Agra to Jaipur 25th January

Agra to Jaipur 25^th January

A few people on our tour have been experiencing ‘tummy problems’ and one poor lady was so ill she had to have 2 injections and was too ill to travel to Jaipur today.

After breakfast, we travelled by road to Fatepur Sikri, a perfectly preserved sandstone city, this was built from scratch and then abandoned in the 16^th century, not long after it was built.  Watch out Milton Keynes!  After that we carried on to Bharatpur and had an open air lunch at The Bagh hotel.  The road which led to the hotel was little more than a dirt track with the worst pot holes we’ve ever seen.  After lunch we continued our journey and after an hour stopped for a comfort break.  At this point the dirt track road extracted its revenge.  Our coach had a punctured rear tyre which the driver had to change.  Most of the men on the trip stood round offering advice to the driver on how best to change the wheel!

We eventually set off to complete our journey to Jaipur and arrived at the Fairmont Hotel to a Maharaja & Maharani welcome, complete with an escort of 2 uniformed riders on white horses, 2 trumpeters, a gong and 2 concubines casting rose petals at our feet! 

The Fairmont is a new & very sumptuously decorated (over the top) hotel where no expense has been spared. However it was a pity that the service standards and detail didn’t stand up to the same scrutiny.  A forty five minute wait for lunch after ordering was considered a result and the dining room was so cold that you needed a fleece, while the outside temperature was in the 80s.  The water in the room was connected the wrong way round so that you got hot out of the cold tap.  But hey ho it all makes for a good story.

 

 

January 24th Delhi to Agra

January 24^th Delhi to Agra

A very early start today 4am!  Caught the 06.00 train to Agra and arrived on time at 08.05.  Delhi station wasn’t as manic as the previous Saturday but there were still a lot of people milling around even at that time.  Agra itself is not much to write home about.  We had high hopes of the Taj Gateway hotel but it was pretty average & a little tired, although the service was good.  We had a good breakfast there before starting our tour of the Red Fort.

The real problem with the hotel however was the shops in the hotel.  Now you would have thought that in a five star hotel you would have been able to browse the on-site shops as you wanted, but no, the shop keepers stood outside each one as if in a bazaar and harassed you all the time.  As a result we didn’t go in and didn’t buy anything.   In Agra we christened the street hawkers etc. as vations.   Agravations.  

The Red Fort was quite amazing and in the time we have here we could not hope to describe all the sites and views that it provides.  It was really a city on its own for the court of the 2^nd Murghal Emperor.

It was back to the hotel to check in and have lunch and then at 3pm we boarded our coach for a visit to the Taj Mahal.  Nothing you have read or seen regarding the Taj can prepare you for the reality, it is simply an awe inspiring sight.  However this was its quiet period and it was still manic.  When you go to look round the interior you get pushed around by the attendants who are inconsiderate beyond belief!  Nevertheless one of the greatest sights we have ever seen.

The traffic in and around Agra was a nightmare and we didn’t get back until 6.30pm, just enough time to get ready for dinner at 7.30pm.   Everyone was absolutely exhausted and we were looking forward to our bed.

 

23rd Jan Tour of Delhi – It was closed!

23^rd Jan Tour of Delhi – It was closed!

After making a good start from the hotel, it was discovered that due to rehearsals for Republic Day, the centres of both New & Old Delhi were sealed off.  The coach took us round and round for 2.5 hours before it eventually found somewhere for us to visit.  This was Humayun’s, the second Mughal Emperor’s tomb, a magnificent building constructed in the 16^th Century.  From there we went on to a Kashmiri craft store to see carpets and have a ‘free’ lunch.  At least there was beer!  Carol bought a shawl and we exercised restraint and didn’t buy a carpet.

 

The afternoon was more successful and we visited the Friday Jama Masjid Mosque, the largest in India.  It’s square can hold 20,000 people at prayer.  Following this, and the highlight of the day, was a rickshaw ride through the alleys of Old Delhi.  Total chaos.  People everywhere, shops selling everything from wedding saris to second hand car engines.  The rickshaws just plough through it all while tuc tucs and motorcycles continually try to force their way past while leaning on the horn.  The streets are about a quarter of the width of a UK street and as busy as Oxford St on the Saturday before Christmas! 

We ran over a little girl.  She stepped out in front of the rickshaw, it was quite a nasty impact but her father just picked her up, we didn’t even stop.  No blame culture here.  Our driver seemed quite ancient with a long white beard, Carol felt sorry for him.

From here we picked our way out of Old Delhi and made a final stop at a Ghat where Gandhi was cremated, now a memorial to him.   We returned to the hotel, driving past the India Gate, Parliament and the Presidential Palace.  Back at the hotel we had an early dinner and an early night to prepare for our 4am call and journey to Agra.

Shimla 21st & 22nd Jan

Shimla 21^st & 22^nd Jan

Today was a free day so we took things easy and simply walked up from the hotel into Shimla with the intention of visiting the Gaiety Theatre, it was closed.  However we did visit the church, despite it being Anglican, it was expected that we should take our shoes off as they do this for all places of worship.  From there we went to Scandal Point to look at the Himalayas and watched people taking horse rides up and down the square, just like donkey rides at Blackpool.

 From there we made our way back to the hotel carefully as it was still quite icy with plenty of snow on the ground.  The conditions did not however deter the monkeys, one of whom, having seen a mother buying her daughter an ice cream, leapt in front of them and snatched the cornet out of the child’s hand, obviously something it had done many times before.  Another monkey was reported as having come into one of our party’s open bedroom window and when she returned, she found it sitting in the bedroom eating her oranges! 

Before arriving back at the hotel, John bought half a bottle of whiskey for less than the price of a beer in the Delhi hotel.   

The next day we rejoined the Toy Train and given that 24 of our group had decided to travel back by car, we had plenty of space in the carriage which made the journey far more pleasant and comfortable.  The group met up again in Kalka and we returned to Delhi and the land of the £8 a bottle of beer!

 

Shimla 20th January 2013

We left to visit the Vice Regal Lodge at 10.00am and arrived to find we had a 300 yard walk up a hill to the entrance.  This would not normally have been a problem; however it was 300 yards of compacted snow and ice.  We and most of our travelling companions, having been told to travel light, had unsuitable footwear, which made it a bloody nightmare! However the lodge was very impressive with stunning views of the surrounding mountains.  As it is now a working college, there are few rooms open to the public however the interior was impressive none the less.  Following a slippery descent with our feet getting wetter and wetter, we boarded cars to take us to the Sankat Monchat temple. 

We passed on the opportunity to go inside the temple as this would have required us to remove our shoes and socks and walk barefoot in the snow.  Sno- way!  From there it was another car journey along slippery roads in very heavy traffic, how the vehicles found room to pass is a mystery known only to the skilled Indian drivers, they are amazing.  On disembarking from the cars to find a lift to take us from the lower to the upper town, we had to cross an area of sheet ice crowded with people and cars, it was a miracle we didn’t fall.  At the upper level, despite having been told the roads would have been cleared, they were just as treacherous and we slid our way to a late lunch at the Oberoi Clarkes hotel.

Given the state of the roads and our feet, we decided to return to the hotel after lunch by taxi rather than risk the late afternoon walking tour.  Hurray they have fixed the heating so we should get a good night’s sleep!  Hopefully our shoes will have dried out by tomorrow!

 

Delhi to Shimla 19th January 2013

Arose at 5am and were taken to Delhi station, total chaos!!  Thousands of people, some sleeping on the platform, others cooking their breakfast and the rest seemingly milling about while coolies wove their way between them with luggage on their heads.   In addition there were dogs scavenging between the railtracks which would be enough to paralyse the rail network in the UK, whilst outside there were ox carts, rickshaws, all vying with trucks, taxis, delivery vans etc for space, it was a real spectacle. 

We boarded the Shatabati Express carrying our large breakfast boxes emblazoned with the Taj Palace Hotel’s logo, no conspicuous show of wealth there then, and took our seats for the 4.5 hour journey to Kalka.  Unfortunately for half the journey there was thick mist so besides regular glimpses of slums, there was not much to see.  No sooner had we started our journey, than the tea wallahs came round with tea & coffee, red Bakelite cups and matching thermos flasks of hot water served with Marie biscuits.  They then served the complimentary breakfast which we had been advised to avoid, but which looked & smelt far more appetizing than the contents of our breakfast boxes!

The mist finally cleared and we were able to watch the North Indian farmland and villages pass by with sadly more slums.  The wealth gap was really brought home to us even as we started our travels through India.  Unfortunately the train was 1.5 hours late arriving in Kalka but luckily? the Toy Train had waited for us.  Picked up another big box containing our packed lunch which not only was less inspiring than the breakfast but was so large, it would hardly fit into the available storage spaces on the Toy Train.  How to describe the Toy Train?  Well it is small, VERY small and incredibly uncomfortable, the bench seats are plastic covered and barely big enough for 2 little uns with upright backs so you can never get comfortable.  The windows which were open for most of the journey until it got too cold, did not actually close properly and therefore did not keep out the cold.   But at least the journey was only 5.5 hours long!!  This was counteracted however by stunning scenery as we travelled up into the mid Himalayas to Shimla.  

