Monthly Archives: November 2012

A visit to the Taj Mahal with our own Bollywood superstar

Posted on November 9, 2012 by julieallen36

Ok we’re back. A little behind track now but nevertheless needed to capture our day at the Taj Mahal. We decided to do the early morning visit i.e. just after dawn at 7am and what a good decision that was. The good news was that Joyce was feeling a little better and not wanting to miss out on this highlight of the tour. It was decidedly cool and a little foggy and in fact the sun didn’t manage to burn away the cloud all day. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see all the different colours on the Taj as the day progresses but I thought it looked mysterious with the mists.
There is no doubt about it visiting the Taj Mahal does take your breath away when you first walk through the gate into the paradise gardens.
Both Jane and I got a little choked up as we entered but for different reasons. Jane because she has always wanted to visit the Taj and me because it means THAT picture of Princess Diana. What’s that all about?
The gardens are really beautiful especially the water channels and fountains. And of course what everyone wants to do is have their photo taken on the ‘Diana’ seat. This is so weird- you expect that the Brits would want to do this but people of all nationalities wanted to do the same thing.
But of course the real gem here is the Taj itself. It is stunningly beautiful from a distance and when you get up close the craftsmanship of the stone inlay work is incredible. The semi- precious stones used came from all over the world including agate, turquoise, coral, cats eye, jade, bloodstone, which is amazing considering the Shah Jahan built this monument to his beloved 3rd wife Mumtaz between 1631- 1653.
Our guide for the day was Mujeep and he looked like a Bollywood superstar. So you can imagine that we were hanging onto his every word as he told us the love story behind one of the 7 Wonders of the World.
The fact that we were there early meant that it was relatively quiet and peaceful. We saw later on just how busy it does get so this was a great result. We also visited another monument nicknamed the Baby Taj which is kind of similar in style but on a smaller scale. People say it looks like a jewellery box and it too was exquisite and even older.
Then in the evening we went to a park on the other side of the river where you can look back to the Taj Mahal and watch as the sun sets. Unfortunately because of the mist, this wasn’t going to be a good sunset and because by now I had started to feel unwell, we came home. I think this also explains why the whole day seemed a bit surreal to me. And oh how much was I looking forward to another train journey…….

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Agra, Princess Diana, Taj Mahal | 3 Comments

Men at Work a photo interlude

Posted on November 8, 2012 by julieallen36

As we’ve had some feedback that people like Jane’s photos and I’m not feeling upto much today ( only eating that chicken noodle soup that I packed) we thought we’d save the Taj Mahal until a little later.
In the meantime here are some more of Jane’s pics showing men at work to entertain you.

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Night Train to Agra pt 2 – Reality bites

