D118 -- Feria de Abril

We took a train to Sevilla this morning. I love European train stations; they're like big ornate airplane hangers. The train was nice and fast, and took us past picturesque rolling hills and fields full of olive trees. Upon arrival in Sevilla we hailed a cab to our hotel, the Pensión Alcázar. Definitely nothing swanky, but a great bargain given the fantastic location. It was a couple of blocks away from the main tourist attraction in Sevilla, the Alcázar. The only problem with the hotel was the staff. First of all they were pretty unfriendly. The woman staffing the desk was busy playing what looked like internet backgammon and did not care to be interrupted to give us directions or answer basic questions. The main problem, though, was that all three people hanging out at the desk were chain smokers. The entire entry and 1st floor (2nd floor to us Americans) reeked of smoke. Thank goodness our room was on the 2nd/3rd US floor. Going up those stairs was almost like ascending above the clouds in a plane. Everything got a lot clearer!

In addition to the Alcázar, Sevilla is famous for two events: Semana Santa (Holy Week) and the Feria de Abril. Thanks to Thomas' planning we made it here for the final day of the April Fair - the biggest festival in all of Spain. We headed over there at 2:30, but the staff had given us bad directions so it took us an hour to get there instead of the 30 minutes it should have taken. It was all worth it in the end, though, as the fair was fantastic. It's a full week when people dress in traditional clothing, ride about town in horse-drawn carriages festooned with flowers or on horseback, and get together for drinking and feasting at casetas (tented booths) on the fair grounds. Women and little girls walked around in colorful flamenco dresses, while the men and boys sported the traje corto: tight, high-waisted pants, short jackets, and round-brimmed hats.
















There were fewer males in costume than females – it seems that no matter what country we're in that's always the way with traditional attire. The kids were ADORABLE, and many of them would stop and pose for you if they saw you looking at them. Check out these cuties!

































It was quite hot on the fairground as there was little shade, and we were getting really hungry. We could see food everywhere – most casetas looked like cute little restaurants. But we were surprised to learn that 99% of the 1000 or so tents were private. Some were paid for by individuals, others sponsored by companies. Either way, we were relegated to the hot, dirty, and smelly public tents. I found it annoying that there were clean, nice places to eat all around me but I was not allowed to go in any of them. It started me thinking about discrimination, segregation, and income disparity in the US and around the world. Jeez, I think the social worker in me is getting bored with vacation and is itching to go back to work!

Besides being gross, the public casetas weren't serving anything appetizing so we decided to leave the fair and grab some Italian at a restaurant located in a 12th century Moorish bathhouse. Very cool! After a solid meal we went back to the hotel to take a nap. Thomas got up at 7:30 but I required a bit more beauty sleep so he left to head back to the fair, taking some great pictures along the way. We met up again at the entrance to the fair at 10pm, made a beeline for the nearest Mexican restaurant, and then went back to the fair to see the closing fireworks. All in all it would have been an enjoyable day, but we both ended the night annoyed with each other over trivial things (a lost bar of soap, my extended nap time, Thomas' decision to skip the grand finale of the fireworks, etc.). In hindsight we were both acting like brats, but when you spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with someone for four months straight, they're bound to get on your nerves at some point, even if those four months are spent on a fabulous, round-the-world trip.

-Elva

D117 -- Churros bombon: genius!

After a quick workout at the gym we went to check out the Reina Sofia Museum. It was mostly modern and postmodern Spanish art, which neither of us are crazy about. But Thomas enjoyed the insane Dalí works and I enjoyed the many Picasso paintings. The highlight was definitely Guernica, a mural Picasso painted in response to the bombing (by Germans in league with Franco) of a Basque town during the Spanish Civil War. I often miss the meaning behind paintings, poems, etc., but it was hard to misinterpret the message here – horror, pain, fear.


We left the museum and headed to the train station to get our tickets to Sevilla for tomorrow. We've noticed as we've walked around Madrid that Madrileños of all ages are very fashionable. Take this woman (probably in her late 50s), for example. She's wearing a really cool shirt and matching purse. But are you supposed to be able to see her bra?

