Last day of the year...

It's the last day of the year, and we spent it at none other than the TAJ MAHAL!

The ticket office opens at 6am or so, and the gates open at sunrise.  We woke up in time to eat a quick breakfast on the rooftop restaurant in the dark and then walk the roads with other tourists and Indian people to the famous Taj.  The line for the ticket office was longer than I expected at 6:30am, but we got our tickets and lined up before the gates opened.  There were separate lines for men, women, Indians, and foreigners.  Foreign tourists pay 750 Rupees (around $15) to get in.  Indian people pay 20 (less than 50 cents)!

It was truly a sight to see... the photos of it online are beautiful, but it is even more grand in person.  The Taj was built by an emperor as a mausoleum to his wife, who died when giving birth to her 14th child.  Her name was Mumtaz Mahal, hence the name Taj Mahal.  The emperor and his wife are buried here.  No photos were allowed inside the mausoleum, but I think it is the outside of the building which is even more beautiful.  The Taj is made of marble and is apparently 55 metres wide and 55 metres tall.  The architect tried to design it with perfect symmetry.  The walls are beautifully decorated with carved marble and verses from the Quran.

Everyone was taking the standard Taj tourist photos, but going early really cut down the crowds.  When we left several hours later, it was significantly busier.

It was so massive that you can't help feeling small beside it.  It really is a beautiful place!  I had high expectations for the Taj, but they were exceeded for sure.  The first time I saw it was similar to the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  You see it in photos, but when it's with your own eyes... it's just that more amazing!

Tonight, we plan to spend New Year's Eve 2011 at a rooftop dinner party held at our hotel.  There will be a buffet of Indian food there, with the Taj only down the street!

Happy new year from Agra!!!  See you in 2012... :)

Rolling along the Indian highway...

 Here's an update on our latest destinations so far...

Pushkar


After leaving Udaipur, we made our way to Pushkar.  This will be the smallest city we visit on the trip (around 15,000 people).  It is built around a holy lake with a temple dedicated to the lord Brahma.  The lake has 52 ghats, or places where pilgrims can go and bathe themselves in the holy water.  If you want to stroll along the lake, you must take off your shoes and go down the stairs to the water.  No photography is allowed at the ghats, but I didn't realize this and took some pics... oops!  There are also a lot of monkeys climbing on the temple grounds near the lake... they were pretty amusing to watch.  Pushkar was a short, relaxing stay.  The next morning we were on to Jaipur!



Near the holy lake in Pushkar

Jaipur



Jaipur is a city of 2 million people or so, and is the capital of Rajasthan.  Our driver, Mr. Gopal, was from Jaipur... but sadly we were a bit annoyed with him by this point.  We ended up parting ways with him for the remainder of the trip in order to save money.  In Jaipur, John and I visited the Hawa Mahal, or "Palace of the Winds."  It is Jaipur's most famous landmark and was built so the royal women could look at the city through the small carved openings in the facade.



Palace of the Winds in Jaipur

We also watched our first Bollywood movie in Jaipur... called "Don 2" at the Polo Victory Cinema.  Tickets were just under $2 and even though the movie was in Hindi, we could understand most of what was happening since there were a lot of key lines spoken in English.  It was an action movie so most of it was just fighting and car chases anyway!

Agra

This brings us to our current destination, Agra.  After parting ways with our driver, we made our way to Agra by train from Jaipur.  The train was 5 hours or so, but we got sleeper class tickets and I was able to take a good nap after waking up ridiculously early to get on board.  The main reason to visit Agra is to see the Taj Mahal.  Since we arrived on a Friday (when it was closed), we decided to just chill out and enjoy the backpacker area.  Our hotel has an amazing view of the Taj.  The first time we went up to the rooftop restaurant, it was shocking to see that the Taj was right... there!  Less than 200m away, it looked like a fake backdrop hanging there.

The Taj was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to India, and it did not disappoint...

Christmas in India

 Christmas 2011 was spent in Udaipur, a lovely city on a lake in southern Rajasthan.  In the morning, John and I took an Indian cooking class with a woman named Shashi.  Shashi started teaching cooking classes after her husband died 9 years ago.  She told us that she hesitated to start teaching cooking because she didn't know much English, but now she can speak comfortably after learning from tourists taking her classes.  There were 3 other people taking the class with us... a couple from Denmark and a girl living in BC who was originally from Ontario and studied at U Windsor and graduated the same year as me (small world!) ... 

We spent 4 hours or so in Shashi's kitchen, watching her cook and trying out some new skills on our own. We made a lot of food.  Chai tea... chutney... curry... naan... chapati... stuffed parantha... pakora... the list goes on.  We also got a copy of all the recipes.  During our cooking session, the power shut off (standard practice in Udaipur... lights out at 12 until 2pm!) so we had to get creative, cooking in the dark.  Of course with any good cooking class you get to eat everything you make.  We all had a little feast at the end... it was delicious!

With Shashi

In the evening, I attempted to call home as you may know.  The connection was terrible but luckily I got to talk to Zia Alba and Alyssa on Skype... and to my mom and dad through a phone through Skype, ha ha!  It's weird spending Christmas away from home since it isn't a big holiday in India.  However, in the evening John and I were able to watch a random Christmas movie "Four Christmases" at a rooftop restaurant for dinner.  They had a little Christmas tree set up, so it was nice... but there's no Christmas like a home Christmas!

The rest of our time in Udaipur included taking a painting class with an artist named Madan.  Madan taught us how to paint the traditional miniature paintings on silk.  John did a replica of an elephant miniature and I did a camel.  We had to draw the animals and then paint them with small brushes.  You had to keep your hands really steady because the paintings were small and detailed.  It took us 3 hours to do the paintings... but they turned out great!  

Painting class in Udaipur

Another highlight of our time in Udaipur was attending an awesome Rajasthani music and dance performance at an old haveli (Indian heritage mansion).  The best part was this woman dancing around balancing 10 pots on her head... amazing!

I really enjoyed Udaipur, as it seemed a bit more relaxed than most Indian cities we've been in (although not without the cows and constant honking of horns).  Udaipur is famous for being a filming location for the old James Bond movie Octopussy.  The city is so proud of its claim to fame that they show the movie every night in multiple restaurants.

Now we're in the holy town of Pushkar... stay tuned for the next update!

India... so far!

I'm currently in an internet cafe in Udaipur, India.  It's Christmas Eve and it's weird not having the traditional family celebration at home.  I thought I'd give you a little update on our trip so far... pictures will have to wait until after I get back to Saigon.

Delhi

After connecting through Bangkok and hanging out at the airport with our friend Amrita who was also on our flight, we made it to Delhi.  Mr. Gopal, our driver for 16 days, was waiting for us.  I've always wanted someone to show up at the airport waiting for me with a sign with my name on it!  We arrived at night, so we checked in to our hotel straight away.  It was in a ghetto-ish area of the city... glad we were out of there the next morning!

Mandawa

Mr. Gopal picked us up at our hotel in Delhi, but things didn't go so smoothly.  Since the hotel was in a narrow street, it was hard for taxis to come down and there was some miscommunication about where to meet.  Luckily, he helped me get a sim card for my cell phone, so now I'm officially on the grid in India.  Crazy!  It cost $4 to set up, including airtime.

The drive to Mandawa was a bit long and bumpy.  The road was good in some places but in others, it was bumpy and unpaved.  There are cows EVERYWHERE in India.  They just wander the roads.  It really is crazy but I'm getting used to it now.  Mandawa is a small town that has winding, narrow alley ways and rooftop restaurants.  We stayed in a painted "haveli" which is an old Indian heritage home.  The walls were painted with murals.  It was pretty cool and the rooftop had a restaurant with great views of the city.  We could see kids flying kites and cows wandering.

Bikaner

We left Mandawa the next morning to travel to Bikaner, a larger city.  We had lunch in the old town where there was chaotic traffic... think cars, autorickshaws, motorbikes, pedestrians, cows, and camels.  It was also very polluted so it was hard to walk around for long breathing that stuff in!  I had my first "lassi" drink in India there... it was a delicious yogurt drink flavoured with rose water.  In the afternoon, Mr. Gopal took us to the Karni Mata temple, known by backpackers as the "rat temple."  This temple was created to honour a woman named Karni Mata who people in the area worship.  There are sacred rats everywhere.  Why rats?  Apparently they were chosen to be in the temple because Karni Mata loved all creatures, even those at the bottom of society.  This place is not for the squeamish.  Rats were running around all over the temple grounds, and some were drinking from large pots of milk.  If you spot the white rat, it is considered good luck... but we didn't.  John had a rat run over his feet which is apparently also good luck.  I'm glad none of them touched me!!!

On the way back from the temple, we also stopped at the camel breeding farm.  Camels are huge in this part of India.  There is a camel festival every year in Bikaner, along with other Indian cities.  I never knew that camels made such loud, strange noises!  We tried some tea which was made from camel's milk.  It was tasty but didn't taste any different from normal milk.

Before leaving Bikaner, we spent a morning at Junagarh, the huge fort in the middle of the city.  There was a free English tour and John and I were the only "foreigners" on it.  The tour guide seemed really happy we were there visiting the fort.  Many of the rooms inside were intricately carved.  It is definitely a lot more grand than Fort Henry, ha ha!

