Month: October 2017

Rejected in Jodhpur

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Dates: 26 – 30 October 2017

Location: Jodhpur

Hotel: Discovery Guest House

If you have gotten used to and come to expect the content of a post to be in chronological order, you will be disappointed with this one.  4 days in one post in order of story telling and photo inserting ease.

Disappointment is actually a nice segue into the yarn about my Jodhpur movie career that never was.

Over a two of days we heard a couple of times about a movie being shot and that they were looking for western male actors.  The story even went that there was 1000 Rupees pay.  For sure it was another scam of some sort.

Mr fixer with his cast

Then over dinner, the owner of the restaurant confirmed it was true and we later met Michael who was pretty bloody excited because he had a speaking role in the film.  He showed us a photo of himself in a British soldier uniform and told us he had a speaking part.  It wasn’t much, only a couple of lines that he tried out on us, but it was a speaking part and he reminded us that it was his.

This now sounded like fun and the fixer told us meet at the restaurant at 0500hrs the next day.  We were there on time as was Michael, he mentioned his speaking part and that he was excited.  About 10 people gathered and eventually a car showed up to take us to the movie set.

Costume rack

It was being shot in the grounds of a huge luxurious hotel that someone mentioned was the most expensive in India.  I am pretty sure Michael didn’t tell us that, he was very busy rehearsing his speaking part.

Anyone who has been involved in movie making knows that the greatest skill you can have is to be able to hurry up and wait.  If you add this to being in India…well, you get the idea.

Here’s a surprise, the movie really exists!  Well, in production anyway.  Starring Rupert Everett who someone assured me was famous and I would recognise, it is called Swords and Sceptres and is listed in IMDb.  Doesn’t look like Michael is listed in the credits yet.

We were given breakfast and led around to the costume area.  A small group at a time we were assigned a role and a costume.  Michael wasn’t, he already had his role, in fact he told us he had been given another line.  Excitement.

Tiff looked pretty sharp as a private in the army.

Photographs weren’t allowed, but This Is India so photographs were taken.  Tiff fitted in well with the troops

See if you can spot Captain Michael.

No doubt you are keen to see me dressed up…

Shattered, along with some other short arses, we were told we weren’t needed.  When I asked the bloke to clarify if he meant just for this scene or at all he said (add strong Indian accent) “I think what I am saying is perfectly clear”.

After getting escorted a couple of times from the area where all the cast was waiting, I gave up and had fun catching a local bus back to the hotel area.  No choice, Mr Fixer was nowhere to be found.

The irony is that the scene involved all the soldiers in hospital lying on beds.  It wouldn’t have mattered if you were a dwarf or a giant.  Tiff had fun, earned 1000R ($10) and reckons he will be a featured dying soldier.  I was going to boycott the movie, but then I wouldn’t get to see Michael.

There is a crazy busy market around the clock tower.  Many of the stalls sell cheap utensils or bangles or textiles, but there are some gems to be found.  M.V. Spices is quite famous.  The business (like many) goes back generations and has good quality spices.  So great is their reputation that very nearby is M.G. spices, M.R. spices and others all trying to cash in on M.V.

The other thing about M.V. is that M. died a few years ago and had 7 daughters, no sons.  It is pretty unheard of for women to run a business, and already you know that another strong, independent, persistent woman story is coming.

Despite being shunned by other businesses and male relatives, these women are going from strength to strength.  They have 4 shops, a good listing in Lonely Planet and unlike M.R. and M.G. etc, M.V. don’t stand out the front hassling (bullying?) tourists to come into the shop.  They will even send product internationally and you pay later.  Unheard of! We sat for ages chatting and drinking chai and buying spices.

In the market, wandering a back lane I said hello to a merchant, he responded and it turned into a long chat about all sorts of things.  His son showed up and told me about his recent trip to Thailand where he did all the tourist stuff like tandem skydive diving and of course getting a tattoo.

Not just any tattoo, his mother had died a couple of years ago, so based on a photo on his phone, well, you can see the result plus his dad in real life.  Given how bad some similar tatts are that I have seen, this one was pretty good.

One of the cleanest best preserved and prettiest Stepwells is in Jodhpur.  It is also only a couple of minutes walk from Discovery Guest House. The area around it is becoming quite gentrified with really expensive hotels and designer shops.  On one hand this is a bit of a worry, as if it spreads, the character of the area is going to be destroyed.  On the other hand, anything that lifts the status of Stepwells is a good thing.

The stepwell cafe overlooks the stepwell but it is overpriced and you can’t even see in the well from the rooftop reclining area.  Forgive the stains on my shirt, I’d had a pretty good 50R head massage a little earlier and he dripped oil…

On my next wander through the market (it is close to the hotel so can be part of any walk) a guy offered to polish my sandals.  I laughed because as as I pointed out, sandals are mostly feet rather than sandal.

But like the 50R head massage and 50R shave, there are other 50R experiences to be had.  He did a really thorough job and now, compared to the sandals in the cafe photo, they now look pretty schmick.

Jodhpur is famous Mehrangah Fort.  A huge structure that sits above the city.  We went on a Sunday and while the fort is magnificent, it was way too crowded, so we didn’t last long.

 

Jodhpur is known as the blue city, it is mostly old Jodhpur below the fort.  The name is justified.

On a previous trip I passed an open field where there were textiles drying in the sun.  Back then I wasn’t smart enough or quick enough to tell the tuk tuk driver to stop.  This time, spotting the same field, I was.

 

Also very near Discovery Guest House is a small temple which I often stick my head in to see if something interesting is happenings.  This time I was rewarded with an invitation to a celebration that evening.

Lots of singing and rituals, it was quite fascinating.

I don’t do floor sitting very well and there seemed to be a no standing rule, even the restless kids were being sat down.  I eventually found a spot on some stairs that have the great view above.

One thing that constantly puzzles me is some tourists.  Here is this interesting looking event going on.  People are looking more joyous that serious.  Tourists attracted by the singing come up to the door and are invited in and all but one shied away.  What on earth are they doing in India if they refuse an invitation to a colourful, musical ceremony?

Especially when there is a table of food that looks like this!

I think I may have done Jodhpur now.  Unless someone wants to specifically come here on a future Kaka Tour I doubt I will be back, even if I get my own shop.

 

Next stop, Pushkar and the camel fair.  Plus an added bonus of Jasmine (my daughter) and Cam (her partner) arriving for a few days.

Choking in Udaipur

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Dates: 23 – 25 October 2017

Location: Udaipur

Hotel: Dream Heaven

Arriving in Udaipur for a few days means the pace has slowed considerably and it also gives me a chance to almost catch up with posts.

The tuk tuk drivers and shop keepers are much more pushy here.  It is quite a tourist town, including (especially?) for Indians from interstate here for Diwali.

Before I get into the details, my future self is sitting in the roof top restaurant in Jodhpur.  It is 6PM and 4 or 5 mosques are broadcasting the call to prayer, the Hindu temple has some bells ringing and with the general background noise it is quite a cacophony right now.

Back in Udaipur, speaking of roof top restaurants, the view from the roof of Dream Heaven Hotel is spectacular.

This image is for illustration purposes only and may have been taken in 2016

One of my favourite quirky shops is in Udaipur, the University of Arts, which is full of hundreds and hundreds of marionettes.  The owner is always delighted to show them off and do a performance.

Here he is in action with his puppet The Magician

On a previous visit, Dawne and Jane had done a cooking course with a woman named Meenu.  They wanted to catch up with her so we went to Meenu’s restaurant which is a single table in the home of her parents.  They sleep on a mezzanine floor above, and beside the table is a sink that has as decoration, the family toothbrushes.

You don’t believe me do you.  Take a peek at the eating area, the computer room and also meet the family.

The food was pretty good and Meenu is yet another strong, intelligent, determined Indian woman, doing her thing independently.

Jump to next morning and we went  for a walk to find Meenu’s house.  A social visit with chai and snacks turned into a yummy meal when we were joined by some other Meenu fans.  Meenu loves cooking.

Wandering off we passed a spice merchant.  Best I could tell was he ground his own spices and when we inquired about a large sack of dried chillies he was very willing to dump them on the floor.

Generally something like this doesn’t bother me.  I have been in a factory grinding chillies to powder without a worry.  But this batch set me off.  My eyes were watering, I was coughing and sneezing, breathing was getting harder and I was dry retching.  I recovered pretty quickly when I went outside and thinking I was now immune, I went back in.  Nope, it all started again.  That was enough for me which was too bad because I would have loved to watch him work.

I do that a lot, stop and watch people work.  Bangle makers, clothes dyers, scissor sharpeners, food preparers, builders, whatever I happen to spot.  The simple way that jobs get done is endlessly fascinating and I am sure they are wondering why I am watching.  Imagine if you were working your mundane job and a tourist spent 10 minutes watching you.

We walked past a school and were spotted by these girls who started chanting one photo, one photo, one photo… Since I am travelling with 3 teachers, it wasn’t long before we were inside the school and mobbed by the kids.

It was recess or lunch break and pretty soon the bell rang and the kids went to class.  I had been hanging with some older boys and went to their room, standing in front like I was the teacher, trying to get them to sit.  They were too excited.  Pretty soon the real teacher came in and she wasn’t happy, threatening the kids with a ruler while behind her back I was imitating her, stopping when she turned around.

Of course something like this never turns out well and then the principal came in and I ended up in his office in a chair facing him.  First time visit to Principal’s office in a long time. He didn’t speak English so there was an awkward silence and I would hold eye contact with him.  Eventually I asked/signed whether my friends had left and he indicated they had.

I should know better about asking for information or directions in India. They had actually been in another class, I thought they were gone, they though I was still with the boys.   We didn’t find each other again until dinner time.

Tonight dinner was going to be a little different.   A cooking class with Shashi, we were instructed to come hungry, which was actually bad advice.  Better would have been come ravenous because there will be way too much food.

