varanasi

From the start, I was pretty excited about going to Varanasi. It’s one of the holiest and oldest cities in the world and is built on the banks of the Ganges river. To my big time disappointment, from the very start to finish, Varanasi proved to be the most difficult time thus far. It ended up being one of those stops that would have been best avoided for the most part.

It all started with the train. The time from Agra to Varanasi is about a 13 hour train ride. When we booked the ticket we were numbers 4 + 5 on the waiting list. I read somewhere that sometimes the waiting lists can go up to 100 and you would still usually be all good. When we went to the train manager to ask what the status was, we were 1 + 2 on the w.l. and he was just like sorry looks like nothing will open up. After being confused and asking what we have to do next the only answer was: general admission. Well shiz. It was 11 at night, in agra, and we didn’t know what to do. We didn’t want to get a hotel and even if we did who knows when a seat on the train would happen? All I know about general admission is that they are the dirt cheap, sardine packed trains that about 100 people run and push to get into the doors and get a ‘good spot’. Our friend had taken this car once, not by choice, and said luckily it was only 2 hours because she was literally standing, smooshed and trying to read her book but could barely move her arm to turn the pages. How would we do that for 13 hours, overnight? We scoped it and I don’t even know if it was possible to fit in that car. Through this whole trying to figure stuff out time, Luis, the other half of the sweet couple from argentina we met at the taj, kept coming up and asking what was going on. Finally, we had no choice but to jump in their car after he insisted we come in so we can at least be on our way and figure it out. Usually the ticket guy seems to come around an hour or 2 after you get on the train, but of course he was right there. We were trying to figure out if we sleep on the floor or what. Luis and Florencia were like ‘no way! We will share’. So them being so amazing, they got on one of the top bunks together for the night and gave gieves and I one to share. The ticket guy came around, saw we clearly didn’t have a ticket for the spot, and fined us about 700 rupees, about the price the 2 tickets would have cost to begin with. Although the night, in all honestly, was so crammed tight and freeeezing cold (sleeper had no control of temp and is beyond drafty, I could barely feel my face it was so cold. No blanket or anything, we were so unprepared) we were so grateful to them that we were at least on our way. In the morning the train cleared out so much that we had free reign to sit where we liked. We were free and were on our way.

After getting off the train, we told the duo we were taking them to dinner while we were there, no questions asked. We exchanged info and we went off to the hotel. Long story short, the place we picked sucked. Mice, the worst shared bathrooms probably in India’s history, and plumbing that smelled like dead people. Even after changing rooms it didn’t get much better.

Off of the bad things, I feel like there were some moments there that stopped me in my tracks. We took a sunrise boat ride down the ganges one morning and saw the city slowly waking up, doing their rituals. We met up with Luis and Flor and had a most amazing time and just laughed til we were surrounded by happiness. We watched a bunch of neighborhood kids playing a game of soccer and dodging over cows and homeless men, I guess one of the most touching moments for me, of the whole time we have been here, was walking to the burning ghat Manikarnika. Bodies are burned non-stop here , all day and all night. This ghat has up to 200 cremations each day. People are said to have ’been beyond lucky’ to die here so they can be burned at these holy ghats. There was even a huge room next door filled with older and sickly people just waiting to die there. Just to be burned at this ghat. Pretty intense. Each body is wrapped in cloth and placed in its own stack of wood. It takes 2-3 hours for the body to be reduced to ashes. Relatives (males only, woman are not allowed) watch the process. The hindus believe that if you die here, you are guaranteed release from the birth and rebirth cycle. Also, it is strictly prohibited to take photos here, but who would want to do that anyways? The ghat was crowded with funeral parties and mourners. It was definitely beyond somber, yet at the same time it seemed like all these families were happy their loved one was here, burning their body away on these wooden logs on the holy rivers edge. They are okay, and almost seem positive, about death. So unlike our culture, where we bury our dead and spend months trying to get over it. For them it happens, then its time to move on. The craziest part I learned was that not all who die are cremated -- children under ten, lepers, sadhus, pregnant women, and snake-bite victims are offered directly to the river. Such is life.

agra

What kind of trip is India if you don’t stop and see the taj mahal? Since all the new friends we have met on our journey thus far said agra as a town sucked, we decided to make it just a day trip and not spend the night (and save the mulas). Our train got to the station a good 3 hours late which was a bummer, cause I wanted to see agra fort as well as the taj. This really cool Belgium couple we had met in Jaisalmer and had dinner with in Jaipur suggested us going to this hotel they stayed at to keep our things there. We started hearing horror stories as well about how some hotel restaurants in agra had been known to give people bad food or bad water so they would get sick and stay a night in their hotel! We were told this hotel was a thumbs up so we went and paid a half day price and made our way to the taj. In all honestly, photos do not do the taj mahal justice. It is the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my life. We ended up staying til sunset (our train was to leave at 1130 that night) and soaked it all in. it was hard to leave. As soon as we left the gates back onto the street, however, we were mobbed with people trying to sell things. At one point I had 4 guys around me trying to sell me garbage. It wasn’t hard to leave that. The other great thing about Agra was that we had met this hippie couple from Argentina who was also leaving on our night train to Varanasi . We planned to meet up in the city, went and booked some more reservations, ate some good (non-poisonous) grub then heading for the station for train 2 of the day.

jaipur

Jaipur definitely started us out on the right foot. After taking a night train from Jaisalmer, we arrived in the real early morning. There was a worker snoozing in the office and gave us a room right away (we were soooo thankful) and we instantly slept a good portion of the morning/early afternoon away. After waking up and getting it together, we decided to walk the town to find a book store. I was not crazy about the thought of going to Jaipur just because its another huge city and the capital of Rajasthan but decided it was worth a shot. After leaving the hotel, we turn the corner and this guy in a rickshaw stops by. Where are you goin? We tell him this bookstore, and he tells us it’s a far walk, but not at any point does he try and scam us, but tells us how it is. ‘you can walk, but its pretty far, and trust me, jaipur is not a walking town’. something about him sparked something in us, and we asked him to being us. Little did we know this changed our whole trip. From here on out he fell in love with shakeer, a tall lanky Indian man who in a weird way looked like a young Michael Jackson. After bringing us to the book store, he said it was almost the perfect time to go to the monkey palace for sunrise. Sure, why not. As we pull up about 30 minutes later, we are in awe. We see the palace with towering walls and you got it…HUNDREDS of MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!! We start walking our way up and get closer and closer. There monkeys are HUGE. The kind of monkeys with beg red booties. Baby monkeys, ancient monkeys, running around climbing walls. After about 10 minutes of walking up and almost approaching the top, we see this huge group of kids, teenagers, on top. Slowly, one by one, they start to watch us approach. They start laughing and saying all these things we cant understand, more and more kids, I would say about 55 kids at least. I was hesitant to walk up. Were they ridiculing us? What are they even saying? As we keep walking we see an older man, the teacher staring in amazement as well. He gets up, asks gieves if he has any American money he can give him rupees for, then hugs him. Around this time, all hell breaks loose. They are running up to us, smiling, asking us questions, hugging and shaking our hands. The teacher comes to me and leads me over to these 3 girls sitting by a ledge and they get all nervous. I think they wanted to talk to me but were too scared to do it themselves. Their friends start taking photos, before you know it, I am surrounded by at least 30 kids, gieves snaps some photos on film. We are so frazzled. They are acting as if we are CELEBRITIES. After a while and 2 or 3 more goodbyes (after we’d say goodbye they would run back down to where we were) they go to gieves and ask him to sing. Please sir sing an american song! Under pressure…gieves starts beatboxing. Beatboxing! The kids go NUTS and start cheering. Finally on our departure one of the girls the teacher led me to ran to me, and gave me a pair of earrings she had. No words can describe how crazy it was, and how excited they were, and it was a moment I will never forget, it was one of the weirdest, craziest, silliest most touching moments of my entire life. Needless to say, we loved monkey palace.

After monkey palace Shakeer brought us through the pink city markets. It was CHAOS and I was very thankful to watch my surroundings from the rickshaw. He was right, besides the markets (which I wanted no part of anyways) Jaipur really isn’t a walking city. When he dropped us off, we enjoyed the few hours with him so much we asked if he would take us around the next day as well. He was glad to. One thing I have learned about Indians is that they are very truthful. They tell you how they feel. The ones I have met here briefly in this small frame of time in my life are peaceful and very compassionate. Shakeer has a heart of pure gold. He called me ‘boss lady’ just because I was so sweet he told gieves they needed to do what I said and even on the second day snuck away from us at a temple cause he ‘forgot’ something then when we met back up he had bought for us a ball of yarn for bracelets we were trying to find. Also on that same day, he took us to another special place. Earlier we had stopped at the amber fort where we saw elephants for the first time really in India. After leaving the fort, we went to where the elephants lived. It was beyond amazing. As sad as it was them being chained up, I got so close to the magnificent beasts my heart melted. The man who works there had a kind heart and kept bringing us up to the elephants, letting us rub their trunks and hug them and take photos. What a moment!

There was a lot more we saw in jaipur, but those were definitely the best of them. I loved my time there, mainly because I got to see so much of the city because of Shakeer. Driving around on the rickshaw was definitely the best thing we could have done, and it kept us sane in that city.

jaisalmer

We bumpily rode into jaisalmer from jodhpur by bus. planes trains and automobiles for us. Jaisalmer is very....sandy. the colors are sandstones and sand gets in your clothes and hair and eyes. Jaisalmer is north west of the country, and pretty close to pakistan, maybe 40 miles or so. Its mainly an army base and a desert camel town. the place we stayed at was pretty sweet and gave way to a most beautiful view of the fort. Jaisalmer has a really cool vibe to the town. Its not as crazy chaotic as some places and was pretty inviting for the most part. The best thing, hands down, about the place was our camel safari. can you believe it? riding in a big ole CAMEL in the middle of the THAR desert! i still kind of cant believe it. we went on the camel trek with 2 camel dudes and 2 girls from japan who giggled a lot (and snored throughout the whole night..oy!). overall, the experience was beyond amazing. gieves at first had this camel that had an infected nose-like piercing where they put the rope on the camel to lead them. after a while though, i couldnt figure out if he was in pain that badly with all his horrible yelping or if he was just being a stubborn pain in the behind. either way it was sad, but we got it worked out and eventually swapped out papou with another guy. not that i wanna boast (but i will) i had the best camel possibly ever, in the world. his name is dali but i liked to think of it as dolly and he wore 2 big hemp necklaces around his neck and didnt make a peep. just kept walking and chilling and being cute. after a very long ride throughout the desert we got to dunes and saw a lot of animals (dung beetles, a sand fox!, cool birds) and an amazing dune-y sunset. we set up camp and ate amazing indian food served up on the fire and fell asleep to a huge, amazingly open stary sky. first time i ever rode a camel and slept in the middle of the desert under a huge sheet of stars, in the same day, i cant complain. the stars were so bright it lit up the dunes at night and you could see their peeks. 4 days were all good days in jaisalmer. next onto jaipur!
sidenote: i wonder what dolly is doing right now? being cute i bet.

jodhpur

From Udaipur, we decided to hire a driver named Samir to take us to Jodhpur. There are no direct trains that go there and we thought it would be pretty cool to stop at some places along the way. As you drive farther away from cities, the further and farther between any villages come around. Some things we saw were very intense. We saw a bat tree, more trees who secrete liquid that is used to make wine, a small village where they use oxen to go in circles to pull pails of water up from a well. We bought a fruit that was leche-like from a small, old village woman from the front of her home. We saw many huts built of straw and hay and many fields. it’s a hard life for them. It gets really hot as you approach west towards the desert and they are working long and hard. They all pretty much use the old fashioned way of using bulls and ox to plow their fields. Along the way, we started a list of all the animals we have seen roamin’ along on the streets:

Goat
Cow/bull
Oxen
Buffalo
Monkey
Bats
Camel
Donkey
Sheep
Boar
Pig
Peacock
A bull with a tiara

All were interesting to say the least, especially the later. On our way we also stopped at a Jain temple in the city of Ranakpur . It was so beautiful and was a nice little break. There, before entering the temple I met this girl .Can I say that instantly, I loved her? She was about 7 years old and the most beautiful child I have ever seen in my life. We just sat there, smiling at each other. I wanted to take her home with me, keep her safe keep her clean. There was some connection there that went beyond words. Funny how that happens.

We arrived in Jodhpur (mind you I had just woken up from a good 30 minute nap in the car) and it was craaaazy. We got dropped right off in the market place to take a rickshaw because the streets go very high and are too narrow for cars. Long and winding roads for sure. We jump on in and the rickshaw goes up up. Away from most of the chaos. At the hostel we met a bunch of cool people, some of them telling us of their travels and stirring us in all different kinds of directions. Our route is going to be changing up a bit coming up. In general, sometimes I liked jodhpur, sometimes I just wanted to leave sooner then later. The best experience I would say we had was walking around one evening and meeting this boy. He was 17 years old and his opening line after finding out where we were from was ‘Ahh America, they have lots of weapons!’ after chatting with him for a few minutes he pointed right where we were and said this is my house, please come in for tea. So we took the chance and walked into his front room, his bedroom. What an experience! To be invited into an Indians house and check it out. He made us chai (the best we have had so far in all of India), gave us biscuits and we started talking about all sorts of things for maybe around an hour. He got in depth about the caste systems which was really interesting to hear. By far, he spoke the best English of everyone we have met. I was very much impressed with his vocab too, some of the words this kid used was surprising. He wants to either be a scientist or a cricket player. Cool. On other days we just tripped around the city making our way around and exploring. The school kids all see you and yell ‘ello!‘ from the rickshaws and just want to talk to you. The other kids who don’t go to schools in other caste systems can be as friendly but usually look at you with sad eyes., sometimes wanting money. The main attraction in Jodhpur is the Meherangarh Fort. Its quite impressive. From there you get a glimpse of the ‘blue city’. most of the buildings in old town are painted different shades of medium to dark blue, all to keep the desert city cool. It is just beyond amazing. After checking out the view from the fort, we ran into this guy Eddie who we had met in Mumbai at the train station (he was the first non-Indian we had seen in Mumbai) and his friend Claire. They were leaving too and we all hopped on the rickshaw and went to the clock tower to get the supposedly best lassi in jodhpur. Funny thing about India is, when a business opens and starts doing well and gets in the book, aka lonely planet, a bunch more with almost the exact same name will open luring foreigners. We definitely didn’t end up at the best lassi place, I can tell you that, but it was good none-the-less. After us all hanging out for quite a bit we parted ways and exchanged info in hopes of seeing each other again in Varanasi. We also met this girl from new york at the hostel who we are going to try and meet up with in Nepal. It’s nice to meet cool peeps at the hostels, we have been doing that quite a bit. It was time to leave Jodhpur, and I couldn’t say that I was all too bummed.

