In the Raw

Had a super day today... after a week of going hard, it took us until about 1300h to tear ourselves away from our poolside camp and muster the gumption to re-enter India for another day of adventure.

We continue to be amazed by how completely Raw this country is. We hired a taxi to take us to the City Palace, which is located inside of the "Old City" of Jaipur, which is completely surrounded by pink fort-like walls. The palace itself was beautiful, and as I was admiring the delicate architecture, a bird shat on my head (mom, I feel you!). Our second stop on today's journey was a super interesting astronomy/astrology centre from ancient times, replete with all manner of Alice-In-Wonderland type sundials and other contraptions, which were used to keep track of both time and horoscopes. They put a lot of emphasis on horoscopes here - the 'Classifieds' in the paper here are called 'Matrimonials', and it's not uncommon for them to state 'Horoscope match a MUST!

As we were trying to negotiate the narrow exit of the astrology centre (being careful not to be run over by rickshaw, taxi, tourist bus or motorbike), traffic through the passage came to a screeching halt as 6-7 wild urban cows decided to take up residence in the passage, with a huge herd of monkeys looking on from an adjacent rooftop. As Deb and I were planning our strategy, something motivated the monkeys to suddenly come flying off the rooftop and nearly into our laps! Don't look now, there's a monkey on your back!!... close call. We explored the Old City a while longer, then hopped a rickshaw home. Highlight of the trip home was a random camel in line with the rest of us in rush hour traffic, which caused us to collapse into inconsolable giggles... what else can you do but laugh? In truth, it is quite awful for that animal (or us animals, for that matter) to be breathing in the toxic fumes of Indian traffic.

Tomorrow we are off to our Tiger Safari in Rathambore National Park... stay tuned!!

Ode to Oasis and Deb

After a deep breath and yet another harrowing train experience, we arrive to our current Oasis (Jas Villas) in Jaipur. The Villas are absolutely lovely - not only is it a clean, fresh, tranquil reprieve from the disaster outside otherwise known as India, but it comes replete with a truly lovely garden, and a pool long enough to do laps in - YEAH!! I want to take a moment to give the credit, and many many thanks, to Deb for doing soooo much work to book our itinerary, hotels and trains. If it wasn't for her, we would be sandwiched between cows and smelly men in the 3rd class train compartments, and we would never have found gem hotels like this one, which aren't even in the Bible (aka Lonely Planet India!)! Deb - you ROCK!!!
In exchange for these services, I willingly accept the burden of serving as Confrontational Exchange Manager for the team, dealing with interpersonal battles/warfare as the need may arise. That's pretty frequent around here... train stations being the worst so far. We were uncermoniously dumped at the train station last night and left to fend for ourselves to find our train... this would seem a small feat, but was unfortunately complicated by 1) power outage on the screen that would normally list the trains; 2) train listings were in Hindi anyway; 3) no mention of track number aside said power-outed listing (it flicked on briefly); 4) long lines of burly pushy men who did not see why I should deserve a place in line (until my elbows came out and my voice rose to match theirs, HA.). Ultimately we figured it out, and got here in one piece!
Today we chilled out poolside, and ventured 'out there' to check out the markets in Jaipur. I was excited to find all sorts of little bags of candies sold by street vendors, which resembled a lovely little chewy mix that we got on the plane from Heathrow to Delhi. I bought 10 packs in different flavors, and when we came back to the hotel, I opened one sac and poured it into my mouth... BLECH... to find out (the hard way) that I was the proud owner of 10 bags of chewing tabacco!! Whups... no wonder the vendor was giving me such weird looks. Truth is, I just want to be able to spit back when spat upon by the locals (there is a lot of horking going on, and often their aim is somewhat misguided).

NUMBER 6 - CHECK!!

Well, the sixth of seven Wonders of the World are solidly under my belt... we did the Taj Mahal today! It is as magnificent (possibly more) than I imagined... We took a sneak peak from the back side of it at sunset last night, which was stunning, but tempered a bit by all the Indians chasing us around, trying to get us to buy something, or maybe have a little look-see inside of our bags? Let's just say there were some firm words.
This morning, we got into the grounds of the Taj as the sun was coming up. There was a very dense fog coming up from the river that lent a mystique to the whole experience. It is amazing that so much love was put into building this colossal tomb (built by emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife in the 1600s), and so much time... it took 20,000 people 22 years to build. The detail in the marble carving is beyond descrption.
For the balance of these two days in Agra, we checked out a huge old military fort, and today we are venturing out of town to an Fatehpur Sikri, a fortified ghost city which was the capital of the Mughal empire in the 1500s, but since abandoned (yet another World Heritage site on our journey!). We maintain an exceptionally hypervigilant state to avoid death or other bodily injury, which we remain at high risk of at all times from any or all of the following: cows blocking traffic; pollution blocking alveoli; mosquitos carrying dengue and/or malaria; cow poo threatening to cause banana-peel like incident (doubly bad if incident causes deviation into traffic inches to the right); flea bitten, hungry (?rabid) dogs; heat stroke and/or extreme dehydration; water bottles being refilled with sesspool tap water and resold as 'new' in fridges (check those caps for sealage!) sunburn (less likely given #2 above); any food product not accepted for processing by our intestines (so far, cross your fingers!); angry monkey who clearly does not enjoy flash photography; unmarked cliffs/sharp edges at monuments, guaranteeing ankle fracture (or worse); and the list goes on. However, our forays into the urban (is there any rural around here??) wilderness is always rewarded by an incredible, unforgettable experience, and soothed by the joy of a first world hotel that have taken on the stature of Oasis in our minds. :()

Varanasi Alive!! (or dead)

Well, we had a rager of a morning... caught a boat shoreside before sunrise, and watched the action on the banks of the Ganges as the sun rose to embrace the people. We were able to photo document the open crematoria (above) from the safety of the boat (essentially impossible to get away with on shore); it is not as active in the early morning as it is during the day, when there are at least 6 fires alight, and hundreds of family members crowded around watching. Morning seems to be prime time for the holy bath in the Ganges (above). It is so interesting to watch a guy strip down, lather himself head to toe in soap suds, and then get into septic water to 'wash' it off! They submerge themselves 3 times in a ritual, say a prayer, then sometimes even drink the water. Personally, I've had two showers already today to try to keep the India off me... and bought a whole new set of clean clothes! The transformation is now complete - I'm officially in travel mode, dressed like the grunge travelers we see around... the differences being that a) I am washing far too often to risk growing dreadlocks, and b) I am not stoned out of my tree!!

Varanasi Photos!!

It MUST be curry...

Well, a day spent in Varanasi has fulfilled my quota of 'Try something new every day!', for the next two years or so...!
This place is totally overwhelming, on every level. The highlight of the day, and an experience I will never forget, is watching the open crematoria alongside the Ganges river. In the Hindu relgion (which 82% of Indians follow), the banks of the Ganges river are considered holy ground. So holy, in fact, that if a person dies on site, they get a Get Out of Reincarnation Free card, and get catapulted to a state of eternal Nirvana. So, people bring their loved ones here to die, and when they do, they get wrapped in special cloth, bathed in the river, then burned while family members look on. 300 bodies are burned per day - there are 6 fires on the go 24/7. We stood and watched a wrapped body burn until the cloth and skin were burned off, and you could see the skull bones protruding - with family looking on in celebratory joy. Dead pregnant women, holy men, babies, and people who die of snake bites don't get burned, but are either sunk to the bottom of the river with a stone, or set afloat down the river on a banana leaf.
As this is going on, there are wild cows alongside dipping in to the river for a bath, and many people following suit, submerging themselves in this holy water, as 30 sewage treatment pipes belch out their fluids alongside (spawning my safety-based philosophy of 'Anything wet is urine until proven otherwise!!). The rest of the day is difficult to describe... wandering around in a hypervigilant state, people and animal watching.... An elderly woman paying homage to a cow on the street, walking around it in a trance, touching it systematically, and saying prayers; a herd of monkeys romping around the streets, getting into fights with each other, ultimately beaten away with a bat by a local man; us beating off the hundredth tout asking if we would like a boat ride, a tour, or perhaps some hash?; watching a beautiful group of young, colorfully clad girls sprinting along the river banks in a Punjabi-Baywatch fashion, realizing too late that they were running towards the two pale skinned walking ATMs, to hound us incessantly to buy their wares; feeling so deeply for the umpteenth crippled man sitting on the steps, wishing better for his life.
A picture really does speak a thousand words... stay tuned. Off to grab our laundry, which was motivated by an unidentified yellow substance on Deb's pants ('it must be curry!'... this is up for debate.) !! :)

Varanasi!!

Just arrived in Varanasi on a night train from Delhi. We got off the train (which was very nice, had our own berth in the sleeper car), and were immediately in sensory overload.... picture kajillions of people, pushing and jostling their way down the crowded platform... men carrying impossibly huge loads of ?? on their heads... smells to overwhelm the senses (yes in a bad way!)... dogs, rats skittering from track to track... and then, the sight we were waiting for (was it a mirage?) - a guy standing in the middle of it all, holding a sign DEB BAUMBACK.
Aaaah.
So we expect we are getting into a rickshaw, but indeed we are traveling in style and an SUV awaits us. Unfortunately, said SUV wouldn't start, and our driver left us in the middle of a busy road in the truck while he went to collect buddies for a jump start (15mins). Jump start successful, he proceeded to turn us INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC for about 100m before finding his opening to the other side of the road. Phew! Traffic is cause to fear for one's life when you are in the correct flow of traffic!!
Down the streets we go, once again in sensory overload and largely unable to speak but only to giggle... cows laying around with the dogs on the side of the street (cows are holy and can be neither eaten nor killed, so they truly behave like stray dogs!!)... beautiful ladies in colorful saris packed 3 into a rickshaw (long bike with buggy in back)... and yes, lots of poverty stricken people. Finally we are dropped off seemingly in the middle of all of this, but there were about 3 men greeting us and next thing you know we are swept up some stairs (the men are carrying our suitcases on their heads), passing another few stray cows, and suddenly we are inside a beautiful white airconditioned hotel with leis of 100 of the freshest roses you've ever smelled around our necks.
We are off to explore Varanasi - a holy Hindu city where people come to cremate their dead, such that they can escape the cycle of reincarnation... sure to be a sight!!
... Still largely speechless. :)