The Trip
Bombay to Beijing: Flew to Mumbai in March 2004 and backpacked through India, Nepal, Tibet and China for more than 4 months. The trip is all over now, but the photos and blogs are still with us.
Click to open fullsize map of route.
Currently...
Getting ready for my next big trip - a cycle tour across Japan, top to bottom. The plan is to set off in August from the northern tip of Japan and just keep on pedaling south.
More here...
Archives
March 2004April 2004
March 26, 2004
The Prince of Bikaner
In Delhi today, and the final of the India-Pakistan cricket series is being waged as I type. This is the most important series of matches in a nation where cricket is like a religion... and Sachin Tendulkar is a god. Everyone who can is now glued to their tv/radio following the match.More importantly for us though, this match amounts to some small respite from the touts and salesman who are usually the bane of every tourist. "No thanks, I'm not interested." "No thanks, I already have one." "No thanks, I've already been there." "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" Indian salesman must be about the most tenacious in the world, and it seems everyone has something to sell.
This was never more apparent than when we were fortunate enough to meet a member of the royal family of Bikner. We had just finished exploring the massive castle at Jodhpur (the beautiful blue city), when a small jolly man with a large woolly moustache and a regal almost yoda-like bearing, offered to take us deeper into the palace to see some very "special" artwork. Our man turned out to be none other than the Maharaja's uncle, and the art none other than his own work.
But royalty is certainly no guarantee of artstic talent, and the Prince of Bikaner was certainly no Michelangelo. But what do you say to a prince of the realm when he proudly shows you his art (and I'm using the word "art" very loosely here) and then asks - or rather urges - you to buy it!
I try not to burst out laughing, mumble something about not having enough money on me, and not wanting to insult His Highness, but still end up the proud owner of a fine miniature camel painting, for the handsome sum of 190 rupees (about AU$5).
Finally, for your viewing pleasure, I now attach a photo of this masterpiece of royal Indian art, a very special glimpse of this rare artistic triumph:
March 24, 2004
Holy Rats
Indian religion is renowned for its acceptance of all paths and all things as sacred. But surely nowhere does this religious eclecticism reaches greater heights than at the Deshnok Karni Mata Temple of Bikaner. But this self-proclaimed "Eighth Wonder of the World" is not a place for the faint of heart.
The literally thousands of rats that infest the temple are said to be reincarnations of a divine family come to the earth to bestow their blessings upon the faithful. And as befitting such holy rodent avatars, there is a constant stream of pilgrims who come to offer milk, candies and praise. No mouse traps or Rat Sack, just countless holy rats living it up in what must be rat heaven.
Now, your average rat is an ugly, mangy, filthy little critter prone to disease, fighting, gnawing and scurrying away from people at unnerving speeds. The rats at Deshnok Karni Mata Temple on the other hand are ugly, mangy, filthy critters prone to disease, fighting, gnawing and scurrying towards people at unnerving speeds.
But there is nothing to fear! To have one of the holy rodents scuttle across your temple bare feet (already caked in rat shit) is said to be rather auspicious. I had a very auspicious day!
March 22, 2004
Michael Jackson and the Great Thar Desert
Back in the ancient fort town of Jailsamer now, after our grueling camel safari deep into the great Thar Desert of western India.
Most travellers (except perhaps the rare American tourist, with the telltale shorts, white socks and camcorder) try to travel under the illusion that they aren't really tourists at all, but are somehow having that special, more authentic experience "off the beaten track".... This was not one of those experiences.
This was a "safari" in only the most frivilous sense of the word. There were no long hot days in the sun, no arabian nights, and we saw none of Lawrence's burly firends. It was a lot more like a camel ride at the circus (complete with musicians, dancers and a Pepsi salesman) with a few token sand dunes and a few sandy chapatis thrown into the bargain.
But it was still fun in the end, and I did manage to snap the requisite camel-rider-crossing-the-dunes-beneath-the-setting-sun photo. Ahhhh.... those precious Kodak moments....
(My camel's name was Michael Jackson)
March 20, 2004
Jailsamer and the Lonely Planet
March 19, 2004
Udaipur
March 18, 2004
"Bye Bye! Chocolate?"
How much does a clean conscience cost in India? I'm figuring on about ten to twenty rupees (or about 50 Australian cents) a day.I've never really seen poverty before. But in India, you can't walk more than about 50 metres down the street without it jumping out of the pavement to ask you for something: a leper with no hands pushed around in cart; a pretty little barefoot girl holding her even littler sister, both with grimy hair, dirty faces and big weepy eyes; on old widow with no prospects, just a bright but filthy sari; a young mother lying on the street with her crying baby. "One rupees?" "One rupees?" bringing their hands (if they have any) up to their mouthes meaning "I'm hungry."
People see foreigners as walking dollar signs: someone vastly wealthy. Some people ask me how much my camera cost. "Ummm... yeah... quite a lot..." I can't bring myself to tell them it cost them more than they would earn in 5 years. The money I earnt on my Bollywood shoot was so little as to be meaningless to me, but it was still 10 times what the average Indian would make in the same time.
I usually give them something. But give money to one person: ten more appear and the first person demands more, without even pausing to thank you. It's endless, and you can't help everyone. Still wrestling with the moral implications of all this.
But it's not all quite as grim as that. Poverty doesn't always mean misery, and there are still plenty of smiles.
The cutest were the little kids in the little rural village of Mandu*. Somehow everyone in Mandu has got "hello" and "bye bye" mixed up. The kids run out of their little mud and straw houses posing for photos and saying "Bye Bye. Chocolate?"
* Mandu is littered with ruined forts and palaces. It was once the centre of an Afghan/Mogul empire, and the ancient home of a great king who devoted the better part of his life to women and song, building one palace just to house his harem of about 15,000 nubile nymphs. It's now all in ruins, but we're pretty sure that if you refilled the old stone pools, added some subtle lighting and spun a sly electric beat, it would be just about the coolest place on earth for a party.
March 12, 2004
speed bumps and blind corners
back home, we live so far from the edge that you need binoculars. in india you're so close you get vertigo. the only option is to give in to the chaos, and nowhere more so than on the road:
- in india, the notion of a 'speed bump' has been interpreted to mean a place where one should speed even more excessively, a point most excellently demonstrated by our bus driver from the ajunta caves this afternoon
- there is surely no indian word for 'blind corner'. why should going uphill around a hairpin corner with sheer cliffs looming on both sides prevent one slow bus from trying to overtake another slightly slower bus?
- 'oncoming traffic' is not something to dissuade overtaking, but merely competition for road space. there is a truck in front and a team of cow-drawn carts coming the other way. there is clearly no opportunity to overtake. but.... we overtake anyway. just sit tight and somehow it'll all work out.
sitting tight in Jalgon tonight. waiting for the morning train, trying to let go and be saved by chaos
March 10, 2004
There's no business like show business...
Just to set the record straight: The movie business is BORING!There's the cool costumes, the directors, the lights, the cameras, the big stars. But above and beyond all that is the endless waiting: the soul-crushing tedium of standing in a dust bowl under the hot Indian sun, having had to wake up at 4am that morning, dressed to the hilt in thick 18th century woollen British soldier uniforms, filming the same scene for the 7th time from the 100th angle, and realising that the entire three days it's taken to shoot will probably amount to a little over 28 seconds of actual screen-time.
But... hey... I'm in a Bollywood movie! B..B..B..B..B..B..B..B..BOLLYWOOD!
Literally pulled of a street in Bombay by a talent scout (or rather a white scout), we were whisked up to a hill station only 5 hours out of town (an Indian 5 hours that is... more like about 8 or 9 by my reckoning). The film is called "1857: The Rising" and is supposed to be a pretty big deal: starring stunning-but-short Amer Khan (a big Indian heart-throb) and directed by English Mick Ward with a funky northern accent (assistant director of Snatch) , the movie's set to be released internationally in January 2005.
with Bollywood superstar Amer Khan
If the quality of extras is anything to go by, I figure success is pretty much in the bag. I just hope I can make it to the awards ceremony.
March 3, 2004
Chip & Best
finally in india. first impression: the sweet fragrance of diesel, dogs, sweat and incense
already feeling that sensory overload that india's infamous for. like a frightened little puppy i made straight for the hotel we'd booked online. the confirmation e-mail read:
Please wel come to hotel causeway your Double Room is confirmed Tariff Rs, 1500 and best way to get our hotel from the int'l airport? Taxi? Yes sir Chip & best but you tel him Taxi man My hotel is Just oposit to Colaba Police Station Next To Leopold Cafe. Only.
not quite the 5 star experience, but passable and central (though at about US$30 a night, about 10 times what we would learn to pay elsewhere)
