Nepal - Kathmandu

After Bodhgaya we got back to Calcutta for a few days and from there we set off to Nepal! The journey was really exhausting! As usually our train was cancelled so we had to take a bus that takes at least 10 hours longer than train... In 3 days and 3 different buses we got eventually to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. What we saw was worth the trouble...


Durbar Square, in the heart of the city...


Durbar Square

Women selling flowery neckleses on the square

Lots of colorful bracelets

And even more colorful handicrafts...

Some more handicrafts...

Local market

More market...

And more...

Meat shop... Brrrr!!! (As I said we are still vegetarians...)

Kathmandu temples

A temple...

Monkeys on the way to the Monkey Temple

View from the Monkey Temple on Kathmandu

***

Very near to Kathmandu there is an ancient city Patan, that we went to visit together with our Spanish friends that we met in Calcutta. The most popular place in there is Patan Durbar Square which is full of ancient palaces and temples.

Patan Durbar SquareAn ancient bell in the middle of the square

Patan by night...

Local boss...;-)

Another local...

In Patan we also visited an orphanage, where one of our Spanish friends works.

Children from Patan's orphanage

Lost in Bihar....

We left Calcutta for a few days and went to Bodhgaya, where the Buddha had attained enlightenment. The place is full of pilgrims, tourists and temples! The most famous one is Mahabodhi Temple, that stands in the east to the Bodhi Tree.

Mahabodhi Temple

Inside the temple there is a huge image of the Buddha in sitting posture in which he accomplished the supreme enlightenment.

Bodhi Tree



The Buddha...

Another temple...

Boys will be boys...

Talking with a sacre cow

After having visited all the temples and sacred places in Bodhgaya we (I , Lukas and our friend Pawel) decided to go to the Buddha cave in the near mountain, where he spent 6 years meditaiting. We met an old baba (hindu holy men), who said he would show us the way...

Baba, Pawel and I walking through local villages...

On the way we saw that enormous tree...

Then baba invited us to his Ashram, where we could rest a bit in a shaddow, with him and locals from the nearby village. They brought us some food, fruits and tea. Nice!

Baba practising yoga, after smoking 2 big joints...

After chilling out in the Ashram we set off again in searching for our Buddha cave. We reached the Ganges river, from where we could see our aim, the mountain. The only problem was how to cross the river if there was no bridge?????? What to do???!

Pawel, the bravest one, decided to cross the river by foot as it was very shallow. Lukas and I couldn't decide - should we go into this dirty water or not??? Eventually we decided to follow Pawel. It took maybe 10 minutes and we were on the other side, half wet, but happy!

Local children always asking for money! They will find you everywhere, even in the middle of the Ganges!!! Money, money, money.... Ufff!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I don't have any!!!!

Walking through rice plantations on very narrow paths...

We were walking for more than 3 hours now in the horrible heat, had only one mineral water left for 3 of us and we were becoming more and more tired. We asked some locals we had met on the way if there would be any transport at the Buddha cave or some shops where we could buy some water, but they denied... For a while we were very confused what to do - keep going or return???? Of course we made up our minds to go!

Children looking at 3 Sahibs (3 white people) passing their little village - I, Lukas and Pawel...

After 5 hours of walking in that unbearable heat, we finally got to the Buddha cave! We were exhausted but happy! We also saw there were 2 buses with tourists from Sri Lanka, visiting the cave, so we asked the driver if we could go with them, he agreed and this way saved our lifes! ;-) I couldn't imagine us coming back the same way 5 more hours! No, no, no!!!!

But then I realised that the way was much more interesting than the place where we were going so long...

Calcutta

After visiting Sikkim we decided to go to Calcutta, where we wanted to spend just a few days and go to Andaman Islands... It turned out that we didn't go to Andamans and spent almost 3 weeks in Calcutta or rather Coolcutta ;-)))

It's great, very cultural place, full of travellers and volunteers that makes it very special...

We stayed in Hotel Paragon, very famous for its social life and parties ;-) Always full of people - mainly Japaneese, Spanish and French. Almost all of them were volunteers in the Mother Teresa Centre. We helped there too by working in a hospis. Actually only for a week, but it was a valuable experience anyway.

French girls after heavy drinking in "Paragon"...

We discovered a great and cheap place to eat - "Tirupati" fast food, a local guy cooking at the street, but food was absolutely delicious!!!! Always full of people, both locals and tourists, eating and chilling out... ;-)

"Tirupati" the local cook

People eating and chilling out at Tirupati

In Calcutta we met many interesting people, among them a Polish bloke - Pawel, almost 24 years old, who has been travelling since he was 18! During his 6 years of travelling he had learnt 4 foreign languages - Spanish, Italian, French and English! And obviously had many fantastic adventures so he had always a story to tell ;-)

Thanks of Pawel we met some local artists spending most of their time at the Academy of Fine Arts - Dilip - poet, Jayanta - singer, and others, whose names I don't remember.

Jayanta Dilip, Bengali poet


Bengali actor, don't remember his name...

Jayanta, who sings the Bengali poetry in a hardrock style, invited us to one of his concerts, which was an amazing experience - plenty of guys singing and dancing together like crazy to his hardrock music! When he dedicated some of his songs for us all the crowd were claping their hands and shout asking us to join them... So we did and it was a great fun for both sides ;-)

We spent lots of time with our local friends talking about everything and nothing and just chilling out. It was very valuable for us to see how the local people live, what they do and think of rest of the world...

Once I became a model just for one day ;-) Of course by accident - a friend of a friend needed a white girl, who could do some modelling for his portfolio, so I agreed. It was a good fun and I had make up for the first time since we started travelling(!!!) and out-going clothes what made me feel very attractive for a while ;-))) Check this link if you want to see some of the pictures http://www.photoshoot.in/portfolios/ula

Local mates, not geys!



Rickshaw

Siesta...


Rickshaw puller

DANGERous buses

Goats on their way to butcher...

After seeing this, we decided to become vegetarians for the time of travelling in India...


Calcutta...