Nainital, Sattal, Uttarakhand

I guess I should apologise for not writing for a while- what can I say- work has been pretty hectic, and I just haven't been able to sit down and convince myself that I have seen, experienced or thought about anything recently that's worth an hour sitting in front of the PC, when I could be doing something more useful like watching Simpsons back-episiodes on Veetle ;-)

But now I have done something that compels me to write, not least of all because I myself enjoy reading travel blogs, especially to places that can be hit and miss tourist experiences. This one rates as a hit for me, but probably because I have been deprived of these sorts of experiences since I arrived in India.

Nainital, Sattal, Bhimtal etc. are one of the three main "hill station" getaways for Delhites, primarily because they are cool places situated in verdent green mountains, and also because they're only a half-day trip from Delhi itself. Half-day if you have the right transport that is.

A friend of mine who is also working here in Delhi recently told me that she knows heaps of ex-pats that go travel somewhere (out of Delhi) every weekend they can- which usually involves a 12-hour overnight bus or train trip to somewhere, two days of frantic sightseeing/adventuring/etc. and then rushing back on an overnighter to start work on Monday. She couldn't understand how they could do it- and almost every weekend. Well, after seeing some of the places that you could see by taking one of these weekends, I am starting to understand why.

Nainital was a good introduction to the difference that the hill stations are from what you're used to seeing around Delhi. You start climbing at the outpouring of a big river, coming from the mountains, and are immediately in a rain-forest environment, and in our case, also surrounded by clouds. You climb from probably 200 to 1900m, which also gives you an idea of what you're in for. My arrival at Nainital was a little underwhelming- we were let out at a non-descript spot on the road somewhere, from which I could see exactly 5 metres in front of me.

It was, of course, also raining- so the first thing I did was buy an umbrella from a guy near what turned out to be the bus station, thereby making it my second purchase of an umbrella in a week. (As it turned out the purchase ended up having a bonus thrown in, as I got the guy to look after my bag for a couple of hours while I walked around the lake. I loooove India, man!)

Nainital shows off a little of its mixture of cultures, there were quite a few butchers around, although everybody still spoke Hindi, and every now and again a girl would walk past wearing a kurta that I, with my limited knowledge of world fashion and ingrained Western perceptions could only term 'oriental', and I am guessing that the design came from a little further North, either Tibet or perhaps China. Certainly this 'hill station' felt like a mix of people from different hills (it didn't matter that these hills happen to be the highest in the world).

When the mist eventually began to clear after an hour, I found myself in Naina Devi Temple, which apparently is where the goddess Sati's eye fell to earth (I actually thought the lake itself was meant to resemble the green of the goddess' eye as well). Anyway, without waking lyrical, these Hindi temples really touch my spiritual buttons. The place feels so serene, nestled amongst the green surrounding hills, and looking directly out over the lake. I like the open plan of them as well, the temples all face toward the lake, so as you move from one God to the next, you can't help but turn and look out in the same direction that they are looking. It's a little strange I guess, that one of the prime spots in these places, and easily the best kept, is in a holy temple, where people go to spend probably the least amount of their time. Then it's off to a cement bench surrounded by rubbish, or to a damp hotel room where you hope that you've paid enough to be able to see some of the lake.

I spent a good couple of hours walking around the lake, and was only a little dissappointed that I didn't get to heap up a trail to the top of the mountains surrounding it. The weather didn't look that great each time I got near one of the trail heads though, so in one of those "no way of knowing which choice might have been better", I headed off to Sattal after a negotiation on a 'taxi' price with my friendly umbrella salesman/left luggage guy.
Sattal certainly felt like the right choice when I got there. A smaller lake, but with a lot less people, and practically no hotels (only my tourist rest house, as the government lodges are called, and the 'country inn', which looked a lot fancier. There were some YMCA tents there as well, but they looked pretty, erm, 'damp'). Damp would also be the way to describe my room at the rest house, it really wasn't pleasant, and you would have expected better for Rs1150 in India. But again, considering the other choices (which were at least twice as much) I guess you take what you can get.

