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The adventures of Dani and Dave!
Namaste everyone!
We are now in laidback Leh in the very north of India set in the himalayas. It is breathtaking - which I mean in both ways. It is totally beautiful but also a bit giddy at 3500m above sea level. We may be experiencing a bit of altitude sickness (or maybe just a hangover?)
Anyway our first week here has been a whirlwind. We flew into Delhi last Tuesday morning and it took days to get used to the hayhem, grime, poverty, begging etc etc. Bit of a dump really. But we took in all the sites of the temples, ancient sites and mausoleums. We then booked ourselves a 5 day tour known as the Golden Triangle which takes in Agra for the Taj Mahal, Jaipur and then back to Delhi, but we added this beautiful little hippy village of Pushkar in as well. We hired a car and driver (its just so cheap so why not??) and pretty much crammed as many sites in as we could. Obviously we were keen to check out the famous Taj Mahal as it was one of the main reasons we came to India - and it was just as amazing as we expected! When we came in through the front gate I nearly cried. The gardens, the ponds, the mausoleum itself is a speculatar tribute built in the name of love by the emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his second wife when she died.
Then we drove on over to Jaipur, but not without out car breaking down in the middle of NOWHERE and the local children wandering on out to stand around us and stare. Its like we are celebrities everywhere we go here. Everyone wants a closer look at us, and to have their pictures taken with us. Generally their English spans no further than "hello" so conversation is a bit boring after 10 seconds or so. Pretty strange. Anyway as our driver was about to leave us in search of a replacement car we jumped on a passing bus heading in the direction we needed. The buses here are revolting to say the least but it got us to where we had our hotel booked without to much hassle. Jaipur is the best place ever to shop for precious gems, silver, gold, silk textiles etc. And yes we bought it all!! Presents for a lucky few back home (Mum's you'll love it!) and some pretty gorgeous jewellery and embroidered silk bedlinen for us too. Don't worry it was all cheap for what it was so we are really saving ourselves money when you think about it.
Then we went on to Pushkar which we loved. It is a small village in the middle of Rajastan, all lush and very rural. It is a holy city apparently, where Priests congregate at the central lake in the evenings to bless you and your family (for a nice fee). But missed all the hoollalla because we were on camel back, striding across a mini dessert. Wicked. We are still in pain though, as 3 hours on the back of a camel can really bruise your bum. Dave's got some photos which we will download maybe later tonight as they won't let us do it in this internet place before 10pm. I totally tried to look the part of the Punjabi princess in my lovely sari but actually looked pretty ridiculous when I checked out the photos. Especially the shot Dave took of me behind trying to mount the damn camel. Cheers babe.
Anyway, we are now chilling here in Leh. The flight here was so odd. Delhi's domestic airport is stupidly unorganised and just rubbish. I hope we don't have to go there again. The India Air flight also confused us when it touched down in this airport high in the mountains and there appeared to be a bit of a delay in the stairs arriving to let us out so we snoozed in our seats for a while, then realised it was getting a bit too long and most people still were sitting calmly in their seats. Dave and I start to get a bit impatient to get off, but within a few minutes the stewardesses pull out there safety demonstration equipment and off they go again! We were totally confused and thought we'd slept through the getting off the plane part and the journey was heading back to Delhi! Turns out it was a cheeky stopover which they failed to tell us about so we made it here shortly after.
Will write more when I have the energy.
Lots of love
Dani
xxx
Namaste ALL!
We've had a fantastic trip so far. Firstly we arrived in Delhi which was complete Pandemonium! Just exiting the airport was a pretty accurate taste of things to come with the hassle from the taxi and rickshaw guys who get handsome commissions for taking you to certain hotels, luckily we had our man waiting for us!
Cows standing in the middle of the motorway, the shacks on the side of the roads all the way into Delhi were another taster..
The hotel was ok in the Karol Bagh area of Delhi which houses one of Indias largest bazaars, Dani bought 2 Saris which were dirt cheap as we have now mastered the art of haggling in India. We took 2 days to visit various places of interest which you will see when we add the photos which were quite fascinating really.
Delhi is rip off central though, everyone wants your money! No one is genuine at all! They see any westerners and the come after you! Woman with babies, lepars and when you pull up to traffic lights they come over to you and beg which at first was gut wrenchingly upsetting but after a few hours its bloody annoying and some of them are well cheeky! I went for a bottle of water in the morning and i'm not a great morning person, i felt a tap on my back and sure enough some dude was suggesting i give him money! I'd really had enough by then and had a word..
We booked our Golden Triangle trip which was pretty amazing! Agra is where the Taj Mahal is and the Taj lived up to all expectations, absolutely breathtaking! Agra itself was similar to Delhi in that it had loads of homeless people and beggars and annoying people trying to sell you total junk! We went to a pretty decent marble workshop where Dani has ordered a white marble elephant, the skills of these guys are amazing and they make various other things and its so cheap considering it takes them weeks to make one item. Lots of orders going out to the UK aswell.
Next to Jaipur which I really liked, we broke down on the way as Dani explained above but the place was buzzing! Loads of bazaars and you can get some real bargains! I bought a nice silver band for about 5 quid from this hidden away jewellers! They have a factory area too so we headed there where i bought another ring from a family run jewellery factory where we were actually watching these poor Indian people out back with basic tools making jewellery, its abit of a shame as they will get paid a pittance! Lots of this Jewellery gets shipped out to western countries. We also bought some lovely bed spreads as Dani explained above, some Aussie guy has set up a factory and is exploiting the locals although he was a pretty nice guy! Surprisingly (for an aussie) he was wasted at about 11am, stoned or drunk.. :)
Next we headed to the holy city of Pushkar where they have lots of lovely temples and a holy lake where Gandhi's ashes are scattered! One problem is you can't drink alcohol here! :( You can't have meat or eggs or show signs of affection in public which was very hard for Dani as she is all over me like a rash usually.. :) Men can hold hands though so i was missing my good friend Mike for this one! Maybe next year mate? :).. Absolutely loved it here though, very chilled atmosphere! We hired Camels for the day also which was loads of fun but i still can't sit down for very long! Was hilarious, we encountered some strange things like a hut in the middle of the desert housing a whole family so we stopped there and drank Chai and smoked Indian cigarettes, a nice experience but so random! They were just staring at us as they couldn't speak any English! The staring is something we are used to as we get it everywhere, everyone wants to talk to us and even have Photos with us! The funniest was Dani at the Taj Mahal, people were more interested in photos with Dani than the Taj itself..
Then back to Delhi last night and up early for a flight to Leh which is stunning! A village set in the Himilayan mountains! I'm suffering with the altitude abit and the fact we had a big drinking session in Delhi last night hasn't helped! we are 3500 meters above sea level.. Going to book some white water rafting and a trek to sea snow leopards!
Miss you all loads but we are fine and having the best time of our lives at the moment!
Love and hugs to all!
Dave XXX
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