About the money we spend

Here we'd like to post just some practical information for future travelers... perhaps our adventures can give you lust to see all this yourself?

'Till now, we have been spending something like 27 Euros/day (both), which makes something around 12,50 Euros/person. This money includes everything: food (we try to combine buying thing of small shops and going to some real good restaurants), hotel (but not for the most demanding of you), train/jeep/bus tickets, some souvenirs and cultural events (like going to the movies, temples, concerts, museums, etc.), phone calls (we got an Indian sim card, which is very cheap) and internet.

The hotels we've been staying in are very different, but the prices remain somehow in the same range:

- in Mumbai we stayed in Colaba ("best" neighborhood) in a room without window/shower/toilet for 450 Rupees/room (something like 7,8 Euro). The rooms were the size of a shoebox, but somehow well kept and outside toilets were really nice. This was the most expensive room we paid so far, but also the cheapest one you can find in Mumbai;


- in Kolkata we stayed near Sudder Street, ultimate backpacker's address, for 300 Rupees/room. We had a double bed, private toilet/shower (no hot water) and room was really simple. Clean? Well, Indian clean ;)


- in Darjeeling we got our most luxurious hotel so far, we had TV, hot water, great view to the mountains, real clean sheets and real warm blankets. All this for only 400 Rupees/room!


- here in Sikkim we came to the cheapest place in town... which means, well... at least our room has hot water. And it's incredibly huge (like almost the size of our apartment!). We pay 250 Rupees only, and the hotel has a cool bar/restaurant, as well as billiard tables for costumers/locals, where we are going right now... ;) Hope we win!




xoxo

Looking for Shangri-La

That's it: we arrived in Sikkim, the Northest part of India, between Nepal, Tibet and Buthan.

And we must say, this is not really India... this is a special universe in between a lot of different cultures.

First of all, they don't look like one would normally define as "Indians"... they look much more Asiatic, as one would expect from Tibet or China. Then you have this strangely beautiful streets with no garbage in it, flowers everywhere, street signs, pedestrian zones, messages forbidding to spit on the streets, etc. etc. A parallel universe, indeed. Then you have the majority of Buddhists, even thought you also have a lot of Hindus and even some Muslims and Christians... all of them living toghether peacefully, mixing up cultures, influences, tastes and flavors...

Gangtok main street

Sikkim might be the richest (or at least the most prosperous) State of India, and still have it's own rules (for those who learned Asian History at school, this was an independent country until 1975, when it got annexed by India). We needed a special permit in order to enter here, which was easy to obtain (and totally for free, even if we heard of some travel agencies charging fees for it). As always in India, you just need to bring thousands of photocopies of your pass, as well as dozens of pass-sized photos. Then you fill a long, endless form, and that's it. Once we crossed the border, we got a new stamp on our passports, isn't that great?! ;)

The way from Darjeeling to here was incredible. Our jeep driver was great and drove safely, the landscapes are really astonishing, and the roads are somehow really well kept. Great news, travelers, because you must see all this before you die! Everest is really close, India's highest peak is just nearby, Himalaya people are great and helpful, Buddhist temples with colorful flags and paintings welcome you all the way long... what more to say?... We found our Shangri-La!

Sikkim's capital is called Gangtok. There's not much to do here, but the city is like... how to describe...? insane! It just looks like Europe! We heard that the former king once went to Bern and then decided to come back and recreate Swiss street concept in his own territory. The result is an interesting mix of feelings, like being at home in the middle of some of the world's highest mountains... :) except you see Chinese dragons everywhere, in every building. By the way, also souvenirs and products around here are Chinese, so don't think that we got it from some cheap Chinese market in Europe if we offer you something from here! :D

Chinese influence

It's quite a relief to be here after all the stress in "real India". Even thought Joao is now sick... yes, after having tasted all the most strange (and carnivorous) food you ever imagine, he finally got the "turista". Which, by now, didn't stop us yet from exploring around, but just slowed it a little bit.

