Indian Princesses: October 2013

I have tried very hard to think of a time when I was so overwhelmed by peace, beauty and serenity as I was in the presence of the Taj Mahal, but I can't come up with much. Even with the thousands of others there at the same time as us, Savannah and I both said how we felt like we were the only ones there, basking in the magnificence of what is rightly named as one of the Wonders of the World. To be very honest, there is not a lot of peace in India. Between horns honking, bikes whizzing, temples blaring chants, wedding halls' music emanating into the street, and so much more, there just isn't peace and quiet readily available. Well, until we walked onto the Taj Mahal grounds, that is. Even in a very crowded city of Agra, this majestic, breathtaking monument seems to stop time and the world around it. If you have the chance, visit it. My Indian friends who have not been, GO. Anyone traveling to India for work or pleasure, DON'T LEAVE without stopping by Agra. It is worth the car ride... the expense... any other excuse you have, I promise I can counter it. It is simply amazing and I am so glad I got to share this experience with Savannah.
So, that was our first day of the Golden Triangle Tour... well, first evening. We started out early, with a 7 AM flight to Delhi. Upon arrival we were greeted by our sweet little driver, Mr. Milap, who welcomed us with a couple traditional Delhi flower leis. (Don't be fooled, Delhi is NOT like Hawaii and don't let anyone try to tell you it is!)

We were prepared for a three-hour journey by car from Delhi to Agra, based on the tourist research I did (and I am pretty sure our agent told me that...) but the driver chuckled when he said it's closer to five hours. Ugh. FIVE hours... after a three hour flight. This girl does NOT like car trips, but I'll make the best of it. We were both pretty tired from the late night and early morning. Savannah slept a bit and I tried to. We made it with one stop for lunch in a little under five hours. We met our agent at the hotel and quickly dropped our bags so we could head to the Taj Mahal. Did I mention that was amazing? Yeah. Seriously. Just go. You can thank me later. It was nice to have our guide tell us the history, except my know-it-all daughter kept interrupting and interjecting her version or details of the history of the monument. I have never been a history buff, but actually being at a place that was nearly 400 years old and still standing in pristine glory, along with the interesting story of the king who had it built gave me a new-found interest. I could imagine the jewels that once adorned the palace in the walls - rubies, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds - so much more... We enjoyed the grounds so much that we didn't want to leave. I know our guide was ready to go, and the sun was setting, but we hung around a bit. We just sat and soaked the beauty in, in awe, hoping to etch this into our memories to share and think back later. Savannah did the "I am picking it up by the point" picture and I took tons on both my phone and the camera. Surprisingly, they turned out almost as beautiful as we remember. I am going to guess it's because of the monument and not the photographer.
After we dragged ourselves away, we dropped by a local shop that makes keepsakes from the same white marble used in the Taj Mahal. I am sure I paid too much, as this was definitely a tourist stop, but we got a small box as a memento of our trip to Agra. Then dinner and bed. We were exhausted.
We woke up and visited the Agra Fort . Let me just put my ignorance out there and get it out of the way. I thought forts were battle grounds... I guess somehow I expected all these "forts" we were visiting on this trip to be kind of like the Alamo - crumbling in some areas from age or battle, housing a museum of weaponry or history of the brave souls defending her honor, and some significance with the area. So, turns out I am an idiot and forts are not what I thought at all. In India (anywhere else?) they are palaces! Clearly I have not taken this Indian Princess title seriously enough and done any research on my royal history! I SHOULD HAVE LIVED IN ONE OF THESE PLACES BACK IN THE DAY! Wow, they were grand. The Agra Fort is huge. And, as I will say many more times, I can just imagine the grandeur and majesty 300+ years ago when the walls were adorned with jewels, the floors covered in silk rugs, the windows covered with tapestry curtains, and the fresh gold - real gold - paint on the walls and ceilings. Yes, I think I might have been pretty comfortable back then. Except most of the kings had several wives and a slew (ok, a harem) of other women, so that might annoy me. But bring on the luxuries! That part I could handle. haha Again, I enjoyed hearing about the history, the royalty, the moat that was built as protection around the fort, admiring the architecture and wondering how this palace, centuries later, is still standing strong and proud after being built only with the hands of people and animals to help transport heavy stones. No machines, no blueprints from software, no cranes for the big pieces. Truly amazing.
We got back on the road and stopped at Fathepur Sikri on the way to Jaipur. Again, I was interested in the history and the why and how this place came to be. Savannah was not so much... But It was another ruler during Mughal times who he wanted to build his own city, and he did just that. It only lasted a few years until they ran out of water and had to leave, but it was grand and massive in the meantime. I spent more time admiring the beautiful architecture and having dreamy thoughts of bejeweled walls. Those forts had a lot of stairs and a lot of area to cover. Add the four hour car ride to Jaipur on top of that and you had two tired Americans.

We woke up early the next day to start our tour of Jaipur. We had a great time in Jaipur and played the tourist card pretty hard - stopping to take pics or ride every animal possible. From cobra snakes being charmed to camel rides, elephants and monkeys, our white skin might as well have been glowing. LOL But we had fun, so it's all good.

We visited another magnificent fort, Amber Fort, spending time oohing and aahing over the amazing architecture again. We enjoyed the tour and the view of the city from atop a hill almost as much as the structure itself. Just beautiful.

Next stop was City Palace, which included a small museum, which bored Savannah to tears, but I really enjoyed. We got to see some of the weaponry of the times (as I expected haha) including shields, swords, knives and some guns, along with clothes worn by royalty, bed dressings, curtains and so on. It was full of beauty and splendor. We also visited the tourist shopping area and spent time with a local artist with some amazing work he had done. He was recognized twice as a top artist in India and had several articles recognizing his work. He painted for Prince Charles of England as well. It was easy to see why, and I had to buy a couple pieces to take home. I hope to have them framed and display sometime soon. They are small, but beautiful, and will make a great reminder of our trip to Jaipur.

After that, we stopped by Jantar Mantar, which realllllllly killed my daughter. It's a site with huge sundials (biggest in the world), and lots of other astronomy and astrology instruments. I was fascinated with how they were built, nearly 300 years ago, without any of today's technology. Mind-boggling to say the least. I thought it was cool, Savannah wanted to poke her own eyes out, so we didn't stay too long.

We went to the Palace of the Winds, also known as Hawa Mahal for another tour. There is so much to see and do, trying to pack it into one day is pretty tiring, but we were troopers about it. Next up was the Water Palace, Jal Mahal. We couldn't actually visit it, due to some Indian government issues (typical...), that have it shut down and no construction in the area until the next party takes office, but it was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing it. Our last stop of the day was for some shopping at a local market. A couple silver bracelets and a couple pairs of Alibaba pants later, we made our way back to the hotel to turn in and rest up for the next day - a car trip back to Delhi.

And what a car trip it was... nearly seven hours. Hindsight, a sore butt from being in the car so long, and a wasted day tells me I should have paid the extra few bucks to fly into Delhi and out of Jaipur (or vice versa) instead of in and out of Delhi. Next time I'll know. Sigh. Oh, well - lesson learned. We finally made it to Delhi and checked into our hotel. We enjoyed a nice dinner out on the terrace and explored the grounds. I selected this hotel for the colonial charm and history, as it's one of the oldest in Delhi and was built by the British in the early 1900's. There were old photos everywhere and the rooms were massive. Plainly decorated in the rooms, but the old charm was still there. And the staff was amazing. Really nice place.

We woke up the next day and took off for our tour of Dehi. We started out at the Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque. Again, with the beautiful architecture and grandeur. Then we hopped onto a bicycle rickshaw and went through Old Delhi, soaking in the sights. The traffic in Delhi is even worse than Chennai, which would probably be because it has triple the amount of people - 17 million versus 6... We could not take a car through the small, winding "streets" so the bike ride was a great way to see the area.

After our tour of Old Delhi, we drove over to New Delhi to see the India Gate, the Parliament buildings, Qutab Minar, and Raj Ghat, the site where Gandhi was cremated. We tried to do a little shopping, because EVERYONE at the office told me how cheap everything was there, but many shops were closed and the driver told us it was probably because of the end of the Navrati festival and the Vijaya Dashami holiday. We were not big fans of Delhi. The residents were not as friendly and helpful or nice as our Chennai-neighbors. The city seemed dirtier and, as I said before, much more crowded and the traffic was horrendous. We wrapped up our day and turned in for the night, knowing we had one more day to try and shop, since our flight wasn't leaving until the evening. Savannah had a few things she really wanted, so we were determined to make it to a local market and pick up some goodies. The next morning, our driver must have known we were frustrated the night before, so he knew where we were going. He took us to a market on the way to the airport and we found just about everything we were looking for, minus a couple small things, which might have been there but we were running a bit short of time, so were happy with what we found. Savannah got a lengha saree (North India version of a half saree), material for a few salwars (Indian tops and pants sets), some hair clips, and I got a dressy salwar and a set of material for another. We left Delhi happier than the night before with our goodies.

Here are some pics from various times during our holiday. All this travel sure did give me the bug... I am ready to plan our next trip. I am thinking Kerala is next. Anyone want to donate to the "Nikki & Savannah will see India" fund? LOL Sending love & hugs, hoping all is well where you are.