udaipur

from the moment i woke up on the train as we just started to approach udaipur, i was already in love. vast fields of yellow, hills, trees. as soon as we stepped off the train it was a breath of fresh air (especially after a damn 16 hour train ride). instantly you could tell it was much cleaner here and that the people were very different. we stopped next to the train station to get a bite and hop in a rickshaw with a young, sweet guy named jahel. when he dropped us off at the guesthouse, we work out a deal to go on a tour of udaipur for the following day. we walk up to the guesthouse called kumbha palace- and it is gorgeous. its up this long hill, past another guesthouse (we later talked to the man who runs it, who was a great guy as well. he wore his pink shirt everyday and looked damn smooth in it. they had a little white dog named duffy). there was this huge lawn with chairs, a sweet rooftop restaurant and the room was huge (indian toilet and all). after arriving and settling in, we started up the road. we met this young guy who goes to college there right off the bat and started talking with him for a while. thats the great thing about these indians in rajasthan, yes they all know someone that they want you to buy from, but most of them really just want to talk to you. i think we have been asked about 200 times already seriously what our country is. we walked up to the city palace and ended up meeting this local, uma, who was giving tours at the palace. He is super witty and had lines for everything '24 hour power, no bathroom no shower' and when asked why so many men here have mustaches he says 'a man without a mustache is a woman'. anyways, after that initial meeting, we decided to save the city palace for the last day and told him we'd hope to see him again. after spending our day, i was exhausted (also i feel like i have has sinus problems since we have been here. travellers last night said the same thing. air here is really poor and its so smokey and dusty in general). i ended up staying back in the room as gieves went out to explore for a bit. he ended up seeing uma again who runs a little art shop as well down the street. good thing he went alone, he found out all about his life (that he most likely never would have told with me there). he is a prince in a city right outside of udaipur and a few years back had met an english woman he had fallen in love with. right when they were to get married, his father busted in with a sword and said if you marry this woman, and not an indian to be the princess, i will kill myself right now. clearly, the wedding did not go on and uma was left heartbroken. he was left to the arranged marriage for which he said 'she is beautiful, yes, but is very very boring, and sad for me, i fell in love with her cousin now'. the poor guy cant get luck in love. he did however say he loves his life, so much so, and he is very wealthy. he already owns 9 stores and in a few years hopes to own 30! on our last day, we went back to the palace and have him give us the tour. though he doesnt need the money (he didnt shy away from saying he has a loooot of money) he was so knowledgable about it all that it was the best tour guide we could have gotten! the palace is the 2nd largest in all of India (the first being in southern india) and it was just breathtaking. i learned so much history on it and will not at all be forgetting it anytime soon. the architecture in india is so so so amazing. this palace was so simple but the designs were so beautiful they were just making me invision of having a small little place one day, decking it out in indian colors and styles. it cant be beat. the day before was good too, we cruised around in a rickshaw all day and saw really cool sites. a jain temple that was 2200 years old. another place with huge memorials of past leaders who have passed. it was a great experience. uma recommended some of the best restaurants to us. the first place being only locals, a thali place that served you fast, and real great food. the second place recommended was this restaurant called ambrai. it was absolute paradise. it was right on the water with an amazing view of the palace and city and some ghats. i cant lie when i say the view almost brought me to tears it was so beautiful. not with all of the other parts of the city, like the marketplace and city centers, but that spot alone lived up to people saying udaipur is arguably one of the most romantic cities in all of india. after that dinner we stopped in to see uma for a last time. he is a talker and we ended up staying in his shop with him for a good 2 hours. it makes me sad i will never see him again. a nice and handsome prince, he is. he said to me, americans tell me i look like pharell (which actually in a weird way he does) and asks what he should do to get the american ladies. i told him, you dress nice, look nice, all you need to do is go to the u.s. and you are set. it was actually pretty sad leaving udaipur. after only staying for a few days, i feel like we made some friends and starting recognizing and talking to other people. it reminded me of california in a weird way as well. warm weather and really chilled out. you just hangout. it was great.