in India... (5) - Bus trip... Divali, Agra and shopping!

Namaste!

It is with renewed joy and belief in life that I start by confirming that we survived the trip back to Delhi... I was starting to be doubtful of this after 5 straight hours of unforgettable downhill excitement, endless overpasses before turns, curves, canyons, walls, aaarrrggghhhh. This trip will be further described in a future post ;)

on Sunday evening we were lucky to attend Divali celebrations with Karan's family, starting with a religious celebration welcoming the bride to the family, going through exploding firecrackers and little rockets to celebrate the date and finishing up with a bit of gambling, poker to be exact!!! Once again, unlucky in love proved not to be enough to be lucky in gambling :)))

Yesterday was Agra day to check the Taj Mahal and the ruins of an ancient Mogul capital 40 Km away. Regarding the Taj, there is nothing I can say that can describe the beauty of the place... For sure a must see!

Today shopping and souvenirs day, a quick call to my sisters made me decide their gifts and a couple of shawls for my mum should do the trick as well... Meson Cruz will also receive a couple of new acquisitions!!

As for PEOPLE, the crowd is getting complete with the arrival of Terence, Volodja, Paris and several others... Tomorrow's soccer match should be fun!

Tonight, the wedding celebrations will start with a cocktail party with a lot of eating, drinking and dancing are expected!!

Carpe Diem!

In India... (4) - Marketing in India

Namaste!

Quick post to share some brilliant mottoes we have seen driving around this country:

" Himachal Police... Better late than never!"
" Impatient in roads... Patient in hospital!"
" Leave early... drive patiently... arrive safely!"
"Safety first... Speed next!"
" Sperm center!" (Huge poster in the road... referring to cattle obviously!)

Delhi Police, in an effort to approach the public, came out with a music that goes something like this:

"Delhi Poliiice... DElhi Poliiiice..
We are here to serve youuuuu
Delhi Poliiice... Delhi Poliiice...
When in trouble please call uuuus...

For you... Always!"

Carpe Diem!

In India... (3) - Call me Miguel!

Namaste!

In Mcleod we were lucky to see, in parallel within the Tibetan museum, an exhibit from a "modern art" tibetan painter that fled Tibet as a refugee and is now in Belgium.

Walking over to check the movie about him, we actually come across this dude and, after realizing the movies tape was on route to London, we had a small chat with the guy about the initiative.When saying goodbye, we introduce ourselves and when I say my name he suddenly starts laughing, that unique oriental embarassment laughter...

Dude: "is that really your name?"
Nuno: "Yeah!... why are you laughing...?"
Dude: "Well, in tibetan that is the word we use for breast! But.. but... from a baby's perspective!"
(renamed) Breast: Lol
Dude: " I am sorry, I am unable to pronounce it!!"
Breast: "No worries... Just call me Miguel!"

Carpe Diem!

PS - For the record:
Nuno in nigerian - "Fresh cow milk"
Nuno in arabic - something with a slight erotic meaning, cannot remember!!
Nuno in Icelandic - "Priest"

... and the list will grow...

In India... (2) - Getting to McLeod Ganj!

Namaste!

(Day 6, writing in a computer with a dodgy indian Microsoft copy... Sorry for mistakes!!)

As expected the experience has been exciting, yet very tiring... Getting out from Delhi, we got yet again "escorted" to the train station to get into a 10h overnight train ride to Una. Decent conditions, decent sleep, (andom phone call in the middle from Couto, asking for contacts in whatever place he was!!) and arrived with a small delay to Una.

Getting out of the train in Una, the unavoidable bargaining experience with taxi drivers (jeeps yet again) this time with the exciting factor that none of them spoke english (tourists not very common there...) so we did it through the universal language of mathematics, knowing that we were facing a situation of concerted supply... Free market was a foreign concept there but eventually we paid a decent price!

Mcleod Ganj... Imagine a town smack in a hillside, dominated by the Buddhist Temple and facilities and populated by monks (the very friendly maroon toga dudes!), hippies, tourists, beggars and obviously indians doing business. One of the most unique environments I have ever been, where the normal indian town environment of traders, car/rickshaw honks, beggars gets strangely wrapped by an aura of peace and friendliness. During the 2 days...

... Checked the Tibetan government in exile, and a very real exhibition about the Tibetan people drama,
... Attended part of a buddhist ceremony, where peace and forgiveness were the key messages,
... Met a tibetan "modern art" painter for a quick chat... "a true random striker!"
... Continued gastronomic explorations through tibetan, chinese/indian, japanese, always watered down with stomach friendly Lasse, and in the evenings with less friendly Kingfisher (THE indian beer!),
... 6 Km hike uphill to reach around 1800m from 1000m, to get ready for the big one tomorrow!
... and to close this with a relaxing moment... A session of Tibetan Massaaaaaaaaage...

This morning we were off from Mcleod to Manali, an indian "hill station", at around 2000m altitude, with tremendous natural surroundings... The taxi trip here was, to say the least, interesting... 7 hours through roads sometimes bordering cliffs of over 500m, roads where there is always a hole to squeeze a Jeep through!!!

But about Manali, more tomorrow, after the 14Km hike ;)

CARPE DIEM!
NunoC

Back to India (I) - Arrival & Chillin' in New Delhi

Namaste,

Arrival in New Delhi was much smoother than last time in Mumbai, when I had to struggle with a non-english speaker driver and a group of friends that kept changing places! After debriefing a spanish couple on their first visit to India, I met Jenny in the passport counter line, incoming from Amsterdam... An expected coincidence!

Waiting for us, Krishna and the grooms father driver, in a army car!

First couple of days in Delhi were pretty much about...
... Eating home food Indian food at Krishna's,
... Introductory visit to FabIndia for travel & wedding clothes shopping,
... Trip to the center to see the Mosk, the Red Fort and Chadni Chowk (in a rickshaw!!),
... Clothes shopping in FabIndia (although the boyz deserted half-way through for beers),
... Evening meals with the Groom's family, with great discussions on politics, religion and 5 too many whiskeys...
... Site seeing in Delhi again - India gate, Presidents palace, Qtab Minar, Bahai temple & Humayu(something)'s tomb!
... Clothes shopping in FabIndia... The (hopefully) Final Vengeance!!
... Gastronomy exploration of indian food...
... Getting back together with friends :) some of them I haven't seen for 2 years!

... and then to close it, a 10h train ride to Una + 3h taxi (a jeep...) to Mcleod from where I am now writing...

Right now, getting ready for the first trek tomorrow morning, in a town crowded with friendly monks in purple togas :)
But to write about that, there is always tomorrow!

Carpe Diem!

Travel notice (IV)

Boas,

Tomorrow I am off to India and after a couple of months of climbing stress, this trip appears in the right time! Here's a more detailed look on my India experience'06:

. 12th Oct - Arrival to Delhi;
. 13-14th Oct - Chill in Delhi, meet friends, do touristy stuff and shop (indian wedding suit, that will need to work for Holland as well!!);
. 15-17th - Trip to Pathankot and then Dharamsala (Tibet exile government HQ!);
. 18-20th - Trip to Kullu and Manali (Light Himalayas scenario, trekking in areas > 2000m);
. 21st - Trip back to Delhi & Duvali celebration (Hindu major festival);
. 22-25th - WEDDING :) - Blessing, Sangeet, Mehndi, Wedding&Reception;
. 26th - One day trip to Agra (Taj Mahal);
. 27th - Trip back to Amsterdam for wedding nr. 2 :)

Next time (whenever Vivek, Yumna, Kshama decide to marry!!):
. Amritsar - border region with Pakistan;
. Leh - Hymalayan village near chinese border >4000m;
. Kerala - southwest coast, the back waters;

Main challenge is not to go overboard the 20K limit, having to pack for warm Delhi (20-35'C), chilled mountains (6-20'C) and rainy Amsterdam (10-20'C).

Will try to hook up during the next couple of weeks to keep this updated ;)

CARPE DIEM!!!

Dedicated to my mkt friends...

Relationships (I)

Last year Spain has witnessed over 210 000 weddings. On the other hand, over 150 000 divorces were formalized by law, which are growing over 70% per year.

Tomorrow, I am travelling to India, a country where "arranged weddings" are still the rule in many regions.

Two extremes that unfortunately are becoming the rule...

Even so... Carpe Diem!

Work & new flavours

Greetz,

Tonight I finished a work phone conference learing from an italian colleague how to prepare "Cacio & Pepe", a very traditional italian sauce for pasta... After wok cooking, this weekend will witness my first incursion in italian cuisine!

"Slowly will take you far"
"Grain by grain the chicken will fill it's belly"
portuguese proverbs

Carpe Diem!