Saturday, July 27, 2013

Moments



Time passes like nothing, even now that I am back, back in an office chair. The days since the arrival in ZRH were not much less extraordinary than the 102 before; they were similarly packed. Much of the time was spent on meetings with friends, shared beers and BBQs or on demanding fights in the local beach volley fields. And yes, next to some casual office hours, I managed to finish the long awaited time-lapse movie!
Brace yourselves, this movie is quite packed with input and emotions - at least for me. On 102 days of my journey, I took a picture of myself. Now, all these pictures have been put together - to keep me dreaming and to make you wanna go see the world. Of the roughly 4'500 pictures which I took, the video includes only a very small share. Should you be interested in more stories/pictures/details - I have plenty. In 102 days I have acquired a significant knowledge about e.g.; how to ride and fix a motorbike in Vietnam, how to avoid jailtime in Laos, or how to kayak in the Himalayas during monsoon. These insights are ready to be shared...


too fast? - watch again ;-)

At this point I would also like to thank you all for reading my blog this patiently. What once started with the intention to keep a few friends and family posted, soon gathered a surprisingly big community of readers. By now the blog has more than 2'000 klicks - still counting, thank you. Sources are various, going from Switzerland over Russia to South Africa...

Whenever this domain will be activated again, you will be most welcome to tune in.


in great appreciation of all the feedback, 

Georg

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Home


thinking about...?
Home sweet home. Yes, I made it back home to beautiful Switzerland where things seem unchanged, everyone and everything did very well without me noticing it. Unlike my promise, this post is written in the cozy chalet of my parents and not in India. The days were too packed and the internet options too vast, not allowing me to write a last post from India.
Already the boarder in Sanauli pointed out the differences between Nepal and India; more people, more dust, more hectic, more street vendors (for various goods) and more cows. Apart from that the two countries leave a relatively similar impression in the lonely travellers mind. There is maybe one more thing, the name "George" as a negative association in India, due to the former British King, named George as well. I kept emphasizing that my name is written without the "e" at the end and that I am a Swiss citizen, not related in any form to the folks from the rainy island. Not willed to dig deep in the British-Indian history, I will keep this topic away from this entry, nonetheless, some things are very aparent in India and therefore will make it into the blog.

In Sanauli we caught a bus to Gorakphur (similar to Sanauli, just bigger), where we changed our mode of transport to train. Overnight we drove for some eight hours towards Varanasi (former Banaras), where we arrived in the morning hours while the holy town was just waking up. Contrary to the city live, we did not feel like waking up, the bumpy train ride could not offer a decent and required amount of sleep, so we recovered that for a few hours.

Holy Varanasi
It was anyway good to be fully awake when we wandered for a first time through the narrow alleys of Varanasi. There are plenty of things you need to watch out for; turds (piles of excrements, be they humen or animal source), quite aggressive street vendors, and death ceremonies. Varanasi has a special place in the Indian-Hindu belief siystem. Those who are burned or sunk  here can escape the cycle of reincarnation and go directly into the Nirvana - so the belief. You read right, burned or sunk; Most of the people are burned on one of the Gaths along the Ganges river, if the reason for death is related to pregnancy, illness like leprosy or follwed a poisoning by any animal, the bodies are not burned, they are thrown into the Ganges. To make sure that they sink, a big stone is tied to the legs. The exact opposite (to burn the poisoned and sik and maybe sink the others) would make more sense in my eyes, maybe not from a religious point of view but definitely from a hygienic perspective.

We saw lots of corpses being cremated, we saw people washing themselves and their belongings in the Ganges, we saw baby bodies disappear in the brown river with a stone attached to their legs and we saw others brushing their teeth with the very same water. You can say and think what you want and I do not want to spend too many lines on the topic of religion, but think of it; how much good could be done on our world with the power that some religious leaders hold? Why e.g. don't the Buddhist monks teach that littering is no good (and why do they do it themselves in some cases?) or why doesn't the Catholic churche finally pluck up some courage and end the ridicolous questions around the topic of contraception? Seriously, you can belief what ever you want, but at least in some cases one should also belief in science. And don't get me started on the topics of tolerance and diversity.

Enough about that, here are three other things you can enjoy in Varansi, apart from all the holy ceremonies and sights. Delicious Lassis, some truly good silk shops and true Indian movies:

A good Lassi comes with a fly on top
In Varanasi it could easily happen that while you are sipping your banana-chocolate lassi, a death ceremony walks by, including the corpse, on their way to the Ganges. It could also happen that some guy from the steet keeps talking to you, about how you should come to have a look at his or his father's silk shop next door. We did enter quite a few as we wanted to get some tailor made silk made Alibaba trousers. In the end we decided for the most sympathig one and had "Pappu" made super stylish pants for us. Pappu also showed us pictures with him and Goldie Hawn on it, she is a regular customer of his. I can give you more details about the location of Pappus shop, should you be willed to buy silk in Varanasi, just contact me.

Pappu & me with some of his silk

Lootera, currently a hit in India
 Another delight is to visit a true Indian cinema. In Varanasi, the cinema is probably the most sophisticated facility of all. We went to see "Lootera", the story about a thief who falls in love with his victim. One thing is clear, Holliwood guys like Michael Bay or amateur actors like Richard Geere, Nicolas Cage or Shia Labeouf are strongly advised to either visit acting classes again or otherwise prepare for their retirement. Bollywood has picked up with western movie productions, espiecially the acting performances are top! The times where Indian movies were all about dancing and singing are not gone, but these movies, which we all think are the only bollywood movies have a different purpose anyway: they allow young Indian couples to get some privacy, if you know what I mean. This is why the stories in those movies are mostly rubbish and this is also why they are artificially prolonged through musical inputs and dances. Yes, this is tough news for the classical bollywood loving Swiss single lady in her late fourties, it might even blow her out of the Birkenstocks or Mephistos... Even Indians themselves know that these movies are rubbish, no one watches them, instead they go to the theatres to focus on something completely different...

 On the way to Delhi, there was enough time to include a one night stop in Agra, where we could visit the famous Taj Mahal. Stunned by its beauty we spent quite some time around the Taj, she must have been quite a woman, Mumatz Mahal - why else would anyone errect such a temple for one single Lady (especially if you are Persian and muslim)?

Can't Taj this, dum dumdumdum (know the song?)
The Taj is not the only beautiful thing in Agra...

Well then, then we arrived in Delhi, went out for a delicious last diner acompanied by some beers and then my days in Asia were numbered. The brand new top notch metro brought me alongside slums and garbage dumps to the international airport. The ride reminded me of the various contrasts that India has to offer; e.g. when walking through Varanasi it is hard to belief that the very same country also has a astronautics programme running...

Sitting in AY022, somewhere over the Kashmir mountnains, I listened again to 'my travel song'. "Rotted on the Vine" by Ian Fisher. Endless thoughts went through my head, goose bumps and more than cliché emotions came up. Here is the trak: Rotted on the Vine - by Ian Fisher. Song begins at 1.50.

 

 And here is another, sort of teaser for the upcoming time lapse movie; a merge of self portrait 1 and 102.


keep it up, GH.
Gansweid


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Eiger, Moench & Annapurna

Annapurna South & Annapurna 1

on the way up...
Remember the last post, when I told you about us, going for an eight days trekking to the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC)? The above sunrise picture is proof that we made it. We hiked through fog, clouds, heavy monsoon rains and were in a constant fight with leeches, but we made it. Eventually we were up and back down in Pokhara within only five days. Local guys and guidebooks keep telling you that ten to eight days are needed, but since we only had good views on the very top, we decided to speed up to Sherpa velocity.The guys carrying all the supplies into ABC do it in four days and earn 3'000 rupees for one turn.
The trek itself is nothing extreme or ''super tiring'' like other travelers might tell you. It all depends on your speed, should you really be fed up with all the stairs and the too big backpack you brought along, there are plenty of locals along the way, always ready to be your guide or porter for a few rupees. That we walked most of our time through typical monsoon rain did not matter at all, after a certain altitude, the rain turns to fog, later the fog will make space for clean fresh Himalayan air. The sights we eventually got from ABC were outrageously beautiful and unique, nevertheless they still reminded me a lot of certain places in Switzerland. Here are some more pictures for those who stay at home:
Mt. Hiunchuli & moon

