That is the reason why the blog has seen so few updates in the last three weeks. Not the cows: the beach. While we were declaring to everyone we were super ultra busy in our travel, we were actually shamelessly whiling the days away, basking in the golden sun, sipping fruity lassis or playing frisbee (admittedly at a terrible level). Well I guess that still made us a bit busy.
Oh God, I want to be back in Goa already. Why did we leave, again?
Although it is seldom mentioned in Western education, India has a millenary-old history going back to the earliest stages of Antiquity, full of the drama of warring kingdoms and crumbling empires, mighty Maharajas and decadent peoples. In particular, almost the whole subcontinent of India was united under the banner of the great Mughal empire from the 16th to the 18th century, after years of conquest and military supremacy of the Muslim armies. The Mughal emperors would leave a lasting trace of their glory in History, with Shah Jahan having erected the Taj Mahal, and the mighty Akbar being still today revered as both a skillful general and a wise ruler.
It is thus unsurprising that so much of their passage could remain visible today, all across the state of Rajasthan. Immense (as well as impregnable!) forts dot the countryside, while majestic and luxurious palaces sometimes emerge at the most unexpected locations.
Our arrival in India was not an easy one. Even for us veteran travellers, the first few days within the borders of the subcontinent constituted a challenge; and we dived directly into all of it, as we chose the overwhelming city of Varanasi, one of Hinduism’s holy cities, as our first destination. More than in any other country we have visited so far — and I daresay it will not get any bigger than India — the roads were crowded with people and animals, the scents ranged from the heavenly spices of a hot chai to the disgusting excrements of animals, the streets were flooded with waste and vendors permanently insisted in selling us their goods. The intensity of all those impressions and, especially, the poverty of the many, many people in the streets made me feel quite uncomfortable at the beginning. How would I cope with all this for almost two months?
Here are some pictures we had not got the occasion to publish — either because they did not fit into any post, or simply because they were too random. Sillily random, to be precise.
More than four thousand Buddhist temples (you read it right. Four thousand) were built in the plain of Bagan between the 11th and the 13th century — and Myanmar stays, still today, known as one of the most devout Buddhist countries in the world. This incredible landscape, offered by innumerable pagodas piercing the green forests to reach the sky, is fully as breathtaking as the massive temples of Angkor were, back in Cambodia — despite their differences. Here, to the sheer size, complexity and grandeur of single monuments, the kings preferred the numbers, diversity, and immensity of the panorama.
“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.”
Paul Theroux
