Richard's Travel Blog

Hey, I’m on the verge of catching up on my blogging. I’m in Vagator, Goa, and it looks like this will be a good place to unwind, as if I’m under all that much stress.

Badami and the nearby sites are pretty interesting. You’ve seen loads of pictures of cave temples and archeological sites, so I’ll spare both of us this time around. In Badami itself, there are four cave temples, three of which are Hindu and one is Jain. They date from the 6th to the 8th centuries.

There’s nothing like being protected in the arms of the gods, especially if he’s got eight of them.

Anyway, you get the picture. The caves are full of these friezes. They are nothing spectacular, after you’ve seen Ajanta and Ellora.

Near Badami are Pattadakal and Aihole. There are ancient temple and city complexes there. Pattadakal is pretty big, as it was the capital of a Hindu kingdom from the 4th to the 7th centuries. Ailole is a temple complex. Mahakuta is a 16th-17th century temple. It’s still active.

You know what I might always remember. Badami had little tourist scene. In tourist ghettoes, you see a lot of bars. In regular India towns, you may have a bar or two,and a liquors store or two. Badami had the most Indian bars and liquor stores I’ve seen yet. Drinking is a big deal there. And I want to tell you, they don’t mess around. The heck with sipping. Those guys kill a half pint in 10 minutes. On the main drag there are about 10 bars, and they are packed, with turnover in 10 minutes. Boy howdy.

The ride to Goa was dreadful. Karnataka state is actually pretty rugged. The eastern part isin the western ghats (That means hills), and the westernpart winds down to the lush tropical plains of southern India. The road is being modernized toa narrow 2-lane road for about 50 km. So it’s construction and choppy dirt road the whole way. It took 10 hours in a government bus (Read: 40 yearold school bus). My sitting situation wasn’t the greatest. I made it, anyway. Now I’m kicking back. It’s what you do in Goa. I have a nice room in a guesthouse under the coconut palms, about 100 meters from the beach. It’s pretty, and well away from the party. I have a motorcycle, which is perfect for around here, as there is little traffic. I’ll write about it in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, my best to all….

What’s happening in Hampi are the remains of the capital of a Hindu kingdom in the 3rd-6th centuries, Vijayanagar. They sprawl out over many square kilometers. It reminds me of the Forum in Rome, though unfortunately is not so well preserved. Even more unfortunately, it’s pretty heavily restored. I wish they would at least mark the new stuff or the put-back-in-place stuff better. I’ve got a fair eye for that, but I don’t like spending my mental energy examining places in that way. There ought to be an “A” list and a “B” list for UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Hampi/Vijayanagar isn’t on a par with Luxor, the Forum or Angkor Wat. Yes, those places are in part restored also, but they’ve gone a little too far in Hampi. All that said, it is still quite impressive.

One good thing they did in Hampi is have an exhibition of before and after photos of many of the sites. The before pictures were taken in the 19th century, and the after pictures were taken in 1980-something. Here is an example.

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Here is some of the restoration work going on. I wish I had a good picture showing the size of the overall project. There is still a lot buried in the ground, like in Pompeii, or at least Pompeii 18 years ago when I last saw it.

It wasn’t all rubble and disintegrating. It has a few places that even held up. Here’s a temple and a ceremonial stone war chariot. The wheels used to turn on the stone axles until a few years ago, but so many tourists were turning the wheels it was actually making the hole in the wheel bigger. So they fixed them in place with a little cement.

Seeing these sites takes all day with a guide. He’s all yours for $8, plus rental of tw0 bicycles for 50 cents each. I know, 9 bucks, but there is so much to see and learn. My left knee hated that one speed bike, though. I’m just now getting over it, about 5 days later.

Hampi happens to be quite lovely. The river spreads out into different channels and the boulders make it look like a moonscape. I can see why this place was chosen as the capital. What a lot of places there are for hiding, attacking and sniping from behind boulders.

I just want to say, for the record, that Hampi is one of those few places where a tourist can walk down the street and not be badgered by shopkeepers, rickshaw guys, and the like. They ask once, and let it go. The beggars are as bad as anywhere, though. the modern village of Hampi practically exists because of tourism, yet the hassle factor is remarkably low. The jewelry guys, the clothes guys, the fabrics guys, the souvenir guys, all of them, ask once. Reminded me of Bundi. In fact, only the fruit and vegetable ladies give you an earful there.

Later, or more likely tomorrow, I’ll write about Badami and the places near to there. Then I’ll be all caught up.

Be well, all of you, and I hope you had Happy Thanksgivings.

