We have now officially left the state of Rajasthan. We flew out of Jaipur yesterday and are currently in Mumbai (Bombay). Here's our hijinks's in Udaipur and Jaipur.
Udaipur
So far the city of Udaipur is my favorite Indian city. Located beside a lake it doesn't get that hot and the city seems to have a great mix of old and modern buildings.
In order to get to Udaipur we had to take an 8 hour bus ride from Jophur. The trip was actually surprisely pleasant and we got to see a lot of the Indian country side. We arrived in Udaipur on May 21 and left May 24th.
Udaipur was the city used in the James Bond film "Octapussy". Haven't seen "Octapussy"? Well good news, every single hotel and restaurant will play it for you!
Bonus review of Octapussy (since I basically had to watch it): I forgot how awesome/dirty the old Bond movies can be. The action sequences are so campy that it is physically impossible not to love them. My favorite part is how the movie managed to fit in every Indian stereotype within 30 minutes.
Kite Flying
One day I chilling in the hotel restaurant. The restaurant was located on the hotel roof top and it had a beautiful view of the city. It was especially picturesque since it was possible to see the city palace, a temple and lake in one view.
Due to the closeness of the lake a gentle breeze is always blowing through the city. I looking upon the roof tops when I noticed that kids were flying kites. The led me to remember a conversation I had with Kiran a couple days before about kites and our failure to successfully fly them as childern.
It was at that moment that I decided that the most important thing in my life was to fly a kite off the roof tops of Udaipur.
I sprung into action and tried to find a kite. By the way, if you want to try something challenging, try describing a kite to shop owners who don't speak the same language as you.
After 45 minutes of looking I found a stall that sold kites. The kites were made up of tissue paper that was attacked to a light frame creating a diamond shape. The most expensive part of the kite was the string.
I quickly purchased my kite and bought it back to the hotel. The dude at the restaurant helped me tie it and I excitedly ran to the roof.
The kite was easily lifted by the wind and started to soar above the roof tops. Seeing the kite rise seemed to remove all my problems and made me care free.
I felt alive.
5 seconds later the kite took a nose dive onto a patio chair located on the roof. It was mangled and couldn't fly anymore. I was destroyed.
The next day I went and purchased 4 kites. I was going successfully fly one of these things or die trying.
Kiran and I took to the roof. The restaurant was slow so the two dudes who worked at the resturant were able to help us out.
Kiran and I tried the first kite. It quickly took a nose dive and was damaged.
The hotel guy rigged up the next kite and it was flying. It looked like it was going to make it high into the sky. However, it crossed the string of another persons kite. Our string was cut and our kite plucked out of the air.
Kiran and I attempted to fly our final 2 kites. One got badly damaged and the other got stuck on a distant roof.
It was getting late, but Kiran and I weren't giving up. We taped up our first damaged kite and set it in the air. It kept rising and rising until it was far above the city. At that moment, our lives were complete.
Jaipur
After Udaipur we headed to our last stop in Rajasthan: Jaipur. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and located in the very east of the state.
To get to Jaipur we took a 10 hour night train from Udaipur. We were there from May 25th to May 28th.
Many tourists on a schedule don't go any farther that Jaipur since it's big, relatively close to Delhi and contains a pretty awesome desert fort. I think this is a shame because while Jaipur is cool, I thought the other cities we went to in Rajasthan had more charm.
Jaipur is often called "the Pink City" because the old city (where most of the tourist sites and shopping are located) is painted pink. Well it's more of an orange color, but pink enough I guess.
We hit up the city palace and the other sites located in the city. To be honest, my favorite part of the sites in the city was we finally got to see a snake charmer. It was cool.
The Desert Death Hike (again)
The major site of Jaipur is the Amber Fort, a huge desert fort/palace located on the outskirts of the city. This is main site for good reason since it's quite large and impressive.
After touring the palace we decided to hike up to the upper forts that overlook the city. It should be noted at this point that is it 2pm (high sun) and it was over 40 degrees outside. But basically it wouldn't be a summer unless we were involved in some form of a death hike through the desert.
The hike actually wasn't so bad. Sure I went through all my water in the first 10% of the journey and lost 10 pounds in sweat, but it was manageable. It was only a 45 minute walk up the hill and we were able to rest.
The fort on the top gave some awesome views and was filled with monkeys. So it easily made the hike worth it.
Star Wars
It should be mention that it's the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. So to celebrate I made Kiran and Richard watch episode 3 (one and a half times). Speaking for Kiran & Richard: It was the best moments of their lives. Any comments they may make later are nothing but lies.
Currently we are in Mumbai. We arrived here yesterday and are staying in a flat owned by Kiran's parents. We are going to be for the next couple of days till we're off to Goa.
Next Time: Mumbai
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
India Part 3: Jaisalmer and Jophur
Currently we are in the desert state of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is located in the west of India and borders Pakistan. Due to it's location many trade routes used to run through it. That means that it used to be wealthy and many cool forts were built.
These days Rajasthan is actually one of the poorer Indian states, with tourism as it's major industries. It's a pretty big stop on any India trip. We have been here for a week and have been to 3 cities (we are currently in the city of Udaipur).
It should be noted that it is currently summer here in India. So it should come as no surprise that most people don't like going to a desert in the middle of the summer and we're here during the off season. This has actually worked in our favor.
Sure it's damn hot during the day, but there are much less tourists. Also, even the touts take a vacation in the summer so the hassle has been reduced.
This blog will cover our shenanigans in the cities of Jaisalmer & Jophur.
Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer is located in the very west of India. It took us a 20 hour train ride from Delhi to get there. However, it was totally worth it. We arrived May 16th and left the night of May 18.
Basically, Jaisalmer consists of a giant sand stone fort which with a small city surrounding it. 25% of the 50000 people in Jaisalmer still live inside the fort.
Our hotel we stayed at was a former mansion located within the fort. The building is 500 years old and it feels like it. Walking through it's dark corridors (and smashing head on it's low door frames) is like a stepping back in time (or the many desert themed video games I've played).
The only down side to our hotel was it lacked a/c. That meant that from noon to 4, it was going to be too hot to move.
Desert Camel Safari
The "thing" to do in Jaialmer is desert camel safari. So us, in our lust for experiences, decided that we must do a camel safari and May 17 was the day to do it.
The safari started with a 30 minute jeep ride into the desert. The group consisted of us 3 Canadians, 2 South Americans, 2 French and 3 Koreans (that we had met and hung out with the day before). There was also 4 guides.
By 9:30 we were on our camels and riding into the desert. We each had our own camel and mine quickly reminded me of a fact I learned in Egypt. Namely, I don't much like camels.
Actually it was amazing how much personality each camel had. For example, Kiran's kept running to the to the front of the pack, then stopping to eat. It would then eat until the guide caught up and told it to keep moving. Compare this to Richards camel which seemed more concerned with sniffing other camels asses than food.
Personally my camel was all about randomly biting other camels. This meant I had to keep jerking my camels head to stop him from biting the other camels.
It should be noted that the desert was not made up of sand dunes. It was actually rocky and filled with cacti and other desert plants. It's main property is that it was so damn dry.
We rode the camels in the desert until about noon, where we stopped in an oasis. Unfortunately this oasis was not the palm tree and pool of water I expected. Instead it was an area with a couple of trees and some grass. Cartoons have lied to me yet again.
We were at the oasis from noon to 4. The idea is to avoid the high heat of the day by hiding in the shade and eating a light lunch. Most people took this time to take a nap. Instead of taking a nap, I discovered that my sun screen attracts desert wasps.
Well, I didn't immediately realize that my sun screen was attracting the wasps. I was too busy frantically running and swatting at the swarm of wasps attacking me.
My first hour at the oasis can be summarized as follows:
1) I get attacked by swarm of wasps
2) I run and hide in the smoke of our guides cooking fire
3) The smoke scares the wasps away
4) I get tired of breathing smoke and think the wasps are gone. I leave the camp fire.
5) Repeat steps 1-5
On a hunch I covered myself with Richard's sunscreen. Within a minute the wasps left me alone and I was able to finally nap. Due to some miracle I was able to avoid being stung.
After 4 the day had started to cool down and we rode our camels for another 1.5 hours. During this time we made a stop in a small village. In the village a dude was able to sell us a cold Pepsi. Talk about cornering the market.
That night we stopped at a sand dunes. These were the first sand dunes we saw that day and they looked like a stereotypical desert. We ate our dinner and slept at the sand dunes.
Now I want to stress this: sure, sleeping in the middle of sand dunes sounds like a comfortable romantic experience, but trust me it's not.
There is no way you can understand the sheer amount of sand one must face if you sleep in the desert. You are completely covered. Of our dinner I'd say 5% of it was potato and the other 95% was sand. Of the air you breath, I'd say it was 100% sand.
If you made the poor decision and slept without a scarf covering your mouth, you were going to be ingesting your body weight in sand that night. The worst part was the morning when I woke up and my eyes were covered in sand. However, since every other part of me was covered in sand I couldn't clean my eyes. At that moment I was defeated as a man.
Well the sand part sucked, but sleeping out in the desert was actually a real cool experience. The sunset was beautiful and the dunes were glorious to glaze at. It was also interesting to see the desert life. Namely the 100's of scarabs running all over the sand.
We were sitting around the camp fire about to go to bed when we saw a scorpion. I tell you, seeing a scorpion among the sand then going and sleeping in the sand, adds an extra level of spice to the night.
That morning we took a 2 hour camel ride back to the jeep and went home. The second we went home the slow process of cleaning began. I think I'm still cleaning sand out of my ear.
Jophur
The night of May 18th we jumped on a night train to the city of Jophur. Jophur is another city with an awesome desert fort and is often known as the blue city. We were in Jophur May 19-20.
In Jaisalmer fort is more a place where people lived. The Jophur fort is more of a palace and is located on forebding cliff over looking the city. The walls in Jophur fort are also bigger and there was no way it was ever going to be conquered.
