Backpacking Ninja

Archive for Fuschl

License to drive

June 17, 2011 / admin / 2 comments

Its funny how I miss my little red Zen. The one I took for granted all these years. They say you don’t know the value of something till its gone. So true. I have to admit I’ve never really been a car person. I guess that was because I lived in a city like Mumbai, where the last thing you needed was a car. Any Mumbai person knows that the frustration of trying to find a parking spot is lesser than the frustration of a bumpy auto ride to your destination. Either way, I still had the car in my garage, just incase I needed it. Having moved to Austria (Yes, I’ve started accepting that I moved to Austria and not the UK), I have managed to find myself in situations, where life without car seems very similar to prison life.

Situation 1 – Missed the bus to the city and got drenched walking from the bus station to my hotel, depressed over the fact that I couldn’t make it to Capoeira

Situation 2 – Missed the bus back to the village from the city, making me hitchhike till the motorway and walk 2 hours

Permanent Situation – Being stuck. No explanation required. The feeling of being stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Well, the issue here is not about the car. I guess I could get one or borrow one or rent one if I wanted. I don’t have a license to drive in Europe. I’ve been told that you can drive for the first 6 months with your Indian license, but honestly I don’t know if Austrians know that. I didn’t take an International license in India due to the bureaucracy. I haven’t applied for a driving license in the UK because I have to go back to driving school and write tests et all. I guess its the same story for Europe. Call me lazy or whatever, I just think I should be allowed to drive here.

What do you think I should do?

Should I try this story with a car rental and see if they will let me hit the road in Europe with my Indian license. After all, If I can drive in India amidst all the traffic and the occasional elephant, shouldn’t driving in Europe be a piece of cake?

Or, should I just accept the fact that from cars to bikes to scooters to bicycles, I’ve finally reached a situation where it will be me, my two legs and miles to go?

…… any other thoughts?

Category: Austria, Capoeira, England, Europe, Fuschl, India, London, Mumbai / Tags: Car Rentals, Driving in Europe, Driving in UK

The perfect weekend in Austria

June 12, 2011 / admin / 4 comments

This weekend, I decided not to go back to London. I can’t exactly remember why. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I had the most incredible weekend in Austria and it hasn’t ended. A weekend indeed very indicative of the good life people lead here. The simple joy you get from the outdoor beauty, the sheer variety of sweet things to eat, the fantastic options of beer and wine, the perfect balance between tourists and people I can call friends, the drizzle and the sun, the church bells tolling at all hours, this and that……. and finally let me not forget, the endless capoeira moments.

Sun shining at something like 5 am. I am not sure when. I have to pull the comforter over my head and avoid waking up. It lasts a few minutes. Somehow, snooze doesn’t work here. I jump out of the bed and the first thing I do it step into the balcony to gauge the weather. Barefoot and without a jacket. You can sense the day. And, that’s the beautiful view. A room with a view indeed.

And, then I headed to the hotel reception to greet my closest friends Good morning. My day doesn’t begin in Fuschl without seeing Anna or Daniel. Guten Morgan.

I had been invited for brunch at my friend Gertraud’s place. An opportunities to meet some new people. I headed there picking up some assortment of bakery stuff from the little bakery in Fuschl. Look at the far end of the picture below (well, there is a mix of apple stuff, cream cheese stuff and chocolate stuff). And, Gertraud had a feast ready for us.

Breads and spreads… Love it.

Pretzels, sausages and hot mustard.

Never too early for Weisbeer or Prosecco.

… and the beautiful host Gertraud…

Met some delightful people. Gertraud’s kids Moritz and adopted kid (actually tenant) Florian, who is a freerunner. The ease with which he did a handstand from a sitting position shows core strength. He is a part time stunt man as well. Wow, I wanted to run back to the meadows and do my handstands till my body hurt. (And, yes I did that) Mortiz and Florian below..

Michael, a friend from Salzburg and his guest Michi from Brazil. I’m so happy I got to practice my Portugese in Austria.

And its not surprising that people who are crazy about travel have globes with them. Don’t you just love it. Even Michael’s dog was enthralled.

