Bare Bones Summary

Minutes after landing in India, at Chennai's airport, I got scammed. This set the tone for the rest of my travels in India, where it seemed like scamming was a way of life. It seemed non-stop. I could not take a taxi or an auto-rickshaw without the driver requesting double the appropriate fare. When a driver was willing to be reasonable, it was often because he (there were no female drivers) wanted to take me to a place where he would get a commission. I guess everyone's got to make a living somehow and that's all of these guys were trying to do.

I traveled from one city to another, even though it was suggested to me by various people to limit the number of my destinations and stay places for longer durations. I also agreed when it was suggested and initially planned to travel that way. I know it would have resulted in a better experience. However, there were many places I wanted to see, and I simply did not stick to this good advice.

I flew into Chennai, but immediately took a plane to Bangalore. I met a character on the plane to Bangalore, Chris. I got a kick out of his comment to a person who worked at my hotel who was lingering in the hallway. He said, "What is your problem in life?"

In Bangalore, I met up with my friend from Philly, Kathy, whose relatives live in India. While in Bangalore, I did my own thing during the day, and met up with Kathy and her friends at night. I had been planning to go with Kathy and her sister to Chennai after a few days in Bangalore, but her grandfather died so my plans changed. Instead, I went to Goa, famous for it's beaches and rave scene. I took a horrendous 18 hours bus-ride to Goa, which turned me off buses for the remainder of the trip.

I arrived in Goa at noon on New Years Eve, and made my way to one of the towns, Vagator. Arriving on New Year's Eve was bad timing on my part, but I finally found a room, with a cement floor, a bed (no sheets), a plastic chair, and a light-bulb hanging from the ceiling. For new years, I went to a party and met plenty of people to talk to, but all anyone wanted to do was get high and I ended up bored, feeling out of place. I was in bed by 2 AM. On New Years day, I went to one of the more popular beaches, in Baga. I had spent the previous afternoon at the Vagator beach and was unimpressed.

Later on, I hitchhiked home after the sunset. I ended up spending the evening with the driver's friends, having some delicious lamb. The next morning I wanted to get out of Goa ASAP, any way possible besides a bus-ride. Unfortunately, because it was peak season, ASAP turned out to be four days later. I found a nice hotel in Baga, and  spent the next three days learning to scuba-dive and hanging out with a couple of friends I met scuba-diving.

Finally, I left Goa via train for Cochin. The train trip to Cochin was uneventful. I had been expecting more from the train ride. I helped a foreign woman with many bags off the train and she gave me her guest room to sleep in, as she had a place in Cochin. That was very nice. I did a backwater boat tour one day, which was beautiful and peaceful, though slow.

From Cochin I flew to Bombay, where I had to settle on a terrible hotel after a few others were sold out. I later met an Indian man who showed me all around the city, though in the end he wanted to borrow some money from me. I also met a Japanese woman on the street, who turned out to be quite strange, but a character. She convinced me to check out the Osho Ashram in Pune, a five-hour train ride from Bombay.

I spent five days at the Ashram, also known as a "meditation resort." It was like being in acting camp, or like an agent spying on a cult. I had to be the least affected person at this place and got little out of it, other than the story of being there. Most of my five days there were spent doing strange forms of meditation, including dancing, in a maroon robe.

From Pune I went to Ahmedabad, in Gujarat. The city was interesting enough to walk around in. I remember that night my room had a TV with satellite cable and I watched sitcoms for hours, a nice-break .

The next morning I was off to Rajasthan by bus, to the city of Udaipur, famous for being where the movie Octopussy was filmed. I was able to find a  "homestay." On the bus I met a nice man, and spent a few hours with him, including lunch in his house while we watched cricket. His wife served us. It seems in traditional homes, the women do not eat with the men. I wanted to learn more about cricket, but the fourteen-year-old son of the family I was staying with could only make a few minutes of his time to teach me.

From Udaipur I went to Jaisalmer to go on a desert safari. During a long stopover in Jodhpur, I saw a fort and later met some Chinese with whom I had dinner.

The desert safari in Jaisalmer was OK. It was almost all scrubs and cacti, not sand, but I had been told about this ahead of time so was not disappointed. I spent a night sleeping on the only sand dunes around. In Jaisalmer, I stayed in a guest house that was inside the wall of the fort. Jaisalmer's fort was huge, and many people lived inside the fort's grounds.

I next headed for Pushkar. I took a bus to a town 7 km from Pushkar, called Ajmer. I decided to spend the late afternoon and evening here, as it was not touristy. I went to a temple, a pilgrim destination for both Muslims and Hindus. There, I was hit on by a Muslim priest.

The next morning I took the 30 minute bus-ride to Pushkar, where I spent the day walking around. The town was tiny, and had a holy river, where a priest said some prayers for me and tried to guilt me into giving him tons of money.

I later took a jog and was thinking how nice it was, when some seemingly nice man riding a bike, with his son in front, tried to talk to me. His English consisted of a few words, like "country?" and "20 rupees," which he asked from me for his son, after showing me his farm for a few minutes. Soon I was off to Jaipur, where a friend of the lady I stayed with in Cochin knew a guest house owner.

The guest house was regular, but the owner, Jay, and his family, treated me well, and I had an authentic experience in Jaipur as a result of not staying at a random place. I met Jay's friends and had a political conversation. 

From Jaipur I went to Agra by bus, where I saw the Taj Mahal. It was beautiful, but only took a couple hours of my time. I went on a trip to Fatehpur Sikri, which I read had a "ghost-palace."

From Agra I flew to Khajuraho, where I saw a group of famous temples, which have beautiful stone carvings. A few of the carvings were explicitly sexual and almost all were strange.

I then flew to Varanasi, and immediately after finding a hotel went to the holy Ganges. I got a boat and was soon on the river. This may have been the highlight of my trip. It was other-worldly. I saw flames on the bank, which I knew were dead bodies being cremated. I was giving a mini-tour at a cremation site, which was fascinating. I was hoping to see dead bodies floating on the river, but did not see any. Certain dead bodies are not cremated.

There was no flight from Varanasi to Calcutta so I took the train. I left at 4 PM and arrived the next day near noon, five hours late.

I was excited to have only one day left in India, but not enough to get me out of my irritable state. I almost got in a fight with my taxi driver because he tried to steal my change.

I walked around Calcutta for hours, stopping occasionally for sweets or to go online. I saw no tourists outside the area of my hotel, and was left alone for most of my wanderings. The next morning I was off to the airport at 6 AM.

Next time I go to India, I think I will hire my own car for the trips entirety, eliminating the most frustrating parts about traveling in India. That is, constantly being ripped-off, taken to unwanted places, and waiting around because of "Indian time." A friend of mine said before I went to India that India was, "absolute craziness," and I agree with her.