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.

A Day in Dubai

The world's tallest building was too tall to fit in the picture

It was time to begin the next chapter of the trip. From Istanbul I would fly overnight to Dubai. I purposely booked my flight so I could have a nice long layover in Dubai for a day before hopping on another overnight flight to Mumbai, India. To be honest, I was a little sad leaving Istanbul, and this half of the world for that matter. Europe has always been my favorite area of the world to visit and Istanbul became one of my favorite cities that I’ve visited. But it was time to move on, and the next thing I knew I was on my way to Dubai.

I was already familiar with some of the things to do in Dubai, which is why I wanted to spend a day there. It worked out perfect too because this place was wayy too expensive to spend more than a day at on this trip. But yea, Dubai is home to what is currently the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, as well as some insane malls and luxurious accommodations and attractions. This place pretty much blew me away as soon as I arrived. It reminded me of Vegas, but with more money and it’s an actual city. The first place I went to was the Burj Khalifa, and I planned to go to the top. They don’t actually take you to the top, but they take you to the 124th floor (out of 163) which is still pretty high, much higher than any of the other surrounding skyscrapers. So it was still a really nice view, with the Persian Gulf on one side and desert forever on the other. It’s a really tall building and it was very, very impressive to look at; more so from the bottom than the top.

After walking around the Burj for a while I walked through the Dubai Mall for a bit, which was overwhelming, and then the Mall of the Emirates, which was also overwhelming. These malls have every store ever created, as well as waterfalls, ice skating rinks, and even an indoor ski resort (which is why I went to the Mall of the Emirates). So I got to go snowboarding in Dubai, and although the hill was much less impressive than the actual mountain I still had a lot of fun. After some snowboarding, I wanted to check out the Burj Al Arab (7 star hotel and most luxurious in the world) but unfortunately they won’t let you in without a reservation, and even more unfortunately… I didn’t have a reservation. I went to the beach for a bit and made my way back to the airport to prepare for the next flight, the one that would take me to India.

Shredding some pow at the mall in Dubai

But real quick, one thing that really surprised me about Dubai was the amount of Westerners I saw there. Everybody speaks English more than anything else and I swear I saw more Americans there than I’ve even seen in America. I don’t exactly know the story behind why there were so many Americans there and less locals (I know Dubai is probably a tax haven and shopping capital for anyone who has money) but it really surprised me quite a bit, and it was hard to wrap my head around any particular culture that existed here because there wasn’t much authenticity to the place. All in all, a good trip to Dubai. I might go back if it’s ever on the way to anywhere I go in the future.

Balloons

After my major miracle in Istanbul, there was one other place in Turkey I really wanted to go to that was still worth visiting this time of year. It's called Cappadocia, and it reminds me a lot of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. It's basically composed of a ton of volcanic rock formations that took shape a bunch of years ago into these trippy spire-like formations that encompass the entire landscape right in the middle of Turkey. It's a pretty incredible place and perfect for the outdoors. Hiking, biking, camping, and hot air ballooning are all popular here. The must-do is the hot air balloons. Of course they're a little pricey, so I was debating with myself over whether to do them or not. I was with my Portuguese and French friends, Tiago and Antoine, who I had met in Tel Aviv in the cab on the way to the airport and who had stayed with me in Istanbul. We decided to all go to Cappadocia and we had an awesome hike on the first day. I felt like I was on another planet after seeing the size and shape of some of these strange rocks surrounding me everywhere.

On the second day, Tiago and I took to the skies and decided to get ourselves a hot air balloon ride. We had to wake up nice and early to catch our ride, which provided us with an incredible and memorable sunrise from above. It was definitely one of the coolest things I did on this trip. I highly recommend doing one of these rides, especially if you ever find yourself in Cappadocia. I had never been in a hot air balloon before and I was surprised at how smooth the ride was. They squeezed about 24 of us in one basket, which was a little tight, but other than that it was a great ride. There must’ve been over 30 other balloons in the sky with us. It was really a sight to see, and the views were unreal. The pilot was a pro, and would guide the balloon literally inches away from some of the rock formations as we flew at low altitude. As we gently cruised through the narrow valleys below, we eventually began to elevate to a height of almost 700 meters, which gave us the best view of the surrounding area. This is when things got a little scary, being suspended in a small basket in the sky at a high altitude made me feel pretty small in the grand scheme of the endless horizon surrounding us, but it was such a peaceful and surreal feeling. We then began to gently descend, and landed safely; not bad for getting back to the hostel at 7:30 in the morning. With the rest of the day ahead of us, the first thing I needed was a nap.

Sunrise in Cappadocia

We spent the rest of the day walking around a bit more, but nothing too crazy. The last thing we did was meet up with some of Tiago’s Portuguese friends who were also visiting coincidentally, and we all saw a beautiful sunset from a perfect viewpoint. With views of both sunrise and sunset that day it was time to get some sleep. I was pretty satisfied with my time in Cappadocia after that balloon ride, and the following morning we headed back to Istanbul.

I only had a day or two left in Istanbul when I got back, and all I had to do was pick up my Indian visa and prepare for what would be not just the next leg of the journey, but the next chapter of my entire adventure. I had officially committed to taking this trip around the world at this point, and India would be the bridge to take me from Europe into Asia. I spoke to quite a few people on my trip who had traveled to India and heard some pretty incredible things. Incredible things that had to do with the not just sights to see, but the way that India alone can change your life and completely transform your perspective on traveling and experiencing new cultures. This place sounded like the ultimate destination for the experienced traveler; the holy grail, the big challenge. I was more than willing to challenge myself to see if I could do it, and this is what partly led to my decision. I was so excited to go to a completely new place. I had been mostly traveling through Europe for the last 6 months and I was ready for something new. This was the beginning of when everything that I thought about traveling and culture would begin to change.

Miracles of Istanbul

After my amazing 12 days in Israel/Jordan/Palestine it was time to return back home to Istanbul, which was acting as my base for a couple side trips in this part of the world.

I got back to Istanbul and that very night was the beginning of a crazy story that starts off as a really bad situation that could have gotten a lot worse, and ends in a complete miracle. This is the story of how I got my phone stolen and miraculously got it back in a city of over 15 million people:

I went out with a friend I met through couchsurfing in Istanbul the same night I got back from Israel and had a few drinks. Okay, maybe more than a few drinks. But it was a good time, in fact it was so good that after my friend returned home for the night I wanted to continue going out, and tried looking around for some bars and places to hang out at, but almost everything was closed in the wee hours of the morning. During my late night stumble into what I thought was the direction of my hostel, I was walking down a narrow street, and in front of me was a group of four guys about my age and probably Turkish who were going the opposite direction. They definitely had a few drinks themselves, and one of them in particular decided to bump into me. Bad idea, so I immediately turned around and knocked him out cold in one swing, taking care of his three other friends shortly after that. It was fun. Just kidding, the other guy actually swung at me first, which was pretty easy to dodge given his lack of stability from a little too many beverages that night. He began yelling at me in some other language which didn't turn out to be that intimidating, but he kept swinging and swinging, and in the process of this my phone fell from my hand to the ground. When I tried to retrieve it from the ground there was a drunken tornado of arms blocking my way so I had to step back and wait for the group of hooligans to continue their way up the rest of the street, and when I went to the spot where I saw the phone fall, it was missing.

This unfortunate situation made it very difficult to find my hostel that night and I spent a good couple hours meandering through random streets going in who knows what direction, trying to ask anybody that was left awake for directions and help to find the cheese at the end of this maze. After asking everyone in the city and calling the hostel a couple times, somehow I found my way back just as the sun began to rise. As Istanbul began to wake up, it was my turn to sleep and worry about the phone situation the next day.

The next day I woke up to a hangover without a phone. I know it might sound lame to make such a big deal out of losing my phone but this thing had worked so well with streamlining everything during my travels that it became my most important asset. It also acted as my camera and it had all of my Jerusalem pictures still on it with no backup. I was willing to get this thing back or replace it by any means, so the first thing I did was turn on the 'Find my iPhone' function via laptop to lock my phone and display a message stating that my phone was lost and 'please call this number (my Dad's American phone number)' if found. Later that day the phone popped up on the GPS tracker through 'Find my iPhone' and I even got the local police involved. They actually took me to the area that was shown up on the phone but we couldn't find anything.

I went back to the hostel and just as I got on the phone (via Skype) with the phone company to get a replacement, my Dad messages me via Facebook saying that some Turkish guy called him and said he had my phone and gave my Dad his number. My Dad gave me the number, we contacted the Turkish guy, and met up with this guy at his shop, and sure enough, he had the phone. It was pretty amazing. I just couldn't believe that it actually worked. The guy that had my phone wasn't the guy that stole it, but was someone who the thief must've taken the phone to to get rid of since my phone was locked and he couldn't do anything with it. The SIM card was missing for some strange reason but I got a new one, and everything was somehow miraculously back to normal.

Unbelievable. I swear I've had some of the best interactions with Turkish people. This fully supports my idea of the vast majority of people being genuinely good in this world and was another highlight of humanity that I experienced during this trip, among countless. I can't get enough of good stories like this, and the more I travel, the more great things I see happening. Some may not be as miraculous as this, but I still experience genuine acts of kindness from most people on a day to day basis, and I'll remember this experience for quite sometime.