India
Mahesāna

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    • Day 8

      The Oil Hunt

      January 3, 2023 in India ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      One of the things in life I am not that passionate about is oil. Well, engine oil I mean. I love olive oil. I use a lot of organic hair and body oils. But I don’t think or care much about engine oil. Until today.

      Today’s journey of over 300 kilometers from Barmer to Mehsana was quite a long trip. We planned that purposefully with Ingrid and Glen, our Norwegian Viking friends, because as it turns out Glen’s birthday is also on January 4 (same as Joe). We all agreed that we’d like to be in a nice hotel in a decent sized town on January 4th in the evening to celebrate Joe’s 60th and Glen’s 57th birthdays. And that required us to do quite a long trip today.

      Little did Joe and I know that the state of Gujarat, where we will be on January 4, is a dry state. Ingrid and Glen told us that over dinner tonight just as we were getting ready to order a gin and tonic in the hotel restaurant. Sigh.

      So there was no gin and tonic waiting for us at the hotel we arrived at after a day that mostly centered around finding engine oil. Which was unexpectedly difficult to find.

      Here’s the thing. We are driving what is known as a “two stroke” auto rickshaw. There is also a “four stroke” auto rickshaw that is slightly more powerful and used for driving in the Himalayas, which we aren’t doing. The two strokes are a bit older and not as common nowadays.

      With the two stroke model, you need to add 40 ml of engine oil to one liter of petrol and mix that when you fill up the vehicle. So you need to buy oil separately and have a canister to mix the oil and petrol.

      We were needing to refill our canisters today so decided around 12 pm - after a 7 am start and incredible sunrise - to stop in a small town and buy some oil. Without that, we would eventually not be able to add any gas to the rickshaws.

      That’s where the adventure started. We stopped at the gas station, where one would expect to be able to buy engine oil. Nope. But if you go a half a kilometer down the road on the right you can find some, they said. So off we went along a bumpy back road and stopped in front of an engine oil shop. Glen and Joe needed to show the guys what kind of oil we needed. There was a lot of head shaking and slowly the crowd grew larger. They didn’t have it.

      Go down the road and turn left, one guy said. Everybody nodded. Okay okay. So off we went. Turned right and ended up in front of another engine oil shop. Head shaking and a slowly growing crowd. Selfies started. Someone offered to go and buy it for us and come back. Only five minutes. No thank you, we said.

      We drove out of there when the crowd was approaching what felt like 100 people. I am pretty sure I am a social media star in India somewhere with all of the Instagram pages I have been featured on.

      We took off down the road and found a gas station and restaurant. The proprietor came outside to meet us. Joe asked him to help us and off Joe went on the back of the owner’s motorcycle to find oil. I hung back with the Vikings and ate a cheese sandwich.

      Joe pulled up an hour later with about 40 bags of oil in a canvas bag. And off we went. A successful hunt.
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    • Day 4

      Wedding day prep....Part 2

      February 1 in India ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      The groom fasts and five sisters feed the groom to break the fast. The food presented is the groom's only food until the wedding ceremony, where his wife will feed him.

      Tomas and I had Henna done last night.Read more

    • Day 4

      The wedding

      February 1 in India ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      So blessed to be a part of such a memorable moment and welcomed like family.

      The oufits were amazing, such vibrant colours and patterns.

      Culturally a very different experience to Western weddings, and it was an experience I'll never forget.Read more

    • Day 7

      Modhera Sun Temple

      October 3, 2019 in India ⋅ 32 °C

      建于1027年。索兰基王朝最为伟大的建筑之一。在春分和秋分的时候,初升的太阳都会恰好照射到苏里耶(Surya)的雕像上。建筑内部独特的矩形楼梯井太阳神池(Surya Kund),内有100多座神龛,仿佛一座下沉式的画廊。

    • Day 7

      The Adalaj Stepwell

      October 3, 2019 in India ⋅ 30 °C

      The Adalaj Stepwell。位于艾哈迈达巴德以北19公里处,是古吉拉特邦最棒的楼梯井之一。此井由鲁达拜皇后(Queen Rudabai)兴建于1499年,有3个入口通向上面的一片巨大平台,高台有16根柱子支撑,边角位置上有神龛。井呈八边形,深5层,上面装饰着精细的石雕,既有高度色情的主题,又有较为寻常的形象。

    • Day 7

      Rani Ki Vav

      October 3, 2019 in India

      古吉拉特邦帕坦城的王后阶梯井。由乌达亚马蒂王后(Rani Udayamati)于1063年为了纪念她的丈夫比穆德福一世而兴建的,是古吉拉特邦最古老、最精美的楼梯井,至今保存完好。沿台级向下,两旁是一排排雕柱和超过800个雕塑,多数都是描绘毗湿奴(Vishnu)的各个化身(avatar),还有醒目的几何图案。

    • Day 74

      Patan

      January 26 in India ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Nachdem ich gestern doch ein Quartier unter 60 Euro gefunden habe heute über einen sehr langen Damm über einen großen Salzsee gefahren. In der früh war's schon ziemlich kühl und dunstig . In Patan sehr gutes Hotel mit fließend Heißwasser gefunden.Read more

    • Day 12

      Gandhi Ashram und Nachtzug

      September 8, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

      Nun war es Zeit Udaipur nach drei Nächten zu verlassen. Mit einem privaten Bus gings los nach Ahmedabad welches wir nach circa 5 Stunden erreichten. Dort befindet sich das Sabarmati Ashram. In diesem verbrachte Mahatma Gandhi 12 Jahre seines Leben. Gandhi, der Mann mit dem Stock und der runden Brille, wurde in eine hinduistische Familie geboren und hat eine Anwaltsausbildung in London absolviert. Anschliessend zog er nach Südafrika um einen indischen Kaufmann in einem Rechtsstreit zu unterstützen. Dort setzte er sich erstmals mit gewaltfreiem Widerstand für Bürgerrechte ein. 20 Jahre später kehrte er nach Indien zurück und leitete landesweite Kampagnen zur Linderung der Armut, zur Ausweitung der Frauenrechte, zur Beendigung der Unberührbarkeit und zur Unabhängigkeit Indiens. Die Ausstellung im Ashram erzählte seine Geschichte und zeigte viele Bilder.
      Da es mal wieder extrem heiss war, waren wir froh, dass der nächste Stop eine klimatisierte Mall war. Diese lag auf dem Weg zum Bahnhof und da liessen sich ganz gut zwei Stunden vertreiben mit essen bei Taco Bells und Kinder beobachten die zum ersten Mal Rolltreppe fuhren. Ausserdem wurden wir mal wieder gefühlt 1000x heimlich oder auch offensichtlich fotografiert und gefilmt.
      Abends um 8 Uhr hatten wir dann unser Abteil im klimatisierten Nachtzug nach Mumbai bezogen. Nach einigen Runden Kartenspielen versuchten wir zu schlafen was aber nur mässig erfolgreich war.
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    • Day 193

      Week one in Ahmedabad

      March 9, 2019 in India ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      We are in Ahmedabad right now and I still don’t know if I like it here or not. It the farthest from Ottawa I’ve ever seen, culture-wise, living/city-wise, and distance-wise. There aren’t many people with white skin here, so lots of people come and take selfies with us. There are a lot of homeless people here, more than I’ve ever seen in my life, especially little kids 👧🏾 and babies 👶🏾 . It makes me realize how lucky I am, to have a nice house, good food, clean water, and even to have shoes👟! When we leave Ahmedabad, I am going to make a donation to an organization that helps kids who live on the street, and Dad’s going to match the amount that I donate. We have seen an extremely wide range of wealth here, from people sleeping on the side of the road, to people living in mansions. I think that it’s important for people to visit a place like Ahmedabad, because, I think lots of people who live in North America and Europe, feel like they don’t have enough, but we need to realize how lucky we are because there are people living with literally nothing. Walking around is really hard because there are lots of crazy drivers in cars 🚘 , on scooters 🛵, motorcycles 🏍, and rickshaws (like a Thai tuk-tuk), and we don’t know how to cross streets properly here! My Mom’s friends Mohol and Christina, from when she came to India 22 years ago, live here in a big complex. They have two kids, C (she’s 12, going on 13) and K (he’s 7, going on 8). We’ve gone over to their house for dinner a couple of times. They have a very nice house, and they employ a family. There is some really good food here. My favourites are roti, parathas, aloo naan, and daal. I noticed that there are tons of street dogs, with lots of sores, and scratches, and I feel really bad for them.
      🐕 😢
      I think it’s worth coming here, even just for a few days.
      Chloë
      🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳
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    • Day 5

      Stufenbrunnen und Jaintempel bei Patan

      November 20, 2017 in India ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Um 08:15 geht es nach Patan, Madhera und "Little Rann of Kutch".

      Stufenbrunnen bei Patan und gleich in der Nähe "Patola House": Seidenschal gekauft.

      Der Rani Ki Vav (Brunnen der Königin) genannte Stufenbrunnen aus der zweiten Hälfte des 11. Jahrhunderts, der über Jahrhunderte völlig verschlammt war und erst in den 1980er Jahren wieder ausgegraben wurde, ist die Hauptattraktion in Patan.
      Die mehrgeschossige Anlage gehört zu den schönsten und größten ihrer Art und ist reich mit Götterbildnissen vor allem von Vishnu und seinen Avataren (Varaha, Krishna, Rama und Kalki) sowie von Durga als ‚Töterin des Büffeldämons‘ (mahisasurmardini) geschmückt; darüber hinaus finden sich zahlreiche abstrakt-vegetabilische Dekorreliefs.
      Seit dem Jahr 2014 ist das Bauwerk als UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe anerkannt.

      Weiter gejagt durch den Jaintempel bei Patan, als wären wir auf der Flucht. Die Reiseleitung wird mir zunehmend unsympathisch...

      ...und zum Mittagstisch.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Mahesāna, Mahesana

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