Transit ion (Delhi, Agra, Delhi, Amritsar, Delhi, Bangkok, Pattaya)

With the arrival of Larissa came the onslaught of activities for there was so much of India left to see and so little time to show it to her (hence the lack of updates, which I will now make amends for). As mentioned previously, Delhi - India's capital - proved to be a trying place with far-flung sites distanced by unceasing traffic. Running away from this we took in the grand Taj Mahal in Agra, also as documented. From there we had to pass through Delhi once more on our way to Amritsar, home of the Sikh Golden Palace.

Well this Delhi fly-through did not go quite as planned. First from Agra we needed to catch a train at 757am so after the previous day's late-night scramble to find a working ATM (who knew it could be so difficult? and in every city!) we had cash to pay the hotel bill and exit in search of a tuk tuk (3-wheeled auto rickshaw). After negotiating with the driver we agreed on a price ($1 Canadian for a few kms) but were appalled after squeezing in with our bags to witness the eventual push start of the vehicle and hear the horrible noises coming from it. Figuring it was too much hassle to disengage we went with it, as did the driver's friend who came along, which seemed odd but was explained shortly thereafter. You see as we puttered down the road, with other rickshaws and even cycle-rickshaws overtaking us we came to a tricky spot where a man pulling a large wagon was on our left and a giant tour bus was sliding by us on our right. Our driver yelled and the friend hopped out and tried to slow our yellow and green death trap with his feet since the brakes apparently weren't working. Unsuccessful in his attempt we crashed into the side of the wagon just as the tail end of the bus, I kid you not, brushed against my leg and clipped the front end of our rickshaw. The most amazing (in a bad way) thing about this experience was that none of the three vehicles even paused and we continued to the train station, with me and Larissa huddled in the back shaking our heads and wondering what the heck we'd gotten into.

Anyway the trip on the train back to Delhi was without incident and we hired a taxi to tour us around. The first stop was a temple shaped like a lotus designed by an Indian-Canadian architect. However this turned out to be closed so we asked for another site in its place and were taking to a 9 stage sound and light diorama that basically decreed in unminced words the Hindu gospel. Brainwashing in the form of strobe lights, thunderous sound systems, three screen video rooms, action figures and black lights. The railway museum and doll museum (6500 dolls in one hour!) were much more tame.

Paying the driver off we were dropped near the train station with four hours (or so we thought) to kill. We wandered through the market with the goals of internet (to verify that we had a spot on the train, since we'd been waitlisted) and dinner. The first goal became exceedingly difficult as nobody around in the hubbub of market and traffic was friendly, helpful, spoke-english or any of the above. We were coerced into small dark alleys with the promise of a computer only to find pushy sari-sellers, and pointed in every direction, none of which produced what we wanted. Every second person was trying to drive us somewhere and not a single one of them understood "internet". Unwanted and uncalled for attention was being bestowed upon Larissa as a darkness fell around us and despite the busy atmosphere (or perhaps because of it) men became more aggressive and we felt more uncomfortable. Eventually we just tried to escape the throngs of people by giving up on the internet and going to the train station, which wasn't much better. Here we were able to confirm we had sleepers on the train, however without internet printing facilities we were bound to pay a fine for each ticket that we hadn't printed. Annoyed by this but without any means of procuring a printed ticket (the train attendants refused, or perhaps were unable) we turned to our next task. Food was back in the crush of people and serenity was no where to be found. I bought the restaurant out as we hadn't eaten much all day, but the din in the place was still keeping us from peace.

Fed we went to the station an hour early. Took a seat at what we believed to be our platform and waited. And waited further without any indication that the train was coming. Nervous that we were in the wrong spot I wished to check but didn't want to leave Larissa unattended or miss the train. The display boards were out of order and although the lady over the sound system talked ceaselessly (mostly in Hindi) she did not mention our train once. Finally it was an hour after the train's expected departure and a saintly young man approached and translated the last audio announcement saying that our platform had been changed but that the train was coming soon. He even took us to our compartment as the train was mislabelled and we weren't going to get on without his help. Once finally boarded, the train left over an hour late (2 hours of our waiting at the station, 5 hours in the Hell of Old Delhi) and our only task was to get some rest on the journey by ignoring the bed bugs crawling on the walls.

****
Amritsar was a heavenly sanctuary in comparison. A free shuttle bus took us promptly to the magnificent golden temple where we checked into a relatively nice room with accomodating clerks. Lunch was great and the sights were all nearby. Somehow we had lucked out and arrived on a giant Sikh festival celebrating the original guru's birthday, so after an interesting display of patriotism at the India/Pakistan border closing ceremony (a story for another post!) we witnessed a fantastic (and free) firework display above the golden temple (rumoured to be covered in 750kg of pure gold!)

The rest of the stay in Amritsar was equally relaxing as we visited some parks and took in a Bollywood film (London Dreams) which was quite entertaining despite it being (mostly) in Hindi. Finally we began to depart India but it would be a long journey. Opting for a cycle rickshaw instead of the full free bus we were dropped at the station. The train was there early and we boarded and were given complimentary water, snacks and a full Indian thali (dinner). Smiling at eac other we wondered why we hadn't gotten this treatment before our final train journey in India (my lucky number 13th I calculated). The six hour trip was painfree besides the hyperactive child a couple of seats over. In Delhi the plan was to buy a prepaid taxi from the train station to the airport to avoid the city we'd come to hate altogether. However we found that taxis were no longer available prepaid leaving us stuck with a horribly long and loud prepaid rickshaw ride to the airport, or the task of bargaining for a taxi. We opted for the second option but should have taken the first as the taxi we were led to made more noise than any rickshaw we'd been in (even the brake-less one) and the driver appeared to have a deathwish. Nonetheless we made it to the airport in one piece, 4 hours early for our flight.

Check-in was fine then we tried to gulp back 2 litres of water before security (only to realize we'd have to pee it out the entire flight). On the inside we had 400 rupees ($10) to get rid of as it is illegal, and unworthwhile, to take rupees out of the country. Disappointed were we when we found out the duty free wouldn't accept rupees from non-Indians so we blew it on books. About 2am at this point we both got a bit grumpy and tried to read through bleary eyes while waiting for the plane. Naturally our gate was changed at the last moment too ("this is India" being the go-to explanation we'd come to expect) and at 330am they rushed us on for our 4am departure. The trip was 3h33m and was the only sleep we got, between take off, meal and landing.

*************

Thailand saw a driver holding a sign "Mr. Stefan" which was a welcome sight just before he took us out into the humid heat. Same approximate temperature as India the humidity was noticeable and made things dramatically worse for us. The nearly 2 hour drive thankfully was air conditioned and we were overjoyed to do up our buckles and see that people actually drive in lanes and obey traffic signals!

My brother-in-law's father and his wife welcomed us with great smiles to their lavish private community home a couple of klicks from the Pattaya beach. We did our best to be social for an hour over the best mango and pineapple I've ever tasted before crashing hard for two hours of sleep due to exhaustion in our most comfortable room, complete with en suite washroom! The change from yesterday to today has been drastic, and the peacefulness here is most welcome. A bit of tennis and a nice beachside pizza rounded out our day today and we look forward to this holiday from our holiday while recuperating here for the next four days.