ThorneInIndia sent you a video: "Alli of the Thar"

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ThorneInIndia has shared a video with you on YouTube: No pride... I like riding camels! Alli of the Thar 3 Oct, 2009 camel excursion in Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India to watch sunset over Pakistan.
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Best quotes heard on the evening the Diwali party as the fireworks rev'd up:

10. Uh, oh! (as a major projectile tipped over)
9. Everyone behind the trees! 
8.  Wasn't that supposed to go up?
7. Why weren't you laughing?
6. Stand behind the wall, its safer!
5. I REALLY like this!
4. Not a good night to be a motorcycle delivery guy.
3. Ouch, maybe I should have put some shoes on.
2. That didn't sounds too good.
1. Kind of like the Fourth of July... but more illegal... and fun!

North India Tour

We saved our North India Tour until Alli's folks came to India for a visit, and the five of us left B'lore Sep 19 returning Oct 4.  The whole trip was an astonishing set of contrasts as we started in Darjiling, and ended in Jaisalmer - from the Himalaya to the desert, from the land of the Buddha to the heartland of Hinduism then to the edge of Islam, also contrasting the North with our South India experiences.  The trip is just too much to handle in a single entry, so the NIT will be composed of multiple blog entries and we are working on the photo album - it will be attached when it's ready.  However, there are over 2,000 pictures to sort through, and Larrie shot 2+ hours of video; so, the visual aids may take a while to sort out.  In the meantime, please enjoy.

We have searched the thematic elements to help us "name" the NIT; some of the entries in the short list are:

• Alli's Massage Tour
  
• The Great Pigeon Poop Pool Tour
  
• How many ways can a chicken order turn out wrong Tour
  
• No, I do not want to look at 200 (bedspreads, shawls, necklaces, etc.) before you show me want I asked you to show me Tour
• Oh no, not another fort Tour
• Alli of the Thar! (you must see the video of Alli on her noble one humped steed!)

You might remember our Kerala Tour last December, and you might remember that tour was arranged and choreographed by Oriana Travel Shop.  Well, Nirmal did it again!  His team put together a first class tour that is the best of Northern India.  All of the guides, greeters, drivers, and other support folks were handled by Oriana, and our tour went off without a hitch.  We left on time, arrived home (pretty much) on time (with luggage, even), and we owe our thanks to Nirmal Iype and Oriana.  Thanks, Oriana!

Day 01: 19 Sep '09

Our first day started early as we were up at 02:30 for the drive to the B'lore airport.  Our plan called for traveling to Darjeeling via Kolkata and Bagdogra.  At Bagdogra we met our guide, Mr. Dawa, and proceeded to Darjeeling by vehicle over the most amazing road ever traversed by any of the members of the troupe.  Our next tour stop was Kolkata, followed by a bounce through Delhi airport en route to Varanasi.  Then back to Delhi, Agra (you cannot miss the Taj Mahal when visiting India), ending up in Rajasthan cities of Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jailsalmer.  Eight cities, 15 nights, 16 days, uncountable km on highways and byways.  What a tour!

A quick note about domestic travelling in India.  If you change airlines, you have to get your baggage and move it to the next airline as there are no inter-airline baggage transfers.  Also, for those accustomed to US airports, going through security to get to the gate is not standardised, with the exception of getting frisked.  For example in Kolkata we endured a long transfer wait in the airport, had to do the inter airline baggage shift (get baggage, go to ticketing, check in baggage), but had to wait in a queue in ticketing until it was our time to check in, then wait again in a queue for our flight to show up on security board [also tells which gate you’re departing from], and then go through security, again. Unbelievable!

Day 16: 04 Oct '09

On the last day of the trip we had to travel from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur as the Jaisalmer airport is no longer in use.  Upon entering Jodhpur, we took a different route to avoid the core of the city that took us through a heavy stone processing area.  Camel carts are used in the area to move stone around, and we discovered how a camel cart brake works.  Each cart has an old tire on a chain, and when the animal is going down an incline, the tire is put out behind the cart, piled with stone for weight, and the 2nd mate is detailed to ride the brake (on top of the stones) down the incline.

Our departure from Jodhpur was an hour late due to inclimate weather in Mumbai.  We arrived in Mumbai 20 minutes late for transferring to the Bangalore flight.  However, serendipity was on our shoulders as we discovered that the Bangalore flight had likewise been held, and the group and our baggage made the flight home arriving only an hour late to a big smile from Imtiaz who was there to pick us up.

"It was raining hard in Mumbai, We needed one more flight to make our night.

The agent up ahead flagged us aside, We took off into the lights."

My appologies to Harry Chapin.  Also, we returned to two very happy to have humans in the house again cats.  

So back to the task at hand, the rest of the tour breaks down as follows in separate entries:

Darjeeling - Mountains in the mist

Kolkata and Varanasi - Life and Death

Delhi and Agra - Moguls and Wonders

Jaipur and Jodhpur - Maharajahs, Palaces, and Forts

Jaisalmer - Living fort and ships in the desert

Post note:  After returning from the trip we viewed an Indian movie "Jodhaa Akbar", which is a fictional account of love during the time of Emperor Akbar who lived in the Agra Red Fort.  The movie has many scenes that were shot at the Agra fort and the Jaipur fort, and it is quite interesting to see these places for real, and then to see them envisioned in the movie as they were being used.  While the movie is fictional, it does provide a glimpse of life into 15th century mogul and maharajah life, and it is worth a view.  It is in Hindi with English subtitles.

NIT - Darjeeling

Day 01: 19 Sep ‘09 - Bangalore to Kolkata to Bagdogra to Darjeeling

We met Mr. Dawa and driver at the Bagdogra airport, loaded up our baggage, and headed for Darjeeling - a really long drive over an extremely interesting road.  Earlier in the season a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal damaged the road, and then the road suffered monsoon erosion and slippage.  Needless to say, in spots the road was missing, or had slide down the mountain a couple of feet.  At its best, the road was wide enough for two trucks, at its worst, barely one truck; none of it up to US safety standards.  During one particular harrowing section looking to the left or right revealing nothing but air - a one lane ridge way with a train.  The road to Hana in Maui is interstate compared to the road to Darjeeling.  The trip took around six hours, including the stop at Kurseong.

Darjeeling is famous for tea plantations.  Also, the timber industry is a large support to their economy - mostly teak and Japanese pine.  Other observations are the tea pickers baskets, which are woven bamboo, and here the chicken cages at the chicken stalls are bamboo.  The locals utilize local natural resources more than in south India.

We stopped mid way for a break in Kurseong to discover beer and momos; needless to say, we stayed longer that we should have, and we arrived in Darjeeling in darkness.  Imagine that road in the dark.  We encamped at the Mayfair Hotel, which is at the bottom of a really narrow driveway - mostly an alley.  The hotel is a very nice hotel, and it turned out to be Alli's favorite due to its "lodge" charm.  We settled in to our rooms, and then went in search of sustenence.  Since this was Alli's folks first encouter with hotel food in India, we decided to order from the menu rather than do the buffet.  Our orders were placed, and verified... waiter: "Yes, ma’am, that’s three orders of sautéed chicken [head nod]";  Alli: "Yes, three orders of chicken satay"; waiter: "Ma'am, that is going to take a long time", and Alli now admits that should have been the clue regarding gross missed communication.  And so began the trials of getting our food ordered and cooked correctly during the whole trip.  Needless to say, we did not enjoy the sautéed chicken, which set off a culinary cascade that we never recovered from as this particular set of culinary experts attempted to correct the situation by bringing unordered food on subsequent days, and the confusion propogated to all the days of our stay in Darjeeling.  The beer was cold.

Day 02:20 Sep’09 - Darjeeling

Excursion to Mirik Lake, which is nestled in forested hills at an altitude of 5800 ft.

Durring our visit the weather in Darjeeling was cloudy and foggy.  Mr. Dawa, our guide, decided that we sould do Mirik Lake on the first day and view the Himalaya on the second day.  A decision that proved to be prescient.  So, we ventured to Mirik lake on our first day, which is very nice drive down off the peaks of Darjeeling through some wonderful Japanese pine forests along the Nepal border.  We encountered several Border Security Force outposts partway through the trip.  It turns out that Mirik is very close to Nepal.  The BSF mission in the area is to control the movements of the Maoists from Nepal into India, and because we were truly foreigners, we were stopped for about 10 minutes at the first one while the driver did some serious explaining about our presence.

Traffic on the road was heavy due to a statehood political rally.  The Bagdogra – Darjeeling region is a gerrymander to the state of West Bengal.  The people are of Mongol heritage dating back to the time of Genghis, and they are petitioning the Indian central government to be and independent state – Ghorkaland.  Turns out, there are some shenanigans regarding who supports this movement and why that we read about in the paper after leaving the area, which also explained why the BSF was so interested in our travels.

Also, another note on local traffic – there are 

few buses, but they do have a lot of “share jeeps”, and it appeared to us that you can get 10-15 folks inside the jeep, and 6-8 on the roof, while 1-2 hanging off the back standing on the bumper.  And, a quick observation about the quadrupeds in the region - there are few cows, and quite a number of dogs.  And the dogs appear to be quite short legged.  Our theory is that when the Raj pulled out of Darjeeling, they abandoned a number of horny Corgi’s, who promptly shortened subsequent generations.   

Mirik is a very nice little village surrounding the lake.  Jess took a 30 minute horse ride around the lake while the rest of us bipeds walked.  On the village side we encountered a number of hens with chicks.  One hen had fashioned a nest in the dirt at the base of a tree.  It was bowl shaped and about 4 inches deep.  Larrie dubbed it “an egg plant”.  One shop keeper, upon seeing Jess enjoying the chickens, “called” them, and they all came running.  Whereupon, she fed them, and Jess enjoyed the moment – a hen party (ahem!).

Upon our return to Darjeeling, we were to walk back to the hotel through the upper market.  Alli took advantage of the time to return by vehicle to the hotel and have the first of many massages.  While the rest of us were in the upper market we stopped at the Golden Tips Tea shop, where the science of what makes a great cup of tea were explained to us – in order to get us to buy a bunch of very expensive tea; however, I must say that first leaf oolong is quite good. We walked back to the hotel though the market where it was quite peaceful and serene.  Darjeeling reminds one of West Glacier during the evening time - mountain peacfulness in the cool air.

A number of houses in the region fly Buddhist prayer flags and are adorned by many flower pots.  A number of species of orchid grow in the region, and the people are very happy to have color in their lives.  A marked contrast to South India, where most folks of modest means eek out a life with a cow and several chickens in the front yard.

At the end of the day, and upon the return to the hotel, hungry and tired, the culinary issues with the hotel continued to plague as the waiter decided, on his own, to make amends for the prior nights chicken satay fiasco, and brought up some pasta thing bathed in a really obnoxious green stuff.  It tasted worse that it looked.

