A Taste of India – India

A Taste of India India

September 26

I had a very comfortable two-hour train ride to Agra with breakfast and air conditioning. Apparently train rides in India can be crowded and hot but this was good. The hotel in India I stayed at had a courtyard, which was a nice way to get away from the hordes of people. They also had good food and I had spinach curry. I went to the Baby Taj, which is actually older than the Taj Mahal but not as attractive. Next on to the Red Fort which is marble and red sandstone and used to be for royal get-togethers. It also has a big tub where royalty used to bathe. They really stick it to tourists at all these sights; admission to the Taj $20 for tourists but $1 for locals. The Taj Mahal is where I spent the whole afternoon. It looks different in the day than at sunset as it appears white at first and then more gray later in the day. Having traveled for the last three months, there is less and less that knocks me off my feet but this did. It's amazing to see the wealth of this building in comparison to the poor people washing their clothes in the nearby river.

September 27

Sporting a mustache is one way to try to fit in while visiting India

I took the train to Jaipur. This was the hot, crowded train I had been worried about. Old women stick tea in your face trying to sell it and people are in every cranny of the train. Arriving in Jaipur, I was mobbed by people so I wanted to get away from the big cities. I changed some train tickets and my airline tickets. I had apparently bought bogus tickets in Delhi. I don't know how, it looks like a normal ticket but it only took a couple dollars to fix. I have started growing a mustache. I'm trying to fit in as much as possible and every guy has a mustache. I am a Westerner so I stand out and I'm wearing shorts too and most men wear pants so I'm getting laughed at because of that too. Also, I have tattoo that gets a couple stares.

September 28

Jaipur is called the Pink City because the original city buildings were colored pink. The city gates in the main area were interesting as they represented the four seasons. There were many peacocks on the buildings too, which I liked. There is a military museum, art gallery and large tubs for water in this area as well. The maharaja stays nearby but the building is yellow. The Hawa Mahal or Palace of the Winds is a five-story palace to walk around; it was used as a retreat by the maharaja. I could see the minaret where the maharaja threw people he didn't like to their death from Hawa Mahal. Next to the Amber Fort, which was a forgettable bus ride as the driver made rolling stops. It was difficult to get off, followed by a hot forty-minute uphill walk. Monkeys almost attacked me on the way up but they ended up just fighting with each other. I could see a water reservoir from the top as well as the other two forts, which are further up the hill.

September 29

The white temple of Birla Mandir is an attractive temple. It's a combination of Hindu and other religions and philosophers. Outside the temple is a courtyard that had music playing, very high-pitched females were singing. I couldn't tell from where at first but then I could see that it was from the silver balls on the walls.

The holy city of Pushkar has more temples than anything else

Then on to the Monkey Temple, which is actually a series of temples. I was helped along the way by a couple of young girls and I noticed that they had black eyes. Not from being hit but they had heavy mascara around their eyes. I think it may be religious but I'm not sure. The main Monkey Temple includes a bathing area where both humans and monkeys bathe. Both monkeys and humans throw each other in. There is a monkey god in the Hindu religion. The Royal Gaitor was next for the epitaphs of the old maharajas. Most were in white and very flamboyant. The Albert Hall was after that and had many historical exhibits mostly paintings. Nearby is the zoo, but outside the gates is kind of a zoo too with all the cows walking around. I met a Canadian girl who is living here and we went to a movie. The movie business here, Bollywood, is huge. It's fun watching a movie as the crowd gets into it and yells at the screen. Less entertaining is that smoking is legal in the theater, which has wooden chairs and only one exit.

September 30

On to Pushkar, via Ajmer. The man that ran the hotel picked me up with his motorcycle from the "bus station". Rent is based on the "pay as much as you want" theme and is very laid back. Pushkar is a religious city so there is no meat and a lot of praying. There are more temples than anything else here including the only temple to the Brahma God. There is a large area for ceremonies that includes coconuts, flowers, incense and putting a red dye on your forehead. They bothered me for money and it's unfortunate they use religion for money but other religions do too. They then put a red and yellow bracelet on me and then I wasn't bothered anymore. Next, I caught the sunset at one of the two hills overlooking the city. Returning to the center we went to Raju Garden Restaurant where everything is cooked with love by Raju. I ate so much it was unbelievable. The restaurant overlooked the lake, which is a holy lake. We listened to some music and walked around. It's nice there are no motorized bicycles just two-wheeled wheelbarrows for transportation.

October 1

The main Monkey Temple includes a bathing area where both humans and monkeys bathe

I enjoyed the temples of Pushkar. I walked around the holy lake and saw more of the normal life in Pushkar. An example is using donkeys to transport bricks. The area is poor and this exemplifies it. I met an Aussie couple last night at dinner and we had dinner again tonight and talked about traveling; they had been trekking up by Kashmir. They said it wasn't too difficult, as there were villages too relax.

October 2

I had a crazy bus ride back to Ajmer. Apparently there is a full moon and there is some religious ceremony in Pushkar. As I got off the bus, people were jumping through the windows to get in. They were skinny enough to do that, I couldn't. In Ajmer, the best thing I saw was a museum that had a gold-plated depiction of the universe. I returned to Delhi and was hoping to sleep at the train station, as there are rooms there. Instead, the station guy wanted to take me to an expensive hotel where he would get kickback money. I told him to bug off and I found my own. It's a bit difficult to get an honest answer here in Delhi even from public officials, so that is frustrating. But a good night sleep will help before I move north to Rishikesh.

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