The Pulse of Rio

Tourism is very relative.  What people from Germany love, the French might dislike. The Aussies have a different choice when in Bali, that of only drinking and the Americans may do some actual sightseeing with the drinking.

Brazil and India are members of BRICS, which stands for, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. I think within this union, Brazil and India have more close relations in terms of people than the communist China and Russia. Brazil and India . Rio and Mumbai!

Sunny beaches with tropical weather(India without the women),  friendly people  or the multiethnic culture that the two have are a few from the many similarities that we share. This might be the reason that, I as an Indian traveler didn’t find Brazil and especially the city of Rio de Janeiro too different to explore. The past three years of coming to South America and the equation with Brazil has gone to 5 nights in 2010 to only one night in 2014.

As in India we say, Mumbai has not much sightseeing to do like its counterpart New Delhi(yes I personally hate our capital), but a pulse to feel. Only few do feel it and the once who do, want to come back or stay longer.

Christ the Redeemer is the solo-pulling factor to a lot of Indians that travel to South America. That’s the only reason I need to keep Rio in the tour to South America. Well that is what I thought until yesterday.

Last night I asked the Doorman in broken Spornish(Spanish Portuguese) at the hotel in Rio, “Donde es muito bom lugar para comer”, Which might have sounded to him like “where good place to eat is”. To which he said something in his native tongue and pointed me to a direction, “-----dos quadras, derecha----”, I only got two blocks to the right and that was enough from the many words he spoke. It was drizzling a bit and from a distance I could see the words, ‘boitego informao’, which literally meant drinking informally and that’s what I did for the next 2 hrs.

I don’t know whether it was the Caprinha, the local cocktail with vodka/rum cane sugar, soda and lime, or whether it was the two old ladies that were hitting on me, or the three young ones who chose to say ‘I don’t speak English or Spanish’ or the waiter who kept on talking to me about my trip in South America, but that night I felt something in that informal atmosphere.

As the sound of the rain out, mixed with the voices of locals in the bar, I suddenly felt it, I felt the pulse of Rio. The famous Copa Cabana with all those chiseled bodies, the top tourist attractions together didn’t make up for the night in Boitega Infarmao!

 When I walked back to the hotel, (actually it was more of a run), I knew I would stay longer the next time when I come back. For the first time I fell in love with Rio, Brazil!



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Patagonia - al sur del Americas

The Andes are beautiful. They run almost through the entire American South, making a natural border between Argentina and Chile. To the South of South America is Patagonia. A magical region encompassing the majestic Andes, where the foot hills are full of pastures to the North and Glaciers cover most of the south. I have heard stories about Patagonia, have touched only the Northern and Southern extremes of this region. The more the Patagonian air goes into my lungs, the more my mind wanders in its interiors.

I have seen the Glaciers in Antarctica and I have walked the green pastures in the foothills of the Himalayas. Somehow I feel Patagonia is an amalgamation of the two. I have eaten with people in Buenos Aires and had a drink or two with my guide in Santiago. But, somehow I feel the Southern Region of Chile and Argentina doesn’t belong to any country. It is just Patagonia!

Every time I travel to this continent I see the extremes it has to be felt. I love the feel of cold on my skin more than sweat and I am waiting for Patagonia to grow on me.

There are no people to be seen for kilometers together they say. No sound to be heard, other than the river making its way to either side of the Andes, to the Pacific in Chile or the Atlantic in Argentina. The odd ranch with horses running wild or the Alpaca sheep feeding on the grass bed which looks like its been moved over just yesterday. These scenes I can only imagine and as I do the feeling only grows. The feeling to get lost and stay that way for some time, till maybe I get found by a cracking glacier. Do you know the noise that it makes ?

On a day trip in the Northern Patagonia in Argentina, my guide told the people to get down from the coach and stay calm for a moment. To feel the nature she said. They all got down with a camera! I saw a soul however drifting in the distance, and I knew he felt it. Sometimes I feel happy when my people understand what I mean to show. It is beautiful when that moment comes, the moment of connection.

It is distant and you know it exists, but you cant work it out. To connect with nature comes naturally and sometimes there is no guarantee that it comes at all. 

The only thing that I can do is spend good amount of time in it.

In my last 20 days of travel in South America I only remember 2 -3 distinct moments. I remember a lot of scenes, but moments only few. Sometimes a whole tour goes by and the moment never comes. I know it wont happen in Patagonia though.

