India. . . Days 7 and 8

Today we started off on a journey to the Amber Fort, the ancient capital of Rajasthan.  On the drive there we stopped off on the side of the road where a local snake charmer and also a boy and his elephant were.  I was the only one brave enough to snuggle up to a 7 year old (baby) elephant . . . it was so totally worth it!  I was one happy girl . . . couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face.

From there we continue to the Amber Fort and my smile turned into jumps of glee as I found out we were to ride elephants up to the fort.  It was amazing!  We even bartered from the back of the elephant for an elephant throw blanket.  The fort was impressive to say the least . . . but boy was it hot!!  The fort was begun in the 17^th century and is perched atop the Arvalli hills overlooking the Moat Lake.  The Sheesh Mahal –Hall of Mirrors-was most beautiful!

(beautiful Amber Fort. . . you can see the elephants accending if you look closely.  They are the red dots)

 

 

(our ride on the elephant)

 

After the Amber Fort we were taken to a jewelry store in Jaipur where we were able to witness the process of taking rock and making them into beautiful jewels.  We then went to the City Palace Museum and Jantar Mantar (the largest of five observatories founded nearly 3 centuries ago.)  The observatory housed 14 massive masonry instruments that were used for measuring times, predicting eclipses, tracking stars’ location as the earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and more.  We were then allowed the evening to stroll through the streets and bazaars, however by this time Clayton was feeling quite sick (we weren’t sure if it was from dehydration or something he ate) so we opted to return to the hotel.  By 8 pm I joined him in his sickness and by the next morning we felt as if we were dying in a foreign country and would not make it back to the states.  We discovered that others in the group were sick as well as we boarded the bus for the 10 hour trip back to Delhi.  To add to the suffering, the AC in the bus went out 3 hours away from Delhi . . . the bus did not have windows. . . once again we weren’t going to make it back to the states. . . . Harvey and Percival were wreaking havoc on our bodies. . . 

Somehow we found the strength to endure and boarded the plane at 12 a.m. to begin the 14 hour plane ride back to the states.  We almost kissed our U.S. customs officer as she welcomed us back home.  It was a magnificent experience . . . but we pretty much decided we saw enough of India to last our lifetimes.    

India . . . . Day 6

 

Fatehpur Sikri was our first stop for day 6.  Fatehpur Sikri was once the capital of the Mughal empire built by Akbar himself in the 1500’s.  It was abandoned shortly after due to the lack of water and intense heat, which we witnessed firsthand.  It was well over 105 F with about 80-90% humidity.  Today it is a ghost town built of red sandstone . . . but if you looked through the hallucinations of dehydration, you could picture it as it once was a beautiful palace and capital of a huge empire.

 

 

 

From Fatehpur Sikri we continued on our way to Jaipur, stopping at a rural Indian village called Anterhera.  We took a tour of the school and were even able to meet the matriarch of the village.  It was a refreshing experience as none of the children were begging and we did not have to pay for every picture we took.  The villagers seemed to be as intrigued by us as we were by them.  Clayton was very involved in this stop, drawing pictures on the children’s blackboard and asking everyone in sight “Aapka naam kya hai?” (“hello, what is your name?”) At the end of our visit we were all taking turns having our photograph taken with the village matriarch.  Clayton took one side, I took the other.  Apparently she was intrigued by my sunglasses and pulled them off of my face . . . she then asked us something in Hindi and as we had no idea what she was saying (thought she was asking to try them on) we said “yes, go ahead!”  She did indeed try them on and promptly waved good-bye to us.  It was obvious then that she must have asked if she could have them.  As she seemed delighted with her new acquisition I decided to wear my back up $5 Wal-Mart sunglasses with skull and crossbones in the corner for the rest of our vacation. 

 

Our final stop for the day was the bazaar in Jaipur.  It was both delightful (as the streets were packed with vendors, colorful goods, sights and smells) and frightening (never knowing if you will return to the outside once you entered into a store, pushy vendors, pickpockets, etc).  It does get a little tiring when you know they are increasing the price 10 fold when an American is sighted.  I had wanted an article of clothing and when I asked how much I was told 1,200 rupee ($24 US).  I knew good and well this piece of fabric was not worth that much and offered 100 rupee ($2 US).  The man appeared to be offended and stated that it was hand stamped fabric, worth so much more, I was asking for it for free, etc.  I ended up buying it for 200 rupee ($4 US).  Take that!! My mother would be proud.

India. . . Day 5

Today started early at 5:30 with a sunrise tour of the Taj Mahal.  I cannot express in words the beauty and awe of that magnificent tomb.  Pictures cannot express either. . . I guess you just have to see it for yourself.  It was stunning, majestic, amazing, beautiful. . . these words just do not capture the essence.  The first view through the gates literally took my breath away and I immediately had goosebumps.  The Taj was built in the 17^th century by Mughal Emperor Sha Jahan as an expression of his love for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  The Taj took 22 years and 20,000 laborers to build and now houses both the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Sha Jahan.  The marble work is inlaid with many semi-precious stones and was quarried 200 miles away and transported by a fleet of 1000 elephants.

 

(These nice people asked to take a picture with me. . . Never had anyone random asked to take a picture with me before. . . felt like a celebrity)

 

After the Taj Mahal we returned back to the hotel for the breakfast that we were not able to enjoy earlier in the morning.  We then proceeded to Sikandra, the sandstone and marble tomb of Akbar, the the 3^rd Mughal Emperor.   While we were visiting in the courtyard one of the members of our group was holding a pinapple juice box which a rather large male monkey noticed.  The poor woman was charged by a teeth baring monkey and only escaped by tossing the desired juice box to the sandstone floor.  It was rather comical and scary at the same time.  About 15 min later the group broke up to use the facilities.  During this time Clayton decided to take an up close picture of the same monkey.  The monkey, however, did not appreciate having his picture taken and my poor dear husband was then charged as well and escaped by running as fast as his feet could carry him.  Unfortunately I missed seeing this spectacle.

 

 

We then proceeded to the Baby Taj which was actually built before the Taj Mahal.  It is also known as Itmad-Ud-Daulah and is the first Mughal structure built totally from marble.

  After the Baby Taj we stopped by a marble store in which we were shown a demonstration of how the semi-precious and carved and inlaid into the marble, the same process used for the Taj Mahal.  The pieces for sale were fantastic and I found a beautiful table made with elephants marching around the perimeter.  I fell in love!  . . . until I found out it was 120,000 rupee ($2,400)!!  I settled for a small magnet for the fridge.

 

 By the end of this day we had resorted to washing our clothes in the sink.  We had run out of clothing items and could not re-wear items as they were soaked in sweat. 

India. . . Day 4

Today we traveled 8 hours to the south-east of Delhi to the ancient city of Agra.  Agra was once the capital city of the Mughal kingdom .  Within Agra lies the Taj-Mahal, the Agra fort, and the “baby Taj”.  When we got to the city (which is not much of a city but rather a road with small shops on both sides) we checked into the hotel and then Clayton and I ventured out into the city on foot.  An Indian man with his own bicycle rick-shaw decided that we absolutely needed to ride his rick-shaw although we had told him no numerous times.  He followed us for quite a while until Clayton had to yell at him.  The streets here are crazy.  It is not uncommon to see cows in the middle of the roads, people jay walking across 6 lane highways and lanes in which the population pay absolutely no attention to.  We also witnessed a young man riding his elephant down the highway on the way to Agra.  There is abundant amounts of trash and rubble lining the streets (was the same in Delhi) as if the construction took place an there was no afterthought to clean up the rubble left behind.  We didn’t spend much time in the city, as we were melting in the humidity and were starting to feel a little unsafe.  We rented a tripod vehicle to drive us back to the hotel.

When we met back up with our group we were taken to Agra fort, a massive sandstone structure which was built and inhabited by six generations of Mughal emperors (of which one of them was responsible for the building of the Taj Mahal and was later imprisoned in the fort by his own son and successor).   Inside the fort were palaces made of marble and an impressive view of the Taj Mahal.  It was truly amazing!  I cannot tell you how many times I randomly broke out into song, mostly consisting of “Prince Ali” from Aladdin.

India. . . Day 3

Started with us being wide awake at 5 a.m.  We had a gourmet breakfast at the hotel consisting of items that we had no idea what we were eating to pancakes and hash browns.  Today we explored the city of Delhi, both old and new Dehli.  Our first stop was the Laxmi Narayan Temple, a Hindu temple built in the honor of Lord Vishnu (the preserver of the Hindu Trinity) and his wife Laxmi (the Hindu goddess of wealth).  At this temple we were not allowed to bring our cameras in to the actual temple thus the pictures are only from the outside.  We were made to remove our shoes before entering (glad I brought my socks!) and were amazed at the worship of idols. . . Clayton made the statement “the power of human belief is amazing. . . a porcelain figure has become a god to these people because of their belief.”  It was here at this temple that I witnessed first hand what I was warned about on my last day of work in the U.S.  I had a patient who was Indian and had been to India earlier this year. . . I was told “the facilities are not as accommodating.”  Luckily our good friend and guide, Vikas, warned us ladies to carry toilet paper with us at all times.  The “facility” consisted of stalls and a hole in the ground below. 

We also visited the site of Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation which is now a memorial to Gandhi and contains an eternal flame in his honor.  Outside of the shrine sat a snake charmer with a friendly cobra in his basket.  For a mere $1 Clayton was able to hold the basket containing the sweet lil’cobra and I was able to snap some shots for his mother back at home.  :-)

Our next stop was Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque.  It was completed in 1656 after six years of work by 5,000 laborers and is made of red sandstone.  Here I was required to robe myself with a lovely dress of pink as well as remove my shoes once again.  We were also met by several youngsters who were begging for money all the way back to the bus. 

After the mosque we were immersed into Indian culture by way of bicycle rickshaw.  It was such an adventure!  Clayton and I climbed into a two person bench pulled by a bicycle and rode through the streets (more like alleys) of Old Delhi.  It was complete chaos.  There is no order with pedestrians, bicycles and motorbikes squeezing through spaces as small as 8 feet wide while these alleys are lined with merchants selling everything from local foods to rugs and garment fabrics.  The smell of incense was overwhelming.  We also noticed the terrible electrical work where wires were running in confusion with no reason or order.  Our stares at the environment around us were returned 10fold.  I felt like a celebrity.  It was also somewhat unsettling and we dared not leave the security of the rickshaw, no matter how small that security was. 

In New Delhi we witnessed the presidential palace, parliament buildings and the Indian Gate, fashioned after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.  The gate is a memorial to fallen soldiers who died in World War I and the Afghan Wars.

We finished the day at Qutab Minar, the world’s tallest free standing minaret, made of sandstone and covered with carvings and verses of the Qur’an.  At this place also lies the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid, the first mosque in India, erected in the 12^th century from materials salvaged from 27 demolished Hindu and Jain shrines.  All of the shrines were defaced as there is no idol worship in Islam.  

India!! At Last! Days 1 and 2

After two straight red eye flights, 21 hours of flying and two days of travel we arrived at Delhi International Airport where we met our guide for the tour, Vikas!  He is a nice chap. . .  he warned us about what we eat to avoid getting what is termed the “Dehli Belly”.  Fist item of business was obtaining some Indian Rupee for which to pay for goods and services.  Clayton withdrew the max amount from the airport at the ATM machine. . . a whopping 8K rupee!  (We found out this only sounds impressive, in reality it is only about $145).  We made the hour long trip to the hotel in our tour bus and were greeted with marigold lei’s, some sort of lime drink and a red mark on our foreheads. By the end of this day I found that I no longer had ankles (they disappeared) and both eyes had busted capillaries.  We were a mess.  We ordered room service for dinner but were asleep before they could make it to our room . . . it was 7 p.m.

Goodbye USA

Today we leave on our adventure . . across seas and land. . . 22 hours of flying time . . to the seventh-largest country in the world, the second-largest population in the world and one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

I have found and interested description of India as "the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genies and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods. . ." (Mark Twain 1835-1910)

 

On the itinerary are the cities of Dehli, Agra and Jaipur, in which we will experience a sunrise tour of the Taj Mahal, view such wonders as the Red Fort (built in 1648), Laxmi Narayan Temple (in honor of the Hindu goddess of wealth), Jama Masjid (India's largest mosque), Qutab Minar, Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid (first mosque in India), Agra Fort, Itmad-Ud-Daula ("baby Taj") and the Amber Fort (hopefully by way of elephant).

 

We are thrilled beyond words as this is a completely new experience for both of us.  I will try and update this blog as much as possible with our adventures, pictures and, I am sure, a vast deal of information gleaned.

 

Until next time. . . ciao . . adios. . arrivederci. . Auf wiedersehen . . toodles . . . and farewell!