Daulatabad

 Our first day trip away from Aurangabad took us to the the 14th century fort of Daulatabad.  Not more than 30 minutes away and we saw the fort high on a hill.  We then found ourselves winding our way through some of the outer gates and finding our way to the parking lot and entrance.  Armed with our camera and water bottles we started our adventure through the grounds and upward towards the fort.

This was the roadway into Daulatabad.  The gates and the fort itself employed the defensive technique of disorientation by requiring lots of turns and dark corners for an enemy that was able to breech a doorway or gate.  The biggest challenge now was that it only alloys for one way traffic.

H and N inspect one of many cannons throughout the fort.  Others were located in the alcoves on the right as well.

H finds the perfect passageway through an ancient doorway. 

Biggest cannon yet...but bigger ones were to come later in the day. 

Mom is always happy to snap pictures of the elephant carvings.  This was one of many.

H wanted to climb up.  We also thought this would be a good place for Rapunzel to drop her hair.

We marched past the minaret in the background and then found this tower with one of the fort's most famous cannons with ram's head.  While off it's mount we could see the original brass mount that allowed the cannon to spin a full 360 degrees around this tower.  N waited patiently for this picture as the cannon was being mobbed by a school group when we arrived who all straddled the cannon, clearly ignoring the instructions on the nearby sign.

Like Hyderabad, Daulatabad was mostly Muslim territory as indicated by the large minaret and this mosque.  Other mosques were located around the site as well as Hindu shrines that were built in later years.

Dad and N found a carved passageway in the rock to pose for this picture.  At this point much of the pathways, rooms, and other elements of the fort were carved right out of the rock.

As usual, H couldn't resist climbing.  He hates heights so he's really more of a crawler than a climber.  In any case, it's hard to keep him off of areas like this.

Exploring the pathway from the outer gates to the fort entrance.

There were a couple of school groups visiting on the same day.  They spent quite a bit of time chasing us down and demanding photos.

We usually travel on our own so having Mustafa along with us to snap a family picture was really nice.  This was near the bottom of the climb.

As we got to the main fort entrance it went right into the face of the rock.  The only way up was through caves full of bats.  Dad and Mustafa were the only ones that went on at this point.

This photo shows how steep the hill is where the fort is located.  The moat which was carved around the circumference of the fort and was  once filled with crocodiles is visible on the left.

The view from the top.  The orange minaret is visible just left of center and many of the outer fort walls can be seen wandering their way around the flat areas below. 

Bidar

We began our first Indian road-trip with a stop in Bidar.  About two hours outside of Hyderabad, Bidar is an easy day trip, with a cool fort, an old madrasa, and a road lined with Bidri workshops. 

This is the remains of the 15th century madrasa.  At one point, it was a storage facility for gunpowder, which explains why the building is now in ruins. 

The security guard was happy to unlock the main door for us, and let us wander around.  He then unlocked various gates, and we were able to climb inside the ruins. 

We then made it over to the Bidar Fort, which was, at one point, the largest fort in South India.

Walls like this stretched far into the distance, and are even found in the midst of the modern parts of the town.

Some beautiful detail work of the old structures still remain.

For some reason, there are parrots all over Bidar.

This beehive made us think of Uncle Dale.  We can't wait to taste some fresh honey this summer!

Our Second Holi

By 8:00 a.m. the summer sun is blasting, the music is pumping, and the fun is already in full swing.  We gave ourselves a little more time to wake up, but by 9:30 had joined in the mayham that is Holi. 

 HAPPY HOLI!

A Valentine's Day Post About Marriage and Mosquitoes

They say that in Hyderabad there are three seasons: winter, summer and monsoon.  I'd like to add 2 more seasons to the list... mango season and mosquito season.  Unfortunately, we're in mosquito season.  (Mango season is still a few months away.)

When we open the front door in the morning, we are greeted with a cloud of buzzy little blood suckers.  The windows in the car are constantly being rolled down to shoo out a pesky stowaway.  The management of our housing complex are constantly having the neighborhood sprayed, leaving us in a smoky, stinky haze that drives the mosquitoes from the plants outside, into the house.  If one thing is good about the hot, summer season that we are moving into, it is the fact that the mosquitoes will soon disappear.  Until then, we have a coping routine.

Before we climb into bed at night, we lock up the house, check on the kids, and then the hunt begins.  Our bedroom door is firmly shut, as is the bathroom door.  One of us will arm ourselves with the mosquito zapper.  The other will often grab a pair of socks.  We start with the curtains.  The sock holder will shake and tap the curtains, driving out any hiding mosquitoes, into the path of the waiting zapper.  Then, it's the pillows and bedspread, followed by the hanging scarves and the elephant wall hanging.  Zap, zap, zap.  Inevitably, as the mosquitoes are scared out of their safe spaces, some escape the zapper and head upwards.  They end up on the ceiling, visible and mocking.  This is where real team work comes into play, and the socks make their grand appearance.  The zapper will position themselves in the proximity of where the mosquito will most likely descend.  The other person is responsible for throwing the socks at the ceiling, startling the mosquito, and forcing them to start flying.  Once in the air, they're goners.  We toss, we jump, we swing, we say things like "take that, sucker."  We are pajama-clad killing machines.   

By the time we crawl into bed at night, our bedroom floor resembles a battlefield with mosquito corpses littering the ground.  We are victorious.  We have performed in perfect harmony (and laughter and lunacy) to make it through another day of mosquito season.

The light goes out.  We settle into sleep.  And then... there's a buzz in my ear.  Damn.  

Sri Lanka: Saving the Best for Last.

Our final excursion in Sri Lanka almost didn't happen.  The day started off with dark clouds, and as we headed out in the car for our hour long drive along the winding coastal road, the skies opened, and the rain began to pour down.  We drove for about twenty minutes before we had to pull over onto the side of the road, where we waited for the rain to let up and the road flooding to begin to drain.  After almost an hour, the rain finally lightened, and we had to decide whether to continue on, or return to the hotel.  After some lengthy debates, we decided to press forward and made our way to Galle.   

 We are so glad we did.

Monitor lizard.  He was a good 4 feet long.

Antique elephant

Fantastic pizza

While the modern city of Galle was significantly impacted by the tsunami of 2004, the old Dutch portion of the city sustained very little damage.  The Dutch built enormous walls around their little fort town, and an efficient drainage system beneath it.  These two facts meant that, almost 350 years after the fort was built, it was able to withstand forces of nature that decimated almost all of the surrounding coastline. 

The kids loved exploring the old walls of the fort, and particularly enjoyed terrifying themselves (and their mother) by leaning out over the walls and cliff to get a better look at the beaches and ocean far below. 

It was a bit windy.

About 100 years after the Dutch built the fort, the British took over.  This combination of Dutch and British history leaves this tiny pocket in Sri Lanka feeling a bit like some of the oldest streets in Manhattan (on a much smaller and more tropical scale.)  The same colonial flavor exists in both places.  After a week in Sri Lanka, the fort city of Galle was a quiet and comfortable breath of fresh air.  There were scores of good restaurants, fun little shops, safe streets to wander on, and clean bathrooms everywhere.  When you travel in Asia, a clean bathroom WITH toilet paper is a real find, and something you remember and appreciate for years to come. 

This historic church was converted into a mosque.

"Dutch" blue doors.  They reminded me of my mom.

 We ended our tour of Galle at Dairy King for a pretty wonderful treat.  Tucked into a front corner of the family home, is a teeny little shop that sells homemade ice cream.  The little kids splurged with sundaes, I got a mango ice cream, but Danny and M won the best flavors award with their orders of cinnamon ice cream and mint chocolate chip.  Both of these ice creams featured the amazing, fresh, local spices that are famous in Sri Lanka.  If you are ever in Galle, don't miss it!