Turkey - India - Nepal - China...

how i decided to go to Pakistan

kokoricooo — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:34:00 GMT

Sufism is the mystic way of Islam.

I got introduced to it's magical music in Rajasthan, and I just fell in love with it.

I am actually also tired of India, and i wanted to find my next destination . I was thinking about Burma, China, Pakistan and Iran, and even Australia !

Someone told I can find the heart of Sufi music in Lahore (Pakistan).

that is how i decided to go to Pakistan.

I now have my Pakistani visa and in a few days i will be in Lahore :)

I also told many people (before travelling) that I want to go in Iran before the war ... and americans are now ready to attack, again and again....

Visiting India for almost 2 months

kokoricooo — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 17:41:00 GMT

In 2 months, it is very hard to cross such a continent!

so i mainly visited Rajasthan, a state big like France. The west of Rajasthan is the desert forming the border between Pakistan and India.

The landscape is sunburnt, dry, and quite desertic. Sometimes, huge and magnificient fort and palaces are rising from dust, on the top of rocky cliffs!

it reminds us that Maharajas where rulling the area !

The people (especially women) are wearing colorfull clothes.

Colors and jewelleries are symbol of cast, tribe, or marital status.

Women from desert are wearing heavy and shiny rings all around the body: around neck, head, legs. Their arms are covered with big bracelets, from hands till shoulders.

Men wear colorful turbans, and women wear long Saris : pink, orange, brown, white, black, safran...

In India, astrology and astronomy is the same. Indians go the astrologers to check if they match with the woman/man they want to marry. In Europe, astrology is not consideed seriously, but here it is a serious science that has nothing esoterical. This science is thousands years old.

Liva had to come home ...plans have changed

kokoricooo — Mon, 5 Feb 2007 17:24:00 GMT

After 3 months of intense travel, Liva has been feeling tired, physically, emotionnaly...she got really sick, spent some days in a hospital in India, and flew home .(Latvia)

India is no easy to travel .

Life is a struggle in India, and all tourists have to go through some cultural shocks that are hard to overcome.

Even now, and I think even after 10 years in India, I would not understand many things.

the food, the climate, the crowd in towns, the strong smells, the dirt and the pollution all around, the harrasment around tourism money ...

all this facts, often all day long, bring a heavy feeling.

Historical day in Nepal: Maoists are now in a official political party !

kokoricooo — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:45:00 GMT

We arrived in Katmandu the very day before Maoists entered officially the government

of Nepal.

Maoists arer revolution people. They would like to get rid of Nepal’s king, and let Nepal become a communist republic, as the dictator Mao did with China.

For this reason, they started “The War of People”, about 10 years ago. Maoists killed thousands of civils and militaries in Nepal during the last years. Nowaday they look like the average Nepali , and are very polite when asking trekking tourists to pay 100 NRP/day.

We arrived the day of a historic political decision. The war is officially stopped. Maoists declared they will give weapons back and join the “democracy”.

they still make huge demonstrations in the capital, and organize rebellions in villages against police and army.

A few days ago, we saw in the central square of Katmandu thousands of “Red” people demonstrating, showing Staline and Mao on huge pictures. Do you imagine showing pictures of Hitler and a central square of Paris?

But here it seems they don’t know what made Staline…

Maoists and their supporters are from mountains … it’s third world here, there are not so many schools. They don’t have access the information as we do.

But they want to follow the only political party which looks active for THEM.

in a few months, after a referundum , another Revolution could happen here in Nepal...

Nepal people will choose if they still want the King.

A strange buddhist carnival in a village...

kokoricooo — Thu, 7 Dec 2006 19:07:00 GMT

After the first two treks, we found a confortable place to stay for a couple of days. We wanted to rest before starting the last trek, and we understood that a village festival would happen a few days later. We waited for the celebration...

It was the village of Biru, our future guide.

We spent time in the buddhist gompa (temple), listening mantras and watching the beautiful pictures that are on the walls of the temple. After explanations of a young lama (monk), we understood better the buddhist philosophy.

During one week, the lamas were preparing a ceremony. This ceremony has some strange common points with the pagan "Carnival" that we all know. read more to understand....

It is supposed to evacuate all bad spirits from the village in the form of a beautiful big doll made of butter, looking like colorfull plastic, charged with all sins the village people made during the last 6 months.

At dawn, when sun is disappearing, the village celebration happened. All the village was following 4 men carrying the big butter doll.

in the procession guarded by lamas, 2 caracters are wearing some big and scaring costumes. They look like the most scary caracters of our carnivals.

The poorest man of the next village is here, and he does absolutely what he wants...tracking and attacking girls and women, asking money to anyone, scaring people, etc...

we all follow each other on steep and rough mountains paths...we went in a remote place of the village, near the river, and the 4 men threw the doll in Fire.

after that everyone was very happy and we all came back in the village to celebrate with Raksi (local Schnaps) and local songs.

The first 2 treks, Helambu - Gosainkund

kokoricooo — Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:52:00 GMT

It starts out of the suburbs of KTM. We went there with three different minibus (actually, mitsubishi vans).

for the last one, i was on the roof with 10 other people...my first bus roof experience.. exciting!!

Physically, the trek was was not that hard...maximum alt : 3000m

we were sleeping in very little villages, sometimes in a logde (hostel, for max 2 eur a double room), and sometimes in a normal house (0.5 eur). No electricity of course, and it is very cold as soone as the sun is away, so we went to sleep very early !

everyday , we went up and down the mountains. We could see our first views of Himalaya high mountains . They were far , very far, and we did not realize yet that later, we would be like ants on their feet....

The ways are narrow, very steep, and trekking is quite a hard physical exercise. Our porter was a great help...

on this trek we met Biru, our future guide (not porter)...

we went up to 4600 meters high (i did not know i was able to do so). It was extremely windy and freezing cold.

after this hard moment, we had a fantastic view on a couple of frozen lakes who were right at this pass. One of these lakes is holy, sacred , for hindu.

coming down this high pass, at 3500 meters high, we picked the plant making incense, with a great view on the Lantang mountain (7200m) and a range of other mountains higher than 6000m.

we ended up in a nice lodge (with real hot water!!), eating Yak Cheese !!

Trekking ! the way ...

kokoricooo — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:14:00 GMT

What is trek in Nepal? walking many days on tracks in mountains, not meeting vehicules all the way, see and meet locals and their culture

At first, we don't look for regions crowded with tourists. No Appurna for this time. Tourists are following each other as ants.

We decided to reach by foot the trek Langtang (it would be so nice to show you on Google Earth). We started right out of the suburbs of Katmandu and walked till the tibetan border !

Here are names of the 3 treks: Helambu, Gosainkund (Sacred Lake at 4600m), and instead of Lantang, we shortly made the new trek “Tamang Heritage Trail” (Tamang is one of the many Tribes in Nepal).

16 days all together, including 2-3 days in a village, resting and waiting for one amazing festival, a kind of Carnival. Read upcoming chapters!

Surprising Katmandu !

kokoricooo — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 00:20:00 GMT

We have spent now some time here in Katmandu. This town grew very fast during last 50 years (not so long time ago it was a village).

According to the legend and archeology, there was a huge lake where is now Katmandu. It is so flat that we could wonder if it is really the country of the highest summits of the world.

Temples are everywhere. Little and big ones, at all corners of streets and for all Hindu gods, and all representations of Buddha.

Hinduism and Buddhism are SO mixed that one can see Buddha and a Hindu god in the same temple. Strange...people seem to have 2 religions. Today we where in a buddhist place. It was full of Hindu people.

many of us get sweet feelings when hearing the word Katmandu. The reality is a bit less romantic. A big pollution fog surround the city, the river Bagmati is the place where all kinds of trash arrive and the noise (symphony?) of horns just makes me crazy !!

We live now in Freak Street, the place in Katmandu where all hippies where gathering and resting after a long trip through Asia.

On the road to Nepal

kokoricooo — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 00:03:00 GMT

the night train to Gorahkpur (way to Nepal) was a sweet exprience. It was supposed to be 14h hours long but it was about 20h long. No worries, it was confortable. I slept very well. Then we took our first Indian bus. The driver was driving the bus as if it was an autorickshaw. Crazy.

we appreciated our first views of the indian countryside.

Bulls drawing hay on large trails, women with kids working in plantation fields, men cutting wood with axes, teenager running after a cow, kids running to the bus at each stop, to sell us some local sweets, nuts, bananas, monkeys on the sides of roads, :)

that's how we saw many short scenes of their everydays rural life.

the border was grotty and dark grey, just a hell of traffic jams in which we found the immigration office.

after sleeping in the little town of Buddha's birth place, we decided to leave to Katmandu. We will probably come back in this pleasant little town, on the way back to India.

the road to Katmandu was breathtaking. Sure, it was another crazy driving session, with our heavy and slow bus overpassing trucks, with no visibility, on tiny road with green mountain on the right and gorges on the left. We had the first view to the Kingdom of Nepal. People are very nice, helpful, and allways excited to meet a foreigner. Food is GOOD !

