del – agra – kul: my 2nd wonders of the world

as mentioned, it was just a short stay in the comfy and luxurious hotel. i was out of the hotel by 4am, dammit! that’s because i’m going to agra, a town next to delhi, and then had to be back at delhi the very same day to catch my night flight to my final destination, HOME! so the travel agent said that in order to do that, i have to start my journey to agra very early, coz the traffic condition can be quite unpredictable.

i think the driver the tour agent sent had a secret dream to be a formula 1 driver, coz he was driving like a crazy person the whole way! speeding, overtaking, swerving in and out, honking impatiently and worse of all, wanting to pick fights with other drivers! i was quite worried that i may not be able to make it back home in one piece that i didn’t dare doze off in the 5 hour journey…

once at agra, we picked up my guide, whose name had escaped me (sign of old age!) and we proceeded to my 2nd wonders of the world (the first being the angkor wat): taj mahal!

the driver brought us to the parking lot of the complex and my guide told me that that’s the furthest we can go by car. from there onwards, we had to either go on foot, or take one of the various vehicles there: tonga (a kind of horse-drawn carriage), the camel-drawn carriage, tuk-tuk or trishaw. as my package specified tonga, that’s what my guide and i rode in.

i really pity the horse. very skinny, smelly and it’s very obvious that it has not been well-kept. life is indeed hard there, even for the animals. especially for the animals :’(

the camels were pathetic looking too… :(

approaching the outer entrance to the complex

 the inner entrance to the complex… we’re there, but not quite there! my guide was explaining to me about the 11 small onion-shaped domes at the top, but i wasn’t really paying much attention, coz i was impatient to go inside!

the front view of the inner entrance…

first glimpse of the white-marbled taj… my guide told me to stand on the line on the floor, and i can see the perfect symmetry of the entrance with the taj inside!

inside the gate, which is really a building by itself. i should’ve paid more attention to where i was standing to shoot this pic. now it’s not quite a perfect symmetry :(

and then it’s there, right before my eyes…

but before i can proceed to get a closer look, my guide insisted that i have my picture taken on this bench first and then bore me with a long grandmother story of the background of the mausoleum. things like king shah jahan, his queen mumtaz, the construction process, the architects and artists, the reasons for the various side towers and buildings, the architecture bla bla bla… to learn more about the taj mahal, go read here

then only i realized that he’s not gonna go with me, but will let me explore the place by myself while he waited for me on this bench. hmp, so lazy! but i was glad to ditch him too, coz he can be a real bore! hehehe…

of course, he did tell me where to go, what to see and where to take the best shots… took me dem long to take this shot, and as you can see from the position of the sprinkler/fountain faucets in the pond, it wasn’t taken from the very middle. that’s because there were so many blardy inconsiderate tourists who were busy posing and hogging the view!

  before coming here, my indian colleagues told me that we have to remove our shoes before stepping onto the white marble floors. luckily my guide bought shoe covers for me at the ticket booth, coz it was raining earlier and i was quite apprehensive about walking around in my socks on the wet floor, or worse, go barefoot!

some inscriptions and patterns on the walls…

marble flowers…

the patterns on the walls were not painted on, because dye tends to fade with time. all the colours on the walls are actually gems and precious stones! i only remember the blue colour is lapis lazuli…

view of the entrance from the taj…

after exploring the inner chambers of the taj (we’re not allowed to take photos inside, but there’s a replica of queen mumtaz’s [right in the middle] and shah jahan’s [off to the side] tombs in there) and the side buildings of the complex, i went to meet my guide and we left the place. then i found out that my package did not include a ride out and i would have to pay extra for it! *^&@&#$^&#$@

3 men came over to try to get my business by begging my guide to engage their service. but my guide told them it’s up to me and then asked me to choose between a tuk-tuk, a tonga or a trishaw.

i chose the trishaw, coz i feel the trishaw paddler deserved my money the most, as it will be from his own effort. the tuk-tuk is motor-powered and the tonga operator is just abusing his horse for personal gains! also, the trishaw paddler looked the most kesian…

next, my guide instructed the driver to bring us to a shop selling authentic “stuff”, as my guide put it. earlier at the car park area of the taj mahal area, he stressed to me a few times not to buy from the many street peddlers there, as those are all fakes. i didn’t quite understand what are the “those” he was referring to, but soon realized it when i stepped into the shop.

