A night at the circus, Cambodian style

What do you think of when you think of the circus? Clowns, perhaps? A ringmaster, a lion-tamer, or someone performing daring feats on the trapeze? All those things were in our minds when we decided to go and visit Phare, the Cambodian Circus in Siem Reap. Did we see any clowns? No. Not a lion or a trapeze artist to be seen either. But what we did see was absolutely amazing. The group tours worldwide, so we don't want to give away too much of what we saw in case you go to see the same show (and we heartily recommend that you do!) But we'll try to give you a bit of a sense about the show, and the circus, and what made the night so great.

A circus with a mission
Phare circus first performed in 2013, but its roots stretch back to 1994, when nine young men set up a free arts school for Cambodian street children. The men had been refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge, and in their refugee camp they'd discovered that art gave them a way to express, and release themselves from, the horrors they'd experienced. They wanted to provide that for as many others affected by the regime as they could.

The art school grew, but there were still children who wouldn't engage with what they were offering, but who also couldn't find a way to function in society. So the school expanded its repertoire to include circus skills. As the founder put it in the video we watched while everyone took their seats in the big top, Cambodian children love to run and jump and play. So circus skills were a more natural fit for a lot of them than sitting and drawing was!

Over time, a troupe of skilled circus performers graduated from the school - and the rest is history. Quite literally; the circus builds its shows around the history of Cambodia - a lot of it dealing with the recent genocide, but also more traditional stories. It's run as a social enterprise, and all the revenues they generate go into keeping the school running so that, as it always has, it can offer education to Cambodia's children for free. You can find out more about the wider initiative on their website here.

The show
The show we saw was called 'Sohka', named after the titular character and based on one of the founders of the school. Without giving too much away, Sohka is a young girl when the Khmer Rouge come to power. The show details how her and a small group of her friends are affected by the awful things they see, and follows Sohka's life after the regime and her efforts to establish the school to help the street children she sees.

It's a multimedia performance. In addition to the main acrobatic performers, there is an artist, who paints four pictures during the show while the acrobats are doing their thing, and a projector screen high above the action which occasionally show words designed to help the viewers make sense of what is going on in Khmer, French and English.

You can just see him busy at work in the background there.

The music is also performed live by a duo who seem between them to be able to make as much noise as an entire orchestra! They had composed all the music themselves and flitted between instruments (some we recognised and some we didn't) with ease.

Our reaction
We loved the show on a few different levels. For one, the quality of the skills on display was outstanding. On the acrobatics side, they had three people balanced atop each other...

... and many more things that we unfortunately didn't capture on film as we were too gobsmacked to remember to pick up the camera! There was also some pretty impressive juggling, and a memorable moment where one man, stood on top of another, backflipped onto a tower of two men. It was just jaw-dropping. The painting was also incredible. Jon was particularly impressed with one painting that the artist did upside-down, only revealing at the last moment that it was a skull.



And, as we already mentioned, the music was fantastic, adding to the performance and making the drama unfolding on the stage that much more real.

We also loved the storytelling. The circus isn't where one normally expects a powerful story, but the narrative that they wove was incredibly moving. The joy at the beginning of the show contrasts perfectly with the horror at the rise of the Khmer Rouge; the actors had truly horrific masks that they wore whenever they were in the role of Khmer soldiers, and the show didn't shy away from the atrocities that were committed.

The different elements of the performance all wove together so well; it might sound like a challenge to get backflips into a show about genocide, but these guys managed it with ease. Especially powerful was the dream sequence where Sohka battles the nightmares she has of the regime long after it's gone. It's beautifully choreographed, at once visually engaging and giving a shocking sense of how the regime has violated Sohka's psyche. It's also a stunning display of skill; we've never seen someone bend backwards so their head is almost touching the floor - and hold that position with a grown man stood on their hips! At the end of the performance, we both felt a little wrung out from the intensity of what we'd seen - but all the richer for the experience.

After the show the performers mingled with everyone to take photos and talk about their work. Jon managed one photo with some of the performers as a memento of the experience. Throughout, it was great to see these young people so full of confidence and smiles, given that we knew a little of where they must have come from to be a part of the school. We've been hearing much about governmental corruption in Cambodia recently, and it seems that the government is doing precious little to help the people worst affected by the genocide put their lives back together. So it was heartwarming to see the efforts of an organisation like Phare, which aren't just charities but enterprises aiming to give the people they support a structure to improve their lives with.

All in all - if they're in town, go and watch! And save us a seat :)

J&g

Seen here with two of the musicians on Jon's right, and two of the acrobats on his left. Georgia was manning the camera!

 

Days 18-21: Cambodia - first thoughts

It's been a little while since we've posted anything - sorry! A combination of weak WiFi and packed days has meant that we've not had the time to update you on our adventures as we should have. The below post was written a few days ago - another will follow soon!

J&g

The heat of the Cambodian day is slowly fading away. We're sat underneath the house we're staying in tonight, having just eaten a delicious feast - spring rolls that we made ourselves, amok (a kind of fish curry served in a banana leaf) and chicken curry along with a huge pile of Jasmine rice. We're nearly a week into Cambodia, and the differences with India are already striking.

The houses are built on stilts to protect them from floods during the rainy season, but also to help the cows keep dry - and ventilate the house more effectively in the dry season (which is now).

Another world
Cambodia is in some ways very similar to India - and in other ways extraordinarily different. They're both developing countries, with a very poor rural community who essentially exist (not unhappily, it must be said) on subsistence farming. They also have a middle class who enjoy a little more wealth, centred around the urban areas, though Cambodia's is much smaller than India's. But it's taken us a few days to spot the similarities underneath the vast differences.

