Delhi + Varanasi

Delhi was less bad then I expected. I have to admit though that I didn't see too much in the 2 and a half days I stayed there. I explored Parah Ganj, the part where most of tourists stay, and went to Lal Qila, the red fort of Delhi, which wasn't really fascinating. I got a train ticket to Varanasi and left on Monday afternoon. After all Delhi seems like a nice place for shopping and experiencing India. Being much cleaner then Jaipur and Chennai you are able to get a taste of a huge city with many millions of inhabitants quite nicely here.

Parah Ganj street scene


Beggar I encountered in the deserted back alleys


Parah Ganj Main Bazaar


View from my hotel rooftop




Just yesterday all Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists were glad to celebrate the Diwali festival, to remember when Lord Ram returned after 14 years of meditating in the forest. It is best compared to Christian Christmas, since presents are bought, etc. But it's also called 'The Festival of Lights' so everywhere are candles being lit. Another event connected with it, is the birth of goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune. There are traditional sweets and decoration sold everywhere, as well as terrifying fireworks assembled in some shady backyard which deafen many people every year. Most of them just are two pieces of clay with loads of black powder inside. In the narrow alley-ways of Varanasi these bastards really induce a nice big fat tinnitus. So everywhere in town were people buying sweets, decoration and fireworks. Here are some pics I took on the way to the red fort.

Family in front of a stand with cheesy statues



Flowers




I boarded the train and headed off for Varanasi (13 hrs). Until it got dark I was standing at the (always open) door of my coach and taking some pictures of the city passing by, when we stopped at a small station in the Delhi outskirts. After the train set off to leave I saw a man with a suitcase running along trying to get in. He decided to go for our door. An Indian guy and myself were ready to catch the suitcase but when he threw it he messed up, stumbled and fell over it. We couldn't see it, but assuming the looks and shouts of the people on the platform I thought: 'Fuck, he fell between the train and the platform and will be dead and the train will stop and police will interrogate me and the Indian guy.' But luckily nothing happened even though he got his leg between the platform and the train. Some people helped him stand up and he even made it in the train.

Some pictures from the ride









I my compartment, there was a couple from Belgium and they arrived just some days ago and he proposed to her at the Taj Mahal. Anyway it was their first long train ride in India. Since the train arrived at 5:50 in the morning at they wanted to set an alarm I asked them to wake me up. In the early morning, they did as I told them. While packing my things I looked out of the window and noticed that the train had already stopped already. I ask them if this is Varanasi, which they told me it was. My brain clicked instantly and I left half of my stuff (water, food, etc.) in the train, grabbed my backpack and ran for the exit. When I reached it at the other end of the coach the train was already leaving the station with about 20km/h. I couldn't blame the Belgians since they couldn't know that the train only stops for aboiut 2 minutes at every station. So I jumped out of the train which immediately induced a police guard on the platform to scream at me that one is not allowed to leave a driving train. The Belgians didn't make it, I don't know where they have gone. All this in the early morning after a night of bad sleep set me in a weary mood. I got a rickshaw to the first hotel the wallah wanted to drop me off and went to sleep for another couple of hours.

So I was in Varanasi. My earplugs helped me a lot with sleeping since the fireworks go on for days.
The next day I wandered through the small streets and along the ghats of the Ganga, watched a funeral pyre burn at the (smaller of the two burning ghats) called 'Harishchandra ghat', where everyday about 15-20 corpses are burnt. It's an open, public space, next to the pavement where everybody walks. The ceremony is difficult and takes long. Within 3 hours after the death the corpse has to be brought to the site. A pyre has to be built, using at least 300kg of holy wood. One member of the family has to get completely shaved and perform many rituals, cleanings with sandalwood and other expensive oils and herbs to fight the smell of burning flesh. And some of the disgustingly dirty water of the Ganga, where the remains of the body after at least 3 hrs of burning are put. At the other (bigger) ghat up to 50 people are burnt daily and their ashes and bones put in the river.
Since Varanasi is one of the holiest places for Hindus and being burnt there and sunk in the Ganga is very good karma, many old people come here to die.
Sometimes you feel a little strange, seeing all the people wash and pray and swim in the murky green water, ashes of the dead flowing everywhere.
Today I took a dawn boat ride and a tour to the important temples of the city afterwards. The new Vishwanath Temple, the Durga temple aka 'Monkey Temple', the Brhamin temple and another small one. (Photography prohibited in every case) There are countless temples and shrines everywhere.

Afterwards I was taken to a small factory producing precious silk saris, and a shop, which Varanasi is famous for.

Shiva shrine, where the holy fire for burning the pyres is supposed to burn since 45 centuries...


burning pyre


street scenes




boat trip






silk weaving


Varanasi is a place where you can actually feel the devotion of the people and their belief roaming through the streets, being held in every small shrine. Along with all the old people waiting for death everywhere it is indeed a fascinating experience.
Btw: Goan police wanted no papers and nothing except 100Rps. for letting me pass.

