India… we have been waiting for this… South America
was a good taste of real travelling (Rio was an exception although it was still
pretty culturally epic). After a month of recharging the batteries in
Australia, 30 hours of flying time and we have arrived in Delhi.
Everyone we spoke with for advice said get out there
quickly so we arranged the Delhi basics and our escape to real India. After just one day, you can feel the history of this
place… In fact, we got our first piece
of Indian history on day 1. India can be a tough place to plan on your own so
we found a credible travel agent and it made out lives pretty easy. Destination India. If you’re going
to India anytime soon, go there and ask for Shafi..a real legend this guy. Such
a legend, in fact, he had the century old testimonials to prove it. Shafi comes
from a long line of travel and hospitality professionals.. This agency has been
in his family reaching back to the late 1800s. Check out a few of these bad
boys…
You could literally feel the paper crumbling in your
hands..letters from rich Americans and Europeans, people from the army, the
list goes on. Letters written in the most classically cursive style..it really
blew our minds.. we read testimonial letters from 1896, 1902, 1904 and letters
from the world wars… Really amazing..
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| Amazing hundred year old testimonials |
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| Some of these dated back to 1896 |
Anyways… modern hospitality taken online hasn't changed Destination India’s formal and professional ways. They set us up in a
car service for 6 (Kait, JJ, Kait’s sister and travel partner Pablo Pete)
headed to Agra to check out the Taj for the day. After a successful planning day and celebratory Chai,
Shafi directed us to a hole in the wall for some solid lunch. This place
literally was a hole in the wall, but the food was EPIC. Spicy as hell, but in
a you’ll wish you didn't eat that later, kind of way (BUT IN A GOOD WAY).
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| Heading into the hole in the wall for our first India meal |
Ever felt like a celebrity? No? Just go to India if
you are white… At India Gate (a famous Delhi monument), we got our first taste
of Indian paparazzi. I felt good..NO..it felt great. I wanted to pull a Russell
Brand to see how the media would take it but my better judgement took over…
After countless Indian head-nod thank you’s for some epic photos, we had seen
enough of India Gate and India Gate had seen enough of us.
Side note and a question for some of our Indian
friends… What will these people say or caption when showing others the photo?
Will they post to facebook, do they have “pictures with white people” albums?
Please advise..it will make our actions in future pictures even better.
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| Posing by the India gate...right before a nice India kid jumped in the photo |
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| The India Gate |
To cap it all off, after some wondering around, we
figured why not take an auto-rickshaw home…
These things are beauties.. Some are shit.. MOST are shit..and some are
just PIMPED.
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| Just getting started on our first of many wild rides |
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| Pulling up next to our friends rickshaw... literally RIGHT beside |
The stories are true about India’s street congestion,
crazy drivers, no rules, etc…. This ride REDEFINED the phrase “I almost got in
an accident”. For any of you that skid out on some ice… think again… You weren't even close. That said I do believe there is some unwritten rule and
code of conduct that the drivers have..maybe by the time we leave I will have
it figured out… For now, I think it has something to do with the frequency and
consistency of the drivers honks.
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