Part One
So…we have been in Delhi, India for a day now….am trying to assess my feelings…mixed at this point.
Loving the hotel. Best service, kindest faces….I’ve ever had. Am trying not to think it’s cause I’m old that they keep saying “maam” (smile) Really, it’s just the Indian way!
Yesterday, we visited the Swarminarya Akshardam (misspelled for sure) which is an absolutely amazing temple….dedicated to a Swarminarya (too lazy to look up his name). Several significant things about this place…
1. Massive, stunning grounds
2. Built in only 5 years….opened in 2006 so it’s totally new…
3. Fabulous intricate hand-crafted marble, delicate design….just a wonderful place.
Not on our tour so we hired a private car for the day and included this in our bumming around. For sure, we are really glad that we did this as it’s a masterpiece. Am thinking that it’s not on the tour because they seem to focus on lots of historically significant places…e.g. humayanon’s tomb, ghandi’s museum and site of assination, other ancient places. In our opinion, some of the historical stuff could be dropped in exchange for this place as it really is incredibly well done.
To make you laugh…knowing my fetish for germy stuff….I had to take off my shoes to enter the temple at Akshardam. I had my little booties with me and put them on…even though it had rained and my booties got wet. In looking at the vast number of REALLY, REALLY dirty feet people around me, I couldn’t quite stomach going barefooted. THough I probably really looked funny using bacterial wipes before putting my shoes back on, I think I must not have been such a nut case as when I offered them to my fellow travelers, zero of them refused!!!!!
So…..have had traditional Indian breakfasts the past 2 days….dosa….wonderful sauces and a flatbread, crepe type thing..today filled with eggs also. YUM!!!! Am loving the food I’m trying.
BTW…today at lunch, had the most wonderful apple nut crumble tart-like thing. Loved it so much that I asked (to the amazement of the tour guide…probably not the done thing) the restaurant mgr. for the recipe. He promised to send it to me if I gave him my email address…will see if this happens but even if it doesn’t, was fun asking.
Oh…GREAT experience today. (caused me to be late to the tour bus)… I asked 3 women if I could take their picture….They smiled, said yes, then called over other members of their family. 15 minutes later after laughing, exchanging emails, taking pictures of the whole family and then them taking pictures of me with their family….a little bit of fun exchanging info about our respective cultures. Loved it!!!!
Gotta go for now….the welcome reception awaits me. Guess I’ll partake of some vino!
J
Part Two
So now we’ve been here for 7 days. As I write this, I am sitting in the Oberoi Agravillas…the most magnificent hotel I’ve ever been to. Needless to say, I’m a VERY happy camper right now!
(more on the hotel later)
So back to Delhi….spend our 3rd day in Delhi exploring several of its 8 cities. Was a little confused as the guides described which part of town we were in at various times. Jumped from the 6th city to the 8th back to the 7th then to the 3rd. All in all, seemed like one big city to me and I lost track of where I was relative to my note-taking.
Went to the Red Fort…pretty spectacular…and Raj Ghat which is the cremation site for Ghandi. Don’t remember whether I mentioned that we went to the Ghandhi museum…an utterly peaceful place with tremendous quotes, photos…really spiritual….sort of eery in its calm. For sure, Ghandhi is revered here and respect for his memory is expressed at all levels.
Interesting note, I asked our guide about the perspective on Indira Ghandi…since there were so many accolades for Mahatma Ghandhi. I always thought they were related…but they weren’t. Nehru…a real friend of Ghandhi’s…was Indira Ghandi’s father and since he objected to her marriage to her husband, she asked Mahatma Ghandhi to bless her husband with his surname.
All in all, seems like Indira Ghandhi was feared rather than revered.
Enjoyed the evening of the 3rd in Delhi…had a private sari wrapping venture with the concierge in the Oberoi…. MONA…just a delightful lady who took Loretta and me under her wing and pulled an Oberoi sari (which we loved) from the stock room and took us into the bathroom
and showed us how to wear it… WHAT A FUN EXPERIENCE!
Day 4….early flight to Varanasi—Now the rubber meets the road. This place, to Hindu’s, is like Mecca. Cremations are done around the clock and bodies are placed in the Ganges River….holy river…on the left bank.
We started with an evening cruise which enabled us to see the ceremony putting the river to sleep. This is done every day and I cannot describe how poignant this was. As we floated along in a small boat, we saw –at the main crematorium—14 bodies being burned. (Hindu’s require that bodies must be cremated within a certain number of hours…I forgot how many). The fires were lit by a man in all white and the families stayed there until the bodies were officially burned…about 3 to 4 hours. Knowing that these were real people was overwhelming.
The smell of burning and ash were everywhere. (was hard to see how the river looked at this point as it was nighttime).
