Blogs from Gujarat, India, Asia - page 22

We arrive in Amhedabad at 5am. It is still dark but already warm. We take a rickshaw to the centre and walk to the river as the sun comes up and find somewhere shady for breakfast. After omlettes and fresh lime sodas and reading the local papers, we head out to see the city. Ahmedebad is the capital of the Gujarat state and made itself by being the textile centre of India, so you could say it is the Manchester of India. It is also a city with an interesting history. First thing we see is Dada Hari Wav, an amazing octagonal well on multiple levels. We are shown round a nearby mosque by an old muslim guy, and then walk through some narrow back streets surrounded by small children who take us to see ... read more

When arriving in Baroda, state of Gujarat, we had a bizarre experience right off the bat. While checking in at the hole-in-the-wall hotel office, Randy and the hotel manager were interrupted by a “sadhu” (holy man in search of enlightenment). He was draped a long orange robe and dangling gold jewelry, with a painted face and wild hair. Exactly what happened next remains a mystery since they were speaking in a foreign language, but it went something like this: Sadhu insists manager look through album of naked-sadhu-in-desert photos. Manager protests that he’s busy with customer (Randy). Loud arguing. Manager reluctantly thumbs through photos. Randy pretends not to notice that grown men are discussing naked man photos on desk in front of him. Sadhu performs prayer ritual on manager. Manager begrudgingly complies. Flower petals are thrown and ... read more

Hi! We're having a good time still. We took an adventurous jaunt to Politana, and stayed in a Dharmasala along the way, which is like a Jain monastery. We saw so many temples and we climbed the whole 3200 steps! Our legs are still sore. :) CHeck out the pics.... read more

We departed Udaipur and after a relatively painless daytime bus trip south, we were soon struggling through the hot and dusty streets of Ahmedabad, trying to find some habitable accommodation. This was our penultimate stop before getting to Mumbai and for Thailand in a few days time. First stop was the city museum, a ‘must see’ according the guide book, but when the rickshaw driver had no idea where it was, nor many of the people he asked for directions we started to get suspicious. When we finally found it, it appeared to be a deserted multistory car-park, but to be fair, there was some interesting history about Gandhi and with only 2 other people and the security guard there was no problem getting to see the exhibits. As we were about to leave the ... read more

Ok, this one is for the architects, some of you may find this a little boring but finally I found some interesting buildings of international recognition (please note I am yet to visit the Taj), in the strangest most unexpected city as well. But before we get into the architecture talk, let's just recount the journey to our current destination, Ahmedabad. A grueling 16 and a half bus journey, and mind you not via highway, but the ‘short cut’ being the back end of no-where on a road that doesn’t even class as a dirt track. Now the buses we’ve been traveling on are sleeper coaches, meaning there actual beds on the bus, which is brilliant because you actually get to sleep lying down, far more comfortable than the reclining seats. Further the sleeper beds come ... read more