Where Meenu’s setup was pretty organic and in the kitchen of her house, Shashi, her son and daughter-in-law had a slick setup designed for western tourists.  We were in a big clean kitchen that had been purpose built and was fitted with loads of chairs, utensils etc. including aprons.

She started by telling the story of being in the Brahmin caste and when her husband died a fair while ago, she had to sit alone, in a corner, for 45 days.  My understanding is that the life of an Indian widow is not too good.  I think they are prevented from remarrying so they often end up very poor.

But this trip has been about strong women persevering and succeeding, Shashi is one of those women and I suspect is now doing very well.

Tiff and Dawne with Shashi

Shashi ran most of the class with her son helping occasionally.  Without checking the complete menu from the error filled handout (that we corrected for them) we cooked chai, paneer butter masala – including the ‘magic sauce’ which is the basis of Indian cooking and transformed mine after my  last trip.  We also made pakoras, malai kofta and 4 different breads: rotis, naan, paratha and stuffed paratha.

There were other people in the group and I sort of pity them.  A French Canadian couple and a French man who seemed to speak no English plus his son.  The 4 of us are loud and playful and get over involved in everything, we may have dominated the class.  We laughed a lot and Shashi was quite playful back.  But poor French man looked like he wasn’t having fun and the others, while getting involved if prompted, didn’t throw themselves into it like we did.

Daughter-in-law was friendly and engaging and gorgeous but didn’t do any cooking.  Married women traditionally live with the son’s family, so you can guess their status. In this photo, she was doing some food prep sitting cross legged on top of the bench.  I can imagine this going down well in Australian restaurants.

We rolled out of there stuffed to the gills and looking forward to our next Indian party.

Next post will be from Jodhpur, half way through our trip.  It feels like months be has been less than 2 weeks.

Final post of the tour, but not of the tour

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Date: it might have been October 25th

Location: Bundi to Udaipur

Hotel: Dream Heaven

This is a warning to my future self.  On the 27th, in Jodhpur, you will grab your towel and flick your phone on to the floor cracking the screen.  The only good news is that it will match the screen on your tablet that you cracked in India in 2015.

I also implore you, dear reader, to ignore the date and time stamps.  They will be removed for the photo book.

Bundi had been so wonderful we were glad there had been a change of plans so we had Ajeet take us back for a second night there so we could continue to explore the town.

We had been coaching Ajeet about having a luxury tour as well as the backpacker tour.  They would both have the same daytime content, but different levels of meals and accommodation, so we went looking for luxury hotels.  We stumbled into the beautiful old Dev Niwas (god residences) which was not so much more expensive but certainly very exotic.

It even had a tunnel that connected to the fort so that the Maharaja and hopefully also the Maharani could make a quick and discreet escape.  Always handy if the tour group members are revolting.

Let’s pick up our walking tour, but in a different direction and including some photos that really should have been included yesterday, but you won’t notice unless I mention it… Oh, wait.

Some of the cooking implements you can hire when you are catering your own wedding.

Sometimes a simple attempt to hire some gear from a place playing dance music goes very right…

 

The Bundi backdrops are awesome

 

Great characters are everywhere.

 

When the weight of being a tour guide gets overwhelming, a 10 minute 50R head massage is just the thing

And what would a walk in Rajasthan be without discovering a new stepwell.  This one was behind a locked gate, fortunately the house where we asked who was the keeper of the key was the keeper of the key.

The water was quite grotty, but the entrance, with the gorgeous arch was one of the most beautiful I have seen.

We had heard about a peaceful lunch spot at a wildlife reserve outside town.  It was owned by the family of a bloke who had a run down backpacker hostel that had huge potential and a closed intimidating gate.

Not particularly expensive, this was the luxury lunch venue for sure.

As well as a lake full of lotus plants (not in flower unfortunately) it is also a working rice farm and harvest was under way.

I had a go at cutting the rice and threshing it.  You will have to take my word for it that this is bloody hard, hot, endless work for not a lot of money.  I am glad I only get to do it for fun, but feel a bit guilty that for these people it is their lives.

Then on to Udaipur passing way too many overloaded tractors.

but some of them are lovingly pimped, including a loud sound system.

As you will read, people in Udaipur won’t be as friendly as Bundi.  We all hope it doesn’t get spoilt by them hassling tourists and losing the welcoming spirit that is there now.

 

Part 2 of whatever the last post was called

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Date: I forget

Location: Bundi and surrounds

Hotel: Shivam

A reminder that this is written a few days in the future of when it is dated, unless of course I have completely lost track of time.  And had a couple of Hayward 5000 beers – why do they even serve this Kingfisher shit?

Bundi, a couple of hours from Jaipur, may be my new favourite place in India.  The old town, with its beautiful fort perched above, is the quintessential “photo opportunity around every corner” place.

We started with chai (this is compulsory) and the best samosa I have ever eaten.  I can’t tell you what was so good about it and the seller likely won’t either.