Delhi

kokoricooo — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 04:06:00 GMT

The first day in India was very tough and full of scams.

we fell in usual traps that indian visitors find on their way. Fake 'official tourism offices', lies about actual hotel prices, problem to find the REAL tourism office among thousands of fake one...

the first feeling in Delhi is something like that : What a MESS ! we were a bit prepared to the picture, but still...

crowd is just everywhere, no trashbox but masses of old garbage spread in streets, unbreathable air, irritated eyes (pollution), the unstoppable din of horns and engines, the people trying to catch your money by any means and realy pushing to get it... in the crowd, some people helped us very nicely, we appreciated.

the chaotic traffic of busses, autorickshaw, trucks, pedestrians, cows, bikes, rickshaws, motorbikes, horses, and sometimes cars made me very nervous. NO RULES on the road here... anyone can cross the road at any time, everyone is a crazy driver, but the strange thing is that there are no real accident around (yet)...

we found peace in a mosque...

and took a night train to go in the direction of Nepal.

We will come back in India in a month or so

Bahrein airport - the Pakistanese Family

kokoricooo — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 03:42:00 GMT

We flew to India through Bahrein. The airport of Bahrein was the first surprise.

FatherS Christmas in plastic, everywhere, singing, smiling, dancing, welcoming us to this airport. It was like a remake of Christmas, as Disney World would have done it.
The first time I saw so many 'men in white', all looking like these Oil Kings who makes petrol contracts with our dear presidents.
but also 'women in black'. Completely covered of black. But I noticed black high heels under this black tissue.

While I was trying to sleep to avoid jet lag, Liva met a Pakistanese family: these are their questions:
- where do you come from? 'Latvia'
- what is your religion? 'christian'
- are you married? 'yes' -
and then, to avoid any confrontations, the Pakistanese father said 'christians are good !'.

She had such a good time with this family, that it's no problem for her to cross Pakistan now !! ;)

Turkish Welcome and Hospitality

kokoricooo — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:30:00 GMT

Welcome to a country between Middle East and Europe !
Welcome to a country where a taxi driver can propose to drive you for free, where a polıceman wıll just come to you and do the very best to explain you how to fınd your way.
Here the tradition is to help the foreign tourist as much as possible. So many persons seemed devoted to thıs purpose.
In streets, people just come to us and want to help us. Our hosts, those from hospitality club and others, just give us the best as if it was an honour to meet us. We were guests of very dıfferent people, but the common poınt was that we were feeling like kings...
We are not used to such a welcome and sometimes the sıtuatıon is a bıt embarrassıng for us as europeans...
Of course a few of these ''nice people'' will try (and sometimes manage) to trap you in their shop or lıttle business ! this is a minority and now we are able to see the difference.

Moon Cities in Cappadoccia

kokoricooo — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 01:13:00 GMT

We visited one of the most attractive area of Turkey. The region of Cappadoccia.

The landscape looks unreal, sometimes like some science fiction design. The geology is very special. Canyons, hills, mountains, valleys, and Hundreds of little holes in them, in which people were living before... SEE THE PICTURES !!

we visited a 100 percent undergound city. Thousands of people were leaving under ground, for months to escape invasions, wars... the city we visited was on 7 levels (!) and about 50m deep.

You know what a ant house looks like. Imagine the same for humans. Long and tiny tunnels, little rooms, a vertical tunnel for clean air. There's also a church !

as we like to explore, we also climbed some abandonned ''building''. Just a huge rock with dozens of galeries, rooms, and ruins of a castle on the top!

people were leaving in this region during all areas.

I guess this region is really unique. I do not know how to really describe more. Have a look to pictures or go there :)

By the way, we found there a UFO museum (OVNI) !!! :D

Gallery: Turkey

kokoricooo — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:06:00 GMT

passing the internet cafe with the horse

kokoricooo — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:52:00 GMT

After having a look at the coast and the beautiful sea, we visited Konya, and hitch hiked to a place called Sultanhani.

at the time of the silk road, there was Karavanserais: big places, every 20 km, where people used to stop and rest 3 days, for free. They could stay more for a bit of money.

we visited one of these place in Sultanhani. Our guide was 9 years old max, not speaking english, and was the youngest daughter of our hospitality club host.

Ferit has 3 children, is shoe maker, and hosted us for one night. He speaks fluent french and a bit of english. He learned these languages only with tourists. He is inviting many tourist for hospitality.

when we arrived in the courtyard, there was 2 sheeps. We understood that we were in real countryside.

The family is traditional muslim. Ferit explained many things about his religion and the traditional habits of Turkish people.

For us, having a meal in the middle of this family was a real chance and an opportunity to go deeper in the culture.

women made bred the whole day long. Ferit called a special taxi to bring the bags of flour. A horse and its trailer ! that's how we passed the internet cafe with the horse.

Ferit showed us men repairing very old carpets.

he is a great person. If you go in Turkey he will love to host you and show you around. He can tell you very much about Turkey, sites to visit and what to do.

Turquoise color

kokoricooo — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:12:00 GMT

The first hitch hiking experience convinced us. After 3 min, a truch stop and give us a 200 km long lift, to Antalya, the hotest town of the country.

