10 days in India = another long post😇
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| Our route: New Delhi - Agra (1 night for Taj Mahal) - Jaipur (3 nights for elephant experience and shopping) - Amber/Amer for fort near Amer - finally, back to Delhi (Fadi & Stephanie's). |
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| We only saw a small portion of the country, but with the roads as they are (especially the road from Jaipur to Delhi - it's not great and you have to go through SO many small villages along the way) it's very slow going with with people, dogs, goats, cows, pigs, camels, monkeys and elephants on the highway! 👪🐕🐐🐄🐖🐪🙉🐘 Honestly, it felt a bit like a we were in a video game where you have to constantly be on the lookout for things popping up in front of you! 😨 |
Population:
India has approx. 1.34 billion as of February 2018. That's 2nd in the world by population (behind China @ approx. 1.41 billion).
Delhi: 27,928,000 (That's just one city! Canada - the whole country; 2nd largest country by land mass in the world - has only 36,822,695)
Agra: nearly 1.8 million
Jaipur: 3.7 million
Amer: small, can't seem to find #'s
WOW! What an amazing adventure! I never thought I'd be able to see India, but I'm very thankful I had this opportunity! We saw and did so much in our short 10 days, but I feel we managed to experience a good cross section of the sights, culture and food.
Judy (our neighbour here in Moscow), Rufca (works with Craig) & I flew 6 hours direct from Moscow arriving about midnight in heavy fog.
Fadi, our host who works at the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi, sent us a picture of the driver (their personal driver) who would be picking us up. He also said either he or Stephanie would be there to greet us at the airport. Soooo... we get to the airport and are expecting to see Fadi with the driver and a sea of people at customs, but thankfully it was pretty quiet!!! Yay! For this we are very thankful because my visa was on my blue passport and normally the general line is insanely long. Judy & Rufca flew on their diplomatic passports, so they were able to go to the speedy diplomatic line. All went smoothly (well, other than I forgot my paperwork at the booth and had to go back in the secure area to get it... duh). 😕 Bags all arrived no problem and we headed out to find the driver... this guy
We referred to him as "ZZ Top" because of the beard, so that's who we were looking for when we arrived and he was supposed to be holding up a sign with our names and a Canadian flag.
We couldn't see him in the group of drivers holding up signs... instead, this young guy starts waving at me. I say to Rufca "He's probably just a taxi driver trying to get our business, keep moving". He then approaches me and says "Kerry"? I say "yes" and he says "I'm Asif"... I say, "No you're not"! 😁 I didn't believe him! He then shows the sign with our names and the Canadian flag and our pictures, but still I didn't trust him because we were expecting ZZ Top with Fadi! I was thinking that he could have seen this information on Facebook (paranoid much?) because Judy posted that we were coming and who we were visiting...but we all followed him to the parking lot anyway still thinking "Is this guy for real"? Fadi didn't come because there wasn't enough room for him, us and the luggage, but honestly we were still mildly afraid for our lives as we got in the car! lol
Turns out, Fadi did send us the real Asif's photo, BUT he did so while we were in the air and so none of us saw it before meeting Asif! I gave Fadi a good beating when we did, thankfully, arrive safe at their apartment!! Brat! 😈
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| The real Asif! 🙏 Namasté |
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| The next day we were able to see the embassy (High Commission) of Canada. Sorry, no pictures from inside (not allowed). It's a really large complex with a pool, playground with tennis courts, a grocery store, offices and apartments. Much much larger than what is here in Moscow. |
1st spot visited: Lodi Gardens
| I had arranged to meet a very special person while in Delhi!! I was excited to see a dear childhood friend whom I had not seen since grade 2!!! That's over 40 years since we had seen one another because I moved from Ottawa to Winnipeg half way through grade 2. I found her on Facebook a few years ago and learned she was living near Delhi, so naturally, when I booked this trip, I just had to see her! So, we arranged to meet at Lodi Garden. |
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| Lodi Garden is a beautiful park within the city and it wasn't busy at all. I was a little surprised by that. I guess I expected all of India to be wall-to-wall people. Also, despite what people say, I didn't find the areas we visited on this trip to be smelly. Sure, there were stinky parts, but you'll find that in nearly any big city. It was actually quite peaceful and lovely in Lodi Garden... a good place to ease us into our adventure (although there was one incident with a henna tattoo lady who violently grabbed Rufca's finger and Stephanie had to swat her arm to get her to back off). The park is spread over 90 acres and contains several tombs and architectural works of the 15th century such as the mosque above. |
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| Here Ina & I are posing for our first photograph together in over 40 years! I was actually a little nervous at first and didn't take enough pictures of us together! I kick myself for that... wish I had taken more pictures. 😞 |
As soon as I find it, I'll post a picture of us two from childhood... the last time we were together.
