A Moment in Mathura

We stayed three nights in Mathura, but changed from our disappointing first night hotel to quite a nice one with great food.  Everywhere in town seemed to have some construction going on, with, of course, torn up streets.  Not quite the sleepy little town I visited 10 years ago.

Anne & I hit a few temples around the town that I have no pics from.  More & more of them don't allow any cameras of any kind in, though cellphones are sometimes perfectly ok!?  Some of the larger ones don't allow ANY kind of electronics in, not just phones or cameras, but watches or anything that's electrical.

These pics are from a jaunt to the Archeological Museum (liked it!), and down to the ghats on the Jamuna river for a boat ride.

As usual, click on the pic to embiggen!  The pics are viewed better bigger, IMHO.

The older part of Mathura feels like more like an older India.  Streets with cows, lots of older buildings (in need of TLC), 

some slower levels of economic activity, and I finally found my old hotel, weirdly transformed!, from a previous trip. 

There are still narrow roads and passageways running down to the riverside.

I have no idea what this building is.  I asked, but couldn't get a sensible answer.

I have always had a soft spot for these poor hard-worked little donkeys all around the towns of India. They are a low impact and relatively peaceful way of getting stuff moved around, but they do get worked too hard I think.

We came upon this very industrious dhaba owner in the street near the river, with a fair number of customers waiting to get served.  He seemed to take his business quite seriously, as well as enjoying his interactions with customers.

A couple of local girls looking for a handout from the dhaba wallah.

Down to the riverside where there are plenty of boats for taking a ride on the river.

Our driver from Delhi went out with us.

Building along the river.

Looking across the river a number of people taking boat rides.

Looking back at the old town.

I know I seem to take too many pics of monkeys, as I can't stand the bloody things.

I know this is a 'deified' big rock of some sort.  Someone saw something of a face in it, so added eyes, emphasized the mouth, and made a little worship spot around it.

This old building was built early in the 20th Century, partly to celebrate the then King & Queen of England.  Someone said it was a rich person's home, now partially converted to a temple.  Fabulous carving!

Details.....

Just inside the building a little temple with a large guy!

At the Archeological Museum, images of bits & pieces of stonework from the early glory days of Mathura.  Just a few of the many really fabulous sculptures

These girls wanted a picture with Anne (I took the pics with their cellphones)....then the Lone DeRanger jumps in!

At the Museum...Doug & Me. How's his 'camera bra?'

What a great Masala Dosa they made at our (second)  hotel.  Actually, everything they made was great!

Tomorrow, Agra & the Taj Mahal (well, maybe next week).

A Visit to Vrindavan

This travel blog post is a bit long, but what the heck, you've got time!  Just go through the pics  slowly.

I thought I would finally finish up some blog posts from our last November-December trip to India.  For the  few places at the end of our trip up north I didn't post anything from, now with a bit of time on my hands I thought I would knock off posts on visits to Vrindavan, Mathura and Agra.  These places are southeast of Delhi, with Vrindavan and Mathura off the highway between Delhi to Agra (got to get all those tourists and local folks to Agra and the Taj Mahal quickly!).

We rented a car and driver in Delhi, and fortunately got a pretty good driver.  We only spent a couple of full days in the area before heading for Agra, and with amount of construction and noise going on it was not exactly a peaceful stop.  The pollution was pretty thick too.  We found a good hotel - after having stayed one night in a real poorly chosen crap-hole hotel - with great food, and so the 'in-hotel recovery time' from touring around was appreciated.  Great staff too.

Vrindavan and Mathura have long histories.  Located on the Jamuna river, one of the tributaries of the Ganges, this area was an early large and important Buddhist centre before the re-awakening of Hinduism. (the Archeological Museum in Mathura is quite good for a history lesson)  It is a holy area now because Mathura is considered the birthplace of Krishna, and Vrindavan is the area where Krishna 'dallied with the gopis.'  Vrindavan is also the world centre of ISKON - the Hari Krishna folks we still see all around in the west - so it can be pretty busy.  The area is also where there a a number of dharmashalas - places of refuge - for women that are widowed and spend the rest of their lives without support.

Both of these towns have exploded in growth since I was last there not that many years ago.  Lots of hotels, temples, lots of traffic, lots of  roads under construction, lots of people - this has become a religious and holiday destination for the Indian middle class.   There are loads of temples around the region, so in two days we could hit only a handful.  It seems I have a high tolerance for temple gazing (and photographing), but one can only do so many.

