Thursday, May 12, 2016

Pokhara, Nepal

Pokhara is by far the prettiest we have seen yet. It's surrounded by three mountain ranges and has a lake. It's gorgeous. On our way here we visited a G Adventures sponsored charity called Sasane for trafficked women in Nepal to become trained as paralegals or in the tourist industry if they didn't finish high school. Great program with four main programs. I didn't realize trafficking was such a big problem in Nepal but the facts state otherwise. Google them if you want to see what they do or how to help. They did teach us how to make momo here as part of their lunch presentation. That was the highlight of that visit.

The drive to Pokhara was stunning. It's such a diverse country. There's emerging from farms to rice field on side of mountains to steep windy narrow roads. The 89 km drive from our last stop to here took 7 hours by bus. That shou,d give you an idea of the conditions of the roads.

In Pokhara, Christina and I wandered around the lake at night. It's stunning and has great views of snow capped mountains. Diner was meh with the group.

As a theme of this trip, we got up at 400 am again. I swear we haven't slept past 530 am yet and it's day 14. This time we took the bus to the top of Sarangath to see the sunrise over the three mountain ranges. Stunning. Significantly too early. As a perk, we had the most amazing breakfast with real coffee. I mean no instant coffee like every other cup on this trip. It was real espresso based coffee. The banana crepe was good too but man alive the coffee.

The rest of the morning was a self guided tour of caves under the city, Davi's Fall (highly recommend avoid - so unimpressive) and World Peace Pagoda. The cave was cool, literally and figuratively. Davi's Fall is lame. It's one single fall of three feet. Big whoop. The world peace pagoda is cool. It's apparently the second most holy place in the world. It's on top of Pokhara at the highest point. It's a silence zone so no sound is made in the area. There are 5 giant Buddha in various positions on a white dome. The views are spectacular of the city. Christina and I both got burnt on the places sunscreen didn't quite touch today. It's made for some great burns and tan lines.

As a relaxation moment, Christina and I splurged on $27 90 minute Swedish massage each. Big spenders. My girl made it more like a deep tissue and it was to die for. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping as we have a big night ahead of ourselves, which means we will have dinner then get exhausted and while every one else does a night club, we will go home and sleep.

Tomorrow we go to Kathmandu by bus (another wonderful 7 hour drive). I'm so sick of tour life. The people bother me. The morning bother me. I'm done. I want our beach holiday now.

AFN 

Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal

We stayed in the middle of rural Nepal for two nights in a community. It was a stunning area surrounded by farmland. The entire community was very excited to greet us and took great care if all of our needs for the three days we were there.

Over our stay Christina and I did a bike tour of the area - luckily we found elephants playing in the water. Not wild elephants but elephants owned by the resorts but no longer working. Still exciting. We also did a safari into the park itself. The only thing we saw was 4 rhinos in the distance. It was hot and dusty otherwise. Break time with bananas and juice boxes reminded me of little kid soccer snack time. Otherwise, it was just kicking around the farm area and community without air conditioning in 36+. The food was amazing though. All fresh home cooked meals. Momo is a traditional Nepalese dish that is incredible. I'm going to make them when I get home they are that good. I'd recommend staying in this area if you get the chance. It is quite relaxed and peaceful.

The park itself covers 20% of Nepal. In the park there is 40 types of butterflies, 600 rhinos, 200 tigers and countless leopards. We didn't see tigers or leopards - just rhinos from afar.

Nepal only declared its constitution last year. One of the major tenants is mandatory education by 2022. It has a population of 33M of which 81% is Hindu. There is estimated over 500M Hindu followers worldwide. If your bored and want to nude stand why Christina and I have slept in shitty hard beds for the entire trip Google the tenants of Hinduism. One of them is no comfortable bed.

AFN

Monday, May 09, 2016

Lumbini, Nepal

After a delicious breakfast of buckwheat pancakes with banana and chocolate, we got back in the bus to go to Lumbini. It is about an hour drive from where we stayed last night.

