Back to Old Delhi

Old Delhi

We viewed a lot of the monuments and parks from the coach.

Our rickshaw experience was pretty exciting. We'd thought Delhi was noisy (well in fact all the towns we visited in the North were the same) with constant barrage of hooting and shouting, and the kamikaze traffic system but once out of the coach and in the thick of it the noise was ear-splitting.

The only rule of the road seems to be that the largest vehicles get priority and that filters down through cars, motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, bicyles and manual rickshaws and pedestrians coming last. Sorry, the main rule of the road is to avoid wandering cows who seem to go where they please.

The rickshaw ride took us through the narrow streets which were jammed full of shops making one huge bazaar area. One street specialised in Sari and Wedding Wear, another books and educational items, another jewellery etc. People milling around everywhere and heaven only knows how our 'driver' managed to avoid catching the handlebars on passing saris etc

Some photos:

David and I crammed in a rickshaw

Power cables in the side streets

Crowded bazaar streets

Sari sorting

The street of bookshops

live chicks for sale

What has been good to see is that all the horses, oxen and camels we've seen pulling carts have been in good health and not skinny/sickly. In fact the indian folk push themselves just as hard as their animals I think – just look at some of these scenes from the Delhi Streets:

Heavy load this one!!

Then it was a dash to the airport for those of us catching the internal flight to Cochin in Kerala for our tour of the South. Kerala literally means Land of the Coconut. Kera (coconut) la (land) and certainly coconuts abound here.

The flight landed at 9.10pm and the temperature was 28degrees outside which was a huge difference to what we'd been getting in the North.

David is posting about our experience with the internal flight.

Agra ... Taj Mahal and Other Stuff

Firstly apologies for not responding to your comments along the way.  Internet time is so restricted I can only do the basics just now

More from me (Sue) … about time David got his finger out and posted something methinks!

When we left the village (by tractor cart again) We rejoined our coach for the drive to Agra where we stopped for lunch al fresco at a converted manor house (actually it was the most mediocre meal of the trip so far). I have eaten curry for every meal (including breakfast) since we arrived and I'm not tired of it yet ! Strangely, the food is all pretty mild and I'm not sure if that's the regional 'norm' or whether the hotels and lodges were 'dumbing it down' for the tourists.

Our guide spotted me adding a couple of chillis to my plate and thereafter I got special meals from the chef … wonderfully spicy (but not OTT hot)

This morning we visited the Glass Palace. It was foggy in Delhi so the first glimpse we had from the Palace of the Taj Mahal in the distance was really hazy. I won't post them as they aren't great.

This afternoon was spent visiting the Taj Mahal – the most stunning building in the World perhaps? Wonderful monument built by the Maharajah to house the body of his wife who died in childbirth – her 14^th! She must have been pregnant just about all her married life.

We stayed till sunset but sadly the sky clouded over at the last minute and the sunset wasn't spectacular.

The Taj Mahal

We bought some 'professional' shots of us taken in front of the Taj Mahal but I can't scan them onto the computer till back home

We didn't do the 'naff' thing like posing in front of the Taj Mahal and cupping our hands to make it appear that we are suspending the building from our hands, but David did take this photo showing the reflection of the Monument in my glasses:

This lovely lady looked fabulous in her sari – she's newly married and was visiting the Taj Mahal with her husband. The sari would have been one of the wedding gifts, and from a wealthy sponsor at that!

Most of the Indian visitors were dressed in their finest and brightest clothes – like these.

There were lots of parakeets flying around the grounds of the Taj Mahal – noisy creatures they are. They are really prevalant in all the places we visited. Also lots of large Kites/Eagles. This is one that I photographed in a tree in the grounds of the Taj Mahal. We bought a book to help us identify the birds we see and I believe this is a Tawny Eagle (or possibly a Pariah Kite)

Then whilst we were waiting for sunset, a little kingfisher flew down onto one of the ornamental fountain sprinklers in the lake in front of the Taj Mahal. This is a bit fuzzy, but he took me by surprise and didn't stay long enough to focus the camera properly.

Its the same variety we saw at the Tiger Park – a white crested Kingfisher

and a 'common myna' bird - loads of these around:

We turned down the opportunity to visit the Taj Mahal again the next morning (by horse-drawn carriage) as it meant a 6.30am departure and we really needed to catch up on some sleep – its been a very busy schedule with little free time. Although we are spending a lot of time travelling by coach there is so much to see that it isn't a restful experience. David has managed a few snoozes on the coach though heaven only knows how he can sleep through all the horn blowing and shouting etc in the streets.

Those that did the second viewing had to be back by 9.30am as we then drove to Delhi where we managed to fit in a quick tour of the old Town and the Rickshaw ride which we hadn't been able to do when we first arrived in India because the town was closed to coaches and large vehicles:

'Out in the Sticks'

Today we travelled by coach to Abhaneri and visited the Chand Baoli step well. Quite magnificent and you have to wonder 'why' its incredibly ornate for a simple well??

Some photos:

Then on to Geejgarh where we stayed in simple lodges in a really beautiful rural setting. Rustic is an understatement – hot water on for 2 hours each morning and each evening so showers had to be carefully timed, then the electric supply kept cutting out – but it was a lovely place and probably the high point of our visit so far. The lodges/hotel was along a track that our coach couldn't travel on so we were taken by tractor carts in small groups!

Our Lodge:

Rustic - note the tented ceiling:

On arrival, just as David was unlocking our door a peacock flew out of the neighbouring tree and over our lodge. I managed to get a 'quick and nasty' photo – hopefully I can improve this slightly with Photoshop back home but I was chuffed to catch it in flight.

Such a beautiful setting and very restful after the constant noise of the larger towns .... but we did get woken each morning by howling jackals

We had a trip into the nearby village on camel drawn carts … quite an experience. This is the view I had:

and boy, was our camel windy … didn't stop f**ting the whole way!

We passed lots of these en route to the village - cowpats drying in the sun.   The pats are used for fuel.    The ashes from the fuel/fires is then used to scour cooking utensils.   After that the residue is scattered back on the land as fertiliser .... Nothing gets wasted!

A local family gave us a cookery demonstration and tasting session – we had millet bread and vegetable curry.

This was the lady who cooked for us:

Her Father:

The local village children (and there were hundreds of them it seems) all came to stare at us and then they gave little recitals and songs. Some of the kids: 

We bought the family a mango tree which was ceremoniously planted and then back we went to our lodges where we were plied with food and drink – barbecued snacks again. We had the most delicious masala peanuts and I must look out for a recipe.

We were entertained by Indian musicians and a couple of lady dancers. The senior dancer excelled at balancing a number of pots on her head whilst spinning round at great speed, and also dancing on top of silver tankards (looked painful to me).

Some pics:

Our Guide has kept us entertained with stories, facts and myths whilst we've whiled away the long hours on the coach between towns/villages. I guess most of them are true, but he is a self-confessed fan of Indian Rum …. and he shared a couple of bottles with us whilst the entertainment was taking place. Indian Rum is dark rum and is sweet and spicy – a bit like Morgans Spiced Rum

back home. But it slipped down very well and we all had a great evening.

OK    as usual, I'm downloading and resizing pics, then writing the blogs offline and adding text/pics whenever we get internet connection.   So I'm several days behind but its very difficult to keep up to date.      

Next Blog should be about our visit to Agra and the Taj Mahal, then back to Delhi for our belated rickshaw ride around the bustling streets/bazaars - quite amazing but no time left now.

Then David will add his views on the joys of taking connecting flights in India!!

Ranthambhore National Park

Our second day at Ranthambhore started early … an alarm call at 6am and then we were split into two groups. Each group followed a different trail through the Park in search of the elusive Tigers.

It was VERY cold that time in the morning – the vehicles (canters) are open topped, open sided basic carriers and the suspension isn't great. We were given one blanket between two people but the seats were so wet with dew/mist that we had to use the blankets to cover the seats. Thanks to Jenni for the tip off – we had hats, gloves and scarves with us so coped better than some of our fellow travellers.

David was very impressed with our guide's ability to turn one scarf into a variety of turbans, hats, neckwarmers etc – he made several valient attempts and these are two of his better ones!:

It was very foggy and cold to start with, but it was a great experience and we saw lots of animals and birds.

