India

India

Well, at the moment I am a day away from Vietnam so I figure its about time to get this down on paper. India was so different from what I expected. I thought that as soon as I got off the ship I would be greeted by a nation that reeked and was full of beggars. I could not have been more wrong! When I first got off the ship in Kochin I had to go through our ships security and then through a gate that was lined with armed Indian soldiers and then we were quite literally attacked by rickshaw drivers. If you have no idea what a rick saw is, imagine a three wheeled VW bug with a motorcycle engine and steering column and you will be fairly close. These things were everywhere in India and oh man they were so eager to overcharge us for any ride. Once we had cleared the main group of these guys Sara, whom I had traveled with in Dominica, and I caught a rickshaw and went to a “market” which was more just a street with some EPIC spice shops and a few rug shops. I very nearly bought a rug and I loaded up on as many spices as I could! After the Spice shops we went back to the ship to meet up with Mike who had been on an FDP and we all decided to go to lunch. We ended up at this little place in an area called Jew Town, so named because it was where the Jewish settlers were and is the sight of the oldest synagogue in India, and oh man it was good! I got some sort of spicy fish dish and spicy rice. We then walked this open air market for a while and I picked up a few random small trinkets. After about 2 hours of the market we headed back to the ship so that I could meet up with Boris. Boris was an exchange student to Aspen High School back in 2006-07 and it was great to finally see him again. He took me out to this great dinner where I got this big sampler platter and had a taste of all the major regions in India. After Dinner we went to his favorite ice cream place but it was closed so we went across the street and got milk shakes. At this point it was about 10 pm and he took me back to the ship so I would be able to wake up for my trip to Agra and Delhi at 4 the next morning.

Day two

Day two started at 3:20 am…. It was a rough wakeup but I made it in time to my groups rendezvous. We took a bus to the Kochin airport and we began to see the differences in culture. The women had to go through a different line and were taken into an area with sheets hung up so that they could not be seen for their security checks. This proved to be a common sight and everyplace we went that required a security check had two lines one for men and one for women. When we were finally in the terminal we saw that it was not like the airports back in the states. All of the seating areas had these huge chairs that were really comfortable, and more than a few of the folks I was traveling with fell asleep in them. The flight was non eventful and we arrived in Delhi about 3 hours later. Upon arrival we boarded two busses and began our tour of Delhi. The first real landmark we saw was this large park dedicated to Gandhi and even had a small portion of his ashes interred in a tomb there. Then we saw the Indian equivalent of the Arc de Triumph which was awesome! After that we drove through their government district and saw most of the major government buildings. Then the real fun started we went to this hotel and had an EPIC late lunch. The food was soooooo good and since it was buffet style you could try a little bit of everything!!! After we finished our meal we drove to the train station and got on this really grungy train to Agra. The train ride took 4 hours and the only toilet was this hole in floor with a place to put your feet on either side, overall it see a whole lot of use from our group. The train ride was long and hot but we finally got to Agra at about 11:30 pm and on the way to our bus we were bombarded by beggars, most of which were missing limbs or had some other deformity, that was really depressing. I had an apple left from dinner and gave it to a fellow who was missing most of one of his legs. We then boarded busses and headed off to our hotel. The Hotel was really nice, it was right up there with the Westens and Omni’s back in the states, and apparently cost a fraction of the price to stay at. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to enjoy it as we were to wake up at 5 the next morning to go to the TAJ MAHAL!!!

