Travel to Udaipur - This is India!

One to laugh at.....PATIENCE.....even though we reconfirmed our flight the day before depart and our tour company had arranged a driver....the driver clearly did not know how to get to the Jaipur airport (I guess not many people fly) on the way (at 5:30am for our 7:00am flight) he stopped at a chai tea shop, I thought he was getting a cup of tea....turns out he was asking directions....so as we got close he asked us terminal 1 or 2....no one told us....after 3 or for more stops to ask for directions we finally made it to terminal 2 in plenty of time for our flight. Our flight was 30 minutes, yet our driver left the night prior and it took him 8 hours to drive.

If you are not Indian you are "Walking Rupees" either it's auto rickshaw drives, guides, vendors or beggars, "come see my painting, come take a look at my pashmina, ride my tuk tuk, get a message, see my carvings, take a cooking class". Even government cultural village Slipgram we paid to get hawked.....the monuments and hotel rooms offer the only true sanctuary. We each have our days.....some days I'm into it and recognize it is part of the vibrant scenery other days it's plain annoying. Our favorite was this 11 or 12 year old entrepeneur, he clearly tells tourist that he would like to lear about their country and if they could give him a coin from their country he would know more, he later comes up to other tourists (us) and says I have this american coin and I can not change it here an you give me 10 rupee for it....I thought he was very clever.

We did take a cooking class from Spice Box, their web site is still in development but this site has some photos. It was fun and we enjoyed it (thanks for the idea Steve and Michele). Plus we went up to Sanjjangarh and had an incedible view of all of Udaipur and a wondeful sunset.

We are off to Pushkar tomorrow. There will not be any computer connections so we will be off line for a few days. I've included a few more photos. Take care.

City Palace in Udaipur

Sunset from our hotel in Udaipur

Another shot of the City Palace in Udaipur

Ganesha in City Place

Women selling flowers for Jadish in Udaipur

Women getting henna in Jaipur

Images

Jaipur Observations

Jaipur Observations

After the insane drive from Delhi to Agra – the journey to Jaipur was a delight – a four lane, well-paved NEW road – NH11.

For a moment we thought we were in Hawaii – greeted with a flower lei (marigolds not orchids) and Rajasthani dancers who moved like they were doing the hula!

Jaipur, the pink city – all the city center buildings are painted pink (originally done in 1876 for a British royal visit) and kept up since then–-- now there are some strict zoning requirements. I bet they have a great City Attorney.

Our introduction to Jaipur.. the Hawa Mahal – or Wind Palace, an ornate 5 story façade built in 1799 that’s at most 1 room deep and for much of it, balconies behind the façade. Why? Muslim women could not be seen by men other than those in their families. This vision of Rajput architecture provided a way for women to look down on the street to view market activity through ornately carved window screens. They could see out but others couldn’t see in. Women, can you imagine, no real interaction with the outside world – only observation, directing (well influencing) men to get what you wanted at market.

Amber Fort – newer than those we saw in Delhi, Agra and Fatepur Sikri, built in

We were debating about riding the elephants up from moat level to palace level – about 200 meters (we’re converting – it makes so much more sense to be metric like the rest of the world). Our Jaipur guide had been a wildlife guide and agreed with the lonely planet assessment – the elephants don’t belong in this part of India and are not well treated. Besides, we could use the walk after enjoying Indian food. Then we saw the elephants – they looked sad and unhealthy. That was it…we voted against their use by not spending our $$$ on a ride. We’re joining fellow travelers in a protest to the Indian Government seeking to stop the practice. OK off our soap box!

Amber fort is surrounded by a great wall (like China!) up and down mountain sides to protect the fort. It’s magnificent to stand in the Central Courtyard of the Palace and see a wall several miles away – all around the fort.

Our favorite part of the Fort -- The Glass Palace inside – an entire set of rooms and courtyard were covered in mosaic mirrors. Purported by guide: because of the reflections, one candle was enough to light up the entire room. We were doubting Thomas’ until dinner at our Hotel in the elegant Indian restaurant – Cinnamon which had walls covered with mirror mosaic – the light bounces off of each mirror creating a dramatic glow – not quite reading worthy but… relatively bright. By now we’d had enough of forts and we know there are more to come.

