After being sick for 11 weeks and visiting six different doctors, Daniel and I have decided that I should come home. I spent my last week and half in India resting, doing some last minute shopping and spending time with Daniel. On my last day in India, Daniel took the day off to hang out with me before I had to leave. Unfortunately he was not feeling well himself, so it was even more difficult to say good bye.
I wish he could come back with me, but he has to stay for work until June 2. We are both sad about it, but we’re trying to make the best of it by reminding each other that we get to spend the rest of our lives together and a month and a half is short by comparison. I’m going to miss laughing with him about the things we see, hear or do here. Each day India never fails to surprise us and it has been fun sharing those experiences. I only wish my body had cooperated and I could have stayed longer to continue our adventure.
Category Archives: Culture
A Pushkar Named Bizarre
The next morning we drove to Pushkar. Half way to our destination we stopped at a Jain Temple. In India there are a few types of religions: Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Jains. All I know about Jains is that they do not eat anything that grows underneath the soil (no garlic, potatoes, etc.) and the women must be completely covered, including a scarf over their mouths, but Jain monks don’t wear any clothes. At the Jain temple we didn’t see any Jains, yet I have seen some monks in Jaipur. I was surprised to see full frontal nudity walking down the street in the middle of the day after dropping Holly off at the airport.
The beauty of the Jain temple is etched in the pillars and walls of the large structure. Intricate carvings cover the temple as a Cathedral in Italy is covered in paintings. On the way to Pushkar we also saw many trees where bats hung like ripe fruit. Dangling from their winged cocoons, the huge bats stood out against the green leaves of the trees like melons. Once we arrived in Pushkar it was already getting dark. We checked into our hotel and then went to the main bazaar and walked around at night.
Inside the main bazaar in Pushkar, it was as if we were in Alice’s Wonderland. We may have even seen the Cheshire cat amidst the craziness there. Shops full of typical tourist fare sparkled in the low light next to illegal shops with “cigarettes.” We had heard Pushkar was a very spiritual place where people make pilgrimage to the only Brahma temple in India. What we found was a drug paradise for foreigners who spend more time with a bong and opiates than prayer beads and shrines.
Pushkar was dark, the streets were busy and narrow as motorbikes zoomed inches from our toes. The bazaar was very dirty and to top it all off, the power kept turning off after a dust storm started when we were deep inside the market. The streets and buildings funneled wind, dust, trash and motorcycles with no headlights … in the dark. I found the whole thing quite comical. I’ve come to accept India for what it is — something to appreciate despite your discomforts.
To quote Leah, “At least it lived up to it’s name in the true sense of the word – bizarre.”
The next morning we went on a camel ride for an hour behind our hotel in the desert hills. When we first saw our four camels, one was very loud. I don’t know what you call a camel noise, but the guide said, he “was singing.” Yeah, right, he sounded angry to me. I kept thinking, “Please don’t let that be the one I have to ride,” but of course it was. He was the smallest one, so they said I should ride him. In the end, he just complained a little and only tried to scratch himself with a thorn bush once while I was riding him. The scratches on my leg and foot were a small price to pay for such a cool experience.
For an hour Leah and I rode the camels and looked at Pushkar from the hill. I loved the soft thump of his strange feet on the ground and the shadow of myself and the camel against the sand. Leah and I saw beautiful Kingfisher birds flying overhead and mouse holes below at the camel’s feet. Daniel and his Dad took another route for two hours. Apparently Daniel’s camel was in heat, so it foamed at the mouth, moaned and when they got down for a break the camel collapsed. Daniel thought he had keeled over and died, but the camel was just desperate for his mate. Daniel gave a pretty good rendition of the camel’s noises over breakfast when they returned.
Later that day we drove back to Jaipur. On Saturday we spent some time with David and Leah before their flight. We had so much fun with the Fletcher family, we were sad to see the final two go.
Petals and New Places
During Daniel’s parents’ last week in India we saw the Rajasthani Festival Parade in Jaipur and traveled to Udaipur and Pushkar. Thousands of people traveled from their villages to Jaipur for the annual parade. Decorated floats were made by hand to represent different parts of Rajasthan like Samode (remember the “Samode Abode” email). Before the parade began, two helicopters flew overhead and dropped red rose petals over us. The flower shower smelled refreshing, as if rose water was sprinkling the tips of our noses.
One of the other main attractions at the parade was the group of foreigners (us). Everyone stared at us as if we were our own parade. As the crowd sat in plastic chairs and stood by the roadside, they turned their heads away from the street to look at us. It was the most rubbernecking I’ve ever seen. Imagine hundreds of people staring at you without trying to be discreet. We simply had to laugh about it. We were probably the first foreigners some had ever seen.
