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Published: August 7th 2007
All text lost due to server crash but now recovered....
We arrived back in Mumbai in the afternoon, and met up with Keeley, Claire's neice who flew out about 12 hours behind us. We spent one night in Andheri, Mumbai, before flying down together to Goa. The next week and a half we spent showing Keeley round north Goa, this being her first time here, in fact her first time out of Europe.
So we went to both Ingo's and Macky's night markets, took a speedboat to Mandrem beach where we stayed in a coconut hut again - watching some dolphins on the way, went round the spice plantation where Keeley washed the resident elephant and spent loads of time on the beach, trying unsuccessfully to lose her bright white-with-a-hint-of-blue complexion. It was interesting seeing the hassle that Keeley attracted from beach sellers and other touts who normally ignore us now that they've been seeing us since October.
Giving up on trying to get Keeley a tan, we took her up north, first flying to Delhi, then train to Agra, another train to Varanasi, and then another train which took about 27 hours from there to Mumbai
from where she flew home and we flew back to Goa.
Dolphin off Goa
It was our first time in Delhi. We stayed in Manju Ka Tila, the Tibetan colony to the north of the city. Taking the brand new metro into the city centre we couldn't believe how quiet it was, hardly anybody about. Even when we got out in Connaught Square the place was dead - not like India at all. Turns out, the whole city was shut for elections. Some of the shops opened in the afternoon, but we tried to get a beer that night and what was worse than the shops being shut, was the whole city was dry for the duration of the elections as well! Don't mind not being able to shop for a day or so... Imagine in the UK if all the pubs were shut everytime there was a vote. The polling stations would be empty in protest!
Majnu Ka Tila has apparently been a Tibetan Colony since 1962. Its at risk at the moment because its right in the middle between the N17 road which is going to be widened, and the Yamuna River which is going
Keeley and Claire
On speedboat to Mandrem Beachto be "beautificated" whatever that means. So, they are trying to get the whole place bulldozed.
Keeley and Claire
On speedboat to Mandrem BeachProbably so when its gone the original plans for the road or the river can be shelved and the building developers can pay a few rupees to the local politicians and build on the land. At the moment, its a lovely area, all little lanes with Buddhist monks wandering around and people playing carom (a board game) and chess in the streets. There are hardly any Indians around, nearly everyone is Tibetan, and there is a completely different atmosphere there to anywhere else we have visited.
We came across a small courtyard with a Buddhist temple on one side, and what seemed to be some sort of community hall on another. Covered over with a canvas roof, it is the centre of the community and every time we saw it was a hive of activity with kids playing, or people singing, or monks praying. In the morning, lines of people chanting their prayers and spinning their prayer wheels were supplied by volunteers carrying massive tea pots and baskets full of bread rolls. It had probably the
most close knit community feel to it to anywhere in the world we've visited. With more and more Tibetans fleeing from the Chinese
Full moon over Baga Beach!
over into India, it would be a shame if this area was lost to a road widening scheme.
We only had one full day in Delhi, and spent most of it looking round the bazars. Having an hour to kill before we thought an air-conditioned market was about to open (it didn't - closed for the elections!) we went with a tuk-tuk driver to a couple of shops, in return for a cheap ride. Lying, he told us that he didn't get any commission on anything we bought, only a flat 20 rupees for getting us into the shop - but he got quite disappointed when we never actually bought anything. It was interesting for us to see the astronomical prices that presumably some tourists will pay for souvenirs we've seen elsewhere for a tiny fraction of the cost.
The next morning we took a train for the three hours or so journey to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. Hearing from other travellers that Agra is one of
the most difficult cities with the most hassle in India, we had actually booked into a decent 3 star hotel for a luxury retreat complete with swimming pool
Selling sarongs on Baga Beach
away from the stress. In actual fact, all three of us loved the city, and although the taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers were tedious in their hagging, we found enough decent ones there that we could get about with little stress. It somewhere that we'll definitely go back to in a few weeks, and not only bacause of the Taj.
Arriving on a Friday, the Taj was closed to visitors. It used to be closed on a Monday, but sometime ago this was changed by the local Hindu politicians to a Friday, the Muslim's holy day, some say just to upset them as previously many would visit the Taj on that day. So, that evening with a bit of haggling we took a tuk-tuk over to Mehtab Gardens on the far bank of the Yamuna River, directly opposite the Taj.
