Bengal Tigers, Killer Monkeys, and Octopussy...OH MY!!

So, I have kind of been avoiding blogging because the thought of trying to explain India stressed me out.  I realized that I was having such a hard time because India is an EXPERIENCE.  It’s something that is felt.  And when you try to put India into words, it sounds awful:  filthy, poor, smelly, swelteringly hot, disgusting, crazy, sad, filthy, relentless, insane, LOUD, gross, obnoxious, exasperating, and -one more time- FILTHY.  BUT…somehow mixed in with all of the filth, poverty, and craziness - there is beauty and love that you FEEL.  I don’t know if that makes any sense but for only being here a couple of weeks that’s the best I can do.

Now that I got that off my chest, I’ll start where we left off…

Since our last blog we went down to the Chitwan National Park in Nepal near the Indian border known for their one-horned rhinoceros’ and many species of birds.  We went on a jeep safari and got to see jackals, one-horned rhinos, crocodiles, deer, wild boars, monkeys, birds, elephants, and Bengal tigers (a momma and two rambunctious cubs)!  I guess it’s so rare to see tigers that when we got back from the safari the locals didn’t believe us!  They even called us liars!  So, we feel very lucky to have gotten to see some.  After a few days at Chitwan, we crossed the border...  

Our first night in India I ended up sleeping on a disgusting train platform, along with many other Indians, in the Gorakhpur Train Station awaiting our train to Varanasi.  Superhuman Shawn stayed awake the entire night because the train was departing really early and our alarm clock was dead.  In Varanasi, we took a boat ride down the infamous Ganges River and saw all of the ghats, including the “Burning Ghat” where a couple of bodies were being cremated next to the river.  We stayed one night in a hotel that may have been dirtier than the train platform I slept on the night before, and then anxiously escaped the craziness of Varanasi.

We took an overnight train to Agra to see the beautiful Taj Mahal.  The Taj was much more amazing than we had imagined!  After a few hours in Agra we jumped on a bus to Fatehpur Sikri, where we were trying, in vain, to get out of the hustle and bustle.  A small village that should’ve been quite calm turned out to be the exact opposite.  Thousands of people were engaging in a 4-day pilgrimage in which they started in Agra and walked day and night (non-stop) for 250km to a temple somewhere in Rajasthan.  Locals along the way were lined up on the street BLARING music and handing out water and snacks to the…pilgrims(?).  The music didn’t stop until 6am.

After one sleepless night we decided to walk up to the main road to try and catch a bus to Jaipur (the pink city).  Instead we ended up hitching a ride with two funny middle aged Indian businessmen in a comfortable air conditioned car that got us there in half the time a bus would have and MUCH more comfortably.  In Jaipur we walked all around the busy, busy bizarre and city.  When we’d had enough, we decided to get an autoshaw (motorized rickshaw / tuk tuk) back to where we were staying.

What should have been a 20 minute ride turned into a 2.5 hour tour of the city!  The tuk tuk driver felt it was his duty (for a few more rupees, of course) to show us around.  He brought us to places we would’ve never made it to:  a water palace, a beautiful temple, a place where elephants lived, and also to a place where we were taught how tapestries are made.  He even let Shawn drive his autoshaw!  Good times.

From Jaipur we went to the chill town of Pushkar to relax.  Besides Shawn coming very close to getting attacked by killer monkeys on our hotel roof restaurant, we completely succeeded in doing next to nothing.  The highlight of our time in Pushkar was catching the last couple hours of the India/Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup and then celebrating with the ECSTATIC Indians and our new friends from England, New Zealand, China, Ireland, and the US.  Shawn loved learning all about the sport of cricket, which is a HUGE deal in India.  The cricket players are probably more popular than the Bollywood stars.  

Now we’re in the city of Udaipur, which is referred to as “the Venice of India”.  This is where the 1983 James Bond movie, “Octopussy” was filmed.  The movie is played in numerous hotels and restaurants non-stop.  We really like Udaipur and have had a great time here with our friend, Kristen from Ireland, that we met in Pushkar.  We went to a traditional Rajasthani dance performance, went sightseeing, have been eating brilliant, sinus-clearing, Indian food and starting tonight is a 3 day Mewari festival!  After Udaipur we are going to make a couple more stops in the northern half of India and then we will head to the southern half. 

We were planning on going to Indonesia after India, but decided that we really don’t want to pass up Sri Lanka.  So, we bought our tickets to Sri Lanka and also our tickets to Indonesia.  We, for once, have some actual plans with dates-SO, this would be a great time to COME MEET US somewhere! 

India until May 10^th àSri Lanka until May 24^th àIndonesia (Bali) until June 21^st àand then Thailand.

Now I will leave you with a couple of funny Indian stories:

1.      It is said that India likes to throw surprises at you.  I was honestly contemplating the seriousness of that statement on a train ride when a fight literally broke out ON TOP OF ME.  If this wasn’t enough of a surprise- one of the guys that started the fight had his fake eyeball gouged out of his eye socket. His eyeball got lost and rolled around on the floor of the train car while his mother screamed bloody murder the entire 20 minutes it took to locate the eye. 

2.       Not to be mean, but Indian men have a staring problem.  I don’t understand how the novelty of foreigners hasn’t worn off yet, but in any case… the other day I was walking down the street when a middle aged man on a scooter drove up alongside me, real slow, getting a good ol’ stare in when CRASH!!!!!  He drove off the road and into a building.  Hopefully he passes the dangers of staring along to his friends….

Have a beautiful day!