Lonar Crater

My next stop bought a little extra excitement with it, and reminded me of travel in Eastern Africa. No one could really tell me how to get there. I knew I had to get a bus to a different bus station in the town I was starting off from, so that's what I did. After that no one knew whether there would be a direct bus or if I'd have to get more than one bus, or what sort of times any of these buses might be leaving.
Amazingly it was very simple. When I got to the next bus station, there was a bus leaving straight away and it was going all the way to Lonar.

In Lonar there is a crater formed be a meteorite that hit the earth there about 50,000 years ago. Now the crater is filled by a lake.

This was a place that I don't think many tourists visit. Everyone was very friendly, but all seemed quite surprised to see me. Even finding a hotel was a mission as none of the writing was evident in English. It turned out that not many of the people there spoke English either.

There were lots of hairy black pigs all around the town. In the absence of finding any restaurants or cafes I bought snacks wrapped in newspaper and tied up with cotton.

I had a very hot walk right around the top of the crater. The sun was so strong and there was almost completely no shade at all. I forgot to bring a hat so walked in style with my shirt on my head.

Ellora Rock Cave Temples

Getting to the Ellora caves was an event in itself. At the bus station no one really knew, or was able to tell me, when the bus should come. One bus arrived, which I was very pleased wasn't my one - about 100 people all tried to pile on to it through the one little door all at the same time. Not everyone could fit though, even if they did go on one at a time, and when the bus was pulling away people were still taking a run up and jumping at the now blocked doorway to try and force their way on. Eventually a couple of people were pushed off and the door was then closed. I'd met a friendly family who were also going to Ellora so I waited with them. Jodi - the mother - gave me a ring and said we were friends, which was very nice of her. When our bus came we had a similar situation as with the previous bus. Except this time everyone who wanted to get on the bus could fit. Amazingly we all managed to get seat and so were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. But as we began to reverse out of the bus station, someone shouted that we had a puncture. So after a time of confusion and not knowing whether we should get off the bus, or stay on, some people got off and some people decided not to. Jodi and her family stayed on, so I did too. Eventually we got off and onto another bus and then left straight away. But the people who'd got off the punctured bus immediately didn't get on the new one so I don't know what happened to them.

At Ellora, after walking up paths past immaculately kept gardens, which signs told you that you couldn't walk or play on or pick at any of the plants, you came to a huge Hindu Temple carved into a massive rock cliff. There were three different floors and so many different rooms and carvings. It's crazy to imagine the immense work that must have gone into building it. There was a temple inside the temple. Inside it was quite dark and as I was about to leave the security guard came up to me and offered to show me some special carvings with his torch. I confirmed that there would be no charge for this - normally everything here has a price - and then agreed. He the proceeded to show me all sorts of carvings to do with people having sex.One in particular he proudly showed me was of a man who was particularly well equipped but hadn't got a women. Because of this he'd put his manhood into a hole in a tree. It had then got stuck.

There were lots of people looking around the temples but I found myself in a place where no one else was. It was on the second floor and there was a lovely view over the gardens and back over parts of the temple. It also turned out to be a dead end. The problem was that when I noticed it was a dead end, I also noticed a monkey looking angrily at me. So, careful not to stare him in the eyes and make things worse, I slowly turned to go back the way I'd come. But there, almost right behind me were a group of three equally angry looking monkeys. As I've done (and failed at in the past) I tried my best to be brave and walk past them, but they weren't having it and looked very much like they would attack at any minute. I decided to go back and face the one monkey in the dead end. But I was being closed in on at either side and was trapped. I was also terrified. I didn't want to make a scene but I felt my only options were either to scream for help from the people below, but they probably wouldn't have any idea why I was screaming and even if they did they probably wouldn't have been able to get to me in time, or to risk death and jump off the roof. To my immense relief a group of people, unaware of my situation, walked near by and the group of three monkeys jumped away. I quickly made my exit pretending that no near death experience had just occurred, whilst literally shaking from the fear that I had just experienced. Like I say, never ever trust monkeys.

