Dear families, friends, and loved ones,
After leaving our guest house in Bangkok at 3am to catch our flight, we have safely made it to India! We started off in Delhi, where we stayed at "Hotel The Spot" for two nights
. We are now in Agra, staying at the Shah Jahan Hostel. Tomorrow, we travel to Jaipur to begin our first home stay with Indian families! YAY. Very exciting.
Although we were all completely exhausted upon our arrival, we still somehow managed to take in and appreciate our first glimpses of India. The streets here are even more crowded than in Thailand (hard to believe I know). Vendors sell anything and everything one could ever imagine and practically drag you to their carts. Adding to the chaos are cows, goats, and dogs that roam freely amongst the cars and scooters. I've found that it is extremely loud here as drivers honk constantly and people shout to advertise their goods. Earplugs were a good investment.
We have all begun to experience some culture shock as some sights here are pretty difficult to digest. There are sick and homeless people strewn about the streets and beggars following us constantly. I find it particularly hard to have the small children surround me as they beg for food. Another difficultly to adjust to is the pollution
. In the cities, trash covers the ground and the air is thick with smog.
However, not everything is grim and dreary here. We have already visited some amazing places in the few days we've been here. Our first excursion in Delhi was to The Gandhi Memorial. I found this place extremely interesting, I even bought a book of Gandhi quotes! I will give you all some food for thought with his first passage. It reads: "An eye for an eye leaves the world blind." Pretty inspiring. At this exhibit we got to see the exact room (still furnished) in which Gandhi lived for the last 144 days of his life. Everyday, Gandhi walked from his room to go pray. Now, there are footprints on the walkway in his memory. At the end of the walkway stands a memorial. This was the exact spot where he was assassinated.
The next day we visited The Red Fort, a 17th century fort complex constructed by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. The fort served as the capital of the Mughals until 1857 when Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was exiled by the British Indian government
. Afterwards, we went to see Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India! We got to climb a minaret which overlooks the city of Delhi for miles.
The next day we left Delhi and traveled to Agra, where we visited the Taj Mahal. When I signed up for this trip, this activity was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. I can say, with confidence, that it fully exceeded my expectations. Definitely a highlight of the trip.
The next day after that, we woke up very early to go watch the sunrise at The Agra Fort. The view was absolutely gorgeous. You could see the sun rise right over the Taj Mahal. A plus was that because it was so early we were basically the only ones there. We also saw Fatehpur Sikri, built by Mughal emperor, Akbar, who lived there with his three wives: one Muslim, one Christian, and one Hindu.
Tomorrow we are off to Jaipur!
That's all for now,
NAMASTE,
Olivia
Youth International Team takes on INDIA!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Delhi & Agra, NCT, India
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