Devin's Travels: Bhopal

Well I managed to survive my 17 day journey into the Himalayas. The trek around Annapurna was absolutely awesome and I was rewarded with several days of crystal clear views of the surrounding 7000 plus meter peaks! But I will tell more stories about my trek around Annapurna in a couple of updates as I still need to catch up on my earlier excursions first.

After leaving Jodhpur I took a bus to get to Delhi and meet up with my friend Karan. Upon reaching Delhi I met up with my friend and proceeded to spend the next day and a half relaxing with him and seeing a few sights before heading down to Bhopal with him.

Arriving in Bhopal I was treated to complete luxury staying with my friend and his family, and in addition it was nice to be in a home environment again after being on the road for nearly 7 months. Needless to say I took advantage of the situation and spent lots of time just relaxing in his home and garden while getting to enjoy the company of his family.

While in Bhopal I did see a few sights around the city although they mainly consisted of Karan driving me around the city and pointing out different sights or just wandering around markets to see the normal Bhopal city life. I found this quite interesting though as Karan would take me to areas that he hung out in as a kid and I got to see areas of Bhopal that tourists probably rarely get a chance to visit. Having Karan along with me also allowed me to eat some of the best food I've had so far on the trip as not only the food at his home was amazing but he knew all of the best restaurants around Bhopal and we went to several of them to eat some truly delicious local food.

While in Bhopal I did visit one tourist destination which was the museum of man. This museum was extremely well done as it started out by going through the history of earth and the evolution of humans. This was only the start of the museum though as it then continued on by discussing the various ethnic groups of India and how the religion, way of life, living conditions and festivals differed in around the country. The museum went into tons of detail for each group and it seemed to just keep on going, after spending a several hours wandering through it (time well spent) I headed back outside where there were small sample houses setup that were also quite interesting.

I also took a day trip out to nearby Sanchi where the Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism in 262 BC. As a result several stupas, temples, and monasteries were built on top of a large hill here and are some of the oldest Buddhist structures in India. Since they are so old most of the monasteries and temples are little more than ruins scattered around the hilltop usually with just the foundation remaining. Most of the stupas are quite well preserved though and the center most one contains four beautifully carved archways around the four cardinal entrances. In addition to the historic buildings here they are surrounded by a well kept garden that was pleasent to just sit and relax in if it was a little too hot.

After spending a couple of days relaxing in Bhopal with my friend and his family I decided it was time to move on as I would be returning to visit them again after my trip to Nepal. So I boarded the train for Agra to finally see the Taj Mahal, probably the most famous building in all of India. So look forward for my next update about Agra which will hopefully be coming real soon.