1/31–Jaipur Dinner on our Own

Tonight we have no group event and are, again striking out on our own for dinner.  We had chosen a bunch of different places, including a selection of rooftop restaurants with varying degrees of reviews.  Asking Bhanu for advice, he quickly poo poo’d all rooftop my choices, “What else? What else do you have?” and suggested we go tonight to Handi, which has local, traditional cuisine.  As for the rooftop restaurants, he suggested visiting his friend’s restaurant, Skyfall tomorrow.  Sounds like a plan to us.

Handi was actually on our list, although a bit confusing, because they opened up a new restaurant called Copper Chimney which was the recommended place.  But everything we could find said it was closed, and something called Handi Fusion was open.  Bhanu said to go to the original location, which has been open for more than 30 years serving traditional food, so we followed his recommendation, jumping in an Uber for the short ride over (again, less than $1 USD.  Honestly, why would you drive anywhere?).  Once there, we saw that Handi Fusion was on the corner of the building, upstairs, while the original Handi was a few doors down, inside along hallway lined with barbeque grills and Naan making stations.  At least you can see how they are cooking the food!

Inside is cozy enough, with low ceilings, lots of tables and balloons for some holiday (we are assuming it is for an Indian holiday since the balloons are the colors of the flag, and there was another dry day yesterday).  We are seated right away, no fears of not having reservations – it’s practically empty, which is surprising, but we are probably just early.

It’s definitely not empty because of food quality, that’s for sure. Drinks come served with some sort of marinated onion, which everyone but me enjoys, along with some little cracker/crunchy things. For our main meals, we order all the Mughal specialties:  The Handi chicken plate (which I thought would be dry, but comes out with a huge amount of sauce), half an order of Butter Chicken, Mutton for Richard and Paneer for Maggi.  It’s a feast! 

A couple of drinks later and we are all ready to head back to the hotel, totally stuffed and happy.  We spend a few minutes watching the Naan chef make his delicious bread, then Uber it back home to the Holiday Inn for a nightcap and then bed.  Tomorrow the full tour of Jaipur begins.

1/31–Jaipur Afternoon

We are visiting the Raj Mandir cinema this afternoon, one of the premier (nd maybe largest) cinemas in all of Rajasthan.  It was designed to make patrons feel like they were invited royal guests of the palace, there to enjoy complete entertainment.  And it definitely does that – with sweeping ceilings, chandeliers and balconies both inside and outside the theater itself.

In addition to simply visiting the theater, we are also going to see a movie about Queen Lakshmi, the fiercest warrior queen of India.  It’s a new release (which I didn’t realize, I thought it was possibly a historical film) and we are only staying for about an hour, when the bus will pick us up.  If we want to stay for the full film, Bhanu will help us arrange transportation back. But he also has said we do not need to attend the film at all, it is up to us.  That’s all the invitation we need – we are outta there!  We tell Bhanu, who asks us if we will be all right on our own – yes, Bhanu, you have no worries with us – and after we all enter for photos, we scurry out the front door clicking the Uber button as we go. This is our first afternoon of truly free time and we are going to make the most of it!

The Uber shows up in a jiffy, and we are off to the Bapu Bazaar area to really immerse ourselves into Indian daily street life (well, sort of) for the first time.  Phew.  The Uber ride is swift, even with the traffic (and talk about dirt cheap, it might have cost us $0.86 cents – seriously), and we are dropped off at the gate of the bazaar in no time.  Now the fun begins!   We dive into the melee, walking through streets crowded with people and merchandise stalls.  Are we shopping? Well, sort of – we are looking for earrings and pashminas, but only vaguely right now.  The priority here is to get out, walk and see a little bit of on the street life as opposed to from behind the bus window.  Slowly we amble through the “textiles” section, making note of things we may be interested in later, until we make it to the “jewelry” street – which in the beginning, isn’t really much of a jewelry street, a few shops here and there, but as we progress up the street, the shop multiply in number and we can window shop to our hearts content.  We walk far enough to actually get close to the Hawa Mahal, or Palace of the Winds, built in the late 1700s from which Royal ladies could watch the processions.  I really wanted to see this, and I know from the itinerary that we are just doing a drive by, so, even though we have to navigate a traffic circle under construction (for the metro), we press on, squeezing through crowded little sidewalks all closed in by construction panels on one side and shops on the other, eventually ending up on the street, all huddled together getting ready to cross. 

Ahhh, our first real street crossing in India without Bhanu to guide us!  We all stuck close together and managed to avoid the tuk tuks, scooters and cars barreling around us in every direction, making it safely across to the other side of the construction panels where we carefully picked our way around the corner, hugging the wall to avoid stepping too far out into the traffic.  Mission accomplished! Just up ahead we can see the palace, with its 5 semi-octagonal storeys carved out of red sandstone.  The Palace consists of 953 niches and 152 windows, on the inside little more than simple passageways where women could walk and stand to see outside, while not being seen from outside.  Awesome! 

I really, really want to go inside, but it is 4:30, the exact hour they close. So no go there. Maybe tomorrow we can come back, but we’ll see.  Across the street we spy a cafe up on top of a building with a great view of the Hawa Mahal.  It’s time for a break and a beer!  Bu unfortunately, it’s a cafe, and there is no alcohol up there, which one of the hawkers fortunately tells us before we make the climb.  He says there is a bar down there a few blocks, pointing down the street.  Ok, we’re game.  We trek off down the street looking at various and a sundry trinkets and souvenirs.  Maggi spots a steel/iron/tin dog statue which Richard goes over to inspect.  Too much money, too much weight!  Onward we march.  And onward, and onward. Where is this place?

We ask another shop keeper and he says to go to the Simla bar, just down the street. Yeah, well, your idea of just down the street and ours is not exactly jiving here.  But finally, just when all hope was lost – there it is, the Simla hotel and bar – probably one of the seediest dive bars you will ever want to find in India.  And we’re there!

Walking in, the two guys behind the “bar” (really a partition with some refrigerators behind it) gesture us into the interior of the place, which is almost totally pitch dark with a few black lights around and a couple of cricket and soccer games on TV.  Maggi and I are the only women there, and you know we get the looks from every single guy in there as we walk in.  This is India!

After sitting down and ordering our beers – no way we’re even asking for wine here – we hang out in the dim light, soaking up the seedy atmosphere.  Maggi has decided it is a gay bar because there are only guys (except we do find one other woman at a table with a bunch of backpackers and a couple of Indians) and they are all sitting close and hanging on each other.  But that’s just how India’s social scene is – it’s mostly guys out together, and they aren’t afraid to touch each other.  So, we’re pretty sure it was just a seedy, dive bar attached to a seedy backpacker hotel.  If it’s there…leave it to us to find it!

Thirst quenched, feet rested, we make our way out to the relatively bright daylight (bright after the darkness of the bar), to be greeted by a cow.  Yep, right in the street wandering around.  This will become so common place over the next few days that it won’t even bear mentioning, but for now, here in the middle of a crazy busy Jaipur street, it’s pretty unique to us.

We are also, it turns out, directly across the street from the gates the City Palace where we will visit tomorrow with the group.  We’ve covered quite a distance.

Sightseeing done, we start searching for an Uber, but the wait is too long, so instead end up in a Tuk Tuk which can actually carry 4 people.  Perfect. It will be Maggi and Richard’s first tuk tuk ride, and what a ride it turns out to be. 

Our little tuk tuk driver is a hoot. We tell him we are going to the Holiday Inn Jaipur city center, and he said, “Hmmmm….Holiday Inn…” To which Ed says again, “Holiday Inn City Centre”….and he says, “Oh, ok.”  Meanwhile, Richard and I are trying to get the hotel keycard holder out to show him, and when we finally get one and wave it in his face, he says, “I know, I know, are you guys drunk?” To which we all break out in laughter – and so begins our tour of Jaipur in the tuk tuk with all the close up sights and sounds that it entails.  Maggi learns quickly to keep her hands inside the tuk tuk, even when waving at the adorable children passing us buy on their parents scooters and inside vehicles.  We pass back through the market gate, then turn in the right direction, going fast through town, then while we wait at an intersection, two motorbikes run into each other. Not badly enough to put them down, but one tail light may have been broken. This apparently does something to our driver who says slow driving is safe driving!  Ok, we’ll go with that. 

But what that actually means is that he drops his speed down to walking speed and then decides to take us on this little tour around through Central Park, pointing out all the soccer and cricket fields, then on through Deer Park pointing out different things as we weave and wove our way around Jaipur.  In between tour announcements he’s humming and singing to himself upfront, while slowly driving us to the hotel.  He final turns down some road that doesn’t match my GPS map (which I’ve now starting tracking just to make sure he’s headed in the right direction) and he yells at me again “I know where I’m going, I live here, I know!”  Ok, ok, fine!  And eventually he does find the Holiday Inn and drop us there, not asking for extra, but we gave him a big tip anyway for putting up with us “drunk” non-trusting tourists.

1/31–Ranthambore to Jaipur

Ugh..  Another traveling day.  It’s really not so bad in the bus, it is just the packing and unpacking every day or two.  We’re getting the hang of it, and have finally figured out that we put the big bags out, then keep the little OSB bag out with laundry (wrapped around our beer and wine bottles) and the little toiletries we need to get ready to leave.  Then we hand that to Sanjay at the back of the bus.  The traveling tour strategy has been perfected!

On the bus, we’ve all settled into a nice routine.  Even though Bhanu assigns seats, most of us don’t pay attention.  About half the group sits the back of the bus, while the other half (including Maggi and Richard and us) sit near the front.  There are a few who like to always be right in front, but otherwise, there is enough room to spread out, so we each tend to end up with a row of seats to ourselves.  This morning is no different as we reverse out trek into the sand hills and dunes behind the Tigress Resort, eventually reaching the paved road without incident.  Go Suneel!

Today we only have about 5 hours on the bus, so we sit back, listen to Bhanu talk about Mulla Nuseruddin – I think today was the donkey tale, but it could have been when he was running for President of the US (that moral was basically you get better with practice).  I’ll go with the donkey: Nuseruddin and his young son were taking a trip with the donkey.  The son was riding the donkey, Nuseruddin walking next to it when they passed some villagers who said what a shame it was the young boy was riding the donkey while the old man walked.  The son felt guilty, got off the donkey and Nuseruddin got on.  A little while later they passed some old women who chastised Nuseruddin for riding the donkey and making his young son walk along side.  So Nuseruddin picked the boy up and had him ride on the donkey with him.  In the next village, the people make rude comments about making the poor donkey carry both people in the heat, and how it looked like it was going to drop from exhaustion.  Both Nuseruddin and his son then got off the donkey and walked alongside.  Passing yet another village, the men all laughed at the pair because they were walking instead of riding the donkey, as that was the reason for the beast.  The moral:  you can’t please everyone, so do what you think is best!

Street scenes unspool outside the bus window as we listen with rapt attention to Bhanu’s stories and insight: First elephant sighting, cows eating grass that people have collected and put out for them to eat (it’s a tradition to bring good luck to the family), a people hauling leafed branches on bikes and on their back for the cows, a working camel

Back on the “de-constructed” highway, we plod our way through the switch backs, arriving back at the Tiger Treat (3rd tiger sighting!) for our comfort stop.

We arrive in the outskirts of Jaipur around 1:30 after only 5 hours on the bus – not so bad!  Bhanu narrates as we pass the Shri Laxmi Narayan temple and the Ganesh temple (both places I wanted to go this afternoon during our “free” time), and I’m glad we did for photos – because once we figure out where the hotel is, these temples and forts are way far away.  Pictures from the bus sound just about right!

At the hotel, we do our usual passport/key shuffle and head off to our rooms, conveniently 2 doors away from each other on the 5th floor.  We have just enough time for lunch before the afternoon tour, so the 4 of us eschew the buffet restaurant (there’s no way we can do justice to a buffet right now) instead heading to the Road House (to which Bhanu exclaims, “But it is a bar!”  Yes, of course it is!).  We are the only patrons there, and while the service isn’t as fast as we would have hoped – we did order pizzas after all (and one each for Maggi and I, where we really should have shared, they were so large), we do get excellent attentive service from a very sweet, possibly new, waiter.  The guys both get half a tandoori fried chicken while Maggi and I opt for different versions of veg pizza.  Once the meals are finally delivered, they are excellent, just a lot more than we can eat at the moment. We make the most of it though, washing everything down with our wine and beer.

And we still have enough time for a bathroom break before meeting the group in the lobby for our afternoon adventures.

1/30–Ranthambore afternoon safari

We are back out on the canters and in the park by 2:30. Fortunately it is warmer now, but still a bit chilly with the wind in our faces.  Blankets still a necessary accessory.  We know our chances of seeing a tiger are slim now, they normally don’t come out in the afternoon, but in for a penny, in for a pound, we’re all keeping our eyes peeled for anything!

We are assigned a specific track to take by the park rangers, and while Bittu had said we’d take track 2 in the afternoon, we actually end up on track 5 because they’ve had a tiger sighting there. This track takes us by a big lake and up into the hills of the park, so maybe…

It’s far rougher going out here though, and we are being bounced around like a bunch of bingo balls in a spinner.  We’re all going to bruised after this trip, I’m telling you.  We get some minor rewards for our black and blue arms and legs though, as we find a really large herd of Sambar deer and huge bucks along the lakeside.

We even see some crocodiles out by a couple of deer feasting on lake weeds.

But no tigers. We drive some more, over hills, up steep slopes, stopping occasionally to talk to other guides who either point us in another direction, or tell Bittu there is nothing out there (in Hindi of course, we don’t know what they are saying, but we can guess!).  

We sit at the top of a very steep ravine looking over a riverbed and valley where the tigers normally roam.  It’s beautiful, but if we did see a tiger it would be so miniscule down there in the valley, you’d be hard pressed to confirm it as a sighting.

We actually go up and down this steep valley look out twice. The first time actively looking for wildlife, the 2nd time, scaring the hell out of us when the driver was coming awfully close to the edge of the ridge while he tried to back up and maneuver the canter in a turn around to leave.  To make matters worse, we think that time we were only there as a time wasting diversion.  Yikes!

Bittu will eventually tell us stories about some of the famous tigers – like Machali, the matron leader of the tigers who passed away in 2016, leaving 3 female offspring who have carved up her territory. He also tells us stories about the females who can’t find a territory and are fighting with others to regain domination.  He tells us about the park, and how they are trying to expand,, what they do with the tigers they can’t support, etc. It’s all very interesting – really and truly – and helps pass the time as we sit, staring at the scenery. 

We finally leave the ridge, heading back down around the lake, spotting another monster size deer in the distance…

…then we had a little moment of excitement.  Bittu stopped the canter suddenly and told everyone to be quiet.  He had heard something.  The deer were calling an alarm.  They sounded like birds or dogs, but it was the deer calling out that there was a predator somewhere.  Very exciting – but where?  We listened for a bit, then reversed back up the track for a while, but couldn’t spot anything, then the calls stopped.  Bummer – that would be as close as we would get.

Oh well, more deer on the way out, and stories about how the deer follow the monkeys because a) they sound alarms faster than other animals, and b) they jump on the trees and make the leaves fall, making it easier for the deer to eat.

Then it was back to the hotel, greeted by cows and oxen on the way…

…and that was our grand safari.  Disappointing, but not totally unexpected. 

Back at the hotel, we were not disappointed.  Not only was there an excellent buffet waiting for us, Bhanu had also arranged a cake for the group as our one week anniversary (it was really only 4 days, but who’s counting?).  Pam, Maggi and I got the honors for blowing out the candles…

Then, the highlight of the night for me…Jalebi!  Bhanu and I had been talking about desserts and sweets earlier in the trip, and I had told him how much I loved Jalebi.  So, out in the courtyard, the chefs were making Jalebi, and we get to have a cooking class to learn how to do it.  Now that is the sign of not a good, not a great, but an excellent tour guide.  He made that happen just because I had told him I loved the dessert.  Over the top, and so, so appreciated!  We got our lesson – I totally messed up the batter in the oil, but the chef fished it out and gave us the real thing, freshly cooked and oh, so, so, good.  Those little round crunchy disks of fried batter soaked in sugar syrup are totally addicting.  I really could have made myself sick on them.  We made sure everyone knew just how appreciative we were by eating more than we should, and then even taking a plate to go – which we took up to our cute little bartender – because it is another dry day in India, but not for foreigners. So, we are sort of making the bartender stay because we are typically the only people up there!  We give him his dessert, sneaking a bunch off of the plate for us, just as a sweet night cap to go along with our adult beverage night caps.

And the piece de resistance?  The best up close tiger sighting of the day, right there in the hotel! (FYI – it’s a painting hanging in the hall outside the bar)

LOL.  Although I really shouldn’t make fun, because later we found out that a woman was attacked and killed by a tiger that very same day on the other side of the park…so…maybe these sightings were really all we needed. 

1/30–Ranthambore morning safari

Rise and shine – we are out of bed, breakfasted and on the canter (a 4WD truck like vehicle with 9 rows of seats) before 7am.  And off we go – into the wickedly cold morning, all wrapped up in wool blankets thankfully provided by our safari tour guide, Bittu.  We leave at the light of dawn, driving to the park the same way the bus came in – seriously!  You can now see the sand track in the day time….

Once in the park, we stop for tickets and are immediately hounded by vendors with everything from hats to mittens (I am really seriously eyeing the mittens right about now – it’s cold, really cold!), then we are off into the park that was once the private hunting ground for the rulers, but then given to the government to create the National Park. Famous for their tigers, they currently have 60 on the property, but can really only support 45 with the territory they have. Nonetheless, we would be happy to just see one – but as Bhanu has reminded us, if we are only looking for the tiger, we will not see the rest of the beauty of the park.

We take track 1 this morning and head off into the park, bouncing around on the Canter and holding on for dear life in some areas. We search in vain, but don’t really find any wildlife at all for a long while. Gorgeous scenery with banyan trees and the mountains, but nothing else (and why would they be out, for heavens sakes? It is frigid.  Of course the animals aren’t meandering around, they are holed up in their dens or where ever else staying warm while us stupid humans get frostbite in a bumpy, wobbly 4x4 bouncing around the jungle!)

As we get further into the park, we pass other vehicles and Bittu inquires to each if there are any sightings.  Nope..  We turn around a few times, finally coming to a cross roads where a guard helpfully (or hopefully) points us in the right direction…

And off we go, bumping down this next track..  We finally come upon some real honest to goodness wildlife!  Spotted deer.  Yes!  Oh, and we’ve found some peacocks too – but we were going too fast to get a photo.

More u-turns, more searching, and nearly an hour later, we’ve still seen bupkus.  Oh well, that’s how it goes.  We stop back at the cross-roads for a comfort stop (the boys can go – I’m not going anywhere except our hotel – no way, no how) and at least get treated to some great bird sightings – a bunch of Rufus Treepies – sort like a magpie – come swooping down to greet us as we disembark the canter..  They are totally unaffected by humans and come so close, it’s amazing.

We also get our first tiger sighting! (FYI – it’s s sign that says Ranthambore National park with a tiger on it)

LOL.  It is now apparently time to head back, so we bundle up again and retrace the canter steps to find some Sambal deer (the biggest in India) and a great big buck just off the trail.

Then come the monkeys – some in trees, but a sweet momma monkey and her baby sitting on the wall at the entrance of the park. 

After that it’s back through the sandhills and dirt tracks to the hotel…

…and a few hours to bask in the sunlight, go to the gym (which is at the far end of the complex, next to the spa and is at least a 5 minute walk!), eat lunch (outside) and try to warm up for our afternoon safari adventure!

1/29–Agra to Ranthambore lunch and afternoon

After the stepwell we head to our lunch stop, which is at a beautiful organic resort called Umaid Lake Palace.  Needless to say, everything they have is organic and grown right on the property, from vegetables to an inhouse dairy and fish farm – including the huge bee hives that are underneath the eaves of the restaurant area, next to where our tables are set for lunch.  (Needless to say, we all moved over to another area to keep our distance from those little honey producers!)  The resort is beautiful and completely empty.  Bhanu later explains they get a lot of business from weddings where they rent the entire facility out – but they are trying to get more tourism business in other seasons.  I would hope!  Because it is a lovely location, the buffet was excellent and the garden terrace setting (complete with Squimonks cleaning up our plates) was as serene as it was beautiful.

After lunch we have time to wander about the property, exploring the beautiful interiors and the well maintained gardens in front of the hotel. 

Back on the road again, we work ourselves into an easy routine of listening to Bhanu and looking out the window at village streets, teeming people, and oh, the trucks!  Overloaded with whatever they are carrying, and typically barreling right at us until they swerve at the very last minute to avoid a crash.

It’s an adventure, that’s for sure, and we are definitely glad we aren’t driving!  After a couple of hours we stop at our comfort stop, the Tiger Treat, but find only bovines, not felines to greet us.

Comfort handled, we roll out once again, through changing scenery that gets drier and more desert like as the kilometers speed by. 

Well, speed is a relative turn, because the highway here is under construction and so we are shunted back and forth between each side of the road, sometimes in as little as a few hundred feet!  It’s slow going, and by the time we hit the Ranthambore limits, it’s well after dark.  As we head toward the hotel, we find out that the main road leading to the resort is under construction and we need to take a detour.  Ok, no biggie, until we see the detour!  The resort has sent a guide car for us to lead us in so we don’t get lost, and that’s because we are goin’ off-roading baby!  In a 44 passenger bus, I might remind you!  Holy cow – Suneel is amazing, he takes that bus right off the main road and into the sand dunes of Ranthambore.

