Jaipur

Oh what a train journey! 

We knew that we had booked seated class, well there was only 1 class on this train. It felt like something that was used during WW2 in Poland. When we got on board the lights were not working so we got our manual torches and looked for our seat. We found them and we were not sitting near each other, luckily we had the torches because we saw the state of the seats before we sat on them. Wipes out and we cleaned the place down (Aggie would be proud of us). 

 

Next was the barricading of the windows so no light, but ore important no wind could come in (it didn't work). Once we had finished we the lights came on and then arrived the Chai sellers (warmth). The train departed on time and we were looking forward to getting to the Pink City (well out of the cold train at least). A really nice guy sitting next to me gave me part of his newspaper to wedge in the window to stop the wind, and so to sleep. I think i dreamt about a curry or something, When all of a sudden bang.... 

 

No the curry was fine, but we had just ran over a cow. Everyone got off the train to inspect the damage and all you could see were the insides all over the bottom of the train (thank god we were not on the toilet at the time).

Even with the cow killing, we arrived on time at 10ish and a tuk tuk driver drove us to this hotel (nice in the outside, with mughol paintings and little mirrors, but our room it wasn't nice at all, but it was very cheap (300 Rp p n). Had breakfast in there roof garden and went to visit the city.

We walked around the old walled town, which was a giant bazaar (fantastic experience, very little hastle and the colours are what you imagine of India). This market area is divided into   different crafts, so you just find the one that you like. Later we visited the Palace of the Winds (great from the outside, but the inside is not worth the price) and the City Palace (which was not that great, they had lovely photos at the ticket stall of the private residence but you could not see these).The ticket cost 300 rp with a combined entry for Jaigahrt Fort. The most impressive thing about the palace was the 2 large silver urns (the worlds largest according to the Guinness Book of records). We watched the city walls for sunset because this is when you see why its called the Pink city. The wash used on the walls glows pink at sunset, thats if you can see the walls/gates for all the traders. Yes you could see it turning a darker shade of pink, but nothing to write home about! Maybe a few years ago before the neon lights and tuk tuks took over it was beautiful. Now days you are more likely to be impressed by the jewelers, they are everywhere and its like walking into a Tiffany's only bigger.

We had been walking all day and realized that hadn't had any food at all. I was feeling very tired and didn't feel like having any food from streets vendors, had dinner on a restaurant on the MI rd, which turned out to be a little bit posh for our budget, the waiter tried to force us to tip him, but after paying F&B tax and vats we declined his suggestion. The evils he gave us...

The next morning we got up and left the hotel and had breakfast in a cafe (a nice coffee for a change). Were asking after Jaipur tours but we didn't do any in the end.  Took a tuk tuk to go to Jaigarhrt Fort. He drove us up to the Fort and we enjoyed it very much. Great views from there (Amber Fort, defensive walls, Jaipur city...)

On our way back we stopped at Hal Mahal (palace in the middle of a man made lake) and visited Elephant owners place, where we were petting elephants and having pictures taking with them. As it was wedding season in Jaipur the Elephants were all painted up, they looked beautiful but so sad. Then our tuk tuk driver tried to bring us into a warehouse to buy some crap but we refused (that was the catch of the 350rp ride).

After giving us abuse in Hindi he dropped us close to the zoo area and went to see the Albert Hall museum building, after that went to Yo China for some different food (our stomachs were refusing curries by now). Walked back to the hotel and went to a cyber cafe to book tickets for Jodhpur, we wanted to take a train at 2am, but we couldn't book it on the internet so we went to the Station, it was hard to find the reservation office, as indian train station workers tend to be total knobs and don't direct you properly. For that train it was not possible a booking anymore as it had been taken from the system, and ticktets only could be purchased 1hr in advance. No need to say we passed. Book a ticket for next day and a night train to Dehli for the Friday.

Went back to the hotel and had a beer in the roof garden (a big rip off 150 rp for a beer).

At our return to the room tried to have a shower ignoring all the dirt in the bathroom, but the head of the shower fell off and took 5 men and more than 1hr to fix it.

We had a light dinner – as it was almost 11pm (stomach issues!) and went to bed early.

