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Published: August 14th 2008
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Through the rain, maybe it was hard to tell sometimes that we are in India! But then we would see someone urinating on the side of the road and then pass a stray dog and a bone-thin cow and realize... actually we are in India!
It turned out that there was a car accident on the Nepal side of the Indian border, stopping us from our original plan of going to Varanasi! Quickly our plans changed and we bought a plane ticket to Delhi.
August 3, 2008 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
Of course I had no idea what to expect when we arrived in Delhi, especially since our destination had changed very quickly. With a rough of idea of where our hostel was, it left us not able to find it- heading to a more expensive one out of convenience. Outside our window, it seemed that we were in kinda a sketchy area- just hit the hay early and explored the next day.
August 4, 2008 Managed our way through the Delhi subway to get ourselves to the Red Fort. MONDAY! CLOSED?! A little disappointing to say the least- seeing as we were sweating to death to
get there. "Let's try the largest mosque in India, it's right next door" Dale says. SORRY NO ENTRY! PRAYER TIME. What!? It was turning out to be a bust of a day!
Fortunately we could walk around the front of the Presidential Compound, which was quite impressive. Very close by was the India Gate. I thought this was really a beautiful tribute to the 90,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives in WWI. Their names are all engraved on the bricks of the gate.
Our autorickshaw driver was Sikh, so he wanted to take us to the Sikh Temple in Delhi. Beautifully decorated in gold and white with a large holy bath outside, we learned so much about the Sikh religion with him. It made me even more excited to see the largest Sikh temple later on in the travels!
Saw Ghandi's Place of Martyrdom where he lived out his last 144 days. They also have shown where he took his last footsteps before his assasination.
Took a 12 hour train that night to Udaipur! Pretty comfortable train, we took 2 AC class. Nice, but we will probably continue to travel 3 AC (a couple more
people in the cabin, and lesser cost).
August 5, 2008 Arrived at 7:30 am, and got an autorickshaw to our amazing hotel, Dream Heaven Hotel for 3$/pp/night. They had a rooftop restaurant with an fantastic view of the city palace.
I noticed immediately that Udaipur was so much better than Delhi- cleaner, friendlier, and a lot less congested. We walked the streets between sawri clad women, cows and motorbikes. Walking on the bridge that crosses the lake, there were a group of people collecting some green algae.
The City Palace was really beautiful and provided great views of the rest of the city. Most of the buildings were yellow and creams making for an amazing contrast with the green lake and hillside. In the centre of the lake there is the Palace Hotel which costs about 500$ a night. It looks nice, but I prefered our hotel! 😊 The lake was very low since the monsoon season was quite new.
After the City palace we thought we deserved a relaxing afternoon of using the computer and eating! Had an amazing sunset view while we enjoyed a Kingfisher Beer!
August 6, 2008 We thought
that Chittorgarh would make for an awesome day trip! Left the hotel at 11 and took a public transport bus for about 1.20$ each way (a 2 hour ride).
It began pouring rain and it seems that our filthy bus didn't have the best windows, because my entire left side got pretty soaked. It was definitely not a high class way to travel, but certainly added to the understanding of what life is like for people in rural India. The interior of the bus was all grey lined with a thin or a thick layer of dirt. All sorts of people were taking this bus!
We saw so much from the bus window- a dead cow, dead dog, people pooing, women carrying everything imaginable on their heads, a boy with his foot deformed backwards and so much more.
When we arrived at the bus station, the bus stopped in a huge puddle (still raining). As I go to step off the bus i notice a man peeing into the same puddle that I'm stepping. Haha, seriously- what am I supposed to do about this situation. You just deal with it! It's India!
The fort was really interesting
Udaipur
city palace on the right though, and the rain let up a little bit once we got there. We hired a tour guide and it was definitely worth it since we didn't have any idea where we should go. There were many many Indians at this fort, according to the guide- since it is monsoon season, there isn't much work for the farmers to do, so they take a vacation. Most of these people have never seen a foreigner in their life, so to say the least they were very curious to look at Dale and I. It was almost a bit much though, they would crowd around us and our guide and try to look directly into my eyes. I took to kind of shielding my face with my umbrella.
Interesting story on how the town got the name Udaipur, related to Chittor Fort. There was a prince who's mother was going to die, so she asked her housemaid to take care of her son. The new King wanted the prince dead, so he went to the house to kill him. The housemaid was very clever so she sent the baby to another town and sacrificed her own baby son so that the
prince could live. They named the town Udaipur, the prince's name!
August 7, 2008 We had to figure out what we were going to do for the next few days before we left for Oman. Bought bus and train tickets for that night to Ahmedebad to then take us to Jalgon. We had the laziest day of our travels just to get ready for the terrible 28 hours ahead of us!
I got some Henna done on my left hand by a 17 year old champion Henna artist! She did a beautiful job, and it was nice to spend a couple hours talking with her father and uncle who are also champion painters. Their family loves Korean people! They have korean words painted on the walls and know lots about Korea and can even manage a few words! At the same time the uncle was teaching an Israeli girl how to draw and paint an Indian elephant. It was a fun afternoon.
The bus we took that night was an experience and a half. It is called a sleeper bus. So on the bottom, there are very comfortable, large chairs that recline. On the top
there are sleeping cabins. We got a double sleeping cabin with A/C. There was no bar to keep me from rolling off the bed onto the curtains and onto the floor! I was so worried I would fall! It was also super bouncy and bumpy. Definitely interesting.
August 8, 2008 We arrived in Ahmedebad at 4am. Took an autorickshaw to the train terminal and saw extreme poverty along the way. Unbelievable really. I saw my first Indian camel pulling a load of logs along the street. Once we were at the train station we learned that the train was late. very late. So Instead of arriving at 6:30, it would come around 12pm. AGH!
Sitting in a very filthy train station for 7 hours usually isn't my idea of a good time. But we met a couple of really nice and interesting Indians to talk to. One was a factory manager going to study workplace safety to be able to get himself a better job. The other was a rail employee who had tonnes of questions on life in Canada and how our culture differs from India's.
Oh and while we waited, I saw a
baby with a sixth finger.
Finally get on our train at 12ish and it takes 11 hours to Jalgon. We are starving since it has been a day without a proper meal. Our diet consisted of water, chips, and cookies. Went to a restaurant right away in Jalgon and I wanted vegetable soup. I got broth with carrots, onions, and yea- maybe that was it. haha. whatever, I was just happy to be in once place for a bit!
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Sam Teacher (Stephanie Martin)
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wow!
Great stories! A baby with 6 fingers? "Look at the baby! Look at the baby!" I LOVE the henna too. It looks beautiful. I wish I was there in India, it sounds amazing.