Posted on November 8, 2012 by julieallen36

Well how cheerful I sounded when I wrote that last post a couple days ago now. There we were just waiting to be picked up for our train running an hour late and looking forward to our 1st class travel experience on the train. There would be the Starbucks coffee car selling Chai lattes as Mike (my brother) had suggested.The beds would be like those ones upstairs on Virgin Atlantic flights and we’d have a choice of in chair entertainment of course. There would be just enough time to fit in shopping at the luxury emporiums of MurghalSerai station. How very wrong we could be and no matter what our real pre-conceptions were nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to experience. I am afraid the Americans and Mike were right- what ever your expectations lower them, then again, then again…..
But what we do have to remember is that this lasted only 20 hours so we need to keep things in perspective. Easy to say now we’re sitting in Mr Singhs lovely garden at the Heritage Homestay here in Agra. So, here’s just a few highlights from our journey.
So we set off from the hotel at approx 9.30pm with our guide and driver and the first road we went down clearly hadn’t yet actually become a road yet. It was a dusty, bumpy track that the guys obviously use as a shortcut to get onto the main highway. It’s dark, dusty and foggy. We make it onto the highway NS2 which is the type you’ll have seen on television. It’s got 2 lanes either side and is full of huge trucks which go really slowly in the fast lane and won’t move over no matter how much someone flashes or honks them. The other occupants are vans with no lights, motorcycles which wobble there way along, bicycles with 2 or more people on board, pedestrians and of course cows and goats roaming freely. I particularly enjoyed the moment when we came across the cement mixer that had parked up in the fast lane. Well done mate.
So we arrive at the station and its a scene of mayhem. Crowded, noisy, foreign. Here we get an update that the train is now 2 hours late but our guide recommends that we should wait in the 1st class waiting room in the station. Excellent idea- shopping here we come!
But first of all we have to get there. We walk through the station concourse which is covered with people lying down wrapped up like corpses. I wonder how long they’ve been waiting for their trains? As our guide checks our tickets at the ticket office we get surrounded by staring hungry eyes. We quickly move our bags to where we can all see them. We have porters with us who are carrying our suitcases 2 per head but its all starting to feel a little uneasy.
Next we have to make our way over the platform bridge and our guide gets stopped by a policeman who asks him to tell us to remove our necklaces and hide them -‘this is a dangerous place’. Our guide looks distinctly worried- great!
We make it to the first lounge and sure enough reality bites. It is a dump. But the good thing is it is just us in there with our guide and a lady who lies on a piece of cardboard. Her job is to shout at all the scurvy fellows who try to come in and use our luxury toilet (now you know that’s just not true..) and she is extremely good at her job. You can see this room in the attached pic of Joyce and Enid below.
So here we wait ….for the next 5 hours. It becomes apparent that our guide and indeed no-one seems to know when this train will arrive. How can a train just disappear? We can’t sleep in here because there is the constant noise of a train arrival being announced by a lady and some bingy bongy music. The arrival of a train is also trumpeted with a loud TAH DAH. How very appropriate. In reality we are not alone either – we have a 5 inch guard gecko on the wall. I liked it when I said to Jane ‘I prefer the baby ones’ and she said in deep voice ‘What do you mean? I am the baby. Mum and Dad are behind the picture’. Oh how we laughed. But at that point it was only 2am…..
And then of course there was the rat that stuck his head in to say hello. The kerffufle we made woke up our guide and he looked equally perturbed but did manage to shoo it out.
Eventually, we got fed up of his vagueness (our guides not Stuart Littles) and I decided to get rather move assertive with him demanding that he went to find out what time the train would actually arrive. He looked really scared and scuttled off probably to have a good cry. Finally he came back with good news – he was pleased to report that the train was ‘most definitely coming’. Excellent but when? The next 10mins? Today? Tomorrow? A week next Tuesday?
He said the next 10-15 mins and things started to look more positive as the porters came to get our bags and even the lady on the cardboard woke up. The train did arrive as he’d suggested and on we got. It was now exactly 3.59am
We found our cabin B in the 1st class sleeper car and really it wasn’t that bad. 4 bunk beds and a door with a lock. We decided that the best thing to do was to go straight to sleep. Joyce was by now starting to feel rather unwell and our patience with each other as well as the situation was being stretched. The best thing to do was to sleep for the next 8 hours and wake up in Agra.
So what about that in chair entertainment then? Well you could take your pick from listening to the train blast it’s klaxon all the way or the kids next door slamming part of their bunk against our wall constantly. Or you could amuse yourself with the jolly cries of the chai waller selling his wares outside. Time for the ear plugs…
Funnily enough the thing that probably surpassed expectations was the toilet. It really wasn’t half as bad as you might expect and even had loo roll!
So here we stayed for the next 12 hours as the train got later and later. No-one could tell us what time we would arrive in Agra and now we knew why. The train seemed to stop at random non station places where the driver dropped his mates off…all the way and the name of the train Magadh Express was clearly an exaggeration.
When we arrived we were exhausted although all we’d done was lie around trying to sleep. Joyce felt even more ill and I think we probably all wanted to just come home. But we arrived at lovely Mr Singh’s and Joyce retired to bed. Mr Singhs daughter in law made us a cup of tea and gave us some Malted Milk biscuits and we started to feel better straight away.
My advice? Never ever take an overnight train. To anywhere.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Agra, chai, Trains | 4 Comments

The three people I met in Varanasi

Posted on November 6, 2012 by julieallen36

Ok so the train is apparently running 1 hour late so we are not being picked up until 9pm from here. The others have gone down to Assi Ghat but I stayed here. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all and in need of a bit of peace,quiet and contemplation. I thought I’d capture something about some of the people we have met because really they are the most amazing part of our trip so far.
First of all Prem our guide yesterday. He is a Regional guide who is allowed to work freelance. He is married with two children and probably in his late 30s. He speaks extremely good English and is a local of Varanasi having attended the University we went to yesterday. His degree was in physics which he was very proud of but became a tour guide presumably either because he couldn’t find a job in the physics field or because it paid better. He had then had to take numerous exams to get a job as a Regional guide. Good fellow.
Next we met Raj. This was yesterday when were going to another cafe called The Open Hand. Raj is a postcard seller. He is a lad of about 16 who has a badly disfigured face and contorted feet that kind of face the wrong way. His spot is clearly outside the cafe and we watched from the balcony where we had our cappuccino and muffin as he approached every single European person who came and went to try and sell them a few postcards. He worked really hard chasing people up the street but didn’t seem to get much success. In between he rested in what looked like a specially adapted tricycle. So when I went out I decided to buy some cards from him. Enid told me I had to barter him down so I did. But really I can’t be bothered with all that so I bought 2 cards for £1 which, from the smile on his face and little snigger, he clearly thought he’d done rather well on. Good lad.
Last but not least we met lots of children down by the ghats. These kids live in such squalor and poverty you can’t imagine. Some of them have to beg for money,some were playing with makeshift kites in the mud. All of them smile when Jane or Joyce gives them a sweety. But the boy who stood out was one who came up to us this morning right at the end of our walk along the ghats. He was dressed in brightly coloured t shirt and shorts and he was about 10. His hair was shiny and clean and he said to us in the most perfect English “Excuse me madam. Which country is it that come from? Oh England- v nice. London or Manchester? Do you have any English pounds? I would like to take one home to my room , I collect them. No? Do you have any rupees? No? Ok then do you have any candy? Thank you very much- where is this made? Oh England- v good. Perhaps you could bring me an English pound later”. We didn’t catch his name but his broad smile and perfect manners certainly made a huge impression. We hope he is able to go to school and that perhaps one day he’ll be able to put his English to good use , go to University and become a tour guide. Good boy.

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Night Train to Agra

Posted on November 6, 2012 by julieallen36

So just another quick update today as we’re still in Varanasi waiting now until its time for us to be picked up and taken to the railway station for our overnight train to Agra. We’ve had a relaxed day today walking the ghats and the streets of Varanasi. It’s been the hottest day so far today certainly up in the 80s so it was interesting to read that there’s been snow back home!
We took a tuk tuk ride to the Brown Bread bakery which we’d been told was v good on Trip Advisor again. The driver started taking us down the back alleys and we’d also heard that this is a favourite scam of the old muggers of Varanasi so we made him take us back to the main road and went instead to the Bread of Life cafe. It was a good place and we had nice bread, soup, Chinese etc . The chocolate cheesecake here was freshly made and v yummy.
So……next stop the overnight train. It should be an interesting experience although the nice American couple we met in the hotel told us to really lower our expectations. They weren’t that high to start with!
So next update from Agra as I suspect there won’t be any Wifi on the train. Do you think that’s what they meant by lowering our expectations?

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Agra, India, Trains | Leave a comment

It takes more than one Kharma to make a Dharma

Posted on November 5, 2012 by julieallen36

So it’s a real treat today. Two for the price of one or as we like to say out here BOGOF ( buy one get one free). This is a guide to what we actually did today which seemed to be a tale of world religions! As we know we had to be up and ready to meet our guide this morning at 5.30am for our morning ride down the Ganges. It was still dark as we made our way back to the scene of last nights chaos. It was much calmer this morning although considering the time, there are still a lot of people about but all a little more serene. So we went back to the same ghat and I think we may even have had the same chap rowing our boat. He rowed us a long the various ghats ( there are approx 84 in total) and Prem told us all about them. We saw lots and lots of people doing their morning wash which is a way of focusing on the inner self and I suppose working to be a better person. It’s the focus on inner self that is why they take no notice of the… er….filth. Women and men bathe together but the women get a little changing cabin to protect their modesty. They are focused and they do have to submerse themselves at some point and so clearly it is a ritual but they seem to enjoy it as well as there was lots of splashing and smiling and some even choose to have a 30 mins swim. All along the ghats they are doing this and it was an amazing spectacle to see. Jane even stopped sulking (it was difficult to photograph last night) as it was absolutely brilliant for photos today! Eventually, right when we’d reached another funeral ghat, the sun came up and turned the sky a pinky orange colour and it was so peaceful and beautiful. An absolutely incredible contrast to the darkness and noise of last night.
So after this we did a little walk around some of the back alleys behind the central ghat and this is where we started our religious teachings. One of the things we learned was in the title of today’s blogs ‘it takes more than one Kharma to make a Dharma’. I think what Prem was trying to tell us was that if we do good things we might feel a good Kharma but that is nothing compared to the level of effort required to reach a good Dharma. Or do I have that the wrong way around?
We visited various Hindu temples to different gods and also a mosque. This area had lots and lots of armed security around it as as you can imagine the mix is quite an explosive one. Sometimes literally. For this reason tourists cannot go in these temples. The streets here are incredibly narrow and those cows get everywhere.
After breakfast back at our hotel we were on the minibus again by 9.30 for our half day tour of Varanasi, Sarnath and environs. First of all we visited the Varanasi University which is the biggest in terms of area covered in Asia. We visited a Hindu temple here which we really enjoyed again and reminded us of being back in San Christobal de la Casas in Mexico as we watched the people performing their rituals with flowers, leaves and milk. Then we went onto another temple where I was particularly impressed by the large marble relief map of India we went to see created in something like the 1930s. We then went onto see the place where Buddha gave his first teachings at Sarnath ( who knew?) where there was a large Stupa. This is basically a huge mound made of red brick and partially covered in polished and carved sandstone. The sculptures found here are housed in a museum and feature Buddha. Very impressive. By this time we had absorbed way too much information from Prem in fact I have to report that Jane and Joyce had switched off at about 10am leaving Enid and I desperately trying to maintain eye contact without dropping off. We had been up since 5 you know!
So what we needed now obviously was to end our days tour with a trip to the silk emporium where, luckily, they ‘would treat us like family and not try to force us to buy anything’ . Oh god, please make him stop showing us more and more different coloured things. I don’t want a scarf, I don’t want a duvet cover. I actually did quite like the thing that had the nice colourful pictures of elephants on it but that was $180 …..

