This will be the last update - part five of five. I hope you've enjoyed the photos and stories. The trip was absolutely crazy, right up until the end - a true experience and a real adventure.
I thought it might also be useful to show a map of where, exactly, we went. India is mind-bogglingly huge: consider that it took us 17 hours by train from Delhi to Kolkata, for example.
I hope I can return to this amazing country sometime soon.
And so, to the final instalment...
Jaipur: Jaipur City, Amber Fort
Back in Pushkar I purchased an Indian-style shirt from a street stall. I put it on for the first time in Jaipur. I'm not quite sure how well it fits in with international fashion conventions, but let me just say: the Indians know how to dress in hot desert climates. That loose, long, light cotton shirt is probably one of the most comfortable things I have ever worn.
The trip back from Agra to Kolkata could probably have gone smoother. The plan was thus:
- Drive from Agra to Delhi
- Catch flight from Delhi to Kolkata
- Arrive in Kolkata the same evening
However, the actual journey went something like this:
- Drive from Agra to Delhi
- Arrive late due to an incompetent driver
- Rush across Delhi using the Metro
- Miss our flight
- Spend 3 hours attempting to 1) not get crushed to death in New Delhi train station; 2) buy tickets
- Fail; buy tickets for the following day from black-market vendor instead
- Try to check into a hotel in Delhi
- Realise your passport is on its way to Kolkata with the one person who did catch a flight
- Be refused check-in at said hotel due to the aforementioned passport situation
- Be transferred between two police stations in an attempt to get an official statement
- Ride three-on-a-bike through the streets of Delhi with a drunken cop who reeks of alcohol, who simply signs the hotel ledger then wanders off
- Successfully check into hotel
- Enjoy dinner in the only restaurant open at that time, which happens to be run by a hyperactive 5ft tall Nepali man with a ponytail
- Acquire tickets from our black market vendor 30 minutes before the train departs
- Catch the train, only to find our tickets for the coming 17 hour journey do not include bunks
- Bribe the train conductor 200 Rupees to arrange bunks for us
- Finally arrive in Kolkata... two days late
I thought it might also be useful to show a map of where, exactly, we went. India is mind-bogglingly huge: consider that it took us 17 hours by train from Delhi to Kolkata, for example.
I hope I can return to this amazing country sometime soon.
And so, to the final instalment...
Jaipur: Jaipur City, Amber Fort
Back in Pushkar I purchased an Indian-style shirt from a street stall. I put it on for the first time in Jaipur. I'm not quite sure how well it fits in with international fashion conventions, but let me just say: the Indians know how to dress in hot desert climates. That loose, long, light cotton shirt is probably one of the most comfortable things I have ever worn.
Agra: Taj Mahal
The trip back from Agra to Kolkata could probably have gone smoother. The plan was thus:
- Drive from Agra to Delhi
- Catch flight from Delhi to Kolkata
- Arrive in Kolkata the same evening
However, the actual journey went something like this:
- Drive from Agra to Delhi
- Arrive late due to an incompetent driver
- Rush across Delhi using the Metro
- Miss our flight
- Spend 3 hours attempting to 1) not get crushed to death in New Delhi train station; 2) buy tickets
- Fail; buy tickets for the following day from black-market vendor instead
- Try to check into a hotel in Delhi
- Realise your passport is on its way to Kolkata with the one person who did catch a flight
- Be refused check-in at said hotel due to the aforementioned passport situation
- Be transferred between two police stations in an attempt to get an official statement
- Ride three-on-a-bike through the streets of Delhi with a drunken cop who reeks of alcohol, who simply signs the hotel ledger then wanders off
- Successfully check into hotel
- Enjoy dinner in the only restaurant open at that time, which happens to be run by a hyperactive 5ft tall Nepali man with a ponytail
- Acquire tickets from our black market vendor 30 minutes before the train departs
- Catch the train, only to find our tickets for the coming 17 hour journey do not include bunks
- Bribe the train conductor 200 Rupees to arrange bunks for us
- Finally arrive in Kolkata... two days late
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