Jaipur

After my first decent night's sleep due to jet lag, we were up at the alarm for a change, making it to breakfast and ready for an 8 a.m. departure from the hotel. We drove into the old, walled city of Jaipur, which is known as "the pink city." It's really more of a terra cotta color than pink, but in 1857, when the Prince of Wales came to visit, the local Maharajah declared that the entire city be painted pink, which is the Hindu color for welcome. We weren't told if the prince was impressed, but apparently enough other tourists were, that people flocked to see it. Knowing a good thing, a city ordinance now decrees architectural standards and a fresh coat of locally manufactured "pink" paint at least every 10 years for every building in town. Pity the fool who wants to erect a multi-story glass and steel tower here!

We made a "Japanese photo stop" at the Palace of the Winds, an ornate, Persian style facade with more than 900 screened windows. It's purpose was to allow the ladies of the court (the maharaja's 12 wives and 76 concubines) a place to watch the daily life in the city from safely behind a screen, where they, themselves, could not be seen. Out front, a trio of genuine Indian snake charmers, complete with baskets full of genuine Indian cobras (that were apparently safe enough to be touched by tourists). Our guide's joke about a "Japanese photo stop" was made more funny by the arrival of a bus-load of camera-toting Japanese tourists, just after we had gotten back on board our bus.

We drove on a short distance to an area known as the 'milk market.' This is an area of a couple linear blocks where farmers come to town -- generally by bicycle, with large, 4-5 gallon milk cans strapped on the back of the bike. What's interesting is how the buyers check the fat content of the water buffalo milk to see if it has been watered down: They stick their hand into the can, up to the wrist, and see what sticks! Of course, this is not pasteurized milk, and there is no telling where those hands have been prior to putting them into the milk cans. There were no facilities for washing, and the only cleansing between checking one can and the next was shaking the hand off a bit. Highly sanitary.

Following this cultural experience, the bus took us to the Amber Palace -- the mountaintop fortress that overlooks modern Jaipur. The same dynasty reigned here for more than 900 years because this fort was so defensible. Elephants were traditionally the only way up. We went by jeep. 

The palace is in three levels, for commoners, nobles, and the king's court. Much of the latter was devoted to quarters for the king's 12 wives and 70+ concubines. There were manicured gardens and a reception hall with more than a million piece of blown glass imbedded in the walls to serve as mirrors. Quite the place. We did not go further up the mountain to the military fortress, but it looked quite formidable. We spent quite a bit of time touring the palace in detail.

We came back to Jaipur and ate lunch at an "Italian" (!) restaurant (Chef Boy-Ar-Dee and French fries), then went for a walk in the Jaipur market, where we were just about the only tourists in the crowded allies. A bicycle rickshaw took us back to the bus, which had to be parked some distance away. Traffic around the rickshaws was even more amazing than in Delhi, because we were on Jaipur's wide streets, contending with motorcycles, trucks, and busses -- all honking horns madly. There are no lanes here, and the direction of travel on a particular side of the street seems to be only a suggestion.

After a bit of down time at the hotel to recoup, we were taken to a "Continental" restaurant for dinner. This was a mixture of very good and interesting, and very awful, European food. Don't we ever get to eat Indian?

Domestic Flight

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel with only the clothes on our backs and what few toiletries we carried in our knapsacks. We boarded an alternate bus (with really bad shocks!) and drove back into the New Delhi government area to visit the house where Mahatma Gandhi spent his 144 final days. The house belonged to a wealthy Indian industrialist, and Gandhi and his wife used only two rooms, but it was "neutral ground" where both Hindu and Muslim leaders felt comfortable conferring with the great man, and the large formal gardens offered an area where hundreds could gather to see him. The path he walked, from his room toward a prayer shelter in the garden, is marked by raised concrete sandal prints, ending at the point where he was assassinated. A stone stele marks the spot where he fell. The rest of the spacious house has been turned into a Gandhi museum, focusing primarily on artwork related to Gandhi's life and teachings. The guide spent quite a bit of time here lecturing on Indian independence. He urged us to go home and watch the movie Gandhi, with Ben Kingsly, but we've already seen it more than once. It was a pretty powerful place, though.

