Миллион алых роз

Often in Kyrgyzstan it would be easy to forget we are not in Europe. However when it comes to the pure European tradition, such as as drinking or hitchhiking, people here don't really know what it is or how to do. And we realize then, we are far from home.

Forget about the easy rides of last summer, hitchhiking in Iceland. In fact, people here expect to be paid for the ride. We had very hard time explaining them what is hitchhiking. And even after explaining, the reaction was like : "So... How much can you give?". We finally gave up on a free ride and started bargaining a price with drivers. Eventually we managed to get a fair price and a car to Osh.

We didn't do this ride for Osh itself, but rather for the road through Kyrgyzstan that was reputated for its landscapes. And we were not disappointed. Old Russian chanson on the radio, we could contemplate the beauties of Kyrgyzstan by the windshield for more than 13 hours. We definitly got the slowest driver of Kyrgyzstan. Maybe of all Central Asia. But the view was gorgeous. Up to snowy highs where rare locals sell honey and kymyz (a sort of kefir made from mare's milk) and huge ravens draw circles in the sky over the most unspoiled snow. Down to some valleys where horses run in the wild, shepherds gather livestock (mmh... shashlik!), kids race on donkeys... Time by time a handwritten sign shows "Gasoil" and points to a private yard. On the way we passed by Toktogul lake, a large mountain lake in a unreal blue color.

Osh is a city at the border with Uzbekistan. Much smaller than Bishkek, less russified also (we could finally hear people conversing in Kyrgyz and in Uzbek). The main site there is Suleiman Too, a muslim pilgrimage site on a rocky hill in the very center of the city. This hill makes a pretty park where to have a walk, with high caves where to climb. But the first thing that caught our attention in Osh was a huge statue of Lenin (at the end of Lenin street!) welcoming us in town.

One evening, going out for diner, we ended up in a kind of salle des fêtes/tautas nams. There we met old Uzbeks celebrating what seemed to be a marriage anniversary. Ladies were singing Raimonds Pauls' Миллион алых роз on karaoke and we were soon invited to dance with them.

The way back could have been quick. This time we ended up with the fastest (and most dangerous) drivers of the country. However we got caught in a snow storm on the pass in Ala-Too mountain range, about 100 km before Bishkek and had to remain immobile for about 10 hours.

On a totally different matter, we have some news to share with you guys. First it seems we won't be able to finish this trip as we intended, driving back home on the transsiberian railway. We saw our visa application to Russia being refused. At the embassy we were told to go to our home countries, apply for visa there and come back in Kyrgyzstan. Great. Positive point : we now have more time to explore and enjoy Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Then you can expect us to be back in Latvia. Here comes the date : May the 6th, 2015.

From Punjab to Kyrgyzstan

That doesn't happen everyday to fly from Amritsar, Punjab to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. And even to us, those two destinations seemed, at first, a little random. During the last week several people have been asking us : Why Kyrgyzstan? - Eh... why not? While travelling, we've been speaking for a long time with Tince about our next great trip, where we would go, etc... And Central Asia turned up being a destination we were keeping in mind for it. We were in India, looking in every directions where to go after our visa expire. Our first idea was to go to the South-East, do Thailand and some countries around (like every backpackers do). But we soon realized we were not very excited about that idea. And then we saw Kyrgyzstan on the map. So why waiting a next trip to go there if we can go now!

We went fighting for Communism!

After India, Kyrgyzstan is so normal. Being here feels like being back in Europe, or almost. An old school version of Europe, where one can buy pickled cucumbers and cigarettes one by one in the streets. Many things here remind Tince of her 90s childhood. Bishkek is a 100% soviet city. The map of the city looks like from some kind of boardgame. Parallel streets of gray blocks. Sometimes a park, featuring statues of heroic socialist characters, brings some "colors". Between blocks, two men are playing chess on a small table, keeping warm by sharing samogonka. Time to time a cheaply decorated caterring offers plov and kompot. Traditionnaly Kyrgyz people are nomadic people but Soviet union forced them into a settled lifestyle. For centuries Bishkek was a caravan stop on the silk road and only developped as a city during soviet era.

Over the skyline of the city we can see massive and snowy peaks. We can't wait reaching them. Unfortunatly we had to spend our first days in Bishkek to prepare our future trips. Everyday we walk through the long streets of the city from an administrative building to another, to Kazakh embassy, to Russian embassy, etc... Only once we managed to escape out of the city, and spent the day at Burana tower with two Kyrgyz friends. Hopefully starting from next week we'll spend more time outside of Bishkek and discover more about Kyrgyz culture.

Because Kyrgyz culture is not an obvious thing to catch in the streets of Bishkek. Everywhere here you read and hear Russian. Russification has been strong here and education system still supports it. Even two Kyrgyz persons would speak to eachothers in Russian rather than in Kyrgyz. And parents talk to their children in Russian too, often. They don't seem to care much about their language or their culture. This surprised us very much at first, especially Tince who comes from Latvia where language is so important. But I just wonder if they realize that's how a language slowly dies out.

Cinema theater "Rossiya"

This weekend comes an big celebration : Nooruz. Nooruz is the Zoroastrian new year and an important spring festival in Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia. In Bishkek the city is getting decorated and ready for celebrating. Spring is in the air and we're getting excited for the last part of our journey!

Goodbye, India!

We are back in Amritsar, the Golden Temple of the sikhs. Five months ago we started our journey through India from here. Tomorrow we are finishing it and moving forward.

If someone would mark all the countries of the world on one straight line, Iceland and India would be placed on the two opposite ends of it. We started our journey in Iceland, and Iceland and India are just so different in... everything. Lifestyle, people, esthetics, availability of clean and warm water, wealth, population, nature. I feel like we have had a chance to see two different worlds during this one trip.

When we just arrived in India we couldn't understand those many travelers who once have been here want to return again and again. We decided that it's worth to experience India, but ...once is enough. Now, after almost half a year spent here, we are already planning our next trip to North-Eastern states.

Of course, I am excited to leave tomorrow, our trip has took unexpected turns and we still have many unknown places to explore before returning back home. Still I'm a bit sad as during the time spent here I have learned to love India. I can love it as I can love a relative. I can see all its disadvantages, it can often annoy me, I can disagree with it on many things, still I love it. Incredible India.

Kashmir wears snow

A week ago we took a car to Kashmir. This was truly one of the most fantastic part of our journey in India. Stuffed in a minibus from Jammu we soon got to know that it is illegal to drive between Jammu and Srinagar at night. In case of a police control, we are asked to lie about our destination. We don't really understand if that's for political or climatic reasons. For a couple of hours we've been driving through the most norrow mountain roads as well as crossing a dry river, asking the locals for an alternative path. The night goes on and we have to wait on the way. People are cleaning the road from a landslide. We befriend with our neighbour, a truly kind person who offers us tea and sweets. There is only one way from India to Kashmir since the Partition between India and Pakistan. And that goes crossing a very long and old tunnel. The narrow corridors goes and goes and we wonder if it will end. But when it does, we come out in a beautiful snow landscape : we are in Kashmir!

View from our homestay

In Srinagar, no more snow. Kashmiris are known for being wonderful hosts. I wouldn't have believed how true this was before seeing it myself. The friend I mentionned earlier invited to stay at his family home on our arrival. He lives outside of the center in a big new house with his three sisters, his parents and his grandmother, a traditionnal muslim family. On our arrival we were offered salty Kashmiri tea, bread and butter. Here we traditionnaly eat and sleep on the floor. Everyone carries a hot pot of embers that one can put under his/her long coat for keeping warm. Everyday we are feeded and dressed. During the dinners we have long talks with the sisters. The eldest is very talkative. She studies sufism and speaks in quotes of the Quran. Once we asked about men and women relationships, and she explained us that the sun shows up in the day and the moon in the night and that is for the good of humankind they keep a definite distance. The second sister laughs all the time and the youngest is shy and very quiet. It was really a magical stay and we feel very thanksful.

 Tince in Sherwani with a hot pot

Nicolas waiting for shashlik

On our second day in Srinagar it started snowing. A very heavy snow. That day Srinagar looked a bit like Rīga, with its buildings of wood and red bricks, and snow all around. We bravely faced the snow to explore the mosques and shrines of the old city. Mosques in Kashmir feature interesting architecture, typically with a green wooden pagoda roof. At the end of our little exploration we arrived on a small mausoleum. We can barely see a huge grave from the window. Outside a quote of the Quran (translated in English) tells us about the prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) who didn't die on the cross (according to the holy book of the muslims). There is one controversial theory that I got to know in India during one of my readings. Some believe that Jesus survived his cruxifiction and travelled then to India with St Thomas. He'd die in an old age and would be burried in Srinagar. Well. I've read the famous Jesus live in India by Holger Kersten (inspired from the works of Nikolai Notovich). It's a fine fiction. First I was quite open to this theory. But the book is a total fantasy and hard to take seriously by someone with a minimum of religious culture. Not only Jesus survived and came to Kashmir, but he also spent his teenagehood in India with buddhist monks, Abraham was born in Kasmir and brought the Hebrew people from Kashmir to Canaan and Moses is also somehow burried in Kashmir! A little bit too much.

