vacation with Matt

I'd been looking forward to this week all summer and it really has been just as amazing as I expected. I finished all my work in Orissa just on the day I left to come meet Matt so I was really able to relax this past week.

My vacation began last Saturday and much less relaxed as I would have hoped. My flight was delayed 2 hours from Bhubaneswar to Delhi so I finally got to the hotel around midnight. Matt and I chose the hotel from online reviews and it’s not the first time that that has proven to be a mistake here in India. The place looked run-down even though it was only 2 years old, the floors were dirty, the bedlinens were dirty…I could go on, but the short story is that I decided we couldn’t stay there, and especially because I didn’t want that to be the first experience Matt would have in this country. So, at 1am I went on a quest for a new hotel. It was lucky that the boy that was going to drive me to the airport to pick up Matt 3 hours later didn’t actually work for the hotel and insisted on showing me another hotel in the neighborhood before I resorted to staying on “tourist row”. I didn’t get my hopes up as we drove to this other hotel, but it ended up being just fine. The boy, Rausen, really saved me a lot of time and hassle that night. So, by about 2am I was checked into the new hotel, with just enough time to unpack a little, shower and rush back downstairs to go to the airport with Rausen to pick up Matt at 3. Phew. Matt arrived on-time and with all his luggage!!! (Although he purposely didn’t check any bags, so this really isn’t a great accomplishment on Etihad’s part, but worth celebrating nonetheless. ***Side note: Etihad never found my bag that they lost in May, and have been utterly unhelpful and just plain rude in most of my dealings with them. Lesson learned: don’t fly Etihad!!)

We slept for a few hours and true to jetlag expectations Matt was up and ready to go at 8:30. I, unfortunately at this time, was not suffering from jetlag, but only 2 hours of sleep. Needless to say, we’ve been on slightly different sleeping patterns. It was dreary and rainy in Delhi that day so we decided to go to a hindi movie which I had been told are quite the event. We saw Love Aaj Kal which means . They don’t put subtitles on the movies in the theatre, but being sort of a romantic comedy it wasn’t hard to follow the main plot line. That night for dinner we went to Bukhara, a place listed in the “1000 Places to See Before you Die” book. It had a very cool atmosphere, but REALLY expensive Indian food. We ate an appetizer but decided to skip the main course. I decided that spending a lot of money on food in India is definitely not utility maximizing, considering you can get the best food EVER from a street stall for literally 10 cents.
The next morning we went to an American breakfast place called Mrs. Kaurs Crepes. I know, it’s probably not what Matt wanted, but it’s a place Colette took me when I was in Delhi in July and I just couldn’t resist. It was pouring rain that day again, which made traveling around a little uncomfortable, but we went to the famous Khan Market, then to a few boutique shops that we let an auto driver take us to (all way overpriced and designed especially for unsuspecting tourists to be taken unknowingly by an auto driver who gets a cut for bringing you. We knew this but decided to go anyway just to kill some time before our train. We also stopped quickly by India Gate. It’s very similar to the Gateway of India that I saw in Mumbai, but honestly, I don’t know the significance.


We took a train that afternoon to Agra. I have to say that the Delhi train station might be the most hectic, chaotic, unnerving travel experience I’ve had yet.



Thankfully our only goal was to find the right platform number, which you’d think would be easy staring down at rows of train tracks. There were so many people crowding you and pushing to go in one direction or another that you could barely move in the direction you wanted. We didn’t even know what direction to push in since all the signs were in Hindi. After a couple minutes of just pushing at random we finally found a security guard who spoke enough English to tell us what platform number to push towards. Well, we made it to Agra in a few hours with no problems. When we got off the train we were looking for an auto to take from the airport. In general it’s a pretty good rule not to accept an offer from a taxi driver that comes up to hassle you the second you get off the train/plane, etc because they tend to be more expensive. In true form we were greeted by a taxi driver who showed us the list of pre-paid prices (trying to indicate that he was not ripping us off). We kept walking towards the group of autos and looking back I can’t remember what made us turn around, but we decided to accept this guy’s taxi offer. It ended up being the best decision we could have made. The guy introduced us to his brother (introduced as Ali Baba but we later found out his name is Akhtar) who would be the one driving us. Once in the car and on the way to the hotel we found out that Akhtar spoke English impressively well and had a witty sense of humor. He had the same rate card in the car that his brother first showed us and we decided to hire him for the entire next day to take us around to all the sights and then back to the train station. I have to say that it was really nice not hassling with auto drivers all day! That night we went to a restaurant that the guidebook said had a rooftop patio with an excellent view of the Taj Mahal.



The book didn’t mention a word about the food...it wasn't good.

The next day we woke up at around 5am so we could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. I've been told it's the best time to go since it's really beautiful with the sunrise behind it and also it's much less crowded so early in the morning. Unfortunately it was really nasty and rainy outside that day so we didn't get very stunning photos...oh well.






There were a lot of camels in Agra.

After we went to the Taj we visited the Red Fort.


A view looking from the Red Fort back onto the Taj Mahal. This is also where the builder of the Taj Mahal was imprisoned by his son...purposely so he could look out onto his creation.


The monkey was getting interogated by the guard (actually he was feeding him sweets!)


We had some time to kill before our train left that night so Akhtar took us to some craft stores where you could see how the goods were made and then you were taken into a showroom where you could buy them. It's a very touristy thing to do and consequently very overpriced. This following picture shows men inlaying local marble with stones by hand.


Next we went to a carpet showroom where they even let us try tying a few knots.



At one of the other shops we went in Matt and Akhtar sat down to play a local game called Luda while I was searching for a dvd of Om Shanti Om (I found it by the way). The other guys that were hanging out in the shop got a kick out of Matt playing and were helping him choose his moves. He ended up beating Akhtar, which he reminded us was only because of his beginner's luck!


We took the train back to Delhi with no problems and left the following morning really early to go to Leh. It's one of the northernmost cities in India and sits right at the base of the Himalayas. The next couple pictures I took on the flight into the city.




We had found the hotel online and were both pleasantly surprised with how great the accomodations were. It was nothing too special but it was beautiful and peaceful. We were greeted with a van at the airport and tea and biscuits once we arrived.


The resort was owned by a local Ladakhi family who had decorated the entire place in traditional Ladakhi decor.


The view from our balcony...you can see the mountains in the background - far off, but they're still there:


The view as we walked into town from the hotel.


We visited some of the local monestaries and even sat in on an early morning prayer service.



The last day we were there we took a drive up the highest motorable road in the world. The top of the pass was at 18,380 feet. It took about 2 hours to get to the top of the pass from the town but it was amazing. Neither Matt or I had ever been up that high before and we could both feel the altitude (as well as the extremely cold weather that we were not dressed appropriately for). This crazy biker was riding UP the mountain.



I think Matt would agree with me that our time in Leh was the most relaxing and "vacation-like". We technically had another full day in Delhi when we returned, but unfortunately we had to spend almost 5 hours in the airline's office that day getting my flight figured out for the next day, so we weren't able to see any more of the city.

Thankfully the flights coming home all worked out without much delay, and all 3 of our checked luggage made it all the way to Durham. And that ends our great Himalayan vacation...

mumbai

I spent the weekend in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) with Esha and her family. It was a quick trip, but we packed it to the fullest!

On Saturday night we went to a free live Hindustani classical music concert. The man on the left was playing the tabla, the woman is playing the Hawiian guitar, and the man on the far right is playing the sitar.


Not only was the music beautiful and moving, but the entire experience was quite different than any other performance I'd been to. The audience was so involved and enthusiastic. It was clear that the performers were playing well and with each exceptionally moving moment you could hear the response from the audience. I noticed people motioning with their hands, letting their fingers flow with the rhythms. The air was full of appreciation. We stayed for about 3 hours and, as Esha explained to me,we left just as they were about to start into another hour long raga.



That night we had dinner at her house and they served traditional Gujarati cuisine. Bombay is actually in the state of Maharashtra, but Esha's family is originally from the state of Gujarat.

On Sunday we woke up early, ate a delicious homemade breakfast, and headed out for a day in south Mumbai. We took the local train to get from Esha's house in north Mumbai to the south. It took about half an hour on the train but would have taken an hour to an hour and a half in a car.



It came out in the morning paper that day that the first person had died in Mumbai due to the H1N1 virus. Esha's dad was especially concerned and insisted we take the first class train ticket so that we weren't so close to the other passengers...as you can see, we had the coach to ourselves.


Mumbai is infamous for it's sprawling slums. Often they are situated near major landmarks like train tracks and water pipes for convenience. Here are a few pictures I snapped on the train ride.







The following is a picture of the train depot (Chhatrapati Sivaji Terminus), where we arrived from the local train, and also one of the site of the terrorist attacks that occurred in November 2008. It was powerful and eery to be at the exact sites that were targeted less than a year before.


This following picture is one that I took on Sunday of the Taj hotel. The Taj is a notable location in the book I just finished reading, Shantaram, but also one of the 8 sites of the attack. I found the other picture on the internet. From the same angle too, it really is disturbing.

After the Taj hotel we visited the Gateway of India.


It was built in 1911 to commemorate the visit of Kind George V and Queen Mary to Bombay. It's the first landmark you see as you sail into the city, and probably the cities most famous landmarks.


This guy in the next picture was diving off the pier...I just happened to be looking at another picture on my camera when Esha said "hey, what's that guy doing?". I turned around and clicked. Couldn't have been more perfect timing, right?



Mumbai is full of these Fiat taxis. All the taxis and auto rickshaws have meters (and actually use them!) so using them for transport is much easier, efficient, convenient, less stressful, etc, than anywhere else I've seen in India.


We took a stroll through the famous area of Colaba. It lies on the southernmost tip of the city and is well known for it's touristy restaurants and street vendors. Here are a few pictures I took at Leopold's Cafe, another popular reference in Shantaram.


We stopped for lunch at a shore-side italian restaurant. It was so beautiful and relxing being right next to the water.


The restaurant was on Marine Drive and overlooked the tip of the city, called the Queen's Necklace.



After lunch we went to the National Gallery of Modern Art to see the SOAK exhibit. While the monsoons are an integral part of Indian culture, the location and history of Mumbai make the monsoon particularly meaningful. On July 26, 2005 the monsoon rains started in Mumbai around 3pm and lasted for numerous days. They recorded almost 40 inches of rain in 24 hours and over 1000 deaths. The art exhibit started with a collection of newspaper headlines, photographs, and videos from that day. The most stark are the hoards of people walking along the train tracks after the trains were forced to stop running. Esha actually was at school that day, on the train, and remembers walking home the many miles through thigh-level waters.

One reason why the floods were particularly devastating in Mumbai is because much of the city is actually reclaimed land from the sea. The art exhibit actually showed the topographical maps of the city (which used to be an island) throughout time, showing how the land had been slowly reclaimed. Of course, when you start changing the shape of the coastline and the natural path of the rivers, when the city becomes full of water, there is no where for it to drain naturally.


Night time view of the train station.


That night we went to a local play house and saw a production of "The Alchemist", adapted from the book by Paulo Coelho. I have to say it was an interesting experience because even though it wasn't a musical, the narration was done in song. Indians just can't resist the urge to sing and dance! But overall it was very entertaining.

And that's it. Yesterday I came back to Bhubaneswar, for my last 3 days in Orissa. I leave on Friday to meet Matt in Delhi. We're spending a few days in the city, going to the Taj Mahal, etc., and then we're spending 4 days in Leh. Leh is one of the northernmost cities in the country located at the base of the Himalayas. It's also one of the world's highest in elevation inhabited cities at almost 11,500 feet. After a few days there, it's back to the States. No wrap up yet, I've still got too much exploring to do...

zoo

I took a trip to Nandakanan Zoo yesterday. The white tiger safari was closed for maintenance (isn't that my luck), so I just walked around the "regular" zoo. It was pretty much like any normal zoo except that there were monkeys and trainers with elephants wandering on the foot paths. No big story, here's some pictures...

















Notice that the monkey is eating "Masala Munch". They're basically like cheetos but super super spicey. I actually like them a lot, but can't eat more than a couple because they set your mouth on fire - I guess it's a true Indian monkey, he was eating them up!


This next one is just a picture I took of the women walking in front of me. I realized I hadn't posted very many picture of people, but the women in India are quite beautiful, always wearing beautiful sarees.