Taiwan - 2017

October 19, 2014

Indian Village life - 2

Hi all,

No sooner did I post the blog on small villages did we visit another one about 3 hours ago. It was amazing, we had so much fun the people just enveloped us. One of the members of our tour group Pete is a former police chief, so our tour guide took him to meet the local village police chief! The chief was so thrilled to meet Pete and see his California police chief badge. Here are some photos of our village visit:

"The heart and Soul of India is in the small villages" - Gandhi

I had a chance to visit and stay in a few small Indian villages on the trip. In the village of Tordi Sagar, I even had a lunch served by a farmer and his daughter at their village home - a good curry soup and bread. Their life is very simple with a great deal of hard work simply to survive but they enjoy the joys of being together as a family I'm sure.

The women play an enormous role in the daily life, not only fixing and serving the meals and watching the children, but they also serve as the shepard for moving the cows and goats and work in the fields. The children also do not get a free ride, they help around the farm in many ways getting water from the well and working in the fields. You learn to quickly appreciate our different way of life!!

Here are a few scenes I captured while staying in the villages:

A Special Surprise from our CEO

Our tour guide Jai, with G-Adventures Tours known as a CEO - chief experience officer, told us he would give us a special treat while in Agra where the Taj Mahal is located.

Following a great day of touring starting with a sunrise at the Taj Mahal, a walk through of the Agra Fort and the baby Taj with a local guide the group was ready for some beers. Jai took us to a roof top bar outside of the southern gate to the Taj. This is in the area first established as the "city" where the 20,000 workers building the Taj lived. It's now simply a portion of the city of Agra. We walked up to the roof, turned around and saw the view you see in the pictures below: not a bad place for a few beers and watch the sun go down!!

Jai is an amazing young man. He comes from humble roots, living and working on his parents farm in his early life. His well educated father inspired him to become educated and work hard to achieve. After school he taught young disadvantaged children and ultimately got the job as a tour guide. He has been a G-Adventure's CEO FOR 5 years.

He is wonderful with people, takes care of us well and keeps us laughing all the way.

He has really made this tour for all of us, particularly this surprise which very few Taj Mahal tourists see!!

October 18, 2014

The People of India

I so enjoyed people watching on my journey thru northern India. The people were gracious and enjoyed being photographed. Many times they wanted me in their photos. The following pictures need no words. These might continue into the next few blogs

The Incredible Taj Mahal

18 October 2014

Today I visited the amazing Taj Mahal. It's a world wonder that must be seen in your lifetime to believe it's beauty. A simple picture just doesn't do it justice.

Built by emperor Shah Jahan as the tomb and tribute to the wife he loved so much and who died at the young age of 39. Theirs was a true love story.

The Taj took 20 years to build using some 20,000 workers many from distant lands. They weren't slaves, on the contrary they were artists who loved the work and were well paid. The Taj was built beginning in 1632.

The structure carries the Mughal Islamic design with beautiful white marble and many carved walls with real stone inlays.

I was in awe and honored to have had the chance in my life to see it and walk around it and in its interior.

October 17, 2014

The Sikhs - "Seeking" the Equality of all Men

The Sikhs - "Seeking equality of Man"

For hundreds of years ( maybe thousands?) the caste system in Hindu faith has existed in India. That is that all Indian people fall into four classes, ranging from the top as educators or teachers to the bottom as untouchable low-life. People held these classes through life and even after death where they were reincarnated into the same caste. Although the caste system has been eliminated politically, in many ways it still exists particularly in rural India.

The Sikh ("seek") faith is the second newest religion in the world. Its founder or Guru, a Hindu detested the caste system and felt all men should be equal. This religion which believed in one God consisted of practical living, rendering service to humanity and engendering brotherly love to all. The religion combined the best elements of both the Hindu and Islamic faiths. The major Sikh temples offer free food to all men and women regardless of their place in society. 24/7, many meals are served there. The men Sikhs are identified by their distinctive colorful wrapped turbans.

The tour group visited the Gurdwara SisGanj, the principle Sikh temple in Delhi.

This was an amazing spiritual experience. Led by our incredible native tour guide Jai we removed our shoes, donned the required head cover, and entered the temple. We were allowed to sit near the praying Sikhs who visit the temple to pray often twice a day. The prayer area is provided with a live Sikh singer and drummer providing interesting Indian prayer music. after observing the prayers we went to the outside patio where tea is served for all to sit and mingle.

This was an amazing Indian experience that would only have been possible by being
on small tour with a native Indian guide. I would have never entered the temple being alone besides knowing the proper protocol while in the temple. The small G-Adventures tour group with our guide Jai and 6 other wonderful new friends, has been a wonderful way to see India.

October 13, 2014

Delhi India - A City of Contrasts

13 October 2014

Delhi is a city of contrasts, amazing differences in the economic level of the local folks depending on what part of the city you explore. Note that in the old Delhi, the infrastructure hasn't changed for hundreds of years and the residents tend to be poor and struggling to survive. Then there is the new Delihi, boosted by the huge climb in economic success India has seen in the past several years in high tech (ever make a tech support call and talk to someone in India?). You guess from the pictures below what area of Delhi you are in:

Delhi - The Jama Masjid Mosque

13 October 2014

Hi all,

Just a short blog on one site I did on the first day of the tour, trying to use the blogging App, see how this works??

The Masjid-i-Jahan Numa, commonly known as the Jama or Jarna Masjid (Great Mosque) of Delhi is the principal mosque of Old Delhi in India. Masjid-i-Jahan Numa means "mosque commanding a view of the world, " whereas the name Jama Masjid is a reference to the weekly congregation observed on Friday (the yaum al-jum`a) at the mosque. Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and completed in the year 1656 AD, the Jarna Masjid is the best-known and largest mosque in India; its courtyard can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers. The mosque houses several relics in a niche in the north gate, including a priceless copy of the Qur'an written on deer skin.

And I wanted to show you the "taxi" of Delhi, you can get them everywhere and it's an adventure weaving in and out of peak hour traffic :)

No Business
Well got in here in Delhi at 3:30 AM, I knew this would be bad but the was the schedule I had, but no sweat.. Got four hours of sleep and was up ready to tour. The hotel is nice and it has a great name "Good Times Hotel", and located near a Metro stop. So was off around 10AM to head for Metro stop, a short walk up the Main Street. Crossing a street a man approached me and first said "no business" he noticed I looked new here (obvious Western tourist with ball cap) and asked where I was going and if he could help me. I said the Metro and he said No No not today, Sunday and very busy, stand up only and lots of pickpockets. He called over two young guys with a Tuk-Tuk, a small 3-wheeled motorcycle with a covered cab fit for two persons. This is the "taxi" al over Asia, I road in many in Thailand. He said they will take you to your downtown stop for 20 rupees, about 30 cents! I went for it, and had a fun morning ride in town, it's a "wower" as you might expect in Delhi traffic!!
The traffic looks chaotic, everyone cross weaving and heavy but as you watch it you notice the cars work together like a symphony. Honking here is routine and it's not be caused your mad at a driver, the horn is used as a "here I'm coming by you"

The boys took me to an Indian government run (makes you feel good right?) tourist agency. The agent suggested instead of me winging it to the places I wanted to see today to get a package deal with driver and guide and they will be your private guides for the day. I'm thinking $$.. But it was amazingly reasonable so I went for it!
John and Sanu were terrific, great English and fun personalities. They called me "Sir" too many times and always jumped to open the door for me... Wow royalty !

I got to the two main places I wanted to go that were not in the G-adventures tour, Qutb Minar and Humayuns tomb. Pictures follow I hope. Qutb Minar was the center of where the Islamic movement began in India. It was built around 1250AD, by the then powerful Caliphate Aibar. It's billed as the largest Minaret any where at 14 meters wide and 75 meters high, the site is impressive with early Islamic carvings and architecture. Local Indian builders added their blend of Indian Architecture making it unique in the Islamic world.

Humayun's tomb on the other hand was built in 1565, during the latrer Mughal empire by his wife grieving over Humayun's (emperor) death. It's was a precursor to the design of the Taj Mahal and exhibits a lot of Persian architecture style since Humayun on his travels brought many Persian architects back to India with him.

Will meet the tour group and our CEO (chief experience officer) tonight. There are only 7 of us so this should be a great tour. We do old Delhi tomorrow.

October 9, 2014

Off to India

Hi Friends and Family!

I'm off again to see another part of this amazing world while I still can. This year it’s India. This trip will emphasize the little villages in India, visiting ancient palaces and temples nearby, the incredible Taj Mahal of course and ending up in the spiritual city of Varanasi.

India is an amazing country. The name alone evokes images and associations in our minds. India has painted its colors on almost every aspect of our lives. Indian civilization has evolved over five thousand years. Despite many changes in recent years, it remains much the same - a total sensory experience. There is so much to see, so I’ll try to just hit some highlights on this trip.

I'll try to post to this blog including some pictures and videos every couple of days. Check back and travel with me! Past weekly postings can be found in the "archives" here on the blog along with some postings from my prior trips.

We’ll see you on the road!! If you can drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at:doubleucubed@mac.com

Yours in Travel,

Bill

March 19, 2012

Sydney Australia

Sydney, March 16-19, 2012 [Republished to combine text with photos]

Hard to sum up my Sydney experience in a few words, but I'll just say it was my favorite city I visited here in Australia. Sydney's harbor setting is it's crown jewel. It has some 66 little harbors or bays along its main harbor that stretches for miles. Everywhere the shores are lined with beautiful homes valued in the 2 digit millions.

Captain Cook was the first to discover the eastern coast of Australia, landing in Botany Bay south of Sydney in 1770. Twenty years later the first inhabitants of Sydney were 1000 prisoners brought in from England. Countries in many places in the world used Australia as a prisoner dumping ground, England being the largest dumper. Australian governors recognized most prisoners were charged with petty crimes and after light servitude to locals and engaged in labor on city buildings, they worked their way into Australian society. One former prisoner became a well known architect designing many of Sydney's city buildings. I visited the Hyde Park barracks, a control point for prisoners assigned to locals as servants. It's now a World Heritage site.

And then there is the icon for Sydney, the Sydney Opera House also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is an amazing site. And ... Yes....I did buy a ticket for an opera..my first...." The Marriage of Figaro"..had to experience it in that house!

Went to famous Bondi (that's "bond-eye") beach, where the surf clubs established in early 1900's, were the father of our modern life guard systems. Lucked out, it was a beautiful San Diego sunshine day that day, the rest were rainy.
Sydney was a nice combination of modern high rise, historical buildings and parks, all right on a beautiful harbor setting...in many ways like my own San Diego. It was my favorite.

Well great trips do end sometime, enjoyed this one a lot, thanks for coming along.

-Bill