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Published: December 2nd 2011
Bangla Sahib
Sikh Temple in Delhi...all the domes are made of 24k gold. Greetings from India!
It has been nearly a month since my last blog as we have not been traveling but instead spending time with family in Wisconsin as we regrouped and got ready for our trip to India and Southeast Asia. The majority of my time I spent at my parents cabin, a remote log cabin where there is no cell service, electricity, or running water - a great place to relax! It was also Wisconsin's hunting season and I was lukcy enough to shoot my largest deer ever - 12 points, 196 pounds. While at the cabin I was preparing for our India trip by reading the guidebook and I came across some information about India Visa's which prompted a quick run to cell service to alert Amy that we were behind the eight ball on getting our Visa - we thought that India had Visa on arrival. After investigating our options and getting some documents in order it turns out Amy had to swing south to Chicago on a planned roadtrip to apply for our Visa's in person. After some delays at the India Visa office (which I might add India outsources the work), we received our Visa
two business days prior to our planned departure - that was close!
Our first stop on our trip was an overnight trip in Hong Kong. After a two hour delay in Minneapolis-St. Paul we arrived in Chicago with little time to spare for our 16 hour direct flight to Hong Kong. Ulitmately, we left MSP around noon on Monday and arrived in Hong Kong at 8pm on Tuesday. The third leg of our flight was to take place at 2pm on Wednesday and arrive in India around 8pm on Wednesday. Hong Kong had some really neat and unique things about it that deserve mentioning, foremost is the airport. Hong Kong's airport was by far the largest and nicest airport I have traveled through in my life. Possibly most enjoyable the airport was quiet. It reminded me of going into the grocery store in Panama and hearing "silence" for the first time in Central America. In the end we could not pinpoint why it was so quiet, but did notice that barely anyone was using cell phones (although they are as common as in the U.S.). Also, the airport had free Wifi and carts for travelers to carry around their
Bangla Sahib
Our rickshaw driver and I walking as he tells me about Delhi, Sikh, and India luggage. The second thing that was noticeabe about Hong Kong was that the people were very nice and calm. It seemed like everyone in the service industry was happy to help and did everything with a genuine smile, this was vastly different than what I typically see in the U.S. This quality of service was certainly extended to the airline we flew (Cathay Pacific), again the service with a genuine smile was pervasive. As previously mentioned cell phones are ubiquitous like the States, but it is worth noting that the selection and quality of cell phones available in Hong Kong is far superior to the U.S. - I hope we can catch up at some point! Our breakfast in Hong Kong was an eastern/western fusion which consisted of salad, dim sum, fried noodles, fruit, yogurt and granola. A few more notes about Hong Kong: vehicles drive on the left side of the road (like Australia, etc.), it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, and the landscape is a mix between mountains and tall buildings, of which the buildings dominate.
Our flight from Hong Kong to India had a stop in Bangkok for some to
Rickshaw Ride
Our driver with us in the back. get off and others to join, we were asked to stay in our seats in Bangkok as the other passengers joined us - this was a first for me. Staying on the plane allowed me to see the work that goes into "changing over" a plane and there is a substantial amount of work and employees that go into getting a plane turned over rapidly - again most of it with a smile and in a courteous manner. Upon arrival in India we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of touts at the airport - nonetheless we had arranged through our hotel to be picked up to avoid the typical scams we have read and been told about. In India we are 11 hours and 30 minutes ahead of central time in the States (that is typed properly, India does a 30 mintue time change that makes them at least 30 mintues different than most other countries). We have been consistently told that either you will love or hate India (there is no inbetween) - for us our first day was filled with both. There was a strike on our first day so many of the private sector business were
Dinner
Our first meal of the day at 10pm. closed (all public were still open).
On our first morning we hailed an auto-rickshaw (the quintessential Indian three wheeled vehicle) to go to the local tourist office, which would cost 20 rupees ($1 = 50 rupees). After leaving the tourist office with a map and a sales pitch our driver was still waiting and asked where we were going - which we had no plan. He offered to take us to a Hindu temple for another 10 rupees. The admission to the temple was free (you have to take off your shoes and leave your camera - we did get some pictures from outside the temple). We had agreed that our driver would wait for us and take us back to Connaught Place (a central cricle of Delhi). After our time at the temple our driver offered to take us to a Sikh temple, we did not agree on a price so I was a little nervous at what it might cost in the end. Upon our arrival he essentially acted as a guide to the temple and walked around with us telling us about the temple, Delhi, and India. The temple (see picture) had an abundance of gold
Turban wrap
Getting a turban put on at a Sikh Temple - 24k gold. The temple tops were gold and inside the entire ceiling and worship area were gold. There was a ceremony going on when we arrived and the music and people watching was a delight. As we picked up our shoes to leave the woman working noted that with my beard I would look like a Sikh person if I wore a Turban, so she wrapped my head in an orange turban (which I walked around with for most of the day). Throughout the morning our driver (Otto, not sure spelling, but will spell it that way in a tribute to my grandfather) was called by his wife who was off of work due to the strike asking for him to not work, so after the temple he told us he needed to go and asked that we pay him 30 Rupees ($0.60). We paid him double as the whole three hours with him was probably worth ten times that amount. This was the India we loved and wished all the people were like our driver.
After leaving Otto we expereinced the India that everyone talks about (and the hate side of our experience). Tout after tout after
Rickshaw ride
Sitting in the rickshaw after the Sikh Temple rickshaw after rickshaw that all wanted to take you to the "official" tourist center for booking tickets. Each of them says the same thing and gives the same sales pitch. The main part of the pitch is that you cannot get train tickets and that they can because they have access to a block of tickets set aside for tourists. On top of that they try to sell you a personal driver for Rajasthan (a main tourist state of Northern India). Finally, we found a rickshaw driver that did not speak English and asked to go to the New Delhi train station to buy a ticket. The trip to the train station was eventful for one reason...we got in an fender bender with a car - which in India you just keep driving...we were both uninjured. This is probably a good time to mention that driving in India would be impossible for a foreigner and the traffic at all times is awful! Upon our arrival at the train station an official security man pointed us to a ticket counter that again was not the official office. We expected this, so after some more searching we found the real office, as it turned out the line was so long we decided to go back to the hotel and go back in the morning to find a ticket to somewhere besides Delhi - hoping to find a different experience than the side of India we experienced in the afternoon.
Back at our hotel we rested some (still aren't acclimated to the time change) and ordered some room service at 10pm (our first meal of the day, we did have a little trail mix). The food was incredible and for the entire meal that filled both of us up and a bottle of water is was less than $4. The Indian food that we enjoy in the states is typical of Northern India (where we are) - Southern India tends to have different food that what we think of in the States as Indian food. We did pick up some bottles of water today and for two 1 liter bottles it was 30 rupees - much cheaper than Central America and the States!
Tomorrow we hope to catch a train to Varanasi (northeast India) or Agra (Taj Mahal area). We will see how the run around goes and if we can get anywhere!
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