a demonstration of how the gems and precious stones were laid into the marbles…

apparently, the “fake stuff” my guide was talking about were marbles! here at the shop, i was shown “authentic” marble furniture and other decorative stuff, with an explanation of how to spot a real marble from a fake one. as if i’d wanna buy a huge and heavy marble dining table that seats 12 people while on holiday! *rolls eyes* and when my guide saw that i only bought 2 tiny marble fridge magnets, he was clearly disappointed. and we all know why!

next, we went to visit the agra fort just opposite the river from taj mahal. read all about it here

it was said that nearing the end of his life, shah jahan was imprisoned by his son (who has overtaken the throne after killing the crown prince, shah jahan’s eldest son) in this fort, and this was the balcony from where shah jahan would look out towards the taj mahal everyday, which holds the remains of his beloved queen mumtaz

view from the chamber of shah jahan’s youngest daughter, which is right next to the chamber he was imprisoned in. the reason their chambers are next to each other was because the king (the son who deserved to be lightning-struck) wanted his sister to care for their father

some similarities with taj mahal, as parts of the fort were built by shah jahan, who prefers white marbles to red bricks

it’s a huge complex but as i’ve seen what i’ve come to agra to see and also i was really worried if i’d be able to make it back on time to delhi for my flight, i wasn’t really interested in exploring every nook and cranny of this fort

the journey back to delhi was jam crazy!

on the way back, we made a stop at fatehpur sikri, as part of my tour itinerary. but as it has started raining again, the guide asked if i wanna go in coz there aren’t any shelter in there, just a huge open space complex. i said no, coz it’s just a lesser-known unesco world heritage site that i’ve never even heard about before i came. so we just dashed out from the car to snap this photo and back into the car! and the driver didn’t even park the car, coz the traffic was jam like mad outside. the car was just a few meters ahead from where we got off!

on the drive back to delhi, the driver said i had to take a picture of this mosque, which was built as a replica of the taj mahal. not that i care, but he purposely slowed down the car for me to snap it, so had to oblige lar… :P

having checked out of the hotel at such an ungodly hour, i only had some oreos biscuits with plain water for breakfast and i was nearly dying of hunger by 2pm, when the driver turned into this roadside makan place. it’s obviously an establishment for tourists and travelers like me, coz there are shops selling trinkets and stuff at the side, something like those roadside food courts that some of the express busses turned into back home. i contemplated on getting a kamasutra book for my brother from one of the stalls there, but decided not to in case the customs officer wanna check my bag!

not really liking the idea of eating food from a road side establishment but not having much choice about it, i took my chance with a chicken thali, remembering how good they were in pokhara. but obviously they’re not the same thing… didn’t really finish it. luckily it didn’t do anything weird to my stomach

made it to indra gandhi international airport in good time at about 6pm (my flight was at 9.55pm) and this was my last meal in india: mc donald’s! so obvious that i’m done being adventurous with food, huh?

 touched down in lcct at 6am the next morning, exhausted and in serious need of a shower! here’s a pic i posted on my fb wall…

so, this concludes my dxb–ktm–del–kul holiday series! *phew* took me long enough to post everything up… sorry again for stretching them over nearly 3 months. now i can go on and post about something else. and also looking forward to my 3rd wonders of the world holiday next year! ;)

ktm - del: first glimpse of india

as my flight to my next destination, india, was at 2.40pm, i had planned to sleep in for a bit since i couldn't sleep early the night before due to all the noise. but the blardy koreans were up early and making the same racket as the previous night! 


also, after they've left, there were still some loud talking on the corridor outside my door, this time in nepali. i opened the door a crack, and saw the guy from the front desk talking to a nepali lady. the lady was talking rather animatedly with big hand gestures, as if complaining about something. the front desk guy was facing in my direction and saw me open my door, so i put on a scowl on my face and raised my finger to my lips in the universal shushing sign. the guy nodded his head and said, "ok, ok" but didn't even bother to apologise. and the worse thing is, they continued talking in the same volume for a few more minutes before going away! this hotel is SO not getting a good review from me on tripadvisor!


with my sleep interrupted, i decided it's futile trying to go back to sleep, so i washed up and went down for breakfast. it's the same breakfast from my first night there.


after breakfast, i contemplated if i wanna go down to do some last minute shopping, but decided not to. i think i've had enough of thamel for now. so i just roamed around the hotel for a bit to take pictures. the hotel is quite a labyrinth, coz it consists of a few rows of the upper parts of shop-houses.

connecting bridge towards the cafe

they even have a lil garden with some rabbits in it

after exploring the hotel for a bit, i went back to my room to pack up and get ready for the travel agent's driver to come send me to the airport at 12.30pm. but 12.30pm came and went, and still no sign of the driver. after some 15 minutes, i brought my luggage down to the front desk and asked them to help me call the travel agency.


after more waiting, my guide appeared, sweaty and somewhat out of breath, but still no driver! he said he's also been trying to contact the driver, but couldn't reach him. so they've arranged for another driver to come, but the guide decided to come see my in person to reassure me. luckily the airport is not so far away, so i managed to not miss my flight. gosh, i really gotta stop rushing to the airport like this!

an extremely crowded city from the air

my flight from kathmandu was uneventful and i arrived in a rainy new delhi in 1.5 hours. i got a taxi from the airport to my hotel, coz my indian colleague warned me not to trust any other form of transportation other than the airport taxi.

the indian tuk-tuk, or auto-rickshaw. compare it with the nepali tuk-tuk here.

i had my first glimpse of new delhi on my way to the hotel, and my first impression of the place is, "good grief, the indian drivers are all crazy! they swerve into your lane as and when they like without giving any warning or signal. and that seems to be the norm, coz no one honks at them unless they're just inches from colliding into one another."

i was taking in the sights of the city when we passed through a housing area and i saw a dog on the streets. the dog had its backside facing me and i thought, "wah, what a big assed dog!" coz it's really big! but when i look at it properly, i realized it's not a dog at all. it's a PIG! imagine a pig running around the streets like a stray dog!

anyway, i finally arrived at my hotel and as the taxi driver is driving through the gates, we were stopped by the security guard.

waiting in line for security check

all cars going in would need to be frisked and checked, all the luggage need to go thru the x-ray machine and everyone going in would need to step thru the metal detector. at first i had planned to check-in, dump my bags in the room and then venture outside to explore the city for a bit and have dinner. but seeing the tight security, i decided the new delhi outside the walls of the hotel would be just too scary for a lone fair-skinned girl like me to roam about!

ah... at last, i'm able to get a night's sleep in luxury! ;)

you can see into the bathroom from the bedroom thru the glass window...

view from the other side...

so happy, like a cookie monster! :D

tandoori chicken with mango lassi from the hotel restaurant

as i will be checking out at an ungodly hour the next morning, i decided to go for an early dinner. after checking out the hotel restaurant and seeing a lot of foreigners (ang-moh, japanese etc) eating there, i guessed it should be safe to dine there, it being a 5-star hotel and all.

seeing this made me go, "damn, why didn't i think to pack my swimming suit?!"

after dinner, i took a walk around the grounds of the hotel, but after a few minutes, i felt some discomfort in the stomach as well as slight nausea. it felt like the onset of a food poisoning! omg, i was in a near panic state, coz i still need to travel to agra the next morning, a 4-6 hour trip by car!

so i quickly went back to my room where i had diarrhoea twice. and to be on the safe side, i stuck my finger down my throat to induce vomiting. did that twice. luckily i felt much better, tho' still a bit dizzy. i quickly took a shower, packed up my stuff so that i'll be ready to go when i wake up the next day.

sigh... it was such a comfortable room in a nice hotel, but just a short stay for me. felt a bit cheated... :(

anyway, before i finish off, let me leave you with an excerpt of a conversation between me and my friend on facebook chat:

stargal: eh, what's india's national animal ar?

dm: i dunno. kutch kutch hota hai?

stargal: hello, itu lagu lar! elephant?

dm: oh, animal. i thot anthem hehe

dm: india... snake? snake charmers?

stargal: i found it. tigers lar

dm: indians - double headed snakes

stargal: kakakakaka...

dm: oooh that was a bad one

stargal: teruk LOL!! u think i'd get thrown out of the country if i innocently say that to one of them here?

dm: oooh, i would try! hehehehe...

stargal: u cakap saja. i bet u won't dare. will kena ban for life

dm: they won't throw u out lar. they'll just make u marry a local tamil

dm: with mustache!

stargal: omg, that's like 10x worse! dun wan!

stargal: esp the mustache part!

dm: u'll have to put coconut oil on ur hair everyday

stargal: ok, cukup! i'll get nightmare tonight

stargal: eh, but hor, maybe i'll look hot in a sari ler

dm: oh yes, i'd have to agree. n can eat curry everyday!

hahaha... damn racist, right?

one year anniversary post

first of all, my apologies for not updating for so long. i can't believe i only put up one post in september! work has been a crazy whirlwind since i got back from my vacation and there's a few pending posts up my sleeves that are waiting to be cleared. my vacation series is still stuck in kathmandu! will get those out soon, i promise!


anyway, 12 oct marked the one year i've been in sandland, so i'd like to make a note about it here. i was reading back to the posts from my first days here, and it seemed like a lifetime ago! but at the same time, it felt like only yesterday that i stepped off the plane, puffy-eyed, into the summer night of the land of the shimmering sands. time does play tricks on us like that, huh?


was having dinner with the ooi's the other day, coz ryuu was here with his mother and boyfriend (a stopover on their way back from london), and he was asking how i find sandland, it being my 1 year anniversary and all. hmm... i've not really thought about what i like and don't like about this place, so his question set me thinking. what DO i like about sandland? and DON'T like, for that matter?


so here's the like and dislike lists, in no particular order.


likes:
1. the streets are relatively safe. at least safer than back home.
2. the shopping is great, with more varieties of things to choose from.
3. public transport is very convenient, especially now they've opened the green line, coz there's a station quite near the place i stay. of course, it'll be better to have your own car, but we can still survive comfortably with public transportation.
4. the cool winter months.
5. working with an international group of colleagues. in my last count, we have about 15 nationalities in my department alone!
6. opportunities to try new things that i've never dreamed of doing back home, such as taking horse riding lessons, camping in the desert, picnicking in the park (ok, we can do this back home too, but it's never been the trend) etc.
7. the labour law dictates that everyone gets 30 calendar days of annual leave each *woo-hoo!*


dislikes:
1. too many people of certain nationalities here! nations that start with I, P (they're neighbours, but not very friendly/neighbourly with each other) and another P (m'sia's neighbour across the south china sea). at least too many in the area where i stay...
2. the summer months.
3. the taxi drivers, which incidentally, are mostly of the I & P nationalities mentioned above. from the way they drive to the way they sometimes try to con you by taking the longer route (to get more mileage in the meter). and also their body odour! *phew*
4. the price of things here are comparatively more expensive than back home, coz most things are imported.
5. eating out costs a bomb.
6. we only have 10 public holidays in a year!
7. the work-week (sun - thurs) is different from the rest of the world


ok, that's all i can think for now. 7 - 7, so it's a draw... as for how long i plan to be here, well, i've not really given that much thought. it really depends on where life brings me next. but i hope i won't be here for more than 2 years, coz really, there's so many more places to see and things to experience, and life to live, right? ;)

pkr – ktm: more sightseeing…

after an early morning of “non-sunrise” watch, i was sent back to the hotel for breakfast. breakfast was at the hotel next door, which i think belongs to the same owner.

i chose to sit outdoors, coz the air was nice and cool after the rain.

typical hotel breakfast…

after breakfast, i went back to my room to try to get some rest, but as i had coffee for breakfast, i just managed to get a few winks of sleep.

great mountain view from the balcony of my hotel room…

as i wasn’t able to book a tandem paragliding (coz all the operators were fully booked), i decided to continue with the last activity in my package, i.e. the boat ride at fewa lake.

old boatman…

my guide and i were rowed over to that tiny island on fewa lake. i asked the guide if the island is a natural island or man-made, and he replied, “we don’t have the technology to build man-made islands”

there’s a hindu temple on that island, and just so happen on that day, it’s the festival of snakes. so the island were quite crowded, with boatloads of people going back and forth the island to offer prayers.

my guide took the opportunity to do the puja too…

after the boat ride, i had some time to kill before my flight back to kathmandu at 1pm. so i decided to take a walk along the street surrounding the lake area, which is lined with shops catering for tourists – restaurants, tours and hike packages, hiking gear shops, souvenir shops, etc. there’s also lots of shops renting bicycles and scooters. so on a spur of a moment, i went to rent a bicycle! it’s been years and years since i last rode on a bike, but since the streets were not so busy, i thought i’d try a leisurely bike ride through the streets and side streets. i was a bit wobbly at first, but it all came back to me soon enough :)

still full from breakfast, but don’t think i’ll have time for lunch when i get to kathmandu, i decided to try this apple pie in a small deli near my hotel.

after that, it was a mad rush to pack up and try to get to the airport on time, coz initially i thought my flight was at 1.40pm, but realized later that it’s at 1.00pm! i was praying the whole way to the airport that i dun miss my flight, but luckily pokhara is relatively small and the airport is just 10 minutes away. moral of the story is, always confirm and reconfirm your flight time to avoid crazy last minute rush! *phew*

back in kathmandu, sure enough, i was whisked off to 3 durbar squares in 3 different places in kathmandu valley before i was sent back to kathmandu resort hotel to call it a day.

from wikipedia: Durbar Square is the generic name used to describe plazas opposite old royal palaces in Nepal. Before the Unification of Nepal, Nepal consisted of small kingdoms, and Durbar Squares are most prominent remnants of those old kingdoms in Nepal. In particular, three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley, belonging to the three kingdoms situated there before unification, are most famous: Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. All three are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

at the durbar squares, each building is dedicated to a god/goddess/king/queen etc. the 3 durbar squares are far from each other (definitely not walking distance), but i’m lumping the shots from all 3 together, coz to the ignorant me, all the buildings looked about the same! :P

long dried-up watering hole…

vegetable sellers…

pottery is the main industry...

still done traditionally…

food stuff are hung outside to dry as well as to keep them away from rats…

  a lot of locals go to the durbar squares to lepak as well but they get in for free, while tourists need to pay an entrance fee.

  this is the window of the kumari chowk (kumari house) in kathmandu durbar square, where the royal kumari lives.

the kumari is the virgin goddess who is selected as a child of about 3-4 years of age to be worshipped as a living goddess and will be replaced before she reaches puberty. there are many stories about the royal kumari, and i was told a version of it by my guide when i was there. but then i bought a book by a former royal kumari, “from goddess to mortal”, and found out that the story i was told (as with the many other versions presented in some documentaries and articles) to be untrue.

here are a few of the most common myths surrounding the kumari:
1. the selection process is rigorous, which involves having the child candidate spending a night in a room full of bloody cow and goat heads
2. a kumari is replaced as soon as she sheds blood, even from a fallen tooth or a small cut
3. a kumari must remain a virgin her whole life and can never marry

finally, here are some shots from the streets…

they have some fancy-coloured vehicles… does this reminds you of bob marley? :D

check out the shape of the rear lights!

tuk-tuk, the cheaper alternative to a taxi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

transportation of goods…

it’s already late in the evening when i checked into kathmandu resort hotel. so after dumping my bags into my room, i went out again in search of an early dinner, coz i was famished!

i didn’t know what to have, so when i stumbled upon this korean restaurant (a different one from the one i had the first night), i thought, “what the heck, bibeembab it is!” :P

after dinner, i walked around thamel a bit, looking for souvenirs, but can’t really find anything worth buying. i ended up buying a few books!

i got a room on the 1st floor, where a group of koreans are also staying. the whole night, they were running back and forth to each other’s room, talking and shouting loudly in the corridors and slamming the doors. the same thing happened in the morning. i really felt like opening my door and shouting at them, but i don’t know any korean cuss word! :P

the room window also opens out to the street below, which is blardy noisy!

i was thinking of turning in early, as it was quite a tiring day, but i couldn’t fall asleep due to the noise, not only from the koreans, but also from outside the window – shop keepers closing their shops and people talking and calling out to each other. even late at night, there were people (the guards, i think) talking loudly!

pkr – ktm: the moment that took my breath away

first of all, sorry for not updating more often. as everyone knows, i was on VACATION back in bear hill, so was a bit lazy to wanna do much writing. and now i’m back in sandland, i’ve been busy catching up with work that i just don’t feel like doing much writing. haha… anyway, i’ll try to finish writing about my trip as soon as possible.

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the alarm went off at 4am in the morning, and i can hear that it’s raining quite heavily outside. i half hoped that they would cancel this part of the itinerary so that i can snuggle back into the bed. but then i thought, me coming all this way, paying all those money, all those effort… so i dragged myself out of bed to get ready.

when i came down to the lobby, there was only one person sitting there and when he saw me, he made a phone call to my guide to inform him that i’ve arrived. i guess the guide didn’t wait for me at the lobby because maybe he’s hoping i’d wanna sleep in in this weather?

anyway, when he appeared 15 minutes later, off we went in a bigger car than the one i rode in the previous day, something like a 7-seater mpv, but it’s smaller than our regular mpv and sits only 4. we drove in the dark along some path, turning here and there, and finally going uphill. it’s still very dark and because of the rain, the mist were very thick. i was quite worried the driver will drive us off the hill because he was going quite fast up the winding road even though visibility was only 1-2 meters! but of course that didn’t happen and we arrived at the top of sarangkot hill after 45 minutes drive.

we were the first to get there and my guide brought me up some uneven steps and dirt path and we arrived at a sort of clearing. everything was very dark below, with only some lights here and there. i was wearing shorts and didn’t bring a jacket, so i was quite cold. my guide said normally the coffee shop near the clearing would be open and went to check. i guess due to the weather, the owner decided to sleep in as well.

after a very short while my guide came back, followed by an elderly man who set about removing the wooden planks of a shack. we went into the shack out of the rain and sat down at the table. my guide ordered chai (tea) but i didn’t want anything, because i wasn’t sure if the water used would agree with my stomach. so i just sat there shivering, staring out at nothingness.

preparing chai…

30 minutes later, a chinese couple appeared. it was still raining, so they were standing about in their umbrellas. by then, the sky has lightened a bit, and i could see the green hills around pokhara. truthfully, i’m not a big fan of sunrise watching. and standing up there at sarangkot hill, cold and sleepy, it all looked not much different from the sunrise viewed from panorama hill in sungai lembing (also another rainy trip!) and broga hill. so i was like, “okay, whatever”. but of course, i still hung around because by then, more people has arrived and the rain has tuned down to a drizzle.

not like we’ll be seeing much sunrise in this weather anyway…

then at around 6am, the clouds and mist start to clear a bit and we saw something else unfold beyond the green hills…

slowly, we saw more and more of the annapurna himalayan range revealing itself and it was spellbinding. of course, it was still very cloudy and the machapuchare peak (a.k.a “fishtail”, the sharpest peak near the middle in the photo below) was completely hidden behind the clouds. but standing there, with more than a 180 deg view of the majestic himalayan mountains in front of you, bigger than life, it can only take your breath away.

initially i had wanted to stitch up a series of photos of the range, but since it were too cloudy and i don’t think you’ll be able to see anything, i’ll just post up this shot of a postcard that i bought.

this is the view you’ll get if you go during the non-monsoon months

i lingered around for quite some time, hoping that the clouds that enveloped machapuchare would dissipate. i even initiated conversations with a bunch of tourists from hong kong while waiting, something that is so not my style! :D but in the end, i had to leave without seeing the “fishtail” peak.

ok, i think this post is getting a tad too long, so i’ll just leave it here and continue the rest in another post. and anyway, since this is a one-of-a-kind experience, it deserves a post by itself, dun’cha think? ;)