Notes from Granada, Spain

October in pictures

2009-11-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

This is my faculty, "Facultad de Comunicación y Documentación". It's located in Cartuja, beautiful area, on the top of a hill, but a bit far from the city centre and where I live. The faculty is the most pretty of them all, it's an old jesuitt building, and it has an amazing library. Believe I have the best view from my classrom that a student can ask for! Takes me 40 minutes to walk up in the morning. I'll be quite fit after one year!¨

So, lots has happened. Moved to a new apartment! Coincidence, really. Was a bit bored in the other place, then got the offer of living with 3 hilarious people and a dog (!), for a cheaper price, with a bigger room to myself. So here I am! Arrived the first night to a welcoming-dinner and this text on the livingroom board.

Nena and me in the kitchen! Together with the spanish guys Zafra and Manolo, plus our crazy dog, we make quite the family. Nena is from Belgium, here for Erasmus as well, and to make sure me and the two others don't put too much salt in our food...

Otto is my savior, as I've been going crazy missing my own dog Mira. Now I no longer have to go looking for dogs to pet on the street... Otto is actually Zafra's dog, but he's been living on the countryside for a while. There he got into a big fight, which now can be seen as a few scars here and there, and which is also the explanation, I believe, that Otto is a bit... well. Subnormal. He's not quite right in the head. Only two years old, but acts and looks older. Mix between Samojed and Bulldog, I say no more. But oh, how much pleasure there is in having a dog in the family!

Just one of those chaotic late night dinners in our apartment. Manolo standing up. Have no idea who takes these horrible pictures (and with my camera), but they're fun to have=) And the dinners are always delicious...

Roommate Manolo and me, at the Mirador St. Nicolas, one of those lazy october afternoons... Alhambra in the distance.

Roommate Zafra from Zafra with his pride: The Pasta Carbonara

Grafitti in the Albaycín.

Gorgeous sunrise seen from the bus on my way from Granada to La Manga. Took the nightbus, and arrived early in the morning to spend a lovely weekend with friend Ingunn and her parents from Norway!!!

View from the place we stayed at on La Manga, at night... There was wine, cheese, more wine, and the joy of speaking norwegian for hours and hours and hours with Ingunn...=)

Ingunn and I went SWIMMING, for real, the last week in october!!! Viva la playa... And these are the only photos I have from La Manga, meaning only, that Ingunn and I had too much fun and too much to talk about to be worrying about our camaras=) A big thanks to Ingunns parents for hosting me and serving me brown norwegian goat cheese!

Intergration

2009-10-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

Have fulfilled following steps to fit in with my 19-year old roommates: started playing poker and watching bad american movies dubbed in spanish, and stopped caring about cleanliness in the house. So far mission successful, although I still don´t understand half of what they´re saying because their andalusian accent makes them pronounce only one fifth of all conconants.

On the bright side: The day you are able to understand the andalusians, you´re able to understand all spanish accents out there! (says my professor)

Went to class today, takes me half an hour to get to Cartuja, and surprise surprise, there was no teacher present. I´m noticing that I don´t care anymore. Time has another value here. It´s tranquilo, tranquilo. I´m turning spanish! Had a chocolate ice cream instead.

End of summer

2009-09-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

I’ve been told I’m a lazy journalist who isn’t maintaining her blog, and while it might be true, I’ll tell you, there’s no lazy days around here!

The first era of my stay in Granada is coming to an end. It’s a Sunday, and I’ve had the summer of my life here, two whole months of spanish, tapas and fun. Seven weeks in intensive language course has given results, and my worries about starting university without speaking enough spanish are gone with the wind.

Street poetry found on the river fence

The courses will start tomorrow already, and this whole week we will be attending as many different classes as possible, trying to decide which ones we wish to do for the rest of the year. The faculty of Comunication and Documentation is located in Cartuja, the university area a bit outside of the centre. A fellow journalist student and I have decided to be quite ambitious and walk the 2- 2,5 kilometres uphill already Monday morning, and hopefully get there on time.

The faculty is quite small, set in an old, majestetic jesuitt building. There are only a handful of international students, and we’ve already been given a tour of the house and individual counceling sessions with our coordinator, so this far very happy with where I am. We’ve seen the library, the radio studio and the television production room, which are all small but seem well equiped and with good and creative feng shui.

Flamenco in "La vieja escuela" one random thursday night

This week has been one of fever, caughing and litres of tea, and it seems like everyone’s been sick at the same time. Thanks to the spanish kind of aspirin, which must be like ten times as strong as what they sell in Norway, it hasn’t been all too bad. Had the whole apartment to myself for some eight days, as my three spanish roommates have all been visiting their families in their little pueblos.

One of the guys arrived this morning, bringing his set of very spanish parents. Two minutes, four kisses on my cheeks, and the whole kitchen was turned upside down. So now our dishwasher machine is somehow working (it’s never been working before), there’s laundry in the laundry machine, our freezer is full of little tupperwear boxes containing homemade spanish delicasses, and the place is cleaner as ever. Also, my roommates carpenting father has made sure all our cupboards and handles are functioning as they should, and put up a mirror and a writing board on the walls in my bedroom. The spanish parents have now left to feed their son a gigantic lunch (I’m sure), after inviting me to their home, and bringing out all the garbage from our kitchen.

More funky street art

The (only) things I miss from Norway:
- my dog
- makrell i tomat

and that’s it. Well, of course I’m missing my friends and family as well, but they’re all coming to visit (yes, you are!), so what I’m trying to say is that I’m more content than ever=)

Su casa, mi casa

2009-09-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

Found an apartment! I am going to live with three spanish guys in the very MIDDLE of Granada, close to everything. And I'll be fluent in no time!!! Moving in this saturday, updates will follow=)

House hunting

2009-09-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

Walking the streets of Granada I've collected fifty-something little pieces of paper with phonenumbers to people who rent out rooms. Have visited 5 today, at least 4 more tomorrow. Feet are aching, but have improved my spanish! Met some crazy people, saw some dirty places... Decision to be made in a few days. House hunting is a full time job, hombre!

Granadian nights

2009-09-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

... and friends who come, stay for a week or three, and then leave again. C'est la víe, non?

Lately

2009-08-30T16:16:00.001-07:00

It's time for an update.

I've been living in Granada for a month now, and I actually believe that tonight is the very first night I haven't gone out. Still, it's 1.30 in the morning, but the blog is suffering.

So far:

My plan was to find an apartment within the first 2 weeks of my stay here. This, evidently, hasn't happened. For the first two weeks I lived in a massive, great apartment with Laurence from France and Lovely Laurel from Ireland, but after two weeks I had to move out because the school was uncapable of working out the house of cards, as we say in Norway, so that I could stay there. Ended therefore up with moving in with a spanish man of 39, who rents out the rooms in his apartment. The apartment is in Camino de Ronda, where they are BUILDING A METRO, and I'm sure you can imagine the NOISE and the DIRT. Still, the cocarachas (kakerlakker) make it cosier. The trafic signal that sounds like an ambulance and goes off every 3rd minute is just a bonus, makes attemts to have a siesta even more interesting. I should look for a place to live this week. Should. Could. Might. Want to go for tapas... =)

Justo, the guy who ownes the apartment, has gone for holidays to his little pueblo. His roommate, Manolo, arrived two days ago, after having spent one month in HIS pueblo, with his family. The first thing Manolo did when he arrived was cleaning up the kitchen, hanging up little pink and yellow towels with "monday, tuesday, wednesday" etc. and buying a new shower curtain. I feel guilty, but swear I'm not the one who's messed up the place! Manolo works as a pharmasist researcher, and I guess that's why he knows about cleanliness. He's worried about me getting sunburnt, too; "You're using SPF 30?? That's not enough! You're scandinavian, you need 50!" (Like my mama says...). So now I guess I have to go buy better suncream. Anyways, Manolo is lovely, and it's great for me to practise my spanish over lunch. Today we've been discussing the "eldrebølgen", religion and effects of the recession in Spain. In spanish. So my head is spinning a bit.

I finished 4 weeks of language school, 5 hours every day. It's been hard work, and it's been a delight. The school is ten times better that I could ever imagine it to be, and the teachers are amazing. Chech out http://www.proyecto-es.com/ if you're looking to spend a fantastic, yet educating time in one of Spains wonderful cities. I eventually decided to stay 2 more weeks in the school, and so I will, instead of traveling to Barcelona. It will cost me some money, and it will mean even more work, but I'm having the time of my life, and I'm realizing that picking up a language takes more time than one perhaps thinks. University doesn't start until end of September, so there might be time for some traveling as well, later on.

I drink a lot of wine. And water, litre after litre. And I loooove the spanish ham. And the cheese. And the oranges we buy in the fruit market.

Today I woke up and went straight to the bus station to say goodbye to Igor, my russian goofy journalist friend of nineteen, who finished his one month in the language school. It's like this EVERY week for me. Friday it was Laurel, who went back to Ireland. It's stressful, and I hate it, but I know that I have friends for life, and always someone to visit if I'll ever travel Europe again, and we all know I will.

So, this week it's a mission to make more spanish friends. The Granadians are still on holidays, I think, shops are still closed, and the city is sleeping, reboosting for eventful september. I'll try do some intercambio this week, which means the school puts me in contact with a local who wants to learn english, and we meet up to speak in spanish/english for a few hours. Should be good!

Pictures will follow. I've been terrible. I'm too busy. I'm having the best summer of my life, and I don't want to distance myself from it, so I take the photos in my head instead.

Oh, and if you didn't get it by now: Granada is paradise (but don't go telling everyone, it's a sacred secret). I might end up staying for life, I don't see how I could ever leave it.

Street art

2009-08-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

Igor the russian and Marie found a toilet in the street on their way home friday night. Both being journalist students, at the time of course it seemed like a great idea capturing the event in photos. This is one of them. Finding random domestic articles in the streets, however, is not unusual at all. It's like a tradition, instead of secondhand stores. Yesterday I even found a man, IN the garbagecontainer, looking for stuff. Good thing I didn't throw any trash in!

Feria in Malaga!

2009-08-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

Tre små kinesere... På bystranda i Malaga.

Radiobiler. Blåmerkene er mange og store, men vi lo til vi skrek=)

Vi tok mange av disse... Sjekk lysdekorasjonene!

Australske backpackere valgte å sove på stranden. Vi valgte å ikke sove i det hele tatt, men danse oss gjennom natten.

Vi hadde tenkt å se solnedgangen, men sola gikk jammen ned på andre siden av byen! Vakkert var det uansett.

Feria i Malaga er en festival som kan oppsummeres slik: blomster, musikk, tinto de verano (rødvin blandet med lemonade), flamenco-kjoler, vannkrig, SØPPEL, lys, dekorasjoner, dans og moro.

Roomies

2009-08-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

... inntil jeg måtte flytte til nytt sted sist lørdag. Mer om det senere!

Monsun i Granada

2009-08-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sjekk vannet som renner nedover trappene! Det lynte og tordnet, og jeg skrek. Spanjolene løp med aviser over hodene sine, alle var sjokkerte, og tapasrunden med konversasjonslæreren vår var svært truet en stund. Vann... Gøy!

Pastamiddag med venner

2009-08-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Vi laget flere liter med tinto de verano, og Sebastian fra Belgia kokkelerte den mest fantastiske pastaretten til alle fjorten personer!

Etter skoletid

2009-08-13T05:44:00.000-07:00

Saa... Amelie og Gerard Depardieu har dratt sin kos, og godt er det, for jeg holdt pa a bli fullstendig spro! Det er sjelden jeg misliker mennesker sa sterkt, men da Depardieu og hans kjare "ma petit pomme du terre" (min lille potet...) siste kvelden for de dro diskuterte (les: kranglet svart hoylydt) fransk politikk i stua til klokka var 3 om natta, var drapen falt for meg. Hjelp! Jeg matte sette pa Kings of Convenience pa ipoden min OG nynne til meg selv for a fa sove. Det noe spesielle paret var dog veldig fornoyd med ferien sin, som de hadde planlagt ned til den minste detalj! Èn dag pa Alhambra, èn i katedralen, èn i grottene... Og all historisk informasjon matte selvfolgelig tildeles oss andre mens VI egentlig provde a ha siesta. Ah.

Na har det isteden flyttet inn en irsk og veldig sot jente, noe som forer til litt komplikasjoner, fordi franske Laurence ikke skjonner et kvepp av hva hun sier (og hun har ikke engang irsk aksent, hun er opprinnelig fra england!). Ogsa har det flyttet inn en hollandsk gutt, som ikke kunne bo i sin opprinnelige leilighet fordi de andre leieboerne kranglet sann om hvem som skulle vaske.. Uansett, Laurence skjonner ikke et kvepp av hva han sier heller. Sa atter har vi mange fascinerende middagssamtaler!

I dag har vi handlet frukt og bar i bottevis av de gamle konene pa gronsaksmarkedet, og na skal jeg og Laurel til universitetsbassenget for a spise alt sammen, svomme og bli solbrente, for vi seinere i kveld drar ut pa tapasekspedisjon med konversasjonslareren var og de andre studentene pa sprakkurset. Har vart darlig pa a ta bilder (dvs lade opp batteriet pa kameraet...), men skal bli bedre! Hasta Luego!

Marie

Frigilijana

2009-08-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

In the mountains!

Almunjecar

2009-08-10T06:48:00.001-07:00

Little tapas from Granada (smakebiter...)

2009-08-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

Long story short: We ordered drinks, and got these hilarious teeny tiny eggs for tapas. Thereby all the commotion. We are still discussing what kind of bird creature could have made these little thingies, but all agree they tasted GREAT.

Flass. Flass joven = ung flass. This joke is for the norwegians.

My hilarious roommate Laurence from France, who´s 33 and says things like: "I need firewood in my eyes!!!" (emphasis on FIRE, "FAIIIJJJJA"), meaning she´d like matches to keep them open like in the cartoons... (fyrstikker). Laurence has introduced me to some amazing french cheese, and I traded her my tweezers for her crazy french handbalm. We laugh a lot.

A day at the wonderful Alhambra

2009-08-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

No point in wasting time, so spent my whole first day in Granada visiting the absolutely amazing Alhambra! Google it if you don´t know it, my keyboard is a disaster today. Pictures are, well, they are what they are. Brought my little digital one, and couldn´t see nothing in the sun, and my battery died before we reached Generalife (the gardens). But enjoy!

Estoy enamorada...

2009-08-06T05:52:00.000-07:00

... en la ciudad de Granada. Y en la idioma, pero desafortunadamente mis amigos y mi familia no entienden español (pues, no los todos),y asi tengo que escribir mis pequeños noticias en inglès. Entonces...

