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Elshähabi Memorandum 02: Fish Lips

Landed in Hong Kong after a looong trip. Globalisation makes many airports look similar. While other passengers crossed the immigration smoothly and quickly, we had our “you-are-an-arab” welcome by having the officers close their offices and accompany us another area that seemed reserved for passengers with different shades of brown-skin. Nonetheless, the officers were extremely polite. We had to wait a bit while they checked all the documents and prepared what seemed to be the smallest Visa/entry permit in the world. Morad busied himself with tinder during our waiting. I sat beside him observing his swiping finger that moved to the left in a semi-automatic movement. Welcome to Asia! Left.. left.. left.. Seemed like he was swiping with the same girl to the left in different outfits.

We checked in our hotel in the 28th floor. We hurried up downstairs (:D) to meet Morad’s friend Nelson who flew from Taiwan to meet us. They first met in Taiwan in 2011 and then a couple of times in Europe. Nelson brought his friend Cheng who met his own friend Vincent in the street and brought him along. After greetings and introductions they took us to a restaurant in the 7th floor in some building. We would have never been in such a place using tripadvisor.
Nice conversations over dinner. Nelson is passionate about aviation, Vincent about animals and Cheng about life. They explained to us a lot of things about Hong Kong and Taiwan, the differences with China and some cultural aspects about life and love. The food was delicious, specially a fish cooked with sweet and sour sauce. The table had also shrimps, duck, chicken, jellyfish and shark fins soup (!) which seemed like a celebration of human domination of other earth animals. Check this video 😀

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctPdITtFXFE

Vincent, Morad, Adham, Nelson and Cheng 😀

After dinner, we bid the guys farewell, went to the hotel bar for a drink and chess and a happy night sleep.

Good morning, it is the 11th of October. We woke up and saw the view. Hong Kong downtown is composed of many thin and tall buildings. Like a pack of toothpicks. We found a place for breakfast and got an unusual combination of eggs, chicken breasts and toast plus the coffee that was unexpectedly good. After a short stroll around the city we went to meet Nelson again. This time he introduced us to Saravanan from Malaysia who introduced us all to Marco (from Taiwan). They both work in Cathy Pacific Airlines as flight attendants. They have planed to takes us to eat a local food called “Dim Sum”. Since Morad and I don’t eat Pork, they figured out that a good place for us to try the local food was the a local Mosque :D. We loved how these guys just took us where we can eat even without asking us about our preferences or if it was ok for us. Relaxingly rightly assuming trust. Again, great food with great people. We were exposed to fun stories from the lives of flight attendants as well as hearing about different aspects of living in Hong Kong as a foreigner.
After lunch and a stroll, Nelson took us with the bus to The Peak. A small shopping mall on top of a hill overlooking the islands with a great view over most of Hong Kong. Nelson works in a pharmacy that belongs to his family and is a very relaxed and smart guy. Warm-hearted. I found it entertaining that he met his girlfriend in a bread-baking course 😀 he has now a basic license to make bread. Cool, no?

The view from The Peak, one of these buildings was our hotel.

Nelson had to catch his flight back, we had to change the hotel. After staying the first night in a fancy hotel we moved to a much much much less fancy guest house. The fun started by the comic creature which I believe was a woman at the checkin desk. (S)he communicated to us that we will be sharing a 130 cm bed and that this is a “Standard double room” that we booked. Her not so enthusiastic assistent took us to the room that is probably the smallest room I have ever seen in my life. Morad could touch two opposing walls while standing in the middle. However, the room had an airconditioning, a fan, a hair dryer, a fridge, a small bathroom and even a clock (that does not work). Morad said that we will manage somehow!

It is dinner time and Morad wants to try exotic food! We walked to the Temple street where you find many stalls for handcraft and very dirty looking restaurants. I bought a new chess set (I collect those) and we chose a restaurant dirty enough to feel the local experience. We tried to chose the table but the old Hong Kongi (or Hongi) lady insisted we sit in a particular table. No problem. Morad ordered fried frog legs. I ordered Fish lips Congee (which is like a soup) or something. Us pointing at the english name of the order was the last of our meaningful communication in that place. The followup questions where not possible to understand nor to seek further explanations in sign language. Morad said “Well, whatever will come, we will eat it. Probably we will never know what we ate anyway”. Indeed, came the first dish, we were not sure if it was the fish lips since I imagined a bowl of lips ready to kiss. What came instead was one big fish head with some skull parts and some soft parts. At the beginning we couldn’t tell it was a fish. Morad thought it was the frog. It didn’t make since since there was one hard shell of bone which couldn’t fit any anatomical part of a frog. Unless it was the shoulder plate of some huge frog which I wouldn’t guess it lives in China :D. The second dish came and it was obvious that it is some creatures legs. So everything was sorted. It was delicious. Not as froggy as it sounds. We ate this strange combination, paid, and left to look for a real dinner 😀

Vincent has told me that foot massage is something there. I should be looking for a foot logo. If the foot logo has a smily, that means you can get some sexual massage as well. We went for the non-smily foot, well plus the head, which turned to be a great relaxing and sometimes painful experience. After the massage I felt somehow strange and wondered if the masseur used some reflexology secret tricks to change who I am and play in my personality. I was nonetheless relaxed.

We decided to end the day in a steak restaurant. It was a much earned end for the day. I ordered a mix grill which included beef, a prawn and a pigeon, extending the list of my consumed animals in the last 24 hours.

Now we are both in the room preparing to sleep in the 130cm bed and looking for accommodations in the next days with an eye more attentive to details!

Elshähabi Memorandum 01: Hitting the road

I didn’t know the word “Memorandum”. Morad suggested it as a title for our travel diary. He likes fancy words!

Hit the road jack! It is us, Adham ElshAhabi and Morad ElshEhabi. Brothers with slightly different last names thanks to some clerk making passports and deciding the spelling in Egypt. Morad and I have traveled often together. Sometimes just us and often with other friends. Now we are set on a further and bigger adventure together in new lands. Here, I will be writing about our times together. Events, places, people, and conversations. Morad and I are very close but veeeerrrrry different. This trip is probably going to be a theater for these differences at play. Observing different events and sharing our widely different perspectives on life and living.

It all starts as usual, minimal packing while discussing two ways of doing the same thing. Morad loves standards. He wants to follow the state of the art in everything he does. He seeks to know the “rules” and use them to excel.
I hate rules! well, not true. I like rules. I hate to follow them. I don’t trust the “best way” of doing anything. I have, Morad agrees, the constant delusion that I could find a new better way of doing things.
The train to Frankfurt and many games of chess where Morad enjoys a higher percentage of winnings. He likes to refer to Bernouli’s law of large numbers. Which states that more times you repeat an event, the higher the probability to get a representing statistics of its different outcomes. He often wins and often shouts “Bernoooouuuli ya habibi”. He has read books about chess and its strategies. He is quiet didactic about it. I use more my gut feelings and unpredictability. Which often gets my king stranded on the board contemplating about the beginning of the chain of wrong decisions that let to his misery.

In Frankfurt, the Emirates flight was scheduled at 22:20 at night. The first leg is set to Dubai. Morad used his charm at the checkin counter to ask for more legroom. The lady behind the counter with exaggerated eyelashes moved things around and gave us the best seats in the economy section; at the emergency exit. While Morad says that this is one of the few times he flirts, I only saw him put a friendly smile! He didn’t really need more!

In the airplane we had a few hours of waiting. There is ice on the wings and somehow someone couldn’t manage to remove it. We won’t fly, they said. Then we will fly, they said. Then no.. really we won’t fly. It seems that a german official in the airport has given the permission to fly after 23:00 o’clock (which i came to know is the last time for takeoffs), and then revoked it! A huge plane with two decks had to go back to the terminal and all passengers need a hotel! Chaos! Emirates seems to have won “the best airline in the world” award. However, their on-the-ground management of this issue was disappointing. As if it happened for the first time and as if there were no protocols for such circumstances. Morad was out of glucose, I tried to convince him to consume a sugar bag that I have kept with me. He refused. He is very picky about how healthy everything should be. I am pickier about how tasty everything should be.

We spent the night in the Marriott and indulged in a long conversation over breakfast about the previous day. Emirates have rebooked our flight to 15:15 the next day which screwed up our Dubai plan. Originally we had around 12-hours transit and got Visas to check the city. Dubai scored 4th this year for the number of visitors worldwide. I guess we are not meant to increase the number. Well, as my mom always says, “Everything has its time, my son!”

Other than Morad, I have two companions in this trip, Jose Saramago with his book “Blindness” (thanks Merve for the gift!) and Daniel Kahneman with his book “Thinking fast and slow”. Morad reads “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles and two audiobooks “The History of Jazz” and “Mind Gym”. As Morad says, It is holidays, with so little to do and all the time in the world to do it. This is what we will practice in our first destination, Hong Kong!

Habibindia 14: Face massage and changing the plan

25.03.2017, Kathmandu, Nepal

My days in Nepal are counted. Today I leave Pokhara to do rafting in a river between Pokhara and Kathmandu. I went for an early morning stroll around 8:30 where I enjoyed watching shops opening and sellers putting out their stands and prepare for the day. It was the sunniest day since I arrived to Pokhara and I could finally see the Fishtail (Machapuchare) mountain from the street. It was there in the horizon like a nice painting hanging in your room that you often stop and contemplate its beauty.
I stopped for a hair cut close to the hotel. I look a bit like a monkey and could use some grooming. The barber was on the way to the hotel and he often eye-contacted me in the last few days which made me insecure about my hair. As if I heard him saying “when are you coming to fix this?”
He was young in his mid-twenties. I was relatively shocked when he said that his wife is now 19 and they have a 5 years old child! He married her when she was 12. They have two kids now. This woman could be a grandmother at the age of 30 and a grand-grandmother at 45. anyway… He gave me a nice haircut and talked me into having face mask and massage. Then he put some creams on my face that smelled local, you know what I mean. He then started rubbing my face with his fingers which I found to be a bit too intimate compared to what I am used to in Europe. His fingers occasionally went inside my mouth or eyes. He lacked precision in these movements and seemed as if he is painting a solid wall. He then started a long procedure of face and head massage that I felt was impressive. The guy had a technique. He didn’t just massage my head, instead, he made different hand shapes and used them to sometimes hammer my head.. sometimes massage my eyeball.. he even tried to somehow de-wrinkle my forehead.. and at times, I heard sounds of his hands cracking. I even had the near-death experience when he fucking cracked my neck! How could you even do that in a barbershop? I left the shop after almost an hour and felt like a new man. You don’t usually get this treatment in Europe. At least not for that price. It was, again, a skill, a craftsmanship that is fading away from the modern societies.