The humidity is new to us; our first few days out of India (which did include a brief stopover in Thailand) it felt a lot like breathing soup. The vegetation is lush, trees and plants bordering the roads. After two weeks of arid, dusty barrenness, it feels a little like paradise.

The people are different, too. They're still friendly, and speak English - though, perhaps understandably, not as well as the Indians. The traffic is MUCH better. We've seen queues of traffic forming in orderly lines; people don't overtake at the slightest opportunity, and lanes painted on the road aren't treated as mere suggestions.

But, perhaps inevitably, the most distinctive thing we've noticed about Cambodia so far is its recent history, and the impact it's had on the country.

A nation rebuilding
Before we arrived, we didn't know much about the Khmer Rouge, or the genocide they perpetrated. In just a few short days our eyes have been thrown wide open. The fact that it happened in the seventies, when our parents were growing up, is particularly shocking. In Siem Reap, our first stop where we awaited the Stray Tour bus that would take us through the country, we visited the local killing fields. Whenever people had urged us to visit 'the killing fields', we'd always thought they were a single site. In fact, there are around 20,000 mass graves that have been identified, and around 5 museums set up at key sites. The one in Siem Reap, isn't the more famous S-21 museum in Phnom Penh, but it was still a moving visit.

The first sight that greeted us was a stupa filled with bones and skulls of Cambodians executed by the regime; the exhibit told us that they've been placed there so surviving relatives and friends have a place to pay their respects.

The rest of the complex features a Buddhist temple, which was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. It's a single-roomed complex, which has since been reconverted into a temple, but walking around the room and imagining its brief purpose was an unsettling, visceral experience. The exhibit was touched off with accounts from survivors, including one who dragged himself from a mass grave after he'd been shot by the firing squad. We won't say it was a comfortable way to spend a morning, but we were both glad we saw it.

The people we met also show the scars of the regime. We read that in Cambodia, 70% of the population are under 40 as a result of the genocide, and 40% are under 16. Such numbers are mind-boggling to us, used as we are to hearing about the impending crisis of an aging population in the UK. Our tour guide told us quite matter-of-factly how three of his grandparents had been taken by the Khmer Rouge. His tone matched that of the exhibit we saw; simple statement of the facts, with no appeal to emotion, which was at once impressive and chilling.

He also taught us that in Cambodia, one says their surname before their given name. So we would be Aspinall Georgia and Oxtoby Jon

In our first week, though, we've seen several initiatives set up to help tackle the aftershocks of the regime. One evening we saw a circus performance telling one person's experience of the regime and its aftermath. The circus itself is made up of young people who have come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds, most as a result of the Khmer Rouge's legacy. It was an incredible performance that we'll go into more detail on in a separate post. But if they're ever in the UK (and they do tour internationally), we'd both urge you to go!

The temples
Of course, any stay in Siem Reap almost demands a visit to Angkor Wat and the approximately 200 temples surrounding it. We opted for the sunrise tour, waking at 4am for a tuk tuk which would take us to the three main temples. We arrived at the largest, Angkor Wat as the sun was starting to creep into the sky, and we were not alone. Hundreds of people from all over the world walked across the long stone bridge with us, and waited to be let in to the main temple complex.

To Jon this mass procession of tourists felt crass, but to Georgia the gathering, as if we were being called, felt quite spiritual. However when we arrived in the temple itself we were sadly quite underwhelmed. Angkor Wat is the third highest rated landmark in the world on Tripadvisor and we had high hopes. Jon has wanted to see it ever since he saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel ten years ago, during GCSE revision.

We appreciated the beauty of the buildings, and the charming way stones had been seemingly cobbled together to make such sturdy structures. But what you see from the outside is what you see inside. For us there was no joy of discovery or exploration. Perhaps it was the crowds around us but there was no sense of mystery, and the lack of information anywhere meant we struggled to feel a sense of history either.

The only time either of us has seen this many people at 5am is when passing through an international airport.

The second place we visited was in Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom literally means Great City; it was once the capital of the Khmer empire and home to hundreds of thousands of people. We went into the temple at the centre of the city site, called Bayon - and we loved it. Here we stumbled through secret doorways, down dark passages and up and down steep staircases. The temple had 49 towers originally, representing provinces, most of which still stand. On each tower up to four huge stone faces gaze down, smiling enigmatically. It had everything we'd not found in Angkor Wat - except any real explanation of the site.

 

 

Our third and final stop on the tour was Ta Prohm, known to us as the Tomb Raider temple as it was used as a location in the film. This one was quiet and eerie - in a good way. It was in more of a state of disrepair than the others we'd seen so at points we had to clamber over piles of loose stone. Ancient trees had also grown into the stone at places, their roots pushing through walls - quite beautiful. It also, to our joy, had t the entrance a sign explaining the site, which helped us to understand the site as we walked through it.

Just a couple of Strays
As you can see, we've been busy! After the temples we hooked up with out Stray tour bus, and hopped on a three hour bus to Battambang, where we're staying with the local family we mentioned above. We've seen so much already, but it's provided as many questions as it has answers about Cambodia, its people, and its history. As we continue to travel through the country, hopefully more answers will be forthcoming.

J&g xx

 

Days 15-17 - farewell to India

We're sat on a plane, waiting to go to Bangkok. Already, in the air-conditioned stuffiness of the cabin the dust, heat, smells and vibrancy of India seem to be fading. But the country has left its mark on us. The new memories, friends and perspectives that we carry with us on the next stage of our journey will be the immediate legacy of this wonderful, surprising and dynamic country.

Another day on our own
This morning saw us officially leave the Intrepid tour. One by one, our new friends have climbed into cabs to the airport - and from there, flights to the UK, Australia, the US and South Korea. To all of you, should you be checking our blog: thank you for a wonderful tour. It was made all the richer for sharing it with you.

