Jaipur (2nd part)

One thing I have to say about our guide, he was awesome. He not only knew so much about the city and the fort, he also knew so many people. Not only that, he was incredibly gregarious and charismatic, and he was excellent at watching over us as a group and making sure we stayed together, got water, etc. It was kind of amusing. Maya at one time said something in Spanish, I don't remember to whom, but he then started speaking Spanish to her. They got along fabulously, but as a result, we found out that he is self taught in Spanish and he leads tour for the Spanish tourists. So all the vendors would come up to us and try to speak the few words of Spanish they knew to sell us their wares. Anyways, we really had fun with him during the day-- and his Spanish was better than Maya's.

After Lunch, we went to the Pink City. It was painted pink by one of the Raj's when King (or was it prince) George was coming to visit the city. Prior to that, much of it had been painted yellow/amber as well. It is still beautifully painted. The yellow part above is still the royal quarters.

We mostly visited the Palace. In the palace, there was a museum of textiles, which we could not photograph. It was fairly small, but it was fun to see . They had a few samples of various types of cloth, and then clothing from the royal family through the years. Then we wandered around inside the part of the palace which is open. We saw the famous peacock gate, and the other four entrances. I think the most interesting is the two silver pots which were used by one of the Rajputs when he went to England. He only drank holy water from the Ganges, so he had it taken with him. These guards were all over, and they encouraged photos. This one had a great smile.

After the Palace, we went to a "factory" where they do block printing and weaving. Actually, I think it was more of a showroom with a demonstration area. We did get to see some block printing, and Cindy even got to try it out. They use vegetable based dyes, and the interesting thing is that the dyes go on in one set of colors, but then with the sun over several days, change to other colors, not just fading. They demonstrated this to us by chemically forcing the colors to change more quickly than normal. Conner and Smitty also got stamped. They got a small elephant with the word India underneath.

We ended the day with palm reading at the hotel. It was kind of fun. Supposedly I'll live to be at least 101 and won't have any major accidents in my life.

Jaipur (the first part)

Last weekend Cindy's mom Smitty arrived from home. Now we had 4 kids and Smitty for almost a week. Cindy had planned a trip to Jaipur, Agra (Taj Mahal), and back via Delhi.

We caught a flight from Bangalore to Jaipur via Mumbai. We almost didn't make it because the first leg was delayed, but they got us on another airline and everything went very well. I have to say Jet Airways managed the whole thing very professionally.

We arrived in Jaipur on Sunday night. Monday morning our guide, Shankar, met us. The minibus had already picked us up at the airport, and would stay with us for the whole trip. Anyways, we started off the morning by stopping by the pink palace to take a picture in the morning sun, and then going off to the Amber Fort. We wanted to be there early so that we could take one of the elephant rides up to the fort. They only operate early in the morning, I suppose because of the heat. We got there, and fortunately there was not much of a line to get on the elephants, and they were all lined up in waiting for the trip to the top. We got to go up two at a time, except for Isha who was odd woman out... It was grand getting into the main fort area, but before that, we were accosted by vendors the whole way up, as well as musicians and others who were trying to make a living by getting something from the tourists. The view along the way was grand. When we got to the top, there was this high platform which the elephants approached so we could get off. We really felt like royalty riding up on those grand beasts. Maya and Ari got the most for their money. I think they left first, but were the last to arrive at the top. All of our elephants passed them on the way up.

The fort was built by one of the Rajputs who, as the story goes, was robbed coming through on the major road through the area. He realized that it was likely a rich area as the robbers had an excellent location, so he came back, conquered the town and set up his dynasty there. It was used by the Rajputs from 1037-1728 while Jaipur was the center of their kingdom. The architecture is a combination of Muslim and Hindu architecture. It was fun to take a lot of photos, but our guide had to deal with seven people, carrying 6 cameras (plus 1 on Cindy's phone). So, it was I'm sure a bit of a challenge for him. Here are some examples of the beautiful architecture.
Particularly look at my flickr site for more of the hall of mirrors. It was done so that even when the entrances were covered in winter, if there were oil lamps around the walls and ceiling would fliker with the reflections and it would look like stars in the night. I can imagine it would be beautiful.

Somewhere along the way, there was a group of ladies who got it in their heads that they would dance for us. They did, then Smitty joined in. All of them had a good time. It was fun. We constantly meet people who want us to photograph them, or want to be photographed with us etc. I love this country.

We must have spent a couple of hours at the fort, then we decided it would be good to head back to town, and feed the hungry ones. On the way we saw the floating palace. And we stopped by the local observatory which was set up hundreds of years ago to study the sun and indicate to the astrologers when the zodiac signs were aligned with the sun. There was an interesting sundial which was sloped down on one side, and up on the other. It works year round by allowing the sun to shine on one side during the summer and the other side during the winter. Remember that the sun is North of us here in India during the summer.

After lunch we went to see the palace in town.

Bombings in Bangalore

There were 8 bomb blasts in Bangalore yesterday. One was a few kilometers from my work, the rest were further south. TOI article here
We are all safe at home. Isha departed on time. Ari and Conner had already left early that morning.

Hampi Sunday

Well, I could just say it was more of the same, but it wasn't really. We got a nice early start (9am), picked up the same guide, but had a different driver this day. He didn't speak as much English. We saw too much to catalogue it all. I will say one of the most impressive parts was the Harem, and attached Elephant Stables. The King kept his wife (or wives?) and concubines in the Harem area which was guarded by women. Apparently the women guards' husbands were the elephant keepers for the few special elephants he kept in the royal stables. Apparently he had hundreds or maybe even thousands of elephants. Much of the Harem, and the King's royal quarters, which we also saw, were nothing more than stone foundations. The wood superstructures had been burned during the sacking of the city.

Starting with the Harem area, there is the summer palace. Interestingly enough it specifically has both Hindu and Muslim architecture in it so that it would not be destroyed by members of either faith. It seemed to have worked. The artistry around the doors was still intact in many places, and is really beautiful. The place had a bit if a magical quality to it. I can certainly see how it would have been a lovely place to be--even if you had to be kept away from all the men. I really enjoyed just walking around this area. The grass was nicely maintained, and there were a number of people working while we were there. From here there was easy access to the Elephant stables. They are a long building with spots for the elephant, and then small communicating doors between the stables for the workers to get around. There was also an upstairs / roof which we could not access, but the squirrels seemed to love going up there. We saw several.

After the Elephant Stable area, we went on to the most grand area, in terms of space. There was even a building (now gone) which had a secret chamber under it. We go to go in it. It was cool to see, but stank of bat guano and other stuff. We didn't want to stay down there too long. There was a grand bath area. It was fed by aquaduct, which you can see in the picture. Behind that there was this large elevated area, which was a grand audience hall or something like that. We climbed up the back side, and had a wonderful view. Then we walked down the front. Then we headed out to go to lunch (at the Mango Tree again). On the way to the car, we walked by these huge stone doors which had been propped up on display. They must have been about 10 feet tall, and had some sort of a metal hinge on the bottom. I later heard that there is a temple near Bangalore where there are still doors on like these, but you can no longer visit it because too many people were opening and closing them to hear the sounds they make when moving. In this picture you are looking down from the top at the door.

We had lunch at the Mango Tree again, and on Saturday, Cindy had seen this stone carver who was working near the entrance. She had even bought a piece from him. Sunday she bought 4 little statues / carvings from him.
Then after lunch we went on to one of the most beautiful places. The Queen's bath. It is a structure which had water flowing in from an aquaduct, into a room with a bath in it. The water would get 4-5 feet deep. It had a drain out the bottom where the water was then passed to a sort of small moat around the building from which it could be re-directed to agricultural uses. I love this picture because it shows some of the old india, mixed with the new. After this, we went back, checked out of the hotel, had a light dinner, and took an uneventful train trip back to Bangalore. Altogether a spectacular weekend. I highly recommend anyone coming to this area to make the trip.

Hampi Saturday

Our first day at Hampi. If you haven't been there or seen pictures, you need to understand what the landscape is like first. It is a kind of a magical place. The landscape is of rolling hills, granite boulders everywhere-looking kind of like a giant's marbles game. The hills are topped with rocks, the valleys are green, and there is a beautiful river meandering through the valley. The area is bordered on onside by hills, and the other by the river. This made it a nicely defensible spot when it was established as a kingdom. Today much of the agricultural land is in bananas or sugar cane. The closest town, or maybe really city, is Hospet is 10K away. That is where our hotel was. Hospet has around 400K people, or so we were told. The part we saw was rather unremarkable, other than there is still a lot of agricultural influence. We saw many carts drawn by cows, or similar creatures. There was even a couple of animals which looked like white cows, but they had large pink and green spots all over them. I did ask the driver why, but couldn't really understand his answer other than something about special. I assume they had been recently blessed, or were just decorated like so many other things in India. Many of the cows get decorated, mostly by painting their horns.

Traveling through the area to Hampi, it is obvious that the whole countryside is littered with temples, litterally hundreds or thousands of them, both current and old, both in use and decrepit. At one point I asked why so many. Many of them are all to one god, the king's favorite, Vishnu. But many others are there because of two reasons. One, too many people for one temple to handle. Two, many people would prefer to pray to a different god. So there you have it-a landscape covered in Rocks and Rock Temples.

Anyways. We proceeded from Hospet to Hampi, and along the way we picked up our guide. Unfortunately I don't have his name, but he was excellent. He had been trained by the archeological department and knew all kinds of interesting facts and figures about the places we were going to see. I won't tell about each and every temple we saw, nor all of the statues he described. Suffice it to say that it is an impressive place. You will have to look at the photos to get an idea, but to really appreciate it, you have to go there. It is one of those places which cannot be captured in words or pictures. It demands to be experienced.

We started with Hemakuta Hill and Temples, and then went on to the main temple known as Hampi, or Virupaksha Temple. Following that we saw the active bazaar, which is built where one of the original bazaars was. It is about 1/3 as long as the original one, which is about ½ kilometer long, I think. There we saw a wooden chariot which is used in the Hampi festival each year. It resembles the stone one we saw the next day. The whole area was built up as a Hindu kingdom in response to some Muslim activities further to the north. It was built starting in the 1300s and was finally sacked in late 1500s. Much of what is visible today is broken or damaged during the final invasion. It is a real shame, seeing some of what is still there, one can only imagine how splendorous it was at the time.

After the main temple, we went and had lunch at the Mango Tree Restaurant. This was a lovely place, where you arrive by footpath through the banana plantation. At the entrance you remove your shoes, and then go ‘in’. The actual eating area is on terraces going down towards the river, with stone tables built into them. Mostly people sit facing the river, with a serene and idyllic view. I had to laugh when I think about the signs in the us that ‘shirt and shoes are required’ in eating places, here we had to take our shoes off to get into the restaurant, and it is considered unclean to wear footwear inside…

In the afternoon we went to the mint. This is an area which was surrounded by high stone walls, with watchtowers, and held the valuables. It was also where much of the money was either kept or made. It is really hard to describe adequately. Please look at the pictures. We spent some time in the watchtower, and then wandered around the ruined buildings. We did see pictures taken in the 1800s by an Englishman. In some cases it is amazing to see how overgrown some areas were in that time, and how they’ve been cleaned up by the government since then. There was a major cleaning/excavation in the 1970’s. Several unknown buildings/structures/baths were uncovered which had previously been hidden. They also used some photos to do restoration in some cases. Here you can see part of the entrance to the temple area which has been restored according to the old photograph. You can get an idea of what it all looked like.

All day long we were looking at the amazing carvings on the walls, pillars, doors etc. Here is a small collection of them.

Because of the train ride, we cut Saturday a bit short, and decided to head out early on Sunday to see more. It was the right decision as we were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the hotel. More later.

Catching up with Life

So I promised to write more about Hampi, but I had to tell about this as it just happened. I'll get back to Hampi, with photos in my next post.

Thursday night (actually Friday morning) Ari and Conner arrived. It has been a very busy couple of days. So far (by Sunday) they've spent the first day going around town, seeing Brigade Road and MG road. Then Saturday we took them to the City Market area of Bangalore for some sensory overload. This is a very dense shopping district with many small streets, sections of it are focused on different product areas. For example, there is a several block section devoted to electronics, another to hardware--adjacent to the electronics, another section devoted to saris and women's wear. Ari picked up very nice top there which she wore to a party that night at some friends house in south Bangalore. (Family can see it here) The market was pretty much sensory overload for those not used to Bangalore yet, we only managed a couple of hours there. I have to say it was intense even for me, and even though it wasn't truely crowded, like it gets during the week.

Between going to the market, and going to the party, Conner went out front and was playing ball with some of the local kids, the older ones are part of the construction team next door--they are 16 years old. Manju was playing along too. You can also see Manju talking with Cindy about the directions to the party on Flickr. The younger kids live around the neighborhood, I'm not sure if they are laborer's children or just local kids, but they gleefully joined the group.

Today, we had brunch with the DeVilles at the Taj West End, and tonight everyone except me is getting ready to take off on a road trip for 3 days into Kerala. Non-stop I would say...

Back to Hampi next time

Trip to Hampi

Isha arrived about 2 weeks ago. She has been enjoying the Expat Lifestyle, including visiting 5 star restaurants for brunch, going out to dinner and clubs with other expats, etc. We wanted to make sure she got a feel of the real India as well. So we decided to visit Hampi. Not only would we visit the location of part of the Ramayana, and a beautiful location, but we would get there by typical Indian transportation--Train, specifically the Hampi Express. The train ticket website was not working for Cindy, maybe because the train was already pretty full, so I asked the assistance of someone from work, who has connections at the train station. She was able to get us tickets. It took a few days to get them because of the complications of going through her contact, but we got them. 2nd AC, sleeper. When we got the tickets, only the return had actual seat numbers on the tickets (for 3 of us). The fourth return and all of the outbound were notated as reserved, but no seat number given. I double checked that we actually would get seats, and was assured several times that we would, and we did.... but only after a bit of an adventure.

We were expecting that we would have to sort out where we would be sitting, so we got Manju to take us to the train station early. It wasn't as busy as I was expecting it to be, but I think we came in the side entrance and arrived. We got to the train at 9:45, and it was scheduled to leave at 10:30. We found our names on a sheet of paper posted on the side of our car, but again no seat numbers. We were told to wait for the conductor, who should arrive at 10:15. He did. So, along with about 20 others, we asked him for seats. He then told us that the train was full, and no waitlist seats can be allocated. We didn't have waitlist status (WL) on our tickets, but RAC. So we asked Manju to talk to him. Manju then tells me that we should get in 2nd class (about 3 cars down) and take seats, we can then negotiate with the conductor after the train leaves. So off we went. Manju also suggested how much I should give him in baksheesh to get good seats.

The car we first got on was pretty nice. There were sheets and pillows being distributed to all the berths. Although the berths were 6 to a compartment, with blue vinyl covers, they looked clean if very used. Opposite each berth, there were an additional 2 berths running along the corridor. This is the 2nd AC section. The section we ended up in (2nd Class) is not quite so nice. It is still fairly clean looking, but there are no sheets and pillows. One can definitely smell urine. It was stronger when the car was stationary. I'm not sure if it came from the fact that the toilets open onto the tracks, or if there was just a strong smell in the car. Once the car was moving, with the open windows, the smell went away.

Well we started off, and some people came along at the next stop. They had the seats(well berths really as it is a sleeper) Cindy and I were in, so we had to stand. Cindy got another berth and lay down. I went to go find the conductor. By now it was about 12:00 and he has made it through 1st class, and down into 2nd AC. He told me 'there is a heavy rush' and to have patience. I backed off a bit, and then notice that he was situating someone else in 2nd AC in an empty berth. So I approached again. He showed me 2 berths and told me to get Cindy. The car is very dark by now as most people are already sleeping, so I quietly went back to the 2nd class car to find her.. I sent Cindy and Anna off to take the 2 berths, and took the one Anna was squatting in for myself. Someone was obviously upset, but I told him that the conductor sent us down here to wait, so we would deal with it when he arrives. Then the conductor came and got me out of the bunk and sent me to wait by Cindy. I had to carry Anna's purse, backpack and two suitcases with me, not easy in a dark moving train. I was a bit worried about Isha all alone there, but figured I could go find her later once we sorted out the seating. About 5 mins later she showed up where I was waiting by Cindy. Then the conductor showed up about 10 mins later. He informed me there is no space, 'but he will help me out' (for a fee of course). By this time I was pretty tired and grumpy. All I really wanted to do is get some sleep.

Isha and I followed him to a spot where there is a seat which can be converted to a sleeper. He sat down there, and he wanted something for his efforts. I give him what Manju suggested, and he was not satisfied. I need to add 50% to make him happy. Then he sets it up for Isha, and I expected that I would need to share or something. He told her that she was getting "his spot" which I don't really belive. I figured out later it was a regularly numbered berth. He told me to come with him. So I followed to the next car, which was 1 step up from 2nd AC, I don't know if it is 1st AC or not, but ok, the berths have individual curtains. He walked all the way to the end of the car,pulled back a curtain to one of the berth areas, woke up some lady and asked her something. I couldn't tell what he asked as it was either in Hindi or one of the local languages. I thought it was a bit rude to wake her up, but it was apparent he had a purpose. She replied, and then we walked 1/2 way back down the car. By this point I'm wondering what is going on as I don't see any open berths. He woke up a man sleeping in one of the berths along the corridor, and told him to join the woman (or so I assume, as he scampered off very quickly to where the woman was sleeping). Now I had a berth as well. Our stuff was all with Cindy and Anna, and I didn't dare leave my berth for fear he would give it to someone else. It was by now almost 2am. So I tried to go to sleep, laughing from the absurdity of it all.

In the end, we all got to sleep in our own berths, in an air-conditioned car. This is not necessary at this time of year, but nice as it keeps the mosquitos down. I did get bitten when we were in the non-AC car one time. About 5 am, I woke up as we stopped somewhere along the way. It was getting light. I knew that we don't need to get out till 7 as I had asked the conductor about the arrival time. Unfortunately Cindy and the others didn't know. I guess Cindy tried to call me a couple of times, and sent me SMS messages, but for some reason I didn't have coverage even though she did and we are on the same operator. I later turned off my phone and back on, then it worked. So by the time she did find me, or maybe I found her, I dont' remember, she was a bit irritated. I suspect I was a bit irratable too, having had just a few hours sleep. We figured out where the right stop was, and got off all ok, then we had to find our driver. He was supposed to meet us outside the AC section of the train, but he was by the exit. Unfortunately we followed the main stream of people out of the side exit to the parking lot. We waited a few mins and then he found us, in the mean time we were harrassed by several rickshaw drivers wanting to take us to the Hotel Maligi. I'm afraid I wasn''t too nice to them, but oh well. We got there ok, and checked in. I'll tell more about Hampi in the next post.