The photo is a pretty typical street food setup, whether selling samosa or chai or whatever.  If you are freaked out by the thought of eating street food, I suggest you holiday at home, as sampling this stuff is one of the delights of travel.

It is coming up to wedding season in India, apparently it all starts on October 31st.  Weddings include a procession to the bride’s house with the groom sitting on a horse dressed like a Maharaja but looking like a terrified little boy.

You can see what a wonderful event an Indian wedding is. This is a photo of a pair of overjoyed newlyweds from 2016

When my posts eventually catch up to Udaipur and the cooking class, remind me to point out gorgeous daughter in law who met her husband only 30 minutes before they were married.  This is the norm with arranged marriages.

The good news is we have met a number of smart, powerful women who have rejected this and other traditional cultural “rules” e.g. that women shouldn’t run a business.  They all have a hard time with family and are working hard to succeed despite the disapproval. But the traditional wedding still rules.

You need a band to celebrate a wedding and in every city there are many to choose from.  They have little shops that I guess demonstrate whatever they are capable of.  From memory, this was the Azam band’s instrument selection.

Notice the hats in the cabinet on the back wall.  These bands are competitive and serious.  They aren’t that good though 😟

As we walked the back lanes people were friendly and invited us into their homes and businesses.  Bundi still has a lovely innocence about it, the shopkeepers don’t hassle you, it is very untouristy, hopefully it can stay that way.  Jasmine and Cam, you should visit Bundi.  You too Jodie.

Come walk with me…

Arms decorated with henna

 

They had just made a purchase from the motorcycle riding milk Walla. Buying like this, milk is unpasteurised, not homogenised.

 

Inside one house was this amazing well

 

View from access to the well

 

Too cute

There were bangle makers, people who hired BIG cooking utensils for parties, beautiful old houses, a hotel that had an old tunnel that connected from the fort and people who loved to meet us.

There was also a bit of effort put into having a more presentable tour group.

No, that is not hair on the cover sheet. Nor is it part of the pattern…well, it might be now 😛

On to Bhimlat Mahadev Falls. But not straight away.

We stopped in a couple of villages along the way, including one with the bhang shop.  Should I be a little embarrassed that bhang guy remembered me from last year?

This would just about kill you 😛 A typical lassi or whatever would be made with a piece the size of a marble and is a very adequate altitude adjustment.

 

A typical street side scene almost anywhere in India

 

Chaff storage

 

Proof that your donations do some good work

Last year the falls were peaceful and beautiful and calm and swimmable.  This year it was huge and raging and anything but inviting.  And still beautiful.

Even getting there was tricky.

These guys really wanted a photo with me, they took heaps of selfies.

It should be noted that men holding hands or with arms draped like this are simply good friends. It is not uncommon, and last night while walking us to a restaurant, the hotel owner’s son casually had his arm around my shoulder.  I think it is because he regards me as a friend.

The rest of the afternoon can best be summed up by What happens on tour stays on tour. I am more than happy to tell the story privately, but in fairness to a friend I won’t publish it.

Now that’s got you wondering, hasn’t it 😎

It was a slow drive back to Bundi and we made it safely.  Tomorrow, onward to Udaipur.

There is always one more stepwell

Untouring India Part 1

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Date: 21 October 2017

Location: en route to Bundi

Hotel: Shivam

The idea of an organised tour gives me the willies.  I understand that it is exactly what some people want but being locked into strict schedules isn’t for me.  You are welcome to make me wrong and use the comments to go into bat for organised tours.

Having said that, and having done one during my last visit, we were off on a 3 day/2 night trip to Udaipur with Ajeet from Hathroi Palace Hotel.  Last time was awesome and I was fairly sure we wouldn’t be disappointed.

Before we headed out I managed to catch up with Anant and Swati who I met last year.  Swati is an artist and we went out for breakfast and then paid homage to her in front of her mural in the Chillout restaurant.

Our first stop was at a small factory (shop?) where they carve wooden blocks for textile printing.  The final result is quite intricate, but the process is actually fairly simple.  Take a block of wood and chip away all the “not design” to leave a raised pattern.

Finally out of Jaipur, India is getting more rural.  We are driving through small villages full of visual treats.

Much of India still doesn’t have running water.  There are well all over and seeing women (only) carrying water is quite common.

One of the great things about these tours with Ajeet is that everything is included.  We don’t have to put our hands in our pocket for anything except…well, that is for the next post.

We gave Ajeet some advice that it shouldn’t include beer.  Well, after this tour anyway ;o) Lucky for him we are light drinkers, but if he paid for it and people had a big session it would make a dent in his profit.  Having some older guests, especially a couple of accounting and management academics had us throwing ideas to help him improve his business.  He seemed keen to take much of it on board and it was lovely to be able to contribute to a young bloke in the early days of an exciting project.

“What is that crowd under the tree?” someone asked as we passed a big field where there was…you guessed it…quite a crowd under a tree.  Ajeet said ”Cricket.  You want to play?”.  But of course! We do a u-turn and drive across a big field covered in wheat stubble.  Much of the subtlety of this yarn will be lost on the UnAustralian readers.

Under the lone tree are about 20 young men standing in the shade.  The car stops, I jump out and scream AUSTRALIA!!!!  They look bewildered.

Before long we have challenged them to an India V Australia game (plus the UK represented by Jane) and it is match on.  We all stride out into the middle of the field where the stumps are set up.  There is lots of laughter and they are all taking photos and videos.

Dawne is first to bat.  The Indian bowler comes in and delivers what can best be described as a throw, it goes wide and a long way.  He is ribbed mercilessly by everyone and is immediately relieved as bowler.   The next ball sees Dawne connect, hit it over everyone’s head, and get a run.

Tiff is now batting and he belts the tennis ball a really long way causing some poor kid to be bullied into running after it.  We declared victory for the visitors and a tour photo was organised.  The whole thing was an absolute hoot and no doubt will be talked about for ages.

Back on the road and Ajeet points out some people digging a well.  It turns out they are actually deepening a well because the water table has dropped.  There were 4 or 5 men working at ground level.  About 20 metres down the well, standing in water, were 4 men loading rocks into the bucket of a crane.  This was connected to a standing engine blowing huge amounts of diesel fumes that hauled the bucket up where the arm was swung around and manually emptied.

At one point the cable came off the pulley

Watching all this hard work made us realise it had passed beer o’clock so we asked around and eventually found the beer walla down a back road.

I wanted to walk back while the group stocked up, there were some mud houses to photograph.  The rest of the group joined me and as usual it turned into a meet and greet with the locals.

Why on earth had we been drinking Kingfisher beer when Haywards 5000 was so much better… and stronger?

Onwards to the village of Toda Rai Singh, known for its stepwells.  While my tour group may be starting to appreciate them, I am not sure I have converted them into enthusiasts.  I think it will take repeated exposure.  There will be plenty :o)

In the back of another stepwell in the village (the 3rd we had looked at) was a bunch of houses and loads of photo opportunities, accompanied by a growing crowd of locals…as usual.

Not sure how the older bloke managed to photo bomb this one. The people were lovely and friendly and delighted to be in photos.

Sound like a full and action packed day?  It is not finished yet.

With all these stops, it was approaching sunset so rather than climb to a temple overlooking the lake, we headed to a different temple on the edge of the lake.

It was calm and peaceful as the sun sank slowly into the haze.

Not only does Ajeet know the best spots, he is also expert at finding the worst roads which are a special kind of fun at night.

We make it to Bundi fairly late and a black of planning plus some over confidence saw only 2 rooms available at Shivam.  Being tour leader I am also a special kind of special so I had a room and there was 3 in the other.  Ajeet sleeps on the roof.

I managed to get this post done because I got separated the others this afternoon in real time.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the tour. I am only 4 days behind now.

Aaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!! I accidentally switched on time and date stamp. I can edit it out…at home, but too hard on a phone.

Post Diwali Day

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Date: 20 October 2017

Location: Jaipur

Hotel: Hathroi Palace

I need help desperately.  This post covers the 20th October and I am writing it on the 24th.  Doesn’t sound like a problem, but we cram so much into a day that we all agree it feels like we have been here a month.  I am already so far behind I feel like declaring blog bankruptcy and doing a post of only photos.  But I know how this would break the heart of both the readers.

Perhaps I can employ someone to write my posts for me.  It would be cheap enough in India.  Though the truth is that I think wifi will be more accessible from here on which will make life easier.

Please suspend belief and assume that this was written and posted on the day I am talking about.  Ooh, there’s a novel idea, how about the date at the top of the post.

Last night was Diwali.  It was incredible.  There is a joyous atmosphere that is filled with the smoke and sound of uncountable fireworks.  In my last post I didn’t have time to include one of the great moments, when Puja was conducted at Hathroi Palace Hotel.  You are going to have to refer back to Diwali in Udaipur last year for more details on what this is.

There was quite a crowd of hotel guests at the ceremony.   Afterwards Ajeet said it wasn’t done particularly well by the priest.  I think I can say that without fearing priest will read this.

Back to today.  We decided on a half day tour of Jaipur with Ajeet.  This is a warm up to a 2 day tour starting tomorrow.

First stop was sunrise at the old fort and a new, unusual and beautiful stepwell.  Haven’t seen one that looks terraced before.

I may or may not have mentioned that a sunrise/set is sort of delayed by 15 minutes or so because of the haze.  You will never see the sun cross the horizon in India.

Then chai and a breakfast of paratha at the base of Amber Fort, where the elephants gather for tourists who have no conscience to ride them.  Did I really say that?  But it is how I feel.

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.  Although this photo is at a distance, it is only to fit them all in.  It was OK to be right there touching them and letting them smell my hand.  But there is no way I would ride one.

It is impossible for me to describe how awesome the experience was.  I keep wanting to add more here to try to share it, but I need to move on, I am on a deadline for dinner.

Chai and Parathas for breakfast is always a treat and still buzzing from the elephants we were in great spirits.

