Riding Across India (2023)

Foreword

It is snowing in Estonia. The majestic powder snow is laying its white blanket over the grey landscape and covering the dog shit in the city parks. I’m planning another adventure in Asia in the upcoming months. I have bought the flight tickets from Tallinn to Cebu in the Philippines. Rest of the tickets I have not purchased just yet, because the second half of my journey is still too raw and the dates and exact destinations are still open. Actually I was in the Philippines in November, but this time I need to do some 1:1-s with each team member and make sure Blendit thrives. 

Beside work I’m planning to visit again the island of Negros. Last time I stayed a couple days in Dumaguete. I’m planning to have a propper tour around Negros this time. Both neighbouring Cebu and Negros islands are stretched long and mountainous islands. There are many beautiful places to discover. But it could be that we will change plans and go to Leyte or Mindanao instead. 

There is also a chance that I will go to Japan for the very first time. For the most part the Japanese people are similar to Estonians in their nature - very reserved, keeping distance, afraid of others perhaps even, but deep down very warm people, but surely not showing it off or out in any means. Eunice has some work related tasks in Tokyo, Nagayo and in Okinawa. I will be plus one in this case. She also will be my tour guide and introduce me to the distant and rather exclusive culture. She has been living in Japan and therefore she knows and feels a bit and she wants me to see it all. I might not go to Okinawa, because that is a far away island and I might not have anything to do there. But let’s see. This leg is wide opened.

The 3rd leg of the journey could be India. I tried to be in Rishikesh on March 8th and witness the Holi festival. Holi is one of the biggest Hindu festivals that celebrates the beginning of spring and is world famous because of the throwing of colours to each-other. I was keen to capture this amazing site where thousands of people are painted with colours and airborne paint falls to somebody. But this time I again can’t make it to India by that time. The plan is to take a flight to New Delhi with Eunice and then start our motorbike adventure from Rishikesh all the way down to Tamil Nadu. However this plan is still very raw.

All in all it is a very promising adventure ahead. Again, I will reset my prejudices and eagerness of comparing the seen phenomenons with my experiences in Estonia or wider in Europe. Very often this approach is pointless and leaves me encapsulated and leaves out extraordinary experiences. I will write the diary in phone notes again and publish it in my blog. I hope you will enjoy the adventure and dare to dream about or even better doing something similar yourself.

Diary

Tu03/14

We slept during the flight. We landed in New Delhi at 2:15AM. Our aluminium bird needed to wait for the other plane freeing the slot. Finally at 3AM we were cleared by immigration. The old guy at the immigration booth made jokes to Eunice like your partner is handsome. When he saw my multiple entry visa, he was very impressed. We walked further and got the luggage from the belt. Next we got an Airtel SIM-card recharged by 300INR ~ 3€, but a bit later I discovered the hotspot option was not enabled. They were useless and didn't know what to do. I hope I can fix that matter in the Airtel office in Rishikesh.

We walked back to the station and walked to the correct platform. Eunice saw monkeys crossing the trains, literally monkeys jumped from the roof of one train to another. Our train was arriving, and by looking at it one might actually say that it's quite a ragged train. We were standing on the presumed spot for our train car. There were digital screens indicating the car numbers. At 7:30AM we finally went onboard and after a 15 minute break the train started to move.

Danish had made a mess in booking seats. We were at car E5 seats 67 and 71, these were actually close, facing each-other. These were cool. Pawan was a bit further in the same car. But Danish himself was in car E2 and Saleena in E8. But after some hassle he was able to get everybody together into one car and into one section. A train guy changed the sheets and we settled in. Pawan's mother had prepared meatless biryani and Saleena added pickle and rotis. We added peanuts to the breakfast table. The aisle became a vendor's highway. They were walking by and offering water, tea, coffee or snacks. It was good to see Saleena again after a year when I attended Saleena's and Danish wedding in Bhopal. I saw Danish in South India in May 2022, but Saleena was back in Bhopal back then.

We walked towards the bridge and saw one ritual on the bank of Ganges. The priest made an offering containing flowers and fire. They also sang and Pawan started to sing again, because he knows these religious hymns by heart. We continued walking and reached the bridge head of the Laxman Juhla suspension bridge. The bridge itself was under construction and only monkeys were allowed to cross it. We stumbled on a pop-up food court. Well, actually most of the food serving spots were pop-ups in the form of carriages, bicycles with side carriages or just a table and the gear on it. Girls were itching for Maggie aka noodles. Eunice was in heaven because she was delighted by this simple student food  and I suppose it also helped to overcome homesickness and craving for Filipino food. We also ordered tea as well. The tea was served in ceramic cups. The clay seemed to be not baked, meaning when we drank the tea and smashed the teacups to the ground, the cups would turn into clayish soil during the upcoming rain. Actually this is a nice and environmentally friendly tradition. To some extent I was able to feel the raw clay taste in my mouth. Also I was thinking about the people and hands who are making these clay cups. Just remarkable. We had a nice view of the main temple just across the river. The temple was in red lights.

At one point one semi-tourist-baba approached us and started to do a ceremony. All was very quick and I was not able to think before we had an orange dot on the forehead and then he had his palms open in front of us to ask for a donation. Damn it, yet again we have been tricked and treated as walking wallets. I gave 20 rupees and he was vividly disappointed. I guess Danish and Pawan did not intervene because they wanted to see the show. We witnessed the sunset as the sun slipped behind the mountains and the valley started to darken very fast. We started to walk back and come towards the bikes by trampling the countless stairs. We had a tea break next to our bike and drove towards Rishikesh that took us 1,5 hours.

Our headlamp was not positioned properly and the light beam lit the tree tops and everything else beside the road itself. We drove slowly in order to avoid the black sleeping cows in the middle of the road. Well, this was not a fiction, I have seen exactly that in multiple cases and had near collisions with these sleeping rocks. We reached Ram Juhla at 8:30PM and drove over the suspension bridge. We rode a bit further to the other side of the Laxman Juhla bridge. At 9PM we parked the bikes at the back of the famous Trayambakeshwar temple and walked to eat street food and do shopping. First we dropped into a dress shop. Eunice found one dress and Pawan took over the duty of bargaining. But he failed badly by just saying these are fixed prices. Looking outside the shop there were many cows chilling at the front of cafés and sometimes blocking the entrance. And here I saw a cute sight. I saw how one little girl cuddled a baby cow.

After shopping  we drove back to Ram Juhla. We ate street food and sat on the edge of the river Ganga. We had a nice view of the lit bridge. Then we walked to another famous temple, Parmarth Niketan and Ganga Ghat. Pawan said that they have regular live broadcasts from this temple. We sat at the stairs and watched the passing water of the holy river and the Shiva statue looking at us. Pawan explained the complex world of gods, multiple incarnations and names. Meanwhile Saleena explained to Eunice the meaning of upcoming Ramadan and why she is obsessed about halal. Danish was just between being sleepy and being awake, somewhere in the middle. He was very sleepy all the time and slept some more whenever he could. We drove back to the hotel at midnight. Soon we went to sleep.

Th04/16

We woke up at the hostel’s bunk bed at 8AM. Actually we had two beds, but we decided to use one for bags and slept in the lower bed. The hostel pricing is per person and therefore the hostels are not that cheap after all when we travel together as a group. Instead hotels or some sort of inn-s would have a better value. We put the gear on the bike. We had a mountain of bags. One pannier was almost fully used for accommodating gifts bought from the Philippines and Japan. Of Course we gave gifts to Saleena and Danish. We also gave a gift to Pawan, he was the birthday boy today. We fastened the ropes around our bikes and basically hoped that our small backpack and other bags wrapped in plastic would not fall off. But we realised sooner that it was a messy system. After wrapping up we drove up to a café owned by  Danish’s friend for breakfast. There was a lady from the Czech Republic who joined our table. We ate breakfast and drank tea until noon. There were two puppies in the café who were eager to eat whatever was possible to grab from below the table. There were other visitors who started to play instruments which were freely available in the place. So, one guy tried to play the didgeridoo, and another local guy played the ukulele and flute. This place has a very different vibe than many other places in Rishikesh. We packed our gear again to bike. Then dropped our laundry to the one and only laundry service in Laxman Juhla. It was a rather expensive tourist price service because of the lack of competition. We have decided that we would come back to Rishikesh to collect the clean laundry in a few days. We started to drive towards Dehradun at 1PM. First we drove on smaller roads, but soon we took a highway. 

We entered Dehradun from a part that I have rarely visited. Somehow we lost sight of Danish and Pawan near the clock tower downtown. I shared a Whatsapp live location with Danish and said let's meet at the gates of the school. I was able to navigate by heart although I needed to admit the city centre has changed a lot during the 8 years. At 2PM we arrived at the gates of IIRS. I studied here in this university in 2015 and I met Danish and soon after his friends Pooja, Amit and Gaut. We would drive around the mountains every weekend. These were great times, perhaps even instrumental times for me in terms of self development. This period shaped who I am or at least contributed largely. I was exposed to such diversity in races, cultures, religions, languages and cuisines. 

As Danish was not replying and he was still downtown, I decided to talk to the guards to let us in for a walk in the campus. Hopeless, they need to get permission from New Delhi. The campus was a contrast from the downtown nearby. The street noise was not reaching there, it was quiet, birds were singing and the entire campus was like a well kept park, a paradise with beautiful flowers and trees. Danish came and we took some pictures in front of the gate. Apparently, he was buying a helmet for me. Well to be fair, I guess I have bought 3 helmets in the past but all of them are gone now. Danish seemed to lose them and therefore I said this is his turn to buy a helmet. Now we had proper helmets for the long ride. Saleena had bought strawberries and shared them with all of us. Actually we saw fruits all around us, especially in the market, little carriages with mountains of fruits. Nearby we saw a jackfruit tree with fruits hanging around it. But Danish and Saleena had little interest in eating them. It didn’t bother us though, as we will only have a handful of days together and so later we will be able to do and eat our preferred way. Actually it was rather nice to see what they consider a good food and of course as they are foodies, they wanted us to try these tastes too. 

Before continuing on the road, we refuelled and then started to climb on the winding road upward. We made a stop at 1050 metres in the cafe called 1st Gear Café. We enjoyed a good view over Dehradun and a variety of food. We were accompanied by a young lady and her student friend. That was Pawan's date, but soon it was clear he doesn't like the vibe of this girl. She was good looking, but as Pawan said she is not ready for a relationship and wants to just party and get more cannabis. Perhaps she was looking for a sponsor. They left before the food was served. We ordered among many dishes, some momos and Eunice and Saleena's favourite Maggie noodles. We started to see dark grey clouds gathering above us and soon the wind picked up as well. It started to rain heavily, so heavily it was hard to listen to the talk because the raindrops hitting the metal roof created so much noise. So we ordered more tea and migrated indoors. The owner of this café has been working on Costa cruise-ships and visited Tallinn and the rest of the capital cities around the Baltic sea many times. I said dhanyavaad or thank you and set ourselves ready to resume climbing.

We started to see Mussoorie houses on the top of the mountain. The Mussoorie road was a very enjoyable winding road with extraordinary views. We rode to the hostel which was of Pawan’s choosing and dropped our gear. It was about sunset time. We checked in and left the gear into the lockers. We drove to Mussoorie downtown. We parked the bikes near the Gandhi statue and continued on foot. It was misty and cold, Eunice was kind of shocked by the height and coldness.

We left the bikes near one famous café where all the Indian culture icons, artists, actors and politicians used to visit. There were photos of these people on the wall of the café. We ordered coffee and breakfast there. Outside, the sun was nicely shining and warming our faces, but it was still only +15’C. While seated in the cafe, we learned another new word in Hindi - Bhaiya which is brother. It is very common that customers call the male waiter Bhaiya.

We walked to the view point where we ordered tea. This time the view was compromised and we were not able to see the snowy mountains of the lesser Himalayas which are mostly 6000 metres high. The mist and clouds were blocking the view and we saw only the closest hills. Although I have already seen the distant mountains back in 2015. Perhaps next time again we can see the high mountains. It was cold, so we warmed ourselves around the hot coal. Few more minutes passed and we walked back to the bikes and started to ride back down. We had a race with the rain clouds chasing us. Time-to-time we got a little bit of drizzle. Also in a turn of events, I lost my rear brake and the brake lever went all the way down. I  somehow expected to lose the pressure of the liquid in the brakes, but it was just odd, no reason to panic though. After a slight stop the rear break was operational again.

We left the bikes there and walked to the Clocktower and to Bazaar road which starts from Clocktower. Saleena and Eunice bought something for Mirjam. At some point we lost Pawan and the Khans. We continued to the end of the Bazaar road to find a shoemaker. I remember the place and the same guy was still working there. He remembered me and these yellow boots he made for me. I ordered handmade tall leather shoes in 2015. I still have them and these are comfortable nice shoes. But he was not able to do us leather flip-flops within a day, because he didn’t have the surfaces at his workshop. This shoemaker was 4th in the line of shoemakers in their family. I really like this craftsmen culture and for me it is very affordable too.

We made a quick shop break and bought Tibetan prayer flags called lung ta. No hassle, we were able to buy them in 2 sizes. I will hang the small flag set to my Honda handle bar in Estonia. One monk on top of the mountain in the Spiti valley in 2019 explained these are prayers written on these flags and the wind in carrying them across the world. That was nice and meaningful. Actually this was not the spot I was thinking of and the real location to visit next would be Clement town south from Dehradun. There the Tibetans have a Buddha statue and temple. I visited that place in 2015. But it was still good to see the Tibetans going to school, drinking tea and cleaning their homes. We saw the regular small community life. Also the faces were totally different from Indians we have seen around. People were very friendly and helpful. Tibetans are a proud nation and they are eager to go back to their fathers land, but Communist China makes it impossible at this current time. But Tibetians can wait even 1000 years, empires usually can’t last that long. It was a nice break. We started our wet ride towards Rishikesh and used the alternative road to bypass the Dehradun’s city jammed roads. Dehradun became the state capital of Uttarakhand in 2000 and since that 200 year old town has been flooded by cars and people making it a very jammed city. We drove through planted forest and before Rishikesh finally the drizzle stopped and our clothes were able to dry a bit.

We reached Rishikesh at 1:00PM. First stop was to pick up the laundry. It was actually quite an expensive service - 920INR ~ 10€ for 2 small sacks of laundry. At least it was expensive compared to the Philippines. After that we drove up to the Coconut Bros café. We saw Danish, Saleena and Pawan walking uphill to the café as well. They were able to return the bikes without paying for another day. We went up to the café that is run by Ajoy. He was also in Danish and Saleena’s wedding and on some of the road-trips we took around Bhopal. We ordered multiple teas, pancakes and dosas. Ajoy arranged and booked us a hostel place at Monkey House on the edge of the river Ganges, very close to the Laxman Jhula bridge. We were talking and just relaxing on the carpets. There were many other customers, but at one point it was only us. Mirjam made a video call and she showed her room, trophies, books, toys and also makeup gear to Saleena and Eunice. Girls were ecstatic, but the main benefit was that Mirjam was forced to use her limited English and there was no help from me. She did well and communicated. I guess Jaanika was also ok with it, because at least Mirjam was practising English.

At 4PM we rode down to the riverside and it took some hassle to find the hostel. It started to drizzle again. We did the check in on the ground floor and we paid 1500INR ~ 17€ for the private room, because Rishikesh was fully booked for the weekend. We needed to climb up the metal staircase on the side of the building. All of sudden one monkey jumped to my back and was aggressive, perhaps protecting the little baby monkeys or just protecting the staircase. After all, the name of the hostel is Monkey House. I hit the monkey with the helmet and it jumped away and it even showed teeth to me. I was not scared and showed my helmet to the monkey. Eunice was freaked out and wanted me to go in front of me. We moved our gear upstairs and I parked my bike a bit higher to the parking lot. While I was taking off the gear from the bike, I was pushed by an aggressive cow. First I didn’t pay attention too much, but once I turned around I saw a cow's horn between my legs. What the fuck. I jumped to otherside of the bike to avoid more ass fucking by a cow. Soon the cow retreated. I climbed up to our room and there were no monkeys to fight with this time. We had a quick shower and checked our laundry. I was already running out of underwear and socks.

We walked upstairs to the Monkey Café without going to the street, very convenient. We had a very nice view to the river, bridge and to the colourful houses on the opposite coast. It started to rain very heavily and it was hard to even talk due to the noise that rain caused to the metal roof. We ordered tea and snacks. At that point we saw 3 wet figures standing at the entrance of the café. Danish, Saleena and Pawan reached us in this heavy rain. We laid on the carpets and on pillows. We enjoyed our last dinner together, because they started their journeys away from Rishikesh. Khans took a bus to New Delhi at midnight and Pawan took a train from Haridwan to Armitsan.

On the way we bought masala spices for making tea. We took a hot shower and had some writing and computer time in bed. Although it was very noisy around us, we went to sleep at midnight.

We drove to the old town of Haridwar. We parked the bike on the edge of a narrow street and ordered from the humble food joint some parathas, a Maggie and drank tea and our own coffee. The sun came out and it was really nice to feel the sun heat on the face again. Of course burning sun would become an issue later on in the south. But it was just a good sunny feeling after days of cold and rain. We were eating at the busy narrow road where mostly Hindus were on the way to the holy sites on the bank of the river Ganges. We paid 180INR ~ 2€ and rode to the opposite side of the river to take photos of the fast flowing Ganges and colourful houses on the edge of it. Some buildings have the facade rising up from the water. In a way it really reminded me of Venice.

Some kids were doing laundry, some families had a priest leading a ceremony on the edge of the holy river and some men took a dip into Ganges. These kids mostly likely were from nearby tents - they were living there and doing laundry was their duty. We drove back to the highway. At noon we pulled over for tea. We both were sleepy. The road seemed to be endless. We saw rural landscapes with fields and little brick factories with chimneys puffing out smoke. At the edge of New Delhi we saw the sharp contrast between blue sky and the haze above the city. The whole city sky was grey and the population rarely saw the sunshine and the blue sky.

At 8PM we were finally in the city centre of Agra and we found a hotel after few attempts near Taj Mahal with 1200INR ~ 13€. We moved in and soon went to downtown. We ended up in a very narrow streets with no restaurants, only simple food stands. We were itching for a nice restaurant where we could sit. Instead we happened to be in the middle of a wedding ceremony, actually we witnessed how the wedding couple and friends and relatives were dancing around a special carriage with loudspeakers. Eunice saw this kind of event for a very first time. They really enjoyed themselves. 

We drove back to the hotel and hostel area near Taj Mahal and found a restaurant on top of a hostel. After making the orders the waiter suggested to take stairs a bit higher and peak the Taj from their roof. We saw the Taj Mahal and I was surprised it was not lit up, no special facade lights as such. The view was good though and we enjoyed the food. We drove back to the hotel and parked the bike in front of the hotel. We were tired of the ass-wrecking ride, after all it was 430KM ride, which could easily be our longest leg of the entire journey in a single day. 

We took a shower and all of a sudden there was a heavy pounding on our door. I said it is bad timing and asked them to returned later. I guess they didn’t understand a single word I said. Well, I opened the door and they were speechless when they saw me completely naked. The urgency and the matter was all together dropped. Later I went downstairs to figure out what was the case and it turned out it was about my motorbike. It was blocking a bit one car to get out, but they had already moved the bike and all was settled. We went to bed at 11PM.

Mo03/20

We woke up at 6AM, had a quick cold shower and started to walk towards the gate of Taj Mahal. The road to the gate was nicely paved by stones. This place has absolutely every element of mass tourist attraction. We saw horse and camel rides, souvenir shops and cafés designed for tourists. We passed them all. Upon entering, we needed to pay whooping 1300INR ~ 14€ as an entry fee for a foreign adult, while for locals it was only 250INR ~ 3€. We then walked into the plaza in front of the main gate. I was here on Valentine's day in 2015. But now it has more significance with Eunice. After all this complex of utterly mad spending was built and dedicated to love. 

Agra used to be a capital of the vast area and therefore the king had unlimited resources to spend for memorising his beloved passed away wife. He designed a paradise gardens based on the descriptions in Quran. The tomb itself looks like a mosque with the dome and four minarets in each corners. The minarets were built on the angle, tilted outwards to avoid falling onto to the building in the case of earthquake. They also said the skilled workers who built this marvellous building were forced for early retirement by chopping both hands in order to avoid replicating something as beautiful as this. Mad story, but could be easily true, because the despots in this era didn't really care about people. I guess they even bragged about it. The guy in the restaurant yesterday suggested not to rush to Taj at the sunrise, because there is nothing to see and the white marble facade would be in the shadow. He suggested at 7AM the Taj would be shining brightly.

We entered through the gates and Taj Mahal was there, a beautiful structure with a lovely narrative. First we sat at the edge of the gate building and just admired the sight. It was still early morning, but the masses were there already. We didn't want tour guides and we decided to walk in our phase. I was the tour guide to Eunice and she got a broader picture of this place for sure, perhaps missing some details along the way. The trees and bushes in the garden were buzzing. The birds were singing and squirrels were running around. We walked to the mosque nearby and took off our shoes to enter the Taj. We saw the queen's and king's tombs inside the building. It was nice to walk barefoot on the rather cold marble. We made several stops and just tried to capture the feeling with our senses, other than eyes and photo lenses. We sat some more and took it easy, we were rushing anywhere. I suppose Taj Mahal has become a must visit place in India like the Empire State Building in NYC or peeing boys' statue in Brussels or Bursh Khalifa in Dubai or Eiffel tower in Paris - one just can’t miss those in visiting the places. We walked back to the gates and we walked to the same restaurant as last night. We ordered omelettes and coffee. We went to the rooftop to see the Taj again.

We continued on the busy downtown streets of Jaipur and reached the City Palace. We paid 1400INR ~ 14€ total for the entrance. We entered the world of rich noble men, local kings, and rajas. It seemed their main aim was to spend unlimited funds to impress the visitors. Already the gates were impressive with marvel ornaments carved out from the single blocks. We walked around the vast area and entered into courtyards and into multiple museums of paintings and old photos from the 1880s and textile arts. In one entrance we found a massive reception hall for hosting and entertaining foreign noble guests. The walls were decorated with huge paintings and the floor was covered with carpets. The furniture reminded me of Ermitage in Sankt Petersburg or Habsburg palace furniture, very luxurious. It surely served the purpose of showing off for the guests.

We rode through lovely decorated city gates and bought an adapter for Eunice laptop charger from a market. Additionally we had a little coffee break in the vast park near the old town. We rode back home and worked and had a nap until sunset. It was a nice slow phase day.

We03/22

We woke up at 8AM and had a breakfast on the balcony. I ordered tea and we ate the previous day’s parathas, pitas and hummus. The hummus was very good yesterday, but was a bit sour now, but manageable. We saw a huge beehive hanging on the tree. This place was really like a paradise full of plants and birds singing. I saw the owner’s dog and scratched her belly, a bit of a fat female dog, which she found dumped recently on a nearby street. She really enjoyed and turned her belly towards me for more scratching. We made a short ride to pick up the clean laundry. The cost was only 300INR ~ 3€. We then drove to the railway station. Actually it was kind of hard to find the station building, because we first ended up at the metro station. There was a hassle of finding the correct building and ticket counter for buying tickets to Goa. Finally we got the tickets by 4800INR ~ 54€. But later turned out because it is a very popular route, we got tickets in the waiting list. What this actually meant - we didn't understand. Then we hassled back and forth to find the parcel service for loading the bike to the train. But these guys were refusing to book the load before we have the confirmed ticket. What a scam, overbooking like Lufthansa flights, but nationwide. Later Danish said the chances were 10% that we would actually get to this train. Most properly we would be screwed and money could be also wasted, because we need to make decisions sooner than Friday morning. Anyhow we decided to wait until the next morning. Pawan and Danish would check the progress our situation in the waiting list. Currently we were at 8th in the line. We drove back to hotel. We packed our stuff back on the bike, checked out and started our journey through the city of Jaipur towards the west.

Once we broke out from the city the landscape started to change to vast fields and sandy grasslands. We were still driving on the toll highways. We got some drops or a little drizzle, but nothing major. At 2PM we made a stop in a simple diner and ordered paratha, naan, sandwich and tea. At 3:30PM we saw a proper coffee shop. We had coffee, alcohol free mojito and little croissants with sausage because she misses meat. We worked a bit and soon continued our ride. 

It was a varying weather, sometimes it was drizzling, some time the sun was burning and mostly it was cloudy. On the highway I saw cows walking across the road. Also I saw how a huge truck turned around and blocked all 3 lanes. I needed to be alert of any anomalies like some cars were driving towards me, because they found it more convenient to drive in the opposite direction and not take long loops around.

It was a new year day for Hindus. There was a party atmosphere in multiple temples and over amplified music was very ecstatic, perhaps even driving to trans. Later we went to see the musicians closer at the main temple. We went for a walk on the narrow streets. We made a stop at Pawan's restaurant, which was a vegan street food place. I ordered a burger with falafel, avocado and paneer cheese. Eunice had a roll with similar stuff. At our table we started to chat with the Israelites. Eunice got a new knowledge that there is a mandatory 2 year military service also for women in Israel. These guys were on the longer trip in Asia after finishing the military duty and before getting into the stable working rhythm.

All of a sudden people started to run and some even crashed into the plastic chairs. There was a mating act by a bull and a cow on the narrow street. The bull was just a bit horney, no worries. We paid 300INR ~ 3€ for the food and banana lassi and continued walking. We bought body lotion and masala tea for Eunice to give India experience to her friends in the Philippines. We walked on and bought grapes, an apple and a pomograde. Also we bought another bottle of water, we lost a previous bottle somewhere on the highway. 

We walked back to the hotel and stayed longer at leisure chairs on the balcony. I ordered tea. We looked at the lake and the fireworks. The party in the temple was still ongoing and music echoed all over the lake. Eunice went upstairs to have a proper shower. I wrote a diary and later worked a bit. I talked with a British lady who used to come to Pushkar to do yoga classes. A little bit later, I went back to our room and at 11PM we went to sleep.

Th03/23

We woke up at 8AM and walked to the balcony. It was already hot and the sun was burning. We were sitting in the shade and we drank tea. We also ate a pomograde and an apple. The lake-side looks like Varanasi. The hotel cats were walking around and sat on the comfortable seats and washed each other by licking. She went back to the room to pack the gear and I worked a bit and paid for our tea. At the counter I chatted with the lady in charge who answered my curious questions. First I had noticed ladies sometimes cover their faces with red scarves or saris in Rajasthan. Were they widows? They were not muslims, certainly Hindus, because bacon was flashing between the panes of the sari. It turned out it was just a regular way to keep the curious men's looks away. And red was just a popular colour. Another thing that I was interested in was do they practise dowry - a custom to pay huge money or valuables like gold and jewellery to the groom's family. The reasoning behind that is that the lady will change the households and become a cost to a new family. She pointed out to her daughter Aniska that she will have a bank deposit that she controls, because she is living separately from her husband for 7 years and mother in law kept all her possessions and she has zero to live with. So, dowry should be helpful in that kind of case, but in reality not working. Her family paid dowry and husband’s family kept the money. That was very interesting.

We packed the gear to the bike and rode on the narrow streets around the lake-side. Bye-bye Pushkar! We drove to Ajmer and saw the lake in the middle of the city. We made a small pit stop in a tiny motorbike shop and asked the men to oil our motorbike chain. I paid 50 rupees ~ less than a euro for the service. We tried to find a decent coffee shop, but it was hopeless. Only instant coffee was served. Ajmer seemed to be a tourist spot for locals, because around the lake which was in the middle of the city, we saw horseback rides and other tourist attractions. We continued our ride on the highway and we made good progress, but Udaipur seemed still so far.

We also had a slight plan to visit the famous hill fortress in Chittaurgarh with lakes on top of the hill and between the walls. So, we had very little hope that our tickets would be confirmed and as the tickets were bought in cash in Jaipur, we should get the refund also there. Little hope. At noon we made a refuel stop and got confirmation that our tickets are all good and we have fixed seats. We were hesitating a bit and we asked Danish and Pawan if we were really cool and had the tickets really confirmed. It turned out yes, we have the tickets. We were close to Udaipur, like 3,5 hours away and we turned back and had a tea break first. The guy in the humble diner also made plain Maggie for her. She was starving and was very happy with the noodles. Very cheap to feed her. We started our way back to Ajmer. At 2PM we passed Ajmer. We made good progress in 4 hours and we were exactly in the same spot where we started in the morning. But what to do. I guess at noon the railway system renewed the data. Danish and Pawan were not able to check it in the morning.

At 2:45PM we reached the only coffee shop on the road near Ajmer. We ordered a coffee, iced mocha and sandwich. It was a nice break, because the ass was broken from riding. Our bill was a whooping 700INR ~ 8€. We continued our ride to Jaipur. There were rain clouds all around, but we didn't get rain. We rode back to the same guest house in Jaipur. Eunice washed me properly. My legs were covered by sticky dust and dirt. We drove to the railway station, but the parcell service was already closed. Next stop was Spice Court restaurant. We sat outdoors and enjoyed different chicken dishes. After days on vegan food we were itching for meat. Afterall we are omnivores. It was a bit windy, but it was still very pleasant to sit outside and enjoy good food. I got Kingfisher beer and she went for the mango lassi. Our bill was 1940INR ~ 22€. Next we were hunting for the grocery store and after a hint from our hotel manager, we rushed 15 minutes before closing to a small grocery store. We bought provisions for the upcoming train trip. We got coffee beans from Kerala, milk powder, bread, orange jam, kombucha, sprite, peanuts, snacks and other items. We drove back to the hotel and soon went to bed. As we were about to sleep, Eunice started to rant that she was disappointed with the sprite taste. I tasted it too. Yes, there was something unexpected, perhaps added masala. It is India, masala everywhere. We went to sleep at 11PM.