I´ve been thinking about writing my blog every day since I arrived this saturday night, but it´s been five days already, and I haven´t even had time to unpack! I was planning to sit down, quietly, and write some incredible descriptions of the city and get out my deep thougts, in norwegian, on my laptop with my special characters, but it looks like it´s never going to happen, so here I am; sitting in a shitty, hot little internet café, being charged by the minute (a few cents, that is), and typing like crazy in english instead.

I left pretty Norway on saturday, after spending some lovely days in my cabin on Jeloy with my parents and friend Marit, barbequing inside cause of the rain, and catching fish the size of 4 kilos. I jumped straight on a bus from Málaga airport, going to the bus station, and I didn´t even manage to ask how much the ticket was, or where to put my suitcase! That´s what happens when you don´t practise your spanish... But I got to the station, and with a little help from the nicest bus driver ever managed to get on the bus to Granada. I picked up the keys in a hotel, got to the apartment where I´m staying for two weeks with other students, and found it to be HUGE! So no primitive student life so far.

The first night I met my french roommate. She´s 33 but looks like she´s 20, her english is terrible, and her spanish worse. We´ve been hanging out every day, and have had the funniest situations trying to communicate in english/spanish/french/norwegian. You wouldn´t believe the misunderstandings! In short, we´re having a blast.

On sunday, our roommates arrived, a couple which is the portuguese version of Audrey Tatou (Amelie de Montmartre) and Gerard Depardieu. She´s the most beautiful little creature of 24, and he´s the 34 year old guy who knows everything there is to know in the world, never stops talking, calls his girlfriend "the little flower" and tells her "you didn´t put enough salt!" after watching her cooking for 45 minutes.

On saturday, after finding the apartment, I ran out in the night to find something to eat. Our place is by the river, a bit outside of the center of the city, and I couldn´t find any open shops, but I spotted a bar, and went in saying: "Necesito comer!" (I need to eat). Very classy. But I got the most wooonderful tapas and chicken salad, and was happy as never before, although being the only person in the bar.

After this, I´ve had four days of 5 hour classes in spanish at the language school, and the transition´s been enormous. I´m speaking spanish! (!) I always thought it would pop up when I moved to Spain, but I didn´t know it could happen so fast. So now I´m speaking spanish with all the people at the school, inventing stories in class, and even thinking in spanish during the day! Still a bit nervous about starting uni in september, but guessing I will be superfine=) Although: the first day I was put in one of the MOST advanced classes. (Haha!). I was lost. And my confidence dropped to the centre of the earth, and I felt like an idiot. But then I remebered: it´s not my fault they put me here! So I charged and reboosted and asked to change, and now I´m with a lovely group of people who are speaking just as funny and incomplete as myself.

The things I don´t miss about Oslo:

- Spending hours on the buses, the metros, the trams, getting around and to and from work. In Granada we walk EVERYWHERE! No need for pulic transportation! I´ve been here five days and I already know my way around (well, as well as you can with my disastrious sense of direction). Walking to class at 8.30 in the morning, breathing the fresh and still not so hot air, watching the city awake... Qué alegría.

- Checking my email five times a day and spending I-don´t-know-how-many hours on the computer every day. Not having access to internet is like cleaning out your head!

-Watching TV... Need I say more? TV is opium for the people.

- The food. How can I have been eating knekkebrod, kebab and Fjordland??? Granada is about cheese. Wine. Ham, the most amazing kind. Seafood. Apricots. Paella, aioli, churros...

- The beer. I´ll probably loose several pounds giving up those pints in Evergreen. A señorita drinks wine, and she likes it dry.

Tuesday we went to the beach, in Motril, a small city by the coast. Depardieu and Amalie have a car, and it took us less than 45 minutes to get there. The water was the most refreshing thing since I got here, the sun was of the afternoon, the sand of medium sized pebbles, and the book "Anonomous shoeholics". Aaah...

Last night was the ultimate spanish experience, though. We were ten language students, going to a huge flamenco show, in the "Generalife", the garden surrounding Alhambra. It was a full moon, extraordinary costumes, almost too loud singing (think: opera-like) and spectacular lightsettings, all for an hour and forty minutes. Me gusta. It was probably the most romantic night of my life, in one way. It´s quite bizarre to be at this point, less then a week from catching fish in the Mossesundet.

I have to tell you about the tapas. The FREE tapas. You go to a bar, any bar, and you order a drink, be it water (yes!), and they SERVE you food. For free. It comes with. And it´s delicios, and I´m addicted already! I can never go back to have a drink without tapas on the side, I have to stay here forever. I remember when friend Pia and I were ninteen, and we did our big eurotrip of five months, and we were saying to each other: "Ah! They are feeding us! Do they think we look hungry?".

Tonight I´m going for tapas with some of the other students, then to a free concert at the Plaza de culturas. It´ll be great. We don´t sleep much, as you might have guessed, but we always do our homework! Last night we did them at 2.30 at night. We catch up by taking siestas, which I find completely natural already. And the dinners at 22 in the evening: perfecto para mi! Oh, and the students, they come from all over the world... Russia, Poland, Austria, Australia, Ireland, France, Italy (I guess that was mostly Europe). No other scandinavians yet, which is not really a bad thing!

So, my first week is about to finish... The weekend will be eventful, and I´ll write about that later. I´ll try, at least. And put pictures. That is, I have to take them first. But perhaps, the next thing I should do, is unpack my bigass suitcase. It´s like there was una bomba in my room.

Miss you all, though not too much yet, and hope everyone is having a perfect summer! Hasta luego, los todos!

Marie

Om å få kaken sin og spise den óg

2009-07-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Pappa påstår at jeg ikke er blitt voksen fordi jeg ennå ikke har begynt å drikke kaffe. Jeg kan godt være enig i det, men for meg blir faktumet tydeligere når jeg etter en helg i hjembyen kommer hjem til hybelen i Oslo hvor det ikke finnes så mye som en pakke knekkebrød. Det fellende beviset er likevel dette:

Jeg har fortsatt til gode å én eneste gang huske på å kjøpe tannkrem, toalettpapir og/eller shampo/dusjsåpe/håndsåpe før det er absolutt tomt, noe det gjerne er på et ubeleilig tidspunkt, som på en søndag kveld når alle butikker er stengt og jeg har en hot-men-avslappet date som jeg allerede er forsinket til.

Det slår meg at det er noe uovertruffent herlig med disse årene da man er noen og tjue og fortsatt ikke liker kaffe, men gjerne drikker whisky på pub med gutta en sen kveld. Når jeg kan tilbringe lørdag kveld på byen med jentene i Moss i latterlig vonde sko, gå barbeint hjem i pøsende regnvær klokka tre om natta, og langt utpå søndag formiddag få pappa til å hente meg for å dra ut på hytta, hvor han tapper fotbad med grønnsåpe til gnagsårføttene mine og setter fram Aloe Vera-konsentrat, koker grønn te og smører to skiver med saltpølse, majones og agurk mens jeg plasker med føttene, leser meg opp på alle helgas magasiner og gir mamma den noe sensurerte versjonen av byturen kvelden før.

Dog: jeg har klart å holde liv i planten (merk: entall) min i nesten to år nå. Så jeg er i hvert fall ikke nitten lenger!

Bildet er fra Villa Paradiso hvor jeg spiste masse masse pizza med jobben, den eneste matretten jeg faktisk tror det er litt tabu å ikke like, uansett hvor gammel du er.

Oslo, fresh Oslo

2009-06-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

When I came back from traveling Europe for 5 months, it was like, "oh, Norway again, that's cool". This time I nearly cried when we landed on Oslo airport. Having forgotten that time had passed here as well, I was amazed of the spring that had come while I was away, and the sunlight at 8.30 in the evening! While waiting for my little brother to pick me up in my old car, I took these photos with my new Dubai-camera, they now look completely surreal and of no sense, but for those very first hours, well very first days, I just couldn't stop looking at the sky, the clouds, the trees of ridiculously pretty Oslo.

But while I'm loving my days in this paradise city, I know it will not be long till my next trip to India, I was so hungry and mosquito-eaten and miserable, but once you go India - you will always go back.

In the meantime, planning for my big move for Granada, Spain this summer, where I'll be spending my next year, studying photography, film and radio. Updates will follow! It's summer!=)

Four planerides and a jetlag to die for

2009-06-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Halfway on our way from Sharjah (Dubai) to Delhi, the captain announces: "we're having technical problems, and dare not fly all the way to Delhi, so we're flying back to Sharjah, but no worries, all is fine!". Flew 1,5 hours back, me worrying about my next morning flight to NORWAY, but got in a bus, drove around the airport for a while, got shipped onto another aircraft, then finally made our way to Delhi. Found a hotel close to the airport, had a shower, met my translators friends to give back the sim-card I've been borrowing, slept for 4 hours, got up and back to the airport. TOOOOOOO long flight from Delhi to London, had sushi at Heathrow, then got on my final flight, landing on Gardermoen...=)

Oh, and the picture is taken during the half hour we had to wait in the plane for the crew to figure out if the plane could start up again... Turned out it couldn't.

View from 35th floor

2009-05-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

And, this is pretty much what the rest of Dubai looks like as well. No judgement...

Itchy & Scratcy no more

2009-05-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Oh, and I have finally found proof that Dubai is not a real place, it's in a glass bubble, total fake, because, THERE'S NO MOSQUITOS!!! Also, come to peace with the fact that this must be the mysterious reason I've been looking for, explaining why I'm kinda loving the place.

My very first ambulance ride - in Dubai!

2009-05-09T08:16:00.001-07:00

So, the little Norwegian goes and has a little incident in a Dubaian sushi restaurant! Feeling totally fine, better than in a long time, then suddenly, head spinning and total urge to vomit, get up and aim for the bathroom, but I can't walk, I can't talk! It's like being totally drunk or poisoned or drugged up, and my feet can't carry me, close to fainting, and my skin and lips go COMPLETELY WHITE. Waitors give me ice and blow my face, my hands are shaking, Samar the photographer on the phone with the ambulance people. So, they pick me up, calm me down, check my sugars and my heartbeat and my pressures and what not, and I'M TOTALLY FINE. "Ma'am, go home and eat some soup, maybe you have PMS", they tell me, and I feel totally embarassed! Not exactly the kind of person who goes and faints for no reason at all... Had it been in India, no question about it, it would have been totally logical, cause there I wasn't eating or anything, but now??? Guess I will never know... Totally fine now, and the only thing that is totally annoying, is that photographer Samar was so worried at the time, he forgot to take my picture in the Dubaian ambulance!

Bizarro Paradiso

2009-05-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hvis dere lurer på hvorfor jeg selv er på alle bilder om dagen, så er det fordi jeg har latt kameraet få total hvile, og latt fotograf Samar og diverse dubaianere knipse rundt i stedet. Dubai er der mest fryktelige stedet jeg noen gang har vært, det er som å leve i en glasskuppel, plastisk fantastisk, alt er nytt og konstruert og perfekt, lufta er fuktig og stillestående, og inne er det 18 grader airconditionkulde med lukt av syntetiske luftfriskere. Her tar man taxi for å komme rundt hjørnet, selv om man gjerne skulle gått, så må man, for det finnes ikke fortau! Å sykle er tabu og gir deg bot, fordi du forstyrrer trafikken. Bot får du også dersom bilen din er skitten, eller dersom du henger ut klesvask til tørk, for det tar seg virkelig ikke ut! Her er det fullt av smålubne engelskmenn og svensker og amerikanere som alle drikker Starbucks og spiser frokost på Mc Donalds og handler alt de måtte ønske av vestlig mat på et supermarked som ikke likner grisen.

Jeg bor på 35. etasje! På 5. er det tre bassenger og mega treningssenter, leiligheten har tre bad, i 1. er det bar og restaurant, og har du sosial angst er det ingenting i veien for å tilbringe hele livet på innsiden. Alle bilene er enorme, helt nye, og helt reine, det er som å kjøre rundt i en bilpark, og båtene, båtene! De bare ligger der, og er forvokste, som genmanipulerte tomater, det er det det er, genmanipulert, tvangsforet, hele byen.

Når det er sagt, så koser jeg meg glugg ihjel! Spiser sushi og yougurt og epler og brungebær og kyllingsalater og muffins og legger på meg alle kiloene jeg har mistet på en måneds backpacking og halveis sulting gjennom India. Fotograf Samar har dratt til Saudi-Arabia for å forberede et fotoprosjekt, så jeg låner leiligheten hans, jobber med eksamen, blogger, leser, bader, slikker sol og har totalt ferie. Og det er faktisk masse interessante mennesker her, alle med helt bisarre grunner til at de har endt opp i Dubai, masse sprø sjeler, og jeg koser meg med det. Tilbakereise til Delhi er foreløpig satt på vent!=)

Simpsonstendenser

2009-05-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Og hvis dere lurer på hvorfor jeg har på meg den samme kjolen på hvert eneste bilde så er det fordi at ja, for første gang, så har jeg bokstavelig talt ikke noe annet å ha på meg! Når man har backpacket India i en måned er man ikke akkurat utstyrt for Dubai med alle sine kleskoder, så jeg har kjøpt EN kjole, og det får holde, for kjøpesenteret er ikke, og vil aldri bli min venn.

Buddha Bar, Dubai

2009-05-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

Det syns ikke så veldig godt, men her er jeg ved siden av buddhaen på celebre Buddha Bar på Dubai Marina. Tingen er bare den, at siden det er fullstendig tabu å ha noen som helst religiøse symboler rundt i multukulturelle Dubais nattlige scene, så er det ikke en statue av Buddha i det hele tatt, det er en statue av en hvilken som helst sittende hvit mann! Verre er det, at bønnerullene som dekorerer veggene i baren, og vanligvis ville vært dekorert med tibetanske tekster, er dekorert med KINESISKE TEGN!!! Snakk om forsøk på å være politisk korrekt gone totally wrong. Ah, nå mister jeg språket mitt igjen...

En fredag ettermiddag

2009-05-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Etter noen varme timer ved bassenget...
Marie: Jeg tar en dusj!
Samar: Skal vi gå og spise lunsj etterpå?
Marie: Lunsj er flott!
Samar: Okei, jeg må bare få tak i His Holiness først.
Marie: Dalai Lama?
Samar: Ja, vi har et prosjekt på gang.
Marie: Snakker Hans Holiness på telefonen...?
Samar: Nei, nei! Men assistenten hans gjør.
Marie: Ja, da så...

