After much travel, we are pleased to say we made it to Palellum, a beautiful, picturesque beach in South Goa that has everything we were hoping for and more. Beach huts are so close to the beach that we can hear the ocean from our room, the sand is soft, the water is warm and the cocktails are all 2 for 1. :)
We spend the days chillaxing, reading tons and catching some sun. Our nights have been relaxed as we dine literally 20 ft from the ocean by candle light (very romantic) and Chefs grill freshly caught fish to order. Pretty. Much. Heaven.
We managed to catch the Royal Wedding, as as everyone here is British, there was plenty of cheering with even guys glued to the tiny tv at one of the beach bars. Kate really did look beautiful!
We just got back from some Yoga under the palm trees as the sun was going down and are feeling very zen. Tonight we are going to check out one of their much talked about "headphone parties"- apparently the police enforce a noise curfew, that we have yet to see, yet, people are said to gather and dance (like crazy) to the music they are listening to in headphones- from an on looker, i imagine the people dancing in silence is quite a sight!
We will enjoy every second of one more day at the beach, before heading to Mumbai, and then, sigh... home.
Hope you have enjoyed our trip as much as we have! We have about a zillion pics to tell the stories with at home. Miss ya'll and catch you soon!
Peace & Love from Goa-
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Small Change of Plans...and Planes
So here Dara and I were thinking that we had finally gotten this whole India travel thing down...and of course we were wrong because why would anything be easy in India?? ha
To start from the beginnning, we woke up super early in Jodhpur, thinking we had 3 hours to see the whole city before catching our flight to Mumbai. We went up to yet another fort [actually our favorite so far) and did the FULL tour in 2 hours, despite our first real struggle with the heat and stomach issues. We are superwomen! The palaces in the fort were beautiful, and definitely worth the effort. Then on to the clocktower, and quickly exploring the markets, bargaining for all your gifts along the way! Then we ran back to the hotel and jumped into a tuk tuk to the airport...and were walking in when we were stopped with 2 words, "flight cancelled." That's it. No suggestions of alternate flights, no news of when the strike that caused the cancellation would be over, and no help with ideas for other ways to leave Jodhpur.
Plan B. Dara and I jump in a tuk tuk to the train reservation office, only to elbow our way to the window and find that there are no seats available in the overnight train to Mumbai for the next 2 days...awesome. We had learned that some seats are reserved for travel agents so made our way down the street...backpacks and all...to a "travel agent," if you would call the random guy at a desk on the crazy street that. He also informed us that there were no train seats...but did give us an idea of taking the train back to Jaipur and catching a flight from there.
Us being super travellers, we went back to the train station and booked a train to Jaipur for that night and decided that it would work best to fly from Jaipur directly down to Goa, and just hit Mumbai on the way back for our flight out. Within 2 hours, we had rebooked the whole last end of our trip. What was a 2 hour flight, has now turned into a 16 hour travel extravaganza. Yay for being flexible!
Note, we had been travelling in what is called 3rd class AC (bc it has air conditioning, and is slightly nicer class). Unfortunately, only "sleeper class" was available for the train to Jaipur that night, so we were about to get super Indian as we napped for 6 hours in the open air (no air) cars overflowing with locals. A true backpacking experience, for all of $3.
However, silver lining, we are en route to the beach!! And once again facing a 2 hour delay between connections, hence why we are blogging right now, because we have learned that NOTHING in India goes as planned (or is on time). But we are excited for our lassis on the beach (our new favorite smoothie type drink) and checking out for a few days in our beach front huts...well deserved!!
To start from the beginnning, we woke up super early in Jodhpur, thinking we had 3 hours to see the whole city before catching our flight to Mumbai. We went up to yet another fort [actually our favorite so far) and did the FULL tour in 2 hours, despite our first real struggle with the heat and stomach issues. We are superwomen! The palaces in the fort were beautiful, and definitely worth the effort. Then on to the clocktower, and quickly exploring the markets, bargaining for all your gifts along the way! Then we ran back to the hotel and jumped into a tuk tuk to the airport...and were walking in when we were stopped with 2 words, "flight cancelled." That's it. No suggestions of alternate flights, no news of when the strike that caused the cancellation would be over, and no help with ideas for other ways to leave Jodhpur.
Plan B. Dara and I jump in a tuk tuk to the train reservation office, only to elbow our way to the window and find that there are no seats available in the overnight train to Mumbai for the next 2 days...awesome. We had learned that some seats are reserved for travel agents so made our way down the street...backpacks and all...to a "travel agent," if you would call the random guy at a desk on the crazy street that. He also informed us that there were no train seats...but did give us an idea of taking the train back to Jaipur and catching a flight from there.
Us being super travellers, we went back to the train station and booked a train to Jaipur for that night and decided that it would work best to fly from Jaipur directly down to Goa, and just hit Mumbai on the way back for our flight out. Within 2 hours, we had rebooked the whole last end of our trip. What was a 2 hour flight, has now turned into a 16 hour travel extravaganza. Yay for being flexible!
Note, we had been travelling in what is called 3rd class AC (bc it has air conditioning, and is slightly nicer class). Unfortunately, only "sleeper class" was available for the train to Jaipur that night, so we were about to get super Indian as we napped for 6 hours in the open air (no air) cars overflowing with locals. A true backpacking experience, for all of $3.
However, silver lining, we are en route to the beach!! And once again facing a 2 hour delay between connections, hence why we are blogging right now, because we have learned that NOTHING in India goes as planned (or is on time). But we are excited for our lassis on the beach (our new favorite smoothie type drink) and checking out for a few days in our beach front huts...well deserved!!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Camel Toes & Sore Bums!
So, to backtrack a bit and fill you in on yesterday....
Bug bite count:
Jackie: 2
Dara: 200 (only a tad dramatic, and no mom, no malaria... i think)
The thing to do in Jaisalmar... if you are a white tourist, is to do the camel safari. People try to sell you these from the moment you step off the train, everyone claims to own camels that will be waiting for you in the desert... all with the same itinerary in mind (first we drive you 50 kilometers to the middle of nowhere, along the most non-touristic route- then you ride camel- then camel man cook for you- then you sleep on dunes)... and so thats exactly what we did.
We opted for the 1 1/2 day "Safari" due to time constraints which proved to be more than enough...(dont confuse this with the actual safaris, there is nothing to see except cross-eyed goats, some stray dogs and a Sh*t load of camel poop, that literally falls from them AS they walk, impressive. Apparently people go on these safaris for days, to really "get in touch with Rajathstan"- the area we are staying in- what they mean by that, is to sweat out so much liquid that you yourself transform into a camel. Luckily, we were able to "get in touch" on our abridged version of the tour.
Our lovely camel men took great care of us, feeding us- you guessed it, HOT indian food- in the HOTTER dessert, complete with chai, as always, in 43 degrees celsius, for you Americans thats 110 degrees, yowww! For anyone thats rode a camel for more than however long you do on birthright, say 10 mins... its actually not comfortable in the least bit. It hurts, badly, however those camels are so cute that you can almost look past that, and even better, I actually was not allergic to them for once! yay!
We visited some small villages where we got a peek inside suppper rural India- where adorable little kids harassed the hell out of us for pens, jewelery, attention and money, due to overly generous tourists that come through every day. The highlight of the adventure, with our new aussie mates in tow, was arriving to the dunes- although a bit corrupted with wind turbines, the dunes were great for some picture posing (all, be proud) as well as a remarkable sunset, ahhhh. Some great chill out time was enjoyed as we stargazed over millions of stars- and slept in the wide open dunes. A peaceful night, although awakened by ravenous dogs in the distance going to town on a dead cow... anyway... The sunrise was just as pretty and we headed back out, in MUCH pain to trot our camels back to the pick up point. OW- our whole bodies hurt right now and there seems to be no reprieve.
Tomorrow we enjoy a mini day in Jodpur (the Blue city- yes, they actually are really into calling things colors here Jay)and then we fly to Mumbai mid afternoon. We are already enjoying our rooftop restaurant at our "palace" tonight, with some rooftop brews, and now ready for a solid nights sleep - you will be pleased to hear, although not as pleased as me, that there is a lovely shower in our room too! so YAY for being clean, which seems to be a luxury here.... more from mumbai to come!
Bug bite count:
Jackie: 2
Dara: 200 (only a tad dramatic, and no mom, no malaria... i think)
The thing to do in Jaisalmar... if you are a white tourist, is to do the camel safari. People try to sell you these from the moment you step off the train, everyone claims to own camels that will be waiting for you in the desert... all with the same itinerary in mind (first we drive you 50 kilometers to the middle of nowhere, along the most non-touristic route- then you ride camel- then camel man cook for you- then you sleep on dunes)... and so thats exactly what we did.
We opted for the 1 1/2 day "Safari" due to time constraints which proved to be more than enough...(dont confuse this with the actual safaris, there is nothing to see except cross-eyed goats, some stray dogs and a Sh*t load of camel poop, that literally falls from them AS they walk, impressive. Apparently people go on these safaris for days, to really "get in touch with Rajathstan"- the area we are staying in- what they mean by that, is to sweat out so much liquid that you yourself transform into a camel. Luckily, we were able to "get in touch" on our abridged version of the tour.
Our lovely camel men took great care of us, feeding us- you guessed it, HOT indian food- in the HOTTER dessert, complete with chai, as always, in 43 degrees celsius, for you Americans thats 110 degrees, yowww! For anyone thats rode a camel for more than however long you do on birthright, say 10 mins... its actually not comfortable in the least bit. It hurts, badly, however those camels are so cute that you can almost look past that, and even better, I actually was not allergic to them for once! yay!
We visited some small villages where we got a peek inside suppper rural India- where adorable little kids harassed the hell out of us for pens, jewelery, attention and money, due to overly generous tourists that come through every day. The highlight of the adventure, with our new aussie mates in tow, was arriving to the dunes- although a bit corrupted with wind turbines, the dunes were great for some picture posing (all, be proud) as well as a remarkable sunset, ahhhh. Some great chill out time was enjoyed as we stargazed over millions of stars- and slept in the wide open dunes. A peaceful night, although awakened by ravenous dogs in the distance going to town on a dead cow... anyway... The sunrise was just as pretty and we headed back out, in MUCH pain to trot our camels back to the pick up point. OW- our whole bodies hurt right now and there seems to be no reprieve.
Tomorrow we enjoy a mini day in Jodpur (the Blue city- yes, they actually are really into calling things colors here Jay)and then we fly to Mumbai mid afternoon. We are already enjoying our rooftop restaurant at our "palace" tonight, with some rooftop brews, and now ready for a solid nights sleep - you will be pleased to hear, although not as pleased as me, that there is a lovely shower in our room too! so YAY for being clean, which seems to be a luxury here.... more from mumbai to come!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monkeysssss
So just to make sure we get all the details, our last day in Jaipur was great! We climbed up to the Monkey Temple with a 10 year-old guide Latnu (he followed us up so we didn't really have a choice- ha). We first went up to a Hindu temple where a little girl showed us how to pay our respects and then got the bindi (dot) painted on our forehead as a blessing. She then gave us a tour of the temple, which like many of the others we have seen is full of very old, colorful, slightly odd looking statues as well as pictures and tons of decorations around the gods. She then also offered to do henna for us, which we were all for...so now Dar and I have what is clearly a 8-year-old's art on our hands...indefinitely! ha But it was a super relaxing morning before we went down to the actual Monkey Temple which looks like a sprawling, abandoned temple with hundreds of monkeys scampering around! It was mid-day so there weren't too many as they tend to hide from the sun (as we probably should have been as well :) But there were enough to live up to its name, and we even got to feed coconut to a few (or I did as Dara, animal lover that she is, refused - ha).
We spent the rest of our time in Jaipur wandering the bazaars, and then had a nice dinner ON the "wall" to the old city!
The over-night train was not nearly as bad as Dara and I had feared...and we actually felt safe snug up with our bags on the "upper berth" - top of 3 beds. But we were kinda stuck there for the 12 hour train ride, so even once we woke up - to the all too often guy holding up a postcard with his hotel to try and drum up business - we had to crawl around in our little beds. But it was worth it to arrive into Jaisalmer at noon, and still have the whole day to explore!
Our hotel in Jaisalmer was by far the coolest we have been in, in a 500 year old house (the guy who helped us was the 18th generation of his family to live there!) It was all open windows and old carved decorations on the walls, and just beautiful! It was actually located IN the fort - or giant sandcastle that is Jaisalmer. So it was great to wander the little streets of the fort and spend the afternoon generally relaxing and browsing the leather and embroidery that the town is famous for.
Running to catch our next 6 hr train, but will write another post about Jews wandering the desert and our camel safari... more to come, Jodpur is up next!
We spent the rest of our time in Jaipur wandering the bazaars, and then had a nice dinner ON the "wall" to the old city!
The over-night train was not nearly as bad as Dara and I had feared...and we actually felt safe snug up with our bags on the "upper berth" - top of 3 beds. But we were kinda stuck there for the 12 hour train ride, so even once we woke up - to the all too often guy holding up a postcard with his hotel to try and drum up business - we had to crawl around in our little beds. But it was worth it to arrive into Jaisalmer at noon, and still have the whole day to explore!
Our hotel in Jaisalmer was by far the coolest we have been in, in a 500 year old house (the guy who helped us was the 18th generation of his family to live there!) It was all open windows and old carved decorations on the walls, and just beautiful! It was actually located IN the fort - or giant sandcastle that is Jaisalmer. So it was great to wander the little streets of the fort and spend the afternoon generally relaxing and browsing the leather and embroidery that the town is famous for.
Running to catch our next 6 hr train, but will write another post about Jews wandering the desert and our camel safari... more to come, Jodpur is up next!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Taj Mahal and the not so pink Pink City
Sick Count:
Jackie 2 (more malaria pill disagreement- not the food, food yummy, pills bad)
Dara 0
(sad)
So, traveling within India is not quite as easy as one might have thought, and something that people completely failed to mention when giving their tips on seeing the country. After arriving back in Delhi and wanting to head to Agra the same night, because yes, we are that ambitious, we find ourselves in a DMV-like situation for "white folk" upstairs at the Delhi train station around 7:15, closing PROMPTLY at 8 PM, with a queue of about 20 people. We manage to secure tickets to Agra, at 5:25 AM the following day, finding ourselves spending an extra night in Delhi- luckily our fab hotel from 2 nights ago had some room, so no big deal.
Early rise, at 4:15 AM had us heading to the train station, which looks something like immigration to Ellis Island, only more flies and probably more people, and def dirtier, for a change. Visual for you: 2 white girls (only white girls) sitting on massive backpacks by tracks, reading, while people try to sell us things, yes even at 4 AM, and run us down with carts full of rice? Of course the train was late, or how they say here, on time for India and the whole train experience is really something not to brag about. Pushy is not the word, but we have learned that it's just out of necessity- push push push, get me on the train! Picture everyone getting on and off at the same time w baggage, children, in even smaller quarters all in a matter of 5 mins before the train leaves the station, nonsense.
4 hrs later we arrive in Agra, which is a town primarily built for Taj tourism, or something like that. And low and behold, we find ourselves mezmorized by the glorious Taj after all, even more impressive in person. For reference, Indian tourists pay around 50 rupees (just over $1USD) and "other tourists" pay 750 rupees (about $15), which comes with shoe covers, water and a tour guide- who was great. After lots of questions, we learn that the Taj is so famous in India and around the world, because it is a symbol of love and devotion, that the emperor made for his late wife, as her last request before dying. It took 22 years to construct, many of which pieces were re-made if there was a slight imperfection- boys, listen up... thats love!
The grounds surrounding the Taj are filled with other beauitful buildings and gardens, its no wonder this is truly one of the wonders of the world. Afternoon was highlighted by our Kingfisher ice cold brews on a rooftop overlooking the incredible view of the Taj Mahal. After a short but sweet afternoon, we booked the rest of our trains with much ease through a "travel agent" and head off on another 4 hr train to Jaipur- the Pink City in Rajasthan.
With 2 days ahead of us in Jaipur, and a sweet accommodation (with shower AND toilet!) we let ourselves go and sleep in (till 9:30!!) and enjoy our own version of a leisurely walking tour led by Jackie (obviously), and w the help of Lonely Planet. We saw Marble sculptors, bazzars galore, gem & silver makers, more sari stores, spices, are you seeing a pattern here? Despite our previous experiences in the hectic parts of India, Jaipur is surprisingly mellow... that or we are just incredibly used to the hustle and bustle of the tuk tuks and honking. Also to note, our negotiation skills have become very impressive. Most rides cost less than a dollar- awesome. Jackie spazed out, which seems to be a re-occuring pattern as well, and stubbed her toe resluting in a bloody mess. Ew... Luckily, everyone in Jaipur thinks we are celebrities (no joke- Jackie was asked to shake EVERYONE's hand- bc we are white), and 2 very nice people came to her rescue- amazingly enough with bandaids in hand along the most random of roads. Thats good Karma. She's fine, but still a spaz. :)
We saw some beautiful sights including the Wind Palace or Hawa Mahal- where royal women used to do a bit of people watching from above- lots of pics of this, and we climbed to the top of a tower overlooking all of Jaipur with panoramic views. Just before sunset we hiked up a steeeeep mountain to the Tiger Fort- nothing really there but a great view of the entire city and a nice long peaceful walk. After finding our way back down we hit up the most famous cinema in town, to catch a real Bollywood flick called Thank You. Dont let the name fool you- it was all in Hindi except for a few random English words like (oh my god and crazy). It was everything we hoped for and more- complete with 3 fight scenes, 5 song/ dance routines, tons of drama, so much so that we actually understood it all, and a crowd of roaring laughter from the locals. We found our way to a rooftop bar/ restaurant and despite some bug bites (no malaria yet, dont worry) we enjoyed a great dinner and much deserved beer.
One more day in Jaipur today, exploring the Monkey Temple, which we are told has over hundreds of monkeys! A bit scary but should be fun, as we now know that Saturday is in devotion to the Monkey God, as is Tuesday. They love their Monkeys here!
Tonight we trek to Jaislamar, the desert, where we look forward to giant sand castles and a camel safari! More to come from India, having lots of fun so far!
Jackie 2 (more malaria pill disagreement- not the food, food yummy, pills bad)
Dara 0
(sad)
So, traveling within India is not quite as easy as one might have thought, and something that people completely failed to mention when giving their tips on seeing the country. After arriving back in Delhi and wanting to head to Agra the same night, because yes, we are that ambitious, we find ourselves in a DMV-like situation for "white folk" upstairs at the Delhi train station around 7:15, closing PROMPTLY at 8 PM, with a queue of about 20 people. We manage to secure tickets to Agra, at 5:25 AM the following day, finding ourselves spending an extra night in Delhi- luckily our fab hotel from 2 nights ago had some room, so no big deal.
Early rise, at 4:15 AM had us heading to the train station, which looks something like immigration to Ellis Island, only more flies and probably more people, and def dirtier, for a change. Visual for you: 2 white girls (only white girls) sitting on massive backpacks by tracks, reading, while people try to sell us things, yes even at 4 AM, and run us down with carts full of rice? Of course the train was late, or how they say here, on time for India and the whole train experience is really something not to brag about. Pushy is not the word, but we have learned that it's just out of necessity- push push push, get me on the train! Picture everyone getting on and off at the same time w baggage, children, in even smaller quarters all in a matter of 5 mins before the train leaves the station, nonsense.
4 hrs later we arrive in Agra, which is a town primarily built for Taj tourism, or something like that. And low and behold, we find ourselves mezmorized by the glorious Taj after all, even more impressive in person. For reference, Indian tourists pay around 50 rupees (just over $1USD) and "other tourists" pay 750 rupees (about $15), which comes with shoe covers, water and a tour guide- who was great. After lots of questions, we learn that the Taj is so famous in India and around the world, because it is a symbol of love and devotion, that the emperor made for his late wife, as her last request before dying. It took 22 years to construct, many of which pieces were re-made if there was a slight imperfection- boys, listen up... thats love!
The grounds surrounding the Taj are filled with other beauitful buildings and gardens, its no wonder this is truly one of the wonders of the world. Afternoon was highlighted by our Kingfisher ice cold brews on a rooftop overlooking the incredible view of the Taj Mahal. After a short but sweet afternoon, we booked the rest of our trains with much ease through a "travel agent" and head off on another 4 hr train to Jaipur- the Pink City in Rajasthan.
With 2 days ahead of us in Jaipur, and a sweet accommodation (with shower AND toilet!) we let ourselves go and sleep in (till 9:30!!) and enjoy our own version of a leisurely walking tour led by Jackie (obviously), and w the help of Lonely Planet. We saw Marble sculptors, bazzars galore, gem & silver makers, more sari stores, spices, are you seeing a pattern here? Despite our previous experiences in the hectic parts of India, Jaipur is surprisingly mellow... that or we are just incredibly used to the hustle and bustle of the tuk tuks and honking. Also to note, our negotiation skills have become very impressive. Most rides cost less than a dollar- awesome. Jackie spazed out, which seems to be a re-occuring pattern as well, and stubbed her toe resluting in a bloody mess. Ew... Luckily, everyone in Jaipur thinks we are celebrities (no joke- Jackie was asked to shake EVERYONE's hand- bc we are white), and 2 very nice people came to her rescue- amazingly enough with bandaids in hand along the most random of roads. Thats good Karma. She's fine, but still a spaz. :)
We saw some beautiful sights including the Wind Palace or Hawa Mahal- where royal women used to do a bit of people watching from above- lots of pics of this, and we climbed to the top of a tower overlooking all of Jaipur with panoramic views. Just before sunset we hiked up a steeeeep mountain to the Tiger Fort- nothing really there but a great view of the entire city and a nice long peaceful walk. After finding our way back down we hit up the most famous cinema in town, to catch a real Bollywood flick called Thank You. Dont let the name fool you- it was all in Hindi except for a few random English words like (oh my god and crazy). It was everything we hoped for and more- complete with 3 fight scenes, 5 song/ dance routines, tons of drama, so much so that we actually understood it all, and a crowd of roaring laughter from the locals. We found our way to a rooftop bar/ restaurant and despite some bug bites (no malaria yet, dont worry) we enjoyed a great dinner and much deserved beer.
One more day in Jaipur today, exploring the Monkey Temple, which we are told has over hundreds of monkeys! A bit scary but should be fun, as we now know that Saturday is in devotion to the Monkey God, as is Tuesday. They love their Monkeys here!
Tonight we trek to Jaislamar, the desert, where we look forward to giant sand castles and a camel safari! More to come from India, having lots of fun so far!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Don't fall in the Ganges!
Sick Count:
Jackie 1
Dara 0
After so nicely reminding Dara not to take her malaria pill on an empty stomach, we woke yesterday morning in Delhi and promptly took our malaria pills BEFORE heading down for breakfast in the hotel. Needless to say, I didn't keep my breakfast down and the poor other patrons in the restaurant got to hear the lovely results. Not even a case of "Delhi belly" yet, just the stupidity of antibiotics on an empty stomach :)
So after recoving from that (barely), we navigate the Delhi traffic one last time to the airport for our Spice Jet - yes, spice jet airline - flight to Varanasi. Quick flight and we land in what must be 100 degree weather. We get a taxi for what we thought would be a quick ride to our hostel and an hour later - after driving through even more insane traffic than we experienced in Delhi - we arrived at old town Varnasi and our taxi driver tells us it is about "10 minutes walking". At least 30 min later, trekking(with our enormous backpacks) through the TINY alleys, and having children try and show us the way, we eventually find our guest house (inside of which it might be 130 degrees). We drop our bags and start to wander the ghats by the river. It is hard to describe Varansi, but there are basically 80 ghats (sections of steps down to the river) where people gather, religious ceremonies are performed, and people bathe and swim. (STL - swim, tan, laundry anyone? ha)
We did a lot of exploring, which is awesome if you can avoid stepping in the ever present piles of sh*t from the various animals (cows, buffalo, goats, dogs, monkeys) that also wander the streets. We also saw the insane markets where people sell everything from wedding saris to bangles and somosas and other fried goodies on the street. It was a little overwhelming, and massively hot, but very cool.
We ended the day with a "fire" cermony by one of the main ghats, where religious leaders performed ritual smoke and candle ceremonies by the water, while two men played insturments and sang what we presume were prayers. Very smokey and very magical...and Dara was dozing next to me (it had been a long day and the music was rather rhythmic :) One highlight was when the crowds parted for a big, jolly, long-haired man in a red, sparkley outfit who everyone treated like a celebrity - including his entourage - and was bowing to his adoring crowds. I'm sure he was some important reglious leader, but he just reminded us of Jack Black playing a part in a movie! ha
We found dinner on a rooftop restaurant - our best yet as it was less spicy so we could actually enjoy what we were eating - and called it a night early. We faced the ultimate tropical challenge last night - to stay cool or to cover ourselves with sheets to avoid mosquitos (and lizards)...it will be an ongoing battle.
