Mandu: A Day Trip

Lost: somewhere between Maheshwar and Mandu

I'd like to say that I woke up this morning and was feeling so wonderful that I wanted to get out and embrace India. In reality, I woke up feeling average but decided I wanted to get out and see Mandu so we could push North, get Rajasthan done, and get to Nepal. We'd had another average sleep on another rock hard pillow being woken by more ridiculous noises after fighting suicidal idiots on the road a few days ago so I was having one of those mornings.

Of course though, India did what India does best. We were shown just a little bit of her beauty...just enough to make us sure we had made the right decision in staying.

We packed up a day bag and climbed aboard Big Red ready for an easy 45km to Mandu. We should really know better than assuming any ride will be easy by now. After passing men roughly pushing, pulling and hitting cows as they loaded them onto trucks we took the highway for a while before taking what we thought was the correct left-hand turn towards Mandu. When the villagers all stopped and stared at us like they had never seen white folk before, we began to question our navigational skills but kept going. When the road stopped it was time to check our phone map. Thank goodness for technology...again! While not on the right road, at all, we decided we could take some of the dirt paths that surrounded us and weave our way in the general direction of Mandu. As we did, our landscape changed to a lunar landscape of rocks, dust and a whole lot of nothing else.

After stopping for a few photos we followed a lady and her cows down yet another dirt path and made it back to the correct road. Wooo! Soon enough we were on the road that would take us straight into Mandu. And as soon as we turned onto said road, it became less like a road and more like a construction site.

Most roads we have seen being made in India have been hand made. Each bowl of dirt is carried away on someone's head. Even the gravel is hand made. We saw first hand people chipping away at stone to make the tiny shards.

Camels outside Songarh Fort

Just as we made off the slippery gravel road and the concrete began the winding started. Up the hill we went. As we rode, snaking our way up through the valley, we spotted people walking up the hill. No, they were not following the road, but rather were walking straight up. Not only that, they were carrying big bags on their heads as they did. We wondered where they were all going. Later we passed eight or so camels, all loaded up, being led by women in some of the most crazily beautiful attire yet. The excessive jewellery and bright colours shouted gypsy and Rajasthan all at once. The camels were more regal looking than I remember the ones at Pottsville markets being. These huge creatures held their heads high, looking through their crazy long eyelashes and down at those below them. It's amazing to think that with any luck we'll be riding one of those through the desert before too long.

Views from Songarh Fort

Songarh Fort Gate

Thankfully there was little traffic to battle and the views were stunning. As we came to the top of the hill we spotted a big stone wall and decided we would like to explore it further. As we came around the corner and looked for a place to pull over we realised we would not need to park roadside and clamber up the rocks after all. We had stumbled upon Songarh Fort and it had a sign saying so and everything! We parked up and went through the still standing gate to get exploring. The only other people there were farmers working the land within the fort walls. We wandered around the outside and even found our way into the fort's interior. We climbed the walls and walked along the top of them taking in the outstanding views of the valley below being careful not to be blown off by the strong winds that swept through the ravine.

Songarh Fort Walls

From Songarh Fort it wasn't far into Mandu and there was only one thing standing in our way...a young guy and the rope he had stretched across the road as a 'toll gate.' We stopped and he requested 5 rupees. This seemed a little strange as not even on National Highways had we needed to pay tolls. As he awaited our compliance he lowered the rope so two other motorbikes could pass through. When we questioned this phenomena he simply replied "local." And that was the straw that broke the camel's (Chris') back. After being charged up to 25 times more than locals at every tourist site and knowing full well that it was the locals leaving their rubbish around and generally making a mess of said sites, we'd had just about enough. Chris threw Big Red into gear and powered off, over the rope, leaving the baffled guy in his dust.

Darya Khan Monuments

Darya Khan Tomb

As we rode towards Mandu we noticed some ruins off to our left. We sunscreened up and headed into an enclosure ready to explore, well, whatever it was we had found. Some later googling revealed we had been looking at the Darya Khan Monuments, including his tomb. At the time though we thought we had stumbled into the Royal Enclave we had read about in the Lonely Planet and thought we'd somehow wrangled a freebie. Wrong. This is India. They don't mess about when it comes to missing out on money. The tomb was within a beautiful dome structure and, as we were the only ones there, we spent some time checking it, and the surrounding ruins, out. There was a large tank, Somvati Kund, which would have been a very appealing swimming hole if the water wasn't bright green. We were surprised and amazed by how clean and well preserved this monument was. Not a piece of rubbish in the whole place!

Darya Khan Monuments

As we rode further into town we came across Malik Mughith's Mosque and surrounding ruins so we gave them a good explore too.

As we ventured further down the road we quickly became aware that Mandu doesn't really have much of a town as such. It's really just a bunch of ruins dotted across the place with houses that, instead of being built of stone, are now built from sticks and mud. We kept riding and stumbled upon the Rewa Kund Group of ruins but, deciding we'd seen enough decaying stone for one day and not wanting to pay the 100 rupees, we turned back. Chris very much wanted to explain to the gate keeper that we were choosing not to enter because foreigners had to pay 20 times more than locals but I convinced him not to bother.

Tarapur Darwaza

Chris atop Tarapur Darwaza

As we rode back through town we took a left turn in an attempt to find Lohani Caves. Instead we found a rocky road that took us through another tiny village. Just when we were about to give up on the road Chris spotted some stone work in the distance. Our perseverance was rewarded when we arrived at a giant old stone gateway, Tarapur Darwaza, with spectacular views of the valley through which we had arrived this morning. We enjoyed some snacks while being watched by two young girls resting in the shade of the gate. As we explored the structure (and for Chris this meant climbing to the top of it just like the goats we are) more and more people arrived. Kids mostly. Then they started emerging from the steep drop that led to the valley. Carrying huge bundles of sticks on their heads, children and women clambered up what must have been an old trade route which led straight up the hill and right through the big old gate as we watched. And they weren't even puffed!

We followed the rocky road back through the village then took a hard left and hoped for the best. I was hoping we would somehow avoid the darn toll boy.

Our random road led us to the main road more efficiently than anticipated and we found ourselves quickly approaching our old friend, the 'toll gate' master. He saw us coming and this time had backup in the form of some other young dudes. But they barely had time to think before Chris veered off the road, over some rocks, around the 'toll gate' rope and back onto the road all while I whispered "oh my God" repeatedly from the back of the bike. We were sticking it to the man the only way we knew how.

When we returned to our guesthouse we were stopped at reception to sign yet some more forms. Because we were staying two days longer than anticipated we needed to fill in more. Chris had last night refused to copy the information out again so today they were prepared. They had filled the forms out so all we had to do was sign them. Done. They then strangely requested copies of our passports. When we told them they had already taken copies of our passports they were quick to show us that the copies they took were too dark and they needed to get our passports again and redo them. Why they hadn't done it the moment the photocopies had come out too dark again is beyond us. Efficiency is not a word used often here.

On a similar note, today we saw a stone wall being built. To transport the stones from the pile to the wall, women were slowly carrying one stone at a time on their heads. Really? Make a wheelbarrow! Or a cart! Or something!

Temple, Maheshwar Fort

We figured that after three days in Maheshwar we should probably go and check out the fort for which it is famous and from which we are staying across the road. First things first though. We stripped down to shorts and thongs, visited the ATM, got some Indian sweets and visited Chris' samosa man (who today was wearing a blue tight t-shirt). We went through the fort and found a Shiva temple within. A perfect place to enjoy a samosa or two. With views of a Shiva lingam in one direction and views of Narmada River, framed by carved stone detailing, in the other our samosas were extra enjoyable.

We wandered back through the fort and back to our guesthouse to rest up after a very pleasant day indeed.

When dinner time rolled around it was back to our favourite man at our favourite 'restaurant.' Two thalis please! Off the owner went on his motorbike to fetch the thalis that, like last time, were prepared off site. He returned with a big plastic bag full of smaller plastic bags, all filled with delicious vegetarian bits and pieces.

Served onto two big silver compartmentalised platters and a range of plastic bowls were chapati, spiced potatoes, rice, red onion, chillies, dhal and two other unspecified curries (one of which tasted somewhat like sweet yoghurt).

When I couldn't get through all of mine Chris came to the rescue, doing his best to gain all of the weight he has lost back, in one sitting.

We wandered almost to the ghat on the way home before Chris decided he'd grab his tripod and return later in an attempt to capture the stars. When 8pm arrived he headed out to do just that. After having a funny feeling in my belly all day, and not knowing if it was just my illness or some kind of horrible gut instinct, I was pleased when he returned after only 10 minutes. No stars out. Not meant to be I guess.

Tarapur Darwaza