Annapurna South with some first shafts of sunlight

Mt. Machhapuchhare

Annapurna 1, reclected


Yes, the trekking was beautiful indeed. Since it took us only five instead of the planned eight days, we had some days to fill in our itinerary. Hmm, what to do in the Nepal Himalayas during monsoon season..? Exactly, kayaking and paragliding! Spontaneously we booked a four days intensive training for kayak beginners and headed off for the Trisuli river. Due to the low season, we were the only guests staying in 'Camp Amsterdam' (yes, the name has its reason), some three hours west from Pokhara. We had four great days, chief guide Akash and his friends ensured plenty of training and lots of fun. Our days were filled with paddling and eating local food, the nights were filled with singing and drinking local roxy (rice wine). Legendary chef Bissal made sure we would get enough 'sandwiches' for our different hungers...


30/06/2013 self portrait

Bissal, chef.
The self portrait above is one of more than hundred, I made one on every single day of my journey, starting with a picture of fresh shaved Georg sitting in the train towards ZRH airport. At the end of my trip, I will do my best to arrange a nice time lapse movie. This will then answer the redundant question; 'did this trip change you?'. The movie will be posted here, as the last post (until HornToBeWild is reactivated for a next trip, e.g. Tripoli to Capetown).

Kayaking itself is loads of fun. Fred and I were total rookies and never touched a true kayak before. The four days were intended to give us a good introduction to the sport and to teach us the survival essentials. 'Surviving' really is what we were focusing on, when we paddled down rapid Trisuli for the first time..! Contrary to the season, the water levels are very high due to the monsoon rains. We must have looked totally lost in those huge waves and whirlpools, struggling to bring our kayak fully under control. Likewise starting to ride a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City, starting to kayak in the Himalayas during monsoon is a true baptism of fire, Eskimo-role ahoi! Unfortunately I don't have any footage of us kayaking available right now, we did all of it with Fred's GoPro camera, which is totally waterproof and shock resistant. Contact me once I am back for some videos and pictures of us flipping over in rapid, cold and brown water.

After four days we were happy to grant our muscles and grazes some rest, we drove back to Pokhara. A short interruption of the daily monsoon madness allowed us to go for a paragliding flight from top of Sarangkot mountain. So far it was a tandem flight, however it reinforced my intention to go for a pilot license as soon as possible/reasonable. While flying over water buffalos and rice fields I thought back, thought about our time in Nepal and concluded that I definitely have to come back one day. The mixture of culture, geography and nice people is unique here, Nepal became an unexpected highlight of the trip.



Para- para- paradise

Pokhara from Sarangkot (or Interlaken from Niderhorn?)
 Yet another highlight and probably the last one is awaiting us. Tomorrow morning we will leave for India, crazy Varanasi is our destination. We will see how we cope with the local culture of death and birth, I am very excited.
A last picture (there were many this time eh?) is showing a typical Tibetan food, which the Nepali people happily introduced in their kitchens as well, Momo's. A recipe is available on request, so is a dinner, if you bring some imported Gorkha beer.

Momo's, that good, I could not even take a picture before I had my hands on  them...


Next post will come from India, country no. 8, last one.

stay tuned,  GH

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Unanswered

Like when entering a chicken farm, Fred and I felt slightly amused when we boarded our Lhasa bound train in Chengdu. All the passengers had a ticket with a designated place and bed and the train was only about to leave in some 45 minutes – still, loud and intense arguments arouse all around us (as if there were fewer places than passengers or a free seating with only one window-seat). Anyhow, we found our coach and our beds, made ourselves comfortable and kept watching the chickens with great amusement.


The World is Flat - tss..!

Oxygen outlet

Noodles? Rice? 


The Qinghai Express left on time, we were about to spend two nights on it, travelling from west-central China towards its western province Tibet (in my Blog I will refer to Tibet as a province of China, more about this topic later in this post). The time on the train was not too hard to kill, some sleep here, some noodles there, a breathtaking look outside the window or a few pages of a book made the time pass easily. Ironically I am currently reading Thomas Friedmans 'The World is Flat' – while climbing up to 5072 meters.

