My trip starts at the Kanha National Park. My colleague organized a wonderful trip here for us. This is the resort we stayed at.
Kanha National Park is famous for its tigers. You can get as close as 3 meters to them.
The park does not just have tigers, but also tiger food.
The park has also plenty of other animals.
The humans around the park live a bit less comfortably. The village at the park entrance consists mainly of animals, dirt, and collapsing huts.
We left Kanha after 2 days.
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is in the center of India. We came here for a conference. Here is a first impression of the city. Traffic is chaotic, to put it mildly, as the traffic participants exhibit a wide variety in the number of weels and legs.
This is the bazar with the central mosque of Hyderabad in the background.
I also got some inspiration for my dance class.
Goa
With friends and colleagues, I am on my way to Goa. Goa was once a Portuguese colony.
It is famous for its colonial-style houses. We found two of them.
The others are seemingly hidden beneath a considerable amount of dirt, slums and animals.
The churches of Goa are part of the World Heritage.
Goa is also famous for its lonely beaches. It's just that nobody knows where they are.
We left Goa after 2 days. Big kudos to my colleague Mari for her patience with the picture session.
Mumbai
The plan was to go to Jaipur today with my travel mate. But due to a flight rescheduling problem, we found ourselves in Mumbai. We decided to make the best of it and stayed one day. The picture shows the Gate of India, built for the British King when he visited India in 1911.
A street in Mumbai -- with my awesome travel mate Zeynep. The background shows a tree with freshly trimmed lianas.
This is the university of Mumbai.
To go to the Haji Ali Mosque, we have to cross this pathway. As in St. Malo, the pathway gets submerged in water with high tide. We got our fair share of waves and water, but managed to get back before high tide.
Unfortunately, it is forbidden to take pictures inside the marvellous Hindu temple area behind this entry door (the Mahalaxmi temple). We found ourselves queuing with a hundred people, who all wanted to bring flowers to the goddess.
These are different types of colors for putting a dot on the forehead. The color code is: yellow=single, red=married, orange=married, plan to break up soon.
This is the laudry place of Mumbai -- a huge area dotted with little wash cells like these.
As explained here quite plastically, this place in the bus is reserved for women. Trains also have compartments for women and mixed compartments.
This is me riding the city train. The trains have no doors, which makes riding them much more fun.
My travel mate, me, and our little Mumbai family. We always wanted to take pictures with locals, but were afraid to ask. In fact, locals also always want to take pictures with tourists, but are afraid to ask.
Jaipur
We arrive in Jaipur, the pink city. The most important landmark of Jaipur is the “Palace of Winds” - a facade behind which the rich women of the city could watch street ceremonies incognito.
This is inside a Tuk-Tuk, our main means of transportation. In India, people officially drive on the left side of the road. But you can stay here for several weeks without noticing that.
The City Palace of Jaipur is still the home of the Ex-Maharatcha.
What may seem like a collection of modern art objects is in fact a large park of astronomic devices from the 18th century, which serve to measure the position of stars and planets.
The 'Monkey Temple' is located outside the city. It is inhabited mainly by four-handed creatures. Hindus come here for ritual bathing.
The temple structure itself is beautiful, but in a desolate state of maintenance.
On our way to the temple, children threw stones at us. If they used the stones to repair the temple instead (and if they cleaned up the place a bit), they could probably make this an attractive tourist destination.
Pushkar
To escape from noisy Jaipur, we make a daytrip to Pushkar, a holy city built around a lake.
Pushkar is a colorful city, with one shop next to the other. However, the atmosphere is much more relaxed than in Jaipur.
As so many other places here in India, Pushkar covers a wide spectrum on the beauty scale.
This is the most important temple of Pushkar. Photography is not permitted inside, but tourists are.
Again, traffic is an adventure. We counted 10 (in words: ten) people in this tuk-tuk. Communication is honk-based: 1 second honk = Caution, I will pass your car; 2 seconds = I am angry; 30 seconds = I am very angry; 1 hour = I fell asleep on my steering wheel.
Fort Amber
Fort Amber is the castle of Jaipur, built in the 17th century.
Mirrors were imported from Belgium. The fort had all types of luxury, for example a jacuzzi with warm water, a sauna, and an ancient type of air conditioning.
Culture has regressed since these times. Most of our hotels do *not* have warm water.
Agra
Yes, folks, this is it: The Taj Mahal!
Built in the 17th century as a tomb for the emperor's wife...
...the Taj is covered all over with handcrafted decoration, made from precious stones imported from all over the world.
The Taj is one of the main tourist attractions of India, giving the city of Agra a constant source of work and wealth.
The city of Agra also has a fort, which is listed here mainly for completeness.
Today, we go to Delhi, where my travel mate will leave me to head back home.
Bodhgaya
I am on my way from Patna to Bodhgaya. The trip is 150 km, the time is 4 hours and the cost is 1 EUR (a bit cheaper if you travel outside of the bus).
Small garbage heaps along the road contribute to the olfactory diversity of the country side.
We stop at a local fast food restaurant. I have not yet had any stomach problems since I am in India. 4 years of food at the university cafeteria in Saarbrücken have not been in vain.
Bodhgaya is a very busy place.
The city is very important for Buddhists. The picture shows a buddhist mass under a tree.
Bodhgaya is the place where Buddha was fasting to seek enlightment.
When Buddha was fasting, a girl from the village came and said that if he would not soon eat something, he will not find enlightment, but death.
Buddha agreed, ate what she gave him - and found that enlightment must not be deprivation, not excess, but the middle way. People built a big temple at the tree in his memory.
My guides here are a local psychology professor and the head of the police. This is because I once helped a PhD student from India by counseling him by e-mail. The PhD student turned out to be the chief of the police of the entire state of Bihar.
He has since moved to another state. But he has done so much good here that he is still revered by the people. Now, he has asked his friends to be my guides here in Bodhgaya. Thank you all!
Varanasi
I am in Varansi now. Everything in Varanasi happens around the river Ganges.
People use the river for everything. Washing clothes, teeth brushing, sewage disposal, ...
... bathing ...
... and burying the ashes of the dead (fire on the right).
The Ganges is holy for Hindus and whoever manages to bath in it will have his wishes fulfilled, health issues cured and afterlife secured. Picture shows self-experiment.
In the evening, people hold masses at the river. Less pious people use the time to worship a female deity instead, called Mary Huana.
Varanasi is also famous for its hand-woven silk. This is particularly interesting for computer scientists, because the machines use punch cards to weave the complicated patterns (hanging top left).
Varansi itself is the most non-European city I have visited so far.
Delhi
I am in Delhi now, the capital of India. This is the Jama Masjid mosque, long India's largest mosque.
The Red Fort (here in white) is part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
Delhi itself was not founded by the British. The city has its own pittoresque style of architecture.
In many aspects, it is similar to Varanasi. The picture shows a bovine couple, asking for vegetarian food.
School's out! My taxi driver here was a Sikh. He wore a turban, but lied to me. I wonder why he applied the principles of his religion so selectively.
This is the Lotus Temple of the Bahai religion. The Bahai believe that all great prophets (Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha etc.) essentially taught the same thing. Therefore, the Bahai faith tries to encompass and unify all of them.
Today, I leave India.
Paris
I am on my way to Paris now. Paris is known for its century-old architecture.
The city is full of temples. People worship a threefold deity here.
Overall, I believe it is a good place to stay.
