Advertisement
DSC02909
Gateway to India, Mumbai After an emotional goodbye to family at the train station I made my way to Heathrow for my flight to Delhi. A 7 hour flight later, feeling a little tired, I made my way out of the airport, as I walked past the sign welcoming me to India I got a rush of excitement, I had arrived safely and my trip had finally begun...
The first thing that struck me as I walked outside was the heat, like a dozen hair dryers blowing at me all at once.Thankfully my transfer was there to pick me up though there were no shortage of offers for a taxi. As we drove to the hotel I got my first taste of Indian life, the roads.. they're something else..cars, cows (yes cows!) and autorickshaws all whizzing passed each other whilst incessantly beeping their horns every man and cow for himself!That evening I met the rest of the group, all really nice I was the golden oldie. We met our guide Manu who lived in Delhi and were given more details of the trip. The next morning we would be traveling to Agra see the Taj Mahal, a real highlight I was looking forward to.
DSC02271
Agra Fort I woke bright and early at 0430 for our journey to Agra via train. I was looking forward to the train ride and it didn't disappoint. The stations are hot and busy even at 5am, people were asleep outside the station and along the platforms waiting for their trains, its chaotic and crowded but everyone seems to be getting on about their business without any fuss. The trains are big and wide, we have an ac carriage thankfully. Every 10 mins an attendant comes by offering 'chai' to the weary passangers. Its so good and costs about 20p!
The Taj Mahal was spectacular, almost surreal in its perfection. A beautiful white marble building with immaculate lawns leading up it, everything intentionally and perfectly symmetrical. We entered via a beautiful arch at the east entrance. It was built by the emperor as a token of love for his wife who died in childbirth whilst he was fighting in a battle. The story goes her dying wish was that he create a symbol of their love that would be talked about for years to come, whether this story is true or not he did just that.
We spent the
rest of the week making our way through Rajasthan. Next stop Jaipur, the capital known as the pink city with its colorful buildings and chaotic streets full of people, rickshaws, cars and cows. I'm definitely starting to get used to the pace of things in India! We went to see an Indian horror movie at a grande cinema that evening, an hilarious experience. All the locals were cheering and shouting as the action unfolded, people were freely having conversations on their phones throughout,Jodie you would have hated this! Spent a good day sight seeing around the city, lots to see here. Four of us hired an auto rickshaw and visited the Janta Mantar, a large observatory built by the Jar Singh made up of many bizarre sculptures. We also visited the Amber Fort which towered above the city, a maze of buildings and walkways once built for protection. Some of the internal buildings were beautifully decorated with mirrored mosaics that shimmered in the afternoon sun.
On our way to Pushkar we stopped at a place called Tordi Sagar, a small rural village owned by Mr Singh who was our host for the evening! A random stopover which turned out
DSC02335
Me at the Taj typical tourist picture! to be one of the most interesting places i visited. This was a real slice of rural life in India, as we walked through the village lots of children came out to greet us, 'one photo, one photo', we were all more than happy to oblige. We spent the evening eating some amazing vegetarian curry, drinking Indian rum kindly provided by our host. I ended the night singing songs from Les Mis and dancing on the veranda under the stars.
We traveled onto Pushkar by jeep, our heads feeling sore, a hangover in the heat is not good! Once we had decamped at our hotel we walked around the small town, a very holy place in India, many Hindus flock to the the ghats to make blessings in the holy lake which is in the center of the town. It has one of the few Brahma temples in the world. We paid a visit to the Saraswati temple, an hour trek uphill to watch the sunrise over the temple and lake below. Feeling very unfit I was sweating cobs once we reached the top.Still it was worth it the view was stunning of the lake and town below. On
DSC02350
An autorickshaw in Jaipur our way down we stopped for morning tea, Sandeep the owner bought out a whole tray of different types honey and lemon, ginger, masala chai by far the best I had so far, was sooo good!
That afternoon Steph, my Australian roomate, and I had a walk through the town. We were given a flower each and told to place it in the lake... so began my first experience of scamming. As we got to the lake we were lead to the water by two 'priests' and separated. He continued to speak to me in Hindi asking me about family, saying a blessing. He could have been saying anything, what he was having for dinner I wouldn't have had a bloody clue! At the end he asked for 500 rhp for each blessing which would have been about 20 quid altogether, a lot of money 'you what' i said! I refused after he said a few more unholy words to me in hinglish i shoved a 100 note in his hand and walked off very quickly. On the way out i got done by a lady trying to put henna on my hands for money, 'NO THANK YOU', I
ended up with a few circular squiggles on my hand in her attempt which I walked around with for about 4 days afterwards.
With mixed feelings about Pushkar we made our way to udaipur via train. Surrounded by hills and with a beautiful lake in the middle this felt like a very magical place. At sunset the bats came out to circle the lake looking for food, it was a surreal sight.The town itself felt very bohemian, if I was not traveling for a while I would have bought so many things from here, so many decorative ornaments and lights that would look lovely in my future house! It was Stephs Birthday whilst we were there which ended up being a boozy Aussie party by the hotel pool until the early hours of the morning. Being older with plenty more boozing experience was a definite advantage, At one point one of the boys who was only 18 and pretty wasted told me I reminded him of his mum, although meant as a compliment i sobered up quickly.
The next morning we traveled by train to Mumbai, we had less than 24 hours there before we flew out to
DSC02359
Pink buildings of Jaipur Goa so were determined to see as much as we could. We hired taxis for the afternoon and drove around the City. I really liked Mumbai, there were lots of colonial influences around the City, the buildings and monuments stood as strong reminder of the once prevalent British rule, the pinnacle being the gateway to India arch. The were stills signs of the previous name Bombay present as we drove around.I felt a mixture ore and a little shame for Britain's invasion and rule of India, in perspective this was happening all over the world and was a sign of the times then. It feels a little like more of an authentic India has been lost in the process even more so in bigger cities like Mumbai and Delhi with the juxtaposition of western ways and Indian traditions.
It has been an amazing traveling down through North India. Overall we crossed crossed through 5 states in less than 2 weeks, seen and learnt so much about this beautiful and crazy place! Really looking forward to heading South to Goa and Kerela to to see the different contrasts to the North and be charmed all over again.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.078s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0464s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Poppy
non-member comment
Well Jell...
I'm reading your blog whilst sat at my desk at work, chomping on last nights left over veggie curry and a costa. Hardly compares to your adventures, but If I close my eyes hard enough I could be there with you! So lovely to hear you're having a fab time honey, the photos are amazing - my fave is the train station in Mumbai - how gorgeous is that building! Oh and the camel one too! Keep them coming, love you lots and take care xxx