It’s been a while since I’ve written because I haven’t been in a place with high speed internet connection, or in the case of Badami, no public internet access at all. I had hoped to write this one about Hyderabad from Hyderabad, but I didn’t have time in the last day and a half to go to the part of town with high speed connection. One might think that in “Cyberbad” good connection would be everywhere. Well, I’ll tell you what I think and what was confirmed by Indian and foreign aquaintances. The same thing that happened to Bangalore is about to happen to Hyderabad. That is, it’s about to get built out. When the expansion period is over, and they’re building the next high tech city north of Delhi, Hyderabad will freeze in place. Sure, there is more prosperity there, in general, but much of the city and it’s sister city next door, Secunderabad, is pretty much typical India. That would be alright, except people have such high expectations. On some level the demand for modernity will drive overextension of services. Bangalore is plagued with blackouts, overextended water demand and waste treatment, and otherwise strained infrastructure. It’s happening in Hyderabad, though Secunderabad is in better shape and more afluent. In fact, west of Secunderabad, n Banjara and Jubilee Hills, it’s actually the nicest I’ve seen in India. But as I say, most people are going to be left behind. They may want to have good internet connection, but they may very well not get it.

I always stay in the modest places, but where I stay is very far from being in slums. Here is outside my hotel.

It looks typical because it is. Hyderabad is mostly Muslem, and my area was largely Arab.

It’s funny how the Muslem world is so unanimously opposed to our war in Iraq. These posters are up all over. Now, I’m sure the opinions regarding Saddam vary, but to idealize this guy seems a little over the top. Oh well, my dad had a picture of George Bush up in his living room. People are funny.

So, there are a few things to see in Hyderabad. There’s a fort, of course.

There’s also a pretty cool complex of tombs of the Persian kings of the 15th and 16th centuries. It probably covers about 40 acres. That reminds me, many of the Muslems there are Shia. I wonder how many of them like the Saddam posters?

I don’t know what else to say about Hyderabad. In a way it was a bit dissappointing. I had hoped the future of India would look brighter with Hyderabad showing the way. It doesn’t, really. But then again, it is better. And better is better. As for it as a tourist town, it’s pretty good. There are a few things to do. I dunno. It’s okay.

The principle reason people go to Aurangabad is to see Ellora and Ajanta. Both are World Heritage Sites, and for good reason. Elephanta would have been less impressive. These are truly remarkable. They are caves and recesses in granite hillsides that Buddhists, Hindus and Jains carved out and painted from the 5th-11th centuries A.D.. The Buddhists were in there during their heyday in India in the 5th-7th, the Hindus mostly from the 7th-9th but for a couple of centuries more to some extent, and the Jains have a few caves until the 11th.

First I went to Ellora.

Bear in mind as you look through these pictures that none of the statues, friezes, pillars, facades, ceilings or anything are built up. They are all wittled down from the rocky hillside. This waterfall gushes and is very beautiful during the monsoon season.

Many of my inside pictures are blurred because it is dark or dimly lit. I took them with my shapshooter propped against something. this prayer hall was lit by an opening over the doorway and the doorway itself. It’s very intersting the way they make the ceiling look like it’s really arched construction, not just carved out that way.

Some of these pseudo-pillars still have good detail. Some of the pillars, especiall in Ajanta are even better preserved. This bunch of pics are still of Ellora.

This is from one of the more recent Jain caves. the next picture is of the hair of the woman on the left.

The single most important reason Ellora is a World Heritage Site is because of the following kailash, this temple which was reduced from granite hillside. It is the largest such kailash in the world. It’s Hindu, and dates from the 7th-9th centuries, taking 150 years to make.

I know many of you aren’t fascinated with antiquities but you’ll just have to live with this. I’m on a roll. Here are some shots of the inside. In the first one, you can see that not every square inch is carved. For me, that adds to the awareness of how it was made.

I wish it didn’t take so long to publish these pictures. You’d think the connection here in Cyberbad (Hyderabad) would be faster, but it isn’t really.

On to Ajanta…

Here are just a few of the things to see in there.

I know one thing. If I ever get enlightened it’ll be while I’m lying down.

Ajanta is also famous for it’s paintings inside. Again, it was too dark to do these justice, but I’m putting a couple on here anyway.

This is Prince Siddhartha before he left the palace to seek enlightenment.

Here he is some time after he decided asceticism wasn’t the way to salvation. You’ll just have to take my word for it that these are great in person. there was one picture of some ladies. One had on some pearls. After 1500 years, those pearls were so clear, so three dimensional, that I felt like I could go pick them up. I wasn’t allowed close enough to take a picture of this detail. You can only see it with a flashlight anyway.

