After sleeping half the day away in Udaipur, Rajasthan we dragged ourselves out of the hotel room and ventured to our favourite street stand and enjoyed our usual breakfast of pouranthas and curries. It seems to have become a bit of a staple for us during our time in Udaipur. We show up, they know what we want, we sit on the bench at the side of the stall and wait a couple minutes before chow time. The man who owns the stand runs it with his son at his side, who is no older than 14, and is one of the sweetest guys we have met. He always makes sure to take care of us first, keeping our dips and onion supply topped up. He even had another child run off and get us both a cup of tea. Once we become regulars to the little shops they really treat us right with little extra touches of kindness like free refills and smiles.
Of course I do not need to say much about the driving and traffic in India because it is exactly how one may imagine, or possibly worse. No there are no flying carpets. There are as many cars, busses, rickshaws and motorbikes as there are people. Everyone is simultaneously laying on their horns to feel significant and ripping around like they are racing for the prize of their lives. Thirty or more people squeeze into a four seater and pray no one farts. Local pedestrians walk accross streets like they have nine lives but when we tried to act the same Tyson got hit on the arm by a passing motorbike and both of us had our feet run over by the same car.
We continued on toward the Holi celebration which already seemingly was underway. People were all gathering their supplies at the shops for the evenings festivities. This is one of the biggest celebrations in India, all through the streets the people were putting up these large wooden poles covered in straw and packed with fireworks and firecrackers. I`ll come back to this in a minute. As we continued we both realized once again that our appetites weren't quite satisfied so we found ourselves looking and sampling everything we could see, from sweets to salty snacks. We endend up grabbing a couple of bananas as well as a bag of chips and a few little doughnuts drowned in syrup...yum. As we approached the celebration we again felt the urge to put something more in our tummies something a little more liquidy...the obvious choice of course was tea. While we enjoyed our small cup of liquid heaven we ran into the two Germans we met on the train. We caught up briefly with them and went to secure our seats.
The main celebration was being held in front of the temple in the center of town, we climbed part way up the stairs, sat down and indulged in our treats. Once the music started we were shocked at what was happening in front of us. Two tranny Indian dancers were strutting their stuff on stage while hundreds of men cheered and were waving dollar bills in front of their faces. It felt like we were a long way from the India we had seen so far, but apparently this is quite common. Music blasted while they danced and pulled many audience members up on stage with join in. Of the people pulled up, they were all foreigners I might add. Audrey was lucky enough to be selected by one of the she-males and before she could say no he-she had her by the arm and dragged up on stage. Of course she immediately dove off the second she was released from its grasp. Any time a local would try to go on stage they would be grabbed and pulled off. There were a few other small performances as well leading up to the big finale. Just as things were getting going we looked over to our right to see people panicking and jumping out of the way. Apparently one the local cows was not having such a good time and decided to charge his way through the crowd and ram anyone in its way. No one was hurt...I think.
From where we were sitting we had a perfect view of the Holi ( the large wooden pole covered in straw) but we weren't exactly sure how they would light this safely. Our questions were all answered quite quickly. We could see the crowd shuffling as a few men were making their way around the pile of hay unraveling hundreds of yards of firecrackers making a long winding explosive wick to ignite the Holi. Suddenly from around the corner we heard what sounded like gunshots getting closer and closer to us as the firecrackers explode at people`s feet. They were jumping in any direction they could to get out of the way. When it finally reached the end, the Holi burst into flames in an instant inferno. What looked like a big pile of hay and wood was actually packed full of more firecrackers and fireworks than the symphony of light. As the Holi burned the people of the city danced around it and lit more fire works and hurdled powdered paint and water balloons.
On the walk back to the hotel we ran into a few children who were armed with water balloons and were not affraid to use them. I was struck in the back about five or six times before I had a chance to react. Damn kids. We were also stopped by some older kids with handfuls of paint wishing us a happy Holi by smearing the powder paint all over my face and across Audreys forhead. This is a wish for goodluck.
We ended the night off by eating four bags of chips again and, for a special Holi treat, five chocolate bars....for good luck of course. We started off our actual Holi day catching up with our parents then continuing with the same routine as the previous day....except one small difference. On our walk toward town, the shops that were usually busselling with people were closed, and we were met with thousands of locals roaming the streets with bags and bags of powdered paint. They would run up to us and shout "Happy Holi" as they smeared or dumped the vibrant colours all over our faces, clothes and hair. They would even do drive by paintings on there motorbikes. Everyone was covered in a mixture of brightc colors and it was a unique sight. At first we were trying to stay clean but once they get you...you`re done. So we gave in to the Holi tradition. Our usual food stand was closed but the neighbouring stand was opened, so we decided to try out what he was offering. The dish was basically hollowed out chips, puffed up into the shape of a ball and filled with different sauces and dahl. After 18 of these we carried on.
The closer we got to town the more people we would be stopped by. The young kids were armed not only with paint but also with water balloons and water guns. Audrey and I were unarmed so all we could do was dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge to get out of the way of the airborn H2O. As we approached one of the final corners we noticed a particularly large group of children ahead. We proceeded with caution and noticed that they were pre-occupied with another victim. As we slipped past them the poor guy emerged from the mob with no shirt, completely covered in paint and soaking wet. The tourist caught up to us and told us "Its too much...its too much." The kids cornered him and tore his shirt off and would not let him go.
Audrey stepped in poo, possibly human. We are not sure. After cleaning the mess we were disgusted but somehow still feeling a little hungry, so we picked up some more Golab jam (doughnuts soaked in syrup) and some snacks and wandered aimlessly around town enjoying the festivities. During this time we were approached by an intoxicated man trying to take us to a hotel to collect commision. We told him that we already had a hotel but this didn't deter him. He spent the next hour and a half stumbling behind us and eventually all the way back to our hotel. We tried to explain that we were leaving and did not need any help but he refused to understand. Perhaps it was the language barrier or the alcohol but he went straight to the reception of the hotel we were already staying at, and tried to tell the owner that he wanted commision for bringing us there. After a short confrontation the man stumbled out of the hotel empty handed and at least an hours walk from anywhere he had to be. We then spent the next two hours trying clean ourselves up. Most of the paint washed off with ease but some of it stained us as a reminder. My hair is dyed pink still and a few spots on Audrey are stained as well.
We did the best we could and headed off for the train station. As it was a holiday the majority of the restaurants and food stalls were closed, but, Audrey was so hungry she managed to sniff out the open ones. Although the selection was minimal we found a stall that was selling the same sauce filled chips as we ate in the morning as well as Dood Chai (Steamed milk with tea). We ate until we were satisfied and continued our journey. The rest of the walk we were stopped every two minutes by moto drivers, and when we told them where we were going they all had the same reply, " No way you can walk that far, must take moto``. As we knew that the train was only 10 minutes away we could tell they were all just aching for some business. We stopped one more time to gather some snacks for the train ride, eat another thali meal and forged on.
Usually when you look at pictures of a place or event you may think, that craziness must have only happened that one time and they just happened to get a picture of it. Well that is the furthest thing from the truth in India. Every picture you have ever seen of India, the colours, the trains, the poverty is pretty much down playing the reality.
We were about one hour early for the train, which was ok because we had time to buy even more snacks and chat with some locals. We found our seats/ beds and settled down for the eight hour night journey. During the course of the ride the temperature dropped drastically and we found ourselves putting on our sweatshirts and grabbing our extra blankets. We are definately heading north.
When we arrived in the morning, the couchsurfing host we are staying with was about 45 minutes late picking us up. Luckily we had his phone number and were able to reach him. He picked us up a short time later and brought us to his beautiful home. He served us tea and got us settled in our room. About an hour or so later he asked us to join him for breakfast which included rice, roti and omlette. It was far above the call of a host and after a long night on the train it was nice to have a hot meal. We went over with him what we should see while in Jaipur and he gave us a list. After breakfast we hopped in his car and head toward the city. He let us out near to his work which was about 10 km outside the city so we had to figure out what bus to take and where to catch it. We went accross the road and asked the first bus we saw if they could get us anywhere near the city center and luckily he could. The bus system here works much the same as in Peru, the bus never actually stops, it slows to a roll and allows people to jump on as best they can, and when someone wants off they slap the roof of the bus to alert the driver who again doesn't ever fully stop.
Since we had no idea where we were or where to go we asked the driver to tell us when to jump off. We took the leap of faith off the bus and headed toward the City Palace. We fought of the relentless rickshaw drivers for the entire three kilometer walk and finally made it to our destination. The City palace is home to "the worlds largest cannon on wheels" and an impressive collection of weapons. We spent a large portion of the day at Jantar Mantar, one of the world`s oldest observatories. it has the worlds largest sundial, accurate to 2 sec. They also displayed many other instruments used for measuring distances between stars, altitudes, astrology tools and much more. On our walk we met a university student on the street who wanted to ask us why tourists are so cold and don't want to stop and talk with the locals. I told him that foreigners are not used to the type of selling techniques adopted by the locals and often times get intimidated. It is sometimes easier for them just to walk away. He invited us into his shop for a cup of chai and to "talk". We accepted as we were just debating on going for chai. It turns out he had studied with an Ashram in northern India and offered to assess the seven chatras (energies) of our bodies based our birthdates, birth times and names. As I hadn't showered that morning he was unable to assess me but he wrote down the info for Audrey and went to work. I had to leave the room but I am told that it was very interesting. Because of how the stars and planets were aligned the day Audrey was born he could almost describe her perfectly. Of course, afterwards he tried to get us to buy his jewelery but it wouldn't be India if he didn't. We told him no thank you and carried on.
We wandered around to a couple more sites which offered beautiful photo opps such as Hawa Mahal and Albert Hall and soon we realized we were really short on time. Our couch surfing host had invited us to join him for dinner at 7pm and so we headed toward the bus station. We ran into another friend we had met on our travels and caught up briefly with him before arriving at the station. We ran inside and inquired about tickets to our next destination and before we knew it 7pm had come and gone. The line ups in India are not quite like that of Canada, they are mere suggestions because really whomever pushes harder or can fit in the gaps is first.
As we scrambled to find which bus to take, a few helpful rickshaw drivers pointed us in the right direction. While we waited for the bus we got to talking with the drivers and found out some pretty interesting facts about Rajasthan. It is not uncommon for a 20 year old man to marry a 15 year old girl, a rickshaw costs about three million rupees to buy, and these particular drivers get paid no matter if they get any jobs or not. Finally our bus rolled in and we were stuck trying to figure out where to get off. As we sat in our seats trying to remember a landmark we started asking people on the bus for help. It turns out, that of the billion people in India and millions of busses, we happened to sit down right next to our host`s next door neighbour. Talk about small world.
Seeing as we were already late for dinner, we humbly joined our host and his two guests from Spain for a delicious Indian style dinner. We chatted for a couple of hours with the Spanyards and now have one more offer of a place to stay while in Europe. The day was full and so were are tummies so we head to bed.
The next morning we awoke to a knock at the door and were presented with two cups of tea and were told our breakfast is ready. Like in many other countries we have visited, breakfast is similar to any other meal, this day, breakfast was noodles and vegetables. Our host family was so kind that they would not allow us to leave the house before having a cup of tea and a plate of food in our stomachs. We stopped by the office of our host for some internet access before jumping on an overcrowded bus to the city. It was strange that after taking the same bus into town everyday to the same place, the fare was different. We soon realized that some ticket guys were ripping us off and some were not.
A guy we met on the bus helped direct us to the train station where we wanted to inquire about some tickets. He walked quite a distance with us and seemed kind, but once we reached the station, the tourist staff told him off saying that he was of no more use. We felt bad for the guy but the culture here is blunt and to the point, no sugar coating. The only tickets left for the train were luxury ones with higher prices so we head to the bus station on foot where we found something cheaper. We tried to walk to the bank but I lead us in the wrong direction so we walked an extra couple hours. Through the dark back streets, we saw people setting up tents and blankets to sleep with the stray dogs and rats. After withdrawing money we walked back to take the bus home but our rickshaw friends from the night before told us we had just missed the last bus of the night and we were forced to pay ten times the price for a rickshaw. They were leaving work for the day so we tried to negotiate a price with random drivers and the best we got was 150 rupees. Thankfully there was a prepaid service there as well with set prices and we paid 87 rupees which is still sucky but not as bad. We ate two plates of dinner each at a small street stall that consisted of buttered buns and chickpea curry. We have always been eating double what others are eating and while it makes us look fat, one is never enough.
Even though we got home full and sleepy, we had a big dinner waiting for us. It would have been rude not to, so we sat down and threw more grub down the hatch like it aint no thang. Our host sat with us a we had a very nice conversation about Indian culture and Indian Weddings. They are newly weds from an arranged marriage. They described it as a lottery, sometimes you win sometimes you lose...in their case they won!!
Our time in Jaipur was short short but very sweet. The hosts we stayed with went above and beyond anything we could have asked for and for that we thank them. We left feeling like we were leaving family. We caught an ordinary sitting bus for our twelve hour journey to Chandigarh in Punjab. Audrey slept fine through it all but I could not get comfortable and did not sleep much. Chandigarh was voted cleanest city in India, and we can vouch for that. The grass was green, no garbage on the streets even the air was much clearer. We enjoyed our walk through the city. looking at beautiful luxury homes lined outside with expensive cars and manicured gardens. Of course after a long trip we were hungry so we found a lady selling paranthas and ate. We visted an attraction called the rock garden. It is a sanctuary of sculptures and formations made up entirely of recycled materials and rocks that the artist collected from near-by villages. He saw what a problem the garbage was becoming in some areas and started this movement for a cleaner city. His sculptures are very unique and cover an area of 20 acres. There are fountains and nice walks inside.
We then headed to a near by lake which is actually the largest man made lake in Asia. It was such a beautiful day that we threw our bags down and used them as pillows for a quik nap in the sun. This is when we met Lucky and Gurpreet.
Lucky is a man who was born in India but lives in New Jersey, and Gurpreet is Lucky`s nephew, who lives in a village about an hour and a half drive away called Bangra with his family. We chatted with the men for about ten minutes or so and Lucky invited us to come stay with him and his family. We were hestiant at first but we decided to take a chance. We drove first to Gurpreets family`s home and met his Mother (Lucky`s sister) and father. When we arrived, they rushed out to prepare tea and samosas. They then took us out for a wonderful dinner with an older friend, Mammy (nickname). He was excited to see us but he spoke very little English so he mostly sat at the end of the table a smiled at us. We ate so much food and Lucky took care of everything. They then took us to Lucky`s home in another village called Karnana where we settled in and went to sleep.
The next morning we had an early start to the day when their neighbor who is 95 years old, came over to the house with 4 large cups of tea and a huge plate of cookies. She did not speak English but her eyes said it all. She was so happy that we took the time to come to their village and meet everyone. Our plan had been to leave to Amritsar first thing in the morning but we did not want to leave. We spent the day walking around with Lucky and stopping at every house in the villiage meeting all of the cousins, aunts, uncles and friends. Everyone offered us gifts, food, drinks and a place to stay anytime we needed. We also stopped by Mammy`s house where his wife had Pouranthas prepared for us. We continued visiting friends and family throughout the afternoon and evening and then stopped for clay baked fish and chicken. We were so full by the time we stopped at yet another friend`s home for dinner. Everyone was so generous and giving. It was a very nice change to see how the Indian culture truly is and that not everybody is out to make an extra buck. We are very greatful that we met Lucky and Gurpreet, it goes to show that if you brush everybody off and live in a bubble, you could miss out on the things in life that can really change you. Of course you can`t trust everyone but it`s good to give them a chance.
The next morning it was time for us to continue our journey. Lucky hired a car and driver to drive us to the bus station, but of course he couldn`t let us leave hungry. He took us out for one last meal before we left. Thank you Karnana for your kindness and for one of our favorite experiences.
Amritsar, home of the Golden Palace was our next stop. In Punjab this is the place where all the Sihks come for there pilgrimage. It is a beautiful Gold Plated palace surrounded by a serene pool of holy water and other beautiful white buildings. We knew that foreign tourists are allowed to stay at the temple by donation but it took a while to find someone who spoke enough English, had any patience or cared enough to direct us to the correct place. We wandered looking lost for a while, witnessed an argument between an old lady and several turbanned men and finally found an area of connected rooms saved for foreigners. There was chaous everywhere but we are becoming accustomed to this. There is never enough space and no one has any concept of personal bubbles. Pushing, elbowing and stepping on toes is perfectly within the norm and does not require appologies.
At the Pakistan, India border a ceremony is held where the two borders are completely open and the guards from both sides perform a marching ritual symbolizing peace between the two countries. As we were already running a little late for the event we decided to hire a rickshaw to make sure we made it on time. Our driver had a different agenda. Audrey and I and our new friend from Japan hired him to take us directly to the border, but he decided that since there was still space on the rickshaw he would try to fill it as much as he could. TEN PEOPLE on a tiny machine!!! Our speed dropped from fifty kilometers per hour to twenty and we missed the beginning of the event. Our Japanese friend and I managed to get an area blocked off specifically for foreigners and saw most of the action but Audrey got lost in a sea of tall people and missed it. We arranged for the same driver to drive us back to the temple as well, but we were angry that he made us late so we told hom we were not happy. He eventually understood that he was wrong and drove us back for half the price.
After the ordeal with the rickshaw driver and the long day of travel we worked up quite an appetite. Fortunately for us, the temple also offers food for all the 50,000 or so guests 24 hours a day. We were handed steel plates and sat on a mat with hundreds of other people while volunteers shovelled rice pudding, curry, dahl and rotis into our dishes. We ate until all the people around us had finished and we were the only ones left. If that wasn`t bad enough we moved to sit with a new group of devotees and ate another share. We handed our empty plates to one of hundreds of volunteers cleaning dishes. They were tossing everything around in a scene that looked messy but probably made perfect sense because it seemed to be working well. We walked around the grounds of the temple and took in all of it`s beauty. The next morning we started the day with a nice meal of the same Roti with curry and dal as well as rice pudding. We enjoyed the temple in the daylight until we headed once again for the bus station to Darmashala.
Prior to getting on the bus a guy grabbed our bags and threw them on the roof, a task that we are perfectly capable of, but we of course had to pay him for the job. The bus trip which was meant to take six hours took closer to eight and was a frightening experience. We sat with our Japanese friend for the trip and the bus that started off a quarter full was soon bursting at the seams. The driver was passing cars into oncoming traffic and ripping around like he wasn`t responsible for dozens of people. Dharmashala is in the mountains and he did not slow down nor change his antics when we reached the narrow roads. We stopped in a small town where we got ripped off on burgers, popcorn and samosas on the way. When we finally got to Dharmashala, we jumped directly on another local bus to McLeod Ganj which is the main tourist area. As we were transfering a guy offered to unload our bags to which I clearly said ``no`, thank you``. He must have misunderstood that to mean `yes please` and raced Tyson for the bags. After doing nothing he still followed us a significant distance asking for payment.
In McLeod Ganj, after rushing to the bathroom where the staff was ruthlessly ripping us off in our time of need, we tried to call our friend from Jaipur who had offered us a place to stay. After several phone calls and a hilly stroll through the city, things did not work out. We decided to accept our fate and look for alternative accomadation. We found this in the form of a nice hotel run by the nicest man on the planet. After offering us a perfectly reasonable rate he ran around, cooked us an extremely cheap dinner (we only bought the noodles for it from the store) and even added to it from his own personal food from his home. He gave us extra blankets and was so sweet that we felt inadequate. After blowing the difference of what we saved on snacks and watching a movie, we loaded heavy bankets on for the cozy night.
The next day we wandered through the very unique city. Neither of us have ever seen anything quite like it. The weather warms up quite a bit in the day and the mix of Tibetan monks and local Indians is quite a contrast to one another but they all speak the same language and seem to get along quite well. We had breakfast at a small restaurant nearby and head to the residence of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama resides here because had to escape through the mountains from Tibet to Dharmashala to seek asylum. This was true of many Tibetans and still about 10,000 people flee to India every year. They have schools and businesses here in India and they are very actively trying to create awareness of the cruelty China is inflicting upon their people. Since about 1960, the Chinese government has been torturing and murdering Tibetans, forcing them to forsake their language, traditions and religion. There are posters everywhere and they are speaking about it to anyone who is willing to listen. There are regular protests and events planned surrounding this issue. There are vivid and disturbing photos of the violence occuring in that country right now. For further information google "free tibet".
The Dalai Lama temple and residence is very beautiful and peaceful. We went there in the morning and walked around while the maroon clad monks chanted prayers. We stayed for an early lunch of rice, salad, fried vegetables and black eyed pea soup. We also had Tibetan tea and this was all by donation. There were monkeys everywhere playing and eating, some were quite large and we were entertained watching them for a while. We then hiked through a small villiage to a waterfall in the mountains. The view of the Himalayas is, of course, absolutely breathtaking. Although we are only seeing a small portion of them from here, they are covered with snow and look magical. They are huge, powerful mountains that demand attention and respect. The waterfall was beautiful with clear fresh water and there were newlywed couples everywhere. Indian girls where a red line down the part of their hair as well as red bangles covering their forearms for a few months after they marry so they are easily identified. As we walked back a few women carrying babies asked us for money and we declined, I assume one of them was a bit ticked because she elbowed Tyson into a dumpster. If it wasn't so funny, I would be angry. As we continued on we saw a small child playing close to a cliff, upon closer inspection, we noticed he was tied to a table by his ankle. He seemed quite content and smiled big for me when I spoke with him. It may sound mean to do this but his parents were both working hard carrying dirt up a hill on their heads and they have no one to watch their child so they bring him to work and tie him so he cannot hurt himself. Unfortunately as soon as I showed affection to their child, the woman was on me to buy him biscuits and such which makes it difficult to play.
We also hiked to a holy lake that India created for the Tibetan people. Apparently people bath in it once a year in September but it was so filthy that the thought of it was repulsing. The view of the forest behind it was quite beautiful though. We continued to a villiage called Naddi that is further in the mountains. Tyson played with many of the children setting off firecrackers and hitting rocks with a cricket stick. We gave out candy to the kids and they all seemed to speak English well. The view from this villiage is out of this world. Our mouths dropped open when we saw it. I will post many photos but the true sight of it is amazing. The view of the white mountain, the yellow flowers, green grass and blue sky all together was priceless. After enjoying this for a while we walked back down catching a beautiful sunset. On the way down we saw some ladies carrying huge bundles of sticks up a hill, they were small ladies but they looked to have superhuman strength. One lady went back to the tree and climbed all the way up about twenty feet without shoes. She stood on a small branch on one foot and hacked with a small scythe at the branches until they all fell off. It was unreal, her balance and power were unbelievable. We took a photo of her and she chuckled at our awe. Tyson cooked dinner of noodles inside the room of the hotel owner. His wife kindly interrupted her own cooking to let us use her small burner. They live inside a one room place just like the room we have which is about ten by ten feet with an attached bathroom. This is for four people. Even while living so modestly he is really one of the kindest people we have encountered this whole trip. After his wife put us first by giving us her one element to use at prime dinner time, he came to the room to make sure we were ok and insisted on giving us another plate of home cooked food for free. He does run a restaurant but he has not made a dime off of us there. He insisted that we are his guests here and he is happy to take care of us. He invited us to go to his villiage and stay with his family. It is generosity that is rarely seen in other parts of the world.
The next morning our 6:20 am alarm clock mysteriously got shut off and we got up after nine. We checked out of our place but stored our bags in the common room. We then walked around town asking people to use their cell phones because there are no public phones around. A guy accepted and we called our host in Shimla to let her know we would be there the next day, As Audrey's parents and grandparents used to live in Shimla (and Dehli) for many decades they have some friends in the area. We then started our trek to Triund in the Himalayan mountains. Guide books say it should take about five hours one way and people we spoke to said it should take anywhere from four to seven one way. Most people do the hike over two days and camp overnight, but we had a 7:45 bus to catch so at ten oclock we decided to take it on. The first couple of kilometers were to a villiage named Dharmakot and then we continued on to many other little checkpoints. Each time we were a bit dissappointed when people told us we still had "five hours or so to go". The number never seemed to go down as we got closer. We passed some people on our ascent but it was a very peaceful hike and we were mostly alone. We sang and chatted or sometimes we were lost in our own thoughts. The scenery is undescribable really. As we climbed higher and higher the litter dissappeared, the crowds were gone, the noise was missing and it was just peaceful. We kept getting closer and closer to the snow line until before we knew it we were trekking through powdery white snow. We had no gear at all but it wasn't too bad, for the last couple kilometers we were climbing on all fours up the steep mountain in pure snow. It was challenging and exhilerating. The feeling of success and awe were simultaneous at the top as we took in the view. We were actually a part of the mountain range that we had been admiring since the second we saw it. There was snow all around us as well as more mountains as far as the eye could see, but the sun shown and it was still warm. We ate lunch out of a ziplock bag leftover from the generous helping of dinner our hotel host gave us the night before. We shared chips and chocolate of course because that's who we are. We met tourists from Canada and other countries on the way and it seemed like a group success as each one we met made it to the top. We made it in under four hours up and three down including some extended rest and bathroom stops.
On our way down we met some Tibetan-Indian kids and helped guide them because they felt lost. They were from a different city and had travelled for a Buddhist dance performance that they are a part of. They invited us to attend but we were leaving that night. They were very sweet and full of questions. They were extremely well informed of the problems with China in Tibet including dates, names and events. They said that China is their enemy and that is why they can never go to Tibet. They said if they go there then the Chinese will kill them because they want control over the country. It was interesting to hear it but also sad.
We met some very cute and healthy looking stray dogs on the way who followed us for a little while before they got bored. This is the first place we have been that takes such good care of their animals and every one of them gets pet and fed. There are also monkeys everywhere, they exist amongst people just like dogs and cats. Three monkeys teamed up and stole food out of a guy's house window today before he noticed and shooed them away. They sat on his roof and mockingly ate every last bite.
After our hike we had plenty of time to get things done and get to the bus station on time. We walked through the Dalai Lama temple one last time and then bought snacks for the road in the form of three bags of chips, five chocoloate bars, two boxes of cookies as well as five packages of noodles for dinner. Even though we had checked out, the hotel owner allowed us to use her element to cook noodles and as it that was not enough, she insisted through body language (because she speaks very little English) that we take a huge plate of chapati, dahl and vegetables while she cooked our noodles. It made us glad that our friend flaked out for a place to stay, because meeting this family and experiencing their unbelievable hospitality was well worth it. After dinner we went to the bus stop, but of course we were too late and the only other way to get to Lower Dharmashala (where we were to catch our bus) was a very expensive taxi or a jeep shuttle. As the jeep shuttle came into view, many men and women began to run for it as if there was treasure inside. As we had to catch this jeep to make our bus, I was equally aggressive and managed to lunge myself into a spot while cracking my noggin on the way in. Tyson and I had to share a seat but we were happy we fought for a spot. In the four seater, about 17 people had managed to jam themselves in for the bumpy ten kilometer trip. We ran for the bus and just made it five minutes before take off. We bought coffees and popcorn to supplement our already healthy snack stash and settled in wth a hundred other people for the ten hour trip on another ordinary bus. We watched a movie and listened to loud Indian music most of the way and a nice lady gave us tea out of her thermous so we forgave her for burping loudly at every turn.
The bus was planned to arrive in Shimla at 6am but we were kicked off the bus at 3:45 because as Tyson put it, the driver was passing cars and speeding around blind corners through the night. I was sleeping, so I cannot comment. We were unsure if we should call our host at this time of morning but it was very cold and by 4am we decided to call. We borrowed a phone and woke her up. She was very kind and instructed the local guy we borrowed the phone off of to put us in a cab. She told us not to worry and instructed the cab drivers to walk us right up to the door which they did. She insisted to covering the fare and had prepared hot water bottles under our huge bed in our private room. She also insisted we drink tea and eat cookies before sleeping. We obeyed. Tyson fell asleep immediately but I took advantage of some internet access before joining him. We slept until noon and woke up to a big brunch of rice, fresh buttered chapati, chicken curry and chicken sabsi. We had hot baths by heating up a bucket of water with an element and mixing it with cold water. We used a jug to pour the water on ourselves to wash. There is no running water here but it was one of the best baths we have had.
We then went out to see the beautiful mountanous city. We saw where my mother used to go to college. It is one of the best colleges in the country, it is an all women's Christian school. We then walked through the streets surrounded by dense forests and beautiful houses of politicians and business men. We took the local bus to eat a dessert that is made from fried cheese dipped in sugar water. Then we tried a different version of Pana Puri which is deep fried chips filled with different sauces. Following that we tried flat chips topped with different sauces sort of like Indian nachos. Then we went next door to the bakery and ate pinapple cake, cream filled chocolate doughnuts and chocolate pudding topped with cream and chocolate chips. Then we went home for dinner. Our laundry was all washed, dried and ironed by the helper and she was preparing dinner. We had fresh chapatis, dahl and chicken curry with salad. We all sat together and chatted while we ate. I spoke with my grandparents on the phone which was nice.
We walked a lot and enjoyed the scenery including loads of monkeys jumping around from tree to tree. As we walked out of one shop we noticed a man carrying a three seater full sized couch on his back. He gets paid a couple dollars to move a couch, and he does so by strapping it with a rope on his back. If we had to move a couch we would be calling four friends, finding a truck and setting aside half a day for the event.
The next morning we ate raddish and potatoe pouranthas with yogurt and jam and eggs. We then got ready and walked to take a cab to the jakhu temple also called the monkey temple. It was high up a high and had a huge orange monkey God statue next to it that we could see from miles away in the city. It was about fifty feet high, maybe more. There were also monkeys everywhere, big ones, small ones, mean ones and nice ones. We were warned to take off our hats and sunglasses and lock them in our bags. We were also forbidden to keep anything edible in our pockets. The monkeys have had all their land taken away and now survive on human food. They are extremely smart and will steal any way they can. One monkey climbed on a large man and stole a bag of food out of the pocket of his tight fitting jeans. Another went into a lady's purse and stole something. We went into the temple and the holy man inside was splashing holy water and giving sweet treats. When it was our turn he gave us significantly more than other people in a small bag.
We then walked down the super steep hill to see the house my grandparents used to live in. We also met a snack shop owner who remembered them instantly when asked. There was another man whom we bought pana pouri off of who also recalled them clearly. It was very touching that they fondly remembered after all these years. We then walked to the main square where we saw a very old church, the old town hall, bakery and restaurants. We ate ice cream and chips in the square and enjoyed the view. There were many tourists in this area and the people watching was quite interesting. We stopped by a small shop to see if my mother's Indian brother was working. He was called Papu and my mother had a brother-sister bond with him while she was in India. She tied a sister bracelet around his wrist which is an act that is taken very seriously here. Upon meeting us he immediately called me his daughter. He had tea and cookies brought over and the kindness and love was very obvious in his eyes. I got very emotional at this time because these people whom I have never met before feel such a close connection to me due to their close relationship with my family. I sat in the exact spot that my grandfather used to sit in everyday in the shop years ago. He insisted that we go stay with him and his wife. Since we had already planned to leave the next morning he accepted a short visit. Even so he took me to see "my room", he called it his "daughter's room" referring to me. I was to stay with him next time I come. They served us tea again with chocolates and several varieties of cookies. They proudly showed a video of their daughter's wedding who now lives in Scotland. They convinced Tyson and I to dance bangra in the middle of the room which made us sweat perfusely with discomfort and embarrasment but we were in no position to refuse their wishes. They clapped and told us we were excellent dancers. When we were leaving they gave us a blue envelope and said it was a gift for family with love. There was money inside the envelope and we did not understand why they were giving it to us. We tried to refuse saying that they had already done so much for us but they said that this is with love and that we must take it. I became emotional again as I did not feel I deserved any gift, let alone money from the people I was just meeting. They, however, felt such a close connection with me because of my family that they treated me like a daughter.
We took the bus home in a tightly packed bus and relaxed at our Shimla home. We drank tea, looked at photos and chatted with our lovely Aunty about her children and Indian traiditions. She has been so very good to us during our stay here that we cannot even begin to describe our gratitude. She has taken us into her home and treated us just like her children. She has taken care of our every wish and fed us all of our favorite foods. She cooked for us and even had our laundry done. She made sure we were as comfortable as possible at her own expense. On this last night in her home, after giving us the world she still insisted on giving us a generous gift. Our feelings are hard to describe but it was difficult to accept this amount of self less giving. She even cooked us food and snacks for our bus trip to Dehli. We came to her home with nothing and left with everything.
We packed up our things, super glued our shoes back together, filled up our water bottles, charged our electronics and left via a taxi at 5:15 am to catch the 6:10am ordinary bus to Dehli. There was a very emotionally charged good bye with our lovely friend in Shimla. At the bus station, the same manager of the area who helped us the day we arrived, made sure we had the correct ticket and seated us on the bus before leaving his shift.
As all ordinary busses do, this one also sped around corners, honked his horn avery few seconds and swerved corners so hard that at one point I flew off my seat. Luckily, I managed to grab a hold of a handle before smashing my face but I still have a giant purple bruise on my butt to remember the trip by. It was extremely long but we slept most of the way. We met a young female engineer who had just moved to Delhi from Northern India and discussed with us the difficulty of such a move. The North is clean and beautiful and Dehli is dirty and stinky by any standards of the word. All career opportunities seem to lay either here or in Mumbai however, so most young people have to make the move. When we got to the bus station we were bombarded with taxi drivers, hotel offers, tuk tuk drivers, the smell of urine and dirt in the air. It was filthy! Garbage was piled everywhere and flip flops suddenly seemed like a bad idea. We made it to the surprisingly clean and modern metro station. Here we easily bought tickets to New Delhi Railway station where we wanted to head to the Baha'i House. We had to switch trains but this was not too difficult to do. The train was still packed but there were special female only cars so we were comfortable, I cannot say the same for Tyson.
When we got to the correct station we asked for directions but considering the people here do not tend to like saying they do not know, they just point down random streets and confidently tell you where to go. We wandered in circles for almost two hours in the heat before a couple of college guys helped us a great deal and we finally found our destination. It was beautiful and ironicaly located immediately next door to the Islamic Republic of Iran Embassy. As I stared with fear and curiosity at the embassy I stepped in poo, not sure if it was human but it sucked just the same. We were welcomed by some Bahais that we knew through our grandparents as well as new people. I made a mistake when we arrived. We were meant to find a lady that my grandparents were very close with but instead I found a lady I though was her and said hello. She acted a bit colder than I expected and I did not know why until later that night when the real lady I had mistaken her for came up to us and said hello. Embarrassing. We did not, however, recieve any help as to a place to stay. That night, there was a Naw Ruz party (Bahai new year) which we joined. There were lovely dance a musical performances as well as a delicious dinner. The caretaker of the Bahai House tried to find us a place to stay but it was a bit pricey for our budget so we accepted a ride from a kind couple to the Paharganj area where we struggled to find our own hotel. We walked around trying to avoid the "brokers". People who take you to hotels but make a commision off the hotel which the customer indirectly pays for. It was late however so we agreed to a hotel for 400 rupees (nearly $5). Although it was mainly a crap place, we had a great sleep and got up the next day to head to the one and only lotus temple. This is the Bahai temple in Delhi. It is an extremely popular tourist site and it is also the location that my cousin has been serving as a volunteer for several months.
We stopped for breakfast of chapatti and dahl before catching the metro (that the hotel refused we could take in an effort to make us use their taxi service) and got off very close to the temple. Although I had seen it in the past, it was still breathtaking and emotional to witness it again. With a little effort we found my beautiful cousin in her room. It was great to see her and chat. The rules for the volunteers are quite strict and although we had to sneak around a bit, we still had a great time. We prayed in the temple along with thousands of tourists (they get nearly 40,000 tourists per day). We then joined in the New Ruz party taking place at the temple. Some of the volunteers had prepared a bangara dance performance lead by my cousin. They did an awesome job. There were also other multicultural performances and then we went for dinner. This was a mad scramble and most of the foreigners ended up getting nothing. So we all head out to McDonalds. By this point we had met most of the volunteers and we were all getting along well. We ate strawberry AND hot fudge sundaes with fries and cokes. We then had to try to find a place to stay which proved to be an impossible task. We took auto-rickshaws all around town but everywhere was full. Apparently there was a big wedding in town that night. At one hotel we walked in through the unlocked doors but could not find anyone in charge. We nearly fell asleep on their couches before a lady came out to tell us they were full. After hours of effort we made a decision as a group to sneak into the dorms and sleep on the temple grounds. This is not allowed normally but since we were volunteering for two days, we had no where to stay after making all reasonable efforts to find a place, it was late at night and it was Naw ruz, we thought the crime was justified. I bunked with my cousin and tyson bunked with a male volunteer.
The next morning we followed through with our perfectly calculated plan to act normal and pretend to show up around ten to volunteer. I borrowed punjabi clothes (a long shirt that flows to the knees, pants and a shawl) from my cousin and Tyson wore formal wear and we set to work. We had an orientation which explained our job. There were several different stations that we would be rotating between. At the first station, we were to assist the tourists to line up at the entrance and give a briefing about the Bahai faith and turning off cell phones, then guide people inside. At another station inside the temple, we were to ensure people were staying quiet and not taking photos inside. Another station at the exit consisted of answering questions and handing out information brochures. We set to work for about ten minutes before we got a lunch break. We went to the lunch room and ate a buffet style of Indian food. We noticed that others were not so keen on eating it as us, it turns out that this is due to the fact that they have been eating similar ingredients for the last few months.
The entrance has its own challenges because a straight, single file line for an Indian is equivalent to asking them to fly. Inside the temple is most challenging for most volunteers because we hold the temple as a very sacred and special place to pray, meditate and communicate with God. So when people are lauging, clapping loudly, screaming and carrying on, it naturally upsets us. We stay calm and ask them to stay quiet but it is a test of our patience when this goes on all day. The exit is a favorite for many because this is where we get to do real teaching and people who are interested in the faith come forward to compliment the temple. This is where we make real connections with people from all around the world.
During tea break, the head of security asked me where I spent the night last night. Naturally I crapped my pants and lead him to believe we stayed at a hotel without really saying so. He must have bought it because he let it go. I enjoyed that day of volunteering but Tyson really found it special because I found him volunteering us for another day. That night we had dinner with the others and joined a good bye party with cake for one of the youth who was returning back to the US.
Later that night we took a metro back to Paharganj where we found a diiferent (much better) hotel for the same price as the first night. We stayed there in the giant bed and slept very well. In the morning we were running late (of course) and tried to check out but they wanted to photocopy our passports at a different location so we followed the hotel guy to the copy place and finally ran to the meto. We arrived a mere two hours late and got started. One time when Tyson and I were stationed inside the temple, two guys came up and asked if we remembered them. It turned out to be the two college guys who had helped us find the bahai house a few days earlier. What a small world.
The Persian Bahais serving at the temple are in great danger. Bahais in Iran are very strongly persecuted. they cannot do many of the things that other Iranians are permitted to do. Even attending college is forbidden for bahais. Many Bahais are imprisoned without any charges. So coming to India to serve is a risky task. Almost daily, representatives from the Iranian embassy show up to the temple to identify the Persain Bahais who are from Iran. They take videos and photos and even straight up ask people their names with clipboard in hand. Of course none of the volunteers give their names or any information but several times during our short stint at the temple, we witnessed such events take place. The life of a Persian Bahai is difficult to understand for the average person. Everyday their life is in danger and most have been in jail at some points in their lives.
We had a great time volunteering for the most part. Of course there were some challenges but it was a learning process. We ate with the volunteers in the dining hall and on our last night we were supposed to leave with my cousin but she was not finished packing so she spent another night at the temple and we head out to our hotel. Along the way, we met up with some trusty brokers who were bugging us. A well dressed tourist told us to follow him and that he could help us. He took us to a hotel that he was staying at and told us to pay as much as we could afford. We paid our usual 400 rupees but did not realize that he had paid the large difference for us. Another kind stranger who gave generously to strangers for no reason. He did not make a big deal of it at all. He just wished us a good night and said to call him if we needed anything. We were touched. Although the room was not worth the price that was paid for it between us and the kind stranger, we appreciated the effort too much to say anything. Of course the bus boy (who did not carry our bags up the stairs) who opened our door stood i our room awkwardly until we finally caved and tipped him. Every hotel we have stayed at has required this unnessasary tipping of people who do not do anything to help.
The next morning our nine oclock meeting with my cousin turned into a ten oclock one, but we met up. We bought tickets from the tourist window to Varanassi and also tickets to Agra for a few days later. The train was leaving that night at 10:30 so we had the day to kill in Delhi. We tried to store our bags at the hotel we had stayed at the previous night but this proved complicated. The staff either did not understand or was playing dumb. Eventually, he allowed us to throw our one bag behind the counter. We planned to do many things that day but we were all slow and tired so we got to one of them. We took the metro to Mahatma Ghandhi's residence and assasination location. Here they have built a very beautiful and tasteful garden and museam. The museam was very modern with lots of technology and interactive displays. All three of us fell asleep in the movie but the rest was enjoyable. He was a great man who did amazing things and look what the people did to him. We then walked to the Lodi gardens but we were too hungry to enjoy them. So we walked to Subway and ate tuna subs followed with McDonalds ice creams. We then had to walk through dirty Delhi to buy snacks for the trip and grab our bag from the hotel. The men stared at us as if they had never seen a girl before, we have gotten used to this but Tyson snapped at one that night, everyone has their limits.
We (along with a hundred locals) caught the sleeper train to Varanassi. Luckily we had assigned seats because many people were sleeping on the ground in the ailes or sharing seats. Also, as the people finished eating their meals we watched as bag after bag of garbage was thrown out the window without shame. It was a difficult sight to bear. Another similarly uncivilized move we witnessed at the train station was a man run up to a lady we assumed was his wife and slapped her in the face with all his strength and then smack her in the head from behind. The three of us stood there with goosebumps unable to move. What we had seen was so socially unacceptable in our culture that we were not sure if it had actually happened. We were sick to our stomachs but the victim remained stone faced and unfazed as if this was a completely normal event. Education is badly needed in this country.
It was a twelve hour ride on the train but we slept okay. The sleeper trains have three thin bunks about a foot and a half above one another. Going to the bathroom can be an issue if you are on the top bunk but the sleeper class trains are the way to go on overnight trips. the city we arrived to was about forty kilometers outside of Varanassi so the tuk tuk drivers fought each other to get our attention. Before we had left Delhi, we had spoken with a friend from the temple who was born in Varanassi, he informed us that a local bus travels from the train station to our destination. For someone who has not travelled in India, taking a local bus can be quite disturbing and frightening, as this was my cousin's first such adventure, we felt her discomfort through her strong exterior. The ridiculously sweaty, over crowded ride took just over an hour and while we did manage to get seats after a while, each of us was sharing one seat for two people and the heat was extraordinary. After another exchange with tuktuk drivers we finally agreed with one to take us the rest of the way to the main city. Since we had no hotel booked, our search began. A man who offered us a decent deal walked us half an hour through the narrow stone alleys of the city winding and turning through the maze of a place to his hotel. Unfortunately, when we got there, the room he had offered us had just been rented and now he only had a more expensive on available. I was not happy and made this known to anyone in the area who would listen. I flew back to the guy who had lied to bring us all this way and told him exactly what I thought of his behaivior. He appologized but it was not enough, we left that place and did not look back. Another guy asked us to trust him while he lead us to another guesthouse. In India, people will lead potential customers (mainly tourists) to hotels, shops, yoga places, music lessons, retaurants or any other location that we can spend money. In exchange for this, the business will usually give them a reasonable commision. For this reason when we ask directions, sometimes people will say bad things about the place we are going, only to offer us a different "better" place. They will even go so far as saying the place is burnt down or shut down to get your business elsewhere. Even when we know where we are going, people will jump in front of us and enter the business ahead to collect a commision by claiming that they brought us there. After looking at a few of their rooms we settled on the pricier of the two because of the private bathroom. The owner of this hotel informed us of all the areas to see and about a silk shop that they also owned (about 8 billion times throughout our stay).
Varanassi is the known as the holiest city in India. It is situated along the Ganges river and is claimed to be one of the first cities in the world. We walked around after settling into our hotel. We walked to the river front and we were immediately met by an interesting smell of burning but we couldn't quite put our finger on it. When we pulled out the camera, a man came running up to us screaming " you disgrace my Hindu culture, you have bad karma blah blah blah". We had been warned about people like this who say things to touists to make them feel bad so we told him what we thought of him and continued on. The next thing we saw was unsettling for all three of us. That smell was the smell of burning dead bodies. This is the place where families come from all over the country to cremate their deceased. Then thirteen days later, they return to the city and send the ashes into the Ganges. This is said to free the body of sins. They stack huge piles of wood and place the wrapped body on top. Only the men of the family are present to witness this event which takes between two to three hours for each body. The women are not permitted to be there because they cry too much so they should grieve at home. We clearly saw the head and foot of one of the burning corpses. Tourists sit on benches and watch this grave event. It is a disturbing yet interesting event and people cannot help but watch.
Navigating through this city is difficult to say the least. Since it was structured over 3000 years ago, the walking and driving paths are all narrow alleys and stone roads littered with cow dung and the smell of urine. There are cows and goats roaming the streets freely. Since cows are viewed as holy creatures here, people give way to them and they seem to own the place. We got charged by bulls several times, one of which all three of us had to simultaneously jump out of the way at the last minute to avoid a horn in the gut. At every corner there is a temple, small statue or just a rock with people stopping to give sacrifices or pray to it. The Hindu people have created a God for pretty much everything plausable, over 33 million of them to be a little more precise. They also pray to many different objects that represent these Gods. Apparantly, this originated many years ago because when people were trying to pray they had difficulty focussing their attention. Creating a physical object to represent God helped them create this focus. This ritual continued and devoloped over thousands of years until now people have come to believe these objects are Gods. One can walk through the streets at anytime and see people praying to the dirt , rocks, statues or other objects. The Ganges river is a very holy one in the Hindu religion. Bathing in it is said to forgive all their sins and cleanse their soul. We woke up early one morning at 5am to take a boat ride up the shores of the river to witness some of these holy events. In addition to forcing us an early start to the day, we learned a great deal. People wake up around 3am and bath in the river in front of the temples, after they have been cleansed, they go for morning prayers. Even at the time we got to the river, there were thousands of people performing bathing in this water. Hotel staff were doing their laundry in another section and just upstream the creamated human remains were being thrown into the water. At the bottom of this river lies dead pregnant woman, people who passed on from contagious diseases, holy people, children and cows. These beings are not creamated but rather just sunk in the river. Garbage was everywhere and while we took every percaution not to touch the water with the bottom of our shoes, the locals were fully submerged in its glory and even drinking it. We rode downstream and watched with mouths open wide at the sights. All around us, other small boats caught up to us and tried to sell floating candles and other souveniers (yes even on the water, we could not have peace).
We also visited the golden temple which is one of the main ones in Varanassi. This temple has three stupas plated entirely in gold. This was another very interesting experience for us. We were denied entry at first because we did not have our passports with us, so after retireving them from our hotel and returning we were premtitted to go inside. My cousin passed on the offer since we had to take off our shoes and the ground was not clean. The people were all lined up inside to pray to a statue of Shiva and bring as much offerings as they could including flowers, candy and money. When we refused to buy any of these items being sold outside, we were accused of refusing to pray and taunted. These are interesting selling meathods after all religion is big business here (and all over the world). Once we went through the heavy security checks and entered the discomfort was immediate. There were people everywhere performing rituals that we did not understand, people were yelling, people were spitting, it did not feel like the holy place we had expected. As quickly as we entered, we were on our way out. The whole experience was uncomfortable, perhaps because of the people staring at us or the fact that we did not know what to do. There was even a sign on the wall outside saying gentlemen who do not belong to the Hindu relgion may not enter the temple (although they did let Tyson in after all). It was a very different experience than that of the Bahai Temple in Dehli.
The old city has a bazaar woven within it's small alleys and in every nook there is a small shop selling souveniers, punjabis, saris or tobacco or tea. We spent a large portion of our time wandering around the market looking for gifts for families and mostly food. Tyson wanted to take an Indian drum lesson and the girls wanted to do a yoga meditation class. We shopped around to all the yoga and music schools (there were many) and we all decided on the classes we would like to take. The next morning, I was unable not feeling well at all so Tyson took my cousin to her class and returned to take care of me. We slept for most of the day again but when my cousin returned it was time to check out of the comfortable hotel room where we spent most of our time while in Varanassi, escaping the crowded streets, heat and honking horns with bags of chips, pop, cookies, chocolate and once we even had an orange. We snuggled all together watching movies, chatting and relaxing. It became our favorite place. Tyson went to his drum lesson and we went to get the gifts for our families. After almost two hours of deciding, bragaining and haggling everybody finally agreed and we got what we wanted. We even bought an extra fake Nike bag to store everything in.
Time slipped away from us so we returned to the hotel to retrieve our bags and my cousin noticed that her iphone, internet stick and mobile phone were missing from her bag. Just as she was searching, the hotel staff pulled out the items and claimed that she had left them on the window sill of the room. It was odd because all three of us had done thorough checks of the room prior to ckeck out. We picked up Tyson from his lesson and headed to the train station. While Varanassi was great to see and contained the most religious and cultural learning, four days was enough time. We enjoyed our relaxation time in the hotel including a rooftop restaurant classical music concert but the smell of burning bodies was starting to get to us.
The train to Agra was much less crowded than the last train we took and it felt like it would be a much more comfortable ride. Unfortunatley I was still feeling ill and was waking up every half an hour or so to run to the washroom. I also felt it necessary to wake Tyson up everytime I woke up so he could watch the bags. The twelve hour ride felt like two days, but we made it. We arrived at seven in the morning and decided that we would not stay the night in Agra but rather, catch the evening train back to Delhi. So we stored our bags at the train station for a small fee and went to the tourist ticket counter to purchase tickets. While waiting around for the cloak room and ticket counter to open we were approached by tuk tuk drivers and such offering us their pricey services. We came with an understanding that Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, would be an expensive place and to be ware of rip offs. We spoke with a local man who helped us a lot by telling us approximate legitimate prices which were significantly lower than what we had been quoted. The tuktuk drivers were telling us that the price to the Taj Mahal (a mere 2.8 km away) would be 150 rupees each. We ended up paying 30 total. They knew that we were right but many of them still insisted that this is the price so as not to ruin their reputation.
Once we arrived at the gates, our next task stared us straight on. Throughout our time in India many people have said that I look Indian, they have also said that I look like my cousin. So we tried to get the Indian entrance price for the Taj Mahal (20 rupees) as opposed to the foreignor price (750 rupees). The man selling tickets said that without Indian identification he cannot give the Indian price. We debated with him for some time over this until finally we gave in. Then Tyson tried the same thing but again, he was refused. Since it was such a huge price difference, my cousin and I gave in a third shot and even got offended when he said we were not "real Indians". We were very angry until we realized he was right.
The Taj (as we call it) is a work of art. It is exactly what you expect it to be. The Marble gleams in the sunlight and slightly changes shade as the day wears on. It is constructed perfect in everyway. It is exactly as wide as it is tall and the design is suited for a king. The emperor who had this mausoleum built was one of the most powerful in the history of India. He had it constructed as a tomb for his favourite wife who died giving birth to their 14th child. He would later be laid to rest next to her in side its walls. It is perfectly symetrical from all sides, and took sixteen years to complete. It is definately one of the seven wonders of the world. We spent a large portion of the day taking pictures and wondering around inside the grounds which contains mosques, gardens, fountains and even a museum with some of the original drawings of the Taj. One thing that we could not escape is the creepiness of the men trying to sneak pictures of us while we walk by or the staring. It did not prevent us from enjoying this architectural marvel.
We ate breakfast of eggs, toast, cornflakes, coffee and bananas. While the prices advertised outside the restaurants were "no longer valid" when we wanted to eat and we fought with a few staff members of other places before we picked the lesser of all evils, the meal was yummy. We tried to find a driver to take us to the Fort, another site in Agra. We got the rate of 20 rupees but there was a catch. We had to stop at a shop and let people attempt to sell us their lovely items. We did and it was awkward. We spent the required ten minutes in the store, refused to buy anything and finally got to our destination.
The residence of the Emperors of India. We refused to hire a guide but my cousin, being the genious that she is, insisted on renting an audio tour guide. We quickly realized that it had two headphone jacks and so we plugged in our headphones into the devide and the three of us put on piece in each ear and walked very closely in unison for the next few hours. for We walked around listening to the stories and commentary about the forts history. It was definitely necessary to have this information, otherwise we would just be looking at the huge fort city with no understanding of what history it represented. From where the kings throne sat, to the field where he watched his animals train and fight each other to the death, to the houses of all his servents, wives and conubines. There is an amazing history here and the stories of families betraying each other and imprisoning each other for power is unbelievable . As we roamed the site we once again could not escape the staring men and we even had children come up to us and ask us for money or food. As these children did not appear poor and had obviously afforded the entrance into the fort, I was outraged. Their mother and family were watching them do it and laughed. We watched them ask every tourist in the area making them all uncomfortable. We confronted the mother about this issue. We asked her if she knew that her daughters were bothering all the tourists and asking them for money and her reply was "yes money" as she held out her hand covered in gold rings and gold bangels. We told them exactly what we thought of that behaivior and also took the time to let the guards know what had happened. I walked the guards directly to the family and pointed at them in plain view. We thanked the guards for their help. While we had paid more (250 rupees as opposed to 20 again) to get into the fort, we all agreed that one benefit we had over the locals is that we had more of a voice than they did. When we complained, we were heard, it was pretty cool.
The train back to Delhi left from a different station so we collected our bags out of storage and started to make our way in hopes of finding somewhere to eat along the way. All we found were more creepy inappropriate men staring from the second they could see till they were out of site. This is something that we will never get used to so I took it upon myself to get right in their faces and stare back at them mockingly. I think only a few got the picture but I'm changing India, one pervert at a time. We ended up getting to the station before finding anywhere to eat. We managed to get tickets on a general class train and loaded up on chips, other junk food and water. We ignored very disfigured beggars and refused shoe shiners until our train arrived. We were told by a local to just jump on the sleeper class section because no one would check and general class would be too crowded for us. We did but it was short lived as the conductor instructed us to move to the general seating car at the next stop.
My cousin started sat on a banana, it was hilarious, it squished all over her pants. As soon as we walked into the general class car we were overwhelmed. The people were packed in like sardines, people were lying under seats on top of luggage all over the floor, we could not even move. A few people sensed our anxiety and helped us out by clearing some seats. This seemed to enrage one of the older female passengers near to where I was offered a seat and she went crazy. She was screaming in Hindi at no one in particular so I asked her to lower her voice to prevent herself any further embarrasment. From here, it turned into a full blown verbal battle and neither of us could understand each other so I eventually moved seats. After we were in our seats, creepy men made us feel very uncomfortable so we had to shift seats to escape. We finally got comfortable when this fat young guy boarded the train with his friends. He immediately spotted us and tried to show off the rest of the ride. He lit cigarettes on the car, spoke loudly and was just the coolest guy around. We were amused as we watched him struggle for female approval.
Since the train had left Agra very late, we did not get to Delhi until almost two in the morning and we were starving. We decided that we should try to find a hotel with the back up plan of heading to a 24 hour McDonalds if we could not find one. I am not sure what happened to that plan but we did not even attempt to find a hotel before negotiating dozens of tuk tuk drivers to take us the 20 km to the fast food joint. By this point, we were well aware of the going rates and could not be fooled. A bike rickshaw agreed to a price of 50 rupees. When we tried to back out saying that our destination was very far, I negotiated by offering to ride the bike myself while he sat in the back. This worked and i even got him down to 40 rupees. Unfortunately as soon as I got on the bike I realized it was too big and this was a bad idea. So Tyson did it instead, he drove the bike while the driver relaxed in the back with us. This did not last long and they swapped places back and forth the whole ride. Obviously our driver did not realize how far we had to go but he kept reassuring us that there was no problem. He soon became completely lost and stopped anyone he could find to ask for directions. This is when we began to get a bit nervous because we realized we were three tourist on a bike rickshaw in the middle of Dehli with all of our things at 3am. At several points in time, all three of us were walking and pushing the rickshaw up the hills. But our driver was good natured and he even provided free entertainment via Indian music videos from his cell phone. Other rickshaw drivers tried to recruit us as customers even while we were in the middle of getting a ride! Some even threatened our driver and pestered him for a while. Three hours and close to fifty kilometers later we arrived at the NOT 24 hour McDonalds (it was closed). Our poor, sweaty young driver who had just pedelled the three of us accross town was very kind and tried to refuse payment for the journey but we insisted.
With McDonalds closed, we thought we were stranded but fortunately there was a cinema next door with the nicest security guards in the world. We asked them if there was anywhere open where we could get food. They said no but right at that time, their partner arrived with their personal dinner. They offered this to us and we refused saying that we could not possibly take their dinner. They absolutely insisted saying we had to take the burgers and even brought us water. We accepted, and after this grand gesture they showed us to the washrooms inside that we were free to use and then even offered us a place to sleep until the restarunt opened in the morning. They set up a make shift bed for us on old movie board adds and created a barrier wall so we could sleep. They set up their chairs outside and we slept peacefully in the safety of their care for several hours until 7am. It was truly kind and so timely when all of us were feeling a bit tired of the Indian ways.
After McDonalds we took the metro to a hotel that Tyson and I had stayed at before in Paharganj near central Delhi. Before the bags even hit the floor Tyson was already showered and sleeping. I did some organizing before I eventually passed out and my cousin was not too far behind.
We slept until eight pm and awoke to grumbling tummies, it was time for food again. Saama was not feeling well so we went to buy some medicine from a cheeky pharmacy guy. He refused our payment because there was a small tear in it and so we refused his change when it had some writing on it. After some back and forth like this, we took Saama back to bed before heading out to the bank. We wandered the streets taking in all the sites on one of our last nights in India. It's astonishing how people live here. Thousands and thousands of people sleep on the street every night. Some with newspapers for sheets and some people have nothing at all, they lay sprawled on the cement with no pillow or cover. Some people slept on tables that they sold products from during the day and some people slept on their bike rickshaws. We have learned along the way that there is nobody to look after the poor here, if you cannot fend for yourself, you do not survive. The physical deformities and handicaps that we have seen here, we have never seen anywhere else. People create their own aids with scraps on the streets. We saw many mobility devices that were just a small piece of scrap wood with four wheels attached, they would sit on it and use their hands to pull themselves along.
We eventually found a small place that was open and ate Paranthas for the last time in India before heading back to sleep for the rest of the night. The next morning we woke up at about 11 am for a 9:30am check out. We packed up our things and head off to grab our last Chana pouris before going to the Bahai temple. My cousin and I had a lot of repacking to do and we had left a few things there that we had to pick up. We spent the majority of the day packing but I met up with Tyson at the temple to pray and walk around one more time. We had canned ghormeh sabzi and lipton soup for dinner and said our goodbye to our new friends. We walked with my cousin and a few friends to the metro station where we said our final goodbyes as she went to her hotel and we headed off to the airport. It was a sad goodbye as we had really become a tight knit group of three while travelling, and with one person missing we would really miss her. It was truly great and refreshing to travel with her and we will cherish the memories of those few days!
We took the super fast, super modern airport express line and we were blown away by the technologically advanced system. It was very similar to the one we rode in Hong Kong but even nicer. It only took a few minutes to get there and we even had to option to check in at the train station. At the airport we had to stay outside until six hours prior to our flight when we could enter for security purposes. The Indira Ghandhi International Airport is the second best airport in the world according to world standards. The security is great but the style of the building and the amenities are amazing. We were shocked judging by the rest of the country but they have really done one thing right. We enjoyed our time at the airport and rested until we had to check in at 5am. We had not slept but the adreneline from being at the airport and heading to a new country in addition to chocolate brownies gave us the energy we needed to stay awake. We boarded our flight to Muscat, Oman and waved bye to possibly the most interesting and controversial country of our vacation.
Our flight was very comfortable and included a delicious middle eastern breafast of hashbrown, scrambled eggs, spiced chicken and pita bread with fruit. On to new tastes, sounds, smells and sights.
The view out the window of the airplane was desert and dry mountains. We noticed the simple architecture repeated in all the buildings and cleanliness of it all. When we landed we bought thirty day visas on arrival and noticed the difference in the mannerisms of the staff compared to the Indian staff. The Omanis were so kind and polite in their speach and body language. We met my uncle at the arrival gates. It had been eight years since I had last seen him and Tyson's first meeting. We were very excited to arrive and finally see this land that they have been living in for so many years.
We drove the 150 km to their home town of Nizwa in a giant truck and saw their beautiful home. One of their full time helpers unloaded our bags from the truck. My aunt designed the home and its interior and it was beyond anything we could imagine. It was tasteful, large and even had a private elevator. We felt so welcome immediately and the Persian tea we were served was enough to remind me that I was with family now. One by one all three of my cousins arrived home from school as well as my aunt from work. We all sat down to lunch together that their Filipino housemaid had kindly prepared for us. It was Persian food and it was delicious.
The schedule of the days here is a bit different than what we are accustomed to. It starts very early in the morning at around five and people head home from work and school at about one thirty. At this point in the day all shops, schools and offices are closed because it becomes too hot. Everyone sleeps from about two until four thirty in the afternoon when activity slowly starts up again until midnight or so. Since we had not slept the night before, after showers and some organization, a nap came quite easily.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
