OK, actually, we've been back for quite a while already, but I haven't had time to post before. My laptop is still broken (the BigBro Laptop Repair Service is coming over next weekend), so I am sharing Fedors laptop all the time. Except at work, where I should obviously be doing other things, such as....uhm, well....working!
However, given the (un)fortunate event of being at Bocconi, the internal network has just gone down again, as a result of which I cannot access any of my required documents anymore. So while I am waiting for the repair-people to start working on it, I finally have time to write my update here.
Let me start by saying that a probably more detailed account is available at
Fedor's Weblog, because he has actually been updating during the trip. Additionally, as I am at my Uni computer now I cannot add any of the photos either. However, I can refer you to Facebook, where the all photos (about 130: sorry) can be viewed from
HERE,
HERE and
HERE. I will probably post some photos myself as well at a later point, hopefully after my laptop has been repaired...
Anyways, India! It was definitely an interesting trip, if not always equally pleasant... We started of in Hot, Sweaty, Humid Mumbai (after a short visit to pleasant and gorgeous Helsinki), which was overwhelming and impressive. As we were meeting Felix and Annaig, friends from Milan in the Rajasthani city of Udaipur a few days later, our first days were hurried and resultingly not overly pleasant. Obviously we had flown in during the night and then spent all day in Mumbai. That night we took a night train to Ahmedabad, where we arrived early-morning. Another full day in Ahmedabad before taking another night train to Udaipur... When we arrived we were smelly, sleep-deprived and generally grumpy, but that was nothing a good shower couldnt solve! And of course the company of Felix and Annaig!!!
After spending a great day with them, they left and we went on a trip to the deserted mountain top city of Chittogarh. This was our first really sunny day and we had some great photo opportunities. The day after, we took a bus through the mountains and a nature reserve (and an awful Monsoon downpour) to Jodhpur. Jodhpur is famous for its towering fortress and its fabrics and spices. The fortress is indeed impressive and we were kinda tricked into buying some nice fabrics that are utterly unusable for us... The following day we took another bus trip towards Jaisalmer, the desert town that is close to the border with Pakistan. Another impressive fortress, and some of the friendliest people that we met during the entire trip. Jaisalmer was also the location of the cheapest hotel we stayed in (€3.75 for a double room with private bathroom and somewhat of a view in a friendly hotel with a swimming pool.....not bad, eh?).
In the original plan, we had planned to go directly north from Jaisalmer upto Amritsar, but it turned out that this was much less convenient than planned, so instead we took a night train to Jaipur and immediately afterwards a train journey to Agra, so that in about 20 hours, we were suddenly another 1000 kms down the road! Unfortunately, the Taj Mahal (World Wonder number 1 of this trip) is closed on Fridays, but we did manage to get some pretty pictures from across the river and beyond. In all honesty, we didn't mind not having to spend €23 euros to enter the Taj Mahal, because it is simply outrageously overpriced. We did, on the other hand, visit the Agra Fort and that was truly impressive (and had some more great views).
As Agra really is not a place you want to spend too much time, we left again the next morning and made our way (via train and Bouncy Bouncy Bus) to the small town of Khajuraho, another 10 hours down the road. This town is known for its amazing, ancient, temples, largely decorated with rather explicit depictions from the Kamasutra (that according to the descriptions obviously are NOT a sign of "moral depravity", but should be seen as works of art from a long-gone civilisation... Obviously, while we were respectful and thoughtful of the artfulness of it all, you cannot really expect people to be serious when you put statues of guys fucking horses on your temple, really......
After enjoying these temples for 2 days, we took an afternoon bus to the small town of Mahoba, from where we joined the night train towards Varanasi (World Wonder Nr 2 of this trip!). Varanasi: what can I say? It is absolutely filthy, filled with excrements, dead bodies, sick people and beggars. The smell is awful, any ritual is usually swamped with tourists and the it's incredibly humid. In conclusion: we were not overly fond of it..... In fact, we were very happy to be able to leave after two days. Wading through a foot of rain/poo in the streets, we finally made it to the train station and got a train out: NOT a good experience... The 28 hour train ride (1200 km) in the 5th class to get us out of there, filled with people without manners who would not stop staring, was also not a great experience either. When we finally got to our destination, Amritsar, both Fedor and I had uncontrollable Delhi Bellies, which we had so far been spared) and the two days in Amritsar were mostly spent on the toilet. We did of course make it to the Golden Temple of Amritsar (World Wonder Nr 3 of this trip!), which is an absolutely amazing sight... The rest of Amritsar, likewise seemed like a clean, pleasant and, importantly, hassle-free city!
The next stage of our journey was into the mountains. We took a bus from Amritsar to Pathankot and then onwards via Dharmsala to McLeod Ganj. And as it turned out, McLeod Ganj is our favourite place in India by miles! It is absolutely gorgeous, high in the mountains (about 1800 meters high), with mixed foggy and sunny times. The town is populated mostly by Tibetan refugees (the Tibetan government-in-exile is based there), who are friendly, hassle-free and don't try to cheat you in every move. Also important is their lax attitude regarding alcohol usage, so it is indeed possible to buy beer there! Around McLeod Ganj we made some long walks and in the evenings we enjoyed the excellent Tibetan food and the relaxed athmosphere. Finally, we also managed to do quite some shopping there....
Unfortunately, all good times come to an end, so after two nights we had to leave. We tried to take the "toy train" from Kangra back to Pathankot, but apparently "one of the bridges had collapsed", so we were forced to take the bus back to Pathankot, from where we took a night train to Delhi.
By this time, both Fedor and myself were getting a bit travel weary, but we still managed to enjoy some of the sights that Delhi has to offer. Particularly the Lotus Temple and Tomb of Umayden were impressive. The Red Fort, on the other hand, was very underwhelming and disappointing... One evening we met up with Fedor's friend Shruti, an Indian english teacher from Milan who was in Delhi to get married. We narrowly missed the wedding, but it was fun to meet her anyway. She showed us her house and her sweet sweet mother cooked us a yummie meal. After 3 days of Delhi, it was time for us to leave again and we took the super-fast and super-luxurious (both relatively of course) train to Mumbai (1400 km in 16 hours: not bad....), in which we could finally relax a bit. The final day was spent in Mumbai, doing those things we hadn't done during the first visit, particularly Elephanta Island. Unfortunately, the whole day was absolutely drenched in rain and Fedor was starting to seriously suffer from a Delhi Belly, so we did not manage to enjoy that day a lot.
During the evening, we decided to go to the Airport already, because we were supposed to fly in the morning and couldn't be bothered to have to negotiate a taxi fare at 4AM. Afterwards, this may not have been such a good idea, because Fedor fell very ill, with high fever and uncontrollable shaking. Additionally, our flight was delayed by four hours, so Mumbai Airport may not have been the best place to be. By the time we finally made it to Helsinki, our flight to Milan had already left and we thus had to stay overnight in Helsinki. Now being both sick as dogs, with stomach cramps and uncontrollable diarrhea, the idea of going home had been a much more appealing option, but alas, it simply wasn't in the cards...
Instead we got home on Monday morning, where we quickly tried to pick up our normal lives again. The funny Delhi Bellies, however, have not subsided and we started medication, including different kinds of antibiotics this weekend, after consulting our doctor. This sort of post-trip unhealthiness certainly does cast a bit of a gloom over the trip, although it certainly was very enjoyable. Let's hope we'll be well soon and can get on again. During the past week, we also had a guest over, my friend Jochen who was in Milan for a big conference that was being held at my University, so he was quite some distraction as well!
I will be going to Copenhagen from Thursday to Saturday for a conference, which will be a nice little trip, and in the meantime I am doing some serious job hunting. Now let's see whether the technicians have already repaired the network so I can actually access my own CV...
Photos will follow later I hope!
Ciao,
OJ
