The Colors of Rajasthan-Day 14 & 15 (Overnight train back to Delhi)

Monday & Tuesday January 27-28 —Day 14 & 15 (Overnight train back to Delhi)

Today was the last full day of our trip. I went out to breakfast with the group and had a delicious pineapple lassi (with fresh pineapple) and a Nutella banana pancake. The pancake was rolled around a warm banana then drizzled with Nutella. Not a bad way to start the day!

After doing some last minute shopping and browsing through the markets, we headed back to the hotel, played some cards and relaxed in the sun.

The night before, our tour guide surprised us and told us that we’d be going to an Indian wedding reception on our last night here! So after packing up the last of our bags (and I swear, my bags gained at least 10 pounds on the trip!), we hopped in our mini-bus and headed for the reception. As awkward as it was to be the white foreigners coming into a person’s wedding reception, it was a great way to end our trip. As soon as we walked in, we were surrounded with food. A popcorn machine on one table, a cotton candy machine on another….waiters coming around with tomato soup. And the women in their beautiful saris and salwar kameezes were another sight to be seen! Beautiful pink and gold saris, high high heels, and all the gold jewelry you could imagine! If I have a few million dollars lying around when I get married, I definitely choose to do an Indian one!

After saying goodbye to one of the Australian couples on our trip, who were going to do some more traveling around before heading home, we headed to the train station and prepared ourselves for a long overnight train experience back to New Delhi.

We ended up getting seats/beds in a 3-tiered, overnight train. Not the most comfortable sleep I’ve had, trying to scrounge up to the top tier but managed to sleep a few hours. When we got back to Delhi, I took a nice hot shower in the hotel, had some breakfast then said my goodbyes to the group. Since I had accumulated so many gifts and bags on my trip, I decided to take a car back to my flat. I thought I would have an easy car ride back, but I’m in New Delhi after all! The driver had me stop at two shops, not for a commission but apparently for petrol (gas) coupons. I was too tired to care or to argue with him at that point, so I just went along with it. By the time I got home, I tried watching a movie, but only got 30 minutes into it before I fell asleep for the next 8 hours!

This trip was exhausting but one of the best trips I’ve had. Travel always makes for a bonding experience and this was no exception. As a solo traveler, I could’ve gotten stuck with some not so nice people on my trip, but I lucked out and was able to share my two week trip around Rajasthan with some remarkable people. We all had gotten close over the past two weeks and it was sad to see everyone go. I’m going to miss them!

Hearing about everyone’s experiences and stories has really made me think about life, but in particular, my bucket list. Being surrounded with world travelers certainly helps when you’re trying to plan your next trip! As for my next trip, I’m thinking a trip around Europe for a few weeks :)

The Colors of Rajasthan--Day 2 (New Delhi)

Wednesday January 15 –Day 2 (New Delhi)

Today we started off our day with a metro ride to Chandni Chowk, the heart of Old Delhi. I was so happy that this was part of our trip because the small alleyways and “easy to get lost” layout has made it so intimidating for me to do it alone.

The crowded streets of Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

Crazy wiring!

A stand where paan is made, which is similar to chewing tobacco and usually can be made sweet or spicy

I was in such amazement once we walked from the busy main streets to the small, crowded alleyways of Chandni Chowk. We walked past jewelry store after jewelry store, sari tailors, sweet shops, and fabric shops. The fabric shops with all of their beautiful appliqués and ribbons hung up on their walls were just waiting to be put on a sari or a salwar kameez. I didn’t want to buy any and then have to carry it all around, but when I get back from my trip, Chandni Chowk is definitely going to be one of my stops!

Cycle rickshaws

Men selling jackfruit

A shop where women can buy ribbon to put on their sarees and salwar kameez suits

An Indian sweets shop

 With the dangling electrical wires everywhere and the peppers and lemons strung together and hung outside the shops to keep the evil spirits away—this reminded me of the real India, the incredible colorful, chaotic, sometimes backward thinking yet frontward thinking, amazing India.

Men making flower garlands, usually given to the gods as an offering in a Hindu temple

We saw monkeys climbing on the wires, dogs sitting amongst piles of trash and a cute little cat trying to scale the wall of a building.

One of the many street dogs that we saw on our trip

We then stopped for a yummy samosa then went on our way to visit the Jama Masjid mosque. Surprisingly the mosque didn’t ask the women to cover up nearly as much as the Sikh Temple we went to later did. The women were given capes/bathrobes to wear even though they didn’t cover our heads at all. So we went into the Mosque, which was an outdoor space which could hold 25,000 people for prayer. After getting into the Mosque and away from the staff, I decided to discreetly take pictures and try to get away with not paying Rs 300 ($5 US) to use a camera. That didn’t work for too long though! A guard saw us doing that and forced us to pay. Then upon leaving, the staff had the women pay Rs 100 for the robe. I understand them wanting us to wear the robe, but I think it’s a cruel way for a religion and house of worship to make money.

The Jama Masjid Mosque

After the mosque, we went to a Sikh Temple, where I had a completely different experience. The Sikhs welcomed us to their house of worship. We all had to wear something to cover our head—women and men, but were never asked to pay for the head covering. In fact they were the ones offering us hospitality—chai, sweet semolina and biscuits. Sikhs are known for being very generous people. They provide two meals a day to people that come to the temple, and many people volunteer their time serving food and doing other odd jobs in the temple. I’m glad that we went to the two houses of worship because I would’ve had a bad taste in my mouth if we just went to the mosque.

A Sikh man making chai in the Sikh Temple

Women rolling out chapatis in the Sikh Temple

Cooking the chapatis

The rest of the afternoon was free for us to roam around. I decided to grab some lunch at Saravana Bhavan (a south Indian chain restaurant) with some other people from our tour group. I had a paneer masala dosa again, because it was just so good the first time I went there! Then I just came back to my hotel room and read my Kindle and relaxed the rest of the evening. I've been meaning to wander around Chandni Chowk because of all the history and small alleyways, and was the perfect introduction to our trip!

The Colors of Rajasthan--Day 1 (New Delhi)

Tuesday January 14, 2014 – Day 1 (New Delhi)

Today was the first day of my Rajasthan trip (Classic Rajasthan trip) through Intrepid Travel. I decided to go through a tour organizer/company because frankly I didn’t want to travel alone. I’ve done enough of the alone thing to know that I am not a happy camper when I’m travelling alone. I’ve wanted to visit Rajasthan for years now and between full-time work and grad school work, the only way I was going to have the time to travel was if someone did all the planning for me.

The first day of the tour just gave us time to get acclimated and settled. We could check into the hotel at noon but we didn’t meet as a group until 6pm. Since I took the day off work, I used the day to just relax. I figured I was going to do enough sightseeing over the next two weeks anyway. So a little after 11am, I was still contemplating if I felt like hauling my bag and sleeping bag through the metro or just take an auto rickshaw and have no worries. I took the stress free route, plugged in my headphones and just sat back in the auto and listened to some country music for the next half hour, while the driver drove to the hotel where I’d be staying. I thought it was going to be an average, Days Inn kind of motel, but it actually turned out to be pretty nice. So I dropped my stuff in my room, and tried to think of what I wanted to do for the next 6 hours. I honestly felt like just lounging in bed and watching tv, but instead I decided to get outside and grab some lunch.

I grabbed an auto rickshaw and told him to go to Connaught Place (an outdoor shopping center) so I could get some lunch at Saravana Bhavan, a delicious restaurant I went to in Chennai back in 2008 and have been dreaming about since. He quickly told me though that it was a holiday and since everyone was off of work, Connaught Place was going to be crowded to say the least. So instead he brought me to another Saravana Bahavan which was right down the street from the hotel.

For lunch I had a very yummy paneer masala dosa with coconut chutney and some other sauces and a sweet lassi. It was pretty good! I haven’t been able to find good south Indian food near me so it was nice to finally have some. After not really having the mental energy to figure out where to go next, I decided to just head to a coffee shop about 1 km away from the hotel, grab a coffee and read my Kindle.

At 6pm, I met up with my group. We had a variety of ages and backgrounds and it was great to get to know everyone. There were four people from Australia, two from Wales and four from the UK. For my trip, I roomed with a woman from the UK who’s been living in Tamil Nadu for the past 4 months.

After our informational meeting, we went out to dinner together, where I had butter chicken with naan. It wasn’t the best but good comfort food. But it was okay, because I had a feeling I was going to have some amazing food over the next two weeks.