Next to another part of the fort where there were some very wild and very laid back monkeys.  The photo may make it look like they are tame, but they are quite nervous…unless you have food of course.

I am moving quickly here.  Knowing that Jane, Dawne and Tiff will read this I don’t mind saying that I don’t care if they don’t appreciate Stepwells as much as me.  They were about to visit another and you better get used to the idea that there are more coming…I have seen the future.

I am not 100% certain where we went next.  It is some sort of mausoleum and is beautiful for its symmetry.

There were so many ways…

…to photograph this place

Crap!  I just realised how much more happened that day and I am out of real world time.  Being the night after Diwali the streets were packed.  We walked and walked and had all sorts of encounters, including with the seller of fake moustaches.

And the sweets maker

Getting a tuk tuk back to the hotel was like new years eve, impossible, until we walked out of the party zone.  It was a remarkable night that I highly recommend to anyone.  Add your name in the comments to be considered for the 2018 Kaka Tour.

On and on I could go, but it is dinner time in the real world.

Full Power Diwali

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Location: Jaipur

Hotel:. Hathroi Palace

When I first started planning this trip, being here for Diwali was the #1 priority.

I could place a link to my post from last year and let that cover an extraordinary day, but that would be lazy.

If Christmas Day fell on a Sunday, the day of Diwali would be the equivalent of Saturday morning before at the shopping centre.  It is crowded, people are hustling and bustling buying last minute supplies, there is a good Vibe as everyone wishes each other Happy Diwali.

Our tour group Dear Leader (me) declared a free morning and I went walking to the old city and the street market.  Banks and bigger shops were all closed, I still haven’t managed to get a SIM card.  I mainly need it to confirm hotels.

The busiest shops were the fireworks sellers.  The range was incredible and for some reason I didn’t take any photos of the funny attempts at appropriation of western culture but getting it wrong.  My favourite was the nazi bombs, seriously dangerous crackers, but the packaging, apart from the name, had no reference to nazis.  It doesn’t tell well, but it was quite bizarre.  Also other cultural icons like singers, wrestlers, Disney characters, movie characters, you name it, where they must just search for popular images, then slap them on the front of a fireworks box.  The stocking up would come later.

Your group members met for lunch and so show we hooked up with Wassim, the driver of a very pimped up tuk tuk.  He had fancy seats and sign writing and a sound system you use for a rock concert.  It was loud!

This was a shopping mission, not my usual idea of fun, but with our group I knew it would be.

Tiff is on the lookout for bits and pieces for their dress up box and a kurta was on the list.  I wouldn’t mind buying one, but the first place wants where it would happen.  They weren’t outrageously priced but I wanted to go to where your average Indian would shop, not a fancy emporium

Tiff and Dawne looked great and would have fit in perfectly on the streets, apart from the turban.  Unfortunately for Wassim, no sale meant no commission.

If I didn’t introduce you to Wassim you would miss much of the experience and fun of the afternoon.  He is in his late 20s, speaks excellent English and understands both obvious and subtle jokes.  It was non stop laughs as we covered everything from religion (he is Muslim) to family to gay marriage.  He doesn’t like the idea because eventually there will be noone having children – I am surprised the anti same sex marriage mob didn’t think of that line…or maybe they did.

Dawne and Jane had been to Jaipur before and were keen on going to the blue pottery store.

This was another “not the sort of place I would go” sort of place.  But how wrong can a tour leader be?  Much of the pottery they sell was beautiful and if it wasn’t day 3, I would have bought much more than I did.  If I was building again (no, never) or decorating, or had a shop selling this sort of stuff I would make a special trip.

I bought some lovely door knobs.  The story of my life; 25 years after building our house, about a month ago I finally put some knobs on a pair of doors.  I am about to replace them 😛

Imagine this on the wall of your bathroom

We spent about an hour wandering and the group members chose some nice pieces to carry for 3 weeks :o)  I helped haggle a price, we had expected that giving a high rating on Trip Advisor and Google Maps would get a corresponding low price on pottery.  Not so, but we were happy and so were they.

The Trip Advisor review photo that didn’t get the level of discount we thought it deserved :o)

We’ve all been into shops or restaurants where they have photos of famous customers.  India is no different, maybe a even more into it. A running joke started about how the actor Judy Dench seems to have visited every shop in Jaipur, no doubt with a little help from Photoshop.

Then to another kurta shop, this time a little down market, but still catering to tourists.  This isn’t where Indians buy their clothes.

Our final stop is the fireworks shop.  Rockets, bombs, strings of crackers, hard to light sparklers and assorted flame throwy items.  A bag full of lethal weapons for only 1250R.

The Hathroi family have expanded and taken over the roof top restaurants in a hotel next door.  Nice and high, we decided to eat and watch the night unfold (and set of our fireworks) from there.  We were about to settle down when I noticed a spiral staircase up to the upper roof, and remembering last year in Udaipur went and had a look.  Perfect!!!  We relocated to a space with tables and chairs and a great view over the city.

