So, we did quite a bit today…..first off, we went to Connaugt Place for some shopping. Ashley bought two shirts and I bought one, all from Fab India. Rebecca, my cousin who frequents and studies India, recommended the store. They had nice stuff, but we thought the prices would be lower. We had an awesome lunch at a place near by….I had the grilled Veggie Kebobs and Ashley had Navartma Korma (sorry for the bad spellings). It was one of the best meals I have had on our trip, yeah it was spicy, but very tasty. From there, we walked around a little bit and window shopped. We also checked out Jantar Mantar, which is a observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh II. It was very peaceful and interesting to look at. Although it had English descriptions of what each building was, we couldn’t exactly figure out why it was built in 1725, other than to study astronomy. It seemed like a lot to do to study the sky. The scenic salmon colored structure had a variety of city wildlife running around – lots of strange looking birds (and the obligatory pigeon) and tons of chipmunks.
After Jantar Mantar and a drop in at the Tourist bureau, we headed to the train station to buy our tickets to Agra. What an experience! We actually never got our tickets (we can’t decide how early we want to get in), but we were hassled by 5 people trying to steer us towards their travel agency instead of the train station. Friendly people try to become your “friend” and “help” you out. They are not what they appear, and luckily our guidebook told us what to look for. But one of the con men was very good. Their travel agency was named the same thing as the official booking area, along with being on “the first floor” as our guidebook says. However, after checking it out, we quickly realized that it was not what he claimed. We went back to the train station, and went to buy a ticket but realized that we didn’t have enough cash on had. So we elected to weight until tomorrow to pick it up.
After that exhausting experience, we had a nice dinner. Again Indian food, much cheaper than lunch but not as tasty (still pretty damn good though). I have a feeling Ashley and I will gain weight if we don’t get sick.
Other musings:
– Poverty. We knew it would be poor, but were never sure what to expect. We have seen the odd beggar and low quality housing, but its actually a little better than I imagined.
– The smell. Besides the smog, the smells are not quite as overpowering as I was under impression they would be. Yeah, there are some stinky spots (just as their were in Rome), but not too bad.
– Wireless. We have a wireless connection in our room (crazy) but its not working right now. I get connected but it doesn’t get any data. If and when I can get it work, you will get some pictures.
– Stares. Everywhere we go people stare at us. They glare at you. Rebecca said to just to think you are a super model, but its somewhat creepy.
– Friendliness. Besides the friends mentioned above, everyone is very interested in talking to you….asking where you are from, why you are here, what you will see while you are here, etc. Its quite refreshing as that didn’t really happen that much the last two months.
Ok, that is a long post and I am sure boring to most. But so far, so good on India, but it has exhausted me. Thank god they speak English….yeah its hard to understand sometimes, but they speak it!
Never bored with your blogs…I had pictures in my mind the whole time. I could see the food and wished I was tasting it 🙂 Keep writing-
sounds like ya'll are doing well. for cheaper clothes, try someplace like dilli hath. jantar mantar not just about astronomy, i think, but astrology, which would be key to many things like a) propping up ruler's legitimacy and predicting future b) arranging proper marriages. i understood this from jantar mantar in jaipur, there used to be 5 but now only 2 left. there is pretty complex system for understanding all those obscure astrological things.
No post is too long for us–the more details the better. We're glad you're having fun and seeing lots of new things.