 Home Contact Us |
|
Trip to India - 2005
Bahar
and Eric went to India for a month in November-December 2005. It was a
new experience for Eric, and Bahar's 3rd visit to India. We landed in
Bombay to attend Bahar's cousin's wedding, then went traveling. Our
itinerary was Delhi - Amritsar - Delhi - Agra - Jaipur - Delhi,
then back to Bombay to visit family before we flew back home. The five cities and the places we visited are listed below.
Taj Mahal - Pictures
The Taj Mahal was build by emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his second wife. The Taj is a beautiful display of architecture, everything is perfectly symmetrical and dimensionally accurate. The palace compounds are quite large, and cars aren't allowed within a ~4 km radius of the tomb to reduce damage from pollution. The actual Taj Mahal is quite small, the inside is small and we weren't allowed into the basement where the actual tomb is. The Taj is made of marble, with intricate stone carvings and semi-precious stones inlaid into the marble. More info on the Taj.
Agra Fort - Pictures
Made of red sandstone, Agra Fort is just a short drive from the Taj Mahal. It was built as a military structure, but was upgraded to a palace when the Taj Mahal was built. Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned at Agra Fort by his son at some point after the Taj was completed. We were told the only view Shah had of the outside world was of his masterpiece, the Taj Mahal. More info on Agra Fort.
Golden Temple - Pictures
The Golden Temple is the 'home temple' for the Sikh religion. The original holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib is kept here. The temple complex is huge and made entirely of marble, while the actual temple is in the middle of a body of water (pool of nectar) accessible by a bridge. The temple is coated with a thick layer of gold, word is about 750 kg worth. Readings and hymns are broadcast continuously from loudspeakers 24 hours, we could hear the broadcast from within our hotel room. The Golden Temple was our favourite site to visit in India! More info on the Golden Temple.
Shri Durgiana Hindu Temple - Pictures
The Shri Durgiana temple is similar in style to the Golden Temple, it is situated in the centre of a body of water and the top is covered in gold. Dedicated to the goddess Durga, it was built in the 16th century. Durga means "invincible" in Sanskrit, and the goddess protects by destroying evil forces. Many other Gods are worshiped at this temple.
India-Pakistan Border Closing Ceremony - Pictures
The Indian-Pakistani borders are normally not a place you want hang out for long periods of time, however the Attari/Wagah gate is one of the more peaceful areas of the border. This was really the only time I felt uneasy, and driving past the numerous military trucks, guards with machine guns and barbed wire fields didn't help things. At this gate, ~30 km east from Amritsar, the guards close the border gate with an impressive ceremony. Indian guards parade in front of the crowd, then greet the Pakistani guard at the gate. A number of guards do the greet as the crowd cheers their home country on.
Hindu Wedding - Pictures
Bahar's cousin's wedding celebrations started a day after we arrived in Bombay. The first day was the engagement ceremony, the second day was the Mehendi party, and the third day was the actual wedding ceremony. It was interesting to see how a Hindu wedding is conducted, and how it different from the Sikh wedding Bahar and I had. The engagement party and Mehendi party attendance were relatively small in comparison to the 800 people at the ceremony. It was a sight to see.
Elephanta Island - Pictures
Elephanta Island is an hour boat ride from Bombay. The reason to go to the island is to see the magnificent caves. The caves were hand caved into the side of the mountain and date from ~10th century. There are various rooms in the caves with different gods carved into the rock. After arriving at the island, you have to climb a small hill in which there are numerous stalls and salespeople trying to sell you souvenirs. And the monkeys ... I've never seen so many monkeys in one area in my life! They are quite curious and intelligent animals.
Around Bombay - Pictures
These are various pictures from around Bombay, including Juhu beach, Powai, Mahim, Worli Naka (where we stayed), and downtown Bombay. These show just the general culture and life of the people who live here. We stayed in Worli Naka at Bahar's Grandpa's place, which is the suburbs of Bombay and without tourists. It was great to see how people lived outside of the tourist areas.
Delhi Jantar Mantar - Pictures
The Jantar Mantar is an astronomical observatory. Five were built in India, one is in Delhi and another we saw was in Jaipur. The one in Delhi was quite small, and unfortunately we arrived with 10 minutes left before closing. The ticket keeper tried to scam us out of money, and the tour guide was relentless in his pursuit to show us around. Overall this place left a sour note in our mouths. These are the few pictures we managed to take before getting kicked out. More info on how the Jantar Mantar works can be found here. We had a much better experience at the Jaipur Jantar Mantar, see below.
Qutab Minar - Pictures
The Qutab Minar is a sight to see! Built ~13th century, some of the compounds are in ruins, but what remains looks terrific. The carvings in the rock are very intricate, and the tallest man made structure in India resides here. We watched a multimedia presentation on a small PC crammed into a nook in one of the buildings that gave us a birds eye view of the compounds and described all the structures.
Around Delhi - Pictures
We saw several sites in Delhi, including the Gate of India near the government buildings, the Lotus temple (aka the Bahai Temple), and the Bangla Sahib gurdwara.
Amber Fort - Pictures
Amber is an old city about 10 km outside of Jaipur. The fort is was built in the early 17th century and is impressive. There is a large garden, a temple, an area where a goat was sacrificed daily until it was banned in 1980 and a room adorned with mirrors, which are in very good shape today. We were told the mirror room was a room for visiting royalty. More information about the Amber fort can be found here.
Jaigarh Fort - Pictures
Jaigarh fort is a massive fort overlooking Jaipur. It's a very steep drive to the front gates, and once there, it's a long walk around the fort. The view from the fort is spectacular, showing the city of Jaipur and Amber fort below. While not as fancy as other forts, it makes up for it in the sheer size and complexity. The fort houses the world's largest cannon, 3 massive underground water tanks, temples, and an impressive display of weaponry. More information about the Jaigarh fort can be found here.
Jantar Mantar - Pictures
The Jaipur Jantar Mantar, built in the early 1700's, was one of my favourite sites to visit. It consisted of instruments made of out stone and marble to measure properties of the sun, moon, stars and planets. There must have been 20 instruments, all of the detailed and well preserved. Some of the instruments were very simple, such as a large sundial (called a gnome) that could measure time to seconds, to the more complex astromonical hemispheres, which track the orbits of celestial objects. More information about the observatory can be found here.
Around Jaipur - Pictures
Other sites we saw in Jaipur include the Hawa Mahal and City Palace. During our drive around Jaipur, and to Delhi, we took a number of pictures showing the city life and culture which are also included.
Agra
Agra is a place full of tourists, thanks to the Taj Mahal. We stayed in a great hotel called Hotel Amar, which had good accommodations and was close to the Taj Mahal. We only stayed one night in Agra, as the main reason we were there was to see the Taj. In addition to the Taj, we also went to the lesser known Agra Fort.Taj Mahal - Pictures
The Taj Mahal was build by emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his second wife. The Taj is a beautiful display of architecture, everything is perfectly symmetrical and dimensionally accurate. The palace compounds are quite large, and cars aren't allowed within a ~4 km radius of the tomb to reduce damage from pollution. The actual Taj Mahal is quite small, the inside is small and we weren't allowed into the basement where the actual tomb is. The Taj is made of marble, with intricate stone carvings and semi-precious stones inlaid into the marble. More info on the Taj.
Agra Fort - Pictures
Made of red sandstone, Agra Fort is just a short drive from the Taj Mahal. It was built as a military structure, but was upgraded to a palace when the Taj Mahal was built. Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned at Agra Fort by his son at some point after the Taj was completed. We were told the only view Shah had of the outside world was of his masterpiece, the Taj Mahal. More info on Agra Fort.
Amritsar
Amritsar is in north India near the Pakistan border, and is the only Indian state with a majority Sikh population. The Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh temples is located here. We stayed in an excellent hotel, Hari Darshan, about a 3 minute walk from the Golden Temple. The accommodations were excellent, with terrific service and very good food. The hotel was very affordable, and we had a view of the Golden Temple from our balcony. We were just a 2 minute walk from one of the busiest shopping bazaars of the city.Golden Temple - Pictures
The Golden Temple is the 'home temple' for the Sikh religion. The original holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib is kept here. The temple complex is huge and made entirely of marble, while the actual temple is in the middle of a body of water (pool of nectar) accessible by a bridge. The temple is coated with a thick layer of gold, word is about 750 kg worth. Readings and hymns are broadcast continuously from loudspeakers 24 hours, we could hear the broadcast from within our hotel room. The Golden Temple was our favourite site to visit in India! More info on the Golden Temple.
Shri Durgiana Hindu Temple - Pictures
The Shri Durgiana temple is similar in style to the Golden Temple, it is situated in the centre of a body of water and the top is covered in gold. Dedicated to the goddess Durga, it was built in the 16th century. Durga means "invincible" in Sanskrit, and the goddess protects by destroying evil forces. Many other Gods are worshiped at this temple.
India-Pakistan Border Closing Ceremony - Pictures
The Indian-Pakistani borders are normally not a place you want hang out for long periods of time, however the Attari/Wagah gate is one of the more peaceful areas of the border. This was really the only time I felt uneasy, and driving past the numerous military trucks, guards with machine guns and barbed wire fields didn't help things. At this gate, ~30 km east from Amritsar, the guards close the border gate with an impressive ceremony. Indian guards parade in front of the crowd, then greet the Pakistani guard at the gate. A number of guards do the greet as the crowd cheers their home country on.
