Two sides of the Golden Triangle

I, John Forster, principle photographer for this trip, have been ill for the last week and a bit. As a result, unfortunately there are very few photos of Varanasi or Agra to show you, and a large gap in the chronology. Hopefully Jamie and Peter will be able to paint a picture to fill in the blanks.

The three of us by the Taj Mahal

Since the last post we’ve done the highlights of Varanasi and ventured into the heartland of Indian tourism: Agra and now Jaipur. Sadly, John has been ill for quite a while, so me and Peter have been left to explore on our own. Near Varanasi we visited a museum which displayed the Maharaja’s (local king) collection. Most interesting was an assortment of hunting trophies, including a tiger skin rug, a mounted tigers head, a bench made entirely out of antlers, a multitude of mounted stags heads and unbelievably detailed ivory sculptures. Some very beautiful treasures but all at a high price.
Next in Sarnath we visited a host of Buddhist temples in the styles of various nation states all built around the spot where the Buddha gave his first sermon. The best temple was Indian in design, funded by a British Buddhist and painted by a Japanese artist. The interior walls were covered with bright and clear paintings telling the story of the Buddha’s live.
Eventually reaching Agra, I was amazed by the number of white people, beyond anything since home. On reaching our hotel I crashed and slept for most of the day feeling pretty ill. I was out of atction all day and half of the next but then managed to head out into the city and off to see what the rickshaw drivers called the 'Baby Taj'. Agra’s red fort was a dramatic contrast of serious battlements on the outside and lavish courtyard on the inside. The Muslim decoration gave it a very different feel from many things we have seen being equally beautiful but far more simple in its design. Hindu building tend to be filled with detailed art and sculpture while this Muslim fort was minimalist in overt decoration.
On the 26th John was finally fully back in action and we finally saw the Taj Mahal. As spectacular as its reputation, a picture can say so much more than I ever could. Everything from the delicate work, with precious stones inlaid in marble, to the grand scale and fantastic shape make it unbelievable.
We arrived in Jaipur yesterday and I walked to the old pink city. Laid on a grid with different streets designated to any particular purpose and with all of its buildings washed in orangey pink
Jamie

Taj Mahal with cool water reflection.

We took a cycle rickshaw out to Ramnagar Fort in Varanasi and whilst I didn't find a lot of the musuem all that spectacular, I really enjoyed the armoury. It was filled with weapons I'd never seen before; we saw a 2 metre long rifle and a spear that had a 6-barreled pistol attached to its head! They had an impressive double-barreled shotgun that, after tip-toeing/ jumping, we found out was actually quadruple-barreled! The museums collection of very detailed items made from ivory was a little unnerving but quite impressive. On the way to and from the fort the cycle rickshaw driver got off sometimes and pulled the bike along which made Jamie and I uncomfortable, we were quick to jump off and push with him if it looked like he was struggling.
We spent quite a bit of time in Agra just laying back and taking it easy as we all felt ill various amounts. When we visited the Baby Taj - built by the grandfather of Shahjehan, the builder of the Taj Mahal- we were initially told it would cost us 80 rupees (£1.14) to get there. Knowing this was a stupid price, we tried to haggle it down and managed to get it to 20 rupees (29p), agreeing to be taken to two shops on the way (which he would receive commission from even if we just looked around for 15 minutes and bought nothing). The shops he took us to were unlike any of the shops we'd seen before; one had 4 floors and a large marble fountain for sale, there was even a 240,000 rupee (£3430) brass cow! We were able to see the marble tables and incredibly impressive carpets being made and precious jewels being put into them. Upon leaving the second shop our rickshaw driver happily told us that if we saw one more shop he would scrap the 20 rupees we owed him and take us back to our hotel after seing the Baby Taj. He also said (in a very jolly manner)
that we were his great friends and that he would drive us around if we brought our families to Agra.
The Taj Mahal was really amazing and whilst they're very nice, I don't think our pictures do it justice. The precious stones inside the tomb that glowed under torchlight were quite remarkable and although the place was steaming with tourists, it was still absolutely fantastic.
Earlier today we encountered a snake charmer with two cobras. He called us over to him and told us to touch them, thoughts about getting bitten flooded my head... There was a little bit of a 'just go for it' moment and before long it was around my neck. Quite exciting considering I'd never touched a snake before.
Peter

