Jen Comes to Visit!

So I was starting to feel like a bit of a loser when everyone was having visitors come and go except for me! So I was particularly excited when Jenny suggested that she might use her last week before starting work for an impromptu visit. She decided to come join us in Bombay the last weekend in May and stay for a week. When she arrived I was just off the back of a solid 8 days unable to get out of bed so to say I was a bit concerned I was going to be sick for the whole week is an understatement. But luckily I was just starting to feel better when she arrived and we managed a very relaxing weekend in the 5 star Taj Palace in Bombay. Admittedly, we didn't see much of Bombay, more the inside of the hotel. But what a nice hotel it was to spend quality time with! They even gave me a big bunch of flowers and a card for my birthday as I was checking out! It's the little extras that make these hotels that bit more special. A nice way to easy Jenny into Indian life I would say....as I was about to unleash her on Agra and Delhi and she was going to flying solo for a few days. Watch this space for more of our adventures to come...

Rishikesh - India V Expats Begins!

When myself, Megan, Heather, Austin and Elliot (a 2 weeker from the States) decided to go to Rishikesh - the Yoga capital of the world and famous for its white water rafting - I wasn't quite sure what to expect since I'm the least flexible person in the world and not a fan of water activities! It was an interesting weekend shall we say...India tried its best to kick our asses but we came back fighting and managed a last minute draw! I shall elaborate...

We set off on our 7 hour drive on Friday afternoon ready to hit the rapids on Saturday morning and try out a little Yoga on Sunday morning. We had our hotel booked and had already told them we wanted to organise a rafting trip on Saturday. We were good to go! Or so we thought....a brief synopsis of our rafting experience:

• Arrive Friday and tell the hotel staff we want to go rafting on Saturday morning. No problem! They can arrange it for us.
• Saturday morning, we remind them we want to go rafting. We're told 'oooh, it's Saturday...everyone wants to go rafting. May not be possible. We'll make a call to the travel agent'.
• We wait for a call to be made. A call is not made. We get bored and call another travel agent that's been recommended to us.
• Somehow the hotel manage to hijack our new arrangements and tell us a car will pick us up at the hotel at 2pm.
• We go wandering and come back to hotel at 2pm. There is no car waiting...
• We call the organiser. He tells us we must drive 23km to the start point ourselves.
• We start driving and 20 minutes later, get a call to say the car is waiting at the hotel for us.
• We get pretty mad. After various calls, we get the name and number of the man who should be organising the boat for us and the name of the village we should meet him in.
• We arrive in the village and call this random man, who of course has no idea who we are!
• We call the hotel again. They tell us to go back to the village we were just in 10 minutes ago and a yellow boat will be waiting.
• We sigh and reluctantly head back to said village.
• We arrive. No yellow boat. We call hotel. Boat left 3 minutes ago!
• Half time score is India 2 - Expats 0

Ok, ok so it wasn't exactly a 'brief synopsis' but I couldn't leave any of it out! Moral of the story...India kicked our ass on Saturday and we wasted a whole day chasing a boat we never found. But all was not lost cause Austin 'the fixer' found us another rafting company who could arrange a trip on Sunday morning. So we got up bright and early, got picked up when we were supposed to be picked up and set off for the rapids. I never thought I'd be a fan of the rafting, but I have to say it was A LOT of fun. A perfect mix of leaisurly meandering down the Ganges versus adrenaline filled rapids. We even got to do a little cliff jumping which is always fun!

We came back fighting on Sunday and managed to claw back a point with a great rafting trip. With the help of the Lonely Planet we also managed to find ourselves a really tasty little restaurant to fill our bellies before we set off on our homeward journey. A last ditch draw we judged, even though we did never manage to do any Yoga...all in all a frustrating but very worthwhile trip!

Venice and Florence Come to India!

The weekend after the Taj, myself and Austin took ourselves off to Udaipur in Rajasthan. It's an overnight train ride away and like a slice of Italy in India. Quaint little city set around a lake with a big marshmallow-like palace sitting in the middle of it. It was also where the Bond movie 'Octopussy' was filmed, ooooh! The night train was surprisingly fine. At least as 'fine' as a 12 hour train can be! We stayed in a Megan-recommended hotel called the Udai Kothi and it was just off the lake with a roof top restaurant and pool overlooking the lake palace. Can't complain. We spent the first day wandering around the city palace which had some stunning views over the lake and the city itself, then we did a little shopping where I picked myself up some of the miniature paintings Udaipur is famous for. That evening, we took a sunset boat ride on the lake and got up close and personal to the palace and watched the sun set behind the mountains. All sounds very romantic!! The lake was a bit dry when we were there so the water wasn't as high as it could have been. Apparently its a great place to be during Monsoon because the lake is full and the palace appears to be floating in the middle of it. It was still pretty when we saw it, but I can imagine it being even better with more water!

The next day we went on of 4 hour horse safari out in the country side and it was great! Amazing scenery and for me a much better way to see the countryside and mountains than hiking in 40 degree heat! This for me, marked the end of a good weekend as I got my fist Indian illness and spent the rest of the weekend in bed :( but all in all, I still really enjoyed Udaipur and would definitely recommend it to anyone!

