April 24, 2012 Hampi, Mysore and Ron Paul

    Hampi was our favorite place so far in India. It is located in central Southern India in the State of Karnataka. It is a small town on a beautiful river called the Tungahbadra. The town is smack dab in the middle of a multitude of ruins and ancient temples nestled in a boulder ridden landscape. From the rooftop restaurant of our hostel the the towering form of the Virupaksha temple was completely visible and only about 100 yards away. It towered over the town and at night when it was lit up you could see monkeys climbing all over it.
    We decided to rent bicycles to tour through the ruins since some are far away from Hampi in all directions and rickshaw drivers tend to rip you off. This was also another great decision since we found out that half of the town was being demolished by the government in order to preserve the ruins. This meant we had to bike 4 km to the town over in order to buy any groceries or use an ATM. This also meant, unfortunately that many of the residents were forced to leave their homes and relocate to land that the government set up for them. We sadly looked on as people took down their homes with their own hands to salvage useful materials to build anew outside of Hampi. Our hostel owner told us that each family was going to receive the equivalent of 3,000 dollars compensation for the relocation. For some this might have been reasonable, but many business owners and hotel owners were being cut short. Even the family who owned the largest hotel in Hampi (25 rooms) was receiving the same amount. It definitely didn't seem fair.
    Besides the depressing sight of the demolition, Hampi and the surrounding area was beautiful. The river was the first clean river we have seen on our trip and we were even able to hike through banana plantations and rice fields to a waterfall where we were able to swim. It was very refreshing and peaceful. Later we found out there were crocodiles about 1 km upstream, so I'm glad I found that out afterwards. We were lucky to even find the water hole. Most people need a guide because the trail abruptly stops and you are forced to wander aimlessly over boulders. Luckily, we happened upon a group of young boys from Hampi who were heading there and decided to follow.
    The friends we had met earlier that day were not as successful. Brian and I told them about the waterfalls and pointed on the map the general location of the falls. We told them we would meet them there a little later. By the time we got there they were no where in sight and some guy told us later that he had seen four lost white people wandering around in the banana plantations. He said he tried to help them but they brushed him off thinking he was a guide doing it for money (which is a reasonable assumption most of the time).
    When we later met up with them at the hostel they told us that they had gotten lost for three hours and got stuck in deep mud. Brian and I were definitely glad we had followed the boys.
    It was nice to finally meet some tourists in Hampi. We were approached by a very friendly Hungarian man and his Dutch girlfriend along with a spunky Swedish girl and an English bloke from London (who was a die hard Gooner).
    The Hungarian man was very excited to meet Americans and immediately asked us if we followed politics closely. I shrugged and said not really and pointed to Brian who admitted a little interest. It ended up being somewhat of a mistake. This man was somewhat of a Ron Paul fanatic. He and his girlfriend believed that by supporting him that they were a part of a political revolution. During his discussions with Brian, I overheard his girlfriend say, after recording Brian talking about what he's read in the news, "It is so interesting hearing Americans talk about politics because they all say the same thing. They just repeat what the media says."
    According to the couple the major news networks are spitting out false information about the elections and we are all misinformed (Ron had a much better chance of victory than Mitt). We asked how they knew this and they told us that the only accurate news is "Russia Today", "Aljazeera" and various Ron Paul blogs.
    I do not follow politics closely, but I found it quite interesting that two Europeans who have never lived in the US are following the election so intently. We weren't the only people who they gave the spiel to either. Anyone and everyone who they met they told about Ron Paul and his revolutionary ideas. I am very curious to see what will happen with Ron Paul because according to everything I've heard, he's not going to win.
    Now we are in Mysore which we thought would be a little more interesting. The Mysore Palace is pretty spectacular from afar, but once you pay 250 Rupees to get in, they take your camera along with your shoes and proceed to herd you around like cattle with a piercing whistle, it loses it grandeur. Brian and I were literally running out the gate.
    Tomorrow we head to a hill station called Kodiakanal which a German couple recommended. Supposedly, you can rent small houses on the hillside with a veranda and a fireplace and shop at the local market to make your meals. The weather is supposed to be very comfortable during the day and cool at night. Brian and I will probably spend a fair amount of time there, just relaxing. It almost sounds too good to be true!

