India
June 27
Our first experience in Delhi was being whipped between lines of trucks in a small vehicle produced by the car company "Tata." There seemed to be no lane or any oganization to traffic. The back of the trucks, which just sit in the middle of the road, are painted in colorful designs and say in giant letter "HORN PLEASE." Our driver, Happi, explained to us that in India, you must use your horn at all times, as he pounded on his horn and squeezed through the giant trucks. The next day, I would learn this is also how the Indian drivers deal with oncoming traffic.
We arrived at our hotel on a dirty street in the middle of the night. It was hot, but not nearly as bad as I had feared. It became clear that our hotel was under heavy construction as we were lead up through dark stairways and hallways to our rooms; it seemed that we were the only ones there. Fortunately the rooms were air conditioned, which was a first on this trip, and it actually ended up being one of the more comfortable accommodations, despite the building's state of disrepair.
June 28
The next morning we talked to the owner of the hotel and discussed with him our current itinerary and what other things we had hoped to do. One thing we had wanted to do but had not planned was a safari, and our plans quickly changed when we discovered there was a place to do safari between Agra and Jaipur, but the park closed in a few days for the monsoon season. By the end of our conversation, the owner had changed almost all of our hotel accommodations, reserved tour guides, and provided us with a driver for the rest of our time in India to take us to each place. The next thing we new, we were being driven down 2 lane roads, weaving through camels, cows, motorcycles, tractors, buses, trucks, and three wheeled auto-rickshaws going in both directions by our new driver, Daib, and our first day in Delhi became our first day in Agra.
We arrived in Agra in time for dinner. We decided to explore the town and make an attempt to experience the culture, but instead found ourselves targets as we walked down the street. In Agra, people don't want to be your friend, they want to sell you a chess set (and I mean, really want to sell you a chess set) or cart you around on their rickshaw. It was actually quite a task to get to the restaurant. Our meal was delicious and we had another nice air-conditioned night.
June 29
The next morning, we woke up at the ripe hour of 5:00 am to meet our guide who would give us a tour of the Taj Mahal. Needless to say, the Taj Mahal was beyond impressive, and our guide was excellent. One of the most interesting things he showed us was how the translucence of the white marble glowed in certain kind of light, but more specifically, how the different stone inlays would accent this with their own translucence or opaqueness. After, we had lunch and relaxed a bit before the guide took us to see the same craftsmen that currently work to restore the Taj Mahal make the stone inlays in the marble. The skill had been handed down through their family, and all the craftsmen took great pride in their work, which showed in the incredible intricacy and precision of the stone inlays. Soon we were on the road again. Our next stop, Ranthambhore National Park.
We arrived at our hotel in time for dinner. Our hotel was nearly empty, as the next day was the last day before the park closed. The town was tiny and the infrastructure was primitive. We had to drive for a while just to get to an ATM. We began to settle on our hotel's balcony with a few King Fischer's (India's premier and only beer), when we began to see fireworks. Our driver came up to us and asked us if we would like to see an Indian wedding. We walked down the street a ways to see a huge crowd gathered in front of a cart with 6 large megaphones on it, pumping out music from a live band. The music was unlike anything I'd ever heard, and before we knew it, the people were inviting us into their dance circle, which was clearly marked by children holding large fluorescent lights. Rory was armed with his video camera, and got excellent footage, which allowed us to later reflect on the event and firmly establish myself as the best dancer. This place was much different from Agra, we were no longer targets, but guests, and the friendliness of the people this far away from the city was unsurpassed.
June 30
Another early morning, we have two safaris for the day. We ride in an open Suzuki Gypsy through trails. The ultimate goal was to spot a Bengal Tiger, the top of the food chain in this region. Scott asked what animals the tiger ate. Our driver didn't speak much English, but enough to tell us affirmatively "Tiger eat all animals." Our first sighting was a small hoard of monkeys. We has seen some in the city already, but not in such abundance, and this particular species was much larger. We saw peacocks, mule deer, mongooses, monitor lizards, and incredible vistas, but no Tiger. Occasionally our driver would stop the car and stand up on the top of the frame to listen. He was listening for warning calls from the monkeys, which they call out upon spotting the tiger. Other than tiger tracks, this is pretty much the only indication we had of where the tiger might be. Our first safari ended and we went back for a nap to recover. Our second safari took us up some more rocky areas of the park. We drove around for a long time and were basically ready to accept that we would not find the tiger. Our driver told us that their are only about 25 tigers in the park, and they are solitary animals. Their times to wander and feed are early morning and late day, and sleep in the shade during the day. We would frequently pass other jeeps on our tour, and the drivers would always stop to converse. One conversation ended abruptly when our driver turned the car around furiously and tore down a bumpy dirt road. We weren't sure why he was so excited, but we could only hope it was for a tiger. We passed a bus load of people and he stopped to talk. He seemed disappointed, he explained that there was a tiger, but they had just seen it disappear over a hilltop. We continued down the road and came to an area where a jeep and a bus were parked. One of the other drivers motioned to us and we drove over. About 4 yards from the front of our jeep emerged a full grown female Bengal tiger, sauntering passed the vehicles. It was amazing to see one of these animals in the wild. It came to our attention that we had come incredibly close to this beast, and were completely unprotected in our open topped Gypsy, which didn't even have seat belts. Our driver assured us in broken English that the tiger's never attacked humans and they were used to the cars. Our safari was beyond successful and we went home satisfied.
July 1
We spent the morning touring a large fort and some temples in the area of the national park, and have just arrived in Jaipur. The internet here is much cheaper that it was in Europe, 40 rupees for an hour is about 1$, which is much better than 5 euros for an hour in Vienna. I'd take the time to load photo's, but my sandwich is getting cold and we need to start seeing the city. More to come soon.
Our first experience in Delhi was being whipped between lines of trucks in a small vehicle produced by the car company "Tata." There seemed to be no lane or any oganization to traffic. The back of the trucks, which just sit in the middle of the road, are painted in colorful designs and say in giant letter "HORN PLEASE." Our driver, Happi, explained to us that in India, you must use your horn at all times, as he pounded on his horn and squeezed through the giant trucks. The next day, I would learn this is also how the Indian drivers deal with oncoming traffic.
We arrived at our hotel on a dirty street in the middle of the night. It was hot, but not nearly as bad as I had feared. It became clear that our hotel was under heavy construction as we were lead up through dark stairways and hallways to our rooms; it seemed that we were the only ones there. Fortunately the rooms were air conditioned, which was a first on this trip, and it actually ended up being one of the more comfortable accommodations, despite the building's state of disrepair.
June 28
The next morning we talked to the owner of the hotel and discussed with him our current itinerary and what other things we had hoped to do. One thing we had wanted to do but had not planned was a safari, and our plans quickly changed when we discovered there was a place to do safari between Agra and Jaipur, but the park closed in a few days for the monsoon season. By the end of our conversation, the owner had changed almost all of our hotel accommodations, reserved tour guides, and provided us with a driver for the rest of our time in India to take us to each place. The next thing we new, we were being driven down 2 lane roads, weaving through camels, cows, motorcycles, tractors, buses, trucks, and three wheeled auto-rickshaws going in both directions by our new driver, Daib, and our first day in Delhi became our first day in Agra.
We arrived in Agra in time for dinner. We decided to explore the town and make an attempt to experience the culture, but instead found ourselves targets as we walked down the street. In Agra, people don't want to be your friend, they want to sell you a chess set (and I mean, really want to sell you a chess set) or cart you around on their rickshaw. It was actually quite a task to get to the restaurant. Our meal was delicious and we had another nice air-conditioned night.
June 29
The next morning, we woke up at the ripe hour of 5:00 am to meet our guide who would give us a tour of the Taj Mahal. Needless to say, the Taj Mahal was beyond impressive, and our guide was excellent. One of the most interesting things he showed us was how the translucence of the white marble glowed in certain kind of light, but more specifically, how the different stone inlays would accent this with their own translucence or opaqueness. After, we had lunch and relaxed a bit before the guide took us to see the same craftsmen that currently work to restore the Taj Mahal make the stone inlays in the marble. The skill had been handed down through their family, and all the craftsmen took great pride in their work, which showed in the incredible intricacy and precision of the stone inlays. Soon we were on the road again. Our next stop, Ranthambhore National Park.
We arrived at our hotel in time for dinner. Our hotel was nearly empty, as the next day was the last day before the park closed. The town was tiny and the infrastructure was primitive. We had to drive for a while just to get to an ATM. We began to settle on our hotel's balcony with a few King Fischer's (India's premier and only beer), when we began to see fireworks. Our driver came up to us and asked us if we would like to see an Indian wedding. We walked down the street a ways to see a huge crowd gathered in front of a cart with 6 large megaphones on it, pumping out music from a live band. The music was unlike anything I'd ever heard, and before we knew it, the people were inviting us into their dance circle, which was clearly marked by children holding large fluorescent lights. Rory was armed with his video camera, and got excellent footage, which allowed us to later reflect on the event and firmly establish myself as the best dancer. This place was much different from Agra, we were no longer targets, but guests, and the friendliness of the people this far away from the city was unsurpassed.
June 30
Another early morning, we have two safaris for the day. We ride in an open Suzuki Gypsy through trails. The ultimate goal was to spot a Bengal Tiger, the top of the food chain in this region. Scott asked what animals the tiger ate. Our driver didn't speak much English, but enough to tell us affirmatively "Tiger eat all animals." Our first sighting was a small hoard of monkeys. We has seen some in the city already, but not in such abundance, and this particular species was much larger. We saw peacocks, mule deer, mongooses, monitor lizards, and incredible vistas, but no Tiger. Occasionally our driver would stop the car and stand up on the top of the frame to listen. He was listening for warning calls from the monkeys, which they call out upon spotting the tiger. Other than tiger tracks, this is pretty much the only indication we had of where the tiger might be. Our first safari ended and we went back for a nap to recover. Our second safari took us up some more rocky areas of the park. We drove around for a long time and were basically ready to accept that we would not find the tiger. Our driver told us that their are only about 25 tigers in the park, and they are solitary animals. Their times to wander and feed are early morning and late day, and sleep in the shade during the day. We would frequently pass other jeeps on our tour, and the drivers would always stop to converse. One conversation ended abruptly when our driver turned the car around furiously and tore down a bumpy dirt road. We weren't sure why he was so excited, but we could only hope it was for a tiger. We passed a bus load of people and he stopped to talk. He seemed disappointed, he explained that there was a tiger, but they had just seen it disappear over a hilltop. We continued down the road and came to an area where a jeep and a bus were parked. One of the other drivers motioned to us and we drove over. About 4 yards from the front of our jeep emerged a full grown female Bengal tiger, sauntering passed the vehicles. It was amazing to see one of these animals in the wild. It came to our attention that we had come incredibly close to this beast, and were completely unprotected in our open topped Gypsy, which didn't even have seat belts. Our driver assured us in broken English that the tiger's never attacked humans and they were used to the cars. Our safari was beyond successful and we went home satisfied.
July 1
We spent the morning touring a large fort and some temples in the area of the national park, and have just arrived in Jaipur. The internet here is much cheaper that it was in Europe, 40 rupees for an hour is about 1$, which is much better than 5 euros for an hour in Vienna. I'd take the time to load photo's, but my sandwich is getting cold and we need to start seeing the city. More to come soon.
posted by James Dixon at 5:46 AM
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