Kath xo
Saturday, September 30, 2017
ThIkarda Village School visit, Bundi Rajasthan
FINALLY.....
a photo of the tremendous welcome we received at the school (see earlier blog)
Kath xo
Kath xo
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Bundi to Jaipur
We were really sorry to leave Bundi, It is such a special place with such wonderful people.
I have been there twice before and made some friends who were genuinely overwhelmed that I had returned (hard to believe I know) and made me promise to come back (don't really know how I will manage that)...oh dear. And then there was the Brad Factor....a Katoomba resident and lover of India who spends a lot of time in Bundi and if you are a friend of Brad you embraced.
Yug the artist and teacher such a gentle and kind soul , Manesh with the antiques stall with the lovely daughter who stole my heart,Avelin the tour guide with the Masters Degree in English Lit who loves Shakespeare and John Austen (he did mean Jane)and has never seen a play:a Jain who married a Brahman Hindu for love and whose family won't speak to him anymore,Jaisingh who is also a tour guide and decided I was his mother and he would never forget me.....
Today we drove (well Ajay did) to Jaipur...a very different kettle of fish to small and generous Bundi.
The heat and pace(fort in the morning with it's world famous wall paintings and very rough rickshaw ride to a waterfall , not much water, loads of monkeys ,temples with resident Sadhu receiving another red spot on our foreheads) yesterday meant we stayed inside out of the heat reading, dinner on the roof with Indian music and dancing and great food. We asked a single woman sitting alone to join us...she was from Florida and very nice EXCEPT for her politics which were dire (my cousin is married to a Black and I don't mind that but...........you get the picture) We did very well to button our lips so as not to create an international incident!.
Sorry I am having soooo much trouble posting photos ...maybe tomorrow some of Rigmor's as we don't need a USB port for hers, but will have a problem finding them on her phone .
Big day in Jaipur tomorrow with an elephant ride to the Amber Fort...early start to beat the worst of the heat....and it is very very very hot!
Kath xo
I have been there twice before and made some friends who were genuinely overwhelmed that I had returned (hard to believe I know) and made me promise to come back (don't really know how I will manage that)...oh dear. And then there was the Brad Factor....a Katoomba resident and lover of India who spends a lot of time in Bundi and if you are a friend of Brad you embraced.
Yug the artist and teacher such a gentle and kind soul , Manesh with the antiques stall with the lovely daughter who stole my heart,Avelin the tour guide with the Masters Degree in English Lit who loves Shakespeare and John Austen (he did mean Jane)and has never seen a play:a Jain who married a Brahman Hindu for love and whose family won't speak to him anymore,Jaisingh who is also a tour guide and decided I was his mother and he would never forget me.....
Today we drove (well Ajay did) to Jaipur...a very different kettle of fish to small and generous Bundi.
The heat and pace(fort in the morning with it's world famous wall paintings and very rough rickshaw ride to a waterfall , not much water, loads of monkeys ,temples with resident Sadhu receiving another red spot on our foreheads) yesterday meant we stayed inside out of the heat reading, dinner on the roof with Indian music and dancing and great food. We asked a single woman sitting alone to join us...she was from Florida and very nice EXCEPT for her politics which were dire (my cousin is married to a Black and I don't mind that but...........you get the picture) We did very well to button our lips so as not to create an international incident!.
Sorry I am having soooo much trouble posting photos ...maybe tomorrow some of Rigmor's as we don't need a USB port for hers, but will have a problem finding them on her phone .
Big day in Jaipur tomorrow with an elephant ride to the Amber Fort...early start to beat the worst of the heat....and it is very very very hot!
Kath xo
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Now in Rajasthan
For days now I have either been unable to access the internet or it has been so slow it is unworkable... so in that time we have spent time in 2 towns in Madhya Pradesh: Gwalior and Orchha.
Both places have beautiful forts, palaces and temples and the usual crazy street life .....we are managing to dodge rickshaw drivers persistently trying to cart us off somewhere or other, street vendors attempting to sell us all manner of goods but with our flight weight restriction for Kullu we are being very strong (well more or less). It is the Kashmiri embroidery that is (very) hard to resist (admittedly our resolve has been challenged on that score)....and the Kashmiris are very charming and mightily persuasive!
The photos I posted last were not the ones I meant to post as the numbers on the photos differ on the camera and the computer and the internet is such that I can't check what is what.........and this takes me so long to do I am scared of losing the bloody lot.
So 2 photos I meant to post from Agra (just to prove we really were there...not that you didn't believe me,did you?)
It will not let me insert images now so I will try later.
We are now in Bundi and I have met up with old friends Yug and Manesh.
Today we went with Yug to the Thikarda village school where he teaches painting for a special ceremony for the education goddess Sarasvati and as they teach tourism at the school (about 600 students K-12) we were the special guest tourists (it was World Tourism Day)for the assembly which included recitations, music and speeches , the goddess was parked on a chair at the front and she got special attention too of course.
We spoke about the importance of education and inclusiveness etc and it was translated for the kids.
We were overwhelmed by their kindness to us and received gifts and garlands of jasmine and marigolds and afternoon tea prepared by the children .
(photos to follow)
Tonight we are going to dinner with Manesh and his wife and little girl.
We feel very lucky to be here.
Kath xo
PS Quite a few monkeys today!
Both places have beautiful forts, palaces and temples and the usual crazy street life .....we are managing to dodge rickshaw drivers persistently trying to cart us off somewhere or other, street vendors attempting to sell us all manner of goods but with our flight weight restriction for Kullu we are being very strong (well more or less). It is the Kashmiri embroidery that is (very) hard to resist (admittedly our resolve has been challenged on that score)....and the Kashmiris are very charming and mightily persuasive!
The photos I posted last were not the ones I meant to post as the numbers on the photos differ on the camera and the computer and the internet is such that I can't check what is what.........and this takes me so long to do I am scared of losing the bloody lot.
So 2 photos I meant to post from Agra (just to prove we really were there...not that you didn't believe me,did you?)
It will not let me insert images now so I will try later.
We are now in Bundi and I have met up with old friends Yug and Manesh.
Today we went with Yug to the Thikarda village school where he teaches painting for a special ceremony for the education goddess Sarasvati and as they teach tourism at the school (about 600 students K-12) we were the special guest tourists (it was World Tourism Day)for the assembly which included recitations, music and speeches , the goddess was parked on a chair at the front and she got special attention too of course.
We spoke about the importance of education and inclusiveness etc and it was translated for the kids.
We were overwhelmed by their kindness to us and received gifts and garlands of jasmine and marigolds and afternoon tea prepared by the children .
(photos to follow)
Tonight we are going to dinner with Manesh and his wife and little girl.
We feel very lucky to be here.
Kath xo
PS Quite a few monkeys today!
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Agra
A scorcher today with humidity to match. At the Taj this morning by 7am but I suspect already in the 30s and very busy........but what a sight to behold....it is astonishing!
Many have waxed lyrical about it's beauty but I rather like the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore's description as "a teardrop on the cheek of eternity"
We were fortunate to view it from across the river later in the afternoon at the newly reconstructed Moghul garden Metab Bagh and to visit the exquisite and much smaller tomb Itmad-ud-Daulah (built by a Persian woman Nur Jahan for her father).
That was yesterday .....today we moved on to Gwalior and our oasis of a hotel set in beautiful gardens complete with 400 year old carved Hindu temples and resident peacocks.....the purple and orange colour scheme of our Agra digs is a distant memory.....ah well.
The monsoon has hit so we took a rickshaw ride to the completely different world that is the real Gwalior....a very busy market stretching for kms and much religious activity as it is the start of a 9 day festival to Hindu goddesses.....so much music, noise and colour in the streets....all in the pouring rain.
Many have waxed lyrical about it's beauty but I rather like the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore's description as "a teardrop on the cheek of eternity"
We were fortunate to view it from across the river later in the afternoon at the newly reconstructed Moghul garden Metab Bagh and to visit the exquisite and much smaller tomb Itmad-ud-Daulah (built by a Persian woman Nur Jahan for her father).
That was yesterday .....today we moved on to Gwalior and our oasis of a hotel set in beautiful gardens complete with 400 year old carved Hindu temples and resident peacocks.....the purple and orange colour scheme of our Agra digs is a distant memory.....ah well.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Memsahibs on the Road to Agra
The Memsahibs took to the road this morning with Ajay our wonderful driver (thank you Rana and Paul).......so much easier but feel a bit detached from life outside the confines of our air-conditioned car...it is a nice change I am reluctant to admit.
The haze and heat have intensified today making it all the remarkable that the hundreds of pilgrims marching in groups behind decorated tractors in bare feet to some temple or other we saw along the way would even think this a good idea let alone carry it out....but they looked very cheerful and determined!
...and our first elephant sighting (helping to trim trees along the freeway) and camel....fantastic!
We are now in a very tacky hotel (blue lights in the bedhead that allow the diamonds inserted in the padded brown vinyl to glow... (you get the picture)in Agra.....but location, location was the object of the choice (and price of course) but I did not expect a view of the Taj from the loo!
The top 2 photos are Agra Fort and the view of the Taj Mahal is from our loo and bedroom too...how impressed are you! The real thing up close tomorrow at dawn..can't wait.
Kath xo
The haze and heat have intensified today making it all the remarkable that the hundreds of pilgrims marching in groups behind decorated tractors in bare feet to some temple or other we saw along the way would even think this a good idea let alone carry it out....but they looked very cheerful and determined!
...and our first elephant sighting (helping to trim trees along the freeway) and camel....fantastic!
We are now in a very tacky hotel (blue lights in the bedhead that allow the diamonds inserted in the padded brown vinyl to glow... (you get the picture)in Agra.....but location, location was the object of the choice (and price of course) but I did not expect a view of the Taj from the loo!
Kath xo
Monday, September 18, 2017
Delhi
We are completely enamored with the chaos,madness,multitudes and constant challenges..Rigmor too even though it is her first time in India.
On the way from the new whizz-bang airport (vast changes since I was here last, driven I suspect by the burgeoning growth of the Indian middle class) we encountered road blocks and were informed by the police that we might not be able to get to our hotel in Parah Gang...the reason being that protests were to be held over the next few days as local elections were imminent and the people had grievances over another Modhi monetary misjudgment...this time (wait for it) the introduction of a GST!
So to continue the saga we were directed to the Tourist Information "offices" up some back alley behind Connaught Place.........all this on no sleep in 24 hours.........we made it by midnight to our very nice haveli style hotel (not a good idea to judge a book by it's cover.the street is in a state of dereliction from top to bottom).
Repeating the mantra"we are not tired" the first day was spent hurtling around Shah Jahan's once magnificent Red Fort..now a shadow of it's former self (retribution and desecration of the British colonisers and lack of public money since)...restoration would be a mighty task indeed!
Then on to the Gandhi Smitri Museum...the house where he spent his last few months and was assassinated....very moving.
Today we conquered the heat, noise and chaos of Chandi Chowk (Old Delhi's enormous and very old market)....and Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India and another of Shah Jahan's projects (as was the Taj Mahal).
Then as if were not exhausted and hot enough into another rickshaw to the spectacular Mughal jewel....Humayan's Tomb...it was worth it.
The internet is unreliable and charging the computer up is as well ...so these posts might be errati.
I will try to send some photos now...wish me luck.
Kath xoxo
On the way from the new whizz-bang airport (vast changes since I was here last, driven I suspect by the burgeoning growth of the Indian middle class) we encountered road blocks and were informed by the police that we might not be able to get to our hotel in Parah Gang...the reason being that protests were to be held over the next few days as local elections were imminent and the people had grievances over another Modhi monetary misjudgment...this time (wait for it) the introduction of a GST!
So to continue the saga we were directed to the Tourist Information "offices" up some back alley behind Connaught Place.........all this on no sleep in 24 hours.........we made it by midnight to our very nice haveli style hotel (not a good idea to judge a book by it's cover.the street is in a state of dereliction from top to bottom).
Repeating the mantra"we are not tired" the first day was spent hurtling around Shah Jahan's once magnificent Red Fort..now a shadow of it's former self (retribution and desecration of the British colonisers and lack of public money since)...restoration would be a mighty task indeed!
Then on to the Gandhi Smitri Museum...the house where he spent his last few months and was assassinated....very moving.
Today we conquered the heat, noise and chaos of Chandi Chowk (Old Delhi's enormous and very old market)....and Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India and another of Shah Jahan's projects (as was the Taj Mahal).
Then as if were not exhausted and hot enough into another rickshaw to the spectacular Mughal jewel....Humayan's Tomb...it was worth it.
The internet is unreliable and charging the computer up is as well ...so these posts might be errati.
I will try to send some photos now...wish me luck.
Kath xoxo
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