The Golden Triangle (Day 7)

May 26th

City Visiting: Agra, Delhi
Today's High: 97 degrees

Today was the day we were all sad to see. By the end of the day, we will all be on separate planes heading back home to different parts of the world. Thankfully it was a later check out so instead of sleeping in, Jed and I got up and started to explore a little bit of Agra. Because we were a little under the weather and we had planned tours & meals since we had gotten to Agra, we never made it on the other side of the gates of the hotel so we decided to check it out.

As soon as we walked around the gates, there were 3 tuk-tuk drivers waiting for people to walk out of the hotel and use one of these to go anywhere in town. We didn't have much time and no real destination in mind so we really didn't need a driver. We just planned on wandering. Tuk-tuk drivers don't give up easily and he drove right beside us for about three blocks in the middle of the road on the wrong side of the road! He eventually realized that we were not interested but it was pretty crazy to see the length these guys will go to to get passengers.

Tuk-tuks

Not far from where the Tuk-tuk driver left us there was a very, very tiny strip of shops. It looked promising but nothing was actually opened. There was a McDonald's that we went to check out the menu just so we could see all the different things they serve in different countries. There was one person on the trip that did try it and he said the fries tasted the same.

We didn't wander far or for too long before we head to head back to catch the bus. I don't think either of us realized how small this town was. Since the Taj Mahal was located here we thought there were be a lot of tourist shops around but there definitely weren't, unless we needed to take the tuk tuk to that area.

We were not sure we would get a chance the rest of the day so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful courtyard at our hotel to do some new "family" pictures before we hopped on the bus for one more long drive.

One of the most memorable parts of our driving around was a particular family that we passed by in Agra. It was a small family with 3 or 4 small children running around. This family lived on the street and often times when we would drive by you would see the mom bathing one of the small children in muddy puddles. This wasn't an uncommon sight in any part of India that we had visited but what made this family different was they were "living" right by a street sign. On that street sign someone had tied a piece of fabric around one of the bars and created a swing. Every time we drove by that family one of the children was swinging in that swing. They looked so incredible happy. Those kids didn't care that they were covered in mud, living on a street on the side of a "main" road and had quite literally nothing. But that didn't matter to them, they had no idea there was anything else out there, they weren't missing anything. Those children were just so happy.  I hope that image, thoughts and feelings that I felt & thought as we drove by will always stay with me. I hope that I can find happiness in whatever situation I find myself.

Our drive from Agra to Delhi was 145 miles and took us around 6 hours with one quick stop along the way.

Our pit stop

Jennifer, Fernando, Jed & I

Bhanu entertained us with his continuation of Mulla Nasruddin jokes which we all fell in love with. Not only were they pretty silly, funny jokes but his delivery of these jokes was great. These video (that are very shaky, we were on a moving bus) just don't do it justice.

 

As you can tell from the videos, our last leg of the trip was quite a bumpy ride. There was no main road to get from Agra to Delhi so we spent a lot of time drive in and out of tiny, tiny little villages. It felt like we were doing a little off-roading at times but seeing the landscape, people, animals, architecture from out the windows one last time was great.

Cow paddies used on roofs for cooling homes

We made it to Delhi around 5 or 6 that evening to get changed and showered at Double Tree by Hilton Gurgaon. We all took turns using a few rooms to get cleaned up before we had a farewell dinner and left for the airport. 

It was so interesting how different our prospective had changed on Delhi from the first time we were here a few days ago to driving back in after being in Jaipur & Agra. Delhi felt pretty small and not very commercialized when we first got here but after traveling to other parts of India, Delhi felt like a huge metropolitan city.

Delhi from the hotel window

That night we all took over the hotel restaurant for our final buffet meal. We had a great time laughing, being silly, taking plenty of selfie's, swapping information and enjoying fun and different food.

We were all definitely sad to go and couldn't believe how quickly the time had flown by. India was a great country to go and explore and I am so so so thankful that we got the chance.

Throughout the trip Jed & I made a point to take selfie's with everyone on the tour with us. When we got back, Jed made this awesome selfie video for all of us to remember our time in India.

The Golden Triangle (Day 3)

May 22nd

City Visiting: Delhi & Jaipur
Today's High: 106 Degrees

Today we left Delhi and headed to Jaipur. India has 29 states, Delhi was in Haryana so it was time for us to leave that state and head to Rajasthan where Jaipur is located. Between each state, you go through a check point and certain people have to pay a fee to come into each state.

Even though going from Delhi to Jaipur is only 164 miles, it took about 6 hours. Roads in India are a lot different then what we are use to. I read a book called Enjoying India: The Essential Handbook to get prepared for the trip and I think they described driving & traffic best.


"Traffic is intense and chaotic and will test your defensive driving skills and reflexes to the maximum. Lane driving is the exception rather than the rule. Traffic lights are frequently ignored, as are one-way signs. The number one rule of the road is that smaller vehicles move out of the way for bigger vehicles. Actually, cows have the ultimate right of way. They are often found wandering in the middle of the road, so you occasionally run into a cow jam where traffic comes to a standstill until the cows move over.
There is no ban on any form of transportation on most highways, so you will see elephants, camel carts, horsedrawn carts, bullock carts, auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws, pushcarts, pedestrians, motor scooters, tractors, horses, donkeys and bicycles-not to mention herds of buffaloes, cows, goats, yaks and camels-moving down the roads along with the cars and trucks and buses. Monkeys and dogs often join in as well."

When I read this, just like you, I thought "that is ridiculous", but then we started off on our drive and we saw everyone of those things on the road! We even saw a tree growing in the middle of the road. Not in a median. IN THE LANE!

 

Our first stop was a "photo op" but really it was just a bathroom break. We stopped at Qutab Minar, the World's tallest brick minaret. It was fun to check it out and walk around for a few minutes but we were back on the road pretty quickly.

Brandon, Jed, Me, Jess & Ciby

A few hours later we stopped at a midway point for lunch at Char Bizzare. Unfortunately, this little place left a lot to be desired. We were all pretty disappointed in most things about this place. It took a really, really, really long time to order, they would tell you they were out of one thing but then allow the next person to order it. The food took even longer to get, was pretty disappointing in taste and we had to beg them to let us pay for the food so we could leave. Apparently they are the only game in town so they could have poor service and subpar food since there was no other options. But even though the food was disappointing, it was a great time with people and making friends, telling stories and enjoying the landscape and the fact that we were in India.

 

Us with Bhanu

Samosa's & Lassi

The last half of the trip was pretty similar to the first half. Bhanu would teach us about the country and as we were listen and learn, we continued to watch out the window of amazing views and mind boggling traffic.

 

We made it to Jaipur by late afternoon and we had about an hour to get checked in and get ready to go out for a tour and shopping.

Downtown Jaipur, the view from our room.

Today our tour was at a jewelry shop. It was very interesting to learn how they make jewelry in India and very interesting to see the working conditions. It is so different then what we used to seeing.

After the demonstration, they took us into a big show room for us to check out all the finished products.

Twinsies - Jed & Capt Dan

Once everyone was done shopping, it was time to REALLY shop. On our way we passed by the Palace of Winds or Hawa Mahal. It was beautiful and fascinating to learn about. It was right in the middle of town so we were not able to stop, we just took a bunch of pictures from the road and kept on moving.

Bhanu took us to the local bazaar that had a million shops. It was right on the inside of the Pink Palace. For the next few hours, we just got lost exploring the area. The gateways were beautiful, all the shops were so colorful and there were people and animals everywhere.

Shopping was a little intimidating but we did walk away with a few gems. This one might have been the best. Jed bought it "communicating" with a hawker through our bus window. They are persistent salesmen. Even after we bought one, he came back to our window to try and sell us another one!

We finished the evening at dinner in the hotel. In the states, we would be disappointed in just eating at a hotel but that is where all the big to-do restaurants are in India. The food was great and we had a great time with new friends. We even moved our party into the back bar with Cassandra, Ciby and Jess after dinner. We were the only ones in there, we were super loud and I would like to think, entertained the staff that was working that night but I am pretty sure they would tell a different story. But we had a very memorable evening and a very fun way to end our day.