Grand Overland Voyage (2005-2009)

November 27, 2005 Hotel Abhinandan Inn, free Sekali lagi, aku kembali ke Jaipur. Kali ini karena untuk memenuhi undangan pemilik hotel yang menikahkan saudara perempuannya. Aman, pemilik hotel itu, menolak menerima pembayaran kamar dariku. Bahkan di buku catatan tamu dia menuliskan “Family Most Important Guest” pada namaku sehingga manajer tidak bisa memungut uang sewa kamar. Aku nggak enak hati, tapi dia tetap bersikeras untuk memberi tumpangan gratis. Hari ini adalah H-2 pernikahan. Pihak keluarga Aman adalah pengantin perempuan. Kedua mempelai belum pernah bertemu hingga hari ini, pertemuan pertama mereka akan terjadi besok lusa, hari H. Seperti pada umumnya pernikahan di India, pernikahan ini pun adalah buah karya kedua belah pihak orang tua. Hari ini para perempuan dari keluarga mempelai wanita bertandang ke keluarga mempelai pria untuk menghibahkan mas kawin. Kami berangkat dengan bus yang disewa oleh keluarga Aman. Semuanya berpakaian cantik. Berbeda dengan umat Hindu, Musliman umumnya mengenakan shalwar qamees dan bukannya sari. Beberapa di antaranya bahkan membungkus dirinya dengan burka hitam, menyembunyikan kedua bola mata dibalik kain tipis. Selama perjalanan di Rajasthan, tak jarang hati ini, yang masih picik dan egois, berontak, melihat warna-warna muram kelabu burqa-burqa hitam bertebaran di jalan yang dipenuhi oleh warna-warna liar sari dan shalwar [...]

November 26, 2005 Perjalaan dengan bus di India selalu penuh warna. Dan pengalaman saya kali ini, dalam bus dari Pilani menuju Jaipur, adalah salah satu pengalaman yang sangat biasa dalam perjalanan di India. Bus-bus di India didesain untuk menyempalan 50 kursi dalam sebuah bus yang sebenarnya hanya untuk 40 kursi. Akibatnya, sebuah jendela bus terkadang harus dishare oleh dua baris penumpang. Penumpang di depan saya, seorang perempuan berbungkus sari, bersikukuh membuka jendela di samping kursinya lebar-lebar. Akibatnya, separuh bagian dari jendela yang terbuka itu tepat di sebelah saya, mengalirkan angin yang luar biasa dinginnya ke dalam bus. Penumpang-penumpang yang ketiban sial mendapat sapuan angin dingin itu semuanya marah. Bahkan ada ibu-ibu yang membawa bayi, dan bayinya menangis kedinginan. Tak heranlah, musim dingin seakan dipindahkan ke dalam bus, sedangkan perempuan yang membuka jendela itu hanya bersejuk-sejuk saja karena angin tidak berhembus langsung ke wajahnya. Semua orang teriak, histeris, minta agar jendela itu ditutup. Tapi orang India memang terkenal dengan konsistensinya, demikian juga sapi-sapi di jalan yang tak mau peduli dengan kendaraan yang lalu lalang. Perempuan ini pun keukeuh dengan tak mau menutup jendelanya berapa milimeter pun. Dua jam perjalanan yang menyiksa. Saya masuk angin. Dan bayi yang menangis itu akhirnya diam [...]

November 26, 2005 Sebuah catatan yang diilhami oleh perang omelet di Jodhpur. Pernahkah kita menengok betapa hidup kita ini sekarang selalu dituntun oleh apa yang disebut panduan, tuntunan, guidebook, manual, atau apalah namanya. Mulai dari membeli alat elektronik selalu ada buku manual yang menjelaskan dengan detil tentang mekanisme bekerja alat itu hingga bagaimana menggunakan, merawat, serta apa yang harus dilakukan jika alat itu mengalami kerusakan. Demikian juga sebelum tiba ujian UMPTN banyak lembaga-lembaga bimbingan yang menyediakan trik-trik menghadapi ujian. Di Cina ada les TOEFL yang mengajarkan bagaimana trik menebak jawaban dengan probabilitas paling tinggi untuk mencapai hasil maksimal dalam ujian. Bahkan kini sudah bermunculan les-les kehamilan yang melatih ibu-ibu hamil untuk merejang, mengkontraksikan rahim dan sebagainya hingga jika jatuh hari H nya nanti, proses melahirkan akan berlangsung dengan cepat, efektif, dan ces pleng. Hidup kita pada abad ini memang sudah tak terlepas dari manual, bahkan hingga ke detil-detil sendi kehidupan. Yang kita kagumi sebagai petualang, backpacker, traveller pun hampir semua pernah memegang guidebook macam Lonely Planet. Guide book ini berisi informasi tentang daerah yang dituju, hotel-hotel, jalur kereta, bahkan restoran yang direkomendasikan dan lain-lain. Kini Lonely Planet pun mengeluarkan panduan untuk fotografi (Travel Photography) dan menulis (Travel Writing), sehingga pembaca [...]

