I’ve traveled before this trip. I’ve been to foreign cities before. Yet when I experienced Vietnam and Cambodia I was in a truly foreign place for the first time. India’s like that too, it’s stepping into an old movie where there are markets, rickshaws and cows crowding the streets and you don’t want to know what you’re stepping into. It’s dirty and there is always something going on and someone’s always trying to grab your attention.
Chennai:
The 1st port of India was Chennai which was known as Madras in the days of British colonization. The group of us (which started out at 7 but ended up at 9. Which worked out really well considering the best number to travel with is usually 3ish.) headed out determine to find somewhere to walk to without using the auto rickshaws that were everywhere. By the time we made it off of the main street we wandered through a marketish area and headed in to a restaurant for lunch. This was the best meal I had in India, it was good and unexpected with the random picking off the menu. From there we decided to head to one of the Hindu temples and grabbed 3 rickshaw drivers and went off. It was a good to find out that we all ended up in the same place. The temple didn’t open until 3, and by that time it was 2 so the lot of us wandered the area surrounding the temple. We wandered and most of us ended up buying drums from these drum venders who followed us around for the longest time. We also made friends with a group of children who were walking back from school. The temple finally opened and it was pretty colorful. After we all grabbed some ice cream and walked a ways to the beach, which was described to use early as a litter box. From there we ended up grabbing a few rickshaws, one of which was driven for a few minutes by one of the kids. Later on that night I tried to go see a Bollywood movie but they weren’t playing at the right times, which lead to an adventure where we all ended up on the beach again and got to ride horses. Not really what I associated with India before. We managed to fit 6 of us in an auto rickshaw where my roommate Amy got to drive on a highway for a bit. Interesting day.
Varanasi:
This started out with two flights before finally arriving in Varanasi. We all jumped on rickshaws, the normal ones and then we headed to the Ganges River for a ceremony. It took awhile to get there, traffic is crazy here with a mix of cars, bikes, motorcycles, people and animals ignoring the lanes they should be in, if they should even be in a lane at all. Up north also seems a lot poorer than the south. The South was still dirty and there was poverty the North seemed to just have more. In both places you can’t escape the poverty, the second you leave the 5 star hotel you’re at it’s there. The River was amazing; there was a huge group of people there, a definite mix of tourist and worshipper. The ceremony included fire and incense with the 7 priest doing each movement in each direction. The River was even more amazing that morning when we got on boats to watch the sunrise. It was 4 am and everyone is already up and getting on with their day. When you got to the river everyone is either bathing and washing and just living. It was so cool, the river is calm and just amazing. I think this was one of my favorite parts of India. But as everything seems to be today it was still kinda touristy with vendor rowing their boat up to yours to try and sell what they had. At the end we stopped by where they cremate bodies, to put the ashes in the river. It was weird to see, and an awkward moment occurred when a gust of wind blew some of the ashes onto some people in my group. It’s really hard to respond when you have someone’s body on you. We had to walk through all of these alleys to make it back to the real road during which vendors swarm. It’s insane, they don’t leave you alone and you need to keep looking at where you’re going. We headed over to the spot where Buddha gave his first sermon and got to spend some time outside. It’s also really interesting to get around language barriers. I was talking to this one guy and the conversation could have meant so many different things, we understood main points but the details were all unclear, for us and probably for him in our responses back. From here we all had to make a flight back to Delhi which ended up being delayed for awhile and we got to hang out in the airport. (Airports and train stations in every country are always an experience; you can tell how ‘westernize’ a place is based on their transportation.) With the flight running late I didn’t see much of Delhi besides the Salt March Statue of Gandhi.
Agra:
So to get to Agra from Delhi you have to take a train. If it’s on time it runs about two hours. The train station in Delhi, and again in Agra were a sight. A huge amount of people were sleeping on the floor at the station in Delhi. Just another way no one can avoid being confronted with how life is like to the majority of the population. Once getting to Agra we headed explored some ruins before making our way to the Red Fort, the palace where the Mughals lived and ruled. Here was also the first view of the Taj Mahal, which is already breathtaking from a distance. The Fort itself was cool to explore but everyone just really wanted to get to the Taj. We did finally make it, after waiting in line, but it was worth it. Pictures don’t do it justice by any means, yet you can’t stop taking them. Not only is the building itself gorgeous but the symmetry with the gate and the mosque and guest house, down to the detail with the marble inlay is beyond words. I made it into the Taj before I had to leave and that’s dimmer but no less stunning. It’s hard to describe. The Taj is a masterpiece. In the Red Fort and the Taj there were flashbacks from the Forbidden City. It was the first time since China that people would ask to take pictures with you, but it was the only place in India where that happened. After forcing ourselves to leave we headed back to the train station where there were a lot of kids. I guess you learn to put blinders on. It did help once I realized that all of the kids seemed to be giving what they got to two older kids. Still, you get way to use to having blinders.
Cochin:
After the majority of the day was spent traveling I made it to Cochin to go out to dinner. It’s warmer here and I was starting to get tired of covering shoulders and knees. The next day I head out with another girl where we went in search of the Bollywood movie that I had missed. We found a theater but they weren’t playing any, only Hollywood films. We did find a place where we bought movies, so it ended up working out. We went for lunch at a place on a different island where we ran in to a good amount of SASer’s. From there we decided to try and play cricket with the group of guys playing in the field about a block away from where we ate. Instead we got to talking with these two rickshaw drivers. One of them never went to school in his life, yet watches CNN every day and can probably talk about current events better than I can after months in isolation. You learn a lot just talking to people. He mentioned that they get kickbacks for every shop they bring people too, which we knew but it was nice to be told up front. So we made a deal where they would show us around for free and we would stop in shops for them. We saw the fisherman’s Warf, and ginger factory and the Dutch palace, and kept meeting people in between. One of the salesmen was from Kashmir, and said that he hasn’t seen his family in 6 years. It put faces to conflicts. Our rickshaw driver also brought us to his home where we meet his wife and daughter which was amazing. We finally stopped our tour with a plan to play cricket. We interrupted one match where they let us try hitting and throwing once before carrying on with their game. The next group was much more welcoming and let us hit for awhile. They even tried to explain, though I’m still not sure if I get it. And that was my India.
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