Hola!!! si seguim amb les nostres vacancetes(:)...amb noves histories de llocs i gent. De la India tinc tantes histories, que les deixare per qui les vulgui sentir mes endavant...sobretot, per la nostra memoria, les tinc escrites en el diari que he anat omplint durant el viatge. Son histories de gent principalment. Tinc la impressio que Tailandia sera molt mes breu en aquest sentit...Realment s'assemblen com un ou a una castanya aquests paisos...
Vam deixar la india amb focs artificials com qui diu, Delhi va ser infinitament mes relaxat del que haguessim imaginat. Vam quedar-nos a casa d'una parella alemana que vam coneixer al sud, Kerala, en el tour amb barca que vam fer (backwaters). Ara viuen aqui per un parell d'anys, i tot i que viuen lluny del centre, entre metro i tuc-tucs, o be amb els seu xofer particular (els de l'empresa els han posat tota mena de comoditats) anavem al centre amb un moment. Va estar-hi un parell de dies, el shawn i jo vam fer el turista i a les nits vam compartir sopars i cerveses amb ells. Un dels llocs mes interessants va ser un temple sij on hi ha la tomba d'un dels profetes, vaig ajudar a preparar menjar fins i tot!. De totes maneres, el gran moment final va ser quan visitavem unes cases (havelis) historiques i l'amo d'una d'elles (el qual anomenaven a la guia) va sortir i ens va preguntar d'on erem. Un cop explicat i fet saber que era el nostre ultim dia en aquest pais bullicios, ens va dir que sentia que era el seu deure convidar-nos a la nostra ultima tassa de chai (te, masala clar!). Alla ens tens als 4, a la sala plena d'antiguitats, amb aquest home i els seus treballadors, fent el te amb galetes heredat dels temps colonials amb toc indigena. Resulta que aquell home era tota una eminencia! va coneixer en M. Gandhi i el seu pare va ser alcalde de delhi dos cops!...Amable i simpatic, ens va acabar fent un regalet de record, destijant-nos que ens emportessim un gran record del seu pais. Dificil de millorar...
A l'aeroport de delhi, vam esmorzar amb l'Agata Ruiz de la Prada, pq estava davant nostre a la cua i jo la vaig saludar. Ens vam trobar de nou demanant un croissant i un capuchino dins la terminal i com que ja haviem parlat una bona estona abans, li vam fer un gest en la distancia de si volia seure amb nosaltres i va venir. Total, que ja te la nostra adressa per convidar-nos a algun desfile "tal com va prometre"...
l'Arribada a Bangkok va ser aterrissar en un altre mon. Molt mes turistic, llums i mercats barats pels turistes...molt molt ambient en algunes zones. Els temples, IMPRESSIONANTS, no he vist mai res semblant! les infinites figures de Buda (el reclinat!!!!)...molts somriure pero molt menys agobio de voler-te vendre coses i mirar-te extrany. Al mateix temps, menys calor huma i interes genui...poc a poc pero va sorgint. Vam passar sant valenti al 54e pis d'un dels edificis mes alts de bangkok que te un bar de moda a la terrassa. Els germans del shawn ens van regalar diners per prendre algun cocktail en aquest bar per st. Valenti! L'endema vam agafar un tren a la nit i vam arribar Chang Mai al cap d'unes 15 hores. Aquest, molt mes sofisticat i net. La casualitat aquest cop va voler que el noi que dormia sota del shawn (jo dormia a dalt, just oposat a ell) havia viscut al mateix edifici que ell (veins) prop de l'arc de triomf quan vivia a BCN!!! bestial...al mati es van passar hores xerrant mentres jo comencava un nou llibre (llorenc, kim em va encantar...), '3 tasses de te' que parla d'una increible historia d'un escalador que acaba fent treballa humanitari al nord del pakistan i que te molt molt bona pinta (el llibre).
Ahir vam passejar per la ciutat, i ja hem vist part dels molts temples (en alguns pots parlar amb els monjos) i mercats. Avui hem fet una classe de cuina!!! MOLT molt divertit i interessant, i espero que la majoria de vosaltres pugui gaudir dels nostres aprenentatges ben aviat, amb un nit Tailandesa alla on residim. Hem conegut gent interessant en el curs, com una parella que en 3 setmanes es casaran a 4 llocs del mon (LA, Prop d'aqui a Tailandia, Kenya-Masai mara i Santorini-grecia-). Hi tenen amics o alguna que altra conexio i fan casaments tradicionals a cada un d'aquest llocs. Es un misteri quants diners els costara aixo, pero ens han convidat a la de dema. Tambe ens han recomenat (molta gent) que anem amb els elefants a uns programes de recuperacio que fan i que convius i els cuides durant un dia...Per altra banda ens ve de gust anar a un parc que hi ha molt a prop a caminar i veure un temple que se suposa es molt bonic pero tothom ens diu que no hi podem anar sols (es que aqui les agencies de turisme ho acaparen tot!). Em sembla que llogarem una moto i anirem a fer una volta al nostre aire i veure els poblets i muntanyes dels voltants...els lames aparentment fan una festa dema a la nit, ja que se celebra el primer dia que Buda va fer el primer sermo. Ja ho veieu, opcions no en falten!
Doncs res, crec que ara comencarem per donar-nos el luxe del primer massatge tailandes, que per aqui son molt molt barats i encara no ho hem aprofitat.
Petons a tots, i ens veiem en dues setmanetes!!!!
salut per tots.
txell i shawn
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Shawn's email 2
Hello Family and Friends!
My latest adventure continues for just a couple more weeks and it has
already been several since my last update. We are currently located
in Bangkok, Thailand and have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves in
our first few days out of India and in a new country. Our plans here
are to be a bit more mellow with less sightseeing and more relaxing up
in the mountains near Chiang Mai and then with a hop south to Phuket
and Krabi. I'll let you know how it all went once we've landed back
home-sweet-home in Barcelona (in an apartment where I've yet to live,
but in a somewhat familiar town).
My last statement was that we were about to jump a nice overnight
train Class AC 2 to Udaipur, the white city. That was far from what
happened. The train was cancelled due to "unrest in the north"
according to the train station help window 29. They told us to see
the station manger at door 12 or so down the way. He was quite
uninterested and told us to go away, to the train station window ...
28. Mr. 28 then told us politely that a refund was possible, but only
to the travel agent that had done the booking for us down in
Mammalapurum. Then the tuk tuk driver that had been following us
around for half and hour trying to sell a bus ticket said "i told you
so." thanks, buddy. BUT, then the tuk tuk rushed us away not to the
bus station, but to his buddy or cousin's office or something, where
we paid some nice money, but not too much for an overnight sleeper bus
leaving in... FIVE MINUTES! They made some phone calls, took our
money, flagged down a bus, we got a stamp of approval from someone on
a motorcycle chasing the bus around downtown Ahmedabad, and voila,
we're off on a bus to Udaipur, arriving at 430am. After lots of
bouncing we finally fell asleep and awoke for breakfast at 6am. We
were, well, 100km north of our stop as no one had awoken us or
informed us that our destination was not the final stop, and each
person was responsible for jumping ship when their heart desired (or
their ticket required). No problem, we stood on highway at sunrise
drinking masala chai until we flagged down another bus back to
Udaipur, checked into the Dream Heaven Guesthouse and had a great
time in the mountainous city of lakes and magnificent white palaces.
I got a small stomach bug on the way out to Jodhpur. Maybe it was the
stop we made just to let monkeys on board to eat everyone's leftover
peanuts... maybe it was just something anything I ate. Maybe it was
the Jodhpur air pollution downtown... Anways, we booked a room near
the train station, got on the waitlist for the 6am to Jaisalmer, and
went on a trek to tour the blue city, clock tower and giant hilltop
fort of Jodhpur. They even had a nice clean tourist restroom at the
top of the hill.
The train to Jaislamer was great. It went all the way there and we
even got our waitlist seats on a confirmed reservation before
boarding. We met a nice fellow on the train who took us directly to
his new hostel... so new the top floors were still under construction
and the electricty only worked a few hours a day, but it was a great
deal and he directly booked us our camel safari. We went with the
ride a camel into sunset in the desert, and then after dinner show
with traditional rajasthani dances and food in the desert camp, with a
return to the hotel late at night option since we were still a bit
under the weather. Txell's camel, Mr. Rocket was an aspiring racing
camel, and even beat mine, Mr. Johnny Walker in a race, despite
carrying the extra camel driver on board. Granted, I'm a less
experienced camel racer than he and may not have been as active in
whipping with my camel rope, but still lost. Besides, racing a camel
isn't something you should do without warming up at first, and if so,
not for so long! It hurt for a few days, but was a great experience.
The next day at 4pm we caught ourselves an overnight train all the way
to Jaipur, arriving at 5am. We bargained our way into a reasonable 3
hour tuk tuk tour of the monkey temple and main attractions of the
capital city of Rajasthan. The monkey temple was great. Our
volunteer guide monk tour giude may have managed to get a 100 rupee
tip for blessing us with a peacock feather and a Hanuman chant and an
old watch as a tip, but Dubi was well worth the extra price. He
explained to us all the details of monkey temple monasticism, and the
monkey problem living in a tiger cave up on the hill. The capital
city was politely deserted and/or closed for the rest of the tour and
we were off to Sawai Madhopur and Rathanbore National Park before the
traffic and pollution got in to full swing.
Despite a valiant effort, we did not manage to book a tiger safari
that night, but made arrangements successfully for 6am the next day.
Instead we got our hotel room and booked a 3 hour tour of the ancient
(1500 years old this time) ruins of the Rathanbore Fort in the middle
of the National Park. Our guide was a good birder and Txell was quite
excited about the new species about the area. At 630 am the next day
we were off to TIGER SAFARI!!! Before we even entered the park
proper, I managed to spot a leopard in the distance and early morning
light. The vague cat shape, three spots, tail, and monkey warning
calls all confirmed the sighting. Txell just missed the vague shape
and three spots part before it disappeared again behind the bushes.
We spotted numerous deer, antelope, chinkgara, birds, owls and eagles,
but no tigers for the rest of the safari. Good try, but we were back
to the hotel for brunch and then off to Bharatpur to visit the
Keoladeo National Bird Sanctuary.
The train again was an adventure. We booked a general boarding pass
and there was simply no way to fit on that train! People were pusing
others into the train from a crowd of 50 or so in front of each door,
and it looked like the train would leave with hundred hanging from the
windows! We ran for the 2AC nice compartment to try and bribe our way
aboard for an "instant upgrade." When the police weren't looking we
manged to get on and hid with the help of the linen service guy. He
took our money and closed some curtains, but we were later acosted by
the true owners of our bribed seats. We made friends, and peace, and
sat on the upper bunk while that ate below, eventually making better
friends, and sharing their buffet lunch and having a great time!
Bharatpur was great! We got a great place to stay, with free pickup
at the railway station. The guy's brother was a naturalist bird guide
who took us and a dutch couple on a bike birding tour (a dangerous
combo, especially when spotting a couple dozen new species in a
morning) for 4 hours the next day. We found nightjars, green pigeons,
and three species of owls, including the gigantic dusky eagle owl! We
found out there were restrictions on moving about the place because a
tiger was visiting from Rathanbore. He was spotted in town and at the
park entrance the next day and made the front page of the local
newspaper! We decided to stay there and day trip to AGRA and see the
Taj Mahal.
Finally, we moved up to Delhi, where we stayed with a nice German
couple we met at the boat tour in Ft. Cochin in southern India weeks
ago. We toured ourselves a bit the forts and Sikh temples and
palaces, spice bazaars, and shopping markets. We even met the son of
the former mayor of Delhi at the Nourgarh, a district of old Havelis,
the finest examples of private homes in India. He invited us in for
tea and cookies and then gave us departing gifts and business cards in
true India hospitality.
Wow, that's a long email. Now were in Bangkok and tonight off to Chiang Mai.
all the best,
Shawn and Txell
My latest adventure continues for just a couple more weeks and it has
already been several since my last update. We are currently located
in Bangkok, Thailand and have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves in
our first few days out of India and in a new country. Our plans here
are to be a bit more mellow with less sightseeing and more relaxing up
in the mountains near Chiang Mai and then with a hop south to Phuket
and Krabi. I'll let you know how it all went once we've landed back
home-sweet-home in Barcelona (in an apartment where I've yet to live,
but in a somewhat familiar town).
My last statement was that we were about to jump a nice overnight
train Class AC 2 to Udaipur, the white city. That was far from what
happened. The train was cancelled due to "unrest in the north"
according to the train station help window 29. They told us to see
the station manger at door 12 or so down the way. He was quite
uninterested and told us to go away, to the train station window ...
28. Mr. 28 then told us politely that a refund was possible, but only
to the travel agent that had done the booking for us down in
Mammalapurum. Then the tuk tuk driver that had been following us
around for half and hour trying to sell a bus ticket said "i told you
so." thanks, buddy. BUT, then the tuk tuk rushed us away not to the
bus station, but to his buddy or cousin's office or something, where
we paid some nice money, but not too much for an overnight sleeper bus
leaving in... FIVE MINUTES! They made some phone calls, took our
money, flagged down a bus, we got a stamp of approval from someone on
a motorcycle chasing the bus around downtown Ahmedabad, and voila,
we're off on a bus to Udaipur, arriving at 430am. After lots of
bouncing we finally fell asleep and awoke for breakfast at 6am. We
were, well, 100km north of our stop as no one had awoken us or
informed us that our destination was not the final stop, and each
person was responsible for jumping ship when their heart desired (or
their ticket required). No problem, we stood on highway at sunrise
drinking masala chai until we flagged down another bus back to
Udaipur, checked into the Dream Heaven Guesthouse and had a great
time in the mountainous city of lakes and magnificent white palaces.
I got a small stomach bug on the way out to Jodhpur. Maybe it was the
stop we made just to let monkeys on board to eat everyone's leftover
peanuts... maybe it was just something anything I ate. Maybe it was
the Jodhpur air pollution downtown... Anways, we booked a room near
the train station, got on the waitlist for the 6am to Jaisalmer, and
went on a trek to tour the blue city, clock tower and giant hilltop
fort of Jodhpur. They even had a nice clean tourist restroom at the
top of the hill.
The train to Jaislamer was great. It went all the way there and we
even got our waitlist seats on a confirmed reservation before
boarding. We met a nice fellow on the train who took us directly to
his new hostel... so new the top floors were still under construction
and the electricty only worked a few hours a day, but it was a great
deal and he directly booked us our camel safari. We went with the
ride a camel into sunset in the desert, and then after dinner show
with traditional rajasthani dances and food in the desert camp, with a
return to the hotel late at night option since we were still a bit
under the weather. Txell's camel, Mr. Rocket was an aspiring racing
camel, and even beat mine, Mr. Johnny Walker in a race, despite
carrying the extra camel driver on board. Granted, I'm a less
experienced camel racer than he and may not have been as active in
whipping with my camel rope, but still lost. Besides, racing a camel
isn't something you should do without warming up at first, and if so,
not for so long! It hurt for a few days, but was a great experience.
The next day at 4pm we caught ourselves an overnight train all the way
to Jaipur, arriving at 5am. We bargained our way into a reasonable 3
hour tuk tuk tour of the monkey temple and main attractions of the
capital city of Rajasthan. The monkey temple was great. Our
volunteer guide monk tour giude may have managed to get a 100 rupee
tip for blessing us with a peacock feather and a Hanuman chant and an
old watch as a tip, but Dubi was well worth the extra price. He
explained to us all the details of monkey temple monasticism, and the
monkey problem living in a tiger cave up on the hill. The capital
city was politely deserted and/or closed for the rest of the tour and
we were off to Sawai Madhopur and Rathanbore National Park before the
traffic and pollution got in to full swing.
Despite a valiant effort, we did not manage to book a tiger safari
that night, but made arrangements successfully for 6am the next day.
Instead we got our hotel room and booked a 3 hour tour of the ancient
(1500 years old this time) ruins of the Rathanbore Fort in the middle
of the National Park. Our guide was a good birder and Txell was quite
excited about the new species about the area. At 630 am the next day
we were off to TIGER SAFARI!!! Before we even entered the park
proper, I managed to spot a leopard in the distance and early morning
light. The vague cat shape, three spots, tail, and monkey warning
calls all confirmed the sighting. Txell just missed the vague shape
and three spots part before it disappeared again behind the bushes.
We spotted numerous deer, antelope, chinkgara, birds, owls and eagles,
but no tigers for the rest of the safari. Good try, but we were back
to the hotel for brunch and then off to Bharatpur to visit the
Keoladeo National Bird Sanctuary.
The train again was an adventure. We booked a general boarding pass
and there was simply no way to fit on that train! People were pusing
others into the train from a crowd of 50 or so in front of each door,
and it looked like the train would leave with hundred hanging from the
windows! We ran for the 2AC nice compartment to try and bribe our way
aboard for an "instant upgrade." When the police weren't looking we
manged to get on and hid with the help of the linen service guy. He
took our money and closed some curtains, but we were later acosted by
the true owners of our bribed seats. We made friends, and peace, and
sat on the upper bunk while that ate below, eventually making better
friends, and sharing their buffet lunch and having a great time!
Bharatpur was great! We got a great place to stay, with free pickup
at the railway station. The guy's brother was a naturalist bird guide
who took us and a dutch couple on a bike birding tour (a dangerous
combo, especially when spotting a couple dozen new species in a
morning) for 4 hours the next day. We found nightjars, green pigeons,
and three species of owls, including the gigantic dusky eagle owl! We
found out there were restrictions on moving about the place because a
tiger was visiting from Rathanbore. He was spotted in town and at the
park entrance the next day and made the front page of the local
newspaper! We decided to stay there and day trip to AGRA and see the
Taj Mahal.
Finally, we moved up to Delhi, where we stayed with a nice German
couple we met at the boat tour in Ft. Cochin in southern India weeks
ago. We toured ourselves a bit the forts and Sikh temples and
palaces, spice bazaars, and shopping markets. We even met the son of
the former mayor of Delhi at the Nourgarh, a district of old Havelis,
the finest examples of private homes in India. He invited us in for
tea and cookies and then gave us departing gifts and business cards in
true India hospitality.
Wow, that's a long email. Now were in Bangkok and tonight off to Chiang Mai.
all the best,
Shawn and Txell
Monday, February 14, 2011
Shawn's Story 1
Hello Family and Friends,
This will make part two of the adventures of Txell and Shawn in India. We are just now halfway through our time here and have just made a big switch from the southern parts of India up to the North, but first I will fill you in a bit about what happened while we were putting about down south...
After happily recovering my lost luggage in GOA, we hung around for just one more day be taking off on a long trip south. The train was booked flat for two days out, so we got ourselves an overnight bus from Panjim to Mangalore, leaving the state of Goa and entering Karnataka. We arrived in Mangalore at 5am and caught a train just a few hours later heading south to Cochin, in the state of Kerala. That train left at 7am and we had only managed to acquire general boarding pass tickets for the estimate 9 hour ride. With a bit of luck and our new friend, Titus, who we met at the railway station, we managed to purchase an upgrade to AC class chairs, and even got to sit next to eachother!
We arrived in Cochin at 5pm or so, and, having learned our lesson about booking trains in advance, went straight to the booking office and got our next train lined up. Then we finally gave into the nice tuk tuk (autorickshaw) driver and let me agree to take us to Ft. Cochin where we wanted to stay. This 'autos' are three wheels of hell on wheels which course the streets of india like fleas on a street dog. Hence they are the fastest way to get anywhere if you can handle the stress of weaving madly through traffic with a horn blaring constantly, or at least at anything that moves, or should move - out of the way!
Unfortunately, this tuk tuk driver took us instead to his cousin's place, where he said we could rent a room for only 800 rupees, which was a much better place than the one we wanted to go to, which had become very commercial, bought out by nestle or something, and was very expensive, and besides was all booked up! i think "house full" was the key phrase. he even dialed the number, and someone said "house full" on the other line, just to prove his point. we argued, got him to get a little bit closer to our place, and then paid the fare and walked the rest of the way. he seemed deeply insulted that we didn't care for his family. the rooms in our preferred place were on a nice and quiet street, cheaper and readily available staying with a nice old indian man, Rodriguez, and his lady.
Rodriguez booked us a boat tour for the Kerala backwaters the very next morning leaving at 7am even though the office was closed. He was close friends of the driver for the company and would make sure he picked us up regardless of space available. It worked like a miracle, and on perfect Indian Standard Time (IST = half hour late) we were picked up and had a great tour! we started on a big boat and poled up and around some small chanels and some islands, stopped to see the local industries of making lye and chalk from shells and rope making from coconuts, and then had a nice lunch, with the option to pay extra for cold beer. the beer was great. We met a nice german couple over our beers that i'm sure we'll visit in Delhi as they are living there now and were only on a weekend getaway. after lunch we trucked over to a different part of the back waters and got in small canoes to tour a rural area and visit some spice plantations. i now know where black, white, green, and red pepper come from!, and i've played scratch and sniff with a cinnamon tree. txell saw her first pineapple "in the wild," too.
From Kerala we headed across to Chennai by overnight train. I had booked the Sleeper class, which isn't the best, but you do get to lay down. I got a cold while going over the mountains, but Txell did great avoiding mosquitos and cucarachas and we didn't even have anything stolen. Maybe it was the purchse of a lock and chain, or just good karma, who knows. We immediately took a pricey tourist train to Mammalapurum (or Mahabalipurum) to check out some cool rock sculptures from the 7th century straight out of the surrounding bedrock. Apparently they were completely buried in the sand in some ancient tsunami or something, and discovered by the british a few hundred years ago, and were in great shape for their age. Really cool, but I don't think we'll manage to post pictures until we land back in Barna (Barcelona). M-town was touristy, but really cool, and we chilled on the beach and ate tasty french - indo food with the indian version of surf hippies for a few days and then moved on.... to Pondycherry (aka Pondy).
In Pondy we stayed at the Park Guest House Ashram of the Sri Aurobindi guru guy. I don't really know much about him, but he had a really nice guesthouse and great flowers on his grave. Apparently, he had studied abroad, and then came back to India, helped Ghandi with the revolution, and then became a renowned wiseman-swami along with his lady, reverently called "the mother." We browsed their book store - they wrote tombs and tombs of cool enlightment sorts of things, but i wasn't in the shopping mood, so we just headed back outside to put our shoes on and get some tea. I had a nice indian version of coq au vin (chicken with wine) for dinner and Txell had some nice mutton stew with tastiness and some wine.
Our next stop was the READ (Rural Education and Action Development) center in Andimadam. It is about a one hour train ride, two hour bus ride, one hour wait, two hour bus ride, and then another one hour wait and a few phone calls from the cashew cooperative authority building to get to this place. Txell has been supporting young Jakob's education for a number of years now, though this organization, and wanted to check it out. They have a nice guesthouse as well and lots of smart little rural indian kids to play soccer with and who say nice things like "hi" and "where are you from" and "please sir, this way." apparently the british taught them how to properly salute their superiors as well, so i felt a bit like an army general being followed around by my minions. We stayed for two days and got to see all sorts of cool things like book binding, typewriting classes, greeting card making training, and sari weaving on these really cool big homemade looms. that last one was really cool. txell also gave this little dog named maxi his shot (more dramatic than the sentence sounds). We also visited Jakobs adobe hut with thatched roof and met his sister and mother. poor guy was too shy to do much but feed the baby lambs his sister had handed us to fill the akward silence. he had changed from doctor to policeman as a future career just recently, but seemed to have forgotten most of his english on contact.
The day after we hoped a flight from Chennai to Ahmedabad, up in the north in the state of Gujarat. It wants to be known as the Manchester of Northern India. They got the pollution and traffic part correct. It has been a wonderful break to take off my shoes and come inside this civilized cyber parlour and write y'all all this long email, belive me! So, my time is about up and soon we'll be catching our overnight train to the city of Udaipur, which was the location of the filming of the James Bond movie Ocotopussy because of its white palace on a island in a big lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. soon i'll find out if i have a bed to sleep on during the 9 hour train ride tonight, so farewell and until next time!
peace and love,
Shawn (i Txell)
This will make part two of the adventures of Txell and Shawn in India. We are just now halfway through our time here and have just made a big switch from the southern parts of India up to the North, but first I will fill you in a bit about what happened while we were putting about down south...
After happily recovering my lost luggage in GOA, we hung around for just one more day be taking off on a long trip south. The train was booked flat for two days out, so we got ourselves an overnight bus from Panjim to Mangalore, leaving the state of Goa and entering Karnataka. We arrived in Mangalore at 5am and caught a train just a few hours later heading south to Cochin, in the state of Kerala. That train left at 7am and we had only managed to acquire general boarding pass tickets for the estimate 9 hour ride. With a bit of luck and our new friend, Titus, who we met at the railway station, we managed to purchase an upgrade to AC class chairs, and even got to sit next to eachother!
We arrived in Cochin at 5pm or so, and, having learned our lesson about booking trains in advance, went straight to the booking office and got our next train lined up. Then we finally gave into the nice tuk tuk (autorickshaw) driver and let me agree to take us to Ft. Cochin where we wanted to stay. This 'autos' are three wheels of hell on wheels which course the streets of india like fleas on a street dog. Hence they are the fastest way to get anywhere if you can handle the stress of weaving madly through traffic with a horn blaring constantly, or at least at anything that moves, or should move - out of the way!
Unfortunately, this tuk tuk driver took us instead to his cousin's place, where he said we could rent a room for only 800 rupees, which was a much better place than the one we wanted to go to, which had become very commercial, bought out by nestle or something, and was very expensive, and besides was all booked up! i think "house full" was the key phrase. he even dialed the number, and someone said "house full" on the other line, just to prove his point. we argued, got him to get a little bit closer to our place, and then paid the fare and walked the rest of the way. he seemed deeply insulted that we didn't care for his family. the rooms in our preferred place were on a nice and quiet street, cheaper and readily available staying with a nice old indian man, Rodriguez, and his lady.
Rodriguez booked us a boat tour for the Kerala backwaters the very next morning leaving at 7am even though the office was closed. He was close friends of the driver for the company and would make sure he picked us up regardless of space available. It worked like a miracle, and on perfect Indian Standard Time (IST = half hour late) we were picked up and had a great tour! we started on a big boat and poled up and around some small chanels and some islands, stopped to see the local industries of making lye and chalk from shells and rope making from coconuts, and then had a nice lunch, with the option to pay extra for cold beer. the beer was great. We met a nice german couple over our beers that i'm sure we'll visit in Delhi as they are living there now and were only on a weekend getaway. after lunch we trucked over to a different part of the back waters and got in small canoes to tour a rural area and visit some spice plantations. i now know where black, white, green, and red pepper come from!, and i've played scratch and sniff with a cinnamon tree. txell saw her first pineapple "in the wild," too.
From Kerala we headed across to Chennai by overnight train. I had booked the Sleeper class, which isn't the best, but you do get to lay down. I got a cold while going over the mountains, but Txell did great avoiding mosquitos and cucarachas and we didn't even have anything stolen. Maybe it was the purchse of a lock and chain, or just good karma, who knows. We immediately took a pricey tourist train to Mammalapurum (or Mahabalipurum) to check out some cool rock sculptures from the 7th century straight out of the surrounding bedrock. Apparently they were completely buried in the sand in some ancient tsunami or something, and discovered by the british a few hundred years ago, and were in great shape for their age. Really cool, but I don't think we'll manage to post pictures until we land back in Barna (Barcelona). M-town was touristy, but really cool, and we chilled on the beach and ate tasty french - indo food with the indian version of surf hippies for a few days and then moved on.... to Pondycherry (aka Pondy).
In Pondy we stayed at the Park Guest House Ashram of the Sri Aurobindi guru guy. I don't really know much about him, but he had a really nice guesthouse and great flowers on his grave. Apparently, he had studied abroad, and then came back to India, helped Ghandi with the revolution, and then became a renowned wiseman-swami along with his lady, reverently called "the mother." We browsed their book store - they wrote tombs and tombs of cool enlightment sorts of things, but i wasn't in the shopping mood, so we just headed back outside to put our shoes on and get some tea. I had a nice indian version of coq au vin (chicken with wine) for dinner and Txell had some nice mutton stew with tastiness and some wine.
Our next stop was the READ (Rural Education and Action Development) center in Andimadam. It is about a one hour train ride, two hour bus ride, one hour wait, two hour bus ride, and then another one hour wait and a few phone calls from the cashew cooperative authority building to get to this place. Txell has been supporting young Jakob's education for a number of years now, though this organization, and wanted to check it out. They have a nice guesthouse as well and lots of smart little rural indian kids to play soccer with and who say nice things like "hi" and "where are you from" and "please sir, this way." apparently the british taught them how to properly salute their superiors as well, so i felt a bit like an army general being followed around by my minions. We stayed for two days and got to see all sorts of cool things like book binding, typewriting classes, greeting card making training, and sari weaving on these really cool big homemade looms. that last one was really cool. txell also gave this little dog named maxi his shot (more dramatic than the sentence sounds). We also visited Jakobs adobe hut with thatched roof and met his sister and mother. poor guy was too shy to do much but feed the baby lambs his sister had handed us to fill the akward silence. he had changed from doctor to policeman as a future career just recently, but seemed to have forgotten most of his english on contact.