November 23, 2005 Hotel De Luxe, Station Road, 90 Rs (24 hour room rental) Arrived in Bikaner in early morning, 5:30 pm, when the day was still dark and dozens of rickshaw wallahs welcomed me with the annoying hassle of hotel recommendations. Touting is very common in India, where the drivers get commision from the hotel owners if they bring you the hotels. It was frustrating at the first time, but now I am used already to deal with the rickshaw drivers. But still, my arrival time was not that good as I didnt have so much choice wandering in a completely stranger city in a complete darkness. So, have you ever read any folktale of a world occupied by rats? Here, in this corner of Rajasthan, there are only rats rule. In the temple of Karni Mata in Deshnok village, 30 km from Bikaner, the holy rats occupy the temple and people pray for blessings from the rats. As I have difficulty in descripting the temple, a quick online search will bring you to this temple. Thousands of black rats running and flying from every corner, resting, hidding, kissing, smiling to welcome people, eating the corns from the devotees, [...]

November 22, 2005 On the bus This is another story of travelling in India. A quite common one, I bet. Directly speaking, I have got a booking ticket for a night bus from Jaisalmer to Bikaner from a travel agency, 150 Rs. I understand completely that the price of the ticket can vary greatly depending on from whom you obtain the ticket. The bus departs at 9 pm from Hanuman Travels. So I departed from my hotel at 8 pm directly to the Hanuman Travels in Hanuman Square, Jaisalmer. Once I arrived in the travel office, the guy there, without seeing my ticket, told me that the bus was cancelled, I had to change my tikcet, I had to pay another 50 Rs for a better bus, bla bla bla. Of course I was very suspicious with this scam, as how he knew how much I had paid and how much I had to add more, and moreover, I even had not told him yet where I was going to go. Being cool, pretending not to care so much, I just told him that I didnt care if I couldnt depart. He grabbed my ticket, changed my seat number, added [...]

November 22, 2005 Titanic Hotel, free This is my second day in Jaisalmer, the golden city, a town in the middle of desert with all houses honey coloured. The hotel I am staying was recommended by Samkar, the owner of Sai Baba restaurant in Pushkar (what a splendid food). Polu, the hotel owner, speaks Korean very well. It seems that he is really used with Korean tourists and bets all Asians are Koreans. Not blaming him, as even the Korean tourists always think that I am also their countryman. Polu lets me stay in underground room of him, for free. The fort of Jaisalmer is the most “lively” fort in India with people living inside. But the feeling is that almost every single bit of life inside the fort is for tourism. The houses of the people have been turned to be hotels, restaurants, shops, and internet cafes. Even an old lady in a very untouched corner of the labyrinth-like fort inside town asked money to be photographed. The town is pretty much like Khiva in Uzbekistan (see gallery Uzbekistan for photos) for the colour, the buildings, and the life inside (the tourism oriented life inside an open museum). The [...]

November 19, 2005 Gopal Guest House, 150 Rs Some 20 kms away from Jodhpur, there are several villages where the Bishnoi community live. This is a special sect of Hinduism, of which the followers have such an incredible love towards animals and plants. They dont burn their body after death, as cremation would require wood from the trees. Instead they bury their body. It doesnt need to mention that all of them are strict vegetarians, and they even wont kill any small insects. We visited one of the villages today. In 1815 when the maharaj of Jodhpur planned to build a palace, he requested to cut some trees from the village. The people defended the tree by holding hands around the tree. 363 people were killed in the accident, and the maharaj decided not to cut those trees. Some years ago, Salman Khan, a Bollywood star, came to the village to make a movie, Hamsathsath. One of the shoot was of him doing hunting during night time. He accidentally shot a deer to death, which angered the whole villagers. The whole crew of that movie was forced to leave ASAP and the case was brought to court also. More about [...]

