1 May 2009
My goodness it’s hot! I’m sitting outside, still at Nerhu Park, and I can’t believe how incredibly hot it is!
We’ve had a fun week. We drove down to Agra to visit the amazing Taj Mahal. Before we left, we heard mixed reviews from our French friends... The drive there was everything but fun! The drivers were exceptionally annoying! We arrived in Agra and found a camping spot about 300m from the Taj Mahal. It was recommended to us by Lucie and Fabrice, two French overlanders. We were impressed. The only downside was that it was next to a temple where they performed cremations, so it made the area very very hot. It was over 50C outside! I fell asleep in the car, and Jonny on a chair outside. We took it easy in the evening and decided to visit the Taj early the next morning.
In the morning, we walked to the Taj. There were many people trying to sell us tiny plastic Taj Mahals. Once we arrived, we paid the entry fee. 1500 Rs for the both of us. Had we been Indian, it would have cost us 20 Rs!! Well, for paying 1500 Rs, they gave us 1L complimentary water and little hospital slippers to wear on our feet, so we didn’t have to remove our shoes. After the tickets, we had to go through security. We don’t have a guide book, so we didn’t know that you couldn’t bring in chargers. We keep our camera charger in the camera bag, and the guard made a big fuss. He looked through the bag and took out lady things and asked what they were...my goodness! He found a little pocket mirror and said it wasn’t allowed in! Ah! He was on a giant power trip...Anyway, Jonny walked back to the wombat to put away the dangerous camera chargers and forbidden pocket mirror. Once he came back, we forgot about the whole thing and put our good-mood faces on. I was already impresses at the Taj’s front gate! It was funny to read that the Emperor built the Tah Mahal in the memory of his “favourite wife”. Once we walked in, I was awestruck! The Taj isn’t huge, but it is quite beautiful! Jonny and I took the time to appreciated the gardens and all the details that went into building the thing. There were many tourists, but that didn’t matter. We got there early enough to avoid the mass. Many Indians ask to take a photo with us, so we asked to take a photo with them! After about 3 hours of frolicking around, we decided to leave. We went to eat a good lunch at a rooftop restaurant with a view of the Taj Mahal. At about 2 o’clock, we had done what we wanted to do...Agra as a city is not the best. It’s full of tourist traps and eager merchants... Also, it’s at least 5C hotter than New Delhi. I couldn’t imagine us sitting in the car for the whole day, so we decided to head back to New Delhi. At Nerhu Park we have good company, a shower and it’s much cooler!
So we hung around, drank beer, and played tarot with our French friends .Yesterday, it was Amandine’s birthday so we threw her a big bash! We ate all night and had a blast! Lucie, Mathilde, her 5-year old son Merlin and I spent the day running around New Delhi in the markets looking for supplies for the feast. The most marking part of the day was the meat market. The main dish for the feast was Pasta Carbonara, so we needed lard. There is no way for you to imagine the meat market without having been there. There is fish all over the place, goat heads on the floor, armies of flies, chickens in tiny cages, large piles of pieces of animals and loud Indian men trying to convince you to buy their stuff. To wrap things up, there was a strange liquid on the floor, not quite water, not quite blood, not quite fat...Anyway, Mathilde and I went into the pork shop to get the lard. The shop consisted of large piles of pork on a desk, an incense burner to keep the flies off and a man with a large knife behind a table. The shop was less than a meter wide...Mathilde and I, both a little uncomfortable, tried to figure out what to get. I am a little uneasy with meat, having been a vegetarian for a long time. Well, once we picked the meat the man proceeded to cut the piece. Merlin shows up holding a live chicken by the wings, we all have a good chuckle. He leaves and we focus on the pork again. Then, of course, my good luck stuck again. CHOP one cut, CHOP two cuts, CHOP a large chunk of fat on Marie-Claude’s chest. I start screeching like a moron, Mathilde doesn’t understand what’s going on. She wipes it off, I calm down. We pay and get the h out of there as quick as possible
MC
Jonny continuing:
The evening went well, we had rum and mango juice as apetizers, followed the main dish of pasta carbonara, and then finishing off with chocolate cake and cheese (brie and camembert), accompanied by scores of beer. Amandine got a couple of cute little gifts from the group, and after a lot of laughing and kidding around, we went to bed quite jolly.
Now we plan on leaving tomorrow to go to Kashmir. We want to see Srinagar, and maybe make our way all the way up to Leh, where we want to give a 5800m pass a try- apparently the highest motorable road in the world.
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