Friday, March 28, 2008

India Day 1 to 2 - New Delhi to Agra - The Taj Mahal


India, New Delhi & Agra Trip Index

Day 1 to 2: New Delhi to Agra - The Taj Mahal
Day 3 to 4: New Delhi - Lodi Park & Qutb Complex
Day 4 to 5: New Delhi - Lotus Temple, Gandhi Multimedia Museum & Banquet
Day 6: New Delhi - Morning of Holi & Red Fort
Day 6: New Delhi - Jama Masjid & Safdarjung's Tomb
Day 7: New Delhi - Birla Mandir & India Gate
Day 7: New Delhi - Humayun's Tomb
Day 7: New Delhi - Purana Qila (Old Fort)

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This is the first in a series of posts about my trip to Delhi and Agra, India, to attend the 13th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications (DASFAA 2008).

Unfortunately, this is the worst trip I ever made abroad. The tourist industry is teeming with significant numbers of unreliable, swindling, and undignified people -- a far cry from the educated and average person on the street. It seems like the government's promotion of Incredible !ndia is totally disconnected from the on-goings at the ground level. Hopefully they can clean up the mess on the ground soon to make India more accessible to tourists visiting on their own. I would not recommend a visit (unless on a packaged tour) before they clean up their act. After all, many of the impressive monuments in this part of India were left by the Mughal (Persian for Mongol) Empire. Since they are merely 350 to 400 years old, they should still stand for at least a hundred years.

17 Mar 08

Off I was for a week in India. Flying by SIA, they had a good selection of meals on board this reasonably short five and a half hour flight to New Delhi. There were two Indian menus and an international menu. Deciding to get into the Indian flavour, I picked something from the Indian menu that tastes great.

new delhi
Butter Chicken. Tastes great.

new delhi
Hotel Palace Heights, an unreliable hotel

After touch down in New Delhi, I met up with my friend and we took a cab to our hotel, Hotel Palace Heights, located in the shopping area of Connaught Place. Prepaid cabs are available from the airport counter for 250 Rs (USD 6.25). On arrival the cab driver demanded for a tip. So I proceeded to hand him 10 Rupees (Rs). "This is shit!", he says, "50 or 100 it is okay". Taken aback by his foul mouth I told him, "It is NOT okay. 30 rupees (USD 0.75) take it or nothing!". Thinking in retrospect, I should have just given him nothing for being impolite.

We met our other roommate at the hotel lobby. We had reserved a room for six nights. To our horror, the receptionist told us that they only had the room for us for three nights. "But you agreed to give us six nights!", we argued. "Sorry sir, our laptop broke down and we lost our reservations so everyone is booked for 3 nights", he replied with a smile. It did not seem to bother him that he was obviously using a desktop and lying through his teeth as we could see the reservations on his screen. The hotel had clearly over-booked itself. Then, he assured us probably someone will not show up or will amend their reservation and told us not to worry -- an entire load of bullshit while smiling. We found out about their wicked scheme when we moved out three days later. So much for Hotel Palace Heights honoring their reservations and this was for a hotel that costs USD 171.55 a night for a room for three persons.

Being too tired to argue further we retired to our room. Thankfully the rooms were well furnished with plasma tv and a good air conditioner. Although it is cool at night, the air quality in New Delhi is atrocious. I quickly went to bed as we had to wake up at about 5am the next morning to catch our conference tour to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

18 Mar 08

I woke up at dusk and got ready to leave for our pick up point. To my surprise, a taxi from the hotel to the India International Centre (about 1/3 the distance to the airport) costs 300 Rs (USD 7.50)! I found out later that whenever one books a cab from any hotel, it will cost anything upward from 300 Rs. Anyway there were three of us so it was not so bad. The taxi came with two people in it -- one to drive, the other to translate.

new delhi
The India International Centre in the morning. The conference will be held here.

journey to agra
The road to Agra by bus is extremely bumpy. It is a combination of lousy suspension and road quality. If you ever need to get to Agra, use the train.

journey to agra
We stopped by some place called the country inn for breakfast.

journey to agra
Snakes. A pseudo snake charmer tried to cheat us.

journey to agra
He played his pipe but the snakes were not charmed and went their own way. Then he came over to those with cameras and demanded money without even giving a complete or decent performance. Needless to say, nobody gave him any.

journey to agra
Reasonable breakfast

journey to agra
Finally, Agra! It took 6 hours to get here by bus. It would have been 4 hours by train.

journey to agra
Horse cart


View Larger Map
The birds eye view of the Taj Mahal Compound. Route towards the Taj Mahal is shown in blue.

taj mahal first gate
The first gate of the compound

taj mahal security
Security is tight. It is good to see that they take nothing for granted. Even mini-tripods are not allowed.

agra, taj mahal second gate
The second gate

agra, taj mahal, mughal domes
These miniature domes are in the Mughal style and such domes are seen everywhere in monuments of the Mughal era

taj mahal tower domes
These tower tops are also commonly featured

agra, the taj mahal and gardens
The Taj Mahal. Built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal. Designed by a Persian Architect which some say was based on the earlier Humayun's Tomb.

agra, taj mahal gardens
Beautiful gardens adorn the compound. The Indians call it the symbol of love. It was built at a cost of 75 million rupees.

agra, taj mahal
Emperor Shah Jahan wanted to built a black version opposite the Taj Mahal for himself. Fortunately, his son seized the throne and imprisoned him. Otherwise the empire will probably be bankrupted.

agra, taj mahal main dome
The top dome. The Mughals like to build symmetrical structures.

agra, taj mahal
Shoes have to be covered before getting up close.

agra, taj mahal minaret
One of the four minarets. Sadly, visitors are not allowed to enter.

taj mahal calligraphy
Calligraphy. These are not painted but a technique which they used to etch other stones into white marble.

taj mahal etched stones
The real beauty and expense of the Taj Mahal is not due to the structure, it is the semi-precious stones that were painstakenly etched into the white marble to form patterns and words.

agra, taj mahal interior
The inside is entirely decorated with etched semi-precious stones. Photography is not allowed but nobody seems to be listening. In any case I don't see what is the problem if no flash is used.

agra, taj mahal flower carvings
Detailed carving of flowers on white marble.

taj mahal arch
The many arches

taj mahal side structures
taj mahal side structures
The Taj Mahal is flanked by two similar structures. One of them is a mosque (masjid). I am not sure what the other is.

taj mahal river
The river behind

agra, taj mahal
A look at the gardens from the Taj Mahal to the second gate.

Leaving the Taj Mahal, we were surrounded by touts trying to sell their wares marked up at ridiculous prices. Thinking that 200 Rs (USD 5) was reasonable for 2 sets of 12 postcards, I bought it from one of them. The subsequent numbers that tried to sell me their wares made me realise that I must have drastically overpaid for them. Turns out that my chinese friend managed to get 2 sets for a mere 30 Rs (USD 0.75). Interestingly he still did not buy it. "That's it", I thought. I will be sticking to him and learning his bargaining ways for the rest of the trip.

Then a little boy came up to me and asked me to exchange my postcard with him because one of my postcards was in german. Looks like while trying to get away from the crowd of touts I did not check my wares carefully. Smelling a fish, I agreed to the exchange. Sure enough after the exchange, the boy comes back to me and demands 20 Rs (USD 0.50) for the exchange. What a sly one. I see they start picking up these "skills" young. So I told him no and got back the german postcards. The boy was protesting all the way to the bus.

agra lunch
We left for lunch at about 3pm. Lunch was vegetarian. Notice that rice is a side-dish while naan (bread) is the main.

sweet indian dessert
sweet indian dessert
Some kind of India dessert that is very sweet.

agra handicraft emporium
agra handicraft emporium
We were taken to a local handicraft emporium that made marble products with etched semi-precious stones. Here the craftsmen file the semi-precious stones to the correct dimensions.

agra handicraft emporium
agra handicraft emporium
A whole lot of such products. They were all really expensive! The smallest box here cost about USD 100! Price is determined by the amount of stones needed to be etched and not the size.

agra fort (Lal Qila)
The entrance to the Agra Fort (Lal Qila). Forts like these were actually used as palaces from which the Mughal rulers will rule the land. Shah Jahan was imprisoned in this fort by his son.

agra fort (Lal Qila) panorama
Panorama from the entrance of the Agra Fort.


View Larger Map
Top view of the Agra Fort. Entrance and panorama shooting point marked with purple. This map shows the many structures within the fort.

Unfortunately, after visiting the emporium, it was too late to enter the fort. That is the thing about these organised tours. The emporium is often more important than the places of interests. While departing from the entrance of the fort back to the bus, again we were harassed by touts. This time a new tactic surfaced. Take a set of postcards from them to see, and they will refuse to take it back. They will literally move their hand out of the way when you try to hand it back to them like an immature kid. Then they will keep reducing the price and say, "30 rupees oooonly!", in effect saying that it is dirt cheap so buy it. I found two ways in dealing with this. The first is to state a ridiculously low price. Somehow they cannot stand a ridiculously low price and will take it back and walk away. The second was something I learnt from my chinese friend -- slap the item on their chest and they will grab it before it drops. One can ignore these touts altogether. However the best priced souvenirs are only sold by them, you will probably not find postcards easily elsewhere or it will be at a much higher price in a store.

After boarding the bus, the long six hour journey back to New Delhi began. I tried to recline my seat so that I could take a nap. It turns out, my head was slamming on the seat whenever the bus bounced giving me a neck ache the next day. We stopped at the country inn again for dinner before finally reaching our hotel at almost 12am.