A cobra around Peter's neck in Jaipur

Unfortunately, for the last week and a bit I have been variously ill with various different ailments, none of which have been very pleasant. This resulted in me seeing little of Varanasi, and spending rather longer than we'd hoped in Agra. The worst of it was in Agra, with fevers that stopped me sleeping all night or moving all day. Oh well, they cleared up with time and I'm all better now.
The Taj Mahal was absolutely and unbelievably beautiful. The towering white marble archways engraved with black onyx Arabic script; the inlaid orange and green translucent stone flowers; the proud-standing, sky-reaching minarets. They all took my breath away, and as has been said a million times, the photos really don't do it justice. Unfortunately, on the day when we visited (and for the three days preceding) the weather was underwhelming, and we didn't get to see the famous colour-change that the Taj undergoes with the changing sunlight.
We then made the journey to Jaipur, a city five hours to the west in Rajasthan, and part 2 of the tourist "golden triangle" of Jaipur, Agra and Delhi. Jaipur is another busy city, in which the old town is washed in pink paint and aptly named the "pink city". It contains many popular tourist attractions, and we have had to work hard not to be taken for "green" tourists, with rickshaw drivers and shop keepers constantly trying to rip us off.Yesterday we went to Jantar Mantar, an old observatory, with large stone astronomical instruments of varying size and use. The most impressive was the worlds largest sundial, the 27 metre high Samrat Yantra, which can measure local time to an accuracy of 2 seconds.
We also saw Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith (Prof. McGonagall) filming their new film. Which was fun.
We're spending the next few days in Jaipur, before moving on to Jodhpur in a few days. Should be fun.
John

The worlds largest sundial at Jantar Mantar

There is one square in the Pink City in Jaipur that is absolutely FILLED with pigeons. I was about to take a photo of them, when a goat came along and scared them away. I didn't complain, it resulted in some epic pigeon photos. Click to see them bigger. Enjoy.

The view from the roof.

I know we did a blog post recently, but we arrived in Agra this morning, found a hotel, bargained a price, settled down, and then went up to the roof. This is what we saw:

The Taj Mahal as seen from the roof of our hotel.

 Were visiting it properly tomorrow, and I can't wait.

While waiting for a train at Varanasi, we saw a cow, ambling obliviously down the train track's. He resulted in my 3rd favourite photo Ive taken:

A cow wandering the tracks in Varanasi.

We'll do a real post some time soon.
John

Khajuraho to Varanasi

Since our last post, we have moved from Jabalpur to the small village of Khajuraho, home to some must-see erotic temples, and then on to Varanasi, which has been absolutely incredible. Enjoy!

One of the Eastern Temples at Khajuraho

Traveling to Khajuraho we spoke to a small group who told us lots about family life in India. Firstly that most marriages outside of the big cities are still done by arrangement and the husband tends to be about 25, 2 years older than his wife, with this gap being more like 5 or six years in the recent past. For most couples marriage means the wife leaves her home to join the husbands family; we saw a dramatic example of this near Khajuraho a few days later. They said it was surprising that we (being only 19 and 18) were allowed to travel away from our families.
Near Khajuraho we visited a small village set up by the government to accommodate a tribe of gypsy people. The streets were narrow with simple single story homes built using clay mud and cow dung. It was when leaving here that we first heard and then saw a woman, crying, as she was leaving the village to marry her husband to be. She may never have met this man before and will be moving away from home for the first time to a village which may be a far away.
Yesterday morning we arrived in Varanasi. In the old city narrow alleyways run haphazardly between tall buildings, with every major route filled with people, cows and the occasional motorbike trying to squeeze between the endless tiny shop fronts. Varanasi sits beside the river Ganges (believed to be sacred) and pilgrims come from all across India to bathe in its waters. Sadly I doubt any medical doctor would advise this as the river looks disgustingly polluted. People also come hear to die as Hindus believe dying here sends them instantly to Nirvana. There are two Ghats (large stone steps leading into the river) where people are cremated, one of which burns day and night all year long. It felt strange to see strangers’ funerals. While on a boat trip today we saw a body floating in the water; holy men, children, pregnant women, animals and lepers are all thrown in the river without being burnt. The people who live here are so much less removed from death than we are at home.

Jamie

Our own personal tabla performance.

The small gypsy village nearby Khajuraho was quite fascinating. Most of the children were running about, some pulling others along on pieces of cardboard with string and all of them seemed eager to have their picture taken. In the village we saw two pens with hundreds of chicks inside; the people were paid by the government to look after them until they were fully grown, when they would be taken back and sold on.
The day after this, we hired bikes and rode them around Old Khajuraho, something which many people we met during our stay there had told us we should definitely do. The cycle was really enjoyable but tired us out pretty quickly in the heat. We stopped for drinks at small shop in Old Khajuraho around midday and got talking to the owner; she asked about our stay in India and told us about her son who played the Tabla. A few minutes later her son arrived and we were invited into their home to hear him play!
I took some videos of the village and of the Tabla being played which will hopefully be uploaded shortly.
The temples around Khajuraho were quite different from any other we've seen so far; they were designed to look like lotus flowers a local told us. You can see from the pictures just how intricate they are. The western temples were closed off from the rest and there was an entrance fee to see them. They were much larger and more impressive in general as well as being distinctly more sexual than any of the other temples we’ve seen.
Varanasi has been really interesting so far; the ‘burning Ghats’ as they are called were quite shocking and more so was the floating body we saw earlier today. I’ve been trying to avoid contact with the river as much as possible due to the mud, bone ash and whole bodies washed into the river every day, and we’ve all decided not to let our guest house take our clothes to be washed in the river for the same reason.

Peter

Erotic carvings at Khajuraho

Khajuraho was a very nice place, a small village that had clearly built up around the erotic temples in the west, although the main town was very "touristic" as a local guy put it. His name was Pintu, and we met him at a restaurant on our first night. He told us all about his travels around Europe and Asia, and the many many languages he spoke and the many many girls he slept with. To be honest it became quite boring quite quickly, however he introduced us to his much more likeable and bearable friend Babalu Baba (who was also one of the sleaziest looking men I have ever met). They offered to pick us up at 6am the next morning to give us a free yoga and meditation session, show us around the eastern temples and take us to see Old Khajuraho, which peter has spoken about above.
The yoga and meditation was very interesting, although I had nowhere near the flexibility required and my discomfort made meditation rather difficult. Babalu told us at length about the life of the Sadhus, who are poor monks that eat very little, have very few worldly possessions, and spend their entire lives meditating and smoking marijuana. His words about how healthy they are were intermittently interrupted by deep hacking coughs from the Sadhu sitting with us. The rest of the day was very interesting, the temples beautiful and the village scenic, and we finished by sharing a meal and a drink with Babalu and Pintu on a rooftop cafe.
The next day we rented bicycles, cycled round in the blistering heat, and returned to the village a second time. After stopping for some drinks, we got talking to the mother of a large family, who mentioned that her son played the tabla, after talking to her for a while, he returned, and offered to give us an incredibly special private performance in their home. It was one of the most exciting and incredible experiences yet, and I was smiling from ear to ear the whole way through. He was very skilled, and had recently bought some new tablas from a shop in Varanasi. It seemed to me a big investment for a family that appeared so poor. Photos and videos of that coming.
The western temples were something else entirely. Covered from head to foot in erotic sculpture, they were unlike any temples we had seen so far. Unashamedly graphic depictions adorned the walls of otherwise typical Hindu shrines.
Our overnight trip to Varanasi was uneventful, and we have been here for two days already. After watching a (completely tourist targeted) ceremony, we visited the "Burning Ghats" where people bring their dead to burn, following the belief that anyone that dies or is burnt in Varanasi is released from the cycle of rebirth and reincarnation, and achieves instant Moksha (Nirvana). As we watched the fires burn, you could clearly make out the forms of the deceased in the flames, a sight which I doubt I will ever forget. I felt incredibly uncomfortable and intrusive watching them burn, amongst the family members. Apparently the family members re not allowed to cry, as this attachment obstructs the soul from departing.
Even more unsettling than the cremations was seeing a dead body floating down the Ganges when we took a boat ride this morning. It was face down and clearly had been floating for a couple of days, and no-one but us seemed to take any notice of it. The proximity of extreme religion, busy market stalls and death here is incredible. Unbelievable really.
John

