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Published: April 8th 2006
Udaipur
The Lake Palace Hotel.It’s lovely being met at the airport. I am in India mainly for study, and the training centre has sent a driver to meet me at the airport.
I’m taken straight to the centre where I pay them their fees. They also hand me some train tickets to Rajasthan. I have two weeks before I actually start studying and had asked them if they could book these for me.
I dumped the things I’ll not need for the next 10 days and got a lift with the company driver to the Nizamuddin Railway Station. I was slightly alarmed when he didn’t know where it was, but with the aid of the rough city plan in my guidebook and asking everyone we saw, we managed to find the place in the end. I was also amazed when my driver parked up and insisted on seeing me onto the train. I would have managed on my own, but seemingly this is how things are done in India! Actually, it was quite helpful that he did help me to find the platform: there was no information to tell me.
Udaipur
I spent the night on a night train and arrived in
Udaipur safely and with nothing missing. I travelled Second Class A/C. Apparently, in non-A/C the bunks are stacked three high and you awake with someone sitting at the end of your bed.
Udaipur is famous for the lake palaces. These also featured in the James Bond film “
Octopussy”. In recent years the lake was very low and the tourists stayed away, but the last monsoon was a good one and the lake now looks lovely.
From what I later learned, Udaipur was a good place to start in India. While there is a certain amount of “hassle” for tourists, there is less than in other places. You also see fewer tourists around.
The town has a network of small streets, and it’s fairly pleasant to walk round. That first day, I visited the Jagdish Hindu temple and the City Palace.
Maybe I’ve been on the road for too long as I don’t feel the urge to get out and see things that I had in South America.
That evening, I went to the other (non-touristy) side of town for a Thali. This is like an all-you-can-eat buffet where they fill little pots with vegetarian dishes
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"Monsoon Palace" in background. and give you rice and puris. I couldn’t face the thought of the tourist restaurants, almost all of which have nightly Octopussy screenings.
I walked back through the maze of tiny streets. It took me ages! All the time, I was looking for an Internet café, yet didn’t find any until I got to the touristy part. This did surprise me as in Thailand and South America you find loads of locals wanting to get online. I’d heard India was an “IT Powerhouse” and as most people here obviously don’t have Internet access at home, supposed it would be the same here. Curious.
Even if Udaipur is not as bad as other places, you still get a lot of hassle. People constantly come up and ask you where you are from and then (sometimes) your name. It does get very tiring. Sometimes they are just (they think) being friendly, but more often they want to sell you something or beg. It’s not easy to tell. Sometimes you are inadvertently rude to people who otherwise are just being friendly. Often, they don’t even ask you properly: “What Country?” is something you’ll hear being said, turn around and realise that
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Building detail. someone is talking to you.
The other thing that strikes you in India is seeing cows on the streets. Hindus believe that in previous incarnations they lived virtuous lives as humans and so they get treated better than many of the people here, particularly those of lower caste.
I spent a freezing night in my room! Despite it being pretty hot during the day, it gets cold at night. My room is built for hot, not cold. I have marble floors and vents which do not close. I needed two blankets and three layers of clothes.
I had a plan to get up early and visit the Monsoon Palace but as an unnatural “morning person”, it was not to be. I mooched about most of the morning. Not in the mood to go out much, but have been trying to learn some Hindi words and phrases.
I wandered over the bridge and found a mosque. In the afternoon, I went on a boat trip to on the lake to the island of Jag Mandir. I was chatting to an English couple and asking them about the places I’d heard of outside of Udaipur when an American
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Jagdish Temple. guy (Mike) overheard me and asked if I’d be interested in sharing a taxi as he planned to go to the same places! We agreed to chum up.
On the side of the lake is a big hotel where Tony Blair and Manmohan Singh met recently. The tour guides were full of rumours that Chelsea Clinton was in residence at the time we were there.
Mike and I went for a drink overlooking the water. He’s a philosophy student at Columbia University, New York. We booked a taxi to take us tomorrow. In the booking office was an Israeli couple. The woman had been to Vang Vieng (in Laos) and thought it was great...
