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Published: October 28th 2009
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It’s hard to put India into words... Especially as we were only there for a week, and especially as we were so cosseted - our own driver and guides, only eating and staying at recommended places etc. I was very glad we were though as one thing India does very well is take you outside your comfort zone, and with two young kids, that was a hard place to be! But, “incredible” does describe India very well. It’s incredibly crowded, incredibly noisy, incredibly dirty and yet it’s also incredibly colourful, incredibly lively, and incredibly beautiful... The whole country is sensory overload. Cows, pigs, chickens and dogs roam free; horns blare constantly; and everything is full to bursting - buses, rickshaws, motorbikes, mud huts, shanties...
We arrived at Delhi airport after a long day’s travel. We had left Aqaba at 1am on Friday morning, slept fitfully for a couple of hours in the car to Amman and spent nearly 10 hours back at Istanbul (Star Alliance did lay on a very good free tour of the city for us as we were in transit, but unfortunately it was to pretty much the same places we had already seen!) before arriving in
India at about 3am Saturday morning. We were then driven for another couple of hours to the hill fort of Neemrana, a luxury hotel which was to be our “soft introduction” to the country! The climb up the hill to the fort was stunning, especially as it was about 6am and dawn was breaking... Alas, despite being in desperate need of sleep by this stage, we were confronted by a mix up over our booking and so it was another few hours before we could even get to our room, by which time the kids were wide awake!! Still, we’d already seen the queue of people walking to work at 5:30 in the morning, so didn’t feel like we could complain too much.
And the place had its compensations - it was absolutely amazing! Words, and even the photos probably don’t do it justice. The fort was built in 1464 and is a whole complex, vast enough to get completely lost in, with stunning views over the mountainside. We had a good explore, followed by a swim (see pool photos) and then a music and dance show, with fire, spinning bicycle wheels and me up dancing!
The next
day we enjoyed our surroundings for a bit longer before the 2.5 hour drive to Jaipur where we met our first guide who took us around the City Palace and explained that the city is painted pink since that is the colour of hospitality (although it’s quite run down now). We went back into Jaipur on Monday to see the Wind Palace, an intricate facade where the women of the court could watch life in the city behind screens (like a huge veil). We also had our first encounter with a snake charmer which was very unnerving until we found out they take out their poison fangs... Then on to the Amber Fort which has a wall just like the Great Wall of China. We climbed up on elephant back, trying to avoid the endless hawkers on the way. We also saw the Observatory and bought a rather expensive rug (gulp!) Chatting to the people running our guest house that night we found out that he was the fourth cousin to the Maharajah!! Most of their land was seized by the government in 1947 and he was the first in his family to have to get a job - really
interesting guy.
On Tuesday we drove to Agra, stopping at the deserted city of Fatepur Sikhri on the way. Built by Akhbar the Great around 1530 as the capital of Uttar Pradesh it was abandoned twenty years later because of a shortage of fresh water. And so it has remained almost completely intact with a public square, entertainment area, swimming pools, hammams, and a palace and worship building for each of his three wives - one a Christian, one a Moslem and one a Hindu.
I’ve seen so many photos of it and yet the Taj Mahal (or Taj Mahaj as Charlie insisted on calling it) still took my breath away on Wednesday. I never knew it was the same on all four sides before! Cars aren’t allowed to go close to it because of the pollution so we took a horse and carriage and walked the last bit. All the artisans and industry surrounding the palace have also been moved out of the area and given tax exemptions in recompense. You walk through an impressive gateway with 22 minarets to represent the 22 years it took to build the Taj, which was designed to frame the main
building as you walk through. The Taj is beautiful, made of Indian white marble, inlaid with precious stones and shells and dazzling in the sunlight. The four minarets at its corners lean out slightly so that if they ever fall they will not damage it! It is topped with a 10m spire which was originally gold but that one was stolen by the British who replaced it with a bronze one. There are two further buildings either side - one a mosque and the one that doesn’t face Mecca is a false one built to maintain the symmetry. The only part of the whole place that isn’t symmetrical is the actual mausoleum in the middle. Emperor Shah Jahan was planning to build a black replica of the Taj on the opposite bank of the river, but his son decided he was spending too much of his inheritance so he imprisoned him in the Agra Fort, and when he died, buried him next to his wife but off centre!
After a quick trip to a Bear Sanctuary (rescued sloth bears), we went out for dinner in a tuk-tuk which the driver let the kids drive! Slightly hairy moment as Charlie
slowly bunny-hopped down the fast lane of a two lane highway with horns blaring from all sides!! The driver belly-laughed throughout the whole journey.
On Thursday we finally met up with my sister’s friend Anu and drove out to the tourist lodge she and her husband run in Chambal, a rural area about 2 hours out of Agra. They inherited the land and have spent 10 years building up a bird-watching business on the river, where they now employ 18 people and help fund local schools and water projects. It was a very cloudy day (late monsoon) so we didn’t see much wildlife on the river other than a few rare black ibis and some egrets and herons. We got out at a small ruined fort which is very pretty but crumbling. Whilst we were there it started to rain heavily and did not stop. Anu’s guys did an impressive job of crossing knee high rivers firstly carrying the boat engine (they don’t leave them in the boats in case they get stolen), then coming back to carry the children over, and finally returning to help Joe and me cross!!
On Friday we got the train to Delhi,
and spent the next day exploring a bit, including the old part of Chandni Chowk which was even more noisy, dirty, overcrowded and smelly than the rest, before getting up early on Sunday for the flight to Singapore, both relieved and sad to be leaving India, a country that would definitely have been worth exploring more, but maybe without two small children in tow!
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Scott
non-member comment
Didn’t want to get his feet wet
I bet Joe asked to be carried across the river as well!!! Sounds like your all having a fantastic time. Take care.