February 2016
Paula and I are doing a Vantage Travel tour of India.
We both needed a Typhoid shot which ended up taking us a total of 4 hours at the Glynn County Health Center. We ended up not being too upset after waiting an 1.5 hours for our APPOINTMENT because the nurse told us we were covered by previous shots. Happily we left with an unexpected 100 dollars in our purses. Unfortunately that evening we both got a phone call from the nurse saying she had made a mistake and would we please come back in. To make up for her mistake she would give us the shot without waiting. That didn't work, it was another 1.5 hour wait, plus the shot area hurt for almost a week.
The Malaria pill we had to start today is really a strong antibiotic that you have to take for 45 days - scheduling the taking of the pill is challenging as well as remembering to take the expensive probiotics to counteract all the yucky side effects.
We both needed a Typhoid shot which ended up taking us a total of 4 hours at the Glynn County Health Center. We ended up not being too upset after waiting an 1.5 hours for our APPOINTMENT because the nurse told us we were covered by previous shots. Happily we left with an unexpected 100 dollars in our purses. Unfortunately that evening we both got a phone call from the nurse saying she had made a mistake and would we please come back in. To make up for her mistake she would give us the shot without waiting. That didn't work, it was another 1.5 hour wait, plus the shot area hurt for almost a week.
The Malaria pill we had to start today is really a strong antibiotic that you have to take for 45 days - scheduling the taking of the pill is challenging as well as remembering to take the expensive probiotics to counteract all the yucky side effects.
We are here !
Except for an exciting rough landing in Delhi, we had great (but 2 really long) flights with all the connections working. We got all our luggage even though Paula kept letting her luggage go round and round on the carrier .... I finally yelled at her to grab it as it was passing her by for another spin. Serves her right for buying a black suitcase. I like my chartreuse one - can't miss it. I had a very "fragrant" seat mate but the ice cream that Air France gave us sort of made up for it - one was a Dove Bar - they obviously know how to win me over. Paula had a very interesting seatmate/story on our second long flight - she doesn't remember any of the first flight due to her halcyon daze. check out her blog pgalland.blogspot.com
Hotel is beautiful but can't see too much farther than the pool because of the air pollution. I think China May have some competition in the horrible air department.
Our first group meeting was this morning. We have already met someone from SSI on our trip. Small world. There are 52 people in our group which is split into two groups - orange ( ours ) and white. This is a good thing because Paula and I are having a hard time remembering everyone's name since Vantage is no longer handing out identifying name tags due to security issues. Also it means we can each have our own seat on the bus.
First stop was the largest mosque in the India. Services can handle 20,000 plus.
Lots of birds everywhere. There was small room sized spot where people had scattered a pile of bird seeds along with bowls of water. We saw it repeated in different parts of the city. Lots of plants along the sides of the road but the leafs were all brown due to the dirt and dust in the air and the trunks were invariably used as supports for the multitude of electrical wires.
Lots of entertainers and sales occurring at the traffic lights or traffic jams. Teens selling 3-D puzzles, balloons, or car window shades along with little kids doing acrobatics and contortions for money or other favors. People were observing us as much as we were observing them. Lots of waves and smiles from people of all ages.
We were treated to a rickshaw ride thru some local streets. Driver was not a young dude and kept trying to guilt us into a bigger tip by using the pity angle. A lot of moaning and complaining that he was tired. He did not do our egos ANY good.
Garbage strike here - they haven't gotten paid in 2 months. I don't blame them, but it was hard to tell if the streets always looked this bad or if it was due to the strike. Weird - the area looked like slums but really didn't feel like slums. People seemed ok with their situation. Again - lots of smiles and interest.
The ride reminded me of China in that the neighborhoods were grouped into commercial categories. One section sold just auto parts and one section sold books. Books were sold on the street - a far cry from Books A Million.
Next stop was the Mahatma Gandhi memorial. Back story - rich family, educated in England as a lawyer, but he was such a lousy lawyer that he was sent to South Africa to do grunt work where he became interested in Apartheid Politics. He returned to India and began his movement. No cemeteries except for some leftover English ones - the vast majority of the people are cremated. The memorials to India's famous people are the spots where they have been cremated - seems odd to us. The entrance building and along the entrance to his cremation slab had a lot of hanging marigold flowers. There are also lots of street corner flower stalls.
Monday - another good sleep and good breakfast.
We visited the "leaning Tower" of Qutab Minar which puts the Pisa tower to shame. Built in 1193 by the 1st Muslum empire - it is 72 meters high with 5 out of the original 7 stages remaining. Tried to get photos of the very large green parakeets and the bold chipmunks that populate the parks but failed in both endeavors.
Shopping stop at a silk rug shop, then on to lunch and a quick photo op at the India gate. Watched and probably encouraged (with tip) the illegal activity of a snake charmer. Still cool!
An afternoon on our own so we braved shopping and eating in the walkable Khan Market. The most exciting was walking back to the hotel and dragging Paula across the busy streets. Tomorrow morning will be 6 hour bus ride to the next city of Jaipur.
No curtains - there was a horrible story of a Delhi girl getting raped on a bus with curtains - so there is a law that all buses could not have curtains in Delhi, but they are allowed in other parts of the country. So when it got too sunny to bear we improvised.
We now have real normal bus curtains since we are no longer in Dehli.
We arrived in Jaipur and got our first dot of the trip. I texted Paula's husband Bob a photo of his wife. Before the trip he had told her (jokingly) not to get any dots. Here is his reply....
It kept us laughing the rest of the evening! After an interesting family home visit and meal we had really needed FULL night sleep.
Morning drive to the Amber Fort, started in 1165. Jaipur was built in a natural bowl with mountains surrounding it.
Walls around the ridges reminded us of a shorter version of the Great Wall of China. This is where we got the elephant ride. It was hilarious - my "posting" ability was horrible. Paula had the more stable seat in the rear. (Paula disagrees with me)
Decorations in the fort are very elaborate with the lots of carvings, wall painting and mirrors.
Besides the free roaming pigs, cows, and dogs there are also monkeys. We found out that it is tradition to feed them on Tuesday. Hawkers come to the road and sell bananas for the people to buy and to give to the monkeys. A monkey in the fort almost attacted the guide in front of us for his necklace of flowers.
Speaking of hawkers and agression - they were very aggressive at the fort. They kept throwing this bedspread at Paula even while she was on the elephant. She kept throwing it.back - it got rather humorous. We won't even go into the story of the photo hawkers. Brought back memories of the Chinese hawkers at the Great Wall. Our favorite shopping was when Munish, our guide, would bring the hawkers' souvenirs onto the bus and we could buy them there and avoid the bargaining. 
Jaipur
Today was a light day with just the palace/museum visit and a quick shopping at the bizzaar. The 18 yr old "prince" is attending school and wasn't in residence. Sounds like tourism and the museums maintained the palace.
Whenever Paula and I travel we always seem to get a little panicked about water and we tend to hoard any extra bottles they give us. Last night, Paula had to take out 6 bottles of water from her suitcase so she could fit in her souvenirs. I have been known to be just as bad, BUT when the Maharaja's son went to England in the late 1800's - the family really went overboard. They built 2 silver urns that held 4000 liters of water from the Ganges. Now THAT is water hoarding.
Paula and I spent 3 dollars to get henna tattoos on our hands. The artist was so fast and skilled. You have it drawn on your non-dominant hand and it takes 30 minutes to dry - I of course smeared mine just as I did in Spain.
24 hours later - We both still have them even though they are sort of a poop color brown.
We did some quick shopping in the bazaar and Paula got all the stuff on her wish list. I got some sparkly bangles.
Photo stop in the old by at the famous Hawa Mahal. Very thin "front" with 152 windows. It was built for the palace women to stand behind and watch all street activities in private.
