Sinhagad Hike

The feeling that overtakes my body while crossing the last ridge to the top of a hill or mountain and looking down to where you began is one of those amazing feelings. Pure satisfaction for the hours of hiking and hard work to earn a fantastic view.  

We finally were able to get out of Pune for a little adventure, to the town of Sinhagad. The town is located around 25km outside of Pune, and the attraction is that it is located on a beautiful hill, with a fort at the top at about 1350m above sea level. The fort has some really neat history for those that love history. It's estimated to be be roughly 2000 years old, and has been the center of many important battles over the years, and has been under the control of many empires during this time, including the Mughals and Marathas. It is a fairly popular area for Indians to come on Sunday for a hike, I met a bunch of students that come almost every week.

To be honest though, the fort was the least impressive attraction of the day. The views of the surrounding valleys, the rugged paths to the top, and climbing up a few off-path routes, including one mini-waterfall were my highlights of the day! To celebrate reaching the top, we cut up a delicious fresh mango while taking in the views below. 

The monsoon season is in full force, so much of the trek there was rain, making for a complete white haze at the top. This actually created a pretty neat effect, as it felt we were almost in another universe as we had no way of telling what was in front of us. The rain was probably a blessing, as it was extremely humid, and it was a great way to cool down.

We also managed to make our way to Sinhagad by local bus, which is no easy task here in India. After asking about 10 people, and waiting in 4-5 spots, our bus, which does not include english numbers pulled up, and we joined the intense crowd of locals pushing their way onto the bus. We all made it on, and for 20 rupees each way, enjoyed probably the cheapest one hour bus ride I have ever taken!

Tomorrow is back to reality, another visit to the Police office to hopefully get a stamp for our residence certificates, which we need to complete the wonder A form on Tuesday before my 14 days are up. After that, a walk over to campus to try and sign up for courses which apparently start this week or next. Wish me luck on my continuing adventure through the wonderful Indian bureaucracy! 

I hope you all enjoy a few of the pictures below!

A group of locals that asked to take a picture with us (this has been happening quite often around Pune and today on the hike, where people ask to take a picture with us. Specifically Victoria and myself seem to be targets, the blonde hair and my red hair and tallness I guess make us stand out!)

Some really great caves at to top in the fort

Halfway up the hill before the clouds stole the views

First Week

The first week in India has been great. The weather is hot, but bearable, mostly humid rather than dry heat. After roughly 40 hours in transit, I arrived in Mumbai last Tuesday at around 1am, and after 5 hours or so in a shared taxi with 4 other locals we arrived in Pune. It was dark all the way here, although from the odd glimpse of light from the moon through the haze of pollution it looks like the area around Pune is beautiful, full of lush hills to explore.

India so far has been both what I expected and also completely different in some aspects. People have been extremely friendly for the most part, and although the staring is quite intense in most parts of the city, I feel as though it is different than other countries I have travelled too, more curious than anything else. I haven't had the opportunity yet to take many pictures, or do anything all that exciting in terms of visiting. The first week has been devoted to finding a place to live, dealing with the various forms and bureaucratic procedures that must be done in the first few weeks, and registering with the University.

A few first impressions of the country are that the roads are crazy, and crossing the road is always a near death experience.  Many people have gone out of their way to help (although we are realizing that directions and distances are not to be taken too seriously) The university has very few foreign students, and the city in general, except for one area does not see many tourists. Which I'm actually quite happy about in a way, it has a much different feel to it, but we still get people harassing us each day which is to be expected of course.

Julie and I have found a flat to stay at thanks to a friend from school, who stayed here last year. The place is great, quiet street, two bathrooms (1 Indian style toilet) and we will be able to boil water which makes my hippie side happy for saving the mountain of plastic that would be consumed otherwise.

The food has been great, although so far not all that much better than can be found in Canada. The difference however, is the price, as a huge serving of chapati and a Indian veg dish can be had for less than $1.50. I had my first street food today, Masala Dosa and Uttapa. Basically flour fried on a hot plate and filled with delicious potatoes, onion, tomato and spices. They are everywhere here, and just around the corner from our flat which is amazing. I haven't had a chance to try the Panipuri, but that will be done by the end of the week I am sure!

I want to touch on the Indian head bobble, but I think this deserves a separate post later on when I can properly contextualize how great it is!

Hope all is well back in Canada. I have a few pictures from my walk in Koregaon Park my first few days here, as well as the flat and one of the University. None really of the major parts of the city, but these will be coming. I'm still figuring out how to take a picture in the street and not get hit by a car or bike or cow!

Koregaon Park

My room!

View from the kitchen

Preparations

In 5 days I begin a six month adventure in India. It will be a mix of studying at Pune University and hopefully tons of travel along the way. It's hard to believe this trip has all come together. For several years I have working towards this opportunity to live abroad, desperately trying to satisfy my ever increasing wanderlust! India was one of my top choices, and it's crazy to think that it is all about to happen. 

There are too many things to list, but a few things I am hoping to accomplish over the next six months, not in any particular order:

- Visit the ruins of Vijayanagra in Hampi
- Roughly half of India are vegetarians, which makes me a happy guy! I plan to eat as much delicious veg food as physically possible!

- Travel up to Leh, Ladakh and do some hiking and visit the Tibetan villages
- Experience a 20 hour train trip

- Explore as much of Pune as possible including the hill stations around the area

- Figure out the "A" and "C" form registration process without getting fined

- Drive an auto-rickshaw

- The best travel moments are usually unplanned, so hopefully experience as many of these as possible

Over the last few years i've really come to love travel blogs. I find they are a great way to escape every day life and work, and generally gets me amped up for future travel adventures. One of the best blogs and overall travel journeys I have come across can be found at http://www.thebigafricacycle.com/ I hope that my blog will be of interest to friends and family or whoever else wants to follow. I plan to write about interesting things I learn about along the way from the graduate course I will be taking, my travel adventures, and hilarious and embarrassing stories that are likely to follow very shortly.

I'm starting to pack, the goal is to bring the least amount as possible and fit everything in my MEC backpack. So far so good...although I haven't actually attempted to pack this stuff yet, but it looks like it will fit!