Jodhpur with its blue city

With Yann we took a train from Old Delhi Railway Station at about 20.50. But guys, if you need to travel anywhere else in India from Delhi, careful: Delhi has 3 different railway stations that I’m not really sure if it is stating in your guide book. Make sure that you take a train at the correct train station.

We reached Jodhpur early in the morning and there was nothing open by that time. So, we walked around the city, tried to find a place where we could have our breakfast before heading to the Meherangarh fort.

By 10.30 am, we decided to walk through the Old City to reach the fort. Apparently, it wasn’t that far, it was just much complicated to find the way through the Old City, through the narrow roads. The city was still sleeping and it was nice to wander around.

Meherangarh Fort is a significant fort, built on the top of the hill with 400 feet above the city and is enclosed by imposing thick walls. Inside its territorial boundaries, there are several palaces which are known for their intricate carvings and sprawling courtyards.

Since Laurent would join us in Jodhpur, we decided not to spend the night there. We took a train straight to Jaisalmer.

பிக் கிச் பிரோம் டெல்லி / Gros becs de Delhi

Safdar Jung Railway Trip

Sunday - 17th February 2008




From Safdar Jung Railway Station and return at the same station: 2 hours trip and we can see almost all of Delhi. The fare is about Rs8/- (less then RM0.80). The video is showing a little part of Delhi. Buy One Free One: with what we paid, the image and sound and the odor is free. Unfortunately there is still no technology that can add the odor into the image that we take. Pour Michel et Fredy, je suis desole que vous aviez manque cette experience.

Enjoy the video and big kiss from New Delhi.

G

Saturday - 16 February 2008





On occasion of 60th jubilee year of the Indo-Swiss Friendship treaty, the Embassy of Switzerland New Delhi presents G, Galatea String Quartet: Yuka Tsuboi (Violin), Sarah Kilchenmann (Violin), David Schneebeli (Viola), Julien Kilchenmann (Violoncello). The group is coming from Zurich and does the concert also at Kolkata, Bangalore, Goa & Varanasi.

Enjoy the music and big kiss from New Delhi.

Moritz Leuenberger

Friday, 8 February 2008












Life still continue with a little bit of dinner left and right. Last Friday Momo was in Delhi. Ohhh ya, I forgot to introduce Momo to you guys. Momo = Moritz Leuenberger came to India for the 60 years anniversary of friendship treathy. He is a Enviroment's Ministre of Switzerland.

































Go back to Old Delhi with Sugu and Anabell. They are our friends from Malaysia. Anabell comes from New Zealand but lives in Kuala Lumpur and Sugu is Sugi's brother and we've met Sugi in Abuja by the time we were posted in Nigeria. Sugu and Anabell are staying not far away from our apartment in Kuala Lumpur, considering they are our neighbours.

Old Delhi is one of the fantastic place to take a lot of nice picture and going there now is something that I love to do.

Big kiss from New Delhi / Gros becs de New Delhi.

An endless story

Since last week, I’ve been reading the story about this tollgate which is newly open at Gurgoan-Delhi highway. I found out that is so annoying that they can’t stop complaining about the fact that they have to pay for using the highway. Few weeks ago, when the highway wasn’t open but ready to use the people kept asking the government or who ever was handling this highway property to open it as they couldn’t stand anymore with the traffic jam. It is normal while they were suffered all this time during the construction work need to be done and they had to stay hour and hour in the traffic but now it is a different story and I think it is also an endless story.

They are so proud to have this new highway which is 27km long and they said it is a ‘world class’ highway. Everything has to be a world class here. The tollgate has about 15 counters on each side, means it is huge thing but it doesn’t help much as the traffic in Delhi is craziness. Now that the highway is open as well as the tollgate, people start complaining to spend so many hours in the traffic and so much money, and they asked for more tollgate attendant to show them a correct way to go to avoid the traffic. Funny haa….it is even written in the newspaper. By using the highway definitely we have to pay ‘a little amount’ as to give a support for maintenance and technical fees. There’s nothing in the world that we can have for free.

We’ve been there once. We came back from Jaipur and had to wait for few minutes until we could pass through. We observed a little how these people drive. Well, honestly speaking some of them need to go back to school. They don’t want to queue up: in one lane there are three queues, so who is big and strong definitely can go through easily. There’s no way for them to follow the rules and there is no way for them to solve this problem until the people are educate enough to understand a simple thing like ‘queue up’ or ‘wait’. I keep telling myself that this is India and don’t try to understand anything. That’s how you make your life easier.

Big Kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Pushkar & Ajmer

It was a week after Christophe and Sandra left, Michel and Fredy arrived by knocking our door. The visitors have come and go and now the life goes back to normal. To have a normal life isn’t that easy as we are always planning to discover this Incredible India. I have a feeling that after all these time: started to get use with what we have and what we can’t have, what can see and what we cannot see. It is all about time. The last travel we had with Michel and Fredy, taught us about how to see the thing and accept it as it is and then only we can enjoy what we have seen.

The car broke down again this time. It seems the same problem that we had last time on our trip back from Manali. It was 5.45 am and was cold. We stopped in the middle of no where; there was just an engineering school not far away from where we stopped. After a while that they have tried to repair the car, we found out that the car won’t make it not even for 1 km a head. So, we decided to continue at least until Agra, at least to see the Taj Mahal. If they came all the way from Switzerland, it would be bad if they don’t see the famous Taj Mahal. First, we had to find the transport which can carry us straight away to Agra, and there he was the school bus driver offered us his help by sending us to our destination with only RS.100/- for all of us.

Finally we managed to reach Taj Mahal and decided to continue our trip until Jaipur on the same day and headed to Pushkar on the next day.

Well this time, I will speak only about Pushkar. Bewitching Pushkar has a magnetism all of its own, unlike anywhere else in Rajasthan. It’s a Hindu pilgrimage town, a cluster of pale onion domes, with 400 milky temples, where regular pujas (prayer) create the town’s episodic soundtrack of chanting, drums and gongs, and devotional songs booming out from crackling speakers. The town curls around a holy lake, said to have appeared when Brahma dropped a lotus flower. It also has one of the world’s few Brahma temples. Pushkar is only 11km from Ajmer but separated from it by Nag Pahar, the snake mountain.

The desert town clings to the side of the small but beautiful Pushkar Lake, with its many bathing ghats (steps or landing on a river) and fabulous temples. Pushkar town remain amazingly small despite the constant stream of visitors, and it’s a twisting maze narrow streets filled with interesting little shops, food stalls, hotels and temples. Fortunately, there’s virtually no motorized traffic in the main bazaar, making it a pleasurable place to explore at leisure.

Ajmer is a bustling, hectic town around 130km southwest of Jaipur. Ajmer contains one of India’s most important Muslim pilgrimage centres – the shrine of Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti, a venerated Sufi saint who founded the Chisthtiya order, which still exists as the prime Sufi order in India today – and has superb examples of early Muslim architecture. But Ajmer’s combination of high-voltage crowds, commerce and traffic, it’s very much a pilgrimage site rather than travellers’ hang-out, which accounts for the dearth of good accommodation and that was why we chose to stay in Pushkar. Apparently, Ajmer gets busy during Ramadhan and the anniversary of the saint’s death

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Cette petite histoire de l' Inde

Big kiss from Taj Mahal / Gros becs de Taj Mahal

Voila, quelques jours a la maison. Augustin est malade depuis la semaine passé et je dois faire le ménage moi-meme. Je n’en me plaind pas, au contraire, cela me fait vraiment plaisir de pouvoir faire tout ce qu’il n’a pas fait pendant tout ce temps. Ce n’est pas parce que je ne lui ai pas dit mais tout simplement que je n’avais pas envie de repeter. Des fois, c’est plus simple de faire nous meme….n’est ce pas. Meme si je suis un peu deborde aujourd’hui, mais ce n’est pas grave. Hahahaha….j’ai fait notre lit seulement a 16h00. Hehehe….a la place de faire le lit a 16h00, il valais mieux de ne rien faire du tout car dans quel que heures je vais deja au lit.

Apres deux semaines de voyage, nous avons repris notre vie qotidienne: jouons au tennis et nous pensons deja a faire nos petites grillardes au bord de la piscine.

Hier, le dejeuner: c’etait le Penang Laksa. C’est un plat typique du Penang et Penang est une ile au nord-ouest de la Malaisie. Le Laksa est fait avec 100% du poisson (du maqueraux) et pour ce qu’ils n’aiment pas le poisson, ce plat n’est pas pour vous. J’ai eu trop faim et une envie trop forte de manger jusqu’a ce que j’oublie de prendre une photo. Desole, au moins vous ne baverez pas....n’est ce pas.

