We're back on the road! On our way back north, to Bundipur and the wildlife sanctuary. Our van/bus, in a documented photo. There's a lot of information here ... you've got Raju our favorite driver, Somu up front as the navigator/translator/passenger-seat driver, and Nag right behind his cousin, with the maps. And there's Ganesh, too, who has been adorned with red flowers for the day. Also, note the bananas.
The gang stops for lunch. Portrait of our mode of transportation. This kind of van was all over the place - they're very popular. Here's how the driving went down: Nag studied the maps, and told Raju where to drive. Raju would drive like a maniac, ignoring Nag, and refusing to look at the maps. Somu would use his Tamil to ask locals on the street or in cars where [insert whatever road/site/city we were headed toward] was, and then said locals would confidently grunt something in Malayalam accompanied with an obtuse directional hand-gesture, which would be wrong as often as correct. And repeat.
We did some shopping during this little rest stop (there was a rug shop next door). This gent at the shop posed for me while he weaved bamboo.
The girls do some shopping of their own across the road.
Always with the cheer!
OK, so we finally made it back to the wildlife sanctuary! It was AWESOME. We saw wild elephants. Seriously. Wild frickin' elephants, who trumpeted and everything. Unbelievable. Squint. That's what these are.
Of course, monkeys. Baby monkeys!
And we saw lots of beautiful deer...
...and Black-Faced Langur Monkeys ...
...and wild boar!
Then we went to see the elephants in captivity - the refuge keeps this family for elephant rides. Baby elephants! The babies had to come along 'cause their mother wouldn't walk without them.
Well sign us up! Who's up for an elephant ride?
We're riding an elephant!
At the wildlife sanctuary we made friends with some school-kids from Mysore who were on a field trip
They teenage elephant was very grabby. He wanted bananas. Who doesn't, really?
Stop picking on your sister!
Holy Moly were those baby elephants cute.
This beautiful woman sold us bananas to feed to the elephants.
And then we continued north, back to Mysore, and the end of our road trip! We made good time getting back up to Mysore, so we had time to stop at Coffee Day, the hipster coffee bar chain sweeping across India! Buy your stock now...
Nag and Vilan chill out at Coffee Day....
...and the girls catch up on the news.
Mysore is a very beautiful city, with beautiful people.
And funny signage.
Somu went to school in Mysore, so he pointed some interesting sites out to me.
Here's something typically Indian. Traffic traffic traffic. And an ox-cart hauling goods in the thick of it.
We make it back home to Odekar Farms! And on the next morning, technically a "rest" day, we all pile in the van again to hike up nearby Siddarbetta, a hill which has a Verashiva shrine at the top, just for a fun thing to do. Here's the gate to the steps up the hill.
Others were making their way up as well, of course, to make their prayers.
A breather is in order. It's a bit of a hike up up up.
Not there yet...
The gang, including Nag's little cousin Anil who joined us for the hike, poses for their album cover.
Often you had to brave monkeys. They are clever little suckers. They'll steal your wallet or your bag (or your bananas) if you let your guard down for one second.
The view up there was lovely.
The Odekars, suitable for framing!
After visiting the shrine, which is in a cave, and is really beautiful (no pictures allowed, of course), and Nag and Kenny and Allen received blessings, we headed up to the summit, where we chilled out and took artsy photos.
Then headed back down, carefully...
When we got back to the farm, we found that Pramila and Prof. Shivanna had done all of our laundry! There's no washing machine involved here, people. All by hand.
That afternoon (after a nap) we went for a stroll in the neighboring village. It's a lovely village, with beautiful homes and friendly people.
We noticed that we had some followers...
So we made friends!
Then word got around that we were taking photos...and others wanted in on the action...
The villagers knew we were there at the farm, of course - we passed through all the time in the van etc. So they were pleased we were walking through to say hello properly, even though we were clearly interrupting dinner preparations.
That evening we were all invited to a beautiful dinner at Muthi-chickapa's house in Tumkur. Along the way, back through the same village, Pramila poses with her students. She's been teaching in the village whenever she can, and they adore her.
One little girl was too shy to join the group photo.
After that (amazing) meal, the mami's prepared pan for us. Pan (pronounced [pahn]) is an Indian thing - don't quite know how to describe it. It's basically areca nuts and various spices and/or sweets, wrapped in a beetle leaf. You chew it and chew it, and it eventually all dissolves, and it's really quite something.
In 2000, I had pan prepared by the villagers near Odekar Farms, and it nearly floored me (while giving me a nice buzz). I believe it also made me cry. This pan is more "upper class" pan - it had rose petals in it, and was more of a post-dinner aperitif type-thing.
You see street-vendors making pan all over the place. (Don't eat those.) This pan was a special treat for us, and was really delicious.
All pan, though, makes your tongue bright red. It's the areca nuts.
The end of our time in South India was nearing, so we went back down to Bangalore, in order to catch our evening domestic flight up to Delhi. Bangalore, man. Talk about a city of contrasts.
That afternoon we had an amazing and relaxing lunch at the beautiful Oberoi Hotel in Bangalore. Holy wow is that a nice hotel. In India, you can pretend you're a gazillionaire without too much trouble. For the price of a meal at our local vegan diner in the East Village, you can have award-winning lunch buffet at a 5-star hotel.
Our domestic flight was on Kingfisher Airways. Thaaaat's right, just like the beer. The guy who owns this ever-growing conglomerate is huge, he's like Bill Gates there. Actually, imagine the Richard Branson of India. He's kind of like that. So he has an airline now (like Virgin). It was awesome. The closest comparison I can come up with for service and style is JetBlue. Well, Jetblue pre-Feb.07.
And the second part of our trip begins, in Delhi. Nag actually grew up mostly in Delhi, as Prof. Shivanna taught at the university there, so he comes armed with Hindi. No relatives to smooth out our travels up there, though. We're on our own, and we feel more like tourists than ever before. Prof. Shivanna has arranged a car and driver for us for our whole time up north, so we're all set for transport.
Our first stop on our first full day in sightseeing in Delhi, was Gandhi-gi's memorial, Raj Ghat. It is spectacularly beautiful, and is, unsurprisingly, a very solemn and holy place.
Yeah, seriously, these guys are on the street, mostly in the touristy places. Don't give them money though, because they drug and de-fang those poor cobras.
Allen wanted in on the action in any case...
I'm tellin' ya. The dogs in India are particularly cute. Not clean, but man they are cute.
Later that day we enjoyed touring around Purana Qila, or Old Fort.
Archeologists think this seriously might have been the place where the city of Indraprastha, from the epic Mahabharata, once stood. It is is a fascinating and beautiful site, with all kinds of gorgeous Islamic/Moghul architecture.
and the hazy fog definitely added to the mood for photos.
The low wall-ruins in front here are remains of what might have been the original buildings on the site, actually at the time of the Mahabaratha. Maybe.
The next stop in our sightseeing blitz was India Gate, and the Parliament buildings, in New Delhi. For India Gate, think of a kind of Washington Monument, complete with "mall".
Right across from the gate they were rehearsing for a parade there the next day, as part of what I assumed were the preparatory celebrations for Republic Day.
Indian Parliament! The largest democracy in the world!
Impressive buildings are needed to express that. And they are.
One of Lissa and my favorite spots in Delhi was Q'tab Minar. Loooooved this site. It's this amazing set of ancient ruins of mosques and a glorious tower, mixed in with Hindu structures. Gorgeous, and very "India", what with the mix of Islam and Hindu.
That tower is somethin' else.
One thing you learn is that there are people hanging around at tourist spots, quite eager to take your picture. For a few rupees.
Allen takes in the Q'tab Minar vibe.
Holy mackerel this site is gorgeous.
Parrots = pigeons in India, I think. They're everywhere, and I hear a bit of a nuisance, but really, much more pleasant to look at.