 

Kashmir is not India, we are regulary remembered. It is true it feels here like a totally different country. People's behaviour and faces bring us far away of what we have seen in India so far. Kashmiris are very proud of their Kashmir and always want be sure we find their land beautiful. The food also is different. We finally get to eat meat! And a lot of it. Kashmiris love kabab, shashlik, tandoori... Street dogs look healthy, almost fat, eating meat wastes. Unlike skiny Indian dogs on vegetarian diet. During the next days, snow disappear. However important landslides prevent us to leave the country. The only road is closed, and still today we don't know yet when we'll be able to take a bus. Hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully.

This gives us more time to explore the city. We are off touristic season here, and maybe the only whities in town! The rain force us to hide our face and the rickshaws drive without noticing us. We visited the museum of Srinagar. A part of it actually, most of the museum being closed due to flood. The content of the museum wasn't interesting but the museology was amazing! Some old statues from the 7th century BC put on the floor with no protection, piles of stuffed animals loosing their hair in open showcase... On a sunny day we took a boat through the canals of Dal lake. Many people live on the lake. We are discovering a second city! Different districts (for fishermen, for shopping, etc.) are here, and also a mosque and a hindu temple. See on the pictures!

About Vipassana

Nicolas

Craving and aversion...impermanence...remain equanimous...sometimes through both the nostrils simultenously...

4am. The bells ring outside. I open the eyes and stand up. In the bathroom I prepare a bucket of cold water. I stand for a few seconds, maybe a minute in front of the bucket. I breath, take a few handfull of this freezing water to wet my whole body, and soap everything. I look at the water left in the bucket. I take it with both hands and raise it in front of me. I have a thought for those times when I've been jumping in the snow after sauna, before to pour the whole bucket on my head. Fastly I dry, dress up and go to Dhamma hall.

Crossed-legs I will sit here for many hours today. After a cold shower I feel completly loaded. I could do anything, running, cutting wood, cooking, or I could be at school with a group of kids. Instead of that I go sitting and remain still until breakfast. Sometimes the record player tell us more about the technique. Observe the breath...be aware of the sensations through all the body...the true nature of those sensations is the nature of arising and passing away...arising and passing away... It is hard to concentrate, as the morning brings up sensual inspirations.

During 10 days we have been following the Vipassanā meditation courses. Vipassana is a technique in which one focus on his sensations, to be aware of them and to keep a healthy mind. It's not something abstract or spiritual at all. However Vipassana courses are known for being rather strict and tough. For 10 days, interdiction to speak, to use any form of communication, to have physical contact, to observe religious practice, etc.. Everyday waking up at 4am and going to bed at 9pm, we managed to fit about 10 hours of daily meditation between those times.

My main worry before starting the course was the food. The 3 meals were at 6am, 11am and 5pm and are strictly vegetarian. But the food during the 10 days was truly great. It was tasty and various, and we had possibility of making as much refill as necessary.

On the first days we observed only the breathe. This was hard. I could not stay on my own breathe more than a couple of minutes before my mind starts wandering away. But on the second or third day I experienced amazing sensations in my nose, like if I was feeling each single pores of my nose. In the middle of the week we started observing different parts of the body.

After 10 days, silence is over. And so one can speak to his roommate for the first time. It is funny then to hear my own voice. Like the voice of someone else. I went through the 10 days without breaking the rule of noble silence. I didn't even went to speak to any assistant teacher (although this was allowed). During the whole last day when silence was broken, I felt extremly euphoric. On this day I also got to know that there is possibility to have very hot water in the common bathroom. I had then a painful thought for each of my mornings.

Tince

On the very first evening as I enter my room I find a huge, hairy spider chilling out on the wall. The law of noble silence is being broken immediately as I have to cooperate with my roommate to get rid of the monster. Later on it turns out that our residential quarters are full of those. It seems that this week will be more challanging than I expected.

First three days we spent just observing our breath and concentrating all our attention on always smaller and smaller area around the nostrils. Me and my breath aren't very good friends for a long time already, this is not for me, I'm thinking. Mind that should be concentrating only on my nostrils is wandering from one thought to another without any sensible order. It seems that a human mind is one huge garbage pile, bigger than Getliņi or Delhi market, one can find anything necesarry and unnecesarry there! Maybe I should leave here and now, this idea doesn't let me alone for all the three days.

On the fourth day we have sharpened our concentration and are ready to start learning vipassana meditation technique. So all this torment was just the beggining, a training course? I'm worried about what will follow, but  vainly. From now on we have to examine all our body part by part paying attention to any sensations. As there are more things to focus on, it gets easier to stay attentive. Even sitting in lotus position becomes a bit easier, sometimes I manage to sit for 30 minutes still (teacher demands one hour). I do not hasten desperaingly to the yard for stretching myself on each five minutes break anymore. Walking back and forth in the beautiful garden of the centre now seems enough to take rest between long meditation hours.

Following days went like a roller-coaster, up and down, up and down. Joy about succesful meditation and excitement about the benefits I will get out of it, despair about the pain in knees and back, "wrong"  breath, drowsiness. Pictures from past and future rising up in my wandering monkey mind annoy me and as time passes I start to group them by topic acquiring a mental mosaic of myself. It's not an inspiring job. Remain purrrfect equanimity, purrrfect equanimity, I hear the voice of the teacher and go back to observing bodily sensations. From one part to the next one, next one... Everything is impermanent, one should not worry over bad luck as those worries will only multiply ones misery; one should not generate cravings for the goods of life as they will also pass.

For the ones worrying that I will return from this trip "too enlightened" and for the ones being interested in trying it themselves, please check www.dhamma.org . Even though this meditation technique is said to be the same that Gautama Buddha has been practising, it is not attached to any religion or sect. It doesn't involve any religious rites and rituals or cult of any personality and emphasizes that only ones own work and experience on this path matters. So even such a sceptical person as me can find it attractive.

The speed of time slows down again on last days of the course. I can't focus on meditation anymore as the only thing I think is - it's soon over! Soon I can go out of the yard, I can talk, I can meet Nicolas, I can finally ask the name of my roommate, oh,  I won't have to sit with crossed legs anymore! The tenth days is an adaptation period before leaving to the outside world.

Honey bike

Our last morning in Bundi we spent in the garden of our haveli, facing the artificial lake of Nawal sagar. But the most interesting view was in the opposite direction, in a corner against the neighbour's wall. An old bicycle stood against the wall, probably for a long time already, when we noticed something was definitly moving there.

Bees had totally invaded the wheels. Somehow the metallic structure of the wheels gives a perfect spot for the bees to install their little beehive. We stood quite amazed in front of the work of nature. Bees are incredible animals. The way they organize their society, the way they move within their territory, but also the way they build their beehives. Bees can adapt the architecture of it accordingly to what nature offer to them. And not only the nature... We were wondering also what will come out of this bike. Will there be honey in this bike? A honey bike, how cool is that!

Definitly, when we come back to Latvia and settle in the countryside, we've got to have bees...

Rajasthani gallery

Jodhpur

It's dawn. We just entered the market square by the south gate and are sitting by the central clocktower. The sun slowly rises and the massive fortress of Mehrangarh appears above. It is now time to walk into the blue maze and find a place where to sleep. We are tired and just arrived in Jodhpur, a blue city lying under a majestuous fort. This is the first place we saw in Rajasthan.

 

Our favorite street-food so far in India!

Jaisalmer
A train across the desert. We travelled from Bikaner with our friend Myriam, who volunteers with us. Of all India, Rajasthan is the state of postcards with its forts and palaces seemingly taken from the Thousand and one nights. Every single street's detail of the old fortified city could make one postcard. 

 

Here you can find everything with added marijuana (bhang) : bhang lassi, bhang chocolate, bhang masala chai... Governmentaly approved.

Pushkar
We finally escaped from Bikaner. Now sitting on the ghat, around the holy lake of Pushkar, we are watching a saddhu walking around with a bucket attached to his hair. While chanting, he makes it turn around his head. The sun is setting on Brahma's temple (one of the few that exists) and the other holy men are washing themselves in the water. Pushkar is a real oasis in the desert of Rajasthan. A small town that really feels small, despite its 400 temples. 

 

Cows, cows, cows.

Bundi
Rajasthan has to be seen from a rooftop, in any place you might be. Monkeys, blue houses, ancient palaces, and the picture is complete here in Bundi. Our friend Myriam was already here and we wanted to meet her again. And it was a great decision coming here! Streets are infested by monkeys and wild boars - mežcūkas bez meža - but people are really kind here and we feel good in this town outside of the usual touristic routes.

 

Tince and her "monkey stick" .