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The last major stop on our re-tooled itinerary was the northern Gujarati region referred to as Kachchh. The Kachchh region stretches along the Pakistani border and is known for its colourful tribes, amazing textiles and inhospitable climate. Contained within the region are two barren, flat salt deserts, one large and one smaller, lacking any plant life whatsoever, and referred to as the Great Rann and Little Rann respectively. From our research, we learned that this area was remote, largely untouristed and offered up fascinating landscape with close peeks of tribal life.
We scored a rather comfortable A/C coach from Ahmedabad to the Kachchhi capital of Bhuj run by the Swambinath bus company…it is fair to say that this was the most comfortable sleeper bus experience we had in India and it made all the difference when we woke up the next morning in our new destination. On the bus, we made friends with a nice 30-something Gujarati lady (Bhavini) who was a textile teacher in Ahmedabad on her way to Bhuj for an overnight trip to pray to some god (didn’t get the details on the god, but, it was quite clear this prayer had to be done in Bhuj).
She was incredibly friendly, helped us sort out our ticket, invited us to her house (on our trek back thru Ahmedabad), and hailed us a tuk-tuk upon arrival in Bhuj. After we said our goodbyes to Bhavini, we boarded our tuk-tuk and bolted for the Gangaram Hotel where we woke hotel manager cum soon-to-be-new-friend Sayed with our early arrival.
After a brief nap, we were energized to explore Bhuj and ready to dig behind the surface of the mysterious sounding Kachchh. We wandered around the Shroff Bazaar (and other parts of the Old City) getting to know our new surroundings, got a bite to eat, then headed back towards Prag and Aina Mahal. Our brief, cursory glance at the city revealed its tortured past as many buildings still sit in ruin and numerous others show the impact of the 2001 earthquake that killed 10% of the population in Bhuj. All up though, the town looks to have sprung back from the disaster and feels similar to other small towns we have visited in India. The obvious difference in Bhuj, however, is the attire worn by a large number of women walking around the bazaars. The various Kachchhi tribes have
vastly different attire than what is typically considered “Indian” and the colors of the numerous tribes are all on display as you walk around Bhuj.
Once we made our way back to Prag Mahal and Aina Mahal (Mahal means “Palace”) we took a break from the sun to get acquainted with the digs of the royalty that once ruled Kachchh. Both buildings have withstood massive amounts of damage from the many earthquakes that have rocked the natural-disaster prone area over the past few hundred years. Shattered glass, foundation to roof cracks, and large chunks missing from both buildings give a strange introduction to what used to be the prized buildings in town. Rubble lay strewn across the property of both relatively new palaces and the entire top storey of Aina is missing due to the impact from the 2001 quake. From the outside, Aina looked like a pile of rubble; once you get inside of what remains, there is another pile only this time it is a compilation of a strange brew of personal effects all with a European flavor to them…unusual, very intriguing and well worth the 10 Rupee admission price.
Prag Mahal takes weirdness to another
level and ended up feeling downright frightening at times. Rozy is absolutely convinced the place is haunted, and was somewhat disturbed by one of the weirdo caretakers roaming around the building. For starters, the building was nearly empty and dead quiet except for the large number of birds zipping around inside. Second, the building was not only wracked by several quakes over the years, but, in addition, its upkeep leaves much to be desired with bird shit and feathers scattered about. Third, the freakshow who ruled from this palace either hated animals or just loved killing them because just about every single reptile and mammal species is represented in its taxidermied form, adorning the walls and furniture in the main and lesser halls. Fourth, not only was the entire place coated in dead animals, but each stuffed animal was either decaying off its mount or had been severely picked at by the birds rendering each one a ghastly representation of the animal it was meant to portray. These four factors combined with broken chandeliers, cracked walls, broken glass, and weird guy roaming around gave the place a very supernatural feel; this place is not to be missed if you happen
to find yourself in Bhuj!
After completing our exploration of all things Bhuj, we began working out our plan to explore some of the many villages in the more remote areas of Kachchh. We toyed with several options (including minibus ride and tuk-tuk tour) and ended up wasting half a day arriving at our final decision; rent a motorbike and do what we do best…figure it out along the way. Priya Auto offered up lousy rates and attitude, so, we hired our steeds from Shiv Enterprises who specialized in property brokering, mobile phone repair, and some acronym “VCD”…oh yes, and motorbike and car rentals. We left our 1,000 Rupee deposit and were off on our $7.5 USD/day motorbike rental. The bike came equipped with a number of features including a missing rear-view mirror, broken speedometer (and gas gauge), a front brake that barely worked, and a constantly slipping 4th gear which inducing unexpected compression braking at high speeds (fun if you are in the mood to crap your pants). Our next task was to stop by the local police headquarters and request permission to visit certain villages (those closest to the Pakistani border), unfortunately, the only guy able to
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STATISTICS
- Flights taken = 10
- Intercity trains rides taken = 17
- Intercity bus rides taken = 37
- Times lost = 22
- Total instances of diarrhea = 7
- Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel = 36
- Total megabytes of pictures taken = 33,240
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Rani
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Haunted Bhuj
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......you know how l always request for more pics...well l wouldn't have minded if you didn't post any pics of the mahals. That was just down right scary man. You guys are soo brave to be walking around in that place. That just left a creepy feeling and will be sleeping with my night light on tonight....hehehehe!!