We walked from our 350-year-old fort into the rural village of Pachewar, India, carefully avoiding the “land mines” left by the local cows. It seemed like everyone we met wanted to say hello. A wave or a “namaste” brought so much joy to the faces we encountered. I can’t remember a day when I saw so many people being so happy. We were introduced to a family who shared their meal with us. Outside their home was a small courtyard where the matriarch squatted next to a 12-inch high clay “stove.” Open on one side and the top, small logs were fed in to control the temperature. She prepared a beautiful vegetarian curry with chickpea dumplings and scratch-made roti bread in less time than it would take me to gather my ingredients. It was a delicious way to understand just a tiny bit of India.
Experiencing new cultures is my absolute favorite part of traveling. We have dipped our toes into the giant ocean of cultures in and around India and can’t wait to return.
Traveling to India
This trip started a bit rough. We were denied boarding when we arrived to check in for our flight. I had messed up the visa application. There was more than a moment of “the trip is ruined” thinking, but we had planned a couple of days in Delhi before our tour started. We calmed down and figured it out.
Getting it corrected took days, and Qatar Airlines was no help. After 30 or 40 attempts to call the number for “help” and a re-application, we were told we just had to wait. So we booked a ticket to Dubai (no visa required). We hoped the visa would come through by the time we made it to our stop in London and would book the last segment from Dubai to Delhi as soon as the visa was approved.
We found a deal on business class tickets from Abu Dhabi to Delhi by cashing in some miles. We had never been to Abu Dhabi, and it is only a 2-hour drive from Dubai, so we added a little adventure to our detour. It was a cool drive over, and we flew out of the new Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport on its second day in operation. It was by far the most beautiful airport I have ever seen, nearly empty of passengers.
Delhi, India
Our intro to Delhi was perfect. The hotel we were staying at was well hidden. I was recently renamed and had no signage. Google Maps and Apple Maps came up with locations blocks apart, but our taxi driver was confident he knew where it was. He was wrong. After an unplanned tour of the area and some pretty good damage to his bumper, we made it! Our original plan was to arrive two days before our tour started. We were about 6 hours before it started, but we made it!
We started with a walking tour hosted by the Salam Baalak Trust. They help the street children of Delhi in multiple ways, one of which is teaching them how to give tours of the city. Being introduced to Delhi by someone who has lived on the streets helped us understand another part of this huge and complex country.
We stopped at the Jama Mosque and were made to feel like celebrities by a flood of people wanting to take selfies with us. While strange, it was fun to make someone so happy by smiling for a photo.
Our tour brought us to theĀ Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib Sikh temple. This was not the typical church visit. While beautiful and with a rich history, my attention was captured by the production and distribution of thousands of meals. People would walk in and be served a freshly made meal of lentils, rice, and bread. While there we helped prepare the food, sitting alongside those who were there to eat. We rolled and cooked bread and were amazed at how well the process worked and the system’s positive impact on everyone. I felt such a connection to the people. Connection to India, Delhi, and the people there in the temple. I loved it.
Pedestrians, tuk-tuks, monkeys, cars, and cows all share the streets of Delhi. Somehow, in the chaos, people get where they are going. I was mesmerized by the peacefulness of it. It was certainly not quiet, but there was no anger or frustration in all the honking and engine noise. The honking was a way of letting someone know you were passing or that they were about to run into you. No matter what another driver did, it was just accepted. If they did a U-turn in the middle of the road and drove back on the wrong side of the road, people would simply get out of the way. I brought this idea home and am doing my best to have this attitude when I drive.
We were in Delhi for Diwali. Celebrated over days with buildings decorated with rows of lights, beautiful sand decorations on the floors, and fireworks seemingly everywhere. Wishes of “Happy Diwali” ended every conversation. It reminded me of all the best parts of the Christmas season back home.
On our last night in Delhi, I was looking for a less structured food experience, and our guide finally gave in and pointed me back to the Jama Mosque in Old Delhi. I had a blast roaming around the open-air market surrounding the mosque. It felt like tens of thousands of people at the bazaar, and I only saw two white faces the entire night. It was crazy, shoulder to shoulder with pedestrians and motorcycles sharing the same streets and sidewalks. I wandered for hours just absorbing it all.
A first-time experience for me was that I couldn’t figure out how to order food! There is no such thing as a line in most of India. Rather, you engage in a very polite jostle to move forward to the counter. I kept ending up in the wrong place and was having too much fun to ask for help. Finally, I ended up eating at my second stop of the night.
My guide set up a tuk-tuk via Uber (how cool is that?) to get to the mosque and gave me instructions to take the subway out of the area to Connaught Place to find a tuk-tuk home. Once there, I set off to find a good place to eat. I found a great curry house I’m 90% sure it was Kake Da Hotel. I had a wonderful lamb curry and naan bread that I still crave!
Agra, India – The Taj Mahal
There is a reason the Taj Mahal is considered one of the 7 wonders of the world. I was still surprised by how impressive it was. I expected it to be beautiful but did not anticipate how much of a connection I would feel to the place. We heard stories of how and why the Taj was built, admired the beauty of the grounds, and the entire experience made me feel like I belonged there. Taking pictures, watching the crowds, and just taking everything in is what this day was about. Seeing the Taj was on my bucket list but I think I just imagined a cool building. The impact of this place wonderfully surprised me.
Jaipur, India
Our lodging in Jaipur was an experience. We stayed in a bed and breakfast, Iiaki Niwas, attached to the family home of our hosts. We felt welcomed like family. Our morning yoga class introduced us to “laughing yoga.” It was a great yoga class with a session of belly laughing. We had the entire hotel laughing along with us. Thank you, Dharmendra! Walking through the nearby park, I experienced a bit of tranquility in India. The early morning group walking or exercising in the park felt so familiar and comfortable. This is another thing I love about travel: finding so much that is “human” when visiting other very different cultures.
We visited forts and explored the city, learning stories of the Maharaja of the past and present.
Pachewar, India
One of the most unique destinations on this trip was our stop in a rural part of Rajasthan, where we stayed at the Garh Fort, a 350-year-old castle. Our walk through Pachewar (described in the opening of this post) will stay with me for a long time. This peek into life outside of the big cities of India was a gift. I had always pictured India as a collection of crazy crowded cities, but here we learned that about 65% of the population lives in rural areas.
The sights and the experiences we were having on this trip were great but I should mention there was a huge amount of time spent driving between all of these places. Many roads were bad and it seemed like we were always moving at about a walking pace. The upside of this is that we got to know our traveling group well. We swapped stories and made several new friends. We have already met up with people we met on this place in other parts of the world including some new friends that live just a short drive from our home.
Leaving India, I knew I would be back. I realized we only saw a tiny bit of the country and just dipped our toes in the culture.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Arriving in Kathmandu, it felt like the intensity had been turned down. The streets were still frenetic and crazy by American standards, but nothing like Delhi or the other cities of India. It was more relaxed, and I liked it.
On our first night, we were treated to a meditation session and a sound bath, where you are “bathed” in sound from metal bowls made to sing with a wooden mallet. It was weird but incredibly relaxing. We were then treated to our first Tali set for dinner–Lentils, rice, and cooked and pickled vegetables.
Our visit to the Monkey Temple, Swayambhunath, was an interesting way to learn a bit more about the culture of Nepal while being entertained by the local primates. The interactions between the monkeys and the tourists have created a new habitat for this troop of monkeys. They live their lives and have figured out which tourists are the best targets for them to swoop in and steal their cokes and snacks.
We couldn’t imagine being in Nepal without seeing Mount Everest. The local airline has sunrise flights that fly you out and around the Himalayas. The weather for our flight was perfect and that is Mount Everest right under the wing tip.
On our way out of town, we stopped in Kirtipur and learned how to prepare “momo” from a group of Newari women. We were too in the moment so no good pictures but check out the link right above to see a few.
Parappring, Nepal
This was one of the stops on this tour that intrigued me the most. We stayed in a Buddhist monastery. Way up in the mountains, we learned about how the monasteries function. We were welcome to join and listen to their morning and evening chanting and enjoy the temple.
Our stop along the way to Chitwan was at the Summit River Lodge. Cool little cabins on the hillside with great views, but the best part was exploring the neighboring village.
Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal
We hoped to see the Tigers! We didn’t. We saw so much more. This national park is on the border between India and Nepal, and while they do have Bengal Tigers, the park is known for its rhinoceros population. We had an incredible experience watching a rhino from just a few feet away.
Pokhara, Nepal
Pokhara felt familiar. Like so many lakeside resort towns I have seen. Shops, restaurants, hotels, and many tourists. The towering Himalayan mountains as a backdrop shattered that illusion, however. Maybe it is all in my head, but the mountains look huge. They were so different from any mountain ranges I had seen before. Our early morning trip to zig-zag up mountain roads to watch the sunrise light up the Himalayas was worth losing a few hours of sleep!