I hope finally when I do walk in Patagonia’s vast interiors, I will have few scenes to remember but more moments to feel!

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The Peruvian Amazon

In 2010 when I was planning my first trip to the South American continent, the Amazon,  I knew had to be shown to the people. So like all tour organizers, I landed in Manaus, Brazil on one 38 deg C afternoon. From air, 15 mins before landing all I could see was the vast green land. ‘The Amazon jungle is here’, I heard one of my tourists exclaim. However the last 10 minutes before landing got into picture a different kind of a jungle. The Concrete Jungle.

The next day our guide took us from the port of Manaus on the Amazon river to see the confluence of the white and the black Amazon river and that’s all I can remember from that first trip. No Jungle!

When I reached home I struggled to understand when people from around the world spoke about the Amazon, what exactly did they mean?

It took me one more trip to figure out the difference between the Amazon River and the Amazon Jungle. The river only passes through Brazil while the jungle is spread out between Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia and off course Brazil.

If not Manaus in Brazil, then what was the question? Peru had by then already become my favourite country in the continent and I wanted my people to experience the jungle there. 

As I write today waking up to the sounds of the morning birds and to faint voices from the adjacent cabins of people saying, ‘what a beautiful place’. I look back and thank Manaus for being so ugly. It was only due to the absolute and complete hatred of Manaus, was I able to search for Puerto Maldonado and the river Madre de Dios (mother of god). The river is the largest tributary of the Amazon from Peru, and the jungle is much easily accessed and lower in latitude than the Brazilian Amazon which is right on the equator.

The Inkaterra Amazonica 

Our stay for two nights in the Inkaterra Amazonica, in the Peruvian Amazon is the closest I could get my people to living in the Amazon. The lodge has a touch of luxury, which essentially means catering to the vegetarian meal requests, more hours of electricity and 2 guides for my group, which has more +60 yr olds. The cabins are very neat and have the skeleton of wood and the skin of a mesh to protect from mosquitoes.

The afternoons are hot and humid and that’s the only time you wish for some city comforts. Last year it rained during my stay here and although the activities were held back, it felt pleasant to just watch the rain from the comforts of the viewing deck. This time around the weather was perfect for the activities. By activities if one thinks of the Amazon as a place to watch Animals then it’s not about that. Birds and reptiles maybe, yes, but more than anything it is about the feeling. To experience the walks in the rain forest where only 5% of sunlight reaches the ground. The boating in the night under the clear sky with a million stars. The crossing of one tree to another, on a canopy, at a height of 30 mtrs above ground and stopping in between, the swaying bridge to take a moment and look around you.

The Canopy 50 mtrs above ground

The activities happen during the day and till 7 pm, but it is the experience of sleeping to the sounds of the jungle that I love only second to be woken up by the   sounds of the dawn. The sleep is not continuous and somewhere in the night you realize that you need to go under the sheet not due to the mosquitoes but the sudden chill in the air. The wake up call is early with a 100 birds clearing their throats with the first rays of sun.

Today I check out of the Inkaterra Amazonica but I woke up with the same smile as I had last morning. I don’t have to wait for a year to get back to the Peruvian Amazon.

October would be different than the two April’s that I have experienced here.


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Antartica, The Expedition - Landing on Almirante Brown 20th Feb, 2014

The earlier night, we were already briefed on the ‘Landings’ for the 20^th February. There were two landings on a single day and that was the first time ever, since we entered the continental waters.  

The landings in the morning were scheduled from 0900 hrs and those in the afternoon were from 1600 hours. Everyone was now a master of the drill of breakfast – Lectures/ landings – lunch – more lectures/landings – dinner. I could feel that we didn’t even need the announcements to call us to Deck 2, to get in our shoes and life jacket. The Fram’s policy was to give each group out of the seven assigned an equal chance of landing first on the site. It was the chance of group number 6 that morning.

The expedition team went first on land and made a path for the passengers. The Almirante Brown was a small Argentinian base station we were told and had a resident population of 10 – 12 engineers and scientists. From the Fram’s observation deck we could see our expedition leaders wearing red overall’s trekking up a tiny little summit of about 1000 ft. Some of the passengers who saw the two human figures walking at an angle of nearly 60 deg up, exclaimed ‘this is crazy who will walk up there, in all that snow’. There was place only for a few to stand at the highest point of the summit, which was a rock face. In the next few minutes I could already see that the summit is going to be crowded with blue jackets, as the people from group 6 and already begin the ascent in the distance.

