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            <<  Mussoorie, 07-Dec-2012  >>

Seeing Himalaya for the first time

Getting high in India for the first time - 2000 meters above the sea level, spotting of Himalaya and freezing to death at night.

Today I thought that I’ll go to see at least something in this town – the „town’s prime attraction“ according to Lonely Planet – National Forest Research Institute. Whoops, mistake! What a fucking waste of money (I had to take extremely overpriced rickshaw) and time. Lonely Planet, you got me one more time! But at least it was quiet there – very uncommon ‘sound’ in India.

As I checked out from the hotel, I put on my 23kg backpack and my 8kg frontpack, plugged-in earphones, hit Bob Dylan on my iPod and lit myself a beedee. WOW, WHAT A FEELING! This is exactly what I came here for – carrying all that I have on my shoulders, feeling freedom pulsating all over my body and venturing out into the unknown – as I headed for a bus station for a bus to Mussoorie. This was a holy moment!

Mussoorie – „Queen of the Hill stations“ (oh, how I hate this silly nicknames, my favorite one is „8th wonder of the world“, I’ve seen at least 72 of those „8th wonders“...) is a city 2000m above the sea level. A nice bus ride on the side of cliff (I was still feeling holy, because Dylan was still playing, I had been lucky and caught the bus in 5 minutes), quite cold. After checking into a much nicer and much cheaper place than in Dehra Dun I went for a little walk, hit a side street and, AND, AAAAAND THERE THEY WERE! My first sight of Himalaya!!!!!!!! (OK, I’ve seen them during the flight to Dehra Dun, but that does NOT count, nothing that you see through window ever counts, it’s like seeing it on TV…). Light of the setting sun shining on Himalaya. You should have seen my face – pure exhilaration. They were barely visible and far away, but who cares, I was looking at Himalaya! A friendly vendor (yes, surprisingly something like that does exist) who had a stall next to the view point made a tea (for free), I gave him a beedee and we talked awhile. 7th of December 2012 will be always remembered as the day I saw Himalaya for the first time.

The night was less exhilarating – it was freezing cold here at night and the room does not have any heating, so I slept in a sweater, winter cap, sleeping bag and under a heavy blanket and I still I was freezing. Never mind, I saw Himalaya today!


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     MARCEL STRBAK | www.strbak.com | www.facebook.com/marcel.strbak