Wednesday 19 December 2007

I've "done" India

Yeah, I think two weeks is enough to cover 1.1 billion people and 5000 years of history.

I've thought long and hard about how I'm going to organise this email. I took notes in a vague journal/diary form for my time in India (especially my time by myself), and those notes are extensive, even by my standards. And I feel like I've forgotten so much. Narrative isn't really an option. Like Indian food, the best thing to do is to try and break it down into vaguely digestible nuggets.Hopefully at least part of it is manageable for those of you that have read this much. So I'll cover the basics in this email. See also my 600-or-so photos (also on Facebook)

So without further delay, let's get into it…

BISH'S PRECIS

- I'm back in Perth – both the trip to India and the stealthy return to WA had been planned for a year, but if you read my last blog entry you'd know that

- Chop was delayed and joined me only for the second half of the trip

- I'll do a few more emails on specific incidents later, but this is the meat-and-potatoes email about our experiences
- Delhi was pretty bland and businesslike, but they make a mean suit
- Jaipur, the Pink City is incredible. I rode an elephant there!
- Agra can cram it with walnuts, but you have to go and see the Taj Mahal (unless they move it)
- Chandigarh was a massive highlight because of the cricket, and also because it's off the beaten track a bit
- Mumbai was also really great, although we did more shopping and mixed with more expats there

- Finally, Merry Christmas to everyone, hope you have a great one!
---

The first thing you need to know is that, thanks to the excellent recommendation of a few of my friends, I read a book called Shantaram, about an Aussie escaped criminal who flees to India. If you haven't read it I won't tell you what happens (you don't have to read it – the movie comes out next year with Johnny Depp starring), but the one thing I got from it as a visitor to India was to just open up and let the experience hit me. I reckon I might have done that anyway, but in India it seemed especially important and I was conscious of being open no matter how much it overloaded my senses.

So where did we go?

Delhi

I was in Delhi solo for a few days at the start, and then with Chopper for a couple of days either side of our trip to Chandigarh. I did some sightseeing there on my first full day, which included:

- the Red Fort (its amazing the way they used water in the complex, and the marble and semi-precious stones, pointed out by my excellent guide, were also incredible),

- Jama Masjid (the main mosque in Old Delhi, which is not very ornamental, but offers a great view of the city from its southern tower),

- Raj Ghat (where the ashes of Indian PMs and national heroes are scattered – Gandhi's memorial and eternal flame was pretty cool, especially school children came past to pay their respect),

- Humayun's Tomb (precursor to the Taj Mahal in style, and 38 metres high),

- India Gate (an Arc de Triomphe style monument to fallen soldiers of World War I and Afghan wars, very well attended by locals),

- the government district (lined with beautiful colonial buildings, on a broad avenue which leads to the India Gate, creating a Champs-Elysees-style effect), and

- the Indira Gandhi memorial (her residence in Delhi while president and site of her assassination, painstakingly preserved and also packed with locals)

With all that, thankfully I had a driver to take me to these places. The second day, I headed for something I was looking forward to: a bespoke suit. Suits are obviously cheap in India , and some roadside operators can turn one around for next to nothing in 24 hours.

But there was a place that Chop and I decided on which was, by all reports, the best bespoke tailors in India. Generations of tailors at this place have worked their trade on the famous Saville Row in London. They treat you in a very gentlemanly manner also, taking their time, and tending to your every need. There are employees all around you.

Of course, with all this activity, standing at close proximity to me, engaging me in polite conversation, and asking me questions about my suit design, there could be few worse places to have an encounter with Delhi Belly. My first, no less.

I knew I was in trouble when I was sweating profusely in the air conditioned tailors. Half way through them asking me some crucial questions, I had to blurt out "where is the toilet?" They directed me to it (upstairs – eek!) and after a temporary lull in food poisoning, I emerged to see them standing there with a rehydration packet and some hard-core immodium-type stuff. That's what I call service! From now on, when I go to a tailor I will inspect their medicine cabinet before looking at materials or letting them take measurements.

The rehydration salts were stamped with the World Health Organisation, so I was probably stealing from the UN by taking the sachet. Of the other tablets, our tailor, Sachin, said only "only have one a day – any more and you'll be clogged up." Nice!

Also had my first experience with a travel agent, to find that I couldn't get trains to Jaipur and Agra (the "Golden Triangle"), so I had my driver take me to those places. The round trip was to take about 5 days in all.