Nepal has 1,200 temples and some even date back 2,000 years. Lumbini claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Buddha. Our first stop today is the temple of the mother of the lord Buddha.

Nepal is significantly quieter, nicer, and more calm than India. The constant honking in India blew my eardrums and I bet I lost hearing there. Literally every car, motorcycle and rickshaw is constantly honking to let you know they want by you or are passing you or are just honking to honk. Nepal has a lot less cars on the road, the people are nicer thus far and much prettier. They are darker and look more Asian than Indians. There's been tons of open spaces and grass to look at instead of buildings and dirt of India. Albeit, most of the roads in Nepal are single lane for two directions of traffic. How it works is a mystery.

In Lumbini, we visited the birth site of the lord Buddha. It is located in a UNESCO world heritage location. It smells like fresh flowers and is super tranquil. There is over 300 monasteries in this area alone. The story goes, as butchered by me, that Buddhas mother was visiting her parents when she decided to head home. Half way home she started to give birth. She came upon this place, had a holy shower theN gave birth standing while holding a tree. Apparently she had a 10 month pregnancy as well. Lord Buddha did not found Buddhism until he was 35. He was born into a superbly wealthy Indian family. He founded it upon researching all different religions. As such, Buddhism has five tenants. There is a beautiful stone carving of it outside of the temple.

Fun fact: the Nepal prayer flags have five colours for the five elements of a human - wind, fire, water, soil and ether. Blue is not sky, it is water if anyone is playing trivia. Green is sky.

From this temple we drove about 5 hours to Royal Chitwan National Park for our Homestay.

AFN

Things I wish I knew before India

Cash
- Cash can only be taken out at State Bank of India. ATMs do not always work. You also can only take out 10,000 Indian rupees at a time. Finding cash is difficult. I'd recommend bringing smaller bills as most places don't have change for the 500 rupee bills.
- Credit cards are not widely accepted. Cash is still king in India.

Dress
- You can wear tee shirts into temples. You do not need long sleeves but you must cover your chest and shoulders. As expected, you need your knees covered. I should have brought more tee shirts. We did do laundry in Varanasi but still.
- It's freaking hot so lulu is the best bet. I'd highly recommend not wearing jean capri. Lulu pants seem to be fine everywhere.
- You will be wearing a money belt every time you leave your hotel room.

Food
- There's a serious lack of protein in their diet. It's a lot of carbs - rice, naan, and potato. When ordering food if it just says chicken it's just chicken. If it says chicken and sauce then it's that. You must order all parts separately.
- Meals take ages. Lunch takes about an hour. Dinner can take up to two hours for a single course. I'd recommend getting your bill as soon as you've received your food to speed up meals.
- I've struggled to find food that is filling besides butter chicken, chicken tandoori,  and continental breakfasts. Naan gets tiring fast. They've got a ton of Chinese meals on most menus but nothing looks appealing normally.
- Indian medium is our blow your head off. Their mild is our normal high spicy.
- Based on how Christina and I travelled, we spent about 1,100 rupees per day on food including the thousand bottles of Fanta we drank. Pop is normally cheaper than water.
- Expect to spend 180 rupees per day on water bottles. You go through about 4-5L a day.

Culture
- You will be stared at everywhere you go. It is not common to see a lot of white tourists.
- Children and men will ask to take photos with you. It's slightly annoying.
- All temples you must take your shoes off to enter so if you are seeing quite a few in a day wear flip flops.
- You will be constantly asked where your from. It's a sales tactic to get you to talk then they "invite" you into their shops.
- When being harassed for a sale or a tuktuk the best policy is silence and to not even shake your head.

Transportation
- When crossing the road, the name of the game is commit. You have to cross it at a single speed as vehicles will avoid you.
- Rickshaw are cheaper than tuk tuk for transportation. Always argue what price you want to pay upfront.
- There are no rules of the road. It's organized ish chaos.
- It's noisy. Like constant honking when you are on the road. Expect to have your ear drums blown. Cars honk to pass, let you know they are passing, and if you are in the way or just cause. It's loud 24-7. You almost feel constantly agitated due to the noise.

