Advertisement
Published: September 6th 2006
It's been go go go the past couple of days. But what fun! Quite pleased to have seen the back of Agra truth to told - it just seemed like EVERYONE wanted to rip you off one way or another.
The hotel I stayed - Hotel Sheela on the East Gate in Taj Gang was however a little oasis of calm, with a nice garden, good food, and freindly alastian and an even friendly manager who warns you of the tourist do's and don'ts in Agra.
Unfortunately I failed to heed his advice on getting a rickshaw driver to take you on a tour of the city. He told me he'll arrange a taxi for 700 rupees, but when the nice rickshaw man I took from Agra Fort station said he'd do it for 300 rupees, I foolishly went with the cheaper offer. Admittedly Jamal (who's name I discovered) did take me to Agra Fort, and the baby Taj (Itimad-Ud-Daulah), and brilliant park called Mehtab Bagh on the South Bank of the Yahuma river opposite the Taj Mahal (same great views just bugger all tourists - really worth going). But unfortunately the way back involved a trip to a
Me at Gwalior Fort
The marathon tee shirt had to come out at some time!carpet shop, a trip to a textile shop and a trip to a marble shop - all trying the "just look don't have to buy" approach until you've said "no, sorry, not interested" so many times, they are almost clinging to your trouser legs begging you to at least buy a carpet the size of a flannel.
So the moral there is you pay for what you get (ie no hassle = 700 rupees, so much hassle you really want to scream = 300 rupees). Check out the pictures of the south bank of the Yahuma though - little lad was there taking pictures for me in some hilarious taj poses!!
Ihad a very funny meal the last night I was in Agra with a German girl I met called Bianca. We went for a "romantic"(!) evening meal in an open-air rooftop restaurant overlooking the Taj Mahal. The Taj was pitch black (they don't light it cos it damages the marble) and it absolutely pissed with rain. And the waiter seemed more interested in showing us the lastest tune on his mobile phone than serving our food! Anyway Bianca was great company - and as she had spent
At the Ganesh Festival
"Hey man - are you coming to throw a statue in the river?" five months in South America I bent her ear most of the night on travelling out there!
I left Agra for Gwalior by train on Saturday. Only about an hour and a half journey South into Northern Madhya Pradesh. A bit off the tourist trail this one - nobody with a backpack got off the train with me - but I'm pleased I went. I know I was bad mouthing forts on my last blog, but both Agra fort and the fort in Gwalior were superb!
My first day in Gwalior though was just a general recce and a trip to a bizarre museum in the grounds of a palace belonging to the local maharaja. The recce was quite eventful in itself. I found a nice park in the middle of town and sat down on a bench to drink some water and check my lonely planet book for directions. Two lads asked if they could sit next to me, and then one of them said could he ask me some questions.
"What is your name?"
"Sean"
"Do you like this park?"
"Yes it's very nice"
"Do you like men?"
"Pardon?"
"Are you gay?"
"No 100% hetrosexual
Mini and Preeti at Gwalior Fort
"hmmm...does the 'look at my lonely planet' technique normally work around here?" apart from the odd 10k"
"We are all gay in this park. This is our park"
"Oh"
"Are you sure you don't like men?"
"No"
I looked around properly for the first time and sure enough there were lots of blokes holding hands. All very nice! We sat discussing gay rights in India, and general problems with society accepting homosexuality (it's still illegal in India), before I said I had a museum to get to and headed off.
The museum was very strange - with lots of flea-bitten stuffed tigers, the usual array of swords and daggers, a very raunchy marble statue of (the greek goddess?) Leda copitulating with a randy swan, a ladies-only swimming pool with a flashy bar, and a huge dining room with a model railway set complete with a massive track to take the after-dinner brandy around to the maharaja's guests. Definitely worth going to if only for it's weirdness!
The following day in Gwallior was a trip to the fort. It really was impressive - in brilliant condition and pretty big (3km long). People still live inside it and there is a dead posh school (by India standards - around 20,000 rupees
On the way down from Gwallior Gate
Unfortunately every person in this photo wanted a copy sent to them at their home address! a month) inside the fort. Some amazing temples, and some great views (the fort is perched on a ridge around 100m above the town). Also met a couple of nice Indian girls called Mini and Preeti on a break from university at the stunning Sasbahu temples (also known as the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law temples). They were both very chatty and I even managed to make them laugh - somehow. We walked around the rest of the fort with the local guide, and then they kindly bought me a barbecued sweetcorn, and let me try the local delicacy - tamarind (jury was out on that one!), before we walked down out of the fort surrounded by loads of mad school-kids. All very funny - Mini got me a good deal on a tempo back to my hotel (I'm not sure what hindi is for "don't rip off the big ginger bloke" - but it worked) - and I wished them both luck at uni.
