The Pink City

Caught train to Jaipur, Rajasthan, a/c sleeper. Both in different, but adjoining carriages. Not too happy about that. Decided to have word with ticket inspector. Not a problem, in fact had the whole four berth compartment to ourselves! Nice man.

2 a/c much nicer than 1st class non a/c. Don't tend to stick to the plastic covered bed as much, as it is cooler. Sealed, tinted windows. Compartments have curtains for some privacy. Remind us of the kind of curtains giving bed privacy in hospital. Getting used to sleeping on trains, or at least having long cat naps. We will be having a long stint on a train soon, 31 hours, when we head to Darjeeling.

Usual hassle at the train station. Up to the 'prepaid taxi/tuk tuk' stand. Quite useful. You tell the official in the kiosk where you want to go. He tells you the price, gives you a ticket with that price on, you pay him. A tuk tuk then takes you. Give him the ticket, and he redeems the payment. Every one happy!! If you try to do it privately it becomes a tiresome haggle, and you are at a disadvantage because you don't know the distances. Still about 20% commission on top.

Very nice guest house. Bit more expensive, but we both agree that we need a bit of comfort, and some decent food. This place rated 8th out of 264. Called the Rajpunta. Family run. Best food we have had in India. But...... Yep there is always at least one downside, (this is India after all!!). Place is right next to one of the main railway lines. 60 trains coming and 60 trains going, in other words 120 trains in every 24 hours, or 1 train every 12 minutes. Big express trains, with very loud horns and pulling at least 15 - 20 plus carriages!!
Surprisingly we got used to them, and after a while only noticed the ones that vibrated the guest house. lol.

Saw:- Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantra, Amber Fort. Tuk tuk to Amber Fort 5000 irp, local bus 17 irp each. We took the bus!

Yvonne brought a table cloth with elephants on it, and Mike brought a Rajasthani shirt.

Leave you with a few pictures of Jaipur. Man with Mike is the owner of the guesthouse, although his son, daughter and wife run it.

Agra Part 2

Before we move onto 'The Pink City', (Jaipur) we would like to say a little more about Agra. We saw the baby Taj, you guessed, like the Taj but very much smaller.
Went to Agra fort, the Red. Occupied/owned by lots of different people over time. One such owner had a harem of over 5000. He died in his thirties. Quite frankly I'm not surprised!!
Had a great afternoon/early evening in nature park/gardens that has great views of the Taj.

Our accommodation was a little trying in the end. Rooms very hot. Constant scratching, our first encounter with bed bugs, we think. Fortunately no sign if lice.

Mikes first encounter with 'Delhi Belly'. Oh what fun. (You might want to imagine/visualise this, or not).
He was surprised to find that for very little effort a surprising amount of downward thrust was produced when the bowel suddenly emptied. Now remember his wish to buy a jet pack? Well he imagined a couple of helium balloons and a strapped on funnel; point down for vertical momentum and horizontal for lateral. Rather like a water fueled rocket, you know, the ones you pump up! Fuel would be a diet of dates and custard...
Unfortunately he was better the next day.

Leave you with a picture of Mike and Yvonne in their new jobs. The Taj Mahal from the park at dusk.

Taj Mahal

Not going to say much about the Taj Mahal. Lots of stuff about its conception and construction on the net!
Both up before sunrise to watch the colour change on the 'Dream in Marble'.
So, just going to leave you with some photos.

Thanks for all your comments, we appreciate them.

Next 'The Pink City'.

Agra

Overnight to Agra, home of the famous Taj Mahal, via Delhi.
Overnight train to Delhi from Hardiwar. 2 a/c sleeper. Both of us are on the top bunks in the same compartment, the bottom bunks are occupied by two people, sleeping. You get a packet on your bunk. Inside are two clean sheets, smell of bleach!  Have to climb up 5 foot to get onto bunk. No place to stow rucksacks, so they have to sleep with us. We both get our heads down for a few hours sleep. Delhi at 5.15, a change of platform for the 6.00 to Agra. This time 2 a/c chair. Free tea on train, and breakfast. This an express train, takes 2.5 hours.

Early morning view of slum dwellers starting their breakfast cooking fires. Opulent buildings, slums, opulent buildings, slums, and then into lush green countryside.

Breakfast is served. On a tray are three containers, two small ones and a larger one. The small ones contain a white liquid, and a brown liquid, which has unidentified bits floating in it. (In general we call this curry sauce, the Indians call it gravy) The large container has a white blob and a brown doughnut shaped thing. I leave the diagnostic to the chief taster
(Yvonne). Based on expression and gurgling sounds decide to bypass this culinary delight! Fortunately there is bread butter, jam and a carton of apple juice. Not a patch on our first train breakfast.

Shortly after our hearty breakfast we pull into Agra station. We are now immune to in your face 'come, come, best price, where you go? Come, come 200 rupees I take you to the moon!! Return journey little bit more, bring own oxygen, no oxygen, worry not I sell very good price, no commission, you bet!

Bee line to tuk tuk where we get a good price to the 'Friends Paying Guesthouse', 500 (Indian metres) from the east gate of the Taj.
First room clean, but right next to the cafe/dinner area. Ask to move, not a problem. Good room on next floor. £5 a night. Staying 3 nights, then off by train to Jarpur, the pink city.

Leave with a photo of Yvonne inside our cell, I mean room, looking out. And a view of Agra (you can see bits of the Taj, look for the dome) from our roof.

Next blog, 'The Taj Mahal'

How to get a bad back.

After a good nights sleep, and breakfast, got a tuk tuk into Rishikesh. Off for a bit of exploring and orientation. Got down to the banks of the Ganges and followed it from ghat to ghat. 