Here we also met Vitória, our first Brazilian traveler fellow! Great!!! We are still looking for other Portuguese, while French, Germans and British/Americans can be found everywhere, also this high. We left the last Spanish people far away in Kolkata - thank God!, they were really noisy, and were everywhere! :P

Tomorrow still in Sikkim, or already on our way to Nepal? Still no idea. Any tips?

Darjeeling Express

We are in Darjeeling since 2 days. It's wonderful up here. We enjoy the wonderful climate of the mountains, the quiet of the Buddhist monasteries and the nicest people we have ever seen in our lives.



For those who want to know, we didn't take the toy train. It was not running, yes, but it was because of a landslide. Even thought we heard (even from some Tibetan monchs we met on our way) that strikes are very common around here, some of them lasting more than two weeks. In these periodes, nothing is open, and one can't buy even food. The reason for all this is that Darjeeling region wants to get independent from West Bengal and have their own territorry, Ghorkaland. Banners supporting the independence mouvement are everywhere, as well as Brazilian flags (some of them homemade...) By the way, even Tibetan monchs support Brazil in soccer, and when they come to know where I'm from, it's a sensation!

Two months ago, one public leader has been assassinated in public here in Darjeeling. A German/American couple living here that we met told us the political climate has become even more tense ever since. We, as good tourists, don't notice any of this.

After the stress of big cities such as Mumbai and Kolkata, the Himalaian air made us feel so good that we changed our plans and are now going to Sikkin. It was an independent state until the 80's, so we heard, but has been annexed by India for being a doorway to China (Tibet), Butthan and West Bengal. Everyone says this is the most beautiful piece of land in India. We are going to check it out soon, and then go to Nepal.

We are loving the Himalaia. Food is great, hotel is perfect and our room has a view to Kanchenjunga, Indian highest peak. It's wonderful!


Now I have to rush... the couple I told you about invited us to a lecture, given by the reincarnation of an important Lama, in a monastery outside from Darjeeling. We are pretty excited, they said this must be an once-in-a-life experience! :D More soon!

PS: thank you for posting comments, if I know people are reading this, I get more motivation to keep writing! =)

A walk between Sudder Street and the Tramway

I would like to dedicate this post to the dark side... I mean, to all the bad things we have been seing lately, because as you know India is not only a country made of beauties and wonders (unfortunately not).

Already in Mumbai we experienced a lot of poverty, but nothing was to compare with Kolkata. Well, we actually didn't go to the slums (for obvious reasons, even thought some tourists love doing it and the city even has established a kind of a "slum tour", believe it or not). But in Kolkata we didn't need to go to a slum in order to experience some horrible things...

First of all there was this walk between Sudder Street (Kolkata's main backpacker address) and the tramway... this was on Tuesday, our last day in that city we started getting used with, and since people said it was not far we decided to do the walk instead of taking a cap that always try to make profit on us... we had our backpacks and stuff and wandet to go to Sealdah station in order to bring our stuff to the so-called "cloackroom"... it rained a lot for a half an hour, but at this moment (around 11 am) the rain had ceased...

Well, how can I say this? The apperently short walk was the hardest half an hour of my life. I've seen things I imagined only in my nightmares... all different kinds of misery, attempts agains human dignity, all different diseases, hunger, the smell of death... some of the diseases I hearded from, or even saw pictures (since my PhD on Monsters leads me to read some medicine treatises from time to time), but never thought I would see in real... people surviving don't know how, worse than animals, naked squalid children standing in the middle of a huge mountain of garbage, dead rats as big as cats, people taking a pile of fish's heads from the floor (the rests no one would actually pay any money for), despair, fear, death...

Kolkata is a city with a lot of contrasts. On the one hand you have such wonderful buildings just as the Victoria Memorial (only comparable with the most beautiful constructions of Europe's 18th and 19th century), or all those art nouveau cafes in Park Street that make you feel you are in Paris or Vienna... On the other, you have people literally dying on the streets, forgotten by all the possibly different Gods in this no one's land...

And then it's so difficult to find out a way to help those people. The beggars are so insistent here that one woman (mentally ill) followed us in the Kali Temple (another horrible experience) for near half an hour, screaming things we could not understand, some times even running after us... sometimes there are the little children who recognize you as a tourist by distance and come running, arms wide open, then they hug you, kiss you, climb on you and then point at their empty wallets... how to deal with all this?

But then Kolkata is also the city of solidarity. We found so many nice people that helped us with no interest but to help. And our stay in Kolkata only was so special because we made friends: Susheel, the musician/filmmaker I already talked about; Pam, a chinese girl volunteering at Mother Theresa's house; and Sandeep, the Bengali employee of a poor hotel around Sudder Street that walked with us around those dark streets, guided us in this unknown world, stayed with us until the end (even coming with us to the station in order to say goodbye, in a very, extremely emotive, farewell moment). As well as so many truly nice people we met on the streets, who helped us, talked to us, showed us the way, without asking for anything but friendship.

Who knows when we are going to see those people again? But we already miss them...

Maybe I will tell you just another experience before I can change the topic: when we were going to Mother Theresa's house, we got a bit lost and a sweet 8 year old girl, well-dressed and speaking fluently English, came to help us... she guided us to Mother Theresa's, and when we wanted to open our bag to give her some candies (we bought candies for the kids), she refused vehemently... after a couple of hours of quiet and reflexion in this very holly place, we went out to meet the same little girl again, together with her mother, asking us to buy milk for her little (imaginary?) brother. The situation was really stranged and we felt really sad, and after they followed us and insisted so much, I decided to buy the milk in order to be able to escape from them yelling after us... but the girl wanted milk powder, and not from any market, but from an specific one. Of course I didn't buy it - it would have cost me more than 300 rupees -, but I got her a cup of cow milk for 8 rupees in another shop. Of course she got really pissed. Later some people told me that they make arrangements with some shop owners, make tourists buy them specially expensive products, them they give them back afterwards and share the money... this feeling you can't trust anyone is really tiring and really makes one sick... :(

Kolkata: Happy friendship day!

On Sunday when we got on our way to the Mumbai airport, we were reminded by a friendly backer (they have very good croissants here, you can't imagine) that August 1st is the Friendship Day! No idea if it is celebrated also outside India, but still: Happy Friendship Day to everybody!


We are now in Kolkata and this is an amazing place... we came here by plane yesterday, had actually a very pleasant flight with JetLite - no major problems, except by the fact that the flight had been re-scheduled one day before (we didn't know it, of course) and departed two hours later.



In the meanwhile, we met a very interesting person: a Indian musician living in New York, who came to India in order to make a doc film about the beginning of the Jazz Movement in India (1930/40s). We had a great chat, which continued on our way back from the airport, since he invited us to come with him to the city center by cab. Actually we don't know what we'd have done without him, since we soon discovered our hotel reservation wasn't valid and we had no place to sleep. Luckily, he brought us to Sudder Street, the ultimate backpacker hang out zone of Kolkata, where we soon found a place for only 300 rupees. Don't ask us how the place looks like, it doesn't matter: it has a bed and a shower. That's all you have to know.


We met a lot of extremely nice people here who were really helpful and friendly, specially our new Indian friend Sandeep and a backpacker from China called Pam. Actually I don't know what we are doing in this internet cafe, we should be out meeting more nice people! Well, just to finish: they all are obsessed by football and every time they hear the word Brazil (and even Portugal), they get crazy! :D A lot of beggers all around, some times running after us, or little chilcren coming to hug us and then asking for money... a lot of contrasts... but Kolkata remains my (Gabriela) favorite place so far...


Today we got a visa to Nepal, so it is really going to happen! Cross your fingers the Toy Train is going to work tomorrow, when we go from here to Darjeeling. We heard about some political turbulence and are a bit afraid this would change our plans... but well, this is India, one can never be prepared... ;)


Are you curious about the Indian jazz scene? Do not miss the video of "Finding Carlton", the documentary we talked about, on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX0OH-t8WZY

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The Mumbai experience - by Joao

How can I describe my three days in Mombay?

Well, it was special, very special... and I'm not talking about the people living on the streets, the traffic chaos or the dirtiest streets you have ever seen. That, we had all seen or heard about.
No, I'm talking about 3 major experiences which I will tell one day to my grandchildren:


1 - Crossing the streets: There are traffic lights but they don't have the effect you would expect. Cars come when it's red and people cross everywhere, it's impossible to understand how it works and you almost get smashed by a bus or a cab. After a while you just start doing like everybody else and cross along with the crowd even if it's red for you.


2 - Going to the cinema: This is one thing that one must live to understand its magnitude. It's amazing to see people talking to the characters on screen during the film, but they also applaud when the main characters appear or when something really striking is said. In Europe people are always asking one another to shut up and answering the cellphone can get you in to trouble... well in India everyone talks and you just hear phones ringing and people answering. Someone even told us that some of them learn the lines by heart to go see the movie again and repeat them during the film.

3 - An outdoor sex shop: in Mumbai there are markets everywhere. They sell everything one could expect, from old car pieces to clothes or perfumes, from food food food to souvenirs and jewelry. But they also sell some things one wouldn't expect: sex toys! In Mahatma Gandhi street, there are a lot of people selling vibrators and porn movies (some with Indian actresses in it, others Chinese or European). And when a female tourist passes by, they just point at the hundreds of vibrators, very naturally, and offer them saying "Yes, madam"... the same goes for men, but then they offer the porn movies. We made no picture of it yet, but we will not forget it.


Here is a good advise: never show a seller that you are interested in his products because he will get bananas to sell the tiniest thing, lowering the price as you walk away 300, 250, 150, 90, 80...


Yes, the price can change a lot from the first proposition, it's amazing how you can buy a 300 rupee fridge-magnet for 80 rupees.Which is still expensive by the way... Dunno about the prices of the sex toys, 'cos we were too shy to ask ;)

The warmest welcome!

We arrived in Mumbai on July 29th at 1am after a very pleasant fly with British Airways. Everything was very well and incredibly easy, so that we couldn't have expected anything better. Passport control was fine and people were very attentive and caring. What should I say? It wasn't rainy when we arrived, but the wet air reminded me of home, of Ubatuba, the same smell as at my grandmother's house (my mom will know what I mean). ;)

After arriving, we called Sanket, Harshad's friend, who picked us up from the airport and brought us to his home, where we spent the first nice. Sanket is awesome! I don't know what we would have done without him. He welcomed us with a cup of a cold Indian drink, really tasty, even thought I don't exactly know what it was... delicious anyway! He has a very nice dog that spent the whole night with us and even came a couple of times in my bed, I think he wanted to protect us and be sure that we were fine. So sweet...


Next morning, after an almost sleepless night (jet leg? excitement? Joao got some sleep, I didn't), we met Sanket's parents, both really welcoming and friendly, and they offered us a delicious breakfast with a kind of an omelet with white bread, coffee and a delicious pastry! Yummy! We were starting getting used to all this, but we soon had to leave and try to find our way to a hotel in the city center, so we took our first rickshaw (always with Sanket) and went to the crowded train station. First we thought Sanket was cutting the line but then hge explained us there are two different queues, one for the first class and the other to the second. Of course, the first class queue was much smaller...

Taking a train in the rush hours in Mumbai is a real adventure. Luckily I found a seating place, Joao wasn't so lucky, but I was the only woman in the mixed compartment... all the Indian women travel in a special wagon, which makes totally sense when you see how crowded the trains are... I wouldn't like to take it every day for work...

Once in Churchgate, we took a (honest!) cab to Colaba, where we were really lucky: we got a shoe-box sized room in the, according to Lonely Planet, cheapest hotel of the city. Rooms are really simple and small, but bathrooms are almost luxurious and staff is really nice... a great starting point to spend some days walking around the city...

Now I exceeded time in internet cafe, more coming soon! :)

By the way, just as information, we are totally loving it!

xoxo