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I love being in a country where I can pick my nose freely and talk about my bowel movements.
Finally made it out of Manali and am back on the move. Left town on the 20th and not much happened during our last few days. Well, other than the dozens of calls and offers from random men who saw us at the wedding and wanted our company. An apple farmer I spoke with for all of 10 minutes had his birthday party 2 nights in a row hoping I would show up for him. One man was even willing to pay our friend Challa up to 45000 rupees (about 1000 CAN)to have just one of us girls for "one shot". I am very happy to say I will never know what that means. Yes, it was time to leave Manali.
Getting to our second destination was a bit of a hassal. We took an overnight bus to Delhi and had to catch our train from Agra to Aurangabad that evening at 4:30. By the time we took a taxi over to Agra, we figured we'd have about 2 hours in town, about enough time to go see the Taj and get out. What I never understand is cab drivers willing to lose a sale, especially when you are willing to overpay him to save on time and convenience. We asked one guy to take us to Agra (roughly a 3-4 hour drive) for 4000 rupees (about 100 CAN), pretty good deal for an Indian man but he did not seem impressed with having to do his job at all. We then asked him if he could stop by a McDonalds on the way out of town as we just spent 15 hours on a bus and needed to pee and grab a small bite. He flat out refused, claiming that the nearest McDonald's was 3 hours away. We told him that there is one by the bus station which is only 5 minutes away. No, it's not on the way to Agra. So that ended that conversation. We grabbed our bags and jumped in a rickshaw who took us for food and then found us a taxi.
The taxi ride ended up taking almost 5 hours. No Taj Mahal for us this time. We got to Agra just in time to catch our 19 hour night train to Aurangabad.
Now our train ride was like most others, fairly uneventful. We thought we were in a 2 tiered AC car but some how got placed in a 3 tiered one. Whatever, no problem. The real action came after the lights went out. I woke up around 11:30 to shouts from below my bunk. "If you touch me again I call the f***ing police! BAS! BANCHUO" (trans. Stop! Sister f***er! We have the boy in Manali to thank for that line). Poor poor Andrea, sleeping peacefully on her middle bunk, got felt up in the darkness by the creepy old Indian man. God bless India.
Aurangabad is not much of a city, but useful as a station area for visiting the Ellora and Ajanta caves. These caves are not caves as such, but rather temples, shrines and monasteries carved straight out of a cliff face. Most were constructed between the 3rd and the 6th centuries. Ajanta is purely a Buddhist structure, while Ellora contains Buddhist areas as well as Jain and Hindu sections. I have never seen anything so incredible in my life. The precision of the sculptures, the symmetry to which rooms were constructed, some rooms even had fresco paintings all over the walls and ceilings. I was in rapture.
What is most incredible to me is how closely all religions, cultures and languages over lap. Many of the paintings and the layouts of the temples have a similar contrast to those within Christianity. Did you know that Ananas means pineapple in French, Ukrainian AND Hindi?! It's the most amazing sensation to realize and discover first hand that we are all the same people from the same place. Man may have created borders between each other, but humanity will always be tied by the same knot.
After Ellora, Ajanta and my anthropological orgasm, we hopped another (freezing cold) night bus for Goa, ending up in the sleepy little beach town of Arambol. Our main purpose here was to look for an apartment to rent for December. Brit and I spent a full day wandering around, looking at places, e-mailing agents and eventually walking through town asking any vendor we came across if the had a place for us to stay. Finally, at the end of the day and our final stop, we found our Indian Nirvana.
Still in the process of being finished, our awesome flat has a huge living room with balcony, 2 bedrooms, a beautiful kitchen, and lots of floor space for whatever randoms we can convince to come visit. We already have our Manali boys ready to come down for a few weeks, and have partially convinced our friends Jay, Ella and the newly acquired Jeff (unfortunately a Calgarian but an Albertan nonetheless) to back track up to Goa for Christmas at our place. I am now on the lookout for sour cream for my Indian pyrohy.
After a couple days in Arambol, we headed 25 km down the road to Ajuna, which is where I am now. I'm getting sun, I've gotten henna, and we are finally at our wits end with the ladies hawking their wares. But life is good. We've met up with Marc and Michelle once again. Friday night we went out to meet some of Marc's local friends he met the last time he was in India. His friend is the proud owner of a python, cobra and alligator. I kissed the gator and touched the python. That's right, I actually touched a snake. No one is more surprised than I. Rum truly is liquid courage.
Seeing as I got tattooed in Nepal, I thought it was time to do something equally fitting in India. So, naturally, I got pierced. And you will never guess where. My ears! I believe my mother's reaction to the news was "Really?! Like a normal person?!?!" I think she was slightly disappointed in my conventionalness, but she'll never admit it.
Last night was October 31st. Halloween and Brittany's birthday. We tore it up in proper style. We made friends with the owner of one of the restaurants who brought in a cake for her and everything. Cannot believe it is already November. Time has been flying by. At the same time, I definitely feel like I have been getting the most out of my travels. I am so much more in love with India than I ever thought I'd be. I am also in love with beach cows.
- comments
Keshab Thanks for your posting. Very nice to read your blog and know that you have been through Very exciting and adventurous journey. Have greater fun there in India.
Joyce Parmar What a great Blog, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading of your adventures. Happy you're taking good care of Andrea!! I still haven't made it to India but one of these days. Thank you and happy travels.
Steph Now you know why I get off on anthropology.