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| She was game to climb up here with me for this photo. She's still the very nice person I remember her being in childhood and after a little bit it was really comfortable with her as she is very personable and easy to talk to. |
From here, we all headed to Khan Market where the 3 ladies went one way and Ina & I went to Yum Yum Cha for lunch so we could properly catch up. It was so sweet telling each other what has happened in our lives over the past 40 years! It's a little difficult though to sum up your life in one short story! 😵I left there thinking that if we weren't so far apart I feel we would still be friends. The good thing is she makes frequent trips to Canada, so we definitely plan to meet up again when I move back to Canada (we won't wait another 40 years). 👭
Thank you Ina for meeting with me! It was awesome to see you!
2nd spot visited: Khan Market
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| Bye for now my friend! |
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| We tired Luigi (and Stephanie) out! |
4th spot visited: Dilli Haat Market
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| We didn't realize it at the time, but Dilli Haat Market (you pay a small fee to enter) was a VERY calm place to shop for souvenirs. They are a little more expensive, but if you like no stress while buying, this is a good and clean place to go. |
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| See how clean and calm it is...? 😊 |
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| Judy inquiring about the first of many scarves. No, she didn't buy this one. |
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| I was such a polite Canadian... I asked these gentlemen first if I could take their picture. By the end of the trip though I was no longer asking. Hey, if they can bug me and grab me, then I'll take their picture. 🙊 |
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| A lovely pottery demonstration going on at the market |
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| I loved these shoes, but sadly, I never did buy a pair! Why?? Why?? 😱Size 37/38 if anyone wants to pick me up a pair! lol |
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| Friday night, in honour of our Lebanese-Canadian friends, we went to a Lebanese restaurant called "Fez Mediterranean Bar". It was lovely with these gorgeous lamps. Food was pretty good too. |
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| Friday was also a holiday in Delhi - 69th Republic Day - this sign was made by all flowers. I didn't get a great photo of it unfortunately. |
5th spot visited: Akshardham Temple
This is a beautiful and impressive Hindu Temple that officially opened in 2005 (no pictures allowed inside). With all the great places of worship available we were slightly disillusioned by this expensive place. Some sites say it's a 2 billion dollar complex! With all the poverty in the country it seems like a big waste of resources. I apologize if this offends anyone - my opinion is purely a practical one - no insult meant toward the temple or its worshipers.
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| We took this picture from the highway above on our way there - through the pollution. |
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| For a very reasonable fee (I think it was the equivalent of about $5 Cdn.) we had this group photo taken. Strangely, it looks photo-shopped, but the temple was right there behind us where we were posing for the picture - I swear. This is a photograph (again) of the one large photo we purchased. |
Speaking of pollution....
AQI (Air Quality Index)...on February 8, 2018 the # is 338 in New Delhi. It was anywhere from 200 up to nearly 400 when we were visiting. Below is the table to show what this means. Below are the AQI #'s from other cities in the world to give you some perspective. It is very scary and I definitely am concerned for everyone's health in India!
Moscow (Russia): 63
Zurich (Switzerland): 36
Paris (France): 136
Lisbon (Portugal): 16
Ottawa (Canada): 30
AQI
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Air
Pollution Level
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Health
Implications
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0 - 50
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Good
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Air quality is
considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk
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51 -100
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Moderate
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Air quality is
acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health
concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air
pollution.
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101-150
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Unhealthy for
Sensitive Groups
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Members of
sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is not
likely to be affected.
