- Grabbed a BIG group lunch at a Indo-Chinese-Thai restaurant. So yummy! Hello green curry!
- Completed the day with some fun touristy adventures:
-->Traveled to the Lotus Temple, one of the Baha'i Church's huge international temples
-->Saw the India Gate in Delhi
- We headed back to the hotel, showered up and had one last, great South Indian meal together at Punjabi By Nature. We went around the table showing off our learned Indian "head bob" (which legitimately exist everywhere in India - I find myself doing it too!) as well s shared some of our favorite Indian sayings/phrases. Mine was "yes yes miss, yes yes." All the foreign women are addressed as “madame” or “miss,” and the people selling the random goods or driving the taxis/rickshaws are obnoxiously persistent – yes I am walking towards the temple, no I do not need a ride, yes I want to walk, no I do not want to buy a your marble elephant…oh India!
- Had a "wrap-up" class meeting where we discussed some of our challenges and overall sentiments from the course. Were we able to walk away with a new perspective? New direction New anything? When then discussed some of our ideas for a business plan - one of the course requirements is to develop an outline of a business plan, taking into consideration all the organizations we met with over the last 2 weeks...when I have even the faintest idea of my business plan, I'll be sure to let you know!
- The class parted ways, and said our goodbyes. It was a great two weeks but it was time everyone did their own thing, not as some 20+ person spectacle-mobiletraipsing through India in a big AC bus. hahaha - just saying.
- Met our hired driver**, Kishan, to venture the "Golden Triangle:" Delhi -->Jaipur --> Agra --> Delhi. A very nice man of 30 years from right outside Jaipur. He barely knows English and, of course, we don't know Hindi. But somehow we've made communication work.
- We spend the next 8+ hours on the road towards Jaipur. The trip was supposed to take around 4 hours but traffic, construction, bathroom breaks, and random India-esk delays kept pushing the time of arrival back. We finally pulled into Jaipur around 11:30 pm and hit the pillow of our $12 a night hotel FAST!
Saturday 08.13.11
- First full day in Jaipur, India (Rajastan State) and don’t really know what we’re doing…
- We have the complimentary breakfast which, though great language barriers, equaled a piece of soft white bread with an egg literally coked around it. This is “egg bread” supposedly. Thank god “black tea” is universal!
- We finally get to see life outside BIG cities! And there are even elephants!
- We explored to Amber Fort, a spectacular red sandstone fort right outside of Old City Jaipur.
- Quite famished, we headed to the “posh” side of town – where we ate a late lunch (becoming our norm) at Little Italy. We had a GREAT brick oven pizza and I got to try my first cappuccino…in India!
- We obviously are not broke enough as graduate students, so we wanted to spend more money and Kishan the driver suggested a place that is great for precious and semi-precious gems (something Rajastan is famous for). We were given a quick introduction to the stone carving, shaping, and polishing process and then entered into of course – a huge show room made to the impeccable tastes of the tourists. I wasn’t planning on buying anything, considering I tend to lose everything – however I splurged a little and treated myself to a beautiful s92.5% silver cuff, my new favorite accessory!
- After some money burning, we were famished…again….so we headed to Thali House, a place our Lonely Planet guide recommended for yummy, super cheap eats. “Thali” (pronounced: tal-ie) is particular to the Rajastan area – it consists of a huge platter with a bunch of little dishes, sauces, and veggies served in individualized bowls; accompanied by my latest obsession: chapatti (if naan and thick corn tortillas had a baby, it’s be chapatti) It was DELISH!
- After dinner, we found an internet café, sent some emails then went back to the hotel to call it a night!
….these activities quick blurbs are getting rather lengthy…
Sunday 08.14.11
- We ended up skipping breakfast, wishing to steer clear of another “egg toast” situation
- We checked out of the hotel and went straight to Galta Pol, the “Monkey Temple” for the Sun God (I’m a little flustered about this journey because we didn’t find out till later that we were actually visiting only one side of the mountain that hosts the Monkey Temple – the other side, the more famous and beautiful one, was not mentioned to us by the driver nor the little 14 year old boys who gave us a tour…::le sigh:: next time…
Great view from the temple: all of Jaipur and a photo with our little tour guides
- In order to not waste the day, and because the heat was rising fast, we decided to bypass finding another hotel till later in the day and went on to see some more tourist attractions:
à Jantar Mantar Astronomical Observatory
Something that seems straight out of a Tim Burton film, it is one of the first astronomical observatories and is now a World Heritage Site. I would attempt to explain the devices and their purposed to you but I have no idea what they are. The explanations might as well have been pure gibberish. But they were definitely cool looking structures!
à Jal Mahal
One of the many GORGEOUS palaces in Jaipur!
à City Palace (cost extra to enter so I just admired it from the outside)
à The Pink City (Old Jaipur City)
According to Lonely Planet, the city of Jaipur was painted the color pink in 1853 to welcome the Prince o0f Wales to Jaipur. Quite the welcome gift!
- During part of our adventures we met a charismatic and feisty Israeli woman who was taking a year off (just out of the army) to travel through Asia. She is an incredible woman who was a great travel companion for the Jaipur stint of our trip!
- For lunch, we grabbed a very delicious thali meal with some friends of a friend of Kelly's from the UK. They had just moved to Delhi with the prospect of staying in India for at least 5 years - the woman, Katherine, works in NGO sustainability projects. Her and I had a wonderful conversation about all the organizations I visited over the last 2 weeks and the importance of sustainability and strong business models for all NGOs.
