Encore Day 028 - 029 Riga

Our cycling group has grown! On saturday morning I collected my visitor Alex from the airport. We spent the weekend in Riga. What came us a surprise was a town festival going on all weekend with music, dances, etc. on small and big stages all around the city. We managed to arrange a rented bicycle for Alex. Another surprise were two other German cyclists in town - I had met Samuel some weeks ago at a lakeside party in Nordhausen. He and his girlfriend Daniela had also come cycling here. We spent the evening together, sampling latvian specialities (mostly alcoholic ones). Ok, there also non-alcoholic ones. The Latvians are crazy about bread - there is very good bread, but also the delicious bread-drink Kvass and even bread yoghurt. The first night we spent at a hostel together with some Italian guys who were in Riga to search for Russian girls - funny guys though. Tonight we couchsurf at Kristaps, a very artistic guy - he forced us to draw something for him, so even Trabant did the best he could.
Tomorrow the cycle touring bootcamp for Alex will start - I promised her blood, sweat and tears, gnihihihi :o] !

Day 341 Tabor

Uuuuh, cycling through Czech Republic is dangerous.
I had reckoned to attract a huge crowd of groupies at home with my perfectly shaped body after a year of daily workout. Now it seems that all that very good beer and food here will provide for a big beer belly messing up that wonderful plan, tststs.
I realized I was going too fast, so I stopped for one day in beautiful Tabor. We had a look at the castle, just strolled around the old time and spent a lot of time with beer, Kofola and food. I even found an Indian restaurant. It's just a week since I left India (though it feels much longer) - maybe I start to miss it a little bit.
But I wasn't lazy all day - I organized some more job interviews and searched for flats in Leipzig. A cheer for modern technology making all this possible on a phone.

Day 335 - 336 Vienna

Everything is so easy here! Within one morning I had accomplished the first of Piyushs gift-delivery-missions and found a bicycle shop that would show some affection to Arthur. Now he has new lights, a new mud guard, a perfectly working gearshift, smooth steering, a new lock, a new pump,... - Bicycle Company, close to Naschmarkt is highly recommended. While I was waiting for Arthurs repair: Music! Vienna had prepared a great cultural program for my arrival in Europe: one evening the wonderful, terrible Tiger Lillies and the next evening the Master himself, the greatest German musician of our time: Helge Schneider !!!
The Tiger Lillies were a bit handicapped as they were playing with a very confused replacement drummer - which at times made it just more funny. They seem to be big in Vienna and the audience was surprisingly old.
Helge was just Helge. Which is the best thing an artist could possibly be!
One afternoon I visited the house of music - a museum full of musical and sound games. That is my kind of thing! I spent most of the time on the floor with the sound-games. Another floor was dedicated to the most important composers of the area. And another one to the future of music: they presented some mostly dissonant electronic pseudo-futuristic sound-pulp. Very much a seventies version of the future.  I sincerely hope that this will not be what the future of music will sound like.

Day 332 - 333 Mumbai

As I am writing this I am at Mumbai Airport already. Now that the trip through India really is over I start to feel a bit melancholic.
Of course there is still so much I have not seen in India. On the other hand I should give the impression collection center of my brain some rest and come back once I am yearning for new experiences. The first day in Mumbai I just relaxed from the hard ride and tried to clarify with the airline how the bicycle transport will be handled - half successful: they wouldn't let me into the Airport, so I could only call and all the lady told me was: 'come with the bicycle to check-in'.
On my last day in India (day 333 of the journey!) I went downtown. By train - finally my first Indian train ride on this trip. There I met up with Mr. Ah Keung from Hongkong, the only long-distance-cyclist I met by chance in India (exactly: in Ajanta), who happened to be in Mumbai waiting for a Pakistani visa. We took the boat to Elephanta island. A nice analogy: before I started cycling from Cape Comorin on the very southern tip of India I also did a boatride to an island. Elephanta island sports some rock-cut caves which would have been very impressive - if we both wouldn't have seen the much more impressive Ajanta and Ellora caves lately - that is exactly what I meant with my impression collection center being full now. But it was still a nice place, away from the noise and chaos of Mumbai. There were many monkeys around - probably the most dangerous beasts in India. Because they are smart. Very smart. We watched one monkey stealing a water bottle from a group of Indian tourists, opening it a few meters away, pouring out the content and starting to drink. On the boatride back, Keung received the great news that he got his Pakistani visa. So we proceeded to a joined celebration/farewell dinner. After taking the train back to my hotel I collected my luggage and Arthur and cycled to the Airport. They still wouldn't let me in as the flight is more than 4 hours away - let's see how the bicycle handling will work out...

Day 322 - 325 Vadodara

Some more rest days in my beloved Vadodara.
I organized my luggage, mailed some stuff home (packed and stitched in white linen), showed Trabant the old town and of course met again with Piyush.
Before going to Vadodara I had a couple of plans - one of them was having a Nilkanth Dryfruit Lassi at Nilkanth Lassi Place - the very place where we used to hang out a lot in 2003. But when I rode along the road where it was: big disappointment, it wasn't there anymore. Fortunately Piyush knew more about it: it had moved places several times inbetween. Now it is a bit farer out towards the airport, but the Lassi is as divine as ever.
On my last evening the mobile shop guys finally managed to unblock my mobile - after a week of being offline I can finally make and receive calls again.

Day 319 Dholera

Lazy lazy lazy. I felt a bit exhausted and sick this morning: sore throat, headache, tiredness etc.
So I spent all day in the hotel room: cooling me down with AC, watching stupid American movies on TV and watching my pets on the walls: at least two medium size geckos, one small gecko and one miniminiminigecko.

Day 317 Shatrunjaya

This is one fantastic place! A 500m hill topped by a sea of Jain temples. A temple city. Like 800 something temples. And nothing else.
In fact I was mentally prepared for a small disappointment: when I first was here 9 years ago we went during monsoon and I remember that half of the place being flooded added a lot to the atmosphere. But also now, in dry season: no disappointment, it is still an absolutely amazing place. Definitely one of my 2 or 3 favourite places during the whole trip! It is strange that me as a really not religious person always tends to like religious places the most. Mmmh, but if I had to choose a religion, Jainism would definitely be one of my favourites: a very strong focus on Ahimsa (non-violence towards all living beings), a cosmology with a self-regulating universe without a creator-god, acceptance of other religions,... - good stuff!
The ascend was hot. And quite different to the other holy mountains I have climbed recently: here the way is not lined by stalls, only a few water sellers. At one of the water places I met Mansi, a jain girl from Mumbai. She is here with her family and a group of about 50 people. They are doing the real thing: climbing Shatrunjaya 108 times in 45 days! That's 2*2 * 3*3*3 times. Though I have no idea of what significance is this. Anyway, even climbing one time was quite an ordeal for me. And I am probably in the best shape of my life. They are doing it 2 to 3 times per day. Without eating during the day. Incredible. Once on the top I could witness some aspects of Jain worship, which included reciting/singing prayers, offering rice, turning some strange metal-flag-turning device while watching the Tirthankara through a small mirror and jumping in front of the Tirthankara with two flywhisks in hand (this could well be the mythological origin of modern cheerleading). The 24 Tirthankaras have been human beings who achieved enlightenment - some of them mythological (Rishabha, the 1st Tirthankara was 1500m high and lived for some Quintillion years), some of them historical (Mahavira, the last Tirthankar was a contemporary of Buddha). The iconography of Jainism is also remarkably similar to early Buddhism: in some temples the Tirthankaras are only devoted by footprints. If there are full body status they only come in two positions: standing naked or in lotus seat.
Thanks to Mansi I got to know some of the lesser known aspects of the temple city, like a small black somnambulant Tirthankara figure who flies to the main temple every night (though noone has witnessed this as this abode of the divine is off limits for us mundane beings after sunset).
I took several hours to wander around. Befriending a construction worker gave me the chance to get into the uppermost level of the main temple. Even though usually noone is allowed to go there even this level had some beautiful carvings (and many many bats). I saw many temples I had missed last time, some very old, some very new and colourful. Just when I thought I had seen all possible temple varieties I happened to step into one with beautiful stained glass and a forest of Tirthankara-crowned marble pillars. I am sure I also missed a lot this time - but even though I might not make it to the full 108 times, I will certainly return.