Left the hotel around 10ish and started heading to the Station (got imodium on our way). We bumped into the Canadian guys and they were telling us about their 'tour' with a tuk tuk driver who brought them to a party in a penthouse and then the next day to this celebration with elephants, one of the guys was getting his photo taken behind the elephant and when the flash went off it disorientated the animal so it sat down – on top of him. Luckily it only caught his foot which was very bruised (lesson to be learnt here!). Our train was delayed by more than 3hrs, should have arrived at 11.40 and arrived after 14.30. While waiting for the train we met an English guy that was teaching in Darjeeling and a French couple who had just come from Nepal (turns out they were sitting next to us). Finally the train arrived and off we set for Jodhpur – the Blue city.

Agra

After a 2 day train journey from Goa to New Delhi, a stop over in New Delhi, we got a morning train to Agra.

Agra's main attraction is the Taj Mahal, but we decided to spend a few days here and see more of the city. Lucky we did, as we arrived on a Friday and the Taj is closed for cleaning each Friday. Our room in New Delhi! When we got to the station there was the usual onslaught of Tuk-tuks looking to get your business, we got in a pre-paid one and he drove us to our Hotel Saii (with roof terrace with TM views). The Tuk-tuk was not very expensive, but tried to book us for a tour of Agra next day and we had to spend the next 30 minutes brushing him off.. After this we went for a walk in the neighbourhood, to get a real India experience.

This is the girl that wanted Mariano to adopt her

Does my bum look big in this? All the goats in Agra were wearing sweater!

This was so nice, once we got out of the main tourist area and into the local's market there was people coming up to us just to talk or asking for us to take a picture of them. We couldn't believe there was no scams. All of the kids were lovely, so sweet, one girl asked Mariano to adopt her, more were just looking for pen's for school. We spoke to one kid who worked in an inter cafe each evening after school until 1pm and he earned 1000rps per month. 200 0f this went towards his school and the rest he gave to his mother to pay his way. He was 10 years old. We decided in the afternoon to go to Agra Fort (fantastic) we took a bicycle tuk-tuk and thought the old guy would have a hernia in order to get us there. You only get to see a fraction of the fort (unless you bride a willing officer!) but what you do see is amazing. We walked back into town (30 minutes) and on our way what did we see? We really couldn't believe our eyes, Free Wifi. So we had a coffee and uploaded loads of photos. One of the great things in Agra is the number of restaurants with roof terraces, we tried few all in the name of research. They weren't very expensive the one with the best views (the waiters name is Honey!) has the cheapest beer in Agra. Here we discovered something odd, most of the restaurants hadn't beer on the menu but most announced that they had some for sale (scam we thought) until we asked about it and they said that the drinks licence was 400,000rps per year and they didn't make enough money for it. So they all hid the beer (even while you drink it – napkins around the glass, drinking from a tea pot to ceramic jars).

Agra Fort

One thing to remember about watching the Taj is that they don't have any lights on it at night. so after sunset thats it. Poof! Our second day started very earl 5am, as we wanted to see the sun rise at the Taj Mahal. This is an expensive monument to visit at 700rps for tourists, but it is worth it to get up and watch the sun rise before all the tour groups get there at 9am. Remember this it is important: Get your ticket at the West Gate and not one of the other 2. When you go in head to the east side of the Taj Mahal to get the best light for sunrise. The Taj has to been seen to be believed, but as with so many of these monuments they look even more powerful from afar. After lunch that took a bus to Fatehmar Sikri. Visited monument and palace. Monument was free of charge (mosque inside) palace 260rp. The visit is a calm within the palace in comparrison to the town itself which is mayhem. In all we spent 4 hours in Fatehmar Sikri before making it back to Agra for sunset.

Checked out from Saii and moved to Lucky's. It turned out to be a little bit of a disaster day. Walked as far as Agra Fort and visited the Mosque right behind Agra Fort Station. Crossed the river using the train bridge (just like in the movies) and started walking at the other side of the river, great views of the Fort and saw how they were doing their laundry at the river and drying their clothes. When we arrived to the monument across the river we realized we hadn't taken any money with us and had only 30 rp left. A tuk tuk driver offered us to bring us back to the hotel and pay him there (an offer we could not decline cos we had to walk back at least 11km). Arrived back to the hotel and went for lunch, order noodles chow mein, it took ages and was disgusting (noodles were like fried piece of wood and the sauce was awful) paid and went to the restaurant across the road, where we had a coffee and a lassi. Met two canadian guys and were chatting with them for a while and saw the sunset over the Taj. The room we got at lucky's turned out to be another little disaster on its own too, the window over the door didn't close and the one over the bathroom's door either. Had to ask for an extra blanket. The next morning we were up very early to get the train to Jaipur (running across train tracks, jumping the people asleep on the platform...) when we got on board the Canadian guys were there as well and off we went to the pink city.

Goa

There is only one reason that people go to Goa and that is for the beaches. They are considered some of the best in India and evoke a time of partying & laid back hippie love that the rest of the world has forgotten about. Unfortunately so has Goa. They seem to have decided that it is time to mix big city/resort life into the offering in Goa.

The locals off for a swim

Our journey from Mumbai by train was comfortable, we shared the bunks with a German couple who gave us a few ideas on where to stay and a Japanese guy that did say a word until we were leaving and then it was hugs and kisses! We decided to stay in Calagute as it was the largest beach and better connected with the rest of the region. The hotel we decided on was a 5 minute walk into the town and 10 minutes to the main entrance of the beach. The town of Calagute is now connected with the neighboring of Baga, which has a nicer feeling to it and more beach bars. We had expected beach life in Goa to be beach by day and party by night and we got half of what we wanted. We did head to the beach during the day time, we ended up staying at the section of beach under Baga rule as there seemed to be more life there. The sand was very nice (not hot) and the water was warm (not clear and blue, but warm even at 1am). When you enter a beach in the state of Goa you are accosted by sun lounge sellers, but in fact they don't cost a thing. However as they are all attached to a beach bar you have to eat and drink from there. The beach bars offer everything from water & food to massages, 'full service'. Once you find the one you like (this will take a long time as everyone wants your business you settle in for a nice relaxing day at the beach, WRONG... Every minute someone is coming up to you trying to sell you something... DVD's, Watermelon, banana's (try them mmmmh), t-shirts, jewelry, pineapple, catapults, lazer pens, manicures, peanuts, Bombay mix, rice cakes and so on. they never leave you alone. We spoke to one couple who decided they wanted to get away from this so they asked a tuk tuk driver to bring them to a nice, quite, beautiful beach and he did, they were the only ones on it except for the 20 beach sellers that had nothing else to do but spend their time selling to the only 2 people on the beach. So much so that when the lady started to fall asleep, one of them that was still trying to sell to her started to poke her and tell her she was falling asleep..

What we had for dinner!

We found that there were 3 main tourists types in this area, Indian, English & Russian. Of course most of the people that work in the resorts speak all of these languages. All of the menus are written in these languages and with that of course you have typo's (well at least in English) Snakes (instead of snacks), Sandwitches (well you can guess this one), and the list does go on and on.

So that was the beaches, so now to the night life. Well it was not what we expected, it was still nice but we had wanted to party on at least one night. We tried different parts of town, different parts of the beach and different towns and it seemed to be the same everywhere, subdued, focused around karaoke (now there is nothing wrong with karaoke except for the same drunk English women singing for 3 hours out of tune to the back catalogue of Mariah Carey) and then very loud techno/dance music (again nothing wrong with this normally except when you have 4 bars right beside each other playing different music all mixing into each other). One of the nice things is that all of the beach bars have tables out and they all put on a fireworks 'display' each night, some also dig fire pits and place fireworks in there so they go off at different times. We did see a few go shooting down the beach and exploding beside romantic couples out for a cuddle (nothing more i am sure) by the beach. One of the 'displays' involved them taking box of 250 fireworks and setting fire to the box, so be careful and stand well back. Some of the bars also have fire dancers as well, of course they come around with the tip jar afterwards.

Our favourite

While we are on the subject of night time a strange thing happened, although we were only there for a short while, in the entire time we did not once see the moon. Millions of stars, but no moon. It looked odd.

One of the days we decided that we should do some sightseeing (and book our train tickets) so we took the local bus to Panaji (bought the ticket on the bus), another one to Margao (had to get into a crazy Indian line to buy this one but they go once a bus is full so no real panic), one back to Panaji (same system as previous bus) and then one to old Goa (you pay this on the bus once the ticket guy has climb all over the place, this bus had all seats full (each seat took 2 people and most had 3) and the bus took 11 people standing, last count – because i couldn't see anymore there was 30 standing). Panaji is the capital of Goa and thats really all that can be said for it. Margao had a nice market, main square and a train station that has all of the trains heading north stopping at it (again that is all there is to the town). Old Goa is amazing, we loved, loved, loved here. The only thing to do is sightsee, but they are all free. There are loads of fantastic Churches and the entire site is surrounded by gardens. There was a novena and loads of people had gathered for mass, there was also a “fair” in the city and loads of people around. It was such a lovely afternoon.

