Agra

I haven't posted for a few days. I am ill again. It seems that most of this trip I have been ailing to some degree. The only time not was in the desert. I don't have my notes with me so will give only a brief reporting. We trained to Delhi and walked to our hotel in a zone popular with tourists. The most desirable and preferred hotel was fully booked so we picked another from our travel guide. We stayed there three nites, despite the fact that it was probably the worst yet experienced in India as the street noise, including nightly Hari Krishna singing permeated like there were no walls. Besides walking around, we went on a city bus tour that takes in the highlighted tourist scenes including the red Fort. It was the usual type tour of temples, one of which was quite unique.

It was a Hindu temple built by some wealthy family and was very large over a big piece of property. Inside were many inscriptions in English about the faith.

Also we were taken to an ultra modern Bhai' (?) temple that reminded me somewhat like the Sidney Opera House. It is non denominational but appears to me to be fairly cultish and is based on some prophets (profits) from the 1800's.













We took the train to Agra on a fairly high speed and comfortable coach. This is our 4th day here. Travel arrangements are quite difficult ( to Varanasi, our next stop) due to demand by tourists. Finally we agreed for our hotel to make arrangement as they promised they could get us tickets and to ignore what we were hearing from others (for eg. one couple told us they couldn't get tickets because trains were fully booked for six days. There used to be air service but that has been discontinued.

So of course the attraction here is the Taj Mahal and it is truly impressive. I predict it will last another 495 year. LOL It is being degraded by pollution and there are reports that the minarets are starting to run the risk of toppling due to the foundations weakening from water.


Here it is!










One building along one of the streets was a place for Muslim women to view parades since they were not allowed to be seen in public





Our guest house here is nice and pleasant but has a quite limited veggie menu. Yesterday we ate at Zorba the Buddha. The best meal yet in India and a very trustworthy restaurant. I had Mugai Sadzi with rice.

Today we are waiting on our train for tonite. Pedro is back at the Taj and I am at this internet.

Another day another fort

Jaipur
OK I dwell too much on the pollution but for me it is overwhelming how we as a species can get ourselves into such a state. Anyway Jaipur (still in Rajashstan state) have billboards proclaiming to be the Clean and Green City (not). But there d seem to be some efforts toward that. For example in the old part of city "The Pink City" there is actually a pedestrian only street. The City itself was laid out by one of the Singh rulers who had a thing for astronomy and orderlinness sothat the streets are laid out in grid fashion which is uncommon in other cities. The traffic flow here is a bit more orderly - traffic police and lights seem to generally be obeyed and one can cross the street with relatively greater sense of safety and less adrenaline flow than in other places we have been.
Yesterday we took a full day bus our operated by the Rajasthan Tourist Development Corp. The city is quite widely spread out and one of the main attractions (a Fort and Palace) are 11 km outside the city in the mounatainous regions just beyond Jaipur. The tour "guide/commentator" on the bus spoke a raspy english, but stood at the front of the bus and had no microphone. We were at the back of the bus and couldn't hear a word he said; but even when close to him I couldn't understand most of what he was saying. I was not alone.
There were three Forts on the tour - they tend to have a sameness and vary mostly in the degree of restoration or not. The difference with these were that they were atop a mountain and thus provided a vast view (limited by , you guessed it - pollution) Most of these forts started to be built around 100 to 1200 I believe and were defence against the moghuls and other would be invaders. In addition to the forts are the Palaces - the main one we visited is the residence (off limits) of the current 72 year old 'monarch' The Singhs are still called royalty but in the Inidan contect they are not kings and queens. They have donated most of there palace and fort holdings to the State.
The tour went fairly smoothly and we were targeted to be back at the starting by six pm. The tour sort of broke down around 5:50 when we were at the Amber Fort where we had to leave the bus and take a very old jeep up a very bumpy and smelly road to the fort. Half way back to the bus we were taken to the mandatory official craft sellers wich puportadly were official government establishment associated with cottage industries. It is hard to tell sometimes what is "official" but I think this one was. Anyway the jeeps at this point disapeared. The drivers had already been paid. So we waited and had to be ferried back to the bus in different groups by this one jeep and we are already past six .
I had wanted to treat ourselves to some lamb curry at a restaurant called The Copper Chimney" but Pedro was quite tired and didn't want a big meal so we ate at a Pizza Hut. Oh well it is good to have some American franchise food now and again!

By the way on our way back down the switchback on our bus tour I noticed a sign "Plastic Free Zone" What a concept!! I think it was probably a little nature preserve as I noticed a lot of peacocks around (India's national bird) Any way I think that is an awesome concept for towns and cities in Canada and could be used toin concert with the 'no plastic bag' plicy being adopted by many towns. Plastic water bottle discards are a major problem around the world, including Canada (right Sharon)

OK enough for now. My adductors are back to normal and my butt is healing ok.

Off to Delhi tonite on train. Arrive arond 10:30 and have a hotel booked. They promised to keep for late arrival so here is hoping. I had quite a bit of difficuly finding a place. We are peak tourist season.

Jaipur

I haven't posted for a few reasons. I didn't really feel like writing and for the last few days I have not had access to Internet. However I will try to recollect for a brief update. From Udaipur we traveled to Jodhpur via "super delux bus" because the train was booked up for at least two more days. This super delux is anything but. Our ticket was for 8:30 AM departure with show time of 8:00. When we got to the bus station (private out of the way) the person in charge ranted at us that the bus left an hour ago. I suspect the buses depart whenever they are full. Anyway he scribbled new seat assignments on the next bus and we departed. Very basic bus with no air and a long slow ride over bumpy narrow roads. I was still not feeling so well by the time we got to Jodhpur but it was a smaller city and a bit less pollution. The main attraction is a fort built high on a cliff and we hiked up the side of the cliff road and did the tourist thing. It is very strategically placed and is part of the long history of Rajasthan State and the ruling Singh royal dynasty which ended when the Brits colonized India .
It was the custom for the queens and other noble women; that when their men were killed in battle, that they would dress in their finest garments and jewels and hold a procession to a burning pyre where they would walk into the fire and burn themselves to death. Picture that!
Besides visiting Jodhpur for the Fort, the other main reason was to be a jumping off point for further travel to Jaisalmer. To get to Jaisalmer we had to take the bus as there is no train connection from here. Again we had a bus ticket on some private operation that departed from some rubbish strewn, foul smelling alley. Our ticket time was the same as above and we arrived over an hour before scheduled departure. We were loaded onto a bus that was sitting there, the only one, and departed around 7:30. A very trying trip. Worse than riding a school bus. They pack the buses to the extreme with people filling the aisles and even some on the roof of the bus. Again a very long, slow bumpy foul ride. Well we do finally make it to Jaisalmer and rickshaw our way to a "Hotel" - The Moti Palace. I had called ahead for a reservation .
This hotel is inside the old Fort - much like the one in Jodhpur except that this is the only fort of old where businesses operate, and people live within the fort walls. Many illegally. There is a restoration project but I fear it is a complete waste. It is comprised of some 12 trusts and administered by some bureaucratic office of the Indian Government. There was no evidence of any active restoration going on and one can imagine after all the administration and bureaucratic wrangling and with so many agencies that probably not much funding or work actually ends up going toward the restoration. In any event the uncontrolled use of water and of illegal occupants serves to cause water erosion that is crumbling the foundations. This is known yet there is no effort to fix the eroding structure.
From Jaisalmer we booked a three day, two nite Camel safari in the Indian desert. This was a very good, peaceful change after all the noisy polluted urban environments. My adductors protested loudly and my coccyx was rubbed raw from the camel riding but the air was essentially clear and I recovered health wise. We had good guides and good food (although it was pretty much the same fare over the three days) but all cooked with mineral water. There were only four of us - Pedro and myself and two young Brits ; an 18 yo male and 20 something female. I think Pedro could have done without the experience but I loved the dunes and desert scape and seeing the farms in the middle of the desert.

Anyway we are now her in Jaipur , another tourist city in Rajasthan, for two nites and then on to Delhi. We had another long train ride overnite. My personal commentary is that the India economic boom will be short lived. Software development can prosper here because of the low cost software and IT people and the foreign companies can set up their own satellite links and do not have to rely on basic infrastructure. The country is a long long way from being a manufacturing giant - they just do not have the rail or road infrastructure to support them. And, heaven help India if the masses start to have private auto ownership!

Catch you later

Udaipur India

I have had no postings for a few days so a brief update. We left Mumbai (thankfully) and took an overnite a/c sleeper to Ahmedabad . A long , long ride. Upon arrival at Ahmadabad around 7:00 we immediately booked in at a hotel a couple of km's from the train station. Very nice economy hotel with air and fan, private washroom with sit down toilet and hot shower and cable TV. Very well kept and a welcome relief (just on Relief Rd!) Unfortunately Ahmadabad is very highly polluted in all ways - air, water and noise. I got quite sick and spent the next three days in bed. I had severe pains in my head all over my cranium, my eyeball, cheek bones and teeth as well as all over the bod. I seemed to recover a bit but I had no energy and couldn't even bring myself to get to an internet terminal. I am not sure what caused the sickness which I would say a combo of heat and pollution.
The next two days we hung around and gradually did some walking. Unfortunately each outing brought with it a new round of sore throat, respiratory problems and coughing.
Ahmadabad in Gujarat State is the centre of textile industry and seems to be prospering . Paradoxically there is little evidence of private auto ownership but lots and ;lots of motorbikes and little CNG, fueled three wheeled taxis. They are all constantly blowing their horns.
Finally got energy to book a train out of Ahmedabad to Udaipur. The 300 km journey took 8 hours on the only train that connects . Another cramped sleeper There is no room to move about the train. You are confined to the assigned car and there is no dining or club car.

This town is on a lake and is extremely quiet compared to Ahmadabad and Mumbai. We are in Lake Ghat guest house that so far seems very attractive and a nice place to recover. There are a lot of tourists walking around. I'll keep you posted. We will probably stay three days and walk around to different temples etc. Tomorrow is festival day (in all of India I think) Daliwal Day (or something like that - I have to check)

By the way I have not had a lot of success in uploading photos. The system always seems to freeze up. I'll try a computer in Delhi which may be more robust.