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Billet original sur Aperture First

Billet original sur Aperture First

Day 3 I think

Its 1st of July today just 3 days after I arrived in Warsaw, Poland which was so relaxing with Xavier’s cooking and his funny French ways, his intense backpacking wisdom and Monicas hospitality and her beautiful apartment.

It was definitely tough leaving it all behind, but once Xavier, Benoit and I were out by 9 in the morning, I had this surge of freedom spreading through my body. We had decided that we would be hitchhiking till Krakow and from thereon to maybe even to Bratislava, Slovakia. So I sit in my first Youth Hostel café I cannot believe my luck as this happened to be one of those intense moments of my travel which will always be special for me. I am right now in Krakow.

It started out with Xavier, Benoit and I standing on Street no. E77 of Katowice after a lovely city tram ride. So armed with a cardboard cut out with ‘KRAKOV’ written on it we started our wait. After 20 minutes of waiting, 1 lewd call, around 200 cars and maybe 50 “no’s” which is a good average, 1 car decided to stop to tell us that he can drop us half way till Kielce. The only catch being there is only place for 2 people. So, alas our threesome journey came to an end and Xavier wished us luck with a promise to maybe meet us in Krakov unless his feet decided to take him somewhere else.

The driver seemed to be the regular van driver kind from here, clean looked, big built, shaved head (very common for Europe I think). He didn’t speak Polish but Xavier had us fixed well. He was to drop us midway where he would leave to get on with his life and us with ours. Moving on with the little English he spoke and no Polish that we knew, sign language and a couple of words carried us on. I slept most of the way leaving Ben to the sign language business. It wasn’t till we got into the suburbs the last 30 minutes of journey when he started showing us the “left looking” and “right looking” getting our attention to the beauty of suburban Poland. Lovely old houses dating back to 100 years or 200 years, scenic views that took my breath away, old castle wishing you were there in its prime years. It was beautiful to say the least. It was then he told us that he works for a water company which manufactures bottled drinking water. He even called up ‘Rosemary’ to translate into English to explain himself better. Rosemary was nice enough to do so and told me not to worry and that he was a nice man. Coming from a place where I trust none I decided to be vigilant all the same. Rosemary also told me that he would be taking me to the Bottle company where he would drop his “hundreds bottle caps” and then drop us to the next hitchhiking stop. We didn’t have much to lose and with time on our hands we decided to give it a go. Entering Kielce was beautiful, the scenery gorgeous and our happy van man so proud of his home country, it was really nice to see him happy and laughing. I could see why he felt so proud to introduce us to KIELCE.

The bottled water company was named after Henryk Sienkiewicz, a prominent Journalist and a Nobel Prize Winning Writer. Today being an experience first of its kind it was overwhelming when he invited us inside the manufacturing unit and introducing us to his boss. Surprises were yet come. The boss invited us to lunch and we having no plans graciously accepted. Our man, the bottle cap van driver turned out to be a very well connected man and took us to a friend’s restaurant for lunch in his nice Mercedes Benz which I ogled at for a good 15 minutes. He drove us there in almost silence. Breaking his silence to tell us that there was a football field a jump away.

The Boss arrived and lunch was awesome. Our over conversations which ranged from Polish History to Indian Culture to the history of the Sienkiewicz company to the well mannered Poles to our very well “connected” friend who told me that his name was Pavel. Pavel also decided to show me the football stadium, where he was once an ‘offense’ player. Keeping up to the Polish standards the building insides were clean with well placed football memorabilia etc.

Steeping on the grass I felt like a celebrity myself. Most Europeans might not associate with my experience but readers you have to remember in India a football field like yours is yet to be built there so a football field id something that I have seen only in television. Feeling that grass under my feet made me realise the intensity of the sport during the game. It was overwhelming to say the least, something that most of you might feel when you see an Indian Village, I guess.

And so after having refreshments, Mr Boss – Mr Przmyslaw Blachut decided to bid us good bye and we did the same to get up and about on our way hitchhiking now from Kielce to Krakow. Pavel dropped us to a gas station 2kms away ending our fun experience by asking me to live in Poland. His charming manners made him so endearing I left him with a nice hug.

We waited for about 15 mins till our next car stopped to pick us up. We were on our way to Krakow.

Billet original sur Un voyage A travers l’Europe et l'Asie sur le theme du changement climatique

Billet original sur Aperture First

Billet original sur Effraie's shots

I think it would probably have been very strange day if it had not been for Monica and her couch surfers hosting me and making me feel absolutely at home when I had just flown in from India the same morning. So as we celebrated my first travel to any foreign country later that evening I could not help but think about the day's events and my observations.



I got off the airport extremely confused; trying to figure out what time it was back home in India and being overwhelmed by just being 5784 kms away from India I searched for Ben in a small crowd of around 30 people. As time passed I panicked having no Euros no phone or the fact that I know nobody here I made a quick decision to ask some help if any from the Tourist office; The difference of Monica and friend Isa 's(both Polish) hospitality and friendliness was later extremely appreciated when I met them to the rude tourist office officials who seemed to be too bored to listen to a foreigners problem and query. I finally did find Ben and did manage to make it outside the Airport. But I did feel a little disappointed that I cross oceans to find similar bureaucrats here as well,

At first impression Poland did not seem very different than an Indian suburb with very little traffic no pollution whatsoever and very few people with small shops scattered around but that did not last long for me. As the first 5 minutes passed by I think the few similarities that I had found had turned themselves into big differences – the afternoon warmth disappeared giving way to a windy evening, Warsaw seemed to look cleaner by every step I took, I started finding small hole in the wall café with charming décor and jazz music. I think the principle by which India is different from Poland is the subtlety. India's charm lies in its colourfulness its pretty in your face shiny demeanour, the fancy jewellery the big moustached men with the sari clad women with flowers in their hair. Definitely urban India is more different and close to any European country which is why I haven't found anything extremely shocking yet but I am sure there will be plenty to find here and plenty to learn. I am really excited to discover Warsaw's old buildings, the elaborate graffiti, the urban Warsaw with their kinotec's (Cinema halls) the little of Poland which I remember seeing from the bus back to Monica's place from the Airport.

Billet original sur Un voyage A travers l’Europe et l'Asie sur le theme du changement climatique

I think it would probably have been very strange day if it had not been for Monica and her couch surfers hosting me and making me feel absolutely at home when I had just flown in from India the same morning. So as we celebrated my first travel to any foreign country later that evening I could not help but think about the day's events and my observations.

I got off the airport extremely confused; trying to figure out what time it was back home in India and being overwhelmed by just being 5784 kms away from India I searched for Ben in a small crowd of around 30 people. As time passed I panicked having no Euros no phone or the fact that I know nobody here I made a quick decision to ask some help if any from the Tourist office; The difference of Monica and friend Isa 's(both Polish) hospitality and friendliness was later extremely appreciated when I met them to the rude tourist office officials who seemed to be too bored to listen to a foreigners problem and query. I finally did find Ben and did manage to make it outside the Airport. But I did feel a little disappointed that I cross oceans to find similar bureaucrats here as well,

At first impression Poland did not seem very different than an Indian suburb with very little traffic no pollution whatsoever and very few people with small shops scattered around but that did not last long for me. As the first 5 minutes passed by I think the few similarities that I had found had turned themselves into big differences – the afternoon warmth disappeared giving way to a windy evening, Warsaw seemed to look cleaner by every step I took, I started finding small hole in the wall café with charming décor and jazz music. I think the principle by which India is different from Poland is the subtlety. India's charm lies in its colourfulness its pretty in your face shiny demeanour, the fancy jewellery the big moustached men with the sari clad women with flowers in their hair. Definitely urban India is more different and close to any European country which is why I haven't found anything extremely shocking yet but I am sure there will be plenty to find here and plenty to learn. I am really excited to discover Warsaw's old buildings, the elaborate graffiti, the urban Warsaw with their kinotec's (Cinema halls) the little of Poland which I remember seeing from the bus back to Monica's place from the Airport.

Billet original sur Un voyage A travers l’Europe et l'Asie sur le theme du changement climatique