Amber Fort just outside Jaipur
James Bond's Udaipur
Jaisalmer Architecture
Us!
Fort in Bikaner, Belgian Stained Glass
Humayun's Tomb
Lotus Temple
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Pictures!
Amber Fort just outside Jaipur
James Bond's Udaipur
Jaisalmer Architecture
Us!
Fort in Bikaner, Belgian Stained Glass
Humayun's Tomb
Lotus Temple
Delhi, the rest of it.
Well, it's been a little while hasn't it...
We're going to pay the price for that on this and the next entry, especially because today's keyboard has the action of a typewriter. So here goes, massive entry no. 2.
Lauren wrote this and I'm typing it up.
-N
According to my to my journal entries it was a bumpy start. The second day in Delhi came bright and early at 2am. After four hours of reading, I woke up to Neal rushing down for a ten am breakie. Even after 3 big meals we are still starving in the mornings! I remember thinking that this was going to be a good day. My loving brother Matthew was sending us to a small swanky hotel in the quiet "suburb" of Friends Colony West. Part of New Delhi and South of busier Old Delhi, this area of town was built by the British and did it ever look it. Space for wide, wide streets and much green space surrounding government house. Clearly Matt knew something I didn't, as per Neal's first post - I was finding Delhi overwhelming and moving south to a quieter area was just what we needed.
(A side note, there are currently 6 typos from this keyboard, I'll go back after)
After an hour long TukTuk ride we arrived and did not re-enter the outside world until the next day. Delicious food, quiet, bathrobes, ayurvedic massages and the end and beginning of two good books, we felt ready to face Delhi again.
Comparing Old Delhi (from the first day) and New Delhi's Friends Colony, Karol Bagh, where we spent the rest of our Delhi nights, was looking quite quaint. With "less" traffic and noise, and a little market to wander through we felt almost like it was home. I was supremely happy we weren't staying in Paharganj, which is the main backpacker's haunt. We found out Saturday it was a place best visited for food and potential shopping. We would sleep elsewhere for now.
(the typo count is now at 10)
My friend Rachel recommended a restaurant to us which we attempted to find on Saturday after our move back to Wood Castle. With our search came a valuable lesson: Never decide to leave your guide book at home even "just this once"... What we thought would be an afternoon of delicious food turned into 9 hours without food or water and 2 lost Canadians wandering around Haus Khaz asking people if thy knew where the restaurant Gunpowder was. Not only did we not have the guide, but we also lost the restaurant's address... Finally, to top off our great day, we learned that at 4:30pm most of the restaurants close before the evening mealtime.
Also, asking to find something in Delhi by name alone is akin to asking someone in Halifax where a perfect stranger lives. Add in the language barrier and you get confused stares aplenty.
(typos now at 18)
We did find the restaurant Sunday and it turned out to be something of a double celebration. Earlier in the day we decided we would tour Rajasthan by hired car. In fact, it was a great day all-round. We visited the Lotus Temple (check it out online, designed by a Persian-Canadian) and watched while the sun set behind it. Happy and full of delicious food (Neal had something he described as Balls of Mutton... and FIRE) we headed back "home" and slept.
(24, and my fingers hurt)
Monday we made our way to the official Indian tourism office, which is a hidden gem. It's tricky to find because there are lots of helpful gents who send you to the "real" office. Which, of course, isn't. Fortunately, both our helpers sent us in the right direction and we shook them off along the way. The agent we talked to in the office was great, he gave us maps and hints on everything we were interested in. He sent us to Destination India Travel Station, a tiny father/son operation next door. The son helped us work out the best way to get what we were looking for, while his father boomed helpful advice over the proceedings and offering delicious tea. At first we wanted to do a lot of the hotel booking ourselves, and tried to just hire a car. He pointed out however, that they use the Lonely Planet as well (our main resource) and have up to date info from their other customers. So, happily convinced we planned it out. Our trip would start in Mandawa, take us to Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Johdpur, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Ranthambore, Agra then by train to Khajuraho and finally by overnight train to Varanasi. As for hotels, we'd be staying in mid-range spots for budget prices, pretty sweet! We'll post about all that when we get to Agra.
After the bookings we met our driver, Mahaveer Singh. He also ran us around for the rest of the day. Utilizing our new accomplice, we went to the state house for Andhra Pradesh (another suggestion by the lovely Rachel). There's a great canteen, where we had a delicious luncheon. After, we went to Humayun's Tomb, then on to Lodi Garden. Great spots, we were photographed by an entire boy's school while in the garden. It started with just two boys who asked, but in about three startled blinks the whole gang was there. After extricating ourselves from them we had tea and went home. Tomorrow after all was going to be a big day!
