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Well I thought I would take the lazy option and start a blog for our travels, seems easier than trying to send emails.....I had the best intentions the other day of sending a long email to everyone from Delhi, but found out the hard way that Delhi often has power cuts, and feared any pearls of great travel wisdom would be lost...
So here we are, day 9. The story so far...
Flew to Mumbai, had 2 days there before going to Baroda by train. Were introduced quickly to the ins and outs of Indian rail travel when our train was delayed by 9 hours.....fortunately we were allowed into an air-conditioned waiting room where we took shifts in going out into the chaos and walking around - the station was actually entertainment in itself! An Indian family took pity on us only having banana chips to eat and gave us some of their family packed lunch - they fed half the waiting room! We finally got on the train at almost midnight, wasn't a bad trip but we had no idea where to get off as they don't announce the stations and the windows were too grimy to see out. We managed to get out at the right place where our new "friend", Vineeta, came and picked us up (a sister of an aquaintance of mum's) She took us back to her place....house was quite big, 3 levels with a big terrace on the top. Once back at the house we had chai and chocolate biscuits (at 7a.m.! I thought maybe she thought this is what westerners have for breakfast, but it turns out that "it is thought you shouldn't have just tea in the morning by itself"....I don't know that chocolate biccies are that much healthier....) Anyway then we were insructed to rest while she prepared breakfast which turned out to be pakoras, samosas, chutney, salad....not the breakfast we would be used to, although we had been having a few such brekkies in Mumbai. We were absolutely stuffed but were almost forced to eat more....was a bit like hospitality in the extreme sense....We decided then we needed to sort out our train tickets out again as this can be a task in itself and went to the train station. We got the dates mixed up and actually ended up booking a train for the following evening...our host was most upset as she had expected us to stay at least 5 or 6 days. In a way we were relieved as we were kind of at her mercy the whole time, and didn't get to do our own thing, but then again of course she was so kind and generous to us....and the food, my god!!
Vineeta took us shopping the 1st and second days and we got some great bargains which we sent back to Ireland - a task in itself! Vineeta had no idea how to send parcels but we had read about having to buy linen to wrap the parcel and get it stitched and send it....so we bought material from the market and she took it to her tailor who stitched it up. When we got to the post office however, they said it had to be in a box, over which the linen was sewed. So we went downstairs to where some young boys packed everything in a box and wrapped it in cloth. Then the most amazing thing, sat and hand-stitched the box all the way around....it was the most artistic parcel I had ever seen....and then we finally got to send it....took most of the day!
The first evening in Baroda Vineeta had suggested we "all" sleep outside on the terrace together, meaning herself, myself, John and her daughter, all of us together! John felt most uncomfortable about this situation, so we instead took the spare room near the terrace. I'm sure John's mates would be very jealous to know he turned down the opportunity to sleep with 3 women!!
Although we were booked on the evening train from Baroda we didn't actually know what seats we would have....luck turned out to be on our side.....we got on the train and discovered that our "seats" were actually sleeper beds!! So we had the most comfy trip, 14 hours, from Baroda to Delhi. We had some food with us thanks to a packed dinner of puris (small bread) and curry from Vineeta, and took advantage of the many men selling chai ("chai-wallahs") passing the train ("wallah" is a term they use here to describe someone's job....so for example John is a computer-wallah) Cups of chai set us back 4 Rupees each cup ($1 Aussie=34 Rupees)
Got into "smelly-Delhi" as we now affectionately refer to the place - I can sum it up in a few words only - hot, stinking, crowded, noisy, polluted, people at you constantly (beggars, people in shops, taxi/rickshaw drivers etc....) We stayed in a hotel near the Main Bazaar which was a great shopping area but very full on. We also suffered thru a few power cuts at the hotel which meant insufferable periods of heat during the night. The hotel's generator was also on the blink, so to make it worse when we could hear the nearby hotels' generators humming away while we sweated and stared at the ceiling fan, willing and cursing it to start. No, we wouldn't say we are in the "We love Delhi fanclub" at all. And yes, the inevitable finally happened in smelly Delhi....day 8 and we succumbed to Delhi-belly, well at least only John was. I was awoken at around 5 a.m. to the sounds of him puking, it was coming from all fronts too. He puts it down to a dodgy beer the beer-wallah had got him from the hotel (getting beer in itself is quite underhand....the guys at the hotel would ask you under their breath if you wanted some, and some guy would disappear with money and only bring the goods back to your room. John had been fine with Kingfisher beer but this particular brew was different, and it was the only thing that he had had that day that I hadn't) I managed to escape Delhi-belly but somehow picked up a cold so I was sneezing and full of body aches. So the two of us were rather a pathetic sight. We had to book out of the hotel at 12 and our train wasn't until 3:30 so we went straight to the station and sat in the ticket booking office, the only piece of air-con haven in the building (which fortunately didn't have a power cut)
We got into our little air-con train carriage and were delighted to be sitting near a young, loud Yank , who proceeded to let the entire carriage know where he had been, what he had eaten, how much he had spent etc, whilst John tried to think of any appropriate implement to use on his Swiss-army knife that was specifically for shutting Yanks up. I was in agony most of the trip with a backache and various aches and pains, constantly sneezing etc, so it was a relief to get off finally at our destination - Haridwar. From there we took a rickity little local bus which cost 17 Rupees (it was only 24 kms but took an hour!)
We arrived at Rishikesh - our final destination - famous for Asrams, yoga schools, and the Beatles hangout. These days its crowded, noisy and very touristy, and our first impressions haven't been the best. We booked a hotel with a river view which was on the opposite side of town to the bus stop, and experienced a hairy auto-rickshaw ride from the bus stop, up some mountains and onto some dark roads....the guy let us off and we had to walk then for another 10 mins or so, we were a bit freaked and it was 10pm by this stage. Finally Hotel Surya was there in front of us, and we were able to have a meal and get to sleep....for a while...until we realised at 6a.m. that our river view room actually also overlooked a parking lot for tourist jeeps, and the drivers spend hours just revving the engines and beeping the horns incessantly.
We had a wander thru the town today - lots going on as there are a few shrines and temples here and it seems to be the place to come. It's also on the Ganges so there are people batheing here too. Fortunately it's a lot cooler than smelly Delhi and we have had a couple of bouts of rain too. People tend not to hassle as much as well. There are so many yoga places that I don't know which one to try, but have found one next to our hotel which we will try tomorrow morning. Am also thinking of having an Ayerverdic consultation here too (the Indian traditional medicine) And we have changed hotel rooms so we have one that is at the back of the hotel and is peaceful....tho for 250 Rupees/ night I guess you can't be too choosy.....
So that's the story so far. Will see if computer-wallah-husband can download some of the pics we have taken as well.
Namaste xx
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Neeks
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Hey guys, sounds like you're having a very Indian time! Funny how wherever you go tehre seems to be a yank you want to stab with a pocket knife!