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• 25 Nov

  

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  Hector

  
  

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  • India

  “Shanti, Shanti” is the Indian way

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  Travelling around India can be hard. From the Indian border in Sunauli, we got in a bus to Gorakhpur and enjoyed the human warmth of an indian local bus encapsulated between dozens of people. Plans don’t always work as they should, and we had to wait in the station until the train to Varanasi left in the late afternoon. Furthermore, it was expected to arrive in the holy city at around 7 pm, so that we would have enough time to find a place to stay, settle down, rest, have dinner… Unsurprisingly, the train was going quite slow during the whole trip and it end up with a 6 hours delay, which were a real nightmare for us. It was 1 am as we got to Varanasi Junction, it was a bit cold and all the hotels around the station were closed or full. There was no other place to spend the night and we just settled down on the floor in the main entrance of the station, right between an indian family and a group of sleepy pilgrims. We slept short but good and all our things were still there as we woke up, so it was a good lesson to learn, that in case of delays, cancellations or whatever it could happen to our train schedule, we can always lay down in the station and have a nap without being disturbed, robbed or scold. Indian way is the best way to do things in India!!

  

• 24 Nov

  

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  Hector

  
  

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  • India

  Back to India

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  Odyssey is the proper word to describe a local bus ride within Nepal. What is supposed to last for 8 hours, will end up with at least another 4 hours delay. What is supposed to be a direct journey with no transfers, stops continuously and drops you off at your own luck to continue the trip in another bus. What is supposed to be the last stop, is at the end much further away than where your bus leaves you and you have to catch another vehicle to arrive to your desired destination. These all happened to us several times in Nepal, specially on our way from Kathmandu to the nepali border of Sunauli. The bus started late, arrived very late to a place where we had to get off and where we had to catch another bus, and tried to stop in a city some kilometres away from the border (we could luckily convince the driver to take us to the border without paying any extra charge by showing us outraged).

  After the long journey, when we were already dreaming of a pleasant rest before crossing the border on the next day, we found out that there were have been several bomb blasts in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. What a “nice coincidence”: we were about to cross the border to India exactly by this state and police controls, strike in transports and services and tension were expected all around the affected cities (Varanasi, our next destination, was among them). Would we have to stay in Sunauli for many days until the situation had calmed down? Would we have to undo our way and cross the nepali border by a different place? News about the terror attack were few and all in hindi television, so we couldn’t know much about what had happened. We tried to get information from people but some of them seemed to be too drunk to care about and some other seemed to know nothing about it. Despite of it, we were determined to cross the border at our own risk early in the morning. And so we did. The border was quiet and everything seemed to be normal.

• 08 Oct

  

  Posted by
  Hector

  
  

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  • India
  • Nepal

  Heading to Nepal

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  We decided to leave Delhi as soon as possible due to different reasons: on one hand, the noise and pollution in the city. On the other hand, it was just the third day of a very long trip and we only wanted to do one thing: travel!! We booked a sleeper train from Delhi to Haldwani, took a rickshaw to the bus station and then a bus to Banbasa. Almost two days travelling in the end!

  Bambasa is the “gate to Nepal” if you are going from India to the western side of the country. We spent some hours there playing with children in a mission (it was totally unexpected but we found it, were welcomed and stayed there for a while), and the night in a crappy hotel close to the bus stand of the town. After a few hours sleep, we were awaken by polyphonic horns coming from trucks and buses willing to cross the border. Later that morning a very nice guy from the mission offered us a ride on his jeep to the Nepali city of Mahendranagar, where we got stuck for a couple of days because we trusted a man who believe himself to be the town’s magnate and tried to organise and plan our trip for us, luckily we succeed to get rid of him just on time!!

  

  The highlights of this stage of the trip were the good experience we had travelling in a sleeper train, the ride on a borrowed bicycle around rice fields and villages, the short visit to the Natural Reserve of Sukla Panta and the funny story in which we got to know the Superintendent head of the Nepali Police while somebody bribed him with some cakes and coffee. If we thought India was a crazy country, Nepal didn’t tarry at all!!

  

  

• 07 Oct

  

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  • Delhi
  • India

  India Gate and the city bazaars

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  Bearing in mind that we prefer to get in contact with locals, learn from their culture and get to know their traditions rather than spend our time admiring old stones and commemorative buildings, we decide to visit some of the bustling bazaars in which you can find everything from leather work to jewelery, carpets, textiles, electronics, spices and tea. Getting lost in the old city’s colorful and convoluted bazaars is half the fun of shopping here. Connaught Place, Paharganj (where most of the backpackers stay due to the big number of budget hostels) and Chandni Chowk, which is best navigated by cycle-rickshaw. Near the Fatehpuri Masjid, on Khari Baoli, is the aromatic Spice Market, full of fiery-red chili powders and burnt-orange turmeric among other spices, as well as pickles, tea and nuts.

  

  We end up the day at India Gate, a huge stone memorial arch for all the Indian army soldiers who died in WWI. Indian families and groups of friends gather here to spend the afternoon in the surrounding gardens. Lay on the grass and just count the seconds until an Indian gets closer to you just to fulfill his curiosity and ask you countless questions or simply stare at you, be patient!!

  

• 06 Oct

  

  Posted by
  Hector

  
  

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  • Delhi
  • India

  Red Fort (Lal Qila)

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  The Red Fort is a fortress built in red sandstone between 1638 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan  (the same Mughal emperor that built the famous Taj Mahal) and was after used as the head quarters by the British army. The walls extend for 2 km and vary in height depending on its orientation: towards the holy Yamuna river or towards the city. The main gate (Lahore Gate) is now the Indian police check point. Women on one side, men on the other. You go through a metal detector, they check your bag… Et voila!!! Our Swiss knife passed the control unnoticed. High security!!! You enter the fort through here and immediately access to a courtyard (Chatta Chowk) full of souvenir shops which used to sell fancy goods to the palace inhabitants such as gold, silk or jewellery. Few steps further there is a huge area consisting in well maintained gardens and monumental buildings, including the royal baths (hammam), the emperors private palace, a private little mosque made of white marble and the halls of private and public audiences.

     

  It has an amazing architecture with very fine details, the restaurant’s food is tasty and cheap and the palace gardens are a good place to relax and play with the squirrels. Notice that while Indian citizens pay 10 rupees, foreigners pay 10 times more for the entrance ticket, which may be not much for our pocket but sounds funny.

• 05 Oct

  

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  Hector

  
  

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  • Delhi
  • India

  Delhi

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  India’s capital and metropolis with huge economic and cultural differences between its inhabitants. The city has attracted a big number of immigrants, converting it in an overcrowded city (12,8 million people), in an overpopulated country. Delhi has loads to offer, from the narrow and intricate streets of Old Delhi to the spacious and planned New Delhi, although its huge dimensions and its urban chaos make it almost impossible to explore it all.

  

  Expecting to return to the city again, either on another visit or as the gateway of another trip, we decide to take it easy and just explore a tiny bit of Delhi’s treasures: Red Fort, India Gate, Old Delhi and some of the most important city bazaars. We also explored our friends’ neighborhood, Kalkaji, which hasn’t much to offer but it was one of the most interesting things that we did freshly arrived from Europe. During our three days visit to the city we spent the most of the time getting in contact with India’s diversity.