The day after we hoped a flight from Chennai to Ahmedabad, up in the north in the state of Gujarat. It wants to be known as the Manchester of Northern India. They got the pollution and traffic part correct. It has been a wonderful break to take off my shoes and come inside this civilized cyber parlour and write y'all all this long email, belive me! So, my time is about up and soon we'll be catching our overnight train to the city of Udaipur, which was the location of the filming of the James Bond movie Ocotopussy because of its white palace on a island in a big lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. soon i'll find out if i have a bed to sleep on during the 9 hour train ride tonight, so farewell and until next time!
peace and love,
Shawn (i Txell)
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and leaving to the north!
Hello from Vilandai-Andimatam in Tamil Nadu! We are at the guesthouse of the READ program (rural education and action development), a local organization that is helped by Sahaya international (USA) founded by my friend Koen (co-worker at UCDavis). Through their funds, they sponsor kids that could not go to school unless they are helped, because the family is too poor even for public school, and they take care of people in special needs (disabled, HIV infected,etc.: http://www.sahaya.org/guesthouse.html). First I tell you how we got here...
After leaving Goa, by overnight train (a crazy experience),we arrived to Mangalore, and from there got to Cochi by train. The train station at 6 in the morning was even more of an experience, with little sleep, strong bad smells, dark, and people sleeping all over on the floor of the station...getting a ticket (which, no matter what, is always an experience!...). Couple of hours later, people started moving and washed up in a sink next to us...then, we got to the train. Fortunately a young man helped us to get an upgrade from general class to 2nd AC class (there is always someone that help us!). Sunrise was pretty, and after some sleep and maybe 8 more hours (after the 9 we spent already in the bus!!!) we got to Cochi (Kerala). We booked another train to leave couple days after, because we realized that you cannot travel just 'spontaneously' here. Then, left the station with a rickshaw-man that had been talking to me while waiting. Unfortunately that was a bad move (we originally wanted the bus, but we were tired and thought was ok to pay 4 dollars to get to our place that was far). He was the craziest driver we have had so far, and i even felt scared this time...but then, worse, he brought us somewhere else, another hotel. He said that it was good bla, bla, and that our place was going to be more expensive. We started a discussion where he even called our place (probably faking it) and said there was no rooms...after some struggling, we got to get dropped near where we wanted...it was quite a bit annoying the whole thing, because at a times he was a bit too intense, although then he would say "We are friends, right?". We did found our place, and yes, there was a cheap room with a lovely old couple, just like the lonely planet said. The owner hooked us up for a tour the next day to the backwaters, which was great! Cochi is famous for that, and thus, quite touristic, but still, nice.
Canoes going by the rivers and small channels, visiting few local villages and industry (waving, lime, spices)...and a wonderful guide, Tampi, with a little socialist speech. The other tourist were fun too, nice German couple (who we may visit in Delhi -since they live there now-, and funny Japanese girls with whom I end up singing songs of Japanese cartoon!). That night, after watching the sunset by the beach with everybody else (locals and tourists) and encountering some traditional dances, we picked up some fish and prawns at the harbor which a local restaurant cooked for us (they already have it prepared for tourists).
Next day was relaxing, walked by the Jewish neighborhood and visited the museum inside the Dutch Palace which contains beautiful paintings telling the Ramayana.
To get to the train station, this time we took a local bus, which as another experience. They are always packed, but in this one, I found myself sitting at the men area!! too late, since with so many people it was impossible to move forward...
That overnight train (chennai express) was definitely an experience. First there was some people sitting in our "beds" but they said they would leave in the next stop. It took some time to not feel as crowded...then the women in front ate their dinner, and of course, all trash through the window!. Later we prepared the beds...I was on "top" and shawn locked the backpacks underneath his bed. When I saw police man at night, walking the train up and down made me feel much more comfortable (we had hear bad stories about trains). I did sleep quite a bit and we made some friends along the way, as always. At the station we took a bus to Mamallapurum, a nice and touristy beach time 2 hours south. It is famous for sculptors and there are few temples carved in stone (5 radhas) that were discovered only 200 years ago by the British. There, besides one moment when guy approached us and seemed a bit sketchy, we had a great time. We enjoyed the temples, walking on the beach, having dinner at the yogi restaurant where we met the owner and his cousin, very interesting people (the only Buddhist of the town)...
Two days after we took a local bus to Pondicherry. When we were leaving, we saw a little procession with music and flowers that was being hold for a death person that was going to be incinerated. Also, all the cow' horns around there were still painted and ornamented from the big Hindu celebration that happened few days before. Local Bus...what to say...with backpacks, always more complicated!
In Pondicherrry we were lucky to find a room in the guesthouse of the Sri Aurobindi yogi-guru-writer. Then we walked along the french colonial streets, the beach and the M. Gandhi statue and had dinner at rendezvous. Next day, after taking care of some business we took a train to Villapurum, were we connected to get to Vriddachalam. Sometimes there are some looks from indian man that are way to intense for a woman (I think). Some have red and intimidating eyes, and they do not stop looking at you, and make you feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. That happened in the train, while shawn was taking a nap, so then i woke him up :). It is also very obvious how different is work and the chores depending on the gender: the ones that due dirty work are woman (cleaning the streets, carrying bricks...).
To get Here, Andimatam, we still had to take a bus. But there we were in "Deep india" so not as many tourists are seen. Again, a young man helped us to get to our bus. He told us that the bus station was very unsafe so he wanted to make sure we were all right there. He was very protective and got inside the bus to found a sit for us. Although the looks in the bus were a bit of disagreement, once again, a man was excited to help us....He was a driver in Bombay, and i guess had deal with lots of foreigners in his life (at least some). They told us where to get down, and wanted to take us to the place we needed to get. I had the address, i think they thought we were teachers for the school. SO here we are, the man with a very decisive walk, shawn and i with backpacks behind and his wife behind complaining that she did not wanted to walk anymore. He took us to the schools in town, but nobody knew what we were talking about. After he asked at the trading cashews central and they did not know either. I showed them the phone number and they called. After no answer, Selvam called back! He said he was very near and he would come get us. So the cashew family made us come inside, and sit, and the other couple (the man was extremely happy we finally got the mystery solved!) came as well. It was like a movie. They offer us some tasty snack and then Selvam came.
So here in the READ program we have played soccer with the kids, had extremely tasty food, seen different programs for disabled (card making, typewriting, book assembling, etc.). Yesterday we met Yaccop, the kid i sponsor, which was extremely shy but it was nice to see him and his family and he place were they live. A memory forever! Today after seeing some sari waving well go back to Chennai, to fly tomorrow up north (Ahmadabad) and from there reach Udaipur. A new adventure starts.
