Kristy and Matt's Indian adventure

Silly Postscript

2008-05-21T13:03:00.012+10:00

One more thing just for a laugh. 10 questions about our trip, well 11 actually the last one is a given.

Question	Kristy	Matt
What was the best thing about the holiday?	Seeing Tigers	Too hard to say, seeing Tigers, Varanasi at dawn, the Taj, I could go on.....
What was the worst thing about the holiday?	Rude tourists and coming home	The heat
What did you miss most about home?	The dogs and talking to my family on the phone	The dogs
Would you change anything about your holiday if you could plan it again?	Stay longer so we could have spent more time in Nepal	Stay longer
What was the most annoying thing about the holiday?	Rude tourists	Late planes, but you come to know that this is all just part of it after awhile
What was the funniest thing?	The monkey stealing a kid's corn corb at Elephanta Island or looking back, the airport security in Nepal (which wasn't at the time)	Kristy nearly shitting herself when the tiger came up to the jeep and hissed at her and yes I was laughing at the time or the fact that she kept getting a sore finger from taking way too many photos. Or maybe the monkey that kept lifting and looking up Kristy's skirt.
What was the biggest dissapointment?	The B&B in Delhi. Location was great but the bed was horrible. Getting sick	Not trying an authentic vindaloo
What was the best thing you ate?	Pepper Lobster at the Taj President's Thai resturant	The lamb curry at Varansi (real shame I can't remember what it was called though as I would love to try and cook it)
What was the worst thing you ate?	Plane food	McDonalds but it was pretty good at the time!
What was the most enjoyable thing you did?	Not working and not using a computer for 6 weeks! Too hard to answer there were so many things. Feeding wild monkeys even if I did get scratched, talking to the local people, going back to the hotel room and finding a birthday cake at 10.30 at night and quality time with Matt.	Everything and what Kristy said! Having a romantic private dinner for 2 on the hotel lawns in Aurangbad. Eating fantastic authentic food for 6 weeks and not having to cook it!
Would you go back?	Yes becuse we would go to different parts of India and it is so diverse it would be like visiting a different country	Most deffinatlly

The End

2008-05-21T10:14:00.011+10:00

Well like all good things sadly enough our trip had to come to an end. We are home now and I am even back at work, but I thought I would add one more post just to finish things off.

Firstly I will say that although I wasn't at first convinced about blogging (as Andrew said - "you are now super gay") but I am certainly a convert now, it really was a great way to keep people "in the know" about where we were and what we were doing. I think eventually this may even take the place of postcards. It does take time and depending on where you connect to the net can even end up costing a bit of money but it is just so easy, and one of the best things about it is that by doing this we will be able to remember more of our trip than if we hadn't kept a diary of what we did while we were away. It did make it easier once we had a laptop with us you can then write up blog posts offline and quickly cut and paste when on the net.

It is interesting (but I guess human nature) that one of the first questions you get asked is "What was the best thing about your holiday?" Well to be honest with you that is one question neither Kristy or I could give really true answer to. It is funny while we were away and we got further into our trip we would ask each other that very question. You thought you could honestly pick one thing but then a few days later you weren't so sure. India is just so diverse that you just can't pick one thing about even the tiny piece of the country that we saw and say that it stands out over everything else. I must admit though that for both of us seeing wild Tigers that close is pretty hard to beat, but then again the nature side of things is just one small part of what we experienced while we were away. The cultural aspect of the country is truly huge and it is hard to appreciate the diversity unless you actually experience it. Varanasi was spiritual and in a way magical (for want of a better discription) while Aurangabd and Khujarho showed the depth of history that the different religous and ethnic groups have. People rave about the architecture in Europe and how amazing it is, well I can't comment on that as I have not seen any of it, but I would bet that a lot of the Indian architecture is just as good if not better (read Taj Mahal). It really is just way to hard to say "well I think this bit was the best", but if I had to rate things, then I guess yes the Tigers first and probably Varanasi next but I would just be kidding myself.

There are a couple of phrases that we heard before we left for India, the marketing one Incredible !ndia which I will deffinatly agree with and another that our GP (who has been to India twice before and is on his way back later this year) uses TII - This is India, which after spending 6 weeks floating around the country is really apt. As I have said earlier there are some down sides to travelling in a country like India, but then there is a down side to travelling anywhere, I am sure Australia included. The poverty can be depressing and the hawkers annoying but it is part of the experience and if are expecting to travel in a country like India thinking that this won't be something you will have deal with then you shouln't be going. But Kristy and I both agree that the good things far outweigh the bad things in India. The food is amazing, the people are really warm and friendly, even the ones trying to sell you things, yes it is hot but if you plan your day to include air conditioning and swimming pools it isn't too much of an issue. (If you plan your travel to be in a cooler time of year even better). The depth of the culture is quite amazing, the people's religious beliefs are fascinating and the history of the country is very very interesting.

India is a huge country and changes radically as you travel between areas and we really saw next to nothing in the big scheme of things, it would be great to get back one day and see different parts of the country. Even talking to the local people it is clear that as you move between parts of India it is more like travelling to a different country than just a different state within a single country. One of the things that we have deffinatley proven is that most people really are unware and I guess to a degree ignorant (harsh I know) when it comes to India. When we began planning this trip a few years ago so many people would just say to us "why do you want to go there?", including a travel agent. The thing that annoyed us the most with the travel agent is that he wouldn't even give us any information about India, needless to say we never went back to them. Yes it is easy to have a uninformed opinion on places like India (or any country I know I am guilty of doing it) but really unless you experience things yourself you really can't make that judgement. India is an incredible and beautiful place, yes it makes you appreciate what you have but travelling to any country where a majority of the population is below the poverty line but as I have said if you are traveling to a country like this it is a part of the country and you need to be prepared for this sort of thing. I honesty think that it is a good thing to experience the bad things (if that makes sense) seeing this sort of thing and how people live like this and in many cases actually deal with it so well can actually make you look at yourself and really rethink some things. But like I said the country is wonderful and we really did have a great time. Six weeks was quite awhile to be away but looking back now we probably would have been just as happy to have spent 6 months there.

If anyone has any desire to go to India one day and would like some tips, you know where to come. We had a fantastic travel agent in India who we would highly recommend. Yes we had a few dramas at the beginning working things out but once we had it sorted and were there they were fantastic, very professional and really invaluable when we had some unexpected cancelations and delays. The same goes for the Taj hotels if you ever have the chance to stay in any of their hotels - do it. Their service is second to none, the heritage properties are beautiful and the staff are really amazing.

We will certainly have a lot of fond memories from our time in India but it is time to say farewell but hopefully not forever. And lastly the ultimate question - did we like it? I think that that question has been already well and truly answered. A resounding NO. We loved it!

KL for a couple of days stop over.

2008-05-03T22:33:00.007+10:00

KL was certainly very different from India and Nepal. It is not that much different from Sydney, big cosmopolitan and from the looks of things pretty wealthy and very clean. We really didn't do too much at all in KL other than eat. Spent a little bit of time fighting our way through the China Town markets and haggling (very hard) for a couple of last minute pressies and things. We spent a bit of time wandering around 2 of the biggest shopping centres we have ever seen. We had thought Bondi Junction was big and then we saw these places. Unlike most of the shopping centres that we are used to which have jewellers that stock all sorts of watch brands like Tag, Rolex, Omega, etc... these places have individual shops for each brand. There is a Tag shop and next door to that there is a Rolex shop and next to that an Omega shop and next to that a Prada shop with a Channel shop next to it and yeah you get the point. Although the shops aren't overly cheap (some a comparable with Australia others are cheaper) KL is certainly a shoppers paradise, if you wanted to find something (anything) this would be the place to start. I think Kristy wants to come back here one day for their yearly sales, apparently they are ridiculous. We also walked over to KLCC and the twin towers (which are very impressive) but most of our time was spent lazing around for the few days we were in Malaysia as we were pretty buggered after 6 weeks on the go and the last couple of days had been huge with very late flights and very little sleep.

The food here is fantastic and the variety that you can get is endless. The food in India was just as good (but different so hard to compare) but in KL you can get pretty much anything you want the variety is almost endless - the Malay food is really great, and cheap. Oh and for all you people out there that rave about Krispy Kreme donuts, they don't even come close to J.CO Coffee and Donuts. J.CO beats Krispy Kreme by a mile, absolutely no comparison.

The biggest spin out in KL was going to a groccery shop. (we were looking for spices) A groccery shop you would think - no big deal which it wasn't it was just like Coles or Woollies except for the fact that we were in Malaysia and they sold of all things Cassegrain wine! We were having a look at the bottles and one of the staff memebers came over to see if we needed any help and we explained to her that we were from the place where the wine was from, she actually got quites excited about this and called a couple of her work mates over to tell them. We were celebreties for about 3 seconds. This was one thing that we certainly wouldn't have thought we would find in KL.

Kuala Lumpur is a really nice city and was a great place to stop for a few days on the way home, just to relax a bit, I am glad we didn't have too much spending money left cause that was probably the only thing that stopped Kristy going ballistic in the Prada shops!

Our last day in India and first day in Malaysia

2008-05-03T21:58:00.006+10:00

Our last day in India wasn't overly exciting we spent the morning finalising our bags which we starting to feel a bit heavy again and then spending 5 hours in the car driving from Agra to Delhi. The drive was ok we were in a good car and the scenery was interesting, but it wasn't the most exciting way to spend our last day in India, but I suppose it had to happen. We ended up arriving to the Delhi airport almost 6 hours early, we should have gone to a coffee shop the Delhi international airport is a bit of a tragedy at the moment that doing huge amounts of work in preparation for the 2010 commonwealth games so it isn't the best place to hang around for that long and once you go through the door there ain't no coming out. They have armed guards at the door and they will not let you out ever!

We went and checked in when they finally opened the check-in counter and surprise surprise our luggage was too heavy. Being the nice guy that he was he said to us just put your hand luggage on the scales as well and see what the total is and you maybe ok. Little did he know we had already stuffed our hand luggage fuller than a turkey at Christmas and all I could think was that they weren't even going to let us on the plane! Well it didn't quite come to that, they gave us an option pay for excess luggage or get rid of some of it. I asked the obvious question how are we supposed to get rid of stuff? The answer - that is up to you. Good answer. The next question how much? The answer - $10US a kilo. How much were we over? Almost 20kg with our hand luggage. So we sighed and said ok we will pay, they ended up saying that they would only charge us for 5kg over as we had a camera and a laptop that they wouldn't include. We went to the supervisor credit card in hand. Kristy explained to the guy that we had been told we could have 60kg together when we left Sydney (thinking about it later we were actually wrong they told us we would be fine with 50) They also wanted to take my credit card out of the airport to process it the transaction and I said ok that's fine but I will carry it for you. Which he balked at. In the end they didn't charge us anything, we aren't sure weather it was just too hard to get me out of the building with the credit card or if it was Kristy explaining about what they (sort of) said in Sydney when we left.

So after that little drama we had about a 4 hour wait for the plane, which of course leaving from India was late although by now we were accustomed to planes never leaving on time. It was a crappy flight to Malaysia leaving after midnight and then being woken at 2am for breakfast(?) so we didn't much sleep on the way and were pretty buggered when we arrived in KL. We got to the hotel about 10am and decided that we would check some things out before going back to the hotel and falling asleep at 4.30 in the afternoon and waking up at midnight. We watched tv for a couple of hours before sleeping till almost 10!

The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

2008-05-01T02:33:00.007+10:00

Our first view of the Taj Mahal was from the hotel, having a suburb view from our room. From our vantage point, the skyline is just dominated by the immense structure it is absolutely huge. We were up early for what would be our last formal outing in India – a trip to the Taj Mahal followed by a look at Agra Fort. Agra itself is a sprawling industrial city of about 2 million in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Other than the fort and the Taj there is really little else here, which is why the tourist buses arrive by the dozen and leave just as quickly. A majority of the population these days rely on the tourism and it is pretty obvious once you set foot outside your hotel, the entrance fee to the Taj itself is no exception to this costing foreigners just short of $25 US each to visit. Residents of India are charged the equivalent of US 50 cents. This is not uncommon either nearly all the sights and monuments in India have two prices, one of foreigners and one for Indians, even the official tour guides who run around waving their laminated cards under your nose trying to drum up business have 2 prices!

We got a bit of friendly advice from our driver on the way there telling us to get the bus from the car park and not the tuk tuk as it was cheaper and not to let anyone tell us that you must have a guide to enter. Agra once the capital of India is fairly polluted so they have put into place some fairly strict rules around the Taj Mahal. polluting vehicles for example can only go within a certain distance of the monument and after that only electric vehicles can carry people to the entrance. From our hotel window early in the morning there is a really distinct haze you can see in front of the Taj which burns off as the day progresses and heats up.

We arrived at a pretty good time, just after 6 in the morning which is when the Taj is opened to the public, although there was still quite a few people around the tour buses only start turning up after breakfast so none of them were around. The Taj Mahal is often described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love and I think it goes without saying that this is true. It is also the most visited monument in the country, by foreigners and nationals alike and it really is a masterpiece. The Taj was built by the Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his second wife Mumtaz Mahal who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. Construction of the Taj began the year she died and was completed 22 years later. A year later Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son and imprisoned in Agra Fort until his death in 1666, after which he was buried along side is wife in the Taj Mahal. Around 20000 people work on the building including specialist brought in from Europe. The tour guides take great delight in telling the tourists that visit the Taj Mahal that all 20000 people that were involved in the building of the Taj as a reward for their efforts had their thumbs cut off so that the building could never be replicated – bit harsh although this has never actually been proven to have happened.

Well the Taj Mahal certainly has a wow factor to it. It really is a masterpiece. We got our car down to the car park which is about 1.5km from the Taj itself where you then have to get into an electric vehicle for the remainder of the trip, it is the Indian government's attempt to reduce the amount of pollution that the Taj is exposed to – which is good. Not sure how long ago it was but the Taj has undergone heavy restoration work, including scrubbing off the remnants of acid rain (and some graffiti). The building is huge and like the tombs in Delhi it is pretty incredible to think that this building is nothing more than a grave, although that really is over simplifying it a bit. The Taj Mahal stands on a raised marble platform at the end of an ornamental garden with a backdrop of only sky and it is a pretty amazing site as you walk through the entrance gate.We didn't worry about the guide but we were cornered by one of the caretakers who escorted Kristy around the entire site showing her the best places to take photos. Apparently most of the shot she took are the ones that are used for postcards which was pretty cool. Without wanting to detract from the visit and the significance of the building, in away visiting the Taj Mahal was like going to a really good movie after everyone else has seen it and hyped it right up and you finally get around to seeing it and you come away thinking yeah well that was really good but... Don't get me wrong it is an incredible building and a beautiful place to visit I just wish that everyone we spoke to about it hadn't told us how amazing it was before hand, maybe we should have gone there first!

