Part 1 - The Adventure Begins

Pat & I have just returned from a two-week land trip in India, including visits to Delhi, Udaipur, Delwara, Jodhpur, Jaipur, and Agra. Thus, our Indian experience was focused on Rajasthan, anchored on one end by Delhi and the other by Agra.

This first dispatch was written about halfway though our adventure in India but could not be sent out because of problems with our webmail server. Now that we are home, I can post it on LCT, to be followed soon by other parts of the saga.

Written at our hotel in Jodhpur on Feb. 6, or some date close to that (after all, as Lady Violet wonderfully stated in “Downton Abbey”, “What is a ‘week-end’?” Similarly, when one is on holiday, “What does it matter what the date is?”):

We are enjoying the country even more than we had anticipated. In nearly every respect, it has exceeded our expectations. Lordie, I sound like one of the cursed evaluation forms that we have been asked to fill out every day for everything from the airline to the baggage service to the hotels to the guides to the little kid on the street who offered to shine my shoes for 50 rupees (about a dollar US). If I never see another evaluation/feedback form, I will die a happy man.

The trip over was uneventful, although long (almost exactly 30 hours from airport departure in Seattle to airport arrival into Delhi). We arrived at our hotel in Delhi at about 2:00 am. Yikes!! Serious jetlag, anyone??!! Unlike many others who have reported on their visits to India, we did not have any delays whatever at Passport Control or Customs. In fact, we sailed through both in amazing speed. (It helps a great deal, of course, that they have special lines for First/Biz Class. Thank heaven for FF miles.)

Our touring in Delhi was good. It is really not more than a two-day city (IMNSHO). Even in the Old City, we did not experience anything like "real India" or any of the "assaults on the senses" for which we'd been prepared. In fact, we have not experienced any such assaults at all on the trip, to our great delight. Maybe one has to go to the slums of Mumbai to get a genuine assault on the senses. Or perhaps our senses are sufficiently addled that they are less subject to assault than those of more tender folks.

Udaipur was quite lovely. The Oberoi Udaivilas was, if anything, even more amazing than one would have anticipated from their website. Due to having made a note of some good advice on TripAdvisor, I asked upon our arrival for a particular room (in fact, any one of four particular rooms in our category of "premiere lake view room with semi-private pool"). The room (from the bedroom, bathroom, and shower) offered a fabulous view directly across the lake to the Lake Palace Hotel and the old city, including the City Palace. Just for jollies, I took a dip (very short, about five minutes, as the water was quite chilly) in the "semi-private pool", which is a sort of swimming moat in front of those rooms. After all, how can one have the privilege of having a “semi-private pool” overlooking Lake Pichola and not take a swim?? Foregoing such a dip in the moat would seem to violate every basic principle of Frommerism and Fodorism, right? (The attached photos show our little moat.)

While we were staying at Devi Garh, the converted hilltop fort-palace, we took a tour of the little village below the hotel, Delwara, and had the great good luck to be there when the procession of the groom at a local wedding took place. He was astride a beautifully-decorated horse, preceded by a little local band, and followed by a hundred or so relatives, all dressed in their absolutely finest dress, which for the ladies meant splendid saris and jewelry, even in this small village. To see these fantastic costumes on a dirt street shared with cows, pigs, and horses was a wonderful bit of serendipity, for which we are most thankful. Now, that was indeed a bit of "real India". (Attached are photos of Devi Garh and some of the lovely ladies in the groom’s procession.)

Our guide in Delwara, who handles the treks into the hills for our hotel, was also fairly clearly the local ganja dealer, as he mentioned at least six times over the course of our little 1-hour tour how easy it was to score dope in the village and how common it was to smoke it in the village and how it was no problem since the police didn't care about such a small village, etc. It became a bit hilarious - he was so stoned himself that he likely didn't remember mentioning it previously several times. Further, he must have assumed that one of us appeared to be a prospective customer (Pat does look like a toker, no??). Despite his moderately impaired state, Stoner Boy gave us a marvelous tour of the village, although we did indeed decline his kind invitation to join him for a drink (and toke) at the local pub (a couple of plastic chairs sitting on the dirt street, next to an open sewer ditch).

We are now in Jodhpur, at a very unusual little hotel, the Raas Haveli, inside the walled Old City. We have a mosque next door, which broadcasts its calls to prayer five times per day, and loads of small hotels (mostly backpacker type joints, unlike our fairly luxe hotel) around. About two minutes walk away is one of the best markets we've visited anywhere, a true people's market, with nothing remotely touristy. Cows wandering about, horse carts waiting for customers, tuk-tuks everywhere, people dressed in everything from magnificent saris to mini-skirts to the most basic poor farm clothes. Absolutely marvelous!

Tomorrow, it's on to Jaipur. India – Part 2 will be an ironic message regarding Indian cuisine. Stay tuned...

Part 2 - A Cautionary Culinary Tale

This is the very sad continuation of my earlier post, as it deals with a tragic turn of events in our little culinary adventure here in India. Prepare to be shocked, saddened, and generally appalled by the most exotic terribleness of it all...

As many of you well know, we (mostly I, since Pat can pretty much take or leave, preferably leave, Indian food) were greatly looking forward to wallowing in the Indian cuisine experience for our couple of weeks here. I was so bold as to scoff at the conduct of many people, including Ngaire, who seek out hotels with "International" menu selections, in order to avoid Indian food altogether.

On our first evening in Delhi, we had a marvelous dinner at the Indian joint in our hotel, delighting in fantastic baby lamb shanks in curry sauce, along with a wonderful black lentil dal cooked overnight.

Then, the long-awaited private cooking class. Well, to begin with, it was not, despite my repeated instructions to the jerk F&B Mgr. at the hotel, a "hands on" class. Rather, it turned out to be a demonstration class, although a very interesting, close-up one, with Pat & me right next to the Indian Chef for the hotel, as he made five classic Rajasthani main dishes. All of them were made with extremely bold and intense flavors and spices, far more than we are used to in our Indian restaurants in the U.S. or in the U.K.

We were then served the five dishes at a lovely table in the restaurant, but without any accompanying starches or cooling items, such as raitas. Pat had the good sense (or the dumb luck, which often amounts to the same thing) to only take a small taste of the dishes, as he found all of them except for one far too spicy to eat. On the other hand, your intrepid writer of this message soldiered on quite
stupidly and ate a good half-portion or so of each of the five explosive dishes.

Fast forward to about 8 hours later, at about 3:00 am, when I awoke feeling as if David Beckham had just kicked me in the stomach with the most powerful kick he could manage from those very muscular, tattooed , and attractive legs of his. Hmm, I digress...

With the worst stomach pain I have ever experienced, I wondered if the best course of action would be simply to toss myself off of the rooftop bar of the hotel into the tea garden and thereby end my Indian spice-induced agony. The next day, all I ate for the whole day was one banana. Even the remotest aroma of Indian spices flipped my stomach dramatically.

In any event, I slowly recovered from the dreadful “Assault of the Rajasthani Spices” but remained reluctant to taste anything like them for several days. Therefore, totally contrary to my gluttonous nature and certainly contrary to my intentions, we were seeking out the “International” selections on every menu and avoiding all but the most mild of Indian dishes.

Is this not a dreadful and shocking turn of events??!!

I firmly hoped that when I next communicated with you that I would have better news and would be able to report that I was back in the Rajasthani saddle, indulging in curries, thalis, etc. Fortunately, later in the trip we were once again able to enjoy marvelous Indian specialties, although carefully chosen for mild spice. You must understand that what we in the U.S. or U.K, (and everywhere other than India that we have eaten Indian food), consider “medium spice” is in India something quite lower than any of the normal Indian measures of spiciness. Rather, in India (or at least in the Delhi and Rajasthan parts of India that we visited), the notion of “medium spice” is something quite wildly incendiary by our standards. God, or Lord Krishna, only knows how ghastly “high spice” must be!! Hmm, instant ulcer??!!

Oh well, Ngaire was quite content to learn (after I decided to swallow my pride and tell her) that the International Menus at the luxury hotels offer a quite reasonable choice (although quite hideously expensive).

