Jama Masjid - Sight of the Week

Jama Masjid was the first major site that I saw with Team Ozzie and Pancham.  Located in the extremely bustling Old Delhi, it is the largest mosque in India and can hold 25,000 people. It was commissioned by Shah Jahan, the same ruler who commissioned the Taj Mahal.  Shah Jahan and I can be friends because I like large, grandiose buildings, too.

Team Ozzie, Pancham and me climbing up the steps towards the East entrance

A few things about seeing Jama Masjid and other major Indian tourists sites:

1. If you're a foreigner, you're going to pay a higher entrance fee - With the exception of the Taj Mahal, most places to visit are 300 rupees or less. Many are free. While I was there, the exchange rate was a little over 50 rupees to the U.S. dollar (It's now 55 rupees!), so that means no more than $6USD. Also I didn't care that I was charged more because I think it's important that these beautiful sights be accessible to all Indians.

2. Even if it may be free to enter, you may have to pay a fee to bring in your camera and take pictures.

3. Ladies, bring a scarf with you just in case. You never know when it's best to have your head covered.  

For Jama Masjid, women are required to be covered, preferably wearing long loose clothing that covers shoulders and legs. I was already very conservatively dressed for the day (I am going to write about dressing in India at some point), but the men at the entrance will require women to wear these unflatteringly large robe-like things to cover up. They will tell you that you need to pay them money. Like Nancy Reagan says, "JUST SAY NO" and walk on through. 

Here I am in all of my glory.....

That's my travel bag peeking out. 

I think Ms. J of Team Ozzie got a worse looking one than me, so I don't feel so bad. 

As with most mosques, Jama Masjid requires you to take off your shoes when entering. The problem here is that Jama Masjid is open-air meaning that there's lots of bird poop to avoid. Be careful! I was wishing for some socks at different moments . 

Jama Masjid is an impressive place, and I am sure an inspiring setting for Muslim worshippers to pray and to attend services on Fridays. 

The courtyard and main prayer hall of Jama Masjid

One of the gates 

Pool in the middle of the courtyard

With many mosques and Islamic architecture in general, it's all about the details. When you get close, you really see the craftsmanship. 

After taking in the courtyard, we entered the main prayer hall. 

A man at the mihrab, the central prayer area facing Mecca

I had to remind myself that mosques aren't open just for prayer and worship, but also as a place where people can gather to talk and relax. This man was definitely relaxing (more like sleeping, but that's cool). 

We spied the tower, which requires paying an extra fee for access. We'd heard that the walk to the top was worth it. 

What we didn't realize was that it was a long, long way up! There's barely any room for more than two people on the stair case, and it's dark and winding. I was starting to get pretty dizzy, and it seemed like the stairs could go on forever.  

Unfortunately, all of these stairs didn't help because all of a sudden my right leg started to cramp like you wouldn't believe. I'm a fairly active person, so I wasn't hurting from the climbing. Team Ozzie and I realized that I was suffering from dehydration. That make sense because I'd had a rough first day in Delhi two days before where I barely drank water for hours (That wasn't on purpose; I'm a water fiend). I was determined to make it to the top, and I did.

I have to say that the view of Old Delhi and beyond was worth the trek up to the top. Delhi really doesn't have a skyline to speak of, so you can really see much of the city from Jama Masjid's tower.

Was Jama Masjid worth the attempted shakedown for extra money, dodging bird poop barefoot, and steep climb up its tower? I'd say yes.

Have you ever had to go above and beyond to truly enjoy a visit to a major sight? 

(Why) I'm Not Too Proud for Group Tour, Part II

While I've already talked about the basics of my tour with Intrepid Travel in India, I never really talked about WHY I decided to do a group tour to India. Some of them are probably obvious, but I thought I'd talk about them a little:

I don't think I would have gone to several places on our itinerary. It's very easy when traveling in India to keep on the tourist trail in part because it's often hard to veer off of it. What I loved most about our tour was the fact that we stayed and experienced both large cities with major sites AND got a chance to see small, rural towns. Honestly, those experiences in more "off the beaten" path locations were really some of my favorite moments on the trip. Over the coming weeks, I'll share those experiences with you, but I know that I wouldn't have even thought of going to many of them. One place we visited wasn't even mentioned in my guidebook and barely comes up in a Google search.

Doing the washing in the town of Tal Waz (I think that's the name of the town. I'm not sure about the spelling.)

I knew being a woman traveling alone in India was not always going to be easy. I'm not trying to scare anyone, but I knew going in that my time in India was not always going to be hassle-free. I read a lot about the experiences of solo women travelers, and they were all a mixed bag. Mostly the answer was, "You'll be fine as a solo woman traveler, but....". Solo women travelers were a rarity (Black female solo travelers non-existent) in my three weeks in India. Our group did encounter or see a few women traveling alone, and there were moments where I felt like a little bit of a punk. Maybe I should have done this all alone? Maybe I can't hack travel like I think I can (I thought I'd overcome that insecurity with my solo trip to Brazil, but maybe not)?

On the streets of Jaipur within the Pink City walls

Can a woman travel alone in India safely? Totally! Would I want to travel solo in India as a Black woman for an extended period of time? I'm not so sure (I'll get into why in many posts). Also I did have 8 days of solo travel during the trip, so it's not like I didn't have the solo experience. I have to admit to you, though, that there were moments when I liked knowing that the men of Team Ozzie and our guide, Pancham, had my back.  I felt there were instances when I was alone that people (okay, fine, men, especially vendors) felt it was okay to a be a bit more aggressive than if I was walking with the male members of our group or Pancham. Although I'll have to tell you about the time I almost got into a fight in Darjeeling, but, that, my friends, is another story.

While we were on camels, our guide, Pancham, used another route. :)

Sometimes I needed to talk it out with someone. What I mean by this is that India can sometimes rattle you. I'd seen extreme poverty while traveling before. I've stood out as a traveler before, but India affected me differently than many places I've been. I call my time there "in your face, full frontal" travel. I think that's why I liked it so much. When I saw or experienced something, it was nice to have someone right there to say, "Hey, did you just see what I just saw?" I was processing so much between my travel journal (the first one I've kept in a long time) and writing e-mails to family and friends, but having someone who was experiencing the same things at the same time who could discuss it really helped me. I know that Team Ozzie and I may not have agreed about everything, but at least we could talk about it all together.

Me during a boat ride on Lake Pichola in Udaipur

For those who've been on group tours what were your reasons? Safety? Ease? A need for company? When would you NOT consider a group tour?

Intrepid Travel's Classic Rajasthan Tour/I'm Not Too Proud for a Group Tour, Part 1

At this point in my life, I feel like I've traveled a few places. I feel completely comfortable planning my own trips with multiple destinations, hotels, and local tours and guides, etc.  If that's the case, I'm sure a few of you might be wondering why I decided to go on a group tour for part of my time in India.

Before getting into the whys, let me describe my experience with Intrepid Travel. For those of you not familiar with Intrepid, it's an Australia-based travel company that offers tours all over the world. They pride themselves on small group tours of no more than 12 people and trying to expose their customers to more local "off the beaten track" experiences. I have no interest in being on a large tour bus (nothing wrong with that. It's just not me), and I really was impressed by the company's stated commitment to local charities and causes. Intrepid seemed to fit my travel philosophy, so I picked them.

Walking through the streets of Jaipur. Jaipur is BUSY.

Itinerary

I picked Intrepid's Classic Rajasthan tour through the state of Rajasthan, one of India's largest and most traditional regions. My 15 day (more like 13 day) tour went to the following places:

Delhi
Agra
Madhogarh
Jaipur
Ranthambore National Park
Bundi
Bijapur
Udaipur
Pushkar

I have to admit that Classic Rajasthan wasn't exactly my first choice tour, but I am glad I did it. In addition to the monsoon season that engulfs the country from June to about the end of September, April and May are NOT the easiest times to travel through India. Most of the country, with the exception of the mountain regions, is HOT. April and May are definitely the beginning of the low season for international travelers to India, and therefore many of the tours I wanted were not being offered. Based on my plans for this year, I decided to take my chances traveling to India in late April. Classic Rajasthan is one of Intrepid's most popular India itineraries and had numerous departure dates, so I felt like I would be going on an interesting tour that many other travelers had experienced and critiqued.

In Udaipur, near the banks of Lake Pichola

The tour could be a little whirlwind at times. At many of the places above, we were only there for a night, but I don't think we really needed to be in certain towns any longer than that. I liked that we had a mix of private cars, trains, jeeps and buses. We really got to see Rajasthan's countryside in depth that way.

Accommodations

We weren't in five star accommodations. Not even close (I'll blog about a five star hotel in Delhi though), but the hotels were were always clean, comfortable and often had wifi access, which I wasn't expecting.  Many of the hotels were called heritage properties, i.e, local historic homes and castles (yes, castles) that had been converted for use as hotels. One of the possible drawbacks of a group tour like this is that you don't pick where you stay. If that is of utmost importance to you, then find a company that provides that information up front.

My room at Castle Bijapur 

My Group

Because we were traveling in the off season, my group was tiny. There were only 5 of us. My four other trip mates were actually two Australian couples, one of which was on their honeymoon! Both couples were fairly well-traveled, curious and open people, and I felt very lucky to have been matched with such nice folks. I read another blog post describing this tour that stated that the blogger's group size was 18 people (more than Intrepid advertises). I'll talk more about that later in this post, but I was glad to avoid that. I was very nervous about who would be on the tour (you're spending 2 weeks with these people!), but we had a very nice time. I learned a lot about Australia, and I hope they learned some more about the U.S. I'll refer to them throughout my posts as Team Ozzie. :)  

Team Ozzie walking through Udaipur. You'll see their faces at some point.

Also I was expecting to be the oldest in the group, but I wasn't by a long shot. For some reason (maybe my American travel biases?), I thought that this style of travel wouldn't appeal to people older than me. One couple of Team Ozzie was in their late 40's/early 50's. Our tour leader, Pancham, said he once had someone in their 80's on one of his trips! According to some members of Team Ozzie, for whom this was their 4th Intrepid trip, they've traveled with a range of ages. I found that pretty refreshing.

[Confession: I was nervous about the group because I'd had a few bad travel group experiences with Australians before. I wasn't worried about me not liking them, but THEM not liking me. Luckily, the travel spirits were with me by giving me very nice travel partners, and I feel like my good travel karma was repaid on this trip. Much love to Team Ozzie!]

Our Tour Leader

I also feel like we lucked out with our tour leader, Pancham. He's born and raised in India but has traveled all over the world working on the Queen Elizabeth II prior to becoming a tour leader with Intrepid. He's super funny, knowledgable beyond belief, and I always felt like he cared about our experience during the trip. We all joked that he tended to crack the whip with the local staff, but I think he was concerned about the level of service our group received. I like to call Pancham a "Walking India Encyclopedia." He could identify wild birds, tell you about the preparation of an Indian dish, rattle off random facts about the Indian economy and Hinduism. Plus, he's super into food. Score! He never led us astray with his restaurant suggestions.

Pancham 

For those considering a group tour like Intrepid, I would think about the following things:

1. Are you traveling during the peak or off season for your destination? There are definitely pros and cons to both. It will affect everything from group size to the atmosphere of the locations you'll visit.

2. Confirm the maximum size of your group, if that's important to you. Size can matter. While my little traveling family of 5 was great, companies like Intrepid have sister companies, and groups may be consolidated together. 18 or 22 people isn't necessarily bad, but it may not be the small group experience you're looking for.

I'm not even sure where this. We drove through this town on the way to Bijapur. 

3.  Confirm that your guide is local. While I'm sure that a non-Indian/non-local guide would have been fine, I think it helped that Pancham was familar with local customs and food, speaks both Hindi and English fluently, and just knows what's up. I'm not saying that a non-Indian/non-local guide can't be helpful, but having someone who can communicate well and knew what was safe for us in a variety of situations made our trip easier.

4. If you're traveling solo, are you willing to pay a "single supplement"? One of the worst things about traveling solo on group or packaged tours is that companies will often charge you for being a single traveler. That makes no sense to me! You're taking up less space and resources. Intrepid gives you the option of paying a single supplement only if you would like to guarantee a private room for all or most of your trip. I paid the single supplement, and, in the end, I probably didn't need to because there were only 5 of us. That being said, I wasn't sure if other people would book after I did. I wanted my own room. I need a little alone time. :)

So that's a little background about the group tour portion of my trip. I'll get into WHY I chose the group tour route in another post.

Have you gone on a small or large group tour? What did you think about your experience, and would you do it again?



I am in no way working in partnership with Intrepid. This post isn't sponsored. I got nothing free from them. Yadda, yadda, yadda. 

Qutb Minar - Sight of the Week

Hey, there! I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and Whit Monday (and maybe a spring bank holiday?). I had a great one that I hope to tell you about later this week. 

In an effort to not totally drone on and on about sights I saw in India, I'm going to try to spread them out and talk about no more than two each week. At least, that's what I hope. :)

On one of my first days in Delhi, I took the wonderful Delhi Metro (I LOVED Delhi's subway system) to South Delhi to one of the city's most distinctive sights. While India is a majority Hindu country, there has been a long history of Muslim influence and rulers who built gorgeous monuments. You might know one called the Taj Mahal. ;)

One of them, Qutb Minar, is an imposing but beautiful red sandstone tower/minaret inscribed with verses from the Qur'an. It was built in the 14th century after Delhi, and many of the surrounding areas, came under Muslim rule. The Qutb Minar is the ultimate "I am no joke. I just took over your country. Hear me roar" monument. Northern India's new rulers wanted to make a statement, and I think they did.

If it looks tall in the picture, I can confirm that it is.

From afar it may not look like much, but I think you really need to get up close and personal with this tower to see how intricate and beautiful it really is. 

 A close up of one of the cylindrical shafts. I love the different shades of red sandstone. 

The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, a few steps from the Qutb Minar, is pretty special because it's one of the first mosques built by the Delhi Sultans. 

Entrance to the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque

Quwwat-ul-lslam interior 

Intricate pillars inside Quwwat-ul-Islam

When you enter this part of the complex, don't miss the Iron Pillar. Apparently if you can stand with your back to the pillar and encircle it with your arms, you can have your wish granted. So many people tried to do this that the government had to erect a barrier! I'm not that flexible, so I'll keep looking for other ways to fulfill my dreams. 

The Iron Post

The modern day tourist entrance to the Qutb Minar is actually different from its original entrance, the Alai Darwaza. 

It was starting to rain, so it was pleasant to hang out underneath the Alai Darwaza for a few minutes. 

Right outside the main portion of the complex, another sultan had wanted to build a similar structure to the Qutb Minar called the Alai Minar, but that didn't really work out. Even unfinished, I think it's still pretty cool looking. 

Even if it is a little bit of a trek into the southern most parts of South Delhi, you should definitely take some time to see the Qutb Minar. For me, it was a great way to get some historical perspective on some of the striking Islamic architecture that I'd be seeing throughout Rajasthan. 

Do you ever touch places or things thought to be good luck? Do you throw coins in fountains? I never have change. :(

I Became a Backpacker in my 30's

Okay, the title of this post is kind of pushing it. I now own a backpack, but I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm a backpacker. By the way, many people use the term "backpacker" to refer to a certain way of traveling on a tight budget for long periods of time that usually means traveling light (hence, with just a backpack or very light luggage), staying in hostels, and trying to get away from mass tourism. I'm not going to really touch on that phenomenon in this post, as I've never considered myself a backpacker.

However, I now own a backpack!

A few hours before heading to the airport for my flight to Delhi. Our apartment was a mess with all of the packing. 

For the first two weeks of my trip to India, I was on the Classic Rajasthan tour with Intrepid Travel (more on that experience in another post). One of Intrepid's recommendations was to make sure that we could easily carry our luggage, and their pre-trip materials suggested that we either pack very light or carry a backpack. Pack light? That. Does. Not. Compute. :) Okay, fine. I can pack light to some degree, but for three weeks? 

I really didn't want to spend the money on a backpack. Ones that could hold what I needed for the length of trip I was going on were well over $100 USD. :(  Plus, I usually don't feel the need to carry one for the type of travel I tend to do. I can pack a 20 inch carry-on for almost two weeks worth of travel depending on my destination (warmer places are easier to pack for me).

In the end, I decided to buy a backpack. Here's what I bought:

REI Tour 60 Women's Travel Pack. The smaller day backpack is missing from this picture. 

Did I fit everything into my backpack? Of course not. Especially since I brought an arsenal of products with me, which I will tell you about later. I did have one small additional bag with "stuff" that I probably could have done without but ended up using that bag to fit souvenirs. I also carried my travel purse/daypack (remember that?) to keep important items close to me, like my electronics. 

Was it worth it to have a backpack? Here's what I think:

What I liked about the backpack

-My backpack kept me honest about packing clothes. I only packed 10 days' worth of clothing for three weeks. That was a challenge for me. I did have my laundry done at one point during the three weeks, but I found a way to make do with what I had. I wore many things multiple times; and, unlike some destinations, I didn't feel the need to look fashionable in India. ;)

-I will say that I always felt like I could carry my stuff myself when I wanted to. While we often had help with our bags, my backpack definitely made it easier to get through extremely crowded and frenzied train stations (especially ones with lots of stairs) and other places.  

-We traveled on so many different modes of transportation that I'm glad I had something that I didn't mind taking a beating. It's not like I baby my luggage, but I do want it to last as long as possible. This backpack seemed to do okay getting hit from all sides and enduring Rajasthan's never-ending dust.

Our luggage being packed on top of a jeep. I used to say a little prayer when our stuff was on top of moving vehicles in India. You would, too. Trust me. 

What I didn't like about the backpack

-Sometimes the backpack just felt bulky and cumbersome, although I will be the first to admit that mine was packed to the gills by the end of the three weeks. 

-I felt that it was hard to find some items in the bag when I wanted them. Again, this is probably just my lack of experience efficiently packing a backpack, but sometimes I felt like I had to take out too many things just to find what I needed. I probably should have gotten a bigger bag, but I couldn't justify the money. 

Either way, I feel like I got an understanding of what many travelers experience just by carrying a backpack, even if it's not my usual travel style. I didn't get to backpack through Europe, Latin America, or South East Asia, as many travel bloggers do, but at least I can say I actually own one. :) 

Have you ever used a backpack while traveling? Do/did you like using one? Do you have particular type of luggage that you like to use? 

Dhanyavad, India (3 Weeks in 10 Pictures)

Dhanyavad means "Thank You" in Hindi.

I've been trying to figure out what to say about India as an introduction, and I really haven't been able to distill everything that I experienced in one post (Nor will I. You guys know me already). What I can say is that India is the most otherworldly place that I've ever been. So many aspects of India are right here in the 21st century, and yet there were moments where I felt like we could be living at any time within the last 30 - 40 years (minus the cell phones, of course). The stark contrast of my life in New York City and life in some of the parts of India I visited were like night and day (duh!), and I loved that about traveling there. I didn't want to be in someplace familiar.

I have been telling people that India is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, and I truly believe that. I found it by far the most challenging place that I've ever traveled. I knew that going in; and, to be quite honest, I wanted to be challenged by what I saw and experienced while there. Even at the most frustrating moments, I was always happy that I made the decision to go.  I already know that I want to go back and see even more of the country, especially the south.

In any given day in India, I would be left in a fit of giggles by one of my new "friends" I'd made through an interaction on the street, and at other moments I just wanted to slink away unseen (it was very hard for me to blend in in India [understatement of the year]...more on that another time). If anything, India confirmed yet again to me how the world is slowly becoming similar in how we live our every day lives but distinct customs, cultural viewpoints and lifestyles aren't going away any time soon.

If you can't tell by the paragraph above, many of my posts about india will be a bit more reflective. I'll write about all of the history, sights and good food (although the latter is going to be hard to do, I think because I ate so darn much and was sometimes too hungry to take pictures), but there will definitely be more about how my travels affected me personally.

I thought I'd leave you with some snippets of what I saw and did in my three weeks there. Get ready for a whole lotta India posts. :)

The B'Hai (aka Lotus) Temple in New Delhi

 A sambar deer in Ranthambore National Park 

Riding camels in Pushkar

My very large breakfast. I ate this in Delhi, but the food is actually more South Indian.

 This kind man let me take a picture of him while we made a stop for chai. I loved his chai spot, and they were very welcoming to us. I miss Masala chai already.

 On the way to the Happy Valley Tea Estate in Darjeeling. I drank some Darjeeling tea while writing this post. :) 

 The saris..oh, the saris (and pretty much any other traditional Indian women's clothing). So beautiful and so colorful. Indian women are never wrinkly (unlike me while I was there). 

 Indian sweets are SWEET. We had some kaju katli (milk, sugar and nut bar-like sweets) in Jaipur. Loved the edible silver (it's fabulous eat to silver food, isn't it?). 

Bundi Palace. I saw many forts and palaces while in Rajasthan. Lots of them.

Me in Darjeeling. Can you see the tips of the Kangchenjunga range of the Himalayas through all those clouds? It was one of the better days of visibility while I was there.  

As always, is there anything in particular that you're interested in learning about my experience in India? Just let me know in the comments section, and I'll be sure to include a post about it.