To the summit of Almirante Brown

You should slide all the way down, said a woman in her late sixties, as she got back into the ship. I could sense the child like excitement in her voice. She was from Canada and probably did slide down such a height when she was in her teens. I on landing, didn’t wait to talk to the base station residents like I did, when I was at the Chilean base station, and headed straight for the summit. It was not as tough as it looked from the ship. The people sliding down included some of my tourists and I was happy to see them enjoy the snow. The view however kept on getting beautiful as I gained altitude and I decided to just lie down in the snow for a while and take in the surroundings. I could see a lone figure on the top of the summit. It was really narrow up there and after some rethinking I decided to go all the way up.

I don’t know how long I stayed up there. For the first time I didn’t feel like leaving. There were only two of us on the top and we didn’t have a camera. We just stared into the vastness, I saw a smile on her face, and I knew she did on me too. I knew she felt the same way as I did. I knew she said to herself, ‘this is Antartica!’

Before the American’s tried to come up with a digicam in their hands, we decided to leave the top. It was a smooth slide down, which at times felt exciting enough to make us shout. By the time I reached the base, there was snow in my pants. I let that be and just took some time more on the clean snow.  Scotch with glacier ice was a thing some people had done before. I didn’t have the scotch with me, but the snow from the sky made up for it. It felt high enough.

View from the summit, my Antarctica moment!

When I got back to the ship, I felt peace. I felt like I could go back today to Argentina as I had already reached the moment.

The second landing was at Neko Harbour. I don’t know why it was called that. There were more Penguins there than any other landing site. I saw what the instructor meant on day one, as I saw a male penguin picking one stone at a time to build his nest. By this time I was not too excited in taking the ‘penguin pictures’ and so I just saw them doing their thing.

It was sometime during the dinner that we heard the captains voice for the first time on the speaker since the welcome note.

 “We have bad news for you, there has been a medical emergency on the ship. We have tried getting help from helicopter but the bad weather wont let it land till the next two days, so we have decided to sail back to Ushuaia”.  A post briefing about the next day was cancelled and was replaced by a meeting of all passengers with the captain on the observation deck. People were really disappointed that they had to cut their trip a day short. I wasn’t worried about that. I was just happy that I felt Antarctica that day. 

Antarctica, The Expedition - Sailing The Willheimina Bay, 19th Feb 2014.

I woke up with the sun shining on my face. ‘A very good morning’, my room mate exclaimed. The landings for today were scheduled after lunch and in the morning the MV Fram was going to make its way crossing the 64.5 deg south latitude to  an Island

No lectures in the morning and no landings, I thought to myself it would be a rather dull morning with just the sailing. But then as I got to the breakfast deck with wider views I realized that this is probably the Antarctica of pictures. With huge floating ice bergs and glaciers running down to the sea, the sight was to be only enjoyed from outdoor. Going outdoor meant wearing the layers but then the sun was shining and the guys standing out didn’t have their ears covered. That’s a good sign I thought. The fact that we were no longer sailing but just cruising around the bay area was a good thing to see the surroundings at slower speeds.

It was indeed a perfect morning !

With just two upper layers I stepped out and into a dream. Glaciers, Icebergs and the blue sky reflecting on the clear ocean waters full of small sheets of broken ice, made for the Antarctica picture everyone wanted. Enter the whales, and the glaciers were put on the side. I could only hear continuous shots being clicked till the tail would come out of the giant ‘humpback whale’. Most of the ones taking pictures from the sun deck had Digital SLR’s with a fancy lens. Some of them I learnt had bought a new camera just before this trip. A lady, who knew what I did for a living, said ‘sometimes its good even for you to be a tourist’.  It was true, the Antartctic nature was in its full glory in the morning sunlight and the voice on the loudspeaker kept on talking about how beautiful the weather is today. As my partner had said in the morning it was indeed a beautiful morning. A morning where I think I took some 200 odd pictures.. I am saying, coz I know when I edit, I will be only left with 40 or 50 of them.

The captain gave us ample amount of time to soak in the surroundings. Frankly I feel that the eager souls in us wanted to know, what next? So, when the cruise finally started to sail again, we all retired to the coffee lounge. I did what I like the most, to dig myself into the map of today’s sailing. We were at 64.2 deg South, and that’s the southernmost we had been. The landing for the day was at 1430 hrs and at 64.5 deg south at Cuverville island.

The lunch was taking its toll and as our group was the last for landing, all my tourists went to their cabins for a nap. I usually only went to my room when I wanted something and sleep was something that I wanted to avoid. So I stayed out and read a little more about the Chilean Base station that we had visited the day earlier.  Though I did catch myself dozing off, until the speaker used to come alive with a landing announcement.

The Glaciers, Icebergs and the clear Antarctic waters!

It was soon our turn to land and this was the first time we saw the ice bergs pass us at eye level. The mass of ice, feels much bigger and majestic from the sea level. There were more Penguins promised for today’s landing and the strong odour of Penguin poo was already in the air 100 meters from the landing site. As we touched base, the snow had the green/yellow coloration everywhere. Ok enough of the poo – pee talk. We were the last to arrive on Cuverville island. I knew, I would not be staying for long and would take the few pictures with the Fram and icebergs together. On the previous two landings,I had not taken the zoom lens which I did on the Cuverville island. The Chinstrap penguins had their colony on the first landing at half moon island, while our third landing was ruled by the Gentu Penguins. The only difference was the orange beak that the later had to the black one of chinstrap. The Gentu seemed a little more excited, not about us being there but in general. The Chinstrap were walking at a steady pace, while the penguins on Cuvervilled island kept running around, most of it, I thought was just play.

I got back to the ship in 30 minutes. It was more like, I went I clicked and I returned! It was already 1800 hours and on that evening, I think I was more hungry than the previous ones. I was happy to see a Norwegian buffet lined up for that night. The Captains table was a little more alive I should say. Although the Norwegians I know try to keep everything simple, including their facial expression when they are happy, that night the food spoke from the Captains table. The captain was from my most loved place in Norway, the Lofoten Islands.

Antarctica The Expedition – The landings – King George Island 18th Feb 2014.

Getting used to something as beautiful as the glaciers, meant they drew less and less attention with only a few cameras coming up to catch the magical blue. I later learnt that blue is got to do with the amount of air trapped in the ice. The lesser the air the more the color, the more the color, the older the mass of ice, be it Glacier or an odd Ice Berg floating by.

We had a landing planned at 0930 hrs on our second day in the continental waters. The map of the South Shetland Islands was provided the earlier night to each cabin to which I had not really given a second look. But as the morning unfolded I could see what each one of the little orange dots on the islands meant. The King George Island has Frie landing base of Chile. Next to it is a Russian research station. With lots of penguins the day earlier, it was now to spot humans. I got into the drill of stepping in and out of the zodiac boat with the layers and the life jacket, which had taken less time than earlier to get into.

The Chilean Base station Frei

I could see the Chilean flag 100 meters from the landing site and the Russian Orthodox Church with its onion dome in the distance on a tiny hill. Humans wearing different colors than the blue that we were wearing meant that they were the ones staying at the base.

In August 2013, I had been to the north at a latitude of 78.5 deg where a Russian mining town had the same look as the Russian base station that was in front of me at 64 deg south. Grey and light colors were prominent as in all communist towns of Russia.  The Chilean’s however had a brighter tone to there make shift cabins and buildings.

I wasn’t really eager to get into the structures, but it was like all roads lead to the church, and so the Chilean church was first to be visited. It was summer in Antarctica and they were mending the structure. It was obvious that the next one would be the Russian Orthodox Church on the adjacent hill. I had Carlos to give me company up to the next corner. He spoke to me about his last one year on the base, of which I could only pick a few basic Spanish words. When we differed our tracks, It was more like he dropped me to the border between Chile and Russia and said ‘enjoy your time on the other side’.  There are no borders at least here in Antarctica, thankfully.

The Russian Orthodox Church 

The highlight of the visit to the base station was a Chilean navy station. I saw some residents clearing snow, the others working in a garage and for a moment it felt like any other town on a regular continent. It was still snowing with temperatures of below freezing point. Unlike the penguins who I thought didn’t like our company so much, the Chileans loved chatting with the tourists on the cruise and they even offered some of us who could converse a little in Spanish a tour or their main building. The chef called us for some coffee later. I had to buy the wine from the store, with the Antarctica sticker as a souvenir.

The wet suits that Naval officers wear!

It was good to see fellow humans living in such inhospitable conditions. The nationalities just disappear when you are in Antarctica. We were all, just humans!

I got back to the Fram and was surprised to see the Chilean navy officers being shown around the ship. They had the same look on their face, as we had when we were on their base. I smiled and got back to reading the program for the next day.

