Sometimes the things you see and experience along the road can be as interesting as those in the towns and cities. Little slices of life you witness, sometimes in a flash as you drive by, sometimes there is time to stop and take it in.
We spotted these Rajasthani cameleers, their camels heavily laden with hay.

On the way to Jodhpur we stopped at a Jain temple, at Ranakpur built entirely of marble, with amazing intricate carvings everywhere you looked. Built in the 15^th century, it has a series of domes, all carved in beautiful patterns, several sculptures of elephants and some amazing relief carvings.

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In an area which was very hilly we came across a water wheel being driven by a bull. The bull walks around the wheel, which turns the buckets which bring the water up from the well to water the fields. The man looking after this, kindly let the Wise One sit behind the bull.

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As we passed through a wooded area, Prakash threw the last of our guavas out of the window, saying “look, look!”; within seconds there were heaps of monkeys, (black faced macaques) clamouring onto the car to see if we had more food. You would not have even known there were any monkeys there, until the food arrived. Note to self: not a great spot to have a picnic.

Later we drove through a national park which had deer and also a lake with many water birds, including flamingos, Painted Storks, Black Winged Stilts and some ducks, not sure what kind.

The last stop of the day was at a temple dedicated to motorcycles, I kid you not. The story goes that on this very spot there had been three fatal motorcycle accidents in one night, and so a temple was made to keep motorcyclists safe. There were many people there praying and making offerings. Given our previous association with motorcycles, we thought it made sense to stop and have a look. 

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Our driver, Prakash, arrived and we set off for Udaipur, the city of lakes, founded in 1559.

We stopped and bought some guavas from some ladies by the road, and also some excellent samosas in one of the towns.

Along the way we passed large areas of wheat cultivation being harvested so there were many people working in the fields harvesting the wheat by hand. This work seemed to mostly be done by women, and the sight of them in their brightly coloured saris in the golden wheat fields was beautiful, belying the arduousness of work in the heat of the day. The sheaves of wheat were then loaded into threshing machines and the harvest was then loaded into what looked like  huge overfilled bags on the back of trucks or tractors. We saw many of these along the road. The tractors were often decorated with tassels and tinsel and painted in bright colours. There are so many sights along the way here that seem remarkable to us, but are clearly commonplace for the locals. Cows, bulls, buffalo, goats, pigs and camels all roam around freely, crossing roads at will and eating whatever they can find.P

Another area we passed people were making bricks from clay then building hollow mountains of unbaked bricks inside which they would build a fire to cure the bricks. Once again it seemed the women were working very hard carrying loads of bricks on their heads, piled up in a neat stack of maybe 4 or 5 bricks high by 4 across and then climbing the brick mountain to place their load at the top. It must be so hazardous and exhausting, and it seemed an impossible feat of balance and strength. I have nothing but admiration for the women in this country, they do hard manual work beside the men and also cook, wash and clean as well as bear and raise the children. In many fields you could see makeshift shelters with little ones sitting in the shade underneath while their mothers toiled nearby.

We stopped for lunch in an area know for it’s slate quarries, here once again we saw the hard manual labour of men and women together breaking up the huge blocks of red and grey slate into thin tiles.

The road was mostly good, quite a bit being a four lane tollway, although the last 100 km or so, there was a lots of roadworks, building the new Delhi to Mumbai expressway, so the going was a bit rough, slow and dusty. We arrived into the city of Udaipur at dusk, and as you come over the hill you can see the city in the valley below, so many white buildings and the monsoon palace on top of the hill overlooking the city.

Udaipur – city of lakes

We arrived near our hotel, but because it was located in the old city, the streets are too narrow for cars, so Prakash organised a tuktuk to take us and our luggage the remaining few hundred metres to our hotel. Our room had a balcony looking out across the lake, and at night the lights reflected in the lake have a fairytale look.

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The first night in our hotel I could not sleep, as it had the hardest bed I have ever felt. (I know this is an effect of my privileged life). But seriously you could have dropped a bowling ball on it and it would not have made a dent. So we spoke to reception the next morning and they showed us some other rooms. So there I was trying out the bed in each room like Goldilocks, looking for the one that was just right. We settled on one that was at least a bit better.

After dropping off our laundry, we headed for a street market. As usual this was totally chaotic, noisy and crazy but vibrant and amazing as well.

In the evening we headed up to the top of the mountain to the monsoon palace which overlooks the city, to watch the sunset. This is where the Maharajah spent the wet months, presumably to be well above any chance of flooding.

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After a better night’s sleep we took a boat ride around the lake and to the city summer palace, which lies on an island. At present the water level in the lakes is quite low, so it’s not looking it’s best, but I imagine that after the monsoon rains it looks very pretty.

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We have eaten in two great restaurants here, enjoying kebabs and a variety of delicious breads from the tandoori, as well as spicy curries and some awesome pickles, followed by lassi. Generally we washed it down with a Kingfisher beer, or my favourite soft drink here, fresh lime soda (sweet). The food so far has been excellent, thanks to the great advice from our driver, Prakash.

We came to Sawai Madhopur specifically to go to Ranthambore National park to try to see a tiger.
So, we booked a jeep for a morning safari. The process of booking a jeep is quite complex and is best managed by an agent, as there are quotas and bookings must be made within short time frames online, this is best handled by someone who knows the system and terminology.

Our jeep arrived at 6:30 am for our safari, there were five of us in a small open top jeep, plus the driver and our guide. We set off with blankets around us to keep warm in the early morning chill and the bracing wind from the speeding jeep. Once in the park, the guides began the search for a tiger, looking for pug marks and scat to see if any were nearby. The park is over 300 square kilometres and holds about 62 tigers. There are also leopard, deer, mongoose, antelope and many bird species.

Many times our driver stopped to listen to the noises of the jungle, because these are indicators of the presence of a predator. We heard the sambar deer call nearby and suddenly the race was on to find the spot where the tiger might appear. Along with a few other jeeps we found a place to wait. There was some commotion as one guide said they could see the tiger through the bushes. Now I can’t be certain but I have a photo with a thing in the distance which appears to be striped, and I am reliably told this is a tiger. Taken with a 600mm lens, so I could barely see it. Fairly unimpressive, I know, not what I would actually call a sighting. See if you can spot it.

We saw many other animals, mostly deer and antelope, a Mongoose, some monkeys and many peacock and other birds but alas, no tiger.

In the afternoon we took another safari, this time to a different zone of the park, further away from our hotel. In the back of our open jeep, we had a one hour bone crunching, hair raising ride over dusty, potholed roads amidst extensive roadworks, which incidentally did not mean that our driver drove more slowly or carefully, but rather just presented more opportunity to drive like some crazed Fangio. At one time we came across an excavator which was across the road, our jeep just drove right under the arm of the digger! (I didn’t get a photo, too busy having my life flash before my eyes)

We finally reached the park gate feeling grateful to have arrived. Again the process of searching for a tiger. This time our guide was rather unhelpful. We heard the roar of a tiger, so our driver decided to go in another direction, and was most uncommunicative. Suffice to say, we saw no tigers. Then we faced the return drive cheating death once again. On the whole, not a great experience, although when it comes to animals in nature, they are completely unpredictable so you have to expect some disappointment. A young woman we met had seen two tigers the day before, it’s complete chance, just not our lucky day, although surviving the drive was pretty satisfying!

Sunday morning we left the hotel for the Nizzamuddin railway station to catch our train to Agra.
The railway station was chaotic, a jumble of humans, bikes, tuktuks, buses all trying to get to and from the crowded station. We were accosted by porters who commandeered our bags and carried them on wound up scarves on their heads.
We followed our bobbing bags through the throngs of people pushing in all directions to platform number 5, where the Gatimaan Express would arrive. After giving all our remaining cash to the porters, who were most displeased because we didn’t give them enough, in exasperation we showed them our empty wallets, and they humphed and went off.

We realised we had better get some cash because we were sure to have to pay porters at the end of our train journey, because there is no saying no to these guys. We asked an official where is the nearest ATM, which was outside the station down the street, so off I went while the Wise One stayed on the platform with the bags. Off I went, back into the throng, down into the crazy insane street. I was feeling a bit apprehensive because the ATM was about 150 metres down the road in what was a pretty seedy area, but I managed to withdraw several thousand rupees without any drama and return to the platform unscathed.
Our train pulled into the station and we boarded our carriage. The train was quite comfortable, air conditioned and with good seats. Once the train departed, on time, a variety of food and drink was delivered to our seat for breakfast, including bread and jam, as well as aloo paratha and pickles and fresh fruit.
The train was an excellent high speed express and we arrived into Agra Gantt station after 1hour and 40 minutes as planned. We went through the whole porter charade again then caught a taxi to our hotel.
This hotel was a homestay, a cute little place with brightly coloured paint and a quaint little courtyard garden full of flowers, birds and squirrels. It was very peaceful and calming.

After settling in, we went out for a walk to find some lunch and saw a few places on the road to the Taj but were harassed so much by touts trying to get us into their restaurant, we were put off by the whole thing. Everywhere you go in the world, in tourist areas the restaurants have touts, I wish they would stop doing this, it’s really off putting and I believe counterproductive, I will not eat at a restaurant that does this. They might have great food, but I will never know because they make me so grumpy, I move on. (I digress)

After a light lunch we took a tuktuk to the Agra fort. This was a really interesting place, built in the 16th century by Akbar, the grand father of Shah Jahan, in red sandstone and white marble, it was the home of the king and his 300 wives. It was surrounded by a double wall, then two moats, one filled with water and crocodiles, the other tigers. The way they managed water was amazing, channels ran all around the palace creating cooling and also drainage during the monsoon. The rooms had huge curtains of silk and muslin which could be wet to create evapourative cooling. The buildings were added to later by Shah Jahan, when he became king after his father died and he killed off his rivals.

Once we had finished our tour our faithful tuktuk driver was waiting for us, and returned us to our hotel. He was most amused that we were Australian, and rattled off about the cricket (it’s always the way)
We had a lovely dinner of vegetable curries and home made chapatis that were great.
Next morning we arose at about 5:30, just after hearing the call to prayer at the nearby mosque. It was quite cool and we were able to walk to the Taj Mahal and arrived before the crowds. There are very strict rules about what you can and can’t take in to the complex and heavy security, with metal detectors, scanners and patdowns as you go in. On entering the East gate, you see that iconic view of the monument as you walk to under the archway and there before you is one of the great wonders of the world. It’s quite breathtaking as you take in the whiteness of it and the sheer size of it, truly beautiful – a thing to behold. I confess I felt a little emotional, mostly I think feeling grateful that I am so lucky to be able to see this. I have longed to be here for so many years, for it to finally happen was a moving experience.

Of course people here are also preoccupied with taking selfies in front of the great monument and there are even professional photographers available to take the perfect shot for you. But just being in the presence of this stunning building is an experience in itself.

I also saw this cute little fellow munching on a flower. 🙂

The morning air was still quite cool when we arrived in Delhi airport at about 6am yesterday.
Unsure of what metro station was close to our hotel, we took a taxi at what was probably a highly inflated price, but airport customers are ripe for taking advantage of. The drive along the ubiquitous 3 lane airport motorway was uneventful except for seeing regiment of mounted soldiers taking morning exercise along the road, some wearing what appeared to be ceremonial turbans.
On arriving at our hotel entrance our car was checked for bombs by the security guard, and we were sent through scanners and metal detectors when entering the hotel. A grim reminder that India has been through a number of terror attacks in recent years.
My first impression of Delhi was that is was cleaner than I had expected and the parks, gardens and roadside verges were a riot of colourful flower beds and trees. I also noticed what I took for eagles flying around constantly over the city, they are everywhere you go. (They are actually black kites -Milvus migrans). We also had a resident pigeon on our window ledge, and some ring necked green parrots.

We headed off in search of a shop selling SIM cards and wound up taking our first tuktuk ride through the traffic. See short video.

Somehow we ended up in a travel agency (who knew tuktuk drivers might scam you? Lol ) where our question about what to see in Delhi became an elaborate exercise in ‘helping’ us to organise the rest of our trip. Oh well, in the end it seemed to work out though I suspect we may have been a bit gullible and paid too much. So we ended up with a car and driver at our disposal for the next two days.
Our first visit was to the Shri Lakshmi Narain temple, then on to India Gate, war memorial. This place amazed me not of itself but because of the many Indian visitors to the site, dressed in their best clothes, make up and accessories, taking selfies in front of the gate. India is the selfie capital of the world, I’m sure, after being here only one day, already I have seen more selfie taking then I thought possible. India does have the dubious honour of being the “killfie” capital, with the most deaths from taking selfies – why am I not surprised?

We also visited the Qutub Minar and mosque complex, which is an UNESCO world heritage site. It is a tall tower minaret built in around the 12th century – pretty impressive and of course, so many selfie opportunities here!

We were totally exhausted by around 4 and headed back to the hotel for a rest.
Today we headed out with our driver to see the Red Fort -so called because it is built from red sandstone. This was commissioned by the same emperor who built the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan. When you visit these places there is an entrance fee, one amount for locals, and about 10x more for foreigners. The big advantage is you don’t have to wait in the really long queues with the locals, you get a special foreigner entry gate. For the fort we also had a guide to take us around and explain everything, it’s a huge complex and it was helpful to have Raj explaining the history, and of course half of Delhi was there taking selfies on a pleasant Saturday afternoon.

Once we finished here we headed for lunch, then back to the the hotel for a swim. Later we decided to give the metro a try and headed to old Delhi’s most famous market, Chandni Chowk. It was amazing bedlam, alleyways filled with shops, people, noise and smells.

More pictures to follow, I’m just having a little trouble uploading them via limited wifi.

Well the day has finally arrived. I always feel quite apprehensive at this stage with all sorts of ‘what if’ scenarios rolling around in my head. But there are no adventures in your comfort zone, so…

India, here we come!

From there we will travel around Rajasthan, finishing in Jaipur, then flying south to Kochi (Cochin) in Kerala. We will travel around the state of Kerala for a week or so, heading out to the backwaters and up into the hill country around Ooty. Next we head across to Chennai and Pondicherry (Poducherry) on the east coast. After all of those dosa we might feel like a croissant or a baguette in Pondicherry. 🙂

Next we fly to Kolkata to check out the best street food in the world, with a possible side trip to the Sundarbans wetlands, yet to be decided.

Then we take the overnight Darjeerling Mail train to New Jalpaiguri, and make our way up into the foothills of the Himalayas. By then I’m sure we will be ready for some cool weather. After that we think we will head east to Meghalaya to explore some of the more remote parts of the country.

Next stop Delhi, with a flight out to Colombo for a two week sojourn in Sri Lanka, staying at Trincomalee on the east coast. This time we hope to feel fit enough to tackle Sigiriya.

Finally, back to Delhi to catch our flight out to Hong Kong for a 4 day stopover on our way home. Phew!

Well after 18 odd years, my time at my corporate job has come to an end. Not sure what the future holds, but at this stage the plans for India are uppermost in our minds. The itinerary is taking shape, and I’ve added some extra pages to the blog page, so you can see some of our earlier exploits. This retrospective is not finished yet, but some progress has been made. Check out the Previous Adventures pages. (Work in progress while The Wise One tracks down old photos)

Neil (henceforth known as The Wise One) and I (Sue) are going to India. Wow! I can’t believe it; I have always wanted to go there ever since studying a tiny bit of Indian history in High School, and that was an eternity ago.

We are senior independent travellers who love an adventure, love great food and interacting with the locals. The itinerary is still in flux, but we hope to have it sorted soon, so we can post a map.

I have had my jabs but The Wise One is still thinking about it. Those who know him, will know why. 🙂

Our passports are renewed and flights are booked. We leave in mid March, so follow us to the wonderfully diverse, colourful and ancient land of Bharat, and see what we get up to. Namaste.