Monday, December 3, 2007
Darjeeling. 2.185 m a.s.l.
The last two days here were just amazing. Unfortunately the internet connection here is too slow to upload pictures. I will do this when I am back home. On Saturday evening I arrived here after my plain had a two hours delay and our Jeep had a one hour brake down. The Jeep ride was quite exciting as they have no railings at the edges :) I also had to sit right in the middle of the first bench and had the gearshift lever right between my legs. So going in the second or forth gear wasn't really a pleasure, I can tell you :).
So yesterday I stood up at three o'clock in morning to see the sunrise. The reason for waking up so early was, that I went to a Hill called Tiger hill from were you have the best view over the whole Himalaya. It was really worth it. Unfortunately it was to cloudy in the direction of the Mt. Everest but you had a clear view to some other 7000's and of course the Kanchenjunga (8586 m). It was just amazing and freezing cold :)
Back in Darjeeling I searched my guest house for one hour as the streets here are so small and all the time there are stairs to take and it is just very confusing. I then went to the Mountaineering Institute to ask for climbing possibilities and of course to see the Mt. Everest Museum. Tenzing Norgay Sherpa the first man, who climbed the Mt. Everest (together with Sir Edmund Hillary) in 1953 used to live in Darjeeling and therefore, of course, the Mt. Everest is very famous here. The museum was just amazing and I would say that just to see this this trip was all worth it. I also visited the place were Tenzing was burnt to ashes.
After that I sneaked around the tea fields and had a few talks with the local people. The people over here are much more friendly then I ever experienced people in India and they seem just so satisfied. It was such a confortable atmosphere as I walked throught the little villages. I visted some temple then and finally went back to the city centre.
Today then I finally went for some climbing at the Mountaineering Institute and it was great fun. In the evening I visited a tea factory and saw the amazing process of making this famous tea. It was really interesting and all the mashines were over 150 years old.
So in a few hours I will go to bed and tomorrow I will see the sunrise one last time and say good bye to Kanchenjunga. Hopefully I will catch a Jeep then and be on time at the airport to make my way back to Delhi. In Delhi I will just pack my stuff, maybe go out with the french guys there and finally hopp on the plain to Germany at 3 o'clock in the morning.
So that was india but this is not the very last post ( ;) @ niki). I will write one more by the end of this week. So see you in Germany then.
bye
Thursday, November 29, 2007
bye, bye Bangalore
So this is my last day here in Bangalore. Tonight I am flying to Delhi again. I will spend one day there, saying good-bye to everyone and buy a sweater or something :) Because on Saturday then, I finally go to Darjeeling.
My flight back to Germany will be on Wednesday morning and I will arrive at 6.50 am (5/12/07) in Frankfurt. I hope now, I do not have to tell everybody when I am coming back anymore :)
So I will enjoy my last hours here now and then pack my stuff.
have a nice day.
Pill
Monday, November 26, 2007
trip to Tibet
Back in Madikeri I took a bus to Kushalnagar from where the Tibetan villages are easier to reach. The bus ride was one of the most exciting ones I had over here, as the bus driver really want to test the absolute speed limit you could go with this bus downhill! I have to admit that I was really
scared at some point but although it was a fun ride. I actually really reached the roof f the bus with my head sometimes. In Kushalnagar then I took a rickshaw to the first Tibetan village, called Namdroling.
I visited the golden
The next village I visited was Sera. Roughly 5000 Monks live there and in the immediate vicinity and it is really funny to walk through this village and all the people you see are monks :)
It got finally time to look for a place to stay for the night, but the problem is that you need permission for doing that. This permission of course takes a few months to get it, so I did not even think of applying for that. My plan was to stay in a Buddhist Centre, but when I asked there for a room and admit that I do not have a permit, the first word the Tibetan guy said was "scheisse" :) He really was a funny guy and gave me a room though. If I got caught it would not have looked good for both of us (see the sign). He told me to wait until its dark and to hide from any Jeep I see on the street, because that would be the police on its daily patrol.
Pretty excited after all I went out after six o'clock to go to the main temple. The Tibetan guys at the Buddhist Centre told me that I was really fortunate to come at this time, because at the moment there is a Puja (not the same as a Hindu-Puja) at the
The next morning I had breakfast with some monks and went to explore the city. After lunch I said good-bye to everyone and hopped onto a Bus back to
So that was my last weekend here in Bangalore and on Thursday my time here for the internship is already over. Looking back the time really rushed by. So Thursday I leave for
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
short update
there is not much to say about last weekend because I basicly stayed in Bangalore. I had so much work last week that I had to work a bit on the weekend, too.
On Saturday me and my two roommates went downtown for some shopping. In the evening we tried to go out to some diso. But you have to know that this is much more difficult here then you might think.
As a single man or girl you won't get into any disco. They just allow couples! I still do not get this but what could we do? the only chance to get into a club, as a single, is to pay for a woman. As we were on a low budget this night we did not do this ;)
So we went to some pub. Then they closed. I am serious. At 10:30 they told us that this will be the last order. At 11:30 we got kicked out and there was police all over the place. As you see it was not a long night but it was fun though and we had some beer at least :)
So now I only have two weeks left and next weekend it will be my last weekend in Bangalore! I will try to reach a little Tibetan village next weekend and by next Thursday fly back to Delhi. Then I will already be done with my work here.
In Delhi I will stay one day to visit some friends and then fly on to Darjeeling where I might see the Mount Everest:)
So far
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
French Pondichery
After that I had a huge lunch and went back to Bangalore. This week is very stressy again and I am really looking forward to the next weekend :)
Friday, November 9, 2007
Happy Diwali!
The story about Diwali is very long and no one knows it exactly, I think. You here different versions but it does not seem to be a problem. What every story has in common is that it is about Krishna :)
This week was realy busy for me. I shifted my appartement and now I am with an other intern and an Indian colleague in one flat. I do not have a maid anymore so my room stays a mess all day. Unfortunately I realized that I am pretty confortable with that and I feel more like home then before. There are still many things to organise and they take for ages here.
Yesterday I visited the new airport and it was a kind of a gooseflesh felling to see this big project and to know that you are working on that at the moment. I would like to see it when it is finished. We also raced the runway with our car, which I think I wont be able to do again in my life ;).
In a couple of minutes the whole company goes for a Diwali-Lunch. Lots of food again I guess :) I maybe upload some pictures of my room and my roommaid, a liitle gecko, which I named Wilhelm.
By the way, I uploaded some prictures at "Welcome to Boulder Paradise" so check it out and thats it for now.
Happy Diwali once again.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Welcome to Boulder Paradise :)
P.S.: I will upload more pictures this week and maybe write some more but the internet connection here really sucks.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Mysore. Mysore
I could not get to a computer for a longer time untill now. So I will tell you about my weekend now. Last weekend I went to Mysore which is in 3 hours down the south-west of Bangalore. A Swiss guy, I know from work, took me to the bus station in the morning. On the way he told me that he is going to a hindi temple. He is going there nearly every weekend because he says it is a really powerfull place. It sounded interessting and so I decided to join him. You won't get this when I try to explain it to you here so I will just say that it was a very interesting experience.
After that then I took the bus to Mysore. I met a German guy there, called David. We walked through Mysore visited the Maharaja Palace, which is a huge building in the heart of Mysore and really beautiful. Then again we met two girls from the US and we had some early dinner. Unfortunately David went on to Bangalore the same evening. Actually this was my luck, because I tried to get a room earlier that day but everything was full. Hence, I overtook his room :)
I then went to a hill station from where you have a beautiful view over the whole town. I watched the sunset and it was really a relaxed atmosphere. Back in Mysore I went to the Palace again which was enlighted now with over 97000 lights. I sat down with some Indian students and enjoyed the night.
The next day I caught the bus to the countryside to see a Bird Garden everyone told me the day before. The Bus dropped me out in the middle of nowhere and there was just a little sign telling the way. I followed it and found it and really it was a cool place. I even saw a crocodile :) After that I walked around the countryside which was really nice. The people there didn't want to sell you something all the time and I felt so confortable again having no hurry. I finally jumped on a bus which came down the road and got back to Mysore. There then I visited a fruit&vegetable market which is very famous and headded back to Bangalore.
I am sorry for my writing this time but I really wrote this in a hurry, because we have a meeting in a few minutes. By the way, I am in Delhi again for some meetings. Yesterday I had a seven hours meeting :) It was interesting though and last night I went to a little house party with the guy I met in Nainital. It was a fun night and Indian beer really is not good for your head the day after :) Tonight there might be an other party so I won't get much sleep, as my plain leaves tomorrow to Bangalore again.
So far take care and stuff
Thursday, October 25, 2007
"Have some more!"
Yesterday me and two colleagues were invited by an other Indian college. If you will ever get an invitation from an Indian I advise you not to eat anything before that for 4 days!
We started off with some Scotch Whiskey and after half an hour there was some fish coming. The Fish was very spicy but also very tasty. After we finished that there was an other fish coming. After four fish I was totally full :). We had some more Whiskeys and beers and after a while a big chicken was served. Ok, after that I was definitely full.
Then the host said:"When do you guys want to have dinner?" Dinner? Yep, there was still the main course coming :) So we sat down at the table and had dinner. It tried everything they served though and it was delicious, but also I had to fight with every bite :)
Finally we finished and I was as full as I was never before. It was really a fun night and I got invited again to learn how to bake Indian bread. I am really looking forward to that!
So I will see now where to go this weekend. There is a climbing competition here in Bangalore so maybe I will stay. Next week I am going to fly to Delhi again for some meetings.
have a nice life
Phil