Smidge of Thailand and North India


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Asia » India » Rajasthan
November 16th 2011
Published: November 17th 2011
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Thai copThai copThai cop

The sign says that unlike Superman, Thai cops never sleep.
We arrived in Bangkok as the flood waters we’re bearing down on it. The day before we left, the street a block closer to the river from us filled with up to a foot of water, depending on the tide, yet we remained dry unlike many. The Thai people are incredibly positive even in the face of adversity. On the local news, people were towing their family and pets on blow up pool rafts down the flooded streets, beaming big smiles and laughing because of all the camera attention. Vendors manned their food stalls despite standing in water above their knees. The show must go on. No drama or hysterics, this is just what we have to do today. What a wonderful bunch of folks! Quite a dichotomy from what we were to experience in Delhi.

Conjure a picture in your mind of what India is like based on any news reports or movies you’ve seen like Slumdog Millionaire – the mounds of trash, pollution, ramshackle buildings, insane traffic. In real life it’s all that and more because your TV doesn’t come with smell-o-vision. And thank your lucky stars for that because if it did, you’d smell the acrid stench of burning rubbish, urine, and cow poop during the entire broadcast. We drove over a river in Delhi and, kid you not, it smelled like an open sewer. Many hotels have rooftop restaurants and I think the main reason for this is not just the panoramic views but mostly to allow their guests a chance to partially escape the chronic stench. But we were already prepared for the grotty factor. What we didn’t expect was something like this…

We got off the plane and bought a prepaid taxi ticket to our hotel at 11:30pm. After about 45 minutes in the taxi, our driver starts asking what block number the hotel is on as the street address isn’t sufficient - Main Bazaar has many side streets all with the same name. We tell him there’s no block number listed in our guide book and he says we can stop somewhere and call the hotel. We stop at a tourist info service which is surprisingly open after midnight. The very nice, helpful guy there calls the hotel and hands the phone to me. I speak to this guy who says that a large group came in and our reservation has been
Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya

A wealthy businessman has paid for the construction of this amazing temple constructed entirely of different of different types of wood. It's over 100 feet tall and has over 100 woodcarvers on permanent staff.
canceled. The nice, helpful guy then starts calling other hotels listed in our Lonely Planet and either hands the phone to me or talks to them himself. Everyone’s either full or only has rooms for exorbitant amounts of money. After approximately 30 minutes of this he starts to tell us that because of the Diwali festival of lights, all the hotels are full and we should just plan on leaving town – hire a car and driver to take us to see the major sights in nearby Rajastan Province. I’m thinking this is probably a scam but the price he quotes is only $62 a day and he’s going to write down everything on the invoice so we have proof of what was promised. If the rest of our trip is going to be like this, maybe we should go this route, get scammed once instead of over and over. At least it’s not expensive.

We stepped aside and discussed it. Toby said, “Let’s go back to the airport and get on the first plane to Bali.” He, he. We told the guy we decided to go back to the airport and he said, “They won’t let you into
Chinese wingChinese wingChinese wing

There are four wings to this temple. This one, the Chinese wing, is currently being repaired/improved. Because this is made of wood and right next to the ocean, it's continually being eroded by nature. Once they finish refurbing and adding new details to one of the four wings, they move onto the next wing.
the airport unless you already have a plane ticket. Let me call for you.” Jeez dude, how far are you going to take this thing? We head out the door and a Japanese guy getting the same shake down at another desk says, “Wait! What’s your plan?” Poor guy. I say that we’re going back to the airport and one of the scumbags chimes in that we’re catching a flight - can’t let lack of success with us quash another possible swindle. We walk out to the taxi and I tell the guy to either take us to our hotel or back to the airport. He drives us to a street and points to the train station as a point of reference which is on our Lonely Planet and says that the road is closed to traffic so we’ll have to walk to our hotel. Crap.

We start walking and immediately see cars coming down the road. The bastard made us walk 8 blocks at 1am to punish us for not falling for their scam. The store fronts are all covered by roll down doors, the buildings look like Beirut circa 1970s, there’s trash and debris everywhere and random touts pop out of the shadows suggesting we go to hotels where they’ll earn a commission. We get to our hotel and it needs not just a lick of paint but a complete strip down and rebuild. Thankfully, the room wasn’t as bad as the lobby and corridors loaded with dust, crumbling plaster and trash.

