South Africans in India - Part 7: Hampi to Home
HampiDay 85 - Jan 5 - Tue |
I could have photo'ed the bus driver too, and the bus license plate itself, and so on, but it wasn't my battle. I looked up Island Travels on the internet, and it appears to have no online presence, except for a phone number in Bangalore. We hopped a Rs10 rickshaw convoy with the big Irish dreadlocked guy, Kian, and his girlfriend, Lorna. They told us about an early breakfast place at Rama's. It was good. Lorne felt sick.
We took the ferry to the other side of Hampi at 7 or so, and looked at almost every single option, before choosing Gopi's. It had an eastern toilet, but it was vibey and safe, and Rs300 was reasonable.
We also went into a place called 'Lev Yehudi'. There were Hebrew signs everywhere, and here was one saying 'Heart of the Jew'. We went to find out if it was metaphorical, and discovered some sort of community day care that serves free breakfast if you come at 8am.
Rented a Bajaj 125cc motorbike, but I couldn't work out how the gears worked after driving away. It was embarassing. The patronizing bike owner had me get off and he showed me, 'Have you ever riden a bike?'. Er yes, about 40000km, probably more than you. "Neutral, then down 1, down 2, down 3, up up up Neutral". Ok asshole, i see it's simple now. Just the opposite of every other bike in the world.
The guy was clearly enthralled with his own brilliance. We rode to Aurengie, a weird little podunk town, and drank a fanta and circled the town once. The danger with small towns on bikes are the rabid dogs. But they didn't attack us.
We stopped at Hanuman Mountain, the supposed birthplace of Lord Hanuman. It was steep and tall, but worth it. We joked that the devout of Lord Hanuman, who is a god of strength, must build some hectic muscles climbing this hill every day.
We were finally at the top, with really peaceful panoramas, monkeys everywhere, and a really mangy poor little doggie. The monkeys were smart too. They used a push tap to get water. I mean, I know monkeys are smart, and it wasn't that surprising, but for some reason people always find monkeys doing human things as remarkable. I don't know why.
I called Brijminder, as after Hampi we'd go visit him, and hiked down and rode back. We ate at Gopi's, with some guitar people and English guys who had a car. They said they'd seen some 'real India' shit. They drove via all sorts of rural towns where they've never seen white people before, pumping Metallica.
They'd also seen this town next to an open-air garbage incineration site, and the wind just pushed the fumes and burning garbage rolling through the city in a black fog. And the locals just acted like nothing was wrong, while choking and coughing. Gopi's had an amazing Thali. Like, the best we've had. We rested, and then went to watch Pirates of the Carribean. The ferry stops at 6pm every day, so you're stuck on one side of the river, with little amusement, so the restos play movies. We had cheesy pasta and slept after a few beers. 
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Day 86 - Jan 5 - Wed |
I had a crazy dream about jail and life, and breaking out but having to live on the run now. We slept late, til about 11, and started a very long day of exploring. We had breakfast at Mango Tree. Stuffed Tomato and paratha. Pretty good, but there were flies everywhere. So at 1, we hopped a rickshaw tour to the Royal centre. We saw a bit, and it was cool. Tomb-Raidery, but a bit spaced out and hot. Some flies wanted my moisture, and there were squirrels playing. We decided to go to the other Vittela Temple.
We took the electric shuttle there, saw inside the temple, with bats. It was cool. We went quickly back to the rickshaw man, paid him and told him to go away. We'd walk back.
We wandered off the path, and found some policemen having lunch. They asked us to join them, and we sat around a bit, chatting about cricket and their job. We wandered off in the other direction, and found an amazing view point up on the hill. We seemed to be on boulders the size of buses that had been broken in half, either with cleavers, or some water-soaked log process. We smoked a joint, and melted for a while, walking slightly off-path in a pleasing direction. There were unbelievable mini-Parthenon-like temples and boulders. A crazy Versaille-like place, hundreds of pillars, giant baths... we got to what seemed like a cul de sac, and saw men with little teacup boats. It seemed like the right thing to do, so I haggled the guy down to Rs450. He was saying 'But this is my handmade boat. You will see how much work.' It was cool. Really just like a tea cup ride at an amusement park. There was a strong current, so he had to pull us along the shore for a while. He dropped us off almost perfectly at home.
We watched Inception after putting our things down. We chatted with Aussie girls a bit. Heavy movie.
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Day 87 - Jan 6 - Thurs |
We went out and had a chip & falafel heavy pita, and argued over the merits of various falafel styles. We crossed the river on a laden boat, with a guy holding his bike upright.
We backed up our photos, and then walked to the 'Monolithic Bull', a giant stone bull. There were some young pilgrim types in black robes. We looked for a toilet for Aurora, and found one. India's overuse of the word 'cum' reached a crescendo at the "Toilet & Bath Cum Urinal".
A man offered a 'Special lassi' and we so we drank one each, 'medium strength'. He put on the Discovery Channel for us to watch while we waited. We went exploring the path to find the place I called 'Stonehenge Versaille', and it was an interesting walk. The boat ride the previous day was shorter in distance than we thought, but still a good 10 minutes walk. We passed thousands of schoolchildren. They were a bit psychotic, and their unison 'HELLO!' was amplified in the caves. Some monkey rushed me for my banana. It would have been scary had I not let go. There were really lots of school kids.
We bought cricket hats. We took the ferry this time. We got back at 5pm, which was good, because the line was very long, and only got worse. I spoke to some Danish people, asking what they were speaking. Scandinavian languages always puzzle me.
We sat on the grass for a long while watching the ferry, until we realised there were about a thousand mosquitoes hovering above us. We napped at 'home' after listening to a ridiculous jam session that was made electronic by the whirr of the room fan. The Israelis were chatting away. Israelis are the dominant nationality in Hampi, for some reason. There are more signs in Hebrew than in Kannada. We went back to Sai Rama's to watch Little Miss Sunshine. We had excellent pizzas, and ate at 'home', a Hello to the Queen ice cream in bread chocolate pudding. Mmm.
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Day 88 - Jan 7 - Fri |
We moved out of the room, and put our things at the restaurant area. For breakfast, I had the 'Maxican' breakfast, which had nutella for some reason. Aurora had a 'Bugette'. We left our stuff and went for a walk. We found rock climbers, with big flat backpacks, presumably for falling onto if things go wrong. We got reception on the hill, and tried calling Pune to book a hotel. There were expensive places available, so we decided not to worry, and we'd find something when we arrived.
We lazed around until 3pm, took the ferry, and then a rickshaw to Hospet, and hopped the Pune bus. We got a flat tyre which the driver didn't seem to notice for a long while. We half watched the movie on the bus, called Dabangg!, which starred a ridiculously powerful hero whose pecs made wooden planks explode. My favourite part was when he corners a baddie, who begs for mercy, and the hero does a little dance, and encourages the bad guy to dance with him for a little jig. The baddie obliges, and the hero leaves him alone. We ate at some shitty diner on the way. Some sort of overpriced slop and chapatti.
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PuneDay 89 - Jan 8 - Sat |
We came to Pune to visit my friend, Brijminder, so otherwise we didn't really care to see much in the city. We woke up at 6am, but only arrived at 8. The city looked fairly modern, except there was an opaque, and somewhat pungent fog of cow dung smoke. Two others got off the bus, Steve & Stephanie, and we took a rickshaw convoy after a haggle over their absurd Rs200 prices. It was so cold. We didn't understand how it was possible. They said it was 30km to Koregaon Park, and we said they were lying. It turned out to be 15km, so we told them to bugger off when they tried suggesting accommodation. We should maybe have listened though.
We sat in Cafe Coffee Day, our franchise refuge, Aurora with the bags. I told Steve & Steph they could leave their bags with Aurora and we could all go looking for accommodation. We eventually found a Rs700 room, which was quite nice really. Though poor S & S got a terrible room for the same price.
Our room had a bath! But it apparently didn't have much of a geyser, since our puddle became cold after a minute. Aurora was visibly distraught with the false advertising. We walked around Koregaon Park, and saw the Osho park. Osho is pretty much the main attraction of Pune. From what I read in the Lonely Planet about it, it is sort of a watered down Buddhism to make it palatable to hedonistic foreigners. For example, you take a mandatory AIDS test when you enter, and they recommend sex as a form of meditation. To stay on the premises for a night and to do the whole spa and meditation thing, you had to pay Rs4000 or so, plus rent the robes, and book months in advance. We saw these robed weirdos everywhere, and felt a touch of jealousy. We tried to go in, but it was like Fort Knox. We could arrange to visit tomorrow, but I didn't want to. The Osho meditation garden, which was free to enter, was very nice though. Probably the nicest garden we had seen in India. It seemed to be a canoodling joint for frisky young Indians. We ate at Prems, which was a shmancy somewhat overpriced restaurant, that played a James Blunt song on repeat. It actually started making me crazy, and I asked multiple times for them to please change the cd. I don't recommend Prems. We ran into some street magicians like 3 times, and they gave such a talking about how they could change the color of the leaves, and that he didn't want money. I was still waiting for the colors to change, and then he got talking about how he'd been to South Africa. I didn't believe him, and we ran away. We went home and waited for Brij to call. He picked us up and took us to the Mariplex Mall. We had a coffee and chatted. It was really nice to travel in a car again. Brij works right next to the Mariplex Mall, at my old company, S1, and travels back and forth from home every day. He says that most Indians think that what we're doing is impossible, that it's too dangerous. Public buses and random cities is scary to your average citizen. We went to MG road (you know who road), and walked around while Brij went to his doctor's appointment. He wants to dance Bollywood, but the doctor says his knees are not so good. The verdict was that he can still dance, but not the crazy moves. We saw the Aurora Towers, which was exciting. Then we ate with Brij at Juice World. We had Pav Bhaji and a Mosambi juice. And a paratha. We said Brij should move to Cape Town. Mosambi juice is more or less indistinguishable from orange juice. We came home and slept.
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Day 90 - Jan 9 - Sun |
We took a rickshaw to Bright Travels, and got our tickets to Aurangabad. Then took a metered rickshaw to Mariplex. We ate Subway! and ice cream! We wasted some time, mall-rat style, tried the KFC veg snacker, but it was gross. I gave it to some unhappy urchin. Then rickshawed home. It was Rs20 to get home, and the rickshaw men all wanted R50. They laughed, and I laughed with them, ho ho ho! Then walked 5 meters and got into an independent rickshaw who took Rs20.
Then we seriously wasted some time. Brij picked us up at 8pm, and we had a lovely home cooked meal, nice full-fare Punjabi dish, buffet style. We chatted with his family. His brother worked in Sweden for a while. His mom didn't speak English, but picked up on the obvious jokes and gestures. We watched tv, with some horrible Scream rip-off, with Indian acting. Wow it was really bad. We talked and stuff. They have a 1bhk, and Brij bought a 2bhk, so he can run around naked if he wants to. That is, 2bhk=2-bedroom hall and kitchen. He dropped us off at home at 11:30 for our curfew.
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Day 91 - Jan 10 - Mon |
We had a 'bus' day, and we had to check out at 9am, so we sat at an internet cafe, on gumtree for 4 hours looking for a place for me to live when I got back. We got a rickshaw across the river, and hopped the bus to Aurangabad. We stopped at a place with emus and ducks. We got out and there was a bit of a hussle unfolding in front of our eyes, which I saw and played along with. Some guy, Azim, tried to get money from us, via commission or tours, but he only got Rs20 to take us to Hotel Nandanwan. He was very persistent, and I took his number and said I'd call him if I needed a lift. Yea right.
Huge rooms for Rs550, but not exactly luxury. A bit perturbed by the 'luxury tax', since, as it turns out, the shower on the wall does not work. We saw a cool garden resto & eat there. Beer and lots of food. a New York couple say they're going to the Lonar Meteorite tomorrow.
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AurangabadDay 92 - Jan 11 - Tue |
We walked around in the morning, and booked a bus to Ahmadabad for the 12th. The town is kind of horrible, with the worst look-white-people! staring yet in our travels. I rapped some Eminem to some of them, "Y'all act like you never seen a white person before, jaws on the floor, like Pam and Tommy burst through the door" then i forgot how it went. It was really pretty bad though, and we walked our way into some bizarre wrong place, and took a rickshaw back home. We ate at Kailash next door, a big dosa, and then stayed in the room most of the day. I felt a bit sick. At 4pm, we decided to check out Fort Daulatabad. We got a return rickshaw for Rs270 (250 + tip). The fort was pretty awesome. We had some record number of weirdos, and school kids and monkeys. We walked through dark stairs. It was meant to be a really treacherous fort, impervious to attack. I mean, it really is an ideal fort. You had to ascend twisty stairs in the dark, with people pouring boiling water on you. It was conquered when some Islamic group arrived and bribed the guys at the front gate to let them in.
Aurora gave up hiking because of water thirst. I used some passive aggressive reverse psychology to get us to the top! There were bats in the caves, and I felt sorry for them with the Indian guys whistling screeches, as though torturing animals is cool.
We ate again at the garden resto, trying paneer tikka dry, as suggested by Brij. It was really good. Beer. mmm.
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Day 93 - Jan 12 - Wed |
The bus to Ahmadabad left at 4:30pm, but since we had 24 hour checkout, it was easy. Went on a bus to Ellora caves at 10am, after the rickshaw man gave up. He was going to take us, but instead took us to the bus stop. The public bus ticket cost Rs44. We almost got on the wrong bus, to Si-lora, but luckily got off just in time, to catch the Ellora bus. We ate at the recommended hole, which only had Paratha Aloo. Birds above us dropped rocks into our curd. We checked out caves 16 down to 1, and then tried to get to cave 29, but it was closed. There were lots of school kids. We had pics taken with a group of 20 guys. They were going to tear Aurora apart. Cave #16 and a few of the others were awesome.
We saw and chatted with the New York couple. They said going to Lonar was a bad idea. They were on public buses for 5 hours, and only saw it for 30 mins. We got back home for Rs100, because some guy had to return, and would rather make some money from it. So cheap! The ride was 30km! Christ! Rs3 per kilometer? Absurd. We got our stuff, ate at Kailash, had a cornetto, and get on the long bus. Aurora gets hungry and a bit psychotic, but luckily we stopped just before she turned, and ate. Some nice rice n slop. Stop n slop.
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AhmadabadDay 94 - Jan 13 - Thurs |
We miss the ideal bus stop, but the final stop is ok. We are hoarded by rickshaw wallas. We worked out where we were on the map, and then went with one guy, who I should have known, was a total scammer. He gave us a 'metered' ride. Then he tried to take us to another hotel, and then after 3km, asks us for Rs160. I point out that the meter started at 60, and ask him to show us his card, since it's obviously not 1 rupee per tick on this scam meter. The asshole took 100 and I walk away. He follows us in to the hotel and I tell him to go away. The room is really nice, though we later realised there were pigeons living in the air conditioner. We're nearly home, so it's ok to pay Rs750/night.
We slept until 2pm or so, and walked to the city fort, which is now a government building. The guy who gave the tour spoke pretty poor English. I had to tip Rs100 because I had nothing smaller. Ahmadabad is insane. There are way too many people. We walk and see the the Teen Darwala triple gateway. We walk back and eat at Nutan. Very Indian spot. We watched movies on tv, and then ate at 'US Pizza'. Some vegetable cottage pizza, or something. We watched 'The Proposal' on tv.
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Day 95 - Jan 14 - Fri |
Walked to the train station, but there were no good trains. We walked past some serious poverty, with a whole extended family living on the side of the road, with naked babies and makeshift shade. We took a ricky to Gandhi Ashram, and stayed a long time. There were lots of kites flying on the way. We actually came here because of the kite festival. We had CCD & McDonalds, and were really hungry by supper. We saw what was left of the kite fest dealy, then went home for a bit.
We went out to watch the '1000 tukkals' world record being broken at Hotel Patang. Fairly impressive. We eat at Green House and chatted with some Israelis who were spending lots of money. They said they were paying $100 for accommodation. I didn't know what to say, other than, er, well we pay $8 usually. Sweet Gujarati food. Bharta, Malpura. mmm. Like rose petals deep fried with ghee pancakes.
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Day 96 - Mumbai again |
Ok, so there are 4 days left of our trip, and I stopped writing down what we did. I have a vague memory of it, which I'll try recount, but it is now 1 year since then, that I am finally finishing this blog. We left Aurangabad for Mumbai, on a sleeper bus, and were not really sure where to get off. We decided on the last stop possible, and got out near Grant Rd. We walked with our fully laden packs through dodgy back streets, and approached a cab who would take us to a hotel. He took us into some other dodgy alley, but then it turned out to have a decent hotel, with expensive rooms that we were too tired to haggle over. We walked the length of Grant Rd, and it was very crowded. We found out the bus number to Colaba, and went there to do some last minute shopping, to look for presents for friends. I confidently told the persistent drum sellers to fuck right off.
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Day 97 |
We carried our bags to the train station, and got a first class ticket to Bandra West, the suburb where Aurora's friend Ruheen stayed. The train was eventually entirely full, but according to Ruheen, we were very lucky to miss rush hour, which would teach us the true meaning of entirely full. We got out and took a taxi to the road she lived on, and then walked the length of it. It was a nice suburb. Almost European. We found Ruheen and put our bags down and were given her bedroom, which was nice of her. She had cats and smoked cigarettes, and had an epic movie collection. Ruheen's place was great. It had couches and a big tv, and a nice kitchen with a water purifier, and we just wanted to sit on her couch until our flight. It was pretty late by the time we arrived. She brought out this fat stack of menus and we ordered pizza on the phone. It was amazing.
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Day 98 |
Ruheen took us to a free art exhibit, which was really pretty good. It was a warehouse of mirrors. We had a very lazy day after that. Ruheen took us out for a night on the town, and we went to a few swanky spots. It was midweek and nothing was particularly happening, and we ended up at a bar/restaurant that played cricket on the telly and was owned and frequented by Bollywood B-list actors. Bandra West is apparently where Bollywood settles down, and it is a fairly rich area. The cocktails were Rs450, which was more than we usually paid for a large room, also 4 times more than the cost in South Africa, and we were really confused. Ruheen didn't flinch at the prices and it was very incongruous seeing rich Indians buying overpriced drinks after our travels. We ate pizzas, and went home after a few drinks.
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Day 99 |
Ruheen had breakfast with us at some spot near the Bandra sea shore, and we walked in some direction for a few kilometers until we found some little taxi stand. We took a taxi back to Bandra West, and went to a shopping mall to try buy any cheap Indian trinkets we could. I got the BBC Earth Dvd box set, a bunch of pirated games burned onto DVDs, a couple playstation games, and most importantly, a massage chair. Yes, I tried out their massage chairs, found an amazing small one that straps onto a chair, and decided I'd just shove it into my backpack and carry the displaced clothes somehow else. We watched movies and smoked joints and made food ourselves, because we were excited to have a kitchen for the first time in India. Ruheen ordered the groceries over the phone, which was amusingly more hi-tech and convenient than anywhere I've ever lived.
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Day 100 |
Our flight left at 4am, so Ruheen called us a cab, a fancy one with a GPS, and we headed on home. It's been a year now since the trip. We saw a good swath of India, and got an idea of the character of the country and its people. It is a sad place, but hopeful, with an immense religious history, and an exploding scientific, technological, and democratic future. We only scratched the surface, because the emotions behind some of the eyes you meet are of uncertain depths. It's impossible not to feel privileged when you leave India. It is worth going, if just to remind yourself how lucky you are, though you'll probably have a good time too.
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