Bombay
When we landed in Bombay and exited the airport, I felt like I stepped into a time warp. The city was very congested with traffic and people, pollution was a serious problem and the taxis were very old 50's style cabs with bald tires and non-working instruments. Bombay itself is a very busy and popular city, however at no time did I ever feel unsafe. We were there mainly to see family, so we didn't see many sights around Bombay. Below are some of the sights we saw.Hindu Wedding - Pictures
Bahar's cousin's wedding celebrations started a day after we arrived in Bombay. The first day was the engagement ceremony, the second day was the Mehendi party, and the third day was the actual wedding ceremony. It was interesting to see how a Hindu wedding is conducted, and how it different from the Sikh wedding Bahar and I had. The engagement party and Mehendi party attendance were relatively small in comparison to the 800 people at the ceremony. It was a sight to see.
Elephanta Island - Pictures
Elephanta Island is an hour boat ride from Bombay. The reason to go to the island is to see the magnificent caves. The caves were hand caved into the side of the mountain and date from ~10th century. There are various rooms in the caves with different gods carved into the rock. After arriving at the island, you have to climb a small hill in which there are numerous stalls and salespeople trying to sell you souvenirs. And the monkeys ... I've never seen so many monkeys in one area in my life! They are quite curious and intelligent animals.
Around Bombay - Pictures
These are various pictures from around Bombay, including Juhu beach, Powai, Mahim, Worli Naka (where we stayed), and downtown Bombay. These show just the general culture and life of the people who live here. We stayed in Worli Naka at Bahar's Grandpa's place, which is the suburbs of Bombay and without tourists. It was great to see how people lived outside of the tourist areas.
Delhi
We only stayed two nights in Delhi, it was our hub to visit the other cities in the area. In these two days, we concluded that Delhi had the most scammers, was expensive and dirty compared to the other cities we visited. The hotels we stayed in were decent, but very expensive. We saw a number of sights in Delhi, listed below.Delhi Jantar Mantar - Pictures
The Jantar Mantar is an astronomical observatory. Five were built in India, one is in Delhi and another we saw was in Jaipur. The one in Delhi was quite small, and unfortunately we arrived with 10 minutes left before closing. The ticket keeper tried to scam us out of money, and the tour guide was relentless in his pursuit to show us around. Overall this place left a sour note in our mouths. These are the few pictures we managed to take before getting kicked out. More info on how the Jantar Mantar works can be found here. We had a much better experience at the Jaipur Jantar Mantar, see below.
Qutab Minar - Pictures
The Qutab Minar is a sight to see! Built ~13th century, some of the compounds are in ruins, but what remains looks terrific. The carvings in the rock are very intricate, and the tallest man made structure in India resides here. We watched a multimedia presentation on a small PC crammed into a nook in one of the buildings that gave us a birds eye view of the compounds and described all the structures.
Around Delhi - Pictures
We saw several sites in Delhi, including the Gate of India near the government buildings, the Lotus temple (aka the Bahai Temple), and the Bangla Sahib gurdwara.
Jaipur
We stayed 7 days in Jaipur, and it was one of the best areas we visited. Jaipur is known for it's magnificent palaces and all sorts of gems and semi-precious stones come from this area. We visited several forts, shopped at the busy bazaars, saw some temples and enjoyed the excellent hotel we stayed at, Megniwas. We saw the listing in the Lonely Planet guide and is highly recommended.Amber Fort - Pictures
Amber is an old city about 10 km outside of Jaipur. The fort is was built in the early 17th century and is impressive. There is a large garden, a temple, an area where a goat was sacrificed daily until it was banned in 1980 and a room adorned with mirrors, which are in very good shape today. We were told the mirror room was a room for visiting royalty. More information about the Amber fort can be found here.
Jaigarh Fort - Pictures
Jaigarh fort is a massive fort overlooking Jaipur. It's a very steep drive to the front gates, and once there, it's a long walk around the fort. The view from the fort is spectacular, showing the city of Jaipur and Amber fort below. While not as fancy as other forts, it makes up for it in the sheer size and complexity. The fort houses the world's largest cannon, 3 massive underground water tanks, temples, and an impressive display of weaponry. More information about the Jaigarh fort can be found here.
Jantar Mantar - Pictures
The Jaipur Jantar Mantar, built in the early 1700's, was one of my favourite sites to visit. It consisted of instruments made of out stone and marble to measure properties of the sun, moon, stars and planets. There must have been 20 instruments, all of the detailed and well preserved. Some of the instruments were very simple, such as a large sundial (called a gnome) that could measure time to seconds, to the more complex astromonical hemispheres, which track the orbits of celestial objects. More information about the observatory can be found here.
Around Jaipur - Pictures
Other sites we saw in Jaipur include the Hawa Mahal and City Palace. During our drive around Jaipur, and to Delhi, we took a number of pictures showing the city life and culture which are also included.