India - Madurai/Pondicherry/Mamallapuram

We left the North of India to go South East. We landed in Madurai and it felt like a different country. In Northern India we visited the must-see sights of a classic tour in the country. Tourism seems less industrialized in the South and the presence of the Bay of Bengal brings a cooler atmosphere.

Madurai possesses a spectacular hindu temple complex called Sri Meenakshi Temple. This huge sight of six hectares is a strange ensemble of corridors, open spaces with sculpted pillars, golden statues and shrines, fully decorated and painted in the most garish colors.

 

The city is also a textile centre which History was marked by Gandhi's decision, in 1921, to start wearing only the khadi which looks like a big dipper to us. In fact only in Southern India, we saw men wearing this homespun cloth.

A memorial museum is dedicated to Gandhi in town, where is kept the long loincloth Gandhi was wearing when he was killed. The museum illustrates the whole story of the two hundrer years fight for independance against British colonisation.

******

Our next stop was for a former French colony: Pondicherry now Puducherry. The French colonial quartier with its big mansions full of tree flowers has a characteristic charm. We were really happy to find some sort of French restaurant there. And finally Luis was able to eat a beef steak in the country of sacred cows!

Ecole française

The small town is organized around the seashore. It is really relaxing to walk around the straight wide streets full of vegetation. There are not that many cars, only some autorickshaws going around. Just the perfect place to spend a couple of days!

Seafront promenade

******

Mamallapuram is an easy-going village between Pondicherry and Chennai (the former Madras) where we have to go to take our plane to Thailand. We ended up staying in Mamallapuram more than we had initially planned, to enjoy the tropical beach and the peacefulness. Like real holidays, we went to the beach every day! :)

Still officially in the dry season, the weather seemed a lot like the beginning of the monsoon, the rainy period. It was raining every night while, during the day, the heavy temperature was cooled by some clouds hiding the sun.

This village was striken by the 2004 tsunami but is pretty well reconstructed. Some beachfront restaurant put up the before/after photos. Still dozens of fishermen pull in their boats on the beach every afternoon when they come back with prolific catch.

But Mamallapuram is more famous for its tradition of stone carving and some ancient monolithic rock carvings:

Packing some statues...

 The Five Rathas, monolitic cut-rocked temples

The Shore Temple facing the Bay of Bengal

Arjuna's Penance

******

Could you help us to find the name of this fruit?

After drinking the juice, you eat its heart..

India - Jaipur/Pushkar

We went to Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan state, the second pink city in the world after Toulouse of course! ;)

Hawa Mahal, Wind Palace

The city centre is not that extraordinary but a few kilometres away stands the impressive Amber Fort. Its four level walls enclose a luxuriant palace complex:

Suraj Pol, sun gate

Diwan-i-Khas, private audience hall

Raja Man Singh Palace

The temple of the Sun God or monkey temple looks like a western cinema set: some improbable temples nested in a narrow valley surrounded by black mountains:

******

As we did not succeed in meeting people outside tourist intercourse, we tried to couchsurf in India. For that we choose Jaipur and our request was accepted by a friendly newly married man. Unfortunately our time in Jaipur matched with some festivities in his cast and part of his family was also hosted at his place. Therefore it was obliging of him to offer us a place to crash in the basement of the house.

We would have had to sleep on some blankets piled up on a concrete floor in an area which looked like a pig stall! It would have been ok with us except for the little menagerie downstairs: crickets and other crawling unidentified insects but above all various green and black lizards three times the size and the width of lizards in Europe!! We prefered then opting for an hotel.

And we learned that we were right: in that house were also hosted three other surfers, in the same basement but in a closed room with a bed. We met them at Amber Fort the next morning and they told us that the night we were supposed to stay there, they found a scorpion in the basement!!

******

The village of Pushkar in another tourist attraction in Rhajastan and one of the five sacred pilgrimage sites for Hindus. There, alcohol and public effusions are forbidden. The streets are organized around a holy lake where fifty two ghats (series of steps) leads to the water. Like in Varanasi the lake is used for sacred bath. We found this place relaxing but not really fascinating. A two hours walk in the narrow streets around the lake and that's it!

