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Passport To DreamsFebruary 2016
Table of Contents
Your Guide To The Golden Triangle of India
12 Facts About India That You Never Knew!
Escorted Tour of The Golden Triangle of India Special Offer
Monthly Contest - Fun With Mandalas
Jan 2016 Contest Winner
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The pineapple has been a symbol of hospitality since the days of the early American colonies. The legend began with the sea captains of New England, who sailed among the Caribbean Islands and returned to the colonies bearing their cargo of fruits, spices and rum. According to the legend, the captain would spear a pineapple on a fence post outside his home to let his friends know of his safe return from sea. The pineapple was an invitation for them to visit, share his food and drink, and listen to tales of his voyage.
As the tradition grew, colonial innkeepers added the pineapple to their signs and advertisements, and bed-posts carved in the shape of a pineapple were a common sight at inns across New England.
The legend has continued to the present, and frequently one sees the pineapple symbol in hotels and restaurants to signal the presence of hospitality.
Symbolism of the Pineapple...
1646 W. Hwy 160, Ste 8114Fort Mill, SC 29708
Office HoursMonday - Friday
9am-5pm
Closed Major Holidays
www.rrsmembers.com.com
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Your Guide To The Golden Triangle of India
India's Golden Triangle comprises the three most visited cities in the country's north-west - Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, which are all connect-ed to each other by good road and rail links. On the map, these form a roughly equilateral triangle, some 200-250km along each side. This triangle has been dubbed "golden" for the extraordinary wealth of cultural and historical splendour on offer in each of the three cities.
Jaipur, capital of the largely desert state of Rajasthan, is home to some of Asia's best bazaars. You could spend weeks in Delhi, the sprawling, fascinating Indian capital, and not see it all, while Agra, once the heart of the Moghul empire, boasts the unparalleled beauty of the Taj Mahal, which adorns the banks of the Yamuna river. The Golden Trian-gle is a classic introduction to India: if you've never been to the subcontinent before, start here. Which usually involves a flight into Delhi.
WHAT IS THE 'GOLDEN TRIANGLE'?
IS THAT A GOOD PLAN?Yes. For all its dirt, traffic and crowds, the Indian capital is a remarkably amiable entry-point to the nation. Guidebooks prognos-ticate gloomily about the culture shock and hassle factor, but all but the most sensitive....
souls are likely to find a first visit more inspiring than shocking or maddening.
Delhi is a megalopolis on the up: the popula-tion is young, the economy is dynamic (visibly so: you'll see miserable poverty but you'll also see countless individual-run small businesses) and yet the cultural roots are holding firm.
Delhi's chief "sight" is its street life. The teeming bazaars of imagination lie in "Old" Delhi, the city of the Moghuls, established in the 17th century and still largely Muslim: the immense Jama Masjid (Great Mosque) dominates the quarter. Its main thorough-fare, the tumultuous Chandni Chowk, abuts the Red Fort, whose pristine lawns and lofty Moghul audience halls offer a tranquil haven. To the south, British-built New Delhi is a fascinating contrast, radiating out from the boutiques and cafés of Connaught Place: here, the dusty alleys are replaced by broad, arrow-straight boulevards and four-square monuments. The imperial mall, Rajpath, leads to the mighty arch of India Gate, designed by Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s, and now the focus of New Delhi's passeg-giata.
AREN'T ALL THESE PLACES VERY TOURISTY?Delhi, being such a large (population around 14 million) and diverse city, absorbs its tourists with ease. Agra and Jaipur both have sizeable numbers of Western tourists roaming around. Jaipur, as capital of Rajasthan, has a role as a commercial and administrative centre that has nothing to do with tourism, and a population of 2.5m. The city's alluringly frenetic old quarter is known as the Pink City after its red-washed buildings, packed with stalls selling everything from silk to milk.....
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Your Guide To The Golden Triangle of IndiaDe
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Of Jaipur's numerous monuments, the Hawa Mahal - an ornate five-storey façade, designed to allow the women of the royal household to observe the street in anonymity - has become an icon of Rajasthani architecture.
WHERE SHOULD I EAT?
AND THE THIRD POINT OF THE TRIANGLE?
Completing the triangle, Agra - for all its monumental splendour - can be a trial, with the perpetual smog and the hard-sell hawking. It can at times feel like a swollen village: its parks and public spaces have an oddly subur-ban ambience. Yet it boasts a stupendous Moghul fort in the city centre and the ethereal-ly beautiful Taj Mahal.
The marble mausoleum is by far the most popular tourist site in India - and despite the hype and the cliché it is an astounding and mesmerising building. In addition, Agra offers other jewelled tombs and architectural marvels as well as a medieval-like maze of ancient bazaars, a mass of hooting, tooting traffic and some of the most rapacious shopkeepers in the country. Motorised traffic is banned from the complex surrounding the Taj Mahal. Open-ing hours are 6am-7pm daily except Fridays. Admission is Rs750 (£9) for foreigners and Rs20 (25p) for Indian nationals.
Alternatively, you could opt for wraps, panin-is and light bites at Barista, a chain of WiFi-enabled espresso bars with more than 20 outlets in Delhi alone, including a branch at N-16 Connaught Place (00 91 11 2335 6076; www.barista.co.in). Barista is also in Jaipur (00 91 141 510 8958), in the mall opposite the Raj Mandir cinema, but here an excellent choice is the LMB restaurant on Johari Bazaar (00 91 141 256 5844; www.hotellmb.com), where all the food is pure vegetarian.
In Agra, decent options outside the big hotels are few: cautious eaters should avoid the hole-in-the-wall restaurants occupying the alleys around the Taj Mahal and instead take a rickshaw out to Only, a garden restau-rant at 45 Taj Road (00 91 562 222 6834) which attracts local family parties as readily as Western tour groups. Sit out on its shaded lawns for splendid Mughlai cooking. At all of these, expect to pay around 150-300 rupees (roughly $2.20-$4.50) for a full meal.
IS 'DELHI BELLY' INEVITABLE?
Not at all. Bottled water is available every-where cheaply - this is fine for a week or two's visit, but if you're staying longer .....
Trustworthy mid-range eateries in central New Delhi include the Banana Leaf, at N-12 Con-naught Place (00 91 11 2331 2355), a good, family-style restaurant serving up South Indian specialities such as dosa alongside excellent thalis. Nirula's, at L-135 Connaught Place (00 91 11 2341 7419; www.nirula.com), is another sound bet.
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Your Guide To The Golden Triangle of India
you should be aware of the environmental consequences of plastic waste, and consider taking water-purifying tablets with you.
Antibacterial hand gel is widely available from pharmacies in Britain, and cuts out the need to hunt for soap and water at every snack stop.
WHAT ABOUT GETTING AROUND?
You may find that getting from Delhi to Agra to Jaipur comprises the most evocative aspect of an Indian holiday. Domestic flights notwith-standing, Indians still clock up a phenomenal quantity of rail miles and, in general, the trains are well organised and efficient. Trains have eight classes of travel, from unreserved wooden benches to air-conditioned berths that include bedding and meals. Each class has its own code, which you'll need to know. In addition, every train service is identified by a four-digit train number, quoted in the timetable, and every station is identified by its own alphabetic code - very important in cities such as Agra, where there is more than one large station.
Booking ahead is essential: you generally can't just turn up, buy a ticket and board. Online booking is possible up to two months in advance at www.irctc.co.in.
Delhi Agra
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Alternatively, turn your itinerary over to SD Enterprises (020 8903 3411; www.indiarail.-co.uk), which sells point-to-point tickets, itineraries and IndRail passes - which come in a variety of options from half a day in second class ($8) to 90 days in air-conditioned com-fort ($796). The official Indian Railways web-site is at www.indianrail.gov.in.
To find your train amidst the crowds and the chaos, choose a porter at the station entrance, show him your ticket and (for a small fee) he will carry your bags to the correct platform. As a guide, the basic fare from Delhi to Agra in a comfortable, airline-style reclining seat is 375 rupees (about $5.50). The fastest journey is under two hours on the New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi (express), which leaves New Delhi at 6.15am and arrives at Agra's Cantonment station just after 8am, well before the crowds arrive. The corresponding train in the opposite direction leaves Agra at 8.30pm.
BREAKING THE TRIANGLEOnce you've explored the Golden Triangle there are plenty of options for striking out alone. Near Agra lies Fatehpur Sikri, a desert-ed, hugely atmospheric Moghul palace com-plex, as well as the magnificent Keoladeo Ghana National Park on the outskirts of Bharatpur. Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary is near Jaipur, as is Amber Fort, another splendid Moghul hilltop palace. From Kalka, north of Delhi, a historic "toy train" follows a scenic narrow-gauge line up to the Himalayan hill-sta-tion of Shimla, summer capital of the British Raj.