Brunch overlapped with lunchtime and pretty much became evening. Time to head back and have a coffee. Met 2 interns from Vienna. They are interning with Hotel Seewinkel, one of the hotels in Fuschl. Just chilling with some 16 year olds who are definite Red Bull addicts was an interesting evening. Daniel and Carina below…. we made a plan to meet every time they get a break.

A great Capoeira workout in the evening in the lawns behind the hotel….Desperately tried to hold the handstand, fell into bridges, what not. Super workout and then, the random old British tourists started to turn up and drink wine in the lawns. I slipped out of there earlier than I had planned to.

Sunday started with a lovely walk to the lake, just to spot this fishing all alone. Beautiful colourful boats. Blue green waters. Drizzle. Sun. Drizzle. Sun. I managed to finish a few chapters of a book I was reading. Soaked in the lazy life lying around the beach chairs by the lake.

After the lazy morning, I decided to play more Capoeira in the fields. With the trees. I saw all those cyclists wearing their gear, riding around trails. Then, those power walkers. Well, they sure don’t come back dirty and muddy and sweaty like I do after capoeira in the fields. After that, I decided to treat myself to great beer, food and dessert. I deserved the dessert.

Peter, the bartender at Hotel Mohrenwirt (home), always smiling and ready to serve you a drink. More than anything, I get to practice basic German and he gets to practice his English with me.

Mohrnpfandl – Some pork with vegetables in mushroom sauce.

Topfenstrudel, cheese filled strudel with Vanilla sauce. Killer dessert.

…. and the weekend is still on…. Monday is a holiday. Isn’t that the best feeling?

Category: Austria, Capoeira, Europe, Fuschl / Tags: Austria, Europe, Fuschl

Ninja meets Murphy

June 5, 2011 / admin / 2 comments

You know its not your day when a sequence of events happen, all together, in one single day, and you aren’t expecting it at all. When I say events, these are not the ones that make you jump with joy. These are unique events that either hurt, pain or frustrate you in a deep way.

Sunday morning – My usual journey from London to Fuschl via Gatwick and Salzburg.

6:00 am. After having woken up at 3, 4 and 5 am (I always have sleepness nights when I have a morning flight), I finally woke up at 6 am, decided to have a shower before making that trek across London to Gatwick airport. Stepped into the bathtub only to slip on the stupid anti-slip rubber mat and fall, hitting my head on the wash basin. I saw stars. Yes. I wasn’t going to let this day get to me. Put some cold water on my head and carried on.

7:00 am. Dragging my suitcase (which was packed for 2 weeks and more) along with my laptop bag, my berimbau case and a cloth bag holding the precious ‘cabaca’ (for those of you who don’t know what a cabaca is, please look at the photo below. The instrument in the picture is a berimbau and the gourd attached to it is the cabaca). Delivate as it was, I had wrapped it in my beautiful red scarf to protect it and held it carefully. I stepped out of my door, dragging all that luggage, crossed the street, tripped and hit the lamppost. I could have made contact with the lamppost in numerous ways. But, Murphy had something else in store for me. The cloth bag, red scarf, protected cabaca made direct contact with the lamppost and shattered. I cried. Yes, I did. I called Roy, who came to the corner of the street, took the cabaca back home. I’ll give it a decent burial when I get back to London.

7:15 am. Caledonian Road Tube Station. Piccadilly line to Uxbridge. Mind the gap et all. 4 carriages go by empty. Im right next to the 5th one with all the luggage. And, its packed. I run to the 4th just in time to push all the luggage in and my beautiful sweatshirt gets caught in the door and catches an ugly black stain. I’m hoping I can find stain removers in Austrian supermarkets.

7:30 am. Kings Cross Station. Walked out of Kings Cross Underground and to St. Pancras International only to find out that First Capital Connect trains to Brighton (via gatwick) do not operate on Sundays. Bloody hell. My only options were Victoria or London Bridge. I wasn’t taking a chance with London Bridge (just incase the slow train did not operate). I decided to make that trek to Victoria. Victoria line closed. Thought of changing at Green Park. Victoria line again. Further down to South Kensington. Circle line closed. Thank god for the District line and I made it to Victoria.

8:30 am. Gatwick express. Things are looking good. I should make it to the airport in time. I buy myself English breakfast tea. Voila, hot team on my lap. Need I say more?

