Day 141: Trek Prep

The plan today? Continue to help the local,economy :-). Before I'd gotten out of bed, Beth had been out and back with receipts in hand and empty pockets as proof of a successful morning.

 

We crawled out of bed and made our way down to breakfast... Ah, I'd forgotten the muesli and delicious, cold milk that goes with it in Nepal. The girls and I had just been salivating a couple of days ago at the distant memories of delicious cold milk! We also had a couple of cups of chai that was up to Indian standards... So good.

 

We didn't have much more to get on our list, but that didn't stop us from adding to the list :-). Dear Gram and Banka, we have agreed to open a corporate delivery pickup and storage account with you due to the high volume of shipments we've been generating.... Please forward us the necessary paperwork.

 

The Tibetan guy we ran into at this really cool shop was just one of many desperate, but still smiling as only Nepalese can do when faced with adversity, vendors who are really suffering with the lack of tourists. We were content with his initial prices and didn't even bargain.... Ship it sir! When he heard about the size of the Tibetan community in Etobicoke and that Robin had two Tibetan friends at school, he gave the girls prayer bead necklaces and two extra for Robin to give to Tenzin and Jigmy back home.

 

 

Abby was on the lookout for lunch. Unbeknownst to me, she had practically memorized the top restaurants listed in trip advisor. She shuffled us into a place that promised they had "perhaps the best burger in town". We hadn't had any beef since Colombo, and before that who knows, so we all jumped on ordering a burger for lunch. But hold on, I noticed they sold Hoegarden.... Great work Abby! Though it was a little tiny, it really hit the spot.

 

 

So did the massive burgers.....

 

 

We were pretty much geared up.... Even getting little custom embroidered flags on the girls new hats. Very cute Abbs!

 

 

Beth and I had to do some ATM shopping. Like India, bank machines here give out limited funds, so you have to repeat the process often. Since we were going for nine days, we had to bring enough cash for rooms at all the tea houses as well as all of our meals. Yikes!

 

 

Beth has purchased canes walking sticks and new hiking shoes for Robin and her. For better or worse, Abby and I are the minimalists of the group, so we are opting to suffer caneless stickless and with our shoes.

 

 

I have my map with routes and planned stops, though I'm sure with our two porters to accompany us, we will not be needing a map. What's that you say? Two porters? We figured we could do it with one porter, but we decided to take two to give some more work to someone from the community. The Sherpas are the ones that are suffering the most from the drop in tourism.

 

 

The girls were lost in Inappropriate World again and were also recording "music" (double quotes intentional) so Beth and I went for one last trip to get some sundry items and.... Why not... A beer!

 

 

As Beth and I walked home up Peaceful Road, a road that could have only been named by a Buddhist, we saw Mount Machhapuchchhre lit up by the setting sun in the distance. Our highest overnight destination on the planned trek will be Machhapuchchhre Base Camp ("MBC"). The name of the mountain means "fishtail" in Nepali for its resemblance of the tail of a fish when seen from an angle that shows its double summit. It has never been summited, as the mountain is considered very sacred to the Nepalese.

 

 

I cannot wait for our trek to start in the morning. The girls are giddy and Beth is now pumped after getting us fully equipped. We will see you up close and personal tomorrow, Mountains of Annapurna!

 

Incredible India

Another plane ride, another blog post. We are flying to Pokhara via Kathmandu for our 11th country adventure. We plan to take a day and a half getting organized for an 8-9 day trek through some portion of the Annapurna region. I spent our last rupees at the airport in New Delhi on a knee brace, ankle brace and cold pack. Just in case. As is the case with my brothers and father, I can be a bit clumsy so may as well be prepared!

Our time in India was incredible. We didn't even scratch the surface of the surface, but we enjoyed (nearly) every minute of the insanity. What a wild and diverse place. In two weeks, we spent time in the lush green relaxed south, the desert, the cities and saw the Taj Mahal. In addition to several hotels, we slept on a houseboat, on the sand and on the train. We met some fabulous characters and saw more colours and cows than I knew possible. 

What I loved the most was how the kids embraced it. They love India. Maybe had it been our first stop, they would have been more apprehensive. They are open minded and accepting of other cultures and found the humour in some of the crazy-ass interactions. There were things they (and we) didn't love...the leering by young boys/men can be intimidating, my running after everyone incessantly with mosquito spray, patches, creams and anti-malaria pills, the poverty, the traffic, stepping in cow dung on the roads (that was me) and the occasional public bathroom experience that we'd like to forget. But there were way more things we loved...the people, the food, the colours, the diversity, the forts, the shopping, the sites. It would be easy not to love India, but I'm happy to see how the girls embraced it and have come away with a positive impression and experience. Of course, seeing one of the most famous buildings in the world helped too!

Day 140: Back in the Himalayas

Four thirty in the morning wake up call.... Ouch. It would be another longish travel day, though really it was two short flights. We were saying goodbye to India way too early - in both ways.

 

 

Delhi has a fantastic airport - very modern, efficient and clean, with all the trimmings you'd expect from an important capital airport. For whatever reason, we all had lower expectations - you'd think we would have learned to look on the bright side in India.

 

 

It wasn't long before I looked out the window and glimpsed my first sight of the Himalayans since 1997. I got a big chill running down my spine, and the girls and Beth were all excitedly crowding the window for a better look. I could not wait to get there.

 

 

When we arrived at Kathmandu airport, we zipped through their computerized visa process, through customs and out to the baggage claim area. There was an obvious lack of western looking tourists collecting their bags from the carousel.

 

The plan was to fly straight to Pokhara in the north, which was the base for our trekking in the Annapurna Sanctuary. We got our bags loaded on a trolley, then, following repeated directions from locals, made our way about 750 meters on a small local road towards the domestic airport. It seemed a little ridiculous, but we saw a few other travellers pushing their bags on a trolley on the road so we followed suit.

 

The domestic airport was right out of an Indiana Jones movie, though the airline I booked with, Buddha Air no less, offerred great, professional service.

 

 

Beth immersed herself in the local paper, looking for any indications of dengue fever, malaria, small pox, chicken pox, flu, food poisoning or general malaise. There were none which is why she's smiling here :-)

 

 

The girls were in their own world the whole day - talking non stop about this little "world" they've created over the years and filled with weird characters. It's called "Inappropriate World" and I'll leave it at that. They didn't want anything to do with us, and we were content with that.

 

 

The plane was much bigger than I thought, though again, not many tourists at all.

 

 

Every mountain we saw from the little plane was Mount Everest, at least in the kid's minds. I didn't have the heart to tell them that Everest was Southeast of Kathmandu and we were flying Northwest. This mountain is most likely Mount Manaslu, just the 8th tallest mountain in the world at 8,163 - actually not too shabby!

 

 

Ramesh, the hotel owner who I'd been talking to for a few months, had arranged a car to pick us up from the Pokhara airport. We arrived at the hotel minutes later and got settled into our room. We had lunch and beer on our minds (well, I had beer) so we ducked out after getting some trekking stuff arranged, and walked the strip in search of lunch.

 

 

Pokhara has really grown up. It has twice as many shops, travel agencies and restaurants as Khaosan Road in Bangkok - all packed into a three kilometer strip that follows the banks of Phewa Lake. The lake is a beautiful, glacial looking body of water that changes shades of light green throughout the day depending on the sunlight.

 

 

After lunch, it was game on. Beth was on a mission to get us fully equipped for our nine day trek, and we were going to get it done before dinner dammit! Lol. I kid, but she was really in her element zipping from outfitter to outfitter picking out all kinds of stuff I didn't know we needed :-).

 

 

On one section of the strip, I saw an alleyway that looked interesting so I pulled the gang along. The path passed a couple of shops and a tattoo parlour and emerged onto a beautiful waterfront section with a newly laid cobbled path running along the water's edge. We took it all in with drinks at a lake side cafe, the girls insisting on a separate table for them.

 

 

I wandered around looking for a good shot of the lake as the light was perfect. On the way back to my beer wife, I ran into a tiny Tibetan woman who was imploring me to check out her wares - basically handmade jewellery. I told her I wasn't interested but promised I would find three potential customers for her. It took a while, but she eventually understood and let me go. There are a lot of Tibetans in Nepal, especially in areas like Pokhara which are close to the border, and they are essentially displaced refugees from their homeland as the country continues to struggle with the Chinese situation.

 

 

We finished our drink and I took the girls by the little lady, who now had a friend. They laid out their stuff on a blanket on the ground (I'm assuming this was a "frog market" :-)) and we all proceeded to pick through their stuff, price some things out and make a fairly good purchase. There was no negotiation, it just felt good to spend some money there.

 

We could already tell that people were hurting. Who knows how much they're down compared to years past, but for the beginning of high season we are not seeing many people at all. It's a shame - this is a beautiful country that needs help getting their mojo back after the devastating earthquake earlier in the year. With Beth's list in hand and a ton of cool souvenir shops, we're making our best effort to make a small difference in the local economy!

 

 

 

Day 139: The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor of India, to honour his favourite (of three wives) wife, Mumtaz Mahal. When she died in 1631, he commissioned the mausoleum to be built, and the entire complex, outbuildings and surrounding walls took 22 years, 20,000 full time workers, 1,000 elephants and over $827 million dollars in today's money.

Showing the girls this fantastic world wonder was a dream come true.

We woke up early, skipping breakfast, and drove through the much quieter streets of Agra. It felt like the night after a huge party in the streets. The idea was to get there early to avoid most of the crowds, but also to see the monument in the early morning light.

Even though the story goes that it was built solely as a burial place for his wife, it's widely suspected that an even bigger motivation was a huge show of power. By building a monument so big and so great, using so many resources, he would strike fear into the hearts and minds of enemies and potential enemies.

I forced Abby to replicate one of the many cheesy shots you see all of the tourists doing here. "Don't post that!"

The Taj completely overshadows the incredibly buildings that surround it, including the main gate.

As the sun came up, the colours on the marble changed to a warm yellow. You can see the scaffolding on the back right minaret here. There is a continual cleaning process that the foundation that takes care of the place undertakes. They use a natural mud, applying it and letting it dry, then gently washing it off to bring the natural white colour of the marble back. Pollution used to be a big concern here, as they noticed smog and acid rain were affecting the colour of the marble. Since then, they've banned all factories and industrial work for four thousand square kilometres around the area to protect it for many years to come.

Another cheesy shot, the sunglasses reflection picture :-).

The view from the main deck of the mausoleum towards the entrance gate is really nice, highlighting the beautiful gardens and fountain pools between.

A close inspection of the building really shows how amazing the detail is. The scriptures from the Koran that frame the entrance are all made of single pieces of obsidian that were carved then inlaid into the marble. There were huge pieces of marble that had many hexagonal holes carved into them, and I wondered how many pieces had been broken before they finally got them right.

The interior of the mausoleum is relatively dark, with just one electric bulb set up that hangs over the crypts. The bodies of Mumtaz Mahal and later Shah Jahan were finally laid to rest in the closed lower level of the Taj. On the main floor, there are two false crypts that lay in the exact same position - Mumtaz Mahal in the exact center of the perfectly symmetrical building, and the Shah beside her.

Some of the precious and semi precious jewel inlaid walls have been damaged over the years, with thieves and Brits removing the stones. The Brits even removed the gold metal tops of the towers and minarets and replaced them with metal replicas. Even still, the inlays that remain are beautiful.

Back outside, our guide, Rahul, took us to an area of the garden where we had yet another different take on the building, which shone pure white in the sun that had now made its way higher into the sky.

I really got a thrill out of seeing the girls take it all in. We've been to some famous, beautiful sites on this trip, but I don't think there's a building that's more iconic than the Taj Mahal (just edging out the Eiffel Tower in my opinion). It's really something that you see in person and realize that the pictures did not capture the huge scale and pure beauty of the place. Abby said she would have to come back here in the future, which made me smile.

We returned to the hotel for breakfast and some R and R. There was a really nice pool on the roof, so the girls "took it for advantage" as they say.

At around 10:30, we met Rahul and Uday outside the hotel, and it was now time to check out a couple of the other points of interest in Agra. First up, the beautiful Agra Fort. The Fort Was built, expanded and fortified over many years. It's really a small city, covering over 94 acres, but only 15% of it is open to the public as it is still used by the Indian military.

One of the cool things in the Fort was the mix of religious symbols and architectural features that shows how tolerant of different cultures the leaders of the time were. Much of the area we saw was renovated by Shah Jahan, and it showed - it was stunning.

One of the courtyards was built for his Hindu wife, and it had loads of ornate, Hindu style carvings out of the Red sandstone that is indigenous to the area surrounding Agra.

One of the most outstanding features of the Fort is its location - it hugs the Yamuna River, and is in an ideal spot overlooking the Taj Mahal.

From a distance, the Taj yet again transforms - from here it looks like a pure Islamic building, with the many domes of the main structure and outbuildings all mixing into one. It almost looked like a black and white version of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow from this angle.

Rahul was great in pointing out many of the nuances of the building. There's a real mix of Islamic and Hindu architecture, with a smattering of Jewish, Buddhist and Christian symbols thrown in for good measure. Abby took this great picture showing a really nice Hindu archway.

The area where Shah Jahan lived with his two other wives was all constructed using white marble.

To solidify his power and make sure there would be no question of succession, he killed his two older brothers, and put his father under house arrest for eight years until he died.

The inner grounds where all of the harem women stayed were for entertaining. They also grew grapes here for making wine, which is kind of hard to believe given the climate, but when you're that rich, I think you can just make it happen. Evidence of that: there are hollow parts behind the walls of the main palace that were used for air conditioning in the summer - they would be continually filled with cold water by servants, then drained and refilled when the water got warm. Wow.

Before lunch, we stopped by a shop that does marble inlay work. It was cool to see the process of how they got the semi precious stones shaped, assembled into a design, traced and cut into the marble, glued then polished smooth. A lot of the pieces in their store were really nice, but they didn't really go with anything so we passed. It was time for lunch! We went to the same place as last night and feasted to over-full.

After saying goodbye to Rahul, we continued in the car with Uday, back through the city and across the bridge, to visit the Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah, more easily and commonly known as Baby Taj. The building is another mausoleum, and it's quite beautiful, though unfair to compare after seeing the Taj in the morning. Where they could really use some work here is on the grounds and surrounding area. I was surprised given how long this area has been a massive tourist attraction that the government hadn't made a better effort.

The interior of the mausoleum was not lit, but the ceiling was quite beautiful.

It was time to head back to Deli and close out this leg of our trip. Uday and I chatted most of the four hour drive to the nations Capitol. We were so happy to have him - it was a really nice way to spend these two days - safe, secure, effecient and great company. Of course, no road trip would be complete without some awkward car dozing pics...

Beth insists she was just staring out the top of the window the while time, but I've seen this move many times....

You know, India, like many places in the world, is a country that thrives on tourism. The country is so big that it has the luxury of not "depending" on it. There are always stories about bad things that happen, threats from home or abroad, natural disasters and more than can easily cause a dramatic drop in tourism - I'm sure we'll see more direct evidence of that in Nepal. You really do have to wade through the negativity, plan and take precautions accordingly, then look for the joys that travel can bring.

We have had an amazing time in India, and being taken care of by Uday these last two days, and learning from him, it has really hit home to Beth and I what an incredible country this is. Yes, it has 1.2 billion or so people so it can feel crowded and a little crazy at times... But within all that there is a vibrant county of countries with fabulous personalities, food and sights that are unlike anywhere in the world. With India, you can have many different kinds of experiences, largely dependant on how much money you want to spend, and how much you want to put yourself out there and interest rather than overview with the people. We spent the right money in the right places and made an effort to meet people and engage, and I think the girls have had a very positive experience here.

We will be back to this amazing country sooner than later.

Day 138: Agra. Crazy Agra.

We woke to the sounds of chaiwalas going up and down the aisles of the train. Our ETA in Delhi was just after 11:00am, and after a little check on my GPS, it looked like we were making great progress. The trip from Jaisalmer was a whopping 950km. The entire train system in India is actually gigantic - the government company that runs the system is the largest employer of people in the world - and it has a fairly good reputation for delivering "close to" on time services (they even have an online database where you can check on time arrival statistics for every train).

We were almost exactly on time when we got to Old Delhi station. As soon as we got out of our train, we were me by our driver, Uday. I'd arranged a driver with DIPT, a well reviewed custom driver and tour company run by a guy named Pawan. Pawan had been extremely responsive and helpful coming up with a good itinerary for our planned trip from the Delhi train station, to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and other sites, then back to Delhi the next day in preparation for an early flight to Kathmandu on Tuesday morning.

We immediately took to Uday. He was about 6'3", very professional and calm, with a dry sense of humour that came out the more we talked.

From '97, Beth and I had a pretty negative view of Delhi. We did not have the best experience - mostly due to staying in cheap, crappy accommodation which is never good in a big city, much less a large Indian city. I have to say, within fifteen minutes of starting our drive through and beyond Delhi, I was completely turned around. Delhi is a huge city: it has three world heritage sites, 40,000 parks, 25 million people or so, and is the seat of the National government. The old city and new city are totally different, with New Delhi reflecting a more modern, British designed street system with thousands of large trees shading the wide boulevards. Old Delhi is the overcrowded, hodge podge you would expect of most large Indian cities.

When we got to the new expressway the runs from South Delhi to Agra, we were suddenly in the middle of farm country - it looked like we were on the 401 between Brantford and London. Because it was a private, toll road, the highway was empty.

Uday talked and talked - not incessantly in an annoying way - he was very engaging and more than happy to talk about anything. One story he brought up that we found fascinating was how he got married. He was 25 when his sister came to him and said she'd found a girl for him. He told her he wasn't interested - he felt he needed a couple of more years of work to establish himself. His sister said she had to humour the girl's family, and invited them over for the first step in the arranged marriage process - the interview of the man. So they all came over (the girl's family, not the girl herself!) to meet Uday, and get to know him with a series of grilling questions.