Antarctica, The Expedition - Landing on South Shetland Islands 17th Feb, 2014

Each zodiac raft has 8 people and the first words that I heard from land were, ‘finally we are here’. To touch ground in Antartica was a dream some of the people had for the last many years. Including one of my tourists, who said, its been forty years and today I have finally come!

First steps on Land!

It was BIG, I thought to myself. It humbled me to realize that I will be coming here again.  The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators or the IAATO had a pre landing mandatory briefing for each one of us. We were informed about the things that had to be taken care of when walking on land. Of the regular precautions like not littering or smoking, the unique one was about the Penguin Highway. The Penguins move from the sea shore to their colony’s inland and in doing so follow only one track over and over again. If we were to encounter such a track or highway, then the animals had the first right to passage. We were just visitors in the land which they called home. The other instruction was about not picking up any stones or pebbles from the landing sites. The penguins build their nests with these stones and if the humans continued to use them as sovenirs from Antarctica then they wouldn’t be any left for the nests. It made me step back a little and realize about how every small thing we do against nature can  turn out to be big in the long run.

The Glaciers under the drifting clouds

With all of the IAATO instructions firmly embedded in our minds we set on our first ice walk in Antarctica. The penguins were still on the other side and it did seem like the end of world. The tourists, all wearing the blue wind proof jacket must’ve looked the same to the penguins.

The strong scent of the penguin poo makes sure that one doesn’t linger around for a long time and leaves after the first few pictures. Its like one of those natural in built defense mechanisms that animals have against their predetors.

I took some time off and watched the penguins walk on the penguin highway. We were given a time to return so I did what I was told, like I expect my people to do on any of my tours. Yes I felt like an absolute tourist and I guess I was liking it, here in Antarctica.

The Chinstrap Penguins on Half Moon Island

The half moon island was the first landing sight. It was also the sight where the Kayakers were going to do some rowing. However the winds would’ve toppled them over is what the instructors felt and therefore there was no other activity on the 17^th February. Well the campers and the Kayakers weren’t complaining as like the others they too had set foot on the continent for the first time.

As the two nights before and many later, that night too my dinner was all about fish. The food, the informative lectures and the general ambience on the MV FRAM, had started to make me more open to the whole idea of cruising. It was comfortable, very comfortable to look at the huge glaciers from the comfort of the observation deck. Every now and then I looked at the old documentaries playing in the mini theatre about the first expedition to the north and the south poles. Well, that wasn’t certainly comfortable. We however owed our little Antarctica expedition to those explorers in the early 1900’s. 

It was Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole in 1911,  on a ship call the Fram. That night in my sleep the pictures from that expedition kept on passing by me. 102 years ago, I thought, these waters were tamed by humans. I was happy they belonged to Norway!

Antartica, The Expedition - On The MV Fram, crossing The Drake Passage

At 1800 hrs on the 15^th Feb as per schedule, our ship the MV FRAM set out from the ‘End of the worlds’ port, on a nine-day classic expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. . We were promptly checked in after which each of us had to attend a safety drill that was performed by a crewmember. The crew on the Fram is interestingly all Filipino, with only the expedition guides and navigation crew being European. 

I have always been against cruise tourism, but this was Antartica and that was the only way to get there.  The first hours of sailing were easy and at times it didn’t feel as if we were moving. We had spent the last 48 hours in more or less travelling from Mumbai 20 deg above the equator to Ushuaia 56 deg below it, so after fighting sleep for about 4 hours before dinner I gave in instantly on assuming the 180 deg position in my cabin. It must be around 4 am when suddenly I realized that I was moving in bed and I knew that this it. The Drake Passage is where the three huge oceans, Pacific, Atlantic and the Antarctic start to converge. The distance between the northern tip where we must be at 4 am Argentinian time to the southern end of the passage is around 36 hours of travelling at around 15 knots per hour.

As breakfast was served I already could hear mumbles of ‘oh I don’t feel like eating’ ,or ‘I want to just go and lie in my bed’. I thought I was coping quiet well to the sea, but then I realized that we were having a very calm passage at 2 – 3 deg of danger, which meant nothing. Its good that it stayed that way mostly to the convergence. Some good lectures about Antarctica helped the passing of time. The expedition leaders kept on talking about how lucky this sailing was as they had experienced waves of 20 mtrs in the last crossing. So much so that even the staff was sick.

                                                                  The MV FRAM

                                                

The Fram has a beautiful observation deck with high-end binoculars and a not so expensive bar to give company. Sometime on the 17^th Feb in the distant fog someone shouted ‘land’ . This was it.. we had finally arrived in the continent. The GPS read 63 deg south latitude and we were somewhere on the periphery of the South Shetland Islands. The announcements that happened at regular intervals about the daily program mentioned that our first landing was going to be at 1430 hours on the half moon island. We were divided in groups for the landing to make the going out and getting in more convenient. Our group was no 2. And we were scheduled to make the landing at 1500 hours. The voice on the mic said ‘it is now + 1 deg centigrade but with a wind speed of close to 45 m/s it feels more like – 3 deg centigrade. Warm layers consumed most of the ‘bag space’,so we were quiet ready with the clothes. The footwear was assigned to us by the cruise with a minimum fee.

We were already assigned the rubber boots 2 hours before the landing. The disembarkation was to be from deck 2, the boots had to be hung next to your cabin number on the same deck.

As the landing announcements started with group 1, I started to get into the layers. It took me less time than it takes in Norway in winter. Wearing the life jacket took the same amount of time as the layers and I was out on the zodiac boat with the cold Antarctic air in my lungs.

It felt good even with my eyes closed, as I was the one directly taking the wind on my face. I didn’t look up until I heard ‘iceberg’. Somewhere in that little ride to the shore everyone including myself realized that the next few days are going to be different. Unlike anything we had done before. This land was unlike any place I had been before. It was Antarctica!

Antarctica, The Expedition - To Ushuaia first!

When I started to understand that travel is going to be ‘the thing’, it was still the continental Europe that my extremes stretched to. In September of 2010, I was asked to arrange a trip to South America, and my immediate response was, no! I am not ready yet!  I did however find myself with 7 elderly, eager tourists walking on the streets of Buenos Aires that September. Twenty days later on my departure from Sao Paolo, Brazil, there was something I realized.  The fear of venturing into an unknown country, in this case also a continent, had started to diminish.

There has been a lot that has transpired geographically and more on a psychic level since 2010. However, not in my wildest of imaginations that I ever think that the February of 2014 would get me to travel to the 7^th continent, Antarctica!

This time it was a group of fourteen that I had with me on the voyage. We had to first board the flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, the southernmost town in Argentina. The southern region of Argentina is known as Patagonia and though we travel to the centre of Patagonia in our tours to this continent, I hadn’t been this further south before. In the town of Ushuaia.

                                                                        Ushuaia

Apart from its title ‘Fin del Mundo’ which means ‘End of the world’, it is famous for being the boarding point for the 7 – 8 cruise companies making their sailings to Antarctica every summer from November to early March.  The Andes mountain range starts from around Ushuaia and the majestic snow covered mountains promise an ideal landing setting around the Ushuaia airport.

Ushuaia has all the right elements to make it very touristy along with the travel agencies, cruise company offices, restaurants and souvenir shops. We were left to our own after being picked up from the Airport by the cruise company, Hurtigruten. Most of the restaurants around town have a crab displayed not only in their menu but also on the name board. So it was obvious what we had for lunch on our pre sailing day, CRAB!

                                                   The worlds southermost Post Office!

MS Fram, a cruise ship would be our home for the next 10 days from the 15^th Feb. The Drake Passage is some three to four hundred nautical miles area around the convergence of the Antarctic, Pacific and the Atlantic oceans where the sea gets choppy with waves rising to 50 ft at times. The ships have an index of sea waves with 1 being the lowest with normal winds wave height and 10 being a hurricane kind of a situation.  There is a lot of talk that I had heard about getting past the Drake. The next 36 hours would reveal how much of a ‘sea appetite’ I really had.

                                              The Fram(red) docked at the Ushuaia Port

Our guide on arrival in Ushuaia said, Fram is a beautiful ship. Actually a lot of people I met said the same. We boarded the ship at 1500 hours and it was true, all the things they said about the Fram. It was classy .. and very Norwegian. As I settled in one of the more comfortable chairs in the lounge deck, I looked at the sea and thought .. In 36 hours I would be in Antartica!

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The Myanmar Norway connection

In the North of Norway, way back in 2010 as I looked at the maddening scenery in front of me, I heard a voice. ‘This is like the south of New Zealand’ then one more, ‘maybe even better’. 

People, as in travelers often make comparisons in what they see when they travel. Some of them who travel a lot, often speak about a beach in Turkey being similar to the one they saw in Brazil, or a mountain in Chile similar to the one they saw in New Zealand. But, what I don’t hear and come across is the people comparison. Maybe because the travelers, who are busy ticking off the list of the places to see, find no time to talk to locals, and the only local they ever speak to is their guide.

This is my second trip to Myanmar and on my fifth day I am coming to realize that there is a strange connection between the Norwegians and the Burmese. I was in Norway just a week ago and this maybe just fueling this comparison.  

On the face of it Norway and Myanmar are poles apart! Norway is one of the most developed countries in the world. Myanmar maybe is  the most undeveloped in South East Asia. Norway is building new tunnels every year. Myanmar doesn’t even have good roads to connect its two principle cities of Yangon and Mandalay. A lot of other things like ATM’s, Internet, Medical care etc and others that come with development don’t exist in Myanmar or is very limited. I can go on and on about the opposite’s on the surface. But look underneath, get on the streets and talk to the local people and suddenly it seems that these two are not very different.

Lets say it starts with honesty and ends with being sincere. People mean what they say and say what they mean. Norway does it in a very upfront manner, while the Burmese do it with a smile.  But the tradition is alike.

            The Ticket Collector on the Kalaw - Inle Rail link who doubles up as your lugguage assistant 

When one of my travelers is trying to get his bags from his room, someone from the staff suddenly appears from nowhere and takes it over. People having their mid day meal near their store get up to offer their chair just coz they see an old Indian woman waiting for the group members to arrive. These are just a few of the many things the local’s in Myanmar do and not even make a big deal out of it. I know up north in Norway, something like this will never happen.

But I also know there are very few countries in the world where ‘genuine’ is a regular word.  Being honest is a way of life ..

I am lucky to have seen the local’s up close both in Norway and in Myanmar.

looking out of the window!

The only part of the long journey’s that I remember of my childhood is when I asked my mother, how long before we arrive? My father would then say to me, look out of the window and see how beautiful it is. To sleep in the journey was more out of boredom then out of the actual need to sleep. In short all that mattered was the destination and when I took my first 1 hr flight to Goa from Mumbai, I remember smiling all the way even with the discomfort caused due to the air pressure difference. Getting there quick is important, is what I thought back then.

Over the years the concept of a journey has changed for me, but I never really put it in retrospective as much as I did when I first started to mention the North of Norway. ‘The journey is more important than the destination’ I said to one of the callers, explaining him about the ‘Lofoten Islands Road’. After I had kept the phone down, I thought of the ‘me’, 25 years ago and smiled.

Unlike the beauty of a destination that suddenly comes in front of you and makes you say ‘wow’, a journey takes its own time to grow on you.  That is if you look out of the window! Many train journeys are mentioned which are breathtaking, but not a lot is said about the road. The train has the advantage of a steady speed, stops at known intervals and the freedom to walk around in confines of your compartment. The road on the other hand can be bumpy, the limited space to sit can be uncomfortable and is prone to unexpected delays due to an accident etc. But then the road gives you the freedom to stop where you want and take in the surroundings. And this is where the road scores over the rail!

I have always promoted the winter in Scandinavia tour by speaking about the activities that one does on tour.  Reindeer sledging, snow mobile etc give you that excitement. I also mention the Ice Hotel, and the Santa Claus. But what I have learnt in the last two days of my trip here in Lapland is that the journey is equally important between the towns of the North.

Rovaniemi is the largest town in the north of Finland, while Kiruna is the same to Sweden. Harstad and Tromso take the title in Norway. But what is beautiful in the winter is the journey that connects these towns from Finland to Norway. The sun rises below the horizon at 11 am. This actually means that between 11 to 1pm it is the twilight zone in the North of Scandinavia above the Arctic Circle. We travel for around 650 kms in two days staying for a night in between at Kiruna. There is enough snow in the surrounding to make you feel that everything right from the roofs of the houses to the tiniest twig on a tree has all been quoted in a white paint.

Somewhere in those 650 kms you might unknowingly hear yourself saying, ‘wow’ and that’s when the journey has taken over.  The expanse of nature makes you feel small. The odd snowmobile, or a man being pulled by his dog on a home made sledge catches your sight or as the twilight begins to fade and the Christmas lights stand out even more on the houses you cant help but notice the surrounding. The light makes the white snow turn a into a shade blue and you feel peace!

Looking out of the window!