Taj Mahal--AWESOME

Contemplating the awesomeness of the Taj Mahal

I seriously considered foregoing the Taj Mahal because I wasn't sure about dealing with the supposed hordes of people there, but I'm so happy I went!!  My sunrise visit was nowhere near as crowded as I'd expected, and to see this structure live was surreal after having seen it so many times in photos before.  It is an amazing work of architecture, and yes, truly *awesome*.

Quotes from the Quran all around the building

 

An Indian green parakeet, I believe!

Fantastic, crazy Delhi; parte III

I woke up early one morning to go on a bike tour of Old Delhi with DelhiByCycle:

This dog apparently likes to greet bike tourists regularly!  He had just pawed at my face for attention and was now politely sniffing  for this photo op  :-) 

Riding a bike through Old Delhi's narrow alleys and larger streets was both exhilarating and slightly harrowing...dodging pedestrians, potholes, dogs/cows/donkeys/goats, other cyclists, rickshaws, cars and buses was a wonderful way to experience Delhi in another way!!

I'd forgotten to mention that because Delhi has more residents of Nepalese descent, I was often mistaken for Nepalese here and people didn't understand that I didn't understand Hindi...but they persisted in speaking to me in Hindi nonetheless!  (The regular one-sided Hindi conversation happens regularly throughout India...you may look extremely puzzled and keep shrugging or shaking your head, but the "conversation" will continue for quite a while(!)).  

Fantastic, crazy Delhi; parte II

Delhi has a fabulous Metro system that totally kicks SF's BART's @$$.  It allows one to easily see sights and visit the outer burbs of Delhi, which I wanted to do to find a particular museum one afternoon.

A wee more packed than BART.

Busy Rajiv Chowk station, where the Blue and Yellow lines meet.  Reminded me a bit of Shinjuku station in Tokyo.

Another great sign detailing punishable Metro offenses and their associated fines.

I was intrigued by a little blurb I read in Lonely Planet about kushti wrestling (traditional Indian wrestling), and I set out one morning to try to find an akhara (training center)...lo and behold, I got horrifically lost and few locals seemed to know where Chandigirang actually was.  (BTW, it was during this hunt that I realized that almost all Indians seem to think that any distance greater than 1 km is impossible to traverse on human power alone. :-)   Walking, which I love to do because you see so much more, is not a favored mode of transportation here!).

I happened to be walking up an incline that started to curve around to my right, and I started to get a little doubtful of the direction I was headed.  A man pulled up next to me on his motorcycle and asked where I was going, because the path I was on led to a much bigger highway-type thoroughfare.  After speaking with him for several minutes, and against all sensible advice given to solo female travelers, I agreed to hop on his motorbike to find this akhara.

We did eventually find Chandigirang, and I met one of the wrestlers there (big men indeed), but alas, I would have to return either at 7 AM or 7 PM to watch a training session.  So, I was then treated to a great motorcycle ride across the Yamuna River (it felt GREAT to ride helmet-less and experience Delhi traffic on a motorbike!) and a tasty, spicy snack from a street vendor, thanks to kind, generous Arshad S. of Delhi.  Thank you so much, Arshad, for a fabulous morning and for maintaining my faith in the goodness of humanity!!!  O:-) 

That same afternoon, I set out to find a museum that I'd been very keen on seeing.  It took a long Metro ride and the boarding of several wrong buses to find it (mysteriously, there are MULTIPLE Bus #764s that apparently follow completely different routes), but it was totally worth it!!

I had no idea toilets were this old!!!

Some very ornate loos:

A loo fit for a king:

For those times when your arms just need to rest somewhere (!): 

My favorite loo of all, because I love multifunctional furniture:

This was a very fun and full day in Delhi!

Fantastic, crazy Delhi; parte I

Delhi, like Mumbai, is a frenetic, loud city with its own terrific energy.  I'd met other travelers coming from Delhi who said they really disliked it, so I was prepared for the worst, but come to find, I really enjoyed Delhi very much!!!  (One note: Delhi has some of the slickest, well-dressed "hustlers" who can and will effortlessly direct you to various "tourist offices" that are masquerading as the official Government of India tourist office...the tourist agent at the "tourist office" will then tell you, very seriously, in a very official-looking office, that there are simply NO train tickets available to WHEREVER you plan to go...but wait!!!  There is this one option that the agent happened to find: an expensive bundled train ticket & hotel accommodation (surprise, surprise).  Don't believe them for a second!!!  ALWAYS check with agents at the railway stations to get the official low-down on train tickets and availability.  After initially being a bit frustrated by these con-artists, on further thought, I was really quite impressed with how skillfully these men operated...I learned from them as well, so ultimately I hope I became a wiser traveler from my dealings with them!).  :-)

Fotos de Delhi:

Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi.  Beautiful Persian-influenced architecture...this building put Iran on my list of places to visit.

Wonderful, spicy thali lunch at Hotel Saravana Bhavan with Aki T., who I met earlier in the morning at one of the infamous "tourist offices."  He is originally from the Bay area but now works and lives in S. Korea.  The family seated next to us showed us how to eat thali...after all these years of eating Indian food, I had no idea that one was supposed to remove all the little bowls and place the rice on the large plate and THEN pour the little bowls onto the rice (!!!).

At Red Fort in Old Delhi, another place with a wonderful audio guide.  Construction started late 1630s by Shah Jahan, who also built the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Some Delhi street art:  

It's just like the Castro!  

A very clear & concise sign:

I like the graphic depiction of said offense:

The following request is obviously futile:

Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan (the Pink City)

Amber Fort, which is a 15 minute bus ride outside of Jaipur, houses a wonderful palace built of sandstone and vast amounts of marble.  Construction started in 1592.  I've been very impressed with the audio guides that are available at many of the tourist sights throughout India...they're very informative and their atmospheric effects bring these places to life!

Jaipur was where I started recovering from my first bad case of food poisoning (palak dal eaten at a fairly nice restaurant/hotel in Pushkar--what's funny is that I'd been eating at fairly dodgy-looking, by Western standards, restaurants and food stands up until that time without any issues!).  I lived on lassis for 2 days, and Lassiwala in Jaipur creates wonderfully creamy, tasty lassis!!!  As noted by Lonely Planet, there are many pseudo-Lassiwala establishments right near the real thing, so it takes a little hunting to find it.

On to Pushkar, India!

While in Jodhpur, I met 2 separate travelers who said I really should visit Pushkar, especially after discovering I hailed from San Francisco.  So, I changed my plans (which were tenuous at best) and agreed to go there with a Korean student named Han-Sol who was here on holiday with her sister (her sister was to stay in Jodhpur to do some volunteer teaching).

But!  Before I reached Pushkar, I had one of the best 5+ hour train rides of my life!  I happened to be amidst 130 (one hundreds and thirty) very jovial family members who were traveling from Jodhpur to a small village in Madhya Pradesh (southeast of Jodhpur), via long train and bus rides, to celebrate the founding of a Hindu temple by the family's grandfather.  I was adorned with a wreath of marigolds and ultimately a red forehead mark with silver sprinkles (for good luck, I was told)...

Grandmother Sancheti

Granddaughter Dinesha with her grandma

Dinesha (hopefully spelling is correct?) applied henna (art of mehndi) to my right hand during the trip.  It was beautifully done!!

Henna on another family member's hands--beautiful!!

The energetic kids ranging from 5-12 years of age:

The family fed me fantastic Rajasthani food the entire way...they were so generous, fun and full of happy energy!!!  Thank you, Sancheti family (Dinesha, Varun, Arun, Kumal and other names I have thoughtlessly forgotten!!).  :-)

One thing I learned during this trip was that Snickers are NOT vegetarian...they contain dried egg matter.  I offered my mini-bars to the kids and Dinesha carefully inspected the label and pointed out that they could not eat them (I felt a little sheepish).  However, my peanut M&Ms were vegetarian-approved.  :-)

Pushkar was a nice change from the craziness and VOLUME that the rest of India has been thus far.  It is like the Haight-Ashbury but in India!  Plenty of white hippies, young and old alike.

Other images from Pushkar and surrounds:

I'd never seen a camel resting like this...had to pause to check for breathing.  Its coat isn't in the best shape. :-( 

Various monkeys are common in both urban and rural areas here...they can be ornery and a bit aggressive!!  This one was seen on a climb up to Saraswati temple, which is 30-60 minutes of an Indian version of Stairmasters.  Would not be easy for arthritic knees...

No property maintenance necessary for this barber shop! (in Ajmer).

I've seen the term "Freedom Fighters" a few times at the train station lines designated for foreign tourists...still not sure what this means, but it's funny!

I admire the bluntness of this particular brand of birth control pills.  :-) 

Initial India: Mumbai & Jodhpur

 I landed in Mumbai 05 February and stayed ultimately 3 nights with airbnb hosts Anil and Meena in their flat (wonderful place to stay).  Mumbai is a city with fantastic energy!!  It is akin to a chaotic, uncontrolled version of New York City.  Initially I suffered a bit of sensory overload (sight and sound).  Seemingly constant and sometimes piercing car/motorbike/auto-rickshaw honking made my eardrums "vibrate," but it all became background noise within 24 hours.  Traffic with pedestrians, tuk-tucks, cyclists, buses, trucks, cars, tractors, cows and dogs all flows somehow.

Public transportation here was very interesting, to say the least.  Local buses take you all over the city, and I realized early on that I needed to improve my reading of Hindi numbers (e.g. I mistakenly hopped on bus #425 when I needed #25...the bus driver then dropped me off promptly after discovering this, though the location happened to be between bus stops...  :-)  ).

Bus drivers also really don't notice or care whether all waiting passengers are actually ON the bus before pulling away from the street.  I needed to catch a certain bus that only came every 30 minutes to get down to the main train station to get "emergency" tickets to my next destination; train tickets commonly need to be booked at least a day or so in advance, which was not how I'd been intending to travel.  So, bus #25 pulls up to the side of the street, and a gaggle of people gather around the rear door and climb in.  I'm waiting to board near the back of the group, and then I noticed the bus starting to pull away, and then people started to pile in, and I found myself running (REALLY RUNNING) alongside the bus to grab one handrail, and then a helpful man grabbed my left upper arm and hoisted me up onto the landing.  I really didn't want to wait another half hour for the next bus!  This was one of the funniest experiences of my life thus far!!  :-)   It was also the first time I ran since November of last year.

Bus fotos to be taken when in Mumbai again!

Suburban train rides were also an adventure.  There are separate women's compartments, and I can see they exist with good reason.  You are absolutely PACKED IN like sardines, and you also have to plan for your upcoming stop so that you can push and shove (REALLY push and shove) your way near the door so that you are actually able to get off at your stop before the train takes off (!).  :-) 

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, held every February in Mumbai:

Poking fun at the "Indian head-bobble"

Some pigs just hanging out on a street, eating whatever they might find, as usual:

The Man!  Very inspirational, small museum called Mani Bhavan.  It is housed in the building where Gandhi stayed during his time in Bombay.

This was my first sleep-car experience in India!  I had the upper berth.  The seat back seen here extends laterally and upward to create the middle berth.  Sleeping wasn't the easiest task during this 17 hour train ride, especially with fellow passengers who generously shared their favorite music via their phone on speaker (hello...this is why ear buds exist!?!?).

Cows basking in the sunlight in the middle of a busy street in Jodhpur (I've since become desensitized to seeing cows/goats/pigs wandering in urban areas, like everyone else here).  Almost all of the creatures wandering around here are QUITE robust and well-fed (i.e. fat!).

Happy dog in Jodhpur

Scarecrow, Indian style, in Bishnoi village outside of Jodhpur

Bishnoi village milkman delivering emptied jugs back to farmers in the village...to be filled, collected and delivered to town tomorrow!

Trying my hand with Bishnoi potter...I ended up squishing the bowl edges, which I like to think gave it some modern "flair.". :-)