Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Cement & Turbans
"Rajus Social Responsibility"
Surprisingly I saw this rickshaw and
not believing my eyes snapped away at his slogans.
Although I am not condoning this, the
British as they usually do enjoy culture and heritage even if it
means a reminder of their ancestors who slaughtered and butchered in
order to plunder their way to the top(there are many such sites
around the world that one could see this) in saying that I am certain
this would make aware of both parties of their past ie. the torturous
behaviour and the oppression faced by poor Indians. Unfortunately
though this hasnt seemed to have ended as some of the oil rich
countries are now the targets.
“dogs and foreigners not allowed in
this cab” “only for my dear Indians” This type of wording is
not a first though, history will show that in the past it read “dogs
and Indians are not allowed” so this was actually brought upon by
the British, well done for teaching the Indians this!
look ma no hands!
If it moves(or doesnt) then it is roadworthy! I have no idea what this contraption is but these two youngsters were taking a leisurely drive. I wonder where the license discs go...
Hawa Mahal
Hawa which actually means wind and is a
word that is shared among a few languages actually forms the root of
the name Hawaii – as one can see from the leaning palm trees which
got their curves from the “hawa”
The reason why it is called hawa mahal
is because of its many many windows, the really cool people where
counting the windows from the outside but we just paid somebody
20rupees to do that for us, when I go back in 3 years he will have my
figure ready! The hawa mahal is situated within walking distance of
the city palace, but if you are lazy there are many tuktuks for your
convenience.
City Palace
City Palace is situated in the central
pink area of Jaipur, there was a snake charmer on the outside and a
school for kids adjoining, inside you could see a puppet show, some
of the armour which is displayed in the shape of flowers, the
Maharajas fleet of wagon and a few giant water jars.
Dont be misled the papar on this guys head is like paper, it is very light and will not mess his hairdo! He seemed surprised that i didnt want to purchase some.
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| Cinderllas Cart |
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| The Rolls Royce of the times |
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| 4091 litre silver jar(even thought it looks gold) was made from coins melted down, and filled with water from the ganges on the trips of Maharajas to England, probably because the water in England is so bad and they didnt want to have ugly teeth! |
This is not a photography course but if you look closely then you can get a few pointers on how to raise your feet and hands and angles required to take photos!
The Pink City
Jaipur is also known as the pink city,
because one day the owner of largest paint manufacturing plant was
away on holiday and since all his staff was too drunk from fermented
palm sap, they decided to make their boss happy by gathering all the
stray monkeys at the time and asked them to take charge. The monkeys
worked diligently at their jobs and were duly rewarded in banana
payment.
When the owner returned he was furious
to see that there were a million gallons of paint in his stock all
the colour pink! As charitable as Indians are, he went to the king for
help, and after 8 cups of masala tea the king decided he will
purchase all the paint. Incidentally some prince from Britain was due
to visit that week and as witty as Indians are, they decided to give
a gift to the prince that would benefit them more than the prince(Its
sorta like giving your wife a recipe book only so that she can make
scrumptious meals for you at dinner). So the king ordered the city be
painted pink and honoured to this visiting British Prince and thats
how we have the pink area!
Lekker Weertje! and Racist English Tourists
Among the europeans I found many were
German tourists here in Jaipur so much so that you will find Indian
tourguides speaking german fluently and even writing on their
tuktuks.
“Even Apel Doorn Bellen” “Lekker
Weertje?” “Ik ben goedkoeper dan de hema!” “Klaar is kees”
As per googles translate which still
leaves me a bit confused...
Google translate is quite a godsent if
you were to get a datapackage or the blackberry package for your
smart phone you could just log in and it will broken translate for
you into hindi!
Anyways coming from Germany you would
find these tourists in the 5 star hotels because their currency is
much stronger than the rupee, the British though seemed to like the 4
stars maybe because they were stingy, or in dire financial crisis. We
found that some were behaving like they still ruled India in the way
they carried themselves, treating Indian staff rudely and somewhat
racist, shame. At the pasta station at one of the hotels the chef
naturally conversed with me in Hindi to which I was as usual mumbling
and hinting to speak in english, while waiting for my order he asked
where I was from and so I mentioned to him I was from Durban, South
Africa which held the largest concentrations of Indians outside
India, amazed at this quirky fact a prying, crinkled skinned English
patron in her 60s decided to join in the conversation, she was rather
surprised and blindingly racist said “i would have thought we had
the most amount of Indians in Britain” the chef and I did not find
this as hilarious as she did but I gave her a blank laugh, just at
her stupidity which apart from being racist was actually referring to
those from Pakistan.
Hotel Ratings in India
Like any country in the world the
hotels in India are rated by a number of stars to indicate their
quality and standard of the rooms and service one is to receive. To
break it down to you here is my star guide :
5 Stars(call it 6) – This would
consist of the major groups like Oberoi, Leela, Hilton, Marriot,
Sheraton, Lalit, The Taj Groups, etc these would be all as opulent as
possible 16million count thread duvets, flat screen tvs, walk in
closets alike. These hotels cater for and are frequented by movie
stars and high end industrialists among the foreign tourist willing
to splurge...
4 Stars – There is a big drop between
5 and 4, among the 4's some would be the Trident, Holiday Inn's and
just a very few more, its a pity there aren't many more because the 5
star hotels seemed to be very expensive.
3 Star – We didnt stay at any 3
stars, maybe the houseboat would fall under this category, I'd say
avoid this unless you are going to get really high on tobacco paan
every night.
2 Star – You'd be better off sleeping
in the back of a tuktuk that drives around the city all night
1 Star – Stray dogs will wake you up
with morning pee while you enjoy sleeping on dusty streets...
A tip for booking accommodation in
India – always book as ahead as possible because the prices just go
up as you get closer. I've found the following website –
www.hotelscombined.com
which scours the internet to find the cheapest prices of each hotel
from a number of operators and hoteldesks as well. Be careful though,
once you chose these rates to ensure they include the country's taxes
or else you would be billed an extra 15 or so % for that, basically
take 5 minutes to read the fine print! Usually these rates are
considerably cheaper on of the reasons being they are non refundable,
so once booked they cannot be altered and are usually billed on
confirmation. Some of the sites also have great membership programs,
like hotels.com give you a free night stay at any hotel irrespective
of stars after booking 10 nights at any hotel! At some hotels we
chose the breakfast included option and it was awesome, others we
didnt(even though there was an option which was more expensive) and
on arrival the reception told us all guests have breakfast included.
One of the breakfasts we had the waiter
had offered me some type of spice to give my omelette a kick, I asked
him if it were chillipowder and he said “no! gunpowder” either
this gun was a water pistol, or I am just too Indian for my own good,
that spice didnt even tickle the hiatus! To be fair though I did see
many chili sauces and curries that looked as strong as an ox and
after just looking at it my eyes began to water and a tiny ulcer
formed in my stomach. Most restaurants on exit serve “somph” fennel seeds, a
kind of natural gaviscon which is all unhygienically placed in a bowl
awaiting your curry stained fingertips, despite the thought of
licking others palms I did have a few sprinkles of this stuff!
Friday, 17 February 2012
Amber Fort - Jaipur
Amber fort is a fort that is high up on
a mountain, which needs a jeep to take you up there unless you wish
to get a morning workout. As we got off the jeep the first thing I
noticed was a European woman running away from an Indian, it seemed
like they were playing hide and seek and I thought hmmm this must be
fun, hide and seek in a fort! But then I noticed she was being
badgered by the young man to purchase some of his souvenirs. Hoping
that I was also going to play this childhood game, I felt left out as
these running marketers failed to include Indian looking tourists, oh
well that was clever of them I wasnt going to buy anything anyway.
I enjoyed watching and listening to this suave gentleman trying to hit on this tourist "maybe you take me to your country...i speak a bit of spanish..."
I've noticed in Jaipur, the most amount of European tourists all dressed in traditional Indian garb, ever so calm looking as though they have been tranced into a happy place! I think you need to spit paan correctly if one needs to fit in...
Tip : If you dont want to be harassed
by these sellers why not just dye you're hair black and spend a few
weeks at a tanning salon?
The fort was like every other fort you
will see in India, majestically huge with a maze of rooms around an
open courtyard that once housed grand celebrations of the then
kingship. Coming from Africa and lucky enough to be on a handful of
safaris mostly when family are over to visit, i've never been this
close to elephants ever! Back in the days of the Maharajas the
elephants were their mode of transport to haul them from one end of
the fort to the other, today one could have the same experience atop
these enormous colourfully decorated animals for a few rupees!
