January
3, Tuesday: Kolkata (Calcutta): Just like Belém, Brasil without the rain
and the driver is sitting on the wrong side of the car, but same slums for
miles around the airport, never bother stopping at red lights, etc. Our Park Hotel is adequate, but one would
never find it in the middle of this slum.
Our guide took us around to Mother House (Mother Teresa), the river, Ganges,
a couple run down churches and the Victoria
Monument. Everything is a slum but the Colonial Area is
best. Even this however looks like no
maintenance since 1947 (1911 below) when the British left. This area looks like it was modern with many
fine buildings perhaps at that time. American
Airlines lost my luggage so having to make-do with what I have in carry on and
on my back.
January
5, Thursday: After a 6 am drive to Kolkata Airport
and an hour of feudal attempts again to locate my lost luggage, we boarded an
Airbus A-319 of DrukAir (Royal Bhutan Airways) Dragonair, we flew north to Paro
in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Elsewhere on this web site (Smay’s) we have described flying in the Andes of Bolivia in
a very small home-built airplane as SCUBA diving in air. I mention this as it is how it felt on the
approach to Paro, Bhutan but this time flying the
huge plane at jet speeds as the pilot threaded between the mountains into the
isolated runway.
January
7, Saturday: Today we drive to
Punakha. For the past two days we have been
exploring Thimphu and surrounds, Capital of the 700,000 person Bhutan nation
that measures it’s gross national happiness (GNH) instead of GNP, and calls
itself The Magic Kingdom, home of the great Thunder Dragon. We visited many attractions, Textile Museum,
Library with world’s largest book (in Guinness), a new 180 ft tall brass Buda
on the mountain top, novelty paper factory, the national animal, Takin (goat
head and cow body), Notable is a huge
roofed but open-air market where vegetables, other food stuff and life’s
necessities are displayed in very clean fresh and appealing state – in sharp
contrast to vegetables and fruits piled on the pavement at the Kolkata market
we visited earlier in the week. Many of
the Bhutanese wear the national dress, the kira
(women), goa (men), both just a big rectangular piece of cloth wrapped about in
a unique way. Though they eat meat, they
will kill no living animal (a mosquito ?). Our guide claims (with tongue in cheek I
hope) that sometimes they heard cattle to the edge of a cliff and wait till
they fall to harvest the meat. The
beautiful trout laden stream is un-fished, and the country is becoming overrun
with feral dogs. We hear them a lot
during sleep time in the middle of the night roaming in packs at 3 am.. The Capital has
zero traffic lights and police have no guns.
For 100 years Bhutan has been a monarchy but
became democratic with first elections in 2008, now having only the symbolic
King whose marriage was great celebration here and world news last fall. Sale
of tobacco is prohibited, though use is not and I’ve seen no one smoking. Everyone speaks English – even though the
British never owned the place. They are not totally without problems as many
are addicted to chewing beetle nut and alcohol is a serious affliction among
the poorer farmers and herdsmen. The primary source of national income is sale
of hydro power to India,
followed by tourism.
After 5 days American Airlines has managed
to get my luggage from Chicago to Delhi and I got it last evening in Thimphu.
The 45 mile drive from Thimphu to Punakha is
a spectacular narrow winding ride through the lower Himalayas over a 10,000 ft
pass from the top of which one can see many higher
peaks in the perhaps 15 – 20,000 ft range.
At the pass there are more than 100 small stupas (mound-like structure containing Buddhist
relics) built to honor the 8 or 9 deaths in Bhutan’s only war, a few day
skirmish with India. At Punakha we
visited the Punakha Dzong (fort – a sounds like zong to me). Present
day Dzongs contain a monastery and facilities housing
public administrative offices.
January
9, Monday: Another day another (D)zong. Yesterday most interesting we visited a
typical Bhutanese household. The houses
are three story, bottom is for livestock (they don’t have a separate barn as on
a US
farm), 2nd floor is for storage of grain, workshop, etc. and 3rd is
for living. From a short distance away
all the houses look very elaborate with ornate carvings and painting around
windows and eves, but up close and inside things get pretty basic. Thousands of terraced rice fields (paddies?)
are carved on the mountainsides, work requiring a bulldozer, but all done by
hand. The fields are tilled with a hand
hoe, rice grains are thrashed from the straw with a hand thrasher. The thrasher has a drum about 2 ft in
diameter, maybe 2 ft long and having spikes or teeth sticking out. It is spun by a foot pedal crank arrangement
like the treadle of an old sewing machine.
Bundles of rice straw are held to the spinning spiked drum and this
removes the grains. Like oats, the rice
grains still have a fibrous hull. These
grains are spread in the sun and dried, then another step that I didn’t see and
don’t understand loosens the hull, and finally on a windy day a basket is used
to toss the combination in the wind and allow the hulls to blow away. All done in 19th century style as
before John Deer invented the plow or Cyrus Vance invented the reaper.
January
11, Wednesday: Today was departure
day from Bhutan. Our scheduled flight from Paro via Katmandu to Delhi turned
out to be direct to Delhi, so missed my chance
to at least see Katmandu
from the air. On the other hand we (I)
were really lucky that it was a crystal clear day and our flight went right by
Mt. Everest, This and the other
comparable peaks like K2, K3 and a large section of the Himalayan range was
clearly visible just a little below us.
What a thrill to have the pilot come on the PA and announce the highest
point on earth. The ideal weather conditions provided
an overwhelming view. Yesterday we rose
and departed early to hike to the Tiger’s Nest Dzong. Weather was cold and overcast and last
night’s snow threatened to make the trail difficult. However, hiking up we were soon in sun, but
the trail was difficult. The hike was
about 6 hours with the trail rising 2000 ft, to 10,000 ft, then dropping a few
hundred and rising again on slippery snow-covered steps to the fort. The Tiger’s Nest is built
right on the side of a cliff about 500 ft down from the top. The views approaching from many points on the
trail are spectacular. The fort was
built in the 16th century but mostly burned in 1998, and
subsequently restored by the Bhutanese.
Without doubt this was the high light of our visit.
January
13, Friday: Seeing all the landmarks
and aspects of Delhi,
Old and New. Yesterday the Jama Masjid
(Friday Mosque) and a 45 minute rickshaw ride through the packed 10 ft wide
commercial streets of Old Delhi, then India Gate, Parliament and President’s
Residence along with other government
buildings build by the British after they moved the Capital from Calcutta to
New Delhi (1911 I think). Today the Qutab
Minar, a very impressive complex of architecture
and high sandstone tower started about 800 years ago and built on to over
several centuries by Islamic conquerors from the north. Then on to a shop where the making and
maintenance of silk Kashmir rugs was
demonstrated. The rugs are magnificent
and expensive. Very uncharacteristic of me, but I got
interested and bought a small rug for about the price of a car (well maybe a
car in India). As expected from experience in Indian
restaurants in US, Australia,
Fiji, etc., the food is
excellent and spicy, somewhat better than Bhutan. Though, excepting meat, the Bhutanese food is
good but you DO come to India
for the food! We had a little unexpected
adventure this am with the fire in our hotel.
Overseas Adventure Travel delivers.
January
14, Saturday: Today we had to rise
early to take the long bus ride from Delhi to Jaipur, Capital of Rajasthan established
by Jai Singh II, known as The Pink
City because Singh painted the entire city pink for a visit of the Prince
of Wales in 1876, and it remains painted today. This six hour drive of about
200 miles was on much better roads than I had expected, the worst is yet to
come. I think we saw 5000 trucks (lorries) on the journey on the highway and more in depot
lots, truck stops and such – all looking 10 to 40 years old. India has many railroads and
trains, but curiously they seldom carry freight, just passengers. Stopped for lunch, more of that great food,
at the beautiful Chomu
Palace, in the village of Chomu about 20 miles north of
Jaipur. The palace, former home of a
Rajah, is now a vacation destination, with rooms at $250/night. It is set in the middle of a village of
abject poverty. Were seeing lots of that
everywhere in India,
but the people are happy, there is some begging, but crime is very low and our
guide, Sanjay, says we are safe almost anywhere we have been. An example, at the entry to Rajasthan from
the Delhi
province is a small ramshackle booth where substantial fees are collected from
every vehicle crossing, and there are many.
By the end of the day a lot of money is collected, figuratively in a
shoe box, then carted off to deposit somewhere. But the shack has no bars, security, guards,
guns or the like, as there is apparently no risk. If you’ve read Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner, you can skip this. At the
Palace our guide offered that we go on the roof and fly kites for a few
minutes. Happens that the kites have no
tail to steer them and so some skill is required with the string to make the
kite rise and to steer it. Further, in
addition to the kites from our location, there were many kites visible being
flown from all over the village. They
are all on a glass string and the objective is to cross your kite string over
that of an opponents kite and saw off the string of his kite and release
it. There is a significant skill to
acquire in both flying the kite, and in attacking an opponent – I am not too
accomplished at either yet so lost my kite(s) – Sanjay knocked off all he
attacked. It’s also a dangerous sport as
everyone is looking up in the air and walking off balconies or into traffic on
the street.
In Delhi the hotel internet is $18/day so I
went down to The Mobile Store and bought a local “MTS M/Blaze” USB data modem
with 30 days and 3 GB limits for $25 that served me well in Delhi and seems to
be doing so in Jaipur as well (and all of
India that I visited).
January 15, Sunday: Went
to the Amber (Am er) Fort (Palace) which is very
famous, extensive, enclosed in a 6 km wall.
Like many forts and palaces in India, constructed by the
conquering Mughals (Hindi) Moguls Mongols – several versions used for the same
invaders. Seems in the 16th
century Islamic people from the west and Mongols from the east found the Khyber
Pass through the Himalayas and India was doomed (Pakistan was part of India
then) as India was at that time composed of hundreds of little indefensible
little fiefdoms. However, as a result,
it now has many beautiful palaces and forts with a mixture of Hindi, Islamic,
and Mogul architecture.
January
16, Monday: We were to have a
hot-air balloon ride over Jaipur this am, but high wind and a bit of rain
canceled. After killing some time and
leisurely breakfast we went to Jantar Mantar, an
ancient array of astronomical instruments build by Singh in 1727 – 34. The “facts” regarding all of these
interesting sights are so well documented on the web today that I can hardly
improve upon – leaving only “opinion.”
One such is the claim of 0.2 second accuracy for the largest sun dial is
probably true in absolute time only after calibration with an atomic clock or
some other device, because of thermal deformations, ground shifts, etc. of the
ancient instrument. When I inquired
about calibration, the local guide went into this story about the equinox and
such-and-such, but how does he know when the equinox is without an accurate
clock! Another is my doubt of the
astrological predictions the Indians seem to give comparable weight to. Sometimes my astrologer asks the precise time
of my birth and I ask how is this measured, the doctor is there with a pair of
scissors in one hand and a stop watch in the other ready to cut the umbilical
and record the instant of my birth.
Nevertheless, the Indians seem happy and the astrological guides seem
harmless. Next, the City Palace.
Later in the day we visited the Birla Temple, and
then an ultra modern shopping center where I noted
bananas for 4 Rupees/kg (about 25lb/$1) and purchased $50 in spices for about
$2!
January 19, Thursday: Tuesday we traveled by bus from Jaipur
to Ranthamb(h)ore National Park
area for a two night stay at Nahargarth Palace. Visited the feudal fort and went on two game
drives on the park in search of Bengal Tigers.
We found ours on the second game drive.
Pretty exciting to see this majestic creature close-up. Also saw, wild boar, dozens of spotted
deer, many peacocks, monkeys, parakeets, freshwater crocodiles and a couple
eagles.
Poverty ……….. there is lots in India. The movies seem to show people living in
dumps. We are seeing lots of poverty but
our guides are keeping us away from the dumps!
