Namaste, India!!

✈ Kolkata (India)→ Varanasi (India)→ Khajuraho (India)→Agra (India)→ Jaipur (India)→ Jhodpur (India)→ Delhi (India) ✈ Guanzhou (China) → Shenzhen (China) ✈ Brazil!

*INDIA*

January 4, 2014

Touchdown Kolkata! I arrived around at 1 am. The streets were deserted. It looked like an apocalypse movie. I was expecting zombies to jump out of the dark corners. My taxi driver had no clue of where our hostel was. He kept talking and talking to us in Hindi and stop the cab in those creepy empty streets, grab his cellphone and speak with the guy from our hostel, and he clearly had no idea how to get there. Next day, I had to buy train tickets to Varanasi. I had to go directly to the train station, which was approximately one hour drive from the hostel. It was harsh walking around, trying to find the right counter with heavy backpack. But after coming back and forth, I finally found counter 72. My first train was lower class, very windy because of the open windows, only Indians, peddlers coming and going all the time. The first impression is that you are in a prison, because of the grids on the windows, the chains that hold the beds and the dirty fans on the ceiling. But I was amazed and it was so much fun! 13 hours on a train, piece of cake.

January 5, 2014 – 3 am

Arrived at Varanasi! People sleeping on the streets, mingled with cows and dogs. A guy on the train told us that Varanasi is one of the dirtiest places in India. It must be true, because I can’t imagine it any dirtier. Varanasi is the city that I liked the most though. A gazillion of things going on, just there on the Ghats: people praying and doing their religious rituals, cremating corpses (they burn to purify them, to send them directly to Nirvana), doing their laundry, bathing, just enjoying the breeze or just being weird, kids playing cricket and flying kites, dogs, goats, cows, feces, garbage. Seriously, I never saw so many street dogs. They rule Varanasi with the cows. So much cow shit everywhere. Altogether, they compose an harmonic scenario on the banks of the Ganges River. The spirituality is so keen that, in the midst of that pandemonium, I found peace. It’s amazing.

BEST LASSI IN INDIA: BLUE LASSI. I have ordered a pomegranate-blueberry lassi and it was beyond good, but the place is almost impossible to find.

January 7, 2014

Going to Khajuraho. The train was way better (AC3), and mostly foreigners. I made friends with three Chinese and one Taiwanese, and we decided to go around together. We stayed together until Jaipur. There was also a Japanese old lady traveling all alone. I was impressed, she didn’t even speak English! I couldn’t imagine my Grandma in her place.

January 8, 2014

Of course I would have to pass by Agra, to visit Taj Mahal. Paying an outrageous more expensive rate, compared to the locals, I bought my ticket, not without some heartache. I didn't go with much expectations because usually those boasted monuments are kind of disappointing for me. But the Taj Mahal overcame it all. I was left without words to describe it, dumbly popeyed with awe. Cliched, but I shivered all over and almost cried.

We also went to the Red Fort! The chipmunks will haress you if you got any cookies!

11 January, 2014

Jaipur! Big city, the Chinese girls that were with me, were all excited for finally seeing tall buildings after spending 1 month in Nepal. We went window shopping at the Old City (a lot of beautiful jewelry, but maybe too Indian style). Tired of walking, we stopped to have amazing dinner at “The Door”, a restaurant right across the biggest movie theater in Jaipur. After dinner we watched “Dhoom III”, a Bollywood movie with Aamir Khan. Movies are a big thing in India, the place was gigantic and the Indians shouted and screamed through the whole movie, like in a soccer game.

January 12, 2014

Jodhpor, the blue city! In the city I went to Mehrangarh Fort. But the best was the Camel Safari, that I actually planned to do in Jaisalmer, but due to lack of time I ended up doing it in Osean, close to Jodhpur. For being less touristic, I believe that the experience was more realistic. We walked in the desert on the camels and I was hosted by a traditional house in the Rajasthan. I ate on the floor, with my bare hands, just like them, I drank chai and slept under the stars.

January 16, 2014

Alone in Delhi, also known as the rape capital of India. Yay.

I was afraid to go too far from the hostel, I didn't wanted to be lost in the dark. So I went to Connaugh Place, and bought a Bhagavad Gita, walked around, sit at the a cafe to read.. Went to a Sikhism temple and got free food! Awesome day.

20 January, 2014

My Indian friend from China finally arrived! So he came to rescue me and we went with his friends to a traditional Punjab Wedding in Ludhiana! Road trip! I met the family, the bride, painted my hands with mendhi.. So much fun! But at the day of the wedding I got super sick and had to leave. I was all dressed up with traditional clothes and all. The whole trip was because of this Indian Wedding, but I missed it. Bad karma...

But the last days with my friend in Delhi were worth it. :)

In three weeks I only had time enough to go through part of the north. India is huge and completely diversified. Is a chaos, but captivating. Everything is vibrating, just observing people on the streets is plenty entertainment. Hare Krishna, the food! Everything is just an explosion of flavors. I adore Indian food, especially street food. I was so afraid of getting sick again, and I got extra careful with water too. I used mineral water even to brush my teeth. I find Indians so adorable with their head wobble. I can't wait to go back to India. Goa, Kerala and Mumbai stay for the next trip!