Random Dubaian nights...

2009-05-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

Biggest wig I've ever seen? Pretty close.

Birthday dinner

2009-05-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Past midnight, that is, in this bizarre yet cosy bar with all englishmen. Had crabcakes for the first time, it's a week of firsts, Samar can't get over that I had the first bagel of my life this very tuesday, which I find hilarious, as he's the one who's never ever eaten a hamburger... Worked out another mystery though, when this "date" fruit that grows on palm trees and sounded very exotic, turned out to be "Dadler", which we eat for christmas time in Norway=)

The Red Party, Dubai

2009-05-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

Best drinks, best people, best food, in the strangest city the world's ever seen.

Marea and Marie...

2009-05-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

both had their birthday at Barasti, Dubai, on the 5th of may, rocked the Red Party, and had "Bullfrogs" to drink!

Birthday girl...

2009-05-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

A funny one! Getting ready to go to "The Red Party", late evening, 5th of May, Dubai =)

Rafting on Sutley River

2009-05-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Most fun I had in a long time, though Indian rivers are creeks compared to Norwegian ones, got in the 14 degrees water several times, and it was the most refreshing invigorating thing, you can't imagine... Had a laugh when our swiss friends spotted what they referred to as "flaggermus!"=)

Shimla to Tattapani

2009-05-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

2 1/2 hour ride, thousands and thousands of turns, scary steep cliffs on my left side, amazing things to see on the road, crazy crazy driving, sunset, great conversations, getting there is half the fun***

Blessed backpackers

2009-05-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

After visiting the fabulous, colorful Monkey Temple, top of the tops, Shimla.

Monkeys...

2009-05-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

I say no more...

Monkeys!

2009-05-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

Look cute, but they are crazy little bastards who try to pick a fight with everyone! We had to carry monkey sticks on our way to the temple!

Tal and the holy cow

2009-05-07T05:21:00.000-07:00

Met Tal the israelian in rock graden, Chandigarh, traveled together to the mountains. Here on our very warm and slow way to the monkey temple, Shimla.

Shimla, town square

2009-05-07T04:56:00.000-07:00

Shimla, in the mountains

2009-05-07T04:44:00.000-07:00

Tal took a series of photos, all out of focus, but you get the idea, cool terrasse, summer night, antique swing with lots of carpets, sunset, Indian red wine that wasn't all too bad, music on my fabulous little computer, and potatochips that the monkeys stole even though I was trying my best to fight them off!!!

Update from Delhi

2009-05-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

Been fighting monkeys in Shimla, rafting in Tattipani, and had a 14 hour busride all the way down to Delhi. Taking off for Dubai tonight, to celebrate my 22nd birthday! Stories and pictures will hopefully follow from there.

And I'm so hungry for Norwegian food I don't know what to do with myself. Keep writing lists of all I'm going to eat when I get back.

Delhi is too warm! Hope all is well with everyone!

Getting a shave, Chandigarh

2009-04-30T03:31:00.000-07:00

Tal had a 20 rupi shave before our 4 hour bus ride to Shimla, and it looked so heavenly being pampered like that I almost considered getting one myself...!

Freaky creatures, Rock Garden

2009-04-30T03:28:00.000-07:00

Made from broken bangles. The artist is quite inspired by Gaudi, the whole park was a mini-mini supersweet Parque Guell.

Swings in Rock Garden!

2009-04-30T03:27:00.000-07:00

Rock Garden, wall of power outlets

2009-04-30T03:24:00.000-07:00

This Nik Chand has constructed a whole garden from all kinds of junk and trash!

Waterfall, Rock Garden in Chandigarh

2009-04-30T03:23:00.000-07:00

Most beautiful, peaceful place!

Sabby the Sikh in Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden

2009-04-30T03:21:00.000-07:00

From Bhopal, via Delhi, to Chandigarh

2009-04-30T03:15:00.000-07:00

My translator Sanjay’s principles for living are (among others) “make people laugh, at any cost”, “good people get good people”, and “do not say goodbye”. So we didn’t, but had a quick dinner, then made our way to the train station on his bike, only stopping for Sanjay to give his bag with leftover delicious food to a man sleeping on the sidewalk. You should see me on these bike rides we’ve had the last two weeks, in the crazy Bhopal traffic! (Well, mom and dad shouldn’t see – they would have a heart attack). Me, completely lacking nerves, have been enjoying them like roller coaster rides, only now and then with screams and shrieks of fear.

So we put me on the late night train, and I got the bunk that’s the top of three, almost in the ceiling, where you can’t even sit up straight, but have to lay down for 11 hours on your way to Delhi. Started out reading my book on interpreting dreams, but traveling Indians enjoy their good night’s sleep, and shut off all the lights at 22.30. Being blessed with unbelievable ability to sleep, and after listening to Bob Marley, Tracy Chapman, Enya, U2 and the Shins until my Ipod died, I crashed like a baby and didn’t wake up until we were about to reach the capital at 8 in the morning.

Delhi, it’s tourist touts and rickshaw drivers can be a shock when coming from anywhere else. Left my luggage at the station, walked over to Connaught Place and was half dead from heat and hazzling when at last I nearly stormed into Mc Donald’s, desperate for a free space. And there I was, having breakfast at Mc Donald’s, laughing at myself! The day improved as I bumped into someone I met on my last visit to the capital, then spent the midday chilling in some gardens and having lunch.

My 5 hour ride from Delhi to Chandigarh went by like nothing, sitting with a Sikh 18 year old guy who was doing his very first journey alone, visiting relatives. Lots of fascinating discussions! This guy was entitled “Master of Disaster” in high school, and is now staying off meat for a year, hoping it’ll bring him luck for getting accepted to engineer studies.

Staying in a sweet hotel, no AC, but a huge room, and the water in the shower actually comes out ABOVE your head. Had dinner in the restaurant, that is a toast plus cucumber and onions (which I usually don’t eat but now do for vitamin purposes), and ended up being the only guest left, having some fun watching the humble waiters, waiting for me to finish up.

Tomorrow is a new day, excited to see what the temperature will be here in Chandigarh, if I find it to still be too warm, I might just escape closer to the mountains some time tomorrow! Though very interested in this city, lot’s of great pics to be taken, I believe. Stay happy!

Oh, yes, the malaria medicine has this intriguing side effect: it gives you really intense dreams! Almost didn’t believe it when Sarah the US doctor told me, but after taking my second dose, it’s kicking in. My book on dreams purchased on Dalai Lama road in Mc Leod Ganj is coming in handy=)

Random observations

2009-04-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

People don’t touch their water bottle with their lips when drinking. They lean back, open their mouth, and poor generously and with good aim, using both hands. Hygienic reasons?

People look down or away, shaking their heads indecisively, when signaling “yes”. I already knew this, but still find myself asking “Yes? You agree?”

People burp whenever, wherever, without taking notice or excusing themselves, even people in official offices and all. Puzzling! Of course I will not be following their example very soon, but I’m happily joining in with my regular hiccups.

People do also pick their noses in ANY SITUATION. Not that there’s anything wrong with cleaning a little in this dust paradise.

Which brings us over to: dirt in crazy places. I actually have to soap up my belly, my knees and my ears, the dust gets everywhere, it’s amazing! Actually quite like it, now a shower is so much more appreciated.

