WOW! almost 7 days have passed since our last blog and we have done so much it is hard to remember what we have done.
Exiting Dehli involving a morning train to Jaipur, which far exceeded our expectation of train travel in India. We got a snack, water, breakfast and our new favorite Chai Marsala Tea. Tash even read the newspaper while I caught some ZZZZ's. Jaipur invited us into its arms in the form of an amazing guest house which is actually a small family owned place, frequented by the Royal Family. So, we felt rather posh. Tash went to a palace and an observatory, while I slept off a cold, then we all went to see a Bollywood film, which was 3 hours long, had an intermission and was full of noise and cheers from the crowd at various parts ie: the hero, the girl stripping to swimmers, the couple finally kissing. Just like an old cinema in days gone by.
The next day we went to the Amber Fort, which is actually an old palace. The walk up the hill sucked, but it was made better by the amazing palace and beautifully preserved paintings. The whole fort was surrounded by a massive wall, sort of like the Jaipur "Great Wall". Tash and I got sucked into some shopping and treated ourselves like the princesses we are.
We got a private bus to Agra, where we got to see one of the ancient wonders of the world - The Taj Mahal. There was a minor set back at the start of the visit with Tash's camera batteries dying literally the second we walked in (despite them being brand new batteries), we had a great experience The splendor of the mausoleum was breathtaking and filled with ancient Persian script of poems of mourning, walls inlaid with precious jewels and perfect architecture. Meanwhile, our fame has continued to spread throughout India and Tash got a little mobbed by women wanting photos with her at the Taj.
After the craziness of Delhi and Jaipur and the Taj, we slipped into country India and spent two days relaxing in Orcha, a small town in the heart of India where we stayed in massive big tents ah la Lawrence of Arabia style, with slightly less opulence and a shower that didn't work unless you wanted to wet the entire bathroom. We had a cooking lesson from and dinner with a local lady. We then braved the river and went river rafting, which was more site seeing on a boat than any rafting. But it was an amusing experience with one of the guys screaming through a closed mouth when getting splashed in the face with river water. We also saw another palace and fort and at night, went into a Hindu temple at night for prayer time and got blessed by the head Brahma. Dinner was at a local style restaurant and it was probably the most amazing food we have had so far. Pakora, curries, rice and Naan - so good.
We drove the next day to Kajuraho, via a paper making factory, and we saw the famed Kama Sutra Temple and had a good few laughs to ourselves, like silly school girls. We got some distasteful looks from one of the older more conservative women on our trip, but who cares - we had fun. We then faced the horrors of a crowded over night train in which we got no food, a scratchy blanket and we were all separated due to booking restrictions on the train. 11pm to 11:45am = nightmare trip and cranky us. It was followed by an onslaught of the senses when arriving in Varanasi - the oldest living city in the world. Roads are shared by cows, goats (who appear to wear shirts here), people, push bike, motor bikes, cars, tractors and rickshaws. Its pretty full on and colourful and loud and busy and insane, but not as smelly and horrid as we had expected.
The Ganges has proved to be somewhat of a marvel, with our arrival coinciding with a once a year festival - Diwali - "Festival of the light". We were treated to a boat ride on the Ganges, to see all of the thousands of people descending on the Ghats (stairs) and placing floating lights into the water and making offerings. There was fireworks, cremations and general chanting and celebrating This morning, we went back for a sunrise cruise, coupled with our own musician to soothe our ears while we floated along. It was nice to see the Ganges in the daylight, with people going about their morning business of washing themselves and their clothes post celebration. We also saw a Buddhist Temple where Buddha gave his first teachings and we ate some Tibetan food for lunch. Tongiht we brave another Bollywood movie - this which action and one that Tash and I have been dying to see.
I think that we are starting to "feel" India. Its craziness is growing on us and in a way, while it looks insane and totally chaotic, the people are so calm and welcoming its actually a very wondrous experience. We are back in Delhi tomorrow and then heading off on our own to Mumbai, the heart of Bollywood.
Exiting Dehli involving a morning train to Jaipur, which far exceeded our expectation of train travel in India. We got a snack, water, breakfast and our new favorite Chai Marsala Tea. Tash even read the newspaper while I caught some ZZZZ's. Jaipur invited us into its arms in the form of an amazing guest house which is actually a small family owned place, frequented by the Royal Family. So, we felt rather posh. Tash went to a palace and an observatory, while I slept off a cold, then we all went to see a Bollywood film, which was 3 hours long, had an intermission and was full of noise and cheers from the crowd at various parts ie: the hero, the girl stripping to swimmers, the couple finally kissing. Just like an old cinema in days gone by.
The next day we went to the Amber Fort, which is actually an old palace. The walk up the hill sucked, but it was made better by the amazing palace and beautifully preserved paintings. The whole fort was surrounded by a massive wall, sort of like the Jaipur "Great Wall". Tash and I got sucked into some shopping and treated ourselves like the princesses we are.
We got a private bus to Agra, where we got to see one of the ancient wonders of the world - The Taj Mahal. There was a minor set back at the start of the visit with Tash's camera batteries dying literally the second we walked in (despite them being brand new batteries), we had a great experience The splendor of the mausoleum was breathtaking and filled with ancient Persian script of poems of mourning, walls inlaid with precious jewels and perfect architecture. Meanwhile, our fame has continued to spread throughout India and Tash got a little mobbed by women wanting photos with her at the Taj.
After the craziness of Delhi and Jaipur and the Taj, we slipped into country India and spent two days relaxing in Orcha, a small town in the heart of India where we stayed in massive big tents ah la Lawrence of Arabia style, with slightly less opulence and a shower that didn't work unless you wanted to wet the entire bathroom. We had a cooking lesson from and dinner with a local lady. We then braved the river and went river rafting, which was more site seeing on a boat than any rafting. But it was an amusing experience with one of the guys screaming through a closed mouth when getting splashed in the face with river water. We also saw another palace and fort and at night, went into a Hindu temple at night for prayer time and got blessed by the head Brahma. Dinner was at a local style restaurant and it was probably the most amazing food we have had so far. Pakora, curries, rice and Naan - so good.
We drove the next day to Kajuraho, via a paper making factory, and we saw the famed Kama Sutra Temple and had a good few laughs to ourselves, like silly school girls. We got some distasteful looks from one of the older more conservative women on our trip, but who cares - we had fun. We then faced the horrors of a crowded over night train in which we got no food, a scratchy blanket and we were all separated due to booking restrictions on the train. 11pm to 11:45am = nightmare trip and cranky us. It was followed by an onslaught of the senses when arriving in Varanasi - the oldest living city in the world. Roads are shared by cows, goats (who appear to wear shirts here), people, push bike, motor bikes, cars, tractors and rickshaws. Its pretty full on and colourful and loud and busy and insane, but not as smelly and horrid as we had expected.
The Ganges has proved to be somewhat of a marvel, with our arrival coinciding with a once a year festival - Diwali - "Festival of the light". We were treated to a boat ride on the Ganges, to see all of the thousands of people descending on the Ghats (stairs) and placing floating lights into the water and making offerings. There was fireworks, cremations and general chanting and celebrating This morning, we went back for a sunrise cruise, coupled with our own musician to soothe our ears while we floated along. It was nice to see the Ganges in the daylight, with people going about their morning business of washing themselves and their clothes post celebration. We also saw a Buddhist Temple where Buddha gave his first teachings and we ate some Tibetan food for lunch. Tongiht we brave another Bollywood movie - this which action and one that Tash and I have been dying to see.
I think that we are starting to "feel" India. Its craziness is growing on us and in a way, while it looks insane and totally chaotic, the people are so calm and welcoming its actually a very wondrous experience. We are back in Delhi tomorrow and then heading off on our own to Mumbai, the heart of Bollywood.
