Monday, August 25, 2003
Big update
Saturday, J. and I finally made it to Nagarjuna Sagar! After only 1 1/2 hours of sleep, I threw myself into a hotel car and off we went. The drive took about 3 1/2 hours, and we went through some countryside and a lot of little towns and villages. Once the traffic thinned, I noticed our driver was nodding off at the wheel! So J. asked him if he was OK, and the driver said he needed to stop for tea. We stopped in this little village, and J. and I sat in the car while the driver ate. A guy came up to us to beg for money, and he wouldn't leave the car for like 10 minutes! Weirdo. Anyway, after getting back on the road and going through a torrential downpour, we made it to the lake. We drove across the dam, which was pretty impressive, and bought tickets for the boat ride.
The boat took us across the lake to an island with a museum and some Buddhist temples and monastary. The museum had some really interesting sculptures, but the building itself was in a terrible state of repair. The grounds on the island were well-kept, though, and I took some great pictures. After we finished with the island and lake, we got back in the car to drive to the waterfalls nearby.
The waterfalls were super pretty. The falls are made of several streams that fall over the rim of a flat area. Supposedly they have a source in the mountains. They plunge quite a long way to a pool at the bottom, and then continue on down the valley. The observation point is level with the top of the waterfalls, so you look down into the valley, which is thick with vegetation and palm trees. Further down the valley, there was a shrine set into the side of the mountain.
Some Indian guys wanted to take a picture with us while we were there. Afterwards, we decided to have one last look and then head back. We were looking down the valley toward the shrine when one of the Indians ran up to Jason. He was really excited and kept saying something we didn't understand, probably in Hindi or Telegu. He was gesturing with his hands to show something big (like how a fisherman would describe his biggest catch of the day). Finally, he made another motion with his hands, which I realized was a crocodile's jaws. I yelled "crocodile!?" and ran over to look at the waterfalls. In the basin at the base of the falls, there was a monster crocodile swimming around. He had to be about 12 feet long. We took pictures and waited to see if he would come nearer to us, but he swam off instead. Later, I learned that while crocs are fairly common in India, they are not that common in this state, Andhra Pradesh. So it was really exciting to see one.
Yesterday I went to the pool (oops, another sunburn, dammit!) and went shopping. Got some pearls for my mom and aunt, and a set of beautiful black pearls for myself. I also got a suitcase to replace the one that Ryan let me borrow on my last trip. It was damaged in transit. I packed up a lot of my stuff. I did some last minute shopping today and more packing.
The big news today was two bombs exploding in Mumbai. At least 44 people died, and the last I heard, about 150 were injured. Apparently, there were also plans to blow up a section of railroad, but the detonators were found before they could go off. Such a sad state of things. One bomb went off in the middle of one of Mumbai's bazaars, and the other exploded near the Gateway to India monument. They were timed to go off during lunch, so that the maximum number of people would be injured. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings yet. I'm a little worried, since I'm scheduled to have a stop in Mumbai on Wednesday, on my way home.
Saturday, J. and I finally made it to Nagarjuna Sagar! After only 1 1/2 hours of sleep, I threw myself into a hotel car and off we went. The drive took about 3 1/2 hours, and we went through some countryside and a lot of little towns and villages. Once the traffic thinned, I noticed our driver was nodding off at the wheel! So J. asked him if he was OK, and the driver said he needed to stop for tea. We stopped in this little village, and J. and I sat in the car while the driver ate. A guy came up to us to beg for money, and he wouldn't leave the car for like 10 minutes! Weirdo. Anyway, after getting back on the road and going through a torrential downpour, we made it to the lake. We drove across the dam, which was pretty impressive, and bought tickets for the boat ride.
The boat took us across the lake to an island with a museum and some Buddhist temples and monastary. The museum had some really interesting sculptures, but the building itself was in a terrible state of repair. The grounds on the island were well-kept, though, and I took some great pictures. After we finished with the island and lake, we got back in the car to drive to the waterfalls nearby.
The waterfalls were super pretty. The falls are made of several streams that fall over the rim of a flat area. Supposedly they have a source in the mountains. They plunge quite a long way to a pool at the bottom, and then continue on down the valley. The observation point is level with the top of the waterfalls, so you look down into the valley, which is thick with vegetation and palm trees. Further down the valley, there was a shrine set into the side of the mountain.
Some Indian guys wanted to take a picture with us while we were there. Afterwards, we decided to have one last look and then head back. We were looking down the valley toward the shrine when one of the Indians ran up to Jason. He was really excited and kept saying something we didn't understand, probably in Hindi or Telegu. He was gesturing with his hands to show something big (like how a fisherman would describe his biggest catch of the day). Finally, he made another motion with his hands, which I realized was a crocodile's jaws. I yelled "crocodile!?" and ran over to look at the waterfalls. In the basin at the base of the falls, there was a monster crocodile swimming around. He had to be about 12 feet long. We took pictures and waited to see if he would come nearer to us, but he swam off instead. Later, I learned that while crocs are fairly common in India, they are not that common in this state, Andhra Pradesh. So it was really exciting to see one.
Yesterday I went to the pool (oops, another sunburn, dammit!) and went shopping. Got some pearls for my mom and aunt, and a set of beautiful black pearls for myself. I also got a suitcase to replace the one that Ryan let me borrow on my last trip. It was damaged in transit. I packed up a lot of my stuff. I did some last minute shopping today and more packing.
The big news today was two bombs exploding in Mumbai. At least 44 people died, and the last I heard, about 150 were injured. Apparently, there were also plans to blow up a section of railroad, but the detonators were found before they could go off. Such a sad state of things. One bomb went off in the middle of one of Mumbai's bazaars, and the other exploded near the Gateway to India monument. They were timed to go off during lunch, so that the maximum number of people would be injured. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings yet. I'm a little worried, since I'm scheduled to have a stop in Mumbai on Wednesday, on my way home.
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