Sunday, December 15, 2024 – Our near perfect visit to India ran into a snag today. Mr. Subhesh picked us up at the hotel alone as Mukesh was not going to accompany us to the airport. The plan was to visit some Krishna temples in Vrindavan. A local guide was to meet us there to show us the temples. We get to the meeting spot and there are 4 guys standing there. A few minutes later, one introduces himself as our guide, and we stand a few more minutes. Then he motions for us to get into a tuktuk.
The three of us ride in the back of the tuktuk, and the guide tells us two or three things about Krishna’s. Most of the time we are riding in silence. We ride over some very rough roads for about 10-15 minutes and stop at what appears to be an intersection with no temples in sight. The guide gets out, and a bit later motions for us to get out. Then he asks Dave if he has 200 rupees (about $2.25) to give to the tuk tuk driver. As Dave questions him saying everything is suppose to be paid for, I emerge from the tuktuk and immediately feel wetness on my cheek. A woman has come up from behind me and stamped my face with a yellow substance. I am not happy and the lady looks like she has more paint to put on my face and Dave steps between us to protect me. Meanwhile our guide is doing nothing and says, “she’s uneducated” but does nothing. At that point I said I was done and to take us back to our driver and Dave forcibly concurs. So we all hop back in the tuktuk, and in 5 minutes we are back at the parking lot Mr. Subhesh got on the phone with Mukesh and Mukesh spoke to me and I assured him we were OK, as I was not injured, just very uncomfortable with the situation.
In my opinion, this local Vrindavan guide should have explained what we were doing, how far, how long, and how to avoid uneducated women. He just gave us a couple of orders (get in tuk tuk and get out of tuk tuk) and I felt he was keeping us in the dark. We were uncomfortable from the beginning.
The good news is we got back in the car with Mr, Subhesh and he brought us to the airport. He is a very kind man and even gave us hugs as we left.
I told Dave that if our guide upon arrival would have been like the Vrindavan guide, our trip would have been a whole lot different. We probably would have bailed on day 1.
So we arrived at the airport about 2:00PM and our flight is not until 11:55PM. We couldn’t check our bags until about 8:00PM, so we hung out in the outer part of the airport where there’s not much to choose from. We did get a sandwich from a coffee vendor.
We landed in Tampa at 11:10 AM and then drove home in our rental car. We were in airports for about 32 hours, and traveling for about 42 hours including our drive (and tuk tuk ride) from Agra to Delhi and Tampa to Englewood.
It was a near fabulous trip with the exception of our last day ☹️.
Saturday, December 14, 2024 – Today is the icing on the cake – we visited the Taj Mahal. It is a UNESCO site and one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.
It is indescribable. It is built out of white marble with inlays of precious stones to make flowers and designs. The stones are cut and polished, then inlaid into the marble. The intricate designs are so fine that not even a magnifying glass reveals the breaks between the stones, yet a single 1-inch flower can have 60 pieces. The finished product is so smooth you would think it is painted. But when the sun hits the temple, you can see the glitter and shine. The white marble is from India and is translucent. It is not porous, so it does not stain. To look at it is mesmerizing. I feel so fortunate that we were actually able to visit the grounds and go inside the building.
It was built by Shah Jahan for his third and favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, which means the Jewel of the Palace. It took 17 years to build the Taj Mahal, starting in 1632, and 5 more years to finish the surrounding grounds. The legend is she asked him to build a monument so beautiful that the world would never forget their love. She died after giving birth to their 13th child. Our guide said they were only married 17 years, and she had a few miscarriages.
You enter through a huge sandstone gate on the south side which beautifully frames the Taj Mahal. To the north is a gate which provided access from the Yamuna River that flows behind it. There are English gardens on each side and a waterway that leads up to the tomb.
Everything is symetrical. On the west side, facing east is a mosque (The Shah and his wife were Muslims), and on the east side is an identical building that our guide said was built for symmetry but later used to house to house foreign dignitaries.
Inside the mausoleum are the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. They are actually buried below ground in a crypt and above the crypt, at ground level, are two raised structures that look like tombs. Unfortunately no photos are allowed. Her tomb is exactly at the center and he is at her side, which is the only asymmetrical element in the whole complex. The tombs are surrounded by a screen made of marble cut to look like latticework.
We have heard that you have to go at 6:00AM and stand in line for hours. Our guide is from Agra, and suggested he pick us up from the hotel at 9:00AM. I’m not sure what time we arrived at the Taj Mahal. We had to take an extended golf cart people mover from the car park to the entrance. Mukesh got out tickets and covers for our shoes that we would have to wear inside. We walked the grounds, took some pictures and walked up to the Taj Mahal. We walked around the tombs and around outside, but never had to wait. We had a beautiful, sunny day with no clouds.
It was just a phenomenal visit.
We visited a business that makes marble items and insets stones like those marble at Taj Mahal. We saw samples of the stones that are ground down and they are unbelievably tiny. Supposedly all these workers are descendants of the artisans that did the marble work at the Taj Mahal.
But, we had two more sights to visit. Next we went to the Agra Fort. This is also a UNESCO site. The word fort is misleading. This huge complex is really a fortified palace with royal apartments. A massive was 1.5 miles long and 69 feet high surrounds the fort. It had a water moat with crocodiles and snakes and a dry moat with wild animals to protect the occupants inside.
It was originally a brick fort and used by earlier emporer including Humayun (we visited his tomb in Delhi), his son Akbar, Akbar’s son Jahangir, and Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan (who built the Taj Mahal).
We saw the Royal bedroom, and on each side was smaller palaces built for two daughters. There were designs carved from red sandstone and marble, but nowhere near as intricate or beautiful as the Taj Mahal.
Shah Jahan’s son, Aurangzeb,who was the third son and not in line to succeed his father, killed his brothers and confined his father to house arrest until his father’s death. While confined, Shah Jahan had clear views of the Taj Mahal containing the tomb of his wife. When Shah Jahan died, he was buried next to his wife at the Taj Mahal.
The last site we visited was nicknamed the Baby Taj. It’s real name is “Itimad-ud-Daulah’s Tomb. Jahangir’s (Akbar’s son) favorite wife built this small tomb for her father, Mizraim Ghiyas Beg, who was later known as Itimad-ud-Daulah. Itimad-ud-Daulah was also the grandfather of Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of emporer Shah Jahan, for whom the Taj Mahal was built. This tomb was built before the Taj Mahal, but included intricate marble inlay. It was very likely the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.
The tombs of Itimad-ud-Daulah, and his wife are in the center. Other relations are entombed in corner rooms.
Mukesh always wants to take our picture. Occasionally we comply.
It is a beautiful building on well maintained grounds, but much smaller than the Taj Mahal.
It is late in the afternoon, I think about 3:30, and we go to lunch. Mukesh helps me order an Indian entree and gives me a sample of his chickpea dish. Dave played it safe with fried fish.
At my request we stopped at a souvenir shop to buy a couple of postcards and a book on Agra, Delhi, and Jaipur which Dave and I like to keep in our little library.
We are back at the hotel, reviewing our clothing for our travel to Delhi and long flight home. We are suppose to visit a temple complex on the way to Delhi, but we said goodbye to Mukesh.
Friday, December 13, 2024 – We left Ranthambhore to drive to Agra, which is a 6 hour drive. On the way, our guide, Mukesh said he stops at a cow pen to feed the cows. These are cows that have been let loose by their owners as they no longer produce milk. They have been rounded up and placed in this cow pen. There are ladies there who have bought cow feed from farmers, and then they sell the feed so people can feed the cows. At first, I was kinda like, I’ve lived on a farm, and then I thought why not. Mukesh had already bought the feed from an older lady and he shared some of the cow feed with me. So I fed the cows!
We continued on our drive and stopped at at Fatehpur Sikri, a city built in red sandstone by Emperor Akbar, and a UNESCO site. The story Mukesh told us was that Abkar did not have an heir. He had three wives, a Christian, a Muslim and a Hindu, and several concubines, but an heir had to be a son from one of his three wives. Akbar sought the advice of a religious man who predicted the birth of a son. Soon, his Hindu wife gave birth to a son and became his favorite wife. Akbar moved his capital from Agra and to Fatehpur Sikri in 1571 and built his compound there in 1574 to be closer to the religious man. Fatehpur Sikri is an enormous compound. The outer area is where he would hold public audiences.
Then you enter into the Royal area and saw where Akbar would meet with his advisors. He sat on top of a platform, and the advisors would meet him up there.
We saw the treasury where the valuables were kept inside concealed openings 8”x8”, and then very deep all around the room. The astronomer sat outside the treasury in his own area.
We saw the rooms for the wives. The Muslim wife’s room had a lot of intricate detail carved into the sandstone that made it look like wood.
We saw Akbar’s bedroom. The bed was elevated about 10 feet off the ground and was more than king size!
Outside his bedroom was a water feature with a platform in the middle where musicians would play for Akbar while he sat on his balcony.
Christian wife had paintings on the wall. This is an example of elephants.
The favorite wife that produced an heir basically had a castle of her own with a summer room and a winter room. Since she was Hindu, she had her own temple.
Mukesh showed us squares on the ground where the king would play a game he called Parchese with his concubines to see which one(s) he would sleep with that night.
Akbar abandoned the site in 1585, and the city was totally abandoned in 1610.
Leaving Fatehpur Sikri, we stopped for a quick bite to eat, and ate at their buffet. Mukesh said the food was bland for tourists and had them spice stuff up for him.
Then we proceeded to Agra where we are spending the night and tomorrow we go to the Taj Mahal.
Thursday, December 12, 2024 – We were scheduled to have a morning Safari, but we were so cold when we came back from our evening Safari, we cancelled the morning one. The morning one is colder than the evening one. We never expected it to be so cold (40°) in India and we just did not bring warm enough clothes.
We had a nice leisurely breakfast and relaxed for the morning.
For the afternoon Safari today, we layered on as many clothes as we could, and the hotel will provide blankets (we didn’t know that yesterday).
So we relaxed in the morning, grabbed a quick cheese sandwich with French fries for lunch. The French fries were really good! Then we met our guide and driver at 1:30pm who took us to meet our jeep. The jeep is called a gypsy. They also do tours in a 20 passenger bus called a canter. The jeeps/gypsy is different than other safari vehicles we’ve been in in that it is 2 rows of seats with 3 people in each row. Each jeep has a driver and a naturalist.
After we get in our jeep, on our way driving to the park, we see these kids running and then climbing on top of a bus. We figure it’s school kids hitching a free ride on a city bus. The bus does not stop for them…they run and grab the ladder while the bus is moving!
Unfortunately, we did not see any tigers yesterday or today. But we did see some animals.
The last animal we saw was a sloth bear which is pretty rare.
We also saw antelope but could not get a decent picture.
The jeep driver and naturalist at the end of our Safari claimed to see 3 leopards, but none of the six of us in the jeep could spot them ☹️.
The driver took us back to our hotel, and we enjoyed a hot cup of tea and some cookies in the pool area of our hotel when we returned.
After getting warmed up and rested, we went to dinner.
I enjoyed some vegetarian hot and sour soup, chicken with pepper entree and a lamb entree (it was served buffet style). I have been enjoying some Indian dishes, some not do much. But I like spicy food, so generally if it has chicken or lamb, I’ll try it. Dave is not as adventurous as me, but has found most of the restaurants serve fish and chips. So he will order that if there’s nothing on the buffet that interests him. We also have found a wine we like, so we enjoyed a bottle with dinner.
I thought I would lose weight in India, but I have been enjoying the food, so I’m sure I put on a few pounds.
Tomorrow we head to Agra.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024 – We have a 4 hour drive from Jaipur to Rathambore. We pass some sheep…
And some cows. We have seen many cows in town, on the road, everywhere.
Cows are a sacred animal, but their milk is used. When the cows no longer give milk, they are set loose, but never killed. It is the Hindu religion to feed the cows with the firstfruits, usually bread, every morning. I’m assuming cows and bulls. So even the non producing animals are cared for. We saw people outside the stores feeding the cows.
We arrive at our hotel, The Tigress, and it is very nice.
We were rushed a bit to be ready for our Safari at 1:30, and only had about 20 minutes for lunch. But the restaurant manager was accommodating and made us a cheese sandwich “to go” boxed very nicely with some water and fruit juice.
We did not see any tigers, or many animals. So a few animal photos, plants and views of the landscape. Not positive on plant identifications…
We almost had a better picture of the water buffaloes, but our naturalist guide told us to wait, because he thought he could maneuver them and instead chased them off.
At the end of the Safari, the jeep driver dropped us off at our hotel. Dave and I were frozen to the bone. We were not prepared for it to get so cold when the sun went down. We went to our room and did everything we could to get warm. I was going to take a hot shower, but the water was only “warm”. I guess they don’t have hot water because we asked. After dinner we just crashed under the covers to keep warm.
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 – Unfortunately, Dave and I are both sick! But we are trudging on. Today is a full day of sightseeing. We start out at 9:00AM. We drive through Jaipur, then old Jaipur. Dave spots some workers on the back of a truck sleeping as they travel to their job. We see three bodies, but the one on the left just has legs showing and the one on the right is totally covered and hard to pick out.
Buildings were originally colored yellow, which can be seen on the back of the buildings. The capital was painted pink (really more of a salmon color) when Prince Albert visited India in the middle of the 19th century. The idea stuck, and by law buildings in the old city must still be painted pink. As a result, Jaipur is commonly referred to as the Pink City. The shops are not chaotic like in new Jaipur or even Delhi. The first stop is a photo stop at the “Palace of Winds”, or Hawa Mahal. It is “Jaipur’s most iconic structure”. It is a five story structure built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Sing as a safe haven for royal women to observe the goings-on of the city. Its prominent feature is its 953 latticed windows that make the palace look like a honeycomb. It was named after the westerly winds that blow through the windows.
In front of the Palace of the winds was a decorative piece made totally our of flower petals, which will die and blow away in a couple of days. Our guide said it was probably for an event to be held here. We saw it just as it was finished.
We continue on into what our guide calls “Ancient Jaipu. We are here to see and tour the “Amber (Amer) Fort and Palace”.
It is a 4 story complex with a maze of halls and rooms, constructed with a mix of red sandstone and white marble, any of which are adorned with intricate mirror work and frescos.
It was began in 1592 by Raja Man Singh and Mira Raja Singh and Sawai Jai Singh continued the construction over 125 years. You can ride an elephant up to the front gate, but our driver drove us up a back way. The elephants are well cared for. They only make 3 trips a day, and then go back to their “elephant village”. The elephants were painted and decorated.
Some consider using the elephants as abusive. I felt better knowing they were limited to 3 trips, but we were driven to the moon entrance, so really, the elephants are not required.
Inside the palace are elaborate carved decorations, latticework to allow airflow but still provide viewing outside. One area was totally decorated with tiny mirrors imbedded into the walls and ceiling to reflect the light. It was beautiful.
It is impossible for me to remember all the details and all the rooms. We saw a “squattie pottie” and bathtub which the guide said was for the ladies.
Leaving the Amber Fort, we drove to the water palace for a photo stop. This palace is located in the middle of a lake with views of mountains in the distance. It must have been a wonderful place to go when it was hot outside, as it gets very hot in the summer.
Next we visited the City Museum which is attached to another palace.
One courtyard had four doors, each decorated for a different season.
Inside the city museum were suppose to be two large silver urns, except one was on loan to a museum in Houston, Texas. Somehow we did not get a picture, so this picture was downloaded from the internet.
The story behind these two urns was the king was invited to a coronation of a king in England, but because of his religion, he needed water from the Ganges River for his long journey. So the two large silver urns filled with Ganges River traveled with him for his use.
Also in the city museum area but different rooms was a textile museum and a weapons museum. Pictures were not allowed in these rooms.
The weapons room displays the Royal collection of arms and armor, including swords, shields, axes, bows and arrows, daggers, chain armor, fire, arms, and gunpowder containers.
The most interesting things I saw were the pajamas and robe for one of the maharajas. The pajamas were HUGE! The waistband had to be at least 12 feet around. The robe was like a tent. The man had to be massive! I wish I had a picture because it was unbelievable!
The Jantar Mantar is a collection of 19 astronomical instruments built by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of Jaipur, Rajasthan. The monument was completed in 1734. It features the world’s largest stone sundial, and is a UNESCO site. The instruments allow the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye.
Horoscopes are very important in India, using the time, date and location of birth. Our guide said in arranged marriages the astrological signs are used in making matches.
After visiting the observatory we went to a store that did printed fabrics. I had told Mukhest that I might need a sweatshirt for the Safaris on Wednesday and Thursday, but I don’t think he understood what I was looking for. It was an interesting visit though. A young woman illustrated different stamps in how to produce a finished product on fabric. We entered the store and sat through a demonstration of all the different things they produce and even saw a young man trying on a new suit jacket made for him. If you order something today, they deliver it tomorrow morning!
We were pretty exhausted and returned to the hotel. The hotel is very nice, and there is an Indian wedding going on.
But there were issues…
We went to dinner, and Dave ordered a fried fish dish which turned out to be very nice fried fish with French fries. I ordered hot and sour soup and a chicken entree. After about 30 minutes, I got my soup. After I finished my soup, 10 minutes or more later, Dave got his fish dish, and ate it while it was warm. My chicken entree never came!!! Then, the next morning, the coffee machine was broken and I could not get any coffee!
The issues were minor overall, and with the wedding going on, I’m sure the staff was very busy.
Tomorrow morning we have a 4 hour drive to Rathambore National Park for our tiger safaris.
Monday, December 9, 2024 – Not a very active day. We drove from Delhi to Jaipur, leaving at 9:00AM and arriving 3:00PM. We made one stop about mid-wat to use the bathroom and grab some snacks. There was a store, and we picked out some flavored popped lotus seeds, and noticed a rat in the store! Yikes!
The bags are sealed, so we felt they were safe. Then we went next door to the restaurant, which had very limited options. We ended up ordering grilled cheese sandwiches. While we were waiting, we saw a mouse run across the floor. Dave and I are eyeing each other…but we ate the grilled cheese. There were other Indian people in the restaurant, so we felt it couldn’t be that bad….
We arrived in Jaipur at 3:00PM. We had a visit to the Galta Ji Temple in our itinerary, which is a monkey temple. We have previously visited monkey temples, and experienced monkeys at Gibraltar. We opted out of visiting the monkey temple because the monkeys can jump on you and they can bite!
So we decided to check into our hotel, rest a little while and meet up with our guide at 4:15PM. We had quite a welcome! Apparently there is a wedding at the hotel and they thought we were wedding guests when we arrived.
We met our guide at 4:25PM and he took us to an all white marble Hindu temple. On the way, we passed an old, abandoned fort up on a hill.
He is Hindu and has been telling us a lot of information about the Hindu religion. The name of the temple is the BirlaTemple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi, two Hindu Gods. This temple, made entirely of white marble, showcases intricate carvings and Hindu scenes. Lord Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi are exquisitely dressed in the front of the temple. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside. There are some stained glass windows with Hindu Gods and Goddesses, too. Our guide says Hindu’s are respectful of all religions and shows us carved figures on the columns outside the temple. All these images are part of the Hindu temple.
The Birla Temple was built by a very wealthy Indian family named Birla. They have built several other temples in other cities as well.
Very close by are two other Hindu temples which are not as elaborate. Mukesh took us to one of the temples that is dedicated to Ganesha, and looks like an elephant. The elephant was dressed. Each God and Goddess has a conveyance (vehicle) they ride. Ganesha, the elephant, rides a mouse! This temple is much smaller than the Birla Temple.
After visiting the two temples, we returned to the hotel. We stopped in the bar for a glass of wine, but their options were very limited. We ended up sharing one glass of red wine.
We had dinner in the hotel – it seems our hotels are not close to other options, but we probably would rather eat and get some extra rest anyway.
Tomorrow we tour Jaipur.
Sunday, December 8, 2024: Lots of pictures today!
We are in Delhi and will meet our tour guide at 9:00 AM. Last night was exciting because we could not figure out how to turn the lights off in our room. We were both very tired and tried every switch we could find. Finally we had to call the front desk to ask for help. I was already in my pajamas, so I got in bed and covered up. After what seemed like a long wait – probably 15 minutes – someone came and showed us a panel that we thought was just the clock, and turned our lights out!
This morning we went to breakfast and was not sure what most of the options were. Dave found some cold cuts and cheese which seemed to be okay for him. I found some bacon, pastries and fruit. Then I tried to get coffee. I could not figure out the coffee machine, so I asked for help and thought I watched closely enough that I could get a second cup on my own. Long story short, I still had trouble and ended up dropping whatever was in my cup on the floor making a mess. A kind waitress told me not to worry, and asked what I wanted. She went somewhere (she didn’t use the machine either) and brought me a cup of coffee. Not a good start to the morning.
A little before 9:00, we went to the lobby to check out and meet our guide. He spotted me immediately – I guess I was the only American woman getting off the elevator. His name is Mukesh and I was immediately relieved because he spoke English very well and we could understand him! Our driver is Mr. Subhesh. Our car is a small SUV, but roomy enough for all four of us and our luggage.
As we start driving, Mukesh tells us a little about himself and that he has guided Obama, Nancy Pelosi, several US Senators and he is a tourist guide for the US Embassy. He was suppose to guide Trump, but they did not give him the exact date of Trump’s visit and it ended up he had a conflict. So with those high level clients, I’m feeling much more comfortable with our guide and driver. Mukesh is very personable, knowledgeable, easy to talk to and welcomes questions.
He tells us the original name of Delhi was Dilli, but the British changed it to Delhi.
Even though it’s Sunday, traffic is atrocious. Our guide says it is much lighter than normal because it’s Sunday.
We drove to Old Delhi, also known as Shahjahanabad. It was founded as a walled city by Shah Jahan in 1648 when he decided to move the capital from Agra to Mughal India. It remained the capital of Mughal India until 1857 when the British Empire took over. Google says Mughals is also spelled Mogul or Moghul, and is the Indo-Persian form of Mongol. Here we visited the Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in India. It was built by Shah Jahan between 1644 and 1656. It is still an active mosque and can hold 20,000 people.
Next we took a rickshaw ride. One guy on a bicycle hauled Dave and I around Old Delhi. We ride through narrow alleys which are lined with shops, called Chandni Chowk market. Most are closed because it’s Sunday, but a few are open. We spotted a couple of monkeys near the roofline of a couple of buildings. Vendors are selling street food and everything else.
We stop for a short walking tour and Mukesh points out a wholesale flower market, shops selling “popped lotus seeds” which looks like popcorn, nuts and spices. We stop in one shop selling spices and not only do they have every kind of spice, the make spice mixtures and they package it so tourists can buy it and bring it home. I bought a mixture that’s suppose to be good on potatoes.
We walked back to our rickshaws and were taken back to our starting point which was near the mosque.
Our next stop is the memorial to Mahatma Ghandi which is the spot where he was cremated. Mahatma Ghandi is called the father of the nation. So this is where we began to connect more with Mukesh. In the 1940’s, the Muslims demanded a separate homeland. In 1947, Britain granted independence with Hindus staying in India and Muslims moving to Pakistan. Apparently Ghandi allowed Muslims to stay in India instead of moving to Pakistani. This is probably what caused Ghandi to be assassinated. Mukesh said Muslims have many wives and therefore have multiplied more rapidly than the Hindus (Mukesh is Hindu) and now want to change the rules so everyone has to conform to the Islam religion because they are becoming the majority. More on this when we reach our last stop today. Whether you agree with Ghandi or not, it is interesting to me how one man can make such an impact on the world.
We had photo “drive-bys” to see the Parliament House, the President’s House, and the India Gate.
The India Gate is a war memorial to the Indian soldiers who died in WWI. Another memorial is nearby honoring soldiers who died in a later war.
Next we visited Humayun’s Tomb. It was the first garden tomb in India and declared a UNESCO site, commissioned by his wife in 1558. There are many other tombs at this site, I believe over 100. The surrounding gardens are very peaceful and it was interesting to look at the tombs. Tombs of women had one design or symbol and the men had what our guide called a pencil box. One tomb had no design because apparently it was an eunuch.
After visiting Humayun’s tomb, it was about 2:00, so we had a lunch break. It was a restaurant mainly for foreign tourists. Dave had chicken fingers that came with French fries. I had chicken and vegetable lasagna which was more like a chicken stew with some pasta, not resembling lasagna at all. But it was tasty, which was the important thing,
Our last stop was Qutub Minar, another UNESCO site. It is 239 feet tall, making it the tallest minaret in the world built of bricks. It has 5 distinct storey. The first storey was built by the viceroy Aibak as a victory tower in the late 1100’s. The next three stories were added by his son-in-law and successor but the tower was struck my lightening in 1368AD which knocked off the top storey. The last two stores were added by a Sultan of Delhi (1351-1388) and has some white marble and sandstone as opposed to the red sandstone in the earlier storey’s.
There are many other ruins on the site of Qutub Minar. Mukesh pointed out the original mosque built here used materials from destroying Hindu temples. He pointed out carved bells on some of the pillars which are representative of the bell rung in Hindu temples. The columns used in the mosque also have carved figures which would not be in a mosque because there can be no representations of human figures in a mosque. We saw this in Istanbul in the Haggai Sophia which used to be a church but was converted to a mosque. All the human figures has been covered with Islamic writings. The mosque was started in 1193 by the same viceroy Aibak.
In this same complex, is an unusual iron pillar. The pillar weighs over 14,300 lbs and was erected around 402AD. It is a curiosity because it is iron and never rusts. There is an inscription on the pillar in Sanskrit, which indicates it is a Hindu relic.
After visiting Qutub Minar, we were driven to our hotel, Lalit Hotel in Delhi.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Dave had a salmon kabob and I had lamb rogan josh. We had the same bottle of wine that we had last night. Last night it cost $75, tonight it cost $35!
Saturday, December 7: Leaving the port was hair raising. Out transfer to the airport scheduled for 7:30AM and we have a 1:00PM flight.
Getting out of the port was frustrating. We had to go through the usual routine of showing our paper, meeting the immigration officer face to face, having our hand luggage screened, picking up our luggage (which has become pretty easy to spots with our houndstooth London Fog purchase from the humane society thrift store), finding our correct bus among a mass confusion of buses and finally getting seated. Then our bus could not leave because of the mass of buses in front of us. We probably sat for 20 minutes just waiting for other buses to get out of our way. Finally we are driving to the port exit where a man in a uniform boards the bus to check our stamped paper. Unfortunately, one woman left her paper in her luggage that was loaded under the bus 🤯. I did not have kind thoughts for her. The bus has to back up, park, and they have to unload luggage until they find her bag. She finds it and gets back on the bus. Now there are several cars and buses and taxis in front of us, and butting in front of us, and no one is moving. An hour later….we finally get to the front of the line, the man enters the bus to check our papers, and our bus attendant tells him all the papers are checked, and he believes her and we are finally off to the airport. I would hate to see what my blood pressure was as we sat there for an hour. Although we were told it would take two hours to get to the airport, which is why I was freaking out, it only took about 40 minutes once we were out of the gate.
On our drive to the airport, we see this water truck out the window. One man is sitting on top, and the other man on the ground is brushing his teeth!
The Mumbai airport seems pretty normal, our only issue is understanding the announcements. Indian English is different from American English. Just as it is getting close to boarding time, gate gets changed, and thankfully Allison brings it to our attention. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t have noticed.
We walk to the new gate, and they are making announcements we can’t understand. We can tell boarding has started, but I cant tell when it is our turn. Dave finally says that’s us, and we board.
Our seats are near the back of the plane – good for when we need to use the restroom! Of course we cannot take off right away, so we sit and wait on the plane. I think we finally left about 40 minutes late, but the pilot picked up a few minutes as we landed about 3:30 instead of 3:00.
We get our luggage and I emailed the Radisson Blu to see if they have a shuttle. They said they’d send a salon car for us. They did, but there was a lot of back and forth on WhatsApp trying to locate one another. I was having a hard time understanding Indian-English, and so was Dave. Finally I asked a guy sitting on a bench if he would translate for us, and he must have directed the driver because he came walking up the sidewalk. It was a good ride from the airport to the hotel, a lot further that what we thought. It is crazy how they drive! It is truly unbelievable. It is amazing there aren’t more accidents. Finally we arrive at the hotel about 5:00PM. They scanned our luggage before we entered the hotel, Dave and I had to walk through an airport like scanner, plus, a woman wanded me and a man wanded Dave! This was just to get into the hotel!!!
After we get our luggage and try to reorganize a bit, we decide to try to find some food. The first place we went to is called New York deli, and it was a huge buffet with everything except American food. We said we were looking for something lighter, so the hostess wanted to walk us to the Asian restaurant. Actually she insisted, but turned us over to another guide. She took us to the Asian restaurant, and it looked good, but we wanted to see if there were other options. So they walked us to the bar. The bar guy really tried to keep us there even though we didn’t like his menu. We told him we were going back to the Asian food, and he said we could order the Asian food in the bar and they’d bring it. We kept saying mom, so finally he turned us over to someone who walked us back to the Asian restaurant. We had a nice meal, but it was crazy like they didn’t want us walking around alone.
I had some won tons and lamb chops, Dave had Chicken Kung Pao, but aI didn’t get a picture of his food.
We also had a bottle of Indian wine that was very good!
There is a big Christmas tree in the lobby of the Radisson Blu.
After our long day traveling, we are ready for bed!
Itinerary
12/7/2024 – Fly from Mumbai (Bombay) to Delhi
12/8/2024 – Delhi Sightseeing
12/9/2024 – Delhi to Jaipur
12/10/2024 – Jaipur sightseeing
12/11/2024 – Jaipur to Ranthambhore National Park
12/12/2024 – Ranthambhore National Park
12/13/2024 – Ranthambhore National Park to Fatehpur Sikri to Agra
12/14/2024 – Agra sightseeing
12/15/2024 – Agra to Vrindavan to Delhi late flight home
12/16/2024 – Arrive Tampa
Hotels:
**Radisson Blu, Delhi Airport**
07-08 December 2024 (1 night)
** The Lalit, Delhi **
08–09 December 2024 (1 night)
Room Type: Deluxe Room
** The Lalit, Jaipur **
09–11 December 2024 (2 nights)
Room Type: Deluxe Room
** The Tigress, Ranthambore **
11–13 December 2024 (2 nights)
Room Type: Royal Luxury Suite
** Courtyard by Marriott, Agra **
13–15 December 2024 (2 nights)
Room Type: Deluxe Room