After two days in Gwallior I made the short ( one and a half hour) train trip to Jhansi Junction wher I got an auto-rickshaw for the 18km journey to Orccha.
Orchha is a lovely
A float at the Ganesh Festival
Guess who ends up in the river? little town, a million miles away from the hubbub of the bigger more touristy places. It has the most amazingly well kept palaces and temples, with picturesque domes and spires breaking the skyline in most directions. No touts, no rickshaw drivers, and dodgy tour guides (ok maybe one or two!) - just really friendly people who want to sit down and chat with you over a cup of chai.
It was an eventful couple of days there, as it goes. Firstly there was a big power failure, brought on I think by the heavy rain and floods they have had in surrounding areas. So no electricity for two days! Bit of a pain on a hot sweaty night with no fan or air-conditioning... but hey I survived!
I had an interesting chat with an Italian lady who went cycling with her friend locally. There is a footbridge over the nearby Betwa river she crossed, but after the flooding the bridge had become submerged so they were stuck on the other side. They had to stay in a local village and were fed and watered there, but were stuck there for a few days. Apparently they had to sleep
Lots of Ganeshes awaiting their fate
"Pick a statue from the bottom shelf..." in the open air, but had two village bodyguards to look after them to make sure nothing happened in the night! Apparently the story made the TV news over here and all the newspapers. I was walking down the main street in Orccha with her and all the locals were laughing at her and pointing saying "Hello bicycle lady"!
I also visited a very interesting school (called Maya School) in Orccha for illerate children living well below the poverty line in the local villages. It is all run by a very chilled out German lady called Eva. She's been running the school for around 3 years. When she first came here they did not even have a building - they used to teach the kids from under a tree! I met Eva through Marja - a Finnish lady I met in a local restaurant over a banana lassi. Marja is a jewelry designer back in Heilsinki, but met Eva on an earlier trip to India. Anyway Marja visits the school on an regular basis and designs jewelry to be sold in local school tourist shop (it's entirely self-sufficient and gets no cash from the government). It was a moving
Purple Powder Pandamonium!
"Right ginger you're for it!" couple of hours I spent up there and it really is a vital service Eva and her teachers are trying to provide. I ended up promising to do a sponsored run for the school when I get back so hopefully I will still be able to break into a jog! A child has recently stopped going to the school to work in one of the local restaurants. Child labour is a huge problem in India and Eva gets understandably very upset when a child foresakes their education for a few rupees. The restaurant owner rakes in bucket loads of cash from tourists but still finds it necessary to employ children for a fraction of the price of adults ( this kid apparently gets 200 rupees a month - that's not even 3 quid). Anyway there are 75 kids at this school and around half of them are now sponsored to be there by the generosity of others. If you wish to visit the website the address is www.magicmaya.org
On a chirpier note it's been bloody mad in Orchha the past couple of days because we're in the middle of some sort of Ganesh festival. Ganesh is the Hindu god
More at The Ganesh Festival
"Go on mate - have a sweetie" of good luck and good fortune - he's also known as the elephant god because he has an elephants head (he also has four arms which is pretty handy if you're at bar with a big round). Anyhow for 10 days people turn up in vans, cars, carts and lorries (lots of tooting of horns!) with big effigies of Ganesh in tow - loads of singing, dancing, chanting and general merriment - they take these Ganesh statues to the nearby river, and after a small ritual they throw them into the water! It's all a bit chaotic - lots of purple powder is thrown everywhere (I was covered and believe me purple and ginger do not go!) and sweets are handed out to everyone. Great fun!!
I would recommend Orccha to anyone. After all the hassle and bother you receive in the bigger towns it's nice to come to village where you can just chill out.
I have met a couple of girls (Elizabeth from Denmark and Sophia from the UK) in Orccha who also wanted to go to Khajaraho, so rather than bugger about getting a rickshaw and bus, we chipped in for a taxi to take
The temples at Orccha
Picture number 203 - I won't bore you with the rest! us!
I'm typing this now from Khajaharo - just arrived today. It's miles away from anywhere. Will write about it next time though - just realised how long this blog is getting!!!
TTFN
Doogs
(ps - picture to follow tomorrow hopefully)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0521s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mutha
non-member comment
Oh Sean it sounds wonderful really enjoyed reading about all the different places you have visited and the people you are meeting. Look forward to the next chapter. Love Ma