Ever since we have been together Caroline has had a thing
about India. To be fair she has a thing about anything ethnic and earthy but
going to India has been a dream of hers forever.
It never interested me, and being a stubborn man I would
never agree to go. The idea of dirt and beggars hassling you just did not
appeal. I also was concerned about the food as I am not a spicy food person.
Caroline always tells people that a Polo is too hot for me!
Which is a little exaggeration and I have told her a million times not to say
it, but I don’t even have pepper so she does have a point.
Anyway after many years of holidaying in Europe with the
children we have got to the age where spreading our wings and seeing more of
the world became an option. After a successful trip to Cancun in Mexico with
our trusted companions Nessie and Sean, we decided to go away together again.
This time however Goa in India was the destination of choice.
I was still rather bothered about it as the preconceived
ideas I had all my life were still there, but I thought if it was bad at least
I could say “told you so” and gloat until the booking of the next holiday which
would then have to be my choice. (Good plan)
India is a winter holiday destination because of the monsoon
season so we booked up for November 2015. I am a miserable git to be honest and
so the long flight (around 10 hours) was not something else I was looking
forward to. Caroline and Sean fall asleep at the drop of a hat so for them its
not an issue but for me the only way to get through it was to bang in
headphones and watch as many films as possible.
We were sitting in a row of three seats and so Caroline was
in the middle with me on one side and a random drunk woman (who was travelling
with her mate) on the other. Being totally unsociable I ignored the old girl
but Caroline is polite and friendly and so when the woman knocked her glass of
wine over Caroline smiled and helped her clean it up. Again when she could not
work the in-flight entertainment Caroline smiled and helped, several
times. Caroline dozed off and I was
watching a movie, all of a sudden I was jolted by Caroline shouting “Fuck off,
don’t do it” whilst pulling a boxing stance Mike Tyson would have been proud
of. For some unknown reason the old drunk woman had decided it was a good idea
to stick her finger up Caroline’s nose whilst she was asleep. Not a good idea, she may be friendly chatty
and polite but she is also my Pitbull, take on at your own risk!!
Arriving in India the first thing you need to get through is
immigration you have to ensure you have an E visa before you travel there is a
website for this where you have to apply https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html
its all done online but you need to take a copy with you and you do need to
have 6 months on your passport. Anyway the queue is a nightmare so my advice is
get your arse off the flight quick Goa airport is not Heathrow so don’t expect
loads of immigration officers waiting for you. You have to have your picture
taken and also finger print scans all takes a while.
By this time Sean and I was busting for a pee and the
toilets were just next to the exit. As with most toilets on holidays there is
an attendant cleaning up. This guy was a little fat man as we approached we
both said no Rupees, not an issue I take sterling the man said as he was
pointing at the paper towels (not handing them to us even). Being a soft touch
I gave the man £1 he looked very disappointed with my £1 but that’s my limit for
a pee especially when he only had to stand and point, so I looked past his
disappointment and left, his muttering in Hindi ringing in my ears.
Because we had managed to get through the immigration
quickly we were the first out of the airport, there are loads of people around
trying to carry your case for you and so on, but they are not as pushy as they
are in some other places I have been. You have to walk down an incline to the
right as you leave the airport this leads to a bus park for transfers.
Personally I would suggest (if you can) to arrange a
personal transfer rather than waiting for the bus. They have to wait until
everyone is there and it can take forever. For us it was well over an hour. And
sometimes you are waiting for people who have taken a taxi direct and not told
the rep. (tell the rep if you decide to take a taxi)
Taking the bus was our first experience of Indian driving.
Let me say now this is not for the faint hearted. It is not unusual to have the busses overtake
cars and Lorries. It is not unusual either to have a tuk tuk overtake the bus
overtaking the lorry! I shit you not!
The roads are like country lanes for the most part and so
hurtling along them in a bus overtaking with oncoming traffic especially when
tiered can be a little disconcerting. We were sat at the front and nervous
laughing all the way with ooohs and arhhhs ringing out from the back of the
bus. Before you start to panic and think this place sounds dangerous, I would
comment that I did not see any accidents during my time there and the vehicles
all looked in decent condition. So whilst it may not be our way of driving it
does appear to be their way.
As you go from the airport to the resort on any holiday you
do see the real country and this is also true here. Yes there is a lot of
poverty along the way and they have not worked out a good way to deal with
their rubbish. There are areas that are literally like landfill areas. But all
the way to the resort I am thinking it will improve when we get to the actual
resort.
We were staying in Candolim which is in North Goa it’s about
an hour’s drive from the airport so when we reached our first stop, I looked at
the others and gave the look that said I’m glad we aint staying here! Almost
gloating.
So when we stopped literally 5 minutes later after turning
down a dark side road my gloating disappeared and the feeling of dread started
to build. The bus driver’s assistant was off the bus and chucking out our
cases, the rep pointed down another dark lane and said “it’s down there”. As I
looked all I could see was a building site and I’m thinking carry on abroad
(it’s an old 70 film franchise, a must see). At this point the driver is
leaning out of the bus with his hand out for tips, but I was so in shock I just
turned and walked away.
As we walked down the lane all of us feeling the same
sinking feeling there is was in front of us, The silver sands hideaway. WOW
what a fantastic looking hotel. Security by the doors we were welcomed in by
the reception staff. Big smiles and friendly faces. The hotel was beautiful.
Totally enclosed with the pool in the middle, reception to one side and the
apartments to one end.
Our room was lovely there was a huge double bed in the room
plus a couple of chairs and a sideboard as well as wardrobes. The bathroom had
a large double shower all tiled out in contemporary tiles. With a balcony
overlooking the pool I couldn’t have been happier with this as a base.
The hotel does
provide breakfast within the price which consists of cereal, juice, tea and
coffee fruit, toast and eggs (poached fried scrambled). This is taken by the
pool and served from the pool bar. Whilst we were there Cliff was our barman, a
really lovely lad keen to please and always friendly and helpful.
You are not able to buy Rupees from the currency places in
the UK so you have to change it there. The best places I am told are the
Elephant stores, these are a chain of stores like a pharmacy. Sean had taken
cash with him but I thought I was just get it out of the cash point. This
turned out to be a bad move as you can only take out so much at a time. £100
worth and they charge you every time you take money out, so it is best to take
cash and change it there.
The main area of the resort consisted of one long main road
with bars and restaurants and one main road coming off of it leading to the
beach. This road is conveniently called beach road. Along here are also bars
and restaurants but there are also little shops selling everything a holiday maker
needs, or all the tat your wife likes to drag you around to look at, whichever
way you want to put it.
From our hotel the beach was about a 10 minute walk away,
unless as I say you are with the Mrs. and you have to look at all the tat on
the way when it can take upto an hour. Again this would depend on how fed up
you can make your face look without pissing her off. As you walk along everyone
says hello and invites you in to their shop. You can say “another time” and
they will accept that but they don’t forget. So if you say it you really ought
to mean it. Indian people can put you on a guilt trip quite easily.
The Beach in Candolim is wonderful very clean and soft to
foot. You can also walk on it without burning your feet. The sea on first
glance does not look particularly inviting at first I thought it looked rather
rough and cold. But boy was I wrong. The seas was like a lukewarm bath. You
could walk all the way in without trying to keep your balls out of it. Another
bonus for me as I am a bit of a woos is there is no seaweed or rocks either. It
is simply wonderful.
The beach is filled with shacks all the way along. These
have sunbeds in front of them which you can use for free if you are using their
shack. The shacks are built every year from scratch and depending on how early
in the season you go will depend on how far they have got with completion.
As you walk along the beach you will get the workers from
each shack approach and offer beds, I just said “I’m meeting some friends”
which satisfied them but they will say “maybe tomorrow” so best to just reply
maybe. Non-committal is the best option. It’s your own personal preference what
attracts you to use one shack or another. For us we walked along a fair way as
the shacks at the start of the beach seemed to get most trade as they grab
people early. We felt it a good idea to spend our money in a shack that may not
always get loads of customers. We also decided to use the same one most days to
support those people. You may decide to spread your custom around to support
more people. Whatever way you go the money you spend will go a long way for the
recipient.
We went to the Om beach shack because of these Guys. The
really looked after us and valued our custom.
One day shortly after we had arrived in India there was an
electrical storm which was amazing to see. It did knock out the electric of the
shack however. And all of the ones all along the beach. Rather than closing and
throwing us out they got out candles and moved our table into a dry area to
make sure we were comfortable.
We ended up playing music on our phones having a dance about
with a few beers. The highlight of the night however fell to Nessie who whilst
holding a candle gave us a rendition of candle in the wind! Only problem was as
Sean came back from the loo he pointed out that she was singing it to the tune
of Im walking in the air! It wasn’t until this point that we all realised that.
We did give a little chuckle at that, and we do actually have a video which
hasn’t been publicly released YET. Yes Nessie we do still have it £250 from
Harry Hill I can hear calling.
We decided to go to the Wednesday market at Mapusa,
traveling by Tuk Tuk which was a great adventure. The driver was great and the
deal was to take us there wait whilst we shopped and then bring us back all for
400 Rupees (£4).
The market is right next to a large bus station which is
really busy, there are people everywhere including rough sleepers and beggars
but there was no issues. The market itself was a fair size but the main thing
that seemed to be on sale was some kind of dried fish, it stank. Sean is not
much of a market person so he was not very impressed with having to go to a
market to look around the usual tourist tat. This was made worse by the fact
that a drum seller spotted him and thought he would be a sure thing to buy a
drum.
Big mistake Sean was not in the buying mood, reducing the
price also made no difference, with Sean telling the seller it’s not a bargain
if you don’t want it anyway. The seller was persistent however. Sean advising
the guy to go away otherwise he would put his fist through the drum seemed to
be the only thing to settle the situation. Sean did predict that we would all
probably go home with a drum each at some point. He wasn’t wrong we took home
two each. And paid more than the market seller was asking. Think there is a
lesson there.
