Letter #2 - Mcleod Ganj

Two weeks in India now and… what do I actually have to write. Actually, not that much as one might think. 80% of the time of not sleeping, I'm working. I just took my job with me. Well, that has been my plan: to take the work with me wherever I go, and continue to look for it and maintain my one-man business – with keep being my own boss. And what has happened to me during these two weeks. Well… different stuff. Food ... people ...

My work station at Avoca Guest House
Mcleod Ganj

Especially food ... no longer vegan - but temporary!

I've already tried the Palak Paneer, and fell in love. I've decided to be less strictly vegan here. It has been a bit difficult here regarding the food, especially on the first days, when everywhere possible I had been (and still am) offered the local Chai. So I refused once, twice, three and four times. How many times can one refuse to a cup of Chai? I realized it would probably be impossible in the long term, and I decided to make some concessions for myself (here and there) regarding the local food. India is indeed a paradise for vegetarians, as I had heard many times before I got here, but, it is quite a nightmare for vegans, at least for those who are trying to maintain a healthy and balanced diet ... so until I find myself here - I'm back to being (slightly more) vegetarian.

The guest house people
From the left: Me, Punit, Lalit

Radical change in diet

In Israel I use eat the supremely healthy: almost every morning - juice of half a lemon, oatmeal with sesame butter (raw whole-sesame seeds spread), some date spread, dried fruit and cinnamon. In the rest of a typical day – I consume improvised dishes of all kinds of cereals and legumes, and quite a lot fruit and vegetables. Oh, and I'm addicted to all kinds of spreads such as peanut butter, carob spread and stuff. In short – I am quite a health person ... visit to the toilet 1.5 times a day… doing exercise three times a week ...

And here in India. Wow. What a change ... It is true that in general, the food here can be pretty are healthy, but relatively healthy for those who do not really eat well healthy... Although fruits and vegetables can be found here, still, they don't look that less attractive, at least not those at Mcleod Ganj. So I eat apples and bananas (which particularly rot really fast. Maybe because they have not been sprayed with all these kinds of preserving materials?) ... Tahini (grounded whole sesame seeds)? I bought something which looks a bit like a brown chunk (no, it's not what you think (purports to be a Tahini ... In short, I will not bore you, but for me it is quite challenging to stay healthy here, not to mention exercise and work-out.

The Vegetarian Tibetan Restaurant - Gaiky

Exercise

Well, I admit that if I was less lazy, you would probably find me doing some basic work-out in my hotel room, but now exercise? Come on… (not for me to say things like that but ...) and jogging? Running? Not before one of the in cars McLeod Ganj on the narrow lanes hits me and make me lying in the valley down below, although I've heard that road from McLeod to Dharmakot is pretty quiet and safe. I'll update here once I know. Well,  I participated a Yoga class which took about two and a half hours, at the Universal Yoga Center at 250 rupees, which is relatively expensive here. 16:00 daily yoga costs only 100 (!) Rupee (NIS 6.25. got it? … So it was quite challenging (at this moment I am being attacked by a terrible heartburn. The primary suspect - chapattis eaten earlier on the day. Perhaps the long rice? Not sure about it). So, the first Yoga class has also been the last one, at least up to now. Maybe I'll try again sometime, but it was a little sore and I felt the most inflexible person in the world.

One of the hotel's permanent residents

Internet-telephony affairs

I bought a wireless modem (Micromax's) in Delhi (for 2000 rupees). The seller told me that it is suitable for all types of SIM cards (this is what I understood from his words). In McLeod I realized that it was not necessarily the case. I got to a phone store, and while the seller was examining my wireless modem, a Hindi insect fell on my hair. I startled a bit and then smiled sheepishly at the seller. His response was an understanding smile. During days later I went back and forth between the hotel and the same store, to see what is going on with my mobile modem, which the seller me he could fix, causing me to buy a SIM card of "Ida" company, in vain, because that modem can only read SIMs of a specific company but specifically not of this company. Then I realized that this seller is a great windbag. After only a few days, I decided to get rid of this modem, and make a deal with another seller, whom I gave the modem purchased in Delhi, for which he gave me a new unlocked USB modem (which is suitable for all the SIM cards exist in the world). In the end, I thought again and realized that...

A night out. Jogiwarra Rd.

