Blogs from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, Asia

Sara is feeling rather better. It's 8am and we decide to walk the heritage trail on our own, a round trip of about 3 miles. Just outside our hotel and opposite the Sidi Sayeed mosque are about a dozen beggars in their usual position seeking alms. There are people sleeping in the street and on charpoys, the whole place is incredibly dirty and smelly but still basically asleep. The first place we encounter is one of the great gateways into the Badhra fort. Sadly much of this has either been demolished or turned into government offices so there's not much to see. Next to it is a Hindu temple that is giving hot meals to the poor wretches who present themselves and sit quietly in two lines in front of the temple. Women gypsy beggars appear ... read more

Our next destination on the tour of Gujarat was Ahmedabad, the main city & textile centre and also the former capital of Gujarat. En route we stopped at the Modhera Sun Temple, built in 1026, which consisted of a large “stepwell tank” with steep steps leading down into the turbid green water. Two small sandstone temples, decorated with multiple carvings of Hindi deities, elephants and intricate designs, were situated nearby. After a further hour of travelling we stopped at another spectacular 11th-century stepwell, in the shape of an inverted Temple which plunged deeply down steep steps into the depths. Numerous shrines and elaborately carved statues were present on the walls and steps - a most unusual and interesting structure. That evening we enjoyed our first Gujarati Thali - a meal consisting of many small dishes of ... read more

After our whistle stop tour of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, we were happy to spend some time eating home cooked food in Ahmedabad and then headed for some enforced relaxation in Goa. Ahmedabad is an expanding city in the heart of the Northern state of Gujarat. We’ve been here before, seven years ago. It has a lot of residential building, road expansions and commercial growth. We were lucky enough to be there during the nine day dance festival of Navaratri (which literally translates to 9 nights in Sanskrit). Imagine thousands of people, all dressed in vibrant, beautiful colors, dancing along a similar theme and moving in unison around various concentric circles. Those are the ‘garba’ dances that take place during the nine nights. It was a pleasure to witness and although some of the moves are ... read more

Trekking (or backpacking, or hiking, or tramping) has taught me a lot that is useful elsewhere in life - how to plan ahead and prepare, how to be resourceful, how to navigate, how to make do with little, and a lot more. Below is a short list of what I've learned trekking that has come in handy while traveling in India for 6 months. 1. Make your own breakfast. If you are on a tight budget, breakfast is an easy meal to make on your own. Rooms with stoves are very hard to find and cost much more than a regular room so stick to a cold meal. Cereal or muesli and powdered milk is a classic trail meal and easy to find in India. Just add purified water and you are ready to go. True ... read more

February 16… My idea of hell is being trapped in a car for 12 hours – what was I thinking when I opted for a car journey between Udaipur and Sasan Gir?? You look at the map and it’s only 600 kms between the two places, mostly on major highways. Well, I had hoped it wouldn’t take quite as long as it did, however, this is India. We left at about 6:20 am. The first couple of hours after leaving Udaipur were through the hills – the longest stretch between curves in the road might have been a kilometre or two at most. Then we reached the flats of Gujarat but traffic volume had increased by that point so we probably didn’t travel more than 60 kms per hour. Once we neared Ahmedabad, language conspired to ... read more