We took the metro from the train station to the sister restaurant of the Mexican place we'd eaten at a few days ago. After we got off the metro we had to walk a few blocks through graffiti-covered buildings. Finally a side of Madrid different from the monuments, beautiful buildings, and clean streets! Not that I prefer the graffiti, mind you, but we always like to go beyond the tourist track.

After dinner we discovered churros bombon at Maestro Churro. Churros covered with chocolate - Brilliant! He truly is the “Maestro.” We headed back to the hotel to pack for our trip to Sevilla, then it was off to bed around 3am . We've been staying up late here in Madrid. We like the night life, we like to boogie. Mas or menos.

-Elva

D116 - First paella experience

This afternoon was all about the search for food. A place around the corner from us was advertising a 'paella with ribs' special on their menú del día and Thomas wanted to check it out. We stopped in about 1 but they said the paella wouldn't be ready until 2:45. I couldn't wait that long so we went to find something to tide me over until paella time. We tried the restaurant in Plaza Santa Ana where we'd had a salad the day of our arrival, but their oven wasn't working yet (or something like that - my Spanish is a little rusty so I'm not quite sure). We picked another place on the plaza but quickly got up and left after we saw the prices on their menu. Yikes! Finally we walked to the beautiful Plaza Mayor and I ended up with a mediocre salad. We returned to the original restaurant and waited about 15 minutes until Thomas' long-awaited paella was finally ready. Unfortunately, after all that build up he didn't even like it! I had some tapas – brie & roasted peppers on bread and some kind of ham. I'm not big on ham, but it seems to be quite central to the diet here so I felt I had to give it a shot. Our first Spanish meal turned into a 3-hour saga and would have been quite the let down if not for the sangría, which was wonderful. Nothing like a pitcher of sangría to put a smile back on your face!

We puttered around the rest of the day, took a few pictures of the neighborhood, Thomas did laundry, I took a nap. Yes, I know. The division of labor has been a bit one-sided on this trip, but just wait until we get home...

At about 10:30 in the evening we walked over to Café Central, voted one of the best jazz clubs in the world by some magazine or other. We heard the Walter Malosetti Quartet from Argentina. Hey, we were just there! We ended up sitting next to Walter's wife and got to chit chat with her a bit about the Perito Moreno Glacier. The music was great, and we split some fantastic pasta, too. The only problem was the smoke. We ended up leaving in the middle of the second set because we just couldn't take it. It was barely midnight – way too early to call it a night, so we headed to Chocolatería San Ginés, a place famous for its churros since 1894. Enjoyable, but it was no Maestro Churro!

-Elva

D115 -- CLE & friendly Spaniards

Thomas listened to an on line continuing education course today. Gotta keep up that license to practice – at least one of us needs to start making some money when we get back! I had little desire to learn how to avoid malpractice, so I headed out alone. I ran into an interesting bunch of Spaniards on the street. I was taking pictures of some pretty buildings and the guy in the pink shirt asked me to take a picture of his group.



He even ran across the street to tell me the flash didn't go off. I'm not srue what all that was about, but they were fun. From there I went to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. El Greco, Raphael, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, van Gogh, Kandinsky... you name it they had it. I enjoyed all of the art until I got to the avant guard section. I know, I know, it's art. But a big green square on a brown canvas? Come on!

We had avoided Spanish cuisine for lunch by eating at a Souper Salad-type place called Fresco. We continued the trend by grabbing Mexican for dinner, and then headed back to the theater to see Inside Man. Once Thomas gets a taste of movies he just can't stop!

-Elva

D114 -- Where are the cows?

We ate breakfast at Maestro Churro, a place that's been in business since 1902. We each ordered churros (fried dough) y chocolate, and while the churros were similar to those in Mexico, the hot chocolate was super thick. You could actually rest your spoon on the surface and it wouldn't sink. Really only fit for dipping your churro in, not drinking. It would be like trying to drink a melted Hershey bar. Spanish people really seem to like their pastries and fried goodies. And yet still they seem to have lower rates of obesity than we Americans do...












