The weeks are getting busier and busier. Before I launch in to the activities of the weekend, I'll insert this small update: I took the CCNA exam this morning at a Pearson Vue testing center in Koramangala and passed it! Not quite with flying colors, but solidly at any rate. One of this summers goals is now clearly checked off the list. Now on to LSAT prep, bah.
As has been planned for a few weeks, we finally made it to Bandipur. We launched into the road trip at 6:30 in the morning, meeting up with Kumar and Sagar and heading out of the city. Once we had a few kilometers behind us we stopped at a hotel, which in Indian English is a place you get food, and grabbed a bite to eat; Puri, Samba, Idli: standard breakfast fare. Then it was back to the road. A road trip in southern India isn't much different than a trip in the US. It's accompanied by snacks like nuts, chips, drinks; although of their own variant. The chips were covered in masala, a combination of spices you find in everything, the drinks were "badam milk," a canned dairy product with small bits of almond. We had music blasting a good portion of the way, a mixture of western music and traditional Indian. I helped Kumar discover a passion for the older, Science-era Incubus music. It was shortly after breakfast that Chases digestive system started having a trip of its own, but you can look at his blog for that. (Link to come)
On the way out we stopped at some waterfalls which unfortunately mostly dried out since we are at the beginning of the rainy season. Chase shared a story from Thailand in which a group of elephants were walking across such a set of falls when a flash flood hit. In the middle of the current they were immobilized for three days and eventually died. In our situation there was no rain in sight and no elephants. While looking down into the rocky area that would be covered in water in another few months, we saw a crowd of monkeys cruising around looking for handouts and avoiding the plastic bottles that were periodically hurled their way. They weren't to keen to try the masala blueberries I tossed to them but they had no problem with aggressively stealing a mango from the woman standing next to me, prompting another wave of airborne bottles in retaliation.
Side note: several of the villages in the area make a living by growing sugarcane and refining it into sugar or one of the several sugarcane based sweets. While on the road we stopped by such a town and saw most of the process. The sugarcane is harvested from the fields, placed on the roads for cars to crush and speed up the process of collecting the seeds. They sweep the grains off the road, combine it with water and boil it in a bathtub-sized tub over a large fire for a full day. The sweet soupy liquid is poured into cast-iron shapes and cooked until it feels like a bar of handsoap; hard yet bendable and breakable, in sizes from 2" cubes to large approx 8lb blocks wrapped in newspaper and tied with twine to be sold to markets. After leaving the falls we got a little lost, driving back and forth over these piles of sugarcane before ending up completely by accident on the far side of the falls. I took advantage of the opportunity to cruise around on the rocks, jumping from one rock tier of waterless falls to the next, as it started to rain. I wasted little time in getting back off the falls, the story of stranded Thai elephants still fresh in my head.
Upon finally entering Bandipur Forest proper we stopped at a group of houses at the entrance to see if there was any lodgings available. Finding none, we through around my frisbee for a while, ensuring the black-faced monkeys didn't make off with it, and attempted to sneak into a group of 50-70 spotted deer. Some of these deer had racks about 5' off the top of their heads. Hunting is strictly forbidden in India, which is probably the only reason a group of deer as large as they were dared come within miles of people. Still, as quietly as I could and thinking "be a bush, I am a bush" with all my mind, I couldn't get within 50m of the herd.
As we continued into the jungle the trees started to get a little denser and the sun a little lower. We passed a jungle outpost where we were able to find accommodations for the night. In spite of their previous booking by government officials, two unused rooms magically appeared for our use. Kumar attributed this to our status as foreigners. Another side note: bribery and corruption in India is very widespread. To this point in our journey we had been asked no less than 3 times for "tips," baseless requests for a few rupees made by those with the guise of authority, which were all rebutted by Kumar. While not required to do so, the man working security for the nationally owned jungle huts inquired into the house status after reservations were due, cleared a previous unfilled reservation, booked us into the slots, and reserved breakfast for us, all while refusing to accept a grateful tip for his work. Corruption infuses Indian bureaucracy, but there are clearly people that carry out their responsibilities with a strong character. Tip of the hat to the jungle hut guard.
On the way toward the guest room in the jungle we drove pretty slowly, trying to pierce the darkness and spot some wildlife. Sure enough, in the fading light we saw a group of around 8 elephants about 10 meters from the road. If the trip had ended then I would have accomplished my purpose for it, but there were a lot more things to see and do. Which will have to come later! More on the trip and pictures to come tomorrow.
-Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment