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Published: June 28th 2006
Ok, Im not going to pretend, this post actually happened in Agra. It is almost impossible to find all of the following in one cybercafe:
1. Monitor that is viewable
2. Internet that moves at a reasonable pace
3. Computer with either USB or a CD drive
4. Good keyboard
5. Tolerable temperature
Anyway, here I am at a cyber cafe with all of these qualities....
Our arrival in India was inauspicious. The first thing that I had to do in India, even before we went through customs, was find a bathroom like the end of the world was nigh. In fact, I couldnt even find a urinal - all I could find was a squat toilet with no toilet paper. Welcome to India!! That night I went for a safe meal of nan to soothe my very, very angry gastro-intestinal system. The meds did the trick and calmed things down to normal levels after just a few hours. Loperamide saved me from an unenjoyable trip in India
We stayed at Metropolis Tourist Home in Paharganj in Delhi India. This is the normal haunt of backpackers, and I saw more white people in 1 block than I
had seen in all of Bangladesh. The trip from the airport was a shock. Having been in Bangladesh for so long, Delhi seemed very westernized. The roads were paved, the vehicles stayed in lanes, and there were functional lights and traffic signs. In a way I was sad to leave the rawness of Dhaka - Delhi seems a bit more sanitary. Paharganj is quite similar to the roads of Dhaka, with cows, trash, and all kinds of other stuff all competing for space.
We began our time in Delhi with a hired car for the day, which we paid 800 Rupees for. It took us everywhere we wanted to go, but we regretted that it tied us down at all and we think would have preferred taking autorickshaws everywhere. Our first stop was at the Red Fort in Delhi. We were dropped off at the fort and met up with a rickshaw driver who took us around. Just then it began to rain torrentially. Our rickshaw driver got soaked, and I worried about my electronics(they were ok). On arrival at the fort we had to check our bags with the cloak room, which meant that my camera had to
get locked up in a box far from me because I dont have good rain protection for my camera. This made me slightly nervous throughout the Red Fort visit. The rain made our time at the fort less enjoyable than it could have been. After the fort we stopped by the Jama Mosjid, a huge mosque. They told us to come back later, which we dutifuly did.
As it turns out, almost all religions are represented in Delhi, and while there, we visited temples of the Sikhs, Jains, Hindus, and Muslims. The Sikh temple was ornately decorated inside, and they gave us a tour of the huge kitchens that they use to prepare their food. They were insistent on our taking lots of photos, like pushy insistent. Here is a photo that our guide insisted we take . While at the mosque our guide pressured us to make a sizeable donation to the mosque,though we seriously think that it went into his pocket. I mean he took us outside where noone else could see. It doesnt get much sketchier than that. I think if that happened again today we would have stood our ground, but in this case we
gave in. They gave us some Sikh propaganda (seriously) and we were off on our way.
At this point our itinerary becomes a bit hazy in my memory, but some of the highlights of Delhi were Humayuns Tomb - very beautiful, many other attractive mosques and temples on the same complex. We saw Mahatma Gandhi's funeral ghat, which was a very elegant reminder of a special man.
On day 2 in Delhi we began the morning with a trip to Qutb Minar, a big tower that at one point you could climb, but no more 😞 We wandered around there for a while, and then went back to the Jama Mosjid. For lunch we diner at Karim's, a restaurant recommended by the LonelyPlanet bible. We thought the bible had failed us, but it turns out we needed to follow several small alleyways to get there. DUH!!. Actually their image on the map was in exactly the right place, and we were the incompetent ones. Quick plug - Lonely planet makes by far the best tour books anywhere. Their guides are thorough and give you a good feel for prices, places, and things. Highly recommended. For those traveling light,
the Lonely Planet guide to India is something like 1300 pages long - and heavy, but worth every ounce.
Our evenings were pretty low-key, mostly because of our general fatigue after packed days of traveling. We have done a lot of sitting. I'm actually surprised how few foreign tourists are here, even though this is the low season.
My trip to Delhi ended with a bang, actually more like a flesh wound. The book store in Paharganj was a 2-story dealy, with an aluminum ladder precariously balanced on the side of the building to go from bottom level to top. There was a garage door on the top floor. Nabil had already climbed up and was looking at books, and i wanted to join him. I was almost all the way up and had peeked my head into the room when my bag caught on the door and I had an "oh shit" moment. No longer was I attached to the ladder, but suspended in the air, 7 feet above the ground. With a crash I came down, and a set of hands tried to grab me. I landed on my feet with a gash in my leg
and a boken watch band, but otherwise ok. My leg is a bit scraped up, a favorite hangout spot for flies, but Ill survive 😊 Its all part of the adventure.
Ian
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sally
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nyack
Boy ian I love hearing about your trip and the great way in which you express yourself. Thansk so much. MOm