We were very sad to leave Goa in the end, we would have loved to have spent more time and gone further south (however we have heard that this is much more expensive as all the big resort hotels have opened up here). But as the journey from Goa to Northern India is a main route not alone for tourism we had to take the next train available and cut out stay by 2 days.

What is Incredible about Goa, Well number 1 is Old Goa & number 2 would have to be how relaxed it was. It wasn't complete tranquility, it was just a slower pace.

The not Incredible part is the constant hassling to buy, the other that did really bother us personally, more disgusted us was some of the mens attitude towards women and the way they stared at the foreign women. We were sitting on one beach and 5 Indian's sat in front of us. To our right was these 2 Russian girls, at one stage 2 of the guys were sitting on Mariano's  sun lounger (while he was asleep) and they were staring at the girls sleeping. Of course this is not just an issue with Goa, but it was most oblivious here. You do have the usual issues, dirt etc, but as we have said before this is India.

India & its Trains

Prior to going to India we had researched the trains that we needed to take and how long they would take us. We knew that they had an allocated amount of tickets for tourists on each train and that the trains are often late. How prepared we were! NOT.

First impressions of Sleeper Class!

Our first experience of trying to book a ticket was in Mumbai, we went to their main train station (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus  formerly Victoria Terminus) and went to the booking window. There was pushing and shoving and this was just to get in the door. Each entrance has a metal detector that you have to walk through, the only issue is they are either not manned, not turned on or when they go off they just wave you through. There is no such thing as an information desk so we had to push and shove our way just to stay in our spot on the line. When we got to the window along with 30 other people we were told to go over there! Really that was it. Finally we discovered the tourist booking desk which was in another building on the first floor, at the end of the room, behind the pillars with a small little sign saying 'Tourist Only'. It closed 2 minutes before we found it.

We came back the next morning just as it was opening, climbing over the people asleep in the station, and got into the line with the other tourists. It turns out the lady at the counter was also going to Goa and wanted to book the same train as us, but it was full for the next 2 weeks... Aghhhhhh. What they didn't say was that the other trains going had space, when we asked they booked us on one a few hours later, so it was fine.

Chai, Bananas, Samosas...

While we were waiting for our turn we met this lovely couple living in Thailand (originally from Oz) and they told us loads about the trains:

1. You have to fill out a form in order to book a ticket - for this form you will need the train number (they will give you this) departure station, destination, if you would like a free upgrade (we always said yes but never got one), age, sex, nationality, passport number and what carriage & level you would like to book
2. Some stations have an enquiry desk with a different desk for booking your ticket
3. Each train has 10 tourist tickets, once these are gone you can go onto a waiting list, but there can be hundreds of people on this. If you are on the waiting list you have to pay (non-refundable even if you don't get on the train) and you find out 2 hours before the train goes.

The best part of Trains in India

We mainly booked sleeper class, this is not suitable for everyone but we found it to be good (cold at night, dirty as hell, but you got to meet Indians and fellow backpackers). This carriage is great if you are on a tight budget, if you have a bit more to spend go for Air con 2nd class. Some of the trains also offer seater carriages, if you can avoid this your bum will thank you. Imagine 33 hours sitting on a piece of wood!

All our fans were there

Later in the trip we found out from some more backpackers that cleartrip.com gives the option to book the tourist tickets online and you can make changes to your tickets as you go (not possible at the train station unless you want to pay twice).

The trains are not clean, if you get on in the dark check your seat before you sit down (trust me on this). Prepare yourself to see mice, cockroaches and a host of other 'things'. On the plus side they mainly offer 2 types of toilets 1. Western 2. Local (a hole in the floor). Traveling on the trains in India is all about experience!!

On some trains you have non-stop food service and its quite good. they have a team of cooks on board. The all go along the carriage shouting what they have. Chai, Chai, Chai.... If you are going to splurge go first class where all of your meals are included.

If you are taking a train remember the following:

• It most likely will be late (hours late)
• Find out if you are getting on at the start of the journey (remember this for the above)
• If you are traveling at night on sleeper class, book the top or bottom bunk and bring a blanket or sleeping bag (it gets cold).
• If a local talks to you, talk back but be warned you will be talking to them for the rest of the journey. So if they open with 'Do you believe in Jesus' you will be told all about the bible for the next 30 hours (this happened to us).

All in all it is a great way to travel and see the country, you can still sit at the open door as the train trundles along (be careful of this though, if you hit a cow you could fall off - again personal experience).