Here I is:-) Hope you're well and thriving! I'm having the time of my life in India. Getting here was more than 2o hours of travel and it was sooooo worth it! I spent my first night in Delhi at a friend Barbara's apartment. She was hosting 2 other travelers as well, Jacob from the States and Ben from New Zealand. 2 other locals were there and we had a nice evening.
The next day I went into Delhi with Jacob and was instantly overwhelmed with sights, sounds, colors, smells, people, traffic, horn blowing, etc. All this on dirty narrow overcrowed streets. It was surreal but I got into the rhythm farely quickly and was glad that I was at least with someone who knew the ropes. Jacob had walking into twisted un-named backstreets where I ran head on into my first India cow in the hood! They blend into the landscape now but that first one looked as out of place to me as a monkey in a living room, surreal! Jacob looked away from where he was walking for an instant and slipped in some poo...let's just say, it was not a 4 legged animal's. We met up with some of his friends (Jacob had already been in Delhi a few days) who took us to a lunch spot and later a chai spot where we people watched. I got to learn a few words in Hindi and how to bargain by a master.
I booked a train ticket to Agra for my Taj Mahal excursion and looked forward to getting out of Delhi. Another local travel host took Barbara and I around to see India Gateway (massive doorway) and The Lotus Temple (B'Hai faith) which were amazingly beautiful and serene enough to have a mini prayer\meditation session.
I rode a 2 hr trainride to Agra the next morning. Shared the car with 2 Japanese fellows who were a delight, very friendly and sweet. Some local Indian men 18-20yrs old joined us in our train car to chat. First there was 1 then eventually, about 8-10. They were on their way to boot camp training and had a 36hr train ride to get there. They were from the Punjab region whre I now will one day have to visit. They taught me a few more words of Hindi and were a delight to hang out with.
The 2 Japanese men rode an auto rickshaw into town together and stayed at the same hotel where we could walk up to the rooftop and see The Taj. She took my breath away so that all I could say was, '...thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God! That's all I could get out. Explored the town by foot and it was a smaller scale of Delhi with people wanting you to see their shops, buy things, make deals, etc. but it was every time you made a step, intense hustle going on but I booked a tour for the next day that would include The Taj., The Red Fort, Baby Taj, and other points of interests.
The next day, it was all about the Taj first, the marble, quartz, details and shear scale of it was mindblowing. It was flanked by identical red structures that were very amazing to see also. Saw lots of green parrots, monkeys, and the insides of the temples which housed the tomb of the beloved wife for which the Taj was built.
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