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Published: February 22nd 2015
From what I've experienced and observed, there are two kinds of travelers: the first are those who want to go to India, and the second are those who really
DON'T. My friend Natalia and I fell into the first category, while both our husbands fell into the second. I think its commonly understood that India brings a shock to all the senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch... and not everyone is prepared to leave their comfort zone to experience it. Whenever Natalia and I would meet up over the years to talk about travel, we'd always talk about India with a longing feeling... like when a child longs for something far out of their reach. Then one day, kind of unexpectedly, our India dream trip turned into an idea, and then that idea turned into a solid plan. The plan was that we would use Dubai as our stepping stone to reach India. And Naty's sister Tati, who is a very spiritual person and likes to travel, joined us too. Because we weren't being accompanied by our "other-halves", we made sure to hire a reputable guide who not only made sure we were safely escorted, but who also customized our trip
to learn and see as much as we could. We'd travel the "Golden Triangle" and have an experience of a lifetime visiting Jaipur, Agra, and Delhi. Having a male guide/driver worked to our advantage: he could translate for us, protect us from any vulnerable situations, and provide us with all the information we'd need to understand the culture. Spoiler alert: the three of us actually fell in love with our guide/driver Sunil... Yep, he became like family. But more on that later...
Our India planning started many months before our trip. The India Visa was perhaps the hardest part, as this was the only Visa we've ever applied for that took such a long time to process, so we were smart to have gotten that taken care of first. The rest was very straight forward, and we found flights that were a pretty good deal. One of the other good things about our trip was that it coincided with the cool climate of winter, which I read is much preferred to the smoldering summer heat India experiences almost year round. The mornings were quite cold, but it'd get close
to 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon. Before our trip, we kept in touch with our tour operator online via emails, and by February we were ready to go to India. What we weren't ready for was what a huge contrast Dubai and India were! Nevertheless, our enthusiasm to experience India never waned, and only intensified the more we were there.
Get Ready for some INSANE Driving.... I must start off this experience by talking about the driving, since that is exactly the first thing we experienced once we set foot on Indian soil. We arrived at the New Delhi Airport, and our guide picked us up in a tour van. It was extremely early, and the sun had not come up yet. Right away I realized we were going to be driving on the left side of the street (like Australia and the United Kingdom does), this was something I wasn't expecting. The other thing we weren't expecting, and that nobody warned us about, was how insane the driving was... and "insane" only begins to describe it! I think driving in India deserves it's own blog by itself LOL I will try to
How many people can fit on a motorcycle?
Do you see the motorcycle in the back? The one with a baby wedged in between? Sometimes these vehicles had up to 5 people on them.describe it with these three main lessons I learned about the driving:
First driving lesson: Indians are fearless drivers. Unless you are Indian, you should NEVER drive here, it is THAT terrifying because only in India is it totally normal to drive right into the path of another driver or oncoming traffic. We started off on the highway heading to Jaipur, and there were trucks everywhere driving all over the place, and they were going really fast, never regarding the traffic lanes, and only sometimes acknowledging the traffic lights. And it didn't help that we were getting this first taste of driving in the pitch dark, which in our eyes looked like utter chaos! Seriously though, how do you drive into oncoming traffic at 100 mph, only to switch lanes and yank the the car into the proper lane at the last minute, and still live to tell the tale? Only in India...
Second driving lesson: They honk their car horns all day and all night long, for pretty much any reason they want, like: "I'm going to speed up and pass you" or "Get out of the way, you
are not going fast enough" or "watch out I'm heading straight into your lane"... ya know, all the normal reasons to honk. Even the back of the trucks have signs saying "horn" or "horn please." Speaking of signs, there are many other random signs on the backs of trucks here... they say things like "Tata," "Keep Stance," or "Amazing India."
