Eric's 2nd Big Adventure - Part 2: Exploring Pune

Our hotel in Pune is called the Royal Orchid Central and is part of a chain of hotels found throughout India. The accommodations are equivalent to a standard Marriott or Hilton and the people there are very friendly.

Pictured below are the hotel exterior and a room identical to mine:

For more information on the hotel use the following link:
http://www.royalorchidhotels.com/Central.Pune.Overview.html

For additional perspectives on our trip be sure to keep up with Alex's blog at http://topdownviews.blogspot.com/

On Sunday when we arrived at the hotel it was around 4 am, so Alex and I agreed to catch a little sleep and then meet for breakfast at 10 am. After breakfast we decided to take a brief walk outside of the hotel just to see the local area. We had no sooner crossed the street next to the hotel when about 6 children surrounded Alex and started begging him for money. For some reason they left me alone (but that would all change soon enough). Alex and I continued walking and all but one of the children gave up on us except for this little girl who was probably 4 or 5 years old. She kept tugging at Alex’s arm and putting her fingers up to her mouth to indicate the she was looking for food, money, or both. The only way we were able to ditch her was to duck into what appeared to be a shopping complex but turned out to be a movie theater.
Attached to the movie theater was a McDonald’s so I felt compelled to go in and take a look.


The menu certainly was nothing like the one back home. Nowhere to be found was a double-cheeseburger, a quarter-pounder, a Big Mac, or anything else beef-related. Instead there were several types of chicken sandwiches, a fish sandwich and even a veggie-burger but no beef for the beef-eater. Since I found myself in a McDonald’s I figured I might as well order something so I got a Coke and a hot-fudge sundae. Little did I realize that I should have finished my order in McDonald’s instead of taking it for carry out because I was no sooner out the door when all of the children who previously were begging from Alex saw that I had food and drink and started chasing after me. There were several occasions where they had their hands on my coke and they tried to take it from me. I had to resort to holding both items above my head so they could not reach them. Alex, of course, was walking briskly away from me and seemed to relish in the fact that he was not the center of attention this time.

After a short while we met our driver named Mukesh and headed out to meet up with Sarang. Since we had no agenda for the day we left it up to Sarang to decide where to take us and what to see. Our first destination was a restaurant called Zen Chinese and our stay turned out to be very short. As soon as we were seated the power went out and then we discovered it would be 3 hours before it would return. It probably would have been bad Karma to eat Chinese food in India on our first day so we moved on to another destination.


Our second attempt to have lunch was at a restaurant name Sukanta which was popular for it’s Thali style of dining. According to Wikipedia, Thali is an Indian meal with contents varying from one regional cuisine to another. A thali is a selection of different dishes, usually served in small bowls on a round tray. The round tray is generally made with steel with multiple compartments. Typical dishes include rice, dhal, vegetables, chapati, papad, curd (yoghurt), small amounts of chutney or pickle, and a sweet dish to top it. The food turned out to be very tasty but it was difficult to know how much I had consumed because the servers constantly kept our bowls full.


After our big meal we needed to walk so we strolled down the streets for a while. Sarang gave us the history of the area and we soaked in the sights of the people and surroundings. Alex, who collects key chains for his daughter, found a vendor on the street where a couple of key chains caught his eye. After making his purchase we continued our walk.



The next stop was a famous landmark called Shaniwarwada which is a palace fort in the city of Pune in western Maharashtra, India. It covers six and a quarter acres in central Pune. It was constructed in 1732 as the seat of the Peshwa (prime ministers of the Maratha Empire), and remained the political capital of the Empire until its annihilation. The fort itself was largely destroyed in 1828 by an unexplained fire, but has the surviving structures are now maintained as a tourist and archaeological site. Below is a picture of the entrance of the Shaniwarwada.


Another historic site which we visited was a temple called Shreemant Dagduseth Halwai Ganpati Mandir. It is one of the most famous places to worship Lord Ganpati. During the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi people from all over India visit "Shreemant". As we passed by the temple many people stopped to say a brief prayer and to give their thanks to the gods. Pictured below is the temple.


After the sight-seeing it was time for some shopping, Pune-style. Sarang took us to a local market-place that reminded me more of a permanent flea-market than anything else. Since the market place was very crowded we could not take our car to get there so instead we rode an auto-rickshaw once we could convince one of the drivers to accept our fare. Check out this crazy video of the drive (be sure to press the play button).



At the market place there were hundreds if not thousands of people in the streets and all I could think to myself was that if we lost sight of Sarang that we may never find our way back. I purchased several silk scarves for family members and a few outfits for my wife and daughter.
In addition, Alex and I purchased several small carvings of a Hindu god named Ganesha. According to Wikipedia Ganesha is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and his image is found throughout India. Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles, patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom. Pictured below is a scene from the marketplace.

Sarang gave Alex and I an education on many Indian customs and traditions. In addition to stories about Ganesha he told us about another god named Krishna, who is most famous for having more than 16,000 wives. In my opinion only a god would even consider such a feat because I find it challenging enough to please one wife --- 16,000 ? You can forget about it! After a long day of walking and touring the city it was time to head back to the hotel for a few beers and then sleep. Sarang was a great tour guide and I would highly recommend him for future tourists coming to Pune. Pictured below is a painting of Ganesha.