Rat Temple

Another early start to the day to drive to Bikaner.  A great breakfast omelette with fresh papaya and masala (chai) tea.  I already know I'm going to miss having my two cups of that in the morning and the one in the evening--it's replaced my former favourite beverage:  strong dark, black coffee.

I thought I'd show you some other road hazards that we encounter on a regular basis.  Livestock and other animals such as dogs are always walking alongside the road or crossing it.  And since their actions are not always predictable, you run the risk of hitting them.  

Unfortunately, there is lots of road kill -- it isn't clear that anyone takes the responsibility to clear the roads judging from how many and how long the bodies seem to stay there.  I haven't seen any large animals bodies, in fact there is a fine of 50,000 rupees (about $1,000) if you strike and kill a cow.  But we haven't hit any (although today we scraped a post a little with the side view mirror).  

When we arrived at Bikaner, the first place we saw was Junagarh Fort.  It's also know as the Red Fort as it's made from red limestone.  The fort dates back to the sixteenth century but has been added onto with major additions during its existence by the 16 generations of the ruling family of Bikaner.  It is a well preserved structure and were able to use an audio tour to describe what we were looking at. Here are some of the rooms in the massive fort.  

Following the Fort exploration, we had a nice outdoor lunch and then headed for Rat Temple.  I'm not sure what I was expecting-- maybe a temple witha few rats in small cages near some altar--who knows.  But I know I wasn't expecting thousands and thousands of rats having free reign of all areas within the temple and seeing people worship said rats by sitting with and feeding them.  Walking around barefoot among said rats was as freakish as you can expect.  You can check out the rat sitting on the shoulder of the man with the red turban.  

I have other photos but felt I shouldn't ruin your day.  This is definitely one of the more uncomfortable experiences I've ever had in my life.  I rank it right up there with the time I munched on silkworms...

Following Rat Temple we went and saw another temple known as Jain Temple Bhandasar and met the 31st generation of priest/caretaker for this temple.  This temple pre-dates the beginning of Bikaner.  Apparently the mortar was mixed with ghee (butter) instead of water so the mortar weeps a little greasiness on hot days.  It's a rich looking, well maintained building with beautiful paintings.  

Our hotel tonight is the Bhangra Niwas, a heritage haveli (a private mansion) with a beautiful central courtyard.  Our suite is on the ground floor looking into the courtyard. Here's the view from our door to the courtyard.

The suite has the yellow lamp section with the beds, a red lamp section for the sitting room and a bright entry room with a two level bathroom beyond that.

And here's the view of the courtyard from the 2nd storey balcony where we managed to over-eat at dinner (yet again).  

In the late afternoon, we took in the city's main open air market.  If you don't get run over by speeding motorcycles or tuk-tuks (also known as tempos - they are those three wheeled auto-rickshaws), you can buy all sorts of produce, fast food and wares.  The market extends beyond the central square in the picture down very narrow streets.  Most households need to buy from the market everyday as they don't have refrigeration.  

All the stalls are packed with an assortment of stuff to sell.  This stall sold all sorts of food:  chilies, red onions, (not sure what that grain is in the foreground, and a colourful array of spices at the very back of the picture as well as an assortment of unrelated dry goods.  

We ended the market trip by completing our wild ride in a tuk-tuk.  We had started to take a tuk-tuk to go to the market and hadn't gone far when our driver caused a traffic jam by getting stuck between a wall and an oncoming car and felt there wasn't enough room to pass.  All the vehicles (I'd say about 12 to 18 motorcycles and Tuk-tuks) that were held up started honking.  That's standard operating procedure.  I felt bad for the driver, but it was kind of fun.

Judith is tall, with a light complexion and light coloured hair.  She's turned out to be of real interest to people as she stands out in a crowd scene.  It's interesting and amusing to see the reaction of people, particularly the children who aren't used to seeing a Caucasian.  

Next up is Jaisalmer.  

Road to Mandawa

We rose early today to be on the road to Mandawa by 8:00.  The route took us through the countryside along single lane roads, regular street widths and 4 lane highways.  If I thought that driving in New Delhi was highly entertaining, today's trip was even more so.  

Leaving Delhi saw us get onto a 4 lane highway to Gurgaon which is apparently where a lot of call centres are located.  I say it's a four lane highway because that's the number of marked lanes going southbound.  But the reality was that there were 7 lanes of traffic screaming down the highway and the lane markers are just ignored.  

