Home is where your heart is

This is the official end of this blog. The journey is over, the next one is going to start. The journey to university.

Thank you to you all, dear readers. There are many things we didn't write, but I hope you got a small impression about these 6 months. The rest many of you will hear from Nina or me.

So that's it. Half of me is still in Nepal. Home is where your heart is.

Kathmandu

The very last part of the great adventure: Kathmandu. Last but not least!

A part in me wishes that I"d come here earlier - after 5 months in India I kind of feel that I arrived somewhere, at last. But one part of me is already home, making plans, thinking about the future, worrying, and looking forward. I"m gonna be home home soon, and that"s why I"m not here, in Nepal, with all my thoughts, a 100 per cent. Even though I arrived.

I like it a lot. I live with a really nice family a little bit outside of the center. But the city is not very big. And the airport is close, so I see landing and departuring planes all the time. And everytime they give me this feeling: Soon I"m gonna be in one of those. Soon, but not yet. And I know, I"m gonna miss this country. The people that got their place in my heart. (Nina will think this sounds super-cheesy, but that"s simply how it is)

I spend my days working in a school for disabled children. I actually work together with the physiotherapists. It"s really nice. One of them is from Darjeeling, and she was very delighted to hear, that ew stayed at her friends guest house there! They explain me a lot, and I can help more fom day to day.

But, in fact, there aren't many days. About two weeks ago I finally managed to be invited to a Hindu wedding, so I didn't go to work. And then, this weekend (they only have 1 day weekend!), there was a strike. Nothing unusual for Nepal, and it ment 2 days no work. Most Nepalis are quite annoyed by the strikes, but I found it really nice: No cars on the roads, and everybody has free. And I used the days to ask loads of questions, and to be stared at by hundreds of people. I think this is what I am most looking forward: Not to be stared at, just to be part of the crowd.

And there's so much more. It will have to wait. I'm going home now.

From the forests of Finland

When I got out of the airplane in Helsinki the wheather decided to celebrate my arrival with sunshine,
and roads that recently dried after being covered a long winter in snow. Something that might sound not so extra-ordinary but is, for sure, a sign of spring.

I know many others did what we did before, and I know some people spend their whole lifes travelling around. So maybe I am a bit ashamed of my feelings in a way, but I choose not to care. My whole beeing was filled with happiness as I took my first steps on Finnish ground. I smiled like a jerk when I saw the first signs written in Finnish and Swedish and something inside me exploded when I felt the first familiar smells of the well-known.

I'm happy to hear from Simi and a bit, I must say, jealous of her experiences.
Home is, for better or worse, what it always been. I got a job. I read a lot of books.
Neoliberalism, the politics of Finland and history of social work in Scandinavia fill my mind with word-tornados. Quite the opposite of what Simi just went through. If I allow myself a guess on how it's been and what an opposite may be.

Like I told her: Coming home for some reasons feel like a lot of things to figure out. I just don't know what those things are or what I will find when I figure them out.
Every now and then I have to stop what I'm doing to catch some of those thaughts.
I guess I'm missing it a bit. The whole thing. Travelling, India, Indians, the chaos the freedom.

And I guess It'll never stop. Like with everything you do in life. Every chapter you finnish.

It will take some time. But I know reality will get me back sooner or later. Hopefully.
Like today.  Just because this is something I haven't done in a long time. I have some bread to bake.

The Vipassana

A 10 day long meditation course, that is actually way more than just a simple course. The rules are very strict: Noble silence at all times (that means no form of communication except talking to the teacher), no books, or music, or writing. Getting up at 4 am and meditating about 10 hours a day, thes a teacher's discourse and bedtime at 9 pm. No proper food after 12 o'clock (only fruits).
Sounds horrible. And intensive. And it was very hard, the first 3 days, and it was intensive, and it was an experience I don't want to miss. I find it hard to put in words what I felt in those 10 days, maybe I need some more time to digest, as it ended just a few hours ago. It was definitely one of the hardest things I've done in my life - so far.

The purpose of the course is to purify the mind, even though you obviously don't achieve this goal in 10 days. Only if you practise every day, you can take more than just this one step on the long path, that, eventually, leads to enlightenment. At least, this is what Buddha said. It is his technique, even though the course doesn't really have anything to do with religion - It's only about the mediation.

By concentrating on the sensations you feel on your body, and not rreacting to it, you strengthen, sharpen your mind and get out of your miseries. You learn to get out of being so emotional about everything, and to be so dependend on the outside world. Because real happiness comes from within, from yourself and nowhere else.

A short try to summarize the technique. But there's so much more behind it. It changed something in me. And now it's up to me to make something out of it. I don't know what it is going to be.

So good, so far. And now, back to the real world. Tonoiight I am staying with the assistant teacher of the course, Suman, and her family. One last time real Indian life. Family life. And tomorrow off to Kathmandu, to the final part.

Mission complete,India approved by Mr Oshman & Simosa21

Well.
Here I am. Alone in Kolkata. Simi took a bus to the southern part of the city somewhere to
do the Vipassana (silent meditation). Four and a half months of toghether-hood made the hotelroom feel rather empty last night when I watched the HBO 9 o'clock movie by myself.

I hated this country sometimes. Too many people, too much traffic, too much heat. Too much attention as I can not melt into the crowd walking on the street. Simply too much of most things. I felt so vulnerable at times I thaught I'd better just lock myself up in the hotel-room. I guess this comes from not having frames big enough to fit all impressions, challenges, people, smells, sounds. Unconsciously the frames of my box have grown. What it means or how much I can't answer to in this moment.

As Simosa21 was trying to find out what bus to take yesterday I was waiting in the shadow together with her backpack. Coming back she told me about this lady rushing to help her find her bus since she saw Simi was a tourist. Saying that we both smiled and I guess, felt that that's one of those many many small things that makes India so great.
"I love this country" Simi said as we both tried not to cry.
I didn't reply but I was thinking the same.

I found myself humming Swedish songs as I started (for the last time) packing my backpack. Swedish songs that reminded me of home. I think this means I'm ready to go home now, and stay, at least for a little while.

I wanna say thank you.
To India, the land of many small and big things.
To Sadhana forest and to the people we met there.
To the guy who said "welcome to India!" as we were wandering toghether with the pilgrims i Tiruvannamalai.
To the rickshaw driver who let us drive his rickshaw.
To the ladies on the bus in Agra who offered me a seat in a over-crowded bus.
To the Mumbaiboys for our late Mumbai-nights.
To our Kottayam friends that invited us and, who thaught us everything we need to know about south-Indian cooking.
To the guy who let us escape the desertwind with chai and blankets in his small clay-house.
To the crazy jewelleryshop owner in Jaipur and his two boys who gave us pink pearlnecklaces.
To fellow travellers whit whom we shared time and thaughts.
To my balloon-tiger that very unfortunately past away too soon.
To Camilla for daring to join us.
To the hotel-managers in Jodhpur and Jaipur.
To the man on Delhi airport who finally gave Simi our ticket to Bangalore.
To the flower&parfume-men who provided us with those for Simi's birthday.
To the girl screaming out loud when she saw us.
To the three boys on our last trainstation.
To the guard of the strange monument for the dead princesses in the desert.
To the ex-monk novice, and the guy in the green t-shirt who sang hindi songs for us.
To all couchsurfers who helped us out, to all children waving at us, to everyone part of this, most of the time,
happy chaos.

Of course my horse:
Most of all.
Thank you Simi.
We're a good team.
I'll miss you.

So long.
I have some Indian last streets to walk, quite a few  last "no thank you"s to say, one or two last mango-lassis,
some  last people to tell where I come from ("oh England!" "no, FINLAND") and inform them whether I'm married or not, before I have my last ride to the airport.

Hello, whatever and whoever home means and includes these days.
Farewell India. See you, sometime.

Puss.
Nina

The queen of hillstations

                                                      Swimming in the river after river-rafting. Was fun at first, freezing afterwards when we realized we won't dry and we have no clothes to change with.

 But Simi looked happy anyway.

 Then we visited a tea-plantation. You kind of have to if you spend a week in Darjeeling. We got our lesson in tea-producing and picking before we we're invited to try a cup by ourselves.

 We felt akward posing for the Teacooking-lady. " You want picture picture!? Smile!, why this tea special!? 1)organic 2) HAPPY!"

  It's true. We do!

 Buddhist-monestary-Buddha with the (seems to be) comprenhensive blue hair-do.

A last train-ride later

From Bodhgaya we escaped the "real" India's heat for the cooler climate of the mountains.
Between Kurseong and Darjeeling we took the small steam toy-train. The driver must have misunderstood something about when to use the whistle or he just really liked the sound of it.
We had plans about going for a few days to Sikkim while beeing in the neighbourhood but decided
that we are aloud to be a little bit lazy the last week(s) toghether. So for six days in Darjeeling we admired the view, tried a (not so exiting but pleasant) river rafting trip, visisted a teaplantation  (and had our by far fanciest and most expensive cup of tea ever). We visited the Tibetan refugee self-help center, a buddhist monestary and ate big quantities of tibetan bread.

We realized we're now able to put last in front of almost everything.
We said Hi to the usual wonderful messy India a last time after a last jeep-ride down the hill.
 A last train-journey later we find ourselves in our last city; Kolkata.
We left our bags in our last hotelroom and are on our way to do some of the last gift-shopping.

On Buddhas Tracks

...finally Prince Siddhartha came to a place that is now called Bodhgaya, where he sat under a tree and meditated. He had spent 6 years in a cave nearby, without eating, without drinking. But under this tree his search would come to an end. He attained enlightenment and became a Buddha.

Today this tree is called Bodhi tree, and it grows next to a temple. It is not exactly the same tree Buddha used to meditate beneath, but it grew from a cutting of the original one.

And we were following Buddha, sitting under the same tree, smelling the same air in the cool and dark cave. Viewing the (almost) same views. Without getting enlightened, though.

what's so special about india? #4

Another thing to add in your India-dictionary:

Whenever getting a receipt in India, no matter on what amount it will always be written
"only" afterwards. Very positive people, those Indians.


-"1000 rupees O N LY madame"
- Ah... only!?

Sometimes this really feels ridiculous!

Cricket

Tonight is a big night.
India is playing in the worldcup finals agains Sri Lanka.
We don't understand the rules of this game, but we have been told that India lost two wickets. Loosing wickets seems to be something bad because all cricketfans seem to be rather sad at the moment.
Anyway,  hoping to be able to participate in the celebrations afterwards, we're cheering for India

So..
Ehm...GO INDIA! Don't loose more wickets (?) woho!

Mother Ganga

And finally we say hello to the holiest of rivers: The Ganges. People swim here, wash their clothes, cows cool their bodies in here, dead people are burned by its riversides and the ashes thrown into Ganga afterwards. I special cases (e.g. dead pregnant women) the bodies are just thrown into the water, tied to some stones so that they won't float.
And everything is just a part of everyday life. People sit on the ghats (stairs that lead down to the river), talk, spit, smoke, eat, work, have chai... while they watch the dead bodies being carried, the fires being lit, and the cremation. Bodies wrapped in withe cloths. We sit here and talk about leggings. The cloth is burned away and we can see a woman's toes. How absurd. This is Varanasi. One of the holiest cities in India, where Life meets Death. Where the circle ends - to die here ends the circle of reincarnation.

And we are, somehow, tired. Also our circle, our almost circle through India, our journey, is about to end. We have chai. We watch fires. We talk about leggings. About the future. About the past. And now. We stroll around the streets. This is India again, after our short visit to the mountains. We plan the last steps. Read and write. Reflect. Try not to think of the heat. Of the "grown-up", "serious" parts of our lifes, that are about to start. Soon, but not yet.

The Himalayas

   Shimla, the cosy capital of Himachal Pradesh gave us Christmas-feeling.

We arrived by bus to Mc Leod Ganj 5 o'clock a.m. Best time to arrive, no?

A tibetan mother together with her daughter arriving with the same bus as we did asked us if we have anywhere to stay. Since we didn't these wonderful people must have felt sorry for us and invited us to their tiny home where we were fed with loads of chai and chapathi with peanutbutter. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes.

                                           Trekking up toTriund, made us realize we're not in the best shape of our lifes. (Damn you Indian-cookies!) On the other hand we realized we are a splendid duo also when it comes to performing the Moulin Rouge-medley.(and the other song is called "come what may", not "come want me" as Nina thaught) The view, the green grass and the hot chai waiting on top made it worth the effort though. As we tried to express in the very pictureless post from Shimla : we really like it here and some parts of us feel like just hang around forever, taking artsclassess, meditate and chit-chat with Tibetan refugees. Tomorrow evening we have a train (or actually bus&train) to Varanasi so we guess that's not gonna be the case. Goodbye mountains, we'll miss you.

                                            

Maybe interesting to someone?

Number of...

places we stayed in: 30 (out of wich 23 were hotels, 4 were couchsurfers, 1 were our friends and 2 the farms we stayed at)
overnight-trains : 4
most expensive hotel: 450/person/night
cheapest hotel: 50/person/night

Shimla

We wanted to post some pictures but our computers says no!

Wich is a shame beacause we're in the mountains and the only thing we're doing is walking around sighing,
and telling each other how beautiful it is here.


We were missing forests, here they have a lot. In the distance you can see snowy mountain and there's
plenty old charming wooden-houses. (oh no, now this sounds really boring, it's not!)


Well well.
You guys have to use your imagination for now.
We'll have some dinner.

On the phone

Nina : Hello, I was just calling to ask what movies you are showing this afternoon?
Cinemaguy: Men not allowed!
Nina: That's ok we're three women.
Cinemaguy:, No no, Men not allowed!
Nina: yeah...ok. But what movies do you show?
Cinemaguy (annoyed): MEN-NOT-ALLOWED
Nina (confused) : yes yes. I understand. But WHAT MOVIE?
 Cinemaguy hangs up

First we we're considering if Nina has a very masculine voice talking on the phone but we realized
later arriving at the cinema that the movie really was called like that: Men not allowed.

Do you want to play Holi with me?

Too lazy to write:

Golden temples, pakistani borders with kind of silly rituals. Two spongebobs in the same game. Attempts of musical-improvisation. Getting up at 4.00 am to see how they carried a book (we didn't know what it was until afterwards) from one place to another. Falling asleep again getting the best sleep ever in a long time. Turbans turbans turbans everywhere, even on women. No swimmingpools. Postcardhunt. Cafe coffe day and a couple of lassis. What to do for Holi?!

The trio's in Amritsar, Punjab.
We'll do better blogging next time.
Promise.

See you tomorrow Delhi!

And we're expecting company. On Sunday the duo will grow to a trio for some time!

Mission Khir-hunt complete!

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y
We've been dreaming  about it at night. We've talked about it, thaught about it.
Felt dissappointed sad and frustrated in almost every restaurant since Mumbai.
We would not wish our worst enemies what we've been through in our search for
the feeling of once more enjoying a good Khir.

But,

Here int Agra we finally found it.
In a restaurant where the chairs have pink satin wrapping.
Life can finally continue as normal, the missing puzzlepiece  has been found.



Logbook: 19.11
A very happy Mr Oshman & a even happier Simosa21.
Over and out.

THE TAJ MAHAL

In Pushkar

We went out early this morning because we wanted to hike up a hill to one of the temples
 here before it gets too hot. On our way we met another tourist who was friendly enough to
tell us that in a couple of minutes a weddingprocedure would pass us. So we joined the crowd
and got to see 6 camels followed by 51 soon-to-be husbands on 51 horses on their way to their soon-to-be wifes.

This is one of the nice things about India; we went for a hike but we ended up at not only one, but 51
weddings instead.


ps. Some progress in the Khir-hunt, but still not a real creamy Khir. We're getting more and more desperate.

Our Route

The Route so far!! I would say we left 1 or 2 kilometers behind us... The green line shows our future plans, until we end up in Kolkata. There Nina will leave me (sniff!), and I'm gonna make my way to Nepal, where I'm gonna stay for another month.

In the pink city

12 well spent hours in a sleeper-class train full of military-men later we ended up in Jaipur 5 am in the morning. We had an adress written down but our phone ( we have some issues with tata docomo) was dead
and we really had no idea of how far or where we were about to go.
Outside of the railwaystation we had the usual welcoming crowd of eager rickshaw-drivers
and "touristguides". It's always a nice way of starting the day haggling about the price and saying "no thank you" a hundred times!

In the end we made our way to our couchsurfer Pushpendra. Who lives in Amber, walking distance from the fort. So we spent this day in his company, with him showing us around here.

Tomorrow's Simis birthday and we're gonna head off into Jaipur-pinktown first thing in the morning toghether with some other couchsurfers we met.

But before then we need some of our precious beautysleep.
So goodnight readers. Goodnight blog.

Day 8

Still no Khir. No success in the hunt.
Now we understand that indian "creamy" is not what we consider creamy.

BUT...we got a  reliable tip about where we can find some good Khir.
So tomorrow at 10 am we are gonna be located at the creepy restaurant around the corner.
Hoping that the exchange is gonna go smoothly and that there is a high quantity of that white stuff.


Logbook 21.51.
Next report coming up.

Simosa21 & Mr. Oshman

Easy Rider-Wannabes

 Tatatataaaaaaaaaaa! So here it is: our motorbike for a day. 

 Nina happily united with her camel. Aren't they a cute couple?

 And now guess what this is?!

This is Nina!

No, we are not greedy!

What we were eating yesterday (2 people):

2 Lassis
2 Croissant
2 Brown Roll
1 Momos
1 Veg. Pulav
1 Chai
1 Veg Noodles
1 Veg. Biryani
2 special Lassis
5 big peanut cookies
2 big almond cookies
2 strange veg burgers
1 Masala Dosa
2 Bonbons

Maybe we should mentions the fact that we had half of the things between 7 and 9 pm. Just for your information.

Rrrrrrajasthan!

So we're finally officially in the north of India.
We started our Rajasthan-tour in Jodhphur, followed by Jaisalmer where we are now.
Tomorrow we'll catch a train to Jaipur. (lots of cities that has a name starting with a J here...)

This is India as you know it from the postcards.
Sandstone buildings, women dressed in the most beautiful coulours and the biggest jewellery,
camels, men in turbans. Gatherings of men here and there watching the world championships in cricket
on small TV-screen. And the temperatures here suits us better. You don't feel like melting all the time.

The only clouds on our sky is that:

We had such good Khir (ricepudding) in Mumbai and have been haunting for it in every restaurant since.
Mission unsuccessfull  so far.

You can't have everything.

Tomorrow we're renting a motorbike.
The Rajasthani fairytale to be continued, now we're going for breakfast.

This is for crazy Neo: the monkey incident

 It was in th middle of the day at Elephanta Caves in Mumbai.
It was hot. I was really really thirsty and I bought a cold bottle of mango juice.
To make it clear to everyone how serious this situation is I first have to explain
that it's not everyday I buy mango juice just like that. It's way more expensive than water and
usually I would have a bottle of "homemade" (Simi has these pills she uses to clean tapwater with )water instead. But now I was out of water. I was enjoying time in Mumbai and I allowed myself this treat.

This badass-monkey came up to me and tried to take my dear mango juice-bottle from me.
Since first of all, think stealing is wrong and for the second I don't like to be messed around with it developed into a fight about the bottle.

I don't really know what happend, but I lost the fight.
And the monkey happily sat down on a stone an unscrewed the cap and drank the rest of my
juicy cold mango juice.I really think he was smiling. Smiling out of happiness only such a victory like that can bring.

I was pissed about loosing against a monkey in a fight, and about having no juice left on
this very sunny day.

So, just wanted to tell you guys. In India: guard your mango juice.
.


 

A bisserl raunzen

Es gibt ein paar Dinge, and die ich mich in Indien einfach nicht gewoehnen kann. Und weil heute so ein Tag ist, an dem ich sie wieder mehr als sonst gespuert hab, gibts einen Blogeintrag:

1) Das Hupen. Irgendwie haben die Inder verpasst, warum Autos und Motorraeder Hupen haben. Also was der wirkliche Sinn dahinter ist. Die Leute hier moegen das Gerausch anscheinend so sehr, dass sie rund um die Uhr die schoensten Hupkonzerte veranstalten, sehr zur Freude meiner Ohren. Wirklich: Es wird gehupt, wenn jemand auch nur irgendwie in der Naehe ist, wenn man um die Kurve faehrt (weil man nicht um die Kurve sehen kann), wenn jemand im Weg ist, und wenn gar nichts ist, kann es ja auch nicht schaden, zur Sicherheit mal zu Hupen. 

2) Zuege in Mumbai. Es ist echt unglaublich. Sobald der Zug stehen bleibt, fangen alle Frauen (es gibt getrennte Maenner- und Frauenwaggons) an, sich zur Tuere zu draengeln, um sich dann einen gnadenlosen Boxkampf zu liefern, wenn der Zug am ausrollen ist. Es gibt naemlich keine Tueren (das mag ich allerdings sehr). Wenn man dann endlich im Zug drinnen ist, gibt es eine Ordnung, wer wo sitzen kann, und man darf auf keinen Fall im mittleren Gang stehen, wenn man nicht bei der naechsten Sation aussteigt, sonst wird man angekeppelt. Das Aussteigen ist das Schlimmste. Man koennte doch meinen, dass alles schon ueberstanden ist, aber nein. Schon 5 Minuten bevor der Zug in die Station einrollt, schubsen alle Frauen und erklaeren, dass man sich doch gefaelligst beeilen soll. Und wenn man sich nicht wirklich beeilt, wird man einfach von der Masse mitgezerrt. Und man muss ernsthaft aufpassen, dass die Hand nicht im Zug stecken bleibt, wenn man endlich draussen ist.

3) Warteschlangen. Siehe Punkt 2. Es gibt keine Regeln, nur Aug um Aug, Zahn um Zahn. Anstehen hat keinen Sinn, man muss sich nach vorne pruegeln. Das alles geschieht dann auch noch bei so einem Laerm, dass einem die Ohren fast abfallen, weil unzaehlige verrueckte Inder gleichzeitig schreien, dass sie an der Reihe sind.

4) Bettelnde Kinder. Das ist ein schwieriger Punkt. Und ich sage es sehr ungern, aber es nervt. Bettler lieben uns, und bleiben immmer eine halbe Ewigkeit vor uns stehen, bevor sie uns endlich in Ruhe lassen. Aber die Kinde rennen uns sogar nach, ziehen an unseren Haenden, klopfen auf die Arme und ziehen an den Kleidern. Und ich weiss einfach nicht, wie ich damit umgehen soll.

5) Und das ist keine Ueberraschung: Maenner. Obwohl wir kleidungsmaessig schon versuchen uns unter die Bevoelkerung zu mischen, fallen wir natuerlich auf. Und es vergeht kein Tag, an dem wir nicht mindestens 10 Mal gefragt werden, wie es uns geht, woher wir kommen und wohin wir gehen. Oder einfach nur ein simples "Hi!" Dabei bleibt es dann auch, es ist also nicht bedrohlich oder besonders unangenehm, aber es is sooo nervig.

6) Leute die uns "unauffaellig" fotografieren oder filmen. Viele indische Touristen fragen uns, ob sie ine Foto mit uns machen duerfen. Das ist ok, manchmal sogar sehr nett oder witzig. Aber andere fragen nicht, sondern tun es einfach, was nicht besonders nett ist, wenn man gerade am Essen ist oder einfach in Ruhe gelassen werden will.

So, das war mal meine Top 6 fuer heute. Ich liebe Indien!

We're in Mumbai, Baby!

Our four days in Mumbai were intense. Nearly no sleep, bollywood movies, a museum, a ferrytrip and UNESCO-caves. Long conversations. Scrambled eggs, crowded trains, some clubbing, bazaars, in-the-middle-of-the-night-car-rides, good coffee at a real cafe.. you name it.


Our Mumbai stay had it all.
Thanks to the "Mumbai-gang", you made our stay.

From Wayanad to Goa

What's so special about India #3

Yesterday we arrived in Calicut, the sun was already going down, and so we wanted to find a hotel as soon as possible.

So we looked down the road. Hotel- signs everywhere. Yipiiie! For sure we are going to find something here! But then (and as experienced south India travellers of course we've known that for a long time) we discovered that about half of the so-called "Hotels" are only restaurants. To make this more confusing, hotel CAN mean hotel, but not necessarily. All the restaurants are called hotel, and all the hotels too. I wonder who got this amazing idea!

A day in food :

The Indian cuisine has so far provided us with mixed experiences. Ordering in restaurants is not easy when the menu (if there is one) as well could be written in hebrew. This is what we might eat during one day. Forgive us for maybe not knowing the exact name of all the side-dishes. We are still learning :)



For breakfast: Puri, dough that when is being deep-fried. puffs up to a ball. 

Here served toghether with Vadai (lentil-dough-also-deep-fried-thingy)

coconut chutney and potatosauce.
Puri is so far our favourites among the Indian breakfasts

Lunch this day: Thali. Rice and appam (the crunchy bread) toghether with severeal different kinds

chutneys, pickles and sambar. Served on a  banana-leaf. Of course.

For dinner: Masala dosa. A big "pancake" stuffed with potato.

Simis favourite.



A glimpse of the Keralan Backwaters

Travellers jokes:

The Lonley planet India is our bible.

N: I'm thirsty!
S: I read about it the lonley planet. It says you should drink.

Once two kids were playing in the pool..