- After lunch we strolled the main Jaipur street- Amber Road - until it was time to take Kelly to the train station to venture back to Delhi to meet up with her husband. We said out goodbyes but knew we'd meet up again in Agra
- After dropping Kelly off, we headed back into the outskirts of Jaipur (New Jaipur) and found a new hotel to stay at. Though relatively cheaper (now only ~$7USD, 300 rupees) it still did not have the internet access we needed to finish our school work. I also sent a text to Dana, our new Israeli friend, about the hotel since she was in the market for new sleeping arrangements. After some arguing mixed with negotiation**, Dana was able to obtain a room that I shared with her in order to drop the costs.
** Apparently hired drives/ taxi drivers/ rickshaw drivers get commission for wherever they take the naive tourists. I admit I was a little naive about the situation with Kishan. He is a really sweet guy and was son incredibly helpful. However, it took a second to see that he had been steering us towards restaurants and hotels that he'd get a cut of the profit. After we figured this out, we desired to be nice but firm with our driver - it's an entirely different world here in India. I am learning to not be passive aggressive and sugar-coat everything; instead I am being nice but firm. After we started being firm there was definitely a change of power between us and Kishan but it was for the best. We were open to his suggestions and sometimes push-backs for going to places but we remained firm about not being taken advantage of. This was a small but powerful travel learning experience for me. And something for anyone traveling in India to be aware of..
- We grabbed some more thali for lunch (we just couldn't get enough) and did some last bits of shopping before heading to our new hostel for the nigh: the Pearl Palace. We were able to share a sweet dorm room for 175 rupees each, a meager $4.00 USD :)
- It was a relaxing evening complete with a very long hot shower, some blog writing for class, some international travelers mingling, and crepes with banana and nutella for dinner. A great last night in Jaipur.
Tuesday 08.16.11
- After a yummy and semi-conscious breakfast on the rooftop, we packed up and checked out of the hostel. On to Agra! We said our loving good-byes to Dana, and I promised her to visit her in Israel soon. I am already looking into plane tickets ;)
- The drive from Jaipur to Agra took about 5-6 hours in which I had time to stare out the window, sleep, stare some more, write in my journal, have broken English conversations with Kishan, and stare some more. The countryside of India is breathtaking, gorgeous shades of rich green and with the heavy monsoon clouds hanging overhead, it was my picturesque Southeast Asia.
- Driving in India is quite an experience, though. You have to battle not only monsoon rains, but also dogs, goats, cows, water buffalo, elephants, camels, horses, pigs, pedestrians, auto rickshaws, bicycles, pedicabs, taxicabs, other cars, buses, tractors, trucks, and the occasional cart full of hay. It's a roller coaster every second of the way...
- We arrive to Agra, battling monsoon rains to get to our hostel which is plastered with images of an Indian Bob Ross guy, endearingly called Sai Baba by the hostel owner. He was supposedly a divine messenger of God while living on Earth.
- We sought out a cafe with food and internet to plan out of next day Taj Mahal trip as well as work on our class work. Agra is quite the bustling town!
And it just so happens that from the rooftop of our cafe, we could see the top of the Taj Mahal!
- The rest of the day was spent working and sleeping, we had a very early morning ahead of us!
Wednesday 08.17.11
-5:30am I wake up and prepare for a moment I have been waiting for as long as I can remember - to walk through the glorious adorned gates and see with my very own eyes the Taj Mahal, one of the 7 wonders of the world.
And there it was, gently waking up with the rest of the travelers that early morning - coming to explore all of its beauty...
It still manages to absolutely blow my mind, was I REALLY there? Did I really see it and touch it and experience its immense beautiful??? It is as amazing as people say and so much more. It is quite literally beyond words. I haven't been this speechless since I sat on the hills of Machu Picchu. This will probably takes me weeks to process...
And of course I had to take all the fun touristy pictures too..
- After our sunrise service exploration of the Taj Mahal - totaling nearly 3 hours (it's just THAT amazing) we grabbed a super delicious breakfast of eggs, toast, bananas and tea costing us a mere 50 cents (~25 rupees). Gotta love India!
- We headed back to the hostel for a much needed shower, nap, and quite time. It was glorious!
- We then packed up the bags again and headed towards the Agra Fort, built by the same Shah who built the Taj, it started as a palace but was turned into a prison by the Shah's son who dethroned him. It was around a 3 km walk, much appreciated after weeks of sitting on a bus. Despite the suffocating humidity, we made it to the Agra Fort alive and well. We met up with Kelly and her husband Mike for a quick sec and then said goodbye as they were leaving to head back to Delhi and then off to Thailand for a week (lucky folks). We explored the Agra Fort around sunset and finally had some peace and quiet - a rarity int he bustling chaos that is India.
- Exhausted but serene, we headed back to the hostel to grab dinner at the same great Taj Cafe with the rooftop view of the Taj Mahal. We said our goodbyes to the beautiful monument over veg burgers and a Thumbs Up (India's version of coke).
- That night we packed up and prepared for the end of our week-long adventure through Rajastan and Uttar Pradesh in India. The next set of adventures would be our own; mine in Valsad and both of the Jenn's in Varanasi in Northern India. What an amazing experience I have had thus far and what an extremely lucky woman I am.
I plan to reflect more on my journeys from the last week and write some of my thoughts on this blog. I just wanted to be able to put up a quick bit about my stories, travels and photos to share with you. Hopefully you will take the time to read the rest of the my blogs posted below on my final experiences with social entrepreneurial organizations in India.
the water bottles....reminds me so much of bali. constantly drinking water and peeing WHEREVER is available. :)
ReplyDeleteso happy you're having such a fulfilling trip!!
Jaipur is one of the most famous cities, where the climate may be hot, but the food is very much first class.
ReplyDelete