We have survived our first weeks in India!!! It was quite a shock to arrive in New Delhi, and stay in one of the most crowded and noisy area, Pahar Ganj. We had pre-booked our first 2 nights and knew we were staying in the "Main Bazaar", but when the taxi driver stopped in the middle of the street we looked at each other and telepathically asked "is this where we are staying?". The street was full of garbage, dogs, people, rickshaws and tuktuks, but we actually saw the sign with the name of our hotel. After a long travel and arriving early in the morning we decided to start off by relaxing a bit. Surprisingly the room was pretty quiet considering all the noise outside (the only sounds we could hear were from inside the hotel). Later on we went for a walk down the main street to have a look. All we could hear was "Hey! Nice pants, where did you buy them?", "Hey! Nice shoes, where did you buy them?", "Where are you from?", and obviously they "weren't" trying to sell us anything...
We quickly learned that we need to ignore everyone trying to get contact with us.
In the afternoon we had our first Indian meal at a tiny café right across the street from our hotel. Since Tachi (Tatiana) doesn't eat spicy food we got a suggestion to try Chicken Malai, which is supposed to be one of the mildest meals in India. David ordered the Chicken Tikka which is supposed to be a little spicy, but we ended up switching plates when it proved to be the opposite.
After our meal we found a tuk tuk down to nearby Connaught Place, known as the western market. Unfortunately the park in the middle had just closed, so we had to look at the impressively huge flag from the streets. We took a walk around the market and this was where we got aware of the uncomfortable way the men look at foreign women. One very creepy man was following us and making weird noises and laughing awkwardly at us. He kept on following us, though it was obvious that we had understood that he was following us and that we didn't feel comfortable about it, so finally we had to go into a western Nike store. He actually followed us in, but when we went up to the ladies department he finally left us alone. At this point Tachi only wanted to return to the hotel, so we called our tuk tuk driver to bring us home. This turned out to be a bad mistake as well! The driver kept calling us the next days, starting early in the morning trying to invite us out for breakfast.
The next morning we wanted to go to the spice market in the old city, so we tried to catch a new tuk tuk. At first the driver started asking us why we wanted to go there. We had been suggested by others to go there and walk around to see all the different spices, dried fruits and nuts. He still tried to discourage us, but finally we started on our way. The driver would explain that we were passing the "red light district" of Delhi, and when we got near the spice market he said he couldn't go further with the tuk tuk. He told us that this is a place where most locals come to buy big quantities of products and that it was not a great idea for tourist, especially not women, to go walking in alone. We started looking at the map together with the driver to find alternative things we could do. Eventually we ended up driving around with this driver all day, and he took us to the Raj Ghat, the Red Fort and to Humayun's Tomb. It ended up to be a nice trip sightseeing, and experiencing how the traffic with no rules actually works in India!
Humayun's Tomb
The next morning we had agreed with the same tuk tuk driver to pick us up at the hotel and drive us to our first Servas hosts in India. Pramod is a friend of our parents and kindly hosted us during our stay in New Delhi. Pramod and his wife Vinita helped us with our planning and how to get around, so in the afternoon Vinita drove us to the metro station so we could find our way to Akshardham Temple. Tachi had been so afraid of taking the metro, but it proved to be quite OK riding in the "women only" wagon, while David would stay in the next wagon keeping an eye on her. All the rickshaw drivers were waiting for us outside the metro station, but it was a quick walk to the entrance of the temple. On the other hand it took us about an hour to pass all the security checks and lines to enter. Later we read about a terrorist attack on the temple back in 2008, so this might be the reason for this kind of security.
On the way back we took the metro a part of the way, but there were too many people at the station where we had to change metro, so Tachi decided we would take a tuk tuk the rest of the way. When we arrived back to our hosts dinner was prepared and we tried to eat like real Indians :) It was not so easy, but we are all the way learning by trying!
The next day we wanted to be relaxing, so we got up early and got a ride with Pramod to Lodhi Garden. This was a nice place to relax in the middle of a noisy city. Lots of people were exercising, doing yoga or just sitting down relaxing. We enjoyed the park's monuments among all of it's flowers and animals playing around.
The next morning we had agreed with the same tuk tuk driver to pick us up at the hotel and drive us to our first Servas hosts in India. Pramod is a friend of our parents and kindly hosted us during our stay in New Delhi. Pramod and his wife Vinita helped us with our planning and how to get around, so in the afternoon Vinita drove us to the metro station so we could find our way to Akshardham Temple. Tachi had been so afraid of taking the metro, but it proved to be quite OK riding in the "women only" wagon, while David would stay in the next wagon keeping an eye on her. All the rickshaw drivers were waiting for us outside the metro station, but it was a quick walk to the entrance of the temple. On the other hand it took us about an hour to pass all the security checks and lines to enter. Later we read about a terrorist attack on the temple back in 2008, so this might be the reason for this kind of security.
On the way back we took the metro a part of the way, but there were too many people at the station where we had to change metro, so Tachi decided we would take a tuk tuk the rest of the way. When we arrived back to our hosts dinner was prepared and we tried to eat like real Indians :) It was not so easy, but we are all the way learning by trying!
The next day we wanted to be relaxing, so we got up early and got a ride with Pramod to Lodhi Garden. This was a nice place to relax in the middle of a noisy city. Lots of people were exercising, doing yoga or just sitting down relaxing. We enjoyed the park's monuments among all of it's flowers and animals playing around.
Lodhi Garden
We returned to have a typical Indian breakfast with Pramod and Vinita. In the middle of the day it gets very hot, so we stayed in and Pramod helped us buy our train tickets for Agra the next morning. When the temperature cooled down a little we got back onto the metro, heading for the Lotus Temple. Just like many other of the beautiful monuments the Lotus Temple is positioned in a very dirty and noisy area. The Lotus Temple is a nice view from outside, but nothing much more than a cool ventilated area once you get inside. It is a place for anyone, no matter religion, to come and pray or meditate. On our way back to the metro we met a couple from Brazil, actually from Vitória, who we joined to Dilli Haat before we returned to Pramod and Vinita.
We returned to have a typical Indian breakfast with Pramod and Vinita. In the middle of the day it gets very hot, so we stayed in and Pramod helped us buy our train tickets for Agra the next morning. When the temperature cooled down a little we got back onto the metro, heading for the Lotus Temple. Just like many other of the beautiful monuments the Lotus Temple is positioned in a very dirty and noisy area. The Lotus Temple is a nice view from outside, but nothing much more than a cool ventilated area once you get inside. It is a place for anyone, no matter religion, to come and pray or meditate. On our way back to the metro we met a couple from Brazil, actually from Vitória, who we joined to Dilli Haat before we returned to Pramod and Vinita.
Our Hosts in New Delhi, Pramod and Vinita
Early the next morning we took our first Indian train. We were heading for Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The sights from the train consisted of kids, youth and grown ups crouching along the railway doing their "job". It is also unbelievable how much garbage they just throw anywhere! Arriving to Agra, one of the most dirty cities we have ever seen, we were first welcomed by a family of monkies and outside the station was a herd of tuktuk drivers waiting to attack us. We got really surprised when the guesthouse owner started talking Norwegian when I showed him my passport. He had a good Norwegian friend, and had been living for some time in Hamar. the rest of the evening we just relaxed in our room, so we would be ready to get up early the next morning to go to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was just amazing!! It is incredible that they can have such a magical wonder in the middle of all the garbage.
Early the next morning we took our first Indian train. We were heading for Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The sights from the train consisted of kids, youth and grown ups crouching along the railway doing their "job". It is also unbelievable how much garbage they just throw anywhere! Arriving to Agra, one of the most dirty cities we have ever seen, we were first welcomed by a family of monkies and outside the station was a herd of tuktuk drivers waiting to attack us. We got really surprised when the guesthouse owner started talking Norwegian when I showed him my passport. He had a good Norwegian friend, and had been living for some time in Hamar. the rest of the evening we just relaxed in our room, so we would be ready to get up early the next morning to go to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was just amazing!! It is incredible that they can have such a magical wonder in the middle of all the garbage.
The Amazing Taj Mahal
We though that a visit to Agra Fort was included in the same ticket as the Taj Mahal, so we jumped on a rickshaw to see the fort. Obviously we didn't read the tiny writing saying that it was only the taxes we didn't have to pay. Since we were already there we decided to pay and enter the fort. It wasn't anything special, but it had some nice details we could see while walking quickly through.
Colorful Ladies at Agra Fort
In the evening we wanted to eat at a place we had read about in TripAdvisor. We took a walk around to see if we could find it, but ended up asking a tuktuk driver. "Yes, yes" he said and started driving us around. He must have asked more than 5 people before we said we wanted to go back to our hotel. The guesthouse owner suggested a place called Pinch of Spice. Tachi checked it out on TripAdvisor and it was number 2 in Agra, so we took a chance and went there. The place was pretty fancy compared to other places we had been eating before, and actually it looked quite clean. We ordered some Indian food and Tachi made sure to ask for non-spicy food. The food looked delicious. David enjoyed his choice, but Tachi had problems again because the food was too spicy for her. The waiter tried to fix it but when he brought it back it was still spicy. Even so, she tried to eat a little because she was starving. It turned out that the food was actually a "punch of spice" to our stomachs, we both came back to the guesthouse feeling a bit sick, specially Tachi.
The next day we just relaxed in the guesthouse until we had a train to Jaipur in Rajasthan. When we arrived the guesthouse had provided a tuktuk to pick us up at the train station. The tuktuk driver seemed like a nice guy and offered to take us for a nice tour around the city the next morning. At our first stop Tachi got a beautiful henna tattoo, which proved to be quite expensive when we saw prices at other places.
Tachi Getting her Henna
Our main stop of the day was the Amber Palace. When we arrived it was the middle of the day, at the hottest time, and walking all the way up to the entrance of the palace was soaking! We did make it, but the heat was just too much for us. After a quick walk through the palace we quickly found our tuktuk and continued the tour.
Tachi Posing with her Henna at Amber Palace in Jaipur
After taking us to the main sights in Jaipur our tuktuk driver said he would show us a place famous for its fabrics, and as innocents tourists we accepted it. It seemed like everything they showed us was fake, just a set-up for ignorant tourists. They tried to sell us the same clothes we saw anywhere in the streets, just 4, 5 or 6 times the price! Fortunately we realized this was a tout and could get out of there without being robbed. The tuktuk driver's mood changed completely, probably because he would have gotten commission if we had bought something. He started driving like crazy and when we asked him to stop by the Hawa Mahal, he said he couldn't stop there and we had to take pictures from the tuktuk :( We think he said that just because across the street from Hawa Mahal there was a market selling the same clothes they were trying to sell us before!
The next day we took a train to Ajmer and continuing with bus to Pushkar, a small holy town in Rajasthan. We included Pushkar to our itinerary because we heard that we could do a camel safari there. When we arrived there it wasn't really what we were expecting. It was crowded by hippie tourists, enjoying that the holy men in Pushkar can sell them weed. This actually made us feel uncomfortable, and got many weird looks from other tourists.
We didn't find any group to join for a camel safari, and when we saw some camels and how they were treated we decided that we didn't want to do it anymore. It was really sad :( We started looking for tickets to Udaipur or Mumbai, but unfortunately the trains were full and we had to stay in Pushkar for 4 nights. We met 2 girls from France who invited us to join them one afternoon to the Savitri Temple. This temple is positioned on the top of a little mountain from where we had a beautiful view of Pushkar and it's lake. The french girls had met some local boys who joined us for the trip to the temple and on the way up we had a little break where David had some fun trying to teach them some gymnastics. At the top we could watch the super fast sunset before heading back.
David Showing Local Boys Some Gymnastics
The trip to Udaipur was very uncomfortable in a very old train, but we were so relieved when we arrived. People in Udaipur were way more friendly and we felt less hassled than other places. The city was also cleaner compared to the others we had been, and we actually spotted some trash cans. Udaipur gave us a feeling of a different atmosphere than the other places we had visited in India so far, and we felt we could relax a bit there.
Viewpoint over Lake Pichola in Udaipur
We have had an interesting start of our travel in the central part of India, with a lot of nice temples and forts, cows in the streets, intrusive salesmen, crazy traffic and intense smells. Some good and some bad feelings. It has been a tough start, but we have survived by learning, and now our travel continues south!
The Traveling Gymnast
