10/02/2011
Comment book - Vincent
“Rajasthan:
First trip, first discovery… A beautiful entry gate on the continent, The Thousand and One Nights in a Bollywood version? Probably. Tradition too. An India dreamt by and for the Westerners, but when I got back and some years later, she left behind the exquisite souvenirs of her cities a bit magical. Bombay-Jodhpur (by train!! 36 hours) then Jaisalmer, Pushkar, Jaipur and to finish Agra and the Taj Mahal. A first step necessary and easy to take.
Kerala and Hampi:
A year later a new trip, the virus has started! A journey a bit out of the beaten path, more natural, another face of India. This country is so bug, so rich that I feel I am not in the same place I visited last year; even Indians are different. This time, in the programme: Pondicherry, Cochin, Periyar, the Backwaters in a house-boat and Hampi. Hampi remains my best souvenir till date. India is a really fascinating country to me. This is also the trip where I had the best food! Hey what? As a good French man, food matters…
Kumbhamela:
Six months later, a mystical tour?! A dive in the hinduist India. Rishikesh, Haridwar and to finish, Varanasi. With a stop at the Neemrana Glasshouse on the Ganges and a morning prayer completely personal followed by a bath in the Ganges. The trip has been well planned to attend the Kumbha Mela in Haridwar in April 2010, a chance not to miss: it is a Hindu pilgrimage that happens once every 3 years in 4 different sacred place, one by one : Prayâg, the Hindu name of Allâhâbâd, in Uttar Pradesh, Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and Nasik in Maharashtra. So date is taken, let us meet up at the same place in 12 years…
Darjeeling:
Again six months later after the last trip, a beautiful surprise, a gift: when leaving Paris, I had no idea where I was going to go. And I had dreamt for a long time to discover the natural temple of tea. A new bunch of discoveries. A tour in the tradition and a trip in a “toy” train, an early waking-up to see the reflexion of the sun on the Himalayan chain, and then a departure to the “garden of India”, Sikkim; a stop in Gangtok and a retreat in a Buddhist temple in Rumtek. After hinduist India, Buddhist India.
To come, islands:
Next, a Muslim area, a peace haven, not yet experimented but eagerly awaited, the Laskhwadeep islands.”
Vincent B., 19/09/2011, Travels :
in November 2008 (Pune, Rajasthan)
in November 2009 (Pondicherry, Kerala, Hampi)
in April 2010 (Mumbai, Uttarakhand)
in November 2010 (Mumbai, Darjeeling, Sikkim)
in November 2011 (Lakshwadeep)
08:00 Posted in Comment book | Permalink | Comments (0) | Facebook | |
The comments are closed.