Galah-travels

Shatabdi to Delhi

over-40 — Sat, 4 Aug 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Our last journey in India was on the Shatabdi train from Jaipur to Delhi. The Shatabdi is an express air-conditioned chair-car train. It was comfortable with good leg room. Food is provided, in fact they ply you with too much food - initial snacks tray (similar to an airline), then soup, main course and ice-cream. The 309km from Jaipur to Delhi takes about 5 hours, not bad at all for India.

We arrived in New Delhi at 11pm and walked down to the to the Hotel Shelton, Paharganj where we had left a pack full of Nepal trekking stuff. The room was a box, the matress was crap... It was better than the windowless box we had in Lucknow but the Shelton rates and the 2nd-worst place we stayed in India. I guess you don't get much in a budget hotel in a big city.

Amber Fort

over-40 — Sat, 4 Aug 2007 02:00:00 GMT

Another day, another fort and palace. This is 10km out of Jaipur on the road to Delhi. We got the bus from in the middle the old town in Jaipur (the main intersection near the Hawa Mahal). The bus is only 7IRs each and it was a modern bus with individual seats, handrails... In fact, it was a very similar model to the international to domestic transfer bus at Sydnet Airport. We were shocked, this was the first time we had been in a mordern bus in India.

What to say about the fort and palace? It was good, but I think we are all touristed-out now. There are lots of Indians visiting here and the usual mob of touts selling postcards, miniature paintings, elephant rides etc etc. A lot of the interiors of rooms has deteriorated, so there is no detailed painting left here. There is lots of restoration work happening, so the stonework and marble is in good condition in the restored sections.

Samod Palace

over-40 — Fri, 3 Aug 2007 03:49:00 GMT

On Friday we shared a taxi with a French couple out to Samod. Samod is a town about 45km out of Jaipur. As usual, it has a palace and fort! The palace is also a fancy hotel - 99 euros per night (actually not to bad, Phil was tempted to stay there a night, but our stuff was back in Jaipur).

When we arrived the hotel had a convention on, so they couldn't take us on a tour. We went for a walk up the hill above the palace to view the fort. There are good rock stairs and walking tracks around here, so it is a nice place to go for a walk and get views across the plains of Rajasthan from the top of the hill. The hills around are a lot like the rocky hills around Alice Springs. The monsoon rain has made the country a lot greener than Alice, although the scrub on the hills is similar.

After the walk, the convention session had finished (Friday afternoon early knock-off happened just like Oz) so we got to be taken around the palace halls. These are very well restored, so this place was well worth the visit even though there are only a few sections open to tours.

The entry fee is 250IRs - seems a bit steep but you get 250IRs credit towards your lunch bill at the hotel restaurant. The four of us ordered food to a bit over our 1000IRs credit. The restaurant prices are obviously high (fancy hotel service), but we did get a decent light lunch and drink out of it. This was the first restaurant we had been to that had cloth napkins - that's real class.

That night back in Jaipur we went to the revolving restaurant at the Om Hotel. The restaurant is on top of the hotel on the 14th floor. There are great views of Jaipur as the restaurant revolves slowly. This was another cloth napkins restaurant, two in one day after 4 months was a bit of a shock. This was definitely worth doing, good service, good views. Turn up before sunset to get both the light and dark views oacross Jaipur.

Choki Dhani dinner and dance

over-40 — Thu, 2 Aug 2007 09:00:00 GMT

On Friday night we caught an auto-rickshaw to Choki Dhani on the edge of Jaipur - 300IRs for the driver to take us out there, wait about 3 hours and take us back into town. Choki Dhani is a Rajasthani "tourist village". It gives an experience of Rajasthani traditional life and culture in a self-contained "village". Lots of Indian tourists come here - I guess you can see Rajasthani culture quickly by just coming to Jaipur and visiting Choki Dhani. It saves all the bother of going way out west into the real villages:-) The entry is 250IRs and includes a Rajasthani-style thali meal.

Various acts are going on all around the complex - dancing, puppets, magician, pipe-smoking, side-show alley... There are elephant, camel and ox-cart rides available (you pay extra for these). It's a lot like going to a country show, you wander about looking at stuff! If you don't want to be dragged up on stage to dance with the acts then hide well back in the crowd.

This is a good thing to do for an evening in Jaipur. It is open from 6:15 to 11:00pm. It is 20km out of town, I'm sure you can get the bus out there and back, but the auto-ricksaw was convenient and not too expensive.

Agra Agro

over-40 — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 07:00:00 GMT

So this is the place you have to go to sometime on a trip to India. We put it off until the end. The buildings are actually impressive, but beware - some of the tourist touts are very sticky. They don't take "no thank you" for an answer. The worst place is Fatehpur Sikri - be ready to be really tough if you head out there.

The entry tickets at the Taj are deceiving. The ticket indicates that you get entry to the other main attractions on the same day, except for the "A.S.I." (whatever that stands for). When you get to Fatehpur-Sikri you discover that the "A.S.I." is 250IRs and the ticket part is only 10IRs. So you still have to pay 250IRs of the normal 260IRs. A similar situation happens at Agra Fort - "A.S.I." is 250IRs and the ticket is 50IRs for a total of 300IRs. You still have to pay 250IRs.

Indians pay only 20IRs to get into the fort, foreigners pay 300IRs. The same differential happens all over Agra. It is a shame I don't look Indian - all you ethnic Indian doctors with Aussie citizenship should still be able to get the cheap price. Even the bus conductors "take us for a ride" - we were charged 40IRs one way today, then only 30IRs on the way back, after waiting a long time before Jenny asked for some change for a 50IRs.

We did actually meet one very nice guy in a shop making and selling inlaid marble - he didn't want to pressure anyone and just waited for people to come into his shop. This is the way we like to do our souvenir shopping! Mughal Gems, near the Taj south gate is the place to go.

The photos tell the story of the attractions - Agra Fort, "baby Taj", Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri and Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra. Tomorrow it's off to Jaipur to see another fort and palace.

Nainital

over-40 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:22:00 GMT

The roads up the hill to Nainital were really good - much better than anything in the hills of Nepal - but they did make Jenny bus sick.

Nainital is a "hill station" from the days of the British. The town nestles around the lake at about 2000m, so it is much cooler than the hot plains of India. So cool, in fact, that every day it rained or was so cloudy that much of the lake was obscured in the mist and we rarely saw the tops of the hills. At night we got to use a blanket for the first time since Langtang.

This is a good place to escape and relax. It is NOTHING like the plains of India. The hassle factor is much less, there is less rubbish, very few beggars, lots of fixed price shops and cafes with iced coffee and delicious butterscotch cake. We went for walks in the hills/mist, boating on the lake, the zoo, a half-day sightseeing trip to other lakes in the area (more mist to be seen).

The zoo was really good - very neat, clean and maintained. It had leopards, siberian tiger, himalayan bear, snow leopard, deery sort of things (Phil's technical biology naming), pheasants, wolves and other high-altitude animals. This was great value at 25INR each.

The night bus back down the hill almost a week later was Phil's turn to be sick (for real into the plastic bag this time!). The bus was great - leg room for Phil, reclining seats - but the driver was hairy, too much go flat out, swerve around things, jamb on the brakes at the last moment if really necessary. The last 80km into Delhi had roadwork and there had been a head-on collision near the bridge over the Ganges. So the last 80km took over 4 hours. The lesson is, don't catch buses in India. We should have caught the local bus to Haldwani then got the train to Delhi, but we couldn't find any available seats for online booking.

Nepalgunj - back to the 'gunj

over-40 — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:50:00 GMT

We caught the local bus from Tansen down to Butwal, then changed at the bus park to a Nepalgunj bus with no trouble at all. This time the bus was smaller, so there was no room for goats or potatoes. We got to Nepalgunj without any 'banda' interruptions - a small miracle for any trip along the Terai (flat areas) these days.

We visited the INF hospital on Monday. They were moving just about everything, ward areas, outpatients, some office space as well as painting (with some interesting un-asked-for feature walls). We came back on Tuesday to visit various office sections and get the run-down on the projects that are administered from the Nepalgunj office.

Lunch was at the "INF Canteen", a small road-side restaurant near INF (see the photo gallery). Many staff were eating there and it was certainly good value for money. Jenny just had to close her eyes when she walked past the washing up bucket. We actually went back there for lunch again later in the week - Phil can't resist a cheap meal.

Jenny had a day at the Maya Sadan orphanage school giving the teachers some ideas for activities to use with early childhood lessons - like how to make playdough.

At the end of the week we caught the bus to Mahendranagar. The journey started out in a small minibus with our packs tied on the roof rack. This seemed a quick way to go, but just after Bardia they transferred us onto a big bus and paid the other bus driver to take us onwards. Shortly after this the bus stopped at Ambassa (the turnoff to Bardia National Park lodges). Nothing happened for a while, then someone told us that the road was cut by floodwaters ahead. After an hour or so we moved again, sure enough we joined a line of waiting vehicles. Eventually some vehicles had a go at crossing (see photo gallery) then our bus went across. Some concrete sections of the floodway had moved and dropped lower in the river, so it was quite possible that they could give way completely with the weight of trucks and buses. It was pouring rain most of the time, but cleared up later in the day.

We spent the night in Mahendranagar. The next morning we caught the bus to the Indian border. We walked across a strange no-man's land - the good Nepali road just stopped, then there was a windy bit of rocky path/road. We foolishly got a rickshaw across this, but it would have been just as quick and comfortable to walk. Indian immigration was very officious - they spent quite a bit of time working out if our visa stamp was from the "consulate-general", "embassy" or "high commission" in Canberra. Then we walked across a huge bridge/weir that is used to hold up the river and redirect water into a large irrigation canal. The river was very wide and fast-flowing due to the monsoon. We tried to take a photo at the other side but officials told us "no no no". Apparently this is a hugely important piece of government property that needs to be protected?

A horse and cart ride took us 5km into Banbassa (the first town in India). It was pouring rain again, so chai and samosa was the order of the day whilst we waited in a typical village "cafe" for the bus to Haldwani. This is the worst bus so far (as in old and decrepit) although the engine did roar well and it actually got along at a good pace.

There was much flooding across the plains to Haldwani. We were often driving through a foot of water rushing over the road. Motorbikes were having trouble, stalling in the water. We changed at Haldwani for Nainital, up in the hills.

Tansen Tummies

over-40 — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:00:00 GMT

We spent a few days in Tansen, Palpa district. Phil's tummy started feeling off on the bus from Kathmandu. Jenny had the bug a day later. So we ended up having 2 days rest on the hotel toilet after we got there. We stayed at the Srinigar Hotel on top of the ridge above Tansen. This has really good views across the valley - one direction from the hotel then just across the ridge road you can also look out over the northern valley. Apparently on clear days (not now in the monsoon) you can see the Annapurna range in the distance. However the hotel is the most expensive we have stayed in yet in Nepal (1500NRs = $A30 per night) and there was still no hot water and half the taps in the bathroom leak! But the toilet was a good flusher, rare in Nepal and very good for us in our condition.

There is a nice pine forest on the ridge above town with park land in it - very peaceful to go and sit for a while, unless you meet a bunch of university students who want to practice their english. From the ridge there are plenty of dirt roads and tracks visible in all the valleys - this looks like a great place for mountainbiking. The lazy people could even ride down about 900m to the main road in the valley then get the bus home, putting the bike on the roof!

We visited the mission hospital later in the week and had a look at the infants/primary tutorial group (= mini-school).

Tansen has one of the best restaurants in Nepal - the Nanglo West. There is plenty of atmosphere, the club sandwiches are great, they bake real bread (smells wonderful), cold coffee and the Nepali food is good also.

On Sunday we took the local bus down the hill to Butwal. The bus park in Butwal was very good and friendly, people wanted to find out where we were going next and show us where to buy a ticket. We got there at 9:30 and the next bus to Nepalgunj went at 10:00 so it all turned out very easy. 6.5 hours on the bus got us the 270km to Nepalgunj, in the mid-west on the plains with heat and humidity.

Leaning "god" of Jawalakhel

over-40 — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 05:04:00 GMT

This is a tree on a cart. It is supposed to be/represent a god. As part of a yearly ceremony it was at Jawalakhel Chowk (intersection) for 4 days and had developed a lean. Somehow it survived the 4 days without toppling. At the end the Prime Minister came to observe the final part of the ceremony. Normally the King does this each year, but the changing times means the Prime Minister took on the role. The newspapers this week have pointed out that Nepal is now a secular state, not a Hindu kingdom. So the PM should not be performing official duties on behalf of any religion. Maybe now the PM will have to go to church at Christmas and Easter and turn up at some Buddhist, Muslim etc ceremonies also?

Swayambhunath Temple

over-40 — Sat, 7 Jul 2007 03:30:00 GMT

We thought we had better do some sightseeing today. This temple is only a couple of kms to the west of the Thamel area in Kathmandu, so it was an easy walk. Not long after we arrived a group of 7 kids latched onto us. We thought they would be after the usual pens or money, but they actually showed us around the temple - dragging us over to look at the view, see the monkeys in the trees etc etc. We did get asked to look through their "sister's/aunty's" shop, which was full of Hindu religous stuff, so we avoided any purchases. They helped with Nepali words for things we saw (now I know how to say "four ducks"!) and we helped them with their English, which was already pretty good. At the end we bought them all a 10NRs ice-cream each - a good investment for a 1 hour language lesson and guide.