Spring break at Indus happened to coincide with the Karnataka New Year holiday so the boys ended up with a week and a half vacation this month. We decided to finally begin trekking around India and seeing some of the sights outside of Bangalore. I haven't traveled much of India outside of Bangalore but what little I have done has proven to me that Bangalore is quite possibly the worst city in India. Once outside of Bangalore the roads are better taken care of and the city make up seems to be better planned (not that anything in India is really planned, but the cities seem to be thrown together with better care in other places.)
India has a lot of character and charm, in its own way. Bangalore has none. There are very few pretty buildings, old structures, or green areas. But outside of Bangalore there are wide roads, historic buildings that have interesting stories and even some open, green spaces that are mostly free of garbage.
Of course, India as a whole shares many commonalities inside and out of Bangalore - people are rude in groups…everyone cuts in line as a rule, not an exception. There is no reason or logic applied to any decision. Rules/expectations change without notice and if you aren't aware of the changes you will be yelled at. (as an example, a group of us walking out of the airport in a throng of people had one of the main doors closed in front of us by a police officer. No reason to close the door, all other adjoining doors remained open, but we needed to then swerve into a group of people unwilling to concede any space to allow us through.) Every building has security at some level and men and women must go through different security lines (because it would just be scandalous if a woman had a security wand passed near her body while others could see!) And, just like every sports stadium in the US, the women's line is significantly longer than the men's line even though the process is exactly the same. Aside from the rude groupings of people who have no concept of personal space or organizational common sense, the most common pain in the a$$ in India is bad drivers. I have now spent several days in cars with different drivers and they are all equally bad. Driving too close to the cars around them, passing without space to do so, ignoring people and animals in the road, honking for no reason at all, speeding up only to stomp on breaks at the last minute just to get to the next speed "hump" 2 seconds faster, and my personal favorite…leaving the car in a higher gear for too long EVERY SINGLE TIME they need to shift resulting in the car heaving and jumping and nearing a stalled state. As you can imagine, I am a bit frustrated from my recent travels!
But, in between the craziness and annoyance and general frustration of day to day life in India, there are some amazing things to see and do. We started our vacation by flying to Delhi and visiting some of the sights. The major government buildings are located in Delhi as is the Gandhi museum. It was interesting to view the Gandhi museum because of its simplicity. The rooms remain the same as when Gandhi lived there, the displays are mostly simple black and white photos with descriptions along with some doll house style depictions of major events over the course of his life.
But what really amazed me the most about the museum was the lack of commerciality. In general, India is about as opposite of disney world as a place can be. The scenery is genuine without being over the top and perfectly faked. There are no buying opportunities with overpriced, plastic momentos that will break before they even get home. As we left the museum there were two street vendors trying to get us to buy books and small gadgets for the overwhelming cost of about 50 cents. That was it. everywhere! At the India Gate monument Kyle did buy a pair of sunglasses (Official Raybans, I'm sure!) for the excessive cost of $3. Typically Kyle tries not to buy from the few street vendors around because it brings unwanted attention, but he had forgotten his sunglasses and what is a guy to do in the hot India sun?
After our sightseeing adventure, we decided to spend some time at the hotel. Interesting travel tip for families in Asia (and most of Europe too) it is extremely difficult to get a room for a family of 4. We either purchase two adjoining rooms or a suite. In Delhi we chose a suite and to our surprise upon arrival we ended up in the presidential suite. This room was huge - bigger than our first apartment. Two bedrooms with sitting areas and patios, two and a half bathrooms, a kitchen area, dining table that could seat about 12, living area and office room - all with their own patios. It was ridiculous! Mike was thrilled to have a hallway where he could play soccer. We left that wonderful hotel to travel a few hours via car to Agra. Agra essentially has the Taj Mahal, Agra fort and nothing else but poverty.
After consulting with our friends who have been we were told that the Oberoi is ridiculously expensive but the place to stay because of the views. The views did not disappoint. But we were in a suite that cost us more than the monthly rent of that first apartment I mentioned above. And, the suite only slept three people so we still ended up with a kid in our bed. But it was only one night and the visit to the Taj was incredible. It is nearly impossible to get a bad photo of the Taj. There is nothing around it to interfere with the view. We visited a field behind the Taj compound at sunset and then, the following morning, we went into the Taj itself just after sunrise. Even the kids were impressed with all of the detail and the optical illusions. The planning alone was impressive, but to think that the building was created hundreds of years ago by the hands of thousands of men makes it even more impressive.
Again, I was shocked by the lack of commercialization. It is impossible to get through an exhibit of any size in the US without being forced through a shop. But here there wasn't even an opportunity to buy anything. There were some children hanging around outside selling gadgets and postcards and small things. I try to buy from the kids because I know they probably aren't going to get dinner if they don't sell enough. And, they are usually the sweetest kids. We got some Taj Mahal snow globes because I'm sure the Taj looks amazing in the snow :)
After leaving the Taj we packed up our things and made the 5 hour trek to Jaipur. Along the way we encountered a lot of street/people traffic. Thousands of people were walking - walk-a-thon style - through the streets on a pilgrimage to a temple that was 200km away. They planned to make this trek, on foot, over the course of two days. There and back! There were people of all ages, in all sorts of footwear (or no footwear), carrying bags on their heads walking in an unorganized procession. There were stands along the side of the road providing food and water and very LOUD music to encourage the pilgrims. It was a sight to see.
Eventually our route diverged from the pilgrims as we were again on our way to Jaipur. Our "luxury" hotel experience started going downhill upon arrival at our next hotel. The Trident is an efficient hotel that cost us very little for two rooms over two nights. But after the luxury of the first two hotels we were feeling a bit like spoiled brats for complaining amongst ourselves that the air conditioning didn't get quite cold enough and the rooms were a bit small. We seriously are going to need a travel adjustment when we get home so the kids (and I) remember that we are not 1%ers back in a first world country. But the staff at the Trident was amazing and they took care of us and the kids and we enjoyed the time we spent in the pool and visiting the Amber fort. We travelled to the fort via elephant. I never need to ride an elephant again - they are scary. Beautiful and intelligent, but scary. I've seen an elephant charge in the wild so I was not too keen on riding one in a crowd, but everyone does it and I was assured that elephants are well cared for and "love their work." Don't believe it for a second. They did not look happy. They had men poking them with sticks on top of their heads to keep them moving forward, up a steep hill with humans on a basket on their backs. It was scary because the seat on top of the elephant was much higher than the height of the wall on the side of the steep incline so it felt like we could topple down a steep slope at any moment. and the elephant I was on kept veering to the wall (I think he had an itch that needed scratching and the wall was the most convenient spot). I was terrified and feeling awful all at the same time. Those poor elephants! But, we disembarked the animals and after 20 minutes or so I stopped shaking enough to enjoy the Amber Fort. It was amazing to see how royalty lived so long ago.
I won't go into too much detail because I don't remember most of it but even the kids were pretty impressed with the fort and the turkish bathing areas and mostly the ramps that were used to push the women in wheelchairs because they couldn't possibly be strong and capable enough to walk up stairs to the upper areas of the fort.
On the way out of the fort we stopped to watch a pair of snake charmers charming a cobra. Being the daring sort I walked well out of the way to get behind the charmers and have a picture taken. Cobras are not fun animals and this one hissed and lunged at anyone who moved near to it, but it was fun to watch from a safe distance.
The final stop on our trip to Jaipur was to an astrological park called Jantar Mantar. It is a collection of astrological instruments including a large sundial and all sorts of other instruments that could be used to tell time and astrological readings. And Jaipur was the end of the cultural sight-seeing portion of our trip.
On to the final stop of our vacation which was a 4 day holiday with friends in Goa. And the hotel trend continued its down luxury slope with our accommodations for the weekend in our hut.
But the Simrose Beach Side hut accommodation was the favorite of our trip! These hut accommodations get built in the Fall and come down in April. They are temporary housing structures to take advantage of the 6 months of amazing weather and laid back atmosphere of the North Goa beach area. The employees who work at the Simrose were more than accommodating and the food was amazing - which is all the more impressive when you see the small kitchen hut. We had about 5 families staying together and the kids got their own cabana area for hanging out and eating meals which they labeled the kid zone because the adults had their own cabana area that we kept telling them was the "kid-free zone". We relaxed, I avoided the sun and water while everyone else enjoyed them, and we watched the cows roam the beach. This was the best weekend away we have had in awhile as a family and the kids had so much fun they are already asking to go back. The best part - we spent 4 nights in 2 huts (2 people in each hut), 3 or more meals per day, multiple kid trips to the "free soda" refrigerator (they thought it was free for their personal use) and the many many adult beverages that kept us and all of the Simrose employees entertained during our evenings - we still spent less money at the Simrose than we did for one night accommodation at the Oberoi in Agra. The wonders of India.
I still have a few more India locations I'd like to see but I am pretty tired of India travel for now. The relaxed vibe attained at the Simrose was quickly dismissed at the Goa airport (aka the second worst airport in the world behind Toronto). The airport is new within the last few months and it is complete chaos. There are no signs indicating where anyone needs to go, luggage goes through security prior to the check in counter so that means waiting on two lines to get boarding passes, another ridiculous line for security which is so disorganized people are cutting and pushing up the line without consequence and the people manning the security lines apparently don't know the electronics rules because the boys were told to keep their iPads in their bags only to get in trouble at the other end for keeping the iPads in the bags. Insanity. I was thoroughly stressed, sweaty and in need of a vacation by the time I got back to Bangalore. The insanity of India continues and I told Kyle that I expect he will book us a relaxing beach vacation outside of India during the Easter weekend. Here's hoping he comes through :)
India has a lot of character and charm, in its own way. Bangalore has none. There are very few pretty buildings, old structures, or green areas. But outside of Bangalore there are wide roads, historic buildings that have interesting stories and even some open, green spaces that are mostly free of garbage.
Of course, India as a whole shares many commonalities inside and out of Bangalore - people are rude in groups…everyone cuts in line as a rule, not an exception. There is no reason or logic applied to any decision. Rules/expectations change without notice and if you aren't aware of the changes you will be yelled at. (as an example, a group of us walking out of the airport in a throng of people had one of the main doors closed in front of us by a police officer. No reason to close the door, all other adjoining doors remained open, but we needed to then swerve into a group of people unwilling to concede any space to allow us through.) Every building has security at some level and men and women must go through different security lines (because it would just be scandalous if a woman had a security wand passed near her body while others could see!) And, just like every sports stadium in the US, the women's line is significantly longer than the men's line even though the process is exactly the same. Aside from the rude groupings of people who have no concept of personal space or organizational common sense, the most common pain in the a$$ in India is bad drivers. I have now spent several days in cars with different drivers and they are all equally bad. Driving too close to the cars around them, passing without space to do so, ignoring people and animals in the road, honking for no reason at all, speeding up only to stomp on breaks at the last minute just to get to the next speed "hump" 2 seconds faster, and my personal favorite…leaving the car in a higher gear for too long EVERY SINGLE TIME they need to shift resulting in the car heaving and jumping and nearing a stalled state. As you can imagine, I am a bit frustrated from my recent travels!
But, in between the craziness and annoyance and general frustration of day to day life in India, there are some amazing things to see and do. We started our vacation by flying to Delhi and visiting some of the sights. The major government buildings are located in Delhi as is the Gandhi museum. It was interesting to view the Gandhi museum because of its simplicity. The rooms remain the same as when Gandhi lived there, the displays are mostly simple black and white photos with descriptions along with some doll house style depictions of major events over the course of his life.
But what really amazed me the most about the museum was the lack of commerciality. In general, India is about as opposite of disney world as a place can be. The scenery is genuine without being over the top and perfectly faked. There are no buying opportunities with overpriced, plastic momentos that will break before they even get home. As we left the museum there were two street vendors trying to get us to buy books and small gadgets for the overwhelming cost of about 50 cents. That was it. everywhere! At the India Gate monument Kyle did buy a pair of sunglasses (Official Raybans, I'm sure!) for the excessive cost of $3. Typically Kyle tries not to buy from the few street vendors around because it brings unwanted attention, but he had forgotten his sunglasses and what is a guy to do in the hot India sun?
 |
| This man is selling Chai on the side of the road at the India Gate |
After our sightseeing adventure, we decided to spend some time at the hotel. Interesting travel tip for families in Asia (and most of Europe too) it is extremely difficult to get a room for a family of 4. We either purchase two adjoining rooms or a suite. In Delhi we chose a suite and to our surprise upon arrival we ended up in the presidential suite. This room was huge - bigger than our first apartment. Two bedrooms with sitting areas and patios, two and a half bathrooms, a kitchen area, dining table that could seat about 12, living area and office room - all with their own patios. It was ridiculous! Mike was thrilled to have a hallway where he could play soccer. We left that wonderful hotel to travel a few hours via car to Agra. Agra essentially has the Taj Mahal, Agra fort and nothing else but poverty.
 |
| A monkey looking for food from a mother and child sitting on a window sill of a third floor level room |
After consulting with our friends who have been we were told that the Oberoi is ridiculously expensive but the place to stay because of the views. The views did not disappoint. But we were in a suite that cost us more than the monthly rent of that first apartment I mentioned above. And, the suite only slept three people so we still ended up with a kid in our bed. But it was only one night and the visit to the Taj was incredible. It is nearly impossible to get a bad photo of the Taj. There is nothing around it to interfere with the view. We visited a field behind the Taj compound at sunset and then, the following morning, we went into the Taj itself just after sunrise. Even the kids were impressed with all of the detail and the optical illusions. The planning alone was impressive, but to think that the building was created hundreds of years ago by the hands of thousands of men makes it even more impressive.
Again, I was shocked by the lack of commercialization. It is impossible to get through an exhibit of any size in the US without being forced through a shop. But here there wasn't even an opportunity to buy anything. There were some children hanging around outside selling gadgets and postcards and small things. I try to buy from the kids because I know they probably aren't going to get dinner if they don't sell enough. And, they are usually the sweetest kids. We got some Taj Mahal snow globes because I'm sure the Taj looks amazing in the snow :)
After leaving the Taj we packed up our things and made the 5 hour trek to Jaipur. Along the way we encountered a lot of street/people traffic. Thousands of people were walking - walk-a-thon style - through the streets on a pilgrimage to a temple that was 200km away. They planned to make this trek, on foot, over the course of two days. There and back! There were people of all ages, in all sorts of footwear (or no footwear), carrying bags on their heads walking in an unorganized procession. There were stands along the side of the road providing food and water and very LOUD music to encourage the pilgrims. It was a sight to see.
 |
| Pilgrims listening to the music van in front. |
Eventually our route diverged from the pilgrims as we were again on our way to Jaipur. Our "luxury" hotel experience started going downhill upon arrival at our next hotel. The Trident is an efficient hotel that cost us very little for two rooms over two nights. But after the luxury of the first two hotels we were feeling a bit like spoiled brats for complaining amongst ourselves that the air conditioning didn't get quite cold enough and the rooms were a bit small. We seriously are going to need a travel adjustment when we get home so the kids (and I) remember that we are not 1%ers back in a first world country. But the staff at the Trident was amazing and they took care of us and the kids and we enjoyed the time we spent in the pool and visiting the Amber fort. We travelled to the fort via elephant. I never need to ride an elephant again - they are scary. Beautiful and intelligent, but scary. I've seen an elephant charge in the wild so I was not too keen on riding one in a crowd, but everyone does it and I was assured that elephants are well cared for and "love their work." Don't believe it for a second. They did not look happy. They had men poking them with sticks on top of their heads to keep them moving forward, up a steep hill with humans on a basket on their backs. It was scary because the seat on top of the elephant was much higher than the height of the wall on the side of the steep incline so it felt like we could topple down a steep slope at any moment. and the elephant I was on kept veering to the wall (I think he had an itch that needed scratching and the wall was the most convenient spot). I was terrified and feeling awful all at the same time. Those poor elephants! But, we disembarked the animals and after 20 minutes or so I stopped shaking enough to enjoy the Amber Fort. It was amazing to see how royalty lived so long ago.
I won't go into too much detail because I don't remember most of it but even the kids were pretty impressed with the fort and the turkish bathing areas and mostly the ramps that were used to push the women in wheelchairs because they couldn't possibly be strong and capable enough to walk up stairs to the upper areas of the fort.
On the way out of the fort we stopped to watch a pair of snake charmers charming a cobra. Being the daring sort I walked well out of the way to get behind the charmers and have a picture taken. Cobras are not fun animals and this one hissed and lunged at anyone who moved near to it, but it was fun to watch from a safe distance.
The final stop on our trip to Jaipur was to an astrological park called Jantar Mantar. It is a collection of astrological instruments including a large sundial and all sorts of other instruments that could be used to tell time and astrological readings. And Jaipur was the end of the cultural sight-seeing portion of our trip.
On to the final stop of our vacation which was a 4 day holiday with friends in Goa. And the hotel trend continued its down luxury slope with our accommodations for the weekend in our hut.
But the Simrose Beach Side hut accommodation was the favorite of our trip! These hut accommodations get built in the Fall and come down in April. They are temporary housing structures to take advantage of the 6 months of amazing weather and laid back atmosphere of the North Goa beach area. The employees who work at the Simrose were more than accommodating and the food was amazing - which is all the more impressive when you see the small kitchen hut. We had about 5 families staying together and the kids got their own cabana area for hanging out and eating meals which they labeled the kid zone because the adults had their own cabana area that we kept telling them was the "kid-free zone". We relaxed, I avoided the sun and water while everyone else enjoyed them, and we watched the cows roam the beach. This was the best weekend away we have had in awhile as a family and the kids had so much fun they are already asking to go back. The best part - we spent 4 nights in 2 huts (2 people in each hut), 3 or more meals per day, multiple kid trips to the "free soda" refrigerator (they thought it was free for their personal use) and the many many adult beverages that kept us and all of the Simrose employees entertained during our evenings - we still spent less money at the Simrose than we did for one night accommodation at the Oberoi in Agra. The wonders of India.
I still have a few more India locations I'd like to see but I am pretty tired of India travel for now. The relaxed vibe attained at the Simrose was quickly dismissed at the Goa airport (aka the second worst airport in the world behind Toronto). The airport is new within the last few months and it is complete chaos. There are no signs indicating where anyone needs to go, luggage goes through security prior to the check in counter so that means waiting on two lines to get boarding passes, another ridiculous line for security which is so disorganized people are cutting and pushing up the line without consequence and the people manning the security lines apparently don't know the electronics rules because the boys were told to keep their iPads in their bags only to get in trouble at the other end for keeping the iPads in the bags. Insanity. I was thoroughly stressed, sweaty and in need of a vacation by the time I got back to Bangalore. The insanity of India continues and I told Kyle that I expect he will book us a relaxing beach vacation outside of India during the Easter weekend. Here's hoping he comes through :)
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