Our day started comparatively leisurely, checking out of our hotel to wander Karol Bagh market before lunch. The market had been one of the first places we'd visited in Delhi at the beginning of the tour, making the differences in how we saw it now all the more pronounced. We now moved with ease through the throng of cars, people and mopeds.We shrugged off the heat, noting that it felt cool compared to other towns we'd been through. In just two weeks, we'd gone from newbies to semi-confident travellers (admittedly for lunch we went back to a restaurant we knew from our first stay in Delhi, just to be safe!)

After lunch we headed onto the metro to check out some gardens that our tour leader H had recommended to us. We walked round marvelling at the pairs of young sweethearts sat under bushes stealing kisses in the afternoon sun. We also marvelled at the elderly gentlemen who found us on no less than three separate occasions, determined to take what he saw as lost tourists in hand and show us the sights. But most of all, we reflected that this site, which was clearly a hang-out for designer-shopping bright young things, reminded us of H.

How to see the real India? Have a local show it to you
H (or Harshvardhan, to use his full name) has been an almost constant, reassuring presence on our tour. He showed us how to ride the metro, where to get the best food, and how to dispose of water bottles so that they cant be refilled and used in a water scam. From our first night in Delhi to saying farewell at our last hotel, H has made sure that everyone on our trip was comfortable, happy, and knew what to expect from India.

He also made us wear the horrible orange life jackets on our boat ride in Udaipur - safety first, we suppose!

Where he's most impressed us, though, is the insights he's given us into India. The scenic gardens and fashionable people put us in mind of H because he is, in many ways, a wealthy young man. He's connected to one of the noble families in Rajasthan; his family owns two houses (one of which is more accurately a palace); he faces very few of the deprivations and hardships that we've seen in our travels around India. But he is aware of them, and he cares. We've had so many conversations with him upon seeing some reminder of the poverty, or the poor conditions of the roads, or the litter, and in every one he's explained to us why we're seeing what we're seeing - and what's happening to change things for the better.

Rather than ignore the street hawkers, H always took the time to show their wares to us all, ask us if we were interested, before sending them on their way. We were particularly touched in Jaipur when he noticed a young boy trying to sell us trinkets. Instead of ignoring him (as some of us had been doing), he taught the boy the English to actually try and sell what he had to us, and then bought him a bag of crisps. A small gesture, but one that showed us that H isn't a guy to sit on the sidelines when it comes to facing up to the issues his country faces. The fact that he's working as a tour guide, exposing himself to different cultures and ideas, and sharing his with the world, says a lot about him.

Though it must be said that when it came to camel riding, he chose to take the easy option and ride in the trailer!

India: the final verdict
Simply put, we really liked India. Through H's eyes, we've come to see that it's a dynamic country, evolving fast. Yes, there are things that need to improve, but things are changing for the better. It's definitely a country we'd come back to again.

We'd both like to say a big thank you to Intrepid, and especially to H, for making our stay in India so great. Without H, India would have been scary, a mystery, and we'd definitely have missed some of the most eye-opening things we experienced if it hadn't been for him and Intrepid. If anyone is thinking of travelling India, we can certainly recommend them both.

And H, if you're ever in the UK, look us up. Thanks again!

J&g

 

Days 10-13 - Bijaipur and Udaipur: musings on tourism

We're sat in our hotel room in Udaipur, waiting for the heat of the day to dissipate so we can venture out and explore the city a little more. While we wait, we wanted to share a few of our thoughts on the types of places we've stayed - and the different experiences of tourism we've had.

Living in luxury?
It all started in Ranthambhore, where Jon felt distinctly uncomfortable about the hotel we were staying in. The thought of porters carrying bags from the bus to our rooms, while we lazed around drinking complimentary Pepsi, felt wrong - compounded by the fact that the hotel, in a bid to capture the safari feeling, felt distinctly reminiscent of the British Raj. We came on holiday to understand the places we're visiting, and to get to know its people - not to sit around pampered while they toil away looking after us, right?

Georgia quickly took Jon in hand and pointed out that, really, there hadn't been any other kind of hotel we'd been in. They ALL had porters carrying bags to the rooms; they all placed a high value on hospitality and ensuring guests did as little as possible. By doing that, they keep travellers like us tipping, and providers like Intrepid coming back time and again, fuelling their economy and enabling them to grow as a community and a business. So far from being separate to the local lives of the people, we were in fact integral.

Could it be that staying in hotels and living in (what felt like) the lap of luxury wasn't quite as devoid of culture as he had thought? It certainly gave Jon something to think about on the trip.

Bijaipur - now, THIS is luxury
After Bundi (see our last post for details of what we got up to there) we headed out to Castle Bijaipur, another 'heritage stay'. This one was in fact the first place that Intrepid used for heritage stays, giving rise to all the other places they use and setting the standard for these types of places. To say it was magnificent is an understatement.

Like Fort Madhogarh, it is owned by a noble family - in this case, the Maharaja of the region himself (who is available to lead yoga classes at 6.30am each day). The place has a pool, spa, and is totally in the middle of nowhere. It was heavenly. Our stay there included a 'village safari', where we saw various small farming communities at work, and a meal at the Maharaja's lakeside property (when it's not monsoon season, Intrepid actually camps down there in air conditioned, en-suite tents!)

There were monkeys in that tree, as evinced by the occasional leaves and nuts dropping from the tree on us as we had our beer.

That evening we had a really interesting conversation with H and with Chris, a fellow traveller, on what we'd seen. It had felt very strange visiting these communities who have so little compared to us - and a little uncomfortable when we were ushered into one of their houses, to take photos, surrounded by more smiling, yet horribly dirty children. It had felt a little voyeuristic. But H explained to us that the house we visited was owned by a man working at Castle Bijaipur - and he was very happy to have people in his home. And though the children in these communities don't have the same levels of hygiene we've omen to expect, they're less susceptible to diseases than their urban counterparts. Their communities aren't drowning in plastic as Jaipur and Delhi were, and the people in these communities even have a higher life expectancy than people living in cities. So the picture of what 'well off' looks like isn't as clear cut as us westerners first thought.

And as the conversation moved on to what H's wedding would look like, and what life is like for Chris working in an international school in South Korea, Jon suddenly realised that despite his luxurious and touristical setting, he'd gained a real insight into India's culture and the everyday lives that Indians lead - exactly what he'd feared missing out on.

Udaipur - setting out on our own
After a wonderful two nights in Castle Bijaipur, we left in cars for Udaipur, our next stop. In Udaipur we've been staying in a small hotel, and have been left pretty much to our own devices other than a tour of the city palace (we must confess we're getting a bit palaced out) and a boat ride around one of Udaipur's beautiful lakes, followed up by a lovely meal in a lakeside restaurant. The heat has been punishing; Jon struggled particularly round the palace, revived only by a mixture of Fanta, water and Lays crisps.

When the palace consists of hundreds of rooms, multiple courtyards and plenty of spectacular views, it's hard to find a single photo that sums it all up!

But today, with nothing on the itinerary, we decided to take a quick stroll around the town. We ended up getting a little lost, weaving in and out of mopeds, but finally made it back to the hotel in time to catch up on some blogging. We then went out for lunch to a place Georgia found online - a little backpacker-themed coffee shop which did a mean tuna sandwich and fried eggs on toast (we've had curry every day for nearly a fortnight now; we figured a little luxury in the form of western food was allowed).

We realised, with a little surprise, that this was the first time we'd organised a day for ourselves in India - and we were pretty proud of it. We chose a tour that organised almost everything for us in India as a way of easing ourselves into travelling; something Georgia reminded Jon of as we sat in our room in Rathambhore. But in Udaipur, it seems, we've found the courage to take our first steps on our own - which is just as well, as we're not at all sure how structured Stray tours (the next stage of our Asia tour) are going to be! And on that note, we're off now for a stroll to a lake that H recommended us (lakes are the big thing to do in Udaipur).

Perhaps a casual walk to hang by the lake like the locals do will be as 'native' as it gets for now. But with all the interesting conversations and reflecting we've done in this stretch of the trip, it seems that on a tour like this one you can uncover some of the realities of the country you're travelling through - if you have open eyes to see them.

J&g

LINKS TO REVIEWS:

1. Castle Bijaipur
2. Pichola Haveli (hotel in Udaipur)
3. Udaipur City Palace
4. Rainbow restaurant (restaurant in Udaipur)

Days 6-9: Jaipur, Ranthambhore, Bundi: A tale of two cities

We’re once more sat on a train – this time a local train rattling through the countryside towards our next stop, Bijaipur – another heritage stay. We’ve already had some excitement this morning. On the platform Jon accidently squirted insect repellent in Georgia’s eye. Whilst trying to blink it out, Georgia then blindly headbutted a metal bin. Extremely fortunately, one of the members of our tour group, Greg, is an eye surgeon! So as soon as we got on the train, he rinsed the eye with two litres of water and all seemed fine.

One of the delights of our trip has to be the people we’re with. As well as being an interesting mix of ages and backgrounds, they’re a lovely bunch who have rushed to the aid of anyone in need, offering medicines and comforts – or in Georgia’s case, an eye irrigation out of the window of bumpy train. We have Australians, Americans and Brits but oddly an abundance of teachers! Seven out of the twelve of us are teachers at various levels of education (primary to university) but then again, it is the Easter holidays. And, as Georgia believes, it accounts for why we’re all such friendly people.

Seen here in Agra, at dinner after the Taj Mahal

Jaipur

Jaipur is known as the Pink City as it was painted pink to welcome Prince Albert when he visited in 1876. Our first morning in Jaipur saw us visit the Amber Fort. It is an amazing hill-top site which holds a glistening ‘Glass Palace’ with walls of mirrors and intricate decoration.

Everything is made up of tiny pieces of Syrian glass - and shines like a diamond

Our tour leader H knows the secret to a good picture at the Glass Palace: find the right angle

We then went to a jewellers to see a demonstration of gemstone polishing – so all in all a sparkly morning. After the quaintness of our heritage stay, it was nice to check into the Wall Street Hotel – a business hotel) for a hot shower, wifi, and for the Australians with us, the cricket on the telly. 

That evening we saw more of modern India. H took us for some local treats – lassi (a refreshing yoghurt drink served in clay pots), amazing ice cream in a modern parlour, spicy pasties called kachori, and finally a Bollywood movie in the cinema. We loved the film and it gave us such an interesting view into gender roles we wrote a separate film review.

It was even more spectacular inside, yet only seemed to have one screen

The next day we finally had the tuk tuk ride Jon had been looking forward to. To be honest it wasn’t as exhilarating as walking. The roads in Jaipur are wide with several lanes and no pedestrian crossings. We’ve learnt that to cross a road you just need to go – dodging between cars, buses, tuk tuks, bikes and cows – and pray. H usually leads us across, standing in front of beeping traffic, yelling “Let’s go” and “WAIT!” as appropriate. We’re on the lookout for a high vis jacket and a whistle for him. 

Things are looking up for Jon's review of transport types!

We had two stops. Firstly an amazing astronomical observatory, which has a sun dial so large and accurately engineered it tells the time to two seconds. Then we went to a block painting workshop and shop. The hand-decorated fabrics were beautiful so we finally indulged in a purchase (which shall not be revealed here as it’s intended as a gift upon our return). Our time in Jaipur was definitely a look into a modern, quite wealthy way of living – but still with piles of rubbish on the road sides, casually dumped by the residents.

H tells us that people do this because, in their eyes, it's not their responsibility once they get the rubbish off their property - and because the bins smell so bad, nobody wants to take the rubbish to them.

Ranthambhore National Park

After a long morning bus ride (which we heartily enjoyed as an opportunity to sit back with our iPods and watch an interesting world go by) we were welcomed to our next hotel with a necklace of marigolds and a Pepsi. That afternoon, we headed out on safari! We piled onto a heavy duty 20-seater jeep called a canter. We had the best seats, next to the driver - a very skilled man, as we were to learn.

The national park has many species but none so interesting or rare as its tigers. We drove through the park, dutifully snapping pictures of the deer and wild boar, but always watching for the tell-tale orange stripe of a tiger.

It was hard to tell who was sat watching who with this troupe of monkeys!

A samba deer - though his dancing left much to be desired

The track wound around lakes, through woods and up and down hills. There were some eye-watering moments as our canter strained up steep hills, swung round corners, and even managed a three-point turn halfway up a hill.

It's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and really connect with the wilderness...

Eventually we reached a water hole and popular spot for tigers, and we waited. Sadly, none appeared so we set off on the long journey back to the park entrance knowing our opportunity had gone.

Just before the park entrance we paused to watch a very cute family of wild boar. As we stopped we overtaken by another jeep. A few hundred metres later, blocking our path, was that same jeep, now stationary.  The people were all standing up like meerkats, cameras at the ready and when they spotted us they beckoned us urgently. We raced towards them, staring up the hill they were facing. Far away amongst the bushes we thought we saw a large shape stalking across but it disappeared within a moment. The people in the other jeep explained that a few moments before a tiger had crossed just in front of their jeep – as close as anyone could possibly hope to be.

This was the best photo we could get of it. See if you can spot the tiger!

To be honest our near miss didn’t bother us too much. We’d enjoyed our afternoon, though frankly Jon would have loved to borrow a jeep and drive around the park tracks himself. Our park guide teased us the rest of the way home that if we hadn’t asked to stop to see that last family of boar, we would have been the ones to see the tiger so close.

There were also these cool spider webs woven in trees; who needs tigers?

Bundi

Our next stop on this relentless tour was the city of Bundi. It was definitely our favourite city so far. In contrast to messy, hectic Jaipur, Bundi seemed cleaner and more relaxed. In the cool late afternoon, the manager of the hotel took us by Tuk Tuk to see some of the sights.

First stop – Bundi’s second largest ‘step well’. Bundi has 54 step wells – structures you’ll apparently find across Rajasthan but this was our first. They are large, wide holes on the ground, with hundreds of steps leading down to the bottom on all sides (this one had 700). They filled during the monsoon season, which explained why when we saw it (at the start of the monsoon season) it was bone dry. Our guide explained that until the 90s these were used by the locals for all their water needs, as well as being social gathering spots. Nowadays they’re not used for water, due to the city’s litter problem and the presence of piped water for residents to use, provided by the government.

Step wells are even better if you're a fan of M C Escher

Our tuk tuks then raced us up the hill to a wonderful view of the city, in which most of the houses are painted blue to ward off mosquitoes.

The buildings all have to be repainted annually after the monsoon washes the paint off

As the hot day cooled we walked round the derelict Bundi palace. Georgia particularly loved this. It was so quiet and peaceful, unlike the other busy palaces and forts we had visited. There was a charm to the crumbling walls of this important site, with grand wooden doors now starting to rot and exquisite paintings now hiding in silent corners. A few dedicated souls hovered about, tending to the beautiful roof-top gardens and showing us the good photo angles. It’s a charm tinged with dismay, though, knowing that a fair amount of the damage to the murals and stonework was done by the locals themselves. Still, the views were utterly spectacular, and the ambience one of calm magnificence – a magical place to spend an afternoon.

The palace as seen from the viewpoint we stopped at earlier.

The neglect began when the Maharaja of the area left the palace; since then, it's not been properly looked after by the Archaeological Society of India or the local community.

Jon asked why the locals were motivated to damage the monument, even if it were left vacant as it had been since the departure of the Maharaja. Our guide explained that the locals don’t care about the palace, as they don’t see it as part of their history – it’s the Maharaja’s. H also told us that in many instances, it’s simply a lack of education that drives people. They don’t understand what the place they’re in means, the importance of the murals (some of the finest examples of their kind, hundreds of years old), or the value of the monument as a tourist attraction, which of course benefits all the businesses in the town. It’s a bit of a recurrent theme; the plastic littering the ground is in many cases left there because people haven’t been taught the damage it can do the environment. We even saw a harrowing article in the paper in Jaipur that stated that 97% of Rajasthani infants were malnourished. In many cases it wasn’t just because they live in poverty, but because their mothers thought they were perfectly healthy. You’d be hard pressed to find better examples of the value of education in society.

That said, our path back to the hotel took us through the markets where we felt a sense of comfort and happiness from the locals. Some greeted us with smiles and even handshakes. It was quite different to Jaipur (or Delhi, for that matter), where everyone had been in a hurry and the only people who spoke to you were the hawkers selling tourist tat.

Sadly, many of the shops were shut in honour of a Jain celebration marking the birthday of their prophet.

So, two different cities – one bustling and wealthy, but at times a little unfriendly – and one quieter, friendlier and much more beautiful. And though Bundi was cleaner, both cities still had a rubbish problem. We’ve seen lots of evidence that Indians value education – the schools are the nicest buildings around and there are adverts for schools everywhere, with posters celebrating the highest achieving students. Education is clearly important here, but given the seeming lack of understanding about health, the environment, and history, we wonder how many people have access to that education – and what it covers for those that do.

J&g xx

 

Today featuring Robbie, a fellow traveller who also works for Intrepid!

 LINKS TO REVIEWS:

1. Raj Mandir (cinema in Jaipur)
2. Amber Fort
3. Jantar Mantar (astrological site in Jaipur)
4. Indiana (restaurant in Jaipur)
5. Ranthambhore National Park
6. Raj Palace Resort (Hotel in Ranthambhore)
7. Ishwari Niwas Palace (Hotel in Bundi)
8. Bundi Palace

Badrinath Ki Dulhania – Bollywood breaking stereotypes?

While in Jaipur we watched a Bollywood movie: Bardinath Ki Dulhania (or Badrinath finds a bride, in English). It was a fascinating experience, not least because the movie theatre was a work of art in itself. We’ve been told it’s something special even for India, with its sweeping staircase, high ceiling, and enormous theatre. The movie itself was equally as spectacular. For non-aficionados, Bollywood movies generally feature multiple musical numbers with large choreographed dance numbers and romantic plot lines. But it also got us both thinking about it on a thematic level.

Short plot summary
Boy meets girl. Girl insults boy. Boy decides he wants to marry girl. Girl, however, is well-educated and would rather train as an air hostess. Girl agrees only to consider marrying boy when her sister also marries. Boy arranges sister’s wedding through his best friend’s online matchmaking service. Boy and Girl prepare for double wedding with girl’s sister. But girl runs away on wedding day to train as an air hostess, leaving boy at altar.

Interval

Boy’s father commands him to bring back girl ‘to hang her from the rafters.’ By travels to Singapore and kidnaps girl. Boy gets arrested by police, but girl covers for him. Boy stalks girl. Boy gets drunk and arrested again outside girl’s house. Boy will be deported in 3 days; in the meantime he is girl’s responsibility and costs her $1,500. Girl takes boy home. They fall in love again. Boy is deported back to India and girl misses him. Boy gets drunk at dowry ceremony for his brother’s wife. Criticises father for his misogynistic and cruel ways. Boy declares love and pride for girl. Girl arrives from Singapore just in time to hear it. Boy and girl get together and defy father. Brother has children which seems to mellow father out. Girl eventually moves back to India to open air hostess training school. Boy and girl live happily ever after.

Roll credits.

Confusing? Try it without subtitles, all in Hindi!

The analysis
Aware as we are of India’s patchy track record when it comes to women’s rights (in 2015 they were ranked 155^th out of 180 in the UN’s index for women’s rights) we were watching the film and trying to understand what its message was concerning women. Did it reflect the country as a whole, or was it trying to be more progressive?
The answer, in our eyes, is mixed.

On the one hand, the film does tackle challenging social issues such as dowries (which are illegal in India but still widely practiced), women focusing on their careers instead of marriage and motherhood, and generational conflict. And good does win out: Badri, the boy, becomes admiring of his love’s career and the fact that she is far cleverer than he is, which at the beginning of the film made him angry and humiliated. The tyrannical father is seen treating both his grandchildren (a boy and a girl) equally and generally chilling out about life, when previously he had been an ogre. And Vaidehi, the girl, gets to realise her ambitions in her career.

But dig a little deeper and some of those seeming victories start to unravel. For most of the film, Badri (the boy) is an arse. He’s a man-child incapable of interacting with people in a courteous manner; when he doesn’t immediately get what he wants, he reacts either with anger, outright violence, or sulking. After Vaidehi leaves him at the altar (of the wedding he manoeuvred her in to), he beats people up. He throws Vaidehi in the boot of his car and threatens to strangle her (admittedly at his father’s command, but at this point part of us wonders how much persuading he needed). And Vaidehi’s response? She apologises that she left him at the altar, and lies to the police about what was happening so that he doesn’t get arrested – a particularly chilling scene when you consider that many domestic abuse victims behave in a very similar manner. When he stalks her, shows up drunk at her house and at her work, and puts her career in jeopardy, she responds by taking him into her house! Within the confines of the Bollywood format, Badri does of course reform and see the error of his ways – but the man committed serious crimes! And Vaidehi doesn’t just forgive him, she marries him.

And sadly, Vaidehi’s happy ending feels a little suspect. Why does she decide to move back to India and open a flight attendant school? Of course she’s motivated by her love for Badri, and doesn’t want to have a long distance relationship, but there’s also the consideration that teaching is a more acceptable career than that of a flight attendant, for a woman. And of course, the idea that Badri would move to Singapore (where Vaidehi is told by her boss that they are considering her for a promotion), is never even considered.

Of course, as with Badri this is all done within the confines of the format of Bollywood. Love prevails, and is a greater force than friendship, hardship, family, or career aspirations (if you’re the woman). A lot can be forgiven if it’s done for love. And that’s fine, but we got the feeling that beneath this were hiding some pretty stale attitudes towards the roles men and women play in society. It didn’t feel intentional on the part of the filmmakers – it was obvious that they were trying to start discussions about the subjects they were portraying (and of course, with us they have succeeded), but rather a little like a halfway house towards female empowerment written from a male perspective.

The audience were also a little disconcerting. They were enthusiastic participants in the drama – applauding at the right times, and laughing at the jokes (some of which we even got despite not speaking the language). But they also laughed uproariously at some bits which were fairly obviously meant to not be funny – serious music, serious faces, serious voices – and laughter from the crowd. We don’t know if we were missing subtle jokes, or whether they were missing key emotional developments in the film.

So did you hate it then?

Oddly, no, we didn’t. Despite its shortcomings, it was still a charming, entertaining, even somewhat moving piece of theatre. The dancing was excellent, and the comic timing on the money. And in Jon’s opinion (the resident Bollywood connoisseur, having watched at least 5 films now) Bollywood’s portrayal of the battle between the sexes during courtship is always exciting and engaging. We’d definitely recommend you all watch it! And hey – regardless of how well it succeeds in being a progressive piece of film, it definitely got us talking – so chances are it will get other people talking, too – and that’s where change begins.

An inspirational afternoon in Delhi

This is Komal (and her mum, Babita):

Komal has a brother too, but he's a teenager - and like most teenagers, when guests come he hides in his room!

Komal works for Urban Adventures, a part of Intrepid (the company we’re booked with) and she ran our afternoon activity while we were in Delhi - the ‘home cooked Delhi tour’. In essence, we drove to her house, and she showed us how to cook some traditional Indian foods. And it was incredible.

The food Komal (Komi to her friends) prepared was delicious. We had Pakora (vegetables, or indeed anything, fried in batter made with chickpea flower), Masala Chai (did you know ‘Masala’ just means ‘mix of spices?’), Roti, lentils and various other delightful things we've unfortunately forgotten the names of. She cooked, we watched – but she’s also promised to send us the recipes for everything she cooked – so parents and siblings, brace yourself for that when we get home! Komi also showed us her Uncle’s wedding album, which gave us a great insight into what an Indian wedding ceremony looks like. The girls even got to try on Saris as part of the experience – and the boys got to take a few photos.

Everyone also got a bindi, the red dot on the forehead, as we were welcomed into Komi's home. Unfortunately, Jon's sweated out pretty quickly!

The unexpected delight of the tour was Komi herself. On the hour long minibus trip to her house through the chaotic Delhi traffic, she told us about herself and how she came to be a tour leader for Urban Adventures.

Komi’s motivation for becoming a tour guide was in large part down to her parents – and her grandmother., who is often also present for the tour but was sadly absent for ours due to illness. Her mum had worked right up until the birth of Komi’s younger brother, with Komi being looked after by her grandmother. But by the time Komi’s brother came along, grandma wasn’t able to look after him the same way she had Komi, so Babita had to stop working and become a full-time mum. She supported Komi’s aspirations to make a career for herself, in part, because she wanted her daughter to live the life she hadn’t been able to.

Komi’s motivation also stemmed from the desire to achieve financial independence and support her family. When she was a teenager, an unscrupulous tenant in her parents’ house brought a lawsuit against them and forced them to move out of their house for three years. During that time, her father struggled to support the entire family – and Komi decided that she wanted to help him out.

So she resolved to work as a tour guide. It was a risk – as a teenager, she’d been pretty shy. And her mother was dubious about her choice of career. Thankfully, her grandmother was supportive (and in India, the approval of the elders of the family carries an enormous amount of weight). So she went for an interview, Intrepid saw her potential, and she was hired.

But there was still opposition from various people, including neighbours and family friends. Tour guiding is a respectable job, but to many people, it's not a job for a woman. Young women can do things like have jobs and study, but if they don’t have a plan for themselves – or if they aren’t successful – then marriage looms over them, almost as a consequence. Komi's certainly not opposed to the idea of marriage, but she wants it to be on her own terms, rather than anyone else's idea.

A year into the job, a lot has changed. Komi has changed – thanks to the support and mentoring she got from Intrepid, the bubbly young woman who is totally at ease inviting strangers into her home emerged from behind the shy teenager. The attitudes of her friends and neighbours changed. When they saw her success she was having – and the fun – the criticisms dried up and were even replaced by enquiries as to whether Intrepid was hiring. Babita often helps does the cooking on these tours (Komi admits that she once confused fennel and cumin when making bread and it didn't go down well), and Komi is glad that she can help her mother start to make a role for herself in the world other than that of a wife and mother. And now, after Komi was made tour leader of the year twice, Intrepid is exclusively hiring women as tour guides to redress the balance in their workforce (and, we suspect, to find more talent like Komi’s).

It’s an inspiring story, and one that has been covered in much loftier publications than ours, including the Guardian. But it is a story of Delhi, not yet a story of the whole of India, according to Komi.

Her family were attracted to Delhi in the first place because of its progressive and multicultural makeup – a far cry from the more rigidly traditional attitudes found in the smaller towns and villages. Komi’s parents married for love in a country where 60% of the marriages are arranged. The prevailing attitude is that everything women do should contribute to their value as a wife.

When Komi returns to Jaipur to visit her grandmother, other women come up to her and start offering their sons as prospective husbands, hoping to reel her in by listing his career and his salary. They can’t believe that her hair has been dyed, and ask her mother what she ate during her pregnancy to colour Komi’s hair. There’s a mixture of fascination and disdain for her looks, her un-ladylike manner, and her independence. Even her mother wasn’t sure when Komi got tattoos (“Who will marry you now?” she asked. “A boy with tattoos”, came the reply). And it’s for this reason that Komi would rather stay in Delhi, with all its poverty, noise and chaos, than move back out to where her lifestyle would be frowned upon, or even impossible.

The afternoon with Komi was just what we wanted out of this trip. It's been a glance into one person's experience living in their country - and its given us a whole lot to think about and watch for as we see more of this part of the world. We hope that more young women feel able to follow Komi's example in future, and that they in turn support their children the way Komi's parents supported her - and as she'll no doubt inspire her children should the time come.

J&g

Days 3-5: tourists in a foreign land

In the few days since we last posted, we've spent around 15 hours in transit, on a variety of modes of transport including a train (from Delhi to Agra, where we wrote the last post), air conditioned minibuses, a local bus with no air conditioning to speak of - actually pretty cool thanks to the number of openable windows! - a tuk tuk and an air conditioned taxi. Georgia maintains that an in-depth review of each mode of transport would be dull; Jon remains optimistic.

Still left to try: bicycle rickshaw, moped, camel, and elephant

We've been trying to avoid seeing the sights during the hottest part of the day, which has meant 6am starts most days. Setting alarms was one thing we hoped to escape on this trip but given the temperatures we've come to terms with it. We then have the early afternoons in the hotels for a siesta, something Georgia (as quite an expert in the afternoon nap) is slowly training Jon how to do.

Agra
The train journey to Agra was an eye-opener. Our experience was very comfortable indeed: the train was clean and spacious, and we were quickly served a tea with biscuits, followed later by a (somewhat unidentifiable) cooked breakfast, and then finally a tray of sweets! But while Jon worked on our previous post, Georgia watched out the window. In between stretches of agricultural land lay collections of makeshift houses surrounded by piles of rubbish. From these villages came people to the train tracks for their morning ablutions, clearly not fazed by the passing eyes on the trains. And if they were, it seems they had little choice in where and how to do their business.

Our first stop in Agra was the Red Fort. Forts and palaces are technically different (forts being for war, and palaces being for royal families to live in), but it seems that you can't really have a palace without it looking quite a lot like a fort (as royal families seem often to be in the business of starting wars). The Red Fort was home to the Mughal emperors - and as such was well protected. It sports a wide moat - now dry, but previously filled with alligators - and is surrounded by layers of thick walls of red local stone. Inside the first layer starving wild animals were kept to see off any would-be attackers. If an army were able to breach that, next they faced a narrow ramp down which boulders could be pushed towards them. This protection was of course on top of all the soldiers in place for defence - and though the need for defence is long past, the fort is still a barracks for the Indian army.

This was the greenest place for miles around; a testament to the fort's luxury

From the Red Fort we had a good view of the quintessential Indian tourist attraction: the Taj Mahal. The emperor built the majestic building as an eternal monument to the love between him and his wife (at her request on her deathbed). We visited the Taj later in the afternoon so as the sun was starting to go down. It is a magical spot.



Apparently you can pay someone to fix the minaret under construction in Photoshop. We aren't sure why anyone would want that; it isn't what the place looked like when we were there.

The buildings sit in front of a beautiful garden of lawns and ponds which wildlife frolic around. Unlike other very famous monuments around the world we have visited, it was spaced out so the crowds all have space to enjoy it for themselves. Our delight there was sitting on a cool bench in the shade, looking up at the famous icon with baby monkeys playing in the bushes before us.

Madhogarth
After the Taj, it was time to get on a 3-hour local bus with no air conditioning towards our next stop - a 'heritage stay' in the village of Madhogarth. Unfortunately, Jon had succumbed to the dreaded, yet inevitable, Delhi belly and spent most of the journey perched gingerly at the front of the bus with an open window handy! Thankfully, the kind bus conductor recommended buttermilk as a remedy at the halfway stop - and that, combined with a can of Sprite, some rehydration powder and the concern of our fellow passengers, saw him bounce back very quickly indeed. So if you take away one thing from this blog, let it be that buttermilk is good for nausea!

Arriving at Madhogarth was an experience in itself. After a transfer onto an air conditioned minibus, we dove off the main freeway and headed upwards along dusty, uneven single tracks. Through the heat haze and the dust emerged a rocky pinnacle with a building perched atop it. Madhogarth fort - our home for the night.

The fort was, as far as we know, not used by the British, but was instead in the hands of a local lord who was subservient to the royal family of Jaipur. It was the site of a fairly famous battle between the Rajput and Maratha armies, in which the defenders were victorious despite their smaller numbers. Still in the hands of the family who owned it at that time, they've elected to turn it into a boutique hotel to prevent it from falling into decay. Upon arrival we had time to go and get freshened up (which Jon was much in need of after the morning's frivolities) before going for a walk around the village that surrounds the fort.

The village was an interesting experience. It's plain that the government has taken steps to support communities like this; we saw the local khadi factory (khadi is the cloth made famous by Ghandi and a government-subsidised industry), the water station for the local school, and the washrooms - both also provided by the state (which also plans to ensure that every household has a washroom in their house in the near future). We saw houses being freshly painted and made out of brick, instead of the traditional mix of mud and cow dung (though that is used still for its mosquito-repelling properties), funded by money funnelled into the town by sons and daughters working in Jaipur. And, of course, we saw lots of adorable children who seemed only to know one phrase in English: "one photo!"

These two guys also wanted a photo, because we're all still kids inside

That evening we ate dinner with the current owner of the property, a well-educated young man with an earnest desire to preserve the heritage of his ancestral home. We also tried on local dress - turbans for the boys, saris for the girls

What a lovely pair we make!

It was a wonderful evening - watching the sun go down from atop the fortress walls, and then watching the morning sun rise over breakfast the next morning, was breathtaking. But these last few days, it must be said, have built a bit of a wall between us and some parts of India. We've been shown round beautiful monuments, rich pieces of history and shown a small portion of what real life is like in India. But as both of us think back on the people on the tracks on our way out of Delhi, and as we see the people sat in the squalor of the streets we walk past, we're reminded - a little uncomfortably - that there's a very large portion of India right under our noses that we're not being shown. It doesn't necessarily invalidate what we're being shown - it's not like the village around Madhogarth was set up purely to entertain tourists with its folksy charm and cottage industry making bangles - but it's certainly not the whole story. That, we think, we'll have to find for ourselves.

J&g

LINKS TO REVIEWS:

1. Hotel Taj Villas (our hotel in Agra)
2. Agra Fort
3. Kalra's Cottage Industries (carpet making shop in Agra)
4. Maya Restaurant (where we ate after the Taj Mahal)
5. Fort Madhogarh