We woke up at 5am to take a sunrise boat ride on the river...amazingly peaceful and beautiful! We got to see and hear the morning prayers and bathing rituals, and just generally enjoy a great 2 hour ride before it got really hot again.
More travel ahead today as we make our way to Agra. Stay tuned for love from the Taj Mahal!
Jackie 1
Dara 0
After so nicely reminding Dara not to take her malaria pill on an empty stomach, we woke yesterday morning in Delhi and promptly took our malaria pills BEFORE heading down for breakfast in the hotel. Needless to say, I didn't keep my breakfast down and the poor other patrons in the restaurant got to hear the lovely results. Not even a case of "Delhi belly" yet, just the stupidity of antibiotics on an empty stomach :)
So after recoving from that (barely), we navigate the Delhi traffic one last time to the airport for our Spice Jet - yes, spice jet airline - flight to Varanasi. Quick flight and we land in what must be 100 degree weather. We get a taxi for what we thought would be a quick ride to our hostel and an hour later - after driving through even more insane traffic than we experienced in Delhi - we arrived at old town Varnasi and our taxi driver tells us it is about "10 minutes walking". At least 30 min later, trekking(with our enormous backpacks) through the TINY alleys, and having children try and show us the way, we eventually find our guest house (inside of which it might be 130 degrees). We drop our bags and start to wander the ghats by the river. It is hard to describe Varansi, but there are basically 80 ghats (sections of steps down to the river) where people gather, religious ceremonies are performed, and people bathe and swim. (STL - swim, tan, laundry anyone? ha)
We did a lot of exploring, which is awesome if you can avoid stepping in the ever present piles of sh*t from the various animals (cows, buffalo, goats, dogs, monkeys) that also wander the streets. We also saw the insane markets where people sell everything from wedding saris to bangles and somosas and other fried goodies on the street. It was a little overwhelming, and massively hot, but very cool.
We ended the day with a "fire" cermony by one of the main ghats, where religious leaders performed ritual smoke and candle ceremonies by the water, while two men played insturments and sang what we presume were prayers. Very smokey and very magical...and Dara was dozing next to me (it had been a long day and the music was rather rhythmic :) One highlight was when the crowds parted for a big, jolly, long-haired man in a red, sparkley outfit who everyone treated like a celebrity - including his entourage - and was bowing to his adoring crowds. I'm sure he was some important reglious leader, but he just reminded us of Jack Black playing a part in a movie! ha
We found dinner on a rooftop restaurant - our best yet as it was less spicy so we could actually enjoy what we were eating - and called it a night early. We faced the ultimate tropical challenge last night - to stay cool or to cover ourselves with sheets to avoid mosquitos (and lizards)...it will be an ongoing battle.
We woke up at 5am to take a sunrise boat ride on the river...amazingly peaceful and beautiful! We got to see and hear the morning prayers and bathing rituals, and just generally enjoy a great 2 hour ride before it got really hot again.
More travel ahead today as we make our way to Agra. Stay tuned for love from the Taj Mahal!
Monday, April 18, 2011
FINNNNALLLLYYY Delhi
Namaste!
After almost 8 hrs unexpectadly in Newark Airport, a 7 hr flight to Frankfurt... missing connections, a quick dash to flight to Munich followed by another 7 hr flight to Delhi (ndb) we arrived bright eyed and semi exhausted to Delhi around 7:30 AM Monday morning... pretty sure a day was missing somewhere in that mix.
Delhi is as cool, colorful, NOISY and completely overwhelming as you might think. Actually puts NY to shame, especially the driving, of all vehicles from bikes to mopeds to tuk tuks to rikshaws to taxis to people playing a deadly game of frogger walking along the street. Makes for A LOT of hoking!
Hotel is awesome and worth the upgrade after our long travels, making a clean, hot shower invaulable. We started out visiting a tomb, which was a beautiful and peaceful garden- jame, you will be proud of our artsy photos.. im just proud that we are actually taking photos. Then a quick tuk tuk over to Old Delhi found us taking a glimpse at the Red Fort (closed on Mon), a beautiful mosque and a sea of markets- like i've never seen before. A solid decision was made to take a lovely bicycle ricksaw guide through the markets- which would have been close to impossible to navigate without- haywire electrical chords, an intense celebration of the MonkeyGod Festival (??) and just the sheer massive massive amount of people EVERYWHERE make it impossible to walk. The most impressive part of this city is the capacity to be surrounded by complete chaos and still feel slightly at peace, very poetic.