On the way short walk next door I let off the first bomb. Bloody hell!  The fuse was only about 2 seconds, barely enough time to light and run for my life.  Naive westerners, we were soon shown the trick of unravelling a centimetre of fuse to create a timer of 5 or more seconds.  I still cowered in fear, and we had 10 of these things.

The great success and surprise was the rockets…here goes…

I have run out of time before we leave for Udaipur.  I’ll try to pick this up later.

 

India’s remarkable railways

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Location: Delhi, trying to leave

Hotel: Hathroi Palace, Jaipur…eventually

Before I start, despite my posts seemingly appearing by magic, I want it known that it takes at least 2 hours to make this happen.  If I was doing it on my home computer I think I could do it in 30 minutes.

The biggest hassle is uploading photos.  The bloody multiple photo chooser thingy doesn’t work.  So if I select a bunch of shots, only 1 is uploaded.  This means each image has to be uploaded individually, then maybe rotated or cropped.  All on a tablet.  It’s tough work.

But before I really get started, I remind you that when travelling, flexibility is possibly the most important skill.  It is right behind patience, which is possibly the most important skill.  Which is right behind keeping a sense of humour which is possibly the most important skill.  Have I preempted this post?

Straightforward plan – book train Delhi to Jaipur, 1145hrs departure, 1700hrs or so arrival.  Nice timing all around.

A walk in the morning for some paratha rather than the hotel food and we are on our way to Old Delhi railway station.  As it happens, mistakenly thinking the train was leaving from New Delhi station would have made no difference, but going to the right place is a good idea.

Except that the tuk tuk driver did the classic “seed of doubt” routine and thought we should check at a tourist office that we were going to the right place.  It was a set up to sell us something and I was out of there in less than 60 seconds.

Maybe it was because he wasn’t going to get a commission that had tuk tuk driver decide to drive through an insanely crowded market the day before Diwali.  It was insanely crowded.  There were people and carts and trucks and nowhere to turn.  Fortunately we had heaps of time, ironically we weren’t going to need it.

Finally at old Delhi station and the initial news is that the Be Bujh express (which wasn’t) is running 10 hours late.  Crap!  This is the first travel day and there is a massive fail.  Understanding how India works, the fact that the train is late is confirmed several times and it is turns out to be true.

We went into a huddle on what to do.  We already had our shadow who was trying to help.  He had some suggestions that all seemed to revolve around a different tourist office…his own, of course.

Our options came down to

  • Waiting 10 hours.  Had I been alone I might have gone for this
  • Not waiting 10 hours, but working out what to do.

As Dear Leader of our group I went off to do some research on buses to Jaipur and found out the following from different travel stands:

  • There are none today
  • They leave every 15 minutes
  • There is one at 1800hrs
  • They leave every 30 minutes

The other option was a car and driver, I had a quote of 6,000R, about $120, which between 4 people isn’t too bad.  The absolute lack of any solid bus info  made us decide to go for it.

Enter Mr Singh, the hovering helper’s boss.  He quotes us 10,000R for the same trip and I immediately walk off to book 6,000R car.  I don’t look back but I know he is coming after me.  After a couple of hundred metres he catches up and of course he can do a better price.

With lots of group discussion, mock upset, disappointment, heart failure and outrage we settle on 7,000R for the trip plus a 200R tip for the driver.

I am at a point in the tale where a decision must be made on how to explain how it plays out.  For brevity of reading, but more importantly, for brevity of screen typing, I will keep it brief.

The promises, and below each one, the outcome.

  • A large car, not a small one
    • We were then shown a medium car just like we would be in.  We ended up in a small Suzuki Swift
  • A proper licensed taxi
    • It wasn’t
  • An English speaking driver
    • He didn’t
  • Original helper would be the driver
    • He wasn’t
  • We will leave from Mr Singh’s office
    • We left from a petrol station beside a main road where, despite all the lies, we weren’t in a position to do anything but keep going.
  • Air conditioning
    • It actually was air conditioned.

Pretty soon we were on our way.

When we stopped for lunch and I wandered into the kitchen (as I always do) and ended up helping out, to the amusement of the staff.  The one thing I wasn’t game to do was put a naan bread onto the wall of the tandoori oven.

 

The drive through Jaipur and the pre Diwali market was a great scene setter.  Driver got a 500R trip for great skill at picking the gaps in traffic for 5 hours.  It is not a trip for someone who is nervous in a car.

Arriving to a warm welcome from the Hathroi Palace guys, and at a decent time made it all OK.

Brain dead after a long day, but we made it to the Chillout space where we did exactly that with beer.

Next, Diwali.

 

A day in pre Diwali Delhi

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Location: Delhi

Hotel: Suncourt Yatri, not to be confused with nearby hotels Sunstar Heights, Sunstar Heritage, Sunstar Grand, Sunstar Karol Marg and other similarly “Sun” named but in no way related hotels.

India time is 4.5 hrs behind Australia which makes for interesting initial adjustment and coordination communicating with home.  Especially when on arrival there are a couple of minor home dramas to attempt to sort from not-home.