As a group we are not the sort of people to just sit around
on the beach all day sunbathing, whilst we do like a fair bit of that we also
like to see a bit of the country we are visiting. There are plenty of places to
go to in Goa which are all available from the holiday reps. However the cost of
these trips from them are a lot more costly than you pay from shopping around with
local people including expats. There is a large group of people living in India
from the UK. All of them really helpful and friendly.
We had been put in touch with a local taxi driver via
friends from Nessie and Sean and having got in touch with him we arranged to go
on a couple of trips. The first of these was a trip to Dudhsagar falls which
also includes a trip to the spice garden and an Elephant trek and wash. It was an early start in the morning but in a
taxi with just us that’s fine. It was a very long journey but very entertaining
with the driver (Pee) singing Indian songs most of the way whilst dodging
oncoming traffic. We did join in a few of them as they are very catchy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoLnH4QmtAY
Once we arrived it
was like a mad cattle market, the main man there spouted the prices so quickly
that we didn’t get any of it apart from the final statement “now you pay”. We
all looked at each other and laughed as we all knew what each other was
thinking. Basically we had to pay a price per person based on the amount of
people per vehicle going up to the falls. As there was only 4 of us the price
was higher than we had thought. We ended up sharing the vehicle with some people
from Eastern Europe who spoke very little English but it made it cheaper so
that was fine. Caroline bought some bananas from an old woman hassling us as
soon as we got out of the taxi. “For the monkeys, for the monkeys” she called
out in a sad voice putting on the sad eyes. Little did we know you’re not
allowed to feed the monkeys really, although people do anyway.
It was a long and bumpy road up to the falls but you have a
guide and they tell you all about the falls and the surrounding area. He is not
in the cost so will expect a tip at the end. There are some hairy arsed spiders
on that road and some a huge. They will stop off so you can get some pictures.
Once at the parking area there are monkeys everywhere loads of little ones that
are very cute but you have to be careful as there are also some very large ones
who are not as friendly as you would hope. As soon as Caroline showed the
bananas a big one came running over and grabbed at them. Caroline instinctively
struggled with him pulling the bags away from him. The monkey was literally
hanging off of the bag with Caroline swinging him around.
The guide panicked shouting let him have it, and not in the
punch the monkey way. He meant give him the bananas. As soon as she did he ran
off with a whole bunch. I am sure he had done this before he was well smug with
himself. We trekked up through the woods finally reaching the waterfalls it was
wonderful the falls looked amazing. There was an opening which allowed you to
get into the water. It was really slippery so you need to take care as you
enter, the water was very fresh shall we say but fine once you are in. You have
to wear a life jacket but to be fair it was worth it as there was a definite
undercurrent which stopped you getting right over to the waterfall. There were
loads of fish in there swimming about and the water was very very clear.
Caroline sat on the rocks and again there were monkeys all
over the place they will take food from your hand but you can see there is
clear pecking order with the small ones and the females making a run for it
when the big male comes over.
The next part of the trip is a visit to a spice garden where
you have lunch thrown in. We didn’t fancy that as they basically take you
around explaining about all the spices, we weren’t interested as the cost of it
did not seem worth it. We decided to go on the elephant trek and wash which is
in the same place.
I have to say it is amazing to get that close to an
elephant. The wash was basically sitting on its back with the elephant throwing
water over its back on you. The trek was a small walk around the compound. The
elephants looked well cared for and loved but to be honest I am not sure I
would do it again as you do hear so many stories, not just about India of
course. I am not suggesting these elephants were abused in any way I’m just not
sure that it’s right to support this sort of thing. I loved the elephants they
are amazing beautiful animals but I’m sure that it would be better to see them
in their natural habitat.
A couple of days later we went on a trip to do dolphin
watching which was just up the coast. Once again Pee took us which made it
cheaper. This was a small trip taking a couple of hours. We reached the beach
area where there is a little market selling the normal tourist bits and bobs.
Along the beach there was several boats lined up. There went out in order of
when they were filled up. So this is a shared experience. The four of us were
in a boat with an Indian family. Not sure they had seen may white people to be
honest as the children kept looking at us. This wasn’t helped by the fact that
Sean became sea sick on the way out. Now this may have been to do with the
amount of alcohol he had drunk the night before but I can neither confirm nor
deny that. Sean looked very ropey but the side of the boat he was on was higher
than the other side, so he decided to try to get across the boat to be sick
overboard. Needless to say this did not go according to plan. As none of us
knew why he tried to get across the boat we all looked on in horror and
laughter. The Indian people looked on in disgust, which made us laugh even
more.
As I said earlier there are a lot of expats in the area we were staying. We met a guy in the bar called Scott. Really nice guy and really helpful. Sean and I had talked about going to a football match whilst we were on holiday. Goa have their own team FC Goa who play in the Indian Super League. The manager is the legendary Brazilian Zico. They were scheduled to play Mumbai City managed by Nickolas Anelka (former Arsenal player) As Spurs fans this seemed like fate.
Scott was great he said he would help as he knew a group of
people who go to the games and he would hook us up. Come the day of the match
we were told to meet outside a bar called the Fisherman’s cove. Problem was
that there are two called Fisherman’s cove and because we did not know the people
we were meeting we wasn’t sure which one we should be at. So Sean went to one
and we stayed at the other waiting for a minibus to arrive. As it turned out the one we was at was the
wrong one so Sean had to get the driver to go out of his way to come and
collect us.
We picked up some other guys on the way (Mike and Chaz) who
had the tickets for us. Worked out about £10 each for the ticket and £3 for the
minibus, what a bargain. The guys on the trip were great really friendly and
involved us all the way making sure we knew where to go and everything. We
stopped on the way for a few beers and to get to know each other a little. This
was really good and a great laugh. We did have a fair few beers which you
helped yourself to from the fridge. You just kept the bottles and the barman
just added up the cost based on that.
As we got closer to the ground the atmosphere started to
grow, cars were bibbing their horns and flags were being waved from the backs
and from people on motorbikes. Nessie hung out of the window and asked a
passing motorbike for a flag which was given to her with no hesitation. The
crowd were really happy and friendly.
We all made our way to the ground where the crowd became
larger and larger but it was all very welcoming. We pushed our way into the
crowd to get into the ground and found our way to our seats.
The stadium was surprisingly good it was clean with good
seating and good visibility all around. The atmosphere was fantastic. Flags
hooters bells everywhere the noise was deafening. People were going around
selling food and drinks and there was even a band going all around the ground
whipping up the fans. Before the game kicked off fireworks were set off and we
were told that happens everytime Goa score. For us this was the best game to go
to as Goa won 7-0 yep 7-0 Anelka was humiliated we loved that fact.
The supporters around us were singing and jumping around
with one guy high fiving Caroline each and every time they scored. It was a
brilliant experience. Great people great atmosphere great score.
To finish the day we stopped off at the bar on the way home
for a nice meal and a few beers for the journey. For me this was one of the
best days of the holiday, it also shows if you talk to people around you can
make some nice friends who can enhance your holiday experience.
One of the biggest things we had planned to do whilst in
India was to visit the Taj Mahal. We had done some research whilst we were at
home in the UK. So we knew that we would have to get to Delhi first before going
on to Agra where the Taj actually is. We had also looked at the cost but we
decided to look once we got to India hoping it would be cheaper.
We went to a couple of travel agents and we were quoted
prices that reduced from place to place but were still a little higher than we
wanted to pay. So we spoke with Pee who took us to a friend in the next town
(Calangute). We sat with him and told him exactly what we wanted to do. There
is a pre organsied trip called the golden triangle which you could go on but we
just wanted to go to the Taj and see the area around it.
So we arranged the following: pick up from our hotel and
taken to Goa airport. Flights from Goa to Delhi, pick up from the airport and
taken to the hotel in Delhi. Stay in the hotel over night with breakfast in the
morning. Pick up from the hotel and taken to the train station in Delhi. Train
tickets to Agra and with all of this in reverse. The cost was £220 per person!
All we had to pay for was our entry into the Taj and transport to and from the
station. As we did not know what the place was like or what there was to do we
arranged and early train journey to Agra with a late journey back to Delhi.
The Journey from Goa to Delhi was very straight forward. We
only took hand luggage so we were on and off the flight with no hassle and as
arranged our taxi was there waiting for us at the airport. It’s a 2 hour flight
to Delhi so not too bad. We arrived and the taxi driver took us straight to the
hotel. It was getting dark by this time and it was the Diwali festival time so
there was decorations of lights all over the place.
As we arrived at the hotel it looked adequate for our needs
but to be fair the area did not look great. But then we were in India and in a
city in India so I’m not sure what we expected? Sean was funny as he did look
horrified and as we entered the hotel his passing comment was “I aint leaving
the building until tomorrow. “ This made me laugh, I can’t help it when Sean is
stressed it really tickles me. We had bell boys show us to our rooms which were
literally 10 paces away from the reception (comical) Sean gave him a tip of
about £1 and the bellboy looked disgusted whilst still holding out his hand. Sean
was unmoved and unimpressed, so just gave him his look of don’t bother I’m not
in the mood.
To try to settle ourselves Caroline asked the reception
person if it was safe to go outside and walk around the area. “Of course very
safe” was the receptions opinion. So out we went in search of food. There was a
large group of men next to the hotel and so we asked for some directions which
they happily gave. As soon as we started to walk along the road we were
approached by a Tuk Tuk driver trying to put the frighteners on us. “you’re
tourist this area is not safe for you, come with me I take you to the tourist
place” was his first try. But we are tough Brits not easily scared off, we kept
going. As we walked along the Tuk tuk followed, it did start to resemble
Baghdad at night as we walked along the atmosphere was added to by random
fireworks going off left right and centre. I am not talking organsied display
style. This was more like gunpowder and
matches style set off by anyone who had the components man woman or child. It
did make things a little more intimidating. Just then another Tuk Tuk turned up
with an older man in. “This is not for you, you’re in the wrong area for
tourists its not safe here please do not go any further” at that point we were
all facing the other direction and heading back to the hotel! Our exploration
of Delhi at night had lasted about 10 minutes. What a bunch of Wally’s.
It didn’t help the Tuk Tuk drivers as we headed straight
back into the hotel so their efforts to get us in their vehicles failed
miserably. We went to the reception and told the guy there what had happened.
His view was that the Tuk Tuk drivers were trying to get us to go with them. He
also said that these drivers are not trustworthy people. There is an area of
Delhi which is the main area for tourist called Connaught place. We had
researched this prior to coming on holiday and so we decided to play it safe by
going there by taxi from the hotel. Nothing could go wrong like this?
The taxi arrived and off we went the driver could not speak
a word of English and so we could not make any plans to be picked up or get his
number or anything but we thought that’s no issue there will be taxis all
around surely? So he dropped us off at our destination, straight away it hit us
that it was very quiet there was no people around shops were all closed and
there was darkness all around. Good start we thought. We wandered around
looking for some kind of welcoming sight to head to. This seemed like a tall
order as we walked past an old guy having a piddle in the street. He didn’t bat
an eyelid as we passed him, the smell of piss did indicate that this was a
normal activity for this particular street.
We stood looking at the menu of a place when all of a sudden
the loudest scariest bang was let out. Sean and I must have jumped about 10
foot in the air, I thought my heart would miss a beat. Bloody fireworks again
nearly shit my pants. We decided to eat in the restaurant that seemed to be the
only one open. The level of English spoken was once again very limited (better
than my Hindi by a country mile to be fair) so sign language and talking slow
were the order of the day. I said earlier in this piece that I am not very good
with spicy food, I had by then had some great Indian food though by asking for
no spice. I had opted for Masala with no spice which I coped with very well
especially with Naan which seemed to take the edge off. So both Caroline and I
opted for this. I don’t recall what Nessie and Sean had but it was something
that wouldn’t have any spice in it. Sean eats anything and I mean anything
(apple cores, spicy tortillas for breakfast for example) but Nessie is worse
than me for spice.
Clearly my sign language and slow talking counted for
nothing as the masala I had was the spiciest thing I have ever eaten in my
life! Even Caroline struggled with it and she has a good tolerance to hot food.
I plodded on using my naan and beer to ease the fire in my mouth. I was not
going to let a curry spoil my trip. Feeling like I was in Baghdad under fire
might spoil it but a curry never!
Getting back to the hotel was another mission. There was no
taxis around, there appeared to be no taxi rank and also nobody to ask. The
only advice we were offered was to take the metro! Take the metro? Are they
taking the piss? We couldn’t order a mild curry let alone find our way back to
a hotel on the underground!
So in the end rather than using the established organsied
transport system, we got in a random car with a stranger called by a street
seller for us. How stupid are we really? Don’t trust a tuk tuk driver but will
get into a car with a total stranger in the hope that he can get us back to our
hotel safe?
Well he did, he was a really nice guy just trying to earn a
few quid. The street seller was a top guy who was happy to help visitors to his
country who were lost and clearly clueless. Easy pickings for the wrong sort,
but not this guy. Would you trust this situation if you was in England? Would
you help someone in our position?
We got back to the hotel and signed with relief, safe at
last. I slept very well the room was fine and it had been a long and
adventurous day. The next morning we were up nice and early for breakfast. Sean
did not look too impressed sitting quietly at the table. On cue the taxi
arrived for us and off we went. Delhi in the daylight looked a lot better than
it had the night before. Things improve in the light especially when you have
had a good night’s sleep. The driver took us right up to the entrance to the
train station pointing us to the direction of the entrance. Well Kings cross,
Euston it isn’t people everywhere and loads of platforms. There we were again
the confused looking foreigners. Right on cue along comes a friendly Indian man
who selflessly takes us all the way to our carriage showing us how the platform
and notices on the train worked. He didn’t expect anything for his trouble, he
was just happy to help.
I was really excited about this train ride it was going to
be 2 hours long but what a great way to see the country. I was also a little
excited about the prospect of having people sitting on the roof and hanging off
the sides of the train. Unfortunately this did not happen on this particular
train journey. Sean was still very quiet
the trauma of the day before still upper most in his memory. The train ride was
really cool though. There was a guy selling food and another selling drinks up
and down the train really cheap as well. The toilet was another thing though.
There was a European toilet on the train but this left a lot to be desired. We
opted for the Indian toilet which was a hole in the floor that went straight
onto the train tracks.
Whilst on the train we met a young lady and her mum from
Sweden, she was a medical student in India studying but was now on a break and
so back packing with her mum. They had been all around and were on their way to
the Taj Mahal as well. She told us about a stand at the station where you can
get a taxi and guide to take you to all the attractions. There would be chancers
at the exit but to push on to the stand as we would not then get ripped off.
This was great advice, and she was spot on. You go to the stand and pay your
fee including for a guide and they give you a ticket to your own taxi and guide
for the day. This again was stupidly cheap a matter of a couple of quid per
person for the day.
Agra was not what I expected. It is a large city with loads
of hustle and bustle. The noise from the traffic beeping their horns was crazy.
They beep to let you know they are overtaking, they beep to let you know you
can go, they beep to let you know they have a hooter I think. It was in Agra
where we saw 9 people in one Tuk tuk (which are built for 2 plus the driver) 3
people on a motorbike, and also a baby driving a van.
The roads are crazy, its very much like the start of the
whacky races with everyone vying for a place. It really has to be seen to be
believed.
Anyway the Taj is not too far away from the station, it’s
like it is set in a garden. We parked up on the side of the main road and then
walked along a long road inside a walled area. There was Tuk Tuks that carry
several passengers and camel rides and so on but we decided to walk up along
the pavement. There were monkeys just sitting around like you would have cats
in England. Nobody took any notice.
As we walked up the guide explained that there was 20k
visitors to the Taj each day. The cost to go in also differs if you are a
tourist or a local which to be honest I thought was good and the right thing to
do. Tourist have far more money than local Indian people for a start and its
their attraction so why should they pay full whack. Something the British
government would do well to consider. The other thing worth noting is that the
cost is pittance in comparison to what you would pay in the UK anyway.
Having a guide was a great decision as he cut straight to
the front of the queues all the time. He also knew all the best photo
opportunities and was also extremely knowledgeable about the Taj and the other
attractions in Agra.
Whilst waiting for the guide to get our tickets I was
approached by a guy with a professional camera. You can get these guys to go
around with you and they take all your pictures for you and do some nice
professional prints. Obviously there is a cost involved and to be honest we
took pictures on our phones anyway as we put them on Facebook and so on. It is
very rare we get a phot album out nowadays.
However this guy was not going to hassle me about taking my
pictures for me, he actually recognized me! He said “I saw you on the beach in
Candolim last week”, “I was on holiday and saw you there!” I was like really?
You saw me last week and out of all the people on the beach that day you
remembered me? This turned out to be our first experience of being famous.
As we walked through the security and on up to the gate to
the Taj we did get a sense of everyone taking a little notice of these 4
English people wandering along. We didn’t take any notice at this point. We
were so in awe of the Taj Mahal.
Like most people who haven’t been to the Taj Mahal
(probably) I did not expect too much. I just thought yeah it’s a big white
building that some fella made for his wife. Princess Diana had her sad face
picture taken there and that’s it.
Well I have to be totally honest, I was blown away. Totally
blown away. The place is magnificent, it is completely spellbinding and when
you see it goose bumps go all up your spine. I did not expect that in the
slightest. It was awesome. The guide told us all about it and about the king
who made it and where the stones come from and so on. It is really interesting.
It’s not just about building it for his wife. This king actually had a Jewish
wife, a Christian wife, a Muslim wife and a Hindu wife the reason being to
unite the faiths in India. (Great idea) The Muslim wife was his favorite and
when she was dying she actually asked him to build this as a monument to their
love. The stones are all hand carved and when you see the work that went into
it you can see the care that was taken. The stone came from Afghanistan and
shines different colours at different times of the day. The King and the favorite wife are both in
tombs within the Taj next to each other with his slightly above hers.
You get to go all around the Taj both inside and out and
there is a lot to see. There are plenty of places for pictures but don’t plan
on sitting alone on a bench to look sad. 19999 other people all have the same
idea. Also don’t think about taking banners or flags either as this is not
permitted. We took our south Dorset Spurs supporters club flag but they
wouldn’t let us take it in.
Going back the fame thing as we were walking around we
started to notice people (especially the younger ones) slyly taking pictures of
us. They were nudging each other and pointing us out. It got to a point where
we were in a small room and this young lad tried to take a picture on his
phone, but at that time I just turned around and caught him. In shock he
quickly tried to put his phone away and make out he wasn’t doing anything. You
know the look? Spinning around chin up whistling! He wasn’t fooling me, so
Caroline said to the lad “do you want a picture?” and with that he
enthusiastically nodded and came running over to me. He gave his mate his phone
and we had a picture taken, then before I knew it there was a queue of lads
lining up to have their photos done. As soon as people around saw that we were
OK to have a picture with that was it all of us were being asked and having
babies put in our arms and so on. So much so that the guide had a go at us for
holding him up! Caroline (the Pitbull) said “hold on mate who’s paying who
here?” At which point I think he realised that he was out of line.
After going around the Taj and having photos done we were
then going to the next attraction in Agra called the red fort. As we left
however we were surrounded by street kids selling all sorts of tat. Fridge
magnets snow globes and so on. The guide was rushing us off and so we jumped
into a tuk tuk, but as we were going along these kids were chasing us down the
road still trying to sell their wares. They managed to keep up for long periods
whilst trying to barter it was hilarious. One lad had a snow globe but it was
leaking everywhere as he was running. We pointed this out and he said “its ok I
get another one,” and off he ran. We did think we had shaken them all off until
one of them popped up again and made us all jump and then laugh, proper belly
laughs as well. We got to our taxi and once safely inside we bought a couple of
fridge magnets and so on, the cost was peanuts but meant a lot to them.
