Advertisement
"Because I have traveled, I can see other universes in the eyes of strangers. Because I have traveled, I know what parts of me I cannot deny and what parts of me are simply the choices I make. I know the blessings of my own table and the warmth of my own bed. I know how much of life is pure chance, and how great a gift I have been given simply to be who I am. ...
"If we don't offer ourselves to the unknown, our senses dull. Our world becomes small and we lose our sense of wonder. Our eyes don't lift to the horizon; our ears don't hear the sounds around us. The edge is off our experience, and we pass our days in a routine that is both comfortable and limiting."
Kent Nerburn, Letters to my Son, New World, 1994, pp. 114-115.
Here is the watered down version *an attempt to cut out the ranting jeers* of a cathartic blog post about the whole adventure/mishap. To explain briefly, we brought our saved Won to India, found out most respectable places do not exchange won (something we should have realized before we
Connaught Trash Eaters
Unlike the grassy areas near the train tracks throughout the Golden Triangle, people in Connaught Circle did seem to obey the demands of the hungry trash receptacles. traveled anywhere outside of Japan and Chine) and those banks that did exchange won were not open on Sunday - which was the first official day we stepped onto the dusty streets of Delhi.
We got swindled several times, begged at by hundreds of children, old men and women, and slept uncomfortably on two overnight trains. The sights were incredible, but we found few people we could trust or enjoy moments with. We had to turn away from nearly everyone who approached us on the street because they were either begging or forcefully selling things in our faces - or pulling us toward their overpriced shops.
I bought a sari which is lovely, and a box made from marble similar to the Taj Mahal and with similar semi-precious stones, and the pictures were definitely worth even the over-expenses (the fees caused by inexperience) that we paid.
It's good to be home, but I am upset that we spent so much money on an experience that was more unsettling throughout with occasional dikes of awe from the ancient palaces, Taj, and abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri.
On Monday, we left by personal car (big mistake and I
Interesting Buildings Beyond the Dust
At the time, Connaught seemed quite dry, dusty, like most of the surrounding streets of Delhi, although the sprinklers and the small man-made stream helped to quench the thirst of the plants in the park. was very reluctant to take a personal car both for environmental and snob-guilt worries) and headed to Jaipur - the pink city, and Amber - an ancient city, and then headed to Fatehpur Sikri and Agra the next day, we saw the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort, and then headed by train to the holy city of Varanasi on the Ganges and left that night headed back to Delhi. Exhausted, we arrived in Delhi, ran straight to our travel agent and demanded money back having realized late how they took advantage of us and stole $400 of our money - they claimed a 25% fee for themselves, they claimed 7 rupees per km for the trip of the car and additional money per km for the wear and tear of the car, they tried to lie to us over and over - with shouting matches, I told one man that he was a child and he said I had a stupid mind and I had to hold Dave down to his seat after that insult, which I wasn't the least bit insulted by. Eventually, after an hour of ridiculous math - where they threw out numbers and we multiplied
More Connaught Pedestrians.
Beautiful saris were more popular, but there were also a few Delhi women wearing jeans with baggy embroidered shirts. The kids also wore either traditional cloth or jeans, but they rolled in the grass, chased each other and wandered around aimlessly regardless of which. and added still to find out, even by their calculations, after tax and their commission, tax by the way, 12.5 percent on everything from the gas to the wear and tear on the car, to the parking fees, some of which I'm sure were not actually taxed - but we gave in to all of that, after all the grumbling - we STILL found that they owed us $146 just according to their numbers which were ridiculous. So they suggested going to the US Embassy, and we agreed. Then, they explained after we had already been in the car for ten minutes that they were actually going to the police first to file a complaint, and I was furious. "You MUST tell us exactly where we're going before we get in the car." And they actually apologized for that, and then decided randomly to forgo the police station trip, possibly realizing how irate we were, and go directly to the Embassy, halfway to the Embassy they mention threateningly "You'll have to stay in Delhi another night, of course, you cannot leave when you file a case like this." And I said, FINE. We'll stay then. And then they chatted in
Photo by Sylvana
After laying down in the grass, a little more casually than the Indian couples around us (getting grass in our hair and on our clothes), we met Sylvana, a wonderful traveler from Switzerland, whom we met later for dinner at a great restaurant. She highly recommended Sri Lanka and Kashmir for our travels. I'm hoping she can meet me in Chiang Mai in September:) Hindi for five minutes and agreed to pay us 3000 rupees - approximately $75. We said this was not enough, and they said they could pay no more. They turned the car around and went back, even though we hadn't yet agreed to this amount. I was then required to write on the back of photo copy of my passport - that we had received 3000 rupees and were satisfied with the exchange. I wrote satisfied in quotes and they accepted the paper. I signed my name and left furious. Took photos of the travel agent location - the large font writing on the outside which stated that it was a Government Approved Agency.
I'm sure this is one of thousands of travel agency which will run you for your money. But I'm still angry, both at them and at myself of course, for originally agreeing to such an outrageous price, and for being convinced to take a private car <-- our true financial downfall.
For now, actually, I think I will post this exact account on the blog, just to put something up, because my rant is currently 3 pages long and I haven't yet finished the
Ankle Biter
One of many we ran into on the trip. Do not fear, after this shot was taken, he did not fall but caught himself and ran quickly back toward his parents' grass patch. first day of Delhi. I hope you don't mind me gyping you currently of a more detailed account, but I'll get on that later😊 for now, less complaints, and more beautiful pictures - 600 to be exact - INCREDIBLE views -
Advertisement
Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0303s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 3;
; mem: 1.1mb
TAHB
TARIQ
hey
Big country,big city, competitive life style, survival of the fittest and those who are not fit or are lazy try to earn living through this method. My trip to India was marred by several such incidences. But overall it was an amazing trip. Just be more careful before finalizing service charges and inquire in detail about the facilities. Rest you should be fine. have a nice trip. looking forward to hearing more from you guys take care