We're now in India! The past couple of days have definitely been an adventure. We're sure there will be many more to come in the next few weeks.
We've only just arrived but so much has happened in the past couple of days. It all started in Bangkok on Sunday. We finally took off for our trip to India after six hours of delays, two free meals, and a few Indian budding friendships. We bought very cheap tickets with Bangladesh Airways (Binman), which meant stopping in Yangon, Mynamar (Burma), then overnight in Dhaka, Bangladesh, before flying to Delhi.
We finally landed in Dhaka around 1:30am. After waiting for everyone to collect their bags, give in their tickets and passports, they finally rounded us up to herd us into taxis, minibuses, and buses to take us to our free hotels for the night. By this time, we had made many Indian friends - Raaj, Bholan, Rouwat, and Preacher Teacher (never did catch his name but he was a teacher and a preacher). Our rooms were finally organized by 3am and we were off to bed. We had to giggle when one of our new friends gave us his room number and said "call me". Bow and I thought to ourselves "now at 3am?", we didn't quite get it because we all had to be up and out of there by 9am. Our new friends were all so friendly. We finally got to sleep after a call from the front desk asking us where we were from and one room-service call just to bring us water.
We were up and back on the bus by 9am to head to the airport. I was happy to get on a bus instead of the minibus because I thought it was safer after the fast drive the night before. Man was I wrong. The bus ride that morning was the craziest ride I have ever been on. Our driver managed to accelerate as fast as he could, ride the breaks, and lay on the horn all at the same time for the entire hour ride. It was incredible! But he got us to the airport just in time for our flight. The streets of Dhaka were a sight to see - jammed packed with rickshaw drivers, overcrowded buses, fast cars with a haze of polution hovering over everything.
The final icing on the cake was at the airport when they were distributing our passports back to us. It was a long and tedious process and there were a couple of fights that broke out with the passengers, which we really couldn't understand because it was in Hindi.
We arrived in Delhi around 1:30pm yesterday. Our friends, Raaj and Bholan, offered for us to go in their taxi on our way to Praharganj. On route, Raaj insisted that we go with him to his place and stay with him for a day, week or even a month. We decided to go with him for one night, especially since his wife and kids didn't know that we were coming.
We had the most amazing time with Raaj, his wife, and three kids. They welcomed us with open arms. We sat down and met his family before they all took us over to meet Bholan's entire family. Bholan lived in a flat with his wife and kids, his parents, and the families of his three brothers. They were so welcoming and excited to meet us. We weren't even there for 30 minutes and twice they brought us trays of drinks and nibblies. As we were walking away we quickly looked back to see his home from the outside and all four families were out on the balcony watching us walk off. It was quite the experience.
From there, they took us to the "pictures" (movies) because I had mentioned that I wanted to see a Bollywood movie while we were in India. The movie was in Hindi but it was easy to follow with the singing and dancing and love story, even though it was classified as a male action flick. Before going into the movies there was a marching band hanging around and we asked what they were doing. Not two seconds later, Raaj was over talking to them and 20 of them got up to start playing for us.
We saw almost everything in the streets - people, cars, trucks, packed buses, tuk tuks, rickshaws, ice cream vendors, cows everywhere, other animals, etc, etc, etc. We definitely stuck out in Raaj's area because they would never see tourists in that part of the city. It would be like us seeing tourists in Kanata or Orleans in Ottawa.
The night wasn't over when we came out of the movies at 9pm. From there, Raaj and Bholan took us to the Sikh temple that Bholan goes to twice a day. It was a beautful white temple packed with people. We had to take off our shoes, wash our feet, and put a piece of cloth on our heads before entering. We followed them around the temple, kneeling when they would, and meeting many of their friends along the way.
We took an auto rickshaw back to Raaj's place where his wife, Altamira, had made us a delicious dinner. We had a lot of fun with their family, looking at family albums, and reading English with the girls. Before bed, they ran out to get us some ice cream as one last treat to the day.
This morning the fun continued. Raaj and his family showed us their family business. We had more great talks and laughs over breakfast. He took us out for one last walk around the neighbourhood where we met many more of his friends. Never a dull moment in the streets. We came across a man drumming away beside a tall post with a young boy on top on his stomach spinning around. It was like a circus act in the middle of residential Delhi. They made a bit a money and then they were done for the day.
We said goodbye to Raaj and his family around noon. It was difficult to leave because we had so much fun with them but we didn't want to overstay our welcome and we also wanted to figure out our travels for the coming weeks. We hope to visit them again when we return to Delhi in a few weeks time. Their kindness continued as we left with them giving me beautiful material to make an Indian suit and they gave Bow long shorts from their shop. It was such an incredible experience staying with them - one of the many highlights of our trip.
We've now organized a driver for the next 14 days to take us around Rajasthan, which is known for its great history, beautiful forts and temples. It's a bit more expensive than the train, but it will allow us to see many of the smaller places and to stop and go whenever and wherever we want. Tomorrow we're going to see more of Delhi and hopefully meet up with Tati's friend, Shweta, before leaving with our driver on Thursday morning.
Until next time,
Jill