India III (Sep. 6 - Sep. 10)

The last stop of the Fatal trip has been in India, in Delhi to be more specific, where we stayed for the last three days. We arrived from Bangkok on Saturday September 6th, almost before midnight. It was exactly the same arrival hall, the same food stalls, the same outside climate (wet & warm & with typical Indian smell), the same rickshaws... but still so much different (now I’m not speaking about the exchange rate, which changed favorably, too). It simply was not our “first time” (as the locals tend to ask foreigners “Your first time in India?”). Well... the rickshaw drivers didn’t have it easy when bargaining:) We eventually found a cheap hotel near New Delhi railway station, right at the Main Bazaar street.

On the next day, we slept in a little bit, which was very easy to manage, thanks to a complete darkness in our room (no windows) and considerably increased humidity level. OK, so at 11 am we set off to have our breakfast - it was nice to recall those big Indian portions we were used to during the first two weeks of our travels. The rest of the day was about exploring the New Delhi district and shopping (actually the first phase of shopping - looking around & mapping the market & targeting the favored souvenirs). In the afternoon, we decided to see Qutab Minar, No.2 sight in Delhi - the tallest brick minaret in the world.

The second day in Delhi was dedicated mostly to sightseeing. Having already seen two most famous sights in Delhi (Red fort in June and Qutab Minar yesterday), we walked around Connaught place, Jantar Mantar, Parliament buildings, National museum, India Gate, and Hayman’s tomb, to take metro to Jama Masjid and continue further to the remote parts of Delhi’s suburbs (30 km from the centre). The afternoon was a shopping part of the day, again.

The last day in Delhi was also the last whole day of the Fatal trip. We spent the morning on our own - online & last shopping (yes, Delhi was intended to be more like a shopping stop:)) and went to enjoy the Bollywood blockbuster “Hijack” in the local cinema. As we already expected after the Jaipur Bollywood cinema experience, the movie was very well shot (compared to Thai, Vietnamese or Lao movies), with good choreography of randomly appearing dance scenes, with extremely poor plotline, wild effects, predictable dialogs unexpectedly switching from Hindi to English, and ripped music from Lord of the rings. Just amusing! :)

We finished the day with a dinner in the same restaurant we ate in on the first day of the Fatal trip - right before taking a train to Jodphur on June 21st. Moreover, we managed to sit at the same table and order (almost) the same dishes:) We arrived to the airport at 9 pm, successfully checked in (after dealing with tough Indian bureaucracy - 25 staff at 5 check-in counters? whatever...). The plane took off at 2 am, the dinner was served at 2:30 am, the breakfast then at 5am:) Welcome in Europe!

On behalf of the fatal crew :)
Martin

The main bazaar street, New Delhi

Jama Masjid, Old Delhi

Qutab Minar, Delhi suburbs

Ansal Plaza shopping center, Delhi suburbs

Cyclo-rickshaws, Delhi

Pictures update 1

Well, we need to set few things right:)
Because of very limited access to Internet in India and Nepal, along with even more limited possibilities to download photos from our cameras to any computer (memory card readers not available), in combination with extremely slow Internet connection anyway, we haven't uploaded any of our own photos yet.

Those attached in previous posts were "googled" in order to provide an idea of what each post writes about:) We're glad to receive a positive feedback on these pictures, especially when being aware that our own ones are even better;-) Here are some of them, mostly featuring ourselves. Enjoy:)

On behalf of the fatal crew :)
Martin

In the plane to Delhi - Fatal trip begins! :)

In the bus, close to Jodhpur, India

In the desert, Jaisalmer, India

In the rickshaw, Jaipur, India

In front of the Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Washing hands in the river Ganga, Varanasi, India

In the Vietnamese monastery, Bodhgaya, India

On the bus roof, close to Pokhara, Nepal

On the Poon hill, Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

In the guest house, Kathmandu, Nepal

India II (June 27 - July 4)

Although we didn't intend it, almost three weeks passed since the last post. Time goes so fast on the trip:)

As already mentioned in the previous post, we visited quite well known places in India during second week. We went by bus from Jaipur right to Agra, where we stayed for 3 days - including a whole day trip to Fatehpur Sikri - and of course not missing out the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort and the Baby Taj. Going by rickshaw turned out to be really cheap as soon as we allowed the driver to take us to local shops and manufactures (where they received a commission). This way, we not only enjoyed many hours of ride for less then €0,5, but also learned a lot about carpets, marble, jewelery, local dresses (mostly sari and various scarfs) etc.

