Rajasthan - the land of kings

From Bikaner House in Delhi (the bus stand of the Rajasthan Tourist Development) I left together with Sankalp for the land of kings as Inka already returned home. In Jaipur, I stayed with Manish's parents who adopted me like their own daughter. I had very nice talks with Manish's mother and relaxed one day in their house.

On 14th January it was Kite Festival - meaning all Jaipuris - young, old, small, tall, poor, rich - were on the roof tops and bringing their kites in the air. We started the day with flying kites in the pink city and then Sankalp took me to his cousin's house whose birthday was also that day. Here we spent nearly the whole day flying kites, listen to the music and eating. From time to time the people changed as other relatives came by to party and congratulate and others left for the next event.

Sankalp took me home to his family for lunch where I got mainly sweets to eat and could avoid the danger of spicy food.

In the evening, we checked for trains for my other destination wishes, unfortunately only the next evening was a place vacant to Jodhpur so I took this.

My last day in Jaipur, I left my luggage in the train station and wandered around shooping as I have done the sightseeing tourist tour already two years ago. I bought some nice shows, jeans, bangles and for a friend a Sari Barbie. In the afternoon I went to a Bollywood movie: Halla Bol.

After some nice Italian food on a roof top restaurant I left for the train station.

The next morning around 5 am I arrived in Jodhpur, where I first got myself in a nice hotel and caught some more sleep. Later I went to the Meherangarh Fort which sits on a hill and which has the best tourist structure I experienced so far in India. An audio guide tells you every interesting information on the fort, its owners and the life centuries ago.

From the fort I had a splendid view on the blue city as Jodhpur is called also. From there I went to the current home of the Maharaja of Jodhpur - the Umaid Bhavan Palce which was built in 1930s. The Palace is also a museum and a 5 star hotel. I tried to go inside and eat dinner, but they charge a cover fee of 2000 Rs and that was too much for just having a nice dinner.

My last stop was the Clock Tower and the bazaar around where I got a nice blue bed cover before I left for the train station and my train to Delhi.

PiccaDelhi

After having spent 10 days in Delhi about 2,5 years ago and seeing nothing more than the airports, Westend Inn Hotel and the hospitals, this time I finally got to play the tourist.

Starting from New Delhi train station we took an auto to Connaught Place - a big round about with three street circles around it, a central parc in the middle and many shops and restaurants as well as an underground market.

I sent my books home from the post office to get rid off some heavy stuff in my luggage and then we checked the markets. We exited them having bought some more shawls and incenses.

The next auto took us to the IndiaGate where a lot of army people were busy to get everything ready for some big parades: Army and Republic Day Parade.

From here we went to the Red Fort and as it was already late we could only enter for the sound and light show. So we ventured until the open-air theatre point along the bazaar and past the Diwan-i-Am where the Mughal Emperor listened to the requests of the public. The show was nice with lights and the history of the fort and the mughals, but unfortunately in Hindi and our ability to understand not yet so good. As the cold drew in with the evening we decided to leave early and take the new metro home.

The Delhi metro is new, secure and the tidiest public place in India as it is forbidden to eat, drink and chew betel or bubble gum. A very pleasant experience. Only on the station names they could do better or include the Metro in the map.

The coolness of the Taj

On 9th January, we did not very much in Chennai, just having a look at the High Court Building and surfing on the net.





Before returning to our hotel to pick up our luggage, we spent an hour with Indian bureaucracy: we tried to get an reimbursement for Susi's train ticket. On the first counter, we waited 10 min for the clerk to come back from lunch break. As our arrival was more than 24 h ago, we had to go to the reservation building and see the supervisor on shift. After another queue, we were waved into the office, where we waited for the supervisor to handle our case. In the meantime, we filled out a cancellation sheet (nearly the same as the reservation sheet that you need to fill in to book a train). The supervisor told us to wait 10 min in the reservation hall. After 20 min I walked back in and after 5 more minutes on the supervisor's desk, he sent us back down together with a clerk. This guy still took some time before we finally received the tremendous refund of 88 Rs (less than 2 Euros).

