After 6 months of travelling alone we were looking forward to joining an Intrepid tour and being able to sit back and enjoy the ride – no planning required. In fact I’d spent so little time thinking about this part of the trip I really had no expectations at all. Even so, I was a little worried when our guide said ‘always keep your expectations low in India!’ Turns out we didn’t need to worry as we had a great two weeks on tour.
The tour: Intrepid Classic Rajasthan
Length: 15 days
Style: Original
Group size: 12 + guide
Cost: approx $2k AUD + food, tips (and shopping!)
Delhi
The tour kicked off in Delhi. The first thing that hits you is the dense smog blanketing the city. It feels like you are smoking a pack a day; your eyes run, throat hurts and you can’t help feeling incredibly sorry for the people breathing this every day – let alone the environmental impact.
Next is the driving. The only road rule appears to be ‘always use your horn’ and the roads are noisy and beyond chaotic.
Then there is the poverty and dirt. The sides of the streets are caked with rubbish and you regularly see people dropping things without a second thought. Living in the rubbish are incredible numbers of the poorest people, regularly begging as you go past. It’s pretty heart breaking.
We were staying in New Delhi, which doesn’t appear to be any cleaner than Old Delhi, but does has more modern buildings. After a quick, but packed, train trip – we were in Old Delhi.
Just a few wires
Making a mattress
Cows become a very familiar sight
I wish I could say Dehli redeems itself with some great features, but frankly, this city didn’t do it for me. On our guided tour of the city we saw many temples and buildings of interest but nothing that totally blew me away.
In fact one of the funniest memories of Delhi was not the Hindu temple we went to, but rather how when we got to the temple we were made to wear ridiculous outfits (and pay for the pleasure) and then all the locals in the temple just wanted to take photos of us!! Note despite being dressed as conservatively as the locals it appears only western tourists need these outfits. (with all the photos being taken, I forgot to get one of us!)
One exception to Delhi’s underwhelmingness (yup, I know that’s not a word) was the local Sikh temple. Although nothing spectacular to look at, this temple touched all of of our tour group. Our guide Sharm explained that everyone that visits the temple donates what they can. So far, pretty normal of most religious buildings. But what they do with the donations was pretty special. All the donations are collected up every day and used to buy ingredients which are cooked up in incredible quantities, mostly by volunteers, and anyone can come and have a free meal. We were then led through the kitchens to see how the food is prepared – in mind-boggling volumes. Truly amazing to see and something a lot of the other religions around the world could learn from!
Agra
Things took a turn for the better when we headed out of Delhi on the train to Agra. It was an early morning start (4.30am!), but after a few hours we were in Agra and picked up by our mini bus. Our first stop was the Red FortRed Fort– an impressive building, with some amusing wildlife and great views of the Taj Mahal in the distance.
In the afternoon we got to experience the Taj Mahal up close. Wow, words can’t describe how beautiful this building is! Even though there were tonnes of people there, it strangely didn’t feel busy or hassled, and was actually really lovely to sit down in the gardens and chill out with one of the most incredible back-drops in the world!
More coming soon…
But first let's travel 
Thankyou, Taj Mahal most impressive.
LikeLiked by 1 person