Why India?
It is truly incredible – it was the most challenging travel experience so far in my live!

“You either hate it or love it”, is a sentence that you can read often in books and blogs about traveling in India. I personally think, that this is a little bit to simple. India is a diverse subcontinent, a very fast developing country, and this is why you will see and taste many things that are truly amazing, but you will see and smell as many things that you will find disgusting. If you would have asked me shortly after my return to Germany, “do you want to travel to India again”, I probably would have said no. Today the answer is yes!

Why is that so? I guess my mistake was to travel on my own. In April – the hottest month of the year – I only met a few backpackers. That meant, that I was more or less alone with my experiences, my thoughts, my doubts. To write a journal every night was not enough to deal with the things I saw during the day. E.g. I saw a whole family (two adults and two litte children) living on a traffic refuge, with nothing more than a dirty awning, two cooking pots and a bamboo matting. They had only dirty rags on, and their dirty faces were expressionless. Think about, what chances these kids have in live, none. Half an hour later I sat in a restaurant – not fancy – but the family could never ever afford to eat in a place like that.

Arrival 01.02.2009

Route: Dehli – Agra – Jaipur – Pushkar – Udaipur – Ahmedabad – Mumbai

Delhi

8 o’clock, 33 °C. Welcome to India.
My Hotel „Prince Polonia“ turned out to be ok. It even had a functioning pool on the roof.

On my first stroll to the New Dehli Train Station I encountered a young girl, a baby on her arm, dressed in rags. Her face was scarred, an acid attack maybe? She begged not for money, but milk powder for the baby. A scam? Maybe, but maybe not. A question that would face me throughout my journey several times. In general I don’t give money to beggars, especially kids. I ask them instead if they are hungry and by them food. In this case I bought her the milk powder. Yes, she could have sold it the next corner …

My personal top 3 of places that I liked in Dehli

Raj Ghat – the place where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated
I wanted to pay my respect to this great man by visiting this place. It was as well very interesting to see how Indians today visit this place.

Humayun’s Tomb
A wonderful building surrounded by a quiet garden. If you have enough of the hectic of Delhi this place gives you comfort.

Gurdwara Bangla Sahib – A Sikh temple
I visited it in the late afternoon. It was very impressing how open this place is while on the time the worshipers are absolutely dedicated.

Tips:
Remember to wash your hands every time before you eat something!!! I forgot it on my very first day and paid for it with 2 days in my hotel room and a week with only eating rice and bananas.

If you want to buy a train ticket at New Dehli train station don’t let anyone let you talk out of the idea that the International Tourist Bureau is located on the 1st floor inside the building. Once you are inside, take some time and enjoy the mix of Indian/British bureaucracy.

Agra

I took the 6.30 train to Agra. It was a very comfortabel ride.
Hotel Sakura was a good choice to stay. A simple place, but with a very friendly owner and staff. The second floor wasn’t finished, so I could sit there, eat Bryani and stare into the night sky.

The bridge over the Yamuna river is an old rusty construction. I tried to cross it during the local rush hour. The bridge isn’t very wide and from both side people try to cross it, with every imaginable vehicle – foot, bike, rickshaw, moped, car,  oxcart, and whatnot. There are no lanes and so the smaller vehicles tried to pass the stuck bigger vehicles until everything came to a stop. Nobody seem to be very angry, they probably got used to this. An hour later I am on the other side. How did this woolding dissolve? I really don’t know! In the end this experience seems to be a exemplary for this country. It is chaotic, foreigners don’t get the rules, but somehow it works out.

My personal top 3 places that I liked in Agra

Chini-Ka-Rauza
You have to go to the other side of the river. The mausoleum had better days, but is still fascinating. I was the only tourist visiting.

Itimad-ud-Daulah
Not as lonely as the Chini-Ka-Rauza, but still quiet compared to the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal
Yes, it is crowded, it is touristy, but on the same time it is one of the most beautiful buildings + it has a very touching story to it.

Jaipur

The bus ride from Agra to Jaipur took about 5,5 hours and was quiet pleasant.
Hotel Madhuban has a pool and you can enjoy your breakfast in the garden. My room was fabulous – a low season bargain.

I spend an afternoon at the Raj Mandir Cinema. From the outside it looks great, but inside it is even more impressive.  A pink dream of a cinema! I treated myself with a ticket in the „diamond box“ category – 110 RS. The sound system blasts you away.

My personal top 3 places that I liked in Jaipur

Anohki – Textile shop
I bought three block printed shirts there and still wear them. They still look great – very good quality.

Hawa Mahal – Palace of the Winds
Like the ladies of the royal household you can watch undetected what is happening on the street below of you. Personally I could sit behind the windows for hours.

Amber – pink fort-palace
Really amazing. Please have a look at the elephants feet that have to carry tourists to the fort. I do think that after you have seen them, you will gladly walk yourself up there.

Pushkar

The Hotel „Seventh Heaven“ is exactly that. Be aware that you could end up staying longer as you have actually planed. Nice rooms, a hanging garden inside the hotel, everywhere cosy sofas and chairs and on top a roof terrace with café/restaurant. In Mai I got a 25% discount, in the high season you have to book in advance.

Near my Hotel I came along a wedding procession. Woman of all ages surrounded the bride. They wore wonderfully colored saris. A band went along and played music that was totally unfamiliar to my ears. From time to time they stopped and the woman danced. I asked them if I could take a picture and they had nothing against it.

The place I liked best in Pushkar

The roof terrace of my Hotel. Especially at dawn it was fantastic atmosphere. Stil hot like being in an oven a light wind blew and I could see the mountains in the distance.
Why not the lake? Because you can’t sit there, even for a few minutes, without some „priest“ coming along and trying to pressure you into buying an „offer“.

Udaipur

Dream Heaven Guest House – I took a simple room with a loud air cooler, but the rooftop terrace overlooks the lake, the city and you can see the palace – great.

In preparation for the trip I went to the department of Infectious Diseases & Tropical Medicine at the University of Munich. Because there was a shortage of a vaccine against rabies the doc told me, that it wouldn’t be a problem. He suggested that I took some soap and in case of being bitten should wash the wound with that soap and after that look immediately for a doctor. In Udaipur just a few streets form my hotel I was attacked by three really evil looking dogs. I got rescued by an old man who simply raised his right arm and pretended that he would throw a stone. The dogs vanished. I thanked him. His nephew told me, „just don’t run, if you run you get bitten!“. I will try to follow this advice in the future, but I will feel much more comfortable with a shot against rabies inside my system instead of a piece of mild soap!

Places that I liked in Udaipur

Café Edelweiss
The only café with chocolate cake and if your lucky like me you see an elephant passing by going to the lake

City Palace
Especially in May you can feel how clever these palaces were build. The natural air streams through the top rooms and it is wonderfully refreshing.

Ahmedabad

I took the night train and arrived at 4 o’clock in the morning. Surprisingly the station was full of people.
My Hotel was the Rizz – a western style bunker with no personality.

I wanted to visit Sabarmati Ashram – Ghandi’s headquarters during the long struggle of independence. I had to ask two ricksha drivers to find one who – so it seemed to me – understood where I wanted to go.  That was odd. Shouldn’t every one in the city know the place that I wanted to go to? After a 20 minute ride we came to an entrance. The signs where only in Indian language which made me suspicious. My driver wanted to hit the road again, but because I didn’t pay him, he got no choice but to stay. I asked the guys in front of the gate and they told me that I was at the wrong ashram, but I could visit this one if I would like to. I don’t know what got into me, but I said ok. Inside the ashram all people smiled, but a smile that gives you the creeps, at least a little bit. We reached an open hall without walls. On the big TVs they showed a video where UFOs come to earth and somehow enlighten the people … wow, it struck me, that maybe this visit wasn’t one of better ideas. After 45 minutes and having bought some very „useful“ stuff (a brochure about happiness, a cap with a picture of the Guru, another picture of the Guru, some offerings) they brought me back to the entrance. So in the end these people turned out to be harmless. Until today I have this picture of the Guru on my desk at work to remind me two think twice before I go somewhere!

Mumbai

From Ahmedabad to Mumbai I took the Shatabbi Express, 7 hours
Bentley’s Hotel – budget range but compared to the rest of my journey expensive

Today I’m convinced that I should have started my travel in Mumbai. The inhabitants are used to tourists and mind there own business. It was so relaxing to have a walk in the city without being laid into by someone. This way one can slowly get used to the Indian way of doing things. Although you shouldn’t forget that it is a approx. 17 million people city. In the Indian Times you can read every day about problems – normality for a city that size all over the world.

My personal top 3 of places that I liked in Mumbai

Leopold’s
Described in the book Shantaram, it is still a very cool place to hang out.

Dehli Darbar
Yummy food, fairly priced.

Chowpatty Beach
You can’t go for a swim, but in the evening you can watch the city life unfold on the beach.

Departure 24.05.2009