We arrived in Shimla after dark where the night before, depending on which report you read, they had had between 5” and 5’ of snow.  Looking at some of the cars, it was about a foot.  Fortunately the Oberoi Cecil Hotel was close to the station and we were greeted with cups of hot chocolate and hot towels, Carol felt very emotional, so did John when he found out that the beer was only £4 a pint!  Beautiful hotel, lovely room but sadly the heating was on the blink so the room never got above 17 degrees all night.  It had been quite a day!  

We are hoping to post some pictures however having problems attaching them to the blog for some reason, will keep trying.

Delhi 18th January 2013

We awoke to find Delhi hit with a major thunderstorm and very heavy rain.  John had curry for breakfast and now feels like a proper student.  After checking out, we were met by a driver and a representative of Great Rail Journey’s agent in Delhi who accompanied us on our transfer to the Taj Palace.  The journey was undertaken through some of the heaviest rains we have ever seen which made the weaving traffic even more exciting.  The poverty that exists is clearly visible from the main roads, with tent encampments along the verges.  While the rain seemed to have deterred the cyclists, it certainly didn’t deter the tuk-tuk drivers who were still able to judge gaps in the traffic down to the last millimetre.

We had been impressed by the Sheraton Hotel but the Taj Palace is something else altogether, John is dismayed to find that a beer will cost him £8.00!   He has the shakes already!  Thank God for Happy Hour!  Our room is stunning with views across wooded parkland; the bathroom is slightly disconcerting being a glass box, it would satisfy many fetishes, although thankfully we discovered the electrically controlled blinds!   Security at all the hotels is very thorough, all cars approaching are searched, bonnets lifted and all luggage goes through airport style screening.  Many of the larger shops expect you to show your receipt for any purchases before leaving, (just like Costco).

Our meal this evening, part of our package, was a Vietnamese tasting menu comprising of about 6 small dishes served in compartments in a wooden box.  Unfortunately they didn’t tell us what they were, however they were fantastic.  And so to bed ready for an early start tomorrow.  

Delhi 17th January 2013

We went to Dakshin last night, a restaurant serving classical food from Southern India.  We had some wonderful food which included some complimentary tastings.  We particularly enjoyed the banana dosas and the paalkatti pattani masala which is cottage cheese and green peas cooked in spices, coconut, poppy seeds and aniseed.  Particularly noteworthy was the Elaneer Payasam for dessert which was like a sweet coconut soup, it was delicious.

Another difficult night as our body clocks have not adjusted so we didn't get to sleep until after 2am.  This meant that we again slept in till 11am!  We decided that the best cure for this was some retail therapy and so we went across the road to the shopping centre.  After breakfast in Costa Coffee, we went to M&S (well you have to don't you)!  M&S however proved not to be such a good idea as their credit card machine managed to block John's credit card.  Santander, helpful as usual suggested that the only way to unblock it was to return to the UK!  Who says banks aren't helpful!  Luckily other credit cards are available.

After lunch we took a taxi to Qutub Minar, a murghal 11th century historical site and burial place with a fantastic tower and extensive ruins.  The journey there and back by taxi was interesting and took in the sights and sounds of everyday indian life.  The traffic here is quite horrendous and progress is made by the driver leaning on the horn and diving into any space he sees, whether it gets him nearer to the front or not.  It all seems like a game.  The air pollution is very bad and you can taste it.  Airplanes taking off from the nearby airport simply appear as ghostly shapes.

We're hoping for a better nights sleep tonight and an easy transfer to the Taj Palace Hotel tomorrow.






   

     

Delhi 16th January 2013

After an uneventful flight, we arrived at the Sheraton in New Delhi at 3am, which meant that we slept through until midday.  Had a good journey in from the airport despite huge numbers of trucks on the road, however this is because trucks are only allowed into the city between 9pm and 6am.  Chilled out in the afternoon by the pool accompanied by the continual honking of horns from the traffic passing the hotel.  I sent John out to discover what the shopping mall Select City next door was like, apparently one of the best in Delhi.  He came back with stories of restrooms, beer cafes and a Hard Rock, not to mention Happy Hour!