Palaces, places of worship, vibrant shades of the full color spectrum, organized chaos in the streets, it’s all included in the India we experienced and share with you in this video slide show. Sound up, go full screen and enjoy our three-week journey in 11 minutes.
You know you’re alive when you’re in India. It simply has to be the most vibrant place on earth. The scenes on the streets are a feast for the eyes—nonstop near-neon in yards and yards of textiles that wrap the body without so much as a button or a pin.
No need for big box sttores. Everything is in markets on the street. Merchandise is bought and sold in a hectic environment that has pedestrians evading tuk tuks and bicycles, motorbikes and cars. It’s a frenetic dance to the tunes of beeps and everybody seems to know the steps.
The images below are from the streets of New Delhi, Varanasi, Jaipur, Udaipur and Mumbai. Enjoy the rainbow of life that is India.
India is all about palaces, of which there are 80 throughout the country. Many have been converted to hotels, and we stayed in two, and others have become museums open to the public. We visited two palace museums and got a glimpse of how the one percent of one percent of India lived over the past several hundred years. Oh, it was good to be Maharaja. And still is for the few who remain since 1971, when Indira Ghandi’s government reduced the 278 maharajas (princes of India’s states) to commoners by abolishing their $6.4million in annual privy purses and many other princely privileges such as duty-free imports, free water and electricity, tax exemptions on most of their income and properties, the right to be called “highness” and special gun salutes.
City Palace is one of the biggest and grandest palaces in the state of Rajasthan. The 450-year-old palace complex is sprawled on the east bank of Lake Pichola in Udaipur, and was directly in our line of sight from our quarters at another palace of the same vintage, the opulent Lake Palace. City Palace was built in a flamboyant style, enough so that it starred as a hotel in the 1983 James Bond film, Octopussy.
With its courtyards and grand halls ornamented with pillars, balconies, towers and cupolas, the palace is one of the finest palaces in all of Rajasthan. Now a museum, the richly decorated palace is famed for its superb collection of cultural treasures including Mughal paintings and carvings.
As we negotiated cramped stairways from the 16th century, someone wondered what palace residents did when they became too old to do all the stairs. The answer: They were carried. Needless to say, no one carried me.
The Palace of Winds (Hawa Mahal), a stunning red and pink sandstone structure in the heart of the Jaipur (the Pink City), features rows of carved screens and more than 900 lattice-worked windows. The lattice design allowed royal ladies to observe everyday life and festivals celebrated in the street below without being seen. The lattice windows also allowed cool air to pass through, making the area more pleasant during summer.
On almost every street in Jaipur, you’ll find buildings painted a shade of dusty pink—almost terra cotta. The reason dates back to 1876 when Queen Victoria’s son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (who would later become King Edward VII) visited India. At the time, pink was the symbolic color of hospitality. Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh I had the whole city painted pink to welcome the royals. It’s said that Prince Albert nicknamed Jaipur the “Pink City” and the name stuck.
The following year, the maharaja took the pink obsession one step further. After the Queen of Jaipur declared herself a fan of the pink, he passed a law stating that any future buildings in the city must be painted the same color. The law has remained, with almost all buildings, from bazaars to temples, adopting the same shade of terracotta pink.
One of the things I had hoped to see in northern India was a Bengal tiger. Since we were spending two days in Ranthambore National Park, famous for its tigers and one of the best locations in India to see them, I had high hopes. But alas, the elusive predator remained just that for us, but the other half of our group of eight did see one on their game drive in a different part of the park.
The park is forested, hilly terrain and quite dusty due to minimum rainfall. Visitors may observe other wildlife such as leopards, hyenas, wild cats, reptiles and birds. The park also has deer and antelope, AKA the tiger buffet. We saw many deer and antelope, a crocodile and a leopard, the latter of which was a nice consolation prize for missing the tiger. And then there were the show offs. The peacock is the national bird of India and a common denizen of the park
While an Indian safari can’t compare to an African safari, it was fun to see natural India after spending time in hectic, chaotic, noisy cities where we had come from. The safari operates between October and June, and is closed during monsoon season.
I’m not prone to posting a raft of pictures of my hotel, but I’m making an exception for the Taj Lake Palace in in the middle of a lake in Udaipur, India, because Condé Nast ranks as one of the best hotels in the world, and who am I to argue with Condé Nast? It was a royal palace built by Maharana Jagat Singh II and completed in 1746 Over the years, it’s changed from the official summer residence of the royal family to a museum, and finally a hotel in 1963. To reach the hotel, you arrive by boat from the hotel’s private dock. Only hotel guests are allowed to come over. Not even our guide is allowed on the boat. By now we are a bit of a disheveled group of eight. I’m surprised we were allowed on the boat. Lol take a look at this lavish place.
The Taj Mahal in Agra, India, was commissioned by Shah Jahan to honor his late, favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. Construction of the marble mausoleum started in 1632 and was completed in 1648, while the surrounding buildings and garden were finished five years later. The shah was entombed alongside his wife upon his death 35 years later. Today it’s UNESCO world Heritage site and attracts 7-8 million visitors a year. In 2007, it was declared a winner of The New 7 Wonders of the World. The mausoleum is open to the public to walk in and look around, but no photography is allowed inside. The two tombs, his and hers, but his is larger than hers, side-by-side under the famous dome. we visited at dawn and at dusk to see the light reflecting of the marble at different times of the day.
In Varansai, the holiest city in all of India, we witnessed the final rights of Hindus where the remains of the dead are cremated on the banks of the Ganges River and their souls are believed to ascend to the heavens. On average, 100 bodies begin burning each day before sundown.
Eighty-four staircases (ghats) lead to the river. We descended the 87 steps of Dasashwamedh Ghat, the city’s main ghat, pushing through a sea of bodies (Anthony called it Covidpalooza) to board a boat to view the ritual from the water. Hindu priests chant or sing hymns in a rhythmic manner, while the funeral pyres burn. This spectacle attracts thousands, starts in the early evening and continues until two the next morning. We left long before that. Did I mention 87 difficult steps down to the river? Oddly enough, there were 87 steps back up.
Pictures can’t begin to do justice to the sense of awe and wonder we experienced. But I’ll give it a go:
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A candle placed in flowers and floated in the Ganges symbolizes the soul, and its placement on the river represents the link between the inner and outer worlds. In India, where the tradition originated, some perform the ritual daily — at dawn and dusk — at the banks of the Ganges River.
New Delhi is a feast for the eyes, ears and nose. The outrageous colors ❤️, the incessant beeping of vehicles (shades of Cairo) and the aromas of curry and smoke wafting throughout this city of 33.8 million souls. I wish every American could come here, and other Asian mega-million-population cities, to have their eyes and minds opened. By the way, unless you think India is too hot to visit, highs are in the 70s and lows in the 50s. February is an ideal time to come.
Taste the flavors of New Delhi—capital of the state of Delhi and of India:
We wrapped up our journey Down Under in Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand. It’s known as the City of Sails. With a population of 1.6 million people, more than 500,000 sailboats and yachts in various sizes are anchored and moored at marinas in the city—more vessels per capita than anywhere else in the world. With the Tasman Sea to the west and the Hauraki Gulf to the east, Auckland has plenty of access to the water. Also, Auckland has several large commercial and container harbors, as well as multiple large marinas and yacht harbors. Fifty-three volcanoes shape the city, so it’s a hilly affair, which can be a bit of a challenge for a flatlander from Florida. Better call Uber.
It’s a multicultural city, drawing the largest Polynesian population in the world. And the Māori culture is evident in its museums and in design elements throughout the city, including on our waitress’s manicure at dinner.
Side note: Tom and I sailed in to Auckland Harbor 14 years ago aboard the MS Queen Victoria. He mistakenly left his glasses in Tonga, the previous port, and thanks to the tenacity of our good friend Luisa, whom we met on board, a new pair of perfectly-fitting transition-lens spectacles awaited him upon our arrival.
Here’s a taste of Auckland today. Take special notice of the red sailing vessel, Steinlager 2, winner of the 1989-90 Whitbread round-the-world race. I saw her moored in the harbor. I didn’t know what she was, but I knew she was special so I shot a few pictures and then looked her up on the internet where I found a gorgeous picture of her under sail.
I challenge you to say Whakarewarewa three times–or even once. However it’s pronounced, it’s a Living Māori Village in a geothermal landscape in Rotorua on the South Island. Our guide there was a direct descendant of the Whakarewarewa Māori, New Zealand’s indigenous people. Their facial tattoos are deeply spiritual, and can have a range of meanings, such as family, prosperity, travel, strength, career path and more. The village features a job training program for young people to further their cultural identity and give them skills for the future. Students serve a three-year apprenticeship where they learn to carve traditional Māori totems and other items, and weavings using traditional methods.
The village’s stunning features are the natural geothermal resources, including the Pōhutu Geyser, boiling mud-pools, steam vents and bubbling pools. We concluded our visit with a haka, where Māori warriors greet the chosen leader from our group In a manner meant to intimidate. After showing respect to the warriors, we were allowed to continue indoors for dinner and a cultural program.
Postcards 