Udaipur is the City of Lakes, and is located in the South of Rajasthan (the state where Jaipur is the capital). Last week we traveled to Delhi and Agra, which are both in separate states. On Monday morning David and Leah drove down to Udaipur and saw some sights on the way. Daniel and I stayed in Jaipur so he could work and I could go to the doctor again. The next morning we flew to Udaipur at about 7:30 a.m. for a full day and night there.
The flight was quick once we got on the plane. Waiting in the airport was odd because they didn’t update us when our flight was late and there are no signs indicating when flights arrive and depart. The flight itself was nice. They served a breakfast of croissant, fruit and South Indian cuisine to the 80 passengers. I was impressed they served food on a 55 minute flight — long gone are those days in the States. When we landed in Udaipur we walked on the tarmac towards the airport without any direction from signs, lines or flight attendants. Neither airport has jet ways or ways to direct people to the planes. Daniel and I wondered if people ever get on the wrong flights.
Our driver Shakti, who drove Leah and David to Udaipur, picked us up and took us to our hotel. On the way we saw many zinc smelters, cool rock formations and two men carrying two goats on a motorcycle together. Our hotel was quaint with a pool and view of the City Palace. We found David and Leah having coffee by the pool. Later that day we toured the City Palace, exploring the grand structure that took 400 years to build. Inside City Palace renovations seem to clash with the historical artwork. Some rooms are filled with ancient paintings and frescoes with other elements straight out of Studio 54. The guidebook described it as “trippy,” I’ll call it colorful with a loss of historical authenticity.
The grounds of the City Palace are vast, they overlook the lake, along with a couple of islands with palaces on them. Built on a mountain, the City Palace has many twisting hallways, staircases and amazing views from high above the city. If you pay more you can go inside another part of the palace and see their collection of crystal and crystal furniture. The king had it made in England, but died before it arrived. All of the extravagant and expensive crystal work sat in a shipping container untouched until the 80′s. No one knew it was there. If you ever want to see a bed made out of crystal, the City Palace in Udaipur is the place to go. (Sorry I don’t have any pics of the crystal, they don’t allow it!)
Later that night we took a boat to one of the islands in the lake called Jagmandir. Jagmandir has a beautiful courtyard restaurant. Daniel especially liked seeing the hundreds of bats fly above us on our way to Jagmandir by boat. The bats were huge — the size of cats! As the boat glided over the cool water, the city was very quiet and peaceful. It was a nice change of pace from Jaipur. Our dinner was also good and the views of the lit Lake Palace and City Palace over the water were stunning.
Totally for Taj
After our tiger sighting we decided to leave Ranthambore a day earlier than planned. Since we saw a tiger on our first try we left for Agra early Thursday morning and drove for seven hours. We found Agra to be very different from the other two cities that make up the Golden Triangle. Both Delhi and Jaipur are cleaner than Agra. The shops seem more run down and the streets aren’t paved as well, which seems backwards since the Taj Mahal brings so many visitors to the city. During our short time there we stayed at the Clarks Shiraz Hotel, one of the hotels in the Clarks Group chain. It is the sister hotel to the Clarks Amer (where the conference was held). Our transition from tent to nice hotel was not as drastic as you’d think. We slept just as well in both places.
We went to the Taj on Thursday afternoon before sunset. Hundreds of foreigners and Indians filled the grounds of the Taj Mahal. Fountains reflected the special tomb made by a king for his queen. As we walked around I kept thinking, “I can’t believe we are actually here!” The intricate work of marble, gemstones and carvings were breathtaking. Even the maintenance work was interesting to look at. They’ve cleaned two sides of the Taj for the first time. Workers climb scaffolding in order to plaster mud which removes the dirt and stains on the marble. Using dirt to clean, not an unfamiliar technique to those of us who have had a facial, eh?
We had a guide who led us around the monument telling us about the Arabic inscribed along the entry and within the tomb. Verses from the Koran are engraved into the marble getting progressively larger the higher it is on the wall that way it looks the same from the bottom. Before entering the Taj or the identical mosques on either side, we had to put wraps over our shoes. As we walked around the Taj the sun began to set and the lighting around the structure was incredible. The entire building glowed. It was stunning.
The next morning we hoped to see the Taj at sunrise since our driver Shakti said it was so beautiful. We got up at 5:30 a.m. and drove to the other side of the river across from the monument. There were quite a few people who were already awake getting ready for the day. Some were already keen to sell us stuff. We walked out to the riverbed from the road and waited for the sunrise. We even collected some followers including a boy with a camel. The Taj was pretty in the morning, but it was kind of cloudy so we didn’t get the effect Shakti was hoping for us to see.
Afterwards we (some of us) went back to sleep for a couple of hours before breakfast. When we awoke we had breakfast together, packed our bags and got in the car again! This time we went to the Agra fort, a much larger red fort similar to the one in Delhi. Made from red sandstone and some parts of marble, the son of the king who made the Taj lived in this fort. He also imprisoned his father there. I imagined him locking his father in a dungeon or something, but in reality the king was given luxurious accommodations and 5,000 women for his harem overlooking the exquisite tomb he had made for his wife.
We also went to a shop where descendants of the craftsmen who did the marble work for the Taj. There were incredible tabletops, boxes, plates, vases and other things made from marble and inlaid stones like jade, jasper, onyx, lapis lazuli, mother of pearl and carnelian. After viewing their studio and extensive collection, we continued our road trip by leaving Agra and heading to see a walled city called Fatehpur Sikri. I’ll tell you more about our adventure to Fatehpur Sikri and the crazy dust storm we experienced while there in my next e-mail.
Here are the Taj photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/562929506morRKc?vhost=community
From Sari to Safari
Next we visited a mock Rajasthani village called Chokhi Dani. Reminiscent of the Renaissance Fair or Medieval Times, the village is a combination of a place to eat and receive entertainment. From booths with traditional snacks, games and palm reading – to camel rides and dancing – this village has it all. When we arrived, the village was busy with Indian families eager to get into the village. The dimly lit mud huts and buildings welcomed us as we entered the dusty compound after waiting in a line of pushy people. Filled with kids, teens and parents, every attraction had an audience. A woman danced on a raised platform with a swirling skirt while she balanced a blue bottle on her head. Later she stood on a bed of nails to a round of applause.
The highlight of the night was riding a camel with Holly. When sitting on a seated camel, his long legs are folded underneath him. As he ratchets up his hind legs both passengers tilt forward to the point of falling off until he straightens his front legs. We noticed that leaning back is the best way to stay on. So we held tight and leaned back! We had fun as he thumped in the dirt across the grounds of Chokhi Dani. I felt the movement of the camel’s leg muscles against my feet as I bobbed along high above the ground. I felt like Aladdin. It was very cool.
At the beginning of the second week with the Fletchers, the ladies went jewelry shopping. We had a great time sifting through piles of silver and gemstone jewelry in plastic baggies. The great prices and wide variety of items made Holly and I want to start a jewelry shop, but we just settled for buying gifts. That evening we went to a very nice Indian restaurant called Peshawri where we dined with Daniel’s co-workers Vikas and Yogesh along with his boss Brian who was visiting from Brooklyn. All of the women sat together and it was fun getting to know all of the wives. On Tuesday we celebrated Daniel’s birthday by going out to dinner with the Singh’s and driving around the city. This week was the Rajasthani Festival. Many buildings are covered in decorative lights. We enjoyed riding in the car together after dinner and looking at the sparkling facades. This was the first of many times we spent together in a car this week.
On Wednesday we drove to Ranthambore National Park. Southeast of Jaipur, this park boasts a ton of different animals, but everyone goes to see tigers in the wild. We were told the road to Ranthambore was bumpy, but we never imagined it was a single lane dirt road with rocks. Needless to say the trip was long. However I did like driving through rural India and getting to see how people live outside of the cities. In Ranthambore we stayed in a hotel of luxury tents owned by a cousin of the Singhs. The tents had a bathroom, swamp cooler and mosquito net. Soon after we reached the hotel, we climbed onto an open truck-bus with an experienced driver and guide to take us into the wildlife park. About 20 of us traveled deep into the tiger reserve hoping to see one of the 34-38 tigers left.
If we thought the road to the park was bumpy, the roads inside were even more rustic. It was like being on a real version of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. I have a few bruises from bumping up against the side of the truck. There was also a lot of dust and whipping branches because Northern India is so dry. We saw many types of exotic birds, deer and monkeys. We also saw a wild pig. It was so exciting to see all of these animals in their natural habitat. The entire trip through the park was full of tension and stumps that look like tigers. Ha Ha Ha.
Around every turn and tree we hoped to see a flash of bright orange fur amidst the tan and grey foliage. At times we stopped to hear if a Sanbar was giving warning to his pack. If one hears this call, a tiger is near. About midway through our trip we saw tiger prints along the road. The guide said they weren’t too fresh, but it made me more hopeful.
As luck would have it, about a half an hour later, we saw a large male tiger. Not far off the road he was lying by an estuary in a thicket of trees. He was beautiful. We were so close to him and there was nothing between us – no fence, glass or chains. He tolerated us for about ten minutes with a few “leave me alone” roars and then became annoyed and wandered off. I still can’t believe we saw a tiger in the wild.
After our safari, we returned to our hotel, showered and had dinner. Musicians played and a young girl twirled in her skirt to the music. That night we all slept soundly under our mosquito nets after our first big adventure of the week.
For photos of our time in Ranthambore, please check out the Ranthambore photo album here: http://community.webshots.com/album/562927551uXaFTO?vhost=community
