Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
Taj day
we got up early to explore the Taj Mahal, so as to beat both the heat and the crowds. We succeeded magnificently on both counts, as the wait in line was literally non-existent at 7:00 in the morning. Since the Taj averages 20,000 people per day, it was nice for things to go smoothly. (although I don't think August is prime time to visit).
Our day started with a slight hitch-we were adopted by an official government guide, part of our entrance fee, along with a small bottle of water, and we didn't quite have the heart to tell him we'd much rather have the soothing British guy from the day before, and figured he might add some color to the tour. We were wrong-his command of English was pretty limited, which would have been OK, but he didn't have any stories that a) we didn't already know from reading The Lonely Planet Guidebook and b) often repeated stories scholars are pretty sure are false. Also, even if we did manage to communicate our questions to him, he didn't know the answers. So, his primary use was in showing us where to take silly shots like 'holding the Taj in your hand' or 'stand next to the Taj with your finger at the point' or the ever popular 'jumping in front of the Taj', which taught us that Rachel is not a good sport for silliness.
Eventually, we sent him off, informing him we'd like to wander around on our own (much to his frustration, since apparently he couldn't leave without us, and wanted to lead about 1 tour per hour).
However, the Taj is pretty cool-the size is mind blowing, the stonework immaculate, it really is well designed, and we do feel like we've had an experience. The whole grounds are really fascinating, and its fun to wander around and see everything from a lot of different angles. We wouldn't recommend going to India just to go to the Taj, but we would recommend seeing the Taj if you're in India, it was worth the trip to Agra (but get the audio tour).
After the Taj we went back to our guest house for showers and to clean up and check out, before spending the rest of the day wandering between markets and little cafes for ice cream and cool drinks. We also took a walk along the Eastern side of the Taj area, which we hadn't yet seen. It got very hot, but we had fun, and found stuff for almost everyone on our list (we still need something for Rachel's brother Andrew, art for our own home, and some spices in Delhi). We found that ignoring salespeople cuts prices dramatically, and that we're softies to people who just ask us to take their price when its already cheap for American costs.
Now, we're on the train back to Delhi- we are in an air-conditioned compartment with narrow upper and lower bunks for ourselves and our luggage, which is perfectly comfortable for the three hour journey. In Delhi, we've booked a hotel ahead of time and have both its address and phone number written down, so hopefully no repeat of the adventures of last time we arrived at this time of night.
Wednesday August 3rd
living in the lap of luxury
We arrived in Delhi at about 9:45 last night, about 30 minutes late, and later than we were out on our last Delhi adventure, which caused us some anxiety.
However, we came into the New Delhi train station, which had been our salvation last time. Thus, we headed straight to the pre-paid taxi stand, ignoring all the opportunistic Taxi wallas telling us that it did not exist. The amount of people lying to you in India is pretty numbing after a while, its a comment on how differences in power corrupt relationships.
Once we found the people who were official, however, our wonderful driver with his perfectly comfortable taxi found our hotel with minimal concern. And what a hotel it is.
We found an online hotel yesterday, because Rachel was getting nervous about the 'guess and check' method, and so we'd booked 3 nights at the Hotel Vista Inn at a last minute special rate that is actually cheaper than 2 of the other places we'd stayed so far at about 30$ a night, because it looked fairly nice. AND IT IS! Luxury is nice. AC that's not a window unit. Real hot water. Real shower heads. A glass door on the shower. Toilet paper. Water that isn't completely full of strange minerals. A big screen TV. Sheets. A soft bed. 2 trash cans! Made of METAL! With LINERS! Its literally nicer than a super 8, and in some ways nicer than a Comfort Inn or Raddison. While its possible Samuel mentioned something about not suffering properly along with the majority of people in India, we both appreciate the break, and slept well.
This morning we got up for a marathon tour of Delhi. We got on the AC tour bus (hooray AC!) at about 10:00, and they dropped us off at a random metro station to find our way back to our hotel at 6:30 (thanks guys). In between, we saw all sorts of wonderful and interesting things, as well as a Government shop that apparently subsidizes the tours and forced our business for 30 minutes.
Highlights include The Indian Parliament Building and government offices, which are kind of Like DC, with red sandstone. Indira Gandhi's home, and location of her assassination with press clippings and mementos from her long and influential life. The Qutb Minar, a 250 ft. tall 900 year old ornately decorated stone tower (tallest in India) created by Muslim rulers, because, hey, winners get to do this kind of thing.
The Bahai Lotus Temple, a beautiful and huge place of prayer and contemplation (we like the Bahai, they just want everyone to get along, have universal education, health care, and justice.
Another highlight was Gandhi's memorial at the place of his cremation, a quiet black slab of marble with the words "Oh God" in Hindi (his last words) and an eternal flame, surrounded by a courtyard with many of his quotes in different languages.
We watched a group of South Indian Men read one of his quotes in their native tongue of Tamil together out loud, and were touched by the act of corporate memory and honor, symbolizing the connection of all parts of India and the world.
While we missed a few monuments we'd have liked to see, and would have been happy to skip the shop, it was a good time, and we'll have time tomorrow to pick up some important stragglers. We'd recommend it, it was worth the 7.5$ each.
After we found our way back to the hotel (which involved walking in completely the wrong direction for a while, then asking a random person for help and getting rescued quickly-and Rachel would like to point out she was dubious from the beginning about this plan) we settled in for the evening. Rachel convinced me to stay in for dinner so we had room service again, she started some laundry (I get to feel clean on the flight home!) and we played on the internet a bit, for example, writing a blog post.
Tomorrow we're going to Humayun's tomb, apparently one of the most beautiful buildings in Delhi, and Jahil Masab, the largest mosque in India (it holds 25000 people), and maybe a giant Indian temple, depending on how time allows. Finally, we'll do a little more shopping before a planned Indian feast for our last meal in India. It should be great-all you can eat home style from different regions in India. We are very excited.
Its been wonderful being able to send our thoughts out into the ether-it makes us feel connected to home. We hope you too have appreciated our reflections. Tomorrow should be the last post, and then we'll come home (and add pictures on a high speed connection).
Taj day
we got up early to explore the Taj Mahal, so as to beat both the heat and the crowds. We succeeded magnificently on both counts, as the wait in line was literally non-existent at 7:00 in the morning. Since the Taj averages 20,000 people per day, it was nice for things to go smoothly. (although I don't think August is prime time to visit).
Our day started with a slight hitch-we were adopted by an official government guide, part of our entrance fee, along with a small bottle of water, and we didn't quite have the heart to tell him we'd much rather have the soothing British guy from the day before, and figured he might add some color to the tour. We were wrong-his command of English was pretty limited, which would have been OK, but he didn't have any stories that a) we didn't already know from reading The Lonely Planet Guidebook and b) often repeated stories scholars are pretty sure are false. Also, even if we did manage to communicate our questions to him, he didn't know the answers. So, his primary use was in showing us where to take silly shots like 'holding the Taj in your hand' or 'stand next to the Taj with your finger at the point' or the ever popular 'jumping in front of the Taj', which taught us that Rachel is not a good sport for silliness.
However, the Taj is pretty cool-the size is mind blowing, the stonework immaculate, it really is well designed, and we do feel like we've had an experience. The whole grounds are really fascinating, and its fun to wander around and see everything from a lot of different angles. We wouldn't recommend going to India just to go to the Taj, but we would recommend seeing the Taj if you're in India, it was worth the trip to Agra (but get the audio tour).
After the Taj we went back to our guest house for showers and to clean up and check out, before spending the rest of the day wandering between markets and little cafes for ice cream and cool drinks. We also took a walk along the Eastern side of the Taj area, which we hadn't yet seen. It got very hot, but we had fun, and found stuff for almost everyone on our list (we still need something for Rachel's brother Andrew, art for our own home, and some spices in Delhi). We found that ignoring salespeople cuts prices dramatically, and that we're softies to people who just ask us to take their price when its already cheap for American costs.
Now, we're on the train back to Delhi- we are in an air-conditioned compartment with narrow upper and lower bunks for ourselves and our luggage, which is perfectly comfortable for the three hour journey. In Delhi, we've booked a hotel ahead of time and have both its address and phone number written down, so hopefully no repeat of the adventures of last time we arrived at this time of night.
Wednesday August 3rd
living in the lap of luxury
We arrived in Delhi at about 9:45 last night, about 30 minutes late, and later than we were out on our last Delhi adventure, which caused us some anxiety.
However, we came into the New Delhi train station, which had been our salvation last time. Thus, we headed straight to the pre-paid taxi stand, ignoring all the opportunistic Taxi wallas telling us that it did not exist. The amount of people lying to you in India is pretty numbing after a while, its a comment on how differences in power corrupt relationships.
Once we found the people who were official, however, our wonderful driver with his perfectly comfortable taxi found our hotel with minimal concern. And what a hotel it is.
We found an online hotel yesterday, because Rachel was getting nervous about the 'guess and check' method, and so we'd booked 3 nights at the Hotel Vista Inn at a last minute special rate that is actually cheaper than 2 of the other places we'd stayed so far at about 30$ a night, because it looked fairly nice. AND IT IS! Luxury is nice. AC that's not a window unit. Real hot water. Real shower heads. A glass door on the shower. Toilet paper. Water that isn't completely full of strange minerals. A big screen TV. Sheets. A soft bed. 2 trash cans! Made of METAL! With LINERS! Its literally nicer than a super 8, and in some ways nicer than a Comfort Inn or Raddison. While its possible Samuel mentioned something about not suffering properly along with the majority of people in India, we both appreciate the break, and slept well.
This morning we got up for a marathon tour of Delhi. We got on the AC tour bus (hooray AC!) at about 10:00, and they dropped us off at a random metro station to find our way back to our hotel at 6:30 (thanks guys). In between, we saw all sorts of wonderful and interesting things, as well as a Government shop that apparently subsidizes the tours and forced our business for 30 minutes.
Highlights include The Indian Parliament Building and government offices, which are kind of Like DC, with red sandstone. Indira Gandhi's home, and location of her assassination with press clippings and mementos from her long and influential life. The Qutb Minar, a 250 ft. tall 900 year old ornately decorated stone tower (tallest in India) created by Muslim rulers, because, hey, winners get to do this kind of thing.
Another highlight was Gandhi's memorial at the place of his cremation, a quiet black slab of marble with the words "Oh God" in Hindi (his last words) and an eternal flame, surrounded by a courtyard with many of his quotes in different languages.
We watched a group of South Indian Men read one of his quotes in their native tongue of Tamil together out loud, and were touched by the act of corporate memory and honor, symbolizing the connection of all parts of India and the world.
While we missed a few monuments we'd have liked to see, and would have been happy to skip the shop, it was a good time, and we'll have time tomorrow to pick up some important stragglers. We'd recommend it, it was worth the 7.5$ each.
After we found our way back to the hotel (which involved walking in completely the wrong direction for a while, then asking a random person for help and getting rescued quickly-and Rachel would like to point out she was dubious from the beginning about this plan) we settled in for the evening. Rachel convinced me to stay in for dinner so we had room service again, she started some laundry (I get to feel clean on the flight home!) and we played on the internet a bit, for example, writing a blog post.
Tomorrow we're going to Humayun's tomb, apparently one of the most beautiful buildings in Delhi, and Jahil Masab, the largest mosque in India (it holds 25000 people), and maybe a giant Indian temple, depending on how time allows. Finally, we'll do a little more shopping before a planned Indian feast for our last meal in India. It should be great-all you can eat home style from different regions in India. We are very excited.
Its been wonderful being able to send our thoughts out into the ether-it makes us feel connected to home. We hope you too have appreciated our reflections. Tomorrow should be the last post, and then we'll come home (and add pictures on a high speed connection).
No comments:
Post a Comment