View the next related post here.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Prawning

********** DISCLAIMER **********
This post contains images and material that may not be suitable for the faint hearted. If you have something against humans catching, preparing, cooking and eating their food like what has been done for thousands and thousands of years naturally, do not read further!
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Two weeks ago my friend suggested we go prawning. "Prawning?", I asked, "It sounds so boring!". Nevertheless. I decided to go with them for the age old human practice of "hunting". Just that this was in a highly controlled environment. After dinner we arrived at the prawning place. It costs $30 to rent a fishing rod for 3 hours. Rather expensive it seems.

prawning, fishing for prawns
The controlled prawning environment -- black freshwater pools with unknown number of prawns within. They add new prawns periodically.

prawning, fishing for prawns
The bait -- chopped chicken heart

prawning, fishing for prawns
A catch!!!

prawning, fishing for prawns
You have to unhook the hook from the prawn's mouth. Sometimes we have to remove the pincers of the prawn in case we get clamped.

prawning, fishing for prawns
Hohoho, the catch

prawning, fishing for prawns
Washing the prawn

prawning, fishing for prawns
Skewering the prawn (un)fortunately they are still alive and kicking

prawning, fishing for prawns
Whole bunch of skewered prawns. Most of them are female with roe.

prawning, fishing for prawns
Grilled with lots of salt. They don't have much taste.

All in all, we caught 18 prawns in 3 hours using 3 rods. That cost us a whopping $90! I guess prawning is not something one would do frequently. Furthermore, I guess we did not wash them too cleanly at the cost of my stomach...

Friday, March 14, 2008

Why Convict an Animal?

Because it can get you cash!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Secure Web mail Access

Ever used Gmail's large storage space to store personal data (or even as a file system)? The bad thing is, accessing a web mail site like Gmail is only secured during login. All other data transferred to your web browser, from viewing of mail, saving drafts, etc, can be easily hijacked especially in a public wifi hotspot. Even loading the first page with all the subject headers and first line of the message body can give a hijacker insight into your personal details. The solution is to use,

https://mail.google.com

to access gmail. After login, you will be redirected to your mailbox also under the https protocol. One possible mistake is to use,

http://mail.google.com

instead and thinking that since the login will be under https so will the mailbox. This is not true, the redirection to mailbox will be over the http instead of https. Before you know it, someone behind you will already have the first page of your mailbox on his screen.

Another interesting side-effect of using https is that if an in-house firewall has blocked http://mail.google.com, it might not be set to block https://mail.google.com, effectively allowing access to gmail.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

JVM Max Heap Size on WinXP 32-bit

I have been trying to run some memory intensive java program on a WinXP Pro system with 2gb of RAM. Unfortunately, I could never reserve more than 1.4gb of memory on it for the JVM heap (using -Xmx). Frustrated, I turned to a 32-bit Linux server on Fedora Core 5. To my surprise, I managed to reserve 1.8gb. It appears that on 32-bit systems the maximum one can reserve is slightly less than 2gb and because of OS constraints, different OSes (hence different JVMs) have different limits on max heap size. WinXP Pro only allows from 1.4gb to 1.6gb. Anything more than 2gb requires a 64-bit machine as stated in Sun's FAQ here.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Greek Masterpieces from the Louvre

A few weeks ago I decided to visit the Greek masterpieces exhibit from the Louvre at a local museum with a few friends. Not that I have not seen enough Greek masterpieces at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, I just felt it would be fun anyway. Now one may wonder why does a French museum have greek masterpieces, did they cart them off to France from Greece (like ahem...)? Well it turns out that most of them were Roman copies of earlier Greek originals and pre-France was an important part of the Roman Empire. One thing I did like about the exhibit compared to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens was the lighting. For this Louvre exhibit, good lighting made for better pictures. Also, they did not really seem to stop anyone from taking pictures with the masterpieces unlike in Greece where this is forbidden (you can take picture of them not with them).


The local Museum.


Whenever I see a dome I snap...


Here we are.


The goddess Athena


Probably a grave relief of depicting some Greek Gods


Athena again. Unlike the other Greek goddesses Athena is always depicted fully clothed in garment.


I forgot who this lady is.



A vase with red paint style illustrating an epic battle between the Gods and the Titans.


This grave relief is about two lovers. The woman (middle) passed on and the man (right) pleaded with Hades to see her once more. Hades agreed but instructed that he must not look back until she has been escorted out of the underworld. Unable to resist (a common theme in Greek tragedy?), on the way out he turned back. In that moment he realised that she will never be able to return with him. The God on the left is Hermes, whose job is partly to escort the deceased to the underworld.


A lion


An artist's impression of Socrates. No one knows if he really looks like this.


A discus thrower captured in a moment of contemplation.


A clenched right foot indicates that the athlete may have decided upon his technique.


These somehow look like angels





Miscellaneous exhibits


Apollo with tree and lizard.


Ganymede, mistakenly labeled as Paris


One of the main highlights -- Aphrodite


That ball, is the apple, which she was present to by Paris since he regarded her as the fairest of them all.



Ares, the God of Battle Frenzy. Portrayed with a metallic ring round his leg. He was caught by Aphrodite's husband during an "exciting" tryst with her.


Eros, whom is more commonly known by his Roman name, Cupid



Aphrodite with an apple clearly depicted.


We left, some masterpiece we created outside



A display of traditional opera costumes


Lunchtime! Root beer float

By lunchtime we were done. It was a good exhibit definitely worth a visit -- just make sure that you arrive in time for one of the guided tours conducted by volunteers for a better experience.