I had a nice walk around the lake in the afternoon- and got acquainted some of the birds that I would be seeing in the next few days. There was also a large hunting bird who flew down to the water's edge a couple of times to try and grab something, but I didn't identify either the bird itself or it's prey.

Late afternoon reflections in Sattal Lake

The next day I decided to take advantage of what tracks there were close to the lake, but without too much expectation- I was told that there was a walk to a waterfall nearby, and set off after breakfast around 9:30am.  It was about 10 minutes into that walk, when suddenly I stopped hearing the other people breakfasting and boating around the lake, that I knew I was in the exact place that I wanted to be, right at that moment. The only noise was the babble of nearby birds, the weirdest woodpecker I have ever seen was perched on a tree in front of me, and light rain was making this perfect design on the body of water below me. I was completely immersed in a natural setting that felt like it hadn't been significantly changed in millennia. Ahhhhhh- this is getting away from it all for me.

That feeling was compounded as I headed up a mountain track that gave me almost at 180-degree view of the valley and villages below.

All this with no effort, practically no climbing, just some luck and following a couple of tricky paths. Then AFTER that (yep, I was in full hippy mode obviously) I sat down on some rock for about half an hour and looked at some of the micro stuff going on around me. Some weird grasshopper that didn't want his photo taken, an ant who looked like he knew where he wanted to go, but kept running into the ends of leaves so he couldn't get there, this orange hat fungi, suspended on the end of the thinnest black stem...

(No, I didn't eat it, although after reading this you may wonder...) Man, as I said I was just in the right place at that moment- things were good for me that morning.

Then I wandered back to the waterfall for a while- it was also pretty peaceful- completely deserted and nothing but the gentle rush of water to listen to. Of course it had the requisite lots of plastic water-bottles and tobacco pouches spread around it, but I managed to keep them out of frame...

As it started to rain the time was getting right to head back, and when it really came down I wasn't even bothered, such was the mood that this little break in what seemed like just the right place had put me in. Lunch was my chance to try some Kahri (that's curry to you non Indian-English speakers), which was a very yellow sauce in which two balls of boiled gram flour had been dipped. It was (as the cliche goes) as appetizing as it sounds.

After the rain once again timed itself perfectly to allow me to avoid it, I climbed the mountain behind the rest house to the local mandir (temple) which was pretty much straight up a couple of hundred metres or so. What greeted me at the top though, was fairly different from the one in Nainital.

First of all, the location was absolutely spectacular. They had really built the temple itself right on the highest point of that particular mountain, and had views at least over three sides into the valleys or lakes below. They had also done their best to promote the growth of the forest on top of the mountain, which somehow still managed to look natural, despite them having built a temple, living quarters, etc. up there. The old Majaraj didn't look in the best of health, he had on a lot of old jumpers and socks, despite the fact that I was sweating so much from the humidity, but I guess they have little protection from the elements up there. He seemed like a down-to-earth guy though, and everyone was keen to know if I had come to bunk down in the Ashram for the night ;-)

They served me a chai and some cold potatoes on a leaf of dubious sanitary standards, but how do you refuse food offered by the gods? Well, I guess the answer is you eat the minimum possible and try and keep them in conversation while doing so... I got to see some of the creatures that inhabited the Mandir as well (including more of the weird wood-peckers, and a monkey that didn't wanted a piece of me..

(apparently you don't want to mess with the Indian Monkeys- staring directly at them is taken as a sign of aggression, and they will attack you. This particular one was the kind of monkey that 'was just looking for trouble'- first time he peered over the edge of the temple roof and saw me he just kept starting, waiting for me to make eye contact. So I had to keep this crazy monkey in view, without actually looking at him- so I started slightly to the left while keeping him in the corner of my eye. So then he moves over to the left, and I had to start looking right, while keeping him in the corner of my eye. I was just waiting for him to jump on my head...)

So anyway, it was time to head back down the mountain, which on the way I saw some kind of mammal- I only saw it in a flash at first (and had no idea what it was), and so I pushed a little bit towards where I last saw the thing move. Problem was, I didn't know if it was a puma or what, so I didn't push too far into the bush. Then I heard what sounded like the guard dog from the Mandir up above me, barking. It was a weird bark though- only one time, and at very regular intervals (This was a weird dog though, so fair enough). After about 6 barks though- whatever was in the bush shot off at amazing speed (considering you could still barely see it) through the undergrowth, letting out this single 'woof' at the same intervals. Then the dogs down at the lake started going at it, but in 5 seconds it was 200 meters away. Unbelievably fast. I asked the guys down at the lodge what it could have been and they immediately replied 'tiger'(!) I explained to them that I'm pretty sure I know at least what colour a tiger is, so their next guess was a deer- which made sense based on it's size, but I then said- what about the noise- it was making a single bark "like a dog". Still they said deer, and as of course they had no books or anything, the description had to do. Enter the wonderful world of the internet and there just happens to be a couple of great pictures of a "barking deer" taken at Sattal. So, in all it's glory:

The Uttaranchal Barking Deer

Then came my last night at the lake, where I actually had some clear skies to watch a little night mist roll onto the lake.

The only task left for me was to take an appropriately novelty paddle boat out for the maximum 50 minutes on my last morning (finally seeing up close some of the local Kingfishers), and trekking up the mountain through the huge amount of prime land that belongs the Christian Ashram, and onto Bhimtal to take the bus back to the train station at Kathgodam.

Looking down from the road through the Ashram onto another Lake (not Sattal)

Hanuman Temple, Samode

Indians who take Hinduism seriously spend a lot of time at it. I guess one of the reasons might be because there are few set times to visit temples, few rituals in which one is guided, and well, spending time at whatever activity is just something Indians like to do. Buying something from a shop is rarely a simple experience, if the shopkeeper sees you as a customer as having any potential worth whatsoever tea will be ordered and drunk together, and everything from your family to (of course) cricket will be discussed.

Visiting a Hindu temple is not entirely different, although there are subtle differences. The first would be the time taken to actually reach the temple, particularly in rural areas. In the hills surrounding Samode, temples are located at the top of ridges where no roads have ever been built, and no people have ever lived. You can arrive at these temples by taking any of 3-4 paths which start from villages at the bottom of the hills, and there isn’t any other way up but to walk. The walk isn’t taken as an inconvenience, rather it is part of the journey of preparing yourself to enter the temple. In Rajasthan, walking will start early to avoid the killer sun, which is at its most intense on top of those mountains, and will start making you heat up after about 8 am.

On our visit to Hanuman (the monkey god, sorry for the crude representation this word conveys) Temple, probably the most visited in the surrounds of Samode, we started out at about 5:30am from stairs located near Samode Palace (probably the reason most tourists end up here, a luxury hotel built into the ancient walls of the city- which receives coaches of package tourists each week at the moment, and is apparently full in the high season). As is becoming the norm somewhat here in India, I had heard some kind of rumour that either I misinterpreted or was simply false- that you had to climb 1200 stairs to reach the temple. At least this would be bearable when it was still cool in the morning. It didn’t take that long though- and we found out later that it was a much more modest 376. The real delight in reaching Hanuman for me though, was the walk across the top of the hills which separate Samode valley from the surrounding plains. The path stays on top of the mountains for the whole way, only dipping into a few valleys where rivers run in the monsoons. Legend has it that the path (which is constructed of stones of varying hues of red from the mountains themselves) was built by a devoted pilgrim who vowed not to set foot inside the temple until this path was complete. This is a recent legend, by the way, the wife of Dhananjay my work colleague claiming to have seen this man when she was young. He apparently lived on donations given by people who walked to the temple, and he died before the path was completed.

Pilgrims construct models of houses out of rocks on the path so that their future building projects might be blessed 

Today the few choice trees that are on the mountain tops are located next to the path, and there are bird feeders and water hung in bowls from its branches. That means that especially early in the morning your walk is accompanied by the amazing variety of birds that frequent the hills of Samode at their most active and tuneful. The air is also very still, there being no one else around and little noise carrying up from the early-rising tractor drivers in the valley below. Add to that the changing colours of the rocks as the sun brightens and you have the perfect combination for preparing yourself to enter a religious temple and begin some self-contemplation.

The arrival at the temple itself gets you immediately familiar with its mascots- a few hundred Langoor monkeys which are hanging out on the rock face which is on the other side of the valley from the temple, plus some of the braver/hungrier ones swinging over the crevasse via the telephone wires.

The entrance into the temple takes you past a few small shops mainly selling Prashads (gifts for the gods- mainly Indian sweets and flowers) and a few breakfast and tea stalls. The normal practice is you bring something with you into the temple, leave some and hand the surplus over to your friends after your visit (Most of them are far too rich in sugar, and inedible by humans anyway ;-) The inside of temple itself is nothing extraordinary in terms of Hindu temples- a large idol of Hanuman- bright orange, and brightly coloured walls with shiny mirrors and reflective colours along with paintings from the life of Hanuman and the current gurus responsible for ensuring his honouring. Notable is a split-level that enables you to sit and contemplate Hanuman without being in the thoroughfare of people doing the same.

Our visit was a little inauspicious as it coincided with the day after one of the ‘lucky days’ to get married in the Hindu calendar, which meant that we had a constant procession of newlyweds accompanied by various groups (some of singing women) entering the temple. I tried to get rid of some of my super-sweet “gifts to the gods” but it was refused on the grounds that the groom was fasting (or at least that’s the excuse he came up with).

Our visit was followed by a breakfast of Cachori (sp?) in a spicy soup and some chai, and then we said good-bye to all the new Langoor mothers (almost every one had a newborn- there must be *something* good going on around the temple) and headed back before the day started heating up (i.e. before 8am ;-)

Some friendly donkeys on our trip back down

Photos from Jaipur


Gernot and I spent an afternoon taking a whirlwind trip through some of the sights of Jaipur, Rajasthan. Here is a selection of the best photos.

In front of Janta Manta (Indian observatory)

Near the lucky Elephant- City Palace

Detail of doors from City Palace

 Spring door- City Palace

 Pink City Markets

 Haba Mahal

 Jal Mahal (Water Palace)

Block dying 

 Birla Temple

 Sari shop

 Jaipur Markets

Exercise Book maker

It’s true!- Delhi can be relaxing

Just because blogs are sometimes meant to be sources of *useful* information, and because I am in need of some myself, I have decided to compile a list of nice places to go and relax in Delhi. Not the sights, because they have been well-documented in hundreds of guidebooks and on the web, but more nice places to go to see something that perhaps isn’t there and (especially important for people living and working here) help you chill out a little.

Sitaram Bazar/ Chandi Mahal

Sometimes you want to see some part of Delhi that is authentic, yet not be hounded by rickshaw drivers, punched by street kids or secretly groped by passing strangers (I was with Anne and Carmen when we went there, I didn’t get groped myself ;-). It is still packed in sections, but doesn’t have that threatening air of the really crowded markets nearer to the tourist sights. It seemed as if not many people walk through here, and the “hellos” were genuine rather than seeing if you expressed any sort of interest to warrant a further probing of your current marital status.

You enter near the southern exit from Jama Mosque, and wind your way approximately south-east to exit somewhere near the Delhi Stock Exchange at Delhi Gate.

The Bazar is made up of shops that are more like those closer to Jama Mosque; “Old Currency Exchanges” (we were presuming from old Pakistani currency), Chapatti shops with queues of men waiting to be thrown a spare one, live goats and chickens awaiting instant slaughter, and the wonderful artistic creation that is power cabling in the inner city. Nothing too remarkable, but it felt nice to be able to see it at a pace that we could set, without worrying about what was happening behind us or around us.

Raj Ghat/ Shanti Sthal

We only made it to two of the shrines to Mahatma Ghandi and his grandson(?) Ravi, but this park stretches for a good few blocks more northward. What it is is a large, well-watered green area especially at Shanti Sthal, with lots of shady trees. There are a few people walking around but really a tenth of what you’ll find in the centre of Old Delhi even on a Sunday, which makes for a nice rest if it’s too hot or the crowds have got too much for you. We spent a couple of hours just sitting before we had to go, and it would most definitely be a spot I will go back to between seeing sights in the old part of the city.

Manju ka Tila

Another area that seems to defy the noise and heat of Delhi is this quarter, originally that of Tibetan people’s in exile, and still home to a small community today. It’s not easy to reach, but you should be able to get an autorickshaw from Vidhan Sabha Metro for about Rs20, and the bicycle rickshaws would be even cheaper. You’ll see the Tibetan prayer flags as you approach, both on the top of the buildings and across the pedestrian overpass.

Inside the height of the buildings mean that the noise of the nearby Ring Road and the heat seem to be shut-out, creating the illusion that you really are walking down the streets of a Tibetan city block. Naturally there are lots of traditional and not so traditional Tibetan handicrafts for sale, the shops functioning as tourist outlets as well as places for the inhabitants to buy their everyday needs.

I need to say it again, the relaxed nature of the atmosphere (not a single shop-owner even attempted to get us interested in buying something), makes it a great place to take a relaxing walk while the chaos of Delhi bubbles outside. Of course most people like Tibetan handicrafts as well, and some of the books with their hand-made covers looked pretty attractive. There are some restaurants serving Tibetan food (don’t ask me what that normally is, but the chicken Momos at Peace House tasted pretty good, and there is at least one Internet Café that serves good coffee, according to our ‘guide’ Jakob.

Relaxing Delhi- we found it and managed to spend pretty much the whole day doing it…

Delhi Vocabulary

Today has been a tough day- I’ve either eaten something dodgy or completely hit a wall energy-wise, and if it’s the latter that doesn’t bode well for 358 more days (approximately) of the same sort of stuff. I trekked into Old Delhi today despite feeling a little under the weather in the morning, and a ride on the Delhi Metro didn’t help my condition.

The centre of Delhi is one huge market- teeming with people going everywhere and doing everything, and this was on a Sunday, when most of it isn’t even open. It’s a real treat for the senses- if your senses like everything being completely shoved at them, up them, into them and onto them. Partly from this experience, I have decided to start a Delhi vocabulary, just to help you at home understand a few terms here.

The Delhi Symphony Orchestra can be appreciated from almost all over Delhi, but the vicinity of the Red Fort would have to be one of the best sites. The instruments are very similar, but they manage to cover most octaves to give an impressive performance. Once they start playing in time it’s hard to stop their building crescendo. (I hope to add a sample here later)

A Delhi shampoo is free, it doesn’t need water, or for you to be taking a shower for that matter. It’s a perfectly natural process that is experienced simply while walking the streets. After only a day your hair will feel stiff and knotted, like it has been fixed there by a kind of “dust gel”.

The Delhi Indian “head wobble” is a sign from your Indian counterpart that sends a clear signal or yes, maybe or no, depending on what they happen to mean at the time. Most of the time this movement seems to mean that they don’t actually understand what you’ve asked them.

The other list that I feel compelled to start today is one of Indian strangers who have decided that I am the kind of guy who might be interesting to talk to.

Excluding the conversations I have had with rickshaw drivers trying to convince me that I need one of them despite me constantly repeating that it wasn’t going to happen for them today, there were two notables. (They were so notable that I can’t remember their names- this is also being written to try and improve my hit-rate in that department).

Short beardy was in front of the Red Fort, and wanted to know what I thought of Ricky Ponting.

Firstly I was accosted by Muslim father’s kids, who wanted a photo and then were disappointed that my camera couldn’t then print it out for them. They were “collectors of foreign money”, but apparently not of 1c euro coins, unless I gave them two, which I didn’t want to. So then they gave it (i.e. the one I would give them) back to me. Their father engaged me in a conversation for about half an hour, which was nice while sitting in Delhi’s biggest mosque. It was a Sunday, which means that everyone basically comes with their families and spends the day there, the kids running around, the women mainly talking, the men also. It certainly wasn’t as segregated as I have heard that Mosques normally are, and the dress from the women was certainly not too conservative, hardly any full burkas, many more saris than anything else. The women tourists were all given these gigantic floral dresses which made them stand-out like nothing else, and they probably were also the ones (like me) who got charged the Rs 200 “camera tax”, which of course was done without checking whether anyone had a camera- if you look like a whitey you get it. I guess if you knew what was going on and didn’t have one then you might be able to argue and not pay it. I won’t be next time I go back, to climb the tower that overlooks the city.

Anyway, back to Muslim father, a really reasonable guy, like to talk a lot about Allah and how I wasn’t going to heaven for not praying for mankind’s sins five times a day, but otherwise was trying his best to preach brotherhood for all men and not just Muslims. One of those talks that are interesting to have but can’t really go anywhere unless one of us changes our religious beliefs in that 10 minute opportunity.

Images from Samod, Rajasthan

Lobby of our "Palace" Hotel in Samod

View from the top of the sand-mining setup in Samod. The sand is silica rich and used to produce glass. It's got this wonderful change of colour to it as the afternoon sun sets.

One of the local attractions at the Samod "potentially married women" festival

View from our "palace" Hotel in Samod over the surrounding hills. GreenOil's power plant is slated to be built to the left of that mountain on the ridge.

Religious (Hindi) colours of Samod. You but these to approach the temple.

A cow sneaks a snack. Don't let this picture fool you into thinking this is normally tolerated.

One of the no-doubt millions of photos I will take from eager lookers-on. This is from the market in Chamu.

Freshly squeezed sugar-cane mixed with mint and salt. Mmmmmm....

Concluding business at the market in Chamu.

The local water-dispenser. She kept waving to me every time I went past so I asked if I could take her photo. The water is free, those on the side of the can are "donations" worth about 2c each.

"Incredible India"

This is hopefully the first in a series of Blogs that I will be writing while in India. The reason it is being written at all at the moment is because I'm not in India, even though by all accounts I should be. The reason I'm not in India, despite having a contract starting on the 7th of February and a flight arriving on that same day, is because I haven't received by Visa to go to India yet.
I applied for a work Visa (well, originally I actually was told that it was best that I apply for a student Visa, but after a couple of weeks I received news that I had/would be granted a work Visa- which cost a total of €330, btw) about 6-7 weeks ago now, and as yet I still am none the wiser as to when I'll get this Visa, what stage it's currently at, or whether I will get it at all. That's a long a boring aside though- well at least it's now become boring for me to recount the story :-)


The reason for this Blog (get used to these asides, readers...) is that I've seen a couple of advertisments for India on one of the channels here recently. They strike me as being a little strange.
(Here is another bad sign of things to come as I can't even find the damn ad on Youtube :-/
What one does in "Incredible India" apparently has a lot to do with finding sources of water- whether they be on a tropical beach, watching kids jump into the Ganges or canoeing along suspiciously green river: India has lots of places where you can find water. At first I was sure I was watching a new "fragrance for men" commercial- some fragrance to do with water.
Here's the wierdest thing though- in very few of the shots do you actually see any... Indians. Most of the activities seem to involve our hero doing things on his own, or with fellow (non-Indian) tourists. There is one shot of him participating in the "paint-throwing" festival, where he does actually bond with some friendly-looking Indian guy.
Firstly, I thought this was a bit wierd, especially for a country such as India, being one of the most populus in the world, but also one where you hear from so many travellers that it also feels like one of the most populus. Simply put, there's always people around no matter where you go (and more so in the popular tourist destinations)- so get ready for it! Most of all, I think this is what they should be promoting- surely one of the attractions of India isn't the wide open spaces and lying on beaches or peacefully floating along in a canoe- but seeing the sea (of people!) everywhere and experiencing their way of living.


But then this got me thinking- this isn't what most tourists think of when they travel somewhere. Most tourists don't think of the people in Vietnam, Mexico, Namibia, you name it... they think of the beaches, the sights, the animals, the national parks... so India better try and get on that tourist bandwagon! It's something I've always thought of as both a strange motivation for travel (sightseeing), and a strange expectation. You often hear travellers complaining about things not being as easy as in their home country, travel organisers being anything but organised, etc. But surely they were prepared for things to be different when they came- after all, they're travelling in a different country FFS!
Where was I going with this? Absolutely nowhere- it was just notable to me that I guess someone working for the Indian tourist board knows how countries should be presented to potential tourists, and how that even in Indian Tourism advertising they can still manage a couple of nice destination wideshots and pass it off as the image of India they think the world should see.