Well, it was my New Year resolution to write a final entry and post some of the many pics I took in India, so here we go!
Let's all thank levis for meaking them available (several months ago, it just took me a while to get to it)! I'm certainly thankful!

Let's start with the town of Shimla, in the north of India, where all middle-class/well off Indians go to escape the heat of their hometown (aka anywhere else in India). The town is perched up in the mountains, and is literally on a cliff.

hehehe gotta love India and its cows!

Can you see all those people? The streets were constantly that busy! Massive Indian tourist rush!

The town is also overrun by monkey, they are literally everywhere!

Getting there was a ride and a half, with many many many hours of train ride up the mountain with the old train engines which needed to be cooled off every 20 mins or so by stopping to hose the engine down with water(!)

Pretty picture for someone who used to work for a fire alarm co! hehehe

I met Moushy and a couple of other tourists and we went on the 10 days trip "up north" through the Spiti and Kinnaur Valleys.

On the first day, We came to a stop as a truck was halfway off a cliff on the only road to our first destination.

It had already been there for a couple of hours, so we turned around and went to another town (there's a lot more detail in the entry I wrote "back then").

Old man washing in the hot spring water, by the river
So anyway,

For this portion of the trip, we drove through the Himalayas, so I took a bazillion mountain pics. Here are a few

The first valley had some sort of vegetation, but the second valley was actual desert. This is where the power of irrigation is most striking, allowing little villages and a bit of life in such a harsh environment!

We also visited quite a few monasteries. The culture up there is a combination of Tibetan and Indian (mostly Tibetan actually).

This woman was swiping with a broom made of small tree branches...it was so cute I asked to take a pic, but she didn't let me walk back far enough to actually get the broom...

These people work a lot harder (physically at least) than we ever do:

Cute kids pics:

On the very last day of this 10 day trip, after all this time of mostly nothing and sooo few people, we get to this:

hehehe, Indians discovering snow!

and with them, massive traffic jam, noise, garbage and just people all around! It was a bit eerie, and quite funny!

Back to New Delhi, a bit of city life:

There are no camels in New Delhi, but I can't remember exactly where I took this pic...

Overcrowded bus:

To be fair, it's the only time I saw people on top of a bus, but ya know!

I then went to a town called Haridwar, a holy town where people go to bathe in the Ganga

This would not be complete without pics of the absolutely magnificent Taj Mahal:

Well, lets wrap up with a couple of funny spelling bits:

Darn Sand Witches... beware!

Obscure warning... hehehe

And to conclude, what better than a sunset over the Himalayas! :-)

On this note, I wish you all a wonderful wonderful year 2008!!!!!!!!

80th and final entry!! with pics!! remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Started school, big change but less stressful than work anytime of the day!!
Montreal is only ok so far...I can't believe how little french I hear! It seems like everyone speaks either english, some arabic or spanish...really weird! Doesn't feel like I'm in Qc at all!!!
I really want to post the India pics...will as soon as I kick myself in the butt, send my F'ed up memory card to Levis and get my pics back... in other words...don't hold your breath!...but it'll happen!!!

Mistrale's around the world trip (in 80 entries!) remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I’ve already been back home for over a week, but though I should really end this thing somewhat properly.

On my last day in London, I tremendously enjoyed a free walking tour, with a "oh, so" knowledgeable (and cute to boot) guide. What was supposed to take a little over 3 hours ended-up taking almost 5!! hehehe, but the tour was filled with anecdotes, and bits of history. I'll see what I remember from the pics I took (baaad me, should have done this much earlier!!)-End of section written on August 19...

I really should have done this MUCH MUCH earlier, hehehe, but I just couldn't be bothered. The exercise of writing this blog was further delayed by the fact that, on Aug 19, I processed some of my London pics (to reduce the resolution for ease of upload on this site), and DELETED!!! the ones left (in high resolution) on the memory card!!! I thought I had transferred them to my PC, but hadn't! F'in great!! I was so pissed that I put everything aside until further notice (aka: today). The worst part is that I emptied the memory card to have more space for a wedding I was going to on the weekend of Sept 1, BUT I FORGOT MY CAMERA at home !!!!!!! AND THEREFORE DIDN'T END-UP TAKING A SINGLE PIC!!! What a massive waste of time and energy and great way to raise the blood pressure!! Anyway, I then moved to Mtl, and school started, so my time has been spent reading...and reading some more! I'm now mostly caught-up (actually procrastinating a little, but I have a class in 1:30 hour, so doing this entry is a great way to relax the little grey matter a little.)

Back to beautiful London, ....the pics you'll see are all the ones I have left from this leg of my trip! arrgghhh!
I'll try to go in order of the tour.

This is "The Monument", which was built to remember the great fire that almost completely burned London in...a long time ago. It is, however, thanks to this fire that the plague was eradicated in London! A bit of history: back then, all the building were made of wood. When the plague hit (fact then unknown: caused and spread by rats), the great men of the time tried to figure out how to stop it. They started by killing all the cats (!), then the dogs, then the Catholics (hehehe), but none of it worked. The population was dying faster than I can type this and, unfortunately, or fortunately, one night, a baker didn't extinguish the fire of his oven properly and started a fire which spread through all of London, thanks to joined wood walls. In the process, it killed rats and population, thus marking the end of the great plague!

We then visited the London bridge, which I didn't take a pic of because it's a very simple boring concrete bridge. It's well known because it was the first bridge in London (originally built of wood, burned, rebuilt of wood, burned again, then built of rocks of some sort).
It did however provide a good vantage point of the well known Tower bridge

We then visited St-Paul's Cathedral, which is one of the very few monuments that wasn't destroyed in either World War, despite it's location on a hill, and it's impressive height. Of course, some thank a Divine intervention, but others remark that at the time of these wars, plane radar and visual indications weren't exactly as they are today, so pilots needed to keep landmarks as to know where they were and where to drop bombs....

We then went to the Millennium bridge. Designed by a Sir "something", big local name who has also designed several other landmarks of London. Anyway, he was asked to design this bridge for, you've guessed it: year 2000. The budget was 10M pounds. Anyway, as with many projects, it went like 2.5times over budget, and on January 1st, all the media was there, and several hundred people were waiting to be the first to walk on this wonderful new bridge. As they got on, and got further toward the middle, the bridge started to sway quite a bit and people started to get sick, so the media, instead of getting shots of wonderful happy people on a wonderful bridge, got pics of people pucking from each side!!! hehehe HAHAHAH!!!The architect in question ended-up saying that the problem was not his design, the problem was “how the people of London walk”!?!?! He didn't exactly make friends with that one, and another few million pounds were spent to fix the bridge. It's now called "wobbly bridge" by locals! hehehe

We then went to Covent Garden. A market that it for tourists (undeniably), but nevertheless fun to see. It has some historical relevance that I don't remember. I had a Cornish pastry (typical traditional meal for miners) which was quite good. It's essentially a layer of dough filled with (traditionally) beef, but (today, almost anything you can think of) and folded over to make a little pocket of food in dough, with a bit of dough folded together to hold-on so that the miners could eat it with their dirty hands. I had a veggie one and it was very good!!

The famous Big Ben. Quite nice indeed, and tall. Apparently 2 double-decker busses can fit (height-wise) in that clock! wooo! It is the most precise analogye clock around...apparently.

Now, it's important to mention that the entry fee for each of these monuments/buildings was AT LEAST 10pounds!!!! No need to say that I didn't visit any. Crazy!!!

I don't know the exact name of this park, but I call it Protest park. It's located in front of the Parliament (attached to Big Ben). The story is: People went there to protest..I believe the Vietnam war... and set up camps and stuff. At some point, the city made it illegal to set-up camp there, but didn't make it retroactive, so the people already there could stay. The result it that they never left (I suspect there were shifts and rotations of people, but nevertheless). There is actually 1 man who's made it his life dedication to protest and has been there fore over 20 years!!

The tour then finished at Westminster Abbey... not exactly sure why it's important, but it is...I think most monarchs and well known figures are buried there...

At that point, WAY behind schedule, I had to run to get the

and go meet my cousin and his new

little girl.

That was that of that day.

The following morning, day of my departure (at 5pm), I went to Buckingham Palace hoping to see the change of the guard (big thing apparently), but because of all the deployments at war and stuff, they only do it every other 2 days, and I was on an "off" day...oh well!

I then went to visit a nearby park, and was told a while back, that there wasn't really any wildlife left in Europe...even squirrels. I didn't really believe it until I noticed that people were marvelling at the squirrels in the park!! heheheh They should come to MTL!!
I saw pretty swans (what's the plural of swan?)

I then went to have a fish and chips (couldn’t possibly go to the UK without eating it). It was MASSIVE!!!

and I must say, the first time I ate a fish and chips and didn't feel yuky at the end (despite serious amounts of grease on, in and around it!). Nothing beer didn't wash away! hehehe

Let's finish with a couple of pics from the wonderful hostel I stayed in:

and London landmarks:

and

And the sign I was most happy to see in a long time:

The picture is kind of shitty as I realized a bit late that I was maybe not supposed to take pictures while waiting in line to get through customs! hehehe

I have to go to class, but there will be a last entry, as I think that the trip really ended here in Mtl, and I like the idea of finishing an 80th entry (no better way of ending things than with a round number)

London pics remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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hehehe, yet another keyboard with different key locations!!! hehehe, and I though these things were pretty much standard (aka US standard!) oh how wrong was I! hehehe
Well, I made it to London today and got to walk around a little, went to Picadilly Circus, Notting Hill, and just walked around. London is freaking busy!!! I thing I will tremendously enjoy a visit here, but understand the many people who told me that they would never live here. Well, tomorrow a long day is planned, from a free 4hrs walking tour of "everything to see in donwntown London", to a visit to my cousin's, to a potential visit to the Beer Festival (entry is 6.5£, but can I really miss this?? I don't think so!! hehehe -anyway it'll probably be the only thing I visit as everything else is out-of-this-world expensive).

Well, my time is up at this free hostel internet, but more news soon! I had forgotten why I booked this hostel, but remembered as soon as I saw it: it's an authentic colonial (aka old looking) house and it's absolutely gorgeous. I wonder why it's a cheap hostel and not an expensive hotel!!

Cheers

LONDON!!!! remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Today was my last full day in France and I must admit that I'm glad my time is almost done. I'm honestly completely fed up with travelling and sightseeing and out of money, so I've spent the last 3 days just walking around town (I must have seen all "the nice places" at least twice), my feet hurt, I'm tired and not hungry, but not well fed either (mostly munching and eating sandwiches, I haven't sat down for a proper meal in a restaurant yet, too $$ and no real interest in local food as it inevitably involves meat (and yuky parts of it too, like the stomach, nose, etc, although I know I could get chicked or duck at most places). On top of it, it started to rain yesterday and today, although not raining, it's freaking cold, so I burn time (and keep warm) here at the internet cafe.

On a brighter note, I went to see a really good french movie yesterday, called "Conversations avec mon jardinier", it was delightful and this morning I went to visit ruins from the Roman time, with the largest coliseum found in the region. This part was quite interesting, as the walk through a very nice park to get to the Basilica was also quite nice, so was the basilica itself. I then had a drink with a friend of a friend, who currently lives here, and it was nice to speak with someone other than a fellow traveller (I litterally cannot stand the "traveller conversation" that we always have at hostels, where are you from, when did you get here, for how long, where from, where to, etc arrggghhh so boring and repetitive!! I've turned a bit antisocial, and avoid people there-to avoid THE conversation. I'll go through the motions when cornered, but always seek an escape route asap. hehehe, man it's time to go home! Throughout this trip I didn't want to complain, so I tried not to, but not I'm officially done...les carrottes sont cuites! the fat lady has sung.

hehehe well, not sure what to end this, overall quite boring entry..pics...why not.

Let's start with a few from Paris (the ones that were on my memory stick)

The artwork around that door was amazing, although probably not very antique...

Cathédrale Notre-Dame, centre of Paris since before it was called Paris!

It says "Point zéro des routes de France" (Point zero of the French roads)

Charlamagne. Tthere's a song in French that says that Charlemagne invented school as we know it...I resisted the urge to throw him a few rotten eggs. hehehe

It was higher than I expected, and due to my own fault and somewhat lazyness, I didnt' go up, but still admired it.

This, on hte other hand, was smalle rthan I expected... The lastnames of ...fighters I guess... were carved everywhere on the structure, but despite looking carefully, I didn't see any that I knew...to bad.

Now Lyon

This is the centre-ville (downtown). it brings me to something I noticed in Paris and ever since, but never mentioned. Cities here (that I've seen) rarely have highrises, everything is 4, 5 sotries max. Probably due to the history of the place, but the contrast is strilking here with the 1 highrise! hehehe Generally churches, and mostly cathedrals are the highest thing around!!!

Vieux Lyon, where the hostel is (on top of the hill), but you cannot see it here.

The roman coliseum, well a small portion of it at least. Thse ruins are quite large and were mostky buried until the 80's when they were dug up. Today they have theatre and music shows there. It's quite the location!

Sketch of the structure "back when", the dark grey portion is what remains and has been restored today. The structure could seat 11,000 people (!) and but did not have a solid roof (due to engineering issues), but rather a velum "fabric" roof to protect from the sun and rain.

and last pic:

Taken right in town, pretty cool! We are in the Rhone region after all (well known for it's wines).

SO that's that, I may post from London, but it will be price dependent... in any case, I'll post some stuff upon my return to CANADA!!! HHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! :=)

Lyon, with pics remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I arrived in Lyon last night, but despite the absolutely georgeous day today, I've decided to hold off on visiting the town too much until tomorrow, as today is Sunday (combined with the summer holiday) and EVERYTHING is closed. Litterally! So far I had noticed that approx 75% of the shops were closed on Sundays, making it quite the quiet day. But now, approx 60-70% of the shops are closed for the month of August, so Sundays are deader than ever!!! It was even difficult to find this cybercafé!! (which are normally always opened 7/7).

Anyway, Lyon looks quite nice nevertheless, and I was initially delighted to end-up in a famer's market this morning. They were selling everything, from fruits (in large quantities mostly, i.e 3-4lbs of grapes, or peaches, or abricots, or apples for 2€) to cheeses, via bread and meats (raw and cooked). It was great at first, but quickly only further exacerbated my annoyance at not having a place to store this food and inability to bring anything back home. Indeed, I'm flying to London, and the baggage limit is 15kg, but my bag is already at least 17-18kg, so I got to find a way to reduce the weight, and can absolutely NOT increase it (they charge 5€ per extra lbs...), and the hostel has the most ridiculous fridge I've ever seen for a place like this, it's a small fridge that one would normally find in a university residence room, or small studio (5cubic ft or so)!!!! for over 100 beds!!!! I opened it yesterday only to have stuff fall all over, stuff was exploding out of it....how ridiculous!!! So I was faced with endless amounts of reasonably priced, great quality food and could not enjoy it!!! arrgghh I ended up buying a small cheese, some bread and 2lbs of grapes (for 1€!!) as my lunch and had to pass on everything else...oh well, we have farmers market too in Qc, so I'll catch up there I guess...but still

Ok, back to pics from Grenoble!

