Travels: Agra

From Jaipur to Agra I travelled with others in a private taxi because I wanted to stop at Chand Baori in the village of Abhaneri (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chand_Baori) and the others wanted to stop at
Fatehpur Sikri. Both were well worth the stop. (Although I did curse the removal of shoes in religious buildings here when I stood on a lit Beedi (a type of cheap local cigarette). I yelped too, it really hurt.)

Of course, the main reason for visiting Agra is to see and visit the Taj Mahal. It is every bit as beautiful as one can expect it to be. Absolutely splendid!
I enjoyed it immensely, although it was Holi holiday for Indians and inside was way too crowded for me to enjoy.

When my friends and I first arrived in Agra it was about 4pm. So we had to get checked into our hotels, and get to the Taj -fast! I had called ahead and booked my friend and I into a hotel with rooftop restaurant views of the Taj. The room was very basic, just $14 for the 2 of us, but we both were delighted when we got our first view of the Taj from our hotel room window! We hot footed it to the Taj with more than enough time to enjoy it.

The Taj Mahal was, for me, the absolute must see sight of India. It didn't disappoint me.

Cursing the colour of my skin; Camels in desert

It was time to leave Jaisalmer, but I liked it enough to stay on had the manager of my hotel not started trying to get a little too friendly with me. So, when I was told that someone had a spare seat in a car going in the direction of Jaipur, I took it.

I had, in fact, gone to Jaisalmer with the intention of going on a camel safari in the Thar desert for about 6 days. But I had a strict stipulation: there must be at least one other western tourist going. So, this is what I aimed for (although I didn't get what I'd wished for).

Pretty much everybody selling the safaris told me straight "no, not possible, at this time everyone goes for one or one-and-a-half days.... Besides, our camel men are professional; you'll be safe". But I was determined.

One seller said he had someone going for 4 days and offered to take me at a really high price (1550 per day). He didn't like it when I asked to meet the Swiss German tourist, so I decided to keep looking. I just wanted to be sure he existed (otherwise you get the story next day 'oh, he's sick and not coming today so you're on your own, you'll be fine').

Then I went to another operator who said they had 2 Colombians, an American, and a Scandinavian going for 3 days that I could join with, and then extend another 3 days if I was comfortable with things.. I didn't ask to meet them... I figured there was enough that some at least would go. I booked.

The next morning, when I joined the safari, I was disappointed to find that everybody else (no Colombians or Scandinavians) was doing 1 or 1.5 days. I had suspicions I'd been lied to.

At the end of the day they asked if I'd like to extend. I said 'no, your boss doesn't deserve to make more money from me'.

The next day we dropped off the one day people and picked up a Canadian (also 1 day) and did a circuit almost the same as what we'd done on day 1. I have a reasonable sense of direction... We were covering almost the same terrain each day.

At the end of day 2 there was just me and the Canadian. They asked again if I wanted to do more days, but I said 'not if we are going to keep covering the same ground' , so no. They then suggested I return half a day earlier with Canadian and get a refund for the unused time. I agreed.

On returning from my camel safari my back muscles were so sore that I decided not to get transport out from Jaisalmer for a few days. And so I hung around chatting to locals and drinking chai with them.

They taught me a few viewpoints...
That white women are 'easy'. The younger ones are a bit harder to get into bed, but the older female white traveller is easy. The older: the easier.
That Japanese women are not easy.

Then I learnt about a Japanese woman who was on a 9 day safari alone.

I considered this.... but, she can.! As a woman of a race with a 'good' reputation she probably won't have to fend off unwanted advances from a tour guide or camel man. But it mightn't be so for me.

I find this so very disappointing. Just for the record I am definitely am not the type of girl to look for a bit of holiday fling, so to be tarred with that same brush is just annoying. But, at least I'm wise enough to know to insist on no solo tours.

All in all, I did love riding the camels. My experience wasn't the best and I wouldn't recommend the operator I went with (Ganesh Travels) unless you just want the shortest possible 'tick the box' of having rode a camel experience. I would recommend finding another operator, probably paying a bit more, and having one that took you into the Thar Desert and the Desert National Park. And for multiple days? Bring a friend if you can, get an itinerary that goes somewhere (have a destination), and I've heard that stirrups help lessen the pain.

Travels: Jaisalmer

I went to Jaisalmer to ride camels in the desert. For something about that see my post 'cursing the colour of my skin'.

I stayed the first 2 nights staying outside the fort, 2 on a camel safari, and 4 more staying inside the fort.

Jaisalmer is a wonderful town. Approaching it the fort rises above the town very impressively. This fort is perhaps the largest and biggest living fort in the world. By this am referring to the fact that people actually live in the fort. It has all these narrow cobbled streets and every building seemed to have a restaurant with a rooftop view. It's simply quite beautiful.

Some hotels are super basic and cheap, others would be like staying in a haveli museum. Within the fort there are private homes, hotels, restaurants, temples, a palace.

Yep, I really liked Jaisalmer.

Fortune told

Indian is big on fortune telling. They say that with your exact date and time of birth your entire life story can be known. Charts are prepared and read and a marriage is arranged between two people suitably matched according to these things, and the wedding date chosen according to these fortunes too.

Fortune telling is not my thing. I certainly don't believe in our astrology readings and I roll my eyes everytime someone asks my star sign. Added, I've never been sure why someone would want to know their future.

I sat in while a friend once had her cards read and found that the information given was so generally applicable to everyone's life.... 'Something good will happen to you in 4 days, 4 weeks, or 4 months'. (Well, I should think everyone would find at least something to apply to that).

So it was with much amusement that I saw that the "famous" palm reader of the fort in Jodhpur had no client and was offering me a discount. 'Well why not!' I thought, 'I'm in India after all'. I sat down.

I provided my date, time and place of birth, and my palm.

I was told many things generally applicable or that one likes to hear:
'You are very independent' (could he have surmised this by the fact that I'm traveling alone, female, in India?)
'You are a hard worker'... 'But you tend not to finish things' (yep)
'You had your first love at 14' (what! No I didn't... But I'm sure I had a crush on some boy, doesn't every girl at that age?)
'You are generally happy, but sometimes you get very down on the world' (well India will do that to a person).

But! Most interesting is that he said I will find a person to spend the rest of my life with at 50 or 51! In the mean time I will fall in love at 37 (just a few months left then) and 40. Awesome! I will be generally free for the next 13-14 years! I'm happy about this.

I told an Indian man this (after his usual are you married do you have children questioning), he was astonished at my contentedness. He considered it and said "oh, with longer life expectancy in Australia I guess it's okay".

What else?
I will be prosperous in my 50's.
I have low blood pressure, but I will have high blood pressure later.
And when I return home I will get a job that I am really comfortable with.

So, there you have it. Time will tell.

Photo's: Jodhpur

The buses in Rajasthan, so far, have all been double layered: seats below, sleeper above.

Rural Rajasthani women (taken from bus window)

The carved sandstone windows of the haveli's.

Jodhpur Fort looms over the blue city.

Me outside the palace that had a Rs2000 cover charge.

Photo's: Mt Abu

Mt Abu town and lake

Mt Abu town and lake, another view

Sacred cow... chomping on a cardboard box.

Our hike

Rajasthani musicians busking.

Photo's: Udaipur

I had an Miniature elephant painted on my thumbnail.

  

Dressed as a Maharani.

The Palace, for me it was much grander from the inside.

Inlay work.

From the lake sunset boat tour.

Photo's: Ahmedabad

Went to House of MG for their fancy Gujarati Thali (dinner), all you can eat and a lot of food.

Step Wells are interesting.... this has 5 levels, but they are all dry now (which meant that I could step all the way down).

A smelly street. I left as soon as I started thinking of diseases carried by birds. 

I found the pretty sari part of town.

Me too Mr Ghandi!

Travels: Jodhpur

I had just 2 nights in Jodhpur. The fort is wonderful, and the city is interesting and worth a visit for sure.

We tried to visit the palace too (just for a coffee), but the cover charge is Rs2000 per person.

My friend and I stayed at Yogis guest house. The buses to and from Jodpur were not female friendly... The only rest stop made didn't seem to account for any woman's need to use a toilet!

Travels: Mt Abu

I traveled to Mt Abu, Rajasthan's highest peak, with a Polish woman I had met in Udaipur. In the bus we met a German woman and we all teamed up. Ironically I left Mt Abu with the German, as the Polish girl wanted more time there.

The German and I went on a guided hike. I was happy to be hiking (finally), but the guide (a young man named Harsh) paid more attention to his phone screen than to us and for that I certainly let him know my disappointment. There was potential to see bears, but I felt our guide didn't even try.

Mt Abu is a honeymoon spot for Indians. It has a lake, sunset viewing, and was nice due to the lack of hassle.

It also is home to a major international religious movement which my Lonely Planet guide book made sound interesting, but we went to the ashram and its museum and I found it a bit strange. Later a local described it as being a cult. Another local said they hypnotize people.

Oh, and Mt Abu has a very nice coffee shop (like a western style shop), with Wifi, and nice owners... I just can't remember the name.

Breast clenching

I clench my breasts firmly with one arm and hand as the other hand holds tightly to the rough riding rickshaw. Maybe, if only for the sake of this 10 minutes this would have been a good day to have worn my sports bra.

I think maybe it is an inappropriate action (holding my breasts), but what does it matter? I am leaving town and nobody here will see me again.

I arrive at the bus station. My ticket, for seat no.8 is promptly taken one direction while I am directed to go to the back of my bus to stow my backpack. When my ticket is returned to me the 8 has been crossed out and replaced with 17 and I am instructed that is my seat. I rebuke this. I requested a front seat: I like them better and I get motion sick in the back.

Nobody seams to speak English other than to tell me seat 17, and to request 10 rupees for the impatient man who wrestled my luggage from me. I tell them i'll be sick in the back of the bus. They smile. I mime vomiting to every bodies amusement, but they are still smiling and waggling their heads. I give the 10 rupees (although I don't want too, but fear my pack will be removed if I don't and its less than 20 cents. The Indians stowing luggage are not asked to pay anything), and get on the bus. I sit in seat 8.

Eventually a man comes and tells me it is his seat. I say it was mine, but it was changed and I will not sit up the back, as I will be sick. (I can't actually guarantee this, but I'd prefer not to test the theory).

A young Indian man who speaks English comes to my rescue. Where do you want to sit he asks. "Any place I won't be sick". He offers I can sit beside him, and goes to fix things with the company. I am very grateful.

This is just one of the reasons why traveling in India is so horrible and exhausting. I mean, there are wonderful things to see, but independently this is a tough country.

Travels: Udaipur

Udaipur! Wow, I had an entire 6 nights there but only because it was so easy to do so that I thought I should hang out for Lord Shivas (of Hindu faith) Birthday party on 10 March.

As it turned out, the party wasn't much chop, I didn't get to dance, and I was back in my room at 10.30.

I stayed in 3 different places in Udaipur and finally found the most comfy bed in India (well, of those in budget hotels I've been checking)... And with a terrace overlooking the lake too!

The main attraction, the city palace, wasn't nice for me: I don't like tunnels, corridors or crowds. So, being in a small corridor with noisy slow moving Indians just gave me feelings of anxiety. I'm told that it is a nice place... But I couldn't get the niceness due to my inner 'get me out!' feelings.

Best Accom: Naylee Haveli at Sunset View restaurant. They seem to have just 2 nice rooms, but no other clients!

Love the spelling

India often spells its English words phonetically (English is one of the official languages). That is, phonetically to the tune of accents ranging from all the Indian ones and all those heard on popular English language tv and movies. It means that you have to often read things aloud (if only inside your head) and translate what you get from a thick accent.

Often you see quite amusing choices. My favourite so far was a "Chainies" Restaurant. I like how Chinese it sounds when you say it out loud.

Travels: Ahmedabad

I found myself a nice comfy hotel in Ahmedabad... Which is a good thing since I got sick and had to stay an extra day and night.

It was a case of vomiting followed by of diarrhoea and I couldn't figure out what wrong thing I had eaten, but then a person who I had met the evening before I'd come down with it got this vomiting and diarrhoea also and I realise now that it was probably viral.

But, aside from that I liked Ahmedabad's tourist attractions; it's hard to like the city itself though ... It's noisy, busy and polluted.

It is where Ghandi had his ashram, and for me this was reason enough to visit. Moreover, there is a wonderful textile museum and a cool step well - all worth visiting.

I do recommend a stop in Ahmedabad , if you are in the area.

Accommodation: Hotel Volga.

Brave woman or brave women?

Here is something that happened to me a while back:

I was sitting in a 3rd class train compartment, accompanied by a retired university lecturer who spoke English and and elderly lady who did not speak English. Both were Indian and she was typical for her generation: sari, glass bracelets, gold jewellery.

The man chatted to me about where he was going and what I was doing. The old lady, via the man, asked if I was travelling alone. Yes.

She told the man that I was very brave. It is a common view here.

I gave my head a brief shake. "No," I said, "the Indian woman who marries a man she doesn't know is brave".

He knew I was referring to arranged marriages which are still common today. He didn't translate it back to her. He replied "it's not so like that these days, now they do get to spend some time with the man before the wedding. But," he said considering the old lady for a moment , "in her generation she would very possibly never have met her husband prior to her wedding day."

I think that is a much scarier prospect than travelling alone.

Adding to this I have a an Australian-Indian friend who is visiting India to meet the ladies (I was told of 4) that his parents have arranged for him to meet. If one is chosen (and i am told that it isn't all up to him, she can refuse) how well can they really know each other in the short time they'll have with him here? (He is booked for a 3 week stay.) Adding to this she'll be moving away from her family and friends to another country.

Brave Indian women, that's what I see.

Travels: Aurangabad, Ajanta & Ellora

From Nasik I continued on to Aurangabad. This town, for me, was simply a convenient resting place while I visited the nearby World Heritage Sites of Ajanta and Ellora.

Both are a series of caves and temples hand carved into the side of an escarpment for the point of worship of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths. Both are well worth the visit and I did both of the day tours with Classic tours. For Ajanta we were lucky enough to score a guide as we had more than 10 people, but we weren't so lucky for Ellora.

Both sites are mind boggling. I couldn't help but wonder how many lives must have been lost whilst building these places of worship.

Not only were the tours handy for getting to these sites, but I got to meet lots of other travels, particularly solo, and trade some advice.

Photos: Aurangabad, Ajanta and Ellora

Ajanta Caves. Both this site and Ajanta are carved into the rock that makes up the hill / escarpment.

Inside one of the temples... it is a lot of carved rock!

Grandma says we need more photos of me... check out the size of the door!

Ellora.

This site at Ellora was, for me, the mnost impressive, but both sites have so many carved temples to look at that it is mind boggling! 

Photos: Mumbai

I spent about 3 hours waiting to meet Louise at Mumbai central station,

with everybody else. I got a seat though.

One of the more interesting things, but not nice, was a tour to a Mumbai slum. 

It certainly opened my eyes. The creek that ran through it was blue with pollution... please stop using plastics wherever possible! 

Get your laundry done in Mumbai and it might get done here.

The sweeter side of Mumbai... the one coated in rose petals was my favourite.

and the choices!

Thank you to the first rickshaw for ripping me off!

When I first arrived in Ahmedabad a kind local lady who had befriended me on the bus arranged a rickshaw for me and sent me following him to his rickshaw, calling out "be sure he resets the meter to zero" as I disappeared around the corner.

I clambered into the rickshaw, always an ungraceful action when I have both a backpack and front pack, and promptly forgot the last bit of advice from my new friend. I had just finished a sleepless night on a 15 hour overnight bus so my ability to remember a single thing was clearly removed. I was also unfamiliar with the new system here, so I couldn't even recognise a meter.

