I almost titled this blog post India 1 - Watsons 0, but I am not quite ready to admit defeat, after all we are still here and still have several more days to go. We have been in India for one week and oh what a week it has been. I have felt so many emotions, seen so many things I could never have imagined, and experienced people more gracious and friendly than anywhere we have been up to this point. All at once India is dirty, beautiful, obnoxiously loud, full of flavors that burst in your mouth, dangerous, disgusting, shockingly friendly, holy, illogical, colorful, and hundreds more things. This place is like no other place on Earth. In some ways we love it and in some ways we hate it.
We are currently in Delhi, which was not our plan. We were supposed to be in Varanasi today, but when we arrived at the train station on Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. we learned that our train was late and was not scheduled to arrive until 4:00 a.m. We had only planned to spend one night in Varanasi then take the night train back to Delhi. If we took the train at 4:00 a.m. and it actually arrived at that time we would have arrived in Varanasi at 1:00 p.m. extremely tired only to go on a tour that afternoon and the next morning and get back on a train that night. It was sounding like Varanasi was not in the cards for us. We had to make a decision - chance it with the night train and go on very little sleep for the next 48 hours, or bail on the plan. We bailed, Indian Railway 1 - Watsons 0. We are so happy with our decision. I am sad we won't see Varanasi, but we have really enjoyed going at a slower pace the last 24 hours in Delhi.
India is stressful. We hired a driver for our first few days here to see Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra and it was the best decision of the trip. The roads here are crazy. There are no lanes people just fit their vehicle wherever they can on the road and jumble forward as a screaming conglomeration of horns and wheels. No one walks to get anywhere they take a bike, a rickshaw, a tuk tuk, a motorcycle, a car, a truck, a taxi, or they ride on top of a commercial truck filled with grain. Also, there seems to be no limit to how many people can fit on any one vehicle. We have seen 20 people crammed into a mini-bus taxi - standing and holding onto the roof and standing on the rear bumper, people sitting on the roof and hanging on to the roof rack like handles. We have seen families of 3, 4, 5, and 6 on motorcycles. It is insane!
The poverty is overwhelming, it stares you in the face at every turn. The streets are filthy and piles of garbage seem to sit at every corner and in between every street stall. Sometimes it all becomes too much and those are the moments when we almost admit defeat. Then a child sitting wrapped in his or her parents arms pulls up next to us in the car and the child smiles at us and we love India again.
The people here are so kind. We have had entire families come up to us and ask to take a picture with them. I have had little girls come up to me and ask if they can have a photo with me like I am a princess at Disney World, not an overtired traveler with grungy grey pants and a dirty t-shirt on. Charles draws an admiring crowd anytime he gets out his paints and they will sit for an hour watching his brushstrokes develop into the landscape before them. They are beautiful, gracious, friendly, amazing people.
While we were in Jaipur the entire country of India was celebrating a holiday called Diwali, which is known as the festival of lights. Everyone decorates their homes and business with lights, flowers, and streamers and the entire country buzzes with excitement about this big holiday. The night of Diwali we were sitting in our hotel relaxing after a busy day of touring and the owner of the hotel and his wife came in. The owner said his wife wanted to show me a sari and was wondering if I would like to try one on. Of course, I could not pass this up. So I followed her into their room and she dressed me like a doll in a beautiful Indian saree.
The past week has been draining and stressful, but at the same time it has been uplifting and beautiful - and this we have discovered is the paradox of India.
I often keep notes on my iPhone while we are traveling to help me remember things I want to write about: observations we have, people we meet, stories to tell, etc. I am going to just cut and paste my notes on India here, uncensored and unchanged, because I'm not sure yet how to talk about all of this in a way that will allow the reader to understand what it is like here. I'm still working on how to approach my posts while in India, because it doesn't seem like my normal chronological account will do this place justice. So here it is along with a few photos, because everyone likes pictures:
India Notes
Jaipur guide - Karan Singh
Delhi guide - Manvendra (Manuv)
Driver - Vikram
Agra - Jain
Delhi
- mix up with pickup
- airport ride 5 men peeing
- nap
- deet application
- sight seeing (Hindu temple, lotus temple - Baha'i)
- hawks everywhere
- car horns (even through cell phone)
- dinner
- swedes
- day 2 sight seeing (mosque, rickshaw ride, india gate, lunch, qutub minar painting
- painting
- Kashmir carpet
- first monkey sighting
- writing letter for our guide
- dinner
- Skype attempt
Drive to Jaipur
- first swerve around a cow
- families of 4 on motorcycle
- men in skivvies on the side of the highway bathing and grooming
- two little boys going #2
- camels pulling carts
- women carrying giant bundles of grain and straw on their heads
- camels have markings shaved into their fur
- cow with its horns painted blue
- fields of marigolds
- feeding monkeys one grabbed Charles' leg so he would give up the banana
- commercial truck speeding wrong way down the highway
- elephants on the highway
- close run in on the highway with a cow.
