Ritual bath in Ganges

Ganges - the holiest river for all Hindu. Pilgrims come here to wash away their sins or to cremate their loved ones. This morning I assured myself (and ten generations of my ancestors!) the eternal salvation of my soul ;-)

p.s.: Besides being the holiest river, Ganges is also the most polluted river in the world full of rubbish, toxins and bodies. Luckily I was ok ;-)

Wagah border ceremony

Today we went to the Indian-Pakistani border (a transport on the mini bus can be found easily in Amritsar) to watch the Wagah border ceremony. Every evening a HILARIOUS border closing ceremony takes place there. A combination of theatre, Bollywood movies and Monthy Python's Ministry of Silly Walks :)

On each border side there's a huge amphitheatre where thousands of Indians and Pakistanis are shouting "Hindustan" or "Pakistan" (slightly more spectators on the Indian side though) watch this amazing (and official) spectacle of both countries' border guards walking, jumping, running and moving in a very very bizarre way. Fantastic show!!

Spectacular Taj Mahal!

Taj Mahal

Welcome to India!

I was wondering for quite some time which should be my next destination. I knew I had one month to travel, so I wanted to use this time to maximum. Different countries were going through my mind, but in the end I decided to go to a place which is total, where all your senses come alive, which attacks you from everywhere with colours, smells, crowds, and noises, which you can love or hate, but which will never leave you indifferent. 

INDIA.

I often travel alone, but I decided to invite my younger brother for this trip. It was his first trip outside Europe, but he managed it perfectly. Only later I realized how difficult travelling in India is, so he was of a huge help and support to me.

First moments in India are a good prediction of the entire trip. While ordering a pre-paid taxi from the airport (350 rupias) we were cheated by 1000 rupias (we were given 100 rupias of change, instead of 1000). Luckily I realize it, but back then, I still naively think that it was a mistake. In the next days and weeks I'll discover that 90% of all the people we deal with during our travel will try to cheat us on and take advantage on us. First days were not easy to handle it, but shortly, given my travelling experience, psychological knowledge, sixth sense, negotiating skills and strong personality, I manage to scan people's minds and their attempts to rip us off. I'm definitly not an easy opponent ;-)

We head to Paharganj - a backpacker area of New Delhi. Of course we did not book any hotel, but since we arrive in the morning, it was not difficult to find one. We stay in Cottage Yes Please - in a dodgy room with dirty sheets and no window, but hey - it was cheap :)

We spend the day on discovering the neighbourhood of Paharganj, and Connaught Place - a huge square full of shops nearby. Of course, still tired after the flight, as well as trustworthy and naive, we are being driven by a tuk-tuk driver to an "Information Centre" which turns out to be a travel agency, striving very hard to sell as a tour costing 800 euros... of course unsuccesfully ;-)

We decide to come back to Paharganj, we both make a henna (Wojtek with Ganesha) and we finish te day with a beer in Rodeo Bar :)

Hotel Prince Polonia :)

Meeting photographers from Macau :)

I am every day posing to photos. It seems everybody wants to have a photo with/of a blonde - girls, boys, young, old, schooles, families, monks, entire villages or... 20 professional photographers from the Association of Photographers of Macao :)

Festival of Lights in Taunggyi or let's get crazy! :)

Yesterday, in Taunggyi, we attended the Festival of Lights and hot air baloon competition (amazing event, which happens only once a year). Among hundreds of shops, restaurants, food stalls, gambling spots etc accompanying the festival, we found a very cool photo shop. We just could not resist when we saw those great dresses... :)

 

starting in Lebanon

The trip to Madaba, Nebo Mont and the Dead Sea was my last day in amazing Jordan. Next country is Lebanon!! This destination was quite a spontaneous decision - taken 4 days before my departure on holiday. My initial plan was Yemen, but since it became a bit dangerous within last weeks, I decided to go to Lebanon instead.

Straight after the trip, the driver drove me to the bus station, from which I took a bus going to the airport - bus was very civilizated and it was forbidden to smoke in. The airport was very securitized place and there were few control checks on the way to it, as well as in the airport my luggage was scanned at the various stages. At the airport I also met Omar - a very cool Turk, whom I met in the Wadi Rum, so it was cool to travel with someone.

