So and here are some short videos from India napolis, put in a playlist on youtube. Taken with my snapshot-camera to give some imaginations… not more…

India napolis on youtube

Having some chilling days in Kathmandu. Visiting temples and the city and going by bus and riksha to some other interesting places. Kathmandu is interesting. It has got a big number of bars, clubs, restaurants, shops, internet-cafes… There are a lot of asia-live-bands playing in the clubs on the roof bars at night (until 10 or 11 PM) music from bob marley, guns’n'roses, u2, lenny kravitz with their old hits. A lot of other travellers and local youths.

Kathmandu differs a lot from India - even the people seem to have a different mindset. It is cleaner, and the younger people are more “western” dressed (sneakers, t-shirt- trouser, sunglasses)… But still not forget the poorness of the people here. There is again a big big gap between modern live-music-shisha-clubs and the street, which is separated by security-guards…

Having a great time in Asia… great and impressive.

I wish, my days would have more than 24 hrs., the weeks more than 7 days… 

Too short… too short to see to discover more… Now it can go on: Through Nepal to Tibet, through China, visiting Buthan, Bangladesh. Heading in the direction of SEA: Laos, Northern Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia back to India with Andaman-Islands, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan…

There’s so much more outside… So many different people, at the end we are all the same. With same needs and wishes. So many different values. So many different faces with smiles. So many different religions living in one country… (will have to read more about this when I am back… Sikh. Hindhu. Tibetens. Muslim. Buddhism…)

The first days in Kathmandu/Nepal. Interesting and different to the places I have seen in India. Kathmandu is a quite touristy place and I have never met so many tourists before then here during this trip. A lot of temples and interesting places…

Here is everything: Internet on every corner, shops, restaurants, bars, rikshas, tourism - the business is running! Also the people are a little bit different and quite “western-styled”. The prizes are low and its possible to have a complete lunch with drinks under 1 US-$. Trekking-Clothes, jackets, T-Shirts, shoe, hats and coats on every corner - faked brands quite cheap…

So far my first impressions from Kathmandu.

I made a long walk through the city today and after having this internet-break I am off to Pashupatinath - a Hindu-place in Kathmandu next to the river. Tomorrow I am planning to go outside of Kathmandu, visiting some smaller villages.

Got up at 3.30 AM this day to drive to Tiger Hill seeing the sunset over Himalaya Mountains and Kangchenjunga (8.586 m, highest mountain Indias/3rd highest Mt. in the world).

I got the chance seeing Kangchenjunga for a couple of minutes until the fog came up again.

My twitsay message from Tiger Hill: http://twitsay.com/vn98b7

Good Morning, India! Good Morning, Austria! Good Morning, World!

A short summary where I was and where I am at the moment…

Started in Delhi and went to the top of North-India - Kashmir. Then Jammu, Amritsar, Chamba and Daramsala. Then one day Delhi. After that Varanasi and Kolkata. Now I am staying in Darjeeling.

Next stop is Kathmandu, then Delhi - Agra - Delhi - Vienna.

Currently I am having about 4.500 km behind me.

Größere Kartenansicht

Größere Kartenansicht

Yesterday evening I had a dinner at the Mocambo-Restaurant. I think, it was one of the better restaurants due to the prizes and the audience. I had a Kingfisher-Beer (640 ml), Chicken Oriental and a Brownie with Vanilla Ice. Everything was OK and very good. I payed 450 Rs (these are 8 EUR - most expensive dinner here in India ever, it is up to the prize of a room/night).

It was very interested, that the guests in this restaurant - although they are all from India - spoke only english. Very strange and quite a broken english. I verified this, as I talked with the man next to me. He is a doctor, living in Kolkata…

OK… This day I visited the BBD Bagh Part of the city - “Dalhousie Square“. Went there by taxi and walked around… Very interesting, very british. Many british buildings - you could mean, you are somewhere in the UK.

The gap is very high… The differences… between poor and rich. Best restaurants, top mobile-phones and computers and during watching new cars on the street you have to take care, that you do not hurt people crawling or sleeping on the pavement, street or floor.

Children and woman are begging. “Giving money to beggars is a crime”, I am often hearing from locals.

The hotel, I am staying… Sunflower Guest House… The building is very old and there is an elevator in it. Very very old one and operated manually day and night by a person. Does not look very secure… :)

@Albert: You are right… They are selling teaching books on the street… All kinds… TOEFL-test, German, all computer languages…

Newspapers

I am reading nearly every day some of India’s newspaper. Their names are known from english newspaper and are like ‘The Times of India’ , ‘Telegraph’… there are a lot of papers in local languges and english language. This is good - I like Times of India most out of the sortiment here.

A newspaper costs between 2 to 2.50 Rs (0.04 EUR).

So, there are at the moment a lot of reports about the bomb-attack in Jaipur. I also found one article about HP overtaking EDS and a lot of job-advertisings - Microsoft and Amazon are searching… Interested?

News-TV

Most rooms are having CTV (Cable TV) and most of them are having CNN or some local english speaking news-channels. It is interesting, that local news-TV has got a brutality in showing details in crimes and victims. You see dead people, people who are dying, blooding… Extrem…

It is also interesting, that the earthquake in China has got more  precence in the TV then the cyclon in Burma/Myanmar. It is also much more spoken about the earthquake than about the cyclon on the streets as far as I have faced.

The “Fritzl-guy” was also shown very often on TV as well as the latest “Axtmord”.

SIM-cards

Today I bought a new SIM-card from AIRTEL for 300 Rs (5 EUR) as the last one from Dehli costs more due to roming between the different states in India. This is interesting, as every big region in India, is quite its one state. With their own laws. Owe people. One tradition. Own mentality. Own mobile-networks or -contracts…

If you want to send me a SMS - do it! Here is my local number: +91 990 304 93 70

Cricket

Kalkutta is in Cricket-fever. Tonight is Mumbai - Kalkutta Knight Riders (my favourite team) and on Sunday a match in the local arena. Would have visited this game, but there are no more tickets and I also planned to go to Darjeeling on this day.

From Varanasi to Calcutta taking the night-train from 6 PM to 7 AM. Took the cheaper sleeping class (450 Rs, about 7 EUR) and a seat on the top bed. Talked with some local students and learned something about india in the sleeping train by speaking with the local guys.

I slept 10 hrs although it was very hot and loud…

Arrived fresh in Calcutta!!