Spending Time in Agra, India

We are currently in Agra spending a couple of days visiting our dear friends Mukul and Sunita, who live just 3 minutes away from the Taj Mahal. We are only one week into our trip but we have already done so much. We started off in Sarnath, a town where Buddha lived and gave his first sermon.

Sarnath

Buddhist temple at Sarnath

Then we went to nearby Varanasi, where we watched a nighttime ceremony on the ghats (stone steps leading down to the sacred Ganges River). The next morning we took a sunrise boat ride on the Ganges. The city is amazing - vibrant  and active, full of devout Hindus making pilgrimages to this most holy city.

Night time ceremony in Varanasi

An offering to the Ganges for Richa

Blessing from a Brahman on Dashashwamedh Ghat

Varanasi

Pilgrims bathing at the ghats, Varanasi

Sunrise on the Ganges

 

Ghats, Varanasi

Dashashwamedh Ghat

Sunrise boat ride on the Ganges

From there we flew to Khajuraho, where we saw beautiful Hindu temples adorned with intricate stone carvings that date back 1000 years. At night we saw a sound and light show that relayed the history of the site. We had Ayurvedic massages at our hotel which were totally relaxing and removed any last vestiges of jet lag (4 flights in 4 days) .

Next we drove to the quiet village of Orchha where we went to a functioning Hindu temple and then visited two palaces and a variety of other sites.

 Khajuraho

 

  Khajuraho

On the road to Orchha

Jahangir Mahal, Orchha

 

Jahangir Mahal, Orchha

Jahangir Mahal, Orchha

 

View of Chaturbhuj Temple from Raja Mahal, Orchha

Roadside scene, Orchha

Lakshmi Temple, Orchha

Blind musician, Chaturbhuj  Temple, Orchha

We took the train ride to Agra. The Indian railway fed us twice on the two and a half hour journey (better service than you get on a coast to coast flight in the USA). We have enjoyed spending time visiting Mukul and Sunita's, at their lovely oasis in Agra. Yesterday we went to the school which Mukul helped to build and is actively involved with. They educate 1200 children who otherwise might not be able to get such a quality education. The work that they are doing is amazing. We then saw some of Agra's many sites, inluding the tomb of Akbar, a Sikh temple which will feed anyone who enters, a Radha Soami temple which is still under construction after 80 years, and Babur's Gardens on the banks of the Yamuna River. We re-visited the tomb of Itimad ud Duala, an exquisitely decorated mausoleum. We watched the sun set with a view of the Taj Mahal from across the river.

Morning tea with Mukul and Sunita

Meeting students at Colonel's Brightland School

Classroom, Colonel's Brightland School

Hessing's Tomb

Akbar's Tomb

Itimad ud Duala

Itimad ud Duala

 

Taj Mahal viewed from Mahtab-Bagh

Mukul is presented with gifts for Karva Chauth

 

Getting my hand henna'ed for Karva Chauth

We watched sunrise at the Taj this morning. The sunlight was exquisite. We explored Agra Fort this afternoon. We will spend one more night in Agra enjoying Mukul and Sunita's wonderful hospitality. Mukul is an  expert guide and wonderful traveling companion, and we are very happy to be in his company again.

Tomorrow we are off to Fatehpur Sikri and then will spend almost two weeks exploring Rajasthan. The next post will probably be from home.

 Taj Mahal at sunrise

Mukul at the Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

Jasmine Tower, Agra Fort

With Mukul at Agra Fort

Visiting the Colonel & Family

With Sukumar and Sunita

Sunita's Mother

A Passage to India

After an all-too-brief stay in India in 2007, we are heading back to explore more of this fascinating country. Our dear friend Mukul put together a comprehensive itinerary for us. We will be flying into Delhi, meeting Mukul there on Ghandi Jayanti, the national holiday commemorating Mahatma Gandhi's birthday (this year marks his 140th birthday).  The next morning, we continue on to Varanasi, a bustling sacred city on the Ganges River generally believed to be 3000 years old. More than a million Hindus make the pilgrimage to this holy city each year. Bathing in the Ganges is believed to absolve them of their sins, and actually dying in this sacred city is believed to release the soul from the cycle of reincarnation. The city has over 100 ghats - series of steps that lead down to the river. Some are designated for bathing, and others are used for cremation. The uniqueness of this city made it a must-see for us. We just learned that our friend Richa is originally from Varanasi, and she has given us a lot of tips on things to do and see.

Then we will go to Agra, where Mukul and his wife Sunita have kindly offered to let us visit  their home. We are looking forward to finally getting to meet Sunita. We will be spending several days in Agra, which may allow us to return to the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri, as well as see a bit of how the locals live. We look forward to visiting a school that Mukul is involved with as well.

Then we head west to the state of Rajasthan. We will spend the remainder of the trip exploring its forts, palaces, and temples. We will be in Udaipur during Diwali, the Festival of Lights, which is bound to be interesting. In Jaipur, we will be staying in the home of Mukul's friends. We are very excited at the opportunity to experience Indian culture firsthand.

Although we will see a lot more than we were able to in 2007, we will still only be scratching the surface of this huge and diverse country. Our tourist visa is valid for 10 years, so this will certainly not be our last visit!

If possible, we will try to post updates (even if just from my cell phone) while traveling.

Mukul in 2007

Maori Tours Kaikoura on TV

Maurice, Heather, and family

We have seen several episodes of “Richard Bang’s Adventures with Purpose on PBS. Last night they aired an episode from 2007 about New Zealand. His programs generally focus on a specific aspect of a place, and this particular episode explores the Maori concept of Kaitiakitanga. Loosely translated, it can be understood as stewardship of the natural world. During the course of the episode, Richard visits the town of Kaikoura on the South Island. He goes on a bush walk with Maurice and Kim from Maori Tours Kaikoura. We were lucky enough to take the same cultural tour with Maurice when we visited the South Island in 2003. We had an excellent time on the tour, which culminated with tea and snacks in the home of Maurice and his wife Heather. We got to observe firsthand how important family ties are in Maori culture. Maurice and his niece Jasmine taught us Maori words, crafts, and explained the cosmology of the Maori. They took us on a bush walk where they pointed out sacred and medicinal plants and trees. Maurice softly played his guitar and sang as we walked through the forest. It was so serene and peaceful, and we felt so close to nature. Connecting with local people is always a highlight during our travels, so this cultural tour was perfect for us.

Steph and Maurice

We were thrilled to see Maurice interviewed on TV. (A written transcript of the program can be found here. It was not the first time we had seen his smiling face on the television. We saw him on the Travel Channel program Trip of a Lifetime in 2007, and immediately got in touch with them to tell them. We will do the same this time! And when we were in Kaikoura, we told them that we had seen the town on Michael Palin’s Full Circle series. Heather told us that Maurice was there for the filming, and lo and behold, we watched the DVD when we got back home and saw him in the Takahanga Marae segment. Maurice is becoming a regular TV star!

Craig and Jasmine

We wish Maurice and Heather and the rest of their family continued success with their cultural tours. They are doing a wonderful job teaching people about Maori history and values.

Maurice (left)

Here is some nice video footage put together by a traveler on one of their tours

Belize on TV

Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave, Belize

We've never cared much for Andrew Zimmern's "Bizarre Foods" show on the Travel Channel. As a host he was likable enough, but it was more focused on the shock factor of various foods throughout the world, and less focused on the cultures of the peoples who produced and enjoyed the food.

We were hopeful when we saw previews for his new series, "Bizarre World." Maybe it would focus more on culture. We were encouraged by a snippet of footage that we recognized as Actun Tunichil Muknal, a Mayan cave which we had visited in Belize in 2004.

We watched and enjoyed his first episode about Cuba. He covered a lot of ground during the hour. Though he still eats some outlandish things, the show has a much wider focus.

The next show was the Belize episode. It did not disappoint. He went with Chief Archaeologist of Belize Jaime Awe nearly half a mile underground to Actun Tunichil Muknal. They explained that the Mayans saw caves as entrances to the underworld, also called Xibalba. This particular cave was associated with the Mayan rain god. Around 1000 years ago, sacrifices would be made an the entrance of the cave. As drought conditions became worse, they would move the sacrifices further into the cave, closer to the rain god himself. The mouth of the cave looked just as we had remembered it. A vertical crack in the limestone with a river flowing out of it. Zimmern and Dr. Awe got into the water and swam in with their hard hats and headlamps.

Crystal Maiden skeleton

Steph swimming in the cave

Around 750 - 800 CE, sacrifices were being made in "the cavern" about 1/2 a mile inside the cave. When Zimmern and Dr. Awe arrived at the cavern after swimming and hiking through various depths of water, they found ritual pottery shards as well as some whole pots. Many of the pots had been smashed as sacrifices to release the spirits in each pot. Humans were sacrificed as well. There are scattered bones and skulls with evidence of blunt trauma. Pots and bones become calcified and crystallized, becoming one with the cave. There were also shards of sharp obsidian, which were used for ritual bloodletting practices. A complete skeleton of a young woman has been dubbed the Crystal Maiden, and it lies on a rock ledge above the main cavern. A ladder must be climbed to reach "the stone sepulchre" where her bones lie.

 

Our guide Ben poses next to some beautiful cave formations

 

Ritual pottery remains

It was incredible seeing all of these areas on TV. The cave had been a definite highlight of our trip to Belize, and it was fun to relive the adventure now 5 years later. Dr. Awe next took Zimmern to a part of the cave that we had not seen before, as it is not usually open to the public. There they found the bones of an infant who had been ritually sacrificed.

We very much enjoyed this episode, and are now hooked on "Bizarre World." Though Zimmern does at times still eat things which are difficult to watch, he has at least gotten away from "thrill eating" (as he calls it) being the focus of the show. We'll be tuning in regularly.