India. Very Good?

July 22 – August 1

UGANDA VS INDIA

India: Local food is da bomb! You can find moist cakes and good deserts. More people ask for tips even when they are just giving you directions for something you already know the location to. There is a stronger scent of urine in the big city. More wi-fi locations. Toll roads = less pot holes. Air conditioning and fans are in every shop/ hotel room. The street dogs are treated better and there are more. Things are cheaper. Smoking is VERY common to see in public. Drinking in public is less common. There are more street lights. More motorbike drivers wear helmets. Camels are a thing here. Cows can do and go wherever they want. Women have to be more covered up. Less ‘western’ clothes available. Less English spoken. More jewelry worn by men and women. More organized businesses/ customer service. MORE COCONUTS for me to enjoy! Pomegranates… those are just a few. Uganglish does not work... at all. 

Ten days spent roaming around India was good enough for me to experience enough of it. India can be a bit overwhelming and I’m glad it was the first part of our trip. We arrived at 3am, got driven to the main bazaar, and had our senses shocked by a powerful smell of urine when we had to walk down an alley to reach our hotel. We finally got settled into our hotel when the sun started rising at 5:30am. After having a 22 hour layover in the Qatar airport I was happy to crash on a real bed and get some shut eye.

We stayed at the Smyle Inn hotel for about 8 bucks a person each night. In the morning, or I should say afternoon by the time we got up, we made arrangements with the travel desk (conveniently located in the hotel) to go on a 7 day tour around Rajasthan in a private vehicle for the price of 150 USD per person. The trip included a driver, gas, and fees for the toll roads. With this option we had a lot more freedom to do what we wanted and see more things. If we would have taken the train we would have spent 135 USD for a 7 day railway pass and had to figure out transport to and from each palace, temple, fort, restaurant… you name it.

Originally we planned to hit just Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. With our private ‘tourist’ vehicle and driver we were able to see New/ Old Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Judhpur, Ranakpur, Udaipur, and lastly Pushkar. Each of these places are known for something unique they either make or have locally along with the historical sites you could visit.

Delhi is the capitol where we wondered through the main bazaar, visited a local Hindu temple, drove around parliament buildings, and experienced the Lotus Temple for the Ba Hai religion.

Agra is home to the popular Taj Mahal and Red Fort of Agra where we wondered around aimlessly without a guide and played the real life version of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure.’ Agra is known for camel leather and inlayed marble.

Jaipur is home to the Amber Fort and Water Palace (a palace built in a lake). It is also known as the Pink City and silver is easy to come by here.

Judhpur is also known as the Blue City and has a fort/ palace located on top of a hill. It is known for textiles and spices.

After traveling for this amount of time I already started losing track of where and when we saw things. Palaces, Forts, Temples, and even the layout of cities all became a blur at this point.

Continuing…

Ranakpur is located near the Himalayas and is home to a beautiful Jainism Temple. When we were here we also experienced the traditional way to make floor mats with an old style loom. Some of the rugs we were shown take between 7 days and 7 months to make depending on the size and detail of the pattern.

Udaipur has a nice City Palace to walk around in that was occupied until the 1950s. The area is also known for its small detailed paintings and handmade journals.  

Pushkar is the last place we visited before venturing back to Delhi and was my favorite. It is a small city located near the desert where 3 of us rode camels and slept in the desert for the night. In the morning we rode camels back to town and walked around to look at crafts and drank green lassies while watching cows block traffic.

By far my favorite part about being in India has been the food! After depriving my taste buds in Uganda for over two years they deserved such wonderful food. Paneer (cheese). Naan (pita like bread). Cashew curry. Fresh coconut water. Mutter (peas).  Spices. Nom Nom Nom.

Very Good?

There is so much I could write about but I rather have people ask me questions about my experience when they see me or have an itching to ask.

Aloo Mutter (potato and peas!)

New Delhi

Ba Hai Lotus Temple. Made of marble and concrete

The trucks here are sooooo cool!

I present to you... the baby ka-Taj 

We made it!!!

Mosque next to the Taj

one of the 4 spires at the Taj

I sat on the actual bike seat... 

Red Fort in Agra... aka the giant maze!

Inlaying of marble. You can also find this detail in many Palaces and at the Taj Mahal

One of the many temples

The hidden jem we were taken to between Agra and Jaipur 

I like cool looking doors....

Bangles! 

I tried it... and it was HOTTT

India!

Fort in Jaipur I believe

The same fort from up close

One of the mirror rooms in one of the palaces... oops forgot which one

The Blue City, Judhpur

Sarah riding Johnny the camel

Look who we found in India!!! Craig and DJ!

Rice, Naan, and Paneer Tikka :)
My last meal in India and it was delish!

Next stop: NEPAL!!!! 

Qatar Layover 22 hours

I’m traveling with three other RPCVs from my group in Uganda (Kendra, Sarah, and Kristina) which gives me some sort of comfort that I am able to share these amazing experiences with them over the next few weeks.

Last night around 11am we arrived at Qatar International Airport for our 22 hour layover. We were hoping to get a hotel but there was an earlier flight to India they wanted to put us on that was full so… unfortunately we did not qualify for the free hotel room even though the flight they wanted us to get on was booked. It was a bummer but we found some comfy chairs in a semi-private area and passed out after a long day of travel. 

This is part of the indoor playground!

Managed around 6 hours of sleep

After wandering around all morning with our 20 QR food voucher we filled our bellies with food and set up a FREE three hour tour around Doha. We were the only ones going on a tour at midday which may have been idiotic because it was 113 degrees outside BUT we had the whole air conditioned coaster (mini bus) to ourselves. Another plus was that our guide and driver were both from Nepal, where we are going in two weeks! It was destined to be.

Qatar (Kut-er) has a population of around 2.1 million with a majority of its residents living in the capitol Doha. The currency of Qatar is Riyal and 1 USD = 3.6 QAR. Only 20% of the population are locals while the other 80% are foreign workers. The city of Doha is relatively new in the 1990s and is preparing for the World Cup in 2022 by building the largest football stadium. The architecture is bea-utiful here! We are experiencing the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, which last for a whole month and ends next week, with fun decorations all around but unfortunately a large majority of the shops are closed along with ALL of the restaurants because you fast from sunrise to sunset. This means no food or drink until it gets dark and our flight leaves just after the sun sets. Luckily we can still enjoy food at the airport.

This was designed by a Chinese-American to look like a covered Islamic woman.
The windows on the top are the eyes.

Persian Sea with Doha skyline

Open aired theater/ cinema used at night when it cools down

According to our tour guide the local residents make about 8,000 USD per month or 100,000 USD a year. With locals there is only a rich and a very rich class. Some of the individuals even own their own conservation area with camels, Oryx, and gazelles. Since Qatar is a desert they have to import and maintain any vegetation that they have. Their children get free education, health care, electricity in their house, and running water… at no cost. The 80% of foreign workers get anywhere between 300 to 10,000 USD a month with an average being closer to 3,000 USD.  

The lights and stars are decorations for Ramadan!

At the bottom of one of the residential buildings.
Armani shop to our left.

Qatar Riyals!

There is a manmade island in Doha with residential housing built around 3 marinas. Each area around the marinas can be home to up to 40,000 people. The ‘apartment’ building had shops and restaurants in them so you never really have to leave. I even saw a Ferrari dealership across the road from one of these residential buildings. You will notice most of the buildings are more of a natural color due to the amount of sandstorms. On average a small sandstorm will go through Doha once a week. 

Qatar is a peninsula surrounded by the Persian Sea on three sides with Saudi Arabia to the South. They are the number one exporter for natural gas and the 10^th for petrol. Petrol here is so cheap you can get 4 liters for 1 USD! While water on the other hand is more expensive because comes from the Persian Sea then goes through a desalinated process. After the desalinated process they add minerals although I am unsure of what kind and how much.

Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.
Artwork on the sea side

Simba!

The mustache was drawn on. haha. 

Camel Glam shop! Decorate your camel!

A bird trap shop :/

We were unsure if we were going to be able to afford leaving the airport on out RPCV budget but three hours was perfect J

Next Stop: INDIA!!!