We left the main highway and got onto a secondary road to Mandawa.  Another day of nail biting driving.  Some of today's road highlights included:

Our first camel:

Several near misses (note all these vehicles are coming towards us...)  I don't normally get freaked out about being a passenger but I must admit I have been surprised that we haven't lost a side view mirror.  

And lots of packed vehicles such as this bus:

We're staying at Castle Mandawa which is a former castle being restored.  Our room looks very period.  There isn't much furniture, but what it does have is very functional.  Here are the beds:

And the bathroom

The grounds are very cool.  Here's the view outside our room (our door is open).  

And here is the shot of the swimming pool.

We went on a walking tour of the city.  It's used to be inhabited by rich merchants who built magnificent homes (havelis) that were known for interior and exterior wall paintings. Some of these are being restored.   They are pretty impressive.  

Tomorrow we're off to Bikaner.  Yes, more driving!

A Sensory Workout

Today was our first full day in India.  We woke earlier than the alarm due to hotel noises that we weren't used to so we got up and proceeded to have a leisurely buffet style breakfast.  I decided to have an omelette made to order at the egg table and thought it was pretty good.  There were all sorts of Indian breakfast items; maybe tomorrow I'll give them a try.

Our driver Amrik (I spelled his name wrong the previous blog) came and picked us up and off we went to our first of many sights.  Some of these we saw from the exterior as Amrik said some of the mosques and fortresses were better in the other cities.  

Getting anywhere in Delhi is a challenge.  So many cars, buses, motorbikes, auto rickshaws (the motorized ones), rickshaws, bicycles and pedestrians.  Horns going off all the time, left hand drive, traffic circles and aggressive driving.  Lanes forming and then fizzling out.  And everyone trying to squeeze into your lake.  Amrik said if you can drive here you can drive anywhere in the world.  I sort of agree with that as long as you can obey some lraffic laws too.

There are lots of road stories.   We got rear ended today but since no one was going fast everyone just drove on.  The car has 2 inch diameter steel crash bars mounted in front of the bumpers to reduce the impact of these fender benders.  

At every major stop light you get these street kids coming up to your window begging for money.

They"ll stand there until they get money or you drive off.  Shekar said kids ca go to school for free; there is no reason for them to be begging like this.  Motorcycles seem to outnumber cars.  I've seen some motorcycles that have two wheels mounted outside the rear wheel--sort of like training wheels.  And some motorcycles are carrying entire families.

Some of the roads are full of street vendors and people (mostly men) are wandering among the carts or just sitting or lying down by the roadside.  Mobile vendors sell their wares on the street.  We took a rickshaw ride at our first stop, a route that took us along many market oriented streets.  

The rickshaw ride was so much noisier than any vehicle ride without any barriers to block out the noise or provide some cushion in case of a collision.  All the honking, engine noise, shop repair hammering and yelling was right in our ears.  The ride was a lot wilder--although it was slow you could feel every bump in the road, sway in the turns and the close proximity of the other vehicles.  And over top the regular petrol and exhaust smells,  you could smell incense, food cooking or sweet fruits when going past the market stalls.  

We saw so many sights today; they're already starting to blur together and it's only our first full day.  But here are some of the highlights:

Humayun's Tomb:

Actually there were several tombs on the site, but his was the most impressive.  The Taj Mahal was styled after this building one hundred years later.  

Indira Ghandhi Memorial

This was a walled site with the actual memorial placed within the walls.  The carpet is there because you need to remove your shoes.  

The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial.  

This section of the memorial shows the actual path taken when he was assassinated and the marble block marks the spot were he was shot. Yes, the carpet is because you need to remove your shoes.  

And this is the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Sikh temple, the most well known Sikh temple in Delhi.  This shot is from the rear of the building.  Not only did we remove our shoes, we also covered our heads.  

An early start tomorrow.  We're off to see the countryside on our way to Mandawa.

A Near Adventure

We were advised at the boarding gate on our flight to New Delhi that our boarding passes issued by Air Canada on the Toronto to New York leg weren't valid and that new passes were necessary.  At the check in counter they asked for our baggage tags so that our bags could be put on the flight.  Judith had hers, but I couldn't find mine.  They were issued at Pearson airport and the claim is stuck on the back of the Pearson to JFK boarding pass.  But after hauling it out so many times, mine must have fallen off.  So the check in staff advised me that they couldn't put my bag on the plane.  

At this point I could hear Steve's line about it not being an adventure unless something went wrong.  And I was heading at full speed towards a real big adventure.  I started asking whether it would be possible for me to visually identify the suitcase, saying that there shouldn't be many unclaimed bags.  Apparently not because the sorting is done inside a warehouse and I'm not permitted access.  They advised me that I would need to file a claim when I got to India.  I indicated that my name was on the exterior of the case and couldn't the bag be identified this way?  No.  By this time I'm worried as it's clear they're sticking to their rules.  Judith pursued the claim procedure direction.  The clerk indicated that upon landing we would need to head to the baggage claim area and begin filing a claim with Air Canada.  They would need the flight number and baggage claim number.  Judith asked how it was possible to file a claim without the baggage claim number.  At this time the counter staff manager radioed down to the baggage warehouse and instructed them to "let the Air Canada bag on the flight".  And then told me that my bag would make it on board.  I guess being persistent worked.  I know I wasn't about to accept "no" for an answer.

We got into Delhi around 5:00 Feb 4th.  Almost 14 hours in the air.  We were met by the tour rep Shekar who called for our driver, Mr Amrit to pull up curb side.  Judith had worked with the agent in Toronto to design this trip and once it was done, the agreement was that they would look to book others on this tour.  We found out s few days before we left that they didn't book anyone else, so we've ended up with a private tour, 

The ride to the hotel took about an hour as the traffic was crazy---exactly as you read about.  A bit of unregulated jockeying through the streets with liberal use of horns.  99% of the vehicles have battle scars--scrapes and dings from getting too close to other vehicles or fixed objects.  It was slow and all the cars, motorcycles, busses, tempos (motorized three wheeled bike cabs) working their way along the streets trying not to let anyone cut in.  No lanes on some roads and they ignore them anyways.  If there's room to squeeze in between two vehicles, a new lane forms.   We actually made it into second gear a few times and eventually made it to the hotel which Shekar told us was in one of the swankiest areas of Delhi.  

Shekar accompanied us to the hotel and was there to hand-hold us until we got settled.  During the ride he gave us survival tips--that there would be lots of scam artists coming up to us to sell us stuff or offer services, but unless he or Mr Amrit said it was OK, we needed to ignore these offers.  He went on to say that as a tour company they were responsible for our safety, so wanted to make sure we didn't get led astray by these people.  

The hotel had an airport-like security checkpoint.  You pass your bags through a scanner and walk through a metal detector.  Every time you go into the hotel you go through their security.  The room looked great.  So far so good.

We asked Shenkar about going to the mall that was part of the swank enclave and he said that would be fine as long as we were back by 9:30 - 10:00.  Once checked in we connected to their Wifi and then proceeded off to the mall.  It felt and looked very similar to downtown malls in North America. 

It was a bit unsettling to go outside to walk to the mall, swank enclave or not.  It was dark and there were a few men milling around.  In fact I noticed lots of men milling around on all the streets on our way to the hotel.  Some women, but at least 90% are men.  And a another security check point to enter the mall.  We have our guards up.  

I fell asleep before I finished this day's blog.  Had a good night's sleep so off to get ready to explore breakfast and then Delhi.

Delay in New York

We woke early (3:30 early!) to get to the airport on time and arrived in JFK airport in New York to discover that the Air India flight would be delayed by two hours.  We took the Airtrain to get from Terminal 7 where we landed at to Terminal 4 where the Air India flight takes off from.  We killed time by having a leisurely lunch involving a fresh veggie plate as that would be the last bit of fresh vegetables until we get back.  Our table overlooked part of the Delta airlines gates.  As you can probably tell by now, I love looking at all the grounds crew activity that takes place around the airport.  

We followed this by getting some massage therapy for Judith's neck.  Pinched nerve she tells me. There were 3 of these spas in our terminal.

She was very happy with the outcome and the spa let us hang in the reclining massage chairs until our flight.  (We both caught some zzzz's)

Then it was off to get me a creamsicle float and Judith opted for a frozen custard.  I can confirm that the float was excellent.  

