Blogs from Gujarat, India, Asia - page 18

Okay I have accessed a puta that seems a little more reliable and I might be able to upload some photos today. Here goes:... read more

Yesterday we got up early to check out of our prime room and headed out on a MP3 guided walking tour of the old city. We felt like proper tourists with headphones on gazing up at the buildings. The tour took us from an old mansion past a really old mosque with beautiful carved windows along past some British art deco to the old town fort. At the fort the tour started to really prove fantastic as it directed us into a tiny courtyard, up a flight of stairs through as office and up to the top of the old fort. We were a little apprehensive about trespassing but the voice on the player said don't be scared you are allowed. The top of the fort was spectacular with views across the city and an amazing ... read more

This morning we arrived in Ahmedabad via the sleeper train from Mumbai. We are a little cross eyed and hungry but excited to be here. As we arrived so early (6.30 am) very little is open so we are yet to get breakfast. The train was quite a good experience (our expectations were not high!) and we both got quite a bit of sleep in our tiny bunks. We also caught our first auto rickshaw into town to find a hotel. We are now off to explore the city and hopefully see some of the kite festival that is supposed to be on this month. It is quite cool here and we were suprised to find everyone dressed in jackets, scarves and beanies, it is not really Canberra weather!... read more

Vadodara was known as Baroda formerly When I started to write about our recent trip to Vadodara, I found to my delight that the venerable ‘Vatvriksha’ became a mundane ‘Banyan’ tree in English language because early British found that the Hindu Gujrati ‘Banias’ (merchants) mostly conducted their business in the shade of these trees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan Whenever I start writing a travelogue, a gather from the Net many such nuggets of what Avi calls “Profuse and Useless Information”. So, dear readers, like Avi, if you are interested only in ‘short and useful’ information, please refer to a travel guide. Vadodara, at present is a small town in Gujrat. It was the seat of princely state of Maharajah Gaekwad till 1947. What progress Vadodara has shown today is due to a very able ruler Sayajirao Gaekwad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharaja_Sayajirao_Gaekw... read more

Es ist soweit. Nach Ps unvorsichtigem Trinken von Leitungswasser inklusive (zum Glueck schon ueberstandenen), Konsequenzen, hat es nun auch J erwischt. Daher Weiterfahrt postponed. An Papa: Keine Sorgen machen!! Trotz allem haben wir gestern einen amuesanten Ausflug gemacht: Zu den Tempeln von Champaner und Pavagadh. Was nun der Unterschied zwischen diesen beiden ist, ist uns nicht so klar, haben wir doch, obwohl es sich um Unesco World Heritage handelt, keinerlei Touristen oder englisch sprechende Einheimische dort angetroffen. Zuerst fuerte uns unsere Fahrt mit dem Local Bus (von welchem uns im Hotel mit den Woren "you have all the villagers" abgeraten wird) und dem stark an Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean erinnernden Kassier zum Chauhan Rajput aus dem 8. Jahrhundert. Nach einer abenteuerlichen Jeepfahrt (ca 25 Leute in einem Jeep!!) beschlossen wir (J.allerdings eher unfreiwi ... read more