Somewhere but Nowhere: 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.