Blogs from Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 135

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 25th 2006

Reentered India via Bombay, a good place to make a return. As the country's economic capital, it's a good place to see today's modern India. It's a busy metropolis (16 mil), but beyond paying too much on fancy meals and nicer hotels (they provided towels) there really isn't much else to remark on. Besides the fact that it was the first place we've seen in India to house the Golden Arches. We've been without it for so long we no longer had a craving for a hit on the McCrack pipe but we were still curious to see how they could go about bastardizing the local cuisine. There aren't any burger items on the menu-- no Baba, not in Hindu country. So we tried the Chicken Maharashtra burger, the McAloo Tikki, and the Paneer Curry Puff. ... read more

Yet again -another- entry from my written journal.

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 24th 2006

Andy Strife

Yeah, I know, I kind fell apart on my updating duties. Last time I wrote, Sandi and I were in Delhi. We've been to a couple cities now, such as Agra, Jaipur, and Mumbai. Right now we're on a train headed for Goa. I've got alot of time so perhaps I'll go through my experiences in each of the cities. Lets start with Agra, home of the Taj. When Sandi and I arrived, we lucked out with our rickshaw driver. His name was V.K or something like that. He picked us up from the trainstation and charged an actual ok price to a ride to our hotel. Well, he didn't bring us to our hotel, he brought us to a hotel that he gets a commission from. The hotel he brought us to was called Hotel ... read more

Namaste from dusty Paratwada!

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Paratwada February 23rd 2006

School-kids come to the window to say goodbye after I paid a short visit to their classroom

michaelpaddo

Namaste to you all! ('Namaste' is an interesting Hindi greeting which means something like 'I recognise the divine within you'.) Thank you very much to all who've been emailing and messaging me, (my Indian mobile number is +919860659764), over the past month! My access to the net is infrequent and always very brief, but when I do get the chance, I really look forward to reading through your emails and finding out what you've been up to! I'm just sorry I haven't had more time to be able to reply individually just yet. Anyway, I'm now almost four weeks into my Work Experience placement with EFICOR (Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief) in Paratwada, (in the north-east of Maharashtra state). I'll pick up the story from where I left off last time and give a ... read more

Korku women in Hilda, one of the most remote villages that EFICOR works in

A cautious monkey keeping a wary eye on visitors to the Hindu shrine it lives around

madness

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 22nd 2006

henryrolls

I think I've taken on the madness pretty well, but my impressions of Mumbai were slightly different. Don't think in all my travel experience did I foresee such a contrast between abject poverty and posh rich, but all built around the foundations of mud and a slightly worn and dilapidated infrastructure. I’ve been doing a lot of wondering about in the stifling heat (34'c and very humid) and taking it all in, as well as staying a couple of night at a friend of Kat's - Ankur who along with his mates are just sound as a pound. They're all really likeminded individuals about my age and all work in films, leading less major budgets rather than the Bollywood hits, but all part of that scene. They're all really talented, well versed in english and very ... read more

Short but sweet

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Aurangabad February 20th 2006

Kalaisnatha temple

Shlub

Just a whistle stop here for me unfortunatly as I only had 10days left in india and wanted to at least see a couple of other places before i left. I arrived at about 4am off the train with a Japanese girl and an English guy who had just arrived in India. I went to a hotel with them where they checked in (i was leaving that night so didn't) and kipped on the floor for a couple of hours. Visiting the sites here (some really impressive caves and a fort) really warrants at least a couple of days but I'd seen lots of that sort of thing already so picked the best area and jumped on a bus later that morning with the english guy. The place is pretty amazing and normally people compare it ... read more

Proof of Life

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 20th 2006

jemand

I wrote this once already and lost half of it when the connection crapped out. Email in India, like everything else, is unpredictable: connection cuts out, terminals freeze, power fails, you get the idea. So i'm inflicting group dispatches on you all. I'm just about ready to leave Bombay after spending much more time here than I'd anticipated. It'll be a mad dash down the coast to the tip of Kerala by next Wednesday. With the help of friends and relatives of people I know in New York, I've got my feet underneath me in Bombay. Mona's parents, Mohan and Mary Donna, are members of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club (the only living relic of the empire but far less auspicious than its title suggests) and have been a comforting touchstone in town. Mary Donna packed ... read more

Free beer in one of the best hotels in the world!

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 19th 2006

The Taj Mahal Hotel

Shlub

I've just uploaded pics for the last two blogs and will do ones for this one later. I've got a bit carried away with typing again here but the first paragraph summarises everthing pretty much. Wow! In one awesome day I have had about the biggest contrast in lifestyle possible! It went from my dingy hotel and lunch that was a couple of Samosas with sauce in a local cafe to drinking beers in some of the best hotels in the world and partying until 2.30 in one of the best clubs in town! I arrived in Mumbai at something like 5am off the train (which turned out to be another great and very different journey). To cut costs I hooked up with a couple of guys from Finland (who have been travelling around with their ... read more

You say Mumbai, I say Bombay, let's call the whole thing off.

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 16th 2006

Udaipur

jfreilich

I arrived in Udaipur at 6:00 am after taking a night bus. I was exhausted and my rickshaw driver ended up taking me to a different hotel than I had booked. I was so tired that I just ended up staying at the one he took me to. It turned out to be great. I had a balcony with an amazing view of the city. Udaipur has some beautiful views, but like most of the places I've been in India, it looks and smells like shit on the street. I went to see the City Palace and museum, which was alright. Then I took a boat ride in the lake to see all of the fancy hotels that are actually their own islands in the lake. It's funny, all of the big sight seeing stuff in ... read more

Black Horse

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 12th 2006

Wally

Not to be disturbed by the name of this entry, play along and I shall explain the need for such a title. The annual "Kala Ghoda festival" is on right now. The week long cultural festival enthralls visitors, tourists and artists from all across the country. Special stalls are set-up to offer a platform to budding artists to showcase their talents during the cultural festival. A number of events take place at various venues in downtown Mumbai from 9am to 10pm. The best part about the festival is that you could catch a film, listen to a concert, attend a special class on indian dances, get a portrait sketched or pick up a souvenier, all under one huge roofless venue. Now coming to the mystery behind the title of the entry, "Kala Ghoda" means black horse. ... read more

Southern India Trip Completion

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 5th 2006

Conclusion -- the Travellers

hambone

The trip is over but the memories are many. I spent the last few hours on the subcontinent in Mumbai with my guide, Amin. Anyone vaguely interested in Mumbai (Bombay) should check out this novel http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2004-11-17-shantaram_x.htm and also use the services of Amin who loves the city to take you on a memorable tour -- check Amin out at: www.snehatravels.in . Heres some pictures of the travellers, the faces and inanimates that will stay in the memory bank for a long time. Here is an excerpt from Jan's diary re: the trip (I could not be as eloquent): "India is more than just a foreign country with different customs. It's an ancient land. People talk about its timeless quality. That's more than poetic description. I could not have experienced a greater range of contrasts on my ... read more

Brief history of India

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest invaded about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab in...more history

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