India

My itinerary through the country

At home I heard a lot of horror stories and warnings about India. It was supposed to be so chaotic, very dirty, scams everywhere and the air quality was supposed to be so bad that people get sick after two days. It was a lot less dirty and chaotic than expected and it seems like most stories I heard were exaggerated or maybe India has improved so much in recent years. I genuinely liked traveling through India and I felt like the country was a lot more convient in transportation and getting around. It’s way more developed than the neighbouring countries and you feel it. Big cities like Kolkata and Delhi had excellent public transport and I was able to take the metro everywhere. One thing that people got right however is that it was pretty damn hot there. Even though I did not go to the south where it’s supposed to be worse, I was still dying of the heat there, some cities more than others. It seemed like every city I visited got warmer and warmer until I reached Kolkata and it was so humid I thought it couldn’t get any worse… Spoiler alert: It does get worse.

Mumbai

Arriving in India went smooth. I flew from Muscat to Mumbai with IndiGo and I was very satisfied with their service. I had an 10 hour layover in Mumbai so I had some time to explore the city. After landing at 4 in the morning I first needed to get some sleep which I acquired in a cosy airport lounge. After sleeping until 8 ‘o clock I felt rested enough to head out, and I managed to take the bus and walk around for about two hours before heading back to the airport. Mumbai is big and I didn’t manage to reach the south where all the main attractions are, but I got a small taste of the city. On top of that I found a small paper shop where they had origami sheets so my day couldn’t get any better.

Aurangabad

The flight to Aurangabad was uneventful and by evening I reached my hostel. It was called Zostel, and it’s a bigger chain of hostels in India. It was a very nice hostel with plenty of space and it was clean. I stayed in Aurangabad for two days. It’s about 400 kilometres inland from Mumbai and it’s famous for the Ellora and Ajanta caves, these are a thousand years old Buddhist, Jain and Hindu temples excavated by hand, out of solid rock.

My first day I headed to Ellora, very early in the morning as recommended and I had a blast, what a stunning place it is. I made so many pictures there and managed to visit almost all 40-ish caves. The oldest ones from number 1-13 are Buddhist, after that number 14-30 are Hindu and 30-34 are the youngest ones and belong to Jainism. They are so interesting that I spent six hours there. You can clearly see the development from the first cave to the last, from sober and undecorated to huge rooms and complex structures filled with statues and coloured decorations. You can see the style change over time and see the evolution from simple early Buddhism to Hinduism almost in it’s current state.
The most famous structure is cave 16. It’s called Kailasa temple and it’s the biggest out of them all. It made a big lasting impression on me and I think it’s the best thing I saw in whole India. With it’s height of 32 metres it’s the biggest structure carved out of a single rock. It consists of multiple towers and rooms, statues and decorations.
There’s also a nice waterfall but since I went at the end of the dry season it sadly wasn’t flowing. A bunch of monkeys also inhabit the complex, they’re pretty big but completely harmless and they ignore humans. They were the first monkeys I saw during my year of travels! By the time it was noon I was almost done with my visit and the heat was getting to me. It was a hot 32 degrees with scorching sun so I took an electric cart back to the entrance.

The next day I visited Aurangabad itself, there’s a number of things to see including an old watermill that’s just a lake now, an old city gate and the highlight being Bibi Ka Makbara aka the Taj Mahal copy. I have to say that the entrance ticket was a bit expensive but I ended up visiting it anyways. Surprisingly it was pretty impressive and I walked around it for an hour. For the ones that are really interested, this was built by the son of Emperor Aurangzeb, which in turn was the son of Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal.
There weren’t many foreign tourists, only Indian tourists who were all very surprised to see a white guy and all wanted me to take selfies with them. I felt like an immigrant. After a busy day of walking around in the hot weather I was tired and headed back. I took a rickshaw back and stopped at the Decathlon. Surprise surprise, you find them everywhere. From there I walked the last one kilometre to the hostel and I passed an alcohol shop that peaked my interest. They had Hoegaarden! Belgian beer! All happy to have found some good beer, I drank it at the hostel and enjoyed my evening.

Palitana

That evening I took the night bus to head to the next city I wanted to go to, Palitana. It took me almost twenty hours to reach it. First a night bus until 5 in the morning, then waiting in Surat for the bus to the ferry, then the ferry to Bhavnagar, then more bus to Palitana. Finally an hour before sunset I arrived. Took me another hour to find a hotel to stay. Guess what, the only hotel that wanted to accept me ended up being right across the bus station where I arrived at!

I got up really early in the morning. I came to Palitana for one thing only: doing a Yatra or pilgrimage to the top of Shatrunjaya hills. The top of these hills is covered with over 900 temples! This is the most holy place in Jainism, one of the oldest religions. They believe in reaching enlightenment through non-violence and reducing harm to living things as much as possible. Reaching these temples is only allowed by foot, over 4 kilometres of stairs gaining 500 metres of altitude. The pilgrimage up here is done by many yatris or Jain pilgrims. They believe that doing this climb for 99 times will make sure that they reach enlightenment after their reincarnation. They have to do this climb without eating or drinking and within a period of 45 days, while also fasting with a single meal per day and doing various rituals during the climb. On top of that, they aren’t allowed to wear shoes, even on stone steps heated by the scorching sun.
Without breakfast, I set off on my climb to the top. It’s not a very hard climb and I reached the top in about an hour, thirsty I visited the temples and was impressed by all the rituals the believers were performing. There’s so many temples. Some very old while others are brand new, but they all look very similar. I took two coconuts with me as a sacrifice to the Gods, some Jains helped me do the right ritual and I was very impressed by how busy it was there. I spend 3 hours on the top walking around and exploring the countless temples, before I got too hungry and thirsty and headed down for a good meal. On the way down some young Indians accompanied me and informed me that we get a free meal at the end, so of course I joined them. It was very good food, completely different from the rest that I had eaten in India. Very sweet and light, perfect to recharge after the climb. All in all this was a great experience and I was happy that I travelled so far just to do this one pilgrimage.

Since the top of the hill is a very sacred place for Jains, you aren’t allowed to use your phone or make any photos anywhere. I respected this so I was only to get a couple of the journey up and one sneakily taken picture on the top. If you want to see more then you’ll just have to use google or go there yourself :p.

Ahmedabad

After half a day of bus I arrived at the hostel, the cheapest one so far. It was a pretty filthy hostel full of locals with really hard beds, but I made a friend and I only paid 1.50 euro for a night. Ahmedabad is a pretty big city in the west of India and a lot of Muslims live here. It was founded in the 15th century so it has gained quite a bit of history over the years. The historical centre is still in relatively good shape with all of the city gates preserved and some parts of the old city walls still standing. The most interesting thing in the city are Masjid or mosques, but the best thing of them all was a historic stepwell in Adalaj right above the city.
I explored the old town and walked under some of the city gates. It’s a bustling city with lots of markets and there’s people on the streets everywhere. Locals are mostly friendly and you see kids playing on the streets and in the grassy open areas. I visited 3 out of 4 mosques Ahmedabad is famous for. Build in a distinctive style in the 15th century, they were THE most special mosques I have ever seen. They have a very distinctive style exclusive to Gujarat with little influences from other regions. Constructed out of yellow sandstone, intricate details and a pretty odd façade for a mosque. One of them is very known for the tree of life that is portrayed in one of stone-hewn windows.

A stepwell is like a normal well but instead of just being a hole in the ground it is a lot bigger in size and has steps running down until the water level, usually decorated and they would grant a ruler a lot of support from the people for building one. They served multiple purposes. They were very important in the arid regions so people would have a place to cool down out of the sun and always have acces to water. They even say that they were used to perform religious ceremonies. Sometimes they would be up to ten stories deep! This stepwell was also build in the 15th century, beautifully decorated with the same sandstone which makes for some really pretty photos. Depicted along it’s walls are multiple scenes of daily life. I loved it there and I spend a lot of time trying out different phone camera settings and different angles.

Udaipur

I wasn’t sure where to go next. There were two interesting destinations on my list but I was having issues finding good transportation there that wouldn’t take days. In the end I gave up and decided to join my new friend from the hostel and head to Udaipur, a city that wasn’t on my planning before. This turned out to be a great decision as I had a great time there!

Udaipur also known as the city of lakes. It’s a very picturesque and charming city surrounded by hills with two big lakes dividing the city in two. It has rich history and a lot of white marble palaces and havelis spread throughout the city. Most of the city is built in the same Mewar style which is a mix of Mughal and Rajput architecture making it look unlike any other city in India. It felt different from other cities, tranquil and peaceful. It was very clean and there were hostels and bars everywhere, without making it too touristic. I stayed here for 3 days and really enjoyed it.
The hostels were very cheap and so was the easily accessible beer. I hung out with my new Indian friend all day and chilled in the sun on one of the many rooftop bars.

Jaipur

Bhangarh used to be a big city with multiple city walls protecting it. Because it was a very fortified town build around the fort, it must have been difficult to attack. You spent the first part walking through the ruins of houses. Most structures have the first floor walls still standing. There’s some bigger and smaller structures, some of which you can still enter. As you continue you get to the main road. It’s surrounded by ruins of small shops on both sides and it goes on for quite some distance until you get to the fort area. There’s 2 big temples and a big open square, the gate before this is overgrown by some big banyan trees, with roots sticking out of the walls. After that you reach the fort. The back of the building is over 4 stories high and is build against the hill. There’s some truth to the legend it seems as this was a tall building before it’s destruction. We explored the whole building, climbing up on the ruins of the third and fourth floors we made some good pictures. There’s still a lot of the structure and details remaining. From the top you have a nice view over the ruins of the town and the rest of the valley.

After Bhangarh fort we headed back to Jaipur to explore the city. After having enjoyed a meal and some lassi at a local shop, we visited the city palace. Because it’s so touristy it was quite pricey. Indians pay only a fraction of what foreign tourists have to pay for a ticket. So we decided not to enter the palace itself as it wasn’t worth it for that price. Instead we walked around the complex, since it’s so big you still have plenty to see. We strolled under the many gates and through the many courtyards. It was very busy there, cars everywhere, horse carriages whose drivers are yelling at you to come for a ride and worst of all, busses offloading hoards of tourists. Eventually we reached the Jantar Mantar and went inside to visit.
It’s like a big park filled with solar instruments build for astronomy. Jantar Mantar means instrument of calculation. Dating from the 18th century, this observatory showed that they possessed a very high level of knowledge of the sky and starts. It consists of nineteen instruments for measuring time, predicting eclipses and even tracking location of major stars as the Earth orbits around the Sun. It really impressed me that they were able to calculate the position of the stars so accurately, without any digital instruments. They also had these half domes, where you could see the exact position of the star signs in the sky, all of this just by using the sun. This Jantar Mantar is the biggest one of five that they build throughout India around that time.

After being baffled by 18th century science we headed to the last visit of the day, Hawa Mahal. The very unique building consists of a big façade with hundreds of little balconies and windows, build in the pink and orange colours that are so prevalent in Jaipur. It’s located at the corner of the palace complex and it was built by the then ruler for a pretty funny reason if you ask me. It’s function was solely to have a place for his royal ladies to observe the daily life on the streets and watch the festivals going on, without being seen themselves. I would definitely recommend visiting this peculiar building. There’s a lot of rooms and floors to explore and loads of opportunities to take nice selfies and photos. We peered through the many windows to see what was happening on the busy streets. Once you finally reach the top of the building you have a great view over the city. We enjoyed the sunset here. You can see the whole palace and the forts on the hills along the city. It was a nice end to a busy day. I went for dinner with my new Indian friends and thanked them for the fun day before heading to my hostel.

New Delhi

After another night bus I arrived early in the morning in New Delhi. The air quality wasn’t that bad as expected and it was fairly clean everywhere. I was very happy to find out that they have a good metro system there which I happily took advantage of. After dropping my bags at the hostel I headed to explore the central vista. There’s the big war memorial, India gate and then I walked all along the big boulevard to the parliament buildings. The war of India against Pakistan still left a big mark on the country. This war memorial was erected to commemorate all the fallen soldiers of India, which happened mainly in this war. The atmosphere was pretty solemn and no food was allowed inside. There were some texts about the course of the war and some artwork and explanations of the most significant battles. As I had been to the Pakistani museums about this war beforehand, it was funny to see the propaganda from both sides, who both claimed that they achieved overwhelming victory in the same battles. As Pakistan and India are still enemies of each other, India claims Pakistan is occupying the Kashmir region, while Pakistan claims it’s always belonged to them. If you look on Google maps in India you will see totally different borders in that region than if you look while in Pakistan. There was a small area with information about the war with China and the Goa conflict, but that was it.

I continued walking towards the India gate, also a war memorial. It’s a big gate looking very similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and it was built to commemorate the many fallen Indian soldiers in the first World War. The walls are inscribed with the names of the soldiers who lost their lives.
After these memorial I walked along the three kilometer long park. There were plenty of salesmen and scammers along the way as it’s a popular tourist destination. Recently renovated, it’s the nicest and cleanest place I had seen in India so far and it seems like there’s some things they do manage to keep very tidy and clean. Finally I reached the parliament buildings but sadly I wasn’t able to walk around or visit any of them and I kind of wasted my time there. In the afternoon I headed to Connaught place, another main attraction of the city. It’s a popular area for tourists with fancy shops and all the big chains located there. There’s some museums but for the rest there’s not much to see. At the end of the day I took the metro to an Imax cinema to watch Dune 2, as it had recently come out and it was my main priority. Paid only 3 euros for a ticket and had a great time.

The next day I visited the old area of Delhi, first the Friday mosque or Jama Masjid. It looked surprisingly similar as it’s nearly identical in construction as the Friday mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. They were build in the same period and aside from the colours of the façade there’s little difference between them. They charged me a shameful amount of money to enter and keep my shoes, it’s the first mosque I’ve even been charged for entry. Guess I know which mosque of the two I prefer now. The square wasn’t clean and was full of dry rice and bird poop. The mosque was cool to see and I had a good view from the sides over the surroundings. It was fun to spot the differences between the Lahore one and this.
In front of the mosque there’s a big market where they sell everything, but it was very busy and it takes a while to get through it until you reach the end, where the rickshaws await you to rip you off. So happy with the metro there! I got off at the next stop to see Delhi fort, comparable to other Mughal forts I wanted to see it but I was running out of time to get to my bus so I just admired the walls and the front gate and then continued to the station.

I didn’t have a great experience in Delhi, while there are some nice places and good museums, the overal experience is just bad. Too many scams and pushy people, and I dont’ think I will ever visit it again.

Agra

After a 5 hour bus drive I arrived in Agra. It used to be the capital of the Mughal Empire and it has a lot of beautiful mausoleums and a big fort that used to be the palace of multiple Mughal emperors. Agra was my final chapter in Mughal history. It’s most famous for emperor Shah Jahan wo build he built a majestic mausoleum for his wife. The symbol of India: the Taj Mahal. At the hostel I discovered that a Dutch guy from the bus ride was also staying there. His name was Pieter and he didn’t live far from my hometown. We quickly became friends and decided to hang out.

Together with Pieter and some other backpackers, we got up at 4 in the morning. The Taj Mahal is insanely busy as everyone wants to see it, so we wanted to be first in line when it opens. At 5:30 we were waiting at the gate as the first ones and after half an hour of waiting we were getting ready to head in. In that time the queue behind us had transformed from a few people to hundreds waiting in line. The gates opened and we quickly entered the complex, after some checks we were inside and were greeted with the first views of this glorious world wonder. It felt unreal to see it with my own eyes, or maybe I was still too tired… I did realize one thing, it was so early that it was still pretty dark and taking good pictures was going to prove to be a challenge because of the lack of light. But I tried to get the most of it. The first thing we did was head inside the mausoleum itself as we were one of the first. We explored the whole thing and made nice photos without annoying tourists on them. After that we waited for the sun to rise above the horizon. By the time we finally saw the sun it had sadly gotten substantially busier but oh well, can’t have everything in life. After taking loads more pictures and selfies we started to head back, by 9 o’ clock we left. I don’t want to know how busy it must be there during the day. It’s just not fun anymore with so many people everywhere.

After the Taj Mahal we went to Agra fort, the centre of Mughal reign. Just like Lahore fort, it had a lot of different emperors living there. Every one of them made some modifications to the building, adding some new palaces, halls or building an extra prayer hall. Only about half of the fort is accessible but I felt like it was still worth it. It was built in the typical red sandstone as the other Mughal forts. The most impressive part of it was Jahangir’s palace. It was so finely decorated with all these fancy details everywhere. From the top of the walls you also have a good view over the surroundings, you can see the Taj Mahal in the distance. There’s a couple buildings in white marble, when Shah Jahan lived here he build everything in his signature style and expanded the fort to the final size. When exploring the ruined part of the fort I found a stepwell. It looked pretty cool but sadly it was all locked off. After that we went back to the hostel to get some rest, as we were very tired. Worked a bit on the blog in the afternoon until Pieter and I took the night bus in the evening.

Varansi

The Holy City! The city of ghats and temples. I feel like Varanasi was the embodiment of what most people think of India. It’s busy and chaotic, there’s loads of temples everywhere, it has the Ganges and there’s a lot of festivals and celebrations.

First of all, it was hot there. I barely made any photo’s because I was overheating just like my phone was. Turns out electronics don’t like 38 degree heat and burning sun. It was draining my battery so quick that I was afraid to take it out of my pocket. Talking about batteries, your phone battery isn’t the only one that will be drained. Walking on the streets is a very exhausting experience with so many touts and people wanting to sell you things. When Pieter and I arrived, we were immediately met with the chaos of the city. We wanted to take a rickshaw to our hostels, but they were definitely overcharging us. We decided to whip up our transport apps and get a cheaper ride that way. When my driver arrived one of the rickshaw drivers tried to scam me and convince him to not take me on his bike. Luckily he was an honest guy that wasn’t corrupted like the others and he drove me to the hostel.

Negative experiences aside Varanasi is such a spiritual city. All the 3 big religions in India have important temples here. You see temples and shrines around every corner. The many ghats, or steps leading to the holy river Ganges, are full of people doing rituals or bathing in the river, which the Hindus believe is purifying (the water was really filthy and there was no way I was going to jump in that). When you walk along the river there’s plenty of ‘priests’ giving you unsolicited blessings. Before you know it, they rub some paint on your forehead and then ask for money afterwards. Be careful and it’s better to just say no and keep walking. While we were there, there was ceremony going on at the main temple complex in the city. There was a queue that was hours long stretching through the centre. We stumbled upon the queue again and again while exploring the small streets and wondered how long these people must be waiting in line just to get to the temple for bringing sacrifices and praying. Being a city of chaos, it consists of many little alleyways filled with people, tonnes of markets and honking rickshaws trying to squeeze past everywhere. There’s shops around every corner and it really is a vibrant city. Also known for it’s silk, there’s many tailors and shops selling fabric. When you walk along the main street you will be approached by many sellers asking to check out their shop.

Not all ghats are for praying or doing rituals, Varanasi is also called the City of Death for it’s numerous cremation ghats. Hindus believe that if they die in this city and get cremated there, they will break the circle of rebirth and reach enlightenment immediately. Along the banks of the Ganges there are cremation ghats, where families bring their deceased loved ones to. Me and my friend were able to be guided around and get a tour up close on the tower. It’s quite a macabre experience seeing so many dead bodies being carried around for cremating. Families of the deceased perform a series of ceremonies. First the body is decorated with flowers, washed in the river and then they put the corpse on a big pile of wood to burn. The closest relative of the deceased is the one to light the fire. First he lights the torch at the eternal fire, then he walks 3 circles around the funeral pyre while chanting some rites, before finally lighting the wood. It burns for hours until only ashes remain, afterwards they collect the ashes and throw them in the river Ganges. Wood for the cremations is very expensive and a lot of poor people cannot afford enough wood to burn the body fully, so they ask for donations to help the poor get enough wood for a cremation.
We learned that not everyone is required to be cremated. Kids, pregnant women and handicapped persons are considered pure and there’s no need to purify their remains by burning, so they are thrown into the river whole. Another interesting rule was that women are banned from participating in the rituals. According to our guide there was a grieving wife who jumped onto the burning pile of her dead husband to die with him and since then women are banned. After asking permission I was able to make a few photo’s of the cremation. It was such a surreal experience.

Death in India isn’t a sad occurrence. Death is viewed as an escape, a good experience that will help them reach nirvana. It is celebrated with flowers and colours. While for us it’s very confronting seeing these ceremonies, for the people there it is seen as normal as there are more than 200 bodies being cremated every day. Old and sick people flock to the city to spend their last days there. You will find some begging on the street to collect the money needed for their burial, while others will be meditating and praying, waiting for their death.

Varanasi was by far the most confronting and chaotic city of India for me, I’m happy I experienced it but I’m not sure if I would go back again. It’s by far the most congested city I’ve been to and the amount of times I was approached and hustled are uncountable. I had a truly unique experience there that I don’t think will ever be matched. I don’t think you can be one hundred percent prepared for this city, it will take you aback and take you on a rollercoaster of experiences. I’m glad to have had Pieter with me to discover the city and share the hardships together. After 2 days I continued my travels to Kolkata, while Pieter went his own direction.

Kolkata

The city of Joy. My last city in India. It was even more hot than all the previous ones, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. My night train from Varanasi arrived early in the morning at Howrah station. Build by the British, it’s one of India’s biggest railway stations. As you exit the station you see rest of the city along the banks of the Hooghly river. Kolkata or Calcutta has a great transport system. It has the oldest metro of India and the city feels modern. It’s build in a grid and it’s easy to navigate around. It’s one of the best organized cities I saw in India and it feels like they care more about their buildings. They were less dirty and didn’t look like they could collapse at any moment.
It used to be the capital of India for a long time under the British rule. It was the most important port for the East India Company and it’s still one of the most important cities of the country. There’s many imperial colonial buildings to visit and they have great parks. I visited the Victoria Memorial in the Maidan area. It’s a building remembering Queen Victoria, who was the ruler of India during British reign. The building is surrounded by a big garden with plenty of flowers, trees and some ponds. Next I strolled to the nearby St. Paul Cathedral Church, it was nice to see a proper church again after 3 months, however it didn’t feel like the Indians had much respect inside the building, most people were talking really loud. They seemed to considered it more as a selfie spot than a place of worship.

Kolkata is also regarded as the cultural capital of India. It has a lot of art galleries and it accommodates the oldest museum of the nation, the Indian Museum, which houses large collections of Indian natural history and art.
The city is full of character and joyful people. The thing that surprised me most, is the vibrant nightlife. There’s tonnes of bars and places to go out. It was the first time I saw actual bars in India as you’re normally not allowed to drink alcohol on the streets. So of course I went for a cold beer after a hot day of walking around the city. Another thing I loved here was the classic yellow cabs. You see them everywhere and they gave me a Cuba vibe. On my exploration of the city I came across a lot of markets, each with it’s own theme. Most interesting was the flower market where you could find so many different flowers that I did not expect to see in India. They mostly use them as gifts in the temples or during festivals.

Looking back, I enjoyed my time in India. It’s a massive country with so much to see. You would need years to explore it fully. I travelled only for about 3 weeks, which is really short but I am satisfied with everything I managed to do and see and I feel like I saw the important highlights of North India. I managed to enjoy some great food, although all of it was still very spicy! If I come back I will definitely travel weeks just exploring Gujarat and Rajasthan as these were the most interesting provinces to me.
I was also happy to be able to travel both Pakistan and India and being able to see all the similarities and differences. They really aren’t so far apart from each other, as they have only been separated for 70 years. To be honest, I’d choose Pakistan over India in terms of backpacking and nice experiences, but I’d choose India for the ease of travel and the abundance of highlights and information. History is the main thing uniting both countries for me, especially the Mughal era’s remnants. Same goes for the food, in my experience it has a lot of similarities one of them being equally spicy. Safety is another thing. Surprisingly I felt more safe in Pakistan than in India. Even though everyone considers Pakistan dangerous, the people were immensely helpful and friendly. While in India you come across a lot of scammers and crime rates are pretty high. I feel like Pakistan with it’s Muslim majority has a lot more honest people because of stricter Islamic rules.
I’m sad that I wasn’t able to cross the Wagah border and visit Amritsar, hopefully one day I will.