At the time I left Jodphur, I was a little bit sick. Actually, the last 7 days passed as I tried to recover from the flu. It had started to be very annoying and I decided to change the location and the climate: leave the windy and chilly Jodphur and travel to south. So I postponed Jailsamer visit and camel safari.
UDAIPUR
It's simply a holiday town. It has been always like that, all through the centuries. And this makes the place very artificial, makes you feel that it hasn't have a history, a culture, a feeling unique to itself. Although it seems like a nice town, which includes two lakes. I didn't want to do anything during the 3 day I spent, dind't like the town as I didn't like 'Octopussy', one of Roger Moore's 007 movies which had been mostly shooted here.
AHMEDABAD
My only aim at that moment was to travel south, down to Kerala, having a little hope of seeing Julian and Renata before they leave India. I searched for my options; just looked for the next destination on my way to south. Ahmedabad, the capital city of Gujarat state, was picked out of the bucket.
I stayed for 3 days in order to heal, after seeing a doctor and having his suggestion together with some pills. This was the only reason for 3 days visit. Other than that there was nothing to see in Ahmedabad. It's one of the producing cities of India, 'South India' would be more proper to call as today mainly the production comes from the south.
The good thing is that I recovered almost 100% with the climate, which was getting hotter and more tropical. Ahmedabad was my entry point to South India.
OMKARESHWAR
This is a small village, set around a island between two holy rivers. It's a popular destination for Hindu pilgrims and not for tourists (I learned the place from a middle aged sweet Swiss lady in Pushkar).
It could be nicer, if I had come 5(or more) years ago, when there were no boats running trough the river all day with their disturbing sounds.
I was feeling well enough to continue my way to Kerala. I stayed one night and left the place early in the next morning.
JALGAON and AJANTA CAVES
After a 3 hour bus and train travel, in between waiting in a unpleasant city for a few hours, I arrived Jalgaon at night, a northern city of Maharashtra state which includes Mumbai.
The train was, as usual, over crowded. Travelling with bus has been mostly better and more comfortable for me up to now. In the end, buses cannot exceed a certain number of people and you have a seat; but trains!!! If you're travelling in Sleeper Class, which is generally prefered by travellers due to its cheap price, and have no confirmed seat; then you most probably are in big trouble. And to have a confirmed seat in a populated route, you have to buy the ticket 1 (or more during festivals and holiday times) week ago. And that's where I have no option, but selecting a bus travel since I don't know which place is my nextination.
Anyway, Jalgaon is the most convenient place to stay in order to see Ajanta caves, which consists of 29 Buddhist cave temples and monasteries, carved in a horse shoe shaped valley and dated from 2nd century BC to 6th century AD.
I didn't enjoy my visit to the caves, which made me to skip Ellora caves, a few hours away from Ajanta, consists of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples and monasteries. The last 3 months was too much temple, stupa, monastery, etc. and religious. I was just thinking to find a place to chill for a while.
PUNE
Just a 4 hour visit in Pune. A big city near Mumbai, wealthy business town and the place where Osho's ashram exists.
I had no idea what to do when I arrived at Pune around 05:00 PM. I think it was the day of 27th December, just between Christmas and New Year. Goa would be definitely crowded with foreigners and locals, but still if I could find a quite beach? I could have stayed in Pune, rested and decided what to do or move to Mumbai. The young guy working in a Danish company in Mumbai, who I met in the train to Jalgaon, had told me that spending New Year evening in Mumbai is very enjoyable, especially around Colaba district. It could have given me the chance to meet with my Argentinians also since their flight was from Mumbai on 31th December. I selected the 12 hour night bus trip to Goa, was feeling fit to take another long bus ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment