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I'm relatively ignorant on Thailand. This will be fun and will have to do until I can get there myself! Peter, that sounds like a great offer from Tim to do some "product research!"

DAY ELEVEN: Wednesday March 12 We would be off on another long bus ride as we headed for Jaipur, the final leg of our trip, however a few of us wished to revisit the Taj Majal at sunrise. Julie made arrangements for us to do so. While the sky remained overcast and we did not have the spectacular sunrise that we enjoyed at Varanasi, the effect was still startling. The early light provided more definition, while the call to prayer of the muezzins and the bells of the temples provided the atmosphere. A relative dearth of visitors allowed for a more peaceful and leisurely visit, creating a more emotionally charged environment. On our return walk we passed by numbers of monkeys cavorting along the paths leading away from the Taj. They appeared playful and cute until one approached too close for the mother’s comfort level at which point she became threatening. It didn’t happen to me, but a mother did threaten several members of our group, making us all jump away and fortunately laugh! Once back at the hotel, I ate a quick breakfast of western style fried eggs and toast for a change of pace as well as the fact that the breakfast at the Taj View as well as most every other aspect of the hotel was the worst of the trip. I was packed and ready to go and had time to kill before we left so I went back to the hotel shops. I had been eyeing these beautiful red camel skin slippers, but hadn’t bought them because I wasn‘t sure of how they would fit my wife. Knowing that I liked them, that I would be leaving, and eager to make a sale, the shopkeeper gave me a price that I could not refuse. He made me promise not to tell anyone the price, but I would later discover that one of my fellow travelers had paid twice the price that I had for similar slippers at the same shop! Later on in Jaipur I would pay even less for two pairs of similar shoes! The bus ride to Jaipur in the neighboring state of Rajasthan was helped by a couple of things compared to the ride from Delhi to Agra. First, we had a new bus that was newer and significantly more comfortable. Secondly, the roads were much better and lastly, being daytime, we were able to watch the changing scenery unfold. While old India was still very much present with villages, water buffalo, goatherds and camel driven carts, there was evidence of impending change as new, modern roads were being constructed. With much of the property alongside these roads having been bought, it will likely not be long before the quaint village scenes become a thing of the past. Street Market from the bus Lunch tiffins for agricultural field workers The workers Camel Cart along the road to Jaipur Approximately halfway through the trip, we stopped for lunch at a place much like the one we stopped at on the way down from Delhi, only this one, called Mahua, had really excellent food. In addition to the typically good dal and breads including a local specialty called bati made with flour and yogurt and baked in ashes, other standouts included goat Kashmiri in a wonderful red sauce made with kashmiri chili in addition to other ingredients, cauliflower with sweet red carrots originally from Uzbekistan, okra with onions and garlic, paneer with peas and finally samosas, all of which made for a colorful and beautiful as well as delicious plate. Desserts were also good, including a vanilla ice milk and halvah made from cream of wheat, simple syrup, almonds and raisins with just the right degree of sweetness. I finished my meal with a satisfying chai masala. Samosas Bati Tandoori Chicken Goat Kashmiri Paneer with Peas Cauliflower and Uzbekistani Red Carrots Dal Okra with Onions and Garlic My Plate Halvah

Dinner was on our own. A few people went over to the Oberoi, while others went out for street food. I stayed at the hotel and joined a couple of fellow travelers for dinner. We shared a few dishes including a chef’s special of grilled prawns with vegetables, chicken biryani - I very much wanted to try this north Indian specialty before we left and I would not otherwise have the chance- and minced lamb kebobs. It was all quite good, with the prawns, especially delicious. Chicken Biryani Grilled Prawns with Vegetables Minced Lamb Kebabs The next day would be an early start and I still had to pack, so I called it a night.

Sobering news. I had the chance to enjoy some alphonso mango in NYC recently from Tabla during the big Apple BBQ. I guess I really better savor the memory

Shelby, Stephanie and Doddie - thank you for your kind comments! Thank you also, V. Gautam for an extremely thoughtful and informed post. I very much appreciate the knowledge and spirit of your post. Should I return to India, I would take your suggestions strongly to heart and indeed I would be looking to fill in the iconic experiences that I missed and clearly there were many. Indeed, breaking out of the 5 star cocoon would be desirable for a number of reasons, though that is not a bad cocoon to have in India, especially for a middle-aged first-time visitor from the US. Was the trip complete? Obviously not. As V. Gautam rightly pointed out there was so much that we missed, but how, in a country like India, is it possible to do much more in the period of time that we had with as much traveling as we did? The trip provided an excellent overview, an introduction to India, that could really do little more than skim the surface of what is there. That is not to say that the trip or its organizers were beyond reproach or things could not have been better. By the time I finish this travelogue, I hope to be clear about what was superb and what was disappointing or worse about this trip. Nevertheless, we were exposed to quite a bit. One thing that was evident, though was that Julie Sahni has the connections to get into some interesting situations and places. She does her own focused small group tours that I would expect would be along the lines of what V.Gautam was describing. While the recommendations that V.Gautam provided for setting up a trip to India are undoubtedly superb and extremely enticing, I wouldn't hesitate to return with Ms. Sahni on one of her focused trips either. I appreciate the links to the Pleasure Mountain blog. They are absolutely worth visiting for anyone interested in this topic. I would have loved to visit the market in Delhi that Jim visited. Delhi was a city that we literally passed through because we had to in order to get to the northern destinations from the south. That was really the only place that our guide was bad as well as the scene of most of my negative experiences. Clearly, not much attention was given to visiting this city (ironically the city where Ms. Sahni grew up), but given how little time we spent there and how difficult it appears to get around in, I'm not sure that was the wrong approach for this trip. I would, however, like to return to Delhi and spend more time and get a sense of the depth of the city along with some iconic experiences as you described. Bukhara was a disappointment and I fully agree with Jim's assessment, but I am glad that we went. If we had not, given its reputation, I would have felt cheated!

Great post!

Yawn. Great, another chain Italian restaurant, albeit a small chain.

From the Taj, we made our way to view a demonstration of the techniques of marble inlay that were used in the construction of that monument. The work of creating this dying art was quite fascinating. Of course, they had their wares to display. While not inexpensive, the pieces were absolutely beautiful. I managed to restrain myself to a lotus blossom of dark green marble with inlays of semi-precious stones including carnelian, turquoise, malachite, mother of pearl, onyx and others. After a quick stop back at the hotel to drop off our purchases and to freshen up we were off to a cooking demonstration and lunch at the Colonel Lamba Indian Home Stay Guest House. The guest house belongs to Colonel Lamba and his wife. He is retired from the Indian Army. Being Sikhs, they treated us to a demonstration and lunch of Sikh cooking. The food was vegetarian. They demonstrated the technique of preparing a northern style curry by frying their spices first. They also showed us how to make chapatti’s, a whole wheat Indian bread, by pre-cooking the tortilla like rounds on a griddle than finishing them by quickly putting them directly onto the flame before removing them almost immediately thereafter as they puffed up. Other dishes prepared included a raita with yogurt, cauliflower and cumin, potato with capsicum, a vegetable pilaf with basmati rice, dal with rajmah red beans from Kashmir, Malai Koftas or cottage cheese balls like we have had previously. Though not part of the demonstration lunch commenced with an amazingly good tomato-vegetable soup. The delicious lunch also included delicately delicious papadams and a special dessert of candied bitter melon. The overall experience was marvelous and one of the better meals of the trip. Welcome Making Chapatti's Tomato-vegetable Soup Raita Potato with Capsicum Cauliflower with Cumin Vegetable Pilaf with Bsmati Rice Malai Koftas Dal with Rajmah Red Beans from Keshmir Candied Winter Melon Colonel Lamba Some of the group peeled off while the rest of us were taken to see the Agra Fort where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son. Though we were too late to enter the fort, a few of us walked along outside its walls to the point where we could view Jahan’s prison as well as the Taj Mahal. On the way back to the bus, a small group of children asked for their photo to be taken. It has been amazing to me how friendly the Indian children have been and more so how much they enjoy being photographed, the only reward being a quick view of the photo on the view finder! It has been fun and refreshing, though a few times a little scary as the groups of enthusiastic children would quickly swell and become somewhat difficult to handle in their enthusiasm.

