More Delhi and finally the Red Fort

After the train back from Amritsar I was suprised to find out the train made a turn to come closer to Delhi from the east, though Amritsar is acually way to the West. Well it worked so I checked out some smaller sights that area. And suprise suprise: these were 500 Rupees aswell. Just a small mausoleum. No more spending money for that except the red fort, is what I thought. So I just walked through some alleys which seemed to be a muslim quarter. Butchers, other small shops and so on. People just living their lives. Some staring at me, most not minding or caring. The way I like it (beacuse no one wants to sell you stuff or tries to be your new best friend)
I walked across some bazaars and came back to Jayanths place in the evening.
The next day I was determined to enter the red fort. So I headed there and checked out the masjid (mosque) on the way there. They didn't let me in this time as there was a prayer going on. A little disappointed I headed to the fort fearing there might be some reason it is closed again...
It wasn't! I resisted all offers of audio guides and personal guides and just used the info my lonely planet provided. Inside were shops with touristy stuff. A indian gave me his son to hold. The kid stared at me wide eyed wondering what the hell was happening (I could imagine). I went through the garden and saw alot of military presence. Soldiers behind baricades, some with really big guns. Amazing. The fort was a place of the resistance against the british untill they conquered it in a war and therefore had one less rebellious Enemy in India. Later it was also garisson for british troops. On the top of the fort, on independence day, they raised the indian flag the very first time in history, making it a very important and significant place.

Part of the palace in the Red Fort

Ornaments, similar to the ones in the Taj Mahal

The bathing house of the queen (if I remember correctly)

I mentioned the ASI (Archeological Survey of India). They tend and take care of alot of sights and recently raised the prices. Sometimes more than doubled them. The exhibits in the Ajanta caves were kind of pointless. I had added this passage after I had just been in the red fort (while I was both angry and disappointed in the ASI):

'Exhibits to show "we are such great archeologists and need alot of money from foreigners" >:( No sorry... That's unfair, but it really annoys me. I don't mind paying more than locals but 500 for looking at old caves might be worth it, but now I have seen to many sites in Delhi made that expensive and some were definately not worth it. They made it to european prices, which are kind of at the wrong place in India. Especially with what they "offer". Nothing really, it is just admittance to a place and their "exhibits" or "museums" are made up of random things and not that informative. The quality is often different than european museums, which isn't a bad thing, but demanding such prices for this are. The one big museum in Chennai was just about 150 Rupees and much more informative than the caves - though the caves were more exciting to look at I guess. But he caves were made in a way so you can only understand it WITH a guide or something like that, which costs extra.'

The red fort was better. Nice to look at and a few signs pointing out things. But their 'museums' were a joke. One was about warfare of india. It showed some bows, spears, swords and guns. Sometimes directly next to one another. Just saying "gun" - "sword" - woah! Really? Intersting... tell me more. Honestly, tell me more! Why is THIS sword here, why is it next to a gun? Did Indians fight with a sword against british soldiers armed with rifles? Or maybe it should be split in: Middle ages: swords - Colonial era: guns
Than there was an old flag of Germany (I'd say of the empire during WW1) yet it only said Germani Flag, so even Germany was spelled wrong. And people looking at it (not from Germany) might actually think it is the current flag...
I'm sorry, but I don't think that is a good museum (and worth a european price).
And they also showed an old telephone set, not sure how that is warfare... Maybe it was a war-phone, but without any explanations I have no idea what and why...

The 'Germani Flag' (if it actually was one)

Jayanth was very popular those days, at least with couchsurfers. That day another german guy arrived and we played some music together and I we talked about our travels. He had been to central Asia and wanted to travel India for the next few months. Though he left 2 days later we around together, got some food while I went to bazaars, he got his train tickets and left for Nepal by train and bus, same as Will did from Varanasi.

After Max had left I finally had time to visit Samantha. She was a very good friend in KIS. We hung around alot and were in the same class starting from preschool up to the fourth grade, when I left India. I wanted to keep the tension a little higher this time and only talk to her once we met and it worked! Only when I arrived at the place we wanted to meet, I called her and she picked me up. She has a strong american accent! I was really suprised, but I guess after spending several years in a country you'll probably adapt the way they talk.

It was fun talking with her. We talked about her new job and how everything is going in the huge city of Delhi. She was hoping to be on a conference in Nepal while I was still there... Sadly it didn't work out. But then I'll have to visit her the next time again =)

We met in Khaz Village, an old spot for artists. Now it is kind of a fancy place and you can meet there to get nice drinks, coffees and so on or even party in the night. And go to the hairdresser, as Samantha does. She has a deaf guy who cuts her hair (!), so I tried asking him, if he knew a deaf school here in Delhi, he did not, he said he went to the school in Chennai. He used the american alphabeth, so I could understand it. But I'd say we managed to communicate and he got what I was saying and I what he did, so that was pretty cool!

The day before I left an intalian couple arrived. I was in Delhi at that time so couldn't open them the door and Jayanths landlord (the weird guy) opened the door for them. A great welcome... I met them in a restaurant outside in the evening and I gave them some of tips and so on, of what I think India is like. 

On the last day I also sent some things back home. It was some gifts or things I didn't need anymore. And it was an odyssee to get it done this time... I first had to find a post office, then realise it was always full. THey didn't do packaging, so I had to do it before (luckily I was smart enough to enquire this before I drove there with my stuff^^). I asked several shops close to Jayanth, if they pack and I was finally sent to a supermarket. They were first a little confused, but then did it. The packaging paper was lovely! Just bright shiny blue, because they didn't have anything else :D

My package home! is it christmas already? (sry, by now it is! I should have uploaded this sooner...)

 When I then arrived with the beautiful package at the post office the guy from the international package counter didn't speak any english and just said "no". I asked what no? What's qrong what can I do?! He used another guy to translate and told me I should get it packed differently, best in cloth... And he refered me to the counter opposite in the post office, where they sold stationary things. THe woman looked annoyed at me and said they don't do it. So I searched for another stationary shop and finally one man saw my desparation and said he'll help me. With one of his workers I went to a fabrics shop and then to a tailor on the street, who then started sewing the package into the cloth. It was really interesting and cool to watch how this worked and how much the people do to help me. Then the guy took me to a place to have it sealed with wax which was very expensive. I noticed the guy being shocked, but I guess the guy saying the price said it was the foreigner special or offering him some money in exchange or so. I declined, because it could be opened by the customs the effort was already (in my opinion) too much for that. Then after waiting in line for another hour I finally was able to give them my package. It was more expensive for some reason... 

Sadly blue shiny paper isn't allowed, so now it's in cloth safely 

So the last days I hung around Gurgaon and then I stayed up with Jayanth and the Italian guy (sorry, I forgot your name!) to get an uber to the airport, because my flight to Nepal is at 6 am, so I arrived at the airport at about 3:30. Everything worked out fine and I got through security and everything easily and then I realised:

Oops... I smuggled this into the Delhi airport...

Well not really smuggled... I showed it to the security at the checkpoint and they just waved me past, so yeah... security :D

A nice ending to my trip in India. I loved it. Here some more random pictures:

Pigs! Just casually lying at a big road around Gurgaon

Big mama

2 gangstas walked past me like this #nohomo

The Golden Palace close to the Pakistani border

The day before I headed to Amritsar the landlord of Jayanth talked to me. He more of less accused me of being a Pakistani terrorist (maybe my beard is getting too long?). I told him I'd send him a copy of my passport etc. as he asked for. He said apparently indians have to report foreigners staying somewhere to the police. Especially now that Pakistan has been said to be a terrorist country and even the EU acknowledges is (which is wrong as far as I can tell). Jayanth said the guy is just strange.

So I headed to Amritsar. Close to the Pakistani border to visit the golden temple of the Sikhs and I had heard of a interesting ceremony at the border between India and Pakistan which I might also attend. And I had a sort of crazy plan: I'd take a night train to Amritsar, stay there for the day and take a night train back. So only sleep in trains, to make the most of it...
I slept poorly, as expected, but not because of noise, rather it was suddenly cold! Something that had so far never happened in an indian train! I was shocked. Of course it was noisy and alot going on in the train, but I think it was actually the cold. Since Jaipur I didn't have any proper shoes, only sandals, so I didn't have socks with me - a big mistake...
I did have a cloth, which helped, yet a jacket would have been nice aswell.