We discovered that one of the most expensive elements of eating at the restaurants of the luxury hotels was the cost of wine. India has a relatively new wine industry, with few labels available. None of them is really cheap or really expensive (as they should not be, as they aren’t really very good), all selling for about US $14 – 17 retail. However, when the hotel restaurants sell those Indian wines for 3 -4 times retail, as all of them do, that results in a very ordinary wine selling for US $40 – 60 per bottle. Imported wines are even more expensive. Thus, nearly every dinner or lunch with wine, irrespective of quality, was in the US$100 – 200 range. We decided that it was simply part of the whole experience and did not belabor it.

We asked the chefs at a couple of hotels for their recipes, particularly for the marvelous black lentil dal and the cinnamon ice cream at Taj Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur.

Our final indulgence in Indian food and drink was at the Biz lounge at the Delhi airport, where we sipped Indian scotch (distilled in Scotland and bottled in India) and nibbled on cumin/cinnamon cookies. Yumm, Yumm…

Part 3 - Traffic in India (not for the fainthearted)

To tuk, or not to tuk, that is the question:
Whether ‘tis Nobler on the butt to suffer
The Smog and Honks of outrageous Traffic,
Or to take Limos against a Sea of troublesome Vehicles,
And by opposing them: to Survive, to have the Occasion
To sleep once more (at one’s exorbitantly dear hotel).
Ah, ‘tis a Survival from Traffic devoutly to be wished.
For in that sleep, what dreams may come, of cows, and oxen,
And camels, and trucks, and carts of every sort, all shuffling
Through that mortal coil of one narrow roadway.
There’s the respect that makes Calamity and Chaos
Of so long life on Indian roads.

(With profound apologies to W. Shakespeare)


Ah, my friends, traffic in India, what a subject! Indeed, we do not think that we suffered anything like the worst available, as that seems to be the special feature of Mumbai. Nonetheless, we did certainly get a serious taste of the wild side of Indian travel by road.

In fact, we only rode in a tuk-tuk (called “auto-rickshaw” in India) once, and that was on a relatively un-crowded road leading up to a fortress near Agra. We did not use tuk-tuks in any large city, as we either walked where we wanted to go or had the use of our private car & driver. Frankly, we would not have felt particularly comfortable using tuk-tuks is busy cities, as they competed with every other sort of vehicle at extremely close quarters (literally, inches) for space on the roads.

As we traveled for many hours through Rajasthan and the neighboring states, we experienced the amazing traffic of India. At any moment, there would be trucks, buses, cars, motor scooters, oxcarts, horse carts, camel carts, bicycle carts, tuk tuks, wandering cows, wandering dogs, wandering goats, and wandering children, all sharing the same narrow roadway.

As we had the good fortune to have a superb driver, Ashok, we in fact enjoyed all of the road travel enormously, and never felt at the slightest risk.

Indeed, the least interesting road trip we had was the one from Agra to Delhi, most of which was on a limited access freeway. Simply, boring, as there were none of the usual crazy but delightful aspects of road travel in India.

As for other travel in India, we had the pleasure of one train trip (from Agra to Gwalior) to experience a “luxury” train. In fact, it was both comfortable and fast. We were happy, however, that we were not on the “local” train to Gwalior, which appeared to be not only quite grubby but also remarkably jammed with passengers.

All things considered, India just ain’t a place to go as a backpacker, as far as we are concerned.

(The photo attached is of a typically overloaded tuk-tuk on an atypically uncrowded street.)

Part 4 - The Grand Finale - The Taj!!

After a couple of days in the wonderfully atmospheric (and relatively non-touristy) city of Jodhpur, we set off for Jaipur, which is the capital of the state of Rajasthan. The five-hour drive was once again a mix of every sort of vehicle and many sorts of animals sharing the dreasdfully rutted “highway”. And, once again, our intrepid and expert driver, Ashok, brought us through the journey in great spirits. We even had the opportunity for a lunch stop at a “deluxe” roadside resort, where we decided that a beer and a toasted cheese sandwich were pretty much the safest items available. We gently declined the tossed salad offered by the waiter and bought chocolates from Germany instead. That may become my new approach to salads in general, both in India and everywhere else.

