Farewell SE Asia...Hello Shocking India!

My final days in southeast Asia were absolutely perfect. We were spoiled with our complimentary accommodation at the beautiful Viengtai Hotel thanks to our honorary Thai family. Additionally, I managed to see some sites I missed along the way! To make it brief, my three days in Bangkok were spent attempting to relax and brace myself for India! I saw the Grand Palace, which I missed the first time around due to food poisoning and it was definitely a must see for Bangkok! Additionally, I saw the reclining Buddha, which is basically the most massive Buddha to hit this earth, stretching roughly 46 meters long! Despite being completely "templed out", these were some essential sites for Bangkok! And, tomake it more interesting, I saw these Buddhist temples on the Chinese New Year so the places were a complete zoo!

But, for the most part, I found myself wanting to stay in our hotel as much as possible, indulging in the luxuries of bathtubs, AC, and satellite tv that I had been missing out on throughout my travels in SE Asia! As all good things must end, so did my time in SE Asia, but it was such an amazing experience! Although you probably won't be able to see the details, I pride myself on my route map that I drew along the way, which includes the 22 spots that we spent at least a day in throughout the journey:

So, many of our friends that we met along the way warned us to be prepared for the chaos and madness of India. Let me just put it out there that nothing can prepare you for India! Especially being plunged straight into New Dehli! We arrived late at night and I thought I was going to die on the way to our hotel...the taxi driver was completely manic, swerving out of control between the traffic! Although getting to bed late, we woke up early, eager to explore the city. To say the least, we got many "welcome to India's!" our first morning. Our morning was spent among all locals, getting the full on experience of dodging scammers, cow shit, and cheeky young men (one teenager nearly gave me a heart attack when he came out of nowhere and pinched me on the cheek). At first we were enjoying the chaos of New Dehli but then it got so exhausting. It seemed as though everyone was trying to scam us...it is a hard feeling to not be able to trust anyone!

I needed a mental rest after a few hours of being in the city!  Once I recovered, we went to one of the city's main sights, Humayuns Tomb, which was very beautiful. Overall, my first day in India was great, especially because of the delicious street naan, samosas, and chai!

Day 2 in India was spent seeing the National Museum in the morning and then heading back to New Dehli train station to catch a train to Agra, for the famous Taj Mahal! To our luck, the trainwas delayed six hours and the last thing I wanted to do was be endlessly hassled by everyone, so I escaped to the rooftop of our guesthouse, turned on my ipod, and just took a deep breath! There ended up being a beautiful flock of birds flying above the guesthouse, which was very soothing!

In India, I have learned that daily mental rest times are an essential! Eventually, we made it onto our very first train in India. Not as exciting as I imagined...I was freezing cold and we were dumped into Agra at 1am! Eventually, we found a guesthouse that actually had rooms available, settled in, and got about four hours of sleep before waking up to venture towards the Taj Mahal for sunrise.
We were under the impression that the Taj Mahal opened at 6am, but ended up standing in the freezing cold until 7 when we were let in. Despite all of the photos I have seen of the Taj, nothing can compare to that feeling I got upon stepping onto the grounds of this magnificent site. Additionally, since we got there way too early, we didn't have to share the palace with a zoo of tourists! Everything about the Taj Mahal is so majestic...from the perfect pool reflection to the intricate details on every inch of the temples. It was such a stunning site.

A token Taj Mahal photo

Afterwards, I enjoyed some hot chai and porridge on the rooftop of a guesthouse with a great view of the Taj from the distance. We had a much needed nap after breakfast and then continued on our day by going to the famous fort in Agra. This was another wonderful sight. Once again, the immaculate detail involved in every aspect of this fort made it so cool. To top off our day, we went to a spot across the (empty) river and watched the sunset while enjoying one final view of the Taj Mahal.

Entrance to Agra Fort

   

After one full on day in Agra we were Pushkar- bound. Now, Pushkar was a much needed stop.  Our guesthouse, Hotel Everest, was beautiful, with a wonderful rooftop view, clean rooms, and vibrant colors.

Pushkar was such a mellow, laid back Brahma village with a famous holy ghat (which we found out was bone dry!).  I found it particularly hilarious to watch Julie suffer in this strictly vegetarian town!  My two days in Pushkar were wonderful, filled with yoga, an astrology life report from a famous Naturopath, and a hassle free environmnet! The people in the town were very friendly and the kids were adorable! The alleyways were probably my favorite part of this town, as each building was painted with its own unique colors. If it hadn't been for Pushkar, I may have lost my sanity in India!



Next, we continued westward to Jaisalmer in a prison-like sleeper cell bus!

We arrived to Jaisalmer early, found lovely accommodation (Hotel Renuka), and booked a camel safari through the hotel.  Later in the day we went to Jaisalmer's famous fort, where people actually live.  It was a remarkable site, with really cool fort walls and interesting people! At the fort though, there is the ongoing issue of deterioration, so hopefully it will be preserved for the future! Otherwise, I enjoyed just walking around this desert town, eating some local cuisine, and getting all geared up for my camel safari!

The next morning, I was desert bound, ready to get a taste of desert life. I definitely got all hippied out and I know my mom will be proud of our "hippy" photo to the left. After making a couple of sight seeing stops, we saw our camels, patiently waiting for us! I was introduced to my camel , Raj, and then we were off! After the novelty of riding a bumpy camel wore off, I realized how particularly uncomfortable it is! Nonetheless, it was a beautiful 2.5 hour journey before we stopped in the middle of the desert for a lunch prepared by our camel drivers. After refueling, I was back on Raj, cruising through the desert , enjoying the tranquility and endless landscape ahead of me. We made it to the dunes, where we would be sleeping, before sunset and enjoyed playing around in the dunes and relaxing.

Sunset in the dunes was breathtaking, not only because of the vibrant colors, but also becauseof the pure simplicity of our surroundings!

             

After sunset, we had another delicious meal prepared for us by our camel drivers and soon after made our "beds". Our guides pushed the sand to make a pillow, and we had a couple of blankets laid on the sand for us! At first it was comfortable, but then it became a bit painful! But, the plus side of me waking up every hour was that I got to see the incredible sky, full of stars and the shining moon. Everyone was up bright and early and I was more than thankfulfor a hot cup of chai that was delivered to me upon waking up! Bright and early, Raj and I were off again! It was a bit more painful riding today as I was shockingly sore from the five hours of camel riding the previous day! Eventually, we were back at our pickup site, with the jeep waiting for us! All of the girls in our group took a classic tourist shot before leaving the desert! So, all in all, my little camel safari was awesome, and I highly recommend anyone to do only a 1-2 camel safari, as it can get a bit painful!

Our final day in Jaisalmer was pretty laid back. We visited a famous haveli, which is basically just an extravagant mansion and took it easy! From Jaisalmer, we took our very first night train to Jodphur, known to be the "blue city". As this blog is quite lengthy, I am going to stop here and continue talking about my crazy Indian adventure soon! I am approaching five months away from home and still going strong, but I miss you all!

Bring it on Bangkok

Well, my sister and I arrived safely in Bangkok late on Monday night. After an exhausting day, it was such a treat to have our driver waiting patiently to take us to our hotel.

We arrived to a beautifully spacious, clean, and air- conditioned room, and a breakfast buffet awaiting us in the morning. Upon waking up, we were both starving and went down to check out the buffet. With chicken stir fry, beef and vegetables, noodles, thai soup, omelets, fresh pastries and fruit, we were already in heaven! After a massive breakfast, we were ready to face the day. During our first morning, we thought it would be best to get acquainted with the enormous city.   We stepped out at around 9 am, and the city was already alive. There were endless clothing and souvenir stands, along with lots of street food. I went a little overboard with shopping on the first day, but the beauty of Bangkok is that I could buy a dress, skirt, souvenir shirt, "hippy pants", and a wallet, and still only be down $20. What got me even more excited was how cheap and delicious the food is in Bangkok. With pad thai for $0.65. meat skewers for $0.30, banana and nutella crepes for $0.65, and so on, I knew that I would not have to resort to being a starving backpacker in southeast asia! I must say, the pad thai was incredible. They have all of the noodles out and make it right in front of you within minutes.

We met our grandma's friend, Bunny, and her husband ,Vira, later in the afternoon and they were so amazing, helping us plan the rest of our trip and inviting us to learn more about the culture. The following day, we were invited to a Buddhist ceremony, where their son's new home was being blessed by monks. The ceremony for the blessing of his home was such a raw, unique, and unforgettable experience. My sister and I followed the lead of Bunny and her family, and sat on the floor, with our hands in prayer position as the monks chanted in perfect harmony. It was incredible because the floor was perfectly white, allowing for a beautiful reflection of the monks in their orange wraps. After the first round of prayers, the monks were led to a fully prepared Thai meal, while the rest of us socialized over some beverages and waited for them to finish. After the monks finished the final set of prayers, including splashing blessed water on all of us and the walls of the home, we all sat down to a wonderful meal. It was great to exchange stories with Bunny about our grandparents and get to know the family better. I can't express how fortunate I felt to be able to have welcoming family friends in such a foreign place that greatly assisted us in understanding Thai culture.

On Thursday, we were meant to have our big temple day, or wats as they are called in Thailand. We arrived at the Grand Palace, which is meant to be the most popular wat, in what we felt were modest clothes. Immediately, the scheming tuk tuk drivers, who are known to fool tourist into fake tours so they get gas commission, told us we had to wait until the afternoon to go inside because we were not dressed appropriately. Surprisingly, we believed them without checking inside and continued walking to find a better deal. Luckily, we found a semi-honest tuk tuk driver who told us about the commission he received by taking us to tourist offices and silk shops so we played along because he was a nice enough guy. Along our little journey, we saw several different architectural styles of wats and more buddha statues than I could ever imagine! In the end, we got to see several beautiful wats and the mansion where one of the kings lived. So, basically, we gave up about an hour of our day to help out our driver and in return we had a free tour of the city! Luckily, we survived the infamous tuk tuk driver scheme with no harm done! Unfortunately, by the time we finally got back to the Grand Palace we were exhausted, so we figured we would just go early the following morning.

                   

Later in the night we were supposed to catch a river boat and head down to another area of Bangkok. We ended up missing the last boat but met a really nice Mexican couple and headed to a popular area, Siem Square, for some drinks. We had drinks at a massive outdoor beer garden, then decided to eat some late night street food, which ended up being a poor choice. I got a beef skewer and took a bite into it realizing it wasn't warm, which isn't a good sign. Given that I was a little buzzed from the beers consumed throughout the night, I foolishly ate it all. On our way to the Grand Palace in the morning, I felt so terrible, breaking out into an awful sweat. I kept thinking it would get better but by the time we walked all the way to the Grand Palace I gave up and had to head home! So, needless to say, Friday was spent curled up in the fetal position near the toilet. I guess it was another welcome to Thailand! I haven't been able to eat much since then so lets hope it all gets better soon. Today we arrived in the old Thailand capital, Ayutthaya, to see some ancient architectures of the wats, and will continue north tomorrow.