Finding the Unicorn

I’m a little behind with this one as I have already been in Bangkok 5 days now, but you are going to get everything in order so stick with me.

During my last days in Bombay I caught up with Mike again. Being the considerate soul he is, he was worried about me going to Hyderabad. There were some bombings that occurred at the Mecca Masjid while I was getting ready to go there. I decided that it would be extra safe to go there as all security and Police would be extra vigilant and on Wednesday night boarded the train at Victoria Station. I got the lower bunk in a 3-tier and did my best to sleep.

In the morning our little section (for 6 people) consistently had more than 6 people in it. On my bench there were just the 3 of us (myself, a woman and her daughter), but the other side was crammed with between 4 and 7 people the entire way to Hyderabad. I think it is because they wanted to look at me. The people that were actually booked on the seats opposite us were squished to the ends of the bench if not ousted all-together and relegated to returning to the top bed. One very fat man inserted himself on the seat at about 9am and the people who could rightly claim to sit there politely let him take up their room – amazing.

It was nice to be back in Hyderabad. Even though it has similar traffic chaos to everywhere else, the inhabitants are very laid back. The only place I was hassled was from rickshaw drivers and hotel hawkers at the railway station. I found a room to stay at the Hotel Saptagiri – now my favourite hotel in Hyd. Not as noisy and dusty as the Park Hotel and has a lift (I swear I’m not lazy, it’s just really hot work going up stairs).

After checking in and cleaning up I went straight out to get Mum’s Salwar Kameez – success. Also got my sunglasses fixed – the rotten things . I keep forgetting where they are hanging and they fall to the ground, every time they meet the ground the same lens bounces out. If they hadn’t cost a small packet I’d have given them away already. The kind people at the opticians fixed it for free and it seemed that for the entire time until I boarded my plane the next evening, there was kindness coming from everyone. It is hard not to judge but this compares starkly with Bombay where everyone has an angle.

Will add photos later.

After being sucked into Goa decided that I would spend my last few days in India back here instead of trying to race around Kerala and Bangalore. I’ll save them for another time. In the mean time, here I have done a little shopping (and I mean Little) and lots more walking around. The first time here I was fairly overwhelmed by the people and that was all I saw – lots and lots of people in my face all the time. This time I’ve been able to see past that.

Now I see tree-lined avenues hugged by beautiful old buildings. Some of the buildings have these quaint little verandahs pegged onto the upper floors. I now realise that I have been staying amongst beautiful buildings such as the State Library, the Mint, the Reserve Bank, Society of Natural History, various Banks, impressive squares with fountains in the centre and just the building across the street or on the corner. At street level you don’t get to see much that is interesting but when you get a chance to stand back and look up – there it is.

I’m glad I found this other Bombay.

For those who thought they wouldn’t bother checking previous posts again, I added some pictures to the previous post. It pays to occasionally check back as I sometimes add more pictures later on (usualluy because I can’t be bothered uploading pictures every time I am on-line).

Before even arriving in India I had no intention of going to Goa – I knew it is a tourist spot and has all the attractions that I can easily find at home. I arrived thinking – just 2 days. It is now 1 week since I arrived and finally I have set my day for leaving – tomorrow. It’s just so easy to stay. I suppose if it were in full swing of high season I would find it easier to leave, but at the moment everything is winding up for the monsoon that is due any day now. There are a few tourists here and there, stragglers, the long-term stayers that have been here for a few months and intend to stay a few months more. The feeling is very relaxed and even vendors don’t hassle too much. I had a nice peaceful wander around the headland where the path is lined with folded stalls and just imagined what it would be like to walk there during the peak season – yeesh!

I’ve met some nice people here, mainly other solo travellers. But I know I have to get moving again otherwise I will hide here the rest of my time in India.

Aurangabad – India’s answer to Mt Isa – climate-wise. It was hot and dry. I arrived about 9am and took a rickshaw straight to a hotel and booked in. Even before I got to the hotel I had rickshaw and Taxi drivers hassling about going to Ellora or Ajanta and giving prices. After booking in I went to my room and hotel staff were calling to ask if I wanted to book to see the caves.

After settling in I wanted to go to the post office to send some books to La Plata. So I ventured outside. On my way out the hotel staff asked again if I wanted to make some arrangements to see the caves. I started walking towards the Post Office and a few rickshaw drivers started bidding against each other over taking me to the caves. In the end I got one to take me to the Post office and Ellora for less than $9.00. That was about 4 hours of his day. The caves were interesting – similar to Elephanta, just lots more of them. They didn’t catch my attention as much as the family of huge monkeys that were roaming about above us.

I decided to spend another day in Aurangabad to look around but I didn’t get too far – I desperately need a decent hat. It was just too hot to do anything during the day. The next day I was out of there. Bus to Poona, then another sleeper bus to Goa. During the trip to Poona we passed through a few showers and very few people in the bus closed their window – it was so nice and cool. Kids were squealing with joy at getting wet. The Monsoon is not far off.

Just gotta love those antibiotics! Within 12 hours I was back to my normal self. Sorry I’ve taken so long to put in the next installment – I’ll put in extra time over the next few days. I have just been doing and seeing lots.

As soon as the antibiotics started to kick in I went out in search of food – none of this vegetarian c**p though – I was after meat! It can be quite difficult to be a meat eater here in India. After searching one side of Colaba causeway I was about to give up and go into a “Tourists” restaurant when I was saved by rasta guy. He led me across the road into hectic restaurant full of locals and helped me decide on a mutton dish – the menus in restaurants here are enormous!! We chattered away while I ate and he offered to show me around the next afternoon.

Now I’m a bit out of whack as far as remembering what happened on what day so I won’t bother writing according to date.

The next day I found a nice little restaurant that serves Shira, a sweet thick semolina style dish. It is the closest thing to porridge I have found here so far. Then I went over to Elephanta Island for the morning. Saw lots of monkeys and had a look at the caves there – but not before running the gauntlet of stalls that crowd the stairway up to the caves. The thing that tires me the most here is having to fend off the stall vendors and taxi drivers. They are at you constantly wherever you go. There is no such thing as sitting on a bench to quietly watch everything around me. I can understand why some people would prefer to spend their Mumbai visit locked away in their room.

Anyway, that afternoon I met up with Mike (the rasta guy) ad e went to the textiles market. As soon as we got out of the taxi the vendors descended on us and gave Mike a hell of a fright. Just seeing that I was with him they were at him just as much as they were at me and he got a taste of what it is like to be targeted – not a happy chappy!! He got quite angry with several vendors and for a minute there I thought he might throw a punch. But in the end sanity prevailed and we disappeared into a textile house to have a chat with the owner.

Afterwards he showed me Marine Drive, The Hanging Gardens (which don’t actually hang, they are high on a hill, so don’t know where the name came from), Dhoby Ghaut (picure below) and then back to my hotel. He recommended a better hotel for me too and got me local prices on it – I moved there the next day. He also gave me tips on the best way to get to Aurangabad. I ended up taking the bus as the trains were full. They have Sleeper buses here – definitely the best way to travel at night, seats would have been awful.

Anyway, other things I saw in Mumbai are the Museum and the Maidans. After a long search I finally found the book for Marcos – It is in the post now!! In the end it is still the hardback one, but at least I paid only half of what I would have paid if I had bought it at the swanky Oxford bookshop – I think half of their price pays for the air-conditioning.

… and I’m not talking about about the travel bug! Yes, I have paid the price for drinking water from a glass rather than from a bottle.

The train ride was long and sleep deprived one. Those twinges turned into all out cramps and cold sweats. After several trips to the train loo I finally acknowledged to myself that I have the bug. I bought an omelette from a platform vendor in the morning, had one small bite and threw away the rest. Dry biscuits are about as much as I could handle. It’s not fun arriving in a strange city when under the weather.

Apart from the bug, main things that struck me were: smoke haze, low leggy looking bushes, a few hills here and there, coffee and chai vendors and beggars at each stop.

My taxi driver took me to a an out-of-the-way guesthouse in Colaba and there I stayed until 9am the next morning. I have been for a few walks each day since, getting my bearings and working out how to recognise different places and shops. Finally today I have managed to catch up on the blog and upload some pictures from Bangkok and Hyderabad.

I found a copy of the book I want to get for Marcos but it is a hardcover – I’m pretty sure you need the paperback one right?, with a plastic cover?!?

Haven’t taken any pictures since Hyderabad so you will have to wait until the next post for Mumbai pictures. There aren’t any from the train ride – next time!!

Saturday – my last day in Hyderabad. Yesterday I went to the railway station and arranged my ticket (under the carriage ceiling, not above it) to Mumbai. I was amazed – tickets are applied for! So I picked up an application form and looked at it a little dazed. Within seconds a kind stranger offered to fill it in for me. Now that I have watched him do it I feel confident the next one will be a cinch – as long as I know the name of the train I want.

Afterwards I made a concession – I bought a thick, squishy pillow. Just need to get a pillow slip now.

Afterwards, still worried about not having found anywhere that serves the Hyderabadi Biriyani, I called the guy I was seated next to on the plane, Harsha. He was kind enough to offer to take me along with him while he did some errands, we checked out a new shopping centre that had newly opened last time he was home. I thought it would be a good opportunity to check the price of the Bird book I promised Marcos – not there. After that, a drive along the lakeshore to Secunderabad, to the Restaurant that is famous for it’s Biryani. Yum!! Afterwards we had Quarbani ka mitha, a dessert made from fresh dates and honey, also a specialty of Hyderabad.

Harsha dropped me off at my hotel and after a nap to sleep off lunch I went to the MPM mall with every intention of spending time on my blog and getting last minute supplies for the train ride. Only minutes after getting into the supermarket the power went out. I decided to stay waiting – at the expense of blogging – until the tills were operational again so that I could buy everything I wanted. I waited about 3/4 hour as it got hotter and hotter, before finally deciding to give up buying everything I wanted and settling for getting a couple of things from various small salls around he place. One thing you can’t buy – even from supermarkets – here in Hyderabad is yoghurt, of any kind. Apparently people don’t buy it, they always make it themselves.

After checking out of the hotel, I had an early dinner. I managed to find out that Ausralia had won the toss for the Cricket WC final but play was delayed due to rain, before leaving for my 10 minute stroll to the station.

At the station there were hundreds of people milling around at a platform with no train so I decided to have a gander around the place. Next time I looked there was a train and not many people so thought I had better see if I could find out where I was supposed to be. I found my name on one of the carriages and stowed my backpack with just enough time to buy a bottle of water from a vendor on the platform.

While at the station felt a few strange twinges in my gut….

After almost 2 full days having a look around Hyderabad the thing that stands out most for me is the noise of the traffic!! The noise of it all is just amazing.

But lets go back to what has happened since my last post….

After a massage I picked up my bag from the Suk and thinking I had another 2 hours to kill decided to just “check” my flight time anyway. Boy am I glad I get “feelings” that tell me to check things. As usual the “feeling” was a good thing because it was actually time to be leaving the Suk in a taxi – not time to hang out as I had thought. I hightailed it to the road and found a taxi driver, haggled for about 20 seconds and was on my way. I know the amount was still too much but it also happened to be right on peak traffic time.

This flight had none of the hassles of the last flight. By the way – I can’t believe Thai airways don’t have individual screens throughout their planes – especially for longer flights of 6 hours or more. I was seated next to an nice young Indian guy that has been studying in Australia.

We interrupt this spiel for an announcement – we just had power failures in the building with the exception of the computers. They must be on some sort of back-up plus generator or something. The lights go out but the computers don’t even blink. That’s power in India for you.

Back to the story… The flight was without incident and I have now had a taste of customs but I have to say that I have seen worse. Maybe Hyderabad is better than other airports in that respect. I caught a taxi to my first hotel and wondered how the driver could see anything through the windscreen. The Hotel was fine but has definitely seen better days. I shared a large room with a couple of timid cockroaches (I’m just thankful there aren’t any grasshoppers to be seen – yet). No need to use hot water for my shower but it was there none-the-less. My only gripe was that the mattress was like sleeping on a carpeted floor – absolutely no give. The hotel I am at now has the same mattresses too. I have been wishing the whole time that I had brought my inflatable mattress – my lower back is not liking my choice of beds. Laura, if you decide to come over, please bring my inflatable mattress with you!

Yesterday I was up early. Thirst and the mattress drove me to it. I didn’t have any bottled water with me, it was too late to get some when I arrived. So I asked for a place close by to have some breakfast and was directed to a restaurant around the corner – Rs50 / AUD1.50 for a buffet breakfast – that was already bustling with customers. They put a glass of water in front of me and it took me about 30 seconds of mind wrestling until I gave in and just went for it. I drank my fill!! Not even 12 hours in the place and already I am breaking the “travel in India” rule #1. 2 minutes later I broke rule #2 and ate paw paw cut into pieces. I figured if I was going to break the rules once I may as well get it all over and done with and do the rest of them. Besides, it seemed that the locals trusted the place so I figured I can too. Just to ease Mum’s mind, I had a Lassi as well to help with the flora situation. I then went back to the hotel to try to sleep some more. As it is I have not had any trouble yet with my digestive system.

Later that day I bought myself some local attire which I wore for the first time today. It hasn’t done anything to lessen the staring, but I am finding the salwar kameez quite comfortable. I even feel quite comfortable having the shawl just hanging there. Also I have adjusted it’s use to allow for the backpack. The sunnies sorta stand out too – i haven’t seen anyone else use them.

The weather is hot and dry – much like northerly weather in Victorian summers. There is a persistent haze but that might just be because I am in a city. The dirty exhaust factor, while evident, really isn’t much worse than Brisbane.

Today I went to the Char Minar, Hyderabad’s main drawcard. I went up to the top and wandered around looking at the view of the rest of the area. Adjacent is the huge Mecca Masjid that has room for up to 10 000 people at a time. Apparently about 70% of the population in Hyderabd is Moslem. It is called Mecca Masjid because a few centrally placed bricks were made from soil in Mecca and brought here especially for it’s construction. Afterwards I went back through the gauntlet of beggars to a rickshaw and off to a place to eat.