Jog Falls

Over the weekend I visited Jog Falls, the highest waterfalls in India with 4 others from the hostel. The falls were about 300km away, and we took 9 separate buses to get there and back again; a total of about 16 hours spent on bumpy, potholed Indian roads.

We left at noon Saturday and stayed at a lodge in a town overnight, costing 80rs (£1.20) each! The falls were well worth all the traveling for. A viewpoint on one side of the valley overlooked the falls. There were 4 main waterfalls, but in every other corner of the valley smaller waterfalls could be seen. The weather was typical, bright sunshine one minute and heavy rain the next, forcing all the umbrellas to come out.

The steps to the bottom of the falls was closed, but we went to the top of the falls instead, where hoards of people stepped across the slippy rocks to get a closer look at the waterfalls. We traveled back a different, and much more comfortable route, taking only 3 buses, including a night bus, arriving back in Ujire at 4.10 this morning.

Indian Time

In my last post, I said I would have successfully dried smoke-free bananas. This is not the case!

The aluminum workshop rather reluctantly agreed to make my design of heat exchanger on Monday. By Tuesday they phoned requiring clarification on the design. I am still waiting for a phone call to let me know that it is ready to be collected.

On Monday, I also sent a sheet of plywood to be cut out to make the dryer. Unfortunately, the carpenter struggled to read the dimensions on the print out, and as such, when I returned yesterday he had not measured or cut out anything. I spent a good hour yesterday afternoon standing next to him telling him where to put the tape measure.

At this prototyping stage, these problems are not a major concern, but they do delay the project. I suppose I've just got to appreciate that the designs are not conventional, and work done according to Indian time, and not as fast as at home.

This weekend I'm looking forward to visiting Jog Falls – the highest waterfalls in India, which should be a spectacular sight during the monsoon.