Incredible India

"Incredible India..." I can't blame the Indian Ministry of Tourism for adopting that slogan for their recent campaign because India is an incredible place, indeed. But I must say, it took me a good month to appreciate it as such - lol

I arrived in New Delhi on the night of Friday, October 6, 2006, and immediately experienced by first real 'bout' of culture shock (after just spending a month in immaculate, oh-so-polite, peaceful Japan)! I spent my first week at Smyle Inn Hostel, in the middle of Paharganj - also known as the Main Bazaar, which meant non-stop stimulation of all five of my senses - yes, all five:

• There was always something to see - merchants selling their wares, buyers trying to bargain, people trying to get from Point A to Point B, cows, cows, and more cows, bright colors, beautiful clothing (sight);
  
  
• It was sooooooo noisy - people yelling, coughing, snorting, spitting, autorickshaws tut-tutting, two-wheelers vrooming, cars honking their horns incessantly (hearing);



• It was crowded and people would just push you out of the way to get by (touch);




• And the air was filled with the scent of spices, exhaust, fresh fruit, street food...and dung...an interesting mix, to say the least (smell, which was often strong enough to incorporate the sense of taste as well; the good tastes of India didn't come until later on in my trip because at the beginning, I was trying to avoid 'Delhi Belly' like the plague)!

I was lonely for my first couple of days (and was actually trying to figure out what exactly possessed me to do this - lol), when I met two Danish backpackers, Heidi and Gunvor, at breakfast one morning - I overheard them speaking English and I couldn't pinpoint their accent, so I asked them where they were from (I never would've guessed Denmark; their English was so fluent!).

We ended up hanging out and sightseeing in New Delhi together. On our first day (Sun. Oct. 8), we visited the Red Fort and the Great Masjid.

The Red Fort

Outside of the Masjid

The crowded market that we had to fight through to get to the Masjid

While we were out sightseeing that day, we were spotted by my French neighbor at Smyle Inn, Pierre, who was also doing a solo world tour. That night he slipped me a note under my door, asking if he could join us the next day, and then we were four...

We spent the next couple of days trying to figure out our respective game plans - I had no real Watson-related Indian contacts yet, and really had no clue what I was doing, to be honest; they were trying to figure out what regions of the subcontinent they wanted to cover with the time they had - so we went to the Government of India tourist office to ask for some advice. By the end of our consultation, they had decided to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, before heading to Jaipur...and I still wasn't sure of what I was going to do...My laptop had conveniently stopped working so I needed to get it fixed. An Indian family friend of ours had suggested that I go to Bangalore, the IT capital of India, so I asked the man at the tourist office for information about traveling to Bangalore - he said that flying would cost me around 200 USD, which I didn't have at the time, so he suggested that I take the train. I decided that if I didn't hear from my contacts in Punjab within the next few days, I would just go south to Bangalore.

Heidi, Gunvor and Pierre invited me to go to Agra and then to Rajasthan with them, but since I never intended for my trip to be a backpacker's experience, I didn't pack like one - instead, I (foolishly) packed like the diva that I am, so I was forced to decline their offer. At the last minute, though, I decided that I'd prefer to see the Taj Mahal with friends than by myself, so on Tuesday, October 10th, we went to see the Taj together.

And it was as beautiful as I had imagined it. We also went to Agra Fort, but didn't actually go inside - we figured it would be just like the Red Fort in Delhi. That night, I left my Danish twins and Pierre, and headed back to Delhi alone...sigh...

My Punjabi contacts never came through so I spent the next few days getting ready to leave for Bangalore. As a result of my "diva" packing, I was forced to leave a little suitcase full of my precious belongings and clothing behind at Smyle Inn when I left Delhi aboard the Nizamuddin-Bangalore Radhani "Express" (a trip that would take 35 hours!!!) on the night of Saturday, October 14th.

On the train, I had the pleasure of meeting a young Indian man named Edward - we were in the same berth - and we spent the night talking about everything - from our dreams and aspirations, to our faith, our travel experiences, our families, etc...he was really cool, and we still keep in touch. (I regret not taking his photo - I think I'll ask him for one!) I still can't believe that I actually survived being on a train for that long, but apparently I did, because on the morning of Monday, October 16th, I found myself in Bangalore.