Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Ara, cap a l'est /Eastbound

Dema, ben aviat, agafarem l'avio cap a Hong Kong, en certa manera tornant enrera enlloc de seguir viatjant cap a l'oest. Quan deixem l'India decididament haurem comencat el retorn, encara que aparentment ens allunyem d'Europa. El nostre viatge s'acaba, ja fa dies que ho diem, ara, abans de fer cap a casa volem tastar la Xina -malgrat totes les discrepancies i la seva actitud envers alguns Tibetans- i visitar amics a Toquio i Singapur. Les setmanes que hem passat aqui han estat plenes de sabors ben diferents i darrerament de molts colors. Abans d'arribar teniem moltes ganes de descobrir una mica aquest continent (sense el mal usat sub) tant diferent i intrigant. Ara en coneixem alguns llocs, algunes tradicions i costums i hem pogut iniciar-nos en les seves religions. A voltes han estat dies durs, conviure constantment amb una pobresa 'acceptada' no sempre es facil, alguns dels costums locals ens han continuat sorprenent i no ens hi hem acostumat, encara que si adaptat -ajustat com diuen aqui- per tolerar-los (les escopinades , quin remei!), d'altres els hem abracat i ens els emportarem a casa. Molts dies han estat meravellosos, acompanyats de gent generosa acabada de coneixer i regats per rius venerats, mars molt especials, sortides i postes de sol increibles i muntanyes espectaculars. Potser de tots els llocs on hem viatjat durant aquets mesos, l'India sera el primer on tornarem -qui sap; enrera hem deixat les noies de Moolamatton, les impressions de Bombai, la vida rural del sud del pais i, mes recentment, les altes muntanyes d'Utranchal; a mes, ens queda pendent la visita al Nepal, i qui sap, quan les coses s'arreglin, potser un dia fins podem visitar el Tibet i tot.
Per ara, avui hem enviat mes de 30 quilos d'equipatge cap a casa en un intent de viatjar un xic mes lleugers (ara nomes portarem dues motxilles!), i dema, ben aviat, canviarem de decorat i, amb sort, portarem el bon temps cap al sud de la Xina... ja us ho explicarem.

Tomorrow we'll catch an early plane to Hong Kong, and although it may seem we are moving away, we'll have started our return. Once we have left India we'll certainly be on our way home, even if we'll be traveling east for a while. Our journey starts to end, we have been saying it for a while, but before going home we would like a taste of China - despite their attitude towards Tibetans and our contradictions - and to visit some friends both in Tokyo and Singapore. The weeks we've spent here have been full of different flavours and lately many colours. Before our arrival we really wanted to discover bits of this intriguing and different (and mistakenly belittled) continent. Now we know some of its places, traditions and even had an introduction to its religions. Occasionally some days have been hard, to live among "accepted poverty" has not been easy, and some of the local habits continue to surprise us (spitting being one of them) and we have not grown used to them (although we have had to "adjust" as they say), other ones we'll take home and make them our own. Many days have been great, meeting very generous people and surrounded by venerated rivers, very special seas, amazing dawns and sunsets and dramatic mountains. Perhaps of all the places we have visited these last months, India is the first one we'll come back to, who knows. We have left behind the girls from Moolamatton, the impressions from Bombay, the rural life of the south and more recently the extraordinary Himalayas. We have also a visit to Nepal pending, and maybe, one day, we'll even make it to Tibet. For the time being, today we have shipped 30kg of things back home, trying to travel a little lighter, with only two rucksacks, and tomorrow, early in the morning we'll change scenery and maybe even manage to take the weather with us, to the south of China... we shall see.

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