Money, or: What is it Rupee

2000 rupees is 35USSD. During the days I walked back and forth to move the shop to try and fix this modem. During that time, I was able to do useful things, and soon earn back these 35USSD. But it took me a while to get this insight. 2000 rupees sounds a lot, but it's just 35USSD. For a median Indian, this translates to a salary of more than a week of working, but I forgot that I'm not Indian and that I am earning Israeli money. Still, I meet here and there such frugal people, not just Israelis, actually – but also Europeans. So we have a chit-chat, and then we come to the part of "Where you are you staying" and "How much are you paying for the accommodation", and I go "I got a good deal of 400 rupees a day. "" 400 rupees?! That's a reap-off! ". " Yes, but it's including a large, clean and comfortable double room, with an amazing views. And how much are you paying?" " 250 "..." 300 "... depending on who answers. Now, a difference of 100 rupees = difference of 1.7USD. Rs 100 = 1.7USD. This is what many travelers make a big deal of. You can easily get sucked in this financial matter. It takes us a just few minutes of work to earn back that 100 rupees difference, or 1.7USD. I guess that for me it's easier, because I'm work from here. So I can comfortably think in terms of Israeli money and not the Indian money. So yeah, I'm not an dogging 20-year-old backpacker who makes a calf face to someone who spends 100 rupees (1.7USD) more . Or when I'm sitting in a restaurant and debating whether to order another tomato or spinach soup cost 60-80 rupees, which is 1.5USD. Like, what's the question here? It's not like 80 NIS!  Come on… For locals it is a lot. For us – it is almost nothing.

A delicious Dal Fry & Rice
Seed Cafe

 Orographic clouds observed from my balcony at
Avoca Guest House

Things I've done

I met some Israelis told me that there is nothing to do here (in McLeod Ganj) and that it's better to stay in Bhagsu and Dharmkaot (well, if you say so). Anyway, I'm not in a hurry. Guess that on Saturday (or perhaps even tomorrow, if surprise myself), I'll leave McLeod and set myself up in one of the villages. It would be a refreshing change. Although ... I have been told that there is a café with a piano, called The Literato, or something like that - a place I have to check.

Tibetans

I met with Tibetan English class, he told me about the escape from Tibet, and how the Chinese government are a piece of crap (apparently they really are). He and some Tibetans I spoke with, told me that the Chinese invaded Tibet and when the people of Tibet began to rise, the Chinese were upset and began to slaughter them (you can read a bit here briefly about the story of Tibet, and why everyone is talking about it, and what is that Tibet, which everyone is talking about and what the Dalai Lama has to do with it). One of the Tibetans I met said he was in a group of people, who fled from Tibet to the border with Nepal. They were walking and climbing at altitudes of 6000 meters - completely crazy. Occasionally, Chinese troops saw them and were trying shoting them in the snow. Here, in Dharamshala, there is a large community of Tibetan refugees of which some were already born here, some have just emigrated from Tibet and more refugees keep coming all the time. McLeod Ganj has a voluntary organization that helps Tibetans learn English and do more things to help them integrate into the… western society (India is considered "western" and "progressive" in Tibetan terms, which is a deserted piece of land - with a simple and pleasant people.

 The wonderful view from my balcony

 Events

In my early days here, the nice Indians at the hotel invited me to join them for lunch, a dose of good rice and Dal (a legume stew). Licking fingers.

I spent the days working at the restaurant of the Green Hotel, where there's a pretty good WiFi and access to electrical sockets. Every morning I grabbed a large table of my own, to build on my workstation to be used for the entire day. I ordered throughout the day cups of herbal tea, vegetable Momo (wonderful dumplings), various soups, vegetable patty with Tibetan bread (Veg. Burger); Tibetan porridge and so forth cuisine.

In a number of evenings I ate at Gaikiy - Tibetan vegetarian restaurant, offering exquisite dishes from the Tibetan cuisine. There's a wonderful noodles with vegetables and tofu. Lick your lips.

One of the local morning rituals:

Brushing teeth under the umbrella

Sudesh

The Nepali guy, who grabbed me when I just arrived in Mcleod and brought me to the hotel Avoca, spoke to me one day. I asked him about the Tibetans, and he said they are just protesting for nothing really. He argued that if they wanted, they could go back to Tibet and everything would be fine. The Chinese will do them no harm. They just dominate there. He said that the Tibetans just wanted to make noise. In my opinion, it is a bit too simplified version of the whole story.

Veg. Burger with Tibetan Bread

Green Hotel Restaurant

Misceleneous - Events

One evening at Green Hotel Restaurant, I was approached by a woman who seemed Nepali to me, and asked if I could help an old man that she took care of it, and to write some emails for him, with my computer. I said I'd gladly do it. Eventually, I was sitting with him two hours long. Apparently he suffered of some hard vibration disease. He now lives here and the woman is taking care of him. He gets various kinds of treatments that should cure his ills. He's 65 and looks like 85. He speaks very-very weakly, just whispers, and I could hardly understand what he was saying to me, although he had American English. Content of emails asking me to write for different people, related to the business of gems and all kinds of antique and words such short - things about money, until I realized it, it was too late, and I found myself sitting with him for two hours, each time he was repeatedly saying "One more Email… Just one more Email… "  He also asked me all the time to re-read what I wrote, before I sent. He also asked me to spell nearly each word ... It was such a nightmare in the middle of the day. I was glad that the experience was over in the end. A week later, the woman found me again in the same place at the hotel restaurant. She approached me but this time I made sure to refuse politely and firmly. She said, "Just one Enauk." I said "Thanks but no thanks." I did not be involved anymore with this man's businesses.

Great Tibetan morning porridge at the

Green Hotel Restaurant

Some more events

I also met an old Indian Baba for the first time. It is said that these Babas have a blessing. So I gave him 100 rupees and he gave me a kind of a necklace...

Also some Indian Bhagsu Rd. sold me a kind of a sewing needle that can be used easily. It looks better than when he showed me how to use it. I had no idea if I (or someone else) will ever use it.

Gastroenteritis & diarrhea

I have neighbors constantly changing, in my the hotel floor. So that time they were two Americans. I went to yoga with them for the first time (and last, at least for now). One evening we went to the Common Ground Cafe, it's kind of a - Cafe restaurant, which aims to bridge and to bring Tibetan and Chinese together. I ordered a vegetable soup, while they ordered barious kinds of stews, and offered me to taste. I tasted a slightly turbid Tibetan spring roll, which seemed as if its flour was semi-cooked or baked. However, it was in the next morning (Saturday), really early, before 6am, I think, that I woke up with a terrible feeling. Later I realized that I just could not move. I felt horrible without being able to realize what an awful sensation it was. I could not move myself out of bed until late afternoon, and even then, it was the lack of choice that I just HAD to go to the bathroom. I continuously felt the need to vomit, and the need to defecate. I felt a terrible sense and a weakness. I decided to get out of the hotel and move and breathe the "fresh" air outside, but it turned out it was a wrong decision. I started walking towards the center of town, trying to find a pharmacy that can sell me Imodium of Johnson & Johnson, the recommendation of Lalit, one of the responsible persons of the hotel (who offered me white rice and gave me another little something to eat, which was said to be a "good solution" for me, along with a cup of hot water). During the ascending (which was taxing for me), toward the center, while cars and motorcycles were coming up and down and honk every two seconds (they just won't stop honking. And I thought Israeli drivers are the worst. I was wrong), and sprinkle with air pollution, I was sure I was going to die too soon. I was thinking "why the hell did I leave the room?! Why did I?" In short, I didn't found what I was looking, and went back to the room. I collapsed on the bed and stayed there until the next morning.

The necklace that an Indian Baba gave me,

for a donation of 100 rupees.

Sunday

I finall felt a bit better, and decided to do some working. I went up on Jogiwarra Rd., and sat t the elegant Cafe Budan, with New York music / Fusion Jazz, which certainly made me feel better. I ordered a few packets of toasted bread and Gingergrass tea, which improved my well-being. 

Weather and a bit about the physics of clouds

In general, it has been raining most of the time. I am now in the rainiest place in India, in its wettest period. Sometimes the great clouds leave and then there is a thin layer of medium clouds, which can rarely let any brave sunbeam penetrate the clouds and scatter a little more color, these days. When it rains, it is damn pouring rain, with tremendously huge drops. In addition to the usual cloud cover, there are also orographic clouds (mountain clouds) -  that is, the air moving in the direction of the mountain, ran into it, and is forced to rise up (it cannot retreat suddenly, and cannot penetrate the mountain), and while rising, it cools down (since the higher it is, the cooler it gets, right, kids?) and got condensed (since cold air can carry less water, eventually expels the water out of it - out of the "system", a process called "condensation"). It's beautiful to observe how clouds are formed live in front of my eyes.

Another view photo

Palak Paneer with chapati - delicatessen

Indeed, some typical working day at Seed Cafe. A breakfast combined of sweetened oatmeal with some yogurt

Letter #1 - Tel Aviv - Moscow - Delhi - Mcleod Ganj

Hi,

Guess I progressed since the journey / trip to Australia, when I used a simple mailing list with several recipients with whom I was glad to share my experiences. This time I chose to do this via a blog. I hope that all parties would benefit from that refreshing change.