Agro in Agra

After 3 weeks in India, I thought it was high time I made the trip to Agra to see the iconic Taj Mahal. I was fully expecting it to be a total anti-climax but I have to say, for me at least, it wasn't. Yes it was crowded, yes it was hot, but come on it's the Taj Mahal! While it didn't take my breath away, it is I believe the most impressive building I've ever seen. The Taj was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of and as a tomb for his wife. Legend has it that he had all the best craftsmen build it and he was so insistent that it was never replicated that he had all their thumbs cut off so they couldn't work again. The things we do for love eh?!

4 of us made the trek from Gurgaon - me, Austin (from the apartment) and Mrinalini and Heena from the office. En route, we stopped in a very nice little restaurant (Sagar Ratna) renowned for it's South Indian delicacies. Masala Dosas rock! When we finally got to the Taj car park, we were instantly surrounded by people trying to sell us postcards, Taj Mahal keyrings, and leather whips...why they thought we would be interested in buying leather whips I have no idea!! We decided to do the most touristy of all touristy things and get ourselves a camel ride up to the Taj. Cheesy, but funny! Admittedly, my first view of the Taj involved jumping up and down with my elbows out to try see over and battle the crowds (slight exaggeration perhaps!) but still, you can't help but be amazed that you're standing in front of the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal!! We instantly found a quiet spot where we could take the 'humorous photos' - so we spent about an hour jumping up and down like lunatics trying to capture ourselves in the air with the Taj in the background. Got us quite a few stares I can tell you! We finally tore ourselves away from the tomfoolery long enough to get a bit closer and actually go into the Taj. It's as nice up close as it is from afar and I can't help but think it's an insanely elaborate building to house a tomb! But hey, who am I to complain.

After that, we took our driver and went to Fetehpur Sikri, which we had been warned was pretty bad for touts. Had NO idea just how bad it would be. People were literally jumping in front of the car to stop us and tell us that it was closed but that they knew people and could get us in for a good price, including guide and tickets. We lost them somewhere along the way and discovered not only that it wasn't closed but you don't even need a ticket! We were harassed from the second we got there to the second we left, so needless to say we left pretty sharpish!

All is all, a great day away from Delhi and a New Wonder of the World ticked off the list!

Random Observations/Tips

• Barbers = mirrors pinned to trees with one rusty old chair on the side of the dusty road. Tell me fellas...would you be happy to let a man with a razor loose on your throat under these conditions?!
• Indian waiters know better what you need than you do. Example:
• Me: 'Can I have the chicken tikka, please? And can I have chips with that?'
• Waiter (with shocked look on his face): 'You can't eat tikka with chips, you have to have rice or naan'
• Me: 'Erm...ooook, can I have chicken tikka with plain rice and chips, please?'
• Waiter: 'Of course, m'am'.
• I'm a lot whiter than Indian folk...they like to remind me with constants stares and requests to be in pictures with me.
• You're as likely to cross cows, monkeys and dogs on a pedestrian bridge as you are people. One could almost call them pedestrians!
  
• A 'head waggle' can mean anything from yes, to maybe, to 'I haven't got a clue what you're talking about'.
• If a travel agency in Rishikesh tells you to turn right, turn left.
• If your stomach is telling you not to eat spicy food, it's very difficult to find anything plain to eat that isn't rice.
  

To Go or Not to Go-A

Ok, not a great title! But it was the only play on words that I could think of. And the answer is DEFINITELY go! That is to Goa, on the west coast of India and pretty much India's #1 beach resort. Though 'resort' to me implies truck loads of British people and cheesy bars lining the paths - this Goa is not. Goa (via Bombay for a night on the town!) was my first weekend away from Delhi and it was such a nice change of pace. I went with Pallavi from the office, Heba who I was living with for a wee while and 2 of Pallavi's friends and we had quite the relaxing weekend with a little adventure thrown in. It's low season now so it wasn't packed with tourists, or anyone really. Spent the weekend chilling out on various beaches, tasting the local food. I'm told the sea food is tip top, but as my motto in life is to 'eat nothing that comes from the sea', I cannot confirm nor deny this. But the rest of the food was goooood. Throw in a little bit of jet skiing and boozing and you have yourselves a good time!

So that was the relaxation....where's the adventure I hear you ask?! The adventure began when someone said 'Hey, let's rent scooters!'. Having never driven a scooter before (least of all not in India, where the road rules seem to be: 'there are no rules'), I was somewhat skeptical about this brilliant idea. We got lost numerous times, nearly hit at least 3-4 walls, had to push our scooters up a dirt hill to get out of the forest we found ourselves in and I managed to find myself in a ditch! Admittedly unscathed and unable to contain my hysterical fits of laughter, but still....I was in a ditch, desperately trying to hold the Scooter above my head so it didn't fall in top of me.

All in all, a great way to ease myself into India travel and a must-see for anyone planning some Indian adventures.

The Wonder That Is Boozy Brunch!

I'll keep this post short, it needs not to be full of words. Boozy brunch is simply...amazing. It involves hitting up the 5 star hotels in Delhi (or presumably any city) on a Sunday afternoon for all you can eat continental/Indian food along with free flowing booze. So far for me, the free flowing booze has been Moet and Veuve Clicquot (tasty champagne for those that don't know). 5 star hotels, 5 + course meals (something along the lines of: starter, cheese, main course, cheese, dessert x3) and a bottomless glass of champers....need I say more?!