From the hotel, we took the local train to the airport and flew with Kingfisher to Delhi. The "Kingfisher Experience" was a very good one. We got something to eat and drin, had on bord entertainment and enough space. Not compareable to other Indian airlines where you might feel as in sardine-tin.


Landed in Delhi we mad our way to the hotel, also it was not the one we initially booked. But that's a story of its own. The 2000 km to the north also changed the weather deeply. During the day temperature is around 20 degrees, but the nights get quite cold, especially if you are speeding along in an open auto-rickshaw. I caught a cold and my nose is now always running ahead of me.

Next morning 4:30 the alarm rang for our trip to Agra. Our Shabadti Express (that should have taken 2 hours) arrived 2,5 hours late. Then we hired an auto for the whole day and started our tour:

Baby Taj



Agra Fort


Taj Mahal



Amar Vilas - 5 star hotel set in a Mughal atmosphere is the place where we took our dinner and made a visit to the splendid toilet which alone is worth a visit:). We ranked it a 10 on our Indian toilet list.

Hotel Sheela Inn - where I lived more than four weeks in 2005. I said hello to the owner and Mr Bophal, who was happy to see me again.


On the return, the train was still 2 hours late, so that we got quite a good impression on the nightlife at a train station. People come with blankets and accomodate themselves on the platform as they wait for their trains.

Temple by the sea

Yesterday, after an unrestful night because of a mouse in our room eating German cookies, Inka and me went to Mamallapuram (50 km south of Chennai - that doesn't seem far, but with the public buses we needed more than 3 hours one way).

Around noon we arrived there and made our way to the five Rathas: 5 temples cut out of one rock. A guide explained us a little bit, but as we negotiated the price from 100 Rs to 60 Rs, he was not very anxious in his explanations.

Afterwards, we went to an area with more stone carvings, temples and view points.

Finally, around 4 pm we went to a Nepalese Restaurant with a German bakery for lunch which was very delicious. After a short stop by beach, we made it to the Shore temple which is inhabited by a group of squirrels.

Before going home we went to the dance festival where we saw several performances in front of stone carved backdrop.

Traffic in India

Traffic in India is very dangerous and without any rules, so watch out while crossing a street. There might be a three lane road but only one lane with asphalt and also the sidewalk sometimes gives way to deep canyons, so you need to jump across.

Basically, you need to learn "The strict species pecking order:

pedestrians are on the bottom and run out of the way of everything,
bicycles make way to cycle-rickshaws,
which give way auto-rickshaws,
which stop for cars,
which are subservient to trucks.
Buses stop for one thing and one thing only. Not customers - they jump on while the buses are still moving. The only thing that can stop a bus is the king of the road, the lord of the jungle and the top dog.

The holy cow."

Sarah MacDonald - Holy Cow

The blessings of today

This morning after breakfast, we walked over to the bus stop just around the corner from our hotel and tried to get the right bus. After some long minutes in the already strong sun, we finally found a No. 1 bus heading north to the Srirangam Temple district.

We left our shoes at the entrance and moved on within the first wall out of seven. At the end of the shops on the righ-hand side, we bought two tickets for 10 Rs to walk up a roof for a touristic view on the temple complex as non-Hindus are not allowed in the inner sanctum (golden temple) - we could only proceed to the sixth wall.

The temple is dedicated to three gods: Vishnu, Shiva and Krishna. We engaged a temple guide who showed us the 1000 pilar hall, some shrines and explained a lot of the Hindu religion. We got also blessed by a Rama Brahmin and by an elephant. Obviously, we found the elephant blessing more interesting. We handed a coin to the elephant who took it with his trunk, then we bowed and he touched our head (No photos here, but we will entertain you later with a video of this magic moment).

After a little shopping detour, we climbed the 480 steps to the Rockfort Temple which sits high above the city carved in the rock. Before we headed for the top, we relaxed with a Limca drink from the efforts to come so far. From the top we had good view over the city and over the river to the other temple. There we received our third blessing for the day with a white sign on our forehead and a flower.

