The end of India

Taj Mahal

Our trip from Kathmandu back to Delhi was about as boring as a trip from Kathmandu to Delhi could be. Aside from the odd fake policeman looking for bribes and the gang of rowdy street toughs that rampaged through our train car, stealing everything in sight, nothing exceptional took place.

We had a 9 hour bus from Kathmandu, then the usual border crossing festivities. Following that was a 3 hour trip in a stuffed landrover to the tout-ridden, garbage infested city of Gorakhpur, where we spent the night in a hotel overlooking the hundreds of rickshaw drivers fast asleep in their horrible little vehicles. The next morning saw us on a 6 hour train ride back to Varanasi, where for 5 hours we twiddled our thumbs and waited for the 19 hour overnight train from Varanasi to Agra.

The entire reason for going to Agra was to glimpse the Taj Mahal. Described as the ultimate symbol of love, the Taj was fairly impressive, mainly because of the complete lack of salesmen, touts, beggars, bums, scammers and irritating rickshaw drivers, once we were past the entrance gate. It seemed like one of the first times on the entire subcontinent where we've been able to sit in peace without people coming up to pester us (although even that is a little untrue...given the people who wanted "the two white guys" to pose in their pictures with them, a strange, strange phenomenon that still puzzles me). We left Agra that same evening and caught a quick 3 hour train back up to the wonderfully depressing city of Delhi, where we are now.

This afternoon (after the most amazing dog fight I have ever borne witness to) we did a quick tour of the city, visiting the gigantic mosque that's here and the Red Fort. I'm sure not many of you have heard of the Red Fort and that's probably because it's one of the most boring sites on earth, a tour of Lougheed Village would be far more spectacular and much more worth the 100 rupee entrance fee.

All in all India has been...interesting. Out of the best and worst countries I've been to, it somehow occupies high ranking spots on both of those lists, which probably seems strange to anyone who hasn't visited it. It has a lot to offer, but instead of just handing the memorable events/sites to you, it makes you work for them. Once you get past the steady stream of beggars, the rivers of urine and feces running down the roads, the confused traffic cows, the complete chaos, the awful smells, the endless crowds of people and the sheer amount of poverty, there's a place that has its own bizarre appeal. Some people obviously find this appeal much to their liking (the end result being the strange uber-hippies that we often see sprinkled about), but to most westerners, myself included, 2 months in this country was a perfect amount of time to be able to see through the grime, and not come away totally disgusted.

Tonight, I take my last near-death experience of driving down the Delhi streets and jump on a 20 hour plane for the strangest of all places...