Day three in Delhi

It is morning here in Delhi. Last night was the first good sleep I've had since Thursday night between the plane ride and experiencing jet lag. Waking up at 2:30 AM yesterday, leaving the room by 5 am, wandering the empty bazaars until something opened to have some breakfast, visiting the Delhi Zoo, and spending hours walking through shopping centers and bazaars... looking back yesterday seems like a multiple days in Delhi!

"Hello my friend, where are you from, England??"
"How many days in Delhi, my friend?"
"Hello Sir, Madam, yes??"

The same couple of phrases heard over and over while walking through Delhi by the touts trying to get you to one of the many "official tourist agency". They start walking next to you acting as though they are curious about where you are actually from, at first Casey was responding to their questions, by the end of the day we acted like we did not speak English.

Casey has become quite the barterer for getting a decent price on a rickshaw. There have been many instances where we are sure our driver has no idea where he is taking us, and somehow we have always ended up at our right location! Casey loves the rickshaw rides, he says he feels like he's on the Indiana Jones ride at Disney land. I could tell you little about the rides,as I am sure my psychological response of dealing with the stress of the ride is to repress it!

Today we will be finishing up our sight seeing in Delhi, seeing the Red Fort, etc... Then an overnight train to Corbett.

No pictures todays as we could not get the wifi to work. Not sure we will be getting internet in Corbett, so it might be awhile until the next post.

Namaste! 

First Night in Delhi

After an extremely long layover and an even longer flight, we are finally in India!

We survived our first cab ride, which was an interesting experience to say the least. The driving is crazy here! We explored the area, ate dinner at our hotel and off to bed! Lots to see tomorrow.

Chicago!

Been in Chicago for 7 hours now! Ugh.. just a few more hours to go before we board the plane to Delhi!

In Route for India

Casey and I will be spending Christmas in India! After much planning and anticipation, our backpacking trip through India is almost here.

On the itinerary:

A couple days in Delhi

Four days at Jim Corbett National Park (wwooo Tigers!)

A day in Agra to see the Taj Mahal

A couple days in Varanasi, one of India's holiest Hindu cities (also right outside of Varanasi is a sacred Buddist site, where the Buddha gave his first lesson.)

And to end our trip, a couple of days in Mumbai

So much to see.. so little time.

From one novice traveler to the other or anyone who may be considering planning their own trip to India a bit about our own planning processes... 

Figuring out what you want to see in India is the first thing to figure out, or at least a general idea. India is sooo big with so much to see; one could spend months there without seeing everything. For us, seeing the wildlife of India was one of the main reasons we chose to come here, with the hope of seeing some of the last remaining tigers left in the wild. If it were up to Casey, we could be spending our whole trip on the back of a jeep, trudging through the jungle searching for a glimpse of a tiger. After much negotiation and compromising we've settled for a four day excursion in the foothills of the Himalayas, leaving us time to couple of India's cities, sites and culture.

Once you know where you want to go in India, you can buy your plane tickets and train tickets. Although you can buy your tickets in India at the train station, we decided to buy them online since you can book them up to three months in advance, not wanting to risk the trains being overbooked.   

Other things to note, you need a travel entry visa to get into India. There are also some vaccinations you'll want to get before you go. Depending on what part of India and time of year (or other places you might be traveling to) you may need malaria pills. Although some choose not to take them due to side effects.... This will be our first time taking them... we'll update with how that goes. 

Until next time..