Ce matin, je me suis levee a 9h00 du matin. Quel bonheur. En prenant mon petit dejeuner, j’ai lu le journal d’aujourd’hui. Le journal local. Ben voila, encore deux filles qui se font violees. Quellle horreur. Il y a quelques semaine en arriere, il y a une fille qui s’est fait viole a Mumbai, elle vient de Latvie. Celle la est un peu conne. Elle est sortie d’une boite de nuit jusqu’a 1h00 du matin et elle etait seule evidemment. Un mec lui a demande de monter dans sa voiture, comme on tire une vache dans son nez, elle a suivi. Ce que j’ai lu ce matin, c’est une journaliste anglaise qui est venue en Inde pour passer ses vacances et elle aussi s’est fait viole a Udaipur par le maitre d’hotel ou elle dormait. Et une tourist americane qui s’est fait molestee a Pushkar. Alors, les filles, vous savez tres bien que les indiens ont envie de vous, donc faite attention quand meme. Ce n’est pas drole, quand on prend le petit dejeuner avec des nouvelles pareilles.

Voila, aujourd’hui, je ne sors pass…hehehe ce n’est pas a cause de ces nouvelles, c’est juste parce que Laurent a envoie la voiture pour faire le service. Et moi, je dois rester a la maison. Je ne prend plus le rickshaw-wallah toute seule.

28^th Dec 2007 – 29^th Dec 2007

From Varanasi, we came back to Delhi. We stayed for a night in Delhi and we were back on the track again in a train to Amritsar. In a ticket, it said that the journey would take 4 and ½ hours but it takes 5 and ½ hours. Amritsar is located in the northwest of India in the state of Punjab, 51 km from Lahore, Pakistan. Since we arrived in the afternoon, we took that opportunity to visit Attari/Wagah border 30km west of Amritsar.

We stayed one night in Amritsar as the city doesn’t offer much thing to see a part of Golden temple, Jallianwala Barg, Ram Barg, Mata temple and also Sri Durgiana temple. Laurent wasn’t in his best to walk around the whole day as he had a fever after catching a cold at Varanasi few days ago, but he kept on going and trying to stand on his foots. For a dinner we found a pleasant restaurant called Visra which is located not far away from a hotel where we stayed.

The next day, we started with the Golden Temple. The Golden temple is open to all and no-one asks for any money. It has a genuine spiritual atmosphere despite the crowds and, like the Taj Mahal, is worth visiting at different times of day, particularly sunrise and sunset.

The architecture, like the religion, is a blend of Hindu and Islamic styles but very different to both. The golden dome (said to be gilded with 750kg of pure gold) represents an inverted lotus flower, a symbol of Sikhism’s aim to live a pure life.

The Gentle Guru: Born in 1469 near Lahore in present-day Pakistan, Guru

Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was unimpressed with both Muslim and Hindu religious practices. Unlike many Indian holy men, he believed in family life and the value of hard work - he married, had two sons and worked as a farmer when not traveling around, preaching and singing self-composed hymns with his Muslim musician friend, Mardana. He performed many miracles and stressed meditation on God’s name as the best way to enlightenment.

The saintly mystic believed in equality centuries before it became fashionable and campaigned against the caste system, the worship of idols, fasting and diet restrictions. He was a practical guru – ‘a person who makes an honest living and

shares earnings with others recognizes the way to God’. He appointed his most

talented disciple to be his successor, not one of his sons.

Guru Nanak died in 1539, but his hymns are still sung every day in every Sikh temple, and his picture hangs in millions of homes, from humble farm cottages to the prime minister’s residence.

The train from Amritsar to Delhi will leave only at 5.00 pm; we went from restaurant to other restaurant to kill time and also took a rickshaw going around the market, perhaps we would see something interesting.

We reached Delhi at 11.30 pm. Home sweet home.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

The City Of Shiva, Varanasi previously called Benares.

(23^th Dec 2007 – 26^th Dec 2007)

Dear friends and family,

We would like to wish you all HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008. It may be a little bit too late but as you know that we weren’t around Delhi during the festivals end of the year 2007. Let me summarize about what we did during these two weeks.

We had Sandra and Christophe who came to visit us as well as India. Our first destination was Varanasi the Holy City. We took a train on 23^rd Dec 2007 to that city which we have known very little about it. As it shown it the photos and the interesting story behind it about the Hinduism, brought us there without to have a second thought.

