Gartel India
Taj Mahal
Agra, INDIA
First of all, does anyone know what the temperature at the Taj Mahal is? - If your answer is "Very Hot" you are correct! When I was there it was 136F. That's right. No need to adjust your thermostat, thats how hot it gets in the summer in Northern India right at that location. How hot is it? It is so hot that when you sweat, you dry up immediately. You are never wet.
The heat absorbs whatever you sweat instantly. That means if you don't walk with a bottle of water (courtesy of Pepsico I might add) you will shrivel up and dry up immediately. You must always keep yourself hydrated. So do the math: "A billion people times a few bottles of water a day." - Who needs to sell cans of Pepsi in America when there is a guarantee of a billion dollars a day in bottled water?
Well not exactly. Factor in that 90 percent of the country is impoverished. They cant afford those bottles of water, only tourists can. And lets face it, I was the only white person I saw (cause I looked in the mirror) in one month traveling around the entire country. Remember, I went shortly after the Tsunami and it wasn't exactly a populated time for vacationers to come back to India. Matter of fact, I visited many Tsunami disaster sites, broken boats, and burial grounds along the way. It was so bad that they buried Moslems and Hindus together. - WHAT?$@$- Yes. Its true. Religions can come together in certain circumstances. (Like natural disasters of epic proportion.) Amazing how one could get off track in their own Log. Here I am talking about the Taj Mahal and running on tangents about the Tsunami.
The Taj Mahal is indeed an incredible structure. As Bill Clinton said it best, "There are two kinds of people in this world." "Those that have seen the Taj Mahal and those that haven't." * (I guess he was referring to George Bush.) The Taj Mahal is no doubt the Seventh Wonder of the World. (I still like Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain and Jorn Utzon's Sydney Opera House.) But alas, there were no cranes, no heavy machinery, only the sweat of hard working men who build the structure of the Taj Mahal. Rumor has it, it took 20,000 men and 12 years to build. All I can say is that it is just magnificent. And that I am glad to be on Bill Clinton's side of the fence.
Laurence Gartel
Boca Raton, Florida
July 27, 2008
GARTEL at the Taj Mahal 2005
First of all, does anyone know what the temperature at the Taj Mahal is? - If your answer is "Very Hot" you are correct! When I was there it was 136F. That's right. No need to adjust your thermostat, thats how hot it gets in the summer in Northern India right at that location. How hot is it? It is so hot that when you sweat, you dry up immediately. You are never wet.
The heat absorbs whatever you sweat instantly. That means if you don't walk with a bottle of water (courtesy of Pepsico I might add) you will shrivel up and dry up immediately. You must always keep yourself hydrated. So do the math: "A billion people times a few bottles of water a day." - Who needs to sell cans of Pepsi in America when there is a guarantee of a billion dollars a day in bottled water?
Well not exactly. Factor in that 90 percent of the country is impoverished. They cant afford those bottles of water, only tourists can. And lets face it, I was the only white person I saw (cause I looked in the mirror) in one month traveling around the entire country. Remember, I went shortly after the Tsunami and it wasn't exactly a populated time for vacationers to come back to India. Matter of fact, I visited many Tsunami disaster sites, broken boats, and burial grounds along the way. It was so bad that they buried Moslems and Hindus together. - WHAT?$@$- Yes. Its true. Religions can come together in certain circumstances. (Like natural disasters of epic proportion.) Amazing how one could get off track in their own Log. Here I am talking about the Taj Mahal and running on tangents about the Tsunami.
The Taj Mahal is indeed an incredible structure. As Bill Clinton said it best, "There are two kinds of people in this world." "Those that have seen the Taj Mahal and those that haven't." * (I guess he was referring to George Bush.) The Taj Mahal is no doubt the Seventh Wonder of the World. (I still like Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain and Jorn Utzon's Sydney Opera House.) But alas, there were no cranes, no heavy machinery, only the sweat of hard working men who build the structure of the Taj Mahal. Rumor has it, it took 20,000 men and 12 years to build. All I can say is that it is just magnificent. And that I am glad to be on Bill Clinton's side of the fence.
Laurence Gartel
Boca Raton, Florida
July 27, 2008
GARTEL at the Taj Mahal 2005
India Resort
PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1
Okay. So you are asking yourself, what does an INDIA Resort have to do with PUBLIC ENEMY1? I will let you think about that for a bit while I tell this interesting tale. I am driving around INDIA for several weeks and I am staying in what I am told are THREE STAR Hotels throughout INDIA. I was not born yesterday and understand the difference between a ONE STAR, TWO STAR, THREE STAR, FOUR STAR, and FIVE STAR hotel.
What I believe happened to me is that my sponsor paid for Four Star hotels for me to reside in, and the guide and all the people involved in my trip pocketed the money. If one has to check the bathroom for toilet paper and to make sure the toilet flushes, you can pretty well make a calculated wager that you are NOT in a THREE STAR hotel. Specially when you pull in at 1AM in the morning and all the lights are off in the hotel and there is a goat sleeping on the front stairs.
A THREE STAR hotel should have a doorman no matter what country you are in. I don't mind the surprise of bugs, I just want to make sure there is more than a little fan in the room, and a bit more than half a roll of toilet paper. I did not understand why all the prayer to the Elephant God Genesh? I was worshipping the God and protector of toilet paper. It is true. To help clarify all this, most people in India are simply whipping themselves with their bare left hand. I refused to subscribe to that activity, particularly when there was no guarantee of running water. Any case, this is not a bathroom blog story, although I do have many.
This is a story about one night pulling up to this resort in the middle of - I don't know where, and finding myself at the driveway of one of the most magnificent hotels i have ever seen in all my years, anywhere on earth. (I have not been to Dubai yet, so this may change.) But for my 49 year life at the time, this was the nicest hotel of all. My guide walked into the hotel with me and said asked the price. The concierge desk told him it was going to be approximately in US dollars $175. per night. I jumped for JOY and said, "I will take it!!!" The guide and all the people looked at me funny. I guarantee the guide was paying no more than $35 a night for my room and making some deal with the guy behind the desk every single time prior.
This magnificent FIVE STAR hotel with the infinity pool was only $175. I was assisted to my room by two valet men who carried my luggage, and my camera bag. I had a real refrigerator and a high elevated bed with double goose down pillows and comforter. I had not had a decent night sleep in three weeks. I was so comfortable I let out sighs of relief and exhausted. There was a fruit basket in the room along with chocolates and the hotel restaurant had REAL FOOD. Fresh fish, fresh chicken, dessert coffee, like a NORMAL hotel.
You have to realize I was eating granola bars, pretzels and tootsie roll lollipops for three weeks. I was literally starving for something good to eat. The restaurant food was fantastic and breakfast as well was normal with real eggs, toast and what one would come to have as real food. (Nothing vegetarian for moi.) I stayed two days at this hotel because I was so exhausted I needed the rest. The tranquility of calmness after seeing tons of poverty and zillions of people, I needed to simply chill out and rest.
The guide and my team met me at the driveway. They packed my luggage into the car. They placed my camera bag in the front seat and off we went to go back on the road. I turned my head to look back and there was a sign that read, "Thank you for your visit. Another exquisite BIN LADEN PROPERTY."
Dear friends and fellow readers: If you think Osama Bin Laden is hiding out in some cave in the mountains of Afghanistan, you are most certainly gullible and more over have been lied to, a thousand times over. The BIN LADEN family is a very affluent family with great wealth and influence. When you are that rich, you dont go hiding in mountain ranges, and you do change your royal silks often. The words, "Another exquisite BIN LADEN PROPERTY" written in English will forever stand out in my mind, and so will the amenities of this beautiful hotel. I highly recommend it! -)
Laurence Gartel
Boca Raton, Florida
July 25, 2008
BIN LADEN RESORT, INDIA (c) GARTEL 2005
Okay. So you are asking yourself, what does an INDIA Resort have to do with PUBLIC ENEMY1? I will let you think about that for a bit while I tell this interesting tale. I am driving around INDIA for several weeks and I am staying in what I am told are THREE STAR Hotels throughout INDIA. I was not born yesterday and understand the difference between a ONE STAR, TWO STAR, THREE STAR, FOUR STAR, and FIVE STAR hotel.
What I believe happened to me is that my sponsor paid for Four Star hotels for me to reside in, and the guide and all the people involved in my trip pocketed the money. If one has to check the bathroom for toilet paper and to make sure the toilet flushes, you can pretty well make a calculated wager that you are NOT in a THREE STAR hotel. Specially when you pull in at 1AM in the morning and all the lights are off in the hotel and there is a goat sleeping on the front stairs.
A THREE STAR hotel should have a doorman no matter what country you are in. I don't mind the surprise of bugs, I just want to make sure there is more than a little fan in the room, and a bit more than half a roll of toilet paper. I did not understand why all the prayer to the Elephant God Genesh? I was worshipping the God and protector of toilet paper. It is true. To help clarify all this, most people in India are simply whipping themselves with their bare left hand. I refused to subscribe to that activity, particularly when there was no guarantee of running water. Any case, this is not a bathroom blog story, although I do have many.
This is a story about one night pulling up to this resort in the middle of - I don't know where, and finding myself at the driveway of one of the most magnificent hotels i have ever seen in all my years, anywhere on earth. (I have not been to Dubai yet, so this may change.) But for my 49 year life at the time, this was the nicest hotel of all. My guide walked into the hotel with me and said asked the price. The concierge desk told him it was going to be approximately in US dollars $175. per night. I jumped for JOY and said, "I will take it!!!" The guide and all the people looked at me funny. I guarantee the guide was paying no more than $35 a night for my room and making some deal with the guy behind the desk every single time prior.
This magnificent FIVE STAR hotel with the infinity pool was only $175. I was assisted to my room by two valet men who carried my luggage, and my camera bag. I had a real refrigerator and a high elevated bed with double goose down pillows and comforter. I had not had a decent night sleep in three weeks. I was so comfortable I let out sighs of relief and exhausted. There was a fruit basket in the room along with chocolates and the hotel restaurant had REAL FOOD. Fresh fish, fresh chicken, dessert coffee, like a NORMAL hotel.
You have to realize I was eating granola bars, pretzels and tootsie roll lollipops for three weeks. I was literally starving for something good to eat. The restaurant food was fantastic and breakfast as well was normal with real eggs, toast and what one would come to have as real food. (Nothing vegetarian for moi.) I stayed two days at this hotel because I was so exhausted I needed the rest. The tranquility of calmness after seeing tons of poverty and zillions of people, I needed to simply chill out and rest.
The guide and my team met me at the driveway. They packed my luggage into the car. They placed my camera bag in the front seat and off we went to go back on the road. I turned my head to look back and there was a sign that read, "Thank you for your visit. Another exquisite BIN LADEN PROPERTY."
Dear friends and fellow readers: If you think Osama Bin Laden is hiding out in some cave in the mountains of Afghanistan, you are most certainly gullible and more over have been lied to, a thousand times over. The BIN LADEN family is a very affluent family with great wealth and influence. When you are that rich, you dont go hiding in mountain ranges, and you do change your royal silks often. The words, "Another exquisite BIN LADEN PROPERTY" written in English will forever stand out in my mind, and so will the amenities of this beautiful hotel. I highly recommend it! -)
Laurence Gartel
Boca Raton, Florida
July 25, 2008
BIN LADEN RESORT, INDIA (c) GARTEL 2005
VIDEO: http://www.myspace.com/video/gartel/gartel-india/2493673
(c) 2015 Laurence Gartel
All Rights Reserved for Graphic & Written Content
Use by Explicit Written Permission Only
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All Rights Reserved for Graphic & Written Content
Use by Explicit Written Permission Only
[email protected]