Out of the bubble.........

The last day of an AMAZING 6 month trip

margitpirsch — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:57:00 GMT

I found myself in the middle of a touristy area in London near Big Ben, listening to a guitar player singing Beatles, Steve Wonder, Eric Clapton - all the songs I knew a long time ago and still do...............

This is the end of my trip and I am "out of words" for I am in awe.......................

.........and so thankful that all went so well.

I was able to travel like this............I believe in LIVE and am flowing over............I got to see so much, spent time with my family. I connected with some amazing people in different cultures. I met the kindest people. The tricky situations were all manageable. My body kept up - my mind left me a long time ago, but kept peeking in whenever appropriate.

What can I say?

Countdown for the last days in Europe...

margitpirsch — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:55:00 GMT

......and they are dreamy to say the least - after Detmold and the heavy emotions that sometimes memory brings with it, I am now in paradise and the beauty of making new memories...

Amsterdam in the summer..............ah.....ah............ah..........

Biking through town, eating ice cream, watching people, eating good food, being in good company, enjoying a garden I have never seen before…

This is what is happening in the last couple of days.

A blast from the past.....or: down memory lane.....

margitpirsch — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:54:00 GMT

7/15/2009

……..the train again…………this time to Amsterdam!

I had spent the last few days in Detmold. This town was my home for five years (1978-1983)

An intense time of love, relationships, learning, school, work, emotions. A range from bliss/ ecstasy to deep sadness and despair, loneliness and many connections…..

A place to remember with a map of emotions… - each place, each house, a corner, a park, a sign, triggering an avalanche of feelings. In a short time – exposed, I felt like a truck had run over me…….A big soup, too salty, because of too many tears…

Conflicting thoughts like: “I really was a different person back then and – I am still the same……………” All of which is true!!!!

trying to get along.............

margitpirsch — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:51:00 GMT

In the train to Detmold..

How was the visit with my mom?

Since my arrival and each time I heard her on the phone she said the same sentence: “ I am so happy, because my daughter is with me” or “ My daughter is here, she is with me right now and I am so happy” My daughter is with me, my daughter is with me….”

I arrived at my mom’s on the 7^th of July- today is the 12^th. We spent her B’day together, we basically spent every minute with each other (except when I escaped to the fitness center, where I got classes for free for 5 days – I took some spinning classes………….like biking inside and really missed the “Fahrtwind”…………..Pilates, Stretching – stuff like that!)

So, today, when I drove myself to the train station, while she was next to me on the phone in the passenger seat, I heard it for the millions time: “ I am so happy, because my daughter is next to me…..” I actually felt the pain…………….the pain of all those times when she wished she could say that sentence…..- I hid my tears, driving, listening to her happy voice…..

Back in the "old country"

margitpirsch — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:07:00 GMT

In the train to Bochum:

The days after leaving Kathmandu are like a daze again.

Going from an extremely poor country into one of the richest parts of the world is a shock as anyone can imagine...........no matter how you wanna look at it!

Coby and I stayed in a hotel in Dubai waiting for Nora's arrival from Arizona the next day after. Holding Nora in my arms with Coby next to me, I could really feel it now: We made it!! All my wishes came true for my B'day (-year).

Coby went back to Abu Dhabi that night, Nora and I stayed in the Hotel in Dubai to attend a 6am Bikram yoga class in town. It was good, my - still very sore- body was aching to stretch (I was not inspired to stretch a muscle on the whole trek..... and so I didn't!)

After the class (and - by the way- they had the air-conditioning on inside, to level out the heat. If you know Bikram, the heat in the room is around 105-110 f., but the outside temperature in the UAE is often 120 f), we went to the "Mall of the Emirates". All of it seemed like a movie to me. In one week I went from deep in the Himalayas in Nepal, to India, to the UAE now I am on my way to Germany. I spent a lot of time on my B'day to sort out my stuff that I had left in Abu Dhabi before the big trip. What goes with me to Germany, what needs to be send back to the USA....? We thought we had an extra day, but as Nora pointed out, we were leaving the night on my B'day (1:30am).

Coby had some more work to do (there is a real workaholic for you....) and Nora and I went to the women's beach on the corniche. The water was warm the sand on the bottom was shiny - all of it man made (OK, not the sand itself...): The island we saw accross, the beach, weird just weird.....

Coby picked us up in his "new" SUV, took us back to the apartment and we got ready to celebrate my B'day with a dinner that day. It was very nice. Marco the Italian roommate joint us.

Soon after dinner we left to catch our flight to Frankfurt.

Frankfurt is easy - trains and subways are all connected - we went to our favorite hostel in town - right next to the "Hauptbahnhof". We got there early, left our luggage, went to town to have some breakfast and then to the market where I was overwhelmed by wanting EVERYTHING at the same time (as in fish and chocolate from the bakery).

