quarantine daydream // northern india

My heart.

In May 2018, I went to India to train to become a yoga teacher. It was hands-down the best experience of my life. After spending one month in Rishikesh, India, completing my training, my sister flew out to meet me and we set out for some travels. We spent one week in Northern India and one week in Nepal.

We spent a day exploring Rishikesh, but that place is so special to me that it will eventually get its own blog post. From Rishikesh, we taxied to the Dehradun airport and flew to New Delhi.

We had absolutely zero plans in New Delhi, and we were only there for about an 8-hour layover before moving on to Jaipur. We flew out with several of my new friends from YTT, thankfully including one Indian man. He suggested some sights to see, and when we arrived at the international airport, he helped secure us a non-scam, non-murderer driver. This was super necessary - even though I'd been living in an Indian town for a month at this point, the specifics and etiquette are a bit different everywhere, it seems, and we hadn't figured out how to do travel-specific things like haggle for a taxi. I can't recall how much it cost - I'm sure it was expensive by Indian standards - but a driver drove us past several sights to the main attraction of Delhi, the Red Fort, and waited in the car while we explored before taking us back to the airport. It was 40 degrees out (welcome to North India in June - don't do it). By some miracle of god, the car was air conditioned.

new delhi

The Red Fort was cool, and definitely worth seeing if you've got a bit of time to spare while you're in Delhi. We didn't feel like we missed out by not having more time to explore this city.

jaipur

Next, we headed to The Pink City. I was super excited about this place - it's so beautiful in all the pictures. Jaipur had a similar ungodly heat going on, and we were only there for a day but I promptly got heat stroke and threw up in a restaurant. From this day forward, every day we were in India, we drank electrolytes and spent 3-4 hours in the heat of the day in a cafe (espresso required, which is a bit of a tall order in India - but we always managed).

Anyway, we had our home stay owner order us a tuk tuk first thing in the morning to take us out to the Amber Fort. (Always ask an Indian person to get you a cab/tuk tuk if you can. Not only will you get the Indian price instead of the white price, but you'll get an idea of what the going rate is so you don't overpay later, when you have to do your own haggling). I didn't know much about this place, but it was first on all the travel lists I read. It's first for a reason.

We rode elephants (elephants!) up to the fort (to be honest, we weren't sure if this was all that humane, but it was our once-in-a-lifetime chance to ride an elephant so we took it). People took pictures of us all the way up, and we negotiated a good deal to buy a couple packages when we arrived (well worth it). Don't tip the elephant drivers - there are signs at the end that tell you not to tip them (they are well-paid for this job) but they ask for tips before you can see them.

Once inside the Amber Fort, we paid somebody to give us the grand tour. Be warned that your guide, while lovely, will have deals with local merchants and he will try to give you a 'market tour' after seeing the Fort. If you can swing it, don't agree to this. The products are expensive and, as always in India, the salespeople are very pushy - but in this 'market,' they have you as a captive audience. You want to avoid being a captive audience whenever possible in India.

Honestly, I don't remember much about the history of the fort. Remembering the stories has never been my strong suit. What I do remember is the stunning views of the city and the beautiful, intricate buildings. The Amber Fort is massive and consists of several different sections.

These next photos were my favourite part: The Mirror Palace. You know those moments that often happen when you travel, where you experience something new and it just kind of completely blows your mind? I always call these 'cathedral moments,' where you step inside and it just takes your breath away. They can come from all kinds of things, though: mountains, forests, architecture, water, landscape... The Mirror Palace is one of those places. Kat and I just wandered around for a while, totally speechless, trying to take it all in. I think the pictures I took are beautiful, but believe me when I say they do not do it justice.

After the Amber Fort (and escaping the 'marketplace' unscathed - we each bought a silk scarf and managed to get out with just that - plus Jaipur is known for its silk, so that seemed fitting), we moved on to the city centre with all its pink buildings.

And finally, the major attraction: the Hawa Mahal. This building is rosy pink and towering. It's a bit hard to get a good, full view, though. We didn't spend more than ten minutes here.

After the Hawa Mahal, we went to the markets and left almost immediately. This was around the time that I was starting to feel sick, so we took refuge in a restaurant. Jaipur is known for its shopping, but honestly, the markets were so crowded and it was so hot out, plus the merchants are all so desperate to make a sale that it was a highly unpleasant experience. It's important to try to set aside your own cultural lens as much as you can in experiences like these. In Rishikesh, I was used to seeing white tourists; in Jaipur, white tourists are much more rare, and for that reason, when you walk through the markets, the merchants are seeing you as their chance to make a big sale because you presumably have a lot of money to spend (Kat and I found it a bit funny that people would try to sell us $900 CAD rugs - we're white, but we're poor young students when we come back home. We definitely didn't have $900 to spare, but it seemed that the Indian salespeople we encountered figured that if we had the money to get to India, we had the money to buy their most expensive rug). The picture below is the only one I took in the market. I should have bought that shirt.

After throwing up in the restaurant, we made a beeline back to our hotel room and stayed there (and had our first tuk tuk fiasco in the process - I will save you some time here: people don't read google maps in India. Get your driver to call your hotel owner, and they will give directions), in the blessed air conditioning, until we left for the airport the next morning.

varanasi

On to Varanasi! We loved this place. This was the second holy city that we visited, the first being Rishikesh, and it was magical.

Varanasi is known for its ghats, which are kind of like docks. Literally, the word ghat refers to wide steps that lead down to the water. Varanasi is situated on the Ganges River, and it has 88 ghats in series. When we arrived, we started exploring the ghats nearby our hostel. We ate delicious parathas for breakfast on our way out, and then walked along the river.

We walked out to the Burning Ghat, which is one of the major sites of the city. Here, people are cremated along the ghat on a raft, blessed by their families (usually only men, because tears when sending your loved one off are considered to be back luck for reincarnation). There are several major hospice facilities nearby. This was probably one of the most emotional parts of our trip - we were honoured that people let us watch this from a distance. It was quite surreal. Out of respect, we didn't take photos, so it's not pictured here.

Finally, we made our way to Assi Ghat, another of the most major ghats. We ate dinner and watched an impromptu soccer game from above. This ghat is lively, filled with loud music and lots of people. We were here during the evening because as the sun sets, there is a nightly gathering where holy people perform a ceremony. We took a boat ride out to watch from the water. It was amazing.

Then, it was chaos and scrambling to find a tuk tuk to overpay to take us home.

The next morning, we got up early for sunrise and make our way back to Assi. There is a daily yoga class held here, and we opted to watch rather than particpate.

That afternoon, we went back to the airport and flew out to see the Taj Mahal!

agra

Holy crap is Agra disorganized, even by Indian standards. We arrived in the airport and there was not a single taxi, bus, or way to leave the airport, nor was there anybody working there who had any answers. We waited for a long while, and were just on the verge of splitting a cab with strangers who had data on their phones when a big bus showed up. Agra is small and they assumed (correctly) that we were all staying near the city centre, close to the Taj. The driver asked us along the way which hostel we were going to, and made stops along the way to connect us with EXTREMELY expensive taxi drivers who would take us the rest of the way (always negotiate the price before getting into the cab).

First, we went to see the Red Fort, which is really the only other thing in Agra. It was impressive, but a little anticlimactic knowing where we were headed next. But, the man who built the Taj Mahal was eventually sent to prison in this fort for bankrupting the city with his expensive building plans, and there's a room where he stayed that you can see the Taj Mahal from.

We headed to the Taj a few hours before sunset so we'd get the best possible view during golden hour. It cost us about $20 CAD each to enter (the mandatory foreigner price) and it included skipping the line to enter the building and a tour guide.

The colour you see in the Taj Mahal looks like it's probably painted on, but they're actually individual carved gemstones. You can't see it by night, but apparently in the moonlight the crystals glow.

Needless to say, the Taj Mahal was unbelievable and a major highlight of the trip. It's well worth it even though it's out of the way. If I ever go back, I will absolutely go at sunrise instead of sunset when it's busy, but our schedule unfortunately didn't allow for that kind of flexibility. Our schedule also didn't let us fly out of Agra because there are only flights every couple of days, but Agra is undeniably a one-day-only stop. I can't recommend taking a taxi enough. It will be expensive. But do not take the train. I repeat, whatever you do, do NOT take the train. I will not go into details; just know that our trip back to Delhi did not go remotely smoothly.

The Delhi airport was our last stop before getting on a (very delayed) flight to Nepal. (I think Nepal deserves its own post, so stay tuned).

India is a magical country. There are parts of my trip that I can only explain as truly mystical. My favourite city by far was Rishikesh (although I may be biased), and my traveling highlights were the Amber Fort in Jaipur, the Taj Mahal in Agra, and the burning ghat in Varanasi. Before going India, you need to know that the Indian summer is to be avoided at all costs for Canadians like me, and that this will be the trip of a lifetime but it will be work.You will not be relaxed, but you will be rewarded.

I hope some day you get to expereince these wonderful places, and when you do, I want to hear all about it. Namaste, friends.