Teardrop on the Face of Eternity

The Taj Mahal has been described as the "most extravagant monument ever built for love" and we must admit that it deserves its spot as a wonder of the world and we were very impressed. The Taj was built by the Indian Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife who died giving birth to their 14th child. Her tomb (and Shah Jahan's) is under the dome. The structure itself took 20,000 people over 20 years to build. The building is perfectly symmetrical, they even built a huge replica of a mosque just to balance it out. However as you get closer and see the detailed marble work on the fine Koranic script and flowers that you can understand why the Taj is considered such a masterpiece. According the to Indian poet the Taj is "a teardrop on the face of eternity" and we hope it lasts that long because we were both extremely impressed.

Even in the shadows of such a majestic building our main memory of the Taj will always be the Indian tourist asking us to pose with their families and children (I shit you not 10+ families). We imagine we look as interesting walking around in our clothes in India as someone wearing ornate rural dress would in downtown Denver, but it's still a pretty strange experience. The one benefit is we are able to get some good pictures for ourselves with people we will never see again. We're just interested where photos of the goofy looking American tourists end up in the home...








For more Taj photos visit:

The Peaceful People in Disputed Territory

We have been to the Himalayas and back! Just for contrast :) we decided to go straight from Delhi to Srinagar Kashmir for a 5 day stay on a houseboat*. It is one of the most beautiful places we have been to date (yes including New Zealand). We stayed on Dal lake and used Venice-ish boats paddled by a "shikara (friendly old men)" to visit local sites, all while in the shadows of 15,000 ft peaks of the dramatic Himalayas. Though most of the time we spent relaxing on the front porch, we also did a short hike to some great vistas and visited remote a couple Himalayan villages where we were welcomed into several homes and served Kashmiri tea (great tasting chai). A fantastic experience.



What made it the more interesting was that not only is Kashmir a majority Islamic region but it is currently a disputed area between India and Pakistan and there is a very visible military presence. The conflict began when a local Hindu ruler chose to join India during the partition of 1947 despite the fact that the majority of his subjects were Muslim (and therefore wanted to join Pakistan instead). Since then it has been a political landgrab and the local villagers resent being stuck in the middle. An eye opening experience in many ways. Dispite the unrest it is one of the most peaceful places we have been with some of the most welcoming and hospitable people we know. To learn more about Kashmir, go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2739993.stm.



*The houseboats were originally used by the British because they were not allowed to buy land in Srinagar but wanted to take advantage of the beauty anyways.


This is a picture of us on a hike just outside of Srinagar:

A Moshpit on Wheels

Indian travel has proven to be a bit more of an adventure than we had originally thought...


First the trains: Indian trains are broken up into about 15 classes with the lowest being second class. Second class train cars involve wooden seats grouped in little pods with 6 people facing each other (3 on each side). There is also a shelf above designed to store bags, however a person could lie down and sleep here should they choose to (without padding of course). There is also another aisle of seats across the walkway that would fit 2 people facing each other (1 on each side) The train cars have bars on the windows and only two doors per car. Sounds pretty normal, right. Well, here's the catch, seats are unreserved. You have a ticket, but your seat depends entirely on your ability to fight off your fellow man, his wife, children, parents, grandparents, and possibly some chickens. Another catch, there is no limit to the number of tickets they sell for second class, so it is EXTREMELY overbooked (think a country of over a billion people with the infrastructure for far less).

So, for the train car described above, I would estimate a capacity of about 50 people assuming each person was given one seat and no one would want to sit on a hard wooden shelf designed to carry bags. I would estimate our train had about 250 people on it. I'll describe our section. We literally had to fight our way onto the train with our bags playing bumper cars with anyone who approached us. The only way to avoid standing or sitting on someones lap was to use our bag as a stool in the middle of an aisle - which would later become our bed - well that and the persons knee to our left. In our 6 person section, there was myself, the teenage boy wedged behind me, two grandparents to my left, three children sleeping on their mothers lap, 2 more children above me with a father and grandfather, and another gentleman balance precariously above - not to mention the man passed out at their feet. That's one side of the 6 person section that is supposed to fit 3. The train was so packed that there were 4 people hanging onto the door (which might be a preferable spot when the car begins to smell). This trip was for 15hrs and took place in 110degree heat plus humidity - no food unless you bought it from the street vendors at stops and no toilet unless you walk over the group of men sleeping on eachother to get to the one in the back where aim wasn't a priority. Michele thought it looked like a train going to a concentration camp and I definitely don't disagree. A hell of an experience. At least we had the luxury of sampling this as a tourist novelty, and I can't imagine people having to deal with this on a daily basis. Absolutely incredible.

Oh yeah, and then all these people have to get off the train...but here's the catch, there are another 75 people or so wanting to get on and will stop at nothing to be the first person on the train clinging to the desperate hope that there will be a small area of wood available for them to sit uncomfortably for the trip. Picture two rivers converging. One man was literally lifted off his feat and carried by the departing mass.



Now to the Buses: I don't have the time to write (and you probably don't have the stamina to read) about the bus experience, but it was even worse. People are packed in like sheep in a pen (you know the pictures when they are all touching and can't even turn around). You can barely even breath. Women and children are forced to stand in the heat where air has a hard time finding the people in the middle. 20+ people have died in the past couple of months from the heat and I would imagine that these buses could be part of the reason why. I was absolutely appalled that people could be treated this way, and, again, can't imagine putting up with this on a daily basis. All that said, we're loving the experience here. It's challenging in every way imaginable, but all good...there might just be some things we'll want to experience only once.



A video that begins to explain what a typical Indian bus ride feels like:





More Transport Pictures:

Overload of the Senses - A.K.A Delhi, India

Before leaving for India we talked with a few friends who had already traveled the country and the only words they could find to describe India were that our "senses would be stimulated"... Not long after arriving in Delhi we decided that it must be the epicenter of senses overload that the rest of India radiates from.

Sense of Smell: Immediately your nose is drawn to the rich smell of Indian spices but soon you catch a scent of the poor sewerage system that suppresses any appetite that might have been building. As you walk along further you catch a whiff of cow feces moments before your foot slides along the top of a warm cow pie and your sandal sinks in just enough to feel it squeeze between your toes (Jason has much more experience with this than Michele).

Sense of Hearing: Hindi music blaring from a local Internet cafe mixes with tired car horns (to warn of passing cars, turning cars, and approaching danger) and touts demanding your attention to view their product or take advantage of your confused, overwhelmed state by taking you to a commission paying retailer/hotel - I don't need it, don't want it, or don't have room for it is not a reason not to purchase it. We cannot walk 15 ft without being reminded that someone could use our "travel" money for much better things than travel. Sometimes - when we are feeling particularly worn with the constant nagging - we have to remind ourselves that 350-400 million Indians live below the poverty line; an estimated 35% surviving on less than US $1/day. We just heard today that about 200 million Indians are unemployed - equivalent to 2/3 the US population. It helps to put things into perspective when we get upset that a taxi driver charges us Rs 10 (US $0.25) more than locals.

Sense of Taste and Touch: After a day in Delhi the pollution from cars with very low emissions standards (50-200 times more sulphur than European Diesel), heavy industrialisation, strained infrastructure, as well as heavy reliance on chemicals and pesticides is said to be the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes (we hold our breath as much as possible ;) ). Not only do we know the pollution is there but we can taste it and feel it settle on our skin with the thick, humid (about 100-120 degrees with 80% humidity) air.

Sense of Sight: It is hard to explain how culturally different this country is from America... small (2yrs) children riding with their fathers on a motorcycle weaving in and out of heavy traffic with no helmets, boys of all ages peeing on the side of the road, cows roaming in the main market (eating fruit from vendors baskets), open wires criss-crossing the sky, coke-a-cola everywhere, cell phones, beautiful saries (15-27 ft pieces of wonderfully colored material ingeniously wrapped and tucked around women forming a dress), children wearing WWF t-shirts, and an elephant in the center of down town - for icing on the cake.

Surviving Delhi has now become a game...

Before we end we should add that we are enthusiastically looking forward to learning from and experiencing the culture and religion of India and cannot wait for "real" conversations with the local people... the senses overload only momentarily shocked us.

These are some of the pictures that help to describe what we feel - they are from all over the country, not only Delhi:





Pictures from Dehli: