Delhi II

Friday 21st November, 2008 (Al)
Wend phoned the Aust High Commission and booked an appointment for 2pm. We spent the morning window shopping and forwarding our excess luggage to a packing shop to then be forwarded by post to Perth. The guy who packed our box used an old pulley scale to weigh our box and deemed it 14kg. Seeing as though my backpack weighed 14kg and the box felt lighter, it seemed not right, but we left our details with him and he seemed legit otherwise. We went to the High Commission a few km away ( a new swish building which stood out compared to most other buildings in Delhi) and Wend got her visa. Finally….confirmation. We headed back and after thinking about it, decided to get another opinion on the weight of the package to send home. I asked him to re-weigh the box using an electronic scale. The guy across the road had one so we asked to use it. 11 kg…..mmm… a few kg difference and nearly 800 rupees difference in price. The man accepted his error (I wonder how many other people he has fooled with his dodgy weigh scale) and gave us the difference. I suspect our package will never actually be sent and our clothes are now being flogged off somewhere on the main bazaar.

We picked up our bags from the hotel later than night and headed for the New Delhi station to get a train to Varanasi, a place we reluctantly booked as it was out of the way, we were behind schedule and many people had told us they hated it. Fabian had told us it was a place he loved and we had to see for ourselves as it represented the heart of India so we bit the bullet and got the o/n train there. What awaits us?

Agra/ Delhi

Thursday, 20th November, 2008 (Al)
The Taj Mahal……wow. I didn’t expect much as God knows we’ve all seen the photos before, but it was pretty special to see it in person, particularly being one of the first group of people to enter the gates and capture the sunrise photos before the masses arrived. It has a very calming effect and its just nice to sit back around the gardens and take it all in. We took a million photos , and even though it was a hazy morning and the colours I was hoping for never arrived, it was still something we’ll remember for a long time. It has a definite aura about it.

We left the Taj around 9am and headed back to our accommodation for breakfast. After checking out we headed with Fabian and Fiona to the train station, bought a general ticket on the next available train to Delhi and then negotiated an upgrade with the ticket inspector before boarding. This time it was the bargain basement dodgy brothers deal of only 500 rupees per couple. He had originally wanted close to 1000 rupees each couple (to make up the dif between our general ticket and the upgraded beds) but when we thought he asked if we had a receipt and we replied ‘no‘, the amount changed to only 500 each couple. It seems he was asking us if we wanted a receipt. No receipt means the transaction didn‘t happen, the ticket inspector gets an extra 1000 rupees and we pay less than the tickets were worth - everyone is a winner. A few hours, our condensed life stories and some laughs later we arrived in New Delhi station and bid farewell to Fabian and Fiona.

Back in Delhi again we headed for a hotel called Vivek Hotel on the Main bazaar opposite New Delhi station. Only 500 rupees for a clean room with a TV. The reason we had returned to Delhi was because Wendy’s visa to stay in Australia had finally come through and since we weren’t returning to London, it had been forwarded to the Aust High Commission in London for us to pick up.

Ranthambore/Agra

Tuesday 18th November, 2008 (Al)
Checked into a ‘luxury’ tent at the Ranthambore Bagh. It’s the most expensive place we have stayed so far at 92 euros per night inc all meals. At 2.30pm we boarded a Canter ( an open top truck with about 20 people of board) for an afternoon safari. The aim of all these safaris is obviously to capture sight of a wild Tiger. The guide explained that there was only a 30% chance of seeing one but the afternoon around sunset and in the morning at sunrise are the best times. The Park is divided into 8 routes of which each Canter or Jeep (holding 5) race to the first checkpoint to take their pick on a first come first served basis. The canters and jeeps are divided evenly each day. We took route 4. The whole trip is 3 hours long and the guides and drivers are fined 5000 rupees each if they stray with the time. Our first couple of hours have us viewing mainly Sambar and spotted deer. They tend to come out in the afternoon to drink from the watering holes. With good hearing but poor eyesight, they’re an easy prey for the Tiger. We learnt from the guide there are two ways of working out where the Tigers are - paw marks on the ground and warning calls by the other animals. The monkeys help the deers by dropping the leaves for food and calling from the tops of the trees where they can see the Tiger coming. The adult deer in turn call out warnings to their young and other deers. We head to a main watering hole where there are more deer, wild boars and Storks, but no Tiger. We see a number of other wildlife along the way including water snakes, tiny owls, and a crocodile who was close to some unsuspecting spotted deer drinking from a waterhole. Unfortunately my sadistic thoughts of seeing a wild kill live were scampered by the loud engine of the canter truck which seemed to scare off the deer and send the croc into the water. As we head back toward the entrance of the park we seem destined to be one of the 70% who don’t get the chance to see a Tiger in Ranthambore. There are only 35 plus 6 cubs in the area of which only 5 are male. The female stays with the cubs for two years and the males wander alone. They are notoriously hard to find as they roam approx 15km a day. On our way back something is said between driver and guide and all of a sudden the driver puts his foot to the pedal. 50m or so around a corner are two jeeps parked with people taking photos. I am positioned in the front of the truck and in front of me about 15 -20m away is a huge male tiger, leisurely walking and stretching his paws, scratching them on the bark of a tree. Its an amazing sight. Much bigger than I anticipated and very impressive. I quickly tried to take some photos but my camera setting was incorrect and I spent half the time trying to adjust it, hence the rubbish photos. I was gutted with the blurred pics, however ecstatic that we actually saw a wild Tiger in the flesh. He was in clear view of us for all of about 30 sec before wandering off into the trees. Our guide later told us that we were extremely lucky to see a male Tiger. 16 vehicles a session twice a day, every day are allowed in the park and they only see a male Tiger twice a month. A South African couple had been out 5 times that week and not seen one, so to see one on our first attempt was pretty good. In the following 20 min we saw two jackals, a black tail mongoose and the Indian Kingfisher bird. We departed the Park on a high and headed back to our tent, enjoyed a tasty dinner in the restaurant before bed. We had to be up at dawn the next morning for a 2nd safari, this time in a jeep.

Ranthambore/Agra
Wednesday 19th November, 2008 (Al)
The crack of dawn - when is it ever nice to wake up that early? It had been raining overnight (the first time since we had been in India) and was chilly in the morning. We thought the jeep safari may have been cancelled but sure enough, if there are rupees to be made, it will go ahead. Squashed in the back seat with an Indian family, we entered the park again. We took a different route to yesterday’s and the surroundings were considerably greener. The rain had washed away the dust on the leaves from the days before. Glad we were in a jeep though, as a number of canters had to abandon their paths as they were not 4 wheel drives and the muddy tracks posed a few problems getting through. By the end of the session we passed 3 canters with customers walking dejectedly along the muddy ground. It was disappointing all round as most of the animals were lying low and resting due to the weather. Only deer a mongoose, croc, kingfishers and owls were spotted and I felt sorry for the others in the jeep who were really looking forward to seeing a wild tiger. On the last checkpoint it was discovered that not one vehicle spotted a tiger on any of the routes. We were really lucky to have seen one yesterday.

We were late getting back to the resort and subsequently had to rush to the station. As we were on a waiting list our seats were not confirmed. A talk to the hotel staff and the ticket master at the station suggested we should just get on, plead ignorance (Indian style as they said) and then sort it out with a small ‘fine’ with the train ticket conductor. I felt uncomfortable with this, so when we approached the conductor as the train arrived, he said there was not a single seat on the train available and we could not get on. Our taxi man who worked at the resort we stayed at was still with us and he attempted to get us onto ‘General seating’. Any of you who have ever seen General class on a train in India know that its not for the light hearted. It is the cheapest way possible and it is jammed, and I mean like sardines. Even though Wend was willing I could see myself trying unsuccessfully to fight off the 30 or so men that were crammed in that first carriage (which would normally hold 6 seated) staring intently at us and our bags. Our taxi driver rushed to buy us a ticket but when he came back and saw the carriage, even he admitted it wasn’t a good idea. He called his boss who had some ‘connections’ and arranged for us to head to Bharatpur, 60km from Agra (our next destination) and then we could get a bus or taxi from there. We struck the deal and later realised the difference in price we had to pay between the general ticket and the upgrade was actually a hefty bribe for the ticket inspector….1000 rupees in fact. Corruption is alive and well on the Indian rail system.

