God bless Malaysia

Coming from India to Malaysia was a big shock. Malaysia was not one of my main destinations to go but the flight rates were the best if you want to move to Cambodia. 

I had in my mind a country similar to India but less crowded and intense. Instead, the capital city Kuala Lumpur made me feel that some times i m in Monaco and sometimes in USA. The prices are far higher than India and I feel i want to leave immediately but i dont do so and i stay a bit.

View from petronas park

I left my things at a hostel where i met some other guests and we went out for breakfast/lunch. Then i thought to walk a bit and maybe find a place to busk but I ended up doing sightseeing all day. At some point i was walking by some railway lines and i couldnt spot a single piece of littering on the rails. I thought it was a worldwide phenomenon that train lines are full of trash but apparently not in Malaysia. 

The botanical garden is one of the best i ve seen so far. Everything made in perfection and it reminded me the central park of New York where you stand in the middle of the park and you see skyscrapers.

Almost central park

I cant believe how the branches become one solid thing

Talented gardeners

Next big sightseeing was the Islamic art museum. Again, one of the most modern and well made museum i ve been. 

The collection made me really admire the Islamic art throughout its historical path.

The bad point of this museum was the uncertainties they were presenting. There were some walls just for historical facts and what was written there was what a fanatic Muslim would write on a wall. Always missing information and pointing out only what Muslims want to hear. For example, there was a "support to palaistine" wall in total favor of palaistine with a starting date on 30AC. Like before that date Jerusalem was not inhabited.

Jerusalem here i am
Jerusalem je t aime

Also the first time the Jewish appear in this wall was on 1900. Many misleading facts about the muslim rule in some places of the world.
Okay, you can do propaganda and recall selective incidents... BUT KEEP IT OUT OF MUSEUMS.

After 6 hours walking i went back for a nap and then i went for a walk to the city hoping i ll busk. Busking alone is not fun though.
Josh, an adorable English youngster joined me and soon we met 3 more people. 

Josh and me in China town

A german guy, an american girl and an Egyptian girl. It was my first Egyptian woman to meet so i grasp the opportunity and played the song Misirlou (that means Egyptian woman in Turkish) for her. It made her happy and so was I. They insisted a lot to move to a roof-top bar with view on both KL tower and petronas towers but this kind of place is not for me. Omnia and Joss though made the night pass smoothly for me.

Next day it took me 30 minutes to decide if i want to stay one more day in the city and at the end i did.
The whole day was horrible though because i was trying to get to an arab neighborhood with great food but i took wrong bus and i ended up at the most posh shopping area i have ever been too. Soon i was watching petronas towers from the bottom and asking myself "why?".

Why? The petronas towers

The night came and we went for a walk with Joss. Thats where Lyra comes to the story. Lyra is an Ukrainian dancer and generally an artist in many things. Our meeting was like in a movie and so the night continued. After 30-40 minutes we found ourselves busking. I was playing some greek tunes and she was dancing contact improvisation while Joss was sitting next to me, sharing his positive energy.

Contact improvisation with rebetiko music? Why not!

Its 1 year i didnt busk on the streets and i was very happy to do again. We got some little money and headed home.

I was sure i wanted to leave next day so i proposed Lyra to join me as she didnt have money for Kuala Lumpur and she had a tent. Moreover we could busk more.

Finally she sent me a mail next morning to go together. I was thinking to go inland but she wanted to go to the seaside so we took a bus to Penang island where there is national park you can camp for free.

We got in a two floor bus and sat on the front seats on top. I was happy thinking i will see amazing things on the way like in buses in India but with a better seat. Instead i was seeing big traffic in a huge modern highway and many big malls and shopping centers. It was a totally Americanised lifestyle and i was sad for Malaysians that their governments try to make them like westerns in the name of development. The slightly changed phrase "God bless Malaysia" was stuck in my head. I use to be in this lifestyle also but more and more i realise that happiness cant be found in money and materialism.

We arrived around midnight so we couldn't enter the national park. No problem though, we put the tent at the beach nearby and slept.
Next morning we went to buy supplies and slowly we started a two hours walk in the jungle to arrive at the beach Teluk Kampi. 

The beach after a high tide looks intact

The place was a paradise and had also toilet and showers. There was only a tent when we arrived with a Russian couple, Ivan and Albina. Until the night though, two big groups of Malaysians arrived and the silence disappeared on the camp site... You could still find your peace at the beach. That afternoon we were swimming with Lyra and a big orange Jellyfish gave us a nice electric shock with some venom to top up. It was a nice experience but the pain wouldn't go away until the midnight. Lyra had some really difficult 2 hours of suffering starting 20 minutes after the bite but eventually she got better.

The days were passing smoothly there. We slept totally 5 nights in Teluk Kampi thanks to the common eating with the locals while many things happened there. There were some significant cultural differences between me and Lyra concluding to meaningless disputes and losing of temper but it was good food for thought.

Lyra painting a wall on the camping

Some favorite moments except from relaxing at the beach, was fishing with the locals. The first time we went fishing with a 15m net. The wholes were quite big and good to catch big fishes of weight near 600gr. The technique was so simple and easy... 

Heng and the older chief of the fishing

They would tie the net in one long stick on each side (made by local palm leaves) and then they would place one stick in the water 5-10 m from the coast and the other side in the sand next to us. After sunset the fishes come to eat and i was so amazed that we were catching so big fishes just 1-3 meters far from the coast. We got 7-8 of them in one hour and they were calling me "lucky hands",.

Next sunset they wanted to teach me to use another net that you throw... I looks like a mosquito net because its round and there is a rope in the middle, from where you carry it. The diameter when opened is 3-4 meters and on all the perimeter there is a chain crossed. The technique is quite hard and the net weights 5 kg because of the chain. You need to do certain movements to bring the net in your hands and shoulder and with a certain technique you through it 3-4 meters away. The circle expands in the air and falls in the water and the chains drag it down in no time. 

Throwing the heavy net

Whatever is in the circle is yours...
That night we got some good prawns and small fishes and i was quite excited i learned something more.

The beautiful island

In the jungle there were beautiful birds and butterflies. I saw some huge lizards (one of them easily 15 kg) and many many crabs. At night the plankton would light up the waves and all your moves in the water. Not to forget the jellyfishes, many kinds, and of course i got bitten one more time.

The 18th of March was my 30th birthday and it was a nice and relaxing day at the beach.

 We had fruit salads and many chais. So much sugar that day that some big flies would bite us and wouldn't let us in peace for two days.
The night of 19th we arrived back to Kuala Lumpur. My last full day in Malaysia came and after busking for an hour at noon i went to visit the national museum. It really made me understand that Malaysia is really different from state to state and i would like to come back one day especially at the Borneo island. You just need a fair amount of money and time.

Last night we went out for a final performance with Lyra and we got a good 30 euros in 1,5 hour. We even gave an autograph :).
The night ended by meeting my Turkish friends from India and stay together and play until 5:00am.

Gökçe and Meli

Next day i had to catch my flight to crazy Cambodia.

Some artistic shots of Lyra :

Posidon checking on his territory

Beautiful sunsets but my camera lenses is full of dust/sand

Love love love

Sachidananda Guru Sachidananda

Sachidananda Guru Sachidananda

Ananda Guru Om

Shivananda Guru Om

Ananda Guru Om

Shivananda Guru Om

This is the mantra that would play on the background when I remember the time i spent with Tzlil and Merdan and of course their voices will always sound in my head.

Two persons that met each other in a spiritual game just 10 days before we come together in Aurobeach on 1st March but two persons i met separately before and loved from the bottom of my heart. Same goes with everyone who met them including Eli, Meli, Ibrahim, Gökçe and Sam. Now when you put two persons like them together, only love and happiness can come.

They came magically in my path again in Aurobeach and this time we didn't let the opportunity go away.

Merdan is only some months younger than me and we transmit similar energy. Tzlil is 7 years younger but her energy and way of thinking is something magic. She has been travelling the past 1,5 years and i believe this helped her grow inside so much. It was feeling like she was our spiritual mother on these 4 days and we all learned a lot.

Our spiritual mother looking for inspiration in the music shop of Auroville

Discussions out of egoism and criticism for the most simple to the most intimate topics. Giving loving hugs while understanding that we don't need to go all the way in bed to make love with someone. Making love can be also just hugging someone and feel the breath of each other and moreover it can be for both man and woman. The sexual taste is a different matter and i dont tak about that.

We could try to suck more knowledge from this meeting but we took enough to work on for a good amount of time and anyways everybody had to follow his way in this world.
Next time we meet we share our new experiences.

One of my favourite photos of the trip. I have the right to repost it

Homework for you:
For the next week dont go all the way with your partner. Lay in bed hugging each other and just feel the love. You will get hot eventually so manage it and dont start animal sex. Instead keep feeling the love for him/her. Do it 3-4 times in a week and i promise at least one thing. If you dont feel something different you ll still get a very good night at the end of this week.

MAKE LOVE

I dont want to leave India

Leaving Hampi to the unknown Southern Karnataka and Tamil Nadu didn't work out the best.. 

22/2 Mysore
23/2 Bangalore
24/2 Tiruvanamalai
25/2 Auroville
26/2 Aurobeach Pondicherry

Each day was a new surprise and just couldn't just stay to a single place... We were in a mood for playing music and we couldn't find any connection to all the above places.

Mysore is a big city and the only reason to go there (except visiting some fancy palaces) is to do yoga... But only yoga and nothing else. And not just drop in, 1-2 months is ok... If you don't feel like it, don't go to Mysore.

Bangalore is a big and modern city. All IT companies are here including my former employer company who has a branch here too. Nothing to see except westernised lifestyle... Every single meal/snack we had there though was delicious.

Killing an briyani, Andhra pradesh style

Tiruvanamalai was the first Tamil Nadu experience... Everybody says that Tamil Nadu people are special (not in a good way). We got out of the bus at the famous Ashram and tried to find the cultural center. We ve heard about many musicians but we didn't see any. We were then looking for a place and the situation got crazy. I stopped talking and took my mandolin in my hands... Eli was doing the talking but he got angry and tired and he exploded saying "Yianni, tonight you stay for free... We go to the best hotel in town".
And so it happened. Away from the ashram and just in front of the beautiful and big temple of Tiruvanamalai we had our moment of luxury and next day we paid a long visit to the temple... 

Impressive temple in Tiruvanamalai

Auroville is a new city built near Pondicherry. There is a vision for this community but to my humble opinion this spirit just doesn't exist anymore. We arrived there at 21:00 seeking for a place to sleep and we only received arrogance and ignorance. The only person that helped us at the end was a Nepali guard.
Next morning we went to see their famous construction "Matrimandir" (check Auroville in google maps with satellite view to see what i mean) and left to Pondicherry.

Matrimandir, Auroville

Aurobeach was the next stop after 15 minutes in Pondicherry. We just didn't like cities. The last 5 days we ve used more than 10 rickshaws and i had enough. After staying one night there Eli decided the next morning (27/2) to buy a flight to Goa and head back to Gokarna. At least, the last night together, we met a nice Belgian couple that were happy to hear us play so we managed to have one last music sharing. 

Eli got in his taxi at 13:00 and left. I was also ready to pack and go until i saw in front of me Vasilis and Marianna (they were supposed to be in Kerala), just 5 minutes after Eli was gone. 

Vasilis and Marianna at "the only place" guest house

I decided then to stay one more night and go by the rainbow gathering that was happening in Auroville as the Belgians informed me. Looking at the rainbow forum the previous night we realised its not an ordinary gathering but i ll explain later. We went out with the Belgians to hitchhike and try to find the gathering in Auroville (20 square km). A moto stopped and i told he couple to go first.... The driver though was insisting to take all 4 of us and so it happened. 

Hitchhiking Indian style

At some point i saw a small rainbow flag hanging on a tree and the guy took us all the way in the dirt road to the rainbow gathering. We were really lucky to find so quickly.

Two nights passed without Eli (but with the amazing company of the Belgian and Greek couple plus a Belgian lady called Eli too) and i packed my things next morning to go to Pondicherry to visit a bus inspector,who had invited me to visit his house, and then head souther. That "last" night was also the 35th anniversary of Auroville but nothing was going on at night and we went by the rainbow... Nothing much was going on there either so after 30-40 minutes we went to sleep.

The beach at Aurobeach is quite polluted by plastic but the water is ok. In contrary, if you walk 100m to the right where the fishermen leave their boats, you will find the most amazing shells. I was thinking that even an ugly beach can give amazing gifts in india. I gathered 2kg of then and Vanilla (next paragraph) gave me some more and i had to make a parcel to Greece.

After 20 minutes walk. Jacques i told last summer i saw a starfish with 7 legs at Agiofaraggo. It exists indeed.

The place we were eating breakfast and dinner everyday is called Divya and its just on the main street.

Vanilla and Divya on the back 

A lady called Vanilla with her daughter Divya run this place. Vanilla raised Divya alone since she was a baby and she never had another husband. They are both very beautiful and i was telling Vanilla to come to Greece to find her a husband. I think its piece of cake for a woman like her... She was replying to me though to find a nice man for her 20 years old daughter Divya. That morning the ladies wouldn't want me to leave so they insisted to leave my luggage to their house and go to Pondicherry to visit my friend Venkatassamy and come back for the night. So it happened...

I went to Pondi market which is an amazing market and spent some hours before my friend picked me up and went to his place. He has a young and beautiful daughter who speaks fluent English. We had dinner almost together and after some time i headed back to Aurobeach.

Around 21:00 (1st March) i got down from the bus, i looked at Vanilla's restaurant and i couldn't believe my eyes. Two beloved friends, that i didn't know that they knew each other, were having dinner at Vanillas. It was Merdan and Tzlil.

Merdan

Tzlil

What happened the next four days is difficult to put it to words and i ll try to write a separate post about it. I shared so much love and emotions i m still trying to digest it.

3 people in a 50cc moped is something normal for india. I wish the moped was feeling the same.

I love you guys.

During these days i saw some beautiful projects going on in Auroville but still it couldn't win me. 

For the full moon we went again to rainbow because we heard there would be music... We made the music at the end and at 23:00 a German Aurovillian came to make the music stop as every single day. 
The major things that make this rainbow not a rainbow are:
Duration (last 5 months)
Location (not isolated, facilities)
Not free (Auroville asks 3 euro for each day)
No music after 23:00

That's why i said i ll wait for a real rainbow...

The 5th March i took my stuff, found a 16hour bus and next morning i was in  Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
The railway station was in front of me so i hoped in the train and headed to Varkala beach which i ve heard from my dear Eli.

Varkala, south cliff

I got down the train and i meet an Ukrainian couple, Jay and Liza that we said hi one time in Auroville rainbow.

Liza and Jay

They said, if you meet someone once its normal but if you meet twice in a random place it means something. Long story short, we shared a room in Varkala and we had some beautiful times together. They were wonderful company.
We experienced also a very short version of Holi (the colorful festival) and the morning of 8th March i left Varkala to check the backwaters of Varkala near Kottayam. I took a bus from the there to the town near the water called Kumarakom. It was getting dark and this area was full of resorts  (quite expensive).

Backwaters Kerala

I decided i ll sleep outside near the water tonight. It reminded me one night in Morocco that i slept in the middle of nowhere so i was very excited. Crazy ideas were crossing me mind... "Maybe i sleep outside for the rest of my trip"... but they didn't last long.

I managed to find a passage to the waters and a nice spot to sleep. I put down my yoga mat, my sleeping bag and i fix my mosquito net with a rope on a palm tree leaf. Soon i see torches pointing at me and go and more and more coming. I just wanted to fall naked in the waters and fall asleep but no peace... 15 minutes later a group of 15 locals came to me and there were telling me i cant sleep there and wanted to see my passport. They were actually scared of me. They told me they ll call police and i told them its ok. Soon i won their hearts with some music and pictures of my family and they told me i could sleep and they left. My peace lasted 2 minutes and just before i go in the waters 2 guys came and asked me to play more music for them. I started play a rebetiko song and one of the guys started beatboxing. Beatbox and rebetiko doesn't sound good to my ear but i have to admit that the guy was good. Before i finish the song the police arrives and behind them all the locals. After few minutes of documents inspection and funny talking they asked me to go with them because there are dangerous snakes there (i m sure though they wanted to calm the locals). We drive to a resort, probably the most expensive one and they bring me the manager to talk. He tells me that the room start from 200 euros/night and i tell again to the police that i could even paid the 13 euros they asked me in other places. They get back in the car and drive and that's when they ask me to sleep at the police station. "Suuuure" I say, "I don't mind sleeping in a cage either" thinking i shouldn't miss the chance but they said i can use a room.
And that's how i got another free night in India.

Next day i decided to go to Kochi and spent my last night there before i fly to Malaysia. On the train station I found again Christina, a super Greek we met in Gokarna and an Italian girl, Ambra from Ancona.

Christina in the train

 There were heading to Pushkar, where else. What a nice surprise. They will meet my other friends....

Back in Pishkar, Virginia, Imano and Gabriella. This photo made me really happy

I found a 6 bed dormitory in Kochi (1st time in all trip) and an Indian boy from Goa checked in after me. The neighborhood is called Fort Kochi and it is quite ok.

Amazing huge trees in Kochi

Liza wanted so much to see an famous dance of Kerala called Kathakali and there were two shows next to me. In good memory of the Ukrainian couple, I decided to go see the show even if it was out of my budget. I don't know if it worths the money as it was very short but for the real long thing i would pay even more.

Kathakali show

 I went for a night walk thinking i could busk somewhere but i couldn't find a place so i took out my mandolin and started playing while walking.  Soon some guys invited me to play at their restaurants with food as exchange and i went... My Indian roommate Srijan was there eating already so we sat together. He is a brilliant painter and while i was taking out my guts singing he painted me.

No, i didn't become skinny as y brother asked me

 My last day in India arrived and i m waiting in Kochi airport for my night flight to Malaysia.

Goodbye India. I know I will miss you a lot.