Again, fair warning - there are a fair number of pics here from wandering around, but hey, I'll bet you have extra time on your hands in these times of quarantine.

I will do two more (hopefully shorter!) posts for Mathura and Agra.

As usual, please click on the pics to embiggen in Blogger's viewer.

Our driver for the week on the road. Nice guy, did his job well.

A 'clear' portion of the road on the way south from Delhi.  The pollution was horrendous in Delhi, and spread for miles and miles in all directions.
There were definitely parts of this ride where the pollution was a lot thicker.  

A very modern stop on the highway.  No little dhabas like there used to be!  Fairly modern facilities with lots of food and chai available from
different places- including a Kentucky Fried Chicken!

A couple of sisters with their family at the stop.

Common sight on the road - a statue of a deity being wheeled along.

After stopping at our (ugh) pre-booked hotel in Mathura we headed out with our car & driver to nearby Vrindavan.

Our driver used to know all the roads in the area quite well, but just in the last few years the region has exploded in growth so much that getting around the very busy streets around Mathura was tough to figure out and pretty difficult.

The Govind Dev Ji temple doesn't seem to get many visitors.  Last time I was here it had a large, interesting
fairly unadorned interior, but interesting structure, but due to my complaining companions I didn't get to go inside this time.

A bit of detail from the temple exterior.

A couple of the many birds that love hanging around the building.

Monkeys.....if they're not bugging you they just hunt for bugs on each other.

Near the temple, getting checked out by an inquisitive beastie. 

I put up a different pic and wrote the story about this bloody monkey in an earlier Facebook post.  Short version is that even though we were warned multiple times - even by our driver - that the monkeys will steal the glasses right from your face....guess what!  Anne was in the process of taking hers off when, bam!, this monkey jumps down from the second story of a building and grabs her glasses and scoots back up!  The peanuts bag was an attempt by a local guy to get the glasses.  Didn't work.  The only thing this rotter would return the glasses for was for a tetrapak of 'Frootie', a sweet 'fruit' drink.

This is the sadhu who 'just happened along' with a very reasonably priced box of Frootie for the monkey.  We did get Anne's glasses back.

They're everywhere!  Bloody monkeys!

As eating plastic bags has become a real danger to cows - who will eat anything that has the smallest bit of food
on anything - and can die from stomachs full of plastic, there are finally campaigns to eliminate the plastic bags that are absolutely everywhere.  

If you leave sand around someone will sleep on it!  It seems dogs and cows love to hang around on sand piles.

A nicely done up auto-rickshaw.

A holy town needs holy stuff for sale!

....as well as stores for the rest of your needs.  Take a look!

Of course, people need roti as well.

Cooking down some milk.

An older lady asking for some money.

Another one of the older ladies wandering during the day in the town.

A gopuram at our first active temple stop.

Looking through the entrance gate to the gopuram.

Some of the details on the outside of the temple.

A corner of the temple holy tank, used for ceremonies. 

On the inside of the temple complex area open corridors for circumambulating the temple, some ladies hanging out.

The area surrounding the temple proper has a complex of corridors and rooms facing the temple.

Of course, cows take the most direct route - after wandering around the town grazing on anything they can find - heading to their homes right through the temple area.

Some folks seem to have their homes right on the temple grounds.

It was great to have a 'shoe-boy' around to carry our shoes when Anne & I went inside a temple.
Doug didn't like walking around in temples in bare feet (poor baby - what's the matter, doesn't like fungus!),
and we were even more pleased that he kept his shoes on!

A few folks in and around this temple:

Of course, after leaving the temple Doug really had to GO!  Turns out what he took for an outside men's urinal was a portable ATM truck!
(just kidding....Doug didn't, but still embarrassed us regularly in many other ways :)  )

We headed on to the Prem Mandir temple, but it opened later. There were a substantial number of pilgrims hanging around outside to get in, getting holy symbols 'gold stamped' by seller women.  Also, no cameras allowed, so a disincentive to wait to go in!

Part of the grounds of the big Krishna temple we didn't go in.

Selling flowers for offerings.

Getting stamped for a small fee.

Stamp results!

The little boy above getting his hat put on by grandma.  Indian really like to keep their heads warm  It has always amazed me, over 40 years of going to India
how people can wear heavy woollen toques even in the hottest weather.

Little boy on a cart pushed by his dad.

Nice family out on a pilgrimage .

Another nice family, with the addition - by their request - of Anne.

A Krishna follower, counting his prayer malas (beads used to help in meditation) in a bag.

Ok, in the next few days or so, a post on Mathura.