TRIP REPORT: NOVEMBER 2006 - APRIL 2007
***Hotel reviews have been added for places we stayed at***
The delayed third and final part of our trip report. What a great country, hope you enjoy the read.
misterc.
PART THREE
Delhi, Jaipur, Ranthambhore, Shimla (End March-Early April), Candolim (Early-Late April)
Travelling independently we deliberately left our trip to the north until towards the end of our 5 months in India - we knew we would have a better chance of being acclimatised in the 'Indian way' and should be able to deal with most things thrown at us. We spent a fair amount of time researching travel, what to see, where to stay etc and our hosts at Xavier's Beach Resort put us in touch with a fantastic taxi company in Delhi. We decided from experience it would be more convenient and hassle free if we hired a car with driver for our two week trip. Prem at Xavier's has a great knowledge of Delhi, so with his help we were all set up. We had a driver (who knew where he was going) and ac car for two weeks for just over £300 - by the end we had completed over 2000km (and knew we had received value for money). If you're not doing an organised trip we'd strongly recommend you consider hiring a car with driver - it made our experience memorable, easy and stress free.
Our itinerary:
Delhi (2n) - Jaipur (2n) - Ranthambhore (2n) - Agra (1n) - Delhi (2n) - Shimla (3n) - Delhi (1n)
Delhi
Likes:
- The chaos
- The contrasts between old and new delhi
- Plethora of historical places to visit
- Haldirams (Chandni Chowk)"¦great fast Indian food
- Push bike rickshaws
- Central Cottage Industries Emporium (one of the few official government emporiums in Delhi)
Dislikes:
- Very little except the heat (was 40c+)
- Jama Masjid (or at least the locals we encountered there)
What a city, there's so much to see and take in. A host of historical sights, our favourites were Qutub Minar, Humayun Tomb and India Gate. The red fort we found a bit of a let down and like many historical sights in India a tad run down and in need of some tlc. We stayed a total of 5 nights in Delhi and due to travelling had a good 3 days to explore.
We stayed at the Dolphinn Hotel (see hotel review), located in the New Friends Colony of the city (about 15 mins to the centre). Our driver would pick us up at 10ish and we'd probably last until 6ish. The shopping here is excellent - this is where we picked up all our Indian artefacts (original paintings), especially within the Central Cottage Industries Emporium; we could have easily spent a whole day here, there is so much on offer to cater for all budgets (prices are fixed) including a life size baby elephant made of rosewood for about 10k!!! Don't be fooled into being taken to similarly named shops - this is government run which means the cabbies get no commission and after months of beach sellers trying to offload their stuff onto you, you'll realise the price you are paying here is fair. We didn't go there, but if you're after western clothes, south extension is the place to head; lacoste, levis, nike etc. The Defence Colony is also an excellent place to visit for shopping and mixing it with elite Delhi-ites (there's even a western style deli cum sandwich shop!). A lot of money here, think this is a popular place for Western diplomats to do their shopping.
The cycle rickshaws are great fun and so cheap, but like Kerala, it's hit and miss as to whether the driver has any grasp of the English language so you'll have fun directing and negotiating a price. While on the rickshaw we did see a road accident involving a push bike and motor bike, both got up smiling and laughing !
Food here is great and we didn't have a problem. Haldirams is an Indian franchise and we went to the one in Chandni Chowk - unbelievable tasty fast food for peanuts and you must check out their 'sweet' section on the ground floor, there must be in excess of 50 different types on offer"¦an amazing experience. Recommended. Parikrana (revolving restaurant) probably a little overpriced and touristico, and Chicken Inn were a couple of the other notable places we went to. Good food, especially the Aloo Jeera.
We can imagine if it's your first time in Delhi as part of a 2-3wk trip in India, you may find the city a difficult challenge and an assault on your senses (think your first arrival in Goa and multiply it by 10!).
PS - we didn't see any dead bodies on the streets - just the occasional kid and adult too tired to find a conventional toilet and dropping their trousers behind a tree!
Jaipur
Likes:
- City Palace, Amber Fort and Jantar Mantar
- More shopping (especially the blue pottery)
- Our accommodation
Dislikes:
- Not really a dislike, but we'd call Jaipur an orange city, not a pink one!
We spent 4 hours getting to Jaipur from Delhi, passing various trains of camels (did you know they have 3 eyelids to help prevent blowing sand from getting in their eyes?!), the landscape slowly changing to flat more open land until we arrived in Jaipur and our Hotel, the Pearl Palace (see hotel review). Very comfortable and a great roof terrace to eat, drink and take in the views of the city. Jaipur city had enough to keep us occupied for our 2 night visit. The sights are here to see, from the City Palace with typically dressed Rajasthani men wandering around, to the imposing Amber Fort oozing with history. Jantar Mantar perhaps gave us our biggest surprise with an array of what could be described as modern art; however these objects of calculation and astronomy were made in the 18th century! Well worth a look.
Shopping here is excellent, particularly for fabrics, ie cushion covers and the wonderfully unique blue pottery. We had a very funny moment at the hotel when I tried to order some tandoori chicken - the waiter replied 'sorry sir, that's impossible'. When I asked why it was impossible, the waiter replied the tandoor is not working! Only in India. The same waiter managed to spray a guy eating at another table when opening a bottle of kingfisher - it went everywhere!
Ranthambhore
Likes:
- The rush of anticipation when going out on safari
- The buzz of seeing a tiger footprint and the cloak and dagger nature of waiting and hiding
- Social aspect at the hotel
Dislikes:
- Again, like Periyar in Kerala, the rooms weren't the best
It was about a 4hr drive from Jaipur (the final hour was a bit of a bone shaker) and we were hoping for something special at Ranthambhore, a sighting of the elusive tiger. The Ranthambhore Bagh where we stayed at was a good choice, though the rooms weren't the best (I really do think you have to pay through the nose in these resorts for a good standard - the oberoi looked amazing from outside as we drove down to the park entrance). We paid around 4000 rupes a night for the room and this included your meals throughout the day"¦the jeep rides worked out around £10 each and we did three of these.
We did an early morning jeep ride and two end of day rides and they were great fun, full of anticipation, your senses tune into the surroundings and you find yourself looking deep into jungle trying to find a glimmer of anything moving around. We saw a fresh tiger paw print in the morning and we were moving, waiting, moving, waiting, hoping for a tiger just to walk nearby so we could click our camera's but unfortunately we were unlucky and didn't see one. They are seen, there's about 40+ of them in the park, we met a couple back at the Bagh who went on a different route (there are 6 routes in the park and these are randomly allocated) who were lucky enough to see one. We saw plenty of deer, sambar, peacocks, bluebulls and lots of monkeys.
We'd recommend going to Ranthambhore - despite us not seeing one, we're convinced you do have a good chance of seeing a tiger (you only have to look through the guestbook at the hotel!). If you can, push the boat out and stay at the Oberoi!
Agra
Likes:
- The Taj Mahal
- The Holiday Inn, Agra
Dislikes:
Though we didn't deviate a great deal from what we came to see here, we found Agra to be a very dirty city; it probably wouldn't win awards for cleanliness.
Think bandit country and that's what our 5 hour drive from Ranthambhore was like - unfinished roads, dust everywhere, we half expected a cavalry on horseback to hold us up at gunpoint, blindfold and take us hostage. A journey and a half, we were pleased to arrive in this filthy city!
Adjectives cannot capture what it is to see the Taj Mahal for the first time. Without doubt, an amazing place to visit and one of the highlights of our trip. Built in 21 years by 20,000 artisans, this was a tribute of love by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife. I'm still dumb struck at the magnificence and beauty of the Taj - without doubt it's up there in terms of one of the most memorable places in the world we have both seen.
Fatehpur Sikri is also worth a look.
The hotel was a great sanctuary and we'd recommend the Holiday Inn when visiting Agra, we even managed to get a Dominoes Pizza delivered to our room! (When you've been in India for as long as we were, we didn't have a problem eating western here!)
Shimla
Likes:
- Unique town
- The Oberoi Wildflower Hall
Dislikes:
- Being the main highway to northern India, by the time you reach Shimla the road narrows and traffic is horrendous once you hit this town"¦it can take 45 mins to get from one side of town to the other.
Were it not for an Indian we got talking to at Xavier's who enthused about this place, we would not have gone to Shimla. A spectacular hill station set in the foothills of the Himalayas, the climate here is perfect and reminded us of home, early 20's with a nice cool air. The scenery here is like the alps! The 8-9 hour drive from Delhi was fascinating and we took in the changes of scenery and before we knew it we had arrived.
We do have a confession to make, we didn't spend as much time in the town as we should have. Instead, with the exception of one morning we told our driver to have a few days off (he had a sister in Shimla) as we were prepared to spend our 3 nights here lapping up luxury. This is 5* and without doubt the best hotel in the world either of us has stayed in - if you're in the vicinity go and treat yourself. We did manage a 6km walk with a guide who talked us through the history of the area and local wildlife and we found out the Oberoi can arrange to charter a flight from delhi if you didn't want the long drive for a cool £4000 - one way !!!. We managed some tennis, snooker, time in the pool and outside taking the views of the foothills of the Himalayas in the perfectly warmed whirlpool! The highest golf course in asia is down the road (or up it more like!) at Naldhera. The clubhouse supposedly was used by Lord Curzon to run operations for the British Army in the Raj during the summer months when thousands left the heat of Delhi to the cooler climate of Shimla. A round, caddy, hire of clubs and balls cost £10 - I managed to slice a couple of shots and later in the round, some of the groundsmen had been looking for the balls and found them!!!
The food and drink here were superb, we were spoilt for choice with an amazing wine list and miss c had missed her wine, so we indulged in a bottle each night with our meal. The murgh tikka lababdar was out of this world. We left with a bill of 52,000 rupees, lasting memories and fully relaxed to enter our last phase of the trip.
Candolim
We returned to our base at Xavier's and sensed a quieter resort and a more humid atmosphere. Jesus the humidity!! The sun was hotter than we had known it here with the added delight of humidity"¦great ! Some shacks were being taken down on the beach and the place had a real sense of winding down.
We bought our tickets for a 2 day music festival in Aswem called the Big Chill and were not disappointed. An eclectic mix of music spread out over 3 arenas, this glorious event was set behind the beach amongst the palm trees. Probabaly 1,500 people on each day were here, with a mix of families, Mumbai-ites and younger and older travellers. We took the sun in, ate, danced and drank our way through copious amounts of booze"¦unlike, music festivals in the uk, here you were not being ripped off. 300 rupes for a ½ bottle of sula champagne, 2 for 1 beers 50 rupes.
We decided to treat ourselves (again!) at the end of the trip for our final week and decided to stay at the Lemontree Hotel (see review). We had a relative amount of comfort to ease us into our imminent return and soon we were at the end of our 5 month experience.
After our debacle with Air Deccan, we decided to get to Mumbai the day before our flight back to Heathrow. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai (see hotel review) and you get what you pay for. Pure luxury!
Well that's all folks. We met some great people, saw some wonderful sights and believe it or not, learnt a fair bit.
Some of our most memorable sayings:
'..better than nothing..', '..looking is free..', '..fernandes is minting money"¦
The road safety signs around the country made us smile, '..reach home in peace, not pieces"¦' and '"¦impatient on road, patient in hospital"¦' being two which capture the simple but adoring use of the English language by the people of this fabulous land. We're glad we didn't hire a scooter in our trip, instead we often risked our lives on the bus and in the rickshaws! We returned in one piece and with no illnesses - We worked out we took 370 daily malaria tablets and 52 weekly tablets each.
We both recommend anyone to do this if they're thinking about visiting India and are unsure. We had the time of our lives and am certain if we can't settle back into working life, we'll do it again.
Misterc and Missc
lassi
What a fantastic holiday.
