The Taj

Our 12 hour stay in Agra was definitely worth the trip and expense. The Taj Mahal is everything you think it would be and more. Approaching the mausoleum from the South gate you see the Taj from its most photographed side - everyone trying to sneak in their portraits with the famous back drop, us included. From a distance, it's an architectural marvel with beautiful marble domes and penetrating minarets. Up close, you see its fine details and expert craftsmanship - marble carvings and inlaid precious stone designs. The building is over 400 years old but looks as though its in perfect condition. We spent the afternoon staring at the monument, away from the busy, smelly streets of Agra. We chose to take it easy and sat at a rooftop restaurant with the best view of the Taj and drank fresh lime sodas - fresh lime juice and club soda, so simple and one of the best treats in India. We watched the sunset, which made the Taj glow in the warm light. As the sun went down, the town children appeared on the rooftops to fly kites, an incredible scene - they are so talented playing this interesting game of chasing kites and trying to cut each other off (if you've seen the Kite Runner, it was very similar). In and out of the city, we got on the midnight train to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple (17 hours away), like a Taj Mahal but for Sikhs.

Our last day in Rajasthan

Hidden in the surrounding hills of Jaipur is the famed Monkey Temple. As the name suggests its filled with monkeys, swimming, playing, and begging for food. It was also filled with lots of Indian tourists making the pilgrimage to this holy spot to bathe in the holy pools and feed the monkeys. It was quite a trek up and down a huge hill to reach it, but worth the exhaustion.

Moin took us around the town to run errands, including Paul's new Indian haircut and shave. We did some shopping, Maddie bought a few rings and a toe ring, and a few Indian pillow cases. That night we got aruyvedic massages, a must have experience in India. After stripping down to nothing and having a masseuse put a loin cloth over our genitals, we laid down on the massage table and were literally drenched in healing aruyvedic oils. An up close and personal massage, but a relaxing and moisturizing hour, all for only 15 dollars.

Our last night in Rajasthan, our last day with Moin - we were so sad to see him go, we had such a good time getting to know him and his country. We had dinner in our rooftop peacock adorned restaurant in the Hotel Pearl Palace, and got ready to set off on our own.

Jaipur, the pink city

After waking up in the desert on my birthday we headed out early for Jaipur - Moin's home town and the capital of Rajasthan. Another big city but with Rajasthani charm and of course a few palaces and forts. For my bday (although the camel trip was enough) I wanted to find a swimming pool, so we found a five star hotel that we could pay for swimming facilities (very common in India) and jumped into the cold water - heaven. After indulging in some pool side snacks, we left to meet up Moin to have dinner at his home.

It was wonderful to meet his family, 4 children, wife, sisters, nephews, and mother-in-law. He had such a beautiful, friendly family it was quite a treat to spend some time with them. We ate delicious meal of chicken korma, (the first and only time we will hopefully eat meat in India), and then to my surprise his daughter and sister each took an arm and gave me beautiful traditional henna 'tattoos.' A perfect ending to the day.

Oot (Camel) Trekking

Getting on top of a camel is an experience - you climb on when the camel is 'sitting' on the ground, then he lifts his front legs, then his hind legs, and after this awkward transition you are unsteadily 15 feet in the air jostling back and forth as it walks. The two hour morning trek was more comfortable than I had expected, but it still left a few bruises on my inner thigh. It was a nice journey through the desert, scattered with mud huts, goats, desert deers, and a few people - we were far from any roads or motorized vehicles, it was like stepping back in time to a place with ox carts, thatched roofs, and wells. We stopped to give the camels a rest at someones home, a complex of four mud huts with thatched roofs, it was great to have a personal view of this lifestyle. We had a glass of chai, while Moin and the camel drivers chatted with the owner of the home and we sat and smiled. Back on top of the camels, we returned to town to avoid the mid day sun.

At 4:30 we loaded a tent, a kitchen, two beds, tables, table cloths, and seven people (us and 5 people to help) into two camel carts and rode about 10 km from the town deep into the desert. Paul and I took a walk around the dunes and returned to see a luxury campsite set up! The sun started to set, the food was ready, and as we sat down to eat, our musical entertainment began - an amazing trio playing traditional music. We felt like kinds and queens. Feeling the to be humble and gracious we left our table and sat on the sand around the fire as the rest of our group ate and drank homemade wine (not very tasty). After seeing a few shooting stars, we fell asleep to the sounds of tribal drums in the distance. It was one of the best evenings we've had thus far.

Kaku

After a few hour drive through rural desert life - camels, mud hut complexes, goat herders, and scrubs - we came to the tiny village of Kaku, only sq kilometer, if that. A village not in the Lonely Planet India guide (also referred to as the bible by some here) so therefore we were the only white people within 50 miles or so and most of the villagers acted as though they had never seen a westerner before. We stayed in the only hotel in sight, Kaku Castle, and the property was filled with peacocks! They fed us excellent vegetarian food, cabbage, potatoes, cauliflower (one of our favorite foods now), stuffed peppers, garlic spinach, and all deliciously flavored with spices and curries. We took a walk though the village just as a Friday night festival was beginning (Hindu festival worshipping one of the millions of deities), and instead of focusing on the religious procession through the town, most of the people had their eyes on us. Some shy - the women peaking out from behind their colorful had scarfs (a part of their saris); others, mainly children, couldn't hide their curiosity and were making large crowds around us giggling and asking our names over and over again. Making our way through the crowds we bumped into a wedding, where again all eyes left the bride and groom and turned to us. The whole party waved us in - I snapped a few photos and snuck out not wanting to be the center of attention on their special day. I would imagine this is what it would feel like to be a celebrity for a day. After straying away from the festival we reached the edge of town (and the beginning of the sand dunes), it was so quiet you could hear the whistling of the wind as it formed the ripple patterns on the sand. A woman and three of her children came out to meet us, luckily we had Moin with us to translate.

The beautiful woman, dressed in orange and yellow with bangles covering her exposed arms, and ten pound ankle bracelets around her tiny ankles, wanted to tell us all about her life. She had nine children, because her husband wouldn't let her have an abortion; she was married when she was 13 and pregnant by 17; her husband and eldest son worked elsewhere doing woodwork and were rarely around; and her youngest daughter was five, but looked only one or two because she had an illness that the doctors couldn't cure. She was 46, and for such a hard life, she actually looked her age.

That night we had a beer on our rooftop and listened to the wedding party, which we could hear until 4 AM...Indian weddings are no joke.

Flight of the Cranes

We stopped in a small town on our way to Jaipur to see a thousand or so Demoiselle Cranes that migrate south from Siberia to a small town called Khichan (or Khechan or Kheecan depending on which map you read) and winter there for six months. The village raises enough money to feed the birds grain every morning and create a man-made lake for their afternoon retreat (a real feat in the rural desert). It was quite a weird phenomenon, but the town has so much pride for these birds that they have done many environmental initiatives including pesticide reduction to keep these birds healthy and coming back year after year. We were lucky enough to see these beautiful, large, and very noisy birds on their last day in the desert.

Castles made of sand

Jaislmer, on the western edge of Rajasthan bordering the Great Thar Desert, is home to an enormous yellow sandstone fort, the most famous one in the region (and by far the most touristy). With a warning from our driver about the sheisty hawkers, we set out on a self guided tour of the city which ended on top of the fort walls eating pineapple pizza from an "authentic" italian restaurant - next to the "authentic" bhang shop.

Jaisalmer is the golden city, which aptly fits its desert landscape and sandstone buildings. This is the first fort that has held a small village inside its walls, homes, shops, jain temples, and restaurants.

The next day, we did some more sight seeing, saw an old lavish haveli with a stunning courtyard, and made our way to the sand dunes. About 40 km further into the desert, closer to the border with Pakistan are the Sam sand dunes, guarded by the military on camels. Although the area of seemingly manicured sand dunes were not very large, it fulfilled our wish of seeing a Sahara-like desert landscape, complete with hundreds of camels, both wild and in costume.

Sometimes ya gotta grab a bull by the horns

After leaving rural farmland in the Rajasthani mountains, we headed for Jodhpur, to see yet another impressive fort. We drove a few hours into the increasingly warm day and immediately set out to see Jodhpur's main attraction. This fort, unlike the others we have seen already, rose out of the sheer cliffs affording it an imposing view over the blue city. Every major city in Rajasthan is designated a color, Jodhpur, being the blue city, was actually very blue. We climbed through the fort palace, another grandiose structure filled with ornate carvings and jeweled rooms.

We made our way back down to the city and started the process of finding our hotel in the old city, inaccessible by car (to our driver's dismay). After winding our way through tiny streets we found a parking place and trekked the rest of the way to our haveli hotel. Another great place to stay, we had a huge room, complete with a sitting room and arched entryways, and luckily the coolest spot in Jodhpur due to its shady location.

We quickly found out that Jodhpur is a dirty, dirty city. Due to its open sewers, its also the smelliest place we've been thus far. The compactness of the city amplifies the cow poop, human poop, motorcycle fumes, and litter. But as long as you are willing to overlook these things, the streets are full of character, animals, and little children - as well as angry cows. The cows here do not like Madeleine, first she got a nudge from behind, then she got corned between to horns of an angry bull (luckily Paul was around to literally grab the bull by its horns, long enough for Madeleine to jump away). Now she gives the cows a wide berth when passing.

We spent the next day browsing in a Sunday market and updating out blog, a daunting task when you are several stops behind. Now off to the real desert...sand dunes and all.

We posted a few slide shows of some of the photographs, stay tuned for the rest! Its always a work in progress...

Life on the Farm

At the end of our long day of fort visiting, we drove into a construction site with 11 partially completed "villas." The owner greeted us and said we should walk around the farm with him, the rest of the farm consisted of a few cows, some tiny banana trees, a stagnant swimming pool, partially completed well, and piles of rubble. After our walk, the owner invited us back to his home for dinner - we rode there in a sweet jungle safari jeep, all six of us, plus two babies, in a standard size wrangler. Once introduced to the whole extended family we were shuffled upstairs to play with the kids while the women cooked us dinner. The language barrier is far less with children, all you have to do is play and make noises and all is understood. The three adorable kids instantly loved Madeleine. The one year old was already adorned with ankle bracelets and earrings, she was the most skeptical of us but soon warmed up.

After an hour of play time the women began feeding us, and feeding us, and feeding us until we had to physically cover our plates. We ate more of the potatoes, flat bread and vegetables than should have been possible, but it would have been insulting otherwise. After we ate, the men ate, and then the children, and we presume the women ate after the kids, but we were already on our way home by this time.

The Well
The next morning we awoke late to the sounds of the well construction and headed over to check things out. The hole for the well was 15 feet across and the current depth was 90 feet. Of the 4 guys working, two were on the bottom filling old metal buckets with rocks, which were hoisted with an almost medieval looking crane hooked to a smoking diesel engine. Every so often they would send a 55 gallon drum down to fill with water which had accumulated at the bottom. the well diggers were weary of us until Paul helped an old woman fill up a trailer with the well rocks. That broke the ice and made everyone smile, we were in.

After an hour and a half of well watching, we headed to the most intricate and beautiful Jain temple yet, nestled in the foothills of the Rajasthani mountains. The site was filled with monkeys and Indian tourists. It also came with a set of rules including: No foreigners until after noon, women can't enter while on the 'mense' period, and we had to be dressed modestly.

While we slept off the afternoon heat, Moin went into the town to buy ingredients to make a dinner feast. The old woman, covered in a colorful pink sari with five pound ankle bracelets and tired eyes, let us sit and watch her make dozens of rotis. Rotis, Indian flat breads, are simply made from wheat powder and water and then grilled on a clay pan over an outdoor fire. Later, we ate our dinner on compostable dried leaf plates. A great evening on the farm. The whole farm staff was extremely hospitable and made our stay a real pleasure.

Kumbalgarh Fortress

A full day of driving may seem tedious, but not when driving through the mountains in Rajasthan, in and out of small villages, farms, and even colorful festivals. In these rural areas we really got a sense for traditional life in the region. Most of the farms had been affected by the awful drought and were dried up, most of their mud homes matching the desert hills. Women were so colorfully adorned with jewelry covering their arms, feet, and faces. Most of the men were dressed in a white vest, puffy pants, and colorful turbans (different colors designating social caste, holidays, and seasons amongst other things).