It is totally crazy and there are a couple times when we are convinced we will be stuck, but no, Suneel successfully guides us right into the main entrance of the hotel, backs us up and lets us off at the front door.  A big round of applause for our fearless driver!

We all get checked in then scramble for our rooms – which are huge and lovely!  So huge in fact, the bathroom could be a separate room in itself, the shower could easily accommodate 10 people, plus it has a door off the shower that leads out to an astro-turfed walled in patio. Yes, that door at the end of the shower.  Plus a lovely patio out the back of the room.

Who could ask for more? Food, that’s what we could ask for, and it is delivered in the form of a lovely buffet steps away from our room.  There is also a little bar upstairs where we can keep the bartender company after our meal. It’s all you could want, and more.

The 4 of us spend the evening happily munching away, chatting with our tour mates, then retiring the upstairs bar for a little more liquid refreshment before retiring for good to our respective rooms readying ourselves  for our morning safari.  Tigers!  Yes!

1/29–Agra to Ranthambore with a stop at Chand Baori stepwell

Early rising today, with bags outside 1 hour before we leave on our long bus ride to the Rathambore National park.  By our mapping, it looks like it will take over 6 hours to get there – but in reality it will take a lot more than that (more on that later) – so we are prepared with our charged up Kindles, extra power pack and my PC to try to do a little blogging.  Haha.

As it turns out, there is far too much to do on the bus to try to read the Kindle, and eventually it is far too bumpy to even try to use the computer! First, Bhanu always has tons of information to impart upon us, and I’m not sure if it started today, but he has introduced us to Mulla Naseruddin, a 13th Century wise man from Turkey, whose wisdom is repeated all over Turkey and SE Asia.  All his stories have a little humor (which leads me to believe he is a comedian, until Bhanu sets us straight on that little error) mixed in with a moral tale.  As the tour progresses, everywhere we go and for every circumstance, Bhanu has a Mulla Naseruddin story for us – mostly including Naseruddin’s donkey, which just cracks me up.

So, we listen to Bhanu’s informative patter for hours (very willingly, I might add, he is wonderfully full of interesting and humorous info), while looking out the window watching scenes of India unspool before our eyes:  A cow auction, an abandoned city across the distance, and general street scenes at different intersections and villages.

It takes well over 4 hours, including comfort stops to finally reach the Chand Baori stepwell in Abhaneri.  It’s well worth the detour though. What an amazing place!  The well was originally built in the 8th Century by King Chandra, but the enclosure wall, side verandah and entrance pavilion were added much later on by the Mughals, some time in the 1700’s.  Regardless, it is a stunning example of creative architecture.  Because Rajasthan is such an arid state, the well was created to preserve as much water as possible, and is 100 feet deep with 3500 steps covering 13 stories, making it one of the largest and deepest stepwell in India..

The buildings in the middle were used as royal resting places, while the rest of the community could lounge on the promenade flooring and arched porticoes surrounding the top of the well.

It’s hard to look away, the design is so captivating.  And also so frightening.  Even though the steps are all large and cantilevered into a double staircase configuration, it is still dizzying to look down at them and then imagine climbing down to get the water, not to mention back up with water jugs on your head. Phew, gives us the sweats just to think about it!

In the portico (pavilion) surrounding the stepwell are artifacts and carvings, that we assume come from the well itself, as you can see areas that need some restoration.  We spend a few minutes perusing these carvings, letting Sunny loose to enjoy the beautiful day…

…before heading out to the little souvenir market outside the stepwell. There isn’t too much here, just the basic trinkets, although we do find a guy making lacquer bangle bracelets. It is the most amazing process, and we stand and watch him for about 5 minutes making the prettiest bangle – without even taking ONE picture or video.  Sigh.  We were all too enthralled.  So much so, that I bought the bangle he made, Maggi bought some others for herself and then we bought some thinner bangles for gifts.  The process was so amazing we ended up searching YouTube to find videos if anyone is so interested!  Here is a long video and a short video for your viewing pleasure.

1/28–Agra Dinner and Wedding Crashers

Tonight we are going solo, Maggi and Richard have decided to stay at the hotel for dinner and catch up on their sleep and jet lag.  So, we traipse out to the street and follow the path we took to lunch – through the empty car park, past the vicious dogs (who have now decided we are Richard and try to attack, but the old guys sitting in the chairs outside the store yell at them and beat them back) and past Golden Street restaurant to The Foyer Restaurant and Cafe. 

It’s a cute, funky little place with great murals and artwork adorning the walls, and some cool/kitschy interior decorating pieces.   And we are the only customers – which in certain circumstances might worry us, but this place has really good reviews, so we aren’t the least little bit concerned tonight.

It’s lovely and quiet and the food is outstanding.  I order what is now my all time favorite Indian dishes, Chicken Bedami, and Ed goes for the Chicken Shahi Korma, along with butter naan, all of which are fantastic, filling and completely eaten up by the two of us. 

Walking out into the dark street after our excellent meal, we hear loud music up ahead.  Aha! Across the street there is a wedding taking place, with music, lights and much dancing out in front of a hotel.  We cross over to get a better look and end up hanging around, watching the dancing and the family photos and the revelry (with other non-invited, Caucasian “guests”) in the hotel entrance drive.

Totally fun! With the excitement over as they all file into the event hall, we turn back toward the hotel, most carefully crossing back over the street to avoid the dogs, then through the empty parking lot, where lo and behold, more music…which means another wedding!

For this one, we have to cross the main street – in the dark. Ay yi yi, if Bhanu only knew!  but, hey, there’s a wedding! And we aren’t going to miss out, so we buck it up, wait for a break in the traffic and scoot across to get a better look. And, OMG, we’re so glad we did!  This is truly a production, with a generator powering lights every where, a two big bands – one percussion, one horns - and the groom on horseback!  Yes, horseback! I am totally obsessed with him.

There is of course the requisite dancing, the money dance (which we saw at wedding #1), and with that the procession starts to move….the guys with the generator wheeling it along behind all the lights.  Amazing!

As the lights and the music begin their march, we begin ours back across the crazy, busy road and back into the more serene, relaxing atmosphere of the Trident Agra, where we have a night cap and then hit the sack to get ready for our first long bus ride day tomorrow morning.

1/28–Agra Fort

This afternoon’s tour is of Agra Fort, the huge red stone fortress situated on the opposite banks of the Yamuna river, 2 km from the Taj Mahal. The fortress was originally built by the Mughal ruler Akbar in the 1500s, but was added to and renovated by his son, Jahangir and grandson Shah Jahan through the 1600s.  The fortress takes up a square mile worth of territory and is a blend of old (red sandstone) and new (marble) Mughal architecture, particularly inside where Shah Jahal added marble replacements for the ladies areas and the guest quarters.

The scope of the fort is pretty amazing, with double ramparts and huge circular bastions.  There is an inside secondary wall as well, where warriors could hide and then throw hot oil onto any opponents who made it over the moat and through the first set of bastions. 

We cross over what was once a moat, walk up through the “oil alley” and enter into a courtyard leading into the Palace of Jahangir, used by royal ladies as their palace and gathering place, all the while listening to Bhanu on the whisperer (am I audible?) explain the fortress and what to do/see. We are set free here in the outer courtyard, so we wander through the palace and the interior with gardens planted like a patchwork quilt, inspecting the red sandstone carvings and architecture, which are massive – gorgeous in their detail – but simply massive. And carefully navigating around a huge hole in the courtyard grounds that used to contain a tree whose water would quench a convicted prisoner's last thirst before being put to death. 

Next, we head to Kas Mahal, the marble part of the ladies quarters. It’s a beautiful open area, one you can imagine the ladies enjoying all those ages ago, with an impressive view out to the the Taj Mahal across the river.

From here we cross over into the guest quarter areas, where the tortured history of the fort comes to life, because it is here that Shah Jahal was imprisoned by his son, Aurangzeb, after the death of Mumtaz Mahal.  For 7 years, he lived in these quarters, with access to the small courtyard and a mosque he had previously built for himself, only able to gaze across the river at the beautiful mausoleum he had built for his favorite wife.  The quarters are nonetheless beautiful, with intricate carvings and decorations, and we spend a good deal of time exploring all the rooms and the upper portico, although with a somber mindset understanding how Shah Jahan must have felt exiled in his own palace by his traitorous son.

Reversing our steps, we head back to the hall of public appearances, the Diwan-I-Am, walking around the tomb of Lord Colvin, a military officer (called the Lt. Governor of the Northern Provinces) who tried to protect the fort from a mutiny in 1857, and later died of Cholera in the fort.  Since the British soldiers couldn’t escape the fort, they buried him here in front of the Diwan-I-Am.  The burial site is a little odd by all standards, since this was a revered and royal place for the Mughals/local Indians, and the British weren’t exactly here to protect them – but to overthrow them.  

With free time still on our hands, we entertain ourselves by walking past the prisoner “well” where they threw prisoners sentenced to death, and then watched as a local guy fed a Squimonk right out of his hand.  So Sweet!

Back to the bus we go for the short ride back to the hotel, filled with the sights and sounds of India:  The nut lady on the sidewalk, pushing wedding decorations down the road, the market, more wedding decorations in an amongst the scooters, the Egnlish Wine & Cool Bear Model shop (who thought up those combinations? and where is their proofreader?) and finally more wedding decorations.  As Bhanu will tell us, this is a very special and good time to get married (the stars, horoscopes, numbers, etc., are aligned). 

1/28–Agra Marble Factory and lunch

Rendezvoused at the designated time (this is a good group, no one is lagging, we are all on time), we troop out the exit, then walk a ways to get on the electric carts that will take us back to the bus.   (Bhanu had originally said if we didn’t get a cart we could walk, but its a far piece from the bus parking lot to the entrance, I’m thinking there might be those among us who will wait for a cart, regardless!) We get lucky and there is a cart right there, so we are back on the bus in a jiffy where we get the Price is Right options, then off we go.  but in the meantime we got this great shot of Ganesh, the God of Luck and Prosperity.  I can’t remember for the life of me remember where he was, but it’s an awesome shot, and I’m going to say it was at the exit of the Taj Mahal since it was about half an hour after our last Taj Mahal shot.

Next stop – the marble factory.  Hey, when in Agra….I mean the Taj Mahal is called a “Dream in Marble”!  At the marble factory we get the tour, plus beer (yay!) and an explanation and demonstration of the age old tradition and ancient ways of creating and inlaying marble.  It’s all very interesting, and the showroom is amazing.  They have beautiful marble table tops (the table stand is included free!) that I would love to have shipped home – but we have no place to put them, even the small little side tables.  We wander a bit, and final get to the “small pieces” showroom where we actually find a really neat candle holder, cylindrical with inlay and lattice type cut outs.  We bite the bullet and have them fix the bottom (it wobbles), then wrap it up in more bubble wrap than is environmentally friendly, and we are back on the bus with the rest of the gang – a few of whom also bought tables, etc., to be shipped home.

Back at the hotel before noon, we take some time to freshen up then head out to one of the two restaurants we wanted to try while in Agra – Golden Street Restaurant.  We drove right past it on the way to the Taj Mahal this morning, so we know exactly where it is located, and it’s an easy walk. (Its an easy walk to the other restaurant, The Foyer, as well, since it is only a few hundred yards down the road from Golden Street.)  The four of us intrepid travelers hit the lobby and head out into the honking, dusty road, crossing a deserted parking lot, then heading down the smallish road that leads to the Taj.  On the way, we of course dodge stray dogs (who take a distinct disliking to Richard), walk around old men hanging outside shops and manage to cross the road to get to the restaurant without incident in a little less than 10 minutes.

Inside, it is cool and lovely, and totally uncrowded.  We are the 2nd customers of the day, although more will come as we have our meal.  The menu is pretty extensive, and it is all traditional Mughlai cuisine (from the Mughal empire which was the ruling empire in these parts), which is strongly influenced by Persia (Iran) and Northern India (Punjab and Kashmir).  Low fire cooking, whole spices, enticing aromas, ghee and sauces made from cashew nuts along with the use of the Tandoor (the earth oven) all signify Mughlai cooking.  The lunch was amazing – creamy cashew and almond based sauces, a tomato-y butter chicken and excellent naan!  Ed’s Chicken Badami with cashews was the clear winner to me – but everything was delicious and totally filling.

Out on the street we are greeted by a goat herder that we follow for a block or two – it all seems so normal now to be walking down the street with goats) before turning back to the hotel.

We have a few minutes to relax, then hit the bathroom, before heading out for our afternoon visit to the Red Fort of Agra.

1/28–The Taj Mahal

Wake up call, breakfast, on the bus – it’s a tour, but you know, it’s getting us everywhere we need, and so far, so good.  We are out of the hotel  before 8:00 and to the Taj before 8:30.  Bhanu rounds us all up, and introduces us to our “official” photographer and his helper (who he has already explained will take our group picture, and then will also take individual pictures for 100 rupees each – however we have to be very specific with him and tell him how many we want, because he will continue to take them and you could end up with 20, or 30 or more! Thank you for the warning, Bhanu).  We then queue up, cross the street and separate out for the ladies and the gents side of security.  Bags through the scanner, into the curtained cubicle box we go, wanded and out – Maggi loses her cigarettes and lighter (oops – must leave them on the bus next time). Bhanu had already warned me – in a more general, group way – that little stuffed animals are not allowed inside – by telling the story of his friend who had “Boo” and he wanted to take “Boo” with him into the Taj, and Bhanu says, but who is Boo?  And his friend shows him a little stuffed animal, to which Bhanu explains boo cannot come….he is a FANTASTIC tour guide – it is only day 3 and I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful he is –and all that he does.  So, PS, I have nothing but my phone with me (poor Sunny relegated to the bus, I know he would have loved this….).

He corrals us once again, and off we go.  Everyone knows the story of the Taj, right?  The ultimate expression of love between a husband and wife – the Emperor Shah Jahan built it to enshrine his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It cost over 30 million rupees and took 20,000 men 22 years to build it.  The entire complex is completely symmetrical, with formal gardens, a water channel and bronze fountains leading to the mausoleum and flanked by a guest house and a mosque, built identically. And of course, the ultimate tragedy – Shah Jahan became so incapacitated by his wife’s death that he could no longer rule effectively, and his son overthrew him, imprisoning him in the Agra Fort (which we will see later this afternoon) before the shrine was even finished.  So, there you have it, a very quick history – and now onto the photo bomb!

To say the Taj Mahal is stunning is an understatement.  We are so incredibly lucky, it is a picture perfect day, not a cloud in the sky, and the crowds are not so crazy yet that we can’t easily walk around.  We head through the Seedi gate entrance …

…and stand transfixed (at least I am) looking across the gardens to the Taj Mahal.

I mean, I’ve read about it, seen pictures, sure, but never really thought too terribly much about seeing it.  Now, standing here on this gorgeous day, gazing down the gardens to the “Dream in Marble,” it is truly breathtaking the size, scope and emotion that lies behind it.  Wow.

After that little bit of awe, we are gathered for our group photo, and then true to Bhanu’s predictions, our photog and his assistant go for the gusto – positioning us here and there, trying to snap a bizillion photos.  We stop him at 3, M&R stop him at 2 (way to go M&R!) – but of course we’re right behind him taking our own “un”professional shots.

Now it’s time to wander! We walk down the through the gardens on the raised paths, past the center reflecting pool, where some random guy keeps telling me the best picture is right here with the Taj reflected in the water.  That may be so, but we are on a mission, so we wave him off.  The gardens are lovely to traverse through, but we are intent on the main attraction lying dead ahead. We do get side tracked a bit when we start snapping shots of each other halfway down the walkway.  A guy who was cleaning the water/ponds comes over and says he’ll take our photos – and he does a great job – of course holding his hand out for a “tip” for his services.  It’s worth 100 rupees.  It’s the Taj after all!

Finally we reach the mausoleum itself, where we have to take put on our supplied booties to be able to walk around up on the marble base that houses the tomb, as well as to actually enter the interior to see the 2 tombs. Up close, the detail is just stunning.  There is calligraphy around every domed entrance, marble inlayed with gems and black onyx, reflective tiles, bas relief and plant motifs..  Everywhere you look, the white marble just dazzles and stands in perfect contrast to the azure blue skies. 

Unfortunately we can’t take pictures inside the tomb, so we simply walk around in a circle, viewing the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan from behind the intricately carved screens.  (These are actually fake tombs, as the real graves are on a lower level.) This is the only place in the entire 42 acre complex that is not symmetrical.  Mumtaz Mahal’s tomb is directly centered inside the mausoleum, but once Shah Jahan died, his tomb was placed next to hers, which created the asymmetry.

Back outside in the sunshine, we wander around the base of the Tomb, snapping pictures of the Mosque, the river, the minaret, a modeling Maggi (she’s taking after all the Indian and Asian women who are modeling and posing all over the place!) and anything else that strikes our eyes.

Finally prying ourselves away from our walk around the Mausoleum plinth, we head back down to ground level to traverse the gardens once again and join our group, stopping here and there for more photos.

As we make our way to the entrance gate, lo and behold, the place where the random guy tried to stop me is in fact an excellent place for a reflecting pictures!  And I got it for free!

Bye bye Taj!

1/27–First Taj Sighting

Miraculously, the bus has been fixed.  We don’t know how, we don’t know when, we don’t know where, but we don’t care!  It is back on level struts, and we are happy campers as we pile on, rubbing in the Purell Sanjay always supplies every time we re-board our tour transportation.

Heading towards the hotel, we get our first Taj sighting out the bus window!  Cool!  We will be there tomorrow, weather permitting, but it is so neat to see it right there, sitting across the river! (Ok, so it doesn’t really have the same impact without the photos on the blog…but…what can we say? This is what we have until OLW gets updated or we figure out a new blog interface.)

Traffic is building up as we approach the town of Agra, and it is easy to lose yourself in the sights and scenes passing us as we slowly slog through the town.  The open air truck with what looks like a band of course grabs our attention,

…before we turn off the street and into our hotel, the Trident Agra.

Once again here, as in every hotel, but much more so in bigger cities, we need to walk through a metal detector and put our bags through a scanner.  Security is relatively tight – and we are assuming it is because of the shooting a few years ago at the Taj hotel in Mumbai – but we aren’t sure –and of course, we totally forget to ask Bhanu.

Regardless, or maybe because off, the security, the hotel is lovely, with a nice bar (we’re headed there!) and what looks like a good restaurant, and  very pretty courtyard. After we gather around Bhanu to hand in our passports and receive our room keys, we ask him where the nearest beer and wine store is located, figuring we have enough time to walk or Uber over and back before dinner.  He looks at us aghast and says, “Tell me what you want, Sanjay can get it for you!” No, really?  Yes, really.  Sanjay now becomes not only an excellent assistant on the bus (making sure we Purell when we return to the bus, passing out water and checking baggage), but also our booze-runner!  We are tipping big, let me tell you!  Alcohol orders placed, we then trek (and it is a trek, because we went the wrong way to our room!) to our room where we wait for our luggage, freshen up, then head back to the bar to meet Maggi and Richard for drinks (our nightly ritual), before our group dinner. Tonight though, Maggi is in the mood for a martini and decides to go for it – which turns out to be in her words “the worst martini she has ever tasted.”  I will take her word for it – and just the fact that it came with black olives…well, that sort of says it all, now doesn’t it?

The group dinner is nice, everyone is gelling together well, and we spend a nice hour or so eating (from a very well stocked buffet) and chatting away.  After dinner, we head back to the bar, sitting outside in the chilly evening air sipping our drinks and snacking on the spicy chips provided with every round!  Out in the courtyard there is a puppet show and a magic show (which I’ve nosed about, and then had to promise the magician we’d come see him).  Inside the lobby is an astrologist, where Maggi gets her “fortune” told to here, and that she will return here in 4 years. Sounds like a plan!  There is also a potter, throwing pots on a wheel, who invites me to join him, but no way Jose, I’m just not a wheel girl – and a jewelry lady who I think is just selling things, not making them.  It’s quite a fun little atmosphere happening around!

We finally make our way out to the magician, who is cute and makes things disappear and does the rope trick.  Then we are ushered over to the puppet show, even though we don’t want to go, and end up having a vey enjoyable time watching the puppets beat each other up and listening to one that is making frog or dog barking sounds?  Don’t know, but it was cute, and a little girl who joined us thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Afterward, we retired to our rooms, looking forward to a good night’s sleep and our tour tomorrow!

1/27–Itmud-Ud-Dualah

The bus keeps trundling down the road – with Suneel and now Sanjay still on the phone screaming at someone occasionally.  It’s a good time now to tell you about the bus – which suspension notwithstanding is extremely well kept and comfortable.  But it’s the front cab that intrigues us – we’ve never seen a bus like this (but they are all over India apparently) where the driver and his assistant have their own large glassed off area at the front.  It is like a train engineer booth, so that when the door is closed we are cut off from both Sanjay and Suneel, giving them a little more privacy to curse out whoever is on the end of the phone line at the bus repair company!  It works great in general, because they are up there chatting away without having to worry about interrupting Bhanu’s tour guide info – and there is also tons of storage up front for water and different things that Sanjay needs for us.

So, all that to say, that we know they are still fighting with someone up there, but it’s muffled and as long as the bus is still clipping along, albeit at an angle, we’re all happy as larks in the back.  We finally drift over to the shoulder of the highway (and the whole bus takes a huge collective gulp) but it is only to meet a truck of some sort and for Suneel and Sanjay to yell at these people a little more.  LOL.  Turns out this is our repair vehicle and they will follow us to our next stop, the Itmud-ud-Dualah tomb, and take the bus to get it fixed while we are touring.  Collective sigh of relief!

Turning off the highway, we now make our way out to the mausoleum on the bank of the Yamuna river.  This is considered the “baby Taj” as its design is a precursor for the Taj Majal.  Finished in 1628, it was built by Nur Jahan for her father and mother, although the parents of Mumtaz Mahal (her niece and for whom the Taj Mahal was built) are also buried here.  The design of the mausoleum was starkly different than typical buildings of the time.  It was delicately designed, and marks a transition away from the domed architecture traditionally used for mausoleums or monuments.  Green gardens surround the main structure, which is made of white marble with extensive inlay – the first time stone or jewel inlay was ever used, all accessed by  red sandstone gateways, providing a beautiful contrast. 

We are free to wander around, and we do so with abandon, beginning with the Redstone gates that frame the beautiful white marble main mausoleum (even if oblivious tourists get in the way of the photo)…

..then onto the gardens and the mausoleum with its intricately carved marble decorations.

Inside the mausoleum, there are beautiful frescoes, some refreshed, some in original form, as well as inlaid ceiling tiles, and of course the tombs.

Back outside, we enjoying exploring the grounds and walking out to the river to watch the sun slowly start its descent into the horizon (or as Bhanu would point out, the earth slowly rotate its way out of the sunshine and into the darkness – because after all, the earth rotates around the sun, so how can the sun really “set”?).

Then it is time to just wander back to our meeting point, taking shot after shot of of Itmad-ud-Daulah in the emptiness of the waning light and departing tourists.

Sunny and I even get into the act….

…and then we finally get the “money” shot without the oblivious tourist…

…and after wandering through museum, which had an excellent explanation of the original gardens (designed to be a paradise with an orchard, herbs and flowering fragrant fruit) but overhauled so many times it lost its purpose (except for the remaining cypress trees) until a recent project started to retain its original design…..we take our leave of the baby Taj and head off to the bus on our way to the hotel.

1/27–Delhi to Agra

Everyone is on time this morning, bags out, checked and on the bus.  We are busting bugs right on time.  This morning we are going to complete our New Delhi Palace drive by – which is made simple because there is still no traffic..  Crazy, but true.  There is still the detritus of left behind parade route accessories, but otherwise, we easily glide through the roads, past the palace, the parliamentary buildings, a lovely fountain used as a traffic circle and finally the Gate of India (not to be confused with the Gate of India in Mumbai – well, you can actually confuse it, because it is basically the same, just not the departure site of the last British soldiers after India was granted freedom).

Off to Agra we go, but first a morning visit to Akshardham on the outskirts of New Delhi. 

Akshardham is a Hindu temple and cultural campus dedicated to Bhagwan Swaminarayan, an Indian spiritualist and yogi in the late 1700s/early 1800’s.  The whole place was built in 5 years through millions of hours of work from over 11,000 volunteers.  It is a marvel of architecture, community spirit and artistry, for sure, but it is also bears a little resemblance to The Magic Kingdom, as Ed points out and narrates – “50 years ago Walt Disney had a vision….please note that Tomorrow Land will open at 10….” - while we are winding our way through the Disney-esque steel fenced queue, just like entering Disney or waiting for any of the rides there.  We finally make it to the entrance only to begin the first of our Indian segregation experiences – Ladies on the left, Men on the right.

Ladies get our purses scanned and our bodies wanded by a lady guard who apparently likes to use that wand a bit intimately, if you get my drift.  We all make it through and end up following Bhanu through the courtyard and the main temple, learning about the Gods and different Hindu traditions.  Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed, so we just have our memories (although Maggi and I did buy books on the temple and the Elephant Plinths, so we do have photos – but I won’t infringe upon IP rights with them here – for now!) of the marble, the carving and the intricacies of this massive complex.

After exiting the golden interior (literally golden with gold statues praying and listening to a giant gold statue of Swaminarayan) of the Mandir, we walk around the exterior marveling at the elephant plinth that is over 1000 feet long and depicts elephants in situations that reflect Hindu values:  with nature, man and God, reflecting peaceful coexistence.  They are cleaning and renovating the holy water pool, so we don’t get to see it full of water, or see pilgrims coming to wash their feet or head in it, but we do get to see Sleeping Beauty!  Yes, Maggi spots her first, and exclaims, “It IS Disney World!”  The Sleeping Beauty in question is a lady sleeping on a bed surrounded by elephants on the plinth.  Indeed it is Disney-esque, as we round another corner and spy the official photographer taking pictures, just like Disney only way, way cheaper! 

We continue to meander through the grounds, which, even though Disney-like, are incredibly beautiful and very artistic.  We head toward our meeting place through the Yogihriday Kamal which is a garden area in the shape of a huge petaled lotus.  Each petal displays quotes of sages, historians and scientists inspiring faith in man and faith in God.  (With an added children’s playground in a few petals, btw.)  This leaves us in the food court and souvenir shop area where we dutifully make our pit stop and then wander through the shops, buying the aforementioned books (dirt cheap, not even $1 US!) and wait for Bhanu to round us all up.

As we are leaving, and leafing through the books, we see they have a Water Boat Ride too!  It IS Disney World!  It’s a Small World After All!

Back on the bus we begin our journey to Agra – passing by Akshardham for at least a few nice longshots from the bus.

After about an hour and a half, we stop at a roadside complex called Highway Masala for lunch.  Lunch is on our own, but we are all hungry, so we (well, Bhanu) commandeers a long table for us all to sit, and we order excellent, but what turns out to be way too much, food. Ed and Richard both ordered half Tandoori Murg (chicken), I had an excellent Murgh Malai TIkka and Maggi had spinach Paneer (the name of which I can’t remember) that looked quite bright, but she said was excellent (if not far too heavy on the portion).  The meat came with marinated onions, which the guys loved, but I just couldn’t stomach.  Cook an onion any way, and I’ll pile it on, but raw?  Not a fan – and in this region, it is served with everything as a way to help digestion and keep your stomach clean.  OOh well.  And of course, we also ordered Naan.  Cheese Naan.  And Paratha, the layered wheat version of bread which I fell in love with on this trip.

Back on the road after that lovely little stop, we watch the countryside pass us by, along with overstuffed trucks trundling on the side of the road.

About 2 hours in, the bus starts feeling like its shaking a lit bit more than normal, and doesn’t really sound right.  We stop for a pit stop and realize the bus is totally leaning to the left, our suspension has obviously sprung a leak!  We all get out for our “comfort” stop, but Sanjay and Suneel get right to work, climbing under the bus with their tool kits, trying to right the bus.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t work so well.  As we get back on the bus, I tease everyone that they’ll have to all sit on the right side of the bus, which gets a laugh, until Sanjay comes back and tells us all to sit on the right side of the bus.  It still sounds and feels weird, meanwhile Suneel is on the phone yelling at someone, and because he is on the phone he is driving really slowly, which starts the murmuring in the back of the bus.  Bhanu knocks on the window and tells Suneel to get off the phone because he is “scaring the clients.”  Too funny – in a sort of worrisome way!

1/26–Delhi lunch, Raj Ghat and an afternoon rickshaw ride

Next stop:  Lunch.  Because it is a national holiday, there aren’t many choices of open restaurants, but there is one that is pretty good, Bhanu tells us, and tours normally can not go there because the bus can’t park under normal circumstances.  But, since there is no traffic and no cars/bikes/tuk tuks clogging the streets, we get to eat at the PubLiq Bar and Kitchen. Upstairs, with a balcony overlooking the street (we eat inside though), the place is cute and sort of quirky with a large menu of typical Indian offerings.  There’s Mutton Rogan Josh, Butter Chicken, all the Veg you could want, and naan, of course naan!

  

Good lunch, and equally good facilities (which of course is a priority!).  Back on the road we trek over to Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Ghandi. Situated along the Yamuna river, the memorial, a simple black marble platform, open to the sky, with an eternal flame on one side, is in the middle of a beautifully landscaped park that today is crawling with people – either relaxing or playing on the manicured lawns or circling the monument to pay respects to the man considered Father of the Nation.

  

After 20 minutes of meandering around in the beautiful sunshine, people watching (and watching people watch us back), we head back to the bus to continue our city tour.

On the way, Bhanu regales us with more Indian knowledge, explaining the colors of the Indian flag; Orange for Hindu, White for Peace, Green for Muslim and the circle of time in the middle. He also explains the symbolism of the red dot in the middle of the forehead – it is symbolizes the center of energy, the third eye, and reminds people that they should center themselves around perception (located at that very point behind the forehead).  Unfortunately, many who get what is known as a “bindi” or “tikka,” don’t actually proscribe to the symbolism, but only do it out of habit or Hindu practice.

We arrive in old Delhi quite quickly, of course, there’s no traffic, and do our drive by past the Red Fort.  We aren’t touring the fort because apparently there isn’t too much to see, only a small portion of the fort is available to tourists and we will be seeing lots of other forts in the coming days.  So, on we go directly the Chandni Chowk, the main shopping district of Old Delhi where we find our rickshaws (or at least Bhanu finds the rickshaws for us) to tour the area.  Once we are all settled, off we go in the rickety human powered mode of transport.  Again, sadly, nothing is open, so we don’t really get the full experience of being carried through the shopping bazaar amidst thousands of people all bustling about buying their wares – but it’s still fun – watching the empty storefronts go by, the mass of electrical wires all strung together and all the other rickshaws in our group pass us.  Our guy started out first, but then we crashed!  A rickshaw coming the other way crashes into us, making Ed drop his phone (fortunately no damage done) and after the initial shock, causing us all to break out into infection giggles.  Honestly, a rickshaw crash?

  

Maggi and Richard’s guy keeps getting off the bike and pushing them, our guy then decides he’s in a race and has to be first and takes off – and well – it’s all good fun, racing through the empty streets of Chandni Chowk.

  

All 18 of us make it back to the bus safely (crash notwithstanding) and head out to our next “scheduled” destination, a drive by of the Presidential Palace, Parliament and India Gate.  This is where the entire Republic Day parade and festivities are being held, so we don’t know if we will be able to drive through there, but Bhanu and Suneel are going to give it a try.

On the way we pass by crowded local markets, and the occasional goat or two or three.  Not so many cows here, but they will come later, we promise you!

  

As we near the Presidential palace, we don’t see too many road blocks or people, so Suneel thinks it is safe to drive through, but we are stopped by an armed guard and told to go the other way.  Oh well, worth a try.  The other way turns out to be right past India Gate, which is at the very end of the parade promenade, and oh my God, the people!  The parade may be over, but the celebrating crowds are not.  We had heard this was a huge festival, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 people coming to the city to see the parade, and let me tell you, it looks like 400,000 people are still here!  Milling about the streets, crossing the road, selling grilled corn on the sidewalk, empty chairs along the parade route  – holy cow – it is jam packed full of Republic Day celebrants.  Wow!

    

That was worth the drive by, for sure! Now it is back to the hotel for welcome drinks and dinner with the group.

We’ve got about an hour to freshen up, then meet in a private room in one of the restaurants for drinks, introduction to each other and appetizers (which might as well be dinner, the amount of food they served us!).  There are two groups of 4 (our group and 2 brothers and their cousin and husband) and the rest individual couples who all seem fairly well traveled and easy going – at least on this busy first day!

After an hour, we head downstairs to the first of our many shared buffet dinners (this one a late added bonus due, we are pretty sure, to Republic Day) which caps off a very nice first tour day.  Now we have our instructions from Bhanu, our wake up call, our bags out and on the bus time for tomorrow – and it is time for a well deserved sleep before we hit to the road to Agra in the morning.

1/26–Delhi second stop–Qutab Minar

Back on the bus, we glide through the eerily empty streets of Delhi, arriving at the Qutab Minar complex fairly quickly.  Built around 1200 by Qutb-ud-din, the first ruler of the of the Delhi Sultanate, in honor of his defeat of Hindu rulers, the tower is constructed from pieces of 7 temples that were destroyed in order to build it.  It is the tallest stone tower in India, with five stories, each designed in different patterns and shapes of red sandstone and marble (on the 4th and 5th storeys).  The whole complex itself is made up of carved sandstone arches, a mosque, the Iron Pillar and other structures surrounding the Minaret.

 

 

After a brief introduction, we are free to wander, and after a restroom break, we start at the Iron pillar, which is 1600 years old and doesn't show any signs of rust or decay.  As Bhanu says, it is an excellent example of metallurgy!

  

It’s a beautiful day, and we are quite content to wander around this gorgeous monument.  The carvings are incredible in their detail, every turn providing a new and interesting sculpture to photograph.

     

Making our way to the upper reaches of the park, we round a corner for some good shots of the Minaret, when a security guard comes and tells us that this is the best spot for pictures.  He shuffles us around and offers to take pictures.  Ok, nice!

  

He does a great job too, and after we’ve all had our photo shoot, he sticks out his hand!  Of course! It’s worth a hundred rupees, but still, a security guard?  Ah well, everyone has to make their money somehow!

Proceeding on, we keep encountering these little squirrel like animals that are like vermin all over the place.  Their bodies look like squirrels, but their coloring looks like a chipmunk – we christen them Squimonks – and watch them climb all over every structure and tree in the place as we wander.  We’ll end up seeing them everywhere we go – for better or worse!

On our way to the group rendezvous, we can’t help snapping picture after picture – what a great place! And surprisingly not crowded – either because of or in spite of Republic Day!

 

As we return to the bus, all the hawkers are there, lined up trying to sell us items.  But, as will become standard procedure at every stop we make, Bhanu and Sanjay organize the vendors, then bring items onto the bus for us to purchase.  Bhanu runs it like the Price is Right – it is one of the most memorable – and fun – things that he does for us.  I absolutely love to hear what he’ll show and say next – “And here is a book on all the places we will visit, is only 200 rupees, a wonderful deal! Anyone? Ok, and here are 20 elephant key chains, key chains! For only 100 rupees?  Who wants this deal?”  (Actually we did buy the elephant key chains!)  It is such fun, and totally alleviates the aggravation of constantly dealing with hawkers and vendors trying to sell us something – because we know Bhanu will probably have it on the bus for us at the best price!

Next up – it’s lunch time in Delhi.