Our stay in Jaipur, the “Pink City”, was most pleasant, and included a ride up to the Amber Fort on a beautifully painted elephant. I loved the elephant ride; but Pat declared that, having ridden elephants in Thailand, S. Africa, and now India, his days as a pachyderm passenger were officially over. (He doesn’t even want to watch the movie, “Dumbo does Delhi”. Sad, no??)

Whilst in Jaipur, we stayed at a 300-year old palace converted into a hotel. The bathrooms, fortunately, had been upgraded since the original incarnation of the palace; and the lovely porcelain chamber pots were merely for decoration, not for guest use. A particular treat during our stay was the staging of a game of Elephant Polo on one of the beautiful grand lawns of the hotel. It was great fun watching the six huge critters lumbering about as their mahouts tried to position them properly for the players to get a shot with the long polo mallets. Hmm, it was sort of like watching a group of Wal*Mart customers circling around a sale table (although, on reflection, the elephants were, as a group, both better dressed and more svelte than most W*M customers).

Then, it was on to Agra.

And, finally, friends & neighbors, ladies & gentlemen, and kiddies of all ages, the absolute highlight of our trip and the gem of India – the Taj Mahal in Agra. Ta Da!!

As you may know, we based this trip upon the visit to Agra and expanded it from there. We chose to end the journey with our several days in Agra, in order to save the most important site and sight for last. We are entirely pleased that we did so and would not in retrospect have changed the schedule in any respect. (Wow, that’s a bit of a respectful mouthful, ain’t it though??)

Agra as a city is not really much of an attraction, unless one has a special fondness for endless low-end tourist hotels, tacky souvenir shops, and fairly aggressive touts. Nonetheless, in addition to the Taj Mahal, the city has several quite excellent sites to visit, including the Agra Fort and the lovely little mausoleum, the Itmad-ud-daulah, often called the “Baby Taj”, even though it does not look anything like the Taj Mahal and was built 30 years earlier than the Taj.


Of course, the principal attraction of the city (and of India) is the remarkably lovely Taj Mahal, which is quite simply one of the most sublime architectural creations in the world. It is a genuinely magical place, even when mobbed by thousands of tourists (overwhelmingly Indian), as it was on our first day there, a Sunday.

We made the enormous mistake of going inside the monument on that busy Sunday, to find ourselves in a horrible crush of people. It helped a bit when I began swinging my big SLR camera like the device used in the Olympic hammer throw. That gave us the space to escape the huddled masses and get back outside. Although I can’t be certain, I doubt that any of those phrases in Hindi that were shouted at me by the members of the mob struck by my wildly swinging camera were, “Bless you, my son.” or “Have a nice day!” Lordie, there’s not much to see inside in any event. The beauty of the monument is viewed from the exterior, with or without a swinging hammer camera.

One of the luxuries of our having made the decision to encamp in Agra for several days was that we could return to the Taj Mahal at our leisure on subsequent days. Indeed, our visit on Monday was quite delightful, with few other tourists. Further, it was most splendid to be able to see the Taj Mahal from our room at the hotel, Oberoi Amarvilas. (The attached photo with the trees in the foreground was taken from our balcony.) We positively wallowed in the stupendous views of the Taj from the hotel, whether while eating lunch on our balcony or having a glass of wine there, sipping a whiskey in the gorgeous hotel bar, or relaxing in the lounge during afternoon tea.

Frankly, there is only one proper place to stay in Agra; and that is the Amarvilas. It was a serious splurge but, like many splurges, was worth every rupee. The views of the Taj from our room were, to echo the MasterCard commercials, “priceless”!

And then it was an easy five hour drive back to Delhi, to spend a few hours in a lovely hotel nearby to the airport, before boarding the first of our three flights back to Seattle.

We are now more or less recovered from jet lag (as we get older, the recovery time extends dramatically, we find). The two sweet pooches have forgiven us for leaving them (fortunately, they adored our housesitter, Pat’s sister from Alabama).

We are still processing the sensations and images of India and likely will be doing so for a long while. In summary, the journey was superb and ranks easily within the top 5 of the trips we have taken during our long, long, long, long time together (okay, okay, it just seems longer now that we are home and have no exotic distractions).

With fond thoughts of the Taj Mahal at sunset, the glorious spectacle of a hundred women in their best saris in a tiny village, the exquisite flavor of black lentils cooked overnight and served with cream, and the smiles of school kids in the village of Delwara, I close this little journal.

Cheers, Fred

Very nice travelogue, Fred and beautiful pix!

Fred, I love the way you write your travel story. I feel like I am there with you and your pictures are beautiful.

Thoroughly enjoyed your post! Thanks!

We will be visiting the Taj in April with a Regent pre-cruise package.

Sounds like you had a great time (except for the spice attack). Thanks for all the great infomation --India is definitely an interesting place.

Priceless! Bravo! So GLAD you did it, Freddie & Pat!

.... (Don & I would have been right there with you chowing down those 5 explosive dishes!.....ugh :)

Thanks, Fred!
Our trip to India is fast approaching. Your & Pat's experiences were much appreciated!
Can't wait..but will be careful with the food!

Doug

Thanks for posting that Fred as always no matter the subject you always give everyone an interesting account of your experiences.

I am glad you enjoyed India and my favorite picture is the one of all the colorful ladies. For me India is all about COLOR and it is spectacular, from the clothing, to the buses, to the decorated elephants. India is a unique destination and there is no other place quite like it.

It is however very expensive and you just have to go first class. Plus if you are a "fussy" eater like me as you say be prepared for the prices of food. Although our last trip to New Zealand and Australia I did have sticker shock at the price of food. It has been probably eight years since I did my 19 day tour of India and I cannot remember the food prices as that high back then so I bet they have gone up significantly.

We are looking forward to returning.

Fred:

Nicely done, as always. Brings back such strong memories of our visit during the 2008 WC. The Taj just blew our mind!

Cheers! Ray & Penny

I love your style, Fred! The no-sense assault has gotten me interested in an India trip. Heretofore I have stayed away and resisted all efforts by others to convince me that I would like to go to India primarily because I believed it to be a quite dirty, crowded and smelly place. I can, and often do, do dirty and crowded but smelly? Not so much. Not an issue on your trip?
----------------------
Helen

Helen knowing you I bet you would like India! I really think you would be surprised.

The key is to stay in the best hotels you can and OBEROI's are the best. Eat only in hotels or fine restaurants. (see Fred was right I worry about people getting sick all the time) Some of the best Italian food I have ever had was at the Oberoi in Delhi.

Helen, the "dirty" part was trash and dirt everywhere in many places and people who have limited bathing capacity. But we only saw this from a distance. We were never part of it. On this itinerary we only encountered "crowds" once. That was at the Taj the first time we visited. It was Sunday afternoon. We returned the next afternoon and there were no crowds. And we never encountered smelly. NEVER. We didn't experience what I would call a "slum." Poverty, of course, evident everywhere. (We had an extensive tour of a poor village, Delwara, but the experience was thrilling, one of the best of our two weeks in India, anything but depressing.) We were essentially free of the awful stereotypes that are associated with India. The reason: we purchased a high end personal travel package--car and excellent driver, private personal guides at each location, and over the top beautiful hotels at each location as a refuge.

Thanks Pat (and Ngaire) I am going to put India back on the list of must-dos! Probably should not use the Amazing Race as my filter ;-0
------------------
Helen

Loved your trip report, Freddie! I would have been eating the gut exploding dishes as well, while George would have been avoiding them as he does not particularly care for Indian food. But served with no naan or rice seems weird, and as it turns out dangerous!
George has informed me that he will NOT be going to India unless it is on a cruise ship where he will not get off. That would be ok, except I really do want to see the Taj Mahal. Maybe I can convince one of the boys to go along someday.

We would have been right in there eating with you too, Fred. Especially Brad who often takes on a personal challenge of eating the most unusual foods. We will be more circumspect and heed your warnings!

so wonderfully lyrical. thank you.

Thanks for the wonderful trip report. I do so hope to go to India one day. Great reading!

great report. It really makes me want to follow in your footsteps.