Travel Week!

vidhana soudha

Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore

Hello all!
I am finally back to writing again. (And I got my internet back up!). I did get back from traveling about a week ago but as soon as I returned to Manipal I was inundated with assignments and papers. Basically I had double the work but half the drive to do it due to the crazy whirlwind of travel week.

So I will attempt to cover the highlights of our trip but I doubt I will think of everything. We covered about five places in southern India in just ten days. The group I was with consisted of eight study abroad students from the U.S and our program coordinator.

It started off with a late night flight from Mangalore to Bangalore (the capitol city of Karnataka state). The two hour drive from Manipal to the Mangalore airport was especially rough for me. I have a tendency to get motion sickness in most moving vehicles and the driver of our van was pretty aggressive while driving down some really windy roads. I bet you can guess what happened. I got sick! When we finally arrived at the airport I remembered that I had bought some motion sickness pills from the Manipal Drug House (the pharmacy) so I took one as per the pharmacist’s directions. Of course, the pill turned out to be VERY strong and I passed out as soon as I sat down in the airplane. The next part of the night is kind of a big blur, but I remember getting in another small bus once we arrived in Bangalore. Someone woke me up at one point and said we were getting out to eat dinner at some restaurant (at around midnight). When we got inside the restaurant the waiter told us it was actually closed but he was nice enough to let us sit down and eat some rice and noodles which was all they had left. I hardly remember eating as I was in a state of delirium and practically falling asleep at the table. Anyway, we did eventually end up at our first hotel in Bangalore and a bed never felt so good in my life.

The next day we visited the Vidhana Soudha which is kind of similar to a state capitol building. It’s a huge, imposing building that houses Karnataka’s state legislature. We got a tour of the inside which was very interesting and much different than the capitol buildings which you would see in the U.S. One of the most interesting things about it is that the record keeping system has not changed since the time of independence. Records are all kept on paper and they are stacked and tied with string, piled up in rooms from the floor to the ceiling. For the rest of the day we got a chance to shop around the city for a bit and we also went to meet a member of Karnataka’s congress party. We had a little chat with him over some chai and biscuits about what his job is like and how he perceives the whole anti-corruption movement and such. I actually found out that he did his masters degree at American University which was such a coincidence since me and another one of the students in the group both go to AU also.

Bangalore

Lalbagh botanical gardens in Bangalore

That night we had dinner on the balcony of a fancy restaurant on the 13th floor of a building in downtown Bangalore and we stayed the night at the Bangalore Club. The next day we tooled around the city a bit more and took a walk around the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens which was a nice and peaceful retreat from the traffic and chaos of the city. After a lot of shopping we boarded the nine hour night train to Hampi. The train was pretty uneventful because a little bit after it started moving I got in my bed and went to sleep. Surprisingly, I slept really well. Actually, almost too well because about 30 seconds before it stopped in Hampi I got woken up and pretty much had to grab my stuff and run off of the train, all without my contacts in.

The group at the gardens

My upper bunk bed on the overnight train

Hampi ruins

Hampi was amazing. The landscape there makes you feel like you’re in some sort of fantasy land. There are giant boulders strewn about everywhere amid remnants of the 14th century Vijayanagar empire. It was the most powerful empire in south India during that time period. After getting to our hotel, our driver took us around Hampi and we stopped at several of the ruins to walk around. We also had a tour guide which was really helpful otherwise you don’t know what you’re looking at. The architecture was incredible and you could tell how advanced the empire must have been for it’s time. We went inside the main temple in Hampi which is actually from the Vijayanagara empire and is the only temple from the empire still in use today. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but the temple complex was much bigger than most of the other temples I’ve been to. It sort of felt like stepping back in time. Also, along the main bazaar road in Hampi which branches off from the main temple, are rows of stone houses and shops which were part of the empire and which are still being used today by families and businesses.

The main Hampi temple still in use

Hampi

Hampi

Houses in Hampi

Hampi

Riding bikes around Hampi

The next day we rented bikes and rode around Hampi to see some of the sites that we didn’t get to the day before. Despite my brakes not working on my bike, I loved being able to finally ride a bike in India. I think it’s actually a lot easier to ride bikes on many of the roads than it is in a car. While we were riding along we stopped to watch a procession consisting of many of the villagers and an elephant. I was told it’s an annual hindu procession called durga pooja. There were a bunch of women carrying jugs on their heads and men playing drums. At one point a women with a jug on her head started screaming and all the others in the procession rushed toward her and had to hold her up. It was quite startling, but I learned that it’s common for the women to be overtaken with emotion during this holiday. It was very interesting to watch.

