Laura's Year in Asia = Fun Stories

Delhi: I met up with Justina at the airport, and amazingly we were able to find our way to the prepaid taxi booth and ignore most of the annoying touts around us. This is where our luck ended, our driver (and his random friend) would not stop trying to sell us other hotels, other tours, telling us he didn't know the hotel, the roads were closed, it was 5km too far, etc... Less than an hour in Delhi and we had to turn our bitch on to 11. It's hard to explain what Dehli is like because by putting it into coherent english words makes it normal, and that is the one thing Delhi is not. We spent our first night staring out our window at the scene infront of us on the Main Bazaar in Parahgnaj (the picture above) The next morning we awoke to the honks and moo-ing and shouting that creates the soundtrack to Dehli-life. It took about 3 hours to get up the courage to do our first acclimatization walk. And what a shock it was. Stepping out the door you are just a target for everyone and everything. A 5 minute walk around the block felt like an hour. We found refuge in an aircon cafe and re-energized with a few fantas and roti. Our next acclimatization trip found us eating dinner on one of the many rooftop restaurants along the Main Bazaar, enjoying the food we point-and-pray ordered but mostly enjoying the view of the chaos below. Day two was much more adventurous as we tried to get some visa situations sorted out at a few government offices. All I can tell you about that is civil servants in ANY country are grouchy, unhelpful and just plain frustrating to deal with. We tried an afternoon excursion to the Red Fort in Old Dehli, but the rickshaw (a bicycle with a big seat on the back peddled by an old man) took a wrong turn and we spent 45 minutes in delhi rush hour on the back of a bike. Fear factor should make a show about it. All in all Delhi was an experience and it toughened us up for the rest of India for sure. Constant stares from everyone you pass, numerous power outtages in 37*C humid heat, and the fun of barging Indian-style.

The rooftop of Shanti Lodge, sometimes the Taj needs a little pinch.

After 3 days in Dehli we decided enough was enough and headed down south to Agra, home a la Taj Majhal. A 6am 2nd class train ride squished between a German engineer and 3 Indian army officers (WITH wooden muskets straight from the American civil war in hand) it was a long 3 hours. But we arrived in Agra to find a pretty nice autorickshaw driver who only tried to sell us one tour. We decided on one of the budget hotels around the Taj area, and didn't expect much. But we were SO surprised to find that not only do we have a big clean room with a powerful fan, a nice COLD shower (trust me no need for hot water here), but the most incredible rooftop restaurant with the BEST Banana Lassi (yogurt banana and milk shake) with cashew nuts, raisins, coconut and choclate sauce on top!!! The view is mediocre as you can see from the picture ;) We spent the late afternoon watching the Taj, and the cows, rickshaws, motorcycles, colourful saris, and camels wander the streets below.

Me....the TAJ!

Agra itself is such a change from Dehli, much quieter, and we've found a great way to deal with the touts who are everywhere, yelling "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in their face may seem rude to Canadians, but its the most polite way to do things around here. Justina has also found that acting crazy and doing a little dance scares them away enough. Today we woke up at 5am and walked down to the Taj to check it out at sunrise (and before the heat of the day) So incredible to just be there. It's huge and impressive and just a completely awe-inspiring masterpiece. 3 hours, and over 100 pictures later we had done the whole grounds and were suitably impressed. Still early in the day we decided to check out the huge/red Agra Fort. We had an exhausting 3km ride to the fort, and by exhausting I mean exhausting for the 80 year old man peddling Justina and I in the 35* heat. He gave up 1/2 way home and we had to walk the last km. We took the "long" route home through the local area winding our way through the streets of Agra, lots of kids running with us shouting hello and trying to get us to pet their monkeys...very India. On to Varanassi (the Ganges river) on the night train tonight!

# posted by Laura Davies : 1:49 PM