After a quick stop in France, it was onwards for the main part of my trip. I was kicking off a big project that the team in India was taking the lead on, and I needed to spend some time and work with them. I was going to be in the office for a week, arriving Friday and staying through the following Saturday. While there was not a lot of time for sightseeing, there were a few interesting things to share.

My flight left London mid-afternoon Thursday, arriving into Mumbai about 6 a.m. Friday morning. Clearing customs was a breeze and my driver was already waiting for me outside the main terminal. From there it was the long, 4-hour drive from Mumbai to Pune. The traffic was pretty bad already, and it was about 11:30 a.m. by the time I got to the hotel, which is right near the office.

The map of the long drive - after about 16 hours of flights.

The hotel in Pune - A JW Marriott - is very nice and conveniently located to the office. It was home for the next week.

As we walked through the park, I noticed that the cacti were starting to bloom.

I got checked into the hotel and got myself organized for the week. I was actually feeling not to badly, so I got caught up on work, watched a show and generally relaxed. I was meeting a friend (and former colleague) for dinner a little later that afternoon, and I was determined to stay up and push through the jet lag.

Kedar was meeting me around 5:00, and we were going to go for a walk, and then as always, Kedar managed to find some interesting things for us to see. The first time I was in Pune, Kedar showed me a local spot, not far from the hotel, that was a small park. I had walked it many times, and it offered a path up over the hill to a busy area with lots of shops and restaurants.

It was the middle of “winter” in India, and I did notice that things looked quite different from last time, as many of the trees had dropped their leaves. On the last trip I had noted that Pune was a very green, lush city, but this time (as it was winter), it was a little less green.

We walked through the park and I also noticed that there were a lot less birds than last time. That played out throughout my trip. We got up and over the hill, then back down through the Fergusson College grounds (there was lots of cricket being played!) and back out to the busy streets.

We wandered for a bit, catching up. Kedar is a Pune local and has a wealth of knowledge about the city. It’s always great to hear him explain the way things work, or why things that seem odd to me are as they are. The last time I was in Pune, there was a huge amount of construction going on for the new Metro. It did not look like they were getting very far, so I was shocked that they had opened a pretty big part of the new line. So we decided to use the new Metro to go exploring. The new system was pretty impressive - massive, modern and clean, but they were still working out some kinks. The ticketing system was not accepting credit cards, so it was a good thing Kedar was able to pay with the mobile payment system, or I would have been standing in a big queue to pay cash. We headed out to explore, going over to the train station, then off to visit Ohel David Synagogue, an impressive Jewish temple, and then finally back to another part of town to go to the restaurant that Kedar wanted to take me to.

Outside the very busy Train Station, they had converted a few old train cars into a cool restaurant.

Ohel David Synagogue

One of the new Metro stations - I have no idea why it’s called “Ideal Colony”, but I found it entertaining.

There were some plumerias in bloom.

Kedar has always found interesting restaurants to take me to, and this one was no different. This one focused on local dishes and was once again a riot of new and interesting flavours. We had a great dinner, but I was starting to fade so it was time for me to head back to the hotel and get some sleep.

An interesting, spicy lentil soup and coconut-based drink.

Dinner was another interesting collection of dishes that were all about the dipping! Tasty stuff.

Out for Walk and Looking for Birds

Saturday I had the day to myself. The goal was to relax and get settled on the local time zone. I slept in a bit, then went down to the pool. The hotel has a nice 25m pool, and I had decided that I was going to try to swim everyday. This kicked it off well - it had been years since I had swum any laps, and I certainly could tell. But I persevered and got in 500m of swimming. I did manage to swim every day, and felt like I got stronger over the week.

The rest of the day I didn’t do a lot. I got caught up on work after the days of travel, watched a couple of shows and even had a nap in the afternoon. Towards the end of the day, I felt like I needed to go out and get some fresh air and a bit of exercise. So I took the camera and walked up to the park from the day before, to see what might be around.

I mentioned earlier that you could tell it was winter by the lack of leaves on the trees, and it was also evident in the number of birds. It was really quite. Later in the week I went for a walk and didn’t see anything! Still, on this walk, I did find some cool birds.

I am not sure on the ID for this one, but I think it might be an Ashy Prinia

I beieve that this is a Small Minivet. It was a new one for me, and quite pretty.

But the highlight was this White-throated Kingfisher. I wasn’t expecting a kingfisher in the woods, far from water. BUt it flew from tree-to-tree, giving me a few opportunities for some photos.

With all the blossoms on the cacti, I was fortunate enough to find a Purple Sunbird that was acting like a hummingbird, feeding off the flowers on the plants.

This was another new one for me, and I think that it is a female Indian Golden Oriole

As I was heading back out of the park, a (wild?) pig wandered out of the brush, took a look at me and then ambled away. I was not expecting that, and it was pretty odd.

Sunday, I headed north of town for a hike.

Sunday morning, one of my coworkers was kind enough to spend the day with me and we headed north about 2 hours to Shivneri Fort. Shivneri Fort is a historic hill fort located near Junnar. It is the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha Empire, who was born here in 1630. The fort has a triangular shape and seven spiral gates that protected it from invaders. The fort also has a temple dedicated to Goddess Shivai, after whom Shivaji was named, and a pond called Badami Talav in the center. Shivneri Fort is a symbol of the Maratha pride and valor, and a testimony to the life and times of Shivaji Maharaj. The fort offers a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape and we had a nice day out hiking.

One of the interesting thing this time of year was that it was very hazy (foggy) almost every day. This was a pretty good pic that was representative of the haze.

The view as we started the hike up the stairs to the fort was quite pretty, with the trees in full bloom.

It’s a bit hard to tell from the photos, but the path up to the summit is fairly steep, with lots of both rough cut (into the rock) and properly worked stone stairs. The path leads through a series of fortified gates that would have provided protection for the fort when it still served defensive purposes.

As you started tp climb, there were opportunities for great views…

…but the haze really put a damper on it.

Along the way there were a series of gates.

The fortifications were built right into the rock face.

At many of the gates there were carvings like these.

The haze would lift a bit and provide a sense of the surrounding countryside.

Around 2/3 of the way up, there was the remains of what had been a storage facility for foodstuff. It was alrage, stone building that would have housed a huge supply of grain and other food for the small village at the top, and I assume for some of the surrounding villages.

Pretty much the whole way up, you could see where they were planting gardens between the path and the fortification walls. It was well irrigated and quite impressive.

I think this might have been a type of jacaranda.

Before too long, we got to the top of the plateau and could see all of the features of the fortification. THere were quite a few ruins - all the foundations of the original village, along with a few structures that were mainly intact. There was also a small temple that was active and very busy with visitors.

The temple was more modern and in good shape, still well cared for.

And quite busy. There were lots of people going in and out while we were visiting.

The ruins of the village that would have been here in it’s prime.

This was one structure that was still mostly intact. Mukesh tried to explain the odd architecture. The arch and spires on the top look out of place as they were added after-the-fact, by Muslim invaders that would have occupied the place after it was originally built.

The birthplace of the king. It is still revered. Mukesh lined up to go inside to pay respects. I wasn’t so keen, and let him go do that while I explored further.

This was the “king’s bathtub”. I assume it was filled to support the village when originally in use. All drained now.

A closer view of the king’s birthplace.

Looking down at the “small” village near the fort.

And what would a post be without a bunch of birds…

After exploring for a while, it was time to head back down. One of the most hillarious things about being in India, especially at these historic venues is that being the only white person around makes you a bit of a local celebrity. It’s very odd, but the whole day I kept getting stopped by people to shake hands and have their picture taken with me. I have no idea why, but it’s a thing.

I should really go into Photoshop and remove the trash can…

We had a really great, if much longer than expected day out. While the drive, a couple of hours each way was a bit more than planned, the location was great and I got out and got to explore a bit. It made for a good break and bit of exercise amongst all the travel days.

One of the things the hotel in Pune does well is floral arrangements in the hotel lobby. They are always spectacular!

The rest of the week was pretty low key. I’d get up and go for a swim and usually have breakfast at the amazing buffet. Then I was in the office all day; we went out for interesting food and long lunches and then I went back to the hotel. I’d relax a bit, do some work and eat in the lounge in the hotel. Then I’d get on calls with Vancouver, often late into the evening. And repeat.

A couple of the interesting meals during the week.

On Friday, I wrapped up my day around 2:00 and met the driver for the long drive to Mumbai. It was about 4 hours, similar to when we arrived, and once again all you can do is marvel at the scale of the city. I checked into the JW Marriott right at the airport, making it easy for me to get onto the long flight back to Vancouver on Saturday morning.

The hotel in Mumbai was equally nice as the one in Pune, maybe even newer and nicer.

The view from my hotel room, looking out over a very small fragment of Mumbai.

THere was some big event going on at the hotel, which you could see below me.

Zoomed in on a local temple.

Some of the surrounding housing.

I was pretty tired after the long day, so I was not planning on doing much. After a full week of Indian food, the restaurant in the hotel offered a welcome change, and I had myself some pretty great Italian food.

Burrata to start

And seafood risotto for the main.

Saturday morning I was up and off at 6:00 a.m. for my 8:30 flight. Getting through the airport is always a bit crazy there, but I was through with time to spare. It was a bit of a wait until the flight boarded, but we were mostly on time. It was about 9 hours back to London, followed by a 3 hour layover and then another 10 hours back to Vancouver. It’s a very long way to go, and I was exhausted by the time I got home. All-in-all, it was a great trip and we got lots accomplished!