India ~ The Golden Triangle

I had a great time my first trip to India. We visited Mondavi to marvel at the painted havelli’s and went to Jaipur to see the Pink City. We went up to the Amber Fort on the back of an elephant and came back down in a jeep. We traversed the bazaar in a rickshaw and risked our lives taking a “put-put” through the city – the drivers are CRAZY – they make Costa Rican drivers seem like hesitant senior citizens…

How it works is if you start passing and someone is coming the other direction, you just hold the horn down, and one of you has to drive off the side of the road or slam on the brakes – usually whomever has the smaller vehicle chickens out first – what a system !

We met some incredible salesmen who sold us carpets !

The food is AMAZING – I am going to have to start skipping a meal a day or they will have to return me to the plane in a wheelbarrow – all these multiple course meals – and everything tastes to good, you have to try a bit of everything !

We drove through Gondowa City – where a lot of telemarketing has been outsourced to – and saw huge towers housing tens of thousands of Indians answering US customer service calls – now I have a picture in my mind the next time I get frustrated with a customer service person with broken English…

We watched a Hindu cremation ceremony and spoke to wise old blind Gurus.

We went to Rantambor National Park and checked into a “rustic” hotel one mile from the Park gates. We stayed in the end cabin, about 50 feet from the stone wall of the park itself.

After we checked in, Shukla, our waiter, told us a man had been eaten by a tiger 15 days ago … the fence was only about 4 feet high – strolling the grounds in the evening became pretty unappealing !

In the park, we had an INCREDIBLE view of a large female tiger – she walked right by us, about 10 meters from the jeep, and we followed her down the track as she was stalking her dinner.

The aggressive monkeys were actually jumping down from the trees and bouncing off the jeep as we drove by them. The peacocks strutted around with tails fully opened – the colors God gave them are vividly beautiful !

Taj Mahal

We drove to Agra and woke up at a ridiculous hour to get to the Taj Mahal for sunrise – it is a TRULY SPECTACULAR sight – an immense building covered with white marble and jewels – this was one of those “once in a lifetime” mornings…

I can’t even imagine the money they spent to build it, and can’t imagine anything similar ever being built again – the pictures just don’t do it justice !

South India

Let me tell you, Goa is a little piece of Paradise on Earth !

Sandy golden beaches fringed with palm trees, warm water, blue skies and sunshine.

Right in the palm tree line are little Coco Huts on stilts they build every year and rent for about $3 USD per night, overlooking the Arabian Sea.

Believe it or not, I took a boat tour just after dawn to see the dolphins playing off the island at the point of the beach, and then on to visit Butterfly Beach (wearing my anti-seasick wristbands and eating Gravol pills).

The atmosphere is so laid back and everyone I met is so friendly – it is a different world than Northern India.

We met guitar-playing Irishmen, backpacking Norweigians, and hilarious Scots !!!

By your second day all the locals are calling you by name and asking how you are…

Lots of incredible old Portuguese churches and architecture in the surrounding towns, beach after beach practically deserted – you can walk for miles without seeing a soul.

I really enjoyed Palolem – the locals have all risen up and prevented any large hotels from being built, so it is all small local places to stay, eat and drink.

I don’t think a trip to India would be complete without experiencing a bit of Goa – the sunsets were amazing !