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Our week in India had up untill Rishikesh been mostly wet and foggy. Rishikesh was also hot and humid and made you sweat even when you just stood still. At least I did. Nothing of what we had seen so far wasn't really interesting, although in fairness, the weather probably was much to blame for that.
The six of us who had left the group in Pakistan rejoined the truck in Rishikesh. The others had been stuck in Rawalpindi for four nights, in Lahore for another four nights and gone directly from Lahore to Rishikesh by driving more or less continuously for 26 hours. I'm so glad we left and did the India part on our own. But after the India experience we'd had so far some of us weren't really keen on continuing on the itinerary of the trip. The plan was to visit some national parks but because of the rain season they were closed and there was no real reason to go there. So after some discussions it ended with one of the guys leaving the trip overall and going back home and two of us leaving the trip to do an alternative route up to Kathmandu. Benedict and I decided we would rather go to Dehli and Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
We took the bus from Rishikesh down to Dehli, a trip that is supposed to take about 6 hours. That must be on a good day and ours wasn't. It took us over an hour on the first couple of miles and we weren't in Dehli untill about 10 hours after we left Rishikesh. It was a loooooong bus drive. Interesting driving (the driver folded his hands as if in a prayer when he sat down, don't know if that's a good thing or not) but the bus had seen better days, the seats were not great and trip was in general too long. Still, taking a bus in India has added to the experience.
Our stay in Dehli was very comfortable thanks to a friend of mine who works at the Norwegian Embassy there. So for three nights we stayed at the embassy, enjoying the luxury of a soft bed, Western living, embassy driver and cooked meals. And it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else we had stayed!
Sunday we spent in Dehli but we weren't really that keen on seeing it so we had a very nice and lazy morning with a good breakfast (with Norwegian brown cheese!) and the newspapers. Her driver was nice enough to drive us around the city for a few hours so we got to see some of it. Probably wouldn't have bothered if we didn't have a driver.
Monday we went to Agra on a day trip. First we went to Taj Mahal and it is just as beautiful as everybody has described it to be. I won't even try to. Just being there was amazing. The Taj, the park and the surroundings, everything just amazing. Fortunately it was not raining but it wasn't too hot either. And it wasn't as busy as we feared so in fact it was perfect. After Taj we had lunch in a small dodgy restaurant before we went to Agra Fort. We were taking the train back to Dehli later the same afternoon so we had some time to kill (except the Taj Mahal and the fort, Agra hasn't really much to offer). So we just sat on the grass relaxing and watching the chipmunks running around in the fort gardens. Nice. After that we had a look at the fort and it is really nice. A lot bigger than I first thought. We didn't have a guide but it is still interesting to see how they have built the fort and just imagine how people have lived there throughout different times.
When finally back in Dehli we realised how tired we were and how long the day had been. We were really glad to stay in a private home and come back to a set table and supper (thank you, Nova!). Especially when we had to get up in an ungodly hour the next day (again) to take the train to Lucknow.
In general the train experiences in India have been good. Even the second class seats were all right and the toilets were surprisingly clean. And no complaints about the service so I would say that the train is the preferred way of travelling in India.
We arrived in Lucknow and had the usual hazzle with the rickshaw drivers before we could head towards the guest house we had picked out. We had a really hard time finding the place and when we finally did it looked worse and costed more than expected. And when they gave us a different room than they had showed us we decided not to stay there, we just didn't have a good feeling about the place. So then we had to find somewhere else. We couldn't be bothered with the rickshaws so we started walking. It was a long, hot and sweaty walk and we were only partly sure of where we were. We chose one guest house that was in the guide book but it was very difficult to find it, basically we had to go through a restaurant to get there. Not a very good start. Then we had to go through the dark, damp and dirty back yard of the buildings, past the kitchen (not very inviting). Up some stairs and we were showed a room. It was small with a tiny and not very nice bathroom and a very scary-looking fan working as an A/C. Later we eeven discovered ants in the bed. But we were too tired and too hot to care so we ended up taking that room even if it was worse than the one we had declined. I still have an unknown number of ant bites in the weirdest of places to remind me of that room. Ah well, I guess it just adds to the experience.
We had read about Lucknow in the guide book where it said that Lucknow had many interesting historical buildings from the colonial time and is also a good place for eating and drinking. I must admit that in that sense it was a bit disappointing. First of all, as we got to experience right a way, it was very difficult to find places in Lucknow, especially hotels and restaurant. One night we walked around for hours trying to find somewhere semi-decent place to eat. Secondly, you could see that the buildings had once been very grand and beautiful but they were all falling apart and were in desperate need of maintenance. Thirdly, the rubbish and poverty is so evident in this place, making it depressing.
Still, we had a good time in Lucknow, walking around just looking at the place, seeing the old town and experience the friendliness and openness of the people there, watching the flood, being stopped by the tourist police for no apparent reason, having a few drinks in the most tacky sports bar ever... It was good.
From Lucknow we headed off to Nepal. First the train to Gorakhpur and then directly to Sonauli in a taxi (first stated to cost 1100 rupees but Benedict got it down to 500 rupees). The whole trip went smoothly and we got to see the Indian country side a bit (would probably have seen more had I been awake). The border crossing was also the easiest so far. Just a stamp on the Indian side, a short walk and then welcome to Nepal. The paper work took about 5 min even though there were quite a few people there and no checking of the bags whatsoever. Nice!
We could have gone directly with the bus to Kathmandu but seeing that we had been travelling all day and the bus ride takes about 10 hours we found it best to just stay the night in the small border town of Sonauli. Not very nice, not very interesting but a place to rest before heading on. However, I would have rested better was it not for the mosquitos and bugs. The room was actually smaller and worse than the one in Lucknow: the drain from the sink just went down to the floor, claiming the shower to work would be an overstatement and the toilet leaked on the floor. Not nice. Another experience, I guess...
Next, Kathmandu.
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