We all went to Bikram in Frankfurt that day. Ahhh............

Done trekking for now.

margitpirsch — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:07:00 GMT

Wednesday May 13th (my father died 6 years ago on this day)

Thamel (touristy downtown area in Kathmandu) is a good transition to the “real” world, or better: The world and the life I am accustomed to. I am so, ever so, grateful that I got a chance to take a small glimpse, a tiny, tiny taste of the “real” world of the Nepali people in the Himalayas!!!! I am also forever grateful to Gita and Larry – without them I wouldn’t have had the idea on my own to go trekking (where is my bike?), besides that we were an absolute great team throughout the whole time. I found space when I needed it, support when I was in need for it, a great deal of laughter and moments of closeness and tears. Our moods often resembled the ups and downs of the Himalaya and we all had the mental capacity to deal…..We kept up with each other in our physical abilities and felt comfortable enough to complain about our little “auwees” (or our big ones) during four weeks of every day trekking (OK, one day of rest) – having covered about 250 miles, some in 5500m =18000 feet, some of that almost vertically up and down, falling down in the mud, stinky, sweaty, freezing………….all of it!!! This was the most beautiful, challenging and adventurous trip in my life! In two days a plane will take me into the arms of my beloved husband Coby and my lovely daughter Nora, who’s love and support I felt in every step on this trip. Namaste

A 23 hour bus ride to remember....

margitpirsch — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:31:00 GMT

All right, it was a long ass ride in the bus!

I could not get comfortable the roads were rough, the frequent stops were a blessing and a curse. We experienced 2 road blocks at night, one in a village were somebody was accused of kidnapping children. The bus driver spread a carpet on the road and some uf us got comfortable - who knows how long we'll be sitting here - it could take days, hours or minutes. We talked, practiced some Nepali, had a good time and things started up again in only an hour or so. The next block had some police/military involvement. We were now in a flat landscape of Nepal in the jungle. Recently pirates had kidnapped a bus - killing the bus driver. Now the plan was to escort public buses through this dangerous area. A heavily armed soldier walked through our bus and 1/2 hour later we were on our way again - without the escort...............who knows what was really going on??

Somewhere, sometime in the night the driving crew changed. There are usually 3 or 4 - one riding on top of the bus, one or two by the door (there is usually only one door for the passengers in the front and one for the driver on the right side). They communicate with each other by banging on the side of the bus (one bang for "stop" two for "go"). During driving and especially at night they take good care of the driver, padding him on the shoulder, talking to him and sometimes even keeping an arm around his shoulder for close physical contact (and - I suppose- to keep him awake)

After coming down the Mountain from Hile, we went through flat land and through something that appeared to be a dried out lake or river. Looked like a desert with nothing but fine sand and a few settlements, small villages - huge area. Then again we entered the jungle for a while and climbed back into the Mountains to Kathmandu - we arrived in KTM at 8:30am which makes it 1 hour short of a 24 hour bus ride..........In a train you can actually lie down, walk around, sleep, eat..........this bus ride was something else and I felt every bone of my body with all the bruises from the jeep ride to accompany the areas.

Found a good place in downtown KTM, resting, shopping for loved ones, enjoying the shelter during thunder storms and hail (did the weather follow us?). A fact is, that the monsoon is near (June) so people say, and they all tell us how lucky we were that it didn't rain on our way in the jeep from Tumlingtar to Hile and I believe it…..jeeps go off the road during weather like that more than frequently.

Staying next to a Monastary in Hile

margitpirsch — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:32:00 GMT

Found a lodge next to a buddhist monastary. When we first arrived, we thought somebody is playing with a microphone and doesn't know that the speakers where on outside (you know when kids play with microphones, right?) It turned out to be some kind of celebration - some chanting in between the weird eclectronic noises ( which seemed like an electronic problem...) continued until 12 midnight and when it started up again the clock showed 4:30am. I couldn't tell if I slept at all............Now the noises of the monastary (LOUD) were combined with the snorting, snuffeling, gulping and gurgeling of the surrounding guests -all men- in the hall (where the sink and the mirror were located). Another form of torture - amazing how many there are when you take a trip and be open for adventure.....And soon we'll be in the 17 hour bus ride to Kathmandu, but one thing was clear: the buddhist monastary experience made me want to go out and KILL!!!!!somebody or something that is still ALIVE!!

The bus people ( when I got the tickets in advance they ask me where we were staying) came two hours early to pick us up with a mini bus, with the excuse that there were problems with the real bus- we rushed and were on our way - changed in a bus in a lovely town (forgot the name). We ate lunch (Dhal Bhat - isn't that funny - now that we had more choices?) and chocolate and injoyed a few hours in the hustle and bustle of others.

The real bus now actually left on time. Though if you don't have trust in any of the drivers, you better never ride in any kind of vehicle in Nepal!

In a jeep on the "road"

margitpirsch — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:19:00 GMT

Friday May 8^th –

We got served chapatti and milk tea for breakfast – this time the chapattis were more like latkes – very, very rich and yummy. I ate myself silly……..

We also got invited to stay a day longer and visit the school- celebrating some more- but I was anxious to keep going, since we don’t really know the bus situation in Hile (this bus route exists only a year or so…). I also don’t know if I can take that kind of attention for another day. Anyways, we went on our merry way to Tumlingtar in hopes for the bus which isn’t even mentioned in the guide book at this time yet.

We only hiked for three hours. A big family from the village was also trekking to the bus and kept close quarters – our every step was watched and it was hard to find the privacy to go pee – even after we tried to let them know we needed a little space for going to the bathroom. This time – for the first time, I was a bit annoyed……..strange, after all this time? Maybe I felt like I was getting closer to the civilization I know….They are just too curious to give you any room it seems like…..

The air was humid and hot in Tumlingtar. We found an airport and a four wheel drive taxi (bus, jeep) to take us to another taxi (bus) to take us to Hile to take us to Kathmandu….

It sure was strange to be on a road (even though it was only a dirt road and dirt it was…..) again in a vehicle.

First I considered myself lucky to sit in a 4WD jeep, looking at those flimsy little propeller air planes, but further down the road, I wasn’t so sure anymore. It became clear fast: This was the wildest, most uncomfortable ride in my life so far. We were sitting on the tail end – now I know why they didn’t want to sell us the last tickets, because the front seats were taken…… 14 people in a 10 seat jeep – we rode through rivers (3) on a dirt road which didn’t exist only a year ago or so – brand spanking new with all the boulders, sand, tree stumps, while smashed up against the metal back door- especially “fun” going up hills, when 3 people's weight on the same bench pushed me even further into the metal. (They were holding on for dear life) We bumped heads on the ceiling of the car and against each other (and don’t forget that I had lost enough weight to apply as a skeleton to be displayed in a school anatomy class …….) We could have walked another 2 days through the heat instead, the choice was made, but none of us came out of that experience without big and small bruises. We made it to Hile in one piece though - barely – the torture was over, or shall we call it the adventure?

Staying with the family - Party of the town.

margitpirsch — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:22:00 GMT

May 8th - day 29th

We caught up again - no longer behind, just in time....

Our guide (-book) was utterly wrong this time. We were so lucky to have stayed in the Gothe Bazaar Lodge, because the trail lead us up a ridge and over some rocks on a steep and narrow trail - wouldn't have been very safe or much fun the night before in the rain and -as it turned out, we would have been walking in the dark as well, because the described trail was much longer to begin with to the village of Tibchaar ( the guide was wrong at the point where the ridge and the trail with the steep rocks was mentioned AFTER the village of Tibchaar).

Amazing - we did the right thing.....(it poured cats and dogs............what a blessing - otherwise we might have continued....).

The mistake in the guide book made the day surprisingly short - the distance from Tibchaar to Chewabensi was a lot shorter without the ridge and we conquered the unexpected difficult ridge much quicker in the morning with our strong legs and lungs.......

Therefor we got to freshen up in the Ajun River again and play a while - have I mentioned how tropical and HOT it is around here? We've been walking through the jungle for days now....On the path we met cheery groups of celebrating families, playing music and dressed up...Very different scene then higher up in the mountains.

After crossing the river on one of those bridges, we stopped at a "maybe" lodge. Amma was very nice, but it seemed there was some accessive drinking going on...the guys energy was questionable....

Gita picked up an unpleasant "vibe" from the crowed - I went scouting around some more and found - quite a ways down the road - a very sweet couple and some jolly old women (probably no older than 50 years) in the little village of Chewabensi. Well worth the effort!!

We were warmly welcomed by the whole freaking town! We got served tea and chang (mildly intoxicating)while we were surrounded and watched every move by young and old.....

Everybody seemed so happy and curious and all wanted their picture taken.

Our host turned out to be the English Teacher of the village school (7 teachers for 160 students). The couple itself was blessed with 5 children. We got served the best Dhal Bhat EVER (ups...........have I said that before???)and got invited to dance and celebrate - all night long....The old toothless women seemed to be dancing and singing the same songs and steps over and over again - after I was long in bed I was thinking that they must be tiring some time, but it just went on and on and on - having a real good time - this was the best night "out of town" in the village in Nepal!!!