India is a kaleidoscope of color and sensation. We arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi early in the morning. When entering the hotel, a wonderful smell permeated the air of pleasant flowers. This hotel was one of my favorites. It is like staying in a palace with many beautiful museum pieces such as huge silver mirrors and desks. The walls are adorned with art from the colonial period. The rooms are filled with marble and large wood pieces.
For my first lunch, I ordered an Indian chicken dish. On the side were some onions, cucumbers, and a single green bean, which I thought was strange. I ate the entire green bean and within minutes my entire mouth was on fire. I felt like I was hyperventilating and the room started to spin. After fifteen minutes of trying to shove anything into my mouth to stop the burning, it started to calm down. That was no ordinary green bean. It was a hot chili pepper! A common one used in India. Welcome to India!
We didn’t spend much time in Delhi as we were using it as a hub. However while doing a bit of sightseeing, I saw a man with two monkeys on a leash. He was walking them just like you would walk a dog. As we traveled, I found monkeys were everywhere in India. They scampered up temple walls. They ran through villages where children threw things at them to make them go away. They sat by the roadside. Sometimes baby monkeys rolled and played in the road. One man had trained a monkey at a regular stop for drivers. When our driver stopped, the man came next to our window and had his monkey put on a show. The monkey flipped, bowed and even tipped his make-believe hat. We gave the man 50 rupees.
From Delhi we flew to Jaipur, which is in the province of Rajasthan, the land of the Rajas. We visited the Amber Palace and the City Palace. Both were filled with opulent rooms and courtyards. At the City Palace an entrance way had been painted as a colorful peacock with a head above the doorway. In the Amber Palace, a covered outdoor area had been decorated with convex mirrors. You could use your imagination of how this room looked in the days of the Maharajas. Torches were lit and dancing girls filled the area. Colors whirled and fire sparkled in the room.
When we arrived at Amber Palace the entire front entrance, about one mile, was lined with elephants with tourists riding to the top. I had declined this as I had read the elephants there were treated poorly. Once we got into the palace there were hawkers and snake charmers. I sat on the ground next to snake charmer. He told me to put on a weird looking hat and blow in a dirty looking wooden flute. I told him no for both. The last thing I needed was lice in my hair or a bizarre bacteria from the flute.
I also went into a temple located at the palace. Inside you are supposed to ring a bell which sparks the energy of the god in the temple. I was the only white tourist in the temple, but still I gave the bell a good solid ring.
In Jaipur we stayed at the Samode Haveli which is a palace converted into a hotel. The original Raja family still owns the property and stay on the top floor. I felt like an Indian princess as our room had a soaring ceiling. The entire suite was made of marble. It had a narrow walkway behind our bed with windows looking on the back courtyard. There was a wider longer hallway which had an antique desk and wardrobe. The ceiling going between the rooms was pretty low and Joe kept banging his head. (Yes. A lot of swearing ensued.) I managed to bang my toe pretty bad on the step up between the rooms. Marble is a really hard material! But even so, the room was so unusual. I loved it.
While exploring Jaipur and other parts of India, I saw any type of mode of transportation you can imagine. There were men pushing carts. There were donkeys, horses, and even camels pulling carts. In Jaipur there were also elephants with brightly painted trunks next to the road. Men were riding bicycles, some having a passenger carriage on the back (rickshaw drivers) or a cart on the back with massive loads. There were motorcycles and mopeds. We saw a family of five on one motorcycle. (Of course, no one wears helmets here.) There are tuk tuks filled with passengers. The most we counted was 12 men all squished into one, some hanging off the back. There are cars, vans, commercial trucks, and buses.
All modes of transportation mentioned above are all on the same road! It is total chaos. They love to honk their horn here too. It’s constant. In addition to all this confusion, people are walking through traffic or across traffic. There aren’t crosswalks really.
Many of the cities are also really filthy. They have a sanitation and garbage problem that is very offensive. Pigs and cows wander the streets scrounging through garbage. In some places, raw sewage spills through the ditches near the roads. I saw one dead animal in the ditch left to rot. If you go to India and want to walk around, don’t wear your nice shoes!
There are large slums in every city where homes are made of plastic bags and cardboard. There are quite a few beggars too that pound on your car window and can be very persistent. It is very sad and you want to help everyone. I hate to say this but at some point you just have to tune it out.
Given all the above, India is still an extremely colorful country, especially the women. They dress in bright saris of yellow, orange, and red, sometimes with elaborate beading. I’ve seen women clinging to male motorcyclists in beautiful saris which sparkle as they fly down the road. In the countryside, bright orange saris decorate the fields where women work. Women with yellow saris walk next to the road with large brass pots balanced on their heads. It makes me realize how conservative and boring American women dress (including myself!) The temples can also be quite colorful painted in peach, pink, light blue, and red.
While in Jaipur, we also went to a private elephant camp call Dera Amer. It’s owned and run by a man related to the Maharaja family. I had an elephant experience where you get to bath and paint the elephant. My elephant’s name was Rangmala. I did not get into the water with my elephant which was good given that there where volleyball size elephant droppings floated in the water. However, I did get to give the elephant a good scrub and got splashed when she sprayed water on her back. Her skin was extremely thick with deep crevasses. Bristly hair grew on the top of her head. After scrubbing her, we waited for her to dry. Then I got to paint her trunk with green, yellow, and bright pink colors. Joe and I then rode Rangmala through the forest and back to the main area for dinner. It was truly a unique experience.
We also saw a bhoba perform in Jaipur. They dress in elaborate red outfits and have handlebar moustaches. They play a small instrument like a violin dancing and twirling as they play.
Joe and I visited the Taj Mahal which is extremely beautiful and breathtaking, as you can imagine. The crowd there is similar to Disneyland, packed. We sat and watched the sunset on this romantic tomb. It was completely magical.
While there, two Indian boys asked Joe if they could take their picture with him (probably because of his beard and tattoes). Joe’s first response was “I will if you pay me 10 rupees”. He was joking, of course. But this is something we ran into when taking pictures of locals.
We stayed the Gateway Hotel which is one of the Taj Hotels and had a spectacular view of the Taj Mahal. I got up early the next morning and watched as the Taj Mahal appeared like a specter in the white morning mist.
We then flew to Japalbur (a 2 hour flight) and then drove to our camp 4 hours away at Bandhavgarh National Park where we were almost guaranteed to see a tiger. We spent three nights there and went on five game drives (a total of 15 hours in a jeep on extremely rough road) and there wasn’t one tiger to be seen. Some jeeps did see tiger, but we just couldn’t seem to make one appear. It was extremely frustrating and sad. We were happy to leave. While there we heard that another couple had gone on 8 game drives and hadn’t seen a tiger either. I would say your chances are from 0 to 25% that you will see a tiger. The promotion of this park is misleading.
We are now back in Delhi and preparing for our trip to China. Overall, everyone must come to India. India is one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. It is also one of the new super powers and is extremely busy right now. Their economy is booming and there is an electric buzz in the air.
(Look for Sara's report on China, coming up in January.)
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