More will come...meanwhile, lots of kisses from both us!
peace and love,
Shawn and Txell
After leaving Goa, by overnight train (a crazy experience),we arrived to Mangalore, and from there got to Cochi by train. The train station at 6 in the morning was even more of an experience, with little sleep, strong bad smells, dark, and people sleeping all over on the floor of the station...getting a ticket (which, no matter what, is always an experience!...). Couple of hours later, people started moving and washed up in a sink next to us...then, we got to the train. Fortunately a young man helped us to get an upgrade from general class to 2nd AC class (there is always someone that help us!). Sunrise was pretty, and after some sleep and maybe 8 more hours (after the 9 we spent already in the bus!!!) we got to Cochi (Kerala). We booked another train to leave couple days after, because we realized that you cannot travel just 'spontaneously' here. Then, left the station with a rickshaw-man that had been talking to me while waiting. Unfortunately that was a bad move (we originally wanted the bus, but we were tired and thought was ok to pay 4 dollars to get to our place that was far). He was the craziest driver we have had so far, and i even felt scared this time...but then, worse, he brought us somewhere else, another hotel. He said that it was good bla, bla, and that our place was going to be more expensive. We started a discussion where he even called our place (probably faking it) and said there was no rooms...after some struggling, we got to get dropped near where we wanted...it was quite a bit annoying the whole thing, because at a times he was a bit too intense, although then he would say "We are friends, right?". We did found our place, and yes, there was a cheap room with a lovely old couple, just like the lonely planet said. The owner hooked us up for a tour the next day to the backwaters, which was great! Cochi is famous for that, and thus, quite touristic, but still, nice.
Canoes going by the rivers and small channels, visiting few local villages and industry (waving, lime, spices)...and a wonderful guide, Tampi, with a little socialist speech. The other tourist were fun too, nice German couple (who we may visit in Delhi -since they live there now-, and funny Japanese girls with whom I end up singing songs of Japanese cartoon!). That night, after watching the sunset by the beach with everybody else (locals and tourists) and encountering some traditional dances, we picked up some fish and prawns at the harbor which a local restaurant cooked for us (they already have it prepared for tourists).
Next day was relaxing, walked by the Jewish neighborhood and visited the museum inside the Dutch Palace which contains beautiful paintings telling the Ramayana.
To get to the train station, this time we took a local bus, which as another experience. They are always packed, but in this one, I found myself sitting at the men area!! too late, since with so many people it was impossible to move forward...
That overnight train (chennai express) was definitely an experience. First there was some people sitting in our "beds" but they said they would leave in the next stop. It took some time to not feel as crowded...then the women in front ate their dinner, and of course, all trash through the window!. Later we prepared the beds...I was on "top" and shawn locked the backpacks underneath his bed. When I saw police man at night, walking the train up and down made me feel much more comfortable (we had hear bad stories about trains). I did sleep quite a bit and we made some friends along the way, as always. At the station we took a bus to Mamallapurum, a nice and touristy beach time 2 hours south. It is famous for sculptors and there are few temples carved in stone (5 radhas) that were discovered only 200 years ago by the British. There, besides one moment when guy approached us and seemed a bit sketchy, we had a great time. We enjoyed the temples, walking on the beach, having dinner at the yogi restaurant where we met the owner and his cousin, very interesting people (the only Buddhist of the town)...
Two days after we took a local bus to Pondicherry. When we were leaving, we saw a little procession with music and flowers that was being hold for a death person that was going to be incinerated. Also, all the cow' horns around there were still painted and ornamented from the big Hindu celebration that happened few days before. Local Bus...what to say...with backpacks, always more complicated!
In Pondicherrry we were lucky to find a room in the guesthouse of the Sri Aurobindi yogi-guru-writer. Then we walked along the french colonial streets, the beach and the M. Gandhi statue and had dinner at rendezvous. Next day, after taking care of some business we took a train to Villapurum, were we connected to get to Vriddachalam. Sometimes there are some looks from indian man that are way to intense for a woman (I think). Some have red and intimidating eyes, and they do not stop looking at you, and make you feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. That happened in the train, while shawn was taking a nap, so then i woke him up :). It is also very obvious how different is work and the chores depending on the gender: the ones that due dirty work are woman (cleaning the streets, carrying bricks...).
To get Here, Andimatam, we still had to take a bus. But there we were in "Deep india" so not as many tourists are seen. Again, a young man helped us to get to our bus. He told us that the bus station was very unsafe so he wanted to make sure we were all right there. He was very protective and got inside the bus to found a sit for us. Although the looks in the bus were a bit of disagreement, once again, a man was excited to help us....He was a driver in Bombay, and i guess had deal with lots of foreigners in his life (at least some). They told us where to get down, and wanted to take us to the place we needed to get. I had the address, i think they thought we were teachers for the school. SO here we are, the man with a very decisive walk, shawn and i with backpacks behind and his wife behind complaining that she did not wanted to walk anymore. He took us to the schools in town, but nobody knew what we were talking about. After he asked at the trading cashews central and they did not know either. I showed them the phone number and they called. After no answer, Selvam called back! He said he was very near and he would come get us. So the cashew family made us come inside, and sit, and the other couple (the man was extremely happy we finally got the mystery solved!) came as well. It was like a movie. They offer us some tasty snack and then Selvam came.
So here in the READ program we have played soccer with the kids, had extremely tasty food, seen different programs for disabled (card making, typewriting, book assembling, etc.). Yesterday we met Yaccop, the kid i sponsor, which was extremely shy but it was nice to see him and his family and he place were they live. A memory forever! Today after seeing some sari waving well go back to Chennai, to fly tomorrow up north (Ahmadabad) and from there reach Udaipur. A new adventure starts.
More will come...meanwhile, lots of kisses from both us!
peace and love,
Shawn and Txell
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Blow OK Horn
ENGLISH
Yes, it is OK..You can Blow HORN, no problem my friend....!
Third day in INDIA, Goa...and we have a little bit of time before we take and overnight bus to Mangalore. We just realized that we will need a bit more planning than what we intended to do because trains down south are booked for a week! so we just need to have plenty of alternatives and be very flexible...which is easy, since every single place sounds great to visit! We have also realized that 4 weeks in India we'll be nothing, huge country and enormous distances...we were a bit ambitious, but we'll just go easy and do as much as we can.
So far the impression is very good...they are extremely friendly (Shawn is "everybody's friend",since they always talk first to him and call him that way...)and they like to be taken pictures with us :)...so far 3 people asked for a photo with us! The first hotel was a great old Portuguese colonial hotel (that we enjoyed as a Xmas present from Shawn's parents :) and that felt very comfortable. We have been walking a lot, and we already know Goa quite well...went to Old Goa to see all the cathedrals and churches (I
including Francesc Xavier tomb) and yesterday to the beach, Calangute were we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and then a wonderful dinner at a friend of a friend restaurant.
Of course, the craziness of the traffic is already obvious here, I don't even want to image how it will be in a major city! but it is fun and colorful...women have beautiful saris and besides all the horning on the streets we having a lot of fun...specially went shawn makes his fake indian accent, even speaking with them, he just makes me laugh!
Ah! we had a little problem at arrival, shawn bag's was missing, but fortunately it arrived the next day. It was a whole experience to itself to get the bag back, since we had to do all these procedures with costums and the police, but all good.
So, this is all from Goa, now I am going to translate in Catalan!!!
hugs to all,
txell & shawn
CATALA
Si, cap problema "my friend"...pots fer sonar el claxon !!!(ho sento, pero deixare els accents de banda!)
Tercer dia a la INDIA, Goa...tenim un mica de temps menstres no prenem l'autobus de nit cap a Mangalore. Ens hem adonat que no podem anar amb tanta alegria, i necessitem planejar una mica mes, perque el tren que voliem agafar cap al sud, esta tot reservat fins la setmana que ve!! Aixi doncs necessitem alternatives i ser flexibles, la qual cosa em sembla que sera facil ja que totes les opcions de llocs a visitar sonen la mar de be. Tambe ens hem adonat que 4 setmanes a la India no seran suficients per un lloc tan gran (que llestos oi??), sobretot pq les distancies con mes grans del que semblen, i els horaris impredictibles! simplement anirem fent sobre la marxa, i farem tant com poguem, pero amb tranquil.litat.
Fins ara la impressio es molt bona...son molt agradables i curiosos, i sempre et volen ajudar sense res a canvia (com a minim de moment). El Shawn es l'amic de tots, ja que sempre s'apropen a ell primer i li diuen " my friend" i 3 persones ja ens han demananat de posar amb nosaltres per una foto. Hi ha molts turistes indis (del nord) aqui a la zona de Goa (i tambe molt occidental). L'hotel al qual ens hem quedat aquests dos dies era molt bonic i comfortable (regal de Nadal dels pares el shawn). Es una antiga casa colonial (aquesta zona era colonia portuguesa) i el proble de Panji tambe es bonic. Hem visitat l'Antiga Goa plena de catedrals i esglesies (incloent la tomba de Frances Xavier a la esglesia del Bom Jesus) i ja ens coneixem Goa bastant be...de tant caminar. Ahir vam anar a la platja, a Calangute, on vam disfrutar d'una bonica posta de sol, i despres un bon sopar al restaurant de l'amic d'una amiga(bastant de luxe per ser aqui)...
Obviament la bogeria el trafic ja es veu aqui, no em vull imaginar com deu ser a una ciutat gran! Per a part dels claxons que no paren, ens ho estem passant molt be de moment...les dones porten saris preciosos, algunes van mes modernes per aqui, tot es de colors...I el shawn no para de fer el seu accent indi parlant amb ells que em fa molta gracia!
A l'arribada vam tenir un petit problema, havien perdut la bossa del shawn, pero per sort va arribar el dia seguent. Va ser tota una experiencia anar a aduanes per aconseguir que ens la tornessin (era al meu nom) pero tot va anar la mar de be al final. Doncs aixo es tot des de Goa, fins un altre moment...PETONS A TOTS i TOTES!!!
txell i shawn
Yes, it is OK..You can Blow HORN, no problem my friend....!
Third day in INDIA, Goa...and we have a little bit of time before we take and overnight bus to Mangalore. We just realized that we will need a bit more planning than what we intended to do because trains down south are booked for a week! so we just need to have plenty of alternatives and be very flexible...which is easy, since every single place sounds great to visit! We have also realized that 4 weeks in India we'll be nothing, huge country and enormous distances...we were a bit ambitious, but we'll just go easy and do as much as we can.
So far the impression is very good...they are extremely friendly (Shawn is "everybody's friend",since they always talk first to him and call him that way...)and they like to be taken pictures with us :)...so far 3 people asked for a photo with us! The first hotel was a great old Portuguese colonial hotel (that we enjoyed as a Xmas present from Shawn's parents :) and that felt very comfortable. We have been walking a lot, and we already know Goa quite well...went to Old Goa to see all the cathedrals and churches (I
including Francesc Xavier tomb) and yesterday to the beach, Calangute were we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and then a wonderful dinner at a friend of a friend restaurant.
Of course, the craziness of the traffic is already obvious here, I don't even want to image how it will be in a major city! but it is fun and colorful...women have beautiful saris and besides all the horning on the streets we having a lot of fun...specially went shawn makes his fake indian accent, even speaking with them, he just makes me laugh!
Ah! we had a little problem at arrival, shawn bag's was missing, but fortunately it arrived the next day. It was a whole experience to itself to get the bag back, since we had to do all these procedures with costums and the police, but all good.
So, this is all from Goa, now I am going to translate in Catalan!!!
hugs to all,
txell & shawn
CATALA
Si, cap problema "my friend"...pots fer sonar el claxon !!!(ho sento, pero deixare els accents de banda!)
Tercer dia a la INDIA, Goa...tenim un mica de temps menstres no prenem l'autobus de nit cap a Mangalore. Ens hem adonat que no podem anar amb tanta alegria, i necessitem planejar una mica mes, perque el tren que voliem agafar cap al sud, esta tot reservat fins la setmana que ve!! Aixi doncs necessitem alternatives i ser flexibles, la qual cosa em sembla que sera facil ja que totes les opcions de llocs a visitar sonen la mar de be. Tambe ens hem adonat que 4 setmanes a la India no seran suficients per un lloc tan gran (que llestos oi??), sobretot pq les distancies con mes grans del que semblen, i els horaris impredictibles! simplement anirem fent sobre la marxa, i farem tant com poguem, pero amb tranquil.litat.
Fins ara la impressio es molt bona...son molt agradables i curiosos, i sempre et volen ajudar sense res a canvia (com a minim de moment). El Shawn es l'amic de tots, ja que sempre s'apropen a ell primer i li diuen " my friend" i 3 persones ja ens han demananat de posar amb nosaltres per una foto. Hi ha molts turistes indis (del nord) aqui a la zona de Goa (i tambe molt occidental). L'hotel al qual ens hem quedat aquests dos dies era molt bonic i comfortable (regal de Nadal dels pares el shawn). Es una antiga casa colonial (aquesta zona era colonia portuguesa) i el proble de Panji tambe es bonic. Hem visitat l'Antiga Goa plena de catedrals i esglesies (incloent la tomba de Frances Xavier a la esglesia del Bom Jesus) i ja ens coneixem Goa bastant be...de tant caminar. Ahir vam anar a la platja, a Calangute, on vam disfrutar d'una bonica posta de sol, i despres un bon sopar al restaurant de l'amic d'una amiga(bastant de luxe per ser aqui)...
Obviament la bogeria el trafic ja es veu aqui, no em vull imaginar com deu ser a una ciutat gran! Per a part dels claxons que no paren, ens ho estem passant molt be de moment...les dones porten saris preciosos, algunes van mes modernes per aqui, tot es de colors...I el shawn no para de fer el seu accent indi parlant amb ells que em fa molta gracia!
A l'arribada vam tenir un petit problema, havien perdut la bossa del shawn, pero per sort va arribar el dia seguent. Va ser tota una experiencia anar a aduanes per aconseguir que ens la tornessin (era al meu nom) pero tot va anar la mar de be al final. Doncs aixo es tot des de Goa, fins un altre moment...PETONS A TOTS i TOTES!!!
txell i shawn
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Castellar del Vallès - Goa
So here we are, two days before leaving to India!!!! very very exciting...
Yet tomorrow is going to be a taught day. Supposedly the boat got here last week and tomorrow have to deal with customs and get our shipment once everything is cleared, but my guess is that is not going to be as simple. We'll be fulfilled with patience, and as long as by the end of the day we have the boxes, it will be fine! We already know there lots of extra money to pay they never told us (filthy bast...)...
