Mumbai is a city of contrasts: it is India’s busiest, “cosmopolitan” city but it has some of the worst slums (hence Slumdog Millionaire). Not that I saw the slums, but there’s a travel company called Reality Tours that’ll bring you there if you’re brave. The hotel concierge was like, Mumbai’s exactly like New York City! I was like, I don’t know about that…I went to see the Gateway of India, their version of the Arc de Triomphe. It’s at the waterfront, and verrry busy. Lots of people trying to sell you things. Right next to it is the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which is very ritzy and has stores like Chanel and Dior. If you look like a tourist with money, they’ll let you in. I’m like a jackpot, everyone thinks I’m Japanese or something.
I also saw the Prince of Wales Museum, Victoria Terminus (cool British architecture), Crawford Market (indoor market with produce, spices, and more), Chowpatty Beach, Jain Temple, and did lots of my shopping here. Zaveri Bazaar, known for jewelry, was closed because it was a Sunday. I don’t understand why all of the stores would close though because I see it as a good opportunity to get tourists if you’re competition is closed. I never understand why stores that sell the same things are always concentrated in the same aisle, but Vietnam does that too. I didn’t have much luck with shopping in other cities, but Mumbai is def the place to go for that. They have state emporiums which are more expensive but the quality is better and a lot more selection. Plus the salespeople leave you alone, which is a huge plus b/c everywhere else they attack you with kindness, and call you madam a million times. Traffic here is a nightmare, I also happened to hit an area where hundreds of Muslims were celebrating some festival so traffic was at a standstill. Interesting to see though. I walked around most of the time, which is always a good way to see a city, but I also took some autorickshaws too because my feet were killing me. I ate at some restaurants that were rated well in my travel books, and then went back to Pune.
I’d prob rank from best to worst:
1. Maldives
2. Goa
3. Agra
4. Mumbai
5. Pune
6. Delhi and Bangalore tied for last (which were only my long layovers anyways so I didn’t pay to go here and they’re not mentioned highly in travel books too)
If I was here longer, I’d also go to Rajasthan, which I’ve heard is an old world state with lots of palaces. But it’s spread out so it takes more than a weekend to visit. I don’t regret my weekend trip choices, I think I visited the best places for my time here. Maldives and Goa were definitely the highlights and the Taj Mahal is worth going to Agra for.
Pune was a good in between because it’s not as busy and hectic as the bigger cities. I stumbled upon the most amazing market with produce and baskets of flowers. I had originally gone to Laxmi Road and that area because it’s known for gold jewelry. So intimidating though with crowds of locals in the stores, and they take they’re jewelry seriously. They sell 24K gold by the gram, so it’s not as easy as looking at a price tag. My coworkers were giving me advice about price quotes, but it wasn’t worth it for me to buy stuff, and I didn’t see anything that good. No good deals because they’re so into jewelry. It’s either cheap in quality, or expensive it seemed. But cool to see how many stores they had. My hotel was near Koreagaon Park, which was walking distance to restaurants, so that was useful. Not a ton of time in Pune since I was working and then travelled to other cities on the weekend. My coworkers were super nice and always went with me to lunch to help explain things.
Indian food is good, but not 3 times a day when everything is spicy. I’ll be glad to eat some pork and beef and raw vegetables! I think I like Indian food in the US better though, same as Vietnam. Although I could eat Viet food 3 times a day for a month and not get sick of it. A month was a good amount of time, and now I’m happy to go home and see Dumpling. I took thousands of photos of all the places I went to, so I’ll filter through them and post a lot when I get home to good, fast Internet. Going to the airport for my 20+ hour journey back home soon.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Maldives
i am in the maldives for my last weekend trip. it is the best place ever, i can see why so many people honeymoon here. it's 2 hours flight from bangalore. staying at a beach bungalow and i am right on the beach, like 10 steps away from the water. my bed would be where we would put our towels on the beach! i am paying for the difference of what it would cost if i were in pune, so half of the cost. the island is small and the water is clear. i can walk around the island in like 30-45 minutes. i go snorkeling and it is amazing, i can see big and colorful fish, and i saw a mini shark which they say is safe. so many coral reefs too, which is where i see all the good fish. they say turtles are sometimes here too, i'd like to see that.
skyped with ty a little so she could see the bungalow, but it was still dark outside (her 8pm but my 5am). i will take video on my iPhone though so everyone can have a virtual tour.
skyped with ty a little so she could see the bungalow, but it was still dark outside (her 8pm but my 5am). i will take video on my iPhone though so everyone can have a virtual tour.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Goa
I went to the Goa beach town and Mumbai this weekend. Goa has been my favorite so far, it's more relaxing and people don't bother you as much as a tourist. The best food I've had is there too because it's fresh seafood and not spicy. I had their local fish for lunch, king fish which is good. I had it with a sweet, coconut based sauce at a beach restaurant and was sitting right in front of a palm tree and the ocean. I got a good picture from my view. For dinner, I walked to another beach restaurant called Zeebop by the sea and had the Goan speciality, grilled fish with butter and garlic, very good and had a salty kick. I had it with "chips" aka french fries and basmati rice. I did sightseeing of churches and temples. It is a unique town because they were colonized by the Portugeuese and are mostly Catholic. I also found a place that does elephant rides, and only $13. They took a lot of photos of me on the elephant with my camera. I've only let 2 people use my camera for me because they're guides, so they won't run away with it. I wouldn't give it to anyone else. After morning sightseeing, I did afternoon beaches. The Indian tourist Colva beach was for adventure sports and was crowded and tacky. But I walked 20 minutes down to Benaulim beach and it is only with a few foreigners and very picturesque. I went into the ocean near my hotel and the water is very warm. I walked on the beaches too saw fishing boats. Women here go in the water fully clothed in their saris, while fat European men go in gross speedos aka banana-hammocks. The water wasn't as blue as I thought it would be, maybe because it's the Arabian Sea and not the Indian Ocean. I'll write about Mumbai next time, complete opposite enivronment of Goa.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Taj Mahal Summary
I'd post more Taj Mahal photos but the uploading here is too slow and times out a lot. The flight to Agra was full of white tourists. When we landed, there was a pre-paid taxi stand as usual that is safe to take, but this time they offered a package for round-trip taxi and drives to the Taj Mahal and Fort Agra. It was worth it since I wanted to do all of that, and it actually turned out to be a tour guide and driver as well. That was good b/c the locals swarm at you b/c it's such a tourist town. So the guide stood by me the whole time so I felt more protected. He also took pictures of me at the Taj so that was even better. Usually I can't take pictures of myself and the background b/c it's too close up with my short arms. So I got some good photos of me with the Taj.
We went to Fort Agra first which is large and has a lot of open stone rooms. Intricate stone work and the Indian army still uses half of it. It's also known as the red fort because it is mostly made of red sandstone. Very thick looking walls in the front. Then we went to the Taj Mahal for the sunset. It was crowded b/c it was the day before India's second largest holiday, the Holi festival. The Taj is definitely better in person, huge and very detailed. It took 22 years to build and the emperor built it to mourn his only wife that bore him 14 children, very romantic. Later his greedy son imprisoned him and he died, tragic. It is all white and there are no factories allowed in Agra so that it stays white. There are a lot of foreign influences in the architecture too b/c he hired different architects and flew in different materials. It has a lot of small colorful stone inlays, not paint. They restrict what visitors can see on the inside. You can see a replica of the inside tomb and 2 other small rooms, but that's about it. The mineret towers used to allow visitors but they closed that off in 1985 b/c too many people fell out to their deaths. There's also 2 other buildings to each side of the Taj. One is a mosque only opened on Fridays to worshippers. There's also a gateway building. The grounds are pretty with a lot of grass, plants, and flowers that they re-plant every season. The water reflects the building so everyone takes those photos of the Taj in the water, including me. There was also a stray dog that went into the water to cool down, and a guard chased him out, haha. He did it before I could get a picture of it. It's very hot here, 95 degrees, but everyone covers there legs. I wore pants too, but then next day I wore shorts b/c I saw other tourists wearing the same. A lot of Russian tourists here in India. I had dinner at the 5 star hotel, Oberoi Amarilas, which I wasn't that impressed for being a thousand dollars a night. The good thing here is that meals are really cheap, like $3, so there idea of really expensive meals is like $20. I had chicken tikka masala b/c an Indian friend says it's really good in India. It was, but tasted similar to Indian in the US. They give a lot of included Indian breads though.
The next day was the Holi festival and I had no idea how large an event it was. It's when they through colored powder at each other. They've done this in the Amazing Race once. Everyone is head to toe in colors, like a smurf. The guide said I shouldn't go out though b/c it's dangerous b/c they drink and drive all day starting at like noon. I was back at the hotel by then. Everything was closed but luckily the Taj wasn't, which is where I wanted to go to again in the early morning to see the sunrise. Books say to see it at both sunset and sunrise, b/c the stones glow differently in the light. I guess it looked brighter. This time, it was really empty b/c only tourists were there while locals took the day off. I explored by myself this time and was able to linger more. I took some more up close and artsy photos. I also sat down and just stared at the building from different distances to have it in my memory rather than just always taking photos. I met a Canadian-Asian guy who asked if I could take a picture of him with his camera. He's been backpacking India for 2 weeks. Then 2 random Indians with popped up collars came up to me and I thought they'd ask if I could take their picture with their camera. But they asked if they could take a picture WITH me! I was like, uh ok and they put their sunglasses on to look cool and put their hand on my shoulder, baha. That actually happened to me once in Miami too, weird. But that time I declined b/c I was in a rush. It reminds me of when Japanese girls ask to take pictures with blonde American boys.
Then I ate lunch at my hotel on the top level that had a view of the Taj in the distance. I had some good chicken and fish kabobs with naan. Probably the best food I've had yet. I've been having trouble with eating spicy all the time. Even the corn cheese grilled sandwich I had at work lunch had a kick to it! BTW, corn in sandwiches are good. The trip was short b/c I only had the weekend to go back to work in Pune, but that's really all Agra has anyways. They say not to go shopping there b/c it's a tourist rip off, plus I was tired of them all trying to sell me stuff. The tour guide also brought me to a carpet and marble store. I didn't even ask to go there, he probably gets commission. I did see a scooter/motorcycle accident and there was a big crowd of 20 people yelling at each other, on my way to the airport. When I got back, my Pune Westin hotel had actually had a Holi powder throwing event for the hotel guests in the hotel. That would've been fun if I was there, safely throwing powder and colored water at white businessmen.
We went to Fort Agra first which is large and has a lot of open stone rooms. Intricate stone work and the Indian army still uses half of it. It's also known as the red fort because it is mostly made of red sandstone. Very thick looking walls in the front. Then we went to the Taj Mahal for the sunset. It was crowded b/c it was the day before India's second largest holiday, the Holi festival. The Taj is definitely better in person, huge and very detailed. It took 22 years to build and the emperor built it to mourn his only wife that bore him 14 children, very romantic. Later his greedy son imprisoned him and he died, tragic. It is all white and there are no factories allowed in Agra so that it stays white. There are a lot of foreign influences in the architecture too b/c he hired different architects and flew in different materials. It has a lot of small colorful stone inlays, not paint. They restrict what visitors can see on the inside. You can see a replica of the inside tomb and 2 other small rooms, but that's about it. The mineret towers used to allow visitors but they closed that off in 1985 b/c too many people fell out to their deaths. There's also 2 other buildings to each side of the Taj. One is a mosque only opened on Fridays to worshippers. There's also a gateway building. The grounds are pretty with a lot of grass, plants, and flowers that they re-plant every season. The water reflects the building so everyone takes those photos of the Taj in the water, including me. There was also a stray dog that went into the water to cool down, and a guard chased him out, haha. He did it before I could get a picture of it. It's very hot here, 95 degrees, but everyone covers there legs. I wore pants too, but then next day I wore shorts b/c I saw other tourists wearing the same. A lot of Russian tourists here in India. I had dinner at the 5 star hotel, Oberoi Amarilas, which I wasn't that impressed for being a thousand dollars a night. The good thing here is that meals are really cheap, like $3, so there idea of really expensive meals is like $20. I had chicken tikka masala b/c an Indian friend says it's really good in India. It was, but tasted similar to Indian in the US. They give a lot of included Indian breads though.
The next day was the Holi festival and I had no idea how large an event it was. It's when they through colored powder at each other. They've done this in the Amazing Race once. Everyone is head to toe in colors, like a smurf. The guide said I shouldn't go out though b/c it's dangerous b/c they drink and drive all day starting at like noon. I was back at the hotel by then. Everything was closed but luckily the Taj wasn't, which is where I wanted to go to again in the early morning to see the sunrise. Books say to see it at both sunset and sunrise, b/c the stones glow differently in the light. I guess it looked brighter. This time, it was really empty b/c only tourists were there while locals took the day off. I explored by myself this time and was able to linger more. I took some more up close and artsy photos. I also sat down and just stared at the building from different distances to have it in my memory rather than just always taking photos. I met a Canadian-Asian guy who asked if I could take a picture of him with his camera. He's been backpacking India for 2 weeks. Then 2 random Indians with popped up collars came up to me and I thought they'd ask if I could take their picture with their camera. But they asked if they could take a picture WITH me! I was like, uh ok and they put their sunglasses on to look cool and put their hand on my shoulder, baha. That actually happened to me once in Miami too, weird. But that time I declined b/c I was in a rush. It reminds me of when Japanese girls ask to take pictures with blonde American boys.
Then I ate lunch at my hotel on the top level that had a view of the Taj in the distance. I had some good chicken and fish kabobs with naan. Probably the best food I've had yet. I've been having trouble with eating spicy all the time. Even the corn cheese grilled sandwich I had at work lunch had a kick to it! BTW, corn in sandwiches are good. The trip was short b/c I only had the weekend to go back to work in Pune, but that's really all Agra has anyways. They say not to go shopping there b/c it's a tourist rip off, plus I was tired of them all trying to sell me stuff. The tour guide also brought me to a carpet and marble store. I didn't even ask to go there, he probably gets commission. I did see a scooter/motorcycle accident and there was a big crowd of 20 people yelling at each other, on my way to the airport. When I got back, my Pune Westin hotel had actually had a Holi powder throwing event for the hotel guests in the hotel. That would've been fun if I was there, safely throwing powder and colored water at white businessmen.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
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