Pink Cities and Taj Mahals

I had quite the introduction to India in Mumbai and I was more than ready to do some more exploring in this crazy country. At first I wasn’t sure at all where to go after Mumbai. I was first thinking of going South to Goa, the party capital of India, but my new Indian friends had all told me to go North first because it was starting to warm up and soon enough it would be wayyy too hot to enjoy anything in that area. So go north I did, and it was still already really, really hot. First stop: Jaipur, as recommended by my Indian friend from Mumbai, Akshay. Jaipur is the capital of the region of Rajasthan, which is one of India’s most famous and most visited regions. It’s mostly desert climate with a hot and intense dry heat. I quickly began to experience this heat shortly after I arrived. I sweated the entire time I was there.

Hawa Mahal

Jaipur is also known as the “Pink City” because of its old, gated historical center which is highlighted by its pink-colored buildings and gates. It’s quite picturesque and makes for a really cool place to walk around. I visited most of the touristy sites: forts, views, monkey temples, and palaces, and it was all worth a visit. I also had my first experience of illness from the food. I decided it was a good idea to try some free local street food at a little community function that was going on down the street from my hostel. It was a cool experience but it didn’t take long after eating that I already started to feel the stomach pain from the not-so-high quality free Indian street food. It kept me up all night and set me back a day, but I was fine after that.

I decided to go from Jaipur straight to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and get that out of the way. The Taj Mahal was obviously one of the reasons I had decided last minute to come to India anyway, and I was getting a little anxious to see it. I stayed one night there and caught it early in the morning for sunrise. My group was some of the first people to show up there and it was just incredible. Obviously one of the highlights of India for me so far, the Taj really does look even better in person. And the lack of crowds, cooler temperature, and beautiful lighting of the sunrise make for the perfect time of day to see it. I wouldn’t go to India just to see the Taj, but people actually do come to India just to see it for a reason. It really is an incredible piece of marble, and don’t let the excessive-mainstream-buildup-tourism prevent you from visiting it because it lives up to the hype.

Since we got up for sunrise I was already finished with the Taj by 9am, and decided to catch a bus to Delhi that day. Delhi’s the capital city, and is known to be a pretty hectic and intimidating place. There’s plenty of scammers and commission-seekers riddling the streets searching for Western prey, trying all they can to get as many rupees from your pocket into theirs as possible. This wasn’t entirely new to me however, and no scammers would benefit from my interaction. Instead, my experience led me to have some fun and comedic conversations with these would-be commission seekers, and each interaction led up to a persistent ‘no, thank you’ from my side that led them searching elsewhere. It was fun but exhausting, walking around with these guys coming up to you all the time trying to get something out of you. But nevertheless, it’s all part of the experience.

The coolest thing I saw in Delhi was the Akshardham Temple. A friend had recommended it to me and it was absolutely stunning. I hadn’t been to many temples yet, but so far I’ve been really impressed. This thing was huge, but the most impressive part was how intricately carved the walls of the temple were. Everywhere you looked there was a sculpture of a God, elephant, some religious symbol, or intricate pattern, which totaled to around 20,000 sculptures surrounding the building. It was yet another stunning site seen and another successful day in India.

From Dubai to Mumbai

Oh India, where do I begin. I arrived in India and had by far the biggest culture shock of my life, plain and simple. I landed in Mumbai and immediately got hustled for money when a gentlemen started filling out my immigration forms for me and asked for a tip (this was BEFORE the passport control!). I actually didn’t have a single bill to give the guy so I got them filled out for free, but still.. I had to wait a bit for my couchsurfing host, Vikash, to wake up and direct me to his place from the airport since I arrived at 4:00 in the morning. I really wanted to couchsurf in Mumbai for my first stop in India, mainly for a proper introduction to the culture here and also because I knew I would have a million questions about how everything worked. So I was really happy to have Vikash host me during my time in Mumbai.

When it was time for me to leave the airport and head towards his place, I hopped in a cab and everything hit me. The sights and sounds were all new. First off, I didn’t realize India drove on the left side of the road, so there’s that. Second, rickshaws (or tuk tuks or autos) as they’re called. These little things are EVERYWHERE, and act as mini cabs but are much cheaper. They’re basically tricycles with roofs and motors and they’re very useful and cheap when trying to get around a city of over 20 million people. After that cab from the airport I’ve stuck to rickshaws. They’re fun and it’s a good experience. Also people are EVERYWHERE. Mumbai is the biggest city I’ve ever been to and there’s people all over the place. Driving in the street is absolute chaos that somehow ends up working out. Horns honk everywhere all the time. It’s rude not to honk your horn. There has never been a time where no one is honking their horn… ever.

Vikash was an amazing host. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Mumbai. We went out the first night I arrived and I met all his friends and we had an amazing time. He lived about an hour away from the central part of the city (the city is so big that just about everything is an hour away) so I had to take a local train into the city center. I will never learn how the train system works, but somehow it does and there’s no doors so you can just hop on and hang out the doorway while you cruise through the railways of Mumbai and catch some breeze. It’s not safe but it’s really fun. I sat in the ladies compartment the first time I took the train which was embarrassing and really funny.

People stare at me like I’m an alien because I look a little different from your typical Indian. India is where I’ve stood out the most on my trip so it’s somewhat new for people to just stare at me wherever I go. It’s sort of cool though because I also get kids and people that just want to say hello to me and I’ve had a few take a picture with me just because I’m different. I feel like a celebrity sometimes, so I know what that feels like now.

My new Indian friend, who wanted to take a picture with me on the train

On maybe the second day in India I was walking around listening to music when an Indian guy approached me and asked if I was German. I told him that I’m American and he began talking to me, asking me questions about my trip and how long I was in Mumbai for, etc. He told me he worked with a school that had international branches in other countries and he’s really interested in just interacting with a foreign person. I didn’t have time at that moment to hang out but we exchanged numbers and he wanted to arrange to meet up the next day. I was definitely a little hesitant to meet up since he approached me out of the blue and this was my second day in India, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I texted him my concern and made him add me on Facebook which created a hilarious reaction from him. But he turned out to be a real person and when we met up he told me all of the cool sites to see in Mumbai and even drove me around on his scooter to see some of the sites. He took me to get some of the local food in town and we had a great interaction. Akshay helped me out a lot with getting familiar with the city and he gave me a rough itinerary for the rest of my time in India as well. He even helped me book a train to my next city. He took me to the train station and everything. This was an amazing introduction to the Indian hospitality, and between Akshay and Vikash I had a great experience with the Indian people so far.

People had told me that for the first two weeks I would hate India because it takes some time to adjust to the culture shock here, and after that I would begin to love it. But to be honest I don’t think I’ve needed two weeks to adjust. Mumbai proved to be a solid first step in my adjustment to the India way of life, and this was only the beginning.