Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sounds of goa
People talking. Running water. Rooster crowing. Fireworks. Electricity
turning off. Barking. Chirping. Choo choo. Engine revving.
turning off. Barking. Chirping. Choo choo. Engine revving.
Auditory overload!
--
Sent from my mobile device
Kingfisher Airline rocks!
Kingfisher Airlines rocks! We flew on the firect flight from Jaipur to
Goa on Kingfisher Airlines, and I have to say the experience was much
better than flying in the US. The check-in process was a little
hectic, but once we boarded the sirplane, everything was extremely
well-composed and distinctly more upscale than the service on flights
in the US. For our 1.5 hour flight, we got a full meal, chocolate
snack, headset, and complimentary pen. The flight attendants were
courteous and organized. When we first started planning the trip, we
were a bit concerned about the safety of air travel within India, but
we now feel totally safe and would recommend flying domestically in
India, especially on Kingfisher.
Goa on Kingfisher Airlines, and I have to say the experience was much
better than flying in the US. The check-in process was a little
hectic, but once we boarded the sirplane, everything was extremely
well-composed and distinctly more upscale than the service on flights
in the US. For our 1.5 hour flight, we got a full meal, chocolate
snack, headset, and complimentary pen. The flight attendants were
courteous and organized. When we first started planning the trip, we
were a bit concerned about the safety of air travel within India, but
we now feel totally safe and would recommend flying domestically in
India, especially on Kingfisher.
--
Sent from my mobile device
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Jaipur
This city is such a sensory overload that I don't even know where to
begin. We arrived yesterday in jaipur expecting, as the tour book
suggested, a city painted pink with shopping where "you can bargain
your pants off or risk going home without them". The city was pink
alright...but the shopping bazaar was a completely insane experience.
Let me try to describe it for you...you basically choose a street and
start walking. There are booths every three feet for a span of 20 or
so city blocks selling everything from saris to fly covered fried
dough balls. As you walk down these streets, merchants are literally
throwing their cheap fake pashminas on your head and you have to bend
your body in a way such that they fall off of you instead of stay on
your head. In the mean time, there are beggars grabbing at you and
following you around shouting "hello" over and over again. Don't
forget about the traffic...all this time there is two way traffic
driving maniacally in one lane the size of one lane on the fdr ... And
in the mean time everyone is beeping non stop. So basically, you have
people shouting at you from one side, pulling at you from another
side, and beeping at you from somewhere else. Its all totally insane.
begin. We arrived yesterday in jaipur expecting, as the tour book
suggested, a city painted pink with shopping where "you can bargain
your pants off or risk going home without them". The city was pink
alright...but the shopping bazaar was a completely insane experience.
Let me try to describe it for you...you basically choose a street and
start walking. There are booths every three feet for a span of 20 or
so city blocks selling everything from saris to fly covered fried
dough balls. As you walk down these streets, merchants are literally
throwing their cheap fake pashminas on your head and you have to bend
your body in a way such that they fall off of you instead of stay on
your head. In the mean time, there are beggars grabbing at you and
following you around shouting "hello" over and over again. Don't
forget about the traffic...all this time there is two way traffic
driving maniacally in one lane the size of one lane on the fdr ... And
in the mean time everyone is beeping non stop. So basically, you have
people shouting at you from one side, pulling at you from another
side, and beeping at you from somewhere else. Its all totally insane.
In all this craziness, our driver has become knight in shining toyota.
He finds us in all of the insanity and sweeps us away back to our
hotel. Its just amazing how good he is at what he does. He doesn't
really speak english, but we still manage to communicate.
So, back to jaipur...the pink city, inside of which is the city palace
is just lovely. The walls are not exactly pink but are more of a
salmony pink. The merchants here are noticeably less pushy than in
agra. Its almost strange that when you say no, they actually
listen...weird.
Jaipur is an awesome place for shopping once you realize that you
shoud just go to the boutiques and not the crazy market. I bought
shoes and a necklace and david bought me a lovely hand embroidered
shawl and these gorgeous gold and semi precious stone earrings...which
I just love. I wish had another day here...but I would probably spend
a lot of money.
All in all, jaipur is the best out of the golden triangle cities...but
its still a giant culture shock for the unsuspecting western traveler.
