And now something completely different-Rajasthan

We have finally reached Rajasthan, our first stop Pushkar.A fairy tale began. The sun in shining, birds are singing...
Speaking in relative terms, this place is very quiet (although i woke up at 5 am because my earplugs fell out and mantras and prayers were a bit to loud for my sensitive ears:) and not crowded. Streets are colorful- women in beautiful saris, picturesque markets, nice buildings... Compared to previous places there IS a scenery around us, a beautiful one. I promise you great pics. one of the bests from our tour-de-Pushkar in sunset. Beautiful, beautiful temples by the lake. It's... Well, you'll see.

Speaking of a lake, again there is a holly water involved. HIndus come to bathe here. Question of hygiene rises again. You should see it. It's so dirty and smelly. I don't wanna know what's in there. In Varanasi I saw people putting holly water into the mouth. And wash their clothes. Don't forget that all the ashes from cremation is thrown into Ganges and corps of pure people and animals as well!!!!

OK, back to magical Pushkar.Just for you info, this place is strictly vegetarian- no meat and eggs allowed, no alcohol. there are some heavy beer-lovers with me but even they don't complain sitting around with a glass of tea. It's delicious. My favourites are lemon-ginger tea with honey and black ginger tea with milk. Not to mention mango lassi and all other delicious food. Like eating in the Indian restaurant every day:) Yummy!!!

I also had Ayurveda massage. The best I've ever had!!!

What more can I say? I'm a happy bunny and life is sooo great!!!

The banks of Ganges, Varanasi

I’ve started to feel it more and more, the Indian feeling, like it more and more. The crowd is still here, of course:), but it’s getting bearable of maybe I should say that I’m not annoyed so much as in the beginning.

Most of the streets smell the same- mixture of dust, urine, street food, incense … Eventually you just get used to it and hold you breath when passing dangerous zones (like public urinal!).

So, Varanasi… It’s famous for being the most sacred place of Hindus. They come here to bathe in Ganges to wash out their sins and… Every Hindu wants to die and be cremated here. Although not everyone needs to be cremated – priests, pregnant women, children up to 10, the ones who died of snake bites or leprosies and animals. They are pure.

The banks of Ganges… It felt like being into the cinema watching the most bizarre film. We saw corps being cremated (some just getting prepared for cremation, others aleady burning). There was a woman, one of those who came to die here. She was covered with come blankets and waiting… to die. Not far away there was a man who’s already came to that moment.

You are surrounded by death and it all seems so natural. No tears, no grief…. They died on the most sacred place possible, so good karma for them.

Way too surreal to really get it.

A day in Agra, Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is THE monument in India, right? After today I'm not so sure about it any more. But what I'm sure about is that there were more pics of us taken in front of TM than TM itself. Excuse me, excuse me, lady. What you name? Which country? Sisters? You very beautiful. This is what today was all about. Being a super model. For the good purpose. We obviously made them very happy, a few families and a shcool class. Although I had to shatter one boy's dreams and refuse his marriage proposal. Will you marry me mam? You very pretty. Nice boobs. Nice back side. Want kiss? Sorry, not my type. But I was astohished about his good gens- 25 years old boy looking like 15. Well, that's what he said :)

Other than that my head is full of flashes, mostly about people over here. So many it's imposible to put them into words that would make a sence. Why this? why that? How come... ?

Life is definitelly not a picnik here.

Honestly, I have enough of Delhi, I've seen enought of it. And if I staid another few days I'd need a respiratory system transplant. What an air!?!?!?!

CONQUERING THE RED FORT

It was the first day for a serious sight-seeing. And when I say serious I really mean it. Our first destination was the Red Fort- 2 km long, made of a sand stone.
When we went there we didn't believe in public transport. Of course we,ll walk. It's over there, somewhere. And we went. Yesterday we thought that we lived in a dodgy area but compared to what we saw today it was nothing.
On the map it seemed to be the main (!) road leading towards the RF, BUT... cows, riksas, motor biker, biker, buses... horning, horning, horning... People speaking at a very high volume. Not to mention THE SMELL. And us being only white peple on the street.
It was unbelievably intense, difficult to go through. At times we weren't even sure where to continue. A buzzing mad house!!!
It finally appeared at the distance. Enormous red fort, with a curtain of fog at the back ground. We made it! And our faith in public transport strengthened. No way we are walking back!!!

Next stop, the Lotus Temple, dedicated to bahai faith. Another big thing in a shape of a lotus flower made of a white stone and surrounded by a park. Like entering into the heaven. Not that I was impressed by the building it self, way to cold and sterile for a spiritual place. Silence was a real jewel.
Back to Paharganj where our hotel is. And it never seemed so quiet before. Oh yeas, silence is a very relative thing. As Tadeja just added-up, it a LUXURY.

Another yummy dinner: vegetable thali with rice, mango lassi.

Delhi - the first touch

New Delhi. The very first impression: Holly cow, have we landed in Brussels? There is nothing but fog! Yeah right, smog all around, no sun at all. Which appeared quite devastating for Tadeja, who’s just bought a new pair of sun glasses:)
Driving from the national airport was pretty chaotic and all the beings(!) involved into the traffic seem to be very successful in doing stunt-man’s job.

The whole city seems very chaotic. There are 12,8 mio inhabitants living here. Seeing only Paharganj (until now) doesn’t seem a reality. Where are all of them?

Paharganj… narrow, dirty streets, full of colorful and kitschy shops, cheep hotels and restaurants. Didn’t know where to put my eyes on: shops, a crowd, incredibly fast cars, motorbikes, rickshaws or cows. You loose you attention and you quickly bump into sth not expected. Or something/someone bumps into you. Although I have to say we were quite surprised because people were not too annoying at all. A good start.

We had our first Indian dinner, a very nice one- vegetable corma with naan bread, mango lassi and masala tea at the end. Mmmmm, loved it. And my stomach as well. Good boy!

A lot of impressions for the first day, hard to get them into a few sentences. At the end of the day I was nice to hear all the noise from the street. Wow, I didn’t become deaf listening to car horns during the day.

ajetaMIndia or Biondas go to Hindiland

Dare to join us? :)