The services in the train are divided in to two categories: they served food and never stop to serve chai, coffee and other drinks which I think the initiative is very good. But through all the cleanliness in general is very poor especially the toilets. The night seems so long and in the train it was hard to close the eyes as it was too cold. Funny thing with these Indians, they switched on the air conditioner while it was cold outside. We arrived at Varanasi train station the next day at 7.30 a.m. and at the train station, it is written in any travel books that the rickshaw-wallah always finds their way to cheat on the tourist. Well, some of us refused to believe what is written on the books as:

The predatory touts and rickshaw-wallahs in Varanasi pounce on visitors like starving tigers pouncing on a defenseless deer, and are the hassle that most travelers have to deal with. But Varanasi has a darker side and criminal element operates mainly around the airport, train station and bus station, so take extra care in these places.

Well, it did happen to us, when 4 of us tried to take 2 rickshaw-wallahs. When we didn't agree with their proposition to do a city trip with them, they had organized something behind us. What they tried to do was to separate us totally in a heavy city of Varanasi. Laurent and me, we were left at the fuel station, while Christophe and Sandra were left somewhere else. But at the end, we found each other at Assi Ghats with the help pf other rickshaw-wallahs.

It was 24^th Dec 2007, a Christmas Eve and most of the hotel were fully book. After trying and trying, at the end, we found one hotel which is next to the Haifa Hotel. We took a room on the roof top which has a small terrace. Sometime, came a cross my mind: what an idea to celebrate a Christmas in this city. It is so polluted.

About Varanasi:Varanasi, the city of Shiva, is one of the holiest cities in India. Hindu pilgrims come wash away all their sins in the Ganges. Varanasi was previously called Benares and Kashi (City of Life) and has always been as auspicious place to die, since expiring here offers moksha – liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The city is beating heart of the Hindu universe, a crossing place between the physical and spiritual worlds, and the Ganges is viewed as a river of salvation, an everlasting, ever flowing symbol of hope to past, present and future generations. The magical but sometimes overwhelming city where the most intimate rituals of life and death take place in public on the city’s famous ghats. The accessibility to the practices of an ancient but still living religious tradition is what captivates many visitors.
In the history, Varanasi has been a centre of learning and civilizationfor over 2000 years, and claims to be one of the oldest living cities in the world. Mark Twain wrote that ‘Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.’

Its history dates back to 1400 BC, but it was around 8^th century AD that Varanasi rose in prominence when Shankarach Shiva worship as the principal sect. The Afghans destroyed Varanasi around AD 1300, after laying waste to nearby Sarnath, but the fanatical Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was the most destructive, looting and destroying almost all of the temples. The old city of Varanasi may look antique, but few buildings are more than a couple of hundred years old.

Helping The Great Mother To Breathe Again: The Ganges River, or Great Mother as it is known to Hindus, provides millions of Indians with an important link to their spirituality. Every day about 60,000 people go down to the Varanasi ghats to take a holy dip along a 7km stretch of the river. Along this same area, 30 large sewers are continuously discharging into the river.

The Granges River is heavily polluted at Varanasi that the water is septic – no dissolved oxygen exists. The problem extends far beyond Varanasi – 400 million people live along the basin of the Ganges River. The pollution levels mean that waterborne diseases run rampant among many villages that use water from the river.

2 days, we walked along the Ganges ghats, we witnessed a lot of thing: people taking a bath in this river, children playing around, the women washing their laundries and also the dead body has been burned on the riverside. Life looks harmony even though in the unpleasant condition.

The city of Varanasi is a heavy city and there is no place where you can be alone. Sometime it is easier to take a rickshaw to move around and also easier to see most of the thing around us. We took the train back to Delhi on 26^th Dec 2007. The train was 2 hours late. We reached Delhi end of the day.

Big kiss from Delhi/Gros becs de Delhi

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Eid Ul-Adha

MINA during the haj.

Fascinated by a Christmas decoration in one of the biggest shopping mall in KL.

Hello everybody, it has been a long time since my last update on this blog. This period of the year, I guessed for each one of us must be very busy. By Oct and Nov, I was working and had no time at all to run my finger on my computer after working 8 hours a day. Then, I traveled back to Malaysia for two weeks. I can tell that it was awesome: ate to much, enjoyed the seafood and of course visited a shopping malls for shopping. What else can I say accept for my credit card had a high fever?

Forget about Malaysia for a while, now I’m back in Delhi and preparing for Idle and Christmas is just few days more. So, two celebrations are almost at the same time. In Malaysia, the idle celebration is today but India is always one day later and it will be tomorrow. I’m baking a cake to visit our friends at the Malaysian High Commission and also for a raclette dinner at our Swiss friends also tomorrow night. What a day?

Few months back, when I visited few gift shops in Delhi, I found so many interesting thing, but these two days, I went around in circle and I still don’t find what I want accept for the candles.

Alright people, we wish you all Happy Eid Ul-Adha for our Muslim friends and Merry Christmas to who celebrate it. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary

This is my surprise today for Laurent and Sarah. We had a small problem to find the place since that I didn’t allowed both of them to look at the map and finally we reached there, to the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary. It isn’t far from Delhi and it is nice to have a walk on Saturday or Sunday morning. We are happy to find this place which is not far from Delhi. I would recommend this Bird Sanctuary to all of friend who is living in Delhi to go and have a look. It is worth it.

About Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary.

Sultanpur Bird Sancturay is located in Gurgaon district of Haryana, about 50 km from Delhi and 15 km fom Gurgaon and the Gurgaon Farukh Nagar Road. This park is best visited in winters, when a large number of migratory birds come here. In the old map and district gazetteer of Gurgaon district, this area is shown as marshy land having a ‘salt pan’ where water accumulates during rains and dries our during summer. A number of organisms like crustaceans, fish and insects thrive during floods which attract a number of birds to this area. Its sanctuary potential was first identified by an enthusiastic bird watcher, Mr. Peter Jackson. He convinced Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, of the need for giving protection to this area keeping in view it’s importance and potential, the area covering 359 acres was declared a bird sanctuary in 1971 and was upgraded to the status of National Park in 1991 by Haryana Government.

Big Kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Incident at the airport.

We were at the Indira Gandhi International Airport last night, waiting for Stephanie and Oliver: the friends that we have met in Abuja, Nigeria. I was watching at the people on arrival hall and realized that among them, a lot of senior citizen from Europe. They have chosen this country (India) for their vacation. They looked tired after a long journey and at that moment, they had to wait for their luggage. The airport is smaller then what they thought: I had the same in my head when the first time, I arrived in New Delhi. The airport itself, isn’t really pleasant for one country who considered itself as a develop nation.

I look up on the ceiling; there I saw a lot of electric cable hanging around and I look down on the floor; some mark of the “panne” on it. I asked myself; when they will have a world class airport like what they said all the time while there is still a lot of thing has to be done starting from the mentality of the people.

I turned to the immigration counters and still there was no sign of Stephanie and Oliver. I look around the place, look at the people. After a while, I saw Laurent moving forward to the escalator to welcome our friends and at the same this one immigration officer asked me step back. I found that so ridiculous because Laurent and me are from the same Embassy and both of us having the same authorization batch. It was clear for me that was only about our skin color. Laurent is a white man and he is allowed to do what he wants while for me as an Asian there is a line I have to follow. Neither what I felt that time was the racisms are very much alive and it wasn’t the first time anyway nor the last. As long as I’m living in this country, I know that I will face this discrimination. The

It is hard to be in the place where you feel that you are not belong to and it is hard to face all these thing in your everyday life, and that you can’t integrate with the local people. I use to tell all of my friends and family who would like to come and visit us here and at the same to visit this magnificent pays about what they will face here: about how rude they can be, how arrogant they are most of the time, about their hygiene or most of the time about my opinion of this country. I do regret to tell the people about what is really happening here and I don’t like at all to do that but I think it is also can help other who wish to spend their time here for the next vacation. India is a very nice country which offered variety of culture and religion. From north to south, east to west: India is shown its different color of life.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Un petit souvenir avec Madame La Presidente

Well, luckily it is a long weekend here in India after receiving Mrs President and for us, I mean everyone at the Embassy feels tired after this visit. These three days is really to stay at home and take a rest. But for sure there will be some more event in the coming weeks.
The locals are celebrating the festival of light and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone whose celebrate this festival:

Best wishes on Diwali and New Year

On this auspicious occasion of lights. May each moment shine with peace and prosperity and leave behind wonderful memories, that assure happy days ahead.

Big Kiss from Ndh/Gros becs de Ndh

1st day of Mrs President visit to India

Mrs. Micheline Calmy-Rey - The President of Swiss Confederation.

These are parts of the program of her on her 1st day visit here in Delhi. On this afternoon, she and her delegation of 12 persons will make a trip to Hyderabad and will spend the night there.

Voici la partie du programme officiel de la premiere journee de la presidente de la confederation a New Delhi. Cette apres midi, Madame Calmy-Rey et sa delegation vont faire un voyage a Hyderabad et vont passer une nuit dans cette ville.