Highlights from our day include: being the ONLY white folk, everywhere, sweating and sniffling through every bite of every amazing meal (SPICY!!!), a slight asthma breakdown by Dara in a chili market she was more than excited to go to (fail), experiencing a true traffic jam while surrounded by a bull, chickens, a tiny richshaw packed with school children all eagar to practice english hellos, the specialty markets (invitations, jewlery, spices, silk), jackie's purchase of a sari that she will never wear but claims to want to wear to work functions, and just having an awesome, awestruck, inspiring start to a much needed vacation- wow, we feel so lucky!!
Now, we will pass out asap for an early flight to Varnasi, pending that we actually wake up. That's all the meat from Delhi.
After almost 8 hrs unexpectadly in Newark Airport, a 7 hr flight to Frankfurt... missing connections, a quick dash to flight to Munich followed by another 7 hr flight to Delhi (ndb) we arrived bright eyed and semi exhausted to Delhi around 7:30 AM Monday morning... pretty sure a day was missing somewhere in that mix.
Delhi is as cool, colorful, NOISY and completely overwhelming as you might think. Actually puts NY to shame, especially the driving, of all vehicles from bikes to mopeds to tuk tuks to rikshaws to taxis to people playing a deadly game of frogger walking along the street. Makes for A LOT of hoking!
Hotel is awesome and worth the upgrade after our long travels, making a clean, hot shower invaulable. We started out visiting a tomb, which was a beautiful and peaceful garden- jame, you will be proud of our artsy photos.. im just proud that we are actually taking photos. Then a quick tuk tuk over to Old Delhi found us taking a glimpse at the Red Fort (closed on Mon), a beautiful mosque and a sea of markets- like i've never seen before. A solid decision was made to take a lovely bicycle ricksaw guide through the markets- which would have been close to impossible to navigate without- haywire electrical chords, an intense celebration of the MonkeyGod Festival (??) and just the sheer massive massive amount of people EVERYWHERE make it impossible to walk. The most impressive part of this city is the capacity to be surrounded by complete chaos and still feel slightly at peace, very poetic.
Highlights from our day include: being the ONLY white folk, everywhere, sweating and sniffling through every bite of every amazing meal (SPICY!!!), a slight asthma breakdown by Dara in a chili market she was more than excited to go to (fail), experiencing a true traffic jam while surrounded by a bull, chickens, a tiny richshaw packed with school children all eagar to practice english hellos, the specialty markets (invitations, jewlery, spices, silk), jackie's purchase of a sari that she will never wear but claims to want to wear to work functions, and just having an awesome, awestruck, inspiring start to a much needed vacation- wow, we feel so lucky!!
Now, we will pass out asap for an early flight to Varnasi, pending that we actually wake up. That's all the meat from Delhi.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
The Route!
We are super excited for the journey ahead! Packing up now and we head out at 10 PM tonight for our lonnnng flight- stopping over in Frankfurt about 1/2 way through. Hopefully we will at least have some time between consciousness to grab a brat. I think the plan is to sleep (flight 1)- transfer planes- stay awake (flight 2)- and then sleep when we get into Delhi around midnight, tomorrow? Time changes are very confusing, but I believe we lose a day.
As you know... India is BIG! It was hard to decide where to go, but we think we have picked a great route.
So- if you are as excited as we are... we will try to blog frequently and below is our schedule so that you can follow along. We hope you enjoy our adventure!!
4/16 NY- Delhi (Travel Day)
4/17 Arrive in Delhi around midnight
4/18 Delhi
4/19 Delhi, Varnasi
4/20 Varnasi, Delhi- Agra (arrive at Agra at night)
4/21 Agra, Jaipur
4/22 Jaipur
4/23 Jaislamar
4/24 Jaislamar
4/25 Jaislamar, Johdpur
4/26 Johdpur
4/27 Johdpur, Mumbai
4/28 Mumbai
4/29 Mumbai, Goa
4/30 Goa
5/1 Goa
5/2 Goa, Mumbai (flight home)
5/3 Travel Day- Arrive back home to NY around 3 PM
More soon!
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