Sights in India
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Taj Mahal
The Taj can be accessed through the west, south and east gates, which all lead to an outer courtyard. The south gate is the main access and is easiest to reach from Taj Ganj, while the east gate generally has the shortest queues. The west gate gets very crowded with tour groups, but they don’t normally arrive until after 9am. There are separate queues for men and women. Prohibited items such as food, tobacco, matches, mobile phones and camera tripods can be left without charge in cloakrooms. Don’t forget to visit the cloakroom first to avoid queuing twice.
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Mehrangarh
Still run by the descendants of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, Mehrangarh is captivating. As you approach, the walls soar overhead in a mesmerising demonstration of the skills of the builders. Cast off your audio-tour prejudices, as this tour, covered by the foreign-visitor admission charge (which also includes camera fees), is terrific, with a mix of history, information and dramatically narrated anecdotes. It’s a real treat to wander around at your leisure, taking a fix of information when you feel like it. Personal guides are available for Rs150.
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Gateway of India
The bold basalt Gateway of India arch faces out to Mumbai Harbour at the tip of Apollo Bunder. Derived from the Islamic styles of 16th-century Gujarat, it was built to commemorate the 1911 royal visit of King George V. It was completed in 1924: ironically, the gateway's British architects used it just 24 years later to parade off their last British regiment, as India marched towards independence.
These days, the gateway is a favourite gathering spot for locals and a top spot for people-watching. Giant-balloon sellers, photographers, beggars and touts rub shoulders with Indian and foreign tourists, creating all the hubbub of a bazaar. Boats depart from the gateway's wharfs…
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Sri Meenakshi Temple
The Sri Meenakshi Temple is the abode of the triple-breasted, fish-eyed Goddess Meenakshi Amman (‘fish-eyed’ is an adjective for perfect eyes in classical Tamil poetry), is considered by many to be the height of South Indian temple architecture, as vital to the aesthetic heritage of this region as the Taj Mahal is to North India. It’s not so much a temple as a 6-hectare complex enclosed by 12 gopurams, the highest of which towers 52m over Madurai, and all of which are carved with a staggering array of gods, goddesses, demons and heroes.
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Laxmi Vilas Palace
Laxmi Vilas Palace was built in full-throttle 19th-century Indo-Saracenic flourish for Rs6 million. After purchasing your ticket at the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum head north along Nehru Rd to the second gate (after the entrance to the golf course and before the grand main entrance to the palace). At the palace, pick up an audio guide (included in the admission) and have a leisurely sticky beak at the elaborate interiors of the palace. The Naulakhi Well, a fine step well, is 50m north of the palace.
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Neelkantha Mahadev Temple
Follow the dedicated pilgrims who take water from the Ganges to offer at Neelkantha Mahadev Temple, a 7km, three-hour walk along a forest path from Swarg Ashram. Neelkanth (Blue Throat) is another name for Shiva, who once drank poison churned up from the sea by gods and demons, which turned his throat blue. A much longer road (17km) via Lakshman Jhula also goes to the temple. A jeep taxi costs a small price to return.
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The Ganges River
The River Ganges provides millions of Indians with an important link to their spirituality. Every day about 60,000 people go down to the Varanasi ghats to take a holy dip along a 7km stretch of the river. Along this same area, 30 large sewers are continuously discharging into the river.
The Ganges River is so heavily polluted at Varanasi that the water is septic - no dissolved oxygen exists. The statistics get worse. Samples from the river show the water has 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 100mL of water. In water that is safe for bathing this figure should be less than 500!
The problem extends far beyond Varanasi - 400 million people live along the basin of the G…
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Colaba
The unofficial headquarters of Mumbai's tourist scene, Colaba sprawls down the city's southernmost peninsula. It's a bustling district packed with street stalls, markets, bars and budget to midrange lodgings. Colaba Causeway (Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg) bisects the promontory and is the traffic-filled artery connecting Colaba's jumble of side streets and gently crumbling mansions.
Sassoon Dock, south of the main tourist action, is a scene of intense and pungent activity at dawn (around 05:00) when colourfully clad Koli fisherwomen sort the catch unloaded from fishing boats at the quay. The fish drying in the sun are bombil, the fish used in the dish Bombay duck. Photography…
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Jantar Mantar
Near the City Palace is Jantar Mantar, an observatory begun by Jai Singh in 1728, which at first glance looks like a collection of mammoth, bizarre sculptures. The guided tour (30 minutes to one hour) is well worthwhile; guides provide explanations of how each of the fascinating instruments work, and how – through watching, recording and meticulous calculation – Jai Singh measured time by the course of the sun’s shadow and charted the annual progress through the zodiac. Each construction has a specific purpose, such as calculating eclipses. The most striking instrument is the sundial, with its 27m-high gnomon; the shadow this casts moves up to 4m per hour.
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Chowpatty Beach
Chowpatty is still a favourite spot for anyone out to enjoy what passes for fresh air. Get the full experience by strolling through the many beachside stalls for some bhelpuri or a head massage. The water is not the cleanest but the beach is litter-free, patrolled by lifeguards and lit up at night. Visiting Chowpatty in the evening is an essential part of any trip to Mumbai.
The highlight of the year at Chowpatty is Ganesh Chaturthi (August/September), when huge crowds gather to watch images of the elephant-headed god of good fortune, Ganesh, paraded through the city streets and immersed in the sea.
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Bagore-Ki-Haveli
This gracious 18th-century haveli museum, on the water’s edge near Gangaur Ghat, was built by a former prime minister and has been carefully restored. There are 138 rooms set around courtyards. Some recreate the times when the house was inhabited, others have cultural displays, including the world’s (rather saggy) biggest turban! The haveli also houses an interesting art gallery, with contemporary and folk art, and world-famous monuments lovingly carved out of polystyrene. The upper courtyard makes an atmospheric setting for fabulous Rajasthani dance performances at 7pm.
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Gurdwara Bangla Sahib
The Gurdwara Bangla Sahib is an important Sikh shrine and a constant hive of activity. Topped with gold onion domes, it was constructed at the site where the eighth Sikh guru, Harkrishan Dev, spent several months in 1664. This guru dedicated most of his time to helping the destitute and sick and was revered for his healing powers. At the back of the gurdwara (Sikh temple) is a huge tank, surrounded by a graceful colonnade. The water is said to have curative properties. Devotional songs are sung throughout the day.
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Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary
Three rivers flow out to sea at Bhitarkanika forming a tidal maze of muddy creeks and mangroves. Most of this 672-sq-km delta forms Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, a significant eco-system containing hundreds of estuarine crocodiles that bask on mud flats waiting for the next meal to swim by. Dangmal Island contains a successful breeding and conservation program for these crocodiles. Pythons, water monitors, wild boar and timid spotted deer can also be seen. The best time to visit is from December to February.
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Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya
A kind of tribal safari park, only without the tribes, the open-air, hillside complex Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya is possibly your best chance to get a taste of India’s 450-plus tribes without actually visiting an Adivasi village. Authentic-looking dwellings – built and maintained by Adivasis using traditional tools and materials – dot the hillside. There’s a mythological trail and a more conventional museum on the hilltop.
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Osho Teerth gardens
The five-hectare Osho Teerth gardens behind the Bhagwan Rajneesh ashram commune are accessible all day for those with a meditation pass.
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Jama Masjid
India’s largest mosque can hold a mind-blowing 25,000 people. Towering over Old Delhi, the ‘Friday Mosque’ was Shah Jahan’s final architectural opus, built between 1644 and 1658. It has three gateways, four angle towers and two minarets standing 40m high, and is constructed of alternating vertical strips of red sandstone and white marble. The main entry point is Gate 3.
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram
Just south of Swarg Ashram, slowly being consumed by the forest undergrowth, is what's left of the original Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram. It was abandoned in 1997 and is now back under the control of the forest department, but the shells of many buildings, meditation cells and lecture halls can still be seen, including Maharishi's own house and the guesthouse where the Beatles stayed.
Indeed, in February 1968 Rishikesh hit world headlines when the four Beatles and their partners stayed, following an interest and earlier visit by George Harrison. Ringo and his wife didn't like the vegetarian food, missed their children and left after a couple of weeks, but the others staye…
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Red Fort (Lal qila)
The massive Red Fort (Lal qila) stands rather forlornly, a sandstone carcass of its former self. When Emperor Shah Jahan paraded out of the fort atop an elephant into the streets of Old Delhi, though, he and the fort that he built were a grandiose display of pomp and power.
The walls of the fort extend for 2km and vary in height from 18m on the river side to 33m on the city side. Shah Jahan began construction of the massive fort in 1638 and it was completed in 1648. Shah Jahan never completely moved his capital from Agra to his new city of Shahjahanabad in Delhi because he was deposed and imprisoned in Agra Fort by his sly son Aurangzeb.
The Red Fort dates from the very pe…
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Dal Lake
Dal Lake is Srinagar's jewel, a vast, mirror-flat sheet of water reflecting the carved wooden balconies of the houseboats and the misty peaks of the Pir Panjal mountains. Flotillas of gaily painted shikaras (gondola-like taxi boats) skiff around the lake, transporting goods to market, children to school and travellers from houseboat to shore. If you want to photograph the lake, bring a long lens and a polarising filter to cut down the glare from the water.
Most visitors to Srinagar stay out on Dal Lake in one of the delightful houseboats left behind from the Raj, but landlubbers can hire shikaras for tours around the lake, visiting floating gardens and the floating flower…
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Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus)
Imposing, exuberant and overflowing with people, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus) is the city's most extravagant Gothic building, the beating heart of its railway network, and an aphorism for colonial India. Historian Christopher London uttered 'the Victoria Terminus is to the British Raj, what the Taj Mahal is to the Mughal Empire.'
It's a meringue of Victorian, Hindu and Islamic styles whipped into an imposing, Daliesque structure of buttresses, domes, turrets, spires and stained-glass windows. Be sure to get close to the jungle-themed façade, particularly around the reservation office: it's adorned with peacocks, gargoyles, cheeky monkeys and lions.…
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Chowmahalla Palace
In their latest act of architectural showmanship, the nizam family has sponsored a restoration of this dazzling palace – or, technically, four (char) palaces (mahalla). Begun in 1750, it was expanded over the next 100 years, absorbing Persian, Indo-Saracenic, Rajasthani and European styles. The southern courtyard has one mahal with period rooms that have been reconstructed with the nizams’ over-the-top furniture; another mahal with an exhibit on life in the zenana (women’s quarters) that includes bejewelled clothes, carpets and a bride palanquin; antique cars (one nizam allegedly used a Rolls Royce as a garbage can); and curiosities like elephant seats, a clock with a…
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Ki Gompa
About 12km from Kaza, the tiny village of Ki is dominated by the whitewashed buildings of Ki Gompa. Set atop a 4116m-high hillock, this is the largest gompa in Spiti and the views from the top are extremely photogenic. Around 300 monks, including many students from surrounding villages, live here. An atmospheric puja is held in the new prayer hall every morning at around 7am (8am in winter). On request, the monks will open up the original medieval prayer rooms, full of thangkas, Buddhist texts printed on cloth, and the bed slept in by the Dalai Lama on his visits in 1960 and 2000. Dance masks are brought out for the annual Ki chaam festival (June/July) and again in Februa…
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Kali Temple
Kalighat’s ancient Kali Temple is Kolkata’s holiest spot for Hindus and possibly the source of its name. Today’s version, a 1809 rebuild, has floral- and peacock-motif tiles that look more Victorian than Hindu. The double-stage roof is painted silver-grey with rainbow highlights. More interesting than the architecture are the jostling pilgrim queues that snake into the main hall to fling hibiscus flowers at a crowned, three-eyed Kali image. Priests loitering around the temple might whisk you to the front of the queue for an obligatory ‘donation’ (significant money). Behind the bell pavilion but still within the mandir complex, goats are ritually beheaded to honour the e…
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Tirumalai Nayak Palace
What the Meenakshi Temple is to Nayak religious architecture, the Tirumalai palace is to the secular. Unfortunately it’s in a state of rot today, but the shell that remains is still impressive. The main event is the entrance gate, main hall and Natakasala (Dance Hall), with their faded yellow plasterwork, lion and makara (crocodile-elephant creature) sculptures and a series of fabulous murals that hints at the opulence the Nayak rulers once enjoyed. The rectangular courtyard, 75m by 52m, is known as Swargavilasa (Celestial Pavilion), and while time has taken its toll, you still get the sense the plaza fully deserved the name. The Indo-Saracenic palace was built in 1636 …
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Polem Beach
Goa’s southernmost beach, ranged along a beautiful small bay, is seldom-visited but makes a fine spot for a seaside stroll or a picnic on the deserted sands, with a beautiful view of a cluster of rocky islands out towards the horizon. Tourist development hasn’t yet made it as far as Polem, and the beach retains a decidedly local feel, with a handful of fishermen bringing in their catch to the northern end and nothing much else to keep you company except scuttling crabs and circling seabirds. For a fishy lunch so fresh it’s still dithering, stop at the Kamaxi Hotel among the palms, run by the eccentric local Laxaman Raikar. He also stocks Kingfisher, if you’re in need of s…
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