This is a pretty good angle, as it shows one of the 3 mountain range that surrounds the town, this one is called Vercors...
The little bubbles are gondolas that bring us up to La Bastille, a fort built to protect/prevent access to the town, and which was for a long time the only point of entry/exit fo the town...I unfortunately realise that I forgot to take a pic of the Bastille... oh well, it looks like any other fort...

This gives a bit better image of the size of the town (it's not large, but not tiny either), still with the Vercors.

This is the last one with the Vercors, but the interesting this is the "accélérateur de particules", the oval structure, built to ccelerate electrons...there are only a few in the world, and for some reason, there's one in Grenoble (it helped that it's such a "scientific" town thanks to the U's and research done there.

This is the Alps, with the massif called Chaîne de Belledonne. It's quite impressive in real life. The three towers you see were, for a long time, the highest in Europe (28 stories) and are made of concrete. The region is well known for it's concrete, as it was the second place where it was mass produced...something weird to be proud of, considering how few people like the look of concrete, however, no one can deny it's importance and use in today's society.

This last one is the Massif de la Chartreuse, and although you can currently only see 1 peak, it's quite large. We actually went up the highest peak of this Massif, a mountain called Chamchaude, with an elevation of 2087m.

Pic of the Chamechaude:

Pics from the top:

Maëlle and Julien, who so kindly welcomed me in their respective homes!! and then dragged me up a mountain! hehehe ;-)

We then went to a Monastery, where they -to this day- control the making of an alcohol called La Chartreuse. It's made of over 130herbs and was originally developped to be an Elixir de Vie, and eventually became alcoholic. I tried it and it's very stong (it comes in 40%, 55% and 71%) but quite good. We visited the caves where they make it and I got 2 samples to bring back (yay!!). I would have loved ot buy an actual bottle, but the freaking weight restrictions I mention above prevent it...(that and the eternal budget of course!)

Anyway! Pretty architecture of Grenoble...

And last but no least, pics from the Musée de Grenole, where they have exhibitions of art from the Middle Age, Renaissance, modern art (blablabla, the first two are paintings of religious stuff, interesting but not breathtaking, and I could have done most of the stuff of the thirst category, not exactly impressive), but also ancient Egypt stuff, which I found quite remarkable.

The colours were just so bright that I wonder if they haven't been restaured...it didn't say so on the info stuff, but I should have asked. However, Maëlle told me that she had been awstruck at the colours inside the different pyramids and tombs when she had visited Egypt, so it might still be original. In any case, even if it was re-done, the level of detail was great too.

Well, that's that for that!
Cheers

Grenoble, with pics remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I had been feeling like this pretty much since arriving in Europe, but living at Julien's in Paris, and now Maëlle (the famous -and oh so nice and helpful! "friend of a friend" hehehe) here in Grenoble is only exhacerbating this feeling. Being able to buy food and keep it in a fridge, cook a meal and eat it in nice clean plates, keep left-overs and eat them the following day, be the (almost) only one to use a bathroom/shower, quietness, cozyness... ahhhh. It also doesn't help that the vegetation here in grenoble strangely resembles that of Vancouver (blackberry bushes, a kind of hedge tree that I dont' know the name but is everywhere in Van, nice fresh air, gorgeous mountains...ahhh how I miss Vancouver....snif snif)

On a brighter note, Maëlle has unveiled a bit the "mysteries" of French eating (my favorite sport in the whole wide world!! hehehe), how to choose the cheese, eat it with bread and wine (at the end of a meal), different kinds of cheese (how I LOVE cheese!!). I've loved every kind I've tried so far except for the Roquefort (aka blue cheese), which is awful and soo strong! yak!!. Tonight we'll be having a maigret de canard... not sure what to expect, but I know it'll be good! Not eating red meat is a bit of a pain for her (the French are NOT veg'ies), but I think she's being very nice and accomodating about it and I try to help as much as I can around her place. It's SOOO great to be in a home, SOOO great!!

The city of Grenoble is mainly a student city, with several lycés and Uniersity, lots of research and stuff here. it gives the city a great feel, combined witht he gorgeous mountain scenery. I'll post pics soon and comment then.
Cheers

Grenoble remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Let's start with my last 2 days in Paris. I have a few more pics to post, but they're on my memory stick, which is not with me right now, so later. Here are some relevant ones from my camera.

I first visited the Chateau de Versailles, which was, unfortunately, quite a disapointment, as it was undeniably nice, but not exactly as breathtaking as I had imagined. I think we're better off just seeing it in movies, where it's fully "made up". In real life, for logistics reasons, large sections of each rooms are left empty (so tourists can walk through), and quite a few rooms are not completely restored, so it's just ok... Fortunately, despite the enormous amounts of people, it didn't seem too busy and the flow was fairly steady. Furthermore, the audio guide included with the price made it interesting, with anecdotes, and explanations of the various pieces of art in each room, as well as the purpose of the rooms. Nevertheless, it wasn't worth, in my opinion, the 21.45E it cost me....
I only took a few pics, here are the most interesting...I have some from inside, not really worth it...I think that the Appartementsde Napoleon at the Louvre was a more accurate rendition of the splendeur of the time than what they have put at Versailles (almost nothing survived past the Revolution). They are nevertheless actively working on restaurations, so it might get better over time.

I spent most of the last day on the metro, as I kept changing my mind and forgetting silly stuff. So my initial idea was to go to the train station to get the tickets that I had bought online, but realized, once there, that I had forgotten my credit card (required for ID), so that was a wasted trip. I then decided to go to the Picasso museum, but once there, I realized that my mind wouldn't be at ease until I got those tickets printed, so I set out to find an internet cafe (I can print them there), which was quite far and a whooping 1.50E/15mins!!! So anyway, I printed my ticket and then decided to go up the Eiffel tower instead of the museum, so I set on the (rather long) train journey to the tower, only to arrive there and find the longest lines in history (it was a Saturday, and on top of it, the 1st day off of summer vacation for most French people -they actually get a full month off here, which means that most shops are closed for 1 month!!!), so I decided to skip going up the tower (after all, I only had a few hours before having to go back to take my train, so time was an issue) and head off to the Archeological crypt of the Notre Dame Cathedral, as it was the next "most interesting thing to see" on my list. This place was quite nice, and is located under the Notre-Dame parvis. It showed the evolution of Paris (originally only on the island) that you see here, which stil exists (but was quite enlarged over the centuries,a nd is now somewhat buried in the "large Paris", but the Notre Dame cathedral is still there, and so is the marker as "Km 0" of all the roads to/from Paris.

The area is quite large, and was made into a museum as it is one of the only places in Paris where we can see the evolution of time, as it's function hasn't changes much over the centuries (church parvis and "main road", while the rest of the place was, sequentially completely destroyed and re-built several times.
This is a set of what the crypt looks like.

It showed the old port walls, many house structures, a section of an old street (the level of the are was raised by as much as 4meters over time), ditches, etc. A section of particular interest was about the aqueduc that the romans built, as well as a house heating system, where the floor of the houses was raised over what I would describe as piloties, and a furnace provided heat that was distributed to the floor through these piloties. How cool!

Anyway, since I still had a couples of hours left, I went back to the Picasso museum, which I realized onlyupon entry in the first gallery, that I had been thinking Van Gogh the whole time (even though I was saying and seeing Picasso).. I'm not much of a abstract fan, so it was a bit of a disappointment to have spent 6.50E on this, and the exhibition was only ok for me, although it was nice to see his progression (the exhibition is mostly in chronological order).
Here were my 2 favorites (I'm still amazed that we are allowed to take pics in museums here!)

It was funny to talk to Julien and Damien about my sights and stuff in Paris, as is typical for anyone living in a city, they were not aware of the many things and had either never been, or not in a very long time, to most of the sights...hehehe

So I left Paris for Marseille later that day, on a TGV 1st class ticket (bought on sale for cheaper than a regular ticket)! hehehe Le grand luxe!!!

I arrived in Marseille late at night (11:30) and had not done my homework properly on "how to get to the hostel", so I decided to take a taxi. It cost me an arm and a leg!!! 18E to be exact!!! I started sweating at 12E when I realized that we still weren't near! No need to say that I will NOT be taking another taxi on this trip FOR SURE!!! hehehe, I made it after all, only to find out that everyone in my room was sleeping, that my bed hadn't been cleaned and that there was no room key for me as it was broken! Joy! I settled in the room anyway and tried to sleep, but it was freaking hot (no wonder why all the french come down here for their vacation!), my nose got really stuffed (still fighting this cold) and I had a really hard time breathing, so I didn't sleep much at all... oh well, I was more than happy at the prospect of staying with the cousin of my friend of a friend (her name is Maëlle) for the 2 following nights.

I moved in with her yesterday and slept like a baby. She has a great place, faily small but perfect for 1 person and a sofa that turns into a bed, which is awsome.

Marseille is a puzzling city, as the old part is very pretty, as you can see here
The Vieux Port:

Let's sneak in the only one of me taken recently

A fountain called "Lavie":

but at the same time, there are a lot of vacancies (shops), buildings not so well kept, and the most intense regroupment of immigrants from the Magrehb (Maroc, Tunisie, Egypt etc) that I have ever seen. This is the only town so far that I have visited where the "kebab and donair" shops outnumber the "bakery/sandwich" shops. I bought some great halva and could have bought a beautiful Morrocan plate if I have the space in my luggage.
I also met some Marseillais who weren't very happy with the turn the city has taken, and were very vocal about it...I can understand to a point, as I hear more arabic spoken than French, but at the same time, once again, when asked how things could be improved, they have no solution, no suggestion....

On the topic of differences, everything between the Qc anf the French is different, but close! It's so funny! For example, a napkin is a tissu, a laveuse is a lave-linge, a soie dentaire is a fil dentaire, the girls are nanas... and there are countless examples, none of which come tomind right now (of course). So whenever I ask for something new, I try different words and sequences until we pinpoint the "French" way. hehehe

Other random thoughts:
The milk sold here is almost exclusively the sterilized type (which can be kept on the self for months)....I am yet to see fresh milk.

Something that surprised me: the French drink almost exclusively rosé (wine) during the summer months... I wonder in which proportion they drink white and red during the winter months...

If you, or your kids plan to visit France, make sure they do it BEFORE they're 25 yrs old as they get SIGNIFICANT discounts and free entry on all museum, train passes, etc. It would easily have cut my "visiting" costs by half!!! crazy!

Well, that's that for that,
Cheers

Paris and Marseille remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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PARIS!!!
I have a ton of pics, so I’ll simply post them and comment along.
Let’s begin with the last few pics from Tours…

Le Château de Tours...

This is now a museum (free entrance! yay!), originally built by a rich bourgeois, and now a fascinating place with artefacts all the way to prehistoric times! Very instructive on this region of France (and how France became France - got the name from a family that ran the region for a period, called Francs).

Ah, le Loire river (fleuve en français), the only fleuve that's never been made "boatable" (too shallow) left in France.

I left Tours with Ze-Bus, a service that I strongly reccomend, very cool way to discover France, for all ages (leaving Tours I was with 2 girls a bit younger than me, but getting there, there were 2 old ladies, at least in their sixties, as well as people in their 50'ies). Anyway, we stopped at the Grandes Caves de St Roch (!!!, funny coincidence, as my father was named after this Saint). This is a wine houses that produces mainly bubbly, exactly as per the traditional method (aka Champagne). The Champagne name has been trademarked so harshly, that no one else can use it at all, thus having to call their champagne "bubbly-as per the traditional method). (Apparently even the Chanel had to recall a perfume they had called Champagne!!) This place is quite remarkable, as it is almost entirely underground, in caves created when they were digging for rocks to build the castles of the region! The result, is a vast network of chambers, over 3km long (!), 30m underground, at a constant temperature of 12celcius.

For 2E, we got a guided tour of the premises, where they ferment the wine (2 fermentations, the 1st in a big tank for 30 days, the second in individual bottles for 1-2 years). They produce approx 1million bottles a year, and the tour obvisouly ended with a degustation! hehehe. Anyway, the tour was further enhanced as they recreated a bit of history to show visitors how the blocks of rock were orgiginally cut and taken out the cave (they took "carrotte" samples to find where the best rock was, then would carve around, we're talking activities over centuries, so tools changed over time, but compared to our standards, remained very basic. For example, they could dig around a certain block, then insert pieces of wood on the side, then wet the wood so it would swell, thus separating the block of rock from the rest! They would then cut it into smaller pieces and roll these out fo the cave - thus why the floor of the cave is always at a slight angle down toward the exit.

After the castle building phase, the caves were abandonned, and people discovered that the environment was ideal for mushroom growing, thus that became a new use of the space. Some smaller caves were also given to workers, who used them as homes (many are still occupied today). Eventually, someone though of the caves for wine making, so tanks were built inside the caves to hold the wine, etc.

This cave also had the following area, dedicated to Saint Roch

This is a statue of the saint in question, who was a pilgrim, known to cure diseases (plague) in people. He was called to the region when the vines got a disease that threatened to kill the entire industry and miracuously cured the vines, thus re-establishing the wine industry in the Loire valley. He is facing away as he is a pilgrim, always turning his back to the world and moving toward a sacred space. I thought it was a nice story!

Moving on, we went to the Chateau Chambord, which is known to be one of the most extravagant castle of France, built over 20 years by the king. Leonardo Da Vinci designed a special set of stairs, with 2 stairwells built side by side, but in a way that one can never see anyone going up or down the other stairwell...pretty cool. The castle has an enormous number of everything: fireplaces, chemines, window, balconies, etc. For some reason, the king only stayed there 42 days (!!!) before deciding to move to a town nearby and (obviously) build another castle there. I am not aware of an official explanation of such a short stay at the castle, but I think it's because The Chateau de Chambord is located so far from everything (in fact there was nothing there when the location was chosen. A little village was built to serve the needs of the castle! Talk about extravagance ) that is was too difficult for guests to get there, aka got boring...I don't know, just a guess. To this day the area is all farming, except for this massive tourist attraction.
A few of pics

I really like this pic... I find it so peaceful...