I am now fully ready to relax in sunny goa and to eat the yummy
seafood specialties that they have.
-ellen
--
Sent from my mobile device
Recap of Jaipur
After our first night of real rest, we woke up refreshed and ready for a jam-packed day of sight-seeing and shopping. To our happy surprise, the staff had arranged a beautiful breakfast out on the balcony. Toast, jam, eggs, omlettes, cereal, papaya, and a delicious India dish called "poha" (not sure about spelling) that consisted of fried rice, onion, and some spices.After breakfast, we headed to our first destination, Amber Fort, located just outside the city. The fort is a formidable sight, sitting atop the mountain, but our sight
was mostly drawn to the line of elephants, snaking up the side of the mountain. Although it is very popular to ride an elephant up to the fort, we declined given the long lines and the fact that we'll be doing this in Kerala (South India). We stopped by the side of the road to take pictures and, as usual, the trinket peddlers approached us with their wares and sales pitches. However, this time, when we told them "No, thank you", they said "OK" and walked on. Amazing. Our driver did a great job taking us up the steep inclines in the van (there are many jeeps for hire for this exact purpose.
We decided to get 2 audio guides for the fort (probably more factual than the in-person guides hanging outside the fort gates), which turned out to be extremely informative, albeit a bit long-winded. We learned about the maharajas and ranis, the separation of men and women, the receiving hall, the gardens patterned after Persian rugs, the administrative court, Summer Palace with the mirrored inlays to retain heat, women's "floor", and the long and narrow back passageway where they would hold elephant fights. Very interesting and actually quite fu
n to explore the forts - many staircases, passageways, ramps, rooms, vistas, etc.Our next stop was a textile shop called Andraad on the way back to the city, recommended to us by our home stay hostess. This was a great shop with beautiful shawls, stoles, saris, pashminas, bedspreads, etc. Ellen and I picked up a few shawls/scarves here. Very soft and pretty.
Next, entering the Pink City and visiting the City Palace. We lunched at the City Palace Cafe where we had both Indian and Continental fare. I had a hot dog (chicken), Ellen had a cheese sandwich, and Eugene & David had Indian food. The food was a bit of a letdown relative to our other meals so far, but it was in a superb location. After lunch, we followed our audio guides through the City Palace which took us on a tour of historical textiles, armory, artisan museum, etc.
From the City Palace we headed to the Lassiwalla, a purveyor of lassis (a sweet yogurt drink) that has been around since 1944. This was to be the lassi highlight of our trip, and we were excited to find the original shop as many copycat lassiwallas have since popped up. Unfortunately, when we got there, the sanitary conditions forced us to walk away. There were flies everywhere and a sour smell from the yogurt.
Disappointed, but not deterred, we made our way to our next destination, a jewelry store, also recommended to us by our home stay host. This very professionally run store had both traditional and non-traditional jewelry. Ellen found a beautiful pair of dangly gold earrings and a necklace, both made with semi-precious stones.
By this time, it was getting dark, but we still had one shopping destination left: shoes. We headed back to the homestay and luckily ran into our hosts. The hosts' son offered to walk with us to a nearby shoe store, where we found some very cute and colorful Indian style flats.
We are now back at the homestay, tired, but feeling very accomplished from our sightseeing and purchases. We will be having dinner with our hosts in a few minutes downstairs and then plan on taking it easy tonight.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Traversing the Golden Triangle
Having been to China a bunch of times, I easily drew the parallel between Agra and Xi'an, a dusty city with little to offer beyond the world-famous relic that it houses. In the case of Xi'an, these are the terra cotta warriors of the first emperor of China. For Agra, this is the Taj. My impressions of the Taj are almost identical to what Ellen and Wenjun already described. It really is not to be missed, even if you must tolerate Agra for a day or two to experience it. Let's just say we've been there, we've seen the Taj, and we're not likely to be back.
We got on the road to Jaipur at around 9am and stopped at the Mughal ghost town of Fatehpur Sikri. It was interesting but upon entering the palace courtyard we were harassed by a very persistent guide who did not ask for money but claimed to be a volunteer who would take us around for free. It sounded too good to be true and we noticed other foreigners being similarly pursued by other "volunteers." After we ignored him for a few minutes, he eventually left us alone.