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Buddhism, Ganges, Hinduism, Religion | 3 Comments

Carry on up the Ganges pt 2

Posted on November 5, 2012 by julieallen36

We flew into Varanasi yesterday on Jet Airways without incident except me doing some emergency lingerie shopping at Marks and Spencer, Delhi Airport. As soon as we got out of the airport it felt different – more Indian. However, that was nothing and over the last two days Varanasi has proved to be the India I wanted to experience. I really don’t think words can explain it but we’ll give it a go.
Our hotel is the Hotel Ganges View and it took an hour to get here. The drive was completely eye opening as we drove through v poor rural areas and then into Varanasi City itself. So – we’re talking not quite as biblical as rural Egypt but not far off. Sooooooooooooo busy it’s untrue where on earth are all these people going to I keep asking myself.
Our hotel does indeed have a view of the Ganges and is at the Assi Ghat which is at the far southern end. In order to get from our van to the hotel we walked past 2 cows, 5 mangy dogs and 1 monkey. Plus the monkeys owner who is beginning to look more like the monkey than the monkey itself. Turns out he lives just outside our hotel. Think he maybe a beggar but he’s not very good at it as he just seems to lie about watching his monkey eat seed.
We ventured out after afternoon tea on the terrace (sounds grand- it’s not but it is nice) and wandered down to the ghat to see what was happening (man). It was the first time I’d felt shocked since arriving. It is sooooo dirty and squalid and stinks of the Ganges mud and the doings of the cows, dogs and ….oh almost certainly..yes…humans. There isn’t much happening at this time of day though and we got quite pestered by kids wanting to sell us stuff and it was intimidating. So after a while we came back.
At 5.30 pm we were collected by Prem (todays guide) and taken for our evening boat ride down the Ganges. We were taken in rickshaws to Dasashvamedha Ghat. The journey here got busier and busier first on the rickshaws, then walking down a crowded street and then finally onto the ghat itself. There is only one word to describe this- CRAZY. Crowds of pilgrims, priests, beggars, tourists and not to be left behind -cows. There is loud music and bells coming at you from all angles and you just do not know where to look. The air smells of incense and the feeling is intense.
Somehow we got through to the waters edge with our guide and then, to get onto your rowing boat, you have to walk across a 25cm wide plank of wood. Oh god don’t let me fall in the Ganges….
By now it’s getting quite dark and we rowed out and then along the ghats. It’s dark and daunting as we rowed down to one of the cremation ghats. There were 13 fires burning here and that is how many people were being cremated. It’s all a bit of a blur but you could see the wrapped bodies on the bamboo carriers being dipped into the Ganges and then queuing to be burned. The families just leave the bodies after about 3 hours of quietly mourning ( no wailing) and the people employed by the ghats just sweep the remains back into mother Ganges. It is filthy, medieval and dark and I found the size of the wood storage piles completely shocking. We floated our little candles on leaves onto the water and made our way back. We then watched the student priests perform at the D ghat and it did feel like a performance with thousands of people watching as they ‘ohmed’ and swung their incense about.
We ate at the hotel and tried to make sense of it all but it was a struggle. Or perhaps we were just over tired?

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Ganges, Religion, Varanasi | 1 Comment

Carry on up the Ganges

Posted on November 4, 2012 by julieallen36

We are here and we are safe…..more tomorrow we have to get up at 5am!!

Categories: Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A Flavour of New Delhi

Posted on November 3, 2012 by julieallen36

Firstly just a quick update from yesterday. Interesting headlines in today’s Times of India.
1) City enveloped in smog ….which blotted out the sun through the day. It was described by one expert as a ‘toxic cocktail of poisonous gases’. Not just me then!
2) ‘1322 traffic rules breaches in 25 secs on the ring road.’ The question here of course is why on earth is this news?

So another day in smelly Delhi. Actually I have to say I am loving it! So today we had our driver and set off without a guide. The driver made some recommendations on top of what we asked to do and he started by taking us to the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir (temple). This was a lovely place, very colourful with the images of Hindu god such as Vishnu, Lakshmi, Ganesh (elephant) and Hanuman (monkey). As always lots of people and really lovely and respectful. It was a good stop.
Then we moved onto Lutyens Delhi. This was very surprising as we hadn’t seen any of this yesterday and so to suddenly find ourselves in these wide avenues, with beautiful fountains and gardens and enormous official buildings was v strange. Nobody is allowed to park so it was also devoid of all the people elsewhere. India Gate is in this same area and is very impressive with an eternal flame for soldiers killed in the WW1 et al.
It may not seem it the way I am writing this but today’s tour was much more leisurely. So next stop Humayuns Tomb. We were too late to go here yesterday and it really was worth coming back. It is similar in style to the Taj Mahal but built in red sandstone and no minarets. The gardens and water features are particularly beautiful and presumably far less crowded than the Taj will be. It was quite exciting at one point when a load of soldiers and security guards flooded in to the building to check the place out it appeared that a famous film star was having a tour! Meanwhile I missed all this as I was making friends again with all the school children.
Last stop was the Lodi Gardens featuring a rather disappointing pond.
On to lunch which was a place Jane had found on Trip Advisor at Connaught Place. It is called Sarvana Bharvan and had huge queues outside waiting to taste it’s southern Indian cuisine. The queue moved fast and in we went. We ordered the recommended Thali and it was excellent food.
Connaught Place itself is a horrible place and I think we experienced our first scammers here as everyone seemed to want us to follow them away from the obvious shops to the big emporium. Hmm I didn’t like it and persuaded the others to get in a pair of tuk tuks and come back to the sanctuary of our hotel. Phew.
Tomorrow we fly to Varanasi ..so we’ll have to see what the Internet scenario is there.

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Honk Like Hell

Posted on November 2, 2012 by julieallen36

We arrived in Delhi after a great flight having enjoyed our upgrade to World Traveller Plus. What a bonus that was nice big seats and a small, exclusive cabin away from the riff raff behind the curtain! It was about 2.30 in the morning local time and when we walked out of the airport it was like arriving in a Bollywood movie. The main thing that hits you is the smog – it was just like we when we left Brum- only after a while your throat begins to burn slightly, your eyes go red and your teeth feel rather gritty. Nice.
Enjoyed the mad drive to the hotel through said smog and soon experienced what driving is going to be like in India. It literally is a free for all and we saw everything we expected including overloaded trucks, rickshaws with no lights, buses on the wrong side of the road and of course the obligatory cow. Still no accidents so that was good.
Had to get up this morning early as our guided tour of Delhi started at 9.30 so met up with the girls over breakfast. Our hotel here is called Hotel Jivitesh and its quite smart but in a noisy area – the honking started at about 6.30 I’d say….
Then we met up with our guide for the day Vik. He’s been brilliant all day and along with our driver has really looked after us. So what did we get up to? We started at the Jamid Masjid Mosque which can accommodate 25,000 people praying at once. But whilst we were there it was rather pleasant, quiet and peaceful although you could still hear the honkers outside. We were provided with some suitable attire whilst visiting which looked remarkably like your grannies, colourful nylon housecoat. V fetching.
Then we went on a crazy cycle rickshaw ride around Chandni Chowk. This is where the various markets are and is a maze of narrow alleys completely rammed with people, tuktuks, bicycles and other rickshaws. It was outstanding and impossible to take it all in. We then did a v small walk through the spice market part and here the thing that strikes you is the amount of ‘stuff’ being transported about the place.
After this we went to the Red Fort and it was here that we discovered that the tables had been turned. Normally, there we are trying to take photos of interesting looking people. Without them noticing. But this time we had Indian people slyly taking pics of us and then after a while they gave up on that and just started asking to have photos with us. Jane in particular had numerous babies and children thrust at her during the day.
Of course we learned lots of useful information during the day like how many concubines the 3rd Mohgul emperor had. I think he is the same chap who married his wife when she was 15 but sadly died in childbirth at the age of 32. By then she had had 17 children. Crikey.
We had a nice lunch – we’re sticking to vegetarian curry options and then finished off our day at the Qutb Mina. This is an impressive minaret (as Enid says ‘the leaning tower of Delhi’) and other Hindu and Muslim ruins. We ran out of time to do some other stuff so we’ve arranged another half day drive tomorrow.