The Golden Triangle & India’s Best-Kept Secret

Agra, home to the world-famous palace and burial site, the Taj Mahal. Here we met the first friend of our travels, Nate. A chef by trade, Nate told us of how he’s lived in Berlin for the last seven years after moving from Cambridge. He’d been solo travelling India for some time and was pretty seasoned in how to get around whilst fending off opportunists.

Nate was a real travelling type with a calming demeanour and a warming aura, a spider-web tattoo in one ear, several facial piercings, further body tattoos and these wonderfully colourful headpieces. Up before the crack of dawn, Kea, Nate and I experienced one of the world’s wonders together. The sun rose at 7.00am with a gentle greeting to the day ahead and before long its musky yellow began to light the morning sky. By 7:30am the sun had transformed the white marble of the southeastern corner of the great mausoleum into gold. A breathtaking sight.

The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world

We left by 9:00am, gladly, as the place became too busy. Sadly, it seemed that to the majority of people, this place has become nothing more than a spot for photo opportunities. I think this is rather true for most major tourist attractions today. In fact, the tour guides seemed to focus their tour mainly around the best spots to take photos, with the bench centrally in front of the great architecture having a large queue by the time we left, rather than the history and meanings behind the wonder of the world.

Photo time at the Taj Mahal

Rajasthan - the land of kings

I am now writing from our hotel room in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, so have a lot of catching up to do. We haven’t had the time, it has been absolutely nonstop. Only in one week have we visited six places, all possessing different qualities, traditions, landscapes and architecture. I’ll try to keep it brief.

Jaipur, known as the pink city, is a popular destination amongst tourists. A handful of palaces, the home of the admirable hand-crafted textile and carpet trade, one of the most imposing forts in the world (the Amber Fort) and an old town coloured pink all make this city unique. Ali, our tour guide wooed us with his sales pitch during our tuk-tuk ride with him from the train station to our hotel. Sadly, in this way, we found out that in Jaipur the hotels/hostels/guest houses etc find difficulty working with the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

Inside the Amber Fort, Jaipur

Ali, and another man who drove us to our dinner spot later on in that evening, told us to keep it a secret from our guest house that we had decided to book a city tour with him the next day. When our guest house receptionist asked who we had been speaking to for so long outside, and when we explained that it was a tuk-tuk driver, they seemed dejected. I’m not sure why this dynamic exists here, we had not encountered it in previous places nor have we after, but what I do know is that this animosity towards one another does not benefit the people, nor the visitors – we felt like we had been put in a sticky situation.

Jodhpur, known as the blue city due to many of the buildings being painted in blue to protect them from the desert sun in the height of summer, maintains a more relaxed attitude to the city. We hadn’t long here but in the hours we did have, we made good friends with our hostel manager, Puyesh. A young, smart man with a great outlook on life. He spent his time explaining to us Indian wedding traditions and his experiences growing up in Jodhpur.

The 'blue city', Jodhpur

Interestingly, whilst in conversation with Puyesh, an Islamic call to prayer rang around the city. Puyesh explained and pointed out that one-half of the city is of Islamic faith and the other Hindu. In understanding the religious violence that has affected India in the past, curiously I asked Puyesh if they have any trouble anymore and he said no, they live together peacefully. This sort of summed up the temperament I understood the wonderful blue city to have. It felt to have a slower, more peaceful pace to it.

Northern India’s best-kept secret

Another train and we arrived at Abu Road, the train station settled at the bottom of the Aravalli mountain range – the oldest mountain range in Asia and arguably the world. Whilst winding through the mountain roads, past countless monkeys and wonderful scenery, what seemed like an oasis appeared, a haven of peace, nature and serenity after days of hustle and bustle and city life. Mount Abu. Our favourite spot yet. With only a population of around 30,000, Mount Abu is a popular destination and holiday spot for Indian tourists in particular and we saw why. It is hard to imagine how somewhere so beautiful, green and peaceful could exist firstly in Rajasthan, a region predominantly made up of desert landscape, and secondly only a couple of hours either side of some of the busiest and most densely populated places on earth.

Stillness, Mount Abu

The highlight of our two days here was our sunset trek way off the beaten track to the summit of one of the mountain peaks. Lost for words as the hazy orange sun slowly disappeared not before filling up the below valley with a rich golden glow. I had to swallow to stop a tear from falling down my cheek. I took a breath and for that moment, whatever it was, it was all worth it. A thank you to my friend Dhruv, who without his recommendation, being his family native to Gujarat, we would not have known about Mount Abu.

Sunset at Sunset Point, Mount Abu

We have now arrived in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, for what feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - to watch India host England for a one-day international cricket match at the Narendra Modi Stadium (named after the current Indian Prime Minister). A stadium self-proclaimed to be the biggest cricketing venue on the planet with a whopping 100,000+ capacity. It is hot here now and surrounded by tens of thousands of Indian fans, we will feel the heat tomorrow. Bring it on, come on England!

Oh, and keep reading as next I will explain more about my experiences of the other side of India, its diverse people, religions, customs and way of life.