Agra

So I departed Bhopal to head up to Agra and see the famous Taj Mahal, by far India's most famous building. Everyone I talked to said that Agra was full of touts and that I should try and spend as little time as possible there to just see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. As a result most people visit Agra as a day trip from Delhi, but I decided to spend two days there so that I could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise and also allow myself lots of time to see the other sights in Agra.

I arrived in Agra at 9pm and quickly found a hotel room where I spent a short night as I woke up the following morning at 5am to visit the Taj Mahal for sunrise. Arriving at the entrance gate into the Taj Mahal just before 6am I went through the thorough security process into the grounds for the Taj. My first view of the Taj Mahal in real life was amazing, it was visible through the central gateway we had to walk through and it looked beautiful. Even better than it does in the pictures. As I got closer I noticed that the building is HUGE. It always looks fairly small I thought from all the photos but that's because they are just taken from a ways away, once I got up close to the actual building it towered over me. After taking the typical photo that everyone gets at the Taj I walked up to and into it to see the tombs (the actual tombs are in the basement where the public can't go but there are fake ones that the public can see). As I walked around the building I was just amazed at the amount of work that had gone into building it: the entire building was symmetrical as all four sides were identical (you could rotate the building 90 degrees and nobody would notice any change) and all of the inlaid gemstones in the white marble that depicted different patterns and flower designs were all perfect (and also symmetrical). The sheer amount of work that must have gone into building it was mind boggling. After walking around the Taj Mahal itself I toured around the mosque next to it (and the fake mosque on the other side) and the gardens surrounding the entire complex. The entire grounds and buildings in it were absolutely beautiful and it was definitely worth the 750 rupee entrance fee. The only disappointing thing about my visit to the Taj Mahal was that the fountains were empty with signs that said they were closed for cleaning, I found this hard to believe as I saw no evidence of cleaning so I think they may have been closed due to a water shortage problem.

Visiting the Taj Mahal at sunrise was, in my opinion, the best time to visit as the sun slowly rose over the complex walls illuminating the buildings and the garden providing great light for photos. Also the heat of the day hadn't hit yet so it was cool enough to walk around outside and the sky hadn't hazed up so they were as blue as they would get when I was there.

After leaving the Taj Mahal I returned to hotel where I rested for the rest of the morning and sat at the rooftop restaurant just watching the Taj Mahal. That day I didn't do too much else, electing to leave the fort and other sights for the next day.

The following day I got up and checked out Agra Fort in the morning. The fort did seem pretty impressive although half of it was closed off to tourists as it was being used by the army. The part that we were able to walk through was very beautiful though. There weren't very many rooms that we could enter but there lots of perfectly maintained gardens the fort and the views out over the city and river towards the Taj Mahal were phenomenal. Having said that there were a couple of buildings like mosques, gateways and open rooms that were very exquisite and clearly made for royalty.

After visiting the Agra Fort I made my way over to Itimad-Ud-Daulah, a tomb that has been nicknamed the baby taj. This tomb was built before the Taj Mahal for Mizra Ghiyas Beg and isn't quite as spectacular as the more famous Taj Mahal it certainly is an amazing building. When looking at it there are several features common to the Taj Mahal and it's thought that some of the design for the Taj Mahal was taken from it.

Finally I went around the back side of the Taj Mahal across the river from it for one final view before leaving Agra. Although you could get up close to Taj for some great views (it was only about 30 meters away across the river) I thought it wasn't anywhere near nice as the front view. The river level was pretty low which showed some garbage on the banks and the kids playing there never stopped asking me for money so I couldn't enjoy it very much. However the Taj Mahal is still so beautiful that it was still worth the trip over there.

Finally I headed out of Agra that night to return to Delhi where I picked up the remainder of my luggage and started the long journey to Kathmandu, Nepal. So again I'll skip talking about visiting Delhi as I plan to spend a week there after Nepal and truly do some sight seeing then, but look for my next post about the land of the great Himalayas.







Standing in front of the Taj Mahal and taking the required picture that everyone takes.











A view of the Taj Mahal through one of the archways on the mosque located to the side.











The mosque located to the side of the Taj Mahal. On the other side is an identical building that is believed to have been used to house the workers while they were constructing the Taj.










A view of one of the courtyard gardens in the Agra Fort.













The entrance to the Agra Fort.











Looking at the Itimad-Ud-Daulah, or the baby taj. Notice the rough similarities in their design.










A final view of the Taj Mahal from the backside across the river.

Bhopal

Well I managed to survive my 17 day journey into the Himalayas. The trek around Annapurna was absolutely awesome and I was rewarded with several days of crystal clear views of the surrounding 7000 plus meter peaks! But I will tell more stories about my trek around Annapurna in a couple of updates as I still need to catch up on my earlier excursions first.

After leaving Jodhpur I took a bus to get to Delhi and meet up with my friend Karan. Upon reaching Delhi I met up with my friend and proceeded to spend the next day and a half relaxing with him and seeing a few sights before heading down to Bhopal with him.

Arriving in Bhopal I was treated to complete luxury staying with my friend and his family, and in addition it was nice to be in a home environment again after being on the road for nearly 7 months. Needless to say I took advantage of the situation and spent lots of time just relaxing in his home and garden while getting to enjoy the company of his family.

While in Bhopal I did see a few sights around the city although they mainly consisted of Karan driving me around the city and pointing out different sights or just wandering around markets to see the normal Bhopal city life. I found this quite interesting though as Karan would take me to areas that he hung out in as a kid and I got to see areas of Bhopal that tourists probably rarely get a chance to visit. Having Karan along with me also allowed me to eat some of the best food I've had so far on the trip as not only the food at his home was amazing but he knew all of the best restaurants around Bhopal and we went to several of them to eat some truly delicious local food.

While in Bhopal I did visit one tourist destination which was the museum of man. This museum was extremely well done as it started out by going through the history of earth and the evolution of humans. This was only the start of the museum though as it then continued on by discussing the various ethnic groups of India and how the religion, way of life, living conditions and festivals differed in around the country. The museum went into tons of detail for each group and it seemed to just keep on going, after spending a several hours wandering through it (time well spent) I headed back outside where there were small sample houses setup that were also quite interesting.

I also took a day trip out to nearby Sanchi where the Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism in 262 BC. As a result several stupas, temples, and monasteries were built on top of a large hill here and are some of the oldest Buddhist structures in India. Since they are so old most of the monasteries and temples are little more than ruins scattered around the hilltop usually with just the foundation remaining. Most of the stupas are quite well preserved though and the center most one contains four beautifully carved archways around the four cardinal entrances. In addition to the historic buildings here they are surrounded by a well kept garden that was pleasent to just sit and relax in if it was a little too hot.

After spending a couple of days relaxing in Bhopal with my friend and his family I decided it was time to move on as I would be returning to visit them again after my trip to Nepal. So I boarded the train for Agra to finally see the Taj Mahal, probably the most famous building in all of India. So look forward for my next update about Agra which will hopefully be coming real soon.





One of the gateways in front of the entrance to the main stupa.













Standing in front of the main stupa.














A view of the nice gardens surrounding the stupas and ruins of the monasteries and temples.

Leaving for a Trek

To all my faithful readers I'm putting up a short note here to let you know that I'm about to depart on a three week trek in Nepal (where I've just arrived). As a result there won't be any new updates for about three weeks. When I return I'll catch you all up including my time spent in Bhopal (I left Delhi for Bhopal almost immediately), Agra, my short visit in Kathmandu and my trekking experience. Hope you can all wait the three weeks to hear about my adventures again.

Also I apologize for being a little behind.

Jodhpur

Leaving Udaipur I made my way further Northwest to the city Jodhpur, which is nicknamed the blue city. Arriving in the city I quickly found a guesthouse and proceeded to explore the city since I didn't have very much time there. For the rest of the afternoon I just wandered through the narrow streets and market around the clock tower all the while gazing up at the huge fort towering above the city. The Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur is a huge structure built upon the a cliff face that overlooks the entire city, and it certainly looked indestructible. Wandering around the city I also got to confirm that it truly is a blue city as at least half of all the buildings within the city are painted blue. The were originally painted blue to indicate which caste the owners belonged to (Brahmins I believe but I could be wrong), today only the houses in the old city must keep this tradition while in the new city any house can be painted blue, and many are.

The following day was my only real day in Jodhpur as I was leaving that night to meet up with Karan, my friend, in Delhi. So I started off the day by making my way up the hill to Mehrangarh Fort. Once inside the fort I toured around it with the aid of an audio guide (definitely the best audio guide I've had so far), getting a chance to see most of the buildings and courts inside the fort as well as some smaller museum exhibits. The fort was really spectacular as all of the interior buildings were intricately designed and surrounded by several courts. Additionally the design of the fort walls themselves are really impressive as they are on average 20 meters high and sit on the very edge of a cliff, it's an extraordinary feat that they still look stable and nothing is falling apart. Inside the museum parts of the fort are several exhibits containing artwork, palanquins (the chairs people are carried in), and lots of clothing and furniture. All of it expertly explained by the audio guide. After leaving Mehrangarh Fort I visited the Jaswant Thada which is a stunning white marble memorial for Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. The building is exremely beautiful being carved out of thin sheets of white marble it just seems to glow in the sun light.

After touring around the Fort and the Jaswant Thada I had a little bit of time left in Jodhpur which I spent wandering around the market again. After another short visit to the market I boarded a bus to Delhi to meet up with Karan and enjoy some of his hospitality.





A view of the imposing Mehrangarh Fort from slightly above it. You can see the towering walls located almost exactly on the cliff face here, but they are even more impressive from the other side while looking up at the fort.








A view of the "blue city" looking out from a window in the fort. To see over half a city entirely blue was really fascinating.









A man sitting with a Hukka and explaining that locals would smoke flavoured tobacco from it while the drank opium (didn't smoke it).








A view of the beautiful Jaswant Thada.










A stall selling many different coloured turbans in the market near the clock tower.

Udaipur

After leaving Aurangabad and Amhedabad I made my way to Udaipur. I was pretty excited about heading to Udaipur as it would be my first destination in Rajistan, a state that is supposed to be beautiful, and there are some beautiful old palaces there. Upon arriving in Udaipur I quickly found a nice guesthouse that had some nice views of the lake on the roof and proceeded to fall asleep. I was dead tired after spending the past 2 nights traveling on night buses and not getting much sleep either night. That afternoon I just wandered around the streets of Udaipur to get a bearing for the place and to see what there was. In other words I didn't get up to anything very exciting.

The following morning I headed out to visit the city palace which is a huge building located right on the bank of the lake in the city. The palace is beautiful and to look at it one would never have guessed that each new ruler who lived in the building added a new addition. The building looks as if it was built all at once and designed that way, not adding little bits over several centuries. Most of the area inside the palace has been turned into a a fairly interesting museum containing lots of articles from Mughal empires over the past few centuries. The displays include everything from artwork to an armory to information about past leaders and about Rajistan in general. Other than the articles in the museum just even wandering through the old palace was pretty fascinating. That evening I took in a performance of traditional Rajistan dancing. The dancing was quite fabulous but the most impressive part was the extremely colourful clothing that the dancers wore and the music that was played by a few guys was extremely good. Definitely a worthwhile performance to see.

The following day I took a tour out to the surrounding country side for a few hours in the afternoon and saw another lake (Udaipur has 4 large lakes in the area), some small villages, the monsoon palace and Shilpgram. The lake, called Tiger lake, wasn't anything spectacular however it was loads cleaner and better looking than the lake in middle of Udaipur which the city palace is built upon. Additionally the small villages weren't anything special after I have seen several similar villages over the past few months but it was still worthwhile touring around them and mainly seeing the people walking to the communal water pumps to gather their water. These small villages had on running water and as a result they desperately depended on streams and water underground, as a result during times of drought (like just before the monsoon) getting enough water in the village is pretty tough and everybody has to be extremely careful to not waste it. After touring some villages I visited Shilpgram which is a small museum type setup showing the types of huts that people in small villages used to live in. The museum is entirely open air and you walk from area to area with each one setup like a different tribe so the huts are all different, but so are their schools and temples which are sometimes shown here too. The only downside about Shilpgram was that it was very touristy and so everywhere there were stalls selling crafts with their owners trying to get you to come buy something. Finally I went to monsoon palace which is built on top of the highest hill in the area and a great place for sunset. That is about the only worthwhile reason for coming here though as the palace isn't very big and the interior is almost empty except for a few posters talking about the local environment.

My final day in Udaipur was spent again wandering through some of the back streets, looking at the Lake Palace and Jag Mandir (another palace built on an island on the lake) and visiting Jagdish temple. I didn't actually visit either of the two palaces built on the lake as one is a hotel that doesn't allow non guests to visit and the other required taking an hour long boat ride around the very uninviting lake to get to.

After spending a few days at Udaipur I boarded a bus heading to Jodhpur to visit the famous fort located there. So my time in Udaipur was finished. I was quite disappointed in Udaipur as it sounded like an absolutely beautiful place filled with places located around a lake. However, the water level in the lake was very low and the lake was filled with garbage and algae so it didn't look very appealing. Also to top it off there were hundreds of small shops selling paintings and other souvenirs so all of the touts that were constantly trying to get you to visit their store were a bit overwhelming and not peaceful or relaxing at all. I was glad to head out of there and get to Jodhpur after the few days I spent there.

As an additional note a large portion of the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed here and you can see the monsoon palace (the interior of the palace in the movie looks nothing like the interior in real life), lake palace and some city scenes in the movie.




A view of the Lake Palace from the roof of my hotel. This is the one that's been turned into a fancy hotel and non guests aren't allowed to visit.









A view of the city palace from across the lake.












The golden sun design, the symbol of the Mughal empire. This exhibit is located in the museum within the city palace.








A scene of the dance performance that I saw with a peacock, the bird of India, being depicted by the lady on the right.











Another scene from the dance performance. Here the lady is balancing lots of ceramic pots on her head while still being able to dance to the music, it was very impressive.













Some ladies doing their laundry in one of the smaller ponds located around the city.











Some ladies who were helping with the restoration work on the Monsoon Palace. They would carry the waste material away in buckets on their head and dump it over the cliff.

Ajanta and Ellora Caves

From Khajuraho I headed further south to visit the world heritage sites of the Ajanta and Ellora caves. From Khajuraho I took a train south (well actually from Satna) to Jalgaon and about an hour outside of Jalgaon it hit me: Delhi belly. I had finally gotten sick in India, something that happens to almost everyone who travels here. As a result I spent the rest of the day and the following day just lying in my hotel room running to the toilet every few minutes. Needless to say that day and a half weren't very pleasant.

Once I finally recovered enough to be able to travel I left Jalgaon and headed to the Ajanta caves. The caves were absolutely amazing pieces of work. I expected them to be like natural caves that had some sculptures and paintings in them but they were actually more like rooms that were carved out of a cliff face. The caves are carved out of a cliff face that overlooks a bend in a river (although the river was dry right now) and the amount of work that went into the caves is amazing. They all have almost perfectly flat floors, ceilings, and walls with carved pillars evenly spaced throughout them as well. Of the 30 caves or so a few of them had some absolutely beautiful paintings on the walls and the ones that have been restored (an ongoing operation) are extremely colourful and breathtaking. Aside from the paintings in a few of the caves, every cave contained lots of carvings and sculptures. The sculptures were mainly of Buddha (since all the caves at Ajanta were Buddhist caves) but most of the pillars and some walls contained very intricate patterns carved into them.

After leaving the Ajanta caves I hopped on a bus and headed to Aurangabad which is located much closer to the Ellora caves than Jalgaon. So the following morning I headed out to visit the Ellora caves with a quick stop at Daulatabad Fort. Daultabad Fort is a huge complex that centers itself on a hill just outside of Aurangabad. The actual Fort is located up on the hill but there i a large area surrounding the hill where a city used to exist and is enclosed by the fort's exterior walls. The fort itself contains a pretty intricate defense system including several walls, a moat, and to top it all off the only passage up to the top of the hill is through a narrow dark tunnel where the defenders could pour boiling water or oil or anything down through at the invaders. Needless to say it was very impressive. The view from the top was quite nice too and it made an excellent side trip before the Ellora caves.

From Daulatabad Fort I headed out to the Ellora caves. My first impression of the Ellora caves was that they weren't exactly caves as it seemed to be more of a temple that had been carved out of the rock, meaning that an entire area of rock had been removed (leaving something like an open pit) and a temple put in it's place. All around the temple there were fairly small caves carved into the rock but not as intricate as those at Ajanta so I was slightly disappointed. The temple though was very beautiful and completely carved out of the rock so it was definitely worth going to see. Also this first "cave" was a Hindu cave, not Buddhist like all the caves at Ajanta, so it was interesting to see the different carvings there. After the first cave I headed out to visit some of the other ones in the area. The interesting part of Ellora is that there are 3 different religious caves there: Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain. So after seeing some Hindu caves (the first one was by far the best) I came upon the Buddhist caves. The Buddhist caves here didn't seem as spectacular as those at Ajanta as they didn't have any paintings on the walls and the sculptures were very similar to those at Ajanta. The one thing that the caves at Ellora did have which was better was that they were much bigger, some of them were as big as 3 stories while there was only one cave at Ajanta that even had 2. Finally after visiting the Hindu and Buddhist caves I came to the Jain ones. The Jain caves contained some absolutely stunning carvings on their walls, but they were definitely the smallest of all of them.

After visiting the Ellora caves I returned to Aurangabad and boarded a bus heading to Amhedabad where I spent a day touring around some of the sites. My main purpose of spending a day in Amhedabad was to visit a textile museum that was supposed to contain some amazing samples of textiles in the region. Lonely Planet said that it was open in the afternoon, but when I arrived there I found that it was closed and as a result I spent the afternoon touring around the science city. All in all it was a fairly good day as the science city was pretty enjoyable however it wasn't what I was hoping for. That evening I jumped on another bus to head to Udaipur which will be my next entry.






A view of all the cave entrances on the cliff face at Ajanta.











Standing in one of the oldest caves at Ajanta.












A sample of some of the artwork that's present in a few of the caves in Ajanta. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to use flash photography inside the caves so it was difficult to get a good picture.












Some of the amazing carving that is visible in the caves at Ajanta.









The Daulatabad Fort located at the top of the cliff.











Another view of the Daulatabad Fort in the background.











A bird's eye view of the first "cave" that I visited at Ellora. The temple that's the main feature of this cave is really impressive.













A monk standing in one of the Buddhist caves at Ellora.













A view of the entrances to some of the caves at Ellora.









One of the fabulous carvings in one of the Hindu caves.

Khajuraho

After leaving Varanasi I took the train heading towards Khajuraho to see some temples that are covered in absolutely beautiful, and erotic, sculptures. Upon arriving in Khajuraho and taking a tour out to some of the nearby minor temples, I only had the afternoon remaining in the day so I left the main temples for the following days, I wasn't disappointed. The amount of work and detail that went into each temple was amazing, the entire exterior was covered almost form the bottom to the top with carvings of animals, humans and fascinating designs. The interior of the temples were also pretty fascinating although they weren't completely covered in sculptures, just a few on the walls. The temples were all in excellent condition too, which I was surprised about as there used to be 85 temples in the area but only 25 remain so I assumed that most of them had fallen into disrepair over the years. After visiting just a couple of temples I returned back to the guesthouse as the day was getting quite late and I spent the night just relaxing in the nice garden and reading about the temples that I would see over the course of the next couple of days.

On the second day in Khajuraho I rented a bicycle to tour around the further temples as I decided to leave the most famous group (the western group) for my final day there. The temples further out were fairly nice but, as I would see the next day, they weren't nearly as well preserved as the ones in the western group. Additionally the carvings on the temples weren't as intricate and the interiors were fairly plain. They were still worth visiting and it was really enjoyable to cycle through the country side and the old part of Khajuraho to reach them so the day was enjoyable. Another benefit about cycling around was that the touts couldn't harass you as much as they couldn't keep up to you (see later about all the touts).

My final day in Khajuraho I visited the famous western group and saw that the temples here were absolutely fabulous. Definitely the best out of all the temples in the area. Within the group there were about 10 temples that were all located within a couple hundred meters of each other so it was easy to just stroll around them gaping at their beauty. The figures that were carved on all of the exterior walls were amazing as they contained mainly sculptures of women about 2 feet high in various poses and performing all sorts of acts. The sculptures ranged from women doing laundry to practicing yoga to even having group sex! It sure was something different to see all of these very erotic carvings covering the walls of the temples. There were also some carvings depicting warriors, Hindu gods, animals and very intricate patterns; but the most common carving was definitely women as most temples were covered by them. The interior of the temples were just as fascinating as there were often carvings covering all of the walls inside as well, although maybe not as good as the exterior carvings, but especially the ceiling inside the temples which seemed to always be carved with a very detailed circular pattern was fabulous.

The only downside of the town Khajuraho was that it was such a small town (only about 10 000 people) that most people seemed to rely on tourism and during the low season (when I visited it) they were almost desperate to get you into their shops. It seemed almost impossible to walk down the main road as everyone would stop you and try to get you into their shop, which was almost all there was on the main road. Even around the temples lots of people, mainly children, waited and tried to sell you souvenirs and so it got quite annoying. Pretty much the only place where you got any peace and quiet was inside my guesthouse or inside the temples where people couldn't sell you anything. Needless to say that although the temples were absolutely fascinating I had had my fill of them after the 3 days there and was ready to head out. So the evening of the third night I took the bus to the nearest train station (3 hours away) and jumped on a train bound for Jalgaon where I planned to visit the Ajanta and Ellora caves, a world heritage site. So look for my next update to hear about my time there.






One of the local kids that hung out around the temples and tried to get me to buy souvenirs. He followed me around for a bit the first day but was pretty fun so I let him.










A view of the exterior of one of the temples. Almost all of the temples had this same shape with sculptures all the way around the bottom of it and designs for the top.















A view of the ceiling inside one of the temples. The intricate details of the circular carvings was fabulous.














A view of some of the erotic scenes that are on the temples. Almost all of the temples have erotic scenes carved on them although this one is one of the more graphic ones.














A sculpture of a couple on one of the temples.














A sculpture of a woman.