Forts, Palaces and Temples!
Hello there!
Well, here I am again, back in an internet cafe for another mammoth session at the keyboard doing my best to interpret the latest 2 weeks of travel into a vaguely interesting read. Lynn and I were in New Delhi when I last left you and about to be joined by a couple of friends from England who wished to spend 2 weeks on the road with us. Those 2 weeks were rather manic compared to our usual sedate travelling pace as we attempted to fit in as much as possible. Our friends have returned home again now and Lynn and I have proceeded on to Darjeeling in the far north-east of India for a bit of rest and recuperation.
Darjeeling is situated in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains just a stone's throw from Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Bangladesh. It's considerably more relaxed than anywhere else we've so far visited in India and considerably colder too. The inhabitants are mainly Nepali and Tibetan and indeed most of the people speak Nepali here in preference to Hindi. The surrounding mountains are spectacular. Four of the five highest mountains in the world are visible from Darjeeling. Mt Kanchenjunga (2nd highest mountain in the world) is closest to Darjeeling and therefore looms over all the others due to its proximity. Mt Everest is 140km away but because of the clear mountain air is easily visible. Only K2 in Kashmir, north-west India can't be seen from here out of the top five.
Anyway, enough of Darjeeling. Let's go back to Friday 27th October when Lynn and I were still in New Delhi....
Esther and Keith landed at the airport at 10:00 and I made sure I was there to meet them. They came laden with goodies for us, it was like Christmas come early! Fed up with 9 months of wiping her backside with fax paper Lynn had specifically requested a roll of the softest toilet paper to be found. As the said item emerged from the depths of Esther's rucksack her eyes lit up and she cradled it like a new-born puppy. I had a bag full of raspberry flapjacks (a favourite mid-morning snack from the days when I used to work for a living) and the complete 2nd and 3rd series of Blackadder recorded onto CD for my listening pleasure. What a happy couple we were!
We spend the morning planning our 2 week itinerary before ending up at a tour agency where it is completely replanned for us. From the agency we hire a 4x4 and driver for the next 10 days as between the four of us the price is quite reasonable. Also, with this new, revised itinerary we haven't got a hope of fitting it all in without our own vehicle.
The tour begins at 09:00 the next morning with a trip round Delhi. We head to the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. I didn't realise that the majority of Delhi's pigeons were muslims until we went there! We went to the Red Fort which was tremendously disappointing. The entrance gate and west wall are wonderful but beyond that there isn't much to the place. In the afternoon we visit Humayun's Tomb which is like a mini Taj Mahal in red sandstone and white marble. It's absolutely stunning and we spend most of the afternoon here. There's still time though for one final visit of the day and that's to the Lotus Temple, a magnificent structure that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Sydney Opera House.
In the evening I had the bright idea of heading to a restaurant called the "Orient Express" which is decked out like the Orient Express train complete with mock carriage inwhich you dine and first-class service to match. We knew it would be expensive but the prices were still a shock. And considering how much we paid, the food wasn't really that good either. I've had far nicer meals in India for a tenth of the cost. Literally!
The next day we are up and packed early as our driver is due to pick us up at 07:00. He eventually turns up at 08:30. Well, he doesn't, but another one does! He introduces himself and apologises for being late. None of us has the foggiest what he's just told us his name is and seeing our perplexed faces he adds:
"Just call me Sham, it'll be easier!"
That settled, we bundle all our gear in the back and clamber in afterwards and then off we go, heading west out of New Delhi and into Rajasthan. Today's destination is the town of Bikaner and it takes over 10 hours to get there. Two hours of that is spent at an awful restaurant on the way waiting for our lunch to appear. When it does finally arrive at the table most of it is cold and what isn't cold is just plain horrible. By the time we get to Bikaner we are tired, sore and hungry. Tomorrow is meant to be more of the same and we all decide we can't face another all-dayer on the road. For the third time in 48 hours our itinerary is revised giving us a full day in most of the places we visit instead of just a few hours. Unfortunately this means that a couple of places get the axe but we're all much happier with our new plan, especially Sham who doesn't have to spend quite so much time at the wheel tomorrow!
With a full day in Bikaner we first head to the Junagarh Fort which is beautiful and much more impressive than the Red Fort in Delhi. Lynn and Esther each have a henna tattoo drawn on their hands. They look lovely, full of intricate flowers and patterns. Lynn's has an image of an elephant in the middle and a rat underneath.
"What do you think?", Lynn asks.
"Very nice", I reply, "I especially like the prawn at the bottom!"
In the afternoon we visit a couple of Jain temples like the one we saw in Udaipur. At the 2nd one the man who shows us round tells us that he is the 31st successive member of his family to look after this temple.
We leave Bikaner the next morning heading south to Jodhpur. On the way we stop off at the town of Deshnoke to visit the 17th century Karni Mata Mandir, more commonly known as the "Rat Temple". The "Rat Temple" is thus nicknamed because it is home to hundreds and hundreds of these dirty, disease-ridden rodents. The rats are considered to be the reincarnations of holy men so they are not only tolerated at the temple but fed, revered and worshipped. It's like something out of an Indiana Jones movie and, as you can probably imagine, the place is filthy and absolutely stinks of rat urine and faeces. Like all temples in India, you have to remove your footwear before you can enter so if you want to go in you find yourself shuffling barefoot across the littered, greasy floor whilst the mangy creatures scurry all about you. It was certainly an experience and maybe at a later date I'll be able to show you a few photographs!
We got to Jodhpur mid-afternoon and spent a couple of hours wandering round the eclectic but fascinating spice market where I also managed to get a few photos I'm rather pleased with!
The next day we have a full day in Jodhpur at our disposal. Keith's been suffering from toothache for the last 24 hours so our first visit of the day is an impromptu one to the dentist. We make an appointment for 12:30 then head off to explore the impressive Meherangarh Fort for the rest of the morning. From the fort we can see why Jodhpur is called 'The Blue City' as, looking out from the ramparts, many of the buildings are painted the most beautiful, vivid blue. Back at the dentist Keith receives an injection in the butt and half a pharmacy's worth of pills to numb the pain. The whole bundle, including the appointment, came to about 2 quid!
After lunch we visit another Jain temple - better than Bikaner's, less impressive than Udaipur's - and then head up to the Umaid Bhawan Palace. Each city in Rajasthan has it's own royal family and Jodhpur's live here in one half of the palace whilst the other half is a posh hotel. Later in the afternoon and back at the hotel we each have a reflexology massage. I was expecting a nice, gentle foot massage to relax me. Instead, I got an all-over body massage by a bloke who seemed to have a lot of frustrations which he wanted to take out on someone. By the time he'd finished I felt like I'd been run over by a bus!
The next morning, Thursday 2nd November, we leave Jodhpur and head east to the tiny village of Pushkar. For 51 weeks of the year Pushkar is just like any other small, unassuming village but for one week every year Pushkar is host to India's largest camel fair and, as luck would have it, this is the week! Traditionally, Indians from all over the country would gather in Pushkar to buy and sell camels, horses, cows and other livestock. These days it is also a bit of a tourist attraction so the place is also swarming with souvenir stalls, guides, touts, musicians, dancers, entertainers and the inevitable thieves and beggars. We stayed about 90 minutes which was about 80 minutes too long in my opinion. India is pretty relentless in its pursuit of parting tourists from their rupees but this place was certainly the worst yet. There was never a moment of peace to just take in the atmosphere and enjoy the sights as all your time was spent trying to rid yourself of the people who latch on to you and won't take no for an answer. Thankfully I'm now an expert at looking like someone who really won't change his mind but poor Keith would always have a small entourage of hangers-on' and after a couple of "no thankyous!" that lacked conviction you'd find he'd been talked into buying all sorts of stuff. He came away from Pushkar with an armful of puppets and colourful toy elephants!
From pushy Pushkar we headed on east again to Jaipur - 'The Pink City' and capital of Rajasthan. That evening we go to dinner and Keith buys another puppet from a man he got chatting to outside whilst we were waiting for Sham to pick us up!
The following day sees us sight-seeing the places of interest in Jaipur. At 09:00 we head to the City Palace which also houses a Textile & Costume Museum and an Arms & Weoponry Museum. Then it's the Hawa Mahal - The Palace of the Winds - followed by the Jantar Mantar Observatory which is basically a big garden filled with odd looking stone instruments. According to our guidebook these instruments are used for "measuring the harmony of the heavens". Ok, if you say so.
In the afternoon I opted to leave the rest to visit the Amber Palace perched on a hill overlooking the city whilst I slaved away in an internet cafe for 3 hours recording Lynn's and my photos from our nearly exhausted supply of memory cards and onto 12 CDs. On the way to the Amber Palace Keith managed to find himself a full Indian army uniform complete with cap and socks! Sham told the shop owner that Keith was a soldier so he got the whole lot at the 'Indian price' of 700 rupees (about 8 quid!).
The next day and we have a 4 hour journey from Jaipur to Ranthambhore. We are staying at the 'Tiger Safari Resort' and in the morning we're off into the Ranthambhore National Reserve on a tiger safari. We wake at 05:00 and depart at 06:00 in a jeep. Our guide speaks very bad English with a very bad lisp so for the 3 hours we spent in his company I couldn't tell you one thing he said to us. Still, he was better at his job than driver was at his. We'd already driven straight into the side of another car before we'd even got through the park gate! Also, whenever some creature was spotted he would park so that he had a perfect, unimpeded view and we'd be stuck behind a tree or a bush unable to see what he was watching and unable to tell what the guide said he was watching! Oh, and we didn't see any of the elusive tigers either but I can hardly blame then for that. It's recommended that you take 2 or 3 consecutive visits to the park to hopefully see one and we're off again as soon as we get back to the hotel after just the one visit. At 11:00, once we're showered and we've had breakfast we head east for the 8 hour journey to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.
The following morning we leave the hotel at 05:30 as we want to take some photos of the Taj Mahal at dawn. I've heard that there is a magnificent view from the other side of the river but I can't seem to get Sham to understand that we don't want to go to the Taj Mahal just yet but to this viewpoint. He drops us off near the entrance to the Taj and after heading into a nearby hotel which boasts 'superb views' of the famous building which were sadly not superb enough we head back to the 4x4 disappointed. Later in the morning after breakfast back at the hotel we return to the Taj Mahal for a 2nd time. You can't actually see the building from the gate as it's obscured by walls or buildings but once we're inside and standing infront of one of the seven wonders of the world the frustrations of the morning disappear instantly. The Taj Mahal is absolutely stunning, far more impressive in real life than any photo you've ever seen of it. We spent 4 hours there along with half of India, basking in its beauty.
After a late lunch Sham tells us of a great spot on the other side of the river for taking photos of the Taj Mahal. Hmm, not the place I tried in vain to get him to take us to at dawn, I suppose? Indeed it is the very same place I wanted to go to earlier. We stay until sunset taking many more photos.
This is our last day with Sham and so after a traditional Indian meal courtesy of Pizza Hut he heads off back home to New Delhi and we head to the train station for our 9 hour overnight journey east to Varanasi. The train is late arriving and it's 00:30 when we finally leave Agra.
Varanasi is India's holiest city (in the religious sense, not the full of holes sense!) and sits on the banks of the famous River Ganges. It's about 11:00 by the time we reach our hotel and after making ourselves a little more presentable we decide to head out for something to eat. There's a curious, one-eyed taxi driver in reception and we ask him to take us to 'Spicy Bites', a recommended restaurant in the old part of the city. He tries to get us to go on a tour but we only want some lunch. Eventually he relents, we agree a price and we all head off in his battered Ambassador taxi at the steady speed of 2mph. I begin to have doubts about the vision from his one remaining eye after less than a minute of experiencing him drive! A few minutes later and we stop at a spice shop.
"Not a spice shop, a restaurant!", we chorus, "Called 'Spicy Bites'!"
Two minutes later and we stop at Burger King:
"Here is nice restaurant.", he announces.
"Take us to 'Spicy Bites'!", we yell!
Then we get the same old speel we got earlier when he tried to convince us to go on a tour. Then he tries to triple the price. Then he asks where we want to go to first on the tour. In the end we tell him we've had enough of this shit and we're getting out. After this he finally agrees to drive us to the old city where, as soon as we're there, we decide we'll be better off finding the restaurant on our own.
We ask a young man where 'Spicy Bites' is and he offers to take us there as it's on his way. It's somewhere in the middle of a maze of tiny alleyways and we'd have never found it on our own. After a superb lunch we emerge from the restaurant with the intention of having a wander round these delightful little streets. Our young friend happens to be waiting outside and offers to take us to the river to show us the ghats where the dead are cremated. I'd rather not go with him. If he's been hanging around for us then he obviously expects to be paid for his guiding services and I'd prefer to just wander about on our own taking photos. I'm outvoted 3-1 though so off we go with our new 'guide'. We walk along the riverfront to a private area where some bodies are currently being cremated. Overlooking this is a building which is supposedly a hospice set up by Mother Teresa. We are led inside this virtually derelict building and up the stairs to the top. There's another man and an old woman at the top and as we arrive this bloke starts to explain about the events going on below. I distance myself from the 'tour' and decide leave the others to it. It all seems very dodgy to me and I'd rather not get involved. If the others want to, that's up to them. I sit down on a chair on the far side of the building and start flicking through my guidebook. I look up to see Keith handing over some 100 rupee notes to the old woman. It turns out that he's been asked to make a "donation" for wood so that the poor can cremate their dead. It's one of the most common scams in Varanasi to dupe tourists into parting with their money and one that poor Keith wasn't aware of. I knew all about it but he'd already lined their filthy pockets by the time I noticed what was going on.
As we leave the building I tell him how he's just been tricked and ask the others if they really want to carry on with this bogus tour anymore. They don't, so we tell the guide we've had enough of his cons and set off on our own. He acts hurt, especially when he realises that we're walking off without paying him anything!
Keith's now in a bad mood and decides he's already had enough of Varanasi and wants to go back to the hotel but agrees to wander about for a bit with the rest of us "providing nobody else tries to sell me anything".
These little alleyways are amazing. They buzz with life and activity and we soon end up losing ourselves in the labyrinth of pathways before ending up back at the river. We head downriver taking photos. Some kids are playing cricket along the concrete riverbank and we sit and watch them for a while. Nobody hit's a six and has to go swimming to get the ball back! Tomorrow morning at dawn we'd like to take a boat trip on the river so I enquire about the prices. We are told that a private boat will cost us 120 rupees per boat, per hour.
At 05:30 in the morning Lynn, Esther and I head down to the river in a taxi. Keith has decided he doesn't want to go so stays in bed. When we get to the river the taxi driver introduces us to our boatman.
"Hang on a minute. Before we agree to go with you I want to know how much it is", I insist.
"300 rupees. Each!!!", he declares. I tell him we'll only pay 40 rupees each, not 300.
"Impossible!!!", he barks, "You cannot get a boat to yourselves for only 40 rupees each". We know we can so we walk off. Within 30 seconds he's caught us up and is tugging at my arm.
"Ok, ok, 40 rupees each". And just a moment ago I thought it was impossible...
The riverbanks are awash with activity and the dawn mists make for some great photo opportunities, Even out here on the water at dawn though, you can't escape the souvenir sellers. The most memorable is definately the two guys in a little rowing boat selling the latest Bollywood DVDs. In the middle of them there's a full-size colour TV wired up to a couple of car batteries and blaring out a favourite movie at full-volume!
We see a couple of dead bodies wrapped in cloth floating down the river. One has washed up by some steps and is being pulled apart by a hungry dog.
At midday Esther and Keith leave on the train back to New Delhi in order to catch their flight back to England. Lynn and I wave them off before we get on our train and head onwards east to Darjeeling where we are now.
It was a wonderful 2 weeks in the company of 2 very good friends from home. A bit hectic at times but never dull and Lynn and I are both so glad that they offered to spend their valuable holiday time with us.
Esther and Keith: I hope you enjoyed your somewhat unusual holiday as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you. Thanks for making our time in India that little bit more special. We look forward to seeing both of you again in 3 months.
The train from Varanasi to Darjeeling was a little bit more eventful than we'd hoped. The lady in the compartment with us had the handles on her bags slashed to release them from the chain that was locking them to the underside of her berth whilst we slept. We awoke at 02:00 to find her small holdall missing and her large bag sitting in the middle of the compartment. I spent the remainder of the night sat up in the dark guarding the rest of our luggage. We half expected whoever stole the small bag to come back for the large one when they thought we'd be asleep again and sure enough at about 03:30 a couple of eyes peered through a slit in the curtain but they fled when they noticed that Monika and I were staring straight back at them. Luckily for Monika there was nothing of real value in her stolen bag and luckily for us too, our luggage remained untouched.
From the hotel in Varanasi to the hotel in Darjeeling it was an exhausting journey of 26 hours. Despite the fact that we've now been in Darjeeling for 5 days you'll be pleased to know I'm going to stop writing now as I've gained that common ailment - Typist's Finger! The next installment will start with our arrival in Darjeeling and then you'll also get to learn which of us finally succumbed to the inevitable Delhi-belly and has spent most of the last 3 days in the bathroom! Something to keep you in suspense, eh?!!!
Right, that's it then. Time for a bit of fresh air!
Toodle-Pip!
Rich
Well, here I am again, back in an internet cafe for another mammoth session at the keyboard doing my best to interpret the latest 2 weeks of travel into a vaguely interesting read. Lynn and I were in New Delhi when I last left you and about to be joined by a couple of friends from England who wished to spend 2 weeks on the road with us. Those 2 weeks were rather manic compared to our usual sedate travelling pace as we attempted to fit in as much as possible. Our friends have returned home again now and Lynn and I have proceeded on to Darjeeling in the far north-east of India for a bit of rest and recuperation.
Darjeeling is situated in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains just a stone's throw from Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Bangladesh. It's considerably more relaxed than anywhere else we've so far visited in India and considerably colder too. The inhabitants are mainly Nepali and Tibetan and indeed most of the people speak Nepali here in preference to Hindi. The surrounding mountains are spectacular. Four of the five highest mountains in the world are visible from Darjeeling. Mt Kanchenjunga (2nd highest mountain in the world) is closest to Darjeeling and therefore looms over all the others due to its proximity. Mt Everest is 140km away but because of the clear mountain air is easily visible. Only K2 in Kashmir, north-west India can't be seen from here out of the top five.
Anyway, enough of Darjeeling. Let's go back to Friday 27th October when Lynn and I were still in New Delhi....
Esther and Keith landed at the airport at 10:00 and I made sure I was there to meet them. They came laden with goodies for us, it was like Christmas come early! Fed up with 9 months of wiping her backside with fax paper Lynn had specifically requested a roll of the softest toilet paper to be found. As the said item emerged from the depths of Esther's rucksack her eyes lit up and she cradled it like a new-born puppy. I had a bag full of raspberry flapjacks (a favourite mid-morning snack from the days when I used to work for a living) and the complete 2nd and 3rd series of Blackadder recorded onto CD for my listening pleasure. What a happy couple we were!
We spend the morning planning our 2 week itinerary before ending up at a tour agency where it is completely replanned for us. From the agency we hire a 4x4 and driver for the next 10 days as between the four of us the price is quite reasonable. Also, with this new, revised itinerary we haven't got a hope of fitting it all in without our own vehicle.
The tour begins at 09:00 the next morning with a trip round Delhi. We head to the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. I didn't realise that the majority of Delhi's pigeons were muslims until we went there! We went to the Red Fort which was tremendously disappointing. The entrance gate and west wall are wonderful but beyond that there isn't much to the place. In the afternoon we visit Humayun's Tomb which is like a mini Taj Mahal in red sandstone and white marble. It's absolutely stunning and we spend most of the afternoon here. There's still time though for one final visit of the day and that's to the Lotus Temple, a magnificent structure that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Sydney Opera House.
In the evening I had the bright idea of heading to a restaurant called the "Orient Express" which is decked out like the Orient Express train complete with mock carriage inwhich you dine and first-class service to match. We knew it would be expensive but the prices were still a shock. And considering how much we paid, the food wasn't really that good either. I've had far nicer meals in India for a tenth of the cost. Literally!
The next day we are up and packed early as our driver is due to pick us up at 07:00. He eventually turns up at 08:30. Well, he doesn't, but another one does! He introduces himself and apologises for being late. None of us has the foggiest what he's just told us his name is and seeing our perplexed faces he adds:
"Just call me Sham, it'll be easier!"
That settled, we bundle all our gear in the back and clamber in afterwards and then off we go, heading west out of New Delhi and into Rajasthan. Today's destination is the town of Bikaner and it takes over 10 hours to get there. Two hours of that is spent at an awful restaurant on the way waiting for our lunch to appear. When it does finally arrive at the table most of it is cold and what isn't cold is just plain horrible. By the time we get to Bikaner we are tired, sore and hungry. Tomorrow is meant to be more of the same and we all decide we can't face another all-dayer on the road. For the third time in 48 hours our itinerary is revised giving us a full day in most of the places we visit instead of just a few hours. Unfortunately this means that a couple of places get the axe but we're all much happier with our new plan, especially Sham who doesn't have to spend quite so much time at the wheel tomorrow!
With a full day in Bikaner we first head to the Junagarh Fort which is beautiful and much more impressive than the Red Fort in Delhi. Lynn and Esther each have a henna tattoo drawn on their hands. They look lovely, full of intricate flowers and patterns. Lynn's has an image of an elephant in the middle and a rat underneath.
"What do you think?", Lynn asks.
"Very nice", I reply, "I especially like the prawn at the bottom!"
In the afternoon we visit a couple of Jain temples like the one we saw in Udaipur. At the 2nd one the man who shows us round tells us that he is the 31st successive member of his family to look after this temple.
We leave Bikaner the next morning heading south to Jodhpur. On the way we stop off at the town of Deshnoke to visit the 17th century Karni Mata Mandir, more commonly known as the "Rat Temple". The "Rat Temple" is thus nicknamed because it is home to hundreds and hundreds of these dirty, disease-ridden rodents. The rats are considered to be the reincarnations of holy men so they are not only tolerated at the temple but fed, revered and worshipped. It's like something out of an Indiana Jones movie and, as you can probably imagine, the place is filthy and absolutely stinks of rat urine and faeces. Like all temples in India, you have to remove your footwear before you can enter so if you want to go in you find yourself shuffling barefoot across the littered, greasy floor whilst the mangy creatures scurry all about you. It was certainly an experience and maybe at a later date I'll be able to show you a few photographs!
We got to Jodhpur mid-afternoon and spent a couple of hours wandering round the eclectic but fascinating spice market where I also managed to get a few photos I'm rather pleased with!
The next day we have a full day in Jodhpur at our disposal. Keith's been suffering from toothache for the last 24 hours so our first visit of the day is an impromptu one to the dentist. We make an appointment for 12:30 then head off to explore the impressive Meherangarh Fort for the rest of the morning. From the fort we can see why Jodhpur is called 'The Blue City' as, looking out from the ramparts, many of the buildings are painted the most beautiful, vivid blue. Back at the dentist Keith receives an injection in the butt and half a pharmacy's worth of pills to numb the pain. The whole bundle, including the appointment, came to about 2 quid!
After lunch we visit another Jain temple - better than Bikaner's, less impressive than Udaipur's - and then head up to the Umaid Bhawan Palace. Each city in Rajasthan has it's own royal family and Jodhpur's live here in one half of the palace whilst the other half is a posh hotel. Later in the afternoon and back at the hotel we each have a reflexology massage. I was expecting a nice, gentle foot massage to relax me. Instead, I got an all-over body massage by a bloke who seemed to have a lot of frustrations which he wanted to take out on someone. By the time he'd finished I felt like I'd been run over by a bus!
The next morning, Thursday 2nd November, we leave Jodhpur and head east to the tiny village of Pushkar. For 51 weeks of the year Pushkar is just like any other small, unassuming village but for one week every year Pushkar is host to India's largest camel fair and, as luck would have it, this is the week! Traditionally, Indians from all over the country would gather in Pushkar to buy and sell camels, horses, cows and other livestock. These days it is also a bit of a tourist attraction so the place is also swarming with souvenir stalls, guides, touts, musicians, dancers, entertainers and the inevitable thieves and beggars. We stayed about 90 minutes which was about 80 minutes too long in my opinion. India is pretty relentless in its pursuit of parting tourists from their rupees but this place was certainly the worst yet. There was never a moment of peace to just take in the atmosphere and enjoy the sights as all your time was spent trying to rid yourself of the people who latch on to you and won't take no for an answer. Thankfully I'm now an expert at looking like someone who really won't change his mind but poor Keith would always have a small entourage of hangers-on' and after a couple of "no thankyous!" that lacked conviction you'd find he'd been talked into buying all sorts of stuff. He came away from Pushkar with an armful of puppets and colourful toy elephants!
From pushy Pushkar we headed on east again to Jaipur - 'The Pink City' and capital of Rajasthan. That evening we go to dinner and Keith buys another puppet from a man he got chatting to outside whilst we were waiting for Sham to pick us up!
The following day sees us sight-seeing the places of interest in Jaipur. At 09:00 we head to the City Palace which also houses a Textile & Costume Museum and an Arms & Weoponry Museum. Then it's the Hawa Mahal - The Palace of the Winds - followed by the Jantar Mantar Observatory which is basically a big garden filled with odd looking stone instruments. According to our guidebook these instruments are used for "measuring the harmony of the heavens". Ok, if you say so.
In the afternoon I opted to leave the rest to visit the Amber Palace perched on a hill overlooking the city whilst I slaved away in an internet cafe for 3 hours recording Lynn's and my photos from our nearly exhausted supply of memory cards and onto 12 CDs. On the way to the Amber Palace Keith managed to find himself a full Indian army uniform complete with cap and socks! Sham told the shop owner that Keith was a soldier so he got the whole lot at the 'Indian price' of 700 rupees (about 8 quid!).
The next day and we have a 4 hour journey from Jaipur to Ranthambhore. We are staying at the 'Tiger Safari Resort' and in the morning we're off into the Ranthambhore National Reserve on a tiger safari. We wake at 05:00 and depart at 06:00 in a jeep. Our guide speaks very bad English with a very bad lisp so for the 3 hours we spent in his company I couldn't tell you one thing he said to us. Still, he was better at his job than driver was at his. We'd already driven straight into the side of another car before we'd even got through the park gate! Also, whenever some creature was spotted he would park so that he had a perfect, unimpeded view and we'd be stuck behind a tree or a bush unable to see what he was watching and unable to tell what the guide said he was watching! Oh, and we didn't see any of the elusive tigers either but I can hardly blame then for that. It's recommended that you take 2 or 3 consecutive visits to the park to hopefully see one and we're off again as soon as we get back to the hotel after just the one visit. At 11:00, once we're showered and we've had breakfast we head east for the 8 hour journey to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.
The following morning we leave the hotel at 05:30 as we want to take some photos of the Taj Mahal at dawn. I've heard that there is a magnificent view from the other side of the river but I can't seem to get Sham to understand that we don't want to go to the Taj Mahal just yet but to this viewpoint. He drops us off near the entrance to the Taj and after heading into a nearby hotel which boasts 'superb views' of the famous building which were sadly not superb enough we head back to the 4x4 disappointed. Later in the morning after breakfast back at the hotel we return to the Taj Mahal for a 2nd time. You can't actually see the building from the gate as it's obscured by walls or buildings but once we're inside and standing infront of one of the seven wonders of the world the frustrations of the morning disappear instantly. The Taj Mahal is absolutely stunning, far more impressive in real life than any photo you've ever seen of it. We spent 4 hours there along with half of India, basking in its beauty.
After a late lunch Sham tells us of a great spot on the other side of the river for taking photos of the Taj Mahal. Hmm, not the place I tried in vain to get him to take us to at dawn, I suppose? Indeed it is the very same place I wanted to go to earlier. We stay until sunset taking many more photos.
This is our last day with Sham and so after a traditional Indian meal courtesy of Pizza Hut he heads off back home to New Delhi and we head to the train station for our 9 hour overnight journey east to Varanasi. The train is late arriving and it's 00:30 when we finally leave Agra.
Varanasi is India's holiest city (in the religious sense, not the full of holes sense!) and sits on the banks of the famous River Ganges. It's about 11:00 by the time we reach our hotel and after making ourselves a little more presentable we decide to head out for something to eat. There's a curious, one-eyed taxi driver in reception and we ask him to take us to 'Spicy Bites', a recommended restaurant in the old part of the city. He tries to get us to go on a tour but we only want some lunch. Eventually he relents, we agree a price and we all head off in his battered Ambassador taxi at the steady speed of 2mph. I begin to have doubts about the vision from his one remaining eye after less than a minute of experiencing him drive! A few minutes later and we stop at a spice shop.
"Not a spice shop, a restaurant!", we chorus, "Called 'Spicy Bites'!"
Two minutes later and we stop at Burger King:
"Here is nice restaurant.", he announces.
"Take us to 'Spicy Bites'!", we yell!
Then we get the same old speel we got earlier when he tried to convince us to go on a tour. Then he tries to triple the price. Then he asks where we want to go to first on the tour. In the end we tell him we've had enough of this shit and we're getting out. After this he finally agrees to drive us to the old city where, as soon as we're there, we decide we'll be better off finding the restaurant on our own.
We ask a young man where 'Spicy Bites' is and he offers to take us there as it's on his way. It's somewhere in the middle of a maze of tiny alleyways and we'd have never found it on our own. After a superb lunch we emerge from the restaurant with the intention of having a wander round these delightful little streets. Our young friend happens to be waiting outside and offers to take us to the river to show us the ghats where the dead are cremated. I'd rather not go with him. If he's been hanging around for us then he obviously expects to be paid for his guiding services and I'd prefer to just wander about on our own taking photos. I'm outvoted 3-1 though so off we go with our new 'guide'. We walk along the riverfront to a private area where some bodies are currently being cremated. Overlooking this is a building which is supposedly a hospice set up by Mother Teresa. We are led inside this virtually derelict building and up the stairs to the top. There's another man and an old woman at the top and as we arrive this bloke starts to explain about the events going on below. I distance myself from the 'tour' and decide leave the others to it. It all seems very dodgy to me and I'd rather not get involved. If the others want to, that's up to them. I sit down on a chair on the far side of the building and start flicking through my guidebook. I look up to see Keith handing over some 100 rupee notes to the old woman. It turns out that he's been asked to make a "donation" for wood so that the poor can cremate their dead. It's one of the most common scams in Varanasi to dupe tourists into parting with their money and one that poor Keith wasn't aware of. I knew all about it but he'd already lined their filthy pockets by the time I noticed what was going on.
As we leave the building I tell him how he's just been tricked and ask the others if they really want to carry on with this bogus tour anymore. They don't, so we tell the guide we've had enough of his cons and set off on our own. He acts hurt, especially when he realises that we're walking off without paying him anything!
Keith's now in a bad mood and decides he's already had enough of Varanasi and wants to go back to the hotel but agrees to wander about for a bit with the rest of us "providing nobody else tries to sell me anything".
These little alleyways are amazing. They buzz with life and activity and we soon end up losing ourselves in the labyrinth of pathways before ending up back at the river. We head downriver taking photos. Some kids are playing cricket along the concrete riverbank and we sit and watch them for a while. Nobody hit's a six and has to go swimming to get the ball back! Tomorrow morning at dawn we'd like to take a boat trip on the river so I enquire about the prices. We are told that a private boat will cost us 120 rupees per boat, per hour.
At 05:30 in the morning Lynn, Esther and I head down to the river in a taxi. Keith has decided he doesn't want to go so stays in bed. When we get to the river the taxi driver introduces us to our boatman.
"Hang on a minute. Before we agree to go with you I want to know how much it is", I insist.
"300 rupees. Each!!!", he declares. I tell him we'll only pay 40 rupees each, not 300.
"Impossible!!!", he barks, "You cannot get a boat to yourselves for only 40 rupees each". We know we can so we walk off. Within 30 seconds he's caught us up and is tugging at my arm.
"Ok, ok, 40 rupees each". And just a moment ago I thought it was impossible...
The riverbanks are awash with activity and the dawn mists make for some great photo opportunities, Even out here on the water at dawn though, you can't escape the souvenir sellers. The most memorable is definately the two guys in a little rowing boat selling the latest Bollywood DVDs. In the middle of them there's a full-size colour TV wired up to a couple of car batteries and blaring out a favourite movie at full-volume!
We see a couple of dead bodies wrapped in cloth floating down the river. One has washed up by some steps and is being pulled apart by a hungry dog.
At midday Esther and Keith leave on the train back to New Delhi in order to catch their flight back to England. Lynn and I wave them off before we get on our train and head onwards east to Darjeeling where we are now.
It was a wonderful 2 weeks in the company of 2 very good friends from home. A bit hectic at times but never dull and Lynn and I are both so glad that they offered to spend their valuable holiday time with us.
Esther and Keith: I hope you enjoyed your somewhat unusual holiday as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you. Thanks for making our time in India that little bit more special. We look forward to seeing both of you again in 3 months.
The train from Varanasi to Darjeeling was a little bit more eventful than we'd hoped. The lady in the compartment with us had the handles on her bags slashed to release them from the chain that was locking them to the underside of her berth whilst we slept. We awoke at 02:00 to find her small holdall missing and her large bag sitting in the middle of the compartment. I spent the remainder of the night sat up in the dark guarding the rest of our luggage. We half expected whoever stole the small bag to come back for the large one when they thought we'd be asleep again and sure enough at about 03:30 a couple of eyes peered through a slit in the curtain but they fled when they noticed that Monika and I were staring straight back at them. Luckily for Monika there was nothing of real value in her stolen bag and luckily for us too, our luggage remained untouched.
From the hotel in Varanasi to the hotel in Darjeeling it was an exhausting journey of 26 hours. Despite the fact that we've now been in Darjeeling for 5 days you'll be pleased to know I'm going to stop writing now as I've gained that common ailment - Typist's Finger! The next installment will start with our arrival in Darjeeling and then you'll also get to learn which of us finally succumbed to the inevitable Delhi-belly and has spent most of the last 3 days in the bathroom! Something to keep you in suspense, eh?!!!
Right, that's it then. Time for a bit of fresh air!
Toodle-Pip!
Rich
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