Day 5
Next morning, we were back at the river on another boat to see the awakening of the river. A feeling of calm was ever present. Though I’m not of the same faith, I still respected their process. People dipping themselves into the water …(Hindu’s feel that they must make a pilgrimage to the Ganges at least once in their lives). Hard to convey just how very many people there were. People, cows, goats, hawkers…chaos but a form of calm also. Really hard to convey just how viewing this makes one feel. In awe and repulsed at the same time! Feeling dingy with the overwhelming polluted air but ever so happy to have had the chance to witness this. Wanted to leave and yet stay. Oh my goodness!
More later
J
Part Three
Day 5 Continued…
After leaving the Ganges ceremony, we headed to the airport to fly from Varanasi to Khajuraho…a UNESCO world heritage site which contains some temples which were discovered by the Brits under overgrown brush.
WOW! These things are kinky! Beautifully carved images, lots of workmanship but erotic is an understatement. The local merchants have capitalized on this by creating a deck of playing cards with the erotic images… The hawkers…children and adults alike…made sure that each item available was offered to us…. as we passed by, at the bus, everywhere. Not real different from what we’ve experienced in China, Viet Nam, South America….anywhere where local merchants recognize that tourists are available to purchase their goods.
Part of the experience is haggling but I’ve really lost my stomach for this. Seeing so many kids who are selling their goods tugs at my heart. THough people DO NOT seem down-trodden (in fact, they generally seem healthy, friendly and happy), I have a hard time with separating my life and my opportunities and the realization that they can never have this as a possibility. Not their problem really as it doesn’t seem as though they are discontented. It’s really me knowing that there are more options in life and recognizing that can’t experience those options. Who has the problem? Me, or them?
From Khajaraho….took a 7 hour (was supposed to be 4.5 hrs) bus ride to Ghansi to catch a train for Agra. The longer ride was necessitated by the fact that the main road was washed away with the monsoons and we had to take back roads through villages. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!!!
I’ve never felt so welcomed. All along the way, people waved and smiled as we passed by. (Our guide said that normally the people in the villages do not see tour buses). 70% of India’s 1.5 billion people live in the countryside and I think we saw most of them yesterday! (smile)
I took a picture of 3 adorable boys who delighted in posing as I stuck my head out of the bus when we were in a 30 minute traffic jam. I’ll try to send over this picture as these boys captured my heart with their smiles.
Arrived in Ghansi…took the train….had yet another experience in going through the train station. Folks sitting on the floor everywhere waiting for their trains. The train was really long with LOTS of people stuffed in the various cars. Our 1st class car was nice….not the Eurostar but by Indian standards, nice.
Arrived in Agra…went to the hotel where I currently sit and WOW, WOW, WOW! AM LOVING BEING HERE!!! Don’t want to move on from this place. I’m in nirvana!!!!!
TODAY—-Day 7…
I’m in Heaven! Outside my window is the Taj Mahal and it’s as wonderful as I imagined. Our morning visit there gave me the visit of a lifetime. I need not go elsewhere. Great view and wonderful hotel surrounded by beautiful, attentive people and I’m really digging this. I thought I was a princess before, but now I know that I am cause it doesn’t get much better than this.
I am ever grateful for having had the opportunity to experience something so wonderful, magical, beautiful.
More later,
J
Part Four
Day 13 and we are now officially whipped. Am sitting in the lobby of our hotel (Taj Malabar) in Kochi (also known as Cochin) which is in the southern state of Kerala. David is sitting across from me…napping (not intentionally but the place sort of lulls one to sleep)…and I am taking a moment to try to catch up on my thoughts while waiting for our next event this evening.
We flew here yesterday and I’lll give my thoughts on this area in a minute….must catch you up on after Agra…i.e. on to Jaipur and then Udaipur.
Jaipur…Lodging 1st…So I thought the Oberoi Amarvillas in Agra was my hotel of a lifetime. This was before we transferred to the Oberai Rajvillas in Jaipur. Double WOW! My breath (and the collective breaths of us all)…hard to breathe at taking in so much beauty. The hotel had a main reception area which housed the restaurants and main check-in areas. The rooms were set all around the property…in a bird sanctuary…grass interwoven among the walking paths, an infinity pool set before a luxurious spa…each set of 6 rooms clustered around a flowing fountain. Huge rooms with sunken marble tubs (with pillows nestled to enable one to take a luxurious bath).
I was officially corrected in my thoughts of what FANTASTIC really is…i.e. I thought the Agra location was fantastic but this topped even that!
