Agra: The Taj Mahal

The group of ten that we were with in Varanasi split up, with three people heading back to Dehli and the rest of us going towards Agra. Sarika had used her families travel agent to book us a very nice, and expensive hotel in Agra. The name of the hotel was Palace Place and was a 4 star hotel. Even though the last place we stayed was pretty nice this was a significant upgrade and I nice break from the regular pace here. I have never been so happy or surprised at the fact that there was shower curtains in the bathroom. Along with the hotel the travel agent had booked us a car and a guide to show us around Agra. The first place we visited was Fatespur Sikri which was about 40 km outside of Agra. This city/palace was built to replace Agra as the capital but after 8 years it was left behind because there was not enough water to sustain the population there. The city is like you would imagine a planned city anywhere else, with a place and a purpose for each type of activity. The architecture, design, and the palaces mint condition made this a spectacular site. The emperor had three wives (and thousands of concubines), a Hindu wife, and Muslim wife, and a Christian wife and there were complexes built for each of them with the corresponding religious symbols and patterns etched into the sandstone walls. The most elaborate was the complex for his Hindu wife. This was because it was the Hindu wife that gave him his only son.

Another very cool feature of this city was how it was built with a natural AC system. The town was on a ridge next to a lake (that is dried up now) so that the cool air from the lake would flow over the hot stone walls of the town. In the kings bedroom water flowed from the wall and flooded the floor of the room. The huge bed was raised about 8 feet off the ground so that the cooling evaporation from the water below would keep the room cool. Also, everything was designed so that air could flow. Most buildings were almost entirely open designs supported by many arches.
We then left the main complex and walked a little way down a road to a Mosk. This Mosk reminded me of the Jamal Masjid in New Delhi but it was a lot nicer. On one side there was small white marble temple that was the tomb of the emperor. We were there during the pray call so we got so see hundreds of people clean for worship in a small pool in the middle of the complex and then go over and line up along one of the walls where they did their prayers.

Next we visited the Agra Fort. Initially our tour guide tried to convince us that we didn't really want to go inside the fort because there wasn't that much to see. We eventually overruled him and I am glad we did. The inside was very cool and it was ten times better than the Red Fort in New Delhi. This fort was actually designed with the intention of defense. There was a mote and then a guard wall and then a space in between another higher defensive wall where our guide said that the put lions, tigers, and other mean animals. This fort was the place that Shah Jahan was imprisoned after making the Taj Mahal. The story goes that Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son because he was power hungry and wanted to make an identical black Taj Mahal across the river from the one he built for his wife Mumtaz Muhal. You can still see what we were told were the remains of the beginnings of his palace across the river. From the Agra Fort there was a great view of the Taj Mahal.


The amazing Taj Mahal. We woke up early the next morning to view it at sunrise because the white marble is suppose to reflect the colors of the sky and sun so that it is supposed to change colors as the morning progresses. There was tons of people and you had to wait in line at most of the coveted picture stops, but this didn't bother me. Even with all its build up this was truly something special. One picture I took after walking through the arch of the entrance courtyard appears as if the Taj Mahal is photoshoped into the picture, and this is how it feels. Shah Jahan was very much into symmetry and the this palace he built for his wife exemplifies it. The only asymmetrical part is the inside where Mumtaz Mahal is buried in the exact center of the room and Shah Jahan is buried in a bigger tomb off to one side. Of course he had no control over this and I don't think he would have been very happy about it. The inside was the only disappointing thing about the Taj. It was dimly lit and you could only walk around the middle of it. It was not nearly as big as you would imagine from the outside, but we could only see a small part of it. The one cool thing about the inside (it was also on the outside) was the precious gems that were inlaid into the white marble creating beautiful patterns and pictures of flowers. All of this of course was done by hand by some of the 20,000 artisans used to build the Taj Mahal.

The rest of the day we spent eating a luxurious breakfast and packing up our bags. Josh, Sarika, and Roshan would be heading back to Delhi, while me Anna, Chris, Sydni and me would be heading on to Jaipur.

First Night Train: Varanasi

I took my first sleeper car train from New Delhi to Varanasi. It wasn't quite like I had imagined it to be. Instead of cabins of 6 or so the entire train car was connected by a single walk way. On one side of the walkway there was two hanging beds against the way and on the other side there was six hanging cots perpendicular to the walkway. The middle beds of these folded down so that six people could sit on the two bottom beds before it was time to sleep. The train left from New Delhi around 6:30pm and we arrived in Varanasi around 7 :40am.


Our hotel is called Hotel Surya and it is a really nice place. It is located a little ways from downtown Varanasi and the Ganges which means it is a lot quieter than the Hotel Grand Godwin in New Delhi. It was raining when we got off the train and for the first few hours of the morning. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then a few people got massages while others rested a bit some got on the internet. At around noon we all gathered to go on a guided tour of Varanasi. We took our group of ten people, a driver, and a guide and headed towards downtown. The first place we went was to the Ganges and we got a boat to paddle us around. The Ganges is flooded this time of year so some of the places we paddled over there was normally a street. The Ganges is an huge river, the Mississippi pales in comparison. One side of the Ganges is not developed and the other side is lined with concrete buildings. There are hundreds of ghats (stairs to the Ganges) and at all of them people are swimming/bathing in the river. There are also what is known as burning ghats which are crematoriums that take your ashes and put them directly into the river. There are electric ones and then there are ones that use wood. We saw several of the wooden fires burning in several locations. At one point we watched as a wrapped body was rowed out about 100 feet into the Ganges and then shoved overboard. He/she sank like a rock. Some people don't have to be cremated before going into the river.



The next part of the trip we visited a Hindu temple in the middle of the Banaras University. This university is one of the biggest in India and has around 35,000 students. The temples are so bazaar to me. Of course you have to take off your shoes before entering and then people are praying in front it life size dolls that are very decorated. Also, it didn't help that our tour guide was not the most useful person. When talking about the age of certain religions he said that Hindu was "millions of years old". This was one of many things that I felt like was a pretty inaccurate statement. At the end of the tour he took us to see a "weaving school" which ended up being some persons weaving shop. We were then ushered into the area where he was selling the silk. This had obviously been set up before hand and the people were not very happy that we left without buying anything. Oh well. We then toured around town on our own for the rest of the day. The was a ceremony for the Ganges that we went to at 7:30 pm. It was fun to watch but I really didn't know what was going on. There was a lot of waving fiery things around in the air and many offerings of what looked like spices and vegetables. There was also some sprinkling of the water on their heads as well as a few sips out of the river. That night we had reservations for this place that was recommended to us by another person on our trip that was called Banga something. We got there about 8:20 and he said that he held the table for us until 8:15 (ya right). So he recommended another place called Phulwari which ended up being really good. The highlight of this place was for me the "Mocktails". These are various combinations of juices that were really good. I had one called the Banana Rama that was made with yogurt, peanut butter, bananas and topped with ice cream. There were many more delicious combinations.

The next morning we left the hotel around 4:30am to get out to the Ganges to watch the sunrise. It was mostly overcast but we did get a glimpse of the sun at one point. The was a special time of day because the people come down to the river to bathe. Today we saw an unwrapped dead body floating near some boats. We also got a up close view of the burning ghats. You could see body parts, skulls, and shattered burnt bones within the ashes. It was strange being there because I felt like it was too intrusive on the families watching their deceased family members burn. It was a strange strange site.

Solang Hike

Today we hiked up to a glacier/boulder field above the ski village called Solang. A group of 9 of us set out for a full days hike at 8:00am and had two jeeps take us to the trail head. The jeep that I was riding in blew out the transmission half way so the rest of the drive up were spent in 1st gear going a record-breaking 10km/hr. A little ways past Solang and about 6 km from the trail head there were a few shops on either side of the road and a rope that was held up by 2 branches standing vertical on both sides. The "road block" was manned by a short, but stout, Indian man. At first we though this was going to be a simple matter of bribing and we would be on our way. We were told, however, that there was military blasting going on and that we would not be able to cross. So we called Hem, partially for translation services, and got the full scoop from him. For a minute it looked liked we would have to find another place to hike for the day, but shortly after speaking with Hem, the rope man took down the rope and let us through. We had no idea why we had been allowed passage. We found out later that night after talking with Hem about what happened that he had called up a military general that was in charge of the area and had a little chat with him. (WOW)

The scale of this boulder field is completely lost. Many of the boulders in this picture are much much large than me. Also, the top of this picture is not nearly the top of the mountain. Fog clung to the peaks almost the entire time we were there so we only got glimpses of the mighty peaks above us.


At the top we stopped under this enormous boulder and had lunch because it was raining. Looking out from the boulder was the rest of the boulder field and mountains forming a bowl around them with glaciers dipping down all the way around.



Shortly after we had gotten on the trail we could see a large glacier off in the distance and we were all excited about getting as close as we could. The hike took us over the same creek several times and by little rock and tarp houses whose children would run out to greet us and ask for biscuits. Early on a few dogs befriended us and one stayed with us the whole time, all the way to the top. We named him Sherpa. The uphills were pretty hard on the lungs, at a snails pace I felt like I could keep going without having to stop every 10 ft or so. Once we had all made it to the top we had lunch under a giant rectangular boulder that was situated on a ridge looking down onto a boulder field, surrounded by mountains with glaciers coming down them. We actually never got go see the tops of the mountains around us because the clouds never completely lifted. It rained about 5 different times throughout the day so we were constantly taking on and off rain gear as different cloud systems would role in. It took about 3 hours to make it to the "top" and about 2.5 hours to get back down. This hike completely wore me out so I went to bed around 8:30pm again.
Taking the picture was Nate Montgomery. We didn't want him to set the timer and run over, partially because we were on a steep ridge line and partially because the rocks were slippery and wet.

