Duncan and Joe

During the second day in Delhi, Joe and I both stayed close to the hotel. I had wanted to do some much overdue blog updating, and Joe was still feeling sick from something he’d eaten in Israel. I was also starting to feel the effects of the food in India. Thankfully nothing serious, but I could tell my body was struggling to process all the previously unseen food, bacteria, etc it was being exposed to. 

Our last day in New Delhi was June 18th, a Sunday. I had heard from numerous people that the New Delhi->Agra->Jaipur route (aka. the Golden Triange) was worth doing, but Joe and I planned on doing it ourselves, rather than hiring someone to take us around. We set out in the morning of the 18th to buy train tickets to Agra, but it quickly became clear that this would be more difficult that expected. Not only was it difficult to buy train tickets because we couldn’t get good information about where to buy them, but it also sounded like the trains were fully booked for that day. We had, problematically, assumed that there would be room on the trains if we booked day of. To make matters worse, we kept getting mixed information from different people. Some folks wanted to take us to unofficial “tourist” offices, and others it seemed did want to actually help us, but we still received mixed directions. Finally a trustworthy railway official wrote down the exact place where we should go, an official Ministry of Tourism office, organized a rickshaw for us, and we were on our way. 

At the tourist office, we met a wonderfully helpful man named Shafi who discussed various travel options with us. He talked about the various places we could go, and he sketched out a rough itinerary of what two weeks in northern India could look like. We received a package rate for a driver in the Golden Triange, a flight north to Kashmir, and accommodations along the way. The rate was reasonable, and it worked out perfectly for the two of us, who, especially after the train ticket experience, were looking for someone who knew what they were doing to at least get the ball rolling in India.

Our trip started immediately from the office. We were already checked out of the hotel, so we met our driver, a lovely guy named Dev, and swung by our hotel to pick up our backpacks before heading off. In the seeming blink of an eye we went from having no clue what we were doing to having plans for the next week in India. Getting that initial start would prove extremely helpful.

That day we drove to Agra with Dev, and settled into our hotel, preparing for an early wakeup the next morning to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. I went with Dev to a local food stand to eat some delicious buttered chicken for dinner while Joe let his stomach recover. 

We woke up early the next morning for sunrise at the Taj Mahal. It was beautiful, even with the scaffolding up to clean part of the structure. We had a tour guide for the route, and a photographer who insisted on taking some terribly cliche photos of us in front of the structure. It was raining on and off throughout the morning and there was a surreal light over the area as the clouds finally parted an hour after we arrived. 

Later in the afternoon we made the long drive to Jaipur. As with the drive to Agra, we talked with Dev a lot along the way. One of the best aspects of having Dev along with us was getting to talk about local culture, and what it is like in India for someone roughly our age. There are differences to be sure, but life, even half way around the world, is similar in most ways.

Our hotel in Jaipur was beautiful–it appears we were the beneficiary of some good off-season rates considering there were almost no other guests. Joe and I ate like kings during our two nights there. On the way to Jaipur we had stopped at temple ruins full of monkeys, and watched the sun set from a nearby hill.

During the last full day in the Golden Triangle, we explored the Amber Fort near Jaipur. It was scorching hot, but the beautiful views of the surrounding area from the fort made the hike up worthwhile. Afterwards, Dev took us around to various places in Jaipur, including a music shop and a spice shop two of his friends owned. Everyone in the music shop was impressed with Joe’s ability to pick up the sitar rather easily. Soon enough there were a couple guys on drums and Joe playing the sitar to the best of his abilities. As seemed to be the case everywhere in India, though, there was the inevitable question of whether or not we wanted to buy anything at the end. We jokingly said we couldn’t fit the sitar in our bags, but on continued insistence that there were smaller instruments, we thanked them and headed out. It became easier over time to deal with these sort of interactions, but knowing seemingly organic interactions would end with pressure for a sale or a tip was draining. 

The following day we headed back to Delhi Airport from Jaipur. We said goodbye to Dev and rushed through the airport to our flight. We were headed to Kashmir, a place we had heard so many mixed things about. We were excited but a bit apprehensive as we boarded the plane north. 

Joe and I had both heard mixed things about Kashmir before the trip and during the five day stretch between New Delhi and our flight to Srinagar, the largest city in Jammu and Kashmir. If you Google “Kashmir”, the first thing you’ll see is a series of news stories about soldiers, police, or militants killed in recent days. Had we been too eager in heading off to a place like this, even if it is beautiful? It was a fair question to ask ourselves as we boarded the plane out of Delhi. I had been aware of the conflict in Kashmir since I’d learned about it in school a long time ago, but when we were booking it at the office in Delhi, I didn’t think twice about it. Some people we’d met said they wouldn’t go to Kashmir if you paid them, and others were just confused about why we’d head to that region. In a large country like India, there are also inter-state stereotypes at play that we learned to take with a grain of salt over time.

We were the only Westerners on the flight to Srinagar, but by this point it already seemed rather commonplace. I had seen very few foreigners so far on the trip, and most of the other tourists we’d seen were other Indians exploring the country. This would hold true for the rest of the trip, and it added an authenticity to our travels in India that made it especially unique.

It was raining in Srinagar when we landed, and we were greeted at the airport by Omar, the manager of the houseboat we were staying on for the next couple of nights. We took a taxi to Dal Lake, and then a small boat across to the houseboat. The “houseboat” is really just a stationary barge that floats but has no power of its own.

The houseboat was amazing. Both inside and out were extremely intricate wood carvings. Our room was simple, but it was everything we needed for a couple days of unwinding outside of the bustling cities we’d been traveling around in the previous days. The first dinner, as with the rest of the meals on the houseboat, were simple and delicious. Home cooking at its finest. 

Joe and I weren’t really sure what we were going to do after Kashmir (you can see a theme here). Planning on the fly had worked out well so far, but it was more difficult in Kashmir where they didn’t allow prepaid SIMs (because of the militant activity) and where we didn’t have internet on our houseboat. Not long after we arrived, Omar was trying to get us to go on a hike in the surrounding area. We’d heard great things about the hiking, but neither of us felt well equipped or in shape to do a proper hike in the foothills of the Himalayas. I’d also had a tough time with the altitude when I went up to 15k feet in Peru last year, and was reluctant to put my body through a hike that went up to 19k feet. Still, we were in the area, and it seemed a shame not to do something.

The next morning we realized the true beauty of Dal Lake. In the rainstorm the night before it wasn’t clear what a majestic place this was, but the blue skies and beautifully cool weather the next day soon made us realize why Kashmir came so highly recommended. We ate breakfast on the roof of the houseboat and took in the scenery. 

By this point we had a clearer idea of what we were willing to spend on the trek and negotiated a rate with Omar that was within our budget but would still be and experience worth having. We finalized the details of the trip and then went out on a day trip cruise of the Dal Lake area. 

The next morning we packed up and drove an hour and a half to meet our guides for the hike. There were four guides along with us for the trek, some of whom spoke broken English, but pretty minimally.

We spent the next two nights at 10k feet in the Himalayan foothills near Gangabal Lake. The whole area was beautiful, especially our campsite and the two lakes we hiked to on the second day. From the hiking, to the food, to playing cards with our guides, enjoying two enormous camp fires, and spending a lot of peaceful time outdoors, it was an incredible three days.

We returned to the houseboat for a final night before flying out to Amritsar. Our week in Kashmir coincided with the end of Rammadan, and our last day on Dal Lake was the final day of fasting. As a predominantly Muslim state, prayers were recited from the mosques’ minarets all night, and we went to sleep amid the sounds from several mosques echoing around us. 

We flew out of Kashmir the next day to the Punjab city of Amritsar and a return to the heat and chaos of central India. Kashmir was amazing, and it was more proof that it’s impossible to know a place until you’re on the ground and meeting the people there. Yes, there are some dangerous ongoings, but the vast majority of people are living normal, simple lives, and we were lucky to see a sliver of that experience during our time there.

From Kashmir we flew to Amritsar, a city famous for the Golden Temple, the holiest place in Sikhism. While we wanted to see the Golden Temple, Amritsar was mainly a gateway city to the mountains in the region, which we’d heard wonderful things about. Stepping off the plane in Amritsar was a reminder that we were still in India. This wasn’t the cool, mountain air of Kashmir, but the stifling heat of the Indian summer that we had during our trip around the Golden Triangle.

We settled into our hotel and then made our way to the Golden Temple by foot. This seemed like an increasingly bad idea when we realized the networks of busy roads we had to cross to get there. Thankfully, with over a week under our belts, we knew the general strategy for crossing–just put your body in the road and gradually cut off more lanes. That seems to be the understood method.

Walking around Amritsar felt a lot more comfortable than walking around New Delhi, and it was nice to be able to enjoy the city now that we were more familiar with navigating around India. After accidentally going first to a mini Golden Temple, we made our way to the real one. It was, needless to say, impressive.

One of the most famous elements of the Golden Temple is the free meal they serve continuously throughout the day to all who enter. To steal from Wikipedia, this ties into the foundation of the religion: “…unity of all humankind, engaging in selfless service, striving for social justice for the benefit and prosperity of all, and honest conduct and livelihood while living a householder’s life.” Pretty awesome, huh. The meal was simple, but delicious. Just the experience of eating with many folks who rely on this meal daily made the experience especially poignant. We wandered back to the hotel to finalize travel plans for the next day.

The next morning, we boarded the first of what would be many government bus rides over the next couple of weeks. The government buses in India are very bare bones. They have AC buses but those are for tourists! And we were looking for the local experience (in reality we would have taken the AC bus but it was later in the afternoon and we were restless to get on the road). I was drenched in sweat by the time the bus pulled out of the bus station in the 90+ degree heat. Joe said he loved it because it reminded him of the Louisiana heat. I think he was only partly joking (note: if you ever want to see an argument between me and Joe, ask what temperature the thermostat in a room should be set to for comfortable sleeping).

Things we pretty good six hours into the bus ride, but eight hours into it we began to get restless, and were happy to pull into the McLeod Ganj station. The cooler mountain air, though, was a nice break from the heat of Amritsar.

McLeod Ganj, the main suburb of Dharamshala, was unlike any other place we’d seen in India. The tight, active streets gave it the feel of a mountain ski town. There were lots more foreigners than we’d seen anywhere else in India, no doubt drawn by the famous yoga centers in the city. Our hotel was quite a dismal place, but we tried to ignore that as we headed out to explore the town and get some food. We had wonderful food during our entire stay in Dharamshala. The mixture of Indian and Tibetan food hit the spot.

We were originally planning on spending three nights in Dharamshala, but there was an issue with our flight from Dharamshala to Delhi so we had to seek other means of transportation after two nights. The overnight bus was an option, but we were both hesitant to spend 11 hours on a bus. Eventually, though, it became clear this was the best option. Unfortunately, that cut our time in Dharamshala a little short, both by having to deal with the travel issues and by cutting out our final night, but as a small town there wasn’t an incredible amount to see. The visit to the temple where the Dalai Lama lives was amazing, as was the adjoining museum on Tibet.

In the afternoon we packed up at our hotel and boarded the overnight bus. As it turned out, it was quite a comfortable way of traveling. The seats recline a good amount, and the air conditioning is definitely an improvement over the government bus.

We arrived back in Delhi to wait a day until our flight down south to Kerala. We got a good deal on a nice hotel in Delhi, and were happy to have a day to catch up on rest before more travel.