Travel Wallahs: February 2010

Besides the unrivaled views you get from traveling India on a motorbike, there is the added excitement of the unpainted speed bumps on the national and state highways. While many of the roads in the mountains are too curvy for speeds above 30kms/hr, further south, where the weather and landscapes are not as harsh, the roads are smoother and straighter and can comfortably accommodate speeds around 60-75kms/hr. While this may get you to your destination faster, the many unpainted speed bumps can give your already pulverised bottom a hard whack and leave you with (not altogether mild) sensations of whiplash. After cruising on our delightfully smooth trip from its beginning in mid-June to early in December, we were to discover that, in this region, these unpainted speed bumps are a feature of more than just the road networks... Having spent 6 wonderful weeks in Bangladesh (a definite trip highlight) we were hit with our first large and momentum-slowing speed bump when we were inexplicably turned away by the Indian Embassy in Dhaka when applying for our visa renewal. We decided to head for Kathmandu to try our luck there. The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu is well organised and processes scores of foreign visas daily. We submitted our application for a 6 month visa and decided to check out the city and Kathmandu valley while holding thumbs furiously.

One of the many temples in Kathmandu

Kathmandu is filled with fascinating temples and ruins. Just walking the city streets, you constantly stumble over ancient temples at every turn. The Durbar square, in the centre of the city, which has been the site for royal palaces, housing several different dynasties, is thought to date back to the 10th century. It has now been declared a world heritage site. But interesting or not, we decided we needed some fresh air and off to the valley we went.

Another old temple

We explored the villages of Nargakot, Dhulikhel and Namabuddha in the Kathmandu Valley. These villages, connected by beautiful, indigenous forests are largely inhabited by small farmers - a lovely rejuvenating way to spend a few days. Dave was most interested in the small tractors used here that would suit small South African farmers. They cost the equivalent of about R5000 and would be fantastic for the small farmers in South Africa who have only large tractors costing hundreds of thousands of Rands to choose from. This access to equipment and skills reminded us, once again, of the significantly more fortunate position the Asian farmers are in relative to our own small farmers back home (these mini-tractors are also strong water pumps, can mill maize/wheat and can be used as electricity generators).

Hiking from Nagakot to Dhulikel

The terraced farmlands around the Kathmandu Valley

The mini-tractor Dave would love to import into South Africa

In between exploring the beautiful forests of the Kathmandu Valley we sought out hotels with spectacular mountain views where sunrise over the Himalayas comes with your morning tea in bed.

The Himalayas from our bedroom window in Nargakot

Although it is largely a Hindu country, Nepal is dotted with many modern and well built Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. With many financial supporters worldwide, the monasteries are large and well maintained. In Namabuddha we stayed in a monastery where the rooms are comfortable (single beds only) and the vegetarian food bland with a few western spiritual tourists padding solemnly and quietly around the beautifully sculptured gardens.

The Tibetan Buddhist monastery complex in Namabuddha

Then it was back to Kathmandu to find out about our visas and negotiate our next (albeit smaller) unexpected speed bump. We'd been issued with new visas for India but only for 3 months. Because a 3 month visa would only take us to mid-March, we decided to book tickets to fly to Sri Lanka for what would be the remaining 2.5 months of our traveling year. Whew! That one didn’t leave too much whiplash but we needed to get going. The 3 month reduction in our time in India meant we had to start cutting out large areas that we’d plan to visit. Just as we were reconciling ourselves to the change in plans there was one more speed bump in the road: a nationwide strike or ‘bandha’ had been declared by the Nepalese Maoist party which completely shut down the entire country…and REALLY shut it down. No motorized transport of any kind – public or private, no schools, government offices, companies, shops or restaurants were to operate for 3 days. So we were stuck in Kathmandu for another 3 days twiddling our thumbs, searching for food with other starving tourists and hanging out in the streets with the kids playing cricket. It became a treasure hunt with other tourists to see who could find any hidden restaurants or street vendors that might be open and serving food… “Around the corner, down the little alleyway, find the freshly painted red fence and knock twice…”

Filling up when you can!

"Score! I found the dessert!"

Although the strike slowed us down when we'd already lost a significant amount of time, we symphathised with the position of the Maoist party. After a tumultuous period in the country's political history, they were trying to assert themselves in a government where the respect for democratic processes was still rather less than optimal.

No rubbish collection during the strike

After the 3 day strike we made our plans to head back to India after seeing a little bit of the Pokhara valley in the west and experiencing some good views of Everest. Only because climbing Everest would take just a little longer than our Nepali visa would allow, we decided to see Sagarmatha (the Nepali name for Everest which means Goddess of the Sky) in a quicker (and slightly more relaxing) way on a 60 minute mountain flight tour. We were lucky with the weather and the views in flight were clear and spectacular. Everyone is allowed a visit to the flight deck – I won’t even try to describe the views from there, my writing abilities just don’t stretch that far. Sagarmatha was beautiful and graceful in her trademark white silk scarf – a plume of cloud that forms at the apex of the peak when winds reach over 80kms an hour and form icicles in the cold air.

Sagamartha, her silk scarf billowing in the wind

Next we took a bus ride west to see Pokhara, the second biggest city in Nepal, this would be our last stop in Nepal. Pokhara is a laidback town, surrounding a pretty lake. We even managed to find some roast chicken and pudding for Xmas dinner while watching a live performance of traditional Nepali dance and music.

The lake in Pokhara

After Pokhara, that was it for Nepal and we headed straight back to India. We arrived back in Darjeeling the following day. It was lovely to see our friends again from the Hotel Tranquility, who had so kindly been taking care of our bike while we were away. Because we'd been moving from place to place for so many months, it was wonderful to return to a familiar place where we were warmly welcomed by so many friends, knew the best breakfast spot (Sonam's Kitchen) and the cafes with the fastest internet. But it was freezing... FREEZING! We'd long discarded the warm clothes we'd had in the North and with all the speed bumps we were now in Darjeeling a lot later than we'd originally intended. Only gnawing hunger drove us out to find dinner before rushing back to the hotel and our 5 blankets. It just got unbearable and while we would have liked to spend new year's eve with our friends there, we decided to just get to the South quickly! The snow was thickening on the hills when we left and with chattering teeth we gratefully bordered the train to Kolkata (Calcutta) and welcomed in the new year in our warm sleeper carriage.

Our favourite spot for delicious street food in Kolkata

Kolkata was another familiar city to us and we spent the 2 days we had to wait for the train to Chennai revisiting our favourite street food spots and meeting up with our friend Mishrah, who you'd remember from our very first blog.

Hanging out with Mishrah

The Botanical Gardens in Kolkata are well maintained and filled with families over the weekends. Its most fascinating feature is the massive banyan tree in the centre of the gardens which, with a circumference of 420 metres, is the world largest. We learnt that banyan trees have branches that grow into the ground like tree trunks so that what looks like a forest of trees is really just one tree with hundreds of branches. It is an awesome sight and the pictures, that can show only small sections, do it little justice.

This 'forest of tree trunks' are all branches of the same banyan tree!

A small part of the massive tree from a distance - yes, it's all one tree!

After 2 days we boarded the train to Chennai in Tamil Nadu that would take us to the heart of South India where the landscape, food and culture seems as different from the North as if we'd gone to another country altogether. Because there was some political upheaval in the state between Kolkata and Chennai, our bike, which we'd loaded into cargo, wasn't due to arrive for another few days. We decided not to let this slow us down again and left the busy and fairly uninteresting city of Chennai for the coastal town of Mamalapuram, just 60 kms south. Although it is mainly a tourist resort town today, Mamlapuram was a major port a thousand years ago with a stone carving tradition that has survived since the 5th century. The old stone carved ruins are as fascinating as the contemporary idols still hand carved carved today for the many temples around the area.

Stone carvings in Mamalapuram

While the ruins and temples in Mamalapuram were interesting, the beach was pretty uninspiring so, as soon as our bike arrived, we left to pick it up in Chennai and start our exploration of the south in earnest. Our first stop was the old French colonial town of Puducherry (Pondicherry) where it is common to hear French spoken around you while enjoying your breakfast of fresh croissants in quaint old heritage buildings. It is a well maintained and clean town but after filling up with croissants and visiting the museums, it has little else to delay a traveler except for a trip, 10kms south, to the now fairly well known town of Auroville. Although Aurovillians are said to dislike this fact: the town, that was founded in 1968 by the "Mother", has become a de rigueur stop on the South India travel circuit.

The Matri Mandir temple at Auroville - a place for 'concetration' only open to Aurovillians

A new way of living along eco-friendly principles, forsaking the world of politics and the money economy was envisioned by the "Mother" a French national who is considered the spiritual successor of Sri Aurobindo Ghose, a leading spiritual figure in his lifetime (1872-1950). It is now inhabited by over 2000 people, of which about a third are Indian and the rest mostly European. The aim is to grow the township to around 50 000 like minded inhabitants. We were most interested in finding out about the technologies they employ that convert solar energy into steam that powers the cooking stoves. When we visited the township we were also fascinated at the claim that no money was used in financial transactions, no talking was allowed at meals and politics is specifically forbidden as a topic of discussion. We tried to find a guesthouse to stay for a few days and explore this new age experiment in living but the some 200 guesthouses were fully booked and would be for months. Living and volunteering on Auroville's many farms and various community centres has become very popular indeed.

In retrospect, we were probably quite likely to make some faux pas breaking a sacred rule like talking at dinner or bringing up a forbidden political topic for discussion! So we happily headed south west to check out some of Tamil Nadu's many temples. The first of which was the awesome temple complex in Trinivanumalai, that is said to have been built over a period of a thousand years. The temples are busy with long queues of devotees making pujas (offerings) to their gods and getting blessings from elephants, considered to be the incarnation of the elephant-headed god, Ganesh. This is a rather entertaining process where the elephant takes the money out of your hand and taps you on the head for your blessing.

The temple complex in Trinivanumalai

Lord Ganesh in his temple

With blessings duly received we hit the road towards the Western Ghats enjoying the typical Indian rice meals served in the local restaurants. A mound of rice is served on a banana leaf plate with a range of mouthwateringly delicious curries of lentils, coconut milk, chickpeas, beans, carrots, potatoes and pickle that has to be eaten with your hands - you are rarely offered cutlery of any kind. The rice and curry sauces keep coming until you submit with a swollen belly - all for a total sum of about R6 (for an extra R2 you can get a piece of fresh fish cooked in a masala batter).

Our first stop on the Western Ghats was Udhagamandalam, a hill station town with a Dravidian tongue twisting name, that the locals have mercifully shortened to "Ooty". The Western Ghats are a mountain range that form the border between Tamil Nadu and Kerala and are thought to be the fault line along which the Indian subcontinent broke away from Africa millions of years ago when it began to drift towards Asia.

A typical South Indian 'rice meal' served on a banana leaf plate (curry still to be poured over the rice)

Being an elevated hill station town, Ooty was cool and refreshing after the sweaty bike rides on the plains around Tamil Nadu. Our next stop was to the very badly run, albeit beautiful nature reserve, the Indira Ghandi Anamalai Wildlife Sanctuary. There we met other tourists frustrated by the government run resort where the employees are rather annoyed by any guests arriving and making them open the guest rooms or actually cook any food in the restaurant. So we cut that visit down to just one night and headed to our last stop in the Western Ghats, Kodanaikal.

A view of the Ooty hill station town

View from the bike of the Kodanaikal valley

Before leaving Tamil Nadu for good, we decided to fit in one more temple site at Madurai. Although similar in architecture to the temple at Trinivanumalai, the temple in Madurai differed spectacularly in the colour added to the figures on the buildings. Madurai's splendid temples and architecture was admired as far back as 300BCE by visiting Europeans and they still come to admire it today, in their droves.

The colourful temple at Madurai

From Madurai we crossed the state border to Kerala. Our first stop was Kumily where we enjoyed novel elephant rides and very educational tours of the spice, tea and fruit plantations around the area. Indian elephants are tame and gentle with a look in their big eyes more like that of a Saint Bernhard pet than anything like their wild African cousins. We saw: a tea factory in action, what coffee beans look like when they're ready for picking, that turmeric spice is ground from the stem of the plant and that almond oil is good for reducing black marks under the eyes.

Riding a big friendly giant

Catching falling oranges on a small fruit and spice plantation in Kumily

Picking coffee beans

A traditional bamboo hut in the forest at Kumily

After all that education, we were ready to cool off at the beach. We headed straight for the Keralan coast to Varkala where the beaches have (clean) black sand and coconut-laden palm trees line the red cliffs that plunge into a warm and gentle sea. Nothing to do but watch the fisherman haul in fresh fish for your dinner while resting in between hours of body-surfing fun.

Paradise

What more can I say...

After bodysurfing for 3 hours: "well really, it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it..."

