I'll start by saying I've never been anywhere so colorful in my entire life. I've also never been anywhere so dirty. The clothing was unbelievable though! All of the women dress in really bright sari's and cover themselves in jewelry and paint. My kind of place!
First I spent the day in Chennai with some friends and did a little shopping and touring the city in a rickshaw. rickshaw's are these tiny little motorized gondola looking things that drive around like absolute maniacs, and people use them more often than cabs because they're super cheap. Anyhow, my friend an I had a bicycle rickshaw driver named Backher. Backher was about 4'8", 90 lbs, wore a skirt and no shoes while he hauled us around. He was 50 years old with 4 kids, he told us his life story as he took us around chennai. He was really cute even though he ripped us off. And by ripped off I mean we had to pay $4 instead of $2 for the tour.
Anyways, the second day we flew to Delhi, which is a 2 hour flight and an hour cab ride on each end, and Backher drove us to the airport as well. We toured Delhi for the rest of the day and met a boy named Ahmer who took us to the underground market. The market was UNreal! It's like an underground mall maze that is never ending! I've never seen so many people packed into one place, and we were literally the ONLY white people there shopping so we obviously stood out a little bit. I now know why people say they cant hear themselves think, because we were bombarded by so many people trying to leure us into their shops I couldn't even think let alone talk! The stores had anything you could want, Shops FILLED with bengal bracelets, henna stores, bootleg movies, skin lightening booths, clothing and trade stores. I'll never forget it! We also saw the scene of the bombing that took place a couple of months ago in the town square.
The next day we went on a guided tour to Agra where the Taj Mahal is located. The car ride was 4 hours, but it was worth every second once we got there. After riding in the car, we had to take a horse and buggy for a little while because cars are not permitted close to the Taj, and then we walked the rest of the way. It was much less crowded and smaller than I had originally Imagined it would be, but just as beautiful. The marble was still really white, and all the fountains were filled. It was how I pictured after reading "Beneath A Marble Sky," (if you haven't read it do it now!) but our guide didn't tell the story how I know it. So i ignored him for that little bit. My friend Taylor and I were also a little confused because we were under the impression that Jasmine from Aladdin lived in the Taj Mahal, but the Taj Mahal isn't a palace, its a Tomb. It also says that Jasmine lives in Agrabar. Agra was just like in Aladdin... there were people everywhere! There were snakes fighting mongooses, people riding bikes with stacks of vases 3 meters high, cows roaming the streets, painted elephants, and fruit stands as far as you could see! Anyhow, after seeing the Taj, we went to the red fort which was where Mumtaz and Shah Jahan lived as well as many other emperors. It was crawling with monkey's, it was really cool. Our tour guide was awesome and he filled us up on some crazy info. We headed back to Delhi the same night to sleep there.
The next day we did Delhi once again. We went to some monuments, and ate some awesome food before flying back to Chennai. It's sooooo hot here, and everyone wears fall/winter clothing. AHHHHHH!!! The last day we spent going on a trip to the slums to see a womens self -help group and a disabled childrens school. It was really powerful. The way those people live is really scary. They live in basically wood forts or huts, the streets are sand, and all of the food is sold on the streets, but every inch is covered in flies. The smell was undescribable. A lot of the children didn't have any clothes so they all just ran around naked and barefoot.
After the slums we had some time to burn so we went to a hooka bar called Mocha...probably one of the funnest things I've done. The atmosphere was amazing. It was outside and the walls were all painted fun colors with really eclectic one of a kind furniture. The hooka's themselves were all different colors of glass and painted really pretty. It was a good experience to say the least.
I was sad to leave, but before we left we coincidentally ran into Backher and got a ride home from him. He must have been working for like 4 days straight. He had bought me and my friend necklaces and told us he likes to give his friends gifts. I gave him one of my bracelets and we parted ways. I will be going back to India some day.
