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Published: February 23rd 2007
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Red Fort
This massive fort was built in present day Delhi by a Mughal ruler. The interior was partially destroyed by the British to garison troops. However some of the royal chambers still exist. Where I last left off I arrived at Arangubad. The city itself is known for a large autorickshaw plant and a few other large industries. It doesn't have much of interest besides a smaller version of the Taj Mahal built after the original, and the interesting Arangubad caves. The real reason for visiting the town is that it is a nice base for seeing some very impressive Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves at Ajunta and Ellora. These caves were carved into cliffsides between a few hundred years B.C. up until 700 A.D., they have been declared UNESCO world heritage sights.
We first visited the caves at Ellora. These caves are situated in a cliff face varying in height from 50 to 100 feet. The cliff face is basically the edge of a mesa with a flatish top and flat terrain below. The 30 or so caves are along a length of this cliff. Each cave was carved out of the solid stone and beautifully carved. All caves were also painted, however, this has mostly worn off. The caves tended to be rectangular rooms with a room in the back
Red Fort - Interior
Part of the royal chambers. The structure is covered in white marble and inlaid with semi-precious stones. featuring Buddha or a Hindu deity. By far the most impressive structure is Kailasanatha. This Hindu temple is the largest monolithic structure in the world. It is not a cave, however it is a multi-storied building, intricately carved out of one single piece of rock. The structure is covered with many carvings and sculptures including two freestanding life size elephants.
Ajunta was also impressive. These caves are carved into a cliff face of a river bend. Because of its secluded location, it was not discovered until the mid 1800s. Therefore, the painting inside the caves are in much better condition than at Ellora. Also the river bend setting makes it almost more impressive than Ellora.
From Arangubad we took an overnight bus to the oceanside state of Goa. Goa was a Portuguese colony until India's independence in 1947. Therefore, it is an interesting mix of European and Indian culture. It was a welcome respite from the poorer regions of India. Also because of the high percentage of Christians in Goa, meat was common in food and even included beef on the menu. The Goan cuisine was my favorite in India.
Goa is known for its beautiful, but
The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is more beautiful than any picture can convey. It was built as a mosoleam for Shah Jahan's favorate wife. His son had Shah Jahan placed beside his wife when he died. crowded beaches. Because of this and the slightly European culture, it is a popular destination for European tourists. We visited the beach in the town of Calangute, the town was incredibly touristy and the beaches had few Indian tourists. It was however shocking to see the Indian women playing in the waves fully clothed while some of the European women didn't even wear a top. Besides the lack of cultural awareness of some beach goers, and the general touristy feel of the place, the beach was beautiful and almost devoid of trash (which is quite shocking in India).
After a brief respite in Goa, we headed to a small beach town called Gokarna (Gokarn on some maps). This town was my favorite place in India. The town itself can not be more than a few thousand people, and there were probably only a few hundred tourists. Besides the beach allure and the lack of tourists, the town is also of significance to Hindu's and therefore quite devout. It is the only place we stayed where we got a feel for rural life.
From there we went to Mysore, a large inland city at an elevation of around 3000
A narrow bazar
A bazar at Fatrapur Sikri feet (I am guessing at this). Therefore it was much cooler than the coastal areas. This city's main attraction is it's Maharajah's palace. When we arrived at Mysore we were pleasantly surprised at the quite streets in this town of over a million people. Only later did we realize that there were protests going on that day, so most people had already gone home by mid-day, because previous protests had turned quite violent. The protests were over a water dispute with the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. The Cavuery River flows through both states and the federal government had just given their ruling following a 10 year study on how much water each state could take. Because the ruling was not in favor of the state I was in, all buses were blocked from entering Tamil Nadu, some cars with Tamil Nadu plates were attacked, road and train service between Mysore and Bangalore (both in the same state) were disrupted, and many other peaceful protests occurred. Luckily the major/semi-violent protests did not occur in Mysore and those that did occur were much more peaceful than previous protests. Also, thankfully our bus to Kerala was not blocked.
The Maharajah's palace
Agra Fort
Shah Jahan's main fort. in Mysore was quite impressive even if it was built less than 100 years ago. It was an interesting mix of semi-modern Indian and British architecture. Most of the structure was clad in cast iron and many windows were stain glass.
After Mysore, we went to the sea side town of Cochin in the state of Kerala. Kerala is one of the wealthiest states in India with also one of the highest literacy rates. This is somewhat attributed to its frequently and freely elected communist government. It is and has been an important trading route with the Arabian peninsula and Europe. Also, Kerala has many important spice and tea plantations.
In Kerala, we took a backwaters tour. The backwaters are a series of semi-man made islands on a river delta. Thousands of people live on these islands, growing many crops or fishing in the waters. After the backwaters tour we saw a traditional Keralan play. This play acts out Hindu sceans with intricate dancing, hand and face movements. The actors wear thick colorful makeup.
From Kerala we took a 2 day train ride back to Delhi for my flight to Thailand and Lesley's flight back home. On
An Arangubad Cave
This is one of the hand carved caves at Arangubad. our last full day in Delhi, a train was bombed 50 miles north of town. It did not appear to have caused any disruption in Delhi, however a few people at our hotel decided to change their travel itinerary.
Next time, Myanmar
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Dad
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Fantastic! Those cliff and cave carvings are really impressive. Seems like they showed one of those in a movie once. The beach looks nice - sounds nice too. I like the shots of the towns too.