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India
Friday morning, we are up early
and packing again. It's time to leave Dubai and head east
across the Arabian Sea and on to India. This is the leg that
we have been anticipating, as we will be passing over the
tip of Pakistan.
We are again driven to the airport
in a Rolls Royce and we are thinking that we are not doing
a good job of remaining low profile. We are offered tea and
dates in the VIP lounge while we wait to clear customs and
soon we are on our way.
We are routed southeast over
the Kingdom of Oman to the Arabian Sea. As we leave land,
we look down to see seventy or eighty oil tankers anchored
just off shore. I guess business is not good right now. We
were hoping to spot the U.S. fleet as we passed over but didn't.
We did see one aircraft carrier and a destroyer escorting
it. We could hear lots of young American voices on the radio
as they announced to air traffic control that they were "going
tactical". We think that meant that they were dropping contact
with air traffic control and entering the war zone. This is
exciting stuff.
After entering Indian air space,
we make our first stop for fuel in Amadabad. Although it is
a fairly large airport, we were the only airplane on the ground.
They parked us about 300 yards from the terminal and twelve
people came out to assist in the refueling. Three of them
were soldiers, two with submachine guns chained to their bodies.
I guess they didn't want anyone to steal them.
My stomach was a little unsettled
so I asked one of the Indians if it would be all right if
I walked over to the terminal to go to the restroom. Ashley
decided that she would go as well. I walked into the Men's
Room and found to my right a urinal followed by a hole in
the floor and finally a commode. As I entered the stall, I
noticed that there was no toilet paper. Please understand.
It's not like they were out; there never was any! Next to
the throne, there was a bucket half full of murky water with
a cup floating in it. I decided not to pursue that train of
thought any further and instead concluded that my stomach
was feeling much better after all. As I exited the Men's Room,
Ashley was exiting the Women's Room. We exchanged knowing
smiles, thanked the two Indians who were standing nearby,
and returned to the airplane.
Our next stop was Udaipur and
the Lake Palace Hotel. This time we had to roll our luggage
to the terminal by ourselves (poor babies). The ride from
the airport to the hotel was an unbelievable experience. We
realized that we had been worried about the wrong thing. The
terrorist weren't going to kill us; we were going to die in
the Indian traffic! If you haven't been to India, you cannot
understand. The roads are filled with pedestrians, bicycles,
motor scooters, rickshaws, cows, water buffalo, camels, carts,
and an occasional automobile. The most important component
of the automobile is the horn. You could not go twenty feet
without a horn. In America, we use the horn to express anger.
They use it to notify the masses in front of them that they
plan to pass. The amazing thing is that the system works.
The Lake Palace is, appropriately,
an old palace that is located in the middle of a lake. It
turns out that you have all seen this hotel. They filmed the
James Bond movie Octopussy there. We are transported to the
hotel by boat and are greeted at the entrance by a beautiful
young girl in a colorful sari. She placed leis of marigolds
around our necks and applied a dot of crushed flower petals
between our eyebrows. This was our first experience with the
warm welcome we were to receive from the Indian people. That
evening, we dined on traditional Indian cuisine flavored with
curry, of course.
Saturday morning, we are picked
up by our guide for a remarkable journey on a mountainous
road to the Jain temple at Ranakpur. The Jains are an offshoot
of the Hindu religion that is the predominate religion of
India. Our senses could not absorb the microcosm of rural
Indian life that unfolded before us. We passed a herd of camels
being driven down the road. We saw two water buffalo turning
a wheel that was drawing water from a well. Everywhere there
were women with their brightly colored saris carrying water
pots on their heads or swinging a pick as they dug a ditch
in the rocky soil.
The temple was built entirely
of carved white marble! When we entered, barefoot of course,
there was a sense of peace and tranquillity. There were wild
gray monkeys climbing on the outer walls. Since I was running
behind on my journal and my snapshots, Ashley and I returned
to the hotel for the evening. Sunday morning, we packed and
were off to the airport and a short flight to Jaipur. Udaipur
had been a small city by Indian standards with a population
of around a half million while Jaipur has about three million.
After another harrowing drive from the airport, we checked
in to the Rajvilas Hotel. This is a great hotel. The Four
Seasons in Istanbul and this one are clearly the best so far.
We have several good snapshots of it that should be on the
web site soon. It is built on over thirty acres around a Hindu
temple and has lots of trees, grass, flowers, and fountains.
The staff, dressed in colorful traditional costumes, treated
us like royalty. We were told that President Clinton had stayed
there and I suspect that it was the trip that Ray Vickery
attended and planned. We also learned that Bill Clinton is
more popular with the Indians than George Bush.
In the afternoon, our guide took
us to the Amber Fort where we had our first elephant ride.
Ashley, Tom, Pam, and I all rode the same animal with Pam
and me on the front. The elephant apparently was suffering
from a slight head cold because he kept sneezing elephant
snot all over me. After the first experience, I decided to
hold my breath until we could get back to the hotel and a
shower.
The next morning, I relaxed in
the hotel and worked on my computer while Ashley went shopping
for gemstones. I think I am poorer now. After a refreshing
lunch of cold cucumber soup with yogurt and fried cottage
cheese patties (can you believe I'm eating this stuff?), we
were picked up for our drive to the airport and short flight
to Agra.
The hotel in Agra was very nice.
It is part of the same chain as the Rajvilas and had a great
view of the Taj Mahal. The evening meal at the hotel was accompanied
by live traditional Indian music. The next morning our guide,
Sheka met us, for our tour of the Taj Mahal. It was everything
we expected. It is a mausoleum that was built by a Mogul ruler
for his wife who died in childbirth bearing his fourteenth
child. It is built of white marble from Jaipur with semiprecious
stone inlayed everywhere. We also visited the Agra Fort, where
the guy who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned by his son
for eight years until his death. At least he had a view of
his creation. This was after the son had skinned alive his
brothers to make sure there was no doubt who was going to
rule.
Till next time,
Pat
Pat spends a lot of time on the
computer, so that's why you don't hear from me very often.
He's in charge of the photos, and that has been a lot more
difficult than we had thought, plus try eliminating photos
when everything you see is so different and unique. Let's
see Where was I last? It's all starting to fog up on me. At
lunch we were talking about how we would rate the hotels we've
stayed in, and I couldn't remember them all. Each stop is
like a mini-vacation, and I get so focused on one place that
the previous one seems like a dream. Like, right now, we're
in Agra, India. We spent the morning visiting the Taj Mahal.
Well, everybody's seen pictures of it, so what can I say?
First, you have to take off your shoes and leave them outside.
There's a little man there to make sure you get the ones you
came with for a tip. Outside, you can see that the marble
is not what we've seen before. When you look at it up close,
it looks like Ivory Flakes because there are a lot of crystal
pieces mixed in. This keeps it from being porous, and the
floors don't wear like the kind of marble in the Washington,
DC, monuments. This marble comes from Jaipur (We just came
from there). This may be more than you wanted to know. All
the carvings on the walls have been done very delicately and
inlaid with semi-precious stones (lapis, coral, jade, black
onyx). The inside is not well lit at all and contains only
the tombstone of the queen that it was built for and her husband.
Now, she was not his only queen, but it was a marriage of
love, and this seems to be rare as most marriages back then
were arranged. Anyway, she died giving birth (at age 35) to
their 14th child and went straight to Paradise Well, I guess
that's one way to do it.
We went to see some other mausoleums
and the Agra Fort, which was about two miles from "The Taj".
Off course, there's another story there, but I have too much
to tell you.
The Indian traffic is unbelievable!
Our guide told us that "some people drive on the right side
of the road, some people drive on the left, but here in India
it's OPTIONAL! Picture this: Cars, motor scooters, bicycles,
trucks, cows, camels, goats, dogs, motorized rickshaws all
on the same side of the road, moving at their own pace. You
must blow your horn to let the person (or cow) know that you're
about to pass. Forget the terrorists We'll probably be killed
in Indian traffic!
A little more about India It
is a sensory overload! I wanted to take more pictures of the
people for you, but the only way to do that is out the window
of the car which is usually moving, and I don't dare yell,
"Stop the car" at the driver. God knows, he has enough on
his mind. Anyway, so I just have to wait until some kind of
traffic jam happens, roll down the window and look for a subject
On one side of the street, there are a dozen little children
in their school uniforms piled onto a motorized rickshaw .on
the other side, there's a man cooking and selling food in
filth with his hand in his pants then, there's a camel who's
carrying enough of a load for 5 camels, and there's a small
boy at the reins then, I look out the back window, and there
are three school girls in their uniforms (red & white jumper
with white blouse and hair done up in double braids with red
bows - no kidding). They're standing in front of a man getting
a shave in a chair leaning on it's back legs under a piece
of cloth that has been attached to branches of the tree above
him for protection from the sun. The ground is dirt, and there
is garbage everywhere, but nobody seems to notice, or they
just assume that the cows (which are used for their milk)
will eat what they can. Now, this is the strange part ALL
the children go to school, so no one is illiterate (even the
little kids we saw naked in the fields or on the streets).
Some, as you know, go on to get their Master's or even PhD
(some of our guides did), but there's no work for them. The
unemployment rate is about 55%. Well, I could tell them a
few things like "clean up this mess", but then, who'd be in
charge? Where would the money come from to pay them?
More about work The women do
most of it. Here's an idea of what a woman's day's like in
India: 4:30 am, go outside somewhere and do your dooty before
your husband wakes up Get a couple of very large metal pots
and go find some water, if there's none near your house (This
could be a 3 or 4 mile walk) Go back home with the pots balanced
on your head, cook breakfast for your husband and children
and wake them up. After you've fed your family and gotten
the kids off to school in their precious little uniforms which
you've washed in the stream and ironed with gosh knows what
and gotten your husband off to work in the fields, you have
to feed the cows, clean the house and make sure you're decent,
too.
Pack a couple of lunches and head for the fields to work with
your husband. At whatever time the kids get home from school,
you have to head back to the house (or lean-to) and take care
of them, help'em with their homework and start dinner. I don't
know when or how she got to the grocery store (which is comprised
of several cart venders), but I'll bet you she had to walk
all the way there and back with everything balanced on her
head, dodging traffic that was blowing their horns at her
the whole way. Now, I have to tell you that this woman is
not overweight! She has a great tan and a ton of jewelry on
both arms, in her ears, on her ankles, on her toes and in
her nose. Her sari is clean and beautifully colored, usually
saffron, lime green, lapis blue, rose madder, parrot green.
Some are patterned but not many. The men are okay, but these
women look like beautiful flowers in the desert .Anyway, after
dinner, she has to clean up and whatever until about 10:30
pm whenshe finally gets to put her head down. Now, there are
way over a billion people here. I'll bet she didn't get to
go straight to sleep either. Well, it's their way of doing
things.
Speaking of the hotels They're
all wonderful but in their own way. In Spain, there was the
Marbella Club lots of tropical plants thatched-roofed buildings
around the pool and next to the beach where lunch was served
buffet style. The dining room had sort of a tropical feeling,
too .
In France, we stayed in a two-story
French Chateau in the wine country. It was one of the Relais
& Chateau properties. Very Country French but the dining room
was fabulous well, except for the pigeon breast which Pat
wasn't too fond of. Sure, it was a little "strong" but something
I'd never had. In the morning for breakfast we liked to cook
our own 4-minute eggs in the electric rectangular pot which
had little baskets for each egg to be lowered into the boiling
water. We had to use the 3-min timer and count to sixty .It's
the little things
In Italy we stayed in a 10th
century monastery which had been converted into a very up-dated
hotel, complete with indoor and outdoor swimming pools. There
was a quaint chapel, and a wedding occurred while we were
there. The dining room was really big, and held about 15 tables,
a huge sideboard and several large tapestries and really old
portraits that needed cleaning, but they added to the ambience.
Pat ordered the wine one night, and I think it must've been
the same one he ordered at Maxim's in Paris, because the decanting
was done even more elaborately by the waitress who had one
of those new "spiked" hairdos that the young boys are doing
now. It was sort of a contrast, I'd say. The bar must've been
where the monks stored the wine because it was "down in the
dungeon". On a couple of occasions we got all dressed up and
went down before dinner. Now, they start dinner around 8:00
pm, so we figured there'd be somebody down there Nope not
even a bartender. This hotel was sorta "weird", but then,
maybe it was haunted or something not a repeater.
In Athens, Pat had gotten an
apartment at the Hotel Andromeda. I think he told you about
that, so I'll move on
After that was Turkey (Istanbul).
So far, our favorite was the Four Seasons here real cozy,
because it had only 60 rooms. We got our laundry done here,
and it came back like we just bought it and smelled like a
garden. Pat told you about how the hotel was a Turkish prison,
etc., so I'll move on again (He's proofing this.).
Getting closer to the War Zone
We flew on to Dubai to the Burg Al Arab. We'd seen this on
the Travel Channel at home, so we thought, "What the heck.
Let's do it". It's the only 7-Star hotel in the world (at
this writing). There were 27 floors, and each floor had it's
own butler and concierge (more precious children). The hotel
is built on it's own island just off the beach out in the
Persian Gulf and is in the shape of a big sail on a sailboat.
