A guide to India 2007 (Delhi, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra)

[binbeto]

noelleong: Thanks. Glad you like this series.. I used flash on pic for post #29 and and #31 (except superman). Used maximum aperture and hight ISO (mainly 800/1600) for the rest to get reasonable shutter speed. Proper holding technique helps too..

Continue...
As the night goes on, the temperature dips further.. By 4am, the group was exhausted and the cold is too much to bear..

Small fire was started by the pilgrms there and we can't help but move closer.. Not so much for picture but for the warmth of it.. haa haa. Even the law enforcer joined us.. (Look top left)

Finally, daybreak!! We moved back to where the boat is to find ourselves a ferry... When we reached the ghat, the policemen seem to restrict people from taking the ferry.. After some sign language and guessing, we realised that only eVIP are allowed to take the ferry.. What a spoiler!!

Maybe seeing that we are foreigner, the policmen let us be at the ghat while the local are being directed away from the ghat.. We tried asking some boatman hanging around teh ghat if we could take a ferry out but most of them are wary of the policemen. No boats will ferry us..

We just stood there. No knowing what to do.. Afterall, the MEGA bath at 4.30am is what we travel all the way from Singapore is for.. Sianz... R is the one that is most persistent.. He kept asking all the boatman if any of them will ferry us out to where the action is..

Finally, his hard works paid off.. A boatman decided to risk it.. But at a high price of 700 rupee.. Being a good Singapore, we bargain though we have practically no other option.. haa haa.. A final price of 600 rupee was settled.. a 500% increase from the initial 120 rupee.. Just take it as midnight charge.., I guess

The boatman who is 600 rupee richer..

Well.. here it goes.. the 600 rupee view.. hee hee

 

[binbeto]

The thought of having to walk all the way back to where we came from was too much.. We havne't had a decent sleep for 48 hrs.. And haven't had a bite since the Majaraja Mac last afternoon. (Did I mentioned that Allahabad have a Macdonald? haa haa) Although we are being charged slightly higher, the boatman was accomodative to our request to go further upsteam. Our only request: " Please bring us to somewhere with roads and rickshaw.." Now, then I know how weak I actually am.. :sweatsm:

Slowly, I started to doze off while enjoying the breeze.. hee hee..

We disembark at the market place and we are greet by local ladies buying gorcery in their colourful saris.

Meet some local and caught a rickshaw back to dreamland!!

Travel photography is tiring but we are loving it.. :angel:

 

[xziredmp]

very very nice series....

didnt u guys get to agra and visit taj mahal ? i am pretty sure that place will be flocked as usual ?

red fort ? :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[binbeto]

xziredmp: Thanks.. We did go to agra and how can we miss Taj mahal.. but we opted for "suffering" first before enjoying like a tourist.. haa haa


Z and L took a rickshaw and R and me shared one.. We wanna go Mac for breakfast.. hee hee

We specifically told the rickshaw rider to stick together. Somehow, the rickshaw rider misunderstood us or what, both group are separated. R and me have the better deal, we ended up in Mac Donald.. haa haa Z and L landed back at hotel. But they have the benefit of being the first to try the street food..

I slept like a baby when I reached Prayag.. Managed to catch some local news in English and the big news is the Khumba Mela and some 2 Bollywood star is getting married to each other..

But the time we are refresh, it's late afternoon.. We got to arrange our transport to Varanasi.

There seem to an intresting place somewhere near our hotel, Mughal Tomb.. Maybe worth a look.

Still have some time to do street shooting on the way to the Mughal Tomb..

When we reached there, it already near sunset.. Seeing a potential in the place but the light is not too encouraging..

We promised to come back the next morning like all good photographer will.. hee hee

Initially, we wanted to travel to Varanasi by deluxe bus. The "deluxe" bus actually doesn't look very deluxe at all. haa haa We thought train will be a better choice.

4 ticket to Varanasi (10am+) cost us only 180 rupee (Sing$5.40) What a steal! We are thinking that we should have reached Varanasi in 3 hours(Max) and have half a day to do Varanasi.. Boy!! Are we so wrong!!. *More on that later*

Along the way back, the street food we seen looks delicious.. Grilled tomato and some (meat?).. Sizzly hot food in cold weather..... Hmm.. Maybe some other time.. haa haa.. *Still very reluntant to try street food*

 

[jeff49er]

U should try the street food esp the fried ones. Be more adventurous. Other than travel photography , u can do street photography

 

[Ashwin]

Wow you have some really awesome pics. :thumbsup: And great description about your journey too!:thumbsup:
Street photography in India is generally a lot of fun cause there are countless opportunities and most of the people on the street are more then happy to be photographed.

You mentioned that the superman touched your knees and you were not sure what is the Significance of that. Well in India the youngsters/kids touch the feet/knees of elders to seek blessing from them. This is very common among Hindu's.
but why did the superman touch your feet??:dunno: Well maybe you looked very wise to him and he wanted your blessing:bigeyes:

Next time you guys can go to south India.. thats a whole new world in that part of India!

 

[LOTUSfairy]

Wonder what in that Tomato and some (meat?)...
I always ask...hmmm...why I dun see cats and rats on the road...
where did they go...?:sweat:

 

[zoossh]

Wonder what in that Tomato and some (meat?)...
I always ask...hmmm...why I dun see cats and rats on the road...
where did they go...?:sweat:

dun think so. compared to the chinese, indians are probably far more animal loving. holy cow, holy monkeys, holy rats. and many religion practise vegetarian diets.

on the other hand, in many parts of the world, from rats to worms to chimpanzees, the things they ate, is enough to flip our conventional stomach upside down....

 

[asterixsg]

on the other hand, in many parts of the world, from rats to worms to chimpanzees, the things they ate, is enough to flip our conventional stomach upside down....

Yo, bro. I agree. And you didn't mention snake's blood :ipuke:

 

[asterixsg]

Along the way back, the street food we seen looks delicious.. Grilled tomato and some (meat?).. Sizzly hot food in cold weather..... Hmm.. Maybe some other time.. haa haa.. *Still very reluntant to try street food*

Bro,
I don't think that's meat. I think that's potato. You should've tried it. Hot food should be ok. You should avoid anything that's watery though, don't know where the water is collected from.

 

[binbeto]

Thanks guys for the encouragement to try the street food.. haa haa. Maybe if I have long enough stay at a place, I will surely try some.. I am quite wary of diarrhea.. Cos my stomach is quite weak.. Sometimes, even singapore hawker food will make me suffer a few rounds to the toilet.. Dinner time now.. hope it's not too much info for anyone reading this now.. haahaa

Ashwin: I am not quite sure why superman touch my knee at all.. But it really leave an impression on me.. I dun really look wise or elderly.. Hmm.. Maybe we are his first passenger? Or, maybe my tummy gave him the impression I am well-fed and thus a good fortune person? South india is definately 1 place I would like to visit but maybe not so soon.

Srini: So it's potatoes.. U sure know the indian food well.. But on lookng at this pic.. it look rather tasty to me..

With the train ticket secure, we have no worries for tmr. On travel, my personal first 2 piority to me is accomodation and transport. When a bed to lay on, abeit not too soft, and a ticket to Varanasi.

Next morning, we woke up very early.. think 5am cos we are not so familar with the timing of the sunrise and we dun wanna miss a thing.. We actually recce the roof top first but not much inspiration to me.. *zoosh did caught a good picture that I like though*

On reaching Mughal tomb, it still rather dark and cold but the morning crowd start to flow in...

To make our effort worthy, we are greeted by the best morning sky we had in India for the 9 days..

 

[binbeto]

The air was fresh and quite a few folks are doing their morning exercise there.. Although the Mughal tomb is listed on the guide book map, nothing is mentioned in the guide book.. Doing a google on it when I return home also doesn't have any hits.. Seem like we are quite lucky and might have found a hidden treasure. whoo~!

Mughal tomb was majestic in it's own rights..