The Durga Pooja procession in Hampi

My thali at the Mango Tree Restaurant

In Hampi there is this amazing restaurant called the Mango Tree. You have to walk a down a little path through a banana plantation and the restaurant is outside on the top of a hill. You sit on mats on the floor outside which is basically a terraced hill and the view is gorgeous. I had a mango lassi and a thali served on a banana leaf. When we were done eating we just sat back and took a little nap. It was definitely the best lunch place I’v been to so far in terms of atmosphere.

We took a night train again to Bangalore but just to stop over. In Bangalore we met our driver again who drove us about 4 hours to Mysore. Mysore was whirring with excitement, not to mention traffic, when we got there. The annual hindu festival, Dasara,  was being celebrated. Dasara is supposed to be about the battle between good and evil. Every year people from all over come to Mysore to see the Mysore Palace all lit up at night and then to attend the popular Dasara procession the next morning in front of the palace. Apparently the population of Mysore more than doubles during this festival.

Chamundi temple and the sea of people at Chamundi hill

Scary and pesty monkeys kept stealing bananas. This one stole 2.

That afternoon we went to the top of Chamundi Hill which is a very sacred place for Hindus. The top of the hill overlooks the city of Mysore and it also is home to the Chamundi Temple. The entire hill was completely full of people going to see the famous temple and receive darshan. Trying to enter the temple and receive darshan was quite the feat. We had to push our way into the line leading into the temple and wait for a while among persistent monkeys who kept stealing bananas from people. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people be so aggressive to get in to a temple; I was practically pushed up against the wall when I finally got inside. But I’d say it was a pretty good opportunity to see how religion plays such a huge role in India. It also reinforced fact that you should never expect any sort of personal space whatsoever.

Mysore palace

The crowds coming to see the Mysore Palace

At night our driver took us from our hotel to the Mysore Palace so we could walk around and see the palace all lit up. About two thirds of the way there and after 30 minutes of waiting in absolute stand-still traffic we realized we were never actually going to make it to the palace so we all got out and walked the rest of the way. It was still sort of treacherous walking to the palace because the motorcyclists started realizing that they could move faster if they drove on the sidewalks. Man, why did no one think of that before?! Maybe because a sidewalk is for walking. The palace was gorgeous at night and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many lights in my life. It was awesome walking around the palace and just experiencing the energy of all the people there.

Dasara procession in Mysore

Mysore Palace in the day time

The next morning we got up to go to the palace again to watch the Dasara procession. There were thousands of people there and luckily we had gotten tickets ahead of time which also meant that we got to sit down. The procession almost reminded me of the Macy’s Day Parade or something because of the huge line of floats that paraded by but, of course, the floats all had something to do with India. I felt like the procession was more of a modern event that someone had created so they could charge people to get good seats and make a lot of money on a hindu holiday that already existed. There was really nothing religious about it. Again, a lot of people here were especially aggressive and pushy. For example, there was a lady behind us who kept standing up to see the procession better and the man behind her started to yell at her. It soon turned into a full blown yelling match and when the guy started waving the tip of his umbrella at her face we decided to leave.

We drove to The Kabini River Lodge that night with our trusty driver. It’s sort of an eco-resort in the middle of a big wildlife conservation area. What was supposed to be just a 4 hour journey from Mysore to Kabini turned out to be an 8 hour drive on the most treacherous roads I have experienced in India so far. The director who was traveling with us said she had been down the same road about 6 months ago and it was bad then, but she said it was much worse this time around. After the monsoons the roads get eroded and the holes that already exist get bigger and deeper. The only way I can really describe it is that it resembled a mogul course. I also wouldn’t consider the van we were in to be the best vehicle for the job. At one point we were driving through a small village and came across a large group of people who were celebrating dasara by parading through the streets and playing music. They also apparently had a tradition of lighting small fires in a line down the center of the narrow village road. As there was no other way to Kabini or through the village our driver proceeded to slowly drive over these fires while trying not to hit the people. I think everyone was pretty delirious at that time because it was pretty late at night. I somewhat glanced at the other people on the van and exchanged concerned looks while someone said “it probably isn’t safe to be driving over fire right now”. The driver didn’t look too concerned though and it was over soon enough.