A ghat is a sort of platform and steps that go down to the river. All sorts of ceremonies take place from these ghats throughout the year, including funeral pyres. Had a paddle in the Ganges. Got mobbed by kids who wanted us to buy flowers in  small baskets to float down the river as some kind of offering (Puja). Took all my 10 rupee notes (80p worth). Ended up with 8 baskets!! We floated one and gave them the rest back.

Enqired and researched for white water rafting. Hmmm, looking at equipment, helmets, life jackets, rafts (much patchwork repairs), and series of pictures portraying terrified rafters, decided on health and safety grounds, and shear common sense to leave our rafting until New Zealand, yo ho ho. Also Ganges not the purist of rivers...

Did a bit of shopping. Yvonne brought a scarf. You can't have too many scarf's!! 

Arrived back at High bank. Yvonne convinced me that a massage is what was needed. Good move!!?  Well let me tell you all about it... Ayurveda Massage. I think they use it in Guantanamo Bay as an 'enhanced' interrogation technique.
Some parts were OK, like when I wasn't being massaged. Some parts weren't too bad, and other parts were just painful. I began to regret the whole thing when the masseur started to slap me around the head and use his fingers to separate individual muscle groups in my neck and shoulders!! At one point I was about to confess to being a jihadist. The interrogation lasted an hour.
Yvonne enjoyed hers ' oh I feel all relaxed'. Ha!!

Went to Mama's guest house for dinner, just across the way. No place set aside for dinners, Mama just asks if you've come for dinner? A table and chairs are produced on the veranda, you sit and a vegetarian thali is placed in front of you, (3 different dishes, plus rice, chapatti, water followed by a glass of marsala tea), 70 rupees each, plus a little extra for the bottle of water. (1 rupee = 1p)

Leave you with a picture of Yvonne in the Ganges. Mike being mobbed.

Next post 'Agra'.

Amritsar

Caught the local bus to Pathankot, a four hour journey. Managed to get some sleep, well my bum and Yvonne's leg! Parts of the road are really very good, and some parts no so, and some parts a case of what road? The buses have very firm suspension, our spines can attest to this.

Arrived in Pathankot, in the Punjab. Found railway station where we had a ticket, 2 a/c, to Amritsar. Had a cup of char, and waited for the train.

2 a/c stands for second class air conditioned. In this case it was also sleeper class, which meant you had your own bunk.
On the train for 2 1/2 hours.
I thought Delhi was manic in terms of traffic, but Amritsar takes the biscuit. Total anarchy. The biggest, loudest horn wins!!

Hotel Veenus  International (sic). Non executive room £9,
a/c. Actually very clean. The only window looks onto corridor, but has a curtain. Find a nearby restaurant because we are both tired and hungry pay an outrageous sum of £5.75  for our meals. Large party of Australians came when we were halfway through, were pissed off because there was not a wine list!! lol:-) .
Went to wash/shower before bed, Yvonne saw a very large cockroach, must have been the size of a small cat!! I was going to train it to carry a ruck sack but before any negotiations it disappeared down the drain in the bathroom. We kept that door bolted during the night!

Next day off to see the 'Golden Temple'. The most holy place for Sikhs. Nice and peaceful. A nice change from the manic streets. Mike had his walking stick, some kind person offered him a wheel chair.

Also went to the India/Pakistan boarder (Attari-Wagah boarder closing ceremony). Every evening from around 5 till about 6.30 the Indians form up on their side, and the Pakistanis on theirs. They spend some time posturing, running up to the boarder gates with the flag of India, while the Pakistanis do much the same on their side. Then the Indians play music and dance a lot. The Pakistanis are not allowed to do this. After this guards/soldiers shout a lot and march up to the gate, with lots of high kicking and stamping. At the end the gates on both sides of the boarder are opened, they then lower the flags on both sides. The gates are then slammed shut. Still, better than a war, oh yeah, they do shoot and bomb each other as well.

Tonight we catch an overnight train towards Rishiskesh.
Next post 'how to cure a bad back'.

How to cure a bad back.

Caught the train from Amritsar to Hardiwar on route to Rishikesh. Place made famous by the Beatles in the 60's for its ashrams and yoga. Now even more famous for its white water rafting.

We brought the train ticket in Mcleod Ganj. Only class left was 1st class. Could not understand why it was so cheap at £6 each (well cheaper for over 60's) lol, and this for a 700km journey overnight. Leaving at 10.15 pm and arriving at 7.40 am.
Well, not a/c but two fans attached to ceiling, two berth cabin. A lockable door, bars on the open window. Had to turn the fans off as brushes were so worn that we feared they would melt. Once the train got moving there was a cool breeze.

Can tell when the train is in a station, a strong smell of urine. The men jump from the platform onto the track and then take a piss while facing the platform. Don't know why, there are adequate, reasonably maintained toilets in the station, and using the urinals is free. 5rp for a crap, bring your own paper.

The public bus we took previously with the hard suspension had caused some back pain due to transmission of every bump using the human spine as a shock absorber.
Trains are the same, hard suspension. Non of your namby pamby european suspension for smooth journey. On no sir, we are providing you with authentic whole sensory experience, a journey of the body and mind!!
However, the bumps and swaying transmit through the firm mat of the bunk, sort of like a vibrating table or mat. After a while it unknots all the niggardly aches and pains. Both of us had a few hours sleep. Back now as good as new!

Now in Rishikesh. Seema's guest house. £2.50 for a double room per night, with separate toilet and shower. Clean and tidy. In the 'High Bank', which is a couple of km from Rishikesh. Nice and quiet.  Going to see about a bit of rafting tomorrow.

Leave you with a picture of Yvonne in her bunk, and Mike in his.

Next post 'How to get a bad back'.