India: We Came, We Saw, We Conquered! (Well, Sort Of)

This is our last installment regarding India so we thought that we would give a summary of our overall experiences, what we liked and what we didn't cope so well with. We actually saw this idea on someone else's blog and nicked it as we thought it worked quite well, so here you go.... our thoughts on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of India , in our humble opinion of course.

THE GOOD....

Favourite country so far:

Sarah: Although I really enjoyed India in places, I would have to say 100% that it has to be Nepal. It may be the fact that I wasn't too bothered about going (mainly because of the 53 hour journey put me off) but I was completely surprised when I arrived. It is a really beautiful country and I enjoyed travelling around. The people, the landscape, the views of the Himalayas and the atmosphere was just amazing. I couldn't even tell you which particular place was my favourite as each part was as enjoyable as the next, even Kathmandu was a joy as I was just expecting/assuming it to be a typical Asian city i.e. dirty and uninviting but it wasn't, it was the complete opposite. Nepal is a country I would highly recommend anyone to visit, young or old it has lots to offer to everyone and we will definitely be returning in the future.

Andrew: Wales.

Favourite Place(s):

Sarah: Ooh, there are lots, too many to mention. I cant particularly single out a particular place for for me; Agonda in South Goa, Pokhara in Nepal, Nagorkot in Nepal (where we had the most unbelievable view of the Himalaya from our bedroom). Lords Central in Matheran where we had a lodge overlooking the valley and the city of Udiapur on our Rajasthan trip. Kerala was a bit of a revalation for us too, I could spend at least a week on the backwaters in a Houseboat, it was a lovely state.


Andrew: Hard to choose. For chilling out: Agonda in south Goa or on the sea cliffs in Varkala. Also lakeside in Pokhara and the backwaters of Kerala.
For sights and sounds: A city of temples in Kathmandu; The dirty, noisy streets of Mumbai; Rajasthan-too many to mention.
For Nature: the woods surrounding the hill town of Matheran.




Favourite building/structure:

Sarah: We both agree without a doubt The Taj Mahal, it is truly breathtaking and not sure that it can topped on any of our travels. When you walk through the entrance, the only thing that you can say is "wow". Although beautiful up close, I personally loved looking at it from a distance taking in the sheer sight, size and beauty of it. It is just a shame that the city of Agra where the Taj Mahal is situated is so dirty and full of rubbish.

Andrew: To be honest, after all the hype I was expecting to be disappointed by the Taj Mahal. We arrived in the morning, hoping to catch the sunrise and avoid the crowds, but the queue was still around the block at 6am. After over an hour of waiting at the entrance I was even more sceptical. We went through the red gateway and then, there it was, like no other building I've ever seen. The shape of the Taj is of course instantly recognisable, but the thing that made it for me was the way the marble seemed to soak up the light, changing slightly from moment to moment. I know it sounds odd, but it almost looked like it was floating. Don't be put off by all the day trippers and the dump that is Agra. The Taj lives up to it's reputation.


Best experience:

Sarah: It has to be the Houseboat in the backwaters of Kerala. Me and Andrew were in our element, we hired out a 1 bedroom boat to ourselves and had 3 crew looking after us for 3 days. We had a few beers, read, listened to music and had our food cooked for us as well as fitting in a bit of fishing too. It was so tranquil and it was a good day and a half before we saw any other houseboats, it was just us out in the water. We had lots of little kids shouting and waving at us, asking us for pens, which unfortunately we didn't have but we had a load of sweets so we dished those out. It is definitely something which I will not forget in a hurry.

Andrew: Paragliding in Nepal on the edge of the Himalaya will be hard to beat.



Memorable dining experience:

Sarah: It has to be Umaid Bhavan Palace in Jodphur for my Valentines Day surprise from Andrew. As you know from my blog entry it was was a beautiful place and we had gorgeous food served to us on the steps of the Palace, whilst enjoying a delightful bottle of red wine and champagne bellinis (a decent wine was something which had been missing from our entire time in India). We had fireworks whilst eating our desert, I just loved it and we had a very memorable evening, couldn't have wished for anything better. Although the most memorable quote goes to Andrew on the evening as the fireworks exploded in the background "if only I had bought a ring, this would have been the perfect night to propose, but I haven't so there we go, its not possible".... how to build a girl up and then let her down gently!! ha ha.

Andrew: The food on the backwaters boat in kerala was the best Indian I had. Our Chef Anil was great. We had thali, curries, fish, chicken, puri and fried papad.




Most surreal moment:

Andrew: Meeting a Buddhist Monk, Stefano, in a Japanese Restaurant in Kathmandu and then going for tea with him in his Monastery the following day. He was a very knowledgeable man and we enjoyed talking to him, he was from Italy originally but moved to Nepal in the 1970's.







THE BAD...

Most damage to environment:

Sarah: I found India slightly at war with itself in relation to environmental issues. We have stayed in so many places which have solar heating, money off beer when returning your old bottles to be recycled and yet they throw rubbish out on every street and river, as well as burning their rubbish which gives out poisonous fumes... go figure??
As mentioned above the most rubbish I have ever seen in my entire life is in Agra where the Taj Mahal is situated. Not in the Taj grounds itself but the city around it is basically one big dumping ground of any/every type of rubbish. I would have assumed that, as this one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world which has millions of tourists/visitors arriving each year, you would want your the first impressions of the city/country to be good ones however due to corruption within the Agra government the profits from the hefty entrance fee (for India) are put to other uses from what we have been told.


Most scared:

Sarah: There have been a few (mum, don't read this bit)... most of them to do with Indian transport - the death ride on the bus to Aurangabad and nearly all rickshaws and taxis which we have taken. Indian roads are very dangerous and there are some crazy drivers out there. There was also the big, pink bus going way too fast round a corner in Rajasthan, which, locking it's brakes up overtaking a camel and cart, very nearly swerved the back end into us and wiped us of the road in Michael's Ambassador. However, the top prize has to go to to our very long train journey to Gorakphur near the India/Nepal border. This is where we left the hotel immediately on arrival after viewing our filthy, truly disgusting "room" (I wouldn't have let my dog Burton sleep in there) and we had to wander the 1am streets of Gorakhpur, a weird, dark, unfriendly, dirty and cold city, looking for a cycle rickshaw to find a place to stay which was impossible as it was wedding season. We were stared at, had insults thrown at us (for leaving the hotel), followed by a man with a walkie-talkie (he turned up on every corner). We ended up having to sleep on the dirty floor of the train station however this was much improvement on the initial hotel and felt the safest place in Gorakhpur. We grabbed a newspaper van and drove through thick fog on the wrong side of the road for most of journey stuffed in with 10 other people. This was not a experience I ever wish to go through in my life again, obviously now it makes for a good story but at the time it was one of the worse moments in my life.

Andrew: I think Sarah has covered the main points. As for other things that have scared me, there have been a few times I've feared me arse would drop out, but I'm not sure if that's the same thing.


Noise we most couldn’t get used to:

Sarah: Indian and Nepalese men and women hocking up phlegm, I never got used to it and I found it as revolting from the first day I arrived until the last. They would do it everywhere, it didn't matter - restaurants, taxis, train stations, shops and it didn't even matter if you where standing right next to them. Yuck!

Andrew: ditto

Sight we most couldn’t get used to:

Sarah: Street children and beggars, they make a beeline for you and you have to walk on and say no, however it is so hard when there are little children and babies. You just don't know where the money is going to and many of the beggars are working for a organised group. Our best solution was to buy food and milk for them, but on a number of occasions they turned their noses up at the food and said they just wanted money! I personally found that really hard to deal, it felt like a slap in the face.

Andrew: Plastic littering every spot. Thousands upon thousands of bottles and bags, but not one bin. Even in picture postcard spots, discarded water bottles are guaranteed. It seems to be nobody's problem. It's either dump it, burn it or let the cows eat it.


Number of days behind in journal:

Sarah: Too many to count! Last recorded entry 6th October! Oops, just took too well to chilling in Goa!

Andrew: What journal?





THE UGLY....

Illness:

Sarah: Both Andrew and I have been ill on so many occasions in India, it has not been fun or pleasant at all. Andrew is on first name terms with the doctor in Goa due to various incidents of dysentery and food poisoning. We realised on arrival we would be ill due to the change in bacteria, its a standard and majority of people get the famous 'Delhi Belly'. However we assumed that after 6 months in the country we would have hardened our insides up a bit but it was just not the case, we were hit continuously by contaminated food and water. We are praying that SE Asia will not produce the same results (fingers crossed).

Hardest beds:

Sarah: It has to be in the beach huts as they are made from coconut husk and are rather uncomfortable.

Andrew: Gorakpur train station floor for the night. strangely, I had a good kip here despite the lack of a mattress.

Most annoying moment:

Sarah: We were in Varkala, Kerala where we had walked from our homestay to a corner of the road and started waiting for a rickshaw. We where there for about 15 minutes and a German mother and daughter walked up and asked us the way to the Cliff Tops/Beach. We explained that it wasn't far, you could walk but we weren't 100% which direction as we had only been there 1 day. We explained that I had been poorly and been to the Hospital the previous day hence why were getting a rickshaw. A rickshaw eventually turned up and they stormed past us and jumped in the rickshaw! As they went past, the daughter said "sorry" as we looked on in disbelief. As I was really not feeling myself I just couldn't be bothered to argue all, I managed to muster "that's not really how it is done" but that was about it, how feeble. We had to wait another 20 minutes for a taxi so you can imagine that we were slightly peeved.

I have come to the conclusion that the UK is the only place where we are taught to queue, and if honest, it hasn't really done us any favours in India. I have waited patiently in banks and train stations for ages/hours (on occasions, no lie) whilst people have just come off the street and pushed right to the front, crowding the booths and then surprisingly the cashiers actually serve them immediately, regardless of how they have got there. Apparently pushing to the front is not deemed as rude and there's stupid me, just waiting, hoping that someone might see that I have queued and deserve my turn to be served, but unfortunately no, it doesn't quite work like that. The only philosophy we have left is.. if you cant beat them, join them! (although it still seems so unnatural to do so but otherwise I would still be stuck in a ticket queue in Mumbai Central Station in 2020!). You can see how annoyed I was from the length of this rant! arrrgghh!!


AND THE REST....

Most important thing to carry in your bags at all times:

Sarah: Hand sanitiser and some baby wipes! You cant live without them.

Andrew: Mosquito repellent and Imodium.

Where now/next:

Our next stop is Malaysia and Borneo where we will spend 5 weeks. We arrive in Kuala Lumpur on the 31st March where we will spend a few days exploring the city and then head off to various islands and beaches and we will get to see the Orangutans in Borneo too. Then after that the next country will be the Philippines.


 





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