From the Gandhi museum we went to an early lunch at a place called "Barbeque Nation." This was a rather strange place. They put a pot of hot coals into a hole in the middle of the table, then heated skewers of kebab meats over the coals until done. But there was also a buffet, so we got Indian sauces off the buffet to put on the meat that cooked on our tables. It was a hurried lunch, as we had to get to the airport.

The plane to Jaipur was a turboprop that probably seated 70-80 people. There weren't even half those seats filled. After all sorts of dire warnings about flight delays, we departed early and arrived in only 45 minutes or so (had we flown a day later we probably wouldn't have even gotten off the ground, as we heard that Delhi was socked in with dense fog). Our regular bus and driver picked us up at the airport and took us to our very nice hotel. We took a brisk walk around the neighborhood because we'd had a long time sitting in the airport and on the plane. This is a residential area with some very lovely homes. It's difficult to tell if they are large homes for a single family, if extended families live there, or if parts of them are rentals. We saw "room to let" signs in some places, as well as indications that some were BnB hosts, but there were many that couldn't be deciphered. We were "on our own" for dinner, but since we had had such a big lunch, we really didn't feel like eating again. We made use of the hotel's free wi-fi, instead, to make our first contacts with home.

Sikh Temple

Today's first stop was the Qutab Minar, basically a minaret built in the 11th century by a Mughal king to demonstrate the power of Islam. The minaret was built next to a Hindu temple that was converted into a mosque. One could see where the depictions of Hindu gods had been defaced in the conversion. The king died when the project was still early on, but it was completed by his son-in-law. It is too tall to be of much practical use as a minaret, as the mullah would be too winded from climbing more than 300 steep stairs to actually call anyone to prayer, and at 234 feet in height, it would be difficult for the call to be heard below.

There was also a rust-free, 1000 year old iron stele that demonstrated the advanced iron smelting technology of the Mughals, as well as. The foundation of a second minaret, intended to be even higher and grander than the first, lies in ruin here. This was begun by a later, Persian king who also died, but apparently without an admiring son-in-law to finish the work. This was an interesting site, but its significance was not well explained by the local guide, and we spent rather too much time there.

We next drove to s Sikh temple, one of the largest in the world, which was quite fascinating. Not only was the holy book being chanted inside, but we also toured the kitchens where 10,000 meals each day are prepared by volunteers for free distribution to all comers.

We helped prepare bread and saw huge vats of curry being stirred by barefoot men in turbans. The temple also provides a free hostel and bathing pool, all open to anyone.

We noted that on the way into the temple, people would touch a hand to their forehead, and then touch the threshold of the doorway. On the way out again, they would touch the threshold, and then their forehead. Our guide explained that this was not a Sikh exclusive, but that it was common in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist temples in this part of the world, as well. It is a symbolic way of checking one's brain at the door. It is understood that logic is the enemy of faith, and that the brain causes evil doubts. Thus, one leaves the brain at the door going in, and takes in up again to go out into the world. It made me happy to be part of a tradition that embraces both faith and learning!

Our guide, Sujay, helping us get our heads properly covered to visit the Sikh temple.

After lunch in a Chinese (!) restaurant, we got the traditional silk rug pitch at a very pricey Kashmiri craft shop. The salesmen were so aggressive we had to leave and go back to the bus. After the others had made their purchases, the bus took us back to the hotel. We packed our bags and put our suitcases out to be taken by bus to Jaipur overnight, keeping only our knapsacks with us for tomorrow's flight to catch up with the bus.

Delhi

We would have been the first customers at the hotel's breakfast buffet, except that we showed up an hour before they opened, so we went back upstairs for awhile. A newspaper had been delivered to our room, a tabloid along the lines of the UK's Daily Mail. We marveled at how incomprehensible the English could be! Breakfast buffet was pretty good. I tried to get onto the internet and send an email to family that we had arrived. but neither Gmail nor Yahoo would allow me to log in from the other side of the world -- damn security!

We met with the guide for an orientation meeting in the morning, then set off for Old Delhi in a bus that is very large for only 14 tourists. But our driver negotiated terrible traffic with ease. We drove around the government buildings -- most built by the Brits in the 1920s, walked around the India Arch war memorial, and the empty pedestal that used to have a statue of King George until it was removed at independence. On the way out we drove by rows upon rows of "bungalows" built for British officials, but now serving as residences for Indian military officers, cabinet ministers, and bureaucrats. Pretty nice fringe benefit for government work.

Our next stop was Jama Masjid, the huge mosque built by the same Mughal sultan who commissioned the Taj Mahal in Agra. He also built a large city wall, remnants of which can still be seen, and the great Red Fort to protect the city of Delhi. The mosque requires Western women to cover, even if they are dressed pretty much like the Muslim women who are entering. And the mosque is mostly open air -- the structure itself is mostly solid, like a Buddhist stupa. Even if one gets a front row seat, he prays to a wall. Also, this mosque, as all in this part of the world, faces west rather than east, because Mecca is west of here.

The mosque divides the Muslim quarter of old Delhi from the Hindu quarter. The requisite rickshaw ride took us through the Muslim quarter -- mostly shops for used auto parts. Our guide joked that if you drove your car to this area to buy tires, you might end up buying back the tires you drove in on! The Muslim call to prayer sounded while we were on our ride, but there was no discernible change in the level of activity -- buying and selling continued.

Throughout India we were amazed at the way electrical, telephone, and cable TV lines are draped haphazardly through the streets. Can they really repair these when necessary? How do they trace the right wire?

        We then took a walking tour through the Hindu quarter.  It was quieter, less hectic, though just as crowded, and more residential. Some grand old houses are tucked, cheek to jowl, among hovels. Both quarters are a maze of narrow, winding alleys with many dead ends. It was built that way intentionally to confound foreign invaders.

Last stop was Raj Ghat, the national memorial and site of the cremation of Gandhi. A flame taken from the cremation pyre still burns, now gas fed. It is surrounded by a beautiful park area, as the river shifted about a mile east in later flooding. The night ended with our "welcome meal" at a very upscale restaurant called The Kasbah. We managed to stay up past 9:30 p.m. despite little sleep the night before due to jet lag.

Heart of India

As we awaited our plane at Minneapolis, we worried about the weather in Chicago, which was reporting freezing rain and sleet. But we arrived on time at O'Hare without incident. When we attempted to go through security in Terminal 5 at O'Hare, however, they told us our boarding passes were no good. We had to go stand in an endless line at the Air India desk, just to get new passes that said the same thing as the ones United had given us in Minneapolis. By the time we got through security, the plane was boarding and we rushed to the gate. 

We might not have bothered to rush, as Air India was delayed -- not by weather, but by inefficiency. Once we were seated we had a bit of drama when an Indian man, with way more than the allowable number of carry-on bags, came aboard after us and began rearranging the overhead bins to accommodate all his stuff. He caused even more drama upon landing, when he pulled Mary's bag down among his own, mumbling something about it looking like his. All of his bags were black, Mary's is a greenish-brown.

Air India wins no prizes. The foot rest in front of Mary's seat would not retract as it was supposed to. The life vest under my seat was hanging down and flapping against my legs. Also, my "entertainment" screen was erratic. I put entertainment in quotes, because the limited selection of movies were pretty ancient, and the music selections were entirely Indian pop music. There was no beverage service at all, ever, on the entire 14 hour flight. When a woman near us asked for something to drink, the flight attendant snarled at her that there was a bottle of water provided in each seat pocket.
There were three meals served. They were pretty average, even by airline food standards, but not awful. But the only beverage was a cup of water with each meal. The attendants came by, unsmilingly tossing the trays onto our seat tables. They really looked like they hated their jobs. Then they would come by to offer coffee or tea, pouring a bit into the little cup that had come with the meal tray, but never coming back to offer seconds. The pilot kept the seat belt sign lit almost the entire trip, and they kept reminding us of that over the PA, telling us to stay in our seats. But between meals the flight attendants completely vanished, and the ride was smooth. Plus, when you have to go to the rest room, you've got to go, so people eventually just ignored it. Once, when getting up to stretch, Mary found a huge tray of little packets of peanuts -- obviously intended to be served with the beverages that weren't being offered. She grabbed a couple, and they were the best food we had on the flight.

