Colleen's trip to India Week 2

That morning, on the rooftop restaurant, I caught my first glimpse of the Taj Mahal. We would be visiting the Taj later that afternoon, but first a tour of the Red Fort where the Mughol king who built the Taj lived. It is also a very impressive building in itself. (more like palace than fort) Our local guide was very knowledgeable and it was good to learn about the full family history before going to the Taj itself. The king who built the Taj, built it as a tribute and burial place for his wife Mumtaz. After she died his son put him in prison so he could become king. However, the prison is actually a large quite palatial private room within the fort with excellent views of the Taj.


Next up on the itinerary, the feature piece (even making the cover of Lonely Planet) the Taj Mahal. To get into the area there is quite strict security, not just the usual metal detectors and bag search but there are actually more items that you are not allowed to take inside than are banned on airplanes. For example, you are not allowed to take in: food, liquids (except for the complementary bottle of water that comes with admission), cellphones, ipods, and literature. I am not clear of what risk or threat a book poses, but the ban on literature is enforced as I saw many people having to leave their books and magazines at the gate before entering.


Finally, once I made it through security I got a close up view of the Taj, and it did not disappoint, definitely meriting its status of one of the wonders of the world. With all of the security, I was surprised that you could actually go right inside the building. and walk around. While I was there I took quite a few pictures of the Taj. I was also in some pictures taken by other people. This happened in other places in India as well, but mostly at the Taj, where Indian tourists asked if they could take a picture of me with themselves or with their families. We were there quite a long time including the sunset and it was very interesting to see it change in colour as the sun was setting.


After a very full day in Agra, the next morning we took a "semi deluxe" bus to Jaipur- the Pink City, which was a nice change from the train, especially getting on and off. When we got to Jaipur, I was kind of expecting the whole city to be pink, which it isn't. Jaipur is actually quite a large modern city, but there is a large older section in the middle where most of the buildings actually are pink. The first evening we went to a famous movie theatre to see a Bollywood film. The theatre is very posh and ornate and you are not allowed to take photos inside. The movie was called Delhi 6 and was really good. It was in Hindi without English subtitles, but still quite easy to follow, especially since one of the characters sometimes spoke in English. I would like to see it again with subtitles. It was very interesting because many of the scenes were from places I had just been to, both in Delhi and Agra. Not that I am basing this on a very large sample size (three) , but it seems like most of the movies set in India include some kind of road trip to the Taj Mahal. Although it was an actual drama, with serious themes and subject matter, there was still the occasionally random song and dance numbers placed throughout the film.

An observation I made in the theatre is that there appears to be a different concept of personal space here compared to what I am used to. For example, during the movie, not only did people's cell phone start ringing on multiples occasions, they proceeded to answer the calls and chat during the movie, and no one really seemed to mind. In north america , that type of thing would most likely cause a big scene.

The next day we went to the pink part of the pink city. Then, we went to Amber Fort, which again, as in Agra, fort is more like palace. It is just outside of the city and we took a very local bus to get there. The people are very considerate about letting ladies (both foreign and local) and old people have seats, and will squeeze together as much as possible to maximize how many people can sit down. Jaipur is also a very large city and there are very few traffic lights, making crossing the street as a pedestrian very challenging. I found that the best technique for crossing the street seems to be to move together as a group (ie it is the same principle as the recommendation for avoiding being eaten by a cougar or grizzly bear when hiking in the Canadian wilderness - keep close together in a group, which the animal will view as one large massive creature and be afraid of , instead of as individual humans.


The next day we took some jeeps to a small village. We found the drivers, roads and jeeps to be a bit sketchy and actually missed the trains. We stayed in a "heritage" hotel which was actually a renovated yet another fort/ small palace. The rooms were huge with double height ceilings. In the evenings we got sari's to wear to dinner (see picture above). A lady had to assist us with dressing because it is quite complex to put on a six metre piece of material.

It was also very interesting to be in a village vs the larger cities. They don't get too many western tourists so we were even more like celebrities, especially among the children. It seems like many people live in the same building where they do some sort of craft such as pottery, weaving, jewelry etc. I particularly like seeing the pottery being made. The guy made a vase out of a lump of clay in about five minutes on just a stone wheel which he spun himself like a top.

Our last destination , we went to was called Pushkar, which is also a very holy place. It was nice because we had quite a bit of free time there and you good actually walk around quite easily and safely, and there were a lot of nice inexpensive things you could buy.

Pushkar is home to a very famous camel fair and one of our excursions was to embark on a camel safari. The actual camel riding was fine, especially if you have experience riding horses - you're just a bit higher off of the ground, but getting on and off was a bit scary. Unlike a horse where you can climb onto yourself, with camels, they kneel down to let you on, then they stand up, first he hind legs which pitches you forward, and then the front legs. The walk, first through Pushkar, then the rural countryside and finally the dessert was very nice and peaceful. Even at 5:00pm, it was very hot until we experienced a brief refreshing light rain while the sun was still shining (even though we were told in "never" rains there in March). We arrived at the overnight campsite and had a very nice meal.


In the evening, as we were sitting around the campfire when suddenly there was a strong gust of wind, and it started to rain again. So we scrambled into the large tent we would be staying in. We soon become comfortable again and felt quite safe and secure playing cards, despite the rain and wind outside, and even eventually fell asleep. Then, in the middle of the night I was awoken when one wall of the tent collapsed. As we were outside trying to fix the tent, the winds and rains seemed to pick up again and the whole tent fell down and likely would have blown away if we were not holding onto it. Still we persevered to try to fix the tent, intent on still staying the night.

It appears as though camping in the desert in Rajastan has the same rules as outdoor sports in Winnipeg - you keep playing through rain, wind, snow, cold temperatures, sleet and even small hail or else you forfeit the game. The only time you can call off a game for weather is lightning.
So, in the middle of the torrential rain and sandstorm, as we attempted to salvage our tent, a flash of lighting lit up the desert sky, followed quite closely by a loud crack of thunder, meaning we had to call an end to our Rajastan desert camping experience, and were safely evacuated by jeep.

As our trip was drawing to an end we had one last train ride (in the day this time) back to Delhi. We are in Delhi again for the last day of the trip. On this day we went to the Gandhi assasination site/ which is part museum part multimedia interactive experience. I particularly enjoyed reading the various Gandhi quotes. On the way there, in the rickshaw we remarked how despite all the chaotic traffic, we hadn't seen any accidents. Until, on the way home, about two blocks from the hotel our rickshaw was hit from behind by a motorcycle, however was only a minor incident with no damage to either party.


Planes trains and autorickshaws. One of the most memorable aspects of this trip was the various forms of transportation, I took throughout the journey. The sailboats down the Ganges, the cycle rickshaws in Varanasi, the camals in Pushkar, and of course the trains, but despite the occasionally "bump" along the way, they always seemed to work out in the end getting us safely yet memorably from point A to B.

Colleen's trip to India March 2009 Week 1

My trip began very early in the morning on March 7, 2009, when I left my Copenhagen apartment in the middle of the night to catch a 6:00am flight to Delhi, via Amsterdam. I arrived in Delhi the same day, also in the middle of the night. I had booked an airport transfer and so was looking for someone with a sign with mine or the tour company’s name, but the driver actually identified me first (there weren’t too many western looking tourists arriving at that time). After checking into the hotel, I had until 6:00pm the next day free until I started the tour. I decided to attempt to venture outside and walk around the neighbourhood surrounding the hotel, but found that was not as easy as it may sound. There aren’t really sidewalks and the streets are multi use for cars, motor cycles, auto rick shaws (which are also called tuk tuks), bicycle rickshaws, and pedestrians. There are no lanes and no traffic lights, making crossing the street a challenge. I decided, since it was just my first day, I’d just stick to the side of the street I was on and make a series right turns. The traffic aside, it actually did seem quite safe. There were lots of people wanting to sell you stuff, have you eat in their restaurant, etc but not aggressively and generally accepted a polite decline.

Later that evening I met my tour leader and group. Our leader was from India who had spent a lot of time studying yoga, and the others were a very international mix. As I knew when I signed up this, it was not a luxury coach tour. We would be travelling primarily on public transport to enhance the authenticity of our experience. The group was small (tour max is 12) and very international (from north America, UK, Norway and Japan). We had a debriefing about responsible travel, such as: dress appropriately both out of respect at holy sites and also to avoid unwanted attention/ harassment, and “Say no to plastic bags”. We were also advised that tipping expected and makes up a substantial part of the service industry wages. in fact, we were told that the origin of the concept and the word tip started by the English in India and TIPS stands for To Insure Prompt Service. We were also advised that in the cities where there are very holy sites, there is no alcohol or meat served, including the first five days of the trip where we would on or near the Ganges River. (I actually was a vegetarian throughout the whole two weeks).

The first official day of the tour, we are going to spend in Delhi, which is a very big, very busy and very crowded city. We started by taking a local bus to Old Delhi. The bus was very crowded but I got a seat in the “Ladies only section”. These seats are not designated to segregate men and women, it is to make it more comfortable and easier for women to travel and work. In Old Delhi, we went to three types of religious places of worship, which were right beside each other: Hindu Temple, Mosque and Sikh temple. At the mosque there was a tower you could climb to see views of Delhi, however women could not climb up unaccompanied by a man. At the Sikh temple every day they offer lunch for whoever shows up. You sit in rows on the floor and have as much Dal and rice as you want. The idea is that everyone is equal, so regardless of who you are you still sit in in the same row on the floor. Dal is made of lentils and is a staple in the Indian vegetarian diet. Following a vegetarian diet, I had many variations of this dish throughout the two weeks. At the Hindu temple there was a lot going on. As I understand the purpose is to have external stimuli to occupy the senses so that the mind can focus on meditation and prayer: (bells to hear, pictures to see, incense to smell, rice to taste and beads to touch.). Later we went to the old Delhi wholesale market. In particular, it is a good place to buy books. I bought a book about yoga and one about religion. As an alternative to the local bus, we took the metro back to the hotel. It is very modern, with airport level security including baggage screening and metal detectors (separate lines for men and women).

As an accountant, I am quite interested in comparing what things cost in different places and India is very cheap, (not just compared to Copenhagen but also compared to North America and pretty much any where else I've been. Some sample prices in dollar and cents equivalent include:

- metro ride 16 cents (I can’t find a cents symbol on my computer because I don’t think anything in Denmark costs under a dollar),
- 20 minutes rick shaw ride - $2 split between 3 people
- paneer butter masala with butter nan $2 (paneer is a type of cheese and this is the vegetarian version of butter chicken the popular staple at Indian buffets in Canada (the general price of meals out in a nice quality restaurant is $2-3, although there are much cheaper alternatives, but which come at more risk of getting sick,
- the books I bought in the Delhi wholesale market (under $1 each),
- one litre water (20 – 80 cents, depending how touristy the area)
- one litre Kingfisher beer (strangely for a country where many places don’t serve alcohol at all, when it is available, the national beer is only served in quantities of one litre bottles.
- necklace of semi precious gems ($3) – at this price you can afford to buy jewellery just because you like the name of the gem (which is pretty much the sole reason I bought a necklace made of “smoky topaz”.

- Silk scarf - $4
- Average quality cotton trousers $4 – I would recommend anyone coming to India to bring as little as possible, then buy stuff which is appropriate both for the climate and the cultural exposure norms,(although I believe the sari’s are actually more revealing that the western clothes I would normally wear);
- High quality cotton top which they sew specifically for you and courier to your hotel later that same day at no extra charge - $8

After spending, the day in Delhi we embarked on our first, but not last experience on an overnight train. Even though we had reserved seats, getting on was still very chaotic, having to get through the queues waiting to get into the non reserved coach seats. The so called "first class air conditioned sleeper cars "are not separate little rooms and compartments but rows of triple bunk beds. In our car, there was also an extended family of about forty people. One of the mothers was around my age and very friendly and was interested in talking to me. She didn’t really speak English but her son did and translated. The children, especially, were very interested in talking to foreigners. For some reason they really liked my name. When one of them asked me my name, and I replied “Colleen” the group of children responded with a round of applause and exclamations of “cool name!”, “cool name!”. The kids also get pretty excited if you say a few words in Hindu, one “Namaste” and you are their best friend. And, the little girls were quite interested in touching my hair (but were polite and asked first).

After the train ride we embarked on our boat ride “Slowly down the Ganges”. The whole Ganges River is considered to be very holy in India, so there is no alcohol or meat allowed and we were expected to wear long sleeves. (which was ok for me, because it also prevents sunburn). We were on small sailboats which were very peaceful and relaxing. The River looked cleaner than I expected and we actually saw dolphins swimming and jumping about in the river. And, the boats were a good vantage point to view villagers going up their daily lives. In the evening, we camped in tents on a sand bar island which was also very peaceful. We arrived at the island early enough to play a game of cricket with the boat crew. I have discovered that I have actually have a natural aptitude for cricket. When it was my turn to pitch, I struck out three batters in a row. ( Note I am using the baseball equivalent terms here because I do not know the correct Cricket terminology.)

We were on the Ganges during the Holi (pronounced like Holly) festival. I am actually not exactly sure of what is being celebrated but the main activity is to spray colourful paint on one another. We were told that they usually try to keep the tour groups out of the big cities during Holi as it can get quite intense with people firing off high pressure water guns filled with paint. We were allowed to participate in a light version with the boat crew using organic vegetable based paint, which washed out very easily.

The boat trip finished when we arrived in Varanasi which is one of the most holy cities in India. We started off with a walk through the Ghats (which are stairs) along the Ganges. This is where the funerals (Called aarti’s – not sure about the spelling) are held before they put the ashes in the Ganges. In the evening we saw the Ghats from the water side in a boat. It was very beautiful and quite spectacular as there was dancers and music accompanying the funerals and many flowers with candles floating in the water.

The traffic situation in Varanasi is also very chaotic. Like Delhi there is the usual, cars, motorcycles, small trucks, rickshaws, and bikes, except the streets are narrower and there are more animals, including donkey carts, as well as many cows. The cows are not part of the transportation system but are in the streets because they are allowed to roam about at will. In general I am finding Varanasi and the places I’ve been so far in India to be very authentic and not commercial touristy at all. During the day we went to a place called Sarnath which is known for where Buddha made his enlightenment speech. The auto rick shaw ride back was an interesting experience. First we stopped for petrol, then stopped again so the driver could buy same kind of tobacco like product wrapped in a leaf, then he stopped a third time where he acquired a coke bottle (which I thought was for him to drink), except that he poured the contents of the bottle into the rickshaw engine. In the evening we visited an Ashram. These are places where people go in India to study yoga and meditation. (the purpose of learning yoga is so that your body can sit still in positions for long times in order to meditate) It was also a very nice experience seeing the place and sitting on the floor in the meditation room. You have to site cross legged because it is rude to point you feet towards a picture of a deity.

After our stay in Varanasi, it is now time to board another overnight train to Agra. Getting on the train in Agra is actually more chaotic and frantic than the one in Delhi. We had reserved places on car B1. So we got on the car B1, locked up our luggage under the seats and got settled in. However the designation of "B1" is not the permanent name of that train car, it was merely written on the side in chalk, and subsequent to us getting on, the B1 was erased and changed to B2. As a result, people subsequently getting on claimed that we were in their seats and we had to uproot and move to another car. By that time it was quite late and we attempted to get some sleep amid the chatting , cell phones and people getting on and off in the middle of the night. I had just gotten to sleep when around midnight the train police came around to read us the train rules and then have us sign off to confirm that they had read the rules to us in English. Some of the rules included: don't talk to strangers, don't tell anyone your name, don't tell anyone where you live, and don't accept food from people you don't know. I breached most of these on the first train ride. (I thought it was ok to have a cookie offered to me from the woman who was giving her own children cookies from the same box. )

We arrived in Agra in the morning about 1 1/2 hours late (which I believe is standard for trains in India). After getting into the hotel in Agra, we went up to the rooftop restaurant for coffee where I got my first glimpse of...

...to be continued...