Sunday, February 12, 2012
Days 6-8: Udaipur
Udaipur was the next place we visited. I'll skip the bus ride there, because I'd prefer to forget it! We immediately noticed a shift in attitude and atmosphere in Udaipur - it was a lot more relaxed than the other places we've been. It's a smaller city, with two big lakes, a pretty palace, a stone temple, some posh hotels and resorts on and near the lake, an old palace on a mountaintop overlooking the city and surrounding countryside, lots of shops selling practically everything, folk dance performances, cooking classes, massage centers....all very tourist-friendly, but not too tacky or overbearing. Our guesthouse was a breezy and friendly 5-story open courtyard home. We made some friends in Udaipur and loved the change of pace.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Days 3-5: Jaipur
Whew...I haven't been online for a few days, but I'm finally getting a little bit of a chance to catch up now! I'm going to just upload some pictures from the last two cities. I'll add details, stories, and thoughts when I have the opportunity.
Jaipur is known as "the pink city" because all of the shops in the old city center were painted a sandy coral pink when Prince Albert and Queen Victoria came to visit in 1876. I enjoyed Jaipur, but also felt a bit claustrophobic there, with the dust and noise and constant hassling.It takes a lot of getting used to. These pictures are from the Old City, Hawa Mahal (palace of winds), Jantar Mantar (a collection of giant astronomical tools built in the 1700s to measure the time and the movement of stars and planets), the Raj Mandir cinema (where we saw a Bollywood film with a very lively and interactive audience), and the Amber Fort (just outside of the city).
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Day 2: Agra
On day 2 we discovered that early morning train rides are pretty chilly. Buying a blanket was added to the to-do list!
We spent most of our day in Agra at the Taj Mahal (India's symbol of love), the Agra Fort (an impressive red sandstone Mughal fortress), and the Kanari bazaar (an Aladdin-esque maze of vendors, dirt, silk, noise and monkeys).
The Taj Mahal is every bit as spectacular as you've heard. Parts of Agra (especially the bazaars!) are chaotic and filthy, but the Taj rises up above all the commotion, a pearly white picture of serenity. It's amazing to think about the craftsmenship that went into its construction. We visited a marble workshop to see how semi-precious gemstones were inlaid into the white marble in floral designs. It's a long and intricate process. The Taj is probably one of the most beautiful man-made things that I've ever seen.
Pleasant Surprise: Line are shorter for ladies! There are separate security lines for women at all of the major tourist sites and for the metro. Subway commuters and tourists are apparently overwhelmingly predominantly men, so even when there are long lines we haven't had to wait at all for anything!
Comic Moment: We had a funny misunderstanding with a group of young Indians (Formula 1 engineers, actually) we befriended at a train station. Asking for the "restroom" is NOT the same as asking for the bathroom. A restroom is a waiting room (ie, room for resting), and we were directed to several of them before we actually found the relief we were looking for.
Shock: It would be hard to describe the unpleasantness of the smells wafting up from the tracks on our slow train ride back to Delhi.
So far, India has been an assault on my senses, both exhilarating and exhausting.
We spent most of our day in Agra at the Taj Mahal (India's symbol of love), the Agra Fort (an impressive red sandstone Mughal fortress), and the Kanari bazaar (an Aladdin-esque maze of vendors, dirt, silk, noise and monkeys).
The Taj Mahal is every bit as spectacular as you've heard. Parts of Agra (especially the bazaars!) are chaotic and filthy, but the Taj rises up above all the commotion, a pearly white picture of serenity. It's amazing to think about the craftsmenship that went into its construction. We visited a marble workshop to see how semi-precious gemstones were inlaid into the white marble in floral designs. It's a long and intricate process. The Taj is probably one of the most beautiful man-made things that I've ever seen.
Pleasant Surprise: Line are shorter for ladies! There are separate security lines for women at all of the major tourist sites and for the metro. Subway commuters and tourists are apparently overwhelmingly predominantly men, so even when there are long lines we haven't had to wait at all for anything!
Comic Moment: We had a funny misunderstanding with a group of young Indians (Formula 1 engineers, actually) we befriended at a train station. Asking for the "restroom" is NOT the same as asking for the bathroom. A restroom is a waiting room (ie, room for resting), and we were directed to several of them before we actually found the relief we were looking for.
Shock: It would be hard to describe the unpleasantness of the smells wafting up from the tracks on our slow train ride back to Delhi.
So far, India has been an assault on my senses, both exhilarating and exhausting.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Day 1: New Delhi
My flight arrived at 2am, and after standing in a very long immigration line at the airport, I made it to the hostel where my friend Kelly was staying at around 4am. Four hours of sleep and then I was up drinking chai tea in the lobby and attempting to book train tickets while waiting for the water tank to be re-filled so that I could shower. Hello, India.
We spent the rest of the morning finding our hotel in the Paharganj area, and booking train and bus tickets online. In the afternoon, we went to visit Humayun's Tomb. Humayun was a Mughal emperor who died in 1556. His wife commissioned the tomb's construction several years after his death. The tomb complex is a large, quiet, shady Persian garden, containing his tomb (a beautiful red sandstone structure with white marble accents) as well as his wife's, along with other Mughal royalty and nobility and even a favorite royal barber.
In the evening, we strolled around Hauz Khas Village - a street of little art galleries, boutiques, restaurants and shops, sprinkled with ancient tombs, stray dogs, and rickshaw drivers. We went Western there and ate at a yummy bagel shop (those kinds of comforts never get old for those of us who call the Orient home).
We wrapped the day up with a meander around the bazaar near our hotel, some fiery chow mein from a street vendor, and sweet lassis to cut the spice.
Tomorrow we'll get an early start to catch the 6am train to Agra!
Fail of the day: Accidentally buying the most expensive thing on the menu at a Punjabi restaurant. That's what you get when you ask for a recommendation! It was 4x the price of just about every other dish offered. (no worries though - it was still less than 5 US dollars)
Comic Moment of the day: Being invited to jump over a guardrail off of an elevated walkway onto a moving ox-drawn cart on the highway (we didn't do it, but it was tempting!).
Shock(s) of the day: Being ambushed by a rat, nearly being run over by rickshaws (frequently), and public (very) bathrooms...
We spent the rest of the morning finding our hotel in the Paharganj area, and booking train and bus tickets online. In the afternoon, we went to visit Humayun's Tomb. Humayun was a Mughal emperor who died in 1556. His wife commissioned the tomb's construction several years after his death. The tomb complex is a large, quiet, shady Persian garden, containing his tomb (a beautiful red sandstone structure with white marble accents) as well as his wife's, along with other Mughal royalty and nobility and even a favorite royal barber.
In the evening, we strolled around Hauz Khas Village - a street of little art galleries, boutiques, restaurants and shops, sprinkled with ancient tombs, stray dogs, and rickshaw drivers. We went Western there and ate at a yummy bagel shop (those kinds of comforts never get old for those of us who call the Orient home).
We wrapped the day up with a meander around the bazaar near our hotel, some fiery chow mein from a street vendor, and sweet lassis to cut the spice.
Tomorrow we'll get an early start to catch the 6am train to Agra!
Fail of the day: Accidentally buying the most expensive thing on the menu at a Punjabi restaurant. That's what you get when you ask for a recommendation! It was 4x the price of just about every other dish offered. (no worries though - it was still less than 5 US dollars)Comic Moment of the day: Being invited to jump over a guardrail off of an elevated walkway onto a moving ox-drawn cart on the highway (we didn't do it, but it was tempting!).
Shock(s) of the day: Being ambushed by a rat, nearly being run over by rickshaws (frequently), and public (very) bathrooms...
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
India
Hello All!
I'm headed to India tomorrow for a 17-day exploration of New Delhi, Agra, and Rajasthan Province. I thought it would be fun to resurrect this blog, in the hopes that I'll have consistent enough internet access to upload pictures and keep a log of my travels.
Hope you enjoy it, and leave lots of comments! :)
I'm headed to India tomorrow for a 17-day exploration of New Delhi, Agra, and Rajasthan Province. I thought it would be fun to resurrect this blog, in the hopes that I'll have consistent enough internet access to upload pictures and keep a log of my travels.
Hope you enjoy it, and leave lots of comments! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)