Your First Time? Welcome to India!

(Disclaimer: The key board here is older than I am and sicks as if a Popsicle melted over it in 1990. Any misspellings or punctuation or whatever that looks weird is probably that. Sorry. Also, it may seem as though my tone is one of frustration or discontent but its not. I am as happy as a clam. Most of the pictures taken in India have been taken by Jake, that is why there are so many....)

Its 38 degrees and my pale face and body are pink and pouring sweat from the heat. I drink three to four liters of water each day and Im still dehydrated. White people just weren't cut out for this sort of thing.

The senses are constantly overloaded here and its wonderful. I adore the sounds of noisy rickshaws, honking horns, and people in the bazaars. There is always something to look out for here or someone to sell you something you couldn't ever possibly want. The smells of this country can not be described. Its like rotten eggs, flowers, sweat, masalas, moth balls and ten million other things all wrapped together in a sweet little package made especially for your nose.

I have been here all of five days and it feels like a year. My days are usually filled with trying not to overheat and avoiding scams or the lies of the people following me down the street. I suppose that sounds like hell for some of you but its like a big, exhausting party for me.

Everywhere I go I am stared at like Im some kind of alien creature. I hardly notice anymore. The people look at me as if they have never seen a white person before or as if I should be ashamed of my skin.

I think I have now experienced racism. At the train station the other day, I went to stand back by the wall and half the people cleared out as if I had some disease they could catch, and the other half sat there, squatting and staring at me. Occasionally people spit in my direction but I cant tell if its because Im foreign or if they dont like me....

I have been the model tourist since I got here and I find it sickening. Ive seen so many things that Im "supposed to see" I am a little ashamed. Its difficult not to experience this place but I think that by following the path of white people from one monument to another is not experiencing India.

Some days its like hell or purgatory. Yesterday, trying to get from Delhi to Agra was chaos to say the least. We were sent from one train station to an information office to another info office to a different train station and then back to the first. Ugh. By the end of it I was losing my sense of humor, which is vital to surviving this place. By the end of it, we had been in a big circle around the city! In retrospect it was funny and my own fault for listening to people. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt but here you cant. They will take you for a walk around the city and still you wont find what your looking for. I honestly think its an Indian past time to confuse and torture tourists. Maybe to see how far they can go before they lose their heads. Haha. I can appreciate that.

The best part is that once we were on the train and headed to Agra, we realized we would arrive after dark and didn't have a place to stay. An older man offered to help us and we accepted. HAhahaha! Oh GOD! If you could have seen the place we ended up. Truly it could have been worse but there were bugs and rats and no locks on the doors. The place was empty besides our critter friends. Jake got to learn how to use an Eastern style toilet. That was funny. I was just so tired and bored of the mess of the day I agreed to stay as soon as I saw the sheets were clean. Even that was questionable.

Delhi is a fantastic mix of city life you could never get anywhere else. The traffic is absolutely insane and impossible. The noise is out of control. There are vegetarian places on every corner and everything is good because its spicy and Im usually hungry.











Eating is the best because you never really know if its going to make you sick or not. I have, for the most part, taken all the precautions for staying healthy but you can never know for sure. And everything from showering to brushing my teeth can be a task. But its a challenge and anyone who knows me knows I thrive off of it! Its been so much fun getting things to work properly.

There is never an guarantee here. Ever. Things will go wrong if they can and people will do everything they can to make sure that is the case. Even those who seem to be helping you, we find out later, were just screwing you in less obvious manner than the guy before.

It feels good to be bargaining again. Everything is up for negotiations, everything. The mark up for being foreign is so much it can make your head spin but its all part of the fun.

Right now I am in Agra, home to the infamous Taj. Its glorious to say the least. In actuality its pretty difficult to describe and I haven't been inside yet! There are plenty of other beautiful things to see and do here but they are usually overlooked because the Taj is so famous. Ill go tomorrow to see it a dawn when the stones are still cool and there aren't as many crowds.

Today was spent seeing most of the city from the back of a rickshaw cab. We paid a young guy to take us around from one monument to another so we didn't have to keep dealing with different drivers. It was a good touristy day. Hopefully only one of a few in this trip. We saw the back side of the Taj from a garden, Chini-ka-Rauza (an Indian Muslim tomb) and Itemad-ud-Daulah, otherwise known as the Baby Taj.



























After a morning trip to the big white palace, were hoping to make off to Ajmer tomorrow. There is a small town just next to Ajmer called Pushkar that I am extremely excited to see. It is a religious village with many temples. The town is mostly strict vegetarian (yeah, a vegan town!!!) and guests are asked not to eat meat or drink alcohol while there. Bikes can also be rented for only Rs 30 a day, less than one dollar. I cant wait to ride bikes and eat vegan food!!!

Pictures from Brno!!






Pictures from Berlin!!