Right now I am sitting in an internet cafe with the stiffest keyboard in the world so this is going to be a short post for sure. We also had to negotiate our way around some warthogs crossing the road to get here, and I want to make it back past them before they get angry. I don't know what angry warthogs might do, but I don't imagine it would be pleasant.
After a wonderful sleepless night and a shower in a bucket, we left Delhi at 7am yesterday and had a long drive to Agra courtesy of a man called Ahmid (I think?!) who played the same three Bhangra songs and that old classic, "Gasolina" (copyright of Daddy Yankee - proper blast from the past) on repeat for at least four hours. We got there about 1, and were in the Taj Mahal by 2 with our tour guide, Ali (Him: "My name Ali, what do you think I am?" Us: "Err... Ali?" Him: "No. Muslim." Us: "Oh, ok."). He set up a ridiculous number of cheesy tourist shots for us, although it became a little uncomfortable when other people started taking photos of us too. Everywhere I go, people want photos either of me or with me - Charlotte too, but mainly me it seems, not sure why. Very strange. Most of the time they don't ask, like the paparazzi - I feel like Angelina Jolie.
The Taj Mahal was sensational. Touching it and seeing the sun going down over it and seeing the tombs, all of those things evoked feelings that seem cheesy or trite if I write them down. Suffice to say, it was sensational.
Our experience was only enhanced by Ali, our borderline fascist guide with delusions of grandeur. He kept telling random people off for having video cameras, telling people to move out of the way so we could have photos, and stopping traffic using his hand. A few times he would leave us saying "I just go to check something" and we would find him fifteen minutes later manning and directing a queue like an air traffic controller. Bearing in mind he doesn't officially work at the Taj Mahal, this was somewhat surprising. He was also definitely racist which added to the slightly uncomfortable nature of the entire thing. When we told him we were going on a tiger safari, he said "Ah, the tigers will come out for beautiful girls like you. They will not come out for negroes." I nearly choked on my water - apart from the general racism, aren't tigers originally from Africa anyway?! But to be honest that is quite characteristic of India - the fairer your skin, the more beautiful you are. They even sell skin lightening creams endorsed by Bollywood actresses. It's heartbreaking, especially because so many Indian women are beautiful in their own right, but I suppose it's no different to Western girls starving themselves into size zero. Not that I am going to preach about ideals of beauty in my blog - Jessica Simpson did a tv show that did that job perfectly.
Anyway, we then went to a marble-carving school and shop and I bought the most amazing marble plate with lapus lazulae and mother of pearl lotus flowers engraved in. So pretty I couldn't resist. We then went for dinner at a rooftop cafe and pretty much went straight to bed, via the first hot shower of the trip (yesss). For the first time I slept through the night - jetlag officially beaten. Awesome.
Today, we started early and drove for seven hours solid to Rhantambour where we're going on tiger safari. We're heading to Jaipur tomorrow and then to Jaisalmar for a camel trek.
Not sure when I will next get internet (that works), but thinking of you and missing you all so much.
Tan is progressing nicely in 30 degree heat (although thwarted slightly by having to cover shoulders and legs at religious monuments), I will keep you updated.
Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <3
Monday, 28 February 2011
Friday, 25 February 2011
Cows and Getting What You Want... An Introduction to Delhi
So here Charlotte and I are, evidently still both in Delhi despite our best efforts to get the hell out (well, the best efforts obviously didn't extend as far as actually going to the train station and booking a ticket, but we did think about it before opting for the internet cafe instead - standard). This place is magnetic. The sights and sounds and smells are intoxicating and, though I had an "I want to go home" moment last night fighting against jetlag and the four walls of a hotel room, now we have switched hotel (to an area inhabited by people rather than solely rabid dogs and "tourist offices") to the main backpacker area and, while the backpackers we have met so far are generally less friendly than either of us are used to (we were spoilt in South America, I think), the local people could not be more helpful. Helpful to the point where a lot of the time you have to be quite firm - it's all, "let me direct you to this hotel", "let me take you to my tourist office" - um, no thanks.
There is a wonderful culture here where all the Indian men assume that because you are "just arrived in India" (and I think this applies for however long you have been here, be it a day or six months, as long as you are foreign) they know exactly what you want whereas you must not know at all, because of general Western ignorance. They are trying to help, but it does require a very firm, sometimes rude handling of situations on our part. For instance, our auto rickshaw driver (the driving here is all hideously unsafe, almost as bad as in Lima - everyone just hoots constantly, even if there is no one in the way) on the way to the Main Bazaar tried to drop us first at a tourist office and then at a different street entirely, saying "oh no, the buildings are all old and they are all shut today". By not very gentle persuasion and discussion of cricket we managed to coax him to drive us to the Main Bazaar where, obviously, everything was open and the buildings were no older than any others in Delhi. We also spent two hours in a tourist office this morning being told that we didn't want a bus to Agra, we wanted a 6 day tour costing 192 pounds (as a price guide, you can get a good private room in a hostel, food and whatever you want that day for probably around 11 pounds maximum, even in the most popular areas, so 192 pounds for 6 days was ridiculously excessive). We left without booking anything, and having had an hour of free internet and a cup of good coffee each, so we certainly came out of that "negotiation" the winners.
At the moment we are staying on the Main Bazaar in New Delhi, as I said. Everything smells of weed - all the taxi drivers smoke it which is infinitely reassuring and definitely partially explains the bad driving. It's a haven of tie-dyed hareem pants, wandering cows (one of them peed on Charlotte's foot - not ideal), hotels and mosques (we accidentally wandered into one where people were at prayer today, thinking it was a possible hostel - they weren't totally impressed). Like I said, the sights and sounds are intoxicating. There is poverty, certainly, and beggars, but not the kind of crushing poverty I had been led to expect - no worse than Lima, for example. Most people just want to talk to you and befriend you - "Ah, you are from England? Very nice, I live in Wood Green for three years" - "Ok cool, bye, no we don't want a taxi/hotel/tour thanks". One man went 20minutes out of his way today to take us across one of the more perilous roads to an ATM. As you can probably tell from this disjointed post, I am having real difficulty capturing Delhi. My descriptive writing skills aren't up to the task to be honest. All I can do is give you a few snapshots of our new lives in India, and reassure you all that I am just having the time of my life and it is the most fantastic, fascinating, hilarious place, with the most awesome food ever - the paneer butter masala I had the other night was an intense food experience, no curry I eat in England is ever going to taste that good.
Our plans are constantly changing but I think we are settled on a route now. We're going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, a Tiger sanctuary (I promise to try not to get mauled by one - don't need anymore cat-related scars on my arms...), camel trekking in a gypsy village, to a yoga festival in the mountains (to hopefully do an intensive yoga course, and also some cookery) and to see Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile (hoping to blag my way into a public audience with him where he appears and shakes people's hands - watch this space), down to Mumbai to see Bollywood (I already have high hopes for landing a part as an extra in a Bollywood film, preferably starring that woman who was on Big Brother), across to see some caves, down to Goa and then down to Kerala, finishing up at Kochi. I don't think I missed anything out, but I probably did.
I should probably stop writing now. I think this post has been a bit of a mess really but I just wanted to write a lot while we have time, as we really are going to try and leave for Agra tomorrow or the next day - by bus if not by train. We also want to see the Red Fort and a mosque or two in Delhi, because our sightseeing has been limited to cows so far. And while they are great, they are pretty much the same as English cows.
Miss you all very much. Lots of love,
Amy xxxxxxxx <3
There is a wonderful culture here where all the Indian men assume that because you are "just arrived in India" (and I think this applies for however long you have been here, be it a day or six months, as long as you are foreign) they know exactly what you want whereas you must not know at all, because of general Western ignorance. They are trying to help, but it does require a very firm, sometimes rude handling of situations on our part. For instance, our auto rickshaw driver (the driving here is all hideously unsafe, almost as bad as in Lima - everyone just hoots constantly, even if there is no one in the way) on the way to the Main Bazaar tried to drop us first at a tourist office and then at a different street entirely, saying "oh no, the buildings are all old and they are all shut today". By not very gentle persuasion and discussion of cricket we managed to coax him to drive us to the Main Bazaar where, obviously, everything was open and the buildings were no older than any others in Delhi. We also spent two hours in a tourist office this morning being told that we didn't want a bus to Agra, we wanted a 6 day tour costing 192 pounds (as a price guide, you can get a good private room in a hostel, food and whatever you want that day for probably around 11 pounds maximum, even in the most popular areas, so 192 pounds for 6 days was ridiculously excessive). We left without booking anything, and having had an hour of free internet and a cup of good coffee each, so we certainly came out of that "negotiation" the winners.
At the moment we are staying on the Main Bazaar in New Delhi, as I said. Everything smells of weed - all the taxi drivers smoke it which is infinitely reassuring and definitely partially explains the bad driving. It's a haven of tie-dyed hareem pants, wandering cows (one of them peed on Charlotte's foot - not ideal), hotels and mosques (we accidentally wandered into one where people were at prayer today, thinking it was a possible hostel - they weren't totally impressed). Like I said, the sights and sounds are intoxicating. There is poverty, certainly, and beggars, but not the kind of crushing poverty I had been led to expect - no worse than Lima, for example. Most people just want to talk to you and befriend you - "Ah, you are from England? Very nice, I live in Wood Green for three years" - "Ok cool, bye, no we don't want a taxi/hotel/tour thanks". One man went 20minutes out of his way today to take us across one of the more perilous roads to an ATM. As you can probably tell from this disjointed post, I am having real difficulty capturing Delhi. My descriptive writing skills aren't up to the task to be honest. All I can do is give you a few snapshots of our new lives in India, and reassure you all that I am just having the time of my life and it is the most fantastic, fascinating, hilarious place, with the most awesome food ever - the paneer butter masala I had the other night was an intense food experience, no curry I eat in England is ever going to taste that good.
Our plans are constantly changing but I think we are settled on a route now. We're going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, a Tiger sanctuary (I promise to try not to get mauled by one - don't need anymore cat-related scars on my arms...), camel trekking in a gypsy village, to a yoga festival in the mountains (to hopefully do an intensive yoga course, and also some cookery) and to see Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile (hoping to blag my way into a public audience with him where he appears and shakes people's hands - watch this space), down to Mumbai to see Bollywood (I already have high hopes for landing a part as an extra in a Bollywood film, preferably starring that woman who was on Big Brother), across to see some caves, down to Goa and then down to Kerala, finishing up at Kochi. I don't think I missed anything out, but I probably did.
I should probably stop writing now. I think this post has been a bit of a mess really but I just wanted to write a lot while we have time, as we really are going to try and leave for Agra tomorrow or the next day - by bus if not by train. We also want to see the Red Fort and a mosque or two in Delhi, because our sightseeing has been limited to cows so far. And while they are great, they are pretty much the same as English cows.
Miss you all very much. Lots of love,
Amy xxxxxxxx <3
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Oh. My. God.
I can't really describe Karol Bagh, New Delhi, and I'm not even going to try. Probably rabid dogs, bonfires and Pizza Hut are a good start. Obviously the transfer we booked from the airport didn't turn up (welcome to India...) but we made it to the hotel somehow, despite a ridiculously incompetent taxi driver... And here we are! Have spent most of today sleeping off the jetlag and planning our next moves - we are getting out of Delhi ASAP and heading up into the mountains for Tibetan New Year and the yoga festival (so expect me to be 20% less middle class and 20% more hippy by my next post).
Will post more soon, not much time now. Still in massive shock, miss you all but this is crazy exciting.
Love xxxxxxxx <3
Will post more soon, not much time now. Still in massive shock, miss you all but this is crazy exciting.
Love xxxxxxxx <3
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
First Post...
So tomorrow I am leaving to start the first leg of my journey - India. I'm terrified and excited, oscillating between the two to the point where to be honest I just feel a bit sick. I have packed too much, obviously, but I don't know what to take out, and taking 6 books seems excessive but at the same time not enough. I guess I will just figure these things out as I go. I don't think I've forgotten anything too important, and that's the main thing. Anything else I can pick up/send home as I go.
It has been such a long and difficult road to even get here that I feel I should be unreservedly excited which is just not the case (like I said, part of me is sick from fear), and that in turn makes me feel ungrateful and like maybe it wasn't worth all the trouble and pain that has gone into organising this trip. I am going to miss everyone so much. But I am hoping that, as is usually the case, good things follow bad ones. And if nothing else, I will come back with an excellent tan.
See you all in July - lots of love,
Amy xxxxxxx <3
It has been such a long and difficult road to even get here that I feel I should be unreservedly excited which is just not the case (like I said, part of me is sick from fear), and that in turn makes me feel ungrateful and like maybe it wasn't worth all the trouble and pain that has gone into organising this trip. I am going to miss everyone so much. But I am hoping that, as is usually the case, good things follow bad ones. And if nothing else, I will come back with an excellent tan.
See you all in July - lots of love,
Amy xxxxxxx <3
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