South Asia --Trip into India

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I went to India last year with a group of ten led by Martin and Carol Noval. The Himalayan Kingdoms Road Tour does not travel to popular tourist attractions like the Taj Mahal. It is instead a trip to places of historic interest and of remote beauty. We began and ended our three-week trip in Delhi, heading off from there north into the mountains. Our first stop was Shimla, the former summer capital of British India, and we arrived there by single gauge railway.

In the days to follow, we visited market centers, crossed spectacular passes, and stayed overnight in modest guest houses. We saw ancient monasteries and temples in parts of India where most of life continues as it did centuries ago. The accommodations were comfortable and each room had a private attached bath. The meals were delicious and almost too copious.

The early days of the trip in Delhi were hot and humid, but the climate cooled as we headed north. This was early September, but we put on our fleeces and scarves and welcomed the brisk air. (We wondered at one point if an early snow might cut us off from the road back to Delhi. The weather was threatening for a few hours and added a note of unanticipated excitement.)

We could not have imagined the monasteries and their wonders, as well as the precipitious mountainsides that protect these encampments. We were in 4-by-4's, with the engines groaning, climbing hills that the local folk had traversed on foot or on mules for centuries. Suddenly, at the end of the road, a starkly beautiful monastery with intricate rooflines glowed white against the hillside. We entered rooms that have been sacred for centuries and drank tea with monks who live out their lives in these remote climes.

Carol and Martin speak adequate Hindi and have developed long-time relationships with the guides and drivers who support the tour group. The Novals have lived in India for twenty-five years and have developed a quite extraordinary understanding of the country, its history and people. Martin has a PhD in philosophy and is able in discourse on Indian history and on the complexities of India's religious mix of Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist practioners. Carol is an organizer par excellence and no slouch, herself, in the realm of discourse. Traveling with them is like living for three weeks with brilliant and knowledgeable friends who just happen to be guiding you through India.

The tours that they have developed over the years interest people who prefer to travel in small groups.

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Kara, I traveled to India in December of 2001, and also started in Delhi. Although we took different paths for our tours, we saw similar things in India from small villages, temples, forts, and palaces, traveling over dirt roads and by train. Most people don't realize how much India has to offer the visitor. We stayed in some palacial hotels and some two star accommodations, but they were all comfortable and clean - all with private baths. We even had dinner with a middle class family in Jaiper. The contrast between the streets of Jaiper and the inside of their home was dramatic - to say the leaast.

Our tour included Delhi, Jaiper, Ranthanbore Tiger Sanctuary, a tented camp (the only place without indoor plumbing) in Rajasthan, village of Dhani, Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal, Jhansi, Orchha, Khajuharo, Varanasi, and Sarnath.

Since the trip was all northern India, I would like to visit southern India some day.

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Hi Kara

Thanks for sharing, first off. Smile

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We could not have imagined the monasteries and their wonders

Hmm,that has actually sort of triggered in me a sudden infatuation for the monasteries. In anyway, I am now getting bored with the stereotypical Hindu temples which are more about business these days than worship.
How wonderful would it be to drink tea with Buddhist monks and go rambling about pulling those circular things (what do they call that?)! <blinks>
Oh, and you even stopped by Shimla. I can still recall strolling across the Shimla Mall, a light quiver sweeping down my body, hand in hand with, hold your breadth, my naughty brother(LOL). Did you see anything there?

And if you will please, tell us:

1. Having been round Delhi, the capital and a few other places, what is your opinion of India? Just a general opinion of what a nation (which is so much in news for its technological development and nuclear exploits) does it look like.

2. How did the natives treat you?

3. Did you encounter any difficulties about which you would like to complain?

Thanks

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Thanks, c.i. I always pay attention to your remarks. You have been everywhere, and I printed out (a few months ago) your comments about a trip with a friend to ...uh..Singapore? Hong Kong? The print-out is not in front of me, but you made me want to go there and do what you did.

Quote:

And if you will please, tell us:

1. Having been round Delhi, the capital and a few other places, what is your opinion of India? Just a general opinion of what a nation (which is so much in news for its technological development and nuclear exploits) does it look like.