Third driving lesson: Cars aren't the only things on the road... nope... there are also cows on the street, and elephants, and horses, and goats, and monkeys, and dogs, and camels, and cats, and donkeys. Pretty much anything that can walk. There are also people who are walking onto the street, while balancing baskets on their head and not paying much attention to all the crazy cars around them. Other vehicles driving in the chaos are rickshaws, bikes, mopeds, and tuk-tuks. The motorcycles usually have from 3 to 5 people riding on them and maybe a baby wedged in between... or they'll have 2 tons of merchandise strapped to the motorcycle chair. And the trucks usually have about 20 people hanging on to the side. I can prove all of this, I took
pictures and videos! As a matter of fact,
I made a simple video of our driving experience and uploaded it, you can see it down at the bottom of this blog. And every single vehicle is literally inches away from each other, as long as they aren't physically touching, it is not considered a problem. And the only real "crash" we saw was pretty bad, with people arguing in each others faces on the side of the street over who's fault it was. Sometimes our fear wasn't even about how fast we were going, but how close we were to other cars, people, or animals. The cows are the only beings that the cars will avoid hitting at all costs, this means more speeding, around the cows, into busy oncoming traffic.
Now that I've described what an adrenaline rush driving in India is, lets move on to Jaipur! lol!
Jaipur: My favorite place in India Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of
Rajasthan, and it's often referred to as
"The Pink city." Funny thing is that after seeing all the "pink" colored facades around, it's pretty accurate to call
it the Pink City! There is something so charming about Jaipur, I really enjoyed it there over every other place we visited. We saw the sun rise as we entered Jaipur, and then got some breakfast before starting our day of touring. Our breakfast and first meal in India was a yummy
parantha (Indian bread stuffed with potatoes and vegies), and of corse, you can never start the day here without a
CHAI TEA! For every new place we entered, we had a different guide to walk us through the site seeing, and all three of us agreed that our guide in Jaipur was our favorite of our whole trip. There are over 3 million local people living here, and they live in either an urban quarter or a sort of village setting, and they are very humble and hard working. All around us they were getting ready for the day's work. There are animals all over the place of course, but the animal that dominates this area are the Indian elephants. These elephants are so gorgeous, and they are decorated with colorful chalk art, which can easily be removed. As soon as you arrive at the fort you will
be greeted by these gentle giants and their colorful chalk art. There are long lines in the morning to ride them, and they walk all the way up the fort and back down again.
The Many sites we saw in Jaipur: The Amer fort is tucked away in a valley in the foothills, and even though it is essentially a fort protecting a palace, it is more like a precious gem. Over 5000 people visit it a day! There are even parts of the fort that resemble the Great Wall of China. Around every corner of the complex there is a new beautiful detail with ancient Hindu and Muslim architecture, and it is mostly built from marble and sandstone. There are pavilions inside the fort which housed Maharajahs, and our guide had lots of stories to tell us about who lived here and what they did. The lake that sits at the bottom of the fortress really sparkles... it's one of those things that you couldn't help but notice because the reflection was so pretty and eye catching. I loved the latticed windows, which all had beautiful views of the lake and
valley below. The halls inside the pavilion were all originally decorated with mosaic mirrors and gold art; items which are now mostly missing, but what's left of it is protected. We could tell from all the stories our guide told us, that this must have been a lavish place filled with ornamental details to adorn and house the king. It was a very nice place to stroll, take pictures, and listen to the history... a must see in my opinion!
We stopped by a lake to see the
Jal Mahal Palace for a quick photo op. It is called the "Water Palace" because it's located on the middle of the lake. It's quite nice to see it from afar, where you can get a good view of the whole lake and palace complex. It can only be reached by boat.
The third place we visited in Jaipur was the
City Palace, which is a really large palace complex that houses different royal residences, and some very impressive artifacts from past rulers of the 18th century. Inside the complex are a series of museums protecting ancient royal garments and art. There's a large hall with
many intricate embroidered rugs and a gorgeous crystal chandelier that I believe our guide said was a gift from another country. We also passed a room with weaponry that they used to use back when the palace was being guarded. Photos are off limits in this area, so I could only take photographs of the outside. I feel like this complex has a lot of history and has some pretty good things to see, but so much of it was closed off to the public, which may make some people feel disappointed. The best you can do is learn about the history.
The fourth place we visited in Jaipur was the
Jantar Mantar, which is a World Heritage Site. It houses a collection of archaeological and astronomical instruments built by one of the kings in the early 1700s. It is a great place for anyone wanting to learn more about the concepts of space and time. For example, one of these geometric instruments called "the sundial" will measure the placement of the sun and it's shadow, and from that we can measure what time it is with near perfect accuracy... it's astounding that someone even came up
with the ideas on how to build them in the first place!
The
Hawa Majal was the last complex we saw during our time in Jaipur, and it is probably the most iconic pink facade of the whole "Pink City." The one thing our guide was able to tell us about this place was that the many beautiful windows of the Hawa Majal weren't only used for decoration but that they also had some sort of screen on them that allowed cool breeze to come in and that permitted the ladies to look through to view the proceedings of the people down below. It is quite high, and very photogenic. Along the bottom is a wide street and a bunch of markets and stores, you can simply pass through or park your car and get a quick picture of this pretty pink building on your way through Jaipur.
Shopping Galore Before coming to India, we knew we were going to shop... like a lot. It made us thank the heavens we had not traveled here with our husbands because they probably would have been bored to death! LOL However, all the
Traditional Indian Saris
We loved these! Don't we look so local? lol shopping was extremely fun for us. We tried on and shopped for the traditional
Indian Saris, which are seriously one of the most gorgeous traditional dress styles in the world. We had so much fun trying them on, and the store clerks even gave us each an individual colorful
bindi to place on our foreheads for the many pictures we took. I didn't want to take the sari off ever! They are so much fun to wear, I even heard them say that I looked just like a Hindu in mine! LOL Tati, Natalia, and I shopped at this textile store and got many things like the saris, scarves, pillow cases, pants, and artisan style purses. We also went to a shoe store and got these gorgeous Indian style shoes which all had intricate beads and colorful designs on them. We visited a jewelry store and a marble store which had great quality stones. It was so much fun browsing and shopping for things that Indian's typically wear and have in their home.
Spending Valentines Day at the most romantic World Wonder of all: The Taj Mahal! Our four hour drive to
Agra from Jaipur started
off okay at first. Then, I was awakened by the strange sensation of the car shifting back and forth. It turns out that the road to Agra is quite bumpy, and all the drivers try to miss all the pot holes in the road by yanking the car around them. This means driving right into oncoming traffic in the pitch dark night, at 100 mph. It was so scary, that all three of us were pretty stunned, even after we arrived safely at the hotel... Oh India.
We stayed at a really nice hotel called the Taj Vilas (3 Star), and tried to get a good night's rest for our early sunrise
Taj Mahal visit. We got ready as early as 6AM, and went straight out to meet our new tour guide in Agra. You have to ride a pollution free vehicle up to the
Taj Mahal, these strict rules are in place in order to keep the air around it as clean as possible and to maintain a protected barrier. Once we passed the lines and got our bags checked, we walked in, and a few moments later there it was... bigger and more beautiful than you could
ever imagine. I loved that it looked like art or a painting, it was so perfect and unreal. The Taj Mahal is perfectly symmetrical, there is just one spot that isn't, and only those who have visited will know what it is! You have to wear these funny looking hospital shoe covers when you go inside, and its included in your ticket purchase. The detailing and little flowers you see on the building are not painted on, they are actually tiny little stones that were individually cut to fit the design. That's pretty hard core guys! That's why it took over 22 years to complete it! There is also Islamic calligraphy that is repeated throughout the building, it says, "O Soul, thou art at rest. Return to the Lord and at Peace with Him, and He at peace with you." Everyone was there to celebrate
Valentines Day (Feb 14th). I sure did miss my husband Victor, and I wish he could have been there with me to experience these moments! We immediately started taking photos. It was very crowded and we knew it was only going to get worse, especially since there was also some kind of government function happening
later on in the day. We spent a nice couple of hours that morning admiring the monument and hearing all the history behind it, and then went back to the hotel to eat breakfast.
After breakfast we continued our tour of Agra by visiting the Red Fort, where we took lots of pictures and listened to even more history. This was probably the moment when we realized that now that we've seen the Taj Mahal, no other building or palace or fort was going to measure up or be as exciting! LOL Sensing our weariness, our guide took us to get our hand
henna tattoos, which was one of the things we really wanted to do in India. Then we grabbed some dinner before our long drive back to Delhi. Important advice for your next India trip: try saving the Taj Mahal for last (but don't forget it is closed on Fridays!) One more tip: if you are visiting India you will need a converter to charge your camera/appliances, and we purchased one there for $1 but they are very hard to find, so be prepared.
Our last day in Delhi Delhi was really crazy...
sorry Delhi! The traffic was worse and the hotel we stayed at wasn't so great. By this point we were pretty exhausted, even Natalia was ready to throw in the towel! Since Tati is a very spiritual person, she really wanted to visit a Hindu Temple, so we spent the morning visiting different temples and taking our time inside. It was very inspiring watching Tati going up to all the different Hindu statues and presenting her offering, as well as taking several quiet moments to pray and contemplate. Upon presenting an offering, we each got a red dot placed on our head as a religious mark and blessing. Something I almost forgot to mention was that Tati also fed a cow, which held a significant spiritual importance to her. We drove around a bit and noticed that there was a ginormous Sunday flee market going on. I was shocked at the amount of people out, it seemed like everyone in Delhi was out browsing, buying, or selling something! Rows and rows of streets were lined with shoes, jeans, books, shirts, and everything else. We saw one last site in Delhi, which was Hamayun's Tomb, before our guide/driver took us back
to the airport to go home. It was an emotional goodbye with tears, as we were saying goodbye to
Sunil (our guide/driver) who we got very close to during our trip. Important Tip: a copy of your flight details are required before you can even step foot into the airport. It is heavily guarded and they are very strict about letting people get by.
Conclusions... We really enjoyed our time in India. We were witnessing one of the world's richest cultures with our very own eyes, and I felt so lucky to be here with my two friends having this amazing experience. Maybe having a guide acted as a cushion to make our experience better. Or maybe the three of us were just very responsible and took extra good care of each other. I expected to have more negative experiences than positive ones, but it turned out to be the other way around. None of the things I feared would happen, happened. That's why
you must take your expectations of India and just throw them out the window, it'll never be what you think it is. If India is a place you really want to
visit than you just have to go with an open mind and experience it for yourself, and it never hurts to be extra prepared. You will see some very sad things, and some very amazing things too. You will go home with perhaps a deeper appreciation of your life. For me it was an enlightening experience. You will eat some great food, and if you are like us, you will love
garlic nan, jeera rice, and curried potatoes! Safe food options, yet extremely delicious. Lucky for me, the food was almost always vegetarian, so there were many options for me to choose from. We loved our
guide/driver Sunil... lets just say, his gentle humble demeanor and unrelenting determination to take good care of us during our trip seriously warmed our hearts. We are so lucky we had him as our guide/driver during our entire trip. He is hands down the sweetest guy and driver in Delhi!
This blog dedication goes out to Natalia. Thank You Naty for dragging me along on this incredible adventure! I think we both helped each other finally accomplish this dream trip, but I know that without you none of this would have been possible. You are the best travel partner in the world, and a dearest friend to my heart. I will always have the fondest memories of all our trips together, and of our friendship! When friends like you come along it is rare... we must cherish them and not take them for granted. Can't wait for what is next to come... so much of the world is left for us to uncover 😊
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Your first blog on the front page - how exciting!
I really enjoyed this blog, and I'm so glad you loved your trip to India :)