#i decided not to count unesco world heritage sites for the purpose of this ask because there are 900 of them | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tnaypi3 · 4 years

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Delhi & Jaipur

View from our hotel balcony

Got a few hours sleep but we are ready for your surprises, New Delhi!

We had quite an intro upon arrival at the airport the night before. As expected, we got flocked by so many cab drivers. We nicely told them we have a ride even though we didn’t. They can be pretty relentless and even if you’ve already refused them, they don’t leave you alone. We were buying time to figure out if we should get an Uber, as sometimes, that tends to get tricky when you’re at an airport. Or if we should take the airport shuttle, though that is surely going to be 5x the going rate. Or maybe we get lucky and find a driver we can negotiate with.

After talking to the booth for airport shuttles/services and finding out their rate was 1500 Rs, Alex and I decided we go look for a driver that would agree with 850 Rs plus tip. We found one and in no time we were following him to his cab which was not really a cab. It was a small mini van, half of it in the back a storage area. A buddy of his then approached the passenger seat to join us on our ride. My imagination did not go wild or anything but I did not like how things are looking. I took a photo of his plate number (tip from the internet and I also usually do this when in an unfamiliar place).

They saw this and got really upset, asking why I did that. I said I’m sending it to my parents as a safety measure and to our hotel in case we leave something or if we’ll need anything from you for future purposes. They were not having it and demanded I delete it.

I said “Okay, no problem, ( I wanted to add ‘no need to be this agitated, JEEZE’) but we’re not riding with you.”

As we were unloading our luggages, the driver wouldn’t give it a rest, telling me how wrong I was, that I was a bad person, etc. (LOL.) He asked if I deleted it so I showed him my photo gallery and that it was already gone. I say sorry to him if I offended him or anything, and that I just wanted to be cautious, that everything is new to us here and we’re just trying to do the smart thing, and if he’s not okay with that, we’re not here to pressure him with what we want. He seemed to understand what I said and calmed down. We walked away still hearing them say we are not good people.

Shortly after that, we found another booth, a private car service, paid under 1000 Rs and were good to go. I asked the person behind the desk as well as our driver before getting in the car if it’s okay to take a picture of the plate number and was allowed without any fuss. We were dropped off to our hotel in 30mins, at almost 2am.

Not too bad ;-)

What a beautiful, sunshiney, smoggy, loud and lively morning India!

Our cute and quirky hotel that is conveniently situated in walking distance to the Old Delhi railway station which we’ll be taking on day2 going to Jaipur

Lookin for breakfast

Found one! And it was love at first bite for Alex!!!

I only had toast because I was still feeling a bit unsettled from eating way too much during our flights. We pre-ordered vegetarian/vegan meals. It was the best decision ever!

Hmm. Cows and horses competing with humans, rickshaws, cabs and trucks on the streets.. Okay, I’m starting to get it. It really is a thing here!

Hi little goat friends!

The Red Fort

Red Fort, also called Lal Qalʿah, Mughal fort in Old Delhi, India was built by Shah Jahān in the mid-17th century and remains a major tourist attraction. The fort was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007.

Every year on the Independence day of India, the Prime Minister hoists the Indian "tricolour flag" at the main gate of the fort and delivers a nationally broadcast speech from its embankment.

Rang Mahal

This palace was used by consorts of emperors and their maids. Khas Mahal, the stunning personal palace of emperor, is situated near Rang Mahal. It allowed the emperor to pay a visit to his queens anytime he wants. Except the princesses and queens, nobody had the permission to visit Khas Mahal.

With the end of Mughal Reign (1858), the British officials sanctioned to remove all the valuables from Red Fort and destroyed many buildings inside as well as the gardens and reduced it to just a military structure.

After having acquired the Red Fort, British went on a destroying spree. They continued to demolish several parts of the fort. Most of the valuables were sold. Nothing much remained in the massive and splendid fort that was once the residence of the mughal emperor.

Cab ride views

Akshardham Temple

Built of pink sandstone and marble, the mandir which is a place where Hindus go to worship gods in the form of various deities, is the spiritual center of the entire complex. The murtis (a general term for a cult image, an image, statue or idol of a deity or person in Indian culture) of Bhagwan Swaminarayan and his successors, reside in this intricately carved abode. Strengthening the faith of believers, blessing all aspirants and bringing peace to everyone, the Akshardham Mandir is a temple that welcomes all.

Phones and cameras are not allowed so the images of this part of our day are all borrowed from the internet ;-) It was a surprisingly nice time without our devices for a good few hours. Though I’m ashamed to say, I almost threw a fit upon finding out about the house rules earlier. Alex joked there better be a super top-secret show or ritual or religious artifacts and Indian gems or treasures inside for us to go though all the security machines and pat downs. haha!

There wasn’t! But we were engulfed anyway by the beauty of its architecture, carvings, paintings, watching pilgrims observe prayers and rituals which overall set a serenely devotional mood, almost making you feel like you’re watching a movie.

Okay. Definitely a way, way better experience without our phones!!

Akshardham Temple is surrounded by Narayan Sarovar, which is a lake and carries water from 151 lakes in India. There are 108 faces of cows placed along the lakes which represent 108 Hindu deities. It has a 3,000-feet-long orbital path for Parikrama made up of red stones brought from Rajasthan. It also has a two storey building, with 1,152 pillars and 145 windows. This Parikrama is spread around the temple like a beautiful garland.

There is also an exquisite garden in the Akshardham temple complex in the shape of lotus and therefore is also, known as the Lotus Garden. When seen from above, it looks like a Lotus made up of large stones where quotes from Shakespeare, Martin Luther, Swami Vivekananda and other eminent figures are engraved. It’s a nice little have from the chaos of the city outside.

Lodi Gardens

A historic park spread across more than 90 acres in the heart of New Delhi is the Lodi/Lodhi Gardens. The park just does not have trees, plants, flowers and green lawns, but also is home to some historical monuments and tombs which were built during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Spent the afternoon spying on so many species of exotic birds! Well, exotic for Alex and I. There were birds that resembled turkeys, storks/herons.. birds of all sizes, countless flocks of green parrots with the romantic Delhi sunset as a.backdrop... It was magical!

Thankful for this patch of green to hide in and take a break from all the loud honking of vehicles and the blanket of smog/dust all throughout the city

Caught a show at the Indian Habitat Cultural Center. Definitely a highlight because it was my first time to see anything like this - Kerala traditional folk dance with live music accompaniment! What a stunning show, and a good night cap to end our first day in Delhi. Sadly, halfway through, we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore so we snuck out during the break to head home :-\

Train to Jaipur - whew!

This is a story we’ll never forget! Our train was scheduled to leave 6:05am and yay, according to my vast(ish) research, it’s always on time. Supposedly a 4hr ride, so shortly after 10am we’ll be in Jaipur. Awesome! This made me so happy because this means we have the whole day to explore the city.

We woke up 5:20am and were stepping out of our hotel by 5:10. We walked to the train station and arrived roughly 10mins later. This is when it gets tricky. The station was already bustling with passengers, drivers, people selling tickets and whatnots. We couldn’t find any sign in English that would direct us where to fall in line or what to do first. For a moment, we were scampering back and forth looking for a sign, someone that talks in English - anything! None. So we turned to our intuition and counted on our gut feeling to join the people falling in line. Which was getting longer by the second. It looked like it leads to an xray machine for the luggages. I asked the people in front of us and behind us if this is the line to Jaipur/is this the line for the train Ajmer Shatabdi Express but I got mixed answers. Needless to say, there’s an air of panic between Alex and I because we couldn’t afford to waste any time. While Alex is in line, I walked around to look for someone to ask and I find this guy who probably works in the station because he looked the part. Thankfully, he also speaks English. I asked him if we are in the right line and told him we’re going to Jaipur. He said it’s not the line we’re supposed to be at, and hastily ushered us to another direction. Alex and I, while following him, looked at each other, suspicion already starting to set in. While we’re brisk walking, the guy asks us if we already have tickets and I said yes, pulling out the prints from my bag. He encircled the departure time in our ticket saying that our train is cancelled but there’s another option. I stop in my tracks dumfounded.

Only because I know this guy is a scam and he is actually scamming us right now. UGH. I have read countless blogs and articles online regarding THIS PARTICULAR SCENARIO. So I told him “No. It’s not cancelled but nice try.” and turned away from him to go back where we left off in the line. The man behind us was kind enough to let us.

Getting inside the station, again, we couldn’t find any sign in the platform that would at least say the train’s name or the destination. I was starting to really get nervous about missing our train. Several people that we asked couldn’t understand what we were saying. Finally we decided we found our train and walked all the way to the front of the platform since we were assigned to car #2. After we’ve placed our luggage in the overhead storage and found our seat numbers, we plopped down and smiled at each other. PHEW. But for whatever reason, I get up to ask the person sitting behind us if this train is going to Jaipur. He and some others then tells us we’re on the wrong train. LOL. This train is not going to Jaipur!!! I wanted to cry and laugh and cry. We thank them and in less than a minute, we were back on the platform running around like headless chickens.

To cut it short, we did find our train 10mins or so before departure. I was starting to understand that even though we have done our homework and researched most of the things, this trip is going to be navigated through a push and pull of intuition, asking more than 3 persons for confirmation who are hopefully not out to scam foreigners, maybe a little help from our angels and fairies, good luck, a lot of patience, and a positively persistent mindset. Good morning India!!!!

Another hell of a ride here. We get to Jaipur Railway Station and had 3 Uber drivers cancel on us. Not sure why it was so hard for us to find each other but it just never worked out. But we wanted to keep trying because it was so much easier since the payment is online. The other option which is getting a cab is too exhausting at times as it seems like you’re just constantly dealing with drivers who are trying to take advantage of you

Made it to our hotel!

We are super happy to have survived this morning (without punching anyone in the face, especially for me!!!)

Rooftop pool

And restaurant!

Oh gosh, the food just keeps getting better. A very quick and satisfying mini feast before we head off to our 2pm appointment with our cab driver, Hassan who’s picking us up at our hotel. He saved us me from disintegrating of frustration at Jaipur railway station without ripping us off “too much” after all our Uber mishaps.

Albert Hall Museum

Named after Prince Albert of Wales, it is also the oldest museum of the state and functions as the state museum of Rajasthan.

The magnificent building is visible from outside New Gate. The building is made up of Stone blocks prominent in British Architecture of that time. The main building is on a a plinth to support weight of the huge building.

When you’re reading descriptions wherein I’m using funny words, you may think I’m also borrowing these from the internet. And you are absolutely right! Plinth. Hahaha!

This was also beginning to be a theme. On our first day in Delhi, Alex got a handful fans here and there asking for a selfie. LOL!

Just inside the Building are courtyards with water fountains, floors paved with polished, symmetric marble.

Back in the cab

Monkeys! It has begun...... ;)

Entering the very underrated Monkey Temple/ Galta Ji

Right away, you just get this mysterious, almost mystical feeling as you make your way into the cobblestone path that wraps around hills, eventually leading you to the temple. It could be that the unique and absolutely magnificent Rajasthan sunrise with hues of orange, pink and sepia is to blame for. Or maybe because suddenly, things simply seems to have slowed down significantly with no one trying to sell us anything or pushing tour packages down our throats.. and then there’s the blaring of horns that begin to slowly fade away the farther up we go...

Alex and I were insanely overwhelmed with the amount of monkeys roaming around freely. For a moment I found my head throbbing from my heart beating so fast while trying to absorb everything that’s happening. Everything was happening all at once and I wanted to see it all, I didn’t want to miss anything!! Everything was straight out from a movie or a story book. Barely any tourists, the locals were as nonchalant as could be and there are stray monkeys, goats, cows and dogs meandering everywhere you go

A heartwarming moment seeing this guy with his kid drive up to where most of the monkeys were hanging out to giving out bananas, so much bananas that it seemed like every monkey was able to get one :) What a sight! And a cacophony of squeals and yelps as a whole troop of them tumbles from a nearby tree, and rocks, scuttling across the path like a group of scrumping children!!

My husband is a celebrity ;-)

Hemmed inside a narrow gorge, squeezed between cliffs in a rocky valley, Galta Ji feels like a desolate place. We barely see any people, especially not other camera-wielding tourists on our ascend.

Falling in love with Jaipur’s colors

A slice of Jaipur city views

My favorite smile under the Rajasthani sunset

Looks like we just missed a music session with kids!

The Sun temple / Surya Mandir

A small Hindu temple dedicated to the sun god that lies high above Jaipur and provides wonderful panoramic views over the city.

We were offered a prayer in exchange for donations by the lady that was watching over the temple

Can you tell how satisfied we are of how everything is going so far?

The buildings with walls cracked and peeling seem to tumble down into the valley set between two granite cliffs and descending in steps. Maybe that’s why I find it so evocative and alluring.

We were at a turtle’s pace the for more than two hours and by then, we decided we can skip the rest of the trek to the Monkey Temple. We’ve had our fill of monkey-watching and neighborhood exploration and are ready for the next destination. We also didn’t want to make our driver wait any longer so we made our way down. The panoramic view of the city, now even more taken over by the changing colors of sunset.

Our driver had a long spiel about an area that sells textiles, wooden crafts, trinkets, all made by hand and many more other thingamabobs such as incense, spices and whatnots.. Also, as a strong selling point, he kept emphasizing that these merchants help the very poor population by providing work for them, donating to charities that take care of street children, etc.

In the spirit of give and take, we let him take us there. So far, he’s been a jolly and helpful driver after all, playing the part of our tour guide here and there. A little pushy and overly energetic at times but it’s all good!

Seeing how cotton sarongs, sari’s, tapestries, blankets, shawls achieve their unique burst of colors and prints. By hand! By layers of 4 and more print-stamping process!

Felt like I was robbed. But make that happily robbed because I managed to find extremely pretty pieces and haggled good! Everyone is happy, including our driver who also got a commission for bringing us there.

This is one of the things I absolutely love about traveling. More so in poorer places because we get to share our blessings in our own little way to the hardworking locals who hustle nonstop to take care of their families and sometimes, extended families.

Back in the hotel! There’s never been a meal we didn’t look forward to on this trip.

Yes, we gobbled everything so fast. Faster than I could take out my camera and steal a snap.

#mrmrsbecks

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