Mandu - rest day

15 February - arrived in Mandu for a rest day. The local press was aware and caught the last bunch of us arriving and it was in the next day's paper, the two of us on the left.

Thd night we arrived we took in the sound and light show at the ruins... the 'light' part of it was good, a projection on a single building in the 'royal' group of ruins - it depicted all sorts of historic events from dinosaurs to conflict, fire, and violence, and life in those days...

 

 

 

 ...but unfortunately the sound part of it was all Hindi. Although posters advertised an english version, it didn't happen last night. That meant that the impact was pretty much lost on us. Suffice it to say that the images depicted everything from conflict and violence to prosperous harmonious life. When we came back the next day to see and saw how much else there was to the ruins, a different kind of light show could have illuminated different ruins and perhaps been more entertaining even without English commentary.

16 February (we've lost track of the day of the week) - rest day - took a walk back into town and to the royal domain ruins passing first the market area with the remains of the victory tower in the background (it was once three stories)...

...and across the street the remains of a mosque...

we never cease to be amazed at the precision and quality of workmanship
in these arch constructions dating back to the days of hand tools

The on to the main area of the royal palace and associated ruins, spread over a fairly large area. As I load this, I realize that some photos are missing from the blog folder, meaning they're on a separate disk that isn't accessible when i'm sitting in reception without power doing the blog. I'll revise this blog entry later on when I can.

One of the missing photos is of the ships palace, a fairly intact building about three stories high, There's stairs to the top, good view, just don't expect guardrails... if you don't want to fall of, don't go near the edge. This is one view from the top of what must have been an amazing domain five hundred years ago.

the royal palace

 

What amazed me most was the wells and pools and baths. Various subterranean tunnels connects the waterworks and there had separate hot and cold water flowing into the various baths, including some that were up on second and third levels.

I have to comment on the constant demands we get for 'selfies'. Fun enough here at the ruins, but we get it all the time on the highway, fifty times a day is no exaggeration, not that we stop every time. And that doesn't count the number of cell phone cameras that are aimed at us - nobody on a motorcycle does NOT have a cell phone in his hand. If there is more than one person on board, it's an odds-on bet that he'll be taking your picture. Same with motor cars. But as much as it usually is not ill-intended, it's the motorcycles that pull up beside you, usually passing just ahead and turning their heads back to engage in conversation and in the process tending to to turn towards you and forcing you off the road or into lowing down after which there will be antics for repositioning all the while there's buses and trucks roaring by. They all want you to stop to they can take selfies right on the road... it may be well intended but it gets tedious and sometimes dangerous. 

Finally we had a late lunch/early dinner in one of the restaurants in town. While there, what we understand as pilgrims went by outside on their elephant. 

That's it from Mandu, another glimpse into the history of this nation.

Three successive riding days starting tomorrow. As I post this blog from the next rest day, be aware that our internet connections were virtually nil while en route, connections too slow to accomplish anything and/or connection to wifi that wasn't connected at all to the www.