Gemur Clinc Day 2

I was stationed in dental today along with a pile of other people that hadn't been there yet. None of us were expecting to see many patients so we were surprised to see a crowd gathering. The med clinics and the eye clinics were slammed today.I got to pull out a molar which was pretty cool. The pt looked to be in a good amount of pain even with the dental blocks. We asked him if he wanted more stuff for the pain but he would deny it and tell us to just get it out. It was strange for me to be doing something like this because I have never really had to inflict pain to help someone before. Many people that we saw in the dental clinic would have a mouthful of rotten teeth. One man in particular had pretty severe dental decay and he denied any type of treatment except for medications. This has been a common theme throughout all of the clinic sites and all of the different med clinics. There is this misconception that Westerners have different drugs to treat any type of ailment.

For the afternoon I went up to the eye clinic to help out and Anna and I got some more patients for the study. The eye clinic went until the very end of the day and we were the last clinic operating. Ravi had told us earlier in the trip that the general pattern when you have a multi-day single location clinic site is that everyone piles in on the last day. This was certainly the case. I guess it also takes a little while for the word to spread.


Tomorrow will be the last day with our drivers and cooks so we had a little farewell tonight. The dinner, as usual was excellent tonight, but I have been getting some uncomfortable heart burn the last few days and I haven't been eating the spicy stuff for a while. I am going to cut out a few more things the next couple days to see what helps.

Gemur Clinic

We all thought the clinic today was going to be in Jispa, but as usual, things change with little to no explanation or warning. The clinic was in a nice hospital, similar to the one in Tingriti, however this actually had a staff. One full time doctor, one doctor on rotation, one dentist, and several nurses. I was stationed in Ophtho today and spent most of the morning recording data for Anna's research project. The clinic was so slow though that we called it quits at lunch and went to a school in Jispa to do well child check ups.

On the way to Ghemur today the roads were clogged with civilian trucks with paper in the windshields saying "Army Duty." There were also numerous buses carrying men in uniform. The previous day, on the way to Baralachala pass we passed a small army base. On the way back from the pass we saw 15-20 army cargo trucks all leave at once. This was the largest troop/supply movement that I have ever seen. I asked Hem where they were going and he said the Chinese border, but did not elaborate. I have had no news so I don't know if this is precautionary or reactionary, either way it is a little scary.

Baralachla Pass

There were a few options for our day off: hike to a monastery, rafting, or trekking. Rafting ended up getting canceled because Ravi said someone had died because the river level was up. Trekking past Jispa got turned into a 3 hour trip up to Baralachala Pass. Me, Josh, and Jenny (all NC State grads) ended up driving up there. This pass was quite a bit different from the Rohtang pass. There was not nearly as much traffic, the grade overall was much less steep, and it was paved (nicely) most of the way. When we arrived the weather was nasty, cold, and raining and we threw on our rain jackets and walked for a little bit. Within minutes the rain soaked through our pants and we began to get cold. We headed back to the car to get our rain pants so we could continue to explore. Once we had completely suited up and went back out, the rain stopped and the heavens opened. It happened slowly and the clouds gave way to reveal the peaks around us. We were at 16,500 ft and I could definitely feel it. I could move fine on a level grade, but inclines and standing up made me light headed and dizzy. Keylong is about 10,000 ft so this was quite an increase in elevation. At the top, just as we were about to leave we saw a group of trekkers and we went to say hello. They were from the UK just ousted of London and were a part of a "challenge " group that was doing a 16 day trek. We came back down in about the same time but I had a nasty headache that didn't go away. Even after several hours at Keylong the headache didn't get better, so I went to bed around 8:30pm. I am still not sure if the headache was caused primarily from the altitude, or if the mefloquine I took that morning had something to do with it.

The Chandra Bhaga

In Keylong we stayed at the hotel called the Chandra Bhaga. The view from this hotel was stunning. To the left and right were large mountains with snow capped peaks and directly in front of us was a mountain grassy mountain scattered with houses and then 500 feet of rock cliffs above that. From our hotel it was about a 10 minute walk downtown into the market. As you can see the outside of the hotel looks really nice, and indeed it was for some people. Me, Nate, Josh, and Garant got the shaft though. Our room was a dorm style with four single beds that were made out of scary looking vintage mattresses on plywood. That was the nice part. Above the pillow of each bed on the white wall was a dark greasy spot from the heads of the many people that had slept there. The bathroom was by far the worst feature. As with most bathrooms here the shower comes out of the wall randomly and there is a drain somewhere on the floor. There is never a shower curtain. If you are lucky there is at least a dropped down portion of the bathroom so that the entire place does not flood when taking a shower. There was no dropped down portion of this bathroom and the drain was not located at the lowest point in the bathroom.

This meant that there was a constant pool of water on the floor. Shortly after arriving we had some people from the hotel come in to "fix" the bathroom. What they actually did was dismantle our shower and take it to the room next door. Besides this there was no hot water unit in our room so we got to take glacier cold bucket baths from the lower spicket. Another nice feature was that the sink drained directly on to the floor. We found this out after several of us had shaved and the hair spread itself over the floor into the standing water. This bathroom was so bad that one day we offered one of the Indian drivers to take a shower in our bathroom because they were sleeping in tents outside and had to use a shared bathroom in the hotel lobby. It was so bad that he spent about 30 seconds in the bathroom before leaving, unbathed.