The red fort was as equally interesting as the Taj in terms
of its story. It was nowhere near as beautiful but really well worth a visit.
This was built by the same king and each of his wives had their own apartments.
There is a large garden which hosted parties and entertainment for their
pleasure. It also would have had its own Bazar (market) specifically for the
king’s wives and also his harem (yep he had some stamina). It was a truly a very
interesting tour.
Once again however we seemed to be the centre of attention
for lots of the Indian people. And once again we were having our picture taken
both with our permission and also on the sly. Everyone wanted in on the action.
Look how happy these guys are. Also check out the faces on the right looking on
well chuffed with themselves.
As with most of these guided trips they do take you to
places where they want to sell their wares. So we did go to a jeweler place, a
carpet place and also a marble place. To be fair they were really interesting
as well. But none of us had brought money with us for that sort of thing as we
hadn’t realised that would be there. He did also take us to a place for lunch
which was very nice. The bonus being we actually managed to see a real life
snake charmer. Brilliant!
During the day we did get a little thirsty so asked to go
somewhere to have a beer. We sat down in a beer garden and ordered 4 beers sat
chatting enjoying the rest. When the bill came up we looked at it and were
shocked. The bill came to 1200 rupees! We were outraged, there must be some
kind of mistake? Were we being ripped off? Actually 1200 rupees is like £12 so
it was £3 per pint! Less than you pay in the local! Thing is you get very used
to £1 per pint very quickly, and so rather embarrassed we paid the bill and
slipped off. Didn’t leave a tip though robbing bastards.
After we had seen all we wanted to see the driver and guide
took us directly to the train station. We had a few hours to wait before our
train was due, so hanging around the station was the chosen option. We hadn’t
realised how big Agra was and that the station was not near shops or bars or
anything. We expected to have some time just mooching about but this was not an
option. We went and sat in a small air conditioned room having a cold drink, we
were the only people in there so there was no problem. As we sat there Caroline
noticed a big arsed Rat sitting under Nessie’s chair in the corner. Caroline is
a very animal friendly person she don’t even kill cockroaches. Her main concern
was for the welfare of the rat as it did not look very happy.
Nessie and Sean on the other hand wanted to get as far away
from it as possible. Nessie was up out of that chair like a tornado over to the
other side of the room. We sat there just watching this rat make its way around
the room under the chairs and back again. I have to say it was rather large. As
we sat there more and more people started to come in to eat their snacks and
drink their drinks, someone wasn’t too impressed with us just sitting there
(especially as Sean had done his normal thing and gone to sleep) and had called
the station guard. He came in and basically chucked us out. We thought he was
taking us somewhere else to sit, he wasn’t, he indicated for us to follow and
then just walked off leaving us standing there like a bunch of spare parts.
So as we were left with little options left we decided to go
and find our platform to wait on. That was the first issue trying to find out
where we were actually supposed to be. Nobody seemed to be able to tell us
clearly where we should be. After speaking to the Station people they seemed to
indicate the platform we needed. We were not convinced to be fair but it was
the best information we had. We had a wander over with the intention of finding
a bench to sit on. It seemed we were the only white faces around and so the
other people on the platform were looking at us nudging each other, it was
really strange. We wasn’t sure if they were friendly or not, and I think they
felt the same. Who were these pale faces what are they doing here? Are they
nice?
We came to an opening and thought we would sit on the
platform floor, that was until we noticed an army of rats all running around.
Now I am not bothered about rats but this was like a scene from I’m a celebrity
get me out of here, there was hundreds. Exit stage left was the decision and
off we was wandering again. Eventually we did find a couple of seats to sit on
but not all of us together. Caroline and
Nessie sat on a bench next to an Indian family. There was a man and his wife and
a toddler a little girl. She was mesmerized by Caroline and Nessie. The wife
just stared not saying anything. The thing with a lot of Indian people is that
they are not worried about you catching them looking. Certainly this lady was
blatant. She sat there staring at Caroline and when Caroline looked and smiled
the woman was unmoved. Her face was dead pan just looking, it was a funny
uncomfortable situation.
Caroline ended up getting up to stretch her legs and telling
me about it laughing, Sean took the opportunity to grab her seat. He tried to
avoid eye contact with the woman and sat looking in the other direction.
Undeterred the woman continued to stare, Sean thought she had looked away and
so when he finally turned to her direction he came face to face with her their
noses almost touching. Sean actually jumped as she was that close staring right
into his face. I almost wet myself. What made it more funny was that the woman
originally had her face covered but by this point had let her vail drop. She
had some right wonky teeth sticking out left and right all over the place. If
you have ever watched bugs bunny cartoons you may have seen the one where bugs
is attracted to this fit as belly dancer type only to reveal her face with
great buck teeth! This was very similar.
It did turn out though that the man and his wife were really
nice and friendly, she could not speak English but was mesmerized by us as she
had limited contact with white people. The man spoke broken English as so we
had a nice time talking to them. Once other people around saw us talking to the
couple it seemed to put them at ease and the whole situation become friendlier.
It’s strange to think that these people were uneasy about 4 English people
sitting on their platform. I guess it is similar to some people seeing a Muslim
man with a back pack waiting to board your flight at the airport. People make
snap decisions based on their limited knowledge of the people in front of them.
As I sat there a couple of men jumped off of a train that
pulled into the station and came over to me. I was a little surprised and also
a bit skeptical as to their intentions. The main guy came straight over to me
and held out his hand to shake mine. I happily shook his hand and said hello.
He just asked me about myself and asked me where we were going and why we were
here in Agra. Just general chat. In my mind I thought he was after something
but I couldn’t work out what it was. Surely he didn’t get off of his train just
to speak to me? Did he? Well actually he did. He wanted to speak to the
Englishman sat on a platform in Agra covered in tattoos. Amazing really! As he
came and spoke to me a crowd seemed to build around me. All of them listening
to our conversation, totally intrigued by me. The man kept slipping into Hindi
and one of the crowd reminded him that I did not understand. He was confused
“why can’t you speak Hindi” he asked surely as he could speak English I should
be able to speak Hindi. A very good point to be fair, he was a normal Indian
man from Rajasthan I’m an Englishman from London more worldly wise? No just
lazy and arrogant that everyone should speak English.
“You go back to England and teach them Hindi” the man
laughed. “Well I would have a job as I don’t understand it myself” I replied to
which he laughed even more. It was at this point that one of the crowd pointed
out to him that his train was pulling out of the station, just like that in a
flash he turned and ran shouting goodbye as he chased down his train jumping on
just in time. The crowd then started to disperse. Caroline lent over to me and
said “I was well worried then as that crowd gathered, I thought they were going
to turn on you”. Once again it just shows that sometimes your perception and
natural caution are totally at odds with the niceness and nosiness of people.
As everyone knows there is a lot of poverty in India with
Beggars and rough sleepers all over. Whilst we were sitting at the station Sean
and I watched as a man got up from under a blanket on the platform. We hadn’t
noticed him previously but he had clearly been sleeping on the platform. He
caught our eye as he stood up stretched and then scratched his nuts as all men
do when they wake up. He then preceded
to walk over to the edge of the platform crouch down, whip out his old chap and
have the longest pee ever. Once finished he stood up had a shake and turned and
walked away like it was the norm. To add to the spectacle the then stuck his
hand down the back of his trousers and began to have a right old dig about!
Sean and I looked at each other in amazement and laughed. Not one other person
blinked an eye at this situation like it was just another ordinary day.
Due to the confusion about where we should have been waiting
we were getting a little bit panicky as the time for4 the train got ever
closer. Fortunately there was a family nearby who offered to help, they were
going a little further than us but were due to be on the same train. The wife
was really good with her English having spent some time in England in the past.
She explained there were signs hanging on the platform which actually indicate
which carriage would stop where. She also pointed out to us when the carriage
arrived bang on where it was expected to, that our names (and that of all the
passengers in that carriage) were written on the side of the carriage! How
simple is that? Once you know life becomes so much simpler. The family went out
of their way to take us to our actual seats, they also made the guard on the
train provide new clean sheets pillows and blankets for us. A truly lovely
gesture.
The seats on the train aren’t actually seats they are beds!
We had sat up the whole way there as we had the area to ourselves but on the
way back there was other people in the carriage and they wanted to lay down as
it was now getting late at night. Sean and I were very gallant and opted to lay
on the top bunks, Sean was alright as his is a lot fitter than me. But for me
climbing up was a challenge, especially as I have a dodgy leg and I am not
known as Topple for nothing. (Always falling over). I did make it after a
tussle, it was rather cramped up the top. You couldn’t sit you really did have
to lay down.
Now as I said before Sean and Caroline find it quite easy to
fall asleep and so within seconds they were away with the fairies. Me well I
thought that I was just resting my eyes. Turns out that actually Caroline and I
were snoring really loudly in unison me then her me then her. So much so that
the other travelers actually came around to see what was going on. Luckily for
us we were fast asleep and missed all the commotion. There was one small embarrassing moment
however when Caroline coughed and let out the most almighty love puff (that’s a
fart by the way). To add insult though she tried to get me or Sean to take the
blame! Cheek but then its not the first time she has tried to shift the blame
on to me. What are husbands for eh?
The rest of the trip back to Goa was uneventful (well by our
standards) but arriving back was great. It was like coming home. The hotel
staff were pleased to see us and wanted to know all about our adventures. It
seems that not all visitors to India do as much as we did but I have to say I
wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was truly an inspirational holiday
where the people make you feel so welcome and give you back that feeling of
faith in others.
I can now totally understand why people fall in love with
the place. It is wonderful and this will not be our last trip there. It’s a big
world out there with lots to see and that is our mission but India is one place
that cannot just be touched upon. It has to be experienced and this takes more
than two weeks no matter how much you pack into it.
