Month: October 2015

Udaipur

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Udaipur

My next stop was Udaipur, another placed that I visited in 1985.

I had booked a bus from Jodhpur to Udaipur at a travel agency near to the hostel. The agent strongly recommended that I take an air conditioned bus to Udaipur. The only bus that I could get on was leaving at 5.30 p.m. As it turned out there were only about 5 passengers on the bus which was not much bigger than a mini bus.

It took some time to get out of Jodhpur. However, once we were clear of the city is wasn’t long before we were travelling along quite quickly on what was a very good road. In fact, the road turned into a freeway with four lanes at various points. It is clearly very new and parts of it are still under construction.

It is all very well having a new road, however, a lot of the vehicles traveling on it are not new. There is a mixture of trucks, cars, buses motorbikes and Tuk-Tuks. They are all travelling at various speeds. Some, like my bus, are travelling at over 100 klms per hour and others, like the big old trucks, are lucky to go at 10 klms per hour when confronted with even a gentle slope. The traffic rules also seem slack, with vehicles overtaking on the inside of slower vehicles.

Accident

As you have probably gathered, I don’t think travelling on these roads is particularly safe.
At one point my bus was following a small four wheel drive (4WD) vehicle. It was travelling as fast as us at around 100 klms. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the 4WD moved into the inside lane. Shortly after that in slammed into a large, very slow moving old truck.

After hitting the truck the 4WD spun around and started to head back into our lane. The bus continued on. How we missed being clipped by the 4WD, I will never know.

The experience was surreal. Even though it happened at relatively high speed, the immediate events after the 4WD hitting the truck, seemed to pass by in slow motion.
Once we were past that truck, our driver pulled over. Amazingly the truck, continued on lumbering past us and did not stop. I guess it is possible that the driver was oblivious to the fact that a small vehicle had hit him. Either that, or he simply did not want to get involved.

The driver of my bus and a couple of passengers ran back to the crash site.

I can recall as we passed the 4WD immediately after it hit the truck, that the front of the vehicle was crushed. The engine would have been in the lap of the driver and the passenger, albeit from where I was, I could not see if there was a passenger. Either way, things were not looking pretty.
When the bus driver and the other passengers returned, it was clear from their demeanour and the tone of the conversation (albeit in Hindi) that all was not well with the crash victim or victims.

Much Slower Driving

As we continue on, I noticed that the bus driver was much more sedate. Clearly seeing the accident and the result, had made him think about how fast he was driving and the risk involved in some of his passing manoeuvres.

The Hostel

The bus stopped in the outer suburbs of Udaipur. I took a Tuk Tuk into my hostel which is located on the edge of Lake Ghad.

It was about 11.30 p.m. when I finally arrived at the hostel.
The hostel is actually in an old hotel. I was to later find that the operators have taken out a lease on the whole building and are in the process of converting the hotel, or at least part of it into a hostel. Hostels are a relatively new development in India. Hitherto the accommodation choices have been restricted to hotels of various standards and guests houses. The concept of a comfortable hostel with bunk rooms and cooking other facilities is new.

As it turned out not too much progress has been made converting this place into a hostel.
The plumbing is a big problem.

Meeting a Mackum and a Geordie

Two of the people I met were a couple from the northeast of England. I know this area well as my father hails from there. I have visited the area a number of times since I was 11 years old.
The girl is from Sunderland and the bloke from Newcastle. They have travelled extensively and have worked for periods in Australia and New Zealand.

In the next two days I had a couple of chats with them. They had some interesting views on England and the North- South divide, a term that is used to describe the economic inequality between the north and south of the country – in particular between London and the North.

Checking of the City Palace

The next day I checkout the City Palace Museum. It is very impressive.
Dinner of the Roof

In the evening I had a meal in roof top restaurant opposite my hostel. From there I had a great view over the lake and the Summer Palace.

Back to 1985

I have previously posted that I was in India in 1985 on a Foreign Affairs trip.
On one of our weekends off my colleague and I flew to Udaipur. On the recommendation of the staff at the High Commission in Delhi, we stayed the City Palace Hotel.

After checking into the hotel, left our luggage at the reception and we hired a car and toured around the city including the Queen’s Garden. This is an interesting place in that the fountains receive their water from a dam miles away in the hills surrounding the city. Well they did then. I am not sure it pumps do it now.

When we returned to the hotel we were shown our rooms. We were told that they were the ones used by the actors and crew that made the James Bond film Octopussy.

There was no restaurant in the City Hotel in 1985. At that time the City Hotel and the Lake Hotel were run by the same operator. The restaurant was in the Lake Hotel which features in the Bond film.

I recall that we select a time for out meal. A punt met us at the water’s edge below the City Palace and we were taken out to the Lake Palace our meal.
I can vividly recall my colleague making the comment: “can you believe we are being paid to do this?”

Back to 2015

On my second day in Udaipur I went to the City Palace Hotel where we stayed. Things seem a bit different. The hotel is obviously part of the City Palace. I recall it being called the Winter Palace we stayed there. The part of the Palace that is not a hotel is the Museum that I visited on my first day. I can’t recall the being the case when we were here in 1985.

Access to the Museum is by ticket only. You can also buy that allows you into the courtyard in front the hotel on the ‘town side’. I walked to the entrance of the hotel. I was asked by a guard: “what do you want? Only quests are allowed here”.

I told the bloke that “I stayed here in February 1985 and I would like to look around”. He told me to wait.

An old bloke came over and started to chat to me.

I told him that I had stayed there in 1985 a couple of years after the ‘Bond’ crew had stayed in the place. I said I recalled the room I had was next to the pool near to the one Roger Moore had been in.

As we chatted he led me through the archway to the pool. He told me that the first quests in the hotel were the ‘Bond’ crew in 1982. He also told me that he had worked there since 1982.

I recalled that the doors to rooms opened directly on the to pool area. He showed me into one of the rooms. Check out the Flickr Photos.

He also showed me the lounge and bar area. It is sumptuous to say the least.

I left by the main entrance which is heavily guarded. The driveway makes a couple of turns leading up to the entrance between a high wall. Once behind the wall you are in different world compared to the town.

The Lake Hotel is now separately owned by the Taj Group and rooms start at $750. Only residential quests are allowed in the hotel.

Cruise of the Lake

The next day I went on a sunset cruise on the lake. This is as close as I will get to the Lake Palace.

Videos of the Film

One funny thing: restaurants show videos of the Octopussy movie every night.

The theme is one of those annoying tunes that sticks in your head.

Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHsko1BLMu

Lake Palace Hotel

https://www.yourreservation.net/tb3/index.cfm?bf=Luxury_Hotels&language=EN&country=IN-XX&city=UDR001&hotelCode=HLTUDRTL&ratecalendar=T07&arrivaldate=2015-10-27&departureDate=2015-10-28&rooms=1&children=0&adults1=1&childrenages=&plprun=2&_=1445970420166

Do you remember the movie?

Jodhpur

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Jodphur

My train from Jaipur to Jodhpur was due to depart at 12.20 p.m. The staff if the hostel told me that “it will be late”. They told me to download an App that would give me the status of the train. This turned out to be great advice.

The App told me that the train was delayed by 59 mins and had 152 klms to go before it would arrive in Jaipur. On the basis of that I decided to have the lunch that the hostel staff offered to cook for me.

When I checked the App again, the train was delayed by 2 hours 10 minutes and still had 152 klms to go. I ordered a beer.

Next check had the train with 1 hour and 30 minutes to go and only 105 klms to travel. I drank my beer quickly.

Next check the train was delayed by 2 hours and 5 minutes. I ordered another beer.
Finally the train seemed to be on a roll and I was advised to order a Tuk Tuk to the station. Any more delays and would have been a bit tipsy to say the least.

I ordered a Tuk Tuk. The driver took a completely different route to the one that I had taken two day before. Anyway we arrive at the station and I paid over the agree price.

Finally boarding the Train

There was a bit more waiting before I was finally on the train. My carriage turned out to be a sleeper. I am not sure where it had come from, but it was long way and there had been plenty of opportunities for it to be delayed. It had clearly taken those opportunities.

Chat with Locals

I got into conversation with a couple of locals. One was an ex-policeman who is now teaching. He told me that he was in Sydney with the Indian Olympic team in 2000. He was interested in my views on Indian and the changes that I had seen since 1985.

The other bloke (Mr Singh) told me that he was an executive with Reliance, which is a large Indian conglomerate that is into all sorts of industries. He told that they are just about to roll out a 4G mobile network. Clearly mobile phone and the internet are having a big impact in India.
A very good example is the Apps for taxis. There is Uber and a local company call Ola. The bloke told that these are disrupting the Tuk Tuk industry. He is of the view that this is a very good thing.

Mr Singh told me that he had meet a number of Australian cricketers that are playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Reliance owns the Mumbai Indians. He told that he was surprised that players like Shane Warne and Glen Maxwell smoked.

As we approached Jodhpur, he pointed out the village where he was born and lived until his father got a job will the government and the family moved to Jodhpur. He told me that most of the villages in India were dying and people were moving to the larger towns and cities.
Mr Singh told that one his biggest frustrations about India was the rubbish and that fact that nothing seems to be done about it. I must admit, it is one thing that appears to have little, if at all, since 1985. There is rubbish all over the place.

As well as talking about India, Mr Singh asked me a lot of questions about Australia and the places that I have visited.

We arrived at the station Mr Singh’s driver met him and they kindly give me a lift to my hostel.
Planning and getting a SIM

I spent the first morning doing ‘admin’, writing a blog post and banking etc. I also booked a flight from Udaipur to Mumbai and accommodation in both cities. The cost of accommodation in Mumbai is ridiculously expensive.

I decided to get an Indian SIM so I can use Google maps on my phone and possibly use Uber or Ola to order a taxis. There is a Vodafone shop near to the hostel. It is a bit of a performance getting SIM card in India. You have to provide your passport, a copy of your visa, a passport photo graph and the details of the place where you are staying. All this is recorded on a manual form. It also takes up to 24 hours before the SIM is activated.

The activation process involves calling a number and the confirming the details on the form. I decided to return to the shop to complete this process. When I call the number, I had no idea what the bloke on the end of the line was saying. I asked him to “speak English”. I still could not understand what he was saying. I passed the phone to a bloke in the shop. He told me that bloke on the end of the line “was speaking English”. After a few minutes and me reading out what was on form about five time, the bloke on the line said “ OK, Ok, Ok” which I took to mean I was all set to go.

There was still a bit of mucking around to get the data to work on the phone, but finally I had access to the internet via my phone.

Checking Out the Town

After sorting out the phone, I caught a Tuk Tuk to the Clock Tower which is in the centre of the main market area in the town. It is a very chaotic place.

I walked around a bit. This place is very different to Connaught Place in Delhi. I suspect if has changed little in the past 30 years.

I stopped at the Police tourist booth. There were 5 blokes in the booth. Only one of them seemed to be able to speak English. I am not sure which tourist market they were designed to serve. I asked them for the name and location of a good restaurant. After a lot of discussion among each other, they came up with a place. It was about 400 metre down the road, just before a traffic police stand.

The restaurant was busy and the food was very good.

The Mehrangarh Fort

Next day I headed off to the Mehrangarh Fort. This is the major attraction of Jodhpur and is built on hill the overlooks the city.

I shared the taxis to the fort with a German bloke that I first met in Jaipur and turned up in my hostel. He was an interesting bloke. He told that he has worked in Japan and is fluent in Japanese. He told also said that he is about to start working with a German start-up company in Munich that is going to establish a long distance bus company. Hitherto bus companies have been restrict to short haul routes. The deregulation of the buses will provide competition for rail.

The Fort and Palace are very impressive. The state rooms are very luxurious. There are also exhibits of the armour used by the army that occupied the Fort.

It is amazingly that the British were able to take over the whole country. I understand that the British did not have any military superiority over the various Indian states. They managed to convince each of the Maharajas that they would benefit by co-operating with the British.

Walking through the Old Town

After leaving the Fort we headed down to the old town. The building are painted blue, hence the description of Jodhpur as being the ‘Blue City’. The streets are very narrow and crowded. We were heading towards the Clock Tower. Even though it is quite high, it is not possibel to see it as you are walking along the narrow streets. The German bloke had an off line map app on his phone. That proved useful as we made our way through maze streets.

Finally we made it to the restaurant, near the Clock Tower that I had been to before.

The Umaid Bhawan Palace

After a quick lunch we headed out to the Umaid Bhawan Palace. This place was built in the 1920 for the Maharaja of Rajasthan. The architect was a notable Georgian architect based in London. We were surprised that the entrance fee was only IRP 100.

The reason for the low entrance fee turned out to be due to the fact that you don’t get to see much of this huge building.

The Maharaja still lives there. Who knows what use is made of the 170 plus, bedrooms.

Little Bus Full of Girls

The German bloke has a particular dislike of the being ripped off by Tuk Tuk drivers. He asked one for the price to go the “Polo Ground” (opposite our hostel), knowing that it was less than 4 klms away. The price offered was IRP 100 which is at least 3 times what it should have been. The Tuk Tuk driver drove off to where other drivers were parked. We heard him say something about “Polo Ground”. We assumed he was saying “don’t take those tourists to the Polo Ground for anything less that IRP 100”.

We started walking down the hill from the palace with the intention of getting a taxis or Tuk Tuk on the main road.

As we were walking along, a small bus full of girls stopped. They offered us a lift. We climbed on board. They insisted on having their photos taken and took photos of us with their mobile phones.

Kids in the Street

The bus dropped us off about a kilometre from the hostel. As we walk along we, came across some locals dancing in the street following a truck. It seemed to be something to do with the festivals that are going on at the moment.

As we approached we were ‘mildly accosted’ by some young boys probably less than 10. They were real pains – hitting us and asking for money. Fortunately, some older guys come to our rescue and told the young kids to go way.

Festival and Meal

When we got back to the hostel, the staff were organising a excursion to the local cricket ground to watch an event related to the festival.

They ordered taxis use the on-line App Ola. We ended up with 5 taxis in all. It seems to be a great system as the App tells you the fare. The taxis end up to be cheaper than Tuk Tuks.

We couldn’t actually get into the cricket ground and had to watch the proceedings over the wall surrounding the ground. There were few large figures made of paper and wood of what we were told, were ‘evil characters’. The idea was that they would be burnt and the evil would go away.
There was a lot on noise and carry on and the figures were burnt. There was then a short fireworks display.

After this was finished, we walked to a restaurant for what turned out to be a really good meal. It also turned out to be a good opportunity to chat to some of the other quests from the hostel. Is was an eclectic group with people from England, Australia, Iceland, Italy, Chile, Germany and Spain.

Folk Festival

I had a bit of a quiet morning reading and buying my bus ticker to Udaipur. This was followed by a good lunch at restaurant not far from the hostel.

The Rajasthan International Folk Fest is held at his time of the year. It is a big event. Apparently Mick Jagger has played at it in the past. The main venue is in the Fort.

We were told that “opening ceremony would be taking place in the Clock Tower Square at 5.30 p.m”. and there would be performance to watch. The German bloke and I,and a bloke from Iceland ordered a taxis and headed into town.

As it turned out, proceeding were not going to start until 7.00 p.m. We headed to a Roof Top restaurant for a meal and a couple of beers. The Icelandic bloke told us that he was sick of living in Iceland because it is so small and so depressing in winter. He said he was likely to head for Denmark “because it doesn’t get so dark in winter”. I guess everything is relative.

At around 8.00 p.m. the show finally started. We watched 3 acts – a women singing accompanied by a sitar player and a drummer, some elderly blokes doing a dance, and some flute players. It was interesting but we had had enough. I am sure main acts in the Fort later in the Festival will be more interesting.

Flickr Links
Photos
https://flic.kr/s/aHsknbfBPc

Videos

To come internet permitting

Garmin

To come when the Garmin site works

Jaipur

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Jaipur
It was good to have a bit of ‘luxury’ in the ‘resort’ hotel in Agra. I also used the hotel to book a bus to Jaipur. Apparently it is easier than going by train. In a fit of total decadence, I also took a taxis to the bus station rather than a Tuk Tuk.

Bus

The bus looked a bit dodgy. It was old and have a few dints. It also seemed to have a bit of rust which is bit old in such a dry part of the country.

The roads across to Jaipur were a mixture of toll ways and ‘normal roads’. The ‘normal roads’ were often crowded. The bus’s horn was often used and put me off my podcast listening. We able to get up to reasonable speeds on the toll roads.

Arriving Jaipur

I arrived in Jaipur in the evening. It was dark. I was given a bit of a bum steer by a local on the bus. He told me to get off the bus before the final stop in the city, because “it was closer to my hostel”. That turned out to be wrong. And it was a fairly long Tuk Tuk ride to the hostel.

Crashpad Hostel

The hostel was in a rather old location – City Lines. This a sort of gated community. The hostel is on the second floor on what seemed to be commercial building.
As it turned out I was very good. It only has two bunk rooms and two private rooms. There were about 12 people staying there.

There is a communal sitting room that encourages people to chat.

Trip to Monkey Temple

The next day I went out to the Monkey Temple with a South Africa bloke who now lives in England. He told me that he had just completed his Master’s degree in bio engineering at the University of Newcastle. He told me some interesting stuff about the use of 3D printing for making artificial limbs. He also said that it will not be long before 3D printing technology will used to make organs. Amazing stuff.

The Monkey Temple was a bit ho hum.

We were told that we had to pay to be able to take photographs. I am not sure to whom that fee went to. I suspect it went into the pocket of the bloke taking the money.

Watching the Rugby

In the evening the hostel staff cook a meal. It was very good.

After the meal we all sat down to watch the Rugby World Cup game between South Africa and Wales. It was a close game, however, in the end the South Africans prevailed with a short side try in the final minutes.

Amber Palace and Fort

In the evening I got into conversation with a Canadian girl who had arrived at the Hostel by car from Delhi. She asked me what I was doing the next day. I said I was going out to the Amber Fort and Palace. She asked me if I she could join me. I told her that that was fine with me.

The hostel arranged for a Tuk Tuk. They told us the price. I am not sure if they get a cut, but even if they do the cost is reasonable – 600 IRP for over 5 hours. The driver was really good and the Tuk Tuk was only a year old.

As we approached the lake near the palace traffic was amazing. There were cars, buses and Tuk Tuks everywhere. There is an Indian festival going on at this time of the year and the Amber Place is one of the places where the local people go during the festival. Our driver dropped us off some distance from the start of the path that leads up to the Palace.

Some Beggars

We picked our way through the crowds and headed up the path. As we walked we were accosted by a number of beggars – mainly small children. The prevalence of begging seems to be less that it was we I here in 1985, however, it is still disturbing.

There were hundreds of people in the rectangle in front of the main entrance into the palace. There was long line of local seemingly lining up to get in. We followed a group of school children that walk passed the queue and up some stair. There we found a ticket office selling ‘premium’ tickets including tickets for foreigners.

The inside of the palace is very interesting. On the features in the bathing area. It is very ingenious and had hot and cold running water when it was operational. There is also a tranquil garden in one of the courtyards

More Monkeys

We walked out on the balcony on the upper level. This seemed to be the preferred spot for a troop of Monkeys. These were a different species to ones at the Monkey Temple and they seemed be a lot healthier. A big guy, probably the leader of the troop, didn’t look too happy about our presence.

After leaving the Palace we continued on up the path to the Fort on the hill. We meet an Australian couple who told us that they had walked up the secret tunnels that head from the palace to the fort. They remained a ‘secret’ for us as we couldn’t find them.

Why the Canadian Girl was Heading Home

As we walked to the fort, the Canadian girl told me that she had booked flight home the next day. She had only arrived in Delhi two days ago, but had a ‘terrible experience.
She told me that when she got off the plane from Brussels in Delhi she decided to get a taxis into the city. This turned out to be “not a proper taxis”. The driver told her that because of the “festivals all of the accommodation in Delhi was full”. She had planned to go to Jaipur and had the address of the hostel we were staying at. The driver offered to drive her from Delhi to Jaipur. I didn’t feel if was appropriate to ask how much she paid.

She also told me that the driver constantly suggested that they should check into a hotel together. He said he knew that owner and there would be no charge.
Clearly the whole experience was very distressing for her and she decided to cut her stay in India short after less than 24 hours.

Top of the Hill

It is quite a climb to top of the fort. However it is one of those thing you have to do. The bloke selling the entrance ticket tried to short change me. Not satisfied trying once, he also tried to do the same with the Canadian girl.

As we looked at the view, we were approached by some teenage boys who were insistent that they have their photographs taken with us. Clearly they were more interested in the Canadian girl in the photo than me.

When we got back to the bottom of the path and on the road, the crowds of cars and Tuk Tuks that were there when we arrived had clear. Curiously that made it difficult to find our Tu Tuk as everything looked different.

We found our man in the end, and we headed back into town past a lake. There is a place in this lake which is not dissimilar to the one that I will be seeing in Udaipur in a few days.
We stopped briefly in the old town. I took another photo of a Royal Enfield motorcycle.

Time Stands Still in an Indian Railways Office

Later in the afternoon I walked to the Railway station to buy a ticket to Jodhpur. There is special window for Foreigners. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to make buying a ticket any easier. You have to complete a form. What for is anyone’s guess. As I was in the queue, I notice a bloke sitting in large office next to the ticket counter. He seemed to be the boss of the show. At various times younger bloke entered the office a large book was obvious some sort of manually kept record. The Boss Man opened the book and studied the contents. I sure that same records were being kept before WWII.

It was dark before I finally got my ticket.

I hailed a Tuk Tuk to go back to the hostel. When we go back to the City Line area, the driver clearly couldn’t find Gate 2 which the one we need to enter. The place is very confusing as it all looks the same. We spent ages driving around before we found the hostel.

Australia Play Scotland

In the evening the hostel gave a young English couple a cooking lesson. I am not sure what the couple actually did, but the result was excellent. A very tasty meal.

As we ate, we watched Argentina beat Ireland in the Rugby World Cup.

This was followed by Australia playing Scotland. The result of that game will go down in history at the controversial in the history of the RWC to date. The upshot is that Australia is through to the semi-finals. There are no northern hemisphere teams in the final four.

Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHsknwHe2w

Garmin Link
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/932948797

Agra

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Agra 2015

I spent at least one more in Delhi than I planned, not that I really plan. Anyway it was good to revisit the place.

I had asked that people at the Hotel for advice on getting to Agra. I had heard conflicting stories about using the train for catching a bus from fellow travellers. Some said that the train was terrible and very crowded and that because that station in Agra is la long way from the city, it is better to take the bus. The people at the hotel suggested the train.

As it turned out, there is a very good train from Delhi to Bhopal (famous for the Union Carbide industrial gas disaster in 1984) Express which stops in Agra. The Hotel booked me on the train. There was a bit of confusion regarding the ticket which was bought on-line. That was sorted and I set may alarm to wake up at 5.00 a.m.

The walk to the station along Main Bazar Road wasn’t as interesting as I expected. It was dark and fairly crowded as you would expect. Three French women were also heading for the same train. They said they would be pleased if I walked with them.

On the Train

The train was quite comfortable. My carriage was only half full. Given this is the start of a ‘festive season’, I had been led to believe that trains would be crowded. The service was very good with a bottle of water, tea and a hot ‘something’ and biscuits provided.

The track was very smooth and the train was quite fast.
The countryside was flat and all given over to agriculture. We passed through a number of towns/cities, stopping at a couple of bigger ones. We also passed by some villages that looked very poor, with very inadequate housing. Clearly a lot of people were effectively sleeping in the open with only a piece of cloth attached to some poles for shelter.

Good Advice from a Local

As we approached Agra, we were told that the train would only be stopping for 4 minutes. I made my way to the door. An Indian couple struck up a conversation. The bloke told that the only thing Agra was good for was that Taj. He suggested that one day was enough. If was planning of staying, one night was enough. He suggested a hotel in which to stay near the East Gate.

When we left the station a number of the taxis and Tuk-Tuk driver descended on me. The Indian bloke pick one out for me and negotiated a fare to the hotel. I was grateful for his intervention.
The Hotel tuned out to be the Taj Resort. So many Taj’s in this country. It is small but very comfortable.

Back in 1985

When I was on the Foreign Affairs trip I have mentioned before, we had three weekends in Delhi in 1985. This gave us the opportunity to travel out of the city.
On one of those weekends we travelled to Agra for the days. We took the High Commissioner’s car. Before you think we were doing a Bronwyn Bishop, it was all ‘above board’. We paid commercial hire rates for the car and we paid the driver is normal weekend rates.

The Drive

I can recall starting very early in the morning. Progress was slow on what seemed to be a very busy road. The car, a Holden Statesman, was fitted with a super load horn. The driver used it frequently as we picked our way through the traffic. This include cars, motorbikes, bicycles, rickshaws (motorised and human powered) trucks and a variety of carts being towed by motorbikes, animals (horses, donkeys and mules) and people. There were also lots of cows on the road.

Capital City Runs out of Water

I recall that we stopped in place called Fatehpur Sikri before we got to Agra. The place was that capital city of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585. The people had to leave because of a lack of water. I think I thought at the time that this may happen to places like Canberra and Perth. Maybe this is ‘enhanced’ memory in the context of climate change.

Seeing the Taj Mahal

We had a ‘private guide’ when we went to the Taj Mahal. All I can recall was that he seemingly wanted to show us ever “translucent stone” in the palace. Needless to say, there are many of these stones. I recall that it reached a point where we said that enough is enough.

Colleague hit in Ribs by a Cow

Another thing I recall about that visit was my colleague being hit in the ribs by a cow as she walked down a stress in the town. Her reaction was priceless.

Back to 2015

After checking into Hotel I walked towards the Taj Mahal. I had been told by people I had met in Delhi that the ticket office was up the hill from the Palace. There is cart service that takes you from the entrance to the Palace to and from the tickets office.
I still wanted to walk.

The street was remarkably quiet. There are police barriers very 300 metres or so and the only traffic is the ‘ticket carts (battery powered), tuk tuks and horse drawn carts (clearly for tourist use).

The road is being paved. There is clearly a big effort being put into leaning up the place.
After having a look around the area near the East Gate, I caught the ‘ticket cart’ up the hill got my ticket and returned to enter the palace.

There is the obligatory security check better you enter the palace. Security is huge industry in India.

I walked into palace grounds. I was approached by a number of guides offering their services. I recalled the 1985 experience and politely declined their offers.

A Great Sight

There is no doubt that the Taj Mahal is a great sight.

I took heaps of photos, a contrast to my 1985 visit. Notwithstanding the change in technology, I  think the 1985 photos are the best.

Relatively Good Internet

The internet at the hotel was reasonable. I was able to make a few Skype calls.

Very Flash Hotel

In the early evening I walked across the road and checked out the Oberoi Hotel.
I suspect it would meet the high standards one of my Brisbane cousins wife sets. She should check out the link below.

Flickr Links

Agra 1985
https://flic.kr/s/aHskmWKZQ9

Agra 2015
https://flic.kr/s/aHskiKbjT5

Seriously Luxurious Hotel
http://www.oberoihotels.com/hotels-in-agra/

Australian High Commission Delhi

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As I was in Delhi, I decided to visit the Australian High Commission. I have mentioned in previous posts that I visited the High Commission in February 1985 as part of a trip I undertook with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

That trip included, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Bombay and Kathmandu as well as New Delhi. It was the third trip I had undertaken since joining the Department in September 1984. The previous two were to the then USSR, East and West Germany, and New Zealand. This was my first visit to the so called ‘hardship posts’.

In my previous post about Delhi I talked about the day my colleague and I arrived and our attendance at a wedding of one of the High Commission staff.

The Taj Hotel

After the wedding we settled into our hotel- the Taj which is located within the Diplomatic enclave of New Delhi. I had already learned one thing about travelling for Foreign Affairs, you got to stay in very nice hotels. This was to prove to be one of the best.

It is set in quiet large grounds with a large pool. I can recall that on the afternoon we arrived after the wedding, the pool was very crowded. The hotel was used by airlines. I recall that there were a lot of tall blonde women sunning themselves by the pool. Some turned out to be Lufthansa aircrew.

Over the weeks we in Delhi, it was very pleasant to return to the hotel are a ‘hard day’s work’ at the High Commission. It was a real oasis.

On this trip I decided to revisit the hotel. It is still impressive. The reception area is all marble and there are large marble staircase leading to the conference room and restaurants on the floors above and below.

The pool and grounds are still very impress by today’s standards.

The High Commission

The AHC was one of the first foreign missions to be built in the diplomatic enclave in the 1950’s. It is located opposite the British High Commission and the American Embassy is around the corner.

I wanted to revisit the HC for a couple of reasons. I wanted to see if had changed at all. The second reason was to take some photos on behalf of my London host. His father was posted to Delhi as an Australian diplomat with his family. When I was in London I was shown pictures of the compound as it was when they were there.

The day before I headed to the AHC I sent an e-mail, telling them that I wished to visit and why.

Security Presence

I caught the metro and then a Tuk Tuk to the HC. As I approached, I was immediately struck by the security. The wall around the compound is high. There are guards wandering the street and there are signs up staying photography is forbidden.

As I approached that entrance, I was greeted by a guard who asked what I wanted. He didn’t seem to understand what I was saying. Another guard arrived. He directed me to another guard box. By the time I arrived at the next guard box, there had clearly been some communication with the chancellery. I was asked to show my ID and sign that visitor’s book. I then had by backpack checked and I was given a Visitors Pass and directed the main entrance.

Walking Around the Compound

As I approached the Chancellery door, I was greeted by Indian gentleman, unfortunately I didn’t catch his name properly. He told me that he had been in the HC since 1983 and would be showing me around.

Even though I was being accompanied, there restrictions on where I could go. A feature of the compound is the garden in front of the Official Residence and a ‘billabong’. I was only allowed to take photos from the path.

Not much seemed to have changed since 1985, except that the Deputy High Commissioner’s house has be converted in offices.

I took a photo of the tennis court. If my colleague ever gets to read this post and looks at the photos, I am sure it will bring back memories of game play there and she will have a chuckle.

Remembering Friday Night

We passed the Club House. This is used as an informal entertainment area for the High Commission’s staff and guests. My guide made a particular point of noting that it is used for ‘Friday Night Prayers’ – after work drinks.

These were, and obviously still are, a feature of diplomatic life, particularly in the hardship posts. All the friendly Embassies and HC’s (i.e. British, NZ, Canada and the USA) have similar facilities. Staff from the different missions visits each other’s clubs.

When we were in Delhi I recall that the night started in the Australian Club House. We then moved to the British HC across that road. I have a vague recollection of ending up in the USA Marines Club House late at night.

Flickr Link
To be posted when the Internet permits.

Taking the Metro in Delhi

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Probably the biggest change I have noticed in Delhi is the metro train system. It is not that it is physically obvious, particularly in the central area in that a lot of it is underground. Where it is above ground it is mostly on pylons – in the sky.

A Modern System Comparable to Anyway

It is a very good system with modern air conditioned trains running on very smooth tracks at high speeds (for a metro system). There is electronic ticketing and automated gates. It is on par with other ‘new” systems I have seen in Shanghai, Singapore and Seoul. In many respects it is better than ‘old ‘systems in London, Paris, New York, and Rome and in Sydney and Melbourne.
There is no doubt that a good metro train system has more of an impact on a city that simply being a way to get around. It has a social impact.

Two Stories to Illustrate a Point

I recall the Roderick Carnegie (the former head of what is now Rio Tinto the second largest mining company in the world) being interviewed. He said that he liked living in Melbourne rather than Sydney because he could get to work by tram. He said that he travelled to meetings in the CBD by tram. This amazed visitors from Sydney and the USA, less so those from the UK.

Another story I liked was David Attenborough (I don’t have say who he is) talking about travelling on the London Tube. He was standing on a District Line train heading to South Kensington. A girl sitting below him was reading his autobiography and did not notice, or pretended not to notice, that he was standing front of her.

The point of these stories is to highlight that impact of good public transport of society. It brings most levels of society together.

It also so encourages civil behaviour.

Women on the Delhi Metro

In the case of Delhi, it is notable that the behaviour on the trains is excellent. There is no splitting, no litter, and the people are generally courteous and wait in line to get off and on the trains.

There is a heavy security presence, but that is unfortunately necessary.

The attitudes to women and the attitudes of women are also interesting.
The front carriage is reserved for women. I didn’t bother looking whether they were are more or less used than other carriages.

In the carriages I caught, there was a mixture of ages, gender and (I assume) class. There are signs on some seats indicating women have preference. I saw numerous case where men stood and offered seats to older women irrespective as whether it was a ‘preferred’ woman’s seat or not.

On one occasion, a middle aged woman got on the train. A younger well dressed man was sitting in the ‘preferred seat’ (he looked like the equivalent of an ex-Shore Boy who was up himself) She stood over him and stared. He eventually got the message and stood up. I suspect she had noticed that I had been watching and smiled. The man walked to the end of the carriage.

I suspect an encounter like that would not have occurred between a Delhi man and woman on bus 30 years ago.

Back in to Different Word

The Metro runs about a kilometre from where I am staying in the Main Bazar, a very old and traditional area of Delhi. It is run down (in a nice way) and chaotic.
As you exit the air-conditioned and orderly Metro, you are met with the sounds and smells of ‘old’ Delhi.

There is a queue of bicycle Rickshaw operators. I took one back to my Hotel.

The contrast between the Metro and the Rickshaw ride is a quintessential Indian experience.

Flickr Link
To come Internet permitting

Arriving in Delhi

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Arriving In Delhi
I left my London host’s place fairly early. It was a beautiful day and I decided to spend some time in the West End before heading out to Gatwick to catch the plane to Delhi.

I went into Fortnum Mason for a Welsh Rarebit. I really must get their recipe. Or made be I shouldn’t, because if I managed to make one just like theirs, I would be eating Welsh Rarebits every day.

After a bit of wandering around, I caught the train to airport.

The Flight
The plane turned out to be an A380. I thought it would be a smaller plane. Anyway is was packed. The airlines are very good at maximising their seat utilisation these days.

It was possible to use the internet on the plane. I saw this before on my flight to Iceland from New York last year. It still amazes me. I recall how I loved being on the plane during business trips with Caltex and Foreign Affairs before the days of laptops and the internet. It was not possible to be contacted.

During the flight I communicated with my Balmain host who was in Dubai and scheduled to catch a plane to Sydney an hour after I was scheduled to arrive.

Short Layover

It was a short layover in Dubai and I had to change terminals for the connecting flight to Delhi. The internet in the airport was a pain to use and I was not able to contact my Balmain host. I was later to learn that he could not get the internet in the airport to work at all. That is the way of technology. It worked and 40K feet, but didn’t work in one of the most modern buildings in the world.

The flight from Dubai was relatively short.

Taste of Indian Bureaucracy

India is famous for a number of things. One is mindless bureaucracy. I experienced this first hand when I visited in early 1985 when I was working for Foreign Affairs.

It would appear that things have changed little in the intervening period.
As you get off the plane you are confronted by an official who checks if you have a passport.
I then joined the queue for the holders of ‘e visas’. Given that this was an automated system I though the processing would be relatively fast. It was taking 10 to 15 minutes to processes each person.

When I reached the end of the queue, I handed over the printed receipt for the visa. I noticed a young girl at the next desk showing her receipt on her mobile phone. She was not going to be going anywhere fast.

I am not sure what the bloke was doing on the other side of the desk. Whatever it was, it wasn’t as simple was scanning the visa receipt and matching the details with my passport and my face. There was a lot of typing and writing.

He then took my photo and asked me to put my fingers and thumb on a finger print machine. Where and why they are stored is anyone’s guess.

Finally my passport was stamped.

As I continued on I was asked to show my passport two more times. The first bloke did not check if I had a visa. That could have been reasonable as a check to ensure the bloke at the desk was doing his job properly.

I asked the second bloke who wanted to check my passport, “why are you doing this, you can see that I have just come from the immigration desk and someone else has looked at my passport since then”? His response was “it is Indian process”. I just walked off.

Taxis into the City

I had arranged with my hotel to be picked up at the airport. My driver met me outside the departure gate. The ‘taxis’ was a metal box on four wheels.

Remembering Arriving in Delhi in February 1985

As we headed into the city, I recalled the last time I was met at the airport in Delhi in 1985.
My Foreign Affairs colleague and I had flown in to Delhi from Bombay (now known as Mumbai). We were met by the Attaché in the High Commissioner’s car. The High Commission was out of town in Pakistan.

It was a weekend and the Attaché told us that, if we were interested, we could go with him to a wedding. The wedding was of a member of the High Commission’s gardening staff to a girl from his village. He told us that they were from the lower Castes. We told him that we were interested.
We dropped our luggage off at the hotel and headed directly to the wedding. The Attache told us that there would be other members of the High Commission staff at the wedding as it was good for staff morale for the Australian based staff to be seen at these events. He also told us the staff had collected some money to be given to the couple.

At this point I need to note that my colleague was 25, female, very attractive and she was wearing a ‘light dress’.

When the car stopped we were met by a number of Indian gentlemen. These turned out to be relatives of the bridegroom. It was to later transpire that because we had arrived in the High Commissioner’s car, it was assumed that we must have been very important and as such, we were the honoured guests.

We were escorted to a large tent which was crowded with other quests including Australian and Indian staff from the High Commission. The Attaché introduced us to several people including an Indian woman who said she was the High Commissioner’s Protocol Advisor. She told us that we would “shortly offered food”. She said that we should accept it, but try not to eat it”.

We chatted away to the other guests holding the plates of foods. A various times the Protocol Advisor approached us from behind. As we turned to her she swapped our plates for another one will less food on it. I am sure the Indian guests noticed, but nothing was said.

While talking to the Australian staff, we were told that this was traditional ‘arranged marriage’ and the bride was meeting the groom for the first time. The ceremony was quite complicated with a number of stages and it was officiated by a number of priests. We were told that some of the stages had been completed and it was now time for us the ‘honoured guests’ to now participate, including handing over the cash that the High Commission staff had collected.

The ceremony was taking place under a canopy and there was a small fire burning. The Bride and Groom were sitting on cushions.
The first thing I noticed was how distraught the Bride was – she was howling with tears pouring down her face.

The other thing I noticed was how that Groom was looking at my colleague. As noted before she was young, very attractive and wearing a ‘light dress’. It was hot and the fire was making us hotter, everyone was sweating. He seemed to be fixated by my colleague.

After a couple of minutes, the ceremony appeared to stop and major argument erupted, behind us. We were later told that the dispute related to the how much one of the priests was demanding to be paid. It appeared that some of ‘gods messengers’ want more that others.

The dispute was resolved and the ceremony continued.

My colleague was clearly concerned as to how upset the Bride was. She told me that this “was terrible and it had to be stopped”.

I can’t recalled the full conversation, but it went along the lines that: I said it probably wasn’t for us to decide on that. She responded, that she didn’t care what I thought, it was just wrong what was happening to the girl………… As we had our little discussion the ceremony continued.

Finally, it came to the point where we were to hand over the cash gift. My colleague took the envelope and thrust it towards the couple with a clear look of displeasure. The transfixed Groom took the money and my colleague stormed off.

Back to October 2015

The ride into the city from the airport was slow. This wasn’t due to lots of animals on the road. It is my recollection that this was an issue in 1985. This time it was the volume of traffic.
There are lines on the road delineating lanes, but no one takes any notice of them.

Check out the Flickr link for a video.

At one point we stopped to get LNG fuel for the taxis. The driver paid over 400 rupees. I don’t know how many trips to the airport he can do on that, but my fare was 500 rupees.

In the Hotel

It took nearly two hours to get to the hotel in the Main Bazar. The location is infamous for a bombing that took place in October 2005. Check out the link below.
The hotel is very basis, but all that I need.

Walk to Connaught Place

Next day I walked into Connaught Place. It is the main Business and Shopping area of New Delhi. The fabric of the place does not have appeared to have changed much since 1985. What is notable, however is the number of international brand shops there are now. All major city shopping areas are looking the same.

Watching the Rugby

In the evening I found a bar that was showing the Rugby World Cup game between Australia and Wales. I was that only one watching this try less, but tight encounter.
It looks as though it will be a Wallabies v All Blacks final on the 31st.

Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHskmpnbKm

Link to Information on Main Bazar Bombing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Delhi_bombings

Link to Information on Connaught Place
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connaught_Place,_New_Delhi