Bathrooms
- Bathrooms are typically western at hotel and on trains but else its squatting potties. I'd highly recommend carrying toilet paper and hand sanitizer constantly.
- Both Christina and I have had a solid tummy ache from lack of pooing. It's almost a period cramp because your body is so stuffed up. But when you get that poo feeling go immediately. Do not hold it in. I don't think you can even hold it in. You will get to know each other well when the poo starts coming down like a literal shit storm.
- Everyone at some point I'll get the running shits. It's not if, it's when. Bring drugs both pharmacy and gravol.
- You must brush your teeth and wash your face with mineral water. The water is not safe enough to do either activity.
- When buying water bottles buy mineral water else it's just filtered water. Filtered water needs to be sanitized if you buy it. We bought Camelback UV filters and they work amazingly.

Other
- Electrical sockets are 250 volts. I blew an entire hotel room trying to plug in my iPhone charger. That blew my charger. It's a type 4 adapter in both India and Nepal.
- All temples you must take your shoes off to enter so if you are seeing quite a few in a day wear flip flops.
- You have to wear bug spray constantly. I mean even at night in your room. It's a real hassle but there's mosquitos everywhere.
- India smells like pee and burning garbage. Expect to see garbage in every corner of India. It's amazing how little they care and just throw everything on the streets. There's not an inch that doesn't. Varanasi at least swept it into piles. Elsewhere just had it sprawled everywhere.
- It's dusty. Expect to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from all the dust. Also it's sunny so win-win.
- I'd recommend bringing protein bars, tons of Advil, electrolyte solution, and tons of bug spray and hand sanitizer. I'd bring more than you think you need - almost double.
- Wifi is not as common as everyone made it seem. Hotels have it. Some make you pay for it and majority only have it in the lobby. Some restaurants have it too. Else it's no where to be found.

Varansi, India

Day 1
To get to Varanasi we had to take an overnight train.  It was supposed to be a 12 hour ride but it took 17 because Indian rail has a policy that on time trains get priority and late trains get to be later. We were on a late train. I slept maybe 6 hours on this train. I luckily had a bottom bunk. It was air conditioned train. One of the people in our bunk had no clue about people or body language. She legit made everyone delayed in getting into their beds because she individually took out each item and hogged the aisle until she was done. The train ride was uneventful otherwise. Long but faster than a bus and likely more comfortable.

On the train I asked our guide why woman wear the veil over their face. Did you now it's so that they don't question what they are being told? I would not make a good wife in this country. I cannot blindly follow what my inlaws and parents tell me constantly. India has a population of 1.2 billion and 60% still live in villages. Those living in villages are more likely to veil up.

Hindu believes there is four stages of life. The first is childhood and education. Second is marriage and having your own kids. Third is grandparent hood. Final stage is about self time to meditate. It's all about credit and debit in karma. That's why family is so important to Hindu people.

I hit the post because we had no food for basically 20 hours that I could kill people and not look back. The child on our trip asked me a question and I had to tell him I can't talk I'm too hungry. Christina laughed because she knew I needed food hours before but we couldn't get to it. She knows once I'm starving the world needs to not talk to me and I go silent.

We had a night boat ride on the Ganges River. We saw the major crematorium. Varanasi is the holy city of India. There are over 12,000 temples in this city alone. Varanasi is the oldest city - it's older than all religions. Basically it's the centre for ending life. Indians believe that the Ganges River stops the cycle of birth and rebirth. It's a place of salvation. As such, Indians bring their dead bodies here to be cremated. There is dead bodies being carted down the streets on decorated stretchers. I had one go by me inches beside my nose. My entire body language screamed oh dear lord. We saw nine bodies just burning in public at the crematorium. People buy fire from there because the fire is about 1,000 plus years old. If people cannot afford cremation then they just dump the body in the river. I thankfully didn't see a floating body. There is also certain situations where people cannot be cremated in Hinduism: pregnant woman who died, those with chicken pox, and those bitten by snake, Eunich, and those in a coma.

Day 2
Christina got up at 430 am to do the morning boat ride. I opted out. I woke up dizzy from dehydration. She said it was pretty but definitely came back to nap. Upon her waking, we meandered to the observatory. It had a bunch of sundials but more interesting had informational posters. I learned a ton about the river and its history.

Ghat is a religious temple that is located on the water. You can find all Indian dialects spoken here and a shaman who speaks your language to lead you through a ceremony.

Today was a free day so Christina and I did our own thing. Group travel gets exhausting.

If anyone is in Varansi they need to eat at Blue Lassi. We did twice. It serves the best lassi in clay pots. I had a mango the first time and a mango papaya the next. It is in the middle of the old town. It's a maze in there but people can point it out to you.

Old town is one giant maze of market stalls. It's hot but the same trinkets over and over again. Christina and I wandered around it for a few hours. I bought the cutest hand carved stone elephants for my future house. I couldn't leave India without an elephant. We've seen elephants at Jaipur only. It's a shame.

We had lunch at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Ganges. If I figure out the name from our photos then I'd also recommend it. It was a recommendation from our yoga instructor. I was super stoked to do yoga but then got way too hot and dogged to go. The heat and lack of water got to us so we skipped out. I should have just pushed through.

After getting back to the hotel, City Inn, we immediately ran into the group who was about to do a silk tour. Snap decision and we joined in. It was lead by this small elderly Indian man who was missing most of his teeth. Super knowledgeable. Silk is still made by hand here. There are five qualities of silk whose names went in one ear and out the other. It was incredible to see the handwork that goes into making silk and the designs. The designs are still hand punched. There is an old method of weaving and an electronic way which still requires human to be there on each machine. Woman still trim the excess thread off the silk pieces by hand. Apparently a scarf takes about three weeks to make individually. Beautiful pieces can be created.

Once we got back to the hotel Christina said she wasn't hungry then maybe just a small snack then maybe let's have dinner in the span of 15 minutes. It's hilarious since I've travelled with her before, I know exactly when she needs to eat about a half hour before she does. It works well.

Day 3
After basically no sleep and a 335 am wake up, we headed to the train to go to Nepal. I was not a functional human. After getting on the train, we quickly discovered that Indian people are sneaky and fit seven people in three seats. The entire six hour train ride was filled with screaming children who kicked our seats the entire time. We learned from the last train to bring a ton of food to avoid snappy grizzly bear Brittany. Once we got to the end of our train ride our bus driver couldn't find us so we had to wait on he platform for about an hour in 36C heat with our bags on. Everyone was staring at us like we were zoo animals. I've learned the best way to get people from stopping and staring is to look them in the eyes. Unfortunately someone died on the platform and we watched it being carried away. That's the first thing of poverty that has actually torn at my heart strings.

Once our buss driver found us we stopped at a fruit market for water, oranges, and bananas. I have eaten so many bananas on this trip as they are one of two fruits we can actually eat. I got solidly bus sick so I took a gravel and slept the entire four hour ride to the Nepal border.  Customs was an interesting process since it's a walking border, you check out at the Indian side at this tiny customs office then walk across the border and check into Nepal. Kinda cool to walk over a border. Indian and Nepal passport holders can freely cross between the two countries. The border crossing we went to is the busiest land border in the world.

We got to the hotel just outside of Lumbini - Hotel Denovo, which is the best hotel we've stayed in yet as it had water pressure, hot water, air conditioning and wifi in the room plus the hotel was clean and had a pool. I'd highly recommend staying here. We didn't go to all the way to Lumbini as its not safe in Nepal to drive at night for tourists.

AFN 

Orchha, India

Day 5 - Orchha

This morning after another 5 am wake up, we boarded the train from Agra to Orccha. They "served" breakfast meaning two slices of bread and mystery deep fried finger looking things that didn't even leave the package. Christina and I split a quest bar. Who doesn't bring protein bars to a country where we don't eat the food? Happy to share but man today would have been nice to eat an entire bar without sharing.

That landscape of northern India is very much like Saskatchewan with more trees. It's yellow plains either from dirt or crops with trees sprinkled around.

I forgot to mention a while ago in a foreign city in India whose exact location I cannot remember is that the buses here for locals are packed and I mean packed. They fill the buses to way over capacity inside then stick people on the roof. These people then drive down the highway. Safety is not a word or concern here. I'm glad I came because it had allowed me an appreciation of what Indian people have come from and how they view the world. I take back my earlier harassment comments. I do believe that the people actually genuinely want to help you unless they are selling something. I'm tired of people constantly trying to sell me something. I've perfected my no go away hand gesture and tone.

Orchha is my favourite place thus far. It's a quaint little town of only 10,000 people. Orchha means hidden place. It used to be situated in the midst of rainforest. Now it's a barren wasteland with a river. The area is highly illiterate. In this area there is 22 temples, 2 mosques and 6 palaces. Not too shabby for a small town. People said hi but only because they were excited to see you. It was lovely.

I fell asleep the night before at 5 pm so I woke up at 5 am like usual. I needed the sleep badly. Christina, while I had sweet dreams of a steak and vegetables, went to a Hindu religious ceremony. She said it was interesting enough. No other detail though. Upon our early wake up I got to have the best pressure shower I've had so far with below zero water temperature. Id almost trade a good hot shower for this high pressure frozen one. Anyways, I had a calm breakfast buffet that included pancakes instead of mystery Indian food and toast like the rest of the places. I spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out who should be my principal and mentor while Christina talked to Mark. Still haven't decided how bold I should respond to my principal request or not.

Mid morning we headed off to the Raja Mahal. It was built over 62 years to completion in 1605 and the arches looked like peacock feathers. It is a Hindu palace. Dude had six wives. The Queen's bedroom had depictions of evolution dated 5,000 years before Charles Darwin figured it out. Interesting. This palace would have been so much fun to play hide and seek in. It had several sneaky staircases and multiple floors. Attached to this palace was another palace built for the son's coronation. It was only used for a single day. Took 22 years to build. Great use of money. It was called Jhansi Mahal but I am spelling that wrong.

Our tour guide told us that until 10th century, India was ruled by a single ruler. Fast forward a couple thousand attempted invasions later, they ended up with 600 princes until they achieved British independence. Basically how the singular monarch was overthrown is because some invader was smart enough to know that elephants would turn around if shot at. Basically the only way to invade is through the NW of India.

In this town people worship an idol that is a female vulva and part of a male penis. It is the God of fertility. If you are unmarried then you worship the bachelor God who looked like a monkey for celibacy. On Mondays the worshippers fast for a good wide or husband. Not sure if I'd give up food for praying for remaining celebrate.

More importantly, I got henna done! I have my entire left forearm done in beautiful henna. Henna smells like menthol when they put it on.

In our cooking class we made a six course meal. Masala chai. Bhruta baigan - eggplant. Spinach and potato curry. Allhn tomatoes. Cumin rice. Chickpea dumpling. Puri. Making chai from scratch is actually very easy and quite tasty. Bhruta baigan is an interesting dish. I've never seen so much fresh coriander put into a single dish with an eggplant that was fire grilled on a stove. I tasted this dish and fire came out of my ears. It has four green chillis cut up finely in the dish. My mouth was on fire. Spinach and potato curry is maybe my new butter chicken replacement. There was a ton of green chillis in it but the dish itself was amazing. I must saw noting we cooked looked pretty but it was all edible.

AFN 

Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Agra, India - Taj Mahal!

Did you know that feeding the roaming cows is good karma? So the people buy a bushel of grass to feed the cows in the morning. It's why the cows look healthier than the people here. Remember that cows are holy for the Hindu people. Cows seriously roam the streets here and are treated like pets.

Today we woke up for an early start to drive by bus from Jaipur to Agra. One of the girls was extremely sick to the point where they pre-called a doctor. It meant a ton of bathroom stops. It is slightly terrifying how sick people get in a quick time. I think this girl was being a little reckless with her showering skills. You cannot get water in your mouth or use it to brush your teeth. It's clear but it doesn't mean it's clean. I've been using bottled water to wash my face and brush my teeth. I really don't want to get sick. My stomach has been growly but I blame the lack of pooing and new foods for that rather than being actually sick. Christina do seems to be fine so far but we will see when it hits her. I think it will be Thailand for the runs but that's me betting one friend which is probably bad karma. She's paranoid about getting sick in India which makes me believe she's just telling her body to get sick in Thailand.

Regardless we got to Agra super late at 1 pm which meant we had to have a quick vegetarian lunch. I have a cheese and potato lentil dosai. It was actually really tasty. It's a giant thin pancake made out of rice with butter filled with potatoes and lentils with spice. I'd eat it again.

We went to the Agra Fort but everyone, including myself wanted to speed through so we could get more time at the Taj Mahal. The Agra Fort is another palace for royal families. It was built before the Taj Mahal and is massive. 75% of the land is controlled by the Indian army. The other 25% is a tourist location. It was built by the third Mughal king of red sandstone. The red sandstone is local. It is surrounded by a wet moat and a dry moat. Both historically held wild animals like Jaguars, crocodiles, and tigers. Not going to lie I want a pet jaguar. They just sound cool and look sleek. The entrance was curved road so that enemies on elephants could not ram the door from straight on. One of the Kings had three wives and 5,000 in his harem. Each of the wives was a different religion - Christian, Hindu and Muslim. Other random facts I remember is that there is an entire princess palace made of marble with inlaid precious stones. I saw the largest sapphire I've ever seen. It was three inches round. The women of the harem had strict rules and if they disobeyed then they were executed by two wooden spikes that pulled back and smashed her neck. Sounds a little bloody. The Fort was impeccable but at 43C it was hotter than a sinner in church. It had beautiful views of the Taj Mahal. When waiting outside for bathroom break time, tons of people asked for our photo. Our guide told us after my eyebrows raised and I told a small boy to scram that many of the visitors are actually from the country and have never seen a white person. My demeanour relaxed a lot and I took a few photos with small Indian children.

We then went to the Taj Mahal. It is absolutely amazing. There are four entrances - east, south, west and royal. The royal entrance, not surprisingly, to the white building the world knows as the Taj Mahal. The domes on the royal entrance indicate how many years it took to build the taj (17 years). The entire area is perfectly symmetrical. When you are he Taj Mahal, the building on the left is a mosque and the building on the right is a royal guest house. Taj means crown and mahal means palace.

It was built when the 5th Mogul king's wife died. She'd quested three things - that he never marry again, that he love and treat his children with affection, and that he build a memorial of their external love corner to be buried in. After eight days locked in a room he solicited engineers from around the world for this project. The design is actually Persian which makes the writing on the walls absolutely stunning. The entire white memorial is built out of 1.4 million tones of whIte marble. It is 90 m tall at the highest point and the four small drakes are tilted so as to not cause damage if they fell. It cost about $600 billion USD in today's dollars to construct. The king's son was extremely sick and banished to the Agra Fort until he died. Because of this, the king's dream of building a matching black Taj Mahal for himself was never started.

We went on a Muslim holiday which the name escaped me. As a double edged sword,  it was extremely busy but we were fortunate enough to have the actual gravesite tomb be open. It's only open for this three day holiday each year. The queen is buried in the centre and the king is buried on the left of her in a larger tomb. There is a tourist mock up on the main floor for the rest of the year. The intricate designs on the tombs in precious jewels was the prettiest I've seen yet. Only because it's India and this was a memorial, all outside pillars are set with precious stones. It sparkles in he sun.

We waited in line to go inside for about an hour. The line spanned the entire four walls surrounding the taj. We thankfully got to skip the line below because foreigners have their own line until the top line and bottom line merge. Indian people do not respect lines or personal space. They send their kids to sneak forward then the entire family goes to the kids. As one of a dozen white peoples in the taj that day you can't say anything but you can give them dirty looks.

Grandpa sent me a photo from when him and grandma came in 1992 and I recreated that photo. I completely understand why grandma never came back to India but grandpa came back a thousand times. The longer I am here, the more I fall into camp never come back to India. It's interesting but I found that Thailand and Laos are way prettier in terms of temples and palaces. India has a more rich history but it's dirty and not kept. I have found that no one takes care of their belongings or places. It's almost like they believe that it can just be replaced rather than maintained. I have yet  to see a building (other than tourist sites deemed by an agency to be important) not even broken or falling apart.

Anyways I digress but the Taj Mahal is a worthwhile see once in your life. I'm not sure the awe factor would be there for a second visit. My only regret is that I haven't seen a straightener in a while so I had my classic lion curls going on.

Dinner was at a BBQ place where Christina and I split chicken tikka and tandoori chicken. I'm a huge fan of tandoori chicken and probably will never eat chicken tikka again. It's a weird yellow green puke colour and kind of tastes like bad soap with garlic.

AFN 

Monday, May 02, 2016

Jaipur Round 2

Day 3 - the name of the game is commit

Fun bus facts of Jaipur:
- The royal family is not originally from Jaipur. They are from central India. In 1036 they left in search of better lands. Upon arriving in Ahmed, which is naturally surrounded by hills, they conquered it and proclaimed it theirs. The area used to be controlled by the Meena people who were tribal men. Chhipa were another tribe but super lazy but somehow created the press printing they have now. Upon a population boom they moved the capital to Jaipur in 1727. Royal family is from the sun dynasty.
- Jaipur was a planned city for 200k people. It's now 6.5m.
- Since the royal family is from the sun dynasty, there are Suns on all of the lampposts.

Our first stop today was the Palace of the Winds. It's a facade created for the royal women to be able to snoop on the markets without having to be fully covered. It is championed as a pride of Indian woman as such. Queen's and noble ladies were not allowed to leave the palace but had tons of windows to see the bazaar. I guess it's better to watch other people than be stuck inside without a source of entertainment.

We passed the Raj Hotel. It is Asia's most expensive hotel at $40,000 a night. It's a former royal house.

Our next stop was the Amber Palace. It's absolutely spectacular and overlooks Jaipur. It is fortified and has its own tunnel to the fort. Construction took over a 127 years. There are three courtyards each with distinct personalities. The first was built in 1592 and is a blend of Hindu and Islamic architecture. It was painted with precious stone waste after the cutting of the stones. The second was called the mirror palace. There was over a million concave mirrors imported from Belgium decorating the main square. Christina and I went on adventure in the upper walls. We found this amazing view of the world from there. Not a clue how we got there. The third courtyard was boring to look at but had a cool story. It was the 12 apartments of Ahmed the Great. Each unit was self sealed and each wife could not go into the others apartment but the king had a private set of stairs to each apartment. Sneaky bastard. The entire book of Kama sutra was painted in this courtyard. The main queen had her own jacuzzi tub where there was a giant tank heated by fire and pumped into her tub by a copper tube. Interesting to see the technology way back then.

We lost a member to sickness but she was plain stupid. She drank local tap water thinking she would be fine. She literally puked from last night until today. What's more embarrassing is she is mid 50s. She fainted mid way in the palace and no one could find her so we got to worry and stand in 48C heat waiting for her. Super impressed.

When crossing all roads the name of the game is commit. If you commit traffic finds a way around you.

Since it is Christina's birthday we stop to ride camels on the side of the highway. Such a touristy thing but a cool experience. My camel was Bubbly and we can't remember Christina's. Both of our camels had two humps. It was about 52C out when we were doing this activity. Hot hot hot.

The bad joke of the day: what's the difference between a camel and your husband? A camel only has one or two humps but your husband humps you. There's also a bad British colonel joke which is that the colonial visits troops in North Africa and wonders wonders why the men are not horny. The Sargent tells him they use the camel. The colonel comes back to visit this area again and then drops trough and jumps the camel. The colonel is beside himself laughing. The colonel orders the Sargent to tell him why. The Sargent responds the men use the camel to get to town.

The last stop today on tour was the Water Palace which had some history I wasn't paying attention to. If you care, google it. I don't.

Lunch was at a hotel with the doorman having the greatest moustache alive. He could curl the ends and look like a sultan. Lunch was roasted cauliflower and naan bread. Simple but tasty. We lost a lot of people to heat stroke after lunch.

The afternoon was spent at a textile factory and a jewelry factory. Very pretty things.

Tonight's dinner is at a vegetarian place so we will see the type of food eaten.

Tomorrow is an early start at 7 am to hit the road for Agra.

AFN


Sunday, May 01, 2016

Jaipur, the Pink City

Day 2 - Jaipur

Today started at 5 am because our air conditioner kicked out. After a protein shake and a good complaint session we started the day with a group breakfast. I had toast and a banana. The traditional Indian breakfast was deep fried and not my cup of tea.

We then got on a bus for Jaipur. Thankfully we have a private air conditioned bus for our tour.

Random bus facts about Delhi:
- It has been inhabited since at least 7C BC.
- It is the capital of India since 1911. Prior to that it was Calcutta. The British switched the capital for management reasons.
- Delhi is known as the city of cities. Delhi in Indian means cluster of seven cities. The seven cities represent different empires and kingdoms that ruled India.
- August 15, 1947 India gained independence.
- It is a democratic country. Not so sure how that functions.
- Delhi used to be spelled Dilli, which in Hindu means loose - no empire was able to maintain foundation or control for long. Another possible meaning is gateway as it was the gateway for the silk and trade routes.

Our drive from Delhi to Jaipur was long - just about 5 hours. The entire scenery is like Australian outback without the red dirt and a freak load more ghost towns. It's like it's profitable to build and leave entire areas unfinished or populated. It's a vast sea of tan dirt with the odd tree or bush. The most exciting thing is the odd camel. It's super exciting to see camel drawn carriages. There were tons of shanty towns and burning garbage. People tended to have shops the size of storage units the entire way here.

Random facts about Jaipur:
- Jaipur was painted pink for Prince Edward's visit. It is a combination of terracotta on limestone. Terracotta is a welcoming or good luck colour here. The entire town is now pink.
- It is the most populated city in this state (Rajasthan). This state in Hindu means warrior. As such, Jaipur is surrounded by a fortification wall.
- Jaipur's only jail is attached to a university.

I've had butter chicken twice today. Everything else looks revolting or I can't eat it. I'm surviving on minimal food and protein shakes.

After an afternoon nap the group went on a stroll on the old part of Jaipur. It's basically rows and rows of market. There spices and grains and all sorts of clothes. The smell of this town if revolting. It's worse than Delhi. It's a combination of burning garbage and pee now. The only reprieve was near the flower seller's and the heavy spice seller's booths. Also every time the toilet flushes in our room there's a beautiful oder wafting through the the room.

It's  interesting to see cows being parked like cars and cows just roaming the streets. People treated the cows almost like pets. I know cows are holy.

Dinner was at some tacky tourist place where there was traditional dancing. Interesting but man I'm exhausted and tired of Indian food. I forgot how much I hate spicy food.

AFN