Saturday, December 24, 2005
Happy Holidays
Crispy chicken in five spice sauce
Crispy chicken in five spice sauce
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
I stopped for some Chinese food at Connaught Place. The restaurant was filled with upper middle class Indians and no other foreign tourists. The food was okay -- kind of the quality you expect from a Panda Express back home. The vegetables were overcooked into a mush.
Paharganj area of New Delhi
Paharganj area of New Delhi
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
A nasty backpacker ghetto. Yuck. The accommodations mostly stink. The food sucks. But if you want to get cheap trinkets or want to live near the New Delhi Train Station, this is the place to go. I preferred visiting Connaught Place, a upscale shopping area about a kilometer away. Almost no touts bother you there.
On the train to Delhi
On the train to Delhi
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
I still haven't mastered the Indian rail system. I bought my ticket to New Delhi last minute at the train station for an unreserved seat and payed extra to upgrade to a sleeper bunk for the four hour journey there. I supposed there might be a better way to do this, but it probably involves preplanning a time and filling out a form and standing in a long line.
Dried lentil beans in a salsa mix
Dried lentil beans in a salsa mix
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
On trains, people walk around selling random stuff and refreshments like chai or this. Yummy and delicious, this tastes like Mexican food: tomatos, red onions, chilis, and salt, mixed with some limes and dried lentils. Well, maybe except for the dried lentils, it does. Only costs 5 Rs.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Going to Taiwan
Palace balconies
Palace balconies
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
For 260 Rs you can explore the somewhat restored palace grounds of the old capital (built around the 16th century). There are intricate fascades on the red buildings.
City ruins
City ruins
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
It is free to walk around the crumbling ruins as well as the mosque.
Tomb of someone
Tomb of someone
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
The dude (Shah Jahan) who created the Taj Mahal wanted a son and came to this guru in Fatehpur Sikri who predicted that he could get a son. When he did get a son, he built this tomb for him and it has become a site of pilgramage for barren women or those who want sons. So devoted was Shah Jahan that he moved the capital of the Mughal empire here. Now all that remains are ruins and the palace. And daytrippers from Agra 40 km away and hordes of touts.
Jama Masjid
Jama Masjid
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
A Grand Mosque at Fatehpur Sikri supposedly modelled after the mosque at Mecca. There are lots of touts hounding me around and inside the mosque, which really pissed me off. After trying several tactics, I finally found that completely ignoring them was the most efficient at getting rid of them. The touts really ruin the country of India. They overwhelm you and it is exhausting being confronted every two minutes and being engaged in a conversation that goes like this:
"Hello, yes! You want guide?"
"No, I don't want a guide."
"But, I am not a guide, sir. I am a student/volunteer. I am not selling anything."
"Leave me alone."
"Please, I do not want to sell you anything."
"Piss off...Leave me alone..."
"Where are you going?..."
etc and eventually he falls away only to be replaced by another tout who clearly just saw you get rid of one dude.
Bazaar at Fatehpur Sikri
Bazaar at Fatehpur Sikri
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
After seeing the Taj, I went to pick up my bags from the train station and took a cycle rickshaw to a bus station to go to Fatehpur Sikri, about 40 km from Agra. I wanted to spend the night here instead and visit the old Mughal capital.
Taj Mahal reflection
Taj Mahal reflection
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
The Taj Mahal was built as a mausoleum for Shah Jahan's wife who died in childbirth. Both he and his wife are buried beneath the Taj Mahal. It took over fifty years to build at a cost of about $60 million today. For some reason, this Muslim structure has become the iconic tourist postcard shot for this mostly-Hindu country.
Sunrise in Agra
Sunrise in Agra
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
I arrived in Agra just as the sky was brightening. I was there to get morning photos of the Taj Mahal, but the morning was so foggy with haze and mist that I couldn't see more than a hundred feet away for another hour or so. I left my luggage at the train station (only 10 Rs per piece per day) and took a rickshaw in the freezing cold to see the Taj Mahal.
At the Taj, Indians pay 20 Rs to enter. Foreigners pay a whopping 750 Rs! But for the 750 Rs (about $15) you also get free bootcovers (like in surgery) and a half a Liter bottle of water, so I guess that makes up for it. On the bright side, the cleanest bathroom in India is inside the Taj complex.
Upper bunk on overnight train to Agra
Upper bunk on overnight train to Agra
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
India has the largest rail network in the world (and happens to be the largest employer in the world with over a million employees). Oddly enough, the trains are not in the best condition. I slept in the 2nd class sleeper bunk which didn't come with bedding unlike in Vietnam or China. Theft is such a problem that you are encouraged to chain your belongings to bars or cables and there are armed guards that patrol the cars through the night (with huge automatic rifles). No one tells you when your stop has arrived, so you have to guess. In both Vietnam and China, someone came to wake you up before your stop.