There are actually a few other things to se around Arangabad. About the only photogenic thing is this tomb Aaurangazed built for his fourth wife. My guess is that she was his favorite. It’s called, here, the “mini-Taj Mahal”. The base, much of the inside and the dome are marble, while the walls are stone and plaster. The real Taj is all marble. This one doesn’t look fantastic up close, but it makes for a nice view from a distance.

Whew, that’s it for now. I’ve been in Hyderabad for a couple of days. I’m off to see some stuff. Until later….

This is the Gateway to India arch. It is the first sight to see in Mumbai.

Here are some cricketers on a big green called the Oval Maidan. I knew I’d forget the name of the building in the background.

Back up a little, pan to the right, and this is Bombay University.

I’ve been doing at least one cool thing a day. Since last writing, I took the Lonely Planet walking tour, which was mostly through Colaba, the area I’m staying where the arch and Angie’s place is, and to the north. Yesterday I walked through a market and the docks. Whew, the fishing boats were long since in and the fish in the market were getting ripe fast. It wasn’t too picturesque down there. Basically it’s developing country docks in the old part without containerization.

No, I didn’t take any pictures of fish doing what they do in 90 humid degrees. One kind, bombil, are dried on purpose, then batter and fried. It’s called Bombay Duck. There were all kinds of fish there. I was surprised to see barracuda and shark, and happy to see they didn’t seem to be selling anything less than 6 inches long. This contrasts with Sooutheast Asia where they fish bomb, rake up everything that floats to the top, and sell it no matter how small, like one inch.

Today I went to Elephanta Island. That’s an island about one hour’s ride west  of the city where there are World Heritage Site 6th and 7th century Hindu cave scultures. It was common, especially at that time and a few centuries before and after, to make statues and reliefs out of the backs of caves. Some caves, like on Elephanta, are not much more than recesses in the rock. Others, like Ajanta, are in deep caves, and require a flashlight to see. I’m going to Aurangabad tomorrow night to look at the caves of Ajanta and Ellora. You’ll be seeing more pictures like this, so I’ll only show a couple at this time.

Actually, if you’ve seen or know about these cave sculptures, you will know that this is really a spectacular example, remarkable well preserved and of artistic merit. This picture does not do the detail merit. In these caves, it’s this particular relief that got Elephanta listed as a World Heritage Site.

Here’s a closer look at one of the other images in the cave.

As I said, I’m shoving off to see other cave sites. I’m sure there will be internet access in Aurangabad. So, I’ll talk to you in a couple of days. Be well.

 

Brad and Angelina are following me. First it was Jaiper, then Udaipur, now here. So far we’ve been unable to connect. Their guards don’t know they are expecting me. I have two extra beds in my place where they can stay, but they are missing out. They are having to stay a couple blocks form me in this dive.

That picture was taken at dawn . I turned around and photographed this. I assume it’s their view from one of the upper stories.

And this must be like their room. Actually, it’s Mahatma Ghandi’s room in the house in Mumbai he used to stay in. He had a practice of spinning yarn. That spikey thing in the back is one of his spinners. The more you see how India is and imagine how India was, and the way Britain was, the more you realise what an amazing man he was, and how amazingly his path worked.

With all the overnight sleeper bus travel, especially with the kids, they had laundry to do. Fortunately, Mumbai has the world’s largest commercial laundry. 5000 people live and work here. This picture only shows half the place.

Mumbai is growing on me. It has everything, almost, in an Indian kind of way. It’s a poor man’s New York. It is the real capital of India, just as New York is the real capital of the US. Everything is here. Dreams are made and broken here. It’s got unbelieveable problems and unbelieveable opportunity. It’s growing and crumbling at the same time. There’s high art and nearly stone age slums. There’s high culture and tribalism, modernity and ancient twisted karma. Like any of the major cities of the world, it would take decades to discover it all, especially for the foreigner. I could easily imagine living the New York lifestyle here. For a few hundred thousand dollars, you can buy a seriously upscale condo, fully appointed with marble floors and the works, in a fashionable neighborhood. Renting such a place would set you back about $700/mo. Servants are about $5/day each. I know because I’ve asked about it and talked with foreign residents. It’s less if you don’t want this view of Chowpatty Beach.

Speaking of Chowpatty, it’s a happening place after dark, especially from about 9 to 12. It’s crowded with people walking on the beach or along the promenade. The young couples are very cute. There are food stalls with great food and snacks, and bars and clubs on the road. There’s a little breeze, so it’s nice to go out there when it’s cooled down a bit. It’s still a little warm here, usually about a muggy 90 degrees during the day.

One of the things about Mumbai I think affects my attitude, is there are no autorickshaws allowing until you are out in the burbs. It really helps the air be cleaner, gives the city a modern feel I hadn’t seen yet, makes the streets quieter without the constant tuk-tuk-tuking of those 2-stroke engines, and don’t make the traffic even more chaotic. There are also no bicycle rickshaws, much less people propelled rickshaws or animal carts. It makes Mumbai look like the kind of city we are used to. You almost can think less about the poverty. The places I go are like midtown Manhattan.

Last night I went to an English language play. Tonight I’m going to a chamber music concert. Maybe tomorrow or the next day I’ll take in some Indian classical music, which I’ve only seen once since I got to India. Like New York, you could do something five times a night and never keep up. I think, like New York, about a year of it would be about all I could take. But I’m thinking… thinking. Property values here are skyrocketing and are expected to continue to do so for the next few years, especially in upper middle class and upper class areas, as the country develops. With property values falling in America and the dollar sinking like a stone… I’m thinking. A 390 day CD here yields 8%. It may be the new land of opportunity, if you have money. Ah, if you don’t, you can live under some plastic. It’s like America that way, only worse.

Or maybe I’ll go treat HIV people or something.

Just keep thinking, Butch. It’s what you’re good at.

Sending CD’s of my photo’s was a lesson in dealing with the Indian bureaucracy. It’s an Indian government institution. There is logic to it, but it must have grown like topsy. I got a late start at doing this, only allowing about 3 hours to send four CD’s to America. Silly me. To make a long story short, I got them off, but I had to go through the main post office and the customs office. Fortunately, they are both in adjacent buildings, together covering a square block.

It doesn’t look that hard on paper. But it is so slow, and you have to go from this person to that person. Furthermore, if you are still there after closing, you have to pay baksheesh. The first thing you do is fill out forms in triplicate for each item. Then you go to the customs officer, who questions you about the content of the CD. Apparently they are worried about state secrets and threats against government personnel. I was told they would be viewing each CD to make sure nothing threatening is contained in them. I saw the computer there and said to myself “This is going to be  a while”. Fortunately, the chief questioned me for a while and didn’t decide to view them. He had been institutionalized for a while, so it would have required bringing in assistants to do that. More people, as if all the stamping, money collection and everybody else wasn’t enough. Finally, I got the okay’s I needed. I could then go to the official government package wrapping area, where they were expertly wrapped in this vinyl wrapping material and sewn ( ! ) shut. Then I went back for the stamps of approval, then the initials of the customs officer, then the tar seals. Then I could actually carry all my papers and packages to the window. From there it was easy. They plowed through my information, sewed a copy of my triplicated form to the outside, accepted my postage, and assured me that they would get to America in 10 days. Whew.

Mumbai’s not half bad. I thonk I’m going to stay at least a few days more, if to do nothing but eat. The grub is great here. Tonight I had this thing called Bombay duck. It’s got nothing to do with ducks. It’s dried fish that’s coated with semolina and deep fried. Basically,it’s like Long John Silver’s, only good, with spices in the crust I could only guess at. There is so much of everything here. There’s food, entertainment, arts, high and low cuisine, the usual extrreme poverty and great wealth. It would take a while to do Mumbai meaningfully.

I have only taken a few pictures. The subject matter isn’t as photogenic as Rajastan or Ladakh, but I’ll send something next time. Meanwhile, I’m still getting my sea legs around here. Talk to you later.

Well, that ride blew. There were no seats available on the train from Amjer, near Pushkar, to Mumbai. So I took the night sleeper bus to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and this morning booked a sleeper to Mumbai for tonight. I took a sleeper bus from Udaipur to Ajmer, and it was nice, thugh the road was a little rough. It was a fine bus, modern, comfortable with sheets and a pillow, a metal door for privacy, air conditioned (quiet inside), room to store my pack and a rack in my berth for my shoes. Last night’s bus and ride were the opposite.

For one, they had so much commercial cargo that the baggage holds and the roof were full. I had to sleep in this narrow, short bunk with my pack. They oversold the tickets, so a few people slept on the floor. One floor guy wanted my bunk and three of us had to drag him out of there. Indians are very verbal but they fight like girls. Anyway, the bus got there late, and took a while to load and finalize where people were going to sit/lie. It was hot and my window didn’t work and there was no air conditioning. No sheet. Just a ripe blanket. What little headroom I had was partially taken up by a broken fan which would have been more in the way anyway. It was billed as an express, but we stopped a bunch of times. Each time, there was more commotion. At least there were no live animals on board. The driver was crazy, and the road rough. The thing rattled. And last but not least, during the night one passenger played his religious music. None of the passengers said anything, so I didn’t. Indians are used to noise and crowding. Then in the morning, the bus speaker played popular music for our entertainment. Hindi-pop can be tormenting. I think it was a single cassette tape, but it had different styles, all of it warbly from the old tape and from the warbly singing style. It’s hard to tell which was intentional and which was an old tape on it’s last legs. One was Hendrix-like on slack guitar/Don Ho vocal. Another was Freddy Mercury with Barney’s voice. Another was a Ventures rip-off (Don’t forget the warbling). And several were accoustic orchestra with juvenile electric guitar and a female vocalist. Omygod, it was worse than usual, and that’s bad.

Anyway, I’m here in Ahmedabad, killing time till my train leaves at 10 tonight. I walked around downtown a little. It’s friendlier than the touristy places. I think one block from the train staion, they haven’t seen much of foreigners. I don’t have an inclination to explore today. I’m going to try not to sleep through my train departure.

The police recovered my wallet and credit cards. For some reason, the thief kept my driver’s license and, of course, the $50. I wonder if the bank will let me use my ATM card, even though I reported it stolen? I’ll call them tonight, when it’s business hours in the US. That’s about it for today. I’ll write from Mumbai.

Imagine, if you will, 100,000 people packed into the few streets of a little town surrounding a lake about 500 meters on a side. Imagine that they came from all over India to ritually bathe away their sins on the same night, and float candles in the water. Imagine the crowds. Imaging all of them chanting and singing, and accompanying themselves with drums, bells, cymbals, pans, flutes, other horns, and every kind of party favor. I’d put a picture up, but photography is prohibited, no doubt out of respect and because so many are stripped down. It’s a sight. I got up at 4:30 to watch. It was amazing. And it was the first time I had experienced the famed crush of moving humanity you’ve seen on TV. It was intense, to say the least. I got my pocket picked too. Now I’m a real Indian. In case you’re wondering, I’ve got that matter almost handled. You can telephone America for 5 minutes for $1.

People are starting to clear out, though I have no idea how they are getting to the nearby main city of Amjer to continue on to wherever. There’s a bus every 15 minutes, but that ain’t going to cut it. I’ll bet many thousands walked the 11 km to there. Yesterday, during the day, I sat in a rooftop terrace restaurant, above the madness, and people watched. They’ve come from all over India, even tribal areas like Nagaland and Manipur. Here’s a shot of what passed one this not main street all day yesterday, and is only slowly dissipating today, the last day of the festival and associated camel fair and trade event.

The camel fair was underwhelming. A lot of nothing went on, unless you were showing cattle, horses or camels. The events were incredibly downscale, untill the last night. They had a cultural program with music and dance from all over India, even remote places like Nagaland and Manipur of the other side of Bangladesh. They did have a few intersting things. There’s a whole subcaste of itinerate entertainers. Those of you who’ve read “A Fine Balance” may remember this from the front cover.

And there was the five legged cow.

A game of musical chairs was even on the printed program. Now THAT drew an excited crowd. I know I was excited. I gave myself peanut belly. Here’s a peanut vendor, as excited as I was.

There were several lanes of vendors in the bazaar outside the “stadium”, selling about anything you’d want, but here’s part of the food court inside.

They were dancin’ in the aisles to a little minstrel group.

And then there were the camels. There were a few hundred there. Mostly they were behind the stadium being traded, but they gusssied up a couple dozen to give people rides on.

So, as I said, it would have been nice to publish pictures of the religious activities at the ghats, but it was prohibited. Here’s kind of a nice piture taken from that terrace restaurant. And with that, I’m out of here. I’m going to Gujarat (where all the Patels of US hotel fame come from) tomorrow night, and on to Mumbai (Bombay). I’ll write from there. Be well, all of you.

In the unlikely event that you’d like to see lots of Udaipur, you might want to watch “Octopussy”. I wasn’t doing anything last night, so I watched it at my hotel. You can watch it anywhere here. There weren’t just a few scenes of Udaipur. Muchof the movie was made here. there are lots of scenes around the water, in the Monsoon Palace, in the City Palace, in the City Palace Hotel, and in the countryside. It’s a terrible movie, with cliche Indian behavior and fat chance even the western women are dressed so scantily, but the street scene hasn’t changed much. The buildings, dress of the people, the street activity, the autorickshaws, lots of things look as they look now.