Mysteries of Madhya Pradesh 🇮🇳 A Journey From Bhopal to Bhimbetka

Some strange noise is coming. Might be, uh, might be time to go. You hear that? I swear I just heard it again. I am in Bhopal today, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh is the state that is considered the heart of India. Almost dead center in the country of India. Today I'm starting off at the beautiful Upper Lake. So there's two lakes here, there's Upper and Lower, and there's a nice walking path that goes along the lake here. So I actually kind of ended up in Bhopal on accident. I wasn't actually planning to be here, wasn't really on my radar or a spot I was intending to visit, but it's kind of funny because I had planned on taking a train further north from Bhopal, but then that train, all the trains that I wanted to book out of Bhopal were sold out, probably due to Diwali coming to an end and people returning home after Diwali. So then I ended up in Bhopal, but with less time than I had initially wanted. I wanted like two or three days, but then I misbooked. It's a whole, um, what would you say, comedy of errors, this, uh, this Bhopal part of my trip because I'm here for only one day, and then tomorrow heading north from here. I would say so far just the little taste I've had of Bhopal. It certainly is greener than any of the other cities I have been in in India so far. I'm getting ready to head outside of the city, about 45 minutes. There's some really cool stuff out there that I want to check out, and I'm running low on time. The time is ticking by quickly, so I'm gonna try to do as much as I can today in Bhopal. Ah, finally found a juice guy. Namaste, sir. Juice? 50 rupees. It's actually been hard to find a little street food. I'm probably not headed in the right direction, but as I'm heading out of town, it's just all fruit stands, but I finally found something that'll hopefully have something that I can have here. Maybe like, I don't know, pakoda? Pakoda? Okay, I've never had pakoda prepared like this before, but it's like topped with some crispy things, and they put like a sauce on it. Looks pretty good. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Saucy pakoda. This is veg, right? Veg pakoda? Veg pakoda. Okay, okay, just making sure. Tastes really good. Spicy good. Good spicy. I've never had pakoda like this with a sauce and prepared like a full meal. This is better than I thought. I was expecting just pakoda in a bag or something. This is like an actual meal. So guys, this is Sao restaurant. We're in Mandaleep outside of Bhopal here on the way to Benbetka. I definitely recommend this dish. This is very good. This pakoda, they stir fry it up with sauce. It's almost like Chinese food for 50 rupees. Oh, fills you up really good, and it's not too spicy. They were very concerned that it was going to be spicy, but it's not too spicy. It's good. It's good food. Well, it appears it's burning season here in Madhya Pradesh. The farmers are burning, I guess, what remains of their crops here. I'm not sure what kind of crop this is. Maybe rice or some type of wheat or something. But anyway, they burn what's left over, so then that carbon gets reintroduced back into the soil. The ash that's left over, it makes that soil fertile for next season's crop. But it's really making it quite smoky here. And when I first got to Bhopal, I saw a lot of smoke, and I thought it was pollution. But now I have a better understanding that it's burning season. Okay, so I guess this is in Ratapani Sanctuary. So you have to pay this entry fee. 50 rupees for two people if you're on a scooter. Here's the prices for everything else. Pretty affordable. So I forgot that this is in Ratapani Sanctuary. So Ratapani Sanctuary has a lot of wildlife. There's like tigers and stuff. So I mean, I highly doubt I'm going to see a tiger today, but that's pretty cool that that possibility does exist, I guess. Okay, so we're 45 kilometers southeast of Bhopal at the Bhimbetka rock shelters. These are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and they are the oldest evidence of human life here in India, some date back to 100,000 years ago. Rock painting. Oh, there it is. Look at that. Look at that. That is amazing. I'm surprised that you can actually touch the rock. Whenever I see ancient cave paintings like that, first of all, it's amazing. Something that old is so well preserved. I always wonder, in the future, will archaeologists 100 years from now dig up big pieces of concrete with graffiti on them and think, wow, look at these ancient cave paintings from the 20th century, 21st century. Part of me is like, were these just kids vandalizing the rocks, or was it actually, you know, this is pretty impressive, this stone complex. It's like a whole, like a whole stone city here. Just a naturally occurring, these naturally occurring shelters. There's like 750 of these rock shelters distributed over like a 10 kilometer radius, but I don't know that all of them are open to the public or able to be viewed. It just goes to show what a large concentration population they had in this area at that time. The earliest evidence of humans in India. I mean, a pretty nice place. Pretty nice place to be settled for a while here. I don't know that we're going to see any leopards or tigers, but this is in Ratapani, so maybe this fence, maybe this fence will keep the tigers out. Is this fence for the tigers? That keeps the tigers out? Yeah. Okay, thank you. I feel like they could just jump over that, though, if they wanted to. Okay, yeah, so clearly you don't get to see all the, all the caves because this trail is not 10 kilometers. I mean, we've walked maybe half a k already, and then we're halfway through, so. This says it has two chambers, one above the other. Paintings are present in both chambers. Huh, so it looks like maybe you can go to the upper one? I mean, they don't have this roped off. I think this is sandstone I read. Oh, they do have it roped off. Okay, so I don't see, maybe the other one's up there. That must be the other one. Oh, this is definitely sandstone. Look at that. Telltale sandstone erosion. Oh, yeah, you could see this strategic location as well. Good viewpoint over the plains there to make sure no other marauding prehistoric tribes are coming to steal your women and your cave shelters. A couple different chambers in here. Not bad. Not bad real estate for a rock shelter. Oh, nice. Nice little squeezy part. So, apparently, they were inhabited at different points. I guess the earliest one was 100,000 years ago, and there were different periods in which they were inhabited, and it probably can date the paintings back to different time periods as well. I just read on one of the information signs that there are three springs in the area that locals still use to this day, so that would be interesting to try to find one of those. Not sure if it's possible, but if I was going to see some wildlife, most likely it would be near a water source, so I think I might have a mission for after this. Go find a spring or water source. See if we can spot some wildlife. This is called boar rock, and if you look, I don't know if the GoPro is picking it up, but up there, there's something painted kind of in the shape of a boar, I guess they're saying. The shape of this rock is pretty amazing, too. It's almost like a mushroom shape. If I can locate those three springs around here, I think the Bembatka rock shelters are a prime candidate for a place where I will go when the apocalypse comes. They are beautiful. Lots of space. I might have to share a cave with a monkey, though. I don't know how accommodating they are to letting people hang out in their cave. There we go. Oh, look at that. Yeah, so this is more modern. This would be a more, I guess, quote-unquote modern, recent. It's interesting because I have gotten to see the evolution of where humanity started here in India in these rock shelters, and then over tens of thousands of years, eventually they still created cave-like structures like we saw in Ellora. They're much more elaborate. So as the human beings developed more artisanal skills, more ability, entered the Stone Age, entered later adaptations, still they were kind of in touch with nature by carving their temples into the rock cliffside, but still in touch with that nature. It's pretty cool. It's quite a progression. So 100,000 years from here to Ellora. Or no, it would be technically like 99,000. 99,000 years starting here, progressing to Ellora, and up to the present day where we live in concrete houses. So just up the road from Bembatka, like one minute up the road, there's this Bembatka Kuddevi temple. It looks like they have incorporated the temple into some other rock outcroppings. So this is pretty cool. I don't know anything about this place. I'm not sure what kind of temple this is. That was a very unique experience. Photography was not allowed inside the temple. It's a Devi temple. I got to speak to, I don't know what his title is, but he was kind of like a student there, maybe a monk or something, in silence, and it was a good experience. He introduced me to his guru and had some silence with him as well, and then a big group of school kids showed up, and it was no longer silent. It was silence, silence, boom, 50 school kids chattering away. But yeah, that was cool. Yeah, no camera allowed in the... I think I forgot where I parked my... I'm discombobulated now. I forgot where I parked my scooter, but that was cool. This is a really interesting temple. If you come out to the Bimbadka Caves, definitely check out this temple. There's no photography allowed inside the temple itself, but he said it dates from the time of Krishna. So Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu as well. Interesting, really cool spot, and it was really peaceful before all the school kids showed up. So on the road out, I noticed these rocks. So I just wanted to come and take a closer look. There's no fence or anything, so I don't think I'm not supposed to be here, but these looked cool, and maybe I can get an elevated view and see, catch a glimpse of some water somewhere. Oh, there's the water. That's not the water I was looking for. Whoa, this whole thing's moving. Huh, I swear I just heard something. It sounded like a cat purring really loudly. A big cat, and I think it was coming from over there. Okay, might be time to go. Did you hear that? I swear I just heard it again, and I don't think tigers would take shelter in a cave like this, but maybe leopards would. All right, now I'm freaked out. Okay, time to go. Looks like people come here and party or do whatever. They drink their juices and they leave a mess. Come here and drink. Look at that. This is the drink spot. Smash your bottles. What a shame. What a shame. Whoa, what the hell was that? It was a leaf. That's hilarious. Oh boy, I think I've been spending too much time in the sun. It's starting to fry my brain. I'm hearing leopards getting scared by leaves. That's when you know it's time to move on. Well, I think I found Gupta Ganga, one of the springs. Some strange noise is coming from down here. I'm pretty sure this is one of the springs that was mentioned. How about the caves? Oh, it's the goats making noise. Okay, this is it. It's one of the three springs. A lot of goat stuff happening. I guess the goats like the spring. A lot of goating around at the spring, so still in use today. I mean, it's obviously not a major flowing springs. Not what I envisioned, but there is a little bit of action. I saw a little bit of bubbling. There's a little bit of bubbling coming, so it's producing water still, but not very much. Enough to water the goats apparently. So I wonder if this is the source, because there's flags there. Maybe this is the source, but then there's more water down here. So is that the source? This must be left over from, I guess, maybe rainy season. This whole thing flows like a river. Interesting. Not what I was expecting when I said I was going to look for a spring, but still pretty cool, because it seems really arid out here, really dry. So I guess the local people rely on this spring and the other springs to water their goats. And the tiger has not gotten the goats yet. I wonder if we're out of ratapani. I don't know. I feel like all of these guys would be tiger food. Does the tiger ever eat one? Tiger eating? Sometimes. Is there a lot of tigers here? Many tigers? Yeah. Okay, thank you. I would imagine that it's hard to be a goat farmer in tiger country, because you gotta constantly beware. And leopards too. I mean, I'm sure a leopard could take down one of those small goats. So there's a spot right by the main road here called Highway Treat. Little restaurant. Grab a few drinks before I hit the road again to see what the next adventure is. Not sure yet. Just see where this day takes me. Maza. Are you a maza man or a fruity man? Do you prefer the maza or the fruity? I used to be a fruity devotee. However, the maza is convincing me. I feel like the fruity is a little bit too fake. These are like mango drinks. I'm starting to, I think I've been converted to a maza lover over the fruity. Well, I pulled over because I have no idea where I am. And I don't have the greatest Google Maps isn't working that great. So I think if I follow these big trucks, they'll lead me back to a main road. But I just wanted to point out this. The big trucks, they love to design them with all these cool designs. So Madhya Pradesh, MP, Madhya Pradesh. Pretty cool. Off the beaten track. I think if I follow that bus, it will take me kind of where I want to go. Well, I learned two important things today. One, it appears that if you ride a scooter or a motorbike, you don't have to pay tolls on the toll road because the cars were stopped to pay. And then the scooters just went around them. So that's what I did. And the other important thing I learned is if you're lost on a back country road, and there's a lot of trucks all heading in one direction, if you follow those trucks, they'll take you back to the main road. So cool. Today's one of those days where I don't feel like I actually did a whole lot, but I'm really tired. So City Bike Rental Services, that's who I use for the scooter, recommend them. Seems like the rate is around 500 rupees all around the country. They charged me six because they gave it to me with a full tank of gas. So that was the first time I've ever seen that in India, that a scooter I rented actually had gas in it. Every other time, they're completely empty. So this complex, like temple probably, really ornate stonework under construction here right near my hotel. And you can see these massive stones that they're using. Look at the intricate intricate work here. I wonder if this is precast. It's probably precast, but maybe not. And this looks, this is a reject maybe. Pretty cool. Definitely not precast. That is a stone. Wow. That's going to be a really ornate temple right now. There's a place in Delhi that reminds me of this called like Akshardham. Also a newer temple, but it really has ornate stonework like this. That would be an interesting thing to come back to Bhopal for. See what what they turn that stone into. I wonder how long this thing's been under construction. Don't mind me just wandering onto an active construction site. And then there's like a picture of a guru guy there. So, huh. I wonder if this is in the same sect as Akshardham, because it looks very similar. The stonework looks very similar. The last adventure of the day, right before dinner, crossing this road. Impossible, you say. I would say, have faith. Maybe. Have faith in the kindness of strangers that maybe they won't run you over. Power of the hand. Can we? Oh yeah. Almost got clipped by a scooter, but we did it. We did it. We did it. Ha ha. Yes. Were you as scared as I was? Probably not, because I wasn't scared at all. Let's go get some really good food. Ate at this place yesterday, and it was really good. That meal was about six bucks. And if that was the same meal in the United States, it would be, I don't know, 25 or 30. Quality. That restaurant is just so good. Definitely recommend it. There's a lot to do in Bhopal. I regret only having one day here, but it's only due to my lack of planning, or my screw-ups, basically. Because tomorrow morning, I got to get up at like five o'clock in the morning to head off to the next adventure. But definitely there is plenty more to see in Bhopal. Final adventure of the day. Crossing back over that main road to get to the hotel. Pretty sure I have dialed in my hand motion formula though. I'll do it with my right hand. The old don't run me over hand gesture. Plenty more coming from India, I hope, if I don't get run over in five seconds. But you know the deal. Get out there. Find your adventure. Be infamous. Oh, we got a lull. We got a lull here. Oh, yeah. Hello, sir. I feel like I missed a window. I could have gone there. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Yeah, baby. Infamous.