We spent our first day walking around Jophur and doing some light shopping. I also had my first lassi, which is a sweet, tasty yogurt drink. I give it 2 Vance thumbs up.
The second day we hit the Jophur fort. The audio guide was awesome and the fort amazing. It does a good job invoking the imagination of a desert warrior culture. The fort also puts one in the mood for some D&D.
The reason that Jophur is refereed to as "the blue city" is that a large percentage of of the houses are painted blue. The view from the fort of this blue city was absolutely sublime.
OK that's enough blog for today. Next one will finish up our adventures in Rajasthan.
Next time: Udaipur and Jaipur
These days Rajasthan is actually one of the poorer Indian states, with tourism as it's major industries. It's a pretty big stop on any India trip. We have been here for a week and have been to 3 cities (we are currently in the city of Udaipur).
It should be noted that it is currently summer here in India. So it should come as no surprise that most people don't like going to a desert in the middle of the summer and we're here during the off season. This has actually worked in our favor.
Sure it's damn hot during the day, but there are much less tourists. Also, even the touts take a vacation in the summer so the hassle has been reduced.
This blog will cover our shenanigans in the cities of Jaisalmer & Jophur.
Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer is located in the very west of India. It took us a 20 hour train ride from Delhi to get there. However, it was totally worth it. We arrived May 16th and left the night of May 18.
Basically, Jaisalmer consists of a giant sand stone fort which with a small city surrounding it. 25% of the 50000 people in Jaisalmer still live inside the fort.
Our hotel we stayed at was a former mansion located within the fort. The building is 500 years old and it feels like it. Walking through it's dark corridors (and smashing head on it's low door frames) is like a stepping back in time (or the many desert themed video games I've played).
The only down side to our hotel was it lacked a/c. That meant that from noon to 4, it was going to be too hot to move.
Desert Camel Safari
The "thing" to do in Jaialmer is desert camel safari. So us, in our lust for experiences, decided that we must do a camel safari and May 17 was the day to do it.
The safari started with a 30 minute jeep ride into the desert. The group consisted of us 3 Canadians, 2 South Americans, 2 French and 3 Koreans (that we had met and hung out with the day before). There was also 4 guides.
By 9:30 we were on our camels and riding into the desert. We each had our own camel and mine quickly reminded me of a fact I learned in Egypt. Namely, I don't much like camels.
Actually it was amazing how much personality each camel had. For example, Kiran's kept running to the to the front of the pack, then stopping to eat. It would then eat until the guide caught up and told it to keep moving. Compare this to Richards camel which seemed more concerned with sniffing other camels asses than food.
Personally my camel was all about randomly biting other camels. This meant I had to keep jerking my camels head to stop him from biting the other camels.
It should be noted that the desert was not made up of sand dunes. It was actually rocky and filled with cacti and other desert plants. It's main property is that it was so damn dry.
We rode the camels in the desert until about noon, where we stopped in an oasis. Unfortunately this oasis was not the palm tree and pool of water I expected. Instead it was an area with a couple of trees and some grass. Cartoons have lied to me yet again.
We were at the oasis from noon to 4. The idea is to avoid the high heat of the day by hiding in the shade and eating a light lunch. Most people took this time to take a nap. Instead of taking a nap, I discovered that my sun screen attracts desert wasps.
Well, I didn't immediately realize that my sun screen was attracting the wasps. I was too busy frantically running and swatting at the swarm of wasps attacking me.
My first hour at the oasis can be summarized as follows:
1) I get attacked by swarm of wasps
2) I run and hide in the smoke of our guides cooking fire
3) The smoke scares the wasps away
4) I get tired of breathing smoke and think the wasps are gone. I leave the camp fire.
5) Repeat steps 1-5
On a hunch I covered myself with Richard's sunscreen. Within a minute the wasps left me alone and I was able to finally nap. Due to some miracle I was able to avoid being stung.
After 4 the day had started to cool down and we rode our camels for another 1.5 hours. During this time we made a stop in a small village. In the village a dude was able to sell us a cold Pepsi. Talk about cornering the market.
That night we stopped at a sand dunes. These were the first sand dunes we saw that day and they looked like a stereotypical desert. We ate our dinner and slept at the sand dunes.
Now I want to stress this: sure, sleeping in the middle of sand dunes sounds like a comfortable romantic experience, but trust me it's not.
There is no way you can understand the sheer amount of sand one must face if you sleep in the desert. You are completely covered. Of our dinner I'd say 5% of it was potato and the other 95% was sand. Of the air you breath, I'd say it was 100% sand.
If you made the poor decision and slept without a scarf covering your mouth, you were going to be ingesting your body weight in sand that night. The worst part was the morning when I woke up and my eyes were covered in sand. However, since every other part of me was covered in sand I couldn't clean my eyes. At that moment I was defeated as a man.
Well the sand part sucked, but sleeping out in the desert was actually a real cool experience. The sunset was beautiful and the dunes were glorious to glaze at. It was also interesting to see the desert life. Namely the 100's of scarabs running all over the sand.
We were sitting around the camp fire about to go to bed when we saw a scorpion. I tell you, seeing a scorpion among the sand then going and sleeping in the sand, adds an extra level of spice to the night.
That morning we took a 2 hour camel ride back to the jeep and went home. The second we went home the slow process of cleaning began. I think I'm still cleaning sand out of my ear.
Jophur
The night of May 18th we jumped on a night train to the city of Jophur. Jophur is another city with an awesome desert fort and is often known as the blue city. We were in Jophur May 19-20.
In Jaisalmer fort is more a place where people lived. The Jophur fort is more of a palace and is located on forebding cliff over looking the city. The walls in Jophur fort are also bigger and there was no way it was ever going to be conquered.
We spent our first day walking around Jophur and doing some light shopping. I also had my first lassi, which is a sweet, tasty yogurt drink. I give it 2 Vance thumbs up.
The second day we hit the Jophur fort. The audio guide was awesome and the fort amazing. It does a good job invoking the imagination of a desert warrior culture. The fort also puts one in the mood for some D&D.
The reason that Jophur is refereed to as "the blue city" is that a large percentage of of the houses are painted blue. The view from the fort of this blue city was absolutely sublime.
OK that's enough blog for today. Next one will finish up our adventures in Rajasthan.
Next time: Udaipur and Jaipur
Saturday, May 19, 2007
India Part 2: The North
I meant to post this blog last week but unreliable Internet has thwarted my attempts. Anyways, we are currently in the city of Jophur located in the desert state of Rajasthan. I swear this is the last summer I go into a desert.
So here's my post from when we were in a cooler area in the mountains. Ah, the good ol'days when I could walk around at 2pm and not collapse from heat stroke.
Haridwar
So here's my post from when we were in a cooler area in the mountains. Ah, the good ol'days when I could walk around at 2pm and not collapse from heat stroke.
Haridwar
As I write this I am in the Indian city of Haridwar. We arrived May 10th and are leaving tomorrow May 15. Haridwar can be reached from Delhi in about 5 hours by train.
Haridwar is significant because it is one of the seven Hindu holy cities. It is located at the edge of the Himalayas where the Ganga river leaves the mountains.
Being one of the Holy cities it is expected that Hindus make a pilgrimage here and bath in the Ganga river. That means that the city is filled with Indian tourists. Especially now in summer since this area is cooler than the rest of India.
Haridwar is actually my favorite Indian city so far since it's laid back. Even when walking through the bazaar I'm amazed how little I'm hassled. Since most of the people here are tourists on vacation, I find people to be friendlier than in Delhi. It's been nice.
It should be noted that since Haridwar is a holy city, one can not get any meat or alcohol within it. That means I've now gone 5 days without meat, the longest of my life. Now unexpected thing is that I don't seem to miss it much. Indian food uses so many sauces and spices, it took me a couple of days to even remember that I'm not eating meat.
The Temples of Haridwar
Now being such an important location, the area around Haridwar is dotted with temples. While we were here we visited Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi temples. Now that was an experience.
The first thing one notices on the way to the temples is the amount of people trying to sell bags of items which can be conveniently offered at the temple. Each one of these bags contains rice, lace, a coconut and some sheets of paper.
The temples consist of several little shrines, including one which is set up to accept offerings (and donations). At this shrine a priest takes you bag and accepts the offerings.
The temples are located in hills above Haridwar, but are easily reached via a cable c
ar and bus service. So it is all really convenient.
ar and bus service. So it is all really convenient.
Perhaps the most significant impact that these temples left on me came from the visiting Indians. Namely I couldn't help but notice how for many Indians this was basically a family vacation and the kids/adults acted as it was. It funny for me to see how this holy pilgrimage can be compared to any random vacation a family takes in North America.
Oh it should also be noted that there were monkeys all around the temples. It was AWESOME.
Har Ki Pauri
Now the most memorable part of Hairiwar was Har Ki Pauri ritual. This takes every night along the Ganga river in a special area. Two hours before sunset people start gathering around the river to scope out a good seat.
Many people also obtain a leaf filled with flowers. Each one of these leaf baskets contain a candle to be lit at the correct time.
When the sun sets the ritual takes place. It is hard to describe but basically a several priest move torches above the river to the beat of a chant. As this takes place people light the leaf baskets and put them in the river. The whole ritual is quite enchanting to watch.
River Rafting
The Lonely Planet was really helpful in that it pointed us in the direction of an awesome adventure tours agent (Mohan's Adventure). Not only was he helpful in giving us things to do, he also was a cool guy who (and his brother) did the activities with us.
The most exciting thing we did was river rafting down the Ganga River. The rafting was good because it would be quick stretches of rapids followed by a good time to chill out. It gave us an excellent chance to enjoy the scenery.
The best part of the river rafting was for 2 kms we were allowed to jump in and float with the river current. It was good times.
Rajaji National Park
One of the advantages of Haridwar is that it is located close to Rajaji National Park. In order to explore the park we did both a jeep and elephant safari.
The jeep safari was cool because we got to see much of the park and some animals (like monkeys, deer and hogs) but the elephant safari was the best. Not only was it cool to ride an elephant (5 of us sat on the elephant) but we were lucky and got to spend about 20 minutes watching a herd of about 8 wild elephants.
It was an amazing experience and I learned a lot.
Rishikesh
Now this blog wouldn't be complete unless I mentioned the ashrams and the foreigners flocking to them. An ashram is essentially a temple where one can stay and meditate. This usually involves learning yoga, chilling out and experimenting with various substances.
While there are ashrams in Haridwar, the nearby town of Rishikesh is home to the most predominate ones. Some of you Beatles fans might recognize Rishikesh as the town the band disappeared to in order to find themselves. And as you can expect, since the Beatles did it, there are no lack of foreigners here staying at ashrams.
Next time: Rajasthan
Friday, May 11, 2007
India Part 1: Delhi and Agra
As I write this I am currently in sitting in an internet café in the Indian city of Haridwar. We have now been traveling for 10 days with 5 of them within India. So as you can guess, it’s been a pretty crazy 5 days.
Here’s a quick summery of our trip so far. I wanted to upload pictures but unfortunately the internet connection I’m using is a bit slow for that. Maybe next time.
The Flight
In order to get to India from Los Angeles it took one long flight. First we flew 14 hours to Taiwan. After a brief stop we flew another 5 hours to Singapore. After a 6 hour stop there we flew another 6 hours to Delhi.
While it was a long flight it wasn’t so bad because Singapore Air is the best airline ever. Nothing beats killing 25 hours by watching your choice of movie and drinking “Singapore Sling” cocktails.
India is 11.5 hours ahead of Calgary so I had some serious jet lag for the first couple of days. But I think I’ve finally shaken it.
Travel Buddies
So far the travel companions have been working out good. Kiran’s Hindi skills are especially useful. The only downside is that I’ve become extremely lazy. Whenever there is even the slightest bit of communication problems I just have Kiran handle it.
For example, if Taxi diver does not understand what I said, have Kiran give directions. Hotel worker not understand our request, have Kiran sort it out. Richard asking too many questions, make Kiran do the answering.
The Food
The food’s been ok. Deciding what to eat has been a bit tricky though. Each time I go to eat something I have to decide: 1) Will this make me sick? 2) Will this be too damn spicy to me? 3) (If meat) Am I sure this meat is from the animal I think it is?
So far I’ve managed to avoid getting sick (though the toilet and I have been spending a lot of time together). However, Richard wasn’t so lucky and he had to sit a day out due to sickness.
Spiciness on the other hand has been kicking my ass over and over again. Finally I think that enough of my taste buds have been destroyed that I can eat and enjoy India food.
Meat actually hasn’t been such an issue since most things are vegetarian. The strange thing is that I actually don’t miss meat. Unlike western veg foods, Indian’s actually make veg good.
Even the MacDonald’s has a largely veg menu. In fact it doesn’t even serve beef here.
Now beer is something which takes more effort to obtain than in other countries. Even when you do find it you have to be sure to read the label.
For example, the one time I attempted to get beer I went to the local beer stand and purchased a bottle of “10000 – Strong Beer”. It was only at home did I release that my “Strong Beer” was actually non-alcoholic and resembled tonic water more than beer.
The Driving
Indian driving is quite similar to Egyptian driving and I can tell you, I did not miss Egyptian driving what so ever.
India driving can be summarized in one word: chaos. Basically everyone is dodging each other trying to get down the street. You have to see it to believe it.
This is best represented by the one vehicle which is distinctly Indian: the autorichot. These 3 wheeled natural gas powered vehicles can be found weaving between traffic at all time.
Trust me. No ride in California can compete with the rush one gets from a ride in an autorichot.
The Heat
Holy crap it’s hot. The average temperature every day has been between 40-45 degrees Celsius. It’s a good thing waters cheap since I’ve taken to drinking about 4 litres of water every day to a avoid collapsing.
At this point I think the only thing keeping me alive is my hat and my spf 50 sunscreen.
A Country of Contrasts
Now it’s become cliché to refer to India as “A Country of Contrasts”. But there’s a good reason it’s called that because India is one messed up country.
It’s surreal to see the poor and old side by side with the new and modern. Take for example the place where we activated Kiran’s cell phone. The store was located at the back window of an old beat up house. The only way you would think it was a cell phone store was because it had a sheet of paper that said “Cell Phone Repair” taped to the wall.
Sights like these are extremely common in India.
Delhi
We arrived in Delhi on May 5th. If you look a map you will notice that Delhi is often marked New Delhi. That’s because Delhi is really two cities shoved together. Old Delhi is made up ancient (generally poor) areas whereas New Delhi is quite modern and contains all the business centers. So technically New Delhi is the capital of India but there is no clear border separating it from Old Delhi.
We stayed in the Paharganj area in Delhi which is located in on the supposed border between New and Old Dehli. Paharganj is the standard place for backpackers to stay since pretty much all the cheap hotels are located there.
On that note, if you’re wondering what happened to all the hippies from the 60s we found them. They’re at the Paharganj area in Delhi.
