After our return, I have sadly neglected this blog, what with comps and all. I do want to wrap up the story of our last few days in India, and our day in Hong Kong! So, here's a picture-free blog post (Mu posted links to all our pictures already!) about the end of our trip.
I left off on our last day in Jaisalmer. The highlight there was really the sandstone fort -- very grand, and with a beautiful palace! We took yet another audio tour and learned about the building of the city. It turns out that Jains, whose religion I know nothing about, were the merchant class there. Despite being a small minority, they were rather wealthy and responsible for a lot of the beautiful things built in Jaisalmer. This prompted the comment that they were just like Jews in Europe, except for the swastika bit. :) We also learned a little more about what a swastika stands for -- it's a symbol of luck, well-being, and welcome. Rather a different original meaning, no?
After a day of wandering about, we boarded our very last overnight train to Delhi. We were a bit apprehensive, since we had heard many horror stories about the city, and we hated Kolkatta so. I think having been in India for 3 weeks already made a huge difference, though. Things like trash and traffic were no longer surprising and overwhelming, and our cab ride from the train station to our hostel didn't even seem that harrowing! We'd clearly come a long way.
Our hostel in Delhi was a mixed bag. It was pretty far from the touristy bits of the city, which was both good and bad. On one hand, it took a bit of effort to get anywhere. On the other hand, this was the first time in our entire trip that we didn't get hassled by rickshaw drivers or shop owners! Because the area was mostly residential, people there didn't seem to count on tourists for business, so we were left alone. The hostel itself left something to be desired, with power issues and front desk staff that seemed to be out of it most of the time, but at least there was hot water. :)
We were both exhausted from the trip, and the weather wasn't very nice through most of our stay, so we didn't do as much sight-seeing as we might have. The main things we saw were the Delhi fort and a very bizarre, Disneyland-like temple, the Akshardham Temple: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akshardham_(Delhi)
The fort was disappointing, actually. We had been excited to see it since it was built by the same emperor who built the Red Fort in Agra (which we didn't get to see due to Mu being sick), but it turned out that, for whatever reason, the fort in Delhi has really not been taken care of. This was surprising -- most of the tourist attractions we visited have been under restoration and it's clear that some effort has been put it to upkeep. This one, though...well, some parts of it are currently being restored, but the rest of it was crumbled and pretty sad. We meandered about for a while, but really felt like it was a let-down.
The temple, on the other hand, was really out of this world. You should read the wiki page, it has a lot of detail and some photos (which we weren't allowed to take). To start, the security there was nuts! You weren't allowed to take anything inside except a wallet -- no electronics of any kind (not even a USB drive!), no purses, nothing. There was storage provided for free, with a long line. You also had to go through a thorough pat down before being allowed to enter. Once inside, the place really reminded us of Disneyland, except there were people actually trying to worship. We saw a video about a child yogi (honestly, could've been about Jesus with some specific events changed around slightly) and went on a boat ride (rather similar to "It's a Small World") about how great India is and how it invented pretty much everything. :) So, lots of propaganda, but well-made propaganda. There was also a sound and light water fountain show, and the complex itself was really beautiful to wander around. And on the way home, we stopped to get yummy paneer dosas!
Our last few days were utterly nuts. We had a short-ish overnight flight to Hong Kong, which meant we slept for about 2 hours. We arrived in Hong Kong at 6am or so! We had originally planned to sleep at the airport for a few hours, but somehow, this just didn't happen, so we went into the city at around 7am! The whole day was an exhausting whirlwind. Dim sum, Victoria Peak, a sky ride to the giant Buddha (largest bronze outdoor seated Buddha!), a delicious veggie meal at the monastery, Hong Kong Natural History Museum, a night market, more yummy food, and then we returned to the airport and basically collapsed. Despite the exhaustion, we loved Hong Kong! It's super clean, the downtown has beautiful skyscrapers (I especially loved this!), the subway is amazingly fast and extensive, the food was delicious, there was almost no honking, and no one stared at us! We would love to go back for a longer time. It was also amazingly well-signed -- everywhere we wanted to go was easy to find, and any time we thought, "hmmm, are we still walking the right way?" a sign appeared, as if by magic, to guide us. Such a relief after the madness of the previous month!
The flight back was nicely uneventful, and after sleeping over at Cindy and Eric's, we had a reasonably fast drive back home to Tucson. Of course, as soon as the next day, we were like, "when can we go travel again?" It was a blast, and we can't wait to have more trips! Next up? Not sure yet, but probably somewhere in Europe. :)
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Picture Albums
Here are links to the videos and photos that we took on this trip. They are all geo-coded.
- The Best of the Bunch.
- Chiang Mai
- Doi Suthep and Chiang Mai Zoo
- Flight of the Gibbon
- Bangkok
- Floating Market and More
- Tiger Temple & Elephants
- Kolkata
- Darjeeling
- Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park
- Sunrise at Tiger Hill
- Varanasi
- Agra/Taj Mahal
- Sawai Madhopur/Tiger Safari
- Amritsar
- Jaipur
- Jaisalmer/Camels
- New Delhi
- Hong Kong
Other Albums
- Towers - I use to take photos of all of the towers I was responsible for at Sprint Nextel, this is what they look like in other countries, not a mono-palm in sight.
- In Transit - Photos that didn't seem to belong in any other album.
Travel Stats
For this trip, I recorded details such as when we arrived in a city, when we arrived at the transit station, when we actually left, and the number of hours we were away from our hotel each day. I did this by carrying around a cute GPS tracker made by VuPoint (only $34). Originally I got it to geo-code all of my pictures, but found it useful in calculating these stats.
Tourist time is defined as time not in transit, at a transit station, or at a hotel. In some cases were the activity had some tourist value (such as the drive down from Agra to Sawai Madhopur, or the camping portion of the camel trek) I included for overall calculations but not city specific totals.
We spent a total of 803 hours away from Tucson of which
- 197 hours was spent traveling (including being delayed 28 hours)
- 33 hours was spent waiting at airports and train stations.
- 264 hours being a tourist. (about 9 hours a day!)
- 19 nights in hotels, 1 night camping, 13 nights in transit.
- 309 hours spent sleeping in hotels, eating, blogging, web browsing, recovering, being sick, etc.
- 47% of the time we spent in cities we were being tourists.
The top 4 cities we spent the most time in being tourists:
- Darjeeling: 41 hours out of 78.
- Bangkok: 34 hours out of 81.
- Chiang Mai: 32 hours out of 79.
- Varanasi: 24 hours out of 57.
The top 4 cities we spent least amount in being tourists:
- Sawai Madhopur: 5 hours (Drove down in the morning, safari, train out at night.)
- Kolkata: 10 hours (10 hours too many)
- Agra: 11 hours ( I was sick for most of Agra)
- Hong Kong: 13 hours (flew in in the morning and out at night, spent the rest of the time in the city)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Back in the US!
I know that I'm very behind on blogging, and this post won't be very substantive because I really ought to try and sleep, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we're back in the US! We had a crazy few days -- Delhi (which we liked lots more than Kolkata, so that was a relief), about 17 hours in Hong Kong, which we did on about 2 hours of sleep, and then a long flight to LA. I'll blog about those (probably over a few posts), but not tonight or tomorrow -- in the morning, we drive back to Tucson! But for now, we're at Cindy and Eric's for the night. It's been very nice to see friends and have a place to stay where we don't worry about the hot water or the internet!
After we catch the blog up, we'll probably have a few posts about general impressions and such, and then I'm not sure where the blog will go. Cindy suggested using it to do reviews of local places. Any other suggestions? We don't have to decide yet, but probably soon.
After we catch the blog up, we'll probably have a few posts about general impressions and such, and then I'm not sure where the blog will go. Cindy suggested using it to do reviews of local places. Any other suggestions? We don't have to decide yet, but probably soon.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
"Jains are like Jews, except they like swastikas and we don't."
It turns out that baby goats are like puppies: they're cute, they run around and hop, and they eat anything, including the sweater you have tied around your waist. :) Also, sorry that the picture layout turned out so weird in the last post. It's hard to tell how they'll come out, and I didn't have time to edit.
So, we arrived in Jaisalmer two days ago, after a last-minute train delay -- at the stop before ours (about an hour away), the train in front of us broke down and had to be towed away. This took about two hours, during which we fretted about missing our safari. Luckily, we made it just in time -- we got to the station, were picked up, whisked to the main office to leave our big bags, and immediately loaded into a jeep with 4 other people who had been patiently waiting for us to get there. Phew!
The first part of the safari was actually in the jeep -- we were taken to a small village (with the aforementioned baby goats), a beautiful lake (which was surprising, given that we're in a very desert-y area), and ruins of
an old fort/temple/thing. All this was well and good, but we all were ready to get to the camels! At least the group was nice -- Jen from Canada, Tamara from LA (she went to Burningman for the first time last year, too, so we had lots of stories to exchange), and Michelle and Florian from Ireland and Germany, respectively. Everyone was friendly and good to chat with, which was good since we would all be in close contact all day, with no one else (except the camel guides and the somewhat creepy driver and tour operator).
Finally, we arrived
at our starting point for the camel trek and were loaded onto camels. I've been on one before, in Israel, but I have forgotten how tall they are! They're also very rocky, which is why they're nicknamed "ships of the desert." What no one tells you is that after you spend 1.5 hours on a camel, you hurt! By the time we got to our camping place, no one really wanted to get back on the camels the next morning. :)
We were camping at gorgeous sand dunes, which were a surprise after most of the trek was in shrubbery and Tucson-like desert. This tour company takes small groups only, and only goes out to these particular dunes, where other groups don't go. This was really nice -- after the hustle and bustle of most of India, it
was refreshing to be alone and far away from everyone. We meandered around for a while as dinner was being prepared, watched the sunset, and then all came back to sit around the fire and eat yummy food (which the guides kept trying to get us to eat more of, I guess because they were worried we'd go hungry?). There were so many stars! And then the moon rose, which was also awesome, and we all meandered around some more, since it was actually pre
tty light with the moon. The only thing that was annoying was that the tour operator and the driver were both hitting on Tamara (she and Jen were the two single women, but Jen had shaved her hair off, which I guess took her out of the running. I don't know). It was annoying for Tamara, and annoying for the rest of us to watch -- it's like, really, people? Shouldn't the employees, at least, not act this way? Tamara said that she and Jen had both been hassled a lot, especially here in Rajasthan. This is one big benefit of traveling as a couple. :)
I don't remember the last time I slept outside without a tent, but that's what we did that night. It was cold, bu
t we had lots of blankets and really didn't feel cold at all. The sand was quite hard, but better than some of the beds we've slept in! I felt like I slept surprisingly well, actually. We both woke up around sunrise and drifted in and out of sleep, watching it. After breakfast and hot chai, we got back on our camels (ouch!), trekked back to the jeep, and were delivered ba
ck to Jaisalmer. It was really a nice experience, and nice to connect with some other travelers.
On our return (and after a break in the hotel), we meandered around the fort in Jaisalmer, saw the very grand palace, and ate momos in the Free Tibet restaurant (though they weren't as tasty as the momos in Darjeeling). We also met and chatted with more travelers, Amy from Canada and Christian from Austria. It's been really enjoyable to exchange travel stories with people! We took a bunch of pictures, but I will post them at another time.
Today, we've been meandering some more, and later, we are off to Delhi, for our last city in India!
So, we arrived in Jaisalmer two days ago, after a last-minute train delay -- at the stop before ours (about an hour away), the train in front of us broke down and had to be towed away. This took about two hours, during which we fretted about missing our safari. Luckily, we made it just in time -- we got to the station, were picked up, whisked to the main office to leave our big bags, and immediately loaded into a jeep with 4 other people who had been patiently waiting for us to get there. Phew!
The first part of the safari was actually in the jeep -- we were taken to a small village (with the aforementioned baby goats), a beautiful lake (which was surprising, given that we're in a very desert-y area), and ruins of
an old fort/temple/thing. All this was well and good, but we all were ready to get to the camels! At least the group was nice -- Jen from Canada, Tamara from LA (she went to Burningman for the first time last year, too, so we had lots of stories to exchange), and Michelle and Florian from Ireland and Germany, respectively. Everyone was friendly and good to chat with, which was good since we would all be in close contact all day, with no one else (except the camel guides and the somewhat creepy driver and tour operator).Finally, we arrived
at our starting point for the camel trek and were loaded onto camels. I've been on one before, in Israel, but I have forgotten how tall they are! They're also very rocky, which is why they're nicknamed "ships of the desert." What no one tells you is that after you spend 1.5 hours on a camel, you hurt! By the time we got to our camping place, no one really wanted to get back on the camels the next morning. :)We were camping at gorgeous sand dunes, which were a surprise after most of the trek was in shrubbery and Tucson-like desert. This tour company takes small groups only, and only goes out to these particular dunes, where other groups don't go. This was really nice -- after the hustle and bustle of most of India, it
was refreshing to be alone and far away from everyone. We meandered around for a while as dinner was being prepared, watched the sunset, and then all came back to sit around the fire and eat yummy food (which the guides kept trying to get us to eat more of, I guess because they were worried we'd go hungry?). There were so many stars! And then the moon rose, which was also awesome, and we all meandered around some more, since it was actually pre
tty light with the moon. The only thing that was annoying was that the tour operator and the driver were both hitting on Tamara (she and Jen were the two single women, but Jen had shaved her hair off, which I guess took her out of the running. I don't know). It was annoying for Tamara, and annoying for the rest of us to watch -- it's like, really, people? Shouldn't the employees, at least, not act this way? Tamara said that she and Jen had both been hassled a lot, especially here in Rajasthan. This is one big benefit of traveling as a couple. :)I don't remember the last time I slept outside without a tent, but that's what we did that night. It was cold, bu
t we had lots of blankets and really didn't feel cold at all. The sand was quite hard, but better than some of the beds we've slept in! I felt like I slept surprisingly well, actually. We both woke up around sunrise and drifted in and out of sleep, watching it. After breakfast and hot chai, we got back on our camels (ouch!), trekked back to the jeep, and were delivered ba
ck to Jaisalmer. It was really a nice experience, and nice to connect with some other travelers.On our return (and after a break in the hotel), we meandered around the fort in Jaisalmer, saw the very grand palace, and ate momos in the Free Tibet restaurant (though they weren't as tasty as the momos in Darjeeling). We also met and chatted with more travelers, Amy from Canada and Christian from Austria. It's been really enjoyable to exchange travel stories with people! We took a bunch of pictures, but I will post them at another time.
