Trek The Unknown

“you should go to an Indian movie. It’s really funny seeing the Indians watching it…” this is what my sister told me 7 years ago after she visited India. Since then she was not the only one telling me that.

After spending a few days in Delhi with a friend, I told him we are going to watch a movie tonight. “please tell me it will be in English…”. “maybe there will be subtitles” I said. “oh, great…”

Film was suppose to start at 21:30, so we had some time walking around Connaught Place in Delhi, seeing and window shopping at the most exclusive stores in the city.

At 21:15 we arrived back at the movie theater. The film started 5 minutes later (have you ever been to any show that starts AHEAD of time?

Our pick was “Om, Shanti, Om”, a romantic Bollywood film. But we were more excited about watching the people watching the film and not the film itself, so the particular film didn’t really matter…

The film started and we found ourselves looking at the screen more than looking at the people who were just too quiet, which was pretty disappointing, the film was wonderful! colorful, interesting, but in Hindi…

Fortunately, there are many words in English got into the Hindi language, so from time to time the actors spoke some English words which helped us tracking what’s going on on the screen. the crowd…was still silent…

Then there were some whistlings and we started to get excited! Beautiful Hindi women were singing and dancing on the screen. This almost empty theater with almost only men sitting at, still looked very sad compared to what we heard suppose to be.

But we kept enjoying the movie which wasn’t very complicated to understand even though we speak only 1 word in Hindi (which is Namaste, surprisingly).

When the film ended we tried to figure out why we enjoyed the action on the screen and why there was no action in the crowd.

we thought that the fact that we went to a romantic film and not an action one didn’t help the crowd to “rave”.

in conclusion, the movie was great, but the crowd didn’t play it’s role. we still had great time!

comment for your stories on a Bollywood movie experience! thanks

Before I went to china I also heard about the famous single child policy that China has. It was very interesting to talk about this subject with the people i’ve met with in China. As time passed I learned there are some ways you can have more than one child. Here are the exceptions:

1. If you live in the village and you have a girl as a 1st child, you can have another chance having a boy.
2. If both of the parents are an only child they can have 2 kids, regardless of their gender. This law now becomes relevant. The single child policy is 30 years old, so the current young generation is now getting married and having kids. China is expecting to have a generation with 2 kids familyies
3. Pay high fee - If you rich enough, you can afford another child.
4. Go abroad and have another child - solution only to people who can afford it.
5. be a villager - villagers are so poor that they have nothing to lose. So they have as many kids as they want.

The official number of people in china is around 1.3 Billion. experts say the number is much higher, something like: 1.6 Billion. I don’t know if the population is decreasing but growth is certainly slowing down.

Meet Diyesh Rai (right) and Norbu Sherpa ( yes, the same Sherpa who helped sir Edmond Hillery climb the everest mountain). I met those two young man, both 20 yeas old now, on a bus going from Pokhara to Kathmnadu. They were also traveling back from there, as there is a Gurkha recruitment camp right by Pokhara. They just finished a 6 months training in a Nepali institute getting them ready for the tests and rough selection in the recruitment center.

In the last couple of weeks I heard about the brave Gorkhas and their famous khukuri knives they carry, so meeting these kind of poeple and talking to them was very exciting for me. Diyesh and Norbu told me about the process they are going through when getting accepted to the special British Gurkha unit.

As I mentioned after training and learning for 6 months they go through tests which include IQ,English and Nepali tests on the mental side. Physical side is less appealing in my opinion:
70 sit ups in 2 minutes, 14 pull ups, and 800M run in less than 2:45 minutes.

This test was their 1st test and the next one is about the happen in one month. fortunately both of them passed it. some of their other friends from the institute failed but can try again once a year if they are 17-21 in age.

part of the second test includes running up a hill with 25 KG of rock on your back. This is a quote from the lonely Planet. Diyesh and Norbu approved.

All is left to say, I wish you the best and good luck!
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Who are the Brave Gurkhas?

Gurkha are a special gerilla unit which are part of the British army. This unit is also situated at the singapur police force and the guards and price of Brunei.

I’m here in China for already 6 weeks. And although It’s already was quite a while, new experiences do arrive. I’m thinking of developing some business here in china…whenever I read about china’s business culture I read about toasting for the guest…

yesterday I moved temporarily to a friends dorms in the university of Dalian. He offered me to stay here for a couple of days and I appreciate this very much….So last night we all went out for beer. I’m not such a good alcohol drinker…

when I arrived at the restaurant they were all there..and 4 empty bottles on the table. We were 5 people total…when I sat there, They all honored me with a “gang bei” ( litaraly means, empty glass).

some rules:

1. you have to look at the other person’s eyes when toasting with him.

2. If 2 of the people at the table are toasting you don’t have to join if you were not invited.

3. you have to finish the glass ( And preferably before the person who invites you to drink finishes his) till it’s end, unless you were given a permission not and just take a sip.

4. Last one is not rule but an important conclussion: I didn’t know I can drink so much beer! but, I was sooooo dizzy afterwards!

So Each of the people sitting to the table is toasting for you and you have to finish your glass. meaning that you drink the most. here’s a way to make business!

here is a picture from that night ( we had no camera therefore it’s the cellphone quality) . The owner of the restaurant is the guy in the middle, who joined us forthe pic and a few drink