First 3 days in India...

 

1st photo: Mosque in New Delhi, 2nd: people living under tent, 3rd: holy cow in India, 4th: Red Fort in Old Delhi,5th: Beautiful tree in Red Fort, 6th: outside of Red Fort, 7th: me in a "tuk tuk", 7th: child begging for money as we are stopped in traffic, 8th: sunset from airplane to Delhi, 9th: this is the only bag I brought! I'm pretty sure it weighs 100 lbs. though! 

Ah, the joys of traveling... half sarcastic. The flight, including layover times, was about 22 hours. Upon arriving in New Delhi at 9pm, I bought a pre-paid taxi trip to my hostel. The driver did not know where my hostel was, nor did he speak English. So, that was an adventure that seemed to take over an hour (a trip that could have taken 10-15 minutes). Laughing it off, I arrived to my room where there were 2 other women staying. Sakura from Japan and Julie from New Zealand were very kind and helped me feel a little more comfortable being a single woman traveling India alone. The "international youth hostel" required a Rs. (rupees)  230  (about $4.50) annual membership fee, and the stay was only $6/night. Great! 

The following day I met a very nice man while eating breakfast, named Kunal. Indian himself, he offered to show me around New Delhi. I thought nothing of it, but I soon found out it was a mistake. Apparently, I learned nothing from my internship orientation in Corvallis about giving men the wrong impression! Well, I think I have to relearn that all the time in America too! Even though I told Kunal about my boyfriend and showed him a picture, that didn't seem to phase him. However, he was very helpful. He took me to see the Red Fort in Old Delhi where we had tea and took many great photographs. We took a "tuk tuk" or a "rickshaw" as our taxi the whole day, and that was very fun! These small automobiles are very quick and very small! The one very sad and sometimes frustrating thing about being stuck in traffic in India is that there are millions of impoverished children that come to your window and ask for money. Similar to America, it is hard to know if they are giving the money to their parents who make a living off of the people that give them money, or if they are using it for themselves. Unfortunately, every one of them are without a doubt very poor and very hungry. There comes a point, which I learned the first time in India, where you cannot give to every child or every mother with her baby begging for money for food. I give when I feel right about it in my heart. 

After the Red Fort, Kunal had to attend to some business and asked if I would be ok alone just walking around the shops for awhile. Being the strong independent woman I am, I said "Yes" quite confidently. BUT, once he left I was very scared! I mean, Indian market places are nothing like the U.S. Everyone invites you into their shops and will follow you around for many blocks asking you to come into their store. Once you go in, you are stuck for a long time. The clothing and jewelry stores especially are very pushy! They will show me every piece of clothing they have, ask me to try them on, ask me what color I like, etc... until I buy something. The conversation will go like this: "You like this? Okay, I give you for Rs. 1,000"... "No."... "Okay, I give you for Rs. 800"... "No, I am not looking to buy."... "Okay okay, Rs. 600 final price. You are my first customer this day." HAHAHA, I can laugh about it now. But, during it is very frustrating. They are very good at what they do, so I have to stay strong-willed if I want to save a little bit of money! 

   Anyway, I was also able to see the famous Jama Masjid Mosque in New Delhi while Kunal was doing his business. Afterwards, Kunal came to meet me 15 minutes late which I now remember from previous times in India is "on time". They say 6pm, they really mean 6:15-6:30. We enjoyed lunch after this, and I bought a couple "salwaar kameez" (of which I left at the train station by accident the next day). I then had the unfortunate experience of having to refuse to spend any more time with Kunal, because it was making me very uncomfortable. What did I expect? 

Let's move on to today! This morning, I woke up @ 4:30 and took a cab to the train station at 5:00. Upon arriving at the train station, I was overwhelmed by the concentrated amount of people! I was able to find someone who told me where my platform was for the train to Agra, . Then, because I had been waitlisted, I was reseated 4 times before I was able to settle in one spot. To my pleasant, most people in the city know a moderate or good amount of English! So, they were very helpful in the train! The travel time took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Agra, and we were served breakfast (tea, bread, chapati, spicy pickled jam, and strawberry jam). When it comes to food here, the portions are quite generous and very very cheap. Of course, this meal came with the price of the ticket, but in general I can eat for less than $1 or $1.50 per meal. I met a wonderful Indian man on the train who offered to have his personal driver bring me to my hotel (Hotel Sidhartha) and help me get settled. This saved me some money and stress! This room is considerably more expensive compared to the hostel. In India, rooms do not necessarily come with A/C. Therefore, the A/C room I am paying for is Rs. 700 per night, which is about $14. It is very nice too! Being a hotel instead of a hostel, I have my own room, which is great. Also, there is a great outdoor restaurant right outside of my room that is open all day and closes at 10pm. The menu has a variety of food, so I haven't had to have any rice or curry yet! I love both of these things, but they do terrible things to my stomach. So, I am waiting until I am ready to eat it. While eating at the restaurant outside my room, I saw many monkeys!! They were walking around on the railing of the 2nd flood of the hotel. And, I got some great pictures.

I hired a taxi to drive me around today for Rs. 550 ($11), which turned out to be quite a rip-off! But, he did take me to many nice places including the Agra Fort, which is the most important fort in India. As well, he showed me one of the places where they hand carve marble, a place where they hand make wool rugs, and a place with semi-precious and precious stones! As one of the things I wanted to buy in India on this trip was pearls, I bought some pearl earrings with emeralds. VERY BEAUTIFUL! And, they were $60. I told one my friend I met on the train how much I paid, and he said I paid too much. But, I thought it was pretty cheap. That'll teach me to buy expensive things without the help of a local! I am happy about my purchase, though. Afterwards, I rested in my room, ate dinner and came to the internet station next to my hotel to update my blog! Tomorrow morning I will visit the Taj Mahal, which is only a block away. I was able to take pictures of it from the top view of the hotel! I will post more very soon!