Yum: Hanoi’s Addictive Street Food
Oh boy, where do I begin? Northern Vietnam had hands down my favorite cuisine of the 20+ countries we visited over the past year (note: I do not feel it would be fair to include Italy in the running for ...
Cat Ba Island: Taking the Plunge
With our time in Vietnam running a bit short, and having gotten our exposure to the countryside and mountains on our motorbiking trip, and to city life with a few days in Hanoi, we decided what was missing was some ...
Motorbiking in Northeastern Vietnam
Before visiting Southeast Asia, we weren't big motorbiking enthusiasts; in fact, Claudia's motorbiking experience consisted entirely of a few anxiety-ridden hours in Europe many years ago, and mine consisted of crashing a small toy bike into a fence in Portland, ...
History, Religion, and Yogurt in the Kathmandu Valley
A few days after a precarious exit from India, my dad met us in Kathmandu: he had been looking for a chance to catch up with us somewhere along our journey, and something about Nepal piqued his interest. A few weeks earlier, he pulled the trigger on a flight, spent some time researching the mountain kingdom, and joined us. Looking no worse for the considerable wear of 40 hours of travel, he arrived midday on a Monday and we spent the next day and a half seeing the historical and religious sights around the Kathmandu valley before heading into the Himalayan foothills for a short trek.
The Kathmandu valley has been inhabited for many thousands of years, but has been connected to the outside world by roads for only around 50, and by air for just a bit longer than that. It has historically been an important stopping point on the trade route between northern India and Tibet, and has been held sacred by Buddhists for centuries, its circular shape being referred to as an enormous mandala, befitting of its place as a location of immense spiritual significance.
Welcome to Nepal!
Our first stop was Swayambhu stupa, only a few kilometers' uphill walk from our hotel, but one of the oldest and most revered sites in the valley. Legend has it that the entire valley was once submerged in a huge, snake-infested lake, but 91 aeons ago, a lotus flower, one of the most potent symbols in Buddhism, appeared miraculously on the surface of the lake in the very location of the hill Swayambhu sits atop, leading the the eventual draining and habitation of the valley. The flower is said to have been self-created (the literal translation of the word Swayambhu), and thus extremely holy, so the hill and the stupas and temples on top of it have been worshipped for thousands of years. The current dome probably dates to the fifth century.
Buddha at Swayambhu
After a tasty Tibetan meal and some much-needed rest for all of us, we hired a car the next day to see some of the more far-flung attractions in the valley.
The first stop of the day was Changu Narayan, a Hindu temple also dating from around the fifth century, but the current buildings having been reconstructed around 1700. The site contained many small shrines and stone carvings to various dieties, and some very ornate wooden roof supports. One interesting fact is that there is a stone image of the Hindu god Vishnu residing inside the temple. It is said to sweat from time to time, indicating that the represented God is battling with foes in the spirit world, and the cloth used to wipe his brow is held as a sacred relic and is reputed to guard against snake bites.
Changu Narayan Temple
Although my dad was quite impressed with the simple temple, Claudia and I might have had a wee bit of a temple hangover from India, so we hurried along to our second destination, the ancient city of Bhaktapur.
This proved to be our favorite site of the day, the Nepali capital from around 1200-1500, and still remarkably well preserved. We spent a few pleasant hours strolling the ancient city's narrow streets and visiting numerous temples, shrines, and public squares. We even tried the city's signature yogurt snack, known locally as the king of curds. Maybe not as impressive as a snakebite-preventing rag, but this city's claim to fame is as the site where the early Keanu Reeves classic, Little Buddha was filmed in 1995.
Nyatapola (Five-Tiered Temple) in Bhaktapur
The King of Curds
Next up was Pashupatinath, another Hindu sacred site. Here, on the shores of the Bagmati river, the devout congregate to cremate their dead since this river--albeit little more than a polluted trickle when we saw it--flows into the Ganges in Varanasi, India. We had dogeared another nearby site, Gorakhnath, for a potential visit because of its prominent place in a story we had been following since our arrival in India. The story goes that Shiva married a woman named Sati who, offended by an insult and in a fit of rage, jumped into a fire to her death. Shiva, stricken with grief, retrieved her corpse and flew all over the subcontinent, scattering her remains. The sites where each of the 51 pieces fell are held as sacred among Shiva-worshippers, and while we had visited one or two towns in India famous for being the spot where a toe or shoulder fell, none of them could compete in our minds with nearby Gorkhnath, the holy site where her vagina landed!
