Adventures in India — Patti Part Two

We spent 16 days in India and went to 9 different areas. Did I mention that India is a very large country? The 7th largest country in the world and a population of more than 1.7 billion! We started in the northern part in the capitol city of Delhi and then went west, central and east. We didn’t get into the south which we were told is another whole trip that hopefully someday I will return to see. We took 3 flights, 2 trains and numerous bus rides to get to these areas after arriving in Delhi, and saw more than I could cover in an entire book let alone a blog. So this post might be a two cup of coffee long post or better yet a large glass of wine! Thanks for coming along!

A common question I have been asked is how long a flight is it to India - so let me start there. It’s LONG! I flew first to Chicago and spent the night. Then we boarded an Emirates flight from Chicago to Dubai - that was 12 and a half hours long getting there and 14 and a half on the return. Then from Dubai to Delhi is 3 hours going and 4 hours on the return. The good news is that Emirates is an excellent airline - this was my first time to fly with them and it was impressive. Even in economy the seats are bigger and there is more leg room. The food is good and it seems they are offering you something frequently. In fact they give you a little zipper clutch that has comfy socks, a sleep mask, toothbrush and toothpaste and a set of stickers to put on your seat to instruct them if you would like to be woken for food or just left to sleep. A nice option on such a long flight. We just spent a few hours in Dubai on our layover and didn’t leave the airport but the airport is very fancy. Lots of great places to eat and beautiful restrooms and lounge areas. And definitely great people watching!

Our super fun flight attendant Jay! Do Cindy and I look excited? We are!

So here goes! Going to do my best to cover our itinerary and hit the highlights of each spot.

Delhi -

Delhi is the capital of India and its big. We got there very early in the morning and instead of going to bed we hired a driver and headed out to see a few sites. First up the Lotus Temple.

A marvel in white marble built in the shape of a lotus flower. Surrounded by 9 pools of water.

Next Humayun’s Tomb. Built in 1565 for the Mughal Emperor it is now a UNESCO Heritage site.

It was a large property with multiple tomb’s and beautiful gardens.

Qutub Minar which is a 5 story tower and surrounding area built in the 12th century. Also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The iron pole in the bottom right picture is a mystery. Forged more than 1600 years ago and nearly 24 feet tall and weighing more than 6 tons, it should have fallen to dust and blown away long ago. It doesn’t even have any major traces of rust so scientists continue to debate its mystery.

We also took a rickshaw ride to explore Old Delhi - the original Delhi which is over 400 years old. The traffic was total insanity and there are no cars or buses allowed. It was all motorbikes, rickshaws, carts, cows and people. All kinds of little shops and street vendors selling pineapple, kiwi, figs, live chickens, goats, clothing, shoes, tires, toys, ceramic pots etc. There were massive jumbles of electrical wires wound around telephone poles - clearly not up to code😂

One of the few McDonalds we saw but they of course don’t sell hamburgers. They sell veggie burgers, chicken wraps and fish. It seemed to be pretty popular.

Udaipur -

We flew from Delhi to Udaipur which is located south and west of Delhi. Considered to be the gateway to Rajasthan which is an area (kind of like a state within India) known for its palaces and forts. There are 37 different “states” within India and they each have their own capital. Udaipur was beautiful! We stayed in an amazing hotel which was in a refurbished 107 year old palace overlooking a gorgeous lake.

The pictures don’t do it justice - it was incredible!

We took a boat ride around Lake Pichola and saw numerous palaces and stopped at an island to explore one of the summer palaces of the royal family called Jagmandir.

Greeted by a row of Ganesh elephants continuing to bring us good luck. Spectacular gardens and a perfect place to watch the sunset on the water.

The next day we took a stroll through town to reach the City Palace which we had seen from the lake the night before.

So many spectacular details throughout the palace. Lots of jewels used to decorate the walls and courtyards.

Bottom right was the royal swing. Used according to folklore for some royal monkey business!

Jaipur -

We went by bus to Jaipur which is the capital city of Rajasthan. It is often referred to as The Pink City because the surrounding wall and all the buildings are a pink salmon color. The bus ride was interesting as it was very rural and we saw lots of locals working by hand in their fields, carrying water on their heads and children playing. There was lots to see in Jaipur. First up Hawa Mahal. Note the pink salmon color of the facade. Hawa Mahal was a palace built with 953 windows so all the ladies of the court could look out onto the street but not be seen.

Next up another City Palace. This place was huge and had three different main buildings to tour.

Colorful outfits for the guards in pink.

Amber Fort another UNESCO World Heritage Site and India’s former seat of power. People used to arrive on elephants and you can still do that if you had time.

Below Amber Fort and heading up via a crazy Jeep ride.

So much detail in the interior rooms with silver and gold. Multiple temples and courtyards. We were there for quite a few hours as there was so much to see.

Another really unique place we toured was Jantar Mantar. It is an astronomical observatory built in 1726 by Sawai Jai Singh who was fascinated by astronomy.

Behind me is the largest ever sundial! That’s just half of it - the other half is on the left side of the giant staircase.

We had a unique opportunity that night to have dinner with a local family in their home. Really a trip highlight for me. They were warm and welcoming to their beautiful home along with their darling daughters. They did a cooking demonstration for us and shared their traditions and culture. The girls did some traditional dancing for us and some of us even joined in to learn.

Top right is a special Diwali dessert called Jalebi. Looked like a lot of work to me but it was very sweet and delicious. The bottom left is a little temple in their back yard where they meditate and do yoga.

Ranthambore National Park -

One of the many truly memorable parts of the trip was to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. We’re hoping to spot a Royal Bengal tiger or two on our safaris - and our Ganesh brought us the luck we needed to accomplish this! We were staying at a place called Juna Mahal, and Ajay was very vague as to what kind of accommodations they would be. Cindy convinced me that we would be staying in glorified tents and I made up my mind to take whatever came right in stride. Much to all our surprise Juna Mahal was a palatial resort that just blew us away.

Top right is the door to our suite. Loved our massive lock and gorgeous pool!

We checked in, ate lunch and changed to head out on safari number one. Even if we didn’t see any tigers they promised us lots of other wildlife. We saw tons of monkeys, all different kinds of deer, alligators and too many exotic birds to count. And yes we saw a huge tiger! There is a great preservation effort happening in India to protect the tigers, so absolutely no hunting is allowed anywhere and if caught the penalty is severe. To say we were all excited is an understatement. It was truly a thrill. The next morning we were out early to try and see more animals and succeeded again in seeing a tiger. This one was a female so quite a bit smaller but she was on the move. Not running but just walking through the woods and so graceful.

Top right is a canter which is like a large open Jeep. Bottom left Cindy and I right after we saw lion number 1 - otherwise known as Male 57. All the tigers in the reserve are catalogued by their size and features.

Top 2 are Male 57 and bottom is the female named Arrowhead. The male had massive paws! Probably weighed about 800 pounds.

In the afternoon Cindy and I took a walk back into the little village to take some pictures. The majority of people and children we encountered were friendly and didn’t mind us taking pictures. The two pictures on the right side are a couple of locals cutting branches from a tree to feed the goat herd.

Middle picture on the left is a dung hut.

Agra -

We left Ranthambore early the next morning and took the train to the closest town to Agra where our bus met us to take us the rest of the way. Agra is where the Taj Mahal is located, and we were all very excited to check that off our bucket list. The Taj Mahal is one of the 7 wonders of the modern world and in my opinion the ultimate symbol of love. It was built as a tomb and expression of love by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal in the 17th century. It took 22 years to build and 20,000 men. While it always looks magnificant in pictures they really don’t do it justice. Up close you see the intricate marble carvings all inset with precious stones.

You do get to go inside to see her tomb, and the tomb of the King off to the left. They say during the monsoon the water drips from the ceiling onto her tomb and it has been impossible to correct this problem. It doesn’t drip anywhere else so I guess they really are tears.

Every colored piece is a gemstone that was first carved into the marble and then hand cut to fit perfectly.

Cindy and I from what is called the Lady Diana bench. Not created for Lady Diana but she was photographed sitting on it when she visited and has since become the Lady Diana bench. A perfect vantage point!

The Taj Mahal is not the only thing to see in Agra. There is also the huge Agra Fort which was the seat of the Mughal Empire.

We took a tour and it was amazing. It’s also where the Emperor that had the Taj Mahal built was imprisoned the last 9 years of his life by his son that overthrew him. They could make a movie out of this story! But his son wasn’t totally heartless. The Emperor could stand on his balcony and see the Taj Mahal even though he couldn’t visit it.

The bottom right picture is of the apartments that housed the women who lived behind each door specifically for the “entertainment” of the imprisoned Emperor.

Orchha -

We took another train from Agra to Orchha where a new bus met us. We stopped in the town of Orchha to see the ancient Cenotaphs. They are in the early stages of renovation because they are thousands of years old, and are basically tombs or monuments erected to honor people whose remains are buried elsewhere or have been moved.

The best part of our stop in Orchha was seeing many of the locals at the river that runs through town bathing and washing their clothing in anticipation of Diwali. Diwali which is the Festival of Lights is a time of birth and renewal. Out with the old and in with the new. So everything must be cleaned and if possible painted and refurbished. No one in town has running water so the river is where the cleaning happens, and the people were friendly and willing to engage with us and have their pictures taken.

We stopped at an old hunting lodge along the river for lunch and the people were so nice. The gentleman in the top left greeted us by ringing the bell, a traditional greeting in that area. The woman in the middle was helping to build a patio along the river by carrying cement on her head. And the sweet man on the left showed us proudly to the river after lunch and picked each of the ladies some beautiful local flowers.

Khajuraho -

After a crazy 4 hour bus ride we made it to Khajuraho - another UNESCO World Heritage Site because of it’s group of ancient temples. The temples are often referred to as the “erotic” temples because of some of the carvings, but the guide was quick to point out they are only 2 to 3% of the total amount of carvings. The temples are thousands of years old and the quality is incredible!

Going to just let these next pictures speak for themselves! No comment!

The amount of carvings on each temple is mind blowing. You could spend weeks examining each one in detail. I just thought this next picture turned out cool.

Inside one of the temples - an ancient ladder.

Varanasi -

Heading to our last spot - but such an important one in the Hindu religion. We flew from Khajuraho to Varanasi which is located on the eastern side of India. It is the most sacred Hindu city, like the Vatican to Christians and Mecca to Muslims. The River Ganges flows through it, and is known for the Ghats - the banks of the river where people ritually cleanse themselves of their sins and burn the bodies of the deceased. We had two opportunities to experience these very moving rituals - evening and sunrise. Every single night of the year a ceremony occurs that is attended by thousands of people called Ganga Aarti. It is a spiritually uplifting ceremony to honor the River Goddess Ganga and fire and smoke and chanting all occur to name just a few.

We watched it from a boat out on the river.

It goes on for quite awhile and you can purchase these small votives to light and send out to float on the river. You do it in honor of a loved one that has passed and you can also make a wish.

We did go to the area on the river where they burn the bodies and that was really an experience I’ll never forget. In the Hindu religion the bodies must be cremated within 48 hours of passing, and there is a lot of rituals as to how the body is prepared and who lights the fire and can be present. For obvious reasons they ask that no photos be taken and I of course obliged.

We were up early the next morning which was actually Diwali to see the sunrise on the Ganges, again from a boat. We got another opportunity to light votives and how cute is this little guy selling them?

There were lots of people bathing in the river to spiritually cleanse their sins.

When I say there is always something interesting to see in India I am not kidding! Here are pictures of two Sadhus - people that shun all comforts in life and cover themselves in ash. The man on the right in the middle is kind of like a priest that will bless you and pray over you, and the bottom picture of the woman selling sticks is to use as toothbrushes - and we saw people using them! Incredible India!

Sarnath -

Lastly we made a trip to Sarnath which is a town right by Varanasi where Buddha gave his first sermon to his first 5 disciples. There is a beautiful temple there now along with statues to commemorate this sermon under the tree.

Whew! This took me almost as much time to put together as taking the trip! But it helped me relive every incredible moment. I have one more post I want to write about the Artisans of India that we were fortunate enough to visit - so check back soon for that if you are interested.

Namaste🙏🏻