Gujarat

First stop after leaving Udaipur was Gandhinagar the new capital from Gujarat. This town was built in the 1960s und even now it doesn't make appeal to be finished. A wired town, which seems that except the governmental clerks nobody is living there. It was the first time for a long time that I slept in a youth hostel again. I got a room with 10 beds for myself. Seems there is no need for a youth hostel in that artifical town. But the good thing was: no television. I don't know why, but in every hotel, with indian citizens with a TV in the rooms it's horrible loud. Seems like they have always a competition running who has the loudest TV in the room, and for finding out, they also let the roomdoors open.

After that silent peaceful night I arrived Bahvnagar next day. The condition of the streets in Gujarat is very good, but driving in Gujarat is also a little bit boring. Flat as a chapathie (flat indien bread) and streets with no curves. It also happend, that they had launched helmet duty in Gujarat some days before, but it seemed like it was only written in English newsletters. Nobdody cared about that new law.

Bahvnagar city has its two sides: When it gets dark, poverty become visible on each corner and spread out in front of the closed shops. Children, old people and whole families are sitting around small smelly bonfires, which are often fired with old tires. It can by cold during the night in January.
Gujurat is often suffering from draught. Whole villages are deserted, because it is not possible anymore to grow soemthing on the fields. And it's very difficult for those families to find work in the towns.


children are coloring kitestrings (one thing what amazes me always in India: dispite how poor they are, they find something to laugh.. without beeing socialromantic it's always fascinating me. And... it's contagious)


Next step was Alang. It`s the biggest shipwracking place in the world, and I was really looking forward for that.... but I got dissapointed: They wanted 500 US from me to visit it and the permission was only to get in Gandhinagar which was now 300km away. At the access road workers are trying to sell erverything from the old rusty ships: toilets, mirrors, fans, screws, furniture.... everything

So I continued my journey to Palitana. Near by are the only few hills in Gujarat and at the most famous are 863 jain temples which were built the last 900 years! It's an old pilgrim place and you can either walk the 3000 steps uphill or, when you have enough money by carriers. It's a very peaceful place and toursits are very rar.

...if you dont wonna go by yourself..

Next town Enny got a service.. but it was not a good one. The valves where totally wrong adjusted, than the regulator of the battarie went crazy and the tachokabel spinned around the front bumper.




I drove till 8 o clock in the evening and became very tired. It was wired: when it got dark, there was no truck or car anymore on the street. It feld like little bit dangerous. So i was very happy finding a motel. I drunk my second beer this year... and a small bottle of whiskey.

dirty and soo tired..

Next day I continued with a headache my way.. to the next mechanic. The clutch was gone, they also reajusted the valves and replaced also the tachokabel. Everything went right accept the tachokaple so i cut it off. In Jalgaon I went again to the mechanic and they finally solved all the problems. You see: it's very easy to find mechanics in India, but it can be very taff to find a good one.

..but you will always find interessted people.. sometimes i was really wondering..

In Jalgaon I got the first time confronted with the new introduced twoprice system for wolrd heritiage buildings. I wanted to see the caves of Anjuna. Tourists have nowadays to pay 20 times more then indian citizens. I really hate this system. I do not boder, if I would pay the doubled price, but 20 times so much! (And Ireally get angry when a rich indien guy with an slr which cost more than 1500 US who arrived with an aircontinioned car is laughing at me because of my annoyence and my dirt on my clothe, because of the motorbikeriding and is paying 10 rs)

just saw the caves from the distance..

But everything got very very relative when I got the news that Gujarat was hit by a huge earthquake at 26 Jannury 2001. 100 000 People died.

(I followed the whole reportings, everytime when it was possible. They had to increase the number of the dead people every day. After a week they stopped digging for survivors, because nobody could life as long without water. It was also said that the helpers digged first on places where rich people lived, because of the bakshish. There was the talk of robbers in Gujarat and the official order of "shoot on sight" )