When we arrived I asked what I owed, the man indicated a meter which said 365 and pulled out a chart to establish that the bill was to be 160 rupees. I knew it was too much, but it was an affordable error and I just wanted to find a room. Besides, what could I do? I paid.

I figured he had either a) not reset the meter at the start (it's distance based), b) had a dodgy chart or c) driven me the long way ... after all, we had crossed the river twice (see I was tired but still paying attention).

I could, in future, fix the first option by demanding a reset at the start. I requested a copy of the chart from my hotel reception for future trips. And the third option... Well, not much I could do other than to try to know where I was going to start with.

So, on future trips I insisted on travelling with a meter and it being reset. My first journey was offered by drivers for Rs150 but when I got the meter used the bill was 50. On my second and subsequent trips the driver just told me the meter reading in clear hope that I would pay that amount. And, I probably would have if the first driver had-of reset the meter and done the same (and I would have thought 'gee, rickshaws are pricey here'). But thanks to him, I had a chart. So, despite language barriers I was able to look at the meter, see 142, see this meant 64 rupees, and pay the guy 70.

So thanks driver number one, you've saved me!

Looking wrinkled

Ha! Gotta love this...

I was bored waiting for my dinner to arrive at the fancy restaurant and there was a wagon selling beauty products in the middle of the restaurant, and I strolled over for a look.

Like all such beauty sales people the sales ladies were pushy. (Apologies to any out there reading this). One said "you need this moisturiser, you are getting wrinkles, they are making you look older than you are."

"Oh," I said, "but you don't know my age."

"You're right", she said, "how old are you".

"Guess".
I told myself to expect a harsh answer, this woman wanted to sell her products.

She thought for a while. "32 or 33".

I beamed! "Ha, I'm doing pretty well then" I said as I walked off.

I'm 37!

Licence to drink

I'm never too concerned whether I do or don't get to have a drink. Mostly when I travel I don't drink at all, other than to taste a local speciality, whiskey, or wine. Even at home I don't drink much.

Currently I am in a dry state. Apparently tourists can get a licence to have a drink, within a month of arrival to India (which excludes me). And when I was in Mumbai and went out with local hosts I was allowed to drink but they had to buy a permit (Rs5, so about 10c).

Lucky for me I was allowed to, I got to try a a wine from the Nasik region just North of Mumbai.

The confusing Indian head waggle

I think that if you've ever seen an Indian you know the head waggle. It's so confusing. To me it looks mostly like our shaking our head to say "no", but it doesn't mean no, nor yes either. To the best that I can figure out it is something like "righteo", or a reluctant "okay".

At any rate when I order food and I get a head waggle I'm left wondering if I'll be fed. Often it is the answer given to a question that needs more information. In this case it might mean "I don't know" or "I don't care".

But mostly it seems to mean 'righteo'.

Today I just realized that I too am confusing them. When they offer services (fruit sellers, taxi drivers, tea wallers), I shake my head for "no", I guess they think I'm saying "righteo", and so this might explain why these people linger so long. (As well as my white skin denoting fabulous wealth... that's their assumption anyway).

It's almost funny.

Travels: Nasik

First stop out of Mumbai for me was Nasik (26 Jan). I got there on a real bone shaker of a bus. (Varsai Travels (Roshan travels)), all suspension died years ago.

Nasik is a pilgrimage place. Apparently the waters of the river are holy (they looked a little dirty to me) and lots of pilgrims go to wag themselves or the ashes of their loved ones to purity. It makes for some interesting people watching.

It is also a wine growing region. I didn't go out to any of the vineyards (not much fun to do alone anywhere, and I could imagine the disapproval of the Indian driver who I would have had to pay to get me there).

I did, however, go to a nice restaurant (the best I've been to in India) and have a nice glass of wine from "Sula" vineyard. I recommend it.
The restaurant was called Kyber.