Sadhus Outside a Shiva Temple at Pashupatinath
We rounded out the day with our second Buddhist stupa of the valley in Boudhanath, this one one of the world's largest and the most spiritually important monument in Tibetan Buddhism outside Tibet. We took a contemplative stroll around the stupa's perimeter before calling it a day.
Boudhanath Stupa
Buddha at Boudha
A few days later, after celebrating the Holi festival, and our trek in the Annapurna (you'll have to wait for the next posts for those stories), we returned to Kathmandu to see my dad off, do some last-minute planning for the next leg of our journey, and pack in some more sightseeing, this time in small and historical Patan. Another ancient capital, this one dates back to the 18th century and boasts another jaw-dropping collection of royal palaces, temples, statues, and artisan markets just steps from our quaint but rough-around-the-edges guest house.
Statue in Patan's Durbar Square
Woman Buying Offerings at the Golden Temple
Kathmandu is a thoroughly modern city, yet the surrounding valley is simply brimming with centuries of history and culture. The collection of sites we visited felt like something of an echo of our time in India; the ornate Hindu temples, the solemn Buddhist stupas, and the opulent palaces all combined to make a succinct summary of our time on the subcontinent.
Dogs with Prayer Flags at Swayambhu
Little Drummer Boy in Bhaktapur
Monkey with Chains and Fruit at the Golden Temple
Weekly Twitter Updates
- Arrived in #Bangkok at 5:45am. Dudes in hotel lobby talking about the "ladies" they took home & whether they were lady-boys. #KhaoSanRoad #
- Happy birthday @jeremy2277! Hope thy hangover is gone by now
# - Just had possibly the best meal yet: khao soi noodle soup (Chang Mai specialty) & butterfly pea (a flower) juice (tastes like Fruit Loops)! #
- $1-2 Thai food, $7 60-min Thai massage. Yeah, it's going to be hard to go back to the US! #Thailand #
- Thur, Fri, Sat: Rock climbing on gorgeous limestone cliffs towering over the water, tried bouldering, lazed on the beach. Love #Railay #
- Wed.: went from the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea. Ate our hearts out at the #Krabi night market- didn't know what 1/2 the stuff was! #
- Tickets to #Myanmar #Burma booked, and will be back in #Bangkok in time for #Songkran - can't wait to get soaked in the water fight #
- Double dive this morning. Crappy visibility but still saw some cool stuff. Green turtle! #KohTao #
- Heading to #Railay #Thailand in two days to do some climbing and swimming before making our way to #Myanmar #
- Been reading up on SE Asia. #Laos is the most bombed country per capita on the world. Didn't see that one coming. #
India 101: Nothing Can Prepare You, But Here’s a Try
Some things you should know:
Cows. There are cows everywhere. Big ones. They're in narrow alleys, blocking your way. There are herds of them crossing the highway, ignorant to all approaching traffic. They're eating huge piles of smelly trash off the sidewalk of a busy street. And they're treating the entire country like their toilet.
Cow in Alley
Shoewear. Don't wear flip flops in India. Just don't. See above.
Poverty. You will probably see some of the poorest, saddest people on Earth in India. There are children who are dirtier than stray cats roaming the streets, begging incessantly for something to eat. It is heartbreaking, impossible to avoid, and sometimes, it is so constant that it admittedly becomes annoying.
Dress. Indians dress formally. Women wear beautiful, embroidered saris while digging trenches on the side of the highway. You will never see an adult wearing shorts. Women are expected to cover themselves appropriately- do not expose too much of your shoulders, legs, or chest. Yes, saris expose the entire tummy. No, we Westerners don't understand why they can show their tummy and we can't show our shoulders. It's just the way it is.
Women in Saris
Staring. Some Indian men stare at Western women. Cover up and ignore them. Or stare back, sometimes that can be fun!
Just say no. Indians can't. The closest you'll ever get is an "it is not possible." But in more cases than not, you will get a run around answer to a question instead of the person simply telling you "no." Try not to ask yes/no questions if you really want to get to the bottom of something.
PDA. Men and women should not touch each other in public. Touching, even just holding hands, is considered part of sexual relations and should only happen behind closed doors. However, men (and to a lesser extent women) can be affectionate with each other, and you'll often find two Indian men walking down the street holding hands; it's a sign of friendship.
Rajasthani Women Holding Hands
Public Urination. If you're a man, go ahead and drop trou wherever you want. Seriously, don't hold back. The world is your toilet in India!
Adjectives. India likes prepending adjectives where they're not necessary or otherwise redundant. They say "Self Driving" when they really mean "Driving": as in driving yourself; maybe your driver is on vacation. They also say "Lane Driving" when we would just say "Driving": although there are lanes painted on most roads, they're more of a suggestion. They say "Love Marriage" when we would just say "Marriage": to distinguish from arranged marriages, which are still quite common. We even saw a university advertisement listing degree programs for "Engineer" and "Girl Engineer"!
One Photo, Please. We're still not sure why we appear picture-worthy to droves of adolescent Indian men, but such is the case. As a Westerner, you'll be asked more times than you may have patience for whether your photo can be taken. Then each young man in the group will have his friends take a photo of him with you on his cell phone. Grin and bear it!
One Photo Please?
Spitting and Hacking. The clearing of orifices that Westerns would only do in the bathroom-- spitting, hocking a loogie, and blowing snot rockets-- is a common public habit in India. You'll wake up and fall asleep to these lovely sounds.
Horn Please. Indians drive with one hand on the horn and the other on the gear shift. The driving in insane, and apparently no other vehicles/cows/people/rickshaws will know you are approaching unless you honk incessantly. Pack earplugs.
Blow Horn
The Train Ticket Mystery. Buying a train ticket in India is like going to the DMV, but with rules that are 100 times harder to understand, and without the "take a number" system: your fellow patrons absolutely will not form a line, opting instead to mob the ticket window, everyone trying to push to the front and shove his form through the glass window to the ticket agent (these ticket agents must be the most patient bureaucrats in the world; they are friendly, efficient, and helpful in the midst of total chaos). But I digress.
The real issue is that there are boatloads of different ways to buy tickets: at least three online systems, separate ticket quotas for every stop along the train's route, plus a special one for tourists, something called TATKAL (a reserved block of tickets that only gets released the day before the train leaves) plus every travel agent seems to have access to a different ticket block. And if one of those options is sold out, it says nothing about availability through the others. In our five weeks in India it took us until buying our last set of tickets to have just the faintest grasp of this arcane system.
The World's Largest Democracy. Related to the Train Ticket Mystery, Indians pride themselves on having the world's largest democracy, and enjoy sharing this fact with those of us from the birthplace of democracy. For the tourist, what this means is that you're visiting the world's largest bureaucracy: be prepared for lines, forms, permits, "official" stamps, unnecessary rules, five-step processes that could have easily been accomplished in one step, and providing every last bit of your personal information in triplicate every time you check into a hotel.
Now you're slightly more ready for the most insane place you will probably ever (willingly) visit! Have fun, and remember: expect the unexpected.
Yum: Thali
The thali was probably our favorite Indian meal, or at least the one we had the most times. Present on nearly every menu in India, and differing a bit from region to region, it's generally a generous portion of rice, another carb like the crispy, fried papad cracker or a flatbread such as roti or chapatti, and three or four savory sauces--usually lentils and potatoes, a spicy, pickled vegetable, often a veg curry, and sometimes meat, curd (yogurt), salad, soup, or a sweet. They're a very traditional staple dish of most Indians, and if you get away from the tourist restaurants, your host will keep offering to refill any dish you finish until you're completely stuffed.
Thali #1, from Hasty Tasty in Darjeeling
Thali #2, from a Market Stand in Orchha
Thali #3, from a Rooftop Restaurant in Udaipur
Thali #4, from a Restaurant with a View of the Jodhpur Fort
And those are just the ones we took pictures of!
Rajasthan Part II: The “Blue City”
View of Jodhpur from Meherangarh Fort
Jodhpur is in western Rajasthan and is known as the "Blue City" due to the large number of light blue painted houses in its old city section. The color was originally reserved for homes of high-caste Brahmins but others started painting their houses the same color, eventually resulting in beautiful splashes of blue all over the city. Jodhpur's main attraction is the Meherangarh Fort, which is visible from everywhere and dominates the city from high above. Like other cities in India, the Blue City thankfully understands the value of the rooftop restaurant, and we spent a good chunk of our time sitting on rooftops and gazing at the Fort above and the streets of the old city below. I cannot emphasize how important the rooftop experience is in an Indian city: it allows you to observe what is going on down below from a safe distance, letting you take it all in without subjecting yourself to the constant and often overwhelming smells, sounds, and general chaos at street level.
View of Meherangarh Fort from Jodhpur
Apart from taking it easy on the roofs and visiting the fort, we also took advantage of the great shopping in Jodhpur. As with other cities in Rajasthan, the Blue City has a great selection of embroidered and beaded leather shoes, tons of colorful bangles, textiles galore, and plenty of tailors ready to make you whatever you want out of their huge selection of fabrics.
Sari Street Stand
Amy Trying on Turbans (in Udaipur)
We also took a cultural tour of the Bishnoi villages. The Bishnoi are literally a tree-hugging religious sect. During a drought in 1485 that was caused by deforestation, a guru formulated 29 rules for living in harmony with nature, and his followers are named Bishnoi after the local language's word for "twenty-nine". They are strict vegetarians, do not kill animals for any reason, and are particularly protective of the khejri tree. So protective, in fact, that in 1730, when several workers sent by the local ruler to cut down some trees began to carry out their orders, 363 Bishnoi lost their lives by decapitation when they hugged the trees and declared that the workers would have to cut their heads off first. The ruler, affected by the commitment of the Bishnoi, called off the felling of the trees, and ever since this incident, the Bishnoi and their trees have been respected and protected by law. While our tour of the villages was a bit touristy, we gained a window into the Bishnoi lifestyle by seeing how they cook, eat, and make beautiful block-printed fabric and pottery by hand.
Bishnoi Woman Making Millet Flour
After three nights in Jodhpur, it was back to Delhi for one final night before taking off to Nepal!
Click here to view the photo gallery for this post
Pro Tips:
- Make sure to try a mekhania lassi while in Jodhpur. It's made with saffron, cardamom, and thick, delicious yogurt. Sounds weird, but it's absolutely the best lassi we had in India!
- Yes, they can be super lame, but we found the audio tour at Meherangarh Fort to be engaging and well worth the price.
Yum: Indian Street Food
One of the pleasures of visiting India is the street food. We quickly put aside our fears regarding hygiene and indulged in many of these ubiquitous snacks. Among our favorite were jalebi, bhel puri, and golgappa.
Jalebi can best be described as a sweeter, smaller, crunchier, and more syrupy version of American funnel cake. We saw it available alongside samosas and other savory fried treats at breakfast time, but we also saw it holding its own at sweet stands. It's also a pleasure to watch an experienced hand making these treats. They're made by pouring the liquid dough through a small hole in a sort of pastry bag, directly into hot oil. The best artists of this trade make beautiful concentric and intersecting circular patterns with the batter. After frying, it's into a sugar-syrup soak for a few minutes, and then they should be eaten as fresh as possible.
Jalebi, Front and Center
Bhel Puri is a snack made from pieces of puffed rice, not unlike Rice Crispies, mixed with your choice of freshly-chopped jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, coriander leaves (cilantro), chili powder, oil, lemon juice, and a few other secret ingredients, then mixed vigorously and served in a cone made of newspaper. We even got a version (in Nepal, however) with a quarter of a playing card to be used as a spoon.
Bhel Puri Cart
Bhel Puri
Golgappa (aka Panipuri) are another puffed rice snack, these ones hollow, round and a few inches in diameter, sort of shaped like a squashed ping-pong ball. The vendor takes one at a time, pops a hole in one side with his thumb, spoons a thick chick pea sauce into the cavity, then pours a teaspoon or so of a salty cilantro sauce over the whole thing. They're bite-sized, so you just stand there holding your bowl and the vendor will continue to prepare them, one after another, until you tell him you've had enough. It's sort of like a drunk at a bar receiving shots from an overly-attentive bartender.
The best part of Indian street food? It never made us sick! There's something to be said for a kitchen that is completely out in the open...
Weekly Twitter Updates
- It's cloudy and the island wifi is working for a change! The perfect day for copious amounts of espresso and pigging out on Internet. #
- Fortunately, one of us is used to spending 40 hours/week dealing with dirty water! #
- Disappointed w/ amount of plastic trash in water/on beach. Kayaked to a cleaner bay but still found plenty of litter underwater
#KohTao # - Claudia's current and random inability to handle very spicy food comes at quite an inopportune time! #Thailand #
- After taxis/buses/flight/ferry we're in #KohTao There was some serious riff raff on the ferry but our bungalow's in a chill, pretty spot. #
- .@emulch Nick's answer: Having our own space we're not paying for nightly; not living out of a backpack. Ditto beer. After India, burgers. in reply to emulch #
- .@emulch Claudia's answer: 1)the cats 2)the world's tastiest beer selection 3) AC & heating 4) being able to drink tap water w/out treatment in reply to emulch #
- Arrived in #Bangkok 1) it's 1000 degrees 2) street food = amazing 3) Khao San Road = Cancun. Time for overnight bus+ferry to #KohTao #
- "Every orifice I have has betrayed me." -@nvioli's dad on travel in the subcontinent. We keep making visitors sick. Sorry everyone! #
- Last day in #Nepal Two days from now will be on a beach in #KohTao #Thailand... fingers crossed everything works out! #
- Got our plane tickets to #Bangkok for Friday. Time is going by really, really, really, really quickly! Taking suggestions for Thai beaches! #
- Really enamored with mountains. If only someone could figure out how to move some closer to #DC .. #
- Happy birthday @crowls! Miss and love you! #
- Back from a great 5-day trek in the #Annapurna mountains. Best views we've had of snow-capped 7000+ m peaks on this trip! #Nepal #
Rajasthan Part I: The “White City”, Kumbalgarh Fort, and Ranakpur Temples
Our next and last region was the large western state of Rajasthan. Travelers always recommend a visit here; the vivid colors of Rajasthani womens' bright saris and mens' colorful turbans, the famous wide and smiling mustaches, and the plethora of forts, temples, and palaces stay engrained in every visitor's memory.
Colorful Sari in Rajasthan
We arrived in Udaipur, Rajasthan's "White City"-- and one that guidebooks describe as "India at its romantic best"-- early in the morning after an overnight train from Agra. Udaipur is centered around Lake Pichola; old havelis (elaborately decorated mansions) and a palace line the shoreline, two islands sit just offshore, and rolling hills sit in the background, creating a picturesque setting. In fact, the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed here (and pretty much every restaurant screens it nightly!).
Sunset Over Udaipur
We immediately took a liking to this town's innumerable rooftop restaurants, and enjoyed wandering in and out of the many art shops selling miniature paintings, which Udaipur is famous for. Unfortunately, on our first night there, we ate at a pretty nice restaurant but ended up all getting food poisoning the next day, which put us completely out of commission for two days and feeling not quite right for several more after that. Almost every traveler gets sick at some point in India, but Nick and I were hoping that we'd make it through without incident, after a month of eating street food and not being militant about avoiding fruit and veggies. Of course we should all get sick from a pricey hotel restaurant; it's India: expect the unexpected! We felt awful that Ben and Amy, who were only in India for 12 days, had to spend half of that time under the weather.
Udaipur's City Palace
In any event, we couldn't stay in our hotel rooms forever, so we stuck to our plan and headed toward Jodhpur, stopping in Kumbalgarh and Ranakpur on the way to see a fort and Jain temples, respectively. Fun fact: Kumbalgarh Fort, which was built in the 15th century, is surrounded by 37 km of ramparts, a wall which is only second in length to the Great Wall of China. Our visit to the fort happened to coincide with a Bollywood filming, so we enjoyed watching the two main characters film a scene on top of the wall. The scene of course involved a cheesy love song, and the director looked like the bad guy in a spaghetti Western. We spent the night at Silent Valley Hotel, which is aptly named, and run by the lovely Inder, who took us on a walk of the nearby villages around sunset while telling us about the culture of the people living there.
View From Kumbalgarh Fort
Bollywood Filming
The next day we had planned a 16-km hike through Kumbalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary to the Jain temples at Ranakpur. I got pretty sick overnight (the beginnings of what turned out to be giardia), so I skipped the hike but Nick, Amy and Ben went ahead and we met at the temples a few hours later. We were all in a sad state of affairs, still feeling weak and dehydrated from whatever it was we were dealing with, but we took a peek into the main temple, which was filled with impressive carved marble pillars, and tons of colorfully dressed pilgrims, who were apparently there in droves because it was a holiday (it's always a holiday in India). Jainism, which accounts for less than 1% of India's population, is a derivative of Hinduism that is based on nonviolence and a respect of nature. Jains avoid doing harm to all souls, which they believe exist not only in humans, but also animals, plants, water, fire, earth, and air. The most orthodox Jains wear white masks to avoid breathing in insects and carry a "fly whisk" to clear their path to avoid stepping on living things. There is also a sect who has renounced clothing and walks around naked.
Another fun fact: the main Jain temple at Ranakpur, built in 1439, was constructed on the basis of the number 72, the age at which the founder of Jainism, Mahavira, achieved nirvana; the temple sits on a platform measuring 72 yards square, inside the temple there are 72 elaborately carved shrines, and the whole temple is held up by 1440 (72 X 20) pillars. After admiring the exquisite marble carvings, we headed to Jodhpur, stopping at a motorbike temple along the way (don't ask).
Motorbike Temple
Weekly Twitter Updates
- Celebrating #Holi was a messy blast. Stoked to start trekking in the #Himalayas tomorrow. WE WANT MOUNTAINS! #Nepal #
- omg #Holi in #Pokhara was awesome. Colored dye + beer + live music = great time! http://t.co/74O03huL #
- Did a ton of sightseeing in the #Kathmandu valley today. Off to #Pokhara tmrw to celebrate Holi & go trekking in the #Annapurna Cons. Area! #
- Looks like Clif has been working up some new flavors while we've been gone: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut FTW! Tastes like cookie dough! #
Delhi and Agra: Friends and the Taj Mahal
We had finally reached the portion of our India trip we were most excited about: meeting up with our friends Amy and Ben, who were coming all the way from Austin, Texas, and staying with friends Bion and Caitlin in Delhi, and then traveling with Ben and Amy to Agra and Rajasthan. Nick and I arrived in Delhi, the huge, bustling capital, a couple days early and stayed in central Connaught Place, where we enjoyed some Western comforts like espresso, Mexican food that wasn't worse than DC's, bookstores, and a shockingly clean and functional subway system. I wasn't in much of a sight-seeing mood, so we only took a walk down New Delhi's Rajpath, which connects the India Gate (a huge arch commemorating fallen soldiers that looks like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris) with Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President's residence), and reminded us a bit of the National Mall in DC.
Nick at the India Gate
Our last two days in Delhi were spent with our friends Amy and Ben from the US and Bion and Caitlin, Americans living in Delhi. Bion and Caitlin live in a gorgeous house in the south Delhi neighborhood of Hauz Khas, which is full of artsy shops, big parks, and yummy rooftop cafes and restaurants. After a couple days of relaxation there, Amy, Ben, Nick and I took a train to Agra to do the most touristy thing you can do in India: visit the Taj Mahal.
Graffiti in Hauz Khas
Everyone says the Taj is incredible, but Agra (India's capital under the Mughals) is not, and once again, common wisdom rings true. We woke up to see the sun rise over the Taj from our hostel's roof, then headed over to see it close up. Luckily the crowds weren't too bad at this time of the day, so we were able to enjoy the Taj hassle-free. The Taj Mahal was built under the direction of Shah Jahan as a shrine to his favorite wife, Mumtaz ("Taj") Mahal, who died in 1631 shortly after giving birth to her 14th child (that's what I call pushing your luck). The Emperor was devasted by her death, and ordered a workforce of about 20,000 men to build the Taj, which took over 20 years to complete. Marble and semi-precious stones were brought to Agra from all over Asia. It really is a magnificent sight: so huge and clean; the white marble exudes a calm and cool peacefulness, and trust me, any Indian sight that is this frequently visited but still manages to exude even a tiny bit of peace is worth mentioning! Personally, I found the inside to be a bit underwhelming-- perhaps I expected the interior to be covered in emeralds and diamonds or the like, but it was actually quite similarly decorated as the exterior.
The Taj Mahal
There are many other sights to see in Agra, but frankly, if you begin with the Taj, the others are going to be disappointing in comparison. Nevertheless, we had several hours until our overnight train, so we headed to the Agra Fort, which we wandered for a couple hours before heading to the nicest hotel in Agra for a vacation from India. The Amarvilas (an Oberoi property) proved to be just the resting spot we needed. After being greeted by a number of overly friendly staff who we were sure were going to ask our scruffy selves to leave, we were shown to the bar and sipped cold beers on the patio while gazing out at the Taj all afternoon. As we've quickly learned, luxurious treats like this are the only way to keep your sanity in the crazy cities of India!
Feeling Relaxed After Drinks at the Amarvilas Hotel!
Click here to view the Delhi photo gallery
Click here to view the Agra photo gallery
Hi There!
Nick and Claudia are traveling the world for a year, from June 2011 to June 2012. We'll be using this site to keep all our friends and family (and anyone else who's interested) up to date on our travels.
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