Today, we've been meandering some more, and later, we are off to Delhi, for our last city in India!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tucson twin city!
After our tour today, it has become apparent that Jaipur is very like Tucson -- similar landscape with the desert shrubbery and dunes (though no cacti), similar weather, and a focus on gem stones (people here know of Tucson because of its Gem and Mineral show!). Tucson, sadly, doesn't have pretty ancient forts.We got up this morning and I just wasn't ready to face the day, so after breakfast,
I went back to bed and Mu went to the Central Museum (itself housed in a beautiful building), where he took a million pictures for me. :) The highlights, according to him, were the ancient graphic novels. I also liked the pictures of sculptures in yoga poses. There was also a mummy, which Mu said wasn't very exciting, but he did learn the weird fact that British aristocrats used to purchase Egyptian mummies for their homes and th
en have unwrapping parties. This sounds creepy and gross to me, but I'm not a British aristocrat.After the museum, they (Mu and the cab driver, that is) came back for me and we went to Amber Fort, which is a grand fort and palace about 10km outside the city. It has a wall that's 12km long around, and a palace to house the maharaja and his 12 wives (along with a secret passage from the maharaja's room to any of the wives' rooms so that he could visit one without the others knowing. There was also a mirror palace section with awesome glass work, and gardens that look like persian carpets! Our guide took a picture of us in one of the mirrors, but it came out weirdly spliced, for
reasons that are unclear to me. I'm including it anyways, because it's cool and ridiculous. There was also an underground tunnel leading to a different, even more secure fort. One could also hike up
to the fort above ground, but we chose not to because it was a very steep hill.On the way down, we stopped at a place that did old-style prints, by using stamps dipped in vegetable dyes (green from mango leaves, yellow from turmeric, red from henna) to decorate fabric. I got a little square with a pineapple/vase on it from the demo. And then Mu bought me a shiny! Since Jaipur is famous for gems, I had told him that it would be nice to leave here with a shiny object, and he delivered. :) I now have a beautiful silver bracelet with iolites, purple stones that are very similar in color to tanzanites, which is what's in my engagement ring. It's so pretty! I don't often specifically request shiny things, but it's rather nice to get one occasionally.
On our way back to town, we stopped at Nargarah Fort, yet another fort with a palace (for a different maharaja, with 9 wives). This one also had a gorgeous palace, and beautiful views of the city. We also took s
ome photos of the Water
Temple, a temple that is in the middle of a lake. Weird. It also appears that Jaipur has fancier restaurants than anywhere we've been, because we ate at another fancy-ish one tonight.
Now we're about to check out and go to the train station to head to Jaisalmer, and camels!
Monday, January 9, 2012
"If that's coffee, then what's in my cup?"
I'm sad that we only have a week left to the trip! There are certainly things I miss, such as not having to share a computer, or not worrying about whether the hot water will run out (or whether it will exist at all), but still, I would be happy to be traveling for a while yet. But that requires more time and money, so there we are. :)
Yesterday, we woke up much earlier than either of us wanted to (around 8:30, but we really haven't been getting enough sleep this trip, so this was unfortunate) so that Satinder could pick us up in time for the wedding. He got us, went back for Kiran and Jot, and then called the groom's mom to make sure that people were already gathering and we weren't gonna be ridiculously early (even though the wedding was scheduled to start at 10:30 and it was 11, Satinder wasn't sure that the groom's family would have arrived yet). The phone conversation was all in Punjabi, but we could tell from his tone that something was weird...and when he hung up, he told us that the wedding was cancelled! It turns out that the bride backed out at the last minute. Yikes! There were something like 500 people there for the wedding, so this was pretty nuts. Satinder decided to take us to visit relatives (Kiran's brother's brother-in-law) in a nearby village so that we'd have something to do, and part of the way over, we speculated over what could've happened. Kiran thinks that maybe the couple hadn't met before the day before the wedding (that's what h
appened with her and Satinder -- their marriage was arranged 6 months before, but he was working in the US, so they only talked on the phone and emailed), and maybe something just didn't work out. It's a mystery.
It all worked out for the best, however, because visiting the village was awesome! We're such city people that this was a huge novelty for us. It's probably only a little different from rural places in the US, but super different from a city! Satinder's r
elatives are apparently the richest family in this village, so they have a house made of brick and cement, and it's painted, and they have a servant (a local boy from a poor family). Poorer families live in mud houses and have animals living indoors with them.
The friend and the servant boy took us all around the village (the boy was so happy and smiley to get to hang out with Americans!), and we had a great time. Everyone was very curious about us, so we got stares and smiles and took lots of photos with different people and got hugged by old ladies. At one point, a small crowd of boys followed us for a while, but they were told to go away. :) There were fields of wheat and very tall sugar cane (which they cut a pie
ce off of for us to eat later), lots of cows and buffaloes (we got a great video of one ridiculous one munching),
a village kitty, hens and roosters, and a mean goat ("don't go near it, it kicks," translated Kiran from the friend's instructions). After the two hour or so walk, we went back to have a delicious lunch at the friend's house, samosas and curry and paneer and rice and veggies. I need to learn how to cook Indian food. There was sugar cane candy for dessert, and we were even given a small jar to take with us to snack on. :)
Eventually, we headed to the train station and got on our way to Jaipur, where we arrived this morning. We didn't sleep super well on the train (there
were annoying loud people sharing our compartment), but we were determined to do some touristy things today, so after arriving at our hotel and eating breakfast, we set off for the old city. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, and as such, it houses the royal family (this area was ruled by Maharajas, and after it merged with post-independence India, they retained their titles). The old city is pink! One of the maharajas decided to paint all the facades because pink is the color of hospitality, and now everyone who lives or has a business there is bound by law to preserve the color. It's crowded and hectic, but part of it is a grid, which makes it slightly easier to deal with.
There are a bunch of things to see, but since we were taking it easy, we only saw three of them. First, we went to the City Palace, a super grand complex where the royal family still officially lives. The building itself is beautiful, with lots of carvings and marble inlay. There's also a small but detailed museum of royal dress, with lots of original outfits. We got an audio guide, which gave history and talked about some of the building details.
Our next stop was Jantar Mantar, an observatory built by the maharaja who designed the whole place. He was really into astrology and astronomy both, so he designed several observatories all over India and filled them with structures that could measure positions of objects
in the sky, tell time, and do other similar things. The whole place was fascinating to walk around in, and looked (as Lonely Planet put it) like a rather bizarre sculpture garden.
Our map turned out to be misleading and inaccurate, so we spent a bunch of time wandering about before we found our next destination, Hawa Mahal. This palace was built with latice windows so that royal ladies could look out over the bazaar and see processions without b
eing seen (as that would be unseemly). We got to climb up to the top and look out the little windows, to see what view they'd get. The whole building was also gorgeous, with pink domes and columns and cool glass work on one of the floors. It looked like a real castle!
Hungry and exhausted, we headed to LMB, a veggie place that we read about in Lonely Planet. There, we got the fanciest meal we've had here so far -- a huge Rajasthani Thali, a combo plate thing showcasing local cuisine. It was immense and delicious, and we ended up spending a total of about $22 for what was essentially a multi-course tasting menu. We were stuffed by the end, and very pleased.
On our taxi ride back to the hotel, we ended up arranging for the taxi driver to pick us up and take us to the other places we want to go tomorrow, as they are pretty spread out and would be a pain to get to on our own. So, we have a sort-of tour set up, which will be nice. He was funny, too -- when we drove past the King Edward something or other, he told us, "this is in honor of the British Maharaja." Well, I'm not sure that's how the Brits would put it, but sure. :)
Tomorrow after the day's outing, we get on another train and head to Jaisalmer, where we will be picked up the following morning from the train station and taken on a camel trek! I'm not sure when we'll next have internet, but we'll update when we can!
Yesterday, we woke up much earlier than either of us wanted to (around 8:30, but we really haven't been getting enough sleep this trip, so this was unfortunate) so that Satinder could pick us up in time for the wedding. He got us, went back for Kiran and Jot, and then called the groom's mom to make sure that people were already gathering and we weren't gonna be ridiculously early (even though the wedding was scheduled to start at 10:30 and it was 11, Satinder wasn't sure that the groom's family would have arrived yet). The phone conversation was all in Punjabi, but we could tell from his tone that something was weird...and when he hung up, he told us that the wedding was cancelled! It turns out that the bride backed out at the last minute. Yikes! There were something like 500 people there for the wedding, so this was pretty nuts. Satinder decided to take us to visit relatives (Kiran's brother's brother-in-law) in a nearby village so that we'd have something to do, and part of the way over, we speculated over what could've happened. Kiran thinks that maybe the couple hadn't met before the day before the wedding (that's what h
appened with her and Satinder -- their marriage was arranged 6 months before, but he was working in the US, so they only talked on the phone and emailed), and maybe something just didn't work out. It's a mystery.It all worked out for the best, however, because visiting the village was awesome! We're such city people that this was a huge novelty for us. It's probably only a little different from rural places in the US, but super different from a city! Satinder's r
elatives are apparently the richest family in this village, so they have a house made of brick and cement, and it's painted, and they have a servant (a local boy from a poor family). Poorer families live in mud houses and have animals living indoors with them.The friend and the servant boy took us all around the village (the boy was so happy and smiley to get to hang out with Americans!), and we had a great time. Everyone was very curious about us, so we got stares and smiles and took lots of photos with different people and got hugged by old ladies. At one point, a small crowd of boys followed us for a while, but they were told to go away. :) There were fields of wheat and very tall sugar cane (which they cut a pie
ce off of for us to eat later), lots of cows and buffaloes (we got a great video of one ridiculous one munching),a village kitty, hens and roosters, and a mean goat ("don't go near it, it kicks," translated Kiran from the friend's instructions). After the two hour or so walk, we went back to have a delicious lunch at the friend's house, samosas and curry and paneer and rice and veggies. I need to learn how to cook Indian food. There was sugar cane candy for dessert, and we were even given a small jar to take with us to snack on. :)
Eventually, we headed to the train station and got on our way to Jaipur, where we arrived this morning. We didn't sleep super well on the train (there
were annoying loud people sharing our compartment), but we were determined to do some touristy things today, so after arriving at our hotel and eating breakfast, we set off for the old city. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, and as such, it houses the royal family (this area was ruled by Maharajas, and after it merged with post-independence India, they retained their titles). The old city is pink! One of the maharajas decided to paint all the facades because pink is the color of hospitality, and now everyone who lives or has a business there is bound by law to preserve the color. It's crowded and hectic, but part of it is a grid, which makes it slightly easier to deal with.
There are a bunch of things to see, but since we were taking it easy, we only saw three of them. First, we went to the City Palace, a super grand complex where the royal family still officially lives. The building itself is beautiful, with lots of carvings and marble inlay. There's also a small but detailed museum of royal dress, with lots of original outfits. We got an audio guide, which gave history and talked about some of the building details.
Our next stop was Jantar Mantar, an observatory built by the maharaja who designed the whole place. He was really into astrology and astronomy both, so he designed several observatories all over India and filled them with structures that could measure positions of objects
in the sky, tell time, and do other similar things. The whole place was fascinating to walk around in, and looked (as Lonely Planet put it) like a rather bizarre sculpture garden.Our map turned out to be misleading and inaccurate, so we spent a bunch of time wandering about before we found our next destination, Hawa Mahal. This palace was built with latice windows so that royal ladies could look out over the bazaar and see processions without b
eing seen (as that would be unseemly). We got to climb up to the top and look out the little windows, to see what view they'd get. The whole building was also gorgeous, with pink domes and columns and cool glass work on one of the floors. It looked like a real castle!Hungry and exhausted, we headed to LMB, a veggie place that we read about in Lonely Planet. There, we got the fanciest meal we've had here so far -- a huge Rajasthani Thali, a combo plate thing showcasing local cuisine. It was immense and delicious, and we ended up spending a total of about $22 for what was essentially a multi-course tasting menu. We were stuffed by the end, and very pleased.
On our taxi ride back to the hotel, we ended up arranging for the taxi driver to pick us up and take us to the other places we want to go tomorrow, as they are pretty spread out and would be a pain to get to on our own. So, we have a sort-of tour set up, which will be nice. He was funny, too -- when we drove past the King Edward something or other, he told us, "this is in honor of the British Maharaja." Well, I'm not sure that's how the Brits would put it, but sure. :)
Tomorrow after the day's outing, we get on another train and head to Jaisalmer, where we will be picked up the following morning from the train station and taken on a camel trek! I'm not sure when we'll next have internet, but we'll update when we can!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
"This is the cleanest public bathroom I've ever seen, including in America."
Sorry for the lack of updates, it's been a tiring few days and I just haven't had the mental energy (and sometimes the internet access). We have wi-fi in our room, however, so I will try to catch up a bit now. Not too many pictures, I haven't had time to look through them all.
After some train adventures (our train was late again, we thought we missed the transfer by minutes, then it turned out the transfer was late, too, so it was all OK), we arrived in Amritsar to a thunder storm, hail, and flooding in the streets. Our hotel is across the street from the train station, so we made it over without too much trouble (and there was a temporary lull in the rain) and collapsed, a little concerned about how we were going to see anything. The hotel had room service, though, so at least we could get a late lunch. This hotel is relatively nice -- hot water, wifi, flat screen tv. Funny how our standards have shifted. :)
Mu's coworker Satinder picked us up later in the evening and had planned on taking us to some walking streets, but everything was horribly flooded! The rain had stopped, but many streets had 6 inches or more standing water, and some puddles looked over a foot deep! Craziness. So instead, he drove us around and told us about different neighborhoods. This is the first city where we've actually seen modern
areas, as well as non-touristy residential areas. It's nice to have a local guide! He also took us to a little courtyard with lots of food stalls, so we got some very spicy tomato curry thing and ate in the car, because it was very muddy and not pleasant to stand outside. Oh, and we saw an Indian mall where we had ice cream on a stick (like a popsicle but creamier, though not as creamy as ice cream...and flavored with something yummy that he couldn't translate), and the Indian version of Walmart, where I purchased chocolate candy with a toy inside, like a Kinder Surprise! We also heard some stories about Sikhism (Satinder is a Sikh, and Amritsar is the most important Sikh city) and Punjab, the state we're currently in.
