these places were at least two sometimes three bus rides away but always worth it in the end.
OK, so we went to this high station and as soon as we arrived an old and familiar sense woke inside me and i literally sniffed the air with excitement, I felt after two weeks on the road that i wanted to find somewhere to chill and experience India at it it's best pace, slow!
So we found a nice room and checked in for the night.
We were up quite early the next morning as we wanted to explore as much as possible of this exciting place. We walked up into the forest and found a great view point overlooking a huge valley below us. We were taking a well earned rest and as we were admiring the view a young Swede also named Richard appeared carrying a copy of Jack Carouak's On the road. He sat down and chatted to us for a while and then wandered off leaving us some interesting information that the real place to stay was not Kodai but in the hills where we were. We were on our way to replenish our water bottles at the nearest chai stall when Gilhad appeared this was the sign, he took us to a free cottage in a beautiful position with a great view. The only hardship as with all the houses was the enormously steep climb and to make things more fun there were a few rocks to negotiate as well. Almost immediately i got the picture. Everyone just wandered from house to house and amazing things happened. People got together and sang, danced, discussed philosophy and we all captured an energy that is as old as time itself, all i can say is that i cried when i left not because of the physical beauty of the place but the human interaction that i crave on a deep and meaningful level i found it again after so many years.
It is a place that a lot of Israelis go so of course i felt right at home and totally loved and accepted by everyone. One really weird and wonderful thing that happened was that i was invited to the Sabbath diner, yes there was a little Jewish missionary there and it also happened to be Purim a Jewish holiday when it is a commandment to get arse holed. What a great law hey?
I will talk about this experience over a Glass or two of wine with those of you that wish to here my story it also has some Russian mafia involved or ma by it didn't not sure I'll ever know the answer to that one, hehehe, what a week!
So now i am in Bangalore and on my way to Hampi tomorrow which i will tell you all about soon enough.
I cant get pics up now but i have some fun ones to put up soon which I'll put on Facebook.