In the afternoon, I went for a walk in the botanic gardens while Thomas went for a run in Parque del Retiro. Very pretty. Madrid is beautiful, and such a shock after coming from India. I just can't get over how CLEAN it is. There are no farm animals or monkeys in the streets, very little trash, no raw sewage, and my stomach problems have magically disappeared. It's crazy!

We hadn't seen a Hollywood movie in months, so we went to go see Natalie Portman get her head shaved in V for Vendetta. A little over the top, but it hit the spot.

-Elva

D113 -- Touchdown in Madrid

We arrived into London around 7 a.m. and then caught a 10 a.m. flight to Madrid. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Madrid we ended up waiting two hours for our luggage, and one of our pieces never showed up. It's a 4 foot long bamboo pole for a fabric wall hanging we bought in Vietnam. We figured it was just a matter of time before we lost it. We had already left it behind at one hotel, only remembering it as we were getting on a bus.

We caught a taxi to our hotel, which is located in the heart of Madrid. We were a little anxious because we didn't really know anything about it and we had chosen it simply because we got a great rate using one of those last minute booking web sites. But it turned out to be a really nice four star hotel that is right next to one of the better nightspots in Madrid. There was even stained glass in the lobby! We each took really long showers as this was the cleanest bathroom we have had in four weeks. We were starving at that point, but it was only 5 p.m., and restaurants in Spain don't open until late. We decided to grab some tapas at one of the restaurants in the plaza next to our hotel to tide us over until dinner.


I am ashamed to admit that Elva and I are not very adventurous when it comes to food. We don't experiment as much as we should. So although the tapas menu was filled with all kinds of things we had never tried before, we decided to go with the old reliables – tomato and cheese salad with olive oil and some bruschetta. Maybe we will be more adventurous next time, although I doubt it since we have already found 2 Mexican restaurants we want to try :)

We walked around the neighborhood for a while and then headed back to the hotel. We had hoped to take a nap and then head back out to taste some of the famous Madrid night life, but we decided that we were just way too jet lagged to go back out again. So instead we watched some TV to force ourselves to stay up a little more, and then we were off to sleep.

-Tom

D112 -- Hot ride out of India

Today was a big travel day for us, and so of course it was bound to be another mad rush as we tried to get everything done before leaving. We spent the morning doing some last-minute shopping, and then met our driver at noon at the hotel. We had booked a flight out of Ahmdebad, 150 miles south of Udaipur, and arranged for a car to drive us all the way to the airport. We could have flown out of Udaipur, but it would have cost us an extra $100. We had made sure to get a car with air conditioning, but about 20 minutes into our 5 hour drive, we realized the a/c was not working. The temperature was 103 out and it was in the middle of the day. The ride was horrible and made me think of a line from the movie Fools Rush In -- "The white people are melting out here! " I could not wait to get out of that car. And of course it didn't help that there were often cars driving on the wrong side of the road coming straight at us.


Luckily, the rest of the trip went really smoothly. We flew to Bombay and then caught our British Airways flight to London. Our nine hour flight left at 3 in the morning, and it ended up being one of the most enjoyable flights we've had, thanks entirely to the flat bed seats. I don't think either one of us has ever slept so well on an airplane.

As you may have gathered, we decided to nix our original plan to go to Nepal for some trekking in the Himalayas. You've probably seen in the news that there has been a lot of instability in Nepal recently, especially in Kathmandu, where there were riots and protests against the government. We figured that it would be too risky to go, plus we already had the chance to do a lot of trekking in New Zealand and Argentina. So we decided to spend a few more days in Spain instead.

Here are some shots from the road during our last ride in India.

- Tom

D111 -- Happy birthday Thomas!

Thomas almost always wakes up earlier than me, so I recorded a little happy birthday message on our computer that would play when he booted up. Ah, technology.

He decided he wanted to spend his birthday vegging out at the rooftop pool. I passed the time reading Thomas' hand-me-down copy of The God of Small Things, a novel set in Kerala, India, and Thomas read my hand-me-down copy of Angels and Demons, a novel set in Rome. We're trying to get into the habit of reading books set in locales we're visiting. We didn't lift a finger all day, except to climb some stairs up to an addition off the roof to check out the views and sunset. That's the monsoon palace we visited on the hill.


By far the highlight of the day was Thomas' birthday dinner at Udai Villas, an ultra-luxe resort right outside of town. This place was SO beautiful!!! It looked like a palace, and our copy of the Lonely Planet said that suites there go for as much as $2000!!! Crazy! Dinner was served on an outdoor patio with beautiful views of the hotel and Udaipur across the lake. The atmosphere was already wonderful, but to top things off there were musicians and dancers performing around two fountains. Many of the dances were the same ones we'd seen at the show last night plus beautiful singing. We had AMAZING nan and murg ka shoeta, a Rajasthani specialty. It was one of the best dinners we've had on the entire trip. We both really enjoyed it, but we decided we wouldn't have wanted to stay at such an opulent resort even if we could have afforded it. We feel strange enough traveling through India as “rich Americans” and that feeling would only be exaggerated at a place like Udai Villas.

Back at our beautiful but modest-by-comparison hotel, we checked in with family and bought some last-minutes gifts from the store next door. Any romantic vibes kicked up by dinner were squelched as we watched Alive while we packed. Yikes!

-Elva

monkey fever

Man, how I love seeing monkeys everwhere here in India. I couldn't help myself - I just HAD to share some of my favorite pics from the last few days. Can you spot the monkey scratching his or her face with another monkey's foot?

- Elva

D110 -- Rajasthani dancing

I had plans to go shopping and sightseeing with Abdullah (the rickshaw driver) today while Thomas tried t0 do some trip planning and relaxing. I should have started out with sightseeing but Abdul wanted to go by the craft store first – he was anxious for the kickback. I'd been looking for a salwar and kameeze, a traditional Indian outfit, so I gladly gave in. An hour and $20 later we headed back to meet Thomas for lunch. Later Abdul begrudgingly took me to another shop I wanted to visit that's run by a nonprofit called Sadhna. No kickbacks.

I never did make it to the sights. On the way back we passed by a wedding group. It's wedding season here in India – in Delhi we saw lots of white horses all decked out and being led to ceremonies. We even got to see one celebration in progress - the groom was on the horse while a band played and men danced in the street. Abdullah has three daughters, so when we passed by the wedding party I asked him about the costs of dowry. He didn't give me specific numbers but said that a higher caste family may have to pay for the groom's college education, buy him a car, etc. He said he doesn't have to worry about it, though, because he's Muslim and dowries are a Hindu custom.

Our cultural outing for the day was a Rajasthani dance show at an old 18th century guesthouse called Bagore Ki Havale. We had trouble finding the place and I asked directions from a guy on the street. He asked me if I could speak Hindi as well as English – must be my new salwar kameeze! The show was great. There were two men playing music and all the dancers were women in beautiful, colorful outfits. The first act was a woman who danced with a pot of fire on her head. Impressive! There were a few other interesting dances, and then a male puppeteer who made his female puppet dance and shake her hips to the music. Next he made his male puppet remove his own head and bounce it on his hands and feet and then juggle it. Very cute - I just love puppets! The last dancer was pretty unbelievable. She was an older lady with a lot of attitude in her facial expressions and movements. After dancing for a minute or two she she went over to the side and a guy put a big clay pot on her head, like the one women in rural areas use to carry water. She danced around with it on her head and then he put on another one. They continued this way until she had NINE pots on her head and had danced around on all kinds of items, including: two upturned drinking glasses, a bowl, a bunch of broken glass, and three upturned swords!!!!! Pretty incredible. I wish we could have taken better pictures, but we didn't want to blind the performers with flash.


















We had dinner in a little alcove on the rooftop restaurant of our hotel. We sat on cushions in the candlelight, which was reflected from the mirrored dome of the alcove. There were fireworks from a wedding going off for the first ten minutes after we arrived, framed perfectly in the windows of our little alcove. It was so beautiful and romantic that we tried to take pictures while we waited for our food. It's hard to hold a smile for a long exposure time. No wonder they didn't smile in pictures in the old days.

-Elva

D109 -- Relaxing in Udaipur

Today was super low-key. We took an auto rickshaw over to the Hilton for lunch. There are such nice hotels here! After lunch we went back to our hotel and hung out at the pool all afternoon. I shot a few pics from the rooftop, too. What a tough life!



The only sightseeing we did was to head up to an old monsoon palace on a hill that overlooks the city. The same driver that took us to the Hilton, Abdullah, took us up to the palace. It was in poor shape compared to the other palaces we've seen, but there were nice views of the sunset from up there, and lots of monkeys hanging about.

-Elva

D108 -- Bye bye Bunty

Bunty drove us to Udaipur today and we said goodbye to him there. We liked Bunty, but we didn't really talk with him as much as I would have liked during our drives. Partly this was because he wouldn't ask us much about ourselves. Our conversations often consisted of us asking questions and him answering, and that created a weird dynamic in my mind. It didn't seem to bother him, though. He's a pretty straight-forward guy. He was very clear with us that the fee for his services didn't include his tip. He told us his opinion about foreigners and beggars – he thought we shouldn't give money to them, except when they have a disability. He told us the percentage kickback he would receive from any purchase we made at a store he took us to, and he told us which hotels treat drivers well and which treat them “like dogs.” So, in Pushkar, for example, we stayed at a Bunty-recommended hotel where he knew some people and was provided with a comfortable place to sleep, food, etc. In Jaipur, though, we'd chosen a hotel that was not driver-friendly (many hotels resent having to give kickbacks), so we gave him a per diem to find his own lodging. He even told us personal information about his family. Right now he is saving up for his sister's dowry. He'd like to be able to start his own business some day instead of working for a travel agency, but he feels he must help his sister secure a good husband first. Yes, it is 2006 and families are still paying men to marry their daughters. (Not to mention sentencing them to death if they've been raped, but that's a whole other country.) We hope the business we gave Bunty helps him.



The hotel Thomas chose in Udaipur was great. We figured we should splurge a little since we'd be spending Thomas' birthday here. It has a lovely garden and all the common areas are decorated with beautiful carved wood furniture. Our room had two little window seats you could curl up in to read and a little sitting room. AND, there was a rooftop pool and restaurant with fantastic views ot the town and its the two lakes. Score! Just what I need after my breakdown in Pushkar. There are still cows (and donkeys) in the roads and even a little raw sewage, but somehow Udaipur just seems so much nicer and relaxing.

-Elva

D107 -- They ALL break here

We left this morning for our 3-hour drive to Pushkar. On the way out of Jaipur our driver Bunty was pulled over by a police officer. After being asked for some paperwork he stepped out of the car and went behind a little food stall with the officer. He was back quickly – the officer had apparently pulled him over for running a red light (which several other cars had also done) and accepted a bribe of 100 rupees (about $2) to let Bunty off without a ticket. Things work just a little differently here.

The drive to Pushkar was stunning, not so much for the landscape, but for the juxtaposition of the colorfully dressed people against the monochromatic desert scenery. I saw one man dressed all in bright white, with a neon orange turban, riding his bike. Around every corner was a cinematographer's dream. Beautiful!!!




We made it to Puskar around lunch time. It's a small town on the edge of the Rajasthani desert famous for its holy lake. There are temples surrounding the lake, and many “ghats,” or access areas to the lake, where you can pray and bathe in the waters. Gandhi's ashes were scattered at one of these ghats following his cremation. After we checked into the hotel Bunty recommended (nice!), he dropped us off near the town center. We walked around the narrow streets amidst all the cows and the trash, and the cows eating trash...

There were several persistent children who followed us around asking for money. One young teenager came up to me and asked the standard “Where are you from, what's your name?” and then took my hand and was about to touch something pointy to it. I pulled away from her and said “what are you doing?!?” She said it was henna. Oh – it was kind of like a pastry bag filled with henna. I told her I didn't want my hands decorated with henna, thank you, and felt a little embarrassed about being alarmed. But hey, it looked sharp – and she shouldn't be grabbing people's hands. It was all getting a little too much for me, so we went back to the hotel for a rest.

Later on we went to one of the larger Hindu temples. I was very excited since most architecture we'd seen so far in India had been Islamic, but India is over 80% Hindu. We got there and paid someone to watch our shoes while we went in – there were several little stalls set up for this purpose and they also give you flowers for use in the temple. One of the men at the stalls said he was a student of the temple and that he would show us around for free – he just asked that we make a donation to the temple. We didn't say yes or no, he just kind of came along. We walked up the steps (past some monkeys of course) and into the temple, where there was a main worship area. The student told us to take our flowers to the man in that main area and he added something – maybe candy? - to them. There were also several niches here and there for worshiping various gods, and we were instructed to leave a flower in front of a statue of Ganesha (the one with the elephant head). We really couldn't understand what the student was saying because his English was poor, so we didn't get much out of the temple visit. He told us that the Hindu practice after visiting this temple is to take the flowers to a specific ghat to say prayers for family members and then release them in the holy waters.


So we followed him out of the temple and down the road to the ghat, where our flowers were put on trays with rice and some red and yellow powders. There, another man came and sat with Thomas by the water, and the student sat with me a little ways away. Separately they each led us through the prayers that Hindus say for their families and explained the symbolism of the items on the plate. I find it so interesting to learn about how other people (other than Catholic - since that's what I'm familiar with) pray. Aside from this intellectual curiosity, I found the prayers and practices he was sharing with me very beautiful and moving. That's when the sales pitch started. The student started to ask me how much I was going to donate, saying that some people give $100, some $50, but it depends on how many family members you are praying for. Whoa! I immediately felt duped, and so angry that I had been taking this guy seriously when he was obviously trying to shake me down. I told him I'd give him $5 and of course he seemed shocked. Apparently $5 won't buy a lot of karma for my family members! But I held firm so he finished up with the prayers and had me release my flowers and assorted items into the water. About this time, Thomas tells me, “Are you about done? I think it's time to go.” Turns out he was getting the shake down, too. Initially, his guy told him the money was all for the charities of the temple, but when Thomas wouldn't agree to give more than $3, he told Thomas that he needed money to care for his elderly parents. We left, and about a block later a little boy in the street threw rocks at me.

If you read our blog frequently you'll know we love The Amazing Race, in which teams are sent on a race around the world, often to very "exotic" places. Most people do just fine wherever they're sent, but they ALL break in India. Well, this was MY breaking point. It's one thing to ask for money in the streets, but to use religious practices to manipulate others and make money – that's just wrong. And now I'm being pelted by rocks! I wanted to cry and I wanted to leave those dirty, cow dung-covered streets far, far behind.

-Elva

D106 -- Bollywood

This morning we visited the fort-palace in Amber, which is just a few miles outside of Jaipur. The palace sits at the top of a hill and can only be accessed by a 15 minute walk uphill or by paying $10 to ride up on the back of an elephant. Fans of The Amazing Race may recall the contestants riding the elephants and visiting the palace in one of the show's early seasons. Unfortunately, we arrived too late for the elephant ride option, as the elephants are only allowed to make 2 trips a day. This is a recent limitation that was enacted only a few months ago after one of the elephants went wild from heat exhaustion and killed its handler. The palace itself was very nice with lots of great architectural details, although one had to wonder about the cost involved in building it. Elva had read that many historians believe the reason the state of Rajasthan is so impoverished is because of the lavish spending by the maharajahs on palaces like the one at Amber.




