Thu 11 Dec 2014 Pune
The hotel woke us at 0500, not 0530. Oh well! That got us to the bus stand not long after 0600. Plenty of time to wait for our 0700 bus to pull in. It pulled in, we put the bags in luggage storage underneath, and got on. We were in seats 6 and 7, second row from the front.
We had figured on 5 hours to Pune. At least that is what the Lonely Planet says it takes. Our tickets had us going to Shivaji Nagar Bus Stand, about 4 km west of the main railway station. A little after 0900 we pulled into a modern roadside rest stop center, something that would not be out of place on the Florida Turnpike. Good clean rest rooms, appropriately marked with stick figures absolutely needing to go. Lots of different kinds of fast food, some buffet options, and even some slower food. Just a quick snack for us, and back on the bus.
About 1115 we are pulling into the eastern outskirts of Pune, a city of 3.1 million or so. Here the Deccan Plains meet the Western Ghat Mountains and the River Mula meets the River Matha to form (tah dah!) the Mula-Mutha. Unlike many other Indian cities, Pune is really spread out, with clusters of 20-40 story apartment blocks waaay out from the center of town.
While still in Aurangabad, we called ahead and reserved a room at Hotel Surya Villa, in Koregaon Park, an area about 2 km northeast of the railway station. Mike tracked our progress into town on the guidebook maps. It seemed a shame to ride past the area of our hotel, only to need an expensive rickshaw ride back to our final destination. We presented our problem to the guys in the adjacent bus seats. They suggested that we get off where one of them was getting off. We did. Our bus friend spoke in Hindi (or perhaps Marathi?) with the drivers eager to score virgin visitors, and presented us with a rickshaw driver who agreed to carry us and our bags to the hotel for 60 R.
We were just north of the Mula River, which runs through the center of Pune. All that was needed was a left at the next intersection (remember that left turns are the easy turns when you are driving on the left side of the road). cross the river bridge, left at the first major intersection, left at the next major block (German Bakery, about which more later), and go 100 m to the hotel. Easy peasy. Except that this rickshaw driver had no idea what he was doing. He passed our turn, went at least an extra km down the road, made a right turn, and then had to make inquiries. The result: we had to double back. Finally we found our hotel. The driver wanted 100 R for his incompetence. We compromised on 80 for the overly-long tour of greater Koregaon Park and got out.
For some unknown reason or other (good karma?, a wish to offer these geezers extra-quiet lodging?) , the folks at the desk of Hotel Surya Villa gave us a full suite for the price of a room. A foyer, a sitting room, 2 balconies, nice bedroom and bath. We didn't use the extra room, but it became useful for drying some things that got wet the next day...
A little about Koregaon Park. Pune is at 550 m elevation (1800 ft). This makes it a good bit cooler and dryer than, say, Mumbai. In 1820 the British made it their summer monsoon capital. At the eastern edge of the then-undeveloped town was some land which got platted as Koregaon Park. A good number of the lot sizes were huge, and they got scarfed up by any maharaja or maharao who was worth anything. These folks then proceeded, over the next 100 or so years, to build the most amazing dwellings. Even today, each property is fenced in, with security at the gates. No photos, please. Koregaon Park! Even the name sound like the setting for a rip-roaring Indian telenovela or steamy soap opera.
One of the Koregaon palaces became the headquarters of the Osho International Meditation Resort.
The story of New Age guru Shri Bagwan Rajneesh (1931-1990), aka Osho, is too fantastic and implausible for this humble blog to recount. It is a tale of utopianism, free love and tax evasion. The ashram is still quite popular, and there were numerous folks staying in our hotel who traveled to Pune for extended Osho stays.
Pune itself lies at the heart of India's "enlightenment belt". On the outskirts of Pune is BKS Iyengar's "yogacrharya" (yoga center), which draws adepts from around the world. In other parts of Maharashtra, people gather for retreats of five days for Laughter Yoga and 10 day silent meditation retreats to practice Vipassana Yoga,
Eventually, we went out. More than enlightenment, at the moment we needed (1) food, (2) train tickets to Kaylan or Mumbai on Sat aft. (Kaylan is 60 km north/east of Mumbai. Local trains go in to the city from there.), and (3) a place to stay in Thane Sat - Mon.
First we walked up the street. Beside the hotel sits the Osho Bookstore. There were tourist trinket shops and a small somewhat expensive grocery. A friendly inquisitive woman with a small child turned out to be trolling for tourist rupees.
Around the corner to an internet place, where we booked a double room at Hotel Vinyasa in Thane. The room was the most expensive to date, at apx 2700 R plus 17.4% tax. (Came to apx 3170 R per night, or $53). Welcome back to Greater Mumbai, one of the most expensive parts of all of India.
We walked back up the street into the German Bakery at the head of the block. This famous tourist restaurant was bombed by terrorists in 2010, leaving 17 dead and 60 injured, and now has extensive security. Can't bring in any water bottles, for example. We went through security, looked at the menu, decided it was (a) too expensive, and (b) too chichi, and walked on.
All the peace and love in the world doesn't make it any easier to cross the busy, busy streets. After a km or so of walking, we saw a very busy eatery, Vohuman, and walked in. The main, and almost exclusive, item on the menu: eggs. Mike ordered an omelet (OK), and Carol got a two-egg bhurji (spicy egg scramble). Toast and tea rounded out the meal. A dog with very big expectant eyes sat at the doorway, occasionally venturing in to check the floor.
We notice a Coke ad. The girl is drinking a Coke, but her lips are actually touching the bottle as she drinks. Either the ad maker doesn't understand how Indians actually drink, or there is something else going on here.
It is now 1400. Onward to the train station. We find the special window where foreigners buy train tickets. We are behind a mixed race couple (from Britain?) who trying to get to Goa. Nothing available. Then we get up to the window. Tickets to Mumbai or Kalyan on Sat aft? Nothing available. We suggest to the couple that they try to get to Goa on a bus. We do the same in our quest, and walk the short distance to the main bus terminal. But it turns out that the buses for our direction leave from Swargate, which is way across town (well, maybe only 4 km away, but the old town lies in between), and it is not easy to get there.
A 120 R rickshaw finally gets us there. The Swargate station has plenty of fruit sellers and merchants of all kinds surrounding the station - the antithesis of Koregaon Park. We discover that there is a Volvo bus to Thane (in between Kalyan and Mumbai, about 35 km north of Mumbai) and we try to buy tickets. For this we need to go around the corner (do you see a pattern here?). We do and finally buy tickets for 1500 on Sat.
We now have the rest of the afternoon to wander Pune. We are in a market area, hungry and thirsty. First, we buy some bananas. Up the street is a fruit juice vendor. The watermelon juice looks inviting and the guy behind the street side counter seems clean and sanitary. We get two glasses. Yum. Then, two more.
We are now walking north and east, through the old town, and generally toward the Ohel David Synagogue. It is a long walk. We pass a sign for some food. The sign includes "Beef Roll 45." No idea what a beef roll is, but the idea of selling beef is so unusual, that we take a picture. We have been in India for 30 days, and this is the first mention of beef as a food. McDonalds was practically evicted from India because of a rumor that they were using beef fat to cook their fries. This violates a serious taboo. But this eatery, judging by the clientele, must be a Muslim place. We weren't hungry, and never got a chance to buy one, to see what a beef roll actually was. Up the street, several goats under the watchful eyes of their minder nibble on the meager blades of urban grass. Carpe diem.
We seems to have ended up in the center of the metalworkers, lighting dealers, and office paper vendors. Around the corner was "Thothful Technologies" [sic]. No idea what thothful tech might be.
Another km or so, and lo and behold, we are at Ohel David Synagogue. It is 1730. The guard at the gate has to check us out, but eventually we are inside and being shown around. The Torahs are Sephardic style, housed inside a round case. There are a few prayer books which are Hebrew on one page and Marati translation on the opposite page. We are told that Friday night services are at 1900, but they might start at 1830. We indicate that we will be back tomorrow.
It is now dark, at 1800. We get a rickshaw back to the hotel.
Next to the hotel is an indoor/outdoor restaurant named The Yogi Tree. At 2015 we go down and take an outdoor table. The menu devotes a page to their scrupulous handling of food items, most organic. Probably the safest place in India to eat a raw salad. Carol orders a dish called Yogi's Muesli (140 R), with rice, yogurt, fruit, nuts and muesli(!), and a glass of BCC juice (beet, cauliflower, carrot) (100 R). Mike gets a bowl of Russian soup (120 R). It is so good that he orders another bowl of soup, this time, Onion au Gratin (120 R). A very pleasant place.
Back to our rooms. As we are getting close to the end of the trip, and spending a little more on our lodging, the TVs are receiving more channels. So we watch for a while. Then to bed.
The hotel woke us at 0500, not 0530. Oh well! That got us to the bus stand not long after 0600. Plenty of time to wait for our 0700 bus to pull in. It pulled in, we put the bags in luggage storage underneath, and got on. We were in seats 6 and 7, second row from the front.
We had figured on 5 hours to Pune. At least that is what the Lonely Planet says it takes. Our tickets had us going to Shivaji Nagar Bus Stand, about 4 km west of the main railway station. A little after 0900 we pulled into a modern roadside rest stop center, something that would not be out of place on the Florida Turnpike. Good clean rest rooms, appropriately marked with stick figures absolutely needing to go. Lots of different kinds of fast food, some buffet options, and even some slower food. Just a quick snack for us, and back on the bus.
About 1115 we are pulling into the eastern outskirts of Pune, a city of 3.1 million or so. Here the Deccan Plains meet the Western Ghat Mountains and the River Mula meets the River Matha to form (tah dah!) the Mula-Mutha. Unlike many other Indian cities, Pune is really spread out, with clusters of 20-40 story apartment blocks waaay out from the center of town.
While still in Aurangabad, we called ahead and reserved a room at Hotel Surya Villa, in Koregaon Park, an area about 2 km northeast of the railway station. Mike tracked our progress into town on the guidebook maps. It seemed a shame to ride past the area of our hotel, only to need an expensive rickshaw ride back to our final destination. We presented our problem to the guys in the adjacent bus seats. They suggested that we get off where one of them was getting off. We did. Our bus friend spoke in Hindi (or perhaps Marathi?) with the drivers eager to score virgin visitors, and presented us with a rickshaw driver who agreed to carry us and our bags to the hotel for 60 R.
We were just north of the Mula River, which runs through the center of Pune. All that was needed was a left at the next intersection (remember that left turns are the easy turns when you are driving on the left side of the road). cross the river bridge, left at the first major intersection, left at the next major block (German Bakery, about which more later), and go 100 m to the hotel. Easy peasy. Except that this rickshaw driver had no idea what he was doing. He passed our turn, went at least an extra km down the road, made a right turn, and then had to make inquiries. The result: we had to double back. Finally we found our hotel. The driver wanted 100 R for his incompetence. We compromised on 80 for the overly-long tour of greater Koregaon Park and got out.
For some unknown reason or other (good karma?, a wish to offer these geezers extra-quiet lodging?) , the folks at the desk of Hotel Surya Villa gave us a full suite for the price of a room. A foyer, a sitting room, 2 balconies, nice bedroom and bath. We didn't use the extra room, but it became useful for drying some things that got wet the next day...
A little about Koregaon Park. Pune is at 550 m elevation (1800 ft). This makes it a good bit cooler and dryer than, say, Mumbai. In 1820 the British made it their summer monsoon capital. At the eastern edge of the then-undeveloped town was some land which got platted as Koregaon Park. A good number of the lot sizes were huge, and they got scarfed up by any maharaja or maharao who was worth anything. These folks then proceeded, over the next 100 or so years, to build the most amazing dwellings. Even today, each property is fenced in, with security at the gates. No photos, please. Koregaon Park! Even the name sound like the setting for a rip-roaring Indian telenovela or steamy soap opera.
One of the Koregaon palaces became the headquarters of the Osho International Meditation Resort.
The story of New Age guru Shri Bagwan Rajneesh (1931-1990), aka Osho, is too fantastic and implausible for this humble blog to recount. It is a tale of utopianism, free love and tax evasion. The ashram is still quite popular, and there were numerous folks staying in our hotel who traveled to Pune for extended Osho stays.
Pune itself lies at the heart of India's "enlightenment belt". On the outskirts of Pune is BKS Iyengar's "yogacrharya" (yoga center), which draws adepts from around the world. In other parts of Maharashtra, people gather for retreats of five days for Laughter Yoga and 10 day silent meditation retreats to practice Vipassana Yoga,
Eventually, we went out. More than enlightenment, at the moment we needed (1) food, (2) train tickets to Kaylan or Mumbai on Sat aft. (Kaylan is 60 km north/east of Mumbai. Local trains go in to the city from there.), and (3) a place to stay in Thane Sat - Mon.
First we walked up the street. Beside the hotel sits the Osho Bookstore. There were tourist trinket shops and a small somewhat expensive grocery. A friendly inquisitive woman with a small child turned out to be trolling for tourist rupees.
Around the corner to an internet place, where we booked a double room at Hotel Vinyasa in Thane. The room was the most expensive to date, at apx 2700 R plus 17.4% tax. (Came to apx 3170 R per night, or $53). Welcome back to Greater Mumbai, one of the most expensive parts of all of India.
We walked back up the street into the German Bakery at the head of the block. This famous tourist restaurant was bombed by terrorists in 2010, leaving 17 dead and 60 injured, and now has extensive security. Can't bring in any water bottles, for example. We went through security, looked at the menu, decided it was (a) too expensive, and (b) too chichi, and walked on.
All the peace and love in the world doesn't make it any easier to cross the busy, busy streets. After a km or so of walking, we saw a very busy eatery, Vohuman, and walked in. The main, and almost exclusive, item on the menu: eggs. Mike ordered an omelet (OK), and Carol got a two-egg bhurji (spicy egg scramble). Toast and tea rounded out the meal. A dog with very big expectant eyes sat at the doorway, occasionally venturing in to check the floor.
We notice a Coke ad. The girl is drinking a Coke, but her lips are actually touching the bottle as she drinks. Either the ad maker doesn't understand how Indians actually drink, or there is something else going on here.
It is now 1400. Onward to the train station. We find the special window where foreigners buy train tickets. We are behind a mixed race couple (from Britain?) who trying to get to Goa. Nothing available. Then we get up to the window. Tickets to Mumbai or Kalyan on Sat aft? Nothing available. We suggest to the couple that they try to get to Goa on a bus. We do the same in our quest, and walk the short distance to the main bus terminal. But it turns out that the buses for our direction leave from Swargate, which is way across town (well, maybe only 4 km away, but the old town lies in between), and it is not easy to get there.
A 120 R rickshaw finally gets us there. The Swargate station has plenty of fruit sellers and merchants of all kinds surrounding the station - the antithesis of Koregaon Park. We discover that there is a Volvo bus to Thane (in between Kalyan and Mumbai, about 35 km north of Mumbai) and we try to buy tickets. For this we need to go around the corner (do you see a pattern here?). We do and finally buy tickets for 1500 on Sat.
We now have the rest of the afternoon to wander Pune. We are in a market area, hungry and thirsty. First, we buy some bananas. Up the street is a fruit juice vendor. The watermelon juice looks inviting and the guy behind the street side counter seems clean and sanitary. We get two glasses. Yum. Then, two more.
We are now walking north and east, through the old town, and generally toward the Ohel David Synagogue. It is a long walk. We pass a sign for some food. The sign includes "Beef Roll 45." No idea what a beef roll is, but the idea of selling beef is so unusual, that we take a picture. We have been in India for 30 days, and this is the first mention of beef as a food. McDonalds was practically evicted from India because of a rumor that they were using beef fat to cook their fries. This violates a serious taboo. But this eatery, judging by the clientele, must be a Muslim place. We weren't hungry, and never got a chance to buy one, to see what a beef roll actually was. Up the street, several goats under the watchful eyes of their minder nibble on the meager blades of urban grass. Carpe diem.
We seems to have ended up in the center of the metalworkers, lighting dealers, and office paper vendors. Around the corner was "Thothful Technologies" [sic]. No idea what thothful tech might be.
Another km or so, and lo and behold, we are at Ohel David Synagogue. It is 1730. The guard at the gate has to check us out, but eventually we are inside and being shown around. The Torahs are Sephardic style, housed inside a round case. There are a few prayer books which are Hebrew on one page and Marati translation on the opposite page. We are told that Friday night services are at 1900, but they might start at 1830. We indicate that we will be back tomorrow.
It is now dark, at 1800. We get a rickshaw back to the hotel.
Next to the hotel is an indoor/outdoor restaurant named The Yogi Tree. At 2015 we go down and take an outdoor table. The menu devotes a page to their scrupulous handling of food items, most organic. Probably the safest place in India to eat a raw salad. Carol orders a dish called Yogi's Muesli (140 R), with rice, yogurt, fruit, nuts and muesli(!), and a glass of BCC juice (beet, cauliflower, carrot) (100 R). Mike gets a bowl of Russian soup (120 R). It is so good that he orders another bowl of soup, this time, Onion au Gratin (120 R). A very pleasant place.
Back to our rooms. As we are getting close to the end of the trip, and spending a little more on our lodging, the TVs are receiving more channels. So we watch for a while. Then to bed.
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