I then had to leave Pokhara with a personal driver (i know, luxury). He felt so cool in himself that he didn’t speak to me at all. He drove the skoda so fast and, in my perception, dangerously, that every turn and every move was a life-threatening event. Either for us or for other road participants. In Nepal, there are unexplained things on the road. Why are there a group of young guys discussing something on the road? Why is there a blind man walking with his stick on the road? Why is there a guy taking a nap on the road? A truck just stopped in the lane and the guy is cleaning the windshield? All of this is happening on an already-dangerous zigzag road in the mountain. I kept watching out of the window and never grew bored. There was always something new to see and wonder about.

After two hours, the driver dropped me at a bridge and said “you know the way? just go left after the bridge”. I carried my backpack and walked over the bridge and got lost a bit till I arrived to the resort. The view from the bridge was amazing! I enjoyed looking right and left while crossing the bridge and entertained the idea that I will stay here for one night. I already planed to wake up early to watch the Sunrise.

Although this is just a photo from the internet of the bridge, there was actually a person carrying such a big sack crossing in front of me.

Another photo stolen from this blog: http://www.everestuncensored.org/anbu-khaireni-manakamana-kurintar/

At the resort, a Nepali guy welcomed me and spoke a bit of Arabic. More than half the Nepali people I talked to have worked in the gulf and spoke a bit of broken Arabic. He pretended that he knew my reservation and checked me into a room. They also had cottages and tents for lower budgets. We had a small chit-chat and I had lunch with the people who just finished rafting. Most of them were Nepali and they seemed to have had a lot of fun. Meanwhile, Summit tried to contact me and informed me that I went to the wrong resort and that a guide will come and pick me up to take me to the right place in 5 to 10 minutes. An hour has passed. The place I waited in became very empty and not fun. Electricity was out so I also didn’t have internet since a few hours. I read and read and read until I got tired. Summit called me again and apologised. “The guide will come in 5 to 10 minutes”. He said again. Half an hour later, I was pissed off. This was not fun anymore and I was not looking forward to staying there nor to do rafting nor to anything. I felt an urge to leave this place. It was getting darker and I knew it would be sometime before I arrive to Kathmandu. But it didn’t matter. I wanted to leave this place. I walked back on the bridge and found a few people who sat on the road and appeared to appoint themselves in a job where they stop local buses. They did for me! I took a local bus to Kathmandu and was happy to get out of there.

The bus was a paradox of high and low technologies. It had outlets for electricity, a decent big TV screen, a bottle of water in front of each seat that were also reclinable. However, the over-all status of the bus seemed to belong to the last decade. Specially how it roared when we drove uphill. The bus was like a dying elephant. But the road between Pokhara and Kathmandu was also not easy. Although it was only 200km, it needed at least 6 hours if there was no traffic. Despite all that, the driver was impersonating a Fast and Furious role and didn’t break on these mountain curves. I looked to my left side and saw only 50 centimeters between us and a cliff then the river where I was supposed to raft and I was very confident that this was way more dangerous than rafting. Everybody else on board seemed relaxed so I decided to leave life in the hand of God.

The passengers argued on what movie to watch, a Hindi movie or a Nepali movie? But it was shorter than a couple deciding on a movie night. We ended up watching a hindi movie dubbed with Nepali so I didn’t understand anything! But I didn’t need to. You know, Hindi movies are exaggerated but this one was something that my brain couldn’t process nor classify. Was this even science fiction? The reason they chose a character with a big belly to be a super-strong man was unclear for me. They seemed to focus on his moustache as a sign of his manhood and an excuse of the unspeakable things he did to his attackers. Well, if you grow up watching these movies, you could have a distorted view of reality and of how life works! However, I found the movie entertaining with the amounts of “Oh shit” and “What the fuck” that I kept repeating in my head. It made my bus trip lighter and shorter.

I arrived to Kathmandu around 4 hours later and chose a good hotel for the next two days. I needed to treat myself well after the frustration of the day. I guess in general, I wanted to relax and enjoy the last few days of my trip. I was sleeping in the Royal Penguin Hotel!

Habibindia 13: Boys night out in Pokhara

24.03.2017. Pokhara, Nepal

Goooood morning..
It is still cloudy and I couldn’t see the mountain. But good. I still see the green hills around. I went for breakfast in the garden where Hanna was sitting and checking her iPhone. In front of her, was her journal and a pen. We chatted a bit and then I found myself asking her if she can read me a random page from her journal. It was too private.. but come on.. we will most probably never see each other again. She actually accepted and read to me one of her reflections two days ago. Which she describes as “the most reflective entry I have written in my journal”. In her post, she discusses some people and conversations she had in the trek and her childhood and how she grew up to fullfil a certain image required by her parents that made her unhappy. I appreciated her sharing these private thoughts. There was then a relatively weird atmosphere since she felt a bit exposed to me, a person she does not know almost anything about. I tried to soften the conversation by a couple of jokes and we then had a couple of nice discussions.

We decided to hike all together downhill. Hanna, her two companions, Ram and I. With all of my luggage on my back, it wasn’t very easy. Although yesterday I didn’t have any difficulty trekking uphill, today I felt a bit weaker. My legs started shaking with each step and I miserably observed my lack of fitness for such activities. Well, I play football weekly, I go the gym. But I guess this wasn’t enough for the Himalayas! With many stops for rest and with Ram’s help, we made it downhill in a couple of hours where we met very old ladies who spoke English and sold us unnecessary armbands and beads.

We drove to the hotels where I said bye to Hanna and and agreed with Ram and her companions to go out for a boys night in the evening where we go for dinner and some dancing in a local Nepali place. Until then, I spent my time relaxing, chilling and strolling around town.

Due to the similarity in the food, religion, language and somehow the culture, you would also assume a bigger range of similarities between India and Nepal. However, Nepali people are a bit different. They are very punctual for example. All my appointments with Nepali people were punctual and respected which rarely happens in India or with Indians (DJ :D). There is also a certain sparkle in their eyes that shines some kind of intelligence. Being aware of the inaccessibility of good education, I wonder what gives me this impression. It seems to me that the culture is rich and that Nepali people are emotionally mature. The Nepali book I am reading has also given me this impression. Driving around Nepal, I try to observe the people in their small encounters and fantasise about the various conversations they might be having, the gossips about their neighbours, and what they share with each other about sufferings and dreams.

Ram was punctual. We went together to pick up Lakhpa and Mingmar (I am pretty sure the spellings are wrong). They spoke Nepali a lot which was very relaxing for me. They discussed at length where to go and then decided to go to a local Nepali dance place that is the Nepali analog to a dance club. We took a taxi and went there. It was in the local city far from where the tourists go. I must confess that I wanted a more western place. But then I just followed them and decided to wait for whatever comes.
The place was damp and mouldy. I asked myself “what am I doing here?”
It was an eventful night. I just sat there and observed what seemed to be a different world for me. The stage had a carpet and each one of the performers had to take their shoes off before climbing up the stage. They were very casual and checked their cell phones and drank water on stage. Having a mysterious red light in the stage, my first thought that this will be an erotic show and that the guys brought me here for an unforgettable night. It was not! It was unforgettable but totally unsexy! The performers were a mixture of men, women, young girls most of them were rather unattractive except two of them that were acceptable. A blind young man joined the performers to play the flute. Also he took off his shoes and put them in a safe place that he seemed to always reserve. I observed him with rather respect.
The performance started with traditional singing and a huge woman that started dancing. I found refuge behind a pillar that restricted my visual field and protected me from this, forgive me, visual pollution. I had no solution for the music though. The first few songs were rather painful and boring. I failed to grasp the rhythm and the dance. Mingmar seemed to share with me the same opinion which made me have more faith in Nepali taste. Mingmar said “I need one pillar here”.. he envied me! 😀
We ate and drank and were served by very young girls.
The 2nd part of the performance was more dance-encouraging. So we went to the dance floor and tried to dance. I tried to mimic their dance moves which didn’t seem to follow any physical law or maybe Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. But I had fun. Rochsa, an 18 years old girl wanted to dance with me and asked me if I am married or unmarried. She gave thumbs up when she knew I am not married and Ram tried to make more fire in the atmosphere!
The performing band seemed to be creative and tried to incorporate some English words for me “I love youuuuu”. They then sang what Ram translated to me:
“Here is one foreginer who does not understand the language… ♫♫♫
But no worries, the guy with the cap is translating for him… ♫♫♫”
The guy with the cap was Ram who was euphoric on the dance floor! We danced a bit more and then decided it was time to go. Rochsa gave me her phone number and wrote “call me plz” I am going to sell her number to the highest bid.We left the place in a nice mood and had a long walk to the hotel in the peaceful night and discussed the events of the evening.
Today was my last day in Pokhara. Tomorrow I should start the drive to Kathmandu and go raftinggggggg…

Habibindia 12: Up to Dhampus with Ram

23.03.2017, Dhampus, Nepal

By the glorious morning light;
and by the night when it darkens,
your Lord has not forsaken you, nor is He displeased with you,
and the Hereafter will indeed be better for you than the present life;
soon you will be gratified with what your Lord will give you.
Did He not find you orphaned and shelter you?
Did He not find you wandering, and give you guidance?
Did He not find you in want, and make you free from want?
Therefore do not treat the orphan with harshness,
and do not chide the one who asks for help;
but proclaim the blessings of your Lord.

[Quran: Sura 93]

-Summit, I don’t want to walk!
* Can you walk for two hours?
– Yes, two hours are fine. But I want to stay somewhere up in the mountains and relax there.

Today I met Ram, the guide. Together, we started my short trek uphill to reach Dhampus, a small village that is surrounded by mountains and river valleys. It was both the trek and Ram that made this day the highlight of my trip so far. I have learned a lot from him and enjoyed a lot being in the nature. The most common word I spoke today was “Wow”, repeating it again and again with every glance to the horizon. Despite the clouds the hid the mountain view, the hills and the valley were enough to bring romance to my eyes. I was speechless at times and glorifying God at others. I also sweat a lot. A sweet sweat that I enjoyed! It was a physically demanding activity that I am not very fit for. Yet I felt alive.

Ram told me a lot about his life, his family and his country. Today I learned a lot about Nepal. About the politics between Nepal, India and China. The history of the country and how Ram think that Nepal is a rich country that is being mislead by its bad government.

We walked through small villages of a couple of houses, through fields that are being planted using old traditional methods. Bulls are still being used with no machinery. I wondered again and again, why do people live here in such a remote area. Ram told me at some point that this is where poor people escaped to practice agriculture without having to buy the land from the state.

We passed through a small jungle of high trees, traditional houses with bee hives, little children in school uniform (schools there?) that asked us for sweets or pencils! and here and there we saw some trekkers accompanied by a Nepali guide and sometimes a porter that carried their luggage. The only pity was the cloudy weather that veiled the mountains and most of the view. However, it rendered the journey kind of mystic.

At the top of the hill, around 1600 m above the sea level, we went to a guest house were we will be staying the night. It was a bit more than 3 hours. In the restaurant, I met a German guy that will trek back after lunch. A group of four french women in their fifties, a Japanese guy and Hanna!

I slept two hours which were probably the sweetest nap I have ever taken. I woke up with my brain aware of my body that I moved very slowly so that I do not loose this state of organic peace. I went to find Ram that was checking the news on his phone and started another conversation where he explained to me more about The Silk Road, the project that china wants to take through Nepal. India is not amused. In our conversation, an Australian girl called Hanna asked if she can sit with us. We welcomed her and started getting to know each other.

Hanna is a freshly graduated doctor that has been on a 14 days trek! Today is her last day before she goes to Pokhara, Kathmandu and then back to Australia where she will work as a doctor. We laughed about comparing my 3 hours trek to her 14 days and had some very nice conversations. We decided to have dinner all together with Ram, her guide and her porter. Two funny Nepalese guys that I liked and found funny. “Nepalese people are the kindest people I have ever met” said Hanna and other people! I felt the they were genuinely friendly and simple and that this was independent of money.

After dinner, Mingmar the porter and I played two games of chess. After winning the first one, I was confident of winning the second until he sneaked behind my back and throttled my king. I was impressed and sour that I lost :D. The guys then showed me a traditional Nepali song on youtube that was a bit too erotic by a singer called “Jyoti”. I feel a bit embarrassed to share the video here. My response was through a belly dancing video that, obviously, had our attention and was the last of our night.

Ithaka

By C.P. Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon — don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon — you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind —
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Habibindia 11: Pokhara.. the caves, the bats and a bit of loneliness

22.03.2017

It was a lovely morning where I woke up to the day light and the sounds of birds. This put a big smile on my face while I was in bed. The view from the 5th floor balcony has a small part of the lake and it was a good start of the day.

After a quick breaktast, a hotel driver took me on a tour around Pokhara that included a long drive in the city and various visits to some sights. I visited three caves, a waterfall that didn’t have a lot of water and a bridge on the white river. Mahendra cave was Ok. I have to say I was not very impressed. So the driver took me to the Bats cave where I didn’t expect to see many bats. I was wrong. The cave was full of bats! Which I found to be a bit scary at the beginning. All these bats hanging from the cave’s ceiling above me.. Bats are not the most beautiful cuddly animals you could see. When they move and lick their wings, it looks a bit.. hmmm.. disgusting! We chose to get out of the cave through a tiny hole instead of the official entrance which was easier for the driver since he didn’t have the extra kilos that I have!

After the cave, we drove to the white river where the water is a bit white. The driver didn’t know why and I didn’t google it! I thought that probably it had too much Calcium. He threw a bucket in the river and brought it up so that we wash our hands with the water and see how cold it was. I was wondering if it was a good idea. Sometimes you wash your hand and make it dirtier in some parts of the world. After the visit, a few meters outside, I saw the sewage being drained into the river! I looked back and forth at my hands and then at the sewage! shit!

We then stopped for one temple with a view over the city. I don’t like temples that much. But the view was nice.

The next stop was the Davis falls and Gupteshwor-Mahadev Cave. The falls would look more interesting in the monsoon season. The cave wouldn’t be very accessible then since it would be full of water. Now, the falls are a bit empty but the cave was accessible. At the entrance of the cave, there was a cow shed, where locals paid a sum of money and then received a white liquid from the breasts of a cow statue. My driver wiped his hands with the liquid and then kissed the cow’s ear and did some kind of prayers.

The falls in the monsoon (left) and my picture (right)

The cave was nice! This photo is from the internet 🙂

The rest of the day I spent on the lake side for lunch and relaxing. I fantasised about having a simple life here where I work in a restaurant. Or maybe work in a local hospital where I would probably learn another kind of medicine. Life always seems simpler but probably it is not really the case. The grass always looks greener on the other side. I guess my wish is to be able to have a simple life anywhere.

Traveling solo has many advantages, you can be in control of everything and follow your own path. You don’t have to compromise which is a bit self-centred but also comfortable. You also meet more people. The social urge inside you pushes you to reach out to people and try to seek human contact. But sometimes you don’t or you can’t. And sometimes loneliness creeps into your days. Although I feel good alone most of the time, loneliness can be painful sometimes and specially during traveling. I wish to share the experiences of the day with someone and listen to their perspective on the day’s events. Writing here is a great way to alleviate this problem but it is mostly one-directional story telling and lacks the beauty of mutual reflection and direct interaction. I guess it is just the curse of traveling that I should just live with and I accepted it. Have you seen “Into the Wild” movie?

I went for dinner and a walk around the market. Souvenirs don’t attract me any more. However, local art is something that I like to collect. Paintings by local artists appeal to me and they take some of my money. For dinner, I went to a sports bar where a local band was noisy more than musical. But it was nice to observe them playing American songs and behave in a western way.
I went to bed to get some rest like I was advised by Summit. Tomorrow I will need my fitness! I left the curtains open hoping to wake up with the same smile I had today..

