Our entry into the country didn't exactly start out with a bang. Our flight arrived in the middle of the night and our pre-arranged pickup didn't show up, so we ended up waiting an extra hour and a half at the airport. Arriving in the Pahar Ganj area (the backpacker hub) of New Delhi at 2:30am isn’t exactly a welcoming site either, rather a bit scary. The next few days we took it easy and tried to get accustomed to the heat and madness of India, which never really happened.
We visited the Red Fort, which we thought wasn’t worth the required rupees, and perused some of the main markets. However, two and a half days in Delhi were all we needed, so we hopped on a 2nd class train north to Hardiwar. Luckily, we sat right next to a nice couple from France with whom we would hang out with for the next week. Unluckily, we arrived in Hardiwar in the evening, along with thousands of Indians on yatra, their annual pilgrimage to holy cities around the country. It took the four of us quite some time to find rooms at a reasonable rate. Our ultimate destination was Rishikesh, the "yoga capital of India," about an hour’s bus ride north, which would have to wait for the morning. On the search for a room, an old man with a gray beard stuck his hand out at Ryan, who wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake his hand or was asking for some spare rupees. Ryan took a chance and reached out his hand and came away with flower petals in his palm. A meaning or just a welcoming gesture? We’ll never know - but that’s India for you.After a terrible night’s sleep, we woke up with some delicious chais at the restaurant next door. While walking out of the place, we had to yield to a giant elephant accompanied by his mahout making their way down the tiny side street! We looked at each other and knew that we were definitely now in India.
We hopped on the overcrowded bus to Rishikesh with our new friends from France. Ryan befriended a 15 year old Indian boy from Delhi on the bus ride. He decided to give Ryan a gift after conversing, a ring with a purple stone (albeit plastic). Was this another sign?We made it to Rishikesh and found a great room at the Sheela Mohan Palace. We ended up staying in Rishikesh for 6 nights. Unfortunately, Anna got sick for a few days and it was still quite hot, so our plan of becoming yoga experts didn't quite happen. We did end up taking one yoga course, which was a unique experience in India (much more spiritual than most classes in the states). We also enjoyed the food in town, which was purely vegetarian with no alcohol (Anna went vegetarian the entire 18 days in India). Ryan has a huge paper masala dosa in this photo:
Like Hardiwar, Rishikesh lies on the holy Ganges (Ganga) river, and is another holy city that draws thousands (if not what seems to be millions) of spiritual Indians each year on their pilgrimage. This includes bathing in the Ganga and feeding the many cows wandering around.
In trying to escape the crowds and the heat, we decided to visit the tiny hill station of Kausani. It took us two days of winding, hairpin turns on local buses, but we finally made it to the little town, complete with views of the Himalayas. We had a room overlooking a huge valley, but unfortunately the clouds covered our view of the Himalayas for most of our stay. The monkeys in the nearby trees kept us entertained nonetheless:
The weather was finally pleasant so we were able to take a hike to a local Hindu temple:
and a tea plantation where we sampled some of the tea that grows right in the valley (these are the pickers returning with the days leaves):
On our last morning in town, the skies opened up and there were the Himalayas. They are huge mountains!
We knew we needed to get to Agra soon, so after two nights, we headed back down the hill. We shared a taxi with two very nice Indian men to Haldwani where we then caught an awful overnight bus to Agra. Never take overnight buses in India! We'd heard stories of them, but since it was our only option, we took the plunge. But it's not advised.After 10 hours of constants bumps, thumps and no sleep, we arrived in Agra and found a room with AC for 700 rupees (~$18), a bargain in the Taj Ganj area. That night we had dinner on the rooftop at Stuff Makers restaurant, complete with excellent views of the Taj Mahal. The next morning we woke up at 4:45am to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise (and also beat the heat as it was around 110°F by 11:00am). Despite the hype, we still thought it a beautiful monument to love. And gorgeous at sunrise! We spent a few hours soaking in all the shadows, lights and angles:
Our original plan had been to take the train from Agra to Mumbai, where our flight left for South Africa, but as we were short on time and didn’t really feel like taking another 30 hour train ride, we booked a cheap flight from Delhi. However, our train back to Delhi from Agra was late and when it finally arrived it only stopped for a minute. We literally had to run and hop on to catch what turned out to be the wrong train (we weren’t the only tourists who made this mistake)! With much luck, this train was also headed to Delhi but we were forced to sit in the non AC 2nd class (when we had paid for AC).By mid-afternoon the next day we were in Mumbai. We knew that accommodation in Mumbai was not cheap, and we ended up paying about $30 for a room that should have cost about $10 in India. Anywhere else in India or SE Asia, a $30 room is considered luxurious. In our opinion, Mumbai was much nicer than Delhi, at least the city center and backpacker areas. They also had a few good pub and grills, where we got our fix of western food. Besides doing some last minute shopping, we pretty much just hung out for the next 2 days waiting for our flight to South Africa.
Looking back, this was definitely the wrong time to go to India as a backpacker (traveling around in luxury would be a different story even with the heat) but hey, we had to stop and check the place out. We were also getting a little tired of Asia in general. We'd been on the continent since mid-January, so a change was going to be nice.
Now we are loving South Africa. And, since we broke down and bought a little mini-laptop, we will be getting our blogs out quicker than we have been!
Cows eat whatever they want, including posters right off a wall!
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