Advantages of having a Den in India

Den's been getting a lot of attention from the gentlemen here in India.  I think it's likely to be the height and the blonde hair, though she's assured me she finds it less than enamouring.  I've found one plus side though  When negotiating prices for tuktuks and such like, she seems to immediately get offered prices that would take me an age to haggle down to.  From now on I'm letting her do all of the negotiating.

We spent a few days in Jaipur.  It's known as the pink city, as the whole of the old town was painted pink to celebrate a royal visit in the 19th century and has remained like that since.  1st day there was one of doing nothing, and then we had a day shopping.  Our most important purchase was a new umbrella (sunshade) for Den as the last one was misplaced a couple of days ago in a rickshaw.  When we eventually got round to sightseeing, there were some lovely forts and historic buildings to see in the local area.

Our favourites were.... first off, Amber Fort.  Set in hills 11km north of the city. The fort's battlements follow the jagged hills for miles beyond the citadel.  There was a festival on at the time we visited so the crowds were large and the hawkers on the march up to the gatehouse were unrelenting.  But once inside, the crowds dispersed in the narrow maze of corridors around the main palace. 

From there we moved on to the Jantar Mantar Observatory, which I remembered from a BBC documentary as containing some wonderfully designed scientific instruments.  Mostly still in full working order, I found it very exciting to be able to wander around them and read the time off a 300 year old, 30m high sundial and to find my watch to be a minute slow.

Had a look around the ostentatious City Palace, which still today houses the  Maharajahs, their current seven story abode was a little more bling than the average home in India it is fair to say. 

From Jaipur we caught the sleeper train to Jaisalmer.  More visiting forts ensued.  This one built of sandstone and very imposing with views for miles across the desert scrub.

Went shopping, and ended up being given an impromptu tour of an old town house that belonged to one of the merchants, whose great, great, great, great etc  grandfather had served in the court of the Maharajah.  He was hoping to use the proceeds from his shop to turn the house into a museum.  I hope he does.  I think it's the not so stately homes that give the most interesting insights into the past.

In the evening we took a Camel ride in the desert to watch the sun go down over the sand dunes.  A bit of a cliché, but what a lovely way to end the day, especially as we were met on arrival by a man who sold me a cold(ish) beer.  For a price.

We tried to get a train back to Delhi for the following day so that we could make for Amritsar, but it was fully booked, so we've had an extra day of reading and pottering around the shops while waiting for tomorrow.  Will have to remember to make sure we book our tickets well in advance next time.

We stopped long enough in Delhi to witness the “improvements” that they have made to the backpacker's ghetto in preparation for the Commonwealth games. Interestingly they decided that the crowded Main Bazar street would look a little more elegant if it was a little wider.  To achieve this they removed the front rooms from all the buildings for maybe half a kilometre along the road.  While a bit drastic, it does make the street look a lot more spacious.  Unfortunately they failed to attach new fronts to the buildings in time for the start of the games. In fact, they didn't even get close to finishing the job.  For the time being therefore, if you look up, away from the gathering swarm of hawkers at street level, you can peer into the shopkeepers homes above.  Must be most disconcerting. 

Stayed more than long enough to decide that our hotel wasn't the best, then headed north to Amritsar.  It was a comparatively painless 8 hours on the train, and our hotel was immediately opposite the train station.  Spent a few days there, taking in the sights, foremost among which was the golden temple, also doing a bit of shopping and seemingly rather a lot of time looking for book stores that have recently closed down.  Very frustrating.  And as a result of which, I ended up having to read one of Den's trashy girly novels. 

India & the Commonwealth Games

Just when we thought we were comfortable with riding our tandem around in Asia and being used the generally poor driving, we hit India.  Fine on the rural roads.  Suicidal once you hit a town on a loaded tandem with a trailer.  No one expects a push bike to be so long, and they don't drive with a margin for error.  Scary!!

More importantly (for me - Rich) my ribs are still causing me discomfort from where I bashed them a month ago.  We now have 3 weeks before we head off to South America, via home, and I wanted to make sure that I am 100% fit for that. So after we got close enough to Delhi to be able to load up a taxi, we decided to give my bruised ribs a rest and to finish up the Asia leg of our trip a few miles early... .is that wrong??

For our holiday from cycling, we're going to be relaxing in Delhi, going to the track cycling at the games and having a train based tour of northern India.  We are currently in the medieval fortress city of Gwalior, 100km south of Agra.  We saw the Taj Mahal a few days ago, and for once I came away without feeling that the reality doesn't live up to the hype.  It's amazing!!  It's even worth running the gauntlet of hard sell touts and hawkers for. 

The trains have been a pleasant surprise too.  Normally I'm an avid exponent of the view that the best way to see a country is by bicycle.  But with the driving in India, for the moment, taking the train seems the ideal way for us to get around.