Goodbye Curry, Hello Sushi!

Shout Outs

First up we'd just like to just say a big thank you for the hospitality we received in Pune and Mumbai. Thanks Suku and Shanta for letting us stay with you and feeding us so very, very well for the whole time we were in Pune. Also thanks to the Menons (relations of the Sukumarans) for treating us so well and putting us up for our two days in Mumbai. And thanks to Abhay and Shama (friends of the Sukumarans who have visited us in NZ) for taking us out for a nice meal while we were in Pune.



Pune

After the frantic pace of our trip, it was nice to get to the Sukumarans home in Pune and just relax for a bit. It was also hard not to relax, with all the delicious food and plush surroundings they provided us with! We did absolutely nothing for our first day there, apart from reading, eating and relaxing. The second day we added table tennis to that list. Talk about stressful.

We finally got back into it on the third day with an early bus ride to Aurangabad, about five hours away. We were on quite a tight schedule to get everything done we wanted to so after checking into our accommodation we were straight off to the local bus terminal. After a bit of confusion (and lots of hand signals) we found the bus we wanted and headed off to the Ellora Caves. These are quite a sight to behold, as temples, chapels and caves have been carved into massive rock faces over hundreds of years. The most impressive temple (out of the 34) took 7000 labourers 150 years to carve out! There are three groups of caves (Buddhist, Hindu and Jain), each with their own distinctive style. The Hindu ones are by far the most elaborate and decorative, where the Buddhists and Jains preferred a more minimalist approach. All are very impressive to see.

After staying the night in Aurangabad (and demolishing a whole tandoori chicken in delicious masala sauce), we were up early to make the two hour trip out to the Ajanta Caves. These are similar to the Ellora Caves, although they all are Buddhist. The unique feature at Ajanta is that paintings adorn many of the walls and ceilings. These caves and temples were possibly even harder to produce as they have been cut into steep rock faces, instead of the sloping rock of Ellora. Often the structures that they built were carved from the top down. Planning that sort of thing must've been a nightmare.

After arriving back from Aurangabad, we also got a guided tour of Pune from Suku. This included a trip to a museum that housed one man's collection of over 20,000 Indian artifacts. It had all kinds of bits and pieces but the musical instruments were particularly impressive (picture a sitar with 30 or 40 strings). We also checked out the hustle and bustle of Old Pune's narrow streets and large markets, which included a stop off to get a bunch of tasty Indian sweets. These were later devoured, along with a few Kingfishers, while watching NZ collapse against Sri Lanka in the World Cup.

Mumbai

... or Bombay as everyone still calls it. Seeing as we had such a good time in Pune we only gave Bombay one night. We stayed with Shanta's niece Lili, her husband Madhavan and son Shankar. They were really cool and looked after us very well. Lili had a really good art exhibition in Colaba, which is a nice area of the city by the sea which we went to visit on the first day. It was strange to be in a modern city by the sea after being in desert towns for much of our trip. Bombay is the most "happening" city in India, not so segregated by sex or class and home to many major businesses as well as all the movie stars. The population there is 16.6 million, that's 4 times the population of New Zealand (or 1,333 times the population of Gore, in case you were wondering). Our first afternoon there we checked out Lili's art exhibition (which was very cool!) and wandered down Colaba Causeway by the sea. Saw the India Gate and were accosted by upwards of 40 keen entrepreneurs trying to sell us everything under the sun. We had a late lunch at a Leopold's cafe, where we saw more foreigners than the rest of the trip combined! Shows you the power of being listed in Lonely Planet!

The following day we went for a walk up Malabar Hill that overlooked the city and then went back to Colaba with Shankar to pick up some last minute cheap shopping (the last chance we will get for a while) and see some more of the city. After yet another brilliant lunch we got a taxi to the airport to catch our plane to KL and ultimately Japan. They tell you to be at the airport 3 hours before your flight which we thought was heaps of time. People started lining up for the flight even before that, so by the time we joined the line it was snaking way back into the terminal. After an hour and then some we got to the ticket counter only to find out that we had to have our bags X-rayed first (trust me, there was no sign or mention of this anywhere!). So 45 minutes in the X-ray line to prove my guitar and Marcus's camera tripod were not automatic weapons, we managed to push our way to the front of the ticket line (it was still to the back of the terminal and we were in no mood to line up again!). We made it through OK in the end, just seemed like India didnt want to let us go without one final crack at us!

India - All Done!

Yep, we've done it and come out the other end in one piece! It was a totally different trip than our S.E. Asian experience. A more conservative culture and government prohibition meant there were no debauched nights of drinking, and it has been the most meat-free 3 weeks either of us have ever had. Vegetarian dishes in India are much cheaper, taste just as good and are less likely to make you sick.

I dont want to sound like one of those cliche toting travel writers, but it's been a trip of contrasts and extremes. India is very much split between the rich and the poor, the latter who can be seen begging and living in the streets in all of the places we visited. 350 - 400 million people here live under the poverty line. You can pay $10 to travel 1,000km in the cheap seats of a train, or hundreds to do it in elaborate luxury (we went for the cheap seats of course). We've seen some of the greatest structures ever built and walked through some of the worst slums in the world. People have attempted to scam us, rob us and rip us off, yet the highlight has been meeting some of the most friendly and generous people that we've ever met in our lives.

The place is huge and if you really need to make multiple trips or one really long one to see the whole country properly. The size of the country and population really puts your little island nation at the bottom of the world into perspective. There are 7 million new broadband connections established here each month. The largest scotch distributor, who only distributes in India is also the 3rd largest in the world!

Cricket

For our European and American friends, this is the sport with the square bats and the 3 sticks in the ground. At the time of writing this the Cricket World Cup is in progress and New Zealand is looking like a contender for the finals. Cricket is the biggest sport in India, you could possibly go as far as saying it's the biggest thing in India after Bollywood. Unfortunately India were knocked out of the tournament in the first round, which is a pity as a victory celebration here would be a site to see! Anyway, walking round India many of the locals will strike up a conversation with the line "What is your country". When you reply "New Zealand" their faces light up as they start to rattle off names of the NZ cricket team and tell us that New Zealand will win the World Cup. You can talk cricket for hours here if you want. We were in a restaurant the other night just as NZ vs Ireland was starting. The restaurant owner asked us where we were from, we told him New Zealand, you would have thought we told him we were from the royal family or something! He quickly arranged his staff to crank on a TV with the match, find the English comm entry (loud enough to drown the restaurant music) and seated us both in prime viewing positions, re-locating the fan to make sure we were comfortable! It's a good time to be a kiwi here!


The Slick Slugs

Here are the final shots of our three week efforts. As an added bonus we've also been growing our hair so we could pull off the slick look that often accompanies a dirty mo in these parts! Alas, our face fungus is now gone, but fear not, as it may make a comeback in some other part of the world...

The Marcus and Kev Travel Awards - India

Best Beer Category: 1. Kingfisher..... that's it, that's all there was!

Best Food Category: 1. Masala Dosa, 2. The Rest - it was all so good!

Most Impressive Category: 1. Taj Mahal, 2. Ellora and Ajanta Caves, 3= Jaipur Fort, 3= The 'staches

Best Local Experience Category: 1. Suku and Shanta's!, 2. Camel Trek in Jaisalmer, 3. Riding on the local buses

Worst Experience Category: 1. Delhi Belly, 2. The Jaipur - Jaisalmer Train Abomination, 3. Crazy Beggar in Jaipur

Best Value Category: 1. Train Tickets, 2. Food, 3. Public Buses

Best City Category: 1. Jaisalmer, 2. Pune, 3. Mumbai

The Stats:

Days: 21
Distance Travelled: 2,752.46km
Time Spent Travelling: 68 hours
Money Spent: $375.00 US each
Beer Consumed: 6 Litres each (KL Airport is currently threatening to top this due to the unlimited beer available in the club lounge!)
Days we didn't drink alcohol: 17
Days on which we ate meat: 6
Avg Temp in Day: 38-42 C
Avg Temp at Night: 24-26 C
Days of Rain: 0
Average amount of personal space in public areas: 3cm
Number of attempted scams: 12
Number of approaches by beggars: 396
Nights in the same bed: 21 (it's single or double only here... cosy)