Traffic in India

Traffic in India is very dangerous and without any rules, so watch out while crossing a street. There might be a three lane road but only one lane with asphalt and also the sidewalk sometimes gives way to deep canyons, so you need to jump across.

Basically, you need to learn "The strict species pecking order:

pedestrians are on the bottom and run out of the way of everything,
bicycles make way to cycle-rickshaws,
which give way auto-rickshaws,
which stop for cars,
which are subservient to trucks.
Buses stop for one thing and one thing only. Not customers - they jump on while the buses are still moving. The only thing that can stop a bus is the king of the road, the lord of the jungle and the top dog.

The holy cow."

Sarah MacDonald - Holy Cow

The blessings of today

This morning after breakfast, we walked over to the bus stop just around the corner from our hotel and tried to get the right bus. After some long minutes in the already strong sun, we finally found a No. 1 bus heading north to the Srirangam Temple district.

We left our shoes at the entrance and moved on within the first wall out of seven. At the end of the shops on the righ-hand side, we bought two tickets for 10 Rs to walk up a roof for a touristic view on the temple complex as non-Hindus are not allowed in the inner sanctum (golden temple) - we could only proceed to the sixth wall.

The temple is dedicated to three gods: Vishnu, Shiva and Krishna. We engaged a temple guide who showed us the 1000 pilar hall, some shrines and explained a lot of the Hindu religion. We got also blessed by a Rama Brahmin and by an elephant. Obviously, we found the elephant blessing more interesting. We handed a coin to the elephant who took it with his trunk, then we bowed and he touched our head (No photos here, but we will entertain you later with a video of this magic moment).

After a little shopping detour, we climbed the 480 steps to the Rockfort Temple which sits high above the city carved in the rock. Before we headed for the top, we relaxed with a Limca drink from the efforts to come so far. From the top we had good view over the city and over the river to the other temple. There we received our third blessing for the day with a white sign on our forehead and a flower.

Blessed so much we finished the day in the church of Our Lady of Lourd that was build more than hundred years ago.

Tomorrow we will take a day off from temples and board a train to Chennai, so stay tuned for more temple pictures from Mamallapuram near Chennai.

To the mountains and back down to earth

We got up early and made it to the train. Unfortunately, a man stopped us and asked us to enter a coach which was not ours. So we spent more than half an hour from Coimbatore to Mettupalaiyam in the wooden class (very uncomfortable) and with a special smell in the air (eau de toilette).

Im Mettupalaiyam, we boarded a crowded little mountain train and tried to find a space between all the luggage from us and other travellers. Finally, we got two window seats on the left side as recommended in the Lonely Planet. Short after 7 o'clock the little steam engine in the back started working and took us on a splendic trip to the Nilgiri Hills. Within the next 5 hours the train stopped several times for water refills and at stations and, of course, for the tourists to take pictures of the scenic mountain view with train bridges, hills with eucalyptus trees and tea plants.

Around noon we arrived at our destination Ooty where we were already expected from a driver of the Savoy Hotel (Taj Group - www.tajhotels.com/) - the best hotel group in India (as they say themselves). Within minutes we could make our own decisions as we reached our cottage (built by the British more than 100 years ago). We had a spacious room with a bathroom including a bath tub - pure luxury.

After a short trip to the city where we bought some gifts and scarfs, we returned to the hotel for an ayurvedic massage in the wellness centre. For an hour, we were massaged with oil and Inka & Susi had even chosen to get oil dropped on their forehead for half an hour. I found that not too amusing and relaxing, so I let this offer to the other girls. As far as I can say for Inka - she will not do it again.

The dinner was served as buffet and I mainly concentrated on the desserts: fresh fruits, ice-cream, pineapple souflet, caramel custard (never again) and brownie cake. For lunch I had a Tenderloin Steak which made me really happy after all that chicken around here.

Yesterday, we made a sleep-in and then left for the market where we could see the chicken alive and dead without feathers next to vegetable and fruit stands. A bit further down the market we found bangles (Armreife) and hair stuff. We bought also some fruits and left for the botanical garden where we had lunch on the lawn.

Outside the garden was the Tibetian Market with warm clothing and we both got some warm scarfs. Those were really good for the trip downhill to Mettupalaiyam for which we used a bus this time. This was only two hours, but it was not made for everybody's stomach. The rear door was not there and the driver had a certain "kamikaze"style on the mountain roads to get us down from 2240 m above sealevel to 500 m.

After two train rides with some delay we finally arrived in Tiruchchirupalli at 4 am. Here we will stay the next two days and have a look at the temples.

Back to India

I arrived in Mumbai six days ago and finally I have found the time to write.

In the meantime, I experienced quite some adventures:

In Mumbai, we spent one day sightseing: IndiaGate, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where we could afford only a mint tea and some ice-cream, Haji Ali Mosque in the sea and the Marine Drive (cards of these places are already on the way to you!). The next day we dedicated more or less to window shopping without much luck, except at the last store where I bought a Chakra Choli (traditional indian dance dress). After we spent the evening at "Not Just Jazz by th bay", we left for Goa by plane at 3am.

Arrived in Goa, we were sleeping till the afternoon before we went to beach at Causalim (10 min from the house we rented for us 12 people). At the beach shack we had dinner (Tiger Prawns in Lemon sauce - yummy). The next day, Inka and me visited Margoa and Panjim (capital) and bought some special Christmas stars that are hanging on every house in Goa. They have more decorations than in Germany. Unfortunately, the return to the house took a long time in bus and on foot, as we could find no taxi from Verna to Causalim. In the evening, we left with the others fro north Goa (2 h in the car) to celebrate New Year's Eve with a lot of people at the beach.

The following day, we slept long again and left Goa by night train to south. This afternoon we arrived in Coimbatore from where we will head to mountains and do a train ride with small mountain railway to Ooty (2242 m). The train is leaving a 5:15 am, so I will stop here for today!

One Night only - Back in L.E.

Energy Club Zone: One City - One Night - 30 Locations - 40 Dance Floors

Inka and me went to the City to check out Leipzig hottest clubs -here is our evaluation:

Buddha Art Gallery http://www.buddha-art-gallery.de/
Our first stop for the night and we were too early for anything big to happen. The interior was amazing and there was a big dance floor as well as a lot of seating places (beds, chairs, ...). Decent prices for drinks. We did not hear much of the music as we changed location. When we wanted to get in later, the queue was so long we decided for another place.

Party people: ☺☺☺☺

Location: ☺☺☺☺☺

Music: ☺☺☺

Star Club

2nd stop of our party night was only a short intermezzo - a live band played songs from the 70s & 80s in a big room, but it was too bright and the people were kind of one generation older than us, so we moved to the next.

Party people: ☺☺☺
Location: ☺☺☺☺
Music: ☺☺☺ ☺

TWENTY ONE
Club on the ring with nice location and good music. Here we finally moved our body.
Party people: ☺☺☺☺
Location: ☺☺☺☺
Music: ☺☺☺☺☺

Night Fever

Like in the Star Club the music was kind of outdated and the club was not that nice.

Party people: ☺☺☺

Location: ☺☺☺

Music: ☺☺☺

Bounce 87

We came in and I was too anxious for dancing to realize that the club was totally packed and the people were just out of school or proles. So we huried to get our jackets back and headed for the next spot.

Party people: ☺
Location: ☺☺
Music: ☺☺☺☺

Moritzbastei
The good old MB is still as it was and will hopefully never changed. The music was great and danceable, but as we got there so late no more space on the dance floor for us. Nonetheless, we made the best of it and used the little space we got.

Party people: ☺☺☺☺

Location: ☺☺☺☺☺

Music: ☺☺☺☺☺

Der Berg ruft - Ab auf die Piste

Easter Skiing Holidays in Bormio, Italy

The weekend before Easter, Inka and I left for the Alps in the Search of Snow - and we found it in Livigno after a nine hour drive from Leipzig. We ate some breakfast and then went skiing. The weather was changing between sunny, cloudy and snowy, but really warm already. Just for your impression - here one of the pics we took:

In the late afternoon, we checked-in to our little 2-room-apartment right in the middle of the centre of Bormio. We always knew what was on in the city: road-sweeper & supplier trafic in the morning, shopping people & Italians on a Passeggiata* in the afternoon and party people in the evening.

*Walk through the city centre to see & be seen: for teens to flirt, for grown-ups to exchange the newest gossips and for the elderly to check on who survived the date (Quote from "The Reluctant Tuscan" by Phil Doran).

As Easter appraoched, we went shopping and bought some big Easter chocolate eggs and some wine for our friends and family home. (So you do not get the wrong idea from the picture below).

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In the middle of our stay, we decided to relax an evening and went to the Bormio Therme (got a Hot Stone massage - really good) and afterwards to the pool and sauna. A day later, we checked out the Bagni Vecchi & Bagni Nuovi (the more upper-class spa´s). Here a picture from the view from Bagni Vecchi:

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Our Ski-Ressorts: Santa Caterina Valfurva, Bormio and Isolaccia & Le Motte - here Inka on the way back from Le Motte to the other side of the mountain.

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Whenever Wherever

2nd March - Leipzig
Shakira -Live in Concert

After getting into the Leipzig Arena just after 6:30 pm, we had to wait just some more minutes before the doors opened to let us run for the best place. I made a good run and ended in the 5th row in front of the stage. There I was locked up for the rest of the evening between some strange old guys and hysteric teenage girls waiting for Shakira.
Around 9 pm, Shakira came on stage and showed an extra-ordinary performance: belly dancing, robot moves and sang all her biggest hits.