Our two-week itinerary in India took us to six cities: Agra (Taj Mahal), Jaipur, Delhi, Amritsar, Dharamshala, and Varanasi. This post covers our itinerary in pictures.
AGRA
Our first stop was Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Since we knew we were going to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise the next day, we headed straight to our hotel to thoroughly enjoy its amenities. Paul dipped in the pool while I enjoyed some “sev papadi chaat” (say that three times!). It’s their versions of crisps, covered in yogurt, tamarind, and pomegranate. It beats a chilly cheese fry any day!
Enjoying Oberoi in Agra, India.
The next morning, we visited the Taj Mahal. This monument is one of a few we’ve seen that is even more beautiful than the pictures – it truly took our breath away.
Beautiful Taj Mahal (Agra, India)
It was commission in 1632 by Shah Jahan of the Mughal reign. The Taj Mahal was built out of love for his favorite wife who died giving birth to their 14th child. I told Paul I didn’t need such a monument, but I would appreciate only one wife!
Smiling after agreeing to no monument and only one spouse.
Several years after the Taj Mahal was completed, Shah Jahan was held under house arrest by his son where he was confined to one room. His dying wish was to be buried next to his wife; so the Taj Mahal houses both their tombs.
Red Fort (where Shah Jahan was held in house arrest by his son). His room was to the left of the arches below. He had a view of his masterpiece, the Taj Mahal, shown in the picture on top.
The Taj Mahal is built out of non-porous Indian Marble, the hardest marble in the world, which is how the Taj Mahal has kept its beauty and form for millennia. The Quran is inscripted in the monument.
Intricate detail of Taj Mahal
It took 22 years to build and is decorated with precious and semi precious stones. Unfortunately it was Shah Jahan’s attention to this detail and not the detail of running his empire that led to the neglect of his kingdom and his ultimate demise. I guess love can make us do some pretty crazy things.
We ended up buying our own souvenir that had the same Indian marble and stones used on the Taj Mahal so we could remember its beauty and its symbol of love.
After our sunrise visit, we made a few more stops before heading to our next city.
We visited the “Little Taj” pictured above, said to have inspired the Taj Mahal.
Jaipur was our next stop and was a real treat as it was our first opportunity to walk around a populated and bustling Indian City.
Market in Old Jaipur
While staying in Jaipur, we had to do the quintessential tour of Amber Fort. Amber was the first main city in this region until they need to modernize and expand, which is how neighboring Jaipur was ultimately built. This is similar to what’s happening in certain cities today; Egypt plans to move its entire capital city of Cairo to the east of today’s Cairo due to overpopulation and lack of water. Paul captured a few pics of this Old City’s fort and its beautiful surroundings.
Amber Fort (Old fortress used before modern city of Jaipur was built)
“Modern” Jaipur was built in the 18th century and is now known as the “Pink City”; a mandate was made to paint the city pink to welcome the Prince of Wales in the 1800s. This tradition still holds true today. Thankfully, other traditions have been abandoned; the picture below shows how women used to hide behind windows in order to watch the goings-on in the world.
Palace of the Wind, Pink City (Jaipur, India). Has over 900 windows so women could watch the streets below in the “old” days.
My favorite part of Jaipur was experiencing two budding enterprises. I took a jaunt out to the village of Bagru to learn the ancient art of block printing from an entrepreneur who is preserving this craft and selling his wears online. I did my part by printing along-side the artisans!
Me block printing in Bagru (near Jaipur, India)
We also visited a rescue-elephant farm. This farm is run by someone who listened to tourists’ concerns about the treatment of elephants and is now making a living rescuing elephants and giving tourists a different perspective. I don’t know what Paul was in previous life but he an our elephant Annu treated one another like lifelong friends.
Up-close-and-personal at rescue elephant farm (Jaipur, India)
Next we were off to Delhi, where we got a taste of the Old and New. We started in the Old City where the narrow streets were even more crowded than Old Jaipur. Our guide took us to all parts of the market and I enjoyed buying some beautiful stationary at the Kinari (wedding) Bazar for next to nothing. We capped the evening with a rickshaw ride for a reprieve from the crowds.
Rickshaw ride along Chandi Chowk in Old Delhi
To contrast the old, we toured New Delhi. The wide leafy avenues and impressive government buildings built under British influence reminded us of my favorite city, Washington D.C.
Wide streets of New Delhi, built during British influence in 19th and 20th centuries.
As we mentioned in our previous post, one of the more moving sites in New Delhi was Gandhi’s burial site, where we appreciated the significance this one man had in creating the independent country we see today.
Commemoration site of Gandhi’s assassination
In Delhi, we also got a taste of Muslim influence in spite of the Hindu majority. We even visited a community where we saw hundreds perhaps thousands of people performing mystical Sufi rituals (Sufism is a mystical aspect of Islam whose music, dancing, and other rituals are supposed to put oneself in a transcendent state of oneness with God). Interestingly, it appeared that Muslim and Hindu alike participated in the ceremonies.
Throngs of people participating in Sufi rituals in community in Delhi. Pictures depict people, rituals, and offerings and location is the tomb of a deceased Sufi Saint. (Delhi)
AMRITSAR (In Punjab Region)
Next we were off to the city of Amritsar. Probably best known for the mono-colored turbans and not cutting hair, the Sikh religion was founded in this region. We visited the Sikh’s most holy site, The Golden Temple. All Sikhs are expected to make a pilgrimage to this temple and bathe in its healing waters at some point in their life.
Night view of Golden Temple in Amritsar, made of marble and gold
What we admired most about this site was was that they have a community kitchen on the temple grounds that feeds over 100,000 people daily regardless of race, color, religion, or gender. Everyone is expected to pitch in and volunteer, so I found myself rolling chapatis pictured in bottom left. I was told that if you can roll a “round” chapati, you are quite the eligible bachelorette.
Golden Temple Grounds (bottom left is me rolling chapatis and right shows the throngs of people being fed daily in the community kitchen)
We also came to learn that the most observant of the Sikh’s are the “warriors”. They not only forgo cutting their hair, but they commit to other acts such as carrying a weapon at all times (including when you sleep or swim).
Sikh Warrior with weapon always affixed to his body
We were struck by the sense of ritual and symbolism. Every day and every night, the holy Sikh scriptures have a going-to-sleep ceremony and a waking-up ceremony. Throngs and throngs of people attend this ceremony daily and we joined for the evening ritual.
Nightly ceremony of putting the Sikh scriptures to sleep for the night
Amritsar is not only about the Sikh religion. While in Amritsar, we also visited a large (and unusual) Hindu Temple. We got a taste of the over 33 million Gods that the Hindus worship; they have a God for everything, and they continue adding more so the number keeps going up! While we don’t want to minimize this Hindu Temple’s importance to its patrons, we couldn’t help but compare it to a carnival with its colors, dolls, statues, and creatures, each worshiping a different God and different aspect of life. Check out the tiger and lion mouths that Paul and I posed in front of.
Large, colorful and carnival-like Hindu Temple in Amritsar, India
In spite of their 33+ million Gods, we did gain an appreciation for the three main Hindu deities. All our guides were Hindu and hammered home the acronym “G.O.D” to remember the three key Hindu Gods. “G” is for Brahma (the “generator”), “O” is for Vishnu (the “operator”), and “D” is for Shiva (the “destroyer”). It seems like quite a few religions honor some form of this trinity.
DHARAMSHALA
After our short visit in Amritsar, we were off to Dharamshala where the 14th Dalai Lama and his Tibetan community have lived in exile since 1959. The Dalai Lama was speaking at the Main Temple, something he does a few times a year. We planned our itinerary around this unique opportunity to see and hear him. We wish we could show you pictures of this temple and the talk, but no phones or cameras were allowed. We could only capture the outside, pictured below.
Tibet in Exhile (The gates to Dalai Lama residences and Main Temple)
One of the reasons I am enthralled with the current Dalai Lama is his push for spreading secular ethics in light of his Buddhist religiosity. He also credits Christianity for their historical commitment to education, something he wishes to emulate with both Buddhist and secular ethical teachings. He started his teachings by reinforcing this message.
Young students filing out of Dalai Lama’s teachings
Dharamshala is in the foothills of the Himalayas and has become a mecca for tourists; the week the Dalai Lama was speaking was no different. We don’t love throngs of tourists, so the day after attending his teachings we trekked in the nearby mountains. I have to brag that we were told we should leave 8 hours for the round trip; we nailed it in 3.5 hours flat. We arrived at the top to a perfect mirage, which I stopped to admire and Paul captured this perspective.
Trek to Triun, Dharamshala
Our speedy trek gave us time to explore the Tibetan medicine and astrological museum later that day. We ordered our astrology readings, which will be sent to us via mail in a few months. Supposedly it will also tell us (hopefully confirm!?!) our compatability. We also explored tapestries demonstrating how the human body works; we laughed at this tapestry which we coined “The Male Mind”.
Tibetan Medicine Museum, we named this tapestry “The Male Mind”
VARANASI
Our final stop in India was Varanasi, considered by many to be India’s holiest city. This was Paul’s favorite Indian City as he liked its energy. I agree, its pulse can be seen, felt, and heard. It’s replete with brilliant colors, endless rituals, and smells that stay with you for days.
Brilliant Varanasi (Picture from the Ganges)
Varanasi is one of the worlds oldest continually inhabited cities, dating back to about 1200 BC. It is dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva, the “Destroyer” (in the Hindu religion, destruction can mean the liberation from the cycle of birth and death, something that many strive for). Hindu pilgims come from everywhere to Varanasi to wash away their sins or to cremate their loved ones. For many, coming here is a dream come true.
Varanasi’s Great and Holy Crematorium (picture taken from Ganges using our highest zoom as we didn’t want to disturb any holy ceremonies)
In Varanasi, the quintessential activity for tourists is a boat ride along the Ganges at night and/or at sunrise. We did both, feasting our eyes on the many colors and on the pilgrims performing rituals along the “ghats”. The “ghats” are the steps along the Ganges, of which there are 84 different locations with 5 being the most holy.
Holy dip in the Ganges (at the ghats in Varanasi)
Pilgrims bathing in holy Ganges, Varanasi
We ended our time in Varanasi with a tour of the narrow streets in the oldest parts of the city. Paul captured the faces of the city before we settled into a cup of masala chai using India’s version of disposable cups, made from pottery.
Paul captured the faces of Varanasi
Cheers to our last stop in India with Masala Chai in disposable pottery cups, Varanasi
Varanasi was our grand finale in India. It also marked the half-way point of our trip. So with that we were off to Nepal to experience the pinnacle — literally and figuratively!
Paul says goodbye to India and hello to Nepal!
enjoyed every paragraph of this incredible tip and achievement…..photos and dialogue
incredible….kudos and love to you both, nouna