Well for the time being, all we can get you guys is stock photos. Uploading photos to the internet has been a little more difficult than we anticipated. But... I'll try to fill in some details of the past few days.
Munich: What a layover! We had about six hours to kill in Munich's city center, and we used them to sample the german brews. Gorgeous day too. We also spent about an hour setting up a little scavenger hunt for our fellow traveling friends Rachel and Megan by hiding a little gnome in the city's English Garden. We'll be suprised if they find it but the search is on. We'll keep you posted but it looks like the gnome might live in the garden center for years to come.
Dehli: Truthfully, we were just blown away our first two days, but I'll see if I can hit some highlights. The three-wheeled taxi-wallahs, which are little motorcycle taxis are a blast. I could ride these things all day. Touts, which is what the scam artists are called, are EVERYWHERE! For some reason, mysteriously, they peg me as the sucker and mostly leave Jessica alone. We suspect because they don't think she can speak English. Straight up ignoring them is the best strategy, but you all know how much I love to talk to strangers, so this is hard for me. I'm now mixing up my approach with a little comedy (mostly unappreciated) and silence. I have to say, Jessica has hands down been the saltier traveler to this point. You would think I'd be the old hand, but she's pretty much handled everything with aplomb, while I stand around gaping. I think my favorite thing about Dehli is the transportation. Between the crazy old school taxis (a battered, shabbier version of a London cab), the taxi wallahs, the bicycle rickshaws and the trains, we've been sampling everything. And anywhere you go, you're surrounded by chaos constantly. It's just mind-boggling.
Agra: We took the train down from Dehli to Agra this morning and went and saw the Taj Mahal. Worth the ride is all I have to say. Except Jessica keeps pestering me to build her a palace now (the Taj was built by a Mughal emperor for his second wife who died giving birth to her 14th child). I think she's learning a lot from these touts. We have a great little hotel with a rooftop view and are living large. I'm still getting all the attention from the touts but Jessica's shorts at the Taj got her more surreptious attention than she would have liked (and I would have liked too). But I mean, it's 108, so what can you do? Nobody seemed too impressed by my gams. They don't know what they're missing.
Asides: I've been trying to think how to relate the chaos and maybe this story will lend a little to your mental image. Traffic in Dehli is loud. Indians LOVE the horn. They live to honk. The whole city is like a chorus of geese until about 2AM. So yesterday, this motorcyclist drives up onto the sidewalk right in front of us as we were walking to a tomb in Dehli because he wanted to buy a glass of juice from a street vendor. Only problem was that the vendor was asleep (alongside a massive roadway with about a million cars on it, mind you). So the biker pulls up literally about a foot away from the guy and lays on his horn to wake the guy up. Nothing happens. For ten seconds this guy just wails the horn, and the vendor just kept sleeping blissfully. It was amazing. This guy had a motorcyle revving it's engine, blaring it's horn literally one foot from his ear and just nothing, zip, nada. These people are acclimated to the crazy. Jessica and I, we're still adjusting.
We have also discovered that the true way to an Indian's heart is compiments (much like women, without the occasional pair of shoes). Anywhere we go, we have to reassure them that the room is clean, the food is good, the internet is fast (it's not). I think they like tourists just for the esteem boost.
Ok, that's all we have for now. Next stop is Varanasi and the Ganges River. We have our first over night train coming up for 12 hours (to prepare us for the 20 hour train ride without AC in the sleeper class in a few days). We'll keep you posted and we'll work on updating the map and posting some pictures. But for now, we bid you adieu!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
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Tell her she can have a palace after the 13th kid.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I'm going to love reading this blog. Here's some unsolicited advice:
ReplyDelete1) The touts are talking to you because you're the man. They don't care if Jessica speaks English, because it's your decision that counts. Best thing we did was come up with code. When viewing a room, Claire would say "This room is lovely. It's just the kind of place my dad would like." That meant she hated it and/or the price was too high. "This room is lovely. It's just the kind of place my mom would like" meant "We should totally take this room." That code was a lifesaver.
2) In Varanasi, I thought the guided tour (purchased from the government official at the train station ... it's in the northwest corner of the main entry hall I believe ... look it up in Lonely Planet) was absolutely worth it. It was the only guided tour we went on, but it's cheap, they take you everywhere, it's completely legit and best of all, with a local organizing it you won't have to deal with touts for that day. Highly recommended. It's one of those few things that's probably cheaper to pay for the organized tour than if you tried to negotiate each part yourself.
Can't wait to read more!
Glad you guys are starting the trip without skipping a beat! JR, you should carry around something that you're trying to get rid of to sell to the Touts. Maybe all that extra stuff that Jessica put in your bag at the last minute....
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