IanandBritta: About India...

Ian an Erin in Hampi.

Well, we lasted about 2 1/2 weeks in India and then we couldn't take it any more. We flew into Bangalore and took a train to Hospet and an autorickshaw to Hampi. Ian's sister Erin joined us there after a few days and we spent a few more days there. Hampi is a bouldering destination with miles of endless boulder fields, and we did a bit of climbing while we were there. It's also known for it's massive collection of ruins that are everywhere. Hampi is also a backpacker destination with cheap living and a very chill vibe. We then hopped on a train for 3 days including a 7 hour layover to get to Agra, which is home of the Taj Mahal. We explored the Taj and Agra Fort which is equally impressive. Erin was only in India a week, so we tried to see as much as we could, but it's such a big country and getting around takes forever, so we were limitted to a few highlights. The night before she left Erin got "Delhi belly" and was violently ill all night, I got it 12 hours later and Ian was ill as well, though his constitution is stronger and he didn't get the full effects. The plan was to go back south after Erin left but we couldn't get a train ticket and the thought of another couple of days spent on a train was more than we could bare, so we got a plane ticket from Delhi to Bangkok. India is amazingly different, beautiful and tragic, and it's a trip but not a vacation. It's a lot of work, hassle and irritation and nothing goes smoothly. The crush of humanity, and not at it's finest, is exhausting and the huge size of the country demand a lot more time than we were willing to give it. The filth, fecal matter, smog, urine, stray dogs, wandering cows and menacing children were overwhelming. Everything was a battle and everyone fought to get as much of our money as they could. One of the highlights for me was saree shopping with Erin. We went to a bazaar and explored the tiny little booths that sold sarees, scarfs etc. So in the upscales sarees shops we would crawl inside the booth and sit down and the men would unfurl the sarees and quite rapidly we would have 40+ sarees across our laps. In one of the shops I was hemming and hawing over one and the head guy had one of the minion men put it on to demonstrate how "beautiful" I would look wearing it, it was all I could do to not lose it laughing at this poor man who had to dress up for me. So after recovering in Agra as much as I could we took a 4 hour train to Delhi, and flew overnight to Bangkok.