Habibindia 10: Let’s fly around Mount Everest

5:30 in the morning I was awake, dressed and went downstairs to meet the young driver who was already there unexpectedly. We drove in the darkness of Kathmandu to the domestic airport where passed the security check smoothly and stood in the line that had written “Simrik Airlines — Mountain”. It was a flight that Summit arranged for me to see the Himalayas in a small jet flight with 16 passengers that provided this tour. In the waiting line, I met an old Canadian guy in his late 70’s or 80’s. We had a small conversation most of it were jokes.

This check-in was new for me. Since we didn’t have luggage, they put us on the scale to check the weight. I saw the fat guy in the line getting worried 😀
We waited for the flight which was delayed from 6:15 to 7:15. Roy, the Canadian, and I had some coffee and he told me
-“I heard that they let you in the cockpit”.
My natural answer was “Did they know there is an Arab on board?”.
-“Won’t happen in the States!

We mounted a very old bus at the very old gate and drove towards the aircraft. On the bus, everybody who is related to the flight was on board, the pilots, the hostess, the people who were standing at the gate and the passengers which I discovered that many of them are Germans. Everything in this airport was casual and relaxed. Even the army airplanes were parked there without fences nor protection. There is a general atmosphere of trust here. While we were waiting to board, we saw that the army was doing their morning run around the airport yard. Roy shouted “Look, they finally got it that you are here” :D. Following the army, there were several groups in sports uniforms also jogging around. One group was completely dressed as Manchester United (Hello Morad :-*).

It was a small airplane. You had to bend to walk inside. We took our assigned seats and waited for the take-off. They gave us a visual guide of the mountains and their order of appearance. During the flight, the hostess would come to each passenger and show the main mountains and specially Mount Everest.

Mountain after mountain, they were covered in snow above the clouds-level. They extended to a very far distance and we were just flying parallel to them. I felt embraced by these mighty structures that stood there in pride and we were the little ones trying to get a glance. I felt peaceful.. I felt little and insignificant.
We also had the chance to go the cockpit. Where the view was breathtaking! The whole trip was magnificent. This was one of the most beautiful scenes I have seen in my life. Mount Everest was not visually extremely special. But the knowledge we know about it, that it is the highest in the world, gave it a special taste and respect. Everybody wanted to see it and everybody wanted to take a photo of it. It was just a mountain on one hand but it was the highest and most famous. I managed to grab many photos of the summit even with the head of the pilot!

We went back to Kathmandu where I had breakfast and had a couple of hours of rest that helped greatly with my cough and fitness. When I woke up, I felt healthy again and was ready to take another flight to Pokhara, the biggest city in Nepal.

It was repeating the scenario as in the morning, I drove to the airport, passed the security, they weighed me in check-in, I waited at the same gate for the same airlines bus. This time we were only 5 passengers on that small plane. With all the crew in the bus, we drove to a twin plane of that in the morning. After dropping the crew, the bus driver took us and went to another plane to pick up the fuel tank. There were moments of discussions among the staff on the ground on how to do this properly which gave us the impression that this was being improvised. A passenger looked at me in terror and said “Scary!” I felt I was in a funny place!
The flight was 25 minutes. Shorter than my shoeshine session yesterday. Again, surrounded by the beauty of the mountains. Pokhara from the top looks different from anywhere I have seen. It also had giant cliffs that overlooked dry rivers or just pieces of land. Sometimes this looked like huge cracks in the ground.

At the airport, a driver was waiting for me and we went together to the hotel. The city is much cleaner, calmer and, greener than Kathmandu. In the hotel, they gave me a room in the top floor which was my wish to enjoy a view of the lake. Alhamdulillah.. I feel thankful to be able to be here and enjoy this beauty.
I went to the city immediately.. walked in the market and headed to the lake for a few hours before the sunset. There I relaxed for hours. Reading, listening to music and people-watching.. I drank many Masala Teas and ate a not very delicious dinner and listened to a live music band. But when the night has come and darkness has descended. The lake was not identifiable anymore so I left back to the hotel to chill and prepare for the next day. Tomorrow I discover Pokhara!

He wanted a selfie with me. So I took a photo of him.. 1–1

Habibindia 09: A shoeshiner in Kathmandu

I was not very excited about Kathmandu. Being also sick, I preferred to rest in the hotel and have some solitude and refuge in the books. I guess the amount of dust in the air scared me since I had continuououous coughing. My only trial to go for a walk today was truncated by heavy rains that brought me to Pizza Hut for lunch. I have to say, I didn’t come to Nepal to know the culture or try the food. I came to find nature. So I was happy to have a western pizza after the psychological trauma of my latest bowel experience.

Kathmandu is full of shops of big brands, Levi’s, adidas, puma.. etc.. Also shops for expensive watches. While the infrastructure of the city is worse than some villages in Egypt 10 years ago, the people still wanted to consume these brands. Something didn’t feel right. Not that some people have more right to live than others. It is just that globalisation gave some societies more dreams to chase than they really needed.

The rain stopped and I was slowly strolling towards the hotel when I saw a shoeshiner. My shoes were miserably dirty and muddy so I thought I would give them a polish. I sat beside him on the bench and wore the flip flops he offered me while he started his work on my shoes. I relaxed and used the time as an excuse to people-watch and observe the happenings in the street before I turn my attention completely to him.
A long process that involved many steps and tools. Started by studying the shoes and removing the laces, he gave them a thorough polish with a strong brush. Then manually preparing the colour by mixing a white paste with different amounts of coloured powders; black, red and yellow. He did that while glancing back and forth to the shoes to estimate the quantities more like a painter.
He was absorbed in his small task.. Indifferent to his surroundings. His process was various. Including different brushes and even a tooth brush. Different materials to reach some folds and gutters. Between the steps, he brushed with all of his being. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. He moved his head with the brush with some spirituality like a Sufi dancer. It was a skill and an art. I knew that his work on my shoes won’t last long in dusty Kathmandu. He probably knew it too. But it didn’t matter. During his 25 minutes relationship with my shoes, I found it pleasing to observe his work and admired his expertise and craftsmanship. Some people can transform small tasks into respectable pieces of work.

I went to bed around 8pm. Lacking the energy for anything else and having a busy program the next day that starts at 5am. Tomorrow, Inshallah, I leave the Kathmandu to Pokhara, the biggest city in Nepal.

Habibindia 08: Kathmanduuuu

In New Delhi airport, I said “bye bye” and “see you later” to my beautiful companions. They flew back to Germany while I took a later flight towards Kathmandu, Nepal. Nepal is my destination for the upcoming week. Not having prepared almost anything for the trip, I boarded the Royal Nepal Airlines and waited comfortably for the take-off.

The flight crew was dressed in traditional Nepali clothes. They seemed educated and friendly. The passengers, however, were a bit surprising. On boarding, a lot of passengers asked the hostesses where their seat were. I failed to understand the mystery in finding seat number 20 if you are standing beside seat number 11. Even if you are a first-timer, it does not take an extremely high IQ to observe the perfectly designed system of incremental numbering of the seats rows. It descended upon me that I was leaving civilisation to somewhere else and prayed for my soul.

My neighbour passenger across the aisle didn’t find it strange or creepy taking selfies with me without any sign of asking for permission. I tried to rotate my head to the other side so that I don’t ruin his beautiful selfie just to find out that he waited for me to look back to snap the picture. I tried to eye-contact him to understand the situation from his perspective and all he had to offer was a light smile and went on taking pictures of us. I gave up and smiled..

The time difference between Kathmandu and New Delhi was 15 minutes. What is this? Is it even worth it to have a different time-zone?

Landing in Kathmandu was smooth. The Visa-on-arrival procedure was extremely easy and even automated. A touch-screen machine you can use to make your application, you pay, you enter. The whole thing was half an hour or so and left me impressed with its efficiency. Not what I expected.

Outside the airport, you know, there are taxi drivers, guides, etc.. you should usually not hire any of them since the prices are exaggerated. Well, I did. I was tired and his offer was affordable for me. It was a $7 taxi ride to the hotel. Summit, the man who managed to convince me, had a relatively good English and a sense of humour. “Sir, you are going to a good hotel which means you have money. So I will charge you higher. hahahaha”. Although this sounds creepy, I still found it funny and honest. I said “I will bargain”. He said. Yes yes. “I put very high price, you bargain, then we are both happy”.

Kathmandu is swamped with motorbikes and small cars. Motorbikers have helmets unlike India. It was dusty! very dusty! and around one quarter of the people on the street had masks to protect them from the dust. They even had masks with fashionable patterns and flowers.

I spent the rest of the day sleeping and coughing! Except for a short walk in the evening, where I visited a kind of pharmacy where the girl had to wipe the dust of the medicine I ordered. I then went to a book store and picked up a book by a local author. “Arresting God in Kathmandu” was the title which sounds very blasphemous and contains stories of infidelities in Kathmandu. I started reading the book in the same day and paused my other reading. Maybe I can get a better feeling of this place!

It was my mother’s birthday today. I called her to greet her and wish her a healthy and beautiful year to come. A wonderful woman who did everything to bring us up and surround us with love and care. She always paid attention to our emotional intelligence and situational awareness. Thank you my lovely mother for being who you are..

Habibindia 07: The days after The Day, the Transgender and Taj Mahal

Surrender your hands to hers…
She will embrace them with grace..
She will take you to new places..
and teach you new ways..
Cheers to her hands..
and to her..

Day Wedding+1: The sickness

Today I wanted to rest. Having immersed myself in the wedding days and interacting with the group, my body started to loose its strength and integrity. The group is planning to visit Amritsar where the Golden Temple is and follow that by visiting the Indian Pakistani borders where a special ceremony takes place everyday. I knew I would miss these events but I also knew that going there would be an extra load for my strengths.
I spent the day reading, writing and sleeping. My companion book is “The House of God” which is a diary of a medical intern during his internship year. Full of irony and beautifully written, this book attracted me since the first page. I found myself writing down quotes from every page. I borrowed it from Morad, my brother, after he told me many times: “You should read this book” and he is right.
I almost recovered, had I not had lunch in a restaurant beside the hotel. In addition to my sore throat (resulting from a mixture of shouting and screaming during the wedding dances and the dust in the air), I acquired also some stomachache which grew stronger with time. Well, I don’t really think it was stomachache. My theory is that it is intestinal pain and it could be probably due to intolerance of some of the spices or the ingredients used in my meal. The pain was completely gone in the next day with no traces. Hmm, maybe some psychological caution of eating traditional or local food.
Meanwhile, my friends in Amritsar had a great time at the temple and the Paki border 🙂 Here are some of their photos:

In the evening, Diljit and Alvi picked me up to go and meet the group in a cultural complex in Jalandhar. The complex, Haveli is a mini-village that shows the history and culture of Punjab using real-sized statues and constructed rooms. Here are some images from google image if you are too lazy to google it yourself:

There was also a band performing some traditional dance on an elevated stage. Under the stage there was a sign stating that dancing is forbidden for visitors and that it is only for the band. This tells you how much Punjabis like to dance 😀

We had then a very traditional dinner inside where various dishes were served in metal plates and brass jars. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really eat much due to the instability of my inner organs!

I felt a bit worse.. going back to the hotel, I found myself with my clothes undercover and shivering! I was sick! My mind was getting alternating between lucid and hazy at times. This brought me the attention my other group members who rushed to provide me with several medicines and wishes of getting better soon. This helped me.. This also touched me since I felt their real and genuine care and love. We are nobodies without the people we love.
I slept and slept deep. This was enough to make me fresh in the next morning.. I felt liberated from my stomach/intestine/whatever it is problem and only having the throat problem.. Today, we go to Delhi!

Day Wedding+2: Transgender experience

We checked out, had a small breakfast and split into two groups. Daniel, Lena, Justus, Heike and Filip will drive back to Delhi while Christina, Merve and I will fly later in the day. Sibylle flies back tomorrow. The 2nd group + Sibylle went to Diljit’s house for a bye-bye time before heading to the airport. There we found a lot of beggars at the front door playing music and waiting for alms from the new wedded couple.
Particularly interesting is a tradition that transgender/hermaphrodites come to the newly married couples and ask for a big sum of money! This was a bit of an experience for us. He/She walked around the house yard in an exaggerated feminine steps and coarse manly facial features that were smoothed by some makeup work. She danced to the music of the accompanying group and every now and then sat on Diljit’s lab and gave a kiss on his cheek. I was discussing with Merve in the background how much she would accept to kiss her/him and we were discussing various prices for various levels of kiss qualities. Merve was not willing to kiss her/him a real kiss for any price. Later during the dance, the transgender came to me and asked me to dance with her/him. To my surprise, I didn’t feel very strange. She/he is just a person after all. This whole tradition is to compensate them for the social rejection and negligence which they consistently receive everyday. At some point, he/she asked me to kiss him/her on the cheek! Oh.. I didn’t see that coming.. I remembered immediately my conversation with Merve and asked kiss-seeker for 1000 rupees.. (S)he/ didn’t seem to mind, so I raised the price to 10,000 rupees (around 150 euros). (S)he also seemed ok with it. So I said to myself, “fuck it, let’s do it”. As soon as I leaned towards her/him, (S)he backed off and seemed to shy out.. I was not sure if (S)he was even afraid! ohh my..

The rest of the day was driving to the airport, flying to Delhi and then renting a car to drive to Agra where we spent the night. However insignificant this sounds, in India, you are constantly surprised. Here and there you find things like a man on a bicycle with a monkey behind him. An elephant walking down the street.
We needed to rest a bit, tomorrow will be our visit to Taj Mahal, a guide will accompany us for the morning and in the afternoon we will go back to Delhi.

Day Wedding+3: Taj Mahal

Our driver picked us up from the hotel. Merve and Christina looked a bit fresher than I did. We drove together through agra where cows on the streets were in a similar count to cars. We picked up Mohammed Wassim, our guide. He was nice, wise and confident and accompanied us during the morning.

At Taj Mahal, Mohammed and we skipped all the lines directly to the ticket window. Sometimes, he waved local indians to empty the way as if they were flies. Which seemed verrry wrong. We had conflicting feelings; this was good for us since it will cut all the unnecessary waiting times but on the other hand it was just wrong. Disrespectful. The locals, however, didn’t seem the tiniest annoyed by this. They took it very normally and casually and made some space. This is not very novel here. You can often see people treated really badly and they seem to accept it or to expect it.

Taj Mahal is a beauty. It is my 2nd visit and I still enjoy looking at it. Being a Muslim heritage piece dedicated for love, it had some romantic connections. Mohammed explained a lot about the history, the construction and other details about the palace which I won’t write here since I wrote most of them in my last trip (you can read here). Mohammed sounded very authoritative some times: “Stand here”. “Leave the water here”. He was also very specific about where to stand and wait for him and sometimes he asked us to move a meter or so. I found this somehow entertaining.

We had our trip around the place where Mohammed took many photos of us. Some of them are very touristy:

We had some chats with Mohamed about his life and his family. He comes from Kashmir and wants to get married to a beautiful woman called Zaira. We then had lunch, did some shopping and then hit the road to our hotel in Delhi to spend our last night.

It was almost the end of our group travel. Merve, Christina, and I! We had a bye-bye dinner together in one of the malls where above-average class indians were hanging out to some DJ music. It was a pleasure to travel with these beautiful ladies. It was enriching, simple and easy going. I would like to express my happiness and honour to get to know them and establish a long-lasting friendship among the three of us.

Everything comes to an end.. but ends mark new beginnings.. and the end of this trip is the beginning to another chapter of my travel solo. Tomorrow I fly to Nepal after the girls fly back to Germany. Tomorrow I will be praying for new adventures, life-lessons and some time of reflection..