marahaja express a travel throught the wonders of india september 2013
after having the courage of editing a material of over 4000 pictures... coming out for christmas: special edition autumn 2013, only copy photographic material: cecilia fossati and gregory tomlinson publishing house (as always): villa della cupa, nocera umbra contents of this book are private and strictly confidential
special thanks to mazaa and south asia HBO ...saved in different occasions our lives
enjoy the ride...
means of transportation / / / / / /
trains, buses, tuk-tuks, 4x4 and elephants
crew / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
micione & miciona. featuring “THE GAME OF SURVIVAL” screening on south asia HBO in summer 2014
kilometers / / / / / / / / / average speed / / / / / / / total duration / / / / / / / / hotels check-ins / / / / / / longest stay / / / / / / / / train / bus sleeping nights / /
5’600 km 8.5 km / h 27.0 days 18 rooms 2 nights 5 nights
/ / / / / /
/ / / / / /
/ / / / / /
moors visited / / / / / / / / / / /
the bollywood capital, the country capital, the lands of the cucumbers in the hymalaya (never actually saw the big fuckers...), the lands of the questionably holy gurus by the river Ganga, and naturally the chai-flavoured lands of the marahajas.
equipment / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
2 toothbrushes. 1 toothpaste. NO deodorant. 10 packages of Imodium
secondary crew / / / / / / / / / / / /
milions of followers. lots of attentions. for good or mainly bad reasons. from human beings and / or animals of every sort
comunication on the road / / / / / / indian head wobble. took a month of exercise average of words spoken a day / / / from 8 to c. 10. meticulously only after sunset sickness reported during travelling / sun-strokes / / / / / / / / / / / / / / every day. both members - different reactions: delirious talking vs. inviolable silence / / the-poop / / / / / / / / / / / / / / mainly one member of the crew. the other endured until after drawing the prize of the bet placed before departure. one night in a suite. / / / sun-burn / / / / / / / / / / / / / / only one member of the crew, “english neck tan” / / / / photic sneeze reflex / / / / / / only one member of the crew, by the end of the journey was diagnosed as allergy to the sun experiences / / / / / / / / / / / / body / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / overheating extra body / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / visions of mazaa sensorial / / / / / / / / / / / / / respiratory difficulties from huge piles of chilli and masala
religious / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / fear of death acknowledgments / / / / / / / / / a cow could be a life-thread mosquitos can live at 3’000 meters the “TRASH” culture is based on the centuries-old institution of the hindu religion nutrition / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / mouldy apples bananas sapodilla chai lassi lentils
AFGHANISTAN
JAMMU / KASHMIR
PAKISTAN
HIMACHAL PRADESH
amritsar
shimla
CHINA
gangotri
mussorrie
chandigahr
uttarkashi
PUNJAB
rishikesh haridwar
UTTARAKHAND
HARYANA DEHLI jaisalmer
jantar mantar
jaipur
pushkar
NEPAL ganga
RAJASTHAN
chand baori
agra
fatehpur sikri
jodphur
UTTAR PRADESH varanasi
orchha
udaipur
BANGLADESH
GUJARAT adalaj baori
ahmedabad
MAHYA PRADESH
kolkata
MAHARASHTRA mumbai
kalavantin durg
ARABIAN SEA
BAY OF BENGAL GOA KARNATAKA
I N D I A N
O C E A N
TRAVEL PURPOSES preliminary ideas before departure
CONQUERED PLACES MAIN TRAJECTORIES MISSED MISSIONS
VIETNAM
MYANMAR LAOS
THAILAND
CAMBODIA
0 0 0 - 0 1 D AY
I N D I A
STINKY STINKY STINKY!! who? me? no you... everyone. everything stinks
LIFE OF AN ANT. TWO ANTS. THE WORLD IS OVERPOPULATED. I CAN SAY THAT FIRMLY.
AND NOT JUST BECAUSE I AM A SOCIOPATHIC.
0 0 2 - 0 4 D AY
NEW DELHI
JANTAR MANTAR OBSERVATORY the ARCHITECT ULTIMATE DREAM! staircases into the sky
JAMA MASJID, THE MOSQUE OF INDIA hot hot! you gonna burn your feet! unbelivable views of dehli
HUMAYUN TOMB - LODI GARDEN at sunset , beautiful and quiete, the best spot in dehli
SNEEZING AT SPICE MARKET not what you think when you go to the spices market...you will have respiratory difficulties. but indians had them too.
