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29 August 2005 |
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After the monkey-business in Jungle Bells (see previous post) we decided to go to Aruku Valley and spend at least one day there. The bus brought us across the peaks of the East-Ghats, up to 1.200 m and down again to the valley. The villagers were all staring at us. Seemed they have not seen people from abroad for a long time, maybe it was the first time at all. We grabbed a lot of attention but there was no hassle. After some time waiting, three of us decided to check out the village for some interesting things to see. Since the waterfall ran dry, we went to the "botanical garden" where we found a treehouse to live in. Then we took a nap - again.  Later, I found out that right behind the barbed-wire fence of the garden, the rice pads began. And I could see a hill on the other side of the pads, about 2 km away. From there you can have the perfect view across the valley, I was thinking. I called Martin and Alek and we decided to march towards Hamburger Hill the next morning. After a night in the tree-house, Martin and I were looking for breakfast but could only find a Chai and so we started the adventure on an empty stomach. First, we had a good path leading us through the pads towards waypoint 1, an old tree at the bottom of the hill. There we wanted to meet Alek, who was taking another route, because of a different location of his base-camp. After 45 minutes through the fields, our shoes were soaked and dirty, our faces were burnt from the reflecting sunlight and our bellies were making strange noises, crying for food. We stopped for a minute and spotted Alek, waving at us and still stuck in the fields. He had some problems to cross a little river. But after he found the little waterfall where he could pass, it was only a matter of five minutes until we had the breakfast at waypoint 1, under the tree. Some cakes and a smoke later, we decided to attack from the western slope since all the other ways were too steep.  With each step upwards, more and more of the amazing, peaceful valley unrevealed to our eyes. When we reached the top after 20 more minutes, without any encounters, we found Shanti. Everywhere green hills, rice-pads, little villages and absolutely no noise. It was the perfect place to stay and so we did... Later that day, on the way back to Jungle Bells, we got stuck in a terrible jungle rain. Within one minute, we were soaked to the skin and the whole world seemed to be washed away in the floods. But we reached the cottages, had a warm shower and then we were waiting for the monkeys again - equipped with deo-spray...  This was our vehicle on the way back. Please pay attention to the decoration of the Jeep. It was National Holiday... |
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| posted by Orang-Utan-Alex @ 15:51 |
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Two weeks ago, there was the Indian National Holiday. The perfect occasion for an extended weekend and some pastime in the woods... The destination was Ananthagiri Hills, a so-called tribal area nearby Vishakapatnam, a big city on Andhra's northern coastline. The journey started on Thursday evening. We took the "Vizag Express" of the Indian Railways and went overnight in one of these sleeper's compartments. It's a nice occasion to get in touch with the locals and exchange some gossip or even valuable info. Anyway, travelling by train gives you a unique impression of the landscape and the people... After a quite relaxing night on a sticky "bed" I woke up in the early Friday morning. Giving me the opportunity to enjoy the landscape out of the open wagon-door where I could also smoke a cigarette, but had to be aware of the Railway Cops who will issue a 500 Rs. fine for this. Palmtrees, little villages, hills covered with jungle and the sun rising behind the hills made me forget the Hyderabadi noise and traffic very soon... After our arrival in Vizag (short f. Vishakapatnam), we bargained a little too much with the auto-wallahs and then decided to immediately take a taxi to the beach. A 20 minutes ride in an original Ambassador brought us to Rishikonda Beach. It was still early in the morning and we had some hours left to spend there until Alek would arrive by bus (the unlucky guy couldn't find a train-ticket). So we checked out the waves of the Bengal Sea for an hour or two and burnt a little our faces and shoulders before we decided to climb up a hill where we could see a restaurant and a bar... In this particular bar we could enjoy the first cool beer of the day, well-treated by a first-class air-condition, an excellent service and a view all along the coastline and across the sea. That was the place of choice to wait for Alek's arrival two hours later... We then took another car towards our jungle destination. The ride led us deeper and deeper into the jungle. Higher and higher up the hills into the green. It took about two hours to reach the place called "Jungle Bells", two hours of amazing landscape: rice pads, Hanuman-Temples and majestic hills, their peaks covered in clouds.  Our cottage in JB was deep in the forest, only reachable through a small path leading up a hill. From there we had no view at all. The trees and bushes avoided each possibility to grab an impression of the landscape. But we had the wonderful opportunity to breathe the air of the jungle and find some of the inhabitants who live around the place. The first evening we found strange insects and lizards, little snakes and the like... But the next morning that began with a hangover for the most of us was a a little more exciting - and dangerous! While we were preparing our stuff for the day, packing necessary thing etc., I saw a monkey sitting in the window and slowly shifting away the curtain. First I could not believe my eyes, but as the monkey (let's call him Louie) was reaching towards the hip-bag of Mert, I slapped his hand and Louie jumped out and screamed like hell (I doubt it was pain). I rushed towards the door and opened it. Standing on the veranda, I could see Louie coming up the stairs - climbing on the handrails! At this time, I could see him properly. He was a huge one with a bloody scar in his lower lip, giving him the look of a real villain. Since he was still climbing up the handrail with speed, seeming to attack me, I reacted in the way you would react to a dog - stand tall and bark back! I did it and he was doing the same while jumping at me. I could only rush back into the room and bang the door. After some minutes, I went out again and checked the surrounding area for monkeys. Louie was sitting out of reach among some other monkeys while another quite big one was sitting in the tree right next to our stairs, only 3 meters away and on eye-level. He was a little smaller than Louie, obviously the beta-guy of that monkey-bunch, trying to impress his dudes by finishing what Alpha-Louie was not able to accomplish. Unimpressed by his teeth-showing and his wild noises, I decided to teach this one (let's call him Bongo) a lesson. I grabbed a matchbox and a bottle of deo-spray and wanted to present the well-known flamethrower-trick. Underlining humankind's ability to control fire - that would impress them for sure. Since you need three hands to get this trick done when using matches, it took a while and suddenly Bongo jumped towards my face. I dropped the damn matches and could only press the button of the deo-spray, even without fire... And it worked! Bongo turned away immediately, gathering with the others of his bunch. They don't seem to like Nivea very much!  |
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| posted by Orang-Utan-Alex @ 15:18 |
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I'm back! After 4 weeks of complete blogging-absence I strike the keys again... I has been a time of unbelievable non-motivation and non-productivity without any job-wise progress. I was stuck in the "process" of changing my job within the company. But after ongoing postponements and excuses from the other side, I finally gave up after one month and decided to try it somewhere else. I still have some hope that things turn out to be beneficial and satisfying in the end. Hope dies at last... I just found out that the job I was supposed to get has now been given to a canadian girl. Seems like I miss a certain set of "weapons" that reveals to be quite useful in business. Shit happens! Obviously! Whatever... I have a new DigiCam!!! As some of you may know, my last one got stolen a month ago, together with all the other stuff you try to avoid losing, especially when being abroad - mobile, wallet, debit cards etc. Saif (Thanks bro'!) brought that new lil' piece from Dubai, where you don't have to pay taxes for anything. So I got it quite cheap... So, stay tuned for the next stories! |
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| posted by Orang-Utan-Alex @ 13:09 |
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Alltagsabsurditäten und Gedankenspiele eines Trainees in Hyderabad (AP), Indien |
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