Newsletter 8 (8 february 2003)

Namastee everybody,

Time for some news from the dutch guy. I am still in India and right now we are about to cross the border to Nepal (tomorrow that is). What happened the last 5 weeks: Newsyear was ok. We all had a great diner in a fancy restaurant (to indian standards that is) on the beach in Goa. Due to exhaustion we were back at the truck at 1.00 am though, but that was all right with me, since i could use some sleep. Got a sad email about my cat though: he died. It did make me sad, that's obvious isn't it? The rest of the days in Goa we spend as lazy tourists: driving our little scooters around the place, swimming, reading, sunbathing, etc. After that we drove on to a Hampi, away from the coast. Beautifull view over a big temple complex, shitty hotel and a lot of biking in the environment on very cheap, hired bikes. Great to do. Lots of mosquitos at night, but hey... who cares (i say that in retroperspective). On we drove to Sravanabeloga (yes i had to write it down, to remember it). Saw some more temples (there's a lot of them as you probably know). Visited a huge statue (700 steps to climb b4 you reach it, at 6 in the morning, but hey... what did i care) and after that we drove on to Mysore. Big city, temples again and a t.v. on our hotelroom. Time to catchup with the worldnews. Nothing really had changed. Bush is still a madman and his threatening still controls the news. In Holland politicians like him get shot, although that's not an solution either, i realize. The palace of the marahadja was very, very impressive. Man, what a luxury in such a poor country. You could stroll around there for 2 hours, one big (ball)room after another, full of very expensive items and never see something twice. Good to see, but don't imagine what could have been done with all that money for the poor. Sadening sometimes isn't it. Oh yeah, we also found a cheap beerplace. I do not exactly remember what happened next, but the next day a little man with a huge hammer was doing some restaurations in the inside of my skull. Ouch.... We had to cook diner that night. So, we (Anrnie and i) did the shopping. If you buy a chicken you pick the ones you like and they slaughter them for you at the spot. Hmmmmm.... don't know if i like that, but that's hypocrite (did i spell that correct(ly)) isn't it? Anyway: we moved on to the national park: elephant trekking (very nice) through the jungle, cooking, and the next morning we were about to have breakfast when.... monkees started to steal our breakfast. About 50 of them. Anything is possible in India they say and so it is. Beautifull truckdrive through the national park to Ooti. We stayed at an old residence of the maharadja. Great, you could smell history. Long walks, 2000 meters high (cold at night), campfires in the garden at night, some booz and a lot of fun all together. The last day there we found a filmcrew in our garden, shooting scenes for a (very) B-movie. Strange way to wakeup, in the middle of a filmscene. As for compensation we were promised a tour around the studio's, later in Chennai. On to Koccin. A beautifull old kolonial city (build on 5 islands actually), with a lot of (dutch) history. Really enjoyed strolling around, hopping on the ferries from island to island and drinking our beers at night on the rooftop of our hotel. Went to a Indian circus too (so bad, you couldn't believe it). All in all: great days though. Next city was Kollam. I went by boat and i would meet the rest of the truck over there. Beautifull boattrip over the backwaters of southwest India. Loved it. Hundreds of birds of prey, great scenery and a very relaxing day. Loved it. The next day on to Varkala and what do you think: beaches again. Can't get enough of them. During the day time: relaxing on the beach and at night watching movies during diner. Got fuXXing brown. On to the very south of India: hot, but impressive as in: culture and a strange way of life. People literary die in the streets and nobody seems to care. What a world. The south point it self could be seen in 2 hours, so the same day we moved on to Madurai: cheap hotel, temples. On to Pondicherry (and Auroville). Nice hotel, nice strolling around town, cheap beer (Ouch again) and a beautifull place to meditate. And so i did and i loved it. A big, very big with sphere, in the middle a huge cristal ball, nobody says anything and you spend an hour there with your thaughts. Believe it or not: a great experience. I never thaught i would like it, but i did. Met some nice people from the Indian armee as well, talking untill late at night. Different points of view make you wiser don't they? Further north: rough camping, (again) getting drunk at night, beaching. We arrived in Chennai after 2 days. A good day at the moviestudio there. We ended up as extra's in a t.v. series and were on t.v. the next week. How about that. Great fun though. Then long, long truckdrives to the north, (Marble rocks, waterfalls, trying to spot tigers, rough camping, getting stuck in the mud, rain, rain and more rain, spending the nights in old kolonial buildings, visiting one more temple complex in Khajuraho) ending up in Varanasi, where we are now. This morning we went to the Ganges for a boattrip. Great sunset. Saw human corpses being burned (ashes are thrown in the Ganges as a religious ritual) and now we are about to cross the border to Nepal. I have had it. You all know what i have been doing, so...

Good luck and hope to see you all again one day,
Jan.