What I have seen is no worse than the Xi’an,
Beijing, Rio or many places in South America. Unlike the favelas of Rio, one feels
reasonably safe everywhere in India,
and the people appear happy and relatively spiritual everywhere. However, on
the long drive from Ranthambore to Agra
we passed through many cities with lots of poverty ….. one
might argue more poverty, but it
doesn’t seem any worse. Over a few days of observation it appears
that the Indian people are fairly clean and neat in their own space. Washing frequently with their limited
facilities, and sweeping and cleaning in and in front of their shop or
house. Problem is, they sweep the debris
into the street, but there’s no one to collect it from there, so the trash is accumulated
in the public space. Reminds me
of the leaf blower in California
– just blow it to your neighbor’s. Kolkata (Calcutta)
was worst.
Sanjay says half
of the 1.2 billion people in India
chew tobacco or some narcotic that’s worse, the beetle nut or leaves, but no
one smokes, so it’s only harmful to the participant.
On the Ranthambore-Agra trip we stopped at
an OAT tent camp for a night and had an hour camel ride on dromedary camels. The tents were much like African safari tents
with comfortable beds, and an elementary bath.
Next morning we visited a step-well (chand
baolis) in the community adjacent to where our tent camp was, Abhaneri, Rajasthan.
There are many such wells in northern India that catch the monsoon rains
and adjust to the underground water table, with steps and elaborate
architecture so that one can walk down to the water level, as opposed to the
more usual procedure of drawing water up from the well. Then on to Agra. Today, Saturday, we visited the Taj Mahal for
about 3 hours, then went to the Agra Fort, which was the palace of Shah Jahan who built the Taj (crown) for his
deceased queen.
January
22, Sunday: Today we traveled south
from Agra to Jhamsi by train, then met a bus to go on to Khajuraho – a
long day on very poor roads for our bus.
One point of interest, was a deep well about 30 – 40 ft and perhaps 15 –
20 ft in diameter with masonry walls and a bucket chain lift driven by a gear
mechanism powered by a cow walking around a 20 ft circle – this out of the 17th
century? Our guide is pretty good at
coming up with interesting surprises like this and helping us see and
understand the life of the Indians.
Sanjay Sethi, is our main guide, is very
knowledgeable as well as attentive to all the complicated details of our fast
paced trip. We are busy constantly using
time very efficiently and Sanjay is excellent at helping us understand India. Monday we rose to visit the ancient, 10th
century, Hindu temples, Khajuraho,
not destroyed by the Islamic Moguls as
many were, because they were lost in the forest! A very interesting story how these were
rediscovered by an Englishman about 1850.
About 6 temples in the complex we saw are very impressive and worth
seeing, and famous for their hundreds of carved figures, a few of which are
quite erotic.
After the Khajuraho temples we went by air
to Varanasi, arriving at dusk in time to take a short boat trip on the Ganges
to view cremations in progress, about 10 in a small area on the river bank, and
a colorful Hindi ceremony on one of the ghats (stairways leading into the
river). The trip by rickshaw and walking
to the river’s edge through the hustle of the city seemed like all the 1.2
billion Indians and most of the cows were in the path, or trying to sell
something, or begging. Tuesday am we
rose very early 5:30 am and went back to the river to see the sun rise (big
deal), and see a bunch of pilgrims (Indians from all over) bathing at the ghats
in the holy water of the river. Then to
the Bharat Mata temple at Sarnath, not a religious temple but the Mother India
temple – India was first
Bharat, then Hindustan, then India.
Then visited a silk weaving shop where they make museum quality silk
tapestries, brocades, etc – but I resisted this time! Finally, Wednesday we visited a large marble
carved relief map of India
and surrounding countries, before catching a plane to Delhi
heading home to the US. Varanasi
was probably the least interesting part of the trip. The trip home was a real
ordeal with a 15 hour non-stop sandwiched between domestic flights and layovers
on each end.
Links to pictures by fellow travelers from Harrisburg, Pa.,
Joan
and George
Hellmann