At night it turns different colors, like blue, purple, yellow,
green, etc.. Our room was two-story and had a highly-polished
ornate brass spiral stair rail up to our bedroom, which had
a mirror over the bed in a gold frame (those Arabs!). We had
a dressing room/closets for each of us (just Pat & me) and
a bathroom with a huge tub with jets and a seaside mural behind
it. The shower was all glassed in and had 5 showerheads. There
was a bidet (I still don't know how to use one of these things!)
and behind the door (when it was opened) was the potty Now,
to use the potty, you had to turn on the light in the bathroom
before you went in, and close the door, which was on a spring
and would slam shut the last 12 inches. There were no tiny
bottles of lotion, shampoo, soap, etc only department store
sizes of Hermes potions from France (should we decide to purchase
them). There are a couple of pictures of the room and bath
on the website. Downstairs we had a living room with a TV
screen surrounded by a 2-ft wide shiny brass frame and two
cabinet doors below (also shiny brass). We had our own purple
granite bar with stools and a full supply of hooch (should
we decide to purchase it). Well, we started by trying to open
the curtains that are motorized and are two stories high.
As soon as we figured that out on the hand-held remote control,
they began to close call the butler Then, we found out that
there was no bourbon at the bar call the butler Then Pat had
a problem getting the computer plugged in call the butler.
Then butler called the in-house expert (NOT). This was not
a pleasant experience, as Pat sort of lost his temper One
evening the Clements had dinner with us What an experience!
First, we took a "submarine ride" down to the seafood restaurant.
The ride was really simulated, but we were told to "fasten
our seatbelts", and we had the sensation of taking a bumpy,
curvy ride on the ocean floor. When we disembarked, the door
opened, and we walked through a short tunnel and into the
dining room where there was a 20-ft. high aquarium full of
some really strange but very colorful fish. I could go on.
Needless to say, our opinion of this hotel was that it was
definitely an experience but not exactly our taste, although
the service was excellent, if the electronics were lacking
Now, we're in Bangkok, Thailand.
This has been a five-day stop and one to take advantage of
to do some resting. Our guide has been good but keeps us on
the go from 6:00 a.m. 'til late afternoon enough of that!
It's been very hot and humid. By the way, we're staying in
the Oriental Hotel, which has a history that goes back 125
years; however, it has been recently renovated and looks very
new. Lots of Hollywood types have stayed here over the years.
Other than our suite overlooking the river and downtown Bangkok,
our favorite place is the Bamboo Bar. It's a room that is
filled with palms, ceiling fans, bamboo (of course) and many
beautiful Thai ladies to take your order. All of the wood
is teak, and it's known for it's world-class jazz. Now, we
try to picture this very British drinking hole 125 years ago
with NO air conditioning. Did I tell you that we're taking
pills to prevent us from getting malaria? Are we lucky or
what to have our modern conveniences!
Yesterday we left the hotel at
8:00 a.m. at our insistence. We drove about an hour to get
on a "long boat", which is a very strange-looking thing with
a very high prow on the front. It's powered by an old car
engine that has been overhauled to serve the purpose of spinning
a pole about 12 feet long which has an elongated boat blade
on the other end. When it travels at full speed, there's a
"rooster tail" of water. It puts out quite a wake, so we're
constantly going at either full speed or stopped. A lot of
the travel is done in the many canals off the river where
people live right on the water. You can see them bathing and
washing in the water, but they do collect a lot of rainwater
in very large clay pots. There is also tap water carried to
them in a metal pipe, so the river water is fairly clean,
I guess. The water in the clay pots contain little tiny fish
and little plants, which help to keep it clean, as the fish
eat the mosquito larvae, and the plants give oxygen to the
fish. I don't know if this is water for drinking or not. The
houses have rusted tin roofs and some sort of covered area
to sit out on and watch the boats go by, sort of like we do
in the South in the summertime.
We took the long boat down one
of the canals where a lot of the Thai fruits grow you know,
those "different looking" fruits we see in the grocery back
home. Well, if you want to have an experience without leaving
home, you should buy two or three different ones and try them.
There were huge tropical plants on either side of the boat,
and as we moved very slowly we could almost reach out and
touch them…elephant ears, coconuts floating in the water,
jack fruit and mangos hanging from the trees…We felt like
we were in a jungle, and I guess we were.
After that experience, we took
a turn back onto the main canal and went to the Floating Market.
Well, that describes it…lots and lots of ladies (old and young)
with strange-looking sunhats, paddling along selling their
wares out of their long boats. There are pictures of this
attached. So much color, and we were right there with the
people, negotiating our purchases. I had taken some old jewelry
from home that I never wear any more and bargained with them.
They seemed to really enjoy this and made the trading more
fun since we couldn't speak their language. This was also
a place where the tourists could watch the tourists…and very
few were Americans…What a shame.
Most of the places we've been
to are losing business. There are lots of cancellations, and
their tourist economy is way off. We practically have these
places to ourselves, and several times we've eaten lunch in
a wonderful restaurant all alone, and our guides tell us that
they are usually so full you can't find a table. Anyway, this
day we had lunch at "The Rose Garden" …not! Now, in 1978 the
World Orchid Society (or something like that) had it's annual
show, so there are still a lot of orchids growing, but the
roses consist of a couple of half-dead rose beds, or maybe
it's just not the season for roses. The orchids were growing
in charcoal and on pieces of coconut shells. I guess this
held the water. Our guide "Chat" helped us experience some
Thai food for lunch. I was eating with my fork when he told
me that the Thais don't eat with their fork…they eat with
their soup spoon and use the fork to pull or cut the food
apart. Now you try that and see how easy it is. I kept picking
up my fork to eat with.
On our way back to the hotel,
I had the driver stop for a couple of interesting photos…one
was of a business that sold "spirit houses". The people believe
that the land belongs to the spirits, and whenever they disturb
the ground to build either a house or a business or even a
garden, they're disturbing the spirits, so they will buy a
spirit house for them to live in. They look like little Victorian
houses, and every day, they put flowers and food out on the
front porch of the spirit house. They remove the previous
day's gifts, so it doesn't accumulate.
Well, I have to tell you that
Thailand is a country of art. These people can't do anything
without making something special out of it. We went to the
Flower Market and saw how a lot of the flowers were strung.
They have a long wire needle, and they pop the flowers off
of the stems and string them through the middle. They make
leis (like in Hawaii) but much more ornate, using all different
kinds of flowers. There are small leis made out of jasmine
(tiny white flowers) with orchids hanging off the middle.
These are usually hung on the spirit houses, but I've seen
them hanging off the mirrors in the cars and trucks…talk about
a nice air freshener! I think the art of carving fruit and
vegetables must have come from here. I've never seen such
delicate work before. One watermelon I saw looked like a huge
pink chrysanthemum (well, YOU try to spell it!)
There is a lot of culture here…stories,
dances, music, art, Thai silk, etc. Well, we saw it all when
we went in a boat across the river to a Thai Cultural Show.
The dinner tables were very low, and our feet hung down in
a pit underneath. Of course, we had to remove our shoes before
we went in. The costumes were very colorful and sparkled all
over. Most of the men wore masks that looked like bulldogs
with jewels. Their pants were like jeweled knickers, and they
had gold swords or axes. The ladies were beautiful with their
hair up and some kind of tiara on their heads (and lots of
makeup with pink cheeks and perfect little lips). They either
danced around with some huge lotus blossoms with candles inside
or looked real surprised when the men hopped up on the stage
sort of squatting and with their toes pointed out. Now, most
stories in dance go about the same…She has something he wants,
and the whole dance is about her pretending that he can't
have it. In this case it was a crystal ball. The show ended
with some young men playing their hearts out on the bongo
drums. Anyway, you get the general idea.
One thing I must tell you that
we didn't know before we came on this wonderful trip. There
was a man named Jim Thompson (American) who came over to Thailand
about a hundred years ago and started the Thai Silk business.
There are so many variations of this beautiful fabric; I can't
begin to tell you. You'll just have to do a little research.
Anyway, Jim just disappeared one day and hasn't been heard
from. It's still a mystery, but the Thai Silk business is
still thriving. I don't know who runs it.
Today's Monday, and we're supposed
to leave the hotel at 2:00 p.m.. Now, there's a small problem
of a typhoon named Lingling headed for Cambodia, and that's
where we're going. We haven't talked with Tom and Pam yet,
so I don't know what we'll do…our first real challenge!
Ashley
Udaipur, India
Jaipur, India
Rajvilas, Jaipur, India
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Rajvilas, Jaipur, India
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Rajvilas, Jaipur, India
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Rajvilas, Calling Robin
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Rajvilas, Costumes
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Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
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Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
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Elephant Ride
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A Cool Place to Rest
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No Girls Allowed
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Menagerie
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Get ready, Get Set, Go
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Happy Faces
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Agra, India
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