Saturday, December 16, 2006
Back to Bom!
I'm writing this from the comfort of my own home, having gained a virus and lost most of my tan (in the bath)... Ah, good old blighty. It's that surreal stage of being back in body but not much else. Still...
So, I went from Mysore to Spangalore. This was actually one of the nicer Indian cities I've been to. Partly, I think, because the British legacy is positive in this case: its very spacious, wide streets, lots of greenery, relatively clean etc. Although, I didn't see much of the city and focused on the westernised area (because, in my understanding, its the unique part of bangalore), so I may not have a well-rounded impression.
Here's a picture of the roundabout at the end of one of the main arterial roads, called "Anil Kumble circle" - which is a bit like marble arch being re-named "freddy flintoff arch." Although, maybe a couple of years ago that was on the cards... NOT NOW!
(You can see the F1-inspired traffic lights, with flashing countdown, at the top of the picture... i imagine they make the commute more fun).
Whilst in Bangalore, I finally tracked down a british newspaper (1st time in India after much searching), in the British library. It was the Observer, and it was a really nice surprise to find a review of Sufjan Stevens' Xmas album, written by none other than AP Carnwath esq.
Anyway, whilst I liked Bangalore, its not a great city to be alone in: one of its highlights is the nightlife, and its not the friendliest place so i missed out somewhat.
On to Hyderabad - capital of Andra Pradesh, and one of the most disappointing places I've seen so far! Mainly because I was expecting a relaxed, hassle-free city with lots of beautiful sights and friendly people, but found pretty much the opposite! Which is fine, and when I say I had expectations, I have learned that its not wise to expect too much! Here's a highway:
Then to Aurangabad, Maharashtra, to see some caves, from which I expected a great deal... And I wasn't disappointed. There are 2 major sets of cave temples: Ellora and Ajanta.
Went to Ellora first and was blown away by this Hindu temple, cut from the hill in the 8th century! Its mind-blowing to think how they produced something so intricate and so massive by chipping away at a rock. Ellora has lots of other Hindu, a few Jain, and 12 Buddhist temples, but this was definitely the highlight.
Ajanta was very different: Only Buddhist, older than Ellora (earliest caves from 200BC), and better preserved (mainly because it was only discovered in the 19th century).
Its so well-preserved that many of the original wall-paintings are still in tact, so its easier to imagine how things would have been back in the day...
Anyway, that was great. I then took my 4th night train of the week, back to Mumbai. Last time I was here was very brief, so I was glad to see a bit more of the city this time.
Its a great city, but is probably the place I've been where the contrast between India's wealth and poverty is most starkly obvious. For example, my hotel was next to the Taj Palace (one of India's premier hotels, where a drink will cost you about 10 times as much as an average meal). Yet across the road is a brothel, and lots of women and children live on the pavement. Of course the wealthier / more touristy areas attract more beggars, but its still shocking to see such poverty on your doorstep. You become hardened to it, but sometimes a scene can be very poignant. One of the most frequently discussed topics in amongst backpackers seems to be policies on giving money to beggars. Its a bit of a minefield and I really can't be bothered to rant about it now, but I reserve the right to do so!
So, that was India. Its nice to have a break, but I'm really looking forward to going back (3rd of Jan)!
Happy Xmas, here's a Bombay sunset:
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
My Sore Arm
Despite standard bus station shenanigans - every (official) person giving completely different information about bus timings, which bus stop, journey length etc - I somehow managed to get on the right bus to Karaikal, which took 2 hours longer than the longest estimate!
On arriving, I 'phoned the tsunami-relief organistion (as arranged), but their 'phone wasn't working. No biggie, its late, find a hotel, go to a canteen, chat with some locals, get a lift home on the back of a motorbike, crash, lose a load of skin, and put manual labour (was going to help build a school) completely out of the question. So. Didn't do my bit for mankind. A picture (totally out of sequence):
I decided to make my way to a city with a major train station, as long distance buses were sapping my will to travel. Of course, I had to take one last bus to reach Trichy (aforementioned city), which was absurdly over-crowded and involved having my freshly-skinned toes trodden on repeatedly for 5 hours by a very large lady.
I really liked Trichy though: a fairly typical Tamil Nadu city, meaning lots of culture, very few (western) tourists (so no scams/hassles, but enough that I wasn't constantly an object of curiosity... except for my bandaging), good value, mahousive mosquitos etc. Here's a temple on a big rock:
But, of course, whilst physically impaired I couldn't miss the opportunity to get ill. It never rains... Still, no bad thing to be forced to stay in my room & recover my sense of reason, not to mention my body, whilst the Ashes were on TV. Oh yes, and when you're in such a state, the middle of the night is a great time to be visited by the mother of all flying cockroaches who, with her lazer-beam eyes I'm sure, managed to collapse my mosquito net on me. An epic, and possibly somewhat comical battle ensued... and eventually I won!
I left Trichy, & Tamil Nadu, after a few days & made my way to Mysore in Karnataka. The train was very interesting, and showed me a side of India that I hadn't seen so far. It was the fastest sunday night train from the south to Bangalore and, as such, lots of city workers who've been home for the weekend catch it (Bangalore is the centre of India's silicone valley). Everyone speaking in English, most of it technical, over-my-head, but standard office-type stuff, all wearing western clothes, playing with snazzy gadgets etc. The people I spoke to were interesting, articulate, intelligent etc, but I couldn't help feeling that if this is the future of India (from a global perspective), and these are the people who are turning the country into an economic super-power, its sad that it seems to be happening at the expense of Indian culture. I'm going to Bangalore tomorrow, so may be in a better position to comment, but first impressions are intriguing...
Mysore is a firm fixture on the tourist trail, & made me appreciate Tamil Nadu even more! The maharajah's palace here is pretty special, and the place does have a nice feel, but its hard to keep perspective when suddenly thrust back into a world where every other person earns their living from tourism, & more than a handful have no qualms about ripping you off. I have been angry. But its all good.
Feeling slightly worn out. I guess I've been moving quite fast for a while, and I am nearing the end of this part of my trip, so its not surprising. Its not that travelling in India, at least the parts I've visited so far, is very challenging, its just... never mind.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
South Pole. turn around
So, I'm in Pondicherry, on the south-east coast. This was a french colony and the french influence is everywhere. Apart from the language, there are wide tree-lined boulevards, proper coffee, steak roquefort, and not many tourists - I imagine because the lonely bastard bangs on about the ashrams and cult here... I'm not well-informed enough to explain their beliefs, but its citizens-of-the-world, no nationalities, building a better future etc. Near to Pondy is Auroville, a purpose-built "city" for this community, which is very strange. Most of what I saw was very serious, treat-our-founders-like-gods-and-buy-their-books-while-we-meditate-over-their-graves stuff. Needless to say, I'm more taken by the french side!
Monday, November 27, 2006
maps (and nothing remotely indian)
the reason for the brick wall is also the reason you can't enlarge the photos anymore, and why the text looks weird - blogger are upgrading. its all free, so can't complain. well, maybe.
ANYWAY
no, the title of the last post was not designed to reference a counting crows album.
i have lots to write but it'll have to wait as the computer i'm using doesn't have usb or a cd drive(!) so no pics. soon soon...
Friday, November 17, 2006
Gokarna and everything after
This is one of the most important places for Hindus, spiritually. Its on the Arabian see, just south of Goa, and is an incredible place. There are several gorgeous beaches to the south (Gokarna beach itself is covered in litter) which I think are just as nice as Goa, and the town itself has the nicest feel I've experienced in India so far. Foreigners (there aren't many, relatively) aren't allowed in the temples which is a shame as they're in use and would have been interesting, but its symptomatic of (part of) what makes the town so special: its really not there for tourists. There's a real spiritual tranquility in the air and I very much hope to go back there at some point.
Spent a few days in Gokarna, then headed down the coast to Kerala. Kerala is a small state in the south-west corner of India and is often trumpeted as the country's most advanced state in terms of literacy, poverty, infant mortality, child labour etc. It also seems to continue the trend of travelling becoming easier the further south I get. In general, its extremely friendly. On the tourist trail (such as Kochi, where I am now), there's a lot of hassle (it is mildly irritating to be asked the same leading question / told the same joke about rickshaws and ferraris 5 times within the first minute of leaving the hotel), but its definitely not aggressive. Went to a Theyyam (seemingly pre-Hindu religious ritual) in Kannur, northern Kerala, which was confusing - I feel a bit cynical about important religious events being held right next to a bus stop on a busy road, especially when westerners are being charged, but actually there were lots and lots of locals taking it very seriously, making it really interesting for me. Good drumming too.Its nice to be travelling with someone else for a while, especially when not on the beaten track. Josephine & I next headed to a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Kerala to try and see elephants, tigers, wooly mammouths etc. Nice to be the only westerners in the city, to have some linguistic challenges, and very very spicy food, but really very little wildlife.
Another day, another bus, this time to Ooty. The most famous south-Indian hill station (2250m up I think), where the british top-brass relocated in the summer when Madras became too hot. Strange place. Incredible scenery, nice to have some cold weather, but strange place. Here's an illegal picture of the ballroom in the maharajah's palace: The highlight of Ooty was riding a horse through a cloud and emerging to a landscape of Eucalyptus forests / sweeping hills of tea plantations... This was amazing. Hard to take a good photo from a big moody horse when you can't ride a horse though:And when you ride a horse for 3 hours, having not ridden for at least 15 years, its advisable not to commit yourself to sitting down for the next 6 hours... We took the minature railway out of Ooty in an effort to get back to the coast, but didn't get very far before a landslide halted our progress. Fortunately we met 3 french guys on the train and shared a taxi for the last 4 hours of the journey. Nice to be able to get out of jail free, but its not moral backpacking! Still, I probably speak better french than ever now...
Here's some fishing in Kochi, capital of Kerala, where I am now.
Its nice to be in "civilisation" again, but I look forward to leaving tomorrow. Its easy to spend more on a meal than most Indians earn in a week. Seriously, in fact while I'm on the subject I should share my naive horror at finding out (in Gokarna) that the average waiter works 17 hours per day, 7 days per week, for 2000 rupees per month. Its misleading to think of it in pounds but it works out at about 5 pence per hour. And that's a good job - the alternative for many is back-breaking field work for half the money. There are many shocking facts very close to the surface here that I won't try to do justice to in this state, and time is running out...
Off to the Keralan backwaters tomorrow.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
In an interstellar burst...
The boulders, on the other hand, I love. I've never seen anything like it (except perhaps the Olgas in Oz, but Hampi goes on for miles and miles). They form the most bizzare, precarious arrangements - strewn across the river, stacked into mountains. I think they're formed by some kind of plate-squeezing-cold-volcano process, but i might be wrong. Anyway, they're fascinating.
(actually this is Ally, my ozdrawlian trekking buddy, and i mainly put this photo in to draw attention to the fact that Ally is a good name for a girl). Shut up rich. OK.
So, I stayed in Hampi longer than "planned" partly due to the trance i was in, but mainly because there was a massive festival coming up. One morning I climbed up a hill at 8am and when I came down again, Hampi had been transformed from sleepy temple town to the annual gathering of the entire Karnatakan police force. There were thousands of them. And (apparently) they're the most corrupt in India. Every hotel in town had to give them 5 rooms, every restaurant had to feed them for free, etc. But by the second day of the festival, there were almost as many cilivilians as police, so it wasn't so scary. The festival was free (state-sponsored), and was a strange mix of incredibly good Indian music (the Tabla is one of the best instruments in existence) and village-talent-contest standard dancing. Interesting to see some Indian dance, but even I could tell this was awful and could probably have done better myself. Or not. And perhaps even stranger than the 1940s brass band intro, the monotone presentations of awards to every participant, and the fact that the sound-man didn't bother to delay the speakers further from the stage (so everything had 3 fast echos), was the crowd reaction to performers. My theory on Indian crowds (as put forward in my post about the cricket in Jaipur) has suffered a blow as, even when the act was incredible, it was met with muted, impolite applause! I really couldn't believe it. Here was an excuse to holler and cheer together being completely missed. Strange. Still, if there's one thing I'm learning, its that you really can't stereotype India, or Indians.
The Vittala temple is "the undisputed highlight of the Hampi ruins" (according to the lonely bastard). I dispute this, but who am I?
Hampi was almost 2 weeks ago now. Hopefully I'll get some more done soon. And hopefully my blergh hosts will stop doing strange things with my blog. byee.....
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
transmission impossible
Suffice to say, I'm in Gokarna which is an amazing place. Just south of Goa on the coast, a spiritual centre for Hindus, great beaches and "something in the air" (? - hard to describe). Been in Hampi for a week which is also amazing, but I'll wait til I get to a city - probably in a week or so - to do this properly...
Thursday, October 26, 2006
road trip...
So, Sunday morning, 7am, possibly still pissed, having learned to ride a scooter the day before, set out on a 60 mile journey down the national highway... (sorry mum). As it turns out, Sunday is a very good day to do this as there's (relatively) little traffic & (relatively) few police (who have a habit of stopping you & extorting money from you basically for being white). This was a lot of fun - wind in hair, insects in face, lush & varied countryside
from everglade-like marshlands, to coconut groves, past waterfalls, into the western ghats (range of hills), speeding straight into a group of policemen out to earn some extra cash on their day off...
Whistle blows. We pull over.
"Show me your driving license"
(produce license)
"Show me your international driving license"
"...err... don't think I've got it with me..."
"Where is it?"
"At the hotel... Sorry?"
(Silence. Glare)
"Is there a fine I can pay" (thanks for that line Nye!)
(Smiles, marches us over to van)
"No driving license: 3000 rupees each"
(Pause. Pushing money belt, containing 10,000, further down trousers)
"I'm very sorry but I don't have anything like that amount on me"
(Show them wallet in which I'd put 200 rupees earlier for this scenario)
(Disappointment. Dejection. Talks to mate in Hindi, mate laughs)
"You can't pay fine, what shall I do?"
(Silence. Head wobble. Exasperated sigh)
"OK, you pay 100 rupees each, you need to buy food"
(Try to contain look of elation at lack of search or police station. Gratitude, shake hands(!), avoid temptation to take photo, drive off)
Arriving in Palolem was like entering paradise. A cove, about 1 mile across, white sand, rimmed by palm trees, island at one tip, waves but no rip, almost too perfect... Well, a few too many beach huts & tourists but otherwise...
Spent a couple of days there, possibly the most relaxing experience I've ever had. A scramble south round a couple of headlands leads to Patnem, which is very nearly as beautiful but with very few people because the authorities recently bulldozed all the buildings owing to a technicality! Further still is Raglam, where I spent an afternoon alone, with about 2 miles of amazing beach, 3 dogs, a couple of eagles and my mp3 player for company. Bliss.
Having resolved to avoid national highways and major towns for fear of the po-lis, I set off north on an epic tour of goa. Not the wisest move when you have a very out-of-date map which is probably some hippy's impression from memory, and there are no roadsigns at all. Approximately 1 in 4 of the people I asked for directions actually knew the way to the village next to theirs. So i went round in circles, found a 300-year-old portugese landowner's mansion where i was shown round by a man who was practically comatose and wanted me to change his prescriptions! Here's an old piano:
I had intended to make my way back to the coast, find a nice beach and get a room. However, I hadn't quite appreciated why Goa has the reputation it does amongst more discerning travellers. Until then, I'd met more holiday makers and ex-pats than backpackers, but it had been pleasant enough. But it turns out that most of central goa's beaches are quite like the costa del sol. The sun was going down, I couldn't find a nice beach anywhere, so kept on heading north, having to use the national highway - tailgating big trucks through police checks seems to work quite nicely! After about 8 hours on the scooter I had to stop, and unfortunately I was in Calangute, one of the aforementioned horrible beaches. It is terrible, overpriced, and I woke up to a room full of cockroaches. There's a massive flea-market nearby in Anjuna though:
Anyway, I'm currently staying in my train-friend Vinay's 2-bed, 2-bath, 3-balcony flat, by myself, for free! So things could be worse. Off to Hampi on Sunday. I've really enjoyed Goa. It'd be a great place to come on holiday, and if you do, rent a scooter: mine cost me 12 pounds for the week and 200 miles has cost about 6 pounds in fuel! I'm looking forward to leaving Goa and getting back to India now. I'll leave you with a Palolem sunset...
Friday, October 20, 2006
going going goan
So the train was fun. Having woken up at 530, it was "rescheduled" by 3 hours, then lost a further 2 hours en route. So I arrived in Goa at half past midnight. But I did meet a very interesting septogenarian Goan called Vinay and a mid-twenties Keralan naval officer named Razzaq. They bought me Chai, we swapped stories, I learned a lot. It was nice.
It struck me that all my time in India up until then had been spent in cities, and even in England 2 weeks away from the countryside is about my limit.
So it was great to see lush lush lush foliage (eg Banyan tree above), wildlife (all sorts of amphibian/reptile life asleep in the roads at night etc), and also Goan people are incredibly friendly, on the whole. I've been staying in "God's Gift Guesthouse" (I don't think they're trying to be ostentatious), and speaking of friendly Indians, the hosts Costam and Ruby are 2 of the nicest people ever. Costam, despite being woken up by my taxi driver in the middle of the night, and not noticing the cockroach sauntering across his pants, didn't stop grinning as he showed me round 3 (identical) rooms. He drove me into Arambol (just along the beach), ran about half a mile to give me his flip-flops when he saw me sprinting between shadows to minimise the smoke smouldering from my feet, i could go on. here's the aforementioned Arambol, north Goa:
Life in Goa is pretty tough. At least twice a day I'm faced with impossible dilemmas such as: Shall I go for a swim in the Arabian sea, which is warmer than many baths I've had, or shall I go for a ride on Barley, my scooter, around some of the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen?
This is all well and good for now, but I'm not very good at being a beach bum. It feels like holiday (a very very good holiday), but not travelling. I think I'll zip down Goa over the next week or so and then head off... Still, I really would recommend it
oh yes, Happy Diwali! I didn't time it so well - Goa is probably the least interesting place in India to celebrate a Hindu festival. Lots of colourful decorations though, Indians throwing fireworks... don't think they've got those adverts here... and lots of westerners sipping cocktails over chilled-out trance. hmmm. Nice sunset though...
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
all things go, all things go
So, Delhi was hot. Jonny and Will arrived there a week ago and dampened my jubilant mood with their incessant cynicism and misery-mongering. We left the next day in the hope that i might lose at least one of them on the way to Agra, which is hotter than Delhi. Now, Agra is famous (in my experience) for 2 things: firstly a 1-month-old german shepherd called Tom:
Of course Will, ever the adventurous glutton, despite my reasoning that he'd be a bit stringy, tried to buy him from the hotel owner (who'd bought him for Rs5000 that day). When that failed, Will sat on Tom. Not nice. It was becoming a bit like a roadrunner cartoon until Will finally had his 4th lunch and fell asleep...
The second memory of note in Agra is this rather elaborate grave stone:
No photograph could ever do justice to this place. It is unbelievable. Probably about 3 times bigger than i thought - click on the above photo and see how big the people standing next to it are... I cannot describe how evocative it is to see something quite so perfect. Undoubtedly the most amazing man-made structure I've ever seen. In fact, what the heck, here it is again:
Next time I'm in Agra (which was the capital until Shah Jahan moved it to Delhi) I'll have a look at the fort and a few other things but alas there wasn't time on this occasion.
So, we made our way to Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan, that afternoon. Its pink, dusty, hotter than Agra, camels aplenty, and was the scene of much bathroom disaster. I think we were complacent in Agra - its probably best not to eat in a restaurant with rats running round, or to eat cold "samosas" on the train after they've been walked up and down in the heat by a grubby man for 4 hours. In addition to the gut gymnastics we all partook in, I also sustained a screaming fever - my upgrade was most likely due to the sour iced coffee I drank in Agra. So, didn't see a lot of Jaipur, and it was fairly fortunate timing that we didn't need to go anywhere for a few days.
Now, the reason I am currently cursed with such terrible company is that, a couple of weeks ago, Will and I got drunk and (apparently) I persuaded him to come to India for 10 days on the promise that we'd go to see India play England in the ICC Championships. So, risking very real catastrophic potential, we went. The cheap seats had sold out so we paid Rs1500 for ours. We imagined this would take us to some kind of air-conditioned box with a private bar, butler service and (most importantly) nice toilets very close indeed. However... the extra money we paid was for the privilege of having a seat rather than a step. Except these were unfixed patio seats, on flat ground, behind several fences, sets of scaffolding and about 1000 other seats... all sharing 2 squat-toliets. So, we got involved. We moved our seats quite near to the front, as did everyone else, and an enormous game of musical chairs ensued. Except that instead of running around chairs the aim, apparently, was to steal as many as you could, to make as large a stack as possible, then to stand on the arms of the top chairs, and occasionally fall off. And instead of music, there were policemen with big sticks who occasionally stopped watching the match and made everyone sit down on just one chair. Fun was had. I couldn't take my camera into the ground, but lets break this up with a picture anyway:
So, the cricket crowd was a bit like a massive school trip with lots of sugar and no teachers. The most important thing was that everyone get wildly over-excited together, & not necessarily about the cricket. Sometimes the trigger for the us all to jump to our chairs and cheer at the top of our voices was completely understandable - a Tendulkar mis-field, or a fielder turning to vaguely look in our direction, for example - and sometimes (for example during the first ball of the Indian innings) the stimulus would be that a TV camera on a building behind us had vaguely pointed at us, and EVERYBODY would turn round, go crazy and put on our best Bollywood grins. It was fascinating, and I mean that (despite the 40 degree heat, cold sweats, pounding headache and ominous rumbles). It seemed that the joy of the crowd was not due to the cricket but to the excitement of the crowd itself.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this week has been seeing Indian people interacting with each other, without taking any notice of me. During the mid-session interval at the cricket, and on the train journeys, I've felt really privileged to see such beaming warmth and empathy displayed between friends. Its not something I've seen in the west, and is really very special.
So, Will & Jonny leave in a couple of days and I'll then head south, probably to a beach in Goa, which is hotter than Mumbai, for a week or so (I'd much rather be at work in sunny london, but needs must...). I'm really excited about this trip now, and having had less than 2 weeks so far, 6 months seems like a very long time.
(ps, sorry, i seem to have lost the ability to use commas. but, at, least i,m responding to popular demand and using a few capital letters now,)