Blogs from Gujarat, India, Asia - page 19

Ein weiteres Mal melden wir uns aus den unendlichen Weiten Indiens. Oben genanntes Hotel ist zwar nicht unsere Residenz, jedoch ist es ein gutes Beispiel fuer die indische Rickschafahrer-Mentalitaet. Als wir dort naemlich (hier sei angemerkt das beste Lokal der Stadt) essen gehen wollten und dem Rickschafahrern auf der Map besagten Eintrag gezeigt haben und anscheinen zum Ziel gebracht werden sollten, kam es zu einer Irrfahrt durch Ahmadabad ohne Rast und ohne Ziel... naja, eine Stunde spaeter haben wir es zu Fuss und aufeigene Faust gefunden - WUNDERBAR! Wir kamen also nach einer Zugfahrt in der schlechtesten der indischen Sleepertrain classes um kurz nach 6 Morgens (!!!) in Ahmedabad an und wollten in ein von uns ausgewaehltes Hotel. Bei der Rickschafahrt versucht man uns zu dissen. Zuerst erklaert man uns das Hotel sei zerbombt worden und ... read more

Our last day in Kachchh was supposed to be one of adventure and a final attempt at purchasing handicrafts from those who produce them. Prior to setting off for the day, we covered every square inch of our skin to prevent burn from the beaming desert sun, and purchased 5 litres of water. We were planning to ride 90 km north to the southern edge of the Great Rann of Kachchh to view the salt plains, and, stop in a couple of villages along the way to hopefully spot some more artisans at work. We set out early and baked in the morning sun for an hour before stopping for a break at the village of Sumeraser. In our usual form we began roaming around the village taking pictures of the buildings and of the people ... read more

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 ... read more

We've left Rajastan now and we've decided to head south again. The trouble with travelling in India is that you can never do anything on the spur of the moment. You have to plan everything days in advance. Not much fun if you want to change plans on a whim. Going from Udaipur we wanted to go to a resort area called Diu in the south of Gujarat. Well that would have taken over 24 hours by train so we thought let's go somewhere else. The trains all had waiting lists and the flights were too expensive so we took the bus. We thought that a sleeper bus would be a good idea. The problem was that it didn't have a toilet and there was only one stop, 3 1/2 hours into the trip. Add that ... read more

Goa is like Neverland for hippies and ravers. It's been trying to clean up its partying image but I'm not sure how well that's going... However, the beaches are very pretty and fresh seafood is always nice, so it wasn't a bad place to spend a few days. We mostly just bummed around Anjuna. There's a famous flea market there every Wednesday and we just happened to arrive Tuesday afternoon, so we got to explore that a bit. I picked up a nice pearl necklace for about USD$12! We rented a scooter for a couple of days and rode it over to a nearby beach called Little Vagator. It was such a nice day that we decided to lay out for a bit (If you know me, you know that I have many stories that start ... read more