Category: 2017 – India

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.

2017 India trip test post

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Only 3 weeks until I leave for India, departing mid October, returning early November!

This year I am travelling with some friend and neighbours Tiff – who has never been to India – and Dawne – who has been once plus Tiff’s sister Jane, who lives in the UK.  We should have a really funny time together.

Having an umbrella theme is fun, while having an adventure there is an overall purpose.  2015 was Stepwells, 2016 was meeting people, this year the theme is music.

 

This has been a test post to check if my blog still works OK and posts to FB and G+