Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Back to Mumbai (and back to blogging)
We've been busy, being a little sick (with mild colds and the runs) and squeezing in the required sights in some undesirable stops by arriving on a morning train and leaving the same night... Leaving no time free for journaling.
Varanasi was awesome, mostly because we took the advice of the guy at tourist information desk at the train station and signed ourselves up for a guided tour, sticking pretty close to our rather nice hotel otherwise. Aside from a close call with a rather scary looking monkey only inches from my face, we made it out of Varanasi unharmed and took the train to Agra.
Having completely mastered India's complicated train schedule and reservation system (I'm thinking of opening my own travel shop for foreign travelers), it hadn't occurred to either of us that perhaps we should verify if the Taj Mahal was in fact open. Lo and behold, we train it in to town with plans to see the Taj and high tail it out to Jalgaon six hours later only to find it closed. Yes, closed. The Taj Mahal closes. We did the best we could, walking around the outside, getting some good pictures but it wasn't quite the tour we were hoping for. It did give us some time to see another mosque/mausoleum known as The Baby Taj which was pretty nice.
The Ajanta Caves at Jalgaon were impressive, as was the forty five minute public bus ride with little indication of where to get off or if it was even going in the right direction. I enjoyed the Ellora Caves at Aurangabad (the next day) far more, having finally got my bowels under control. Also, instead of getting involved in another public transport ordeal we hired an autorickshaw to take us out there and wait while we toured, a brilliant idea and it turned out to be a rather nice ride.
There a parts of India that are jaw-droppingly beautiful, this part (the middle south?), has me gazing out the window in wonder most of the time. Tonight we board the train to Goa to spend five much needed, much longed for days on one of the worlds most pristine unspoiled beaches. The plan is to find ourselves a beach hut (seriously) and swim and read all the illegally reproduced novels we intend to buy on the streets of Mumbai today. I'm hoping some deliberate tanning will even out the sun induced freckle mustache I've been sporting for the last couple of weeks. Everyone in India has a mustache, but I've had mine long enough.
One more thing...
Happy Birthday Lee!
Varanasi was awesome, mostly because we took the advice of the guy at tourist information desk at the train station and signed ourselves up for a guided tour, sticking pretty close to our rather nice hotel otherwise. Aside from a close call with a rather scary looking monkey only inches from my face, we made it out of Varanasi unharmed and took the train to Agra.
Having completely mastered India's complicated train schedule and reservation system (I'm thinking of opening my own travel shop for foreign travelers), it hadn't occurred to either of us that perhaps we should verify if the Taj Mahal was in fact open. Lo and behold, we train it in to town with plans to see the Taj and high tail it out to Jalgaon six hours later only to find it closed. Yes, closed. The Taj Mahal closes. We did the best we could, walking around the outside, getting some good pictures but it wasn't quite the tour we were hoping for. It did give us some time to see another mosque/mausoleum known as The Baby Taj which was pretty nice.
The Ajanta Caves at Jalgaon were impressive, as was the forty five minute public bus ride with little indication of where to get off or if it was even going in the right direction. I enjoyed the Ellora Caves at Aurangabad (the next day) far more, having finally got my bowels under control. Also, instead of getting involved in another public transport ordeal we hired an autorickshaw to take us out there and wait while we toured, a brilliant idea and it turned out to be a rather nice ride.
There a parts of India that are jaw-droppingly beautiful, this part (the middle south?), has me gazing out the window in wonder most of the time. Tonight we board the train to Goa to spend five much needed, much longed for days on one of the worlds most pristine unspoiled beaches. The plan is to find ourselves a beach hut (seriously) and swim and read all the illegally reproduced novels we intend to buy on the streets of Mumbai today. I'm hoping some deliberate tanning will even out the sun induced freckle mustache I've been sporting for the last couple of weeks. Everyone in India has a mustache, but I've had mine long enough.
One more thing...
Happy Birthday Lee!