I got up at 7am for our 8am start. Could I get served a quick breakfast? No, it was not until 8:10 that I got to the taxi office after eating stale pastries and two slices of toast with peanut butter.
We travelled through some very pretty hills. We rounded a corner and there it was: a massive fort and a long wall stretching right across the horizon. Kumbulgargh Fort was amazing! I think my sense of amazement was helped by not
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Jagdish Temple. having seen any pictures of it before. We spent an hour and a half looking round with a guide.
Then, off to the Jain Temple at Ranakpur. We wanted to eat lunch before going in, so our driver took us to a buffet restaurant. I sat down and suddenly had flashbacks to a friend telling me about eating at a buffet somewhere near here and being sick afterwards. The name “Ranakpur” also sounded vaguely familiar. Oh well, it looked clean enough and I needed to eat. I stuck clear of the meat though.
The temple was magnificent! There were 1440 pillars, immaculately carved. The
Jain religion is yet another independent Indian religion. It has some shared roots with Hinduism, but is distinct. It used to be very widespread and influential in India’s history but there are now very few followers.
Inside, a security guard (without asking) gave me a whistle-stop “tour” (mainly in bad English which I did not understand), then took me into a corner and hustled me for cash. I very reluctantly handed him Rs20 (a sum I later knew was rather a lot) and the whole thing left me feeling really grubby. My mood
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Jagdish Temple. had changed from elation at this beautiful and holy place to a feeling of dirtiness. The guards were also charging Rs100 to go up onto the roof and we could see other tourists up there. Earlier, when I’d asked the guy his religion, he said he was a Hindu: so here he was, not even a Jain yet exploiting the temple. I know that this is a poor country and I suppose if I had to feed my family I may do the same, but it’s not right.
The security guards’ main job was to stop us taking photographs of the “idols”. These are statues of Adinath (Rishabha) one of the founders of the religion. I respected these wishes. The statues looked like seated Buddhas, but with big eyes made of some shiny material: very striking!
On the way back into Udaipur, we were in a minor RTA. A motorbike went into the back of the car and broke our numberplate. Driving in India is crazy! Everyone blares their horns and jostles each other. I can’t help feeling that if they drove more like in the UK, they would get to their destinations in the same time, just
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Jagdish Temple. with less stress and in one piece.
In the evening, we watched an hour long dance performance. Very impressive, especially the woman who carried 10 pots on her head!
By this point, I was feeling a bit rough: constipated to be precise. I sat on the loo for quite some time, but not much would shift: I felt really bloated. I thought I’d better eat something, so Mike and I went to my hotel restaurant and I ordered spaghetti (something nice and neutral). I couldn’t eat any of it! Besides, by this point, the “blockage” had been cleared and several trips to the loo followed. Later, I was sick but felt much better after that. I had to apologise to Mike for my lack of scintillating conversation.
A couple of Indians at the table next to us took pity on me and sent out for a couple of pills. The lady gave me her card and said if I was around the next day to give me a call.
I had planned to go to Ajmer the next day, but what with my “episode”, thought it would be better to wait another day before travel. Asma
Udaipur
Jagdish Temple. lives in the State of Gujarat, south of here and is a local councillor. She’s up here for a conference. We spent a pleasant afternoon together. It was nice to meet a local, even if the circumstance of our meeting were a bit bizarre.
Ajmer
The following day, I got a bus north to the town of Ajmer. Ajmer and Pushkar are right next to each other and I had planned to visit both. However, I already had onward train travel booked so had to choose between them. They are both important pilgrimage centres: Pushkar for Hindus and Ajmer for Muslims. Pushkar is also a known place on the tourist trail and I had heard mixed reviews. So I decided to stay in Ajmer (much to the bemusement of the rickshaw-wallahs).
The bus dropped us off at the outskirts of town. I wasn’t sure where I was as my guidebook had suggested I was nearer the centre. I’d been surprised at the standard of English spoken in India. I thought it would be a lot higher than it is, but it seems it’s only the educated people who speak it well. I’d been spending the journey trying to
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School Kids. memorise Hindi phrases and asking “kitna duur” (how far) helped resolve the ambiguities caused by hearing “yes” as the answer to every question.
Of course, the rickshaw-wallah wanted to take me to a hotel of his choice, but I insisted on one I saw in my guidebook. I had to wait 20 minutes to check in: in India, you have to fill in a comical amount of information to stay in a hotel. They need to see your passport, visa (with all applicable dates and places of issue in both), when you arrived in India, when you will leave, where you’ve just come from and where you will go next, and full home address. This is similar to other countries, but they do enforce it more enthusiastically here. The fact that the immigration officer, when I arrived in Delhi, smudged the stamp so you can’t read the date properly has caused me a bit of difficulty.
I’m staying in an Indian hotel, not one for tourists. This has an interesting distinction of a 24 hour check-out policy. If you arrive at 6pm, you do not have to leave until 6pm on the day of departure.
On the
subject of IT in India (which is obviously of interest to me), I read today an
article in India Times (quoting the
New York Times) which focussed on the Gujarati town of Surat. Apparently diamond-cutting employs almost half as many people in that one city than India’s whole IT industry. And it benefits more than just an educated elite.
I spent the next morning looking around Ajmer. First, I spent a lot of time getting lost in the maze of bazaars. They very rarely put street signs in this country so it is often guesswork.
I visited a Jain temple where they had this amazing set of models in an adjoining hall. It’s made of 1000kg of gold and shows the life of Adinath. It was amazing: flying swans and peacocks carrying people: I’ve not seen anything quite like it before.
Ajmer is the home of the holiest muslim shrine in India: the Khwaja Muid-ud-din Chishti Dargah. Chishti (aka Khwaja Sahib) was an Afghan who came to India with the invading Afghan armies in the 13th Century. He spread Islam but also preached on the fundamental unity of religions. This bridging of faiths makes him important for all Indians and
Udaipur
Hindu shrine. he is widely admired.
I’d seen no other westerners that day. I arrived at the mosque, took my shoes off and wandered in rather sheepishly. Lots of “Asalaam alequm”s helped to break the ice and I didn’t really feel out of place being the only gora and (possibly) only non-Muslim. It was quite a sprawling complex with several gates and these giant cauldrons you were supposed to put money in. Some Indian tourists wanted to take pictures with me, so it took a while to get around.
As I entered the tomb, I was expected to give a donation (not exactly sure what to but the book was signed only by westerners). I went into the tomb but didn’t really get to see it. I was immediately beckoned by a Khadim who put a cloth over my head and said some prayer. He brushed me with a peacock feather and gave me some petals which I had to put in my mouth. I was then expected to give him 21, 51 or something “1” rupees (which I assume went to him) and the next thing I knew I was bundled out. Funnily enough, none of the Indians were
Udaipur
City detail. given this kind of express treatment.
After this, I went to a ruined mosque up the hill. It featured some amazing calligraphy and was built from plundered Hindu and Jain temples.
In India, if you are a westerner, you find people at the entrances of temples who even before you get there demand you take off your shoes (as if you didn’t know that’s what you did), then expects money for “looking after” them. At this point I was getting a little tired of all this baksheesh stuff: they don’t really have it in Thailand.
Jaipur
That afternoon, I got a train to Jaipur. I hadn’t sorted hotels out before arrival and opted to let my rickshaw wallah (Mukes) take me to whatever one he got commission from: I didn’t have the energy to negotiate. I stayed in an Indian hotel in the Bani Park area of town. I had a room with a TV near the station. My rickshaw-wallah proposed to take me on a tour of the town tomorrow. I accepted: it must be Christmas for him!
In the evening, I watched the kites being flown (there’s a Hindu kite festival on at the
Udaipur
City Palace. moment) and flopped in front of the TV. I watched “
Back to the Future” - one of my favourite films!)