Fr03/24

We woke up at 8AM and started packing all our gear into the backpacks. We ordered tea and we ate the rice dish leftovers from the previous night. We wrapped up and rode to the railway station. We arrived to the parcell service at 9AM. First I asked Eunice to stay near the counter with our bags. I drove to nearby service of wrapping the bike. They emptied the petrol tank by sucking the petrol out. That petrol was like a bonus on top of the service fee 531INR ~ 6€. Then I filled some forms in the parcell office. The officer said our ticket is no good. OK, I made a call to Pawan and asked him to figure out what we need to do to get things right. Pawan took over the conversation in Hindi. It turned out as we had train tickets from Jaipur to Kochi, Kerala, we needed to buy an additional general ticket for the bike, but I needed to make sure it would be Jaipur to Margao, Goa. Otherwise our bike would be offloaded in the final destination in Kerala. To add some pressure I had only 15 minutes left, because at 10AM they need to close the parcells for this train. I walked to the ticket office across the plaza and found just queues of people and only one person was working. I spotted the lady who sold the tickets to us few days ago. I approached her and she said I can buy the general ticket from other hall where was only few people in the queue. I paid 460INR ~ 5€ for the bike ticket and walked quickly back. I dragged the bike to the parcell service and got the papers. We paid 4060INR ~ 45€ for the bike shipping. Hopefully we will see our bike in Margao. When I was absent and hassling with the additional ticket, Eunice entertained the parcell officers and drank tea. They were curious about the Philippines and our travels. Already TN in the front of our bike's number plate raised some eyebrows, because Tamil Nadu state is so far.

These mountains with cloud forest will reach all the way to Kodaikanal in the south. These evergreen forests are the source of streams and creeks, forming rain clouds, basically making life possible on the plains. We laid on the beds and enjoyed our train adventure. We said goodbye to the family with whom we stayed together over 24 hours. They even said we are always welcome to stay at their house near Pushkar. They have a farm. They have workers there, his wife should never work on the field. The cast thing.

Eventually the train was late two hours and we arrived to Margao station at 4:15PM. We walked to the parcel office and showed the papers. They were very slow in doing everything. Soon I figured out they will not sell me any petrol although they are milking the petrol tanks every day. I hired a scooter with the muslim driver and rode to the nearest gas station. I filled 3 water bottles with petrol and we drove back. It took another hour before we got our bike. 

And when we got it, it was badly damaged and nobody took responsibility. The guy at the counter just said we should google the matter. Our left mirror was shattered and broken, also left back indicator was broken and there was a heavy bent at the silencer. Also it seemed the bike smashed down to the platform from the cargo car. The fork was a bit bent. It seemed the bike has been smashed at the right edge and to the front. Thank you Indian Railway for being reckless and sloppy and asking thousands of rupees for the service. Then we started to drive and I realised we didn't have front brakes. We stopped and I took out my spanners and repair kit. Luckily that was a quick fix and soon we were able to continue our ride at 5:30PM towards the beach. 

First we drove to the same hotel where I have been with Mirjam a year ago. There was no studio flats available, only huge flats with 3 bedrooms. We booked a cheap flat nearby via booking.com. It took some effort to find the counter. Then we had a proper hassle with the price. Even the manager needed to join to the argument. In our booking showed clearly total price 6071INR, but they pressing hard for paying 6799INR ~ 75€. After some raising tones from both sides, we agreed booking.com sucks, because there was somewhere later in the confirmation email written that we need to pay some more, like taxes and fees which were excluded. It was unnecessary and unpleasant situation. Later we both apologised and chilled down. Eunice was acting as a peacekeeper, mediator and negotiator. We got the keys, but we needed to walk to another complex. We put our stuff into our relatively cosy and large flat and drove to Benaulim beach.

We walked to the Little Tiger beach restaurant. Sun had already set and it was a bit windy, but still very nice and warm. Eunice was enjoying the beach resort vibe. India is so diverse and she is seeing it now. We ate dinner and said hi to restaurant owner Jack who remembered me. I guess it is not that important to people to remember me, it was just nice to see the same places and more meaningful to visit the same people I have chatted with in previous times. We enjoyed the dinner and drinks and eased up after the unnecessary hassle with the hotel and Indian Railway destructive parcel service.

Beach vacation in Goa 

Su03/26 

We woke up at 7:30AM and slowly started our day. I grinded coffee beans and prepared hot water with the sophisticated induction hot plate. I needed to choose the regime or option, I picked milk heating, it was too weak. Later went for a stronger option instead and got the boiling water. We sat on our balcony and watched some kids swimming in the pool. It seems this hotel is more for local families. After having coffee, we drove a bit and refilled the tank. We asked to put in 1000INR ~ 11€ worth of petrol and in return got ~10 litres of petrol. On the way back we stopped in a church and figured out there would be a mass at 5PM. We continued riding to the beach. It was nice to ride without helmets, the wind was blowing our hair nicely. We parked the bike and walked barefoot on the light yellow and squeaking sand towards Little Tiger.

We said hi to the restaurant owner Joaquim aka Jack and ordered breakfast dishes, a beer, a pineapple juice and later tiramisu. Then, I spotted Ragini. We walked into her table and I introduced Eunice to her. A year ago we started to talk in the same restaurant and later we visited her studio. She is an artist, mainly involved in gouache painting and graphics. She remembered me after I mentioned the blond girl Mirjam. Mirjam started to play with her daughter. We chatted for a bit more before she left. When they left, Eunice and I laid on the sofas and enjoyed a nice laid back vibe along with the salsa and afro beats and ocean waves as background. Eunice watched anime as well, meanwhile I wrote and ordered tea. Our bill was 1050INR ~ 12€.

At 12:30PM we walked on the edge of the water back to our bike. We drove to the market and bought a mountain of fruits and vegetables. Actually we sensed it was kind of cheap - 1000INR ~ 11€ compared to the Philippines. We drove a bit back to a grocery store and bought breakfast ingredients. Among many items we bought was a cheese made of camel's milk. We then drove back home and had a little nap. Outside was +31'C burning heat. We prepared a fresh salad with ice salad, tomato, cucumber, camel cheese, green onion and olive oil. We also ate piers, green peas, a pomograde and grapes. It was so great to eat fresh fruits and vegetables grown nearby in India. 

Later before 5 pm, we changed clothes and drove to the Catholic church for the mass. The relatively modern church building was packed with people wearing Sunday and formal clothes and decent dresses. Many of the dresses were blinging and shining. It turned out it was in the local language. We were happy to see the local mass. This time we both didn't understand the message because last time in the Philippines it was me who didn't follow the message in Cebuano. We quietly sneaked out after 30 minutes and drove back to the hotel. We went to swim in the pool and enjoyed a deserved vacation after an ass-wrecking motorbike ride. At sunset we started our ride to the north to see different Goa. It took nearly 2 hours of riding. Even on highways it takes a lot of time. We crossed multiple vast bridges and one bridge was crossing a wide river where there were party ships and boats. These seemed to be casinos and discotheques.

We reached the north-side Goa and to the tourist town Candolim at 8:30PM and drove further to the beach. The beach bars and cafés were lined up in the shoreline as far as the eye could see. But it was still rather quiet, because it was too early for partying. In this part of Goa we saw Radisson, Hyatt, Hilton and all the other global hotel brands. It was way different from our village vibe. We drove a bit on the main road and stopped at one leather shop. Eunice got a pair of beautiful handmade leather sandals there. We went to eat at a multi-cuisine restaurant as Eunice was itching for pork. We ordered a large pork steak and it was really good. Goa is one of the few places where you can eat without disapproving faces around pork and beef dishes. Because for Muslim pork is not an acceptable beast, no matter how halal you make it and for Hindus slaughtering a cow is something criminal. So, mostly people of India therefore go for chicken, fish, mutton or vegetarian. We enjoyed the food and we watched people walking by. We saw many Europeans and even some Filipinos. We drove a bit more and stopped in a bar and had a beer and cocktail. At 11PM we started our journey back south to our hotel. We fell to the bed after midnight.

First, there was one guy asking 100 rupees for getting through and soon after another guy asked the same amount. I was ready to turn over and drop the matter, but he said there would be no other road fees and only paid parking after a rocky and dusty track. We reached the parking spot and luckily nobody asked for additional parking fees. We walked further down to the sandy beach which was surrounded by dark rocks. We changed to swimwear and climbed onto one of the rocks and ate pears. There was no internet and I needed to postpone one meeting or at least I was not attending there. There were about 50 people on the beach.

We went swimming and the water was cooling, but not cold. There were boats coming in from the ocean bringing tourists to the shore or picking them up and returning them to nearby tourist resorts. I was surprised to see that I got some burns from jellyfish, nothing serious. We saw a guy wearing bright orange string-type swimwear and once he started to run, it was obvious he was surely gay. We haven't seen many gays in India, mostly because of the cultural background. So it was just nice and surprising to see him very open about it. After one hour we walked back to the bikes. We drove on the dusty roads back to the asphalt road and then drove to Agonda beach. We tried to order food and drinks at the beach bar, but it was closed. Eunice went to pick up something to eat nearby. Meanwhile I was able to log into the local internet and join another meeting. Once it was done, we drove back to the hotel.

Tu03/28

We woke up at 8AM, had a shower and made a luxurious breakfast. Among many good things Eunice added dried dates on the toast. We ate omelettes, salad and drank coffee from freshly grinded beans. Later on, I walked to the pool side and worked. She had a staff call and I made the first unit of work. I also had a call with Mirjam, she was envying the fact we have a pool. After work, we went swimming and ate chocolate which was melting fast because of the heat. Water was nice and refreshing. I noticed that my body is partly red and unevenly tanned. Actually so far we haven't had tanning days, we have been riding and it has been raining in the north. It  honestly felt like we were having our honeymoon. 

At 12:30PM we went home and Eunice cooked ramen consuming many of the last items. So for lunch we ate ramen, later papaya and drank coffee on the balcony overlooking the pool. We had a quiet time, napping or siesta. After sleeping we ate mangoes. Eunice was curious about the taste of Indian mango but it was a bit raw, so it was a pickle. At 4PM we drove to the nearby laundry service called Anni and dropped off two bags. We continued to the market and saw jackfruit. Eunice was missing that fruit. We didn't buy the fruit dough, because it was not that ripe and perhaps the next day it would be ready. Instead we bought passion fruits and dragon fruits. There was one lady I approached and recommended the fruits we just bought. It turned out she had tasted them all and even pointed out which fruits are not tasty at all and not worthy of buying. She was Russian and she said that sadly she is not Ukrainian. She fled to Goa a year ago from Putin's regime and away from the propaganda and bullshit. She was there with her son. I spoke in Russian, because her English was not very developed. At one point she asked her son to block the ears because used the word bisdetz - shit. I would only imagine what imprint this will have to them. I guess the kids missed their friends and grandparents. After that quick chat, we drove to the beach, parked the bike and walked on the warm sand to Little Tiger. 

We ordered drinks while I participated in the call. Our 2GB daily usage was consumed, but I was able to do the meeting by using the restaurant wifi. After the call we ordered some snacks and just admired the sunset. The sun was bigger than in the Philippines, but there was no magical colour explosion after the sunset though, only a little bit of pink and orange here and there. We then decided to take a dip in the water, we ran to the waves and had fun. The water was nicely warm despite the sun setting. We went back to the beach restaurant and ordered more food. I also drank local rum Old Monk on rocks and she had mango cake. We were at the beach until 8:30PM and walked back to the bike. We made a little stop in the grocery store and she bought body lotion and water. Back home we had tea on the balcony and at 11PM we went to sleep.

We talked about many intriguing topics like raising a girl in India, raping cases in New Delhi, child marriages and other slow dying obsolete patterns, but also about her grandparents and how India has been changed during their lifetime. Then she showed a book which was a very personal family record, but also includes special recipes. She presented the book and explained the pictures and some of the foods there. Such a special book with great narrative. Of Course I bought it. As we were in her studio a year before too with Mirjam, just after a lock-down and very tough period for artists, I noticed she has managed to make it happen. People are buying her work and she is getting on with her artistic life quite well. Eunice bought a graphic for her mother and a notebook. But I went crazy. I bought the original painting, because I decided I would like to have meaningful artwork in our home. Those kinds of paintings and sculptures that have a good story or are made by people who are special to us. I already had a list of artists in my mind. 

As the painting was still hanging on the wall, she said that she would take it down, prepare it and hand it over later in the day. It was very nice to see her work and understand her approaches to many things. She is not religious, because like many mixed religious people seemingly loose the urgency of choosing one religion of many. It is very typical when a Catholic marries Hindu, then they don’t practise any religion. I guess Muslims are more strict on that matter. As we didn’t have money with us, I promised to send money via Wise. Also we all were starving and she called in front of a nearby local humble diner. We drove there and ate fish thali and extra fried fish. OMG that was so good. Ragini was surprised that we ordered only one thali. I guess we already have too many times having two thalis or combo meals on metal trays. It would be just too much food, perhaps too much rice and too much spicy sauces too. Instead I had fried fish and I got just a bit of rice and sauces from the Eunice plate. Our meal cost only 250INR ~ 3€. There were no foreigners in this diner, because it is not designed for tourists, instead locals are coming for lunches or dinners with families. We thanked Ragini for the time she spent with us. Also we thanked her for the lunch, because I still had only 50 rupees in my pocket.

We drove back to the hotel. We had quiet time and we worked a bit. At 5:30PM Ragini came by and handed over the painting and a certificate or letter of authenticity. She had her daughter with her, she was playing with Mirjam at the beach in front of Little Tiger a year ago. I walked up to our room and soon rode to the beach. We walked to Little Tiger. The other restaurants were kind of empty and even the waiters there already knew that we were on the way to Little Tiger and not coming to their place. It seemed there was a special vibe in Tiger. That was our last night at this beach in Goa. So we ordered dinner and enjoyed the sunset. Ragini suggested I try local booze - Urrak - a cashew nuts drink. I drank it without any juice or rocks, just to understand it. In a way it was like many home made strong spirits across the Globe, like Grappa in Italy or Hansa in Estonia. I’m really enjoying trying local home made drinks. We said goodbye to restaurant owner Jack. He said that they will pack up the restaurant by the end of May, because it will be too hot and soon the monsoon storms and rains will start too. He also said that the water line would reach the bushes behind the restaurant, basically all the sandy beach would be consumed by waves. And then he will resume his restaurant in October. We also said bye-bye to Raul. We walked on the beach, which was illuminated by the moon and the beach bars lights. It was kind of sad to leave Goa and especially this part of Goa. We drove to the hotel and soon went to bed.

Journey continues 

Th03/30

We had an early start at 6AM. I opened the bedroom windows and it was quiet, no chainsaw noise and no people talking nor shouting. Only birds were singing loudly and beautifully. We packed our stuff onto the motorbike and checked out. At 8AM we were driving south, more south. We made a stop at the last beach in Goa named Polem. We rode to the beach and saw yoga retreats and little huts on the beach-side. I have heard about the South-Goa’s yoga and hippie vibe, perhaps that was it. Later, we then continued on our road.

At 1:30PM we had a lunch break in Hannovar. We ordered kingfish beer, rice, naans and later ice creams. After crossing Badagani river we rode to the end of a peninsula and searched for a turtle sanctuary. It was a Google Maps scam I guess, because there was nothing more than fishermen villages and port facilities in the tip of the peninsula.

We drove on the highway. At 4PM we entered Bhatkal and drove to the beach. It was a nice long sandy beach along the small road, but as we were thinking of camping at the beach, it was too exposed. We drove a bit further and found a more hidden corner behind the fishing boats. We asked fishermen the maximum line of the tide and whether they have fish. They have sold everything except one fish - a metre long tuna. It was a big fish and probably waiting for a restaurant chef as a buyer.

But as it was still very hot we were eager to find a café. That was a hard task, because most of the places were closed because of Ramadan. Finally we found one café and we were able to buy a take away coffee. We sat in the front of the café and just admitted it is Ramadan and there is very little we can do about it. We drove a bit and bought fruits and later special Ramadan snacks. We drove back to the beach and sat on the bench. The sun was about to set and we just admired the front seat view of the ocean. We ate fruits and snacks. We were not in a rush. I saw two people digging sand from the shore and carrying on their heads to the building site. The lady was shovelling the sand into the bowl and the man was carrying it. I tried to take a picture of the lady, but she explained that her sari is not very clean. Well, it was not like we were speaking in English or in Hindi, we used gestures to explain.

Fr03/31

We woke up at 7AM and opened the tent door. Some people were walking on the beach and we had a dedicated and friendly dog guarding our tent. The fishing boats had left to the ocean to catch mostly smaller fish, but some fishermen were only after big tuna. We started to pack our gear. Sun was already burning. We drove off to the muslim city without any hope of getting proper coffee or breakfast, because of Ramadan everything was closed.

We drove to the temple, because it was about to be closed. We walked to the temple barefoot and walked around the most holy shrine in the middle of the temple yard. We happened to stand in the queue and span around the shire. We waited and soon we entered the holy site. There was a kind of rush and even a little bit of pushing by the people in charge. I guess they wanted to close the site. We saw the holy place, but after this rush we enjoyed sitting just on the edge of another building overlooking the shrine building. Men were supposed to take off their shirts too. Well, of course I did the same. In this little town we were like celebrities and many people wanted to take pictures with us. I guess some haven’t seen Europeans or Filipinos ever or at least not very often. This temple was not definitely as popular as temples in Pushkar or Rishikesh for Europeans. So, some parents started to gather their kids around us and take pictures in front of the holy site. Soon the temple guards rushed to the site and ended this sacrilegious act. Well, I got my picture too with the sneaky move. Of course it was not allowed to take pictures of the shrine, like always.

That was an exciting experience. We bought some snacks, water and drank tea. There were no major restaurants to speak of and therefore we ate street food. We drove back to the hotel, washed and soon went to sleep.

Sa04/01

We woke up at 8AM. The weather forecast predicted a 37'C hot day, we needed to travel more to the forest and higher to the mountains to escape from it. To start the day we made coffee and travel plans. At 11AM we assembled the gear to the bike and started our journey south. We took a break at the Kukke Shri Subrahmanya temple. I took some photos of the temple and the festival carriage on huge wooden wheels in the front of the temple. 

We rode south through the mountain plantation and forest. It was still not high mountains, only 300-400 metres, but gave nice shade from the burning heat. At noon we had a breakfast break in Guttigar. We got omelettes and tea. We started to climb and reached 1140 metres and made another break at 2:30PM. We bought a coconut, tea and a pack of biscuits. Asses were hurting badly at this point. We were riding through coffee plantations. It seemed coffee beans were making people wealthy here which was reflected in nice and modern houses in the area. We saw baby monkeys playing on the branches near the road, no mommies visible, but surely they were keeping eyes on these youngsters.

While crossing Gonikoppa, a sudden motorcycle emergency came up, the wires right in front of me caught on fire. The clutch cable and some other cables have worn out the insulations and started the short circuit which eventually melted cable insulations and caught fire. I was able to blow off the flames and cool down the wires. We parked the bike in front of a restaurant. We pushed the bike to a nearby workshop and asked them to replace the cables and organise the cables properly. Meanwhile, we stayed in the restaurant and we ordered mushroom soup, fish and prawn kebabs and drinks. The place was a bar with very little light and with loud club dance music. Food was good and AC did good for our burning skins. Our bill was 1300INR ~ 14€. We walked to the workshop and the bike was ready. The insulation was changed and the fee was 500INR ~ 5€. We needed to divert from the main road and we ended up on a very small road on the outskirts of one town.