Arabs' addiction to cigarettes is incredible! At the airport some guy was smoking at the gate! when we told him it's forbidden he kept on smoking, when we told him we will tell it to the staff, he still kept on smoking and then hide in the toilet. On the plane, we were sitting next to a very nice Lebanese. When I told him I was Polish, he smiled and said he was three times in Poland in... my beloved Wroclaw!!

At the Beirut airport I got my visa without any problem (I was told that single girls under their 30's might have problems with its obtainment). Nice surprise was also that visa was free! Only the guy was watching suspiciously at my passport cover with "Islamic Republic of Iran", but finally he didn't say anything.. I forgot that many Lebaneses don't like Iran. Not nice surprise was, that the bank at the airport was taking 18% (!!!!) of provision for exchange of euro!! we decided to withdraw money from ATM.

This evening was full of surprises- in the hotel it turned out tht there were no more single rooms (not to sy with bathroom) - the only place that left was in the dorm, which I had to share with two other guys. One of them was Australian - he slept all the day, and another one was Italian, but very quiet one, so it was ok.

The day after I decided that since I'm in the Paris of the (Middle) East, I should finally have some decent continental breakfast and maybe stop eating eggs (yeah - in Syria and Jordan egg is a must for breakfast, which means I ate at least 15 of them ;-)). And in the neighbourhood I've found PAUL, where I had a French breakfast and where I met Olivier - a French whom I've seen before in the hostel. He was heading to Tripoli, where he was supposed to meet some friend's friend's friend. Actually British Foreign Office "advised against all but essential travel to Tripoli", but I decided it cannot be that bad and so I joined Olivier. In Tripoli we met Omar - an absolutely lovely Lebanese who used to work as a tourist guide. He showed us the city and not only we could enter with him to the places closed for normal tourists (hamam from 14th century - distroyed, but beautiful many years ago), not only we didn't have to pay in the places where normal tourists had to pay (Citadel), but we also got the gifts -soaps (apparently Tripoli soaps are the most reputated soaps in the world). Unfortunately the weather was not great on that day and it rained very badly. Funnily, in Lebanon people are not very used to rain, since we were looking really a lot of time for a shop where we could buy un umbrella :-)

In Tripoli I could see that advices of Foreign Office were not unfounded - in many places there were soldiers.. and taking such pictures wasof course forbidden ;-)

Omar took us also to the soap factory which was founded 200 years ago! Now it's a small family bussiness run by father and three daughters, who showed us how the soap is being produced. Every soap in thissmall factoy is hand made.

Last, but not least - Tripoli is famous for the best sweets in the Middle East - indeed they're yummy!!

The next day myself and Olivier decided to go to Baalbek and Aanjar - both cities on the other side of the mountains. We got there by minibus, and this time we didn't have to wait until it's full, the driver was hooting all the time and by doingthis he was finding new passengers on the way :-)

Baalbek contains the most impressive ancient site in Lebanon and also one of the most important Roman sites in the Middle East. I was thinking that after seeing all Roman ruins nothing else could impress my anymore, but Baalbek ruins were absolutely stunning!! The six remaining columns of Temple of Jupiter are the largest columns in the world, while Temple of Bachus is very well kept and is still beautifully decorated. This place was just amazing, and despite the fact hat these ruins are ones of best preserved and the most spectacular in the world, there were realy very few tourists. Well, it was good for me, but it's a shame that because of political circumstances, such a beautiful country is not popular among the tourists.

Baalbek is also a city very strongly supporting Hezbollah - their posters and flags were everywhere (as well s Khomeini's pictures) and so we were offered to buy the Hezbollah t-shirts.

After Baalbek we decided to visit another ruins- this time Umayyad ones in Aanjar. The site was not very close to the road, from which we could find some transport to Beirut, but luckily some two young Lebaneses proposed to give us a lift, and then I spent one of the nices afternoons during the whole trip. Both boys were students and both were completely crazy - in a very positive way! One was absolutely engaged in politics and was playing choral liturgical songs, while other was just crazy :-) Both of them were also very intelligent and spoke perfect French - also among themselves and other members of their families. They showed us the city of Zahle and then invited to their houses. Later we were visiting the churches (both boys were Christians). According to the local tradition on Good Friday everybody has to visit seven churches. Streets were full of people heading to different churches. We finished this evening very late - enjoying AWESOME Beirut's nighlife, visiting its the most trendy locals and discussing about politics - why Hezbollah is good or why it is not.