 Pushkar Sarovar (lake) & ghats

Street in Puskhar

******

Our India visit has been entertained by many strange meetings with the animal world. First of all there are the familiar encounters in the streets with cows, pigs, sheeps and squirrels. The cows are sacred animals in India. Some of them are attached and taken care of but it seems that the majority of them is left wandering in city streets, on the roads and even on the highways! They usually eat the garbage there. One Indian told us that cows eat everything, even plastics! We saw once a kid emptying his garbage plastic bag in front of a cow who had to do the recycling job... Animal protection has definitely a lot of work to do here!

 In front of the Temple of the Sun God, near Jaipur

In Agra fort, Agra

Maybe the frequent meetings with some exotic animals were a lot more exciting.

Walk to Amber Fort, Jaipur

At the entrance of Amber Fort, Jaipur

At the temple of the Sun God, near Jaipur

In Amber Fort, Jaipur

The most common animals we have to deal with during our strip are the evil mosquitos! And yes, every eight hours, we have to put mosquito repellent on our skin. But Luis found the ultimate weapon: the mosquito electrocuting racket!!

India - Khajuraho/Agra

We spent two days in a village called Khajuraho situated on the road between Varanasi and Agra. Khajuraho is a must-see sight for its huge refined temples, fully sculpted on the façades and in the interior. Those temples are famous for the Kamasutra/erotic scenes sculpted there. In reality those scenes are maybe one percent of the sculptures on the temples and only on its outside façades. The other carvings represent god and goddesses, real or imaginary animals, floral patterns and so on.

Lakshmana Temple

Kandariya Mahadeva Temple

Lakshiman Temple

Interior of the Lakshmana Temple

There is a dozen of well preserved temples, the western group of temples, disposed in a very quiet and well-cured park. The ensemble is really beautiful – another Unesco world heritage site – and deserves a long walk, only disturbed by the obligation of taking off ones shoes before entering every temple.

 

In Nandi Shrine

******

The little village is also pleasant and relaxing. We knew it would be useful to rest there before going to the tourist mainland: the Taj Mahal!! This wonder of the world fully deserves its reputation of beauty and grace. We were lucky enough to admire colours changing on the marble of its dome and walls during the sunset. At that moment, we completely forget everything we got through to arrive there, the tiredness, the back pain and the stomac disorders.

Southern view of the Taj Mahal

Western view of the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is located in a city called Agra. This huge mausoleum comes from a love story: it was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to grieve, honor and burry his third and favourite wife who died giving birth to their 14^th child.

We all have in mind images of the Taj Mahal with the dome and the four minarets. But we were wondering what the interior looks like.. And it was kind of a deception for us. Now what we remember of it is the strong smell of bare feet! :/

 Interior chamber, tombs of Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal

 The Great gate, gateway to the Taj Mahal

The two main sites in Agra are related to Shah Jahan. Agra fort was his residence. Shah Jahan spent his last seven years emprisonned in this fort by his son. He surely died in a tower with a marble balcony with a view of the Taj Mahal:

Tower Musamman Burj with the Taj Mahal in the background

Agra fort is a typical Indian fort with huge red sandstone walls and spendid pavilions. It was inhabited by several emperors who had time to embellish the construction. Agra fort is smaller but more beautiful and better structured than the Red Fort in New Delhi.

Entrance of Agra fort

 

Inside Agra fort

******

India is a real paradise for vegetarians, the first country we visit where vegetarians seem more respected than carnivores. In fact, every manufactured product has a green logo to indicate it is suitable for vegetarians!! Thank you!!:))

And after 13 years, Axelle was finally able to eat a Mc Donalds meal with a Mc Veggie burger! Not that she really missed it but it is necessary to take a break from Indian food once in a while. Even when a meal is supposed to be not spicy, for example sweet curry, we have to drink one liter of water and eat three tandoori bread each!! And the mouth is still burning afterwards!

India - Amritsar/Varanasi

In our Indian outfit!

