INDIA & BANGLADESH 2014: 13 From Raipur to Mandu, India

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Yesterday, in addition to Rajim we visited the huge, colourful Chamearan temple complex where a lot of langur monkeys bum food from the faithful. Lastly it was to the airport for an early arrival, so couldn't bring baggage in until an hour before departure. Subway sandwiches we brought helped against hunger - the plane was over an hour late. The Jet Airways flight was good. The stewardess said that later this month free meals will be available, even on one hour flights – that is a trend reversal!

Our guide and driver had a long wait before we arrived for transport us to the Jehan Numa Palace. It definitely is palatial, equipped with three restaurants, two bars and located in a very high rent district – our neighbour is Chief Minister of the state (equivalent to premier or governor). It is a gorgeous building with huge inside courtyard gardens, and lots of photos from the early 1990s when royalty was entertained here by the maharaja. The downsides were that the bed was too short and the was food not great in the BBQ restaurant.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Bophal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, is a city of 1.8 million founded in 1000 AD.,. It is called the city of lakes due to several large and small ones in and around it.

This is where, in 1984, a Union Carbide gas leak killed some 4,000 people immediately, and caused an overall death toll that is said to exceed 15,000. The CEO of the company was charged with culpable homicide, but with the assistance of some government officials got out of India. The paper today said he recently died – he lived the rest of his life in seclusion, hiding from process servers and avoiding extradition hearings.

We crossed the Tropic of Cancer twice, going to and from the Buddhist Monuments of Sanchi, a World Heritage Site originally built in the third century BC, then improved in the second and first centuries. It has some of the best preserved Buddhist sculptures we have seen, as it was covered by forest during the reign of the Mughals, who destroying many Buddhist and Hindu religious sites. We stopped at Udayagiri Caves, dedicated to the third incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the 4th century AD. A procession with drums, banners and flags made the visit worth while – the caves themselves are not worth a lengthy drive.

Much of the day was spent driving on roads varying from good to horrible. The other World Heritage Site was Bhimbetka, which the local guide said has the second oldest cave paintings in the world after Spain, dating from about 10,000 years ago. It is located about the same distance from Bophal in the opposite direction.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

We chose an 8 AM departure for Indore, as the program forecast 6 hours of driving, however it was less even with having a flat tire repaired, as most driving was on 4 lane toll roads and the countryside is flat. It would not be a good area for self driving, as very few road or directional signs are in English – all Hindi script.

We stopped in crowded Uijain, one of four most holy cities. It has many temples, including Mahakaleshwar, the most holy, and with the longest queue. It seems that the more holy a city it is, the more garbage it has. Puri and Uijain are two of the dirtiest cities we've seen.

We chose not to wait to enter the main temple, and instead walked to the holy river where ashes of cremated people are scattered. Many faithful were in the river immersing themselves. The banks are lined with temples.

Lunch today was exceptional, being the first in a long while where the restaurant had beer, which even Marilynn drank! A stop at the Lalbagh Palace, built in 1844, was worth while. It is situated on 71 acres (29 ha) of land and has been furnished as it might have been when the maharaja lived there. The grounds have not been maintained, but the building itself is excellent.

Indore, with about 2,200,000 people (14th largest in India), was established in the 14th century. We were to visit a Jain Temple here that sounded much like the one in Delhi that impressed us so much, but our guide discouraged us, saying there would be a lot of walking, so we chose the hotel bar instead – there was very little walking involved!

The Radisson Blu Hotel was beyond fabulous! Our only regret is that we are here only one night. It is one of the finest hotels of the trip, with very comfortable beds, great service, deluxe rooms, a good bar and excellent food. We ate outdoors on the roof in the Chinese restaurant where the ambiance and food were superb.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Our driver, Igbal, picked us up. We were pleased to say goodbye to our guide, who we would rank as second lowest of the trip. A guide was unnecessary, as we had local guides at both world heritage sites, the palace had descriptions of everything in English and Igbal answered any questions we had.

It was great travelling with Igbal – he speaks enough English to explain things, has a sense of humour and was great at locating photo spots. With a guide it is tough to get to know the driver, as they always defer to the guide in spite of knowing a lot more about some things than guides do!

On the expressway we came across enormous herds of sheep, many camels with women and children riding on platforms on top of them, and red turbaned nomads herding them. There were hundreds of animals stretching down the highway for miles. Igbal says these nomadic herders are hired by animal owners in Rajistan, where there is a drought, to move them to better pasture. Some animals were limping from walking hundreds of kilometres, but they keep moving every day or so. Apparently local farmers who have completed a harvest will pay nomads to pasture animals on their land to get the fertilizer, so they cover costs and make a little money. More photos were added at one of their roadside campsites. It was amazing to see.

Our government hotel in Mandu dropped a lot of stars from the Radisson. It was identifiable by the overwhelming smell of mothballs in the room and pubic washrooms . Someone high in government must own a mothball factory, as every government hotel uses loads of them. On the other hand, the location was great, right on the end of the lake that is the Mandu water supply.

The entrance to the town was through four medieval gates, formerly part of the city wall. At one time the city was surrounded by 45 miles (72.5 km) of wall according to the guide. Dozens of guard towers are scattered over the countryside, once used for signalling. The enormous amount of construction was started in 13h century by Hindu rulers, who were defeated by Afghan Muslims in the 16th century, who in turn were defeated by the Mohguls in the 18th century. The area is currently populated by the Bhil Tribe, whose village is in and around the ancient ruins. This is the only area outside of Africa I've seen Baobab trees.

A local guide showed us through Baz Bayiadur's Palace before lunch, and then Jahaz Mahal, Taveli Mahal, Asharafi Mahal, Jama Masjid, Rupmati's Pavalion. Hohang Shah Tombl from 1440 (actually six tombs in an enormous marble building that was subsequently used as the model for the famous Taj Mahal, but in the end they died elsewhere and were never buried here) and the massive Nil Kanth Palace that had acres of construction, gardens, reception halls and swimming pools. We were totally exhausted by the end of the day and collapsed into our room. It would take days to explore all the ruins in this area.