Taj Mahal

Being based in Delhi we felt it was probably a good idea to give the Taj Mahal a visit. However I had previously believed that the famous tomb was in Delhi, I was sadly mistaken. The Taj Mahal is in the city of Agra, a 3 and a half hour drive south. We hired a car and driver and rocked up to Agra like royalty. We even splashed out on a guide so we could get some of the history of the place.

Spotting a white woman in India is rare but was a selfie really necessary?

Being a classic tourist (I was aiming to grab that cloud)

The Taj Mahal was a sight to see, the archistructure was impressive with the 4 pillars angled away from the main tomb to protect the central building in case of an earthquake. The Taj Mahal for many people brings about connotations of love, the tomb was comissioned by a Mughal Emperor for his favourite wife, (he had 3), very romantic. The translucent white marble mausoleum reflects the moonlight and in the morning it reflects pink. (Apparently our guide was worth the money). However the inside is pretty basic, two tombs in the centre and a load of sweaty tourists walking around them, would'nt come into my definition of a 'wonder of the world'.

Making of the stones that make up the design in the image above 

After seeing the 5th man made wonder of the world, our guide took us to a place where the stones where hand crafted. Some of the table peices take years to make but they were extremley beautiful. Taken in by the beautiful translucent marble we all made some purchases for our people back home. 

"Get off my land!"

On the way back we stopped off at services which had a pizza hut, don't get me wrong I love Indian food, but it was so refreshing to not have a rice dish for a change, we all gave in and had pizza, worth every rupee. 

Staff Training

The next day, Dilshad, Akshay, Sarah, Raekka and I drove to the MHE camp in Damdama, not going to lie, I felt bereft to leave the  aircon which had been my saviour from the Indian heat. I was told I'd be staying in the camp for 2 nights so I packed light. However we stayed for 5 (hand washing of pants was necessary). We're beginning to realise that what were told is not written in stone, things change very last minute for us here.

The view from my tent

Glamping

At the camp me and Sarah soaked eachother with the hose, making the heat no longer an  issue. Myself and Raekka entertained Sarah all day as Akshay and Dilshad had meetings with the MHE crew. When they left, I stayed at the camp with the crew and joined them in watching a cricket game going on in the adjacent field and I had  some small conversations with some of the crew as they only knew a few english words. They  were all very welcoming and friendly.

When I was told goat was for dinner, I wasn’t expecting to see a live goat arrive on a lead, they let me hold it and I began to stroke him, until I realised it wasn't the smartest idea to get attached to an animal that would soon be my dinner. He was around 3,000 RPS (£34) and lasted 15 people for 4 meals. (Don't read on if your a big goat fan). They pulled the lead up to its ears to pull the head down towards the bucket, the executioner then  struck it 3 times but the blade was too blunt so it only made the goat sink lower to the ground and  let out a horrible wail, then they began cutting it halal style. The head was brought onto a tarp  followed by the body. They then gutted it which I was surprised to have been done with no gloves,  and all bracelets kept on. The insides looked like something from the film alien. The body was stuffed with  mango leaves to prevent burning and then chucked onto the fire. Once cooked they cleaned the  body, pouring water into it which they swirled and chucked out, it reminded me of emptying a  kayak as the goat now had a cockpit looking hole in its stomach. The goat was then brought round  to the eating area outside the kitchen and cut into pieces, some of which landed on my toe. When  it was brought out it looked very much like how it was before, it also tasted slightly of how it smelt  before therefore it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience. The crew were extremely welcoming and hospitable, always bringing me more goat which I felt obliged to eat, washing it down with Whiskey helped do the trick.

The goat burning

We had two days of staff training, so getting the down low and day to day activities of what happens at Bull's retreat, soon to be our work place. Some of the crew started a game of cricket at the end of the day, loving sports I ran over to join them. J.P, Fil and Nathan were particularly  hilarious to watch as they attempted to throw and hit the ball.

JP showing the Indians how its done

We worked hard in the day, and had fun parties in the night, work hard play hard if you like. One of the crew, Vicky had had a baby so the first night was a special party, JPs birthday was 3 days before so that was another party, and in between we just had parties for party sake, Indians love to find any excuse to drink. But you can’t blame them when the local liqour is 100 RPS Kinnu (orange flavoured) which we had every night. The evenings were the times we began to really bond with the crew, the more Kinnu we had the better their english became, and apparently our hindi. We learnt some essentials Pani (water), Dahannivad (thankyou), Sharab (alcohol). We taught eachother card games and shared our music, it was times like these where the language barrier didn't seem so high.

