Goodbye India! - Blogabond

Waking up in our to-be-reimbursed room, we ordered breakfast by room service because the dining room was just as dismal as everything else about the hotel and we couldn't face it. At least this time we were able to shower and change before going for the flight. We stayed until lunch time so that we could put that meal in the bill as well then checked out and paid. In a final insult, we discovered that the “included” breakfast was only included if you went to have it in their horrible dining hall, because it was a buffet. Nobody had told us this but, this being India, nobody would admit that we hadn't been told or remove the charge for breakfast from the bill. To get our own back we took a big handful of plastic bags intended for laundry from the cupboard in the room. When you are backpacking certain items take on extra value and plastic bags are definitely one of those essentials. After that it all went smoothly: taxi to airport and this time our flight was on the board.

Child extras

I was quite sad to be leaving India because I don't think we really gave it a fair chance, and I now intend to return to India one day and travel just in India, so I will have more time for it. Joanne, however, does not intend ever to go to India again, so I'm not sure how that will work. It was strange how different my experience was this time compared to the last time. A lot of it has to do with the fact I had Joanne with me this time, and she is more upset by the dirt and the smells of India, which in turn upsets me to see her unhappy, but I think the main difference is that this time we had to expend a lot of effort on financial transactions and deal with a lot of crowds. Any time money is involved, particularly relating to transport, or any time there is a crowd, it brings out the hardest to deal with aspects of Indian culture if you are used to Western culture: there is so much cheating, pushing, and arguing it can all be quite unpleasant if you let it get to you. Last time I was more or less being baby-sat by the college I was studying at and all of the transport was taken care of, and all of the buying was either done for us or smoothed out in advance. Also this time, because we were travelling through, most of the contact we had with people was in a crowd or buying something. In these situations Indians never smile and can seem very unfriendly. Last time I was in the same place with the same people for longer, and they weren't trying to get anything extra out of me. In that kind of situation Indians can be very sweet, earnest, and philosophical people, although still very serious most of the time.

"Passing" rickshaw extra

Most of the time the negative aspect in this trip did not get to me, in fact some of it can be quite fun: it all seems like a bit of a game they are playing. One particular game is “the change game”. For some reason there never seems to be enough Rs10 notes. This means vendors never want to give you any of their hoard and will lie that they have no change. Soon you also start hoarding and lying about having change just so that you can buy small things should the occasion arise later. The way to win this game is insist that you have no smaller money and indicate that you will not be buying if they can't give you change; of course this opens you up to the possibility of a revenge short-changing, but you just have to keep your wits about you.

Nice Indian lady extra

Despite all the extra frustrations this time, I actually enjoyed it more. Previously I wasn't really exposed to the “real India” at all: I didn't get to see how the society really functions, and I wasn't doing any of the same things that Indians do. OK, this time we were still tourists, but we were definitely closer to the action and saw much deeper into the country than I did last time, even though I was in the country longer last time. It's a fascinating place, but a really tough place. The poverty, in particular the begging, are very upsetting and guilt inducing. But the place is also really beautiful: the Taj Mahal and Varanasi are both incredible and Varanasi grows on me more and more when I look back at the photos.

This guy just got in our rickshaw for a free ride

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The Happy Couple on July 3, 2009 from Delhi, India

from the travel blog: Michael's Round-the-World honeymoon

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