The cool thing about our hotel was a bazaar was located just outside so there everything was really convenient. It was also pretty surreal to leave your hotel and enter a street filled with people, dogs, motorcycles, autorichots, shops and even the odd cow.
However it also meant that we were going to get fairly hassled whenever we left our hotel.
While in Delhi we hit all the standard tourist sites. The Red Fort was most amazing because while we were there, a rain storm hit. We were standing in line to enter the fort when all of suddenly we were engulfed by a wall of dust. The rain started soon after as we crowded in the Red Fort. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen to see the fort in the rain.
My other favorite sight was Qutub Minor which is basically an area made up of various ruins. It’s always fun to climb on something that is over 500 years old.
The Lotus temple, Jantar Mantar and Indian Parliament were also pretty bad ass.
Agra
Agra is a city located about 4 hours away from Delhi. Many of India’s most famous ruins are located there. In order to save effort we did a tour that left 6am and returned to Delhi at about 11pm. We did this on May 9th.
The main site of Agra is the famous Taj Muhal and I can confirm it lives up to the hype. I got goose bumps when I first saw it. It’s amazing how such it can have such a simplistic design yet be so intricate.
Other major sites were Sikandra (Akbar’s Tomb) and Agra’s Red Fort. Both sites were also awe inspiring. Any other country and they would be the countries most famous landmark. However, they definably come second when compared to the Taj Mahal.
Next Time: Haridwar
As I mentioned before we are currently in the Hindu holy city of Haridwar. It’s located about 4 hours by train north of Delhi and we’ve been here since May 10th.
We are staying here till May 15th and then we’re off to Jaisalmer. I’ll give a summery of Haridwar in my next blog post.
Here’s a quick summery of our trip so far. I wanted to upload pictures but unfortunately the internet connection I’m using is a bit slow for that. Maybe next time.
The Flight
In order to get to India from Los Angeles it took one long flight. First we flew 14 hours to Taiwan. After a brief stop we flew another 5 hours to Singapore. After a 6 hour stop there we flew another 6 hours to Delhi.
While it was a long flight it wasn’t so bad because Singapore Air is the best airline ever. Nothing beats killing 25 hours by watching your choice of movie and drinking “Singapore Sling” cocktails.
India is 11.5 hours ahead of Calgary so I had some serious jet lag for the first couple of days. But I think I’ve finally shaken it.
Travel Buddies
So far the travel companions have been working out good. Kiran’s Hindi skills are especially useful. The only downside is that I’ve become extremely lazy. Whenever there is even the slightest bit of communication problems I just have Kiran handle it.
For example, if Taxi diver does not understand what I said, have Kiran give directions. Hotel worker not understand our request, have Kiran sort it out. Richard asking too many questions, make Kiran do the answering.
The Food
The food’s been ok. Deciding what to eat has been a bit tricky though. Each time I go to eat something I have to decide: 1) Will this make me sick? 2) Will this be too damn spicy to me? 3) (If meat) Am I sure this meat is from the animal I think it is?
So far I’ve managed to avoid getting sick (though the toilet and I have been spending a lot of time together). However, Richard wasn’t so lucky and he had to sit a day out due to sickness.
Spiciness on the other hand has been kicking my ass over and over again. Finally I think that enough of my taste buds have been destroyed that I can eat and enjoy India food.
Meat actually hasn’t been such an issue since most things are vegetarian. The strange thing is that I actually don’t miss meat. Unlike western veg foods, Indian’s actually make veg good.
Even the MacDonald’s has a largely veg menu. In fact it doesn’t even serve beef here.
Now beer is something which takes more effort to obtain than in other countries. Even when you do find it you have to be sure to read the label.
For example, the one time I attempted to get beer I went to the local beer stand and purchased a bottle of “10000 – Strong Beer”. It was only at home did I release that my “Strong Beer” was actually non-alcoholic and resembled tonic water more than beer.
The Driving
Indian driving is quite similar to Egyptian driving and I can tell you, I did not miss Egyptian driving what so ever.
India driving can be summarized in one word: chaos. Basically everyone is dodging each other trying to get down the street. You have to see it to believe it.
This is best represented by the one vehicle which is distinctly Indian: the autorichot. These 3 wheeled natural gas powered vehicles can be found weaving between traffic at all time.
Trust me. No ride in California can compete with the rush one gets from a ride in an autorichot.
The Heat
Holy crap it’s hot. The average temperature every day has been between 40-45 degrees Celsius. It’s a good thing waters cheap since I’ve taken to drinking about 4 litres of water every day to a avoid collapsing.
At this point I think the only thing keeping me alive is my hat and my spf 50 sunscreen.
A Country of Contrasts
Now it’s become cliché to refer to India as “A Country of Contrasts”. But there’s a good reason it’s called that because India is one messed up country.
It’s surreal to see the poor and old side by side with the new and modern. Take for example the place where we activated Kiran’s cell phone. The store was located at the back window of an old beat up house. The only way you would think it was a cell phone store was because it had a sheet of paper that said “Cell Phone Repair” taped to the wall.
Sights like these are extremely common in India.
