Agra

Got on my first train in India, that was pretty exciting :) The 2 Indians I was sitting beside were very helpful. I asked them a bunch of questions, what's safe what's not, what to eat, where to go, how much things cost. They even called a friend to ask what sites are open in a place where I'm going to, because it was Friday and sites were closed to tourists on that day. I noticed that they start raising their voice when they disagree with someone (hopefully not me), but when they talk to each other. First time they'll say it nicely, after first time they almost start yelling.
There are a lot of homeless people near train stations, most of them build tents or structures from anything they can find. For some reason they like to go to the washroom right on the rails. So it's very common to see naked butts anywhere you look. And I saw a peacock! Very strange site, since I'm used to see them in well groomed gardens and not in the middle of that dump!
When I arrived in Agra, I went to buy a train ticket to the next city. Someone got in the line again right in front of me (some waited on the sides), but that one went right in the middle of it. I told him to get out, and he started with maganabanandegegananegebadmabagabanana (read it, then try to say it 3 times as fast, at least that's how it sounded to me :) ). I don't get any of that mumble, and he wouldn't move, so I pushed him out of the line. He resisted, so I put my two hands on his shoulder, leaned towards him so I'll have more power and bulldozed him out :) When the guys on the side saw me doing it, I think they got a hint and moved away :)
I got a waiting list ticket. I really don't know how it works, I think there are 58 people in front of me. I'll go there in 2 hours, hopefully I'll be able to get on the train.
I couldn't understand anything the agent was telling me. There is a glass wall, with a little hole, I stuck my ear into it, but he was talking so fast with Indian accent that after asking him to repeat what he's saying 5 times, I just started repeating him what I need from him. I think I got the right ticket, will find out soon :S
Some taxi driver didn't let me walk, I told him that I'll take a rickshaw, he told me taxi was better, how better? Because it has doors ... uuuummm ... yeeeahh, good reason! I'm taking a rickshaw! :)
For people who don't know what's there to do in Agra, the Taj Mahal is here, and this city is extremely touristic! When I didn't feel the pressure in Delhi, I definitely feel it here, very annoying! And everybody wants to take you on a tour. I'll take you to the fort, then to Taj Mahal, then to baby Taj and to the market, overall it's $8 for a whole day (about 8 hours), but nope, I think I'll do it separately. I can't imagine it costing so much. In the hostel met a girl from Delhi, and we hung out together for 2 days. She's from Poland, lives in Ireland, and didn't tell her parents that she's going to India. She said that she planned the whole trip and so far nothing went according the plan, and that's not the first time I hear it. I guess you can't plan things in India, which suits me just fine :)
Went to lunch to a restaurant, and I ordered Thali, which is a perfect dish for me, it has rice, bread, nano bread with a bunch of different sauces, curries, pickles, so for someone (me!) who wants to try everything, this dish is great! :)
Got a rickshaw to go to the fort. I told him 40, he tells me 60, after a few times like that, ok, you say 40, I say 60, so in the middle it's 50. I tell him, you say 50, I say 40, so in the middle it's 45. Ok, he agreed to 45 :)
The fort was very beautiful. It's the most important fort of India. Great shahs lived there, and country was governed from it. It was visited by foreign ambassadors, and the highest dignitaries who participated in the making of medieval history of India. There are monkeys, parrots and chipmunks running around everywhere, and you could see the Taj Mahal from it, very pretty :) I sat in the middle of a lawn to read lonely planet book when I was approached by 5 guys (Indian guys) who asked to look at a map. Sure, I gave them the book thinking it would take half a minute. They started to pass this book around, everybody reading a different section, then asking me about trains and schedules to Jaipur. I said that the schedule is not complete in the book because I got a train for a different time, then they started to pass my ticket around. About 10 minutes later they finally went away. Don't they have any consideration for privacy?
There are bicycle rickshaws and autorickshaws. I always felt bad taking bicycle ones because they work really hard at paddling me, but then I read in lonely planet, that it might feel bad, but that's how they make money, which makes sense. On the exit from the fort, I was approached by a 70 year old man asking me if I want a rickshaw, I felt hesitant at first, but remembering lonely planet tip, I agreed. And that was the first time when I was knowingly scammed. I told him I'll pay him 50 till the hostel, he said, ok 75, but I'll drive you the bazaar, you could look around, I'll wait for you, 1 hour, 2 hours no problem. Ok, fine. But what ended up happening, is I paid more and he took me to the stores where he got commission (in which case I should’ve actually paid less), and this was the time when I didn't want to see any stores, I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. So he dropped me off at jewelry store, then marble store, then he told me 3 more, and I said no, we're going straight to the hostel.
Driver: no no no, I take you to big store, there I get a lot of commission so you go there
Me: I'm not going there, I'm going to the hostel
Driver: but I get paid 50 ruppees!!
Me: But what do I get out of it?
Driver: You get chai
Me: but I don't want chai, I want to sleep.
Finally he goes, ok, I take you straight to the hostel, and you pay me 100! HA!!! NOOOO ! I pay you 75 just like we agreed! And before all that hassle he was telling me about India, and how people are friendly and honest, I said sorry, didn't meet a lot of people like that yet. But then I didn't mind checking the store out, cause it's supposed to be the best store in Agra, but I told him that if I go there, I pay him less, and we agreed for 60. When we were walking there, he gave me the rules, you have to be there at least 10 minutes, and if they give you chai, you drink chai ! Yes sir ! I didn't like the store though, it's extremely expensive. Maybe good quality, but nothing I would wear. They make handmade rugs, and a big rug would take them 3 years to make, and it costs $61,000 USD! Crazy! Then they took me to a jewelry section, and it seriously something that my grandmother would wear. I try to tell him that it's not my style, so he tells me to buy it for me mom (sorry mom, no earrings for you :) ). I said that my mom won't like it either, and he tries to convince me that I need this jewelry, and I need something nice to wear to a party, and by this time he already raises his voice. I told him not to tell me what I should like, and walked out in the middle of some sentence that I didn't hear. At the hostel, I gave the driver 100 rupees, he started telling me that he's old, and that he's knees hurt, and how hard he worked, I told him that it's good for his health, and to give me the change. He gives me 30, and looks at me, I ask for 10 more, and tell him that it's nice to be honest sometimes. It's not the money, it's the principle!
When I went to use the computer, everybody (Indian guys) in the lounge started asking me questions while I'm typing. Where I'm from, how did I like the fort, how long I'm staying here? I try to answer and to read/type at the same time, then I got tired, and told them "guys, I want to check my email please" ... 100 sorry's, but seriously, the 2nd time today ... PRIVACY PLEASE !!!
Went to bed around 8:30, immediately fell asleep, froze the whole night again, and woke up at 5:45am to go see Taj Mahal during sunrise (as recommended in lonely planet). Well, guess what? There is a huge lineup. Men have 3 security checks, while women have only 2, and women carry more on them, so our line didn't move at all. Took us 1.5 hours to get into the gate ... almost time for sunset :)
Taj Mahal is said to be the most beautiful building in the world ... weeeeelll ... it's not ugly, but ... Hm ... maybe it's because I've already seen other temples and tombs, so it's pretty much the same thing. I guess if it would’ve been the first building that I’ve seen I would’ve be impressed, but I really wasn't. And it was very cloudy and misty, so while building against white background doesn't look very good. There were also so many people, almost impossible to take a picture without somebody walking right past the camera.
A bit of history from lonely planet: The Taj was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial for his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, she died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. The death of Mumtaz left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey virtually overnight. Construction of the Taj began the following year and took eight year to build. Not long after it was finished Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned in Agra Fort where, for the rest of his days he could only gaze out at his creation through a window. Following his death in 1666, Shah Jahan was buried here along-side Mumtaz. In total, some 20,000 people from India and Central Asia worked on the building. Specialists were brought in from as far away as Europe to produce the exquisite marble screens and pietra dura made with thousands of semiprecious stones. The Taj was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983 and looks as immaculate today as when it was first construction - though it underwent a huge restoration project in the early 20th century. In 2002, having been gradually discolored by city pollution, it was spruced up with an ancient face-pack recipe - a blend of soil, cereal, mild and lime once used by Indian women to beautify their skin. Now only nonpolluting vehicles are allowed within a couple of hundred meters of the building. There is a legend going around that Shah Jahan ordered that the hands of the project's craftsmen be chopped off, to prevent them from every building anything as beautiful again. Some even say he went so far as to have their eyes gouged out.
Afterwards we went to have breakfast on a rooftop hotel with a view of the Taj Mahal. If you didn't know any better, you wouldn't have guessed that in that slum there is one of the wonders of the world just half a minute away. There was a dog eating cow's shit in front of my face. I didn't get a change to take a picture of it, just so you'll have an "eeewwwwwww" reaction just the way I had it ... but hopefully reading about it would do the trick :))
The restaurant was nice, and Taj Mahal looked much prettier from distance than from up-close. The food was great as usual :) Every time I'm pleasantly surprised :)
We went to a bazaar to walk around. There were no tourists there at all. Then we took some side street, and I don't think these streets saw any white faces before. Everybody was following us and looking at us. All the kids were running, laughing, playing around, telling us hello. Even the pigs I think followed us. The men would get up and walk from far away just to ask us where we're from. It was interesting, but a little bit scary at the same time. I just hoped that I wouldn't get raped, stolen, mugged or killed, but they seemed pretty friendly, and didn't want to cause any harm.
On a fork in the road, I asked some guy how to get to the fort, and he told us to go left, then autorickshaw stopped by, we said that we're walking, and he's like, it's ok, I'll tell you the directions, and told us to go straight, I looked back at the guy, and he shook his head. It was left, the driver just wanted for us to get lost, so he'll drive us. Oooooooh ... the fun! One thing I learned is ask for stuff from someone who has no interest in your business!


https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/Agra

New Delhi

I froze in the hostel at night. I slept with all of my clothes on, under 2 blankets in child's pose all night long, shivering and unable to fall asleep, and thanks to the jet lag, I was fully awake at 4am lying around counting minutes until at least somebody will wake up. In my room there was a South Korean family, husband, wife and 2 kids. All of them quit their jobs and schools and went travelling around the world. I have to check the salaries in South Korea, if they can afford that kind of trip, with taxies and flights, I wonder if it's worth moving there :) They're very nice people, but they're so loud! It doesn't matter if anybody is sleeping, as long as they don't, nobody does, even if it's 2am or 6am. They weren't even trying a little bit to keep it quiet, what's up with that??!!

For breakfast had some weird grain stuff with potatoes, onions and tomatoes, and it was spicy! Not something I'm used eating in the morning, but food is better than no food, and since I'm paranoid about food in India, I was happy it was made in the hostel.

During breakfast I met Maria and we went to city center. The hostel is pretty far away from everything. First we took a 5 minute rickshaw until the subway, and then 25 minute subway till the center. I have some good reasons for being born a girl, but subway lineups outweigh all other reasons by far! There are separate lineups for men and women. There is so much police in New Delhi, and subway is no exception. It's like passing airport security. Everything has to be taken out of the pockets, bags go through x-ray machine, and everybody is getting checked by the beeping stick. Women enter without any lineup! Sweet! Not only that, there are 2 wagons in each train that are dedicated only to women, not that I mind, it's just less busy and people stare less. I got in line to buy a token to get in, and people started to get ahead of me, and stick their money in the counter window. One I let by, the 2nd one I tapped on the shoulder and told him to get back! Manners are just great in here!

Inside the train you would hear the names of stations, which side to get off, to mind the gap, and messages like that: "passengers are requested not to sit on the floor"; "be aware of suspicious articles: suitcases, toys, thermoses could be bombs".

To get to the bazaar area we had to go through railway station, again, the lineup is huge, we couldn't even see the end of it. While we were looking, someone told us to cut through the line, so we did. As we approached, the army person told us to get to the end of the line, so we turned around and told him that they told us to come here. Who's "they"? I don't know, how can you tell from 1000s people who's "they", so we just pointed a finger at someone random and were let through :) I think since we're in India we have to adopt to their great manners, just to show them what it's like :)

To cross roads here is crazy! Nobody will stop for you, so pretty much you have to take a deep breath and start walking, they will go around. Next we took an auto rickshaw to the red fort, the "must see" attraction in Delhi. The driver told us some unreal price, but we negotiated it down, and also arranged for us to get dropped at some shop to "look around", that way he gets money from the shop for every customer he brings, so we spend 5 minutes and get incredibly cheap price. Sometimes these schemes they use work for our advantage as well :) Just need to know when to use them. Red fort was closed for a parade to be held in a few days, so we went to the mosque. The driver again gave us stupid price, but we said no and decided to walk. He said it's very dangerous area and we should go with him, still no, we're walking! He said ok, no problem, and actually drove us through the bad area with no additional charge.

The whole day I was paranoid about food, since I couldn't find any washrooms, and thought if something were to happen where would I go?? So that was a diet day, I just ate 2 bananas and ice cream.

Mosque was not too interesting. It's the largest one in India and could hold 25,000 people, but inside is all empty with no decorations and no nothing, just 1 big square. Again, since their manners are nonexistent, and I have to blend in, I started taking pictures of everyone without their permissions, and if they don't like it, they can move to Canada! :)

Got another rickshaw to someone's tomb, the driver again said that we can't walk there, and not from there to gardens, and not from gardens to subway, and we should book the whole trip with him. Being from Canada and having an ability to read maps, and assuming that 200 meters is walkable distance, I politely declined, or not so politely, I don't remember. I think I was in a good mood, so he was lucky :)

In the tomb, there was this puppy that was following me around. I felt so sorry for him, he's just born, and has no idea what he got himself into! He's so skinny, you could see all the bones, mother was nowhere to be found, and he didn't have that happy puppy face, he was miserable :( I wish I had some food for him.

After the tomb, rickshaw drivers jumped at us to get a ride with them, but they thought that we are stupid tourists (again, sometimes it's useful to be one), but not when the price is 3 times inflated. So we got it down from 120 to 40.

Gardens were described at most beautiful in Delhi, where royalty takes walks. I'm not sure which royalty they refer to, maybe ones that lived there 500 years ago, but now the gardens look alone and abandoned. In there I finally got the courage to try some food, mainly because I was too hungry, not because I was brave :) So we bought some balls that are made of I don't know what, and are warmed on a stone, so the guy took them with his bare hand, smashed them on the stone and put it on the plate, along with some salad, also hand served. I told him that I want to pick them on my own, and I don't want any salad. I didn't get sick thank god, but I would never do it again. Unless it's fried or boiled in front of my face, I'm not eating it!

Overall impression of the first day is not too bad. I expected much much more hassling, much more poverty and scams, but nope. I think South America is worse, so my bullshit immunity is back on track! (I hope :S )

Next day during breakfast somehow all of us (10 people) got together and decided to go to town. I wanted to buy train tickets to Agra, so I and 2 girls got off the railway station. It took us 2 hours to buy the tickets. First off, we went to a regular lineup, but they told us to get to the tourist office. What kind of discrimination is that? Took a while to find the office since there are no signs, and inside the office there are also no signs as to what to do and who to talk to. We filled out the form, and sat in line which barely moved, it took about 1.5 hours to get to the agent. During that time 2 Indian guys came in, and were walking around. They looked suspicious to me, so I kept an eye on them. The line went around the room, through information desk, and then to the agents. Some girls got stuck at the information desk, and there appeared space just before them, and lo and behold, these 2 guys magically took that space (about 3/4 through the entire line). Everybody was looking at them, the 2 girls I was with said how much they hated people like that, and for some reason nobody but me, whistled at them, snapped my fingers, and pointed them in the direction of the end of the line! Bustards!

I find that Indians close up when they don't know the answer. And you have no idea what's going on, they start looking around, chat to other people, are they asking for tips or just talking? Usually it's just talking, then they look at you after some time, and almost jump with surprise with an expression of "oh man, what are you still doing here?". Either that, or they just stare at you.

Now I understand their mentality a bit more. Manulife started to do business with India, and they sent one guy to Toronto as a link. We gave him some task to do, 3 days later we heard nothing from him, nobody knows the status, what's going on. Finally we ask him and we get a response "oh, I don't know php!". So for 3 days he was sitting there quiet, not doing anything, and not asking anybody for help!

p.s. I'm sitting now in the lobby and overhearing everything that happens in the reception. Everybody who got in to check in got a different price for the room for some reason. "Oh yeah, the rate is different right now!" I'm paying 380 per night, while he gives 490 as a price. Then he helped a girl to book train tickets. She asked if it's the same price if she'll go to a train station, "yeah, of course it is". Ok, first of all, he "found" her trains that leave at 5:40 in the morning. Well guess what? The subway doesn't start that early, and who's taxi do you have to take to get there? Of course hostel taxi which they charge 500 for it, while on the street it will be around 150. I paid 140 for the ticket, meanwhile this girl somehow paid 400. And what else, there is 100 rupees service charge per ticket! So overall I'll be paying a total of about 260, while she just paid 1000. But at least she got the ticket. One girl tried to make a reservation through them, so he told her that everything's booked and she’s good to go. She came back in the evening when someone normal was at the reception, asked for the confirmation number, and was told that there were no bookings made for her!

Back to the original story ... I finally ate food ! It was soooo good! with spices but not hot, so I wasn't turning all red, sweaty and having a liter of water with every bite. Its next day, and I'm still feeling good :) What's even better, I couldn't finish it, because there was so much of it, and it only cost $2 :)

Speaking about prices ... again ... we got approached on the street to buy sunglasses, well, we don't need sunglasses, so we kept on walking, and he kept following us. While we were walking the price was dropping from 300 to 200 – you can’t find any cheaper than that, a second later, ok 100, last offer 80! So if they tell you 300, and you bump it down to 250 and think you got a deal ... think again!

In the evening we went to a temple. It was so amazing!! Too bad cameras were not allowed inside, but it's free, and it's the most beautiful building I've ever seen! All of it is carved from top to bottom to the tiniest detail. Inside the majority of it is covered in gold. The eyes just don't know where to focus, it's so unbelievable beautiful, wow! Actually I think it deserves to be in caps with a few more exclamation marks ... WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now that's better! :)

If I were to believe in any religion, I would definitely believe is some Hindu one. They don't just believe in some unknown and unproven god, but they believe in a person who lived a few hundred years ago who inspired people to live in peace, happiness and wealth. Which makes much more sense to me as something to believe in ... except that locals are never at peace, I haven't seen too many happy people, and definitely not wealthy. Maybe that's why the temples are so impressive, and there are 100s of festivals going around the country, just so that people will have something to believe in.

pix at: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/NewDelhi

The flight

The first idea I got from India was still in Toronto, when my plane was 10 hours delayed. It worked out for me this day though, so I have no complains :)

I can't believe how much luggage they carry, it took me 5 minutes to wait at security to x-ray hand luggage of only 2 people! I'm telling you, the plane must have more capacity for luggage than for people :)

I've heard from somebody that Air India is a good company. I'm not sure if they flew American Airways before that, so in comparison it was good ... but no, not so much :)

The service was barely existent, I pressed a button for assistance, found out an answer by myself, and forgot to turn it off. I think I must have noticed it an hour later that it was still on. I hope the pilots know what different lights mean more than the flight attendants!

Touch screen didn't work, so I had to use the remote. Sometimes it would take me 4 times to select something with long waits in between, cause I didn't know if it was loading or not responding! I selected the language English as a first option, then movies. I open a movie, and I get language selection French and German. Thanks for remembering my preferences! New movies didn't work at all, so I was watching classical movies. There were only 2 TV - Comedy shows. One was an episode of friends, and the other one was the life of Steve Jobs, I watched 5 minutes of it, but didn't find it very funny :)

The food was ok, Indian but edible :) If the food will be like that during the trip, I might actually survive! :) The dessert was some yellow liquid thing with small noodles that looked like moving. I was scared it would crawl off my spoon when I picked it up :)

I don't even know how to start describing Indian women. I looked around in surprise trying to understand who in the right mind married them, didn't find an answer, but then I guess they have arranged marriages in India, so they really don't have to try.

They're completely hopeless! I had a mother and a daughter sitting beside me. The mother asked the daughter like 10 questions every minute. How do I select the language, how do I move the sit back, gave her all the garbage, couldn't find a remote that was connected with a half meter cord from its base, complained all the way about every little thing. When we were about to exit, the daughter took the entire luggage, her moms hand bag, pillow, and then told her to give her the passports. So pretty much the mom didn't carry anything at all! I also noticed a huge a** ring on her finger, so I guess they have money to hire help as well. Why would they even do anything on their own? I would've loved to send her to South America or Africa where actually men don't do anything, in hopes that she'll be able to open a pack of sugar and peanuts by the end of the trip!

When I was getting out of the seat into the isle when we were getting off, people were pushing me and not letting me out. Before me a mother and a daughter came out, and I gave space for the father to come out too, he really thanked me for that! Like I'm gonna fight with him and separate him from his family! I had a smirk noticing all that, and I'm thinking, if that happens in the plane where people should be even a little bit civilized, what will happen on the streets? Have to get my immunity to bullshit pretty quick, otherwise I don't know how I'll get anywhere!

I was greeted with a "Welcome to India" sign with heavily armed police officers sitting right beneath it. Thanks for the warm welcome :)

In the passport control, I guess the flight didn't register in the computer yet, so I waited pretty long time in silence without anybody telling me what's wrong. They were chatting and laughing between themselves with complete ignorance towards me. While I was waiting at the counter, there were 2 people who went to the same clerk and hand her their passports!!! while I was there! And I thought I was impatient. Although I'm not sure I will call it impatience, I think its more lack of manners and disrespect!

I waited for my suitcase for about an hour. Mind you that after an hour, neither the amount of suitcases, nor the people became smaller! They're like turtles, carry everything they own with them!

While I was waiting near the belt, some dude came near me, hit my leg with the trolley and told me to move, cause he wanted to wait where I'm waiting. No please, no thanks, I don't think these words are existent in here! I'll have to check that out. Then while I was waiting in a very close proximity to the belt, I was chatting with another backpacker, and a few minutes later noticed that there were already 2 guys right in front of me! How did they get there? I think I understand their logic now. You want something, you go get it, and don't give a **** about anybody else! I think I can handle that :)

I had to make a phone call to the hostel to pick me up. I go to the information desk to ask where I can make a phone call, and where to take money out. He points me to the phone, and says that it will have a bill come out of it that will say how much the call was. I ask him how to pay for it, and he answered me "with money". Good answer! Um ... ok. Who do I pay the money to? Oh, so there is a person working there that helps around, I see. Now I tell him that I don't have money on me, and he tells me to go exchange it, I tell him that I have no money to exchange. He looks at me, and asks me "Then how can I help you?" :) Ok .... I thought about it for a bit, and reorganized the question for him, so that the actions will be in order, and that hopefully it will make sense to him.

"I need to take money out of the bank and THEN to make a phone call". This one he actually got ! Ok, so the bank is outside, and the phone is near the bank. Halleluiah !! It worked! :)

While we were driving to the hostel, the driver didn't say a word, not like in South America where they won't give you a second to yourself. I didn't even know if a guy knows English! The driving is crazy as usual, pretty much the rules are "there are no rules". He was going in the middle of two lanes most of the time. There was a divider between directions, so some car was going in the opposite direction (on the highway!) just because it didn't want to go forward and make a U-turn! There was an exit on the right side, and about 20 meters later an exit on the left side, so the cars went from the right exit to left exit, pretty much crossing a 4 lane highway horizontally without any signs and nobody else slowing down!

That was an interesting experience!