Life is full of challenges

After travelling through India for almost a month it is time for a 'personal update', isn't it? For it should be clear that I am very happy. Does nothing ever go wrong, then? you may wonder. Yes, sometimes something does go wrong. You do know those moments... Your cup of coffee falls off your tray because you are carrying too much luggage. You are queueing for 1 hour in order to buy a train ticket and it turns out that you've missed your connection and have to queue up for another 2 hours. Time after time you've been made to pay extraordinary prices and sometimes you just don't feel like negotiating and you end up paying those extra amounts. When you have finally prepared your parcel for the post, it turns out that the post office is closed because of a holiday. Sometimes I think this is all part of the whole experience. I am even starting to become patient, which is an enormous achievement for me.

Sometimes I am really exhausted. At such times I wonder, why me, why here and what to do next? Luckily I have a good emotional backup, so if I want to cheer myself up I just take a look at all my 'cheer up, girl' things. I look at my pictures (the ones that are also on the website); I unfold my cushion cover with the printed photograph on it (homesickness?); I drink some water from the cup with the inscription: 'Your strength is your sense of humour'; I cuddle the (now black!) Year Club Bee toy; wash my t-shirt with my little niece Marieke's picture on it; or I hold the purple lucky stone and read the notelets people pressed in my hand at the last minute at the airport. Also, I've written so much in my journal that it is almost full now.

Feeling so bad that you want to cry; no, that hasn't happened to me yet. The reason may be that crying when you're on your own isn't nice at all. Or because I realise I can go back to The Netherlands whenever I want. But what is the advantage of The Netherlands? All you lot out there are going to work in the rain while I am enjoying the sun and seeing, hearing, feeling and experiencing beautiful things. Every time I end up choosing the second option. The main question is: Is anyone waiting for me in The Netherlands? This all makes me realise how futile many problems and difficulties are.

To be honest, I have to admit that I did get a little depressed this week after a drunk Scotsman of about 50 years had frightened me with stories about the war in Afghanistan etc. (Besides he was so drunk he kept saying he was 25, because he knew what to do with a pretty woman like me. Who does not want to be 25?). The next morning, on my way to the station of Mumbai, I was still a little nervous about it all. Then I started singing songs from 'The Sound of Music', including 'Climb ev'ry mountain' and 'I have confidence in me' (I must admit I didn't sway my rucksack in the same enthusiastic way Julie Andrews keeps swaying her bag, but still...). The strange thing is that next you meet someone (often another backpacker) at the station and then everything is alright again. Taking life as it is and being in tune with what happens every day makes life less complicated. To enjoy it is an art, and resignation is sometimes part of it; that is good for one's morale. Another slogan I like is from Loesje [an organisation in The Netherlands that is known for putting up posters in the streets with funny and often lucid messages]: Living takes a lot of courage. (I completely agree with this!)

Travel mates

This member of the Bouter family is still travelling alone. She doesn't mind; on the contrary! It's wonderful to be able to decide yourself what you want and what you don't want to do, to go and see or to leave something for what it is. (I never realised I knew so well what I want and what I don't want). As I am not a very shy person, I get to meet enough people to exchange travel experiences and advice.

For example, during the last few weeks I met: Ullie and Hugh (some lovely names again!) from Austria in Jaipur; Toby and Jonathan from England (such British names - and then the three of us also watched a very British film, James Bond's Octopussy) in Udaipur. In Jaisalmer I met Suze and Kiwi from New Zeeland (just before I almost died laughing, he told me his name really was Kiwi...). On the train I met a real hero who was going to protect me against a bunch of very vague Indian men. Name: Ceasar Taylor... that's what I mean, you really feel safe when you hear such a name! And also... 'All you wanted to know about Nanno, but never dared to ask'! I met Nanno in Jaisalmer at the famous Jain temple when a busload of Dutch hippies was going to storm the temple. I thought that HE was part of that group and he thought I was part of that group. After some small talk we said goodbye. Very soon afterwards, I found that he had already visited my website. In Udaipur I met Joey (a typical 'man from Amsterdam'!) and Sybil from Switzerland. There was this cheerful lunch, and I had an opportunity to speak Dutch again! I met Matthew on the coach to Mount Abu. His English sense of humour made me laugh a lot. When we arrived at the hotel, the owner asked, "A double room?" to which Matthew dryly replied, "Now, eh, no, I just met her on the bus...". We have been exploring the town together for two days and watched the sunset twice. Unfortunately for you, my dear little Internet-friends, there haven't been any romantic adventures or any related obscenities. After two days we both went our separate ways again.

Yesterday evening there was a lot of fun going on on the train. There were five of us, all backpackers (two girls from England and a couple from Sweden), sitting in a compartment for six persons. We kept on chatting. It was the first time the others were going to Mumbai, so I could exploit my role as a tourist information center again. At half past two we finally went to sleep. Today we have been lunching together and a bit later we will have dinner together. The Swedish couple will take the same train to Goa as me, so, in brief: it's really cheerful (I really appreciate contacts like these at times!).

What do you do all day?

As a backpacker you can have a tough life. My father has been wondering for years what's the joy of camping (Why act like a primitive when after years of civilisation we have reached a reasonable bit of welfare?), so he will wonder what on earth the joy of backpacking could be. For what do you do all day? Well, what shall I say? You try to survive? enjoy? resign? experience? absorb? get to grips with? think? In brief, you try to LIVE!

The day often starts with you crawling out of a train half asleep. Depending on Maslow's 'piramid of needs' and on last night's meal, you start looking for a toilet, breakfast and hotel. (So, the order depends on the previous day, but I think I made this clear). 'Hotel' is the general term for a pile of stones with something that resembles a roof on top, under which an Indian family lives and rents out a bed and bathroom behind a few wooden doors in exchange for a few rupees. So, you are glad to have all your belongings inside your backpack, for the little creatures always appear AFTER you have checked in and never when you first take a look at the room. It is as if they appear upon the smell of your signature!

I hope you will understand me correctly: I sleep in reasonably civil rooms with bathrooms on my own. However, you can also sleep in so-called 'dorms' (dormitories), but only the idea that I wouldn't be able to leave my rucksack anywhere or have to lie on it because someone else may be interested in its contents; or your neighbours start copulating the moment you want to go to sleep; all this has kept me from even considering those rooms for 1 second. There are also rooms with a common bathroom and that is not something I'd like, either. Going backwards and forwards because one moment you forget your shampoo, next you forget your towel; undressing and dressing again and again in a nervous manner; this doesn't appeal to me, either.

Oh well, once you have organised your 'house', it's often time for some laundry. I do this myself, for over here people tend to beat their laundry. You know me; don't you touch my clothes, for then you touch Jacq. Only the idea that the zips on my trousers may be returned to me in bits and pieces, make the tears well up in my eyes. After breakfast, usually with bread or a sandwich with jam and a pot of tea (long live the Brits!) I start walking. The Lonely Planet is my guide (as it has helped me find a hotel 9 out of 10 times)> I just walk around places, cities or towns I am visitting. People often don't understand that walking around can be nice, too. I find it the best way to get to know a place.

I also often go out for a local meal and drink tea ('chai' = tea with milk and sugar; when you are not familiar with this, you should try to compare it with hot chocolate. It is really drinkable!) with delicious biscuits and cream rolls (a sort of pastry with cream!). That continues all day. In the evening I am tired and just fall asleep. The next day, the party continues. I need some time to think about what I want to do next and then I organise this. I am good at organising and planning, so it's all quite easy. It's just that over here everything takes three times as long as it normally would. And of course, I meet a lot of fellow travellers, I write a lot and I take a lot of pictures. It's one big holiday!

Last, but not least,

Now that you are all reading this, I want to ask you something. Could you all take your hands off your keyboards and mouse NOW and applaud the webmaster of this site loudly:

Marc van de Geijn (yeah!!!)

He has spent many hours working on this website for quite some time now (which is an understatement, really) and I am quite pleased with the result. (I do hope he will persevere for some time to come!).

Also, now that you are clapping your hands, you deserve an applause yourselves!!! For every time I read my guestbook or an email, your responses make me wildly happy. It is really wonderful!!! So, many thanks for all your support, and until next time...