When we arrived at the Air India departure gate there was a whole crowd of people standing at the gate entrance.  There was another hour before the flight was scheduled to leave so we're surprised at the scene.  Judith went to look for a reason why all these people were standing there, but there wasn't any apparent reason other than they wanted to be assured that they got on. 

It's about a 14 hour flight.  Hopefully I sleep through most of it.  We land India time at 3:00 in the afternoon tomorrow.  

Snow Storm in Toronto

I flew into Toronto in the midst of their worst snow storm of the year.  It was beautiful flying in (particularly after landing) and so interesting to see all the snow removal activity on the runways as we were taxiing in.  The snow plows had the biggest blades I've ever seen and there was a long queue of big dump trucks that were waiting to have snow blown into them to haul away.  Our runway had some snow much like the one in this picture that they were in the process of clearing.

Upon landing, I picked up my email from Judith that informed me that her little vehicle couldn't make it to the airport safely--something about it going sideways more than going forwards.  So off to the taxi lineup where all the other people whose rides couldn't make it that night were waiting.  I'm guessing that lineup was over 100 people long and not moving very fast.  It was after midnight and I figured it would take at least another hour before I would see a cab.  When I asked the security guy about the line up he said there was another taxi line up at the other end of the building that was a lot shorter.  I wasn't sure whether I was being sent on a wild goose chase but I proceeded off.  On the way a man came up to me asking if I needed a taxi.  This was just after the public address system warning about being careful about non approved taxi drivers... So I asked if he was authorized and he of course said yes.  Authorized or not, I ended up negotiating a fare and followed him to his taxi on the departures level.  It was an official taxi and I suspected that he had just dropped off a fare and didn't want to get back into the taxi queue to get his next ride.  Apparently it would have taken him up to an hour to wait his turn for his next fare, so he was trolling the arrivals level to find a fare which ended up to be me because I was hoping to get to Judith's as soon as I could.  It was pretty treacherous out on the roads.  I have never seen the 401 so devoid of vehicles and that was a good thing as there was a lot of road sliding.  Had an interesting conversation with the driver about how he ended up in Canada, the economics of driving a taxi and about his family.  He got me to Judith's safely by about 1:00 am where she fed me a little snack (I was starving!) and we chatted for a bit before I felt I should go to bed.  

Here's Judith doing her flight check in the next morning.  It looks as if her cat, Mortimer is playing with an electronic device, I'm not sure what it actually was, but it's not a tabloid.  

We've gone to the store to buy some last minute essentials (wine gums for me).  Judith still has to pack (!!) but we'll be off bright and early tomorrow leaving here around 5:00 am to catch the flight to New York and then to New Delhi.  The time difference 13.5 hours ahead, so I'll see whether jet lag is an issue.  

It's Cold in Calgary

I've finished up a great visit with Margo (Steve's sister) and Doug.  They reminded me about my earlier comment about Calgary, but it's hard to change my mind about a city where you need to endure -28 degrees with a wind chill.  I'll admit, I didn't pack a coat warm enough for this temperature so I gladly took Margo's offer to borrow a jacket.  It's a sprawling city, so huge and spreading without any natural boundaries to contain it.  That's really apparent from the air, where it's a suburbia as far as the eye can see.  

I asked them if we could do a little shopping to buy a camera accessory that I can upload my camera pics via wifi to my iPad that my colleague Amanda suggested I get.  I had been thinking of this gadget for a while, so that I could add pictures to this blog.  While I was in the air, they phoned around and got a store to put one on hold for me.  And no PST in Alberta, although I suspect there's renewed pressure to think about implementing one.  

We went to a CD release party for Magnolia Buckskin, an all female band of four.  Multi-instrumentalists and great harmonies.  Fun show, stage presence could use a bit of improvement, but I enjoyed the evening, particularly my bison burger with blue cheese.  

Of course they had a 1000 piece puzzle to work on and Doug and I finished it off with about an hour to spare before we left for the airport. And home made biscuits this morning.  Nummy!  

Now it's off to Toronto to meet up with Judith.  I'm scheduled to land close to midnight; Judith tells me this is good because it should be one of the few hours of the day where the 401 (the main expressway across Toronto) isn't backed up...  We'll be spending the time organizing ourselves for the big trip. I hear there's a big snow storm happening there soon, stay tuned.