Meu pequeno e desconhecido Portugal

Bem, há duas histórias que tenho de partilhar, uma passou-se comigo e outra com a Maria, mas ambas revelam, tristemente, como o nosso país é mesmo pequeno e desconhecido, principalmente aqui, neste mundo longe do meu...

Ladies first, a história da Maria:
Estava ela a falar muito bem com um Indiano que se cola a nós da forma mais descarada e persistente, e tentou (mais uma vez) fazer conversa, foi assim:
T: Já estiveste em Espanha?
M: Sim, várias vezes...
T: Woooww, a sério, é perto de Portugal?
M: Vai ao googlemaps ver...

O pior de tudo é saber que este rapaz já viveu um ano na Europa, UM ANO!!!!


Segunda história "engraçada". Quando as pessoas me perguntam de que país sou (é a pergunta que me fazem logo a seguir ao nome) costumo dizer: "Portugal" mas como fazem sempre uma cara de parvos, quase como se dissesse: "sou de Escaganifóbetil" tenho de acrescentar sempre: " A small country next to Spain"... Enfim, resumindo, mais uma vez alguém me perguntou o meu país de origem, e outra vez eu respondi: "Portugal". Mas agora decidi testar: "Do you know where is it?" Fiquei tão contente com a resposta!!!!
S:"Yes, of course, next to Germany!!"
G: "hummm that's Poland... Portugal is next to Spain..."

Porque é que fiquei contente? Ao menos sabia que Portugal era na Europa!!

Ganhei o dia!!!

Templo do Macaco

O templo do macaco era sem duvida um dos principais "sight" que queria visitar em Hampi. A ideia de estar junto de macacos que vivem num santuário natural, e que gozam de um tratamento natural era algo que me despertava imensa curiosidade!

No topo encontramos um pequeno templo (ao Deus Macaco), muitas crianças (again...), uma vista deslumbrante para os campos de arroz e de bananeiras e... Não havia macacos... Que desilusão... Como estava um dia muito quente os macacos preferiram (e muito bem) estar na vegetação à volta do monte, em vez de estarem a torrar ao sol nas rochas (Não percebo porquê!!!).

Como ficámos no templo algum tempo a aproveitar a vista deslumbrante e a paz que se fazia sentir, os anfitriões acabaram por aparecer (com o por do sol) e dar um ar de sua graça.

Ficam mais umas fotos para os invejosos...

"Entrada" para o templo do Macaco

Vista do topo do templo

Templo do Deus Macaco

Olha o macaquinho!!

Picture I WAs THERE!!

Pôr do Sol com os Macacos

Campos de Arroz

O verde dos campos de arroz em contraste com o azul do céu encheu de cor os meus olhos e o meu espírito. De vez em quando lá encontramos algumas pessoas semeadas pelo verde que consumia o nosso olhar.
O cenário faz lembrar filmes com imagens paradisíacas: Muitas palmeiras, o sol a queimar a pele, o cheiro a ar fresco, enfim... o Paraíso...

1st Train Trip

This was an unforgettable experience. Raquel was telling me during the trip back to Bangalore: “perhaps later I will say that this experience was good and I grew because of that”, I promptly said: “if so, by the end of this trip we will be 87 years old”.
Now you can imagine which kind of train trip was this one.

Just a small resume:

We had a ticket reservation made in internet for the sleeper class.
Before we took this train I had some friends telling me: You should not go in that class because it’s so dirty, you have rats and cockroaches passing all the time, it’s stinky and so on…
But it was our ticket… It was our only chance to go to Hampi with Jacky, a German girl who is leaving Bangalore by the middle of September…
So, we took the train to Hampi at 22.45 in Bangalore and we arrived there at 07.45. The Hampi Express can be a night train and it has several classes: Last class, sleeper, sleeper AC and first class (I think there is another class between 1st class and sleepers AC, whatever). Our ticket was SLEEPER, which means, just next to the lowest class! I’m sure you already have seen some images from Indian trains. Yes these trains really exist! Even if we were not in the last class, our class conditions were really bad! Yes, there were a lot of rats passing by, thousands of cockroaches and MILLIONS of insects!!
And, because we booked our tickets via internet there were additional problems… (Murphy’s Law RUUULLAAAAA). We were five but we just have THREE beds!! So, in order to have some rest we were rotating in the beds. Fortunately, during the trip the ticket controller found some free beds so all of us manage to sleep a little bit…

It really seams like a store yeard

Wake up, it's a beautiful morning!!