Kumbalgarh forst was another great surprise that snuck up on us in the mountains. A colossal structure on top of a mountain, surrounded by 36km of wall (picture the great wall of china) and inclusive of over 300 temples. We got there just as the afternoon heat was subsiding so the hike to the top wasn't too bad and well worth it. The views were spectacular and not for those with a fear of heights. The fort was taken only once in its history, and for only two days, from the top you can see its impenetrability.

Back in the car we headed to another small village, Ghanerao, where we would sleep in a gueshouse on a small farm. We were skeptical at first, but it ended up being an unique and wonderful experience.

Rajasthan, the land of palaces and forts

We said goodbye to Udaipur early in the morning, hopped into our cab and made our way to Chittorgarh (Chittor for short) to see India's and Asia's largest fort. Set on top of a plateau/hill, the fort covers over 700 acres and includes several deserted palaces and about 130 temples. Some of the buildings date as far back as the 8th century and are left in ruins reminiscent of the Roman Forum, others have been preserved remarkably well. If there wasn't a severe drought in Rajasthan, the fort would also have 84 lakes, but we only counted a few. It was a long but rewarding day exploring the ruiins, climbing towers, and watching monkeys play. We descended back to the plains, ate a great roadside lunch and headed out of the otherwise boring city and drove about 30km to our hotel.

Bassi is a small town off of the beaten track, and would probably never see a white person if it wasn't for its fort and palace (anyone who is anyone has a fort and royal palace in Rajasthan). To our surprise the royal family had turned their palace into a guesthouse and we had a suite for the night. We literally felt like a king and queen in our lavish room with murals, arched entry ways, and beautiful marble floors. A lot of India's palaces and havelis (old mansions) have been turned into heritage hotels, where you can stay in a piece of preserved history. Needless to say we had a great evening, another vegetarian feast (complete with mutton), a few beers, and sat under the stars in our royal courtyard.

The next morning we strolled around the town as it was beginning to wake up. The stores openning their doors, women carrying pots of water back from the well on their heads, and children in blue uniforms walking to school. And the two of us, walking with smiles plastered on our faces waving to everyone in their doorways coming to see the foreigners who came to their village.

Udaipur

A beautiful city, reminiscent of a Mediterranean village (Indian style), and a relief from the craziness of the big cities we've spent time in...less pollution and far less honking. It is filled with roof top restaurants, candle lit dinners, medieval palaces, lakes and bhang. We spent a day on our own wandering around the narrow alleyways of the most romantic city in India. The city surrounds two lakes, one dotted with floating palaces (the Lake Palace Hotel inhabits an old royal palace, complete with lotus ponds and infinity pools...slightly out of our price range). After exploring a few temples and eating tandoori vegetable kebabs (yes, we are learning all sorts of great ways to live meat free) we had a drink on our hotel's rooftop terrace. A nice place to relax on oversized pillows, listen to good music, or watch the nightly showing of Octopussy - a James Bond movie filmed in the many palaces of Udaipur which shows in nearly every cafe and bar.

7:30AM sharp we met Steve and our travel companion Moin, who will be our driver/guide/friend for the next 12 days. We knew it was going to be fabulous when he took us to a deserted palace a few hours away that was a hidden gem. Once the guard started opening padlocked doors, we realized the whole palace was intricately painted and tiled, as if it hadn'et been touched in 200 years - 7 stories later we had a great view of the surrounding town. The palace chambers had detailed mosaics, ornate carvings, and secret kama sutra cabinets with sexual cartoons.

Back in Udaipur, we toured the city palace, a fortress and museum of Udaipur's royal past. A great end to a long day. After our best veg. thali yet and instructions of proper etiquette on having a personal driver (something we have no experience with), we said goodbye to Steve, and got ready to start our journey through Rajasthan.

Sunday (our last day) in Ahmedabad

Sunday is a day of rest and markets. Ahmedabad's Sunday market was a personal view of India's core humanity and a great place to take photos. Here you can buy anything you want, from q-tips and sari fabric to wrenches and goats. The best people watching we have had thus far.

Monday 6am, we left Alana and headed out for our new adventure - Rajasthan.

Nazariya Women's Film Festival

Over the weekend we attended a woman's film festival at an interesting outdoor theater venue, sponsored by Alana's NGO and run by college volunteers. The first film we saw was 'Silent Waters,' an intimate view of the repercussions of the partition (1947) and the continuous disputes over religion in Pakistan.

The second film we saw, another light hearted film, was 'Understanding Trafficking,' a documentary about the trafficking of young girls in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Both great movies in an interesting theater, a real hidden gem of Ahmedabad.

Sights and Sounds of Ahmedabad

Day 3. We hired Harshuon, our favorite rickshaw driver who sits posted outside of Alana's apartment complex, to take us on a tour of Ahmedabad. We started at Gandhi's Ashram - an intentional community where everyone works for the greater good of everyone else, regardless of caste. A peaceful escape from the hectic, polluted city and a great place to learn and reflect on Gandhi's philosophy. This retreat was founded in 1915 and was his headquaters during the struggle for Indian independence. In the library we were able to read his letter to Hitler in a plea to end WWII (i'm sure its available online and a worthwhile piece of history).

Next we ventured into the old city, a maze of markets, mo-peds, people, and cows to see a few famous mosques and Jain temples. It was a great perspective of this side of the bustling city from a rickshaw. We stopped in the National Institute of Design to see a black and white photography exhibit capturing the dwindling Catholic population in Goa. The school also had a great gift shop with affordable and unique contemporary student made crafts.

At the end of the journey our driver took a right turn off the main road and asked "You coming to my house?" We thought he was joking and agreed, delighted by our response he took a back road to his neighborhood. The tour concluded with an introduction to his wife and two adorable children.

The next day, while Alana went to work, we took a rickshaw to Ahmedabad's famous lake, Kankaria. Expecting a peaceful park, we were surprised to find a dilapidated theme park, zoo, aquarium, and shallow lake. It was a great place to people watch, filled with school children and couples. We are both in several people's photographs holding children and posing with their parents. We splurged for the 5 rupee aquarium (about 10 cents) and found ourselves in a run down, yet well stocked pet store. A great afternoon jaunt.

Ahmedabad part one

Being with Alana in her new city was a wonderful introduction to this foreign culture, both fruitful and relaxing. After we returned from Bhuj on Tuesday morning we took a day off, got some much needed rest, attempted cooking with the pressure cooker (with some success), did a first batch of laundry, and sat down to plan the rest of our trip in India. It was great staying in one place for a week, we were able to familiarize ourselves with Alana's neighborhood (in Ahmedabad's "new city"). We got to know the fruit wala, drink wala, ironing wala, tailoring wala, and her bread wala...all on one corner. In India there is a guy for everything, regardless of how small the task.

That evening we took yet another bus, shorter and far more rickety (an inner city bus) to another of Alana's friend's home in Baroda, a smaller version of Ahmedabad about an hour and a half away, just for some company and a few drinks. Back on the bus at 7am just in time for Alana to be late to work...she is already on Indian time (everyone in India is at least thirty minutes late, and that is on time).

Wednesday was yet another day of unsuccessful planning and several trips to the nearby interenet cafe. Alana had meetings all day with her fellowship leaders, evaluating her performance thus far at Drishti (the NGO she works for that develops community media). She passed the test, and the only complaint they had was that she was too friendly to strangers...and if you know Alana this makes perfect sense. That night another delicious feast on her living room floor, another mix of vegetarian foods, all communally shared. Unfortunately Alana's "no boy in the apartment policy" was a more serious restriction than we had thought, so we went back to our A/C hotel room, watched a few english TV shows, and had a great nights sleep.

We made the paper

http://tinyurl.com/yk33eaa
follow this link to the Ahmedabad paper which we appeared in on 3/3/2010.
Scroll to the left and you'll see the photo.

A dirty bus to Bhuj

One day in Ahmedabad, and off again to our next stop Bhuj. But before the bus we experienced our first attempt at pressure cooking... a simple question about rice and water ratio turned into an Indian cooking lesson from Alana's neighbors, her auntie and kaka (a term of endearment and respect for the elderly). After our delicious meal, we got on a bus at midnight to find this overnight bus was not as nice as the last - dirty mats and a really bumpy ride. Nine hours later we got off at Jubilee Circle in Bhuj and met up with three more of Alana's friends, also part of the vast Indian NGO network.

Bhuj

A relatively small Indian city of 150,000 in the desert of Gujurat and home to a disproportionately large amount of NGOs as a result of a large earthquake in 2001 that killed 10% of the population and destroyed most of the town. After a great breakfast, we set out to find white clothes for Holi, although unsuccessful, Paul found a Kutch region specialty, block print lounging plants and his first Indian shirt (think India meets hippie). Paul could only take so much shopping, so we stopped and ate a veg thali in air conditioning and had a sampling of greasy and sweet Indian food, and all you can eat for two dollars (yes all you can eat is not only an American idea). While Alana's friends (Caroline, Andrew, and Gabe) finished working, we slept off the afternoon heat and large lunch.

Our First Indian Field Trip

The next day we set off on a field trip, who knew you could fit thirteen people and two babies in a jeep. We drove an hour and half through the arid semi-desert of Gujurat and arrived at a mountain (hill) with a Hindu temple perched atop. We climbed the stairs with the sun bearing down to a tranquil temple complete with its own live in holy man and puppies. After surveying the sights we unexpectedly sat down to a feast provided by the Indian families who joined us in the jeep. A mix of rice, roti, potatoes and a few fresh vegetables, all far less greasy then any restaurant choices. Everything is communal here, sharing is caring. Our picnic view was beautiful, we could see the salt flats in the distance which was our intended destination but we were unable to acquire the proper visa to travel there.

Next stop... a Hindu monastery in the desert foothills. After a quick tour of the relic temples and shrines we sat down to chai with a few Sadhus - people who denounce all material possessions in search of Moksha (freedom from the cycle of rebirth) through meditation and pilgrimage. They now have five American signatures in their small guest book. Back in the jeep to our third stop, to the most unpredicted part of the journey, a desert jungle. We all relaxed along the lake, watching the children feed the fish and enjoying the shade. On our way out the caretaker called the wild peacocks to dinner and about 30 birds came running from all over. A funny scene of camels, cows, a few cats, and tons of Morni (peacocks in Gujurati). Back to Bhuj after an exhausting, but great 10 hour trip for only four dollars. Our Indian peers really know how to make the most of their day off. We now had to prepare for Holi.

Holi Cow, They Know How to Celebrate

Holi, nothing like any holiday in the US, but it may resemble an odd combo of Mardi Gras, 4th of July and Halloween, without the booze. We woke up at 9am to children laughing. We got dressed and prepared our colorful water, bags of colorful powder chalk, water guns and stepped outside only to be ambushed by the neighborhood kids. It's much more fun to throw colors on white people. We are a blank canvas. Not even 30 minutes into it, our faces, hair , and shirts wer e tie-died. We met up with a few of the locals we joined the day before only to catch a deluge of color. Dodging water balloons and handfuls of colorful powder from the scooters and motorcycles the neighborhood youth ride around on. We then toured the city repeating the practice of colorful greetings. Even the cows had splashes of color. It was a colorful water fight and all ages participated, quite the Hindu festival. Exhausted by the afternoon, we ordered a few US pizzas, not too bad for India, and watched a movie on Andrew's computer. As much as you want to escape your daily routine, we have found you can easily slip right back in to - comfort.

Back on the bus after a southern Indian dinner of dosas, for yet another BUMPY ride to Ahmedabad (pronounced Am-da-vaad). Unfortunately my camera died for the day of festivities, but Alana got a few great shots of our colorful experience, here is a link to her Picasa (google photo album)....

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/alanakinarsky/HoliAndMyTripToKutch?feat=email#

We put our photos from the past week or so on Alana's computer and hope to be setting up our own Picasa album soon so everyone can see our photos, we'll keep you posted.