Pilgrims praying by the river Ganges

At the riverside in Varanasi, you are constantly approached by friendly men who want to say hello and shake your hand. However, as soon as your palm is in theirs, they begin to give you a hand massage, saying they will do your head, neck, arms and shoulders for Rs.10 (about 14p). Most give up after you say 'no thank you' a couple of times. However, one was so persistent that he kept going even after several attempts at removing him. This was great fun for Peter and I. Less so for Jamie.

Jamie's unwilling massage.

Please leave us a comment (no account needed), and there are more photos in the slide show to the right.

And then disaster struck...

My camera has unexpectedly and inexplicably broken. Unless I can get it fixed, expect cracks across all future photos. Sad times.
John

Edit: Good news!! It was just the filter that had broken, which a kind man in a camera shop fixed for me, for the grand sum of  Rs.75 (£1.03). This makes John a very happy bunny.

A week around Jabalpur.

The Diwali national holiday over the last week slightly scuppered our plans to travel halfway across India, and having stupidly assuming the festival would not affect our travel plans (or the price/availability of hotels), we stopped in Jabalpur for a few days.

A Festive Diwali Goat

After Anjuna we traveled (by my estimate) around 1500 km, using 3 buses and 3 trains, taking an exhausting 41 hours. While it was long and grueling in parts crossing such a distance made for some epic views. For a couple of hours we followed a wide slow flowing river; beautifully illuminated by the setting sun shinning through a thin mist caught in the river valley. On route we also met and spoke to plenty of interesting people. Those who left the biggest impression on me were a pair of young guys both doing a long journey  from college towards home for the Divali holidays. One a Hindu and the other a Muslim they spoke a lot about the unity in India and how Indians love all religions and nationalities. This included Pakistani’s despite the more than difficult relationship between the two countries. However, when I asked about China I got a very different response: they described China as being an aggressive country and expressed more than distrust. Articles on China have taken up a significant percentage of every news paper we have seen so far.

Most of the past week has been in Jabalpu; an industrious city which seems to live on the back of a motorbike. Within a 5 minute walking radius I am sure there are a good 15 motorbike repair shops. While wandering through the city we passed two men dressed as women, strangely this was not our first encounter with transvestites in India. On a previous train journey we were woken up by a man walking through the train clapping at people and expecting money, most surprisingly his success rate was far higher than most other beggars I have seen. Apparently Indian superstition says that transvestites have powerful blessings and curses and hence one should hand out money on demand in order to please them.

On November 5^th we celebrated Peters birthday alongside Divali but I will leave that to him.

Yesterday we went on a safari through Kanha national park in the hope of seeing a tiger. Sadly no luck there, but it was astonishingly beautiful none the less. With the help of one Captain Das we managed to book a ticket despite a million complications, which we would have failed to work through without his excellent English. On the day, accompanied by Captain Das and his wife, we drove up and down bumpy jungle trails. The landscape with open plains interspersed within dense forest made for great viewing. Small rivers climaxed in serene lakes, and the beds of hundreds of tiny streams crisscrossed everywhere (presumably these were only put to use during the monsoon).

Jamie

Our Safari Jeep (with Captain Das in the back)

One of the weirdest things that's happened to me this trip occurred at the waterfall we saw on a day trip from Jabalpur. I waited for a couple to have their photo taken with the waterfall in the background and then took their position once they'd moved so I could take my own picture. Just as I got in position a group of people behind me greeted me and asked for a photo, but this was no ordinary photo... They handed me their babies one at a time and took pictures of me with them!! How weird is that!?
At the waterfall we also encountered some people offering to jump into the waterfall for a hundred rupees but no one paid to see it and we weren't willing to. We did however see some kids jump about 30 metres into a river earlier which was pretty impressive.
The 5th of november was the main day of celebration of the Diwali festival as well as my birthday and we went to see Gomaal 3, a Bollywood film released that day. It was in Hindi but we still found it hilarious. The largely slapstick comedy, fight scenes and various musical numbers sent the audience wild and we've been singing the theme tune non-stop ever since! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZLSO9Qckbc) We left the Cinema at about 8.30 and entered a battlefield. Loads of people along both sides of the street were lighting firecrackers and as we walked through the town we deafened by some of the loud bangs going off all around us. Everyone was in a cheery mood and many greeted us with "Happy Diwali!". It was great end to a wonderful birthday.
Kanha National Park was really exciting and although we didn't get to see a tiger we still had a great time. On the first night just before we turned the lights out to go to sleep we noticed a massive ant infestation in our room! I got on Johns shoulders armed with ant spray we spent a few minutes trying and failing to get rid of them all but we quickly decided to change rooms as it began to rain dead ants! The safari itself was from 6am to 11am, which meant a 4.20am wake up! We each wolfed down an omelette and some toast before getting into a jeep and making our way to the park entrance. With the jeep going at a high speed that early in the morning it was freezing and we all made use of our jumpers for the first time.
We left Kanha this morning at about 8.30 and endured another bum-numbing bus journey. Our rucksacks can't fit in the rack above our heads and there's no space for them on the floor so we had to keep them on our laps for most of the journey. It was a pretty good journey considering how long it was and how squashed we were because the seats were too small for us.

Peter

Peter With Somebody's Baby

After an epic 40-odd hour journey, we finally arrived in Jabalpur, a small industrial city in northern Madhya Pradesh, where we were to spend the next few nights. To be honest there wasn't much to do here, we had 3 days till Diwali and we didn't want to move on to Kanha till after the festival. An unlimited thali put Peter out of action for a couple of days, and as a result we spent most of the time doing very little; exploring the city, visiting a museum, watching films in the hotel room. However we did make a very interesting and fun trip to the Marble Rocks, a gorge nearby through which a river runs and large amounts of marble are quarried. We spent a very enjoyable day wandering through the marble craft workshops, taking a boat trip up the river (with an exclusively hindi-speaking guide) and visiting the beautiful waterfall at the end.
For diwali, we went to see a screening of a heavily advertised and very popular film released that day, Golmaal 3. We didn't understand a word, but it was an experience never to forget. The entire audience cheered and clapped every time a character came on screen dramatically, laughed their heads off at the jokes, and went absolutely mental during the (ridiculously over the top) fight scenes. We managed to keep up with the plot till the interval half way through, but after that it was anyone's guess what the hell was going on. Leaving the cinema, as Peter said, was like stepping into a warzone. Smoke filled the streets, and deafening bangs were coming from all around. People were throwing fire crackers into the road, and motorbikes and rickshaws tried hard to avoid them. Great fun to watch, and the fireworks and explosions carried on through the night.
We travelled to kanha national park the next day, had a small incident with a large colony of ants, and took a safari the next day (thanks to the trip-saving efforts of one Captain Das). The safari was great fun, and although we didn't see a tiger, the beautiful scenery, deer, monkeys, exotic birds and guar made the trip well worthwhile. We travelled back to Jabalpur the next day.
Tomorrow we are moving on to Khajuraho, the home of some Hindu temples that apparently are not to be missed. Hope you enjoy the pictures and please leave us a comment.

John

A minor infestation of ants in our room at Kanha

On the way to Marble rocks we picked up one of the most awesome forms of transport I have ever used. The monstrous behemoth that is the three wheeled tempo. The ride was bumpy and loud, but absolutely great fun. I want one.

The monstrous tempo

 Although we didn't get to see a tiger in the flesh, we did get to see the next best thing. A pawprint left by the tiger only an hour or so before.

The closest thing we got to seeing a tiger.