These days have gone extremely fast. Met with friends, not even as much as I wanted, some work and business to take care of (still some to do in the future) and lots of family commitments. Lots of celebrations because of the holidays but something else took a lot of our time. My sister Montse turn out 50 years old and last friday we had a big celebration. She invited us for dinner in a lovely tapas -winery. Besides a beautiful piece of jewelry as a present, we had made a video about her life as a surprise! All of us, including Shawn, had participated on it, dressing up, performing and singing various pieces of her life at the tunes of VIVA LA VIDA (a Coldplay Song that she likes). It was hilarious, a big effort of all the family (and a lot of my time) but it was extremely worth it, so much fun and we have never seen her laughing so hard! I'll see if I can load a part of it now...:)
Today Shawn got back from Madrid, he had a great time and the talks went very well...after a nice sunday meal, he went for his beloved nap. Now to pack for India!!
So it has been nice to be home, and even thought it went by really fast, I guess that is a good sign...yet lots more adventures to come!! We'll be sharing our travels with you...it will be easier this way. You can still write us, anytime!!
we'll be thinking of you!!!
kisses and hugs
txell i shawn
Yet tomorrow is going to be a taught day. Supposedly the boat got here last week and tomorrow have to deal with customs and get our shipment once everything is cleared, but my guess is that is not going to be as simple. We'll be fulfilled with patience, and as long as by the end of the day we have the boxes, it will be fine! We already know there lots of extra money to pay they never told us (filthy bast...)...
These days have gone extremely fast. Met with friends, not even as much as I wanted, some work and business to take care of (still some to do in the future) and lots of family commitments. Lots of celebrations because of the holidays but something else took a lot of our time. My sister Montse turn out 50 years old and last friday we had a big celebration. She invited us for dinner in a lovely tapas -winery. Besides a beautiful piece of jewelry as a present, we had made a video about her life as a surprise! All of us, including Shawn, had participated on it, dressing up, performing and singing various pieces of her life at the tunes of VIVA LA VIDA (a Coldplay Song that she likes). It was hilarious, a big effort of all the family (and a lot of my time) but it was extremely worth it, so much fun and we have never seen her laughing so hard! I'll see if I can load a part of it now...:)
Today Shawn got back from Madrid, he had a great time and the talks went very well...after a nice sunday meal, he went for his beloved nap. Now to pack for India!!
So it has been nice to be home, and even thought it went by really fast, I guess that is a good sign...yet lots more adventures to come!! We'll be sharing our travels with you...it will be easier this way. You can still write us, anytime!!
we'll be thinking of you!!!
kisses and hugs
txell i shawn
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Dia d'arribada / Arrival day
10 agost, 2007: Orgullo de ser Brasileiro!
Doncs si (aquest es l’eslogan de la companyia d’aerolinies brasilera...i segur que de la resta d’habitants d’aquest pais)... després de 5 avions i no se quantes hores...ja he arribat. No se quan tindre conexio...ja vorem, pero de moment escric les primeres linies. En un dia tan assenyalat, sant Llorenç (felicitats!) i pluja d’estels (oi que es avui -...ehhh que si???-) he creuat i trepitjat per primer cop en la meva vida (com a minim la que recordo) l’hemisferi sud. Tot un esdeveniment...he de dir pero que en un moment de la nit, algunes de les sotragades de l’avio m’han fet rumiar sobre si arribaria a posar els peus a la terra del guarana i la caipirinha...(en serio, n’hi ha hagut un que em com baixat de cop, i jo pensava, home no, al menos que ho faci el viatge i ho pugui veure!!!!). ah! tambe m’ha tocat una mena de tuberculos de company –exagero, pero...quina tos mes productiva que tenia el amigo!- i s’assemblava al que esta enamorat de la que ven al stanc d’amelie, sabeu? Amb aquell morros i cara arrugada...? quina gracia....Quan he creuat l’aduana, la primera imatge que he vist a sigut el somriure del Ronaldinho en un anunci...com a casa :-). I ja m’han felicitat pel meu portugues, i la veritat es que m’ho passo pipa parlant-lo (o intentant-ho) i els entenc prou be de moment!
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Proud of being brazilian!
(this is the slogan of TAM, brazilian airlines...and probably the rest of the country agrees)...YES! here I am! After 5 different flights and don’t even know how many hours I, for the first time ever in my life (at least the one I remember) stepped on the south hemisphere. Have to say though, that during the night, some of the shakes of the plain made me doubt if it was ever gonna happen (I was just thinking oh, c’mon that would not be good, at least I wanna see it!! Seriously, there was one sudden decrease of elevation that was quite alarming...:-). And as a neighbor, I had this tuberculose fellow (I’m exaggerating yes, but man, what a productive cough he had!!! In case somebody remembers amelie, the movie, he looked a lot like the fellow in love with the blond woman that sells tobacco? With those lips and wrinkles all over...pretty interesting character...). So well, so far so good...I’ve already been congratulated for my portuguese and, in fact, I really enjoy speaking another foreign language (so musical!) and so far I understand them quite a lot!
(by the way, don’t be to picky with my language spelling , grammar, syntaxis...remember that I’m writing in 2 languages here and at the same time hearing and speaking another one! And have not much time to go over my writing ...so be generous with me...;-)
* * *
Doncs si (aquest es l’eslogan de la companyia d’aerolinies brasilera...i segur que de la resta d’habitants d’aquest pais)... després de 5 avions i no se quantes hores...ja he arribat. No se quan tindre conexio...ja vorem, pero de moment escric les primeres linies. En un dia tan assenyalat, sant Llorenç (felicitats!) i pluja d’estels (oi que es avui -...ehhh que si???-) he creuat i trepitjat per primer cop en la meva vida (com a minim la que recordo) l’hemisferi sud. Tot un esdeveniment...he de dir pero que en un moment de la nit, algunes de les sotragades de l’avio m’han fet rumiar sobre si arribaria a posar els peus a la terra del guarana i la caipirinha...(en serio, n’hi ha hagut un que em com baixat de cop, i jo pensava, home no, al menos que ho faci el viatge i ho pugui veure!!!!). ah! tambe m’ha tocat una mena de tuberculos de company –exagero, pero...quina tos mes productiva que tenia el amigo!- i s’assemblava al que esta enamorat de la que ven al stanc d’amelie, sabeu? Amb aquell morros i cara arrugada...? quina gracia....Quan he creuat l’aduana, la primera imatge que he vist a sigut el somriure del Ronaldinho en un anunci...com a casa :-). I ja m’han felicitat pel meu portugues, i la veritat es que m’ho passo pipa parlant-lo (o intentant-ho) i els entenc prou be de moment!
..................................................................................................
Proud of being brazilian!
(this is the slogan of TAM, brazilian airlines...and probably the rest of the country agrees)...YES! here I am! After 5 different flights and don’t even know how many hours I, for the first time ever in my life (at least the one I remember) stepped on the south hemisphere. Have to say though, that during the night, some of the shakes of the plain made me doubt if it was ever gonna happen (I was just thinking oh, c’mon that would not be good, at least I wanna see it!! Seriously, there was one sudden decrease of elevation that was quite alarming...:-). And as a neighbor, I had this tuberculose fellow (I’m exaggerating yes, but man, what a productive cough he had!!! In case somebody remembers amelie, the movie, he looked a lot like the fellow in love with the blond woman that sells tobacco? With those lips and wrinkles all over...pretty interesting character...). So well, so far so good...I’ve already been congratulated for my portuguese and, in fact, I really enjoy speaking another foreign language (so musical!) and so far I understand them quite a lot!
(by the way, don’t be to picky with my language spelling , grammar, syntaxis...remember that I’m writing in 2 languages here and at the same time hearing and speaking another one! And have not much time to go over my writing ...so be generous with me...;-)
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