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India; Amritsar, Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Varanasi

Day 32- Amritsar, India

India, a truly multidimensional metropolis that is overrun with eager touts and crush of mechanical and human traffic, considered one of the world largest yet poorest countries.

With intensions to acclimatise to the poverty ridden, hectic way of life was an eye opening experience. The high birth rate, a low literacy rate and an erratic electricity supply was the common theme throughout the places we visited. It was a week of my life that has made me realise that what we have is not all bad!?

Once arriving to Amritsar, our first pit stop in India, we had hotel issues, ones that involved hygiene and security, I did ask myself the question can we expect such luxuries in such a country. Once all was resolved we took ourselves to an air conditioned restaurant to try out the local delicacies. Thought I’d take it easy on my tummy and have a Korma but I got burnt out!!! I’m in India what was I thinking…

In the evening after sundown we made our way on cycle rickshaws to the Golden Temple. These rickshaws can take upto 2 Indian size people so really one of me but we thought it be fun to have 3 of us on it!! Tight squeeze to say the least but that was half of the fun.. The Golden Temple had hundreds of Sikhs’ coming to pay their respects and put the book to sleep. It was a busy but tranquil atmosphere where we were warmly welcomed.

Day 33-34 Delhi, India

A few hours’ drive brought us to India’s capital city, Delhi. We had a free day in which to do our own exploring. A few of us arranged a local tour guide, called Sunny, to take us to the main sights like India Gate, Gandhi’s memorial place and many more. The extreme heat was getting the better of us but we discovered that banana milkshake did the trick.. Yum : )

Day 35-36 Agra, India

I know it’s sad to say but I was so relieved to hear there was a Pizza Hut in Agra, my stomach was churning for some normality. I wasn’t all too recovered from Pakistan so it was nice to fill my tank with non spicy food.. Having regained some energy we jumped on auto rickshaws to see the Taj Mahal at sunset. I had seen so many pictures of this World Heritage Site it was so serial having it in touching distance.

We actually got to visit the Taj at sunrise the next morning. We were lucky to be one of the first to get there and truly appreciate the craftsmanship of this magical white marble monument that was built for love.

Not forgetting to visit the Agra Fort, one of the finest Mughal forts in India, where I will remember as the place I got attacked by a monkey!! Yes you read right I got jumped on by a male monkey trying to protect its family. I was quite simply taking photos of his missus and baby, and my fatal mistake was to hang around bit too long, testing the monkey’s patience that was hidden in the trees above. I didn’t know what had hit me when suddenly a flying monkey landed on me. It was grabbing my leg and hissing at me. All I could do was hold my camera and bag up high and scream… I could feel the monkey tugging at me and when I looked down to see the really angry monkey trying to pull my pants down!! Luckily a local man came and saved the day and I walked away from the incident unharmed but somewhat embarrassed for causing such a scene. The moral of this story… don’t stop to take pictures of monkeys or else they take a pic of you…

Day 37- Lucknow, India

Moving on from Agra we travelled for most of the day down to the city of Lucknow. There are certain days when all the travelling and sightseeing catches up on you. Most of the time you don’t get to have a proper night’s sleep and others you have to get up at the crack of dawn. Today was a recuperation day so when we arrived at the hotel I didn’t care to do much but have room service and go to bed. Room service ended up taking over 45mins and it wasn’t actually even what I ordered…

Day 38-39 Varanasi, India

Another full day’s drive brought us to the old city of Varanasi, one of the holiest places in India, where Hindu pilgrims come to wash away a lifetime of sins in the Ganges or to cremate their loved ones.
The Ganges are viewed as a river of salvation, an everlasting symbol of hope to past, present and future generations. However along the 7km stretch of river are 30 large sewers causing heavy pollution and an ongoing issue for villages beyond Varanasi.

After knowing these facts we were then taken on a predawn and sunset boat ride along The Ganges to for live the whole experience. I was amazed to see so many people bathing in the waters, and there was me trying to refrain from getting the tiniest of splashes. I lit a candle in memory of Dada and also to the happiness and health of all my friends and family which I left afloat on the holy waters. I was saddened to witness several cremations as well as a babies’ body being thrown directly in the river. Such intimate rituals of life and death take place in public which is a shock to me but merely the crossing between the physical and spiritual world in the Hindu culture.

Eye opening experiences as they are it was now time to leave India behind to discover Nepal

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