India part 2 – Page 2 – Found my bliss

india shaped my mind, anchored my identity, influenced my beliefs, and made me who i am. ...
india matters to me and i would like to matter to india.

-Shashi Tharoor Tweet

india: not of this planet, part 2

THE BLUE CITY – JODHPUR

It took us a few days to get over the humiliation of being scammed in Deli, but the beautiful blue City of Jodhpur helped.

We only had one full day there, and spent most of it roaming around Mehrangarh, one of the largest forts in India.

CAMEL CAMPING IN JAISALMER

Early the next morning we headed to the deserts of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

on arrival we booked a camel-camping-safari and waited excitedly for the next morning to arrive.

We were disappointed when we found out that the campsite was less than a mile away, as we imagined we would go far out into the desert wilderness.

The disappointment quickly turned to joy about half a mile in, when our bums were so bruised we wanted to howl out in pain each time our camels took a step.

Dinner was about as authentic Indian as you can get and needed salt badly, but we were famished after a long camel ride and ate every last bite.

We spent a blissful evening in front of the fire, star gazing on the soft Indian desert while our guide softly hummed his Indian melodies.

It was surreal that the Pakistan border was less than a few miles away.

I felt so far away from home that night.

It was almost unbearable to have to climb back on my camel the next morning, and I felt bad that I had complained about the campsite being so close to town.

I think our cheerful little guides knew what they were up to after all.

JAMES BOND-ING IT IN UDAIPUR

We decided to brave another long train ride to get to the romantic city of Udaipur.

Udaipur is a gorgeous city, and it’s not surprising that this is the location they chose for one of the James Bond movies.

The citizens of Udaipur take full advantage of this, and the movie is shown in numerous locations across the city.

We were offered dinner and a movie one of the evenings we were there, and gladly accepted.

We arrived at a small home/hostel at 7 pm sharp and the movie started soon after.

The homemade red curry was one of the best I had had so far. It was a bright red color, super rich, and really spicy. DELICIOUS!

I spent the next full day and a half either in bed or in the bathroom paying for my enjoyment of that curry.

AT LAST THE TAJ

After my body finely purged itself of the delicious poison, it was time to head back to Deli for a quick bus change before heading to Agra to see the much anticipated Taj Mahal.

We arrived in Agra a full 24 hours later, weak from being sick and weary from our long journey.

Agra surprised me more than any other destination in India. I expected it to be a beautiful tourist destination, perhaps cleaned up a bit, to cater to the millions of people who come to see it each year.

However, this couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Everywhere outside the grounds of the Taj, was absolute chaos and squalor.

We got up early the next morning, so we could be among the first to see the main attraction.

It was absolutely gorgeous!

After seeing so many pictures of the Taj over the years, it was pretty surreal to be standing right in front of it.

As beautiful and magnificent as it was, I was a little bit surprised at the size. I expected it to be massive and it was quite a bit smaller than I imagined.

The only thing to see in Agra is the Taj, so we left immediately after.

BACK IN HELI BUT THIS TIME FOR OUR BELLY

We had one last day in Deli before flying to Nepal.

By this time we were growing pretty weary of Indian food, and our main goal our last evening in Deli was to find some some good old American comfort food.

Later that evening we found ourselves stuffing our faces at Chillies. YUMMY!

MEMORIES OF INDIA

love and hate are the words that come to mind when I think back on India. It was the most intense, crazy, colorful, insane place I ever have or ever will visit.

I cant wait to go back!