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Jodhpur stepwell… stumbling into history
Living in Delhi means stumbling across slices of history all the time. Walking from the rose garden to Haus Khaz, you could literally trip over evidence of past eras. It is a city built on many previous cities, harkening back to the 6th century BC.
Jodhpur clock – Ghanta Ghar
Living in Bombay fast forwards to the 18th and 19th century. Once upon a time a series of islands, it was strung together during the British colonial period with most historic buildings hailing from that period. Want Victorian or Art Deco? Come to Mumbai!
Coming to Jodhpur, one expects to see the remarkable 14th century Mehrangarh Fort perched over the city, pass the clock tower (Ghanta Ghar) and visit stunning Umaid Bhawan palace.
What we didn’t expect was to accidentally come across an ancient stepwell… possibly around 1,000 years old or more.
Post our shopping, we headed to Raas Hotel to enjoy a late lunch. Our plan was to walk off our meal wandering around the area then return to Raas for sunset drinks against the backdrop of the Mehrangarh Fort.
Braving the late afternoon sun, we aimlessly strolled and heard the roar of a generator and something else… coming closer we discovered efforts to restore and clean this remarkable structure. (more…)
Heat, dust and… shopping! Jodhpur style
Yes – I opened Door No 1 and jumped on a plane to Jodhpur.
When folks think India, they have images of heat, dust, noise, colourful clothing, the shopping, palaces and forts. Jodhpur has that in spades!
Lucky me – my excuse for going to Jodhpur was to join my partner who is part of a film shooting there.
My first day, another member of the cast wanted to head out shopping. She had already sussed out a place that purports to do mostly bulk export trade with some local retail.
Now… I will admit… I’m not much of a shopper. Get me in and out quickly with whatever is needed and I’m a happy gal. Especially malls – shudder!
However there is something engaging about the more traditional trading banter… it was good fun joking, bargaining, swapping stories with the folks at this place.
Here goes a few photos from our shopping escapades… (more…)
Travel time! Door No 1, 2 or 3??
I booked a flight!
And there may be another one or two on the horizon.
All domestic.
All places I’ve been before.
Yet for each, it was long ago and the one constant in a country like India is change.
I can’t wait to board that plane… (more…)
Expat Focus on ‘Everyday Asia’ & AMWF advice
Check it out! Expat Focus featured Everyday Asia as a ‘Top 5 Expat Blogs – India.‘ For those not familiar with Expat Focus, it is a website that provides all sorts of resources for expats plus also features expat blogs and discussion forums.
They also just published an interview with me. Woo hoo!
Hello Mumbai
Here’s a quick ‘cheat sheet’… for details read the full interview here:
- Who the heck are you? Check out about
- Where, when and why move? Travel tales… how I got hooked on going away!
- What challenges did you face? Typical starving student stuff but all good fun
- Other expats in your area? Originally almost none. Now oodles! In stumbling distance even…
- What do you like / dislike about life where you are? Lots and nearly none 🙂
- Biggest challenge? Eve teasing… the other side of my love affair with India
- What advice would you give to someone following in your footsteps? Extract below…
- What plans for the future? More of the same!
Urban development – Gurgaon vs Manila
I’ve ramped up to a higher gear on the working to get work front (i.e. business development for a client)… which found me hoping on a plane last week to Delhi. Except this trip, I didn’t actually spend any time in Delhi.
Nope it was all Gurgaon for me baby!
Welcome to Delhi Airport
Believe it or not, the first time my feet touched ground in Gurgaon, Haryana was 25 years ago. Yup! Back in the day when this massive, teaming, constantly growing city spawned outside of another megalopolis was merely a crazy idea with the first skeletal buildings starting to spring up in the middle of nowhere.
I was on a Shastri summer study abroad program and learning, amongst many other things, about India’s urban development plans. (more…)
London Theatre – Past and Present
I came across a playbill from our July trip to London… and it got me thinking that we just might have another experience or two worthy of a post. (Yes we DID manage to do more than just hang out at BAFTA!)
Well in advance of our trip, a Canadian friend living in Essex kindly offered to arrange an evening of dinner and theatre together for our single Saturday night in London. Sounded just right!
Before the performance, to get into a theatrical frame of mind, we met near the Tate Gallery and then took a little stroll along the South Bank to glimpse Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. (more…)
A sick chick’s top 5 global cold weapons!
At the moment, I am feeling so miserable… all the posts I planned to write… let’s just say I can’t bring myself to finish any of them. And work stuff? Gaakh!
Why?
I have one of those yucky seasonal monsoon colds. You know the kind. Where you can’t go even a minute without blowing your nose, sneeze uncontrollably, ache all over and generally feel like you were hit by a truck?
And I’m running terribly short of a secret weapon from Indonesia – tolak angin.
Which got me thinking about how there is such an amazing range of ‘local remedies’ around the world to help ease your suffering when sick. (more…)
Travel tales… How I got ‘hooked’ on going ‘away’
We’ve introduced ‘Work‘, messed around with ‘Play‘, clearly ‘Travel’ can simply be replaced with ‘Away‘!
So why bother with a post? Well… you see… it seems a good point to pause and share the journey… insight into ‘travel tales’ which help explain how I got from there (Winnipeg) to here (Mumbai).
And warning! This is a long post, so go grab a cup of chai, coffee or other liquid libation and come join me in a trip down memory lane… (more…)
Eid Mubarak!!!
For all my friends around the world who finally broke their fast – Eid Mubarak!!
There is no mistaking the joyous celebration that comes with Eid.
INDONESIA
A couple of years ago I was in Indonesia during Lebaran (Ramadan). I will never forget meeting a friend at a mall, lining up for food with the throngs. All places to sit were full, plates heaping with delicious smelling feasts.. with everyone waiting.. waiting… waiting for the ‘gong’ to signal the sun had set and it was time to break the daily fast.
During that period, I stayed in a penthouse apartment in the central part of Jakarta. I had the most amazing view of the non-stop fireworks that started in the build-up to Eid then an ear splitting crescendo that kept roaring back over and over in jubilant bursts all night.
INDIA
Back in Bandra, Mumbai, we live next door to a mosque. The call to prayers weaves its way into the daily fabric of our lives. So it was no surprise when the spattering of fireworks signalled it was finally time…
Even better. a friend from Karachi / London invited us to his mother’s home in Mumbai for the feast! It was a carnivores carnival of delight…
So to all my Muslim friends here (India), there (Indonesia) and all around the world – Eid Mubarak!!!
Celebration time! (Islamicartdb.com)
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