Agra Fort

50 rupees to anyone who can tell me what this is!



Giant bathtub, possibly used by an empress.



Hello, I'm in Agra now, home to the Taj Mahal. Sadly, the Taj is closed on Fridays so I will see it tomorrow, but today I walked over to the Agra Fort. It was built by an emperor in the 1500's and was the home to a Shah at one point. The grounds are really big, there is a lot of marble and red sandstone and it's really pretty. The Mughal emperor who had the Taj Mahal built for his wife was overthrown by one of his sons and imprisoned here at the fort where he eventually died. You can see the Taj Mahal from the fort (sort of, it's pretty smoggy) and the trusty guidebook says that he spent his last days "gazing wistfully at his Taj Mahal".

The room where I'm staying is larger than the last one, but there are a lot of mosquitoes. I spent the better part of yesterday evening murdering them one by one with my hefty guidebook. There is a nice rooftop with a view of the Taj though, so I can't complain too much.

Tomorrow evening I will take an 11 1/2 train ride to Allahabad. I requested a lower berth this time, because I had an upper berth on the last trip and it was comfortable for the first couple of hours, then I just really wanted to sit up without crouching. Or look out a window.
Maybe tomorrow I will have time to post pictures of the Taj Mahal, since there isn't much to do in Agra. I walked around town today and there are a lot of cows and pregnant dogs, monkeys climbing all over everything, dirt roads and rickshaw drivers. I did have a fantastic banana lassi yesterday and will probably have another later on today.

I think I am adjusting to India. When I first got here, I was a little overwhelmed with culture shock. Now that I'm a few days in, I can reflect and see that is what was going on with me. Traveling in India isn't so different from traveling in South America, actually. The one huge difference is that I can't speak Hindi, but then lots of folks speak English.

Well, I hope everyone likes the photos. I will try to put some of the Taj Mahal tomorrow.

day two in delhi

Hi! I actually left the guest house today, so i have pictures. Above is my room at Sunny Guest House. Pretty basic as you can see, in other words it is a closet. It is clean though, and i am able to sleep in it, and the door locks so i am happy. My one complaint would be that there is some animal living inside my ceiling and it moves around a lot at night. It doesn't keep moving like a mouse, and it sounds a lot bigger. I did my best to ignore it and it helped when i turned on the light and looked for any holes it could escape through. I think it would be my worse nightmare if a giant Delhi rat came into my room while i was sleeping and i woke up and it was in there with me. Ok, i don't want to talk about this anymore.
The rest of the photos are of the Red Fort in Old Delhi. It was really beautiful in there as you can see. It used to be the palace of a Mughal emperor in the 1600's.

Getting there was... interesting. It is about 8km away from where I'm staying, so i took a pre-paid auto rickshaw to a gate near it so I could walk the rest of the way. The rickshaw ride was an experience in itself- I don't know how they do it! We almost hit a dog and i shrieked in the back seat. The driver thought that was pretty funny. Anyway, we hit some major traffic (i think we were where Old Delhi began) and the driver tried to tell me in Hindi that he couldn't go in there and I would have to take a bicycle rickshaw. I was pissed off and told him in English that he should have said something at the pre-paid stand. We argued for a bit, him speaking Hindi and me speaking English, and eventually I won (success!) and he paid the bicycle rickshaw driver to take me the rest of the way.

I probably sound like a big jerk, arguing with some poor driver over 10 rupees, but you have to understand how tired i get of arguing over every little thing that has to do with money. I would be happy to pay a little more to not have to deal with the hassle of getting ripped off or having to pay a hidden fee that wasn't mentioned from the beginning.

Anyway, the Red Fort was nice and peaceful compared to outside. After that, I went out into Old Delhi and wandered around. Remember yesterday when I said that India wasn't as crazy as I was expecting? It's because i was in the quiet part! There is all kinds of stuff going on in Old Delhi. You should see the wiring- AMAZING. It looks like a bird's nest. I really wanted to take more pictures, but I was already drawing enough attention to myself being a western woman alone in a bright red hoodie, so I decided to just take it in. Maybe next time the nest o' wires will make it to the blog. It was fun walking around. I found a nice mosque with some steps outside. I sat there for awhile and people-watched.

Tomorrow I head off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I am taking the train there. The journey takes about 3 or 4 hours. After Agra, I think I'm going to Varanasi. At this point, the itinerary is very open, so if anyone has any suggestions, please email me and tell me what it is.
Until next time...

welcome to india

hey- i got to Delhi this morning around 5am. As the plane hit the tarmac, everyone started getting up out of their seats and taking their luggage out of the cabinets. The flight attendants had a mini freakout for everyone to sit down, because the plane was still moving. Everyone ignored them and i swear i was the only person still in my seat. just a little glimpse for me of the organization of the indira gandhi international airport...
at the customs area, everyone had to get the NEW form, because the one they passed out on the plane was the OLD form. all the passengers huddled around where the new forms were being passed out and started filling them out right there, instead of getting the form and getting out of the way. after i finally elbowed my way into the mass for my form, i realized that it was almost identical to the old form. figures.
then i go out to get a pre-paid taxi, as the guidebook advises. my taxi driver was really nice but he wasn't sure exactly where my guest house is, so we pull over and ask a "tourist office" for directions, but as soon as the guy tells me to have a seat, i know something's up. i refused to sit down and kept asking the taxi driver why we were there. the tourist office guy tried to tell me that my map was old and that the guest house isn't there anymore. he asked for the phone number and called and put me on the phone with someone who said that they were full and that because they are full, he can't give me the address. then i hung up and the tourist office guy said he wants to help because i am new to this country and there are lots of scammers out there. when i asked him why i should trust him, he said he works for the government.
then i left and got back in the taxi. i told the driver a different hostel and he ended up taking me to the first one i asked for because "it will be better for you". so much for not knowing where it is.
remember that all this was happening at 5am and i was really grouchy and not having it, so of course i was fuming at the time, but now everything's ok. i got to my guest house, slept till 2pm, walked around a little.
tomorrow is a new day and i'll probably go see the red fort and the craft museum.
i already saw a cow walking across the street like it really was a god and traffic better stop.
i almost got ran over because they drive on the opposite side of the street here. that's something i wasn't expecting!
well that is all for now. i don't know when i'll next blog but hopefully it will be soon, and with pictures.

istanbul

Hey everyone, here I am in Istanbul... my friend Molly joined me the day before yesterday and we've been seeing all there is to see in town. There are too many beautiful, historic buildings here. Above is the Blue Mosque, so named for the tiles inside. It's a pretty impressive building- it has 6 minarets which at one point rivaled the mosque at Mecca. It's a functioning mosque so although tourists are allowed to go inside and take pictures, you need to take your shoes off and be respectful if you are in there during prayer time.

This was one of my favorite things we saw- the Underground Cistern. It is about one foot deep with fishes swimming around there and everything! It's a little creepy, but really beautiful. Strangely, it doesn't smell bad under there at all. The pillars all have different textures and as you can see, it is lit really nicely.

Here's a pillar with an upside-down Medusa head. There is another one, with the head turned on it's side. It is a mystery why they are upside down and sideways. I'm not clear on why the Medusa heads are down in the cistern.

After Molly and I ate lunch yesterday, we saw this dog sitting in the square, singing along to 3:00 prayers! It was really cute.

Here's another photo of the Blue Mosque.

Here's Molly petting one of the many feral cats around Istanbul.

Yesterday we visited a hammam (Turkish bath) and it was the best thing ever. The bathhouse is hundreds of years old and made of solid marble. The faucets were very old and it was really neat to be in there. Of course I don't have any pictures because taking pictures in a bathhouse is creepy. You will have to trust me when I tell you it was great and if you ever get the chance to come to Turkey, you have to try it.

Today we briefly visited the Asian side of Istanbul via the ferry boat. It was way too freezing cold today though, so we had to get back home to get warm again. What little we saw was interesting; it looked like everyday life. Very different from the touristy place that we're staying, where everyone comes out of their rug shop to bother you as you try to walk down the street.

Tomorrow we are taking a tour of the Bosphorous Strait. It should be pretty- hopefully not too cold.

Istanbul is really nice, and very large. It seems like a nice place to stay for awhile, longer than my short 6 days, to explore. It's pretty hilly which reminds me of San Francisco.

I leave for India in two days and I am not feeling ready at all. I think I might be a little homesick and maybe even nervous about the craziness of India. I have heard a lot of stories about how it's "nuts" over there, and in the past I always scoffed and thought "No problem!"... but now I'm having cold feet. Ready or not, here I go! I will take pictures of the madness and everyone can live vicariously through me and my visit to India. Wish me luck...

Safe arrıval to Istanbul, Turkey

Hello, I arrıved to Turkey! Thıngs worked out really well because ı dıdn't have to pay any fee for mıssıng my flıght. Not sure why, but I dıdn't bother askıng. I arrıved around 8am to my pensıon, checked ın and promptly passed out for about 7 hours. I went to eat somethıng and have been walkıng around town. Actually I'm kınd of lost rıght now but I have lots of tıme and a map.



Istanbul ıs not at all what I was expectıng. After the chaos of Egypt, I feel lıke thıs place ıs a luxury resort. It ıs defınıtely more European than Mıddle East. At least from what lıttle I have seen so far. There are stıll beautıful prayer calls from the Blue Mosque but everyone seems to be much more European. The streets are really neat- lots of cobblestones and wındy streets and hılls.




Molly gets here tomorrow ın the evenıng and I am anxıously awaıtıng her arrıval. I'm holdıng off on the major sıtes untıl she gets here so that we can see them together. Tomorrow I am goıng to walk around and explore some of these wındy streets, hopefully fıgure out how to use the publıc transportatıon so I can get to the aırport to pıck Molly up, and eat some more delıcıous Turkısh food. Tonıght I had lentıl soup and pureed eggplant and ıt was really good.
Well I wıll wrıte agaın soon and put up some more pıctures of beautıful Istanbul.

missed flight to turkey

Hello. I have officially missed my flight to Turkey because it left at 3:50am and not pm. Duh. But now i will never, ever do that again.
For the time being, I am killing the newly found 12 hours (only 6 more to go!) in Amman.
I don't remember, but i think i haven't posted pictures of Petra yet. I will do it soon, maybe. Right now the camera cable is nestled in the bottom of my pack and i don't have the will to dig it out.
Sarahima and Annette left yesterday morning and i am sad without them. Luckily a friend we met in Petra has been hanging out in Amman for the last few days so i have a buddy to pass the time with.
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I will get to Istanbul soon (inch'allah) and I will write another post when i am settled.

goodbye egypt, hello jordan

Here's a shot of Rahima's cousins in front of the Alexandria library- Salem, Annette (not a cousin), Sarag, Rahima, and Sara.
We stayed with them for a couple nights and they took us all over Alexandria and showed us just how much we have been overpaying for EVERYTHING in Egypt. Apparently there are prices, and then there are tourist prices. They are a lot of fun and I am hoping that they'll make it out to SF one day so I can show them what things are like in the land of the infidels. I'm pretty sure it'll blow their minds.

Here's Annette and Rahima buying a kilo of bananas (at regular prices with Aunt Nahid standing by) for our 30+ hour journey from Alexandria to Petra, Jordan.

I knew from past experience that Egyptian public transport never leaves on time and always takes much longer than expected. We took a bus from Alex to Cairo, waited around for a couple hours then caught a freezing cold night bus with no bathroom to Nuweiba, Egypt. We arrived at 5am and settled in at an outdoor coffee/sheesha (hooka) place until the ferry ticket office opened at 9am. Then we moved our stuff over to the ticket office until 5pm, when the ferry finally loaded everyone up (supposed to leave at 2pm). Luckily we met a good crew of people while waiting and we've been hanging out with them since. Then we took the ferry from Nuweiba to Aqaba, Jordan and then a two hour taxi ride to Petra.

Petra is beautiful! (Thank you Donna, for the tip)

There are crazy giant sandstone walls everywhere and facades carved into them. Petra used to be a city of 30,000 and these days it is one of the new 7 wonders of the world. The place is riddled with caves, tourists, and Bedouins trying to sell you a ride on a donkey.

We spent the whole day here, hiked all over the place. I got some beautiful pictures and was amazed every time I turned the corner.

Here is a little boy selling us postcards in the middle of our photo op in front of the Treasury. The little guy wouldn't take no for an answer so I pulled him into our picture (not shown) and he smiled then as soon as the camera went down, he continued with his sales pitch.

I can't remember the name of this building at the moment, but it is gorgeous. Inside the ceiling is also sandstone but looks like marble with pinks, grays, and blacks.

Me in front of the "monastery".

Jordan is completely different from Egypt in the following ways:

1. The use of headlights at night is not considered a waste of battery.

2. People don't hassle you to buy things.

3. Taxis are impeccably clean.

4. The Jordanian dinare is equal to the British pound and everything is expensive.

Bear in mind that so far I've only seen the port and Petra so far, so my observations are to be taken with a grain of salt.

Tomorrow we head to Amman via the Dead Sea by taxi. Sarahima and Annette have a flight out of Jordan the day before I do. :( I'm really gonna miss their company, but I am looking forward to meeting my friend Molly in Istanbul!

We got to catch the inauguration on tv in Egypt, but I couldn't hear any of what Obama was saying because it was dubbed in Arabic. I am hoping that someone taped it for me so I can watch it when I get back. Maybe youtube will be an option if I ever find a fast computer.

I am reading Dreams From My Father and I love Obama more with every page. I'm really proud and hopeful for the new president. Already things are different for the traveling American. When I was in South America 5 years ago, the war in Iraq had just started, and I got yelled at a lot and I was asked "why is your country doing this?!"; but now people don't yell at me, and I've had some really interesting conversations about politics.

Yesterday the Jordanian customs officer who stamped my passport smiled at me and said "Obama!" as he handed back my passport. Things are looking up for traveling Americans.

Well, I hope you have all enjoyed reading about the adventures of Jenny. I will write more in a few days.