Blessed so much we finished the day in the church of Our Lady of Lourd that was build more than hundred years ago.

Tomorrow we will take a day off from temples and board a train to Chennai, so stay tuned for more temple pictures from Mamallapuram near Chennai.

To the mountains and back down to earth

We got up early and made it to the train. Unfortunately, a man stopped us and asked us to enter a coach which was not ours. So we spent more than half an hour from Coimbatore to Mettupalaiyam in the wooden class (very uncomfortable) and with a special smell in the air (eau de toilette).

Im Mettupalaiyam, we boarded a crowded little mountain train and tried to find a space between all the luggage from us and other travellers. Finally, we got two window seats on the left side as recommended in the Lonely Planet. Short after 7 o'clock the little steam engine in the back started working and took us on a splendic trip to the Nilgiri Hills. Within the next 5 hours the train stopped several times for water refills and at stations and, of course, for the tourists to take pictures of the scenic mountain view with train bridges, hills with eucalyptus trees and tea plants.

Around noon we arrived at our destination Ooty where we were already expected from a driver of the Savoy Hotel (Taj Group - www.tajhotels.com/) - the best hotel group in India (as they say themselves). Within minutes we could make our own decisions as we reached our cottage (built by the British more than 100 years ago). We had a spacious room with a bathroom including a bath tub - pure luxury.

After a short trip to the city where we bought some gifts and scarfs, we returned to the hotel for an ayurvedic massage in the wellness centre. For an hour, we were massaged with oil and Inka & Susi had even chosen to get oil dropped on their forehead for half an hour. I found that not too amusing and relaxing, so I let this offer to the other girls. As far as I can say for Inka - she will not do it again.

The dinner was served as buffet and I mainly concentrated on the desserts: fresh fruits, ice-cream, pineapple souflet, caramel custard (never again) and brownie cake. For lunch I had a Tenderloin Steak which made me really happy after all that chicken around here.

Yesterday, we made a sleep-in and then left for the market where we could see the chicken alive and dead without feathers next to vegetable and fruit stands. A bit further down the market we found bangles (Armreife) and hair stuff. We bought also some fruits and left for the botanical garden where we had lunch on the lawn.

Outside the garden was the Tibetian Market with warm clothing and we both got some warm scarfs. Those were really good for the trip downhill to Mettupalaiyam for which we used a bus this time. This was only two hours, but it was not made for everybody's stomach. The rear door was not there and the driver had a certain "kamikaze"style on the mountain roads to get us down from 2240 m above sealevel to 500 m.

After two train rides with some delay we finally arrived in Tiruchchirupalli at 4 am. Here we will stay the next two days and have a look at the temples.

Back to India

I arrived in Mumbai six days ago and finally I have found the time to write.

In the meantime, I experienced quite some adventures:

In Mumbai, we spent one day sightseing: IndiaGate, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where we could afford only a mint tea and some ice-cream, Haji Ali Mosque in the sea and the Marine Drive (cards of these places are already on the way to you!). The next day we dedicated more or less to window shopping without much luck, except at the last store where I bought a Chakra Choli (traditional indian dance dress). After we spent the evening at "Not Just Jazz by th bay", we left for Goa by plane at 3am.

Arrived in Goa, we were sleeping till the afternoon before we went to beach at Causalim (10 min from the house we rented for us 12 people). At the beach shack we had dinner (Tiger Prawns in Lemon sauce - yummy). The next day, Inka and me visited Margoa and Panjim (capital) and bought some special Christmas stars that are hanging on every house in Goa. They have more decorations than in Germany. Unfortunately, the return to the house took a long time in bus and on foot, as we could find no taxi from Verna to Causalim. In the evening, we left with the others fro north Goa (2 h in the car) to celebrate New Year's Eve with a lot of people at the beach.

The following day, we slept long again and left Goa by night train to south. This afternoon we arrived in Coimbatore from where we will head to mountains and do a train ride with small mountain railway to Ooty (2242 m). The train is leaving a 5:15 am, so I will stop here for today!