We spent the afternoon touring Jaipur's historic buildings and also doing some shopping. Elva took this picture of one of the guards at the city palace, and she also caught this scene of an elephant amidst the hustle and bustle of the market in downtown Jaipur.






The day's highlight came in the evening when we attended our first Bollywood film. For those not familiar with Indian cinema (commonly referred to as “Bollywood”), it is the largest movie industry in the world, as measured by both number of films produced and number of tickets sold. We chose to see the most recent blockbuster release, a film called “Humko Deewana Kar Gaye” (no idea what this translates to). It was fantastic and probably the most fun we've had in India. Bollywood films are well known for their song and dance sequences and their sappy romantic plots. Although the movie was in Hindi, we were able to follow the plot fairly easily: Boy falls in love with Girl, but both are already engaged to someone else through an arranged marriage. Boy and Girl clearly love each other but feel compelled to honor their parents' wishes and marry someone else. Oh the tragedy! Of course, in the end true love prevails (but only after a lot of singing and dancing) and the Boy and Girl are released from their arranged marriages so they can be with one another. Some of the more interesting aspects of the movie experience:

-there were about 7 song and dance numbers, and they often involved bizarre transitions during a single song, such as going from the top of a snow-capped mountain, to a shopping mall, to a dude ranch, to jet skiing

-all of the songs appeared to be lip synced – we know this because the syncing was pretty awful

-the two romantic leads didn't kiss once the entire movie, and the audience clapped each time they came close to kissing, as if urging them to do so

-every now and then we would catch a snippet of English words or phrases, such as “nice parking job” or “get your facts right”

-totally over-the-top melodrama was the norm, but that is what made the movie so fun

-it was really really really loud in the theater, and there was a large number of infants and young children

-at one point the lead actress raised her arms during a dance number and we could see armpit stains on her blouse --- several westerners in the audience started laughing when this happened, but I don't think a single Indian laughed, which made us feel pretty horrible about laughing

-Tom

D105 -- Eye-opener

We headed to Jaipur by way of Fatehpur Sikri, to tour the palace and mosque there. The “bones” of the palace were all pretty much in place, if not the decor, paintings, etc.

Thomas put up with my constant picture-taking as long as possible, and then we headed to the mosque, which dates back to 1571.

Somehow, I'm still not sure how, we got hooked up with a guide. He took us by a bunch of grave markers (separate areas for women and men) and then to the tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, who is a kind of Muslim saint. The mausoleum was surrounded by intricately carved marble screens, and I noticed the guide kept going on and on about how the local people carve this wonderful marble. We continued around the mosque and our next stop was, you guessed it, a carved marble salesman. That's the way it goes here. Everyone (rickshaw drivers, guides) is looking for a kickback. We bought a little candle holder. About that time a guy selling various things started following us around. We went to the main gate, the Victory Gate, and he followed us there. The gate is huge, one of the largest in Asia, and there were enormous honey bee hives at the top. According to our guide book there is a quote from Jesus that appears in the Quran written on the door.

The guy following us was SO persistent. I told him we'd already bought something and we weren't going to buy anymore because we were low on cash (all true), but he just kept telling me how he's a student and he needs money and it's low season so there aren't many tourists, etc. I told him no over and over but he just wouldn't stop and I couldn't just ignore him. I even got so desperate that I (independent feminist that I am) told him to “ask my husband” but he was too smart for that. He knew his chances were much better with me. He kept lowering the prices of his goods and in the end he was asking for only 10R – what is that, like 30 cents? I felt like just giving in because he obviously needed the money and was trying to make a legitimate rupee as opposed to begging for handouts. But at the time I felt like I didn't want to reward him for ignoring me when I told him no so many time. Now I wish I would have just bought something when he first approached me. Traveling in India has been a real eye-opener.

The rest of the day was spent driving to Jaipur through sandy brown dirt and shrubby trees on a really, really bad road. There was at times only one functioning lane that had to be shared by traffic going both ways, including camel traffic.

-Elva

D104 -- Taj Mahal

Today we met our driver for the next few days. He's a 30 year-old man who goes by Bunty, a common nickname here, and we heard about him from a post on the Lonely Planet website. We hired him to drive us to Agra and throughout the state of Rajasthan. It felt weird to be meeting a complete stranger that we'd be spending hours and hours with, not to mention having a driver period. Luckily, Bunty was a nice guy. We didn't talk too much on the way to Agra, though. Thomas was feeling sick and losing his voice and my stomach was cramping hard.

We stopped at the Mausoleum of Akbar the emperor. The first thing we noticed once we passed through the impressive gate was all the deer and monkeys hanging around the grounds. I had a great time watching them and taking pictures, though I was careful not to get too close as I was nervous after seeing the ones in Delhi on attack. The actual mausoleum was very pretty but since it was hot out and we felt rushed to get to Agra we didn't dally long.




When we got back to the car there was a man sitting next to it holding a mongoose on a leash with a basket in front of him. He opened the lid and a cobra came out. Whoa! It's Rikki-tikki-tavi and Nag! He wanted me to pay him to take a picture but I declined.

We made our way into Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Bunty drove us as close as he could, but they've closed off traffic in the last few years to help slow the discoloration of the building due to pollution. Of course as soon as we got out we were met with a wave of touts. Some selling postcards or jewelry, but most wanting to drive us in bike or auto rickshaws to the gate. We walked the 10 minutes instead, passing camels and monkeys along the way. I got through the gate after just a quick body frisking, but the men's security line was much longer. Poor Thomas had to deal with tour guides harassing him for work and a strange man behind him in line that decided to rest his hands ever so gently around Thomas' waist for no apparent reason.

So we make it through the hubbub outside and enter a courtyard surrounded by red sandstone buildings. One of these was the entrance gate to the Taj - very beautiful and impressive. When I looked through the doorway of the gate I saw in person the iconic building I've dreamed of seeing for years. It was a really nice moment.


Some people have told me they expected it to bigger or more beautiful, but it definitely fulfilled all my expectations. Yes, the ponds in the garden are dirty, there are disposable shoe covers littered around all the trash cans, and the place was packed with tourists (mostly Indian). Still, it was awesome. The main building is actually a mausoleum surrounded by four minarets. Shah Jahan had it built for his second wife, Mumatz Mahal, after she died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. Apparently he was heartbroken and wanted to build her a monument commensurate with his love and grief. It's composed of white marble with beautiful inlay work and ornate carvings. You don't really notice all the detail in the pictures, nor do you see that it's flanked by two gorgeous sandstone buildings – a mosque on one side and an identical building placed on the other side for symmetry. Muslim architecture is all about the symmetry.

Inside the Taj is one large room with a beautiful carved marble screen that encloses the mock tomb of Mumatz Mahal. She and Shah Jahan are actually buried beneath.

By the time I was done taking pictures the crowd was thinning and the sun was setting. We sat in front of the mosque staring at theTaj Mahal and listening to a man behind us singing a call to prayer. It was peaceful and beautiful.


And how did we finish off such an extraordinary day? At Pizza Hut, I'm ashamed to say. The fast food industry may be evil, but it is a slice of home. Thomas LOVES Pizza Hut and we hadn't eaten there in months. We ordered the “Treat for 2”: 2 sodas, garlic bread, 2 personal pan pizzas, and 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream all for 150 rupees. That's about $3 US! The food was delicious and man did I enjoy my Nestea iced tea. Just like I used to make back in the trailer in the brown Tupperware pitcher. Of course, I shouldn't have been drinking tea that was probably made from tap water, but what the hell. I'm already on Cipro. The service was good, too. On the way out you are supposed to ring a bell if you had a good meal and the staff all says thank you in unison. Thank you!

-Elva