Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Update: My trip to India
Wow,
I haven't done an update on this site in ages. I did go to India in July 2010 and it was a wonderful but short experience that kept me asleep for weeks! We traveled to Delhi, India by way of Reagan National and J.F.K airports. We spent the first few days at JNU, the national University. That was an experience that tested my senses - visual, olfactory, hearing, and emotions. Going to India was an experience much different than I was used to. We have poverty here in West Virginia and the rest of the United States, but it does not compare to anything in India. Some of my travel companions said that this should not have been my first international travel experience due to the presence of such poverty. As Americans, we were not really going to see that side of India, but it was not avoidable due to driving through the cities and the countryside.
We went to the capital building as well as other monuments throughout the capital city of Delhi. We also visited some temples old as well as newer. We traveled 120 miles to the south and visited the birthplace of Krishna, which was located next to a Islamic Mosque. That was an interesting experience the the rickshaws surrounding our bus and our "guide" in the birthplace. Among the travels south, we encountered a mass of humanity in the road that slowed our travel. There was temple that was having a festival and to my estimate I bet there were hundreds of thousands of people in their finest garb for this event. Then we ventured a few days to Agra where the Taj Mahal and Agra fort are located. These are magnificent structures in their own right and built in the Mughal period. In Agra, we went to Pizza Hut, which was a welcome diversion from the Indian diet that I was certainly not ready for.
About half of the group didn't take the extended trip, including me, so we ventured back to the Delhi airport by way of a van and made the return trip which itself was an experience. It took over six hours to make our way back to Delhi which included encountering human traffic in the road along with the rest of the animal life that we observed in the road during our trip. This trip also included a trip to McDonald's and a flat tire on the way back!
This was a short review of the trip. I'm sorry I didn't write in this blog when I returned, but it was memorable experience that I would never forget and I would be willing to return in the future!
These links below are YouTube videos of my trip to India:
Delhi Traffic & Agra
Sitar & Drum Demonstration
West Virginia Teachers Visit India
India Gate
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