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Published: October 18th 2006
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The Taj
Note the flaws in my attempt to photoshop us in front of the Taj. After our time in Nepal Jord and I returned south to conclude India. I wasn't really sure if I should bother with a last blog but ultimately decided there should be some closure before heading to Thailand. Returning to India was not exactly what I thought it would be like. It’s amazing how quickly I forgot about the sights, smells and people the country can produce. Since returning from our hike in the Himalayas things have been very rushed. We’ve traveled everyday returning back south with only a few hours set aside to visit the Taj Mahal.
We started by taking a bus south to the India/Nepal border where because of some traffic issues (which I don’t honestly think ever go away) we walked a km or two into the border town, changed the last of our Nepalese rupees, then stamped out and then in respectively. We managed to hop into a land rover to take us to Gordakpur instead of the local bus, since the local bus was nowhere to be found. Initially getting into the back of the truck, even if it was only for a few seconds -still brought haunting memories from Mozambique. I managed to have
Jama Masjid
I got yelled at for being and infadel (I think). us moved into the front section which then made the trip more pleasurable, even if it still took 2.5 hours to go the 100km or so.
I guess the most mentionable event of the return journey to Delhi would be the Taj Mahal. I wasn't sure eactly what to expect even though everyone I talked to said it was magnificent. I guess after seeing Everest so close I was a bit worried it might be anticlimactic. I certainly didn't feel that though, I think what makes the Taj Mahal so special is the simple fact that it's in India. When you go from the street outside the compound, to the inside where the garden and the monument stands, the change is so strong and sudden that you can't help but to be amazed simply by the lack of litter, exhaust, ruckus and mayhem you sewe in any Indian city. Then you see the actual Taj and it strikes a magnificent chord as the seemingly fairy tale-like structure stands before you.
In any case, tired as we were after our countless trains, trucks and buses we managed to enjoy the Taj even if most of the time I just
Red Fort
Apparently there are grenadiers remaining on guard. This place was like an asian version of UBC. sat on a bench and stared at it (which I guess is what you're supposed to do). The details of the building itself are really out of this world and the sight is easily in my books considered a "must see". From Agra we boarded a train up to Delhi which was utterly painful and rather difficult to endure. My lack of patience was clearly evident (not much sleep) and the long haul all the way from Kathmandu was taking its toll. We didn't get very good tickets and within moments of being seated one of the fattest, most disgusting humans on earth decided to be my neighbour (or rather the ticket computer decided it beforehand). The conversation (mainly his opinions) were a sure test of my wits as I began to see red and simply had to walk several train cars away and stand for awhile to escape his aura of irritation.
Anyways, back to Delhi saw us in a near fist fight with our Rickshaw driver as he insisted on taking us to a hotel instead of just dropping us off in the hotel area (so he can get a comission) and after going into 9 hotels
Benched
Jord caught me in another attempt at waiting for my ship to finally come in. and leaving them all because we didn't feel like sharing a bed, we parted ways with harsh words until he somehow managed to find us again and started threatening our hotel man for his cut of the room. I have no clue how any of these business deals get resolved but this one clearly wasn't. Later that night we found out our actual hotel clerk is completely psychotic as he guided me through the process of registering. Let's just say that he was totally anal about every detail and clearly had some kind of mental illness that left him totally unfit for his job and duty. I found myself laughing at his antics as he repeated every letter I printed and triple checked that my passport was in fact a Canadian one. Apparently all this has to do with the war on terror because it was the next day at the internet our passports were closely inspected once more before we were aloud to check our email...
The next day began with an outright swearing match between us and the hotel clerk as he tried to charge us extra because Jord planned to keep is bags in my room
Under Siege
Why wouldn't the bellhop pass out in front of our cheap hotel room door? since his flight leaves 6 hours ahead of mine. Tension rose to an all time high and I was already angry because somehow a squirrel got into my room the night before and scared the shit out of me.
Which brings me to THAT quick tale: basically the room he gave me was a prison cell and it had no outer windows, thus when I turned the lights out to sleep the room was darker than dark. When I felt something run over me I thought it was just the mephloquine or else the fan blowing something onto me until I turned on the light and saw the little bastard critter laughing at me (I can still hear him cackling from under my bed). The hotel guys laughed at me as well obviously(which sounded suspiciously similar to the squirrel) even though I wasn't really in the mood for it.
After all that we checked out some sights in Delhi which really weren't that exciting and essentially just a dissapointment after the Taj Mahal. So far the highlights of Delhi have been the outstanding dogfight we witnessed on our way to breakfast (the details of which you wouldn't believe
!
Highly confidential. if I told you) but esentially revolved around a single K9 dealing out punishing blows to some kind of other dog threat who was unable to free himself of his mate and thus created probably one of the strangest scenarios ever witnessed by the human eye. The huge mosque in Delhi was kind of cool since I didn't actually enter any when I was in Egypt, but by far the best part of that was just all the dead goats on the bordering street (heads and all).
Regardless, that's prettymuch it for our return to India and I will be in Bangkok Thursday afternoon with Ry and not long after into trouble of some sort I would imagine. Finally, I'd just like to blow my own horn for a minute and anounce that this is officially my 100th blog of the trip! Wow.
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Nasim=breeze
non-member comment
Heeeeeeeelllllllllllllllooooooooooo
Hi,I am an active girl,My name is Nasim It means breeze.I am 23,I live in Tehran,Iran. I envy you because you have traveled to India but me... I really like to meet you in Iran too.wish you happiness!