Anywho... I arrived there in the morning and on the way saw the sikhs do their turbans. Other indians stared aswell, which was a little comforting. It is actually just apiece of cloth, they tie around their head in a special way. I heard someone say he thought it was like a hat, you can just put on! I walked around and towards the Golden Temple. On the way I saw a memorial site. I though it might be interesting so I went inside. 

Apparently Amritsar was the place of a massacre by the british upon the indians in 1919 (the Jallianwala Bagh massacre). Alot of people (especially indian freedom fighters) condemned these actions as inhumane and the responsible officer be punished, he wasn't (other then "forced" to retire). The officer defended his actions as the only way to maintain order in the city. His squad had started firing at a crowd gathered in a courtyard. So they were cornered and had no where to hide. Many tried escaping in a well, but drowned or died from the fall there...

The entrance to the memorial sight

Plants made to look like soldiers ready to fire

Actual bullet holes from the massacre

The garden was very interesting and a good memorial I think. Worth visiting, if you are in Amritsar.
Then I went on to the Golden Temple. It said I should have my head covered, I had my hat. Later I found out that a hat isn't allowed. Luckily I could just stuff in my back pocket and take a piece of cloth which is sufficient to wear (if you don't have a turban handy).
I just walked once around the big pool which surrounds the temple, the crowd wanting to go inside was too big, so I stayed outside. Probably it would have be worth going inside. I missed out...
But the gallery they displayed was also interesting. Alot of paintings about the first sikhs and sikh rulers. Apparently alot of them resisted the british occupation and therefore were murdered and declared martyrs by their brothers in belief. Also lately, in the 80s I think, alot of Sikhs were target of oppression. Sadly it didn't say why, just showed pictures of the killed people. 

The golden temple, you csn see all the people waiting to get inside...

Another view on the golden beauty

Back view to the temple

The surrounding buildings of the temple, were in pretty white (in one of these was the Sikh museum)

Once I went out and got my bag again I was approached by a man if I wanted to go to the border. We agreed on a price and I had time for some lunch. Once I came back I was sent to a office and waited there with some others. One was indian and said a week ago there wasn't any ceremony, she hopes it is happening now. It is because sometimes the political tension between the governments is too big, that they won't allow this actually friendly ceremony. But today it did happen.
Then all but a spanish guy and me were taken to a jeep. We waited and waited till we didn't want to wait any longer. We complained and they said there aren't enough people to fill a second jeep, so they'd put us in a rickshaw. Great. We did get some money back, though we should have asked for more back, because that ride was no fun at all. There I met another german guy, who joined us.

We left and the rickshaw was filled with some other indian people and so the 3 foreign guys sat in the back. It was a long drive, much longer than I expected, but when I checked google maps I found out it was several kilometers to the border... Great. Anyway we survived, left our bags at a shady looking counter and walked towards Pakistan. The road was empty, probably the border was already closed for normal traffic. We crossed checkpoint after checkpoint, it seemed one checked the passport, one the pockets of your bag, one the other pockets, but probably just to be 100% safe, that your fellow security officer made no mistake... I was told there was a terror attack on the pakistani side not too long ago.

When we arrived (the foreigners had their own queue) there was a big arena. And on the indian side they were building it even bigger (it couldn't be the same size as Pakistan I guess). They were building a second "floor" of the arena, so more people could watch the indian military kick the pakistani militarys butt.

The arena around the border

We sat down and then the party started! Loud music was playing all the time, then women started running with the tricolor flag infront of the crowd, children joined in. People started chanting something and after no one was running anymore women jumped down and started dancing cool bollywood moves.

At one point, as soon as enough viewers were seated the ceremony started. Soldiers started marching on both sides and a excited commentator started making the crowd go wild and yelled along to the sharp military drum rolls. Soldiers kept on marching, till the senior officers (at least I think they were) arrived at the gate and slowly let the flag down, both sides at the same time. That was a cool thing to see and really funny to watch the soldiers march up and down, jump to the beat and do splits standing up, while marching (they pulled their legs up to their heads) and always showed the fist towards the other country. In these parts the 2 countries were not always totally synchronal ( at least from what I saw, unfortunately a tree blocked my view towards Pakistan. After the ceremony - so once the flags were folded and brought to the office or whereever flags rest - the crowd rushed back to the taxi place. A few were lucky to be at the border and take closer pictures with the giant indian and pakistani soldiers (I guess they use the highest and best looking troops at this border. I was wondering if I could get a pakistani stamp in my passport... but the stress of pushing through the many people didn't seem doable...