I think there were about 30 something temples all along/in the face of the rock. Although the biggest and perhaps the most impressive was the first Hindu one you came to, there were also Buddhist and Jain Temples. I found the Buddhist Temples to be extremely beautiful and the most peaceful. They often had such pretty lighting coming through the rock and shining on the carvings. I'm not sure though whether I preferred them or the Jain Temples. The Jain Temples were a very different style and made the Buddhist ones look almost simple (although in saying this I don't mean to take anything away from the Buddhist Temples) in comparison. They were also all linked through little passages in the rock, which made it fun to explore.

I found that to reach the Jain Temples there was a path that had been boarded off. This meant that if you obeyed the rules then you would have to walk an incredibly long way around, going back all the way you'd just come to get to them. Myself and another visitor decided that this would be foolish and so climbed around the gate and made our way down the little path next to a dried up lake. At the end of the path was another temple in the rock face. The doorway to the temple was the only way off the path, only a huge gate had been put up against the rock. This meant my climbing skills had to be put to good use and we climbed up, squeezing between the gate and the rock until we reached the top and could climb over and down the other side - success!

Fun in Mumbai

My entry into Mumbai was not the most pleasant. I was awoken from a lovely sleep on the overnight bus by the sudden feeling of nauseousness. I won't go into any more details but things could have been better. They also could have been a lot worse though! My plan was not to stop in Mumbai, but to catch a train onwards the same day. Due to the condition I found myself in, I decided to have an overnight stop before continuing with my journey. And I'm glad I did.

I was very fortunate in finding another friendly person sharing my dorm, with whom to have fun exploring part of the city. We happily sat on the Foreign Tourist Only bench whilst getting other foreign tourists who struggled to use a camera to take our picture. This was at the train station whilst we were working out how to get tickets for the journeys we wanted to make. As it turned out I never did get a ticket for my next journey. I was told I needed to come back a bit later but we accidentally spent too much time doing other things and so I didn't have time to get a ticket before my train left. Luckily no ticket inspectors came round though, so my journey was for free.

We came across an arts show with some brilliant displays made mostly from recycled goods. There was a chimney type thing made of clothes. You could go through a cloth curtain and inside there was just enough space for two people to stand. On the ceiling were lots of mirrors. We hid in there until the next people looked through the curtain and then we jumped out and shouted RRRRAAAARRRR. The response could not have been better. The poor victims were a group of school aged girls who were very startled indeed. After their initial shock though they joined us in finding the funny side of it.

Amongst other things there was a wishing tree with possibly thousands of written wishes pinned to it. There were the fish in the photo above. And there was a work desk hanging upside down with everything you would have on the desk glued onto it. Underneath was a mirror so you could see it all up the right way.

We managed to find the gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. They were surrounded by tourists and people wanting to take your photo for you, of course for a fee. They had examples of past photos, so we picked one and asked if we could have it with the girl who was in the photo. We found this quite funny but the guy taking the photos didn't understand at all. And we never did get the photo of that girl.

Near to our hotel were loads of street stalls selling food and drinks. When I was feeling recovered from my nauseousness I had the most delicious toasted sandwiches. They had so many ingredients - cheese (huge amounts of cheese both inside, and on top after it had been cooked), beetroot, peppers, boiled potatoes, cucumber, tomatoes, a type of green chutney, and butter. Before they were cooked they were perhaps 10cm tall. They were then put into a special metal holder and cooked in a fire - so good!

I'm not sure that I fully understand the meaning of all the pigeons in the second photo. We spotted then in the middle of huge busy roads in this sort of inclosure. There was no roof so they were free to come and go as they pleased. There was a little gate at the side where people with seeds came and fed them.