Goa

I just booked my ticket to Delhi. With IndiGo Airlines. Tomorrow from Vasco Da Gamma, which is 100kms and one border away.

After a couple of days in Benaulim Benjamin and myself decided to leave for Palolem. I dropped him off at the local bus station, got my backpack and drove off. I used the duct tape to pin the 'map' of Goa from the Lonely Planet on my tank and a cut off water bottle as a cup holder to the side of the bike.

Fishermen I found after taking the wrong way...


My Pulsar near a deserted cliff where I had a lunch break.


In Palolem is a small town with loads of (Israeli) tourists and many bamboo huts just being built up for the main season in December. I got a nice but expensive room 50ms away from the beach and met Benni again. The place really is crowded and soon I decided the go back to Agonda, a huge but empty beach I saw on the way to Palolem.

Sorry my lens is crap for landscapes. Just imagine the sky was blue.
Palolem beach.






Here a map where I noted all the beaches I've been to.



So I went to Agonda, to a small place which was still being built up but the restaurant was open already. There I met Bob from Mumbai, a blues musician who was in charge of the stage there. He hired a Jazz guitarist from Oxford, England for the season and so the had frequent jam sessions and live music. And whenever a tourist came by who could play or sing or recite poems or whatever they were invited to do so on stage. So there was Gann from the U.S. (klick) and many others coming by and playing. The beach was huge and quite empty. After all my favorite place in Goa.

Agonda:









Goan Lifestyle



Then I got a mail from Nikki, see my post from Bundi for reference, that she and her sister are staying in Arambol. So I got on my bike and drove up.
Not much there. Kinda dirty... but they had a bar showing movies every night. Loads of freaky people and rasta hippies around.
The day I wanted to leave to Om beach (Gokarna) there was a lot of rioting going on in Goa. Since there is a lot of Christians Indians there and they built their little cross shrines everywhere. The Hindu fundamentalists tear them down and the police is like: "Whatever..." So the Christians get mad, throw stones, block roads, injure people and stuff like that. When I told the hotel guy: "I'm leaving in 15mins, please get my bill ready." He replied: "No, you can't go. The street is closed." Of course I did not believe him, took my bike and went to have a look. And indeed the road was blocked by huge stones and 200 Indians shouting and discussing. Now way through. So I had to wait 5 hrs til the road was open again and left. Goa was completely empty. No one was on the streets except the police and every, really every, single shop was closed. I couldn't get a bottle of water anywhere. I ran out of fuel 10mtrs away from a fuel station. Which was closed. So I had to push my bike 1km up a hill. At noon. With my backpack on. And no bottle of water. Until I found a place where I got something.
I spent another night with Bob and went down to Gokarna the next morning. At the border to Karnataka I was stopped by the border police. I did not have a helmet. I did not have a driving license and my bike was only permitted for Goa. I had to pay a 'fine' of 500Rps and could go on. I wonder if I have to pay the same amount to the Goan police when I reenter this afternoon.
Gokarna is a small town with several nice beaches near it.

My bike in Gokarna



Kudli beach, can only be reached by walk. (This time it really was clouded)



Street scene, Gokarna



Old women selling flowers in front of a temple




Goa is a nice place to stay if you want to relax on the beaches. And I think even if the flight is more expensive than Turkey, Spain or France, living here is so cheap that it should be considered a good alternative. Additionally there is not much taxes on all the things. Especially on booze, etc. so a bottle of this delicious 'Old Monk' comes to 140Rps and a beer to 30Rps. For a grilled kingfish with chips and salad you have to pay 150Rps and 12 huge Tiger Prawns grilled in garlic and butter with chips and salad come for 300Rps. Whereas you can get rooms with fan and attached bathroom between 250-600Rps a night.





You should come at least once ;-)

Cosmopolitan

Bundi provided me with a very nice atmosphere but you have to leave at some point, eh?
So I booked a bus ticket to Ahmedabad where I would have to go to get the 2nd bus to Mumbai.
Of course I messed up the time of departure and luckily the whole bus waited about 40mins for me.
Anyway the bus got me where I wanted to go. I visited the ATM and got a bus ticket to Mumbai for the evening. So I had half a day to spend in Ahmedabad.

Not much to do there. I walked through the huge market in the streets, bought some books, sunglasses (since mine, the ones Renaud wore in the photo below, are still in Bundi) and a Sunday Times. Nice day. I waited for my bus to come, which was delayed for two hours so I sat in the street with some guys of some cooking joint, cutting massive amounts of onion and pepperoni.

Street chefs




Street scene



The bus took me to Mumbai, acutally it took 6hrs to reach the border of Mumbai and another 4hrs to get to the center. Horrific. A huge maze of many millions of people, 55% living in slums. A sickening odour and huge piles of self-incinerating rubbish everywhere. I spent the night in "The Salvation Army Red Shield Hostel" in a 14 people dormitory for a 150Rps a night. By far the cheapest place in all Mumbai but still very bad value, since you can get a double room with private bathroom for 150-200 normally. Anyway, there are a lot of travellers around and I met up with Nina (Duesseldorf), Michaela (Ulm), Benni(Hamburg).