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151-200
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Unhealthy
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Everyone may begin
to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more
serious health effects
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201-300
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Very Unhealthy
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Health warnings of
emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.
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300+
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Hazardous
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Health alert:
everyone may experience more serious health effects
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6th spot visited: Ugrasen Ki Baoili
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| I saw a picture of this place when researching where to go and it looked interesting. I didn't realize what it was at the time, but it is a (60 metres long and 15 metres wide) historical, deep well. It is unique with 108 steps and has been used to shoot scenes from Bollywood films. |
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| Internet photo with NO people! Imagine? Not the day we were there. |
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| That's me in the light blue tunic. Can't believe they let you just walk the edge like that. Although, as we were leaving there was a guard making everyone get off it. |
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| Rufca in bottom right and Judy standing against the wall in the middle - she was NOT keen on the heights! |
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| For you, my love (Craig) with the birds |
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| My attempt at a pose... didn't want to put my dirty shoe on my pants! |
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| Cool way to do a selfie... we have to keep this in mind for Nicaragua Kristan, Maggie & Stephanie! |
7th spot visited: Sarojini Market
When
we first visited this market (specifically to buy a sari) it had just
opened and was not busy at all. It was a pleasant shopping experience
actually. The 2nd time we went back to pick up the altered garments (a
week later) it was a complete zoo and I think we had had enough of
people grabbing and yelling at us to sell their wares. They were never ending and very insistent so
we didn't enjoy it the 2nd time around so much. Note to self... go to
these markets when they first open and it's not too busy!
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| The
cozy shop Rufca & I bought our Sarees/saris (in Sarojini Market). All those
saris on the platform are the ones she & I tried on. SO many to choose
from we had to narrow it down to just a couple of colours. I ended up
with a navy blue one and she bought an Aqua blue one. |
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Once I get them, I will add pics from Rufca & I trying on sarees here
8th spot visited: Gurudwara Bangla Sahib
This complex is one of the prominent gold onion-domed Sikh Temples in Delhi. In 2017 it was ranked #1 among the best tourist and pilgrimage spots in Delhi. The original small shrine was built in 1783. We arrived to a bit of chaos until a volunteer grabbed us and showed us where the foreigners go and what to do. We soon realized everyone has to cover their heads (well, all females) and take off their socks & shoes! We were a little horrified at walking around a place barefoot and Judy nearly didn't do it. The worse part for me (as a foreigner and not a Sikh) was we had to walk through this shallow pool of water to "cleanse" our feet... along with thousands of other people. That is just unsanitary. It does not clean anything, but perhaps it's more symbolic? We had to wait a bit for a service to be completed and then we kind of snuck in with this group of VIP's heading in. Not sure if we were supposed to go in yet, but we were able to walk through and see some sort of ceremony going on. No pictures allowed... just the ones outside the building by the pool.
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| Here's a photo from the internet of what it looks like inside. |
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| Selfie in our lovely foreigner-orange bandanas (orange definitely isn't my colour nor is it the new black! 😁) |
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| While driving home we saw this parade of royal camels and just had to stop, but unfortunately it was difficult to get a good photo since they were moving by so fast! Still, it was a unique sight for this foreigner. |
9th spot visited: Tamra Restaurant
in Shangri-La Eros Hotel for all you can eat/drink Sunday brunch. Ok, so it's not really a "spot", just a restaurant, but a good time was had by all.