While leaving, we saw this

hehehe, the new castles of France! Funny timing, as I had heard on the news a bit of controversy surrounding the fact that many nuclear powerplants in France may not really meet the reglementation regarding resistance to earthquakes....hmmm, there are reactors like this one spread throughtout France.

We then arrived in Paris, where the driver of Ze-Bus (her name is Nadege, she's the founder of this small co)took us for a litle drive around town and I took the following pics.

It was such a good intro to Paris, with the gorgeous sunset!!
The first tow pics are obviously the Arc de Triomphe, and this last one is a menisque offered by some Egyptian "high guy" to Napoleon...I don't have much info yet, but I plan on going walking around there today, so I should know more soon.

I then met up with Julien, my super host here. He has a great place, a very comfy couch, a super friendly roomate and just overall such hospitality! A great place to stay! (not to mention internet access..which I why I'm still here at 13:53, updating the blog when I should be out!-but it’s ok, I have enough time to see everything I want)

Yesterday was my first day in town and it's indeed very very nice. It's undeniable a big city, but as I had heard, it's big and it's not. There are a bazillion metro lines, whiwh means that one can get anywhere and everywhere quickly and, really for a tourist, the landmarks are quite easy to find and there aren't THAT many (well, there ARE, but one can eqsily decide the palces that he/she most wants to see)
So yesterday I walked around, visited the Eglise St-Germain des Prés

and the Louvres. Many many people had told me not to bother with the Louvres for various reasons, but I didn't think I could reasonnably come to Paris and not go there, so I waited until 6pm (reduced rate to 6E) and am totally happy to have visited. It's true that it's only a museum like any other, but at the same time, it's really not! For one, it has 60,000sqft...not exaclty a standard size museum, and it was the Royal Palace for thousands of years!!! It therefore has a great history behind it, which is highlighted by a couple of exhibitions ( unfortunately, the "History of the Louvre" exhibition was closed - to my great dismay), but the "Louvre Médiéval" was opened, where they show original sections of the building, with the donjon, other sections. Very cool!
The sheer size of the building and number of different rooms made orientation sometimes a bit difficult (kinda like a treasure hunt I felt! hehehe) Anyway, as a result, anyone "on the move" had their nose solid in the map of the museum (me included). It was funny to see!

I also visited the VERY extravagant Appartements de Napoléon.

I used to be annoyed at the Catholic church for being so rich (all the gold, precious stones; etc), but seeing the castles and reading about habits of the Monarchy....I think it's outrageous the life of opulence they lived while the people often was so poor! This sentiment will probably only be re-inforced by my visit of the Chateau de Versaille tomorrow! No wonder there was a revolution and hte Monarchy never made it's way back in France!

Let's begin with pics of the outside of the building, which is absolutely massive and entirely coverely in fine carved details...for some reason, I focused on the glass pyramids more than the rest...

Then some "must see" once inside (it’s very great that we were allowed to takes pics for most of the exhibitions!!):

Venus de Milo, from an unknown sculptor, she has become a chef c’œuvre because of the unusual angles of her body (semi twist, as well as the drape almost falling from her hips).

La Joconde, I was pleasantly surprised by this one, as everyone kept telling me it's small, and not that nice....they're wrong! It's a normal size (I had come to expect something like 1x1sq feet-that's why I post this pic, to show you the size) and it is actually quite mesmerizing (despite the crowds constantly around it)...some people say that it's really a man, etc....I don't think so, in real life, there's something that pictures don't capture...a sort of feminity....not to mention the frame, which is gorgerous, seems like fine carved wood...

This is called Les Noces de Cana....but I wonder if it's not was we have come to know as The last supper.....At first glance, I giggled, as Jesus (or the guy in the middle), from the angle I initially saw it, had a face, quite comical, that said "oh fuck, what have I put my self into this time!" hehehe, from other angles he looks peaceful or sad....

Les Joyaux de la Couronne....more opulence! There's a diamond there that 640 carats!!!! and a broche (approx 10cm in diameter!!!)with thousands of diamonds given by a king to his son....who the F needs that!!! (well, clearly, need was not an issue here!)

There was also a great exhibition of an Egyptian medical parchemin written on papyrus recently retrieved from a private collector (one of 7 known in the world), dating back more than 4000 years!!! Pictures were not allowed, but there was a ton of information on the medical profession in ancient Egypt, and we could feel the excitement of the archeologists through the various descriptions, explanations and translations of the document. Very cool.

This concludes my visit of the Louvres. I obviously didn't see everything (it's impossible), but picked what I think are the best bits and therefore was very happy with my choice. There was a lot of people, but it never felt too crowded, which was also great.

Last pic, I was on my way to the tallest building of Paris, so see the town at night, but at the same time I didn't really want to go (the 9.5E to get up is outrageous - in my opinion) as it would have put me badly over budget. As I got off the bus, I got this great view of the Eiffel tower (the main thing I wanted to see at night, so I took this pic for free! yay!). Anyway, I'll see Paris from the top the the tower (my 5E rule is kinda out the window here in Paris) today.

Last adventure of yesterday -but not least- has to do with the metro. I was told that I should get a "Carte Orange" which, for 16.20E/week, gives unlimited access to all metro and buses for a certain period of time. I was also told to bring a picture, as the card has your pic on it...alright, I still have some left from Thailand. I go to the counter and ask for a carte orange....the guy tells me "it's only good till Sunday", I leave on Sat night, so I said ok. He gives me a little coupon....I'm like..hmmm, no card, no pic...the system must have changed.... so I take my little coupon and use it all day to get access to the metro. Toward the end of the day, I get to a random control station, where they ask for proof of access. I show my little coupon, and the woman asks me for my Carte Orange...I point to the little coupon and say it's there...she starts explaining that this is the coupon, but to use it I must have the carte orange, with the pic and all...I play dumb and ask why the guy at the counter didn't tell me this, bla bla bla, I'm only a tourist here for 4 days, etc. She says I should have known, and the fee is 40E (!!!!) payable on the spot, cash, credit or bank card (!). In my head I decide there's no way I'll pay that, and luckily, I only had 2E left on me (and my bank card hidden in my purse, but I didn't tell her that), and no ID (as I left that stuff hidden at Julien's), so I keep gently but firmly arguying with her, until she called her supervisor, we talk a little more, repeated the same story, and he let's me get away with it (hehehe).
So anyway, I quickly added my pic to the card she gave me and am now fully compliant (except that the Carte Orange is not for tourists, that's something else she kept repeating), as we should know that we must buy a more expensive card (F that!). I'll probalby be able to get away with it if it becomes an issue, but I think it'll be fine....hehehe freaking French and their stupid rules! I had often head about their stupid/overwhelming bureaucracy and got my first glimps there! Hehehe

Well, off to visit more of Paris!

Cheers!!

Paris, la ville des amoureux.... remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Ahhhh, finally I have a plan!!!

Arrivée à Paris le 24 en soirée (Ze-Bus)
Départ de Paris le 28 en soirée pour Marseille (train)
Départ de Marseille le 31 pour Lyon (train)
Départ de Lyon le 4 pour Grenoble (train)
Départ de Grenoble le 8 août en mi-journée pour Londres (Ryanair).

A flight from Grenoble was 1/5 of the price of a train back to Paris than Paris-London! Crazy!
This plan only gives me a few days in Paris, but I've heard it's very expensive there, and anyway, I figure that even if I never get to visit all of France again, a visit of "Paris only" remains highly possible, so it's all good. On a bright note, I get to visit beautiful Marseille, where apparently the Mistral blows (hehehe, since this could be misinterpreted, FYI the Mistral is a wind in France, cold and strong! :-P, so anyway, I'm somewhat anxious to see the reaction of people there when I tell them my name !!!! hehehe

I then heading to the town of Lyon; which is apparently quite beautiful and worth visiting, then off to Grenoble which I like for the name (and it's in the Alpes, and a friend of a friend; the girlfriend of the guy I'll be staying with in Paris, lives). I'll only be in London for a couple of days, but seeing how bad the Euro is already hurting me, and the fact that French people tell me they can't afford it there (!!), I hope to survive the 2 days in London (hehehe, should be ok). Then, finally, it's home !!! yay!!! well, kinda, mom's place for a while, then move to residence... which I'll eventually call home for sure.

So anyway, couple of stories I want to remember:

We sometimes hear of the immigration tensions in France, but I have to admit that I have only seen a couple of examples of it. 1- I overheard a few homeless people talking and they kept repeating "les arabes et les noirs"... alright, whatever. 2-Then in Bordeaux, I kept buying water at this convenience store, so the guy (clearly from arabic descent) and I started chatting once. He said "vous êtes québecoise?", I said yes, and I asked if he was french, half joking, expecting a "mais bien sur!" or something. His answer surprised me, as much for the content, as for the speed at which it came out. He said "nooon! je suis Tunisien", so I said "vous n'êtes pas français?", he said "no", I asked if he was officially a French citizen, and he said "oui, mais vous savez..." ... wow, it was a clear display of "feeling of non-assimilation" and it made me wonder if our "minorities" in Canada would have the same answer... I left it at that, but almost asked him why he came and stayed here then (but if you've ever met someone from a 2nd or 3rd world country, it's almost the national dream to go live overseas, so it was kind of a stupid question. It would have been better to ask if he knew what was awaiting here before coming....as this is something I wonder every time I take a cab driven by an Indian, or go to the Dry-cleaner, etc).
Anyway, the 3rd incident was in the tram. The system is as follow: you buy a ticket at a stand at the tram stop, and validate it on the tram (by inserting it into a little machine in the tram). The system is basically control-free, except for the controllers, who, like in Vancouver, roam the trains, and most of the time you don't see them, but sometimes they just appear and check everyone's ticket. Well, 3 black teenagers had their ticket but didn't validate them (once validated the ticket is only good for 1 hour), when they saw the controller get on, one of them rushed to the nearest "validator-machine" and proceeded to validate the tickets. The controller saw him do it, so he said that this wasn't how it's to be done, and they had committed an infraction and bla bla bla! I honestly don't know if he would have done the same if the culprit was a middle-aged white woman (i.e), but they black guy argued for a while and they said, "c'est ça, c'est parce que je suis noir!" I was unfortunately getting off at that point, so I didn't hear the response, but I also don't think that it was entirely justified (the it's because I'm black comment).... this is, so far, the extent of my witnessing of "racial inequalities", despite the fact that the hostel in Bordeaux was in a clearly impoverished black/arabic neighborhood (aka ghetto'ish)

To finish on a brighter note: hehehe in La Rochelle, I realised that I hadn't had any cheese yet, which is sort of a crime when in France (in my mind at least) hehehe, so I bought a slice of brie and some bread, ate most of it for lunch and put what was left in my bag. Later that day, I kept getting whiffs of stinky feet, and happened to be wearing my sandals which sometimes give me "not so good" feet odour (hehehe) so back at the hostel, I washed my sandals and my feet, but was puzzled by the fact that neither stunk... whatever, I then went to bed and had yet again a nasty whiff, re-smelled my feet... everything was good so I went to sleep (note, I always sleep with my purse next to me on the bed). The next morning, I had to pack for the trip to here, so I started loading and unloading the stuff in my purse, only to take out the cheese and bread and get a REALLY strong feet scent! hehehe it was the cheese which hadn't kept too well in my bag!!! hehehe end of story! hehehe

Cheers

P.S. Laundromats are FREAKING expensive here!!! Like 4-6E for a load!!!!!!! I had to do too much laundry for my usual system (wash the clothes of the day while I take my shower (clothes not on me of course!! I have a bar of clothes soap that I bought in India, and just incorporate clothes washing inbetween "me" washing) so I decided to do a load at "the bargain price" of 6.2E for wash and dry, for a load of up to 8kg... I though "I don'th think I even have 8kg worth of clothes..." so I washed everything I have with me... it's good to have all "machine-washed and dried" clothes for the first time in months!!! hehehe

What's next, and other random thoughts remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I only have enough (barely enough), to be in the towns I visit, aka, not do any sort of activity or visit or tour that require any form of payment (I’ve put a 5E limit, but realistically, nothing is less than 10E, and even that’s rare). I feel much better now that that’s settled (kinda like when I decided I wouldn’t eat Kristen’s sweets anymore - it’s liberating) as I don’t feel like I should wonder if an activity is worth it or not, if I should do it or not, if I’ll regret it if I don’t do it…. Now it’s so very simple, if it’s more than 5E, it’s not happening. As such, I’m somewhat only scouting for my next visit (where I’ll make sure to have a budget of 100E/day, as opposed to my current 40).

So anyway, here are a few pics from Bordeaux. I’m not taking very many pictures, as people are not very remarquable (just like us really, at least on picture) and, well, a building is a building… and once again, you can easily go to Qc city if you want to get the feel (travelling has really made me realize that we have it all in Can, except for India, most of I’ve seen/done so far I could have seen/done, with light variations, somewhere in Canada!).

"Si j'avais les ailes d'un ange, je partirais pour... Québec!" (French-QC song)

It's nice to see the contrast of the new tram in front of the old cathedral.

This was a fairly common sight, the old street names used to be carved in a brick of the house at the corder of that road. Here we have the original name "Rue Royale", which was renamed "Rue de la Liberté" during the revolution (Freedom fries anyone?? hehehe), and is now something else.

This is just a building, called Place des Douanes (Bordeaux used to be the most important port of the region, and this place is right in front of the water) where the buildings still have the same function as hundreads of years ago!!! I visited Bordeaux on a walking tour (before ,y resolution to not tqke more tours), and I must admit that it was very interesting to hear about the history and purpose of certain landmarks. For example, the guide talked about the architects that designed that part of town, a fqther and subsequently his son, why the buildings qre in the shqpe they are, etc. I forget most detqils, but it was very interesting.

Anyway, I then visited the city of La Rochelle, which was very pretty, but mostly (read: entirely) living off tourism, which means that everything is overpriced and geared toward families and couples. This brings me to my second resolution for when I come back, it’ll definitely be with someone, preferably a “my man”, as Europe really feels like a place to visit with someone. I’ve met quite a few other lone travellers, but I know I would be having a better time right now if I was with someone I’m close to. Anyway, no biggie, as this is only a “scouting trip”, right? . Back to La Rochelle, here are a few pics.

La Rochelle is known for it's fort and port, and has always been known to be a bit of a rebel town, electing a mayor while everyone was still under the monarchy, being protestant when all of France is catholic, and stuff like that. It was also the capital of France (or was it Bordeaux...?) for a while, until it was moved to Paris.

Anyway, undeniably, the best time was to watch, over and over again, parents getting angry with their kids (who indeed literally bounced off the walls)… travelling with young kids… hmmm maybe not such a good idea! Hehehe I don’t know if the French have too high expectations, or if their kids were really that bad (I’ve seen quite a few who actually were!!) but it didn’t seem fun for them. All I could hear as I was walking around was “don’t do this, come back, do that, that’s IT, it’s the last time I tell you!, no you’re not getting this or that or that or that! Hehehe good times! Hehehe

Last pic of La Rochelle, simply because I hadn't seen a nice sunset in a while:

I still had the bad cold in La Rochelle and felt very bad about coughing and tossing and turning (being in a room with 5 other people), so I barely slept both nights. However, I must mention that I was in a room with French girls (for the first time), actually I should say women (late 20’s and mid 30’s), which was sooo much better than being with the younger people of before (I’m not much in the party mood, can’t afford it) and these women actually wore normal clothes (as opposed to the “skankyness" of the younger crowd).

I left La Rochelle on the Ze-Bus (I LOVE that name, it’s actually how the French sound when they try to say “the”hehehe), which dropped me in a town called Tours, where, oh how wonderful, I have a single room!!!!! For 18E/day (aka pretty much same price as the other Auberges), this Auberge de Jeunesse only has single rooms (actually becomes a student residence during school time)! I’m staying here 4 nights and couldn’t be more ecstatic about my accommodations!!! Furthermore, they don't kick us out during the day (all the other places so far would block access to the dorms from i.e 10-4 or 11-5 for cleaning -which was kind of annoying, specially for sick me). Now I can, sleep in, go back for a nap anytime, toss and turn, blow my nose as loud as I want (I’m still quite sick), cough, go to the bathroom (shared, but whatever) as often as I want, all without bothering anyone at all. This type of room is pretty much what I’ll have for the coming year in Residence at U of Montreal, so I’m happy to see that it’s totally satisfying!
So anyway, I’m starting to feel better already (or maybe it’s just the medication I got at the pharmacy…) and I think I’ll be fully back up and running by the time Ze-Bus picks me up on Tuesday. We will then go see some castles, before getting dropped off in Paris, where I’ll probably be staying with the boyfriend of a friend of a friend (sounds sketchy, but is not! Hehehe). That should allow me to save a bit of $$ (aka not go over budget for once!), while meeting some French people (they are sooo funny to hear when they speak, they sound exactly like in the movies, with their “oh la la” or “c’est la galère” hehehe. After 4-5 days in Paris, I still have 7-8 days where I have to decide where to go…. I plan on finalizing my itinerary on Monday at the latest, buy all my tickets and reserve all my hostels, and just enjoy the rest of the trip.
Tours is known for being a student town (big U here), as well as the main centre for the Loire region. It's nice to be in a "real" town (not only touristic), and just walk around and stuff. I heard that they have a 7E card which grants access to all the museums, as well as a walking tour of the old town... it exceeds my 5E limit, but by so little, and for seemingly such a good value! I'll let you know what I decide.

Well, that's that for that.
Cheers!

P.S. It's freaking cold here!!!! It'd kind of ok in the sun in the afternoon, but there's always a cool breeze and it gets freaking cold as soon as the sun disappears! It's apparently once of their zorst summer in years, and I agree, it does't feel like summer!!

La Rochelle and Tours remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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First of all, I thought that the keyboards in Spain were messed up, but the French one take the cake!! There is pretty much not a single key in the same place as "our keyboards", which means that I type like a grand-ma who's just been put in front of a keyboard for the first time!!!, with the exception that my fingers automatically go for the "old" key location on pretty much every keystroke! arrgghh!! You thought there were a lot of typos in my blogs before!!! (well at least it forces me to read them before posting them... I guess! but what a pain!!!) Furthermore, they've configured the PC here (at the hostel) so that we basically can't do anything with it other than Internet and Word... aka hid the Start button so we can't play in the control panel...

Anyway, other than that I'm very happy to be in France and I'm totally enjoying being able to understand anything anyone says at anytime! It feels so free and easy!!! Well, free in the sense of "not trapped", not in the sense of inexpensive, because free it is not!!! Gees!!!! I didn't take surfing lessons in San Sebastian because they were 50E/day, so imagine my face when I heard that a day of going around wineries and wine tasting was 85 (!!!!) E !!!! I could have gone on a 1/2day for 30E, but by the time I had wrapped my head around the idea, the tour was full... oh well, I guess I'll gust have to go in the Okanagan (or whenever I come back to France, which is bound to happen anyway); So instead I took a walking tour of the Old Bordeaux, which was quite nice and instructive. I got a few decent pics to post some other time (the PC here is -not surprisingly- locked in a wooden box).

However, despite my relief at being in a country where I can fully communicate, I must admit that I'm very tired...it may be from the massive cold that kept me in bed all day yesterday (or maybe I got the cold because I'm tired...), but I think it's still the "having to plan transportation & accommodation in a foreign city, pack my stuff and go every other day" syndrome... It doesn't help that I didn't have a guide book yet (until today) and that the one I ended-up with it not that great at all... I found out that there is a reason why Lonely Planet is so widely used, it's because it's BY FAR, the most comprehensive and useful and user friendly guide out there!!! Coming a far second is the Michelin guide, but it barely compares... Unfortunately, I couldn't find a single edition of LP France, in English or French, anywhere. It seems the French prefer to sell guides for every single region separately (not exactly useful!!!), so I ended-up with a Reader Digest guide; with decent maps and a stupid little tourist blurb on every region/city (no "how to get there" or "hostel/hotel listings" though!!!), so I feel a bit left alone on the "find a place to stay" front. Luckily, the Auberge de Jeunesse are everywhere here, and apparently invariably the cheapest option; so I just find the one in my next destination, call and book (knock on wood, been lucky so far with bed availability). However, in these places, I always end-up in the dorms, which I also think I have to get used to. I find sharing sleeping quarters with 4 to 6 people a bit draining, but I'll get used to it I guess (double unfortunately, in the Auberge de Jeunesse, they separate girls and guys dorms, so I don't even get eye candy...That must be why my batteries are so low! hehehe

Nevertheless, the French people are very nice, very friendly and welcoming. Today I got a hair cut (at the only "no name, not fancy and therefore not expensive" place I found. It was a small salon, and my hairdresser had been there 17 yrs! She knew all her clients by name, their history, the whole thing! So cool!!!
Well, that's that for that, heading off to La Rochelle tomorrow and from then I've booked a "kind of tour", with ze-bus; where they drive around a loop, through certain cities, and we get to get off wherever we want and stay for however long we want in each city, and just hop on the next bus (generally a couple of days later). Furthermore, they reserve places in the local Auberge de Jeunesse for us, which I hope will alleviate my "fed-up'ness" over the next 4-8 days!!
Cheers!!!!

Bordeaux remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well, I must admit that I can´t wait to go. My train is at 4:40 tonight, and I feel like I should have left yesterday..oh well! Everything is closed today (Sunday) and restaurants actually charge 30-50%more than on week-days!!! Already that one has to pay 10-30%extra to sit on the patio, but add another 1/3-1/2 and it's just completely out of this world!!! I will want to come back to Spain, but only when I have shite loads of disposable income!!! I´m afraid I´ll share the same feeling for the rest of my trip...

So anyway, I´ve tried the famous tapas..and they’re good..but once again, I’m price stuck. Essentially, each bar puts out these finger food (mostly slices of baguette with some pate and or some stuffed peppers and or some proschutto, ham and/or other meat), you choose the ones you want (cost between 1.5E to 3.5E ea), have a beer or some drink and eat standing up somewhere in the bar…I had 3 things and 1 beer and it cost me almost 10E (!!!) If I didn´t care about $$, I´d love the concept (the food is actually quite good and it´s fun to try different things!).
Here are a couple of pics of the displays.

Other than that, I must admit that I feel like I´m in neverending Old Quebec! I now very much understand what Europeans meant when they would tell me how similar it is (back when I worked in the Old Qc)…except for the fact that everyone only speaks Spanish! Hehehe, I can´t wait to get to France!!!!
Here are a few pics…

That statue at the very left is a statue of Jesus...

San Sebastian is also known to be one of the best beaches in Europe…I though of going until I actually walked there and saw people were crammed like sardines!! I need a good 4-5feet space around me at the beach to be fully comfortable..I think I would have been lucky to have a couple of inches on that beach! Hehehe

Oh well! No biggie..I had my load of beaching in Thailand. Furthermore, I must admit that I feel quite inadequate here..on the clothing and fashion sense (it doesn’t help that my bathing suit got washed with something red and now had uneven red dye all over the bottom part!!)… Everyone is dressed very well, and with more or less good taste, but always very sexy…I really don´t have the right wardrobe for here, cruelly miss my hair dryer (for the first time so far in this trip!), some perfume, and wish I knew how to properly apply eye make-up!. Oh well, I hope that it´ll be different in France, but I doubt it. Hehehe, I expected it, but not to that extent!

Oh well….that´s that for me for now! I must decide if I want to spend 10E on more tapas (and still be hungry, or 17E for some paella (which I was told is not the best in San Sebastian, better in some other region of Spain, or buy yet another supermarket pizza to heat up at the hostel...)

More from Bordeaux, which I chose to visit solely on the fact that they make wine there! :-)

P.S: The weather is gorgeous, and it's currently 32celcius, but it still feels a tad chilly to me..the wind is omnipresent and quite cool...

Last thoughts on San Sebastian remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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There´s one last picture of India that I would like to post (for now). I took it on my last day, and it is of 2 men working in a ... I don’t know if it a telephone or electricity pole (or maybe both)! Hehehe

Ah, Beautiful San Sebastian! First of all, a quick recap of the last day in Madrid...I went to see a flamenco ballet of the opera Carmen (I just happened to stumble on the theatre while walking around, as the ticket booth was opening! Cool!. I had only send two brief flamenco performances so far in my life and I loved it both time, so it was a definite treat to see a full 1:30h show!! I’m still not exactly sure of the story however; some woman (Carmen) is disliked by her peers (I think she’s higher social class of something –assumption from her better clothes), falls in love with a low level army guy, not correct love, so he goes to jail...she frees him, they’re together, she dances with another guy (toreador), falls for him, dumps the other guy, dances some more, then falls dead...hehehe... the flamenco was great, enhanced by the live signer (with that ‘genuine flamenco signer voice’) and guitar player. I also specially liked when an older woman made a random dance. While the other dancers clearly had more classical ‘ballet’ training, she was the real flamenco deal, with the energy, the stance, the strength! She was at least 50yrs old, but had absolutely wonderful legs...her performance was so strong, simply wonderful! Flamenco is clearly a seduction dance, and I must admit that I loved the men more than the women...they are so strong and proud and powerful...I wonder which (if any) animal this dance is inspired from...somewhere between the bull and the roster! Hehehe Overall soo happy with the experience (even better from the fact that the tickets were half price, 15 instead of 30E! –Wednesday special! Cool!!!)
Anyway, I also visited a bit of Madrid, namely the Palace (only used for some formal functions now),
the fabulously peaceful Palace garden,

This bunny kept running aorund me, which I though was cute initially, but sort of creeped me out after a while (he litterally would just run in circles around me...weird!)

the Cathedral ‘de la Almudena’

and the Museo del Prado. The museum experience was a bit of a disappointment however, as despite it being filled with ‘big names’, I just don’t really connect/click with painted art (specially when the little explanation boards are all in Spanish and when at least 90% of the paintings are of religious nature (to be expected from European art of the ...several past centuries) and/or the Monarchy/well-to-do. I really enjoyed the few sculptures however, although the urge to touch was sometimes overwhelming (in my opinion sculptures were made to be touched, made by tactile people, yet I fully understand the impossibility of allowing the public to touch unique and priceless pieces of art!).

I also found the perfect restaurant (only seen in Madrid so far)! Called FrescCo, it´s an 'all you can eat' buffet for 8.5E! I had 3 MASSIVE salads (which I missed so much while in India!) and some roasted chicken and some pizza and some dessert (hehehe I was hungry! Food is quite expensive here, so I had mostly stuck to bread and peanut butter thus far!-yes yes, I had been carrying a tub of peanut butter since Thailand, for ‘if Indian food was bad and/or I could not really afford European food'! Hehehe, seems crazy, but it turned out to be a great idea! Hehehe for me at least!). On the topic of food, I must admit my disappointment at the food here, as 1:it´s crazy expensive (generally at least 12E for a meal, not bad if you’re paid in Euro, but for the little CAD$, it sucks ass!), 2: EVERYTHING has meat (or almost) of some sort...combining that with menus in Spanish, I haven’t eaten much in restaurants, opting for..well, not eating very much, and buying food at the grocery store and eating at the hostel. This ‘omnipresent’ meat (and fear of cost) has also kept me away from the renowned Tapas...I think I’ll blow all caution out the door tomorrow, and have some as I don’t think I can reasonably come to Spain and not have Tapas (and Sangria and paella as a matter of fact).

Anyway! I took the train over to San Sebastian and it left right on the dot, at 10am sharp! How cool! And it even arrived on time!!!! Wow! I had some time to ponder on my lack of passion about Spain thus far, and it came to me, as I was reading a WONDERFUL book. It’s called ‘Lost in Transmission´ (I forget the name of the author right now), but it’s about this Australian journalist who becomes the foreign correspondent of his news channel for South east Asia (he’s based in New Delhi, but also covers Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, etc). I don’t know if I enjoy this book so much because I’ve been there and recognize the quirks of Indian people (as he explains countless anecdotes of when he tries to settle in his new job, as well as just live and work in this region), but I definitely think that he does a great job at explaining the Indian people –I strongly recommend it! Anyway, in the book he goes back to Australia for a few weeks and can’t help but find the place flat and boring...I realized that my problem was that I hadn’t left India in my head and in my heart (knowing is half the battle) an that this book was sort of keeping me in the mind frame...so I finished it asap and am now happy to report that I’m glad to be here and that I think Europe is great! Hehehe For example, I was walking on the street in Madrid and a man was walking toward me, while opening a package of some food or something. He dropped a portion of the wrapping on the sidewalk, actually stopped and bent down to pick it up (!!!!!!!!) I hadn’t sent hat in over 5 months!!!!!! Wow!!!!! Furthermore, people as so polite here! Cars stop to let pedestrian cross the street (!!!!!!) and people line up to get in busses and trains (!!!!! I actually have to be careful and consciously get in line, as the habit of cutting everyone has become somewhat of a reflex!!hehehe). At first I was a bit shocked at seeing girls wear very skimpy clothes, and had a hard time going back to ‘showing some skin’, but I´m getting there !!!hehehe The mood is very different here, as my fellow travellers are here to party and relax (as opposed to discover culture or anything like that), which means that they travel differently and carry different things (aka I heard a blow dryer for the first time since I started travelling! I couldn’t believe that the girl was travelling with her blow-dryer, but here in Europe, it actually makes sense. People dress well, fashionably, and I’m in constant internal struggle to not buy clothes or shoes –wonderful wonderful shoes here!!!)

Anyway, upòn my arrival in San Sebastian, I met 3 American girls and 2 guys from Mtl at the hostel and we all planned to go to Pamplona that night (last night), for the San Fermin festival (run of the bull). Pamplona is approx 1 hour away from San Sebastian, but is WAY out of range $$ wise, so many people stay in San Sebastian. The last bus leaves at 9pm, and the bull run is a 8am, so the trip involves spending the night up partying (twist my arm!!!hehehe). I bought some booze at the grocery store (for a flabbergasting 3E for a 40ounce of Rum!!!!! Booze is WAY cheap here (I just bought a 1.5L of Sangria –in an effort to taste it before I leave, 2 nights from now, and it cost me 0.99E!!!! hehehe Awesome!!!) in the markets, but crazy crazy expensive in the bars (which means that I won’t go out! Not worth it!).
Anyway, the festival ends tonight, but there was fireworks and an ‘almost all night’ music show last night! It was a LOT of fun!!! Staying up ended-up being very very easy and a great time! It was also great to be at a pop show, with all those old and young Spanish people, everyone –or almost- dressed in white, with some red (neck scarf, shoes, belt, etc), dancing and signing!
While many people were saying thet the actual run was not all that it´s hyped up to be and that we were better off in the stadium (where they have smaller bulls run around and hit anything they see) for that portion of the show), of the 6 of us, 4 decided to go straight in, while a guy and I decided to also see the actual run (after all, it’s what I was here for, I didn´t even know there was a stadium show until that night!). We got great seats (on the fence) and waited for a couple of hours, seeing the preparative, ambulances, lots and lots of paramedics, police, street cleaners, etc prepare for the event.

The run itself was indeed quite anticlimactic (it literally lasted 5 seconds and there were only 5 bulls –I was expecting a full heard), but the adrenaline and enthusiasm was great! I didn´t get any good pics infortunately, but the guy got a video which he´ll send me.
We then proceeded to the arena, where the following pics were taken...( there´s a great video where the bull nabs 3 people in a row!!)

.

This portion of the show lasted almost 1 hour and several small bulls were released one after the other. One even jumped past the first gate (where some of the poeple sometimes get refuge from the ring)! heheeh what a commotion that was!!! hehehe Poor animal though. While no actual harm was done to them, it must have been a stressful and nasty experience for each one of them...

We were told that there´s a corrida at 6pm, with a toreador and a bull is put to death, but it´s expensive, and I´m not sure I really wanted to see a bull slowly die before my eyes (I´ve seen the slaying of a mutton in Morocco years ago and that was enough for me!).
Last couple of pics;
The eternal and incontournable Don Quichotte:

And last but not least, one must not forget that there´s poverty here as well. I´ve repeatdly seen sights similar to this one:

So that’s that for me for now. This internet is running me way high (at 2E-hour!!!), so adios amigos!

P.S. I find it interesting and surprising to see that, in this part of Spain at least, there isn´t a 'Spanish look'. Spaniards look very different, some are very white, some darker, all colour hair..just plain simply different! One thing in common¨they don´t speak English or French!!! (arrgghh!), but I realize that I can understand more than I originally thought (specially reading), and coming here is triggering a desire to learn Spanish...oh we'll see... I'd consider a school exchange (semester abroad) here, but the Euro is a bit of a killer...

Madrid, San Sebastian and Pamplona remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I just made it to Spain this morning, after a wonderful flight (got upgraded to business class), thanks to the guy beside me. As we were about to take off, the stewartist came to him and said he could move up (Anthony -the guy beside me- had apparently made him laugh by saying "welcome to civilization" as we walked ont he plane...hehehe whatever works! hehehe). Since we had been chatting, I asked if I could go with him, and the stewartist said yes!!! yay!! SO we ended up talking and drinking (moderatly, only 2 bottles of red wine -airplane size- each) until 5am (the plane took off at 2:10am).
First things first, important detail about the airport. My cousin Rafale had mentioned this a long time ago, but I had sort of forgotten, until I got to the entrance door to the airport, only to find a significant line-up! It turns out that they check the passports and tickets of people before letting anyone in the airport...maybe to reduce the traffick inside (it´s quite crammed in there), maybe for security against terrorism... I´m not sure. Anyway, I´m not sure if I mentioned this, but I had read in Lonely Planet that women could bypass line-ups to buy tickets at the train station simply by walking at the front of the line and taking the next available spot...so I tried my luck and just walked straight pass the line (at least 20-25 people) and just gave my passport and ticket to the army guy as soon as he had his hands free...and it worked! hehehe, no one complained at all and I saved a good 30-40 minutes waiting! hehehe, gotta love India!!! I also saved a shite load of time by having checked-in online (thank you British Airway for this wonderful option!), as the line-up for the 1 “regular” check-in counter was just out of this world. Instead I got to check-in at the very quick “First class” counter! Hehehe good times!
The plane left on time (shock of all shocks!!! I´m not used to this anymore- at all!!) and was pleasantly reminded of the joys of developped countries while waiting in London for my connexion to Madrid. Madrid is pretty darn good so far! It´s clean, smells good, is quiet (guess what we don´t hear: people honking!!! wow!), good food (a bit pricey, but it´s Europe! So to be expected!)
I do have one very major complaint however....it hit me as soon as I walked in the airport in Madrid....everyone here speaks Spanish )deh! you´ll say).... I don´t know if it´s just because I´m so tired (I only slept 3 hours last night, and not very comfortably), but I´m oh so tired of being in countries that don´t speak my language!!! This is the 6th so far... and I think it´s worst because it´s somewhat close, but still oh so different, that it´s even more frustrating (as opposed to any of the other languages which had nothing at all, written or spoken, inc ommon with anything I knew)...so I don´t think I´ll bother going to Barcelone (combined with the fact that it´s oh so far away and out of my way). I think I´ll stay in Madrid 1 more day, then off to San Sebastian/Pamplona for 3 nights, then up to France, where people finally speak the same language as me!!! (albeit with a very weird accent, but still!) I can´t wait!!!!
Gotta go,
Cheers!

Ola! remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I feel like there's a million things to say and write...but nothing comes to my mind right now....I hate when that happens, as I will log off, walk away and immediately think of 100 stories, will make mental notes to write them down, but won't...wachha gonna do!

First, I must apologize, as I have totally failed at showing you India! I have posted some pics (finally, it’s about time, on the last day! Hehehe), but really, it’s such a few pics, for such a broad country! I feel like everything I’ve seen was picture worthy. Almost every scene should have been captured..it would have been the only way to properly portray this place…I was already feeling a little inadequate on the pic front, but it got much worst in Jodhpur, where a Danish girl showed me some of her pics….it totally put me to shame! She had the same feeling as me: India is about the colours! They are everywhere, and are wonderful! However, as I only have a few pics with great colours, she has a ton (ok ok, it probably helped that she was here for almost 6 months! but still!). Anyway, all of that to say that I’m sorry about doing such a poor job at portraying India. I’ll nevertheless post the pics if/when I get them, from my first memory card, as there were some good ones…

I’m leaving tonight with mixed feelings.
On one side, I wished I’d stayed longer and had more time to see more places! On the other hand, now that it’s almost over, I’m kinda glad. Indian food is very good, but it’s always the same (parantha for breakfast (it’s like a chapatti, but bigger and takes a bit different). Lunch and dinner made of Dal, rice, chapatti and some mix veggies) and it, so far in my trip, almost always tastes the same! In other words…I’m a bit tired of it! Hehehe Furthermore, monsoon season is about to start (has already started in the south) which means almost non-stop raining, with the resulting floods and delays/cancellation in trains and buses. Finally, tourist season is picking-up quite a bit here, with Europeans and Koreans everywhere (it’s their summer vacation there and many of them travel I guess!), so this changes the scenery and feel quite a bit.
Really finally: I’m quite a bit tired of having the exact same conversation over and over and over again! Where are you from? What’s your name? Are you married? What’s your father work? Mother work? What do you do in Canada? Hehehe, I have had “conversations” with people who barely speak English just by guessing which of the above that person what asking me and answering accordingly! Hehehe, fun once or twice, boring after a while! hehehe
Overall, I would have been happy to stay here longer, but I’m also happy to leave and explore a new continent! Hehehe
About the rain here, I must admit that I’m a bit puzzled at how they handle it. Let’s face it, monsoon is not a new phenomenon, yet they don’t seem to be prepared for it at all! In Johpur, it rained for an entire day, and by mid-day, the street was covered by several inches of water, essentially flooded from only a few hours of rain! I can only imagine after several days/weeks!!! My question is why do they not have better trenches and/or canals??? It’s not exactly rocket science!! I don’t have an answer to this! As a result, entire cities get flooded, people die (albeit a small number considering that there are 1B of them!!), roads get destroyed and trains/buses get cancelled! I cannot believe that there’s nothing at all that can be done! Especially if it has been happening since the beginning of time and will keep on happening for ever!!!
I chose not to go to Jaisalmer as I was afraid that it would rain again and prevent me from coming back to Delhi on time for my flight (original plan: Jpdhpur-Amristar to see Mouchi, visit the Golden temple (holy sik site) and get a copy of the CD (with my pics) that he has. When I couldn’t get a train ticket until July 13th, alternate plan: Jodhpur-Jaisalmer for a couple of days, then come back to Delhi today and go straight to the airport. Actual turn of events. Massive rain in Jodhpur, stay there 1.5 extra day, spend 1.5 day in Delhi…not as much fun, but at least I’ll most probably make it on the plane!!, and Mouchi will mail me the CD…

Things I will not miss:
The lack of etiquette! hehehe I have heard many people fart, up to a man across the road at a park!!! (however, I must admit that Indian food does make you fart! hehehe). People also burp quite a lot. I once had a shop owner burp loudly (there was no attempt at keeping it quiet) and at first I was like ???, but seeing no hint of sorryness, I just moved on! hehehe
Spitting is also quite nasty. Men here chew tobacco (or something like it) and, of course, have to spit regularly...yak! hehehe I'm glad our men don't do it (as much)! I'd have a really hard time finding a "spitter" attractive! hehehe
On a final note of unattractivess: it seems to be perfectly correct here to pick your nose (I've only seen men do it though)...hmmm, not so hot! hehehe
I will also not miss being constantly observed. I litterally cannot walk for 5 minutes and not sit for more than 2 minutes before someone comes to talk to me. After a few minutes they move on and someone else invariably comes along (with the same exact conversation questions.)
I will not miss the beggars. There aren't that many, but I always feel bad. From mothers with their small child to handicapped adults, via children...it's always sad. However, I don't know where they picked it up, but in Jodhpur, kids perfectly well dressed, clean, with clean clothes and shoes, would come up to me and ask for 100R (which is a shite load of money here -some people live on less than 100R/day), when I'd say no, they'd go "2R, 5R, 10R, 20R.." ad so on! I'd be like NO!!! No WAY!!! GO!!! I guess it works sometimes, but if I've met any kids/or people in general, who clearly don't need it, it's them! t was so weird!
I will also not miss the pollution here. The air pollution is quite harsh, leaving a fairly think layerof dirt on me every day (most noticeable when I blow mynose - sorry for the details! hehehe)
Finally, I will not miss almost always paying more than anyone else!!!! I can't wait for an actual "fixed price' (even shops with that mention here are not really, you can always get a better price - always!)

Things I will miss:
hmmm hard to say, many things though. I will certainly miss the lack of etiquette, and being an attraction ! hehehe
I will mostly miss the atmosphere, the crazyness, the seemingly lack of order (but it somehow always works out!). I will miss people coming up to me every 5 minutes to talk and take pictures! I will definitely miss the smile on kids faces when I wave hello or buy something from them (prime example: I went to buy this samosa at a shop. The kid - maybe 12yrs old- originally turns to his father, who tells him to serve me. The smile that comes on his face!!! He asks me how many I want, I say 1, I ask how much, he hops over to my side to give me my samosa and hops his way back with my money, all while smiling from ear to ear!!! hehehe, so cute and heart-warming!
I will miss the colours, the smells, the sights! I will miss the food as well (not right now, but eventually! hehehe) On that note, I tried a local food of Jodhpur when I was there. It's a chilly pepper stuffed with something (potato I think), dipped in batter and deep fried. They're sold in most shops there. I went to buy something else, and the owner asked me why not to try (only 4R), and I though, yeah, why not? So I bought it. It tasted like hell!! I had half a bite and it tasted like jalapeno pepper (deh!!) and hadn't lost any of it's spicyness (I though it may-but I was oh so wrong!!) hehehe I ended up trying to give it to a cow, who wouldn't eat it either ! hahaha! Later that evening the Danish girl (who took so much better pics than me), told me that she had tried an awful deep fried pepper thing! hehehe I said "me too" hehehe, she was like "ahh is was soo bad! I had tears coming down my face and my mouth was on fire, and it just tasted so bad!"
hehehe

Things I was expecting but didn't see:
- People shitting on the side of the road (to be fair, I kinda saw it, but not as I was expecting-not in the middle of the place for everyone to see). I only saw it very early in the morning, on two occasions, and both times, it wasn't an obsene or disgusting event, just life going as it must go when one had no other options. The first time was just outside of Mathura (on the way to Agra), as the bus was going on a country side road. Kids were in the field, fairly far away from us and from one another, doing their thing...we just happened to drive by. The second time was getting here to Delhi, once again very early morning, people were going in a somewhat forested area and around the train tracks...once again, they were in a fairly secluded area, but we just happened to pass by...hehehe, I saw many pee wees on that morning! and some Indian men have massive balls (like very massive)...I wonder what's that all about! hehehe :-) To be fair, these people lived in slums and certainly didn't have any kind of toilet... so what else were they supposed to do? furthermore, they were in the sitting/crouching position that everyone assumes regularly here (kinda like sitting but your butt doesn't touch the ground), the only difference is that they pants were off (obviously!)
- I didn't experience any realy stinky Indians... I was kinda execting it from past experience, but everyone I met smelled ok (unnoticeable), and I noticed that the vast majority of people wash at least once a day (in the morning), no matter if they live in town or in the slums...
-I wasn't molested, attacked, groped (except by an old man who touched my knee in a bus - big deal!!) or offered shady propositions... From what other people had told me, I was almost expected to get mugged at every corner! Actually, I just got offered hash for the first time tonight, which I believe is triggered by the massive influx of white people (it's litterally day and night from the first time I was here! The shops also sell different stuff - clearly geared toward tourists- as opposed to the first time I was here!)

To conclude:
A couple of random remarks:
1- Everyone here (shop keepers) seems to know about French Canada!?!?! They ask me where I'm from, then ask me what part! Many even guess Mtl right away!! Funny because I haven't met a single Canadian (let alone French speaking) since I've been here!!!

2- All the hotel staff (cleaning, reception, room service, etc) are men. I've never seen a woman working in a hotel. The same applies to restaurants! Come to think of it, the only place I've seen women is in the police and army force!!, and maybe once or twice in a shop, but even there, rarely!. Women are almost all housewives here!!!!

So that's all I can think of right now for India...I overall loved my experience here and would definitely like to come back one day!!!

P.S. I'm going to Madrid next. I'm still tired of living in my backpack, but will just have to bear it one more month (arrggghh, life is SO difficult ;-P), as changing my flights and living in Van for 1 month would have cost me pretty much the same thing as going to Europe..so overall a fairly easy decision. Madrid, here I come!!!

P.P.S. I bought a new purse today and immediately felt bad toward my old one, my "faithful companion". I bought the new one because the zipper of my old (and let's admit it, beat-up) one was giving and was seriously starting to not zip properly (would open from anywhere, sometimes, and I could always fix it, but I could tell the end was near). Well, I didn't switch my stuff rightaway, and went about with my old purse, and it is the moment it chose ot officially not zip up at all! I like to think that my old faithful companion knew it could finally die peacefully! Thank you dear old purse, you were beautiful (but oh so dirty!) and I like to think that thank's to you, I didn't lose any of my important stuff! xxx

Last thoughts before leaving India remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Finally some pics!!!

This is a brief view of the old city of Jodhpur, which is within the walls of the Fort (following pics). The blue houses are from a tradition where the Brahmins (religious cast) could paint their houses blue. Now many people also do it as this colour is thought to have "insect repellent" properties, as well as keeping the houses cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter (it's magic! hehehe)

The following pics are of the fort, which is where the Maharajat of the area has lived (and still does) for centuries. The site had an audio tour (when you wear the little earphones and press on a number when you get to a dedicated station) which was absolutely wonderful! It was the best tour (after the Taj) that I've even done!

Interesting story, about opium... In the West, we often think that they smoked it (and/or some derivative of weed) in their long decorated pipes. Well, it turns out that they actually smoked scented tobacco, and drank opium tea instead. ahhh, it's in line with what a French guy had told me in Laos..except that he ate his opium instead of drinking it...

Back to Jodhpur, here are a couple of the paintings found in my room..so pretty! I must admit that I haven't seen that in any other place yet, but it seems to be typical fo Rajasthan (the province)

First of all, the train was delayed by almost 4 hours, due to heavy rain in Mumbai (where it started). I was taking it from Jaipur to Jodhpur. So instead of arriving around 7-8pm, we arrived at 11pm (I try to never arrive anywhere at night, as everything costs more - rickshaws, hotel rooms, just overall trouble). Luckily, the hotel guy had offered to arrange with a rickshaw to pick me up. I must admit that it felt great to have someone ask me "Are you Mimi?" when I arrived (I was already busy escaping other drivers) and drive me to the hotel, where a room was waiting. Now, the room was clearly not in the price range I had asked for (200-300R), but it was so pretty and clean that I decided to stay there the night (it turned out to be 400R -pretty typical hotel scam, reserve a room at a certain price, but if you show up late, it's bound to be gone, and they give you a costlier room). Oh well, I switched rooms the following day, but at least got these great pics! hehehe

To conclude with the pics (I've only taken very few since buying the new card)

This is a pretty typical sight in Rajasthan, a camel pulling a trolley or some sort. Unfortunately, I was not able to go on a camel ride, as it rained and killed the day. This also prevented me from going to the city of Jasailmer, which is apparently very very pretty... too bad, I will need to come back to India!!

In an effort to show a bit of the colours...

This was taken in Delhi, on my arrival at 8am. A spice market.

Taken from the train, ladies walking on the tracks...

A regular occurence: an entire family "assaulting" me. It always happens the same, they all come up to me, only 1 speaks english and they ask the same questions as everyone else... Generally they ask for pics, and I have to sit through 5-6, with different members of the family, so this time I turned things around and asked to take a pic to show you the colours these women wear, but they put the kids in front, covering themselves a bit too much unfortunately... Men wear very "regular' boring clothes, but women, all throughout India so far, wear these wonderful colours! I wish we could do the same in Canada...
The dress code is generally one of two things: the sari, and the salawaar camise...I didn't buy a sari, but bought and wore quite a bit, the salawaar camise...which you san see in this (very bad) couple of pics! hehehe

People really liked that I was wearing that, as I think it showed respect. I got told over and over again that I was very pretty in it (pat on my back! hehehe)...Now that I see those pics, it just kinda looks silly, but "when in Rome, live as the Romans" and It's actually quite comfy!
Cheers!

Jodhpur remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Jaipur remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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On a brighter note, I visited the Taj Mahal today, which was ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY gorgeous!!!! Whoever said that you saw the same thing as you see on the pics lied or mossed out on a great experience!!! It's much better in real life than on any picture!!! I took the services of a guide as I remembered the feeling of "I'm missing something here" in Angkor Wat, and it made the world of difference! (even more worth it at 150R negotiated down -almost without me trying- from 275R). He explained the history and pointed out details (endless details which I would have never noticed but made the experience that much more enjoyable) and knew all the great "pic spots" (which I'm not currently able to retrieve on a PC! 8::
Many many pieces are carved out of solid marble, there are endless flowers all made of semi-previous rocks from all over the world. there is symetry in everything (i.e. the number 22 comes back often, 22000 people to built it, 22 years to be built, 22 is a very important number with the Muslim religion -of which the builder of the Taj was a devout practitioner- (I think the age Allah or Mohammed died). There are 22 little domes at the top if the main gate, which are aligned perfectly, 22 steps up to the main floor (steps carved from a solid block of marble), etc etc etc. The distance betwen the towers (can't remember the correct name") is 312 feet, which is the number of soldiers Mohammed had in the first battle for religion (or something like that). Everything is perfectly lined up, arches within arches, domes within domes, the water features and main entrance are perfectly lined up with the tomb of the wife for who the Mogul built this temple (his 3rd wife, who gave him 14 children -6 survived-, as his two previous wives hadn't given him any kids). There were many architects, from as far as Rome, but mostly muslims from Turkey. Litterally, it seems that every single stone has a purpose and a reason! It was a totally amazing experience!! There are also many optic illusions, for i.e: from the main gate, as you look through the arat it from a certain point (in the center - obviously!) , you can see a little of the Taj, as you walk forward, it seems to move back and back until you make it to the archway where you can see it all in it's glory! How cool!
This was clearly a highlight of my trip so far and I agree that it should remain part of the 7 wonders of the world!

I would have really liked to share some pics with you, but I will as soon as I get them, even if it's upon my return home.

On a different topic, the trip TO Agra was quite interesting in itself! Hehehe, I don't know what it is with me, but I seem to attrack all the "lone Westeners" who haven't talked to another westener in ages.
SO I met this 40yrs old Russian Hare Krishna devotee at the bus stand (hehehe). I didn't know he was Hare until we boarded the bus (it was an overnight, 8pm to 8am) and the bus driver chanted "Hare Hare Krishna Krishna"!! I was like ??? The bus left almost an hour late (as usual), so we chatted for a while and he ended up (to my great dismay and not so happiness!) switching seats (he had a GREAT seat, right at the front, which means that no one leans over you with their seats, so much more space) to sit beside me! I was so tired from walking around Rishikesh all day and not sleeping too well for the past 2 nights, yet he talked my ear off for most of the trip. It was mostly a 1-way conversation, as for one he would really let me talk much (and I didn't really want to anyway), so I ended-up just "mono-sylabbing" with my eyes closed. On two occasions, I had to pretend to be sound asleep (which I wasn't far off anyway) for him to shut him up!!! He has been in India for 4 years, after being arrested for trafficking of some drugs (offence which he was innocent of course!!) and spending 3.5 months in jail (which he said was more like kindergarden than anything else -but then again, he's Russian - different standards! hehehe). It actually seems like he was innocent, but what do I care really. So anyway, we arrived to a town called Mathura (birth place of Krishna) where this guy lives in an Ashram. The bus stopped there and it turned out that I didn't have a way to Agra (60km away from Mathura - so approx 2-3hours on regular bus) (I bought a ticket to Agra but ended up in Mathura! great! first time I officially got screwed - that way- in India), so he offered to drive me with his car(!!!!) I was like hmmm no, thanks, but he was really insistent. He said he would at least give me a ride to the bus stand (in the riskshaw) so I agreed to that. We ended-up stopping at a Krishna temple. I was made a little more comfortable with the fact that he was very well known by his fellow - I'll call them weirdos! hehehe- so I agreed to let him drive me to Agra (in his car). The ride was uneventful, except for the -once again- wonderful wonderful display of Indian inguinity! GE must have got their "Imagination at work" slogfan from India! MUST!!
SO it turns out that all the cars here don't run on regular gas (well they do, out of the manufacturer), but rather on propane (like for a BBQ!!) Indians rig their cars to run on "cheap" propane and well as "expensive" petrol. They essentially have hybrid card, home-made, with a switch to switch from one fuel to the other!!!!! hehehe, I had no idea that was even feasible!!!!
On the topic of imagination at work, I forgot to mention a funny incident which happened in Spiti. On our last day, we came to a second road block, where a truck had lost it's rear axel and was blocking the road. We got there approx 1.5 hours after it happened and a crane was hard at work digging through the dirt (luckily the "accident" happened where the road was between approx 4 feet high of dirt - up mountain- (at least not hard rock as it was so often) and the usual steep cliff down. People (westeners) who were there since early on said that they initially thought that the crane was there to tow the truck, but no, it instead went about enlarging the road beside the truck! hehehe it you can't move the truck, more the road!!! hehehe Imagination at work!
Cheers!

Agra remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I only have 10 mins of Internet so I'll make this quick:
Well, I just went to Rishikesh today, trip postponed by 1 day since I got massive food poisoning 2 nights ago and slept all day yesterday. I knew I shouldn't have bought those peanuts from the street vendor... or eaten those 4 mangos (they were small) before going to bed!! hehehe, I'm ok now.
I'm leaving for Agra (Taj Mahal) on an overnight bus in aprox 1 hour, and just came back from a day trip in Rishikesh, the "World capital of Yoga". It was ok, but I'm glad I chose to stay in Haridwar instead of Rishikesh, which is too... tourist oriented, with it's lots of beggars, white people and western food. The town itself is broken into 3 sectors, which I visited, and nothing very special to report. Lots of flies flying around(less than Haridwar, but that's sooo easy to beat).
Overall looking forward to the end of this trip. A bit (a lot) tired of living in my back pack. I just enquired with British Airways if I could possibly change my itineary to only stay in London a few days 9save some massive $$ by skipping Europe-I can always go back), then off to Van for aprox 1 month, then to Mtl on Aug 21, just in time for the "welcome meeting" at U of Montreal - where I'll be doing a certificate in law (transferable to the 3 yrs Bachelor) (yay!)
SO anyway we'll see.
Running out of time,
More from Agra!
P.S. Just got my first "getting grabbed in the bus" today, from the guy who gives the tickets of all people!! He started by tapping on my knee, which I allowed for about 5 sec, then I pushed his hand off and said no. It was at the end of the ride, so I got up to leave, then he patted the back of my leg! I was like NO! The he put his lips to get a kiss!!!??!?! I was like ! NO WAY! back off! hehehe

Haridwar and Rishikesh remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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P.S. The guys beside me is still watching porn!! hehehe, it's been a good hour! He has to shift/rearrange his "pee wee" from time to time! HAHAHA!

I made my way to Haridwar via the night bus, which left Shimla (I hitched a ride with Mouchi and Mr. Rana from Manali back down to Shimla). The bus left at 8:40pm and arrived in Haridwar at 6am, which effectively saved me 1 night accommodation (which is good because –despite a hefty discount on the 10-day trip- I’m grossly over budget). Early on, a young guy sat beside me and started chatting me up (it’s true: they talk a lot these Indians!! Hehehe they say so themselves).
He was basically and “anti-Indian”, very critical of his society and culture (he had some point, but was too harsh – about the spitting, the sanitation, the driving habits, the girls, the men, everything!), so the conversation was a bit weird. I didn’t agree with him on most, but as he said, my opinion might change if I lived here for several years…It probably would, as I see his points, but oh well…
One funny time was when he asked me my religion and I told him that I wasn’t religious. So he asked me where I pray…I said I don’t… His face! Hehehe I said that at least 50% of the people didn’t practice in Canada, so he asked me where they prayed… I said they don’t! His face! Hehehe, he really didn’t believe me that people could go on with their lives without praying every day! Hehehe I’m not saying it’s better, but it’s certainly a reality! Hehehe
Anyway, I slept pretty badly the whole journey and was pretty bummed out when I lost my blanket (it was a sarong I bought in Thailand – the perfect blanket!!!) out the window… India is eating my Thailand souvenirs (I forgot my toe ring in a hotel somewhere along the 10-day trip, and now this sarong!)… of well, it’s only things, but I’m pretty bummed out about both these things…I used them a lot…
Anyway, upon arrival here, I decided to go and stay in an Ashram (kind of monastery). I found a great one, where for a “donation” of 200R/day, I get 3 meals a day, a private room with (cold) shower (which is good because it’s hot here!) and “Indian” toilet (but I’m used to it by now so it’s ok). I also met this female Swami, who showed me around the ashram (the property is approx 1km square, massive!). They have 750 rooms (!!!!) and about 200 people living FT on the premises. They grow their own plants and produce their own Ayrvedic medicines (she showed me the factory), which they sell throughout the world. It’s a nice place to stay because they are not promoting a specific religion, they are about finding spirituality through meditation and concentration of the mind, aka energy and God as one, whichever way you want him (Buddha, Shive, God, etc). I like it. We meditated briefly together (I’m still a very novice beginner – but I’m definitely interested in the concept and it’s application). Concentration of the mind is something I heard of In Thailand at my cousins yogi school and here, and it’s something I will really invest some time trying to achieve.
On a different topic, the town of Hariward is what I call “real India”. I have now come to realize that there are probably 10000 “real Indias”, but this was my image of it, so I’m glad to finally see it. It’s pure chaos on the streets, with a mix of a few cars, but mostly rickshaws, tuk-tuks, bogeys pulled by horses and people walking everywhere. It’s noisy, polluted, dirty and loud but I LOVE it!! I went to the Har-ki-Pairi Ghat, where people, thousands of people, wash away their sins in the Ganges every day/night. It’s a wonderful, hectic crazy scene but totally enjoyable. I have a few pics which I’ll post shortly, but I’m running out of internet time, so gotta go!
I will go visit the town of Rishikesh tomorrow (a day trip from here, only 1 hour away by bus) as I don’t really want to stay there (I hear it’s filled with hippy westerner yogis and those who sell to them) –it’s not exactly my scene.
On that note, still loving India, soooo sorry to only have 10 days left here, I really should have booked a longer trip here, will need to come back and explore other parts of it!

Haridwar remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Written on June 28:
I AM SOOO ANGRY!!!!! I just found out that all the pics got deleted from my camera!!!! These were all my pics from India so far!!! and a few from Thailand!!!!! ARRRGGGHHH!!!! It happened when I brought my camera to get a CD done for Mouchi (of the 10 day trip). I had to hand-in my memory card to the guy at the shop to burn the CD (they won't let us do it ourselves) and didn't even think about the potential for him to delete the pics from the card (it's totally not necessary)!!! Anyway, I'll be able to retrieve a few hundred pics (from the CD left with Mouchi), but it still SUCKS ASS!!! How could he just take the liberty to delete my pics!?!?!? He's lucky to be several hundred km away from me right now!!! (actually, maybe not, they may still be in his trash box...hmmm...I'll look into that). Well, no need to say that you're not getting any pics for this leg of the journey! Too bad as there was some good ones... arrgghhhhhhhhhh!

(Funny side note: the young guy beside me is watching porn on his computer! Hehehe)

Ok, back to the original entry (started on June 27):
Oh my, I know I write this almost every time, but there's WAY too much to talk about here, I don't even know where to begin!!!!!
Alright...let's begin with the beginning. We ended up gathering 2 other tourists (Brigitte, a Dutch girl and Andy, an English guy) to go on this trip to the Himalayas, or more specifically the Kinnaur and Spiti valley. We started in Shimla and finished, 10 days later, in Manali.
We tried to get two more people to go with us (to save some $$ by cost sharing) but we didn't succeed, so we took off on the 15th, bright and early in a jeep with Mouchi and a driver (Mr. Rana - who doesn't speak English, but understands some).

I must explain that the road, right from the beginning and throughout this entire trip, is nothing like anything we have in Canada. It's bumpy, partially paved and/or rocks/gravel/mud, rarely wider than 1 car width, often carved through the rock (half tunnel), and always on the side of a mountain with the cliff way too near! Yikes! We had plans for 8 nights, and had left 1 night free, in case we wanted to stay 2 nights in one town or something. Well, within the first 3 hours of the trip, we came to our first, and most important, roadblock. A semi had partially fallen off the cliff (only the rear wheel, but still) and this was completely blocking traffic in both directions for God knows how long, minimum 5-6 hours. We then decided to head back to Tattapani (Andy and Brigitte hadn't been), spend the night there instead, and then head off on our planned journey.
We did and it was very nice. The following morning, as we were ready to leave, we met Grace, a British girl, and somehow got her to come on the trip with us. This would turn out to be a big mistake, but oh well, she seemed nice. So we head off to our first destination, a village called Sarahan. Like all the villages we visited, it was very small, but there was SIGNIFICANT infrastructure work being done. In this case the road was being widened (more than doubled to be exact) and the bridge was being redone (in fact, throughout our journey, we only crossed fairly new bridges, as the river, called the Sutlej, starts in China and is "regulated' by a dam (in China), which overflew in 2001, causing a massive flood which destroyed every single bridge crossing the river (which we followed for over 5 days). There was a bit of a conspiracy theory going on about this, as the flood occurred in the middle of the night (around 2am) and destroyed a town where the Dalai Lama was staying (people though that the Chinese did it on purpose to kill him... doubtful but not impossible I guess...).
Anyway, I've got many great pics, which (...well, I might get back one day) I will try to post tomorrow or within a couple of days. The scenery throughout the trip was absolutely gorgeous. We were always surrounded by high mountains, but the scenery changed from lush and green (with a mix of cacti’s and coniferous side by side! weird!) to complete desert (starting around day 5) and glaciers...
In Sarahan, we visited the Bhimakali temple, and as for every temple visited after, we had to wear a little felt hat (provided at the entrance) and remove any leather items, knives, etc.
The culture "up there" is very different from any other part of India. For one, it's rough mountain terrain -with harsh winters, and remains cool at all times (no higher than 20-25celcius, much less at night) - the road is only opened from April to October-, and the people look more Asian, there are many many Buddhist temples and Tibetan refugees. One thing that we kept seeing, and that remains sticking, is the swastika, which was "popularized" by the Nazi's. The cross is actually a sign of life and good luck here, but the Nazi's flipped it around (literally, the "arms" point the other way, and figuratively since any westerner cannot see it without thinking of the Nazis). It was therefore very strange to see it on doors of restaurants and on flags of Gumpas (temples)!
We then head off to a town called Sangla, where we stayed in a gorgeous hotel, with absolutely breathtaking view (in fact, the quality of hotels on the trip exceeded what I had experienced so far!). We went for a walk and explored the surroundings. Houses in this part of India and built with a mix of timber frame (aka a beam every 1-2 feet horizontally), filled with stone and the roofs are made of slate! Absolutely gorgeous, but I wonder how it fares on keeping the heat in and rain and snow out…
Sangla is in a valley, and seems quite fertile, with endless orchards of apricots, apples and walnuts.
Mouchi also taught us a very very fun game called Kabati!!! I had never heard of it, but it's apparently quite popular around here, being played in Universities and by kids in general (I saw it being played for Phys Ed in a school at the last town we stayed in!). It's essentially like playing tag, but with rules and boundaries and the "attacker", must say “Kabati Kabati Kabati” at all time, to prevent him/her from breathing. He/she must tough someone before running out of breath, hehehe, it was a great time! We have the funniest video (taken on Brigitte's camera) of us playing. I really hope I can get my hands on it at some point in the future...
We then head off to a town called Chitkul, where a wedding was just finishing. The girl had left with her husband to his village, but the people were still putting food away and everything. This was,b y far, one of the most rustic villages we visited although very cold. We stayed in a hotel ran by a family (we actually stayed with the family), and went on a easy trek, then a hard one up the mountain! The altitude makes a big big difference, with less oxygen in the air...
We then went to a town called Kalpa, which is notable for it's great view of a mountain called Kinner Kailash. There are apparently 7 "Kailashes" in the world, and they are called the same because of their tip, which has a particular shape (I had a pic, it doesn't loook THAT particular to me, but whatever). Still very nice! The town is said to be the winter home of Shiva (God)… hehehe…
We then head off to a town called Nako, a very cute village with tiny alleys running between houses made of stone and mud, animals everywhere (mostly donkeys and horses) and where I waited almost 1 hour for a “sunset over the Himalayas”, which turned out to be very anticlimactic (the pics weren’t so great, and not great colours… I kind of anticipated it would be such, but kept hoping until it was clear it would just get dark and colder…oh well!)
This city was the turning point from greenery (Kinnaur) to desert scenery (Spiti).
We then head off to a town called Tabo, where we stayed at the Gomba (monastery). The town was, as usual, very small, but quite nice. Andy and I got a great tour of the temple by a Monk, who explained the exquisite paintings on the walls, statues and overall temple. This site is a World Heritage Site for it’s best preserved Indo-Tibetan art in the world. We also sampled "momos", which are essentially chinese dumplings, either fried or steamed. Momo's are awesome! On that note, the food in this region is composed mainly of chow mein and momos...nice for a few days but would get very boring very fast!
We then head off to a village called Kaza, which is the capital of the Spiti valley, making it slightly (very slightly) bigger, but more noticeably, the only town with internet access in the area! yay! I was feeling very deprived, but at 80R/hour, I didn't stay long (I pay less then 25R/h right now!!). On the way to Kaza, we stopped at the Dankar Monastery (Tibetan run) which is perched on a steep hill. It was also very pretty. Pics would not have given it justice anyway, but there were nice….
For the final night, we went from Kaza to Kibber, which, at 4205m, claims to be the highest village in the world (later specified as "the highest village with a motorable road and electricity"). This village as notably NOTHING at all other than a couple of guest houses and a school. There are no shops (which is really really weird) This is where I saw the girls playing Kabati in school. It was very fun to watch! On the way, we stopped at yet another Monastery (after a while they really all look the same: a Tibetan monastery is a Tibetan monastery!), called Kee, which is noticeable for being the oldest and largest Gompa in Spiti.
We head off to Manali on the last day, where we all (finally) split up! Manali looked very different from Shimla, but felt similar dur to the vast amounts of Indian tourists. The town is divided in New Manali and Old Manali. All the westerner hippies hang out in Old Manali and the Indiand in New Manali. I had enough of westerners, so chose to stay in New Malani where I happen to catch a show given in the honour fo the last day of the summer festival in the town. It was a great show of Indian traditional and current music and dancing! Quite interesting! At some point they had some technical difficulties and I couldn’t understand what they were saying (talking in Hindi), but the word “cassette” from time to time…hehehe cassette!!!! On that ntoe, most Indians still have “old cameras” (aka not digital)..I would know as I must be on at least 100 different rolls (I thinkt hey came in rolls of 24 and 48 pics… I can’t remember.. wow, it seems so cumbersome when one knows digital! I should feel even more flattered that they are wiling to spend a whole pic on me when they only have a few…anyway)

I must say that 10 days with the same people, almost 24/7 was a bit much. Actually, I think it would have been fine with Andy and Brigitte only, but Grace turned out to have a really bad attitude, quite hypocrite in fact, and since she was staying in the same room as Brigitte, it rubbed off on her. With two people, out of 4, with a bad attitude, I started looking forward to the end of the trip around day 5... Oh well, it was somewhat predictable I guess and overall, it remained a very very nice experience and Andy even booked another tour with Mouchi as he had such a great time…I think this was a perfect example of “you make your own trip” if you want to me miserable, it’s very easy! It’s also very easy to have a great time!
We had many great laughs, both with, and about, the Indians (they really think different than Westeners!) and they laughed at us too! It's all good! For example, and this happened pretty much every time we asked a question such as...can we get 3 chais (tea)? Upon understanding the question, they would deliberate between them for a good 3-4 minutes, and then give an answer, generally yes! hehehe, what the heck were they talking about? I'll never know!! Mouchi and Mr Rana would also often chat together in Hindi and laugh their heads off. Mouchi would tehn tell us the story, which would not be funny at all (to any of us), but Any and I would laugh just at the sheer absurdity of the jokes and their sense of humour, while Brigitte would be listening to her IPod and Grace would be sighting heavily!...anyway, I gotta get these two off my head and I want to remember the good times!

Well, on that note, that’s that for Kinnaur and Spiti valley….

Kinnaur and Spiti Valleys remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So we set off to the town of Tattapani, a local bus ride which is said to take 2 hours. I've now come to the conclusion to always add at least 1 hour for every 2 "planned" hours. Not surprisingly, the trip took 3.5hours.
Driving in India is sure to be one of the most dangerous activities on earth. It is bound to be scarier and more dangerous than BASE jumping (which I believe currently holds the title of "most dangerous") hehehe, I got a VIP seat (not really, but it felt like it), the seat at the very front, beside the driver, giving me a full panoramic view of the dangers lurking. It was scary in town where cars and motorbike and big trucks were cutting in and out on the narrow zigzaging streets of Shimla, and it was scary in a different, but very real, way during the entire trip, zigzaging on a narrow mountain road (aka, if I looked out, all I could see was the cliff, very steep and long!). We often had to pass or maneuver around incoming traffic (mostly other busses and big trucks, on a road that can barely accommodate 1 of these vehicles!!). Many times I felt like on the ride at Play Land, the one where you're in a small car and turn abruptly at every end and always feel like the car is going to fall off! Same here, but for real! Much scarier! hehehe The driver was clearly quite experienced though, taking time to change the cassette (of wonderful ...khe khe khe... Indian music) and/or spit out the window! hehehe From my seat at the front (where I was soon joined by an elderly lady) I could barely see the state of fullness of the bus (which was ever increasing) to the point where people where doing the trip hanging on the handrail of the doors (there are 2 doors on every bus, thank god! as one could not possibly walk down these alleys when they are full). Overall, a good time, but I was glad to get off that bus!!
The scenery was quite gorgeous, driving fairly high on the mountain, and seeing valleys, trees, a river, little clutter of houses, etc. Very nice indeed, kinda reminded me of the Interior of BC, but with higher mountains.
Tattapani, is a very small village and we stayed in a hotel that is mostly known for its hot spring. Man it's hot!!! Like burning hot!! and they diverted some of the spring to a bath where people submerge themselves in the water!!! I actually managed to do so, for about 5 sec, after almost 1 hour of meddling around the bath, starting with the feet, then the legs, etc! Still, way too hot for comfort, but apparently good for the skin, joints, etc! The hotel was ok, located right on a big river, which was great, but power kept cutting in and out (mostly out, for hours at a time) and the shower only worked once, after that we hgad to use buckets to wash. On the last day, there was even a shortage of cold water, so I got given water from the hot spring! I think I burned my back a little! Hehehe! Worst hot “shower” ever!!! hehehe
So anyway, not much to report about this town. Mouchi's a trekking guide, so we went on a little easy trek (for my feet, which are getting better and better, since yesterday, for the first time in a couple of weeks, I've been able to go down stairs the "normal way" - aka 1 foot on each step, without pain) as opposed to my previous “sideway, one foot at the time, with pain" method.)
We ended up at a river where locals where beating sticks of wood in the water to "tenderize" them I guess. They use them to weave baskets. Anyway, they did that uninterruptly for at least a couple of hours, then proceeded to gather the wood in bunches and walk them back up the side of the mountain to the main road (several trips of at least 1km up hill with a massive bunch on their head!!!) People work so hard here (physically speaking) compared to anything I've ever seen anywhere else!
We stayed in Tattapani for a couple of days and I made a friend in Mouchi. He’s a great guy, and he taught me some basic words in Hindi, which will prove useful if I make it to smaller towns where people don't speak English, or just to know what the heck I'm ordering in a restaurant (aloo means potato!!! haaaa! it was like a revelation!!! hehehe). In return, I taught him some French (guides are impressive with the number of languages they must have basic knowledge of!, I remember in Thailand, guides could speak better French and/or Hebrew and/or whatever other language than I ever expected - the same situation applies here...by better I mean 2-3 sentences and a few words, but still!). He's from Kashmir, and we also got to talk about the situation there, which was very interesting. He left the place at 12yrs old when the trouble started (mid 80's) and up to a couple of years ago, the place was completely shut off to any tourists, as there was a fair bit of terrorism. It's now been deemed safe by the local authorities, thus the massive tourist push, and he thinks that it's only a matter of time, less than 1 yr before the foreign embassies lift their travel advisories....we shall see I guess!!