The “Pink City” of Jaipur is the main city of Rajasthan, founded in 1727 by Jai Singh II. The next morning, Mukes met me. First, we went to the Hawa Mahal. This is where women could watch street processions while remaining in purdah. It was more impressive from the outside than inside. Then, to the City Palace and Museum. It has the two largest single crafted silver objects in the world: two cauldrons the Maharaja used to carry Ganges water on a trip to the UK because he didn’t trust our water.
Then, I went to
Jantar Mantar. I first heard of this last year on
Dan Cruikshank’s “80 Treasures”. The maharaja Jai Singh was a keen astronomer and built this amazing observatory. I hired a guide to show me how they all worked. They include the world’s largest sundial: Pretty cool!
I was surprised and pleased to see how many Indian tourists there were. In South America you saw very few locals discovering their own places.
In the afternoon, we went outside the town to Gaitor. Here are the tombs of many
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Amazing 3D peacock mosaic in City Palace. of the rulers of Jaipur.
Then, I was taken to the inevitable “textile exporter”. I actually did buy some stuff as I hate shopping and this was relatively painless. Finally, I visited the not-so-interesting museum.
I arranged a second day with Mukes and chilled for the evening.
The next morning, Mukes had sent another driver. Presumably, I had not bought enough textiles or not tipped (I was going to do so on the second day). Anyway, the new driver’s rickshaw was smaller and you could smell its exhaust more than Mukes’s (who had some kind of “clean air” sticker).
We went out of town to Amber. I walked up the hill to Amber Palace and went in. I didn’t hire a guide as I was fed up of all the hustling. The palace is a big place with lots of little passages and is easy to get lost. It’s strange going around a place without knowing much about it, but fun all the same.
Now, I had arranged to go to “Amber Palace and Amber Fort”. Amber Fort (also known as Jaigarh) is on the hill above the palace and can be reached by a
Udaipur
Monkeys on the rooftops. road. However, my driver took me back to Jaipur and, reminding me that I’d visited a textile place yesterday, tried to persuade me to go to a “stone emporium”. When I asked him about Amber Fort, he feigned innocence and said that the fort was the same as the palace and he’d charge me extra to take me to “Amber Fort” as it was up a hill. Hustled again! The extra amount he’d charge is not actually that much but I don’t like to be taken advantage of. As I wanted to make the most of my day, I had to pay up to go to the fort.
The fort is massive, but doesn’t have much in it (except the largest cannon in Asia). There, a ticket inspector proceeded to slowly tear my ticket (which included a souvenir postcard) up into several pieces. When I complained, he told me “it’s alright”. Man, this is a weird country! Later, I walked past some tiny temple and without really thinking, went in (taking my shoes off naturally). Of course, I had then agreed to a “tour” and for the next 20 seconds, an Indian man rattled off lots of information in
Udaipur
Sunset over the lake. unintelligible English then handed me some rice crispies “for good luck” which I was obliged to eat (I don’t know how clean his hands were). He then stood there with that “give me a tip” look and I gave him just Rs2. He looked disappointed and so he should!
A little later, another Indian started to give me an impromptu “tour” of the foundry. When I told him I wasn’t interested - “oh not tour, only tip: 20-30Rs”. I told him I was fed up with all this baksheesh and he went away.
Back in Jaipur, I asked my driver to take me to the Raj Mandir cinema which I’d heard was quite interesting. He seemed surprised I wanted to see a film in Hindi. I arrived just in time for the main feature. A Korean guy (who surprisingly enough was called “Kim”) bought a ticket and came in with me.
The film was called “Friends Forever” and I watched the first half. It featured middle-class Indians leading a glamorous lifestyle with planes and fast cars and bikes. There was lots of cheesy acting and melodrama and I was surprised how much English was spoken. It was not
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Amabassadors and auto-rickshaws. just the odd word but whole phrases and even several lines of conversation. It certainly made it easier to understand what was going on. The singing of the two main male characters about being “great mates” had a curiously homo-erotic feel to it. I was reminded of the
Batman and Robin TV series. During the film, the audience chatted away and freely used mobile phones.
Kim came with me to Naigargh Fort: the last place on the tour. We had to walk up a steep slope and watched the late evening light and got a great view of Jaipur.
The next day, even though I had almost the whole day in Jaipur, I decided to stay in my hotel. There is a regular power cut between 8-10 every day here and numerous unscheduled ones. This is a country that has nuclear weapons and can put its own satellites into space, yet can’t provide reliable power to its people.
I spent a lot of time trying to learn some Hindi: just memorising some key words and phases from my guidebook. As a tourist, you don’t need to know any Hindi as English is spoken all over: but it’s not always
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City Palace in background. spoken very well. I feel I got a bit more out of my trip from being able to recognise and use a few words. Besides, Hindi (even excluding Urdu to which it is practically the same language) is the
second most widely spoken in the world (by native speakers). Also, back home I have a lot of friends of Hindustani extraction who like to pepper their English conversation with Hindustani words and I’d like to understand what they’re saying. Another reason is that I like Indian food. And lastly, India is going to become more influential on the World stage so its languages are going to spread and I reckon there will be extra use in knowing a little bit of Hindi.
Then I had a six hour train journey to Agra. It was quite tiring. Indian people do not have a concept of it being rude to have loud conversations (with each other or on mobiles); to play music loudly or even that it may be a bit rude to watch a video of some conference on your laptop at loud volume.
Agra
People had told me that Agra would be tough on travellers and they were not wrong!
First, there was
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Posh hotel where (according to the word amongst tour-guides...) Chelsea Clinton stayed during my visit... lots of hard bargaining with a rickshaw-wallah over price and then I had to insist on going to the hotel of my choice. He then gave me lots of hints about India being a poor country and then followed me into the hotel and hung around trying to get me to agree to sign up for a day’s touring with him tomorrow. I feel dreadfully sorry for him and I’m sure I’d do the same if lots of rich Asians came to my impoverished country and if I had to scrape a living, but I can’t help that and I honestly didn’t have any definite plans for tomorrow and didn’t want to restrict myself.
My hotel is in the “exclusion zone”. Motor traffic is banned from 500m around the Taj Mahal and it is unusually quiet for India. I only had the noise of dogs barking and the mosque (200m away) at 5am.
The next morning, I got up at 6am and visited the Taj Mahal, only a very short walk away.
I wasn’t allowed to bring in my penknife, torch or (bizarrely!) currency converter (I think the guard may have thought it was a mobile phone
Udaipur
Sitar players, with Lake Palace Hotel in background. but I didn’t want to ask). More baksheesh was required despite paying a whopping 750Rs to get in (locals only have to pay 20Rs).
But the Taj didn’t disappoint. I spent about five hours there in all (6:30 - 11:30) and took lots of photographs in different light. I had to leave in the end as I’d run out of water and was not allowed to bring in food. The Taj has to be seen to be believed. The way the light plays on this superbly proportioned and beautifully constructed building is amazing. Photographs do not do it justice.
I read some intriguing stuff in my guidebook about the “hidden meaning” of the Taj Mahal and inevitably found some very outlandish stuff on the Internet...
On exiting, I had to run the gauntlet of rickshaw-, postcard- and marble-wallahs on my very short journey back to the hotel.
I was coming down with a cold, so took it easy the rest of the day. I had a wander down to the river where you get a free view of the Taj and saw armed soldiers on the walls, outside and on the monument itself. Apparently, the monument
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Amazing party trick! had been closed and tourists already in there had been booted out for some VIP. I didn’t find out who this supposed “VIP” was, but wonder if it was Irish PM Bertie Ahern - who, according to the Times of India was in Delhi the previous day. Anyway, I wouldn’t have been able to have stayed in all day (as was my vague plan) even if I did have water.