After that it was straight to bed to rest up for the following day. I didn't want to be this delicate for a 6 hour drive to ...

Jaipur

The trip there allowed me some time to sleep, a chance to see (semi-)rural India, and to sample some more local delicacies . Jokes aside, the scenery with the morning haze looked pretty cool. The traffic was almost as hectic as Delhi the whole way there.

Jaipur is called the Pink City: the old city is painted … pink. The colour isn't natural; it's been deliberately painted onto buildings fairly regularly. The last time was for when Bill Clinton visited in 2000. It's not very old by Indian standards, less than 300 years old. And it's a fully planned city, planned in accordance with Hindu architectural manuals. As a result, the streets are surprisingly wide: almost boulevards. The city is known for its jewellery, fabrics and textiles, and I loaded up on the textiles when there. That evening I went to a fairly touristy but still nice Rajasthani outdoor restaurant. The food was nice, and they had some dancers in traditional dress doing all sorts of crazy stuff, including dancing with pots of fire on their head! No wonder their posture was so good!

They asked me up to dance also, but I had to politely decline: after all that food, I had my own dance.

The highlight of Jaipur was Amber Fort. I got to ride an elephant! The guys who "drive" them sit on the elephants' necks all day and try to extort money from you. It doesn't look like a very nice job. But it could be worse.

The ride up the hill was to the palace itself, an ornate compound with a mix of Mughal and Hindu architecture, as pointed out by my guide. He also showed me some amazing detail in the decoration – semi-precious stones still embedded in ornate marble. He wasn't quite as good at taking photos.

While in Jaipur I also headed to:

The City Palace , which has heaps of old weapons, the largest silver objects in the world (a pair of jugs – cop that Pamela Anderson), amazing old costumes, and some fascinating old artefacts in a museum there. It's really beautiful too.

Jal Mahal – the water palace, beautifully (if impractically) situated on Man Sarobar Lake

Hawa Mahal (the Palace of Winds) – which was closed and covered in scaffolding but still provided something interesting to look at (no harnesses on those blokes in there).

Jantar Mantar (the astrological observatory), which consisted of heaps of instruments that plotted the night sky, and a 27 metre high sundial , which is accurate to within two seconds. Two seconds! It wasn't working when I was there though – it was just flashing "12:00 " constantly.

The world's worst Indian Massage. Not rough enough to get knots out, not soft enough to be relaxing, and the masseuse was not feminine enough to make it erotic (he was hardly feminine at all).

Aside from that, Jaipur was a fantastic city. It has a different energy to Delhi, which, while busy, is pretty bland and businesslike. It seemed a lot more fun, and not just around the touristy areas (which were quite touristy).

I saw some fireworks that night from my hotel balcony and headed to bed, ahead of more driving the next day, to Agra.


Agra

Agra is famous as the home of the Taj Mahal. It's also famous for having the worst touts in Asia . Turns out both reputations are true. We got in mid-afternoon and I didn't want to head straight to the Taj as I'd heard it was best early in the morning. So I headed to the Red Fort. My driver said I didn't need a guide, but he was wrong I think. It's an amazing compound, right over the river from the Taj, but information on its history is a bit thin on the ground. I saw a good amount of it (I guess, I could've missed a heap for all I know), but it was starting to get dark before I'd seen it all.

I ate, headed to the hotel and to bed. I planned to see the Taj at dawn. I set my alarm but unfortunately slept through it, mainly because I'd been awake all night with Delhi Belly.

Still, the Taj was wonderful , if a little hazy when I went. Obviously it's a must-see, and it's worth the hype (although the main tomb is surprisingly small – I guess he didn't love her that much). Amazing ornate carving, incredible gardens, and a wonderful setting on the river. The only let down is the electronic sign that tells you exactly how polluted the air you're breathing is – it was displayed prominently on one of the mosques to the side of the main tomb.

Before leaving Agra we managed to stop at the Baby Taj , which I really should've gone to first I guess. It was still lovely, cheap and nowhere near as crowded. Like Humayun's Tomb it was built before the Taj itself. Still lovely, and still has embedded semi-precious stones, but it's not quite as well preserved as the Taj.

The Taj aside, I wasn't sad to leave Agra. It was full of the most touristy shops and, worse still, the most obnoxious touts I've come across. And I got crook on the food there. Very crook. But hey, everyone's going to go there to see the Taj. I suggest you don't make plans to spend much longer there though.

On the way back to Delhi there was one highlight – stopping for lunch we came across a snake charmer. He gave me a snake to handle (second time this year), and let me charm another (although from the look on his face I wasn't a great musician).

Chandigarh

Finally I caught up with Chop and we headed up to Chandigarh (also a planned city, planned by the Modernist w@nker, Le Corbusier) the following day for the big highlight, an India vs Pakistan cricket match. Our trip there was our first experience on India's famed train system. The game and the antics surrounding it will be the subject of another email, but I will say that this was the one thing I was looking forward to more than anything and it definitely didn't disappoint (except that no cameras were allowed). Here is the scorecard.

The following day, November 9, was the biggest festival in the Hindu calendar, Diwali. It was also pretty amazing. The markets went nuts during the day, and we saw Pakistan coach and Aussie cricketing legend Geoff Lawson amongst the throng. The fireworks were even crazier during the night. Everyone seemed to be lighting something explosive that night. We split a whole tandoori chicken in celebration of the holy day.

Our final day was spent at an unusual rock garden. Some guy found some disused land and started living there and building rock figures in a massive rock garden. He was so isolated that it took authorities 18 years to stumble onto the illegal sculptures. After that long, they told him to keep going with it, and gave him a staff of fifty to continue the work. It covers 40 acres, but isn't built for large people! Very … um … unique.
We stuck out a bit in Chandigarh. It was off the beaten track, and I think white folk ("gora") are a bit thinner on the ground there. We got more attention there than elsewhere anyways. But it was all very friendly and helpful.

Chandigarh was built in anthropomorphic form, with government at the "head" and commerce at the "heart" (see? Modernist w@nker). Despite the utterly ludicrous literal design – which wouldn't be out of place in the original Sim City – the town itself is very clean and noticeably more prosperous than any other we went to. It's also the place we fell in love with Indian street food. I really liked the place.


Mumbai

After a return train journey, and our last fitting of our suits, we hopped on the train for a 23 hour trip to Mumbai. The train journey was an event in itself, which warrants an email of its own. Let's just say I'm wary of Indian wrestlers and gymnasts now. By and large the people were incredibly friendly though. On arrival in Mumbai, we found ourselves a long way from the city centre, and our hotel.

The hotel was awful, but we didn't hang around for long to investigate. We wanted to get to Crawford Market to check it out, but couldn't really find much to meet our fancy. It was getting dark, so we wandered off to Colaba, the ex-pat area of central Mumbai. Heaps of energy, and the roadside stalls were still open selling everything. We made a bee-line for Leopold's, the ex-pat bar made famous by the book Shantaram. We headed out there for the night, trying in vain to secure Bombay Sapphire gin. Y'know, when in Rome

No dice, but we did sport sizeable hangovers the next day nonetheless.

The next day we intended to go sightseeing. We headed to:

Victoria Terminus (VT) a lovely old train station made very much in the style of the grand London stations, like St Pancras.

The Gateway to India , another symbolic arch that sits on the shore and reinforces Mumbai's history (and ongoing) role as a landing point for new arrivals in India

The Taj Mahal palace and tower , a lovely old gentleman's club built by a wealthy Indian who was denied entry to a white's only club. Good smarm that.

And, um, that was it. We were surprised by how little really appealed to us for sightseeing in Mumbai. That night we did some for searching for Bombay Sapphire again, but failed again, and ended up in Leopold's … again. We did other stuff during the day too, shopping, indulging in street food and being offered a part in a Bollywood movie (a paid part no less – Rs400 for 10 hours work, but it was an all-nighter so we knocked it back).

After getting a quick photo with our waiter, who didn't look unlike Anil Kumble, we foolishly had Indian ladyboys. Both of us had a "little bit of sick" afterwards. Ladyboys!

The next day, my last in India, was spent getting cricket bats (look how seedy Chop looks here), then shopping for pressies for the rest of the day, and eating street food until we felt better. Luckily, by the end of the day I'd recovered enough to get on the plane!

Which was just as well, as I had to surprise my folks – and everyone else - on mum's birthday the next day!

So that was it! India was absolutely amazing and I definitely want to go back. They say you like it even more the second time. And there's so much to see! We didn't even get to the Ganges or the Himalayas. But that's next time. As mentioned, there will be other emails coming that cover specific incidents or aspects, but I had to get this email out at least before I embark on the rest!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

interesting post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did anyone hear that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
[url=http://amazon.reviewazone.com/]Lori[/url]