Day 03: 21 Sep ‘09 - Darjeeling

Up early to drive to Tiger hill and watch the spectacular sunrise over Mt. Kanchenjunga (28,208 ft. Worlds third highest peak), on your way back visit Ghoom Monastery.

Mr. Dawa had us up and moving in darkness (04:00) in an attempt to defeat the clouds and fog and view Mt. Kanchenjunga, which is 80 km. to the North of Darjeeling.  Once at the peak of Tiger Hill (about 7500 ft elevation), it looked to be that we were above the cloud cover.  It was a glorious sunrise, worth the price of admission.  And, bonus, we were lucky enough to see the tip of Everest, which was over 160 km away on the Nepali / China border to our East Northeast.  This ritual plays out every day of the year, and there were a number of folks on top of the mountain, but like all other similar events, once the main act, in this case sunrise, occured everyone scurried on about their quotidian business.  As we stood there admiring a magnificent mountain, the cloud cover that was below us, rose to obscure the mountain.  We were very lucky to have seen the mountain at all.

In the lower 48, mountains rise about 5,000 ft from the base elevation.  Whether in the Rockies or the Appalachia, that generality holds.  However, the Himalaya are huge.  We stood at 7,500 ft looking at a mountain of 28,000 ft and 80 km away, and it loomed before us as though we could touch it.  Truly spiritual for those who appreciate a good sunrise over snow laden peaks.

Leaving the sunrise to return to hotel for breakfast, we stopped at the Ghoom Monastery where our guide, Mr. Dawa, explained the various artifacts that make up a Buddhist temple.  Observed a sleeping dog in the couryard sunlight in all the confusion.  Several people walked up and stood next to it, walked past it, and it slept on.  Once in a while it would roll over to allow the sun to warm another spot, but it never woke up.  Could be the dog was an enlightened canine living in nirvana that is Darjeeling.

After breakfast, we visited the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center, where they made woolen things to wear and walk on from scratch using the tools of the ancients.  It was very heart warming watching these quiet people live the lives of their ancestors.  Sheared wool was carded and spun into thread.  Dyed by natural dyes, the wool was used in different looms to make rugs, shawls, and other cloth that was assembled into other types of clothing.  Also, some looms made the silk apron worn by the women to signify marriage.  Jess purchased a shawl in the gift shop, however, the woolen vests just wouldn’t go around Larrie’s portliness; so, a sale missed.  Rug orders were out a year; so, the quality of work is recognized across the world.  All of the artisens where very happy to show Jess how their work contributed to the whole, and Jess was all too happy to listen and study their prowess.

Leaving the refugee center, we toured the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park  and the attached Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.  Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa accompaning Sir. Edmund Hillary during the first ascent of Everest in 1953, lived in Darjeeling and was quite the local hero.  The zoo was interesting as a zoo of local beasts and birds.  The HMI was a museum dedicated to climbing expeditions.

Upon exiting the zoo, we immediately found ourselves in a epic traffic jam, which are quite common to Darjeeling as most of the roads are footpaths in width, and for some odd reason the drivers think that two vehicles can pass each other in the narrow sections.  Needless to say, it was a good thing the zoo had bathrooms.  Lunch was late, but we found our way to a momo place near the upper market.  Following lunch we descended (quite literally) into the lower market area, which leaves the backside Commercial Street of B’lore in the dust for compactness, steepness and density.  However the experience was short lived as having had a bit too much of the market and the teeming throng, we retreated to the hotel for cold beers and solitude.  Introverts on vacation, you know.

Almost forgot to mention that while we were in Darjeeling, another state close by had an earthquake of 6.3 magnitude that was felt throughout the region.  We did not feel it as we were walking through the market areas, and it was well we did not hear of the quake until getting back to flat ground.  I’m not sure the stress of that road and the news of a quake were congruent with pleasant traveling.

To sum up Darjeeling, Larrie indicated that of all the places in India this was a place to grow old happily, and that he could do so.  It was cool, cloudy, foggy, and moments of sun at an elevation of 7500 ft with a view of the most magnificent mountains on earth.  The heritage of the people is different as their traditions do not appear to have be hijacked by those seeking fame and fortune.  Serene and truly a place to contemplate ones purpose and value while drinking some mighty fine tea.  Allison summarized Darjeeling as Russell Market meets Lombard Street.

Day 04:22 Sep’09 Darjeeling to Calcutta

On the road again - down the mountain to the airport.  We got caught in several traffic jams on the highway.  One was so thick, and Alli’s bladder so full, that she decided to walk to Kurseong where we were going to stop for a respite anyway.  Jess and I accompanied her arriving at theexact same time as the car.  It was a very nice 5 km walk along the Darjeeling Railway tracks.

From the point of the respite in Kurseong, we took a new road to the airport that avoided a lot of the time consuming roadway.  The new road was supposed to be faster; however,  fast is a relative term in India as it does not mean less time or more speed.  We passed some of the largest bamboo we have seen – 6-8 inch in diameter.  Another shortcut was taken to be faster still, and discovered that road repairs had closed the road, and we were forced to retreat to the main road whereupon we discovered a Tazo tea plantation.  The world get smaller traversing roads less traveled, I guess.

NIT - Kolkata / Varanasi

Day 04: 23 Sep’09 - Backtracking to Kolkata

After our harried trip off the mountain from Darjeeling, we arrived at the Bagdogra airport with 30 minutes to spare – a bit too close for this traveling crowd.  However, we made it, got checked in, caught our breath, and we were airborne again.  Upon arrival in Kolkata and en route to the hotel, we toured Pareshnath Jain Temple.  It was a modern temple (19th century) covered in jeweled glass and mirror fragments – kitschy, something you have to see to believe.

