Maldives!

After a long flight from Delhi, via Mumbai and Colombo (with many many many hours of waiting at airports for flights), we finally arrived in Male, and took our seaplane to the island. From the seaplane several atolls (which is basically a collection of islands) were visible, although the plane flew a bit too high up for it to be really spectacular. And, besides, only 3% of the Maldives consist of land, the rest of it being, naturally, water.

After 2.5 days here it finally feels as if all the dirt, filth, sickness and so on from India has been washed off once and for all. Now we feel almost like we should feel. Besides eating buffets 3 times a day (gaining at least 2-3 kgs weight everyday... we'll be coming home as blobs... and there are indeed a quite a few blobs here... by the name of Blobus Proletaris Brittanicus), we've done a sunset cruise (which had no sunset at all, but a lot of dolphin watching... misleadning name, but definitely much cooler than a sunset cruise). We have also snorkelled and witnessed huge turtles eating seagrass off the bottom out on the "house reef". We have also seen sharks (small, small sharks, 40 cm maybe), manta and sting rays (not of the size that killed the Croc Hunter though), and various fishes of different colours.




The remainder of our time here will be spent sunbathing, swimming, eating, reading... and not that much more :)

Trip summary...

... or How to survive India without diarrhea

Number of Kingfishers (indian, 650 ml bottles of, beer): 2 a day, at least
Number of naan or chapati, well, really Roti: Many many many
Amount of hand desinfection used: 1.5 bottle... which really is a lot. 10-15 times per person per day
Number of blackouts: generally two per city, so, approx. 10, NOT counting Varanasi which had constant black outs.

Cricket, cricket, cricket, cricket

No whisky :(

Best hostel: Shahi Palace in Jaisalmer, which also was the nicest city

Best service was by far the people at Taj Plaza in Agra, who helped us with everything when the train had collided. Especially a really nice man with a bulletproof beard... the manages cousin. And the manager was awesome as well, getting us a cheap cab ride to Varanasi. The cab ride cost almost the same as a return trip to Arlanda from central Stockholm... thats pretty cheap considering it took 11 hours.

"Worst" hostel was the one in Delhi, Bajaj Indian Home stay. Not bad, but not very good. Decent.

Worst service was definitely the hotel in Ranthambore... abysmal service, despite the new years hug Joakim got upon leaving.

We have not been ripped of or fleeced, and we have not gotten sick. Yay!

Really, really sick of Indian food... I mean it, really. Fruit, vegetables, fibres... ah... surely missed. Even Joakim agrees...

Scariest moment (for Sophie) was the cobras... the very docile, slow, almost sleeping cobras... in buckets... Joakim is sure the cobras had been given "knockout drops", taken to some backyard, and robbed for all their belongings (maybe even RB'd, who knows the depravity involved), and later enslaved. He doesnt even think the cobras get to see the money "they" get :( Save the cobras! 1-800-COBRA for your donation!

Animals sighted, in cities, often seemingly not belonging to anyone:

• Cows (naturally)
• Donkeys
• Horses
• Pigs/Boars
• Camels
• Dogs
• Chickens/Roosters/Hens
• Cats
• Goats
• Monkeys
• A goose

Recommended trip: Desert Safari and Jaisalmer... and Amber fort outside of Jaipur
Not recommended: Ranthambore National Park, and spend as little time as possible in Delhi... its really not very nice at all.

What we liked about India:

• Masala Chai (best in the desert, worst in Varanasi)
• The people we met, very nice, warm, people
• The Christmas present we got in Jaisalmer
• The food, of course, although we are quite sick of it by now
• Strolling around the ghats in Varanasi
• Moustaches! Yes, its true, there are moustaches in Sweden too, but not as numerous and nowhere near as amazing as here. The Indian moustache is in a league of its
• Humayuns Tomb in Delhi

What was not so good about India:

• The filth
• The dirt
  Remember, that which is white upon entering India, like a scarf for instance, is bound to not be so white upon leaving. If you like your white things to be brown/grey/beige, here is the natural place for a free coloration! If not, leave it
• The noise
• The poop
• The dust
• The sheer intensity of it takes a lot of time getting used to

All in all, it has been a very interesting experience, that makes you appreciate a lot of simple things back home. Some places we passed on the way from Agra to Varanasi by car, literally looked like a bombed out stone house, and inside people lived and burned fire on the floor of it. Some places really looked like a war zone.

So many things are still lacking in so many places here, and in order to build some of those things, like electricity, roads, water, sewage system and so on, you really have to know where to start... it really seems and impossible task. One wonders how it looked 50 years ago, and how much it has progressed since.

That being said, the place to stay if you are forced to live here is definitely the country side... there, at least, it is quiet, and quite beautiful, green and lush in places.

It was also interesting to see how much they do by hand, and how good they are, as in Jaipur.

The suprise of the trip was that it was a bit more expensive than expected, since if you do not want to get sick you are more or less forced to eat at the hotel restaurants, and a lot of money is spent giving to people for various reasons (Bakshish). Still not at all expensive, but more than expected.

We would like to end with reiterating what Filip Hammar said, in På Spåret, about his trip to India:
"Indien ses fördelaktligen helst från ett limousinfönster"

And, well, yes, we are inclined to agree, as long as it is a limo that can handle rough terrain :)

Varanasi to Delhi

Got to the train station in Varanasi roughly 1.5 hours before our train was supposed to leave (at 19:15), only to find that it was two hours late. No worries, if it was only two hours late that wouldnt matter that much, and it seemed as if all the trains were running very late. The station was absolutely jammed with people, and the occassional cow that entered the station building and the train platform. We were glad to find a place to sit down even, and sat down and waited and waited (all the while being stared at, of course :) ).

Finally, a train arrives at our platform, although 30 minutes ahead of schedule... and on the board it still said our train (with number 2559) was due to leave 21:00. So, Joakim goes to the platform, and looks at the display which says its train number 4005, also leaving for Delhi but another route. Ok, not much to do... but, Joakim decided to talk to some tibetan tourists (didnt even know these existed!) and pointed out to them that this was not the train they were supposed to be on. However, the tibetans pointed at the actual train which had the number 2559 written on it, in minuscula writing... hmm... somewhat confused Joakim storms into the station building, grabs the luggage and Sophie and heads out to the platform looking for the coach number... coach number found, we enter the train and ask the first tourist we see:
- Whats your train number?
- 4005
- Crap, this isnt 2559?
- No
Then an Indian student joins in saying that this is indeed 2559, and the confusion is starting to build even more. Finally a conductor is found, which informs that this is 2559, and the tourist who thought it was 4005 runs out, supposedly looking for his train. However, we are pretty sure it had already left some 30 minutes before. Poor guy.

"Cozy" train compartment

While on the train we looked forward in relaxing on our plastic beds, for a good night of sleep. HOWEVER, these plans were intensely ruined by one single man. Just falling asleep, the train stops and a man enters the four bed compartment that we were in, slams down the bed with a loud crash, turns the lights on, makes some general noise, and then proceeds to make his bed and starts to sleep. Ok, so far no real damage done. He did wake us, but we were both so tired that we were sure we'd fall asleep quickly.

However, as soon as the mans head hits the pillow he's asleep, and he is snoaring so loudly it really can not be expressed in words. It is beyond anything either of us has ever heard, or even imagined possible (Sophie claims it's ten times worse than her father!).

Parts of it sounded like a beached whale desperately grasping for air while blowing slime out of his blowhole. Other parts of it sounded like the man was collecting all the snot found in his nose, and I mean ALL of it, in order to spit the largest snot filled spit that has ever been thrown. The rest of it sounded mostly like he had a cat that was being strangled up his nostrils. This is as accurate a description as can be given... there really are no words. Needless to say, none of us slept at all, and thus we were really tired when the train finally arrived in New Delhi 4 hours late.

The pickup that were supposed to be there had left us so we had to take a rickshaw into town. It cost 100 Rs, which seemed fine at the time, however in hindsight it was probably 4-5 times the real price. But whatever, we needed to go to our hotel asap.

Humayuns tomb

Sophie in front of another tomb close to Humayuns Tomb

The afternoon was spent watching Humayuns Tomb, which can be described as a smaller, sand stone, version of Taj Mahal, with less people. It also had some other nice stuff, and it was nice to get away from the streets of Delhi, once again. We proceeded afterwards to look for another Moslem complex, but after being harrassed by beggars, and various sorts of othere people, we decided to just head back and forget about it. Too tired.

Dresscode for entering Jamij Masjid Mosque...

Had dinner at a place called Spicy by Nature, where we ate first time in Delhi and the food was good. Although, Indian food and Naan (cant believe I am going to say this)... kind of sick of it by now. Definitely need some time away from it.

Inside Red Fort

Today was spent seeing the Red Fort in Delhi, saw some extremely dirty and hectic bazaar streets, entered a Mosque in our socks (which means we both have bird shit on our feet at this moment!) and Sophie had to wear a flowery plastic "burqa" or something similar (she looked completely insane). Headed back for some coffee, and soon its time for Malaria pills and lunch, before we head to the airport and leave India for the Maldives (flying Delhi to Mumbai, Mumbai to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and last Colombo to Male, Maldives... 17 - 18 hours total... mostly waiting though (12 hours waiting or so... non-Yay).

Bazaar (bizarre?) street in Old Delhi

Dont know if there is any Internet in the Maldives, but apparently there is a very quiet beach there, so if you dont hear anything from us thats where we'll be, admiring the cleanliness and the silence. We have auto scheduled a post to appear tomorrow (trip summary), so even if that appears, that still doenst mean there is any Internet connection.

Varanasi

After the boat trip we walked south from Man Mandir Ghat, alongside the river, to look at the other ghats. This side of Varanasi was interesting to see (we took the boatride north of our ghat yesterday), and they have their own burning ghat here also (Harashendra Ghat). All over the steps young indian boys played cricket on the steps, and some other game of like origin where you hit a stick of wood with another stick of wood.


By the way, seems like whenever you are in a country of the former British Empire, or under British influence, like Oz, New Zealand, India, there is always a bloody cricket game going on, somehwere, that is televised. They even have their own cricket tv channel here.

Another thing that is popular in all the places in India that we've been to is to fly a kite, and last night there must have been hundreds in the air at once. Fascinating that they do not get entangled in eachothers kites, although all the trees and rooftops bear witness to the fact that a lot of kites are lost.

Also, there is apparently some sort of "scam" going on here where a guy comes up, asks you to shake his hand, immediately offers a massage and then starts giving you some sort of hand massage... as you pull away from this he wants 10 (1.5 kr) rupees for the trouble. These people came up to Joakim all day, and he turned away probably 15 people, with several of them coming back several times. The first three Joakim shook hands with, but after that, the only way to deal with it was that if someone wanted to shake your hand you just said "No massage" and they went away.


The evening yesterday was spent watching the daily sunset ritual at Dashaswamedh Ghat. It consist mostly of 6 men on podiums, ringing bells and turning in all four different directions, and slowly swinging different objects that were on fire. And this lasted for about 45-60 minutes, or at least thats when we gave up and headed back.


Today we spent the morning walking north, to the main burning ghat Marnanika Ghat, and some distance past that. It must be said that Varanasi was not as hectic and intense as expected, at least not down by the river. It is actually a very laid back place, and the touts that are trying to sell you things are surprisingly non-invasive. A simple "No thank you" makes most of them go away! Even beggars. Compared to China this is childs play.


Just checked the train from Varanasi to Delhi on the Indian Rail website, and it is still supposedly on time, with no expected delays. Although it said in the newspaper this morning that our train, the Shiv Ganga Express, was one of the trains that were running with delays, at least yesterday. Anyway, hope our train is on time, and is not delayed on the way to Delhi.

We've also read that there are flights delayed and cancelled from Delhi because of the heavy fog. It has apparently even been snowing in some of the northern parts of India, like Kashmir for instance. Lets hope there are no delays or cancellations on the 6th, when we leave for the Maldives.

Highway to Varanasi

So, we arrived safely in Varanasi after a nightly, 11 hour, ride with a car from Agra. All went well, but it was definitely interesting to see

• the highway system (what you could see of it, since nothing was lit up at all),
• the various form of private roads with armed toll collectors that we drove on (one road our driver asked us several times if our doors were locked, and as we passed a bridge we saw some hindu signs and a drawing of a big shotgun. Nice!)
• The sheer amount of cars, in all likelihood well over 50, that drove super fast in the wrong direction in the wrong lane, even though the highway had a big concrete barrier separating the two lanes in opposite directions. First one we noticed, didnt really think about it, but after the 5th or 6th, you start to wonder why the hell people are driving on the wrong side of the road(and we dont mean that they drive on the left... literally 100 km/h against the traffic)
• The number of cars with no light at all, and the amount of people that walked or cycled on the highway with no lighting
• One tractor that improvised the lighting part by shining a flashlight in front of it

... and so on. However the resting place where our drivers stopped for food was very nice, with flower arrangements and all. Not what we had expected.

Upon arriving in Varanasi, it wasnt all that easy finding our way to the hostel, since everyone you ask gives you different answers, and even the same person will give you two different answers if you ask him twice, just after eachother. For instance, in Taj Mahal:

Joakim: Are you allowed to take books into the Taj Mahal?
Clerk: Yes yes no problem
Joakim: So why does it say on this note that it is forbidden?
Clerk: Yes yes its not possible, no books at all
Joakim: Not even this one?
Clerk: Yes yes, this one is ok

And, of course, no books were allowed inside... kind of frustrating but its amazing how quick you get used to it.

Before leaving our driver he asked us very gently for a Swedish coin, so we happily gave him one, and he looked overjoyed.

We got to the hotel so early that no room was available, and we were thus shown to the massage room where we could crash in our sleeping bags on a massage table. Not necessarily the softest bed, but a nice change from 11 hours of sitting. Got up after some hours, without much sleep, checked in (still no room though), had breakkie on the terrace. The hotel is located right on the river bank, with views of the Ganges. After breakkie we decided to head down for a boat trip from our ghat (Man Mandir Ghat) to Makarnika and Scindia Ghat. Scindia Ghat is a ghat that was built, but like the Wasa-ship it wasn't meant to be and it has sunk into the mud... so now you only see the top of it.

Makarnika Ghat is the main cremation ghat here, in service 24 hours a day, and from the river you see the bodies burning on the piles of wood (we think we saw one body). The wood needed for burning a corpse is carefully measured on scales so that it will be just the amount (not "lagom") that it takes to completely incinerate a corpse.

Its not as cold here as in Agra, and not as foggy, but it is still pretty cold and pretty foggy. We are really in need of a shower right now... I mean, really in need. Not even beggars approach us as frequently anymore! We must really, really smell. Although, we are still not desperate enough to do like the locals and take a dip in the Ganges. Apparently, according to our books (and, as you know, all things written, somewhere, are true), water suitable for bathing has a maximum bacteria count of 500 (something) for every 100 ml of water. Well, the Ganges has 1.5 million bacteria for every 100 ml water...

Rest of the day will be spent strolling around the ghats, and then tomorrow some more strolling, before we head to the train station for our last night train from Varanasi to Delhi.

Heres the link about the train crash if anyone is interested.

And, by the way, the train we were supposed to be on from Tundla to Varanasi, that was 20 hours late, well... it got cancelled. So it was a good thing we took the cab from Agra. Lets hope the train leaves from Varanasi tomorrow, or else we dont know what to do. Right now, it says no delay, but you never really know.

Transport update

We have opted to go to Varanasi by car instead of by train. The train is supposedly 20 hours late already (it hasnt even left delhi), and if we were to take that train we would have arrived on the morning on the 4th, only to leave Varanasi a couple of hours later. So that was not really an option.

There are no flights leaving Agra, but there are buses for Lucknow and then on to Varanasi, however, that seemed to be a hassle, so we decided against that. We could also get on the waiting list for a train in the "herd class" (which is just jammed with people), and we decided against that as well.

So now its a 12 hour, 600 kilometer, car ride for 6500 rupees (1000 kr) to Varanasi, which leaves at 19 and arrives approx 7 in Varanasi. Unfortunately it seems like the best we can do. On the positive side we might arrive 2 hours before the train was supposed to arrive. Yay!

We'll try to write something as soon as we arrive in Varanasi.

Taj Mahal

Got up early this morning, from our sleeping bags, to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Turns out, looking outside the window, that the whole city is covered in heavy fog. Nonetheless, we headed out to the East Gate, which is the one closest to us. We didnt have time for breakfast so we had some cookies on the way.

Entrance into the Taj Mahal is through separate queues for ladies and men, and just like a bathroom queue the ladies one was of course longer and took twice as long. When Joakim reached the entrence the first time, he realized that you had to have a ticket to get in here, you could not buy it in this queue. So, he headed out looking for the ticket office. Sophie waited in the ladies line.

Joakim went to the first checkpoint, 0.5 km up the road... no tickets... Joakim went to the second checkpoint 1.5 km up the road... no tickets... Joakim passed the hotel we stayed at and still no tickets! After more than 2 kms he finally reached a non-descript parking lot with a sign that said "Ticket office". Clearly this must be it. Upon entering, a cycle rickshaw driver pointed to the entrance and said "Ticket office"... a favour he expected Joakim to pay for (bakshish)... not uncommon actually. You can stand in front of a sign that says "Food", someone points to the sign saying "You can have food here" and then expect to get bakshish for it.

So Joakim bought the ticket, walked past his hotel, walked past the second and the first checkpoint, and lo and behold, Sophie is still in the line, altough a bit closer to the entrance this time. Joakim got in line again, and actually got through the ticket check but was stopped in the search area because he had brought a book with him! Apparently, no books are allowed inside... it was not the right time to ask why, but it makes you wonder.

So, we had to head all the long way back, past the first checkpoint, then the second checkpoint, and finally to our hotel to leave everything we thought they could possible not allow inside, and then head back again. Crikey! This time though, the lines were much shorter, and Joakim got in immidiately. Sophie on the other hand was stopped and they searched her bag thoroughly.

She was not allowed to bring her little key ring monkey mascot, or any chewing gum (classified as food), but the person searching was nice enough to let her go in anyway (and she did it for no bakshish!) The monkey had to be hidden in the bag though, as was the chewing gum.


Once inside, the fog had not lifted, and it took until 10 AM before we could actually see the Taj Mahal from the platform where all photos are taken. Even at that time it was sort of foggy. Although the photos were ok anyway, and we got some nice once last night from the terrace of the hotel. We were also photographed by an indian guy that wanted to photo himself with us... we saw another westerner holding an indian family's babies while they photographed him (to much amusement).


Taj Mahal was definitely a cool place to have seen. It's huge and very well designed. As for it being a cool place, it was also very cold... we overheard someone saying that it was 5 degrees celsius... dont know about that, but it sure was cold. Headed back to the hotel, had some toasts and some warm masala chai. Now its just lunch, and then wait for the ride to take us to Tundla and the night train to Varanasi.


The New Zealand mother and daughter told us that this train apparently has a lot of beggars on the train, and even people that jump on it and pull the emergency break all the time to get on and off the train. So lets hope its not as bad as they made it sound like. And also, lets hope Varanasi is warmer.

UPDATE:
While having lunch, we were informed via TV that our train, or the one going from Varanasi to Delhi (which supposedly was turning around in Delhi and heading back to Varanasi) was involved in a crash where 6 people died. It is not entirely clear right now if our train will be on time, or even if it will "be" at all. If they do not get a new train, in all likelihood we will not be able to go to Varanasi... however, still too early to say anything clear about the situation. We were supposed to leave the hotel at 18, but right now we will make some phonecalls (around 4pm or so) to see if there will be any train.

The (non present) Eye of the tiger

After two hours on train we arrived at Sawai Madhoupur at 7:30 in the evening, and was promptly picked up by a jeep driver holding a sign with the name "Mr Sothie". We figured that was our ride :) Generally at the National Park and the hotel where we stayed there seemed to be a general confusion regardning this, as one of the safaris had us listed as Mr Sopin. Also, Joakim was the only person they ever adressed while speaking. Joakim even got a big happy new year hug just before we left the hotel and the national park this morning.

The hotel we stayed at, Ranthambore Forest Resort, was by far the most expensive hotel of the trip, but it can hardly be said to be the best. Only the hotel in Delhi was worse. And the service was absolutely dismal, except that we had one guy following us around and helping us pick up the buffet food and offering us cookies and chai. A bit strange.


Also on the strange was Joakim having a discussion with an indian man, who just spontaneously sat down and started talking, with his wife eagerly filming the entire event. Yes, yes, we felt like monkeys at a zoo, but we were at a national park, and it is always nice to be of amusement.

Long before we left, when the trip was booked, we booked the stay at the hotel along with two jeep safaris. Upon not receiving the voucher for the Jeep safaris, Sopin e-mailed the company (Tour My India) and asked for the voucher. This kept on going for several months, up until two weeks before the trip when we were told that the voucher would be "given us on time". Well, upon arriving at the hotel, still no voucher. And after much work we managed to convince the "helpful" hotel staff to call the local agent and find out. (mostly the staff just wanted us to do everything later, probably so that they would go off their shift and have someone else do it). Generally though, the staffs at all the previous hotels have been extremely helpful.


Anyway, we got our jeep safari early in the morning, and spent that morning driving around after tiger tracks and alarm calls by monkeys. It was kind of fun, but we are still not sure if the tiger tracks werent put out there on purpose (we saw an indian "tracker" carrying a inverted clay tiger footprint for instance). So no tiger, but some antilopes and gazelles and spotted deers.

For the afternoon we were supposed to have a jeep safari as well, but Tour My India apparently fucked that up, so we got a open bus safari (20 seater) instead, which was nice but not what we payed for. During that trip we got to another part of the park (location 3, which supposedly is the best one) and saw some crocs, more antilopes, deer and such, but again no tiger. Still, this part of the park was a lot more open, with two lakes, you got close to the animals, got to see the Ranthambore fort, so it was a good trip after all.



Also part of the the package we booked was some sort of new years eve gala dinner (which turned out to be a regular buffet dinner), and some sort of entertainment (which turned out to be a genuine blinking 70s dancefloor, playing indian disco from the 70s) :) We did not attend.

New years day we got up just before 4 in the morning in order to catch the train from Sawai Madhopour to Agra (where we are now). At the station we were stared at for 1 hour straight until the train arrived, and the staring continued in the coach we had. Not as bad as China though.

On the ride in to Agra, like 3 minutes before we stopped in central Agra, we passed the site where people (50 or more) just sat and pooped in the open, on an open field, next to the train track. It was... interesting...

We were a bit worried that we hadnt arranged a pick up, but it turned out ok. The hotel we are staying at is an ok place, with a wonderful roof top view of the Taj Mahal. That alone is worth the money for it (which was really cheap actually)

So tomorrow it's Taj Mahal at sunrise, and then get on the night train to Varanasi in the evening. It leaves from a different city, so we have to take a taxi there in order to catch it.

Happy new year to everyone!