India: A sensory overload!

What can I say? India is a sensory overload. It’s hot, smelly, dirty, dusty, loud, colourful, tasty - totally overwhelming! It’s difficult to put it into words really. It’s shocking, polluted, energetic, crowded – it’s  exhausting.  And I absolutely love it.

In the past three weeks I’ve traveled through Rajasthan, meandered through Delhi and tried to absorb all that is Varanasi. I’ve come a long way from day one where I was frightened to even walk out of the comforts of my hotel. Haha! It’s intimidating at first, let me tell you. When I looked outside the hotel and there are people everywhere, mostly men (with moustaches), the streets are turned upside down with rubble, open sewers, street kids begging for money and food, cows, stray dogs, cars honking and it’s searing hot outside – who wouldn’t want to stay inside a clean air conditioned hotel room! I did get the courage to walk around the area, Karol Bagh, and see what it had to offer. It’s a little market area full of people, cars, you name it.

I turned 35 on my first day in Delhi - it’s definitely one I won’t forget! I had curry for breakfast – hello India!

So I’m now into my fourth week here and I sit on the balcony of my hotel room overlooking the Kangra Valley in McLeod Ganj which is at the base of the Himalayas, updating my blog. To my left I can see the Dalai Lama’s residence and the main Buddhist temple. It’s nice to feel the fresh cool mountain air, see snowed tipped mountains and not be sweating buckets (that’s the best part actually). This feels a little surreal.  And the snow covered mountains remind me of Vancouver... sigh...

I was on an organized tour for my first two weeks which took me through Rajasthan. The tour was through Intrepid (my second trip with them and I highly recommend them). Our group met on my second day in Delhi. There were nine of us all together from all over: Sara and Louise from England, Pauline and Adam from Australia, Michele and Ronny from Switzerland, Annie from Texas and our group leader Vinet or “V” from Udaipur, India.

The trip didn’t start with a bang (thank God). Our first day’s activities in Delhi were canceled because of the terror threat in Delhi. The US, Canadian, English and Australian governments all issued warnings to travelers and ex-pats to stay away from all of the tourist places (all of the places we were to visit) so we had a free day. Bummer, but better to try to be safe than sorry. So we went to City Walk – a high end shopping mall for some shopping. I bought some cute white Nikes.

From Delhi we took a train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The Delhi train station is one of the busiest in the country. People were everywhere. Garbage was everywhere. People on garbage – walking, sleeping - everywhere. Like you see in the movies but there it is in front of you. Unreal.

The Taj Mahal was everything they say it is. It is absolutely stunning and the experience of actually being there was incredible. We went during sunset and the colours were magnificent. I got the token “Diana” shot sitting on the bench. Awesome. The milky white marble is breathtaking and it was like it was built as a stage to show off all of the colourful sarees that now walk the grounds. There were mostly Indian tourists here, a lot of them having never seen foreigners. So it was like everyone was curious about everybody. We wanted pictures of the Indian tourists and them of us. At one point, we must have stood for 20 minutes in one spot getting pictures taken with Indian tourists who wanted a picture with the foreigners. Papa -paparazzi! It was way too much fun. People would come up to you just to say hi and ask where we were from – kids and adults.

Rajasthan is known as the land of the kings or Rajas. It definitely has that feel of royalty with all of the palaces throughout the state. It’s a bit magical. It’s easy to imagine the palaces in their hay day with billowing colourful fabrics hanging from the ceilings, scalloped archways, marble, mirrors and brightly painted walls and ceilings, huge swings for relaxing and courtyards for visiting. It’s actually quite gaudy but beautiful and so romantic - in a very over the top kind of way. I’m waiting for my Aladdin and his magic carpet...

Next we took a train to Jaipur where we stayed in Diggi Palace, a property that is still owned and lived in by the royal family (any form of Royalty was officially abolished during Indepence but the royal lineage still exits). The staff would bow their heads every time they passed one of the royals - strange to see in person. Our rooms were really sweet but very hot with no A/C! Here we visited the Amber Fort and the City Palace where they support a lot of the arts and culture. We watched our first Bollywood film called “Housefull”. It was hilarious. It was fairly easy to follow because their acting was very see ‘n say and they spoke a combination of Hindi and English. And if you thought Hollywood was just about good looks, Bollywood is 100x more so... Who cares how well you can act when you look this good?  Seriously.

Our last night in Jaipur a few of us went out for dinner at a place called “Red”. It was a more upscale restaurant / bar. We were supposed to leave by 9pm because there was a private party coming in.  We ended up crashing it and got the party started on the dance floor. Good times. Good times. The manager finally asked us to leave around 11pm. Haha!

The next stop on our tour was Ranthambhore National Park where we went on a Tiger safari and actually saw one. It was pretty amazing to see one in the wild just maxin’ and relaxin’. It was a far cry from the Tiger Temple in Thailand (I still can’t believe I went there). At one point the Tiger walked down to some water, dipped her foot in to test the temperature and then once satisfied submerged herself waist down as if she was leaning on the edge of a pool.  Somebody get her a G&T, stat! We also saw tons of wild peacocks, monkeys, deer, kingfisher and tiger birds. It was pretty cool.

This day was also Sara’s 28th birthday so we had dinner in the garden of the hotel and surprised her with a birthday cake which V ceremoniously smushed in her face. It’s the thing to do in India.

We then took a minibus to Bundi - this sweet little town. The people were so incredibly nice. I really enjoyed my time here. Not much to do in here but we visited the palace and then walked around the markets. Louise, Pauline and I got some bracelets fitted for our Western sized wrists. They break, melt and stretch the bracelets. The bracelets I got were totally gaudy but the experience fun. We then wanted to find a place for dinner so we walked up to this tuk-tuk driver to ask for a recommendation. The conversation was difficult and took longer than it should have. By the time we were finished talking with him we realized we were completely surrounded my men, literally on our shoulders, just watching and listening to what our conversation. This was super weird and it happens everywhere! We ended up at this guest house run by three women for dinner. The fact that it’s a women-run business is unheard of here. They have had a few articles written about them, which they are very proud of and should be, really. We ate dinner in their living room and watched the daughter’s wedding video. The mom showed us pictures of previous guests and talked about how everyone who comes to their guesthouse is like family. They do make you feel that way, particularly when the daughter hands you her 2-year old son and then disappears into the next room!

Next up was Bijaipur.  We stayed in Castle Bijaipur and it had a swimming pool! Yay! I could get used to this.  We had some time to “chillax” as V would say. This was a very small town where we visited some local villages - one village known to be criminals. Awesome. While walking around Bijaipur we got invited into an elementary school by some students and their teachers. They took us on a quick tour of their classrooms – no desks, no chairs and the walls were filled with picture posters in English and Hindi. All of the kids wanted their pictures taken, it was hilarious. As soon as you lifted your camera into position they would bud in front of each other to get in the shot.

After Bijaipur was Udaipur – this place was amazing and incredibly romantic. Totally magical with numerous palaces in a surprisingly lush green city.  It was quite the contrast to the dull and dusty background. Octopussy was filmed here. We watched some of the movie one night.  Sweet.  We were in the old part of Udaipur which was made up of narrow and winding streets. Sara and I had some clothes made here. I had some cotton pants and tunics made – I feel like I’m walking around in my pajamas – love it.  Also took an Indian cooking class - yum!  I met some really nice locals whom I ended up having chai with and some good and interesting conversation with. One was a jeweler whom I ended up buying some bangles from.

We took a very early train to Pushkar, one of India’s holiest cities. Sara, Adam and I participated in a Puja ceremony done at the main Ghat here. It’s for respect, good heath and fortune for family, friends and us. We had to repeat a mantra in Hindi. I didn’t get all of the words right - I hope that didn’t wreck the puja! In my mind I said them correctly... I think, anyway.  (Picture is after the ceremony.)

We went on a camel safari and passed a gypsy settlement, which was neat to see. It was sparse and looked temporary as you would imagine it be. My camel was named Johnson – insert joke here [   ]. (Picture of me and Johnson.)

Then back to Delhi were we did some of the sightseeing we were supposed to do on our first day. A Sikh temple, a Mosque, the spice market, then home (or back to the hotel).

Overall the trip was fantastic and it was a great group of people.

More soon...
xoxo