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NOTHERN INDIA Arrival from Nepal (23.11.) From We reached the border town at 2pm and discovered that it is located another 2km from the customs. Hordes of rickshaw drivers tried to use our confusion to their advantage and offered us highly overpriced service. Fortunately, we found a local jeep that was doing the same trip for locals. It was cheap, except Marek was hanging off the back of the jeep and our backpacks were dangerously hopping on the roof. Once we crossed to the Indian side of the border, we easily found a bus to Gorakhpur (a city on the way to Varanasi). Its engine was already running, so we hoped that it will leave within 20 minutes. It did not. The bus did not get full until one hour later and only then we departed (the engine was running all the time - so much for prevention of air pollution). While waiting, we were hit by a passing bus, but luckily there was not much damage - the dent already existing on the body just got deeper. Half way to Ghorakhpur we suddenly stopped and everybody was quickly getting off the bus. Before we realized they were all changing to another bus, there were no seats left. Fortunately, the driver managed to empty two seats for his foreigner guests, so except for the cold draft through a broken window, the rest of the drip was uneventful. In Gorakhpur, we moved into one of the better hotels in town, but the molds on the wall were certainly older than from this year's monsoon season. And when the almost regular power-outage happened in the evening, we realized that they have their generator right below our windows. Next morning, we left at 5:30 and it took another 7h to reach Varanasi by train. There we were - back in India. Varanasi (24.11.-25.11.) Varanasi We walked along the ghats several times and saw not only pilgrims performing ritual baths, but also locals involved in their daily routine - they were bathing, washing their hair, washing clothes, etc. While we really enjoyed the sight, we also felt very sorry for all those people, since Ganga is a serious sewage collector. The water is so polluted that according to western standards it is dangerous to take a bath in it. Despite of this, many devoted pilgrims also drink its water. We will long remember the sight of a young mother, who took several minutes to find a handful of "clear" water among all the garbage floating on the surface, before she finally let her little son have a sip of the sacred water. One of the ghats is a large open-air crematorium. 24 hours a day, people bring their deceased relatives to be cremated here, on the banks of the sacred Ganga. The ashes are then ritually spread into the river. The wood used for funeral pyre is brought by boats and has to be well paid for. It is not uncommon that a poor family is not able to pay for sufficient amount of wood and consequently the cremation is not complete. Not only ashes, but also remains of the partially burned body then end up in the river. In Hinduism, it is very important that all death rituals be performed correcty, so that the soul of the diseased person is released to heaven and does not roam the earth. One of the reasons why it is important for Hindus to have a son is the fact that the death rites are believed to be most effective when performed by their son. Khajuraho (27.11.-29.11.) From We arrived in Khajuraho on November 27, after two exhausting days of travel (seven and half hours by train to Satna the first day and a four-hour bumpy ride in an ancient and very noisy bus on roads in a desperate need of repair the next day). But Khajuraho (8000 inhabitants) with its relaxing atmosphere, good accommodation and friendly locals was worth it. We took our time to admire the beauty of the temples and very much enjoyed staying there. Agra (30.11.-1.12.) Our Bharatpur (2.12.-3.12.) On
We started to run really short on our visa time. We inquired at the foreign police office in Varanasi about possibilities of extending visa and were told that with confirmed tickets we can easily obtain up to 14 day extension. Any superintendent of police should be able to do it for us. Since in Varanasi it would take 4 days they advised us to try in some smaller town. So we were trying in every city since Varanasi - in vain. Either the superintendent was too busy (election time) or they have never seen an Indian visa, not mentioning that they would not know how to extend it. It seemed that our only hope was to go to Delhi. Since it was only 4hours by train from Bharatpur, we decided to make a day trip there and back. It worked out. Luckily, we learned how to obtain normally fully booked tickets directly from the train conductor and thus traveled comfortably both ways. The Delhi immigration office was as from another world. Clean, very efficient and professional, with officials smiling and being helpful. In 30 minutes, we had our extensions done (and the service was free). Jaipur (4.12.-5.12.) Jaipur There are several interesting sites in Jaipur (the Palace of the Wind and the Observatory being the two most famous), but we have not spent much time here. Jitka did not feel well so she stayed in the hotel and worked on our web-diaries. Marek took a short stroll through the city looking for places that he visited with his friends 9 years ago. In the evening we took a night bus to Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer (6.12.-10.12.) Jaisalmer in a little dessert town in the west of India, not far from the border with Pakistan. It used to be an important trading city on the Silk Route and looks like a town out of the One Thousand and One Night stories. Not only palace was inside the fort, but also common houses and temples. Many houses are beautifully decorated with stone carvings. In
Many people who visit Jaisalmer go on camel safari in the desert. We went for a half-day camel ride. It was fun! Two people fit on a camel, so a driver rode with each of us. The desert is mostly hard stone, only occasionally there are some sand dunes. Small bushes and some trees grow there. In order to get out of the city and meet local people in surrounding villages, we rented a small scooter one day. No business was able to receive license to rent motorcycles in Jaisalmer (supposedly because the town is so close to the Pakistan border), but one hotel owner was willing to take a risk in order to make some additional profit and we got his vehicle. It was 15 years old - there was no front break, rear break barely worked and the fuel consumption was comparable to an SUV. But we got out (and even back - despite running out of fuel about 10km from the town; a fellow driver hesitantly shared part of his tank content with us, so then we needed to walk only the last 500m to the first pump back in the city). Jodhpur (11.12.-13.12.) Jodhpur i We arrived in Jodhpur on December 11, after six hours in a bus. We stayed in a small inexpensive hotel with paper-thin walls, but we had a private bathroom attached to our room and there was a roof top terrace with wonderful views of the blue old city and the Meherangarh fort. We visited the fort the next day and were very impressed. The fort has never been conquered. The Jodhpur Maharaja lived there and ruled out of the fort until constitution changes in 1970 stripped all royal families of their noble status and made them ordinary citizens. However, he still owns the fort and manages it (through a fund). It is in a good state of repair and its touring is well organized (including audio guides in many languages). Jodhpur also has a lively vegetable and crop/flower markets. It is fun to walk through them and watch people trade. Delhi (14.12.) Delhi We arrived in Delhi early morning on December 14, less than 24 hours before our flight. We found a small hotel to store our luggage and to get at least couple of hours of sleep before our departure. Our hope for a shower ended up unfulfilled - we were given hot water in the typical Indian way - in buckets. After early lunch (which was probably our best meal in all of northern India), we went to visit Qutb Minar. This 73m tall tower was built by a Muslim sultan in early 13th century to celebrate his victory over the last Hindu king of Delhi. The first mosque in India was also built in this area, using material from 27 destroyed Hindu and Jain temples. Until these days, the pillars of this mosque have original Hindu decorations. The famous iron pillar, dating back to the 4th century, accidentally stands inside the mosque. Even after almost two millennia, the pillar is still not rusted and scientist cannot explain how such a pure metal could have been cast with the technology available at that time. We ended our visit of Delhi (and India) by a short walk in the old town - and perhaps symbolically - by an argument with a rickshaw driver, who after bringing us to our hotel was suddenly asking for twice the agreed-upon-price. At half past two in the morning, we were already driving through empty streets of the city to the international airport and without any further problems left on time for Moscow and then Prague.
Notes: After five months is Asia we did not find India as difficult as we did at the beginning of our trip. Not that it was less filthy or there was less smog in the north than there was in the south or that the people would be nicer (just the contrary). But the change was considerably more gradual coming from Tibet and Nepal. Most importantly we think we learned how to travel in India, which took away lots of hassle and exhaustion. Though, there was some definite development since nine years ago, when Marek first visited India. There are no more banners in Delhi educating motorists that "Red means stop!". They got it by now (most of them, anyway). The big problem of tourist places in northern India is the amount of touts and people who are trying to mislead and cheat unaware tourists. That is highly annoying. We can only hope that honest businessmen will step up and clean up the environment for the sake of their business and of the impression that India leaves on visitors. In Delhi, we have concluded our five-month grand journey of Asia. It has been a very exciting and educational adventure and we plan to visit it again in the future. But for now, we are heading back to the old good Europe to spend Christmas with our parents. Then we will be heading to yet another continent.
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India Population: 1,045,845,200 Population growth: 1.51 % Literacy rate: 73%
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Pokhara we were headed
directly to the holy city of Varanasi. Unfortunately, it is not possible
to make this transit in one day. We crossed the Nepal-India
border on November 23. It was a long day. At 6am, we were
already sitting in a bus waiting for its departure. Instead, we were
thrown out of our bus and herded into another one, already full and
about two generations older. Certainly far behind the service we were promised
by our travel agency when they were trying to make us buy tickets form
them. Well, that is how it sometimes works in Asia.
(2 million people) is the most sacred Hindu
city in all of India. Pilgrims come here to perform ritual baths in the
sacred Ganga river and to wash away all their sins. It is also believed
that if a person died on the banks of Ganga in Varanasi, their soul
would be immediately released from the cycle of rebirths. Therefore,
every day, Varanasi's ghats (platforms with stairs leading down into the
waters of the Ganga river) are witness to many intimate rituals of life
and death.
Varanasi, we continued to
Khajuraho. It is a little town in the middle of nowhere, but it became
quite famous for its beautiful Hindu and Jain temples from
the 10th century. The temples exhibit an advanced level of Hindu
architecture and have exquisite stone-carvings. Statues on the temple
walls show scenes from daily life and depict gods, soldiers, musicians,
animals, etc. However, two themes appear more frequently than anything
else - women and erotic scenes.
next stop was Agra. To get there
from Khajuraho, we first had to go by bus to Jhansi (5 hours) and then
took a train to Agra (3 hours). Agra (1.1 million) is a large city with
lots of traffic and pollution. We did not care to stay there very long,
so we visited both the Red Fort and Taj Mahal in one day and moved on.
We were disappointed by the Red Fort. Only about one third
of the fort is open to visitors, and what is open is not in the best
state of repair. Clearly, Taj Mahal made much greater
impression on us. From the distance, it looks snow-white and very
magical. From close up, it is more creamy and partially decorated - its
marble walls are inlaid with semiprecious stones. We stayed there until
sunset and watched the marble change its color from white to yellow and
then pink.
the 2nd of December, we took a bus to Bharatpur (2h from Agra). After
lunch, we rented bicycles and visited the Keoladeo National Park.
It is a bird sanctuary with more than 350 species. Even though we are no
experts, we recognized many different kinds of birds. The most
impressive sight were hundreds of painted storks nesting in one large
group of trees. Tiger is said to live in the park, but despite venturing
away from the main roads, we have not discovered any trace of its existence.
is the capitol of Rajastan. It
is nicknamed the Pink City. In 1876 the ruling Maharaja had the entire
city painted in pink - the color of hospitality - before the
Prince of Wales' visit. The tradition has been kept since and most of
the buildings in the old city are still painted in pink. 
Jaisalmer we lived in a small guesthouse attached to the fort wall,
consequently offering great views from the rooms. We enjoyed the city so
much that we stayed for five days. We walked its streets, visited old havelis
(beautifully stone-carved old houses of rich merchants) and admired exquisite
Jain tamples. Even though the rulers of Jaisalmer were
Hindu, there was a strong Jain community in the city and there are five
beautiful Jain temples built inside the fort. The decorations are
similar to those in Khajuraho, but the stone carvings and other internal
decorations appear to be even more detailed and elaborate here. 
s the second
largest city in Rajastan, located on the edge of the Great Thar Desert.
For many centuries, Rajastan used to be ruled by the strong Raj clan who
built an impressive fort here. The old city spreads below the fort and
many houses are painted in blue, giving the town an interesting look.
has been the capitol of India since 1638,
when Mughal emperor Shah Jahan moved his court there. Old Delhi is a
maze of narrow and crowded streets, but today it occupies only a small
part of the city. In contrast, New Delhi is spacious and full of parks,
offices and government buildings. (It was built by the English.) In the
last decade, Delhi made several radical steps towards improving its
catastrophic situation with air pollution. A lot still remains to be
done, but the situation seems to be improving.
