hi/czesc
I'm in Varanasi now!!! That's the most important hindu town on the world... :P, and one of the oldest on the world... it is said that varanasi is older than Hinduism, older even than India, when anywhere else was nothing, Varanasi or Benares existed already as a world cultural metropoly... and when I came here, I saw the town and i agreed with that... that's really specific town... a bit different than other indian towns... it has thousands of small streets crossing whole the city centre and those streets look like neverending ones... sometimes I feel like in a big labirynth/maze... Varanasi is upon Ganga/Ganges river... which is of course the holiest Hindu river... River looks completely black and dirty... today I saw many fired Hindu bodies on the river bank... they go for cremation here... (now without alive widows of dead husbands :P), it is used 200kg of wood to cremate each body... and that's special wood... made from special kind of tree (I don't remember the name), but that wood can burn the body even during tha rain, and because of it, you don't smell dead bodies in the air. all the fires are fired from probably Siva fire, which has been firing for 5000 years without a brake... after cremation, special person finds last bones, and put them to the river... every day in the morning other people put all the ashes to the river... but it doesn't disturb other hindu people to swim here, take a "river shower" or wash their clothes here... :D the most orthodox hindus even drink ganga water here!!!
teraz jestem w Waranasi!!! To najwazniejsze miasto hinduistyczne swiata...:P i jedno z najstarszych na swiecie... Mowi sie, ze Waranasi jest starsze niz hinduizm, starsze nawet niz Indie i kiedy gdzie indziej nie bylo jeszcze nic, to Waranasi czy tez Benares istnialo jako swiatowej klasy kulturalna metropolia... kiedy tu przyjechalem, i kiedy zobaczylem miasto, moglem sie tylko z tym zgodzic... To jest specyficzne miasto... wyglada inaczej niz inne indyjskie miasta... tysiace nieskonczenie dlugich uliczek krzyzujacych sie w centrum... czasem czujesz sie naprawde jak w Labiryncie...Waranasi lezy nad gangesem, ktory jest oczywiscie najswietsza hinduska rzeka... Ale rzeka wyglada syfiasto... cala czarna... Dzis widzialem palone ciala hindusow... (Na szczescie juz bez wdow po zmarlych mezach)... do kazdego ciala zuzywa sie 200kg specjalnego drewna, ktore palisie nawet podczas deszczu i dzieki niemu nie czuc w powietrzu rozkladajacych sie cial... Wszystkie ogniska rozpalane sa z ogniska (chyba) Sivy, ktore zostalo rozpalone ponad 5000 lat temu i plonie nieprzerwanie do teraz... po kremacji, specjalna osoba zbiera pozostale kosci i wrzuca do rzeki, kazdego dnia jeszcze inni ludzie wrzucaja prochy do rzeki... ale to nie przeszkadza hindusom w kapaniu sie tutaj, robieniu prania... a co bardziej wierzacy nawet pija wode z gangesu!!!!
Other thing which is perfect here... that's masala dosa... completely different from any other in the country... that's not just a thin crepe/pancake with a bit of potatoes with spices (mainly chilly)... but many, many differents (with the same name!!!), but here they don't use chilly as often as anywhere else... today I ate masala dosa even with tomatoes, peas, haricots/french beans... and other things inside... here in varanasi I met first time sweet samosas(?!?) made with sweet white cheese inside and made with honey water outside... perfect!!! and on the street masala dosa costs 10-12INR 13p/25c!!! and samosa 2,5INR 3p/5c!!!
jest tu jeszcze jedna fantastyczna rzecz... masala dosa... kompletnie inna niz w innych czesciach kraju... to nie tylko cieniutki nalesnik z mala iloscia ziemnikow i przyprawami (glownie chilli) w srodku... ale duzo roznych(o tej samej nazwie)... tu nie uzywa sie tyle chilli co gdzie indziej... dzis zjadlem dose z pomidorami,groszkiem, zialonymi fasolkami i z innymi farfoclami w srodku... tutaj tez mozna dostac... slodkie samosy (?!?) zrobione z bialego sera w srodku i oblane rozcienczonym miodem... suuuper... masala dosa kosztuje tu 10-12INR 90gr i samosa 15gr!!!
and In Varanasi I met the most creative auto-rickshaw wallahs :P... because of the main train line is in Mughal Sarai on the second bank of the ganga/Ganges river, there is 15 km to go from train station to Varanasi (of course there is big train station also in Varanasi, but there was no train from Gaya to it)... in the train I met really nice tibetan people... who wanted to go to Varanasi as well as me... so we decided to go together... when we left the station, auto-rickshaw wallahs attacked us as usually, but this time their creativity was unexpectable... they started to say that there are no any bus to Varanasi (of course there is:P) and they said that main bridge is closed for fixing and the closest one is 30 km away (of course I haven't believed them, but that was partially the truth, main bridge was closed, but the other pontoon one was 5-10km away :P)... and now the best... one taxi has taken us to varanasi for 125INR (5 people for the price of bus) and we wanted to go to one hotel... but the guy said, that hotel has been burnt by fire few years ago... but he said that he is gonna tak us to his friend's hotel (of course that's bull shit - here he receives the highest commision :D), but his friend's hotel was quite close to "ours one" so we said yes for cheaper transport... there we said that we don't like the price of rooms and we left... and... we found our hotel!!! and it was looking quite good as burnt one... and somebody has removed the owners memory, cause they din't remember any fires... :D... Incredible India... :D don't trust anybody... hehe
W Waranasi spotkalem najbardziej kreatywnych rikszarzy :P z powodu tego,ze stacja znajduje sie w Mughal Sarai na drugim brzegu rzeki, to jest jeszcze 15 km do przejechania (oczywiscie w Waranasi tez jest duzy dworzec, ale zaden z moich pociagow tam nie jechal...) W pociagu spotkalem fajnych tybetanczykow, ktorzy tez jechali do waranasi, wiec postanowilismy jechac razem... zaraz po opuszczeniu stacji jak zwykle zostalismy zaatakowani przez rikszarzy... ale ich kreatywnosc byla nie do przewidzenia... twierdzili zgodnie ze nie ma autobusu do Waranasi (oczywiscie jest) i powiedzieli, ze most laczacy miasta jest w remoncie, a nastepny jest 30 km stad... (oczywiscie im nie wierzylem, ale jak sie okazalo most faktycznie byl remoncie,ale dotymczaswego pontonowgo moze bylo 5km dalej), a teraz najlepsze... gosciu obiecal ze nas wezmie po cenie autobusowej 5osob razy 25=125INR, ale musimy odwiedzic hotel jego przyjaciela (wiadomo, ze to g.... prawda (h.... pravda pre citajucich v cestine alebo slovencine), tam po prostu dostaje najwieksza prowizje od wlasciciela za sprowadzanie gosci), my mielismy swoj hotel, do ktorego chcielismy jechac... ale wtedy cena za taxi juz nie byla tak atrakcyjna :P)... jak sie doweidzilismy... nasz hotel splonal w wielkim pozarze kilka lat temu... oczywiscie na miejscu nie skorzystalismy z hotelu nam wskazanego mowiac, ze nie podobaja nam sie pokoje i ich ceny... kiedy pokrecilismy sie troche po kretych uliczkach... znalezlismy "nasz hotel" do ktorego chcielismy jechac na samym poczatku... calkiem niezle wygladal jak na zgliszcza...i do tego ktos im wykasowal pamiec (chyba faceci w czerni tu byli), bo nie wiedzieli nic o zadnym pozarze... :DDD incredible India... :D nie ufac nikomu hehe :P
after pondicherry, where I've written my last mail from... I got to Chennai (Madras)... train was going there (120km) 8,5 hours which was undoubted my speedness record... even pakistani lorry was going 25km/h... In chennai there was really not much to see, so I wanted to go to the beach... there is said that's the longest beach on the world (13km) which of course another bullshit cause the longest beach in Europe that's beach in Poland from Swinoujscie to Piaski and is more than 500km long with little brakes for river mouths... when I reached the beach... beyond thousands of people (croud like in Ustka!!!), sun and trashes and no even one shadow!!! there was no electricity either so I could forget about cold beverages!!! Terrible... but I didn't know that was a beginning of my Chennai's adventure...
po pondicherry, skad pisalem ostatni mail, dotarlem do Chennai'u (Madras'u)... jechalem tam pociagiem (120km) 8,5H... co jest niewatpliwym rekordem predkosci... nawet pakistanski tir jechal 25km/h... W Chennai'u nie ma zbyt wiele do zobaczenia... wiec postanowilem wybrac sie na plaze... tutaj twierdza, ze to najdluzsza plaza na Swiecie (13km) co jest kolejna kompletna bzdura, bo najdluzsza plaza w Europie to ta w Polsce ze Swinoujscia do Piaskow i ma ponad 500km z malymi przerwami na ujscia rzek... kiedy dotarlem do plazy... poza tysiacami ludzi (tlum jak w Ustce!!!), sloncem i smieciami nie ma tam zaaaadnego cienia!!! nie bylo tam nawet pradu, wiec moglem zapomniec o jakims zimnym napoju!!! tragedia... ale wtedy nie wiedzialem,ze to dopiero poczatek mojej przygody z Chenai'em...
I realized that if here is nothing else to see, I wanted come back to train station I wrote my diary... so I started to ask, how to get by bus to the city center... everybody was saying the same bus number, but one half was showing 1 direction and second half another direction... so I had to decide by my self... I was in quite poor district so nobody couldn't speak english... just few words... so they couldm't explain why everybody shows different direction... :D when I caught the bus... after few stops somebody told that I should leave the bus, cause that's city center, but it didn't look like... but I left... and I started to ask for train station... so everybody shows different directions... I wanted to kill somebody there... :D... when i was walking there and coming back, I found large building like a commerce centre with the name: "City Centre"!!!! Now I got really angry... cause there was hot, and I was there, where I didn't want to be!!! that was not that "City Centre" which I was looking for!!! but I entered to look what is inside... and I found really big bookstore... maybe not like british/american borders or waterstone, but like polish empik megastores... I spent there more than 3 hours... and again spent a lot of money... of course in UK I would spend that money for 1 book, not for 4, but in Indian reality that was a lot :P... after bookstore I found supermarket there!!! I couldn't believe, normal supermarket in India... I asked staff for details... who is the owner and so on... and I got information, that's first and at the moment just one supermarket in whole India!!! I'm not sure is it truth, but who cares... after supermarket I found cinema on the last floor (i was feeling there like in normal european multiplex) I wanted to see an indian movie there, but as usually there was no tickets... :P
Uznalem, ze skoro tam wlasciwie nic nie ma do ogladania, to wracam na dworzec pisac pamietnik... wiec zaczalem pytac ludzi,jak sie dostac do centrum miasta (City Centre)... kazdypodawal jeden numer autobusu, ale 2 przeciwne kierunki... no jak to ja... wiem, ze centrum miasta jest tylko w 1 z nich... :P a ze to byla biedna dzielnica, to niewiele kto tumowil po angielsku, wiec nie moglem sie doweidziec, czemu tyle ludzi wskazuje mi rowniez przeciwny kierunek... kiedy juz zlapalem autobus, kazano mi wysiasc po ilku przystankach, ze to niby "City Centre" - centrum miasta... ale nie wygladalo... kiedy zapytalem o dworzec... ponownie kazdy wskazywal inny kierunek... mozna zwariowac... kiedy tak sobie chodzilem w te i spowrotem zobaczylem wielki budynek nazyuwajacy sie uwaga... werble!!! "City Centre" - Centrum Miasta... - teraz to sie juz wq... zdenerwowalem :D... bylo goraco, a ja bylem tam gdzie nie chcialem byc i do tego jeszcze dalej od celu niz bylem na poczatku!!! no ale wszedlem do tego City Centre gdzie znalazlem wielka ksiegarnie z tysiacami ksiazek... siezialem tam prawie 3H i znowu wydalem kupe pieniedzy... co prawda w anglii bym za te cena kupil jedna ksiazke, a nie 4... ale jak na hinduskie warunki to calkiem sporo...po ksiegarni znalazlem supermarket!!! prawdziwy supermarket!!! nie wierzylem wlasnym oczom... Po wypytaniu staffu o szczegoly... okazalo sie, ze to ponoc pierwszyi jedyny supemarket w Indiach...!!! nie wiem czy to prawda, ale co za roznica... po supermarkcie znalazlem na ostatnim pietrze kino... (no prawdziwy europejski multiplex) chcialem zobaczyc hinduski film, ale jak zwykle nie bylo biletow...
after 24 hours train journey I reached bhubaneswar, where from I got to Konark... there is really nice sun temple, and beach 3 km away... I got an oceanbath there first time in Bay of Bengal... water was not so warm like in the south, but not bad... probably 20 degrees... but waves... beautiful... at least 2M high
po 24H jazdypociagiem dotarlem do Bhubaneswar'u, a stamtad do Konark... gdzie jest bardzo ladna swiatynia i plaza 3km od niej... wykapalem sie w koncu w Zatoce Bengalskiej... woda nie taka ciepla jak na poludniu, ale nie byla zla... jakies 20stopni... ale jakie fale... co najmniej 2M
from Bhubaneswar I got to Kolkata/Kalikata/Culcutta... but on the way the TTE (tickets controller in a train) said that my ticket is invalid, cause it is 5 days old, and the ticket is valid 24 hours...what was completely bullshit, cause direct train from Kanniyakummari to Kolkata (my ticket was for that way - 2450km) goes 50hours... so ticket cannot be valid 24 hours... and I know, that I can brake my journey after every 500km for 2 days (so 4 brakes for 2 days each + 50 hours going thats make more than 10 days validity), but I didn't want to talk about the logical thinking and Indian Railways rules with somebody who should know them better than me... and that was happend at 2 o'clock AM... especially when he said that he is nice and I don't have to pay for another ticket this time (of course i would not pay anything even when he would be not nice :P)... when I reached Kolkata in the morning, I wanted to leave my luggage on the cloak room, but the guy, which needed about 5-10minutes to serve each person was really not nice and he said that I can't leave luggage cause myticket is invalid!!! so i wanted to get the proper information for the future, when the ticket is valid, and when it is not...but i didn't want to forgive up!!! it has taken almost 3 hours of going from one room to another in the 2nd the biggest indian town to get the rules of transport by indian railways!!! I was feeling like a hero from polish commedy about polish communistic times (by the way, Kolkata and West bengal are also communistic like kerala)... when i read the rules, of course i was right... and after 3 hours I could leave my luggage in the cloakroom... I made a picture of the most important rules just in case for the future :P Incredible India... :D
Z bhubaneswaru pojechalem do Kalkuty... ale podrodze TTE - konduktor umyslil sobie, ze moj bilet jest niewazny, bo ma juz 5 dni i twierdzil, ze bilet jest wazny tylko przez 24H... co oczywiscie tez mialo zwiazek z rzeczywistoscia taki jak z logika... skoro pociag z kanijakumari do kalkuty (mialem bilet na te trase - 2450km) jedzie 50godzin! wiec bilet nie moze byc wazny przez 24?!?! do tego co 500 km moge robic sobie 2dni przerwy co daje 4 przerwy po 2 dni i 50h jazdy wiec razem ponad 10 dni waznosci biletu..., ale nie chcialo mi sie tego tlumaczyc gosciowi, ktory powinien to wiedziec lepiej ode mnie... byla 2 w nocy... i koles stwierdzil, ze tym razem mi podaruje i nie bede doplacal do nastepnego biletu... (i tak bym nie doplacil :P) kiedy dotarlem do Kalkuty, koles z przechowalni bagazu stwerdzil, ze nie mgoe zostawic plecaka, bo... uwaga... nie mam waznego biletu! myslalem ze tam kogos walne... ale w walce z debilnymi urzednikami rzadko sie poddaje... szczegolnie wie o tym slupski urzad paszportowy... :P... spedzilem na tym dworcu prawie 3H biegajac z jedego pokoju do drugiego, od jednego kierownika do nastepnego... w drugim codo wielkosci miescie indii!!! i nigdzie nie bylo ZADNEGO regulaminu, ani spisanych zasad jak Indian Railways wlasciwie dzialaja... dopiero po 3 godzinach dotarlem do kogos, kto wiedzial gdzie cos takiego jest trzymane!!! czulem sie jak na polskiej komedii o PRL!!! jak poczytalem sobie te zasady... okazalo sie, ze mialem racje... zrobilem sobie zdjecia najwazniejszych zasad tak na wszelki wypadek i po 3 godzinach moglem zostawic bagaz w przechowalni :P Incredible india... :D
In Kolkata you have to pay for entry to any Kolkata's park!!! Incredible!!! I've seen victoria Memorial there... I was in the biggest Asian planetarium... and i got a ticket (first time in my indian life there were still tickets in the counter before a movie!!!) i paid 40INR i've seen first indian movie in my life... that was "Traffic Light"... and i was enjoyed... :D it was just in hindi... no subtitles... sometimes some scenes could take less time and screen tears (for example: deconstruction of traffic light has taken more than 5 minutes)... but movie was not bad... and i wanna see another one... :D
W Kalkucie placi sie za wejscie do parkow!!! az niemozliwe! Widzialem tam Victoria memorial... bylem w najwiekszym azjatyckim planetarium... i udalo mi sie kupic bilet (o dziwo byly w jednym kinie) na hinduski film..."Traffic light" i w sumie mi sie podobal... :D ale dokonca nie wiem o co chodzilo... moze dlatego, ze byl w hindi bez napisow :P czasem sceny moglyby byc krotsze - szczegolnie wyciaganie tytulowego sygnalizatora trwalo dobrych kilka minut... ale film nie byl zly i chce zobaczyc nastepny...
After kolkata i got to gaya and from there to bodhgaya which is really amazing place, where growns the tree under which buddha got the enlightment... there are a lot of pilgrims from the whole the world... :D but I've had another adventure in the train from kolkata to gaya... in Kolkata i "couldn't" get the ticket for sleeper class, cause really often indian salesmen think that you can't buy it without reservation... and reservation you can make at least 2 days before the train's leaving... but in kanniyakummari i got the information that you can buy it,but almost nobody knows how to sell it!... so I was trying in few counters... but everybody said that's impossible to get this kind of ticket... even after showing them... my ticket, which was exactly what i needed... no... impossibe... so i had to buy 2nd class ticket as usually... enter sleeper class, wait for TTE, and pay the difference + little additional fee... that was as usually... but this time... guy wanted to pay him 350INR and said, that he will forget about my "invalid" ticket!!! of course I knew that for normal ticket I would pay not more than 100INR, but maybe he thought that I'm new and full of money... when i said that i won't pay him, he started to shout on me!!! that he is not gonna sell me any ticket and i have to go to 2nd class, where is obviously no space even for my fingernail... and i had big luggage with me... but i never forgive up... so I found another TTE and i told him about the situation... sometimes I have good luck... :D they were enemies :D... I got a space for free from 2nd TTE, but he called special Railway Police... I said wat was happend... other passengers said, that they heard when he was shouting on me... and he got arrested for corruption!!! So to other people who want to cheat on me... better watch out! :D
Po kalkucie pojechalem do Gaji a stamtad do bodgaji, ktore jest niesamowitymmiejscem... bo tu rosnie drzewo, pod ktorym budda sie oswiecil... jest tam sporo tirystow z calego swiata... :D ale podrodze mialem nastepna przygode w pociagu... W Kalkucie jak zwykle nie bylomozliwe kupienie bilety na Sleeper class bez rezerwacji... no bo oczywiscie zadengosc nie potrafi sprzedac takiego biletu (bo nikt takich nie kupuje poza mna) i tweirdza,ze takich biletow w ogole nie ma... ozywiscie pokazywanie sprzedawcy, ze juz taki mam ichce nastepny rowniez nie pomaga... wczesniej tez myslalem, ze takich biletow nie ma, dopoki gosc w Kannijakumari nie sprzedal mi takiego wyjasniajac, ze generalnie nikt nie wie o takim bilecie, bo nikt ichie uzywa... wiec musialem kupic bilet 2 klasy jak zwykle z reszta... wejsc do Sleeper Class, zajac miejsce i zaplacic roznice u konduktora z niewielka doplata karna... tak bylozazwyczaj... teraz los chcial inaczej... konuktor wzial mnie na bok i chcial ode mnie 350INr i wtedyzapomnimy o bilecie... oczywiscie wiedzialem, ze doplata nie wpoiwnna byc wieksza niz 100INR... ale moze on myslal, ze jestem tu nowy i z pelnym portfelem... jak powiedzialem, ze mu nie zaplace... zaczal na mnie krzyczec, ze co ja sobie wyobrazam... zeonwielkodusznie przyjmuje mnie do dobrego wagonu ze zlym bileem i w ogole... :D powiedzial ze nie sprzeda mizadnego biletu i ze mam isc do 2 klasy... gdzie oczywiscie nie ma miejsca nawet na moj paznokiec,a codopiero na mnie i moj bagaz... ale jak wiadomo ja sie rzadko poddaje... znalazlem innego konduktora w innycm wagonie... opowiedzialem o sytuacji... tym razem mialemszczescie... byli jakimis wrogami... dostalem miejsce bez zadnejdoplaty... on wewal policje kolejowa, opowiedzialem cosie stalo, inni pasazerowie potweirdzili, ze na mnie krzyczal i zostal aresztowany za korupcje...!!! Wiec jak ktos jeszcze chce mnie oszukac... niech lepiej uwaza... :DDD
in that train to gaya my phone got dead so alarm clock didn't work so i overslept my station...from next one I had to come back in 2nd class passenger train... try to guess how many people with luggages can be in one part of coach... for example in poland in 2nd in one part you have 8 places,but i think it is possible for 4 another to stand if they have to... and in 1st class you have 6 sitplaces...
in 2nd class train to Gaya i counted 39 people with luggages (goats included as a luggage) in each part of the coach... i don't count people on the corridals and hanged on the windows outside... incredible india :P
from gaya to bodhgaya i've taken autorickshaw where there were 12 people with me... if you don't believe... i made a movie... cause I wouldn't believe if somebody else would tell me that... :D (until that time record was in morocco...i was going in taxi with 8 people)
w pociagu do gaji moj telefon umarl wiec budzik mnie nie obudzil i przespalem stacje... z nastepnej do gaji musialem jechac 2 klasa... zgadnijcie ile ludzi z bagazami wchodzi do przedzialu... przypomne, ze w PL wchodzi do 2 klasy 8 osob i w ekstremalnych warunkach jeszcze 4 moga stac... a w 1 klasie 6 osob... w pociagu calym drugiej klasy do Gaji w jednym przedziale naliczyliczylem 39 ludzi z bagazami (kozy wliczone jako bagaz) w kazdym przedziale, nie liczylem ludzi na korytarzach i wiszacych na zewnatrz na oknach...
Z gaji do bodgaji pojechalem autoriksza, gdzie razem ze mna i kierowca siedzailo... 12 osob... jak nie wierzycie... zrobilem filmik...bo sam bym nie uwierzyl, jak by mi ktos inny to powiedzial... (do tej pory rekord byl w Maroku... gdzie jechalismy taksowka w 8 osob:P)
After bodhgaya I got to Varanasi, where I am at the moment...
Z Bodgaji przyjechaem do Waranasi, gdzie jestem teraz...
After Varanasi I'm going to Khajuraho and next to kathmandu... today I found information in Wikipedia that the 10 years little artifficial home war in Nepal has finished on 21/11/2006 so just one day before i got to india... I feel a bit o pity, cause I wanted to find some communists "rebeliants" in Nepal, (thay are completely harmless for tourists and i could to visit their camps- they charge 100NPR for one day with them :PPP)
Stad jade do Kadzuracho a potem do Katmandu... dzis znalazlem informacje w wikipedii, ze ich "niby" 10letnia wojna domowa w Nepalu dobiegla konca 21/11/2006 czyli jeden dzien przed moim przyjazdem do indii... troche szkoda, bo chcialem znalezc jakichs komunistycznych "rebeliantow" w Nepalu (sa nieszkodliwi dla turystow i mozna posiedziec w ich obozach za 100NPR za dzien :PPP)
and quotations from Bhubaneswar's menu:/Cytaty Bubaneswarskiego menu (tylko po angielsku)
Choclet pankeyck
Plane rice
I hope you understand/mam nadzieje, ze rozumiecie :P
Kamil
