March 10 to 12: Delhi and start of Intrepid tour

We flew to Delhi from Kolkata two days before the start of our tour with Intrepid. The taxi from the airport found the hotel but we had to call the hotel to get directions once we got in the vicinity. We dropped our bags in the room and took a short break before we headed out for a walk in the local area. Before we left the hotel we both got a hotel business card with the address and phone number. This is absolutely essential when the city is complex and unfamiliar, the language foreign, and our ability to pronounce the local names clumsy. Usually when venturing out from the hotel, our plan is to find our way back on our own, but if we get lost, tired, or have done serious shopping, we get a rickshaw and have the driver take us back. So far we have found our way back when we needed to, but even the rickshaw driver usually needs to ask for directions along the way. Everyone we have asked has been helpful when we do need directions.


After our first Delhi walkabout, we checked our Lonely Planet guide and set off by rickshaw for the Mugul Mahal Restaurant for dinner. As per warnings, our rickshaw driver suggested an alternate restaurant and took us there to “see” it, one that was more expensive and for which he would receive a commission (baksheesh), but we decided to proceed to the one we initially had chosen. We are always on the lookout for touts, but it is extremely hard to avoid them altogether.

Day two in Delhi, Gloria and Peter joined  us at the hotel’s roof top restaurant for breakfast. They are a delightful couple whom we met on another Intrepid tour in eastern Europe in 2007, and visited when we were in Australia in 2008. They decided to join up  for this trip when we let them know that we were booking it last year.  We also encountered another tour member,George from England.  The five of us decided to hire a jeep for the day and have the driver take us to several sites around Delhi, as suggested in George’s DK guidebook.

 

We visited: Shri Lashmi Narain Birla Mandir, Reshtrapati Bhauan, Safdarjung’s Tomb, India Gate, and Humayun’s Tomb. Several involved beautifully carved old stone buildings in various states of repair, as old as 500 years right up to as recent as the early 20^th century (India Gate).  Alison and I were surprised by several of the wide tree lined  boulevards with very light traffic after Kolkata’s constant heavy traffic and frequent grid lock. 

At lunch time we were ‘kidnapped’ by the driver.  Instead of continuing towards our next site, we ended up retracing to his suggested lunch location (again expensive, slow and

more food than any of us wanted) and got caught in gridlock and wasted over one hour.  Caught again. However, it all ended well. At the end of the day, the driver dropped us off at Parikramn

 Restaurant and we went up to the 24^th floor and had drinks while we twirled around in the rotating restaurant as the sun set and darkness fell.  From there we walked to Sagar Ratna for dinner and had a great south Indian meal for ¼ the cost of our drinks while rotating.  Overall a very successful sightseeing day in India!!

Since we had sent our driver on his way, we hailed a rickshaw and the five of us returned

to the hotel. Normally westerners travel 3 to a rickshaw, so five is a full rickshaw by our standards, but nothing like the ten or so locals we sometimes see piled into the tiny vehicles.

 

Day three in Delhi we met Gloria and Peter for breakfast in the hotel basement restaurant after being told the rooftop was closed?? (We learned later that others in our tour had eaten on the rooftop, another very Indian occurrence.) We set off for the Red Fort but along the way were told it and the streets around it were closed for a demonstration of some sort. We wanted then to go to the art museum but were told that it was near the Fort and similarly inaccessible. We were dropped off at a ‘museum’ as an alternative that turned out to be a shopping market (2nd kidnapping!) Later we heard conflicting reports as to the validity of the fort being closed that morning….So??? Maybe it was a legitimate diversion and not a kidnapping?

After we walked around Connaught Circle and the central city park, Peter and I returned to our hotel via Metro for 6 rupees and had a fun time in relatively empty cars while Gloria and Alison shopped at FabIndia and rickshawed back.

At the hotel we met the rest of our tour members and set off for the initial walking tour which included visiting a Sikh temple, outside the Red Fort, and through a marked close to the fort area. Peter and I were already Metro experts so looked forward to
the trip that included one train change. But now it was rush hour(s) and the trains were FULL! (But here the subway doors close and were not as full as the commuter trains in Mumbai.)

We all arrived in good shape and had a very informative temple visit including tea and bread with many others in the temple food hall.

After the temple Suresh, our tour leader, took some of the group to the spice market while we and others wandered the main market and returned via Metro to our hotel. We regrouped for dinner in a nearby restaurant and left Delhi the next morning via train to Agra at 6:30 AM. We anticipate lots of early mornings on this trip!

 

 

The Rest of our Story in Puri…

So, besides seeing butterflies and enjoying the deserted beach, what else did we do while we were in Puri???

We visited the Sun Temple in nearby Konark. This 13th century temple is a World Heritage Site and is one of 3 sun temples in this area. The Konark temple is made up of 5 separate structures, 2 large and 3 smaller. The main Sun Temple structure has been severely damaged over time and is partially in ruins. It is 30 meters tall (originally it is thought to have been 60 meters high) and was in the form of a

gigantic chariot with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven horses, all carved from sandstone. Each of the wheels serves as a sundial clock. Every inch of the temple was covered with sculpture depicting deities, celestial and human musicians, dancers, lovers, and myriad scenes of courtly life, ranging from hunts and military battles to the pleasures of courtly relaxation. These are interspersed with birds, animals (close to two thousand charming and lively elephants march around the base of the main temple alone), mythological creatures, and a wealth of intricate botanical and geometrical decorative designs.

Our hired guide explained that the carvings were arranged in three levels or tiers, the lowest being for children and depicting animals, household scenes, and historical battles. The middle layer (each tier being the equivalent of 1-2 storeys) was erotica from the Kama Sutra, intended for young men (NOT for young women, of course!). The uppermost level of carvings was for older men as they contemplate the more serious issues of life, and featured the deities in the various stages and activities of their mythologic lives. Although some of these have weathered or been destroyed, a fair number remain in a remarkably good state.

In front of the main temple is another ornately carved structure, Nata Madir, at the eastern lion gate. The main purpose of this gate structure is to allow the sun’s rays to align with windows in the sun temple beyond, thereby identifying the summer solstice and both equinoxes. This structure is also completely covered with carvings. The other two structures are smaller; one is a tiny model of the Sun Temple built as a go-by, and the second was a kitchen building.
 

Another day we also took a rickshaw day trip to Pipili and a heritage handicraft village, Raghurajpur.

Pipili’s main street is ablaze with color from the many handicraft shops along the street. This is where the darling brightly colored lampshades of cotton fabric, ornamented with tiny mirrors, are made. Needless to say, we did some shopping……The heritage village was a bit annoying.  Raghurajpur’s main street is brimming with artisan shops displaying their own rendition of pattachitra paintings on cloth or dried palm leaf.  These are miniature watercolor paintings or pen and ink drawings. The tiny scale and detail is amazing. A great deal is made of demonstrating the art of creating the work, particularly the ink-on-palm drawings, but a man at a local NGO craft set-up there scathingly said that the local people had simply learned the craft, that it was not part of their own heritage. Who knows.  Many other local items were also on display for tourists.  Alison blasted through the shops unscathed, but I succumbed in the first shop…..

Every evening in the resort dinning room we were treated to traditional Orissa music performed by local musicians. Small tuned bongo style drums, a flute, a harmonium, and a three stringed instrument with autoharp style keys performed in various combinations.

On our drive to the Sun Temple we stopped at the Dhruba Art Institute (locally called the Stone Village).  Local stone carvers teach others their art and many carvings are for sale from inches tall to full sized door entrances.  We enjoyed walking through the outside and inside displays seeing the carved marble and sandstone figures. 

Buying two carvings, a darling recumbent Ganesh and a stylishly coiffed Buddha head, and a line of carved elephants was VERY easy…..now the problem will be getting them (about 60 pounds) to Vancouver.  But hopefully Twyla and Greg will not mind having them until we work that part out.

Most of the week we were there, the resort was also hosting various business groups and functions. Therefore, we had several evenings with firework displays and small Bollywood style stage acts. (Some not to successful in my estimation.) AND we are in the midst of the Cricket World Cup so are endlessly bombarded by a sport we know NOTHING about.

So that was Puri for us. We avoided other temples due to it being a high pilgrim time and 500,000 people were at a local temple one day according to the paper while we were lying on the deserted beach.