The town of Jaipur is known as the pink City…coming from the pink stucco architecture used within the old city. 9 gates are used for entry and exit and this whole complex is massive. To envision how the Indian rulers lived is just difficult to imagine. Incredible wealth existed and much like the rulers of other places we’ve all visited, they lived an over the top existence.
Another area which was impressive was the Jantar Mantar Obervatory. Imagine a huge complex where many centuries ago they were able to use geometric devices to calculate zodiac information, predict eclipses, measure time…all kinds of scientific stuff. These guys were absolutely brilliant!
Jaipur, like much of India, contained its usual share of meandering cows and congestion. Challenging navigating everywhere but our bus driver was phenomenal. When we visited another place…the Amber Fort (located on a VERY HIGH hillside), we used jeeps to navigate the hillside rather than the bus. Far too much traffic existed and the road was far too narrow for a bus. The jeep ride… OMG…. 5 of us to a jeep along with the driver. A trail of jeeps trying to navigate the walkers, animals and other cars… Our driver was yelling, spitting out the window, making gestures…….we were holding on for dear life….bumpy roads. What an experience! Was ever so happy to climb down from the jeep (forgetting that I had to get back in it for the ride back down…Oh well, what goes up!!!!
More of Jaipur…had an animal parade to accompany us to dinner as we approached the Taj Palace hotel. Elephants, horses, trumpet players, dancers…all awaited our approach to the hotel and ushered us in. An elegant dinner was set up on the balcony and we all sat in awe at the magnificence of this place. For sure, the Oberoi was fabulous but the Taj Palace hotel in Jaipur is equally fabulous. Both exceed any hotels I’ve ever stayed in!
So now, we were off for Udaipur. We were supposed to fly..i..e from Jaipur to Delhi and then from Delhi to Udaipur but the flight schedule was screwed up because of airline changes. Tauck, in their usual excellent stye, opted to transport us by bus between the cities instead. Though it meant that we had a 7 hour bus ride, this was better than our air journey would have been because it would have been 11 hours total. They wanted to get us to our Udaipur location earlier to enable us to enjoy our hotel there…. TRIPLE OMG!!!! IT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN THE LAST 2 HOTELS!!!!!!
Yikes!!! The Oberoi Udaivillas in Udaipur is listed in the top 100 hotels in the world and it deserves every possible accolade. Set on the banks of Lake Pichola, it has a really picturesque, massive location and enables one to see the old city from across the river.
I can’t begin to describe just how wonderful it is but, for sure, you should look up this hotel. It’s just GREAT!
Udaipur is far cleaner than any city we’ve visited. Charming…looks somewhat like the mediterranean. The City Palace is another massive, wonderful old building and it also causes one to reflect on the wealth of the Maharaj’s. Though the city was really enjoyable, what I enjoyed most was having a great massage and spending time enjoying the hotel. Yum!
So now I’m back where I started…i.e. Am now in Kochi. We flew from Udaipur to Mumbai and then on to Kochi yesterday evening. THe hotel and setting here are lovely. (Am focusing on not comparing them to the Oberoi’s…smile). Kerala is a tropical area with backwaters and lots of greenery. Fish is eaten in abundance here and this area really seems prosperous. A few reasons for this:
1. Education is mandatory here so with a higher literacy rate, more people focus on living a higher standard. With its exposure to the European education system because of being colonized by the Portugese, then Dutch, Danes and finally the Brits, the emphasis on education created more opportunites for people in this region to prosper.
2. The area historically had a lot of wealth because it’s on the spice route…in olden times spices were traded for money. With is abundance of all types of spices, this region prospered.
3. Many people are land owners here. At one point, there was a democratically elected communist government who enacted a land reform act to redistribute the land among everyone, not just the rich. The result was that people took more pride in their respective properties.
A MAJOR difference here…I’ve seen no wandering cows and have not seen the massive amounts of trash. Cows must be tied up here by ordinance and people are paid by thhe gov’t to pick up the trash, All in all, this is the 1st area I’ve seen which better resembles a western area in terms of its trash and animals.
Gotta go now…we’ve off to have a cooking class with a local chef….right up my alley.
J
Part Five—Over and Out
Am sitting in the airport in Paris munching on a pain chocolate…forgetting that I promised that I would start slowing down once returning home. Have convinced myself that I need fortification for the challenge of air travel….smile….and this will give me the strength to endure…LOL (any excuse)
So…we are now en route to Virginia. Left Mumbai on a 2:50 am flight…an experience in itself…flew from Mumbai to Paris and will continue from here after a hearty layover. Arrived at the Mumbai airport amid utter chaos. Would have been totally lost without the aid of the Tauck representative who managed to stave off the pushing crowds and escorted us through the necessary channels for both entering the airport and getting checked in. In this airport, as in all the others we experienced in India, one needs to present a passport and a complete itinerary in order to enter the airport. Without this, the armed guard simply won’t let you enter the door, let alone think about accessing an airline. Way more challenging to enter an airport here than anywhere else I’ve experienced.
So now we’ve completed our trip. When I last wrote, we were in Kerala and had not yet experienced in the Kamarakom Lake resort…our 2nd property in that region. A couple of highlights there:
1. Morning walk through the local village seeing more beautiful, smiling children….some on their way to school and some standing in their doorways…little ones observing shyly at us..the waving strangers. “Do you have a pen?” queried one, then two, then more of the school kids. A question asked of strangers in exchange for letting their pictures be taken. (They can sell then pen!) Have seen more absolutely beautiful, friendly children here than anywhere else. Regardless of their means, they’ve seemed healthy, outgoing, joyous.
2. Talking with Indian locals…a couple from the Kerala region..trying to sort out how and where to get married trying to gain buyin from their respective families and how to blend their jobs with ultimately having kids…..and then talking with a school principle from Goa on holiday with her family. 60 kids in her classrooms with 1 teacher…bidding for slots by parents trying to ensure good schooling for their kids….and then with a Cargo ship captain…concerned about how challenging it is to access various ports …stating that the US has made it so very much harder after 9/11 and that he has felt, repeatedly, that the transit agents have treated them with a lot of disrespect …often making slurs about them, as Indians. Lots of conversations with different people…all interesting…all imparting information which makes one look at how some concerns are the same….the world over!
> The Kamarakom Lake Resort offered an utterly relaxing stay after having experienced such a hectic trip in Northern India. Set in the backwaters…lazy rivers loaded with an overgrowth of water hyacinths which pose a threat to the eco-system…swaying palm trees with an open-air lobby and restaurants…an infinity pool and an aryuvedic spa specializing in massages and facials…lush tropical area which reminded me of the bayous of Louisiana. Just didn’t get better than this for relaxation. (Btw…had an aryuvedic massage with 2 women massaging simultaneously!!! Remind me to tell you what a shock this provided, one day. ) (Double btw…I saw this resort featured on a segment of “Wealth TV” before I left the States. It totally lived up to its expectations)
I could go on about this place but, enough!! Spent a couple of days there and then flew to Mumbai…
Mumbai was a total surprise…far more cosmopolitan than I expected and the Oberoi there was actually my favorite. That it would be sumptuous was an expectation at this point. That it would exceed the others was surprising given that it was located in a city with 20 million people which I expected to be overrun…crowded…dirty…more like Delhi…which it wasn’t. Yes, the air is polluted there also and yes, Mumbai is known for its teeming slums..(We all saw “slumdog millionaire”, right? What was surprising was that even with knowing that there are hoards of people, the city had a vibrance and obvious wealth where Delhi seemed to have far less wealth and structure.
Unlike in Delhi, I saw no roaming cows in the section we inhabited. I know that this area was a wealthy area but that they were able to isolate the wealth was surprising because in the other cities we visited, the wealth and poverty seemed to blend more. It is said that 30 % of India’s revenues come from the taxes paid by the wealthy in Mumbai. After seeing the city, I can see why.
BTW…in our hotel, yesterday, an Indian wedding was being held and we had the chance to see the bridal party, the guests, a lot of it up close and personal. In fact, David was able to actually go into the wedding venue and film part of it. (This was arranged by one of the Oberoi staff people and he was actually giddy with being allowed to do this. He took some FANTASTIC shots and video…just great stuff). We were later told that these folks were millionaires many times over and, if you could have seen the bridal party and the guests, you would have assumed this. SOMEONE PAID AN ABSOLUTE FORTUNE FOR THIS EVENT!!!!! Big Money, big money!
So now our trip is over and we are on our way back to our normal lives. Will our lives be quote, unquote, normal again? Will India and its many faces have a lasting impact? I like to think that many of the things which resonated with me with stay…and hopefully change me for the better.
We’ve traveled a ton and I think I probably view the world differently than many because of our travels…. at least I like to think so. This trip, however, was different. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place where there’s such an intertwining of people, RELIGION, poverty, chaos, striving, filth, wealth, opulence, gentle and beautiful people, color, fragrances….all clashing and mixing…different beliefs, races, living together. Some modern (MOST AMAZING HOTELS I HAVE EVER SEEN) some archaic…but all seemingly sorta content. To see people with so little who seem to be so settled with their respective lot in life was not only amazing but it made me think and rethink about who’s richer? Us…i.e. those who live in a western world with so many more goods, services and opportunities or them???
For sure, India’s an amazing country and I am so very glad that I had chance to experience this…warts and all.
Makes one think, huh!
Janice