Arriving in Bharatpur we met a French/English couple who were on the same route as us and had also paid off the conductor, albeit at the bargain price of 700 rupees. We decided to share a taxi to Agra and after bartering with about 20 rickshaw drivers who hounded us the minute we got off the train, we went with a guy who promised us a cheap taxi ride…only he wasn’t a taxi driver, nor did he have a taxi. Nevertheless, he did a dodgy deal with his friend who did another dodgy deal with another guy, who argues with a number of taxi drivers and the owner of the jeep and before we knew it we were all crammed in to a borrowed jeep heading to Agra. Upon arrival in Agra we headed to Hotel Sheela, the closest budget hotel to the Taj Mahal, as the whole aim of being in Agra was an early morning at the Taj and then departing later that day. We checked in to what looked like a prison cell, paid the fee and headed out with Fabian and Fiona to the Oberoi hotel, one of India’s best hotels for an indulgent drink. Amazing entrance and impressive surroundings. We got a table on the balcony of the bar , chatted away for a couple of hours and indulged in a bottle of Indian white wine (it was decent!). Our glass of wine cost us double what we paid for the night’s accommodation, however it was worth it just to know what the other side was like for a few moments. Nowhere in the world is class difference more evident than in India. The poor are incredibly poor and the rich are disgustingly wealthy. Back to the prison cell for the night and ready for the early rise ….again.

Ranthambore National Park

Monday 17th November, 2008 (Al)
Ranthambore National Park is a 400sqm national park in Rajasthan. It is the only place in Rajasthan where you can see wild Bengal Tigers. We had two nights booked in accommodation in two different places a few km outside of the park. The first place we stayed was Vatika Lodge, a small ‘resort’ consisting of 8 bungalows set in a beautifully maintained garden, a rare site in Rajasthan unless you’re staying in expensive hotels. It cost about 2000 rupees a night (25 pounds) and it was the first place we have been where we could say we stayed where it was completely peaceful. The owner was a lovely man called Vishnu who was also a guide in the park. Unfortunately we had already prebooked our safaris with our next accommodation down the road. We just spent the day chilling, reading our books on the balcony overlooking the garden and relaxing.

Jaipur

Friday 14th November (Wendy)
After arriving quite late we headed up to the roof top restaurant in the Pearl Palace. It was quite busy and Allan noticed a girl waiting for a table on her own. I asked her if she wanted to join us and she did. Hannah was travelling and doing some volunteering. She had just qualified as a vet and was volunteering with “Help in Suffering“, a charitable organisation similar to the one we visited in Udaipur. We arranged to meet up the next evening.
Saturday 15th November
Our first day in Jaipur and we had booked a rickshaw driver for the day. Yusef arrived at 10.30am to pick us up and we headed to the Central museum. We were getting tired of museums, palaces and forts so we were less than enthusiastic. Walked around quickly and headed to the Hawa Manal. This was built inside the old city walls using the famous pink sandstone. It was constructed in 1799 for the royal ladies to observe life in the city through the small windows. We also visited the City Palace and the Royal Gaitor. The Royal Gaitor is the site of the royal cenotaphs. Its located outside the city walls and was very quiet considering we are in the busiest town in Rajasthan. After visiting a few textile shops and tailors we went home empty handed. We certainly were not in the mood for shopping and bartering. We headed back had 20 min sleep before heading out to see our first Bollywood movie. We met Hannah and her friend Helen (also a vet), had noodles off the street and headed to the famous Raj Mandir Cinema. It cost 70 rupees (less than a pound) for a 3 hour movie. Bargain!!! The cinema was decorated so distastefully is was actually quite cool. It had a certain wow factor. The movie was quite good and we pretty much understood what was happening. People cheered, clapped and the babies cried whilst parents used their mobile phone. It was a great experience but we decided to head home during the half time interval. An hour and a half of Hindi tunes is plenty.

Sunday 16th November.
We had a slow morning, having a leisurely breakfast and reading our books. We headed into the old city for Allan to have some shirts made. After shopping we headed to the Sun Temple which is high on a hill overlooking the city or should I say smog!! This area has around 6,000 monkeys so we armed ourselves with some peanuts and started the climb. The Monkey temple was on the other side of the hill nestled in the valley. The sheer volume of Monkeys was quite intimidating however they would take a peanut quite politely from your hand. Near the Monkey Temple there were 2 swimming pools. The male one was ok but the female one was full of rubbish and the surface was a breeding ground for mosquitoes and looked rancid!
We collected Allan’s clothes and ate at the hotel. Tomorrow we head to Ranthambore National Park for some fresh air and some peace.

