Temples and weddings

Last night was a bit chilly, the first time in three trips that the thermals have come out. Morning brought a hot breakfast to warm us up before setting off on a long trip to Agra. There were three stops on the way, to see the Abhaneri Wells and the Hashat Mata Temple, the largest and most beautiful in India, and they are certainly impressive. Once again we noted some women doing cement pointing of the stonework, dressed in the most beautiful saris. Dungarees would be more suited for the job. After a short lunch stop we drove to Fatehpur Siki. This was the former capital of the Mughals in the 1500's. Our local guide was most entertaining in his description of the harem with 320 favourites and several wives from different countries. The huge mosque beside it is the biggest outside Mecca and was an was an impressive building.

It was a great relief on arrival at the hotel to hear that we would just stay in for dinner. Back to luxury so there's no need for the thermals tonight. Daytime temperatures are very pleasant, much more than we hear folk in UK are getting. As we enjoyed our food we realised there were lots of very well dressed folk around, guests at a wedding in the hotel. As we finished we were aware of a procession outside, the groom going to the bride's home (a different wedding this is the favourite time of the year for weddings in India). He was on a well decorated horse with men carrying lamps on the outside of the parade of dancing guests. Dushyant encouraged us to go and have a look. A few of us joined in the parade and were encouraged by the groom to take pictures of him on his horse. Some of the guests spotted our girls and invited us all to join in the dancing. Those girls know how to party, as do guests at an Indian wedding, and a few more zumba moves have been learned! As we were told at the beginning "Expect the unexpected". Tomorrow will be a 5.30 wake up call for dawn at the Taj Mahal!

Monkey Temple

After a half hour drive east from Jaipur, we found ourselves in the hills at the monkey temple. We saw lots more wildlife, peacocks, chipmunks and of course hundreds of monkeys. They entertained us with their antics and provided plenty of photo opportunities. From there it was a two hour drive to the village where we were to stay. The whole place looked very run down and we had to walk through the streets to an amazing hotel, the former palace of the village chief. Accommodation was more basic but rooms were clean with lovely sitting areas, both inside and out. After an afternoon of sunbathing, watching parrots, pigeons, monkeys and chipmunks on the roof, it was time for a promised camel ride or cart behind a camel. G Adventures supports the village by using the accommodation and rides. It was certainly an experience seeing village life, pigs running along the street, small shops, small industries like metal work, farming daily life, wells and smiling children everywhere. There were also circles of cow dung drying on roofs and used as fuel. There was no begging unlike Delhi. We had a very pleasant time interacting with the villages, having a lot of laughs and watching the children play. Tonight we had a buffet meal, music and dancing with many more photo opportunities.

Bollywood

Today we spent in and around Jaipur. Our bus took us to the Amber Fort, stopping at the roadside for a picture of the fort and a photo opportunity as we watched a snake charmer entice a young cobra out of the basket. Some of our group freaked out when they saw it but it was a very small cobra. The elephant trip was up to the fort and we nearly enjoyed it. We did feel like Maharajas as we made our way uphill and into the courtyard. The Amber Fort is now government owned and the present maharajah (a token title) lives in the fort further up the hill. He no longer has the power his ancestors had. The building is very beautiful, decorated with frescoes painted into the lime plaster, and they are amazingly fresh for pictures done several hundred years ago. Very little is left of the internal furnishings which is a pity as the main rooms, including,the harem, must have been luxurious.

Our lunch stop was called Indiana, a restaurant founded by a local man who was sent to Indianapolis University in 1945 to become an engineer. He worked all over America then came home in 1998 to set up the restaurant. One of our party was a student at Indianapolis and was thrilled to meet him. He must be in his 80's.



We then had the afternoon free for shopping or just resting in the hotel, before meeting at 6.00 to go by auto rickshaw to one of the largest cinemas in India. It was a magnificent building, full of glitz and glamour. We soon found that the audience really entered into the spirit of the show, cheering for both the hero and the villain. It was a 3 hour film which is the current blockbuster hit in India. Despite a few Bollywood dances and lots of loud music, it was quite violent with both the hero and the villain dying in the last act and his wife and half the cast being wiped out! Not a happy ending but a great experience and a few dance moves have been learned. We had a smaller meal tonight, a delicious filled crispy pancake from South India called dosa, very filling and cheap. We'll know what to ask for when we get to Kerala.

Jaipur

Not too early a start today as we set off for Jaipur at 8.30. but it was a long drive which included an hour's stop for lunch, and we arrived at our hotel about 3.30. The drive was reminiscent of Vietnam but the roads are much better and not nearly so busy once we left Delhi. As we progressed towards Jaipur the traffic began to change with camels pulling carts, competing with lorries, buses and machines which were hauling road materials. Just like the road between Kinross and the Forth Bridge there were lots of diversions but not always people working on the road improvements. Other sights were villages we passed through, some with very dilapidated housing and sometimes new blocks of flats going up. Women in saris were doing some of the building labour. We saw our first monkeys by the road, camels and donkeys, and in Amber there were elephants going up the street to the Fort - tomorrow's mode of transport.

The hotel is definitely a class above the one in Delhi - more of a Maharajah's palace with lots of elaborate Rajasthan decoration. After a short rest to unpack we all set off by cycle rickshaw to the centre of Jaipur. We were taken through a market selling mostly foodstuff and stopped occasionally to hear about different foods or how the man was making keys. We were followed by beggars and persistent hawkers in the streets but just had to adopt a strict position by not getting involved.

Eventually we climbed up steps to a roof and were able to watch the chaos of the traffic below. There were lots of boys flying kites on the skyline, reminiscent of "The Kiterunner". Our meal tonight was typical of Rajasthan, in our case different vegetable thalis - delicious as usual. It was however rather too much food today - must remember to eat less tomorrow! If you feel like checking back a couple of photos have now been added to our previous posts. Much more to come!

Sights and Sounds of Delhi

This is the view from our hotel balcony, with bands gathering across the street and a truckload of young men in party mode heading the other way.

On Monday morning we set off on a long walk which our guide seems to favour. Our target was the Metro station and we were given instructions on using tokens to get on, separating into ladies and gents as there are separate carriages. Not everyone seemed to stick to that rule. The Metro was quite modern, very security conscious and extremely crowded. Despite their best efforts the men didn't lose the ladies and we set off again to the Red Fort, just to look at the outside. This was followed by time inside the Jama Masjid Mosque. While our guide Dushyant looked after the shoes and belongings the ladies were issued with large garments a bit like painting smocks for grown-ups - a perfect photo opportunity. After watching Earthflight in India, we were very conscious of the birds flying around and sure enough there were pigeons galore with kites ready to pick them off. No one seems to mind us taking pictures and there were plenty of pictures taken.

We set off down some more back streets where the locals and Bollywood stars shop for decorative ribbons and accessories to enhance their costumes. For those who like bling it would be paradise. Our final stop for the morning was the Sikh Temple where we were given a un ique (for us) opportunity to take part in the daily rituals of preparing food and feeding the thousands of people who come to the temple for food. After covering our heads and leaving our shoes and socks behind we had to wash our hands and feet before entering the temple, where we observed the ritual of sitting quietly for a couple of minutes during the service, before going through to the kitchens.

All the food is donated and all the workers who prepare and serve it are volunteers. It's doubtful if our amateurish contributions were much help, but we certainly provided the more experienced helpers with some amusement and entertainment. Mostly we rolled out chapattis and flipped them on the enormous griddle, stirred gigantic cooking pots full of vegetables and generally got in the way. Finally we joined hundreds of other people sitting on long mats in a large hall to be served dal, vegetables and chappattis.

After lunch we set off in auto rickshaws to visit a project which G Adventures supports. The traffic is mad, noisier and more impatient than Vietnam with a mixture of auto and cycle rickshaws, bullock carts, buses, taxis, cars both ancient and modern and even carts pulled by hand. The loads are huge in some cases with cycles pulling up to ten or a dozen gas canisters.

The project was set up in 1988 to help street children and has been supported further by funding from Slumdog Millionaire. We met up with a group of boys as they were receiving clothes distributed by a volunteer. We were encouraged to engage with them and although their English was limited it was easy to have a game of pat-a-cake. We were told success stories of children who had gone on to succeed as photographers and dancers, take university degrees or become entrepreneurs.

Arrival in Delhi

Less than 36 hours since we landed in Delhi and what tales we have to tell already! Our flight was fairly uneventful, though it felt long as we left Glasgow at 1.p.m. on Saturday (having been in the airport since 9 a.m.) and landed in Dubai just after midnight local time, though just after 8 p.m. UK time. We then had to wait over four hours for our connection to Delhi, and were served breakfast as the sun rose over the sub-continent. Our watches moved on another hour and a half and we landed in Delhi a little after 9 a.m. on Sunday. Immigration, customs, changing money, and negotiating a taxi to our hotel took us to early afternoon, so we thought we'd catch up on a little lost sleep, but the street noise was such that we were only able to doze. Being next to the street wasn't the best for sleeping but our room had a balcony so we were able to enjoy the sight and sound of bands gathering and young men dancing in preparation for Beating the Retreat which was due to happen later that evening.

At 6 p.m. we met with our group leader and the rest of our G Adventures tour group, and set off to a restaurant for our first meal. There are two Canadian couples of roughly similar age to us, plus another Canadian travelling alone, a young English couple, a Scots girl and another six young females of various nationalities, mainly Swedish or French. We spent much of the evening talking to one of the Canadian couples, from Vancouver, who have travelled widely, mostly with G Adventures, and are experienced sea kayakers. We should explain that G Adventures, which used to be called Gap Adventures, is a Canadian company.

On the way to the restaurant we were taken down a lane which we can safely say we would never have ventured into by ourselves. We certainly got a flavour, and a few aromas, of Delhi. The food was excellent and cheap, the beer was Kingfisher, and the wine was much too expensive for us, even the local variety which we were told is not that good anyway. Maybe we'll just become beer drinkers for a while.

2012 Trip to India

Yes we are off again, to India this time. We are not very fond of February in UK although January hasn't been too bad so far. Anyway we were inspired by Alison Robertson's trip to India and during a particularly wet spell in November we went into Trailfinders to make enquiries. We came out with a plan of what to see on a four week stay. Don't go into a travel agents on a wet day---it's like going into a supermarket when you're hungry.

Tom has had a long term wish to take me there and share some of what he saw on his travels in 1969. I agreed to go as long as it was with some degree of comfort. The trip starts in Delhi with a tour to Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi. It's then back to Delhi and we are on our own to Shimla by the toy train. It could be cold in Shimla as there is usually snow on the ground in February so the thermals are packed but it will be a chance to chill out (probably literally) after a busy tour. This is followed by a plane south to Cochin in Kerala and a private tour round spice plantations, wildlife reserve, backwater tour on a houseboat and a couple of nights on the beach.

It all sounds good, travel advice has been sought and we are packed ready to go from Glasgow on Saturday 28th January.The kindle has cut down on books and we really have cut luggage to a minimum.