Thik hai !

I have a new, temporary passport (a green one yeah) I have money in my bag (thank you mami and mama) and a great big smile on my face .. The journey continues !

Love,
Cath

due to current circumstances there will be no pictures for a while sorry ;-|

Everything stolen !

On the train to Goa ...
Put my bag up the storage ...
Turn around ...
Purse gone ...
Soo quick ...
Money gone ...
Phone gone ...
Passport gone ...
Camera gone ...
Diary gone ...

The person who did this will have a lot of explaining to do if he gets to the great gig in the sky!

Stealing is BAD KARMA (and no Mike, chicks don't dig that ;-)

They can steal from me, they can run me down but they can not imprison my mind or take my spirit ...

Love and light,

Catherine

Going to Goa !! Jippie !!

Hi everyone,

how are you all doing? I am still in Mumbai but I have hacked through the knoop ;-) and bought my ticket to Goa. Unfortunatly I was late at the post office trying to send about 8kg of multicoloured Indian stuff to Europe so I will have to take them with me on the train. Pfff .. Fortunatly my luggage will not be lonely as it will be able to have nice conversations with goats, chicken, and other animals that are not even in a cage. It's nen beestenboel!

The train itself is quite basic and I will have a top bench (only low and top) of which I am now wondering if that wasnt a completely stupid idea since I am travelling during the daytime and therefor will miss most of the journey which I have been told is beautiful if you cut out the people shitting on the edge of the traintracks (official statistics in the papers today said that an average of 10 people die in Mumbai on the railroad tracks!!!) The ride comes with a veggie meal (spicy apparently) and one snack. I will stock up on cookies tonight! Chai (tea) you can get at any time. I haven't asked what the toilets look like, I don't even wanna know.

A few days ago my friend Michael told me, and I quote: "India is not supposed to be comfortable, that is why so many people hate it. If you want comfortableness , go to the Canary Islands or something" and quite right he is! Happy travels by the way darling, you must be in Tokio by now enjoying the crazyness of Japan. I hope you have a wonderful time. I will miss you

Many things happen on Colaba Causeway, the main street of the area known as -tataaa- Colaba. Equivalent to backpackers paradise (dont take paradise to litteraly) They try to sell you everything from giant balloons (what on earth for??) to plastified maps of India (foldable ones is what we need man!!!) But also beautiful Pashmina's, cheap leather shoes, clothes, gems (real and fake ones !) and so on. Sorry mami, I bought loads of scarfs. A silk one for you if it survives the trip by boat! The guy with the maps is called Raj (his dad is Rajastani) and I saw him walking in and out of our hotel about 4 times already with different girls. He is quite a casanova and tried the trick on me and Rachel. In the picture he is trying to convince me of his monogamous state and showing me a pic of him and his pretty dutch "Real" girlfriend. Haha. India, don't you just love it!Oh my god it's sooo big!
Sunday stroll took us to Sassoon dock, right behind Colaba and the place where the fish comes in every morning at about 5 o'clock. Obviously we weren't there that early.
Sassoon dock:
We went for a walk there (no cars) and even though my Lonely Planet says that picture taking is off limits there Rachael just went ahead and did it anyway (thank you hun for the lovely pictures!)
Lonely Planet is wrong (sorry) The people don't mind, they love it if you stroll around, have a chat and stay for while. They asked us to take pictures of there houses, shops, stalls and animals.
This old lady proudly showed us her 'house' made of cardboard, the lady next to here is her daughter but there is also a granddaughter and a greatgranddaughter! They were soo wonderful. It was a lovely day!
On the way back we were followed by kids (lots of em) that were begging for some Roepies. Since I refuse to give them money (only in case of severe emergency and these kids were definitly not that!) I usually give them something to eat. Sometimes they eagerly eat it and sometimes they even get angry at me. These ones were given Lassi's, something yogurty, very sweet and absolutely delicious! Unfortunatly they didn't take no for an answer and followed us all the way down to the hotel despite the furoscious policewoman in a sari. The two youngest ones ran of but the oldes one kept following us. It took my bullet-evil look to get her to stop begging (and that was the second time I have had to use it, I hope I dont have to do it again)
Since she was begging for money and I wasn't gonna give it to her I told her that she should pray to Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. Hence the picture (I could do with some money as well ;-)


Tomorrow I will be off then. When you guys have just gotten in your snuggly beds I will have to get up and go to Victoria Central Station. I will try to get some pictures there.
For the people back home: a warm bearhug for you all.
For my travelling brothers and sisters: I hope u all are safe, healthy and happy and I hope our paths will cross again!

Merry meet and merry part ... may we meet again !

Love and light,

Catherine alias Sara (of lady Sarashwati so it seems)

Crazy Bombay!

Hi everyone!
Sorry about the layout but nothing much to do about that from here ...

The first picture was taken in a lovely Saree - shop in which I spent waaaay too much money ..

The next one is for the ones that read Shantaram : Leopold Cafe exists people !!! Apparently the author lives down here in South Mumbai but I haven't seen him yet .. ;-)

The shoes are mine and Rachaels.. just thought that was a lovely picture hehe

Went to a pologame, look at the buildings in the background. This is actually in the middle of Mumbai but the fact that the space is so huge makes that you cannot here traffic, that it has a lovely breeze and it's basically an oase of peace and tranquility... we enjoyed good wine, good company and lots of horses that day (and a kickass tacky fashion show as well but that's a different story)

Last picture: The alternative to McDrive ... McDelivery !!! Look at the bike as well ...

Most of us thought that we were gonna be extras in a bollywoodmovie, I was told the truth, that it was a commercial. It was a long hot day and we all earned 500Rs which is the equivalent of about 10 euro. I had the experience, it was fun, got nice friendship out of it but nunca mas! never again! This is us 'western chicks' posing with our money earned ...
Lovely walk for the mornings right behind where I stay
Do you not get a watery mouth by seeing all these goodies ... a Thali it's called and is cost us less than 1Euro. yummie ... The woman in the pic is Rachael, met her on the set of this commercial and currently sharing my room with her which brings it down to 200Rs pp (4Eu)
Leopolds actually exists !! Thank you Gregory David Roberts for getting me to jump the last obstacles to come here !!
View from my room at the Kishan Agha hotel
Love,
Cats

First pictures

hello folks, this is what I look like on my first day of travels ;-) Note the electricity switches in the background.. and this is Mumbai... hehe The phone and tv actually work but you have to endure a small electric shock if you want to watch the news so I just don't. The pink on the wall is combined with the beds being bright baby-blue. It is a thrill :-) Went to the cinema to watch a full on three and a half hour Bollywood movie called Jodhaa Akbar. I didn't understand a word but then again who needs words when you're seriously over-acting.. It was good though, I enjoyed it, the costumes were great, the setting was breathtaking and the shots, oh well you just gotta see it!! What I really enjoyed was the cheering, clapping and ooohs and aaahs! Really, we europeans are waaaay too serious. This is much more fun!
A classic Bombay roadside view. They are actually quite nice to the dogs.
Beautiful sunset, taken from a taxi.
More to come !!
Love, Cath

fotoos voor volgende keer batterij plat

First impresion of India

Hello everyone,

how are you all doing in far away countries (or am I far away? it all depends on your point of view I guess) I am in Mumbai or Bombay for the ones who don't know it changed name... That would be the New York of India I've been told HAHA isn't that crazy!

I got here after a long trip, leaving my house at 4 in the morning, getting here at 23:30 at night. I fell in love with Mumbai immediatly, and i mean that litteraly. The air coming from outside as they opened the airplanedoors was lovely, warm and comforting and I instantly felt like I was coming home. The smells (good ones! I only found the other ones later on) were soothing for the soul.

In despite of what I was told and what I was prepared for there were no screaming begging hurds of people and children outside. Quite the opposite actually, nobody noticed me and I stood there, lost, for several minutes. Got a pre-paid taxi, got a ticket with a four digit number and as the guy pointed towards a parkinglot filled with black cabs I had no idea how in the world I was gonna find mine, didnt even know were to look ... licence plates, top digits...?? A kind looking man with no english words but a whole vocabulary on smiles offered to help me out, he took me to the apropriate taxi, I payed him a few roepies, he asked me for a coin of my homecountry, gave him some and he left. I was taken across town (the ride took 45 minutes) through slums, crazy traffic, barefooted people on the highway, a dead horse in the middle of a junction, beautifull european looking airconditioned shops and little local juicebars. It was wonderful and I enjoyed every second of it. I got a nice, cheap but clean room in Colaba (far south end of Mumbai) went out looking for water, had an encounter with a furicious dog (woke him up as I turned the corner ... what do they say again ... dont wake sleeping dogs ... oops my fault) nearly stepped on a giant rat (small cat-size) to then finally make it back to my room.

The next day I went to take a shower, left my window open only to find out a cheecky raven came into my room and stole my apple !! he must have gotten a culture chock, tasting his first belgian apple HAHA
Now, almost one week later I have learned that the raven lives in my window and his siblings across the road in a tree and the end up having wild conversations about all sorts of things, preferably at four in the morning. But hey this is INDIA , where everything is possible !!!

Much love to all of you

First week in India

India first impression

Hello everyone, how are you all doing in far away countries (or am I far away? it all depends on your point of view I guess) I am in Mumbai or Bombay for the ones who don't know it changed name... That would be the New York of India I've been told HAHA isn't that crazy!
I got here after a long trip, leaving my house at 4 in the morning, getting here at 23:30 at night. I fell in love with Mumbai immediatly, and i mean that litteraly. The air coming from outside as they opened the airplanedoors was lovely, warm and comforting and I instantly felt like I was coming home. The smells (good ones! I only found the other ones later on) were soothing for the soul.
In despite of what I was told and what I was prepared for there were no screaming begging hurds of people and children outside. Quite the opposite actually, nobody noticed me and I stood there, lost, for several minutes. Got a pre-paid taxi, got a ticket with a four digit number and as the guy pointed towards a parkinglot filled with black cabs I had no idea how in the world I was gonna find mine, didnt even know were to look ... licence plates, top digits...?? A kind looking man with no english words but a whole vocabulary on smiles offered to help me out, he took me to the apropriate taxi, I payed him a few roepies, he asked me for a coin of my homecountry, gave him some and he left. I was taken across town (the ride took 45 minutes) through slums, crazy traffic, barefooted people on the highway, a dead horse in the middle of a junction, beautifull european looking airconditioned shops and little local juicebars. It was wonderful and I enjoyed every second of it. I got a nice, cheap but clean room in Colaba (far south end of Mumbai) went out looking for water, had an encounter with a furicious dog (woke him up as I turned the corner ... what do they say again ... dont wake sleeping dogs ... oops my fault) nearly stepped on a giant rat (small cat-size) to then finally make it back to my room.
The next day I went to take a shower, left my window open only to find out a cheecky raven came into my room and stole my apple !! he must have gotten a culture chock, tasting his first belgian apple HAHA
Now, almost one week later I have learned that the raven lives in my window and his siblings across the road in a tree and the end up having wild conversations about all sorts of things, preferably at four in the morning. But hey this is INDIA , where everything is possible !!!

Much love to all of you

.

Our house in the middle of the street

Omdat ik mijn ouderlijk huisje ga missen ... vanochtend zag het er zo uit ... prachtige dag ....

Byebye Belgium

Dag mijn lief beestje, schat van een hondje ...
Dag mami tot snel !
Dag lieve schatjes wat zijn jullie toch het licht van mijn ogen ... braaf zijn goed opletten op school, lekker plezier maken. Ik ben terug als jullie je groot rapport hebben gekregen! kuskus
Dag mama niet te triest zijn, alles komt goed. Ik ga veilig en wel terugkomen. Heb vertrouwen. xx

Going to India !!!