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Agra: Taj Mahal. Smells.
Posted by daveb on December 15th, 2008
Agra, the site of India’s most famous monument–the Taj Mahal–is probably the dirtiest, smelliest town that I’ve ever visited. It is really, genuinely, disgustingly filthy even by the often appalling Indian standards. About a minute’s walk from the east gate of the Taj Mahal, the free public toilet was so utterly unclean that I had to hopscotch over scores of human poos to pee up against its outside rear wall. An enterprising–and filthy–little boy waded-in from the other side to request 20 Rupees for my displeasurable experience. Seriously, I couldn’t even get into the building for all the floor-lying faeces and hordes of diseased flies awaiting my not-so-grand entrance. Upon leaving the cesspit, the adjacent shopkeepers clearly had a lot of fun gauging my reaction as I exited. In shock, the only word I could muster was a staccatoed “nice”.
On a more positive note, the Taj Mahal itself is probably the most beautiful building in the world. It really is quite stunning — even more so than in the photographs. Even though the site was teeming with tourists, we all preferred to stay inside the walls of the monument than face the reality that lay in wait on the outside. We were fortunate to visit during the full moon, which made for a nice sunset. Eventually, the time came to leave and the site security guards bustled us back onto the filthy streets after dark. Helpfully, the five-times daily Agra power cut meant that we didn’t have the displeasure of seeing what we were stepping in as we pushed our way through hordes of touts to return to our auto-rickshaw.
We stayed at Agra way too long, three nights in all. Phil was to head back up to Delhi for his flight home and we didn’t want to leave him here alone. Instead the three of us stayed together at the Lonely Planet’s favourite budget hotel and moaned our way through the remaining time in disbelief at just how disappointing this place is. Unfortunately, since achieving an accolade in the Lying Planet, it appears that pretty much all the staff at our hotel had given up trying to provide a reasonable service. Gleefully, I watched as the other guests fruitlessly tried to clean their dirty coffee cups, grimacing through every bite of their lacklustre meal before looking down at my own dirty cup and flavourless mess delivered on a filthy plate, wondering “is this the mouthful that will put me into hospital?” On the last day, I sneaked a look at the kitchen: the bin had filled days ago and now the uncaring cooks simply threw waste food onto the floor around them. Even Agra’s Cafe Coffee Day, a chain coffee shop akin to Starbucks and once our refuge of near-Western hygiene standards, has too hit rock-bottom. I alerted a member of staff to the rodent-type noises emanating from the bathroom cupboard. “I think there’s a mouse in the cupboard in the toilet!”, I explained. “No… it’s probably a rat.”, his response, as he continued his work as if nothing had been said.
Clearly most of the locals and the businesses in Agra believe that, being home to India’s most famous monument, tourists will continue to come regardless of the standard of service provided. Fellers, I’ve got news for you: Agra is only a day trip from Delhi. Once word gets out of your general tardiness and malaise, you’re going to the wall.
It’s about time that I posted a video of a rickshaw ride:
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Pushkar to Agra: Crazy taxi
Posted by daveb on December 14th, 2008
We’re heading to Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal. The more we catch the train, the more delays we seem to suffer. Given that there’s currently three of us to share the cost, it’s only marginally more expensive to swap the train for a taxi in some places — especially after taking into account the autorickshaw transfers between our accommodation and transport stations. And so we completed the first leg of our journey to the Taj in a crazy taxi. Because of the volume of traffic (not to mention cows) in the towns and cities, most crazy autorickshaw rides never get up enough speed to do too much serious damage (save the time that our drunk rickshaw driver in Jaipur pulled across the path of a bus and nearly killed us all).
A taxi on the highway is a different matter, however. Our guy continued weaving in-and-out of the highway traffic (and cows, and camels), but this time at speed. Unfortunately, I don’t have a video of the worst/best maneuovres — he slowed down considerably after Squiffy squealed out loud as her life flashed before her eyes
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Pushkar: Foreign Indian bride contest
Posted by daveb on December 13th, 2008
One of the highlights of the Pushkar Camel Fair is the “Foreign Indian Bride Contest”, which essentially means that a bunch of foreign ladies are dressed-up in traditional Indian garb and paraded on stage before hundreds of hooting desert nomads and an equal number of crossed-legged Western tourists trying to make sense of things. Whilst the foreign brides–mostly from Israel–looked very shiny-shiny and played their part well, it was the arrogant, incompetent, patronising hosts that kept the Western contingent amused. It reminded me of that one fateful 1989 Brit Awards, cringingly hosted by Mick Fleetwood and Sam Fox.
