2 more weeks in Gujarat

The highlight of my last two weeks in India was a trip to Ahmadabad, a city about 6 hours bus ride away from where I have been working. I went with 3 Indian friends from work - Krupa, Gaurav and Nirav. We went in to town after work on a Saturday night and got on a bus to Ahmedabad. Once we arrived, Nirav's sister appeared out of the darkness on a scooter with a big bag of food for us! Nirav had decided that we would be hungry when we arrived and as such his sister had prepared enough food to feed about 8 people!! The next morning we hired a car and driver and went touring. We went to Gandhi's ashram (his residences/offices during his independence struggle) and a massive temple (Akshardham temple) which was very impressive however no cameras are allowed inside since a terrorist attack there in 2002.

Family transport on the bike!

We spent the afternoon doing a bit of shopping and then went out to a water fountain and light show to music which was surprisingly good. It was back to Krupa's place for some dinner before we got on a sleeper bus back to Jamnagar. My friends presented me with a beautiful gift that they had sneakily bought while we were out shopping and it was a great end to a fantastic weekend. We arrived back at 6am to the place where we live and about an hour later I was at work, bleary eyed but soon fixed that up with some sweet Indian coffee!

Good mates on tour in Ahmedabad

A Bollywood movie and a few puddles blocking the path...

Dance Baby Dance!!!

On my last day off before heading back to Australia, I went off to the local movie cinema with a couple of my Indian friends (Nirav and Krupa) to go an experience a Bollywood movie. When I suggested this, they said 'you know its not in English?' 'yep', 'You know there aren't any sub-titles?' 'yep, no worries - there's plenty of singing and dancing isn't there?'.

So to make it easier, I read a summary of the movie on the internet so I could figure out what is going on. When we turned up to the cinema, people were coming up to Nirav and Krupa and asking 'does he speak Hindi?' and all laughing when they replied no! Long story short (and it was long - 3 hours, plus intermission), it was pretty funny and I figured out most of what was going on.

The next day I was due to fly out but unfortunately my flight was cancelled and then I spent 7 hours on the road with 2 other guys, at one stage walking around in calf deep flood water! I'll let the pictures tell the story...

First point in the road that stopped us

These guys aren't waiting for their bus to take them home!

Nice and dry up on the back of the truck

Waist deep water? No worries!!

I watched this car for 4 hours waiting for the road to give way, but it didn't

Second stopping point - this bridge is normally about 10m above the water

Third stopping point. After it cleared we made it back to town.

A trip to Gandhi's birthplace

The next weekend after going to Dwarka, I went for a day trip to a town called Porbander, where Gandhi was born. The original house is there which you can walk through and there is an adjoining memorial/shrine and museum.

They even mark the spot where he was born with a swastika (a lucky symbol in Hindu culture) and some flowers. He only lived there for a few years before moving away but it gives you an idea of how much people loved him!

Sorry for the lack of posts...

As I have finally logged in to the blog again I realise its been over a month since my last post. I have some good excuses though. Since my last entry I have been to Ghandi's birthplace, got fairly sick for a week, got stuck in monsoon floods for 7 hours on a road (standing calf deep in water at one stage), had 2 flights cancelled due to the 'mini cyclone' associated with the floods, travelled back to Australia, got a new visa for the UK, spent 12 hours in Kuala Lumpur, back to India and the most painful of all - just been in a 4 day meeting.

Anyhow, I will now try and update the blog. I only have a few days left in India and then its back to the UK for a week. Then Melinda and I are off to Malta for a week and then the Greek Islands for 9 days.

Its a tough life.

A 5000 year old temple on an Island in India

Last Sunday I went off for a little excursion as planned to the island of Bet Dwarka, which is near Dwarka in Gujarat, India. My driver came around at 8am to pick me up and then me and my mate Nirav (a local guy who I know from London) set off to Dwarka. Dwarka is one of the 4 most holy Hindu sites in India and its a place where lots of Hindus come to make a pilgrimage to its massive temple.

Boats lined up at the docks at Okha

First off we went past Dwarka another 30 odd km's to a place called Okha. From there we got a boat for 5 rupees each (about 6 pence or maybe 15 cents Aussie) to the Island of Bet Dwarka. The main attraction is a temple which is over 5,000 years old and was the place where Krishna lived. (you know, like the hare Krishna's - but there was an actual bloke not just a group of people singing in the streets handing out pamphlets). We had to take off our shoes and hand in our camera and mobile phones so that we didn't take any photos.

Loading the boat full of pilgrims

Adam on the boat

They keep the door shut on the little room where the 5,000 year old gold idol is and then open it up for a little bit at a time. When they opened it up, everyone got really excited and was cheering! It was a pretty good vibe actually, everyone seemed really happy to be there and I think its something many people only do once in their life.

Nirav outside the temple on Bet Dwarka

Boat load leaving Bet Dwarka

We hopped back on the boat and met with a couple of work friends who hadn't managed to drag themselves out of bed that early on the 1 day off a week. I went in search of a beach which I had found on Google earth which looked nice. We did find it but the seas were storming due to the monsoon winds and also probably a bit due to cyclone Gonu which recently smashed Oman (on the other side of the Arabian sea).

So then we went in to Dwarka for lunch and a look around. Walking through the streets we were like rock stars, everyone was staring at us (not in a bad way) and I reckon we were the only westerners in town that day. We ended up down at the river mouth were the sea was surging in and out. Its only because of this that I decided to go for a swim, as I normally wouldn't entertain the idea of swimming in most of the waters I have seen around here!

A temple at the river mouth in Dwarka

As the shirt came off and the locals realised this big white bloke (who is about 8 inches taller than everyone else) was going swimming, the people already swimming got a bit excited! So naturally I entertained them with some stylish grabs while jumping in the water. The current swept us down pretty fast so you could jump in and then hop out about 20 seconds and 80m later. "One more! One more!!" was the call until I decided I better get out.

A stylish grab from the biggest kid in Dwarka...

When i got out I was looking around for my work friends (who are 2 girls) and couldn't see them. I could however see a crowd of Indian men taking photos with someone.... There was a que of blokes lining up to have a their picture taken with the girls. I thought this was pretty hilarious, although it did take the attention away from me...

A week in India...

Its now over a week since I arrived in India. I've got a slightly darker tan on my face, eaten a lot of rice and I still cant speak any Hindi (Indian national language) as everyone at work speaks English.

When I arrived I was quite pleased to see about 10 or more people (Indians) that I knew from London. There were quite a few Indian guys who came to the London office for about 12 months working the job I am on and its been good to have some local connections.

Some new houses going up in the background

I haven't really done much other than work so far, so I don't have anything interesting to say yet. I am planning to check out a couple of coastal towns this Sunday on my day off so hopefully I'll have something more to report then.

I'm in Gujarat, in the Western Corner of India

Mental traffic, vegetarian food and my own personal driver

Well I have made it to my final destination in India. I will update later but here is a summary so far:

- Mumbai traffic is nuts, more near misses in one afternoon than I have seen in a year in London
- I nearly burst in to tears when I realised I had gone in to a vegetarian restaurant in Mumbai after spending 10 mins searching for the meat section on the menu
- I have my own personal driver at work who takes me where I want, when I want

Very civilised.

One country for every year of my age...

It's probably not the cool thing to do, to count how many countries you have been to, but being cool has never been a concern before!! I am sitting at Heathrow Airport (London) about to board a flight to India. This is a big day for me as it will mean that I have been to 29 countries, one for every year of my life!

From all reports this might be the most challenging country I have been to so far. I wont rattle on about other peoples stories here, I'll wait till I have some of my own. Also, I am excited to go to India because after I have spent a month there, I'll be zipping back over to Melbourne on the 2nd of July for 2 weeks to collect a new visa and Melinda.

Next report - India!!!!!!!!!

Off to India

With a little more than 24 hours to go, it looks like I'm still going to India. I have a ticket, visa and a large box of Malaria pills (bye bye tan...). A month in India and I'll be heading back to Melbourne to get the new visa for the UK and Melinda.

So next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in India!!