Impressions of North India

The high point of Delhi so far has been "Kake" Da Dhaba, the Punjabi diner in Connaught Place where we enjoyed a delicious, cheap, and questionably clean dinner. Mostly we are using Delhi as a base from which to explore other parts of North India.

We hired a car and driver to visit Agra and Jaipur. Aside from the Taj Mahal, which totally kicked ass, this leg of the trip was not very enjoyable. This region of India is so dependent on tourism that the pressure on travellers is overwhelming. It seems like everyone, from our driver onwards, gave us a hard sell about hiring a guide for the monuments or buying some local handicrafts. There are plenty of tourists here to rise to the bait, too. This experience has made me more conscious of how I must appear when I visit a place where I am obviously a foreigner (i.e. everywhere else in the world where I have travelled!). I would like to think I am not one of those consumerist tourists who objectifies the cultures I experience...but I probably am to some extent.

To be fair, we did have some good experiences. In Agra we stayed at an amazing place that made me love our travel agent for booking us such a good deal. For a reasonable amount in USD, we stayed at the Jaypee Palace, a 5-star hotel that is one of the best places I have ever stayed, right up there with the Royal Park Hotel in Tokyo or the Four Seasons in Las Vegas. Besides all the luxurious trappings, they have uniquely Indian features, such as monkeys on the premises. These monkeys are owned by Jaypee Palace and have been trained to scare away the wild monkeys. Hmmm...pitting creatures from the same family against each other so that another group can benefit--it appears that Indians have learned a lot from a few centuries under British control!

We also found the restaurant, Agra Hotel, that our family friends the Sarkars own. We had great Bengali food there and chatted with the very friendly owners.