NEVER TRAVELLED ANYWHERE
So as you have probably guessed by the long gap in my blog, that we made it to India. We got our visa Thursday evening and flew out of Vienna on Friday As for India so far; there really aren’t any words to describe it, but I’m going to give it the old college try. India has been so intense from the moment that we arrived that it took about 5 days to catch my breath. The hectic pace of the transport “system” is almost too much to handle, but then you find yourself lost in some amazing sight, smell, or sound that you know will be etched into your brain for life. 100 monkeys that have taken over a train platform in the night. (or on your window ledge of your hotel!) Watching thousands pray and bathe in the holy Ganges in Varanasi at dawn. The cheerful smile of all the kids you meet and talk to in the smaller towns. And it’s only been a week.
That seems to be the trade off for travel to India. A lot of almost constant hassle for some memorable encounters and sights that you will see nowhere else on the planet. Moments of despair and frustration countered with moments of beauty and warmth. Whether its all worth it is up for debate, but I’m certainly warming to the ways and sights as we enter our second week here. It is getting easier and as everyone has said, “after India, Asia is a piece of cake”. Well, thank god for that. After a truly inspiring visit to the Taj Majal at dawn this morning, we’ve found a friendly internet cafe here in Agra, and its giving us the opportunity to catch up on things a bit and even burn some photos to CD, so hopefully we’ll get them up on our Flickr site in the next week or so.
Our arrival in Delhi was fine since we had prearranged pick-up from our guest house in quiet south Delhi, our home for about 9 hours until check out the next day. We soon immediately realized that walking is nearly impossible in large Indian cities for three reasons: 1) there are no sidewalks 2) Its dangerous (because there are no sidewalks) 3) You are exposed to the endless “touts”, which is perhaps the greatest threat to your mental stability as a newbie.
Now anyone whose been to India does not need to have explained the persistence and consistency of interactions on the streets of the major tourist areas of India. And the poverty. Y’all can skip down a few paragraphs. It is truly unbelievable how harassed you can feel as a Westerner on the streets here. Literally hundreds of offers or requests for rickshaw rides, stores, tours, drugs (Varanasi), or food. Now after awhile you learn that 99.9% of it is harmless, but it still factors into every move you make and every place you decide to go to. But you can’t blame them either, so you must reside and stay calm….very zen Ricardo….very zen.
Then are the beggars and omnipresent poverty at every turn which you can’t help but feel awful about, especially when you have to literally push aside a crippled man grabbing onto your leg. It burns at your gut and puts being a “tourist” in new light, since you know in your heart how much more resources you have than these people, but where to start. This is the way of a struggling country of 1.1 Billion, with 400 million living in clear poverty. It’s also something you have to get over to travel in developing countries, but I’m not sure how well I can deal with this. We can donate to charity (and have) to offset some guilt, but it still doesn’t change the daily realities of travel in India. We are also realizing that we will face many of these same challenges in SE Asia and are already questioning our will to go on with as extensive travels in all of these places. Of course, tourism can help people, especially if the money goes to locals and trickles down a bit as it clearly has in some of the areas we have travelled. Croatia has virtually replaced fishing with tourism and Thailand is a model for other SE Asian countries wishing to develop a strong tourist infrastructure. But India is thriving on other fronts and there is a growing middle class, something you see in many of the cities, restaurants, hotels, and television ads. But there is such a long way to go, such a long way.
So we chilled in Cannaught place in Delhi until catching a night train to Varanasi. The train was no problem as we had splurged for first class sleeper and had our own compartment with little veggie dinners brought in and loads of Chai tea. We arrived at 9 am and headed out of the mess that is the train station to catch a taxi to the hotel. The train was no problem as we had splurged for first class sleeper and had our own compartment. Well, one of the other lessons you soon learn travelling in India is that almost everything is an adventure and almost nothing goes as planned, but somehow it all works out. Our taxi driver graciously offered to lead us through the most confusing maze of alleys in the old city to our budget hotel overlooking the Ganges highly recommended by Lonely Planet and another website that I have come to trust, Seat61.com, a train geeks travel site extraordinaire.
As we dodged dozens of cows, touts, scooters, goats, and beggars, we realized that we must be getting close. Well, our driver told us that we couldn’t get through to the hotel since they were filming a movie and walked us aback out to the main “road” where we decided to call the hotel. Now here is my second lesson on the Indian people so far. Most are extremely nice and generally they really do want to help you. But I had read too many stories of taxi drivers telling you your hotel is “closed’, burnt down, or booked and proving their story by calling the hotel, so I was highly dubious. “Filming a movie in this chaos and filth?”, I couldn’t help but think. So I made him show me the phone number as he dialed the hotel and low and behold it turned out to be true, they were filming a real Bollywood film right in the alley of our hotel! India gives and India takes….The hotel porter came out to lead us through the police line and we made it intact. I gave the taxi driver a big tip and apologized for my scepticism. Learning to trust makes at times is necessary for travel here.
So we actually got to listen and watch them filming from our balcony and from the hotel entrance onto the alley, along with seeing the main stars roll through the small courtyard of the Alka hotel with their entourage. You could feel the buzz. The second day they were filming a big dance number on the steps of one of the most beautiful river “ghats”, which line the Ganges for miles in Varanasi and provide access for thousands of Pilgrims and locals to contact this most holy of rivers for Hindus. We can’t wait to try to see the movie “Apocolypso”, as signed on the stars chill room.
The little hotel was a small gem, as our modest and tiny $19 room had million dollar views, complete with a caged in balcony. We thought at first that this was for security (from people) but we soon learned that it was to protect you from the hundreds of marauding monkeys. They crawled all over the hotel, leaping from trees to balconies and even roaming the landings, stairs and courtyards at night. We heard one woman scream at night followed by screeching monkey sounds as we think she was startled or attacked by one of the cute little guys. The funny feeling of the cage was that it felt like the monkeys were free and we were caged. But it sure was fun to watch them, especially when they would be having turf wars with the local scruffy dog brigade.
We got up the second day and took a row boat down the river, rowed by the kind Ajay who had transported us the day before to see the cremations on the river further south. The river scene is one of the wonders of the world, and will be much easier to explain with photos. So I will wait.
Well, we are off in the morning from Agra to New Delhi again, where we have a day to hang out while waiting for a late afternoon train to Chandigarh, (a Le Corbusier planned city?!) where we will stay for a few nights prior to heading up to the mountains of Shimla on the edge of the Himalayas We are looking forward to walking and hiking again, as the options were limited in Varanasi and Agra.
Perhaps tomorrow I will finish the first week, as we haven’t even discussed the most amazing cycle-rickshaw ride, the “Cockroach Express” night Train or wonderful Orchha, my favorite place so far.
Ciao -R
Tags: India, Travel, Varanasi, Tag Index
rich.coffin