I am understood sooo much better when speaking English with a heavy Norwegian accent, than when speaking my fluent English/American one. So now I’m telling them “Nårrvejj” instead of a soft “Norway”.

Gaaaahhh

2009-04-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

So, this "cyber cafe" cannot open Word documents, so the blogposts on my USB stick will have to wait. Frustrated? Yes. But hey, who needs Word, no no... Trallala

Lost in Translation

2009-04-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

For the last week, so much has happened I haven't had the strenght to write anything at all, because it's impossible to put into words. The subject for my story turns out to be so complicated I really don't know what to do with all the information I have, and all the work finally resulted in a heatstroke a few days back. Been sick since then, have slept an enourmous amount of hours, and stopped eating anything but nuts, since the food just keeps making me sick.

Anyways, a bit better today, just longing to get finished up and out of this city now. Will try today, for one last time, to get some answers from officials. And if that doesn't work, I'll really just leave. It's quite funny how suddenly no authorities in this country speak English.

Been thinking about where to go next, planning to see a travel agency later today, my options are Goa or Shimla right now. Would actually love a long, air conditioned train ride, and just read a book and relax for a while.

Bhopal is amazing, but there's a lot of things going on here that just makes me wanna scream, and the things that should have been going on are not going on at all.

Will write more later, and put some pictures, right now I just need to prepare some kick ass questions for the officials I'm haunting down later on.

Noor-Us-Sabah Palace

2009-04-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

So, this little Norwegian journalist goes and meets this great, hot shot photographer who's living in room 007. Cheesy, oh yes! Lets him buy her lunch and dinner of the most aprechiated, clean kind, haven't eaten that much since I left Norway! Thanks for feeding me, an amazing night at the dry "seaside" and all the stories, Samar, and perhaps I'll see you soon!

Visiting people's houses

2009-04-21T03:40:00.000-07:00

One of many lovely families! I can't believe this is me with a tan... Haha.

Standard procedure after interviews is getting pictures of me and the families. There's veeery little foregners here, so I guess having a Norwegian over is quite exotic. It's amazing how I can just walk around in these communities, peek inside the doors, and sit down for hours of talking with the locals without having any appointments at all. This beautiful pink home is in JP Nagar, and I will be back a few times to take more pictures of the family.

Saturday night dinner

2009-04-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

Sarah from the US is working as a volunteer at the Sambhavna clinic, while these supersweet Indian girls go to lawschool here in Bhopal. We all went out for dinner, and they had fancy Indian food while I played the safe card by having fries and a clear vegetable soup with carrot as the main ingredient. Anyways, talk about culture mix! Thanks for a lovely evening, girls!!!

Working week

2009-04-21T03:15:00.000-07:00

With Ganga Ram in white, in his house in Orya Bustee. He's one of the main characters in the book "Five Past Midnight in Bhopal" by Dominique Lappierre and Javier Moro, and he's the most wonderful person! His daughter in law makes the most tasty chai I have had so far. In red, Sanjay Verma, my irreplaceable guide, translator and friend, who lost 5 of his siblings and both his parents in the Bhopal disaster.

Last update from Bhopal

2009-04-16T03:44:00.000-07:00

Have reached Bhopal, staying in a hotel, have found my contacts, keep fighting the mosquitos. Pictures will follow tomorrow or the next day!!!

Månen er alene

2009-04-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

…and so am I. Completely and utterly alone. I talk to local people every day, I write emails, I meet other travelers, but I haven’t really got time to get to know anyone now that I left Akshay and Ashish behind. And when the night falls, it’s actually just me. When I wander the dusty, busy streets in 40 degrees Celsius, it’s just me. It’s said that you are never as lonely as when you are lonely in a big crowd, surrounded with people. Though I find this to be true in many situations, being a lone traveler is something different. I don’t feel lonely. I had imagined that I would. Yes, perhaps when all goes wrong, when I feel scared or lost, but generally not. It’s my general opinion that for managing alone like this, a strong psychic is critical. So I’m hanging in there, seeing this whole thing as an enormous power trip, and a journey of huge growth. Still, I have to ask myself; what if this is just an egocentric stunt? A result of the western aim for individuality and self realization? Completely stupid, and risks not worth taking? Going to make me into a weird, lone wolf? One woman is an island…

I started drinking soda

2009-04-16T03:41:00.000-07:00

I never usually drink soft drinks, or any kind of sugary drinks for that matter. I’m the green tea girl… One cup of caffeine makes me hyperactive and embarrassingly loud. But for the last few days I’ve been having problems eating, feeling that my stomach is on the limit, and loosing appetite in the heat. So for now my energy comes mostly from these sugary, colorful and nice cold drinks. And…

I’m pretty much living on potato chips. It’s the only thing I dare eat when I’m wandering the streets alone, and it’s the only thing my stomach never protests to. Although: did have a tomato salad and a slice of toast for dinner this evening. Hoping the tomatoes weren’t cleaned in dirty water… And who knew a tomato salad is actually just two tomatoes sliced and diced and put on a plate?

Hoping to try more Indian delicacies as my stomachs starts agreeing more, and my appetite improves. Perhaps when I’ll be staying with some locals is Bhopal!

I’m counting 48 mosquitobites

2009-04-16T03:40:00.000-07:00

I keep drowning my skin in the lotion that’s supposed to make you ”invisible to mosquitos”, and still I get new ones every day! The itching is making me half insane. And these are not small, innocent norwegian bites! I can’t think, I can’t sleep… Need to locate some kind of alternative medicine! On the bright side: I guess this is my biggest problem so far.

Å leve i en 35-liters ryggsekk

2009-04-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

Ting jeg lot være å ta med, og som jeg heller ikke har savnet:
- Håndkle
- Hårbørste

Ting jeg har tatt med, som har fortjent sin plass i sekken:
- Masse First Price papirlommetørkler (fungerer som toalettpapir, håndkle, våtservietter, lommetørkler og mer)
- College-jakke (busser og tog kan faktisk bli kalde! Reddet kveldene på uterestaurantene i Mc Leod Ganj)
- Mini-pc og kortleser for kameraet. Den eneste måten å få flyttet hauger av uerstattelige bilder over på diverse minnepenner.
- Silke-lakenpose. Det eneste stedet jeg er trygg for mygg.

Ting som har vist seg å være fullstendig unyttig:
- Adapter til stikkontakt (norske plugger passer helt fint i indiske stikk, i motsetning til adapteren som damen i spesialbutikken på Gardermoen sa jeg måtte ha!)
- Lommekniv (visst er India primitivt til tider, men vi leker ikke Lars Monsen)
- Antibac (man blir så skitten at å smøre seg inn med desinfiserende gelé hjelper lite. Vann og såpe!)
- Å farge håret mørkt og kjøpe tradisjonelle indiske klær.

Ting jeg ikke vender meg til:
- Myggen
- Den konstante tutingen i trafikken
- Å si ”nei” når femåringer trygler meg om å kjøpe mat til dem
- Å konstant være mistenksom og forsiktig
- At hunder ikke skal klappes

Ting jeg fikser helt fint:
- Å dusje ved hjelp av bøtte og øse
- Å spise sterk mat selv om tårene renner
- Å være hjelpeløs passasjer i trafikken (det gir faktisk litt adrenalinkick, som berg- og dalbane. Skulle gjerne hatt en autorikshaw selv. )
- Å være skitten og svett, ikke dusje på dager, gå i de samme klærne i dagevis
- Søppel, støv, forurensning, lukter
- Bakteriefloraen (bank i bordet!)
- Å være alene

Ting jeg savner:
- Tilgang på internett, når som helst, hvor som helst og i god hastighet
- Friske salater og røde epler med sprøtt skall
- Uten at jeg egentlig vil innrømme det: knekkebrød med gulost og paprika, rugbrød med kaviar og agurk, Tine ekstra lett melk, hasselnøtter

The kids are so cute!

2009-04-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

They are cuter than normal. So small, so active, and so expressive. With the biggest brown eyes. I walked all the way to the Agra Fort Train Station this afternoon, to buy my ticket for Bhopal, and they were setting up this big, big market. There were speakers along the road providing loud, intense, amazingly groovy Indian music, and at one place a crowd of kids had gathered and started dancing. I was stunned! These tiny little bodies, children hardly old enough to walk, were shaking their booty like there was no tomorrow. Where does this sense of rhythm come from, these moves, this energy in the strangling heat?! I had to stand there at the side of the road, just looking for a few moments, until the rickshaw drivers stressed me out and made me walk on. One of the boys, he could have been around four, discovered me looking, and put on quite a show! His little body following the music, his arms pointing at me, his face looking endlessly happy and excited, screaming, laughing and singing at once. This little four year old could make anyone promise they’ll never dance in public again.

The Road to Agra

2009-04-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

… was terribly long! First a 12 hour bumpy bus ride down the mountains from Mc Leod Ganj and Dharamsala, all the way to Delhi. Then, directly on a local bus to Agra, which I was told would be 3 hours, and ended up lasting 5 ½. Left Akshay the lawstudent in Delhi, him having to go to school the same day. With only men, twice as many passengers as seats, no air condition, no one speaking English and the excruciating heat of central India’s dusty roads, there were times when I wondered if I would survive. Not having access to my sunscreen, I arrived the bus station outside of Agra centre looking like a red lighthouse and dirty like never before. Deserving some luck, I called the Tourist Rest House which is recommended in my Lonely Planet guide, and took a rickshaw directly there, although the driver didn’t know where it was and it took us quite a while… This place is a haven in summery Agra. The rooms are surrounding a beautiful garden which also is a restaurant, providing shade, clean air, and a feeling of being home. Decided to spend two nights, having a rest after that long travel (just look at the map! Mc Leod Ganj to Agra is tooooo long!).

Agra at 6 in the morning
… is an amazing relief. Beautiful! I woke up at 5.30 to get to the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Spent more than 5 hours by the Taj, just walking around, enjoying the morning and the quietness, taking lots of photos and chatting to Indian families. The Taj is just as gorgeous as they say, and it’s so white it almost looks transparent towards the blue sky, just look at the pictures! To me, half the pleasure was the surroundings, the green, clean and exotic gardens, providing shade, peace and a lovely atmosphere from where to take in the Taj. There were monkeys climbing the surrounding buildings, and singing birds of all sorts. Some birds bright green, flying in and out of their houses in the trees. Some birds not longer than my thumb, the smallest I have ever seen! Bringing food is not allowed, which is very understandable, as the garden paths are already swarming with tiny, striped people-friendly squirrels. Spent a bit of money having some professional photos taken, probably paying ten times as much as I should have, and the photos looking quite dull. Another man walked me around for ten minutes, pointing out all the good angles for photographing, hopefully with a better result.

As a most welcome change, I was given quite a lot of attention by Indian women, their kids and their families. Most times they just wanted to talk, asking me about where I come from, having pictures taken of me with the kids. One of the ladies had her 42nd birthday today, and was quite charmed when I guessed her age to be 40. The Indian women really are the most charming! So outgoing, very talkative, direct, with the most wonderful sense of humor and quite a portion of selvinroni.

At the back side of the Taj, facing the river, a small crowd of people were standing looking quite intense down at the water. Two western looking guys were taking lots of pictures, and I then saw that they were looking at a dead animal lying on the river banks, with a black dog standing on top of it. A few policemen at the shore were watching from a distance. A bit intrigued, I tried taking a couple of photos myself, curious at the dog’s behavior. It was not until the dog got bored and started moving to the shore, that I realized what I had been photographing. Lying on the river bank was a dead body, facing down, arms and legs spread out. While I felt disgusted, the western looking guys intensified their photographing. “Isn’t that ironic timing, you come to watch the beauty of Taj Mahal, and there’s a dead body flooding down the river”, one of them said. A river gondola slowly started going towards the scene, and when the big, black birds discovered what was happening, and 5-6 of them landed on the body, I left the back side of Taj Mahal.

Horsesitting

2009-04-16T03:02:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Mc Leod Ganj, we had a horse ride to the mountains booked. Picturing a vibrant group of people and horses exploring the wild nature, I was quite surprised to learn it was just Akshay and me plus two men in charge of the horses who were going. And these horses! I have never seen horses like that. Skinny, dirty, drousy looking, either very old or just terribly tired. Being the girl, I hopped on the smallest one. The men leading the horses didn’t even say hello to me, the result of me being accompanied by an Indian boy, and quite the opposite to what the thing is when I wander alone. We started riding upwards, and I immediately felt really terrible. This poor horse! It was so skinny, with marks on its back, and slowly, slowly putting one foot in front of the others. Thinking that we probably wouldn’t be going upwards all the time, I kept my mouth shut, even if I really just wanted to get off, feeling that my weight was way too much for the weak animal. The road didn’t get more flat, and I realized we are actually climbing a mountain here… I started thinking that the men must know what they are doing, and that horses are probably stronger than I think. Perhaps this was an easy day for the brown, little animal, carrying me around? Perhaps the horses were just trained to walk very, very slow not to scare the tourists, or perhaps they were just “lazy” as Akshay called them? I waited it out. Kept riding the horse, or sitting on the horse, as I would call it. Deciding to insist on walking back.

The guy walking beside my horse couldn’t have been older than myself. He was wearing fancy jeans, and a western looking shirt. Big belt. Flat, stylish sneakers (for mountain-climbing!). His hair cut in a long, Bacstreet Boys-kind of way, with oh so much hairgel. Him and the other guy frequently talking on the phone, wearing fancy grey, nylon backpacks. Never talking to, or even so much as looking at me, the stupid-feeling western tourist desperately looking for a genuine experience.

After 1,5 hours we arrived at a small camp, with a guesthouse, a kiosk and a temple. Both the horses and myself got a good rest, and on the way down I hopped on the horse after all, feeling much better as we were going downwards.

Now I started enjoying the fantastic nature of the mountain: green pine trees and more exotic ones, bright red and huge flowers, birds singing and twittering, a long snake speeding across the path, calming shade, perfect temperature, and in the distance: huge mountains covered in snow. On the very end at the trip; a big monkey crowd hanging from the trees, grooming each other, jumping across the road.

It was the most amazing tour, with an intense bitter taste of tourism at its worst.

2009-04-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

With buddhist munks on our way to the waterfall in Mc Leod Ganj, North India. Met some other munks in the internet cafe, and they showed me how I can use my Norwegian laptop by taking the wire from the computer and plugging it onto my own. Not what I had in mind for this trip, munks teaching me about computers! They had the most fancy little mini laptop themselves.

Tomorrow we're going horseriding in the mountains! Oh, and I found some monkeys today=)

2009-04-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

Main Square in McLeod Ganj. THE most colorful place, so many cars, so many animals, so many people!
View from the square in McLeod Ganj. I have found my paradise on earth, that's for sure. A bit ironic that this looks a lot like Norway?? =)
Having traditional chai in the square of McLeod Ganj, after finally reaching the place after 12 hours of traveling, not sleeping the whole night. Notice the little finger - I think I'm at a coctailparty having champagne! That's how extraordinary it felt, anyway.

2009-04-11T07:23:00.000-07:00

This is where we live in McLeod Ganj, a few miles further up in the mountains from Dharamsala. It's not as sketchy as it looks! Actually a very cute place, they're just constructing a lot in the building beside. Realized today we have a warm water tank, wish I'd known that last night, getting a two hour brain freeze after mt shower... Notice Akshay climbing the mountain with a broken leg... ps. don't tell his mom or his doctor
Akshay on the bus on the way to Dharamsala, we were both exhausted after the 8 hour trainride sitting on the floor, Akshay with his broken leg in a cast (gips) and me without peeing for 14 hours! Had some wild laughing attacks on the train, low on brain function and normal humor in those crazy conditions... Isn't the sun gorgeous, though? Ticket guy in the background, he had the most fancy glasses.

Photo taken from the bus on our way to Dharamsala, up in the Indian mountains. Cows and various creatures everywhere!

2009-04-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

At 6 in the morning, at the bus station in Pathankot, after an 8 hour train ride from Delhi. We only had general compartment tickets for the train, so snook in to the sleeping carriage, and spent the 8 hours sitting on the floor/standing. Never have I been in a train so crowded, it was claustrophobic like nothing else, and I spent the first 45 minutes focusing on not throwing up or start crying. After the first few hours though, people started calming down, finding their places, children going to sleep. There were feet everywhere! Probably three times as many passengers as there were seats... And the smells... Haha. We bought some rice, but I'm watching my belly, so didn't eat too much. I'm amazed by peoples kindnes, offering us their seats, even their sleeping places, not at all annoyed that we're taking up the space they booked months ago. We had to pay a fee for not having the right ticket, but fortunately didn't have to go back to the general compartment... Traveling with Akshay at the moment, the law student from Delhi. We're going to Dharamsala, up in the mountains!
Ashish and his lab Diva, who I lived with in Noida outside of Delhi. See you next time, Ashish! Thanks a lot for hosting me!

2009-04-07T23:56:00.000-07:00

A finne tradlost internett er ikke sa lett som jeg trodde... Og pa stedene der man kan bruke data star det oen og kikker deg i nakken hele tiden. I natt tordnet det og regnet litt, sa nar vi sto opp i dag var det overskyet og befriende "kjolig", godt var, som de kaller det her. Na er det klar kimmel, blatt bak skyene, noe som visstnok er ganske uvanlig fordi smogen vanligvis ligger tungt. Har vart pa ambassaden og fatt registrert at jeg er i landet, pussig opplevelse. Da jeg var pa vei ut av omradet kom en vakt lopende og ropte at alle matte inn i ambassaden, ingen fikk ga ut. Har ingen peiling pa hvorfor, jeg fikk ga etter to minutter.

Sov fryktelig tungt og godt i natt, selv om varmen nesten er klaustrofobisk. Har fatt fire myggestikk pa tross av masse myggtiltak, men han jeg bor hos, Asish, sier at det ikke gjor noen ting. I gar kveld var vi ute og spiste pa "Yellow Chili House", en av restaurantene til Indias alle forste og mest beromte tv-kokk.

Regner med jeg reiser til Dharamsala i morgen kveld, sammen med jusstudenten Akshay som har litt ferie na. Blir nok i sa fall der ut helga.

Og ja, jeg er i kultursjokk. Behandles med masse kaldt vann a drikke pluss mye sitting og stirring rundtomkring.

2009-04-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Gatebilde, Old Delhi. 38 varmegrader. Lengre historier folger sa fort jeg far brukt min egen laptop!

2009-04-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Pa en rikshaw gjennom Old Delhi med jusstudent Akshay som gjor et prosjekt pa den rettslige biten ved Bhopal-tragedien. Thank you for the most crazy and wonderful day, Akshay!

2009-04-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Dere skulle sett meg surre meg alene med metro fra Connought Place, krangle meg til rimelig pris pa en rikshaw etter a ha hoppet av metroen etter tre stopp, holde meg fast for harde livet og vare bade vettskremt og ekstatisk, helt alene i Delhis rushtrafikk pa vei til Noida i Uttar Pradesh der jeg bor hos en journalist som har bade hushjelp, vannleveringsmann og hund...

2009-04-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

Right before departure from St. Hanshaugen, with the dearest Maria, "Five Minutes Past Midnight in Bhopal" in my arms, and less than 8 kg luggage. Thanks for the photo, Maria!

En dag pa Heathrow, London

2009-04-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

Har overlatt hus og plante til spanske Maria, spiste frokost pa flytoget, motte pa tre klassekamerater pa Gardermoen som var klare for a dra til Mexico. Flyturen over havet var en fryd, masse engelske aviser, juice og te og slett ikke verst sandwicher, nesten ingen turbulens=)

Surrer rundt pa Hethrow, turist i et lukket rom, har fatt beskjed om at flyet er sardeles overbooket, sa godt mulig det blir en natt her for jeg kommer meg pa noe fly til Delhi. Har fatt rapporter fra Siri Marthe og Pegah i Mumbai, de melder om god mat, snille og slett ikke plagsomme mennesker, varmt og klamt men talelig var. Blir bra!

Glemte ellers diverse kamerakabler hjemme, men fikk kjopt nye pa flyplassen. So long!

For all my internationals

2009-04-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm packing my bags, letting out little screams of excitement, and falling in love with this new mini computer that will help me stay in touch with you all and share my stories, good or bad, and pictures from the great India while I'm on the walkabout for 6 weeks. Have a perfect easter holiday, and I'll see you all!

Stress og sommerfugler

2009-04-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

Det er siste kvelden på St.Hanshaugen på en stund, jeg har pakket og pakket og pakket, endt opp med en halvfull 35-liters sekk pluss håndbagasje, og er ganske fornøyd med det. Har nesten slått meg til ro med alt jeg skulle gjort men ikke rekker å gjøre, og kjenner en plutselig lettelse over at jeg i morgen på denne tiden sitter på et megafly langt oppi luften, forhåpentligvis ikke omringet av skrikende indisk-britiske småbarn, og ikke kan gjøre stort mer enn å lese hele helgas oppsamlede magasiner og sette på Bob Marley på full styrke i ørene.

Nyforelsket i min nylig anskaffede mini-mini-pc går jeg til hastblogging med stort mot. Skal prøve å poste litt her og der om ditt og datt så sant det er mulig! Har farget håret supermørkt og mystisk, kjøpt fargeskrikende tunika på Indiska, og er ellers så lite forberedt som man er dømt til å være når man reiser fra mild bris i Norge til 40 graders varme i India. Kultursjokk, here I come!

Den første uka skal jeg bruke på å overkomme dette sjokket, først noen dager i Delhi, før jeg drar mot Agra for estetisk nytelse en dag eller tre. I Delhi skal jeg bo hos en lokal gutt som jobber som skribent og fotograf for et motemagasin, og jeg har blitt lovet etterlengtede fotoleksjoner.

God påske til alle sammen!!!