Our first visit out of New Delhi was for the Sikhs' holiest place, Amritsar, and the famous shrine called the Golden Temple. We discovered the temple by night. Its golden walls and dome reflect in the huge surrounding pool. To walk around the pool with barefoot on the marble floor, listening to the continuous chant of prayers and religious songs... What a relaxing athmosphere! Maybe the thirty degrees temperature at the night also helps to this peacefulness.

In this temple not only the women but also the men have to cover their heads. Axelle was already used to wear the veil in Iran but for Luis it was a premiere! And only men can take a holy bath in the pool around the Golden Temple.

Finally the first place in India we did not feel the burden of being a Western walking wallet! We actually had nice talks with a few Indians in the temple area. And they did not even try to sell us anything at the end!! It seems that everyone talking to us in New Delhi had something to sell. We got used to the "hello Sir, where are you from? ... Don't you want to visit my shop/restaurant/factory/taxi/hotel/agency/art gallery?"

In Amritsar, we were approched by an old man who explained to us the ritual and the ceremony to come. Every morning at 4am, the holy book is transfered to the Golden Temple. And every evening there is the second ceremony at 10pm, when the holy book is taken to the another temple for the night so that the Golden Temple can be washed with water and milk. Also we were touched by a shy young boy who came to us only because it was his dream to speak with a foreign man! And an amusing group of three guys asked to take pictures with us:

******

The Mata Temple was a funny place to visit, mostly because of its labyrinthine route. This Hindu cave temple is famous in India because reputed to help women getting pregnant. We walked through the marked route as well but got lost in the middle of the hankle-deep waterways... ;)

 

 A very low tunnel of the Mata Temple circuit

We saw a part of Indian History with a visit in Jallianwala Bagh. In this park the British autorities killed and wounded about 2.000 Indians who were peacefully demonstrating against a colonial Act. It is really impressive to see the bullets still in several walls around the park, 92 years after.

******

Varanasi is a city located 800 kilometers south-east of New Delhi. There we found again that very unpleasant attitude from locals toward us and tourists in general.

In this city we did live some of the strangest episodes of our trip till now and another one quite funny as well. For example we saw a naked man wandering in the street. Crazy or not, he did have a great full body tan! :) Or we saw a cow laying down inside a clothes boutique against the counter just chilling under the AC system and nobody seemed to care!

Another example: the first tuk tuk bike we took in this city was driven by an old and very emaciated man. We choose him at first because we wanted to help him earn his life. But during our ride we were feeling so bad for this man who could not pedal hard enough to carry us. Sometimes in the crossroads we thought about stepping off and pushing the tuk tuk. Anyway we stopped feeling bad for him when in the middle of the ride he was lost and asked somebody in the street to ask us again where we wanted to go. When he understood he told us to pay four times the price we had agreed on in the first place! After some more negociation (as we have learned this last six weeks) we did get to our destination and for the price we had decided at the beginning!

But the funniest story was our mistake: when we arrived at the train station in Varanasi a driver was waiting for us. We followed him to his car where he started talking with somebody in another car. We waited a couple of minutes and started to ask him if we could put our heavy bags in the trunk. He did not seem to understand so we raised our voices showing we wanted to go to the hotel so we could rest. We were insisting and kind of shouting. The old man was just waving us to go away and leave him alone. It took us five more minutes to realize.. we had followed the wrong guy! Ups! :/ Still now, writing this episode makes us laugh: the scary look in the man's eyes, the people he was talking to teasing him and us getting angry towards the man... Ups again!

****** 

Varanasi is another spiritual city but for Hindus where they come to wash their sins or cremate their loved ones on the western bank of the Ganges river. Every sunrise and sunset takes place a religious ceremony dedicated to Shiva at Dasaswamedh Ghat. The main attractions in Varanasi are the very narrow streets of the old town and the ghats, the long stairs leading to the water where people wash their clothes, play or take a bath.

On the bank of the Ganges

Ghats and Ganges River

Ganga aarti ceremony at the Dasaswamedh Ghat

Ganga aarti ceremony at the Dasaswamedh Ghat

Near Varanasi, a little village named Sarnat hosts a large variety of temples and churches from different religions. This place is especially one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage spot because Buddha made his first preach there.

Mulagandha Kuty Vihara

Thai Monastery