I have been asked for a wedding picture so I thought I would post it here. The ending of our trip still to come. I'm working on it ....
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Taj Mahal
Sunday Feb 10, 2008
Agra, India
We check into our hotel and were happy to find that we have the best room in the hotel. We are on the top floor in the corner facing the Taj Mahal. We leave late afternoon for the Taj. Vehicles are not allowed to drive all the way up so we drove as far as we could and then took a tuk tuk (auto-rickshaw) the rest of the way. That in itself was an adventure for us.
I had very high expectations for the Taj and was a bit worried that I would be disappointed when I saw it in person. I was not. The Taj is absolutely beautiful. I think it is even more so given that it was built as a monument to love. For those of you who don’t know, here is the story …
Maharaja Shah Jehan was the Mughal ruler of India. He had two wives by arranged marriage - Princesses of Persia and Afghani. In the Muslim tradition, women are not allowed to show their faces to men. So in order for his wives to get a chance to shop, the bazaar was brought into the palace and the shops were run by the wives and daughters of the shop keepers. It was in one of these shops that the Maharaja Jehan met the daughter of one of the shop keepers and feel madly in love. He married her after two years despite his father’s displeasure at marrying a shopkeeper’s daughter. This wife became the favorite wife. She would travel with him and she died on one of these trips giving birth to their fourteenth child which was a stillborn. Maharaja Jehan was so upset by the death of his wife and he missed her so much that he started construction of the Taj Mahal as a monument to her. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to build. It is built of the finest marble that was brought in from outside Jaiper and the marble inlay work was done by artists from Persia.
The Maharaja wanted to build another monument directly across from the Taj Mahal (across the river) in black marble for himself so they would be able to face each other for eternity but his son had him thrown in jail and it was never built. We have heard two stories of why he was thrown in jail and are not quite sure which is true so I’ll tell you both versions and will confirm when I can get online to do some research.
1) The Taj was really expensive to build and to build another monument would have bankrupted the country so the son had no choice but to put his father in jail.
2) The son was greedy for power and had his oldest two brothers killed. He put his father in jail so that he could rule the country.
After Maharaja Jehangir’s death, his daughter had him buried beside his beloved wife in the Taj Mahal.
There are a number of reasons why the Taj is so beautiful:
1. The architecture – the unique design and the massive scale
2. The marble – the reason you want to see the Taj either at sunset or sunrise is because the marble changes color
3. Artistic touches - the incredible detailed carvings and marble inlay is beautiful up close and spectacular at a distance
Pictures definitely don’t do the Taj justice. This is one monument that you need to see in person.
Monday Feb 11, 2008
This is going to be a travel day for us. We started by visiting the Agra Fort which is where the Maharajas of Agra lived. It is a massive complex comprised of several palaces. Today, only a third is open to visitors, the rest is used by the Indian Army as a training facility.
Though the palaces had very beautiful features, I couldn’t help thinking that they couldn’t compare to the Taj.
We had a four hour car ride from Agra to Delhi and I am writing this excerpt on a train from Delhi to Haridwar. Haridwar is on the Ganges river which is the holiest river for Hindus. So far on this trip, we have seen the natural beauty of India is Kerela and the magnificent historical sites in Northern India. Our next phase will be about the spiritual side of India.
It’s been a long day and we have a 4 hour train ride to Haridwar. I’m signing off now. I’ll post this tonight if I can get Internet service from the hotel. As you can tell, I didn't get this posted in India. I am back in Austin trying to get recover from the stomach flu (or otherwise known as Dehli Belly) and jet lag. Look for my final post of Haridwar and Dehli probably by the end of the week.
Agra, India
We check into our hotel and were happy to find that we have the best room in the hotel. We are on the top floor in the corner facing the Taj Mahal. We leave late afternoon for the Taj. Vehicles are not allowed to drive all the way up so we drove as far as we could and then took a tuk tuk (auto-rickshaw) the rest of the way. That in itself was an adventure for us.