Before the military ceremony indians ran infront of the crowd with the national flag, to get the crowd going

Troops parading towards the border synchronised:

Also the pakistani forces march towards the border:

As it was slowly getting dark we found our bags again (and everything was still inside!) and joined the indian girls to the rickshaw. We drove off back to Amritsar. I got off with the other 2, though the returned to their hostels somewhere else and I slowly made my way back to the trainstation.

After a short dinner I arrived at the station, got my luggage and waited for the train. This time I was a little better prepared but it wasn't that cold... I slept better and awoke again in the vicinity of Delhi. As I walked to the toilet I saw a man jump off the train... weird =/

Don't mind me, I'll just jump off the train here...

The sikhian harmonists? No idea what hey were, they looked cool and happy though!

Delhi and Gurgaon

The train arrived in the evening in Gurgaon. It is actually a part of Haryana, a state to the south-west of the capital district of Delhi. But because Delhi is growing so much and most people in this place work in Delhi it is politically part of the NCR (National Capital District).
This is where I had my second couchsurfing experience. Christina and I stayed with Jayanth, he works for a company in Gurgaon itself, same as his 2 roommates. Both of them are from Tamil Nadu, so southerners (not in a US meaning). Also Jayanth originally is from Hyderabad, which is also considered south India. We always joked when someone asked, if I liked the south more than the north, that I had to, because the enitre flat was from the south. But I actually really did like the south more ;-)
So we arrived there in this big complex of newly built buildings for living. Luckily Gurgaon had its own metro station, so it wasn't too expensive to get into the centre of Delhi and faster than taking buses. They had extra metro-cards so Christina and I got them were able to avoid alot of long queues and other hassles of not having a card. And the rides are a little bit cheaper than buying the tokens!

While we were there the Hindus celebrated Dusshera, a festival in honour of different legends. One is that Rama defeated Ravana. Rama representing the thruth and Ravana the "unthruth". Or basically good vs. evil. Rama is the hero of the Ramayana and is searching for his wife (or to be wife?) Sita and has to defeat Ravana who has 10 faces (or embodiments) and fights him for 10 days (each day a head - you could say), so the festival is 10 days long and in Delhi they build big statues of Ramas enemies which are burnt on the last day in a big celebration.
In Mysore, where they have big Dusshera festivities aswell, they celebrate Chamundi, the goddess of the royal family of Mysore. In another state (I think Bengal) they celebrate Durga. Both women defeat the evil, I think also embodied by Ravana, and therefore have the same status (in these regions at least) as Rama, maybe only for this holiday though.
So during this time there were a lot of things closed (like post offices and some sights), others full of people or more things more expensive. There were several fares in the central city of Delhi which was nice. It didn't cost anything to get inside, the rides of course were not for free.

Here on the festival grounds they had built large statues! We missed watching them burn down...

We went on a ferris wheel and saw the lit red fort (big fort of Delhi) and the inner city with all its lights.
Before that we went to the Gate of India (not the gateway of India in Mumbai), which didn't look THAT fancy as the one in Mumbai, but had a bigger open space around it. Here we were another attraction next to the gate and alot of pictures were taken.

Here it is:

A wild Jakob appears!

Christina said alot of people take fotos from a lower perspective making you look like a giant monster.... 

We searched for another nice bazaar for Christina, she still wasn't totally satisfied. But it seemed more difficult than we thought. The bazaars are vast in Delhi, but you might need a guide, more patience or luck to find the right places. We didn't really look too hard.
The next day we visited the Lotus temple and a iskcon (international society for krishna conscioisness - basically the hare krishna movement) temple in Delhi, well we didn't make it inside the lotus temple. The queue was way too long and so we visited the other one, which was also interesting and seems to have alot of similar temples around the world.

The ISKCON temple from the outside

And you were allowed to take fotos inside. This is one of their shrines (there were several inside)

And the lotus temple - wasn't easy to get a foto without the barbwire surrounding the temple...

After that we had a stop at taco bell, my first time and Christina was just soo happy to see it, so we had some burritos and other mexican food in there.

We had tried to get into the red fort, though it was closed because of the holiday. So we went on shopping. The ride into Delhi was always a hassle. It was over an hour riding the metro. But we were there almost every day. Always seeing something new, or at least trying to do so. Then Christina had to fly back to the USA. We spent several hours at Jayanths place searching for cheap flights and proper connections! In the end it worked out and she left about a week before my time in India ended...

The main gate to the Red Fort. I think they raised the indian flag on that pole on the actual independence day 15.08.1947

The big masjid (mosque) near the red fort. I didn't manage to get inside sadly...

I tried a veg whopper of course (after having a veg big mac at the beginning of my trip!)

The huge Flag of India in the Connaught Place - a huge shopping area built circular around this massive flag pole

(the flag is probably as big as our apartment, maybe even bigger!)

The great Taj Mahal

After a long search in the Varanasi train station we found our night train to Agra, the city of the great Taj Mahal. One of the wonders of the world. I didn't have alot of expectations and tried to wait to be disappointed, rather than expecting the glorious sight it actually was. We found a driver who took us to the hostel, which was really empty. Most people only stayed for a night, mostly going to bed early to get up early in the morning and then head onwards to the next stop. We didn't. It was unbelievably hot while we were staying there. And so dry. So... hot...

We had a relaxed afternoon and walked around, while Christina searched for nice things to shop. We checked the price to the Taj Mahal and were pleasantly suprised, that the price was "only" 1000 Rupees (about 13€) - people had told me it cost more, or they had paid more. But in the end we hired a guide and so it was after all more expensive.
So after starting in a too hot night we moved to the common room which had alot of beds aswell and a strong fan, where we were able to sleep. Better than in our room at least. That fan wasn't powerful at all and so the room was just too hot to enjoy.
In the late morning we headed out, had nice breakfast and headed for the Taj. We bought tickets, got a guide and were happy, that the price included a small water bottle, a shuttle express to the Taj and some other things. Such a good deal - thanks ASI!

Streets infront of the Taj Mahal, all white buildings and of course more clean the the rest of the city

View from the restaurant to the Taj in the evening. Quite good!

All the things that are forbidden... Hands? Oh gloves... Books? Newspapers? Other nationalities?!

Entrance gate to the Taj Mahal grounds - everything planned, all the numbers and so on. A masterpiece!

It looks kind of empty without the towers...

We stayed there for some time, enjoying the sight. A guide was more or less not needed. Alot of other tourists had guides and they all told the same old stories. I bet all of them have a master of history (as our guide claimed). Anyway if you go inside and wait at some spots where alot of people are standing around you should be able to hear a few words and annecdotes the guides say and know almost everything aswell. At a few spots there was security making sure no one just lingers around and the flow of visitors keeps moving (like in the Mysore palace). We found the "only" flaw of the Taj and saw some other neat things (optical illusions etc. on the Taj). It is actually really pretty. We were lucky, that most of the construction was over or at least was only on the back side of the Taj Mahal. I had seen pictures of other travellers, who were there just a few weeks earlier and the front view of the Taj Mahal was partly obstructed by construction (or reconstruction/ restauration) work.

View over the garden infront of the Taj Mahal (from the Mahal itself)

The optical illusion! The zigzags make the column look, as if it had edges, but its round!

Christina and I at the backside of the Taj

Two more pictures of the Taj Mahal

Our guide had left in search for more customers and to tell them the same stories. Must be kind of dull I think. On the ther hand, if you earn good money while only repeating something you learned long ago isn't too bad I guess.
So we took some more pictures walking around and left the Taj Mahal to go towards town. We looked at other sights from the outside, because all of them cost about 500 Rupees, supposedly the Taj Mahal Ticket would give you a discount, the 500 was the discounted price. I guess the one fort might have been worth it, but it was still way too hot to enjoy anything. We walked past it to the train station, got our next tickets to Jaipur, booked a hostel online and headed in search for something to eat. The Lonely Planet map wasn't really helpful and so we didn't find anything where it said something should be. So we took a rickshaw and he took us to a lassi place (at least we asked for one). It was McDonalds...

The Red Fort of Agra (it actually is really big!

We got a coke and went in search for out hostel in the streets of Agra. Christina tried to d some shopping, but found nothing she liked. In the evening we tried going into the opposite direction of the Taj and find something more local to eat, but were sent away by locals. They got a rickshaw driver to take us to some place. After he had passed about 20 restaurants we told him to stop and drop us at the next one. We had nice Biryani and Tali and walked slowly in the dark of Agras alleys back to the hostel. Our host had given us a better room, because he heard we had slept in the common room. It was better. So we had moved to the ground floor and slept well. The next morning we took a train to Jaipur. We were at the station on time, yet way too early. The train had an hour delay and so we waited. In the train some nice guys gave us some snacks to eat and we talked to them about the games we were playing (they were confused why we also shuffled the deck after a game, eventhough cards hadn't been used). In all we arrived in Jaipur about 2 hours late...

Holy Varanasi at the Ganges

As we arrived via train in Varanasi (it was a 23h long drive), we waited for the cab and attracted alot of attention, as usual. But a friendly indian guy waited with us, translated stuff with our driver and told us a few things about Varanasi. He was a student at the college in Varanasi and was excited to talk to foreigners and test his english with us.
Finally we found our taxi and after some searching in the streets we also found the guest house, which was hidden in a small alleyway. The owners were great. Really friendly people, warning us about current scams and other troubles. A few they told us after it happened, but I guess to warn someone about everything would take a few hours, if not days...

Ceremony at the main ghat

Making a new ship for the river

Anyway we had a nice stay, visited (of course) the holy river ganges. There are alot of places to go to the ganges, burning ghats is where the dead are being cremated publicly (if you don't belong to the family, you can't go too close).
Here is one of the places people will try and scam you. They say they help the poor and those without family to get wood, so they can be burned at the ganges aswell.
But it's not true. They will lead you to a place where you can see the burning bodies and if you are lucky will tell things about the ceremony. At the end they'd ask for 750 Rupees (for one kg of wood). We gave about 50, he started running after us and demanding more money. Friends of his joined, while he pursued us. But when Will and I sped up they eventually stopped following us.

The burning ghats - well wood stacked for the cremation

Other ghats are where devotees wash themselves and their sins away. Other places are for devotion, with temples, shrines and places for puja (roughly service to the god).
Some are more commercial where boats are attached to and start river tours and other drives for tourists. From here we also started our sunrise boat ride. Some said it is something you should do as a tourist. But the captains want alot of money and the friend we got from the guest house wasn't really helpful, he just gave us in the hands of his guy and wanted a big tip later... 

Raja Ghat (taken while on the sunrise boatride)

Sleepy Jakob infront of the rising sun

Foggy Varanasi on our sunrise boat trip

Buffaloes going for a swim

Temple under water...

One important thing was the evening puja/ ceremony at one of the main ghats. Here several priests performed their rituals infront of a big crowd. Boats tied close to the bank and alot of balconies filled with tourists. At the end alot of hindus walk Down to get a blessing, recieve something blessed or just to dip inside the ganges. I aswell walked down on the last evening with Christina and we both wet our hair with the water, I tried copying a hindu ritual: you get holy water/ liquid, drink a sip and use the rest to stroke over your hair. So I drank some of the Ganges. Not too tasty, but I did not get sick!

The Ganges shortly before I went in for a dip...

In Varanasi we had really good lassi, there are a few Shops making them traditionely and very good! We also found an amazing dosa Café in the small alleys of the City  (there are alot close to the river of Old varanasi). They also made them like Crêpe - so with cheese, Ratatouille, nutella and stuff like that. Very good
It seems to be a very open place for drugs. You might not be able to go somewhere in Old Varanasi without someone offering you Hash, Marihuana Opium or mushrooms. Supposedly there is also a temple, where people offer marihuana and it is burned there directly. I didn't g there, but I guess those priests have a great time at work!

The last day Christina got a henna. Me being open minded and her urging me to get one (well ok, she just said: "Come on Jakob! Do it!"). So I did. Later we found out, only married men (and only at the wedding itself) do men get hennas. Not just for fun like women do. Well... I'm not married. A shame really...

The freshly made henna

A pretty Bunny-goat (because it has big ears like a bunny!) - so pretty

Will and me, goofing around at the main ghat (daytime, no ceremony going on)

In Varanasi Christina and I split from Will. He wanted to go to Nepal sooner and stayed there while Christina and I left for Agra, the city of the famous Taj Mahal!

Random pic of the day: A monkey hanging around - Eier schaukeln ( germanliterally: swinging your balls - relaxing and doing nothing)