whimsical udaipur

the maharaja of the rajpots and the pride of a nation. the arch enemy of the mughal army(invading muslim army) and a state believing in its free independence. not to forget those fury mustaques. their most famous warrior was pretap and their arch enemy was akbar the great.
history aside , udaipur was a splendidly beautiful city. the white city as they call it , or the palaces on lakes or the white marble city. just by looking at it,you have a feeling that this has got to be another world.
coming back to reality, yes it was still the typical indian city that i am so familiar with , but with much more colours and a proud history.
however when i was there , udaipur was facing a prolonged summer and the monsoon was not in yet , almost making it feel like a drought was going on. the lakes were almost dried up but the city has got lots to offer and lots of wild life to look and enjoy.

the guest house i was in , was a joy to be in , big spacious and lots of favour. just loved the location of the place which was right beside the lake ghat which i insistantly wanted , it was also the best bet with a great host and great views.

did i mention that it was really quiet and very peaceful there, as my room was facing the lake (yes i had no ideal that my room was a lake facing one as i arrived there at 4am in the morning can you believe it lol). noise was also not a problem as my room was way off the road and the road was not a main road.

also it was easy getting lost in the winding ghats of udaipur and most of the time i must walked into the lake bed which had dried up and went on my merry way to my guest house docks by the lake. which was way cool if i might add.

spend a relaxing 3 days there and did i say that the food on these wonderful sun kissed rooftop restaurants where fantastic? a great way to just idle the day away from the hussle that i happening inside.

mt abu at a glance

arriving from udaipur to mt abu , the first thing that hits me was. wow this is a really touristy place ! with mosty gujarats holiday makers. the ambience was predominantly indian. even the guides spoke in indian.
weather which was slightly forgiving with a cool mountain breeze, being the highest point in rajathan. i then gathered that i was here in high county and mingling with the local people who were also in holiday mode.
being a high point in rajasthan, there was of course a few temples, some ashrams, bhravin and also a peace park. what really astonised me was the jain temples built by the old empires of mt abu. they were imaculately carved an brought together.
the moment you stepped into one of these jewels , you thought, "how could they carve should detailed marbles, or the real question was , 'why' did they carve such elabarate structures." then the answer hit me . there was a time where the jain religion hit a high in populace and culture. this was it. a marvel in carvementship and detail work.
oh ok guys i will be changing my plans and i will not be going to pushkar , another mountainous region as i am tight for time , so i will instead be heading onto joghpur where there is the magnificient mehe fort ( or so i heard).
so will update soon . as long as i get internet access again.

till then , adious

from mumbai - hospet-hampi-aurangabad-ajanta-ellora-admedabad-udaipur

an update on the happenings and the places i have been.

trying to do my back dates of all my adventures and will post them up when i can !:)

love you all

elephanta caves and the areas around bombay.

one of the canons ( canon 2) perched on top of canon hill with a great paranoma of greater bombay. yes i was scorching hot...

the great shiva statue , a view of calmness and serenity. love this structure, one of the finest i must say.

elephanta caves

it was a 1 hour boat trip to the elephanta islands and i must say it was a really great way to see mumbai from the sea and upoon arriving. you can see the remoteness and sole serenity of the place. i love the bareness of it and the locals were all alot more friendier.

the climb was a 450 steps up to the top and it was an exhilarating (more like tiring) walk up the stairs.

but the rewards was unwarranted and at the top were the amazing ancient caves of elephanta. shiva is the main diety of worship and the main bust of shiva in eternal serenity was a sight to behold. altogether there were 9 caves but only 7 of the main caves were accessible. the caves were imaculately preserved and managed to stand the wiz of time and tale.

a remarkable momument.

ps , as i have been having trouble uploading into blogger do hit here for my latest pictures

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v280/lanman/

mumbai shots

that is the taj palace and tower hotel, you can see that the rooms that were attacked are now shauned and only the tower part is accessible. as mumbai eagerly awaits the report from the investigation team. but the views were great !

gateway of india on another hot hot day. this was built to welcome the arrival of one of the king of england , was it richard ? lol. has been 2 weeks now :P

CST terminal , when i first saw this structure i was flabbergusted, then i turned around and knew i was back in india. a stately monument worthly of being world reowned

bombastic bombay aka mumbai

mumbai
ok gotta update on the wordings as i have been having lots of problems getting photos onto blogger.

bombay
how should i put it, i arrived in cst terminus which is also known as the queen victorus terminal and well i thought i had came into old london.

old collonial buildings and wall street like side alleys , really not what i have expected it to be. also cst is one of india's most busy railway station handling a staggering 2 million people a day just for 1 terminal.

but as busy as it is , the area around mumbai is the fort and caloba area , is beautiful. also not to forget the long awaited mac donalds which i gobberted on after a long long hiatus of fast thrash food. ala heaven.

macs was a treat , they have the mac maharaja and the filet o fish and many other classics but then as long as it is western food i will shove it into my mouth. :)

mumbai was easy to get around , with an efficient metro and a great bus support system and systematic roads. i almost felt like home.

did lots of touristy things , visted an aquarium , a science center , chawpatty beach , watched a movie (expensive pvr cinema) , visted elephanta islands and its 2 canon high on canon hill(the shiva cave temple was spectacular),visited bollywood hill , 2 other gardens , gateway of india , leopolds cafe and the list goes on.

well you can never get tired of a city like mumbai. this huge city spanning across many other sub-urbs makes visiting this metropolis unforgettable.

goa frames

this is the church of bom jesus which is in southern goa and this building was a really weathered fantastic building where they housed the body of the saint.xavier.

churches are everywhere in goa , this one in particular was in the center of the captial of goa in panaji. and its huge.

the body of saint. xavier in the church of bom jesus.

more pics of the bom jesus church.

goa memories

goa was an amazing place to start with , full of western influence in artitecture and culture and religion.(not to forget the endless rows of churches around south and north goa ) . i do not know how to start with because i was there for only 2 days but first impressions were , it was the international beach resort that it was touted to be.

yes there was sun , yes there was coconut trees and yes there were tourists. but the one thing that strikes me was how fine was the sand. the soft soft sand even finer then the sloozy table salt i had on my lunch table. the place was fantastic. wish i had stayed longer.

the main historical ground was the bom jesus church which was where the incorruptable body of st francis xavier was buried and the place was magnificent i must add. ancient with a magical feel in the air about the place , it was almost heavenly!

hampi adventures

me hanging around on the vineyards of one of the tatelan argricultural dams at hampi, you can see the panorama of the whole ruins at the top of the hill gardens
the elephants stable at hampi and yes a fellow local indian traveller took the picture for me , if not i would have self camed myself ;)
this is rama , the 6th reincanation of vishnu, this structure was immaculately restored and bare in mind that hindus do not worship to damaged statues as these were destroyed by the muhul invaders who tried to burn it but failed.
a fellow traveller(wife and husband) whose son is actually working in singapore and they treated me like their son

hampi is a facinating place with a wide area of ancient temples beautifully thought out and carved. the masterpiece is the temple of music which is aesthetically built to harmonise music that is being play to pitch perfect results.

bangalore snapshots 3

this garden with the british looking glass house and lots of store side vendors selling mango. yummy
this is the botanical gardens perched on top of a hill in bangalore and lots of people too. thus garden is huge and windy.

this is neil who is here from antonio on a working trip, nice guy with a care-less about the world attitude. was a pleasure to meet him:)

bangalore snapshots 2

this is the summer retreat palace for tipu sultan , the wise king who was one of the first king to defy the invasion of the british.
this is the city government hall of bagalore reading "the work of the government, is the work of god". can't be said in another way
the new king fisher building which looks deceptively like the empire state building in new york. maybe shorter :) ekeke. but princely beautiful

arggg the internet here is too slow : P kekeke

bangalore snapshots

short recaps of my trips

bengalore

with its cool and high elevation. also a main transport hub with very affluent people working and living in it. bengalore has been a great place to stay in.no lack of historical and monuments to visit. visiting bengalore has been an eye opener itself. the palaces of the tiku sultan and all his wisdom and splendor was really an eye opener.not to forget the mumerious musuems deidicated to education and science.

mysore

using bengolore as a base. mysore as not as bad as the name suggests as it has got an incredible palace which is rich in historic culture and magnificience.on sundays and public holidays, the palace will come to light and show its colourful side of itself.there is also an audio guide which was very carefully thought out that really enhances your experience when you first step into the palace.worth every penny paid for the entrance fee.

hospet - hampi

as te name sound , hampi is a world heritage site listed in the unesco listing as one of the sites that is worth protecting and heck i say this site MUST be worth protecting. the scale of the site in hampi and the cultural importance as a hindu site of worshipping and where the monkey god hamuna was born too. i didn't know how big the area was until i saw rows and rows of temples , tanks and hill top stone balancing precarilous on the side drops. also beautifully preserved and the temples are tactfully spaced out in order of which temples anyone will visit first is really amazing. these temples are literally polished white and stands in a shining glare against the dessert like back drop of the indian grasslands.

mumbai

this city is one word - MASSIVE ! duh , i actually took the wrong bus which does not go to the main station cst and dropped off in socin then to dardar and took a communter train to cst terminal. i did;t know how big was bombay till i saw the outskirts and such. will update when i have the time.

ok , this is a quick update , am now in aurangabad and will be making my trip up north ( 14 hours) by bus to ahmedabad where gandhi first built his ashram based on non violent and is also a mojor transport and transit hub to the inter parts of gajurat.

till then miss you all !.

now posting through my mobile. Leaving mumbai tomorrow and heading for aurangabad for the ellora and ajanta caves. A world unesco world heritage site. Combining scruptures of the 3 major religions. Am doing fine and will do a big update if i can. Till then need to wake up at 4.30am for the train tomorrow zzz . Hee

now posting through my mobile. Leaving mumbai tomorrow and heading for aurangabad for the ellora and ajanta caves. A world unesco world heritage site. Combining scruptures of the 3 major religions. Am doing fine and will do a big update if i can. Till then need to wake up at 4.30am for the train tomorrow zzz . Hee

from cochin to bangalore to mysore to hospet to hampi to goa to mumbai

this whole week was an amazing race for me. constantly on the bus boat , train. whatever transport you can think of.
covered many miles and saw many things that i have always dreamed of seeing. yes i am making my dreams come true.
so sorry to those who are eagerly awaiting my updates , but i have been travelling non stop through central india that i didn't have the time to sit down and recap all the experiences and happenings of my trip.
but i still love and miss you all !
(will update in detail as my 1 hour at the internet cafe is almost up)

backdated photos

this does look like the wild venice of india does it not ? still its romantic to cruise thorough the stream on a boat and see the everyday lives of the people.

got stuck in the monsoon rain and came here , the other guys brought a couple of those sweet buns and offered me to eat but i dare not as i have overeaten for the last few days and am apprehensive about eating too much

skipper on the bridge, monkeying around with the other guests keke

these girls are really great ! from holland but too bad we were heading the totally apposite direction from each other :) . wish they had fun in ooty =)

some photos of previous days more of it

the fiesty fish market at fort chochi :)

vvvarkala and looking very touristy with my full sun protection and the tangy unbrella haha

the strong waves at varkala, yes no swimming allowed

the motorised rice barges modified for tourists to stay in and idle the time away.

some other photos from the previous days

met this sweet france lady in varkala who is part of a music group and project called the soul makers where musicians and a group of community come together to ceate a better india

this was the open canoe and my seat mate was ravi and this wive in front. he is a retired military personnel who have got singaporeans military mates before (that was 20 years ago )

this is the beautiful back waters of kerela , like those water lilies , waiting for the frog to come out.

these two are the adorable german couple abuel and her husband who are ending their journey in 5 days time , had a great chat with them and clicked immediately !

3 days in cochin and im luving it

this was the house boat that i was on for the 7 hour tour into the village 38km from cochin

the magnificent santa cuz church in fort cochi

st francis church the oldest church in india

the made famous chinese nets in cochin

when i arrived into cochin from varkala. i saw the night skyline of it and thought wow , this is a port city. then i saw the serene atolls and islands surrounding it , then "new york city" hit me. then went i saw how shoppy the main district was , i was like "shopping urban style". yes in cochin i breathed a huge sign of relive that i have actually arrived into a little port city which looks like new york (like 50 years ago) with the main peninsula "fort cochi", ermukulum and vyspreen island coming together. plus the mini ports and all the big tankers stopping onto its ports. it was surreal and a sign of similarity.

checked into my hotel and was ready for the next day where i visited the main fort cochi island via boat. fort cochi has got geat influence from the portgugese , arabians , chinese and english. everywhere i go , there are tons of churches coming from the portugese style, to the english style to the france style kind of chruches. i thought , this was the largest amount of congregation i had seen of churches in india till now.

saw the famous chinese nets that i have always seen on tv and brouches and magazines. seeing it live and on tv or print i tell you was a totally different experience. you get to meet the local fishermen , people on the streets and also get greeted by the sunny weather in cochi.

there is also as recommended by the book and by uncle , the oldest known church in india , the st francis church. this church looked really simple but was the one of the only church that survived the ravages of time. it was in a traditional light blue in colour. its construction was very basic and it was a good medium sized church. but then to know that this church was the oldest and also the church that housed vasco and was founded by st francis xavier. i was enough to make me a very satisfied man and an eye opener.

the other church was the santa cuz balistica which was really majestic and bigger. clade in basic pink in the outside but handpainted with all sorts of colour on the outside. the look of the place was spectacular.

went over to do some more touristy stuff like visit the dutch cemetary as well as the dutch palace where there was a musuem showing the wall dispictions of the ramayana as well as some old artifacts and history murals which was just freshly renovated.

wanted to go to the basement where i read that they had this magnificent hindu stone curvings of an erotic nature but was told it was closed for renovations. saw these in books but would love to see him in real time though.

went off later to the jewish synorgue but was disappointed that it was closed for the afternoon and just decided to walk around jew town and look at some crafts and stuff.

according to the driver, there are now only 3 jewish family left in the fort and the other jews have moved on into other states.

the main island of cochi , ermukulum was bustling with activities and also the bazeer or what we call the fea market was alive and bursting! went shopping for a watch as my casio watch plastic strap broke and brought this super cheap watch for 1.20 sing dollar. which was a great deal and necessary as i would need to follow the timings in india then.

walking through the main shopping belt of cochin was really fun and uplifting as in cochin you dun get the regular touts and beggers and you pretty much have the pavement to yourself. also the power cuts were also not common here.

another thing to note was that there were lots of communist flags and castro images here. a relic from its history as a pro communist past too. its like the idiosyncracy of democracy and communism existing side by side. its really something which took me by surprise.

still cochi is a city of relieve and surprises , would surely come back here again.

now in this very squeezy internet cafe and waiting for my train up to bangalore.

there is one thing i learned was to use big cities as connection points to smaller harder to reach places such as mysore, so now my plans are always to go to large cities first then try to find connections within the vacinity and for this case it will be mysore , the palace of the great maharajastra.

ok thats all for these set of updates. miss all of you back home !

a long travel from kumily to kottaya to appley to kollam and now at beachy varkala

wow what a long and wonderfull 2 days of non stop travelling. saw lots of things while on the move and i must say im luving it.
the difficult connections and the missed trians and buses really makes travelling a challenge in india. but still with lots of helpful people around , im never alone.
Did the famous backwaters of kerala (ferry from kottayam to appley) and i must say it was really an experience. the backwaters as they call it were magnificient and personal too. you can see the backwaters and the people going about their lives and it all feels like a venice in a wild setting. it was without a proper use of the word "incredible". saw those backwater boats or rice barges and i must say its incredible.
went off to appley and went over to the train station only to find out that the next train is going towards varkala at 12:30am. so went back to the bus stop and took another bus towards kollam as i knew that was the nearest town with good links with the south states.
went over to kollam and apparently the people advised that i do not go at this hour as it is unsafe and with the help of one of my new indian friend he brought me to this tourist house in kollam to stay for the night.
woke up bright and early for the day and off i went to varkala for a great day out. took the ordinary bus and this really friendly conductor instucted me how to get to the varkala beach but this ordinary bus was the most bumpy and also the most high tide bus i ever rode. was screeming for a toilet the whole journey lol.
reached there and went into this local indian eatery to use the toilet and decided to try their local indian flair and i was astonised. the food was really good. although abit rustic but the food was one of those better parathas and chais that i have tried. costed me only 32 rupee which is like 1dollars sing. that was the most hearty and best breakfast local indian meal i had. ( although there were the continentals and the thalis and such). went off a happy man.
took an autorickshaw towards the varkala beach as the town and beaches were away from each other and checked into my hotel.
although the journey as long and tiring , it was also the reason why i loved travelling as when you are on the move , you get to see and feel things which you do not feel when you are stationary.

love travelling ! =)

oh did i tell you that i am in this very rusty internet cafe perched perculiously on the edge of the cliff buff on varkala beach. its really radically cool !