Jaipur, the next stop on the Indian agenda, was a ray of light after Delhi, probably more so because I was back to health and keen to explore this city, which has so much on offer. We made a full day of it, 3 of us hiring a tuctuc for the day and being driven around by the lovely Nashard (no idea how that's meant to be spelled!) who was bright and friendly and very in touch with the tourists. His first plus point was for not having a horn on his tuctuc as he knows how much tourists hate the crazy incessant horn blowing of India, he prefers to actually use his mirrors, an alien concept here! When questioned about the driving abilities of Indians he confessed that there are only 3 road rules... 1. Horn! 2. Brake! 3. *makes sign of the cross*!!
To start the day we headed to the grand hillside Amber Fort, just on the outskirts of the city. From the base of the hill you can either walk up or take an elephant, incidentally the elephants are unsurprisingly enormous!! I wasn't expecting them to be anything else really but close up it was the scariest animal I had ever seen! We're cheap though and walked up and around the fort, the place is so big that when we later discussed it with other truckers we had all found different parts that each other had missed!
Next stop was a quick photo of the water palace, stranded in the middle of a lake this looks like a rather large and grand building, we then discovered that a further 3 floors of the palace are under the water, it used to be quite some place but is no longer accessible.
Nashard then took us to the tombs of the past maharajas including Jai Singh the namesake of Jaipur. Another beautiful display of Indian marble architecture at its best, these people really knew how to celebrate the people special to them and also how to spend a few rupees! I couldn't decide if the place was so special to them that we were followed around it (no misbehaving!!) or if it was just because we were the only people there and they had nothing better to do! Outside was very quiet, just a wee shop and a little monumental roundabout, the perfect place for our chance to drive a tuctuc!! Yes!! It's really just a glorified scooter and great fun to have a little tootle about in, we owe massive thanks to Nashard for that little treat! Might I point out that no tuctucs were harmed in the making of this adventure!
By this time we were starting to flag a little, we'd been out for hours and it was 44 degrees and every time we returned from something Nashard was snoozing in the back of the tuctuc trying to avoid the sun! So the next few sights were a little rushed, the wind tower was so beautiful on the outside but we were knackered so I'm afraid we didn't even stay long enough to learn what it's history was, just a point and click and leave. the Jaipur observatory, or Jantar Mantar was the final stop and I'm very disappointed to say that we flew through it. It's worth coming all the way back just to visit, it's a spectacular display of well preserved astronomical gadgetry dating back to 17 hundreds, I think several hours could be spent here learning about each instrument, but on this day we were dead men walking and after a few oohs and ahs and some photos we were pooped! After recharging our batteries we attempted to go and view a bollywood film, the latest blockbuster! The whole cinema was swamped in people, the entire building just had people all around it, we managed to butt into the queue but when we reached the front there were no tickets left, what a shame, these people really go crazy for their films.
Leaving Jaipur I was walking on air, high from such a fantastic experience in a beautiful city, nothing could alter my mood or bring me down... nothing! Or so I thought. We stopped at the next world heritage sight to look at a castle and a temple, I skipped the castle and headed straight for the (free) temple. I'd read that Agra was the worst place in India for the touts, and I felt I'd fairly got used to them so far, I don't like them but I can smile and politely decline. Well, the temple is housed inside a walled quadrangle and usually once you get inside it's lovely and peaceful and calm. Not here. Even inside I was getting followed, getting cheap tat waved in my face, asked questions (all questions lead to begging or selling) or just general harassment, well I think I left them in no doubt about how much of their stuff I was going to buy! So my lasting memory of Fatehpur Sikri is of being annoyed and wanting to leave, not great. They have a reprieve though as the Taj Mahal is in the neighbourhood, that's a proper wild card!
We were up early to visit the Taj Mahal, at the gates for opening time at 6am, and it really paid off as there were hardly any people there. When we stepped through the archway and into the courtyard to get the full view of the Taj I have to say I was not disappointed. A beautiful marble monument, standing proud and magnificent, commanding everyone's attention and still looking fantastic despite being over 400 years old! I am delighted to finally stand in it's presence. It was even peaceful enough to sit in the archways and savour the atmosphere for an hour, it was lovely. An impressive display of wealth this building was a monument to commemorate the death of the favourite wife of the maharajah, it took 20 years to complete and used the expertise of around 20,000 craftsmen working with materials imported from all over Asia and northern Africa. I only hope that some of the money we pay to see it is put towards keeping it in such amazing condition. I'm so lucky to be here, I am a lucky lucky girl.
We left Agra to head in the direction of Varanasi with a bush-camp on the way, we were nearly at the camp spot when a loud bang rang out from underneath the truck and I looked out the window in time to see a huge strip of our tyre flying out behind us. My first ever blow-out and not only was I lucky enough not to be driving, but it was a back wheel with so many other wheels to compensate that it wasn't too much of an immediate problem, and the tyre never hit anyone either, phew! The camp itself was probably the weirdest bush-camp ever! We are used to people coming to look at us or talk to us but here we soon had about 100 people crowded around us and none of them would talk to us. They stood around watching people pitch tents, make dinner and change the wheel, sometimes getting way to close and being asked to back off. But when we sat to eat some of them threw stones at us, we packed up all the stuff and when the stone-throwing continued decided it was best that we leave. More stones were thrown as we drove away and it also became apparent that someone's tent had been slashed and the pegs stolen. That was such a sad night, it knocked us all sideways as all we've ever seen from people is kindness and somehow we upset them, I suppose we should not be showing off our wealth to people who may be envious. Whatever caused it was a dampener and I think we all felt a but blue from it. That night we continued all the way to Varanasi, reaching there late at night, which had its own benefits. We don't often see places at night but as we drove in we got to see how many people sleep on the street, on top of buses, outside their shops or in their rickshaws. Concrete pavements with a rolled up blanket for a pillow. It's not unusual for these people, thousands of them sleeping just wherever they lay their head, do any of us really know how lucky we are? We say we do, but do we actually appreciate our luxuries? We can't truly appreciate them when we don't know what the alternative is, not just looking at pictures of poor people but living as they live, it would be the end of a lot of us. Even in the hotels you see the staff sleeping in the corridor, on a blanket over the solid marble floor, that is their life.
On to Varanasi. What do you say about Varanasi? It's crazy town!
First I went out to Sarnath, a village nearby where Buddha himself performed his first sermon, so obviously this is a busy destination for pilgrims and also home to Buddhist temples from around the globe. I visited so many temples including a Chinese one, Korean, Thai, Burmese, Nepali, Tibetan and Japanese and all of them have their own distinct style and architecture, they also have their own version of Buddha, for example the Burmese Buddha is actually quite feminine which is interesting.
Varanasi itself, with the ghats (access points to the Ganges) and the river Ganga and all the things that go on there make it one of the most amazing places for people watching. Between and evening and a morning river ride I developed a strange picture of this place. First and foremost it is one of the holiest places in the world, people flock here to visit and people also flock here to die. It is believed that dying in Varanasi and being burned here or placed in the river allows a soul to skip some of the rungs of the afterlife ladder. There are the burning ghats where the cremations take place, while we were there 6 fires burned, which means 6 bodies were being cremated at the time, and true enough it was possible to identify some body parts from the flames. Family members may hang around until the head 'pop's as this is when they believe the spirit is released from the body. Some people ( babies, pregnant women, holy men and lepers) are too pure for burning and are therefore shrouded and weighted and put into the river to be carried downstream. While we were on the river we were shown a body whose weights had clearly failed and a shrouded human form from butt to feet was clearly visible with the head still underwater, this body had caught on the ropes of boats tied up at the ghats, it was mere metres from shore. On shore there is always a hive of activity as people use the river for their everyday activities, people bathe here, swim, play, brush their teeth, launder their clothes and linen. The river is the centre of their life, not matter what else happens on the river their will ingest some of it. The cows and water buffalo bathe and swim here, the sewers drain here, and as previously mentioned, human bodies get deposited here. Varanasi is a puzzle to me, no matter how much I think about it I can't solve it, can't even come close! I am amazed to watch what goes on here but I just can't for the life of me understand it, which makes it even more interesting to watch!
As a stubborn traveler I was determined not to upgrade and to feel every bit of this experience I have signed up to and Varanasi has proved very difficult in terms of accommodation. We are camping in the garden of a hotel and its over 100% humidity here, I can't tell you how uncomfortable the camping is, I wear clothes and sleep on my towel and everything is soaking wet in the morning. I do sleep, not all night but I lie still as I can and yet sweat like crazy, I've probably been at my grumpiest here but that's determination for you. By the end of the 3 nights here there are only 5 of us left camping out of 23, it's not great accomplishment but I have done it now, thank goodness that's over! We have a long drive day to the Nepal border and I think most of us are ready to leave India. It's too hot, it's too sweaty and sadly the places we've been have been so touristy that the locals have driven us crazy! I can't even comment on the landscape, the country is bursting at the seems to the point where all the roads are lined with people, there are some crops but there are just people everywhere!
When I tried to tell my aunt how hard I found it to place India, do I love it or hate it or what? I just don't know! I got the perfect reply... 'just be fascinated, no need to love or hate' - perfect! Well said!
To start the day we headed to the grand hillside Amber Fort, just on the outskirts of the city. From the base of the hill you can either walk up or take an elephant, incidentally the elephants are unsurprisingly enormous!! I wasn't expecting them to be anything else really but close up it was the scariest animal I had ever seen! We're cheap though and walked up and around the fort, the place is so big that when we later discussed it with other truckers we had all found different parts that each other had missed!
Next stop was a quick photo of the water palace, stranded in the middle of a lake this looks like a rather large and grand building, we then discovered that a further 3 floors of the palace are under the water, it used to be quite some place but is no longer accessible.
Nashard then took us to the tombs of the past maharajas including Jai Singh the namesake of Jaipur. Another beautiful display of Indian marble architecture at its best, these people really knew how to celebrate the people special to them and also how to spend a few rupees! I couldn't decide if the place was so special to them that we were followed around it (no misbehaving!!) or if it was just because we were the only people there and they had nothing better to do! Outside was very quiet, just a wee shop and a little monumental roundabout, the perfect place for our chance to drive a tuctuc!! Yes!! It's really just a glorified scooter and great fun to have a little tootle about in, we owe massive thanks to Nashard for that little treat! Might I point out that no tuctucs were harmed in the making of this adventure!
By this time we were starting to flag a little, we'd been out for hours and it was 44 degrees and every time we returned from something Nashard was snoozing in the back of the tuctuc trying to avoid the sun! So the next few sights were a little rushed, the wind tower was so beautiful on the outside but we were knackered so I'm afraid we didn't even stay long enough to learn what it's history was, just a point and click and leave. the Jaipur observatory, or Jantar Mantar was the final stop and I'm very disappointed to say that we flew through it. It's worth coming all the way back just to visit, it's a spectacular display of well preserved astronomical gadgetry dating back to 17 hundreds, I think several hours could be spent here learning about each instrument, but on this day we were dead men walking and after a few oohs and ahs and some photos we were pooped! After recharging our batteries we attempted to go and view a bollywood film, the latest blockbuster! The whole cinema was swamped in people, the entire building just had people all around it, we managed to butt into the queue but when we reached the front there were no tickets left, what a shame, these people really go crazy for their films.
Leaving Jaipur I was walking on air, high from such a fantastic experience in a beautiful city, nothing could alter my mood or bring me down... nothing! Or so I thought. We stopped at the next world heritage sight to look at a castle and a temple, I skipped the castle and headed straight for the (free) temple. I'd read that Agra was the worst place in India for the touts, and I felt I'd fairly got used to them so far, I don't like them but I can smile and politely decline. Well, the temple is housed inside a walled quadrangle and usually once you get inside it's lovely and peaceful and calm. Not here. Even inside I was getting followed, getting cheap tat waved in my face, asked questions (all questions lead to begging or selling) or just general harassment, well I think I left them in no doubt about how much of their stuff I was going to buy! So my lasting memory of Fatehpur Sikri is of being annoyed and wanting to leave, not great. They have a reprieve though as the Taj Mahal is in the neighbourhood, that's a proper wild card!
We were up early to visit the Taj Mahal, at the gates for opening time at 6am, and it really paid off as there were hardly any people there. When we stepped through the archway and into the courtyard to get the full view of the Taj I have to say I was not disappointed. A beautiful marble monument, standing proud and magnificent, commanding everyone's attention and still looking fantastic despite being over 400 years old! I am delighted to finally stand in it's presence. It was even peaceful enough to sit in the archways and savour the atmosphere for an hour, it was lovely. An impressive display of wealth this building was a monument to commemorate the death of the favourite wife of the maharajah, it took 20 years to complete and used the expertise of around 20,000 craftsmen working with materials imported from all over Asia and northern Africa. I only hope that some of the money we pay to see it is put towards keeping it in such amazing condition. I'm so lucky to be here, I am a lucky lucky girl.
We left Agra to head in the direction of Varanasi with a bush-camp on the way, we were nearly at the camp spot when a loud bang rang out from underneath the truck and I looked out the window in time to see a huge strip of our tyre flying out behind us. My first ever blow-out and not only was I lucky enough not to be driving, but it was a back wheel with so many other wheels to compensate that it wasn't too much of an immediate problem, and the tyre never hit anyone either, phew! The camp itself was probably the weirdest bush-camp ever! We are used to people coming to look at us or talk to us but here we soon had about 100 people crowded around us and none of them would talk to us. They stood around watching people pitch tents, make dinner and change the wheel, sometimes getting way to close and being asked to back off. But when we sat to eat some of them threw stones at us, we packed up all the stuff and when the stone-throwing continued decided it was best that we leave. More stones were thrown as we drove away and it also became apparent that someone's tent had been slashed and the pegs stolen. That was such a sad night, it knocked us all sideways as all we've ever seen from people is kindness and somehow we upset them, I suppose we should not be showing off our wealth to people who may be envious. Whatever caused it was a dampener and I think we all felt a but blue from it. That night we continued all the way to Varanasi, reaching there late at night, which had its own benefits. We don't often see places at night but as we drove in we got to see how many people sleep on the street, on top of buses, outside their shops or in their rickshaws. Concrete pavements with a rolled up blanket for a pillow. It's not unusual for these people, thousands of them sleeping just wherever they lay their head, do any of us really know how lucky we are? We say we do, but do we actually appreciate our luxuries? We can't truly appreciate them when we don't know what the alternative is, not just looking at pictures of poor people but living as they live, it would be the end of a lot of us. Even in the hotels you see the staff sleeping in the corridor, on a blanket over the solid marble floor, that is their life.
On to Varanasi. What do you say about Varanasi? It's crazy town!
First I went out to Sarnath, a village nearby where Buddha himself performed his first sermon, so obviously this is a busy destination for pilgrims and also home to Buddhist temples from around the globe. I visited so many temples including a Chinese one, Korean, Thai, Burmese, Nepali, Tibetan and Japanese and all of them have their own distinct style and architecture, they also have their own version of Buddha, for example the Burmese Buddha is actually quite feminine which is interesting.
Varanasi itself, with the ghats (access points to the Ganges) and the river Ganga and all the things that go on there make it one of the most amazing places for people watching. Between and evening and a morning river ride I developed a strange picture of this place. First and foremost it is one of the holiest places in the world, people flock here to visit and people also flock here to die. It is believed that dying in Varanasi and being burned here or placed in the river allows a soul to skip some of the rungs of the afterlife ladder. There are the burning ghats where the cremations take place, while we were there 6 fires burned, which means 6 bodies were being cremated at the time, and true enough it was possible to identify some body parts from the flames. Family members may hang around until the head 'pop's as this is when they believe the spirit is released from the body. Some people ( babies, pregnant women, holy men and lepers) are too pure for burning and are therefore shrouded and weighted and put into the river to be carried downstream. While we were on the river we were shown a body whose weights had clearly failed and a shrouded human form from butt to feet was clearly visible with the head still underwater, this body had caught on the ropes of boats tied up at the ghats, it was mere metres from shore. On shore there is always a hive of activity as people use the river for their everyday activities, people bathe here, swim, play, brush their teeth, launder their clothes and linen. The river is the centre of their life, not matter what else happens on the river their will ingest some of it. The cows and water buffalo bathe and swim here, the sewers drain here, and as previously mentioned, human bodies get deposited here. Varanasi is a puzzle to me, no matter how much I think about it I can't solve it, can't even come close! I am amazed to watch what goes on here but I just can't for the life of me understand it, which makes it even more interesting to watch!
As a stubborn traveler I was determined not to upgrade and to feel every bit of this experience I have signed up to and Varanasi has proved very difficult in terms of accommodation. We are camping in the garden of a hotel and its over 100% humidity here, I can't tell you how uncomfortable the camping is, I wear clothes and sleep on my towel and everything is soaking wet in the morning. I do sleep, not all night but I lie still as I can and yet sweat like crazy, I've probably been at my grumpiest here but that's determination for you. By the end of the 3 nights here there are only 5 of us left camping out of 23, it's not great accomplishment but I have done it now, thank goodness that's over! We have a long drive day to the Nepal border and I think most of us are ready to leave India. It's too hot, it's too sweaty and sadly the places we've been have been so touristy that the locals have driven us crazy! I can't even comment on the landscape, the country is bursting at the seems to the point where all the roads are lined with people, there are some crops but there are just people everywhere!
When I tried to tell my aunt how hard I found it to place India, do I love it or hate it or what? I just don't know! I got the perfect reply... 'just be fascinated, no need to love or hate' - perfect! Well said!
No comments:
Post a Comment