2. How did the natives treat you?

3. Did you encounter any difficulties about which you would like to complain?

spidergal, I will answer these three quickly, maybe more later. I fell in love with India and have now signed up with Carol and Martin for their newly created South India trip in January 2007. They have not done a tour in this part of the country before. On our Himalayan trek, some of us asked the Novals if they would investigate and work up a tour of southern India. They did. It took them 5-6 months and I got the e-mail a few weeks ago with the itinerary, prices, etc. I sent my deposit check the next day.

The Novals ([URL=tripsintoindia.com]have lived there for 25 years, so the natives treated us as they treat Martin and Carol, (our front people) warmly and hospitably.

Martin and Carol speak Hindi, and even dabble in some of the more remote dialects that are spoken in the areas touching on China and Tibet. They hire the same drivers/helpers year after year, and that is important in the northern areas where the roads are narrow and challenging.

I won't even go into the issues of how enormously wealthy even the most middle-income of Americans compare with ordinary Indians, and I would have to live there many years or at least focus on the country's particular problems, as Martin and Carol have, even to have an opinion. If one wanted to talk and listen, Martin and Carol are thoughtful and will discuss India's current economic and social problems knowledgeably.

The country is so large and populous, and so ancient, that one cannot get more than a hint of its history, conflicts, and current politics, on one visit. I will go back more than once.

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Thanks!

Glad you are going to come back!

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My husband was not interested in going on this trip last September but encouraged me to go on my own. I was a bit anxious about going to India alone, and I am past the age when most people do adventure traveling. The trip I chose was not all that risky or death-defyiing. Some of Martin and Carol's other trips -- such as their high Himalaya treks -- could better be described as adventure travel than the Himalayan Kingdom Tour.

One connector flight to Atlanta plus two back-to-back nine-hour international flights are what it takes to get to India from my part of North Carolina. But the travel turned out to be "no worries" and I was full of anticipation when I arrived at Delhi airport at almost midnight. It was so hot that the air was palpable and the humidity suffocating. I got my first taste of cultural difference at the airport "Ladies" when I was faced with the Hole surrounded by flat tiles. In my younger years, I dealt easily and flexibly with the many ways of self-relief around the world. I had forgot how joint-painful such expeditions can be but it all came back to me quickly.

Delhi in September is incredibly hot and the rains had not arrived on schedule.. The feeble A/C in our small but comfortable hotel did almost nothing to dispell the fetid air but one slept out of sheer travel exhaustion. Going out the morning after my arrival, I was surely on another planet. Surrounded by begging beings, by disabled and armless and legless needy humans, by small children holding smaller children as an appeal for alms, one could succumb and either throw all of his goods to the hapless or walk doggedly on, pushing gently against the throngs of humanity, having been told not to give a rupee here or there because you would soon be overwhelmed by others who saw but did not receive your largesse.

This was the first minutes of my first day. I had so much to learn and see.

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spidergal,

Where are you in India?

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Quote:

Oh, and you even stopped by Shimla. I can still recall strolling across the Shimla Mall, a light quiver sweeping down my body, hand in hand with, hold your breadth, my naughty brother(LOL). Did you see anything there?

How lovely to think of you strolling that mall with your (naughty?) brother. Surely you are Brit educated. From the sound of your posts.

We explored Shimla with a young man..first name Raja...who has explored and written about Shimla and its history. He led us to sights and places of historic interest. It is a quite extraordinary place, densely populated on the side of steep slopes, a hill town that grew up in spite of the odds against living on precipitious angles.

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Kara, I sent a email to Carol and Martin to ask for 2007 southern India trips. My travel schedule for this year is full - with eight. I, like you, just fell in love with India. Some of the roads are really bad (when one of our flights was canceled, our tour director somehow got ahold of a bus and driver, and he drove us all night to our next destination on a road that is impossible to negotiate - and in the fog) and the accommodations may be one star (or less), but one can't help but love the country and its history. The extremes of India is not comparable anywhere else.

We had dinner one night with a middle class family in Jaiper, literally a mansion where four sons and their family lived with their parents. Just outside the walled gate was about as filthy as one can find, but once inside the gate, it was clean and modern. They are considered middle class, but the four sons put together earned (*back in 2001) about $40K, while my wife worked three days/week, and earned more as a RN.

But this is your thread. Sorry for the intrusion.

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There is the desert area in the northwest (Rajastan); the fertile area i.e. the Ganges River plain (religion Vanarasi and site of Gautama Buddha's birth; the Himalayan beuatiful area (Simla, Darjeeling); the South (Tamil speaking-area Kerala), western India, tinsel town (Bollywood Bombay), Calcutta (a lot British Raj, Victoria Memorial), Central India history and industry (Delhi, Agra Taj Mahal). They are all different.

Hong Kong - Victoria Peak. Site of movies 'World of Suzie Wong', 'Love is a many Splendid Thing', 'Sand Pebbles', Last movie by Charlie Chaplan starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren (movie name escapes me somethinglike Duchess of ...). Tsim Sha Tsui, Aberdden, Happy Valley race course, Wan Chai, Star ferry. The English speaking radio station was owned by William Holden.

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South would be exciting.... Kara.... You should definitely visit it. Smile

South & central Maharashtra (if you get down at Bombay\Mumbai) for 1500-1600 bc temples. If possible visit Ajanta (Buddhist) and Ellora (Hindu) caves for their Marvellous sculpure-sites indicating ancient Indian history, Around 800 Forts & landcapes and Largest Asian agricultural firms of sugar canes.

Go south from there and u will enter Goa. Perfect beach Holiday destination for foreigners in India.

Further south, there is Andhra Pardesh - Hyderbad famous for its Nawabi Palaces and food, wonderful Meenaxi and other huge temples in TamilNadu with some longest Asian beaches there..... and finally green Keralaite backwaters and beaches,

Looks like South would be even more tempting. :wink:

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vinsan, Please continue to post on a2k about southern India. I've heard of Goa and their beautiful beaches. I once considered the Palace of Wheels, but they charge an arm and a leg, and travelers miss too much of the "real" India.

Thanks in advance.

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talk7200, you evoke memories when you speak of Love is a Many Splendored Thing. And Sand Pebbles. (Remember how it began? Jake saying, "Hello, Ship." As good as the film was, it couldn't approach the book. It was a masterpiece and the author died young.)

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Kara, Sand Pebbles is one of my favirotes, and I have Mako's autograph on my VCR case. Wink

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visnan, I will look at the upcoming trip itinerary to see if we visit any of the places you mention. Most appealing of all are the 1600-1500 BC temples you speak of.

Martin and Carol Noval are Americans but have not lived in the US for many years. After getting his PhD in philosophy, Martin set off for a trip around the world before he settled down to teach. He got as far as India and never left. He met Carol there. She was doing her around the world thing, too. They have few possessions (by choice,) do not own a car or a house. They lead as many tours a year (four or five) as allow them to survive. Martin reads voraciously -- philosophy, history, politics -- and Carol can discourse on any subject. They spend many months of the year traveling and researching in India.

For many years, they have rented the same house in Naggar during the warmer months. During the winter, they rent a house in Goa on the beach, a quite unpretentious place but adequate for the two of them.

I have seldom met two more engaging people. The are as different from each other as chalk and cheese but as entwined as a couple can be. You would enjoy them, c.i., and I hope you can join one of their trips. They never lead more than 8-10 people, so their tours can fill up quickly.

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One very interesting place of historical importance is Hampi (ruins from a 14th century empire). See:

http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/

Many more interesting places to visit in the south...there's the Mysore palace, Kerala backwaters, jungles...the list is endless Smile

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Those interested in seeing where Hampi is located in India, click on the following link:

http://www.moxon.net/india/index.html

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Thanks, sakhi. Good site. I have printed out all six pages to keep.

c.i., that is an excellent map, and one could spend weeks printing out and reading his travels.

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Can I come with you? Huh, huh, huh? I wanna go.

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Kara, sorry I didn't see 'Sand Pebbles'. There was one more 'Ferry to Hong Kong' with Kurt Jurgens.

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South Asia --Trip into India

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