After lunch we had a second trip out into the park. This time we followed a different route and although we saw some Tiger tracks we still didn't spot any Tigers. BUT, we spent a long time beside a tranquil lake watching freshwater crocodiles, lots of birds including Kingfishers, Ibis, Storks, cranes, egrets and the ever present, very noisy cockatiels. Peacocks are everywhere – a bit like pheasants in our English fields.

Here are a few photos from the two trips

These birds are everywhere in Rajhastan it seems, they are noisy and cheeky and totally unafraid of humans.   They are Rufous Treepies (related to our Magpies I think)

Water snakes:

Freshwater crocodiles:

White breasted kingfisher:

Successful fishing:

Black Necked Stilt (thanks to Mike Woodcock for the identification)

Painted Storks

Oops the pics are jumping out of order but I only have 30 mins wifi so sorry about that.

Purple Sunbird.    Just about 4" long and very 'busy' it took ages to get this shot but I was determined!   such a beautiful irridescent plumage

The monkeys are so prolific here you almost stop noticing them after a while, but we obviously spent too long looking at these two females and the babies as the alpha male monkey jumped onto our Canter and proceeded to tell us to back off. Our driver just kept saying … 'keep very still, don't make eye contact, don't make sudden moves' etc., The monkey wouldn't back down so the driver put his foot on the gas and tried to shake the monkey off .. to no avail. Eventually the monkey jumped off once we were well away from 'his' females but it was a scary moment. I took this photo whilst he had his back to me (I was in the seat behind him) but didn't dare take more once he turned to face me.

We didn't see a tiger but the other half of our group did. They'd been told that a tigress had successfully hunted a deer in the morning and was expected to return to the kill in the afternoon so they sat and waited in one spot for 90 mins and were rewarded with a sighting.

Whilst I'm sorry we didn't see a tiger in its natural setting, we had a brilliant day and saw enough wildlife to compensate – and we didn't have to sit around for 90 minutes in an uncomfortable vehicle.

After the afternoon drives we had barbecued Indian snacks on the lawn with local musicians to entertain us, followed by a delicious curry buffet.

The accommodation was basic but comfortable but no TV or internet (which was very nice actually)

The aftermath of our BBQ snack (prior to Dinner) and some very expensive wine.   We had been warned, but wine is very expensive.  Even the Indian wine works out at about £22 per bottle.    

Just for the ladies … some information supplied by our Guide.

Hindu ladies often colour the parting in their hair with henna dye to show that they are married. Married women wear face veils in public so other men can't look at their faces and they do this until they become Grandmothers at around the age of 50 years.

We saw lots of women wearing the veil in this way … a couple of examples:

The optimum age for marriage is considered to be 18 for women and 21 for men and traditionally with the arranged marriages, the whole village becomes involved in the selection of a partner of equal stature (caste). Careful checks are carried out regarding the family, wealth, educational status and health of the prospective candidate and when a candidate has been identified the headman and village council get involved with the negotiations regarding dowry so there can be no alterations once the contract is sealed. The success rate for these arranged marriages is 90% because so much preparation/research is done early on.

But …. these figures could be misleading as an unhappy wife probably wouldn't leave her husband as her own family would reject her for bringing shame to them. If she had sisters, her failed marriage would reflect badly on them and possibly prevent them finding husbands.

Even worse … In Rajhasthan in particular it was traditional for wives to throw themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands if he died before them. Forget all that tosh about the wife being so grief -stricken that she can't live without him. Apparently the alternative was so grim that they preferred a swift death to the 'other' fate. Widows were considered bad luck. They weren't welcome at social functions – particularly those involving young ladies/prospective brides in case the bad luck rubbed off. They had their heads shaved, were only allowed basic bland food – no exotic spices like saffron, ginger or cardamom and they were outcast with no support from the family or other villagers!

If a bride is betrothed to a man awhen still a child (which happens with a lot of arranged marriages) and the husband dies before the marriage takes place, the wife is considered to be a widow and she bears the blame for her husband's death.

The only creature considered to bring more bad luck is the CAT – particularly black ones. Our guide told us that the last time he saw a cat, it crossed the road in front of his motor bike. He stayed put until another vehicle overtook him and crossed the cat's path, therefore taking the bad luck with it, and our Guide is a well educated Delhi man!