Rishikesh, Agra, and Jaipur

After I got back from Mumbai, I came back to Delhi with every intention of staying in Delhi through the next week. That is until one of my friends found cheap bus tickets to Rishikesh, a town about 6 hours away, for Rs. 250 one-way (about $6 American). Of course I couldn't pass up a good travel deal so I tagged along. There were 6 of us in total; 3 stayed in an Ashram, and the rest of us stayed at a guest house in the upper bank area of Rishikesh and met up with a few friends we had met in Dharamsala.

Rishikesh is this beautiful hillstation town in the Himalayas that is situated right along the Ganges River. It has a lot of religious and historical significance to the Hindus and is full of temples and shrines. We wound up meeting these really nice locals who took 3 of us on 2 motorbikes all the way up through the mountains to this Hindu temple that’s supposedly 5,000 years old. Afterwards, they took us up to this beautiful waterfall that’s close to one of sources of water that flow into the Ganges. We went swimming, took some pictures, and ate food at this great restaurant near our guesthouse.

The Rs. 250 bus ride home was not worth a rupee more than we paid. It was unair-conditioned so we had to keep our windows open to get any kind of breeze, and we must have driven through the dirtiest, smelliest, dustiest rural towns in all of India. It was so brutal. We also hit a ton of traffic coming home and we got dropped off at the most remote location in Delhi we had never been. Long story short, we got home really late and sitting and commuting to class for about 7 hours the next day really sucked.
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The following weekend we had a scheduled group trip to Agra and Jaipur. We were all excited to go see the Taj Mahal and spend some quality group time together. We wound up staying in 4 and 5 star hotels because our travel agent, Pulin ji, was able to pull some strings. In Agra we got to see this huge palace/fortress, and of course the legendary Taj Mahal. In Jaipur we drove through the Old City (or “Pink City”), rode elephants up through this big fort complex, and saw some more palaces, gardens, and ruins. It was a lot to pack in to one weekend, and we were on the road for probably 6 hours each day.

At some of the more touristy sights, the beggars and vendors were really aggressive. They’d follow us all through the main fortress roads and bazaars. Outside the Taj Mahal, there was this one little boy trying to sell us keychains who couldn’t have been more than 12 and spoke really good English. He kept following us and it turned out that he spoke Spanish, French, Chinese, and multiple local Indian languages almost fluently. We actually conversed with him for awhile in Spanish - it was so random. Perhaps he only knows a few key phrases really well, and might not have be able to write or read them, but I just think about all the opportunities for someone like that back in the States and seeing him there on the streets of Agra begging tourists to buy keychains…it seems like a talent wasted.
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This was pretty much the first weekend I got to really explore Delhi. I’ve been so grateful to finally be able to take a break from travelling and get to know my way around the city. I’ve also started to explore some side projects and have gotten acquainted with various people involved in some really interesting stuff that will help compliment my studies here.

Friday I went out with my Cities of Delhi class on a trip to see the Qutb Minar complex, just south of where I live in Neeti Bagh. It was built around the 12th century AD and was one of the first (if not the first) “city” of Delhi. It’s still very much intact and houses the world’s largest stone brick minaret (architectural feature of Islamic mosques).
It was just nice having some free time this weekend to hop in a rickshaw and go exploring. I saw a lot I haven’t seen before, and there’s still so much left to see. Next week we have a break from classes and the program is taking us down South to Kajuraho. Afterwards I’ll be travelling to Viranasi and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

But for now I’ve gotta go finish some papers. Peace!

written by  Indiestani on September 7, 2008 from Agra, India
from the travel blog: Rishikesh, Agra, and Jaipur
tagged TajMahal, Jaipur, Agra, Rishikesh, Ganges and PinkCity
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