Seeking fresh air in Darjeeling

Travelling in train in India is a story in itself. Train stations have a life of their own. Poor families or abandonned children live here alongside rats. A hard sight ! (Thomas told me towards the end of our trip : Mum, I don't want to see these unbrushed, bear feet children anymore. ) People queue for ticket for ages and come well in advance : if they don't have a reserved seat, then the'll just have to fight for it. In a journey that can take days ( we did 36 hours from Darjeeling to New Dehli), a lot is at stake. On the picture below, the train is arriving, unannonced of course, and suddendly, it's panic. People run to the edge of the platform and huge queues form instantly, with women squashed between men and a lot of pushing.

This picture is the only one for which I almost got into trouble : the police overseeing the mass movement looked quite angry as they asked me to put my camera down. As Thomas was crying in front of 4 street children, amazed at the sight, and Stephane was away looking for some food we could take with us ( in fact, apart from crisps and biscuits, yo can't find much : our menu was made of plain rice served in the train as we can't eat the curry, far too hot for us) I put up my best "sorry" smile to avoid trouble.

We are delighted to find fresh air after a 20 hour journey. The night arrived late, so we could afford a spleep in, and we loved it. 4 more hours uphill in a jeep ( the road in bad) and we are in the Himmalayas ! The road doesn't go quite up to the hotel so we are helped with our luggages here, but why wouln't you roll them ? because the roads are full of holes and there are quite a few steps. These 2 sherpas are women.

Darjeeling is a built on the hills. It is a charming sights. Mountains here are so vasts, it's like the Alps blown up 10 times. Valleys are so gigantic you can hardly see the other side and mountain peaks disapear in the mist or the clouds. Here, although you are in the middle of the Himmalayas, you only see the high summits after the rain when the air has been completely washed. It is from here that the great expedition that first reached Mount Everest's summit in 1953 was prepared.

In Darjeeling, most people are Nepali people, the language spoken is Nepali. There also was a strong separatist movement who seeked independance of what they called "Gorka Land" in the 80's. It was violent at the time and the Gorkaland political party is still very strong here, which was obvious during the electoral week where we were.

On this pictures, however, we wear Tibetan hats, as Darjeeling is a refuge to many of them fleeing Chinese oppression, and let me tell you it is bad with hundreds of thousands of them killed, tortured or imprisonned over the last ten years.

Retrouvailles a Dubai

One of the greatest contrast we have experienced during this trip : from staying with street children, amongst the porrest in the planet to the greatest riches of Dubai, from the shabby Kolkota international airport to the most luxurious "all in marble" airport in the world.

We were a bit baffled, so much so, that Stephane started by mixing up the prayer room with the loos... fortunately, he was informed that he was in the prayer room seconds before the unthinkable could happen ! Poor Thomas had to wait a few more minutes !

We had the most amazing welcome by our dear friends Muriel, Guillaume and their four children, and enjoyed luxury to the last drop for a whole week.

We did a sporty outing in the sand dunes for 2 days; driving in the dunes with flat tyres ( you deflate them when you reach the sand) is a bit like driving in mellow butter. There a good chance you will get stuck the first time you drive, but don't worry, Guillaume has all the equipement, and is able to drive you in the middle of the dunes as if he'd done that all his life !

Unfortunately, Muriel is missing in the picture below : she was at work that day, which made us realaze there and then, that we had forgotten a bit what a working life was !

In front of the surreal Dubai skyline, on the palme tree polder land ( reclaimed from sea).
Last row from L to R Stephane, Caroline, Guilaume and Hughes. Front : Manon Gabrielle, Clothilde (hidding), Romane, Thomas and Alix.

Guess who are the 2 sarchophages ? A hint : 2 brave men who did not fear to find a scorpion in their shoes in the morning. True we were a bit short of space in the tents, but most of all, it's so much quieter to sleep witout the children !
In the morning, the children of the 8 families gathered on that spot started ( from 6:00, time of this picture, minutes later, with the noise, they were up!) sand sledging... by 9 it was too hot and we went.

Malborough dune is indeed steep. I did step out of the car and go by foot !

The real Dubai : so clean you could eat on the pavement, so film set-like, that you could think you are a bond or disney (depend which side of Dubai) caracter !

5 days with street children in Caclutta

39 C a Calcutta ce mois d’Avril 2009. Nous nous refugions dans notre chambre d’hotel climatisee. Au telephone, Father Georges, avec sa voix chalheureuse , propose “ venez loger au foyer, il y a deux chambres” . Je redoutais ce choix : certes, le but de notre sejour a Calcutta – qui s’inscrit dans notre voyage autour du monde- c’est de rencontrer les enfants du foyer d’Asha Neer,que nous parrainons depuis 10 ans. Mais, passer 5 jours sans clim avec cette chaleur ? Father Georges, toujours en mouvement dans l’un des 16 foyers qu’il gere ( mais trouve-t-il cette energie?) passe nous chercher.
Et voila qu’en arrivant Sunil, Romesh, Manirul ...nous accueillent au foyer principal pour adolescents, avec ce sourire lumineux et cette envie de la rencontre. Tres vite, les jeux s’engagent avec nos trois enfants; ils sont conquis, ils veulent rester, avec ou sans clim. Je craignais de la part des enfants du foyer des manieres brusques heritees d’un passé difficile. Il n’en est rien; l’un d’eux reprend gentiment Thomas, notre fils de 6 ans “ ne mets pas tes doigts dans le nez, c’est sale “. Durant nos 5 jours avec eux, ils resteront chalheureux, attentionnes et respectueux; un modele pour nos enfants qui, eux, ont le baisers de leurs parents a leurs cotes.En les observant, nous sommes frappes de voir ces 50 jeunes de 13 a 18 ans organiser leur foyer sans faire appel aux adultes, du reste peu nombreux : de la cuisine au ménage, ils gerent tout. Chez les plus jeunes aussi, les taches menageres sont confiees aux enfants. : lorsque nous arrivons a Asha Neer, les enfants de 8 a 13 ans cuisinent, aides d’une cuisisniere. Nous sommes immediatement entoures des 40 tetes brunes au regard vif; on devine une energie remuante; le grand terrain autour du foyer, construit dans un village proche de Calcutta, doit etre bien utilise ! “Ma marraine s’appelle Lucie” me dit l’un “La mienne Annie” ajoute l’autre. On sent dans leur ton que ce lien signifie beaucoup. Si bien que, lorsque j’interroge Salim qui, après 5 jours, est devenu l’ami de nos filles et qu’il me repond “ je n’ai pas encore de parrain.... “ nous ne pouvons pas resister ... il devient notre nouveau filleul !
Le depart d’Ashalayam est emouvant. Chacun tient a dire combien cette rencontre l’a marque, y compris nos filles qui expriment leur profonde admiration devant le courage des ces jeunes... Ashalayam restera une etape marquante de notre grand periple !
Temoignage ecrit pour Ashalayam France

goodbye south east Asia !

Goodbye Luang Brabang and its incredible people. Here the hosts of the guesthouse. The old lady very kindly insisted on blessing us in a very special Lao way the day we left.
We have shared very strong moments with these lady doctors when we have together saved the life of the baby of a very poor family thanks to our money and the way they have managed the case in the hospital.

Bye Bangkok and one of these immense very busy asiatic rivers...

Bye the Thai massages !

... and the amazing markets !

Romane's 9th Birthday

Romane could not believe here eyes when we decided to celebrate her birthday in the night train on the way back to Hanoi ! A unique experience... here, she is watching the balloon launching mastered from the to sleeper by Thomas ! ( finding thos balloons was as easy as a needle in a bag of wool !)

Here is the whole party eating away the lemon tarts !

different children !

I bet you never knew them like that.... see how travelling transforms you to the soul !

Luang Prabang, the spiritual town

One of the many many wonderful stencil work in the beautiful temple. This one is by far my favourite. It depicts paradise, here, the Budhist Nirvanah. I love this man floating in the air, only met by an unespected fellow perhaps wanting to share his felicity, or warning him about the dansgers of floating away. Who knows ?

This is a usual sight in Luag Prabang. With around 10 active temples, many monks very naturally mix in the city life. Women are not supposed to touch them, but they are very surius and chatty if given a chance to spent a few quiet moments with you. Some of them are still children; they start at 8.

Monastic life is very flexible in Budhism; you can be a Monk for lifr but very often, you are a monks for a few years or months. Becoming a monk is something that a fervent budhist would want to do once in his life to aquire merit.

This is a very touching scene taking place every day at 6 am in Louang Prabang. Monks come out, bare feet and beg their food, as Budha did in his time. It is a religious act to give to the monks, mainly rice and fruits.

Here, some religious offering made of bananas leaves and flowers are being made for a typical Lao religious ritual celebrated at home : the calling back of the spirits/soul for somebody, a mixture of animist ( still a strong influence in Lao and Budhist ritual ( often celebrated by Bhudist monks) . Indeed, your spirits have a tendency to go away and have to be recalled on important occasions to make sure everything goes well.

Following the same kind of ritual, the old lady of the guest house, just beforewe went, recalled our spirits back to us, blessed us and fastened to our wrist 2 of these typical plain cotton bracelets supposed to hold our soul fast to our body.