You may kindly invite others to the follower's list of the blog, who may sign up the form on the upper-right. If the letters are too small to read, you can always press Ctrl + ("Control" and "+") to increase screen, and, of course, vice versa (Ctrl -) to reduce back.

Unexpected Experience

My journey began when I was left by my beloved brothers, who gave me a lift to the airport named after David Ben Gurion, which is adjacent to the colorful and desirable town of Lod. When I reached the clerk at the departures check-in desk, she informed that my visa to India was about to expire before the date of return issued for me, and informed to me that she could not let me board the plane in that situation. Ultimately, I boarded the plane ... because by the end of the day - it all works out, and even if not now, it will probably work out sometime later.

Kuritza and Jethro Tull

I got on an Airbus three hundred and something, which carried me and a few dozen other travelers to Moscow, the capital of Mother Russia. I was glad that they didn't screw up and served me with a vegan meal, as I asked in advance. Most of the passengers hurried to ask for "Kuritza" (chicken), which they were grounding with their hungry teeth. I was promised to be able to watch movies during the flight, but apparently there were no screens on board, so I spent the time of the flight trying to forget the experience of almost not being let in the plane and listening to Jethro Tull.

Moscow

In Moscow

A few hours later, we landed in Moscow. I greeted farewell the Aeroflot stewardesses, who were dressed in red with the famous Soviet hammer icon (without the sickle, this time), who were greeting us farewell, with their Bolshevik eyes and fresh white skin. It was 7:00 am. I was still recovering from the fact that I survived the biting Israeli check-in desk thingy, and that now I was in the capital of the country of the hard-workers vodka-drinkers, and frozen chicken (Haladyets)-eaters (joking here, eh?).

Travel in Moscow is prohibitted VS.  travel in Moscow is allowed

So, I asked one of the info officials how could I quickly reach the fast train going from the airport to the city. She asked me in broken English "You have a visa?" and I replied "Mmm ... nope ..." She replied, "Then you cannot go" and I went like: "Okay." This was a very fascinating first conversation I had in Russia and meanwhile I continued walking around bleary-eyed until an Israeli-looking girl crossed my sight. She said that she was in Shermetevo airport from 8pm of last night. We approached together again to the info counter and asked the woman sitting there, regarding to how to get to the city (using my terrible broken Russian: Mi khachu pa-guilat na-gorod. The Russians among us – please do not try to fix it. I did my best here…). The woman smiled at us mischievously, as if we were going to do something very playful and mischievous and directed us to a certain room (as she continued sending us sly smiles). We went to that room, where we were led to another room. In the other room, the people were talking in between themselves, as I was all this time telling them "Gorod, Gorod" in various versions. They phoned someone and all of a sudden an English speaking pilot arrived and quickly led us to a place where the clerk issued us what seemed like a single-day approval to visit Moscow town.

Moscow

At the Red Square

Happy and satisfied, we were successful purchasing a train ticket with the AeroExpress train, which frequently comes and goes in the station, and within 35 minutes we were in downtown Moscow (Beiloruskie station). We walked quite a long way, especially along Tvierskaya St. towards the Red Square, the Kremlin. The weather was fare, but quite chilly and gray-cloudy. I felt almost at home, because everyone there was Russian. It was like visiting Bat-Yam (a small city south to Tel Aviv), only much bigger, and with much less Moroccans. Near the Red Square, we were revealed to a line of dozens of people waiting to enter the mausoleum of Stalin. We decided to give up on that experience, and went to watch the beautiful Basilica at the square, more closely.

WiFi at the Shermetevo Airport

When I was back at the airport in Moscow, I looked for a single socket to connect my laptop. I found one, which was already taken by a machine that belonged to a colored hair girl. I kindly asked her to use the socket, a request which was gladly accepted.

"The Godfather" and tomato juice

I was spending the flight from Moscow to Delhi watching "The Godfather" and the beginning of "The Godfather #2". Great movie. Lots of bullets going into people's bodies. I enjoyed a few cups of tomato juice with a pinch of pepper (in my opinion, there is apparently no greater pleasure that). In addition, I also spent time listening to Jethro Tull, a band I use to listen to all their albums in 5-year cycles. It was a nice and exciting experience.

Moscow

Spontaneously tired taxi drivers

In Delhi airport I discovered that there were many Indians. I got into a taxi to Delhi with two Israeli girls, after we agreed with the driver on 300 rupees (amount in rupees can be divided by 16 to get the New Israeli Shekel. An alternative way for those who does not feel like dividing 16: divide by 10, then divide by 20, then get the average between them. Those who are not capable of doing that too – well, try Youtube.com to learn some first class math). 5 minutes later, the driver decided that he was too tired and wished to go back to the airport taxi station. So he took us to the airport, where we bought a governmental taxi ticket, that was rather rubbish, but at least we had not been again returned her to the airport with disgrace.

Reaching Main Bazzar and first grime in India

We were dropped off at Main Bazaar, one of the best known and musty streets in central Delhi. By recommendation of one of the youngsters of the "Hara Rama Guest House,
we stayed there. It was 3:00 in the morning, and I was too exhausted for bargaining, so I took a room which was not quite sympathetic, but such that allowed a reasonable night sleep, after many hours of barely sleeping nights, at the price of 400 rupees. I realized for the first time, that the Indians don't randomly fix switches on their walls, but rather concentrate them up in a kind of rectangle somewhere on the wall, which has 10 switches altogether, of which only random three really work. My job was to discover which one is responsible for what, and so I finally clicked on all of them, whenever I wanted turn off the light or turn on the ceiling fan. While showering, I made efforts for not get into any contact with the wall, the sink, and some other suspicious elements (I will spare you from the description of these, at present, mainly in order to give free rein to your wild imagination).

Thali in the market

After four hours of sleeping, I woke up to the noise of the waking market. I went out on the street and had my first-ever Thali: vegetable curry, potato, rice and chapatti, which was unsurprisingly satisfying. Then, I continued to walk along the street, trying to avoid the gazes of people, who were mostly traders that might have been interested in trying to coax me of their merchandise. Number of people complimented me on my new sandals. After buying several bottles of water to complete the missing fluid, I took all my belongings out of the room and waited down in the lobby for the bus to take me up-north, to Dharamsala region, or more specifically – to McLeod Ganj town.

Almost on the wrong bus

After almost got on the bus to Manali, at last minute the one in charge of transportation reached me and took me to the right bus. He was kind of angry at me and said "The bus has gone. You'll go tomorrow". Then he began to lead me to where the bus was supposed to leave. I apologized, thanked him, and I gave him a bill of 100 rupees, in order to dull his pain. The bus did not go without me. In fact, it had not even reached the place.

Monosodium glutamate in 15 hours drive to Dharamsala

The travel to Dharamsala lasted for hours, which I passed with four other Israelis who were heading to the villages Bhagsu and Dharamakot, which are full of Israelis. After many hours of aching butt and milling food coloring and monosodium glutamate snacks, and of course, listening to Jethro Tull, who managed to encourage me, I was able to travel the long night of 15 hours and arrived in McLeod Ganj, in the early morning. I greeted farewell the other fellows, who headed to the two other villages and immediately was clung by two agents of two different hotels. I went to check out one of them. It had stunning view, but I didn't like the rooms much. Then I went to the other hotel, accompanied by the other agent, a nice and graceful Nepali of whom I felt comfortable almost immediately. The rate per night has been very reasonable, so I settled in a fairly large room with clean bathroom and a balcony overlooking the beautiful valley and mountain.

The Basilica in the Red Square, Moscow

McLeod Ganj

I managed to walk a little up the moderately dirty winding streets of McLeod Ganj, and probably have not yet found all its secrets. The town is built along and constitutes mainly of two or three long, parallel streets, which of most full of small shops and stalls. There is a relatively large Tibetan population here, but also Hindus. The town is built on a fairly moderate mountain slope. There are hostels and many grocery stores, one of which I purchased oats, and I even found Tahini, which looks whole-grained (relatively expensive - 165 rupees for 400 grams). Fruit and vegetables are very cheap here but imported products in favor of the tourists, of course, are not much cheaper than their original price of their homeland.

Torrential monsoon rains

As I am writing this (2:20 am), rain is falling and flooding the surrounding green mountains. Lightning can be occasionally observed. The temperature is quite reasonable during both day and night, and it is possible to get around dressed with just short clothes most of the day. I ended the first day in McLeod Ganj delighted with cooked vegetables with two chapattis, examines the WiFi surfing at The Seed restaurant, which is located nearby my hotel, named Avoca Guest House.

Good night.

The view from my room's balcony in Mcledo Ganj's Avoca Guest House

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