The most enticing side-trip is to Amritsar, capital of Punjab state and the holiest city in Sikhism, to visit the Golden Temple and the Jallianwalla Bagh gardens.
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Jaipur12 FACTS ABOUT INDIAThat You Never Knew!
A Floating Post Office1 India has the largest postal network in the world with over 1,055,015 post offices. A single post office on an average serves a population of 7,175 people. The floating post office in Dal Lake, Srinagar, was inaugurated in August 2011.
2 Kumbh Mela gathering visible from space.The 2011 Kumbh Mela was the largest gathering of people with over 75 million pilgrims. The gathering was so huge that the crowd was visible from space.
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Bandra Worli Sealink has steel wires equal to the earth's circumference
Mawsynram, a village on the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, receives the highest recorded average rainfall in the world. Cherrapunji, also a part of Meghalaya, holds the record for the most rainfall in the calendar year of 1861.
4It took a total of 2,057,00,000 man hours for completion and also weighs as much as 50,000 African elephants. A true engineering and architectural marvel.
The wettest inhabited place in the world
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The wettest inhabited place in the world
12 FACTS ABOUT INDIAThat You Never Knew!
5 The highest cricket ground in the worldAt an altitude of 2,444 meters, the Chail Cricket Ground in Chail, Himachal Pradesh, is the highest in the world. It was built in 1893 and is a part of the Chail Military School.
6 Shampooing is an Indian conceptShampoo was invented in India, not the commercial liquid ones but the method by use of herbs. The word 'shampoo' itself has been derived from the Sanskrit word champu, which means to massage.
7 The Indian national Kabaddi team has won all World CupsIndia has won all 5 men's Kabaddi World Cups held till now and have been undefeated throughout these tournaments. The Indian women's team has also won all Kabaddi World Cups held till date.
8 Water on the moon was discovered by IndiaIn September 2009, India's ISRO Chandrayaan- 1 using its Moon Mineralogy Mapper detected water on the moon for the first time.
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Jaipur12 FACTS ABOUT INDIAThat You Never Knew!
9 India's first President only took 50% of his salaryWhen Dr Rajendra Prasad was appointed the President of India, he only took 50% of his salary, claiming he did not require more than that. Towards the end of his 12-year tenure he only took 25% of his salary. The salary of the President was Rs 10,000 ($147.00) back then.
10 India has a spa just forelephants
India was the first country to develop extraction and purifying techniques of sugar. Many visitors from abroad learnt the refining and cultivation of sugar from us.
11 The first country to consume sugar
Elephants receive baths, massages and even food at the Punnathoor Cotta Elephant Yard Rejuvenation Centre in Kerala. Now that's a BIG step for the country.
Shakuntla Devi was given this title after she demonstrated the calculation of two 13 digit numbers: 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 which were picked at random. She answered correctly within 28 seconds.
12 The human calculator
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9 Day Golden Triangle Escorted Tour
Escorted Package Includes7 nights First Class accommodations2 nights New Delhi2 nights Jaipur2 nights Agra1 night New Delhi-GurgaonHotel taxes, fees & service chargesHotel porterageAll transfers12 meals: 7 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 3 dinnersSightseeing per itinerary in modern air-conditioned motor coachServices of English-speaking tour manager throughoutEntrance fees per itineraryComfortable wireless earphones for enhanced touring Special FeaturesEnjoy a visit to Gandhi Smriti, the official residence of Mahatma Gandhi that serves now as a museumRickshaw ride along the lanes of Chandni Chowk, once the imperial avenue of Mughal royaltyAmber Fort with its gorgeous Palace of MirrorsVisit the Taj Mahal, the most perfect architectural monu-ment in the world
Available DatesDates available May 2016 - April 2017
From $599 Per Person
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Monthly Contest
Adult Coloring Books are all the rage! Color in this Indian Mandala and send back to use for your chance to
Win A $50 Visa Gift Card!Name:_______________________________________________ Member# ___________________
Submit your entry today for a chance to win a $50 Visa Gift Card!Email Entry to: [email protected] or Fax Entry to: 1-803-753-9883
Mail: 1646 W. Hwy 160 Ste 8114, Fort Mill SC 29708
Mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, lit, circle) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe. In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric
pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.
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Won A $50 Visa Gift Card!
Congratulations!Nicole Harrington
Nicole is our January 2016 winner! She sent us her favorite holiday photos. Thank you for sharing your
memories with us!
Who Will Be Next?~11~
