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Published: February 5th 2014
We loved Ladakh. But it isn’t really India. It was only when we got to Delhi that we experienced real India. And the culture shock from calm, relaxed, gentle Ladakh was greater than if we had arrived in Delhi directly from the UK.
People always talk about the ups and downs of travelling in India: Loving it one minute, hating it the next. Wonderful sights interspersed with shocking sights. Great experiences mixed with unpleasant experiences. The second part of our India trip through Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan certainly conformed to that precedent of peaks and troughs. And so will the structure of this blog:
Highs: The Taj Mahal I didn’t expect to be so blown away by a mere building; something constructed by man. I’m regularly blown away by mountain ranges and such things made over millions of years by Mother Nature but this was a new sensation.
You would think after seeing the Taj Mahal hundreds of times in photos and on TV that seeing it for real wouldn’t be much of a shock. After all, you know exactly what it looks like, where it is, why it was built, what it is made
of, etc. However, seeing it in the flesh for the first time is breathtaking. It may have been said millions of times but it is quite simply the most beautiful building in the world.
We got there around sunrise to miss most of the crowds and to appreciate it through the softer, ever-changing, early morning light. Standing on the steps of the Great Gate about 300 metres away, the Taj Mahal doesn’t seem real. It’s like you are looking at one of the postcards or pictures you have seen so many times before. I found it hard to believe I was actually there – at the Taj Mahal. Moving nearer it still doesn’t seem real until you climb the steps and actually touch it.
Lows: The Delhi Train Ticket Scam In Delhi it took us the best part of a day and a half to buy a train ticket. There is a widespread scam of trying to get you buy expensive rail passes from travel agencies rather than a ticket from the railway station at a fraction of the cost. Fake “Official” Ticket Offices are dotted around, some with the proper address given in the
guidebooks stencilled on the wall so when the auto-rickshaw drops you off you think you are in the right place. The rickshaw drivers are in on it, presumably getting commission for taking you there; the guards at the railway station are in on it, showing you their Indian Railways ID Cards then sending you away from the actual ticket office at the station and finding you a conveniently located rickshaw to take you to the “Official” Ticket Office; your hotel staff are in on it, ask them where to go to buy a ticket and they will tell you “the railway station is very busy and not good for foreigners, better you go to “Official” Ticket Office, my driver is going near there in five minutes, he can give you a lift”.
Actually go in one of these “Official” Ticket Offices and you will be shown certificates from the government, Tourism India posters are on the wall and the staff will insist that they are government appointed. They will show you the Indian Railways website (a clever fake) showing you that all trains to your required destination are booked up and your only option is to buy the rail
pass. What’s more, “for only an extra few hundred dollars we can book you official government guesthouses – much better than tourist guesthouses”. They will then get quite aggressive when you realise it is a scam and you try to leave their office.
If in Delhi: YOU CAN ONLY BUY TRAIN TICKETS FROM THE RAILWAY STATION. The office for foreigners is upstairs. Ignore everyone else.
Highs: Colours of Rajasthan You have the blue city (Jodhpur), the pink city (Jaipur), the golden city (Jaisalmer), the white city (Udaipur), and all the rest are no less colourful. The markets are awash with flower sellers offering garlands of orange marigolds, fruit sellers with produce of every imaginable colour and spice vendors with open sacks topped by little pyramids of turmeric, red chilli peppers, cumin, cardamom, anything you want. However, it is mostly the people that provide the colour, in particular the women in beautiful saris of bright purple, red, yellow, orange, and green. As you head further west into the barren and dusty Thar desert, the beige of the landscape contrasts with the traditional white robes and vivid yellow turbans of the local men who pass by herding
goats or sheep. Even someone as colour blind as I am can appreciate the richness of the colours of Rajasthan.
Lows: Squalor I’ve been to many parts of the world that are considered “developing” or are, by western standards, extremely poor. I’ve travelled through parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia where the people live well below the poverty line. Yet I have never seen such poverty as I saw in India. More correctly, I should say that I have never seen such squalor as I saw in India. True, lots of the world has shanty towns and people picking through waste dumps to survive, though this trip was the first time I saw people literally living in the gutter. Cardboard and tarpaulin shacks occupy a lot of the available unused space with lean-tos spilling onto roads, each housing large families. Worse than that is when your overnight bus passes through a city in the early hours and central reservations are full of sleeping men, women and children, lined up like bodies after some natural disaster. Apparently, lying uncovered under the street lights in the middle of the road is safer than being in a dark
shack in an encampment.
When you read the local newspapers and they celebrate how many new millionaires are being created in India and how the size of economy (GDP – PPP) has now overtaken Japan into third place in the world, this discrepancy in wealth with the poorest however many percent can really get you down. Please stop sending vainglorious missions to Mars India and prioritise your people.
Highs: Forts and Palaces I like a castle. Rajasthan has some great ones. I can spend a long time wandering around battlements, exploring old courtyards and passages, and enjoying views from the tops of towers.
My favourite was Mehrangarh Fort at Jodhpur. The enormous fortress looms over the city, mighty from afar and ornate when up close. It is quite a walk up there along the mucky but interesting backstreets, then below the towering defences and up through the sturdy spiked gate (stops elephants from charging it). You are led around by an excellent audio tour – something I would usually shun but this one was free with the entrance ticket. “Press 205 if you would like to know more”. “I would I would.”
The
palaces were good too and showed the wealth that the Rajas enjoyed. They look great from a distance though inside, albeit they are beautiful, they become much of a muchness. As do the forts but I just like them better.
Fatehpur Sikri, near to Agra, part palace part fort and mostly free, should not be missed. Unfortunately/fortunately most do miss it as they get to Agra, nip in and out of the Taj Mahal, then continue on their way.
Lows: Touts The crowd of hotel touts waiting for you as you get off a train/bus/boat could get annoying, if you let them (“You want guesthouse? Very cheap, very close, where are you from?”). The persistent rickshaw drivers who follow you around not understanding that you want and like to walk could get annoying, if you let them (“Where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going?”). The guides who lurk around every tourist attraction offering their services could get annoying, if you let them (“How are you going to know what you’re looking at?” “I don’t need to know every last detail about this palace and its former inhabitants – I just
want to stroll around it because it’s pretty”). The shop owners selling everything the tourist needs; from 100%!c(MISSING)ashmere (honest) scarves to bronze Ganeshes to those stripy three-quarter “travelling” trousers that only Israeli backpackers wear to elephant poo paper, who don’t let you walk past their shop could get annoying, if you let them (“Yes. Come inside. Just looking. Looking is free. Special price. Where are you from?”).
Highs: Conversation Something I found a lot in India was that you can very easily, with someone you have just met, get into quite deep and serious discussion. I think in the UK conversation can often be quite superficial until you know someone well, and there is always the fear of offending or worse, the fear of coming across too clever. I found that in India you can have frank discussions about such things as religion, literature, the Indian economy, Kashmir, British history in the region, and of course cricket, as well as global issues that I think most people back home would not have an opinion about. Generally I found the people very knowledgeable and world aware.
Lows: Lies/Scams You book an auto-rickshaw
for an early morning train with the guesthouse owner. The 200 rupees you given him seems very expensive but he insists it’s very far. You get there in 5 minutes and it should have cost 40 rupees.
When booking a bus ticket the travel agent, who you’ve been chatting to and laughing and joking with for an hour, gives you the option of 1000 rupees for a bus with air-con or 800 rupees for the non-ac bus. You go for the non-ac. He calls the bus company to be told the non-ac bus is full so you must buy the 1000 rupee tickets. That night when the bus arrives it turns out there is not and never has been a bus with air-con and everyone else on the bus has paid 800.
You are offered a “pure cashmere” or “100%!s(MISSING)ilk” scarf for a “good price sir, would cost double this price in Europe”. You are with someone who knows a lot about fabrics. It is polyester.
You choose the slightly grotty little restaurant because it’s full of Indian families so assume their
thalis, a lunch plate of rice, daal, a couple of different curries and chapathi,
must be pretty good. They are good. Then you are asked, whispering so the Indian customers can’t hear, for double the money you spent last night on dinner in a nice restaurant.
The camel safari into the Thar desert is offered by different agencies at a range of prices, the more expensive tours all claiming to take you to their home village where tourists don’t go. We just went for the cheapest tour but in the same desert village we saw all the people who had been booking tours with the expensive operators to “the places the tourists don’t get to see”.
