So far in India, Max and I have spent one day in New Delhi, 1 day in Agra, and then several days in the eastern part of the northwestern state of Rajasthan. We are currently in a town called Jodhpur, which is famous for saffron lassis (a yoghurt drink - sooooo good!) as well as for appearing 'blue' from the mountains surrounding (not so sure about that). We have not done much in this town as we just arrived this afternoon, but we have grand plans for tomorrow.
Highlights of our trip so far have been the Taj Mahal (which I wrote about in my last post), and the views from the fort as well as the famous 'pink (old) city' of Jaipur. The city was painted pink in 1876 by the then raja to welcome the Prince of Wales on a state visit, and it has been the law ever since! The entire old city was a range of salmon-pink-rose that was really amazing! From Jaipur we drove to Ajmer where we saw the ruins of an old mosque and a modern Jain temple complete with a HUGE model of the Jain universe. It was a large room filled with golden buildings, processions of camels, elephants, tigers, etc, pavilions, people playing instruments, and flying boats driven by animals with praying people inside. There were glittering jewels and mirrors everywhere, it was very impressive. Last night, we stayed in the small town of Pushkar, which has a sacred lake with bathing pools, or 'ghats' for Hindu pilgrims who come to worship at the famous Brahma temple. There are only a few Brahma temples in the world, so even though Pushkar has only 14,000 permanent inhabitants, it sees a constant flux of religious tourists.
My impressions of India to this point are that it is a beautiful, smelly, chaotic, very spiritual country, but at the same time filled with people trying to cheat you. I'm sure that the white skin and the tourist guide book don't help with that ;) and there are people in every country willing to take advantage of the unwary, so it doesn't bother me too much. The traffic here is actually worse than in China (who could have thought!); there are even fewer road rules and the flow is disrupted by running children, motorcycles, autorickshaws, horse and camel-drawn carts and trucks...you name it. Also hygiene seems to be worse, at least than in Beijing, but admittedly I haven't spent much time in smaller Chinese cities. There are running open sewers in many places we've been which I'm sure doesn't help people stay healthy! However, the food that I've had so far I've enjoyed immensely :) and I'm looking forward to more. I'm not sure I'll be happy with foreign Indian food when I return home! We have had several welcoming, very personable guides and mostly everyone has been really nice. The scenery and monuments/religious buildings are really detailed, beautiful, and amazing, and the markets are fascinating. There is so much to see and I feel like I understand so little!
Keep on the lookout for albums of pictures to be posted later.
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| The Taj |
Highlights of our trip so far have been the Taj Mahal (which I wrote about in my last post), and the views from the fort as well as the famous 'pink (old) city' of Jaipur. The city was painted pink in 1876 by the then raja to welcome the Prince of Wales on a state visit, and it has been the law ever since! The entire old city was a range of salmon-pink-rose that was really amazing! From Jaipur we drove to Ajmer where we saw the ruins of an old mosque and a modern Jain temple complete with a HUGE model of the Jain universe. It was a large room filled with golden buildings, processions of camels, elephants, tigers, etc, pavilions, people playing instruments, and flying boats driven by animals with praying people inside. There were glittering jewels and mirrors everywhere, it was very impressive. Last night, we stayed in the small town of Pushkar, which has a sacred lake with bathing pools, or 'ghats' for Hindu pilgrims who come to worship at the famous Brahma temple. There are only a few Brahma temples in the world, so even though Pushkar has only 14,000 permanent inhabitants, it sees a constant flux of religious tourists.
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| The Hawa Mahal in the pink city of Jaipur |
My impressions of India to this point are that it is a beautiful, smelly, chaotic, very spiritual country, but at the same time filled with people trying to cheat you. I'm sure that the white skin and the tourist guide book don't help with that ;) and there are people in every country willing to take advantage of the unwary, so it doesn't bother me too much. The traffic here is actually worse than in China (who could have thought!); there are even fewer road rules and the flow is disrupted by running children, motorcycles, autorickshaws, horse and camel-drawn carts and trucks...you name it. Also hygiene seems to be worse, at least than in Beijing, but admittedly I haven't spent much time in smaller Chinese cities. There are running open sewers in many places we've been which I'm sure doesn't help people stay healthy! However, the food that I've had so far I've enjoyed immensely :) and I'm looking forward to more. I'm not sure I'll be happy with foreign Indian food when I return home! We have had several welcoming, very personable guides and mostly everyone has been really nice. The scenery and monuments/religious buildings are really detailed, beautiful, and amazing, and the markets are fascinating. There is so much to see and I feel like I understand so little!
Keep on the lookout for albums of pictures to be posted later.
Correction: the golden triangle is slightly southwest of Delhi, not northeast
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