All our love, hope you enjoyed the pictures,
Lauren and Neal
PS final count: 39 ...ridiclous, and that makes 40
We're going to pay the price for that on this and the next entry, especially because today's keyboard has the action of a typewriter. So here goes, massive entry no. 2.
Lauren wrote this and I'm typing it up.
-N
According to my to my journal entries it was a bumpy start. The second day in Delhi came bright and early at 2am. After four hours of reading, I woke up to Neal rushing down for a ten am breakie. Even after 3 big meals we are still starving in the mornings! I remember thinking that this was going to be a good day. My loving brother Matthew was sending us to a small swanky hotel in the quiet "suburb" of Friends Colony West. Part of New Delhi and South of busier Old Delhi, this area of town was built by the British and did it ever look it. Space for wide, wide streets and much green space surrounding government house. Clearly Matt knew something I didn't, as per Neal's first post - I was finding Delhi overwhelming and moving south to a quieter area was just what we needed.
(A side note, there are currently 6 typos from this keyboard, I'll go back after)
After an hour long TukTuk ride we arrived and did not re-enter the outside world until the next day. Delicious food, quiet, bathrobes, ayurvedic massages and the end and beginning of two good books, we felt ready to face Delhi again.
Comparing Old Delhi (from the first day) and New Delhi's Friends Colony, Karol Bagh, where we spent the rest of our Delhi nights, was looking quite quaint. With "less" traffic and noise, and a little market to wander through we felt almost like it was home. I was supremely happy we weren't staying in Paharganj, which is the main backpacker's haunt. We found out Saturday it was a place best visited for food and potential shopping. We would sleep elsewhere for now.
(the typo count is now at 10)
My friend Rachel recommended a restaurant to us which we attempted to find on Saturday after our move back to Wood Castle. With our search came a valuable lesson: Never decide to leave your guide book at home even "just this once"... What we thought would be an afternoon of delicious food turned into 9 hours without food or water and 2 lost Canadians wandering around Haus Khaz asking people if thy knew where the restaurant Gunpowder was. Not only did we not have the guide, but we also lost the restaurant's address... Finally, to top off our great day, we learned that at 4:30pm most of the restaurants close before the evening mealtime.
Also, asking to find something in Delhi by name alone is akin to asking someone in Halifax where a perfect stranger lives. Add in the language barrier and you get confused stares aplenty.
(typos now at 18)
We did find the restaurant Sunday and it turned out to be something of a double celebration. Earlier in the day we decided we would tour Rajasthan by hired car. In fact, it was a great day all-round. We visited the Lotus Temple (check it out online, designed by a Persian-Canadian) and watched while the sun set behind it. Happy and full of delicious food (Neal had something he described as Balls of Mutton... and FIRE) we headed back "home" and slept.
(24, and my fingers hurt)
Monday we made our way to the official Indian tourism office, which is a hidden gem. It's tricky to find because there are lots of helpful gents who send you to the "real" office. Which, of course, isn't. Fortunately, both our helpers sent us in the right direction and we shook them off along the way. The agent we talked to in the office was great, he gave us maps and hints on everything we were interested in. He sent us to Destination India Travel Station, a tiny father/son operation next door. The son helped us work out the best way to get what we were looking for, while his father boomed helpful advice over the proceedings and offering delicious tea. At first we wanted to do a lot of the hotel booking ourselves, and tried to just hire a car. He pointed out however, that they use the Lonely Planet as well (our main resource) and have up to date info from their other customers. So, happily convinced we planned it out. Our trip would start in Mandawa, take us to Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Johdpur, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Ranthambore, Agra then by train to Khajuraho and finally by overnight train to Varanasi. As for hotels, we'd be staying in mid-range spots for budget prices, pretty sweet! We'll post about all that when we get to Agra.
After the bookings we met our driver, Mahaveer Singh. He also ran us around for the rest of the day. Utilizing our new accomplice, we went to the state house for Andhra Pradesh (another suggestion by the lovely Rachel). There's a great canteen, where we had a delicious luncheon. After, we went to Humayun's Tomb, then on to Lodi Garden. Great spots, we were photographed by an entire boy's school while in the garden. It started with just two boys who asked, but in about three startled blinks the whole gang was there. After extricating ourselves from them we had tea and went home. Tomorrow after all was going to be a big day!
All our love, hope you enjoyed the pictures,
Lauren and Neal
PS final count: 39 ...ridiclous, and that makes 40
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Delhi, typed but not read
Well, here we are.
I guess I'll just give a quick rundown of the flights: they sucked mostly.
Now for the good stuff:
We arrived in the New Delhi Airport at the lovely hour of 1:30am. We wandered up to customs, and after a bit of a wait in line we sailed on through and grabbed my bag (Lauren carried her's on). After a bit of wandering we went to go grab some Rupees, it was a little harder than we expected. The stalls were all money changers, so no cards, only cash. Then a nice gent pointed out that we could just get some Rupees out of the ATM...duh We sheepishly went over and checked it out. Our first attempt was fruitless (apparently you have to enter an amount), however our second attempt was a great success! Now 2500iR richer we went looking for the car the hotel was supposed to send for us. We'd looked briefly during the money hunt, without a sign (pun intended). This time there was a sign for wood castle, but the name was wrong... after a brief chat and a call back to base we headed out into the night.
Delhi's a crazy place, even at 2am.
Getting out of the airport was fine, but the ride into the city was a real eyeopener. We'd been warned that there was lots of honking, but what we hadn't understood was that honking replaces indicating, as well as letting car/trucks know that you're around/passing them. I felt surprisingly safe all things considered. I feel that might've been the sleep exhaustion though.
My first impressions of India was the contrasts. Major construction projects had small tent cities starting up in them, the side of the highway was scattered with makeshift dwellings and there were strips where the tour bus drivers would park to sleep. The infrastructure was magnificent, sweeping train and road overpasses and fairly new highways.
We took an alley to get to the hotel, which is on what can only be described as a small alley off of a larger alley's round-a-bout. Yeah, the alleys have round-a-bouts. There are dogs everywhere, all basically the same kind of dog, and best left alone. Not that they'd bite you or anything, they haven't got the energy. mostly just that they're probably sleeping on the dirtiest part of the street.
Just a quick note on dirt: it's everywhere, literally everywhere. I was amazed by the thoroughness of the job a cleaner was doing until I realized that that was how it had to be done, and probably all day.
The hotel, wood castle, is a nice little spot. It's a five or six story building wedged in between all the others in the area. the rooms are clean, and they've got ice cold sealed bottled water available for 15Ri (by the way, the conversion is about 2.25$CAN to 100Ri). Basically everything we needed. I'll put some pictures of it up in the next post, I forgot to bring my camera down. We didn't really sleep, we were still so whacked from the flight. After a bit of a nap we got up for some breakfast (not the best, but included in the room). Then it was planning time.
One of the managers (I'm still not entirely sure who's in charge... there always seems to be at least three people hanging out in the office) took us into the back office and gave us a rundown. First off, he suggested we leave. No joke. We're booked in Delhi until Monday. He said that we can do everything worthwhile in about a day and a half. Then he gave us a few Delhi suggestions and a possible route for the rest of India. He was immensely helpful. Now it was time to get to it.
Our plan for the first day, since we were so tired was to head to Old Delhi. It's a little quieter and laid back than the rest of the city. Lies. It's nuts. Once we'd gotten there on the Metro, which is a great way to get around, we started to wander towards the Red Fort. I forgot to take pictures of the streets, but I'll take some somewhere else, and it'll be the same. There's not real order to anything. There are lights, but only at major intersections. Oh, and most people just kind of sneak through them. Crossing the street was fun once we got the hang of it, kind of a "dance with death" sort of thing (probably the last thing our mothers want to hear...) I guess it wasn't that bad, Death was dancing a very slow polka and we got to improvise. Plus, there are lots of large concrete things to hide around/on.
We eventually got to the Red Fort, after lots of "help" from touts. I've discovered that they give up sooner when I'm wearing my sunglasses. We wandered around the fort a little bit on the outside, then Lauren and I hit a bit of a wall. The heat, combined with the exhaustion and the probable dehydration, finally made us cool it. Which was great. The crowds outside of the red fort grounds (in the main streets) were intense, and the smell is indescribable. It's only a bad smell if you're near a homeless hideout. Other than that it has a richness, especially in the fort where there was some digging going on. We took a little break in the shade by the wall, then headed back to the mess to find water.
We decided that the best bet would be McDonald's. The glorious golden arches. The menu was an interesting collection, but we were only looking for water. I ordered two, which Lauren promptly raised to five. It cost us a whopping 85iR! Oh wait...
After downing three of them we were feeling more human. Lauren needed some sunscreen (we'd dropped the ball and left ours in our room), so we went to the chemist's and picked up a tube. Next step, the fort!
We snagged our tickets and joined the line. It was here that Lauren pointed out something that I'd really missed. The ratio of men to women. There are probably 2-3 women for every hundred men. However, this pays off in interesting ways for Lauren. First off there are cars on all of the metro runs that are exclusively for women, and so mostly empty. It wasn't ever really necessary for her to ride on one, but it would be great for a solo lady traveler. This also paid off in the line for the fort. I was stuck behind fifty or so other gents in the sun, while she was ushered (yup, they came and got her) up to the front to be checked through security.
Now's a good time for a note on police and security and the military. The military and the police are effectively the same, but the military carry bigger guns around.
The fort is still actually an active fort (hence the military), so there were some restricted areas. It is also immense. Really really big. I also cannot do it justice with words, so I'll post as many photos as I can get away with.
As for personal security, I've felt perfectly comfortable even in the crushing mass of humanity that is the city streets.
After the fort we decided it was time for some food and a nap (or an early bedtime?) so we headed to the metro. We hailed a bicycle rickshaw, and headed out. Almost immediately into a traffic jam. So our driver hopped off, got someone to watch his bike and walked us the rest of the way. Which was good, because he took a different route then we had. Great guy, all smiles, strong as an ox and an absolute wizard at finding holes in traffic.
So now I'm here, belly grumbling away as I write this now epic novella for you on our first couple of days. I think I'll start writing in my journal and give you guys a little less detail. Lauren's upstairs, she wanted to "just close her eyes" for a bit(in her nightgown). So I'll find out about supper and haul her off.
No sickness yet,
All our love,
Neal and Lauren
PS pictures soon
I guess I'll just give a quick rundown of the flights: they sucked mostly.
Now for the good stuff:
We arrived in the New Delhi Airport at the lovely hour of 1:30am. We wandered up to customs, and after a bit of a wait in line we sailed on through and grabbed my bag (Lauren carried her's on). After a bit of wandering we went to go grab some Rupees, it was a little harder than we expected. The stalls were all money changers, so no cards, only cash. Then a nice gent pointed out that we could just get some Rupees out of the ATM...duh We sheepishly went over and checked it out. Our first attempt was fruitless (apparently you have to enter an amount), however our second attempt was a great success! Now 2500iR richer we went looking for the car the hotel was supposed to send for us. We'd looked briefly during the money hunt, without a sign (pun intended). This time there was a sign for wood castle, but the name was wrong... after a brief chat and a call back to base we headed out into the night.
Delhi's a crazy place, even at 2am.
Getting out of the airport was fine, but the ride into the city was a real eyeopener. We'd been warned that there was lots of honking, but what we hadn't understood was that honking replaces indicating, as well as letting car/trucks know that you're around/passing them. I felt surprisingly safe all things considered. I feel that might've been the sleep exhaustion though.
My first impressions of India was the contrasts. Major construction projects had small tent cities starting up in them, the side of the highway was scattered with makeshift dwellings and there were strips where the tour bus drivers would park to sleep. The infrastructure was magnificent, sweeping train and road overpasses and fairly new highways.
We took an alley to get to the hotel, which is on what can only be described as a small alley off of a larger alley's round-a-bout. Yeah, the alleys have round-a-bouts. There are dogs everywhere, all basically the same kind of dog, and best left alone. Not that they'd bite you or anything, they haven't got the energy. mostly just that they're probably sleeping on the dirtiest part of the street.
Just a quick note on dirt: it's everywhere, literally everywhere. I was amazed by the thoroughness of the job a cleaner was doing until I realized that that was how it had to be done, and probably all day.
The hotel, wood castle, is a nice little spot. It's a five or six story building wedged in between all the others in the area. the rooms are clean, and they've got ice cold sealed bottled water available for 15Ri (by the way, the conversion is about 2.25$CAN to 100Ri). Basically everything we needed. I'll put some pictures of it up in the next post, I forgot to bring my camera down. We didn't really sleep, we were still so whacked from the flight. After a bit of a nap we got up for some breakfast (not the best, but included in the room). Then it was planning time.
One of the managers (I'm still not entirely sure who's in charge... there always seems to be at least three people hanging out in the office) took us into the back office and gave us a rundown. First off, he suggested we leave. No joke. We're booked in Delhi until Monday. He said that we can do everything worthwhile in about a day and a half. Then he gave us a few Delhi suggestions and a possible route for the rest of India. He was immensely helpful. Now it was time to get to it.
Our plan for the first day, since we were so tired was to head to Old Delhi. It's a little quieter and laid back than the rest of the city. Lies. It's nuts. Once we'd gotten there on the Metro, which is a great way to get around, we started to wander towards the Red Fort. I forgot to take pictures of the streets, but I'll take some somewhere else, and it'll be the same. There's not real order to anything. There are lights, but only at major intersections. Oh, and most people just kind of sneak through them. Crossing the street was fun once we got the hang of it, kind of a "dance with death" sort of thing (probably the last thing our mothers want to hear...) I guess it wasn't that bad, Death was dancing a very slow polka and we got to improvise. Plus, there are lots of large concrete things to hide around/on.
We eventually got to the Red Fort, after lots of "help" from touts. I've discovered that they give up sooner when I'm wearing my sunglasses. We wandered around the fort a little bit on the outside, then Lauren and I hit a bit of a wall. The heat, combined with the exhaustion and the probable dehydration, finally made us cool it. Which was great. The crowds outside of the red fort grounds (in the main streets) were intense, and the smell is indescribable. It's only a bad smell if you're near a homeless hideout. Other than that it has a richness, especially in the fort where there was some digging going on. We took a little break in the shade by the wall, then headed back to the mess to find water.
We decided that the best bet would be McDonald's. The glorious golden arches. The menu was an interesting collection, but we were only looking for water. I ordered two, which Lauren promptly raised to five. It cost us a whopping 85iR! Oh wait...
After downing three of them we were feeling more human. Lauren needed some sunscreen (we'd dropped the ball and left ours in our room), so we went to the chemist's and picked up a tube. Next step, the fort!
We snagged our tickets and joined the line. It was here that Lauren pointed out something that I'd really missed. The ratio of men to women. There are probably 2-3 women for every hundred men. However, this pays off in interesting ways for Lauren. First off there are cars on all of the metro runs that are exclusively for women, and so mostly empty. It wasn't ever really necessary for her to ride on one, but it would be great for a solo lady traveler. This also paid off in the line for the fort. I was stuck behind fifty or so other gents in the sun, while she was ushered (yup, they came and got her) up to the front to be checked through security.
Now's a good time for a note on police and security and the military. The military and the police are effectively the same, but the military carry bigger guns around.
The fort is still actually an active fort (hence the military), so there were some restricted areas. It is also immense. Really really big. I also cannot do it justice with words, so I'll post as many photos as I can get away with.
As for personal security, I've felt perfectly comfortable even in the crushing mass of humanity that is the city streets.
After the fort we decided it was time for some food and a nap (or an early bedtime?) so we headed to the metro. We hailed a bicycle rickshaw, and headed out. Almost immediately into a traffic jam. So our driver hopped off, got someone to watch his bike and walked us the rest of the way. Which was good, because he took a different route then we had. Great guy, all smiles, strong as an ox and an absolute wizard at finding holes in traffic.
So now I'm here, belly grumbling away as I write this now epic novella for you on our first couple of days. I think I'll start writing in my journal and give you guys a little less detail. Lauren's upstairs, she wanted to "just close her eyes" for a bit(in her nightgown). So I'll find out about supper and haul her off.
No sickness yet,
All our love,
Neal and Lauren
PS pictures soon
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Great news!
So,
Here it is, the blog.
We can't promise anything overly regular with this updating business, but we'll do our best. It is India after all...
We'll be flying out on Tuesday the 11th, so that's pretty soon... We're mostly ready, just a few more items. We just booked our hotel for our first couple of nights. Right in the heart of New Delhi. We should be able to let everyone know how the traveling went when we get there. most hotels in Delhi have internet.
Well, that's enough rambling,
Neal
Here it is, the blog.
We can't promise anything overly regular with this updating business, but we'll do our best. It is India after all...
We'll be flying out on Tuesday the 11th, so that's pretty soon... We're mostly ready, just a few more items. We just booked our hotel for our first couple of nights. Right in the heart of New Delhi. We should be able to let everyone know how the traveling went when we get there. most hotels in Delhi have internet.
Well, that's enough rambling,
Neal
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