November 18, 2005 Gopal Guesthouse 150 Rs/double bed room Today, together with Lam Li – the Malaysian traveller, we tried to smuggle into the Jodhpur Fort. The ticket for foreigner is 250 Rs, which is quite expensive for us. So, instead of directly entered the main gate, we tried the small path, climbing up and down the rough terrain behind the fort, and suddenly found that it was actually quite fantastic already outside the fort. On the back of the fort, we met two young boys. One is 17 and the other is 16. They are skipping the class today, as one of them didnt do the biology homework, and the other did accompany him as sign of solidarity. They are both Brahmin, who are supposed not to eat meat and smoke. But the guys, on the top of a small hill, smoked together without anyone knowing. The boy told me that the parents were very strict, and surely would beat him if finding him smoking and eating chicken in a food stall. As anywhere in India, the guys suddenly drive the conversation to “sexual matter” right after 3 minutes. “Are you married?” “Do you have boyfriend? Do you have [...]

November 17, 2005, The friendly old man from the wedding yesterday who gave me an Indian name, invited us to the water hut where he works. He is an old man of 56 years old, owning a water hut between the forts to give free waters to thirsty folks. And the water is free. The hut was operated since 3 generations, and his father was a very famous holy man in the area. As the omelette shops and rickshaw drivers, the water hut also have guestbooks. But this one is really different. Compared to the one liner comments in the omelette shop guestbooks with boring praise to how delicious on earth the omelette was, the collections of the water hut is much, much more interesting. This is a free service, nobody paid for the water given. And the collection of comments were from the letters from various countries on earth, from 1960’s up till recent days. It was really amazing to read how this holy man, working with full of his dedication, just to give water to the people from the simple hut in the junction of the street. “My Indian father, you are really the spirit of my life” [...]

November 17, 2005 Gopal Guesthouse 150 Rs/ double bed “The boss should be taught that Taiwan is part of China” write a message in Chinese characters in one among the guestbooks of the Omelette shop recommended by Lonely Planet. It seems that this fellow mainland Chinese traveller was not happy being asked by the owner, “From China? From Taiwan?” Then this message was responded by a Taiwanese, with big English letters “Taiwan is always a free individual!!!” The respond aroused anger in other mainlander “What a bull-shit!!!” in big Chinese characters, followed by reasons of why Taiwan was part of China. And there were another responds by nationalist Taiwanese complaining “these ugly mainlanders”. What a phenomenon. A guestbook of an omellete shop in the middle of nowhere in Rajasthan became a political written war between the mainlanders and Taiwanese. BTW, the owner of the shop, being proud of featured by the book, keep showing us the guestbooks, pictures, postcards, and also photos he got from the guests. But we just wanted omellete. As I was also asked to write in the book, I wrote, “The omelette was nice, but would be nicer if I wasnt forced to write. I just [...]

November 16, 2005 Gopal Guesthouse 150 Rs/ double bed room Yesterday, when we were invited to a family house, we were shown their family photo album. It was a big album full of photos of a grand marriage ceremony in Jodhpur. This family should be one of important families from the highest caste, ane the wedding was so grand that there were more than 4000 guests invited in the reception. We just adored how fantastical the marriage was, the rioting colours of the costumes of people attending the party. Today, when we walked around the small alleys of Jodhpur, we heard noise from a band group. And suddenly we found that there was another marriage is happening. The owner of the house, seeing us taking pictures of the band, suddenly asked us to take pictures of themselves also. Then, the old couple invited us to come in to their house. Everybody was dressing in beautiful costumes, and everybody was excited. This is the groom’s house, and there was a ceremony in another floor. Then the mother of the groom, tranced look like, let the groom out of the house. There was a horse, beautifully decorated, waiting outside. And also a [...]

