India

I can’t believe I can finally say that I went to India! I flew out last Wednesday evening and just got back this morning! I had an incredible time there, although there were some and ups and downs. I was lucky enough to have time to tour three cities, Delhi, Jaipur and Agra.  I went with two other girls in my program here Amanda and Krystal, and we all had a great time!

We flew into Delhi and toured around the city for one day. We had a great driver who took us all around the city to great sites. We saw the Jama Temple first, which was a giant structure on a hill. We had to take off our shoes (which we are used to by now) but also because it was a mosque we had to wear robes when we went inside. I looked funny but it was fun and different. We then explored Red Fort, a huge fort with many buildings, gardens and paths to walk through. It was here that we started to get asked by an outrageous number of locals to take pictures with them. It was literally every other person, and those who didn’t ask just took pictures of us. This was so strange at first, but we just had to laugh it off.

Jama Temple

We then walked through a crowded market street but didn’t stay long because we realized we were the only women anywhere to be found. Instead we found a place serving naan and ate that for lunch! Then we went to a memorial of Gandhi, Rajghat, that was beautiful. And my favorite thing that we saw this day was the Lotus Temple, a temple over water in the shape of a lotus flower. We were able to go inside and sit for a short service where they read scripture from all the major religions of the world. It was a very neat experience.

Red Fort

Lotus Temple

Next we did some shopping and were able to try on saris, which are the dresses Indian women wear. I didn’t buy one but it was fun to play dress up. Finally we ended the day with a Hindi temple. Our driver gave us a tour and put red dots on our foreheads for good luck! 

Trying on a sari

End of a great day!

The next day we left for Jaipur. I have never experienced a car ride like this in my life and I hope to never again. The driving in India is insane, crazy. People drive like Mario Kart! They don’t pay attention to lanes, so 5 cars are trying to squeeze into two and no one uses turn signals, instead they honk all the time! And on top of everything you throw in tuk tuks, cars, people walking, mopeds, animal driven carts, tractors, buses, trucks, and herds of livestock together, you get a messy road. Somehow we made it to Jaipur where we saw Amber Fort. This fort was surrounded be a huge wall that they called “the great wall of India”. Here we toured other local sites and discovered their culture apart of Delhi.

Amber Fort Wall

Inside Amber Fort

Monkeys!!

Camels on the road!

We made it to Agra the following evening and we saw the sunset on the back of the Taj Mahal. But we got up very early the next morning to see the Taj Mahal at 6 am. This was nice because it wasn’t as crowded and it was cooler. I had been wearing long pants and long sleeves for a couple days now in the hot weather (it’s culturally inappropriate to show too much skin) and was dying from the heat. The Taj Mahal was breathtaking. We had a guide tell us the love story behind it being built and interesting details about it. We stayed and admirer it for sometime until we had to leave to go back to Delhi.  The rest of that day we took it easy because we were all sick. On the second day we had all gotten food poising, 3 girls and 1 bathroom is not a pretty site. We had been pushing ourselves through the sickness to see Jaipur and Agra but now we needed rest.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal!!

Our last day was in Delhi before we flew home. We did a lot of shopping on this day and wrapped up what we had missed the first day. Even though I did get food poisoning, and still have it, I had an amazing time in India. I saw amazing sites, ate great food, and really got a new feel for the world.  I saw some really rough parts of India and it gave me a great appreciate for the little things I take for granted. This trip meant a lot to me and if you are still reading all the way down here I appreciate it!