India gave us a rough start. Within the first 24 hours we got bed bugs, a Delhi belly, a non-working AC and signed on an overpriced tour. How come? Well, despite the good ratings the hostel was really crappy, including laying staff, bad location, apparently unhygienic food and a tout driving us to a travel agency instead of the tourist information office. Thus we learnt some important Indian lessons also within the first 24 hours: Rather pay more money for a good hotel and never sign on something if you are tired, sick and itchy.
Good thing we reached the lowest point already at the beginning so it could only get better. The hospital we went was good, the doctors competent and within 30 minutes Michi got a full bag of medicine for less than 5USD. Blessing in disguise the travel agency delivered its services, we just paid more than if we would have booked it through another agency but less than we would have with a European tour company.
Next morning our driver Raj (no kidding) picked us up and we headed towards Jaipur. In the conditioned car we could look around and collect more impressions from India. After getting dropped off at our hotel in Jaipur, we had the Swiss idea of strolling around. Not the brightest idea, most quarters in Indian cities are crowded, loud, dirty and there is not much to see for us, apart from Indian street life. A short walk of one hour feels like five. We surrendered and did it the Indian way; we went back to our room and used room service.
The following day we had time to explore Jaipur with Raj. The first stop was the Amber, a former capital of a leading clan that has a huge palace built into a hill. Michi was totally blown away, since the fort looks like out of a game. I nearly expected him to buy a sword and start looking for monsters. If you not get driven up the hill you could take an elephant. Thus the streets are full of cars, motorbikes, bicycles, cows, camels and donkeys with coaches and elephants. In the afternoon we visited the famous Hawal Mahal also known as Palace of Winds, built for the women of the court, and Jantar Mantar, a park containing several huge stone astronomical measuring devices. At those tourist attractions the male-female ratio is even. On the streets however, 90% of the people walking around, working in shops or restaurants are males. Women are supposed to stay at home and it is not appropriate for women to mingle with strangers.
Next stop on our Golden Triangle tour was Agra, best known as home of the Taj Mahal. In the outskirt however there is another great building, the ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri. Again a huge palace complex with space for a harem of over five thousand women and a legion of eunuchs to guard them.
For our first look at the Taj Mahal we choose to go to the Methab Bagh, the gardens at the opposite bank of the river. Not matter how many pictures you have already seen of the Taj Mahal, seeing it in reality is breath taking. Especially since we had the luxury to admire it in the calm gardens with only a handful of other people.
Everywhere the majority of the tourists were Indians, since no smart tourists go to India during the hottest and rainiest season. Nevertheless, the Indian were fascinated of Michi, representing their ideal of a handsome, tall, white Western. Accordingly many asked him to make a picture and complimented him, just too funny to watch.
Very early the next morning we were heading to the Taj Mahal itself. Unfortunately it was cloudy, so no sunrise but thanks to the early hour the complex was nearly empty. We had all the space and time we needed to worship that beautiful monument and learnt more about its history.
Back in Delhi we could draw a first balance. The part we saw so far has many great and wonderful monuments. Unfortunately there are too many to preserve them. Most of them are empty, details are falling apart and people use corners and walls as toilets. Hygiene and waste management are apart form the poverty and the inequality one of the big issues, when discovering India. People using the public space as open toilet, piles of waste everywhere and humans, dogs, cows and monkeys likewise searching for useful remaining’s in the piles. As much as we love street food, here we resigned.
Apart from those issues you have the Indians itself. There are more than 1,1 billion and it is visible. Everywhere are just tons of people, for every service instead of one several employees are doing it. Most of the Indians are very friendly and very curious. Also does the majority speak good English, thanks to English TV shows and because of their different dialect, they often speak English among each other. Anyhow, it is normal to be approached on the street regularly by kids and adults wanting to know your name, your country of origin, your occupation and so on. The problem is that you never know if they are just curious or have a hidden agenda; meaning that they want to be your guide, lure you into their shop or just money. Being a Western tourist, for many you are seen as a walking ATM. Understandable but annoying. Those constant approaches in combination with the heat, the noise and the smell often limited the time we wanted to spend outside and increased the time we spent in our hotel room. Also we learnt to appreciate the Indian way of travelling, sitting in an conditioned car, getting dropped off in selected restaurants and eat in our room.
There is not simple and fast way to solve those issues but it makes it hard for us to say that India is a great country. Incredible and interesting yes, beautiful no.
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