So the trip has begun! We are already flying through Day 4 in a very lovely hotel in the noisy city of Jaipur. Although we have already crammed so much into these past few days, I though the first blog I'd share should be my impressions of India from notes I wrote on the first night. Because of it being written so quick, it does sound a little like rabbit in headlights, but I'm settling now, so no need to worry/despair. Sorry for the lack of pictures with is one but with everything to process we didn't have the brain power to snap as well.
If you asked me to describe India in one word, it would have to be chaos. And not the organised chaos you get in European big cities where the place is packed with so many people and noises that you can feel a little lost, but that secretly is supported by a well ordered public transport system and familiar looking restaurants. No Indian chaos is it in a true sense of the word.
We arrived in after a sleepless but fairly uneventful flight (which had the yummiest plane food that I have ever eaten, really as a vegetarian Jet Airlines are brilliant) into a clean, cool and moderately well organised airport with snazzy flushing toilets and those flat escalators that make you feel very lazy. The immigration area was well organised and there were lines of people, all calming waiting for their chance to go through, I could even see a posh looking duty free shop on the other side. My tired brain was lulled into a false sense of security that maybe isn't as crazy as everyone has been mentioned and we were going to ace this back packing malarkey with ease. Oh how wrong I was.
Before we left, we were given some good advice from my Dad about how to cope in the first hour of a new, strange country. Take your time in the airport, have a drink, take it steady, rushing will only unravel you. So we calmly wandered through the airport, staying unfazed when we realised we'd been waiting in line for 30 minutes to find the airline had given us the wrong form for going through immigration (Tip here, you need to do a separate immigration form as well as your visa to enter India, these forms are near the end of the queue) We cleverly walked away from the main doors at arrivals so we wouldn't be coming out with all the other tourists and felt ready and relaxed for what Delhi could throw at us as we ventured out. But on that first step, I realised I couldn't have never be ready for that. The first thing that hit me was the smell, a mixture of sweat, hot metal and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on (and still can't) Our clever decoy doors didn't shield us from the noise of the crowds that cover the front entrance to the airport, all mixed in with drums and singing in the centre of a crowd of people and I could see a man being raised in the air as they chanted around him, it just hit me like a ball of energy.
We moved quickly, trying to spot a taxi when a local driver came up to us and offered to take us to town for 300 which seemed fair, as a guide I collared in the airport said pay no more than 700. We dropped our bags into the boot and slipped into the seats and I tried to let Delhi wash over me as we began to drive. But you can't let it "wash", that verb is too soft for what India had to offer us, we instantly hit a motorway with 3 distinct lanes that manage to fit double the traffic, with a mixture of horns, yells and light bumps. Each roundabout we reached as we got closer to the city was full of washing and people and dogs, all of who mix in with the traffic from time to time and the noise kept getting louder and louder and to the left of me was 20-30 military looking officials riding camels down the highway. I'm sitting in the back seat, with rising panic filling my stomach as I realised what we've let ourselves in for. We can't just wing it in Delhi like we will in the back packing trails of Thailand, the city doesn't offer itself up to bring slowly discovered. It moves in a mish-mash jumble that mixes everything up at once and I bet even spits locals out, dazed and confused from time to time.
By this point we have reached the centre and where out hostel should be, but as our driver keeps going round in circles, we all start to realise that their might be a problem. After about 30 minutes, the driver decides to take us to the "Tourism Office" (which is really just his mate, the travel agent, with a shiny looking sign) so we can call the hostel for directions. This is when it gets a bit interesting, as at this time in January is around their National Day and elections which seems to involve a lot of monuments and road closures from what I've understood. One of the road closed is our hostel road and they helpfully let us know on the phone that they have cancelled our booking and have refunded out deposit. So we are currently stuck in the middle of Delhi with no place to stay on 2 hours sleep, and all I really want is a nap and a shower. I start to feel sick.
But Ben calmly takes the situation in hand and looks to the guy in front of us. "What do you want to do in India?" He asks with pen in hand. "Why don't I plan you a route, getting you out of Delhi for the next few days till it's all calmed down and showing you our Golden triangle" (Read below for nagging doubts about this) And if all goes to plan, he has planned us something pretty snazzy. We set off straight away from leaving his office on a 3 hour, very comfy car journey to Agra, to a quite nice hotel room across from the Taj Mahal (I can't confirm that yet as the fogs pretty thick at night here) where tomorrow we have a guided tour around the city, we then set off to Ramthalbour for a safari. Then we go to Jaipur, Jodpur, Udiapur and Pushkir to see the delights they all have to offer over a 6 day period which includes Elephant rides to temples and accommodation each night and breakfast each day, we will then arrive back in Delhi to go sight seeing and we will then be dropped off at our airport for our evening flight to Hong Kong. Phew.
Crisis avert (Nagging doubts. This whole scenario could have been a ploy to get us to go with his travel company and I don't know why but that makes me feel really anxious, it's ridiculous really as this trip will now (hopefully) be 10 times better than we could have planned as we have a driver who seems to know his stuff, a car to guide us through the craziness of the cities and the chance to see temples and things we just wouldn't have been able to before. But it still makes me feel nervy. I'm sure it's to do with the shock of getting in yesterday and nothing else but it's hard to shake when you're a bit overwhelmed by it all)
I guess this is what it's like to go off to crazy places, just two wet behind the ears travellers taking responsibility for our routes.
If you asked me to describe India in one word, it would have to be chaos. And not the organised chaos you get in European big cities where the place is packed with so many people and noises that you can feel a little lost, but that secretly is supported by a well ordered public transport system and familiar looking restaurants. No Indian chaos is it in a true sense of the word.
We arrived in after a sleepless but fairly uneventful flight (which had the yummiest plane food that I have ever eaten, really as a vegetarian Jet Airlines are brilliant) into a clean, cool and moderately well organised airport with snazzy flushing toilets and those flat escalators that make you feel very lazy. The immigration area was well organised and there were lines of people, all calming waiting for their chance to go through, I could even see a posh looking duty free shop on the other side. My tired brain was lulled into a false sense of security that maybe isn't as crazy as everyone has been mentioned and we were going to ace this back packing malarkey with ease. Oh how wrong I was.
Before we left, we were given some good advice from my Dad about how to cope in the first hour of a new, strange country. Take your time in the airport, have a drink, take it steady, rushing will only unravel you. So we calmly wandered through the airport, staying unfazed when we realised we'd been waiting in line for 30 minutes to find the airline had given us the wrong form for going through immigration (Tip here, you need to do a separate immigration form as well as your visa to enter India, these forms are near the end of the queue) We cleverly walked away from the main doors at arrivals so we wouldn't be coming out with all the other tourists and felt ready and relaxed for what Delhi could throw at us as we ventured out. But on that first step, I realised I couldn't have never be ready for that. The first thing that hit me was the smell, a mixture of sweat, hot metal and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on (and still can't) Our clever decoy doors didn't shield us from the noise of the crowds that cover the front entrance to the airport, all mixed in with drums and singing in the centre of a crowd of people and I could see a man being raised in the air as they chanted around him, it just hit me like a ball of energy.
We moved quickly, trying to spot a taxi when a local driver came up to us and offered to take us to town for 300 which seemed fair, as a guide I collared in the airport said pay no more than 700. We dropped our bags into the boot and slipped into the seats and I tried to let Delhi wash over me as we began to drive. But you can't let it "wash", that verb is too soft for what India had to offer us, we instantly hit a motorway with 3 distinct lanes that manage to fit double the traffic, with a mixture of horns, yells and light bumps. Each roundabout we reached as we got closer to the city was full of washing and people and dogs, all of who mix in with the traffic from time to time and the noise kept getting louder and louder and to the left of me was 20-30 military looking officials riding camels down the highway. I'm sitting in the back seat, with rising panic filling my stomach as I realised what we've let ourselves in for. We can't just wing it in Delhi like we will in the back packing trails of Thailand, the city doesn't offer itself up to bring slowly discovered. It moves in a mish-mash jumble that mixes everything up at once and I bet even spits locals out, dazed and confused from time to time.
By this point we have reached the centre and where out hostel should be, but as our driver keeps going round in circles, we all start to realise that their might be a problem. After about 30 minutes, the driver decides to take us to the "Tourism Office" (which is really just his mate, the travel agent, with a shiny looking sign) so we can call the hostel for directions. This is when it gets a bit interesting, as at this time in January is around their National Day and elections which seems to involve a lot of monuments and road closures from what I've understood. One of the road closed is our hostel road and they helpfully let us know on the phone that they have cancelled our booking and have refunded out deposit. So we are currently stuck in the middle of Delhi with no place to stay on 2 hours sleep, and all I really want is a nap and a shower. I start to feel sick.
But Ben calmly takes the situation in hand and looks to the guy in front of us. "What do you want to do in India?" He asks with pen in hand. "Why don't I plan you a route, getting you out of Delhi for the next few days till it's all calmed down and showing you our Golden triangle" (Read below for nagging doubts about this) And if all goes to plan, he has planned us something pretty snazzy. We set off straight away from leaving his office on a 3 hour, very comfy car journey to Agra, to a quite nice hotel room across from the Taj Mahal (I can't confirm that yet as the fogs pretty thick at night here) where tomorrow we have a guided tour around the city, we then set off to Ramthalbour for a safari. Then we go to Jaipur, Jodpur, Udiapur and Pushkir to see the delights they all have to offer over a 6 day period which includes Elephant rides to temples and accommodation each night and breakfast each day, we will then arrive back in Delhi to go sight seeing and we will then be dropped off at our airport for our evening flight to Hong Kong. Phew.
Crisis avert (Nagging doubts. This whole scenario could have been a ploy to get us to go with his travel company and I don't know why but that makes me feel really anxious, it's ridiculous really as this trip will now (hopefully) be 10 times better than we could have planned as we have a driver who seems to know his stuff, a car to guide us through the craziness of the cities and the chance to see temples and things we just wouldn't have been able to before. But it still makes me feel nervy. I'm sure it's to do with the shock of getting in yesterday and nothing else but it's hard to shake when you're a bit overwhelmed by it all)
The drive to Agra was the first thing on our plans and was pretty amazing, once you leave Delhi, the place becomes so open, luscious and vast. We drove past little villages with house made from straw and mud, all the while cruising across 3 lanes of traffic with no indicators and a few beeps of the horn. Our driver is pretty funny, he's been giving us tips from what' good to fix up a funny tummy (Sweet Lissi? I think he said) to giving us a history lesson on Indian politics and grilling us with questions like "Who is God?" which is very hard to answers when your hungry and tired (it's mother by the way, if you wanted to know)
This car journey (4 hours, never trust an Indians "a couple") gave me time to process and it dawned on me as we drove on the impressive Express Way to Agra, that the problem here is me, not India. This isn't chaos seeping out of their country but the Indian norm. The wrong form at the airport, the lack of communication from the hostel and the 3 lanes of traffic that can magically hold 6 cars, this is just how India functions and the only way to do it is to go with the flow. Which is easier to say and not as easy to do as it is to type, sitting here with all the chaos of the day rolling around in my stomach but I'm sure I will :)
This car journey (4 hours, never trust an Indians "a couple") gave me time to process and it dawned on me as we drove on the impressive Express Way to Agra, that the problem here is me, not India. This isn't chaos seeping out of their country but the Indian norm. The wrong form at the airport, the lack of communication from the hostel and the 3 lanes of traffic that can magically hold 6 cars, this is just how India functions and the only way to do it is to go with the flow. Which is easier to say and not as easy to do as it is to type, sitting here with all the chaos of the day rolling around in my stomach but I'm sure I will :)
I guess this is what it's like to go off to crazy places, just two wet behind the ears travellers taking responsibility for our routes.
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