As an aside, I realized today that we're getting a little crash course in religious diversity. Thailand was all about Buddhism, a little different flavor of Buddhism in Darjeeling, Hinduism in Varanasi and in other places at random, a little bit of Islam in Agra, and Sikhism today. I knew in theory that India is a religious country, but it's different to see it first hand. It's much more a part of day to day life than it is for most people in the US.
Today, we were going to get going early so as to do everything on Satinder's list of "stuff tourists should see" (he was very determined that we get the proper tourist experience, including pictures of us everywhere!). The weather had other plans at first, though -- super foggy and cold in the morning. We ended u
p delayed by about 2 hours, not too bad. The first stop was the Golden Temple, which, unlike the Varanasi one, is a Sikh temple. It was so impressive! A huge complex with a gilded golden temple in the middle (something like 800kg of gold was used!) surrounded by a sacred pool surrounded by marble! It was also amazingly clean, including an amazingly clean public bathroom. One has to be barefoot (and with a head covering) everywhere inside the temple (it was cold, ick), so I was a little afraid of the bathroom, but it looked like it had been washed 5 minutes before, which was probably in fact the case. There were armies of volunteers everywhere, cleaning and serving food and doing service for the temple. We went inside the temple and listened to chanting, and also had lunch at the kitchen, where they serve everyone for free (we donated some money, since we are definitely not needy).
After that, Satinder had arranged a tour for us that was a walk around markets and other places in the old city. The guide was a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady who told us more stories about Sikhs and showed us facades of old buildings, shops of all kinds, a Hindu temple with some amazing paintings, and a gigantic ancient tree that's growing in and around several houses (you can't cut down a banyan tree, but you can build around it!). We also tried some Punjabi sweets -- something like a funnel cake but smaller and dipped in sugar syrup instead of powdered sugar. Yay for sweet deep-fried things! We also got a photo wit
h a random shopkeeper who insisted that he wanted to give us a free candy and take our pictures. His friends took pictures of us, too -- I guess both he and us will have a souvenir :)
After another snack (unknown veggie pastry), we met Satinder's wife and son -- Harkiran and Jot -- and Harkiran's mom, niece, and mom's servant (who startled us when she brought us water on a tray and departed again. I guess it's not weird for people here to have servants, but to us, it was surprising). We hung out for a little bit and then went to the flag ret
rieval ceremony on the India-Pakistan border! This is the only place where the border is open (with very tight security) and there is a nightly ceremony where soldiers from both sides meet, take down flags, and close the gate (though it re-opens again after everyone leaves so busses and trucks can come through). It's rather like a sports match -- thousands of Indians (and about a third as many Pakistanis) come, fill the bleachers on either side, and cheer madly as soldiers march up and down, making incredibly high kicks and weird stompy motions (I tried to get video but haven't looked at it yet to see if it turned out). Harkiran and I were in the ladies section, and we ended up at the very top of the bleachers, standing on the outer wall, hanging on to the railings. At least we could see. :) It was really a spectacle, and a huge tourist attraction. Despite tensions politically between the countries, it seems like the people here are not really inclined to dislike one another.
After this, we returned to town and visited Satinder's family's house. His mom doesn't speak English, but she sat with us and offered us snacks and smiled and hugged me when we left. :) His dad speaks pretty good English and
we chatted with him about religion (he told us more about Sikhs fighting Muslims), politics (corruption in India and Pakistan, and how most people who live near the border are friendly and don't care about the divisions), and other random things. It was neat to talk to someone who lives here and isn't paid to interact with tourists. Also, we got a great photo of Satinder and his dad, sitting identically and looking solemn. :)
Now we're home and in need of sleep! Tomorrow, we go to an Indian wedding (I don't know whose, Satinder and Harkiran are taking us), and then we're on to Jaipur. Our trip is winding down, sadly. But we still have interesting things to come, so yay!
After some train adventures (our train was late again, we thought we missed the transfer by minutes, then it turned out the transfer was late, too, so it was all OK), we arrived in Amritsar to a thunder storm, hail, and flooding in the streets. Our hotel is across the street from the train station, so we made it over without too much trouble (and there was a temporary lull in the rain) and collapsed, a little concerned about how we were going to see anything. The hotel had room service, though, so at least we could get a late lunch. This hotel is relatively nice -- hot water, wifi, flat screen tv. Funny how our standards have shifted. :)
Mu's coworker Satinder picked us up later in the evening and had planned on taking us to some walking streets, but everything was horribly flooded! The rain had stopped, but many streets had 6 inches or more standing water, and some puddles looked over a foot deep! Craziness. So instead, he drove us around and told us about different neighborhoods. This is the first city where we've actually seen modern
areas, as well as non-touristy residential areas. It's nice to have a local guide! He also took us to a little courtyard with lots of food stalls, so we got some very spicy tomato curry thing and ate in the car, because it was very muddy and not pleasant to stand outside. Oh, and we saw an Indian mall where we had ice cream on a stick (like a popsicle but creamier, though not as creamy as ice cream...and flavored with something yummy that he couldn't translate), and the Indian version of Walmart, where I purchased chocolate candy with a toy inside, like a Kinder Surprise! We also heard some stories about Sikhism (Satinder is a Sikh, and Amritsar is the most important Sikh city) and Punjab, the state we're currently in.As an aside, I realized today that we're getting a little crash course in religious diversity. Thailand was all about Buddhism, a little different flavor of Buddhism in Darjeeling, Hinduism in Varanasi and in other places at random, a little bit of Islam in Agra, and Sikhism today. I knew in theory that India is a religious country, but it's different to see it first hand. It's much more a part of day to day life than it is for most people in the US.
Today, we were going to get going early so as to do everything on Satinder's list of "stuff tourists should see" (he was very determined that we get the proper tourist experience, including pictures of us everywhere!). The weather had other plans at first, though -- super foggy and cold in the morning. We ended u
p delayed by about 2 hours, not too bad. The first stop was the Golden Temple, which, unlike the Varanasi one, is a Sikh temple. It was so impressive! A huge complex with a gilded golden temple in the middle (something like 800kg of gold was used!) surrounded by a sacred pool surrounded by marble! It was also amazingly clean, including an amazingly clean public bathroom. One has to be barefoot (and with a head covering) everywhere inside the temple (it was cold, ick), so I was a little afraid of the bathroom, but it looked like it had been washed 5 minutes before, which was probably in fact the case. There were armies of volunteers everywhere, cleaning and serving food and doing service for the temple. We went inside the temple and listened to chanting, and also had lunch at the kitchen, where they serve everyone for free (we donated some money, since we are definitely not needy).
After that, Satinder had arranged a tour for us that was a walk around markets and other places in the old city. The guide was a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady who told us more stories about Sikhs and showed us facades of old buildings, shops of all kinds, a Hindu temple with some amazing paintings, and a gigantic ancient tree that's growing in and around several houses (you can't cut down a banyan tree, but you can build around it!). We also tried some Punjabi sweets -- something like a funnel cake but smaller and dipped in sugar syrup instead of powdered sugar. Yay for sweet deep-fried things! We also got a photo wit
h a random shopkeeper who insisted that he wanted to give us a free candy and take our pictures. His friends took pictures of us, too -- I guess both he and us will have a souvenir :)After another snack (unknown veggie pastry), we met Satinder's wife and son -- Harkiran and Jot -- and Harkiran's mom, niece, and mom's servant (who startled us when she brought us water on a tray and departed again. I guess it's not weird for people here to have servants, but to us, it was surprising). We hung out for a little bit and then went to the flag ret
rieval ceremony on the India-Pakistan border! This is the only place where the border is open (with very tight security) and there is a nightly ceremony where soldiers from both sides meet, take down flags, and close the gate (though it re-opens again after everyone leaves so busses and trucks can come through). It's rather like a sports match -- thousands of Indians (and about a third as many Pakistanis) come, fill the bleachers on either side, and cheer madly as soldiers march up and down, making incredibly high kicks and weird stompy motions (I tried to get video but haven't looked at it yet to see if it turned out). Harkiran and I were in the ladies section, and we ended up at the very top of the bleachers, standing on the outer wall, hanging on to the railings. At least we could see. :) It was really a spectacle, and a huge tourist attraction. Despite tensions politically between the countries, it seems like the people here are not really inclined to dislike one another.After this, we returned to town and visited Satinder's family's house. His mom doesn't speak English, but she sat with us and offered us snacks and smiled and hugged me when we left. :) His dad speaks pretty good English and
we chatted with him about religion (he told us more about Sikhs fighting Muslims), politics (corruption in India and Pakistan, and how most people who live near the border are friendly and don't care about the divisions), and other random things. It was neat to talk to someone who lives here and isn't paid to interact with tourists. Also, we got a great photo of Satinder and his dad, sitting identically and looking solemn. :)Now we're home and in need of sleep! Tomorrow, we go to an Indian wedding (I don't know whose, Satinder and Harkiran are taking us), and then we're on to Jaipur. Our trip is winding down, sadly. But we still have interesting things to come, so yay!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
"Even the nice hotels in India are a little ghetto."
Catching up on some pictures from Varanasi first, post follows.
These are the musicians from the classical music performance on New Year's Eve.
Beautiful silk being sewn at the silk factory.
The stupa near the place where Buddha gave his first sermon in Sarnath.
The Bodhi Tree (or an offspring thereof) -- the tree under which Buddha sat and meditated.
Boat on the Ganga with very colorful clothes drying. People do their washing in the Ganga, which seems unwise. However, I love all the colors!
We have decided on partial list of what makes a hotel in India nice, since today, we're staying (for half the day and no night, weirdly) in the nicest one we've been in so far. So, a nice hotel has: a space heater, hot water that does not run out mid-shower, towels, soap, toilet paper, a curtain to separate the shower from the toilet, and a shower set up in such a way that the entire bathroom floor does not end up wet (only half of it does), and meat that appears to be safe to eat. Most of these, I'm noticing, revolve around bathrooms. :) However, since this is India, even a nice hotel has to have a weird touch, evidenced by the photo below -- that's a tub under the AC unit coming out of our room. Silliness.
Anyways, yesterday (while we were still in Agra, in a less nice hotel than today -- no hot water), Mu felt better and we were able to go see the Taj Mahal! It's really as amazing as everyone says, and we took loads of photos (only a few of which I'm including here -- you all know what the Taj Mahal looks like, I assume, and there are better photographers than us). 
It's really much cooler in person than in pictures, though -- so grand and majestic from a distance, and amazingly detailed work up close. The mausoleum, which is considered sacred and thus photos are not allowed, has very delicate-looking marble carvings, which is hard to imagine were done without computer aid. The inlay work is also quite impressive, with flowers and different geometric shapes and things, all identical and perfectly symmetrical. It's really a work of art, plus an amazing display of arrogance on the part of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who thought up the whole thing. I mean, how, in the 1600s, does one envision that such a thing is possible, and then find people to carry it out? Anyways, we were impressed.
Some of the amazing detail work
The rest of the day was spent lazing about, as Mu was still recovering. I had an interesting conversation with the owner (?) of the internet cafe, which ranged in topics from what is meant by "karma" (it means "action" and there are 3 categories -- from intelligence, passion, or ignorance) to his travels (in the 70s, he spent 6 months driving from India to Germany with a random woman from Tucson who he met while she was traveling in India herself) to the tiger sponsored by Bill Clinton at the park we went to today (after sending it money for years, Clinton asked for a photo. At this point, the park officials realized they couldn't find the tiger, or 22 others, who had apparently been poached.). I also ate more yummy food at the hotel restaurant (I did not eat anywhere else in Agra, weirdly enough -- everything was either too far for me to want to go alone, or there were aggressive shop owners outside and I didn't want to encourage them), played video games, and was otherwise lazy. It was nice, for the most part.
This morning, we cancelled our train and hired a car to take us to Ranthanbore Park, where we would go on a safari. Because this is the foggy season, trains have been super late. This mostly doesn't matter for us, but today, we didn't have that much leeway between the train's arrival and the safari's beginning. The car trip was...long and suboptimal, over super bumpy roads through the fog, but at least we got there, safe and on time. Due to scheduling issues, we're only here this evening, which is almost sad, since the hotel we're at is super nice compared to everywhere else!
The safari itself was both nice and disappointing at the same time. We saw lots of wildlife -- deer, monkeys, peacocks, different birds -- and the weather was quite pleasant. However, we didn't see any tigers! Not an opportune time, I guess. Still, a little sad.
We also saw lots of goofy camels along the road. They're actually used for transport here, genuinely, but they're such bizarre animals!
Now, we're relaxing for another hour or so, and then we're off to the train station and Amritsar, where one of Mu's coworkers will meet us and show us around for the next few days! I'm so glad Mu is feeling better!
These are the musicians from the classical music performance on New Year's Eve.
Beautiful silk being sewn at the silk factory.
The stupa near the place where Buddha gave his first sermon in Sarnath.
The Bodhi Tree (or an offspring thereof) -- the tree under which Buddha sat and meditated.
Boat on the Ganga with very colorful clothes drying. People do their washing in the Ganga, which seems unwise. However, I love all the colors!We have decided on partial list of what makes a hotel in India nice, since today, we're staying (for half the day and no night, weirdly) in the nicest one we've been in so far. So, a nice hotel has: a space heater, hot water that does not run out mid-shower, towels, soap, toilet paper, a curtain to separate the shower from the toilet, and a shower set up in such a way that the entire bathroom floor does not end up wet (only half of it does), and meat that appears to be safe to eat. Most of these, I'm noticing, revolve around bathrooms. :) However, since this is India, even a nice hotel has to have a weird touch, evidenced by the photo below -- that's a tub under the AC unit coming out of our room. Silliness.
Anyways, yesterday (while we were still in Agra, in a less nice hotel than today -- no hot water), Mu felt better and we were able to go see the Taj Mahal! It's really as amazing as everyone says, and we took loads of photos (only a few of which I'm including here -- you all know what the Taj Mahal looks like, I assume, and there are better photographers than us). 
It's really much cooler in person than in pictures, though -- so grand and majestic from a distance, and amazingly detailed work up close. The mausoleum, which is considered sacred and thus photos are not allowed, has very delicate-looking marble carvings, which is hard to imagine were done without computer aid. The inlay work is also quite impressive, with flowers and different geometric shapes and things, all identical and perfectly symmetrical. It's really a work of art, plus an amazing display of arrogance on the part of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who thought up the whole thing. I mean, how, in the 1600s, does one envision that such a thing is possible, and then find people to carry it out? Anyways, we were impressed.
