Cook in India - without kitchen

I'm the richest person(a) on the world. Whenever I need a fruit I can get any, and also fresh. Whenever I want a cold drink, I reach my fridge and pay only for what I really consume. My storage's name is S-H-O-P. I stopped storing loads of things which I might need later. No. I buy them only when I use, that's it. I have no room, no equipments to store anything. And with this "poverty" I realised the meaning of this freedom.

According to ayurveda (holistic healing science) the best way to eat to keep the right order. Do not mix dring with food. As a sleepless sceptic I always run after the Why-s. Real prosaic reasons behind yoga poses (disabled swamis), or recepies (why do we cut all the time the edges of a cookie - cause our grandmother had smaller oven), etc. So why is that? Where did the idea came from? I tried to find out, but didn't get anywhere.

Until I cooked my first meal in the hut - without equipments.

My minimal kitchen stands for:

• 1 pc spiral water boiler - to boil water with
• 1 pc mug - to boil water in
• 1 pc bowl - to stir food in
• 1 tablespoon - to stir food with

So once I use one container I can't use the other one. Once I'm done with the water I have to wait until the boiler cools down. At the meantime I have eaten my food, so time for a tea. And vica versa. When I have tea in my mug I can't boil water for food, so it needs to wait. This is how I keep the ayurvedic rule - involuntarily. So the solution is this: Poverty. No other options.

This is a good weight loss plan. And also a yogic way to eat, because you really have to plan your food well. Else something will be missing, or you can run out of space (no extra bowl to stir something else). And also this lifestile teaches you to be patient. See, yoga is everywhere!

Pictures:
Ingredients of my breakfast: boiler, mug, ghee, puffed amaranth, puffed rice, raisin, banana, sunflower seeds, cinnamon

My "landlord" kindly gave me a hand to make a proper picture of the result. Looks eeeeekk but tastes yummy.

The journey to Goa

After my 200 hours Yoga Teacher Training I had 10 days off before my 300 hours one in Arambol, Goa. I used up 7 days with no rest, but unforgettable journeys, so no regret in spite of being sick of the dust, coughing for an entire week afterwards. I spend my remaining 3 day in Palolem beach with other girls from Rishikesh: 

Joyce (UK oh her accent, I just love it!), the glamorous innocent inner (and outer) beauty, 

Paula (Scotland), the all-type-sense of humour on 2 feet, 

Melissa (US), the shy-but once you get closer to her, discover her beautifully maintained inner garden, and professional hoola hoop girl

Katie (Scotland), funny, mature girl

and Christie, who I talked the most in Rishikesh. Christies superhero talent is to change is face with perfect makeup, from one beautiful to an other one. Whenever I saw her in the ashram I always had urge to mention how beautiful she was. 

But the journey to meet them wasn't easy.

First of all 11 hours travel on the train, arriving at 6 am in the heart of Delhi, finding the bus to the aiport: This was the challenge. 

3 hours flight from Delhi to Goa, then 1,5 hours taxi to Arambol, where I had to bring the money to the course, and spent there literally 30 mintues, then head to Palolem - an other additional 3 hours.

Aaaand I wrote too much, see you in the next chapter.

Pictures:

Delhi, bus station early in the morning (I felt already a bit uncomfortable here when a local, definitely not too kind guy came to me and whispered with worry in his voice to my ears "you are not safe here")

Palmtree in sunset

This is how it looks from closer 

 My taxi

 I just love the palmtrees on this pic

 All the ladies

 Paula

 Me

 This is us fishing early in the morning

 Tired after fishing. :-P
Paula and Katie

 The fishing (dolphin watching). Top of the pic right: Katie, left: Paula.
Melissa checks out Christies phone in the middle. Joyce is watching them in her orange hairband.

 The engine of our boat

 Charming Christie

Khajuraho - Hometown of Kama Sutra

When I say Kama Sutra many of you think about sex posture and this is the part of the story. We consider Coca-Cola as the best PR-ed brand in the world, but I think this one is a competitor. Isn't it?

The idea behind that was to attract attention so the culture may be adopted widely. Personally I have to express my respect here about Kama Sutra: way of thinking about the whole life, accepting everything which is part of our life, including sex. Not like Christian religion. If you force it - it hits you back twice.

Khajuraho a dusty, small town, but a strong tourist attraction. How else would the 5 star hotels appear in every second corner. Also an airport was built just because of the popularity of the town. I wish I could have swapped my extra day in Agra to one day here. Such a shame.

The unlimited amounts of temples are impressive. Each one is a complete art. So fine, so old (actually only 500-1000 years old), that it is impossible to get bored.

Also nice way of disovering the place on a bicycle. (not motorbike). Too many temples to see in short time. Luckily I wasn't alone. The girls from Rishikesh found local boys, who kindly guided us around Khajuraho. For sure we have seen everything.

My peak experiences:

• Train to Khajuraho (I have met 2 very nice people on the trainstation, and by accident our seats were just right beside each other. Destiny, ha.)
• Accomodation: Yogi Ashram Guesthouse - perfect location, 1 km from the centre of the town. Clean air, silence, huge room, big bed, nice hosts. Very nice hosts actually. The manager guy was so nice to give me lift 2 times a day just as a favour. 
• Shiva temple ceremony. Since I don't know when, people get toghether at 6pm to do a little ceremony every day. The priest of the temple invited me personally, so I attended. It was a bless. I felt happy there (not related to kama sutra here. :-P)

Khajuraho was my second town where I met annoying way of selling. They keep coming after you, acting like baggers. Also young little kids, so you have to learn to say no, you don't want to stop by their shop and buy scarves/postcards/books/souvenirs, etc. I owe them one to teach me for the science of saying no.

Let picture talk:

The Canadian couple from the train:

Ashram:

 My room is the second left. Close to the terrace.

 Map of Khajuraho:

 Discover the town by bicycle with the girls.

 Temple

 Temple a little bit closer

 ... and closer.

Inside.

 Oh, nice shop with handmade pictures.

 Aaaand an other temple.

 Temple..

 An other one..

 The main group of temples.

 1000 years old decoration in the wall of a temple.

 This is the Shiva temple I had the ceremony. Amazing that it operates the same way as 500 years ago.

 Staff of the Shiva temple

 Kama sutra temple

 And the famous motivum

 Less famous one

Arrival to Agra (Taj Mahal, the crown of palaces)

Our train arrived on time, exactly in the scheduled minute. We took rikshaws to the accomodation (Sai Palace) where I just dropped my backpack and started to discover the new place where I was going to stay 2 nights. I didn't even do my first step, only turned around and I saw one of my dreams becoming true from my childhood. The symbol of true love (and megalomania), the pure feminity was just right in front of my eyes. The Taj Mahal.
It was built by Jahan Shah in the XVII. century as a memorial to his beloved wife, who died in childbirth (13th child). Her last wish was a monument for their love, and she also asked her husband not to marry again. The Shah started the construction immadiately, and it took 30 years to erect this ultimate monument of love. The building is perfectly simmetric. 4 sides look exactly the same, but only one detail is missing. 2 coffins can be found in the building, but the wife's is in the centre, the Shah's on her side, because there was an other Taj Mahal to be built from black marble for him, but it never happened.
For me this building is the symbol of deep true love and respect.
As a woman I would like to share the wife's name and face:
Mumtaz Mahal

Rikshaw ride in Agra

Taj Mahal

Runaway train to the Taj Mahal

Unbelievable but true: it is impossible to book train tickets in India, only a few weaks in advance! But airplane tickets - no problem. Well, the price difference is significant, but long distance I recommend the plane. My ticket from Delhi to Goa cost 10,000 Rupees (business class, because of overweighted luggage), but the cheapest ticket would be around 7,000. Train around 3,000.

But as an experience I took the train to Agra and Khajuraho. As it was a last minute decision I felt sad that I can't go with the girls from the Yoga Teacher Training team, but at least we can meet at the destinations. I looked online, but the computer put me only on waiting list. So I almost gave up my dream to see the Taj Mahal. But thanks to the travel agency (who are actually causing this trouble with their pre-booked tickets) I was able to manage it. The trip was such a great experience, it gave me so much, I will never forget.

At this time I took distance trains (not locals), sleeper "class", which equals to 3rd class, and they seemed to be pretty normal. Not a big difference from the ones at home. However hungarian trains are not comparable to Austrian ones for example. :-)
The word to describe the train: life. Life was everywhere. The chai-guy steped over a salad selling-man, and an other women followed him selling totally useless souvenirs. Passangers were cheerful, talkative, curious, and happy. We also see the poverty, but as a european I would like to clarify here, that poverty does not equal sadness. They can be happier than us, who can satisfy their needs and greeds only in material things. They have found the way to enjoy life with less material needs. Looking at them is a clear, innocent joy.

Sleeper class: these hanging things are chains to fix the middle bed, which is now a cover of the main seat.

Fruits are available at some stations, no need to exit, they come to you.

Waiting for the train.

Speed.

Chai (7 rupees per glass)

The two girls on the top seats. Marina and Katie are one of us :-) Playing cards.