On the road again - Dubai and India

After wintering over in England, which included lots of snow and cold weather (but wasn't as bad as I had feared) I flew back to Dubai for some time with Bec, Andy, Daisy, Zach and Bastie.

Then it was off to India for an 8 day trip with a group of other people, that turned out to be a lot of fun. We started in Delhi, which was busy, polluted, and with a lot of obvious poverty. The people were friendly though and we visited some interesting places.

Gandhi's memorial and cremation place

Not the Taj Mahal, but a lot like it

We visited lots craft factories making fabulous things in traditional ways

Cows everywhere wandering untended amongst the busiest of traffic

and camels to add to the confusion

You see these trauma hospitals all over the place, offering all sorts of services. It seems to me it would be a trauma to end up in one

Then it was about a 6 hour drive to Agra. It's less than 200km but the roads are so terrible it takes a long time. The Taj Mahal was what most of us were there to see and it didn't disappoint. It is stunning.

We stayed at the Taj until sunset and it was beautiful. That night we saw a theatrical Bollywood version of the love story that lead to the building of it through song and dance and it was cheesy but fun. The next morning we visited Agra Fort, another beautiful place, huge with lots of room for rulers and families and concubines.

On the way from Agra to Jaipur, we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, the old capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571-1585, when it was abandonned due to lack of water. It has a very Tibetan feel to it.

We stopped at a small village where where the locals provided an excellent lunch and had a wander around before heading off to Jaipur, the Pink City, so named as it was painted pink in 1876 in time for a visit by the Prince of Wales. The tradition has continued. We stayed in a very nice old colonial building.

Pink gin please

We started off the day's sightseeing by visiting Hawa Mahal  the Palace of the Winds. It is only a facade these days, but nevertheless, impressive.

Next was Amber Fort, just outside Jaipur, stunningly situated on the top of hill. We got up to the Fort by elephant (not my choice of transport, I feel sorry for the elephants) and it was another amazing complex. 

Originally the decor was precious stones and gold inlay.

Floating palace in the background

We visited an amazing observatory that was like a sculpture park, but the constructions measure the positions of the stars, calculate eclipses, the lunar calendar and the time of day. Built in 1728, it is still accurate. The next day we headed for the rural, semi-desert Shekhawati region, which lies in a triangular area between Delhi, Jaipur and Bikaner. It was another long day, not so much because of the distance, but because of the state of the roads...

The fields were full of mustard, about to be harvested (for the oil), with rice and corn growing as well.

Shekhawati had a lovely, friendly feel to it. We stayed in yet another opulent colonial fortress, where we all had quite different suites. The one I was in was fairly plain, but extremely long.

The entrance was very grand, and one of the rooms was (enviously) round with a round bed, beautifully tiled and with a mirror in the ceiling. I can't figure out why I didn't get that one.

That night we had a special dinner with entertainment laid on - great music with dancing by a young and very good boy. We all had a go at copying him. It was exhausting.

I need a pink gin, please

 The region was first settled around the 14th century when some Muslim clans moved there and it became an important trading post on the ancient caravan routes. The rich traders built mansions called havelis to show off their wealth and it is full of deteriorating, but beautifully painted havelis. The biggest ones had up to four courtyards (for the concubines and families) and were up to 6 stories high. Restoration doesn't seem high on the agenda anywhere but no doubt starving people take precedence.

Sunset from the roof of the hotel

From there it was a long drive back to Delhi where I stayed one more night before heading to Nepal. It was a great introduction to India and I loved doing it with a group. Of the 17, about half were my age and half 30-50ish. They were all good to travel with. Our guide Yousef was perfect. He was smart and gentle and his many stories educated and entertained us. I would definitely give onthegotours another go somewhere else.