Incredible India?? I think not...

Another stop on our trip was India. We visited New Delhi, Delhi & Agra. It was most definitely an experience!! As we were boarding the plane, I almost vomited. The smell of body odor was so horrendous that I nearly threw up on several occasions. The Indians have the worst body odor known to man. The Indians in traditional Indian garb were the worst. Luckily, we learned that fact early in the trip, so we knew who to avoid. Another disgusting fact about Indians: It's apparently OK to belch & pass gas; they were doing it left & right. I've honestly never been more disgusted in my life! I've always been taught that it's not polite to do such a thing in public & if you can't help it, at least apologize or excuse yourself. Nobody [other than me] seemed bothered by it. I was truly disgusted. The traffic in India is insane! It’s worse than anywhere I’ve ever been. There’s not really a defined road & people are coming from all directions. Our driver basically honked his horn the ENTIRE trip. Everyone was honking! Our driver said you needed 3 things to drive in India: a good car, a good horn & good luck! He wasn’t kidding…we almost got hit a dozen times! India was so filthy & disturbing. The pollution, dirt & smog filled the air to such a point, you could barely see ahead. The roads were lined with workers, beggars & stray animals. Cows [a sacred animal in India] roamed the streets freely. On that note, most restaurants didn’t serve beef. McDonald’s had a Big Mac with chicken! In the hotels & restaurants that catered to tourists, you could purchase beef for an elevated price. I don’t typically eat beef, so I didn’t have a problem in India, but my husband was craving beef pretty bad by the time we landed in Thailand. Our second day in India, we made the VERY long road trip to Agra. It took us just over 5 hours to get there. Driving 5 hours is painful enough, but in India…it was borderline torture! However, it was worth the terrible trip. The Taj Mahal was simply breathtaking. It’s one of the only ‘world wonders’ or international icons that I have seen that truly amazed me. I’ve seen the pictures of the Taj & watched a few movies about it, but nothing compared to seeing it in person. It’s so much bigger & more beautiful in person. It was absolutely worth the trip. Our tour guide gave us the entire back story, showed us interesting things about the building & explained how everything was constructed. It’s amazing to see the jewels carved into the marble. The detail was astonishing & the story of how it all came together was even more amazing. It was such a beautiful site. The Taj Mahal was behind a protected wall. No cars were allowed & the beggars were banned, so it was a safe haven for us. Once we left the Taj walls, we were bombarded by beggars & people trying to sell us stuff. If we didn’t have a native tour guide, I am pretty sure our trip would have been a lot worse. Our tour guide was able to shelter us from most of the craziness. While we were in Agra, we got to see the Agra fort. It was interesting, but obviously…we weren’t there to see a fort! It took us even longer to make the long trip back to our hotel in New Delhi. I believe almost 7 hours…it was exhausting! Every time our tour guide would stop to pay the tolls, the beggars would attack our vehicle. There were people with monkeys on a leash, snake charmers & people selling hand made jewelry. There were regular beggars…the ones who faked a handicap to get money, people that are clearly starving, and children. They would bang on our car window & touch their hand to their mouth to gesture food. Our tour guide said not to talk with them or give them money because others would bum rush our car & we would not be able to leave. It was quite the experience! We had some time to kill before heading to the airport the next day, so Dustan & I braved our way to an area of interest across town. We took the train, which smelled awful, of course. However, Indians are very courteous to women, children, handicapped & elderly. A guy would willingly give up a seat for me without being asked. That definitely doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world!! They even gave up a seat for Dustan, which I thought was super nice. With respect to women, they have private security lines. India was BIG on security when we were there because the Commonwealth games were in town. We had to go thru a security line for just about everything. I didn’t like separating from Dustan, but I did like having the private screening. I think it should be that way in all airports. It made me feel less violated, that’s for sure! All in all, India was quite an experience and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to see the Taj Mahal in person. Would I go back? No way in hell. Do I recommend it? Absolutely. However, I would recommend staying in Agra & not venturing out. Also, private tours are the way to go in India…well worth the money. I have the stories to tell and the passport stamp, so I can check India off my travel list! One country down, many more to go!!