Destination known and looking for jobs!: Hello India

Namaste!!

We were kind of nervous about our arrival into New Delhi, expecting it to be chaotic, but it was really quite easy. We arrived around 5am and had arranged for a driver from our hotel to pick us up. At that hour in the morning, there was almost no traffic in New Delhi so we arrived at our hotel in the new bazaar in about 20 minutes. We checked in, but since it was so early our room wasn’t ready. We were escorted to another building down a little dirt alley, where we given a little room to relax in until our room was ready. We did not stay at the most luxurious part of town and were only spending $7 a night on a hotel room so our expectations weren’t that high, but once we were moved into our room it really wasn’t that bad. It was clean and had we had our own bathroom with 24 hour hot water. It was our first room with a squat toilet that doubled as the only drain in the bathroom too. You took a shower, it drained into the toilet. You split toothpaste into the sink, it came out the tube on the bottom and drained into the toilet. Very efficient!

Jeff and I took a little a nap and then woke up and wandered around the bazaar area. We were so hungry, but completely freaked out to eat. Everyone who has visited India has gotten ‘Delhi belly’ and we weren’t looking forward to it. But hunger got the best of us and we ended up eating a very delicious tasting meal.

Jeff had friends from college visiting Delhi the same time we were there, so we met up with Chris and Amanda to ring in 2011. We meet for drinks first and then relocated to the bar across the street. There was music blaring and a dance floor. However, when I tried to ‘cut a rug’, I was asked to sit down because I was a girl. Yes, that’s right, the crowded dance floor was a huge sausage fest and no we weren’t in a gay bar. But no matter, we counted down the new year and then walked back to our hotel room.

We agreed to meet Amanda and Chris a one o’clock for lunch, but Amanda wasn’t feeling well. Jeff, Chris, and I had lunch and discussed how we were going to travel south to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We walked to the train station to book tickets. At the train station, this ‘nice’ guy came up to us and was helping us figure out the train schedule. He’s was very friendly to us, somehow had us climb into an auto-rickshaw (tuck-tuck) and we were driven to a travel agency to book our train tickets. The guy at the travel agency told us the trains we wanted to take to the Taj Mahal were all booked. We told this guy we wanted to eventually get to a city called Amristar. Well next thing we know we have an early train booked to Agra to see the Taj Mahal along with hotel accommodations. He also arranged further train travel for us to go to a town in the north called Haridwar with hotel and a train from Haridwar to Amistar with hotel there too. We got 4 trains and 5 nights of ‘nice’ hotels for $139/person. We take the deal, almost instantly knowing it is too good to be true.

Our train was schedule to leave around 04:30, so Jeff and I meet Chris and Amanda at their hotel at 0330 and take a cab to the train station. The train is almost 2 hours late and when it arrived and we climbed unto our car. We were booked in sleeper class which isn’t quiet the bottom class but really close. The windows wouldn’t close, so it was cold and it sort of smelled. Fortunately, since it was the butt-crack of dawn it wasn’t crowded. Jeff and Amanda somehow are able to take naps while Chris and I played games on the iTouch. We arrive into Agra and get to our hotel. It is not nice. There’s only hot water between 0600-1000 and the rooms smell like moth balls. But the four of us are so tired, we didn’t really care at that point. We decide to take naps before going to the Taj Mahal.

As we walk towards the Taj, there are huge lines to purchase tickets and to clear through security. We decide to get up early to go into the Taj and take a tuck-tuck across the river to get view of the Taj during sunset. It was really foggy or smoggy, not sure which, but the Taj didn’t sparkle in the setting sun like it does in pictures.

The next morning, Amanda still isn’t feeling well and they decide not to get on the train with us to Haridware. Before Jeff and I get on the train though, we make it to the Taj Mahal which unfortunately was still hiding in the smog/fog. The marble work and carvings are amazing. Even though the viewing conditions weren’t ideal, it was still a magnificent building to see. We spent about two hours around the Taj Mahal and then went back to our hotel to check out and say goodbye to Chris and Amanda before our train left.

We hope that everyone had a safe and happy new year. Best wishes to everyone for a great 2011!