Tamu's Last Day

Today is the day that I ship out of India.

It was a sad departure since Vicky was not accompanying me, but we did have a lot of great times. The poverty and poor sanitation was difficult to deal with, but the monuments and time away from it all, with my lovely wife, more than made up for it. Plus have I said how delicious their food is? It is fantastic! You can really tell that India was the nation that invented spices and shared only part of its knowledge with the rest of the world (they will forever be imitators).

I love you, Vicky and I'll miss you tons.

Enjoy the rest of your journey. I'll be online and I'll see you soon.

Mwah!

Rainy Days in Puskar

Howdy Folks,

Here is the last city of our joint trip. It's name is Pushkar. I can' t say we accomplished much here, but at least we enjoyed the hotel. It was a garden style hotel and we were given a nice little bungalow to ourselves (pictured above). There were some beautiful murals throughout the lobby and some other nice features as well. Oh... yeah... and they had pizza! Delicious vegetarian Extravaganza Pizza'. It was so good that after we took our first bite, we called room service and ordered seconds.

We spent two nights here, and pretty much just lounged about. The town was small and had a market street, with a few temples to explore but we skipped most things because A) we were sick and B) it was raining. To combat the illness we took advantage of the hotel's ayurveda treatments. Vicky got a head, scalp and shoulder massage while I received an herbal treatment through my nose (this was also accompanied by a massage). Ayurveda is what we in the West would call "alternative medicine." The spa's menu included everything from yoga to acupuncture and body wraps. We just had a half hour of treatment and went back to rest.

The rains made us miss our scheduled camel ride, which was a bummer considering how much we enjoyed the elephant ride in Jaipur, but that was OK. We almost were able to replace it with some quality time in front of our TV, but alas, this town's electrical infrastructure was a mess. The power went out at least a dozen times while we were in our room. Luckily I had spent the day before our trip ripping a dozen movies onto our laptop and those were able to fill the gaps while the power was down.

One last thing about our stay

Our favorite city - Jaipur!!!

Today was a blast!

We saw a lot of cool stuff and did a few cool things, including... riding a elephant! The elephant ride turned out to the the highlight of our trip, but other elements of Jaipur were cool as well.

Last night we did some wrestling with Bank of America, because they locked down our account. I guess they forgot that we were going to be in India, so when we had trouble with an ATM yesterday morning they thought some international identity theft was in progress and locked us out. Those losers. Well today is a new day. We started off with a great breakfast from our hotel's restaurant. And then we were picked up by our driver and guide. He is a different guide that the one in Agra and a much better one at that!

We stopped by the Hawa Mahal for a brief lesson and photo opp. It is a pretty impressive building and was constructed at a time before glass so their windows instead were solid stone but had many intricate holes and designs cut into them to allow the residents to look out but street people to not look in. This building was also unique because it was the location of the of the sultan's harem.

Next up was the Amber Fort. Jaipur (the Pink City) was once one of the three capitals of the Mughal Empire. And as the city furthest to the NW, it was susceptible to enemy attacks at any time. They built a great wall all around the territory and a beautiful fort near the top of a mountain ridge. Instead of hiking up to the top we did what any good tourist would do... we rode an elephant! Aha! So cool. It took an hour to get to the elephants, but 'twas well worth the wait. Vicky had never been on an elephant and I had never really ridden one, so this was a treat. We wobbled our way up the mountain at a very slow pace. Plus because the beast waddles, every other step sent us rocking over the edge of the cliff. This was quite scary, but we had some railings to nervously clutch onto and we came out the other side alive. So all was well. I'll scan in the pictures of us on the elephant soon. This fort was financed by one of the Mughal sultan's great generals who had a power sharing agreement. During all conquests, the sultan would take control of any lands gained, while the general would keep all riches pillaged. That money is the reason why his fort is so beautiful. There was wonderful artwork installed throughout and he had identical apartments built for his twelve wives.

Next, we were off to Jantar Mantar, a place of science, math and astronomy. My nerdy inner core felt right at home. Here, our tour guide took a back seat to one of the men for the facility. The structures there were fascinating and our guide was very knowledgeable. He explained to us the function of each oddly shaped stone device with ease and detail. There is no way to quickly describe what we saw, but I'll try. Imagine walking into an astronomers office and taking a look around his desk and shelves. Surrounding you are strange objects through which he stares at the stars. Many look as if they were created using French curves, while others are perfectly straight. There are sundials and telescopes, gyroscopes and spheres. Now imagine them expanding and scaling to the size of a modern park. They still surround you, but now they drawf you with both their size and peculiarity. Now you have Jantar Mantar. No pictures do it justice, but it is a very cool place where scientist once studied the heavens through calculation and observation and others made predictions for humanity based on the movements of the stars. There were structures for each of the astrological signs (Taurus, Aquarius, etc) and our guides explained that Indians take these sorts of predictions very seriously. We don't, but were impressed by the forethought at which it was all designed.

Finally, we had a quick lunch and then visited the Prince Albert Museum. It was dedicated to him after one of his visits to India and displays a lot of national treasures, as well as a few relics from around the globe (Egyption mummies, European pottery, etc.).

After our long day, we collapsed in out hotel and fell soundly asleep.

Detour Up Ahead

Hey Folks,

Today's trip was a doozey. A local transportation union went on strike over unfulfilled job promises. They commandeered a railway and the interstate... so we had to go the long way around. Unfortunately this route became an even longer was because our particular road's condition was no where near the level we were previously travelling on. In the end our trip took about 12 hours and it was a rough, slow, bumpy ride.

We stopped along the way to eat at a local out door eatery. This is a scary proposition for any international traveler, but especially for those touring developing nations. As our driver pulled over, Vicky and I exchanged fearful looks while we surveyed what was essentially and open air kitchen surrounded by drunken men and a few fly littered plastic tables. The food was surprisingly tasty and the sweaty cook was very friendly. We spent about 40 minutes chowing down and swatting flies. But we were happy to do so, because in rural India, we knew that this was just about the last eatery we'd see for the next 50-100 miles. And our stomachs were settled after we down a couple of Pepto-Bismal tablets. Those little pink beauties are a truly a traveler's best friend.

We were exhausted and night and long fallen by the time we arrived in Jaipur. We cruised through the busy town while our driver gave us some interesting facts about the town and then it was onto our hotel. The Dera Rawastar was lovely (by far Vicky's favorite hotel). It had a walled off complex, boutique style and a nice pool. Plus, free wifi!

Namaste!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

For those who celebrate... Merry Christmas!

For those who don't... Happy Everything!

To family and friends... We love ya'll and wish you the best!

First Day on the Road

We headed out for Agra pretty early. I think we were on the road by 7:30am. Our driver seems really nice. His name is Pushan and he's from Nepal (he says his hometown is the birthplace of the most recent Budha). He says that he actually still lives in Nepal, but travels to India to work 6-8 months out of the year. Coindcidently, our previous drivers were also from Nepal. Maybe there is some social or economic advatage for foreign drivers. It would be interesting to see how they fit into India's caste system.

Either way, the drive felt much longer than it actually was (4.5 hours). I think this is mostly because we had stayed up late in excitement for the roadtrip. We saw a few intersting things while on the road. First off, we stopped at several tolls, which I just was not expecting to see in a developing country. Second, while we were at the tolls numerous peddlers surrounded our car in an attempt to get our attention. They were selling bracelets, carved figures, paintings and food. But they were also selling pictures with their animals, which were mostly monkeys, snakes and camals. Were were fascinated by the leashed primates and boxed reptiles but did our best to ignore them, least we'd be charded inordinate fees for our smiles.

We were fast asleep when our driver pulled off of the interstate an into the Sikandra Fort. It was a pretty nice fort, but was very similar to the others that we'd seen... and considering that we were awaoken from fairly deep slumbers... we kinda wish that we had skipped the site.

Next, it was on to the Taj Mahal. Everyone is right, the Taj Mahal is (without a doubt) beautiful. It is even more remarkable considering the era when it was built (the 1600's). We had to wait in line outside the the place grounds for about an hour. After that our guide explained the history of the place while we toured the gardens. There was then a second line within the complex which led up to the palace itself. This line took forever... it must have been about 2 hours before we were allowed to go in. Luckily, our guide was the one who did the waiting. Vicky and I wandered around snapping pictures. It is a definit must see for all tourists, but that also means it was a true hassel due to the crowds. I suggest anyone who is heading there go as early in the day as possible (they open at sunrise).

Seven Day Tour

Howdy Folks,

So this just turned into the Best Honeymoon Ever! After speaking with the travel agents in our hotel, we have finished organizing the remainder of our trip. From Delhi, we'll be visiting Agra, Jaipur and then Pushkar. Here is our itinerary:

Dec. 25th:
Around 7am we will travel from Delhi to Agra (200 km / 4 hours). We'll visit the Sikandra Fort en route, then in Agra, we'll tour the Agra Fort and Taj Mahal. We will spend the night at the Crystal Retreat.

Dec. 26th:
After breakfast, we'll depart for Jaipur (250 km / 6 hours). En route, we'll visit Fatehpur Sikri and spend the night at Dera Rawatsar.

Dec. 27th:
We will tour Jaipur and visit the Amber Fort (complete with an Elephant Ride), City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, and Laxmi Narayan Temple.

Dec. 28th:
We'll head out in the morning for Pushkar (150 km / 3 hours). When we arrive, we'll visit the Pushkar Lake, Holy Ghats, and Bhrama Temple. We'll be sleeping at the Master Paradise.

Dec. 29th:
Camel Ride!!!! Nothing else, but that should be fun.

Dec. 30th:
Back to Delhi from Pushkar (365 km / 7 hours) and back to our current hotel.

Dec. 31st:
I sorrowfully say goodbye to Vicky and fly back to the US, stopping in Frankfurt and Toronto.


Whew! It will be some ride!