Waiting for breakfast to be served at our hotel in Varkala

Having spent a few glorious days working hard at those body-surfing skills, we reluctantly left Varkala for the Keralan backwaters. We were well rewarded for our sacrifice by the serene beauty and interesting life of the villages that dot the area. The backwaters are made up of water from 38 rivers that pool into 5 lakes, connected by numerous canals. This is the setting of Arundhati Roy's book "The God of Small Things". We found a delightful and amazingly well preserved guesthouse in a hundred year old colonial heritage home. We took some time to enjoy the luxury of the our room and the beautiful garden before organising to explore the backwaters by canoe.

Our beautiful heritage homestay in Allepey

Kids off to their waterside school

Quiet life on the Backwaters

A typical Backwaters' homestead

Exploring the small canals by canoe

Our Backwaters guide with his wife outside their home

At the northern most point of the Backwaters lies the entertaining town of Fort Cochin. An important European trading town in the 16^th century, it has well preserved old buildings (and some not so well preserved) that tell the tale of a past with a vibrant Jewish community, trade with the Far East and Dutch architectural influence. The museums relay a fascinating history of a royal dynasty of matriarchal control where the eldest woman in the family had absolute control over the property and the line of monarchs was passed to their sister's children. Women covered their bodies only from the waist down, a practice that was to continue into the 19^th century until it was changed through European puritanical custom.

The photogenic seaside area in Fort Cochin is lined with Chinese fishing nets, said to have been brought by traders from the court of Kublai Khan, and are still used today in exactly the same way they were then. In the evenings we were entertained with Kathakali plays, traditional Keralan theatre that involves elaborate costumes and make up sessions that take hours are done on stage for the audience before the show begins. No words are spoken between the actors who interact instead with a complicated series of facial and body gestures to tell the story.

Video: Chinese fishing nets

The 2-hour long make-up session in preparation for the evening's theatre performance

Video: A scene from a Kathakali play

Satisfied that we’d fully explored Fort Cochin, we headed north towards the popular backpacker town of Hampi, with a short stop on the way at Mysore. Mysore takes first prize for the loveliest Indian city we’ve experienced. The roads are large, well laid out boulevards with little of the lung choking pollution and traffic jams we’ve come to expect from Indian cities. Its markets are vibrant and colourful and a pleasure to explore. The city is dominated by the beautiful and opulent Wadiya palace that descendants of the royal family still lay claim to. As museums and monuments go in

India,

it is perfectly preserved with no flash photography allowed to spoil the many intricate paintings and there are audio guides (nogal!) available for foreigners with a level of quality and quantity of information comparable to that of any major European museum.

The opulent Wadiya palace

Video: The very busy flower and spice market

Next stop, and the place where we’ve written this blog, was Hampi, a town of many contrasts. Semi desert hills covered in mounds of giant boulders, like stones that have been dropped off at a building site, incongruously form the backdrop to water logged rice paddies and a large fresh water lake and reservoir. Hampi town reached its peak between the 14^th and 16^th centuries when its inhabitants constructed buildings and laid infrastructure said to rival that of Rome. 2600 temples were built in its heyday from a government tax budget that spent 50% on the army, a whopping 25% on temples and only 25% on the general well-being of the population. Few temples remain intact but the exhausting number of ruins provide much archeological entertainment for tourists who can bear the swelteringly hot days touring around the town.

On arrival in Hampi we were shocked to learn that the bridge had collapsed and the only way to cross to the river was in a woven bamboo basket – motorbike and all. We were doubtful that our 250kg bike would make it in this makeshift vessel and when our turn came to cross, we were further alarmed by the boatman loading yet another bike onto the flimsy looking vessel and then 6 more people!

Video: River crossing in a woven bamboo basket

Whew! made it!

Chilling out in Hampi

Hampi’s chilled out vibe, backpacker filled restaurants and fresh water lake that provides the perfect antidote to the afternoon heat, has proven very hard to leave and the days have easily, and very pleasurably, just been slipping away. We hope to drag ourselves away tomorrow after 11 glorious days. Most nights have been spent socialising into the early hours with only one early wake up day for the pilgrimage to Hanuman Temple, the birthplace of the Monkey God, to see the sunrise. The temple is inhabited by very naughty monkeys that are very entertaining – especially when trying to search you for any bananas you may have hidden in your pockets. The only protection from which are the temple dogs that the monkey in the picture below is hoping Dave will protect it from.