It is over now – the trip and even the party! Over. Well, that is it!

London was great and I really had a great last couch on my travels. We went after my arrival to a nice bar MauMau in Notting Hill with life music and jam session and it was great. I loved the peach cidre

Daniel came the next day and we met accidentally on the street somewhere in Londo (well, close to the hotel). The hotel was awesome and very comfortable (after one year mostly in hotels, you know that it is not self-evident!!!)! We basically spent the days shopping and I enjoyed that a lot. London has some great markets and nice shops I guess you guessed that the red jacket is new Oh, by the way, that was a big shock: Everybody was dressed in black or grey – how SAD!!! India was so full of colors, that London seemed to be a funeral! More colors for everybody!!!

I met the other Daniel as well – we had lunch together and it was great to see him again. Daniel was a couchsurfer, who surfed at the same place as we when we were in La Posadas, Argentina. So its been about 11 months since we met and its crazy to see somebody you met only for 2 days again on the other side of the world!!! Well, thats couchsurfing – its great!

The trip was really one of the best things I have ever done. I wish that everybody has the courage to do what he really wants to do and doesnt listen too much to other people. Its important to life your life in your truth and not in anybodys others…

We met so many people and situations and could grew on the tasks that life gave us on the way. I think the learning was one of the most important parts and it made the mind grow open and free… Open and free – thats an achievement worth a lot!

My dear friends, thank you so much for joining us in the one or other way on our journey across the world. Thanks for reading the blog, for giving tipps and for receiving us back so warmly and heartily on our party.

Its time to say goodbye.

Our trip is over, but a new one has already started…

Ps. I had to finish Lord of the Rings – in the end I finished it at 2.30 am in the morning! Well, didnt sleep that much, but there comes anyway the jetlag so its ok. I love the book and have to leave it now behind… Have to buy the English version some day!

Mit der „Zeit“ ist das komisch, manchmal geht gar nichts voran, und manchmal vergeht sie wie im Fluge. Mit diesem Jahr ist es mir auch so gegangen. Wenn das Heimweh am grössten war, wollt die Zeit gar nicht vergehen und wenn ich mir wünschte das Jahr möge nie zu Ende gehen, war schon wieder ein Monat rum. Vermutlich ist es ganz gut, dass man darauf keinen Einfluss hat, wer weiss was sonst so los wär

Jetzt bin ich also wieder zu Hause und alles ist wie immer, fast jedenfalls An meiner Wohnung gibts nen neuen Balkon und der Beat hat uns ein paar Lampen gesponsort. In München gibts ein paar neue Häuser und der Stachus ist auch nicht mehr so grattlig wie zuvor. Alles ist ganz wunderbar ausgeschildert und das auch noch in einer Sprache, die man lesen kann. Alles ist sauber, ordentlich und stinkt nicht. Dafür gibts aber auch keine bunten Taxis mehr und die Leute tragen keine Saris, sondern schwarze Wintermäntel. Jeder versteht was ich sage, auch wenns mal nicht für alle Ohren bestimmt war Für die Busse gibts nen Fahrplan und der wird auch eingehalten, ausser es wird gerade gestreikt. Aber dann gibts jedenfalls ein Wartehäuschen wo mans sich gemütlich machen kann. Kurz gesagt alles ist ganz normal und kommt mir deswegen irgendwie komisch vor

Mein alter Job wurde mir auch schon wieder angeboten, aber es muss vorwärts gehen, und nicht zurück. Ich bin gespannt, was die Zukunft für mich bereithält!

Und natürlich bin ich auch gespannt auf eure Geschichten vom letzten Jahr und erzähl auch immer wieder gerne meine.

It is now my last day in Udaipur and I cant read anymore – otherwise I wont have anything left for the train ridem which would be very very bad – its around 17 hours. With a good book, thats nothing and with no book its very very long!

I have time to write, so Ill write a little bit.

One really crazy thing are the kids in India. Its amazing. And sad sometimes. Generally I am really impressed. The kids are so well raised. They never cry or argue or whatever. Even when they are traveling on the bus or train for quite a long time. The always now how to behave! That is so impressive. I dont know how they do it, but I want to do it as well! I guess its the respect they have for their parents or grown-ups. But I am not sure about that.

The next crazy thing is, the way the adults treat the children. I am not sure if it is really good. Very often they treat them the same. They talk to them. So when we were for example on the camel safari and we met some kids who were looking for goats or camels, our cook just talked to them. They are not treated as if they were „just children“. This is on one side quite sad, but also not (at least I think so).

The children in India have quite a big responsibility. They start to work, when they are really young and this is of course not nice at all! Very often you can see really young boys carrying heavy buckets with water and old people just watch them. This is … India. Or they have to care for the animals and they are of course the living of the family quite often. But as you can see, kids are clever and also worth trusting more. They can handle stuff, they are amazing. This reminds me of special kind of kindergarten, where kids learn to work with tools.

My cooking class was nice. Meenu is a cool woman and the food was delicious.  Before I leave tonight, I will have another mango curry But unfortunately she wont give me the recipe for the chocolate balls and so I cant make them for the party…

My trip is nearly over – I have 2 more days in India and London is kind of home, because Daniel is coming and we will have a great time!

What I wanted to do on the trip was a bit more thinking, getting known to me and other cultures, meet people and … That thinking thing was really interesting. I am normally to distracted to think and especially at the beginning (well, after South America) I thought, I didnt do what I wanted to do and I was a bit unsatisfied. After that it didnt really change because I had Julia for NZ and in OZ where always people and… Well, its hard work for me and it didnt work out the way I wanted too. BUT (sometimes its good to have a but ) I learned a lot.

All the time you see people, cars, animals, cultures, landscape and and and! All these impressions must be handled somehow and this means that you have to think about them. What I did on the trip was not a lot thinking about me, but more about other stuff I met on my way. But already this is it! Only by thinking of the surroundings includes automatically thinking about oneself. I mean you think always with your own mind (thank God! ), so the way you think, tells you something about your own personality. What you see, will effect you, it will change you – sometimes not a lot (if its „normal“ stuff at home), but sometimes quite a bit or it alters your points of interest/view and shows sides in yourself you didnt even know they where there! I experienced this especially in India as this country is so different, so spiritual, so poor, so rich, so crazy! That was (and still is for a tiny little while) really amazing. I dont know, if I can use this information back home and I dont know, how fast I will forget all this, but I am so glad that I did feel it at all. I got so much more knowledge and learned so much! Here in India I met quite a few people who were strong and kind of wise (its weird to call somebody wise – just try it, you will see! ) and I am very thankful for that!

So that is basically it: I learned so much during this last year. I saw so many country’s (18!!! although a few were just a day trip). I met so many interesting and good people. I could experience a completely new level of my friendship with Eva and realized, that their can always be more. I found out, that friendship generally never should be taken too lightly and thrown away too fast! That it is always worth a fight.

That year was so full, full of things – its really hard to describe. Its even hard to feel it. And soon it will be over and it will be good. New things will come, but that trip will never go. Its up to me, how much I will take with me during the next years. What the future will bring, I dont know, but I am very eager to find out! Life is great and appreciating  every moment as much as we can, is the least thing we should do!

I for myself will try to be a better human being. Because as long as I give good, good will come back to me. Life proved that to me and this trip even more!

And now: More Mango-curry for everyone! And the chocolate balls of course *yammi*

Ps. Eva: I read my diary (by the way only 8 pages left!!!): Do you remember the Knoedelwicht??? HAHA! And Frank, the cat? There is soo much… and I had a prediction in there, crazy! I have to tell you! But not now!

]]> http://globecrossing.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/impressions/feed/ 3 soymona http://globecrossing.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/there-and-back-again/ http://globecrossing.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/there-and-back-again/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:53:00 +0000 soymona http://globecrossing.wordpress.com/?p=571 ]]> Puh, time is runing fast and I wanted to write, but well… now I am writing again.