Bollywood! – We went to see Blue, a current Bollywood new release in the outrageous Raj Mandir Theater – a monument in it’s own rite. It’s a huge Art Deco Theater – probably seating 1500 people (we were 2 of 20 white people) with a lobby to beat the band… Crystal Chandeliers, Hindu God Statues, girls in saris and cool dude guys in their best attempts at bollywood fashion. The snack bar – popcorn and samosas of course. Imagine following a hindi movie with no subtitles. Fortunately, about 10% of the script was in English and the plot line obvious so we got the gist - - kind of like the opera. And after the movie – what else, thin crust pizza and ice cream at Little Italy!

Hotels – Ongoing update

Delhi – Hyatt

A bit South of the action for tourists… more of a business hotel. Rigorous security! Cars must drive around a small entrance then have boot and bonnet checked as well as under-carriage with mirror. Then proceed onto Hotel property. Then must pass through metal detector and have bags checked before entering hotel. Not unlike the JCC in San Francisco. Gave Howard confidence but I’m not sure if it made us feel safe or threatened.

Modern Indian Luxury – free so it was great! Fantastic Service. Excellent fitness center and nice pool area. Choice of restaurants.

Agra – Trident

About 1.5 kilometers from Taj Mahal. Walkable.

Fantastically hip lobby, bar, restaurant, “W – like” , although too much Jasmine air freshener piped in.

Lovely grounds. Decent food

Rooms are serviceable but a bit sad. Completely out of whack with lobby.

Jaipur – Jai Mahal Palace

A palace built as hunting lodge for Maharaja and recently renovated. It’s still in the royal family so we considered ourselves guest of the King. It was a beautiful oasis in a hustle bustle city. Our luxurious splurge – complete with outdoor marble chess set – 2 – 3 foot pieces on casters. (picture)

Udaipur – Udai Koti

Central Udaipur – 10 minute walk from old City Center and most action.

A quirky boutique hotel in Raj style… lots of Hindu arches, mirrored mosaics, bowls of marigolds and Hindu statues galore! Rooftop restaurant and pool with nearly 360 degree views of Udaipur, especially City Palace, Lake Palace Hotels and surrounding hills.

Our room. Nice sized but so much English reproduction furniture with every surface covered that it was hard to know where to put our stuff. That said, it had a comfortable – full canopy bed – I used to call a princess bed. Now Marharani bed.

Probably wouldn’t stay here again.

Saw Amet Haveli (traditional ornately decorated residence – more like small palace), a Heritage Royal Hotel down the road… much more our style a bit more bare for about the same price. All rooms have lake view. MUCH better restaurant – see below.

Taj Mahal - What he did for love!!!!! and Agra.

On our way to the Taj Mahal at 5:30 am to be there for sunrise. Vacation?

Despite all the hype, the Taj Mahal exceeded our expectations. White marble and semi-precious stones, especially carnelian, glistening in the early morning light beckoned us through the entry gate. The Taj Mahal is a memorial monument commissioned by Shah Jahan for Mum Taz Mahal, his beloved wife. The symmetry and attention to detail – such as minarets leaning out 2 degrees so if they fell, they would not fall on the beloved or Arabic calligraphy that was bigger as it went up the façade so that it all appeared the same size. The intricacy of the flowered mosaic work and carvings are truly something to behold.

This monument took 20,000 laborers 22 years to complete - - Now that’s love. And when Shah Jahan became senile and was imprisoned at Agra Fort, he was housed in the women’s quarters so he could watch over Taj Mahal and his beloved all the days of his life. And in his rooms, the walls were embedded with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds… some nice wallpaper!Howard is already saving for a tribute to Beth.

Step outside the gates of the Taj… children beg and salesmen hawk their wares - pushing postcards, peacock feathers, bangles and sundry other items working you 1 or 2 at a time until we reach the car or other place of separation.

Ismahir, our guide in Agra was more interested in getting us to his special mosaic factory –where we would learn how the Taj Mahal was made a rug factory – the specialty of Agra and his restaurants, of course hoping we’d buy to generate a commission for him, than in informing us about Agra and \helping us find a snow globe of the Taj – promised to Beth’s niece. Now we know… we will be much firmer with guides about shopping and insist on what we want first!

It’s incredible how much we white people stand out; there just aren’t many of us around. As much as we want to take pictures of them, they want to take pictures of us. The capstone of our day in Agra was running into a group of teenagers at another tomb – the Baby Taj. The boys tend to be the most forward, coming by laughing, saying hello and shaking hands. Then they ask for pictures. The girls are just as interested but a bit more reserved until we became friends.Then the questions… pure joy.

India juxtaposition

We’ve had trouble posting as our computer ran out of juice and the adaptor listed in the guide books and that worked in Delhi, didn’t work in Agra or Jaipur. At the Jai Mahal Palace, still owned by the Royal Family – so we are guests of the King in the land of supreme software engineers, we couldn’t get an adaptor that worked. Finally our Jaipur guide came through, we wandered through bazaars for an hour until we found India’s equivalent of Radio Shack – a 4 ft by 10ft store packed from floor to ceiling that had a Kun Dip voltage step down converter and adaptor. So… we are back on line and we post!

Delhi by day

Out first trip out of the hotel on Sunday, October 18th was by taxi to the impressive Red Fort. It was crowded with Indian tourists due to the Diwali Holiday weekend. Amazing to think that this was built at the same time as Plymouth Plantation in the new world. Marble pavillions and inlay, swimming pools and intricately carved screens vs. sapling fences, thatched roofs and no decoration. Old world vs. new world.

The taxi driver told us there was no parking at the Red Fort gate. He wanted to park 2 to 3 kilometers away and have us take a rickshaw. When we said we would walk, he drove to the gate and pulled into a parking area and volunteered to wait for us. He warned us not to walk down Chandi Chowk (just across the street from the Red Fort) as he said "there are very poor people and it is unsafe". However, we wanted to go to the Khari Baoli Market, known for it spices. As we began to walk we quickly noticed that we were the only non-Indians on the street. After about an eight of a mile it became clear the Chandi Chowk was a lot further then we though. Of course the 95 degree heat and humitiy help us to make the decision to turn back. That's when we encountered our first child beggar. He had a deformed arm and he kept taping my left arm asking for money. My heart was going out to him yet if were to give to him how about all the others? I so wanted to help......in the end we made our way back to the taxi. Exhausted and our hearts broken we hadthe taxi take us back to the hotel. The taxi decided to bring us to a shopping area. We told him not to stop.....just a normal day in Delhi.

I was timid our first day out… didn’t yet have a bearing on what the City was like. In fact, wondered why we’d come, hot, humid, crowded and dirty. Transformation by day two, when we coolly wandered through the Spice Market, hopping on and off local buses, riding rickshaws and taking pictures of locals.

A holiday atmosphere hung in the air, especially at India Gate -- a monument to fallen Indian and British soldiers during WWI –where families took photos, ate cotton candy and enjoyed the grassy mall. We didn’t quite have our sea legs yet so only have photos in our mind. Imagine a sea of women and girls in jewel toned saris and kohl lined eyes and men proudly carrying their babies.

Today: Hindu Disneyland… Akshardham Temple – a Hindu temple opened in 2005 covering 100 acres. It’s an amazing update to the ancient Hindu Temples we’ve seen in Indonesia. Thousands of life-sized elephant carvings line the base of the main temple (which was closed for maintenance). The Disneyland likeness… movies, animated dioramas telling the life stories of Swaminarayan and Yogi Neelkanth Varni, concession stands around every bend and bigger than life statues and families enjoying the wonder all around them. It seemed more secular than sacred to us but devotees pilgrim here from all over India.

On our drive to Arga today we got the see all the ways people travel in the National Highways (NH2) besides he usual cars buses, autorickshaws, pedi-rickshaws and bicyces there are tractors pulling everything, along with horse, cows and even camels all pulling something, it was a wonderful journey.

Our Delhi Debut

What an amazing and timely beginning to our India experience. Our 15 hour non-stop flight took us North from Chicago over the Arctic Circle and 31,000 feet South over Afghanistan and Pakistan. Circling Delhi, we saw thousands of home-launched fireworks exploding as far as the eye could see -- Tonight, they are celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Pure magic.

Stepping off the plane our first sense was the smell, a stale smokey stench....and I loved it. Also the sounds of all those fireworks was like a huge thunderstorm. I even enjoyed the usual Customs/Health Safety process because it was organized chaos. Anyway, we got to the hotel quickly, as the driver told us the roads were empty beacuse of Diwali. I am so excited about our adventure here but for now it's a shower and to bed to get a good night sleep for our first full day in Delhi!

India Here We Come

We are headed to India for what we hope will be an eye-opening adventure. Highlights of our trip:

• Agra and the Taj Mahal
• The Pushkar Camel fair - we'll be part of the Camera brigade seeking festival-clad camels and locals. My kind of Camping.... Maharajah tents - white canvas and en-suite bathrooms :)
• The Koyolot Festival where lighted candles are set afloat on the lake.
• Visiting a microfinace organization (SKS Foundation) to learn more http://www.sksfoundation.org/

Wish us easy travel, iron stomachs and patience.