Actually India!
A year ago we were persuaded to get to India So one day whilst surfing the web I spotted some really cheap tickets and while Georgie went off to Town to do the groceries I booked our flights.
1st May we set off to India, after we’d spent 4 days walking in the Kruger National Park. We did the Sweni route, but that story is for another day. Never a dull moment you might say, but believe me it was nerve wrecking to get everything organised, work commitments sorted etc.
To do an Indian odyssey is not for the uninformed or faint hearted. We did a lot of research, studiously watched the Travel Channel and read everything anyone has written about India. Advice and suggestions from friends was religiously followed. Google, Trip Advisor, Hotels.com, the official Indian Railway site these became my best friends... nothing happened in India without us knowing about it. We ate, slept, cooked and dreamt India. We saw to it that we were injected, vaccinated, doped and prescript for every disease known to mankind. That I might get arrested for drug trafficking did cross my mind.
The first stop on our Grand Tour was Mauritius; we landed a very nice overnight stay at the Movenpick Resort at the expense of Air Mauritius who’d botched our flights. Spent a very enjoyable morning photographing the area and then had the pleasure of meeting the family, George’s long lost cousin who lives in Mauritius. Always nice to catch up with family and the two regaled us with family histories and anecdotes, caught up with family news and called back the past, the Mc Gregor's are raconteurs of note so time flew and before we knew it we were back on the plane off to Mumbai.
Our landing in Mumbai was “soft” and my first impression was from the back seat of a very grand chauffeur driven Mercedes, someone noted “probably the only E class in Mumbai,” we stayed in the incredibly luxurious Oberoi Hotel a stone’s throw from the Gateway of India and all the other famous landmarks. Our first day was spent exploring as much of the old city as we could on the hoof as we thought that would get us acclimatised quickly! This would be our first encounter with the hooters, every moving vehicle has a hooter or bell and they’re all hooting, honking or tringing.
The traffic is hectic, lanes of cars, taxi’s, horses, donkeys, one elephant, cattle, rickshaws, auto rickshaws, bicycles, buses, mini buses, pedestrians and camels are all trying to get to their respective destinations as fast as possible using the shortest routes, there are no traffic rules but, everyone has the utmost respect for everything that moves on those roads. Even George and I managed to cross highways and bi-ways. Not once did we hear any swearing, shouting, finger pointing or road rage, it was INCREDIBLE. Vehicles have stickers or are painted with the words “Hoot please” on the back!
We also got ourselves kitted out with new 3G SIM cards and Indian telephone numbers, the salesperson thought he’d struck gold and I think sold us the top of the range option. Service was quick and efficient. We stopped off at Leopold’s Cafe, thought we’d have an ice cold beer there only to be told that it was a “dry” day in India... no booze sold or served, that was a shock but we settled for a coldish Coke as the temperatures were soaring in the high 30’s.
Being Saffa’s we thought we’d get around this minor stumbling block and that evening we took a Coke bottle filled with BC wine to supper at a highly recommended restaurant The Khyber. After we’d sipped our Cokes and the waiter wasn’t watching we surreptitiously poured ourselves a glass of red.... not too long afterwards the maître d'hôtel approached our table and very politely and professionally enquired whether there was any alcohol being consumed at the table, “of course” we piped up and like school children were reprimanded and told that we could finish the contents of our glasses but we weren’t permitted to drink any more alcohol as they could lose their licence if the police raided the establishment. We were well chided and behaved ourselves for the rest of the evening.
On our second day we went on a guided tour of Mumbai, we hired the services of a delightful young man called Pranav, who hired a vehicle and driver, he took us to all the attractions, we did the flower market, we saw the laundry wallahs, the thieves market (Chor bazaar), had a street lunch, went to Ghandi’s house, Victoria Terminus, the spectacular train station, botanical gardens, a Hindu temple where we met a monk from Durban who’d worked for Investec bank until a year ago! He was as thrilled to meet us as we were to meet him.
Pranav’s knowledge of the South African cricketers is phenomenal and his hero’s are all S.A’s he made it very clear that cricket is a religion in India and every Indian worth his salt is a believer! After our street lunch we walked through a huge park and the Mumbai Cricket club, there were at least 30 games in various stages on the go, everyone very formally kitted out in cricket whites! This seems to go on every day of the week. We also passed a very Colonial looking Gentleman’s Club, reminded me of Kelvin Grove, Pranav said there used to be a sign up saying “No dogs or Indians allowed”! Lunch was still being served but the gentlemen have changed.
Security is a priority at many of the better hotels and every car or taxi is searched, guests are searched and handbags and luggage is checked, we were very impressed as we were never overlooked although we entered and left our hotel so often..
We saw the Dabbawallahs too! These are men who pick up freshly cooked meals from homes all over the city and deliver them to the right offices. The meals are packed in Tiffin boxes which are labelled with the name of the recipient! Fascinating, I believe over 200 000 Tiffin boxes are delivered daily and only very rarely are mistakes made!
We enjoyed many lovely meals all around the city and made a special effort to visit the Grand Dame of Mumbai the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, but only had a cool drink there! We couldn’t stay for High tea as we’d made a reservation at the Oberoi’s Michelin Star restaurant that evening.
The Oberoi was amazing. See blog post about the Oberoi.
Our last meeting in Mumbai was with Anil Singh, who kindly organised our chauffeur from the airport and again to the railway station. He was appalled to hear about our forthcoming train journey
Astrologers said the stars were aligned during the first week of our trip so everyone was getting married as the dates would be lucky, the first Monday was particularly good and we saw evidence thereof. Weddings are, as you can imagine huge events, with guest lists in the thousands! Arranged marriages are still the norm although “love” marriages are coming into vogue, although statistics aren’t good and they’re not recommended. We saw a number of silvered, bejewelled and ornately decorated horse drawn carriages, ghetto blasters on wheels, marching bands and torches (huge electrified candelabras),all used in the street parades. Dowries are mainly paid in gold and silver and there are numerous Goldsmiths plying their trade during this season.
As you can imagine we were a trifle anxious about our arrival at Udaipur station, here we had to meet our driver and car, our driver was Rajesh Kumar Meena. See blog post Driver and Car in India.
Udaipur is the city of lakes and marble palaces; it’s really beautiful with narrow cobble stone lanes and streets. We stayed in a lovely Haveli right on the water’s edge, and I could just imagine Venice with its bridges, boats, canals. On our first evening there we had a scrumptious dinner at one of the fine restaurants and met big game hunters from Gaborone in Botswana. Bok heard us speaking Afrikaans and just had to introduce himself. A lovely couple who had us in stitches, regaling us with their amusing travel stories, they’d been to the village where the movie “The Exotic Marigold Hotel” was filmed. Bok and I are firm Facebook friends now (got to love FB)!
From Jaipur we doubled back to Jodhpur (the home of the famous Jodhpur trouser). Shortly after we arrived in India an Indian Journalist was executed (murdered) in Pakistan this made huge headlines across India and many Indians were very emotional about this, he even had a state funeral, we soon realised that Pakistan is the sworn enemy of India and they’re hated with a passion, hard to believe when one thinks of these calm, friendly, patient, tolerant people, just goes to show “there is a limit you know!” Jodhpur being very close to the border has a strong military presence and security is always on high alert. It is a beautiful Indigo blue city, many of the houses and buildings are painted in this beautiful blue as it’s believed to be a mosquito repellent, I think our beach cottage is going to be that colour when we next paint it, so watch out Buurman (Neighbour) if you’re inundated by the little buggers.
Rajasthan was hot and because of these extreme weather conditions the streets are packed with carts selling all sorts of cool drinks and juices, we loved the salty lemonade, the gorgeous rich creamy Mango Lassi’s and Precious enjoyed the Chai teas, I loved Coke in a small bottle, we had to give up our morning coffees as they’re really awful! Many shop owners, Haveli’s and Hotels would offer us cool drinks on arrival, this was really special and so thoughtful, and of course one spends more once you’ve been plied with lemonade! We only drank bottled water and I made sure to check the bottom of each bottle for the tell tale plug, which means it’s a recycled bottle with tap water! Before I forget we enjoyed gorgeous Moët at the Oberoi (we received a voucher when we made our dinner reservation! Cheap skates, which we are!) When we were able to order a bottle of red we always opted for the Indian wines, grown and made just north of Mumbai, very enjoyable indeed. Beer is readily available and King Fisher beer is a thirst quencher and reasonably cheap.
Precious and I often wondered how the government procures it’s taxes as most of the trading is informal and paid in cash, and I can’t imagine much bookkeeping takes place, but, we didn’t have to wonder for too long as we discovered the tourists and patrons of the Hotels, restaurants, formal computerised businesses like the Indian Railways and Airways must carry the brunt thereof and the taxes are enormous, we would add-on at least 30-40% to our restaurant bills for sales tax, government tax, liquor tax, service tax and a myriad of other taxes.
Ranthambore National Park was our next real destination but en-route we persuaded Rajesh to stop over in Bundi, he was not at all keen as the roads are a nightmare he said, he just didn’t realise he had a Honey badger in the car who, as you well know takes no nonsense, let’s face it we thought what could be worse we’ve done traffic in Mumbai and on the country roads and we’ve done Mozambique and it’s only 120km, it was pretty rough but seeing as Rudyard Kipling lived there we had to see it too, it’s also believed to be very Hippy’ish, chilled-out and relaxed village, rumour has it that the smoking of cannabis is legal there and EVERYONE does it. We didn’t smell it or see it, no one offered us a doobie, no one looked remotely stoned or like a drug dealer, so much for Precious’s pipe dream!
In Ranthambhore village my Precious decided to employ the services of a tailor to make some shorts, after a lot of haggling and bargaining he finally did the necessary and hopefully awaited said trousers. Nothing really worked according to plan, the tailor had a long story, the pants were late, had to be altered and ultimately they weren’t really up to scratch. Disappointment looms as their fate is determined.
We returned to Jaipur for 2 nights before our trip to Agra to see the cottage my beloved wanted me to view. Jaipur is the jewellery capital so off we went to see what’s on offer, we ended up buying a few trinkets, I looked at my bank statement this morning and almost choked, so if you see me with some Indian silver know it’s antique! I was reminded of the advertising board I saw which read “Jay Shree Krishna Pearls – ARTIFICAL jewellery and Silver Jewellery”!
Shopping in India is a battle of the wits and mind; there are so many stalls, shops and markets. Sellers, shopkeepers and traders are a dime a dozen and shopping is a National pastime which has to be entered into with caution, time, patience and lots of knowledge, which we didn’t have, so we really did very little shopping, bargaining is a nightmare for one, the shops are overcrowded, the goods on offer overwhelming and of course the being ripped off was our biggest fear! All our worst nightmares would be realised if our credit cards were scammed for instance! My biggest fear of course is shopping with a husband!
Not all our accommodations were pre-booked so very often we’d have to research our new destination a day or two before our arrival, we relied on the internet quite a bit so having Wi-Fi was crucial and one of the two things we insisted on when making a reservation, the other of course was air conditioning or AC as it’s known in India. On one or two occasions the AC failed to deliver and we spent one sleepless night with a fan from hell, we were upgraded the next day. On the whole Wi-Fi was available often complimentary and when we had to pay really reasonable.
Trip Advisor is a favourite website with most establishments, guides and drivers and most encourage visitors to write comments and leader board ratings are highly regarded and enviously guarded. Because copyright is not beeg in India and they totally disregard all copyright laws there’s a huge amount of identity theft and many business websites are abandoned due to this problem, so one’s never sure whether the websites are dodgy or legit. We stayed mostly in Haveli’s and some former palaces but towards the latter part of our journey we opted for the modern Hotels with all the amenities, the beds more comfortable and the bathrooms modern. Talking of which I was really impressed by the “facilities”, for hygienic reasons every lavatory has a hand shower attachment, (instead of a bidet) these are really great.
Everyone asks us whether India is as dirty and smelly as they’ve heard... YES YES YES it is. It’s everything you’ve ever heard and more, but Precious and I made a decision before we left that we weren’t going to“see” that, that we’d have a positive attitude, because India is all about attitude, and I must truly say I was never shocked, until I tried to get rid of our rubbish on the Agra-Delhi train and I asked a boy to move away from the bin so that I could use it. Without missing a beat he opened the carriage door and indicated that I should just toss it out onto the railway lines, this while we were in the station! I said that was impossible and eventually he moved and I could squash it into the rubbish bin only to land on the rails anyway.
We only spent one night in Agra, we saw the Taj at sunset twice and sunrise once, perfect for photography. It’s a beautiful landmark and worth seeing. Precious and I did the Princess Diane pose on the bench! Rajesh dropped us at the railway station after supper and we said goodbye to him.
Varanasi is frenetic and overcrowded, we decided to hire porters to help with our luggage, imagine all your earthly possessions on someone’s head and they’re off ahead of you. We needed two auto rickshaws to get us as near to our Guesthouse as possible, the streets are so narrow there that some of the streets near the Ganges are closed to all vehicles and can only be done on foot. We were tired, hot, bothered, irritated and generally travel weary (gatvol). Precious was not keen on Varanasi to begin with as this is the holiest of holy cities in India, the oldest city in the world and cremations are done publicly on the riverbank, we’ve heard stories of bodies floating down the river too, ones that weren’t weighed down properly
So, you can imagine the mood amongst the ranks as we negotiated these narrow lanes at temperatures of 46˚C! My heart almost stopped when we arrived at the hotel and I walked into the “lobby” it looked like a dump; we were simply too tired to complain and headed off to the “presidents room” with the promise of an AC in double quick time. We had a balcony overlooking the Ganges so I had to have a look. One look at that sight and my weariness was a thing of the past, it was magnificent! The beer served was ice cold and delicious and soon we were right as rain, we stayed in and enjoyed supper on our stoep with 2 youngsters one Parisian the other German. Delightful men who entertained us and shared our wine, although I doubt whether it lived up to their sophisticated European palates!
At dawn we were paddled up and down the river which was an amazing experience, colourful, intense and exciting. Not only is it a burial site but it’s truly the river of life, it’s used for fishing, bathing, swimming, drinking, laundry, cremations and burials so from the cradle to the grave this river forms part of a Hindu life and of course it’s fundamental in their spiritual life too. To us it was mind boggling and awesome to see someone use it as a place of worship one minute then a bathroom and then they’d happily drink from it too! We bought two candles encircled by marigolds in a tinfoil pie case, lit them and floated them down the river in remembrance of all our children, grandchildren, family, friends, loved ones with us and those not with us anymore... so a memory of you goes down the Ganges too!
We wandered around Varanasi after the boat ride and got hopelessly lost, we enjoyed a lovely Lassi in a tiny crowded Lassi shop and had a Guru guide us home, who zigzagged us through a maze of alleys to be repeated later on with our luggage on the heads of the sherpers, then auto rickshaw and back to the station to our 1st class compartment to Delhi. see Travelling by Rail in India
Disastrous Delhi was our final destination, Mr “ I do no shopping” planned this leg of the trip for the sole purpose of buying pirate copies of Photoshop CS6, he’d Googled everything so it was just a matter of getting on the tube and voila we’d go to this building and buy it. Easier said than done, the building is a warren of tiny shops, selling anything relating to IT. It was very hot; Light of my Life was starting to feel queasy so the search was short and finally abandoned. We did see Connaught Place; we had a super lunch at the Mount Nelson of Delhi, ventured onto the Tube, which is very efficient. We even hired a cycle rickshaw one evening, this emaciated elderly man had to really push himself; you know we aren’t lightweights; this was an experience not to be repeated. The distance travelled was probably 5km and he charged us next to nothing. We visited the Museum of Modern Art and had iced coffee at the Starbucks.
George’s health deteriorated on the second day, temperatures of 48˚C were reported, we really pushed ourselves to see as much as possible and it took its toll. Supper at Bukhara that evening was a solemn affair; I was the only one eating! Security around the Diplomatic Colony had been stepped up, we heard the Chinese Prime minister was visiting Delhi and the cricketers were staying in the Hotel. At the same time we heard that 3 of the Rajasthan Royals players had been arrested for match fixing and were in gaol, our team! So my poor precious got the dreaded Delhi Belly, which meant our supplies of medicine came to good use, but we also had to stock up as nothing helped, pharmacies are very good and the prices incredibly reasonable, we are being ripped off in this country. We flew to Mumbai for our connecting flight back to South Africa, opted for a hotel near the airport which was comfortable. Of course by now I was completely confused about flights and planes and trains so not surprisingly we arrived at the airport 5hrs early, which paid off in the end as we were upgraded to Business Class and we spent a very enjoyable morning relaxing in the Executive suite. For someone who’s mostly fashionably late this was really great and I think I’ll be making an extra effort to be early in future.
India is an assault on all one’s senses and the cacophony of sounds, smells, sights leaves one reeling but this is why we loved India, we loved the people, it’s eclectic customs, religions and traditions is contrary to everything we were brought up to believe, every destination lived up to and exceeded our expectations, each place had a unique charm. Would we return to India? Yes, but not to the places we’ve visited, I think I’d like to see the mountains, stay on a houseboat and do the Darjeeling Express. But, this will have to wait, our boat will have to come sailing into Cape Town harbour first, and I think Precious has a yen for the real bush before that happens.
As we came in to land at Cape Town International airport I was fortunate enough to have a window seat and my first sighting was of neat, orderly, clean housing estates, cheerful, proper squatter camps, can you believe that? Blue African skies, order, traffic laws and no hooters, it was good to be back, believe me it’s still the best place to be! The first meal would be a RARE 300g Sirloin steak for old Carnivore George!
As you can imagine we both took thousands of photo’s these are slowly being worked through and eventually when I’m done I’d really like to make up a book of our favourite photographs, not just happy snaps but one’s that pull at our heartstrings. Once Precious has fully recovered from his bug he’ll be practising that intriguing neck dance we so often saw and puzzled over, it’s fascinating, reminds me of the cobra being charmed!
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