Eva is gone, is actually at home and I am left here alone. But not really alone, I met quite a few people so I had a great time.

I am now in Udaipur, but I should be actually in Mt. Abu. I went to Mt. Abu, but later more.

In Udaipur I did the same horseriding trip as Eva, but I was not alone, were where 4 in total, but it was nice and the landscape and villages beautiful. I uploaded some pictures of that. Funny is, that one hores had blue eyes – that looks really weird.

The next day I went to Mt. Abu and the trip was good. Oh God, I cant even remember what happend the last week. Friday I did go there. Mt. Abu is relativly small (around 30000) and I walked from the bus stop to the hotel. The hotel seemed to be nice and the bed – ah, the BED – it had a reall matraze! That was great.

The next day I went to the Brahman Kumaris. That is a worldwide organisation that believes in the „supreme soul“ which we call God or Allah or Buddah or whatever. I went to Mt. Abu basically because I wanted to do Yoga and Meditation ant the lonley planet said that you can do it there. I tried to call them before I went, but I couldnt get the information I was looking for. So, I went there and found out more… You can have there a course, but its only one hour a day or two a day if you have less time and it is basically about the philosophy of Brahma Kumaris and Meditaion, whiche is called Rajyoga and that was my main error. I thought that it was Yoga with Asanas (exercises) but its meditation – connecting yourself with the Suprem Soul. It was really interesting and the lessons I had with sister Gudi (Gudrun, a germal woman) and I see that they have great values. On the other hand there was also some weird stuff with it and I am not sure what to think about it. It might be true, it might not. In general I do believe that every person as a kind of own truth and understanding of the world. This includes that what for somebody is true it musnt be true to someone else.

In the hotel there where really nice people. For example a guy who was traveling for long 4.5 years and did great things with his pictures… But nethertheless there was something not right. I really cant explain what exactly it was but I felt very very bad. First of all I couldnt stand the owner, a for me very unsympathic guy. Then the hotel didnt had a nice area to sit down, relax and read – the chairs were super uncomfortable!!! In total I felt bad, really bad. For me it felt as if there was a lot of bad energy in that place. Weird.  I was so restless and I wanted to rest – that was the reason why I went there!

I decided to stay maybe two more nights so I could have more lessons in Brahma Kumaris, but the night went on and I couldnt sleep. At 4.30 am I got up and packed my bag and left 3 days after arriving. I went back to Udaipur, to the nice hotel with the lovley garden and the good Yoga lessons!

So, now I am back. I wanted to stay till Friday, but there is no train to Mumbai, so I will leave tomorrow. Before that I will have a cooking course and that will be awesome. I went there already yesterday and had the most delicouse Mango-Curry EVER! And Meenu (34-year old woman) is absolutly lovely and of course very beautiful!

In my feelings I am still not as calm as I should be. I still sleep not that good, I am restless and unpacient with people. But it is better here and I am trying not to do to much. So internet, Yoga and cooking is enough at all!

I could write more, but not now… now its lord of the rings time -  2 more books to read – about 400 pages till saturday I hope!

On Saturday I went on the bus to Jaisalmer – where the biggest Sandcastle in the world is Its not really true – its just a Fort! Never mind. So my bus was a private bus, but that kind of didnt matter. Millions of Indians (ok, not Millions, but a lot!) where in the bus as well, so I shared my seat with a woman and her kid. It was not really comfortable, but I thought it funny. You pay for one seat, have the expensive (relatively of course) private bus and you get only half a seat… But it was really crowded and its better to share the seat, than to let the other woman stand! I was listening music with my i-Pod and the second woman (they didnt go that far as I did) was really curios. I started showing her my pictures which where saved on there and that was really weird. I was watching the pictures with her eyes and that is so strange! Just imagine where I already have been in the world? There were some monkeys, beaches, waterfalls, partys at home, family, friends, Costa Rica, Greece, Holland, Snowboarding etc. I guess she didnt know what half of it was!!! We are so fortunate that we can do all these stuff. We are so rich in possibilities that these woman will never have! And yet to us its normal. That is ok, because for us it IS normal, but for most of the people in the world its not… Weird!

