Monsoon Rains: Travel

Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Sian Ka'an Biosphere

The Sian Ka'an Biosphere is located close to the city of Tulum in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The road to Sian Ka'an is not well maintained and a local restaurateur told me that there is another way to get to Punta Allen by your own car and once there, we could just hire a boat to go watch dolphins in the wild. We had, however, already booked our tour with iTour and so we decided to stick with it.

The tour assembles at 8:00 am at the iTour hotel (located at the intersection of the Carr Cancun-Tulum and Avenida Coba Sur) and gets back at about 5:30pm. We were driven in a van up to the lagoon, where we boarded a boat to travel via the lagoon to Punta Allen.

The boat ride in the lagoon was good, the captain knew what he was up to and

we got to see several crocodiles and birds making their home in the abundant mangroves.

Crocodile nestled in the mangroves

Swimming away lazily

Flying Pelican

Pink Spoonbill

Fly High!

Unidentified Perching Objects

When we reached Punta Allen, we stopped at a restaurant, had some very light food, changed into swim suits and headed on another boat into the sea to see dolphins, manatees and tortugas (sea turtles). The first thing we went searching for was the dolphins.

We came across a pod of four dolphins that were just lazily, but gracefully ambling about in their backyard

At one point, the four of them were swimming in formation just ahead of the boat.

We watched them for about 20 minutes, then raced off to look for tortugas. Unexpectedly, we found a large manatee and hung out with him/her for a bit.

It was impossible to see the entire shape of the manatee under the water, but he/she did come up for air several times and I got the snout on camera.

The next to be sighted was the tortuga and boy did it take its time about getting up to surface level. By the time the tortuga stuck his/her head out I was done taking pictures, so I simply watched him/her go back down in a 45 degree dive. He/she resurfaced one more time, before completely disappearing from view.

Then the captains takes everyone to a spot where it is possible to snorkel and then a shallow area where everyone can swim before heading back to the restaurant for a meal (not good at all, especially for vegetarians) and then back via the lagoon to the van and the hotel.

Summary: I liked the biosphere itself, but the tour company left a lot to be desired. What I liked: the dolphins, the boat ride, the wildlife.

What I did not like: (1) the tour company should have communicated that they were not going to have water on board (especially when they said several times that there was going to be food on the tour); (2) the tour guide was communicating through a walkie talkie in the lagoon, but our boat had no walkie talkie on board so we really did not get to hear what she said; (3) vegetarians will get only rice and tomatoes -- but I was not really expecting much in that department anyway; (4) there were only two of us who spoke English, so at some point the guide decided that it was not really worth it to translate everything she was saying into English; (5) when booking the tour were assured that even though one of us could not swim, someone will help us during the snorkeling bit of the tour -- not really. There was not even a ladder to get into the ocean, until one Italian tourist managed to communicate the need for it. The seas were somewhat rough and I did not want to take the chance that the captain will actually keep track of me. Also I was completely dehydrated and light headed from the sun by the time we go to the snorkel site (remember no water-- and this was the only time during the entire Mexico trip when I did not carry my own bottle). Just to clarify, I think the captain was nice-- but there was no way I could have communicated what I wanted to him and the guide was not anywhere near my boat. This was not expected since we were told that this was a multi-lingual tour; (6) when we got back to the lagoon, the boat had no docking area and I had to jump about 7 feet from the prow of the boat as the captain was really in a hurry to get back -- not a good thing if you have spinal injuries (7) we then had to walk on junk that had washed ashore at that beach to get back to the restaurant.

Despite all this, I still recommend finding a way to go to the ocean to watch the dolphins in nature, because there is nothing as beautiful as wildlife doing their own thing. Hearing them breathe is the most soothing thing ever.

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Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Sittannavaasal --- Southern India's Tiny Ajanta

One day before we were to catch the Rockfort Express back to Chennai from Trichy (Thiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu), we looked for something to occupy us for a day. We flipped open the yellow pages and it listed the usual -- Thiruvaanaikkaval, Rockfort Temple, Srirangam, Mukkombu. Been there done that.

Then my eyes fell on ``Sittannavaasal". All that the Yellow Pages would divulge was that Sittannavasal has a Jain Rock Temple constructed sometime, BC and was remarkable for some paintings using vegetable dyes and Jain sculptures. It was sufficiently different than the usual, so we decided to try that. Besides, it was close enough to another temple called Thirukokaranam, a Tamizhaization of the Sanskrit, Thiru-Go-Karnam which literally translates to Thiru-Cow-Ear. The temple and the town derive their name from the legend of a cow filling her ear with water from the Cauvery to worship the Shiva Lingam. Interesting enough.

We hired Fast Track (local cab company) on a package deal and as soon as we left the city limits of Trichy, we were treated to beautiful country side flanking either side of the road. The blue-grey clouds rolled low, but stopped short of threatening us with a squall. A pleasant December breeze ruffled the arching thorn bushes and kora-pull (a Pampas grass look alike, which goats feed on).
Well fed looking cows and goats grazed nonchalantly ignoring man made constraints like time and property boundaries. Peace reigned. My mind raced to the times of Kings and Queens and passages from Ponniyin Selvan.

The driver knew the broad strokes of how to get to Sittannavasal, stopping every now and then to query the locals to fill in the details. As always in India, they obliged. Each person would point us out to the next big land mark and tell us,``then you can ask around". One such stop brought us to a place called Mei Vazhi Chalai (Truth-ward Path). Apparently, this was not just a place but also the name of a group of people who eschew differences in religion and believe that mankind and hence God, is one. The men wear turbans with an inverted crescent moon pin on it.

Once we got off the main highway and into the little villages, the road's purpose was more to serve as a test of human spinal alignment and vehicular shock absorption than actually getting you anywhere. Or so it seemed! Many twists and turns and bumps and jolts later, we arrived at the hills of Sittannavasal in about an hour and 10 minutes.

Sittannavasal rocks. Beds for the Jain monks reside on top of this hill. Just a shallow cradle like dig out on the rocks.

There is a walk that leads up to the little rock/hill outcroppings. The first mound is the site of the beds for the Jain monks. Once you pass that, you walk up a little slope in the rock towards what appeared to be the cave temple, passing a few workers lunching off their boxed carriers, while a stray dog watched for hopeful morsels. A man overtook us up to the cave temple, saying as he walked up that he came in at around 9:45 am and that no one usually shows up here. He turned out to be an employee of the Archeological Society of India, and the sole caretaker of the rock temple. The keeper of its keys.

There, on top of the rocks, sat the cave temple, completely unassuming in its stature. Much like the Thirthankaras it was home to.

The blue gates guarding the Jain temple. To the right and left were sculptures, the ceiling had paintings similar to those in Ajanta and Ellora caves. The temple is dug out from the sheer face of the rock

The temple itself is dug out from the sheer face of the cliff/rock. We admired the sculptures on either side of the entrance and were busy discussing the paintings on the ceiling. The caretaker was observing us the whole time and finally stepped forward to introduce himself as an ASI representative. He said that since we seem to be interested in the paintings and the carvings and not just there as "ordinary tourists" he thought we would be interested in learning more about the paintings. We were. So he showed us the paintings of the princess and the lotus pond and then, the piece de resistance -- the chamber beyond the front room.

The ante-chamber contained a large Buddha (yes, it did look like the Buddha) like relief carved on the rock face and some more carvings on the ceilings and the sides of the cave. He then told us about a phenomenon that he did not usually share with tourists. He motioned us to stand beside him outside the cave. In few seconds we heard a low meditative hum that clearly emanated from the cave and seemed to circle around it and envelop us, while we still stood outside. It sounded a lot like the low rumbles of the Om. We looked in surprise inside the cave and there was nothing in it. When we turned back to look at the ASI employee, we saw that he had his lips ever so slightly parted. Clearly he was producing the sound from deep within and the chamber was carved so it would amplify this low frequency to render the most magical meditative quality to it.

He then invited all of us to step inside and took his position at the dead center of the cave. Once again he produced the sound and this time we heard it even more clearly than ever before. He invited our driver try it himself. The driver did and although he could not produce quite the same quality of sound as the ASI employee, he certainly did produce a reverberation. The guide went on to say, "no woman can produce this sound. I have years of experience doing this and I can even get this to happen when I stand outside the chamber". Since I can never let a challenge like that go unanswered and since I have a pretty low pitch, I gave it a try. May be I imagined it, may be it was a bit real, there was a very faint rumbling.

My theory is that the parameters of the cave are just suited to resonate with low-pitched voices. How easy it is to interpret things wrong and how easy it is to make snap judgements regarding a subset of the population and how long do these judgements last! Despite this, the man was pleasant. He also told us about a lot of other historically and archaeologically significant temples in the vicinity. One of them had three distinct sculpture and architecture styles from three different periods. His brother, also an ASI employee, was a the caretaker of that temple. He gave us the general directions to the that temple. We thanked him for this most awesome demonstration and decided to stop over at this new temple before we hit Thirugokarnam.

No photography is allowed inside the cave, so here are a few from outside of it.

View from the top of the cave temple

Way up on top of this rock lie the beds of the Jain monks

The Logistics:

Sittannavaasal can be reached in about an hour by car from Trichy. Start on the Trichy-Pudukkottai highway and veer off at around Keeranoor.
Trichy itself is easily reached from Chennai via trains (irctc.co.in) or buses (redbus.in). Train tickets are harder to get at the last minute. Book at least 10 days in advance during non-peak times and perhaps months in advance if traveling during peak times (like during festivals etc.)
We used a fast track (a cab company working in Trichy and Chennai) package. There are other cab companies that may offer similar package deals. You would need a local cell phone to book your cab because there is a lot SMS exchanges between the company and you for everything including your booking number and receipt at the end of the trip.
The cab package deals workout to be cheaper than tourist cars and are just as comfortable.
Be aware that there are no restrooms in Sittannavaasal although there is a children's park area in near the rocks. There are several gas stations (petrol bunks) along the highway that have fairly clean restrooms. The gas station owners typically don't mind letting you use them.
Since there are a lot of rocks to walk on, it would be best to choose a pleasant day for this trip. Sometime in December would probably be ideal.

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Friday, 27 July 2012

Boulder Colorado -- The City

It's not just the natural beauty of the greater Boulder area that made me fall in love with it. (Here is my brief photographic journey of Boulder Colorado).
This place is an eco-conscious, vegetarian's paradise. Check out the bottled water I bought here!

Now that's green!

The streets were filled with bicyclists and runners and there was even a father with 4 kids, all on a single 5 people bicycle with a large "carrier", who was educating his kids about gun control laws. May be they were discussing the recent shooting in nearby Aurora.

I managed to get fairly decent vegetarian fare at most places (except the place where I stayed *eye rolls* which had only oats, bread and potatoes for breakfast for vegetarians!). But, I did manage to have one awesome dinner at the only full service, sit-down-and-eat-in-style vegetarian place called the Leaf.

This was the entree (Jamaican Jerk Tempeh ) that DH ordered!

Walking on Pearl Street Mall is perhaps the thing to do in Boulder and it didn't disappoint. As it turned out, the day we roamed around on Pearl Street Mall, there was an Art Fair going on where local and nearby artists had gathered to display their wares. And wow! The art work on display was mind blowing. There was glass art, recycled art (of course!), sculptures, stone art, canvas. Everything. Unfortunately, because of the new baggage rules, all I managed to get was a pair of sculpture/wall art in brass from an artist based in Arizona!

The street was alive with performers, general millers-around and tourists like us. And sculptures! This sculpture of a girl on a swing had so much movement in it and the whole thing was balanced on her trailing "dress". Unfortunately, I have only this view of the sculpture, not the part where the "dress" is balancing the entire sculpture.

I loved the motion and the asymmetry of this sculpture

Boulder, the City, also has a Museum of Contemporary art, which unfortunately, was closed on the only day we had the time to visit it. Since we had already fed the parking meter we decided to stop by at the nearby Dushanbe Tea House. A building that was disassembled and relocated all the way from Tajikistan! And.. this tea house had Masala Dosa (a staple of the southern Indian state that I hail from) on its menu! The ingredients list for the masala dosa, though, had some interesting and very un-south Indian spices. The only trouble was, neither of us was hungry, so we just had us some tea. Coloradans seem to be great tea drinkers, if Boulder is anything to go by. While the hotel I stayed in served tepid sugar water under the name of hot chocolate, their teas were Tazo!

Interior of Dushanbe Tea House

What we missed in the museum of contemporary art, we made up at the Leaning Tree's sculpture and art gallery (free admission, with a donation box). Although at first I was very skeptical about an art museum maintained by a greeting card company, I changed my mind once I entered. The gallery itself contained several western themed paintings and sculptures, where the theme of balancing a whole sculpture on a relatively small point, continued. We were allowed no photographs inside, but the gardens did have several large sculptures that we managed to capture onto pixels.

Sakagawea with her child in the foreground and a leaping panther in the background

Details of the face of a woman -- one of the early prospectors

And then the piece de resistance -- this completely "recycled" horse! Built completely out of yard and other junk, welded together to make the most interesting sculpture. I marvel at the amount of planning and vision this sculpture must have taken. It's one thing to sculpt something out of a "blank slate", it is something else (I would imagine) to sculpt something from already existing forms! I imagine that you would need to somehow erase the familiar object from your mind and see it as a completely different piece!