Photo TR: Athisayam pg 4 - Madurai, INDIA!!

[coastererI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

Hey guys

I've been in India for the last couple weeks for a class, and was finally able to get to a couple of the parks farther up north.

15 of us are here for an architecture class, studying how religion and politics affect Indian art and architecture, but generally just having a great time in this incredible country. We're staying in Goa for four weeks, then heading down south to Madural for two weeks, before ending the program with a few days in Delhi. After the class ends, a friend and I will be staying a week extra in Nepal. On the weekends we usually take a trip somewhere in the country to look at some building or site or whatever, but so far classes have been pretty minimal, and we've had a bunch of time to just get out and explore.

I would hands down encourage everyone to visit India at least once in your life - it's probably the most beautiful place I'll ever see.

Goa itself is a beautiful, beautiful city, colonized by the Portuguese in the 1500s, providing for some really nice architecture. Goa is known for its beaches though, and while we haven't been able to take too much advantage of them because of the monsoons, they really are fantastic. We've seen some pretty amazing Buddhist caves, and a bunch of really neat temples - and the food is incredible. A little hard to stomach if you just jump in head first, but eat a lot poop a lot - that's the only way to live here.

But just a note, being white in India is preeeeetty pretty difficult. Especially if you're a woman. This area where I was in Bombay was pretty inaccessible.. you get a lot of looks and a lot of people trying to rip you off, and it really is quite clear that you're the ONLY white person in the area. You get a lot of people taking pictures of you, and asking where you're from, or pointing and laughing, especially if they notice you getting overcharged for something.

As far as roller coasters go, India isn't the beeeeeeest place to be, as you might imagine, but while I'm here, I'm of course going to take advantage of it. The two parks so far have been ridiculous, and I can't what to see what the other parks have up their sleeves.

Before I got to the parks, I wanted to just give a little context, and show some of the pictures I've taken from the last two weeks here. Hope you guys enjoy. I'll post pictures from Esselworld and Tikuji-ni-wadi shortly, and then I'll probably be able to hit a park in Madurai, a park in Delhi, and the only coasters in Nepal, sometime within the next month.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy
-Danny

[larrygatorObsessive Overlord of the TPR Park Index]

Awesome pic so far.

Feel free to post as many pictures from the parks as you want as I will add the to TPR's Park Index. We love featuring the travelers of TPR members to remote parks.

That same Italy World Cup banner hangs in my barber shop, which not surprisingly is run by Italians

thanks in advance

[BeemerBoyWDW Monorail Fanatic]

LOVE the culture shots! I just can't quite make out where the white people are in the pics. Maybe if you jumped around like a fool or something, it'd be easier to spot you guys.

Looking forward to more!

[coastererI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

^^Thanks a lot Larry, will do

^hahahahahaha, thanks. They warned us in orientation before we went that we would get alot of stares. Needless to say, when I have a camera anywhere near me, I get stares when I'm in the US, let alone when I'm the only white person in a hundred miles. Thanks for the comments!

So last weekend we had the weekend off, and I was able to take the 14 hour bus ride (complete with onboard Bollywood film) up the coast from Goa to Mumbai, and arrived in northern Mumbai by around ten o clock. A simple rickshaw ride over to the ferry (60 rupees, if you bargain.. alot), a quick look for an ATM, which turned into a mile and a half walk, and the 35 rupee ferry ride over to Esselworld, getting me there around 11 in the morning.
The park itself was only 510 rupees, (about 11 bucks), and was just about empty, it being monsoon season and all. Esselworld is billed as the biggest park in India, and it was pretty decently nice, considering the standard I expected.

Esselworld was decently sized, and was nicely covered with a lot of trees. Some of the rides were pretty spread out, but all in all, they had a good selection of rides.

The staff was inCREDibly nice and hospitable, and was super interested in me, as an American, and as an avid theme park enthusiast.

I'll take you through the rides and stuff through the pictures, but it was amazing to get out to these parks that are so rarely visited, and I really enjoyed the whole experience. Also if some of the pictures are a little blurry or aren't very good, I apologize, I just figured I'd try and include as many as possible to try and give you all more perspective.

Thanks for reading!!

[bgwfreak777East Coast Wes don't smell, honest.]

Those are some strange carvings.

[r78I Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

The Veggie Tales quote made my day; quite possibly my week


I must say, India really does look beautiful; those stone carvings are amazing!

[disneyfan1313I love donkeys more than me.]

Awesome. Awesome. AWESOME! So cool to see a part of the world that very few of us have been to. I hope to go to India some day as well - one of my dreams. Please continue to post any photos you have!

[RoCoBonafide Donkey Expert]

Your Wacky Worm story has to rank as one of the greatest credit-whore anecdotes ever. And those cave shots, etc., just beautiful. Really looking forward to future updates!

(Also looking forward to visiting "the place where Freida Pinto was created" myself someday...)

[piersTPR's Hairstylist to the Stars!]

Wow, this is super intertesting and very entertaining, plus you're all very attractive which always helps!

[andre8Little Person, Big World]

I don't think I would be brave enough to climb the temples/go into the caves.
Nice pictures!