Jaipur, India 06.05

We arrived in Jaipur after another overnight train. We were getting used to the Indian trains by now, and enjoying ourselves on the ride. We arrived at a small hotel with a friendly receptionist who congratulated Loren when she told the auto-rickshaw driver that we wouldn’t need his services. They must get a lot of dumb tourists there.

We decided to check out the city by foot, despite the 43 degree heat. According to the Lonely Planet map, our hotel was quite close to the old city walls. In reality, it was much, much further than it looked, and the heat made every step seem like a mile. The walk wasn’t so bad though, as we got to see Jaipur in detail. We saw camels pulling carts, and every street was lined with the pink terracotta coloured buildings that Jaipur is famous for. It is known as the ‘Pink City’.

Eventually we reached the city gates and wandered through the little, dusty streets. Each street is known for selling different types of products. The one we went through sold bracelets, but we were too anxious to find somewhere cool to sit and rest our hot feet, so we didn’t stop to buy anything. We chose an ice-cream place in Lonely Planet, and decided to head there. Unfortunately for us, the place no longer existed, and we had to resort to McDonalds sundaes instead. The air-conditioning was spectacular though. We spent our time there admiring the range of Indian style burgers and vegetarian options available.

Our next idea for escaping the heat was to go to the cinemas which were located right next to the McDonalds. We had been watching Indian music videos on the TV at each of our hotels, and loving them. They are quite hilarious actually. The stars of most of them are Bollywood actors and one or two of them dominate the playing time on the music channels. Apparently some of them can’t even sing and have other people singing for them. We decided it was time for us to see a real Bollywood film. However the cinema wasn’t playing any movies with English subtitles.

Chokhi Duani

We had heard about a place just outside of Jaipur that had food, dancing and reconstructed Rajasthani villages, so we found ourselves a driver for the night. The ride in the auto-rickshaw was quite long, but we enjoyed it because we had the wind blowing around us. We arrived well before the action started, so we sat in the shade and searched for some water. They weren’t selling bottled water until later, so we stupidly tried some tap water. Not clever. We were dehydrated, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Eventually the crowds started arriving, and some performances started. Basically the place had several stages and when crowds gathered around them, the performers would begin. There were two stages with dancing, one with traditional Rajasthani dance, and another with women dancing the desert dance from Jaisalmer (the one where they carry 9 or 10 pots on their heads and dance on broken glass etc).

There were also painted elephants and horses and cows pulling carts. If you wanted, you could pay to go for a ride. Loren decided to just pat the elephant, that was good enough. There were supposed to be rabbits too, but we couldn’t find them.

There were some mystical events too, such as fortune telling and palm reading. We also saw a magician perform a few tricks with doves. He pulled three doves out of an empty hat! There was also a weird machine that plays music and you have to pay to look inside the little windows. We paid, but all it was, was a few pictures moving slowly in a circle.

One of the coolest things was for free! It was a lady who painted henna patterns on your hand. She covered the back and front of Loren’s hands with patterns. The patterns are made with a thick paste of ground henna, so they look black when they are painted.

However, you leave them for an hour, and then wash it all off. The patterns look red when the paste is washed off. Red is a lucky colour in India.

After this, dinner was served in one of the huts. Everyone sat on the floor along little rows of tables. The food was served in plates that seemed to be made of leaves – they were disposable ones. The drinks were served in wooden cups – water and lassi. The food was quite nice, some of it was quite spicy, but it was very tasty.

When we were at the magician’s show, we met a group of young boys who wanted Loren to hang out with them. So the two of us joined them, with Artur as a bodyguard, and we toured the park with them. They were all from Punjab in the North of India. We think that they had just finished high-school. They were nice guys, and fun to hang out with.

After a while we headed over to the games booths and shot bows and arrows at targets, and tried the air-rifles. The air-rifles were so out of shape that hitting anything was impossible, if you tried to line up the sights correctly.

After we left the group of guys, we found a tent where you could dress up in traditional Rajasthani clothes. Loren decided to try it out. The person who dressed her chose the outfit of a Maharani, the wife of a Maharajah. It took all of about 5 minutes to dress, take the photo and undress. Loren had no choice in the clothes, she just stood there as they attached various pieces of clothing and accessories to her, then ‘click, click’, and it was all over. The picture was pretty cool though.

The Conclusion to Jaipur

(we have included no pictures, for your own wellbeing)

After this we headed back to the hotel. Artur didn’t feel too well, and was anxious to get back to the hotel. Loren was fine until we got back to the hotel, and then the trouble began for both of us. We don’t know what it was that we ate. It could have been that our dinner or breakfast was badly prepared (as we had no lunch), or it could have been the water that we drank. Whatever it was, it poisoned us badly, and we had the worst night of our lives. No exaggeration. Loren was not any better the next day and struggled to keep any water down.

We rushed to the hospital in the morning, and got a prescription for some antibiotics and other stuff. The hospital was dirty and the stretchers and equipment looked like they were hand-me-downs from the 50s. Crowds of people sat outside cooling themselves in the shade of the hospital. Inside a woman lying on a bench was screaming while people tried to hold her down. Loren was still extremely sick but would not have stayed there for any amount of money.

We bought the medications from the pharmacy across the road and headed back the hotel, where we passed out for the rest of the day. Our sickness pretty much finished off our trip in Jaipur, as we were incapable of doing anything but lying on the bed and trying to swallow water.

Udaipur, India 04.05

We arrived at 6am in Udaipur and were immediately surrounded by prospective drivers. We walked with our eyes straight ahead, talking to no-one until we got to the pre-paid autorickshaw booth. Unfortunately, we ended up with one the drivers who had been following us from the station. These ones are not just in it for the fare, they want more business from you. They demand to know what time you want to be picked up for sightseeing, and tell you they will wait outside your hotel for you. We simply told him, we wouldn't need his services, and he sat for a while looking confused out the front of the hotel, until he finally got the hint and left.

We saw a brochure for the hotel, and the pushy travel agent told us that we would get rooms with views of the lake, as shown in the pictures. He said that we just had to ask for rooms on the second floor. Well, it turned out there was no second floor, and no view, unless you counted the view from the roof. They had tables and chairs on the flat rooftop, but the lakes were still very hard to see from there. We had breakfast on the roof, then gave in to our heat-induced sleepiness and went to bed.
Eventually we wandered out of the hotel, and tried to follow the receptionists directions to the old city centre. However the map he gave us had opposite directions to the ones he told us, so we got confused. We ended up walking in the wrong direction in the 40 degree heat, and found ourselves in the newer section of the town. Finally we took an autorickshaw to the right place, but everything we wanted to see was closed because it was Sunday and too late in the day.

Jain Temple
We familiarised ourselves with the area by walking around the old town and looking for little markets. Most were closed, but we found a big clock tower, which became a great reference point for finding our way around the town. We also came across a little private Jain temple. We came inside, and the priest told us about the temple and himself. He was of the Brahman caste, which is the highest caste. Most people of this caste are priests. We wandered around the temple, but we weren't allowed to take photos. He asked for a donation for the temple in exchange for our visit.
Impressions of Udaipur
Udaipur is a very interesting city. The old town which is centred around the lake, is essentially a beautiful place. There are palaces in the middle of the lake, and at night they glow with hundreds of lights. There are also palaces on the land and further up the mountain. The whole city is full of beautiful old buildings, big temples and colourful people. This is the Udaipur that you see when you get used to India and the dirt and filth lining the streets doesn't bother you anymore.

This beautiful city is the Udaipur we saw, but what you also see are cows and dogs roaming the street aimlessly, eating the food scraps and rubbish that people toss out their doors onto the pathways and streets. The result of having these animals wandering freely through the streets, and eating rubbish, is that the ground is covered with animal droppings and there is a putrid smell in the air. I can't imagine what quality of milk these cows produce for the locals, when there is no grass for them to eat, only rubbish.

Bagone-Ki-Haveli Performance
That evening we visited Bagone-Ki-Haveli, an Arts School, where a traditional Rajasthani dance performance is regularly held. We arrived early, so we were able to look at some of the art on display. A lot of it was abstract and very interesting. We also visited the rooftop where we had beautiful views of the two lake palaces.

We found seats on cushions on the floor, right at the front. The performances were thrilling! There were so many colourful costumes and themes to the dances. There were also musicians playing in the background. The dances started just as the sun was setting, so there was beautiful atmospheric light. The first dance was about the peacock, which is a much loved bird in India. The peacock dancer was accompanied by another beautiful dancer. This dancer was very graceful, probably the best dancer of the night.

