More Ajanta

First pics...Ajanta

Ajanta was awesome...

Here on...

Well from today I'll be alone. I fly to Ahmedabad this afternoon, from where I travel around Gujarat for 10 days and then on to Rajasthan.

I spent new years in Bangalore at a place called the Century Club. I was slightly afraid the place may had a relics of the crusty old Raj days, but they were surprisingly hip and the dance floor was packed, with no hint of curfews or immense security present despite the IISc attacks of only a few days ago.

So far I'm having a blast and have passed myself of as a tourist from Bangalore and either they're too stupid to pick it up, or are just plain sorry for me!

Btw, no pics of the South India part cos I lost my digi cam, but I have a new one now, so hopefully, some will come up very soon...watch this space!

From Bangalore...

Happy new year all! I hope 06 turns out to be more successful, prosperous and educating than 05!

The train ride to Rameshwaram

This is one ride I would highly recommend. The train leaves Chennai at 830 in the evening, and reaches Rameshwaram by 1 the next afternoon. Despite the length of the journey, the last hour will be one of the most spectacular rides experiencable!

90min out of Rameshwaram you glimpse the ocean on one side. The smell of stale fish is quite prevalent, especially due to the recent floods and hurricane. As you keep going the sea becomes more constant, until it is right next to the tracks. You could jump from the train into the Bay of Bengal. Rameshawaram is an island connected to the mainland by initially rail and then some years later, by road. As you reach the final point of the mainland, clear blue water apprears on both sides - the train is still on solid land, but there's space for nothing else. Mainland India thins out and before you know it, you're on a bridge. Its an awesome sight and no words can do justice to it. Be there to experience it.

Been a while...

Ok, so this is my first post in about a month, and i'm hangin out in Aurangabad at Sify internet cafe. The last month has gone quite quickly, and I'll hardly be surprised if teh next few months flies past just as quick.

As a quick summary, this is where I've been in the past month: colombo, chennai, rameshwaram, madurai, kanyakumari, trivandrum, bombay and now aurangabad.

So I'll touch on a few of the highlights of teh past month...

The past (fast) week

Its hard to believe that I've been here almost a week. Time has really flown
by.

Actually we hit the ground running, so three hasn't been much down time
since I left. The flight itself was quite boring. Watched a total of 3
movies, which I can't even remember - thats how memorable they were! The
KL-Bangalore leg was the worse (than Sydney-KL), I think only becasue sleep
was at a premium and the quality of the service and amenities quite low.

In any case we made it unscathed, except for some lack of sleep. The first
thing I noticed was that even in the early morning, while traffic was scarce
the drive still never reached past 60kph. Surprising, but then I guess the
traffic is never used to travelling at anything past that, so despite the
chance, cars still prefer to crawl.

On Monday morning, my first course of business was to get my sim. To obtain
a sim one needs offical proff of a local address, and a photo and so on. Due
to that, my cousin now has about 3 or 4 sims under his name, but doesn't
keep a phone!

Its actually been raining here ever since we landed. The norm is for clear
skies and pleasant weather, but in the evenings we actually need to wear
trackies to survive! Its very close to a Sydney autumn. The worst thing,
though is the rain. Or rather drizzle. It starts and stops whenever, and due
to the great state of the roads, most places are afflicted by slush and
garbage.

The roads actually are really bad. The water makes it worse. When its good
its real good, but otherwise the place is a mess. To add to the problem,
planning is a mess, and "encroachment" also plays a part. The end result is
litigation to resolve the crisis, even to build or repair a small inside
road.

We visited Srirangapatnam on Wednesday (? - days are a mush!). We have a
family home there, dating back a coupl of hundred years, which is always a
great place to visit. The town used to be within the fort of kings such as
Haider Ali and Tippu Sultan. It lies next to the Cauvery River and is quite
famous for the Ranganathaswamy Temple.

Anyways, also did some shopping and so on, and things for the wedding are in
full swing.

Hopefully will be able to post some pics later...