We were most happy to be off that plane by the time we got to Delhi. The airport is new, clean and efficient. Immigration and Customs officials obviously were not taking their jobs too seriously (the uniformed Customs guys wouldn't even get up off their chairs. They just told us to pile our Customs forms on their desk as we walked past them. The OAT agent met us with pungent marigold necklaces that made our eyes water and our noses run. We wore them on the entire taxi ride to the hotel with him, but ditched them at the elevator on the way to our room, because we didn't want to even bring them into where we were going to sleep. Our guide, Sujay, met us in the hotel lobby, got us checked into our room, and told us that the rest of the group would be meeting in the lobby in 15 minutes to take an orientation walk around the neighborhood. We settled in very quickly and then went back down to meet the group.

The immediate neighborhood appears to be pretty much middle class, with McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's and Subway as main features. But there was more trash on the streets than one would find even in China, and there were very persistent children begging from us the whole walk. We were back in our room by 6:30 and in bed, asleep, well before 8 p.m. Of course, we were also wide awake before 4 a.m.

Advent 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

We are marking the close a year filled with travel, grandchildren, and lots of activity! Mary continues to be active in retirement, and Mark continues to be just too busy.

We began the year escaping Iowa cold by traveling to Southeast Asia. Because Mark was not scheduled to teach in the "January Term" at Luther College, we took another Overseas Adventure Travel tour to Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Obviously, there was much more to see in all of these places than could be crammed into three weeks, but we got a good overview. High points were the "temple city" of Bagon, Myanmar and exploring the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. You can go back through our travel blog, Radio for the Eyes, for details and photos, if you wish.

We traveled to Washington, DC -- at spring break by air and in August by car -- to visit Sarah and her husband, and to spend time with our granddaughter, Harper. Once again this year, Mark's parents accompanied us on the long car trek to DC -- an accomplishment at their ages, but a testament to their good health.

We flew to DC yet again at Mark's mid-semester break in October to meet our new grandson. Corbin Everett Lucas was born on September 23, 8 lbs. 6.6 oz. 21.5 inches long. He was nearly a month old when we got to meet him, but we've gotten to see him again at Thanksgiving (when this photo was taken) and will get another quick look after Christmas. In between visits, we're thankful for Facetime and Skype!

Other excursions included a weekend with friends at Lake Okoboji in June, several days in Door County, Wisconsin in July, and a trip to Mary's family in Omaha early in December. There were also a couple all-too-brief visits to Katherine and her husband in the Twin Cities.

The birth of a new little boy in our family reminds us of the birth of Hope we celebrate in this season. May that Hope fill you with joy throughout the new year.

Mark & Mary Johns

Homeward

After breakfast we packed our suitcases early and brought them down to the desk, then set out walking to the Angkor National Museum. Once again, the map was not helpful due to the total absence of street signs or other markings, but we managed to arrive in 20 minutes, only stopping once to ask directions.

The museum is new, it's a bit pricey at $12 per person, but is very up to date in the way artifacts are displayed. Videos (offered in several languages, including English) were well done and presented background. We didn't watch all those we encountered, but a few. We spent a little over an hour and it was worth the time.

We worked up a sweat walking back, as the temperature had risen considerably. Knowing that we'll be facing temperatures below zero in just a matter of hours, we did not complain in the least about the heat. We had a bit of time to clean up at the hotel before checking out and taking the bus to the airport. Bangkok Airlines offers a "First Class Lounge" to all classes -- no distinction. So we had a newspaper and snacks, along with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Also the best internet connection we've had in many days. Even though it was only a 40 minute flight, we got lunch in the air, as well.

The demonstrations are still going on in Bangkok, so our bus from the airport had to take back streets. It's a big bus and the streets are very narrow. In addition, all of the other traffic is also taking back streets to avoid the roadblocks. Thus, the congestion made for some interesting moments. However, all in all, we made good time. We are coming up in the world at the Pantip Hotel: On this, our third stay, we are on the 24th floor. The carpet isn't much better up here either.

Our farewell dinner tonight is a cruise on the river. We will be eating early, because some must leave the hotel as early as 2 a.m. to catch flights home. We get to sleep in -- we don't leave the hotel until 4 a.m.!