Regarding the trip back to Bangalore… This was BAD! Our tickets, that we bought via internet, were canceled and we did not have place in the train… (How is this possible??? We don’t know if we Just were not confirmed or they did cancel the tickets… but still…) AND the tickets were totally sold out!! Now imagine the scenario mentioned above plus no place for us to seat!! So we had to do the trip seated on the floor… OF COURSE we tried to speak with all the ticket controllers and to speak with the controllers from others classes, but they just ignored us! AND worse, the ticket controller from the AC class and second class, perhaps he thought he was someone important, he was just speaking to us like we were less then dogs! Like: “You booked sleeper class? Go away! You can not be in the AC class”. Even after telling him that we had with us a lot of money we could pay even for a seat in the first class he was just not listening! I felt so bad because he was treating me like nobody did before!!! He thought he was like a person in a higher place in some kind of hierarchy and he could do everything he wanted!! The readers who know me are just thinking: “was Gonçalo doing anything else?” Typical me: I will make an official complain. I will do everything that I can to make him pay my night in the sleeper class seated on the floor during 10 hours!! I asked him to give me his name and employee number, he just gave me his name (In fact I went to his coat and saw the name in his patch to confirm)! So Mr K. Raja Suba, ticket controller in the Sleeper AC class in the train Hampi Express (Hostped 19.50 - Bangalore 6.15) will suffer the consequences! Even if I have to write one thousand letters I will do it, but he has to pay for that!! You know, force me to move out from the train when there were some available beds… NOT GOOD…. Speak to me like I was some creature under the animal level… EVEN WORSE!

Trip to Hampi

My first “real trip” was quite full of emotions. I have the feeling that I was in heaven but in the way back to Bangalore I had to cross a not very nice place called hell!

Hampi is an amazing place! The peace we can breathe totally fulfill the batteries, especially if we are already one month and half in Bangalore. Hampi is so calm, peaceful, not polluted, not touched by the civilization as well… Now I can say that I really went to the end of the world! Despite Hampi is classified as world Heritage by UNESCO, when we are visiting the streets you really feel you are in a different world, so far away from all the busy streets of Bangalore, and the time is passing by so slowly… Well the place is just Amazing! If you have a chance please visit! I did it! Ahhahah

Enjoy the pictures:

About India 5

O homem mais velho da Índia, Habib Mian, que dizia ter 139 anos, morreu terça-feira na cidade nortenha de Jaipur, depois de sofrer, durante vários dias, de náuseas e fortes dores de estômago.
Segundo a agência noticiosa IANS, o ancião, apesar de garantir que tinha 139 anos, não tinha qualquer documento que comprovasse esta idade, possuindo apenas um certificado das autoridades locais, concedido em 2003, do qual se depreende que Mian morreu realmente com 130 anos.

Mian tocou clarinete para os marajás de Rajasthan, cuja capital é Jaipur, onde residia com 24 familiares, entre os quais um bisneto. Cego há 50 anos, Habib tinha cuidado com a sua alimentação, não fumava nem bebia e passava o tempo a rezar.

Na Índia, a esperança média de vida é de 64 anos, para as mulheres, e de 62 anos, para os homens, segundo estatísticas das Nações Unidas.


Este senhor viveu mais do dobro do que devia!!! CHIÇAAAAA!

Casamento, Again 2

Sim, gosto mesmo deste tema: Casamento. Coincidência ou não esta semana fui atacado com centenas de anúncios de agências matrimoniais. Pelos visto são mesmo muito populares por aqui... Deixo-vos alguns exemplos...
Mas o mais interessante nesta história é que estas agências têm mesmo muito trabalho!

Adoro a menina com o capacete... Segurança?? Arranja marido na nossa agência, nós sabemos quem é a pessoa certa para ti!!

Safari

This Saturday we decided to do something different: a SAFARI!
It was really funny, better than words, some pictures:

Waiting for the Safari to start!!

The beginning of the great trip;

A wild deer, BAMBI!! HERE YOU ARE!!

Some Wild cows;

Some Jungle Landscape

And now the best part of the trip, when a white tiger came just next to our Jeep!

And then just the basics, some Bengala Tigers... :p