carey

In my opinion, the only good part of Delhi is leaving it, but they don’t make it easy! My departure from Agra was painful. After waking from my short nap I find that I have a bit of a sunburn (not surprised) that is uncomfortable enough to slow my packing process dramatically. Not feeling well either—also not surprising, the food here takes some getting used to, but I pack on. I must leave this city! I first haggle with the damn tuk-tuk drivers who want to rip you off—and I’m haggling over about 92 cents! It is a chore that I’m happy to be rid of. I endure the endless stares at the train station but just sit in agony and wait for my train. My stomach is churning and the smells of the station do ... read more

Due to my sleep schedule I’m wide awake at 3am. Not ideal, but it did come in handy since I wanted to go see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal this morning. I get myself together and exit my room to find that they’ve locked the front doors to the hotel—which hey…safety first right? There’s a young guy sleeping in a cot next to the door and I decide to leave him be for a few minutes and see if I can catch a glimpse of the Taj and sunrise from the rooftop. Most of the hotels and restaurants in Agra advertise their views of the Taj, I don’t care that much but thought it’d be a different site. So I make my way up there cautiously because they have signs saying to beware of the ... read more

I'm not sure how long I've been here, a few days perhaps. My traveling schedule disrupted my sleep schedule and I'm very backwards. My room doesn't have windows to the outdoors (but yes, it has windows to the INDOORS) so to see any natural light I have to venture from the safety of my pea pod room to the back alleys of New Delhi--because that is where my hotel is. It is off an alley, but most of New Delhi is that way so mom, don't be alarmed. My arrival was less than stellar, I blame the 25+ hours of flying and airport meandering mixed with some incompetency by the hotel driver who supposedly had a sign with my name on it. After standing around for 45 minutes, outside where it was 90 degrees no less! ... read more

After yesterday’s debacle, we figure things had to get better…we were only a little correct with this assumption. The hotel we were in only had rooms for us for one night, so we had to set out on a quest to find 2 new rooms—we also found out it was a holiday weekend and Vietnamese were coming out in full force for the occasion. We finally find a place on the beach; there were small huts with two hammocks hanging inside. They were cheap and we weren’t picky. Before settling into our new beachfront home, the girls and I sought out bus tickets to get down to the next town, Hue (pronounced way). The first travel agency wanted to rip us off by 100,000 Dong; luckily, we tried a second one. With bus tickets in hand, ... read more

Tuesday morning rolls around and we’re all packed and ready to country hop. The group of us (sans the American girls who did something else) hike down to the bus stop and pile on for the 7-8 hour journey to Hanoi. The ride was lovely. As soon as we got away from the cement sidewalks of Nanning, fields are bursting with different shades of green. The farmland seems to extend for miles, circling large mountains of limestone. The area is known for it’s limestone topography—had I been more adventurous over the weekend I would have gone and checked it out, but sometimes it’s nice just doing nothing. We arrive at the Chinese border where Juhani and I assumed we’d be returning to the same bus and both left our books on board. I have carried Anna ... read more