My friends Bhanu and Ruchi embarked on a 6 month vacation fairly recently. They plan on travelling to Europe for a little over a month and then spending the rest of the time in India. I'm totally envious of them taking that much time to travel and not working. Bhanu will be blogging the travels and setting up links to photos on his website http://www.billionshades.com.
Recently in Travel Category
We arrive in Amsterdam for our 8 hour layover. So we decided to venture out into the city to grab some food or something. We are so exhausted from that long flight from Delhi. I don't feel well at all.
We were sitting down at some restaurant having some drinks (ok, I was just having tea)...but anyways...and from a distance, I can't believe who I saw. Mr. Kapil Kedar. Of all the people and all the places...Kapil was there visiting from his contract job in Switzerland. He and his Russian friend joined us for a few drinks...(At this point, I'm in the bathroom throwing up...but enough of that).
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Damn this flight. It is so long. KLM sucks. I'm feeling like crap....
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Finally, arrival in Toronto. This trip is finally over.
Last day in Delhi, or in India, for that matter. It's about time. At this point, we are anxious to go home.
We went off to Kroll Bagh to do some shopping and to pick up the suits that we had made for us. The suit fit pretty good. There was a place near by where we had some chole bhature. Finally! We also had some gul cupa while we were in Kroll Bagh. Since it was our last day we took the risk.
We then went to Gopinath Bazaar to meet with Davinder uncle which Gulshan uncle did some business. Then Gulshan and I went to meet with the Colonel at his army club. It was a bit stuff and it was just a bunch of older army people just sitting around drinking and smoking.
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We eventually finish packing and go out to dinner to some restaurant in Connaught place. I'm starting to feel a little sick. It could be that gul cupa or the dip in the Ganga.
Indians are chaotic. At the airport, we were trying to find the line to get into the airport. Ok, there is no such thing as a line. It's just a mob of people just pushing their way through. I don't understand how it all works. All I know is that I followed uncle, even when I was getting yelled at by some sardar.
Today, we took the Shitabdi Express train to Haridwar. When we got there, we hired a guy to take us around in his auto-rickshaw. He was actually pretty good. He didn't try to get us to go to any special stores or anything.
Our first stop was the Gurdwara near to where my grandfather's ashes were scattered. While we were there, a guru did a prayer for us.
One thing about Haridwar is that there are people who keep records of names. So, we looked around to find the guy who kept the information of my dad's family. Deepak uncle wanted to update the records with some newer information and I wanted to get the records for my genealogy tree. Well, we ran around from place to place to find the pundit who kept the records. Unfortunately, we ran into a dead end. We needed to know the name of the village from which our family comes, and we did not. I am disappointed.
The next stop was the dip in the Gunga River. Harikapori was the area where we went to take the dip. I stripped down to my underwear and went down the steps into the water. I had to hold on to the chains because the stairs were slippery and the water was rushing fast. I went all the way down into the water. That water was cold. I guess that's because the water is coming from the Himalayans.
We got dressed and made our way back. As we were doing this, we got harrassed by some guy who wanted a handout. Of course, we weren't gonna give it to him. So this guy followed us. And we walked a little faster, and he kept up. He was giving us a look to guilt us to giving him some money. Somewhat amusing and somewhat psychotic. We got into our auto-rickshaw and the guy was not there. We had to do a loop around to get to the main road. Amazingly, we passed by the guy right there. He knew exactly where he needed go to find us. We just drove by, and I gave a little wave.
We ate at a little dhaba near by. The food was really good. And not bad for $2.75.
The driver took us to Temple Row where there are a bunch of mandirs. Alot of them are replicas of famous mandirs in India. Some had animatronics. Some had mazes (just like the original mandirs) to walk through. One mandir was a replica of the one at Vasudevi. We were walking around in water, crawling through cave like structures. Strange.
Then we went to two temples which are on top of these two hills overlooking the river. It used to be that pilgrims would have to walk up the hills. But now, there are cable cars that will take you up.
Today, we just did a little shopping in Karol Bagh before we met up with Paran uncle for lunch in Cannaught Place. We ate at a place called Zen's, which is apparently a popular Chinese restaurant. Pretty good paneer pakora. Afterwards, we went and bought some of CDs for about $2 each. Then we went to the Hanuman mandir where the uncles went when they grew up.
I met up with Rajan mama in Chandni Chowk. He took me on his scooter to his house. That was interesting being on the back of that scooter. I wasn't that scared of all, just fascinated how much manuverability the scooter had in the traffic. So after manuvering through the narrow corridors in Kashmiri Gate and Chote Bazaar, we got to the flat. I got to meet my cousin Shalu finally for the first time. I basically hung out there for the evening, eating some really good dinner. I tried my best to communicate with them, but it was just a bunch of broken Hindi. But I had a good time staying with them.
After about 4 hours of sleep, Gulshan uncle, Anil uncle (a good friend of Gulshan uncle), and I took the Shitabdi Express train from Delhi to Agra. Not a bad ride. We paid for the air conditioned car which was pretty empty. They served us breakfast, gave us a newspaper, bottled water. Not bad. It was a long ride though, but we finally made it there. We hired a car to take us around.
Our first stop was the Red Fort. We went around and took some pictures. There wasn't as much stuff to look at as I thought there would be. But the design is interesting. From one of the windows, you can see the Taj Mahal, even if it is a little hazy. Unfortunately, the military has taken over a majority of the fort and has closed it off to tourists.
Our next stop was the mausoleum for Shah Jahan's treasurer or something like that.
We went to some stores to look around for stuff. Our driver wasn't happy because he wasn't getting any kickback. We did buy a few things, but we really haggled for some good prices. We even walked out at one point because the dealer wasn't giving us the price we wanted.
We went to eat at a place where the driver took us to eat. I wasn't that impressed with the food there. It was interesting though to try the dal makhani. Basically, they brought out some dal, with a stick of butter right in the middle. It was a fun time because I got to hear about some of the things Anil uncle and Gulshan uncle did when they were in school.
At this point, the driver's boss decides to tag along. I guess he needs to make sure the driver takes us to the right shops. Of course, we would get there, look around and then leave without buying anything. There was one place that we actually bought stuff. It was actually a marble shop that had some quality items. I bought a little Taj Mahal.
Finally, we made it to the Taj Mahal. We had to go through a little hassle. See, there's two entry rates. One for citizens and one for non-citizens. We tried to get citizen rates, but then we got caught. So we had to spend the money for the non-citizen rate. The Taj is as beautiful in person as it is in pictures. It is a smaller than you would think, but it is still awesome sight. I took alot of pictures. We hung out there for two hours to soak in the whole area.
We took the Taj Express on the way back. It doesn't have dinner, but it leaves a little earlier so we get back at 9 instead of 11.
Today, we spent time with family. We went to the Delhi Cantonnement to see the old stomping grounds. We walked around and checked out the old flat where my dad and uncles grew up. Something strangely familiar about the whole place. Unfortunately, there was a lock on the door so I couldn't see the inside. We checked out the building where my grandfather had his store. Now, there's an army surplus store.
We then went to Sudhir uncle's mom place. This is the house where my uncles lived after the partition forced them to move from Quetta (now in Pakistan). We saw Sudhir's mom, Kiran auntie, Mitu and her eldest sister Minnie. We had a nice lunch there.
In the evening, we went to Sushma auntie's house in Delhi. This house was so big. Much bigger than the house in Gotan. Three floors. Marble floors. Huge bathrooms. A nice big green lawn in the back. We ate so much. We met shushma auntie's brother Davinder and his wife and their son Shobit and daughter Shivani. We went to some chicken shack to pick up some chicken...so good. I ate so much food.
We went to Soniput to see my grandmother's eldest brother. He runs the Malvia Sish Bhavan, which is a school he built up with the community. On the campus is the Malik Chand Auditorium, which is named after my grandfather.
Not much else today except seeing family.
We are staying at Manju Bua's place. Gulshan uncle finally met up with us. Today, we went into the city to check it out and do some shopping. We went to Karol Bagh where I bought some kurtas and ordered a Nehru jacket suit. Not too bad. It is a custom job so it should take a few days.
We then went to Chandni Chowk where Gulshan uncle did some of this business. I was just hanging out. We found Rajan-mama jewelry shop, but it was closed for some odd reason.
We then made our way to Rajan-mama's house, which is where my mom grew up. That was quite an adventure since uncle had no idea how to get there. And it's pretty much a maze there in Choti Bazaar. Corridors are so narrow and there are so many people. We walked around for a while until we finally asked someone how to get there. This person was actually nice enough to lead us there. But then we ran into Sonny who took us to they place.
Instant memory flashback. This place looked so familiar. I know it has been about 22 years since I had been there, but still.
We went out to see the sights in Jaipur. We went to Amber to check out the fort and the palace there. Got some pictures of the fort. Then we went to the palace. We took an elephant ride from the bottom to the top of the fort. This is exactly the same elephant ride I took when I was 4...the last time I was in India. The ride is slow and bumpy. But it was fun.
After a while, all of these forts and palaces look the same. They aren't as well kept as what you would see in England or other European countries. It's a shame. Someday, hopefully, there will be more effort at upkeeping these places to make them more appealing to tourists.
Apparently, on our way up to the fort, some guy took two pictures...one of uncle and one of me. We didn't know about it until the guy came up to us as we were about to get on the elephant down. He asked for Rps. 50. Of course, we tried to bargain to Rps. 20. He refused. So we get on the elephant. Eventually, the guy had no choice but to accept. Some money is better than no money.
Our next stop was the City palace. Our guide here was way too fast. All he seems to be wanting us to do is take us to the shops. He must be getting a commission. Of course, we aren't buying anything.
We drive by the Hawa Mahal. We stop by so I can get a picture. Then we made our way to the Central Museum. There were some odd collections and stuff. Nothing big.
We then went to the Birla Mandir. This was by far the best the nicest mandir we have seen. It is a beautiful marble temple and very well kept. There stained glass windows with Hindu figures. In the middle are two giant marble statues of Lord Vishnu and Gayatri. Behind the statues is a giant Om symbol. Definitely a nice temple to go to.