Namaste folks!
I'm very sorry that I couldn't update you guys earlier about my journey, but my email didn't work. But hey! We made it safe and sound to India and we have been travelling without any problems whatsoever for more than a week now! The cultural shock was less intense than expected to be honest. I did see some shocking things that you wouldnt see anywhere else, but I guess you just deal with it in some sort of way. The first few days were spent in Dehli where we hired a private cab driver for the whole day to show us arround Dehli. We drove a bicycle cab throught the narrow smokey streets of the oldest market of the city and we visited one of the oldest temples in the city where we were blessed by a priest. Dehli was fine, and after that we went to the holiest city of India; Varanassi. People say that Varanassi is the city where life and death go hand in hand. You could say that this is true since every person in India wants to be cremated here at the banks of the Ganges. So the whole city kind of stinks like fire burning and when you go to a cremation ground, prepare to see shocking stuff like half burned bodies in a pile of fire. Also, beware of people trying to scam you (This is actually a general advice for India as a whole). Agree on a price before hand and stick to it, and make sure you don't get pulled into parts of the city where you didn't wanted to go in the first place because people make you pay big time. But all in all we managed to survive Varanassi pretty well, and we ended up taking an early morning boat ride along the ganges with the most amazing sights and doing yoga for the first time! That was interesting I must say and we were sore for a few days after, but I liked it! After Varanassi we went to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. You'll immediately notice that this city is far more better organised and cleaner than any other city. The Taj Mahal is not cheesey at all. It is truely a must! It's far more bigger than you would expect and when you go at six in the morning prepare yourself for perhaps one of the most beautiful sights in the morning. When we were there, the sun just came up colouring the sky with blue, pink and orange and there was low-hanging fog to add an air of mysticysm to the whole scene. We took some pretty amazing shots I must say. Yesterday we went to a nature reserve to get out of the city for once. It was very beautiful with birds in all shapes and sizes and the most amazing colours! We also saw two pythons, antilopes and many deer. Yesterdayevening we took a sleeper bus to Pushkar, which is in the desert of India. It is beautiful here, but we're taking it mellow today since we are all very tired, but maybe tomorrow we'll go on a camel safari and sleep in the desert overnight! I'm so excited! I'll try and update you soon!
I'm very sorry that I couldn't update you guys earlier about my journey, but my email didn't work. But hey! We made it safe and sound to India and we have been travelling without any problems whatsoever for more than a week now! The cultural shock was less intense than expected to be honest. I did see some shocking things that you wouldnt see anywhere else, but I guess you just deal with it in some sort of way. The first few days were spent in Dehli where we hired a private cab driver for the whole day to show us arround Dehli. We drove a bicycle cab throught the narrow smokey streets of the oldest market of the city and we visited one of the oldest temples in the city where we were blessed by a priest. Dehli was fine, and after that we went to the holiest city of India; Varanassi. People say that Varanassi is the city where life and death go hand in hand. You could say that this is true since every person in India wants to be cremated here at the banks of the Ganges. So the whole city kind of stinks like fire burning and when you go to a cremation ground, prepare to see shocking stuff like half burned bodies in a pile of fire. Also, beware of people trying to scam you (This is actually a general advice for India as a whole). Agree on a price before hand and stick to it, and make sure you don't get pulled into parts of the city where you didn't wanted to go in the first place because people make you pay big time. But all in all we managed to survive Varanassi pretty well, and we ended up taking an early morning boat ride along the ganges with the most amazing sights and doing yoga for the first time! That was interesting I must say and we were sore for a few days after, but I liked it! After Varanassi we went to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. You'll immediately notice that this city is far more better organised and cleaner than any other city. The Taj Mahal is not cheesey at all. It is truely a must! It's far more bigger than you would expect and when you go at six in the morning prepare yourself for perhaps one of the most beautiful sights in the morning. When we were there, the sun just came up colouring the sky with blue, pink and orange and there was low-hanging fog to add an air of mysticysm to the whole scene. We took some pretty amazing shots I must say. Yesterday we went to a nature reserve to get out of the city for once. It was very beautiful with birds in all shapes and sizes and the most amazing colours! We also saw two pythons, antilopes and many deer. Yesterdayevening we took a sleeper bus to Pushkar, which is in the desert of India. It is beautiful here, but we're taking it mellow today since we are all very tired, but maybe tomorrow we'll go on a camel safari and sleep in the desert overnight! I'm so excited! I'll try and update you soon!
Oh btw, if you want to see more pictures, I've uploaded many of them to my facebook. Just search me up on facebook and hit the India album. (:
