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I'd been working up to this for years.......
Going to India......
Hey!! Have you noticed??.. the last trip was to Vietnam and this one is to India. The earlier trip was to what the International brigade call - Ho Chi Minh City - but which the locals call - Saigon!
This time - the Internationals say "Mumbai" and the locals say "Bombay".... I'm all for keeping things the way the "are" - because my brain's going and in Geography lessons we were told - Bombay - Saigon etc...- .... so from now on - its Saigon and BOMBAY!!
Inga had visited as a schoolgirl, but had enjoyed a summer vacation that - I guess - most residents of Bombay never experience.
So... why go to India..??
 | The Himalayas.... yes, yes - that I still want to do..... |
| Lying on beaches under palm trees - done that!! |
| Goa - been to other Portuguese colonies (Mozambique and Macau) and they weren't "riveting" |
| Real reason was/is - to see the Taj Mahal!! |
05/Oct/2005 - Janet was in Bombay and I flew (10:30AM left Sing - arrived Bombay 13:15 -) in cheapie - Jet Airways - have to give them a boost here - very nice flights/staff/planes etc... - go fly them - bit difficult - their international flights (out of India) are Singapore and soon... London - but watch out for them - they are good!! Plane was 30% full, cloudy all the way - saw nothing - landed at Bombay - runway dry at touchdown - raining hard at far end of the runway. Monsoon was just finishing....
Airport.... of the 1950's vintage (sorry) - millions of signs - but not many of them helpful, millions of staff but not many of them helpful - hooray - Grand Hyatt driver there to meet and greet.. but then....BOOM!!... Bombay - Indian....roads/drivers/cars/pedestrians/Tuk-Tuks/Cows (didn't see any elephants (you do in Bangkok!!)) etc..... mayhem!! All hooting!! All creating dust/dirt/noise/pollution etc... - not nice. I'll not "go-on" about roads and drivers - suffice to say - we never had a bump/accident - BUT closeness of "others" was the nearest I have ever encountered - at all speeds - 1 to 2 cm - is normal!! There are no "lanes" and nobody would adhere - if there were.... chaos!! But it seems to work - but I'd prefer something - different...enough!!
Into Executive Lounge for tea etc.. lots of staff, and a coffee-maker machine.... if you want coffee - make your own! If you want tea... ask the waitress.....
Coffee-shop for dinner - Croque Monsieur for me!!
06/Oct/2005 - Croissants for breakfast (everyday) - read all day - and discovered SULA Champagne in the evening - this is India's Champagnoise... and very good it is too!! Very impressive!! Italian antipasti for dinner - exe!!
07/Oct/2005 - Checkout at 16:00 and fly to Delhi - Kingfisher Airways (also good and enthusiastic, but not as "international" as Jet).... we nearly messed this up - thinking the flight was at 19:25 - when it was at 18:25 - hurry/scurry - made it with plenty of time to spare.. Sheraton in Delhi was one of those with a butler - hardly used him - shame!!
08/Oct/2005 (Saturday) - Up early for 07:30 car pickup - Jeet was the driver, nice young guy.... 3 hour drive to Agra. Not bad roads but very crowded around cities/towns - into Agra and pick up Navindr our guide for the rest of the day - also very nice man....
He's registered guide
number 100 - if you'd like to book him in advance of your trip - we'd recommend
him highly!! Those "pockets" on his shirt are pockets - BUT - also they have a a
covering secured by pop-studs. So in the picture the coverings are Up and
secured - covering up his "Guide number 100" which is embroidered on the actual
pockets. This way he can "cover down" and be a guide - then "cover up" and its
just a blue shirt - he's not working!!
First off - we leave the car/Jeet and jump into an electric Tuk-Tuk - Agra has gone all ecological.... so there are few local taxes and lots of "save this" and "be clean" etc... admonishions - 2 minutes in the Tuk-tuk and then we're bombarded with people selling "things" - push through...and buy tickets......
500 Rupee per person - 8th
October, 2005, and start into the Taj Mahal site..... we're walking along
a small road with sandstone buildings on either side - these are stable/worker
type accommodations, and as you get to the end of these - at 90 degrees right
over a very high wall you see the first glimpses of the Taj Mahal... nothing
really to see.. so walk on to a "square" - turn 90 degrees right and......
The main entrance gate to
the Taj Mahal, which is seen through the middle arch at ground level - see the
"white" of it shining through...?? Much was made of the 11 white small "domes"
atop the gate - representing how long it took to build - alas now I've forgotten
- either 11 years or 22 years - (you'll see what I mean later on).....
Big mention is made - that the artisans that built the Taj and lots of other things for the Mogul kings - were Persian, and that restoration work (always ongoing) is still being done by descendants of theirs.
We have to get in every
3rd picture!! It was a warm day - 38 degrees C - apparently Agra gets up to
nearly 50 C in the summer!!
So now - we're off to walk through that middle archway......
See the Taj appearing??
There were lots of "stand here" - "can you see 3 minarets?" etc... of organising
- so it took a while to get "in"... Big doors....hey??
There was lots of "stand on the centre-line" sort of arrangements - so
things got clogged up from time to time... also - the Taj being so brilliant on
such a brilliant day - shade and "outside" piccies like these - and others to
come - just didn't work - should have used fill-in flash!!
Fairly crowded, but its a big place - so if you get off the
"centre-line" you can have a peaceful time.... See the two buildings left and
right of the Taj - peering over the trees.....??? the one on the left is a
working Mosque - whilst the one on the right is just a copy, to keep symmetry.
So now you see what I mean about needing fill-in-flash...
and if you
pay 100 Rupee - you get it - from the professionals!!
At the end of the water/fountain behind us is another "photo-opportunity" - where Princess Di was photographed from - apparently the bench/seat had a name - but its now known as Diana's Seat
People at far left are
sitting on Diana's Seat, we're just waiting our turn... shame about getting the
"plumbing" in the piccie...
Yes!! She did!! She sat - right there!! Who cut our feet off??
Pushing on - towards the
tomb itself...
The guide was saying that early morning/late evening are good times to
get the water in the fountains - staying quite calm.... for us, the water was
too rippled to get those "mirror-images".
Smile please!!
Getting closer.....
Just like icing on a cake!!
Fabulous!!
By now we were getting
adventurous (at the guide's instigation - they probably do it for all visitors)
- try to get a reflection of the Taj in the sunglasses.....
The "copy mosque" at right
of the Taj - see the scaffolding around the domes>> - restorations work still
going on.....
Time for a look back where
we'd come from... where is everybody?? And at this elevation there are an
additional 11 domes on top of the gate - all 22 can be seen from certain angles,
whilst 11 are generally seen - depends how high you are..
Trying for a reflection
again.....
Backwards looking....
We've got to get up onto
that first level where everybody else is.... AND... you are supplied with blue
"over-shoes" to cover your shoes - to protect the marble..... which they say is
very hard (and very white) - better than the rubbish stuff found in Italy, as
used by Michelangelo for his David sculpture and others.....(Pieta??)
One of the 4 minarets -
all of which lean "out" at 5 degrees - to preserve the symmetry again! STOP!!
Stop!! - an update as of 15th October, 2005 - from Ben (what's Ben's last
name??) via Inga... and now Janet has joined in - apparently they lean out so
that in the event of an earthquake - they wouldn't fall on the tomb..... which -
Janet says - our guide told us (the memory has gone - with the mind!!) - and
apparently I was so impressed I asked him if there had been any earthquakes -
and he said - No! Over-engineered!!
Walking down the right
side of the "tomb complex" see some people have their "blue cover-shoes" on...??
Others are allowed to walk barefoot... By this stage we'd been inside the "tomb
room" - which was very bare and very crowded - so not as pleasant as being
outside....
back-right minaret -
beyond it - is the river...
Icing on the right side...
also... see the designs, mostly down the left side of the piccie...??
This is what they look
like (zoomed) - shame - the colours haven't come out - mostly black, dark green
and red.
Copy-mosque at right of
Taj
Lots of families enjoying
the shade at back of Taj - river is in the distance - as is the Red Fort.
The ruler who had the Taj
built for his wife also had foundations dug for a similar "marker" for himself -
shame, his son had him locked up before he could get much further on with the
work..
Icing - at the back of the Taj, mosque appearing at right. See the
red, black and green motif??
Mosque and back-left
minaret.
front-right minaret,
Walking back out now...
(guide in background).
Taj front - from the
gardens...
Starting to say goodbye.. now...
Never thought India would
be so green!!
getting back towards the
entrance again now...
One last try with the
reflection in the sunglasses...
We did persevere with the
Non-fill-in-flash photies.... must play with them more - see if I can "dodge"
the faces at least..
Bye-bye Taj Mahal - you were great!! Very happy!!
Jeet and Navindr now took us to 3 "sales emporiums" - but we didn't know there was going to be 3... and also we didn't know we wanted to spend money on....you'll see.....
This is Sameer at Akbar
International (www.akbarinternational.com)- Marble Handicrafts Emporium - very
nice and humorous man!! Their product is equally as impressive as the Lacquer
work done in Vietnam - from the viewpoint of small, detailed, exquisite assembly
of parts. Here they take great slabs of marble (dining tables, desk tops, table
tops etc)... colour them with Henna, draw a design, gauge out (to a depth of
.125 of cm) parts of the design - then manufacture from semi and precious stones
- small intricate details of say a bird or flower - and assemble these into the
gauged out areas then cement them in place, rub it all down - get rid of the
Henna - and behold....
This is one display table
top (the one we bought is more "blue" and less busy) but 12 inches by 12 inches
and (for example) each flower head is made up of perhaps 150 separate
stones/pieces each one precisely ground/cut to fit - Brilliant!! here are some
details....
The table-top Janet bought - amazing!! You can put a light underneath and the light shines through the white marble, illuminating the stones/designs...
en route to the second
emporium - the Red Fort (we didn't go in) - and....
a distant view of the Taj
- with recent Indian constructions in the foreground (an abandoned
sewer-pipe).
Next was my favourite....
Persian carpet making (in
India)!!
There were 3 looms being used and the three guys who were tying the knots - so dextrous... - I tried with my long-elegant-piano-playing fingers... impossible - and yet they're so fast!!
These were mainly
silk/wool mixture carpets - and the silk threads were so fine (about the width
of cotton from a cotton-reel) - can you imagine how many knots it would take to
cover just 1 inch?? Alas, its a dying art... youngsters can earn more doing
other things which are also less difficult to do.
Janet bought 2 lovely rugs here!! Piccies to follow......
Then we went to a Jewelry emporium - but shame - she was moneyed-out!! So we couldn't devote the sort of attention to it - that would normally have been applied - no sales!!
Drove back from Agra to Delhi - 3+ hours - at night - lots of vehicles with no (or faulty) lights - chaos!! Into hotel by about 23:00 - brilliant day!!
09/10/2005 - Had breakfast - decided we wanted to see the sights of Delhi - phoned Jeez - he came and picked us up for an 8 hours or 80 Km (whichever came first) tour (the 80 Kms came first!!)...... through the diplomatic area - to President's house (excuse me!! house?? - more like palace/castle), Parliament and ministry buildings....
The President's house is
behind me (there are lots of railings - so I didn't take a piccie), but this
long straight road runs from his place to the India Gate (just visible on
horizon), with Ministries of this and that on left and right - all in such grand
style and mirroring each other across the road.....
This could be the ministry
of Railways, with an off duty guard or engine-driver in the foreground!!
Whilst across the road
could be the Ministry of Revenue - with a shabby (no decent shoes) contributor,
just leaving with all his worldly-wealth, after the vultures had eaten their
fill!! (India Gate at far left..see it??)
further down the road -
towards India Gate - looking back at President's House and Ministries.... parks
on either side of the road - very impressive!!
Still a ways to go
though.........
Wow!! The train-driver has
run all that way??
That's India Gate (or is
it Marble Arch??) - and just out of shot to the left of me - was a snake-charmer
with 2 very dozy Cobras, all they wanted to do was sleep!! (Just as well!!).
Next we went to the Red Fort - but there was a market in the way!! It occupied the road leading to the Fort - and the only way to traverse it was by walking - 1 Km or more in the heat - and then return after walking around the fort - gave it a miss!!
Jeet suggested Humayun's Tomb (why not) - supposed to be a Taj Mahal look-alike etc...
Janet had really wanted to
see the Red Fort - so as you can see - she's not in best disposition......
And this wasn't turning
out to be much like the Taj!!
Though - I was enjoying
scrabbling around the "ruins"...
Which I was finding very
pleasant..... it was a big complex...and after much walking.....
OK - its the wrong colour
- but add four minarets - and you'd get the picture hey??
Built in 1565!!
Very pleasant!!
We went for lunch and had wanted to go see Qtab Minar a very tall/old Minaret/tower, but decided instead that we now wanted to see Laxmi Narayan Temple... alas when we got there there was a dress code (easily got round - they provide appropriate coverings), but also had to leave camera and other "valuables" in a "dicey looking" room/cupboard..... Out of there!! - by which time - we'd used up 70 Kms!! It was 3 hours early - but we asked Jeet to drop us at the domestic airport......
Kingfisher flight back was eventful because 30 minutes before landing we started circling and were told that an earlier plane (Sahara Airlines) had skidded off the main runway - and everything was backed up. Later we were told we are 10th to land - on the second runway - no problemos - saw the stricken plane as we taxied to the terminal - lots of shouting and remonstrating once we'd collected our bags - guess the passengers of the Sahara plane were unhappy with their treatment...??
Back into Grand Hyatt, Bombay!
10 and 11/10/2005 - Read all day - no interest in seeing sights of Bombay - alas had misplaced a friend's suggestions of places to see.... (found it now - Prince of Wales Museum, Fort area, Chhatrapati Shivaji Station, Marine Drive, Malabar Hill)
12/10/2005 - was a public holiday - but Janet had lots of work to do - so we stayed in the room all day. I realised I'd messed up my return flight booking - and managed to get it changed, and duly flew out around 23:00. Janet's flight (which should have been 1 hour later than mine) - got delayed 22 hours (because of the Sahara plane still blocking the runway) - don't know why mine was OK but hers not.....
13/10/2005 - back in Singapore - new carpets look great...