Shore in Mumbai


Street, Mumbai outskirts


Street, Mumbai center


We were asked (as every white person in Mumbai) to participate in a shooting for some Bollywood movie. Normally they need white people dancing in the background of some night club scene/music video etc. But they had different plans for us. We were driven out to a peninsula some 30kms from the center. The movie was settled in 1912 and was about the first Indian guy doing a motion picture ever. We got some costumes and had to stroll in background of the beach while the main characters were talking. We got loads of Chai and food and 500Rps each, all expenses paid.

Me and Benni in costumes with chai


Nina, the guy who playd the snack vendor on the beach, and us


Film set on the beach




On the way back we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe Mumbai, but since we got out at the wrong station we found ourselves in the middle of the Durga festival (lasting 9 days).

Durga


We in the Durga temple




We came to talk to an Indian guy and invited him to come to the Hard Rock
Cafe with us. Since no rickshaw wanted to take us there Michaela just stopped an Indian guy in a big car and asked him to drive us there...
it worked.
Only rich, Western style, Indians in there. Food was great, the band playing was nice, the Caipirinha was crap, the B-52 not available but the Cosmopolitan was quite good. After the band finished the DJ, not having Muse and the Subways with him, played a pretty fucked up mix of Linkin Park, Rammstein, Rage, and classic '70s, '80s and '90s rock. Nice party and Mumbai really proved to be the most cosmopolitan place in India so far.

Driver, us, Indian guy



Back in the hotel at 3 in the morning we decided no to go to sleep til our train leaves at 6:55 to Goa. Michaela wanted to stay longer and Nina who wanted to come to Goa one day after us went home with an Indian guy. While smoking in the dorm we accidentally (and luckily) woke up some of the other guys just to find out, that Jules from Udaipur was there waiting to catch his flight to Switzerland in the early morning. Small world.

After a 12hrs train ride down here we are in paradise. I just rented a 150ccm Bajaj Pulsar for two weeks and will spend the time swimming and eating prawns and the most fresh and delicious fish for barely anything. Water temperature is about 26C and accomadation, as well as food, beer and everything is cheap as hell. Not to make you jealous, but the pic below is just accidentially taken from my breakfast table this morning, nicer pics of the really beautiful spots are to follow.

A slight change of plans occured, involving me not going to Diu and staying a couple of days longer in Udaipurs Lake Shore Guest House.

After seeing Octopussy for the third time and having failed to leave two times already I was prepared to fight hard. Very hard.

Many people came and many people left. In the end I spent 14 days there before finally leaving with the Bus to Bundi. Or that's at least what I thought would happen.

Udaipur (like all the other places in India) is plagued by frequent power shortages. But it is only there I've seen electricians working...



Hotel staff in Jaisalmer (actually that's Lucky, the boss...)


Anyway, back to my last days in Udaipur.


After a few not so calm hours in the bus it finally wrecked at 3 in the morning. Some hours of hammer-smashing under the bus later we finally continued our journey. Due to not having had sleep in the night It was not until the early morning that I fell asleep. Upon arrival I noticed, that I was not in Bundi. Further I noticed that no one speaks English where I was. After a while I found out that I'm in Kota, a 700.000 people Moloch some 40km further and actually the final stop. The rickshaw wallah took me to an expensive hotel where the staff spoke english in the end. I booked a taxi to Bundi and had breakfast for 200Rp which was not bad since it included black tea and a newspaper. Anyway I had to pay 1500Rp for the taxi while the 13h bus ride from Udaipur to Bundi/Kota was 350Rp. Finally at noon I found myself at the doors of RN Haveli, a tiny little guest house run by a widow and her two daughters. It's Brhamin (no eggs, meat, booze) so I spend a lot of time at the Elephant Stable Haveli (which is indeed located inside the former elephant stable of the maharaja) for Kingfisher (beer), Omlette (including Cashwenuts, Pistachios, etc.) and other delights.

Bundi is a nice (blue) little (80.000) town with a palace and lots of waterfalls and temples around it.





I was hanging around with an older guy from England, a girl from the US and her two Indian friends, a couple from France and thei baby, two sisters from Australia/England, a guy from Strasbourg, a couple from Quebec-City. Additionally Mamaji and the daughters of the RN Haveli and Raj and JP from the Elephant Stable Haveli. Most of them only stayed for 1-2 days, so it's always changing. Just a few minutes ago, I met Fred, whom I knew from my final days in Udaipur and some girls who were travelling in the same direction. Gotta go for dinner with them later.

Me at the Bhimalt waterfall, taken with my cam and Renauds (Quebec City, Photojournaliste) 17-40mm F4.0.



Since I'm so awfully fond of the portraits I get with the 1.4 I'm gonna post some of them until I go for dinner. (Cooking at mamaji's is great!)

Almost all the people are really fond of taking pics (even in everyday situations) and want to see them on the display, especially the children.













JP and Renaud


Nikki from England/Australia