We got up after only 4-5 hours of sleep and moved to another hotel with marble floors and a decent bathroom for quite a bit more money but it was well worth it. We needed an enclave to escape to. We showered and headed out to find the government run tour agency but a rickshaw dropped us at a fake government tourist agency. As soon as we started to get the “you should hire a car and driver because the buses and trains are not reliable” story I asked for his credentials and he didn’t have any. There was no shortage of friendly people who fell into step with us to ask us where we were going and tell us where the “real” government tourist agency though they were all in cahoots with scads of fake tourist offices.

We did finally find the
If you ever find yourself in Thailand,If you ever find yourself in Thailand,If you ever find yourself in Thailand,

this is something you don't want to miss! I think it's my favorite temple in the country.
real office and booked a day tour to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We left early in the morning for the 4 hour trip on a decent bus with 6 other people, all middle class Indians. They were friendly folks who spoke fluent English. En route I told Toby, “thank goodness we’re on this bus and not one of those” as I pointed to a standard one that’s got sky blue seats covered in grime. Little did I know we’d end up on one of those before the day was out.

We got to the Taj Mahal and it’s even more ethereal in real life than in pictures. It’s a whisper of symmetry and soft feminine curves caste in marble against a romantically hazy white sky. As it was a weekend, the monument to love was crowded with mostly Indian tourists. We waited in a long, snaking line to get inside though the only a couple of inlaid marble tombs lay within. But the waiting was interesting as there were loads of incredibly beautiful women there. I don’t know why there were so many in this particular place. We haven’t seen so many since but every few days
And they say that Barbie has an unrealistic figureAnd they say that Barbie has an unrealistic figureAnd they say that Barbie has an unrealistic figure

A lot in the trunk and a little in the middle.
you do see a woman, sometimes a man, who is stunningly good looking. We’re talking, WOW!, head turner, movie star gorgeous.

On the way back from Agra, within only 50 kilometers of Delhi, I heard tires squealing even louder than usual in the circus they call traffic here. Everyone was asleep but I was mostly awake and opened my eyes to see a vehicle dart out from behind a truck to our right and fly across the road in front of us. We slammed into it and I watched the windshield shatter into thousands of tiny shards of reflective ice tinkling down on the dash and driver. Thankfully there was another pane of glass between the driver and passengers which remained intact. We scraped along some trucks parked on the side of the road then came to a halt. Everyone was excitedly asking each other, “Are you okay?” Thankfully everyone was fine except for some bruised knees and jangled nerves. Our fellow travelers declared, “God saved us!” As passengers, I didn’t feel that we were in that much peril but our driver was definitely lucky. Right after the accident he struggled to extricate himself from his seat. We examined the damage and the bottom of the steering wheel had been pushed smack into middle of the driver’s seat. Glass was everywhere. It’s hard to believe that the guy walked away without broken bones or lacerations.

We waited for about half an hour for another bus to be sent for us but eventually our fellow tourists flagged down a bus and we found a few grimy sky blue seats to take us the rest of the way to Delhi. One tourist, probably in his late 20s, and his mother were kind enough to drive us from the tourist office (the real one) to our hotel at 12:30 in the morning. I tried to give him the money we would have paid a rickshaw but he refused to accept it saying, “No, I can’t take that. We’re friends now.” How nice was that? Wherever we’ve gone on this planet, there have been good guys who balance out the bad guys.

We left Delhi the next day for a couple of weeks exploring the state of Rajastan where some of India’s most impressive sites are to be found. We reached Pushkar in time for the annual camel fair. Hundreds of people travel from all over the state to this small town to show off their prize camels. They comb their hump-top tufts like beauty queens, trim their hair into patterns, and decorate them with brightly colored harnesses and adornments. They raced them along a gully through the middle of their campgrounds scattered with tents to show them off.

The city of Udaipur is built around a manmade lake constructed ages ago. James Bond fans would recognize the white palace cum posh hotel in the middle of the lake where part of Octopussy was filmed. There’s also a fairy tale city palace with carved stone balconies, checkered floors of black and white marble, and royal rooms with walls and ceilings covered with ornate mirror, tile and painted designs.

Jodhpur, the town where the famous pants were first tailored based on local fashions, is also known as the blue city. Brahmins originally painted their houses blue but others joined the club perhaps because it was believed that blue repelled mosquitoes. I have no idea if that’s true but I don’t think there are many mossies in this dry part of the country anyway. There’s a huge medieval stone fort on a natural rock precipice overlooking the city which is incredibly impressive and has a great audio tour which explains all kinds of interesting history. For example, the small handprints on the wall next to a gate are those of one majarajah’s wives who threw themselves on his pyre.

Thankfully, the further we got from Delhi the fewer the hassles we encountered. I wouldn’t say that the people in this part of India are generally big on smiling except for the kids who love to smile and wave or practice speaking a little English with you. One nice surprise is that we haven’t seen people starving nor children maimed in order to make them more successful beggars. And another big surprise is that despite having a billion people there is a large amount of wildlife here, especially birds: peacocks, parrots, kingfishers, hawks, monkeys, and the place is bursting at the seams with pigeons and tiny chipmunks. The street dogs look much healthier than they do in Bali. Of course there are cows galore running loose. Which reminds me that the food here is to die for and veg heaven. Carnivores would go hungry though as there wasn’t a single meat option on the menu in several towns we visited. Often times not even eggs!

I’m so glad we didn’t call it quits in Delhi as a couple of days ago we had one of the most memorable moments of our lives. I won’t spoil it by describing what it was but will let a few pictures at the end of this blog tell the story. Let’s just say, that if we had grandkids (which we never will!) they would be spellbound by the story. It would be like hearing my grandmother tell of the horse and buggy days but much more tragic.


Additional photos below
Photos: 50, Displayed: 30


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Shah Jahan's prisonShah Jahan's prison
Shah Jahan's prison

The man who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his most beloved wife who died giving birth to her 14th child was imprisoned here by his son for the last several years of his life. His son said that he had wasted the treasury on this building and I really have to agree with his sentiment. The only thing we can say now is thankfully the citizens who paid for this wasteful but beautiful mausoleum died more than 400 years ago and the rest of us get to enjoy it now.
Indian ring necked parrotIndian ring necked parrot
Indian ring necked parrot

There are thousands of these flying around here.
Bus accidentBus accident
Bus accident

Can't believe the driver escaped injury.
Pushkar camel fairPushkar camel fair
Pushkar camel fair

Looks more like Arabia than India, doesn't it?
Carrying waterCarrying water
Carrying water

Life without plumbing.
GypsiesGypsies
Gypsies

The gypsies of Europe originated in India and when I saw these girls I immediately thought "gypsies." They approached for pictures and started painting our hands with henna - gratuity expected of course. Indian girls and women will not typically approach us unless it's for a short chat and they don't wear this much makeup.
Camel rideCamel ride
Camel ride

Had to do it. If feels much like riding a horse but without all the clippety-clop and you're much higher off the ground. And sitting astride while the camel goes from kneeling to standing and vice versa is interesting.


17th November 2011

Visiting Tajmahal Wow..
Great to be there at taj mahal. beautiful experience.
17th November 2011
Resting in the road

Wow! Just wow.
A classmate of mine is getting laid off at Seagate because of the floods in Thailand destroyed their facilities there and all of their hard drives! Prices here are for hard drives are skyrocketing. Toyota got hit hard, too. Global centralized manufacturing: Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket. Awesome travel blog. We're looking forward to you next adventure.
17th November 2011

SMIDGE OF THAILAND
LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE NOT ENJOYING YOURSELF SO YOU BETTER START HOME NOW. DON & DORIS
17th November 2011

WOW...
Thanks for the awesome description of your travels...it's almost like being there, except for the smellovision of course. Seeing that beautiful wild tiger at the end would have made it all worthwhile for me. Stay safe and enjoy!
18th November 2011

Yay!! You've escaped Western Civ again!
You know you guys are my heroes right?
26th November 2011

Very interesting, I'm impressed. Thank you so much for writing down, I could have a chance to know about India. I will never choose to go because I hated those bad guys in the tourist place, it'll just ruin my whole trip.I'll never be relaxed until I come home. I'm glad you actually having so much fresh experience. This is kind of thing you like to do. I'm very happy to hear from you.
28th November 2011

LOVE LOVE your blogs... Keep them coming... I know it is a lot of work, but you do a wonderful job of describing the land. Years ago, I traveled Asia but it was for work, I spent some time sightseeing but just a day here or there and not really any remote places... So I love to see this - very jelious as I deal with the daily grind here in LA! Take care!! Stephanie

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