February 2019 – Free as the Ocean

New Delhi – the Capital City of India

New Delhi impressed us since the moment we got close to the city while traveling by bus from Agra, with its modern buildings and the complex infrastructure. But the closer we got to the old streets and the touristic areas, the less charm we found.

New Delhi is the capital of India and its second-largest city. We spent here our last three days in the country, before flying home. After 8 months of being constantly on the roads, we decided it was time for a break, mostly after India consumed our last energy reserves.

Moving around in New Delhi

Delhi’s well-organized infrastructure allows locals and tourists to easily move around. One of the most convenient transportation options is the subway, which can bring you faster than other transportation methods to the far placed attractions. Ola Cabs and Uber services are available in the city, but finding a driver always took a very long time so we tried to negotiate directly with the tuk-tuk drivers. Still, we used the apps to understand what the fair prices were, as most tuk-tuk drivers try to rip-off tourists more than in any other place that we visited in India. Another transportation option is the cycle rickshaw, for those who want more of local experience.

Food, drinks and entertainment in New Delhi

Like most big cities, New Delhi does not disappoint with its large selections of restaurants and coffee shops, local and western style. We opted for the local food, as we knew that once we leave the country we would miss it very much, but we frequently went also to western-style bars and coffee shops, where we knew we could always find a good cappuccino.

The time in Delhi was short, so we tried to see some of the main attractions, which are many but relatively far from each other. The interest for India’s more recent history brought us to the Gandhi Park, named after the leader of the Indian independence movement against the British rule.

Later that day we visited the Lotus Temple, one of Delhi’s main attractions. But behind its architectural beauty, there are other meanings that make it beautiful. It is a place of worship for all religions, everyone is welcome to enter and pray. But even if praying is not what you search for, it is still a nice place to hide from the hot sun and find a moment of silence, away from the tumult of the surrounding streets.

Loosing ourselves on the crowded streets near the Meena Bazar, close to the Jama Masjid Mosque, felt like another “time-travel” experience, where we forgot about the skyscrapers and the modernity of the new part of the city and where we could once again experience India in an authentic way.

But the most authentic experience we had while walking in the oldest and probably busiest market in India, Chandni Chowk. It is chaotic, congested, dirty and dusty, but beautiful to witness. There we witnessed a captivating show, in which tuk-tuks, cycle rickshaws, cars, pedestrians and cows and dogs competed for space.

At the end of our stay in New Delhi, we took a flight back to Europe, where we happily met our families and friends again.

Coming back home at the end of any of our travels always felt nice, but going away again has always been an exciting thing to do. We planned to stay for one month at home and soon after travel back to Southeast Asia, choosing as a starting point Thailand.

For more pictures from New Delhi follow this link.

February 21, 2019/by Ndu

India

The city of Agra and the beautiful Taj Mahal

Ever since we arrived in Jaipur, we could feel that we were traveling on a more touristic route. We took the train from Jaipur to Agra, arriving late in the evening in a crowded station and soon after at our hostel, somewhere in the vicinity of Agra’s and India’s most famous landmark, the Taj Mahal.

While most people recommend staying in the city for less than two days, we stopped there for five days. As we could notice from the first morning when we went for a walk to explore the neighborhood, there is little going on in this city and the points of interest are few. But we decided to stop for a longer time due to our work and because we also wanted to have some proper time to rest. Traveling through India can be a very tiring experience and, with so much to see and do, it is advised to travel slowly.

The city of Agra

The Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort are beautiful landmarks to visit, but the rest of the city disappoints with its more than crowded streets (which is not something unusual in India) and the extremely pushy drivers and vendors that constantly try to sell you something, without accepting any form of refusal. They can be very stressful and the closer you get to the touristic areas, the more they manage to lower your enthusiasm. The heavy traffic is another big problem here. We found out from our host that the administration of Agra did not allow people anymore to register tuk tuks in the city, because of the high number of such vehicles on the streets.

We went through a series of new experience during our stay in Agra, from verbally fighting with people because of their aggressive behavior towards tourists, to seeing a cow entering the restaurant where we were eating and almost joining us for lunch or observing a monkey stealing bananas from the kitchen of the place where we usually had our afternoon coffee. Things were definitely different and we experienced India in a more intense way by the time we got closer to the end of our trip.

The Taj Mahal

The main reason why people travel to Agra is the famous Taj Mahal, probably the most known landmark in India and one of its symbols.

We visited the mausoleum during our third day in Agra. It took us just 15 minutes to walk from our hostel to the entrance gate. It can take longer or less time if you walk, according to how well you manage to respond to the presence of the many people approaching you. If you want to avoid the “friendly locals”, you should know that inside the touristic area you can benefit from free transfers to the entrance gate, in small electric cars.

It was still dark outside when we left the hostel, as we planned to be there during sunrise, because of the cooler air in the morning, the lower number of people inside and for the more beautiful atmosphere that surrounded the monument under the morning light. Foreigners are required to pay an entry fee of 1250 rupees (1200 if you pay by credit card) while local people are allowed to enter for free (which probably explains best why the area is always crowded).

The city disappointed us in many ways, but the Taj Mahal didn’t. It isn’t just an overrated destination, but a truly beautiful one, that deserves all its fame. We passed the giant gate at the entrance and walked towards the garden, where we stood speechless in front of the beautiful mausoleum.

Tons of white marble and precious materials were used for its construction, brought mainly from India, but also from the surrounding countries. The plinth and tomb took approximately 12 years to complete, while another 10 years were necessary for finishing the whole complex, including the large garden, the minarets, the mosque and other architectural details. Nowadays it is considered one of the new wonders of the world.

The story behind the construction of the Taj Mahal is a love story with an unhappy ending. The project was initiated by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in honor of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to one of their children. Nowadays, their deceased bodies rest together inside the large tomb of the mausoleum.

As the sun got hotter and the crowds bigger, we decided to leave the area and looked for a place to have breakfast. On the way back we found a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the Taj Mahal.

For a better view from outside, we recommend walking around it to the riverside. The viewpoint is indicated on both Google Maps and Maps.Me, the two mobile apps that we are usually using.

For a different perspective, a tuk-tuk ride could bring you to the other side of the river, from where you can get a good picture without the crowds.

Five days later we were almost at the end of our journey through India. We went to the railway station in Agra to catch the train to New Delhi.

As if Agra didn’t want to let us go, we were informed that the train had a big delay, which brought us to the decision to take a bus, in the hope that we would save some time. The idea seemed good when we arrived at the bus station and instantly boarded the bus that was leaving to Delhi, just to have our expectations lowered by seeing the bus breaking down shortly before we even left the city. Half an hour later another bus came to pick us up.

It took around 4 hours to arrive in Delhi, with a bus whose driver did not even consider making a stop in between for people to use the toilet and who dropped us outside the city at the arrival in New Delhi. We already knew then that the capital city if India would not feel like one of the most welcoming of our destinations.

Check out more pictures of Agra here.

February 14, 2019/by Ndu

India

Jaipur – the Pink City of India

After visiting “The Golden City” Jaisalmer and “The Blue City” Jodhpur, we couldn’t have left the Thar Desert without stopping in the “Pink City”, Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan and one of India’s largest cities. It is also one of the three destinations forming the famous Golden Triangle touristic circuit, along with Agra and New Delhi.

The name “Pink City” comes from the dominant color of the buildings on the main avenues, which were painted pink in 1876 to welcome H.R.H. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.

Things to see in Jaipur

While the city is big and has plenty to offer, we enjoyed it less than the previous two destinations in Rajasthan. Unfortunately, the city gets so crowded with tourists that the locals who work in the tourism industry are more busy trying to scam the visitors than offering them a positive authentic experience. They are less friendly and pushier, some of them even slightly aggressive while trying to convince you to accept their service or to buy their products. But these should not be reasons to avoid visiting the city. There is plenty to see and do. Some of the most important landmarks are beautiful examples of the architectural development in the last centuries, including the Hawa Mahal, the Jal Mahal, the City Palace, the impressive Amer Fort, the Jantar Mantar, the Nahargarh Fort and the Jaigarh Fort.

We managed to see everything we wanted to visit in just one day, by taking a tour with a local tuk-tuk driver. If you don’t feel like taking a tour, it is easy (and probably cheaper) to just book individual rides from one destination to another, as most landmarks are located on a straight line from the city center to the Amer Fort. If you book your accommodation online, most probably you will receive, together with your booking confirmation, a complimentary free tuk-tuk ride to your hotel. The offer usually comes from drivers that only collaborate with different hotels and hostels, hoping to be the first ones to offer tours to the travelers arriving in the city.

The Amer Fort in Jaipur

The Amer Fort was our favorite stop during the tour. It is a massive and impressive construction, made of red sandstone and marble, composed of the main palace and the Jaigarh Fort. The structure is enclosed with walls built on the peaks of the surrounding hills.

The most beautiful part of it is probably the Amer Palace, which we admired only as we rushed to the top of the Jaigarh Fort, from where we could see the entire valley. The entry ticket was way cheaper than the one for the palace, only 100 Rupees per person.

It took us more than two hours to explore the Fort and later in the afternoon we continued our tour towards the Jal Mahal and the Albert Hall Museum, where we had only short stops to take pictures.

Later we arrived at the Monkey Temple, which we don’t necessarily recommend visiting. Apart from the panoramic view from the top, we didn’t find much entertainment in dealing with the terrible smell and seeing badly maintained structures.

We explored more of the Pink City on our last day while walking on its busy streets, enjoying local coffee and reserving some time to visit the Hawa Mahal.

There is much more to see in the city, but as our time in India was getting shorter and shorter, we decided to reserve more days for the last two destinations in the country, Agra and New Delhi.

Check our gallery for more pictures.