I had very high expectations for the Taj and was a bit worried that I would be disappointed when I saw it in person. I was not. The Taj is absolutely beautiful. I think it is even more so given that it was built as a monument to love. For those of you who don’t know, here is the story …
Maharaja Shah Jehan was the Mughal ruler of India. He had two wives by arranged marriage - Princesses of Persia and Afghani. In the Muslim tradition, women are not allowed to show their faces to men. So in order for his wives to get a chance to shop, the bazaar was brought into the palace and the shops were run by the wives and daughters of the shop keepers. It was in one of these shops that the Maharaja Jehan met the daughter of one of the shop keepers and feel madly in love. He married her after two years despite his father’s displeasure at marrying a shopkeeper’s daughter. This wife became the favorite wife. She would travel with him and she died on one of these trips giving birth to their fourteenth child which was a stillborn. Maharaja Jehan was so upset by the death of his wife and he missed her so much that he started construction of the Taj Mahal as a monument to her. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to build. It is built of the finest marble that was brought in from outside Jaiper and the marble inlay work was done by artists from Persia.
The Maharaja wanted to build another monument directly across from the Taj Mahal (across the river) in black marble for himself so they would be able to face each other for eternity but his son had him thrown in jail and it was never built. We have heard two stories of why he was thrown in jail and are not quite sure which is true so I’ll tell you both versions and will confirm when I can get online to do some research.
1) The Taj was really expensive to build and to build another monument would have bankrupted the country so the son had no choice but to put his father in jail.
2) The son was greedy for power and had his oldest two brothers killed. He put his father in jail so that he could rule the country.
After Maharaja Jehangir’s death, his daughter had him buried beside his beloved wife in the Taj Mahal.
There are a number of reasons why the Taj is so beautiful:
1. The architecture – the unique design and the massive scale
2. The marble – the reason you want to see the Taj either at sunset or sunrise is because the marble changes color
3. Artistic touches - the incredible detailed carvings and marble inlay is beautiful up close and spectacular at a distance
Pictures definitely don’t do the Taj justice. This is one monument that you need to see in person.
Monday Feb 11, 2008
This is going to be a travel day for us. We started by visiting the Agra Fort which is where the Maharajas of Agra lived. It is a massive complex comprised of several palaces. Today, only a third is open to visitors, the rest is used by the Indian Army as a training facility.
Though the palaces had very beautiful features, I couldn’t help thinking that they couldn’t compare to the Taj.
We had a four hour car ride from Agra to Delhi and I am writing this excerpt on a train from Delhi to Haridwar. Haridwar is on the Ganges river which is the holiest river for Hindus. So far on this trip, we have seen the natural beauty of India is Kerela and the magnificent historical sites in Northern India. Our next phase will be about the spiritual side of India.
It’s been a long day and we have a 4 hour train ride to Haridwar. I’m signing off now. I’ll post this tonight if I can get Internet service from the hotel. As you can tell, I didn't get this posted in India. I am back in Austin trying to get recover from the stomach flu (or otherwise known as Dehli Belly) and jet lag. Look for my final post of Haridwar and Dehli probably by the end of the week.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
North India - Udaipur and Jaipur
We are now in North India and the weather is cooler than in Mumbai and South India. We are pretty excited because we are most familiar with and love North India cuisine.
Udaipur
Udaipur, a relatively small city (population of 1/2 million) is known as the city of lakes. The lakes are all man made and fill up during monsoon season. We had a wonderful guide and had a lot of fun in Udaipur.
We started the day visiting a temple in the middle of the city which had beautiful carvings. We then made our way to the City Palace where part has been made into a museum. The royal family still has their private residence there. The Palace is beautiful with detailed carvings and paintings. Udaipur is known for miniature paintings and we admired some beautiful work at the palace. These paintings portray daily life, special occasions as well as traditional myths. The details in these miniatures are incredible to see. We bought a painting and I’m looking forward to getting it framed.
From the Palace we could see Lake Palace which has been made into a hotel where only those who are staying there or have made reservations to the restaurant can go. We went on a boat cruise around Pichola Lake to Pleasure Island. Again, we were pretty spoiled because while other travelers piled into one boat, we had a boat all to ourselves. Pleasure Island was the summer home of the royal family. It was relaxing and we enjoyed the wonderful views of the palace and the lake.
Next we went to the Old Palace and had a tour of the Crystal Furniture. The story is that the Maharana commissioned the furniture and it arrived the week after he died. The furniture was put in storage where it stayed for over a hundred years. Everything was made of crystal including a crystal bed. We then went to the grand room for a relaxing cup of Darjeeling tea.
