Pratting Around the World

Ajanta caves

we took yet another train to get to jalgaon, the city where we stayed near ajanta caves. there were cows roaming around on the train tracks – not an uncommon sight.

the ajanta caves are about 30 man-made caves built along a cliff. the climb to get to the caves is pretty arduous so you can hire guys to carry you in a chair. like a king. well, i didn’t atually do this, but the guys were all too happy to pose for the pic (since we gave them a few coins).

the cave entrances can just barely be seen along the mountainside.

the caves were built during the first century BC and 5th century AD, then rediscovered much later in the 1800s.

the interior of the caves are covered in paintings that are in varying conditions. most of the caves also contain very large buddhist sculptures.

the caves are cool and dark inside. in many of the caves there are door on either side that open to small rooms. the rooms are barely dug out and their floors, sides and ceilings are rough, uneven rock. the rooms were originally for people to sleep in.

it was difficult to get a good shot inside because flashes aren’t allowed, but you can kind of see that the ceiling is made of hardened magma. the rock looked like it was still flowing.

this scultpure is found in a few of the caves.

Khajuharo

Khajuharo is a lovely city full a beautiful Jain and Hindu temples dating from the around 1000 AD. They are divided up into 3 areas: eastern, western and southern. We stayed basically across the street from the western temples, which are the most numerous and beautiful. they are also the temples that are notorious for their erotic carvings showing tantric positions.

this is the Varaha, dedicated to Vishnu’s boar incarnation.

this is the first of the western temples called the  large Lakshmana Temple, and took 20 years to build.

these temples are so beautiful and in such good condition – it’s amazing the carvings are still so perfect. i had a great time going along the outside of the temples (you’re supposed to walk with your right side to the temple for hindu good luck), as well as inside where it was nice and cool.  the temples were so well thought out that they even included interior shutes for access rain water.

from far away you can see that the walls and roofs of the temples are textured, but close-up you’re able to see just how intricate these walls are. there are many carvings, mostly of gods, fairies and humans that are singing, playing with babies & animals and having crazy karmasutric sex. the carvings are so numerous yet organized that they seem to create patterns. the architecture and carvings give a mixed feeling of simplicity and intricacy.

what an orgy

so beautiful.

in-between temples are pretty gardens and trees. this one indian guy gave us some berry type things that came off some of the trees – tasted like aniseed(liquorice).

the insides of the temple were just as intricately carved as the outside. the peaks of the temples are domed inside.

the phallic shape of some of the temples roofs represent’s linga, a phallic Shiva symbol, worshipped by Hindus hoping to seek deliverance from the cycle of reincarnation. when you look closely, you can see that the larger linga is made up of many smaller lingas.

hudson sitting inside a temple in front of the shrine.

entrance to two temples.

a large temple from the eastern section.

the eastern section also included a small museum with several statues.

Agra

 Agra is the city of the Taj Mahal. during our super long train journey to agra we made friends with this random indian guy. our train broke down just outside of our station, but luckily this guy guided us over some tracks (and in front of a train that was “on”) and helped us find a tuktuk. nice guy – although he did then jump in our tuktuk with his wife and kid, but i think he earned the free ride. after yelling with our driver to get correct change, we starting searching for a room around 1am. being so late, we didn’t have much bargaining leverage and ended up in a $5 room. it seemed okay minus the midget sized bed, but then i woke up hudson when I saw a giant rat and screamed.
so, besides the rooms (we moved to one just slightly better) and the tourist-trap feeling, agra was okay. definitely wouldn’t be a place to visit except for the taj, which was amazing. you could get great views from little rooftop restaurants like the one below.

The Taj mahal was really cool but i wasn’t a fan of the city. The restaurants had awful food here. During one lunch we did have the pleasure of witnessing a real multi family feud. The local harlot had been sleeping with another woman’s husband so her kids took offence and challenged the harlot’s kid to a fight – pretty exciting stuff. The restaurant owner told us that this was pretty common and that she’d even tried it on with him. This was all quite surprising as the majority of Indian women were really reserved.

it took a minute to get this nice shot without anyone’s head blocking the shot.

i think the taj is all it’s hyped up to be. the main entrance gate is massive and dominating. the symmetry of the landscaping and archetecture is really impressive as well.

the white marble looks so smooth from afar, but when you walk up to it, you realize much of it has intricate carvings, especially considering it was built around 1632. The shah at the time built it as a sign of love for his wife who had died in 1631.

check out the carving on this huge wall. we took this from the veranda that encircling the entire building. unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the mauseleum. there is a main area and then several passageways with huge carved screens so the sun can shine in. there is also a beautiful wall around the inner mauseleum that is carved so thinly that the marble looks translucent.

we also went to the agra fort, which, like many Indian forts, looks like a giant sandcastle.

this fort was especially fun to walk around.

beautiful carvings.

this is an example of the carved screens – such a pretty pattern.

the fort had an inner wall and outer wall. in-between the walls is a thick forest filled with exotic birds and loads of monkeys; the curving walls are a huge playground for those naughty monkeys.

the fort had cool porches and beautiful gardens, as well as plenty of rooms for the Maharaga’s many wives.

hudson, contemplating the meaning of life.

there are great views of the taj from the fort’s windows.

Jaipur

Waiting for the train in 45 degree heat (110 degree + heat)

Our next stop was Jaipur. After spending three days in the desert eating pretty lacklustre meals we needed to stock up. first stop: pizza hut. (kelly: i’ve never been so excited to eat at pizza hut).

The east gate to the old city. Jaipur is nicknamed the pink city because of the stone used in most of the buildings. in fact, if someone wants to build a structure in old city, they must pay a huge fine if they don’t use the pink stone (there were no non-pink buildings).

a side wall of the city palace. i really enjoyed the architecture used in the majority of indian palaces and temples.

Jantar Mantar – an astronomical observatory with some crazy geometrical devices used to calculate time, predict eclipses, ascertain the declination of planets and make various other calculations.

Hawa Mahal – part of the city palace. This was built with loads of discreet windows so that the women in the palace could look down and have a nose about the streets without being seen.

A cobra. i felt guilty for having this  picture taken as the snake had been defanged by people so it could be handled. To be honest though, probably best it didn’t have its fangs.

On the way upto the sun temple, there was hundreds of monkeys. Kelly bought some nuts and they couldn’t wait to get them. yes, one alpha monkey ended up chasing me and i had to nail the whole bag at him to avoid being attacked. thanks to the indian guy who sold me the nuts.

Sun temple -  The locals here were pretty uncompromising: they asked for a donation (to shiva the hindu god) - i dropped it on the plate and then one of the children said how much i’d put in and i was asked quite aggressively for more. We made a sharp one and i managed to keep my cheapskate reputation in tact. yeah, i wish i had thrown the nuts on those annoying women.

view over Jaipur

The palaces in the middle of the lakes (when they weren’t dried up) were really cool

the multi-coloured spices on display at the bazaars

you couldn’t walk past all these chillis without sneezing.

hudson (and i a little bit) tried some street food hear. we avoid it a bit in india because of horror stories we’ve heard, but we came across a non-meat place with weird pastries,etc. the indian guys had a laugh watching our reactions and were really kind. one guy even gave us some water – too bad the indian water is really polluted and he gave it to us in a rusty pail. well, it’s the thought that counts.

The Thar desert and Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is a small city near to the Thar desert. This place got seriously hot(110+ degrees F) in the middle of the day. It’s known as the “golden city” because of the sandstone used in the main fort.

Jaisalmer fort – unfortunately this place is in danger of collapsing due to the flow of water through the pipes, over 12 times the original capacity. The government is now taking steps to save the fort but there were still many hotels within the fort. also unfortunately, we accidently spent the night in one of these hotels (scammed of course). the outside of a temple wall was one of our room’s interior walls – very cool(and a bargain for a $6 room), but not very good for preserving the temple. oops.

our main reason for going to jaisalmer was to take a camel trek through the thar desert. this guy i’m riding is named lalu – he was a real champ and had “tatoos” cut into his fur. the guides cut their fur to make it cooler, and one guide told me he was a designer (like me) and showed me all the crazy patterns in lalu’s fur.

the guides each own one or more camels and since the camels are their livelihood, the animals are treated very well. riding on the camels was a little bumpy, although once they got in a groove it was pretty good.

some of the local kids from a desert village we passed. at first they asked for money, but then asked for pens to write with. they even got excited to receive an empty bottle. we were really wishing we had known about this beforehand and bought a load of pens and markers for them. as in most places, giving money isn’t a great idea because it goes straight to adults and encourages mistreating children.

a desert village. all the buildings were close to the ground and very simple. the only running water was one central pump that everyone shared.

hudson nailed his hat full of water and dumped it on his head to cool off.

there were just a few other people with us the first two days. it was so hot that everyone had to cover their skin to keep from burning. i was sporting my sarong indian-turban style at some points(really embarassing for pictures).

these dunes are where we camped the first night.

 the guides made simple meals of veg gruel and chapatis (crappy indian bread); it wasn’t great, but we weren’t expecting much. this is basicially what the desert villagers eat all the time.

sunset was really pretty on the dunes.

This is jampoo, my special camel. he was very fussy, but could really run fast. i hated when he ran because i bounced around so much. what a naughty camel he was, and very vain as well.

hudson loved his hat.

random camels wandering through the desert.

i wore the same outfit for 3 days.

sumar and saleem, our camel drivers.

sumar and saleem were nice guys. they walk the majority of the time in intense heat for a measly $25 a month + tips.

Sumar’s woman problem: We got talking to Sumar one night and he was very open about the situation he’s in regarding his future wife. he is from a small desert village. Like many muslim people in india, sumar was supposed to have an arranged marriage. This is where the family of the groom looks for a wife for their son, usually in nearby villages. After they have found a suitable bride, the negotiations commence. Once a sum of money is decided, the marriage is set without either of the happy couple having met. surprisingly, the man’s family must pay the woman’s family (oppisate of doweries); sumar said this is because there are more men than women so women are in hot demand.

In addition to an initial gift to the bride’s family, Sumar and his family have had to give numerous gifts (like jewelry) and money for each year that goes by since the initial arrangement was agreed upon. the bride’s father keeps putting off the wedding and screwing sumar and his family out of more money.

although it seems unfair, sumar can’t do anything but keep paying or else he and his family will be disgraced from his village and he won’t be able to marry anyone else. The only way he can find another woman (chosen by his father) would be for the bride’s father to refuse his daughter; this would mean the guy would have to pay back all the money he has received with a considerable increase. the fact that sumar has wasted 10 years wouldn’t really matter.

in short, i felt sorry for the guy and hope his eventual wife will be a stunner.

i think we’ve written enough about sumar, but he also had a hard time because he was illiterate and basically had no chance to learn to read. 40% of men and %70 of women are illiterate in india. hearing about sumar’s life made me realize how screwed you are if you can’t read and write. we wanted his address and he couldn’t even give it to us properly. he was really proud that he could write his name (few in his village could) and showed us. this was heartbreaking and is yet another memory of how much help india and its people need.

best of friends

Udaipur

Our next stop after mumbai was the beautiful city of udaipur. The city is centered around a lake. We found out that this dries up in the summer time and then refills during monsoon season. Even though the lakes weren’t full you could still appreciated the palaces.

Udaipur had its fair share of roof top restaurants, it was really cool to eat on the roofs. the rooftop views were so beautiful at night as well are during the day. udaipur is called “the white city” because so much of the archetecture is a bright white as if bleached by the sun.

one night when we were having a beer on a roof, the indian manager struck up a convo with us (turns out he was drinking a glass of straight vodka). anyways, it’s a bit too long to type, but he ended up telling us all about castes, arranged marriages vs love marriages, jobs and general life in india. v interesting. he made me realize just how screwed the women are here, but he also made me see arranged marriages in a better light that i had before.

there were loads of little alleyways here. The cows (being protected by religion) just wander round. No beef curries or burgers in india; even macdonalds only serves chicken. their biggest seller was the chicken maharaja mac.

the alleys were lovely to get lost in, except that every once in a while someone would throw rubbish and old food into the streets from windows above. at least it gave the cows and bulls something to eat.

Jagdish temple. townspeople were constantly coming here to pray and give offerings. there was even quite a bustle going on late at night when the temple was lit up by lights.

the temple’s archetecture reminded me of drippy sand castles.

the beautiful lake palace hotel. it was crazy to see a palace rising up from the middle of a lake.

Udaipur was used as one of the main locations in the James Bond movie, Octopussy. A lot of the rooftop restaurants played this movie at night. We went into one of these and the waiter was reluctant to play the movie until kelly (being a huge james bond fan) insisted. I did feel sorry for the guy, he told us that he’d had to watch it every day for 14 years. Could be worse, could of been a sandra bullock  movie.
hudson = liar.

hudson’s lounging around in a pretty alcove of a restaurant that overlooked the lake and hotel. we wanted to go the hotel for a meal, but it was outrageously priced. i wanted to sneak in, but it would have involved stealing a boat or a long swim.

an auto-rickshaw is the most common form of public transport in most of india. These guys can be annoying whenever you get off a bus or train. We were constantly telling them we didn’t want to go to their hotel (where they got commission) or visit a shop (where they got commission).

a rare bit of greenery. This garden was really relaxing and included some pretty fountains and landscaping.

one of the dried up lakes with a palace in the middle of it.

the turbanator

Mumbai

We knew India was going to be hot, crowded, ravished with poverty and polluted, but full of amazing sights. I don’t think you can imagine any of this till you’ve actually been here.

yeah, we got a taste of the madness on our flight into mumbai. all the indian people were pushing and even swatting each other – the flight attendants couldn’t keep them under control. the baggage claim was an absolute disaster area.

We started our  journey in India’s biggest city: Mumbai. Over half of Mumbai’s 16 million population lives in slums, so we took a tour around Dhavrati (the biggest slum). I was pleasantly surprised with Dhavrati. There were many industries including plastic recycling, textiles, tin recycling and repair. The plastic recycling was a bit worrying; some of the major countries (including USA and China) send their used plastic to India where it is melted down and then sent back to the different countries. The smells from these places weren’t good; i dread to think what long term damage is being done. 

on the tour we actually went into a plastics factory (merely a 3 storey shack with ladders and little ventilation. i could feel my organs melting as soon as we entered.

The slum was filled with narrow alleyways full of one room apartments (for a whole family). The people in these places seemed happy and i never felt in any danger. If this was South Africa or Brazil i’m sure you wouldn’t just walk around. I think the locals want visitors to feel safe so that a positive opinion can be broadcast. 

even though the slums were safe from crime, they were not hygenic at all – we saw lots of little kids playing in trash piles and raw sewage in open ditches. In the slums a few companies have come in and built apartment buildings – the rooms in these buildings are quite expensive for india($15,000) even though they’re in the slum. the slum people who are displaced b/c of the building are given a free (extra tiny) room in the building, usually on the top floor. i thought this was pretty nice and contrary to usual indian conduct.

Gateway to india – one of the main tourist attractions. we were asked by numerous indians to be photographed with them – funny, felt like big time celebrities. We were also asked to be extras in a bollywood movie (like most westerners), but unfortunately we didn’t have the time. Would have been cool to dress in some dodgy outfit and do some random dance moves.

while it was kind of funny to be in pictures with people, there were a lot of creepers who tried to take my pic without asking. i dressed conservatively (even covering my head at times), but i think they are really awstruck by westerners.

The famous Taj Mahal hotel – sight of the 2008 mumbai bombings

Jai ho

I took this picture because i liked all of the colourful saris. The women were forming some kind of protest, probably concerning the fact that they are treated like second-class citizens. i was quickly told (by the police) not to take photos and clear off.

Nhat Lan is where the majority of all mumbai’s laundry goes. These guys are working their arses off in disgusting water for about 4 dollars a day. It looked like tough work and then they have all the nasty water diseases to look forward to.

even though there are easier jobs that pay a bit more, these people are part of a washing caste and can’t really avoid going into the business.

Baganga tank – the locals were doing their washing in here, right next to the kids splashing around. A really relaxing place with surrounding temples. If the water didn’t look and smell like a public toilet, I may have been tempted to jump in.

This beach was pretty disgusting, just loaded with rubbish. in fact, i couldn’t even see the sand because of all the trash.

Chowpatty beach – looks nice from far away but I don’t think swimming would have been a good idea.

The indian guys absolutely love their cricket. Due to the lack of space available this field was packed with hundreds of games where as there was space for about 25.

We went to a match between the Mumbai Indians and Kolkatta knight riders; it was really entertaining. This format of cricket has rejuvenated the sport; they’ve jazzed it up with cheerleaders and loud music as well as a shortened time limit. (about 3 hours compared to 5 days)

The fans were crazy, chanting all the time and on their feet constantly. it was great to watch those guys.

i thought the fans were peculiar for two reasons. 1 – the only jersey they sport is for #10(tendulkar); all the other players get no love. 2 – they cheer for both teams equally and don’t seem to care who wins. hudson told me this is because they just love a great game; good philosophy, but it made for constant cheering.

Our trip involved lots of train journeys so this was typical. everyone (including me) lay on the dirty floor of the train station. little children would jump down into the tracks to collect rubbish (to turn over for money i presume). one night when we got into agra, we even had to walk over a bunch of tracks with our bags.

Kelly befriended this dog, it isn’t dead.