Vrindavan, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Khajuraho

Vrindavan
My journey to Vrindavan was a little different than i expected it to be.  Firstly the busride from Ajmer just outside of Pushkar was yet another cheap crappy seated government deal which saves you money but really really bites in the way of comfort.  My ass went so numb it seemed to go beyond numbness into a dull ache that could only be relieved by walking around, which happened twice for 15 minutes over 9 hours.  

Close to Delhi and Agra, the birthplace of Krsna turned out to be quite an austere place to visit.. Chaitanya in Mayapur is krsna's merciful incarnation and allows everyone to enjoy his association, regardless of how loosely you may follow.  Krsna however demands a little more strictness from his devotees,  so the ride to Vrindavan wasnt as comfortable for me..  shrouded in fog for most of the time i was there making the place incredibly cold and damp and muddy, it was hard for Vrindavan to give me a similar spiritual lift.  Also being restricted by time, I had decided simply to stop in for 2 days. Pay my obesences to the holiest place on the planet and continue on. The ISKCON temple there was quite amazing, not as big as Mayapur but incredibly beautiful.  Especially the huge white marble samadhi (mausoleum) dedicated to A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I attended some classes, ate delicious food, lots of meditation and singing and packed up ready to move on. 

A jeep trip 5 km East took me to the Delhi/Agra highway, where after some difficulty and consequently help from an old Indian man who from what i gather hated most things about India. I hailed down a Delhi-Agra bus and luckily snagged the last available seat aboard the local goverment bus.  Fortunately it was only a 1.5 hour journey and relatively painless, apart from the filthy man next to me who was sucking and chewing on this tobacco product that i estimate 3/4 of indian men seem to chew, and despite multiple attempts to convince him otherwise insisted on his right to spit the moise chewed up waste matter all over the floor and occasionally my feet and sandals in front of us.  After ignoring this to the best of my ability for the journey, i arrived in Agra, somewhere.

Unfortunately, I somehow lost the few photos I took in Vrindavan.. :(

Agra
After a long rickshaw ride and selecting a hotel in close proximity to the Taj - seemingly the only thing worth being in Agra for. I got in touch with Fanny and met up with her and the tour group she'd decided to part ways with.  We'd already booked train tickets to get us to Khajuraho leaving on the 25th so had a couple of days to kill.  There really isnt much to say about Agra.  The touts/rickshaw drivers etc are all extra annoying, the Taj itself costs 750rp, an extraordinary amount of money, and the place is just loud and dirty like many other Indian cities. That aside, you have to do it.  The Taj Mahal is one touristy thing in India that just cannot be missed.  Described as "a teardrop on the cheek of eternity" the huge white marble mausoleum built by a grief stricken emperor in memory of his deceased 3rd wife.  It took 16 years to build, and is of incredible detail.  With inlayed marble and intricate carvings to be seen everywhere.  No picture i've seen even remotely captures it's essence (that didnt stop me from taking around 2 gig of photos over two seperate visits). A sight to behold.

After killing time dining in many rooftop restaurants, all with views of the Taj, we headed to the station where our train to Satna was departing, turned out there was actually a direct train to Khajuraho that the friendly travel agent i visited wasnt aware of that departed the night before our train.. very unfortunate as it ended up being quite a mission getting there.. Our train went to satna, which is 4 hours in a bus away from our destination, however i discovered we went through another station, Mahoba which is only an hour train from Khajuraho, so we decided to jump off the train there.. Unfortunately trains dont tell you where you are ever, so it was a long night of interrupted sleep on the cold sleeper class cabin with freezing air blowing in the windows.. probably the most uncomfortable journey to date.  The train was 6 hours late, and then the connecting one was also 6 hours late.. so in total it took almost 24 hours to get to the place..

Side-on view.. you've seen a million views over the lawn..

Closeup of the incredible detail inside.  Carved white marble.  The colour up the top is inlayed marble.

Khajuraho
A unique place on the map in India, Khajuraho's main attraction is the many temples it has surrounding it with thousands of intricately carved figures adorning the exterior that depict various scenes from the kama sutra and other sexually orientated poses.  For a culture that is so conservative, this era of worship does present quite a curious contrast to the norm.  Some of the carvings are beautiful and tasteful, while others are utterly perverse as you can see in the photos below.  There was not a lot more to do in this town, but the place had a great vibe to it and was a wonderful relaxing intermission after Agra.  We stayed in a hotel outside of town that was surrounded with mango trees and beautiful gardens, and apart from the ridiculously bad cooking that the two bumbling owners churned out, was basically perfect.

each of the carvings are over a foot tall


lucky these guys invented yoga


pretty much all the temples in Khajuraho had the same basic design, but with LOTS of subtle differences


yeah.. there are no words..

Funny memory from Khajuraho
Fanny and I had stepped into an internet cafe to quickly check up on emails/facebook etc.  On entry I had asked the owner how much per hour and he told us it was 30rp - standard.  After 10 minutes or so, some Korean girls walked in the door and asked the same question "how much per hour" to which our friendly host replied "40rp" the girls refused and walked out.  My ears pricked as i was certain he'd told us 30 and I wanted to clarify. But he ensured us it was 30rp for us, because "Korean people always download too much."
"What?" I replied.
"..and steal, they all steal my things. and burn dvds.  One time i had a book of kama sutra on the desk(popular in the town) and when i went out the back, when I returned the Korean guy was gone and so was the book!"
"One time eh?" I confirmed.
"all the time" he corrected himself.
"Well rickshaw drivers try to cheat me all the time, and they're all Indian, so all indians are cheaters? are you cheating me?"
"....." he thought about this very hard, and with a look of surprise responded. "...no."
"you just lost the business of 3 people because they might download more than the usual customers but you really have no idea if they will or not. perhaps a better idea would be to put a sign up that says 'web browsing 30rp, downloading 40rp' and keep an eye on what people are doing rather than assume how a certain race will behave." i suggested
He thought about this for a while, and when we got up to leave, thanked us for the suggestions and told us that "I will accept everybody from now on."

The End

A couple of days in the peaceful town we boarded the 4hr bus heading to Satna where a connecting overnight train would take us on to Varanasi.

Udaipur & Pushkar

Udaipur

Someone told me Udaipur is known as the Venice of India.. I was also told it is India's Most Romantic City.  I'm not sure about the Venice reference but it's easy to see why the latter title has been given.  Situated on two sides of a lake with cascading hotels and haveli's rising up steep hills that provide a canvas to shine a golden glowing sunset that is too perfectly reflected by the lake, the competition for the highest rooftop restaurant is fierce and I lost count of the number I could see.

I arrived at my all too common early morning time - 4am, extremely tired after yet another bumpy crappy bus ride from my connecting train in Amhedebad.  The eyes of the auto-rickshaw driver lit up like christmas lights at the sight of me through the bus window and i swear he jumped up and down, either for joy or my attention.  In my groggy state (i'd taken some anti-nausea pills to knock me out on the bumpy bus), i was a little slower than usual but eventually cottoned on to the predictable cheating.  This was a new one, after i told him where i wanted to stay the driver took me to the pre-paid stand (designed to avoid tourists being cheated) and proceeded to talk to the guy in Hindi who wrote up an 80rp ticket, but i noticed it had a different place written on it. so an argument later i had a new ticket for 50rp written up and my money back.  It's funny, a while back I would have written him off as a cheat and not given him another chance. But I've learnt drivers will pretty much 100% try to cheat you to some level, but it's not relentless and there is a limit, it's more a test of how aware you are of the situation.. if you're ignorant and willing to pay more than most people, why wouldnt they try to get it out of you?  After I'd chastised him for half the ride for lying to me, he was sufficiently remorseful.  He could've just dropped me in the general area i asked for and left me, but instead the conversation became friendly and he was now completely determined to find me a good hotel that had the reception open. ..to which I owe him great thanks.  He found a place (that involved yelling out the front until the owners woke up) which had 300rp room, a bright sunny rooftop restaurant, great views and free wifi. Score! I thanked him and gave a little tip that got him closer to the price he tried to cheat me out of anyway.

Udaipur was brilliant. The girls arrived a day later and we switched to a bigger room to share that was cheaper.  They were all a little sick the first few days. I had met an Israeli father and son duo Matan and Benjamin who invited me to come with them in a hired taxi to visit Kanaghar Fort and a Temple that was about 6hrs round trip - and paid for pretty much everything. So nice. The fort is the 2nd longest wall on the planet to the Great Wall of China. Not a very close 2nd tho.. Back in Udaipur there was a grand palace to see, a lot of relaxing and enjoying the peaceful city's rooftops and winding streets, visiting markets and minature art stores.  We also joined an evening yoga class on a rooftop over looking the sun setting over the lake.  Fanny's tour dropped into town one night and we got the chance to say hello again, we also agreed to meet again in Agra a bit over a week later and continue travelling together to Varanasi and beyond.

All up 6 relaxing days in Udaipur, a place I'd highly recommend to anyone going through ??Rajasthan??. The girls wanted to stay a day or two more and then travel West to Mt Abu (which they ended up skipping) and onto Jaisalmer for at least 3-4days to plan and complete a camel trek. All things I would have simply loved to do, but given my time frame, I decided to head East towards Agra, booking an overnight bus to Pushkar for the following evening.

Khanaghar Fort


Women Selling Vegetables at the Market

Pushkar

Pushkar seemed even more relaxed than Udaipur. It reminded me of Hampi a little in terms of the feel of the place, but not so much of the brilliant terrain.  I arrived early morning again and after negotiating a ride with a guy delivering newspapers  (with slight detours along the way..) discovered a nice hotel VERY cheap at 150rp for a good room with a hot shower and a rooftop hotel.  The operators were very obliging but i began to get frustrated with the strange concept of 'Indian Time' i've noticed during my trip.  In this hotel it was especially pronounced.  On the morning I was leaving I had a number of things to do, one was return the motorbike I'd hired before the taxi to take me to the station arrived.  But i had about 40 minutes before i needed to do that, so I order a bowl of muesli for breakfast and ask how long it would take. "about 5 - 10 minutes" excelent!  Then i notice a motorbike starting and the guy taking off down the street. 10 minutes later I ask the other attendant where he's gone and how long until he gets back - "to get yoghurt, back in about 5 - 10 minutes" ok..  another 10 minutes pass, so i ask the attendant i'm going to return the bike, and to ensure the muesli is ready by the time i get back, get on my motorbike, return it and walk the 15 minutes back to the hotel. There I find no muesli ready with the guy standing there seemingly annoyed, I ask if the muesli is ready "where did you go? ok i'll make  it, ready in 5 minutes"

In Pushkar I really just relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere. Read my book and took a few trips around on the motorbike.  I traveled about 10km out of town where a group of Shiva temples were said to be.  This ended up being a particularly special occassion where I spent the afternoon talking and drinking chai and smoking with an old Shiva Baba.  This guy was classic!  A lot of the children in the area seemed to be dropped off there for him to look after and he really did have the firm but fair grandfather attitude about him.  He was also raising a small monkey which was very entertaining to play with.  It was pretty special.. Seriously, look at the guy:

Shiva Baba

On the first evening I hiked 30 mins up a small hill at one end of town to watch the sunset, which was fantastic, then the next morning I got up before dawn and rode my bike to the much larger mountain at the other end of town and hiked an hour up to catch the sun rising over the surrounding mountains. Brilliant. And after 2 relaxing days I took the taxi to nearby Ajmer where my connecting bus to Vrindavan, Krishna's Birthplace, was departing.

More Pushkar Photos

Sunset from the Small Hill


Sunrise over the hils from the top of the Bigger Hill (Savitri temple)

and the same view a few minutes later...

Mumbai

The only real reason I initially had for heading to Mumbai/Bombay was to meet up with my friend Lilith and her friends Laurel and Elise so we could travel Rajhisthan together.   After having my credit card details stolen in an internet cafe back in Guwahati, I'd cancelled my card and arranged to have it sent to the hotel where the girls had booked in Mumbai.  In theory it would all work perfectly and I'd waste no time, but it's India and of course - nothing goes to plan...I arrived at 5.30am at the station with what felt like the beginnings of another stomach issue and realised I hadn't actually informed Lilith that's when i was arriving.  With no better alternative coming to mind, I took a cab to the hotel they were staying at, discovered which room they were in (which was disturbingly easy) and knocked on the door,  waking all three girls at 6am.  A shower and short nap later the girls informed me of a hostel that had cheap beds so we treked over and I booked in. 

The girls had booked a train to Jaipur - the pink city, departing on Saturday afternoon. It was Friday, my card was supposed to arrive Saturday, so i couldn't book that train just incase it didnt arrive on time. It didnt. No mail is delivered on Sundays either so it wasnt until Monday afternoon that I got news of it's arrival.

I didnt have much interest in Mumbai and being a little under the weather didnt have too much trouble spending my time at the hostel playing guitar and relaxing.  I checked out the Colaba area and visited the famous Leopolds Cafe from Shantaram (well from the outside.. ridiculously expensive), but late Sunday afternoon I decided to head to Chowpatty Beach and visit the ISKCON hare krsna temple there for a Sunday Feast (regular occurance worldwide). Unfortunately in India the Sunday feast is in the afternoon not in the evening so i missed it.. however they had an attached restaurant which i heartily dined at. meeting a devotee Deepak while eating.  Shortly after, I was extremely surprised to bump into Karuna Das.  A devotee I'd met one time in Vancouver! Neither of us had any idea the other was there so it was quite a shock.  Not ignoring the significance of sucn an event, I arranged to meet him the following (Mon) morning and spend the day together.  With Deepak's ceaseless assistance a car was arranged for a trip out to some ancient rock caves dating Before Christ, quite incredible.  Later in the day after I found out about the credit card, and speaking to the girls, I decided to skip Jaipur (i'd heard it was just another big city anyway) and get myself to the quieter Udaipur where Lilith et al were planning on heading in a couple of days.  Visiting the other RadhaKrsna temple in Mumbai in the evening with Karuna and Deepak, there was a travel agent there and after some stress arranged a Train/Bus combination to depart the following day.

In the end I grew to like Mumbai, but it was really just a city.  A very different feel to other big cities i've visited, Mumbai seemed a lot more organised and in control, but the warm weather and bayside scenery give it a very unique feel.

Ultimate Chilled Beach Paradise - Gokarna

After an austere, long, bumpy bus ride from Hampi to Gokarna, eased by the addition of dozey anti-nausea pills and a couple of relaxing um 'chat' sessions with fellow travellers, Fanny and I arrived in Gokarna. Saving viewing the actual town for another day, we jumped in an auto-rickshaw and headed for the famed Om Beach, a bay that's actually shaped like the 3 looking symbol that makes part of the sanskrit 'Om'. And along with the adjacent Kudle and Paradise beaches, are the main attraction to travelers looking for the shanti lifestyle, wanting to give up time for a while and completely relax.  Walking along the beach with all our gear, we'd been given a tip that you need not look for hotels or resorts, just to ask at any cafes as most places have at least a few rooms.  So the first cafe we came across 'Dolphin Bay Cafe', consisting of bambo and palm leaf huts with sand floors which became home for the next 5 nights @ 150rp ($4)

150rp Beach Huts

There isn't a whole lot Indian about Gokarna, well not the India you tend to go to India for anyway.. Besides the delicious cheap cusine on offer and the cows wandering the beaches, you could basically be on any cheap beach hangout. That said, it was paradise and yet another highlight of my trip.  Beers, smoke, beach, sand, warm waters, more beaches, repeat.  That's basically it.  Staying at the cafe was great, they ran a tab and cooked delicious foods all day. A favorite being the Fruit Parotha (like a calzone) with nutella and coconut.  We had met a Swedish couple, Tobies and Susanna, on the bus ride over from Hampi and got along quite well, arriving and leaving virtually the same timeframe we hung out quite a bit, exploring the other beaches and joining them for dinner, drinks, and the odd game of beach volleyball.

Cows like to hang outside our cafe

Lots and lots of guitar playing and singing, lots of lazy dinners and lunches and breakfasts, some walks to different beaches and into the town of Gokarna saw the days fly by.  I would definitely like to head back and do a month in Gokarna..  Absolute paradise at rock bottom prices..Before we knew it it was time to pack up, shake out a riduclous amount of sand and  take the passenger train to Margao in Goa, where I had a train heading to Mumbai, and Fanny had her 40hr epic ride to Delhi.  It was sad parting ways, but such is the transient nature of traveling.  There was always the chance of meeting again.

More Pics

Sunset from Kudle Beach

Relaxing into South India - Hampi

27-28th Dec
The bus left Mysore at 8pm.  It was 9 hours of the most horribly solid bus seat i'd sat on in a while.  Luckily i had a seat at the front which allowed me to stretch my legs out. There were too many people on the bus and people standing for a lot of the way too. Two other western travelers a couple from London were on board also, we shared eachothers pain.  On arrival in Hospet (the neighboring train station) we talked a bit waiting for the first bus at 6.30am and ended up finding accomodation together, discovering a very quaint small 3 room homestay in the heart of Hampi bazaar.  The rate @ 500rp was steep for the place, but it felt right and i was very tired so i accepted. The owners ended up being a beautiful family and I would definitely stay there again given the chance.

Walking out into the small town to look around, I immediately bumped into my two German and Austrian friends from Mysore - Marco and Manuel.  Asked them if they wanted to share the room and my costs instantly went down to 200rp.

Laura, the guys and myself decided to get some breakfast and check out some of the town with a slow amble towards the Lonely Planet acclaimed Mango Tree Restaurant, perched on the side of the river dividing Hampi and provided exceptional views of the surrounding landscape.  Hampi is really one of a kind.  A surreal rocky terrain that extends as far as the eye can see, with giant boulders precariously balanced about the place looking like someone has been throwing them around.  Scattered throughout this landscape are a multitude of ancient temple ruins to explore all within relatively short distances from the central Hampi Bazzar where we were staying.

On the walk out to Mango Tree I met Fanny, a girl from Sweden who had also just arrived in Hampi solo.  She had already eaten but we made intentions to meet again.   Mango Tree was fantastic with top notch views of the river and surrounds. Ending up being one of those great places you just go back to way too often, so much that you miss out trying many new things but still have no regrets.  Lunch at Mango Tree later that day, Fanny and I decided to tour the town on hired bicycles the following day.

29th Dec
For 30rp we hired a couple of bikes and started off for some temples.  Originally we were going to join a bike tour that started at 3pm but decided to go it alone. Probably should've started earlier as we didnt get to visit too many that afternoon but it didnt matter.  I'd resolved to chill out in Hampi until after the new year so there was no hurry for anything.  The temples were all dedicated to God's various forms and were really impressive, i've never seen such ancient creations and the detail that went into their design and the effort that must've been involved in carving such intricate work into stone was really mind blowing.

I had a train ticket to Goa leaving on the 2nd, but I didnt want to go to Goa.. I wanted to go to the more relaxed Gokarna, which i intended to take a bus or train down from Margao.  Talking to the helpful travel agent at the internet cafe, I decided to book a ticket on a sleeper bus directly to Gokarna leaving on the 1st, and cancel my ticket to Margao(Goa). saving a day and not having to uselessly detour via Goa.

30th Dec
Hampi has a town elephant - Laksmi, who gets bathed at 7.30am each morning down at the river ghats.  Fanny joined me and headed down there where a small crowd gathered in anticipation.  It really was a beautiful scene, the waddling elephant slowly made her way down and crashed on her side in a gloriously slow dramatic fashion into the river.  People joined in taking turns in the 90 minute massage/bathing session, while Laksmi laid back and enjoyed the attention.  We joined in the scrubbing. Elephant skin is cool.

Fanny had a paid tour starting in Delhi on the 11th Jan, and was meant to commence a hectic itinerary on the 30th to get there stopping in a bunch of places on the way, including Goa for new years. Upon hearing my plan to chill in a hut on a beach for a week in Gokarna, she had a change of heart and rearranged plans to stay in Hampi until the 1st and come with me to paradise, booking the train from Goa straight to Delhi on the 8th (the only catch being that 40hr direct train!), Conveniently, the bus I was taking to Gokarna still had spots.

31st Dec - New Years Eve
Hired a scooter with Fanny for the day to continue exploring Hampi's ruins. The bicycles previously hired were nice but this was way more fun, and less labour intensive.  So we cruised around and visited a whole lot more of the ruins including some of the more famous Vitali temple etc, then crossed over the river.  This was a real experience. the 'boat' to cross the river consisted of a big handwoven basket with tar smeared on the bottom.  Gently loading this basket with 2 motorbikes and about 7 people, it was slowly paddled to the other side.  Hampi Bazzar is a religious centre, as such there is no alcohol allowed.  This other side of the river is a bit more relaxed and on the occasion of new years eve it seemed appropriate to find somewhere to stay on this side for the night.  New years eve this year was a very subdued affair compared to normal, but thoroughly enjoyed.  Dinner at a chilled out cafe with a few beers, the meal took about 2 hours to serve, as the local police had decided to dine there and insisted on instant and full services or they'd shut the restaurant down for no reason.. So the entire staff dedicated themselves to the police while drinking and chatting with the people around us. After dinner, we followed our ears to a drum circle bonfire, and joined in the festivities, playing guitar and djembe's for a few hours in the light of the perfectly full (blue) moon and clear night.

Hampi is one of the most comfortable, slow, relaxing places i've ever visited.  You couldnt rush if you tried, something about the town, the scenery and the people combined give a vibe that is unbeleivably addictive and easy to fall in resonance with.  After one hour i found myself moving at a pace far slower than normal, and all anxiety (especially from the 9hr bus ride there) melting away.  You could easily watch days turn into weeks in such a place but alas the schedule calls and  moving on simply must happen.  Luckily the next destination Gokarna is so chilled out it makes Hampi look like a vibrant hive of activity.

On the 1st at 5pm, Fanny and I boarded the "Delux AC Sleeper Bus with Air Suspension so you feel no bumps" bound 9 hours to Gokarna which resulted in 14 hours on the road, an overturned truck spilling it's load of giant steel columns blocking the road and multiple slammings of my head against the roof as we bounced around the back of the bus like pingpong balls driving along the potholed pathetic excuse for roads they have throughout Karnataka.