The Taj Mahal is identical on each side, and the view from across the (almost dry) river was stunning. We actually didn't go into the gardens
themselves (5 Rs for Indians, 100 Rs for us) but walked down the side ignoring the pleas of the gate keeper, directly onto the river bank. We were suprised that we were three
Sellers son on beach
of only about a dozen or so tourists there, although we were joined by about as many local kids (one peeecture.....ten rupeeeees) several goats and a camel. Giving sweets in return for pictures of the kids, we promised to return the next night with some colouring pencils for them.
The next day we got up before five, so we could get to the Taj before it opened at six. We got there just after, several hundred yard before the gate we had to change from an auto-rickshaw into a cycle-rickshaw (motor vehicles are banned from the immediate area) and found ourselves part of already quite a large crowd. Two queues formed to buy tickets, a quick moving one for the Indians to pay their 20 rupees, a more stagnant one for us westerners to pay our 750 rupees. Although we did get a free bottle of water thrown in, so that justifies the extra 730 Rs. Touts were offering to buy the
tickets for us, for only an extra 100 Rs, but thinking it was probably a con we declined. In actual fact, they seemed genuine and were merely taking their place in the Indian queue, and probably sharing
House gekko on 20 a day...
the 100 Rs with the guy selling the tickets who would then sell them a foreigner ticket. It took us about half an hour to be served, so we'd probably pay the extra 100 next time we came if the queues were too long.
Passing through the second gateway, we were confronted with what is supposed to be the most photographed image in the world, the Taj reflected in the water. Despite the growing hoards of tourists, everyone seemed to cooperate taking their photos and moving out of the way, so everyone managed to get their shot with other visitors only visable in the far distance. It is a breath taking sight, one of the few attractions in the world which we've thought really lives up to their hype.
That evening, to the children's amazement, we returned to the river bank to watch sunset at the back of the Taj, taking pencils for them. One
boy got upset that we wouldn't give him any money, and came towards us swinging a metal chain round his head, but I took a couple of steps towards him and he legged it.
We walked round Agra Bazar and found it
Keeley and Trunk!
to be manically busy with a real ancient feel to it. Apart from the items for sale, it probably looked much the same a hundred years ago. Although so busy, we had little hassle. Probably of all India we have seen so far, Goa can be the most difficult, especially at the markets.
After a couple of nights in Agra, we took an overnight train to the holy city of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges. Famous for the many ghats (literally "steps") along the river, especially the two "burning ghats" where open-air cremations take place 24 hours a day, this is one of the most holy cities in India.
We stayed near Asi Ghat, the most southernmost one, and had a view over the river from our bedroom balcony. Only staying there one night, that evening we tried to find a boat for a trip along the river. Several local
Keeley washing the elephant
Or is it the other way round? people had told us that 50 Rs is a fair price for a boat for an hour, but getting a boat for this amount took some doing, with probably the most hassle of our trip from the boatmen, following us for ages along the ghats with
Keeley washing the elephant
Or is it the other way round?their wildly inflated prices. In the end an old man aggreed to take us. Baba the boatman looked ancient, and later told us he was 85. Pausing his rowing occasionally to take a mouthful of the putrid looking water, he was probably the fittest looking pensioner we've ever met! The Ganges is supposed to be about the most polluted river in the world, with faecal bacteria levels in places over 2 million per 100ml (legal level for safe swimming is 500), and other pollution from various industries, plus the ashes from the cremations and the bodies of babies, holy men and others who don't get burnt along with the occasional cow and dog. Whatever is in it, it doesn't seem to be doing Baba much harm! In the end we paid him double what he asked, and went back in the morning to see
sunrise over the river with him.
Watching life along the river was so fascinating we hope to return there in a few weeks and to stay there for a few days.
All too soon, it was time to leave. We took a 27 hour train from Mugal Sarai, outside Varanasi, to Mumbai, where Keeley
Traffic jam - Goa style
flew off to England and we flew back to Goa.
So, we've got about 2 weeks to go here in Goa, then we fly up to Kashmir. Some unfinished business we've got to sort out is the school in Anjuna. We'd raised some money for them and went there some months ago to see what they wanted. The new headmistress who we had not met before initially wanted a fridge for the staff room, but we were thinking more along the lines of some books for the children. In the end, we bought a new water filter for them which used nearly half the money, and before we go we're going to see Father Pascaol, the priest who manages the school to arrange what to spend the rest on.
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Catriona & Catherine Bowie
non-member comment
Wow!
Absolutely brilliant photos. Mum and I both impressed. It made my day at work. Love the sunrises too! Quite jealous really. Love from Catriona and Catherine