From an Istanbul sunset to lunar landscapes

Greetings! We've spent the last three days meandering around the cobbled streets of Istanbul. I had no idea it was such an affluent city, I had this idea in my head that it was more like Hungary, a bit crumbling and more middle eastern. If you take away the mosques, which are fantastic, and the million and one kebab shops, you could be in just about any prosperous major European city. The people do look a cross between Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterns.

We did a wonderful evening cruise on the Bospherous today. This pic was taken just before 5pm, (you can just make out some minarets in the distance). That is another thing we are having to get used to: the early sunsets and the chilly evenings. It was amazing seeing the enormous mansions and old almost English manor houses dotted along both banks of the river. Some serious money in this town!

Yesterday we walked the length of of İstiklal Avenue, across the river. It is the main shopping street and has a wonderful old red tram which goes up and down. It has all the top brands and designer labels. Istanbul is very expensive. I think I mentioned this already. About the only cheap thing are the sweets. We have been eating heaps of different turkish delight and other Turkish sweets. The shop windows are full of huge varieties of Turkish delight, Halva and baklava. Those Turks sure know how to make sweets!

But we are leaving Istanbul in about 45 minutes. We are catching the night bus to the Cappadocia region, about 10 hours east of Istanbul. It is famous for its caves carved out of natural rock formations, underground cities and lunar landscapes. From there we might follow the coast all the way back to Istanbul. No clear plan yet in mind.

Reverse culture shock in Istanbul

We have been in Istanbul about a day and spent most of that sleeping. Our early morning flight out of Delhı really took ıts toll. It ıs very wıerd beıng ın Istanbul, havıng spent the last two months ın the developıng world. I thınk we both have `reverse culture shock` - everythıng ıs so clean and ordered. There are no cowpats to avoıd or cows, no mountaıns of litter or speedıng auto rıckshaw. It ıs far too cıvılısed for us here! But I am sure we wıll adapt. It does feel very much lıke we are back ın Europe especıally the prıces of thıngs - no more cups of chaı for just a few cents or breakfast for a dollar or two. We are movıng back ınto our European routıne of havıng yoghurt and a pıece of fruıt for breakfast and sleepıng ın dorms and watchıng our money closely. (By the way, ıf somethıng seems strange about thıs post - thıs Turkısh keyboard has taken dots off the ´í´) Our plans are to stay ın Istanbul tıll at least Tuesday and from there wıll head towards Cappadocıa (and hopefully stay ın one of those faıry chımney places they mentıon ın our guıde book) and perhaps a few other places en route. If there ıs tıme we mıght also go to Gallıpolı. Thıs mornıng we ate a delıcıous sweet flakey pastry and drank a cup of thıck, yummy Turkısh coffee. I have also been eyeıng out the dısplays of Turkısh delıght and halva. There are kebab stores everywhere!

A Delhi Delhi sad farewell to India

Today is our last day in India, well sort of. We fly off to Istanbul at 5am tomorrow morning.

We have been in Delhi since Tuesday evening after a mad train ride from Agra.

You may be wondering who these people are in this photo? So am I? This picture was taken in Agra Fort on Tuesday. There were lots of Indians visiting as part of their Diwali holiday and we had to pose for lots of photos with Indians who wanted pictures with pasty white people. Anyway, we thought we'd turn the tables and get a photo ourselves. All I can tell you is that they are from the Gujrati province and were very friendly and chatty.

Our two days in Agra were very hectic. We were in full sight seeing mode in what is definitely the tourist heartland of India. This meant double the harassment and pestering and we both nearly lost it on a couple of occasions. One young boy in particular insisted on taking us up to the entrance of Fatepur Sikh, the abandoned city, saying he did not want any money, only wanted to practice his English. When we got inside the mosque he tried to physically drag me to his little shop and got angry when we refused to follow him. We yelled at him and he finally left us in peace.

In Agra we spent a morning wondering around the stupendous Taj Mahal and the surrounding parkland and after that took a crazy bus ride to Fatepur Sikh, the abandoned city dating back to the 1600s. It was abandoned by Akhbar the Great (considered the greatest Mughal - Muslim - ruler of all time) . It was a 40km ride on a rickety old bus packed to bursting. Along the way the driver had to dodge donkey carts, a pack of meandering water buffalo, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, motorcycles, people and some kid who was showing his bike to his mates in the middle of the road. To top it all off, some kid threw up next to me and his mother decided to rush him past me allowing him to smear his face all over the back of my top. Charming!

Faterpur Sikh was very eerie. An entirely planned city, abandoned due to lack of water all constructed out of red sandstone with palaces, courtyards and beautiful manicured lawns. The other major sight we saw was Agra Fort, built by Shah Jehan, the man behind the Taj Mahal. The irony was that he was imprisoned in the Fort by his son so spent his last few years gazing at the Taj from across the Yamuna River. Poor bugger.

Delhi has been really good. The contrast between first world and third world is stark even more so because the two worlds co-exist side by side. Yesterday we took the ultra modern, incredibly clean, air-conditioned metro to Old Delhi (it is about 100 times cleaner than the London tube) and then stepped into a world of bazaars, congested streets, rubbish, pollution, cows, monkeys, food stalls etc. We also saw first world India on our way from the train station to our hotel - wide boulevards, enormous mansions, fancy shopping malls - where the rich live and play.

Well I could go on and on about India, the sights we have seen. I think everyone should see India in their lifetime, but at the same time, it's probably not for everyone. Alongside all the incredible mughal and Hindu architecture, the richest of cultures, a diversity of food and tastes unmatched anywhere in the world is abject poverty, animals walking around just bags of bones and filth and chaos unlike any I have experienced. It hard to experience one without the other, perhaps on a package tour, but then you would never experience the real India.

Suffice to say, we are both sad to be leaving, but looking forward to some normality (hopefully) in Istanbul and then America! India is in our bones though and we already are thinking about when we can come back. Some photos below taken over the last month in this country that is a world all of its own:

'Lally' and 'Lava' reach the Taj

As I write, an enormous white cow just waddled past the internet cafe at our hotel in Agra.

We arrived this afternoon after a six hour bus ride from Jaipur and we have already seen the Taj Mahal. From a distance that is. We have a brilliant view of the Taj Mahal from the roof top terrace of our hotel. I think it is the most beautiful building I have ever seen and could not stop staring at it (in between backgammon moves) as the sun set and it faded to silhouette. Tomorrow we will pay a proper visit. We also have tentative plans to wake up at sunset and watch the Taj come to life with the rising sun. It simply takes your breath away when you see it for the first time. A tourist sitting near us said to a friend of hers that she was a little bit disappointed with the Taj - I could have punched her! Seriously woman, you have got to be joking.

Anyway, I think Larna and I (or 'Lally' and 'Lava' as our bus tickets said - the guy at the ticket booth obviously had trouble reading Larna's handwriting on the ticket application form) are both getting a little bit tired of fellow tourists spouting on about all the places they have been or plan to go. It feels like some kind of competition. Today we were the only foreigners on the bus to Agra, and it was really pleasing not to be surrounded by fellow travelers dangling enormous cameras.

We spent just one day in Jaipur. We were taken around in an auto rickshaw and shown most of the major sights. The city is very chaotic, particurlarly having come from Pushkar, but I did love the "pink" hue of all the buildings. Our driver told us all the buildings in the old city can only be painted that specific colour. There were also lots of Diwali lights on and the usual bangs of firecrackers. The crackers drove us nuts in Pushkar on the first night of Diwali. Some are so loud you could lose your hearing if you were right up close when they went off and most of the time its little kids lighting them and running away as they explode. So dangerous. I guess that is one of the more infuriating aspects of India, the total lack of concern for personal safety (it seems) with whole families riding on mopeds without any helmuts just another example.

Some more great photos of Jaipur taken by Larna, the first one is of a "chai wallah" making tea, delicious!

Diwali in Pushkar

We decided to extend our stay in Pushkar because its such a magical, fascinating place and because we have not heard too many people say great things about Jaipur, other than it being big and noisy (though it is pink and has an old city that is meant to be amazing), so we reckon a day and night in Jaipur will be enough.

Last night we had these delicious felafels cooked on the spot by the short man in the photo with freshly baked naan bread. We sat outside on little plastic chairs on the main bazaar road as tourists and locals filed past. We also managed to get in a game of backgammon while we waited.

Afterwards, I had my haircut and beard trimmed by the local barber across the street, a very energetic, lanky guy with these amazing long fingers who told me his caste is "barber" and that there are five generations of barbers before him. I never knew there were castes relating to professions. He also gave Larna an amazing neck and head massage (this guy offered about a million services including henna, waxing etc). His philosophy was: "You don't like, you don't pay". We liked and we paid. He had a book thick with recommendations from satisfied customers and said he had 20 more such books going back through the years.

So we are in Pushkar for Diwali. Not much has happened so far, other than people letting off booming fire-crackers since early this morning and everyone greeting us with a "Happy Diwali". I think it will all take off when night falls and the lights are on. For the most part we have enjoyed our strolls around the town and lake. We have managed to find some quiet spots to look out over the water, while listening to singing and chanting coming from somewhere in the town. There have been people bathing in the "holy" water, though you would not catch me pouring the brown water over myself, holy or not. There is a marvelous panorama of white and blue temples all the way around the lake, though it is also in a state of disrepair with some of the ghats (the steps leading down to the water) nothing more than a pile of rubble.

Our time in India is rapidly drawing to a close. Only a week left. We are already thinking about when we can return...

Some more pics below of enchanting Pushkar (taken by Larna):

"Ajmer, Ajmer. Get off. Get off!"

We are now in the holy town of Pushkar. We arrived early this morning after a truly whacky bus ride from Mt. Abu, which began at 7pm last night and which ended at 5am this morning with someone shouting out: "Ajmer, Ajmer. Get off, get off."

As I mentioned in my last post we booked a 'sleeper' compartment. This turned to be a little sleeping area, the size of a small double bed above the regular bus seats. At first the bus was about two-thirds full but we picked up people fairly regularly and in no time not only was the bus packed to capacity but there was no longer any more space on the floor. This was filled by people sleeping and sitting anywhere and everywhere, alongside a mountain of luggage and sacks of goods. It was a quite a sight! We had our backpacks in our 'loft' space so we were huddled together as the bus bounced around. I was near the edge of our compartment and when ever the bus swerved or made a turn I felt myself slipping towards the edge. This combined with the continual bouncing about (the Indian concept of a highway is not quite in tune with the Western one) which made it feel like we were doing the Paris to Dakar rally made sleep a little hard to come by.

And the fun didn't end with this bus ride. We had been somewhat duped by the guy who sold us the tickets in Mt Abu, since the bus stopped 10km out of Ajmer on the side of the highway. From here we had to get an auto-rickshaw to the government bus station and wait for the connecting bus to Pushkar. It was pretty cold at 6am but we sipped little cups of Chai alongside the locals, the homeless wrapped up in their blankets, and stray dogs until the bus left.

En route, the bus driver (red turban, huge twirly moustache) stopped the bus (full to capacity) to feed a troop of black-faced monkeys stale chapati breads. The monkeys jumped up to the bus window and literally grabbed the breads out of the bus drivers hands. One of those moments that you truly only experience in India.

We arrived in Pushkar exhausted and after breakfast we napped most of the morning. The town is built around a lake surrounded by temples and is considered one of the holiest sites for Hindus in all of India. It is also where Ghandi's ashes were scattered. We had a wonderful walk around the lake this afternoon, where we watched a huge troop of monkeys playing. We took in the serene lake, temples and hills in the distance as the sun set. For some reason Pushkar is some sort of a Mecca for Israelis and most of the restaurants have signs in Hebrew. Tomorrow we'll explore the temples, backstreets and cafes.

A view from the hills (and photos)

We've traded in lakes and palaces for hills and valleys. Yesterday we arrived in Mount Abu, a hill station about 200kms from Udaipur, also in the state of Rajastan. We took a bouncy bus ride yesterday morning, culminating in a 28km ride up a windy, narrow hillside path with spectacular views of the valley and plateau below. Mt Abu is a a small Indian village about 1200m above sea level.

Yesterday afternoon we went on a sunset hike up into the mountains where this photo of me and the one after were taken. We walked around the lake in the background today, very tranquil and quiet (apart from a couple of teenage boys 'stalking' us half way around the lake). The hike itself was pretty steep along a rocky path with the tall shrubs making a canopy over our heads. It was wondeful though to be out in the Rajastani bush with red-brown and green hillsides all around us.

Today we walked to the Dewari temple about 3kms from Mt Abu. The walk itself was great, snaking through the quiet countryside, and the temple, magnificent. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take our cameras inside. It dates back 800 years and is carved out of marble, incredibly intricate carvings of gods, elephants, all sorts of creatures and scenes.The craftsmanship takes your breath away. I had to walk around with a robe wrapped around my legs as it is a very holy site. I thought the thing was for Larna when the guard brought it out.

On our walk yesterday evening we met some great fellow travellers from Germany, Austria and Italy. We exchanged stories about our different Indian experiences and then we all went for dinner afterwards in town. At the end of the evening we huddled around a little chai shack (tea) and sipped our drinks as the locals stared on (the amount of staring is phenomenal, on the other hand people are generally so polite and many have asked us if we are enjoying our stay in India).They all left this morning so it was a very fleeting friendship. A shame we could not get to know them better.

A very funny story from yesterday: We went for lunch to a little local eatery - just a few benches - next to the bus station. We had a local dish called Dhal Bhati, which is little round breads and a dish of vegetable gravy with chutney. The guy brought the dish over and then proceeded to demonstrate how to eat it by breaking up the breads on my plate with his bare hands. He really got stuck into the task. I just prayed he washed his hands! Anyway, the food was delicious and I had the same dish for lunch today, though at a different restaurant.

It was a little sad to say goodbye to Udaipur, such a romantic place. We spent a good deal of time exploring the spice market, trying some of the local snacks and munching on jelebi (Indian syrupy sweets). We explored some of the winding backstreets and on our last night watched "Octpussy" in one of the lakeside restaurants. I forgot how diabolically bad the old James Bonds are, but it was great spotting all the scenes shot in Udaipur. I should also mention the Rajastani dance and music show we went to which was fantastic - amazing costumes, music and dancing. One woman balanced 9 bowls on her head and danced away!

Tomorrow evening we are taking the overnight bus (we have sleeper seats, though I have no idea what that means in India) to Pushkar, a little town alongside a lake, very holy and very beautiful judging from the photos we have seen. The bus leaves at 7pm and gets to Ajmer at 4am and from there its 20kms by another bus to Pushkar. God knows what kind of state we will be in when we arrive. Our aim is to be in Jaipur, the pink city and capital of Rajastan on 5 November, which is the start of Diwali, the Hindi new year and the biggest party of the year. They are already lighting off home made and deafening firecrackers and putting up decorations and painting houses in anticipation of the big celebration. India continues to astound and amaze me!

Some photos from the last few days in Udaipur: