Sunday, February 28, 2016

Khajuraho

We met up with Jayshree and her American cousin, Heena, in this small tidier-than-most town. How good to meet up with jayshree again so that she could do all the negotiation with the tuktuk drivers. When we might give in, she sticks to her price and so our first venture out to see the eastern set of temples was negotiated down from 200 to 150 rupees round trip. And the bantering continued with our tuktuk driver saying he owned 6 tuktuks, he was 16, spoke 6 languages, and was off to Germany and jayshree was very unfair not to give him 200rupees!.

Tourists come to Khajuraho to see the erotic carvings on the temples and we had an excellent guide who explained where the carvings fitted into Hinduism. No embarrassment in pointing out the various karma sutra positions!





Every temple has a steep flight of steps and Heena, Jayshree and Francis  pulled me up and guided me  down pyramid-like  stairways.  Travelling with young people keeps you young. Our (females only) afternoon was spent having a back and neck Ayurvedic massage.  We set off tomorrow for our safaris having stocked up on nibbles for the 5 hour journey to Bhandavgarh.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

The cenataphs

The only cenataph I know of is in London and is a memorial to the soldiers who died in the wars. A group of cenataphs in Orchha are grand memorials to the kings of the 17 & 18 centuries. Appropriately, they soar into the heavens like the vultures which have taken up residence on the roofs. The ticket collector was delighted to talk about the vultures of India of which there are 6. As vultures go, these were quite presentable!


India is full of contradictions. Haggling with autorickshaw drivers is a pain and then you stop at a cafe with signs in Spanish, order a cup of tea and then the owner says it is free.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Orchha

we are staying in the maharani suite of the hotel Sheesh Mahal which is situated in the Jehangir Palace. It has a bar, open from 1100- 1500h and 1900-2230. Unfortunately 'happy hour' (20% discount) is from 1530-1900! This does exist but most of the cocktails are 'off'!



Peanuts, pakora, beer and a gimlet. Note the peanut bag made from newspaper and glue.

The Sheesh Mahal hotel is part of the Jehangir mahal which must have been awe-inspiring in its heyday. And the view from afar is certainly impressive. Viewing the inside is not for the feint-hearted with steep steps and stairways with no railings. And you come out onto walkways with parapets as high as your knees. Better to be one of the many monkeys which own the roofs.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Jainism

Jains eat no meat and try not to kill any living creature, even an ant. They do not eat any vegetable  which comes out of the ground such as onions, potatoes and garlic. Cooking without these ingredients would be very difficult. We  came across a Jain temple in Delhi which ran a bird hospital. Alas, the hospital was not for any meat eating birds! These Jain rock carvings were on the path up to Gwalior fort.

Gwalior

The Indian train system is a marvel. Ancient lumbering trains run on time for short journeys of an hour to longer ones of 5 days. We met a student nurse from the Tibetan colony in north India. He had completed 2 days with another three left when we met him in the train from Delhi: top to bottom of India. We seem to have got the porter system in hand even if we still pay more than a local would. Without a porter you have little chance of finding your train and your carriage and your seats.

Here in Gwalior we found the Indian Coffee workers cooperative society limited restaurant for great coffee, delivered there by a charming autorickshaw driver. He asked for 40 and we gave him 50 rupees  but he wanted to live up to the bargain we had made. We were so impressed that we hired him to take us to see some monuments. We did not agree to a price but on our return to theICWCSL he said we could give him what we thought fair. He 'made our day'!
The mausoleum of Gaus Mohammed, teacher of the great singer Tansen

These pots are a work of art too



The hotel gave us a copy of the Times of India. Front page news was a story of a mentally challenged beggar. I think they ought to be completely pc: a mentally and financially challenged person! He had donated enough money to build a pigeon tower after 40 years. These towers have religious
significance but I think the money could be better spent? It seems that despite being mentally challenged he always paid for his tea!!!
We climbed and climbed up to Gwalior Fort today as on foot was the only means of transport. However, it did give us good views of the Jain rock carvings and a bit of bird watching as well. The views are impressive and whilst Francis climbed up even more stairs I found interesting birds and enjoyed the quiet.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Agra fort

From the splendour of the Taj Mahal we stopped for lunch at 'Sheroes hangout'.  This cafe is run by women who have had acid thrown over them.  They bravely run this extraordinarily clean cafe serving good food and you can watch interviews made by the women telling their stories. Their uniforms are impeccable (compare the slightly grubby ones of the hotel staff here). It is incredibly moving. You pay what ever you want. These ladies are just as beautiful as the Taj Mahal.

