Varkala, Delhi, Jaipur and finally Pushka
17/02/2011
We were in Varkala in Kelara last time I wrote. We had a great few days there enjoying the swimming and fresh sea food, we also watched some dolphins having fun in the ocean waves just in front of the restaurant we were having breakfast in. Eventually though it was time to head north, first stop the train station in order to start a 51 hour train journey up the country from Kollam in Kelara to Delhi.
I thought the train journey was going to be a nightmare but in fact it went relatively quickly with a mix of reading, sleeping in our top-tier beds, and eating food we thought was included in the ticket price, only to be given a bill when we were near the end of our journey. We travelled in "class" 3AC which means that you have cubicles of 6 + 2 (the 2 being the otherside of the corridor from the 6), the consist of lower, middle and upper bunks (hence the 3 in 3AC - AC meaning Air conditioned) with a little table in the middle. The middle bunk is generally folded away in the daytime so people can sit on the bottom bunk (the middle one now being a backrest) while the top bunks remain flat the whole time. Luckily Seth and I had the top bunks so we were able to go to sleep when ever we wanted to (which was often). Another pass time for a short while was to sit in the open door of the train and watch the world go by. I was half expecting the countryside to vary dramatically as we travelled North but in truth other then the shade of green, it was all fairly similar with miles upon miles of flat land (mostly being farmed with varying degrees of success) and then a single large hill which was mainly bare rock and steep slopes.
However eventually the train did reach Delhi and so we had to find out how to get from Old Delhi to New Delhi. After managing to get a ticket we were lucky to find a very friendly Indian couple who were able to help us and even made sure we got on and off the train as they were travelling just a bit beyond our stop. Next to run the dreaded gauntlet trying to get out of a train station through a mass of rickshaw and taxi drivers, only to have success rewarded by an even more crazy mass of people asking if you looking for a room, only you actually do want a room so just repeatedly saying no doesn't really work. We eventually found one which was fine (standards were a lot lower here then we have seen anywhere else in India but it was clean-ish) and headed for some food in a roof top restaurant.
We were going to spend 2 full days in Delhi which isn't long for this city but we felt it was long enough for us. The first day we wasted a lot of time almost falling for the old scam about having to buy train tickets from a travel agent not the ticket office, but then we started to travel around the city. The first stop (well actually second, first was really McDonalds! Sorry everyone) was the Gandhi Smriti which is the place that Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and where he was assassinated. They have marked out his final steps with little concrete foot prints. It felt a bit morbid but it was also a very peaceful place to be so we were happy to spend an hour of so away from the bussle of the city. We then walked back to our hotel (near new Delhi train station) via an extremely expensive bar where we ended up only paying the price of sharing some of our "traveller knowledge" with a newly arrived couple from Denmark but it seemed they had a very different budget from us so I'm not sure how good our advice really was.
The second day we went to Red Fort which was fairly impressive. In the queue to get into the fort we met up with some people from Scotland and ended up sharing a guide who told us about the key buildings in the fort, how it would have been kept cool in the hot summer months and how the emperor and his wives would have lived. After the Red Fort we went to a different part of town to a tea house recommended by the trusty guide book where we learnt lots about Indian tea, and even more about how we have the worst of the tea (a fact I think we all know but it still hurts to be reminded). It was interesting and we ended up buying some nice marsala tea and some basic kit so we can start drinking marsala tea (tea with cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and black pepper) in our rooms as we travel around.
It was then time for an early dinner and early night before our 6am train to Jaipur (the capital of Rajasthan) . At Jaipur train stations, while saying "no" repeated to rickshaw drivers, we met a couple from New Zealand who we ended up spending time there with, Hamish and Sarah. Hotel confirmed (this time a rooftop room opening straight onto the rooftop restaurant which was very nice) we all headed out for walk around the town and to find some lunch.
You know how sometimes you gel with a place and sometimes you don't? Well for me, I never quite made the connection with Jaipur. We spent most of our time with Hamish and Sarah which was good, and we did a tour that went to all the major site, including Amber Fort, the observatory, Jaigarth and Nahargarh (a selection of forts and palaces in and around Jaipur), again this was good (although rather too much time was lost from seeing these places in favour of time spent shopping at places that were clearly paying our guide a considerable commission). Everything was quite impressive but somehow we felt slightly underwhelmed too. That said I think it might have been a state of mind thing rather then anything Jaipur should apologise for. I think Delhi had used up the last of reserves of patience with being ripped off all the time and Jaipur had to pay the price so if anyone thinks of going there don't be put off by my opinion.
Finally we are now in Pushka which is a lovely little hindu town around a lake. The town basically consists of temples, stalls selling the usual supply of baggy trousers and sparkly bangles, rose water and an impressive array of knives and swords, and lots of scruffy guest house and restaurants. Seth and I both instantly liked the place and have decided to relax here for a few days before heading further into Rajasthan.
