by Sezgin | Jan 9, 2015 | SeedsonWheels |
After leaving Sadhana, we have visited Pondicherry and Madurai in India before going to Sri Lanka for the second month of our journey in Asia. Pondicherry (Puducherry) is a small settlement, which was a colony of France before. It’s tidy, clean and calm streets still has the French spirit. We feel like we are travelling in a small town in Mediterranean while we were walking in the French Quarter with elegant boutique shops. Botanical Garden next to the train station is a nice and informative recreation area. You can take a short tour with the tiny train in it and travel in your childhood. Another important spot of the city is Lakshmi, the Ganesh Temple which is at the center of the city. Even though it has nothing interesting but the poor elephant who is brought here every day about 4 pm, it is a place visited by many people. Sri Aurobindo Ashram that is close to the temple is founded by Sri Aurobindo, the creator of the idea of Auroville with The Mother, who played an important role in Indian History. Now it serves as a museum for visitors… Besides the open canalization passing through the middle of the city, the clean view of Pondicherry is seen in restaurants also. Food in the restaurant called Bombay Anandha Bhaven, in which we usually ate, is pretty tasty and affordable. There is another Anandha Bhaven, closer to the temple, which is more “touristic”. For accommodation, we recommend Natura Ashram. The guesthouse, with the option of private and shared rooms, is both cheap and clean. The founder of the Ashram is...
by Sezgin | Dec 14, 2014 | SeedsonWheels |
After Chennai and Mahabalipuram, we have been to Auroville. Auroville, a couple of kms away from Pondicherry (Puducherry –most of the cities have two names as before and after independence-), is an alternative living project, open to everybody all around the world, which is founded by The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) and following her principles. Like anybody else, who visits Auroville for the first time, we go to Visitor’s Centre first. Our exploration begins after settling in one of the guesthouses of Auroville. Population of Auroville, which is designed for 50.000 people to live in a self-sustainable way, is about 2500 at present. Because of that, settlements are dispersed and far from each other, also not completely self-sustainable yet. Both visitors and residents are riding motorbikes in Auroville, but we prefer to rent a bicycle. At the center of the settlement, there is Matrimandir, the symbol of Auroville. To enter the building, which is designed like a huge globe, reservation is needed. It is all white inside, as it’s mostly made by using marble, and white socks are given to the visitors. At the center of the globe, meditation room stands. In the middle of the room, there is a small glass globe, in which the vision of the sky is reflected by the optical mirrors at the top of the building. For the landscape of the garden of Matrimandir, a lot of work has done. At the center of the garden, a huge and old banyan tree exists. For us, it’s enough for meditation and simpler. Town Hall, the governing center of Auroville, and Solar Kitchen, where the community...
by Sezgin | Dec 1, 2014 | SeedsonWheels |
In Chennai, where we took out first step to India, we had the chance of meeting one of the most important part of this culture; Indian Cuisine. India is a vegetarian friendly country due to the necessities of Hindu culture. On the package of every product, there is either a red or a green dot. The products with a green dot are vegetarian. They don’t contain meat or egg. In most of the restaurants, vegetarian foods are in majority. Pastries and fries are prevalent and the dishes are prepared on wood fire. Creppe like foods called Dosa, Uttapam, Idly are served with stews in small cups, and they are highly filling. Of course there is a lot of spice in almost everything. It’s needed to get used to eating spicy food and also to eat by your hands without using forks and spoons. And sometimes even without a plate. In southern India, food is served on banana leaves in some restaurants. Papaya and pineapple is widely available. We run into hawkers who prepare mixed fruit salad and fresh juice on streets. Another thing that you can drink is coconut! It is served with a straw. Walkşng around with a huge fruit is very enjoyable. The thing we got addicted and eat almost every day between meals is banana chips. It looks like thick potato chips. A salted and fried sweet fruit might sound weird, but it tastes amazing. After five days we spent in Chennai, trying to know Indian culture and its cuisine closer, we move towards the south, to Mahabalipuram. The town, also known as Maamalapuram or Mahabs...
by Sezgin | Nov 17, 2014 | SeedsonWheels |
“Incredible India” was only a slogan we saw in the consulate. After 3 days we spent in Chennai, we realized that maybe this is the most appropriate slogan to define India. We arrive Chennai before the sunrise after a 1,5 days of journey with 17 hours of waiting in Shrjah Airport. When we step outside, we hardly breathe because of the hot weather and moisture. Breath-taking in real terms… We reach Erik and Selcem’s house early in the morning. Thanks to Couchsurfing, we get into the a totally different culture slowly not to have a culture-shock. November and December is the monsoon season in Southern India. That’s why we always take our rain covers with us. But it’s not bad to get wet, as even the rain is warm. Everybody on streets walks either on their naked feet or with slippers… Chennai is the 4th biggest city of India, the traffic is too dense. In the beginning, we get crazy because of the sound of horns. For us, horn sounds aggressive. But nobody is angry and the flow of the traffic depends on this. In all the congestion drivers communicate by horn. A very developed language, that can be examined by linguists. Behind many vehicles, it’s written; “sound horn”. The thing we come across everywhere, after sound of horn, is the spice odor, of course. The whole city is like a huge spice bazaar. But this is a different language also. In the mess of sounds and colors, odor becomes an element of marketing. A smell you like, mostly takes you to a dish you like… To all languages...
by Sezgin | Nov 7, 2014 | SeedsonWheels |
Up to now, we made more than 10.000 kilometers on our journey we started 6 months ago. We have been in 20 different cities, visited 10 farms and eco-villages, and camped in more than 40 different places. We met many nice people… Sometimes we stuck on the road, had some trouble. But we didn’t regret even just for one day… Throughout this time, we have written 18 blogs and shared more than 300 photographs. Now, our journey will continue abroad, in South Asia. But, we will be travelling without our fellow, Murtaza. We leave our caravan who took us everywhere and carried all our load. Both because of the length of road lying before us, and because of the extra fund needed for caravan to go out of the country (Vehicle Passport, Traffic Insurance, Carnet de Passages etc.), we are leaving with our backpacks. We won’t be on the same four wheels anymore. But with different kind of transports –by train, by hitchhiking, however we can- we continue exploring different places of Asia to learn about ecologic life and share the seeds in our bags and to share what we learned. On 11 of November, we are going to India (Chennai) from Istanbul by plane. Our journey will start form there, and our first stops will be Sadhana Forest and Auroville. Sadhana Forest is a project for the re-forestration of a land of 70 hectares effected by erosion with locals also to produce food for the people. And Auroville is the largest eco-village or eco-town of the world; population: 2500 approx. We are willing to experience these communities by...