Last night in Pune, I found out my Pune trip was definitely incomplete. Two weeks was not enough for us to explore this city, so as to explore India as a country. Our major expected outcomes were the overall experience to places and people with their colorful culture here. Look back our two-weeks-to-go-list, still there are untouched places.
India is a big country and takes long time to travel between cities. We experience this from the four hours bus from Mumbai to Pune. Even between Pune, each destination is not close to each other. We would suggest for those who want to explore this should not take for granted this point. Pune, in specific and Maharastra in general, is famous for their long time existence – back to 1600 years or so. This means there are lots of attractions to visit, which really encourage us to go back one day to fulfill the list.
It is the first time for me coming and leaving a place without visiting a museum there. Pune is an ancient city which makes Kelkar Museum so attractive. The impressive museum is a collection of more than 20,000 artifacts of Indian for culture which one can spend the whole day to explore. From the time working with students and staffs at the SSLA, we realize how proud the local people are over their history. I still remember how enthusiastic the lecturers were when talking about the development history of the country, in culture, in media industry and in every single field.
The second place that I, myself, really want to explore in my second trip here is Pataleshwar Cave Temple. While Burma is famous for many of pagodas, India as the origin of many religions in the world is also an interesting place to explore the temples and other religious attractions. Also known as the Shiva Temple, Pataleshwas Temple is one of the many attracting temples in Pune which should be missed. To see people worshiping in this temple would definitely a great memory for all those who want to know more about the culture here.
As mentioned earlier, Pune is an old city with many historical attractions. Among those, Aga Khan Palace would be worth visiting besides Shaniwar Wada Palace. Furthermore, there are still lots of natural reserves parks like Rajiv Gandhi Zooological Park which makes everyone so busy once in Pune. So far, we have been to so many places and so close to the roots of Indian culture and religions. The overall experience with the place, the people and the impression with the country would be unforgettable. And we do think about planning for our next trip to India again, not only for Pune, but also for Mumbai, for Kerala and so on.
See you again, India!