Pushkar

Wednesday, 12th November, 2008 (Al)
A 5 hr journey by train from Udaipur has us arriving in Ajmer, 11km from our destination of Pushkar for the annual Camel Fair/Festival. Each year 200 000 Hindu pilgrims descend upon Pushkar, a town which normally has 14 000 people to buy and sell camels/horses and bathe in the sacred Pushkar lake. Its one of the most spiritual places in India and where some of Gandhi’s ashes were spread.
Our accommodation was a small guesthouse where due to the sheer number of bookings we could only manage to secure a tent for 2 nights at 800 rupees each night (10 pounds/ $25). One look at the share bathroom (an outdoor drop hole toilet that stunk right next to where you shower). The tent wasn’t a tent but rather space surrounded by sheets to separate you from the next person. The beds weren’t beds but rather lattice stretched over wood. The tent was filled with mosquitoes. Good thing we stopped taking those nauseating malaria tablets a while ago. To put it in perspective, such tent/rooms would normal cost about 100 rupees (1.25 pounds/ $3) if the camel fair wasn’t on. The owners were a nice young English woman and her Indian husband. She was travelling through India, fell in love and ended up staying in Pushkar. Brave girl.
We ventured off to the showgrounds but were a little disappointed to find that most of the camels and owners had finished their business and returned home. All the buying/selling is done in the first week, and then the festival part is the second week. We were there for the last 2 nights. We met an Australian couple (Otto and Taryn) who told me to check out one of the shows at the showground. It was like Mad Max’s terror dome minus any safety regulations. We gave it a try and were blown away. There were guys in this dodgy wooden dome riding motorcycles around taking money out of people’s hands, not only taking their hands off the handlebars but sitting sideways , leaning backwards and riding inches away from the top where people were watching. They were then joined by two cars all at the same time going around with the drivers climbing out of the cars. Visions of a mass collapse/accident came to me and although thoroughly impressed with their daredevil skills I was happy to return to ground level. Check out the film footage on our flickr.com photos in the Pushkar set (Pushkar 012).
We were walking and talking to the Aus couple when we came across one of the temples near a ghat. Before I knew it, I was repeating a prayer for good luck from the words of a so called priest who then asked me to donate money for the well being of my family. I clued on to what was going on, having read the guide book about how these guys bully westerners into donating large amounts as they say things like ‘ 100 rupees?…is that all your family is worth to you?’. ‘They are worth at least 1000 rupees!’. Sorry Mum, Dad, Andrew and Dan, you were only worth 100 rupees this time. I’ll make up for it with Xmas presents. A donation to the needy - no problem, but I don’t believe prayers for your family cost a lot of money.
We returned to our accom and after avoiding a shower we headed back out to see the festival by night. Bad mistake. Our night was to be ruined. We steered off the beaten track and passed many Sadhus and pilgrims sleeping on the streets, camping by open fires. We seemed to be the only westerners about and Wend the only female and with the relentless staring we headed back towards the crowds. However the crowds by now had become rather smothering and we noticed it seemed to be mostly young men, many of them stoned from the bhang or drunk. I could sense it wasn’t a good situation when they started crowding around us and laughing at every possible opportunity, wanting to get as close as possible and the staring was incessant. Within 20 min Wendy had been groped about 3 times. It was so crowded and confusing at times I was unaware of who was doing what. We pulled up into some space to take a break but there was no other option to get back to our accom but face the crowds again. Wend was a little shaken and I was fuming inside. A local told us to be careful as he said the young desert men from out of town are off their faces and with it being the last night before the cleansing tomorrow , thought they could get away with targeting western women, as once they have bathed in the lake the next day, their sins will be washed away. Cowardice little men. I have to point out that in no other town, nor during the day did we feel this would happen. It was just due to the circumstances and environment. The following night another young man tried the same thing on Wend, but this time I was standing behind her and saw it. As he walked past I accidently raised my elbow and accidently smashed him across the chest to take the wind out of him. His friends stopped to remonstrate with me but they were embarrassed when I told them what he did. He ran off and I followed him shouting that he was a bad man who touched women. Another man next to me saw it as well and had a go at the man and before you knew it, all the store owners were shouting at him. He quickly ran off into the crowds. I think the locals were well aware of this problem and are not happy with the type of people that are coming to Pushkar for the festival. It’s a shame because it put a real dampener on what otherwise is a nice spiritual little town.

Thursday, 13th November, 2008
After a terrible night’s sleep at our accom due to the constant music/chanting and next door neighbour shouting at his wife, and mozzie bites, we checked out in the morning. I informed the owner, who charged me another 200 rupees for cancellation and checking out an hour later. 1000 rupees for a craphole and no sleep basically. I told her I wasn’t happy with the extra charge and that I’ll be writing a poor review on the net. It was obviously a bad 2 weeks for her as she started to cry and threw the money back at me telling me she didn’t want it. Everyone was looking at me and somehow after having to pay 10 times what the place was worth, an over emotional young English woman turns me into the bad guy. I paid the full amount and left feeling the size of a pea. Note for next time, don’t argue with a young mother who has had no sleep for a few weeks. No matter what the problem, a few tears in front of an unaware audience and it will become your fault.
We checked into a hotel down the road. Clean, own bathroom and only 500 rupees. Mmm…a little better than the last place. We had breakfast at a place called Babas which actually had vegemite on toast. I didn’t miss out. After breaky we headed back into the festival and met a young Dutch woman (Maria) who recognised us from the train journey from Udaipur. She was travelling alone and had felt very intimidated by the constant staring and threat of being groped that she did not venture out at night. Wise choice. Had lunch with Maria and she told us of an Ashram down south we might look into.
In our hotel (Sai Baba) there was a full moon party. A veg buffet dinner with a local Pushkar band. Fantastic music and atmosphere and a nice way to end our second and last night in Pushkar. Day 2 was considerably better than day one.

Friday, 14th November
A great night’s sleep and once up, we headed up the hill to the Pop Mohit temple. A steep climb but worth the walk as the views over Pushkar were worth it. Peace is such a hard thing to get in India, so it was nice to enjoy the serenity for a little while before heading back down. Just as we were about to leave a young Indian family arriving at the top and we were asked to have photots taken with them. We have been here just over a couple of weeks, and I would say we now feature on about a dozen family mantle pieces in homes in India. Wend’s 15 min of fame have not finished as I thought, and I am now being asked to also appear in photos with random strangers. I’m also called ‘Full Moon’ a lot. I don’t get it.

Udaipur

Tuesday, 11 November 2008 (Al)
Checked out of our hotel Mewar Haveli and into another down the road so we could stay a 4th night in Udaipur. We really like it here. Its a little more relaxed than the other cities and we've enjoyed chilling out for a few days, not feeling the need to do any siteseeing. Nevertheless, if we were to do any, it would be today, so we hired a rickshaw driver for the day and headed out. First the City Palace. Frankly I'm a little palaced, forted, and templed out. Its like the endless number of cathedrals in Europe. They're all pretty but they start to blend into one another. Just watching and talking to the locals is far more interesting.

After the palace we headed to 'Animal Aid' - a hospital for all animals that are injured by cars or humans and in need of emergency care. Seeing the way they drive over here and the way they treat animals is very different to back home. Cows roam as they want and are often hit by cars. Dogs are viewed as being bad animals that all have rabies, therefore should have rocks thrown at them to keep them away. It couldn't be further from the truth. Of all the dogs we saw at the sanctuary there wasn't a vicious one amongst them. They were paralysed, had missing legs and tails or covered in sores and ticks, but all seemed content they were getting some love and attention in this place. We listened to stories from the manager Julie, who came for a 2 week stint and was still there 2 yrs later. The place was owned by 2 Americans who gave up and sold their two houses in the US to keep it running each year on top of the small contributions they get from the public. These guys do an amazing job. I honestly thought it would be depressing but rather it was pretty uplifting to see the animals being cared for and seemingly happy with it. We took a couple of the dogs for a walk and spent some time patting the others. Don't worry Mum, I know what you're thinking....they all had their rabies shots. After a few hours we gave a contribution and left.

Our rickshaw driver then took us to a local cultural village (near Shilpi). It was a govt setup to show Mewar history, culture, art, music and housing. Our driver was close to finishing his guide tour exams so he came in and acted as our guide. His uncle was an artist specialising in minature paintings and after proving his skills on Wendy's nail, we bought one of his paintings. I've got to stop this habit of buying paintings/pictures wherever I go. I'm rubbish at bartering still, even after all these years. We headed off and enjoyed a nice early dinner with our driver until we returned back at the hotel for another sunset over the lake. They call Udaipur 'The Venice of the East' and it deserves the title as it really is beautiful during both day and particularly at night. The photos will never do it justice. You just have to see it for yourself.