Yesterday´s rain in the lower regions has covered Namche Bazaar and above with a thin blanket of snow. Andi, Tina, Andreas and I gear up for an excursion to the Everest View Hotel. It lays a bit higher than Namche Bazaar and makes for a fine daytrip to help you to get used to the altitude. Altitude sickness can start having effects at about 2500 meters. This Hotel was erected in the 70s by a Japanese guy, who had the idea to fly rich Japanese into the place, hence the small airstrip nearby ... [MORE]

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Phakding, with an altitude of 2600 meters (200 meters below Lukla) is a perfect place to acclimatize oneself to the altitude. From here it's a one day hike up to the village of Namche Bazaar at 3420 meters. I slept really well and feel refreshed. I make sure I let the herds of trekking groups get up and busy first and feel no hurry to get going. This morning the sky is overcast and it's drizzling. It feels like a cold and grey rainy summer's day in Austria. The paths are wet and muddy an ... [MORE]

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The next day I get up very early, making sure I get a hot, sweat chiya (what the Indians call chai) into my belly before I am heading off to the airport in Kathmandu. I say good-bye to Satram and Dinesh leaving much of my things in the hotel storage and taking just a small backpack of about 13 kilos. The airport of Kathmandu is small. This morning there are only geared up trekkers and a couple of Sherpa and guides there, eager to be flown into the Everest Region. Check-in is done manually wi ... [MORE]

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I only have two and a half days in Kathmandu to get everything ready and organized for my trekking departure into the Himalayas. I decide it's time to get my hair trimmed and end up in a barber shop with a very skilled Indian barber cutting skillfully and fast. I have no time to resist when he is already busy plucking my eyebrows by using the Indian thread technique. Do I need my eyebrows shaped before I face Mt. Everest? I stop by a tiny shop in an old house selling cosmetics. A very fr ... [MORE]

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I arrive in Kathmandu as the first rays of sun dissolve the morning mist. The humid hot air of Kolkata has given way to brisk mountain air. Kathmandu, with a population of 700.000 Inhabitants, lies in a valley in the southern foothills of the Himalayas at 1400 meters altitude. Since the valley is shaped like a bowl it does not only drop morning mist, but also a lot of air pollution. The streets of Kathmandu are usually jam packed with honking motorcycles, cars, bicycle rickshaws and pedestrians, ... [MORE]

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The overnight train ride from Kolkata to Patna does not feel as enjoyable and safe as all the other train ride adventures I have had so far. I am a bit concerned about my safety and the safety of my stuff. During the entire ride persistent beggars come through the train and people look at me with less compassion and openness, but more despair and envy. The North Indian state of Bihar, which is where I am travelling through, is one of the poorest regions in India. I arrive dazed in Patna in th ... [MORE]

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I spend only three days in Kolkata, as I have arranged to meet my friend Andi in Kathmandu, a mountain and expedition guide from Austria, who offered me to take me on a trek with him. On the day of my departure I hesitate and feel unsure about leaving. In the short time I have spent here I met a number of people who have come to Kolkata in order to volunteer in a social or health program. I tag along with two women from Spain who are spending their vacation here working with children of prostitu ... [MORE]

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Further on, craftsmen with their tools laid out in front of them are sitting on the sidewalk waiting to be picked up for a job. I walk far into areas where rarely another traveler has been seen. My favorite visual moment of the day is when I end up in a labyrinth of narrow streets that are jam-packed with little shops still to be opened for the day. I am taking some portraits there. ... [MORE]

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I meet a family of at least five who live on a big bed outside a shop which sells traditional Indian embroidery. The father is already busy with hand embroidering a piece of fabric in mesmerizing high speed while some of his children are still sleeping and his wife is just getting up. ... [MORE]

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I get up before sunrise, and am out on the streets taking photos by 6:00am. I encounter a world I would never see, if I got up a couple hours later. At this time of the day there are mostly only men out on the streets. The sidewalk dormitories have turned into bustling street markets, chai stands, rickshaw parking lots, garbage recycling stations, chicken and goat slaughter houses. It is unbelievable how much business is being done already in these early hours. Everybody is nice to me and I phot ... [MORE]

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Kingfisher Airlines brings me safely from Hyderabad to Kolkata in two hours. We touch solid ground after night has fallen. The airport is nothing like the spaceship in Hyderabad. It has the beige and brown lived in charm of a Mexican cantina from the 50ies. There is no point looking for public transportation at this time of the day, so I decide to get a prepaid taxi into town and end up in an old Ambassador. Breathing out is the most important thing in life Dr. Vijayan told me every day back ... [MORE]

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I get to Hyderabad in the afternoon. It's sticky, stinky, smoky, hot and very crowded. There are loads of completely covered Muslim ladies in black wandering the streets. Karthik is helpful and tries to find me the bus to the just recently opened new airport, which lies around 30km outside the city. We hurry from one bus station to another until we see the bus. I run to catch it and barely survive in the traffic. The bus does not stop for me. So I end up taking a motor rickshaw. We spend almost ... [MORE]

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There is no need to bring much food or drink on the train, eager waiters loaded with edibles come running up and down the train shouting out their goods all day long. At every stop food vendors flood the train and the platforms serve as a food market as well. I am allowed admission to the kitchen cart after talking to the manager and take some photos of the food stuff preparing meals. According to him the boys and men working the food can earn up to 500 Rupees a day, which seems a bit blown up t ... [MORE]

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The landscape flying by us changes from a lush green and abundant scenery of Kerala to a dry and barren landscapes of Tamil Nadu and Andha Pradesh. Our wagon never gets to be overly crowded, although lots of people get off and on the train at every stop. Everybody in the sleeper class has to have a reservation. Sleeper class means that you get to sleep. Each open compartment contains of six beds. The lowest one serves as the seat for everybody during the day, the middle one is only folded do ... [MORE]

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Uli Loskot

I take a local bus from the Ashram back to Trivandrum where my train leaves from for Hyderabad the next morning. Every hotel in my price category seems to be booked up and I end up staying in a dingy, cheap joint in a dark alley with a friendly attendant. I notice only single men this place, which worries me a bit at first. Later I find out that many men come from far to work in Trivandrum and occupy all the cheap hotels during weekdays. The next morning I am ripped out of my dreams by loud ... [MORE]

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After nine days I have to leave the Ashram, just when I am getting to know my fellow Yogis and Yoginis better and when I am really feeling the Yoga groove. I have a long journey all the way up to Nepal ahead of me. Ana, who I have been traveling with up to now, is staying behind and will continue her journey as well. She is planning on studying more Yoga in the Ashtanga capital of the world - Mysore. I am bit sad to leave her and the Ashram behind and wonder how and what I will experience on my ... [MORE]

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During my nine days of stay I only leave the grounds of the Ashram once. I am signed up for a daytrip to Kanyakumari, a pilgrimage town situated on the most southern tip of India. There three Oceans meet - the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, famous Swami Vivekananda meditated on one island, a gigantic statue of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar sits on another island and Gandhi's ash rests in a big tomb--to mention a view of the attractions. It seems like the entire Ashram is out ... [MORE]

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After a couple of days at the Ashram things start to become more natural. The rain, which has not stopped since we arrived, accompanies us through the day like an unobtrusive, but attentive companion. At first I feel aversion towards chanting strange Sanskrit verses first thing in the morning (as well as last thing in the evening) after having gone through a half an hour of meditation, during which my focus is mostly on trying not to fall asleep. Our Yoga philosophy teacher tells us that chantin ... [MORE]

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