Verbalizing

Hampi to Delhi via Goa: After purchasing “luxury/air-con sleeper bus” tickets with a quoted journey duration of 11 hours, Iggy and I discovered that we had been duped these tickets were not quite what they were advertised to be, causing us to acknowledge the truth that expectations bring one nothing but suffering.  We had opted to leave Hampi by bus instead of by train, and were headed back to Goa to catch a flight up north to Delhi.  Since our train from Goa to Hampi just a few days prior had taken a little less than 7 hours, we figured that leaving Hampi 20 hours before our flight was scheduled to depart from Goa seemed like a prudent move.  I imagine you can see where this story is going…  I’ll go ahead and skip to the good part (and leave out the details of the lack of “luxury”, the strange coffin-like contraption that Iggy and I were forced to squeeze into – for 17 hours) and tell you that we did, in fact, make our flight.  But not without some nail-biting and voodoo hexes laid on the dickheads associated the “luxury” bus operation.

Delhi: We arrived to the cold evening air and wide boulevards of Delhi, breathing a sigh of relief (finally we weren’t sweating!). In general, I was pleasantly surprised with the city as a whole.  Delhi was my first city to visit on my previous trip to India back in 2004.  At the time, and considering it was my first time traveling alone and my first time traveling in a developing country (unless you count Costa Rica or the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico), I was completely overwhelmed by Delhi and went away with an impression that it was the armpit of India.  I’m not sure what factors influenced my opinion of the city this second time around – perhaps because it was our last city and we had built up our travel savvy, perhaps because we were two instead of one, or perhaps because it has changed a bit in 6 years – but I gotta say that I really, really liked it.  The city has a fantastic metro system (that strangely resembles the Tube in London), there is a city ordinance that all cars and motorized rickshaws use CNG instead of petrol (which makes a HUGE difference in air quality), and Delhi boasts a lively arts scene and outdoor shopping/cafe culture.  Igz and I discovered the latter on our final day in country and wished we had more time to explore this aspect of the city.  Like in many of the other cities and towns we visited on our trip, we aimed to spend part of our energy exploring “the sights”  and part of it just walking around, taking photos, and popping into establishments that advertised espresso.  Due to this factor, while Delhi has A LOT of “must-see attractions”, we only saw a couple of them.  Also, we were saving ourselves for the motherload (!!!)…

While in Delhi, we arranged to take a 24-hour trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.  Agra is a mere 2.5 hours by train from Delhi (at least according to the train timetables), so we set out for a day trip with nothing but our cameras, some cash, and a change of clothes, leaving our packs at our hotel in Delhi.  It was freeing to travel so light!  It was exciting to be headed to the Taj!   Our grand plan was to catch the 230 pm train out of Delhi, which dropped us in Agra around 500 pm, leaving us plenty of time to reach our hotel before dark and before the cold set in (Agra is higher and drier than Delhi and subsequently much colder in winter).  At 230 pm we were on the train platform, chatting with a friendly German guy when we heard the announcement that our train had been delayed 4 hours.  Being used to travel being more arduous than expected, this little delay did nothing to ruffle our feathers and we made the best of it by grabbing a bite to eat and poking around an underground (literally) bazaar.   So what if we got to Agra a little late…  At 630 pm we arrived back at the train station to find that the train was delayed (again) until 730 pm, and then again until 830 pm.  At 945 pm, our train started to move, only to stop at several places and just sit on the tracks (we think the delays were due to fog but there was never any explanation).  Around 1030 pm, we began moving pretty steadily – fast enough for a SERIOUS wintry draft to blow through the sleeper class bunk we were hunkered down on, yet still slow enough for the journey to last a very long time.  The others on the train somehow got the memo because they all brought along thick blankets and were cozied up and snoring.  We, on the other hand, were not prepared.  Remember that bit about traveling light?  All we had were the clothes on our backs, very light jackets, and the change of clothes in our day packs.  So we huddled.  And we shivered.  And we did not sleep like the rest of our traveling companions.  And I wept (semi-dramatically).  And at 3 am, we finally arrived.  And we hauled our frost-bitten booties onto the nearest rickshaw that shuttled us, at roaring speed, to our hotel (we estimated the temperature outside to be around 40 F and in the speed of the open rickshaw, with us lacking any semblance of warm clothing, we estimated the temperature to be about minus 1000 F).  After arriving in our hotel room (sans heat) at around 330 am, we tucked under two measly wool blankets and slept for almost 3 whole hours.  Since we were after the early morning light and wanted to get some shots of the Taj without a hundred million tourists, we had to motivate early.  By 7 am we were entering the gates, the grounds were practically empty, the light was perfect…. and the Taj was…. obscured by fog.  I’m not kidding.  And that is the story of how I got pneumonia.  OK, I’m kidding about that part.  But yes, the Taj really was obscured.

Delhi to San Francisco: 48 hours later, Igz and I were in a cab on our way to Delhi International to begin our journey home.  The cab ride was most bittersweet: full of excited anticipation to return home to our lives in San Francisco, and equally full of sadness that our adventure in the subcontinent was coming to a close.  We almost welcomed the flight to be delayed (cuz that’s how traveling is in India), but surprisingly it wasn’t.  Surprisingly, our flight departed and arrived (in Tapei) and departed again and arrived again (at SFO) all according to the timetables listed on our e-ticket.  As the hours of the flight breezed by, I knew I was coming closer to living out my fantasy of a hot bath, a big salad, a delicious glass of California wine, my kitties, and a peaceful night of sleep in my bed.  But I also knew that I was pulling up the tenuous roots laid down on Indian soil, and searching to understand how best I could hold on to the lessons I learned and the sprinkles of radiant brilliance that country offers.