Day Three

We got up at 5:15 am and within 20 minutes we were loaded up on the busses and heading to see the Taj. The whole idea was to get to it before the sun came up because it is different colors at different times of day, and this way we would be able to see it in the morning light and then late in the afternoon for sunset. When we got to the Taj complex we had to wait in a fairly long line and go through a security check then we walked into this court yard with a large red building at one end. There was a tunnel that runs through that building and opens right up to the Taj. It was really breathtaking, the morning fog was fairly thin but it gave the Taj a certain ghostly presence and really made it seem larger than life. We toured all around the grounds and eventually went through it and saw the tomb of the Emperor and his wife. After the Taj we boarded the busses again and headed back to the hotel for breakfast, which lasted all of about 30 minutes and we were on the road again. This time we went out to see the descendants of people who built the Taj and who still practice the marble sculpting arts. They showed us how they make their amazing designs in the marble and then tried to get us to buy all of these really amazing works. Unfortunately I didn’t like any of them enough to pay the 1000’s of dollars (not rupees, dollars) they wanted for some of the regular bits. I did get a small coaster just as a reminder of the place but nothing too crazy. We then headed off to a place called Fahtepur Sikri which was the Palace of King Akbar. This place was really cool, it was all made out this reddish stone and was totally abandoned. However, they still have a staff there that maintains the royal gardens and keeps the place generally kept up. The palace complex was huge and we only have about 45 minutes so it was a mad dash to see as much as we could as fast as we could, and even still I didn’t see a pretty fair chunk of the place. We then got to spend the next 3 hours stuck in traffic….. This was due to some sort of religious pilgrimage that was going on and the number of people walking along the road were really slowing the cars down! We lost so much time that we were not able to go see the Agra fort and instead opted to go straight to the Taj for sunset. The Taj at sunset was almost as cool at it had been at sunrise, the only real difference was now the place was jam packed with people, but it was still totally worth it just to see that building again. After the Taj we went to this hotel and picked up our box lunches for the train ride back to Delhi, and drove off to the train station. Once we got out of the bus there were all these little kids that were making movements to their mouths and looking at our boxes, I couldn’t deal with it and just gave mine to the first kid I saw and walked to the train. When we got to the platform I saw that just about half our group had done the same thing, and what’s better is that as soon as we got on the train we were served dinner, so we didn’t even need the box meals!!! The train ride back only took about 2 hours and we went straight to the Royal Plaza hotel. This place had a really nice lobby but unfortunately didn’t have rooms to match. After I dropped my stuff off in the room I went down to the bar and got a nice cold beer and joined up with about 6 other students by the pool. It was great because none of them were on my trip and we all just happened to be at the same hotel, we spent the next hour or so swapping stories and then called it a night.

Day Four

We woke up at about 7 am and went down for breakfast, which was a tradition English style breakfast weirdly enough. Then we loaded up the busses and went to a three different places of worship. First we went to a Sakti temple and we all had to wear a bandana or scarf over our heads and remove our shoes to walk around. Then we went to Hindu temple where we had to do the same thing, but it was strange to see so many swastikas. They were literally on everything; even the connections in the middle of the hand railing were little swastikas! I also learned that even though some folks say that the Nazi’s changed the direction of the bars in the swastikas that is not true, They were drawn and carved in both directions all over this temple. After that we went to a temple called the Lotus temple and this is a non affiliated temple that welcomes all members of all faiths to come in and pray in peace. Then we went to lunch at the same hotel as we did the first day and then we were off to the airport to head back down to Kochin. We got back to Kochin at 10 pm and I was awake long enough to shower and then stumble into bed.

Day five

I woke up at 9 and met up with Michael Potiker on the pool deck for a late breakfast, we were going to use this day to do our souvenir shopping and after we had breakfast we headed for the water taxi that would take us to a market near Jew town. We walked up and down through all these craft stores and a very large number of antique store (where I very nearly bought an old ship’s helm) and then he spotted a sign for antique cameras, and given that he makes his living through photography he wanted to check it out. An hour and a half later we left the shop with a lens and camera sitting on reserve for him. He had literally looked at every camera in the shop argued about every little problem and then after he finally found what he wanted, discovered that he had forgotten his credit card on the ship…. So he had to go back for them later. After that shop I went to a place that had some really cool looking naval trinkets and I got a clock, a sexton, and a large compass. I then got two small desk statues one of Shiva and the other of some elephants. It was about dinner time by this point and so we went to a little café and got some more amazing Indian food, went back to the ship and called it a night

Day Six

My final day in India started at 8 am with an FDP to a fishing farm and then to a fishing village. We took a bus to these little wooden boats and were rowed up a river for about 30 minutes until we got to this crab, prawn, and fish farm. Our guide showed us how the locals tend the crabs and fish and told us that the crabs are all caught at the beginning of the season in the deep ocean and then are brought to this little farm for about 3 months and then are shipped off to Singapore and Hong Kong. They also had a rope making shop on the premise where women were weaving coconut fibers together to make a very strong cord that would then be braided with other cords to make these really thick and strong ropes. After that we went and had lunch in a littler area they had set up for us and they showed us several forms of Indian dance. One the way out though we got to see how they harvest methane for use in cooking and heating. It was a very simple yet effective system that would be very easy to reproduce in just about any community. After that we took a fleet of rickshaws back to the bus and drove to the fishing village. The village was nothing real special and looked like most of the other communities that we had seen, the cool part came when we finally got to their boats. The last fishermen were coming in for the day and a few were doing work on their boats. The work required them to coat their boats in this tar like substance that was made from anchovy oil and what I am guess was some sort of pitch. It had one heck of a smell! After that we headed back to the bus and then back to the ship and got their just before dock time.

Overall, India was an amazing place. The food was fantastic, the people were really nice and accommodating, and overall the country was quite beautiful. In a few years I might be inclined to visit again!