- family of 4 on bicycle
- goats and herder
- boxed new refrigerator on a bike cart
Afternoon Jaipur:
- hanging out at hotel
- beers painting writing
- dinner with Rajasthani dancers
- tuk tuk ride
Touring Jaipur:
- dead horse
- palace of winds - dangerous walk across street
- hit a rickshaw
- amber palace
- elephant ride, picked up hand sanitizer
- water palace dead camel
- gem stones, chai tea
- lunch
- astronomical observatory
- Charles with cobra
- City Palace, more monkeys
- near brawl in the weapons museum
- painters, Charles bought two brushes
- charles with cobras again
- textile market to kill some time
- drove through city to see Diwali lights
- dinner - first thali
- painting in hotel
- Diwali fireworks
- dressed up in a sari
Drive from Jaipur to Agra
- almost hit another cow
- families of 3-5 going home on motorcycle after Diwali
- more boys and men bathing in skivvies along the highway
- bus with people hanging out the back and riding on the roof
- camels with herder on highway
- bright saris among the rows of green in dusty brown fields
- we've seen so many dead animals by the side of the road we've stopped counting
- barber shop in tiny container shed on side of the road
- peacock
- cool crane with white and black red beak
Agra
- walked to the mall
- tried to get info at movie theater but line never moved forward only grew sideways
- dinner on smoky rooftop at hotel
- Skype with Paul
- taj mahal, no painting supplies allowed
- agra fort, paid for ticket again
- lunch, venting about guide
- huge piles of trash surrounding a completely empty dumpster
- went to park to paint taj mahal
- taken to another shop-tourist trap
- restaurant to kill time before train
- annoying tour guide departs
- annoying tour guide venting
- ride to train station, delayed train, waiting in locked car, pig, power outage
- tractor carrying giant bundle of something
- scary night drive back to Agra, almost hit cow that was lying in road, looked like it had been hit once
Drive Agra to Delhi
- dog chasing a monkey on a roof
- thatch huts, farm land, cow patties
- two guys on motorcycle - guy in back has laptop out and is typing.
- incessant honking
- two dogs on top of the trash heaps in the dumpster
- terrible headaches
- hanging out in the room watching titanic and transformers 3 and scream 4
- Dinner at blueberry hotel - good paneer kadai
Delhi
- slept in (much needed)
- blogging/painting
Random Pictures from the past week:
That's it for now...much more to come.
We are currently in Delhi, which was not our plan. We were supposed to be in Varanasi today, but when we arrived at the train station on Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. we learned that our train was late and was not scheduled to arrive until 4:00 a.m. We had only planned to spend one night in Varanasi then take the night train back to Delhi. If we took the train at 4:00 a.m. and it actually arrived at that time we would have arrived in Varanasi at 1:00 p.m. extremely tired only to go on a tour that afternoon and the next morning and get back on a train that night. It was sounding like Varanasi was not in the cards for us. We had to make a decision - chance it with the night train and go on very little sleep for the next 48 hours, or bail on the plan. We bailed, Indian Railway 1 - Watsons 0. We are so happy with our decision. I am sad we won't see Varanasi, but we have really enjoyed going at a slower pace the last 24 hours in Delhi.
India is stressful. We hired a driver for our first few days here to see Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra and it was the best decision of the trip. The roads here are crazy. There are no lanes people just fit their vehicle wherever they can on the road and jumble forward as a screaming conglomeration of horns and wheels. No one walks to get anywhere they take a bike, a rickshaw, a tuk tuk, a motorcycle, a car, a truck, a taxi, or they ride on top of a commercial truck filled with grain. Also, there seems to be no limit to how many people can fit on any one vehicle. We have seen 20 people crammed into a mini-bus taxi - standing and holding onto the roof and standing on the rear bumper, people sitting on the roof and hanging on to the roof rack like handles. We have seen families of 3, 4, 5, and 6 on motorcycles. It is insane!
The poverty is overwhelming, it stares you in the face at every turn. The streets are filthy and piles of garbage seem to sit at every corner and in between every street stall. Sometimes it all becomes too much and those are the moments when we almost admit defeat. Then a child sitting wrapped in his or her parents arms pulls up next to us in the car and the child smiles at us and we love India again.
The people here are so kind. We have had entire families come up to us and ask to take a picture with them. I have had little girls come up to me and ask if they can have a photo with me like I am a princess at Disney World, not an overtired traveler with grungy grey pants and a dirty t-shirt on. Charles draws an admiring crowd anytime he gets out his paints and they will sit for an hour watching his brushstrokes develop into the landscape before them. They are beautiful, gracious, friendly, amazing people.
While we were in Jaipur the entire country of India was celebrating a holiday called Diwali, which is known as the festival of lights. Everyone decorates their homes and business with lights, flowers, and streamers and the entire country buzzes with excitement about this big holiday. The night of Diwali we were sitting in our hotel relaxing after a busy day of touring and the owner of the hotel and his wife came in. The owner said his wife wanted to show me a sari and was wondering if I would like to try one on. Of course, I could not pass this up. So I followed her into their room and she dressed me like a doll in a beautiful Indian saree.
