bye india bye

a little conclusion to the end of step one: india.
we have had some wonderful, tiring, frustrating times and i am going to try and summerise them in a few paragraphs;

what i find so interesting is the customs; what one reads is not necessarily what one sees. i.e: it is written that it is best to wear clothes covering ones stomach, shoulders, knees. however, we see women in saris with the majority of their belly showing and at times, a shoulder...
i have been told that when a man likes a lady, it often takes months before he speaks to her. he may eye contact from his rooftop (that is already a major thing) yet does not speak to her, unless spoken to. physical contact is almost non existant, except perhaps in big cities where couples are seen lazing in the park together under trees. when couples walk in the street, they don't, or perhaps cannot, hold hands. instead, their arms or shoulders touch as they walk alongside eachother. holding hands is only for married folk...
hygiene is a real baffler! there are bare bums everywhere, whether in fields or alongside the roads. one is guarenteed to spot some booty! i won't even start with only eating with the right hand!
these are only a few examples. my list is pretty much endless. another time -

driving is really something; whether or not, there are two or three lanes, buses, cars, bicycles, rickshaws, cows form at least 4-5! it is amazing as they always find a spot, with a little hoot of course, to let their fellow drivers know that they are there. incredible!!

i have learnt to seek the quiet and calm in restaurants where i would not go normally i.e: mcdonalds in chandni choock. it is an escape from the madness, the exotic stenches and constant staring crowds...aircon helps too.

ultimately, india is a country that deserves months (preferably not in summer) of exploration. it has so much to offer and i find that we are leaving here not entirely understanding the workings of india and its people. with that i must just add, that i am rather looking forward visiting another country ---

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Depart ce soir pour Bangkok, a 3h30 du mat. On aurait surement du faire plus attention aux horaires des avions...


En resume, pour moi, l'inde:
- c'est difficile dans le sens ou l'adaptation au pays, au climat, aux coutumes, au regard des gens est lente.
- en plusieurs occasions, il m'est arrive d'arreter de penser afin de ne pas devenir fou ou enerve.
- c'est un pays magnifique par la diversite de ses paysages
- on a eu plusieurs fois la chance de rencontrer des gens qui ont vraiment pris de temps de nous aider, de nous parler de l'inde, de nous faire decouvrir leur traditions et heureusement car de maniere generale les gens sont plutot vraiment lourds et oppressants envers les touristes a un point au dela de l'imaginable.
- l'inde ca reste une experience unique qui pousse a se remettre en question constament, a chaque coin de rue.
- les vaches foutent un bordel pas possible mais c'est la vie.

Dehlicatessen

New friends colony jol

our fabulous hosts...


Lodi gardens, jardin perdu au milieu de Dehli ---Guy le dehli rider


Jama Masjid mosque et ses minarets -----------orange juices fresh off the side of the road


no name (paan) delicacy worth a try, very tasty ---

Indian emperor tomb in Dehli . ---------------Good to taste home made SA-indian pizzas

gardening in Dheli (Guy et Katie) --------------drinks on their terrasse

Apres 2 bonnes journees de repos meritees, a base de grosses siestes, de lecture, de 'tchats' avec Katie, Guy et Carlos, on decide de se motiver de nouveau pour affronter Dehli.
Dehli est vraiment differente de toutes les villes qu'on a pu visiter jusque la. Les rues sont plus propres, il y a pas mal de verdure, les rickshaws sont moins invasifs, le traffic est par contre vraiment sature.

On prend le temps d'arpenter les bazars et de gouter au dehli-cieuses patisseries des boulangeries. Vers la fin de journee, il fait bon retrouver le calme d'une maison et d'echapper au tumulte de la rue.

Faits:

- les patisseries indiennes sont vraiment trop sucrees, cf photo
- c'etait quasi impossible de trouver des samoosas au Rajasthan, j'ai enfin pu en gouter un a Dehli - la glace a la pistache se mange avec des noodles froides ici, mmmmmmmmmmmm

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for me, dehli feels like another country entirely. it is somewhat westernised with the people in western clothes, closed shoes and dining in some really fancy smancy restaurants, even for european standards.
residing with katie and guy has been a real treat, words cannot explain. they almost feel like family; i now know why carlos calls them mom and dad. thanks guys for a fantastic few days -
cuisine is combined with traditional and continental. we have been enjoying both, to the max. having an indian starter, chinese main and a kulfi (pistachio ice cream) desert, topped with glass noodles - odd. i know.
one thing i must say though, rickshaws are the way to go around here. they wind their way in between buses and trucks, past cyclists and dodge wandering cows. pretty damn impressive. almost like a black taxi in south africa.

Dehli ride

Agra - Dehli

depuis le balcon de nos amis

mosquitos battle w our electric tennis racket
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Cette fois ci, on troque le bus pour le train en pensant avoir tout vu. Mais l'Inde est pleine de surprise et c'est, je pense, ce qui la rend si speciale et si unique.
En bref, on debarque a 5h30 am a la station de train d'Agra. les bureaux de reservations sont fermes, on doit donc prendre la seconde classe. Jusque la tout va bien. on rentre dans le train, on chope deux sieges et on se cale pour 4 h de train. 10 min plus tard, deux indiens nous virent car ils ont reserves les sieges et nos tickets sont des tickets debout...je vous laisse imaginer la suite qui pourrait se resumer a:
Comment partager l'intimite de 200 indiens dans 10m3 par 40 degC a lombre ??
Evidement les ventilateurs ne marchent pas, tout le monde sue comme jamais et pour couronner le tout, le petit gamin d'a cote se decide a vomir son petit dej...
4 h de vrai plaisir donc pour finalement arriver chez nos hotes sudaf du wend, cathy et guy. Autant dire que se retrouver dans une maison avec des amis est qq chose d'indescriptible apres 3 semaines de voyages ou j'ai appris a completement reviser mes notions de confort, d'intimite, d'espace vital, de proprete...

Pour finir, une video qui vaut le detour. c'est ici et c'est en provenance direct du kruger park en afrique du sud.

agra - dehli, we decided to change our way of transport from the bus to train. it was a nice change full of new experiences. we arrived at 5am to buy our (super duper cheap) tickets in 2nd class, as unfort 1st class booking only opened at 8 and we had to get out of there. we had heard from our rickshaw driver that there were no pre-booked seats and therefore could sit wherever we pleased. mmm? we did just that, found an averagely comfy window seat, near a small group of americans and left. on the ticket, it was marked "agra - new dehli" so, in out western minds thought that it would be direct. but kind of knew that that was impossible, being in india and all.
after not even 30 minutes into our trip, we were kicked off our seats (due to pre booked passengers) and were forced to stand for the next 3 1/2 hour journey. luckily for me, at one stage i was the only woman standing amoungst a bizarrely large crowd and was ever-so kindly offered a seat - so there were 4 of us on a 3 seater. no complaints!

katie and guy kindly welcomed us in their home in dehli and that is where we are at the moment. it is soooo great to be in a home again, eating home cooked food and just hanging out, the south african way. very, very chilled. i do believe that this is exactly what we needed and have made two more friends, which is even better.
since we have been here, we have seen some fun stuff; rackets that electrocute flies and mossies, a fascinating utube video (see end of seb's post) and well, the trip is not over yet so no doubt, the list will continue.

Taj stories

plusieurs vue du Taj





les jardiniers du Taj a l'ouvrage.
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M= +++, I= ?, V=+++
en direct de Dehli chez Cathy et Guy.
Dernier petit plaisir en bus (12h de bus) pour rejoindre Agra. Comme a chaque fois, on a eu droit a notre petite dose d'embrouille lors du trajet (ca semble etre un classique du pays). Apres 1h de bus, on nous dit qu'on doit changer de bus, on attend donc en bord de route le prochain bus avec les responsables de l'agence qui essaye de nous dire que tout va bien mais qui n'ont pas l'air super rassure...Vers les 10h du soir, ils commencent a plier bagages en nous disant d'attendre, tranquille, quoi. Finalement le bus arrive avec 3 h de retard et tout se passe bien.
On arrive donc completement eclates mais on se motive quand meme pour visiter le taj avant la foule. quelle belle recompense apres ce periple que de decouvrir au milieu de la ville, cet endroit magique et hors du temps. Quel contraste avec l'agitation de la ville et de ses commerces! Le site se compose de petits jardins menant a une premiere porte en gres rouge. Ce n'est que lorsque l'on franchit la porte qu'on se trouve nez a nez soudainement avec le taj. Tout est si propre et si calme. La pelouse est verte et marbre blanc du taj en impose vraiment. Lorsque la foule arrive, on retourne a l'hotel se reposer, pour ne visiter le fort qu'en fin d'apres midi.

La soiree se passe avec Wheat et sa mere, tous deux rencontres lors du trajet en bus. Ils nous racontent leur epopee indienne et leur rencontre avec l'homme a la plus grande moustache. Le soir, on va a l'epicerie du coin chopper une biere (sacrilege...) qu'on se sirote depuis le rooftop restaurant de l'hotel avec vue sur le taj.
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as with almost every bus trip we have had, there is always a little surprise! this time, it was the "short" two hour wait until 10pm, before catching the bus to agra. what a mission. the best thing was the bus organisers (if one can call them that) who kept on saying that the bus would arrive in 10 minutes. at times it did, but the driver wasn't too content to take us. i have NO clue what the story was there---

arriving in agra at 8am was everything the guidebook had said - manic, seriously harrassed by the rickshaw drivers and hot, of course! our hotel was on the dodgy list - something the book had not mentioned.
the taj mahal is really quite spectacular. once you are standing in front of this monstrosity, you can't really believe that this is the real macoy. we strolled around and took photos from every possible angle - what tourists we are - and once the heat started to get unbearable, we sought refuge in the shade in the surrounding garden. it is said that at peak season, there are at least 15 000 visitors - indian and foreign.
what i battle to understand is the tarif though ; 20 rupees for indians, 750 rupees for foreigners with a free bottle of h2o!! unbelievable!! anyway, what can you do>>> unfortunately for us, our fake 500 didn't make it through. we still have a lot to learn!!

then a little visit to the red fort (where the royal family lived) which really was worth a visit. build 100 years before the taj (indeed, i speak the lingo), in the 16 century. an impressive mix of white marble and red brick with chambers that are connected with spiral stairs and courtyards. infact, the builder of the taj lived here and was ultimately imprisoned by his son, in the fort.

so that was the sight seeing experience of agra! dinner was also 'interesting', as seb almost ate a flying ant (either that or a really, really big ant - which is totally possible too) in his sambal soup. mmm. it was replaced with yet another sambal soup but i don't think that was needed.

Pushkar en images.

qq images de pushkar la ville sainte ou la conso d'alcool et de viande est interdite.












je me suis laisse tenter par un petit samoosa en bord de route...jusque la tout va bien










veg burger dans la ville sainte (viande interdite) ----- lac sacre ou les indiens font leur ablutions et leur prieres









--------- notre spot pour le meilleur mango shake du coin

Tchelo

Premier mauvais plan: le fameux bus deluxe etait bien un super deluxe c'est a dire comme les autres mais un peu plus propre par contre, au lieux de nous laisser a pushkar comme prev, il nous laisse a Ajmer (30 kms de Pushkar) a 4h du mat. Sympa. Ne sachant trop que faire, on finit par suivre un rickshaw qui nous emmene dans son hotel plus que miteux a un prix exorbitant. Il est 4h du mat, l'endroit craind un peu, y personne a part les 5 gars un peu chelou = on accepte donc mais autant dire que des 9h du mat, on etait barres...

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M = ++ / I = + / V = ++
Un nouveau post en direct de Pushkar.
'Tchelo' c'est on y va en hindou, et je trouve que ca passe bien.
A pushkar, il fait bon se promener dans les ruelles car les marchands ne sont pas oppressants, chacun fait sa vie et c'est bien comme ca.
Ce matin, apres une bonne nuit de sommeil ( ce qui est rare car soit on est dans un bus, soit y a un bordel pas possible toute la nuit), on va se promener autour du lac sacre. Les habitants viennent y faire leur ablutions et se poser un peu. les pretres insistent un peu trop pour nous vendre leur bouquet de fleur porte chance a 20 euros je trouve donc on decide d'aller se prendre un bon mango juice chez le fruitier du coin. ensuite, on se motive pour monter au petit temple au sommet de la colline. il fait super chaud mais c'est sympa de s'eloigner un peu de la ville. quel recompense en arrivant car la vue sur la ville entouree de montagnes est superbe et il y a une petite brise bien sympatique. Le moine en charge a mis la sono qui nous delivre un bon son ambiance indy loundge. bref, on apprecie bien de rester tranquille la haut.


pour l'itineraire c'est ici que ca se passe.


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Continuing from where I left off…we were on the bus from Jaisalmer to Pushkar, right? Well, in fact the bus route changed and our final destination changed from Pushkar to Ajmer (10 kms away) over night. Let’s just say that, that is not as very nice surprise especially when arriving at 4am to a scary, crazy bicycle rickshaw driver!! I am glad to say that luck was on our side (perhaps thanks to all those pigeon poos?!) and we made it to Pushkar, after spending about 4 hours in the dodgiest, and not the cheapest, of hotels.

I have noticed these last few weeks that the government bus drivers speak better English, or rather – they speak English, whereas the privately owned, and so called ‘deluxe’, bus companies hardly speak a word. I know that it is not their mother tongue (only 5% speak English = 50 million people) but still it would be nice, especially when being dropped off in the wrong town!!

So, Pushkar is home for the moment – then Agra – then Dehli. It is a quaint town where the people are a combination of friendly and snooty. Why? Well, I think it could be due to the fact that Pushkar is a holy city. There is a holy lake, where the people to their ablutions, pray etc. It is so holy that people have to pay a tax to enter the town, we didn’t so I guess that is only in peak season?!

We have discovered some really wonderful places i.e. restaurants (you know me and my food fetish) which provide delicious ice cold mango juices that are so thick one almost needs a spoon mmmmmmm, and watermelon juice and mint nans. Bliss! The food is not too kak either ;)

So this is Pushkar, a really mellow place where the only people who are stressed are the hooting motorbike riders. Gotta love them!

Neck resting object : help needed

find out the 5 different positions for travelling thanks to our wonderful inflatable 'neck rester' from Lorien...
10 000 Roupies for the person who finds the correct position