As scheduled, we arrived in Lhasa on the 12. of June (exactly one month left for my Asia-Trip). With only little acclimatization problems, it felt good to finally be in the famous capital and biggest town of Tibet. Although we were recommended to stay in the hotel for the rest of the first day on 3650 meters, we could not stop ourselves and started exploring the town by feet. Our goal was clear; we needed to see the Potala Palace!

We found it – like hundreds of Chinese tourists. For some, I was the greater attraction, like in other countries in Asia, they were very surprised by the tall, white and long-nosed fellow. In extreme cases, they dropped everything and ran straight to me, just to get a picture. Feeling like a star, I fulfilled all the wishes and continued replying 'no' to the question whether I knew Yao Ming – the Chinese basketball superstar.

Hello, my name is George and I DO NOT play basketball!

We spent three days in Lhasa, exploring the surrounding sights, including not only the Potala Palace, but also various monasteries and temples. Our very competent and friendly guide Sonam helped us to understand the meaning and importance of all the places. He also brought us closer to the Tibetan Buddhism, a religion very different to the other types of Buddhism which I encountered so far.

Debating Monks and Lamas


Is the hand a hand - or something else?


As a little desert, we decided to go for a boat trip in Lhasa. The day before we left towards western Tibet we rode a speed boat on 3650 meters – an experience for its own. Then we (group of 8 individuals, as travelling alone is prohibited) drove to Shigatse and kept on exploring monasteries, high mountain passes and unique landscapes on the way. As there were plenty of all the mentioned, I will not even try to upload a justifying amount of pictures, otherwise Nepal might suffer a total breakdown of  all their internet connections.


Then our tour guide Sonam had the brilliant idea to leave one day earlier for the Everest Base Camp (EBC), since weather forecasts promised a higher chance to actually see the mountain one day earlier. So we jumped in our Landcruisers and drove up to 5000 meters, to the ETC (Everest Tourist Camp). The real base camp is not accessible without an 'Expedition Permit' which is issued only in exchange to a vast amount of money. The ETC welcomed us with oxygen supply and a cozy Yak tent. We both had little issues with the altitude and kept wandering around for some shots. As the moon came out, also the clouds disappeared, and we could spot the great Everest for a first time.

Yak tent

If you look like this, take some oxygen...

Yak + Everest + Light Art Tibet

What do you mean - ''the tallest''?


Not all the group members adapted this well to the altitude. Two girls from Malaysia suffered badly; one could not get rid of horrible headaches, the other had to vomit overnight. Also I did not feel too well the day after, as we climbed even higher, towards the real base camp. On 5250 meters I encountered a pulsating pain in the back of my head, it did not get any better for the rest of the day. Only a ginger tea in the lower Tingri helped. The tea helped this much that Fred and I spontaneously decided to climb a nearby mountain for some sunset shots. While climbing from 4500 meters to 4900 meters, we realized what the thin air meant under sportive exertion. First you don't even realize the difference, but once your heart rate is on running mode, your lungs have difficulties to keep up with the pace. Also simple things like having a sip of water from your bottle will lead to a shortage of air right after. Still, we reached the mountain top and took some good shots. Equipped with plentiful prayer flags and a stone pile used for sky burials, the setting was perfect for some intense moments.

You know the song from the 'Becks Experience' commercials?

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
 Further bumpy hours in our hyper reliable Toyotas (I am not sponsored, its just a fact) brought us to the Nepali boarder in Kodari. The day we left Tibet, we encountered one of the most strict exit controls I have ever seen. As mentioned on several internet pages, my Lonely Planet guide for Tibet was indeed confiscated. The over motivated Chinese official took my entire backpack apart, happily removed the guide book, stuffed all in the bag again, smiled at me and mentioned that I look alike with Gerard Pique. I smiled back and told him the book was a special present for him (As I was leaving Tibet, I did not really need it anymore and was not too upset about the situation).

Leaving Tibet means leaving China - according to the situation as of today. However, I did feel like leaving China already when I boarded the Qinghai Express in Chengdu. The provinces of Sichuan and Tibet are immensely different, be it for its culture, its geography or its people. The Chinese conquered Tibet in 1950 and are investing in the province intensely ever since. They did build a train and an international airport, paved hundreds of kilometers of roads and support local families and farmers with money. They also built many schools for the local children. This may sound very positive, nevertheless, it has its downsides too; the schools teach only in Mandarin (no Tibetan language), the roads lead to the spots which are now exploited by Chinese enterprises, lots of the local culture are getting lost between the intense police and military presence. The Tibetans are not even allowed anymore to hoist their original flag or to have a picture of the Dalai Lama in their houses. Controls and spot checks in homes can lead to 2-3 years in jail, should they find any picture of flag. A real punch in the face of any Tibetan is the huge Chinese flag on top of the Potala Palace... All these measurements lead to the fact that some young Tibetans don't even know anymore who his holiness the Dalai Lama is. 
As we traveled through Tibet, I had the chance to talk to many Tibetans, Chines and tourists. The Tibet question definitely remains unanswered and is not that easy to close. A 'free Tibet' with an individual nation would probably lead to chain reactions in entire China. There are minorities of Uighurs and Muslims in many corner of China - all of them would raise their voices should Tibet be freed. What might be a good solution is the one which is asked for by the current, 14. Dalai Lama (living in exile in India, not even allowed to be buried in Tibet). He is asking for a free Tibet in a cultural sense, that Tibetans would be allowed to climb mountains when ever they want, that they could live out their cultural habits as they did in the past, and that they would be granted a passport just as a normal Chinese citizen. Then, he and also all the Tibetans I spoke to, would not even mind the fact of belonging to China. To all the demonstrators with 'free Tibet' flags I must reply: go and visit this beautiful place, talk to the people and learn. The situation is not as easy as you think. Also a glimpse in history books reveals that even in the past, the situation was never really clear. Also Great Britain and the CIA played some unexpected roles...

Enough about this political situation. We are now in Pokhara, Nepal. Tomorrow we embark for a 8 days trekking to the Annapurna Base Camp and back. We hope that the current weather situation will not destroy our plans...

Until then, try to stand as still and motionless as this Chinese solider - vis a vis the Potala in Lhasa.



GH


'Oh, that tall guy, I would love to get a picture of him - but I  cannot. Might he know Yao Ming?'


Contrasts



Dear readers, it has been an unusual amount of days since my last post. I hope you did not quit the feed meanwhile and started following any other hobby to waste your precious time..? Funny facts: 1) ''The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted'' 2) 1'000 blogs are created every hour 3) Chinese Government does not only strictly control Google, also it blocks pages like Facebook or Blogspot. The latter is the reason why this post was so far only on my Skydrive, waiting to reach you. To somewhat compensate, there will be two posts at once (now please a big 'hurray')! This will keep you posted in the usual bite size. So here is the first one: 'Contrasts' (referring to the vastly different worlds in Myanmar and China).PLUS, I am encountering some issues with the formatting on this Nepali-style computer here, some parts of the blog just won't get posted... hope that you can still enjoy the reading.


The overwhelming Myanmar embraced us with its friendly people and breathtaking scenery for two of the most beautiful weeks of the entire trip so far. Furthermore, Myanmar certainly was an easy start for Fred, who was totally new to Asia. Filled with welcoming places, historical sites and diverse landscapes, time went by even faster than an occasi(a)onal attack of the runs.   Our night bus to Nyaungshwe greeted us with the daily evening prayer, which sprinkled on us through the dusty speakers. In contrast to the well intended words, our following ride was definitely less peaceful; we could hardly sleep a minute, especially after the tail pipe fell off - which resulted in our bus sounding like a monster truck. What should I complain, we are backpacking through Asia, episodes like such are definitely an enrichment to our trip.The four days around lake Inle were a pure delight. We spent our time riding bicycles, ferries and fisher boats, we explored floating gardens, local temples and monasteries. Highlights included a wine tasting in Myanmar's biggest winery (see picture), or me ending up in a show-fight against seven young novice monks. Usually our days ended with one or more glasses of either Beer Myanmar or Beer Mandalay, which are both to be recommended. Going hand in hand with the Burmese beers are the local cigars. These contain Tamarind and Banana-grass, which is making them taste deliciously sweet. Already wearing the Myanmar-style long skirt ''Longshi'' like every man, plus consuming healthy doses of local drugs - our way in to any bar conversation was a breeze. As a sort of cultural highlight, we were invited to attend a baptism ceremony of a local girl; music and dancing, until our ears and feet were numb. 


The four days around lake Inle were a pure delight. We spent our time riding bicycles, ferries and fisher boats, we explored floating gardens, local temples and monasteries. Highlights included a wine tasting in Myanmar's biggest winery (see picture), or me ending up in a show-fight against seven young novice monks. Usually our days ended with one or more glasses of either Beer Myanmar or Beer Mandalay, which are both to be recommended. Going hand in hand with the Burmese beers are the local cigars. These contain Tamarind and Banana-grass, which is making them taste deliciously sweet. Already wearing the Myanmar-style long skirt ''Longshi'' like every man, plus consuming healthy doses of local drugs - our way in to any bar conversation was a breeze. As a sort of cultural highlight, we were invited to attend a baptism ceremony of a local girl; music and dancing, until our ears and feet were numb. 





Could it get any better? Why not, our next stop was Bagan and its ca. 4'000 temples, pagodas and stupas - yet another milestone of my Asia trip.  However, our enthusiasm was slowed down soon after arriving in Bagan. We found out that the long awaited sunrise flight with a balloon over Bagan could not take place, operations were shut down due to the low season... That was bad news of course, but we immediately started looking for alternatives, locations offering similarly jaw-dropping views. We found 2: (1) The Aureum Resort Hotel, a crazy, not-from-this-world, who da f* is Burj Al Arab, Hotel-tower and (2) Tant Kyi Taug Pagoda, which is a beautiful golden pagoda, located opposite the river, vis-à-vis old Bagan, offering an incredible view over the entire plateau. These two spots more than compensated for the balloon flight.  





The current low season also had its benefits, on most of the temples and locations which we visited we were on our own, something unthinkable during the highly frequented months of January and February. Tired of endless hours in night buses built for short Asians, tall Fred and even taller me decided to take a plane for our last domestic leg in Myanmar. Air Mandalay flew us within 20min from Bagan to Mandalay for only a little more money compared to the bus alternative. An elderly fellow passenger with a strong French accent in his English was apparently not too comfortable with the entire flight; fully confused he kept on asking ground personnel after our landing, whether this is  Mandalay now? As if the heavily oversized 'MANDALAY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT' sign was not big enough. We were convinced to be in Mandalay and hence left the plane and hopped in  a cab heading towards central Mandalay. Our time in the former capital was limited, so we focused on the main sights: Royal Palace and Mandalay Hill. 




Only one day after, we left Myanmar with bottles of water and knifes in our bags, by plane towards China, Chengdu. Already the transit stop in Kunming delivered us a massive cultural shock, right into our Swiss rookie faces. Yes we were still in Asia, but we felt like teleported some 50-100 years into the future. Top notch facilities and highest standards of everything awaited us, China has arrived, long ago. All I knew about Chengdu was its 3 letter IATA code (CTU) and that it is famous for Pandas. However, I had not a single clue about the city's beauty and it's high standard. Coming along with a easy-going lifestyle, one could quickly feel home in CTU. In contrast to this stand the facts that barely anyone speaks English (even in such a metropolis) and that lots of online content are still blocked by the Chinese government. I am accessing the blogspot homepage with the kind assistance of a foreign proxy server, provided by our Tibet tour organizer. 




Now, our backpacks are packed yet again, in a few hours an incredible train journey towards Lhasa will start. With oxygen masks provided in the train, we will climb over 5072 meters of altitude, on our way to the Tibetan capital.  The next post will probably follow from Kathmandu, Nepal. Until then, 在這裡,我想在中國寫我的名字,但我不知道怎麼