I know. I am late. The events of this blog post happened nine months ago. Nevertheless, I would like to reflect on my past year, for which I am using this blog as a therapeutic measure, so to speak. Additionally, my new favourite work-related quote “Prefer progress over perfection” and the fact that I don’t have to write professional articles anymore due to my now stable job motivated me to just start writing.
On March 3rd, 2022, I had returned from my icy trek through the Himalayas. I spent the following week in the beautiful Pokhara, met old travel companions, recovered by playing Switch, wrote a few articles, treated myself to two massages, met new friends (whom I would later meet again in India, Indonesia and Thailand) and planned my onward journey.
I had Sri Lanka, Thailand and India on my radar as next destinations, but I also discovered the beauty of Indonesia during my research. In the end, I decided to continue to India because there were no entry requirements for unvaccinated people like me, and I wanted to wait for the quarantine regulations of the other countries as the Covid situation had begun to ease worldwide. The visa in India was valid for one month, and the application had to be sent online at least five days before entry. (This fact became very important again months later).
After the bitter cold of the previous winter months in the mountains of Nepal, I longed for warmth, sun and a beach. And since I had met two Goa residents, Rhea and Cornelia, at the bungee jump on the first day of this year, I decided to travel to Goa. I also was very curious to visit a metropolis with millions of inhabitants and, just for fun, see if Bollywood was looking for Western actors. So Mumbai was to be my second stop in India. The plan was made, the ticket booked!
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Between Pokhara and Kathmandu: Bandipur and Gorkha
I said goodbye to the magnificent Pokhara. In this city on the lake, I had felt very comfortable for almost two months and met many interesting people with whom I am still in contact from time to time.
In Nepal, there were still two places on my list that lie between Pokhara and Kathmandu. One of them was Bandipur, one of the most tranquil and European places I had ever seen in Nepal.
After a day in Bandipur, which is definitely worth a side trip, I continued with local buses to Gorkha, the seat of former kings, founding place of the famous Nepalese Gurkha Army, and epicentre of the destructive earthquake in 2015.
Accordingly, the imposing castle, for which 1,500 steps have to be climbed uphill, was unfortunately still a construction site. The rest of the town does not have much to offer, so Gorkha is not really worth the trip.
I spent my very last week in Nepal in Kathmandu, where it had all begun. Fortunately, I was allowed to stay at my old school, and I said goodbye to the warm-hearted people who had accompanied me during my first three months. I also visited my former guide Saroj in his hometown Bhaktapur during the Holi festival.
I sent my winter clothes and most of my souvenirs back to Germany, with a very friendly British woman taking my luggage. She flew to the UK with an empty suitcase and then shipped my things from there to Germany, as the postal costs within Europe were by far cheaper. I am still very grateful to this helpful gesture by a stranger who offered me this selfless act of kindness on Facebook.
My former host and new brother Niranjan took me to the airport where my plane to New Delhi took off. My educational, beautiful, exhausting, unforgettable and eventful time in Nepal had come to an end after almost six months. Thank you for everything, Nepal!
Arrival in India: Sunshine and Travel Stress in Goa
From New Delhi, I continued to Goa, where I landed at night and checked into my hotel near the airport. Everything seemed so familiar, so Nepali in standard, equally polluted, but so very different: tropical, with red earth, warm temperatures and the sea in sight.
I spent my first morning in India organising a SIM card, which turned out to be not so easy. Luckily, I knew Rhea and Cornelia, who both sent me their details to vouch for me, otherwise I would not have been able to get a SIM card.
A taxi then took me to Arambol in the very north of Goa. Goa is the smallest Indian state and was the only colonial territory in India of the Portuguese. Goa is known for its parties, its expat scene and its beautiful beaches. Due to the former Portuguese occupation, there are quite a few European-looking buildings in Goa – and many Goans are Christians instead of Hindus. That’s why Goa is said to be the perfect starting point to India.
I wanted to travel Goa from north to south and visit Rhea and Cornelia in the middle, who lived in Mapusa. Arambol, my first stop, is known for its chill vibe with yoga, meditation and techno parties on the beach.
The beach and the sun were bliss for my body, which had just recovered from the Himalayan trek. I found Arambol really idyllic, even though I didn’t come into contact with any tourists, as I was there in the low season and India had just opened up after Covid. So there was hardly anything going on.
Actually, I would have liked to stay longer in Arambol, but I was lacking time: I wanted to see everything of Goa within two weeks and spend the remaining two weeks in Mumbai.
While I was travelling, I was already applying for Bollywood job offers with a casting video with a shoot in Mumbai. And I offered to be available for the next two weeks. A naive choice – that was a pressure I could have saved myself in retrospect. In the end, nothing came of my applications except a suspected scam. But at least I tried.
Anjuna, Panaji, Old Goa and Colva
After two days, I travelled on to Anjuna, where I first stayed in a coworking space, then in my own flat a night later. Anjuna was full of party-loving Indian tourists, some of whom are despised by the Goan residents because they cause litter, noise and sometimes trouble. Of course, this is a very generalising statement, but I didn’t really feel comfortable either with them.
Rhea and Cornelia showed me some corners of northern Goa, we went dancing together at a night flea market (an interesting mix!) and I had my very first surf lesson with them! Surfing was fun and much easier in the calm Arabian Sea than a few weeks later in Indonesia.
I reserved the right to return to Goa if the acting roles didn’t work out in Mumbai. So saying goodbye to Cornelia and Rhea was only temporary for now.
Panaji, the capital of Goa, was my next destination. I was able to explore the city and the nearby historic “Old Goa” together with a quiet mangrove forest within a day.
I continued by bus to Colva, where I rented a bicycle and explored the beach, the historical museum and the localities. One day later, I took the Indian train for the first time! It went into the countryside – into the jungle of Kulem to explore the Dhudhsagar waterfalls and the Sri Mahadev temple. On the way back, my motorbike taxi driver and I passed a spice farm where I took a guided tour.
Paradise in Palolem
Soon after, I was off to Palolem in the south of Goa to meet up with Viktoria. Viktoria, a German, originally wanted to hike the Himalayan trek with me, but got sick a few days before.
We had got along well when we met in Pokhara and stayed in touch. Viktoria also travelled on from Nepal to India and booked a yoga retreat in Palolem – a place also recommended to me by Rhea.
And my goodness, what a wonderful beach! I found a cheap beach hut where I fell asleep to the sound of the waves. In just two minutes I was from my bed in the sea water. There were hardly any tourists, we had our idyll almost to ourselves.
To be honest, all the travelling over the last week and a half had stressed me out. Staying in one place for only two/three nights at a time, planning my next trip, applying for castings and working on articles put me under pressure. I decided for myself that this kind of travelling was not for me and took a little more time for Palolem.
Together with Jessie and Gayel from Victoria’s yoga retreat, we explored the area or simply enjoyed ourselves on the beach or at a beach bar. On a morning trip to Monkey Island (I actually wanted to see dolphins from there), a slip on a sharp shell gave me a deep cut in my toe, so I had to limp for a few days. Another morning I borrowed a paddle boat and paddled far out to sea to see some dolphins. Again, nothing. My wish to watch dolphins remained unfulfilled, but that was fine.
And so my little over two weeks in Goa flew by. It was time for Mumbai!
Stranded in the Megacity of Mumbai
Back in central Goa, I took the night train to Mumbai. I was very excited about this experience. At the station, I was approached by a neat Indian woman who was looking for her compartment and who seemed a little uneasy about the night train. To be honest, I wasn’t feeling most comfortable either, because as the only westerner by far, I was stared at and constantly chatted up. On top of that, there was a heavy thunderstorm that regularly cut the power in the station.
It turned out that Chitra – the Indian woman’s name – was in the same compartment as me, and so we started the uncomfortable twelve-hour train journey together, reassured that we were not alone.
The first nights in Mumbai I shared a hotel room with Oliver, one of the Danes from the Himalayan trek. He also happened to be in town, so we shared room expenses and watched The Batman at the cinema. Unfortunately, he was ill, so we were not able to go sightseeing together.
In Mumbai, I felt a bit lost. For one thing, I had hardly received any feedback from my acting applications. There were only rejections because the studios were only looking for Indian actors at this moment. On the other hand, I had some bad luck with my hotels and hostels, which were unreliable when booking, and I stayed in a different hostel almost every day after Oliver’s departure.
Mumbai is insane. Over 20 million people live in the city, and another three million in the immediate vicinity. Everything is completely overcrowded, the streets are chaos, the contrast between rich and poor is unmistakable (the most modern skyscrapers are practically next to the largest slum in Asia) and travelling by train or tuktuk is a real adventure. I was told that about six people die every day in Mumbai because of public transport – and anyone who has taken the subway knows why:
There are no doors. The carriages are so crowded that people lean so far out at the “door” place that they are either easily hit by the oncoming train or they eventually lose their grip.
Nevertheless, I cautiously visited some attractions and went on excursions. Partly with Chitra, who invited me to her family for dinner and even to the wedding of friends. So I became the unwanted guest of honour of an Indian wedding party (a wedding lasts three days here).
Chitra also helped me with my acting applications. I finally got two acceptances, one of which was a very obvious scam. The second acceptance sounded more credible, but I was stalled again and again. Of course, I was extremely cautious, so one day I just drove to the agency’s office address in “Film City” – a large area full of film studios for Bollywood movies. However, the address was fake and no one knew the agency. So I had been stalled for nothing.
In the end, I wanted to spend a few more days in Goa to get away from the big city, but there were no more free seats on the trains or busses. So Chitra took me in and I stayed with her and her husband for six days.
She lives in a suburb of Mumbai, where it was at least a bit quieter. I enjoyed the company of Chitra, her husband Mitesh and her best friend Kirti. And this way, I got to know Indian culture much more intimately. A friendship formed that continues to this day.
Overall, I didn’t like India as much as Nepal, but that was also due to the short time and my self-made travel stress. The beaches in Goa were fantastic and the Indians very hospitable, which Chitra and her family showed me above all.
Of course, there were also pushy people, and the staring (I hadn’t met any other tourists in my two weeks in Mumbai apart from Oliver) honestly got on my nerves a lot. But with so many people, there are always black sheep who then stand out negatively and affect the overall picture for so many other warm personalities. I never regretted my decision to travel there and will certainly look at other parts of India at some later point in my life.
My further journey took me to Indonesia. I’ll tell you about that in the next blog post.