Kristy didn't make it too Agra Fort she was really tired and couldn't face the heat again so I braved it myself. And yes by the time we had got back to the hotel after the Taj and had breakfast it was about 36 degrees (I think that was 9.30). Agra Fort is the twin of the Red Fort in Delhi and was where the Maharaja that built the Taj Mahal spent the last 7 years of his life after his own son overthrew him. I didn't spend too much time at the fort it was just way too hot but it is about a 2km walk around the site and had some more superb views of the Taj as a bonus, I unfortunately had to battle my way around with a number of bus loads of tourists, standing in the sun waiting for them to get out of the road so I could take photos and being generally annoyed tourists are (I hope we aren't like that) so that detracted from the visit a bit. It was enjoyable enough and I did get to hand feed a squirrel with chapati which was cool. Back to hotel we lazed around the hotel having lunch and packing feeling very sad that tomorrow was to be our last day in India.

Agra and the wedding season

2008-05-01T02:01:00.009+10:00

We arrived in Agra late in the afternoon for what would be the last few days of our stay in India. We planned an early start to go and see of course the Taj Mahal. The plan was to get an early night as we were getting up at 5 for an early morning visit to the Taj. Unfortunately the early night thing didn't quite happen the way we had planned. They really take weddings and the associated celebrations seriously here in India and the month of April is one of the more popular months to get married, this was a good thing for us but also not so good a thing for us. It was fantastic to see the celebrations that happen around the wedding receptions, with processions in the streets as the groom arrives and the fireworks that accompany the party. I even got to sit on the back of an elephant for a photo. The problem that we had is that one of the wedding receptions was in the grounds of the hotel we were staying at in Agra so the street out the front of the hotel was going ballistic from about 6 at night till well after midnight. The street we were on is also one of the main roads in Agra and there must have been a dozen weeding processions come past during the night, the last coming past at about 11. They are so loud with music blaring the whole time and accompanying bands and the processions were stopping about every 50 metres or so for some dancing, and then of course traffic jams occur and as soon as a traffic jam happens everyone is on the horn so the noise gets even louder. We were four floors up here and the noise was still really really loud, making it pretty impossible to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. I ended up killing time by going down stairs and standing in the middle of the street taking photos and riding elephants

Agra is completely driven by tourism and this hotel seems to have a huge turnover in guests with bus loads turning up seeing the Taj Mahal, staying one night and then leaving again so the hotel has been pretty chockers for the 2 days that we stayed. Coming back inside from the late night photo shoot on the street was really funny. Looking up at the hotel almost every window of the hotel had a least one or two faces with noses glued to the windows trying to see what was going on down on the street. This must be what it feels like to be one of those Tigers at Ranthambore. There have been weddings going on the entire time that we have been in Rajasthan and it really is serious stuff. Some of these receptions have up to 2000 people at them and can cost $60000 US, slightly different than in Australia. Kristy was talking to someone the other day and they were really surprised when she told them that we only had about 100 people at our wedding.

Chokhi Dhani

2008-05-01T01:39:00.005+10:00

On our last full morning we visited the government run emporium in town and contrary to popular belief not all shops like these are dearer than the markets. The prices here were really quite reasonable and without the hassles of haggling with shop owners and being followed like shadows as you look around a shop, we picked up a few souvenirs here before heading back to the hotel to make sure our luggage didn't weigh too much, which of course it did. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon packing and unpacking bags and getting them weighed trying to work out how we could fit everything in. We couldn't. We ended up having to send somethings home by courier, apparently the postal system is quite up to our standards and other than letters and postcards it is not recommended that you send to much via Indian post, so courier it was. I am not even going to tell you how much it was to send things home, but I will say it came as a bit of a shock.

We went out to a place called Chokhi Dhani for our last night in Jaipur. Chokhi Dhani is about a 45 minute drive (a distance of 15km, yes 45 minutes to drive 15km) from Jaipur city and is a reconstructed traditional village with all sorts of entertainment including traditional and tribal dancing, gymnastics – a young boy does tricks on top of a 4 metre pole and folk music and to finish the night off we ate an authentic Rajasthani thali dinner, even sitting on the floor and joined by a really lovely Indian family. The place is really popular with Indian families, the guy that drove us out there was telling us that during the cooler months of December and January you have to park almost 2 km away from the entrance. This was a very different experience for us and was very enjoyable even doing the ultra tourist thing and getting dressed up in Indian outfits and having our photo taken. It was a really enjoyable way to spend our last night in Jaipur.

Monkeying around

2008-04-30T19:06:00.011+10:00

Galta is home to the Temple of the Sun God otherwise known as the Monkey temple. and is a little way out of Jaipur. As you arrive you are offered fruit and peanuts to the feed the monkeys with so we obliged, buying a bag of peanuts. The temple is at the top of a rocky gorge about 200m up. We made it about half way before a monkey snuck up behind Kristy and ripped the bag of peanuts out of her hand and took off up a rock wall a quickly scoffed the lot. The ones that fell out as the monkey took off didn't last much longer either.

As you climb the stairs toward the top and the temple there are a number of pools terraced up the hill. One for men, one for woman and as we found out on the way back down one for the monkeys. There is a natural spring which flows into the pools from the mouth of rock in the shape of a cow. It is said that the water flows out of here 24 hours a day 365 days a year. At the top, other than the temple is a family of monkeys and it wasn't long before I was trudging back down the steps to get a replacement bag of peanuts. This time they went safely into the bag for the trip back up. There is a man that is a sort of a care taker here who looks after the monkeys in a way and actually helps tourists feed them and get some great photos. Kristy and I had a really great time with the family of monkeys although there was a couple of times when it got a bit hairy as the big dominant male got a bit toey but the guy that was with us sorted him out pretty quickly. Although wild, the monkeys are very friendly and are really quite gently eating directly from your hand. Holding a peanut clutched in your hand, the monkeys will even open your fingers to take the peanut from inside. We had a lot of fun feeding the monkeys for about half an hour before making our way back down the steps back to the bottom. In the bottom pool there were even more monkeys swimming. We had never seen monkeys in the water and it really interesting to see just how human like their behavior can be. The run and bomb dive each other push each other in the water and even trying to hold each other's heads under the water. And they are really quite good swimmers disappearing under the water and popping up 4 or 5 metres to the left or right.

We had a really fun time with the monkeys and it was quite cool at Galta and very peaceful, there were very few people around and only one other tourist. We didn't do too many of the sights and touristy things in Jaipur but this was a welcome change to the forts, markets and palaces.

Jaipur again

2008-04-30T19:03:00.002+10:00

We arrived back to Jaipur amidst some grand fanfare the hotel put on a great show for our return, actually it wasn't for us it was for the Ferrari team but we got there in the middle of it so why not? We decided pretty early on after getting back into Jaipur that we probably weren't going to do too much here it was just way too hot and after almost 5 and a half weeks the motivation for more markets and forts wasn't that high. In the afternoon on the day after coming back from Ranthambore we took a trip down to the old city to have a look at yes the markets, it was pretty hot even at 4 in the afternoon and there were heaps of people around so it wasn't that much fun struggling through the crowds and dodging traffic. We ended up meeting a couple of local guys who we had tea with and a chat and they suggested that we go and see Galta which we decided to do the next morning.

Luck at Ranthambore

2008-04-30T15:43:00.005+10:00

Everyone including our guides and all the hotel staff told us on a number of occasions just how lucky we had been to see so many Tigers in such a short period of times and we certainy were not going to argue. It truly was an incredilbe experience that neither Kristy or I will forget in a hurry, I think we will have those memories forever, especially Kristy given she thought she might get eaten at one stage. This would cetainly be something I would recommend people do if they ever travel to India. These animals are truly magical and seeing them in their own habitat is really something that will be hard to top.

Final safari & Ferraris

2008-04-30T15:25:00.006+10:00

We had another very early morning this morning having a final game drive before heading back to Jaipur. It was Kristy's turn to go with the guide and draw out the zone for our final safari and she was lucky enough to get zone 5. Although we had already been through this zone it is supposedly one of the best so the guide was pretty happy, although he was hoping for zone 2 as we had already been to zone 3 & 5. It was a pretty bumpy trip back into the park this morning but seemed to be a little more comfortable than yesterday morning as the jeep was a bit newer. We had a full jeep again this morning sharing the jeep with an Indian family from Chennai. As it turns out we ended up being 3 for 3 on our drives, although we only saw one Tiger this morning, but we were happy with that, some people come to Ranthambore and do 5, 6, 7 or 8 safari drives and don't see a single Tiger. Even the guides can go for weeks without spotting one. They might find lots of pug marks (Tiger tracks) but not see any of the animals themselves as the tracks that the vehicles are allowed on only cover about a third of the total area of the park and knowing that make or trip to Ranthambore all the more successful. Even though the heat was exhausting and horrible it heat 45 later in the day it was a good time to come and sight Tigers and the water isn't as plentiful as other times of the year and the jungle at other times is much more dense than during the hotter months so Tiger sightings are even more difficult.

Yesterday saw the arrival of a couple of Ferraris to the hotel a group from Ferrari motor company. Ferrari a looking at teaming with Tata in Indian car company owned by the same group that own the Taj Hotels. They have been driving around India for nearly 3 months stopping at the Hotels on the way round. Knowing nothing about cars I don't know what type of Ferrari these 2 were but they were nice and I am sure worth a fortune. The manager of the hotel was telling me that the is only one Ferrari that is Inida and is owned by Sachin Tendulkar but he can't really drive it much. Not sure if that is because he gets mobbed every time he tries to go out or is more to do with the traffic issues in India – possibly a combination of both. Their next stop was also Jaipur and as there is only one road from Ranthambore to Jaipur we didn't know how they were going to go getting there. These cars sit about 2 or 3 inches above the ground and the road they were going to have to travel along has potholes deeper than some in ground swimming pools. They left about 2 hours before we did and arrived at Jaipur about the same time as us. We actually thought we might have even caught up and overtook them and it looks like we might not have been far away from doing exactly that.

Back to the national park

2008-04-28T22:21:00.009+10:00

After returning from our first successful safari, we had an late breakfast and a quick nap before having launch and getting ready to go back to the park for our afternoon game drive. It was very hot when were picked up by our driver and guide up around the 42 mark so we made sure we had plenty of water with us for this afternoon's adventure. We didn't have our hopes up too high as we probably wouldn't top what we saw this morning although we were still looking forward to the drive all the same. We were sharing with 4 others this afternoon so we were a little bit more squashed in this time. We arrived at the gate again this time at least prepared for the bombardment of hawkers and the chaos with the guides and their "lucky dip". We thought the guide would only be a couple of minutes as we were already late and most of the canters and jeeps had been and already gone through. We waited and we waited some more not sure what was going on, other than the fact that the conversations at the lucky dip stall was getting more heated and more heated by the minute. Finally after a lot of shouting and phone calls and then even more shouting our guide came back with a big grin on his melon and we were ready to go.

He explained on the way in that he didn't agree with the lottery system as it wasn't fair as too many of the guides bribed the people that were doing the draw, so he just flatly refused to do it and demanded that we go to zone 3 which is supposedly the best zone of all as it it has the most water in it which the Tigers tend to head for pretty regularly at this time of year. Which was good and we were glad he had done it if it really was as good as he thought, but a bit of warning would have been nice rather than just leaving us sitting there for 20 minutes. Anyway the drive into the park this time was much easier and a lot smoother having sealed or at least cobbled roadway for about half of the trip. Driving up past the fort and through the main gates lead us into zone 3 and within about 5 minutes had caught up with a couple of other jeeps in the same zone. Zone 2 and zone 3 back onto each other and there were a number of vehicles on the other side of the boundary parked with their occupants craning their necks and standing on toes, which meant that there was something worth seeing not too far away, so we parked as well.

We weren't to be disappointed either, within five minutes of parking a second Tiger (there was one laying around just out of sight in zone 2) came wandering toward our jeep and the water we were parked beside for a cool off. It turns out that it was the mother of the 3 cubs we had seen earlier today. She lay down in the water too cool of and stayed there for as long as we were prepared to stay there for. The female Tiger wasn't going anywhere soon so we waited for a little longer and decided to go for a drive to see if we could spot anymore Tigers and then come back here on the way out and see if she was still around.We didn't have to drive too far before spotting another just laying on the grass, although it was a fair way away, it would have been interesting to see this one up a bit closer as it look big even 50 or 60 metres away. The guide seemed to think it was the biggest male in the park. We took a couple of more pics and moved on spotting some deer (there are heaps of them in the park - Tiger food) and some Kingfisher and other birds as well. We didn't have anymore luck looking for Tigers, although we did see a small crocodile so we decided to go back to the female we had seen originally.

The Tiger we had seen earlier was still around but had moved out of the water and jumped up on a small monument that was in the area, I think it was an old temple. We watched her for awhile longer before leaving for the afternoon. It seems strange that we would just sit and watch a Tiger laying in a creek or lolling around on a lump of concrete but this is something I don't we will ever witness again and there is something that is just peaceful watching wild animals free within their own habitat. I think it would take a long time before you truly got tired of this.

Did we see a Tiger???

2008-04-28T20:49:00.010+10:00

We were up very early this morning around 4.45am for a 5.46 pickup from the hotel. Bleary eyed I managed to get coffee made and Kristy out of bed and dressed by 5.30am,just managing to get the coffee down before the phone rang to hurry us up - the guide was getting impatient. We didn't realise at the time but it was very important to be on time because of what goes on before entering the park. We were riding in an open top jeep that seat 6 plus the guide and driver so on the way to the park we stopped into to pick 3 more people up, they were from the UK and had been at Ranthambore for 8 days and had seen about 16 Tigers so we were pretty hopefully as we headed to the park entrance.

As we arrived it was absolute pandemonium at the gate with hawkers trying to sell hats, t-shirts and all sorts of Tiger related souvenirs to anyone that would look sideways at them. As it turns out the reason why the guides are so keen to arrive on time is that the park which is around 1350 sq km is divided into 5 zones and during each morning and each afternoon session only 15 jeeps and 15 canters (20 seater trucks) are allowed into the park. To divide up where each of the vehicles go during the 2 daily sessions a lottery is held where one of the passengers in each of the vehicles draws a number out of a bag, the number corresponding to the zone that you travel in during the drive. We didn't have a clue what was going on until after it was all over. We ended up with zone 5 for our first drive which was one of the better zones, but not the best. Zone five is a fair way outside of the park proper and takes a good 20 minutes to half an hour to get into the heart of the park and the same on the way out which reduces your real time in the park from 3 to about 2 hours. The track was pretty bumpy going in and it was warming up quickly. We had been driving around for about an hour and a half and we were getting pretty bored to be honest with you (Kristy, although I don't know how while we were moving actually nodded off a couple of times). Being very dry we ended up parking across from a man made water hole and just sat there which is where we figured we would stay for our last half an hour or 45 minutes that we had left before our time was up. We were pretty certain that by this stage we weren't going to see a Tiger this time round and would have to hope for the best later in the afternoon when we had our second safari. We were a bit disappointed but knew that this was all a matter of chance and we still had 2 drives to go before we left.

We were about to leave when the lady sitting behind us tapped Kristy on the shoulder (who was falling asleep again) and told her to turn around. It actually scared the crap out of poor Kristy who wasn't expecting it. Walking down the track were three 18 month old Tigers. It was an amazing site they really are magnificent animals especially when you see them in their own environment. The three of them were slowly walking down the track making there way to the water hole. It is incredible how they just down care about a bunch of crazy tourists standing in the back of a couple of 4WDs going mad with their cameras. Two of the three Tigers headed pretty much straight for the water hole and plonked themselves into it to cool off.

While the third did the same thing it took a bit more time in arriving. For 18 month olds they were pretty big animals, the female being almost fully grown. All 3 were about the size of their mother but the 2 males still have a fair amount of growing to do. It was really great to watch these animals as they just lazed around in the water having a drink and just relaxing. After about 10 or 15 minutes, and god knows how many photos, one of the Tigers decided it wanted to have a closer look at all these strange people hanging around and made (slow) beeline for our jeep. It came within about a metre and a half from our jeep and lay down and just stared at us for awhile. I think it wanted to prove itself cause at one stage it half got up and staring straight toward Kristy started hissing, although not quite like a tabby. A few people in the jeep (including Kristy) were a little nervous by this stage and even the guide had to tell everyone to stay perfectly still and keep very very quiet. The Tiger must have decided it had proved its point as shortly after that it just got up and wander back into the jungle, shortly followed by the other 2.

That was our queue to leave. The ride back was even bumpier than the one in as they had left it until the last minute to leave and had to hurry, but no one seemed to mind as everyone was on a bit of a high, that sort of encounter really does leave you feeling fairly exhilarated. The group from the UK said that that was by far the best experience they had had out of all their sightings, the previous ones had been at a fair distance, even the guide commented on how rare it is for them to come that close. Even though they are very used to seeing people and the vehicles they are still a little cautious and usually don't come that close.

All the staff at the hotel were very excited for us telling us how lucky we were to have seen three Tigers in one trip. As hot and tired as we were we were looking forward to our return in the afternoon.

Highway to hell (or maybe goat track to hell)

2008-04-28T17:50:00.004+10:00

We pretty much spent the 2 nights we had in Jaipur just in the hotel as I was still pretty crook so we decided we would just rest and try and "catchup" on a bit of sleep. We left half our stuff behind at the hotel in Jaipur and headed for Sawai Madhopur the town where most of the accommodation for stays around the national park is. Traveling to Sawai Madhopour covers a distance of about 180km and takes about 4 hours. Driving via a place called Tonk which is around 90km away, with the exception of the usual insane traffic is pretty straight forward and takes about an hour and a quarter. The remainder of the drive - around 100km took a bit over 3 hours. The road was terrible (as you can probably imagine),full of potholes and mainly dirt. They are in the middle of re-doing this road but it will still be around 12 months before it is completed which didn't help yes. We averaged about 25 - 40km per hour and there wasn't much too look at on the way either and trying to sleep was pretty much impossible. The hotel was a welcome relief, but getting out of the car was back to the oven (maybe not quite as hot as hell but pretty close I think), I think it was around 43 degrees the afternoon we arrived. We didn't book a safari drive for the afternoon we arrived which was probably just as well considering how hot it was and how tired we were. Unfortunately the air conditioner in the room was turned on before we arrived and it took around 5 hours for it to get down to about 28 degrees, the room temp was about 35 when it was first turned on. Didn't do much this afternoon, just lay around and watched some of the cricket that is always on the at least 5 channels here. Only got away with it could Kristy was snoozing. We had an early night as we had to be up at just before 5 for our morning game drive.

How to get from Jodhpur to Jaipur the round about way.

2008-04-28T15:50:00.003+10:00

Today we left Jodhpur for Jaipur where we would be staying for 2 nights before leaving for Ranthambore National Park and then returning to Jaipur for 4 nights. We drove to a Ajmer which took about 3 hours and then waited for about 45 minutes for the train to leave, which took a little over 2 hours to get to Jaipur, I was feeling pretty crappy (it was my turn to get crook for a few days) and so Kristy braved the front seat with the driver while I lay in the back seat and slept most of the way to Ajmer. I slept a fair amount of the way on the train to Jaipur as well, poor Kristy was really tired as well but stayed awake as she was a bit worried we would miss getting off at the train station. The funny thing was though that our driver and luggage arrived in Jaipur before we did and if we didn't wait at the train station we probably would have arrived about and hour, hour and a half earlier. But the train was pretty comfortable and spacious compared with the car. Once we arrived and checked in we had a quick look at the hotel and called it quits for the day we were both really tired.

Jodhpur the Blue City

2008-04-28T04:34:00.002+10:00

On the way back from our “tour” today we saw just why Jodhpur is also known as the blue city, all the buildings in the old city of Jodhpur are painted blue. Apparently one of the reasons for this is that it is a mosquito deterrent, Kristy won't let me repaint the house.

Touristy thing in Jodhpur

2008-04-28T01:59:00.012+10:00

As has become the habit our last day was devoted to doing the “official” sightseeing in Jodhpur. The day wasn't jam packed as we had decided on seeing 3 things here in Jodhpur; the Meherangarh, Haswant Thada and the Umaid Bhawan Palace

Our first visit was to the Palace which is also known as the Chittar Palace as it is built from Chittar sandstone. Monster is used quite regularly to describe this building and it becomes evident very quickly as you approach the hill on which it is built. This palace truly is an immense building. The construction of the pink and white palace which sits on top of a hill outside the main areas of Jodhpur was started in 1929 and took some 3000 workers 15 years to build. We only looked at the museum in the building which documents the design and construction of the building, the remainder of is a hotel (very expensive hotel) and also the residency of the current Maharaja of the area. The hotel section is described as a being like a grand parliament building with beds and when I say a very expensive hotel you can stay there in December for $3850 a night so you better book quick, rooms won't last at this price.

Next stop was the Meherangarh, which is a fort built on top of a 125 metre high hill and was built in 1806 by the Maharaja. The fort has 7 gates, each with its own significance, the Jayapol gate was built by the Maharaja Man Singh after his victory against Jaipur and Bikaner
and the Fatehpol or Victory Gate was built by the Maharaja Ajit Singh to celebrate his defeat of the Mughals. The last gate is the Lahapol or Iron Gate beside which are sati marks (ritual suicide marks) of Maharaja Man Singh's widows who threw themselves on his funeral pyre in 1843. It took us about 2.5 hours to get around the whole thing, it is actually really good as part of the entrance fee you get a digital audio player which give you a running commentary of the entire place, with signs making each point where there is a relevant audio entry. The heat didn't worry us too much either as a bulk of the tour is in the shade and being a dry heat, although still hot once you get in the shade the temperature is noticeable less. Aside from the fort itself and the architecture of it, many of the rooms have been filled with antique pieces such as weaponry to miniature paintings of the times. They even have performers scattered around the place playing and signing Rajasthani folk music, it really was an enjoyable place to spend a couple of hours mostly out of the heat. Our last stop was on the way down the hill from the fort at the Jaswant Thada which is a marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh II which has a beautiful little garden where we sat and guzzled some water while admiring the view back to the fort. The place is another example of the fact that the ancient Egyptians weren't the only ones that took their burials seriously.

The case of the stalking tuk tuk driver

2008-04-27T20:08:00.003+10:00

So you read all sorts of things about how people try to rip you off in India and if you aren't a bit careful chances are you you will. I know for a fact that we were paying way too much for autorickshaws all the time especially in Delhi but when it only costs $1 to drive somewhere which takes about 25 minutes you really don't mind too much. It isn't just the tourists though that get exploited though, there is so much low level corruption (can't think of a better way to describe it) it isn't funny.

We got a tuk tuk called for us from the hotel and asked the doorman if he could explain to the driver that all we wanted was a lift down to the clock tower and that was all which he did, about 30 seconds after we get out the gate he asks if we would like to do some sightseeing – we were pretty used to this by now – to which we told him no just to the clock tower is all we wanted. The next question was the other one we knew was coming, do you want me to wait – no thanks we don't know how long we are going to be. He said that was ok and that he could still wait however long and that there would be no charge, but we insisted that we didn't want him to wait as we didn't want to have to worry about him sitting and thinking that we should go back all the time. When we go there we just about had to fight with him to take the money cause he was waiting for us no matter what. He ended up taking the money and off we go assuming we would be finding another tuk tuk for the return journey. (Queue the Jaws theme music)

We have been gone for less than 2 minutes when who pops up? The tuk tuk driver. We at first thought that maybe he had something that he was doing but when he sat down opposite the spice shop that we went into, only getting up as we came out we knew better. (I think we both knew as soon as we saw him what was really going on). Kristy told him that he shouldn't follow us but he just smiled and nodded his head and kept 2 steps behind us just like a shadow, god it was annoying, I know it was just some guy and he was just there but there is actually more to it than that.
It is pretty well known that in Rajasthan particularly Jodhpur that there is a pretty hefty comossino racket that goes on. Had we actually bought anything from any of the shops that we went into it is quite likely that the driver would have gone in just behind us and demanded the owner pay him a comission as he was the one that led us to that particular shop rather than another one, of course it is crap but there you go that is what goes on. It was interesting too as when we left the textile shop telling the guys there that we would see them tomorrow, they told is that tomorrow we were not bring our driver or anyone else with us but just to come alone.

We even tried to loose the driver a couple times but without any luck, although we didn't try real hard. Even though he was right there with us I told Kristy that I was going to go back to the hotel with a different tuk tuk just annoy the other guy, we had paid him so we didn't owe him anything, but she wouldn't let me. I was think more along the lines of payback – you shit me, I shit you, but no we went back with. Funnily enough he thought he had done such a great job that he gave us his mobile phone number asking us to ring him if we wanted a tuk tuk tomorrow. Funny guy!

Jodhpur where you come to buy spices

2008-04-27T18:08:00.011+10:00

We started pretty slowly today having a late breakfast and then wandered around the hotel for awhile hoping that it would cool down at some stage so we could actually go out and have a look around without melting. It didn't and we melted. We worked out the day after we got to Jodhpur that the best time to do anything in the hotter parts of the year – now – when in Rajasthan is in the morning, not the afternoon, even the late afternoon, but when you only have a couple of days you don't have too much choice if you want to see a few things. We went down to the markets at about 1.30 in the afternoon when it was only about 40 degrees so as you can imagine it was really quite pleasant.

By Indian standards Jodhpur is a comparatively small place, home to around 1 000 000, although there are plenty of smaller places and was founded in 1849 by the Rajput clan known as the Rathores. Most of the city's growth originally came from opium, sandalwood, dates and copper, today its specialty is textiles and particularly we tourists are concerned spices, oh and those crazy looking mustaches! Although we had had been to markets everywhere that we had been so far it is quite interesting to see the differences in what they sell in each of the different parts of India. In Delhi for example you can find things from all over India, whereas in Aurangabad the specialty is silk and in Jodhpur it is spices and textiles but you can pretty much find anything if you look from boxes of snuff to boxed cuff trousers. The markets in Jodhpur surround a big clock tower so I guess it is no surprise that these markets although officially are known as the Sardar markets are commonly referred to as the clock tower markets.

Our holiday has been very busy so far and we are starting to get a little tired so it was pretty hard going in the heat today and mixed with the smells that tend to accompany Indian market places we did struggle a bit this afternoon. But it didn't stop us but unfortunately “the hard sell” of the business owners was just that little be more annoying today. Usually you can just pass it off by saying no and keep walking but some of these guys were a little bit more persistent than that, if they just left us alone they would probably find that we actually might buy stuff from them, but I guess it is a cultural thing as well and we have to understand and accept that, after it is us who are in their country. But without wanting to make an excuse (although I guess I just did) they really are just that bit more annoying when you are battling the heat as well.

We found a spice shop owned by a guy who was really nice, we ended up having Saffron tea and Masla tea with him in his shop while he showed us all the different spices that they have and what some of them are used for. We tried some black salt which tasted a little like a boiled egg but just wrong and pretty feral but the tea took the taste away and it was nice. The smell of his shop was great, having huge piles of freshly ground spices out the front and having a new bag opened and shoved under our noses. We sat with the guy for about an hour or so and left with only a price list. The hard bit was going to be deciding what we really wanted. Saffron was incredibly cheap 20 grams is about $30 US and vanilla beans are also really cheap,compared with both at home where you pay up to about a billion dollars a gram for the stuff. Well maybe not quite that much but close in Port Macquarie anyway.

We ended up going and having a look at a textile shop after that (read sucker, not really we new what we were up for but actually wanted to have a look at some throws and stuff.) It is so funny though, you go into the shop and they give you the big spiel about how just looking is ok and there is no pressure to buy anything, so you sit there and look at the stuff and a majority of it is really nice, they show you examples of all their work and then go back through the pile asking what you like. If you say you like something they start folding it up expecting you to buy that one and then start trying to work on you for the next one, these people really are shrewd salesman. We didn't end up buying anything at this place even though they design for Versace, DKNY Kobi and all the other big names (horseshit every single one of these places tell you the same thing! But hey if they get people with these pitches good luck to them) What we actually balked at though was the sizes of them, they were a bit odd so we used that as our out, telling the guy we would get in touch with someone back home and check some stuff and come back, quick as you like he offers the shop phone to us saying we can ring from there, I don't think so mate, then he dropped the price some more as we were walking out the door - we didn't go back.

Before you ask

2008-04-27T18:07:00.000+10:00

No we did not by any jodhpurs in Jodhpur.

To Jodhpur

2008-04-27T17:56:00.004+10:00

We battled the traffic through Delhi this morning to get to the airport for our flight to Jodhpur, arriving in plenty of time for our flight but not surprisingly the plane was ultimately late leaving. We arrived in Jodhpur in the early afternoon and getting off the plane was like stepping into a blast furnace – the heat was insane. Rajasthan is by far the hottest place that we have been to so far in India. The hotel we stayed in at Jodhpur – The Hari Mahal is a beautiful palace come hotel. The hotel is really nice and has been built around a courtyard that has the best pool in Jodhpur. (We spent a fair bit of time in this pool during our few days here). We relaxed for the afternoon and then watched a traditional dance show that was accompanied by a Rajasthani folk group. The singer of the group had a voice that was that good we think he could sing in the opera, they were really great. The girls that did the dancing we really good I honestly don't know how they don't fall over the amount the spin and the speed at which they do it. They even got Kristy and I up to have a go, Kristy was ok but I as hopeless and dizzy when I say back down. One of the girls made me spin around in a circle with her and I think I nearly knocked her over. After the dance was over they had a Rajasthani puppet show which was pretty fun, the puppets they use are all hand made and painted (we bought some). After the puppet show there was a magician who was really very clever even producing pigeons out of a cane basket as the grand finale. Dinner was Chinese tonight not bad either considering I don't like any of the Chinese restaurants in Port.

Another impromptu change to the itinerary.

2008-04-26T13:52:00.003+10:00

As it turns out there is some pretty major work going on at the Jodhpur airport (they are building a new runway) so our original flight from Jodhpur to Jaipur got canceled at the last minute. Sanjeev from Travelscope let us know that we would need to decide what to do, his suggestion being that we leave Jodhpur a day early and spend the extra night in Jaipur, which is what we decided that we would do. The day before we were due to leave for Jodhpur Sanjeev got in touch with us again telling us that yet again our flight had been canceled (the rescheduled one) and that the only flight to Jaipur from Jodhpur was now on the same day that we arrived which made getting to Jaipur by plane a little difficult unless we could stay a week which wasn't an option. The proposed (and accepted) solution would be that we drive 3 hours to Ajmer to catch a train for 2 hours to Jaipur, while our luggage would stay with the drive who would drive a further 4 hours to Jaipur. After our other unexpected expenses we thought that this would be good as it would be a little cheaper as the train ticket was only $30 for the 2 of us in an executive class carriage (there is only one better and this is for government officials) but this was not to be, it is the car that is the expensive part and is in fact dearer than flying!

Doing the tourist thing in Delhi

2008-04-25T22:18:00.007+10:00

As has become a bit of a habit we left the real touristy type thing until the last day visiting some of Delhi's biggest monuments, which as it turns out we should have actually done over 2 days, Delhi is big and the traffic is almost as chaotic as Mumbai so getting around takes time, the other battle we had was with the heat it has been beginning to get really hot here heading up toward the 40 mark so walking around during the day is really very draining. We started of by taking a quick look at parliament house and the president house followed by a drive by of India Gate, we didn't actually stop and have a good look at this and I am still not sure why, we really should have.

After that we visited the Qutb Minar complex. The Qutab Minar itself is a tower of victory whose construction began in 1193 after the defeat of the last Hindu Kingdom in Delhi. The complex was created at the beginning of Islamic rule and is Afghan influenced architecture. The tower is some 73 metres high, has a diameter of 15 metres at the base and just 2.5 at its peak. The tower has 5 definite storeys each with its own balcony. The first three storeys are made of red sandstone and the 4th and 5th are made of sandstone and marble. Qutb-ud-din began the construction but only completed the 1st of the 5 storeys, the remaining 4 levels were built by his successors. Firoz Shah in 1368 rebuilt the top storeys and added a cupola. In 1803 an earthquake destroyed the cupola and it was replaced in 1829, but this chamber was not seen to be appropriate and was later removed. The tower still stands today although it has a slight lean to it and you can long climb it, which is a pity because the view would have been awesome.

Around the Qutb Minar itself there is the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid which was the first ever Mosque to be built in India – the Might of Islam Mosque. The original Mosque which was built 1193 was constructed on the remains of a Hindu temple and the inscription over the east gate details that the Mosque was constructed from materials gained by demolishing 27 idolatrous temples. The structure standing today is the original albeit with some additions and extensions.

Another monument here is the iron pillar which is a 7 metre high pillar standing in the courtyard of the Mosque but was stood here long before the Mosque was built. Scientist to this cannot work out how this iron could have been cast some 2000 years ago in such a way as to not have rusted at all, which is quite remarkably given the technology of that era.

The last thing of note in the complex is the Alai Minar which was begun by Ala-ud-din who had the idea that this building would be an identical match to the Qutb Minar but twice the height. By the time he died though it had only been completed to a height of 27 metres and there was no one willing to finish the work he had begun.

Humayuan's tomb, our next stop was built by the senior wife Haji Begum of the second of the Mughal emperors – Humayuan. This is where Humayuan has been entombed (obviously) along with what I presume is his extended family, or his many wives. The tomb itself is huge, they really went to the nth degree when deciding where their deceased relatives would go back then. The building was finished in the mid 16th century and the design of the building with its high arches allowing sunlight to penetrate the interior and the dome on the top of the rectangular building would form the basis of the design of what would eventually become the Taj Mahal in Agra. The tomb itself is made from red and white sandstone and black and white marble. If I remember correctly there are around 13 tombs in the structure all together on the top floor of the building 3 in each of the corner rooms and Humayun's tomb itself in the centre and largest room of the structure. I don't think anything quite so grand will be done in my memory but maybe close.

What was going to be our third stop was what turned out to be our last stop. It had been so hot today we ended up deciding to go back to the room, we just couldn't do anymore. So our last stop/s was a visit to the Jama Masjid, the largest Mosque in India and a quick rickshaw ride through some of the old streets of Delhi. Construction of the Mosque began in 1644 and finished in 1658 and was the final work by Shah Jahan. We arrived a little early as the Mosque is closed to non-Muslim people between 12.30 and 1.45pm so we tried to find the shade and relax for 10 minutes. A large stairway leads to the entrance of this huge Mosque which has four towers and two minarets which stand 40 metres high. You can climb these towers but it was just way too hot to be worth it even for the view that it would have offered. We had come prepared with me having zippered shorts which turn into pants and Kristy with a skirt in her bag ready to cover up and promptly forgot them when we got out of the car, so we both ended up wearing make shift “skirts” supplied by the Mosque. In the centre of the massive courtyard – it can hold 25000 people – was a pond in which Muslim people were washing their feet and drinking the water. The building was really beautiful but we didn't stay too long to admire it preferring instead the air conditioning of the car. On the way back we stop quickly outside of the Red Fort for a photo before heading back to the room. Origianally we had planned on visiting the Fort properly but decided to wait and look at the one at Agra as it is a twin of the one in Delhi – we are hoping it will be cooler in Agra.

Matt and Kristy to become vegetarians

2008-04-25T22:17:00.002+10:00

The area we stayed in while in Delhi was actually called the Bengali Market and just around the corner was a small group of shops, a couple of chemists, and 3 sweet shops which also doubled as small restaurants. We couldn't be bothered going to far one night to eat so we strolled down here and picked the busiest of the 3 places (figured this was the safest bet) and went in. The place was a mad house, hardly any of the staff spoke any English and the ones that did spoke only broken English at best. Every table was chokers and there were other people circling the tables like sharks, actually sitting down before all of the last group had left, we didn't think we had a hope in hell of actually getting anything to eat here. One of the waiters spotted us looking very confused and out of place we were the only foreigners there and took what must have been pity on us and made sure we got a table. We had no idea of anything on the menu or until after a bit that it was completely vegetarian so we picked some stuff and random and ordered. The result was great. It was one of the tastiest meals that we have had since being in India. The food wasn't too heavy and certainly wasn't oily at all it was just full and flavour and really really nice. We both had mango kufti (don't think I have spelt this correctly) which was also beautiful. The food was so good and incredibly cheap here I think we paid about $6 for both of us with drinks that we came back the next night and yes the same waiter was there and helped us out again. We tried different food on the second visit and were not disappointed.

The mission

2008-04-25T22:16:00.001+10:00

When it comes to gadgets most people would know I can't help myself and even though she would never admit Kristy doesn't mind them either. I decided that rather than spend heaps of time and money writing up blog entries on the net it would be better to do them offline and post them once completed, so I decided that I was going to by an eee pc. For those of you who don't know what an eee pc (probably almost everyone reading this with the exception of Senri) it is an ultra portable laptop that ASUS have released. It was originally marketed toward children as a pc to learn about computers on but has found a niche market in that it is great to travel with being very small, with a solid state hard drive and fully capable as far as internet connectivity is concerned so it is perfect for web browsing, checking emails and writing blog entries. All the Taj Hotels are Wifi enabled so once bought I would be able to sit in the room at night and do my blog thing. So after spending some time on the net in Delhi found the only place to buy these things was at Croma stores – India's equivilant to a Harvey Norman or Bing Lee. (As it turns out it would have been a lot easier to buy it Mumbai) So look up Croma on the net – no problem. Look up the address on Google Maps – no problem. Find an auto rickshaw down the street who wants to take us there – first problem, he told us to take a train. Second guy we found said yes no problem – second problem, ended up being miles away. We decided that it would probably be better if we asked this guy to wait for us so we didn't have to worry about finding another rickshaw to get us back – third problem major language barrier we thought he was going to wait, we were wrong. We bough our shinny new toy and went back out to find our taxi man gone. We thought maybe he had just parked somewhere else, he had sort of indicated that that is what he would do (or so we thought) but after having a look around and then waiting for another 15 minutes we finally decided that no he was definitely gone – forth problem finding another rickshaw driver that would take us back to town. We found out later that the auto rickshaw only work in small areas and that we were pretty lucky to have found one that would take us there in the first place. Eventually we found one (the third I think) that would take us back to where we wanted to go at twice the price that it cost to get there but by this stage we didn't care. We finally made it back – with our (my) shiny new toy!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Janapth another set of markets that run along one of the streets leading out of Connaught Place. We found some really nice things that would could have bought but they were way too big to bring home and we didn't have the time to work out how we could post them. There was also a really interesting art exhibition on at a place on the opposite of the road that had examples of arts and craft from all over India which was really cool. Before heading back we sat had cold coffee with ice cream – yes there is a bit of learning curve here that we haven't quite made it to the top of.

The markets again and a very disappointed auto-rickshaw driver

2008-04-25T22:13:00.010+10:00

Today we did more wandering around market areas. It is a little harder in Delhi as it so much bigger than most of the areas that we had visited so far which means travel time. Our first stop was a place called Dilli Haat which was a nice change of pace from the markets and bazaars that we had been visiting so far. Dili Haat is an open air food and craft market and has very little of the usual “hello madam come an look, just looking no buying” so is a very easy place just to walk around and have a really have a look at without buying. We sat had some food and soaked up the peaceful atmosphere (and the heat) before having a look at some of the really nice crafts that were on offer here. The only thing we did end up buying though was a nice wrap around skirt for Kristy for about 3 dollars.

On the way out Kristy got a Hanna tattoo done on her leg by a really nice girl with a very cute daughter who I thought that she might loose at one stage – Kristy was threatening to take her with us for awhile. The girls that do these Hanna tattoos are really talented they have a book of designs that they have obviously practiced a lot but Kristy just picked the one she wanted and girl just went ahead and did it by just looking at the book and quickly. The pattern she picked was pretty intricate too. The tattoo is done by using the a paste made from a plant (Hanna plant? I am not sure) and then applied to the body by using something similar to a piping bag that bakers use to decorate cakes with. Once the design is finished you wait for about 20 minutes and wipe it of leaving the dye on the skin. While we waited Kristy amused herself and the girl that had done the tattoo for her by playing with the girls 18 month old daughter, even I admit she was very cute.

Our next stop was supposedly one of the better shopping malls in the area but was pretty disappointing I can't even remember the name of it that is how memorable it was, but the air conditioning was great. We then decided to have a look at another group of shops on the way back to the room. We got in an auto rickshaw which was our preferred method of travel in Delhi (they are 3 wheeled motorbikes similar to tuk tuks in most Asian countries) told him where we wanted to go negotiated the price and off we went. About half way there he asked if we wanted to go and see a very good emporium. We answered politely no thanks we just wanted to go where we had asked. A couple of minutes later he asked again – he got the same polite answer. A third time he asked – a third time he got the same still (but slightly strained) no. All the while that this was going on he was laughing and having a joke with us about nothing in particular. The forth time he said he was just going to take us there for next extra charge and we said no thanks yet again. Past the shops we drove. After about another 5 minutes he points to the back of a building telling us how great that emporium was – thats nice. Around the corner and stop. “This is a very good emporium very nice. I will wait while you have a look” Kristy and I just sat there and told that no we didn't want to have a look and that we wanted to just go back to the place we had originally asked to go to. He then tried again to get us out to “just have a look” and again Kristy and I stuck to our guns and flatly refused to get out. He then must have understood that he had no chance of getting us out and drove on back to the first lot of shops we had originally asked to go to, all the way muttering to himself, shaking his head and giving us dark looks in the rear view mirror. It was pretty funny really watching him have his little tantie because we would get out and have a look at the shop where he obviously got commission for taking people to. The best thing of all was when we got out he then asked us to pay double what we had originally negotiated, stating that it was 40 Rs for me and 40 Rs for Kristy. We laughed handed him 40 Rs and waved goodbye! He was not a happy camper, but I guess if it was going to earn him some money you can't blame the guy for trying. And yes after all the run around we found a shopping mall (?) worth visiting, actually the book shop, finding some great cook books and the guy in the shop was really helpful.

Cruising in Delhi

2008-04-25T22:13:00.003+10:00

Today we headed back to Connaught Place for a proper look in the daylight it is essentially a great big circle with with 3 smaller circles contained within the big outer circle. Each of the circles are roads and have shops, restaurants, banks, offices, coffee shops and a couple of hotels. Most of the shops here are higher end fashion type shops but on some of the many streets that radiate from the centre of the Place have more traditional bazaars and markets, including an underground bazaar which was absolutely chaotic but had mostly junk and the shops that were selling textiles and cloth made things were owned by very persistent sellers, which although I guess comes with the territory particularly in such competition but to us is somewhat of a turn off when you just aren't used to that type of selling. It is funny both Kristy and I have commented on a number of occasions about the fact that if they were not so pushy then we would be more likely to go into more of the shops. Oh well there loss!

Back to Delhi

2008-04-25T22:12:00.002+10:00

Our second arrival to Delhi was certainly much nicer than our first - Kristy wasn't sick. We didn't stay at a Taj Hotel this time, instead we choose to stay on the top floor of a privately owned home. It was plain and the bathroom was detached but the location was second to none, being only a five minute walk from Connaught Place one of the main centres of New Delhi. The only real problem was the bed it was probably the hardest bed in India, we actually think it was a bed base without a top mattress which give you an idea of just how hard it was. We were actually really concerned about Kristy's back, fortunately though there were extra blankets and doonas which we fold over a couple of times and laid out on her side of the bed, which made it better. I didn't mind too much we have been going pretty much non stop since we arrived so I generally lay down at night and am asleep pretty much straight away and once I am asleep that is it for the night. We arrived fairly late in the afternoon and once we had settled in and organised our breakfast for the next day it was time for dinner so we wandered into Connaught Place and ate of all things Mexican. It was the best Mexican we have had in a long time, although of course it had no beef in it!

Insane portering and airport security

2008-04-25T22:10:00.001+10:00

One of the most difficult things that we have encountered traveling in both Nepal and India is the fact that you need to tip. Living in a country that really has next to no tipping makes it extremely hard when traveling to countries that do, but when people to a good job and it is part of that societies culture we don't mind doing so, but it is really hard to know what is appropriate for who and for what. Do you give the guy that wheels your bags to the room $1 or $2, do you give the guy that drives you around all day $2 or $5 and what do you do when someone uncomfortably hangs around expecting a tip when you weren't planning on giving one? We really are clueless when it comes to this sort of thing. One thing that is crazy though is the airport porters, who expect a tip for pushing the trolley that has your bags on it, but since we were only giving them a dollar or less and you would pay more than that at home to use a trolley we didn't mind too much, that is until we got to Nepal. We got dropped off at the airport on the way back to India from the hotel and of course the porters come from everywhere vying to carry your bags (read push the trolley) which OK that is their job, but what is ridiculous is when these guys aren't allowed into the airport for security reasons so 2 guys (not actually sure what the second guy does, maybe he is like the supervisor or something) expect to get paid for pushing the trolley 5 metres to the door where the security guards stop them from coming in, but wait it gets better on the other side of the door is another guy who then pushes your trolley a further 5 metres to the check-in counter and complains that you don't give him enough – he wanted $5 US – I don't think so champ. I hate tipping, the Americans really have something to answer for!

The airport security at Nepal was the other really bizarre thing, I know there has been crackdowns around the world on airline security but this really was over the top. On going into the terminal building, all your bags including hand luggage gets x-rayed and you get frisked. After checking in and going through customs your hand luggage gets x-rayed again and you get frisked again. Then you go into the final waiting room, your flight gets called for boarding you get on the bus and drive 25 metres to the plane (not the bus driver doesn't expect a tip – sorry couldn't help myself) and here is a great line of people from the first bus waiting to get on the plane. Every single person is getting frisked again and this time they are actually opening up and going through every single piece of hand luggage before people are allowed on the plane. What are they looking for I hear you ask, plastic guns that don't come up in metal detectors - no, bombs that somehow didn't show up on the x-ray machines – no, drugs that have miraculously been added to hand luggage or strapped onto people since going through the first 35 security checks – no, liquids that by regulation must now be no more than 100ml in size and contained in a clear plastic bag when packed in hand luggage – no, they were actually looking for matches and lighters and yes it is people like Kristy and me that cause all the problem, between us I think we had 4 boxes of matches and lighter, sorry for the delays people. After looking like for the first time since leaving (every flight including the one out of Port has been delayed) it looked like we were actually going to get away on time, possibly even early, we were 45 minutes late! Talk about weird security measures and all for a couple of boxes of matches, who knows maybe they thought we were going to start a bonfire on the plane?

Travel tip #74

2008-04-24T19:31:00.003+10:00

If traveling in India coming into the hot season or in the hot season, ensure fluid intake is maintained preferably with water (not beer, coke or cold coffee and ice cream - ooppps!)

Thoughts so far.

2008-04-24T19:29:00.004+10:00

On Nepal

Unfortunately we didn't get to see enough of Nepal or as much as we had originally planned, with Kristy being sick and then a country stoppage for the election – consensus we will have to go back! From the taste that we got we both had the same thoughts, very nice people, has some beautiful sights, and the country is pretty amazing. The Kathmandu being in a valley (the Kathmandu Valley interestingly enough!) is surrounded by mountains and is very green even at the time of year that we were there. It would be great to get back and see Pakora, Chittwan National Park and maybe the sunrise at Nargakot.

The shopping makes it far to easy too spend money if you aren't careful, but you have to be prepared to bargain and bargain hard, which can be draining after awhile, but then again it is part of their culture and you don't have to buy exclusively from the markets, there are fixed priced shops around, although the cost is higher, but the quality is guaranteed

Yes like all developing countries it has it downsides – visible poverty and begging which can get a bit depressing and parts of Kathmandu are grubby, with rubbish dumped in the streets and of course drinking water doesn't exist except out of a bottle, but all these things aside Nepal is a beautiful place with some incredible scenery (I could only image what is like the closer you get to the Himalayas), some really interesting monuments and really strong cultural and religious beliefs, and of course it has monkeys (just to make Kristy happy!) We loved the Monkey temple and the diversity of the Bodhnath and the Tibetan population. The differences between each area is quite noticeable and is very interesting to compare these differences. Yes the shopping is good and Kathmandu being very well equipped to deal with tourists has an huge amount of good restaurants, I even had an Australian steak one night and it was pretty good too – I think it was from Glen :-)

On India

Indian tourism market India as “Incredible !ndia” and they have certainly coined the term absolutely perfectly. The country really is incredible and we have only scratched the surface. We are about half way through our trip and we have been exposed to some really incredible sights, from the caves at Ajanta and Ellora and the insane traffic (including the overuse of vehicle horns) and hustle and bustle of the city of Mumbai, to the spiritual experiences to be had at Varanasi and the magical Ganges river.

It is amazing how rich India's culture is and how far reaching their history is especially when you compare it to Australia's own history (I know very young history). Yes given the ages of the two countries I realise it is like comparing apples and oranges but they really do have incredible history and the fact that religion is so deeply ingrained in the people's lives makes the country's already rich and diverse culture it even more so.

The diversity of the country is also quite astounding even as far as dress goes and how widely it changes between regions and the significances that there are in those differences. Whether it is the difference between a woman wearing a brightly coloured and patterned sari or a single colour (a plain single colour means that the woman is a widow), or a man wearing a plain white turban or a coloured or patterned turban (white signifies the loss of a man's father). The richness in the language is quite incredible as well with 18 languages officially recognised (including Hindi, English and Tamil) and a further 1600 minor languages and dialects being spoken. Interestingly Hindi is the most common of the native languages spoken in the northern part of the country but in the southern areas virtually no Hindi is spoken but Tamil, so most communication between people from these 2 areas is via English.

The sights are amazing whether it is the temples of Kajaraho or just seeing the colours and people in the market areas, even in the big cities. And of course there is also the food! The food is absolutely beautiful and depending upon where you are or what area the food you are eating comes from the flavours are uniquely different. I could even become a vegetarian yes you read right the vegetarian food here has so much flavour it really is fantastic.

And again like Nepal yes India has some down sides to it – poverty is widespread although in many areas not as overly visible as you would think given the percentage of the population that lives below the poverty line. It can be difficult though as it really is sad to realise how badly off people here and in other parts of the world really are when compared even with ourselves and especially compared with people who are really well off – it hardly seems fair. I know that some can do things about their situations but many can't particularly here in India where the caste system still exists quite strongly in many parts of the country. The thing that does become a little annoying though is the fact that there are obviously some people that really aren't quite as desperate as they make out and plainly target tourists as an easy source of money. The concerning thing about this for me anyway is that you start to switch off to the whole situation regardless of the person asking and become somewhat indifferent to the whole poverty situation which really isn't fair as there are so many people here who are genuinely in need.

On a whole though from what we have seen so far, India really is incredible.

Last day in Nepal

2008-04-24T19:28:00.015+10:00

Our last day in Kathmandu was a very quiet one as this was the day of the election. Everything was shutdown with the exception of hotels and a few shops here or there, but on a whole the entire country stopped, even the kids didn't go to school today. People had to return to their home towns to vote and as there was also a complete transport ban that actually meant that a lot of people were walking for half a day, taking 20 minutes to half an hour to vote and then walking for another half a day. Interestingly enough originally before our last minute change in plan, we were supposed to be flying out of Nepal today, but as there was a transport ban I am not really sure how we would have got to the airport. No one was sure as to whether or not there would be any violence to go along with the elections, so we like all tourists were advised to stay in our hotel and if we did go out, to not go very far, so we slept in, lazed around and only in the early afternoon went back down to the stupa for another look. We didn't have to walk on any roads as the hotel grounds back on to Anathema itself and the stupa is only a couple of lane-ways walk away. It was a different place when we arrived this time around, it was incredibly quiet with only a couple of tourists and even only a handful of locals, and half a dozen shops open. We sat up on a roof top restaurant for a couple of hours sipping coke and eating spring rolls. As the afternoon wore on more and more Tibetan people and monks arrived to perform their daily prayer rituals and we did the whole tourist people watching thing for awhile longer. By the time we wandered back to the hotel the place was pretty full, but it was still strange though as a couple of days before you could hear the traffic and today it was merrily silent no motorbike noises no car horns no one yelling the arrival of a bus, even the hotel staff that made it to work were commenting on it.

Bhaktapur, Patan and The Monkey Temple (Swayambhunath Temple)

2008-04-24T19:28:00.012+10:00

Today was our real tourist day in the Kathmandu valley, visiting Bhaktapur, Patan and the Swayambhunath Temple. Our first stop was about a ½ an hour drive from the hotel at Bhaktapur (we got a hotel car today, in the long run it was probably cheaper and so so much less hassle than fighting with cabbies). Bhaktapur is known as the city of rice or the city of devotees and is the third major town of the Kathmandu Valley. Bhaktapur has virtually no traffic (other than a few motorbikes) and is the most traditionally intact town in the Valley. Although a very expensive place for foreigners to visit - $10 US each - it is worth the price non the less just to experience the timelessness of the place. On arriving you are met with the obligatory locals wishing to guide you through the place at a cost of course, almost to the point where they are begging for you to say yes. Although guides can and do give very good insights into these areas we chose not to have a guide preferring instead just to soak in the atmosphere and wander through the peaceful streets at our own pace, choosing to read about things that we found interesting from our ever handy and always accurate Lonely Planet Guide.

After a brief rest at the top of the hill we entered into the town itself and the first thought that goes through your head is “amazing”. The streets are all cobblestone and open up into great big squares, in fact the entire town is made up of streets that interconnect a number of large squares. The architecture of the structures here which is dominated by temples is really fabulous. One of the temples is quite huge and all of them are really well in tact still, I think this is attributed partly in the hefty foreign visitor's fee and partly due to the fact that there is a Bhaktapur Development Program which ensures that the buildings are restored and maintained. Bhaktapur was the most powerful of the 3 Malla districts in the Valley from the 14th to the 16th centuries and during this time had around 172 temples and monasteries. It is really very interesting to see how easily medieval and modern times blend.

Walking around the streets brought us upon many craftsman making woodcarvings, weaving and traditional potters busy at work on pottery wheels. Other sights that we witnessed were the drying of rice in the sun and the washing of clothes at communal wells. Probably the most entertaining thing that we saw while here was the giant chariot that the kids were pulling through the streets. This is part of a festival that happens just before the Nepali new year. Not sure what the festival was but the kids were having a great time and I think that the festival was going to continue for some time as parts of the town were being roped off and as the day wore on an increasing presence of riot police were arriving. We aren't sure as to whether the riot squad was there for the festivities or because the election was due to take place the next day.

Our next stop was Patan which is just over the river Bagmati from Kathmandu and is second largest only to Kathmandu. Also known as the City of Beauty and similarly to Bhaktapur and Kathmandu has its own Durbar Square but has a lot more architecture of temples and stupas per square metre than either of the other 2. We didn't end up seeing Kathmandu's Durbar square which was a little disappointing so it was good to see the one with the most in it. Patan can be done as a full day trip but given our limited time we only had a few hours to dedicate to it. Like the buildings of Bhaktapur the temples and stupas here in Patan are plentiful, each unique unto itself and very detailed in its design and construction. We spent a bit of time sitting in the upstairs level of a traditional Newari building having lunch and just watching what was going on downstairs, the whole place like so many of the other places that we have visited on our trip was just a hive of activity, people going about their day to day routines and others just sitting around doing who knows what.

After navigating our way back down the stairs (the roofs in these building a really low and the stairs are insanely steep.) we began our whirlwind tour (although we did it at a pretty leisurely pace) of Patan's Durbar Square. Like the other squares that we had visited today we just really walked around soaking up the atmosphere watching what the people were doing, being pestered by small children demanding money and lollies and even stopping to help a young boy put water containers that were almost bigger than he was onto his bike so he could get them to where it was he was going to. Apart from the impromptu stops at some of the endless handicraft and art shops our only planned stop was the Kwa Bahal or Golden Temple. This Buddhist monastery is believed to have been built sometime in the 12th century and is still in use today. The front entrance is flanked by 2 lion statues which presumable are guardians of the structure, inside is a central temple which is surrounded by beautiful carvings and statues or monkeys, elephants and Lokeshvaras. The Buddhist priest here is a young boy below the age of 12 who serves for 30 days before being relieved of his duties by another boy around the same age.

Our last stop on what turned out to be a very long day was the Monkey Temple. The Buddhist temple Swayambhunath is supposedly one of if not the most recognisable structures in Nepal and it is certainly an impressive building. The eastern side of the temple has a huge set of stairs leading to the top of the hill were the temple sits but we took the easy way out and drove to the eastern side where you are dropped just short of the summit and the buildings on the top of the hill. As is the same with all of the structures there is a story that goes along with the building and how it came to be. Legend has it that the Kathmandu Valley was once a lake – this is fact – and that the hill where Swayambhunath sits actually rose from the lake in the same why that a lotus flower might rise out of water. The stupa was built some time around AD 460 and the long eastern stairway was added in the 17th century AD.

Upon entering the main site, there is a short climb to top and stupa with a number of enforced and unenforced stops depending upon the skills of the salesman that you cross paths with. Once reaching the top the there is an absolutely unbeatable view of Kathmandu and the entire Valley. The stupa itself is topped with a whitewashed dome upon which sits a gold coloured square block with the watchful eyes of the Buddha painted on each side to keep a watchful eye over Kathmandu and its Valley. The nose which looks like a question mark is actually the Nepali number one or ek and is also a symbol of unity of all life. Between and above the 2 eyes is a third eye which symbolises the Buddha's insight. Similarly to Bodhnath the stupa is surrounded by a non-stop chain of prayer wheels with the mantra om mani padme hum (hail to the jewel of the lotus) which pilgrims spin as they pray and circumnavigate (clockwise only) the stupa. Prayer flags also with inscribed Tibetan mantras also are tied to the apex of the stupa. This place really is an incredible building (I know I have said that so many times before about other things but these countries do really have some fine buildings and architecture particularly when you think about the age of the buildings) and an unbeatable view. And of course we can't forget the namesake of the temple as well, the monkeys.

Happy Birthday Kristy!!!

2008-04-24T19:27:00.008+10:00

Well it was Kristy's birthday today and although she still wasn't feeling that well she still had a nice day with a nice surprise on returning to our room that evening to find a beautiful birthday cake waiting for her in the room. Still not sure who left it for her, we assume it was the Hyatt but when she said thank you to the people at the front desk they really didn't know what she was talking about. So if it was the Hyatt thank you and if it wasn't thank you to whoever organised it for her!

Note to self

2008-04-24T19:27:00.006+10:00

If traveling in Nepal by taxi always insist that the meter is used or otherwise negotiate a price before getting in. If negotiating prices you need to have a clue where you are going and/or how far away it is! Otherwise don't expect the taxi drivers to be gentle when charging.

Bodhnath and its stupa

2008-04-24T19:26:00.011+10:00

We spent our stay in Nepal at the Kathmandu Hyatt Regency, which is just east of Kathmandu proper and overlooks Bodhnath, including a view of one of the world's largest stupas - the Bodhnath stupa. Bodhnath is home to many Tibetan exiles including a considerable amount of monks. The Tibetans here make up a large proportion of the population in this area. At Bodhnath's centre lies the stupa which is surrounded by gompas and shops and is a really great place to spend some time just watching the prayer rituals that take place on a daily basis. It seems that almost the entire local Tibetan population comes here of an afternoon to circumvent the stupa as part of their daily prayers. Many Sherpa people still come here to pray before journeying into the Himalayas. The large population of Tibetans at Bodhnath is partly due to the fact that this was on the main trade route between Kathmandu and Tibet and has always had a Tibetan influence and population and was therefore a logical place for Tibetans to flee to after the failed uprising against China in 1959.

As Kristy was feeling the best she had for the last couple of days we both ventured out this morning. Before visiting the stupa in the afternoon we went into Thamel to have a look around Durbar Marg, one of the main streets in the area which leads into old Kathmandu and the chowk (marketplace) of Asan Tole. Asan Tole is a junction of about 6 different streets which radiate from its centre and are the home to Kathmandu's biggest and busiest marketplaces. The streets are really no more a maze of interconnecting alleys and lane-ways and are jam packed with sellers and buyers and just people and yet more motorbikes passing through on their way to where ever. You can buy just about anything here from bronze status, all sorts of trekking gear (Kathmandu probably has one of the world's biggest concentration of trekking gear) to groceries and meat supplies. The butchers and meat markets are certainly not we are accustomed to back home. I will leave that up to your imagination. It is a pretty amazing site and incredibly colourful with many people in traditional dress, spices, flowers, toys and just about everything imaginable for sale, it is really difficult just to know where to look. We ended up spending the rest of the morning wandering around these streets getting completely lost but thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

After a quick stop off at the hotel to recharge and have a drink we walked over to Bodhnath to take a closer look at the stupa that we had spent time looking at from the hotel. Although up until now we hadn't seen too much of Nepal by this stage, Bodhnath really was obviously different from the areas of Kathmandu that we had seen. Walking around the the corner that opened up onto the stupa was really an inspiring site. Although no one really seems to accurately know the original stupa was built around 600 AD after the Tibetan king of the time, Songtsen Gampo was converted to Buddhisim by his 2 wives. It is believed that the current stupa was built sometime around the 14th century after Mughal invaders destroyed the original building. Stupas were originally built to house holy relics and it is not know if the stupa here has anything inside it or not although some believe that there is bone fragments that belonged to the Buhdda. The current stupa has between 600 and 800 prayer wheels around it base and has 5 levels each of which can be walked around. The stupa is an impressive building in its own right and it is made all the more so when it is being used as part of prayer rituals by the many Tibetan pilgrims that come here everyday.

What to do in Kathmandu

2008-04-24T19:24:00.004+10:00

Yes I know, tacky and really lame but I just couldn't help myself. We made it Kathmandu albeit a day late and the change in whether was a pleasant surprise, it was quite cool and drizzling. We had (unsuccessfully) tried to get in touch with the travel agent we were using in Kathmandu the day before to let them know that we had been delayed but they not only don't open their office on the weekend they switch their mobiles off as well. So as it turns out the poor guy that was there waiting for us must have thought it was like a scene from Groundhog Day (actually he probably didn't, I am pretty certain he wouldn't have a clue what Groundhog Day is let alone seen the movie) as he was doing the same thing at the same time that he was doing the day before. He waited for us at the airport for nearly 4 hours before someone went into the office and checked their email. We gave the guy a bit more of a tip then we normally would have when we got to the hotel as we felt really sorry for him.

We didn't do any real traveling in Nepal as we were only there for 5 nights and it was probably a good thing as it turns out as Kristy wasn't real good for the rest of the day after we arrived, spending the best part of the afternoon asleep. I went for a wander with the intention of picking up a prepaid SIM card which I did after a marathon effort. Getting phone credit in both India and Nepal isn't as easy as wandering into Coles, Woollies or just about any other shop under the sun and handing over $10, $20 or whatever, punching in a few numbers and being done with it. Well maybe not quite that easy, but not much harder.
Getting a SIM card here requires at least 1 passport photo (in Nepal they actually need 2), a copy of your passport and a copy of your visa, which when the shop you pick doesn't have a photocopier aren't always the easiest things to come by, but after going back and forth between the mobile phone shop and a stationary supply shop I did manage to do it. Luckily for whatever reason both Kristy and I had an extra photo stapled into our passports, so that bit was actually easy. But of course they only tell you about the visa copy after you have been to the shop and had a copy of your passport taken. Eventually we got there – language barrier can cause problems as well and I don't think I chose the best part of town to go to either, it wasn't the most touristy area. For the entire 4 hours I was walking around I didn't see another foreigner.

While wandering around on the first afternoon in Nepal I saw some very interesting sites, the local markets seemingly going on forever, spilling out everywhere with only small breaks in between, monkeys aren't too far of the main streets and the Nepali way of creating billboard signage even surprises the locals at times. No one thought it was strange when I took the photo, they were all too busy themselves craning their necks and staring up in amazement.

Delhi belly with vengeance!

2008-04-18T23:57:00.000+10:00

Our next stop was Delhi which was to only be quick overnighter in transit to Kathmandu in Nepal, but it didn't quite end up that way. We were picked up from the airport on arrival in Delhi and taken to our hotel – The Taj Mahal Palace which is a really flash hotel close to the airport in Delhi. We had high tea the afternoon we arrived, well maybe high coffee, which was really nice by a little imposing for me, the hotel staff, although incredibly nice and efficient but are almost over the top when it comes to service, even lighting people's cigarettes. I guess this is just me though and some people live like this all the time. It was nice but I am not sure if I would ever get used to this type of service I guess I am just too much of a dag.

Everything was going as planned until about midnight when Kristy got sick (physically) and kept going for about 7 and half hours. In the end I had to call a doctor to come and see her as she just couldn't stop. The doctor who arrived at about 8 in the morning was very nice but she was very concerned about Kristy particularly the fact that she wasn't even holding water down. She gave her some nausea tablets, some anti-biotics and told us that we were not going anywhere and that Kristy was to sleep as much as possible for the entire day. She was that concerned about Kristy's lack of fluid retention that she told us that unless Kristy could hold down water that afternoon she would have to admit her to hospital and put her on a drip to get her fluid levels back up – scary prospect! Thankfully it didn't come to that and she was beginning to feel a little better by about 8 o'clock that night. I spent the day re-arranging flights and accommodation and keeping a watchful (and concerned eye on Kristy). The hotel staff where unbelievably helpful, as was the Travelscope (our Indian travel agent) helping me sort everything out including ringing the hotel in Kathmandu to ensure we were not charged for the last minute change to our booking. The only problem that I ended up having was because our plane tickets to Kathmandu were paper tickets and issued in Australia the airline (the actual carrier we were on) couldn't modify the ticket so we had to cancel them and buy new ones, so that put us out of budget badly but hopefully our travel insurance will cover this.

Both of us were just hoping that this was just a “24 hour” thing and it would pass as quickly as it came and we would get to Nepal only a day late. Thankfully this was the case.

Time to be cultural

2008-04-18T23:56:00.003+10:00

We had our first introduction to authentic cultural dancing tonight. Kandariya Art & Culture has nightly performances, where a group of young Indian performers play traditional music while others perform tribal and traditional dances from all areas of India. The show was really enjoyable, the young dancers and musicians were a very talented group. The only thing that detracted from the show were the very noisy Korean tourist – ah well, it was still enjoyable and didn't spoil it too much.

The morning of the day that we left we wandered up the street back to where the dance show was the night before to their handicraft store. We didn't buy anything but it certainly wasn't because we didn't like anything. I think between Kristy and myself would have been happy to take about three quarters of it home and it wasn't a small shop either! Unfortunately most of the things that we really like were just too big.

The temples of Khajuraho

2008-04-18T21:35:00.003+10:00

This morning we met our guide in town at the entrance to the temples for our morning of temple art appreciation. The temples,like the caves in Aurangabad and many of the other monuments that we have seen so far in our travels are really well preserved and really amazing when you stop and think that all of the work was done without heavy machinery and the carves themselves were done by hand. It is not surprising considering this that these temples took around 100 years to complete. Many of the temples, particularly those in the main western group have “erotic” art carvings covering much of the temple surfaces.

They have recently discovered the remains of another temple which have allowed archaeologists and scientists to determine just how these amazing structures where built. As each “level” of the temples where built they were then covered in mud in a sloping triangle so that a higher level could be reached by workers and completed, more mud slopes being added again and again until the peak of the proposed temple was reached and completed. Once the construction of the temple was finished, the mud slopes were washed away, revealing the completed structure in all its glory. Given the age of these structures they are amazingly well in tact, a lot of the damage that has been done to the temples here has been caused by lightning strikes and all the remaining structures now having earth straps on them to help combat further damage. Apparently during the monsoon season, Khajuraho can get some pretty sever electrical storms, although like many parts of Australia they in a long term drought at the moment, not having a good monsoonal season for around 4 years.

Apart from the obvious, the carvings that cover these temples is just amazing the detail in the carvings is incredible, even depicting woman with intricate jewelery and handbags – fashion really hasn't developed at all! The carvings have been done in such a way that they really almost “come to life”, being carved with clever angles and twists that they are 3 dimensional, the figures seemingly dance out of the otherwise flat stone. Like Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Pyramids of Egypt (I don't really know I haven't seen these in real life) these temples really show how advanced these people where so many years ago in their engineering and artistic abilities.

There are many explanations for the abundance of sexual depiction, from possibility that it was thought that sex was a way of practicing restraint or they were there as a type of how-to manual to educate young Brahman boys growing up in the all male temple schools, or possibly it was to appease the rain god , Indra and stop lightning from striking and destroying the temples (although if this was the case it didn't work that well). The most widely accepted explanation is that they are Tantric images, whose cult believes that gratification is a way to reach enlightenment. Bhoga (physical pleasure) and Yoga (spiritual exercise) are equally important in the journey to nirvana. Which ever explanation is the correct one, imagery and artwork that has been created on these temples is nothing short of incredible.

Khajuraho – the city of ancient Kama Sutra?

2008-04-18T21:16:00.003+10:00

Our next stop – Khajuraho is a very small town south west of Varanasi with a population less than Port Macquarie, this is certainly the smallest place in India that we will visit. The area was originally populated by the Chandelas who built around 85 temples here, today only 25 still remain. The temples took some 100 years to build between 950 and 1050 AD. It is believed that all 85 temples stood here for around 5 centuries before Mughal invaders destroyed almost three quarters of them. The Chandelas quit the temples and the area when threatened by Afghan invaders and ultimately the temples were mostly forgotten and taken over by jungle. The temples were “rediscovered” in 1838 by the British officer TS Burt.
The temples themselves are covered in intricate carvings dominated mostly by images of woman and sex. It is these carvings that make the Khajuraho temples famous. The carvings on these temples are considered to be some of the finest temple art in the world.

On the first night that we arrived we went to a sound and light show at the largest of the temple sights. We had arrived in Khajuraho in the afternoon and had not sited the temple yet, so arriving after dark we were not sure what to expect. Seated in a large outdoor area with around 40 other people (many of which were not tourists) we sat and watched and listened as the history of the temples and the Chandela people was narrated to us. Flood lights bathed the different temples in colour as the story progressed it was a real surprise having not seen any of the temples yet to see how big they were and just how close they were. The western group of temples are right in the middle of the township itself. The show went for about an hour and gave some really good insight into what we would be seeing even closer up tomorrow. The show was really quite magical.

Lonely Planet gets it right.

2008-04-18T21:11:00.001+10:00

Most people who have traveled and most who haven't at some time or another would have bought or at least looked at a Lonely Planet guide. I am sure most people would not disagree with me when I say they are good books but should only be used for what they are – a guide, and not taken as the absolute be all and end all for information regarding the country or area you are traveling in. Yes they give you some great general information and at times some very good specific information but at other times they are bordering in completely inaccurate. Don't get me wrong I am not saying they are no good as I said I believe they are great guides and if we do anymore traveling I am sure we will continue to use them.

To get to the point though – The Lonely Planet India on Varanasi states: “The magical but sometimes overwhelming city is where the most intimate rituals of life and death take place in public on the city's ghats. The accessibility to the practices of an ancient but still living religious tradition is what captivates many visitors, and a walk along the ghats or a boat ride on the river is one of India's most absorbing experiences” This time the got it absolutely correct and possibly even understated it a little. Both Kristy and I both agree with this sentiment, Varanasi truly is an amazing city and we both would have loved to have spent some more time down along the river just watch life go by. The Varanasi experience that we shared will be one neither of us will forget in a long time.

Change of plan

2008-04-15T22:10:00.004+10:00

We have had an unexpected change in our itinerary today. There is major work being done at the Jodphur airport so a lot of the flights in and out of Jodphur are being cancelled, including our onward flight to Jaipur. We are now going to cut our stay in Jodhpur a night short and spend the extra night in Jaipur. Our itinerary for Rajasthan is now:

16th April 3 nights in Jodhpur, Taj Hari Mahal
19th April 2 night in Jaipur, Taj Jai Mahal Palace
21st April 2 nights in Ranthambore NP, Taj Sawai Modhopur Lodge

Jaipur is much larger than Jodhpur so the change should hopefully work out ok.

Hidden talent

2008-04-15T21:04:00.004+10:00

Kristy today discovered that she may jsut have a hidden talent - she can speak Hindi. As we Australians have a somewhat "unique" (read bogan) accent people often can't understand our special pronunciation of the English language (except for the Kiwis only because theirs is worse!), particularly when their grasp of the English language isn't that good. In many parts of India particularly it seems in Varansi everyone who is selling something thinks as a tourist that you may just want to buy something from them. Kristy has got into the habit of say no in a very lazy way so it sounds more like naahh, which to one local Varanasi man must have sounded very much like the Hindi word for no - Nahin or Naheen and asked her if she could speak Hindi.

Without wanting to disappoint her too much I must say other than perfecting her pronunciation of the Hindi equivalent of no she most defiantly can't speak Hinidi.

Ganges by night

2008-04-15T02:55:00.011+10:00

We went back down to the Ganges this afternoon for another boat ride and to witness some of the ceremonies including the ganga aarti ceremony that takes place on the banks of the river every night. Again we weaved our way down the streets, although it was almost a kilometre short this afternoon as many of the streets become totally impassible by cars due to the night markets that take place. We boarded our boat and were again rowed out onto the river, by night the scene is no less complex and seemable chatoic but very different than in the morning. There are lights and fires, candles, chanting and singing and still people bathing in the river. We were quickly surrounded by swarm after swarm of mosquitoes but strangely enough they didn't bite (yes we had repelent on but they weren't even landing on us - strange). After moving our way up and back the river passing and watching many ceremonies of varying size and intensity we got off our boat and made our way up to a small ceremony being performed by Holy Men in training.

Kristy was an instant hit with the local children, they were diving all over her after about five minutes of her sitting down. They love having their photo taken and then having a look at it on the camera. For a while both Kristy and I were taking more photos of the kids than anything else just to keep them calm, sort of. The ceremony was interesting and is performed everynight and is watch by a lot of people, who make donations to the Holy Men at the end of the ceremony and then an offering of food is distributed to everyone who has witnessed the performance, including tourists apparently.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped in to yet another silk shop! Varanassi is full of them, it is one of the biggest trades here. The streets were even more full on the way back to the car than on the way down, they were absolutly teeming with people wandering, selling, buying, eating and even more pilgrims making their way to the river.

Travel diary entry 18

2008-04-15T02:50:00.006+10:00

Kristy has officially taken too many photos - she has a sprained finger! And she got in trouble from our guide today for not listening, Kristy thought he was serious, Pram and I thought it was hilarious.

The place of Buddha's first's sermon.

2008-04-15T02:20:00.005+10:00

Sarnath, a short drive out of Varanasi is where we visted after breakfast. Buddha gave his first sermon to a small group of followers here after reaching enlightenment at Bodhgaya. In the 3rd century BC this area of India had many monastaries and stupas and until some time in the 6th century AD had around 1600 monks living in the monastaries of Saranath. Like many other things in India these buildings were destroyed by Muslim invaders and Saranath was forgotten until the mid 1800s. It is today considered by Buddhists as one of four very important sites and the deer park where Buddha is said to have dilivered has been recreated.

On the way back we stopped into the local archaeological museum which contains ancient treasures that have been excavated from the local area. There are artifacts that have been dated back to the 3rd century BC and are still incredibly well in tact.

We had a lazy afternoon wandering around the hotel gardens, the hotel sits on around 40 acres. We had another fantastic dinner tonight having a fantastic Indian meal, Kristy found her desert tonight - phrini and was very excited about it too. They had some traditional musicians playing in the resturant which was pretty cool.

Varinasi - One of the oldest and certainly one of the holiest places in India

2008-04-14T16:51:00.015+10:00

Varanasi with a population of around 1.5 million truly is a holy place, and the heart of the Hindu universe, where the spiritual and physical worlds cross paths. Hindu pilgrims constantly arrive here to cremate loved ones that have passed or wash away a lifetime of sins in the Ganges which is seen as a river of salvation. Varanasi is thought to be one, if not the oldest living cities in the world.

We were up very early again today, around 4.30am to meet our guide for a 5.15am start. We thought that the drive from the hotel down to the Ganges River would be an nice easy drive. Ha! Not so. From the hotel it was easy going but the closer we got to the river itself the more chaotic it got. And unlike Mumbai where really it is just cabs, cars and bikes, Varanasi's traffic is made up of just as many cows, dogs, goats and people as vehicles. Even at 5.30 in the morning the streets were bursting at the seams with people setting up markets and others on there way to the Ghats to pray and bathe. We had to get out of the car about 500m before the river bank and walk. Getting out the car was like stepping in to another time zone or even onto another planet it was really nothing like anything we had seen before. Weaving our way through the crowds and the holy cattle to get down to the river bank took about 10 minutes, constantly being slowed down by the obligatory postcard wielding touts. Once we stepped onto the foreshore of the river all you can do was stand there for a minute or two and just soak up the atmosphere. Noises coming from all different directions, people everywhere, shaving their heads to make offerings to the Mother Ganges, Holy Men blessing and palm reading, beggars, street kids, hawkers and lets not forget the cows and dogs and of course a number of tourists not unlike ourselves just standing around with dazed looks in their eyes wondering what to do and where to go next! Thankfully we had a guide.

Kristy was blessed again this morning by a Holy Man on the way to our boat which would be taking us up and down the river so we could watch what was happening on the shore and see the sun rise. Before getting on the boat we bought a couple of Lotus flower candles which we lit and set adrift on the river (very touristy I know but nice all the same)

Being rowed up the river in relative silence was a humbling experience and the feelings that were invoked here are very difficult if not impossible to put into words. It is really hard to describe the feeling that you get from being here. It was really interesting watching everything that was happening along the river from the boat our guide tried to convince Kristy that she should bathe in the Ganges herself but she wasn't real keen, but without quite understanding what being said she unwittingly agreed to do so! It was all in good fun though and Pram (our guide) didn't keep Kristy to her promise, so she didn't get wet.

We were rowed up the river for about 1/2 and hour where we turned around and came back the way we came. Rowing beyond our starting point we approached Manikarnika Ghat which is the main burning ghat and the most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated. Up to 200 bodies are cremated in any given day along the river and when cremated in the Manikarnika Ghat requires between 200 and 300kg of wood, taking up to 4 hours to complete. The wood fire of the Manikarnika Ghat never goes out, and the family that owns and operates the ghat is one of the wealthiest family in Varanasi. There is a newly built electric crematorium but is not considered to be holiest way to be cremated.

Just up river of the Manikarnika Ghat we finished our boat ride and wound our way through some of the tiny lanes ways that run along the river toward the Vishwanath Temple (Golden Temple). Non-Hindus (us included) are not actually allowed to enter the temple but we did go down the lane way to have a look from the outside, after going through metal detectors and being frisked by guards carrying semi-automatic rifles. The presence of armed guards is necessary as there are still quite high tensions between the Hindu and Muslium populations. The Gyanvapi Mosque was built with in a dozen metres of the Golden Temple so they are very close and paths are constantly crossed.

After a quick look at the outside of the temple which I might add has around 800kg of gold plating on the outside of it and then a look at a couple of silk shops we returned to the hotel for breakfast before heading off for another couple of hours of local site seeing.

Way too early.

2008-04-14T00:30:00.006+10:00

Out of bed this morning at 3.45am to be picked up this morning at 4.45am for our flight to Varanasi via Lucknow. We arrived at the hotel around lunch time and just relaxed (slept) for the afternoon. Had an early dinner in the room ready for another very early morning tomorrow starting with a dawn boat ride on the Ganges.

One bizzare thing though about getting up so early and being on the way to the airport was seeing no traffic on the Mumbai roads and I think the only time the driver used his horn was once we got to the airport car park. Interesting sight really.

Farewell to Bombay!

2008-04-13T04:04:00.022+10:00

The morning of our last day in Mumbai was spent on a trip to Elephanta Island. We got a taxi (black and gold of course) to the Gateway of India where the ferries depart for the island. While struggling through a crowd of hawkers selling among other things the world's biggest balloons, tour guides and street kids we were set upon by a holy man. He blessed us, we think as we didn't really understand too much of what he was saying although a local who we had been chatting with assured us that he was legit and that it was very lucky.

Leaving from the Gateway of India, it is an hour's ferry ride to the island and I must say was really, really, really pleasant. The ferries are open sided and the change in temperature was huge and the breeze off the water was nothing short of beautiful after the oppressive heat that we had been experiencing for the last few days in Mumbai. We are told that it will get hotter once we get to Rajasthan but won't have the humidity of Mumbai which is the real killer. The population on Elephanta Island is made up only of a small fishing community and a whole lot of monkeys. The island was originally named Gharapuri - "city of Ghara priests". Some time in the sixth century it was renamed by the Portuguese after the carved elephant that used to be at the port. The statue has since been relocated to a museum.

After getting off the ferry we had a short walk to the base of the hill where we were met with a long, long set of stairs, and the first sign of the bigger population on the island - the monkeys. The climb up the stairs wasn't too bad as it was in the shade but without wanting to harp on about it doing it in 35-35 degree heat make it just a tad more difficult. The good thing though is the staircase is lined with souvenir stalls and drink shops so there was always something to look at or somewhere to rest on the way. Once at the top there are a number of caves not too dissimilar to those at Aurangabd, the main attraction being a cave temple with a huge Trunutri (three-faced) Shiva sculpture. Although not on the same scale as Ellora and Ajanta the temple cave is none the less impressive, give the age of it and how the work was done to create the cave.
Without wanting to detract from the amazing work that was done in producing the temple and the other caves on Elephanta Island the most enjoyable part of the morning and certainly the most entertaining were the monkeys that populate the island. Although still wild they are certainly not phased by humans, a number of them coming right up to us and others and being almost aggressive about it. Kristy was a bit concerned, I thought it was funny. The babies are fun to watch, pulling each other's tails and trying to push each other out of the trees, they are just full of energy, unlike the older ones who prefer to lay around or groom each other. One the walk back down the steps to the return ferry we saw one reasonably young monkey race down a tree across the path to steal a corn cob from a kid's hand and then bolt straight back up the tree a safe distance and quickly start eating the corn. The poor kids was scared witless but his parents and us defiantly saw the funny side of it. It was quite incredible how quickly the monkey did it, mind you the child didn't put up a fight, quite sensibly he let the corn go pretty quickly.

Once back on mainland we dropped in to have a look at another of the Taj Hotels - the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower's and it lives up to its name. Built in 1903 it really is a beautiful old building. After having a wander through the foyer and shops in the hotel we wandered around the markets for the afternoon before heading back to our hotel for an early night as we were being picked up in the morning at 4.30 in the morning to get our flight to Varanasi.

Bollywood star - not to be

2008-04-13T02:17:00.003+10:00

One of the things Kristy had really been looking forward to in Mumbai was a tour of a Bollywood studio and actually seeing some filming. We had originally found a reference to Bollywood tours in the Lonely Planet guide but when we asked Travel Scope (our Indian based travel agent) they told us that they were no longer available - disappointment for Kristy. We thought that we may as well ask at the Taj and unfortunately we received the same answer, although they did say that apparently this is only the case if you are a foreigner and is due to security reasons. With one last ditched effort we asked again at the travel desk of the hotel and were told that yes something could be organised for us but I looked over his shoulder when he was looking it up on the computer and it would have cost us around $300US so we thought we might just give it a miss. So after all that we still aren't sure if you can or can't do Bollywood tours if you are a tourist - mystery we have to live with for the rest of lives. We might just have to go and see a movie while we are here instead!

Not so Indian

2008-04-13T01:57:00.004+10:00

We had a little change of scenery food wise tonight, eating at one of the hotel restaurants, which incidentally comes highly recommended by a lot of the local eating out guides in Mumbai. The Thai Pavilion is one of three restaurants at the Taj President Hotel. We started with spring rolls followed by pad Thai and peppered lobster. The lobster was unbelievably good. We were a little concerned about it possibly being and dry and plan as the waiter didn't go into too much detail when we asked him about it. It was anything but! The restaurant itself is really quite cool as well, the decor is modern and stylish and part of the kitchen is in the restaurant itself so you can watch what you are going to eat be prepared. We actually sat at "the bar" which surrounds the open air kitchen section which was pretty entertaining and made for a very different dining experience which was really fun.

Mumbai - Revisited

2008-04-12T16:47:00.014+10:00

The whether hasn't changed in Mumbai (and we don't expect it too either). We wandered around Mumbai again today visiting some of the more well known sights including Haji Ali's Mosque which is the tomb of the Muslim saint, Haji Ali. The Mosque sits of the coast in the Arabian Sea with a concrete path connecting it to the mainland. At high tide the water completely covers the 500m walkway, making the Mosque appear to be an island.

I know I have mentioned how much Indian people like cricket and anyone who follows the cricket would know that India is a very good cricketing nation, recently proven in Australia, especially in the one day format - but enough of that. The kids and young adults play cricket seemingly obsessively and from what we have seen so far anywhere. Walking back from the Mosque we could here a fair bit of noise cheering and sure enough a cricket game is in progress. Not surprising you may say given my comments above, well you are right especially for us after being here for a little while, not surprising at all. What was surprising was where they were playing. You can see from the photo that at low tide there isn't a nice sandy beach like many of the places at home but rocky and muddy ground not to mention the piles of rubbish and goats that they have to contend with. How the ball actually bounces and keeps going straight is beyond me. Maybe this is how India produces world class batsmen, if you can play well on a cricket pitch like this one you can play well on any pitch. It is nice to see people other than Australian who are so passionate about there sport.

Our next stop was the world's biggest washing machine - quite literally. Mahalaxmi Ghobi Ghat is a 136 year ghat which is actually a human powered washing machine where Mumbai people have their clothes cleaned. Our vantage point was on a bridge over the local train station and from there all that can be seen is a sea of clothes lines full of drying clothes and other washing and row after row of concrete tubs part filled with after (1026 in total apparently) where the washing is done by beating the wet washing against the concrete. We are told that a lot of buttons get broken here. If is funny, you wouldn't think that a washing machine would be a tourist attraction, but the Mahalaxmi Ghobi Ghat is exactly that. As we were standing there in amazement taxi after taxi kept pulling up on the bridge full of tourists who all did the same thing we did - stare and take photos.

Mumbai

2008-04-01T15:15:00.015+11:00

The first thing that comes to mind upon arrival in Mumbai at this time of year is hot & humid. Very closely followed by crowded, noisy, smelly and traffic! All that aside though Mumbai is in incredible place. It is interesting to how many local people still refer to Bombay. Mumbai has almost the same number of people living in it as the entire Australian population (around 16 000 000 people live in Mumbai) I think we have seen about half of them on the way from the airport to the hotel.

We had a fairly quiet day on the first day, having a look around the shops and wandering the streets of the Northern end of Mumbai, and just adjusting to the crowds, street hawkers and the traffic.

We did a self guided walking tour on our second day in Mumbai around the areas of Mumbai known as Churchgate and the Fort. There really are some amazing old buildings in these parts of the city. Walked across a park near the Uni where there were a number of cricket games going on. They absolutely love there cricket here. Almost every time they ask where you are from and you answer Australia the next thing that is said is either Ricky Pointing or cricket.

The walk was really quite interesting but the heat really got to us after awhile we started at the wrong time of day, around 1pm but we managed to finish it! I think the highlight of the walk for Kristy was the Baskins that she found and yes we did, no need to ask.

Taxis are are everywhere in Mumbai, you see pictures of the US with their yellow cabs, well it is exactly the same here (except of course how they drive) but the cabs here are black and gold. We can't get over how cheap they are to travel in though considering the cost of fuel.

Petrol is dearer here than it is in Australia and you really do pay next to nothing for taxi rides here. Maybe that says something about the cost of cabs back home?

Mumbai is truly amazing it never seems to stop, always something going on, and we were in a quieter part of town!

Catchup Part 3 - Aurangabad

2008-04-01T14:36:00.015+11:00

Our main stop for today was the Ellora group of caves. The Ellora temple caves are about a 45 minute drive from Arungabad and without all the climbing which was good considering that it was around 34 degrees at 10.30 in the morning. These caves have significance to and were carved by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monks. There are templpes, monastaries and chapels all carved into the rock face. The biggest of these is the Kailasa Temple which was dedicated to the god Shiva and is the world's biggest single sculpture that has been carved from a single piece of rock.It took around 7000 labourers more than 150 years to complete it and when you see it up close you can understand why. The photos just don't quite do it justice. This is not so much a cave but more a giant sculpture that has been cut out of the mountain side. It really is an impressive sight. The view from the top is just as interesting as you can seen a lot of detail on the temple roof tops that isn't visible from the ground.

After doing the tourist thing and wandering around the temples we had a quick lunch at the cafe on site - Chicken Biryani, it was great and really cheap too. Our next stop was to the baby Taj and Omesh told us that it was a good thing that we hadn't been to Agra yet as if we had we wouldn't be able to appreciate this monument for what it was in its own right. The baby Taj or correctly the Bibi-qa-Maqbara was built in 1697 by Aurangzeb whose father built the Taj Mahal. It is a mausoleum for Aurangzeb's wife and is a pretty impressive building - for a grave! Our last stop this afternoon was the weaving shop where Kristy did the Sari thing.

We are leaving Aurangabad tomorrow afternoon and returning to Mumbai for 5 nights.

Catchup Part 2 - Aurangabad

2008-03-31T22:16:00.013+11:00

The people here are great everyone is really friendly and helpful. I don't think Aurangabad is one of the bigger stops on the tourist trail as we are getting lots of stares but also lots of smiles. Omesh told us they most of the tourists to this area are from India itself and not foreigners. Heaps of Indian families want their photos taken with us when we are out and heaps of Indian boys want their photos taken with Kristy. Kristy has been going nuts with the camera she has taken over 500 photos in 2 days - I don't think we will be having any slide nights if she keeps going at this rate. Thank god we aren't using a film camera!

Our second day was another trip out to a different set of caves. This one was supposed to be a 1/2 day tour but ended up being nearly 7 hours. We started at Daulatabad which is about half way to the caves. Daulatabad is/was a hilltop fortress and was actually the capital of India for awhile. Sultan Mohammed Tughlaq decided to build this fortress and then march the entire population from Delhi out to the fortress which is 1100km away! The people that actually survived the move went back to Delhi a couple of years later as it wasn't sustainable as national capital.

It was a pretty big climb, the top is about 200m up, but we didn't go right to the top as it was stinking hot even early in the morning and all the steps weren't doing Kristy any favours.

Our next stop was the second World Heritage listed cave site - Ellora cave temples.

Catch-up Part 1 - Aurangabad

2008-03-31T21:29:00.025+11:00

I have been a bit busy (slack) for the last couple (7) days and not posted anything so I am now going to attempt to catch up a bit.
We arrived in India very late on the night of the 21st and overnight in Mumbai. We wandered and lazed around for the best part of the day and flew to Aurangabad about 6pm on the 22nd. The hotel we stayed out - The Taj Residency Aurangabad was a really old palace type building that has been converted into a hotel, it really is a beautiful building and sits on about 5 acres of land on the edge of the city proper.

We arrived fairly late and were still pretty tired from the flights, early mornings and late nights so after having some dinner pretty well went straight to bed.

We were up at a reasonable time all things considered on the first full day of our stay in Aurangabad as we were off on a day tour to the Ajanta Caves. The Ajanta Caves are a World Heritage listed site and are a group of Buddhist caves about 100km outside of Aurangabad. It took about 2 hours to drive the 100km so you can probably begin to imagine what the roads and traffic is like - cars, trucks, buses, 4wds, cows, horse and bullock drawn carts, motorbikes etc, etc.... all weaving in and out and around it other and quite often up the wrong side of the road at speed. Although unlike Vietnam they at least don't drive at 140km/hr while they do it.

The caves themselves are dated between 200 BC and 650 AD and were abandoned sometime after that. They were rediscovered by a British Army officer out hunting (I think) in 1819 and yes he even carved his name into one of the pillars. The caves themselves are absolutely amazing when you think how old they are and that they were carved out of the side of a mountain by hand. Everything is completely symmetrical and straight and it was all done by chisel. There are the remains of paintings which decorate most of the walls and ceilings in the caves, some of which are surprisingly still very much in tact, and again considering the age of the paintings the detail and technique is really astounding. Don't have any photo's unfortunately as we have been tacking all our photos on a RAW setting up until then, now we have JPEGs as well.

It was a pretty big day, we had to climb about 300 steps to get to the caves and then a fair bit more up and down as we walk around the "horseshoe" of 28 caves. We all slept, including Omesh the guide (possibly even the driver?) on the way back for a bit. It was fairly tiring as the heat here is incredible and really drains you. Both of us were dripping by the time we got back to the car.

We had a candlelit dinner for 2 out on the lawn after our day at the caves which was really quite special. The food here is amazing, Indian in Australian restaurants is pretty close on taste but there is so much more variety here and the taste is somehow better.

Aurangubad

2008-03-25T00:28:00.005+11:00

We have been here for a couple of days now and they have been a couple of very full days. Aurangabad has some amazing caves that have been carved out of mountains and we have been traveling around looking at these. On the way back to the hotel toady we stopped at a weaving factory and they got Kristy to try on a Sari.

The food so far has been fantastic, not too spicy just really nice. Anyway, going to go now as internet access is a bit expensive at the hotel which is pretty normal and I really just wanted to get the pic of Kristy up. I will add some more detail around our time here in Aurangabad once we can get to an internet cafe.

We have left

2008-03-25T00:09:00.005+11:00

We got away on time on Thursday the 20th but it ended up being an incredibly long day. Both Kristy and I were up at about 5.30am. I had to drop the dogs out to the kennel at 6.30 and then we were on a 9.40 plane to Sydney. Kristy dropped into her favourite hairdresser in the city before we went over to the Blue Sydney (Taj Hotel at Woolamaloo) to have coffee and finally meet Seema who has given us so much help organising our trip.

The flight was long. We were delayed on the tarmac for almost an hour in Sydney because of a storm and then we had to land in Brisbane and get off for about an hour before taking off again at almost 1am. The flight itself was fine but really full, the plane was at 90% capacity. We got some sleep on the plane although it is never really comfortable. We landed in KL about 6am local time and spent the day in a hotel where we slept and did very little.

Our flight into Mumbai was fine but again pretty late, by the time we arrived and got checked into our hotel it was about 1am local time so we were pretty tired. We didn't really do much the next day. Slept in a bit, trying to catch up on some sleep and then spent most of the rest of the day lounging around in the hotel drinking coffee waiting for our next flight. It is very hot and humid in Mumbai so we thought we would take it pretty easy and we didn't really have much time to do too much as we had to get another flight that afternoon.

We did go for a bit of a wander around the streets and it weas pretty interesting. We arrived on a public holiday, Holi so most things were closed, although there were a fair few people out celebrating. They throw colour around and paint each other with brightly coloured powder, including tourists! Both Kristy and I had orange colour on faces by the time we got back to the hotel, but it was fun and the people were really friendly. I think it will be a different place altogether once we are back and it is not a holiday.

Finally a final itinerary!

2008-03-06T00:57:00.045+11:00

After much to-ing and fro-ing we have finally got our plans sorted out! It is cutting a bit fine but it looks like all our issues with our itinerary have been sorted.

Here is our schedule:
20th March Fly to Kuala Lumpur, 18 hour lay-over!
21st March Arrive in Mumbai, Taj President
22nd March 3 nights in Aurangubad, Taj Residency
25th March 5 nights in Mumbai, Taj President
30th March 3 nights in Varanasi, Taj Ganges
2nd April 2 nights Khajuraho, Taj Chandela
4th April 1 night in Delhi, Taj President
5th April 5 nights in Kathmandu, Kathmandu Hyatt Regency (Happy Birthday Kristy!)
10th April 6 nights in Delhi, Dewar Villas (B&B)
16th April 4 nights in Jodhpur, Taj Hari Mahal
20th April 1 night in Jaipur, Taj Jai Mahal Palace
21st April 2 nights in Ranthambore NP, Taj Sawai Modhopur Lodge
23rd April 4 nights in Jaipur, Taj Jai Mahal Palace
27th April 2 nights in Agra, Taj View
30th April 3 nights in Kuala Lumpur, Novotel Hydro Majestic
3rd May 1 night in Sydney
4th May Home
6th May Back to Work!

For most of our stay in India we are staying at Taj Hotels which are really nice. Have a look at their website here: Taj Hotels

Our Holiday - Almost There

2008-03-06T00:57:00.044+11:00

Well we are getting close to our holidays now and we are still trying to get things finalised. We are hoping that it will be all sorted this afternoon. We had a few problems with the local travel agents so we have organised most things ourselves. It has saved us a lot of money but has taken a long time to get where we wanted to be with our plans. We are mainly staying in Taj Hotels while we are away, they are really nice and we are getting some great specials. We have organised a lot of the accomodation via Seema, a lady who works in for the Taj Hotel group in Sydney and she has been really helpful arranging a lot of our accomodation for us and working with a travel agent in India for us. This has been a little difficult at times though and we think a lot of it might be language issues but fingers crossed we will have this finalised by today!

We are leaving on the 20th of March and will be away for about 6 weeks spending around 4 1/2 weeks in India 1 week in Nepal and a few days in Kuala Lumpur on the way home.

Practice Post

2008-03-06T00:57:00.031+11:00

I know this hasn't got anything to do with our holiday but I thought I would add a post just to see how things went.

A lot of people would know that we got new puppy about 9 months ago. Here is a photo of her. That pink teddy doesn't exist anymore it exploded! (Willow ripped it apart)

She is a fair bit bigger than this now as she is coming up to 12 months old. She's still a little brat.

Very First Blog Post!

2008-03-06T00:57:00.030+11:00

Well I can't say I ever thought I would be the type to have my own blog but since we are going on holidays for 6 weeks soon I thought this might be a good way to keep a diary of our travels.... So here it goes!