A mysterious site of Hindu temples in Khajuraho was the next place to visit. In spite of making our journey to Varanasi a little bit longer (going through Jhansi), it was definitely worth visiting. Based on what we have read in our guide book, even the scientists don't know why so many (around 17, grouped into 3 main groups) giant temples were built in a short period of time, quite off the main roads. There is only 20,000 people living in Khajuraho, however, the village was very vivid and "western-style". On our way to Mahoba (from where we set off to Varanasi) we joined Steve, an English guy, who is already traveling for 2 years... really wonderful stories were shared.

Varanasi surprised both of us. We expected a small village situated along the coast of sacred river Ganga, being invaded by Buddhists from all around the world. Varanasi, similarly to Agra or Delhi, is actually quite a busy place - it has more than 2 millions inhabitants and 1 million rickshaws (our sensible guess:))... and is polluted accordingly. The coast of Ganga is luckily different, you can feel the religious spirit! Stairs going down to the river (called ghats, and being half-flooded at these monsoon times) are commonly dedicated to specific religious events. We couldn't miss the Puja, a one hour long ceremony, that is performed on the main ghat twice a day. The purpose of the Burning ghat is obvious, and definitely requires to feel the atmosphere, rather than to write about it.

Varanasi might have been the last city we visited in India, but fortunately we decided to visit Bodhgaya as well. On the one hand we had to spend 12 hours in a train (plus 2-4 hours of waiting for the train, as usual), but on the other hand we had a chance to meditate under the Bodhi tree, on the same place where lord Buddha reached the highest spiritual level of nirvana. Besides, related to the religious importance of the place, there is around 15 wonderful monasteries dedicated to various Buddhist nations.

Then we took our last Indian train, bus and rickshaw on our way to Sonauli (Bodhgaya > Gaya > Varanasi > Gorakhpur > Sonauli), where we entered Nepal on Friday July 4th. Actually it wasn't the last time in India - we are coming back to Delhi at the beginning of September to catch our plane to Vienna:)

On behalf of the fatal crew :)
Martin

Taj Mahal, Agra

Western group of Hindu temples, Khajuraho

River Ganga, Varanasi

One of many ghats on Ganga, Varanasi

"Second class sleeper" - our favorite train:)

Mahabodhi temple, Bodhgaya

India I (June 20 - June 26)

On Friday June 20th we left Prague on our way to Vienna. Our plane to India took off at around 1:30 pm and successfully touched down in Delhi shortly after midnight on the next day. Although expecting "tourist" prices and a necessity to bargain hard, our first rickshaw and the first hotel turned out to be extremely expensive later on:) We spent couple of hours in the city centre and focused on four main tasks: buying a Lonely Planet guidebook for India, having a breakfast+lunch+dinner (all in one time), exchanging a little of money, and buying a ticket to Jodphur. Nothing could be so easy as may sound, but we eventually managed:) After a sleep in train we arrived to Jodphur on Sunday morning.

In Jodphur, the Blue city, we enjoyed a typical Indian atmosphere and set off to Jaisalmer, where we stayed next 3 days - not missing the "camel safari" that is said to be the main tourist attraction, and for sure was an amazing experience!

Today (Thursday June 26th, day 6) we are in Jaipur, where we finally encountered the first food store (small "supermarket"), and are looking forward to visiting Agra, Varanasi and few other interesting places in India in upcoming week.

All in all, despite all preparations, it is a little bit more tough and much more different than expected:) Of course, there are many interesting (or just funny... or sometimes even shocking) stories and pictures connected with every hour spent here, but it is not possible to post everything on the blog. We are making notes and back-uping photos, so just stay tuned for September:)

And so as to make the first update complete - so far we are not suffering from any diseases.

On behalf of the fatal crew :)
Martin

Lal Qila (Red Fort), Delhi

Jaswent Thada, Jodhpur

Jaisalmer Fort, Jaisalmer

Camel safari, Thar Desert

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur