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Published: August 19th 2011
Well, Jaipur was interesting. I (David) saw around a fantastically ornate Amber Palace from the 16th century in the shadow of an awesome sandstone hill fort which looked like the great wall of China. Tourists were shipped in on elephant back wearing fake maharajah gold-lame’ turbans. All very authentic. Karen took the “I’ll stay in the hotel bathroom” option as she found out that Delhi belly is a literal phenomenon not just a rhyming phrase.
Karen recovered enough the following day to risk visiting Pushkar, a sacred village with temples aplenty and tourists/hawkers in similar proportions. Carefully treading along the winding narrow streets lined by street vendors and paved by sacred cowpats, we took illicit photos of holy bathing in the murky holy river. The colourful saris of the Rajastani women were absolutely beautiful and starkly contrasted with the plain white pyjamas of their blokes. We were much amused that they confidently stride barefoot through the scared cowpats without flinching!
We left Jaipur which is uniquely famous for gemstones only a set of earrings heavier and headed for industrial Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal and is also uniquely famous for gemstones. Several hours and cow/buffalo/goat dodges later we arrived
with half of India at the Taj Mahal. Apparently Indian public holidays mean that it gets a little busy (even by Indian standards). Our hotel had a fantastic view of approximately 3% of the Taj dome at a range of about 2 miles- almost like the brochure pictures!!! If you think you have seen crowds at Buckingham palace or Edinburgh castle you ain’t seen nothing yet! The majesty and beauty of the Taj is unsurpassed and truly is worth a visit. Words wouldn’t do justice to the splendour and scale however the shine was taken off it somewhat as we were trapped in an area by crowds blocking the exits in scenes which were horrifically reminiscent of the Heysel stadium disaster- crying women and children getting lifted out of the crowds whilst men brawled and squabbled. Karen was a little distressed so we withdrew to a safe British distance to allow the crowds to subside but then were constantly plagued with Indian tourists photographing us!!! Fun at first (Karen thought she was “wor Cheryl” for a while) but amazingly intrusive after an hour or so! We finally escaped the Taj after a couple of hours feeling like we had been
in a moshpit at a rock concert with more relief than awe. Shame, as the gardens were beautiful and surely would be tranquil and mystic if any semblance of crowd control had been exercised!!
We returned to Delhi today. Traffic was (apparently) lighter as it was Indian Independence Day. We were greeted by many flag-waving, cheering locals in the streets of Agra and was really nice to see the people jubilant and enthused. Couldn’t quite figure out how they would receive us- since was getting rid of us colonial types that they were cheering about! They seemed to stare and point as usual in a mix of curiosity and incredulity but I never felt even a hint of aggression or animosity. Much as we have been a little critical of a few of our encounters with the locals, I have to say that I have never felt threatened or intimidated by anyone, and they have largely been friendly and approachable, especially in the south.
So its off to Bangkok in the morning. Assuming we get to the airport as we have no cash due the bank machines of Delhi being emptied over the 3 day bank holiday. Looking forward to
chilling out a bit more.
Stevoline- stories from hen/stag please.
Bradley family- holiday snaps by email please.
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