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Ellora

Written by Michael Zangerle on . Posted in India

Ellora cave (18. – 22.12.)

Over a period of 5 centuries monk of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism did carve caves and temples into the rocks. They created 34 caves – 12 Buddhist (AD 600-800), 17 Hindu (AD 600-900) and 5 Jain (AD 800-1000). Some were breathtaking, real art.

The masterpiece is Kailasa Tempel. Dedicated to Shiva, it is the world largest monolithic sculpture, hewn from the rock by 7000 laborers over a 150-year period. They removed 200.000 tons of rocks. We spend some 4 hours to visit all caves and were fascinated about these marvelous rock sculptures and carvings. Always again: It is amazing what men can build.

We left for Mumbai at 5am, very nice time of the day. At least we have seen a beautiful sunrise. Around midday we arrived Mumbai and we checked in in our former hotel. Right now in India is peak season so we booked the room in advance.

We strolled around the Colaba area and went to the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal hotel. Everywhere is police and to enter the area of the Gateway of India you have to go through metal detector.

The next day we walked around Churchgate and really enjoyed the old buildings such as the Prince of Wales Museum, the High Court, the University and the St. Thomas Cathedral.

Afterwards we drove to Chowpatty Beach and were so shocked. It was low tide and everywhere was trash. We didn’t even dare to put our feed in the water cause it is toxic. What is India going to do about all the littering and trash? We dreamed of our beautiful beaches at Perhentian Island and left very soon.

In the evening we went to Leopolds, one of the hip bars here in Mumbai and just next to our hotel. We had a great conversation with two Indians and with a few pitchers of beer.

Tonight we take the sleeper train to Goa and meet with Micha’s parents in the morning. Hopefully they can fly after all this snow chaos in Europe.

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Mumbai

Written by Michael Zangerle on . Posted in India

17.-18.12.2010 and 20.-22.12.2010

With two hours delay we made it into Mumbai. We took a prepaid taxi as we did not have any fun having discussions about the prices. And guess what, the driver tried even then. He drove onto the troll road and wanted us to pay the toll. We said that we are going to call the police and took the mobile out. He took this thread as serious and turned around to drive the normal way.

As usually he did not know where to go so we played the navigator. Thanks to Lonely planet maps we found our way. As Mumbai is very expensive we took a room without bathroom.

We did not run around long as we left for Aurangabad the next day. We thought, lets save money and drive local bus to the train station. We made it into the correct bus and were dropped off at the false Mumbai Centre train station. So we took a taxi to next station as we were in time troubles now. We decided to do the taximeter as we paid only 370 IDRT for 2.5 hours ride from airport into city. He charged us the night charge as we found out later sitting in the train. Fucking criminals! All cheaters.

This makes traveling so hard in India. You have to be careful all the time and even with our knowledge about traveling in Asia. They rip you off whenever they can.

Nadine was sitting on the aisle and had to deal with people trying to sit on her lap, male locals having the belly and penis at her arm etc. They do not care but do not mean it strange. They are so used to touching people that this is absolutely normal.

7 hours later we arrived in Aurangabad and guess what, our pick up was not there.

We to a rickshaw and got the last room in the hotel. Tomorrow we go for Ellora. 0

 

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Delhi

Written by Michael Zangerle on . Posted in India

15.-17.12.201

When we arrived in Delhi our car-rickshaw driver did not know where our hotel was. So he dropped us off behind the New Delhi train station. Some locals asked us if they could show us a hotel room. As we said yes they put our bag packs onto a cycle rickshaw which should be free, that’s what they said as they would bring us to the hotel around the corner. The room was too expensive for us and of course the rickshaw driver wanted to have some money. We did not pay!!!

Surprisingly we found the hotel we had in mind just in that street, reasoning pricing and ok. The employees there were very friendly and chased the rickshaw driver away. We made our way through some dark streets seeking food. A very small fruits and vegetable market had what we were looking for and as there were many women eating we decided to do the same. It was yummy and very delicious, but damn spicy.

We slept late the next day and made our way to the government part with president residency and secretary buildings. You can see the English influence here well. It looks a little bit like in London. We went sightseeing for the Indian Gate and the Gandi Smitri. Here we could see his last steps before his assassination. Too much information about the background but we took only a brief overview.

We took the Metro which is damn cheap in Delhi. We did half Delhi and only paid 1 Euro for the two of us. Sweet!

Today we are flying into Mumbai, 2000km domestic flight.