9:15 am. Reach Gatwick, head to check in. Get pulled up from the normal baggage drop queue and taken to a Oversized baggage queue thanks to my beautiful Berimbau case. It has Ninja written on it. I get quizzed on whether it is a weapon. Blah blah chi chi theen thong thong. It is an instrument you wird security people. Checked in finally.

2 hour flight. I passed out. Slept. Woke up with the landing thud. Scorching heat in Austria.

2:30 pm. Reached Fuschl in thirty minutes only to discover a street market and festa going on. Looked like half of Austria descended on this little village, very abnormal. Festive and fun. But, I wanted my solus time. Of all days, the last thing I wanted to see in Fuschl was a crowd. Hmmmm.

6:00 pm. I decided to go and indulge in some therapy in the evening. 21st century therapy is capoeira. Reached the beautiful meadows behind my pensione and started doing my movements facing a tree. I kept working on a a bananeira (handstand, arching your back and leaning your legs against the tree / wall for those who obviously cannot do it without support) with the tree. After sometime, my hand just felt so weak and I collapsed into the tree, burising my back. It shows that if you do not control what you do, even a tree can be a lethal capoeira partner.

All in all, a day when I felt I needed some kind of insurance. Insurance against rubber mats, broken instruments, train closures, tube delays, grease stains, wierd secutiry officials, maddening crowds, scorching sun and last but not the least, tree trunks. Does travel insurance cover this?

Category: Austria, Capoeira, England, Fuschl, London / Tags: Capoeira, Fuschl, London, Travel Insurance

Vacation during war – What is happening to the world?

May 23, 2011 / admin / No comments

Someone once told me that it is a sign that you are a local the minute people start asking you for directions in a new city. Well, a new town as this case maybe. Taking the bus from Salzburg to Fuschl (the little town that has recently become my home), I was approached by this Libyan lady and her son. They seemed to be the only ones in the bus who seemed more lost than me with the language and the place. I very happily drew them a map of Fuschl and told them where to walk around and have a coffee. It almost felt like those elaborate excel sheet maps I used to make of my neighbourhood in Mumbai.

One thing that niggling me was why there were 2 Libyans hanging around in this remote place in Austria. As the case maybe, they took a 3 month vacation to avoid the war. Can you imagine that? Going away on a holiday when your country was at war. That made me think. What kind of social position they are in to actually take a vacation. Scary isn’t it?

Anyway, the son (who seemed absolutely bored with the stunning lake and sunset) kept coaxing his mother to leave. She seemed rather reluctant to leave Fuschl, while all her son wanted to do was be in sunny Malta, where they had been the previous week.

All in all, war in Libya, tourists in Austria, not something I would have even understood sometime ago. Not that I understand it now.

This escape from reality is the new reality.

Category: Austria, Europe, Fuschl, Libya / Tags: Austria, Fuschl, Libya, Vacation during war

Reality of Relocation

April 14, 2011 / admin / 8 comments

It has just been 3 weeks since I left Mumbai and technically moved to London, but actually spending more time in this little village called Fuschl outside Salzburg in Austria. No kidding. Feels like much longer, as I have spent most of my time in airports, woken up in strange rooms, eaten food I don’t recognise and more than anything, struglled to identify where home is. I tried to carry my sleeping bag everywhere, something familiar to cling on to.

So, I sat and made a list of things that have changed drastically in my life and have shaken me from my comfort zone.

Home. Familiarity of my apartment in Mumbai. The feeling of waking up with the sun on my face, having the coffee sitting on the window ledge, avoiding neighbours who I never bothered meeting. Everything was way too comfortable. New apartment in London – where everything is still too cold and strange. Where it took us ages to get nails up on walls to hang photos. Where the bar is a bookshelf converted into a bar. Where the TV is too far from the bed. Funnily, it is not London I’ve spent all that much time. The hotel room in Fuschl takes the cake. Set right next to the lake (everything in Fuschl is next to the lake), it is what one would imagine as the perfect little place for a holiday. Only difference, everything doesn’t look all that pretty when you keep checking your Blackberry and working every minute. Back to the hotel room, its basic. Pillows are soft, I love it. I don’t watch any TV, everything is in German. Hot shower. Great breakfast. What’s the dilemma. Last couple of days, I’ve been waking up wondering whether it is 6 30 am or 7 30 am, with the time difference between UK and Austria, snoozing till the time the location hits me. All in all, whether it is Caledonian Road or Downtown Fuschl as they call it, its all still alien. The only thing familiar about it is I dont know my neighbours in any city.

Commuting. I never thought I would say this. But, I miss the autos in Mumbai. No, I do not miss the honking. No, I do not miss the insane Andheri East traffic jams. Yes, I miss the 24 / 7 convenience of finding these little autos everywhere. In London, I’m married to the Tube and before I know it, I would be saying ‘Mind the Gap’ as a part of my regular vocabulary. In Fuschl, where it would take anyone not more than 10 minutes to explore the entire village walking, I have no option. Well, I can’t drive in Europe. Yet. So, I walk, everywhere. And, the rain Gods have this uncanny way of sending their blessings my way the minute I step out. So, do I miss the autos. Hell yeah!

Supermarkets. As ridiculous as it may sound, I love simplicity. I hate choice. I would be the one who would always ask for coffee, when I am thrown coffee jargons like decaf, skim milk, brown sugar, blah blah. Same with grocery stores or supermarkets. Between the unbelievable choice in the Tescos and Sainsbury’s of London (a 100 different types of cheese, cereal, yoghurt, sauces and so on) to the unfamiliarty of German packaging, if I manage to find a supermarket open after 6 pm in Austria, I know one thing. I miss Prabhat Provision Stores and the free home delivery of anything under the sun. I miss the lady in Pali vegetable market who would happily discuss her life over 200 gms of Paneer.

Language. You would be surprised. In London, they speak English right. You bet they do. How come I still don’t get it when they say it the first time? Indian accent. British accent. Howjsay it? Whatchamacallit? And, as for Austria, forget it. I can say Servus, which means Hello and Byebye. I can say Malzeit. That’s what you say before you eat. Kind of like Bon Appetit. I can say Bitte, which means please. That’s my language status. Pathetic. Between trying to understand the British and learning beginner’s German, I honestly feel like swearing in Hindi. And, thats what I really miss.

Timepass. As it is such a common word back home, I felt that this would be the best way to describe it. The one thing about Mumbai was knowing exactly what was going on everywhere, what are the places to hang out, eat, drink and so on. It had taken me almost 8 years to feel like a local. Then, we get to the topic of London. Just the sheer magnitude of things to do and places to go to is mindboggling. I don’t even know where to begin. Someone told me, check out Beer in the evening for pubs, Last Minute Theatre Tickets for Broadway… then, I started looking up stuff on the internet and found the Timeout Top 50 sites in London. Its a maze. Then, there is Austria, to be specific Fuschl. One lake. Few hotels. Very few restaurants. Hardly any markets. One gym. Lot of paths to walk around. Yes, that’s all I can do. Walk. Walk. Walk. If the weather favours me that is. Right now, I am an armchair traveler, virtually getting to know my cities even before I get the courage to step out. Baaaaaah! What I would do for one beer at Totos.

Food. Where do I even begin? From the comfort kitchen of Ashaji where the rotis and sabji was warm and ready to the 101 restaurants that were always open, I’m eating Snickers bars from vending machines in Fuschl. Life ends here when it gets dark. If I actually get out of office in time to head to the restaurant, I need to think of all the German menus and order what sounds easy to pronounce. London is not such a problem. Tesco Ready to eat has become Roys best friend. I make omlette and stir fry vegetables in less than 10 minutes. We have discovered the best cheap wines, not that we know good wine from bad wine. Either way, till I find some stability in my eating pattern, it just feels like I’m one one long gastronomical adventure not doing any justice to my waistsize.

Capoeira. The less said, the better. Capoeira in India was life. Between the hundreds of schools in London and the only gym in Fuschl which offers Yoga and Pilates, Ive become bloody lazy. I need Baba (my capoeira teacher in India) to kick my butt once and get me started here.

People. And, finally, it just boils down to one thing. Friends. Family. There isn’t even a comparison point with London and Austria. Mumbai is Mumbai. And, I miss all the blokes who made life so much fun.

Having said that, I’m leaving you with a snapshot of life in Austria so far. A random collection of photos to show you what my life looks like now. I have to say I love it.

My temporary home in Austria – Hotel Mohrenwirt