Amritsar, Agra and Jaipur

After touring around Delhi, which is said to be one of the oldest existing cities in the world, along with Jerusalem and Varanasi, Bev took a side trip to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple.

She then took the train to Agra where the Taj Mahal is located.

Bev is now in Jaipur. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and was built in the eighteenth century by Sawai Jai Singh as India's first planned city. Jaipur is a major tourist attraction amongst Indian as well as international travellers.

Jaipur is often called the Pink City in reference to its distinctly coloured buildings, which were originally painted this colour to imitate the red sandstone architecture of Mughal cities.

The present earthy red colour originates from repainting of the buildings undertaken for a visit by the Prince of Wales in 1876. The tradition has been maintained and today all residents in the old city are compelled by law to preserve the pink color.

Indian TV

Most of my hotel rooms so far have had some english language programming.

The commercials are great for picking up Indian values. Women should work at having 'fairer, whiter' under arms (and all a women's skin in general) eat Special K so your husband will look at you instead of Cricket and generally strive to live a luxurious lifestyle and show it off.

Language is mixed Hindi and English more often then just one language. The use of English is primarily upper class women, often giving some one shit in English and being nice in Hindi. Does that mean English people are mean?

Mughal Architecture Day

I started my day by walking to the Red Fort the long way then over to Jama Masjid Mosque. From there I grabbed a bus tour to Humayun's Tomb, Minar and Safdarjung Tomb.

I didn't take many photos 'cause there are tonnes online. However, I did fulfill my personal fetish - doors. These are from the Red Fort.

Culture Shock Review #2

How crowded is it? About like downtown over the lunch hour; not as bad as the Stampede midway.

How safe is it? I'm not really sure. There have been a few times I felt that someone was following me, or deliberately keeping pace, but there was some where safe to retreat too. In the first class waiting rooms people wander in and out and leave their luggage unattended without fear. On the other hand the papers are counting the number of rapes in the month. Every now and then I get a cab or a rickshaw and a friend of the driver hops into the front seat. I know that this is normal, social behavior here but every now and then I get a very bad feeling. Regardless of how I feel I always say 'no no no no no' and shake my finger. If that doesn't work I start getting out. That always works.

Scams? Indians keep warning me about theft and scams. There's a lot of concern that tourists will be taken advantage of, even by those doing the taking, as well as the tourists themselves. I keep thinking double the right price of $2 is still only $4 so who cares but Indians don't appreciate that attitude. They want me to play along so that there's a contest that they can win (my interpretation). I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's ok when I'm buying a scarf but not so ok when I'm hot, tired, lost and going back to my hotel. What does it say about the poverty level and general standard of living? If it's as bad as we hear then why not take the money happily? Too proud not to earn it?

Crazy dangerous taxis? Not so bad. Turkey was worse. Everyone likes to honk their horns but this is just a way of saying 'hey, I'm here'. Crossing the street is better too. There are street lights that are obeyed so the traffic stops eventually.

I think I'm most surprised by the kids. To some I'm a target and to others a celebrity I was in a rickshaw yesterday and in front of me was a cart full of uniformed school kids. They were staring and giggling. I waved which caused a great eruption of laughter and hidden faces. As my rickshaw passed theirs I waved again reaching just far enough out that they could touch me if they wanted but not so far it was obvious as an invitation. Two of the kids chickened out and a third gave me a high five with a squeal of delight. The day before I was sitting on the ghat steps waiting for the sun closing ceremony when I was approached by a girl selling trinkets, bindi powder and stickers, postcards etc. Every time I turned her down she would shake her head in disgust and say 'Oh my God Madame'. She sounded like a cynical 30 something. She was 8.

Delhi Hotel

This isn't the largest, modernist, quietest hotel I've seen, but the staff is being protective of me and I feel safe.

The view from my rooms show Indian homes and you can look right into their lives.

Indian Accounting

Much of India is like stepping into the 16th century and the accounting systems are no different except for the invention of carbon paper.

The last hotel I was at provided many services, restaurant, laundry, taxi, room accommodation etc. Each of these services has its one ledger with carbon copy into which each purchase must be written. When I went to the restaurant they would write my order in their book, send one copy to the kitchen and keep one to match to my payment. When I checked out of the hotel there was an entry to the cash book, the laundry book and the room book. That's three things for one payment. Now the system works I'm sure but the hotel staff seems forgetful; writing the laundry down was an after thought and the restaurant staff need help with simple adding. Thats without discussing the tax. Their accountant must go crazy.

Another Day

I took a night train out of Varanasi to Delhi. It was on time! My train mates were an American family and the first non-Indians I've spoken too since I arrived. They are at the end of their trip and gave me a few pointers on Delhi.

I didn't sleep very well on the train and stumbled out exhausted and sick. I trundled down the platforms to the taxi stand to find a protest. The taxi drivers are on strike. Placards, chanting, stomping, the whole nine yards. Love it!

I suppose I looked a little helpless as some guy asked me where I needed to go. He said my hotel was only 1 km that way and to walk. That jived with the map in my head so on I went. Turned on to the Main Bazaar road (not the major road). Again someone took pity on me and lead me to the government tourist office where I met Manoo. Manoo wants me to change hotels, book tours with outrageous prices, and generally become dependent on him for all my travel needs. After 20 minutes of discussion, negotiation, frustration and 'excuse me madame, why you no let me help' I walked out. Grabbed a bike rickshaw for 50 Rs and found my hotel 5 blocks away.

At this point I was exhausted and not seeing straight. Check in time for the hotel was 2 hours away. I offered immediately to pay to check in early. This started a discussion with the desk clerks and all the guys in the lobby (there is always a group of men in hotel lobbies here). They tell me they will put me in a temporary room for free and then transfer me when my real room is ready.

I plop down on the couch while they do the paperwork. One of the lobby guys starts giving me advice on Delhi (he's an Indian living in Edinburgh). 'Don't ever offer to pay more, take the women's cars on subway - they are cheap and empty, this mosque should only cost so much' etc.

And all I can think is 'I just got something for free'. In a country where everyone admits they are trying to gouge me on everything, I got something for free! Was it the desperation, good manners, being female? Doesn't really matter because I don't believe in manipulating people based on their cultural biases, but interesting none the less.

I've seen the best and the worst in less than an hour.

Manoo wasn't all bad. He pointed out that I had the Holi dates wrong. That gives me an extra day to do something, like Khajuraho. And I got it for $200, not $417 by booking it myself. Woohoo.

Anyway, I'm exhausted. But this was actually planned to be a nothing day in case I needed to crash, so I'm right on track. The hotel has wifi, room service and maybe even something I can eat (I've been on bread, nuts and fruit for days).

Money Makes Me Cheap

It's hard to keep my head around the value of a Rupee here. The most common denomination is 10 Rs - $0.20. This will is 4 bananas, a cup of chai, a tip or breakfast of plain pancake. As a tourist I have an exceptional amount of money which mostly comes to me in large bills - too large. The average chai seller might not even have change for a 20 Rs bill this makes those 10 Rs notes very important and hoarded. When something is over 100 Rs ($2) it feels like a large amount - its not pocket change.

Varanasi

This is one of the world's oldest cities and one of Hinduism's 7 holy cities. It is said that when cremated here your soul goes straight to heaven. At night bodies are set adrift and alight on the Ganges. There are 2 temples on the river that have constant cremation fires. Every night the sun is sent to rest with a massive ceremony on the steps that lead down to the river.

The streets are a maze of narrow alleyways paved in stone and full of shops, people, cows and patties. The shops display a huge range of products but most prominent is silk. Silk fabric, scarves and bejeweled clothing in a wide variety of traditional styles. The colours are bright and astonishing.

The larger city includes the district of Saranth which is where the Buddha first preached his wisdom.

My morning started with a sunrise cruise on the Ganges. The sun rises and sets red here. There's a story that the monkey god once mistook it for an apple and took a bite out of the rising sun. This was followed by a visit to various temples and then a ride to Saranth to see the Buddhist sites.

I had thought that this would take 2 days and was worried about time since my train being late knocked a day off my trip but this only took the morning. Now I have plenty of time to explore before my train out tomorrow night.