Planet of the Untouchable: Ladakh

A young Monk reads on the balcony of the monastery, over looking the valley.


More than five hundred monks are living in the monastery, an other five hundreds of them are paying their duty in the neighbourhood Gompas, where they teach and practice Buddhism.





Sweet home, but for Monks only.

The wheel of life in Buddhism
4500m, I can't barely breath. Snow knocks on my tent in the night. Gyanco brings me a hot cup of tea at 6am to get me started.

Two hours ascending in the strong wind as a little wake me up in the morning. 5100m, we made it to the top, it's 9:30 am. Only seven hours more to go to the camp. Yahoo!

Eight hundred years ago a Ladakhen family thought it would be a good idea to build a castle on the top of the cliff. I guess they really wanted some privacy.


My back pack got empty for the night, I wore all my chloses, my hat and gloves inside my double sleeping bag. I spoon with a hot water bottle , sleepless from the high altitude I listen to the sound of the wind and the bells of the horses. I try to read but my fingers are freezing how I turn the pages. Instead I dream about the sunny beaches of my sweet Florida where I will get back in a few days.

Lunch box, reminds me of school....

Same book in the same time...of course about climbing Everest.

We are not alone...



Good morning, mates!

Team Tibet is up there again!


Where the streets has no name.

Ladakh, Back to the India Himalaya Region

The plain landed in Ladakh on 3500m(!) high early this morning from Delhi. We don't have time to hesitate, after a bite to eat and quick wondering around the town we are already organizing our Final Trekking. When do you guys want to leave? The sweetheart Tibetan travel agent smiles at us until we tell him that we would like to leave on the very next morning so he has one afternoon to organize everything for us, camp, tents, horses, donkeys, Sherpa or guide. Oh, and we would like to do the nine days expedition in six days instead. Of course, we can handle it. No worries.
For the first time while trekking we will be sleeping in a tent, sometimes in the snow over 4000m high where there are no lodges on the way or nearby. We will be on our own for a week up in the mountains with the help of three great musketeers.

The trip to Leh, Ladakh was the most amazing flight I have ever taken. One climbs Mount Everest must feel this complete on the top of the world, looking down on Earth biggest mountains, it looked like I was flying over sugarcoated sharp peaks, I even saw the highest mountains of Pakistan in the near horizon.

Adrenaline Rush, NEPAL

Beginning Langtang Trek
Rafting Team
V.I.P. seats are always on the top.

Tendi Sherpa takes care of Zsuzsi.
Let's get rollin' on the river...

Finishing Langtang Trek...Let's celebrate!
Watch your head!

Somewhere...over the Rainbow

Camping on the Kali Gandaki River

Everybody must get stoned! ..........Shall we?


Around 4200m high from Gompa....but where are we?

Smooth rider...

Treasures of Kathmandu valley

WE DID IT! The Biggest Pass in the World: Thorung Pass 5416m, NEPAL

Dear Nepal,

I'm falling in love with you...

Where have I been in my life not trekking before?!

I'm one with the Marsyangdi River
I'm one with the Mountains of the Himalaya
NEPAL sneaked into my blood, it sunk into my Soul
It's to late now to get it out of my System
I can't help myself reaching higher and higher
each and every day
The Mountains of Annapurna keep calling my NameAfter four eggs over easy and six blisters on my feet I think I'm doing alright.
I can not feel my ankles in my boots and I can not see straight from the pain in my knees.
I push it over the limit to get closer to the 5416m Top
Adrenaline rushes through my brain
My forehead is burning and my ears will pop from the
Blood pressure in any minute now
My fingers and toes are numb from the high altitude
I can hardly breath with every step I make in the snow
Tears come down on my face and I start to weep like a child
when I reach the top: Thorung La.
There are Thousands of Flags are ripping in the wind hung by Trekkers like us

We hang our flags proudly what we have brought from Dharamsala, India and we addressed them to our Family, Friends and Free Tibet.
They make the most powerful Sounds I have ever heard in my life...
I know the God of the Annapurna speaks to us Do you know what is harder to get up to 5400 m high?
To get down to 3700m in the same afternoon.
How come I never known this feeling before
and how shall I live without it from now on?God's seventh miracle this country is to me Blisters on my feet don't stop me from running, our porters can barely keep up with the pace we are showing.
Some people are even crazier than us

5 AM Breakfast A'la Karmazsin Family
Nobody cares who you are and what you do.
It counts where you started this morning the trekking and how far, how high are you planning to go tomorrow. The map of the Annapurna Circuit is our Bible, we read it, digest it every evening over dinner, making plans for the possible destinations for next day.

After the Thorung Pass I can go for an other day for an other twenty kilometers. The strong wind blew my baseball hat away with extreme speed and I am getting weaker by the minute. My knees are shaking underneath me, I hang on to my poles and cry quietly from suffering.

A few more kilometers and we'll arrive. Finally, we do. I'm in pain, period. I know that I can't keep going for an other five days with my bad knees like this.

We pamper ourselves with hot sauna, tired and emotional Good-Bye Dinner at the Lodge with my friends and I fly back the very next morning to Pokhara, come to Katmandu to rest while Era & Chris are staying to pay a visit to the rest of the circuit: the rest of the spectacular Annapurna.






Saying Good-Bye to the mountains of 8000ms with Style...

Varanasi, The Holy City

DEAREST PICTURES TO REMEMBER INDIA
Rose Garden, Chandigarh Rainy day, hot bath.
Last sunrise over Varanasi(Benaras)
Back in the days.
Some kids never grow up.

Train Station, Bye-Bye India, say Hello to Nepal

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Liquor Store a'la India

Smile! It's picture time!

Lucky to be a Lady.....

Amritsar border ceremony... or the Beatles?

Pakhistan/India Border Sunset
The most handsome rikshaw drivers.
Sweet dreams!
Better watch out for ghosts.

VARANASI (BENARAS), THE HOLY CITY

It is still dark outside when I step out of the window-door of my hotel on the Ganges River. An old, strange looking man waits there, maybe for me(?) with a flesh light in his hand. Boat ride, Madam? I have heard the question a million times since I'm here whether it was a lake, a river or the ocean at my side but this is the first time I answer YES. I bargain over the price as usual, this is the first episode of every agreements made in India. Finally I find myself in a boat with a boy, about fourteen years old at the paddles, looking at me from the darkness. We leave the shore, a little girl jumps in the boat from an other one, offers me holy little baskets with flowers and candles in it. I buy one from her, light the candle and let it drift away on the top of the Holy Ganga thinking about my family for a moment. The little girl gets off the boat, we start to cruise against the current up on the river.

My new little friend paddles very slowly, stops in every few minutes and rubs his hands, he has joint problem in his fingers. He has been a boat men for four years, tells me proudly with perfect English, he started when he was ten. He works the boats before school every morning and for sunset rides. The sun start to rise over Varanasi, I look at all the people gathering together on the ghats, bathing and drinking out of the Holy Ganges, the dirtiest and filthiest river in the whole wide world I have ever known. It has a million times more bacteria in it, what would be acceptable for a human being either for swimming or bathing. We pass by the Harischangra Ghat where the holy rituals of burning the dead bodies are held twenty-four/seven. The well-recognized spicy-sweet smoke coming from the ghat makes me physically nauseous and want to get sick. Yesterday we watched the ceremonies for a while, all of us in deep shock. I have never seen dead bodies before, now I saw five of them in a row. I instantly held up my camera try to get a shot of this hectic ritual. Chris snapped at me right away and gave me a bad look: What a hell is wrong with you?! No excuse for me, it is absolutely disrespectful what I did and later on I thought: why on earth would I like to keep a shot of that? To look at it at home on cozy evenings when my friends are over for dinner?

The bodies have to be burned within seven hours after the death, the ashes are offered to the river, they explained it to us. There are some exceptions of this holy ritual. They don't burn pregnant women, holy man, kids under ten years old, people with lepra or bit by snake. The body of those people is taken by boats to the middle of the river and let it sink. This river is very clean, Madam. We drink it every day, swears my little friend. The Ganga washes everything away. I ask him to take me to the desert, on the other side of the river. He wonders at me, this is not the common cruising area where the tourists want to go, but says: As you wish, Madam.
There is a tent in the sand, we get a cup of chai and sit. He chew on a sugar can, swears this thing makes his teeth so white. I give him twice as much rupees as the price of the boat ride, tell him to put it in his pocket. He runs to the tent, comes back with a bag of cookies, but feed not himself, but the dogs laying around us.

He makes me smile, while we watch the sun rise over us, sitting side by side in the dirty sand.

DEAR PICTURES TO REMEMBER INDIA

April Fools with Monkey Bite

On April 1st, I was on my way walking through the hanger bridge over the Ganges River in Rishikesh and I stopped several times to take pictures of the rafting water underneath me, the Shiva Temple and the pretty mountain ridge. Monkeys were hanging out on the chains of the bridge, people were walking by or passing me with bicycles. All of the sudden a smaller, cute monkey jumped on my arm, he crossed his arms and legs around me. He was only a cm close to my face we starred at each other for a moment and before I could have done anything he bit me above my elbow and starred right back at me. Three guys behind me hit him with a bag and splashed water on him to scare the creature away. It was a beautiful sunset, my arm was bleeding, and I didn't know if should I cry or laugh. We have received many vaccine shots prior to this trip back at home, but none of them against monkey or dog bites. On this rainy evening we rushed to the Mateshwari General Hospital which was hard to find in the complete darkness walking in mud in the forest. Era's Dear Mom packed her up with a bag of sterile syringes before she left to India, now she brought them along to the emergency room for me. If there is a time to use them, this moment had come.! Luckily, they took care of me at the Hospital quickly. I have to admit they were kind and gentle to me. I need a series of five vaccine shots on exact dates of this months, I've got two of them out of the way so far. I find it very exotic what had happened to me, but surely I lost my trust in the Indian monkeys. I still believe in holy cows though!

SNOW CAMP 4200M / HIMALAYA

Eight of us free spirits jumped into jeeps at 6:30 am, packed up on candy bars, dried fruits and cookies exactly the way the expert stuff advised us to bring along. They dropped us of about 2700m high where we started trekking. Our stuff of nine people were porters caring the ski equipments, ,double sleeping bags for everyone; cooks bringing enough food and water for all of us; trek and ski guides. They were amazing guys one to one and also, we couldn't ask for funnier people in our group for this expedition to do it with. I was surprised how much fast energy I needed up there in the cold mountains. I was starving within a half an hour I had a pancake for lunch trekking up the snow covered hill. I don't even like sweets but up there trekking, skiing in the cold weather that's all I was craving for.
We stuck ed up on bottles of rum and whisky as well and sure enough, the hot chai and hot chocolate just couldn't keep us warm enough when the night brought the thousand shiny stars along with the ice could wind.

We had such a good team, when we got together for dinner we were dancing and drinkingor we were singing at the fireplace in the snow. Let's not forget about the most important thing: we had to keep our body temperature warm whatever it took. I had the best expedition of my life and I know now there is nothing can stop me anymore. Yahhhhhhhhhhhoooooooo!