The ceremony was mostly held in English, with occasional, ad-hoc Hindi translations when the male host fancied it. Given the hosts’ own idiosyncratic grasp of the English language, we took great delight as the respondents gave well-formed, fully fluent answers leaving the hosts to scratch around, cherry-picking and repeating the few words that they recognised. I’ve attached a couple of videos below to highlight the experience. The first is from an American girl giving a wordy answer being snubbed mid-sentence by the obnoxious female presenter.
The second, and funniest, sees the dim male presenter reform his “what’s the difference between an Israeli and an Indian bride?” question several times to another apparantly Islraeli girl, only for her to correct him that she’s actually French — watch his unhappy reaction to the jeering crowd and the following vigorous head-nodding to mask over the fact that he’s just brilliantly humiliated himself on national TV.
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Pushkar Camel Fair: Like a scene from the Bible
Posted by Squiffy on December 12th, 2008
Pushkar Camel Fair is an annual event, held around the time of the Kartik Purnima full moon, which this year fell in early November. Thousands of nomads bring their horses and highly decorated camels from all over Rajasthan to one of the biggest animal markets in India, if not the world. Nothing really can prepare you for the spectacle and the craziness of the event, which was my favourite experience in India.
One early evening, we looked out onto the mela ground from the roof top of a make-shift cafe, scouted out by Dad. The scene was like something from the Bible. As far as the eye could see, there were camels wearing eye make-up, flowers and bells, horses drinking water and their nomad owners cooking over camp fires or lying beneath their carts for shelter. It was quite magical, and I felt like we’d gone back in time. (Ok, the camels probably didn’t wear mascara in the Bible, but it sets the scene).
As a tourist, it was almost compulsory for us to take a camel cart ride, a novel experience which we thoroughly enjoyed. Whilst we didn’t get to see much of the animal trading, we did witness a few people showing off their horses and making on the spot deals. What we did get to see more of was the Tourist Board’s program of bizarre events, which kicked-off with a camel decoration competition, followed by a moustache and turban tying contests, and ended with the Indian Foreign Bride parade. More on the latter tomorrow.
The fair is timed to coincide with an important Hindu pilgrimage to Pushkar, so there were many, many people in town coming to bathe in the sacred lake. The place was awash with women in colourful saris and at night the ghats (steps down to the lake where people bathe) were covered in flickering candles. Whilst Pushkar is an attractive and pleasant town with some good shopping at any time of year, it’s definitely worth visiting during the fair, if you can stand the crowds and pick-pockets in the narrow streets.
I had a great time – thanks Pushkar (and the very friendly staff at the Hotel Everest)
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Ranthambhore: Tigers, what tigers?
Posted by daveb on December 11th, 2008
This is a guest post written by Phil, Claire’s dad.
I’m flattered to have been asked by DaveB and Claire (aka Squiffy) to write up a blog on our Tiger Safari at Ranthambhore National Park in Rajisthan, India. I just hope I can do it justice.
We were several days into our tour of Rajisthan, having visited the Pink City of Jaipur and prior to our trip to the Camel Fair at Pushkar.
We arrived in Sawai Madopur a town close to Ranthambhore Tiger Park, late in the afternoon. The modes of transport available to take us to our hotel were the usual tuk-tuk and cycle rickshaw, – in addition there was the novelty of a horse drawn trap. (A bit like Charlie Boreman’s “By any means”) This third option turned out to be the cheapest at 20 Rupees, no doubt because the vendor was hoping (as is usually the case in India) to elicit a commission from the hotel. I’m afraid he’d misjudged my intrepid travelling companions, the hotel had been pre-booked thus no commission was due.
The following day was taken up with us exploring the surrounding area; with it’s shopping and eating opportunities. Claire was particularly keen that we place our business with the charity shop set up to market the handicrafts of the local women. Being a charity, Claire felt that she ought not to haggle over the prices – which I felt were fair in any case.
The day of the Tiger Safari began for me at 4:45 a.m. as I’d been elected to make the booking.
Out of the 20 or so vehicles allowed into the park each day, only two of each type (Gipsy – 6 seater or Canter – 20 seater) were bookable at short notice. The queue for the booking office opened at 5:30 and I was determined to be at the head of the line.
Not so!! – There were twenty or so at the Canter counter and four at the Gipsy counter when I arrived. Luckily for me the last remaining seats (in a Gipsy) were for a full day rather than the standard half-day safari, which the backpackers at the front of the queue were unable to afford.
An urgent mobile call to Dave and Claire brought them to the embarkation point in double quick time, as the trip was to begin at 7:00 am. This left little time to organise a picnic, which as you all know, would be as important to Dave B as the Tiger Safari itself! As it happened we were able to get a sandwich made at the hotel of our fellow Safari companions.
The park is divided into seven sections, with three or four vehicles at most entering each section. As there are a total of only forty tigers in the park, assuming that they are evenly spread, then we were likely to have the opportunity to see perhaps five Tigers maximum. One would have been nice!! But I’m afraid we have to report that our party saw none on that particular day. That is not to say that we were totally disappointed, there was plenty of wildlife to view. We saw several large, cow size antelope with young, also gazelle and deer. To our surprise there was a sizeable crocodile on the banks of a stream. Other wildlife living in the Park (but not seen by us) are Leopard and Sloth Bear.
To add tension to what could have been a slow day, the driver and guide made a bold attempt to liven things up. While stopped at a pay booth in order for those with video cameras to pay a fee, there was a general melee with our guide rushing us to re-board the vehicle in order to head in the direction of some squealing monkeys, which he indicated could be due to Tigers being present – it wasn’t, and there weren’t.
On several occasions during the morning we stopped to observe fresh Tiger paw prints in the sand at the side of the track. These paw prints were so perfectly formed and in such numbers, that I had my suspicions as to their authenticity. Later in the morning we came across a group of rangers (most of the villagers living in the park were employed on a Tiger project of some sort), one of who had a plaster cast of a Tiger paw. We were told that they make plaster casts of paw prints in order to identify individual Tigers, but I notice that this cast was obviously not fresh as it had a coat of paint – I’m convinced that the prints in the sand were man made. All credit to the Tiger Park, whether there were Tigers about or not, an attempt was made to add excitement to our trip.
I’ve heard speculation that Tigers are to be introduced to Africa, in order to preserve them as a species, due to their dwindling habitat in India. Perhaps I’ll have to wait until I go on an African Safari in order to see my first Wild Tiger!
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Jaipur: Amber Fort and Monkey Palace
Posted by Squiffy on December 10th, 2008
We splashed-out and hired the hotel’s driver and air-conditioned car for a day, which cost about £15, to take us outside the city limits to visit Jaipur’s Amber Fort, the Monkey Palace and a couple of other places of interest.
The Amber Fort, a 16th Century palace was an impressive complex, and an official guide gave us interesting insights into it’s history. My favourite story was that of the two queens (wives of one man), who wore so much jewellery, 16kg each in fact, that they had to be pushed around the palace in wheelchairs! Dave take note, that’s a lot of diamonds.
Following a morning at the fort we stopped off for lunch at Cafe Coffee Day, India’s nearest equivalent of Starbucks and eventually Dad’s favourite place of refuge. Our afternoon itinerary included a trip to the Monkey Palace, so called because of the large number of monkeys running around begging bananas from the public. At the palace ‘pond’, many women were making offerings of candles and money, as well as bathing themselves in the sacred (but very grotty looking) water. After watching them for a while, a group of girls insisted that I join them in bathing. My dilemma — how not to offend them by saying no, nor catch some water-borne disease by saying yes? I opted for a quick splash of my face whilst keeping my mouth fully closed, and whilst they looked bemused, they seemed to accept my gesture. I have so far found the people of India to be very friendly, happy to make our acquaintance and have their photo taken, and the girls here were no exception.
Our tour ended with a (requested) trip to a fabrics factory, for me to buy some cushion covers (Dave wonders exactly how many sofas we’ll have in our house with the number of cushion covers I’ve bought world-wide; I have an addiction). Whilst waiting for me to deliberate over designs, Dad wandered off and re-appeared wearing a Rajasthani style turban. Much taken with his distinguished appearance – the beard really helped – he purchased said turban and, for fun, proceeded to wear it for much of our trip. This endeared him greatly to the locals who frequently made comments such as ‘good Rajasthani man’, although my favourite was ‘Ah, Mr Singh is King!’.
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Jaipur: Grand arrival (of SQ & Phil)
Posted by Squiffy on December 9th, 2008
Whilst Dave headed to Goa for his solo adventure, I flew home to visit my family and help my friend Naomi chose a dress for her Vancouver wedding next year. After two weeks in luxury, I was a bit dubious about joining Dave in India. However, my Dad, who visited India in a Land Rover in the ’60s, has raved about the country for the last 40 years, so I thought I should give it a go. And because he’s not stopped raving about it, I persuaded my dad to come too, to re-live his Indian adventures.
As Dad wanted to fly from Birmingham, and I was already booked on a flight from Heathrow, we left on different planes, but were reunited, along with Dave, in Jaipur, Rajasthan. To break us in gently, we’d booked a fairly decent hotel where we were able to relax in the garden with a cup of tea, when the city centre became too overwhelming. On the first evening we had a lovely dinner in the Om Tower, a 14 storey revolving restaurant, before exploring the old walled Pink City on foot. As I imagined, Indian cities are busy with tuk-tuk, cycle and motorbike traffic weaving in and out the narrow streets, loud with the noises of vehicle horns and blaring music and full of unusual sights such as cows freely wandering the streets, women in brightly coloured saris and men fixing old Royal Enfield motorcycles.
When you first arrive, India is definitely an assault on the senses and the dirt and dust are pervasive, but I enjoyed my first couple of days in Jaipur, especially as we were able to retreat when needed.
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Jodhpur to Jaipur: First Indian train journey
Posted by daveb on December 8th, 2008
Said to be the best legacy of the British Raj, is the nationwide train network that links almost everywhere to everywhere else. This was no mean feat as India is a vast, vast nation: the Himsagar Express train journey–meaning ‘snow and sea’–runs between Kanyakumari in India’s southernmost state, Tamil Nadu and Jammu Tawi, in Jammu & Kashmir, the northernmost state, covers a distance of 3751 km and takes nearly 75 hours with no changes — ponder this for a moment; compare it to a major UK train journey from say Cardiff to London, which takes a little over 2 hours (when there’s no engineering works…).
Although actually buying a train ticket is a miniture pain-in-the-bum, once aboard and rolling it is a very pleasant experience, relative to other available modes of transport here. For a soft-introduction to India’s rail network, I booked myself in a second class (there appear to be four classes) bed for the princely sum of about £4 for a 5-6 hour journey. I was absolutely exhausted from the sleep deprivation of the Diwali firecrackers of the last three nights and so fell sound asleep almost immediately. Imagine my surprise to wake-up an hour later, facing three beady-eyed Indian men sitting opposite me wondering why on earth I’m having a kip on the lower bunk. I soon worked out that daytime journey protocol here is to take the upper bunk, to allow others to sit on the lower one.
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Jodhpur: Room for 150 Rupee (about £1.80)
Posted by daveb on December 6th, 2008
Squiffy’s local environment is really important to her: she’d much rather go hungry and spend the money saved on a decent hotel with a clean room, whereas I’d rather skimp on the hotel room and spend the extra on food and drink. (The more I travel the more I see that more money spent on hotels, does not necessarily translate to getting cleaner rooms.) Before she arrives with her Dad, I decided to see what a rock-bottom priced room is like, so I managed to score a room in Jodhpur for 150 Rs, about £1.80, a night.
I bet you’re wondering what a £1.80/night room gets you? Surprisingly, quite a lot actually — although it ain’t that pretty to look at. Two single beds pushed together to make a double; foreign hotels often don’t do ‘true’ double beds. Two plastic chairs. Even a TV; although you’ll note that it’s missing from my photos as the hotelier wanted to watch the cricket! The gaudiest decor and the most worrying lack of security. My room had three doors without decent bolts–one directly opened onto the street–so I’m really glad that I brought so many sturdy padlocks, wire ties and my trusty PacSafe
At the price, I even got a bathroom! Although I’m rather glad Squiffs wasn’t here to see this… Two toilets: one stand-up, one sit down. The sit down one didn’t flush properly into the out-pipe and so mostly ran above-ground into the stand-up device. Lucky yes, pretty no. Two shower heads, both at bang-your-head height. A water boiler which refused to boil water. And curiously, no basin in which to wash your hands or brush your teeth. As is standard with Asian bathrooms, the whole bathroom was a ‘wet room’; you simply wash your hands under the shower and spit your toothpaste onto the floor, and the suds eventually find their way into a drain in the corner.
Bathroom, decor and grot aside, not a bad little space for the price.
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Escape the City now published daily
Posted by daveb on December 5th, 2008
As you know, we’ve designed this blog to lag behind reality: this means that we can deliver a new story to you every weekday regardless of where we are. There really is so much going on in the world that, in wanting to share with you our experiences, we’ve built up a bit of a backlog. The website currently trails reality by about a month.
To bring things more up-to-date with our current whereabouts, we’re going to publish our stories daily until the backlog is cleared. After this, we promise to make a concerted effort to write less words!
The best for you to stay up-to-date with our articles is to have them delivered to you: either with e-mail updates or by using our RSS feed for Escape the City – both are free. The BBC has a simple explanation on how to use RSS feeds (they sometimes call them news feeds).
Please leave us a comment to let us know what else you’d think could be improved on the site.
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