Jaisalmer itself is a really nice place. I liked it a lot. The fort is the only one, where still people live inside (around 5000) and is just nice to walk around it through the small streets and enjoy yourself. I even got 2 Euros!!!! A woman wanted to exchange them to rupees, I said yes: I gave her 150 for the 2 Euro – she made a good deal and I can buy a Brezn at the airport in Munich

What is really cool, when you are alone (sorry Ev!) is that you can better talk to people. I was chatting first with this young guy (maybe 23) and drank some tea. He wanted to take me to the desert and his village… I declined

Than, about 10 minutes later I met Papu, who owns a nice shop in the fort with textiles… That was not good. My backpack is now 4 kilos more heavier (I guess around 17 kg!!!! ) That is too much!!!! BUT its only 2,5 weeks now and it is sooo cheap Still stupid me! I couldnt resist and Eva was not there to stop me. Well, acutally I think she would have agreed with me, but 17 KILOS!!!! Ok, I stop. Its my own fault and I will not die because of it! And some… oho, I stop her!

With Papu I had also dinner and that was then becoming really weird. I guess he liked me. But still strange! His smile never reached the eyes and I had a weird feeling. And I still believed him about his work and stuff. He seemed to have really good prices and ethic standards. So I did believe him, but he looked as if he was not … I cant tell. He didnt lie! And he gave me two presents… Very weird!

Jana, my best friend back in Germany, had a really big surprise. Well, not surprise, because I guessed it already, but HURRAY! Isnt the world a wonderful place??? I think it is! I am looking so much forward to see her again soon!

You all already know that I am not the most resonable person in the world, so in Jodhpur I got a new book… Lord the Rings! 1200 pages! Isnt that stupid? Of course it is, the book is HUGE, but for that size very light (it is, I swear!!!) and I calculated if I read everyday 100 pages, I will have finished it before I go back home. And its in English and I always wanted to read that. What I dont really understand is why so many people have problems reading it. Again it was very exiting from the beginning (ok, „Concerning hobbits“ maybe not that much, but still). Sometimes it gets a bit hard, but only for maximum 2-3 pages. Thats easy to deal with it… Well, I am now at page 222 (something more that 200) and I started on Saturday. Not bad! I love that book and will cry endlessly at the end – as always! Too sad, too sad!

Apart from that I met yesterday a really nice German guy on the train. He is actually on his holiday, but from Japan. He went there for a year and has now term break and is traveling India for 3 weeks. So nice and clever that guy! Its great to meet people who take the possibilities they have!

Being without Mona didn’t start very good! I had to leave the hotel without the promised breakfast, then my bus to Udaipur left 45 mins late! Then the bus broke down and we had to fix it. It was just 40 degrees, so not too bad and there was this little, cute indian baby boy, who loved me! But still, it took me more than 9 hours, not 5!
But now I’m here and it’s a nice hotel and I like this city. And I’m just back from this awesome horse safari! Loved it! Great, healthy horses with curly ears and a guide, who loves to talk! Yeah Mona, they really exist! So if you ever want to go on a horse tour in India check this place out, they do also tours for a whole week. By the way I was the only one in this tour
http://www.hotelkumbhapalace.com/
And on our way we passed an animal hospital, which is also a great place. It’s founded by an american couple and the care for street animals, like dogs, cows and donkeys. So, if you feel like doing something good… this is your opportunity!
www.animalaidunlimited.com
Ok, enough now. I go and have a shower and then do some shopping for my dear friends back home, whom I will see again in a week!!!!

Eva and me in Jodhpur on our last day together of our trip around the world!

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