Some of the amazing detail work
The rest of the day was spent lazing about, as Mu was still recovering. I had an interesting conversation with the owner (?) of the internet cafe, which ranged in topics from what is meant by "karma" (it means "action" and there are 3 categories -- from intelligence, passion, or ignorance) to his travels (in the 70s, he spent 6 months driving from India to Germany with a random woman from Tucson who he met while she was traveling in India herself) to the tiger sponsored by Bill Clinton at the park we went to today (after sending it money for years, Clinton asked for a photo. At this point, the park officials realized they couldn't find the tiger, or 22 others, who had apparently been poached.). I also ate more yummy food at the hotel restaurant (I did not eat anywhere else in Agra, weirdly enough -- everything was either too far for me to want to go alone, or there were aggressive shop owners outside and I didn't want to encourage them), played video games, and was otherwise lazy. It was nice, for the most part.This morning, we cancelled our train and hired a car to take us to Ranthanbore Park, where we would go on a safari. Because this is the foggy season, trains have been super late. This mostly doesn't matter for us, but today, we didn't have that much leeway between the train's arrival and the safari's beginning. The car trip was...long and suboptimal, over super bumpy roads through the fog, but at least we got there, safe and on time. Due to scheduling issues, we're only here this evening, which is almost sad, since the hotel we're at is super nice compared to everywhere else!
The safari itself was both nice and disappointing at the same time. We saw lots of wildlife -- deer, monkeys, peacocks, different birds -- and the weather was quite pleasant. However, we didn't see any tigers! Not an opportune time, I guess. Still, a little sad.
We also saw lots of goofy camels along the road. They're actually used for transport here, genuinely, but they're such bizarre animals!
Now, we're relaxing for another hour or so, and then we're off to the train station and Amritsar, where one of Mu's coworkers will meet us and show us around for the next few days! I'm so glad Mu is feeling better!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Assumptions
As much as I try not to, I still have preconceived notions about what a place will be like before I go. Here are some of them.
In Thailand I was surprised by how many people spoke English, but how little signage was in English. In India it seemed to be just the opposite; Nearly all of the signage was in English, but it was very difficult to find people who spoke English.
Thailand has numerous modern structures most of which were in good repair. Thais put in a lot of effort in keeping everything clean. While the sidewalks did leave much to be desired, the roads seemed in better condition than in the US. In India, it seems most buildings have not been kept up since the British left. The decor hasn't changed either. The roads have potholes the size of cows, sidewalks are nonexistent.
Lane markings in India are nonexistent or treated as suggestions. Cars will drive down either side of the road. Where the US there would be 3 lanes of traffic going one way, in Kolkata they fit 4 cars wide in the correct direction plus 1 going the other way. Very scary. Horns are used to keep every one from crashing into each other. To fit so close together cars have their side mirrors folded in.
While I guessed this in theory, it was a shock (literally) to find out hotel wiring standards are not up to US code of even 40 years ago. In the US if a hot wire touches a pipe, it blows the breaker and everyone is safe. Not so here. Also it is good to be cautious of the structural integrity of what you are standing on.
If someone is trying to sell you something NO does not mean NO. I hate being rude, but it seems like the only way to enjoy being here is to ignore anyone who tries to talk to you. In India information tends not to be free. If you ask a person on the street for directions they will expect a tip and will tell you so.
You have to remove your shoes at every sacred space. Even when it is wet and muddy. Also, marble is slippery when wet.
Indians do not know how to queue. They love pushing their way to the front.
That is all for now.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
"It is part of the adventure of traveling. You will remember it all your life."
Frankly, not a great day today. Our train out of Varanasi was 3 hours late leaving the station, and lost another 3.5 hours along the way, which meant that our scheduled 6am arrival turned into 1:30pm. This would've been less bad if Mu hadn't also gotten sick again along the way -- he has a fever and tummy issues, ugh. He's currently in our hotel room (which proudly informed us that there's "free hot water by bucket"), resting, having started the antibiotic that his doctor gave him just in case for such a purpose.
I'm also taking it easy today. I don't want to go see Taj Mahal without Mu (though if he's not feeling up to walking around tomorrow, I will), so I've relaxed and walked around a bit and talked with other tourists. I met two women who'd been doing a meditation retreat, and we went to the "Taj Nature Walk," which turned out to be a vast area with semi-built trails and gorgeous views of the Taj. I got some photos, though they're all in bad lighting and fog, so we'll see how they actually turn out.
I'm not sure I like Agra. The Taj looks amazing, of course, and I'm sure that I'll love it once we're inside. However, the downside of having this huge tourist attraction here (and staying right next to it) is that the touts here are worse than anywhere we've been yet! They're super persistent -- I've had to say "no" about 4-5 times per person. Ugh. A pair of British women I was talking to think it's because there are fewer tourists here than normal, so they're all desperate. At least there are no cars allowed near the Taj, so there is very little honking. Also, our hotel has a lovely little garden, so it feels rather like a retreat.
Now, I'm going to check on Mu and go in search of dinner. Hopefully, he'll feel better by tomorrow and we can see the Taj!
I'm also taking it easy today. I don't want to go see Taj Mahal without Mu (though if he's not feeling up to walking around tomorrow, I will), so I've relaxed and walked around a bit and talked with other tourists. I met two women who'd been doing a meditation retreat, and we went to the "Taj Nature Walk," which turned out to be a vast area with semi-built trails and gorgeous views of the Taj. I got some photos, though they're all in bad lighting and fog, so we'll see how they actually turn out.
I'm not sure I like Agra. The Taj looks amazing, of course, and I'm sure that I'll love it once we're inside. However, the downside of having this huge tourist attraction here (and staying right next to it) is that the touts here are worse than anywhere we've been yet! They're super persistent -- I've had to say "no" about 4-5 times per person. Ugh. A pair of British women I was talking to think it's because there are fewer tourists here than normal, so they're all desperate. At least there are no cars allowed near the Taj, so there is very little honking. Also, our hotel has a lovely little garden, so it feels rather like a retreat.
Now, I'm going to check on Mu and go in search of dinner. Hopefully, he'll feel better by tomorrow and we can see the Taj!
Monday, January 2, 2012
A nice, if soggy, way to start the new year.
Another picture-less post today. There will be a day when we have wi-fi easily accessible, but it is not this day. This day, we contend with weirdly restricted hotel internet. Bonus points if you recognize the reference (Cindy, you don't get to play).
The previously mentioned cultural presentation for New Year's turned out to be pretty awesome -- classical Indian music, as well as Indian dance. The performers were good and highly enthusiastic, and one of the dancers is apparently a doctor and just does this in her spare time. Lots of fun, and we were seated with a nice Canadian couple (Ruth and Brooke) about our parents' age who had been traveling in India and Nepal for 3 months already, and were going to be traveling for another 3! They had lots of stories, and we had a few of our own, and dinner was nice (and, indeed, included beer), so overall, it was a very nice way to ring in the new year.
The next day, we had a full day tour booked, which we were sharing with with Ruth and Brooke. When we woke up, it was gray and rainy and fairly miserable, though not actually very cold. If we had been normal people, we would've stayed in our rooms. But, of course, we're tourists, so we bundled up, brought hats and scarves, and off we went with our guide, Muna.
Muna turned out to be highly entertaining and very informative. His uncle owns Hotel Alka, where we're staying, and Muna came to Varanasi 4 years ago to learn English and get in the business. He is also a devout Hindu, so he was able to share a lot of stories and tidbits with us as we visited various holy sites. He took us to several temples, including the Monkey Temple (which, indeed, has loads of monkeys, but is named not for the monkeys themselves but for the monkey god who was a good friend of the god Rama). Photos were prohibited at many of the sites, and several did not allow bags inside for security reasons, but we'll post the pictures we did get. We also got to visit Sarnath, the place where Buddha gave his first sermon. Although Varanasi is a holy Hindu city, Buddha is also respected here -- he is said to be one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The only downside to all these places was that in the temples, one has to go barefoot, and it was not warm, and wet and gross. We tried not to think about this too much. :) We also got to see beautiful silks being made and got a gorgeous sheet for our bed back home.
We were pretty exhausted upon returning to the hotel, but the day was not yet over -- our guide suggested that we take a boat ride on the Ganges to see the puja, the daily prayer ceremony, and also look at the cremation point. Hindus cremate their dead (except for 5 categories: children, pregnant women, holy men, people with snakebites, and lepers), and the Ganges is considered the best place for this, because if you die and are cremated in Varanasi, it's believed that you get to escape the cycle of death and rebirth. I had mixed feelings about seeing the cremations. There is a very strong prohibition against it in Judaism, and while I have no issue with other people doing as they like, it felt a bit weird to see one happen in real life. Still, I felt like it was such an essential part of the cultural experience here, I'd be missing out. So, Ruth and Brooke and Mu and I were loaded on a boat, sent flowers and candles floating down the river for good luck (and had the boy attempt to charge us way more than he should've for the privilege), saw the puja and cremations (which happen 24 hours a day here), and then got caught on the way back in an honest-to-goodness downpour, where by the time we got back to the hotel, we were completely soaked. Our clothes are still damp today, which has led to Mu having to adopt a rather bizarre outfit of shorts and base layer, as he did not have a dry pair of pants. :) We also had adventures while taking a hot shower (much needed after being soaked) -- it wasn't grounded properly and gave us a small shock. Comforting. :)
Today, there was more walking around. We saw the Golden Temple, the most important temple in Varanasi, and perhaps (for Hindus) in all of India. Foreigners aren't allowed there on their own, but we could go in with our guide. The dome is made of 900kg of pure gold, and inside is a Shiva Lingam, which is considered very lucky. No cameras, of course, and no mobiles, electronic gadgets, cameras, pens, knives, or coconuts. Or shoes. It was an experience, for sure. We also mailed the first set of postcards (we still have about 10 more to write), purchased another pair of pants for Mu, got a cheap and poorly made duffel (it's fine for the price, and it only needs to last 2 weeks), and had an Indian cultural experience with a guy who helped us find the post office and then convinced us to come to his shop to smell incense and essential oils. We ended up getting a small box of incense for a friend back home, after a long process. :)
Now, we're passing time 'till we have to go to the train station in a few hours. We'll eat here at the hotel -- the restaurant is good and not very expensive, and completely vegetarian. Then, it's a not very long train ride to Agra, so we won't get a full night's sleep, but will at least get about 6 hours. And then, it's Agra and the Taj Mahal!
The previously mentioned cultural presentation for New Year's turned out to be pretty awesome -- classical Indian music, as well as Indian dance. The performers were good and highly enthusiastic, and one of the dancers is apparently a doctor and just does this in her spare time. Lots of fun, and we were seated with a nice Canadian couple (Ruth and Brooke) about our parents' age who had been traveling in India and Nepal for 3 months already, and were going to be traveling for another 3! They had lots of stories, and we had a few of our own, and dinner was nice (and, indeed, included beer), so overall, it was a very nice way to ring in the new year.
The next day, we had a full day tour booked, which we were sharing with with Ruth and Brooke. When we woke up, it was gray and rainy and fairly miserable, though not actually very cold. If we had been normal people, we would've stayed in our rooms. But, of course, we're tourists, so we bundled up, brought hats and scarves, and off we went with our guide, Muna.
Muna turned out to be highly entertaining and very informative. His uncle owns Hotel Alka, where we're staying, and Muna came to Varanasi 4 years ago to learn English and get in the business. He is also a devout Hindu, so he was able to share a lot of stories and tidbits with us as we visited various holy sites. He took us to several temples, including the Monkey Temple (which, indeed, has loads of monkeys, but is named not for the monkeys themselves but for the monkey god who was a good friend of the god Rama). Photos were prohibited at many of the sites, and several did not allow bags inside for security reasons, but we'll post the pictures we did get. We also got to visit Sarnath, the place where Buddha gave his first sermon. Although Varanasi is a holy Hindu city, Buddha is also respected here -- he is said to be one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The only downside to all these places was that in the temples, one has to go barefoot, and it was not warm, and wet and gross. We tried not to think about this too much. :) We also got to see beautiful silks being made and got a gorgeous sheet for our bed back home.
We were pretty exhausted upon returning to the hotel, but the day was not yet over -- our guide suggested that we take a boat ride on the Ganges to see the puja, the daily prayer ceremony, and also look at the cremation point. Hindus cremate their dead (except for 5 categories: children, pregnant women, holy men, people with snakebites, and lepers), and the Ganges is considered the best place for this, because if you die and are cremated in Varanasi, it's believed that you get to escape the cycle of death and rebirth. I had mixed feelings about seeing the cremations. There is a very strong prohibition against it in Judaism, and while I have no issue with other people doing as they like, it felt a bit weird to see one happen in real life. Still, I felt like it was such an essential part of the cultural experience here, I'd be missing out. So, Ruth and Brooke and Mu and I were loaded on a boat, sent flowers and candles floating down the river for good luck (and had the boy attempt to charge us way more than he should've for the privilege), saw the puja and cremations (which happen 24 hours a day here), and then got caught on the way back in an honest-to-goodness downpour, where by the time we got back to the hotel, we were completely soaked. Our clothes are still damp today, which has led to Mu having to adopt a rather bizarre outfit of shorts and base layer, as he did not have a dry pair of pants. :) We also had adventures while taking a hot shower (much needed after being soaked) -- it wasn't grounded properly and gave us a small shock. Comforting. :)
Today, there was more walking around. We saw the Golden Temple, the most important temple in Varanasi, and perhaps (for Hindus) in all of India. Foreigners aren't allowed there on their own, but we could go in with our guide. The dome is made of 900kg of pure gold, and inside is a Shiva Lingam, which is considered very lucky. No cameras, of course, and no mobiles, electronic gadgets, cameras, pens, knives, or coconuts. Or shoes. It was an experience, for sure. We also mailed the first set of postcards (we still have about 10 more to write), purchased another pair of pants for Mu, got a cheap and poorly made duffel (it's fine for the price, and it only needs to last 2 weeks), and had an Indian cultural experience with a guy who helped us find the post office and then convinced us to come to his shop to smell incense and essential oils. We ended up getting a small box of incense for a friend back home, after a long process. :)
Now, we're passing time 'till we have to go to the train station in a few hours. We'll eat here at the hotel -- the restaurant is good and not very expensive, and completely vegetarian. Then, it's a not very long train ride to Agra, so we won't get a full night's sleep, but will at least get about 6 hours. And then, it's Agra and the Taj Mahal!
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