People rush up to you as you get out of the rickshaw to sell you the boat ticket. We tell them we’ll buy it from the office. You are told the office is just for Indians and foreigners have to buy a ticket from them. One of us keeps them talking while the other goes to the office and buys the tickets for much less than the men outside were charging.
Etc, etc, I’ll stop now because this list could get very long.
Highs: People Because of the frequent attempts to
rip you off or lead you astray, you can easily become unfriendly when travelling in India. This is a shame as, obviously, the vast number of people are genuine and nice. We met some lovely people who were helpful, generous, interesting and interested. We seemed to meet the nicest people when visiting any one of India’s thousands of impressive tourist sights. Often when sitting on some steps to take in some glorious temple or palace we would be nervously approached by a little girl or boy, typically following an encouraging poke from their mum or dad. The kids would ask where we were from, what we were doing there, could they have a photo with us, and soon their whole family would dare to wander over as well. Food was shared, stories were swapped, hands were shaken, names were learnt, and we would feel really guilty for the things we may have said about the local people after someone had tried to rip us off that morning. We learnt a lot about India from the people we met on buses, trains and at tourist attractions. Furthermore, we were regularly and essentially reminded about not tarring everyone with the same brush.
Lows: Attitude Towards Julia The leers, the stares, the catcalls, the hissing, the not very discrete photos taken on mobile phones, fortunately a grab only occurred the once on the Delhi Metro – unfortunately I wasn’t nearby to be able to violently encourage the chap to reconsider his ways.
India has been getting a lot of bad press lately following horrific rapes and tortures of both Indian and foreign women. Many hotels we stayed in were empty and had had a really poor year. The hotel owners put it down to foreigners being put off visiting India after seeing such terrible stories on the news.
Many times while waiting at railway and bus stations or when enjoying some tourist sight I had to position myself in between Julia and the growing semicircle of staring whispering men. So they just moved across to get a better view not at all acknowledging my presence. Julia was not comfortable on this leg of our trip.
Highs: Costs Travelling around India is cheap. We usually went for a 500 rupee room then haggled it down to 400 (£4). A 300 rupee room was generally
horrible and 600 was unnecessarily extravagant. At £4 we always got en-suite, hot-water, bedding, usually a TV, and it was clean.
Five hour train journeys cost as little as £2, rickshaws (as long as you bargain hard) can be 30p to take you across town, and dinner for two with a lassi each rarely came to above £5.
Entrance fees to palaces, temples, castles, etc are the biggest cost and even then it is usually only around £3 each.
Lows: Dodgy Food “David you are getting very thin. We have to have some meat tonight.”
I hadn’t really missed meat but seemingly my body had so occasionally we decided to go for a chicken tikka masala rather than the usual paneer or vegetable curries. Then we got sick. Power-cuts are frequent so how is the meat being stored? “Delhi belly” struck often, usually only lasting a day, though often much longer. We spent entire days in and around the hotel thus comfortable in knowing we were never more than a minute from a bathroom.
Highs: Jain Temples Ranakpur is the one that springs to mind but there are many
others dotted around. These often extremely old (pre 0BC) temples are beautifully ornate. The carvings range from very precise flower patterns to large elephants hewn from single blocks of granite. The outsides of the structures will be layered with carefully carved animals, people on horseback, and scantily clad voluptuous women.
Lows: Jain Temple Priests If only you were allowed to enjoy the temples. From stepping inside almost all of them that we visited we were immediately accosted by the priests asking for money. Fair enough you should contribute to the upkeep of the place but you nearly always had to pay to get in, generally about ten times what an Indian has to pay, though once inside the Indians are left alone and the foreigners are targeted:
Suddenly you find someone has appeared from behind a column and daubed a sandalwood bindi on your forehead; which you then have to pay for.
“Come over to this altar and pray then put some money in the plate.”
“Come into this roped off section out of the way where I can try to extort some more money from you without anyone noticing.”
“Give me
your camera to take photos of areas you cannot enter then you give me money.”
“Come over here. Over here. This way. COME THIS WAY!”
I read a bit about Jainism and I like it. These blokes made me dislike it.
Highs: Cricket An easy conversation starter and friend making tool pretty much anywhere in the world is football. In this part of the world it’s cricket. Just like I have got into heated debates in Africa or South America of how Spanish football might be effective but it’s boring, or who is better; Messi or Ronaldo, in India similar arguments can be had regarding Warne vs Muralitharan or tests vs twenty20 (no one cares about ODIs; unless your team win one).
As a temporary escape from hydrogeology while revising for my master’s exams back in April I watched quite a bit of the Indian Premier League T20. I don’t know why but I started supporting Rajasthan Royals. Fortunately we were in India for the IPL Champions League involving the best teams from around the world. More fortunately we were in Jaipur for the semi-final. Incredibly fortunately Rajasthan Royals qualified from their group
in first place so would be playing at home in the semi-final against the superstars of Chennai Superkings. I got us tickets, we had almost front row seats, we were interviewed live on TV, we were very welcomed by the crowd, even Julia enjoyed it but mostly for the music and dancing, and it was a great game. Best of all; Royals won.
Lows: Sleeper Buses Local buses: great. For longer distances, try as best as you can to take the train. If no train tickets are available, as happened many times with us as we don’t like to plan more than a day in advance, maybe hang around until a train has availability rather than going by long-distance bus.
The novelty of having a bed on a bus seems worth sampling but we never got a lot of sleep. Being at the top at the back meant we felt every bump and were bounced around for twelve hours sleeping not a wink. Another occasion we had a bed at the bottom near the front but it wasn’t much better.
Then there are the additional charges. An extra 100 rupees for this tax, an
extra 50 rupees for that, 30 for this. They even show you a sign, that they themselves made, which they think somehow provides legitimacy to the charges.
This happened on every night bus: After many requests for a toilet stop (after having been driving for four or five hours) and still being told “yes, 10 minutes” people started to get painfully desperate. No amount of shouting could get them to stop. The only thing that worked; “Don’t worry, you don’t need to stop anymore, we are pissing behind the seat. Aaaahhhh, finally.” Try that and they stop straightaway.
Highs: Bundi Bundi may well be our favourite place in Rajasthan. Apparently not on most people’s circuit who decide on Pushkar instead. Our guidebook didn’t rate it too highly, nor did the Indian tourists we met in Ladakh who gave us otherwise valuable travel advice. Therefore, there aren’t many tourists, which probably explains why the local people are not in any way pushy to get you into their hotel/restaurant/shop/cafe.
The palace has been semi-abandoned to the snakes and monkeys but what’s preserved is beautiful, especially the paintings in the former royal family’s bedrooms. I tried to
tip the guard who unlocked the door to the rooms and gave us some information about the paintings but he wouldn’t accept it. Nor would the guard higher up the palace who explained the fantastic artwork up there. This happened nowhere else on the trip.
The climb up to the completely abandoned fort on top of the hill is a sweltering one and strolling through the ruins was made all the more exciting by the colony of resident inquisitive monkeys. “Take a stick” was the advice of the ticket sellers at the bottom.
The town itself is bustling and friendly, the view of the palace across the lake is lovely, pigs and cows roam the streets, monkeys parkour across the rooftops, and there is no hassle whatsoever. Top place.
Lows: Tiger Safaris Twenty four of you packed into an open truck, zooming around everywhere, screeching to a halt to be told to take a photo of some bird. Arguments from people who arrived late then refused to board because they couldn’t sit together, arguments because the delays meant we were only inside the park for two hours, an increasingly annoyed driver who went even
faster so us at the back had to hold on for life.
Highs: Tigers Did I mention we saw a tiger?
I know people who have done lots of safaris in lots of national parks and saw not even a paw print nor a poo. On our way out of Ranthambore National Park, awful safari over, we saw a tiger happily swimming around a little pond by the road. It was as beautiful as you would expect and all of a sudden made the whole world seem a little bit better.
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michelleandkev
non-member comment
The beauty of India
My eldest daughter is a regular visitor to India, usually getting a six month visa each time. So I was VERY interested to read your excellent post about the highs and lows of travelling in that fascinating country. And I'm a great fan of Gandhi. My favourite saying of his is "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." Peace & love for all your future travels! Michelle