India

Alright yeah sorry these are getting outta order really struggling to motivate myself to write Vietnam part 2 after I finished writing it and then it got deleted. Last minute India trip wasn’t initially something I intended to do, but thanks to Martin for convincing me to go with him. India was totally surreal. Crazy to finally go to the country I’ve heard so much about. We flew into Delhi and arrived in the afternoon. We took the train to Connaught place where we were staying which is when I had my first classic India encounter, an attempted scam. I had to pay something like 20 rupees for the train, and I gave the man at the kiosk 100. He was going to give me back 80 rupees in change (in 20 rupee bills), and counted it out in front of me, 20, 40, 60, 80. And he gives it to me after a moment and I walk away and when I go to count my change, the fucker only gave me 60 rupees back! I was furious, not because of the lack of money (it was a minuscule amount) but the principle of it. I hadn’t been in India for an HOUR and I was already seeing some of the stereotypes that people always say about India. Not a good look. Anyways I went back to the kiosk and told the man he gave me the wrong change and he sheepishly gave it back to me. He probably thought I wouldn’t notice. Anyway, that started me off on the wrong foot but it was a smooth sailing train ride from there. We got off and walked to our homestay and got harassed by random people asking us for taxis or “telling us which direction to go” which I didn’t really trust. We dropped our stuff off and grabbed our laptops and went to go look for a coffee shop. We had to find a place to do work so we could truly relax for the rest of the trip. I had a delicious biscoff milkshake. They love their biscoff over here and I’m all for it that shit SLAPS. After working we explored the centre of Connaught Place and watched a little water show at sunset and it was gorgeous. The massive Indian flag waving in the breeze was nice. By this point I’m feeling better about India. We got a recommendation from our very chatty innkeeper, which normally wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact check in took forever, so we ended up waiting even longer because of this dudes yap. We went to a less nice area but more authentically Indian for a place that apparently had some great naan. My goal was to eat as much naan and prata as I could and I’m happy to say that it was a success. We tried to order and I had to ask in my classic fashion if there was nuts in our meal, and we were getting nowhere, but luckily this young dude who was in university in Delhi who spoke great English and Hindi clutched up. We ate with him and chatted for awhile. Super nice guy! After we ate we explored the area for a bit but headed back to our inn rather early because we had to get up pretty early for our tour of Delhi. We woke up and had a small breakfast at our inn that consisted of eggs coffee and some ham. Solid enough, it was free too. We took an Uber (feels weird not saying Grab) to where our bus would pick us up. It was not what I expected, it was literally just an old public bus that was now being used as a tour bus. Our first stop was this little Hindi temple that was nice but nothing special. Next up was the Red Fort, an iconic place that was where the royals resided. It was very red, that’s for sure. I bought my Indian fridge magnet here (got one from every country except for Indonesia since I been there before). We explored it for awhile then hopped back on our bus. Not before taking photos with a bunch of locals though, they probably were excited by a Chinese and white guy travelling around together. Next on the list was Humayan’ tomb. Such a cool spot. Gorgeous architecture, and felt like a mini Taj Mahal. I believe it influenced the creation of the Taj Mahal, so almost literally a mini one. We even saw them filming the end of the French Amazing Race. Hella dope. By this point we needed some lunch, so we decided not to go into the next spot and instead find some food, and we made the right call because it was just this big spire thing. We had a nice coffee and sandwich at this surprisingly hip/nice coffee shop. Our next spot was this small little park that was dedicated to some famous Indian dude or something. Probably the least interesting place we went too, but that was alright because the next three places were all bangers. Next up was the Delhi gate, a massive champs élysées type vibe near the parliament buildings of the country. I got some much needed ice cream finally after being picky with everywhere else we had been. Probably my second favourite spot not including Taj Mahal. What one my favourite spot was next up, the Lotus temple. It was a modern spin on the idea of a Hindu temple and it was shaped like a lotus. I don’t really fuck with religious ceremonies but I would’ve loved to sit there for an hour listening to something like that. Would definitely recommend. We headed to our final spot of the day: The Akshardam temple. After a bit of a struggle getting through security we were greeted by an absolutely stunning temple of the likes that I have never seen before. There was a ton of elephant art around it that had little stories explaining how elephants were relevant in past India. Would’ve loved to stay longer but we were pretty burnt out after the entire day of travel. We arrived back at our inn and hung out for a bit before getting picked up for dinner my Joy. It was my first time meeting him! So cool. He took us to this restaurant nearby that me and Martin had walked by the day before thinking it was super fancy. What a coincidence. We ate some great food (the naan is the only part I remember obviously) and then grabbed some (mid) ice cream for dessert. Me and Martin headed back early to prep for our next day: a journey to Agra to see the muffackin Taj Mahal! We woke up early and hopped in our private car and started the drive to Agra. We made a quick pit stop and got some Indian Pizza Hut (average) and after a couple shows and a nap later, we met up with our tour guide, and BOOM Taj Mahal. Yea its as cool as it looks. Super beautiful and absolutely breathtaking. I was stunned. We explored it for awhile taking as many photos as possible then headed out for lunch, where, I can say I had the best naan of the entire trip. Goated spot. We had the option to check out the Mini Taj, but decided against it as we wanted to make it back to Delhi in time for dinner. Before we left, we went to a shop for a little demonstration on how they make art from the same material used in the Taj Mahal. The shopkeeper was super friendly and we both bought little trinkets. We took our drive back to Delhi and went for dinner at this hip little area that reminded me of Vancouver in a way. We ate, and then I had a glorious Alaska cheesecake ice cream sundae that was probably the best dessert I’ve had in Asia. Afterwards, we headed back to our hostel. And that concludes part 1.Les mer