This old man was praying and completely ignore the idotic photographer sneaking behing him.. hee hee

Meditation

Met a rather shy old lady who was just enjoying the morning sun when a group of photographers came blasting with their arsenal.

After this shot, I just lay down my camera and do a bit of stretching.. Very refreshing indeed.

 

[zoossh]

actually the mughal tomb is listed in the lonely planet and very near our hotel, that's why i brought y'alls there. i dun like too crowded and touristy places. that day happens to have very good lighting too...

i re-read the page. the park around it is called khusru bagh.
i think mughal tomb is a very general term just like saying a thai temple, hence you may not find in google if you used it as a keyword.

 

[binbeto]

actually the mughal tomb is listed in the lonely planet and very near our hotel, that's why i brought y'alls there. i dun like too crowded and touristy places. that day happens to have very good lighting too...

i re-read the page. the park around it is called khusru bagh.
i think mughal tomb is a very general term just like saying a thai temple, hence you may not find in google if you used it as a keyword.

I see.. I dun see it in my guide book but recall seeing it in your guidebook map.. Not wonder can't find using google.. haa haa

Just google.. and found this..
"
These large and walled gardens situated near Allahabad railway station mark the spot where the Moghul Jehangir's son Prince Khusro was murdered by brother Shah Jahan. Khusrau was the son of emperor Jahangir who had made many unsuccessful attempts to assassinate his father and take the reigns in his hands. Khusro's tomb is a sandstone mausoleum, that was completed in 1622. To the west is a tomb believed to be his sister's. Even further west is the two-storied tomb of Khusro's Rajput mother, who is said to have poisoned herself in despair over her son's opposition to his father. This garden houses the tomb of Khusru, son of Salim and Shah Begum."

Remember the youngster that we met in the evening. He offered to show me the insider of the tomb.. hmm...

 

[LOTUSfairy]

Dun think want to go inside the tomb...
later the "friendly spirit" felt invaded and I am doomed..:angel:

 

[qqspot]

[/QUOTE]

This photo nearly like HDR colours any photoshop in your photos? I am amaze by the sky colours match with the building

 

[qqspot]

Binbeto got a greeting for you

http://www.geogreeting.com/view.html?z$MC8Xn+sP8NBBC+hU73og9+dJRneAP+hW!j93*+U0

 

[binbeto]

Lotus: No fear, R will be protecting u.. haa haa

qqstop: thanks for the map greeting.. haa haa.. something new to me. The pic have some photoshop to adjust the brightness of the sky and the building so that contrast is not too big.

With not much time to spare (as our train is 10am), we proceed back to the hotel to wash and check out.. We didn't really have time for breakfast.Thinking that we will made it to Varanasi just after lunch time, we should be able to have something nice there.

We reached the Allahabad station but the display board is not as friendly as those in Delhi. We asked atound a bit and finally find our platform...

With no time to spare, out came our camera..
We had as much fun as when we just reached Allahabad..

The sight of passenger peeping out of the train window still greatly attracted me.

Passenger and station staff have more or less gotten used to our presence and we could get quite closeup potraits.

We meet a family of 4 while waiting for our trains.. ** Pardon for the chop off face of the gal** They enjoy having their picture taken and seeing it on the camera LCD. Simpliest of joy.

 

[LOTUSfairy]

Erh..I dun think that I need protection from R leh.. I think that I was one fierce auntie who barked at the tuk tuk guy who tried to cheat us from Red Fort to hotel and the old man who try to steal my torchlight....hehehe..

I remembered the family with the children and daughter. I find them so nice that I actually kapo our only (precious) bag of potato chips and gave it to the baby and mother. hehehehe...paiseh paiseh....:bsmilie:

 

[binbeto]

From the mother's eyes, I sense that she hasn't had the easiest of life.. Life must be tough for a mother with 3 mouths to feed. Maybe more at home?

L was compassionate and gave them the Lay's potatoes chips that we have kept for the trip.. Well, somehow I dun missed the chips as we are fortunate enough to have abundant of it anytime we wanted.. Seeing her kids happy over the chips, actually brought a smile out of her. I wished them well.