Enchanted

One of my best friends told me to enjoy the chaos instead of complaining about it, because it is a beautiful yet inspiring contrast to the robotic Western life. I do embrace it, but mostly enjoy the spiritual, little peaceful moments within the chaos.

Delhi

After some chaotic (Varanasi) and peaceful (Sarnath) days, we arrived in Delhi. Luckily in the train we shared the cabin with an Indian family who did speak English and they told us where we could catch a bus to Dharamshala. So, we found our way to the advanced metro line, with even the first coach for female only, luckily I was not yet that annoyed with Jelle so I did not find the need to use this privilege of sitting in the less busy coach. I do enjoy the fact that it is not allowed to listen to music/videos/podcasts out loud in the metro, and somehow most people seem to take this rule very seriously. Especially because most people in India don’t seem to bother to use headphones or just do not use them. (Yes. I am getting old. 29 now.)

We got to the bus terminal in Kashmiri gate where we found ourselves in chaos again. People started to tell us to go another way to buy bus tickets. With some help of an Indian guy, who probably received some money from the bus company after that, we crossed a very busy road and made it to the right counter, and bought a bus-ticket for that same evening to Dharamshala. Neither of us were bothered to stay in Delhi for much longer, me because I have seen it before and was eager to discover new placed, and Jelle because of the busyness. That we were in the big city we noticed when having some dosa’s at Dosa Planetin the time we had left before our bus would leave. After eating this massive savory pancakes filled with union and herbs and served with a variety of spicy sauces to dip your pieces of pancake in, the waiter stayed there standing saying ‘Tip, Tip, Tip.” While before he did not seem to know a word English. Our guide in Sikkim told us tips in restaurants are not a common thing to do, so we were a bit overwhelmed. However, we did agree over the dinner that he had a funny, happy, and nice attitude when serving us, and in this tired moment we gave him 20 rp anyway (which is like 0,20 euro…). He was very happy.

During dinner we got a very unclear phone call from the bus company that our bus was ready, 2 hours before it should depart. Still we got a bit nervous, and we moved our asses to the bus-counter, where someone was supposed to bring us to the bus. There we got to experience our well beloved cultural communication differences. Everyone told us something different. I think we spoke with 5 different people. All sending us to someone else. The first told us to follow to bring us to the bus. The second told us that the bus was not ready yet, and was leaving from a different point. The third told us to wait in a waiting room for 30 minutes. The fourth told us that he would get someone to bring us to the bus. The fifth told us to wait again. At a certain moment the fourth seemed to understand that we got very confused and a bit stressed and brought us back to the second person. Luckily most Indian people are more than eager to help you out. The second person put us in a bike riksha who brought us to the bus-stand. On our way I got slightly hit by a bus who did not see us. The traffic in India can be explained (in Jelle’s words) as a waterfall; every little corner is filled up instantly. And of course the same rules are followed as on the ski-slope:

Always be able to stop or avoid other people, objects, and animals
People ahead of you have the right of way, and it’s your responsibility to avoid them.

To make point 2 a little bit more plausible people honk to let everyone know that they are coming. And it works. It works well. I only got slightly hit by the bus, because the bus and riksha were driving next to each other, so how would you know who has the right of way in that case?

We made it to the bus stand, and had a peaceful night with a few hours of sleep to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.

Blow Horn.

Bhagsu / Mcleod Ganj (Dharamshala)

Dharamshala is the main city, but the backpackershub is a little bit further up the mountain in Bhagsu, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamkot. We arrived in the early morning in our hostel (Hikers World) in Bhagsu, and found that there were only dorm rooms available while at Whatsapp they had told us there were private rooms available. Hungry and tired we were disappointed. We did not have the energy to search for another place now, but Indians always find a solution. They just made a quick call to the neighboring guesthouse and arranged a room for us. The rooftop café was a bit cold and did not serve breakfast until later, but it was a nice and comfy place with cushions on the ground, outside for the warmer days was a terrace, and a place for yoga. We learnt that once again we were in the off season, so not everything would be open.