The past week has been draining and stressful, but at the same time it has been uplifting and beautiful - and this we have discovered is the paradox of India.
I often keep notes on my iPhone while we are traveling to help me remember things I want to write about: observations we have, people we meet, stories to tell, etc. I am going to just cut and paste my notes on India here, uncensored and unchanged, because I'm not sure yet how to talk about all of this in a way that will allow the reader to understand what it is like here. I'm still working on how to approach my posts while in India, because it doesn't seem like my normal chronological account will do this place justice. So here it is along with a few photos, because everyone likes pictures:
India Notes
Jaipur guide - Karan Singh
Delhi guide - Manvendra (Manuv)
Driver - Vikram
Agra - Jain
Delhi
- mix up with pickup
- airport ride 5 men peeing
- nap
- deet application
- sight seeing (Hindu temple, lotus temple - Baha'i)
- hawks everywhere
- car horns (even through cell phone)
- dinner
- swedes
- day 2 sight seeing (mosque, rickshaw ride, india gate, lunch, qutub minar painting
- painting
- Kashmir carpet
- first monkey sighting
- writing letter for our guide
- dinner
- Skype attempt
Drive to Jaipur
- first swerve around a cow
- families of 4 on motorcycle
- men in skivvies on the side of the highway bathing and grooming
- two little boys going #2
- camels pulling carts
- women carrying giant bundles of grain and straw on their heads
- camels have markings shaved into their fur
- cow with its horns painted blue
- fields of marigolds
- feeding monkeys one grabbed Charles' leg so he would give up the banana
- commercial truck speeding wrong way down the highway
- elephants on the highway
- close run in on the highway with a cow.
- family of 4 on bicycle
- goats and herder
- boxed new refrigerator on a bike cart
Afternoon Jaipur:
- hanging out at hotel
- beers painting writing
- dinner with Rajasthani dancers
- tuk tuk ride
Touring Jaipur:
- dead horse
- palace of winds - dangerous walk across street
- hit a rickshaw
- amber palace
- elephant ride, picked up hand sanitizer
- water palace dead camel
- gem stones, chai tea
- lunch
- astronomical observatory
- Charles with cobra
- City Palace, more monkeys
- near brawl in the weapons museum
- painters, Charles bought two brushes
- charles with cobras again
- textile market to kill some time
- drove through city to see Diwali lights
- dinner - first thali
- painting in hotel
- Diwali fireworks
- dressed up in a sari
Drive from Jaipur to Agra
- almost hit another cow
- families of 3-5 going home on motorcycle after Diwali
- more boys and men bathing in skivvies along the highway
- bus with people hanging out the back and riding on the roof
- camels with herder on highway
- bright saris among the rows of green in dusty brown fields
- we've seen so many dead animals by the side of the road we've stopped counting
- barber shop in tiny container shed on side of the road
- peacock
- cool crane with white and black red beak
Agra
- walked to the mall
- tried to get info at movie theater but line never moved forward only grew sideways
- dinner on smoky rooftop at hotel
- Skype with Paul
- taj mahal, no painting supplies allowed
- agra fort, paid for ticket again
- lunch, venting about guide
- huge piles of trash surrounding a completely empty dumpster
- went to park to paint taj mahal
- taken to another shop-tourist trap
- restaurant to kill time before train
- annoying tour guide departs
- annoying tour guide venting
- ride to train station, delayed train, waiting in locked car, pig, power outage
- tractor carrying giant bundle of something
- scary night drive back to Agra, almost hit cow that was lying in road, looked like it had been hit once
Drive Agra to Delhi
- dog chasing a monkey on a roof
- thatch huts, farm land, cow patties
- two guys on motorcycle - guy in back has laptop out and is typing.
- incessant honking
- two dogs on top of the trash heaps in the dumpster
- terrible headaches
- hanging out in the room watching titanic and transformers 3 and scream 4
- Dinner at blueberry hotel - good paneer kadai
Delhi
- slept in (much needed)
- blogging/painting
Random Pictures from the past week:
 |
| First day in India at Lotus Temple - this family asked to take a photo with us |
 |
| 2nd Day in India - Jama Masjid Mosque (the outfit is not mine, they made me wear it) |
 |
| Rickshaw ride through the market |
 |
| Charles painting at Qutub Minar |
 |
| Amber Fort in Jaipur |
 |
| On Diwali in Jaipur with our sweet host |
 |
| Taj Mahal in Agra |
 |
| Family of 6 on a motorcycle in Agra |
 |
| Charles painting the Taj Mahal from a park across the river |
 |
| Kids who asked to take a photo with me |
 |
| Marigold wreaths being sold on the street |
 |
| Snake charmer and Cobra Commander (Charles' new nickname) |
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