Ahh Kinnu

5:30 am: Myself, Nathan, J.P, Fil and some of the MHE crew who also managed to drag themselves out of bed went on a morning trek to the old MHE camp now lived in by Sadhu’s (buddhists) who abstain from all material  possession. Lucky for us, guest means god for them so we were lovingly welcomed and went into  their Mandi temple. One of  them called for the dogs “Pira, Pira, Pira” and 8 puppies came hurtling towards us from the heavens, I was in bliss. It came to 9am and I had already seen 8 puppies, what more does one desire in a morning. Today I am  feeling particularly fortunate for all these new things I get to experience, every day here so far has been  such an adventure.

The Ridge

River crossing 

अतिथि का मतलब है भगवान

Pedalo River crossing

Puppies!

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Birds nests

Clean up of camp:
The Gardening tools were interesting; a machete which was fun to use, I got slightly too carried away, slashing the hell out of the grass until I realised how much I was sweating and calmed down a bit. The slightest  effort in the heat of the day causes extreme sweat, I was positively dripping when me and Nathan  used the lawn mower which was extremley basic, a handle with blades which took 2 people to drag across the lawn. Each night here we slept on our beds  under the stars, the mosquitos did not show us mercy, as I foolishly braved the night without a mosquito net, "my mosquito cream will protect me", famous last words.

JP snug as a bug

When we ran out of goat, we went to the market and brought chickens, (another warning for vegetarians to stop reading) their throats were slit and then thrown into a bin  where their reflexing bodies ran around for around 10 seconds, they were then skinned in front of us. Nathan got a splash of blood on his leg which I found highly amusing.

Its no KFC

In the morning we got a rickshaw to the metro, tips for rickshaw users:
1. Set a price before you get in (even doing this they will still ask for more when you arrive at your destination)
2. Know where you are going and get up the location on google maps (we were dropped off on the side of a road next to nothing and told it was the visa office)
3. Get a seat at the side, you get a good Indian breeze.
4. If you secure this seat, don't stick your head out of it or it will get taken off by oncoming rickshaws.
Happy Rickshawing

Our first Rickshaw

Old Delhi

I am staying in India for 1 year, it was day 2 and I felt it was time for me to cross the road alone, big step, felt like leaving the nest all over again. I had had a big breakfast of dosa so was ready for this today. After some time spent mentally preparing, and reminding myself that I had seen 6 year olds doing this, it was time. I spent a good minute waiting for a gap that didn't come. So I took a deep breath and took the plunge, walking out into speeding traffic with my hand out and teeth clenched. I was pleasantly suprised to have left this experience without a rickshaw lodged into my side. By now I have managed to get a system going for road crossing; 1. Find a group or someone else that is crossing and hover by then as cars are less likely to hit a group of people, or 2. Break it down by crossing half way then waiting for a gap to go again.

It was a saturday so our first day of being tourists so we decided to go and explore Old Delhi. Whilst I  was staring at the metro sign trying to make sure I was about to get on the right one a lovely  Indian man came over and helped me out, we chatted on the metro and I was pleasantly suprised to meet someone contradictory to what everyone at home had warned me about "watch out for those Indian men". Although I may have began my time here being too cautious of men, they all stare which I'm getting used to (although even I find myself staring at white people now, they are so rare here) but one guy on the metro gestured to me and stood up and came my way so I began preparing my karate moves, before realising he was offering me his seat, then I felt terrible for assuming he was getting up to make a run for my butt.

Welcome to old delhi

Old Delhi was even more heaving with people than New Dehli which was a shock to us all. We went through the markets and I brought some saris (100RPS, 300RPS - £1.20, £3.60) turns out I am a large size as my shoulders were too big for a  lot of them, the men kept shouting "large size", "large size" for all the market to hear as they found me saris which made me feel fabulous.

My large saris

We went into a temple where we had to wash our hands and feet before entering and put on a  cloth piece to cover our heads, the boys looked ridiculous but I'm sure I rocked the head attire well as I saw many Indians looking at me, I'm sure they were looks of envy. There were Indian men inside playing instruments and singing, everyone was sat, bowing and praying, I felt slightly out of place but it was so interesting to get an insight into their way of life. When we left we were given a porridge scoop in our  hands, then there was another lady outside who gave us a ball of brown sugary goodness.