We stayed at the Oberoi Grand, which is about the finest hotel we have ever visited, and bonus, they got the food just perfect!  And, the beginning of one of our themes that will be explained along the journey, no pigeons in the pool.  Jess went swimming, mom and dad had shrimp,  calamari and beer by the pool; ah, life is truly grand!

Day 05: 23 Sep’09 - Kolkata

Kolkata is a tricky place.  It is a city of 15 million people at night, and swells to 21 million during the daytime.  It is the administrative capital for several of Eastern and Northeastern Indian States.  And it was the point of entry for the East India Company when the Raj took control of India - even serving as the capital of the country for awhile.  Kolkata traffic is traffic with a capital T.  Unbelievable!  Also, Kolkata claims the centerpiece of Indian art, dance, and theatre; hence there is a different vibe to the place.

The city was bustling with preparations for Dussehra celebrations, and in Kolkata that means hundreds of temporary temples that compete in an art contest - kind of like the Mardi Gras Krews in New Orleans.  There were some really interesting themes taken from cultures the world over for the temples, which was a fantastic display of the art creativity of Kolkata.  As noted, the temples were temporary.  Most were constructed of small logs lashed together with hemp rope, wrapped in what we would call gunny sack material, muddied for stucco, and painted.  The most elaborate we saw had a hard panel for walls instead of muddied gunny sack, and real marble for a floor.  Most have some sort of lighting to enhance the ambiance, and some sort of sound system, which if there are too many of these temples close by creates quite a cacophony of sound.

Also, visited an upscale Krishna temple.  Of interest here was the contrast of the opulence of the place with profuse use of white marble and golden idols to the “poor” woman who had snuck onto the property to pray and was escorted off property by security.  I guess she was a child of a lesser caste god. And not to be left off the temple tour, was the Kalighat Kali Temple.  If you remember your Indiana Jones, in “Temple of Doom” the bad guys worshiped Kali, the goddess of destruction.  Well, at this temple they did not do human sacrifice, but they did sacrifice goats.  We did not see it happen, but we did see blood on the marble, and the temple was very busy and  was quite odorous.

As indicated above, it was Dussehra season, which honors Durga (one of the Hindu pantheon).  We visited the area of the city where the temporary temple idols are constructed out of straw and clay.  Quite the slum, complete with a host of interesting resident artists.  An eye opener to say the least as there were many very narrow dirt passageways to traverse and people everywhere.  The density of Kolkata is very intimidating and almost choking.  We never felt at risk, but, well, you know, too many relatives in the house spoil the season.

Lastly, we went to Coffee House in the book district. The book district is several streets dedicated to an open air book market – very interesting, and a natural magnet for book lovers and intellectuals.  The Coffee House is where the intellectuals of Kolkata come to discuss lofty subjects, indeed, by watching the patrons, it looked prime for compelling discussions.

Kolkata is not just another Indian city; it has a creatively different vibe.  It is not dirty ubiquitous, but ubiquitous decay is very noticeable.  B’lore is renewal without forethought, whereas Kolkata had forethought, maintains green space and wide roads – while suffering choking traffic and chronic decay of buildings.

Day 06: 24 Sep ’09 - Kolkata to Varnasi 

Ok, a theme is developing about vacating one city to travel to the next via air.  The escort to the Kolkata airport was late to pick us up from the hotel, and we arrived at the airport just in time to clear security and walk onto the plane.  Again, a bit close for our tastes.  Note that folks from the West think in terms of on time, whereas folks from the East think in terms of in time. Of interest this time through the Kolkata airport was Alli’s mom, Bev, who was weary of cramped, hot, noisy Indian airports.  In order to clear security, each airline hands out branded tags for carry on luggage.  The tags are attached to the carry on item and are stamped by the security personnel when the carry on item is scanned.  We did not have the correct brand of tag for the airline we were traveling on.  Apparently, that is a no-no.  Queue Bev, who promptly informed a CSIF machine gun toting military person at the gate that it was not our fault that his staff messed up, and we were not to be denied access to our flight.  Amen! We proceeded without further ado to the plane.  I guess the Indian CSIF does not want to mess with mature a blond chick with attitude!

In order to get to Varanasi from Kolkata, we had to transfer through Delhi.  Again, we had to move our luggage from one airline to the other – this time to a different terminal.  Delhi has a really nice modern airport!  We had a leisurely lunch, boarded the plane and were quickly en route to Varanasi.  Since we were only in Varansi for one night (at The Gateway Hotel Ganges Varanasi), the tour started upon arrival.  Attempting to move ones own luggage into / out of the smaller airports is to attract the baggage gulls [ok, think of the seagulls in Finding Nemo].  They spot you with baggage in tote, and they apparate themselves with baggage cart to your position.  If you attempt to use the cart, they will seek renumeration for their service.  To that end, it was nice of the greeters to meet us before the gulls got to us, but they were still a bother on the whole trip.

You have to understand Varanasi in order to tour it.  It has multiple facets, but there are three major ones.

First, it has been a holy place for Hindus for thousands of years on the edge of the Ganges – Mother Ganga.  What Mecca is the Muslims, Varanasi is to the Hindus, with a twist.  In order to break the cycle of reincarnation, the Hindu must attain moksha, and it is best done here on the Ganga.  So, this is a place of death as people who are dying come here to prepare for death and to achieve moksha.  For those already dead, being cremated by the Ganga is huge plus, and there are many crematoriums going 24-7, which was a little surprising to us. The cremations are handled by the Doms, and the Doms are managed by the Dom Raja. The entire death retail practice is owned by the Dom Raja.  The title of Dom Raja is hereditary, and the role is from ancient times.  The dude has a nice palace on the edge of the river; apparently, the death business is lucrative.

Second, the Ganges itself is the soul of the Hindu, and the Ganga Aarti is performed each evening where the river is thanked for its contribution to their existence.  During the ceremony, the guide told us about the aum (om) sound, and that the Brahmin priests would make the sound.  He indicated that he has heard this done many times, and that it still raises the hair on his arms.  I can concur - when the priests did the aum sound, I did have an odd feeling roll through my body, and my hair stood up – even though it was very hot and sticky.

Third, the morning rituals.  Each Hindu pilgrim baths in the Ganga, and welcomes the sun during sunrise.  Those that are grieving lost ones begin the process by having their head shaved.  Also, several Brahmin priests are available for other spiritual needs, and they set up shop under woven bamboo umbrellas on the ghats of the Ganga.  Real estate that is handed down from father to son, and a lucrative business as the donation of gold increases ones access to spirituality.

All of these events unfold on the ghats of the Ganga every day of the year.  Being of western decent, and with a rational and reasonable mind, it was quite interesting to behold and not easily understood.

Lastly, Varanasi is famous for silk weaving.  The system works similar to the shoe merchants of 18th century Boston, where the merchant would travel into the country having villagers do the task in their home, minimizing his investment in production.  A silk merchant, whose shop we visited, had 20,000 Jacquard looms in houses producing silk cloth for him.  We visited one home with four looms.  Most of the weaving is done by the Muslim community within Varanasi.

Day 07: 25 Sep’09 - Varnasi (then on to Delhi)

Early morning proceed to the Ghats where it is believed that people are cleansed physically, mentally and spiritually at the Ghats of the Ganga, one of the most sacred places of Hindus.

We did the morning ritual tour at sunrise, touring past several temples and buildings that were 1,000 years old and still inhabited by the very family that built them.  Of interest was the gold temple that had 1,500 lbs of gold on the roof, and where someone had given 6.5 kgs of gold as a gift the previous day.  Also, we wandered about a bit in the pathways of the old town.  Being a city mostly predicated on death, the pathways and narrow streets were not all that clean.  Several free wandering cows saw to it that our luck increased with each step we took

Jess and Alli stayed at the hotel for the morning tour and went to the pool.  The pigeons were not too deep to keep Jess from having a good time and making some new friends.  Also, upon return to the hotel for breakfast, we were informed that our flight time had changed, and that we would be picked up 1 hour later than originally stated; however, upon inspection of the flight schedules, the flight time had not changed, and we had to intervene to be picked up to get to that airport in time.  We were just in time, again.

NIT - Delhi / Agra

Day 07: 25 Sep ‘09 - Arrival in Delhi

The greeter met us in Delhi with our driver for the remainder of the tour, Nitin.  We went straight to the hotel, Le Meridian, and stayed for the rest of the day.  Jess wanted to go for a swim, but a closer inspection of the pool indicated that the burgeoning pigeon poopulation left the pool to polluted to pounce upon, and the two pool attendants stood by and gabbed rather that do their jobs of chasing the birds away.  So, this pool was too poopy to play porpoise within, which was too bad as the Meridian is a pretty swanky place.  However, the pool just soured us on the whole experience, and we give the Meridian in Delhi a thumbs down.

Day 08: 26 Sep ‘09 - Delhi

Visit Jama Humayun’s Tomb [1565 AD], aptly called the predecessor of the Taj Mahal. Visit the Quatab Minar, 72 mt high and one of the perfect towers of the Persian World.  Nearby, amidst the ruins of the Quwut-ul-Islam Mosque stands the Iron Pillar, which has stood the vagaries of weather & not rusted over 1500 Yrs.  In Old Delhi – Visit Jama Masjid [1565 AD].

Alli and Jess did not do the Delhi city tour as Alli had seen Delhi on her first visit to India, and Jess just was not up to another city tour. Instead the girls stayed in the hotel, went to the spa, went jewelry shopping, and generally had a girls day.

Upon entering Humayun's tomb area, our guide was explaining some of the history of the buildings when this tourist type person walked in front of us Nikon blazing.  It was Alex Heihn, and the rest of his family were not far off.  Not realizing our paths would cross on our respective tours - both families were showing respective grandmas the North country.  After a few words of catching up, we went our seemingly separate ways.

As Indian cities go, Delhi is nice; at least New Delhi is.  New Delhi was created with being a national capital in mind and to that end there are wide, clean streets, open green spaces, lots of big buildings, and orderly traffic.  Although, we did all the things in the itinerary, there was not one thing that stood out enough to comment upon with the exception to Jama Masjid.  We entered the mosque, which is made of red sandstone, on a very sunny / hot day.  You have to leave your shoes behind, and the rock is very hot.  They had a number of carpet runners to assist with this, but every now and then you had to cross open rock.  In the center of the courtyard is a large pond of white marble to wash ones feet.  As we moved from carpet runner to carpet runner we had to cross the foot bath, and lo and behold, white marble is quite cool in the midday sun.  A welcome relief at the time.

Day 09: 27 Sep’09 - Delhi to Agra (220 Km – 5 Hr)

Afternoon proceed for a sightseeing tour of Agra Fort & Taj Mahal during sunset.

On the road again – this time with Nitin at the wheel and no guides in the car there was more room in the car to travel around.  It is amazing how much room a guide takes up, and prime real estate, too, as they sit shotgun.  Oh well, the price we pay, eh?  We checked into The ITC Mughal Hotel in Agra.  Again, Alli had seen Agra, and she stayed in the hotel.  Jess went along because dad insisted that if she was going to see a wonder of the world, the time was now.

We visited the Taj Mahal first, and I do not know how to describe the experience.  It is a truly amazing monument of human endeavor.  Due to the Dussehra celebrations (they go on for 10 days), and it being a holiday weekend, there were throngs at the Taj.  We avoided most of the crowds, and the 2 hour wait to see the inner tomb (we snuck in the back door), and got the see, smell and feel the monument.  Indescribable!

Next we were off to the Agra Red Fort, which was interesting, and from which we could watch the sunset light up the Taj.  The fort was the palace of Emperor Akbar, and others, and it had a very interesting marble palace.  The rest of the place was red sandstone.  Please note the growing ambivalence towards forts.

Day 10: 28 Sep ‘09 - Agra  

Up early to visit the Itmud-ud-duala Tomb, or mini Taj as it also known, which is one of the greatest examples of inlaid stone in India.  As a monument that is not visited much, it is a bit of a wildlife sanctuary, and there are many striped squirrels and parrots.  Too bad that Jess did not accompany us; I am certain she would have had a good time chasing the squirrels.  Jess and Alli did pigeon pool patrol due to the fact that Agra is in the middle of the country, and damn, it was hot!  Also, in Agra, the monkeys are as thick as the dogs of other cities, and it is the people who live in cages.  Each house has metal screening over all open portals to keep the thieving buggers out.

NIT - Jaipur / Jodhpur

Day 10: 28 Sep ‘09 - Travel to Jaipur, The Pink City (235 Km – 6 Hr)

 

Maharaja Jai Singh founded Jaipur, which is surrounded by hill on all sides.  Enroute visit Fatehpur Sikri, built by Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1569 and abandoned due to scarcity of water.

On the road again -  from Agra to Jaipur in Rajasthan, where we noted a higher use of mechanical farming relative to the paddy fields of the South.  Rajasthanis raise more grains in the Eastern side of the state.  Approaching Rajasthan you encounter the Thar Desert, and it looks like many have attempted to farm the desert, but due to droughts the past 5+ years, farming has not reaped much reward.

Rajasthan is famous for stone quarring and carving.  There are many, many quarries and stone carving merchants lining the highways.  From East to West, our 

direction of travel, we encountered marbles and then sandstones as we went deeper into the desert.  Also, we encountered odd little trucks on the roadways that had exposed engines.  Nitin told us they were used to power water pumps (via the PTO).  The operator would drive the vehicle out to the fields, and hook it up to the pump.  At the end of the day, the operator would fill the truck bed with grasses for livestock and return home.  The same practice is done in South India, only with oxen, and the ox does not power a pump, it pulls a plow in a paddy. And like Southern India, a number of brick factories exist along the highway; although there is a major difference in that the Rajasthanis use actual brick kilns, whereas, their Southern counterparts pile the  bricks around several embedded logs, and the whole pyre is set afire.  We noticed that the number of camels and camel wagons was on the increase; especially as we got deeper into the Thar.  More on camel interactions later.

We checked our hotel (Shiv Vilas) and settled in for the evening after a long and tiring drive.  This hotel is unbelievable to encounter.  Truly, a marble palace, but looks are deceiving for the second chicken culinary incident occurred as Larrie ordered chicken tikka for dinner, which is cooked in a tandoor oven, or undercooked as was this case.  When the plate was to be cleared, the waiter asked if I was done, yes, I was done.  Well, sir, was the chicken too spicy?  No, not too spicy, but not cooked either.  Well, the autopsy that occurred on that chicken order was worthy of a Bones episode.  Four chefs, three waiters, and a couple of other interested folks (you see, in India, your business is every ones business) were required to assess the damage to the brand.  Apologies were explicitly made promptly, and amends were offered.  For the rest of our visit to Shiv Vilas, our food was closely monitored and the service was overwhelming.  We do not know if the offending chef survived the incident.

In this post I was going to provide a link to the hotel website, and this just gets better as we now know what happened to the tandoor chicken chef, but their web site domain name expired Oct 6, 2009 at 2:10 am.  The hotel chef must have moonlighted as the webmaster, and not only did he undercook the chicken, but he let the domain license lapse.  So, I guess you will have to wait to see the pix of this palace.  Dateline Oct 18, 3:13 pm, the Shiv Vilas domain name is restored, and you can now cruise through their website.  The fate of the chef / webmaster is still undetermined....

As stated above, this hotel is amazing – the pool was made entirely of inlaid marble!  And I think we were about the only people in residence; truly, the off season.  Also, while a growing number of pigeons watered at the pool, the attendants were quick to shoo them away, and the pool enjoyed a swimmable water quality – a must to maintain Jess’ contentment level.  She gets really cranky if she sees a pool and cannot swim; more so that being booked into a hotel without a pool.  Jess and Larrie had a good time swimming underwater up to drinking pigeons, and then violently surfacing with a maximum effect on feathers lost attempting to escape the lurking menaces.

Day 11: 29 Sep ‘09 - Jaipur: The Amber Fort (with elephant ride), and City Palace.

Ok, another elephant ride.  If you recall from the Kerala trip last Dec, Alli and Larrie swore off elephant rides.  This one was unavoidable, and at least it was non-injurious.  Larrie even did a little foreign exchange while riding as US dollar tips given to the elephant keepers needed to be changed into Indian rupees.  The elephants transported us up the hill to the fort.  The animals were owned by individuals, and each animal would make three trips a day up to the fort.  These elephants had a flat bottomed "top rack" to sit in, which made the trip physically bearable as long as you got into the sway of the beast.  However, the unbearable things about Jaipur, and specifically the Amber Fort, are 1) the heat (damn, it’s hot in Rajasthan), and 2) the hawkers - thick as flies and just as bothersome.  Oh, make that three things, 3) everyone, I mean everyone, thinks you should give them rupees.  Folks will walk up with a snake in a basket, or an old violin like instrument, and begin to perform, whether you want it or not, and expect to paid for their performance.  The choice was not to pay!

Observations of note in the Amber Fort ...

The maharaja had a queen and a harem, and apparently according to the traditions of the day the women were not to be seen by commoners.  So, special stone panels were created to provide a screen to hide the women from view, but to allow the women to see and hear what was going on.  What was unique about the panels at the Amber Fort palace was that in the center of the stone, the orifice diameter was smaller, creating a venturi effect to cool the women.  The air entering was compressed and then expanded via how the stone was carved, and it was single piece of stone for a 3’x6’ panel, and it was entirely made of white marble - quite pretty to see.

The fort was on top of a hill, and water needed to be moved from a reservoir up to the fort.  Several ladders were created where water was moved up the hill, and the last elevation was via a donkey driven earthen pot lift (donkey walks in circles turning shaft; shaft goes through a couple of wooden gears to drive a pulley arrangement that pulled a rope with 1 liter earthen pots up a shaft).  There was an impressive array of bats in the shaft and a couple of pigeon eggs in the earthen pots.  Gladly, the current water supply is no longer via this path.  Next we toured an astronomical observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh to keep the time and track astronomical events.  The stone tools are very accurate, and the gradient markings are precisely carved into the stones.

The current maharaja lives at the City Palace where a number of attached museums display armaments (knives and guns) of the warrior caste, period and caste clothing and other memorabilia of the Emporer.  Also displayed are a couple of huge silver urns used to transport Ganga river water to London.  It would seem that it is against Hindu tradition to cross big expanses of water, and the emporer had been invited to attend some royal function in London.  He took the water of the Ganga with him to maintain his link to his tradition.

Jaipur is known for jewelry, and you quickly discover that you will pay many times for that jewelry in Jaipur as other places in India.  We stopped at a place to see how jewels are faceted, and it just happened to have a jewelry shop attached. (wink, wink) And apparently, the shop was owned by the same guy that owned the hotel we were staying at.  Small world, eh?  Beautiful stuff, but you can buy the same stuff in B’lore at 1/6 the cost.  Alli was looking at a pretty piece of stone in a pendent, but when the shop keeper was offered B’lore price for it, the conversation ended.  I guess he was too arrogant about his stone to be part of the global market.

Day 12: 30 Sep ‘09 - Jaipur to Jodhpur (330 Kms – 6 Hrs)

‘Nuther long drive:  We left Shiv Vilas and drove North until we got to the national highway intersection for the road to Jodhpur.  This particular section is like Interstates 80,90,94 confluence in Chicago as the conflagration of trucks on that little road defies safety norms.  Nitin warned us that about 100km of the trip was going to be a bit hairy.  

The farther into the Thar desert, the dryer it gets, and there are not very many folks, which makes for fewer obstacles to progress on the highway.  There were many hills of tilted rock and quarries.  The locals used rocks to pile as fences between properties, and there were lots of rock walls – nicely built, too.  At Krishgarth we ran into a lot of lorries hauling big blocks of marble to and from the marble processors.  A number of carving merchants lined the road, and there were a lot of inlaid rounds for flooring center pieces.  Another common theme in this area were fountains and carved marble animals (lions, elephants, tigers, etc.), including one full sized elephant.  

We arrived in Jodhpur in pretty good shape, but we were hot, dry and tired from the heat.  After checking into our rooms at the Taj Hari Mahal, we retired to the edge of the pool for beers while Jess diligently worked at keeping the pigeons out of the pool.

Day 13: 01 Oct ‘09 - Jodhpur

Jodhpur is one of the favorite tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The Mehrangarh Fort is the most magnificent fort in Jodhpur, situated on a 150m high hill. Umaid Bhavan Palace: Constructed in the 20th century by Maharaja Umaid Singh.

Not a whole lot to say about the two venues we visited in Jodhpur.  A fort is a fort, and while the Mehrangarh Fort is a nice fort, it is not exceptional.  UN World Heritage status makes it a nice fort and keeps away the rif-raf so you can enjoy yourself.  However, after the Red Fort in Agra, and the Amber Fort in Jaipur, they start to look the same, and it requires real fortitude to keep up the interest.  There is a gift shop at the end of tour of the fort, and as a special incentive to buy something, they display some very nice art from a "supported" art school related to the fort.  And while you would think that starving artists seeking renumeration for their efforts would seek a fair price, the fact is they are only too quick to help to relieve you of your burdon of  money.  Nice art, too expensive = artist still starving and frustrated by sales.

The Umaid Bhavan Palace was built back in the 1920’s because the maharaja needed to put some people to work lest they create an uprising during an economic downturn.  Nice building, but again not exceptional.  The current maharaja lives in one wing of the palace, one wing is a museum, and the other half is a hotel.

Jodhpur is famous for the invention of the jodhpur equestrian pants, and we thought it would be grand if Jess bought her jodhpurs in Jodhpur.  So, that evening we went in search of same.  We did find them, but only after a mind numbing 30 minute display of bed covers that are woven in the area.  We finally pulled a Pam and told the guy that if the next thing he showed us was not jodhpur pants, we were leaving.  They cost us Rs. 800, and we proudly walked back to car.

NIT - Jaisalmer

Day 14:02 Oct’09 - Jodhpur – Jaisalmer ( 240 Km -5 Hr)

On the road again – going deeper into the sand dunes of the Thar Desert, which is inhabited by camels, blackbuck and Indian gazelle, peacocks, Indian wild ass, lots of spiffy shaggy goats, and not too many people.  The people you do encounter were very rugged folks – not much fat in Rajasthan.

People living in the barrens build round yurt like houses of piled up stones.  The roofs are a thatch like material.  In the South you see use of coconut palm woven roofs, but in Rajasthan there are no palms.  The trees that grow here must have very deep tap roots in order to maintain life.  Also, due the lack of trees in the region, manure is harvested, dried, and used for cooking fuel and a source of heat.  And a recent article in the Times of India alluded to using dried manure to cook with as a major source of asthma in young women.  All along the highways were structures and plots plastered with drying manure.  Given the size of the dung beetles we encountered in the desert, I wondered what the attrition rate of poop to beetles was.

We stopped at a nice hotel for lunch and a break (remember, for the most part, hotels in India are restaurants).  And who should we run into but the Heihns, who were en route to Jaisalmer, 

grandma in tow.  In fact, we discovered that they would be at our hotel on the last night of the trip.  The two travelling families did not collaborate on itineraries - it was just serendipity musing.  Jess was ecstatic to be able to play with Preston after having been on tour with mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa for 15 days.

We checked into The Fort Rajwada, and went in search of libations to cool the thirst - turns out that Oct 2 is Gandhi's birthday and a dry day for Indians.  However, they did not apply the law to foreigners, and we did find a cool beer.  All the while Jess went on pigeon patrol in the pool and did a respectable job of keeping the fouling fowl at bay.  

Our rooms were adjacent, but not adjoining.  During the evening, grandma came over to see if our A/C was working, which is was, indicating that theirs was not working.  I went over to review the situation; indeed it was not working.  Two different hotel folks had attempted in vain to repair the A/C.  I called the front desk and in a serious voice wanting some service.  The guy came, and agreed it was not working.  (Same guy that told grandma to wait 15 min and it will cool down.)  He called the engineer and disappeared.  After 10 minutes of rendering in the room, I fetched a flashlight from our luggage, and headed for the roof where the compressors were.  I found the guy, two engineers, and a bottle of refrigerant messing with the compressor.  I gave him 5 min or it was time to get a new room.  In the meantime, the local travel agent called to see how everything was going, and I casually filled him in on the situation.  Needless to say, within 10 minutes grandma and grandpa were headed to a new room with a host of apologies about the inconvenience.  Their new room was a suite with two baths and three showers, and the two A/C units cooled grandma down rather quickly.

While the room issues were being diagnosed and resolved, Alli had decided to synch her work email, which should have been a 10 minute process.  Needless to say, 90 frustrating minutes later, and lacking much needed  nourishment, Alli was defeated by the gods of technology.  I guess when visiting a 15th century environment, you should not expect 21st century pleasures, nor should you attempt to keep ahead of the email work backlog that inevitably accrues during ones out of office experiences.

Day 15: 03 Oct’09 - Jaisalmer

This yellow Granite City is located deep in the heart of the Thar Desert, and is famous as the ‘Jewel of the desert’ or ‘the Golden city of India’.  A Rajput king, Rawal Jaisal, established the city of Jaisalmer in 1156 A.D.  Jaisalmer is popular for its old glorious fort. 

We toured the Jaisalmer Fort, which is a living fort as families have been living in the same structures for hundreds of years.  The fort has narrow passageways that are kept surprisingly clean, and the local vendors are not too bothersome. The fort is way cool, although the day was very hot.  In an attempt to provide a cool down, our guide took us to The Garh Jaisal Haveli Hotel for a break.  We were allowed into a room for viewing and to use the loo.  The room reminded Alli and I of Florence Italy, and it came with its own bats in the space between the inner window and the outer window.  Someday, we hope to return to the hotel and spend a couple of nights in the Jaisalmer fort.

Within the walls of the fort were some very old Jain temples that were interesting to visit as examples of extreme stone carving.  The temples were built out of sandstone - the local rock, and were shaped like a bit of a maze with the central structure rising out through the roof to the sky.  There was nothing left uncarved, and some of the carvings were very small and intricate.  Also, a number of private family dwellings in and outside of the fort were of the haveli style - some quite large and intricate. The street facing side of the dwelling was ornately carved sandstone - in some cases, an entire window set was caved from a single block of stone.  Very cool to see, and very difficult to replicate in Lego.

That night we went for a sunset ship of the desert cruise, and 

discovered that Alli’s inner camel came out – Alli of the Thar rode into the setting sun.  Go west, following the beetles of dung that inhabit the desert and you will find, well, the party.  There are lots of residency hotels in the western desert where you can go live in a tent.  And each night there is a caravan of camels that take the tourists out into the dunes for the sunset over Pakistan.  We rented one camel, for Jess and Preston, and two camel carts for the adults, which to begin with were skeptical of riding a camel.  Alli tried for a bit and found it to be very enjoyable as you can tell by her enthusiasm.  

The dunes were alive with people who wanted to relieve you of your burden of wealth.  Many tried to sell us a soft drink.  Larrie got out the video camera to record the scene and a troupe of local Rajput women apparated and started to dance and sing.  Justice Brandeis said we have the "right to be let alone", which is what was expected of being in a desert.  Such for the wants of the ego.