Wide awake at 5AM (9:30 by my body) so we’re Tiff and Dawne so we headed out for a walk and explore.  Within minutes we heard music and chanting in the distance and a small crown parading behind a mobile temple appeared.

Out of consideration for our early/late morning they stopped outside a house, we didn’t have to chase them.  Some chanting over a quite loud PA, some Puja, and it turned out they were here to bless the house.  It was OK to go inside with the crowd, but there were too many people to see what was going on in the room where it was all happening.  Friendly people explained what it was all about and we walked away with bananas and sweets plus a great start to India.

An ATM mission and now I am cashed up and ready to charge my SIM card, but it wasn’t as easy as I expected.  The guy didn’t seem to know what he was doing so I’ll find another shop today.

The attention from tuk tuk drivers is constant.  One bloke came up to us, all smiles and friendly and good English, he said his name is Lala.  Seemed like a smiling friendly guy so we arranged to meet him at 1000hrs so he could drive us to Old Delhi.

Of course he arrived at 0900hrs, all smiles and very friendly.  He didn’t want to name a price, just “whatever you put in my pocket” which should have been (it actually was) a warning that this was a little weird.  But we decided to do it anyway knowing the price was about 150R ($3).

Lala wanted to stop in an emporium on the way, this is where he makes his real Rupees, even if we don’t buy anything.  Actually he wanted to stop at 2 or 3 emporiums on the way.

The first one was a rabbit warren of small stalls in a single building.  Some of their stuff wasn’t bad, but what a tourist trap ripoff.  Given we had previous India travellers before we had a sense of prices and they were about 5 times more expensive on average.  A smallish carpet that I would expect to pay maybe 2,500R was 30,000R. Maybe I was missing a subtlety that it was 100% genuine silk or whatever, but everything was way overpriced.

We were ready to get going and smiling, friendly Lala said “two more emporiums” and we said “no”.  Suddenly Lala turned…he wasn’t smiling or friendly any more.  It was a remarkable transformation where we seemed to suddenly become a huge disappointment :o) We got to Old Delhi for a reasonable price and a lesson was learned, hopefully by Lala as well.

The girls and boys headed in different directions with plans to meet at the Gurudwara Sis Ganj temple.  We headed to the Red fort for some culture and a failed attempt to get onto the set of a movie being shot out the front.  Even pointing out that we are handsome Australian actors didn’t help.

One frustrating problem solved.  In future, before I leave, when I take my camera charger out to recharge the spare battery I will put a note on my bag so I don’t leave it at home, charging.  Every time I thought about it I  would mentally kick myself up the arse. Managed to buy another charger that will never be used again once I get home…sigh…

 

The Gurudwara Sis Ganj temple is one of the holiest Sikh sites, built on the location where the 9th guru of Sikhs, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was martyred…or as we would say, murdered.

I posted about it last time and was looking forward to sharing the experience.  I wasn’t disappointed.

We started in the temple proper, sitting, wandering and watching.  It is a fascinating place.  As an atheist, I find the depth of people’s devotion quite intriguing.  They prostrate themselves, kiss walls and doors of the altars and simply touch an icon.  It is also a little bewildering, but such experiences is why India.

We spent a lot of time upstairs where you can overlook the temple proper.  The gallery is surrounded by small reading room where people study the holy texts.  I was surprised to see a woman in one of the rooms.  It is incredibly visually rich and awesome photo opportunities, but at the same time is quite intimidating. Not understanding the culture, taking photos seems intrusive and inappropriate.

The attendants are friendly and helpful, unlike Lala, they are genuinely friendly and helpful.  They explained what was going on and that it was fine to take photos.  It still felt weird and intrusive, but hey, that is my stuff.

All of the workers are volunteers or have devoted their life to the temple.  The production of thousands of meals a day is well organised with many hands involved.  Including us.

Tiff threw rotis onto the hot plate, quickly mastering the art of tossing them like a frisbee and not having them land on top of each other.  Dawne didn’t quite get her rotis rolled as round as the experts, but gave it a good shot.  I dished out dhal from a bucket to rows of appreciative if slightly bemused people.

Arm dishing out food may not be me and is for demonstration purposes only.

And the food was great!

Into the old market.  I recognised the stall where I took one of my favourite photos of Sheila in 2015.

2015

It isn’t quite as romantic in the recreation

2017

The trip back to our hotel involved walking through a market to get to a road and grab a til tuk.  Tomorrow is Diwali, so it was crowded.  very crowded.  We walked and walked and walked and the market went on and on.  Craziness indeed.

Four of us for dinner, 5 yummo dishes, 5 naan breads, 3 bottles of water came to 800R, around $4 each.  Then back to the hotel roof which saw Tiff almost decapitated as a rocket shot past his head as we were looking over the edge at the kids setting them off.  A flash of green passed less than 300mm from him and then exploded just above us.  The next one exploded as it was falling back towards me.  It was too funny and the only remedy was beer.

And next time you grumble about your tedious job, re!ember you could be employed as an official nut separator.

Today, train to Jaipur.