A visit to the Taj Mahal: Take 2

Yesterday, I had the chance to visit the Taj Mahal through a last minute opportunity with my organization....and who could say no to another visit to one of the wonders of the world?!? When I woke up at 5:45am to get ready, I pulled open my bedroom curtains, I could see nothing but fog. The last time I went to the Taj Mahal on my Rajasthan vacation, it was pretty foggy, so this time around I wasn't going to allow it to be foggy on my watch!

On our 3 hour drive to Agra, the town where the Taj Mahal is, the fog had lightened up and the sun was starting to come out. It was the start of a great day! After parking the car, we made our way to the ticket booth to get tickets for the Taj Mahal, only to discover that the Taj Mahal was closed until 2:30pm because a high-level official from the Canadian government was visiting. Any time a high-level government official or a celebrity wants to visit the Taj Mahal, they shut it down to the public until the person has left. While it may be a good idea to do that due to security concerns, it also usually happens last minute and so the hundreds of people that are waiting to visit the Taj Mahal sometimes end up not being able to see it. 

So instead, we decided to grab a rickshaw and head to the Agra Fort to pass the time for a few hours. On our way to the fort though, we ended up getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and not moving for some time. So then we moved to option B: grab lunch. We had lunch at a great south Indian restaurant and had my fill of a yummy rava masala dosa. Mmmm mmm! By the time we finished, it was almost time for the Taj Mahal to open but we decided to make a second attempt to get to the Agra Fort first. When we got to the Agra Fort, we found out that it was closed because.....you guessed it, the high-level Canadian government official was now visiting the Agra Fort! So we turned around and made our way to the Taj Mahal to see if it was open again. 

When we got to the Taj Mahal, we found out some good news and bad news. Good news: it would open in 20 minutes, but the bad news: the line to get tickets was so long that we'd probably end up standing in line for at least an hour. Since we were only there for the day, we decided to pay a guide to jump the line and get tickets for us. Well worth the money!

After much craziness, we had finally made it inside the Taj Mahal! And it was even more breathtaking then when I had visited before. The fog had cleared and with all the rain we had over the last week or so, all the flowers were in bloom. The place was gorgeous!

 

Our guide telling us about the marble flower carvings

Sitting on Princess Diana's bench!

So many people!

MONKEYS!!

I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my time here in India. 

The Colors of Rajasthan-Day 14 & 15 (Overnight train back to Delhi)

Monday & Tuesday January 27-28 —Day 14 & 15 (Overnight train back to Delhi)

Today was the last full day of our trip. I went out to breakfast with the group and had a delicious pineapple lassi (with fresh pineapple) and a Nutella banana pancake. The pancake was rolled around a warm banana then drizzled with Nutella. Not a bad way to start the day!

After doing some last minute shopping and browsing through the markets, we headed back to the hotel, played some cards and relaxed in the sun.

The night before, our tour guide surprised us and told us that we’d be going to an Indian wedding reception on our last night here! So after packing up the last of our bags (and I swear, my bags gained at least 10 pounds on the trip!), we hopped in our mini-bus and headed for the reception. As awkward as it was to be the white foreigners coming into a person’s wedding reception, it was a great way to end our trip. As soon as we walked in, we were surrounded with food. A popcorn machine on one table, a cotton candy machine on another….waiters coming around with tomato soup. And the women in their beautiful saris and salwar kameezes were another sight to be seen! Beautiful pink and gold saris, high high heels, and all the gold jewelry you could imagine! If I have a few million dollars lying around when I get married, I definitely choose to do an Indian one!

After saying goodbye to one of the Australian couples on our trip, who were going to do some more traveling around before heading home, we headed to the train station and prepared ourselves for a long overnight train experience back to New Delhi.

We ended up getting seats/beds in a 3-tiered, overnight train. Not the most comfortable sleep I’ve had, trying to scrounge up to the top tier but managed to sleep a few hours. When we got back to Delhi, I took a nice hot shower in the hotel, had some breakfast then said my goodbyes to the group. Since I had accumulated so many gifts and bags on my trip, I decided to take a car back to my flat. I thought I would have an easy car ride back, but I’m in New Delhi after all! The driver had me stop at two shops, not for a commission but apparently for petrol (gas) coupons. I was too tired to care or to argue with him at that point, so I just went along with it. By the time I got home, I tried watching a movie, but only got 30 minutes into it before I fell asleep for the next 8 hours!

This trip was exhausting but one of the best trips I’ve had. Travel always makes for a bonding experience and this was no exception. As a solo traveler, I could’ve gotten stuck with some not so nice people on my trip, but I lucked out and was able to share my two week trip around Rajasthan with some remarkable people. We all had gotten close over the past two weeks and it was sad to see everyone go. I’m going to miss them!

Hearing about everyone’s experiences and stories has really made me think about life, but in particular, my bucket list. Being surrounded with world travelers certainly helps when you’re trying to plan your next trip! As for my next trip, I’m thinking a trip around Europe for a few weeks :)

The Colors of Rajasthan-Pushkar (Day 13)

Sunday January 26—Day 13 (Pushkar)

We left super early this morning in order to catch a train to Ajmer. We had had a great time in Udaipur and were sorry to see the town go, which made for a long 6 hour train ride. After arriving in Ajmer, we then had a 30-minute drive to Pushkar.

Pushkar is a very holy place in India and is famous for their camel festival, which happens in November. Since it’s very holy, there’s no alcohol, meat or eggs available in the town. The town surrounds itself around a holy lake, where it was said that Brahma (a Hindu god) dropped a lotus flower. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims (and lots and lots of Western hippies!) come to Pushkar each year to visit this holy lake and many of the temples in the area. When we were walking around the town, we saw so many hippies dressed in tie-dye and donning long dreadlocks.

Some colored powder they were selling

This was our last stop on our trip so we decided to make the most of our last few days of vacation and wandered up to the rooftop of a café and had a delicious breakfast. The lassis were the freshest I ever had! And you can’t even imagine all the kinds of lassies they had…..chocolate coconut, mango, pomegranate…and they were all so good! 

The view from the rooftop cafe 

After sitting in the sun for a few hours on the rooftop, we decided to do what any person would do after a big meal….go shopping!

Then in the afternoon, we took a camel ride out to the sand dunes and then around the town. I’ve never ridden a camel before but it sure was an experience! The camels were beautiful though. Decked out in fabrics and tattoos that were painted on the camels from the festival in November, they were truly a sight to be seen!

The Colors of Rajasthan-Udaipur (Day 12)

January 25:

The next morning we found out that the City Palace was newly opened again after the royal wedding, so we decided to head there. When we walked in, we saw that they were still taking down the decorations from the wedding and even setting up tables and fabric streamers for an after party for later that night.

Love the 'stache!

After seeing many palaces in Rajasthan on our trip, I can say that the palace itself was just another palace. Crazy to think that I can say that, but when you’ve seen five, you’ve seen them all. Unfortunately by the end of our 2-3 hour long tour, I was hoping for a Café Coffee Day in the gift shop.

Next up, was a cooking class I had signed up for. The hotel we stayed at was offering a cooking class plus lunch for only Rs 600 ($10). Bargain! We learned how to make so many delicious foods. We started our class with making some chai but then learned how to make Malai Kofta (creamed potatoes, fried dumpling kind of dish) and some other north Indian dishes. And the best part? We got all the recipes!

I know you’re all dying to know how, so here’s the masala chai recipe:

Indian Chai (makes 3 cups)

Chai Masala (Tea Spice)

*This can be kept for up to two years in an airtight container

Combine equal amounts of:

Green Cardamom

Black Pepper

Clove

Nutmeg

Mace (flower of nutmeg)

Dry Ginger

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of water (125 ml x 2)
• ½ teaspoon chai masala (tea spice)
• 1 teaspoon tea powder (assam tea)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup milk (skimmed milk)...doesn’t matter if it’s hot or cold

Method:

1. Put bowl on heat and add water
2. When water starts to boil, add chai masala (tea spice)
3. Wait one minute then add tea powder and sugar
4. Wait one minute again. Then add milk
5. Wait for boiling. When it starts to boil, boil it up and down 5-7 times on low and high heat. You can also take it on and off heat.
6. Then take it off the fire and cover it for two minutes
7. After two minutes, strain (filter) it In a cup or pot. It’s ready to drink!

After being stuffed to the brim with all this delicious Indian food, we decided to walk it off by doing some shopping. I’ll warn you now, Udaipur is very dangerous on the wallet. Not for pickpocketers but because of all the amazing finds! By the end of the two days we had in Udaipur, I had an entire tote bag of extra goodies that wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. Good thing I have a bigger suitcase in New Delhi!

We ended our time in Udaipur with a group dinner on the lake. We had a table overlooking the lake, with all the old buildings lit up at night. It was like a beautiful night in Greece or Italy. I never thought I would be a lover of dal (lentils), after all the dal I’ve had during my time in Delhi, but this dal makhani was almost good enough to lick the bowl! I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to Udaipur.

The Colors of Rajasthan-Udaipur (Day 11)

Friday January 24

After leaving Bijapur, we made our way to Udaipur, a large town in Rajasthan. I was pretty excited about these next two days because I had heard from quite a few people that Udaipur was the place to go for shopping….and my credit card hadn’t been swiped in a while. Once we got to Udaipur, I could instantly see why so many people took heart to this town. It was full of winding streets with shop keepers offering their tailor services and restaurant sandwich boards advertising their nightly showing of Octopussy, the James Bond film since it was partially filmed in Udaipur (Side note: I just heard that Richard Gere is coming to Udaipur soon to film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2!).

In many ways, it was a quiet reprieve from the city life in India while still having everything you needed there. The whole town was developed along a large lake, so at night all the restaurants and shops were lit up. So pretty!

After dropping our bags off in our rooms, we went to grab some lunch and then took a walking tour around the city, where our tour guide pointed out some good textile shops and jewelry places to visit. That afternoon we were going to take a tour of the City Palace, but it was still closed since they had just had a royal wedding there. So instead, we decided to do some shopping!

That evening, we took a sunset boat ride on the lake where we had some spectacular views of Udaipur.

After having some dinner on a restaurant's rooftop, we heard some chanting going on and decided to see what it was. Right next to the restaurant was a Hindu temple so walked over, took off our shoes and made our way into the temple. We soon saw that all that chanting and music was coming from none other than a boom box! Past and present combined!