Delhi
We arrived in Delhi on May 5th. If you look a map you will notice that Delhi is often marked New Delhi. That’s because Delhi is really two cities shoved together. Old Delhi is made up ancient (generally poor) areas whereas New Delhi is quite modern and contains all the business centers. So technically New Delhi is the capital of India but there is no clear border separating it from Old Delhi.
We stayed in the Paharganj area in Delhi which is located in on the supposed border between New and Old Dehli. Paharganj is the standard place for backpackers to stay since pretty much all the cheap hotels are located there.
On that note, if you’re wondering what happened to all the hippies from the 60s we found them. They’re at the Paharganj area in Delhi.
The cool thing about our hotel was a bazaar was located just outside so there everything was really convenient. It was also pretty surreal to leave your hotel and enter a street filled with people, dogs, motorcycles, autorichots, shops and even the odd cow.
However it also meant that we were going to get fairly hassled whenever we left our hotel.
While in Delhi we hit all the standard tourist sites. The Red Fort was most amazing because while we were there, a rain storm hit. We were standing in line to enter the fort when all of suddenly we were engulfed by a wall of dust. The rain started soon after as we crowded in the Red Fort. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen to see the fort in the rain.
My other favorite sight was Qutub Minor which is basically an area made up of various ruins. It’s always fun to climb on something that is over 500 years old.
The Lotus temple, Jantar Mantar and Indian Parliament were also pretty bad ass.
Agra
Agra is a city located about 4 hours away from Delhi. Many of India’s most famous ruins are located there. In order to save effort we did a tour that left 6am and returned to Delhi at about 11pm. We did this on May 9th.
The main site of Agra is the famous Taj Muhal and I can confirm it lives up to the hype. I got goose bumps when I first saw it. It’s amazing how such it can have such a simplistic design yet be so intricate.
Other major sites were Sikandra (Akbar’s Tomb) and Agra’s Red Fort. Both sites were also awe inspiring. Any other country and they would be the countries most famous landmark. However, they definably come second when compared to the Taj Mahal.
Next Time: Haridwar
As I mentioned before we are currently in the Hindu holy city of Haridwar. It’s located about 4 hours by train north of Delhi and we’ve been here since May 10th.
We are staying here till May 15th and then we’re off to Jaisalmer. I’ll give a summery of Haridwar in my next blog post.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Los Angeles, USA
So far our long trip has been off to a great start. We arrived in Los Angeles the afternoon of April 30 and we're leaving late night of May 3rd. The flight from Calgary to LA took 3 hours.
Kiran, Richard and I have been getting along good. Of course this is only the low stress part of our trip. The real test will take place soon in India.
The City of Angles
The one thing we've discovered is that describing Los Angeles as a city is a bit of a misnomer. While there is a Los Angeles proper, it's more a collections of cities that have grown so big that there is no real border between each other. For example, to get to the "cities of Orange County" one never seem to cross any real borders.
We learned this really quickly trying to get to our hostel. We were instructed to get off our bus at 11th street of Hermosa beach. Us not knowing that that there were going to be several 11th streets got off at 11th street of Manhattan Beach. Luckily it was only a 20 minute walk to the next "city".
Our hostel in Hermosa is perhaps one of the most conveniently located places I've stayed due to the close proximity. There is are bars, supermarkets, beaches and anything else you could possibly need all within a block of our hostel.
One of the first things we noticed about LA is that there is definitely a smog problem. The whole city is covered in a permanently smog. This will be visible in some of the pictures.
The metro system is actually pretty good all things considered. Considering to get around in LA, you literally have to transverse the length of Southern California, it does a descent job. However, it still takes forever.
When travelling the metro one quickly realizes how ethnic most parts of LA is. It is not unusual to be surrounded with people from Latin and African decent. It is also not unusual for sign/announcements or ads to be both in English and Spanish, or just Spanish.
Hermosa Beach
We spent the first night exploring Hermosa beach. There we saw some pretty awesome houses, some awesome fishing and children's swings. We learned pretty quickly through wet shoes that the waves can get pretty damn high. We also couldn't help but notice how ridiculously close an oil refinery was to the beautiful beach. That smog is starting to make sense now...
Universal Studios
The next day we woke up early and headed to Universal Studios. It required a bus and 2 metro line changes. A one way trip took about 2 hours. Not bad considering the distance.
Universal Studios was pretty cool. The rides such as Jurassic Park and The Mummy were good but a bit tame. The highlight of the amusement park is definitely the rides that involve 3D effects such as Shrek 4D and Terminator 2 3D. Terminator 2 was especially impressive since actors interacted with the 3D effects.
The Waterworld show was cool, especially considering it's source material.
The studio tour was also surprisingly entertaining. It was cool to see some of the huge outdoor sets. One also gains much respect for filmography after seeing how those sets look in the movies.
Hollywood
After Universal Studios we headed to Hollywood Blvd. to see the famous walk of the stars. I tell you, there were a lot more stars than I was expecting. Since they give stars to people in film, tv, radio, music and theater, the blvd stretches a long way.
Outside Grauman's Chinese Theater one can find the stars hands and feet in concrete. Turns our Frank Sinatra had surprisingly small hands/feet. My favorite were the foot prints of C3PO, R2D2 and Darth Vader.
May 2nd, we head out to Disney Land. Since Disney Land is located with Orange County, we had to spend 2.5 hours each way on the metro. It was totally worth.
Disneyland
The thing that amazing about Disney Land is that once you enter the park, every single thing has been Disneyfied. The line ups to the rides are a sight in themselves. It's like entering some some crazy reality were everything is squeaky clean and there's a mouse on everything.
My favorite ride was differently the India Jone ride since so many crazy things were happening at all times. Though the animatronics on the Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion were out of this world.
Space Mountain was also pretty cool in a retro sci-fi kind of way. It was also incredibly trippy.
It's a Small World ride lived up to the hype. However, if I ever hear the phrase "It's a small world after all" again, they're going to have to send me to an insane asylum.
However, for the "happiest place on earth", we sure saw a lot of crying kids. My favorite was when I was in a store flanked by two groups of kids crying because their parents wouldn't buy them a stuffed Mickey.
Today we're spending our last days in a western country resting up for the madness to come. It was a good idea to stop in LA, but now it's time for the exotic. Check back later for more of our hijinks.
Kiran, Richard and I have been getting along good. Of course this is only the low stress part of our trip. The real test will take place soon in India.
The City of Angles
The one thing we've discovered is that describing Los Angeles as a city is a bit of a misnomer. While there is a Los Angeles proper, it's more a collections of cities that have grown so big that there is no real border between each other. For example, to get to the "cities of Orange County" one never seem to cross any real borders.
We learned this really quickly trying to get to our hostel. We were instructed to get off our bus at 11th street of Hermosa beach. Us not knowing that that there were going to be several 11th streets got off at 11th street of Manhattan Beach. Luckily it was only a 20 minute walk to the next "city".
Our hostel in Hermosa is perhaps one of the most conveniently located places I've stayed due to the close proximity. There is are bars, supermarkets, beaches and anything else you could possibly need all within a block of our hostel.
One of the first things we noticed about LA is that there is definitely a smog problem. The whole city is covered in a permanently smog. This will be visible in some of the pictures.
The metro system is actually pretty good all things considered. Considering to get around in LA, you literally have to transverse the length of Southern California, it does a descent job. However, it still takes forever.
When travelling the metro one quickly realizes how ethnic most parts of LA is. It is not unusual to be surrounded with people from Latin and African decent. It is also not unusual for sign/announcements or ads to be both in English and Spanish, or just Spanish.
Hermosa Beach
We spent the first night exploring Hermosa beach. There we saw some pretty awesome houses, some awesome fishing and children's swings. We learned pretty quickly through wet shoes that the waves can get pretty damn high. We also couldn't help but notice how ridiculously close an oil refinery was to the beautiful beach. That smog is starting to make sense now...
Universal Studios
The next day we woke up early and headed to Universal Studios. It required a bus and 2 metro line changes. A one way trip took about 2 hours. Not bad considering the distance.
Universal Studios was pretty cool. The rides such as Jurassic Park and The Mummy were good but a bit tame. The highlight of the amusement park is definitely the rides that involve 3D effects such as Shrek 4D and Terminator 2 3D. Terminator 2 was especially impressive since actors interacted with the 3D effects.
The Waterworld show was cool, especially considering it's source material.
The studio tour was also surprisingly entertaining. It was cool to see some of the huge outdoor sets. One also gains much respect for filmography after seeing how those sets look in the movies.
Hollywood
After Universal Studios we headed to Hollywood Blvd. to see the famous walk of the stars. I tell you, there were a lot more stars than I was expecting. Since they give stars to people in film, tv, radio, music and theater, the blvd stretches a long way.
Outside Grauman's Chinese Theater one can find the stars hands and feet in concrete. Turns our Frank Sinatra had surprisingly small hands/feet. My favorite were the foot prints of C3PO, R2D2 and Darth Vader.
May 2nd, we head out to Disney Land. Since Disney Land is located with Orange County, we had to spend 2.5 hours each way on the metro. It was totally worth.
Disneyland
The thing that amazing about Disney Land is that once you enter the park, every single thing has been Disneyfied. The line ups to the rides are a sight in themselves. It's like entering some some crazy reality were everything is squeaky clean and there's a mouse on everything.
My favorite ride was differently the India Jone ride since so many crazy things were happening at all times. Though the animatronics on the Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion were out of this world.
Space Mountain was also pretty cool in a retro sci-fi kind of way. It was also incredibly trippy.
It's a Small World ride lived up to the hype. However, if I ever hear the phrase "It's a small world after all" again, they're going to have to send me to an insane asylum.
However, for the "happiest place on earth", we sure saw a lot of crying kids. My favorite was when I was in a store flanked by two groups of kids crying because their parents wouldn't buy them a stuffed Mickey.
Today we're spending our last days in a western country resting up for the madness to come. It was a good idea to stop in LA, but now it's time for the exotic. Check back later for more of our hijinks.
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