month already

a full month has already passed since we came to India. many ups, some downs, life stars getting a certain rythm. one gets used to the surroundings so quickly. all the hundreds of temples and havelis and palaces lose their fascinating newness and exoticness and blend into the normal sights.
What would streets even be without slow and noisy rickshaws? or groups of kids in school uniforms walking up and down the street in the oddest hours? or cows eating on the streets, touring amongst bikes, scooters and motorbikes carrying too many people at once. what is a long distance? and what means "super deluxe" bus? 14h, 22h, 10h, 6h, bumby roads, bottom aching from all the jumps and head sore from trying to lie still in the sleepers bus overnight. food seems expensive in the various rooftop restaurants attached to hotels -90 rupies (1,8e) for rice and mutton curry! such a rip off! what, this double room with own bathroom costs 250r (less than 5e)??? bahut zyada -faaar too costly. And what's the idea with fixed prices? shoudn't a shopkeeper decide how much each item costs in relation to the buyer?

enjoying india, should start working soon, maybe in a few days. today is the time for taj mahal and pretty parks, a nice book and a cup of masala chai.

Pushkar

Pushkar is a small hippie-city surrounded by mountains, and in the middle of it is a holy lake. Around the lake are many temples. And a huge amount of holy men waiting to get your money… We stayed only a few nights. It was quite relaxing... The best in the place was to lay and read in the lovely rooftop of our quest house. Tiina did a lot of sight-seeing, walked in the early morning to some temple on top of a hill, and she visited many other temples. I felt I had seen enough temples for a while, and needed a rest from all the sights. Oh, the luxury of doing nothing!

Udaipur

The Lake City, Udaipur, was so beautiful!
Octopussy, a James Bond movie, was filmed there in the Lake Place (a huge palace in the middle of the main lake). So, each night most of the hotels were showing the movie in their rooftop restaurants. I managed to skip it each time.
Days were hot and nicely slow, but there were still many things to do. I loved reading a book on the rooftops and just doing nothing. Well, not exactly nothing...time passed quickly on different small things like taking cooking classes, going horse riding in the surrounding villages, watching sunset from various pretty points ...having massage, watching a dance show...and museums, motorcycling, eating really good food, hanging around with some swedish blokes or indian guys...


Tiina's birthday was also celebrated... in the evening we ate yammie chocolate cake on our rooftop in candlelight.. and on the real birthday we pampered ourselves with massage and waxing (not real pampering that one), and of course eating delicious food.

Dancing girl

Had fun in the festival! Before all the Dandia-dancing I went to the temple praying for luck and happiness and prosperity from Durga. I spent a nice afternoon with Salu's family (though my hindi conversation skills don't take me far in the discussions with elder women...so more like quiet nodding and smiling) In the evening I had a lot of attention dressed up.. and so much fun dancing! today is another bustrip, this time to Udaipur the "lake city".

Jodhpur

After another day spent in a hot hot bus, we arrived to Jodhpur where the fort is even greater than in Jaisalmer!

The city is blue, the houses the color of early morning sky.

Last night we went to celebrate Durga Puja, a 9-day long festival for the hoor of the hindu goddesses. Thinking we would dance a little and admire the beautiful colours of indian girls' dresses adn dancing. Well... we ended up being special guests, danced in a competition, sat with the judges in a well-light stage while hundreds of people were staring towards us. I got to speak in the mic for the audience and had a lovely big cup -price and flowers around my neck. There were pictures taken to the newspaper of Tiina and I dancing. Today we shall have lunch with the main organizer's family and we are to be dressed up in national costumes for tonights final show..

Jaisalmer

Greetings from Jaisalmer, the Golden City. In the middle of the city in this desert in the north-west of India, close to Pakistan border, a huge old fort rises. It looks like a giant sand-castle.

Last night was a perfect escape from our hectic traveling and noisy cities. We slept under a wonderfully star-filled sky in the sand dunes, after riding camels through the hot desert. And we had such great company. Three young german guys and our guides made the experience even more fun. We were jumping in the dunes when it was pitch dark, running races, eating good camping food. And just lying on the sand and watching a beautiful sunset. Ahh. And the camels were nice, mine was called Rocket, and he could go quite fast, almost faster than our guide’s camel!
Oh, all those nice people we’ve met during these two weeks! I got an insight to the educational system here by talking to a nice family from Calcutta on a train. And had a driver and a car with a nice finnish couple for a day in delhi –for free… : ) In the train to Jaisalmer (20h) we shared the bed-area with a really friendly couple from England. And a cute gay-guy from Belgium, who looked like 30 but was almost 50 (said thanks to all the moisturizes and herbal creams)...and many other... tomorrow off to Jodhpur.

Delhi

Greetings from Delhi! it's been really hot here!

...we've seen so many places here in this hassle of a huge city. and it's again time to go...this time to the desert in the north-west of india.

the lotus temple in delhi

Mumbai and stardom are behind us now. Had a wonderful time, but hopefully there’s more still ahead. Only week’s gone by…We’ve been spending time in Pune, the city I used to live as a kid and where I was teaching a few years back. Has been so great seeing all the old friends again! We’re staying at our old family friends, this lovely couple, who are the funniest people ever. The morning doesn’t pass without laughter, and there is a smile on my face when I fall asleep in the quiet room with only the fan in the ceiling and crickets outside the open window playing their nightly serenade in the background. Such a difference from the extremely noisy Mumbai. Ahh, to be able to sleep!

I gave a some drama lessons in the morning at the old school for the same kids I used to teach. We had a great time face painting and practicing and videotaping our show!

I also loved seeing my friend from the last time I was here, and her kids…the youngest one still a tiny tiny baby (so gorgeous, so eatable!).

Tomorrow we’ll leave for Delhi…

mumbai - a bollywood star

:) seems like the last 3 days that we've been here have been so full, that it's amazing it's only wednesday!
we have earned some money being in a big bollywod film, so i don't feel so bad spending money on touristic things so much now. last night went in the film-shooting, we were playing in a diwali scene, and met the big big star (ahh) too. a great way to meet people, and talk to some young people from mumbai. tomorrow the whole day goes in making a tv-ad. i was asked to anchor the ad, but i suppose i'll end up sitting in the audience or something... well, it's a hard way to stardom! behind the camera
:)

Mumbai

people, people, people, and more people. it's amazing how many human beings can be in one place.
i will write more someday, now quickly telling that the trip has started and all is really well. i'm really excited to be here, to listen to the various languages around me, smell new smells, see so many new people. we are tourists for the time here in mumbai, and then we shall not spend this much. loving the hot and humid air.
hugs, e