The Swiss flag made of flower was a wife of the ambassador creation. I guessed that she watch the Hindi movie that is why she knows how to roll on the grass ;-) or perhaps she take the courses with the Bollywood stars during their shooting in Switzerland....hihihi.

Le drapeau suisse fait avec des fleurs est la creation de la femme de notre ambassadeur. Je pense que Madame Calmy-Rey a bien regarde les films de Bollywood c'est pour cela et comme cela qu'elle a appris a faire des roulade dans l'herbe ;-) ou peut etre qu'elle a fait des cours lors de tournage de films indien dans nos alpes......hihihi.


Laurent had created something that I thought that it might not working at all and I have tried it. It is a wooden box with a small door and from that door the water should fall on the tree that Mrs President planted. It is such a small creation that made everybody smile:-). Anyone need this box for personal use, need to ask the right of the copyright.....hihihihi.

I hope my story from Delhi will beat all the journalist that has turned up at the embassy today.

Laurent a cree quelque chose que je ne pensait pas que ca fonctionnerait et j'ai quand meme pu l'essaye. C'est une boite en bois avec une petite porte qui s'ouvre apres avoir coupe un ruban et l'eau qui se trouve dans le reservoir coule au pied de l'arbre que Madame Calmy-Rey a plante. C'est juste une petite creation mais avec ca tout le monde a pu rire :-). Si quelqu'un a besoin de cette invention, il doit demander l'accord de Laurent pour le coptright......hihihi.

J'espere que cette histoire de Delhi arrivera plus vite que celles des journalistes present aujourd'hui a l'ambassade.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Dar Es Salaam

DAR ES SALAAM

‘………This is my first glimpse of Dar es Salaam…………a vast rippling blue-black lagoon and all around the rim of the lagoon there were pale yellow sandy beaches, almost white, and breakers were running up onto the sand, and coconut palms with their little green leafy hats were growing on the beaches, and there were casuarinas trees, immensely tall and breathtakingly beautiful…..And then behind the casuarinas was what seemed to me a jungle, a great tangle of tremendous dark-green trees that were full of shadows and almost certainly teeming….with rhinos and lions and all manner of vicious beasts. Over to one side lay the tiny town of Dar es Salaam, the houses white and yellow and pink, and among the steeple and a doomed mosque and along the waterfront there was a line of acacia trees splashed with scarlet flowers…..’

(from Going Solo by Roald Dahl)

Dar Es Salaam has come a long way since the late 1930s when Roald Dahl first glimpsed it. With a population of over two million and on area of more than 1350 sq km, it is Tanzania’s major city, capital in everything but name, and one of the least likely places in the country for sighting rhino or lion.

However, despite its sizes, Dar is pleasant city with a picturesque seaport, a vaguely oriental feel, and much of its colonial character still intact. While there’s not much to actually do, there are enough historical building, attractive nearby beaches, shops and good restaurants especially on the fast developing Msasani Peninsula – to keep most visitors busy for at least several days.

Big Kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Celebrating Eid-ul Fitr.

Well this year, I’m happy that we could celebrate the Eid-ul Fitr and tried to make it much more alive like we have in Malaysia. On Sunday 14^th Oct, we were invited at the Malaysian High Commission for an Open House or in another version is “eat as much as you can”. Ada rendang, and other rendang and biscuits, and a lot of other foods, they also had the ketupat (sticky rice in the coconut leaf). Feels like at home but sometime, even we celebrate at home we don’t receive a lot of people at the same time.

We had an Open House at home on Tuesday 16^th Oct and we invited everyone from the Malaysian High Commission, few friends from the French Embassy, all the Swiss staff from Swiss Embassy including the Ambassador and his wife and all of the friends working with the NGO in India. It is ‘Meriah’ (hilarious) like in Malaysia. The advantage is, I cooked only one time, and it is enough for everyone, (I mean more than enough). At the end, it is just about fun and the most important thing is to share it with everyone, and it is the same with other celebration: eating…drinking and chatting and laughing at the same time we also thought about our family, without them, the celebration will never be the same.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA KEPADA SEMUA, DAN MAAF ZAHIR BATIN

HAPPY EID FOR ALL AND I SEEK THE FORGIVENESS, PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALY

Big Kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH.