The next day, I was feeling a bit weak with a cold but was determined to go out to see the abandoned city of Fatepur Sikri. I took a cycle rickshaw to the bus station and was slightly alarmed at how pleased my cyclist was with the 2Rs tip I gave him. It’s not a great deal of money to me.
Touts can be very persistent in India. As I approached the mosque, a guy latched himself onto me and I couldn’t get rid of him. When I told him I didn’t want a guide, he said “oh, just want to practice my English”. He showed me around the mosque and it was quite interesting to have a guide. But, of course, he wanted to take me to
his “group’s” stall outside, selling carved marble items. In the end, I bought a carved elephant, with another elephant inside. I certainly felt pressured to buy what indeed would be a “White Elephant” for me. However, I was struck by their tenacity and realised how desperately poor these people were to sell something that so obviously had had so much of work and skill put into it. I found out later that the price I paid them (300Rs - about GBP4, which even I thought was ridiculously low) was less than I would have paid in a fancy boutique in Delhi. I feel happy that my money went directly to the maker and know that they would have been able to do a lot with that money. As I left, the tout offered me anything I wanted from the stall (including some very large and beautiful items) for my (empty!) wallet, which he fancied. That was just too weird for me and I left!
In the same mosque, young boys tried to sell me handmade pocket wooden chess sets. When it was clear you were not interested, they were prepared to drop the price to just 5Rs. I can
Kumbalgarh
Dramatic fort! see how the Indian middle-class is going to get rich very quickly when they have this massive pool of desperately poor, but industrious labour all around them.
Fatepur Sikri was really interesting. It was a shame I didn’t have the energy to appreciate it due to my cold.
It was designed to be the new capital of the Moghul Empire (after Agra). After being built, they discovered that the water supply was inadequate and it was abandoned. It is incredibly well preserved and has loads of interesting nooks and crannies.
Back in Agra, on my final day, I was feeling a bit better. I got the same cycle rickshaw as yesterday to Agra Fort.
I was set off on a bad footing straight away. As in most places here, they charge foreigners many times more than locals: 300Rs instead of 20Rs. That day, it all got to me! I know that Westerners are richer than locals but the authorities need to be careful not to alienate tourists - we don’t like being made to feel we’re being tapped for cash everywhere.
Actually, Agra Fort reminded me very much of
Edinburgh Castle and my mind started comparing
the two. Both are World Heritage listed, important fortifications that are still partly occupied by the military. Admission to Edinburgh costs GBP10.30. Agra Fort’s GBP4 is comparable if you consider that Edinburgh has to pay Western wages. There, you get a free plan; can hire an audio guide; there are numerous informative exhibits; occasional free tours; most of the site is open; and best of all: you get free use of the toilets!
If you’re going to charge Western prices, people will expect Western standards. I heard that Jodhpur Fort provides a little extra for the tourists paying larger charges. I don’t mind paying a little extra so that locals can still afford to visit their own heritage, but not 15 times more and I don’t want to constantly feel like I’m a cash cow. The argument goes that this brings funds for the upkeep of the monuments: from what I hear about corruption in Uttar Pradesh, I do wonder where my money is going. I think it’s possible to tap tourists for cash more creatively: India could learn something from New Zealand.
Anyway, Agra Fort was all well and good but my mind wasn’t really on it.
I growled at a tour guide offering only 50Rs for a tour. Wish now, I’d taken him up on the offer...
After this, I visited the Jami Masjid (Friday Mosque). Again, I was the only tourist there and quickly approached by a “caretaker” asking for a donation.
Lastly, I went to Itmad-ud-Daulah, a Moghul tomb the rickshaw-wallahs call the “Baby Taj” (thought it’s actually much older): very pretty. Then, on to a ruined Persian tomb further up the river. Inevitably, there was a random guy willing to give me an “unofficial tour” and let me see inside; but I declined.
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Anna
non-member comment
the wonders of indian toilets...
Hmmm... I'm all for squat toilets.. got pretty used to them when I lived in India, but that thing? Fancy squatting on something you had to climb onto!!!