Interestingly, it was on the train that I realized (having some GI distress after that bad meal) that I actually preferred a squatter toilet over a sit toilet because you don't have to strain your quad muscles hovering. I think I came to this conclusion unconsciously at the Yak Hotel in Lhasa when the Tibetans were crapping all over the toilets.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Grilling food
Grilling food
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
Large flat iron skillets used ubiquitously for cooking. I ate at this place before getting on my train to Agra. What a mistake. The food was terrible and I had diarrhea for the next few days.
Delhi and a change in plans
I am looking for a flight back to Taiwan. My grandfather has passed away, and I will be attending the funeral. I expect to return to India from Taiwan.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Night streets
Night streets
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
Vegetable vendors on the ground, man warming himself by a fire, a cow in the middle of the street. This is night life in Varanasi.
Dinner at Dolphin restaurant
Dinner at Dolphin restaurant
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
Finally some great Indian food. I found a relatively expensive restaurant on the top of a hotel. It cost about $10 for two of us -- not bad!
Roaster of stuff
Roaster of stuff
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
I picked out some peanuts, crushed corn, corn flakes, noodles, and rice and he roasted them in sand and salt and sifted it out. Five Rs a bag!
Women performing puja
Women performing puja
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
In contrast to the men, the women don't strip down and keep their beautiful sari dresses on and scrub underneath.
Manikarnika ghat
Manikarnika ghat
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
The main cremation ghat in Varanasi. There are two cremation ghats, one with a modern oven for cremations, and the other is this one with open funeral pyres like at Pashupatinath.
Like at Pashupatinath, cremation and disposing of ashes in the Ganges is a quick trip to Nirvana -- no more reincarnation. Burning is a process of purification. Pure people aren't burned, they're weighed down with bricks and sunk -- and they later float downstream or wash ashore on the eastern banks. Pure people include holy men (sadhus), children, pregnant women (because of the pure fetus), unmarried people (supposedly because they are virginal), and snakebite deaths (because Vishnu appeared as a cobra before). No women are allowed at the cremations which can last three to four hours, because crying can keep the soul from ascending, and to keep them from perform sati, that is, the ritual of jumping on the funeral pyre.
Loads of wood is used for a funeral -- about 200 kgs. Wood costs 5-10 Rs/kg but sandalwood costs about 150 Rs/kg. A very interesting funeral rite.
With these ashes and floaters, people still bath and wash their clothes, and sip the holy water of the Ganges. Awwwwwesome.
Morning boat ride
Morning boat ride
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
I took an early morning boat ride on the Ganges so I could gawk at the morning bathing ritual (puja) that the Hindi perform. It was only 50 Rs/hour, but, as expected, the tout tried to change this half way through the ride.
Kimchi ramen
Kimchi ramen
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
There are loads of Koreans in Varanasi. Why? I don't know. As with the Swedes in Thailand, the Koreans are in Varanasi. Restaurants have loads of Korean food on their menus. As it turns out, most of the food in the tourist quarter is pretty mediocre and the menus are the same. I did opt for some kimchi ramen as everyone else seemed to be ordering it.
Puja Ganga ceremony
Puja Ganga ceremony
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
A nightly event of offering to Mother Ganga, the river.
Cows free to stand in the middle of the street
Cows free to stand in the middle of the street
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
This is a Hindi country, and cows are everywhere. Cow crap is everywhere too. No one bothers the cows.
Dasaswamedh ghat
Dasaswamedh ghat
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
This is the main ghat in Varanasi. There are about 365 ghats, or so I was told, in Varanasi, many built by wealthy Maharajas in front of their palatial estates. Those estates are now subdivided and rented out or in disrepair, giving Varanasi a decaying elegance like that of Venice -- just don't mind the floating bodies in the water.
Tourist area in old city
Tourist area in old city
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
Varanasi is a holy city in India for Hindis as it is on the Ganges and the site for pilgrimages and cremations, like Pashupatinath in Kathmandu -- but on a much larger scale.
The touts are aggressive and the rickshaw drivers are out to rip you off. I had my guard up here.
Sleeping on the train
Sleeping on the train
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
We caught the morning train (0500) to Varanasi. It was pretty cold, and we had unreserved tickets. I couldn't find the unreserved chair car, so I found a spot in the 2nd class sleeper car. Of course, we hadn't paid for these bunks, and we were chased out of the compartment by the ticket agent. Eventually, we were charged extra for sitting there.
Men wrapped themselves in thin blankets to keep the cold out. Even tourists, did the same. The train didn't get to Varanasi until 1100.
Leaving Nepal
Leaving Nepal
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
After a five-hour ride, we reached the border, exchanged Nepalese rupees for Indian ones, and caught a bus to Gorkhapur. We were headed to Varanasi, but we would have to stay overnight in Gorkhapur, a couple hours away.
Morning mist in trees
Morning mist in trees
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
Our last morning in Sauraha, we split from Simon and Annabel, who were heading back to Kathmandu, to catch a flight to Mumbai. We were headed to Sunauli, the border with India.
