Thursday, 29 August 2013

Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India


Varanasi railway station

With great sadness we write this post today. On Wednesday Johns bag was stolen on an overnight train from Agra to Varanasi. The bag was (at knife point) cut and forcibly removed, although we are physically unharmed it was a devastating loss. The Indian police have assisted where possible and when it suits them but we have little hope of seeing our computer, camera and all of Johns belongings again. 

It is extremely disappointing and after taking many precautions to avoid such as occurrence we feel targeted and of-course angry. However life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react (we took this from your Facebook mum!). Our focus is to quickly process our insurance claim and prepare for our next big adventure to Nepal! We are grateful that we are unhurt and still have our passports, phones and cash. We will also continue to keep blogging, using photos from our miraculously fully recovered iPhone (refer to previous blog regarding its untimely demise).

Although we had some bad news, our days prior had been very exciting as we visited the amazing Taj Mahal in Agra. The palace was magnificent, spectacular and truly awe inspiring. Up close, it's huge, with gleamy white marble and manicured lawns. Agra town itself is very touristy, however after some street searching we stumbled on a guesthouse with fantastic views from their roof top restaurant.  We hydrated as the sunset and dined under the full moon with the glow of the Taj in the foreground. It was ultimately relaxing and beautiful. During our three day stay at Agra the temperature soared with actual feel reaching 51 degrees around 2-3pm most days (as per our ActuWeather app). If you want to see people sweat, like sweat through jeans sweat, Agra is the place to be! We disappointingly can not show many of the amazing photos of us at the Taj Mahal as these where on our computer and camera but nether-the-less we have some others from the phone that we should hopefully be able to upload to this blog in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Majestic Taj Mahal
Currently we have arrived in Varanasi, India's holy city. It's absolutely pouring with rain and its the dance in the streets type of rain. The streets are clogged with debris and rubbish flooding the streets. The Ganges which flows along the banks of Varanasi are swollen and dark, with the odd dead cow floating by. From our room we can admire its size and strength, but we certainly won't be going in for a dip any time soon!

Tot siens,
John and Kara



Some hungry Varanasi cows


Kara with a friendly cycle risk-shaw driver


Breakfast with a view!

Evening view from our guest house in Varanasi
Kara displaying what an Indian pair of pants looks like
(yes they really are that big)

Another shot of the Varanasi train station

Monday, 26 August 2013

Northern Rajasthan (Jaipur)



As the train berthed in Jaipur and we fought over the price for an auto rickshaw before finally arriving to stay with our couch surfing host Bhaumikk and his family. We are so grateful they took a liking to us, because the following day Kara was ridden with a severe intestinal sickness. Bhaumikk and his family took were amazing, feeding and hydrating and offering many traditional medicines. It was pretty severe and after visiting hospital (twice) the diagnoses was ‘rainy season’. When Kara was up and moving again we explored Jaipur (from the comfort of Bhaumikks air conditioned car) visiting several palaces and the famous Amber fort. Jaipur was hectic- but we were fortunate enough to get the local run down.

Tot siens, 
John and Kara





First on the train to Jaipur 
John with a local child across from the Amber fort, Moata lake, Jaipur

Jaipur working camel

Water palace, Jaipur

Sweet and fresh lassi (you can keep the cup too!)

John and Bhaumikk enjoy some homemade cooking

Poor sick Kara at the hospital 



Thursday, 22 August 2013

Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Our intention was to stop off for a night at Jodhpur just to break up the journey from Udaipur to Jaisalmer. We didn’t plan on staying to explore the amazing old city on the edge of the Thar dessert- but we did. Jodhpur, the blue city is home to one of the largest forts in India- the Mehrangarh fort built in 1459 AD. Kara, a self proclaimed living room master fort builder insisted that we spend an entire day clambering up the hill and over the old ruins. It was unquestionably worth it... we took the audio tour option and spent hours walking through the old inner palaces, decorated with red sandstone, pearl and stained glass, listening to our head phones. Later when our stomachs grumbled for dinner we feasted on samosa and explored the old city shopping arcades. We stayed longer to partake in Raksha Bandhan a national festival celebrated with the giving of small Rakis (bracelets) and kite flying!. Unfortunately from our decision to stay, we couldn’t get the tickets to Jaisalmer so on the spur of the moment we decided to head further north to Jaipur.
Mehrangarth fort, Jodhpur 




























Audio tour, Mehrangarth fort

The kings main bedroom

The palace sitting room 

Looking down across Jodhpur (the blue city)

John relaxing with some lemon honey and ginger tea

Monday, 19 August 2013

Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

Train station (non- veg) Thali




Udaipur is colloquially named, the Venice of India. We are assuming the folk that came up with the name have never actually been to Venice? 

What Udaipur has is a large smelly and polluted lake. However overlooking the pollution the lake is beautiful and seductive as the old town of Udaipur nestles along the edge fanning out dozens of small and narrow lanes jammed packed with antique art stores, accommodation and huge cows.

Arriving in Udaipur






A Krishna avatar
We arrived after a two and a half day journey from Goa. Goa to Mumbai, to Ahmedabad and then to Udaipur on train. Our stop in Mumbai was 14 hours and we spent this time exploring the city on foot. 
Mumbai was awesome- by far the cleanest place we have been to yet (meaning it was only every third step we stood in rubbish!) and after recently finishing the famous novel Shantarum it is was exciting to see several iconic landmarks. We ate some delicious mutton curry with fresh chapatti and saw our first Indian McDonalds!.


Trains are not the fastest method of transport; from Ahmedabad to Udaipur we travelled at 25mph but you can lie back and watch the countryside pass you by (plus trains have toilets and busses don’t). 

We decided not to stay in Mumbai longer because of the up coming Indian Independence Day and previous terrorist attacks in the city. On reflection we would have probably loved another day or two there to catch up on some more Bollywood films.

John sunning himself from our balcony

Udaipur is nestled in south Rajasthan, so officially we are in the North now. The weather is slightly cooler and remains unpleasantly fry and humid. We are staying on the top story of a small guesthouse and as the only guests we have full run of the building.

Our room is huge and nicely decorated with a large indoor balcony, king bed and several windows facing out across the city (setting us back $7.10 per night). 




A small offering at Jagdish temple
The guesthouse is situated to the immediate left of Jagdish temple, the largest temple in Rajasthan. We have come to find that the temple priests like to initiate pray at 5.10am and 10.30pm each day by broadcasting song and repetitive prayer over a loud speaker. A very, very, very loud speaker that travels straight through solid concrete walls. 

Udaipur at night
For us, it was love on arrival. The lake, the crazy city that tries to fit everyone and everything within its large boundary walls, the magnificent city palace and the delicious food make Udaipur a place worth stopping at. 

Also worth mentioning (if your a James Bond fan) because you can watch the film (every night) at every third rooftop restaurant, was that parts of the James Bond: Octopussy movie was filmed here! The locals are very proud of this and encourage you to watch the movie (as we said- every night)! If they are not doing this, they are encouraging you to ‘look’ at their beautiful arts and merchandise. We have had the same conversation over and over it goes:

“ Hello! Nice moustache “
“ Hello – you too ”
“ From where? “
“ New Zealand “
“ Name? “
Enjoying the view from Karni Mata temple
“ John ”
(Handshake)
“ Come look my art, I am an artist. No buy- just look. I am quality artist, I show you. I very proud my art. No buy, no buy- please look “
“ No thank you, it looks nice – No thank you “
“ Please sir, please just look, no buy, please look. I am owner of art school ”

Of course as soon as you step in the shop, the guy disappears and you’re left re-negotiating again with the real owner who is insistent you must buy.


Looking towards Udaipur old town across Lake Pichola

This conversation could happen at every single shop! Indians can be insistingly aggressive. But we are learning... always greet first with Namaste! (Hindi for hello)… it seems that its very rude not to respond and gives us milliseconds to keep on walking!  

We also have seen that Indians are quite entrepreneurial and you can see a mix of items for sale in a shop. For example you could go to a phone store and also pick up some deodorant, cake shops sell belts (probably speaks for itself) or you can drop down to a local shoe shop and grab some samosas.

An early start yoga class


So for now, think of us wandering through old, dirty and teeny lane ways with our miniature pistachio ice-cream. Watching the pink sunsets over the lake and waking up far too early to hit the 7am yoga... because that's what we are doing!


Tot siens
John and Kara


Kara outside the city palace

Best way to start the day? A barber shave
John peeking out from our room


Trying to eat the most unpractical bus food ever
(Chickpea dumplings with liquid dahl)