Part 3 - India

Have any of you ever seen Slumdog Millionaire?  Well, keep that movie in mind while reading this...


Kate and Teresa in Agra



The first question, for 1,000 rupees:
Our first stop in India was ______________.

A.  New Delhi                                          C.  Bombay
B.  Calcutta                                             D.  The Bathroom

 After we left the Calcutta airport, we headed outside to find a taxi...and that is where the adventure started.  Travelers tip:  only use marked, official taxis...and the first person to approach probably isn't always the best to go with.   Unfortunately, we had to learn these things from experience.  Fortunately, we still made it to the train station, but only after a half-hearted attempt to steal our luggage, a few close calls with wandering cows and praying muslims, and paying a few too many rupees for the not-so-pleasant cab ride. 

The train station was packed!  Business men, beggars, and pick-pocketing children all lined the tracks.  God helped us out and a very nice Indian man showed us they way to our train platform.  When the train, arrived we were more than happy to see our names on the reservation list and got on board. 

Question number two for 10,000 rupees:
The train ride from Calcutta to New Delhi takes ____________.

A.  17 hours                                              C. 5-6 days
B.  about 20 minutes                                D.  your breath away

The train ride was exciting and we passed the time staring out the window at peacocks, camels,  monkeys, giant trash piles, sick cows, and people squatting on the tracks.  We also got free food!  We made the 1,000 mile journey in about 17 hours and were at our final destination, New Delhi.

We took a tuk-tuk to our hotel, took a cold shower (no hot water) and waited for our friend Kate to arrive.  She made it to New Delhi later that night, we ate some Indian food together, and called it a night.  We needed to be rested up to go see the Taj Mahal!

For 100,000 rupees, question number three:
On the way to the Taj Mahal, Kate got in a fight with _______________.

A.  Teresa                                    C.  A man and a monkey
B.  A shop owner                        D.  A piece of chicken

After a little bit of yelling and pounding on the glass by both Kate and the monkey, Kate convinced the man that she did not take a picture of his monkey wearing a dress and therefore owed him no money.  Our driver was glad we didn't let the monkey in the car, and we continued the drive to Agra...to see the Taj Mahal!!

The final question for 1,000,000 rupees:
The Taj Mahal is made of ______________________.

A.  White Marble                                    C.  Hopes and Dreams
B.  Cheese                                              D.  Alligator Skin



Our red booties required to enter the Taj

 The Taj Mahal is just as pretty as it looks in the pictures.  During our time in India, we never saw blue skies except while looking at the Taj.  It's an amazing structure that according to our tour guide took 20,000 workers 22 years to build.  There are precious stones covering both the inside and outside of the mausoleum.  The story behind it is pretty cool too.  The Taj was built by a king to fulfill his beloved wife's dying wish.  While dying in childbirth she asked him to build an incomparable monument to symbolize their love.  They are now both buried inside the monument.

After much excitement, we made it back to our hotel and had to make a tough decision.  We were mislead a little by our tour company and decided to cancel the next day's trip to Corbett National Park.  The drive to Corbett was much longer than we thought, and the time spent at the park much shorter.  If anyone takes a trip to India, we would not recommend going through Tour my India, they turned out to be misleading and a little sketchy.

Instead of looking for Tigers, we spent the next day with a friendly Tuk-Tuk driver.  We shared a meal at McDonald's with him and he proudly showed us around his city.

After India, we killed a day in Malaysia and then it was back to Korea.  What a trip!