Advertisement
Published: November 7th 2011
Edit Blog Post
My Lunch
This was actually part of row of stalls giving free food to the poor/homeless funded by local businesses. M – It’s a bit of an understatement to say that I have eaten a lot of curry in the last 4 weeks (2 weeks in Nepal and 2 in India) but even I couldn’t manage this pot of Dal on offer in Varanassi, see photo to the right. I was however tempted by a few poppadoms from the street sellers in Jaipur, see the next photo below. All I need now is an enormous Naan Bread from one of the Balti Houses in Birmingham (Mum – I think the Bombay Paradise has the best?).
Anyway, curry for breakfast, curry for lunch and then curry for dinner - it’s a tough life but someone’s gotta live it. Suffice to say my weight loss program is totally shot and I have put on all the weight I lost trekking in Nepal. With another 5 weeks in India and at least 2 weeks in Sri Lanka still to come I need to come up with a plan!
One thing I am struggling to get right though is the spiciness of the curries. Most of the time, even if you beg for your curry to be 'very spicy' it still comes out
pretty mild. I believe that this is because Northern Indian food isn’t that spicy and they aren’t used to serving very spicy food to westerners. As a result I have taken to asking for a bowl of green chilies to munch on with the curry which does the trick. Occasionally they do get it right though and it really hits the spot! Apparently Southern Indian food is much spicier – I can’t wait to get there!
In the last 2 weeks Kate has give me a great introduction to India and I am looking forward to seeing more. In addition to my endless diet of curry and the many, many temples we have visited my highlights so far have included:
-the endless Diwali fireworks in Delhi;
-the overnight sleeper train to Varanassi;
-a boat trip on the Ganges in Varanassi to see the famous Ghats where the locals pray, wash and cremate their dead in Varanassi;
-the amazing temples at Khajuraho and their the erotic sculptures;
-seeing a wild tiger up close in Ranthambore;
-riding an Elephant up to the huge Amber Fort in Jaipur;
-the cheering and screaming from the audience during the blockbuster Bollywood movie (Ra One)
that we saw at the art deco Raj Mandir theatre in Jaipur.
The most impressive of all though was the
Taj Mahal at Agra. It is truly breathtaking. Everyone says it is amazing and it lived up to its hype for me. The white marble seems to float above the gardens and the thousands of visitors. In the pictures it often looks like it has been photo shopped in. I think part of this is the minarets at each corner. These actually tilt outwards slightly but when viewed from a distance they actually look vertical and make the building look even larger. It seems at times as if the building is hanging from them. We have seen some fantastic temples and forts already in India but the Taj is something really special and worth its inclusion as one of the 7 wonders of the world.
Kate has already blogged on some of the topics above so I haven’t included photos on all of them but have added a few more photos that particularly appealed to me, as usual scroll down to enjoy.
Tomorrow we are off to Phuskar which is in the midst of hosting the annual
livestock sale. This event is an excuse for a festival as well and is the largest livestock sale in the world. Apparently the top sellers are Cows, Camels and Goats. I quite fancy owning a camel, so read my next blog to see if I am successful in my bid!
Scroll down to enjoy the photos.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.187s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0765s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb