March 31 - April 8
It would be a long day of travel from Thailand as we have to travel to Kuala Lumpur with a 4 hour stopover and then on to Delhi to meet the tour operator for our Golden Triangle tour. Our driver was at the airport to our relief and we went to our first hotel with was surprisingly nice and the tour operator indicate that the rest would only be better. We went to bed and were excited to see the sites of India. The first day we would visit Ghandi’s home were he was shot and tour the city as well as the Parliament house and government buildings. We also visited a Hindu temple and some ruins where we were the star attraction for the local kids. We toured at the Quitibminar temple with a huge victory tour that stood 300 feet tall. While wondering some Indian ladies started yelling at us. We found out from our guild later they thought we were British and said “Your have already stole all of our gold what else do you want”. The guild explained that some people still feel that the British had done wrong by the Indian people. We went to Old City of Deli and toured the small streets / Shops on a cycle rickshaw and then headed back to the hotel. Holly and I had the afternoon by ourselves and walked the local street to get dinner. We ended up at Pizza hut as every were else was a little intimidating. My first impression of Delhi was almost as suspected. The streets are filthy the traffic is insane with no rules just allot of horn honking and people pushing there way through anyway they can. I was however surprised at the cleanliness of the Indian people. They all wore dress shirts, slacks and dress shoes. Everyone looked like a businessman and they were I guess as they all were selling something. Even amongst the garbage and dirt they all seemed to manage a small clean shop or street stall. It seemed that there was construction everywhere, yet all the buildings were in disrepair except the government buildings and grounds that were kept in pristine condition. Every hedge trimmed, every street spotlessly cleaned. There were guards everywhere and we couldn’t even stop to take a picture in fear of being shot.. Right away you could see a huge divide between rich and poor. Our next day would take us to the Lotus temple in the morning which was surprisingly similar to parts of the Opera house in Sydney as it was designed by the same Architect. We then had a long drive to Agra were there was more horns, craziness and dirt. Along the way I saw a old woman being carried on a stretched as she was dead and I figured they were taking her to be cremated. Just her face was covered and four men carried her along the streets edge. Many parts of the poor neighbourhood I would relate to the Nanaimo City dump as people had just built there homes from the trash in the streets. These communities lined the highway sometimes for blocks. It was sad to see but was only a step up to the rest of the Indian peoples lives. We didn’t seem to drive though any what I would can upper-class neighbourhoods and I was wondering in there was any. After about 5 hours in the car we arrived at Agra. We visited Sikandra temple which like all of the temples we had seen was huge. The walled area was about 25 acres. All temples face North to South with any dead buried facing to the West according to the guild. The temples are generally symmetrical with towers in the corners. Most seem to have some sort of water feature that no longer is functional as India has been in a drought for 3 years. We saw antelope confined to the grounds by the walls and of course monkeys are everywhere. Oh ya YES there are cows every where in the streets, cities, stairways and even shops if the keeper is not quick to shoe them out. The next stop would be the Agra fort. This fort was for protection to the King with moats, huge gates and protection methods to keep intruders out. We would get our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal from the Kings quarters. The fort was massive. Standing 6 stories like a fort out of a ferry tail with giant marble pillars encrusted with semi precious stones and gold leaf. Most of the stones have been stolen but some remained and parts where under restoration. You would have no problem saying it was a palace fit for a King. Our next hotel was nice and had a pool so we took a quick dip before the mosquitoes got us. We walked across the street and went to “You guessed it” McDonalds. But this is India NO BEEF… So many weird things on the menu. We took what we though we could stomach and went back to the Hotel to eat. We have figured out the tours plan now that they take us to a few monuments the guild tries to take us to shops, the driver tries to take us to shops and the Hotels are far our of town so you have no choice but to eat at the Hotels which are 5 times the prices. We tried to put a end to there plan with some success but had to play along too. The next morning we would be up early 5am to seen the Taj Mahal at sunrise. We got to the Temple and there was already a line One for the boys and one for the girls.. After about 30 minutes we were in. As you walk thought the gate the temple is very impressive with the morning light giving the marble structure a goldy white glow. Again it was huge. To build a structure like this just to house the kings favourite wife (of which he had many) and himself was incredible. Next stop Fatehpur Sikri which is now called the Ghost Town temple. We had a local boy guild us though the palace. He was more of a salesman than a guild taking us to every vendor to see if we would buy something between telling us about the history of the buildings. It worked as we did buy a few small pieces of carved marble as a keepsake. We then went to the Hotel that was again far away from everything. I wasn’t feeling well so we went for a walk to see about some medicine. We stopped at subway for a Veggie sandwich L for dinner and headed back to the hotel for the night. In the morning we went to Amer Fort and got the ride an Elephant to the top of the ridge and into the fort. The ride was fun but the Elephants were not treated well so it took a bit of the thrill away. We toured the fort checking out the secret passageways and tunnels as well as all the courtyards and gardens. There was a dried lake that hadn’t seen water in 4 years. I was very hot so we moved on to the observatory were they could tell what time it was the position of the planets and other astrological things back then. We were to go to the museum next but with me feeling off again that day we didn’t stay long. We headed back to the hotel and had the driver pick us up later to take us to the restaurant of our choice for a good dinner. That night I would spend terribly sick. Probably the sickest I had ever been in my life. In the morning I was still not well but would survive. We had another long drive to Pushcar were we were suppose to tour the city and monuments but as I was still not well we just went to the Hotel and rested. In the morning we went on to Udapur. We have noticed that everywhere it is smoggy the sun is always in a haze and if you look to the horizon there is always a grey huge like a fog. Our hotel in Udapur was on a muddy lake. People were swimming fishing and bathing. I personally wouldn’t have put my baby toe in there with fear of it falling off a few days later. I was still a little off after visiting the temples that day in the heat so rested in the hotel while Holly went next door for a swim at another hotel. That night we had a nice private dinner for two on the rooftop of our hotel with the city sounds and lights {Well when the power stayed on} lol. The next morning would be a early flight to get us up to Rishakesh.
