MissTtravels

Day 1

A long day of travel. Nothing exciting. Sydney to Singapore, a layover of a few hours, and then Singapore to Delhi.

Having expected queues and bureaucracy and confusion, I found the arrival process smooth and streamlined. No fuss.

I emerged from the airport into heavy pollution. Really poor air quality.

A short drive to the East Park Inn, a clean and pleasant hotel. Slept well.

Day 2

I had breakfast in the hotel.

At 9 o’clock, I met with the local tour guide Prahlad, and the other person on the tour Rachel.

We went to see the Jama Mosque in Old Delhi. The traffic on the way was chaotic to say the least, with lots of creative lane-changing and lots of honking.

The mosque was built in the 17th century by the Moghul emperor. Made of red sandstone. The courtyard holds 25000 worshippers. Really impressive.

We then walked through the narrow streets of Old Delhi, where there are tiny shops (many selling wedding finery) and old mansions converted into hotels. Would definitely not have ventured there alone.

We eventually came to an amazing Sikh temple. Our guide filled us in on the history of the place, and also explained the Sikh religion in some detail. We were able to observe the prayers and also visited the communal kitchen where food is prepared for whoever wants it.

The rest of the day was spent travelling to Agra by car. About 4 hours journey. We stopped along the way for lunch, and had a very pleasant meal. Both Rachel and I thought the flavours quite mild, so we are assuming the locals are cutting back on the spices for our benefit!

Late afternoon we arrived Agra, a small city of only 2.5 million! Our hotel is truly delightful. it is called the Da Bungalow.

Day3

We were up very early to queue up for the 6.10am opening of gates of the Taj Mahal. The idea is to be there when the sun rises. There was a thick blanket of fog which made things slightly surreal.

I don’t know how to describe what we saw. Surely the most incredible building anywhere. So much more than you have ever imagined. From a distance it appears gleaming white, but it is actually a soft pale greyish marble, carved everywhere with intricate patterns and inlaid with brilliant colours. Perfectly symmetrical apart from the tomb of Shah Jehan, which added as an afterthought. Let the pictures tell the story….

I had always dreamed of seeing this building. It was better than I ever expected. A beautiful story immortalised in stone. I feel very lucky.

Fun fact:

After the 20000 foreign workers who had built the Taj were finished building, they were forcibly kept in India. Their descendants still live in Agra, and are employed to do maintenance and repairs on the building. 17 generations of workers working on one building!

Later in the day, we visited the Red Fort in Agra. Also built by Shah Jehan, the 5th Moghul emperor, it is almost equally stunning. It faces the Taj across a river. A sampling of the various buildings inside the red sandstone walls….

Shah Jehan built this fort after his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal was buried in the Taj. Unfortunately his son and heir turned on him, and kept him under house arrest in the Red Fort for 8 years prior to death, so that he could rule in his stead. He was imprisoned in the beautiful wind palace.

A fascinating place…

Day 3 ended with a visit to rug-making cooperative, where we watched weavers at work. They were so beautiful, and I succumbed. A small Agra rug is now on its way to Toukley. ……

Day 4

We left Agra to visit Fatehpur Sikri, another impressive Moghul palace complex. This one is also World Heritage and was built in the 16th century by Akbar the Great, grandfather of Shah Jehan. It is built entirely of the local red sandstone.

Akbar left Agra to set up his new capital, and built 12kms of wall with 9 gates, to enclose his palace. He had 3 wives (one Moslem, one Christian and one Hindu) and each had a palace reflecting her own heritage.

Inside the walls, you move through massive courtyards to view each palace and the numerous other buildings in the complex.

A selection of views……

The place was eventually abandoned due to water supply.

PS

Forgot to mention this when I wrote earlier:

Akbar’s council chamber was one of the most stunning rooms I have ever been in. It has a column in the centre which he used to sit on, with his ministers around him. The room was designed so that they could see out but no-one could see in. Akbar was quite enlightened in some ways. He was 13 when he acceded to the throne, and always asked his elders (across a range of religions) for advice.

The chamber

Our tour group consisted of two:

The remainder of the day was spent travelling back to Delhi. We had lunch at a very pleasant hotel on the way.

I am so grateful not to be driving here. Absolutely terrifying. Zooming along a quite good expressway, you will have to suddenly slow down for 6 cows, various dogs and a man driving a camel cart! The traffic in Delhi itself is chaotic in the extreme.

We arrived early evening, and my companion went off to find her friends.

Day 5

Today was another day of travel. I flew from Delhi to Mumbai. All very brisk and efficient.

Mumbai has a much more tropical feel. Air quality seems a bit better. Much hotter.

The hotel where I am meeting up with my next tour tomorrow is very nice. More of an international standard place. Ramada. It is right by the beach and I have a sea view. should be very pleasant for 2 nights.

I have ventured out a couple of times:

Will probably have dinner in the hotel. I am still being a bit cautious about food. Not wanting to tempt fate…

Day 6

Today I saw a man with no fingers begging.

Today I saw a $2 billion, 27-storey building which is home to ONE family. And their 265 cars.

This is India.

A selection of the sights from my tour of Mumbai today:

As you can see, Mumbai contains many reminders of British rule. There is a whole suburb of Victorian office buildings now containing government offices, as well as the extravaganza which the station.

The Gate was built to celebrate the visit of the King and Queen in 1911. The British forces left by it in 1947.

In the evening, I met up with the other members of the group. There are 8 of us in total. All older women. Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Bendigo. Age range I would say 50s to 70s. All seem to have a passionate interest in textiles.

The tour leader is called Sunitha.

Day 7

Another day of travelling. We left the hotel 9.30ish, and then hung around at the airport for a while. The 11 o’clock flight eventually left at 12.45.

On the plane I had a nice chat to my seat neighbour, a nice Indian businessman.

We arrived in Kandla, a port city in Gujarat about 2pm. We will now travel in our little bus.

We had a huge thali lunch in a local restaurant and then proceeded along bumpy roads to the city of Bhuj, where we will be sleeping for 4 nights.

In Bhuj, we settled in to our hotel. Let’s just say…we are expecting Basil Fawlty any minute….my room is vast and you could have a dance party in the bathroom….

In the evening we went out to the old part of the city, where there is an old palace and a bazaar. Narrow winding streets of little shops selling jewellery and all sorts of stuff. We shared the street with motorcycles, scooters, people and dogs. Very relaxed and non-touristy.

Dinner was at the hotel. Delicious paneer tikka. We are pretty much vegetarian now!

Day 8

We spent the day in and around Ajrakhpur, learning about all the different types of textiles that are made here in the Kutch region.

First, we went to a dye works. Absolutely fascinating. We watched processes that have remained unchanged for centuries, using madder and indigo and other dyes.

Next we visited a block printing workshop, where we watched saris being printed by hand in a 16-part process.

The block printing place had an amazing shop, and we all went a little bit crazy.

Later we went to a museum complex called the Living and Learning Design Centre, where the textile arts of Kutch are being preserved. Focussing on the almost-lost embroidery skills of the 12 tribes in the region, this place aims to showcase, preserve and teach skills. They also work with designers to find modern ways of using the old skills. A sample of the things we saw….

Quite stunning. Again, exit through the gift shop…..beautiful original hand-made items at tiny prices.

They also let us do some block printing of our own, which was fun.

Even those of us who have sewing skills were in total awe of the beauty and intricacy of the local work. We were also really impressed with how beautifully designed and run the museum is. A really great experience.