We came back to Shimla yesterday, on the same bus with the same driver hehehe, to my great joy and sorrow at the same time (at least I know he can do it, but I also know how he does the trip - aka almost recklessly! hehehe). This time I didn't have such a good seat and fully felt the crush of people on the bus (combined with the fact that my knees only fit in the seat through some contortions) and are leaving tomorrow for the Kinaura and Sippiti valley in the Himalayas, which is apparently the next best thing to Kashmir. So far we will be joined by a Dutch girl and a couple, so that should be fun. On one side I'm happy, as it means that the next 10 days will be quite easy (no need to worry about hotel, making my way, etc), but on the other side, I'm a bit unhappy about opting for what I feel is a bit of an "easy out" of this trip, as it will be too easy... anyway, I'll have 2 more weeks left in India after this, so plenty of challenge to come (I hope!)
On a last note, Shimla is a pretty enough city, somewhat reminding me of Qc City, with the older buildings, lots of hills, and lots lots lots of tourists! hehehe A major difference however, is that there a monkeys roaming everywhere here! I LOVE MONKEYS! (with a bit of caution however, as they are wild animals and will not hesitate to bit anyone attempting a foolish move, such as trying to corner and/or pet them for example!) Still, it's so great to see them around!
The weather has been a bit cool here, probably around 25, but when you're used to 45, 25 is cold! hehehe
On that note, no news from the next 10 days, but probably too much to say upon my return!
Cheers!

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June 9 -
The poverty of the place struck me a little more when I stepped on the street, to go to the train station- only to find several several several people sleeping on the street (to be fair, with the weather at 44celcius during the day and 35 at night, they probably slept better than me!) but anyway , they were mostly rickshaw people (a little seat pulled by a guy on a bicycle) sleeping on their contraption, but also many sleeping on cots on the sidewalk.

The train left on time (!!shocks of all shocks!!), and I was quite happy with my first class ticket, although I now know I can also easily travel 2nd class. The first portion of the trip was spent sitting beside two older men, which was absolutely great. We talked about India, they gave me their opinion and explained many things. One of them was still working and gave me his card (of course! hehehe) so now I have the contact info of a lawyer if I need to! hehehe. We mostly rode in the country side, so I got to see that aspect as well (very different from town of course!)
We then switched to another train (I'm pretty sure I was 2nd class there) in Kalka, to go to Shimla. I was now sitting on a 2person bench, facing another two person bench. A married couple and the brother of the man where my travel mates for this portion of the journey, so we got to talk about other things of India, and about their perspective of it. I talked fashion with the woman (who spoke impeccable english, better than the 2 men together!) and I found out that it's totally a woman's choice whether she wants to wear a sari or the "punjab dress" ( I bought one (225R) and was wearing it for the trip. They were clearly happy with that, so I'll try to buy a second one, might as well try to "blend in" (hehehe, as if THAT can happen here! hehehe, I must be a least 15cm taller than anyone, not to mention blond and white! hehehe).
She noticed my toe ring (on the second toe, after the big toe) and she asked me : Why only 1?, I was like: ?? here, when a woman gets married, she starts wearing a ring on the 2nd tow of each foot, as well as ankle bracelets, the red dot between the eyes and a red line starting at the base of the hair on the forehead, following the hair line separation (where the hair falls on each side of the head). Good to know! They don't wear a "wedding ring", and men don't wear anything at all. I said that was a bit unfair, and how were we to know who's married and who’s not (men-wise) the husband answered : It's easy, the men with (mimicking heavy stressed-out face) are married, the other ones (looking like a jolly dog ready to play) are single! hehehe HAHAHA!
They got off one town before my stop and two younger men, approx 25ish, took their seats. I then got to speak with that generation and get their perspective! How fascinating! All in one day!!
Essentially, the summary is: the older people don't really like the English, but will admit that they brought good in a few ways 1. the railway, 2. english, 3. they sort of unified India (before the English, it was ruled by the moguls (muslim) and it was not "1 country".)
The younger don't care too much about the english, but face a fairly glim future, with way too many people for too few god jobs! In India, you have to be an entrepreneur or you face poverty! That's probably why so many Indians have a shop in Canada, it's sort of the same situation for them in both countries.
Overall, this was a memorable day -because of the people and the gorgeous scenery-, despite the fact that the trip took 14 hours!! and the train broke down twice (and had to stop every 20mins or so to cool down the engine by hosing it with water!hehehe). The brother of the husband works for the railway and told me that these engines are 25yrs old and that there are no more parts being made for them! they're definitely on their last leg! Combining that to the fact that the ride is a steady uphill (up mountain is more accurate) trip, for...more hours than acceptable...I'm surprised the engines made it 25 yrs!! hehehe
I finally made it to Shimla, around 8pm -almost 3 hours late-,only to find out that there are no cars or rickshaw or whatever here, it's a "walk only" town in the downtown core, where everything is up or downhill!!! yikes! My feet had started bothering me again (well, never fully stopped, but the swelling was coming back), so I nearly cried when I saw how far I had to walk. This feeling of "OH fuck!" was greatly enhanced by the fact that I hadn't booked a hotel yet, and that Shimla is the town where way too many Indian go on vacation (this is their summer- remember). As a result, prices are sooo freaking high and there is almost no vacancy. I ended up paying 880R (!!!!! 1.2 times my entire daily budget!!!!!) for a fairly shitty room (it was ok...but there was no water - water shortage here, due to soo many people and the end of dry season -F'in great!!).So anyway, I decided that I was either finding a new place or getting the F out of here the following day. This was my few hours of unpleasant time that I was referring to at the beginning. I fully realize it could be worst).

June 10-
I forgot to mention this so far, but shops don't really open before 10am,if not 11, here in India (how great!? totally my kind of schedule! hehehe). I didn't think of this when I set out, bright and early, at 9am to go to the tourist office (best place to book tickets), only to find out it didn't open until 11am... I then set out to get a new place, only to not get very far. This is when I met Mouchi (not sure how he spells his name, it's a short for...Mouchafat I think), a trekking/tour guide (yes, yet another one!! these guys are really really relentless and numerous!!). Anyway, for some reason, I didn't tell him off too much, as he was making sense in his proposal, and I was feeling a little overwhelmed/annoyed at the perceived cost of the rest of this trip (freaking Indian summer!!). So anyway, I decided to hire his services (250R/day for 2 days) as he said he would take care of my feet (which he did, the results are quite amazing!!) and show me a great little-cheaper and more quiet- village called Tattapani. Alright!

Well, I gotta go for now, but there's more to say, so I'll try to log on again today or tomorrow.
Cheers!

Tour of New Delhi and trip to Shimla remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!! Ok, I've only been around a couple of blocks in my neighborhood, which is known as a shady part of town, but I'm totally in love! The people are soooo nice and friendly. I was somewhat expecting to have to be on my guards all the time (I still kinda am of course), but it's actually a lot easier than I was anticipating. I can't wait to see other parts of the country, as if this is shit (EVERYONE told me to get out of Delhi asap because it sucked ass - I honestly don't know what they were talking about), the rest must be out of this world great!! There are nowhere near as many beggars as I expected, and they are nowhere near as pro-active as in Cambodia, so it's great. People say hello and chat me up all the time. The only annoying ones are the travel agents! Man, these guys will talk you into buying a trip with them if you give them enough time! It actually almost worked, as the guy lured me in his office by asking me to read a letter he had got in french (clever little bastard!) and obviously that was the beginning of discussions about my itineary and stuff. His "brother" (I doubt the actual blood link but whatever) arrived, also working at the agency and talked me into a 3day homestay in a town up north that's apparently great bla bla bla. I was into the idea, but not at the same time, but it sounded good... and they had so many "testimonials" (travel agents often ask you to write a little something after a trip you enjoyed so they can show it to other travellers). We had agreed on price and everything, and and he was writing the receipt (I hadn't paid yet) when his phone rang, he answered it and started chatting for a while, so I opened my LP and remembered that this town (can't remember the name) was in the Kashmir area, for which there's a strong travel advisory against (I checked the Canadian web site just before coming to India). LP even said that travel agents would tell you it's all good and safe, and to check the situation before going. When he hung up, I told him I should check on the travel website before booking! He got furious!!! He said " you think I'd send you to a place that's not safe!!" and slammed his order book, the picture books and testimonial book and put everything away angrily. I said I didn't mean to offend him, but he just told me to leave and never refer anyone to him!!! I said fine and took off!! It really shook me though, as it was totally unexpected and so sudden and emotional! Pinaki (the guy I met on the plane) had told me that Indians were a bit too emotional for their own good, I guess he was right!!! Oh well, now at least I'm not going to a place where many tourists disappeared and/or got killed and where there there's a mini war with Pakistan!!!
It still took me a little while to get over such an emotional outburst! My first since I quit working! hehehe I guess I'm losing my edge! ;-)

Anyway, aside from that incident, I'm just walking around with a perma smile on my face, as I love it here and I think that Cat Stevens was wrong when he sang "you can't get by just upon a smile". It worked great in Asia and seems very efficient here as well! hehehe
Later in the day, as I was scrolling (actually partial limping is more accurate - the pain has shifted from the balls/all of my feet to my ankles, but at least the swelling is gone), when another guy approached me asking the same questions as everyone else (in the same precise order as everyone else): where are you from? ahh Montreal? ahh french?? aaah How long have you been in India?? ahhh Where are you going next?? ahhh and then he proceeded to try to talk me into going to his office (yay, another travel agent!!) for a trip to the same freaking region! Are they trying to ship us all up there or something! hehehe I believe them when they say that it's gorgeous and I'm missing an opportunity (after all, it's in the Himalayas), but my mind is set now and there's no way I'm going there. There are other "safer" (nowhere in India, or in the world as a matter of fact, is really safe, but still) towns to go to in one wants to experience the Himalayas (and I certainly want to!). So anyway, despite many no's and walking away, he tried and tried over and over again, before finally giving up. Travel agents: Tenacious little bastards!! hehehe
About a minute after this guy left me alone, another one approached me, to ask if I was a model and wanted to see if I was interested in become one! I burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of the proposal and said there was no way, not going to happen! hehehe, Do I look that guillible!! hehehe Anyway, good times! It's a bit draining, but so fun at the same time! However, I must mention that other people have chatted me up with no other apparent motive than just wanting to be nice, so you never know!
I now have the tel number/business cards of Pinaki (guy from the plane), a doctor who studied in the US who I can call if I get stomach problems (hehehe) and a guy's father who drives a car for a tour or whatever! hehehe Other than Pinaki, I have no intention of contacting any of them, but it's funny! hehehe! I'll need a rolodex before the end of the trip! hehehe

On a unrelated note, I fulfilled my duty to eat at McDonalds (this is where I met the doctor) and had a kind of open top square pie (crust made of bread) with a filling of chicken curry something something! I decided a long time ago that I would not eat meat in India (sanitation is way too off for that), but I figured that McDo meat is not real meat, so I made an exception there. It actually turned out to be real chicked breast meat, to my great surprise, but it's McDo, so it's almost antisceptic anyways, so I think I'm good. hehehe It was actually quite good, and barely had the McDo taste. On a surprising note, the fries did NOT taste like everywhere else (I'm thinking of writing a complaint to HO! hehehe), they had a bit of another taste...I can't quite put my finger on it...weird and not as good.
On that note: I bought a few gorgeous mangoes (to peel myself) and had one, but it didn't taste like the mango I know and love. It almost had a spicy taste! very weird! I took the two remaining ones and gave them to begging kids and they would certainly enjoy it a lot more than me!

On another unrelated note: I haven't met many fellow travellers yet, with the exception of 2 guys (on separate days, guys not related), a South African and a Nigerian, staying in the same hotel as me, who both wanted to take me out/come to my room with me. The first one, on the first night, actually called me in my room (the room has a tel!!! I hadn't had that since I left Canada! You should have seen me jump when it rang! hehehe). I was like: hein?? hmmm no! Another bunch of tenacious guys!!! They are both here on business, spare parts for automobiles (smells fishy to me!). The second guy at least asked me if he could call me, so I was able to say no in person! Anyway, I don't know if it's only me being racist (I wouldn't want to, but I might be a little...you tell me), but when I see them all I can think of is the rate of Aids in the Southern African countries... major turn off... so I've kindly told them that I was tired tonight, maybe tomorrow (we all know that means no!!! - but not them I think...) Anyway, is that racist or is it a bit justified??

On a final unrelated note: It's so amusing to see cows just hanging about around on the street and stuff. I was wondering what they ate (I haven't seen a patch of grass yet!), until a guy caused a major traffick jam by stopping to give a cow some bread! hehehe Everyone around here honks for everything (like in Cambodia, Thailand is so quiet in comparison!!). The traffick jam immediately became a horn symphony (or cacauphony) hehehe!
That and I almost (oh so close!) stepped in a major cow dump (I had my head up looking at everything but where I was going and saw it at the very very last fraction of a second! hehehe, note to self: keep your eyes on the road!!! hehehe

Ok, real final note: The power keeps cutting in and out here, it's so funny! There's a generator to keep the "important stuff" (aka TVs, computers and some emergency lights), but the rest shuts off for 4-5 secs, then starts again, then stops and so on most of the time! hehehe

Ok, not kidding, actual last note: I was told by, pretty much everyone, to bargain any price by cutting it in half and take it from there. Well, the merchants on the bazaar street are not willing to negotiate much at all! I'm so surprised! I walked away from a couple of places who were not willing to go below, i.e 125 when they started at 150... I expected easier dealings here, but they are actually quite dead set on not going below a certain (seemingly high in my opinion) price...weird!
Well, that's that for that! I booked a tour of "the important sites of Delhi" tomorrow and have my train ticket to Shimla for the following day.
I swear this is the final note: Before coming here, I hadn't realized that it's high domestic tourist season in India, as the kids are off school and the parents take them places and travel and stuff. With a population of 1 Billion people, it shows! As a result, I'll have to start planning my trip a little better and far in advance (it'll certainly be good practice for Europe) as, for example, the train was full for tomorrow. Unfortunately, this also means that hotels are charging the big bucks... I hate high season, low season is really the only way to travel!
Cheers!
P.S. I love this heat, it's sooo...hot! hehehe

I love it! Really! remains copyright of the author Mistrale, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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