Uday thought that was that. Unbeknownst to him, his brothers and sister went to do the same process with the girl shortly thereafter (these interviews can be brutal... We later heard of people asking the prospective bride to sing, and to do a catwalk for them to check out her legs (and ass presumably?)). His sister later called him and said "we made a contract with the girl's family, so you're getting married!". What? There were many fights and arguments after that, Uday explained.

Protests aside, Uday was to be married. Two months later, the process started with a small wedding party at his house (no bride yet) where they finalized all of the legal paperwork. Six days later (it has to coincide with something in the Hindu calendar) they would have the ring ceremony where he was finally able to lay eyes on his new wife. He said it was very awkward and uncomfortable.... But yada, yada, yada, and eight years and one child later, he is very happily married (yes, I just yada yada'ed eight years of marriage and one kid). He laughs about it now, but I'm sure it was not fun at the time.

We had a ton of questions, but it all boiled down to this: I used to always look at it from the bride and groom's perspective and think it would suck to not know who you were going to marry (I still do!) but I never thought about the amount of pressure on the "suitor managers" (in Uday's case his sister and two brothers). In a way, the bride and groom just have to go along with everything, but the team choosing and interviewing prospects has a ton of pressure on their shoulders - they're responsible for choosing a mate for their friend/brother/sister and they will hear about it for years to come - that's pressure!

It was a fun and very informative drive.

Uday got calls from contacts in Agra that things were pretty packed on the roads. Apparently, the Ganesha festival that we saw in Mumbai was really starting to become a big thing in Agra. This was Sunday, the last day of the festival, and it wasn't long before we were crawling along the streets of outer Agra, watching the hilarity outside. There were dozens of trucks filled with twenty or more (mostly) men who were in the mood to party. Most were covered with blue, pink or yellow die powder that they were throwing all over the place. It was really like watching a bit of a train wreck outside the windows of our cool, clean private car.

Agra is a bit fucking crazy... I can't describe it any other way. At any time out the window we could see cows, goats, monkeys and dogs, in the streets with motos, cars, Tuk tuks, truk truks, buses, trucks and tractors, weaving in and out of people walking amongst the traffic selling books, chips, crafts, magic tricks and window washing all surrounded on both sides of the street with vendors, people working on repairing things, buildings built on top of other buildings in a haphazard way, and lost souls sitting watching the activity. If that sounds like a run-on sentence, it's because Agra is a giant run-on sentence - short, well constructed sentences just don't cover Agra. Add to all of that, the Ganesh festival activities.

We got to our hotel at around four thirty, and since our plan was to see the Taj across the river for sunset, we had twenty minutes to freshen up. It was pretty sweet when Abby and I got in our room and saw how nice it was....

Well, we must be pretty experienced travellers by now, because within twenty minutes we were all showered and changed and downstairs meeting our local guide, Rahul. I'd actually forgotten that our package from DIPT included meals, entry fees and a local guide, so this was continuing to look good.

The drive back through the city and across the bridge to the other side of the river was.....amazing. Honestly, it was like being in a parade slowly moving through the movie "Brazil" - it was so weird, yet so wonderful. The people were really jacked up and having a lot of fun. We were playing the part of the celebrities sitting inside the car with doors locked and windows up. I took a short sample video, but this was really just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Eventually, we did make it across the river and over to the park that was directly across the Yamuna River to the Taj Mahal. I got chills when I first saw it again, even at a distance. It is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen - it's one of those things that looks amazing in photos but somehow pictures do not do it justice.... Does that even make sense?

The Taj is completely symmetrical, so catching it at sunset across the river really shows it in a nice light that you can't see from the front side.

We were standing on the footings for the building that was never built - the exact copy of the Taj Mahal was to be made out of black marble / onyx on this site, but it never materialized. We made sure not to go ahead the deep pit.....

The other aspect of seeing the Taj from that side was so you could see the full structure, including the beautiful, huge, red stone and marble buildings that usually end up as foot notes that lie on either side of the main building. The Taj is so huge that when you're facing it from the front, you can't actually get a picture to fit those two buildings together with the Taj (see above).

The river was dry so it was half filled with willows that shone brightly in the setting sun. The girls were charged.... Just pumped!

After the sun set, we made our way back into town to dinner. We went to a buffet place that catered mostly to tourists but was excellent. The guides and drivers are given free meals for bringing the tourists here but to me they served as judges of good food - and they were all eating heartily. The food was actually very good.

We have an early morning tomorrow - up for sunrise at the Taj Mahal.... We can't wait!