3 days in Salzburg - Austria

In the last week of May, the temperature in Germany soared with clear sunlight and I made a random plan to visit Austria and sip a few beers there. My colleague - Eswar told me about his weekend plans and after hearing the place Salzburg (for the first time) from him, I checkedthe place and stumbled upon an interesting article on history of Salzburg. It amused me not only because of the history but also because of the fact that Salzburg is on the northern boundary of Alps.
So on a Friday, I got myself a carpool from Bochum to Munich and a bus from Munich to Salzburg on Saturday. As the bus started from Munich,the journey was exciting. All along the beautiful green highway to Austria, there are beautiful houses and green pastureson either side of the road. And as I stepped out of Bus a cool and fresh breeze of air greeted me. I saw green mountains surrounding
the town and called Isi - my host in Salzburg. After a few calls and traveling in a local bus I could find her home. Isi shared the idea of visiting a music festival in town and I got my first wishlist done. Just forinformation - the great German singer Mozart was born in Salzburg. When I was in Germany, I saw a huge music collection of Mozart
at my rented apartment and I used to listen a lot of instrumental tracks by Mozart. The music festival in Salzburg was unique, very different from what we have in India. There were many music groups that played at a distance from each other in old historic town of Salzburg. To walk from one music group to other, one can try fresh brewed beer from stalls or some finger food. And amidst all this, was the cheer of people for their artists and the atmosphere was filled with fun. We were 5 by now, 2 CSers from US and me along with Isi and her flatmate.Just to add - Salzburg old town is considered a UNESCO Heritage site with lot of buildings dated back to a few centuries. As we were walking back from the festival, Isi offered 2 discount passes to me and another CSer for Untersberg cable car ticket. It was a 10 Euro discount, and I could not resist the offer. Next morning I took the bus for Untersberg and reached there. The journey to top of the Alpine peak was steep and offered beautiful 360 degree view of the area. After reaching the top, I trekked to a few other peaks nearby with a big cross (christ mark) on top of each. I was most ill prepared trekker over there wearing heavy boots. :)
After coming back from Untersberg, I got myself a couple of beers and sat beside river Salzach. The musical bells from Church were lovely,and sitting there I decided to visit a few old palaces and walk in the town. The first place I visited as a part of my own map managed walk in the city tour was Salzburg Cathedral. Although I didn't went inside but the sound of bells was magical. Then I walked to the HohenSalzburg castle which is a fort. I went inside after clubbing with a group of tourists to cut down the ticket price. I think from 11 Euros for single ticket, one can reduce the price of ticket to 4 euros if in a group of 10 or more, so backpackers can see a quick way to cut down on their budget through this. And from the fort, I walked down to kapitelplatz from outside and then to Salzburg meuseum and Mozart's birthplace. After a good round of city walking, felt thirsty so bought a few beers and sat in a green field with mountains overlooking one side and the fort on other. Then I called Isi and we bought a few veggies and beers and I tried to cook some Indian curry there at her house for all the Couch Surfers. And late in the night we walked to Salzach river and sat on a bridge where I got a chance to click a few pictures. The day ended with good conversations and next morning I left early and went to Mirabell garden. There was musicians everywhere and people were giving them small changed money as they played music on the streets. From Salzburg, I took a flix bus to Munich and went straight to English gardens where I relaxed in the sun with a couple of beers and a few icecreams and from Munich I got the same guy's carpool on way back to Bochum. The last part of journey was more exciting as there was news of cyclone in NRW state on radio and as we approached Bochum, could see trees uprooted all over on the streets, cars and lot of cars were damaged. A further ahead and the waterlogged streets awaited us. There were people on streets, all buses and trains were stopped.
Aahh.. another fury of nature that I coult witness there. At 11:30 pm in night I switched off my room's light and heard a thunder sound. Good night I replied and dozed off.

Simple way of Marriage Registration in Delhi under Hindu Marriage Act

Until a few days back, I considered registering my marriage to be a nightmare and used to think about an agent to get my marriage certificate. Now that I have obtained my marriage certificate, and if you are reading this post I am sure you will find it very simple and easy to obtain your marriage certificate from Delhi. I will explain step wise:

STEP 1 : Get address of your area's marriage registrar office, in general area where husband resides. For some areas you will have to book an online appointment for submitting your documents. You can check this link for setting up an online appointment : http://districts.delhigovt.nic.in/choosedistrict.asp
http://districts.delhigovt.nic.in/findsubdivision.asp is another link to find sub-registrar office for your area.

STEP2: You need to get following documents ready:

> Filled form with signatures.
> Another form for witness - 2 witnesses required (parents can be a witness), witnesses PAN no. and photostat of PAN card Witnesses Aadhar card or voter id or passport or ration card copy.
In the witness form, you need to paste your pic and your wife's passport size picture.
> Your own address proof (both husband and wife's address proof) : Also serve as age proof.
> Affidavit from a notary (content is on back side of witness form) - 2 copies of affidavit, one each to be signed by husband and wife. Cost is Rs 200.
> If you are a divorcee - Divorce order or if you are a widow/widower - death certificate of spouse.
> Aadhar card of Husband/Wife is must. I argued with clerk that SC of India has declared that Aadhar card is no longer a mandatory document but clerk said this is a mandatory field in software and is needed. So we immediatly rushed to Aadhar enrollment centre and got Aadhar acknowledgement receipt and used that as a proof.
> 200 Rs as fee.
> On a plain white paper - 1 ceremonial picture (self attested) and 2 copies of passport size pictures (glued) and self attested.
> Wedding card copy (where name, date and address details of marriage are given)
> If marriage was solemnized in a temple - a certificate by priest (but is not mandatory as we didn't attached that).

STEP 3:
With all these documents ready, you will submit these to the clerk in office on your appointment date. You can go alone for submission. If your area is not in online link, you can go to your area's marriage registration office (enquire this before as for us living in Rohini Sector-13, office was 15 kms away in Civil lines) between 10 am to 1 pm and submit the documents.
Upon receival of documents and fees, you will be given a date when both of you (couple) and witness must go to office again for signature. Then you can collect the marriage certificate.

* All documents must be self attested. Witnesses documents to be attested by them and your documents by yourself.
* Approximately it will take 1 month to get date of collecting certificate from the date when you submit documents.
* If you are in hurry, pay Rs 10K - Get a receipt and get your certificate under Tatkal scheme on same day when you submit documents - Convenient but comes with a price.
* If you want to bribe the clerk, he won't give you receipt but 99% chances are that he will get your certificate same day in Rs 6K.
* I only know about Hindu Marriage Act which covers Hindu, Jain, Sikhs, Buddhists in India.


Cheers and ask me questions if you want to. I will try to answer a few of them at least.



 

A much awaited ride - Coming Soon

12th July'14 : A relaxed weekend in Germany and a plan is discussed with Noopur for a ride. I am missing India and have been away from riding for a while now. We talked about riding to Ladakh or Western ghats and finalized a South Indian ride in month of September. As I will be rolled off from current project and working on few weekends has left me with a few extra comp offs, so will be easy in September. This time I chose Goa, Hampi, Gokarna over Ladakh to be more relaxed with preparations - Yes ladakh ride needs some. Also, I want to ride less and relax more so this will be my 3rd time in Goa in last 2 years and last time I rode from Hyd-Mum-Goa-Hampi-Hyd, I remember lush greens in month of September. So would be good to be there again.
I still need to do some preparations - 1st thing is to get my bullet in shape, it's lying idle from 15th April, then get a double seat. 2nd is to buy riding gear for Noopur and arrange saddle bags, I gave my saddle bags to a friend for ride and he returned them back with a big hole, thanks to his silencer. And lastly I want to get my Electra 4s to Hyderabad and start paper work for it soon
So we will have approx 12 days and we just want to spend a couple of days in Hampi and rest in Goa and Gokarna. I am excited to log this down as the thought of being back on road with my better half and my bullet is unmatched.
May not have any more updates for next few days, cheers till then..

So, I am writing back after a gap of few days. We are back from a ride covering 2000kms over a period of 10days. I rode my same old Bullet Electra 5s but this time with a pillion rider for complete duration of ride.


23rd Aug'14: After getting bike serviced from last 2 days and getting other ride things ready, this day was when we had our scheduled start. Initial plan was to reach Hampi and from there we will decide where to go next - Gokarna or Badami and we did no bookings (like I always do). After having a glass of left over milk from last night, we started at 7:30 am. All packing was done a night earlier and we were all set to start our debut long ride together.
As we passed Vikarabad and roughly 85kms of ride, we stopped for breakfast and tea at a roadside Dhaba, till this time we were on Hyd-Bangalore highway and the road was wide enough for an easy cruise at 90-100kmph. After that as we passed Mehboobnagar 2 guys on their bike tried to talk to us and when I slowed down I could hear - 'Great man' and a thumbs up gesture. I shook my head in acknolwedgement and we rode further. Our next break was a general rest/chit-chat break and I turned my bullet a little away from main highway and stopped in a field. 2 more breaks on the way and next was an imposed break due to makeshift check post made by some villagers. I was a little cautious as why these kids are stopping us but suddenly they tightened the rope on road and waved as us to stop.
And they asked money for Ganesha visarjan which I refused to pay. 2-3 of them were adamant to extract at least 50 rupees from me but I kept refusing so their head allowed us to leave. Wtf it was, I am not in favor of these religious fundings which are full of threat and hooligan than voluntary donations. Another surprise awaited us just before entering virpapura gadde when we saw the road completely submerged with water and locals informed us that there was heavy rain from last 4-5 days. Aah, I was in not mood of misadventure to cross that stream of water as it was deep and even bolero and a mini truck couldn't cross it and the road was very narrow. In the mid of confusion a good soul approached us and offered his space on top of a rock on the other side of road to park my bullet.
I accepted his offer as he worked as a boatsman there and somehow I could trust him. His name is Arjun, aged 17 year old and I went to his village where people looked at me and talked about my Royal Enfield. I parked it and saw he had more than 5 TVS mopeds which he used to rent out to tourists but because of heavy rains he stacked them up on the rock. I walked back and we got into a round boat made of bamboo and crossed the river stream to reach Virpapura Gaddi. It was deserted and very few long term foreign tourists could be spotted. It was not the type of place it used to be when I visited it 2 times earlier. A hotel owner gave lift to Noopur and saddle bags and I walked to Laughing Budha cafe. This is the same place which I visited in year 2012 as well and run by Deepak ji. The place has 29 cats in all and 3 dogs. All friendly, it is managed well by Deepak ji and he charged me 300 Rs per night for a cottage stay. Laughing Budha is on the river side and offers a great view of river and Shiva temple on other side of river and there is greenery, cats and food and beers available in the cafe. One thing I disliked about cafe was the behaviour of Nepali men working there when Deepak was away, they ignored people sitting in cafe and put on Nepali news channel, Nepali songs and killed the fun of our 2nd evening there in the cafe.
Ok, so this day after having dinner we kept sitting there in the cafe for sometime and as night approached we went to sleep in cottage but there was heavy thunder sound and no electricity for whole night. A French girl was staying in next cottage from 3 months and was fully Indianized in her avatar, makeup, dressing and eating style.

Rest on highway

Reached Virpapura Gadde and it was cut off from land from all sides

Had to park bullet on other side, reached this side on a boat

24th Aug'14:After having breakfast, we crossed the river stream and I took my bullet out and we went to Sanapur lake and water reservoir. It was nice weather with no sun and we walked to various places. We met a South Indian family who appreciated us and clicked pictures with us. Also, the same old man at lake named Budappa recognized me. We met a crazy English guy who dared to jump from bridge into the river stream which was highly swollen at that time. Had our lunch at a small road side eatery and people there recognized my Bullet. Youths asked about mileage, price, year and experience of riding a bullet. I was used to such questions, but it was new to Noopur and she agreed to my point of ROYAL ride because of being on Enfield. We went to different places of Vijaynagaram kingdom and in the evening we hiked to Hanuman temple but there was no sunset visible because of clouds all over. As we had our dinner back in Laughing Budha cafe, I felt bad because of behaviour of guys over there as they were loud and paid no attention to guests there. It was then that we decided to move out from there and stay in Hampi next day and visit the ruins and temples of Hampi.

 



Kids want to pose with Noopur




 

 

 

25th Aug'14

We covered a distance of 40kms and reached Hampi by road from Virapapura Gaddi and got a room in guest house run by a family there. And then we were out to visit the ruins and temples, one after the other we went to a lot of places of the historical kingdom. Hampi ruins are listed in UNESCO World Heritage sites and it was mesmerizing to know about them and imagine how life used to exist there in ancient era or as latest as 500 years back. We had roadside lunch and tea and befriended a lot of local tourists and villagers. A few kids walked upto us to get a picture clicked and Noopur obliged to all of them well. After coming
back to our guest house area, I went to a cyber cafe and noted down the route from Hampi to Gokarna.
In the evening we relaxed at a cafe and met that English guy there who jumped into the flowing stream from bridge. He was keen to do a road trip on Royal Enfield and after knowing about our ride he took a few tips from us and in no time we mingled with everyone in the cafe. After reaching the guest house, we packed our bags and were off for sleep. It was then when I confirmed Noopur that we are riding further to Gokarna, Goa and Badami and with an uncertainty on weather ahead we slept. 

Kids studying and selling coconuts

Breakfast - Cheap and fresh
 



Shiva temple - Hampi








River Tungabhadra in full flow



He loves cleanliness





26th Aug'14

It was 7:30 am and I was still riding towards Hampi. Oh yes, it's no dream as Noopur forgot her phone in guest house so we had to rush back after going 4 kms ahead. And at around 8 am we were on the highway towards Gokarna. We stopped on the way for breakfast and met a super friendly local uncle there who could converse well in Hindi. The Kannadiga lady at the small restaurant (canteen like) was not able to understand a single word of Hindi or English and it took me a while to understand that she is speaking in Kannada and not Telugu. The another guy named Ravi helped as a translator.

 The route was simple :
Hampi - Hospet - Gadag - Kalghatgi - Yellapur - Idgundi and then left from a T point (not towards Angola). We covered around 330 kms that day and the journey as usual was better than the destination. Our second stop was at a roadside location with greenery on both sides and we clicked a few pictures there and took some rest before starting again. Just before Yellapur, there was a sudden and heavy drizzle that took us by surprise and luckily we could find a road side Dhaba where we stopped and had our lunch. In the meantime rain also stopped but was told by a local tea seller that there could be more rains towards the coast so I took my ran jacket out and we started again after a 45-50 minute halt. We moved at a decent pace as Noopur kept clicking the green highway and the clouds that mustered above the hills on the way after Yellapur. There was no sun and rains were on and off and a few kms before Gokarna, we experienced heavy rains again. We had a lovely ride in the rains, a romantic one, with very less traffic on road and as approached Gokarna, I could sense some possible destruction because of heavy rains. Water logging, thatched roofs blowed away and no roadside shop open were a few signs that made me think like that. At Om beach in Gokarna, everything looked faint and silent except 1 Namaste guest house. It was then when for a moment we thought of doing another 150-160 kms and reach Goa but then because of continuous heavy rain, we took a refuge in a tourist hotel in Gokarna town. In the evening, as rain slowed down we walked to a restaurant and had a few Dosas and local Thalis there. It was a good vegetarian restaurant and Dosa was yummy, followed by filter coffee.
Gokarna was not worth to visit in that season. Another apprehension surrounded me that what if we reach Goa and see it in same state. But I was confident that at least Baga and Calangute beach will be busy. So we fixed next day for Goa and as the distance was less - 170 kms or so, we planned to start late after having lunch.

27th August

This small distance of 175kms was scenic between Gokarna and Goa, and we rode all these kms in rains. There was a lot of water everywhere, except for a few minutes in between when we could stop and click some pictures. We kept stopping in between for short breaks at any roadside stretch and on one such stretch my phone got damaged in rain. As we touched Palolem beach in South Goa, we were disappointed as the place looked really deserted and sad. We moved further and reached Calangute, got a nice guesthouse there (2 room set) for only 600 Rs per night because of off season.
After settling there, we went out for a walk around. It was 3rd time I was in Goa in last 3 years and all the places looked familiar.


28th, 29th August
We were in Goa, visited few beaches chilled out in various cafes and got ourselves inked. Yes a tattoo in Goa, Noopur wanted it from a long time and I also got one on my left hand. We bought some liqor, cashew on 29th August and I checked my bullet before setting out again on 30th August.

30th August

The destination for this day was Badami, I missed some roads and ended up with around 30kms extra.  Took Goa - Belgaum - Yeragatti - Lokapur - Bagalkote - Badami route.
I checked this route in the morning on google maps and was out riding in next 1 hour. I always face questions like - 'How is the road', 'What speed we should manintain' , 'Is it safe', 'Where to stay', 'Where to eat', 'Where are the gas stations/repair shops on the road'. I think I should answer all these questions here as well :
Q: How is condition of road?
My Ans: Never bother, if there is road or no road the bikers are not toddlers, they know how to make their way. Let the road offer the worst it can, we enjoy our journey and if the road is good, we still enjoy it.

Q : What speed we should maintain on XYZ stretch?
My Ans : Really, you want to match my speed? Ok if I say 5 kmph, will you do so? No, never copy anyone else's speed. Maintain a speed as per condition of road, speed at which you are comfortable, your motorcycle is in your control and your mind is free. Even if it is 50 or 80 or 100kmph, judge it by your own.

Q : Is this area/place/road safe?
My Ans : I don't consider any place/road unsafe, I follow my instincts and I am prepared to face any uncertain event - Both mentally and physically. If you are so much concerned about safety, motorcycling is not your game. Change it.

Q : Where to stay/Where to eat/Where to shit/Where to refill tank?
My Ans : I stay at random guest houses or in my camp as I don't plan my road trips, I love to sleep under stars and any place which is clean can be my shelter for night. So if you want to stay in Taj or in Baaj or any planned place - Go ahead. I go solo or with less people, with whom I am really comfortable as I am sure my frequency will match with them. I refill my tank wherever I see a gas station and carry extra fuel always - Say 4 litres to 15 litres depending on the state I am traveling in.

Ok, so back on the ride log - The route upto Belgaum was clean, green and beautiful. We got first puncture of trip after some 40 kms ahead of Goa. After fixing it up (which took around 1 hour) as I am not very fast in changing tube we moved ahead.

Late in the evening we reached Badami and got a room in a local guesthouse which had a good restaurant and room service. The access road to Badami was painful as it was dark, the road had patches and potholes, it was a single road and there were infinite mosquitoes all over.

 

31st August

We went to the heritage Badami cave temples at around 11 am, there were lot of monkeys everywhere following us and our stuff/bags. The rocks were cut and are considered to be from 6th-8th century when Chalukyas ruled Karnataka. There are 5 caves here on a small hill which you need to climb on stairs and see all 5 cave temples.
This day we roamed around the area and checked few other temples. Badami has lot of potential to be developed as a tourist place and it is not really difficult. Build some roads, convert some houses to guest house and clean the place. But no one at the moment cares about this place, our government is busy in spending money to erect statues in temples, but not ready to preserve heritage sites.

Badami Cave Temple

 

 

1st September was the day when we started for Hyderabad. We took this route :

Badami - Lingsugur - Yadgir - Pargi - Chevella - Hyderabad. It was around 430kms of ride that day. We were used to by this time, the highway was not at all exciting and we took some breaks on the way. The biggest drawback of living in middle of India - No International borders, no snow clad mountains, no scenic road but thankfully weather was not very hot.

Late in the evening we were back home after 10 days and roughly 2000kms. And guess what, I am happy I have my wife as pillion rider and my best friend soon to accompany me to Ladakh as a pillion. :)

A weekend in Spain

A Spanish experience

Ever since I got to know about world map, I had a few places in my mind that I always wanted to visit and Spain was one of them. Until 3 years back, I was not even in a position to think about stepping outside India. Call it the education loan, job or maybe I was too busy exploring India that I could never imagine myself going out.
Before writing down my travel log, I would like to reassure myself that though I love motorcycling but I don’t want the below stereotype that comes with a biker:

Ø  If you are a rider (Moto biker), you should not go anywhere using public transport or other means of transport. If you are doing so means you are saving fuel costs or you are not that man with steel balls kind of poser:

Again – To hell with those who buy a fancy bike to polish it, clean it daily and take it out to go to their office or for some picnic or post encouraging quotes and pictures, without experiencing anything. If such people think they are bikers - get into a circus or see a psychiatrist. I use my motorbike for highways and often use a bicycle to commute to office to keep myself fitter or public transport to travel to places where I can reach easily.

Traveling solo – which is something I have stopped even talking about as whenever I meet a new person (Indian) and tell him about my solo ventures or plans I am hit by that same comment – Don’t you get bored, kisi ko sath le k jao. I control a current that goes in my veins at that moment and somehow I convert this negative energy to make myself look like a victim of loneliness in front of others. I always say – ‘What should I do, no one accompanies me, and maybe I am a boring guy or may be people don’t like my company.’ The other person becomes happy on this thought of him being accompanied by a group and lives in his own web of being loved and cared for and I move ahead leaving him back to his illusive world.

Ok – So now back to Spain thing. One fine evening in Germany, I was browsing websites on Spain and saw a few places I could cover in 3 days, booked my flight immediately and was ready to see Girona and Barcelona along with some other places. On Friday – 13^th June, I kept waiting for a bus scheduled to pick me at 15:15 from bus stop in Bochum but the bus arrived at 17:00 hours. Just to mention, there was a storm on Monday and all train routes to Bochum were blocked, so getting out by bus was the most feasible thing. As I boarded bus, I was a little nervous of missing my flight to Girona from Cologne, but in a few hours I was there at the airport, ready to catch my Ryan Air budget flight.

At 22:15 I landed in Girona in Spain, and called my CS host who lived in Sant Feliu De Guixols, a beautiful coastal town at some 20-25kms away from Girona. I came to Girona city from airport but only got to know that next bus to SF De Guixols is in morning 6:30 am. So I told Ngoc (my Vietnamese host in Spain) that I will see him in morning as I am stuck in city. I came back to airport, it was 11pm by then and I took out my towel, spread it there on the floor and slept (yes I was tired to search for a budget hotel). It was a good sleep and at 5 am I woke up and went to Girona city centre again where I met Ngoc. He was going to Budapest that morning and after some conversation handed over his flat keys to me and showed me his building on google maps. I was feeling fresh so I thought of exploring some places before heading to Sant Feliu de Guixols.

I took a public bus and reached Banyoles and had breakfast there, roamed around the lake, clicked few pictures and from there I thought of going further ahead towards Andorra. Yes, on bus – for a moment – but no – No bus, why not try hitchhiking I thought. At that moment I was not sure but then I walked and walked and walked and reached the highway where I could wave my hand and try stopping vehicles for a lift. After 4-5 attempts a car stopped with a man in his forties. He asked me where I want to go, I only knew of a place Olot so I said Olot. He said ok, come. I tried to have conversation with him but he kept speaking Spanish and I could only understand that he goes 20 kms ahead of Olot towards Andorra. When he stopped at Olot, I asked him I would come to his town with him as I had no such place in mind, it was just that I wanted to get lost anywhere.

The road was beautiful after Banyoles, there were mountains, greenery and beautiful countryside houses and farms. I never thought of all the places in Spain, I would end up in such a mountainous terrain. And when I got down at Ripoll, I got to know Andorra is further 100 kms ahead so I dropped the plan of going there. Now I was in middle of a place I knew nothing about, a few camera clicks and was back on highway. At that moment I dropped plan of going into mountain of Garrotxa and instead spend my time in hitchhiking and getting lost for a few more hours into the unknown. Trust me I had no idea of where I was, no maps, no language understanding, no knowledge of anything but still I enjoyed. On my way back, at first I was able to stop a couple in a big van after around 10 unsuccessful attempts and hell yea I was greeted with a Namaste by the friendly lady and they knew English. She told me about India (27 years back) when she visited and was good to talk about India at such a place where even English was an alien language. They dropped me near a beautiful Castle at Besalu and after clicking a few pictures I was again on highway. This time, it was a tiring effort and people even showed me middle fingers but didn’t stop. Finally, a delivery man in a truck stopped on other side of road after watching me and promised to take me with him after 20 minutes as he had to drop a package in Besalu. I waited for him and he was there again in my direction in next 35 minutes or so. While I told him I am from India in English, he kept saying in Spanish he don’t know Indian language (I could make that out), was funny but he was a curious man and as I speak in English he replied in Spanish and when he asked something in Spanish I replied in English, it was a strange way of communicating.
The roads were clean, there were mountains on both sides and I rolled down windows and suggested him to switch off ac and feel the air, he smiled and agreed and it was same feeling afterwards. The breeze was fresh and in no time I reached Banyoles and from Banyoles I got my bus again for Girona and another bus from Girona to Sant Feliu De Guixols. In SF de Guixols, I was lost again and my phone’s battery died as well, and then I saw a Kebab center named Salim Kebab and I saw a board of free wi-fi. Let me get in and talk, may be they are Indians and if I see internet, I will get to the address and building I am looking for. I ordered some Kebabs (to sound like a customer) as the guy kept speaking in Spanish. Then I plugged in my charger and asked wi-fi password from him and he asked me where I was from – India I said and I asked him – Pakistan was the reply. And then the conversations continued for next 30-40 minutes or so in Punjabi. Punjabi is a language spoken by Punjabis – I think majority in Pakistan speak Punjabi as well. From music to cinema to borders to politics to about cities of India and Pakistan – I felt fresh again and got help from Salim and he showed me the building where I wanted to go, I was thankful to his gesture of offering me to eat Makhani Dal and Tandoori naan, but I was so full with kebab that I couldn’t think about any more food. Rest of the evening I rested, the place had wi-fi so could connect to Noopur and tell her about few of the events and rest she will read here.

Pics for the day:

Just walking in Banyoles

 

Banyoles view of lake from top

 

Banyoles lake

 

Hitchhiking with a Spanish driver

 

Walking on the highway somewhere after Olot

 

Another van in which I hitchhiked

 

In Besalu

Finally at the coast in Sant Feliu de Guixols

 

 

Next day was Sunday – A leisure day at beach. It was the first time I saw a beach with topless women, yes was new to me. I tried to be normal but couldn’t stop my eyes catching someone every now and then. I took a dip and after some swimming I slept on the beach and this totally rejuvenated me. Then I moved around in town, got some fruits and food and then a few beers and walked to the edge of beach with not many people around and finished my beers there. In the evening, I pampered myself with a nice meal of bread with tomato, garlic and a few more beers. And from the 10^th floor of sea facing apartment’s balcony, I admired the sea and quality beers and slept.

View from my balcony

A typical fruit market

Beach in Sant Feliu de Guixols

View of town

Mediterranean sea overlooking the town

Next morning – 16^th June – was my off from office and I had a plan to make full use of this day to see Barcelona. I got a bus at 8:30am and by 10:30 I was in Barcelona. Barcelona, in spite of being crowded with tourists, has a charm. As I was walking with my camera around my neck and a backpack (typical tourist look), I remembered something from an Indian colleague in Germany:
When I was having a meal with Indian group in office, I was asked about plans for weekend and I told them about going to Spain.
One guy in his twisted English accent warned me to be extra careful in Barcelona else I will be looted.
And out of nowhere an unwanted discussion started between us which ended up with:

Me (trying to win a point) – This can happen everywhere, you need to be confident with a positive body language, if you look like a lost tourist with unarranged maps and crawling around with a dumb look on your face you will be always spotted.

Guy again (this time supported by another guy) – No, you not getting me. If you are lucky enough you will be spared, else Barcelona is dangerous place.

I got irritated. Me – Have you ever been there? Has it happened with you?
Guy – No, but my friend was there and he tells me.. aah..  My patience overran by this time and I said – Ok, thanks for your concern, I will be careful. Most of the people who have not been anywhere, who really don’t know about any place are the first ones with their free advices. Same way I am encountered by many people who talk shit about Muslims and I am like do you even know any Muslim, how can you have so much hate and then you say Muslims are not good. But like I said, it’s all people and by now I think I am strong enough to deal with all sort of jerks – either in my professional life or personal space. From a last few years I have actually started deriving pleasure out of such idiotic people and I have a tendency to support their foolish points only to get more foolishness out and laugh on them inside my heart.. In Hindi we say – Swad lena. J

Ok so back to Barcelona and I was feeling sorry for the guy who gave me such an advice on getting robbed in Barcelona. I hitchhiked in mountains in Spain, I stayed at a stranger’s place and even he trusted me to give his flat keys to me while he was away. Back in India I have been staying on highways, in Dhabas, in dim lighted cheap lodges, meeting people of all sorts but if I was afraid, I am sure I would also have ended up in one of those boring guys living in an unreal world, ready for a free advice and with fear dripping out of every single thing they say.

I will share a few pics of Barcelona soon as I don’t really think I would do good in remembering the names of places – museums, castles, forts, historical cathedrals all man made. The best part was a food market where I could eat a lot of freshly prepared food, fruits, juices and breads.

Ok, so that’s all I want to remember about Spain and I am done with my documentation. I would really love to read my blog after a decade or so and remember all this again.

Amsterdam and beyond - Beautiful Breukelen

As any other unplanned travel, my trip to Amsterdam was also not planned. I did a quick booking at carpooling.co.uk and through Couch surfing found a host who informed me he stays in outskirts of Amsterdam and will pick me. A typical weekend trip to Amsterdam and around it was, and there are many people who come here to spend a weekend from nearby places.
Until a few years back, Amsterdam was always a name for me. A global city famous for sex tourism, architecture and the best thing nature could offer to mankind - Legalised cannabis.
After saying goodbye to the carpool driver, who was funny and weird and late I stepped in Amsterdam. First thing to notice there was boat taxi, and then a series of sex toy shops. As I walked around the red light district and few famous squares and monuments, I can't even remember names now, my craze for visiting Amsterdam started to fade. 'Aaah, this is what it is, nothing really special' and then the kick I got in a coffee shop made me happy again. I stopped thinking much and met my CS host - Klaas-Meyer from Breukelen.

The traditional ride

The famous and the most talked about thing about Amsterdam

That's a show window, I took a half hearted pic here

As we took a train and reached his place in night, welcomed by 2 friendly cats and tasty dinner, a round of conversations and beers followed that night and then I slept. Until now everything was behind the veil of darkness, and the next morning we planned to bike around to Breukelen and around. As I moved out on bike, we were immediately in middle of nature. Very beautiful farms, windmills, canals, tea houses with boat parking, folding bridges. I was not expecting all this, but I find it much more exciting than Amsterdam.
As we pedalled around, I saw an unmanned small fruit shop where people would pick stuff and drop money in a chained box. I remember in my university, there used to be a box full of chocolates, chips and a money box next to it and the collections were put on the board daily. A university with future lawyers, MBAs and Engineers, the board always displayed an average of 1 person who paid and 19 who don't paid and picked stuff. To make this average better, sometimes me and my group used to put in extra money in box without picking an item. Aah - and here I am.


God/Allah is watching you so better pay the money :)

And then I got a chance to understand that 70% of Dutch population is living below sea level. There must be a lot of floods every year and large scale devastation, no? Well no, thanks to the architecture and connecting canals which also serve as transportation medium. Also Netherlands is equipped fairly well to deal with natural disasters and floods, so good that US had to contact the Dutch after hurricane Katrina and Rita. I checked the pumps, the control units that can divert water flow and was really awed by the way this place was designed and developed.

Netherlands fairs really well, in top 10 in terms of GDP with a highly open economy, dependent on foreign trade and investement.


The next pick for me was Windmills, I got to know that these old windmills were used to crush wheat. It was a perfect set up standing next to a canal with eyen on a beautiful tea house set in the lawns of a sprawling house with a man rowing his kayak and an old wind mill in the background.

Tea houses were made by rich and influenced people to hold tea parties where people from far could come on their boats. It was interesting to hear the stories about the place

That's the floating house

Crossing river Rhine



A house, tea house and gate where boat is parked




 

The leisure morning ride was concluded by a nicely cooked meal at Klaus's home. And then I left Breukelen with a promise to be here again :)

Cheers and Have fun.

Few more pics:

Yes, I have been there :)

Breukelen bridge

Anyone in for a lunch

Perfect road to jog

One of the 2 pets of Klaus

Bavaria - Any hint?

Yes, the same girl's house who was killed under German invasion