India! The fourth stop on our around-the-world trip was Incredible India. Intimidating India! Crowded, chaotic, contradictory, colorful, captivating, Slumdog Millionaire India.
When we were planning our trip, India was a must. But we wrestled with the idea of going it alone versus taking a group tour. In the end, we decided to take a classic G Adventures small group tour, and WOW!—what a good decision! More on that in a minute. But first, let’s go back to us leaving Cambodia.
Intimidating India
We left Cambodia the afternoon of February 24, with a bit of anxiety. First, we were getting odd responses from other tourists when we mentioned India was our next destination.
“Uff,” one man grimaced like he was watching a car crash, “Cambodia is a party compared to India.” His wife raised her eyebrows nearly to the top of her head while taking a very deep breath, giving a stingy smile and a semi-reassuring, “Dirty place. You’ll be fine. Just don’t get robbed.”
“It’s like the waiter talking to Albert Brooks in Defending Your Life,” Bryan said later, “‘You got 9 days?! Ooooh!'”
Malaysia Airlines
Aside from this omg-we’re-going-to-India anxiety, we were anxious about flying on Malaysia Airlines. In March 2014, one of their jets mysteriously disappeared over the Indian Ocean, and in July 2014 another of their jets was shot down over Ukraine. We sat in the airport in Cambodia and tried not to think about all that.
Turns out, Malaysia Airlines was one of the best airlines we flew on our around-the-world trip. The jet still had that new-plane smell! The on-board stewards/stewardesses were serenely courteous, their uniforms were elegantly beautiful, and the food was filling and tasty. Mecca’s direction was on the flight-info screen for those who needed to pray in the air. We flew for just over two hours from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur, and thankfully, no incidents to report.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Delhi, India
During our two-hour layover in Kuala Lumpur, we walked around the posh airport looking for cables to double lock our suitcase zippers (at the cautious advice of a Cambodian traveler who’d been to India). Nada. We managed to order Burger King and a DQ Blizzard despite not speaking Malay, and got a few Malaysian coins in change. I find it disappointing to see the exact same shops all the world over. It takes some of the discovery and surprise out of travel. Globalization — I thanked it for giving me an Oreo Blizzard, and I cursed it for making KUL resemble ORD or LAX or LHR.
On the five-and-a-half hour flight to Delhi, we sat across the aisle from two bearded men dressed in long layered robes–like monks, or Afghan warlords. As they were pulling food and drinks from their suitcases, Bryan got a beer from the steward. The two men stopped and stared, nodded and beamed wide smiles at Bryan, then motioned the steward pointing at Bryan’s beer. A few minutes later, with their beers in hand, the monks waved slices of white bread at us. They were generously sharing their picnic stash. We smiled and gestured to say “no, but thank you” and instead raised our wine and beer cups to toast across the aisle. Toasts, smiles and laughter. That is the joy and wonder of travel. I thanked all those stars in the night sky. All-in-all, it was a wonderful 3,100+ mile day.
Arrival in Delhi
We arrived into Delhi around 10 p.m. We already had visas, so went through a quiet lane of immigration, and walked out into a bright, modern airport. After changing $400 USD to 24k Indian Rupees ($1 USD = 63 INR), we were met by the G Adventures representative, Bhupinder. While waiting for others coming in for G tours, Bryan stocked us up with bottled water and snacks.
I love arriving into a new place at night–it adds an air of mystery. We followed our Women on Wheels taxi driver out of the airport about an hour later, stepping into a smokey midnight. Dogs lay unmovable, curled up and asleep on the sidewalks. The parking lot was crowded and tight. We squeezed in and the young lady driver pulled out.
Traffic was insane, despite the hour. Choking traffic in a lane-less chaotic mess—cars honking to pass, honking when anyone got too close, honking, honking, honking. Overpasses, underpasses, passing trash on the streets, passing crowds walking along the road. In the dark and blinking street lights, I watched the driver’s calm eyes in the rear view mirror–eyeliner, bindi, pony tail. About an hour later, well after midnight, we arrived at Hotel Perfect, in a run-down, dark street.