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| For these guys (well, not the pregnant one) the champagne was flowing |
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| The food was plentiful and delicious |
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| For me, the cocktails were very yummy...this was, obviously, after a few! |
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| My new green-eyed Indian friend |
Bye to Delhi and on to Agra & Jaipur
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| This was a VERY common sight in Agra & Jaipur - cows just laying on the road. Moooo...🐮 |
10th spot visited: Agra Fort
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| Our plan when we arrived in Agra from Delhi (drive was decent - took about 3 hours) was to check into the hotel, grab a bite to eat and then go on a wooden barge tour of the river behind Taj Mahal for sunset. Unfortunately, we procrastinated and were too late to catch those unique views like my friend Connie (who lives in Korea) had just done a couple of weeks before. So we decided to do the Agra Fort and it was wonderful! |
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| Asif told us not to get a guide here, but we were SO glad we ignored his advice! Our guide/photographer was awesome and with very little signage at this sight, we were grateful for his information and story telling (and it only cost 500 Rs - about $10 Cdn. - we paid him 900) |
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| This is not a place to be if you were an enemy infiltrating this fortress because if you made it this far you would have burning liquid poured on you and have heavy things dropped on you (such technical terms). |
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| Nice group shot taken by our guide! |
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| Beautiful architectural details in India! |
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| In 1657 Shah Jahan fell seriously ill setting off a war of succession among his four sons. In1658 until his death in 1666 he was imprisoned here in the above marble room at Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb (who was victorious in becoming the next Emperor, but only because he killed off all his siblings to do so)... or so our guide told us, but Wikipedia says that it was in fact Shah Jahan who was the one who killed all his rivals for the throne. Maybe both of them did? Our guide also told us Aurangzeb imprisoned his father because he was spending too much money and wanted to build a black Taj Mahal across from Agra Fort. Our guide even pointed out the foundation across the river. I call bullshit. 👎 Still, it makes for a good story! |
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| Gorgeous white marble with inlaid gem stones! Loved it! |
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| Our guide at work with great photos for all of us. We were very fortunate to have clear skies for this great view of Taj Mahal. Sometimes the pollution or fog can be so bad you can't see it. |
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| Gotta do this pose! 👍 |
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| This one is one of my favorites... |
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| The details amaze me... we're not used to this type of architecture in Canada. Especially since our country is only 150 years old and this place - Agra Fort - a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Agra - was completed in 1573 (making it 445 years old)! It's described as a walled palatial city and rightly so. The base of this structure and most of the fort itself is built from red sandstone. Back in the day it functioned as both a military strategic point and a royal residence and is located just 2.5 km NW of the Taj Mahal. It cost 520 Rs to enter for foreigners and 20 Rs for Indian residents (or foreign diplomats living in India with a diplomatic card). |
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11th spot visited: Taj Mahal... the one and only
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| We're in! We're also all a little cold and tired as it is about 6:45 am. We were supposed to meet our guide from Agra Fort, but he was a no show, so we ended up with Asif's friend as our guide and he was pretty good too. |
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| Our first glimpse of the infamous Taj Mahal! |
The Taj Mahal... what can I say? It lives up to its reputation and for me was a highlight of our trip. "Taj" meaning crown
"Mahal" meaning palace
Translates to Crown of the Palace
The main building is an ivory-white marble mausoleum built on the South bank of the Yamuna river in the city of Agra. Commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor I mentioned earlier - Shan Jahan (who reigned from 1628 - 1658). He had it built to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal (who died after giving birth to their 14th child). No pictures are allowed in the tomb, which is the centrepiece of the 42 acre complex. This complex also includes a mosque and a guest house and formal gardens.
The construction of the mausoleum was completed in 1643, but work continued for another 10 years. The estimated cost at the time to be approximately 32 million rupees (today's equivalent of 52 billion rupees or 827 million USD). Imagine what this would cost today to build??
In 1983 the Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritate Site for being "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". apparently this sight attracts 8 million visitors/ year.
Cost for entry: 1000 Rs for foreigners ($20 Cdn.) 40 Rs for Indian citizens
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| There she is... the magnificent beauty as the sun is rising off to the right behind us. |
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| Clear day when visiting Taj Mahal = one happy Kerry! It's very impressive! |
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| The peace crane... a school project for Nadine's son Tristan at East Northumberland Secondary School. |
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| Excited group! |
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| YOLO, might as well get this shot at Taj Mahal |
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| Our guide had us feeling like models with all these poses! lol |
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| Not sure, but I think the 🙏 pose was my idea. It truly is widely used instead of a "hello". |
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| The guide got creative under a bench. Too bad for the other 3 people in our photo, but what can ya do? |
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| The money shot |
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| When I said to the guide that I wanted to do a jump shot he was NOT happy. He said it's forbidden, but then looked around for the guards and said "ok, just one". |
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| Behind the Taj Mahal mausoleum |
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| Can you see it? Taj Mahal reflected in my sunglasses... unique. |
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| This was on our way out of Taj Mahal. I really, really enjoyed being here. One more tick off my bucket list. Priceless. |
After our sunrise tour of the Taj Mahal we headed off towards Jaipur with a couple of stops along the way...
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| Safety in vehicles is not a high priority in India. I was taking so many photos from within the car of the mayhem going on all around us. Some of the things you see on the road are incredible. I thought the chaos of Vietnam and Morocco were crazy, but India is now # 1 on my "you never know what you'll see" list! On several occasions we even saw people bathing on the side of the road. The poverty is extreme here. |
12th spot visited: Fatehpur Sikri Fort
Fatehpur Sikri is a city founded in 1569 by Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Tickets for fort: 510 Rs (foreigners) 40 Rs for locals
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| It's a bit of a crazy main street - very bustling and not a lot of tourists are wandering around here |
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| Ladies washing their clothes out on the path to the fort. |
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| I believe this is called the Buland Darwaza. It was here that our guide said "don't talk to the people selling things or they won't leave you alone". We should have listened to him! |
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| We found this cute... goats in sweatshirts |
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| It has a huge inner courtyard with the mosque on the left (Jama Masjid). |
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| Chiropractic care Indian style |
In the white building (above) of the complex is the Tomb of Salim Chishti. He had some sort of vision and made 3 wishes (sorry, the details of the story are foggy) and people still, to this day go in to be granted 3 wishes. We took part in this tradition by making a 500 Rs donation for flower pedals, some material (which is apparently used to make clothing for the poor) and a string. Once entering the tomb you are not allowed to take pictures. We presented the cloth over the tomb and then covered it with the flowers. After that we tied our string on the intricately carved marble screen while making our 3 wishes. 3 knots for 3 wishes. Don't tell anyone or they won't come true!
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| The intricately carved marble screens in this building were beautiful! |
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| We all had to cover our heads when we went in this tomb. Rufca had her hood, Judy & I had our own scarves, but Stephanie had to wear this odd plastic basket on her head. |
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| Although these little piglets were adorable to see, it was sad to see them eating garbage. |
Jaipur wasn't what I was expecting! I didn't do much research ahead of time, to be honest, so all I knew about it was Rufca & I were doing the elephant sanctuary nearby and there were good markets for shopping within the old town where the town got its nickname of the "pink city".
It was a VERY insane city and much larger than I expected. The traffic here was the worst we had seen so far.
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| They use trees to hold up new construction... presumably while the cement dries? |
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| Pretty building all lit up for us as we entered Jaipur city |
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| Alas we arrived at our heritage hotel in Jaipur "Unmaid Mahal". I chose it for its unique character and good reviews. I really loved it, but I don't think my travel companions were impressed. |
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| Look at the detail... incredible. It's a more authentic experience than staying at some large chain hotel. It's only for 3 nights... why not? |
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| The beautiful open hallway by our room |
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| I really loved this view |
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| Come on... this is unique and cool don't you think? |
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| The room for Rufca & I. They added that bed at the foot of the king bed, but we just used "George" (our pillow barrier) and slept on the king together because it was more comfortable. |
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| Dancing entertainment at our hotel on the rooftop |
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| Naturally, I joined in! When in India... |
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| After our performance we posed for pictures and signed autographs ... Nightly at 7 pm! 😁 |
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| The front entrance of our hotel in the daylight the next morning ... elephant day!!! So excited! |
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| The cute little pool area out back that 2/4 of us were not that impressed with. So not impressed were they that the princesses 👸👸 went to the Radisson Hotel to sit by the pool while Rufca & I were at the elephant experience. |
Our first morning in Jaipur Judy & Stephanie wanted to relax and Rufca & I wanted to explore so we headed out in search of a clothing store to buy a kurti for our elephant adventure. At first the staff at the hotel seemed like it wouldn't be possible, but we persisted and finally they gave us some direction and we headed out on the busy streets (no sidewalks). We asked a lady on the way and voila, a cute little store that sells textiles (kurtis, sarees, purses, table cloths, etc.). I neglected to get any photographs of this quaint shop, but we had fun trying things on. Rufca purchased I think 3 tops, 2 pairs of pants and a wall hanging similar to mine. Success for our elephant adventure wardrobe!
