Jaipur, Trains, and Automobiles

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So this past weekend was spent on a little trip. All of the groups that came to India were given a little weekend retreat, except for our group. So we decided to organize an excursion out to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, and Agra, the location of Taj Mahal. We had heard good things about trips like this. So we asked FSD to buy us some tickets and we headed out.



Every week we have a meeting with FSD (the umbrella corporation that connects students with NGOs all over the world). Here we say what went on the past week, what went well, what went poorly, and what we would like to do for the next week. I could make a blog post on just these meetings. But I will just say that this past one had me explaining a lot of the things I feel I have accomplished so far in India. One of these is that I feel I have done a good job talking to people here. I love striking up conversations. But in India that is a whole new ball game. But in the time since I got here I have managed to talk to about 10 strangers. It’s hard to talk to strangers because you never know what someone’s intentions are. Especially in India we have heard some bad stories about interns making friends and then being scammed or mugged. Being a woman also makes it much harder to talk to strangers since that’s not something women just do in the streets.

But for my situation I have managed to say hello and ask how people are in Hindi. This usually follows with them talking in basic English back to me. The result is usually only a few more sentences, but sometimes we manage to talk a lot more. After conversations like this I always feel much better. Back in the day I used to be a pretty shy guy. So one of my methods for coming out of my shell was talking to strangers. It actually became fun, I got good at small talk, and I still do it when I can to this day to stay on my toes. But in India it’s a much more difficult process, but the end result is the same. I feel these excursions into doing what I’m not supposed to and asking strangers about their day gives the same result on any continent. I feel more open and friendly to what is out there.

Back to the weekend, our FSD meeting ends and we get to go get a dinner for free before hitting the train station. After filling my belly with some delicious paneer (a type of cheese in a special sauce that is the best indian dish on the planet) we headed to the train station. Sleeper trains in India are not super accommodating. They are filled with little pockets of cabins that all have six beds. Three beds are stacked on top of one another. But the problem is that you only have a small amount of space from the bed to the bed above you or the ceiling, so you have no choice but to lay down. While uncomfortable and leaving me unable to sleep, it’s not bad for $12 getting me from Udaipur to Jaipur, from Jaipur to Agra, then Agra to Udaipur.

The first train was from 10pm to about 6am. We arrived in Jaipur and were stiff, sore, and lacked sleep in a new town. We come out of the train station and are bombarded by about 10 to 15 rickshaw drivers that wanted our business. Luckily the hotel we were staying at offered to bring cars to us to take us to our destination. So we scurried our way through drivers and beggars to get into our cars and got to the hotel. Once there all we wanted to do was sleep. The only problem was we only had 12 hours to explore the whole city. That’s not nearly enough time! So we manned up, put cold water on our face, and took off into the city!

On this trip were 13 of us, 10 from the GESI program and 3 from the C-2 program that came to India from independent programs. So with a group of 13 foreigners you can attract a LOT of attention. But luckily in Jaipur the city is a bit more used to travelers. It is a nice medium between a smaller city like Udaipur where people don’t usually see foreigners and always stare, and a large city like Dehli where there are a bunch of creeps that will stare. In Jaipur we were at a nice balance and didn’t feel too harassed.

Our little possey made its way down the streets. Our original aim was to get to the city palace (pretty much every major city has one) because that is where the market was. Hungry, tired, and hot we did our best and got pretty close. But in the end we succumbed to our basic needs and after about an hour and a half we had to get rickshaws back to the hotel. Luckily once back we got to order some breakfast and spent an hour or so feasting on some food. It was a nice little recovery to get back to the day. We asked the hotel for some drivers and got a good deal on some actual cars with AC. Our first destination was Fort Amber.

I have seen so many different places and India is so old that I can no longer keep straight the history of anywhere I go. In Jaipur there is a large hill above it and fort amber is at the top. It took us a long time to get there because you have to drive around the mountain to reach the entrance. At the base of Fort Amber there were hundreds of shops because this was a pretty big tourist attraction in the area. In the 100 degree heat we made our way up and found ourselves inside the biggest fort I had ever seen. It was even bigger than the one I went to a month ago. Out in front of it you could see all of Jaipur and the huge valley past it. It was a beautiful day so the view was just spectacular.

There are actually two sections to this fort. A lower and upper building. The upper building is about an hours walk higher up the mountain. You have the option to ride an elephant up to it! But due to our only being in Jaipur for one day we had to skip on that activity. I proceeded to separate from the group and explored the fort on my own. Since it is so big it’s pretty easy to enter the restricted sections and I found that despite my quick pace I couldn’t cover the whole place. It was just too big! But it was very cool twisting and turning through the corridors as I wanted to see what was around the next bend. In the end I saw a lot of cool sights and sweated a lot.

As we gathered to leave we were coming out the exit and saw to musicians playing. They were kind of at the end of a corridor and no one was gathered around them. They were pretty good and I had an extra 10 rupee bill in my pocket. So I walk up to give it to them. But then as I go up to place down the bill one of the musicians stops playing, pushes up a little basket that was beside him, and opens it up. Inside is a king cobra snake and I jump back! That was definitely the last thing I expected to see come out of there! My best guess is that the guys get a kick out of scaring foreigners with it.

From the fort we headed out to the middle of Jaipur. We wanted to experience the marketplace area and it was pretty cool. We all did some shopping. I bought some gifts and managed to haggle them a little bit. Although one item I cannot reveal yet I tried to get for a better price. The genetleman I was buying form wouldn’t budge (probably because he knew I wanted it too much) but when I gave in and bought it for no money off he said, “You did your best” and gave me some candy!

After our shopping was done we found a restaurant for a nice big lunch of nam with paneer. Then it was off to our hotel where we decided to spend our last couple hours walking the streets. Jaipur is a really beautiful city at night and it was a lot of fun just strolling. We made our way to a Pizza Hut to pick up something cold. I actually got a cookie with ice cream desert, which was the first time I had had cookies or ice cream since leaving the states. It was heavenly. I even took some pictures of the menu because there are some major differences. In india you can get a pizza with small chicken kabobs baked into the crust. Corn is a pretty common topping over there. And chicken pizza is kind of the only meat you can get.

Then it was time to return to our hotel where we got as much sleep as we could. We needed to get to the train station by 5:30. Problem was that when we went downstairs the drivers we thought we had reserved were not there. So we had to get down to the main road and found a ride. We made it with a few minutes to spare and were off to Agra! It was a simple 5 hour train ride, but no sleep was obtained by this guy. Our compartment was misfortunate enough to contain a small child that didn’t scream but roared in terror for a good ninety minutes.

In Agra we once again went through a barrage of rickshaw drivers trying to cheat us on way too expensive of rides. We finally haggled our way down to a decent price and got to the Taj Mahal! Since we only had a few hours in Agra and had a 14 hour train ride home, we knew we wouldn’t get anymore food. So we stopped at an ice restaurant first, filled our bellies, then it was off to one of the wonders of the world!

Sadly upon our arrival we learned it was pretty expensive, 750 rupees ($15) for us to go in. We were kind of pissed because we were told it’s very cheap. It turns out only Indians pay 10 rupees, foreigners pay 750. Racist? Not really. Its more because of the Indian mindset of they want to share the Taj Mahal with everyone, and hardly anyone would go from India if it was 750 for them. Whereas they know that foreigners that can pay for a plane into India can likely afford the 750 to see the Taj. After being patted down and having my bag combed through twice, it was finally time to go in!

We made our way through the front temple and found ourselves in front of the great Taj Mahal! You have seen the pictures so I won’t waste time describing what it looks like. But we just spent our time in the heat trying to take as many cool pics as we could, while at the same time taking in the sight we were at. It was a very hot day. No clouds, harsh sun, and I think it was in the high nineties. I was sweating bullets and by the time we left I was extremely dehydrated. With our tickets were able to walk down the main stretch of the fountain, then wind our way around until we ended up inside. The inside is much more simple than I expected. It is highly ordained, but the only thing in there is two graves.

Once outside we were ready to go. Our huge band of foreigners was attracting a lot of attention and a lot of wanted photos being taken. So we took off and finally ended up at an air conditioned coffee shop where I had the worst lemonade of my life. But I drank the whole thing. It was soooooooooo cold. Afterwards we got into some rickshaws, raced back to the train station, and hopped on board for our 14 hour trip back. I didn’t sleep a single bit along that trip. We ended up returning home and I got to my house around 8 in the morning. I proceeded to sleep for a good 6 hours. Followed by some laying around and doing some writing, followed up with another full night of sleep.

Overall I loved that trip. It was a lot of fun seeing a new side of India, acting like a tourist, and being able to explore. The only thing I do regret is how much money I spent. But I did manage to get quite a few gifts for loved ones back home! I left one particular cool part out because it would give away a special gift I want to remain a surprise. I am now back in the swing of things at work. We are in the final stretch of finishing our project. My next blog will be entirely dedicated to that. I hope to give you guys a good idea of what it is I do all day.

For now there is one more thing I want to discuss and that is experience. Being on this trip with all the GESI students and a few others, I was able to garner a lot of opinions on this trip to India. When on these long train rides there isn’t a lot to do but talk. What I found is that out of the 13 people that went on this trip, there were 13 different opinons on the overall trip to India. Many of us have different good and bads here. Some of us have great experiences with their host families, while others are not interacting very well. Some people have wonderful NGOs that they work with, whereas others are struggling and wish they could switch. When it comes to walking down the street, haggling, interacting, riding the rickshaw, our living conditions, the weather, the language barrier, the poverty, the disparity, all of us deal with it differently. I’m sure if I asked the other 20-30 foreign students that I met this summer I would find 20-30 more perspectives on this summer.

This realization has left me thinking a lot about what my own experience will bring me. Overall I think this was an overall positive experience. I have struggled a lot with the isolation, fears, and terrible sights I have seen here. And I think overall many of the foreign students feel the same way. No one came to India and had a 100% positive time. But also no one came and had a 100% negative experience. We all had our fair share. We all had our sickness, our struggles, our frustations, our triumphs, our laughs, and our unforgettable memories. So I guess whether someone will return home and look back with a smile or a frown doesn’t really matter. In the end this was a emotional experience that leaves some kind of mark.

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