Hotel Perfect?
At check in, we learned that the hotel had us reserved for two nights ago. We showed our paperwork with this date. He wiggled his head. Was that a no? A yes? Maybe? An impasse? We stood there, tired, no other options. The night manager showed us handwritten notes in a reservation book. Bryan persisted, “Yeah well, we don’t know who wrote that.” The manager made a phone call and gestured for us to sit on the couch in the narrow lobby and wait.
Finally, we got a room. A sleepy, cranky-looking, very thin young man got into the elevator with us and showed us to the room. I got the idea he’d been sleeping in room #313. The twin beds were unmade. The sheets looked dirty, and had an oily feeling. The room reeked of cigarettes. I asked for clean sheets. He left and returned a few minutes later with one sheet and one fleece throw blanket. We improvised bed covers, called home (it was ~2:00 p.m. in Chicago = 1:30 a.m. India), and crashed.
First Impressions of Daytime Delhi
I heard horns and a cooing pigeon. It was daylight and I woke up not sure where we were. A deep breath reminded me. The smell of smoke was overwhelming.
We went onto the roof for the breakfast buffet (200 INR each). The air was hazy from smog. Birds swooped around and chipmunks screeched as they waited for scraps. Bryan talked to the front desk, and we were moved to Room #205. It was cleaner, not smoky, and had more light. Hotel Perfect! 🙂
Later, we walked out onto the crowded, dirty, colorful, and cooler streets of Delhi. India! Wow! We had drinks and ate spicy-hot pizza at Boheme Bar down the street and had a conversation with a turbaned taxi driver who’d worked in New York City many years ago. We spent that day in Delhi watching the world go by, catching up on sleep, photo downloads, journals, and doing laundry. A wonderful, lazy day in the midst of our long, around-the-world trip, waiting to meet our G Adventures group.
Meeting our G Adventures Group
We met our group in the evening of 2/26. There were 12 of us, hailing from the UK, USA, Germany, Canada, and Denmark. Our leader, Khushwant, explained a few things including the likelihood of getting a touch of “Delhi belly”, and how much a little patience and a few smiles would help us enjoy our time in India. Afterwards, we had dinner together at a neighborhood restaurant–with Khush helping us understand the menu. Delicious!
Bryan and I are not typically “group tour people”, but because of how intimidating India was, we signed up for a tour. We chose G Adventures because they had the itinerary we wanted, the timing we needed, a cost we appreciated, and they had good reviews. It was a great group, with a great leader. Khush was a thoughtful, helpful chief experience officer, and he taught us much about India. We’d do a trip like this again in a heartbeat!
India Gate
G Adventures’ big purple bus showed up in the morning to take us to India Gate and on to Jaipur. As we drove through Delhi’s traffic, Khush told us about India–the 6th wealthiest nation and with 1.25 billion people. Corruption and population growth plague India and widen the wealth gap, which is why we see so many expensive cars idling in traffic jams next to families waking up in tent villages under overpasses.
India Gate is a memorial built in the 1920s to honor the 82k Indians who died in World War I. Thirteen thousand soldier’s names are engraved in the stones. This hazy morning could have been today, or a hundred years ago. Crowds arrive. Guards stand watch. Women in orange saris sweep the roads and the grass around the memorial. Dogs wander and some still sleep amidst the people. Men smoke. A snake charmer squats down with his basket and flute. We walked around the memorial, enjoying the sun.
Delhi to Jaipur
After our stop at the India Gate, we got back on the bus for our five hour bus ride to Jaipur (167 miles from Delhi).
We passed rich embassy row, and saw more families living in the medians. Street kids with painted-on moustaches contorted and performed like jesters in the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Cows sat on the roads–Khush said the pollution deters flies and maybe makes them a little high. A few hours into our trip, we stopped to use the facilities, at a McDonalds! Later, we stopped to eat lunch at a roadside restaurant. Next door was a small valley, and a hundred cows and “buffs” were herded up and out onto the road as we boarded the bus to leave. Ah India. This was going to be an incredible trip!
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