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| The toran/bandanwar (decorative door hanging in Hinduism) + one of the kurtis I purchased on our little excursion. |
13th spot visited: Elephant Village
At noon, Rufca & I were picked up and brought to the Mom's home (of Elefantastic's owner) for a tasty vegetarian lunch prior to our elephant experience.
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| The driver who picked us up and the home we had lunch in |
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| The cozy living room complete with bunny |
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| We arrive to our elephants waiting for us! Rufca & I and a young couple who work on a cruise ship (he is an Indian from Goa and she is German) |
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| My first interaction with our new friend Sampa - a 46 year old female, Asian elephant. They gave us a bit of information at first and then told us to get up close and personal with the elephants. Their favorite spots for us to pet them are behind the ears, on their upper trunk, over their eyes and on their cheeks. Asian elephants are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, fragmentation and poaching. Females weigh up to about 3 tonnes (males up to about 4.4 tonnes). I was surprised by how tough their skin is... I was petting her so much that my hand went a little numb from the rough surface! lol Asian elephants have that pigmented trunk, ears and/or neck. The hairs are also really coarse! I kind of stabbed myself once with one of her cheek hairs. 🐘 |
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| I was surprisingly relaxed and comfortable around Sampa. She wasn't restrained in any way and she was very calm & happy. Rufca & I both were so friggin' happy too we couldn't stop smiling! Love, love, loved this experience💗 |
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| Ahhh! She's eating me! Luckily she's a vegetarian, but she did snort on us a few times! |
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| Cute Rufca! After getting to know Sampa a little we got down to the business of feeding her and boy can she eat! They eat up to 330 lbs of plant matter per day! According to Wikipedia they live to about 48 years old, but the other elephant that day was 52 and I'm pretty sure the guide said they live to about 65. The natural rips in their ears tell their age. I would have loved to have seen some baby elephants, but I guess that would be more dangerous to be around the elephants with babies. |
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| Rufca perfecting our design |
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| Face painting... the guide finished off the inside of the the heart with yellow... |
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| Our completed work of art (with naturally dyed, water-based paint that washes right off). |
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| Look at our happy girl! Miss you Sampa! |
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| Is this the elephant version of the sexy "finger on lip" pose like Angelina below? 😘 |
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| Seriously can't get enough of this... we didn't want to leave. 😞 |
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| We love you Sampa! I seriously get a little emotional looking back at these pictures. I enjoyed it that much. |
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| The put us to work cleaning her off.. she loved the water! |
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| And off we go for a little stroll... notice we are not in a basket. They told us that it was completely fine and not harmful at all to Sampa to ride like we were and that the baskets you sometimes see on them really are too heavy and hurt the elephants. I am still not 100% convinced that the elephants are treated well and and truly rescued from bad circumstances, but obviously I WANT desperately to believe this. They were not restrained in any way... we were totally on our own here other than the handler giving a few commands once in a while and sometimes walking while holding a little piece of her ear. Please tell me I did not contribute to the problem of animal abuse?! It really did not feel that way. The animals seemed happy and relaxed to us and not the least bit traumatized. |
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| Now that's a shitty job! Pun intended!💩 |
Ok... enough with the elephant pictures. Sorry, it was really hard to stop adding them!
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| Back at the hotel... look at those smiles wearing our matching Elefantastic t-shirts! |
Traffic on our way back to the hotel from elephant experience
14th spot visited: Old Town Jaipur
(the "pink" city)
Our experience in the markets of old Jaipur was not the greatest. We really weren't prepared and ended up walking around a more "industrial" section. I feel we missed out on this experience because of this, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. We also were quite overwhelmed by the chaos by this point and although I could have calmed down and enjoyed it, my companions had enough. Not much to report from here really and I think the only thing we bought here (not I) were some copper mugs.
Camels on the street... not an uncommon sight.
Back at our hotel... this is a little temple on the side. Very sweet.
15th spot visited: City Palace, Jaipur
This complex includes Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal palaces. The one with the flag on the left is where the current, 19-year-old royal lives. It cost 2500 Rs to get a tour there... we were having none of that.
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| The inner courtyard has these incredibly beautiful doorways. |
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| View from a rooftop where we went on a little detour. Rufca thought she had lost her phone at this point and understandably was not happy, but luckily it was found in the car! |
16th spot visited: Hawa Mahal
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| Hawa Mahal |
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| Here we were at the Pearl Palace Hotel to have dinner at the Peacock Rooftop restaurant and there was this 3-D version of Hawa Mahal. I purchased a kurti in Inde Rooh shop where they have block printing and most of us also purchased some silver at the silver shop up on the rooftop by the restaurant! |
17th spot visited: Water Palace (Jal Mahal)
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| This site was just a "get out and take a few pictures" kind of place. It's in the middle of Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur city. It was renovated and enlarged in the 18th century, but I can't find the original date it was built. It's 5 floors - 4 of which are under water. |
18th spot visited: Amer Fort
Located about 11 km from Jaipur, on a hill, is Amer Fort built of sandstone & marble in 1592. It is another UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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| Snake charmers... I stayed away from these guys and just zoomed in for the photo! |
So we arrive at the fort in our rental car with Asif. We didn't know it at the time, but we could have driven to the top ourselves! Instead we got suckered into paying 500 Rs for a jeep ride. It is here where we had a not-so-great guide. He wasn't very knowledgeable and he was rather bossy. At one point he even specifically asked Judy to listen to him and she let him know what she thought of that. It is also here that I purchased a sultan hat and the guy was not nice. We had agreed on a price and he was supposed to give me my change, but didn't want to! I was insistent and telling him he was not honorable. When I finally got some change back from him he had the nerve to try to get more money from me. I told him "get away from me now".
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| The parasol I purchased for the sun makes a lovely prop for the photos |
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| Judy joined in on the parasol silliness |
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| And Rufca's looking lovely with it too! |
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| The mirrored part of the palace |
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| A beautiful outfit in one of the shops on our way out... no, we did not go into any of them! |
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| The Sultan hat I worked so hard for (for Craig) |
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| These poor little lost sheep on their own on the highway (from Amer to Delhi somewhere) with no shepherd! |
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| Poor baby... I hope you are going to a good place. |
The drive back to Delhi was kinda brutal and long and then heavy traffic when we reached the city. We were very tired and just enjoyed a nice steak dinner cooked by Fadi upon our return!
19th spot visited: Qutub Minar
This complex is in New Delhi - another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction started around 1192 which makes it one of the earliest mosque complexes that has survived. Up until 1974 visitors were allowed to climb the tower. In 1981 the lighting failed and several hundred visitors stampeded to the exit. Sadly, 45 people were killed in the incident.
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| For health reasons Stephanie wears this mask to help filter some of the polluted air |
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| There were tons of school children here, but they were all very friendly saying and waving hello |
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| We opted not to go to "Monkey Palace" on our way back from Delhi and so Asif wanted to give us the monkey experience back in Delhi. We bought some bananas and pulled up to an area near India gate that's known to have many monkeys. They quickly came running and when one jumped on my open window (for feeding them the bananas) screams echoed in the car! There were too many though... we needed more bananas. It was like our own safari though... they were all over the car. Hopefully you can watch the above video. It's pretty funny! |
20th & final spot visited: India Gate
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| We had not yet experienced a tuk tuk ride, so in the short 100 metre stretch towards India gate, Rufca & I jumped in one for 50 Rs. |
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| Reverse Indian style we asked to jump in with this Indian group's photo. Normally we were the ones (like in Vietnam) being asked to pose with the locals. |
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| A final selfie with Asif who was fantastic navigating us around on this adventure! |
Wow! When I write it all down and try and gather the shots that capture our time in India I realize just how MUCH we did! Amazing!
Thank you so very much to Rufca & Judy for allowing me to tag along - to Fadi & Stephanie for your gracious hospitality - to Asif for chauffeuring us all around and putting up with us!
India in 10 words or less:
Chaotic
Amazing architecture
Exotic
Squalor
Feast for the senses
Exciting
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