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is known as a desert town... and it was from this place that we made our way into the great Thar desert on a camel safari.  We booked our tour through a great company called Trotters.  We were driven by jeep before sunrise to the middle of the desert, and dropped off to meet our desert guides.  They quickly made a fire and cooked up some toast and delicious chai tea.  We watched the sun rise and then saddled up on our camels.  Mine was named Johnnie Walker.  John's was called Lucky.  Lucky was kind of a bully and always tried to fight with the other camels.  Johnnie Walker just happily trotted along, following the other camels.  We rode for several hours before breaking for lunch.  Camels are very tall, but they walk slowly so I never felt scared.  We felt really sore after getting off them though!  Lunch consisted of rice, cooked veggies Indian-style, chai tea, and chapati bread.  We took a nap for a few hours while the camels ate and rested, and then set off again for a few more hours of riding until we reached the big dunes.  It was cool to see the sun set in the desert.  We set up camp near the dunes, and spent the evening eating, drinking chai, tending to the fire, and then sleeping under the stars.  It was fairly cold in the desert, and we were given some thick blankets to sleep under.  It was amazing to see the stars so clearly at night!  The next morning, we had breakfast and rode our camels to the point where we were picked up by the jeep and taken back to town.  I will never forget my camel safari experience... I'm still sore days after it, but it was worth it.  Now I can say that I've been through the desert on a camel named Johnnie Walker!

Johnnie Walker

Jodhpur

After leaving Jaisalmer, we made our way to Jodhpur.  We stayed in the old town centre, near the famous old clock tower.  There were interesting markets around, but sadly a lot of beggars who were getting a bit aggressive.  We walked up to the huge fort Mehrangarh which is situated high above the city.  The fort had great views of Jodhpur, the "blue city."  Many of the buildings in town are painted blue, hence the name. 

The Blue City - Jodhpur

In the afternoon we hunted down the famous makhania lassi (flavoured with saffron and other spices) at some hole in the wall place near the clock tower gate.  You know a place is good when the locals are there, and we were the only tourists in the place!  It was packed with Indian people.  There is only one kind of lassi there, and not really even a menu.  We walked in and sat down, and the guy said "lassi?" and we had lassis within 20 seconds of entering the place.  It was delicious, but very rich and not something you'd eat every day!  We also spent some time hunting down the famous samosa place nearby which had delicious spicy samosas fried up right in front of our eyes.

Unfortunately, I got sick before leaving Jodhpur.  Thankfully it didn't last long.  Despite some disgusting moments, I made it through the day in one piece.  I even felt well enough to check out the beautiful Jain temple Ranakpur en route to Udaipur.  It was a stunning marble temple in the middle of a peaceful forest full of monkeys.  We've been to a lot of temples before, but this one was truly amazing and probably the most beautiful I've ever seen.  The carvings were so intricate!

That leads us now to Udaipur... where the adventure continues!  We'll be here for the next 3 nights, spending the Christmas holiday here.  More about Udaipur later.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!

Step into Christmas...

Only 4 more work days in 2011, then Christmas break!!

As many of you know, the December destination is... INDIA!  I've wanted to go here for a really long time now, and I'm glad that we're finally getting the chance to.  Based on what I've heard about India, you either love it or hate it.  I hope I'm in the category of people who love it!  I think living in Asia for this long will somewhat prepare me for the chaotic nature that I hear India is.  However, people keep telling me that you can see eye-opening things there that you'll never see anywhere else.  It is just... that... crazy!

The plan in India is to fly into New Delhi after a few hours of layover time in Bangkok (excuse to eat McDonalds and pad thai).  Once in Delhi, we will hopefully meet up with a driver that my friend is helping us arrange.  The driver will take us around Rajasthan (northern Indian province).  Hiring a driver in India to explore Rajasthan is quite common, and Rajasthan is a very touristy place.  I'm most excited to see the Taj Mahal... I hope it doesn't disappoint!!

In the mean time, there is still work to be done at school.  Tomorrow is the Christmas concert for primary grades.  I hope everything goes well... it's going to be a tiring day since the kids start school at 8:20am and then need to stay until 8pm.  They are not going home on the buses because some of them have ridiculously long rides to other districts in HCMC, so there is no point to having them come back to school.  All the kids are staying after 3pm dismissal and we have to entertain them/feed them until the show begins (6:30pm) ... should be a loonnnggg day.  The concert should end before 8pm.

I'll leave you with a pic which pretty much sums up the Christmas season in Vietnam... do you like the tree??  :)

Movember!

The Canadian tradition of "Movember" was witnessed at our school in Vietnam this past month.  The school raised a lot of money for cancer research.  John joined in with other male teachers on staff to grow a moustache...




He will probably not enjoy me putting this photo on the blog, but I feel like there is no other way for you to see this.