Thu 26/12/13 05:58

Merry Christmas. Today we got to Agra at about 3 and headed to the Taj Mahal shortly afterwards. The Taj is one of those places that I’ve always wanted to see and something that I felt that I “must” see before I die. I don’t really know if I can explain how absolutely awesome it is either. If you think it looks great in books or magazines, you would be happy to know that it looks even better in real life.

As I was making my way around taking photos I ran into an old guy that waved at me and signaled for me to stand at a particular spot that he was pointing to. So I went to the spot. He then pointed at the taj and told me to take a picture. The whole thing sounds very much like the old guy at Angor Wat. The thing is, is that they usually know the best spots, and this guy did show me some great locations for photos. I wandered around the Taj for about 3 hours and finally headed out with the rest of the group for a warm coffee.

We ended the night having dinner in a rooftop terrace and playing some Christmas games… you know, musical chairs, charades. By that time it was so cold out we were pretty much freezing.

Thu 26/12/13 05:27

We got into Jaipur this afternoon at about 1 and it’s been a blast since we’ve arrived. First we had lunch and then headed up to one of the most beautiful castles/forts that I’ve seen. The one thing that I did though was had my camera set on the lowest setting for photos so I don’t really have any quality photographs. I don’t know why or how I managed to change the settings for high quality to low, but when I went to look over the pictures I noticed that all of them were tiny.

After our trip to the castle we headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Most of the talk was about the traffic and the tuk-tuk drivers. I don’t think that there is anything that I can say that would adequately describe the pure chaos of the traffic. There are cars going in all directions, some heading right toward you and others moving the same direction as you. There is a kind of rule going on, but for the life of me I don’t understand it.

Yesterday was a free day for the group. This means that there isn’t anything officially scheduled and we are free to do whatever we want. This morning we decided to take off and see an ancient observatory and a fort. Neither was that impressive but I am glad that I went.

Thu 26/12/13 05:10

We got here at about 3 and had lunch right away. Soon we were off to see the village and the surrounding farms. It kind of had the ‘staged’ feel that I sometime get when I’m allowed more access than seems natural. For example, we went to a school and parked. Right next to the school is the village, and the first house in the village we went in. Some people snapped huge amounts of photos, and others like me kind of felt a little bad as if we were exploiting them. The woman who lived in the house, and her children, went about their day cooking or doing whatever, all while our group was snapping pictures.

We then headed to a farm for the same type of photo opportunity. I just didn’t feel like there was that much to photograph. There were goats and cows, and lots of other animals, but nothing that struck me as a sincere opportunity to take some great photos. I don’t know what I was looking for, but whatever it was I didn’t find it. After that we headed to a dam to watch the sunset go down. Unfortunately the fog was pretty thick so the sun disappeared way before it hit the horizon.

I’m upstairs on the patio of the hotel, some of the girls in the group are getting henna tattoos and some of the guys are watching. There is music playing in the background and a fire burning about 3 meters away.

Tomorrow I think we’re heading to Jaipur by truck. Seems a little bit strange since the train went past it this morning, but I guess this spot we’re at right now is a big enough draw to warrant the extra travel. It is really beautiful, but the cold weather kind of made it not that fun.

Thu 26/12/13 05:05

I got up early for the trip to… actually I don’t know the name of the place that we were going today, but I knew that we had to be awake by 5:45 to catch the train. I made sure I set both of my alarms and made sure that I did what I felt I needed to do in order to speed up the process tomorrow.

I got up as needed and was pretty much ready to go before time, as I was finishing my packing someone knocked on the door and asked where were you, the group already left. A little confused and a little indignant I caught a taxi to the train station and was sitting in my seat with time to spare. I guess I just screwed up and put the wrong time on my alarm. No worries though, as I arrived on the train and doing what could best be described as the walk of shame, everyone in the tour clapped and yelled as I made my way to my seat.

I honestly don’t know where I am right now. The train took us about 600 km away form Delhi and we drove about 2 hours to get to the hotel that we are at right now. So anyone’s guess where I am right now is going to be as good as mine. The feel of the place is so much better than in Delhi, well, I guess it really matters on what you like, loud and crazy, or quiet and mellow. This is a farming community and it is definitely quieter than Delhi. It’s kind of funny that now when I want to describe this area of india I want to use other locations that I’ve been to. For example, the way the farms are divided reminded me a lot like Vietnam and Morocco, the people are very friendly, like the people I met in Myanmar. Unfortunately this doesn’t give you very much context but it does make sense.

Fri 20/12/13 23:04

What can I say, I’ve been in Delhi for about 24 hours and although I’ve really enjoyed everything that I’ve seen so far, I’m still not happy. My first thought is that it’s just me, maybe I wanted too much or I expected something different, but I don’t think either is true. At least not entirely true but I’ll explain later.

I’ve taken a few walks outside of the hostel so far and the scenery is something straight out of the past. There aren’t really any cars, a few maybe, but mostly motorcycles and tuk-tuks. The mass of people are everywhere, most seem to know exactly where they are going and the rest are content to just lean against things. My hostel is in an alley that is right next to a bazaar. So that is the reason for the lack of cars, just going about three blocks from the hostel and everything I said earlier is gone.

There are a few things that I was expecting was how dirty and crowded it is. I love it. I guess there is something about people being people that I like. I can’t say that I’d prefer to live in the area, but I can say that I get regularly get tired of the opposite, which is total order and cleanliness.

I got in to the city about 5am and because of logistics I wasn’t able to get a room until about 8. That was nice since I thought that I’d have to wait until 12. Unfortunately the time between 5 and 8 was less than pleasant and along with any comfort, my temperament went sour quickly. Eventually though I did get my room, and I could stretch out and get some needed sleep. When I got to the room the bed was nothing more than a 4-inch piece of foam on a wooden box. Comfy. There was construction going on outside my window, along with the constant hammering and yelling, I got lucky enough to have the workers radio loud enough to make sure that there wasn’t a minute of silence since I’ve been here. The last thing is that it’s cold here. People told me that it would be, but I had hoped that they were wrong , but they weren’t.

So as my writing has pretty much indicated, I’m not really in a good mood. That will change in a few hours after I join my tour. At least I’m hoping it will, and it better.

Thu 19/12/2013 19:37
And so another adventure begins with me sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to board. No lie, it’s been hectic getting to this point so far. The airport has been packed all the way through the process. In fact it’s taken me more than 2 and a half hours just to get to the point where I am right now, sitting like a geek typing away on my computer while the masses surround me.

The last three months I’ve known that I’d be right where I am right now, but for some reason I didn’t really get excited the way I usually do. Oh sure, I worried that I make my flight, and whether I’ve forgotten anything, but I didn’t spend a lot of time daydreaming of the upcoming tour. I’m not sure why, but I think it has to do with having my flight the day after my grades needed to be turned. All week I’ve been trying to get everything completed so I’d be able to leave and I think that has been enough to shift my focus from dreaming of what it’ll be like once I land in Delhi.

I’ve also been looking forward to the next summers adventure. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing, but there have been some great opportunities that I’ve found.