Taj Mahal, Holy City and Goa

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Right - been very busy since leaving behind Rajasthan, and our personal driver, Rikki, who was starting to really annoy us - particularly his persistent dancing in his car to the sctratchy tape of the Venga Boy's greatest hits... Anyway, after getting him to drive us from Jaipur to Agra, we were then on our own..
80%!o(MISSING)f visitors to India stick to the "golden triange" of Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra - as a result, it's a route well catered to tourists, and has all the problems that come with it as well - after stopping at the ancient Mughal capital, Fatehpur Sigri, and it's incredible mosque, we were then on the road into Agra.

Agra
Agra has a couple of nice monuments, Emperor Akbar's tomb (though I still think of him as the fish headed Allied Commander in Star Wars), and a huge fort and palace - but it's overiding attraction is the Taj Mahal. And dont they know it.. 20 miles out of town, the road was packed with stalls selling soapstone Tajs, marble Tajs, Taj snowdomes and other crap... I also saw.. and get this - a DANCING BEAR!!

I had always assumed that, along with Chimpanzee Tea Parties, elephants on rollerskates, and a pirate ship crewed exclusively by monkeys; the dancing bear would remain an amusing thought in the back of my mind... but here I saw a real life one!!
And whats more, he seemed to share my joy!! oh, how he smiled, and danced, and I swear I could see tears of happiness in his big bear eyes as his owner poked the back of his legs with a pointed stick... a truely joyous moment.. (a note here - (I'm ashamed that I know people who didnt realise I was being facetious here.. hence this explanatory note) - I didnt really find the bear incident amusing)

Anyway - on to Agra. And we were up early to the Taj Mahal, to avoid the crowds, and it didnt disappoint - absolutely stunning. There werent many people about at 6.30am, so we had lots of oppotunities to take "the photo" - and the whole site was very peaceful - as befits a tomb, I guess.. but the Taj is worthy of the hype, and certainly a "must see".

Oh, and a word about the food here - very good, actually - though I have been troubled by a bad stomach and the runs for 3 weeks now - basically ever since Ed and I got a bit ill in Lahore, I've been going thru a roll of loo paper a day. Now initially I thought this was just a case of Delhi belly, but Ed has had some tests since he's been back in England, and it seems I've probably been suffering from salmonella. No wonder I've lost over a stone in weight..
still, I'm getting marginally better - albeit slowly..

Holy City, Man
After Agra, we took an overnight sleeper train (actually pretty comfortable) to the holy city of Varanassi. This sits on the merging of 2 of Hinduism's holy rivers (the Assi, and the big momma Ganges). Pilgrims come here to wash away their sins in the Ganges, and have their ashes scattered here. Also, dying here means you are freed from the cycle of re-incarnation, and achieve Brahma - the ultimate state of enlightenment.

As a result, you have a bustling, chaotic city, with a maze of passageways around it's old town, bordering the river. The riverside is packed with bathing platforms, and funeral pyres. We watched several people being creamted on open pyres - quite a macabre sight. The river also has many bodies of dead children in it - (they are not cremated), so it's quite a strange place.

To watch the people bathe in the filthy water is amazing. The water her is so polluted it's technically septic - there is NO dissolved oxygen in it at all. In addition, the faecal content of the Ganges at Varanassi is 6000 times greater than the recommended limit for safe bathing. And the pilgrims actually drink this water! The sewerage systems are so out of date, they regularly block up, and the new sewerage plant they've built uses so much electicity that
they are regular black outs - quite literally, the place is choking on its own shit. But at the same time, it's a very spiritual town, with a certain charm to it, (George Harrison's ashes were scattered here) and feeding off this spirituality, I almost bought a Shiva t-shirt, but thankfully the capitalist in me baulked at paying 40p for it...
We did, however, buy some lovely silks - which Varanassi is renounced for.

Railways
Another overnight train journey followed - this time a 30 hour journey to Mumbai (Bombay). THe Indian trains are actually pretty good (well, in the air conditioned 2'nd class sleeper carriage, they are). The toilets are probably cleaner than British Rail, they give you fresh bed linen to sleep with, and most importantly, the train arrived into Mumbai exactly on time - a cruel reminder of when we could actually run railways..

Bombay Mix
anyway - Mumbai - home of Bollywood - it's the most pleasant of India's cities - there are no auto-rickshaws, so the roads are wide, traffic is organised, and there is less pollution and noise. The people are outgoing and glitzy - and the place really is the Indian Los Angeles. We only had 8 hours there before heading down to Goa, but it was a very pleasant place to hang out - we saw Ghandi's house, the Gate of India, had a harbour bout cruise, and had a drink at Sachin Tendulkar's bar.

Sport

While we've been here, I've managed to follow most of the Olympics - India won 1 Silver medal in shooting - their first ever. This is not a great performance by a country of over a billion people, but the dominance of cricket here helps to explain it. A sports show on TV held a sensible discussion on why India where not an Olympic force, and agreed it was due to the media and sponsors concentrating too much on cricket. Then, and completely without irony, the indian Des Lynam then said "well, lots more to discuss on this issue, I'm sure - but now we head over to live cricket coverage of Bangladesh v Sri Lanka).
As far as the British effort at the olympics, it was pleasing to see us, after a slow start, haul ourselves just above the People's Republic of Michael Phelps in the medal table. This was due in no part to our natural dominance in "posh sports" - sailing, rowing and horsey stuff. Now all we need is for the IOC to re-introduce croquet, Eton fives and jousting into the Olympic program, and those pesky Aussies will have no chance...

Goa

And so on to Goa - another overnight train journey, and we woke up on India's west coast - lush with recent monsoon rains, the rivers come down from the distant hills, and meander through the palm trees on their way to the sea. A very scenic journey...

Anyway - Goa - it's not actually a place - it's a region. 70 odd miles of coastline, to be precise. The original hippy hangouts in North Goa, Anjuna, Canalgute, are still there, but in the last few years, mid range package tour hotels have opened up along side the beach shacks and yoga centres.
HOwever, this is the end of the monsoon - the tourist season doesnt start until next month, and the place is virtually empty. The weather, however, is perfect.

We stayed 3 nights in North Goa - strolling around the beaches, the flea markets, and eating good seafood in cheap restaurants. The crowds arent here, so there's not a lot of the infamous Goan rave to be seen. In fact, last night at the busiest restaurant in town (10 people there) - the band launched into Bryan Adams and Elton John cover versions.. I was expecting some kind of techno/trance crossover, and an old hippy in the corner telling me I should have been here 20 years ago..

The lack of crowds, however, mean that the beaches are empty, and you can get a room in an empty 4* hotel for less than a tenner a night. This thought has amused me, since in 2 months, our hotel will be full of middle aged Brummies on their Kuoni dream holiday, lottery winners from Liverpool, and winners of holidays from ITV gameshows. I'm glad I wont be here to see it..

So basically, Goa, at least off season, is lovely. Chilled out, cheap, and with no crowds. But we moved on, to see a bit of South Goa.

South Goa is less developed than the north - it's a combination of traveller type places that appeal to those avoiding the more commercial north, and luxury 5* super resorts. We're staying in somewhere in between - again, for next to nothing. The beaches here are amazing - miles and miles of perfect sand, only the odd fishermans hut on the way..
Tomorrow we're heading for the picture perfect beach of Palolem Cove - the "last remaining paradise of Goa".

And then home - for a few days of mummy's love and cooking - then it's off to south america..

So that's India - it's been an amazing experience, and a great place to travel around - rewarding and challenging in equal measure, but we've seen some incredible places, and I now know my Shiva from my Vishnu - In the next few days I'll be loading this site with a load of photos - some of them without me in them - pls come back and have a look

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Photos

Good Lookin' Goa

Varanassi

Morning Dip in the crystal clear waters of the Ganges. Oh, and the latest in Indian Swimwear

One of the few places in the world that really exceeds all expectations

Anjuna Market, Goa

"Wear a colourful turban day" - Taj Mahal.

Comments

[anonymous]

Goa
Another good read, you continue to suprise me Weasel. I went out with a gorgeous girl from Goa some years ago, we split up though, a real shame, she was really lovely but for some reason her breasts always tasted of sweat....perhaps it was a diet. look forward to reading your next piece, I went out with a girl from Caracus, a really exotic creature, we split up though, I couldn't handle her. I'll tell you about after I've read your next piece. Rimmer

[anonymous]

about the bears...
in the indian tourist industry there is a big move to stop the 'dancing bears.' the gypsies go into the mountains and take the bears. to make them dance they thread a rope through their nose and when they yank on the rope the bear rithe and jump in pain. if you go to india, do not stop to look at the bears, keep driving. try not to encourage animal exploitation. i agree with your journal, it was a tragic sight. just a heads-up to anyone else. - liza