And to complete the love story, in the afternoon we visited Agra fort where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son until he died and was buried next to his beloved Mumtaz mahal. This massive fort was the palace of Shah Jahan so it has a divan-i-am (hall for public audiences) and divan-i-khas (private audience hall) but it also has his room where he could see in the distance his Taj Mahal.



The amazing Taj Mahal

Today was our day for rising early to beat some of the crowds that throng to the Taj Mahal. Nothing prepares you for this brilliant white building set alone in a blue sky. It leaves you speechless and unable to move except you have to move for the hustle and bustle of tourists like you who want their picture taken in front of such magnificence. It is big and Hollywood could not have written such a love story as that of Shah Jahan and Muntaz Mahal.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

The splendour of the Mughals

Today we got caught in the Sunday traffic and had to give way to a herd of water buffaloes. The leader pushed his/her way in front of our car; previously we had given way to no vehicles,  even if it meant driving on the wrong side of the road. Our destination was Fatehpur Sikri, the city built by Akbar, the grandfather of the famous Shah Jahan. I had seen a sloppy film about Akbar wooing his Hindu bride, played by the beautiful Aishwarya Rai. I cannot remember who played Akbar but he was equally good looking and perhaps taller than the 5ft 3 inches of the real Akbar. The film did not say that  Jodha was one of three wives (a Christian and a Muslim also) and about 300 concubines. Of course, he loved her the most and she did produce a son for him. I may be coloured by the fictional film, but I cannot help feel that she must have been lonely in her vast set of rooms in a strange culture.

Akbar's mausoleum lies at Sikandra and it is equally spectacular. Of course he built it himself as I presume he could not be sure if his son would build him something quite so lavish. His tomb is simple white marble but it is housed in a beautiful Mughal palace. I want a disposable cardboard box.
Akbar's heavenly home 


The is a wonderful festival taking place in Agra at the moment called Taj Mahotsav. It is a. Else ration of culture, cuisine and crafts from all over India. It is noise and colour and smells and we dined there for about $8. Young boys run around finding you spaces at tables and conjure up chairs


Saturday, February 20, 2016

Third class AC

we took the train to Agra, '3AC'. This means three bunks facing another three bunks in an air conditioned carriage. Three of our companions wanted to sleep but fortunately Francis and I could sit on the side with only one sleeper on the top bunk so we could actually sit normally with the middle bunk raised and locked in place. Hard to image if you have never taken an Indian train. Sheets, pillows and blankets are provided and shoes are placed neatly under the bottom bunk. Windows are small and uncleaned so there is not much to distract on a three hour journey except watch the parade of food sellers who walk through the carriages selling chai and biscuits and tomato soup and cold drinks and hot meals. The trains themselves have seen better days but they leave on time and arrive on time.
H

The dirty sheets come off and the clean ones are taken on board.

Monday, February 8, 2016

Trains, planes, temples and palaces

This time we are wandering around north India, beginning with Agra as last time sickness made us cancel our trip to see the Taj Mahal. Route 1 takes us from Delhi to Agra and Gwalior by trains. Then to Orchha and Khajuraho using cars and drivers. We are booked into a tiger safari in Bandhavgarh national park we we hope to see...? Back to Delhi for some recovery time and then off to Lucknow, Varanasi and Kolkata.

19 February

Our second day in Delhi. I think we ought to sponsor a competition for car drivers who DO NOT  honk their car horns before 7am. I think I ought to sponsor, with meaty bones, a competition for the dog that does not bark or fight before 7am.
We are learning to find our way around the metro and I like the special ladies carriage though I do not dare to leave Francis in another carriage. We had to push our way in this morning and barely got the doors to close. People are very polite to old ladies and I was always offered one of the seats 'for ladies
only', especially by the men occupying those seats!











  •  We like the signage variations- which ones applied to us?


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