Cinema has always been celebrated in India and the Bombay film industry is older than Hollywood. I see a dramatic love story rolled out to epic length. The fact that I don’t understand a word of Hindi only adds to the exoticism. Highlights are the elaborate dance interludes, partly shot in Switzerland. In these, mostly … Continue reading “Bollywood”
The pink city in Rajasthan (India)
Oasis in Rajasthan, India
Sacred rats at Bikaner (Rajasthan, India)
In the Golden City in Rajasthan (India)
In the blue city in Rajasthan (India)
Mount Abu is a kind of Indian honeymoon resort. We didn’t come here for that, though, but for the impressive Jain temples nearby. These temples, almost 1000 years old, are carved out of marble in such detail that it’s hard to believe they took only 14 years to build. LP aptly writes that it looks … Continue reading “Mount Abu”
How fabulously beautiful Udaipur must be when the old city and palaces are reflected in the lake! It’s just too bad when, in a dry year like this, all that’s left of the lake is a sad puddle. The City Palace is nevertheless impressive, the rooms grouped around beautiful courtyards. The rooms themselves reveal that … Continue reading “Udaipur”
Ahmedabad is a rather noisy and smoggy city. Well, some interesting mosques and pretty old houses between Le Corbusier concrete, a fascinating fountain house, but never a quiet place to linger. The bugs I discover in the morning when I take down the mosquito net finish me off. But I only get one bite and … Continue reading “Gujarat”
Cave temple in the basalts of the Deccan Traps (South India)
Between two trains and alone again, I am in Hyderabad, where I didn’t really want to go. At least time passes faster here than in boring Bangalore. The Golconda Fort is interesting, however “… is a must-view” (Lonely Planet) is exaggerated. Nearby are some royal tombs, somewhat similar to the Taj Mahal – but with … Continue reading “Hyderabad”
Wonderful temples in a wonderful landscape (South India)
It’s fascinating that the kids in India beg for a school pen (or chocolate or Rupee if need be) just as insistently as those in Africa or Latin America. The only way I can explain it is that decades ago, good-natured tourists travelled the world handing out pens to assure the children will have a … Continue reading “Give me school-pen!”
Around 10,000 pilgrims scurry through the temple in Madurai every day. They walk in circles around the pillars whose reliefs depict some god or other, pour oil and pile coconuts on the Nandir (Shiva’s buffalo) or throw butter at one of the larger statues of the gods – accordingly, it smells slightly rancid. In the … Continue reading “Temple, Temple, Tamil Nadu”
Sure, there are exceptions. Nevertheless, the rule seems to be that the more staff there are in a restaurant in India (preferably with their backs to the guests), the slower the service. And so you wait half an hour for a Coke after you have finally managed to order… Read on 13 months as a … Continue reading “The Indian Restaurant”
A man who comes to Kochin immediately forgets his wife, because of the beauty of the city. So they say. Indeed, there is something about the cosmopolitan flair with a mix of Portuguese, Dutch, British, Jewish and Indian culture. The city, situated on a narrow peninsula, is very green and the best thing is that … Continue reading “Kerala”
The beach vendor looks at me incredulously: “why do you come to the beach if you don’t want to buy anything?” Well, why? To forget the stress of university, to swim, relax in the sun or read a book in the shade. Eat delicious fish in the evening… And just in time for the European … Continue reading “Goa”
So I landed in Mumbai (Bombay). The culture shock wasn’t as severe as I expected and I quickly got used to the “Hello my friend”. Fatigue was a bit more of a problem on my first day: I fell asleep on the boat to Elephanta Island. I still found the cave temple on the island … Continue reading “Landing in Mumbai”
The rocks of the Zermatt-Saas zone are an ophiolite, i.e. originally oceanic lithosphere (of the Penninic Ocean, the deep-sea basin of the Alpine Tethys). However, the unit is highly deformed, so that the normal sequence of serpentinite (mantle), gabbro, basalt and sediments cannot be found in one piece. Furthermore, they were metamorphosed (eclogite facies, retrograde … Continue reading “Zermatt-Saas Ophiolite (excursion)”