Carol and Harold's India trip: November 6- 10, 2010

On Saturday morning, we took one last walk to Hauz Khas market. Unfortunately, my favorite shop was not open, so I could not buy that last minute gift item. After lunch and final packing, we took a taxi to the Suryaa Hotel – a five-star superior hotel in southeast Delhi. We explored the hotel (which has many shops and an amazing fitness center, pool and spa) and the surrounding market area where we had dinner at an eclectic restaurant. Harold had a spicy Indonesian dish and Carol had Italian mushroom ravioli (and, although Grandma wouldn’t have recognized it as such, it was delicious). We bought a bottle of Indian Cabernet Shiraz wine (our first alcohol in five weeks) and spent the rest of the evening watching mediocre TV and sipping our rather tasty wine.

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel – a typical buffet with mostly western foods. Then, at 10:30, we met our group. There are 16 of us – five couples, a mother/daughter, two women cousins and two single women. After introductions, Sanjay, our guide for the next two weeks, spoke for over 1.5 hours giving us an orientation about Indian history and the tour. Luckily, after the talk, I asked him how strict the 44 pound limit on the airplanes will be. He said not to worry since it will be a cumulative weight for the group. This was a relief; we had spent considerable time making a bag full of “throw aways” and Harold was planning on filling his pockets with assorted cameras and other heavy objects. We figured they wouldn’t weigh him – just our luggage so he was planning to board the plane at about 250 pounds!! We are delighted because now we can shop!

Our day of touring was somewhat repetitious of places we’ve already visited. We stopped at the India Gate and drove around Imperial Delhi; then we went to Old Delhi, where we visited the Jama Masjid (a 17th Century mosque) and took a bicycle rickshaw ride (which was quite harrowing). We tried to visit Raj Ghat (Ghandi’s cremation site), but it was closed by security as President Obama was visiting there the next day. So, we made a quick stop at Ghandi Smirti (the site of Ghandi’s assassination) then had a wonderful Indian dinner which we ate in the traditional way – with our hands.

On Monday, after breakfast, we visited Qutub Minar (we visited this site on our first day in India) then went to a Kashmir handicraft store where they showed us how they make the Kashmir carpets. Harold was tempted but cooler heads (Carol’s) prevailed and we left without a $1500+ purchase. We then went to the Lotus Temple (again we had visited this on our first day) and a Chinese-Indian lunch.

After a short break, Sanjay took us to a Sikh temple, called Guruwara Damdama Sahib. This temple was not as elaborate as the first Sikh temple we visited with CCS, but it was interesting in its own right. After another short break, we went broke into two groups and each went to an Indian family’s home. The couple we visited lived in an upper middle class house and the dinner was delicious traditional Indian fare.

Although some of our initial Delhi sights are repeats, Sanjay’s explanations have given us a more in-depth understanding. But, we look forward to tomorrow and our trip beyond Delhi. Our next stop is Jaipur, the “Pink City” in Eastern Rajasthan.

We left Delhi at 7:30 Tuesday morning for a day of driving, seeing lots of cows, camels, monkeys and other intriguing sights along the way. We took some short breaks and arrived at Chomu at 2 PM. Here we visited the Chomu Palace for lunch. This is an amazing authentic Rajasthati style structure that has been converted from a 300 year old palace to a restaurant and hotel. The food was excellent. After touring the Palace, we walked around the village of Chomu which was a typical, bustling market town. We boarded the bus again for the last hour of driving and arrived at the hotel in Jaipur at 6:30. We all met in Sanjay’s room for some special Old Monk Indian rum and lots of talk of world politics. It was an excellent day!

We met at 8:00 on Wednesday morning and boarded the bus for a ride through old Jaipur. Although smaller than Delhi (3 million people vs. 15 million people), it is no less chaotic and congested. Stunning hilltop forts and glorious palaces adorn the city telling the tale of a rich royal past. It is called the “pink city” because in 1876, Maharaja Ram Singh had the entire old city painted pink, a color associated with hospitality, to welcome the Prince of Wales. The old city is partially encircled by a crenellated, battle-scarred wall. We stopped first at Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds). This five-story building is actually just a façade and was constructed in 1799 to enable ladies of the royal household to watch the processions of the city. From here we traveled to Amber (pronounced “amer”) and drove by jeep to the fort at the top of a rugged hill. Some people rode elephants up the hill but our tour company stopped allowing this when some tourists were trampled recently. The fort was built over 300 years ago and is in amazingly great shape. We had another jeep ride down the hill and back to the bus for a trip to the gem/jewelry making establishment (a must for all tours in any country!). The ride back to the hotel took a long time as traffic was horrendous, but the views from the bus windows were priceless and no one complained. The camel carts, waddling cows and water buffalo, playful monkeys, rampaging rickshaw drivers, hustling businessmen, waving locals and begging street children kept our noses and cameras pressed to the windows. After lunch at the hotel, a group of us went to a local market. Four of the women (including Carol) got henna put on their hands. For dinner, we all went for another home dinner – this time to the home of a 45 year old woman whose husband died several months ago. It was another example of how far India has progressed; not many years ago, becoming a widow would have meant hardship but she is able to carry on, helped by her husband’s family. Her home was quite nice and we had dinner outside on a patio.