We stoped before to explore a mountain. A huge area of hidden ruins was hidden in this deep forest. Check pictures...

we are alone in the forest, each step bring us to some more big shrines, tombs, old building half destroyed by some earthquakes...a taste of forgotten civilisation ! Actually nobody really knows much about the life of these people. They were here about 2000 years ago.

we follow absolutely non-official tracksand Oh what a surprise ! we find a big theater on the top of the first mountain, with a nice view on Antalya and the sea.

we spend the night in a bungaloo...

---------------------

La premiere experience d'autostop fut convaincante. 3min d'attente, un camion nous emmene sur les 200 km qui nous separe d'Antalya, la ville la plus chaude de la Turquie.

nous nous arretons avant, pour explorer une montagne et ses ruines enfouies dans l'epaisse foret. Regardez les photos...

nous sommes presques seuls au milieu des arbres, et chaque pas nous mene vers d'enormes tombeaux, des temples, d'anciennes batisses moitie detruites...un gout de civilisation oubliee... en fait personne ne sait grand chose sur la vie de ceux qui ont vecu ici il y a plus de 2000 ans.

nous prenons des chemins absolument pas officiels et oh surprise nous nous trouvons dans un amphitheatre grandiose, au sommet de la premiere montagne, avec au loin la vue sur la mer et Antalya.

Nous passons la nuit dans un piloti...

the paradise of the Hitch hiker (autostop)

kokoricooo — Wed, 8 Nov 2006 02:32:00 GMT

After Denizli, Pammukkale and Hieropolis, we finally started to hitch hike !! as soon as we started to hitch hike, we experienced some incredible things ...
sometimes you don't need to show your thumb. Just walk along the road wıth your back pack, and someone will stop for you !
if the person can't drive you further, he will talk to another driver to make sure you don't have to wait.
Truck drivers, with whom we had difficulties to communicate because of dıfferent languages, gave us without discussions big meals, fruits, coffee or tea ... these were not exceptions: the culture is like this: the foreign person is considered as someone really special. Meals or even accomodation were proposed quite often during our 2 weeks trip.
This kinds of events are quite rare in Europe... We are really thankfull to the people we met on our way here in Turkey. They were so helpful in every moments.

Geological curiosity

kokoricooo — Tue, 7 Nov 2006 02:09:00 GMT

We arrived in the town of Denizli to visit something really astonishing: Pammukkale & Hieropolis . İt's a major touristıc site in Turkey.
At first, we met the family who hosted us for 2 nights. The father could speak good english so we spent both evenings with him. His two kids are chess champions: we assisted to a chess competition. About 100 Turkısh children competing for medals !
very friendly and open minded family, definitely pro-European and wishıng to be a part of European Union. Great hospitality and good chats about turkish cultural aspects.
Its hard to describe Pammukkale... ıt is a white hill, it looks like big natural bathstabs made by a chemical reaction betwen water, air, and a mineral.
It is like White salt or even ice !!
behind this geological curiosity are the ruins of Hieropolis.
To know what these thıngs looks like, have a look on internet, or my pics

Izmir and Efesus

kokoricooo — Mon, 6 Nov 2006 01:32:00 GMT

We arrived by night bus in Izmir, west coast. The night bus is luxuous, the young waiter gıve us hot tea and coffee all over the night !
Tea is generally offered for any occasion. Waıting on somethıng or someone, a bus, or just as a frıendly time to spend with someone else.
In İzmir we went on the highest point we could reach. On this hill were leaving the kurdish minority of the town but we dıdnt know about that and we dont really care anyway who is Kurdısh, who is Turkish.
We had great time wıth the young kids who were rushıng to say ''Hello'' or ''What is your name?'' I was feeling really secure ın thıs place and ı wanted to come back !
then the surprıse happened. During the evening we met several HC members. Some of them have never been ın this place of their hometown, because ıt was ''Kurdısh, quite dangerous, and not nice''.
we have a wonderful memory of this time spent on the hill ...
in evening we meet Yasemin, our HC host. She invites us to a little HC meeting in a bar of Izmir. That's how we met an HC member who offers to be our guide for the next day !
we visited Efesus with him ... you should have a look to pictures !

Istanbul, the 3 first days

kokoricooo — Sun, 5 Nov 2006 01:26:00 GMT

It was rainıng and then snowing !
Its a huge and busy city with a foot on European continent and another foot on Asian continent.
The fırst attractive sides were the mosque, these magnificient buildings wıth their singing minarets calling to prayer several times a day. It was good occasion to enter a mosque for the first time ...
we spent time in populated places, numerous markets place, and sometimes touristic places.
Tevfık, from Hospitalityclub, gave us the key of his appartment. We had lot of fun wıth him. He really took the time to answer our fırst questions about Turkey. He is great person and I recommend him.