AhmedaBAD BAD BAD :(
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2010
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Trip End
Sep 05, 2011
So we didn't want to leave our new family in Udaipur but it was time to move on, time was ticking away and we only had 2 weeks left in India, 2 weeks left of our trip even. So we had to start making our epic journey south to Mumbai and Goa, but unfortunately it seemed that you could not get from Udaipur to Mumbai without stopping in a place called Ahmedabad. Our handy guide book didn’t have much to say about this city except for its pollution and mosques. Ooh great, sounds riveting, but hey it was just one night, it couldn’t be that bad. But oh dear, how wrong we were… Firstly our tickets for the train got mixed up so we ended up on the worst overnight bus to date leaving us to stay in Ahmedabad for two nights not one.. We luckily had seats but not much space as the aisle and the racks above our seats were jammed packed full of people basically just lying on top of each other, and let’s just say it didn’t smell too good either! So arriving at 5am in a city with no tourist activity, the struggle to find a hotel began. But every place we went to was full. We couldn’t believe it, supposedly there was a medical conference on so all rooms were booked up in the city for the weekend. Disaster! But finally we found ourselves somewhere to stay, if not slightly overpriced for the mosquito infected "sweatbox" it was but hey, it was a bed and we were exhausted from the journey. The next day was not so eventful; we ventured out into the grey polluted town and were not welcomed in the usual Indian style. Of course there was the typical staring but this time even more intense. In a majority Muslim area there were no women to be seen, we missed their brightly coloured clothes and the comfortable feeling they gave us. After about 20 minutes wandering the streets, being harassed and followed the majority of the time, we headed straight back to our box room (which was suddenly way more appealing than earlier) and ordered room service! Haha! On went the TV and we laid back and enjoyed the films that Star Movies had to offer. Not always alone it would seem as now and again we would catch the busboy lurking outside our room peering through the internal window at us… eeww – freaky! The next day following another sweaty night in the box we decided to venture out once more, this time armed with a fail proof plan (or so we thought). First stop McDonalds, we had heard there was one over the river underneath a cinema which possibly showed English films… After a pleasant walk through the smog we made it to our destination, well the McDonalds did exist but the cinema showed one Hindi film a day. One out of two wasn’t bad we thought. Also the McDonalds was right by the university so full of young male and female students. After chatting to some girls they told us to go to a mall 40 minutes on a rickshaw out of town where there was lots of shopping and films in English. With nothing to lose we jumped in a rickshaw with a old non-english speaking old man and hoped he was taking us to the right place. 40 minutes later we pulled up at what looked like a mall, but was obviously still half way through construction… we found a cinema – which showed only hindi films and empty shops.. all opening soon! FAIL!!! So we ended up chilling on some sofas in a basement department store – the Indian version of Wilkinsons we decided – until some security guards gave us the look and we swiftly left, hopped back into a rickshaw and returned to the sweatbox for another evening of cable TV – thank god for star movies and Australian masterchef! Late that night we said goodbye to the horrorsville that was Ahmedabad as we boarded our sleeper train down to Mumbai and vowed never to return :-) !!!
Comments
Thanks for interesting info re Ahmedabad. I just stayed there 5 days at a friends flat where we were both on the way to Bangalore & Puttaparthi Sai baba ashram (2.5 weeks). Agree that its a very difficult place (as most Indian big cities). Had to say in a hotel the first night as friend's electricity had been cut off ! Same experience as you hotels all full ("weddings season") (I'd be too miserable to get married in such a place!) . Except one hotel- had a room, poor & quite expensive room Rs 800 per night but at least a hot shower & a bed! Also like you was often stared at (white skin) (from Scotland). Madness pollution and cars, vehicles, scooters- really terrible dangerous polution & danger crossing roads. Appalling poverty seen at times. But the Indians were generally pleasant to us. I pity the people living there. But not much crime/robberies it seems & felt pretty safe there. One boon my friend showed me a brilliant Indian restaurant "Rasna" in our suburb (Maninager) air conditioned, absolutely stupendous curries, & pretty cheap (for Westerners). We settled in a bit more after I had bodged up a temporary elec feed to the flat from the block's communal supply with their permission (am electrically qualified), and we had got provisions & cleaned up/organised the flat (had been empty for 1 year or so). But we were both relieved to get away from the crazy city to the glorious peace, organisation, facilities, shops etc all laid on at Sai Baba ashram Prashanthi Nilayam (been there many times before) at Puttaarthi, 100Kms north of Bangalore.