Jaipur
Jaipur airport was rather quiet in
comparison to the usual bustle of Delhi, landscaped with nice trees
and modern architecture on the outside. The hotel was about 40
minutes away and costed about 600rupees, after checking in we went
out to dinner to the well written about LMB restaurant, it was in the
middle of a very busy street, and surprisingly most of the patrons
were non-indians; who were enjoying the all veg cuisine.
The waiters scramble for clients in
their designated areas, all dressed in uniform that looked so old and
dirty that they doubled as grease monkeys during their morning
shifts. My sister immediately said she will not eat from here
blablablabla but you know once I placed my order so did she! We had
the tandoori potato and tandoori paneer with hot paneer and garlic
naan.
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If by now you are unsure i am the guy on the left...
Thursday, 16 February 2012
How cool is this!
I've been told in places like the UK you need to pay to use these trolleys here they are neatly lined up waiting for you!
A typical Air India flight
Our Air India flight to
Delhi was on schedule, filled with the most happiest lot of folk off
to pilgrimage. Some were sitting in other peoples seats but that was
fine, everyone was patient one or two even found alternate seating.
By now even I wouldnt mind moving for a couple or family or anyone
for that matter. The inflight meal was palak paneer with rice and a
local sweet dessert. Although ive never purchased anything on the
plane, because they seem to always be selling overpriced gifts as an
afterthought for loved ones...I just dont buy anyone gifts.
Nevertheless surely in a bid to make India a greener place and the
world at that, Air India has made their catalogue thumb sized and
only included the real necessities of what people would purchase
categorically for the rest of you're life.
Step 1 - Get married, expect jewellery, buy a 5kg safe on a plane to "secure you're emotions"
Step 2 - Reward that loved one with a set of non stick cookware so that she will be happy and so will your tummy
Step 3 - Ok you got the pots now you need to give her a tandoor, cos what good is a nice chicken curry without tandoori naan - India's fastest selling electric tandoor!
Step 4 - Too much curry can be unhealthy, so keep a check on your health with this nifty blood pressure monitor and thermometer
Cricket isnt just a sport its a religion!
In India, cricket isnt just a sport or
pass time, it is part of daily life, every taxi driver can rattle off
the South African cricket team the stadia and colours worn among all
other stats possible. International games are seen as battles between
countries, and truly the locals have embraced their country's
national pride. Some of the trees we saw in Srinagar were chopped up
into neat sized pieces ready to be made for hitting red leather balls
around the world. Every restaurant, bank, hotel, bar, barber, coffee
shop, electronic shop(what else would you be buying a tv for...oh and
Shahrukh I forget), Mcdonalds, airport TV has the cricket on. There
are a few dedicated cricket channels on tv that play reruns and
current matches 24 hours a day! The airport TVs attract a large
number of people almost as though they are all in a movie theatre.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Flight out of Srinagar
When flying out of Srinagar you will be
required to endure a few more airport checks than normal. It goes
something like this, a couple of kilometers before the airport
building, taxis will have to go through a waiting area with small
buildings that house baggage screening machines, all your luggage
must be offloaded, sent through the screens and reloaded in the taxi.
Once at the airport again an armed
military officer will require your printed flight itinerary and
passport/ID before getting you're baggage screened before getting the
usual pat down search, males and female separately as in all airports
in India. Once this is done, your baggage is strapped up with a
strapping machine.
Due to security reasons all flights
from Srinagar do not allow carry on luggage with the exception of
laptops, cameras and money. We were sent back to the screening
because we had some souvenirs. Once your luggage is sent through,
laptop/camera/handbags have to be checked once again before two more
pat down checks....despite all of this, the process is systematic and
may only take an extra 30 minutes at most so be a bit earlier and
have no unnecessary baggage(no one likes extra baggage)
Like before Srinagar's airport is very
basic. Apart from a handful of general shops and a single 2m x 2m
cafeteria, plenty of seating with a few birds that have somehow made
themselves inside, they also went through all those security checks
if you are wondering... while waiting for our flight to Delhi we watched them slipping and sliding as they walk on the
shiny porcelain floors.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Srinagar City
I think 3 nights is plenty in Srinagar,
maybe 2 days in winter because everyone here has told us not to
bother with the gardens being out bloom. Today we decided to go to
the town to buy some traditional souvenirs, saffron and spices.
It seemed like my camera was attracting
a bit of attention, and so my sister had sent me to sit across the
road everytime she went into a pashmina shop. As you can see the
photos I took while waiting, again in India, you could just sit and
snap away randomly with your eyes closed for a memorycard filled with
the most amazing shots ever.
Local supermarket!
It is probably the oldest market i've
been to in the world which services its local community, there are no
supermarkets here, so there is no other source of getting groceries.
A contrast to the olde world is the trendy “cafe coffee day”
coffee shop, which seems to also have branches across India and still
manages to maintain very affordable prices. It seemed to attract the
trendy(or so they thought still in traditional garb) who spend their
afternoon gossiping over coffee, me trigger happy but these patrons
did not seem pleased at my taking pictures of the witty comments on
the walls.
No idea what this means? Running man in Shawl!?
Sonamarg
Sonamarg 80km from Srinagar is another
mountain region which also during winter boasts the most picturesque
snow plateaus. You will pass Sindh river, and towns so old it makes
Sringar look like current Hong Kong. Ancient chinnar trees, padi
fields and hydro power stations along the route, these sights will
make one hardly feel the 2,5hour drive each way. It began to snow and
again the roads were closed at Kund about 15km before Sonamarg.
Abdul Rashid obliged kindly everytime
we wanted to stop for a picture and philosophically imparted his take
on life along the drive, interestingly much he told us he was married
for 33 years, well done for that alone, but he went on and said in
the 33 years he has never had a fight with his wife, not once.
Really! Dude 33 years...Well I hope it all isnt bottled up... In
shock with nothing to really say my sister and I smiling ear to ear,
as we heard on, his secret, “when my wife says anything, I just
think about it...then later I realise she makes some good points”
after a brief pause relishing in his accomplishment he went on to
tell us that when he got married although poor he took nothing from
his inlaws as dowry, which left him under no obligation. He also told
us in a very humorously that new brides are usually given copper pots
as a present, and the bride doesnt want to use them to serve her new
inlaws which is causing marital problems. Speaking of marriage there
is a matrimonial pull out section in the daily paper here, havent
they heard of shaadi.com???!?
Along the way back to Srinagar, my
sister needed to use the bathroom so desperately that another minute
longer she would have messed Rashids nice car, we stopped a couple of
times where we saw amongst the old buildings some really new public
facilities, unfortunately though they were closed. She ended up going
to what was called a restaurant but inside seemed as though there was
an exodus and all but tables and chairs were left, while she was
using the inhouse restroom, I felt obliged to buy something to
compensate for her relief, but all he had was some packets of chips
expired for 8 months and so thick with dust that I thought it was
part of their packaging, dusty masala? I still bought them for
20rupees each. I enquired if there was any food being prepared and he
said no the restaurant was closed for 2 months, he just comes to
serve tea and let passers use the toilet. He was really more
interested in knowing if there was snow at Sonamarg and how far we'd
travelled.
Ab Rashid was kind enough to take us
through the 3 sections of the Dal lake on the way back, the
reflection on the lake almost seams surreal, 2 of the areas does not
allow houseboats, and whatever houseboats that are in Srinagar have
been sold or given as gifts by the British, who built them because
they were unable to purchase immovable property here. Although there
is enough space to accommodate more houseboats no new houseboats may
be constructed, and only the current ones may be upgraded.
We had dinner at the Lalit, winter
being off peak season, their heated 50+ seater restaurant was empty,
I still asked them if they had a table just incase the guests were
all invisible or camouflaged in red saris and suits to the décor. I
couldnt take any photos though, it was awkward enough ambushed with
the 7 waiters ready to serve us like Muhgal kings, every time I had a
sip of water the waiter would refill it, while I was trying to finish
my glass of water they were trying to finish the bottle so I had to
stop drinking. The food was out of this world, the naan was bathed in
butter(more butter than naan) which went great with the chicken murg
masala and waza kebabs. I think we were early though because a few
families made their way for dinner, more waiters were brought in as
we finished up.
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