Welcome back! The meen pollichathu sounds great! There is a South Indian restaurant near where I live. While I had thought it excellent before my trip, unfortunately it pales since.

DAY TEN: Tuesday March 11 We arrived with such haste earlier in the morning that plans for the day were not well described. I decided that I would not risk any question of getting to the Taj Mahal that I would be ready for any eventuality and arose at 7AM. Breakfast was much like the other hotels with a mediocre buffet and eggs and dosas made to order. I tried a sampling of a variety of items including a dosa masala and scrambled eggs masala, some fruit and a few different beverages. The food wasn’t terrible, though nothing particularly stood out other than the red carrot juice that was rather tasty and the coffee which was also very good. I was the first down to breakfast, but the others from the group slowly started trickling in. It was determined that we would meet at 9:30 to go to see the Taj Mahal. The word apparently made it to everyone but a couple of members of the group, who discovered the plan only as were readying to set off. Because one wasn’t ready they would stay behind. The largest vote-getter in the recent internet selection process to determine the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, The Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built by the Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan to honor his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, proved a wonder of perspective in addition to its sheer beauty. The Shah had planned to build an identical mausoleum in black marble directly across the river, but before he could do so his throne was usurped by his son and he spent his last eight years holed up as a prisoner in a palace in the Agra Fort built a century earlier by his ancestor Akbar. From his prison cell, he was able to gaze at the Taj Mahal, as it lay directly in his view. A herd of water buffalo walking by the entrance to the Taj Mahal Once we parked, we had to leave all but our camera and pocket items in the bus and take a separate electric bus closer to the site. We passed security and entered a courtyard in front of a red sandstone ante-building, through the portals of which we had our first view of this true wonder. Once we passed through the sandstone building, the Taj stood in front of us in its full glory. Unfortunately, the sky was gray and overcast rather than brilliant blue, however, the good news was that the temperature was quite comfortable rather than the searing heat of a few days earlier. I earlier mentioned that the Taj is a marvel of perspective. It was built in such away that the sides of the mausoleum itself and its flanking minarets took parallax into account so that it looked perfectly straight when viewed from a distance. We had our photos taken individually and as a group standing in front of the Taj. They were ready by the time we returned awhile later and I wound up buying a few as they were pretty good. Another wonderful element of the morning was looking at and admiring the other visitors. Many of the Indians visiting were wearing their finest clothes. The colors of the saris were particularly vibrant. While we were determining where and when to meet, I spied some people a few yards away from us having their photos taken. I determined that the striking black woman was none other than Serena Williams, who had just come from winning a tennis tournament in Bangalore. Built in the 17th century over twenty four or so years, the Taj Mahal was truly remarkable and as impressive a feat of architecture and construction as I have ever seen, however, the experience of being there lacked the emotional and spiritual impact of places like Macchu Picchu or the sunrise over the Ganges with the light of the sun spilling over the multitudes pouring themselves into their sacred river. Although infinitely more beautiful, the experience was similar to viewing Versailles; awe and majesty rather than a primal release. As we were leaving, I was approached by a hawker selling some wooden cobras. I saw them on the way in and thought that the boys would get a kick out of them so we bargained and I obtained them for a satisfactory price. The problem was that once the other hawkers noticed some interest, we were bombarded until we made it back to the electric bus.

Thank you, Shaya. India is indeed a land of contrasts. A fascinating place, it is both extremely welcoming and forbidding at the same time.

Sweet! Thanks for sharing, Daniel. Those ices look and sound fantastic.

Magnificent work as usual, YT, on what appears to be an amazing meal! You certainly whet my appetite.

For anyone who might not have known, Andrew Carmellini has left A Voce.

Bruni gives Bar Q two stars.

Francis Derby, Sam Mason's sous chef at Tailor had left shortly before I last dined there. for those who don't read the NY Times or Eater, he is now the chef at a wine bar called Solex.

Mango Blossoms While waiting at the airport, I noticed two men with LowePro camera backpacks just like my own. They had been eavesdropping a bit on us as we had an end-of-trip farewell in the waiting area, so I didn’t feel bad eavesdropping as one of them started going through his photos from Varanasi. They were amazing! I pointed them out to Julie, who noted that one of the reasons the photos were so good was because they seemed to know what to look for in shooting them. Indeed their timing and subjects were wonderful as was the composition of the photos. We struck up a conversation. The two friends were in Varanasi strictly for an advanced photographic expedition and had gone about their business accordingly, using top-notch equipment and having a private guide with their Ghat experience focused entirely on photography. It certainly showed and gave me a good dose of humility. Our friends bid adieu in Delhi and we boarded a smaller bus to drive to Agra. Leaving two hours or so after we were scheduled to, we made our way into the most horrendous city traffic I have ever seen anywhere. It was pure chaos as the only rules drivers followed were their own, going every which way and mostly ignoring traffic lights when they existed. It took us at least three hours to get out of Delhi, with a number of contributing factors besides the insane congestion. The first was that a car tried to cut in front of us, had to stop suddenly to avoid colliding with a bigger bus in front of them, causing our bus to run into them. This triggered a major argument and debate with neither party, as per Indian custom according to Julie, admitting fault. Although he was not in the wrong, our driver basically broke-down and agreed to give the owner 400 rupees for damages so that we could be on our way. The other major issue effecting our progress was corruption. We had to stop several times on the way out of Delhi so that the driver could negotiate a bribe with a toll collector to allow us to pass. We eventually made it out and on the way to Agra in Uttar Pradesh. By this time the poor suspension and tight rows of seats began to take their toll on us as we proceeded slowly towards our destination, most of us trying to catch some sleep on the way. Despite our travails, it was an interesting drive, as unique things such as wedding parties would rise up seemingly out of nowhere. We eventually reached the place where we had scheduled a stop for dinner. Of course we were very late, as it was now ten-thirty in the evening by the time we reached the place, an old-fashioned rest stop much like had been the norm a number of years ago in the US before the dominance of the Interstate system. The food was quite mediocre, but welcome. It was about one o’clock in the morning by the time we arrived at our hotel in Agra, the Taj View. We were all rather grumpy to begin with given the duration and discomfort of our journey, but this was compounded when we arrived in our inferior rooms, the worst of the trip. Not only had they no view of the Taj Mahal, they didn’t have a view of anything else particularly interesting either. We were all tired enough that it would just have to make do.