One of the other dances involved a whole circle of women dancing. This one was very beautiful too. Each of the women had a dress in a different colour, and anklets with bells that tinkled as they moved their feet.Our other favourite dance was one from Jaisalmer, the desert region in the west of Rajasthan. Women have to walk a long way to collect water in this region, so they have a dance where a woman carries 10 pots on her head and does all sorts of tricks while carrying them. She walks on glass, tap dances with a shallow dish etc. She started with one pot, then they kept adding more and more until she had 10. It was good this way, because you knew they weren't all attached together. It was a thrilling performance.
Scary Ride Home
After the performance, we wandered back along the streets toward our hotel, not completely sure of where we were going, seeing as we had gotten lost on the way. We we offered ridiculous prices by rickshaw drivers, so we chose to walk. As we walked, a man on a motorcycle offered us a lift. He said he wouldn't charge us, so we accepted. It might sound stupid to you, but the people in India, annoying as they are, are not very scary. Everyone wants something from you though, and we knew this. This guy worked at another hotel, and wanted to give us his business card. We felt safer once we knew his agenda too. He freaked us out though on the way, because he took a very roundabout way of getting to our hotel. He drove in what seemed to be the opposite direction and for a very long time. However he did drop us off at where the sign was pointing to our hotel. We thanked him and walked the rest of the way to the hotel. We now think he was trying to make us think that our hotel was very far away, and that his hotel, which he had pointed out a the beginning, was in a better location. All this aside, we got home safely!

Shopping in Udaipur
We didn't get much done on the first day, so we decided to plan our time and see everything! We wanted to see the Royal Palace, the Jagdish temple and also visit the palaces on the water. Loren was also keen to buy some appropriate clothes for India. Anything shorter than ankle length provokes stares from the locals. Hali, Loren's sister had visited India before and bought some lovely salwar kameez dresses while she was there, so Loren decided to buy one too. The salwar kameez in like a tunic dress with pants underneath and a scarf.

We finally found a salwar kameez shop in a narrow alleyway. The shelves are full of folded salwar kameez dresses that are already made, and more shelves are also filled with the beaded material for dresses that have not yet been made. We got the tailor to pull out lots of different dresses until finally we found one that we liked. It was a royal blue colour with a beaded bodice and short sleeves. The pants were slim and fitted with more beading around the ankles, and the scarf was a matching blue colour. The price was already attached, so we knew we were getting the local price. Loren was very happy!At another more touristy shop, we found a long green skirt that would be good for the culture and the climate. The owner insisted that Loren try on a sari. It was a dark blue colour with some white sections, and he wrapped it around in the right way. It looked very cool! But saris are very big, and not the right size for our overstuffed bags.

Our next task was to find a store that sold adaptors for Indian power sockets. We asked about ten different people who pointed us in about ten different directions, saying 'oh about 15 shops in that direction'. Finally we found a little arcade where people had set up shops for repairing electrical goods. One guy said he had one, then searched through his drawer for about 10 minutes looking for it. It's not surprising it took so long, as his shop looked like a bomb had gone off inside it. There were wires and littles pieces and screws from every sort of appliance strewn around the benches and in every drawer, covering every surface. It was like a junkyard. Eventually he found it for us, and charged us only 25 rupees (about 50 cents).

Jagdish Temple
The next thing we found was the Jagdish Temple - apparently it was an Indo-Aryan temple. We took our shoes off at the entrance, and a boy started telling us about the temple. He lead us inside where we found a large group of women sitting on the floor. One woman was teaching the others about the Hindu religion. All the women listened intently, and at one point they started singing songs of praise. The gathering reminded Loren of ones from the Bible times, where women dressed similarly and people gathered around in temples to hear teachings.

Our guide told us that the women with shawls on their heads were married, and that the colour red symbolises blessing and luck. This is why women have red henna patterns painted on their hands, why they get married in red dresses, why people wear red dots on their foreheads and why married women wear a streak of red in the part of their hair.

He showed us around the outside courtyards of the temple, moving in a clockwise direction, as this is the correct way in Hindu temples. People visit the Ganesh statue first, because he brings wealth. We saw hundreds of figures carved on the outside of the temple. There were kama sutra carvings and carvings of cats, which was a surprise because Indians consider cats to be unlucky. Most cultures see black cats as unlucky, but for Indians, it is all cats. You see very few of them on the streets, because people release them into the forest far away.

Royal Palace
After the temple, we finally went to visit the Royal Palace. We hired an English speaking guide to take us around. He told us about the history of the palace and the materials used and what each room was used for. Apparently the palace still belongs to the 25th generation of the ancestor that built the palace. The building is carved into the rock that was there in the ground. The lake next to the palace is actually an artficial lake, and the locals are desperate for it to remain full, as it is a big part of their tourism. In drought, the lake can become empty, so people are now trying to conserve water.
Inside the wall around the palace the ground has some strange mounds or bumps in the concrete. Apparently these were built as pillows for the elephants that were kept there originally. The elephants lean against them as they lie down. They also had two levels near the palace with steps leading up to them. One level was for mounting horses, and the other level was for mounting elephants.
The courtyard also had a wall that was used for elephant fights. They would give alcohol to the elephants, who are normally placid animals, and they would become agressive. They locked trunks and pulled each other like a 'tug-of-war'. Whichever elephant became pressed up against the wall at the end, was the loser. Elephants were also given alcohol in battles, so opposing soldiers would attach trunks to their horses, to make them look like baby elephants, because that is one of the few things the elephants wouldn't attack.

Inside the palace, there were many rooms and courtyards. One courtyard was called the Peacock Courtyard because there were painting and mosaics of peacocks everywhere. There was also a Ruby Room, but apparently it had nothing to do with rubies. There was a lot of glass decorations in the palace. The Indians were very fond of Belgium glass, as they believed it would never fade.
The emperor who lived there at one point had 16 wives, so there were 16 windows built onto the front of the palace, so they could all watch the gatherings and ceremonies in front of the palace. A later emperor, became a paraplegic after a failed operation, so they built a lift for him. He built a false door next to the lift. He would take the lift and tell all his guests to take the stairs through that door. He found it hilarious when they couldn't open the door.

The palace is surrounded by balconies, towers and cuppolas, and there are beautiful views from there over the lake and the two palaces in the lake. One palace in the lake is the Summer Palace - this palace has been turned into a very expensive and exclusive hotel called the 'Lake Palace Hotel'. The other palace on the lake is the Pleasure Palace on Jagmandir Island, and this one can be visited by anyone. The palace on the mountain is the monsoon palace and is a great place to watch the sunset from.

Boat Ride on the Lake
After the tour of the palace, we took a boat ride around the lake. We didn't visit the Summer Palace, because you can only visit if you are staying there or eating there. The prices were exhorbitant, even for Westerners, and we had already eaten, so we decided to miss it. It was fun to see the city from the boat though, and to get closer to the Summer Palace, even if we couldn't go inside.
Pleasure Palace
We did get off at the Pleasure Palace though, it was very cool! There was a fountain in the centre of the courtyard and a huge, beautiful building behind the fountain.

Little bars along the outskirts of the courtyard offered pricy drinks and food, and the waiters wore traditional white pants and tunic with orange waist bands and turbans. The music playing was so relaxing, so we stayed for a while, soaking in the beauty and the sipping cold fruity drinks.

Eventually we took the boat back to the shore, and enjoyed the food and atmosphere of the old town, before walking back to our hotel.

Delhi, India 02.05

We flew to Delhi from Japan on an 8 and a half hour flight. It's quite funny, because the long plane rides are a great break for us. We get to catch up on the movies that we aren't watching while we're travelling. We are disappointed rather than relieved, when they land.

We arrived in the New Delhi Airport, which was being renovated, and seemed very small and primitive for an international airport. There was a line in customs for Indians and one for foreigners. Both lines just stared at each other.

Outside the airport we found the pre-paid taxi booth, which is essential for both Indians and foreigners who don't want to be charged ridiculous prices for taxis. The weather was a shock for us, 43 degrees! We found a taxi driver, but he drove around in circles for a while, unable to find the place. We had been warned that taxi drivers are likely to make up some story to tell you your hotel has had a fire or something and then take you to one where they get a commission for bringing you, so we insisted that he find the place or we wouldn't give him the pre-paid voucher.

The Dodgy Hostel

Garden chairs?? Dodgy.

Eventually he found the place, which had no sign - the first sign of dodginess from the hostel that we stayed at. The address we were brought to was a travel agency that functions as the head office for a couple of hostels in the area. We were dropped off there, and then walked to the hostel, which was through a maze of little alleyways. The hostel was on the fourth floor of an appartment block, and looked more like someone's home than a hostel.

We left the hostel with the escort of the guy who looked after that building. We wanted to ask for a good place to eat, so he took us back to the reception. Instead of taking us to a restaurant, they invited us to eat with them. We chatted about the cricket and other countries, while eating dahl and rice.

After dinner, one of the guys offered to give us a map of Delhi, so we followed him into his office. Big mistake!! As soon as we sat down, he started planning our trip around India. We gave out as little information as possible, but he had gleaned some from when we were chatting, and formed a plan based on that. He basically told us where we were going and that it would be with him. We managed to get out of there by saying we'd have an answer in the morning.

The next morning, we came for our free breakfast, which was served at the desk in his office! Talk about pushy! After lengthy arguments and discussions, we managed to get across that we wanted to get a second opinion before booking something. So he let us hire his driver for the day for sightseeing and to check the prices at another agent.

Touring Delhi

The driver took us to another travel agent of his choice, not the one we asked to go to. We insisted on being taken to the official government tourist office. Unfortunately we got confused, and went to the one that couldn't actually book anything for us, they could only give us advice. We went to an agent that they recommended, but he didn't have many good options or prices for us. We should have gone to the office at the train station which we now realise can book things for you, legitimately too! Instead we took the offer of the guy from our hostel, because it was cheaper than the other quote we got, and it felt safe to have our train tickets and hotels booked and waiting for us.

After booking the tickets and hotels, we headed off to see the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid Mosque. The driver dropped us off down the road from the mosque and we walked for the first time through the busy streets of India.

It was quite hard to take it all in. It was another 43 degree day, and the sights and the smells were strong and confronting. There were women in beautiful saris and muslim women completely covered in black, there were rickshaw drivers calling out to us everywhere, and slaughtered goats heads and other pieces of meat sitting covered in flies on shop benches.

We eventually got to the Mosque, where we were told that a prayer service was in progress, and we'd have to come back in 45 minutes. The Red Fort was just down the road so we decided to see it first. The heat made the distance seem at least 5 times longer, and we kept taking the wrong roads to get to the entrance of the fort. Eventually we gave up and decided to get the driver to take us back there later.

Jama Masjid Mosque

We went back to the mosque which was now open, and walked through the unmanned metal detectors, which went off at every person, but no one cared. We then climbed the huge flight of steps to get to the entrance. We had to leave our shoes at the entrance, and walk around the steaming hot red-sandstone courtyard. There were a few pieces of material to walk on, but they were so hot from the sun, it didn't make much difference.

The mosque was beautiful, and we saw several people at one wall praying. Many others just lay around in the shade. We also walked to the pool of water in the center of the courtyard, where people washed their feet. It was so nice and cool after the hot, dusty roads. There were also swarms of pigeons eating seeds in one corner of the mosque.

We drew a lot of attention from the locals, and several groups of young people wanted us to take photos of them.

There was a group of girls in colourful saris, and a couple of cheeky young boys.

The Red Fort

After seeing the mosque, we got the driver to take us to the Red Fort. It was even further to the entrance than we thought, so it's a very good thing we did. The fort was enormous, and the security was tight. We both got frisked by the security guards, and sent through metal detectors. Thankfully they had male and female guards!

The fort was built in 1638 - 1648. The walls of the fort extend for 2km, and the moat is 10m deep. There were so many buildings within the fort itself. Some looked like English mansions, others looked like Roman temples filled with pillars.

There were gardens surrounding every building, and there were empty channels everywhere, where fountains flowed in seasons with no drought.

Back at Fort Dodgy

After seeing the Fort, we returned to the travel office. They had booked our first overnight train, and we needed to go over the travel plan, and have dinner before we left for our train. Nothing seems to happen quickly in India, and we wasted most of our time in his office going over the details and the prices.

We finally escaped to a restaurant, where we sat stressing while we waited for our food. We were not disappointed though, the food was incredible! we haven't had paratha (Indian bread) as good as that since. Artur is not a big fan of Indian food, but he really enjoyed both the curry and the bread.

Our First Indian Train

We were rushed off to the hostel to grab the bags, then drive through the crazy traffic to the train station. The station was crazy and smelly, and we weren't sure where our carriage was. Loren waited with the bags while Artur searched for the right car. The first carriages we came to looked like cattle cars. The passengers had their heads and arms hanging out the windows.

Thankfully our carriage was a little more like what we were used to. It had closed windows with airconditioning and two levels of beds that also functioned as chairs before 9pm. There were also curtains around each bed area for privacy. Every few minutes, a young kid would walk through the carriage calling out 'chai, chai', which means tea. We tried some, and quite enjoyed it. It was of the milky sugary variety that the Indians drink, not spicy though like the chai that most westerners know.

Some friendly passengers on the train started conversations with us, and told us a lot about the religion and marriage practices of India. One of them was planning on studying in Australia, the other owned a company that trades in commodities. So we were definitely travelling in the middle class carriage.

The older man told us lots of linteresting things about marriages in India. Before a marriage is arranged, the parents check that there is no relation between the couple for at least the last 8 generations (they don't check as far these days though). The couple must be from the same caste, which is not supposed to be recognised, but still is when it comes to marriage.