November 14, 2005 Gopal Hotel, 150 Rs luxurious double-bed room After being down for quite a while, the server of my blog is working again today, so I can update the story again. Spent the last 8 days in Pushkar, and just arrived yesterday in Jodhpur. Very lucky that we could find a very spaceful luxurious room with the price that suits our budget. Jodhpur, the blue city, seems quite affected by tourism competition among hotels and restaurants. Every single unit related directly to tourim business, has at least a dozen of guest books to prove how the guests, foreigners, tourists, etc feel about their service. In every guesthouse we visited, the owner will be busily showing the books to us. Not only hotels, but even omellete stalls have guest books!!! Under the gate of clock tower, there are two omelette stalls. One has big board written in big colourful letters: “Recommended by Lonely Planet”, and the other is not. The former, with half a dozen Western guests enjoying the omellete there, seemed had a better business after the recommendation of that very traveller bible. But for us, who prefer to avoid everything listed by LP, the second one was [...]

November 3, 2004 Hotel Abinandhan, 100 Rs It has been about a week I am travelling with a Malaysian female journalist, Lam Li. I met her a month ago in Kathmandu, and we had been together for quite a while. Since her arrival in New Delhi, she had been attacked by the annoying stomach problems, and we even were together when the bombs blast in Delhi. Today we were also together visiting the Amber fort, about 12 km away from the Jaipur Old City. And it was so interesting to listen to her travel plan. Yesterday we watched movie together about Uzbekistan and it came to her mind to go to Uz after her trip in Afghanistan, after watching some pictures I took there. Suddenly, when we were exhausted of visiting the fort (it was beautiful, but I dont know why now I am losing the mood of taking pictures….), we were chatting about future plans of travelling. And suddenly I remembered that going to Russia is not so easy. I told her that I know someone, a Malaysian girl, who tried to take Russian visa in Mongolia then got refused, returned back to Beijing and stayed in my apartment [...]

November 2, 2005 Hotel Abhinandan, 100 Rs The nice and friendly staff of the hotel made me decided not to move anywhere. Eventhough I got very bad location for my room, just next to the main road, which always makes my bed quaking when a bus or truck passing. And yesterday night was really a nightmare, with the crackers exploding for every single minute for the Diwali celebration, up till 2 a.m. Fortunately today the hotel staff offered me to move to another room, which was much better. My Malaysian travel companion and I went together to the pink city of Jaipur today. Since my first day in India, actually I lost the mood of travelling and taking pictures. I hope with her appearance again I would gather fresh ideas for my photography work. The pink city itself is not really pink, only the buildings around the mainroads are painted pink, and just for the surface. The “old town” itself looks new and modern, brightly coloured in pink colour, and has very busy traffic. The real “old atmospheric” part of the town was near the palace area. The royal palace ticket is 180 Rs, which is too expensive for our [...]

November 1, 2005 Hotel Abhinandan, 100 Rs Today is Diwali, the most important Hindu celebration in India (pretty sure that Balinese Hindus not celebrating Diwali). I am alone in Jaipur, and my Malaysian friend said that she was going to come today. After being ramped in Delhi with lots of bureaucracy problems, somehow I lost any mood of travelling, and I was waiting for her to give me some fresh mind. I spent the whole morning in the old city, seeing how the market started by preparing lots of sweets (and mind you, Indian sweets are really, really sweet, even for Javanese sweet standard). Some temples were crowded by the people. I tried to go to Internet cafe, and the electricity suddenly went down, maybe because of the festival, which kept me about 1 hour waiting in the cafe. I met my Malaysian friend in the afternoon, as she suddenly came to the same hotel where I live. She said that she was invited by a rickshaw walla to go to their house to celebrate Diwali. She is always suspisicious towards Indians, maybe mind-setted already by the stories from other travellers, and today she decided to open a little bit [...]

October 31, 2005 Hotel Abhinandan, Banasthali Marg, Jaipur, 100 Rs After staying in Delhi for about two weeks without doing much sightseeing and scrumbled by the bureaucracy, now I think it;s time to move. Tomorrow is the Diwali festival throughout India, and I wish to witness some celebration in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan state. I arrived quite early to the Interstate Bus Terminus (ISBT), New Delhi, before dragged by the touts to their agent to purchase the ticket of a private bus to Jaipur. They told me the bus was going to depart at 9, just few minutes to go. And the ticket was 260 Rs. They said that the government bus would cost me 220 Rs. OK, now is festival day, I imagined that the government bus would be really crowded and slow, so I took this private bus, and insisted them to depart ASAP. One lesson, never pay before the bus really moves. I had to wait from 9 until 12, before then I was throwed away to another agency to take this luxurious bus. The bus itself is comfortable, but it is also crowded. And it also stopped everywhere to pick up passengers. And I had [...]

October 30, 2005 Hotel Bajrang 100 Rs The day is getting normal on the second day after the bomb last night. In the morning, people still discussed the about what happened last night, and almost all TVs were showing news about the bombs. “We have helped them (Pakistan) for the earthquake, but why they still kill us?”, an ordinary worker in Delhi screamed, emotionally. The road of the main bazaar is for sure quieter, as the open market just like being removed away from the area. The government prohibited open market in this area apparently. And for sure, the harassments towards foreigners from the road sellers and rickshaw drivers was much less. The road was just quiet, clean, and had very different atmosphere from the people. When the afternoon comes, the live in Paharganj is getting about normal again. Shops are getting busier. Just witnessed how strange the Indians shopkeepers dealing with their business. I tried to bargain for a pair of trousers, and  complained that the trousers were too long and asked the owner to give alteration without any further additional cost. When I bargained quite politely, suddenly the shopkeeper said, in broken English, “OK, you speak over. My [...]

October 30, 2005 The everyday life was just started in Paharganj. The days usually start very late here in India, and now after the blasts, the atmosphere in the morning is even much quiter. You can say that almost all TV running are showing the news about the blasts, and even the news about the drowned train with 100+ victims are really “drowned” by the blast news. The usually busy open market in main bazaar in Paharganj is gone. Someone said that it was prohibited by the government after the blast. The topic of discussion of all people today was only the blast. “We have helped them for the earthquake, why they killed us?” condemned a common worker in Delhi towards the Pakistanis. Even it is not proven yet, the people tend to blame Muslims and Pakistani terrorists for the blasts. Still, there are many interviews around the area, and curious people with high expectance to be filmed on TV coming around. The shops are opening at 10, a little bit later than usual, but the harassments from the sellers and touts towards tourists are much lesser. It was part of our daily life to be yelled, “hello, hello…, annyonghaseyo, [...]

October 29, 2005 Hotel Bajrang, 100 Rs New Delhi shooked. There were several bombs rocked the city, and one of them is just less than 100 m from the hotel when I live. During the moment of the blast, we were all in Indonesian embassy for breaking fast party. (Thanks God, just couldnt imagine what would happen if I was lingering around the location, because it is just so close with the restaurant I use to go. Thanks also to the Indonesian embassy party). The bomb blasted at 5:40 pm, by the time I was just arrived in the embassy. OK, I heard the news when I was in the embassy. Suddenly rushed my way to go back to Paharganj to see what happen. Along the way, everything just looked normal, the traffic is normal, and even not so many police on road. But getting closer to the New Delhi station, there were more police everywhere. The road to Main Bazaar, Paharganj, was closed to traffic. But curious locals coming all over the area to see what happened (and also to steal the chance to be filmed on TV when the reporters reporting from the area. Just cant understand how [...]

October 25, 2005 Hotel Bajrang 100 Rs The day started not quite in smooth way. I took a bus to Channakya Puri, and this is my dozenth time taking the very bus. I know exactly that the fare should be 5 Rs, but the conductor insisted to get 7 Rs. The person beside me paid only 2 Rs and travelled further than I did. So I really dont know how the fare system works here, maybe conductor mood? OK, what was occupying my mind only the Pakistani visa, so I didnt argue at all for this 2 Rs rip off. Friends, I got already a letter from Indonesian embassy in Beijing. The diplomat there was so friendly and helpful, I just got it by sending my passport photocopy by fax. And the second day my aunt went to the embassy, picked it up, and faxed to me here in Delhi. The problem is whether this would help, because now I am in India, not in China. First I went to the Indonesian embassy to find the staff, to ask for suggestions of what to answer if I was asked. Then I went directly to the Pakistan embassy. There was long [...]