Keep It Light Enough To Travel
Well, I finally did it. After a full year of planning and scheming for the perfect weather, the best company and the most unusual sights, I went on my Epic India Adventure.
I only had two weeks. My brother Jeremy took the January term off from his university to come along, and not only is he great company, but also it is SOO much easier to travel around South Asia with a guy. We left from Kolkata (Calcutta) and took a series of trains all the way west to Jaislamer, almost in Pakistan.
I'm not going to relate a detailed account here...it would take a lifetime just to type up, and it's impossible to understand by reading anyways. So here is a few of my favorite moments and impressions. Those of you who've been to India can grin and remember your own adventures, and those of you who haven't been yet can start planning.
India has a myriad of sights to see, our destinations included Kali Ghat - the Hindu temple where the Black goddess Kali is worshiped and from which Kolkata takes its name; Bodh Gaya - the Banyan tree under which Buddha sat and gained enlightenment; Varanasi where Hindu's wash and are cremated, so as to lessen their cycles of reincarnation; the Taj Mahal and Red Fort in Agra; and the fairytale state of Rajasthan, complete with forts with moats, castles set in lakes, colorful gypsies, a camping trip on camels, and shoes that turn up at the toe.
But it is vital to keep in mind the cliche - it's about the journey mattering more than the destination. No journey in India is complete without arguing with the Tricksters (also known as touts or scam artists), a heart stopping trip, a head turning scene, and the inevitable cup of chai- a tiny clay cup of Sweet milky peppery spiced tea that has been boiling all day and bears some distant relation to Starbucks Chai tea, but only costs 6 cents.
Arguing with tricksters...As we exit the train station we are most vulnerable. Our big backpacks mark us for what we are - vulnerable tourists. "Come with me, I'll take you anywhere you want to go." "Take my auto rickshaw." "My hotel is best." They are insistent and belligerent. The ones closest to the trains have the best English, are the most persistent, the slimiest seeming, and get the best commission from any hotel they bring us to. It is hard to get past them to find the regular rickshaw drivers who will take us to the hotel we want them to, who won't try to scam us on the way. A few times we got in the tout's autorickshaw not realizing what they were, but soon developed tactics for turning the tricks back on them. ie. taking the cheap offered price to the right neighborhood, but not going to the hotel where we were dropped off, where the tout gets commission, instead walking a block to the hotel of our choice. It's frustrating because we feel so vulnerable, but an inevitable part of the India experience
A Heart Stopping Trip. India is like Bangladesh in that every road is over crowded and every vehicle overloaded. However, in Bangladesh I usually take a car or good bus to places I go. In India we took what we could get. In Kolkata we crossed the worlds busiest bridge across the Hooghly River, then re-crossed the river by literally jumping on to the boat with a crush of other people as it bumped up against the wharf and then getting off by shoving through the masses of people who were trying to get on. In Gaya we took a ride at 5 o'clock one morning as 2 of the 12 passengers in an autorickshaw. Plus luggage. In Bangladesh, I think I'm crowded when I'm one of 3 in one of these. In Varanasi we joined the throngs of people walking down dark streets towards the river, to bathe at the most auspicious moment of dawn when the sun first touches the Ganges river. (We rode in a boat to watch). Through Bihar, we took a 3 hour train ride in the lowest class rail car with 13 people riding in an 8 person compartment and other such joys. The good news is that Indian people are wonderful and friendly, once you get past the handful of tricksters at the stations. Many kind people made sure we were on the right train and had room to sit, because we were guests in their county.
A head turning scene..."This building is the epitome of the British Colonial times" "Did you see that peacock?" "Wow, look at that fort" "I'm SOO SICK of Camels!" As we moved west from Kolkata the land gradually changed from familiar feeling West Bengal to hilly Bihar, flat Uttor Pradesh and finally the deserts of Rajasthan. We seen myriads of temples, ruins, and unlikely animals. Processions of Bhudist monks. The streets lined with gem peddlers in Jaipur. Dawn breaking on the hills of Gaya, on the Taj Mahal, and on the desert of Jaislamer. The sun setting on the sand stone buildings in the abandoned capital of Fatepur Sikhri.
But perhaps my favorite was the completely unexpected encounter with kite flying. Our second day in Varanasi coincided with the national kite festival. There were millions of kites in the air. It is just square tissue paper kite, mounted on 2 strips of bamboo, but it provides endless hours of entertainment. My first kite fell out of the sky and hit Jeremy on the head as we were eating breakfast. Later I bopught some string from a seven year old boy and gave it a whirl. The wind catches it as I throw it in the air and for a moment the string reels out, but the wind dies, and the kite drops over the phone line. The string seller coaxes the kite back over the line and I try to get it up again. It threatens to drop into the river, then it attempts to join 10 other kites that have tangled in the tree, but finally it's up, way up where there is always wind. It's absolutely perfect. Than some kid from his rooftop snakes his kite over and cuts my line with his glass coated string. ARGH! I'm going out to by some glass coated string of my own!
Kolkata
Tabla Lessons in Varanasi
Taj Mahal
Jodhpur fort
Is the best food always the cheap-outside-the-train-station kind? Yes, I think it is
Camel Safari
I only had two weeks. My brother Jeremy took the January term off from his university to come along, and not only is he great company, but also it is SOO much easier to travel around South Asia with a guy. We left from Kolkata (Calcutta) and took a series of trains all the way west to Jaislamer, almost in Pakistan.
I'm not going to relate a detailed account here...it would take a lifetime just to type up, and it's impossible to understand by reading anyways. So here is a few of my favorite moments and impressions. Those of you who've been to India can grin and remember your own adventures, and those of you who haven't been yet can start planning.
India has a myriad of sights to see, our destinations included Kali Ghat - the Hindu temple where the Black goddess Kali is worshiped and from which Kolkata takes its name; Bodh Gaya - the Banyan tree under which Buddha sat and gained enlightenment; Varanasi where Hindu's wash and are cremated, so as to lessen their cycles of reincarnation; the Taj Mahal and Red Fort in Agra; and the fairytale state of Rajasthan, complete with forts with moats, castles set in lakes, colorful gypsies, a camping trip on camels, and shoes that turn up at the toe.
But it is vital to keep in mind the cliche - it's about the journey mattering more than the destination. No journey in India is complete without arguing with the Tricksters (also known as touts or scam artists), a heart stopping trip, a head turning scene, and the inevitable cup of chai- a tiny clay cup of Sweet milky peppery spiced tea that has been boiling all day and bears some distant relation to Starbucks Chai tea, but only costs 6 cents.
Arguing with tricksters...As we exit the train station we are most vulnerable. Our big backpacks mark us for what we are - vulnerable tourists. "Come with me, I'll take you anywhere you want to go." "Take my auto rickshaw." "My hotel is best." They are insistent and belligerent. The ones closest to the trains have the best English, are the most persistent, the slimiest seeming, and get the best commission from any hotel they bring us to. It is hard to get past them to find the regular rickshaw drivers who will take us to the hotel we want them to, who won't try to scam us on the way. A few times we got in the tout's autorickshaw not realizing what they were, but soon developed tactics for turning the tricks back on them. ie. taking the cheap offered price to the right neighborhood, but not going to the hotel where we were dropped off, where the tout gets commission, instead walking a block to the hotel of our choice. It's frustrating because we feel so vulnerable, but an inevitable part of the India experience
A Heart Stopping Trip. India is like Bangladesh in that every road is over crowded and every vehicle overloaded. However, in Bangladesh I usually take a car or good bus to places I go. In India we took what we could get. In Kolkata we crossed the worlds busiest bridge across the Hooghly River, then re-crossed the river by literally jumping on to the boat with a crush of other people as it bumped up against the wharf and then getting off by shoving through the masses of people who were trying to get on. In Gaya we took a ride at 5 o'clock one morning as 2 of the 12 passengers in an autorickshaw. Plus luggage. In Bangladesh, I think I'm crowded when I'm one of 3 in one of these. In Varanasi we joined the throngs of people walking down dark streets towards the river, to bathe at the most auspicious moment of dawn when the sun first touches the Ganges river. (We rode in a boat to watch). Through Bihar, we took a 3 hour train ride in the lowest class rail car with 13 people riding in an 8 person compartment and other such joys. The good news is that Indian people are wonderful and friendly, once you get past the handful of tricksters at the stations. Many kind people made sure we were on the right train and had room to sit, because we were guests in their county.
A head turning scene..."This building is the epitome of the British Colonial times" "Did you see that peacock?" "Wow, look at that fort" "I'm SOO SICK of Camels!" As we moved west from Kolkata the land gradually changed from familiar feeling West Bengal to hilly Bihar, flat Uttor Pradesh and finally the deserts of Rajasthan. We seen myriads of temples, ruins, and unlikely animals. Processions of Bhudist monks. The streets lined with gem peddlers in Jaipur. Dawn breaking on the hills of Gaya, on the Taj Mahal, and on the desert of Jaislamer. The sun setting on the sand stone buildings in the abandoned capital of Fatepur Sikhri.
But perhaps my favorite was the completely unexpected encounter with kite flying. Our second day in Varanasi coincided with the national kite festival. There were millions of kites in the air. It is just square tissue paper kite, mounted on 2 strips of bamboo, but it provides endless hours of entertainment. My first kite fell out of the sky and hit Jeremy on the head as we were eating breakfast. Later I bopught some string from a seven year old boy and gave it a whirl. The wind catches it as I throw it in the air and for a moment the string reels out, but the wind dies, and the kite drops over the phone line. The string seller coaxes the kite back over the line and I try to get it up again. It threatens to drop into the river, then it attempts to join 10 other kites that have tangled in the tree, but finally it's up, way up where there is always wind. It's absolutely perfect. Than some kid from his rooftop snakes his kite over and cuts my line with his glass coated string. ARGH! I'm going out to by some glass coated string of my own!
Kolkata
Tabla Lessons in Varanasi
Taj Mahal
Jodhpur fort
Is the best food always the cheap-outside-the-train-station kind? Yes, I think it is
Camel Safari
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