Maharajah Strongie

Now it is time for me to see the real India. The Just so India that I am looking for...
The group has split up and gone separate ways....
I am about to go out of Bani Park by myself for the first time... and don't think park as in the English sense of it; no green trees, no grass... just Indian residential area... and I am walking to the train station and tuk-tuking into the old town. Packed lunch and flask in bag.

My transfer is confirmed from Amaid Hotel to here at Shapurah.
And the generous, wonderful nature of the Indian people.... I have been offered and accepted and upgrade to the Maharajah suite.  Two balconies; four poster bed, luxury drapes, mahogany furniture..
Namaste everyone.

Another day another Fort

Another day another fort; this time it is the Amber Fort just outside Jaipur. Not that I am getting forted out; this one is just wonderful and different because it is the largest of three that are perched on top of hills overlooking the town.  A train of at least 50 elephants transport people from the bottom of the hill to the fort, they arrive with a band playing. The elephants are beautiful and magnificent and it must be a wonderful experience but I do not approve, it seems like exploitation to me...Explore WW do not approve, we came up by a convoy of jeeps... bumpy ride!
The touts are such a menace.  They pounce on you and do not let go; I showed just the slightest interest in an embroidered t-shirt, was told the price 600 rupees (7.50) I said no; he said how much you pay I said 200 he then followed my for hundreds of yards going lower and lower in price I kept saying no. Their terrier-like insistence is awful. It is like that at every major tourist attraction here...

You'd think India was incredibly cheap to holiday in. It is not. Restaurants are just as expensive here as in England. At lunch today (ok; it was in a palace) I had toasted sandwich with a masala filling and cheese with a can of diet coke and was charged 580 rupees (about 8 pounds); that is typical.  A bottle of wine here in the hotel at dinner costs 3000 rupees (35 pounds+)
But a tuk-tuk half hour ride will cost you a pound. If you can bear the traffic...

I have mentioned how crazy roads are here. Indian driving regulations are strange. On the way back today our driver tried to turn right at a no-right turn... we were promptly boarded by a traffic policeman who clouted him around the head a few times, a little fight ensued, lots of arguing; the driver had his keys confiscated and was arrested... we had to get tuk-tuks back to the hotel.

Me in Jaipur Royal Palace

The colours of the sari's are just gorgeous

Elephant parade in Amber Fort, Jaipur

Amber Fort in distance, snake charmer at front

On the road to Jaipur

I am now in Rasthajan; our hotel is even better than the last one, my jaw just dropped open when I saw my enormous room; mahogany furniture, light blue voile drapes, ornate lamps, stain glassed windows and marble floor...   pah! No probs.

We went to Fatehpur Sikri on the way here. Deserted hundreds of years ago by the Mughal Emperor Akbar (they are not sure why, maybe through lack of water) it was rediscovered and perfectly preserved with the help of Viceroy Curzon in Victorian days. The walled city is virtually as it was when it was the capital city of Rasthanjan. Made of red sandstone and spread out over many acres.... but it is not a fort. It is now an very eerie, very empty shell of what was once  a magnificent residence and palace and must have heaved with court life well  before our Henry VIII was alive.  The history here is so different, so eye-opening.

Driving (again on toll road) is noisy and interesting. Anuj told us "only three things you must have on roads in India: good brakes, good horn and good luck!" There seem to be few rules, overtake anywhere, weave in and out. Pedestrians cross the roads (as we have learned to do) by just walking out and expecting cars to stop. Our driver constantly sounds his musical claxen/horn as we go along, few of the big lorries have adequate rear view mirrors apparently. It is noisy fun!! We had to stop and make way for an elephant crossing today...
The agricultural scenery has not changed. The industrious nature of ordinary Indian life is everywhere.

I have just had a coffee delivered on tray by a moustached gentleman in traditional raj servant dress. Oh, I could get used to this...

Red fort Agra

There is the story of Mughal emperor Shah Yahan who lost his beloved wife Mumtaz at the birth of their eighteenth child who built the Taj Mahal in her memory. So romantic.  But... it took 22 years to finish (20,000 labourers) and in the meantime he went and married Mumtaz' sister, then he was overthrown by his own son and locked away in prison for the rest of his life.
I went to see his prison today. Don't think a dark, dirty cell... think Minas Tirith.

The Red Fort in Agra. Built nearly 500 years ago it is still magnificent and huge. Deep rusty red sandstone with great murky, hazy polluted distant views of the Taj.
Fabulous carvings, exotic gardens (no flowers) and a myriad of chambers and court rooms. Complex and virtually unchanged in hundreds of years, We went round and round, through gates and ramps and past courtyards; deliberately built to make siege impossible and the emperors safe, we eventually came to the inner sanctum which was all in white and built to house the court and the emperors harem. This was where Shah Yahan was imprisoned.
Unlike any historic building I have seen. Nothing like Warwick Castle, Hampton Court or the Tower of London. More Minis Tirith.  With the river Yamuna running along one side.  Sublime.

We went then to see the Baby Taj, Further along the banks of the Yamuna. Again, super stuff.

Had hot spicy lunch (hot, spicy vegetable patties with my breakfast) and still my tummy holds out... oh yes!!  What's for dinner?

Saw Indian carpets being made this afternoon. Fascinating. But very expensive.
Then saw marble inlay tablets being made. Gorgeous. But also costly.

And tomorrow, the last leg of our Explore, we have an early start and a journey to Jaipur. I really feel I have arrived now and settled into routine. But I am also aware that my new Explore friends are going to be leaving me alone in a couple of days.... gulp!!

I have pictures at last!!

The chaos in Old Delhi

Me wearing my Indian shirt

The inner sanctum Red Fort

Outer of Red Fort

Panic and jet lag

18th October

Panic and jet lag set in last night.
Worrying about money and logistics and arachnids.
I did not sleep til daylight; was even listening to music on my mp3 at 4am. Just couldn't sleep.
Four out of our 13 have been ill...  Bad night me.
But I zonked out with the sun and got two hours and managed to get up, get breakfast and checked out on time.

Four hour mini-bus journey Delhi to Agra....
was wonderful. But I didn't doze once..why??

The two hundred mile journey was on a new toll motorway through verdant agricultural land. So reminiscent of China. People working in the fields everywhere, the crops are just being harvested. Every corner is cultivated for as far as the eye can see. Peasants, villages and farms feeding the country.  India works so hard and I am again very impressed. This may be third world but surely not for much longer.

Upon arrival at Agra we went straight to the Taj. Moving, beautiful, wonderful. Probably the most iconic building in the world and it did not disappoint.
The monument and grounds/park heaved with people almost all Indian/Asian; we stood out. And four times I was asked to pose and join in a selfie/photograph - simply because of my pale skin and blue eyes. Our whole party had a similar experience... Indians are lovely, happy, gentle, welcoming people.

Feeling so much better now. We had dinner at 8pm.. shame about the singer behind us, he entertained us (we were charged 7% for the pleasure) with Indian songs with so much reverb and echo it seemed to shake the floor.  The billing is interesting: you get a price for the dish.. then you have to add VAT, then local tax, service tax then add swachh bharat and krishi kalan and your meal goes from 975 rupees to 1248.  The pound value has hit us hard, everything is so much more expensive now than six months ago apparently. My simple goulash and rice tonight cost me, with a local beer over 20 pounds.

Money worries have sorted themselves out; my debit cards have been unblocked and I can at last get money.
And the room is spacious and luxurious... now for a decent night's sleep.

Happy me... oh yes, indeed.

Monday 17th - Old Delhi

Extraordinary day. Anuj (our tour leader) said it would be the one day we all will remember and I feel he is right.
We caught the metro train from Patel Chowk to Chawdri Bazaar and then had a cycle-rickshaw ride into old Delhi. Have never had a ride or a taxi like it. Bedlam. A wonderful mix of smells, continuous cacophony of beeping horns and perpetually swerving to avoid tooktooks, buses, cycles, lorries and people. we all loved it.

The we had a peaceful walk barefooted inside Jami Masjid mosque. Then outside to the teeming narrow streets. I have never known such a heaving buzz of humanity, constant pushing, shoving and squeezing along smelly, narrow streets and a million shops, a pandemonium of colour. All at 30+ centigrade. I loved it all. Indian people are so busy, so enthusiastic, so industrious; yes, there is poverty and squalor, but they are so working their way out of it.
We walked for what seemed like hours, through spice markets until our noses ran and everybody was sneezing, past stalls, little shops.

Managed a stop together for a street lunch of curry then went on to overlook the red fort and a huge sikh temple from a distance and then a 40 minute tooktook back to the hotel which cost only 1 pound (this keyboard does not have a pound sign)  Again it was joyous chaos.

We saw only a few begging. But our tour leader told us to ignore them, as he did.  Did not see anything which upset us.

We saw lots of stray dogs but they are all docile and abject. Not a problem.

We were humourously accosted by some schoolchildren who wanted to know all about us but were not asking for baksheesh, we were just a bit of irritating sport fun for them. Yes there were people pushing us aside but there were equally people saying 'welcome to India''

Awesome day. I like India.