At one of those small roads all of a sudden I saw a yellow and light green coloured snake crossing the road. It was a 1.5 metre long cobra. I was almost riding over its head. With a fraction of a second we both lifted our legs high up and we saw how the cobra turned from a zig-zagging stick on the surface of the road into a vindicated poisonous weapon. It quickly got its head up and tried to strike our bike. Luckily no contact. We were both in shock. The snake was able to get back to the woods without being smashed by my bike’s front wheel. That really spiced up the ride.

We drove to the Nagarohole tiger reserve, but as we reached at 6:05PM the safari park gate was already closed 5 minutes ago. There was no chance to arrange a sunset safari which makes more sense than midday safari, because big cats and most other animals avoid the heat and sleep instead somewhere in the bush. Our genius approach was not heard and we continued our ride. Actually we have seen what might happen if we are together with local tourists in the safari jeep. It would be endless selfies, yelling and perhaps even with boombox music. I would not miss that, perhaps there is another way to see animals in the wild. Instead, we made a tea break after a long stretch of forest and coffee plantations in the first village in Kerala state.

Su04/02

We woke up at 8AM, I needed to work for an hour. But before anything else,  I made coffee. We checked out at 11AM and started our journey towards Ooty. It was already burning hot, 30'C although we were at 900 metres, still very hot. We made a breakfast break on the way. We decided to break away from our route a bit and pay a visit to Eddakal caves at 1:30PM. 

We paid 10 rupees for parking, 50 rupees for a guy to keep an eye on our bike. We just took a camera, mobile phones and passports with us. The journey up to the ticket office was already quite demanding for Eunice. We took it easy and made many stops to catch our breath. At some point we saw a colony of trash monkeys, mommy monkeys carried their hairless babies beneath their bellies. They were adorable, but still wild animals. Some of them were eating plastic bottles and other waste.

Later on we saw jack fruits and some of the hairy balls were very big, but it turned out the season would be in June, note ripe just yet. We paid 50 rupees for the adult fee to see the Eddakal stone age caves. But first we needed to climb on stone steps and steep stairs to the platform. Eunice was already giving up, but I convinced her to push on. We climbed through some tight holes to get to the living room, kitchen and bedroom, basically the one room where the ancient tribe people lived and hid themselves from wild carnivores outside. 

We saw the stones around us and imagined a tribe sitting around the fire. Then we climbed even higher to the upper and more spacious room. There were stone carvings with symbols and images. That itself was amazing, to see how people from that distant history made a mark and expressed themselves into the surface of the rock. But the whole place was also scary, because above us there were 3 huge rocks stuck between rock walls. One earthquake would easily shake these stones down. There were masses of people taking selfies. The view from the edge of the cave was really good, overlooking the valley. We slowly walked back to the bike. On the way we saw some local tourists with boomboxes walking also down the walkway. I was surprised by this site, because there were birds singing around us and it was a nice location with a lot of vegetation. But this was exactly the result of mass tourism, city boys and girls were bringing their noise with them and not even noticing the nature around them. As climbing starved us, we ordered Maggie and tea near where our bike was parked. I saw weird bags sold in the souvenir shops too. These bags were made of coconut fibre and it turned out these were actually nests for small birds. Amazing.

At 3PM we continued our journey and enjoyed nice mountain roads. We started to climb and soon did a juice break and ordered pomegranate and watermelon fresh juices. And we got two pomograde milkshakes instead. It was ok though, better luck next time with understanding each-other. At 5PM we reached the border of the Madumalai tiger reserve. Well, this was a cool experience. There were no gates to block us and actually it was a national highway 181 going through the reserve. The sun was about to set. We drove like in the safari or more like in the zoo. Animals were out and just hanging by the roadsides. We saw elks and deers close by. Also we saw a wild boar who scratched its ass against the tree. Monkeys immediately jumped to the tree when they saw a wild boar approaching towards them. They were screaming and yelling on top of the tree. We hopped to see elephants, but we saw only 3-4 chained elephants who were supposed to entertain tourists. We didn’t see any wild elephants and no tigers. Eunice was so thrilled because of the experience.

In the darkness we started to climb. OMG that was a steep climb. In the daylight driving up the serpentine is very entertaining and I usually enjoy it, but in the darkness using only 1st and 2nd gear because of the steepness, that was a bit of a challenge. We climbed higher and entered the clouds.

Mo04/03

We woke up at 8AM and we both worked until 11AM. After that we checked out and drove to a nice café in the area of old churches and English period buildings. We saw the first American backpackers in this café. The coffee and panini were good.

At 6:30PM we saw the sunset and we started to climb. But first we needed to register by showing passports, but no entrance fee for entering to another tiger reserve. Proper bureaucracy. We missed the sunset and also missed a picture of the perfect spaghetti road up to the mountains. We saw a bush fire from a distance, one slope caught fire, because it has been very dry. We also saw elks at the roadside, these were big animals. We turned the engine off and froze. They were checking us for some time and decided finally that we were not a threat, but still slowly they drifted further to the woods. It took an agonising 1,5 hours to reach Valparai. 

The road was mostly in very good shape. The insects and bug shower were bad though, so bad that I needed to drive with the closed helmet, although I prefer to ride with an open helmet due better visibility. We didn't see any tigers or elephants.

Kodaikanal

We04/05

We woke up finally at 9AM, we just enjoyed the fact we were not in a rush. I made coffee and we watched how the view over the valley started to gradually get blocked by clouds. These clouds were forming in forests around us and sooner or later emptying their tanks through some showers. I opened the window and let in the sounds of the birds and surrounding forest. Also there were village people talking in Tamil which to me sounded like “rollo-rollo-roll”. Tamil is a tough language to learn, very ancient and close to the origin of Sanskrit. We worked and at 10:30AM we took our laundry and walked down to the road. There we saw Danish at the souvenir shop.

We dropped the laundry bags there and went to the nearby café, Altaf, to eat breakfast. Eunice had an Israeli breakfast combo with hummus and pita while I had omelette with toast. I have been in this mountain edge café many times and people there remembered me. We saw how the valley was slowly getting filled with white clouds and soon we were in the milky mist and then it cleared again. Amazing to see the changes, very unpredictable. We had tea and juices too and the bill was 750INR ~ 8€. We gave the laundry to one lady who has a small tea and cooking booth. She is raising her son with down syndrome and she was proud that her boy went to regular school recently. An immense effort she’s giving to earn money for her family, raising a kid with special needs and perhaps getting beaten by an unemployed husband. We took everything from our motorbike panniers and walked back up to our room. It took a lot of effort to climb up, because the air was thin, because there’s less oxygen at 2200 metres. Later on, we had a nap and worked again for a bit.

We were surprised they ate leaves, squirrels should eat nuts or seeds. It was an amazing site and a unique experience. At 3:30PM we reached the viewpoints overlooking the Poombarai valley. We saw very colourful houses and terrace fields below. These fields have been here and being cultivated for thousands of years. We drove down to the village and visited the local also very old Hindu temple. We took the shoes off and walked around the temple yard and inside the little temple. It was rather quiet, only few people visiting the temple and one priest hassling with vessels inside the temple. I was amazed by the colourful houses. We saw a huge dark rain cloud climbing over the mountains and we decided to seek refuge. We drove up again and ate chicken thali and admired the valley view.

The rain never came and we rode back to Kodaikanal. It was rather chilly and Eunice had a stomachache, perhaps from the spicy food. We bought some items from the pharmacy and drove to Billy's place near the lake. 

Billy is my Indian grandmother and her husband Kolli just arrived 30 minutes before from the otherside of the Kodakanal hills and they were just having coffee on their terrace. She was very surprised to see me. Actually first welcomes came from 3-4 dogs at the driveway including a three-legged Tripod. I introduced Eunice and soon she needed to run to the restroom. Stomach pain was getting more serious. We drank coffee and we talked about absolutely everything. 

Billy is like a mamma tiger who is protecting her cub, which for her is the sholai aka local rainforest. Whoever is fucking with with the forest will get the fearsome attack from the mamma tiger. Sometimes she yells at people who are throwing trash into the nearby roadsides and she even reports to these people's superiors. Very mean, but effective. I reported that Saleena has made significant changes in her house in Vattakanal and now it feels like a home. She was happy that our common effort paid off last May. I urged Danish to let Saleena to refurnish and decorate the room as she likes to make the man's cave more like a home and she could feel being home. Kolli , Billy’s husband, has reduced his duties in the hospital almost to a minimum. It was dark outside and we heard the crickets, frogs and night birds. Billy lives in an area which has become very appealing for very rich or governmental people. Some of the British era buildings need renovation. It is truly a paradise. Billy thanked Eunice that she has made me a happy person. Some ladies just see things. We set a time for dinner and we drove back to Vattakanal. It was very cold and dark and we rode slowly. We took a hot shower and went to sleep.

Th04/06

We finally woke up at 10AM. Eunice was still having a bad stomach pain. I had a call with Mirjam. It was her last school day before Easters. Eunice took some medicine and slept 2 hours. I walked down to the café and worked on sales and handling projects. At 12:30PM she messaged me that she is alive and needs food and water.

Fr04/07

We woke up at 10AM, it was a Big Friday. Our noisy neighbours also woke up and immediately music started and loud talking. There was an electricity cut off, but music continued, because they had a portable boombox. We walked downstairs from 2256 metres to the café. We ate breakfast and started to understand the Vattakanal slow phase vibe. Already walking up the stairs was an effort and made us pant. Kind of a punishment if I forgot something and I needed to collect it. At noon we walked back up to the room, packed as much as possible for upcoming flights and cleared the room. Eunice even gave me a bag of clothes for me to bring to Europe. As she booked an Airasia cheap flight tickets, she is travelling light and benefitting from the smart 40 litre backpack that should be allowed onboard which we bought in Japan.