The next morning everyone woke up early to go on a morning safari to hopefully be able to see some elephants and tigers. I, however, woke up and my eye was completely red and it felt like someone was continuously pouring soap over the back of my eyeball. I couldn’t see that well and was in so much pain that I decided to stay back at the lodge while the others went on the safari. It was disappointing but I don’t think I could have enjoyed it all that much. I ended up being taken to a small one room type clinic in the next village where a doctor who commuted everyday from Mysore worked. I got some pretty interesting stares while waiting for the doctor in the clinic because I’m pretty sure they don’t get too many foreigners coming to see the doctor there. It just turned out to be conjunctivitis and the doctor prescribed me some pain killers and eye drops. It was really pretty simple. Also, the bottle of eye drops only cost me about 6 cents and started working within an hour after I used them.

My wonderful hotel room in Ooty with a fireplace

The western ghats and me

After stopping at the pharmacy we were on our way to the hill station in the next state, Tamil Nadu. It’s called Ooty and was basically where all the Brits lived during the summer because it was too hot for them to stay near the coasts. Today it’s a beautiful little city on the top of the Western Ghats with some colonial remnants such as chocolate shops and bed and breakfasts. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called King’s Cliff which is on the outskirts of the city at the top of a hill. I think it was my favorite hotel we stayed in. There were little rooms for reading, each with a fireplace, comfy chairs and beanbags. There also was a multi-cuisine restaurant for dinner and breakfast was served outside in the garden in a small glass house. My room had a king sized bed and a fireplace. And yes, there was a need for the fireplace at night time because it got below freezing when the sun went down. I probably could have stayed there for at least a week doing nothing but laying in bed by the fireplace.

Nilgiri Hills

Tea plantations in the Nilgiri Hills

After a cozy night at the B&B we drove a little bit outside of Ooty to the Nilgiri hills which is basically a more rural area with a lot of tea plantations and small villages. Our first stop was the Kurumba tribal village. After getting out of the van it was about a 45 minute walk through the hills and tea plantations to get to the village. The Kurumbas are a tribe from that area who were originally forest dwellers and who knew how to survive on the forest. They have several villages scattered throughout that general area of the Western Ghats. It was a really different feeling walking into a village which is not reachable by car. It felt like we were so far from everything having to do with the city and pollution (even though we weren’t that far). When we first walked in to the village I was surprised at how friendly the people were and how quickly they welcomed us in to their village. It also struck me how clean the village was. There were only about 13 houses which they had built, the ground was simply made of dirt and there was no litter to be seen. We got a tour of the whole village in about 5 minutes. Our “tour guide” was a man who is a social anthropologist and who has been doing research on the tribal people in the Nilgiri Hills area for many years. He said he actually lived for a while with some of the tribes to conduct his research. It was great to have someone there who knew the local language.  He explained to us that that particular village 18 years ago had been located on the other side of the hill which is much harder to reach. When a lot of the people in the village started to get sick and had no way to reach any kind of medical services they decided to move their village to where it is now. Unfortunately they built their new village on a so-called forest conservation area so the government won’t allow them to connect their village to electricity. The only light they had set up was one solar powered lamp which was given to them by a local NGO. It is also unfortunate that all of the big tea plantations which use a lot of pesticides are encroaching around their village. The Kurumbas grow food by simply tossing seeds onto the earth because they believe that digging into the earth is harmful. The day that we happened to visit the village was the same day that a local NGO came to pass out a few more solar powered LED lights. Luckily for us, they had already planned on making a traditional lunch for the people with the NGO and invited us to stay and eat. We were told that it was the first time in a while that they had made this food because the government gives all scheduled tribes rations of rice. I think they find it easier to just eat the rice because of the pressures of modern times. The NGO who was there had been working with the tribe to try to get them to start growing all their own food again because there were many emerging health problems in the village due to eating just rice. Their traditional food is extremely healthy and filling as I experienced personally. After the lunch they showed us a traditional dance and told us we should all join in. So for about 20 minutes they got us dancing with them in one big group and they were all laughing at us because I doubt we were doing the steps right. I had a lot of fun there and they were actually sad to see us go. Some of the people followed us down the path a little bit as we were leaving and kept saying goodbye.

The Kurumba tribal village

A house in the tribal village.

A lady from the village who let us watch how she made a dish in her house

Traditional Kurumba meal prepared for us

The ladies from the village as we were saying goodbye

So I think I have done the trip justice in this post and I’m sorry it was so long! (I also need to go to bed).
This week I will be starting my classes in Hindi and Bollywood dancing which I have been looking forward to for the last two months. I am also leaving next Tuesday for Kerala so get ready for more crazy stories!

-Mia