Gather no moss: adventures of P and P: August 2015

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Obligatory Taj Mahal pilgrimage

Do you know anyone who's traveled to India as a tourist and not been to the Taj Mahal? Probably not. Going to Agra is so mandatory that the city's economic activity revolves exclusively around tourism and separating tourists from their money. If the Taj were to disappear some day, they would build a new one from a pile of gift store replicas, at Best Price, and keep selling entrance tickets.

By all realistic expectations, the Taj Mahal should be massively overhyped, and visiting should be terrible. I steeled myself for an ordeal, but then...wow.

The most achingly perfect highway shoots commandingly from Delhi to Agra. "Go," it rumbles. "See."

Our lunch was priced reasonably. The touts touted reasonably. Even the "buying is not compulsory" shop where they show you how the stone inlay work is done before steering you into the Room of Very Expensive Marble Tables will eventually take you to the adjoining but hidden Room of Marble Trinkets for Cheapskates. And then:

The Taj.

Towering over the thousands of visiting tourists, the Taj Mahal defiantly radiates serenity. It is beautiful. Timeless.

No more words, here are the photos you'd rather see instead:

-Peter

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Friends and Family in New Delhi

Priscilla and I have been traveling by ourselves since April 1, except for our week with friends in Santiago, but now we're mixing it up again. We stayed for a week with old friends living in New Delhi, and my brother Nick flew in too! Nick's also joining us for a week in Rajasthan (where we are now- posting on that later).

It's a great change of pace visiting friends (who helpfully planned pretty much our whole Delhi itinerary for us!). Staying in one (very nice) place, playing with their daughter, enjoying home-cooked food, and laughing about old (and new) stories.

Highlights included:

Qutb Minar, a brick tower constructed around 1200 AD and inscribed with verses from the Quran. The complex also includes India's first mosque (built by Hindu stonecarvers with salvaged Hindu temple pillars), the base of a second, much larger, uncompleted tower, and the Iron Pillar, which dates from 400 AD but has such a high phosphorus content that it's rust-free to this day.

Rickshaw tour through the narrow warrens and tangled wiring of Old Delhi, plus some shopping at the spice market.

Visit to the site of Gandhi's assassination.

The historical treasures of the National Museum.

15th century tombs at Lodi Gardens.

Lots of shopping! Indian clothing and souvenirs.

Foreign tourists in India get a lot of attention and questions, like "where are you from?" We were joking about pretending to be from other countries. Nick was haggling for souvenirs and Priscilla said we were from Gondor. The merchant was very startled: "It's very bad to say such things in India!" We thought Priscilla was busted for using a Lord of the Rings location, but the shopkeeper explained that Gondor sounds like a Hindi swear word. I told Nick and Priscilla they can only pretend to be from real countries from now on.

-Peter

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Goa away from the cities of India

We escaped to South Goa for some relaxing quieter beach times. Goa is mainly known for the hippie beach raves in bygone days but coming down here during the monsoon has been a good escape from the loud. We stayed in a hotel surrounded by lush vegetation and right between 2 beaches, Palolem and Patnem.

Palolem is the more touristy and the party beach of the two but still pretty quiet compared to North Goa and especially during monsoon season. The streets and beach are lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, and ladies who show you the road back to your cabana that conveniently goes by their shop.

We had Patnem all to ourselves with the occasional beach cow to keep us entertained. The water was refreshingly cool during a hot humid day of doing nothing and there was only 1 restaurant opened, coincidentally opened for the season the day we were there!

There are some spice farms in North Goa so we hired a car to take us to one. A 40 minute tour of Sahakari's 140+ acre farm of spices and cashews was quite impressive and very welcoming. Some fun facts:

Saffron is the most expensive spice, vanilla is second.

Bamboo is the tallest grass, banana tree is the second.

Banana trees produce only 1 bunch per life and then they are cut down

We mainly spent our days eating delicious seafood-based Indian and taking afternoon dips in the swimming pool. Goa has treated us well!

-Priscilla

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Indiana Jones and the Caves of Aurangabad

The name "Aurangabad" sounds like something from Lord of the Rings, and the surrounding region has sights as spectacular as anything you'll see in a movie: Ellora Caves, Daulatabad Fortress, and Ajanta Caves.

The Ellora Caves are a complex of 34 Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples carved into a hillside. The temples were carved right into the rock, growing increasingly more elaborate over the centuries (conveniently laid out in chronological order from South to north). Simple Buddhist monasteries from 400 AD, to the intricate Jain sculptures from 800-1000 AD. We spent half a day dodging bats and exploring pillared halls, Buddha alcoves, and weathered wall sculptures.

The centerpiece of Ellora is the Kailasa temple. 400,000 tons of rock were removed to carve the temple IN ONE PIECE from the top down.

Daulatabad is a 14th-century fort atop a 200m-tall hill. It looks impregnable, and is hard enough to climb unopposed (don't get lost in the maze of dark tunnels designed to confuse invaders). The ruler of the Delhi Sultanate moved the capital here from Delhi in 1327, but they moved it back seven years later when they ran out of water.

The Ajanta Caves. Much further away. Only 30 of them, all Buddhist, but they were built from 200 BC to 500 AD and are in remarkably good shape. The Ellora Caves were vandalized during the periods of Muslim rule, but the Ajanta caves had already been forgotten by that point so the incredible wall paintings have more or less survived. Rediscovered in 1819 by British officers on a tiger hunt.

So yes, Aurangabad is like being in an Indiana Jones movie, except you take a private car there and the biggest danger is someone will try to aggressively sell you things you don't want.

-Peter

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Nasik, India's wine country

Nothing cheers me up like a tuk-tuk/auto rickshaw ride! India has been a big adjustment from South America, but I am adjusting (Priscilla is the champ). Food is great, monsoon rains not so bad, but not quite on a normal sleep schedule even after more than a week here. Too many naps maybe.

Nasik, 3 hours northeast of Mumbai, is a small, conservative religious city of only 6 million people. Sounds like an obvious place for India's burgeoning wine industry, right?

There are dozens of vineyards in the region, and we went to a cluster of three with tasting rooms: Soma, York, and Sula. Since it's Monsoon, the vineyards are a vibrant green. The climate gives them two growing seasons a year, but they prune the monsoon season instead of harvesting.

Indian wine is...different, to put it diplomatically. Production is almost exclusively for the domestic market, so the wines are sweeter (and to my tastes, grassy) to suite the Indian palette. We preferred York's wines, which are dryer, western-style, as their mission is to educate India's new wine drinkers. All in all a good place to stop on the way between Mumbai and Aurangabad, but not really worth a separate trip.

We had our first Indian train experiences to and from: arrived by the Shatabdi Express from Mumbai, and continued on the Tapovan Express, both second seating class. Lots of people, but extremely friendly and helpful, even when we're awkwardly trying to figure out what to do with our bags in a crowded car with vendors constantly squeezing by.

The people are by far the most interesting part of India. I can't take photos to do it justice.

-Peter

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Mumbai and first impressions

We knew India would be loud, polluted, and overpopulated but we weren't at all prepared for it. The wealthiest of the wealthy with the poorest of the poor on the streets, the lush green valleys are dotted with massive piles of rubbish, and five star accommodations are steps away from neighboring slums. Looking beyond these steep contrasts, India has much to offer in colorful saris, delicious food, and extraordinary artwork.

India has 1.2 billion people and 19 million of them live in Mumbai. This was our first stop on our India tour and it was overwhelming in sight, smell, and sound. So much so we spent our first day napping and hiding from the constant honking of traffic, ignoring the first rule of jet lag: push through the first day. We did make it out to Marine Drive for a stroll and dinner.

The second day was more eventful. We visited the Ghandi museum, Gateway of India, and the Taj Mahal Hotel.

The Ghandi museum is 3 stories that depict Ghandi's major political activities and his life. We learned that there was a lot about Ghandi and India that we never learned about.

The Gateway and hotel was full of tourists and people selling childsized balloons. Both beautiful colossal works of architecture and definitely worth a visit.

We took a day trip to Elephanta Island on an hour ride wobbly boat across the Arabian Ocean. This is the part of India that encaptured us - the beautiful stone sculptures all carved directly from the mountain rock. And monkeys.