Our Asia Trip in a Nutshell

Travel, step away from the familiar, touch, be touched. Leave home, let the unpredictability of the road shake your beliefs, find a new way back. Along the way become someone else. ‘Question of Journey’ John Brandi The trip is over. We’ve been back home for one month now. The first reunions with our families and friends,

Slaughter of the Innocents

At the end of our stay in Nepal, the last country on our Asia itinerary, here comes yet another cultural-religious shock. I never doubted for a minute Asia would disappoint in shaking up our European outlooks on anything from religion to food taste, moulded nice and safe for years within our comfort zone. This was

Nepali DNA

Astrologers, fortune-tellers and soothsayers – liars with a vivid imagination or individuals with psychic and paranormal skills? The science-oriented Western world perceives them as the former kind; the Oriental civilizations treat them more like doctors or weather forecasters, who have the skills and knowledge to prevent natural catastrophes and personal tragedies. I decided to find

Happy Himalayas

There are many books written about the Annapurna Circuit trek which focus on the local people, their traditional lifestyle and religious practices. Their authors claim the trek is a spiritual journey within yourself as the breathtaking landscape of the Himalayas together with the amazing, warm-hearted people inhabiting this region reach the deep hidden feelings of

Naturally Nepal

In the early light, the rock shadows on the snow are sharp; in the tension between light and dark is the power of the universe. This stillness to which all returns, this is reality, and soul and sanity have no more meaning here than a gust of snow; such transience and insignificance are exalting, terrifying,

Kathmandu Stroll

A touch base place for trekkers and climbers. Here you’ll get all your missing gear and find guides and porters for the upcoming mountain expedition. But it’s so much more than Westerner-oriented Thamel and Freak Street. It’s a city of the living goddess, Kumari; people practising a blend of Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, and amazing

Ooh Wallah!

Whoever has been to India even for one day has definitely encountered the representatives of two most common, male-dominated professions in this country, namely a chai-wallah and a rickshaw-wallah. An everyday life for an Indian person would simply grind to a halt without these two humble wallahs, who deliver a cup of masala chai and

Rajasthani Razzle-Dazzle

I remember when I heard the mysterious tinkling of Indian women’s jewellery for the first time. It was a chilly early February morning in the Old Delhi. In the morning silence of squalid narrow streets of Main Bazaar silver foot bracelets with little bells and copious bangles on henna-painted hands make a fairytale-like impression. These

Holy City of Varanasi

‘Welcome to my town, Varanasi, the holy city!,’ greets us a rikshaw driver. In the next sentence he offers us a great inexpensive hotel, which we absolutely must see. When we turn down his offer for obvious reason, which is the commission the driver will get at our expense, we hear that Varanasi people are

Khajuraho: Kama Sutra Temples