However most places were. We took the day to discover the town of Bhagsu and Mcleod Ganj. The town was filled with yoga places (most were closed for the season), spa’s, amazing comfy restaurants, many amazing shops with Tibetan handicrafts. Dharamshala is the home of the one and only Dalai Lama, who is exiled from Tibet and found refugee here. Therefore, Dharamshala is the home of many Tibetan refugees, who nowadays still find their way here by foot through the Himalayas. It is also a very popular place for mostly Israeli tourists, which give the local people the opportunity to open amazing restaurants were they serve many vegan/vegetarian options, and even Soy cappuccinos. I was very happy that morning when I found out and drank at least 3 coffees that day. We had our lunch at Chili Bean, a place with delicious meals. We loved the place and food so much that we came back 3 times for lunch and one time for dinner. Especially Jelle loved the place very much because the waiter kept on telling him how handsome he was. That afternoon I got a pedicure while Jelle had some down time. During the pedicure the son of the therapist found a place next to me. Her son turned out to be a dog (Coco). Dharamshala is a region of many dogs, that are obviously very loved, and therefore a relatively big amount is in my opinion a bit obese. Like Coco. The therapist (sorry lovely woman that I forgot your name) told me a lot about her religion, her life (she moved from Delhi to Dharamshala because she loved it so much), and strongly recommended to go to Raccu’s the restaurant next door. So that evening Jelle had a Sizzler, and I had vegetables with peanut sauce and rice. We loved the food (and the beers) so much that we came back to this place 3 times for dinner. (Also because it was a restaurant and bar and therefore one of the places to get a beer, and there was live music in the weekend).

The next day we discovered the complex that is known as the home of the Dalai Lama, where I did a short meditation. We strolled around on our way down to Dharamshala and found a magical path with beautiful trees, prayer flags, and praying wheels. Seeing the first one I decided that I wanted to turn them all for meditative purposes. In the prayer wheels are mostly relics or prayers. Turning them is a way to send your prayers to the gods. It was a nice walk, but somewhere down the way I regretted my decision to turn them all, because well it turned out to be a lot. And you know the thing when you turn another corner thinking it will be the end, it is still not the end. Well yes. Hungry for lunch we finally reached the end, and had to turn around (because there was nothing really there..). Oh well. We made our way through a forest and little adventurous trail to finally find the big road again, and naturally bumped in a lovely Tibetan Restaurant (Café Nyima Lhasa), where we had BIG momo’s and Tibetan noodle soup (Thukpa). The afternoon we spent in the Tibetan Library and museum. To learn about their culture and history, and how important it is to not lose their culture to they-who-not-shall-be-named forcing their culture on them, and putting their children in boarding schools where they are not taught any Tibetan and only languages and customs that-shall-not-be-named. Inspired by all this in some way, but mostly because I loved the dress, I bought a Tibetan dress at a refugee camp.

In the museum we met a Belgium couple that has the same travel plans as us (first backpacking in India, then work and holiday in New Zealand). They told us about an introduction to Buddhism retreat they just did in Tushita meditation centre. My heart immediately started to sparkle, and the next morning we found our way to the center in the middle of the forest surrounded by birds and monkeys for a drop-in mediation. I was a bit grumpy without breakfast, but immediately loved the place. Probably Jelle did not realize because of course he was my outlet for my grumpiness. We found our seats in the shrine-room mostly filled with Western Buddhists and/or tourists. It was a beautiful guided mediation about compassion. At least for me. Since a Vipassana retreat I did 4 years ago in Jaipur, India, my mind was trained in sitting still for an hour for a meditation. Jelle however was not trained, and feeling a bit sad, trying to understand why I was acting so grumpy that morning to him. So, on our way to breakfast we shift roles and now I was verry happy and feeling inspired by the beautiful place, and Jelle was well just craving for breakfast and glad the meditation was over. We found our way to a lovely small café/breakfast place the Common ground café where I had some lovely coffee and scrambled tofu wrap, and guess what, we loved the place so much that we went there again twice (unfortunately one of these times it was closed.).

This afternoon Jelle and I separated. We both did some “Sinterklaas” shopping for each-other, and I went back to Tushita to attend a teaching about attachment, the self, and growth. I met a lovely French woman and English man that both just finished their Yoga Teacher training in Rishikesh and convinced me that we had to go to Rishikesh. In their opinion Rishikesh was a bigger version of Dharamshala with yoga and meditation places everywhere, but then even more spiritual with streets filled with ashrams, pilgrims, and the evening the sounds of puja’s sound through the streets.

Sunday the third of December, we woke up early for a yoga class of the hostel owner. Unfortunately, he forgot. But in the end I did not mind. I followed my own flow and tried to lead Jelle through it. The rooftop was a beautiful place to do so, and the sun was shining. After our breakfast at Chili Beans we quickly packed our bags and found our way via a waterfall where many Indian families were chilling, listening to music, and swimming to the Triund trek.

On our way up the mountain we found out that this trek is not as much a nature walk in peace and silence as we expected, but more a party escape for people from Delhi. Therefore, I had to fight my annoyance the whole way when we passed another group of people, a couple, or just a girl by herself listening to loud music through a speaker or just a phone. Jelle told me (or taught me) that this a probably a cultural thing, in Indian culture (probably overstimulated from the city and all having a sort-of developed ADHD) this probably seen as fun, “gezellig”, and a form of community, like singing or dancing all together. “GRMMPH” is what I thought, and I might have sighed here and there, but slowly kind of accepted it. Especially when Jelle offered me a Bhagsu Cake at the most grumpy moments. A Bhagsu cake is a local product (but seems pretty similar to the caramel slice(?) they serve in Australia as local dish) of a layer of cookie, caramel/peanut butter and chocolate at the top.

We arrived at “Basecamp” around 4PM. Here we found multiple buildings all offering a package of a tent (and other equipment if necessary) and food. We found the place we booked down in the village, and asked nicely if we could pitch the rented tent a bit further away from the Indian Party People. Together we found a nice place to pitch the tent with a beautiful view over the mountains. After this we found our way further up the hill to watch the sunset from a quiet place. Very romantic. (Yes time to cringe now if you are single.)

That evening we had dinner with the other couple that booked at the same company. A lovely Indian company from Delhi. The guy (sorry I forgot your name) told us a lot about Hinduism and history. He definitely could have been a history teacher but was a software engineer. Did you know a cow is holy in India not necessarily for religious purposes, but because the cow is the main source of food (milk)? It is like a mother providing milk to her baby.

Next morning, we woke up early to walk up all the way to the snow line. In summer you can walk even further to a glacier, but now people discouraged us to do so, because of the snow. Luckily we listened because in the end we arrived back at the hostel around 4.30PM after 33.321 steps (if my phone is right), and 9 hours of walking. Funny enough the hostel again did not offer any private room, but the room we stayed in before was not cleaned yet, so they took us to the other neighboring guest house. After that much walking anything was okay for us.

Not realizing that our body was that tired, because well we are stubborn enough, we decided to go to the museum of Tibetan medicine and astrology the next day. I also got a consultation in the clinic were a Tibetan Medicine Physician and a student laid their fingers on my both wrists for at least 15 minutes. Not to feel my pulse, but to connect with the signals from my nerves. Conclusion was that I might have some problems of my small intestine, but other than that I should be fine. I should prevent eating spicy food. Too tired to make good decisions we walked all our way to a paraglide office in the city of Dharamshala, to only decide that Jelle was too tired and hungry to paraglide at that moment anyway. Thus… we took a taxi back up to Mcleod Ganj and had lunch at Hope Café. Another lovely café that is owned by Tibetan refugees, and every Wednesday there is a guided tour about Tibetan history and culture. I stayed there the whole afternoon (e.g. writing poems for Sinterklaas) Jelle went back to the guest house after lunch for some down time. That evening we celebrated Sinterklaas at Chili Beans with poems and presents. We saw Jelle’s favorite waiter be very disappointed when Jelle gave me a ring, while another guest saw it happen and well thought something else of it, and even wanted to take a picture of us. No guys, just a ring as a present from Sinterklaas, nothing else. Language barrier did make it a bit difficult to explain that though.

The next morning, I woke up early for a yoga class at Ram Yoga which was absolutely one of my favorites ever. Thank you. Then I spent most of my day chilling again in Hope Café – I even was in time for an interesting PowerPoint presentation about Tibet – while Jelle was paragliding. I couldn’t be bothered about it. I already did it once in Pokhara, and it was wonderful, but well I was not that amazed to do it again. Jelle however did have a great time. That evening we had some snacks at the Yellow Lama café, which were going to be very memorable… before taking the night bus to Rishikesh.

Tapovan / Lakshman Jhula / Swarg Ashram (Rishikesh)

In the bus we met Thom again, the English guy I had met in Tushita, saw again at Yoga, and in the Hope Café. It was a very terrible ride. Jelle and I felt very carsick. And after asking a few times finally I was allowed to sit at the front seats (that were free anyway). We just thought we were carsick, but in retrospect I think we experienced a “mild” form of “Delhi Belly”. Tired and mostly relieved we arrived in Rishikesh in the early morning. We shared a riksha with Thom to get to the Ram Jhula bridge. We split up because Jelle and I wanted some breakfast and Thom wanted to get to his guesthouse. We said our goodbyes but were pretty sure we were going to see each other again because the tourist areas of Riskikesh (Tapovan and the other side of the bridge where we were staying Laksman Jhula) was not that big.

Jelle and I had breakfast at Bebilon restaurant/German Bakery and were seated at the balcony with a nice view over the Ganges river. Still feeling a bit sick from the bus ride I thought it was a good idea to order a fruity bowl. I thought it would be a bit fresh instead of all the oily tasty egg and vegetables breakfast from the previous days. However, the amount of protein powder was a bit too much and I only ate a few spoons. I did have a lovely coconut milk cappuccino.

Like I mentioned before Rishikesh (or actually Tapovan and the area around Lakshman Jhula) are a very popular destination for yoga-teachers-to-be for their retreats, and for people doing all kind of yoga/meditation retreats. Therefore, it is a place filled with Vegan/or vegetarians in yoga-leggings/harem pants, people searching for any sorts of mental/self-healing, and people generally talking about the meaning of life or something in that order. In other words almost every bakery or place has vegan options, nice sourdough bread and/or even croissants. Anyway, I would enjoy that the other days, but not that morning.
At the balcony everyone was talking to each other, and it was a very “gezellige” atmosphere. So an older local gentleman started to smoke a cigarette next to me and started to make conversation with us. At one point the conversation let us to a discussion where he tried to convince us that smoking is not bad for you because he was still healthy at his 60+ age and his body was asking for it. He did not believe in such a thing as addiction. Everybody is different and everybody needs different things. You must understand that in my condition at that very morning it was difficult to discuss with someone who holds these types of arguments. However, Jelle and I had a good laugh about it too. During breakfast Jelle found a nice hotel on google that should be not that far away. It was not as cheap as most guesthouses in this area, but it was cheap enough and seemed very nice. After a quick look in several rooms, we decided it was lovely and stayed at the Shri Ganga View Guest house. There I quickly changed and went for my appointment at the Ayurveda clinic Shanti Makhan. Ayurveda is a traditional medicine, originated in India. It includes a variety of treatments and theories including acupuncture, yoga, massage, herbal medicine, food, body, and mind.

Since it was a day before my birthday, I decided to treat myself. Jelle stayed at the hotel. I booked an appointment for a consultation and a full body massage, including treatment for my knees and forehead. The treatment for my knees was mainly because since the fall during the trekking in Sikkim, I still experienced some pain during certain movements. The forehead treatment is simply said to balance the mind. During the consultation I learned that I am Pitta Dosha. Pitta translates roughly as fire, which means I should not eat spicy food, should eat boiled foods (not raw), and hot drinks. This all to balance my diet and not create more fire. This all in particular when I am stressed. After the consultation it was time for me treatments. The full body massage was just amazing. The forehead treatment was something else. They drip oil on your forehead for more than 10 minutes(?) (probably more). It is a very meditative experience. It really is something else. For my knees there was also oil with medical herbs put on top of them by making a ring of paper around my patella (Editor’s note: patella = kneecap) and oil was put inside (like a bathtub with oil on top of my knees). The oil was warm, not hot, but I felt it burning a bit at the places that were injured by the fall. After I suppose 15 minutes the “bathtub” was removed and the oil was massaged on my knees. It was very intense and lovely at the same time. And you know what? It might be placebo, but since then my knee does not hurt anymore.

Very relaxed I went back to Jelle who was still in the hotel. We decided to have lunch somewhere. And inspired by the consultation I decided to try out the advice from the ayurveda doctor. However, it was very difficult to ask for plain noodles and boiled vegetables. I ended up with boiled vegetables and a spicy noodle soup. O well. Since then, I never tried again to order plain food in India. With full bellies we walked around the area a bit as we strolled around a multiple floored Hindu temple. In the temple multiple people tried to convince us to get a blessing. But since I got a blessing in Darjeeling I was not really tempted to do so. Namely, the evening after I got the blessing I was washing my face and looked back in the mirror to not only see the blessing still vaguely on my forehead, now also my whole forehead was yellow. “Jelle, I got a problem.” I said when I walked in the mirror and Jelle laughed when he saw my yellow forehead. Scrubbing, soap and water did not help. My forehead was yellow for 2 more days or so. Anyway, after that incident I was not really tempted to do it again. Although I loved the vibe and energy around getting a blessing. It took some effort to say no to all the maybe somewhat forceful human devotee. Funny enough the spiritual Hindu temple was filled with “rooms” al devoted to a different Hindy deity, and different shops selling spiritual equipment like necklaces, and statues.

During our walk through the rest of the area Jelle got to experience the only missing part of our trip: Delhi Belly, thus we (Jelle somewhat quicker than I did) made our way back to the hotel.

While Jelle took a rest, I sat at the rooftop to experience the Puja’s of the evening. It was magical. The Sunset created an orange light over the valley and river, and everywhere I heard different sounds of Puja’s. The river side was filled with groups of people with lights.

The next morning was my birthday! Thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes, I feel very blessed. That morning Jelle planned to have breakfast at lovely Odyssey Café and Sourdough Bakery. The café just opened that day. It felt very special because the owner of the café knew it was my birthday (because Jelle told him), and because he did not have any pies ready yet, he gave us two delicious pastries! Not that vegan, but very, very delicious. Ant the croissants were the best croissants I have had in a very long while. After this delicious breakfast we walked all the way to Tapovan. Since one of the direct bridges was closed, we decided to walk via the other one. It was a nice walk and we were supposed to pass ATM’s. But somehow they all did not work or were out of money. Which eventually led to Jelle taking a Riksha to Rishikesh and back to get some money. I got to wait in a lovely bakery (Two Sister Garden Café), because it was my birthday after all. (In other words I had an excuse now to be lazy and ask Jelle to do things for me, instead of asking it anyway without an excuse).

Before sitting down in the café and Jelle rushing into the city we just strolled around Tapovan and alongside the river. We bought some Indian spices to make some delicious food for New Zealand where we were told to have a “spicy day” when we left. We visited a Hindu temple, and because it was my birthday now I decided it was a good moment to get a blessing even if that meant that my forehead was going to be yellow for a few days.

The Two Sister Garden café was absolutely amazing. The owner was a lovely Indian woman who lived in many places because her dad worked for the United Nations. We talked a bunch about India and traveling while eating some very delicious vegan blueberry cake. Later Jelle joined and ordered a vegan cheesecake. In this beautiful garden, and a piece of cake it really started to feel like my birthday.

After that we had a little snack in a restaurant with a beautiful view watching the sunset, surrounded by trees where monkeys were climbing around fighting and playing. After this Jelle took me to a pink café what he had planned for my birthday. However, it seemed to be a cocktail bar and was not that cozy, so we decided to search for another place. We ended up in a bar with a view over the river, some delicious food, and some live music (Artist: Piyush). Yes. I am really 29 now.

The next day we wanted to do a hike, and we decided to follow the pilgrims up the mountain to the Neelkantha Mahadev Temple. The lonely planet told us that pilgrims walked up the mountain with water from the Ganges for their prayer. In reality we only saw a few and no one was carrying water from the Ganges. Remarkably one pilgrim we saw was going up the path by going down his knees, making a prayer, standing up and doing it again. Furthermore, we saw many monkeys. The walk up took a bit longer up than we thought, and since we were spoiled in Dharamshala we expected to find a place to have lunch on our way. But by the time we saw the first place selling decent food it was already 15.00h. A group of Indian people was having rest at the same spot. It turned out to be a class who did the trip as an excursion. They were really nice, and one of the teachers even insisted on paying our lunch! They warned us that many people try to scam tourists and told us to never trust any Indian if they tried to sell us something for a higher price than 500 rupee because that is already a lot of money in India.

We made it to the temple just before dark and were suddenly surrounded by many people who took a car all the way up. There were many little shops where you could buy baskets with flowers, incense and little bottles filled with water from the Ganges. Ah, that is why no one was carrying it all the way up. The temple was beautiful but did feel a bit like an amusement park attraction… We had to queue up to get in the temple and follow our way inside where a giant beautiful trunk of a tree was standing. People were throwing holy Ganges water in the middle of the temple one by one, and after that went to a stand where they could receive a blessing. And then we were out again. Tired of the walk and overwhelmed by all the people we did not buy a basket or blessing, but just absorbed the experience. Then it was getting dark, and of course smart and responsible as we are we decided to walk our way down, instead of taking a cab down. On our way down the schoolclass we had met before was catching up and we walked a bit with them. One of the teachers asked, “Are you not scared for wild animals?” I laughed: “Are you?” He told us that we should be, and recommended to walk in groups since there are bears and leopards living in the forest. Apparently, bears don’t do hibernation in India. We walked with the group, and of course took a picture together.

That evening we had a wonderful dinner and kombucha at the Little Buddha Café. To be honest we had a lovely dinner here before, but that was on our first day when Jelle was still recovering from Delhi Belly and could not really enjoy it at that time.

The next morning was our last day in town. It already feels like ages ago. We had a lovely breakfast at the Little Buddha Café and after that we went to Healing Hands Reiki School for a treatment from lovely Pravim. I gave Jelle the treatment as a present because he has always been a bit sceptic when I told him about Reiki or other traditional medicine methods. Tom the English guy we had met in Dharamshala strongly recommended this treatment. I thought it was wonderful and Pravim told us both some things we need to give some more thought when reading our chakras. Funnily enough Jelle did not think the treatment was very relaxing or healing, he was just very bored. Of course.

Back to Delhi

After this we grabbed our bags and took a Riksha to the train station. This time we managed to get first class tickets, which meant we got served snacks and dinner in the train. Late at night we arrived in the Amigos India hostel. A small hostel located in the back of a parking lot, and offered simple breakfast, two simple common rooms and a rooftop-terrace. It was a nice comfy place and perfect for our last night.

The next day was our last day in India. And of course, we wanted to spend this day in a climbing gym. Unfortunately, the two sport-climbing gyms were closed on Mondays. Guess what? It was a Monday. So the only other opportunity was Boulderbox.Although I do not like bouldering that much. I missed climbing so much that I decided it was better than nothing. In the boulderbox we even met another couple from the Philipines that was taking a flight that night as well. It was a nice peaceful afternoon, climbing session, with even a coffee break in-between. Unfortunetaly Jelle had to quit at one point because he injured his skin. Now the epidermis of one of his fingers was only attached to the rest of his skin with a few millimeters. A flapper. Ouch.

The place was close to the airport, which meant we could take a cold shower just before heading to the airport. Which was awesome. And did I already say that there was BLUE sky that day in Delhi? Almost no smog? It was a beautiful last day.

At the airport we were waiting at our gate next to a Sikh Indian couple. We talked a bit to each other and ended up giving our last Indian rupees (30 rupees = 0,33 eur) to them. The couple, a police officer (Sukhijt) and his wife (Kawalijt) were so grateful that they wanted to give something back, so Kawalijt gave me a bracelet. Via a very long layover in Kuala Lumpur (12 hours) we made it all the way to Sydney.

Sydney

The arrival in Sydney was a bit stressful because our good friend Victor shared a story with us recently about a woman receiving a fine of $3000 dollar for carrying a cheese-sandwich in her luggage. And well of course we were not carrying cheese, I hate cheese, but we were carrying a down sleeping bag and jacket (animal material), a bamboo flute (wood?), Indian spices, stroopwafels, and some Tibetan traditional medicine. We declared everything and no big deal we could bring everything in.

After that we took an uber to Osvaldo’s place. My good friend that I had met in Vancouver 5 years ago and had not seen since I left the city. A lot has changed since then. He got moved back to Chile where he is from, finished his PhD, got a child, migrated, became a postdoc, and got married (yes this is in chronological order, and yes the child is from the wife he got married with). While I did my master degree in medicine, got a boyfriend, graduated, and moved to Hilversum with the boyfriend. It was so good to see him again, and most funny was that he now developed an Australian (instead of Chilean) accent. Jelle and I could stay on his couch in his living room during the 6 days we were staying in Sydney. He welcomed us with some coffee/tea and some very ordinary breakfast with cornflakes and almond milk. Oh man, we were so happy with the ordinary. Soon after, Osvaldo ran off to work, and Jelle and I took our time to unpack and settle.

Meanwhile, my other friend from Vancouver, Sarah – who I also had not seen since I left and got a job in water/civil engineering, now still lives in Vancouver, and did not move since I left – landed in Sydney. She just travelled with her mum in New Zealand for more than 3 weeks, and this lovely human being (like Hilal would say it) changed her plane tickets to meet us in Sydney!

Sarah still needed to settle down, but Jelle and I already got hungry and decided to already head to Maroubra Beach for some fish and chips, and chilling. While the time difference with India was only 5,5 hours, we did feel the jetlag and the tiredness from the jetlag taking over. We spread out our towels on the beach and relaxed a bit before we decided to give the water a try. What a try it was. The waves are something different in Australia. It was amazing, but a bit too much for my jetlagged, tired head, so I decided to take a nap. After a quick look around the beach to see if Sarah already arrived Jelle and I moved to the shade and I closed my eyes. A while later I heard Jelle talking and laughing; “Ooh, you must be Sarah!! I thought what is this gipsy woman telling me in gibberish language? But you were trying to say my name! Nice to meet you, it is Jelle.” I opened my eyes and there she was shining with dark long hair, and a long blue skirt both blowing in the wind. I immediately stood up to run to my friend.

We took some time at the beach to swim, talk, watching the surfers, and relax before we found our way to the bus. The bus filled with relaxed Sydney vibes, with people just jumping in in their beach wear. We got to Osvaldo’s place and Maria (his wife) and Olivia (his daughter) were already home but in the shower. So, we scared Maria a bit when she walked out and saw us all three sitting in the living room. That evening we spent talking, eating, and drinking. We finished the night with some stroopwafels that Jelle carried all the way from the Netherlands.

The next day Maria and Oliva took us to the opera-house and the botanical gardens. We walked three times forward and three times backward around a wishing tree, I hugged a few beautiful big trees, and at one point I knocked on a plant to only find out that my hand was a few centimeters from a big spider. Anyway, it was a beautiful walk, but after some strolling around even an iced latte or the shade is not refreshing anymore with 37 degrees. We decided to escape to the air-conditioning of a museum. On our way there we got distracted by some other beautiful scenery of Sydney like the State library of New South Wales, where we spotted some original tools from the first people of Australia, and the St. Mary’s Cathedral with a Nativity scene and a giant Christmas tree in front, which seemed a bit weird in this hot weather. Finally we made it all the way to the Australian museum, where we learned about aboriginal culture, megafauna and their extinction theories. Meanwhile Olivia was playing in the playground of the museum with Maria.

It did not take long before we all got a bit hungry. After some discussion with the four year old Olivia (Do you want to take your nap or not?), Maria decided to go home, and we decided to get some food. We ended up at Nugu for some delicious Korean food. The afternoon Sarah and I spent in the Art-Gallery, while Jelle already found his way back home for some down time (which in Osvaldo’s house means colouring with Olivia, but he did not know that yet).

The next day Sarah, Jelle and I went to Manly to see one of the most popular beaches of Sydney. We had to take the ferry from town and got some beautiful views from the city and Opera-house. Strongly recommended by Osvaldo we found our way to Anita Gelato and enjoyed some street-music while eating it. Distracted by all the nice shops on our way to the beach, it took us a while to reach the beach. But we made it. Escaped the busy beach and found our way to a somewhat smaller beach for some snorkeling. Smaller, but not less busy. However, we found our way in the shade between some palm trees, next to the delicious smell of some public barbeques. December it is mate. The snorkeling was amazing. We saw some beautiful fish and plants, and Sarah and I could stay in the water forever. (If you do not take in consideration that at one point I got hungry, was a bit afraid that I might get burned if not reapplying my sunscreen, and that we had to hand in our rented snorkeling gear at one point.)

That evening Osvaldo took us to the local climbing gym! It was a blast to climb again with the people who taught me to climb in the first place. It was very interesting to see that in this climbing gym all belay devices and carabiners for the top-ropes were already attached to the ropes.

We finished the evening with a beer at a local brewery; Willie the Boatman.

Saturday. Osvaldo was finally free from his busy (and lovely) job. He took us on a coastal walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi beach. It was absolutely beautiful. Cliffs, little coves with beaches and little shelters from rocks. We stopped at a mixed beach, natural parts of sand and rock, and a larger part of concrete. A nice mix for a good swim and a good place for a diving lesson from Jelle. I only tried once though, and Osvaldo commented: “Wow, I did not expect you to do so well”. Thank you, my lovely friend, lol.

At this beach (concrete) you had to be careful for your clothes though, unlike a normal concrete swimming pool, the water tends to get over the edges of the concrete whenever a wave comes up. It was also a good place for floating lessons for Jelle. But he failed. Conclusion: Jelle does not have enough fat to float.

On the next part of the hike we passed some cemetery laying on the hills ending at the cliff and facing the ocean. Hungry, hot, and tired we made it our way to Bondi beach to have some fish and chips at a lovely beach restaurant. While we waited for the uber to bring us back to Osvaldo’s car, Jelle tried to hide from the sun by standing in the shade of a street lantern. It kind of worked.

That evening Sarah, Jelle and I had baby-sit duty. While we had the amazing plan to go to the city with Olivia to bring her to a Stroopwafel stand (?!) we saw earlier at the Christmas market at the wharf. In the end she did not feel like it so we stayed in and made some dinner. So we ended up cooking all together (Olivia, Sarah, Jelle and I) while Maria and Osvaldo dressed up for their anniversary dinner (married one year!). When Olivia was sleeping, we explained the rules of Hanabi to Sarah. In our first game with the three of us we made it to a score of >20 pt! (This information is mostly meant for Victor since I do not feel like explaining the rules of the game here).

It was incredible to feel so welcomed and at home at Maria and Osvaldo’s place, and exactly what we needed after hectic India. I did not expect it, but Sydney is an amazing city. A bit hot for my taste, but the beaches are beautiful, the people are funny and nice, it is busy but it does not feel too busy because it is very spacious, most of the museums are for free, the parks are very green and grow some colorful plants. The days there felt like a little holiday within our holiday.

The last day, I went for a run in the morning. Osvaldo’s house was very close to the Centennial Park. A bigger version of the Vondelpark, with more altitude and a big lake in the middle. Here you’ll find bikers (wielrenners), runners, dog-walkers, hikers, their little escape from the city. It was a very slow run since I did not run for quite some while, and I was not used to the altitude differences.

Maria, Olivia and I took the light line (basically the same as a Dutch Tram) to the city, and on the way Olivia asked me questions like: Why do we need seatbelts? We met Sarah in the city.

We went to the Maritime museum. We discover a submarine and a ship with Olivia and Maria. Getting a bit tired of all the impressions, Sarah and I intended to only see one other ship: The Endeavour – an impressive replica of the ship of Captain James Cook. A lovely volunteer there told me that it was a Dutch ship that was the first European ship that reached Australia. In 1606 the Duyfken reached Australia under the command of Willem Janszoon. They were only searching for potential trading opportunities for spices and herbs. It was intended as a friendly mission, but in the end a few Indigenous people died after the encounter. James Cook’s ship only arrived in Australia 164 years later. I sighed after receiving this information. “As a Dutch woman I should now visit the Duyfken too!”. Thus, Sarah and I made our way to the much smaller ship (surely not made for tall Dutch people), the replica of the Duyfken.

Very tired from having people around me all time, and every evening spending around a 4 year old running around the apartment asking around anytime if you want to play patient for her doctor game, or comes up with another game to play with you. I decided to head to the library for some me-time. I said my goodbyes to Sarah. I memorized the words from Hilal (when we said goodbyes after her wedding last year): “Let’s not make it weird, we are going to see each other soon.”, she said. I quoted these words to Sarah at this moment.

Happy and full of love I sat down at the library. Surrounded by books and by myself I could really feel how grateful I am to have such lovely people surrounding me all over the world. Soon enough I was totally focused on my writing and forgot about the time. Now I had to run to the train (for Dutch people a bit of a mix of a Dutch train and metro). Jelle bought me tickets for The Pleasures and Big Wheels for my Birthday. Unfortunately this was on the other side of the city, and in my hurry I jumped in the train with the right number, but turned out to not stop at my station. When I asked people which train, I should take, nobody seemed able to help me. They only told me to get out and get to the right train. Yes, for sure. Annoyed and tired I walked to the door and looked out the window to see the train passing by my stop. Luckily it stopped at the next station, and I walked my way to the House of Music and Booze. A small little venue with a bar, a garden and a small room for the band. Both hungry and still more than 30 minutes to spend, Jelle and I walked to the brewery where we were before to order some vegan pizzas. Energized and getting a bit tipsy we found our way to the venue. There we danced on the country music from the Pleasures and the rock/folk tunes of Big Wheels. Back home we had some last tea and chat with Maria, Osvaldo, Olivia. This was our last evening already in Sydney.

The next morning we said our goodbyes. Until soon.

Guess what? At the airport right before we were boarding our flight. Sarah (flying 2 hours later) found us at our gate for one last goodbye hug. Until soon.