Here are some Dehi photos to start you off with. Hope they give you an idea of our Deli experience..
Note the cows, ricksaws, people and the chaos! Where are the sidewalks haha
We arrived in India's capital city with a warm welcome from its famous "Deli Belly." Which, at the time was almost ironic because as we ate our hearts out in Varanasi we bragged to each other ' ya, we have stomachs of steal! theres no way we will get sick!' So, we ate..and we ate..and we ate!
We ate everything under the sun, we ate curry for every lunch and dinner of every day, we ate samosas and all sorts of other tasty snacks from any vendor who was selling them and we drank bottomless Lassis of every single flavor.
Everything was great until 3 am..5 hrs into our 17hr night train across northern India.
Almost simultaneously our bellies both were painfully tossing and turning.
We were SICK! I can not even begin to count how many times we both were RUNNING to the toilet in agony. ( And let me tell you, there ain't no 'toilets' on a train in India, you squat and do your business over a hole over the tracks.. And, in this 'toilet' might I add, everyone else seems to have been to lazy to just aim for this hole.. and instead does their business all over the walls and floor BESIDE the hole. ) Not exactly an ideal situation when you are sick.
But, we made it though the night and arrived in one piece the next day in Deli.
Deli was an eye opener for sure. Not sure if it was the fatigue, the headaches, the heat, the horns, the frustration, confusion, cows, beggars, touts, or people we saw pooing in the street.. maybe a mix of everything actually haha! But, Deli was an eye opener indeed.
The tourist area was the dirtiest area of any city we had ever seen, we couldn't believe our eyes when we were witnessing half of these things we were seeing. I have never experienced or imagined I would witness that kind of poverty in my life. This area can turn any positive traveler beyond anything you would consider jaded. But, it is these experiences that bring me to a new level appreciation and gratitude for the things in my life.
We hurried and found a comfortable hotel, AC, private bathroom, TV etc.. all the comforts of home and then we didn't leave that room for the next three days! We did not even have the energy to really speak to one another for those three days, only when we were trying to eat( which was hardly ever) or swapping turns using the toilet. Finally, we had enough. On the 4Th day of being sick we decided to go see a doctor. We did some tests and had some blood work ( which Shaun fainted during! and is a bit of a funny story its self.. while he was getting his needle, he started to turn ghost white and began to fall over. A nurse and I grabbed him and put him on the bed, they checked his vitals as I was talking to him. When he seemed to be coming back around the nurse had wet a towel and asked Shaun if he would like her to wash his face.. and he replied: "No! I am not dirty!" ) By the end of it the doctor recommended we stay for one week in their clinic for a whopping $400 EACH per day! ( insurance scam at its best ) This was just crazy so we left and rested up another day or two until we were soon back to our old selves. Getting sick did not leave us much of a chance to get to see anything else Deli had to offer, so on our final day we crammed in as much sight seeing as we possibly could.
We visited: New and Old Deli, The Gandhi Memorial, The Red Fort, and a park where locals gather to play cricket. Soon we were back on the train and on the way to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
Red Fort
Cricket games
Gandhi Memorial
The exact spot he was assassinated
When we arrived in Agra we found a hotel that advertised a roof top view of the Taj.. which we thought was perfect. Little did I expect to walk up onto our rooftop restaurant and actually sit see the Taj RIGHT there infront of us.. it was so close you could practically see its beautiful rose carvings from our room.
Roof top view
The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shan Jahn during the Mughal empire. He became heartbroken when his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died during the childbirth of their 14th child and as a tribute to his wife's death he was inspired to construct the Taj Mahal. The Emperor layed her body to rest in the principal mausoleum, where you can now view both bodies in the large marble tomb. It became the ultimate symbol of the Emperor's love for his wife, and today as we are looking at its soft white marble and ruby red flowered walls, all you can feel the Emperor's love for his wife. The Taj Mahal is honestly beyond beautiful. You can almost hear its beauty resonate in the eyes and hearts of every single person there to marvel at it. It is the most exquisite building I have ever/will ever lay my eyes on.
Our first day in Agra we took a rickshaw across town to the back side of the Taj where we could watch the sun setting. We sat along the banks of the Yamuna river, the second holiest in all of India and watched the sun sinking, turning both the Taj and Yamuna all shades of pinks and reds before it disappeared on us. I was so happy in these moments, it was so beautiful and romantic and surreal. This night made me feel like we were really living a dream come true.
The next morning we visited the Taj again to see it at sun rise. Before you see the Taj Mahal
(the famous postcard picture, the front view and the fountains) You must walk though the towering red marble Great Gate that has the same red flowers engraved on it as the Taj. And as you walk though, you immediately see the breathtakingly beautiful view. The Taj Mahal.
Great Gate - entrances to the Taj Mahal
We walked all around and through it all morning and I did not want to leave.
India has a way of bringing to the surface every single emotion a human being has.
It strips a person down to their raw core and tests a person constantly. It is a country like no other. It is exotic, its exciting, its exhilarating and exhausting all in one. You experience things you can not even begin to imagine or prepare for. There is no way to explain 'India' fully to someone who does not know or understand what 'India' really is.
In one moment/experience you will find yourself more happy then ever before, the very next cursing and fuming mad! Already, as I am reflecting and we write these Indian entries..I miss everything about India. So stay tooned! Because this country holds some of our best memories from this journey, and some of the best moments/memories of my life.
xo
No comments:
Post a Comment