DAY NINE: Monday March 10 This would be a long day of travel. The day started, however, with a garden walk, during which I discovered that my zodiac tree is a cluster fig tree, a relative of the ficus. The grounds of the hotel are extremely well manicured with a particularly lovely collection of large and colorful dahlias. The hotel grows most of its own produce, all organically, with purified water recycled from their sewage treatment plant. They have a very wide selection of crops. I completed some purchases at the hotel shops, finished packing and we were off to the airport. On the way, we stopped at a small village where we were led around by a village Brahmin. Once again, the people were extremely friendly, especially the children, most of whom wished to be photographed, though some preferred not to be. Most of the older women refused to be photographed. One woman and her husband who were out working in a field harvesting some greens not only beckoned me to photograph them, they invited me to try my hand at the harvest. Of course I accepted and scythed some of the plants that they were harvesting. I found the scythe to be quite sharp making the work fairly easy for the few moments I spent doing it. That is not to say that the work would remain easy much beyond those few moments as it involved much bending and repetitive motion. Trying my hand at Scything Julie Sahni and I got involved with a mutual interview with a local journalist. He was there to ask us about our visit to Varanasi as well as to this village, what we thought of life there and what life was like for us. I was wearing a Slow Food t-shirt, which helped me to explain my interest in their methods. I told him that unlike their village co-operative system, farms where I live are generally distinct from each other and often specialize in specific crops or produce. Although they still use ancient methods and techniques in this village, the biggest recent change for them has been the introduction of good modern farm equipment including tractors. Twenty years ago they still had oxen plowing the fields. Our Brahmin guide explained to me why they, as Hindus, worship cows. He said that they worship anything that provides good for them and there are few things that provide as much good as the cows. In addition to their milk, which is a very important part of their diet and the work that cows do in the fields, their dung is critical for fertilization of the soil as well as fuel for cooking and heating. The amazing part, as ubiquitous as the cow dung is around Varanasi and elsewhere in India, is that it is essentially odorless. Harvesting for the Village We had a pleasant stay, but we left as we didn’t want to push it making our flight back to Delhi, especially as a few of our trip-mates had to make connections for flights home. We needn’t have worried though as we made it to the airport in plenty of time and the flight turned out to leave an hour and a half late anyway. This caused mild anxiety for one traveler, who would make her connection to Bombay by the skin of her teeth.

Our farewell dinner from the main body of the tour was held that evening in the hotel’s gardens concurrently with a wedding on the hotel’s grounds. It was quite spectacle. Before dinner we were treated to another cooking demo the highlights of which involved seeing naans and other tandoori breads baked on the sides of the tandoor as well as jelabi making showmanship. Baking naan in a tandoor oven They cook very, very quickly. Making Jalebi Super-Jalebi! The dinner was fine, though I was made uncomfortable by the mosquitos. Dessert consisted of a western style pineapple birthday cake to honor our tripmate, who had a truly remarkable birthday on the Ganges.

I certainly would not want to be a vegetarian in Spain, but that is much different than saying that Spaniards can't cook vegetables. They may not be the stars of the plate, but I have enjoyed some very, very good supporting performances. I happen to like meat with my vegetables.

Go ahead, drag it out...it isn't bothering me

Well said These rickshaw drivers are always trying to outdo the stunts and skills of Evel Knievel. I dont think you will forget that experience in a hurry. ← Though it doesn't really do the frenetic energy justice, this is the best example of that that I have in a photo. This is actually fairly orderly with two clearly defined directions of progress in the road

It is certainly a stereotype, but is less true today than it ever was. While maybe not universal in Spain, there is much good vegetable cookery going on.

Later in the afternoon we went back to Varanasi central to take rickshaw rides deeper into the city. The nimble control of the bicycles by the small but strong cyclists was amazing as we rode through a chaos of vehicles and pedestrians miraculously avoiding collision after collision. We dismounted the rickshaws in order to visit a spice market at which I bought saffron and chili powder from Kashmir before remounting them to return to the Ghats. Puffed Lotus Seeds - Makana Rose Petals Sifting Grain Turmeric Offering Samples of Indian non-sulphered raisins Dry Coconuts Street Food Stall The atmosphere of mid-afternoon was totally different from the morning. Fog that had draped the sandbanks of the opposite shore had disappeared leaving the flood plain visible. In addition to buying a few more trinkets, the highlight for me was returning to the river in a boat. I was able to reach into the Ganges and sprinkle its water on my head for additional good karma. The return rickshaw ride indelibly inscribed the energy, perpetual motion, anarchy and cacophony of Varanasi on my memory.

I think that you must be eating in the wrong places! While Spanish cuisine may not be as vegetable friendly as some others, I have enjoyed a number of good vegetables throughout Spain, especially at the higher end. For example, I love the pimientos de padrone I had in the Boqueria and the vegetable platings from Maria Jose San Roman at Monastrell. In addition beans are rarely treated as well as those in the paella at Levante.