Greetings from Mandawa, Rajasthan!

This is our third day in India and we could not have asked for a better introduction to India! For this blog post, we’ll describe our first few days briefly and then we will each share our first impressions of our trip thus far.

Day 1 – A much busier day than we expected!

After arriving to our hotel at 3:00 am the night before, we woke up around 9:00 to have breakfast at our hotel. We then took time to look at maps, took a nap and then decided to just walk around the area, be back to the hotel within a few hours and then rest some more to adjust for the time difference. That all changed after we took about 20 steps outside of our hotel…

 

Planning our day with all of our maps and guidebooks

As we were walking, there was one Indian guy who heard us talking about our plans for the day and then started talking to us. At first we did not respond to this guy because we thought he was a tout (someone who tries to direct you where to go and then asks for money once you get there). Once we discovered he wasn’t a tout, but rather a nice guy trying to help some visitors of India, we talked more and quickly discovered that he is going to school right now to study Spanish. Soon enough, Caroline was able to practice her Spanish skills on the streets of India, which she never thought would happen.

Our friend, Pirota, then offered to have tea with us at his favorite tea place and we talked for at least 2.5 hours in total. Through the conversation, we could recognize his open heart as we discussed the importance of being a kind and caring soul and also looking out for your neighbor. We learned a lot about his life, his ambitions to be a Spanish tour guide and also to start an orphanage in his hometown. He then showed us to a great place to eat, we had one more cup of chai (tea) and then he showed us to the government tourist office where he suggested to book a Rajasthan tour.

As it was mentioned in a previous blog post, we planned on first traveling north after arriving in Delhi but it was suggested by many people to not travel north because there was flooding in the areas we planned to travel. With this, they suggested to instead do a tour of Rajasthan and gave us an itinerary to follow.

It was highly recommended to book a driver to take us through Rajasthan because traveling by train or bus would get complicated with how the train/bus routes are set up. It was also a good idea to book through the government office because they would register our location with the government in case anything happened, we would be provided with a safe and reliable driver, and they would arrange hotels for us to stay at that are safe and government-approved (which is a big deal in India). After some discussion, we decided to book an 18 day tour through Rajasthan.

Once the tour was booked, we ended up spending a lot of time in the tourist office because we got caught in a conversation with one of the employees. Somehow or another, we began discussing India’s political system and how there is much corruption within it. This man was seemed to be disappointed by the amount of corruption that exists within the political system and wished for a government that could be trusted more. He thinks that this can only happen when people have clean hearts and do not work only on commission charges.

Following, we eventually met with our friend Pirota and ended the day with dinner at a rooftop restaurant near our hotel that overlooked the busy shop streets. It was nice to conclude the day with some more great discussion with a kind-hearted friend and then we went back to the hotel to sleep.

Day Two – A short tour of New Delhi and a visit with an old friend

The day began early at 8:00 am to begin a short tour of New Delhi. The travel company that we booked the Rajasthan tour with gave us a complimentary tour of New Delhi for Tuesday mostly so we could “test” our driver and make sure we were satisfied with the driver we would have for 18 days.

Based on Caroline’s experience in New Delhi last year, she decided that there were really only three places that Stephanie had to see in New Delhi and most locals would also agree. We first began at the Jama Masjid mosque which is New Delhi’s biggest mosque and was also Stephanie’s first experience in a mosque. Although it cost a lot to go in (300 Rupees = $5), we think it was worth it overall. Caroline actually hadn’t gone there the year before so it was also nice to see what the inside of the mosque was like. We also had our first experience of Indians asking to take pictures and as soon as we said yes to one, we had to then take seemingly 20 pictures with various kids. After a while it got to be too much and we told them to go away.

The kids that insisted on taking pictures

 

Following the mosque we went to the Red Fort which is much larger than most people expect. This was also relatively expensive (250 Rupees) but worth it because there were various buildings and small museums to see inside. The museums were interesting because they explained the various revolutions in India for India to gain their independence from Britain. Both the mosque and fort were cool overall because they were built during the 1500s or so when the Muslims ruled this area at the time so there was heavy influence of Muslim architecture.

After lunch we went to see the Lotus Temple which is on the opposite side of New Delhi. The temple is unique because it was built as a place for all religions to come and worship and is not exclusive towards anyone. When Caroline visited this place last year she knew that Stephanie would have loved it so she was excited to finally take her there. In order to go inside the temple, you have to take your shoes off which meant our feet were basically burning up until the temple but the inside was worth the burn. The calmness and tranquility within the temple was very relaxing and difficult to completely describe unless you are there.

Lotus Temple

 

We then returned to our hotel, rested for 1-2 hours and then left to visit a family that Caroline stayed with last year when she was in Delhi, the Srivastavas. The father of the family is actually the uncle of a friend from home, so it was nice to meet their family here in India. They are incredibly welcoming people and it was nice to talk with them for about 3.5 hours or so. Caroline was also happy because she got to give the bracelets she made for the two daughters of the family as a gift. She also brought chocolate for the girls but she was really bummed that it melted a lot throughout the day.

Mitali showing the bracelets Caroline made for her and her sister

We then returned to the area of our hotel by the metro, had dinner, met a new friend and finally went to bed. The new fried we had made was named Rahul. We are not sure if this is the correct spelling because he did not know how to read and write in English. We had met him on the street walking back to the hostel after hanging out with Pirota because he had asked us how Stephanie did her hair. Her hair was actually just up in a simple bun so she was surprised by the question. We talked for almost an hour and he was a very nice guy. He is studying aromatherapy and talked much about life and love and how we should be peaceful, happy people. Life is too short to do anything else but be happy and share with everyone. He had a very warm heart and it was a pleasure to meet him. He was very helpful with suggesting the various places we should visit while we are here in India. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with him again once we return to Delhi in the beginning of September.

A view from our rooftop restaurant 

 

Day Three – Traveling to Mandawa, Rajasthan

The day began with a surprising start for Caroline because as she was leaving the hotel in the morning she ran into a friend from her class last year in Nepal. Her friend, Will, was in Delhi for a few days before he left to go to a village north of Delhi to implement an Engineers Without Borders project. Caroline knew Will would be in India during this time but she did not expect to run into a friend in the alleyway of New Delhi – what a small world!

We then met our driver, Vinode, had breakfast and began driving towards Mandawa. To say the least, it was a bumpy ride thanks to the seemingly billions of speed bumps as well as the sections of road that are very torn apart.

We stopped at one village along the way to have some tea with our driver and then stopped for lunch about an hour later. Overall, it was a beautiful and interesting ride as we passed through various villages and farm land. The whole experience for the five-ish hour car ride was nothing like what it would be in the US with the crazy driving, cows in the street, political posters plastering the walls of villages and people, mostly men, hanging out outside. The best part of the ride was seeing the peaceful farmland areas that mostly grew rice because it seemed to have an untouched beauty atmosphere.

 

Caroline’s impressions of India thus far

Since I was in India last year, the scenes, sounds and smells of India are not so surprising. What I am surprised with is the amount of friendly people we have met so far. While I did expect to meet friendly people in India of course, there is still a different element to the people I have met that is different than I expected. Most everyone we have met here has welcomed us with warm hearts and have all offered to keep track of us so that we are always safe and so we also don’t get ripped off like many tourists, especially with us being two girls in India. I think this is happening to us because both Stephanie and I first greet people with open hearts and choose to make conversations with new people we meet rather than only demanding their service.

It also feels good to be in India with a more relaxed feeling than last year. Last year was different because I had to work during the week and had a limited time to visit on the weekends. I was also with people who were different than me so it was more difficult to make decisions as we visited places on the weekend. Now it feels great to know that we have roughly 50 days in India and 40 days in Nepal and thus there is no need to rush through our time here. It’s also great to be here with one of my best friends because we can easily make decisions together, look after each other and also have great conversations during meal and travel times.

Overall, all is good and I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have such an amazing experience like this.

 

Stephanie’s impressions of India thus far

                When I had left Amsterdam and headed to New Delhi, I was pretty nervous. I was anxious most of the ride, hoping that Caroline and I would be able to meet up with no problems, but was preparing for the worst. Luckily, everything went smoothly and according to plan! Once we got my backpack and made it through all the Customs checkpoints (which were a joke compared to America’s very strict and particular security measures) we met up with our driver. The temperature was obviously a warm humid heat, but it wasn’t awful. The smells while driving on our way to the hostel actually smelled exactly like it did in Ghana. Not that the smell is enjoyable, but the smell of familiarity made India less intimidating to me. Also, it was the middle of the night so there was barely anyone on the road, so that also made New Delhi seem much calmer than I was expecting.

think with the brain, but follow your heart           The next day, our first full day in India, was an amazing one. I won’t go into detail since it was already explained above, but I can easily say (with a grain of salt since I have only been here three days) that I am really enjoying my time here thus far. I am very grateful that I was able to travel to Ghana last summer because the similarities have made it easier for me to adjust to this lifestyle. I love the organized chaos that makes up Delhi; the traffic is crazy and there are so many people it is unbelievable. It is crowded but not unbearable. The only time where the amount of people have been truly overwhelming was in the metro station. Thankfully the trains we were on weren’t too crowded, but in the various transfer stations they were so compacted.

                Another thing that I am really enjoying here is the kindness and willingness to talk and help one another here. Despite being here for only three days, I have had some very interesting conversations with various people. I love that people here will say certain sayings. Such as, “blood from you, blood from me are same blood”. Or that “it’s like five fingers: every finger on your hand is different”; and to me I took that as meaning everyone has walked and will walk a different path than you so accept that and learn from others. Also, I really like the strong use of spirituality and religion here in this country. People that I have talked to have said we need to think with your brain and follow your heart. Many say we are all One; all Gods people believe in are all the same; meaning we should be One with God; or the Creator. And obviously if you don’t have that belief, that is fine with me! To each their own :]

 

Note:

We're on blogger.com instead of medium.com because Caroline was dumb and didn't realize that you can't upload blog posts on medium.com through a Microsoft Surface tablet (which is the only computer device both of us have). So sorry for the whiplashing change but I'm sure this will turn out to be better in the end!

 

Caroline’s Song of the Day

19-Aug Lux Aurumque by Frank Ticheli

20-Aug On Your Way by Alabama Shakes