Stone Town - Zanzibar

27th - 29th August 2007

STONE TOWN - ZANZIBAR

The Old Stone Town of Unguja is a fascinating place to wander around and get lost in, though you can’t really get lost for too long because you will end up either on seafront or on Creek Rd. Nevertheless, every twist and turn of the narrow alleyways will present you with something of interest – be it a school full of children chanting verses from the Quran, a beautiful old mansion with over hanging verandas, a shady square studded with huge old trees, a collection of quaint little hole-in-the-wall shops, or a gaggle of women in bui bui (veils) sharing a jake and some local gossip.

Much of the fabric of this historic place has fallen into disrepair and you’ll see a lot of crumbled and crumbling buildings as you walk around. Fortunately, a determined effort is now being made to restore some of Stone Town’s more important architecture.

While a large part of attraction of Stone Town is walking around and simply letting it unfold before you.

RELIGION.

Most of Zanzibaris are Sunni Muslims. Zanzibaris claiming direct descent from Omanis follow Ibadhism. Christians comprise barely 1% of the population. There is also a small Hindu community.

Big kiss from NDH / Gros becs de NDH

SELAMAT HARI RAYA UNTUK SEMUA.

"Happy Eid" or "Selamat Hari Raya" to all ; family and friend. Maaf Zahir batin "I seek forgiveness (from you) physically ans spiritually". Kalau makan rendang tu, ingat-ingatlah orang yang jauh macam kita ni. Harap-harap tahun hadapan kita dapat balik kampung bagi merayakan hari yang mulia ini....(macam pernah dengar jer).

Lets me explain a little about Hari Raya.
Hari Raya Aidilfitri (also Hari Raya Puasa, literally "Fasting Day of Celebration") is the Malay Term for the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr. Hari Raya is also known as Lebaran. Muslims in Malaysia and Singapore celebrate Eid like other Muslims throughout the world. The term "Hari Raya" literally means "Day of celebration" -- it is also occasionally used to refer to Eid ul-Adha in the form of "Hari Raya Aidiladha". The main greeting used by Muslims in Malaysia and Singapore is "Selamat Hari Raya" which means "Happy Eid" in Malay. Another greeting is "maaf zahir dan batin" which translates loosely to "I seek forgiveness (from you) physically and spiritually" for Hari Raya is a time to reconcile and renew relationships with others.

Big Kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

The Maasai

Haiiiii...kena bayar RM180 pasal nak ambik gambar dengan dia orang ni. Mahalkan? Kat sini semuanya mahal. As we were curious about how the Maasai can live with the wild animals, we decided to visit one of the village around Ngorongoro Crater, but everything is not for free. We had to pay at least some certain amount that already fixed; no bargain....hihihihi. Another thing for the tourist to see but has to pay. There was a group of Italian group arrived right after us and obviously they didn't want to pay but has taken the photos for free. What happened was, the Maasai got angry and started to stone toward them until they had to leave immediately. Sometime, it is worth it to pay and just follow what the guide says.

About the Maasai.
Travelers in northern Tanzania are almost certain to meet some Maasai, one of the region's most colorful tribes. The Maasai are pastoral nomads who have actively resisted change, and today still follow the same lifestyle that they have for centuries. Their culture centers around their cattle, which provide many of their seeds - milk, blood and meet for their diet, and hide skins for clothing - although sheep and goats also play and important dietary role, especially during the dry season. The land, cattle and all elements related to cattle are considered sacred.

Maasai society is patriarchal and highly decentralized. Elders meet to decide on general issues but ultimately it is the lives of cattle which dominate proceedings. One of the most important features of Maasai society is its system of social stratification based on age. Maasai boys pass through a number of transitions through out life, the first of which is marked by the circumcision rite. Successive stages include junior warriors, senior warriors, junior elders and senior elders; each level is distinguished by its own unique rights, responsibilities and dress. Junior elders for example, are expected to marry and settle down somewhere between the ages of 30 and 40. Senior elder assume the responsibility of making both wise and moderate decisions for the community. The most important group is that of the newly initiated warriors, Moran, who are charged with defending the cattle herds.

Maasai women play a markedly subservient role and have no inheritance rights. Polygamy is widespread and marriages are arranged by the elders, without consulting the bride or her mother. Since most women are significantly younger that men at the time of marriage, they often become widows; remarriage is rare.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Safari in Tanzania from 22nd August - 27th August 07

Tarangire National Park ~ Day 1. We arrive from Dar es Salaam to Arusha early in the morning and the travel agent proposed us to do Tarangire Park to kill the time and of course we agreed. When we reached to the park there were a lots of people already.

About Tarangire National Park.
Tarangire is a beautiful area stretching south-east of Lake Manyara around the Tarangire River. During the dry season, particularly between August and October, it has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife of any of the country's park. Large herds of zebra, wildebeest and elephant can be found here until October when the short wet season allows them to move on to lush new grasslands. Eland, lesser kudu, gazelle, giraffe, water buck, impala, and the occassional leopard or rhino can be seen at Tarangire year-around. The park is also very good for bird watching, with over three hundred different species recorded. For ornithologists and birdwatchers, the best time to visit is between October and May.

Bordering Tarangire to the north-east is the Tarangire Wildlife Conservation Area, which was created to address the varying needs of local conservation projects in the area. Visitors can enjoy walking safaris here while local villagers - who have set aside some of their land for the project - benefit directly from tourist revenue and remain involved in management of the conservation area.


NGORONGORO CRATER ~ Day 2 and 3 We arrive at Ngorongoro Crater late in the afternoon and we have the view like in picture above in front of us while we are on the way to hotel. It is just so beautiful and the weather is cold. We stay 2 nights in Ngorongoro but in two different hotels.

About Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa's best known wildlife-viewing areas and one of Tanzania's most visited. At about 20 km wide it is also one of the largest calderas in the world. Within its walls are a variety of animals and vegetation, including grasslands, swamps, forests, salt pans and a freshwater lake. You are likely to see lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and many of the plains herbivores such as wildebeest, Thomson's gazelle, zebra and reed buck, as well as thousands of flamingos wading in the shallows of Lake Magadi, the soda lake at crater's base.

Despite its steep walls, there's considerable movement animals in and out of the crater - mostly to the Serengeti, since the land between the crater and Lake Manyara is intensively famed. Yet it remains a favored spot for wildlife because there's permanent water and grassland on the crater floor.

The animals don't have the crater to themselves. Local Maasai tribes have grazing rights and you may come across them tending their cattle. During the German Colonial era there were two settler' farms in the crater; you can still see one of the huts.


SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK ~ Day 4
It has been the whole day we are in the park. Kind of a tired a little by counting the gazelles, they are all along the way that we take. From time to time, I fall to sleep; I am not counting the mutton but the gazelle.

About Serengeti National Park.
Serengeti, which covers 14,763sq km and is contiguous with the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, is Tanzania's largest and most famous national park. On its vast treeless plains are several million hoofed animals, constantly on the move in search of fresh grassland. The wildebeest, of which there are up to two million, is the chief herbivore and also the main prey of large carnivores such as lion and hyena.

One of the Serengeti's biggest attractions is the annual migration of wildebeest herds in search of better grazing. During the rainy season between March and May, the herds are widely scattered over the southern section of the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. As these areas have few large rivers and streams, they dry out quickly when the rains cease. When this happens, the wildebeest concentrate on the few remaining green areas, forming large herds which more north and west in search of food. The wildebeest spend the dry season in these parts of the Serengeti, only moving back east in anticipation of the rains.

The best time to see the wildebeest migration in the Western Corridor of the Serengeti is between May and July, although the actual viewing window can be short. The Serengeti is also famous for its lions, many of which have collars fitted with transmitters so their movements can be studied and their location tracked. It's also known for its cheetah and large herds of giraffe.


Lake Manyara National Park ~ (Day 5).
We end up our safaris here at Lake Manyara. What a nice trip and we really had fun.

About Lake Manyara National Park.
The serene and beautiful Lake Manyara National Park is often underrated in tourist literature; many visitors are surprised by how nice the park really is. in addition to its peaceful setting, Manyara's main attractions are its rich bird life, its tree climbing lions and its hippos, which you can see at closer range here than at most other places. There are also a fair number of elephants although the population has been declining in recent years. The park, which lies between 900m and 1800m above the sea level, is bordered to the west by dramatic western escarpment of the Rift valley. To the east is the alkaline Lake Manyara which at certain times of year hosts thousands of flamingos, as well as a diversity of other bird life and a substantial hippo population. Depending on the season, about two-thirds of the park's total 330sq km area is covered by the lake. Although Manyara is one of the smallest parks, its vegetation is diverse, ranging from savanna to marshes and acacia woodland, enabling it to support a variety of wildlife habitats.

Arusha.
There we are enjoying our local food; Ugali which made from maizes flour, served with a local spinach and lamb brochettes. Just love it....

About Arusha.
Arusha is a northern city Tanzania surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks. Beautifully situated below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, it has a pleasant climate and is close to Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Oldurai Gorge, Tarangire National Park, and Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as having its own Arusha National Park on Mount Meru.
Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH