So after that hysterical 24 hours we were more than ready to get settled and enjoy life in the mountains for more than just a few days. Darjeeling is truly a magical little place. It was a whirlwind start to our week there, having to drive around at 1am, hooting loudly as we drove around the streets to try and signal hotels to open their doors for us, eventually settling for the night in the less than satisfactory, filthy Hotel-Tower-View (though I can say it's location was fantastic with wake up views soaring over the mountains and beyond!) As soon as the sun came up though, we were out and sought refuge in the beautiful and as the name suggests peaceful Hotel Tranquility with equally lovely views and very hospitabe staff.
This is the first fun fact about Darjeeling that we quickly figured out: as lovely as Darjeeling is - at 8/9pm the town shuts down and when I say Shuts down, I mean the lights go off, the restaurants, pubs, shops and hotels close their doors and not a peep can be heard from a single soul (except for the stray dogs sorting out turf wars!)
In fact Jessie and I had quite a panicked but hilarious incident on our second night in. We decided to head down to the local Tavern for a beer or three after dinner. All was going well and we were delighted that at 9 o'clock (closing time) the pub owners allowed us to stay in the bar until we were done and just to shut the doors on our way out. We stayed for another 2 hours or so chatting away with a couple more drinks not suspecting that we would be running into some slight hours of operation obstacles later on (not realizing just yet, that Darjeeling transforms into Ghost Town after 9!) Upon finishing our beers and merrily skipping up the hill, in the pitch darkness we started to notice how incredibly quiet the streets were and were welcomed at the foot of our hotel to a giant metal gate that had been locked over the front door. A little dumbfounded, we started to knock on the door, assuming that there must be someone on call to let in the late night arrivals especially since, nowhere in the hotel was there a sign warning us of any kind of curfew. Now, starting to get a little panicky (which was translated by our brew/altitude-induced state, into laughing rather hysterically and searching for pebbles to throw at the room windows), we frantically began searching for the phone number and managed to haul a couple of kids who drove by in a car over to lend us a phone. Eventually, after 5 or 6 phone calls a sleepy voice answered and we were told to run around to the back door. Breathing sighs of relief we dashed around the corner, expecting to find a very easily accessible entranceway. Instead what we found was a 50 degree angled mossy, wet slope with a 4 foot Nepali lady waiting for us at the top. Now if we weren't already in hysterics (which we were!) this made us almost fall over from laughter stomach pains. After multiple attempts at the slope and the imminent sliding back down again (even after we took a run-up!), Gripping the unanchored poles that came out of the ground to no success, the last resort was that the tiny barefoot woman (who came up to about my chest) came out into the cold and whipped us both to safety with seemingly no trouble at all. How she did that, still remains a mystery. We surged into the back door and collapsed onto the kitchen floor, all three of us unable to breathe from laughing so much. I think it may have been the funniest thing to have happened to that lady in the entire time she had worked there, because the next morning, when we greeted her, she could barely look at us without bursting into fits of giggles.It was a seriously brilliant orientation into the Darjeeling style: "Early to sleep, early to rise" to quote a local jewelery store owner that we met.
And so, our week in Darjeeling followed suit. We arose as early as 3am, one morning to what appeared to be a clear night sky, and ran down to the clock tower to catch a share-jeep to Tiger Hill, a famous viewing spot for watching the sun rise over the Kanchenjunga Himalayan Mountain Range. Kanchenjunga is the world's third highest peak. Supposedly it seemed that we had the clearest morning weather for months in the area and it was just absolutely stunning. We found ourselves a nice spot on the balcony overlooking hills that stretched for thousands of miles and drank hot Chai waiting for the sun to make it's grand appearance. As it rose, the sky glistened with the clouds and the hills in about 20 different shades of yellow, orange, grey, purple, green, white and blue. It just seemed to go on and on and on, AND THEN just as we thought we had seen it all, out of the corner of our left eyes, the clouds slowly shifted higher and the pearly white Himalayas came into view. I apologize for my incapability to justifiably describe how beautiful this was: One second we were watching over millions of mountains, thinking to ourselves how breathtaking that view was alone..and then as if it was a theme park ride that just kept getting better and better building to the climax, the majestic peak of Kanchenjunga pierced it's summit through the clouds and the rest of the snow covered range unfolded before our eyes, reflecting the sun over all the land that lay before us. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. I kept looking away and peeking back, just to check that it was actually there and not a fragment of my imagination. We left Tiger Hill and drove down the windy road back to Darjeeling, still mesmerized by what we had just seen. Our driver stopped along the way at a Buddhist Monastery nestled in the hill and so we had a short(ish) walking tour with a couple of monks and also took a walk around the hill to catch some more views of the Himalayas in the perfect weather.
Darjeeling was an incredibly relaxing stop on our trip. We had planned on doing a few more mountain related things like rafting and trekking but aside from our perfect day on Tiger Hill, the weather unfortunately did not allow it. But it didn't ruin anything: we shopped A LOT at the cute market stalls with adorable tiny Tibetan ladies, we drank a lot of tea and read books in the cosy coffee shops, we ate scrumptious home-made meals at Sonam's kitchen - the best spot in town, visited the Himalayan Zoological park and the Everest Museum where walking around we mostly made jokes about how we would die if we ever attempted that mountain, it looks so hazardous, even for the pros. We also had some cakes and muffins made for us by the mysterious 'cake lady' - an Irish woman who rocked up in Darjeeling a few years back and decided to start her own business making cakes for delivery. We met some fantastic locals and played around with some funny kids in the streets and even drank a few bottles of wine in the daily power cut in our room (woooaaaah, rebellious aren't we?)
We were sad to leave the relaxing little hubbub that we had become so familiar with but also excited for the second half of our trip in South India to begin. We took a hilarious, bumpy share-jeep with a carload of precious old-Tibetan grandpas down the mountain to Siliguri and then hitched a horrific beyond description 12 hour sleeper bus Kolkata way. The drive was so bumpy and curvy that in our sleeper beds we were constantly thrown around the place and it was impossible to get even a wink of rest. We were dropped off on the site of the world's biggest rubbish heap and so by the time we reached our fancy hotel in the hideously hot city, all we wanted to do was enjoy the air-conditioning, room service and cable TV (We had also been hoping for a hit shower for the first time in a month but sadly that was asking a bit too much.) We had a glorious farewell dinner, cocktails inclusive for Kate - who would be leaving us for the States the next day, and watched Home Alone in bed together for the last time. We spent the next day in a clean and comfortable shopping mall, eating subway sandwiches and watched a Bollywood movie - which was a bit of a sham because it was set in Australia, had only one dance scene and was a bit of an unoriginal version of 'Step Mom' (even though we still balled our eyes out!) We took Kate to the airport and then ran like wild to catch our train to Chennai on time.
We have been in Mumbai for the last 4 days with Jessie's friend Vinay and his family. (He is a Bombay local but moved to Canada 6 years ago for University.) It has been an extremely special few days and although I will write more in detail when I come to this part of the trip. I would like to thank him and his beautiful family for being the most wonderful, hospitable people we have ever met. I know that our time in Bombay would have been exceedingly different had it not been for them and their incredible open hearts, cooking us their traditional food, showing us the places they love and introducing us to all of their lovely friends, traditions, festivals and culture. Thank you, thank you THANK YOU!!!
Lots of love and you'll be hearing from me again soon with tales of our South Indian adventures (this time however, the feeds will be coming Directly from THAILAND and very possibly Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos..depending on when I get a chance to write..<3
Sending smoooooooooooooooooooooooches xoxoxox
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Bamboozled
Time has flown faster than I can keep any kind of useful track of and unfortunately that means that I am once again behind in my journal keeping and therefore blog updates.
Since I left you in Dharamsala - in the very North of the West part of India - we traveled by train to Varanasi. (after having to hire a car through some of the most bumpy, potholed roads I have ever seen - in order to even catch our train on time after being monsoon-ed in, in Mcleod!) Because of the impossible Indian train reservation system, the only available train to Darjeeling our next destination was a day later and so sadly that left us with only one evening and one full day to play with in Varanasi.
But we made the most of it. The city is supposed to be one of the craziest, busiest, chaotically impossibly indiscreet places on the planet but personally I found it to be much less invasive and big-city-esque than I was expecting. Sure, the place is crowded, loud and at times you have to hold your breath and pause to take it all in (note to self: you are in India!) but it was mostly a very interesting and cultural experience. The First sentence used in the Lonely Planet to describe the city is Brace Yourself, you're about to be Bamboozled'. I'm not really sure what bamboozled is supposed to mean (I have only really used it in the past to describe someone who is very drunk.) but we definitely felt it.
The city is built around the Ganges river - which to Hindu Indians is one of the holiest places in all of India as the river itself is actually the Goddess Mother Ganga in liquid form. It is believed that if you are cremated on the banks of the Ganges, your soul will be purified and therefore halt the reincarnation process. All along the river there are Ghats which in non-monsoon season the water runs low enough that you can walk the entire length of the Ganges. However, we arrived where rain was aplenty and so unfortunately some of the activities we wanted to do (like take a sunset boat ride along the Ganges) were brought to a standstill. Fortunately we were in one of the most bustling cities in India so we were still able to see some of the rituals and enjoy the titbit of time we had in Varanasi. We wandered down to the Manikarnika Ghat which is the biggest and busiest of the 3 'burning Ghats' in the city. This as you may have already guessed is where a giant number of cremations are held every evening. We were led up some stairs by an old man to get a better 'view' of the ceremonies. It was of course, at first, rather disconcerting, especially because I don't think I have ever been that close to a dead body before (never mind one that is burning on a stake right in front of my eyes.) But after the initial shock, it was actually very interesting to learn about the ritual: The bodies are burnt on mixtures of certain kinds of sacred wood - which vary in price (sandalwood being the most expensive - they therefore only sprinkle shavings of the wood to represent it.) and the bodies are bathed in the water in cloth before placed on the hefty pile of wood to begin the cremation which burns all night. Female family members of the deceased are usually not allowed to attend the cremation becasue they are 'too emotional' and there have even been some cases of women throwing themselves on the burning flames to their death. There are also certain cases that are exempt from the cremation process - these are those with 'pure souls' - children, animals, pregnant women, sadhus (holy men who walk around and perform Puja (prayer) dusted with Ashes usually completely naked!) and lepers - leprosy is actually considered a godly blessing. In these cases the bodies are taken to the middle of the river,on a palm leaf, by boat and sunk. So it is somewhat understandable why foreigners are mostly TERRIFIED of getting anywhere near to the water because of all the sewage, rubbish, dirt, animals and multiple dead bodies floating around at the bottom, though to Hindus around India this is the most beautiful sacred place of all. Surprisingly the most bizarre thing about the entire process is that the Ghats themselves are actually privately owned making it a very expensive ritual for people to have their relatives cremated there. Surely if this river is a goddess who belongs to the Indian people, they should have the right to perform their ceremonies there without having to report (and pay huge sums of money) to anyone. But every rose has it's thorn, I guess.
We spent the rest of our time in Varanasi walking around the tiny little alleyways and people watching at the river. Jonathan was also in town which was brilliant because we hadn't seen him since Delhi which of course meant parousing through cute little shops, laughing hysterically and snacking on brownies, homemade pizza and coca cola in small, breezy cafes (one which was actually South African owned!) We were planning on taking a sunset boat trip down the river but as our luck would have it, the monsoon swooped in just in time. And wow, it was fierce. We tried to wait it out in the South African Cafe but after they closed we had to make other plans, and being in the middle of the open street with not many other options, we just had to climb in a Tuk-Tuk and hope like hell it wasn't too far from our hostel, especially because there were 4 of us and I was hanging off the side being blasted by the down pour. Suffice to say we arrived more than soaked.
And so, our day in Varanasi came to an end and we hopped on another train en route to Darjeeling. Now this 22 hour journey could probably be written as a book in itself. So after a 2 hour delay at a grimy, smelly train station (though that part is no different to any other train station in India), at 2am we were elated to jump onto the 3AC compartment and find our seats. This was the first debaucle since it was pitch black and we couldn't see a foot in front of us, never mind locate our numberless seats (which were split up and already had lurkers sleeping in them - of course) Now, in these 3AC compartments there are supposed to be just 6 bunks per cabin but they also sneak two bunks on the side corridor. These bunks can be good as there are only 2 instead of 3, so you can actually sit up straight in both of them but it also means that ANYONE taking a stroll down the corridor has Direct access to your bunk (even the curtain drawn across rarely stops anyone!)
So we hoped that once we eventually found our seats and got settled that we would be able to get some sleep for as much as was possible of the long journey we had ahead - HA, this train definitely had other plans for us. 3 hours after eventually drifting off to sleep on the bottom side bunk - I felt a rustle against my curtain an suddenly a scratching on my face. The next thing, my curtain was whipped aside to reveal a man who had a leg deformity and was pulling himself along the length of the corridor on a piece of cardboard gesturing at my shocked, confused and 95% asleep face for money. In a frenzy of fright and bewilderment I managed to find a half pack of crackers that I had put in my drink holder for breakfast and shoved them into his hands while simultaneously pulling my curtain shut. But the scratching to my face continued and the curtain found itself once again whipped open. The man returned my crackers to me, wanting only money. This is also all unveiling under the eyes of a staring Indian family taking up the 6 bunks across from me. All I could do was pull my curtain back across and curl up as close against the window as I could squeeze myself. But sleeping proved an impossible optimism thanks to the array of hawkers that had now taken to parading up and down the passageway yelling, trying to sell their products. Even with my Ipod bellowing at full volume I could not avoid the loud whining of the men yelling "Chaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" or "coffeeeeeee" or "cadburrrry" every 2 minutes. Shamelessly, he even opened my curtain screeching in my ear, when I yelled NO! back, he turned around to serve the man opposite me, leaning his backside deep into my bunk which I had to viciously elbow out of my face. Thinking that these disturbances were just my stroke of luck for being on the bottom side bunk, I hoped that the other girls had not experienced such joyous wake up calls from beggars and hawkers and actuallymanaged to get some sleep. I soon found out as Jessie crawled into my bunk that she too had been sleeping and was violently shaken awake by the ear-hairy man in the bunk below her. Angrily asking him, WHAT? WHAT's THE PROBLEM? He just pointed to the little water puddleon the floor and proceeded to ignore her and then of course she was another victim of the annoying Chaiiii whiner. The man in the bunk below her, who we begun referring to as "her nemesis," then took to following her every time she went to the bathroom. Not too long after that, Kate arrived to my bunk after she woke up to the man accross from her snapping pictures of her on his camera phone - for what reason we are still entirely ignorant. The next thing we know the train has magically transformed into a chinese market. Guys selling everything from fold up chairs to battery chargers to knife sets to life size keyboards all carrying their goods in bags so gigantic that they could barely fit through the aisle and hence knocking us in the head with them, every time they charged past. By now, the three of us huddled into one bunk could do nothing but laugh at all this ridiculousness hoping that nothing else could possibly happen but OH NO, too soon for that, we were poked for more money by another beggar and a garbage collector - who was sweeping up all the nuts, papers, food and other crap that the people in the cabin had shamelessly discarded all over the place. And then 6pm Chimed and a man in the bunk over from us whipped out a tamborine to signal the start of 'prayer' which everyone around joined in and sang for the next 2 hours. Just when it started getting quiet and I thought maybe it was a good time to check our bags that we had stored in Jessie's bunk, I stood up to find two Chinese Marketeers coming at me and soon became part of a tshirt, keyboard, knife set and fold up chair sandwich. Joyful, just joyful. Though by this time, frustration had definitely gotten the best of us and it came down to a choice between going completely mad, or adopting the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude. And so we joined in the 'worship', laughed with the marketeers and tried to buy some food - which sadly tasted like newspaper. Luckily we arrived in NJP and leapt off the train liberating ourselves and the little that remained of our sanity. From then it only took, a load of haggling, a 3 hour bumpy jeep ride in the pitch black mountains, helping tow a van that had almost flown off the mountain back onto the road and eventually finding a really revolting guesthouse(because everything else was closed) to arrive in the tiny but lovely Himalayan town of Darjeeling nestled in the North East of India.
We have been so busy in the last month that unfortunately our internet meetings have been very sparse but the next update will come soon, I assure you.
From Darjeeling, we traveled by bus to Kolkata, where we said goodbye to Kate :( and then took a long 33 hour train coast side to Chennai. We went from there by bus to Pondicherry and from Pondicherry across the subcontinent by bus to Mahe, Kochi and Alleppey in Kerala. From there we traveled by train to Madgaon in GOA and then onto Palolem beach by van where we spent the next 7 days, partying and beaching like never before. But those adventures will be reserved for the next post. We are now in Hyderabad and will be going from here to Mumbai where we fly out to Thailand.
Lots of love and see you soooooooooooony xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Since I left you in Dharamsala - in the very North of the West part of India - we traveled by train to Varanasi. (after having to hire a car through some of the most bumpy, potholed roads I have ever seen - in order to even catch our train on time after being monsoon-ed in, in Mcleod!) Because of the impossible Indian train reservation system, the only available train to Darjeeling our next destination was a day later and so sadly that left us with only one evening and one full day to play with in Varanasi.
But we made the most of it. The city is supposed to be one of the craziest, busiest, chaotically impossibly indiscreet places on the planet but personally I found it to be much less invasive and big-city-esque than I was expecting. Sure, the place is crowded, loud and at times you have to hold your breath and pause to take it all in (note to self: you are in India!) but it was mostly a very interesting and cultural experience. The First sentence used in the Lonely Planet to describe the city is Brace Yourself, you're about to be Bamboozled'. I'm not really sure what bamboozled is supposed to mean (I have only really used it in the past to describe someone who is very drunk.) but we definitely felt it.
The city is built around the Ganges river - which to Hindu Indians is one of the holiest places in all of India as the river itself is actually the Goddess Mother Ganga in liquid form. It is believed that if you are cremated on the banks of the Ganges, your soul will be purified and therefore halt the reincarnation process. All along the river there are Ghats which in non-monsoon season the water runs low enough that you can walk the entire length of the Ganges. However, we arrived where rain was aplenty and so unfortunately some of the activities we wanted to do (like take a sunset boat ride along the Ganges) were brought to a standstill. Fortunately we were in one of the most bustling cities in India so we were still able to see some of the rituals and enjoy the titbit of time we had in Varanasi. We wandered down to the Manikarnika Ghat which is the biggest and busiest of the 3 'burning Ghats' in the city. This as you may have already guessed is where a giant number of cremations are held every evening. We were led up some stairs by an old man to get a better 'view' of the ceremonies. It was of course, at first, rather disconcerting, especially because I don't think I have ever been that close to a dead body before (never mind one that is burning on a stake right in front of my eyes.) But after the initial shock, it was actually very interesting to learn about the ritual: The bodies are burnt on mixtures of certain kinds of sacred wood - which vary in price (sandalwood being the most expensive - they therefore only sprinkle shavings of the wood to represent it.) and the bodies are bathed in the water in cloth before placed on the hefty pile of wood to begin the cremation which burns all night. Female family members of the deceased are usually not allowed to attend the cremation becasue they are 'too emotional' and there have even been some cases of women throwing themselves on the burning flames to their death. There are also certain cases that are exempt from the cremation process - these are those with 'pure souls' - children, animals, pregnant women, sadhus (holy men who walk around and perform Puja (prayer) dusted with Ashes usually completely naked!) and lepers - leprosy is actually considered a godly blessing. In these cases the bodies are taken to the middle of the river,on a palm leaf, by boat and sunk. So it is somewhat understandable why foreigners are mostly TERRIFIED of getting anywhere near to the water because of all the sewage, rubbish, dirt, animals and multiple dead bodies floating around at the bottom, though to Hindus around India this is the most beautiful sacred place of all. Surprisingly the most bizarre thing about the entire process is that the Ghats themselves are actually privately owned making it a very expensive ritual for people to have their relatives cremated there. Surely if this river is a goddess who belongs to the Indian people, they should have the right to perform their ceremonies there without having to report (and pay huge sums of money) to anyone. But every rose has it's thorn, I guess.
We spent the rest of our time in Varanasi walking around the tiny little alleyways and people watching at the river. Jonathan was also in town which was brilliant because we hadn't seen him since Delhi which of course meant parousing through cute little shops, laughing hysterically and snacking on brownies, homemade pizza and coca cola in small, breezy cafes (one which was actually South African owned!) We were planning on taking a sunset boat trip down the river but as our luck would have it, the monsoon swooped in just in time. And wow, it was fierce. We tried to wait it out in the South African Cafe but after they closed we had to make other plans, and being in the middle of the open street with not many other options, we just had to climb in a Tuk-Tuk and hope like hell it wasn't too far from our hostel, especially because there were 4 of us and I was hanging off the side being blasted by the down pour. Suffice to say we arrived more than soaked.
And so, our day in Varanasi came to an end and we hopped on another train en route to Darjeeling. Now this 22 hour journey could probably be written as a book in itself. So after a 2 hour delay at a grimy, smelly train station (though that part is no different to any other train station in India), at 2am we were elated to jump onto the 3AC compartment and find our seats. This was the first debaucle since it was pitch black and we couldn't see a foot in front of us, never mind locate our numberless seats (which were split up and already had lurkers sleeping in them - of course) Now, in these 3AC compartments there are supposed to be just 6 bunks per cabin but they also sneak two bunks on the side corridor. These bunks can be good as there are only 2 instead of 3, so you can actually sit up straight in both of them but it also means that ANYONE taking a stroll down the corridor has Direct access to your bunk (even the curtain drawn across rarely stops anyone!)
So we hoped that once we eventually found our seats and got settled that we would be able to get some sleep for as much as was possible of the long journey we had ahead - HA, this train definitely had other plans for us. 3 hours after eventually drifting off to sleep on the bottom side bunk - I felt a rustle against my curtain an suddenly a scratching on my face. The next thing, my curtain was whipped aside to reveal a man who had a leg deformity and was pulling himself along the length of the corridor on a piece of cardboard gesturing at my shocked, confused and 95% asleep face for money. In a frenzy of fright and bewilderment I managed to find a half pack of crackers that I had put in my drink holder for breakfast and shoved them into his hands while simultaneously pulling my curtain shut. But the scratching to my face continued and the curtain found itself once again whipped open. The man returned my crackers to me, wanting only money. This is also all unveiling under the eyes of a staring Indian family taking up the 6 bunks across from me. All I could do was pull my curtain back across and curl up as close against the window as I could squeeze myself. But sleeping proved an impossible optimism thanks to the array of hawkers that had now taken to parading up and down the passageway yelling, trying to sell their products. Even with my Ipod bellowing at full volume I could not avoid the loud whining of the men yelling "Chaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" or "coffeeeeeee" or "cadburrrry" every 2 minutes. Shamelessly, he even opened my curtain screeching in my ear, when I yelled NO! back, he turned around to serve the man opposite me, leaning his backside deep into my bunk which I had to viciously elbow out of my face. Thinking that these disturbances were just my stroke of luck for being on the bottom side bunk, I hoped that the other girls had not experienced such joyous wake up calls from beggars and hawkers and actuallymanaged to get some sleep. I soon found out as Jessie crawled into my bunk that she too had been sleeping and was violently shaken awake by the ear-hairy man in the bunk below her. Angrily asking him, WHAT? WHAT's THE PROBLEM? He just pointed to the little water puddleon the floor and proceeded to ignore her and then of course she was another victim of the annoying Chaiiii whiner. The man in the bunk below her, who we begun referring to as "her nemesis," then took to following her every time she went to the bathroom. Not too long after that, Kate arrived to my bunk after she woke up to the man accross from her snapping pictures of her on his camera phone - for what reason we are still entirely ignorant. The next thing we know the train has magically transformed into a chinese market. Guys selling everything from fold up chairs to battery chargers to knife sets to life size keyboards all carrying their goods in bags so gigantic that they could barely fit through the aisle and hence knocking us in the head with them, every time they charged past. By now, the three of us huddled into one bunk could do nothing but laugh at all this ridiculousness hoping that nothing else could possibly happen but OH NO, too soon for that, we were poked for more money by another beggar and a garbage collector - who was sweeping up all the nuts, papers, food and other crap that the people in the cabin had shamelessly discarded all over the place. And then 6pm Chimed and a man in the bunk over from us whipped out a tamborine to signal the start of 'prayer' which everyone around joined in and sang for the next 2 hours. Just when it started getting quiet and I thought maybe it was a good time to check our bags that we had stored in Jessie's bunk, I stood up to find two Chinese Marketeers coming at me and soon became part of a tshirt, keyboard, knife set and fold up chair sandwich. Joyful, just joyful. Though by this time, frustration had definitely gotten the best of us and it came down to a choice between going completely mad, or adopting the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude. And so we joined in the 'worship', laughed with the marketeers and tried to buy some food - which sadly tasted like newspaper. Luckily we arrived in NJP and leapt off the train liberating ourselves and the little that remained of our sanity. From then it only took, a load of haggling, a 3 hour bumpy jeep ride in the pitch black mountains, helping tow a van that had almost flown off the mountain back onto the road and eventually finding a really revolting guesthouse(because everything else was closed) to arrive in the tiny but lovely Himalayan town of Darjeeling nestled in the North East of India.
We have been so busy in the last month that unfortunately our internet meetings have been very sparse but the next update will come soon, I assure you.
From Darjeeling, we traveled by bus to Kolkata, where we said goodbye to Kate :( and then took a long 33 hour train coast side to Chennai. We went from there by bus to Pondicherry and from Pondicherry across the subcontinent by bus to Mahe, Kochi and Alleppey in Kerala. From there we traveled by train to Madgaon in GOA and then onto Palolem beach by van where we spent the next 7 days, partying and beaching like never before. But those adventures will be reserved for the next post. We are now in Hyderabad and will be going from here to Mumbai where we fly out to Thailand.
Lots of love and see you soooooooooooony xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Carpe Diem
Darjeeling experiences its fair share of power cuts and tonight has been no exception. Luckily, the internet cafe has a backup generator, making this a perfect time to try and squish the last 3 and 1/2 weeks into a somewhat calculated blog post.
Since we left Bikaner to continue our remaining 7 weeks in India SOLO (Sans the convenience of a driver!) things have been beyond hilarious, exciting and superbly interesting. Hilarious because well, it's 4 goofy girls gallivanting around one of the most chaotic countries on earth. Exciting because there is always something surprising around every corner - even more so now that we are on our own. And Interesting because each new place is so richly different to the next.
After an exhausting day dealing with both the post office and the train reservation system, we finally boarded the train at 2am heading Amritsar way. It was our first train and we weren't exactly sure of what we should be be expecting but having only 2 confirmed seats out of four made the experience quite daunting. Luckily 2 other bunks freed up along the journey otherwise we would have been stuck sharing bunks for longer than 12 hours. Jessie and Kate were stuck in a middle bunk for 4 hours and could barely move, numbing all body parts after a few minutes. Not fun but we got through it and arrived in Jalandhar with only a few setbacks. We needed to find a way to get to Amritsar and managed to get 4 tickets on the next train out, leaving just 15 minutes after our arrival in Jalandhar. This train was hysterical since we were in sleeper Class (which cost 28 rupees but is pretty much a free for all.) We jumped off into Amritsar heat 2 hours later unscathed (aside from the creepy barefoot old man in a turban first lying across the top bunk and staring down at all of us and then trying to snuggle up to Shelly.) We walked through the (obviously) bustling streets toward the Golden Temple - Amritsar 's most famous landmark - a Sikh Temple, that rests on the sacred Amrit Sovarar (the pool of Nectar) that is full of Koi fish in the middle of the massive white marble temple complex. The complex itself is like a business centre complete with shops, travel agents, coffee carts and a railway reservation office. It really is quite impressive. We spent a couple of days in Amritsar, it was a nice city: fun and full of lovely people - especially the guys at our hostel (Tourist Guest house.) We even took a shared van with an Indian family from the South out to the Pakistani border to see the famous border closing ceremony at dusk. Some of the marching really could have been a scene from John Cleese's 'Ministry of Funny Walks' and the chanting and war cries from the hoards of Indian people gave the whole thing a 'BIG competitive football match' kind of feel. It was a great experience, from buying Indian flags to buying water from a street vendor 5 metres from the gates and then having it confiscated at the gates, to being accosted by a nutty hobo with a rock when we tried to give her our water, to being invited to drink beers at one of the tent restaurants instead of watching the ceremony, to watching the ceremony, to eating lemony flavoured corns on the cob afterwards. I loved it!
On our last day in Amritsar we visited the Mata temple, which is a "Cave Temple" - a maze of different worship rooms, with all sorts of bizarre decoration (one wall was coated entirely in shards of mirror!) During the walk through the maze there were even sections where we had to crawl through holes and then tip toe through ankle deep 'holy' water. Women are supposed to come here to worship the Goddess Lal Devi and pray for pregnancy - needless to say this was NOT the reason for our visit. We were just about ready to leave when our shady Tuk-Tuk driver, who had hung around and eaten a freebie lunch at the temple paraded us to the 'GURU' who was sitting up on a stack of bright cushions and giving a teaching to a crowd of followers. We were ushered into the group, layed with flower garlands and offered tons of different kinds of foods that they make at the temple. Even though we had eaten lunch not long before, it was rude to not accept anything that was given freely to you, so we tried it all and had a second lunch. Everyone was fascinated by these 3 Western girls who had come into their midst and soon we had a MASSIVE crowd of people gathered all around us just waiting to see what we would do next, everyone chatting away, asking question after question. We received a blessing from another holy man and had unmarried strings tied onto our right hands (for what reason I am still unsure.) It was really quite an interesting experience and we really appreciated all the people there for their generosity and for accepting us so willingly into their circle. We came out of the temple feeling liberated and with large smiles on our faces. We hung out for the rest of the day in the mall (no not an indian versian of a mall..an ACTUAL mall with a proper Western Supermarket whre we indulged in peanut butter, cereal and granola bars!) While quietly reading at the 'Cafe Coffee Day' we noticed a giant crowd of people gathering around a stage just outside the coffee shop. It turns out a local Indian Rap/Hip Hop sensation was in the house. The music started blaring and out of nowhere a dance contest between a bunch of bearded, Turbaned men erupted right in front of us. Naturally we joined in the fun and danced to the tunes.
We woke up early and sauntered over to the bus station to make our way to Daramshala - further North, heading for a tiny town called McLeod Ganj - which is actually the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile as well as hundreds of refugees who escaped Tibet on foot through the frosty Himalayas.
So this being our first Indian bus trip, we of course assumed the best: We buy our tickets, the bus arrives, we take our seats, we GO. Hahahahahahahahaha as if it would be that easy. It turns out that Indian bus terminals are even more chaotic than train stations. Half an hour of questions later, we had about 8 different times and stands where our bus would be leaving from. Some people even told us there were absolutely NO buses between the two places. Eventually, direly confused we just had to get on a bus and hope we got somewhere in the vicinity of Dharamshala. The bus driver was a maniac and there were multiple times along the way that we were lifted a metre off our seats going through large potholes in the pouring rain. But we were lucky to even have seats.
3 buses and almost 12 hours later (now around 10pm) we hauled ourselves into the village only to discover that the Dalai Lama had been in town that very morning so the majority of hotels in the area were Chock-a-block. After trekking up and down every dam hill in the place, we found an offer for 2 Dorm Beds and 2 Massage tables to sleep on for the night and it was like music to our ears. We were given 2 rooms the next morning and took joy in a nice, hot shower. Soon we felt fit enough to explore the town and off we went. We rolled into a rooftop restaurant called 'Carpe Diem' run by a bunch of lovely Nepali guys for breakfast about 300 metres up the hill from our hotel. I was sold, it was such a relaxing, peaceful place nestling among the cushions overlooking the mountains, I didn't want to leave. And aside from some trekking around the mountain, looking at all the Tibetan prayer flags blowing in the wind amongst the trees, a visit to the Tibet Museum and some retail therapy in and amongst all the Tibetan market jewellery stores, I actually didn't have to leave. The food was great, the Kingfishers flowed, I often, in those 4 days, sat alone up on the roof, chatting and playing board games with the Nepali guys, making new friends with other customers: a friendly family who live in Delhi, a couple of Indian guys from Bangalore - who introduced me to the glorious Indian Dark Rum - Old Monk, Tibetan musicians who spoke fluent Korean, guys from Kashmir, Canadian students studying Yoga. It was a beautiful place with such an upbeat yet relaxed, anything goes kind of atmosphere. When we were rained in, the morning we were supposed to take a bus down to Ambala to catch a train, I secretly hoped we would get stranded there and have to spend the rest of our travels up on the roof of Carpe Diem.
McLeod Ganj has been my favourite stop on the trip so far, not only because of the Carpe Diem Rooftop and the people we met up there, but also because of the friendly, strong and empowering nature of the town and its people. Many of the Tibetans have had very tough lives and are struggling to survive and keep their culture and livelihood alive but they always do it with a smile and a positive demeanor that is as contagious as I can possibly explain with words.
Unfortunately that's about as much as I can get through for today, but as soon as I can I will write about our experience in Varanasi and Darjeeling. We have been here in Darjeeling for 6 days already and it's been fantastic to relax in the mountains. We are leaving on a 12 hour bus to Kolkata on the night of the 22nd and from there will catch a 36 HOUR train down South to Chennai to begin zigzagging the country from that angle! It's all been a beautiful ride thus far, one that cannot really be justified with words and pictures (though I will try my best!) I can't express more how much I love India and it's ever so diverse and vibrant culture. I urge anyone who has the chance to get your butt over here whenever the opportunity arises.
Lots of love and missing you all.
Katie x x x x x x
Since we left Bikaner to continue our remaining 7 weeks in India SOLO (Sans the convenience of a driver!) things have been beyond hilarious, exciting and superbly interesting. Hilarious because well, it's 4 goofy girls gallivanting around one of the most chaotic countries on earth. Exciting because there is always something surprising around every corner - even more so now that we are on our own. And Interesting because each new place is so richly different to the next.
After an exhausting day dealing with both the post office and the train reservation system, we finally boarded the train at 2am heading Amritsar way. It was our first train and we weren't exactly sure of what we should be be expecting but having only 2 confirmed seats out of four made the experience quite daunting. Luckily 2 other bunks freed up along the journey otherwise we would have been stuck sharing bunks for longer than 12 hours. Jessie and Kate were stuck in a middle bunk for 4 hours and could barely move, numbing all body parts after a few minutes. Not fun but we got through it and arrived in Jalandhar with only a few setbacks. We needed to find a way to get to Amritsar and managed to get 4 tickets on the next train out, leaving just 15 minutes after our arrival in Jalandhar. This train was hysterical since we were in sleeper Class (which cost 28 rupees but is pretty much a free for all.) We jumped off into Amritsar heat 2 hours later unscathed (aside from the creepy barefoot old man in a turban first lying across the top bunk and staring down at all of us and then trying to snuggle up to Shelly.) We walked through the (obviously) bustling streets toward the Golden Temple - Amritsar 's most famous landmark - a Sikh Temple, that rests on the sacred Amrit Sovarar (the pool of Nectar) that is full of Koi fish in the middle of the massive white marble temple complex. The complex itself is like a business centre complete with shops, travel agents, coffee carts and a railway reservation office. It really is quite impressive. We spent a couple of days in Amritsar, it was a nice city: fun and full of lovely people - especially the guys at our hostel (Tourist Guest house.) We even took a shared van with an Indian family from the South out to the Pakistani border to see the famous border closing ceremony at dusk. Some of the marching really could have been a scene from John Cleese's 'Ministry of Funny Walks' and the chanting and war cries from the hoards of Indian people gave the whole thing a 'BIG competitive football match' kind of feel. It was a great experience, from buying Indian flags to buying water from a street vendor 5 metres from the gates and then having it confiscated at the gates, to being accosted by a nutty hobo with a rock when we tried to give her our water, to being invited to drink beers at one of the tent restaurants instead of watching the ceremony, to watching the ceremony, to eating lemony flavoured corns on the cob afterwards. I loved it!
On our last day in Amritsar we visited the Mata temple, which is a "Cave Temple" - a maze of different worship rooms, with all sorts of bizarre decoration (one wall was coated entirely in shards of mirror!) During the walk through the maze there were even sections where we had to crawl through holes and then tip toe through ankle deep 'holy' water. Women are supposed to come here to worship the Goddess Lal Devi and pray for pregnancy - needless to say this was NOT the reason for our visit. We were just about ready to leave when our shady Tuk-Tuk driver, who had hung around and eaten a freebie lunch at the temple paraded us to the 'GURU' who was sitting up on a stack of bright cushions and giving a teaching to a crowd of followers. We were ushered into the group, layed with flower garlands and offered tons of different kinds of foods that they make at the temple. Even though we had eaten lunch not long before, it was rude to not accept anything that was given freely to you, so we tried it all and had a second lunch. Everyone was fascinated by these 3 Western girls who had come into their midst and soon we had a MASSIVE crowd of people gathered all around us just waiting to see what we would do next, everyone chatting away, asking question after question. We received a blessing from another holy man and had unmarried strings tied onto our right hands (for what reason I am still unsure.) It was really quite an interesting experience and we really appreciated all the people there for their generosity and for accepting us so willingly into their circle. We came out of the temple feeling liberated and with large smiles on our faces. We hung out for the rest of the day in the mall (no not an indian versian of a mall..an ACTUAL mall with a proper Western Supermarket whre we indulged in peanut butter, cereal and granola bars!) While quietly reading at the 'Cafe Coffee Day' we noticed a giant crowd of people gathering around a stage just outside the coffee shop. It turns out a local Indian Rap/Hip Hop sensation was in the house. The music started blaring and out of nowhere a dance contest between a bunch of bearded, Turbaned men erupted right in front of us. Naturally we joined in the fun and danced to the tunes.
We woke up early and sauntered over to the bus station to make our way to Daramshala - further North, heading for a tiny town called McLeod Ganj - which is actually the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile as well as hundreds of refugees who escaped Tibet on foot through the frosty Himalayas.
So this being our first Indian bus trip, we of course assumed the best: We buy our tickets, the bus arrives, we take our seats, we GO. Hahahahahahahahaha as if it would be that easy. It turns out that Indian bus terminals are even more chaotic than train stations. Half an hour of questions later, we had about 8 different times and stands where our bus would be leaving from. Some people even told us there were absolutely NO buses between the two places. Eventually, direly confused we just had to get on a bus and hope we got somewhere in the vicinity of Dharamshala. The bus driver was a maniac and there were multiple times along the way that we were lifted a metre off our seats going through large potholes in the pouring rain. But we were lucky to even have seats.
3 buses and almost 12 hours later (now around 10pm) we hauled ourselves into the village only to discover that the Dalai Lama had been in town that very morning so the majority of hotels in the area were Chock-a-block. After trekking up and down every dam hill in the place, we found an offer for 2 Dorm Beds and 2 Massage tables to sleep on for the night and it was like music to our ears. We were given 2 rooms the next morning and took joy in a nice, hot shower. Soon we felt fit enough to explore the town and off we went. We rolled into a rooftop restaurant called 'Carpe Diem' run by a bunch of lovely Nepali guys for breakfast about 300 metres up the hill from our hotel. I was sold, it was such a relaxing, peaceful place nestling among the cushions overlooking the mountains, I didn't want to leave. And aside from some trekking around the mountain, looking at all the Tibetan prayer flags blowing in the wind amongst the trees, a visit to the Tibet Museum and some retail therapy in and amongst all the Tibetan market jewellery stores, I actually didn't have to leave. The food was great, the Kingfishers flowed, I often, in those 4 days, sat alone up on the roof, chatting and playing board games with the Nepali guys, making new friends with other customers: a friendly family who live in Delhi, a couple of Indian guys from Bangalore - who introduced me to the glorious Indian Dark Rum - Old Monk, Tibetan musicians who spoke fluent Korean, guys from Kashmir, Canadian students studying Yoga. It was a beautiful place with such an upbeat yet relaxed, anything goes kind of atmosphere. When we were rained in, the morning we were supposed to take a bus down to Ambala to catch a train, I secretly hoped we would get stranded there and have to spend the rest of our travels up on the roof of Carpe Diem.
McLeod Ganj has been my favourite stop on the trip so far, not only because of the Carpe Diem Rooftop and the people we met up there, but also because of the friendly, strong and empowering nature of the town and its people. Many of the Tibetans have had very tough lives and are struggling to survive and keep their culture and livelihood alive but they always do it with a smile and a positive demeanor that is as contagious as I can possibly explain with words.
Unfortunately that's about as much as I can get through for today, but as soon as I can I will write about our experience in Varanasi and Darjeeling. We have been here in Darjeeling for 6 days already and it's been fantastic to relax in the mountains. We are leaving on a 12 hour bus to Kolkata on the night of the 22nd and from there will catch a 36 HOUR train down South to Chennai to begin zigzagging the country from that angle! It's all been a beautiful ride thus far, one that cannot really be justified with words and pictures (though I will try my best!) I can't express more how much I love India and it's ever so diverse and vibrant culture. I urge anyone who has the chance to get your butt over here whenever the opportunity arises.
Lots of love and missing you all.
Katie x x x x x x
Sunday, September 5, 2010
It's hot in India! Yeah, no kidding!
Sitting at this screen in Bikaner, Punjab province, I can finally take a deep breath and try and unscramble all my thoughts and experiences from the last 5 days.
After a very rainy two days in Udaipur not doing much else other than reading on our hotel garden patio and walking spurratically around a few of the close-knit cobbled steets, we decided that we needed to spend more time there to really take in the city that we had already grown fond of.
This decision was largely catalyzed by a night sitting on the roof of an Indian families home overlooking the rooftops of old houses that merged into a blue smudge that surrounded the golden crown of Udaipur - the City Palace. As we sat, watching the 'Sound and Light show' which we were privelaged enough to see (sans cost) from the Sharma's own rooftop accompanied by chai, thoughts were unanimous that we needed more time to enjoy all that Udaipur had to offer. This was also cherry-topped by an invitation from the same Indian family to return the next night and learn all about Indian cooking.
We spent the following day wandering through Shilpgram, an Indian Traditional Village - the South African Equivalent of Shakaland or a Korean Namsangol Village (ie built for tourists) - but it was interesting enough watching some sweet musicians and learnt a little about the history of Rhajastani houses, music and artistry. We continued the day with a trip to the Sajjanghar Wildlife Sanctuary where a long, winding road up and around a very green mountain or two led us to the 'Monsoon Palace' where we ogled at the many monkeys and birds playing in the trees as well as the ancient buildings. We drove around the many lakes (apparently Udaipur requires 7 LAKES to keep it going!) and saw the famous Lake Palace ending off the site seeing part of the afternoon at the City Palace - which is a detailed museum streaming through the corridors of Royal Family history. In my opinion, a place better seen and enjoyed at sunset from the roof of the Sharma's guesthouse (and less expensive!)
After a bit of fruitful shopping, we marched up the hill with our thinking caps on, our palates ready and our hand itching to get dirty in the kitchen. On arrival at the Sharma's - whom we were fortunate enough to meet through Bittoo and his family connections - we first poured over family photo albums, learning all about Indian wedding customs, partook in a wish bracelet tying tradition and then chose what we would like to cook. Over the course of the next 3 hours we chopped up vegetables, crying as the onions stung my eyes, belnded spices, made batters, sliced cheese, smelt flavours, guessed herbs and laughed a LOT!
Aaaaaand then we ate all of what we made:
Pakora - deep fried minced vegetables and spices in a chickpea powder based batter - , Paneer Podina Masala - cottage cheese and mint masala curry - , Paneer butter Masala - Cottage cheese and butter masala curry -, tandoori potatoes and ladyfingers and a variety of breads - parantha, naan and chapati. It was delicious and the difference between home-cooking and restaurant food is a biiiig one! The rest of the evening included Indian boardgames, lots of joking, surprisingly BAD Henna - I now have a strange fish like creature occupying my hand for the next 2 weeks! and a great union of family and cultures. I have to say it was probably my favourite night of the trip thus far (and that is certainly a difficult choice as most to all thus far have been more than lovely!)
Udaipur was a glorious place, not just becasue of it's beautiful palaces, cobbled streets, 7 lakes, good shopping or rich history (I mean these were great too!) but mostly becasue of the stunning array of characters we met just along or just off one seemingly quiet street just a pin prick away from the tourist hubbub. It was these people that truly shaped the lasting impression of Udaipur now imprinted in my mind and on my heart: Bob or Babas the sly but friendly book shop owner that using nothing but sweet charm and a hilarious (practiced) American accent, 'conned' us all into buying at least one heavy, treasureful and beautiful but paaaainfully inconvenient camel leather journal. Or 'Danny Devito' the junk shop owner that had a pair of 'Ali Babas' to fit every shape, size or desire. The 'Corner-store-that-had-everything-guy' accross the street from Bob's bookstore from whom we literally bought 'everything' from. The tailor who altered our pants on site to fit exactly how we wanted them. 'Govin', our delightfully memorable waitor at the hotel. 'Bubbles' the tortoise who loved our cucumber shavings and made an appearance (as though he had been summoned) each time we entered the ridiculously comfortable garden restaurant for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The philopeno looking guy who joined us each mealtime to teach us 'magic tricks'.
And then there were the Sharmas - the stunningly successful family of four who welcomed us into their home, effortlessly showing us how to cook their food not missing a detail, laughing with us, sharing memories, sharing history, sharing INDIA. Even though it is most likely that they will never read this I would like to sincerely thank them for their wonderful hospitality and generosity. It was an invaluable experience to be a part of their family, even if only for two short nights. Thank you!
And so it was time to depart from Udaipur and drive 8 hours to Jodhpur. The drive was long and very bumpy (I need a whole book to drive about the self-governing Indian road rules, driving, hooting and staring.) Never in my life have I seen anything like it. Not only are we driving along roads that make South Africa's potholes look like perfect marble and are competing not only with other cars, trucks, buses, tuk-tuks, bicycles but add cows, dogs, camels, water buffalo, elephants, sheep and goats to the mix too. And then add in hooting for no apparent reason, not the slither of an indicator and overtaking a truck around a blind mountain curve with a bus coming at you, in the pouring monsoon. that will give you an idea of what we are dealing with.
We arrived safely into Jodphur and just as we settled into our Yellow Bungalow at Saffron guesthouse the next inevitable chapter of the Indian Journey hit us with force - the joy of the power cut! Now, hanging out in the dark with a candle isn't always unpleasant, but in the heat and the monsoon which pretty much equals a bug invasion - I can't say it was the best time of my life. But we played some invisible singing games, watched the lightning (and consequent power cable explosions in the city) and eventually had a good nights sleep, waking up reasonably early to hit the road en route to Jaisalmer (not without seeing the Jodhpur Fort, temple and palace of course!)
Jaisalmer was a lovely town, complete with another mix of amusing personalities including a palm reading jewellery maker who really entertained us and somehow managed to 'make us happy' by urging us to buy stones that would help our 'aura'. We had a look at the sandcastle-esque fort and the sunset point and then drove an hour or 2 out of the city to Khuri Village where we would begin our one night 'authentic' camel safari. We drank some chai in the 'desert hotel' slash circle of mud huts and then went to mount our camels.
'Desert Tiger' was his name and he was a bit of an old man, with a funny, yellow-toothy grin. Bubbaloo was Shelly's and he (or she) was just gorgeous and always smiling. Jessie's was Halaal and he was just the team nutjob, kicking up a fuss, eating when he felt like it, taking off running at random intervals, but at least he had us laughing. Kate's was the speedster of the group and took to gunning it to the front of the queue to give Kate and the camels minder, Raj, some alone time at the front ;-) Riding a camel is a hysterical experience especially when he kneels down and it's time to jump off, it feels a bit like riding a bull in a bar, like you're going to fall off all the time, but I loved it anyway. Gopal, my camel minder who was about 12 years old, sat on the back and we sang what I think was a Hindi song as we rode.
We rode for about an hour until we reached the dunes, where we sat and watched the gleaming golden sunset. I actually can't explain in words how beautiful a moment it was to be sitting up there in the sand, with the 3 of my favourite friends, camels behind us, watching the sun go down, a perfect dusk! Without sounding cheesy, I really do feel so lucky that our lives have led us here, to India, together.
We rode our camels back to the mud huts and ate dinner in the dark in the company of the world's largest bug colony and an exotic Indian dancer and drum musicians. We all danced in a circle, practicing our Indian dance moves, which was very fun and utterly hilarious aaaaand then got dressed in our long shirts and pants after a long sweaty, sticky 43 degree day, to go back to the dunes on a camel cart to sleep under the open sky. We were fortunate enough to have a practically perfect evening weather-wise, a bit of lightning strobe-lit the sky but other than that it was just us and the millions of stars. We slept a sound night in the perfect desert silence underneathe a blanket of perfect glimmering lights.
We are in Bikaner now, which is a pretty boring city featuring yes another fort, another palace aaaaand you guessed it, ANOTHER famous temple. This temple however, is unlike anything I have ever seen before. It is known as the 'rat temple' and the thousands of rats that own the grounds supposedly form the large army of the hindu goddess - Karnimata and despite it's history, is probably the most bizarre, disgusting and disturbing places I have ever seen. People come from far and wide (and I literally mean thousands of devotees walk hundreds of kilometres in the blistering heat) to offer milk and food to the rats that swarm the temple grounds and in return receive luck and protection. Now thinking that this temple was a place of worship where removing one's shoes is obligatory, I don't know what made me assume that it would be at least well maintained like every other immaculate temple we have visited but UH UH think again. The place was not only infested with live rats running around but also with hundreds of DEAD, rotting or barely alive carcasses hanging our of crevaces, off gates and in holes as well as rat faeces, rotting food and anything else that ranks anywhere on the revolting scale covering the floor and walls. And to make this picture even more delightful there were hundreds of devotees, kneeling on the ground, kissing the floor.
I realise that I am commenting here on one of these situations that falls into the realms of the 'cultural differences' debate and in the end who am I, the happy tourist entering into this 'sacred place' camera in hand, to judge anyone else's cultural or religious rituals. I did, after all, choose to go there BUT the purpose of my Blog is to share with you, how I interpret and how I feel about all the things I am doing and seeing on my travels. and I'll repeat again that NEVER in my life, in all the different places I have traveled, have I EVER seen (with my own eyes) something as filthy and disturbing as that rat temple.
But it's all part of the adventure, we see things we love, we see things that are heartbreaking, we see things that are weird and funny, we see things that seem repulsive but it's all these things infused in a giant ball of experience and open-minded laughter that really makes traveling as fun and as truly beautiful as it is.
The last two weeks through Rhajasthan have been fantastic. We have seen and learnt so much about India and with Bittoo's help of course have really prepared ourselves well for the next 7 weeks still to come. We leave on a train tomorrow heading for Amritser where we will go to the border of Pakistan to see the border-closing ceremony. After that we will carry on further North to Dharamsala and McLeod Ganj (the home of the Dalai Lama) up in the mountains. And then who knows where we will end up. We are expected to arrive in Kolkata on the 24th of September - but until then, it's all up in the air.
Sorry that this post is so long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
There are also a couple of pictures I have posted up on my facebook page.. the internet here is not so helpful for uploading so that's as much as I could do for now..
I hope everyone is well, missing you and always thinking of you!
Lots of India love
Katie
x
After a very rainy two days in Udaipur not doing much else other than reading on our hotel garden patio and walking spurratically around a few of the close-knit cobbled steets, we decided that we needed to spend more time there to really take in the city that we had already grown fond of.
This decision was largely catalyzed by a night sitting on the roof of an Indian families home overlooking the rooftops of old houses that merged into a blue smudge that surrounded the golden crown of Udaipur - the City Palace. As we sat, watching the 'Sound and Light show' which we were privelaged enough to see (sans cost) from the Sharma's own rooftop accompanied by chai, thoughts were unanimous that we needed more time to enjoy all that Udaipur had to offer. This was also cherry-topped by an invitation from the same Indian family to return the next night and learn all about Indian cooking.
We spent the following day wandering through Shilpgram, an Indian Traditional Village - the South African Equivalent of Shakaland or a Korean Namsangol Village (ie built for tourists) - but it was interesting enough watching some sweet musicians and learnt a little about the history of Rhajastani houses, music and artistry. We continued the day with a trip to the Sajjanghar Wildlife Sanctuary where a long, winding road up and around a very green mountain or two led us to the 'Monsoon Palace' where we ogled at the many monkeys and birds playing in the trees as well as the ancient buildings. We drove around the many lakes (apparently Udaipur requires 7 LAKES to keep it going!) and saw the famous Lake Palace ending off the site seeing part of the afternoon at the City Palace - which is a detailed museum streaming through the corridors of Royal Family history. In my opinion, a place better seen and enjoyed at sunset from the roof of the Sharma's guesthouse (and less expensive!)
After a bit of fruitful shopping, we marched up the hill with our thinking caps on, our palates ready and our hand itching to get dirty in the kitchen. On arrival at the Sharma's - whom we were fortunate enough to meet through Bittoo and his family connections - we first poured over family photo albums, learning all about Indian wedding customs, partook in a wish bracelet tying tradition and then chose what we would like to cook. Over the course of the next 3 hours we chopped up vegetables, crying as the onions stung my eyes, belnded spices, made batters, sliced cheese, smelt flavours, guessed herbs and laughed a LOT!
Aaaaaand then we ate all of what we made:
Pakora - deep fried minced vegetables and spices in a chickpea powder based batter - , Paneer Podina Masala - cottage cheese and mint masala curry - , Paneer butter Masala - Cottage cheese and butter masala curry -, tandoori potatoes and ladyfingers and a variety of breads - parantha, naan and chapati. It was delicious and the difference between home-cooking and restaurant food is a biiiig one! The rest of the evening included Indian boardgames, lots of joking, surprisingly BAD Henna - I now have a strange fish like creature occupying my hand for the next 2 weeks! and a great union of family and cultures. I have to say it was probably my favourite night of the trip thus far (and that is certainly a difficult choice as most to all thus far have been more than lovely!)
Udaipur was a glorious place, not just becasue of it's beautiful palaces, cobbled streets, 7 lakes, good shopping or rich history (I mean these were great too!) but mostly becasue of the stunning array of characters we met just along or just off one seemingly quiet street just a pin prick away from the tourist hubbub. It was these people that truly shaped the lasting impression of Udaipur now imprinted in my mind and on my heart: Bob or Babas the sly but friendly book shop owner that using nothing but sweet charm and a hilarious (practiced) American accent, 'conned' us all into buying at least one heavy, treasureful and beautiful but paaaainfully inconvenient camel leather journal. Or 'Danny Devito' the junk shop owner that had a pair of 'Ali Babas' to fit every shape, size or desire. The 'Corner-store-that-had-everything-guy' accross the street from Bob's bookstore from whom we literally bought 'everything' from. The tailor who altered our pants on site to fit exactly how we wanted them. 'Govin', our delightfully memorable waitor at the hotel. 'Bubbles' the tortoise who loved our cucumber shavings and made an appearance (as though he had been summoned) each time we entered the ridiculously comfortable garden restaurant for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The philopeno looking guy who joined us each mealtime to teach us 'magic tricks'.
And then there were the Sharmas - the stunningly successful family of four who welcomed us into their home, effortlessly showing us how to cook their food not missing a detail, laughing with us, sharing memories, sharing history, sharing INDIA. Even though it is most likely that they will never read this I would like to sincerely thank them for their wonderful hospitality and generosity. It was an invaluable experience to be a part of their family, even if only for two short nights. Thank you!
And so it was time to depart from Udaipur and drive 8 hours to Jodhpur. The drive was long and very bumpy (I need a whole book to drive about the self-governing Indian road rules, driving, hooting and staring.) Never in my life have I seen anything like it. Not only are we driving along roads that make South Africa's potholes look like perfect marble and are competing not only with other cars, trucks, buses, tuk-tuks, bicycles but add cows, dogs, camels, water buffalo, elephants, sheep and goats to the mix too. And then add in hooting for no apparent reason, not the slither of an indicator and overtaking a truck around a blind mountain curve with a bus coming at you, in the pouring monsoon. that will give you an idea of what we are dealing with.
We arrived safely into Jodphur and just as we settled into our Yellow Bungalow at Saffron guesthouse the next inevitable chapter of the Indian Journey hit us with force - the joy of the power cut! Now, hanging out in the dark with a candle isn't always unpleasant, but in the heat and the monsoon which pretty much equals a bug invasion - I can't say it was the best time of my life. But we played some invisible singing games, watched the lightning (and consequent power cable explosions in the city) and eventually had a good nights sleep, waking up reasonably early to hit the road en route to Jaisalmer (not without seeing the Jodhpur Fort, temple and palace of course!)
Jaisalmer was a lovely town, complete with another mix of amusing personalities including a palm reading jewellery maker who really entertained us and somehow managed to 'make us happy' by urging us to buy stones that would help our 'aura'. We had a look at the sandcastle-esque fort and the sunset point and then drove an hour or 2 out of the city to Khuri Village where we would begin our one night 'authentic' camel safari. We drank some chai in the 'desert hotel' slash circle of mud huts and then went to mount our camels.
'Desert Tiger' was his name and he was a bit of an old man, with a funny, yellow-toothy grin. Bubbaloo was Shelly's and he (or she) was just gorgeous and always smiling. Jessie's was Halaal and he was just the team nutjob, kicking up a fuss, eating when he felt like it, taking off running at random intervals, but at least he had us laughing. Kate's was the speedster of the group and took to gunning it to the front of the queue to give Kate and the camels minder, Raj, some alone time at the front ;-) Riding a camel is a hysterical experience especially when he kneels down and it's time to jump off, it feels a bit like riding a bull in a bar, like you're going to fall off all the time, but I loved it anyway. Gopal, my camel minder who was about 12 years old, sat on the back and we sang what I think was a Hindi song as we rode.
We rode for about an hour until we reached the dunes, where we sat and watched the gleaming golden sunset. I actually can't explain in words how beautiful a moment it was to be sitting up there in the sand, with the 3 of my favourite friends, camels behind us, watching the sun go down, a perfect dusk! Without sounding cheesy, I really do feel so lucky that our lives have led us here, to India, together.
We rode our camels back to the mud huts and ate dinner in the dark in the company of the world's largest bug colony and an exotic Indian dancer and drum musicians. We all danced in a circle, practicing our Indian dance moves, which was very fun and utterly hilarious aaaaand then got dressed in our long shirts and pants after a long sweaty, sticky 43 degree day, to go back to the dunes on a camel cart to sleep under the open sky. We were fortunate enough to have a practically perfect evening weather-wise, a bit of lightning strobe-lit the sky but other than that it was just us and the millions of stars. We slept a sound night in the perfect desert silence underneathe a blanket of perfect glimmering lights.
We are in Bikaner now, which is a pretty boring city featuring yes another fort, another palace aaaaand you guessed it, ANOTHER famous temple. This temple however, is unlike anything I have ever seen before. It is known as the 'rat temple' and the thousands of rats that own the grounds supposedly form the large army of the hindu goddess - Karnimata and despite it's history, is probably the most bizarre, disgusting and disturbing places I have ever seen. People come from far and wide (and I literally mean thousands of devotees walk hundreds of kilometres in the blistering heat) to offer milk and food to the rats that swarm the temple grounds and in return receive luck and protection. Now thinking that this temple was a place of worship where removing one's shoes is obligatory, I don't know what made me assume that it would be at least well maintained like every other immaculate temple we have visited but UH UH think again. The place was not only infested with live rats running around but also with hundreds of DEAD, rotting or barely alive carcasses hanging our of crevaces, off gates and in holes as well as rat faeces, rotting food and anything else that ranks anywhere on the revolting scale covering the floor and walls. And to make this picture even more delightful there were hundreds of devotees, kneeling on the ground, kissing the floor.
I realise that I am commenting here on one of these situations that falls into the realms of the 'cultural differences' debate and in the end who am I, the happy tourist entering into this 'sacred place' camera in hand, to judge anyone else's cultural or religious rituals. I did, after all, choose to go there BUT the purpose of my Blog is to share with you, how I interpret and how I feel about all the things I am doing and seeing on my travels. and I'll repeat again that NEVER in my life, in all the different places I have traveled, have I EVER seen (with my own eyes) something as filthy and disturbing as that rat temple.
But it's all part of the adventure, we see things we love, we see things that are heartbreaking, we see things that are weird and funny, we see things that seem repulsive but it's all these things infused in a giant ball of experience and open-minded laughter that really makes traveling as fun and as truly beautiful as it is.
The last two weeks through Rhajasthan have been fantastic. We have seen and learnt so much about India and with Bittoo's help of course have really prepared ourselves well for the next 7 weeks still to come. We leave on a train tomorrow heading for Amritser where we will go to the border of Pakistan to see the border-closing ceremony. After that we will carry on further North to Dharamsala and McLeod Ganj (the home of the Dalai Lama) up in the mountains. And then who knows where we will end up. We are expected to arrive in Kolkata on the 24th of September - but until then, it's all up in the air.
Sorry that this post is so long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
There are also a couple of pictures I have posted up on my facebook page.. the internet here is not so helpful for uploading so that's as much as I could do for now..
I hope everyone is well, missing you and always thinking of you!
Lots of India love
Katie
x
Monday, August 30, 2010
"In India, anything is possible!"
After an exhilarating experience at the Taj Mahal, we packed our bags, collected our very expensive laundry (which still left my pants with the sticky remnants of the chewing gum I accidentally sat on at the metro station) and ate a speedy lunch at Indian McDonald's. We drove about 45 kms outside of Agra to Fatehpur Sikri and hitched a Tuk-Tuk for 4 up the hill(I drew the short straw and had to hang out of the front seat.) We took off our shoes and covered our heads to enter the giant mosque that was built with the largest gate in the world. Unfortunately even though the mosque and the grounds were majestic, with heat and too many hawkers and supposed 'tour guides' providing an overbearing standard of harassment, we decided to surrender and make our way to the safety of our AC Tata Indigo waiting for us in the parking lot.
And so our long 7 hour journey to Jaipur began. Unable to sleep I used the drive to read ( I managed to finish my book - Shantaram which I would seriously recommend) and admire the greenery along the way. We passed through dozens of hills and mountains that were glowing with life and freshness that could only have been so after a season of rain. We eventually pulled into our sweet little guest house after a bumpy detour through the bustling city. We have been particularly lucky weather wise since leaving Delhi and it was nice to enjoy the sunset sitting on the fanned balcony inclusive of dinner, bugs, beer, geckos, two Spanish ladies and even a peacock.
It was certainly nice to have a bit of a sleep-in until 9am after the previous 3 days waking up just after dawn. Shell and I departed with Bittoo through Jaipur en route to the walled Amber city, which houses 3 major Rhajastanti forts. Unfortunately our other 2 lady loves were feeling ill and not up to the task but nevertheless we ventured off with the attitude of fun for four and not just two.
We drove through Jaipur's 'Pink City' entering through the sturdy Sanganeri gate, passing by hundreds of stalls, shops, houses, factories, the city hall and even the Window Palace which was built by Maharajah Jai Singh and is visitted frequently by Prince Charles (apparently!). Everything in the city is painted a salmon-y pink, hence the name. I was a little disappointed that were unable to walk around and enjoy the bubbly atmosphere, sadly the parking situation is nightmare and Bittoo would have been fined. But we pressed on and soon found ourselves on a winding road curving through the hills toward the Amber Valley. The tiny yet busy town is surrounded entirely by a large red sandstone wall that edges up, down and around the mountains. It is quite reminiscent of the Great Wall of China. The Fort/Palace rests on a hilltop that took almost 30 minutes of zigzagging through the cobblestone streets to find. We paid our entrance fee and began to explore the many secret passageways, tiny corridors, winding staircases and vast rooftops amidst giant pillars and marbled, bejeweled and mirrored walls of the former royal residence. It was such fun climbing through holes, running in circles and getting hopelessly lost in the fiendish maze-like design overlooking the whole of Amber from the guards watchtower. It was absolutely picturesque watching the town unfold below us and the green mountains stretching for miles around us. It took us a good half hour just to work our way through the maze to the exit where we found a couple of snake charmers. When Shell was eventually convinced to go and sit and take a picture, one of the cobras lowered itself and slithered and hissed in her direction and was quickly put back in it's basket by it's master. It was quite nerve wracking to say the least and it took a lot more convincing from the crowd and the charmer himself for me to go in. He sat me down, plonked his turban on my head and gave me a recorder-like-flute to play. He then lifted the lids of the two baskets while I attempted to play 'Mary had a little lamb.' Luckily the snakes rose up and did a bit of a dance but I was there as soon as possible. I wouldn't recommend sitting in front of a risen, hooded cobra although I guess in the end, it was an experience and I am glad I did it.
We drove out of the fort and down the hill once again and Bittoo took us to an elephant home. The elephants were feeding on large banana leaves rolled up and shredded and although they were chained by one leg, they looked as healthy as they could be considering their captivity. It was nice to feed them, pet them, talk to them and hug them. I love how expressive elephants are. One can easily tell if the elephant is content because of it's smile or if it unhappy by it's tears. There is a certain serenity elephants behold, that somehow comes with their giant exterior as well as an intelligence that is unforgivably underestimated. It was a heartwarming experience to be in the company of at least 10 such creatures.
It started to monsoon on the way back towards Jaipur city, which stopped just in time for us to see Jalhamel - the Water Palace. It is built on a lake and was used as a daytime retreat for the royal family in the times of no air conditioning and severe heat and humidity.
The next morning we woke up, packed up and drove 15km our of Jaipur to a place known as 'Galtaji' - the Monkey Temple/ Hundreds of Monkeys roam the grounds of the gorgeous ancient ruins buried in the mountains. There were also a couple of families bathing in the holy pool, the women still wearing their colorful saris , the men wrapped in a cloth that resembled a toga. It was great to watch everyone clearly having such a joyous morning, frolicking in the water. We were half tempted to jump in ourselves, especially in the sweltering heat but the thought of wet clothes in the car for another 5 hours kept our feet firmly on the ground. We hiked for about half an our up a steep incline on a stone pathway which curled up towards another temple known as the 'sun temple.' From the balcony we could see the whole of Jaipur and beyond which was a happy consolation considering our dehydrated , sweat drenched state after the climb in the blistering midday sun and air-swallowing humidity.
We made it back to the car and began our rocky ride to the small sacred town of Pushkar. The town is a holy place where no drinking, smoking or blasphemous behavior of any kind is permitted. Many of the roads along the way were either flooded or under construction and the detours through the country side were more like being in the front cart of an old, unstable roller-coaster than being enclosed in a safe vehicle. Bittoo did do his best to keep us calm by playing music mixes of Shakira, the BackStreet Boys, Ricky Martin and the Vengaboys which moved us with bumps into a minor dance party in the backseat.
Many rockpiles, ditches, puddles, 5 point turns, buffalos and near encounters with fast moving trucks later, we pulled into our hotel in Pushkar: the Pushkar Heritage. Bittoo has done a great job of finding us clean, well-priced places to stay saving us a lot of time and probably broken backs from lugging our backpacks around from place to place. We ate a quick lunch and then headed into the town. bitoo gave us a tour of a large Sikh temple and explained all the traditions and worship cycles of his religion which was very interesting. We also drank tea in the garden with some sikh gurus who work at the temple. We walked around the rest of the town doing a bit of shopping en route to the famous lake where pilgrams come to pay respects and families pray for health and happiness by tossing lotus and jasmine flower petals. It was a beautiful place but we were warned about the significant amount of phonies tring to sell us prayers, blessings and faily happiness for an even more significant amount of rupees. We slowly made our way back to the hotel and enjoyed the evening reading and writing postcards.
And so after a relaxing night in Pushkar, back in the car we climbed for our longest drive thus far, 8 hours further South to Udaipur, Rajasthan's so-called 'romantic city.' Unfortunately our lucky streak with mother-nature has come to a grinding halt and the rain has been bucketing down all night and morning, giving me time to write this update..hopefully it will dry up sometime soon so we can get a chance to see the exquisite lake and city palace - arguably one of the most beautiful settings in the country - but for now we are enjoying camping out in our little 'love-nest' room in a converted 300 year-old palace which along with what appears to be a quaint yet lively city, with colorful and vibrant people to paint the perfectly 'romantic' atmosphere that Udaipur is famous for.
Well, that's it for now..here is hoping the rain stops and our exploring can continue..
With Love,
Katie xoxo
PS: unfortunately the picture uploader is taking too long so I will post a couple on facebook instead.
And so our long 7 hour journey to Jaipur began. Unable to sleep I used the drive to read ( I managed to finish my book - Shantaram which I would seriously recommend) and admire the greenery along the way. We passed through dozens of hills and mountains that were glowing with life and freshness that could only have been so after a season of rain. We eventually pulled into our sweet little guest house after a bumpy detour through the bustling city. We have been particularly lucky weather wise since leaving Delhi and it was nice to enjoy the sunset sitting on the fanned balcony inclusive of dinner, bugs, beer, geckos, two Spanish ladies and even a peacock.
It was certainly nice to have a bit of a sleep-in until 9am after the previous 3 days waking up just after dawn. Shell and I departed with Bittoo through Jaipur en route to the walled Amber city, which houses 3 major Rhajastanti forts. Unfortunately our other 2 lady loves were feeling ill and not up to the task but nevertheless we ventured off with the attitude of fun for four and not just two.
We drove through Jaipur's 'Pink City' entering through the sturdy Sanganeri gate, passing by hundreds of stalls, shops, houses, factories, the city hall and even the Window Palace which was built by Maharajah Jai Singh and is visitted frequently by Prince Charles (apparently!). Everything in the city is painted a salmon-y pink, hence the name. I was a little disappointed that were unable to walk around and enjoy the bubbly atmosphere, sadly the parking situation is nightmare and Bittoo would have been fined. But we pressed on and soon found ourselves on a winding road curving through the hills toward the Amber Valley. The tiny yet busy town is surrounded entirely by a large red sandstone wall that edges up, down and around the mountains. It is quite reminiscent of the Great Wall of China. The Fort/Palace rests on a hilltop that took almost 30 minutes of zigzagging through the cobblestone streets to find. We paid our entrance fee and began to explore the many secret passageways, tiny corridors, winding staircases and vast rooftops amidst giant pillars and marbled, bejeweled and mirrored walls of the former royal residence. It was such fun climbing through holes, running in circles and getting hopelessly lost in the fiendish maze-like design overlooking the whole of Amber from the guards watchtower. It was absolutely picturesque watching the town unfold below us and the green mountains stretching for miles around us. It took us a good half hour just to work our way through the maze to the exit where we found a couple of snake charmers. When Shell was eventually convinced to go and sit and take a picture, one of the cobras lowered itself and slithered and hissed in her direction and was quickly put back in it's basket by it's master. It was quite nerve wracking to say the least and it took a lot more convincing from the crowd and the charmer himself for me to go in. He sat me down, plonked his turban on my head and gave me a recorder-like-flute to play. He then lifted the lids of the two baskets while I attempted to play 'Mary had a little lamb.' Luckily the snakes rose up and did a bit of a dance but I was there as soon as possible. I wouldn't recommend sitting in front of a risen, hooded cobra although I guess in the end, it was an experience and I am glad I did it.
We drove out of the fort and down the hill once again and Bittoo took us to an elephant home. The elephants were feeding on large banana leaves rolled up and shredded and although they were chained by one leg, they looked as healthy as they could be considering their captivity. It was nice to feed them, pet them, talk to them and hug them. I love how expressive elephants are. One can easily tell if the elephant is content because of it's smile or if it unhappy by it's tears. There is a certain serenity elephants behold, that somehow comes with their giant exterior as well as an intelligence that is unforgivably underestimated. It was a heartwarming experience to be in the company of at least 10 such creatures.
It started to monsoon on the way back towards Jaipur city, which stopped just in time for us to see Jalhamel - the Water Palace. It is built on a lake and was used as a daytime retreat for the royal family in the times of no air conditioning and severe heat and humidity.
The next morning we woke up, packed up and drove 15km our of Jaipur to a place known as 'Galtaji' - the Monkey Temple/ Hundreds of Monkeys roam the grounds of the gorgeous ancient ruins buried in the mountains. There were also a couple of families bathing in the holy pool, the women still wearing their colorful saris , the men wrapped in a cloth that resembled a toga. It was great to watch everyone clearly having such a joyous morning, frolicking in the water. We were half tempted to jump in ourselves, especially in the sweltering heat but the thought of wet clothes in the car for another 5 hours kept our feet firmly on the ground. We hiked for about half an our up a steep incline on a stone pathway which curled up towards another temple known as the 'sun temple.' From the balcony we could see the whole of Jaipur and beyond which was a happy consolation considering our dehydrated , sweat drenched state after the climb in the blistering midday sun and air-swallowing humidity.
We made it back to the car and began our rocky ride to the small sacred town of Pushkar. The town is a holy place where no drinking, smoking or blasphemous behavior of any kind is permitted. Many of the roads along the way were either flooded or under construction and the detours through the country side were more like being in the front cart of an old, unstable roller-coaster than being enclosed in a safe vehicle. Bittoo did do his best to keep us calm by playing music mixes of Shakira, the BackStreet Boys, Ricky Martin and the Vengaboys which moved us with bumps into a minor dance party in the backseat.
Many rockpiles, ditches, puddles, 5 point turns, buffalos and near encounters with fast moving trucks later, we pulled into our hotel in Pushkar: the Pushkar Heritage. Bittoo has done a great job of finding us clean, well-priced places to stay saving us a lot of time and probably broken backs from lugging our backpacks around from place to place. We ate a quick lunch and then headed into the town. bitoo gave us a tour of a large Sikh temple and explained all the traditions and worship cycles of his religion which was very interesting. We also drank tea in the garden with some sikh gurus who work at the temple. We walked around the rest of the town doing a bit of shopping en route to the famous lake where pilgrams come to pay respects and families pray for health and happiness by tossing lotus and jasmine flower petals. It was a beautiful place but we were warned about the significant amount of phonies tring to sell us prayers, blessings and faily happiness for an even more significant amount of rupees. We slowly made our way back to the hotel and enjoyed the evening reading and writing postcards.
And so after a relaxing night in Pushkar, back in the car we climbed for our longest drive thus far, 8 hours further South to Udaipur, Rajasthan's so-called 'romantic city.' Unfortunately our lucky streak with mother-nature has come to a grinding halt and the rain has been bucketing down all night and morning, giving me time to write this update..hopefully it will dry up sometime soon so we can get a chance to see the exquisite lake and city palace - arguably one of the most beautiful settings in the country - but for now we are enjoying camping out in our little 'love-nest' room in a converted 300 year-old palace which along with what appears to be a quaint yet lively city, with colorful and vibrant people to paint the perfectly 'romantic' atmosphere that Udaipur is famous for.
Well, that's it for now..here is hoping the rain stops and our exploring can continue..
With Love,
Katie xoxo
PS: unfortunately the picture uploader is taking too long so I will post a couple on facebook instead.
Friday, August 27, 2010
...and then there were 4!
After a long week in Dirty Delhi we were definitely ready to get the show on the road. Shell and I took a Tuk- Tuk in the rain to the airport on Sunday night to meet Jess and Kate who were flying in from Malaysia! Of course it was all hugs and excitement to see them and for Shell to meet them both for the first time. We went back to Paharganj and made way to our new hotel (CG international.. - apparently you can make any dodgy place seem legitimate by adding 'International' to the name!) It was alright especially for the $20 dollar price for the 4 of us. We spent Monday wandering in the famous Lodi Garden, hoping to find a place to relax and read, but unfortunately all the nice spots were taken up by creepy-looking staring men. aaaaaand just to add insult to injury it took us a whopping TWO hours in the blistering heat standing on at least 8 different corners to find a taxi. Buuuuut Sitting atop another rooftop restaurant over looking the bustling centre of Paharganj during the 'Festival of Brothers and Sisters', watching the families dancing, playing and decorating themselves in Henna, I was definitely reassured as to why, already I love India so much. The people are just so full of life and energy, it's irresistable.
Tuesday came around the bend and we caught the Metro to 'Old Delhi' which is home to the RED FORT and JAMA MASJID (the largest Mosque in the world.) The suburb itself is very run down and largely uninteresting and although the Fort was very impressive from the outside, inside we had more fun playing with some little kids than looking at the buildings. We walked along the road to try and find the entrance to the BIIIIG Mosque but were constantly misdirected by rickshaw drivers and touts that we got there too late as it was time for prayer. We decided on heading back to the Metro instead of dealing with all the hawkers and touts outsideonly to find that *SURPRISE* there were some 'technical difficulties' and 4 or 5 packed to the brim trains that left us waiting in the station for a while. It was of course all part of the Indian Experience.
Jess and I decided to spend the late afternoon and what soon became the evening and then almost midnight reading and relaxing at the rooftop garden at Everest, a restaurant with lovely sink-in chairs especially nice to fall into after a 6 story stair climb! We met an Indian Man, living in Australia (who we had seen there the night before) who invited us to drink some Vodka - which was hidden inside a water bottle - with him, his Indian friend from the North and a 52 year old Spanish traveler called Mercedes. I can honestly say I don't remember the last time a complete stranger in such a bizarre context made me laugh that much. He was just hilarious, intertwining and mixing up the most random stories, we had absolutely no idea what was coming next. We left that restaurant with such a happy smile on our faces!
And then it was time to say goodbye to Delhi, Dirty Delhi...It was a great start to our Indian Adventure and even though, I can probably say I won't go back in a hurry. I really enjoyed becoming acquainted with India, the place that I will call my home for the next 2 months!
And On to Agra we went.. We decided to hire a driver to take us around Rajasthan for 13 days. With 4 of us it actually worked out to be pretty reasonable, especially considering the extra driving to all the different places during the day and the secret tips we get from spending 13 days with a born and bred Indian from Delhi. Our driver's name is Bittoo and he is just brilliant. On the way to Agra he took us to see a couple of temples, ashrams and monuments in small villages along the way. On arrival, after 6 HOURS in the car, Bittoo drove us into the country to a spot along the river where we could see the behind of the Taj Mahal. Wow, wow and WOW! It really is just Magnificient and generated a lot of excitement for the following day that we were to spend exploring the whole complex. We ventured back into Agra city and used the rest of the afternoon walking around, enjoying the town and reading and chatting over coffee in 'Cafe Coffee Day' , a chain of coffee shops.
We left a 5,7,5 Heiku in the Visitors book:
"Caffe Coffee Day.
A Nice Retreat from the Heat.
thank you for the stay."
We woke up at 6am to see the sunrise over the TAJ MAHAL. Yes the TAJ MAHAL. It was so surreal to be thinking that we would finally be entering the grounds of the Beautiful monument of love. And it really was one of the most stunning, breathtaking places I have ever seen in my life. So Beautiful that it actually gave me goosebumps. Pictures can truly not do justice to this palace of perfection. It is built entirely with Marble and just gleams in the sunlight. Wow I loved every second of being there, marveling at what I truly think to be the most exquisite work of architecture in the world.
Agra was a fun city, our hotel was lovely and we enjoyed eating some good Tandoori. One thing I especially noticed about Agra, moreso than Delhi was the COWS. There are SO many cows, EVERYWHERE. Cows are so sacred in India that killing a cow, intentionally, will earn you a 500 Thousand Rupee fine and 3 years Jail time. With this protection, the cows rule the place and cars swerve in all directions to avoid them, even in the MIDDLE of a 5 lane freeway. The people are many things in India, but Cruelty to Animals is definitely not in their nature. It is quite refreshing to see, well thus far anyway.
And now, we are in Jaipur and heading to Pushkar tomorrow. I have run out of time to extend this post long enough to write about our time here and in Amber but as soon as I can, I will tell all the details.
Loving India, Loving every minute of it. Loving traveling with 3 such special ladies. Loving the food. Loving the wild and heart-thumping traffic. Loving it all.
With Love from Jaipur,
Katie
xoxox
PS: There are some pictures up on Shell's Facebook Wall.
 | |
| Tim and I in Paharganj. Tim is spending 6 months travelling around India. I am so glad we were able to cross our paths! It was a great few days x x x |
Tuesday came around the bend and we caught the Metro to 'Old Delhi' which is home to the RED FORT and JAMA MASJID (the largest Mosque in the world.) The suburb itself is very run down and largely uninteresting and although the Fort was very impressive from the outside, inside we had more fun playing with some little kids than looking at the buildings. We walked along the road to try and find the entrance to the BIIIIG Mosque but were constantly misdirected by rickshaw drivers and touts that we got there too late as it was time for prayer. We decided on heading back to the Metro instead of dealing with all the hawkers and touts outsideonly to find that *SURPRISE* there were some 'technical difficulties' and 4 or 5 packed to the brim trains that left us waiting in the station for a while. It was of course all part of the Indian Experience.
Jess and I decided to spend the late afternoon and what soon became the evening and then almost midnight reading and relaxing at the rooftop garden at Everest, a restaurant with lovely sink-in chairs especially nice to fall into after a 6 story stair climb! We met an Indian Man, living in Australia (who we had seen there the night before) who invited us to drink some Vodka - which was hidden inside a water bottle - with him, his Indian friend from the North and a 52 year old Spanish traveler called Mercedes. I can honestly say I don't remember the last time a complete stranger in such a bizarre context made me laugh that much. He was just hilarious, intertwining and mixing up the most random stories, we had absolutely no idea what was coming next. We left that restaurant with such a happy smile on our faces!
And then it was time to say goodbye to Delhi, Dirty Delhi...It was a great start to our Indian Adventure and even though, I can probably say I won't go back in a hurry. I really enjoyed becoming acquainted with India, the place that I will call my home for the next 2 months!
And On to Agra we went.. We decided to hire a driver to take us around Rajasthan for 13 days. With 4 of us it actually worked out to be pretty reasonable, especially considering the extra driving to all the different places during the day and the secret tips we get from spending 13 days with a born and bred Indian from Delhi. Our driver's name is Bittoo and he is just brilliant. On the way to Agra he took us to see a couple of temples, ashrams and monuments in small villages along the way. On arrival, after 6 HOURS in the car, Bittoo drove us into the country to a spot along the river where we could see the behind of the Taj Mahal. Wow, wow and WOW! It really is just Magnificient and generated a lot of excitement for the following day that we were to spend exploring the whole complex. We ventured back into Agra city and used the rest of the afternoon walking around, enjoying the town and reading and chatting over coffee in 'Cafe Coffee Day' , a chain of coffee shops.
We left a 5,7,5 Heiku in the Visitors book:
"Caffe Coffee Day.
A Nice Retreat from the Heat.
thank you for the stay."
We woke up at 6am to see the sunrise over the TAJ MAHAL. Yes the TAJ MAHAL. It was so surreal to be thinking that we would finally be entering the grounds of the Beautiful monument of love. And it really was one of the most stunning, breathtaking places I have ever seen in my life. So Beautiful that it actually gave me goosebumps. Pictures can truly not do justice to this palace of perfection. It is built entirely with Marble and just gleams in the sunlight. Wow I loved every second of being there, marveling at what I truly think to be the most exquisite work of architecture in the world.
Agra was a fun city, our hotel was lovely and we enjoyed eating some good Tandoori. One thing I especially noticed about Agra, moreso than Delhi was the COWS. There are SO many cows, EVERYWHERE. Cows are so sacred in India that killing a cow, intentionally, will earn you a 500 Thousand Rupee fine and 3 years Jail time. With this protection, the cows rule the place and cars swerve in all directions to avoid them, even in the MIDDLE of a 5 lane freeway. The people are many things in India, but Cruelty to Animals is definitely not in their nature. It is quite refreshing to see, well thus far anyway.
And now, we are in Jaipur and heading to Pushkar tomorrow. I have run out of time to extend this post long enough to write about our time here and in Amber but as soon as I can, I will tell all the details.
Loving India, Loving every minute of it. Loving traveling with 3 such special ladies. Loving the food. Loving the wild and heart-thumping traffic. Loving it all.
With Love from Jaipur,
Katie
xoxox
PS: There are some pictures up on Shell's Facebook Wall.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Welcome to Incredible India.
Sitting, in the sweaty, congested heat in my $8 (for two) hotel in the middle of one of the grimiest, dirtiest, grubbiest parts of India and probably the world - Paharganj, New Delhi...it seems suitable that I should not have the most exciting things to say about my first few days in India. Instead I am finding it difficult to string together the right words to describe how utterly fantastic it is to be in the centre of all the chaos.
On arrival into Delhi international airport and taking the advice of a very helpful 'air host, steward...' we stepped off our 2 hour late plane into sweltering heat to prepay for a taxi into Paharganj, where we planned on looking for a hotel, backpackers, guest house..anything that really fit the bill. We eventually arrived at the Main bazaar by taking a detour up the wrong side of the road directly into oncoming traffic. Whilst Shelly and I braced ourselves and begged for our lives, the driver laughed hysterically. We were soon to discover that road rules are non-existent in India, there is simply chaos and every man, bus, car, tuk-tuk, bicycle, cow, truck. dog and rickshaw for themselves. We piled out of the taxi and with our backpacks on our back(and front) set out on foot in search of a place to stay. This turned out to be very interesting as every second person trying to "Practice their English" tried to direct us in to their hotels. The rain also started and this was mostly unpleasant because of all the construction going on in preparation for the Common Wealth games coming to Delhi in October. Inadvertently this means that the roads are just a big sludgy mess of mud and grime., rocks, sand, bricks and more chaos.
We stumbled luckily upon the hotel that Jonathan had already booked into and on our first step into the air-conditioned bliss, we decided on the place for the night. It was expensive ($40 for the 2 of us!) but after a long few days we couldn't resist the perfectly clean bed and a good dependable shower. We would continue the search for more budgetable accomodation in the morning after a long nights sleep. Jonathan arrived soon after us and we set out on foot to explore the area. We took a tuk-tuk to the famous Connaught Place looking for some food and a good walk. We found a sweet restaurant called "Piccadelhi" and ate our first Paneer Masalas, absolutely delicious. We spent the rest of the evening walking back to Paharganj and going in and out of hotels to check the rooms and prices. We eventually settled on $8 for a double room at 'HOTEL SILVER SHINE.' The staff were friendly and the room was ok, nothing that our own sheet and pillow case couldn't fix.
After a lovely nights sleep, we woke up for breakfast and spent the morning relaxing and getting our lives in order - ie throwing out anything we deemed unnecessary from our backpacks. We spent the afternoon walking around the rest of the area. We tried to take a tuk-tuk to the 'Government Tourist office' to get maps and ideas of trains and itinerary. We were taken to a small room, compartmentalized into 3, given a poster that said 'Incredible India' and almost conned into booking unnecessary trains and taxis. We realized that they were not the official government office only when they could not give us a business card or address. We walked another 20 metres down the street and low and behold, the biggest most official building with the biggest most official sign saying "Government of India, Tourist information centre. 88 JanPath Avenue." At least we found it in the end, no harm done. We found a gorgeous restaurant on the Outer Circle of Connaught Place and had curry, naan and some 'Happy Hour' Mojitos. We wandered through the shops, in and out of broken down structures, avoided hotel and tourism touts and finally checked into our new hotel. After a shower, getting our beds ready and washing some clothes we thought we would be pretty exhausted. By 2am, however, we were still awake tossing and turning and unable to fall asleep. We finally dozed off sometime after that only to be woken up at 5am by construction workers loading up 3 trucks directly below our room. deciding to make the most of our early rise we hauled ourselves out of bed and up to the rooftop garden where we thought we would watch the sunrise. No such luck, as we panted up 8 flights of stairs, we heard the rain. It was only drizzling, but sadly no chance of a sunrise worth watching. We spent the day driving in Tuk-Tuks with different drivers going from one side of the city to the next in search of a supermarket. It was such a beautiful way to see the city. We drove past antique and marble markets, the India gate, the Common Wealth Games Stadium, the Sikh Temple and a couple of shopping centres. We eventually made it back to Paharganj alive in need of a good dinner and an even better cocktail. After a few double tequila shots, delicious Indian Kebabs, a very friendly waitor and the arrival of three lovely Danish Girls, the night just got better at the beautiful rooftop restaurant on a perfect cloudless night. We stumbled back through the deserted streets dodging a large herd of cows along the way. We woke up early once again and met the girls for breakfast on another rooftop restaurant (it seems these places are the fashion in Paharganj!), we walked all around New Delhi for most of the day, took refuge in a Mcdonalds waiting for the monsoon to pass, walked back through a couple of markets, sat on a stool in the middle of a crowded street and got a henna tattoo, organised an Indian Sim card and figured out the New Delhi Train Station. We ended off the night sitting on ANOTHER (yes you guessed it!) rooftop Garden, with a Big Bottle of Water and some relaxed conversation.
The thing that has already made me fall in love with India is that even in all the crowds, poverty, dirt and chaos the people you see and interact with on the streets are still lively and full of color, still happy to be alive and still fighting for another day and another chance, putting their utmost into what they do and trying to make the absolute best of their situations. Yes, the poverty we have seen just being here for four days has been excruciating and every time you look around you, you wish you could do more. But beyond that, beyond the dirt and the sludge and the mosquitoes and the frenzy about drinking unsanitary water, is a beautiful culture full of loud and wonderful expression, love and humor. Each person you meet has a smile on their face that lights up even more if you offer them a smile back.
Kate and Jessie arrive from Korea tomorrow night! and then our adventuring and exploring reeaaaaaaaaally begins! We are planning on heading to Agra on Wednesday morning and then winging it once again from the Taj. :)
So that is India, for now..and I love it.
Lots of love to everyone reading xoxoxox
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