CECILIA LOVES SAPODILLAS looks like a patata but sweeeeeet! gnam gnam gnam
0 0 4 - 0 5 D AY
AMRITSAR
SIKH GOLDEN TEMPLE cecilia managed to take not even ONE single picture
1919 ENGLISH MASSACRE hassled from schoolboys we had to leave our shade-spot
“TRASH CULTURE comes from HINDU RELIGION”
travelling to the pakistan border, we were forced to stop as some hindu temples and walk on our knees through the mouths of lions and snakes as sign of devotion
0 0 5 - 0 5 D AY
CHANDIGAHR
LE CORBUSIER GRIDCITY do not understimate the GRID, one could still get lost when boiling hot outside
ROCK SCULPTURAL GARDEN cecilia had a breakdown... greg carried double bag
INDIAN COFFEE HOUSE appeared as a mirage... from now on our MUST-STOP everywhere we could find it
0 0 6 - 0 8 D AY
SHIMLA
INDIAN MONKEYS ATTACKS when you think that in the mountain is goin’ to be easier...monkeys will try to steal you underwear
INIDAN COFFEE HOUSE brings always back the smile
0 0 9 - 1 2 D AY
MUSSOORIE
ROAD TRIP TO HIMALAYA happiest moment of greg, until we found out all the roads where shut because of major landslides
POWER CUTS AT NIGHT Iin both occasion we thought we were going to be attacked and killed , by either humans or animals
CECILIA SAID TWO PRAYERS cecilia seriously thought she was going to die falling off the cliff
0 1 2 - 1 3 D AY
RISHIKESH
THE RIVER GANGA we can officially say: we bathed in the holy river. i will die happier. for sure. dont know about greg
0 1 3 - 1 4 D AY
H A R I D WA R
COCOMERO AND A SPOON nothing could make you happier sometimes than eating a cocomero with a spoon by the river ganga. except if you could get it somehow cold from a fridge
BIG PILES OF KUMKUMA cecilia started to developed an idea... that later came reality in all our friends all over the world letterbox w e k now you st i ll ha t e u s!!!
0 1 5 - 1 6 D AY
A G R A
AND FINALLY...ARCHITECTURE cecilia is happy
AKBAR IN FATEHPUR SIKRI 1569 . the best example of mughal architecture. fucking cool!
AKBAR IN THE AGRA FORT 1573 . shah jahan the grandson gave the final touch, before being locked up in it by his son. He was allowed to look only at the taj mahal where his favourite wife was buried in
AFTER LIFE IN THE TAJ MAHAL greg officially promised to build one for me when i die
0 1 6 - 1 7 D AY
ORCHHA
AND... WILD ARCHITECTURE cecilia is EVEN MORE happy... SHE NEVER WALKED SO FAST. SHE IS ALSO TALKING.
ATTACKED BY INDIAN BOYS not so much fun...
0 1 7 - 1 7 D AY
CHANDBAORI
0 1 7 - 1 9 D AY
JAIPUR
JANTAR MANTAR OBSERVATORY always cool!
HAWA MAHAL BUILDING one of the most interesting building concept. a facade full of windows for marahaja’s women to look in the street
THE M O N K E Y T E M P L E less monkey than excepted
A M B E R F O R T. A M B E R regardless to what everyone told us ... we went our way up on an the elephant
BEST LASSI OF INDIA THE ORIGINAL LASSIWALA. MI ROAD, ASHOK NAGAR. JAIPUR
0 1 9 - 2 0 D AY
PUSHKAR
BLESSED BY THE GURU even though the guide book already told what was going to happen. we got our blessings
love to ganesh. love to sapna.
0 2 0 - 2 1 D AY
JODHPUR
MEHRANGARH FORT JODHPUR 120 meters over the city. the fort dominates the blue town.
B E ST LA SSI OF IND IA MAKHNIYA LASSI. SAFFRON PISTACHIO ALMONDS
0 2 1 - 2 2 D AY
JAISALMER
BATS STINK OF DEATH SALIM SINGLI KI HAVELI NAT H M A J I K I H AV E L I PAT W O N
KI
H AV E L I
GADISER LAKE WATER SOURCE in the guidebook the city appeared reflected in water. we found it!
0 2 3 - 2 5 D AY
UDAIPUR
MARAHAJA PALACE UDAIPUR we found the peacock! we found the peacock!
BIGGEST TURBANT EVER ....AS IN ONE THOUSAND ONE NIGHT CECILIA WON HER PRIZE FOR NEVER GETTING THE POOP
CECILIA IS NOW VERY SICK ...BUT HAPPY!
0 2 5 - 2 5 D AY
ADALAJBAORI
0 2 6 - 2 7 D AY
MUMBAI
BEST GUAVA JUICE OF INDIA cecilia loves guava juice. she could easily die for it
ANTIQUE MARKET SHOPPING
cecilia buys tiles (she looked for all india) and lampshades
BOLLYWOOD MOVIE THEATRE sheltering from a raining afternoon, we ended up freezing our nuts watching one of the worst bollywood movie
0 2 7 - 2 7 D AY
KALAVANTIN DURG- PANVEL
1 OF THE MOST BEATIFUL ABANDONED PLACES IN THE WORLD the internet description could be trivial! unable to comunicatate properly we thought we were brought in the wrong place
YES IT WAS A MOUNTAIN... NOTHING BUT A MOUNTAIN
...to the next adventure...
accha namaste...