There has been a point, everyday for the last three days, where one of us looks at the other two and says, "You know what? Today was a really good day." I take this as an indication that we are winning at travel.
Yesterday we rented a motorcycle (for Roxy and me) and a scooter (for Jill) and toured the area. The bike I got was a 100cc junker that couldn't idle in any gear other than neutral and couldn't make it up the hill out of town with both Roxy and me riding it.
We made a big loop around Hampi, stopping in at ruins and temples and getting rather sunburned.
Because of our sunburns and the fatiguing day we had yesterday we decided to take it easy today, do some laundry, have a relaxed breakfast, shop, and read. It's been good but I'm going to be ready to get back into it tomorrow; there's a temple up on top of a nearby hill (mountain? big earth mound?) that I have been eyeballing for a while now that I think I may make the climb to tomorrow.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Hampi pictures
Here are some pictures from our first couple of days in Hampi:
This is the temple in the middle of Hampi's main bazaar.
We found this statue of Ganesh inside one of Hampi's many abandoned temples.
Jordan poking giant millipedes with a stick...
Look how big it is!!
Jordan admiring some of Hampi's amazing rock formations.
Me and Jordan outside the serene Achyutaraya Temple.
Inside the temple.
This used to be the bustling commercial center for a city of 500,000. It's so empty now, it feels almost haunted.
Jordan taking a break as we took a riverside stroll and admired the scenery.
A delicious lunch in a scenic spot. There were birds all around us as we ate underneath a mango tree and looked out over the river. We're definitely going back tomorrow.
Some of the cool rock formations we saw at the waterfalls we hiked to.
As always, there are way more photos on our Flickr feed, and there will be many more to come in the next few days!
This is the temple in the middle of Hampi's main bazaar.
We found this statue of Ganesh inside one of Hampi's many abandoned temples.
Jordan poking giant millipedes with a stick...
Look how big it is!!
Jordan admiring some of Hampi's amazing rock formations.
Me and Jordan outside the serene Achyutaraya Temple.
Inside the temple.
This used to be the bustling commercial center for a city of 500,000. It's so empty now, it feels almost haunted.
Jordan taking a break as we took a riverside stroll and admired the scenery.
A delicious lunch in a scenic spot. There were birds all around us as we ate underneath a mango tree and looked out over the river. We're definitely going back tomorrow.
Some of the cool rock formations we saw at the waterfalls we hiked to.
As always, there are way more photos on our Flickr feed, and there will be many more to come in the next few days!
OMFG!
Quick rundown of the last two days, in no particular order:
Holy elephant, exploring waterfalls, 800 year old projector, yelling contest with children, hiking through ruins, lizard sticks, celebrity status, giant millipedes, and beautiful restaurant views.
We got into Hampi the day before yesterday around noon; we were planning on staying here four days before moving on to Bangalore, but train tickets were sold out and so we wound up having to stay here for another two days, moving the total up to six. At first I was a little worried that we were going to run out of stuff to do and see and would wind up just reading in our room for the last few days, but I am now under the impression that I could happily do two weeks here.
We spent out first half-day here finding a hotel, getting our grub on, and internetting. We got an awesome room overlooking a banana plantation for about $2.50 a night per person. The next day (yesterday) was pretty action packed. After fooding we traipsed down to the giant-ass temple at the end of the main street. The temple had a pet elephant named Lakshmi who would bless you if you gave it a coin. It would take it with its trunk, hand it off to a dude, and then put its trunk on your head. After poking around a bit more we were flagged down buy a guy who asked if we wanted to see the upside-down temple. I was kinda expecting a Caslevania SOTN type situation, but it was actually an old timey, pin-hole projection of the main spire of the temple, through a small hole in the wall and onto the opposite wall. At first I thought it was a painting or a shadow, but then our guide held up a sheet and walked forward and you could see that it wasn't a painting, it was in fact MAGIC. Unfortunately it was nigh-impossible to photograph, so you will just have to believe me when I tell you how rad it was. We then found some stairs up a hillside that was covered in old ruins and explored at our own pace for a while.
The whole time we were exploring the temple and ruins, families of Indian tourists would stop us and ask to get there picture taken with us. It got pretty ridiculous, and we actually had trouble progressing through the temple because we kept getting stopped for photos. At one point, while poking through ruins on the hillside, a family who spoke no English stopped us and had me take their pictures with Roxy and Jill, then they flagged down someone to translate for them and told us to mail them the photos. We told them that we could email them, but they didn't have internet access so we has to decline; they seemed rather upset with us that we wouldn't print them out, and then mail them internationally to them.
After that we skipped down to the other side of town where we started following the "Monolithic Bull" signs. They led to some sort of monolithic bull, which was cool but not altogether unexpected. The coolest thing about that was actually the Attack-Of-The-Giant sized millipedes that we found in cracks around the bull. I poked 'em with a stick until they came out and we played with them a bit before moving on.
We followed the trail up into the hills and when we got to the top we found ourselves looking down at the old city-center of Hampi back when it was a 12th century city of 500,000 (that's about the size of modern day Sacramento). It was amazing to walk through the ruined bazaar and try to imagine it full of noise and vendors. The magic was lessened a bit, however, by a loud-ass group of guys following us around and posting up on the priceless artifacts. We took the long way back into town and stopped at a little restaurant by overlooking the river where we ate while watching kids paddle around in round basket boats while a thunderstorm moved in.
Today we got up late and took a walk the other way out of town to a restaurant that our hotel owner recommended called Mango Tree where we ate awesome foods while watching water buffalo and local fishermen. After, we kept on, heading further out of town toward some waterfalls that we heard about. On the way a small girl tried to sell us a dead lizard on a stick for ten rupees, and later a little boy randomly roared at me and stuck his tongue out. He seemed rather taken aback when I responded in kind, and we wound up walking backward, away from each other yelling and making faces; it was not my proudest moment.
We stumbled though head high grass and banana trees to the river where a dude with a dead eye that I'm pretty sure could see how I die, volunteered to lead us to the waterfalls. We followed him about a mile through more grass and mud, over rocks, and around boulders until we found the falls. They were fairly unimpressive in themselves, but the scenery was spectacular, and what the falls had done to the landscape was breathtaking. After we made it back to the main street I tipped him 50 rupees (enough for a meal at most restaurants) and he looked affronted and said that he always charges 100 rupees per head. I felt as though if he wanted that much he should have talked price before giving us a product that we didn't ask for, and so I left him with the 50.
This is something that happens here; people will force a product or service on you without your invitation (and sometimes in spite of your protests) and then expect you to pay whatever they ask for it; a good business model if you ask me.
Anyway, we are obviously now taking an internet break, and thinking of you good people back home. Jill is uploading photos and Roxy is looking up wedding stuff (because she's a girl). If I mentioned anything at the start of this blog that I forgot to cover, tough luck, this thing is already entirely too long and rambley, I leave it to you to fill in what you think probably happened in the comments.
Holy elephant, exploring waterfalls, 800 year old projector, yelling contest with children, hiking through ruins, lizard sticks, celebrity status, giant millipedes, and beautiful restaurant views.
We got into Hampi the day before yesterday around noon; we were planning on staying here four days before moving on to Bangalore, but train tickets were sold out and so we wound up having to stay here for another two days, moving the total up to six. At first I was a little worried that we were going to run out of stuff to do and see and would wind up just reading in our room for the last few days, but I am now under the impression that I could happily do two weeks here.
We spent out first half-day here finding a hotel, getting our grub on, and internetting. We got an awesome room overlooking a banana plantation for about $2.50 a night per person. The next day (yesterday) was pretty action packed. After fooding we traipsed down to the giant-ass temple at the end of the main street. The temple had a pet elephant named Lakshmi who would bless you if you gave it a coin. It would take it with its trunk, hand it off to a dude, and then put its trunk on your head. After poking around a bit more we were flagged down buy a guy who asked if we wanted to see the upside-down temple. I was kinda expecting a Caslevania SOTN type situation, but it was actually an old timey, pin-hole projection of the main spire of the temple, through a small hole in the wall and onto the opposite wall. At first I thought it was a painting or a shadow, but then our guide held up a sheet and walked forward and you could see that it wasn't a painting, it was in fact MAGIC. Unfortunately it was nigh-impossible to photograph, so you will just have to believe me when I tell you how rad it was. We then found some stairs up a hillside that was covered in old ruins and explored at our own pace for a while.
The whole time we were exploring the temple and ruins, families of Indian tourists would stop us and ask to get there picture taken with us. It got pretty ridiculous, and we actually had trouble progressing through the temple because we kept getting stopped for photos. At one point, while poking through ruins on the hillside, a family who spoke no English stopped us and had me take their pictures with Roxy and Jill, then they flagged down someone to translate for them and told us to mail them the photos. We told them that we could email them, but they didn't have internet access so we has to decline; they seemed rather upset with us that we wouldn't print them out, and then mail them internationally to them.
After that we skipped down to the other side of town where we started following the "Monolithic Bull" signs. They led to some sort of monolithic bull, which was cool but not altogether unexpected. The coolest thing about that was actually the Attack-Of-The-Giant sized millipedes that we found in cracks around the bull. I poked 'em with a stick until they came out and we played with them a bit before moving on.
We followed the trail up into the hills and when we got to the top we found ourselves looking down at the old city-center of Hampi back when it was a 12th century city of 500,000 (that's about the size of modern day Sacramento). It was amazing to walk through the ruined bazaar and try to imagine it full of noise and vendors. The magic was lessened a bit, however, by a loud-ass group of guys following us around and posting up on the priceless artifacts. We took the long way back into town and stopped at a little restaurant by overlooking the river where we ate while watching kids paddle around in round basket boats while a thunderstorm moved in.
Today we got up late and took a walk the other way out of town to a restaurant that our hotel owner recommended called Mango Tree where we ate awesome foods while watching water buffalo and local fishermen. After, we kept on, heading further out of town toward some waterfalls that we heard about. On the way a small girl tried to sell us a dead lizard on a stick for ten rupees, and later a little boy randomly roared at me and stuck his tongue out. He seemed rather taken aback when I responded in kind, and we wound up walking backward, away from each other yelling and making faces; it was not my proudest moment.
We stumbled though head high grass and banana trees to the river where a dude with a dead eye that I'm pretty sure could see how I die, volunteered to lead us to the waterfalls. We followed him about a mile through more grass and mud, over rocks, and around boulders until we found the falls. They were fairly unimpressive in themselves, but the scenery was spectacular, and what the falls had done to the landscape was breathtaking. After we made it back to the main street I tipped him 50 rupees (enough for a meal at most restaurants) and he looked affronted and said that he always charges 100 rupees per head. I felt as though if he wanted that much he should have talked price before giving us a product that we didn't ask for, and so I left him with the 50.
This is something that happens here; people will force a product or service on you without your invitation (and sometimes in spite of your protests) and then expect you to pay whatever they ask for it; a good business model if you ask me.
Anyway, we are obviously now taking an internet break, and thinking of you good people back home. Jill is uploading photos and Roxy is looking up wedding stuff (because she's a girl). If I mentioned anything at the start of this blog that I forgot to cover, tough luck, this thing is already entirely too long and rambley, I leave it to you to fill in what you think probably happened in the comments.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Reflections on culture shock
Since we got here, I've been surprised to find that I'm going through a mini-culture shock experience. It pales in comparison to the total bewilderment and disorientation I felt when we first came to India, but I'm not blending in as smoothly as I expected I would. I've experienced reactions from people that run the gamut from extremely friendly and welcoming to outright hostile, and I'm finding just the amount of attention I get whenever I go anywhere to be a bit overwhelming. I am doing my best to respond with polite friendliness and be firm in refusing to buy whatever people are trying to sell me without being cold, but it is a challenge sometimes, and it can be exhausting. Honestly, it has been a nice break to spend the last couple of days just hanging out in our hotel room. I think all three of us needed it.
Here is a sampling of what I have experienced in the week and a half that we've been here:
The good:
- People have gone out of their way to help us get to where we're going. This is especially true when Jill and I travel alone, and I know we would not have made it to most of our destinations without local help. Without expecting anything in return, people have helped us find the right bus, told us when we got to our stop, and helped us flag down passing buses (which is nearly impossible, it seems).
- A lot of people have been very friendly and welcoming to us. People introduce themselves to us, ask where we're from, and just tell us "Welcome to India!" and let us go on our way. When we go sightseeing, we are swamped with people wanting to take their picture with us, which I think is really cute and flattering, especially when little kids run up to us with a big smile on their faces and ask to take their picture with us. It's adorable.
- People often gave up their seats on crowded buses for me and Jill. One time, a family managed to squish us into some seats in the middle of their group, then offered us some of their snacks. We didn't speak their language and they didn't speak ours, but I was really touched by such a friendly gesture of goodwill to a couple of total strangers. It made me reflect on how we treat foreigners back home, and feel ashamed.
The bad:
- Inability to communicate with people, even people who speak English, can be frustrating. For example, when I was at an internet cafe writing the last blog post, my internet stopped working. When I told the guy about it, he told me to switch to a different computer. I told him I couldn't, because I was working on something, so I needed to get the internet working again on the computer I was on. He told me to turn it off and back on, and again I explained that I couldn't because I was working on something. He then came over and switched off the computer. When I angrily tried to explain that I had just told him not to do that and why, he just started laughing at me.
- When we were at the cave temples in Ajanta, we were pretty appalled by the behavior of the Indian tourists. They traveled in big family groups, usually with several small children, who ran around the caves shrieking. Even the adults often behaved like children: making noises repeatedly just to hear the echoes, running their hands along 1500-year-old, painstakingly restored carvings.
- The first time I slept on the lower berth of a train, a few minutes after I'd closed my eyes to go to sleep, the man sitting across from me started snapping his fingers in my face to wake me up. It turned out that a gust of wind had blown my kurta aside, revealing part of my (fully clothed) outer thigh, and he wanted me to cover myself. Later, a family with a baby and a toddler came and sat in our compartment. The toddler walked over to me and started hitting me with her fists and tugging on my clothes, while I had my eyes closed and was clearly trying to sleep. Her mother sat within arm's reach, watching the whole time, and did nothing to stop her, so this continued for several minutes until the little girl got bored and decided to stop on her own. After that, the woman in the middle berth above me decided she would rather sit on my berth than lie down on her own, so she just sat down and scooted back, pushing my legs out of her way. Unsurprisingly, I only ended up getting about 2 or 3 hours of sleep.
- The second time I was in a lower berth in a train, sitting and reading, a guy in his early 20s came up to me and asked me about my Kindle. That was fine, but he then continued to try to talk to me for the remaining four hours until his stop, asking me generally inappropriate things: he asked if he could borrow my Kindle; he asked my full name so he could add me on Facebook (without telling me his name at any point); after I gave him my name and he added me, he went over my Facebook page out loud, asking me to confirm every piece of information on it; he asked me three times to accept his friend request, which I told him the first time I would but obviously couldn't do it right then because I had no computer or phone; he asked several times for Jill's full name so he could add her (of course I said no); he asked for the name of one of my other friends so he could add them (again, I said no); he asked my date of birth; and when he ran out of things to ask me, he started reading off my Kindle screen. Example:
Him: Chapter two.
Me: Yup.
Him: Chapter one is finish.
Me: ...Yup.
Example 2:
Him: 72% complete.
Me: Yup.
Later...
Him: 74% complete.
Me: ...Yup.
The ugly:
- One time a woman crossed the sidewalk to punch both me and Jill on the arm, hard. She said nothing, and we had done nothing to provoke it.
- I have very nearly been spat on several times. Not intentionally, it's just that people spit all the time here, which is gross. It's something I already knew, but I'm finding it difficult to get used to again. Same with littering and public urination, which people do everywhere.
- Once, when Jill and I were trying to get back to our hotel from the bus station, we had a lot of difficulty getting a fair price from the auto-wallahs. After much arguing, we finally agreed on a price with a driver whom we'd previously walked away from, and then he proceeded to laugh at us and brag to the other drivers that he'd gotten us to agree to that price. While he was driving us back (if you go directly, it takes about 5 minutes), he stopped to get gas. After that, he stopped again to take a piss by the side of the road. When he came back, he wiped his hand on my pants. Then, about 30 seconds after he had started driving again, he slowed way down and demanded twice the fare we'd agreed on, and argued with us for several minutes about this before finally taking us back to our hotel. It was pretty scary actually; Jill and I were readying ourselves to either defend ourselves or jump out of the moving vehicle in case he refused to stop unless we agreed to pay him double. It ended up working out okay, except that for some reason he grabbed my hand when I was giving him the money.
This is just a small sampling of the interactions we've had with locals so far. As you can imagine, it's a bit overwhelming, and has often left me feeling frustrated and irritated. But, although it's a bit difficult, I am trying to embrace the challenge, and will ultimately be better for it.
Here is a sampling of what I have experienced in the week and a half that we've been here:
The good:
- People have gone out of their way to help us get to where we're going. This is especially true when Jill and I travel alone, and I know we would not have made it to most of our destinations without local help. Without expecting anything in return, people have helped us find the right bus, told us when we got to our stop, and helped us flag down passing buses (which is nearly impossible, it seems).
- A lot of people have been very friendly and welcoming to us. People introduce themselves to us, ask where we're from, and just tell us "Welcome to India!" and let us go on our way. When we go sightseeing, we are swamped with people wanting to take their picture with us, which I think is really cute and flattering, especially when little kids run up to us with a big smile on their faces and ask to take their picture with us. It's adorable.
- People often gave up their seats on crowded buses for me and Jill. One time, a family managed to squish us into some seats in the middle of their group, then offered us some of their snacks. We didn't speak their language and they didn't speak ours, but I was really touched by such a friendly gesture of goodwill to a couple of total strangers. It made me reflect on how we treat foreigners back home, and feel ashamed.
The bad:
- Inability to communicate with people, even people who speak English, can be frustrating. For example, when I was at an internet cafe writing the last blog post, my internet stopped working. When I told the guy about it, he told me to switch to a different computer. I told him I couldn't, because I was working on something, so I needed to get the internet working again on the computer I was on. He told me to turn it off and back on, and again I explained that I couldn't because I was working on something. He then came over and switched off the computer. When I angrily tried to explain that I had just told him not to do that and why, he just started laughing at me.
- When we were at the cave temples in Ajanta, we were pretty appalled by the behavior of the Indian tourists. They traveled in big family groups, usually with several small children, who ran around the caves shrieking. Even the adults often behaved like children: making noises repeatedly just to hear the echoes, running their hands along 1500-year-old, painstakingly restored carvings.
- The first time I slept on the lower berth of a train, a few minutes after I'd closed my eyes to go to sleep, the man sitting across from me started snapping his fingers in my face to wake me up. It turned out that a gust of wind had blown my kurta aside, revealing part of my (fully clothed) outer thigh, and he wanted me to cover myself. Later, a family with a baby and a toddler came and sat in our compartment. The toddler walked over to me and started hitting me with her fists and tugging on my clothes, while I had my eyes closed and was clearly trying to sleep. Her mother sat within arm's reach, watching the whole time, and did nothing to stop her, so this continued for several minutes until the little girl got bored and decided to stop on her own. After that, the woman in the middle berth above me decided she would rather sit on my berth than lie down on her own, so she just sat down and scooted back, pushing my legs out of her way. Unsurprisingly, I only ended up getting about 2 or 3 hours of sleep.
- The second time I was in a lower berth in a train, sitting and reading, a guy in his early 20s came up to me and asked me about my Kindle. That was fine, but he then continued to try to talk to me for the remaining four hours until his stop, asking me generally inappropriate things: he asked if he could borrow my Kindle; he asked my full name so he could add me on Facebook (without telling me his name at any point); after I gave him my name and he added me, he went over my Facebook page out loud, asking me to confirm every piece of information on it; he asked me three times to accept his friend request, which I told him the first time I would but obviously couldn't do it right then because I had no computer or phone; he asked several times for Jill's full name so he could add her (of course I said no); he asked for the name of one of my other friends so he could add them (again, I said no); he asked my date of birth; and when he ran out of things to ask me, he started reading off my Kindle screen. Example:
Him: Chapter two.
Me: Yup.
Him: Chapter one is finish.
Me: ...Yup.
Example 2:
Him: 72% complete.
Me: Yup.
Later...
Him: 74% complete.
Me: ...Yup.
The ugly:
- One time a woman crossed the sidewalk to punch both me and Jill on the arm, hard. She said nothing, and we had done nothing to provoke it.
- I have very nearly been spat on several times. Not intentionally, it's just that people spit all the time here, which is gross. It's something I already knew, but I'm finding it difficult to get used to again. Same with littering and public urination, which people do everywhere.
- Once, when Jill and I were trying to get back to our hotel from the bus station, we had a lot of difficulty getting a fair price from the auto-wallahs. After much arguing, we finally agreed on a price with a driver whom we'd previously walked away from, and then he proceeded to laugh at us and brag to the other drivers that he'd gotten us to agree to that price. While he was driving us back (if you go directly, it takes about 5 minutes), he stopped to get gas. After that, he stopped again to take a piss by the side of the road. When he came back, he wiped his hand on my pants. Then, about 30 seconds after he had started driving again, he slowed way down and demanded twice the fare we'd agreed on, and argued with us for several minutes about this before finally taking us back to our hotel. It was pretty scary actually; Jill and I were readying ourselves to either defend ourselves or jump out of the moving vehicle in case he refused to stop unless we agreed to pay him double. It ended up working out okay, except that for some reason he grabbed my hand when I was giving him the money.
This is just a small sampling of the interactions we've had with locals so far. As you can imagine, it's a bit overwhelming, and has often left me feeling frustrated and irritated. But, although it's a bit difficult, I am trying to embrace the challenge, and will ultimately be better for it.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Cave temples galore
Note: this post was delayed several days because the guy at the internet cafe tried to fix my internet by shutting off my computer while I was in the middle of writing this. Thankfully, most of it saved automatically, but I was so frustrated that I didn't come back to it until now.
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As we get ready to leave Aurangabad for Hyderabad tomorrow morning (at 4 AM - ick), it seems to me that now is a good time to write a post about the time we've spent here. Our initial plan was to stay here for less than 48 hours - to get in at 4 AM, find a hotel, buy train tickets and run off to Ellora, then see Ajanta the next day and take a train out that night. But things didn't quite work out that way: we found out (after buying our train tickets) that Ellora was closed that day, and we didn't have time to see Ajanta instead since it's several hours away. This meant that we'd have to choose between the sites, as we only had one day left. The next morning, Jordan woke up feeling too sick to go out, so we decided to change our plans altogether and stay in Aurangabad for two extra days, which gave him time to get better and gave me and Jill time to see the sights. This ended up working out really well for everyone.
------------------
As we get ready to leave Aurangabad for Hyderabad tomorrow morning (at 4 AM - ick), it seems to me that now is a good time to write a post about the time we've spent here. Our initial plan was to stay here for less than 48 hours - to get in at 4 AM, find a hotel, buy train tickets and run off to Ellora, then see Ajanta the next day and take a train out that night. But things didn't quite work out that way: we found out (after buying our train tickets) that Ellora was closed that day, and we didn't have time to see Ajanta instead since it's several hours away. This meant that we'd have to choose between the sites, as we only had one day left. The next morning, Jordan woke up feeling too sick to go out, so we decided to change our plans altogether and stay in Aurangabad for two extra days, which gave him time to get better and gave me and Jill time to see the sights. This ended up working out really well for everyone.
First, some photos from lovely Mumbai and Elephanta Island, since I just got those up:
SO much nicer than Delhi.
The train station in Mumbai. Amazing! It's actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site (as is Elephanta Island).
This is the most famous of the carvings at Elephanta Island: Shiva in his three forms (Creator, Destroyer, Preserver).
The first day, after a lot of scrambling around and trying to figure out how to get to Ajanta in time before finally giving up, we went to see one of the local sights in Aurangabad: the Bibi Ka Maqbara, commonly known as the poor man's Taj Mahal. It's a mausoleum built by a son of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for his mother, and it does very much look like a cheaper, scaled-down version of the Taj Mahal. Jordan and I struggled against the temptation to compare it to the real thing, and tried to appreciate it for what it was: a very cool building in a serene garden setting. It wasn't swamped with tourists, so we had a rather laid back experience as we wandered the grounds. It was definitely what everyone needed after our hectic morning.
Looks familiar...
The next day, Jordan was feeling too sick to go out, so Jill and I headed to the ruined 13th century Daulatabad Fort, which ended up being a lot more impressive than either of us had expected. The place was huge and designed to be virtually unassailable. The main building of the fort was set atop a high hill, and getting there involved going through a pitch black, bat-infested windy cave, with murder holes in the ceiling for good measure. They haven't lit the cave for tourists, so Jill and I had to fumble our way through with the flashlight that I had thankfully remembered to bring. After that, it was a brutal, seemingly never-ending walk up to the top, but the Indian tourists we encountered on their way down encouraged us on, telling us there was cold water up at the top. When we got there, we were disappointed to find that the cold water we were promised was just a bucket of tap water. But we still felt a sense of triumph, and spent a few minutes sitting on the window sills of the highest building, surveying the territory we had just crossed.
Some photos from that day:
Cannons!
These doors had spikes on them to prevent attack elephants from ramming them.
I forget what this was called - it translated to something like "Spire of Victory".
After we headed down from the fort, we attempted to take the bus back into town. This ultimately proved impossible, but in the meantime we sat and chatted with some locals who tried to help us flag down passing buses. Eventually, they were able to get us into a shared jeep heading back to Aurangabad, which sounds a lot more comfortable than it actually was. They were just barely able to wedge us into the back of the jeep along with 19 other passengers, including two guys who were hanging out of the back of it. I felt like it epitomized the experience of India: sweaty, smelly, and uncomfortable, but a lot of fun if you can just roll with it.
The next day, Jill and I ventured out to the caves at Ajanta. We took the two-hour trip on a local bus, which was surprisingly comfortable and easy to use despite being the cheapest form of transportation. The caves are all clustered in a beautiful (now dried up) river valley; there are 30 of them in all, but most of them are only one room, and several of them were closed. The main draw of Ajanta's cave temples is the paintings lining the walls - some of them are simply decorative designs, but most of them depict important figures and scenes from Buddhist mythology. I wish I'd known the stories so I could understand better what was going on, but I still felt a certain peace while looking at their serene faces (that is, when the temples weren't full of screaming young Indian children, which was usually the case, much to our disappointment). The paintings were remarkably well-preserved for being so old; the oldest temples were dated at 200 BC, the newest at about 600 AD.
I didn't get many photos of Ajanta, because it was dark and my camera ran out of batteries right at the beginning. But the ones I did get are pretty cool:
The pretty scenery around the caves.
Jordan was feeling better the next day, so all three of us took the quick half-hour trip to Ellora to see its famed cave temples. Ellora is interesting because it has a mix of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples all right next to each other. Easily the most impressive of these was the magnificent Kailasa Temple, which was absolutely massive, and mind-boggling to imagine that the whole thing had been carved out of a solid mountainside. It took workers 10 generations to finish it. Here are some pictures, but they really don't do it justice:
After we'd fully explored Kailasa Temple, we moved on to the smaller Buddhist and Hindu temples. These were less impressive, but a lot less crowded as well, and exploring them gave us a brief respite from the brutal sun. It was very hot and dry in that area, and the wind would kick up huge dust clouds that would completely cover us in dirt, so that every night when we came back to Aurangabad, I would see a visible layer of dirt covering my face and have dust-and-sweatsicles in my hair. This was made even worse by the fact that while we were in Ellora, a big fire started burning somewhere nearby, adding ash and smoke to the already blinding dust. The heat tired us out pretty fast, and we ended up skipping the Jain caves, since there were only 5 of them and they were a kilometer up the road by themselves, and by the time we'd already been to 29 other caves, we just didn't have it in us to walk all the way up there and back.
More pictures from the other temples:
Buddhist.
Hindu.
Also Hindu.
We took off the next morning for Hyderabad, where we have spent the last two days just relaxing in our (surprisingly nice!) hotel, spending most of our days watching crappy movies on TV. We're all feeling pretty rested today though, so we're going to head out and see the sights: today we're off to see Charminar and the surrounding bazaars of Hyderabad's old city. Then tomorrow night we take off for Hampi!
Please check out our Flickr feed, as there wasn't room to post the vast majority of the pictures we took here! Check the "sets" on the right side to view them organized by location. There are LOTS more photos there!
I didn't get many photos of Ajanta, because it was dark and my camera ran out of batteries right at the beginning. But the ones I did get are pretty cool:
The pretty scenery around the caves.
Jordan was feeling better the next day, so all three of us took the quick half-hour trip to Ellora to see its famed cave temples. Ellora is interesting because it has a mix of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples all right next to each other. Easily the most impressive of these was the magnificent Kailasa Temple, which was absolutely massive, and mind-boggling to imagine that the whole thing had been carved out of a solid mountainside. It took workers 10 generations to finish it. Here are some pictures, but they really don't do it justice:
After we'd fully explored Kailasa Temple, we moved on to the smaller Buddhist and Hindu temples. These were less impressive, but a lot less crowded as well, and exploring them gave us a brief respite from the brutal sun. It was very hot and dry in that area, and the wind would kick up huge dust clouds that would completely cover us in dirt, so that every night when we came back to Aurangabad, I would see a visible layer of dirt covering my face and have dust-and-sweatsicles in my hair. This was made even worse by the fact that while we were in Ellora, a big fire started burning somewhere nearby, adding ash and smoke to the already blinding dust. The heat tired us out pretty fast, and we ended up skipping the Jain caves, since there were only 5 of them and they were a kilometer up the road by themselves, and by the time we'd already been to 29 other caves, we just didn't have it in us to walk all the way up there and back.
More pictures from the other temples:
Buddhist.
Hindu.
Also Hindu.
We took off the next morning for Hyderabad, where we have spent the last two days just relaxing in our (surprisingly nice!) hotel, spending most of our days watching crappy movies on TV. We're all feeling pretty rested today though, so we're going to head out and see the sights: today we're off to see Charminar and the surrounding bazaars of Hyderabad's old city. Then tomorrow night we take off for Hampi!
Please check out our Flickr feed, as there wasn't room to post the vast majority of the pictures we took here! Check the "sets" on the right side to view them organized by location. There are LOTS more photos there!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Fun times in Mumbai
We're back in India! And this time, accompanied by our lovely housemate Jill. Fun times!
Like Jordan said, we've been pretty much taking it easy, doing a little bit of shopping and a lot of napping. Today was definitely our most eventful day so far: in the morning, we ventured out to the train station to buy tickets for the train to our next destination, Aurangabad (to visit the ancient cave temples of Ellora and Ajanta). The station itself, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, is worth mentioning. It is an immense piece of over-the-top gothic architecture - we took some pictures, but I doubt they will do justice to the way this building just dominates everything around it. It is also, according to my guidebook, the busiest train station in all of Asia.
After that, we took a ferry out into the bay to get to Elephanta Island, home to a temple to Shiva carved into a network of caves. It was pretty impressive - a lot of the carvings were in remarkable shape considering that they were 1300-1600 years old. The place was packed with Indian tourists, several of whom stopped us to take their picture with us, which is always fun.
By the time we had seen all of the caves, we were very ready to head back; we were positively melting. It is SO hot here, and we have to stay covered up for cultural reasons, which makes us that much hotter. I'm kind of dreading what the weather will be like when we move further inland. But, I guess this is what's to be expected when you decide to go to India during the hottest time of the year.
I think there are more things I could say about today, but to be honest, the combination of heat and jet lag (I've been awake since 2:30 AM today) is frying my brain a bit. Hopefully I'll be feeling a little more put together once I get my sleep schedule figured out.
We'll be heading to Aurangabad on an overnight train tomorrow night. Jordan is working on sorting through and posting our photos from Costa Rica on Facebook, and once he gets through those, we'll post what we've got from India. So we'll have pictures coming soon!
Like Jordan said, we've been pretty much taking it easy, doing a little bit of shopping and a lot of napping. Today was definitely our most eventful day so far: in the morning, we ventured out to the train station to buy tickets for the train to our next destination, Aurangabad (to visit the ancient cave temples of Ellora and Ajanta). The station itself, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, is worth mentioning. It is an immense piece of over-the-top gothic architecture - we took some pictures, but I doubt they will do justice to the way this building just dominates everything around it. It is also, according to my guidebook, the busiest train station in all of Asia.
After that, we took a ferry out into the bay to get to Elephanta Island, home to a temple to Shiva carved into a network of caves. It was pretty impressive - a lot of the carvings were in remarkable shape considering that they were 1300-1600 years old. The place was packed with Indian tourists, several of whom stopped us to take their picture with us, which is always fun.
By the time we had seen all of the caves, we were very ready to head back; we were positively melting. It is SO hot here, and we have to stay covered up for cultural reasons, which makes us that much hotter. I'm kind of dreading what the weather will be like when we move further inland. But, I guess this is what's to be expected when you decide to go to India during the hottest time of the year.
I think there are more things I could say about today, but to be honest, the combination of heat and jet lag (I've been awake since 2:30 AM today) is frying my brain a bit. Hopefully I'll be feeling a little more put together once I get my sleep schedule figured out.
We'll be heading to Aurangabad on an overnight train tomorrow night. Jordan is working on sorting through and posting our photos from Costa Rica on Facebook, and once he gets through those, we'll post what we've got from India. So we'll have pictures coming soon!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Out of Costa Rica and Into India
So, I've been slacking on keeping this blog updated. Since last we saw our intrepid heros, they took a trip to Nicaragua where they narrowly missed the pope, flew back to the states for a week, and then took a 25 hour plane ride to the sub-continent.
So far we have been keeping it simple; resting up and trying to adjust to the food, time change and heat. We wandered this corner of the city a bit today and did some shopping. So far it seems as though Mumbai is a MUCH better city then Delhi; they sweep the streets daily, the streets are wide, and traffic is relatively light.
I think tomorrow we are going to take a ferry out to an island in the middle of the bay were there are some cave-temples and other interesting archeological stuffs then maybe hit a museum.
Anyway, I will be better at updating this (at least at first) so tune in later for more adventures.
So far we have been keeping it simple; resting up and trying to adjust to the food, time change and heat. We wandered this corner of the city a bit today and did some shopping. So far it seems as though Mumbai is a MUCH better city then Delhi; they sweep the streets daily, the streets are wide, and traffic is relatively light.
I think tomorrow we are going to take a ferry out to an island in the middle of the bay were there are some cave-temples and other interesting archeological stuffs then maybe hit a museum.
Anyway, I will be better at updating this (at least at first) so tune in later for more adventures.
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