Land of the bobble heads, holy cows and beautiful sunsets...

We arrived in Delhi 12 days ago and it feels like a lifetime....Our first experience with India was the late arrival of our plane (not the first time we we late getting somewhere!) From the advice of friends and the trusty guide book, we had arranged to be picked up at the airport...we were so grateful for that as we were not hounded upon. We stayed in the backpacker area of Delhi, Paharganj and stayed at a less than dodgy guesthouse. However our first meal here was truly amazing. Once we checked in we went out exploring and came upon a locals diner. It was so good and we left entirely satisfied, there were many pleasant smells of chai and curry which was far better then the smells coming from the streets. The smells that great you on the streets of India are a true combination of open sewage, cow dung (among other aminal, human included), chai masalas and curries! There were so many people in the streets all yelling hellos and Namaste's...
We decided to do a tour of Delhi the next day which we had organized through our guesthouse. The tour was ok. We saw the sites we wanted to see, a beautiful mosque which can accomodate up to 30 000 people! The National museum which gave a good history of the country. Our driver was nice and all but after a while the true Indian came out and he wanted to bring us to all sorts of places where he was going to receive a commission for taking us there. We asked to go for lunch, we gave him our price range and he brought us to a very expensive westernized restaurant. we looked at the menu and left immediatley letting him know in the nicest of Canadian ways, that we were unimpressed...he just shook his head in a way that we like to call the "bobble". It isn't exactly and nod "yes" or a side to side "no", it is a ear to shoulder bobble which doesn't mean yes and it doesn't mean no, it just mean that "I have heard you and acknowlegde that you are speaking!" We were warned about this bobble but didn't really realize that everyone does it...it is as common as Canadians saying "eh"!
You can understand our frustrations when we ask for directions...need I say more....
Delhi is a very busy city, Jeff and I were not too thrilled with it as cities aren't our thing but it was good to check out and good to leave! There are just about as many people living in Delhi as there are in all of Canada!!
Our tour of Delhi ended a few hours early as we didn't not get on very well with our guide, he relentlessly brought us to places we didn't want to go to. We made our way to the train station and bought a ticket for Bikaner. We left that night....
On the train we met another couple of travelers from Germany who had been living in the south for the few months working in a hospital. we had some great chats and exchanged travel adventures...our train was supposed to be 12 hours, we were 4 hours late at arriving at our destination..good times...in the morning we were sitting chatting and looked over to the Indian man lying down under a blanket in front of us, he was talking on the phone to his wife doing none other than...pleasuring himself...only in India..We can say that was quite the experience..talk about AWKWARD!!!!
Bikaner was ok but we found the streets particularly dirty..men using the walls to relieve themselves...who needs public toilets when you can find a wall somewhere! We had plannedto do a camel treck but decided not to as Jeff got a cold from the train ride... which was by the way the worlds coldest night...we put on every item of clothing we owned and even had bought blankets forthe ride...we still froze...we thought we were escapingthe cold...well the cold found us in Rajasthan....
From Bikaner we made our way by local bus to Jasailmer. It was quite a journey...we had to change buses at one point, but our bus was late and we hadto flag the other bus down in the middle ofthe highway (which really isn't a highway but a bumpy road). The bus master (guy in charge of collecting money) rushed us off the bus, some other guy cut Jeff off as he was gettting off the bus and he flew on his ass!! It all happened so fast! it was truly one of the funniest moment ever! everyone on the bus got up to see what had happened to the foreigner! Poor Jeff was covered in dirt...being the good little wife...I laughed so hard till my eyes watered, my stomach ached and i nearly peed my pants!! I was glad that Jeff was laughing too! When things get hectic and we get flustered we just think of him flying off the bus on his ass and laugh because in the end.."it is what it is"....
Jasailmer was really nice and relaxing. We stayed at a really chill guesthouse which had a beautiful view of the fort there. So far Jasailmer is one of our favorite spots. We did a jeep tour for an afternoon, as Jeff was still nursing a cold instead of doing a camel trek and camping overnight in the desert. We did get our token camel ride to watch the sunset..I think 30 minutes on a camel is all that is needed..really!
After a few days in Jasailmer, we took a bus to Jodphur. There we got husseled! We thought wehad our street smarts about us but no, once we were tired from the day of traveling and the fact that it takes 7 hours to travel 270 kms! (no joke). We were had...a young boy started talking to us, and asked if we would have chai with his family which led to having dinner with them as well. Once dinner was done we were asked to visit his spice shop...how can you bring a cook to a spice shop and not buy anything!! We showed great restraint and in the end bought a small bag of chai tea..of course! More because we felt guilty not too, let me rephrase that, I felt guilty not too. The owners of the guesthouse laughed at us because the woman Nisha had even warned us about these scams. In the end we got a dinner out of it and only spent 90 rupees on tea which is the equivalent to about 3$! Not that much lost in the end...
Pushkar was next on our journey, we spent2 days there doing pretty much nothing, sleeping reading and relaxing...taking in the sites and trying th eunderstand the ways of India...like how could you have Holy cows wander the streets freely and let them feast on gargage, plastic bags and cardboard...if I am ever reincarnated, I do not want to come back as a cow in India, I would rather be a cow at the Tutt Ranch in BC where i know I would be treated as Holy! The open sewage system hereis slightly mindboogling as well...there are these trauf oonthe side ofthe narrow roads for drainage, well, dogs and cows drink out ofthem..yummy! and as I have seen now many times little boys doing number 2 in them! there's a view!
I do haveto saw that there are many beautiful things about India...the food, the women beautifully adorned in vibrant coloured saris and glittering jewels, the breathtaking architecture of forts, palaces and of course the majestic Taj Mahal! Pictures do it no justice! It is truly a masterpiece! We sat and watch the Taj Mahal during sunset...it was lite in beautiful colours of orange and red...
Jeff and I have one more major spot on our journey of India before we head up to Nepal as we feel the mountains are calling us...
We leave Agra tomorrow night on the night train, clad with more blankets....to Varanassi.