Actually, pretty much the entire time that we have been outside our car, we have been pursued by people trying to sell, beg, and guide their way into our hearts and our wallets. Our feelings have ranged from pity to frustration to anger, especially today when a small crowd of people descended on us as we were leaving our car for dinner. They looked innocent enough at first and David got stuck briefly in their midst. Ellen "came to his rescue" in a few minutes and extricated him from the situation. We have decided not to give anything to beggars because we cannot be sure whether our donation would actually support a good cause or contribute more to putting children in harm's way or subjecting more tourists to harassment. It has been truly heartbreaking at times to not be able to give, and I for one have decided to give money to a charity helping poor people in India upon our return. That way at least I can be reasonably sure it will be put to good use.
Now we are at our homestay hotel in Jaipur, which is a lovely place and we have been having a great time chatting with the lovely retired couple that runs it, along with their son. This place is really wonderful, especially after the drab and noisy, albeit mostly clean, hotel we stayed at in Agra. Jaipur look far cleaner and nicer than Agra, and probably even Delhi, so far. But more remains to be seen tomorrow!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Taj mahal and beyond
So...we finally saw it. All I have to say is...WOW. It really is
everything you hear about...a true wonder. It is made out of semi
translucent white marble and is covered with designs of semi precious
stones and black onyx. It is built on a platform so that whenever you
take pictures of it you only get sky in the background. Its just
breathtaking...as I said to my dad - "its a diamond in a big dump". He
responded very wisely saying "Diamonds usually hidden in the places
like that, aren't they? :)"
everything you hear about...a true wonder. It is made out of semi
translucent white marble and is covered with designs of semi precious
stones and black onyx. It is built on a platform so that whenever you
take pictures of it you only get sky in the background. Its just
breathtaking...as I said to my dad - "its a diamond in a big dump". He
responded very wisely saying "Diamonds usually hidden in the places
like that, aren't they? :)"
As we go through India, I sometimes start to feel like were mix
between celebrities and a freak show. We constantly have indian men,
women, and children asking us to take pictures with them. I have no
problems with this natural curiosity, but I have to wonder...what do
they do with these pictures? Are we going to be standing, framed in a
picture on the night stand (or whatever) of some rural indian boy?
Our Taj tour guide experienced a similar curiosity and took advantage
of his time with us to ask us all sorts of questions. The big one he
had was "do all Americans work out?" He was particularly impressed
with Predator, the movie, which seemed to give him the impression that
america was a country of people who have giant pecs who work out non
stop. Other questions revolved around what we like to eat, racial
discrimination in the us, what kind of housing people live in,
american punctuality, even what salaries we made (we respectively
declined to answer that question)
On a less exciting note, did you know how lucky we were to have
consistently running hot water? In our current hotel, which is for the
most part pretty clean, we have exactly 2.3 minutes to take a shower.
Forget shampooing and conditioning, you are forced to prioritize what
part of you you'd like to wash. You have to go in there with a
concrete and well thought out strategy or else you'll be stuck soapy,
with no hot water left.
On another note, we went to an Indian McDonalds. In case you were
wondering what they served instead of beef...they have McVeggie and
McChicken burgers.
-Ellen
--
Sent from my mobile device
Drive from Delhi to Agra
We made it to Agra! We left at around 1PM and got here a little after
5PM. As we left Delhi, the landscape became distinctly more rural.
Cows were much more rampant, sleeping and grazing along the side of
the road. Boars and stray dogs trotting the streets, people riding
camels down the highway alongside our car, and trained monkeys used
for entertainment completed our wildlife scenery.
5PM. As we left Delhi, the landscape became distinctly more rural.
Cows were much more rampant, sleeping and grazing along the side of
the road. Boars and stray dogs trotting the streets, people riding
camels down the highway alongside our car, and trained monkeys used
for entertainment completed our wildlife scenery.
The drive was relatively uneventful, but still eye-opening. Anytime we
stopped in traffic, we would be approached by beggars, who tapped on
the windows. Some danced, some pointed to infants in their arms, some
tried to sell us trinkets.
Upon entering Uttar Pradesh, our driver inexplicably pulled over on
the side of the highway and left the car to pay a toll. We were
initially skeptical because other cars zoomed right past us, but we
were somewhat reassured by the fact that the car pulled over in front
of us also contained foreigners. Apparently, this is a toll only for
foreigners and is on the honor system because there was no one to
enforce the toll. This was also where we saw men with trained monkeys
offering to let us take photos of the monkey for a fee. We've gotten
quite good at refusing these entreaties, though the monkeys were cute.
They would sit on the curb and groom each other in their down time.
After this toll, our driver took us to what can only be described as a
rest stop for foreigners. The restrooms had western toilets, and the
food court tried to charge us 90 rupees (~$2) for a can of Coke.
Although this isn't terribly expensive, it was still price-gouging in
a country where you can get a Coke for 20 rupees. We think our driver
earns money for taking us there and probably get a commission on any
items we buy. In any case, we decided not to partake, and drove
onward.
Upon reaching Agra, we had some difficulty locating the home stay, but
our driver pulled through in the end and we reached our destination
safely. We had dinner at Peshawri restaurant in the ITC hotel, despite
our homestay's owners attempts to steer us to another restaurant. Our
dinner at Peshawri was wonderful (chicken tandoori, shahi paneer, a
lamb dish, and excellent nan) and we were able to see the kitchen
chefs preparing nan and other dishes.
Quack
--
Sent from my mobile device
Saturday, December 27, 2008
impressions of agra
Agra....the city holding one of the wonders of the world...at least that's what its known for. I have not seen the taj mahal yet but I am quickly starting to associate agra with other things. Have you ever blown your nose only to see the tissue end up black? The pollution is really unbelievable! Its so thick and ubiquitous that you can feel it on your tongue and in your sinuses. As we were driving from delhi to agra, we had a barrage of women and children beggars scratching our windows at every traffic light. The poverty we passed was so profoundly heartbreaking, that it embarrassed me to think of all of the nature vs nurture conversations that I've had (during which, I was usually on the side of nature) This nature vs nurture conversation is such a western conversation, its not even relevant here...the nurture is too dominant. I am still genuinely excited about seeing the rest of this country, but I am also a bit nervous because I know that there are more shanty towns ahead. I have only been in india for several days, but it is already a truly unforgettable experience. This is a culture that has existed and transformed for thousands of years...this concept is sometimes hard, as an american, to grasp. I'm hoping that the next two weeks provide me with a better understanding of it...like the bizarre coexistence of shopping malls and corrugated steel make shift homes...the best word I can use to describe this crazy sensory overload is "unforgettable".
Friday, December 26, 2008
Day 2 schedule
Today we are going to Humayun's tomb, across the street from our enclave. After that, lunch at B19 and then driving to Agra.
Although the temperature outside seems much cooler, I feel much warmer, probably because I was able to take a really hot shower this morning as opposed to yesterday morning, when the hot water was almost done by the time I got in. We now know that we have to turn on the water heater at night so we have enough hot water in the morning, not just 15 minutes before use.
We are staying in Nizamuddin East, a muslim neighborhood in Southeast Delhi. It's very serene and peaceful (excluding the train station nearby).
Although the temperature outside seems much cooler, I feel much warmer, probably because I was able to take a really hot shower this morning as opposed to yesterday morning, when the hot water was almost done by the time I got in. We now know that we have to turn on the water heater at night so we have enough hot water in the morning, not just 15 minutes before use.
We are staying in Nizamuddin East, a muslim neighborhood in Southeast Delhi. It's very serene and peaceful (excluding the train station nearby).
acclimations...
It is now 620am and I am trying to figure out what all these sounds outside are...you definitely have your muslim prayers and you definitely have your train making all sorts of ungodly noises and then there is some other beeping that kind of sounds like a train but isn't because a train cannot possibly come that frequently. The only thing more annoying is my heartburn...its naan and rice far me from now on. Delhi has been an interesting experience...the juxtaposition of poverty with what seems to be some feigned sense of industrialization is really fascinating. It's very difficult to see all the women and children following you around and begging - there is a marked lack of men in this role (I think it's a sympathy game). Also - we've noticed a very interesting quirk while traveling through Delhi - when the people here don't know what you're saying, they nod "yes", making for a lot of confusion and interesting conversations. The prices here are absurd - $4 for a huge meal; $2 for earrings; $20 for real pashmina scarves - I could definitely get used to that! I find myself looking forward to going to the South (even though I'm very excited about seeing the taj mahal and the pink city at jaipur) - based on our tour books, it sounds like a nice reprieve from the craziness of the north - it's where "india stops to take a breath". ~Ellen
Break at B19 after Dilli Haat and dinner
Lunch was excellent - a little too spicy for me, but everyone else thought it was delish. The paneer dish was especially exciting. After lunch, we went to Dilli Haat, an open-air marketplace with a bunch of stalls selling handicrafts, pashminas, etc. We found some dangly earrings, pillow covers, pashminas, notecards, etc. The Lonely Planet guide suggested that we barter, which we did, but not very aggressively because everything was already quite inexpensive. We had to refrain from buying too much as this was just our first day.
While we were driving today, we saw children wandering along the highways. When cars would stop (rarely, as stoplights are purely decorative it seems), the children would weave through the cars, playing drums and music, and dancing, begging for money. Once they spotted us, a car of foreigners, they tried especially hard to convince us to give them money, asking for 10 rupees. Although we know that any money we give would only serve to perpetuate the exploitation of these children, it was extremely difficult to turn the other cheek. We also encountered this situation at Dilli Haat, which requires a nominal entrance fee to "keeps] out the riffraff". As we walked between the car and the marketplace, we were approached by a mother and child begging for money as well as other small children.
We are now back at B19. Had some cookies and tea. Plan on heading to dinner at Connaught Place/Janpath. We had planned to go to Qutub Minar after Dilli Haat, but apparently Qutub Minar closes at 5PM, so we'll try to head over tomorrow.
Quack
National Museum
Weather is nice, but still a bit chilly for my taste, especially in the
morning. I slept well, but the others were awakened by the trains. Breakfast was omelettes, toast, fruits (papaya, apple, banana), cereal, orange juice, and tea.
After breakfast, our driver took us to the National Museum. They wouldn't let us bring in any bags, so we left them in the car. Admission was 300Rs per non-Indian, though Eugene managed to get a student fee of 1 rupee. We were also charged 300Rs per camera. This was an interesting comparison to China where they've gotten rid of the extra foreigner fees.
Our admission fee included audio tours which were informative, but long. We got through about 25 of 55 exhibits on ancient Indian history, artifacts and paintings. Some highlights included pottery, skeletal remains, figurine of a famous dancing girl, statues of Krishna, Siva, the elephant god, the enshrined holy relics of Buddha (a pilgrimage highlight), a life-size replica of an armored elephant, and more. We also happened upon an exhibit of Faberge jewels (eggs, jewelry, trinkets) which Ellen and I really liked.
We are now at the Defense Colony Market, having lunch at Swagath. We ordered chicken gassi, butter pepper garlic jumbo prawns, mutton seekh kabab, and a veggie paneer dish. I'm having my first mango lassi of the trip and am fully expecting "delhi belly" by tonight =P
FYI - Data networks are not reliable, so posting will be intermittent.
morning. I slept well, but the others were awakened by the trains. Breakfast was omelettes, toast, fruits (papaya, apple, banana), cereal, orange juice, and tea.
After breakfast, our driver took us to the National Museum. They wouldn't let us bring in any bags, so we left them in the car. Admission was 300Rs per non-Indian, though Eugene managed to get a student fee of 1 rupee. We were also charged 300Rs per camera. This was an interesting comparison to China where they've gotten rid of the extra foreigner fees.
Our admission fee included audio tours which were informative, but long. We got through about 25 of 55 exhibits on ancient Indian history, artifacts and paintings. Some highlights included pottery, skeletal remains, figurine of a famous dancing girl, statues of Krishna, Siva, the elephant god, the enshrined holy relics of Buddha (a pilgrimage highlight), a life-size replica of an armored elephant, and more. We also happened upon an exhibit of Faberge jewels (eggs, jewelry, trinkets) which Ellen and I really liked.
We are now at the Defense Colony Market, having lunch at Swagath. We ordered chicken gassi, butter pepper garlic jumbo prawns, mutton seekh kabab, and a veggie paneer dish. I'm having my first mango lassi of the trip and am fully expecting "delhi belly" by tonight =P
FYI - Data networks are not reliable, so posting will be intermittent.
Quack
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sentiments on Arrival
The flight was really good, and I slept most of the way. I was pretty overwhelmed when we first arrived - the first thing I noticed was the smog smell. As soon as our plane landed, the smell just wafted through the entire aircraft. While we were waiting to go through customs, I decided to stop by the bathroom and found a hole in the floor. After staring at it for some time and trying to strategically plan my next move, I decided to come out and ask the expert - quack - who came with me and explained the approach to take (it seems that I hadn't thoroughly thought it through). Thankfully, she found a western toilet in the last stall, so I will have to wait for my hole-in-the-floor-peeing experience - what fun. We picked up our bags and exchanged money (we were all standing there on our bloomberg anywhere's looking up the spot rate - a clear sign that it's been too long since we've taken a vacation). Our driver picked us up (he doesn't speak english, so it's a lot of fun communicating with him) and took us to the parking lot. As we were walking to the car at night, I got pretty umcomfortable - there were all these stray dogs and random groups of guys walking around what's best described as a giant construction site (then again, this is my first trip to a third world country - interesting introduction). The scenary instantly got better once we arrived at our lovely hotel, which was designed by an MIT graduated architect. The rooms/beds are very comfortable and our hotel staff is great. We will write more after today's sight seeing activities and we will also post pictures.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Phone Phobia
Has anyone else had this experience?
Me: "I'd like to confirm my reservation for my stay in [Insert Indian city here]"
Hotel representative: "Yes sir, please send us an email"
Me: "Well, while I have you on the phone, can you please confirm it with me now?"
Hotel representative: "Yes sir, please, will you send us an email, we will reply right away"
Is there phone phobia in India?
Rupee exchange
Why is it that we can't get rupees until we get to the airport where we know we'll get scammed? I tried going to a branch of the Bank of India and they were really unhelpful:
Question: "What is the current exchange rate, approximately?"
Answer: "It changes every day"
Thanks. About par for the course.
Question: "What is the current exchange rate, approximately?"
Answer: "It changes every day"
Thanks. About par for the course.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
India Itinerary
12/24/2008 - Flight from Newark to Delhi
12/25/2008 - Delhi
12/26/2008 - Delhi
12/27/2008 - Drive from Delhi to Agra
12/28/2008 - Agra
12/29/2008 - Jaipur
12/30/2008 - Jaipur
12/31/2008 - Flight from Jaipur to Goa
1/1/2009 - Goa
1/2/2009 - Goa
1/3/2009 - Navrati Express Train from Goa to Ernakulam (Kochin)
1/4/2009 - Kochi
1/5/2009 - Kochi
1/6/2009 - Kochi
1/7/2009 - Drive from Kochi to Periyar Wildlife Reserve
1/8/2009 - Peryiyar
1/9/2009 - Drive from Periyar to Kumarakom and board houseboat
1/10/2009 - Arrive in Alleppey via houseboat and take car to Kochi airport
Flight from Kochi to Delhi via Mumbai
1/11/2009 - Delhi and flight back to Newark
12/25/2008 - Delhi
12/26/2008 - Delhi
12/27/2008 - Drive from Delhi to Agra
12/28/2008 - Agra
12/29/2008 - Jaipur
12/30/2008 - Jaipur
12/31/2008 - Flight from Jaipur to Goa
1/1/2009 - Goa
1/2/2009 - Goa
1/3/2009 - Navrati Express Train from Goa to Ernakulam (Kochin)
1/4/2009 - Kochi
1/5/2009 - Kochi
1/6/2009 - Kochi
1/7/2009 - Drive from Kochi to Periyar Wildlife Reserve
1/8/2009 - Peryiyar
1/9/2009 - Drive from Periyar to Kumarakom and board houseboat
1/10/2009 - Arrive in Alleppey via houseboat and take car to Kochi airport
Flight from Kochi to Delhi via Mumbai
1/11/2009 - Delhi and flight back to Newark
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