Taj Mahal and on to Rajasthan

We shared our train compartment en route to Agra with a decent sized mouse. It scared the living daylights out of me when the little bugger ran across the floor in under Damien’s bag. I was reminded of a certain house in Ranelagh that had gravity defying mice that just would not leave us alone! Anyway, this nifty little fella avoided capture and after darting across the floor again was not seen for the rest of the journey. At least it wasn’t a rat...

We made it to the gate of the Taj at daybreak and as the sun came up, saw the beautiful dome for the first time bathed in mist and milky early morning light. There wasn’t too much of a crowd, so plenty of room for photos and enjoying the view. 

Taj wakes up

Misty side view

You can appreciate what all the fuss over the Taj Mahal is about, it is a beautiful monument and its symmetry and perfection is so appealing. Sometimes I think seeing so many pictures of something beforehand can spoil or temper your enjoyment of seeing it in the flesh, but to be honest nothing can beat standing in front of glory like that. The mist lifted as the day began to heat up and the white marble took on a warmer glow.

Warming up

After breakfast we explored Agra fort, which is a monstrosity and later on tucked into biryani and kofta (and a sneaky beer) overlooking the Taj. Possibly my favourite part of the day, what a view!

Taj joins us for lunch, can you spot him?

This colder time of year is wedding season in India and already we had seen some of the processions going through the streets. The usual rigmarole is a noisy generator surrounded by lots of men carrying electric lanterns, a brass band, some dancing and the groom wearing a glitzy turban atop a heavily ornamented white horse. Never any sign of the bride, I think she must have a more discreet entrance. This little procession winds its way through the streets to where the reception is taking place. So walking home from a late night coffee we spotted a reception hall and were invited in by two men sitting outside. And then the madness began! Lots of little children came to talk to us offering us all kinds of sweet and savoury morsels (there was so much food!) and spiced hot milk. They were so cute and everyone there was incredibly friendly and genuinely interested in us, which was a welcome break from the usual hassle and annoyance of rickshaw wallahs and shop keepers. And everyone wanted their picture taken!

My little friends asked me to come dance with them, I couldn’t say no of course, and this turned into quite the spectacle. Then the bride and her girlfriends came up to dance as well so I ended up busting some grooves (forgive me) with them! It was all a lot of fun. Wedding crashing in India is highly recommended. 

Spot the foreigner

Next stop on the itinerary was Jaipur, the pink city. Our initial reactions were that it’s more an orangey browny colour, maybe peach at a push, but nonetheless quite nice to wander round and with excellent shopping! (It’s absolute torture having such a small bag.)

Busy central square, Jaipur

We took a government tour bus around to most of the spread out sights, with mainly middle class Indian tourists. The people we got talking to were doctors, dentists and bank officials and all very nice. Jaipur did seem wealthier than the other places we had been to and a bit cleaner, with shopping malls and more private cars. The sights were impressive, more forts and temples and a beautiful lake palace. 

Now that's pink!

Artsy snap of lake palace

There are hoards of monkeys everywhere in India, and I love looking at them, they’ve such character and personalities. At one of the forts we visited, we watched this one brazenly steal an icecream from a little boy and then share it with her baby!

Mamma works hard to put food on the table

We also took in a Bollywood film in the beautiful pink cinema in Jaipur. This was great fun, with a very animated crowd screaming, whooping booing and whistling. Couldn’t really follow the film at all though (mainly in Hindi) so we snuck off at the interval.

Next place on our whistle stop Rajasthani tour was Pushkar, another pilgrimage town (love these) set around a small lake. Meat, eggs and alcohol are forbidden here, but the food didn't suffer (and our livers surely benefitted..). Speaking of Indian food, it really has been an absolute joy to eat out here. From deep fried parcels of deliciousness doled out on the side of the street, to the number of rooftop restaurants we've eaten on, we've very rarely been disappointed, and it's all fantastically cheap. Case in point, a thali below that was served up in Pushkar. Thalis are a combination dish where you usually get two curries, daal (lentil curry), salad, raita (curd), rice, chapatti (bread) and a pappadom. A veritable feast and usually less than €2!!

Yummy

Pushkar is a nice little town, very mellow and with a lot of backpackers. The lake is surprisingly quiet and quite a stark contrast to the activity on the banks of the sacred Ganges, which surprised me. It was a pain going to look at it though, with priests (likely bogus) trying to coerce you into getting a blessing beside the water. Although I am trying to manage my temper and lack of patience here, it's a daily struggle...

Sacred lake in Pushkar

Bangle buying..

Every year there is a huge camel fair in Pushkar where traders and camels come from all over Rajasthan. It's supposed to be brilliant festival, but unfortunately it takes place in November. However there are still a lot of camels knocking around so we opted to take a safari into the scrubland surrounding the town. I couldn't get over the size of the camels, although they seem benign they are massive and very strong and surprisingly almost graceful. You mount them when they are sitting down and as they rise they lurch first forwards and then backwards and it's a struggle staying on! 

Giddy up

The camels plodded slowly through little villages on the outskirts of town and alongside herds of goats with ringing bells. The going was peaceful and with a great view, but a little sore on the bum. We stopped for the sunset and some entertainment from fire throwers and dancers. It was a nice little excursion but I won't be eager to hop on a camel again, it leaves you in pain for days! 

We left peaceful little Pushkar bound for our last two stops in Rajasthan, the city on the lake Udaipur and the blue city Jodhpur. 

From Delhi to the Ganges

After some more goodbyes and a brilliant Christmas it was time to hit the road again. First stop.. Delhi, India.

You hear a lot of things about travelling in India and so far most of them are true. It’s dirty, smelly, chaotic and maddening but it’s also one of the most culturally interesting and surprisingly beautiful places I have ever been.

Starting in Delhi was a nosedive into the thick of it. Jetlagged and tired, we managed to see a few sights in two brief days, but we fly out of Delhi later so I hope to pick up the rest then. We got around town using the relatively new metro system. It’s excellent and clean, but I began to notice that every time we got the train about 95% of people on the carriage were men. This was also true of the streets, the markets, everywhere. 

Birthday curry!

On our first evening out we were duped by a tout, who just genuinely just seemed like a friendly guy. Until he offered to bring us to the “government” tourist agency (affiliated with the government my backside). It took us about 10 minutes to get ourselves out of there, and on the scam score India was one up.

The next day we went to see the Red Fort  which was unfortunately closed because of a public holiday. The Old Delhi streets we wondered through were our first introduction to the traffic chaos that makes up a typical Indian street. Autorickshaws, cyclerickshaws, motorbikes, hand pulled carts, bicycles, hoards of pedestrians, dogs, cows and the odd car all clamour for roadspace amidst a constant din of beeping and shouting and fumes that leave you spluttering for breath. The biggest thing to absorb is the sheer number of people in the streets, I have never ever seen anything like it. People everywhere, walking, lying, selling small amounts of fruit and veg or street food, and spitting! It’s disgusting, but a common thing for Indian men and women is to hock up a massive ball of phlegm (loudly) and spit it onto the pavement.

General mayhem

We got scammed again while trying to enter the largest mosque in Delhi, €4 each when actually there’s no entry charge. India-2:Cora and Damien-nil!!

Jama Masjid

We left Delhi bound for Varanasi by train. Naturally at the train station a few people tried to tell us that our train was cancelled in the hope they’d get us into their tourist agency to rebook a ticket, but we were wise to their tricks, and the train was perfectly on schedule. We went first class, which was about €40 each (a huge amount of money in India), but the cabin was very comfortable and the surprisingly good Indian food kept on coming throughout the 12hour trip! 

Damien tucks in

We arrived in Varanasi on the banks of the River Ganges about half an hour late at 11pm, to a dark and intimidating train station. There was no sign of our agreed pickup and as we wandered around trying to find him, two army officials chased a little boy (naked from the waist down and screeching) from the platform. Not nice. Luckily a very kind guy working in the train station took pity and helped us to contact our hotel. Finally we managed to get there safely, a bit highly strung and wondering why we came to this city, which seemed so threatening and unpleasant by night. 

In the morning, everything was different. From the hotel we had a beautiful view of the wide shimmering Ganges down towards the busy bathing ghats (steps down to the water) in the misty distance.

Million dollah view

Varanasi is a special spiritual place of pilgrimage for Hindus. The River Ganges (the great mother) is considered sacred, so people come to bathe here, to be cremated on its banks, or to scatter the ashes of loved ones into its depths. The tragic thing about the Ganges is that it also is horrifically polluted, with practically no oxygen left in the water and huge levels of fecal matter present. We certainly didn't get our swimsuits out!!

Walking along the busy ghats was for me the most interesting and absorbing thing to do in Varanasi. The activity down by the water was so colourful and eye catching, from vivid saris being washed and laid out to dry to holy men all dressed in orange meditating in incense filled air. Cows and goats wandered happily through the melee, as kids played cricket and boatmen hassled us to take a trip with them. It felt like the India you see on TV, the mixture of the religious fervour and the colour and the noise, enchanting.

Sareeeeeees

Boys and their kites

Sacred cows meander (and shit) wherever they like

One day we took a tour with another couple to see some of the other sights of Varanasi. My absolute favourite was a monkey temple. We couldn’t take pictures because of security measures (it was bombed about 6 years ago by a Pakistani terrorist group). On the way in there were monkeys everywhere and when we reached the temple there was chanting and huge queues of people carrying little packages tied up with grass leaves to offer to the monkey god. A huge black wizened tree in the middle of everything was covered in offerings and incense. The whole thing was a fantastic assault on the eyes and ears and very evocative.

Later on we took a boat ride down the Ganges as the sun was setting. Everyone lit little offerings of flowers and candles and sent them down the water; it was quite magical until the little girls tried to seriously rip us off for the offerings. Ah India!

The boatman rowed us down to Manikarnika ghat, the cremation ghat. We sat still and watched bodies wrapped in bright clothes and laid on bamboo stretchers carried down towards the ghat where they were washed in the sacred waters of the Ganges. Afterwards they were placed on piles of wood and set alight as white odourless smoke filled the air.

Cremation ghat (I like that there's a purple kite flying in the top left corner)

The Hindu traditions around death are so different to our own so the whole procedure was very affecting, strange and fascinating. The bodies are only touched by Doms, one of the lowest castes (Indian social classes), as touching a dead body is considered polluting. The wood used to burn the bodies is carefully weighed and charged to the families and different types of wood have different prices. Once the body is burned the ashes are given to Mother Ganga. 

Shimmering Ganges at night

Varanasi is an auspicious place to die for Hindus as dying and being cremated here offers release from the endless cycle of life and death and the ability to obtain nirvana. To learn about and experience Hinduism in such close quarters has been one of the most interesting cultural experiences of my life so far. Religion is an essential part of everyone’s life here and it’s colourful and all encompassing, from the bells and chanting and beautiful shrines in the temples and on the streets to the connection to the river and the deep belief in its powers. It will be hard to forget Varanasi.

But it was time to move on, and with henna'd hands and a train delayed by about about 7 hours we made our way towards Agra, home to one of the most famous and beautiful monuments in the world. How exciting!

Pre-departure lounge

No we're not gone yet. I'm sitting at the living room table in Milltown while the frost closes in on the garden outside. Earlier on I took a walk down the Milltown road (now made famous by my parent's petition to have it resurfaced, Tad Ciechanowicz on page four in the Meath chronicle yo!) and the mist was settling all around as a baffled looking sheep baa'd at me. I met no one aside from a girl in a pink tracksuit with earphones who seemed to have lost her way from her usual running spot on the Grand Canal and ended up on my pothole-ridden mucky country road. I hope she gets back ok.

Yes this is all quite superfluous, but I had to clear the headache that India is giving me (before we've even arrived). After much deliberation Damien and I have booked a flight to Delhi, leaving Monday the 21st January.

India headache #1

Did either of us consider that we may need a visa to enter India? Why of course not! What use are a couple of degrees, shedload of actuarial exams and so on if common sense deserts you at the most important times??
Luckily the thought fluttered through my head at approximately one a.m. last night as I tried in vain to download an episode of Gossip Girl (guilty as charged). Oh I'll just double check we can get a visa on arrival - as was the case in all the south American countries - dum di dum I'll google it - slow internet in Milltown - oh crap.
It's as a result of this I'll be up early tomorrow to hightail it to Ranelagh and hope the lovely Indian Embassy staff will grant us the visa at short notice. In emergencies (and with a €50 fee) it seems that they do, so fingers and toes crossed please.

India headache #2

Trains. Well India is famous for its mammoth railway, employing 1.5m people and spanning the length and breadth of the world's largest democracy. I am quite excited about travelling on India's trains, first class is cheap, it's a great way to see the countryside and I am a fan of train travel in general, it's a comfortable and civilised way to travel. ALAS it seems trains in India need to be booked about SEVEN years in advance as there are NO free tickets on ANY of the services we want.. ARGH!!! With a bit of jiggling and some unwanted stops I think we have ironed this bit out, for the first part of the trip anyway.

India headache #3

Any guidebook/forum that you read will scaremonger you to the last about the scams in India. I'm sure they are right to a certain extent, so to avoid the number one scam I wanted to book quite a bit of accommodation in advance with pickups from the train/bus station included. This is how the scam usually goes...

Tourist: "Please can you take me to hotel XYZ Mr Rickshaw man?"
Rickshaw driver: "Oh madam that hotel is..." (and here he chooses from the long list below)
closed, burned down, infested with cockroaches, fully booked, invaded by aliens, ran by crazy people, dirty, flooded, falling down, etc etc
And then he insists on taking you somewhere where they will give him a fat commission.

So I hoped to book online in advance, and as always I thought I would use my usual dependable friend Tripadvisor to give me a steer on some decent budget places. It became apparent very quickly that the old Indians have copped onto the fact that a healthy Tripadvisor rating leads to healthy bookings.. and are all reviewing themselves over and over again. It's very easy to spot these fake reviews, the reviewer's photo is not of themselves but of a landmark, the names always have lots of letters and other symbols and the reviews flow in a very similar style, no punctuation being the main aspect.

For example:   

we stayed in single night in this hotel we are sleeping verry good verry quite room and clean hot shower coming any time you need front desk verry help full and room service and food quality are verry good location is near to metro station

I don't think I'm being cynical - this review was allegedly written by an Australian. They also always have written only one review ever. It screams dodgy, so I think a lot of the overall ratings are skewed. I can live with this of course, but it was just verry funny to keep seeing the same sort of reviews over and over again!

Not quite at this stage with the yoga yet...

So that's the end of my India rant, I feel better now and more optimistic that when we get there things will be cool, calm and collected. I will not get scammed and will spend my time sitting around beautiful lakes and temples meditating in a sari. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!