India - part one, the north

The Taj Mahal - and yes I actually took this!

Ok so quick intro really. Sorry I've not blogged in a while now as I was away enjoying myself wayy too much in India! I had the most amazing time, with one of my best friends, backpacking as much as we could of this huge country in just two weeks. I've broken it up into two posts as don't want to have a giant rambling post and it seemed to naturally split into two, first being the north and second the south. I won't lie these will probably still be lengthy posts, we did ALOT, so I'll break it up into each area we went to,so you can jump to a certain bit easily if you want to. I also plan on putting up a few small posts with top tips and what to pack sort of thing as I struggled to find much recent info on this before I went. Really hope you like & if you have any comments or anything just message me on my Instagram thats linked on the front page of my blog!

Spice markets in Delhi

Delhi

We landed into Delhi and as a first place to hit in India I would definitely describe it as being thrown into the deep end! Everything is just so full on and intense, from the relentless horn honking, the 5 cars/mopeds/cows deep the traffic is to the sheer amount of people. Delhi has an approximate population of 18.6 million and you feel that immediately. Its just chaos! I think we must of sat in our hostel looking anxiously out the window for about an hour before we decided to brave it outside! When we eventually did, we were lucky with our hostel, Gostops, as it has a subway stop right outside the door. We'd heard about the markets of Chandni Chowk so thought they'd be best place to start. They wern't! We were expecting stalls and things like that, it was just a main road with loads of shops on it.

Tuk Tuk view

We then took refuge in a cycle tuk tuk (I have no idea what you call these?!) & got peddled around the streets to see the main spice selling area, the red fort (which was closed that day - although apparently not worth paying to get into) and just the streets in general. On the one hand I would say it was a great way to see things and get around easier, however on the other hand make sure you set the price before you get in as we ended up literally being taken for a ride! (Like what I did there?) We definitely paid far too much for our hour cycle, about 1,000 rupees which we later realised gets you a hell of a lot out here! But live and learn eh. After this madness we were starving & couldn't be bothered to walk far. Ended up having an amazing meal in Chor Bizarre, however really expensive (for India) at about £20. Halfway through we realised we could of halved the amount we ordered and also that this was one of the oldest restaurants in Delhi, with other restaurants in Mayfair and New York ... so a little above our budget level! However, I'd still say it was worth it with delicious tomato based lamb and chicken curries, stuffed naan bread, huge pot of vegetable mixed rice and poppadoms with all the extras & some beers, naturally. We just had the one night in Delhi, before making our way to Agra. We decided to book a deal with the hostel, which was a tuk tuk to the bus station, the bus ticket to Agra, a night in their hostel there and a tour guide for our Taj Mahal visit plus breakfast, lunch and dinner. It cost about 1,500 rupees I think & we feel it ended up being a good deal.

Delhi markets

Need a ride?

Agra
We got the bus about midday to head to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. The bus station was interesting...a few families taking showers in the toilets there and most of the buses looking like they'd seen better days, including ours! But even with us being in this clapped out old Volvo coach, it had wifi on it, can you believe it?! So the 3 hour journey wasn't too bad. Driving in a tuk tuk from the bus stop to our hostel, Agra didn't seem any calmer than Delhi had been before. Just as much organised chaos on the roads as before! As we had the Taj first thing in the morning we just had a chilled one in the hostel, where we had dinner as well (Paneer curry - a creamy tomato curry with cheese very popular in India). We met a cool aussie guy, called Sam, in the common room so just messed around playing games with him. We were up at about 5am to do the Taj Mahal for sunrise, with Sam deciding to tag along with us too. I would highly recommend getting a guide to take you round, for a number of reasons. Firstly you get in quicker as our guide, Karthik, went and bought the tickets for us while we queued. Also you really need to learn all about how it was built and the little details to really appreciate it's beauty and magnitude. I think we were also really lucky having Karthik in particular & if there's anyway you can request him I would totally suggest you do! He was great with all the info and everything but it was his photography skills that were brilliant, getting us really unique perspectives and some brilliant shots that you can see in these couple of photos!

The Taj Mahal didn't disappoint and seeing it at sunrise was really special
too, as, as the sun got higher in the sky you got to see the building change in colour and it was just beautiful. It also wasn't as busy as I thought it would be so you could take some great photographs without too many people in the way which was great. We got back to the hostel in time for breakfast and then had a little nana nap on the big pillow area in the common room. Aussie Sam had to go off to hunt for KFC, so me and my Sam went for a wander round the streets a bit. We had a little bevvie in a cool bar called Mocha & then walked back to the hostel after. It wasn't planned but we ended up being out when the all the school kids were coming home and they were so, so cute in their little uniforms, all smiles and saying hello to us.

In the city streets

We headed back to the hostel, picked up aussie Sam & headed to the Mughal Gardens for sunset, to get another perspective on the Taj Mahal from across the river. Its only a short tuk tuk ride away and well worth it to get another view of the amazing Taj Mahal and to just chill there for a bit as the sun goes down. We finished our time in Agra with an amazing meal back at Mocha, with Sam and another lady we'd met whilst in the gardens & with a few too many local Kingfisher beers. They'll help us sleep on the coach to Varanassi, right?!

On Diana's bench

Views of the Taj Mahal from the Mughal Gardens

Varanassi
To get to Varanassi we booked an overnight sleeper bus from Agra. All I can say is if you book one, make sure you do not get given the very back beds like we were. Oh. My. God. I am not exaggerating when I say we were getting thrown clear into the air when the bus went over a big bump! Which with the roads over there I'm sure you can imagine was a lot! We started off laughing our heads off every time it happened, but 8 hours or so in I was not laughing anymore! We arrived totally knackered, which was not ideal either! We were staying in a lovely little hostel called, hostel La Vie, which was like an oasis in the middle of the mad streets.

Hostel La Vie

Again we booked a package through the hostel, which I'm sure isn't the cheapest option (around 1,400 rupees) but worked out easiest for us. It consisted of a guided city walking tour in the evening, a sunrise boat trip along the river Ganges and a guided tuk tuk tour of the cities famous temples. The walk was our first insight into the city and we saw a glimpse of where they do the burning bodies ceremonies. In the Hindu faith they believe that to die in Varanassi almost guarantees you entry to Nirvana (heaven). So many people come here to die, to then have their body wrapped in cloth, covered in flowers and then burned at the river bank, with their ashes eventually swept into the River Ganges. We saw this happening a number of times during our stay, whilst on our boat trip and later on when we walked through the streets and its a surreal experience to watch as a western non-religious person. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it all, but it was a humbling thing to be able to witness.

Rituals along the river bank

The next morning was our sunrise River Ganges tour, which was a cool way to see the city waking up and a new perspective on things. As well as coming here to die, many believe it an important place to visit in your life, so there are many who make the pilgramage to Varanassi. We saw a lot of them bathing in the water, some for the holy significance they believe it to have, some that to me just looked like they were having their morning wash! As a western outsider it seems almost disgusting to think of washing in this river that has not only dead bodies in but who knows what else. However, you have to respect how important it is to the local people & you should be mindful what you say around locals when talking about the river so as not to offend.

People on the banks of the Ganges

Sunrise on the Ganges

The rest of our time in Varanassi was spent being taken around the temples and learning more about the indian culture and the Hindu faith.

Lassi

We tried some of the famous Lassi which I can best describe as like a drinkable yoghurt that you can choose different flavourings. I'd recommend trying it at Blue Lassi a little shop we found in the streets and is featured in lonely planet. Just be careful when trying Lassi as you can get hang lassi which has weed added into it - unless you fancy that of course! We ate some great food, some of which was in the hostel. We both had our eyes opened to how amazing Aloo Gobi is - curried cauliflower and potatoes. So good! Another place I'd recommend is called the Brown Bread Bakery. It has a mixture of western and indian food, with an emphasis on healthy vegan & veggie options. They also had a local band playing indian music which was a great atmosphere to have with dinner. Then to round it all off we had some beers and smokes with some of the guys from the hostel and our lovely guide too, which was such a nice way to round everything off in Varanassi. I'm not going to lie, when we first arrived and probably until into the next day, we wern't sure what the fuss was about for Varanassi, but this city definitely grows on you. I think once you start learning about how significant it is to those of Hindu faith and how many people think of this place as so important to be able to visit, then the magnitude of its stature and importance sinks in.

Next stop... India part 2, the south!