Indore, Mandu, the bus, Aurangabad

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(I may have been ripped off on the bananas.)

We travelled from Udaipur to Aurangabad via sleeper bus. Somehow, we'd travelled by car or normal bus (daytime, upright seating). From Udaipur to Indore (closest major city to Mandu) there was no direct train link. The sleeper bus is covers hundreds of kilometers during the night (when the roads are emptiest) and averages 30-40 km/h, so it takes something like 11 hours. The bus configuration varies, but the sleeper compartments are above the seats, about 5'10" long and 3x3. You climb up a ladder and swing in with your heap of luggage, and there's a convienient shoe holder at the foot end. Slide the door shut and you're in! However, the roads in India are almost all in poor condition, with ruts patches, dirt sections - so it is quite bumpy. The entire way. Amazingly, we did both manage to sleep for some periods. I've been searching for a metaphor, but I can't find it. If you designed a machine to shake someone to death, it might be something like a sleeper bus. At certain unexpected intervals the bus will stop, sometimes for moments while someone else jumps on at a run. At other times for some unknown interval, while you wonder if you have enough time to run out and try to find a restroom, or if you risk being left behind in the Indian hinterland. Often, the "restroom" can be located in any convieniently dark or otheriwse secluded corner of the bus terminal at your discretion. Frank advice to women travellers is to wear something dress-like to make this easier. We stayed in Indore for a night just to sleep and recover.

So... Indore. Just a city. Though that was interesting, because nobody knew what to do with us - it lacked the tourist savvy locals from the more heavily touristed places we'd been so far. And less English. We could wander around with only the usual staring, and practically no hassle whatever. People are all friendly though, if you say hello, or try to communicate they're all willing.

We took the regular bus out to Mandu, with a change at Dhar. It was extremely easy because everyone knew that tourists would only be going to Mandu, so a bunch of people would immediately point to the next bus as soon as we'd arrive.

Mandu is small, about 5000 people. It's at the top of a part of plateau with an impressive drop on nearly all sides, so it's naturally defensible. It's hard to spot much of the fort, since the low walls are at the periphery, and the area is quite large (kilometers). The real gems are all of the buildings within. Just enormous buildings and ruins, various palaces, houses, wells, tombs, and other. Quite different than what we'd been used to with the forts of Rajasthan, extremely impressive. It gives you a hint of what the scale of the settlement must have been in that time. It includes a white marble tomb that was studied by architects of the Taj Mahal and undoubtedly in my mind gave partial inspiration. We didn't cover everything in one day (should have done the bicycle rental). I would say definitely worth the trip to Mandu.

Afterwards, we went back to Indore and then endured another horrific sleeper bus ride down to Aurangabad. Slightly less horrific since we knew what to expect, and the road was possibly somewhat better in sections. To buy the bus ticket, we wandered about the bus station looking lost until someone directed us to a travel agent. The ticket was 350 rupees each. We showed up later on at the appointed time, and were put on a short rickshaw ride out to where the bus would appear. It's hard not to constantly wonder what is happening, if you're in the right place, if the bus has already left, etc. We sat and waited and talked to an English teacher who was thinking of teaching abroad in the UK and eventually got on the bus. People who know some English are always eager to talk.


Aurangabad. Staging point for visiting the Ellora and Ajanta caves. Also king of the power outage. Everywhere we've been has had at least one outage, but this place it's out a few times a day. Ate at the Foodwalla's Tandoor and had meat (chicken) for the first time in weeks. We eat diary and eggs, plus pulses, so there is protien in the diet. Tasty! Splurged on the local beer, something like "Maharjuro" is the best so far. Also have tried Dhoj, which has endless thalis - a sort of we-bring-it-to-you buffet of many different things spread out on a plate. The team will refill your plate so quickly, that it fills me with a sense of panic and I find myself racing to eat faster to try and keep up. Farah asked me why I looked so serious. I am learning to eat them more slowly. Also, Farah noticed this hopping fast food place across the street from our hotel that is always packed. South Indian (we'd eaten north mostly so far)Cheapest place yet to eat, with about 8 things on the menu all costing about 10 rupees! Outstanding food, best Chai tea yet, and served within a minute of ordering because they're churning out food so quickly - yet fresh and so, safe. And authentic - gesturing and pointing required. Idli for breakfast - two pressed rice lumps and a bowl of brown soup to drown it in. Onion Uddapam - onion pancake. Masala dosa - potato mix wrapped in a crepe. Van____ two brown lumps in brown soup. Sandam_cha__________ , a square of newpaper, banana leaf, with pile of very small soft white balls - delicious!

The Ellora and Ajanta caves are remarkable - they're not natural caves at all. Each cave was chipped out of the cliff face. Interestingly, they had some partially completed ones, so you can get a sense of the effort involved.

I can't pick a favourite of the two. The Ajanta caves had the better setting, and some very good wall paintings and fragments have survived (2000 years!) so are just fascinating. We took a tour with a guide. The Indian guides tend to rush you through and point out the most important bits, however the extra information is nice.

The Ellora caves were equally impressive, though almost no trace of painting survived here. However, there are multiple religions to compare - Buddist, Hindu, Jain - so that is interesting. Also, the main Hindu temple was carved down through the rock from the top, rather than into it so is actually not architecture but a colossal sculpture! Just amazing. Also a couple of small waterfalls give nice effect.

There were some school groups and other Indian tourists present at Ellora, and we seem to be fascinating. We posed for some group pictures with kids and random strangers, one of which handed me her baby! Possibly my ridiculous hat is a factor.

That's it for now! Pictures soon, we have a stockpile to upload. And hopefully some short video clips for Sergei. We're learning to go with the flow, and really starting to love the place and people. Tomorrow night we take the train to Mumbai. Soon after, our Bollywood movie debut...

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Comments

[Jason Edwards]

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Sounds like you two are having a truly unique and wonderful experience! Can't wait to talk about it in person when it's over... and John, if I had a baby, and you were wearing that hat, and I didn't know you, I'd let you hold him/her as well! ;)