We expected to see a 2 ton “gaur” or bison, but we only saw deep footprints and vast piles of shit. Of course when these animals really appear, we better be running and seeking for refuge on the balcony. These are wild animals and unpredictable, but Billy loves them and keeps the grass for them and even dogs are trained to keep the cows away and be polite towards the “gaurs”. Saleena and Danish also arrived and they had a gift for Billy. Kolli had made a bonfire and offered us a local brandy. We ate the snacks and he enjoyed the seaweed biscuits. We sat and laid around the fire. It was already dark and fire kept us warm. I asked Billy whether I could help her in the kitchen, but she has been preparing everything during the day.

At 7PM she asked us to join indoors for dinner. OMG she had cooked a massive feast. She introduced one-by-one each dish: oven made chicken, cooked beef, rice with peas, cooked curly flowers with spices, baked potatoes and some more finger licking dishes. Billy and Kolli are such a nice couple and every time I go their home I feel very welcomed. We had good time. Kolli went to bed sooner, because his knees were hurting, but he made a stop and checked my bike first. We thanked Billy for the Micheline restaurant-like food and walked to the bikes.

On the way back we saw twice the porcupines running on the road. One was tiny, hardly more than a white cat, but the other one on the Vattakanal road was a big animal with all the spikes erected. This was the first time for me to see such an animal in the wild. We parked the bikes. We bought an alcohol free beer or a halal beer for tasting. Saleena tasted the Bavaria 0% beer and admitted it tasted bad, that was her first time ever to taste beer. Danish tested the beer later. Saleena came to say that we will sleep in their bed and they will sleep on the shop's floor. That was hospitality, non-negotiable hospitality.

Sa04/08

We woke up at 10AM and Eunice was back in square one, meaning she was not able to control her shit. But no stomach cramps or headaches. It was rather chilly and we stayed under the blanket for a little longer. Saleena came and she also jumped under the blanket. The bed was wide enough to accommodate me and two ladies. Saleena shared her life in the first year of being married with Danish and her relationship with Danish family. Eventually we were in bed until 11AM. Then we ate fruits and drank coffee. Saleena had none of it, she can’t even drink water because of the fasting. Eunice had a nap, Saleena went to a shop to help sell and I went to Altaf's café to eat lunch. The place was so full that there was even a queue for getting the table. I found a chair and I asked to join one table. It turned out there was Nick from Australia with his wife, daughter and daughter's friend. I met Nick excavating the cemetery near Billy's house in May 2022. He found some graves and connected living relatives with their ancestors from the 19th century. 

That was cool. I ordered a chicken schnitzel. After almost completing my lunch, the restaurant staff asked me not to stay there longer than necessary, because people were waiting to get the table. I ordered another tea and went to a Danish shop and worked on accounting. I was getting back on track with my work. There were books, souvenirs and plants. Some of the books I already have and have read or in my wishlist. I went to a tiny Dipa's and ordered fried eggs and tea and walked back to my room. Eunice was already starving and happy with the room service.

At 4PM we drove despite the traffic jams to Kodaikanal. We used shortcuts twice to avoid jams. First we bought brie cheese Kodai Cheese. We drove a bit further down on the Bazar road to the pharmacy and market. We bought a big 2KG kingfish, a smaller 0,5KG fish and half a KG of shrimps. All together we paid 1000INR ~ 11€. We asked to pile off the fish skin and take the guts out. She walked a bit more and bought green chillies and green onions for the fish soup. We drove back and got stuck in a proper traffic jam in the Vattakanal waterfalls. The road is just too narrow to accommodate all these cars parked, going up and down to Vattakanal. Random people started to arrange cars and give commands who should wait and who should move forward. This was like a self-made commander taking the leadership and starting to make an order in a chaos. There was some shouting and yelling, but nothing serious. This was again a very typical India for me. We reached back to the room at 6PM and started quickly preparing food. My duty was to get the fire going in the bowl and prepare for the BBQ. Saleena and Eunice were in a tiny kitchen preparing food. Saleena made beef snacks and sweet parathas. Eunice worked the shrimps and added even 7Up for getting it more Filipino and balancing the taste. She also made fish soup. I halved the fish, added pepper and salt and laid the fish on the grill on top of the hot coal.

At 8PM we ate together. Danish was very suspicious about shrimps, because they looked like insects to him. The backdrop was that he rarely eats new and exotic food, he prefers known and easy food. But as we had two foodies - Saleena and Eunice - with us, he needed to taste and try everything. We had a nice dinner together. The cats got a lot of fish and shrimp heads, skins and edible bones. Again Danish and Saleena went to sleep in the shop. I had a video call with Mirjam. She had a friend coming over to her place while Jaanika was out with friends. Mirjam even ordered pizza. A proper party. We went to sleep at 10PM.

Su04/09

We woke up at 6:30AM and saw the sun rising higher and higher. It was Easter Sunday. We heard the mass and Hindu temple music mixed together echoing over the valley. Additionally birds and later car horns added their part to the soundscape. At 8AM I prepared coffee and she warmed up the fish soup. We sat on the balcony and enjoyed the sun's heat. Danish came by and we walked to the bike and listed all the maintenance needs. He was driving down to Theni to the hospital. His employee got a stroke the previous night and he was taken to hospital in Theni. Danish was planning to leave the bike to the Royal Enfield for service. I chatted with Saleena in the shop and walked to Altaf's café for writing and drinking tea. Yellow cat was back and ate some more leftovers from the feast a day before, mostly because he was interested in fish and not too much shrimp. Eunice had a shower and I prepared another tea for drinking on the sunny balcony. We didn't go to church although it was Easter, because we didn't know any masses held around Kodaikanal in English.

In the afternoon we had a 3 hour hike with Saleena. We went down to the secret waterfall on the edge of a cliff and through the tense rainforest. Going down was rather easy, we needed to make sure nobody was following us, because we really wanted to keep these falls secret and pristine, without litter. Some parts of the trail were a bit muddy and in these sections we saw leeches jumping onto our shoes. It was freaking out girls obviously. The last part was a very steep drop to the solid rock where the river was flowing and dropping off the cliff. Danish showed me this spot already in 2017.

Soon we lost the correct route and we needed to hassle through some branches and bushes. Mostly we used gaurs tracks and we saw obvious sleeping spots of these huge animals. Girls were absolutely exhausted and I saw desperation in their sweaty faces. After 40 minutes of climbing we were back on the Vattakanal road.

We sat on the rock formation and took off our shoes. Eunice had two leeches sucking blood. We crushed the vampires, but the wounds kept running blood, but at the same time it was nothing serious, just annoying and a bit creepy. We sat on the smooth and warm stone and watched the valley changing constantly. The water is actually not for swimming, because upstream households are channelling their sewage into this creek. Otherwise it would be a perfect place to take cold baths in the natural rock pools. The water dropped in cascades hundreds of metres down to the wilderness. Suddenly Eunice was sitting on the edge of the cliff and was serious. I tried to warm her up. It turned out that she had experienced something extraordinary, perhaps some evil spirits tried to jump off the cliff by pulling her hand. She was in a state of shock. What was that? A suicide attempt or was there really some spirits living here? Actually there is an another rock cliff which is called Suicide Point, because there also is a 100 metres drop. We stayed there under the sunshine for about an hour and then started to climb up again.

Mo04/10

We woke up at 9AM. I quickly checked my messages, had a shower. That was the last shower before the next opportunity in Estonia. I ate some fruits and made coffee. Eunice did her makeup on the balcony. Saleena came by and later had a shower. She stayed in another room. A few moments later we heard some bell-like sounds, and it turned out that there were semi-wild horses with bells around their necks. All of a sudden 6 horses started to run downstairs, because one lady drew stones on them to keep them away from flowers. That was a massive rumble when these big animals rushed down, like a train. At 11AM we walked downstairs to a café and had breakfast. Sunshine and clouds were exchanging all the time. So, it was hot and cold all the time. This was our last meal in Vattakanal, it was kind of sad to leave the peaceful Vattakanal. We walked up again and packed the bags. I left my Nike running shoes, which I bought in Florida in 2012, near the dust bin on the street. Somebody will take them. These shoes have done their job and for me these sneakers are beyond repair. We worked and at 2PM I had one project kick-off online meeting. And I got my shirt back from stitching which I had repaired two days ago. Later on, there was a hassle with the taxi. The taxi initially booked by Danish was not responding and was not coming. We had tea and ice cream while we waited for the next arranged taxi. At 3PM we took off from Vattakanal. 

Bye-bye Vattakanal. 

We sat on the bedrock of the creek. There was water going down to the valley on both sides, but it was just a small creek. In the monsoon rainy days this river turns into a non crossable mountain river. We dropped the big back-bags near one motorbike and walked further down. One stretch of the road had a granite rock surface and was very steep. I rode up and down this drive way on my motorbike. I guess a regular car would not be capable of doing it, 4x4 surely can. We walked further down stairs and saw a farm building where also one family lives and soon Andreas waved at us. He was currently building a kitchen and he was cutting some wood with a saw. I gave him a bottle of sake and a box of matcha chocolates. 

Andreas is an interesting 64 years old German who has lived in India for 25 years. He was madly in love with a girl and he followed her to India and got kind of stuck in Tamil Nadu ever since. Girl is long gone, perhaps not forgotten and he has a house in Pondicherry and a farm-house in Kodai hills. We walked down the valley to the creek. There were endless terrace fields and stone fences. He has continued to struggle with elephants who sometimes wrestle with his house walls and sometimes even eat the roofs. Also he needs to think what plants elephants and picchocks are not eating and protect the plants. He is in good shape, because he needs to walk up and down these tracks all the time. I ask what this farm is all about for him, what he gets out of it. He replied, first it is entertaining, but later added something more meaningful: in Berlin he feels anxiety and the urge of constant rush, but here in 1600 metres he is calm and feels freedom, perhaps artistic freedom.

I thanked Andreas for the dinner and suggested next time we should stay overnight and not rush at all. We walked up to the bikes and I started to mount the back-bags on the bike with banjees. Soon everybody else arrived and gasped for air. Danish’s plan and solution was that Andres farmer rode on his bike and had Danish, Saleena and my small back-bag on his bike. Meanwhile I drove with big bags and Eunice. We felt the first rain drops. We had only 15 minutes before the bus arrived at Perumalmalai bus stop from Kodaikanal. 

We started immediately, because it was a tight race against time. It was a bit unpleasant to ride, because the bags took up so much room and Eunice needed to sit half-butly on my seat. Just holding on ever so tightly. We reached Perumalmalai at 7:15PM and the sleeper bus just arrived. I drove next to the opened bus door and showed our ticket to Pondicherry. We gave the big back-bags as luggage to the back of the bus. Danish had not yet arrived, the little Honda Hero needed to push hard with three passengers. I asked the driver to wait 4 minutes, they were eager to leave already. I added that my passport was in this bag that was about to arrive, he reluctantly agreed to wait 3 minutes. Soon Danish arrived, I got the bag, we hugged and stormed into the far end of the bus. 

We had a double bed and AC chamber for the next adventure. Actually that was more comfortable than a plane. Eunice slept most of the time. The downhill part through the forest was quite rough because of the turns and braking. At 9PM we were already on the plains and at 10PM in Dindigul. There I had a video call with Mirjam. I wrote a diary and worked on my messages. I tried to sleep.

Tu04/11

I guess I managed to sleep a bit. I got a message from Airtel that my internet has been cut off and I needed to recharge. At 4AM we needed to exchange the buses for a smaller bus. We waited 30 minutes for passengers from different buses. I guess these bigger buses do not want to turn into Pondicherry. We drove more to downtown and lastly we hired a tuk-tuk to drive to White Town near the Gandhi statue at the promenade. It was still dark, but people were already walking and jogging on the promenade road at the ocean side. We sat on the bench and laid down, still a bit sleepy. The sky gradually turned lighter and a bit pink and orange. Fish boats were scattered over the sea near the beach. Waves were rolling to the shore, creating a relaxing sleepy sound. We were not the only people watching the sunrise, there were many people admiring, perhaps even disappointed by the mediocre colours this morning. We walked on the promenade with all our bags and turned into a more narrow French style beautiful neighbourhood.

The streets had blossoming trees and cafés and restaurants everywhere. We walked to one hotel hoping to get a breakfast buffet. We were allowed to leave the bags in the lobby and sit in the restaurant outdoors. That was a fancy hotel with a cute little pool in the middle of the compound. We also refreshed ourselves in the toilet. We ordered coffees and omelettes. 

We made a couple loops around the area which is named White Town and saw beautiful and classy Southern France-like buildings with wooden balconies and blossoming trees on the street. We saw Andreas' house where I stayed with Danish a year ago. We tried to find a café, but it was still too early. Later we made another walk and chased a massage parlour, but we were low on cash and the ones that accepted credit cards were just too expensive, Europe level. We walked back to the hotel and worked in the AC cooled bar. I ordered a beer and she went for a special cocktail which contained among many other sweet passion fruits. I had one project kick-off online meeting and meanwhile Eunice ordered a tasty pasta. In total we spent around 3000INR ~ 33€. We wrapped up our stay in safe heaven and I got a tuk-tuk from the street corner and we drove to a nearby ATM. We were short of cash.

Actually I didn't doubt that, because recently the bus really stopped in front of the airport. We got the tickets and soon we were on the metro. Luckily the metro line ended at the airport and we were at 7:45PM at the departure hall, but first we refreshed ourselves in the toilet. She went to the AirAsia check-in counter. Then the lady at the counter printed out the boarding passes and saw there was no gate. Then the superior came and figured out that Eunice had bought AirAsia tickets from Chennai to Cebu on 11th of May, not for the current day. OMG, what a plunder, a human mistake. There were two AirAsia officers hassling her, but without results. It turned out the bought tickets would be most likely wasted money. Then there was the issue of getting the internet. Some people helped us by telling us their Indian phone number to register the usage of airport internet. She was able to book another flight via Singapore. That was a costly mistake. But we all make mistakes all the time. We kept our cool. What to do. Eunice made a quick analysis - can't book flights when feeling sick, brain is not sharp enough. Soon I was able to drop my big back-bag into the Lufthansa check-in counter. At least I had all the dates fine. We needed to wait until Eunice was able to do the IndiGo check-in at 11:10PM. It took nearly one hour to stand in the queue for immigration and security checks.

I waited in the queues until I was in the A340 plane, which was a vast plane with 8 seats in a row. The flight was almost full. We took off at 2:15AM, 20 minutes late from the initial departure time. I got a sandwich and soon I put the blanket over my head and slept basically the whole flight. That itself was something special, because usually I just can't sleep on the flights. We got breakfast and went for eggs and not the Indian veggie option. I guess I was so done with veggie food for a while. I was travelling with Peru lady Ursula and her boyfriend Julian from Dortmund, Germany. They were guests in the wedding in Chennai and had a city break in Chennai. 

We landed in Frankfurt at 8:30AM and I was rushing towards the connection flights. I asked permission to use the priority line in the security check, because I had just 40 minutes left before the boarding of my Tallinn flight. Lady in charge let me through when she saw my boarding card. But there was still a long way to go. Luckily the automated passport checking gates were working perfectly and got through that hurdle without any delay. Meanwhile, there was a huge queue for manual checking, because this is the entry point for Schengen, most people were checked thurley. At 9:10AM I was at my gate, all good. I went to the toilet to change my shirt and brush my teeth. Soon I went through the gate and had a bus ride to the airfield. The A321 plane was not very full. 

At 10AM we took off from Frankfurt. I was lucky to sit in the emergency exit seat. Flight was uneventful. I was listening to podcasts. We landed in Tallinn at 1PM. I got an email from Lufthansa that my luggage has been missed in transit and it will be delivered the next morning. Well, less to carry. I walked to the tram and walked off at the end of the tram line and walked to the sports centre restaurant. It was sunny and not too chilly. My jacket was in my big bag. I had an online weekly meeting and I continued to work until Mirjam had done homework and went to a therapist. Otherwise she would be very happy and she would not go to the therapist. At 4PM I walked home. Well, the home of my kid for now, but as I called even hotel rooms and tent homes along the long journey, this flat would be still called home.

Looking back

That was my longest journey so far. I haven't been away from home for more than 2,5 months. I was studying in India for 2 months in 2015. Mirjam was missing me and I did miss her too. Other than that I really enjoyed Asia and avoiding European winter. In the Philippines I stayed mostly in Cebu, because my office and my love is there. But this time we had clients visiting our Drupal team in Cebu office. It was great to hangout with Andres and Paula. I was able to give them hints about what to do in Cebu and in Bohol. I also had two trips to Bohol to see the team and also drove around. It was also great to play tennis in the Bohol Heritage Club. They are fun people, and I felt very welcomed. With Eunice I happened to see a kid's birthday, a cousin's wedding and her best friend's funeral. I was exposed to occasions that regular tourists would never see and witness. We also had a grand tour on motorbike around the Philippine islands. We saw new islands we both haven't visited, we saw muslim communities in Mindanao, we ate good food, we witnessed extraordinary nature and saw cities and endless farms. It was very brief, only two weeks, yet eye opening. 

Eunice needed to meet clients in Tokyo and run an English learning camp in Okinawa. She was there for 2 weeks and I flew to Okinawa for 4 days. For me it was the first time to visit such a rich and definitely awkward country. She has been to Japan before, speaks some Japanese herself, watches anime and adores Japanese food. She was my tour guide in Nagoya and in Kyoto. We missed out on the cherry blossom by just one week. Boy, that was a close miss. We saw the small bright blossoms on the cherry branches formed already, but still a bit too cold for the pink festival. We were lucky to have Seki-san with us and hangout with us. She opened more layers for me to understand Japan’s rather closed and conservative world. I will definitely go back to Japan, there is just something special there.

From Japan we travelled directly to India. That was the first time for Eunice to see India. She had some expectations and fears about India. Yes the street and traffic noise overwhelmed her already in New Delhi. But also she was shocked how spicy food Indians are eating, she thought Filipinos are eating spicy food. We had train and bus travels, but our goal was travel from north to south by motorbike. We were together with Danish and Saleena at the beginning and at the end of our journey. Again it is something else to have adventures with locals. Danishes' friend Pawan also introduced his religion and we ate a lot of vegan food. We joined a party to worship Krishna, we ate good vegan food and girls wore saris. I guess our world got wider again by being exposed to different people, cultures, religions, places and food. The journey itself was a long ass-wrecking ride from Rishikesh to Kodaikanal. We saw Uttarakhand Pradesh towns like Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Dehradun and Haridwan. It was very cold up in the mountains and burning hot in the south. We saw India in a way which is possible on motorbike only. 

We left our friends in Rishikesh and started our own adventure. Taj Mahal in Agra was kind of a must for Eunice. Seeing a little bit of Rajasthan was very nice. I would definitely travel more in Rajasthan. It was a good decision to take a train from Jaipur to Goa. The train journey itself was an adventure, but the only sad thing was the reckless handling of our bike by Indian Railways. We got back a damaged motorbike. By taking the train we made possible 5 days in Goa beach paradise. We met again nice and warm people in Goa. We travelled more south and had a camp experience on the sandy beach. We also saw a lot of wild animals near Ooty. The hill stations in Ooty and Valparai were cold, cloudy and rainy - very different from the hot plains below. Also the bright green tea plantations were something cool to experience. Last longer stay was in Kodaikanal and we saw our friends and other significant people there. We had a brief stop in Pondicherry. The one month long adventure in India was like a honeymoon for us. It surely changed us and India is still inviting us back.

I hope these places and adventure have been fun reading and perhaps even inspiring to visit yourself and try to be not tourist and more like a guest from a distant country. This is how I would like to travel and experience. Otherwise it would be just enough to check the photos in Google Maps, there would be no need to go to the tourist attractions by yourself. It takes many travels and long conversations with local friends to get the essence and beat of these lovely places. I would say even, that Kodaikanal would be just another hill station - a literally cool escaping place from the burning heat to see the Kodaikanal lake, Pillar Rocks and Dolphin Nose - but because of the Khans, Billy and Kolli and Andreas, this town has some more significance to me. And I would always return there.