Preparing ourselves for Delhi Belly

For  lunch we thought we’d bite the bullet and just eat street food as we were going to have to at  some point, so we went into the one place around that had seats and tables to sit at, we were  given a plate with many sections; rice, Indian bread, onions, 3 types of curry. Needless to say my eyes and nose  were dripping afterwards, it was lovely food but incredibly hot and spicy. At the end of the meal I  was certain, this is it Ellie is about to get delhi belly, but yet again I was fine, maybe the 1/4 Indian in me means I have built up a strong immune system. Once we left we were followed by a man who wanted to show us round old Delhi, he stayed with us for a good 10 minutes while we tried to shake him off until he finally got the message. We checked out the red temple but didn’t go inside as the price for Indians was 80RPS but for any other country 500RPS, a bit racist really.

Locals making road crossings look easy in old Delhi

Red Fort

When I got home I showed Raekka the clothes I had  brought and tried to explain what I did today and talk to her about her family, the language barrier made it tricky so I just showed her photos and mimed a lot, communicating with Raekka is mostly like playing sharades. I definatley need to work on my Hindi.

Noodles and veg for dinner, this was the first time ever I have had moderate success with using chopsticks. Akshay, Dilshad, Sarah and I then went to the shops to try some local Indian dessert. The  dessert, Rasgulla, was very spongy and it was soaked in sugary water, Akshay said you have to put  it straight your mouth so I did, however I failed to take into consideration the mass of water in the sponge, so when I went to bite into it the liquid oozed out so quickly that I almost spat it everywhere, a small amount dribbled onto Sarah's feet but she seemed ok with it.

Welcome to India

India, it's hard to know where to begin, we've only been here for 8 days now and it is already beginning to feel like a home. Mainly because of such a welcoming host family; Akshay, Dilshad, their 5 year old Sarah, Raekka the nanny and (saving the best till last) Afut and Shanti their two dogs they took in from the street.
Arriving here I did feel like a rabbit in headlights, with India there is so much to get used to, everything is unfamiliar, the roads, the people, the buildings, the animals. It would be extreme to compare it to another planet but I wouldn't be far off.

The view of Pakistan from the plane

So the story begins..
Myself, J.P and Nathan were all happily suprised when we managed to fly our 3 boats successfully from London Heathrow to India New Delhi, at 0 cost, as we were expecting to pay at least £150. Instead we were greeted with smiling staff who gladly took our kayaks on their plane, big thanks to Jet Airways.

Nathan negotiating our boats onto the plane

Arriving in India as a women (as I left the UK) I wanted to see what the locals were wearing so I could fit in (got to look stylish, and discrete) so as we got off the plane I began to eye up what the clothing norm is, many wore beautiful long saris, most with shoulders and legs covered. Although I spotted one or two with very short shorts on, especially for India, plenty of cheeky ankle showing, which I expect wasn't well received.

With the kayaks on the trolley we left the airport and were greeted by an OB worker who took us to our minibus. The walk with the kayaks was hilarious as I watched (helped slightly) J.P and Nathan tackle objects and people with the kayak trolly. I think in total 4 pedestrians were knocked into, 1 pushed off his chair as the kayak trolley forced its way through, leaving destruction in its wake.

Pedestrians watch out

Kayaks being attached with string, much to Nathans disapproval

The journey from the airport, I began to get my first taste of Indian life; no seatbelts, standard, families of 5 travelling on 1 moped without helmets of course, monkeys strolling along the pavement, lanes have been made redundant here, its more of a free for all, the sound of tooting was the background music to our journey. 

My first evening in India consisted of getting taught karate by Sarah, realising how terrible I am at karate, then my a taste of my first Indian cuisine which was rice, I know a big shocker there, a delicious bean curry, fried something in yoghurt, air fried chips and chipati. I then gave some presents to the family I had brought from the UK, Dairy milk, lotions and some dvd's, minus the dvd's my theme was things they couldn't get here in India, they all laughed as later that evening they took me to the local shop which selled everything I had brought, however they were very appreciative of the gifts.

Shanti giving me the eye

Already I have been given a taste of Indian life and I am hooked! I am going to have plenty of adventures this year and I will try to keep you updated a long the way.