Amazing Hampi

Heading towards central India, my next stop was in a place called Hampi. Lots of people had told me it was definitely somewhere worth visiting, but I don't feel anyone emphasised just how sad it would be not to visit there. It is an absolutely amazing place, like no other I've ever seen anywhere in the world. There are huge orange boulders everywhere. Some form mountains, others have been used to build temples and what are now the ruins of other buildings, and others just lie around. There is a pretty river running through the town, and amidst the all the orange rock there are strikingly green banana plantations and rice paddy fields.
I had so much fun climbing over all the boulders and exploring the temples (and avoiding the fierce monkeys who happily tormented you if you went where they'd rather you didn't, well, this part actually wasn't so fun). There were such wonderful views from the tops of the bolder mountains. It was hard to believe there really was a place such as this on the earth!
To get to some of the boulder mountains, you had to cross the rice paddies. These were huge fields full of rice plants growing in water and mud. There were little ridges in between the plots that you could carefully balance on and walk across so as not to get soaked and filthy.

In an evening I celebrated finding such a lovely place with a new friend and some very pleasant smokeable produce of India. We lay on rocks next to the river that were still hot from the setting sun. The only sounds the flowing water and the birds. I can now tell you from personal experience that after such an event, walking across rice paddies in the dark can be a little challenging.

My little bit of Goa

It seems that most of the people who visit India choose to spend at least a little bit of time on the beaches in Goa. I decided though I would give them a miss. I feel very lucky in having already seen some beautiful beaches elsewhere, and for me a beach is always prettier when no one else is on it. I think lots of the beaches in Goa are full of tourists and deckchairs and bars. This could be fun, if you had friends, but as it's just me I thought I'd do something else.

Panaji (also known as Panjim) sounded like a lovely city. The Portugese were there, which the pretty buildings alone will tell you, and I read that there were lots of cats and bicycles. It broke up my journey North and so I paid it a visit.

I had a very relaxing few days there, after ariving feeling rather exhausted from a 19 hour train ride. I wandered around the city, where I did indeed find cats and bicycles and pretty buildings. The second photo is taken on the road outside where I stayed. Lots of the buildings are falling appart but there was the added danger of the drain pipe which just hangs down. I would not be surprised if it's involved in some sort of decapitation - either by a person walking into it, or by it falling on someone's head. I would have just pulled it down, but if the whole house came with it then there would have been a big problem so I just walked around it every time I passed.As you can see there was a beach, but it wasn't the sort that you'd want to lie on or swim from. There was a big park right next to it though, which I found nice to sit and read in. Apart from when hassled by people after money or a wife that is! I found a pool I could use in a posh hotel. The third picture is of the view from the pool, which wasn't bad at all.
There was also this beautiful big white church in the city centre.

I spent some of my time at the cinema. I found it a lovely place to get away from people and the heat. In fact it was actually more cold in there than I would have liked. Cold enough to need a jumper. I learnt that at the start of each movie in India, everyone stands up whilst the National Anthem is played. Perhaps innapropriately I found this quite amuzing, wondering whether as a non Indian, I should be standing or sitting. I chose to stand.

Ferstivals in Varkala

Varkala was a touristic but fun place to be. I was able to meet up with a friend who I'd met in Uganda there. When everything is always so unfamiliar, it's extra nice to see a familiar face. Especially one that comes with a friendly person. And better more if that friendly person is keen to help in trying as many different types of food as possible - there is so much to choose from here!

It turned out that the end of January in Varkala is festival time.

We saw huge elephants, quite possibly including the worlds two biggest elephants, being paraded along the roads and also taken to the beach, all dressed up in colourful head gear and busily munching on palm tree branches.

There were no end of dancers, people dressed up as gods and any number of other colourful things, and also people playing drums and horns and symbols, singing and shouting.

The beach was lined by a huge cliff, where from the top you could get lovely views over the soaring buzzards down onto the beach. In the day time the beach was full of tourists and had guards who would chase Indian men away. This favoring of tourists probably would not be something that would go down too well at home, but it was quite nice here as a tourist. Even with lots of layers of clothes on, the stares from men here can be particularly unpleasant, and so if in that situation the men aren't there to stare, then I can't complain.

Photos taken in Kerala

A moth in my bedroom who's wingspan was longer than my passport!

Lots of different types of bananas for sale along with other fruit and vegetables.

The scary scarecrow type things that seem to be on most building sites here and in Sri Lanka.

Best to shop in Jew Town!

Chinese fishing nets which the men hauled out of the water every few minutes. The nets are huge and yet each time they pull them up there are only a few small fish in them.