One thing that I’m very sad about is that I can’t eat any street food (a good chance that I will get sick). I love Behl Poori which is available at my favorite Indian Restaurant in Toronto – Bombay Behl. We passed many stalls and I longed to stop for a snack …
Jaipur
We had an early start today. We caught a 7:40am flight out of Udaipur to Jaipur. Jaipur is known as the pink city. The city was painted the traditional color of welcome in honor of Prince Albert’s visit in 1883.
We visited the City Palace which is the residence of Jaipur’s royal family. The palace buildings on the palace grounds are all painted yellow to differentiate it from the rest of the city.
We started at the observatory which was built in 1716 by Maharaja Jai Singh. Young especially enjoyed this part of the tour. This Maharaja is known and the Genius Maharaja and was very interested in astrology. He had sophisticated instruments built that still work today.
The Palace was beautiful and we enjoyed walking around. It was nice to hear that the current Maharaja is really well liked. The current Maharaja’s father is known as the most handsome Maharaja. He died in England in the 1970s playing polo. The current Maharaja has a daughter so her son who is 11 years old is the next heir.
I am amazed at the detail and beauty of Indian Palaces. There are pillars carved of marble, glass inlaid mosaics, and intricate painted designs that look like wallpaper.
We saw a traditional Rajasthan dance last night. The women dance with pots on their heads. It was quite impressive as one girl put more and more pots on top of her head and continued dancing.
This morning, we started at the Amber Fort & Palace where we rode an elephant up the hill. These elephants are brought in from the neighboring villages by their trainers as far as 10km away. The elephants all have official government numbers and are only allowed to make 5 trips up the hill with tourists.
This was where the Maharaja lived prior to the City Palace and we found the history interesting. There are 12 apartments for the Maharaja’s twelve wives. This was the most “touristy” place we have been so far on our trip (we leave for the Taj Mahal in Agra tomorrow). We have been fortunate in that most of the places we have visited have not been crowded.
We then drove to Samode where we toured the palace, had a delicious lunch, and rode a camel through the village. The camel ride was a lot of fun but we definitely felt like a spectacle. We were two of maybe 20 tourists at this palace so it was a lot quieter and we were the only tourists in the village as we rode through on a camel.
I should take a minute to talk about all of the animals we have seen in India. It is quite common to see cows, goats and pigs just wandering around the roads. We have also seen donkeys, camels and elephants. My favorite are the monkeys that you can see hanging out in trees, on ledges and on buildings.
We are now relaxing at the hotel. I caught a cold yesterday and am hoping that I can kick it quickly. We have an early morning start tomorrow as it is a 5 ½ hour drive to Agra. We are going to see the Taj Mahal!
Udaipur
Udaipur, a relatively small city (population of 1/2 million) is known as the city of lakes. The lakes are all man made and fill up during monsoon season. We had a wonderful guide and had a lot of fun in Udaipur.
We started the day visiting a temple in the middle of the city which had beautiful carvings. We then made our way to the City Palace where part has been made into a museum. The royal family still has their private residence there. The Palace is beautiful with detailed carvings and paintings. Udaipur is known for miniature paintings and we admired some beautiful work at the palace. These paintings portray daily life, special occasions as well as traditional myths. The details in these miniatures are incredible to see. We bought a painting and I’m looking forward to getting it framed.
From the Palace we could see Lake Palace which has been made into a hotel where only those who are staying there or have made reservations to the restaurant can go. We went on a boat cruise around Pichola Lake to Pleasure Island. Again, we were pretty spoiled because while other travelers piled into one boat, we had a boat all to ourselves. Pleasure Island was the summer home of the royal family. It was relaxing and we enjoyed the wonderful views of the palace and the lake.
Next we went to the Old Palace and had a tour of the Crystal Furniture. The story is that the Maharana commissioned the furniture and it arrived the week after he died. The furniture was put in storage where it stayed for over a hundred years. Everything was made of crystal including a crystal bed. We then went to the grand room for a relaxing cup of Darjeeling tea.
One thing that I’m very sad about is that I can’t eat any street food (a good chance that I will get sick). I love Behl Poori which is available at my favorite Indian Restaurant in Toronto – Bombay Behl. We passed many stalls and I longed to stop for a snack …
Jaipur
We had an early start today. We caught a 7:40am flight out of Udaipur to Jaipur. Jaipur is known as the pink city. The city was painted the traditional color of welcome in honor of Prince Albert’s visit in 1883.
We visited the City Palace which is the residence of Jaipur’s royal family. The palace buildings on the palace grounds are all painted yellow to differentiate it from the rest of the city.
We started at the observatory which was built in 1716 by Maharaja Jai Singh. Young especially enjoyed this part of the tour. This Maharaja is known and the Genius Maharaja and was very interested in astrology. He had sophisticated instruments built that still work today.
The Palace was beautiful and we enjoyed walking around. It was nice to hear that the current Maharaja is really well liked. The current Maharaja’s father is known as the most handsome Maharaja. He died in England in the 1970s playing polo. The current Maharaja has a daughter so her son who is 11 years old is the next heir.
I am amazed at the detail and beauty of Indian Palaces. There are pillars carved of marble, glass inlaid mosaics, and intricate painted designs that look like wallpaper.
We saw a traditional Rajasthan dance last night. The women dance with pots on their heads. It was quite impressive as one girl put more and more pots on top of her head and continued dancing.
This morning, we started at the Amber Fort & Palace where we rode an elephant up the hill. These elephants are brought in from the neighboring villages by their trainers as far as 10km away. The elephants all have official government numbers and are only allowed to make 5 trips up the hill with tourists.
This was where the Maharaja lived prior to the City Palace and we found the history interesting. There are 12 apartments for the Maharaja’s twelve wives. This was the most “touristy” place we have been so far on our trip (we leave for the Taj Mahal in Agra tomorrow). We have been fortunate in that most of the places we have visited have not been crowded.
We then drove to Samode where we toured the palace, had a delicious lunch, and rode a camel through the village. The camel ride was a lot of fun but we definitely felt like a spectacle. We were two of maybe 20 tourists at this palace so it was a lot quieter and we were the only tourists in the village as we rode through on a camel.
I should take a minute to talk about all of the animals we have seen in India. It is quite common to see cows, goats and pigs just wandering around the roads. We have also seen donkeys, camels and elephants. My favorite are the monkeys that you can see hanging out in trees, on ledges and on buildings.
We are now relaxing at the hotel. I caught a cold yesterday and am hoping that I can kick it quickly. We have an early morning start tomorrow as it is a 5 ½ hour drive to Agra. We are going to see the Taj Mahal!
South India
I’m back online! I wasn’t getting any service on my PDA in Kerela nor did the hotels we stayed in have Internet access. We are now in Northern India about to start our adventure here but I want to catch you up on our adventures in Southern India …Backwater Cruise
Arriving in Cochin from Mumbai, there was a noticeable difference in temperature (warmer) and in vegetation (a lot greener and lusher). We drove from Cochin to the Backwaters to start our cruise.
The scenery through the canals and lakes is breathtaking. There is lush vegetation - rice fields and banana trees. There were houses on either side and we could watch the locals going about their daily tasks – washing their clothes in the river and kids swimming and playing. On the waters we passed locals in their smaller boats as well as other tour boats. Although there were other tour boats, it was quite peaceful and not overcrowded. The tourist boats were all in the local style so blended into the environment. It was a nice change of pace from busy Mumbai.
The boat cruise was incredibly relaxing and we were completely spoiled. We had a private 80 ft boat all to ourselves with our own captain, chef, and waiter. We watched the sun set and rise from our private deck. We even had a plasma TV on board but didn’t feel the need to turn it on (which is surprisingly especially for Young). The meals our chef cooked for us were among the best we have had in India.
Periyar
Spice Plantation and Elephant Ride
On the drive from Alleppey to Periyar we passed many tea plantations. In addition to being a beautiful site, I was amazed to learn that tea leaves are picked by hand. I will have a new appreciation as I drink my next cup of tea. For those who may not know, “chai” is actually tea. So, if you order a chai in India, you are ordering a cup of tea. If you want to order what we know in North America as a “chai latte”, you can either order a “Marsala Chai” or “Chai with cardamom and cinnamon”.
Our first stop in Periyar was to visit a spice plantation where we not only got a personal guided tour of the various spices and fruit that grow in this region but we got to ride an elephant.
It was really interesting to see all of the spices that we use in their natural form. We saw black pepper, cloves, cardamom, all spice, coffee, cocoa, vanilla beans. I love exotic fruit so seeing bananas, pineapples, mango, guava, papaya, jack fruit was fun for me to see. I have been eating a lot of fruit in India. I am sad that my favorite, mangos are not in season for another month. All of the fruit is so fresh - bananas picked straight from the trees and baby pineapples that were so sweet with none of the tartness. Annie, this is as good as Brazil! We have been drinking fresh watermelon and papaya juice : )
Cruise of Periyar National Park and Bullock cart ride
On Monday morning, we went for a two hour cruise at Periyar National Park looking for wildlife. The park is 700 square kms and there are only 45 tigers. We didn’t see any tigers but we did see an elephant, a lot of birds, deer, buffalo and wild boar.
In the afternoon, we had a bullock cart ride through a scenic village. On the way there, we drove through a wooded windy mountain road where we saw monkeys at the side of the road just hanging out.
For the second time on our trip, we felt very special. We were met by a driver, a guide and an assistant. This was a really fun part of our trip because we had a chance to hang out with these really nice people who were so happy to point out and explain all of the vegetation and animals we were seeing. We learned a lot and had a really nice time.
Cochin
It was a 4 ½ hour drive back to Cochin through windy, bumpy roads. I was happy when we finally arrived! We had a chance to rest and then went to a cooking lesson with Nimmy a famous Kerala chef. Again, we were lucky enough to have a private cooking lesson and have a chance to chat with Nimmy and her husband Paul. Nimmy showed us how to cook onion bhajis (Kara, I know this is one of your favorites) and lamb curry (really tender and mild in flavor). They were both delicious. Southern India cuisine is a bit lighter and they use coconut milk.
That evening, we went to see a Kathakali dance. Part of the fun is to watch the dancers put on their make-up. The traditional dance involves a lot of facial expressions and was interesting to see.
Kerela is unique because they democratically elected a Communist government. There are communist party flags and signs everywhere. From what we have seen and understand, the government is more of a Socialist government than Communist. Kerela is the wealthiest state in India and many different religions live here in harmony. It was really nice to see.
Yesterday morning, we did some site seeing around Cochin with a guide as well as our driver. The guide made our site seeing all the more interesting as she explained everything. We saw a church that started off Catholic by the Portuguese, the Dutch made it Protestant and the English made it Anglican and now it’s South Indian Anglican. It was a very simple church but it is significant because it was the first Christian church in India.
We went to the harbour where we saw Chinese fishing nets. Young gave it a try and claimed that it was a lot of work for 2 small fish!
We then went to a Jewish Synagogue. There used to be a Jewish population of around 3000 here but now there are only 13. What is significant is that the Jewish Synagogue is built on land given to them by the Indian royalty. It is right beside the Royal Palace and the Indian temple. The Jewish settlers played an important role in helping to export spices to Europe and North America. Previously, the spices were sold to the Chinese who then sold it to the Europeans and North Americans. The floor of the Synagogue is tiled with beautiful hand painted Chinese tiles and there are chandeliers of Italian glass.
Our final stop in Cochin was to visit the Royal Palace. We have been told that it is modest by standards in Northern India. There were beautiful murals painted on the walls of Indian mythology which I find fascinating.
One more thing, since I made a big deal of shopping in my earlier blog written in Mumbai, I thought I’d provide an update. We have found that if you want to buy the “best” of anything in India, it is the same as buying the best from North America or Europe – very expensive. We were shown Pashmina scarves that cost over $300 and beautiful silk rugs (medium size) for $5000. Ann Marie, we have not purchased a silk rug (if we do, you can be assured that we will not be purchasing the “best” quality) and Eric, Young is still holding firmly onto his thrifty husband torch. $5000 is a whole new adventure somewhere for us – maybe Southeast Asia or Africa. Amber and Min, I did buy a couple of Kurtees and am looking for more. I think they will be great to wear in Austin!
I am caught up! It is Thursday Feb 7 at 7am and we are going to be doing some site seeing around Udaiper today.
Doh! I just called down to reception and the Internet is down because of the cables that got cut under the sea. Here’s hoping that I can get this posted soon. : )
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)