April 19, 2012 Scooters and River Cruises

    We decided to rent a scooter yesterday which ended up being a great choice. We finally had the freedom of going wherever we wanted (well, at least along the 10 miles coast of Northern Goa). We had tried to rent a scooter the day before to go to Panaji, but the man who rented them told us we would have to get an international license to go into the cities. On the touristy beaches you see Westerners driving scooters more than you see Indians! According to the man they were all illegally riding them, but the police either didn't care or weren't around (we weren't quite sure which one).
    Anyways we rented the scooter and made our way 7 miles south to an old Portuguese fort called Fort Aguada. The fort was really cool with a moat surrounding it and it overlooked the mouth of the Mondavi River where the Arabian Sea met the river. It was very beautiful, but of course we forgot the camera and have no pictures.
    We do however have some pictures of the "river cruise" we took on the Mondavi. Brian and I expected to go on a booze cruise on the river and look at the sights while listening to a live band. The Indian version of this is a little different. When we got to the top level of the boat there were hundreds of chairs lined up facing a stage with a deejay blasting some heavy bass music.Surprisingly, the entire boat filled up with Indian families, couples and teens. We were the only white tourists on the boat. As the boat left the dock we were introduced to some traditional Goan folk dances which were a little better than the deejay. After a few minutes of the folk dancing the deejay returned and invited all the children to come on the stage. He then blasted a popular Bollywood song and all the kids began to dance and sing in unison. It was very cute. Clearly they had all memorized the dance from a movie. After the children he invited up couples to dance to some cheesy "reggae" cruise music and then invited anyone and everyone to come dance. At this point every single male on the boat went onto the stage and had a massive dance party with zero females. As I said before men are very close here. We also realized there was a separate disco area down on the first floor where ladies were free and men had to pay 50 rupees or the equivalent of a dollar. Did I mention the boat ride was only one hour? It was entertaining, at most, but we felt like we wasted an hour of our time. Luckily, it was only 3 dollars.

April 18, 2012 Transport

    We have definitely mastered cheap transport in India. The bus is by far the best way to go short distances. During the day you'll probably get a seat, but at night they cram people into the tiny buses like sardines (I'm not exaggerating). For long trips the train is awesome. You can sleep on a bed and there is fully functioning AC which is a lifesaver. Sleeping in the hot, humid air has caused us to have a few restless nights. Brian and I have started looking forward to our nights on the train where we actually need to use blankets.

April 17, 2012 Panaji

    Brian and I took a day trip away from the beach today to Old Goa and Panaji. The Portuguese settled in the small state of Goa and therefore there is a lot of Christian influence. Panaji and Old Goa are especially reminiscent of Portuguese culture. There are many cathedrals and chapels scattered throughout the two small cities (Panaji is currently the capital of Goa and Old Goa was the former capital until residents were forced to leave due to an outbreak of cholera and malaria).
    They are both very quaint cities with beautiful white churches spotting the streets. Panaji even reminded me of Valparaiso, Chile with it's small streets lined with brightly colored buildings.
    

April 15, 2012 Ellora, Mumbai, Goa

    Sorry for the delay of our newest posting, but I admit we have been distracted. I am writing this passage as Cat and I are enjoying pure paradise and as you can imagine, it's easy to lose track of time in paradise. But before I describe our experiences here in Goa, it is necessary to go back so that we can proceed chronologically. We last left you before our trip from Aurangabad to the Ellora religious caves. This trip was the main reason for our visit to the area and it absolutely lived up to its hype.l The caves are entirely man made; dugout from top to bottom and vary in origin from about 600 AD to 1000 AD. There were 3 distinct types of caves which were spatially segregated. They were built by Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains in that chronological order and have very distinct structural and artistic differences. The caves are believed to have been used as monasteries, dining halls, temples and gathering places. We started our walk at the oldest caves which were built by Buddhists. The very earliest caves were smaller with less intricate details but as we continued forward in timed they got much larger and more ornate. The Buddha sculptures were ubiquitous and varied in size but each cave had a centrally located large Buddha. Farther ahead there were even multi leveled caves with carved stairs connecting floors. The transition into Hinduism was obvious due to the plethora of deities carved in stone. Of the caves, these were my favorite and none could compare to the incredibly massive Kailasa "cave". Calling it a cave is a little misleading due to its sheer size and level of detail throughout its several buildings and stories. The largest monolithic structure on the planet, its wider and taller than the Pantheon in Greece. The cave was built by many workers who, over the course of some 200 generations, moved around 200,000 tons of rock. This temple (I can't even call it a cave) was truly mind blowing.
    On the journey back to Aurangabad, we couldn't find out where to catch the bus so we decided to hop into one of the unofficial jeep taxis. In northern India, you can see these silver jeeps everywhere and they all look the same. We were told it would only cost 30 rupees for a seat so we got in. On the way to Aurangabad, the jeep kept stopping for passengers, piling us on top of each other and cramming people into the rear. Before we knew it, there were 18 people inside of a small jeep. Needless to say, we haven't ridden in another since.
    Having taken an overnight sleeper train, we arrived in Mumbai early in the morning. We got an astronomically overpriced cab (150 rupees~3 bucks) to the Salvation Army Hostel located in the Colaba quarter. This section is on the southern part of the bay and is traditionally home to the Mumbai fisherman. We were slightly weary of the rumors of bed bugs at the hostel, but decided to brave it because it was by far the cheapest option. On the first day we worked our way up to the far north point of the bay. We stopped along the way at Chowpatty beach to marvel at the multitude of massive concrete tetrapods meant to "retake land from the sea" (whatever that means). At the very northernmost point, we stopped and rested at the Bananga Tank, a very large pool said to be where the earth began. From there, we moved back south to the Ghandi museum located at his Mumbai abode. We finished the day watching the sunset on Chowpatty enjoying roasted corn on the cob and Bhel Puri (a south Indian specialty). After a sleepless, bed bug infested night we headed off to Crawford Market. There we walked down the many aisles of fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts, sweets and most anything you can imagine. While in the fish and poultry area, Cat's head became a landing pad for an airborne fish carcass, so we took some time to recover from that ordeal. Next stop was the uber touristy Gate of India and across the street to the historic 5 star hotel, the Taj Mahal. We spent some leisurely time enjoying the powerful air conditioning until our rest was cut short as I was chased out of the "residents only" pool area. On the walk home we hot caught up in a swarm of cricket fans making for the Mumbai Indians evening game. Then back onto the train for an overnighter into northern Goa (the state where Indians go for vacation).
    Author's note: It's funny that our best nights rest consistently comes on sleeper trains which is most likely due to the effective air conditioning.
    The next morning we hopped the most uncomfortable bus I've ever been on in my life to Aranmbol. Even with people taking every single seat, standing neck and neck in the aisle and people hanging out the door, they kept packing us in. I could not believe they were able to close the door behind us but there was hardly room to inhale. It was rather impressive how the money collector still managed to make his rounds up and down the aisle. And finally here we are right back where I started in paradise, more specifically a little beach called Mandrem in the northern part of Goa. With all of the hassles of traveling forgotten. Since its the end of the tourist season here and many hotels are closing down, we managed to score an ocean front bamboo hut for dirt cheap. We are spending about seven days in Goa hopping from beach town to beach town working our way south. Then it will be on to Hampi.

April 8, 2012 "The Very Good Enjoy"

    After 14 hours on a train we have arrived in the South Indian state of Maharashtra. The train was surprisingly very comfortable. It had full working AC and each person had their own bed. Brian and I shared a cabin with an Indian family of 4. The beds are set up like bunks and we had the top two. It was a little tight, but once you were laying down it was quite comfy. I was especially happy to be on the top bunk after spotting a few mice scampering around on the floor.
    The train ride went by quickly because it was an overnight ride and we slept the entire night.
    This morning we arrived in Jalgaon, a transit town on the way to the Ellora/Ajanta caves. The caves are ancient man made temples (a mixture of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain) that have been carved out of a mountain side and supposedly have remained almost fully intact.
    Right now we are sitting on a bus that will take us to a city called Aurangabad which is close to the caves.
    The second we got on the bus we were bombarded with questions by a fellow rider. He spoke decent English and was excited to practice with the only white people on the bus.
    Everyone in India is very keen on practicing their English. Everywhere we go people stop us to ask where we are from and want to take pictures with us (we've recently started politely refusing to take pictures because it has become a little irksome). We suddenly feel like overnight celebrities. Everyone is very friendly and looooves when we speak Hindi. They also love Barack Obama. Every time we say we are from the United States they always say "Barack Obama" and give us a thumbs up.
    We also noticed that people are very touchy here. Men hold hands (as friends) when walking down the street and they always put their hand on your knee when talking to you. This doesn't just happen to me, it happens to Brian too!
    One thing that we hear over and over from the Indian people is,"you must take the very good enjoy". The saying has definitely grown on us.

Whiskey and Mutton (April 6, 2012)

    Our meal with Sanjay was delicious! He picked us up from our hotel and we went to a nearby "restaurant", if you can call it that, to eat. It was more like some guy's hut that he cooked out of. We weren't quite sure whether or not Sanjay had actually cooked any of the meal, but we knew for sure that he had brought the ingredients to the man in the hut.
    While we waited for the food to be cooked Sanjay and his other driver friend cracked a bottle of "Bagpiper" (Indian whiskey) and we proceeded to drink the entire bottle. In India they say "ram ram" for cheers and drink the whole drink in one sip. Brian and I did this for the first round, but after that returned to slowly sipping our drinks.
    The mutton was served with chapatie (bread) called roti, which is similar to naan but not cooked in a tandoori over. We ate the chest of the goat and the meat literally fell off the bone! We told them before hand that we liked a "little bit of spice", which in India is still incredibly spicy. Sanjay seemed worried when we said it was spicy. We kept having to reassure him that it was very good and that we were just not used to spicy foods. That night we went to bed very satisfied and slept like babies after getting buzzed off the Indian whiskey.
    The next day we ate breakfast at the hotel and hopped into the car for our 6 hour drive to Agra to see the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal.

April 4, 2012 No Tigers

    Our trip to Ranthambhore thus far has been somewhat disappointing. Not only did we not get to see any tigers on our three hour safari, but my "Delhi belly" also decided to kick in a little today. I was wondering when it would hit.
    Our tour guide on the jeep told us that the jungle was rife with hyenas, leopards, tigers and jackals. The only thing we saw were deer and peacocks. Brian and I realized that the tigers weren't always going to be in plain sight, but we did wonder if it was some sort of tourist scam. However, at breakfast this negative thought was squashed when one of the Indian boys sitting across from us told us that his jeep had seen one. We were disappointed that we hadn't jumped onto his tour, but decided that we had just been unlucky.
    When we returned to the hotel we discovered that Sanjay had a whole night of activities planned for us. According to his driver friends he is an excellent cook and he planned to cook us a dinner of mutton.
    Yesterday when talking with Sanjay he told us that he was an anomaly compared to other Hindus. He chicken, mutton, tobacco and whiskey whereas most Hindus are vegetarians (the cow is considered "Mother" and they roam the streets like kings here) and drink mainly tea.
    Brian and I didn't know what mutton was having never tried it before. We noticed on our hotel menu that it said if you wanted to order mutton you had to place the order 4 hours in advance. When we asked Sanjay why this was he informed us it was because they slaughtered the goat literally right before they cooked it. "Very fresh!" he said with a smile. I wondered if he was going to do the same thing for us before he cooked our meal.
    Our other activity for the day was to get a hot shave. Not for me, of course, but for Brian. They have little shops all over the place for this. Brian will finally be cutting off his long mutton chops. We noticed that a lot of Indian men sport the "handlebar" mustache so Brian decided to go for this look. He tells me he wants to be able to curl up the edges like Salvador Dali. I was just hoping that the straight blade wouldn't cut his throat! But they did an excellent job and Brian said it felt really good.

April 3, 2012 (Brian)

    Right now we are on the road leaving Jaipur and heading to Ranthambhore (I've given up any attempt on correct spelling) where we hope to see some tigers in the wild.
    Jaipur, also called the Pink City, is in the desert state of Rajasthan and it was brutally hot all day (approaching 105). The city lived up to it's name with pink buildings and palaces everywhere you looked.
    Sanjay doesn't like Jaipur because the traffic is terrible and the motos and tuk tuk drivers don't know their place in the traffic. He tells us that on the street the order of importance for a driver is as follows: 1) driver skill 2) working brake 3) working horn 4) working AC (my addition).
     We arrived in Jaipur after our 5 hour drive from Delhi. On the way we stopped for breakfast on the side of the road and enjoyed an "Indian breakfast" of unsweetened yogurt soup, called caerd, with cheet barota, bread stuffed with potato, cheese and onion.
    After dropping our luggage off at the hotel our first stop was to the famous Raj Mander movie theater to see the new Bollywood film, Agent Vinod. The historic theater was very impressive. The foyer included a grand carved staircase and was adorned with several low hanging chandeliers. The theater itself was very large with a curtain hanging in front of the screen. The movie was awesome. Agent Vinod is the Indian James Bond complete with shootouts, knife fights, car chases, tuk tuk chases, plot twists and lovely ladies. The audience is very different here though, with whoops and catcalling heard throughout the film.
    Back out into the blistering heat we headed to the Aryuvedic massage parlor to end the day. They took us to separate rooms and we got an hour long massage, saturated with oils.
    The next day we set out in the morning to check out some of the historical architecture. We saw the Window Palace, which didn't live up to the expectations. And then headed to the Water Palace which sits in the middle of the lake.
    Our favorite of the ventures was the Amber Fort. Built in the 17th century for a powerful Raja it was an impressive spectacle. The palace was in a small valley surrounded by hills and spanning the hills was a long continuous wall that rose and fell with the terrain. The wall resembled (in my mind) a less massive version of the Great Wall of China. Tourists paid to ride elephants up the hill to the palace while paupers such as ourselves had to play hopscotch with the resulting excrement. The palace was massive and very well preserved with endless passageways, chambers and turrets with expansive views. From the palace you could see down the hill to the "Royal" lake where Sanjay explained that the elephants went to do Kama Sutra.
    At this point in the day, the heat drove us back to our hotel to enjoy our "luxurious" outdoor pool, which was actually quite enjoyable.
    The following day we left Jaipur and set out for Ranthambore in search of tigers. On the way we stopped off at the Monkey Palace that kept reminding me of Indiana Jones' trip to India (Temple of Doom I think). The palace was impressively cradled by the crook of the canyon. The place was overflowing with playful and fearless monkeys. After failing to convince Cat that it would be like petting a dog, we hopped back in the car and set out.

April 2, 2012 Good Driver, Good Brake, Good Horn

    Right now I am sitting in the back of the car with Brian writing in our journal while Sanjay drives us to Jaipur, a city about 4 hours west of New Delhi. I am struggling to keep my penmanship neat as Sanjay flies around corners and slides in between semis.
    The driving here is insane and none of the seat belts work. Half the time I'm not sure which side of the road we're supposed to be on because the cars are going in every direction. Honking is a must here in India. If Sanjay didn't honk furiously at every car or truck we passed I'm pretty sure we'd have crashed by now. However, I do feel comfortable to know that Sanjay has been doing this for more than 20 years and is very familiar with the ways of the road. He even keeps a bat in the trunk in case anyone gives him any trouble.
    Although, there have been a few times when I thought we were going to hit a pedestrian. People literally walk in the road and large groups cross the highway forcing cars to screech to a halt. According to Sanjay there are three important rules to driving in India: good driver, good brake and good horn.

India (New Delhi)

    One of my friends told me that you imagine India being dirty, but in reality it is 100 times worse. She was spot on.
    The streets of New Delhi are not only packed wtih people, dogs, cars, tuk tuks and rickshaws, but everywhere you turn there is trash covering the streets. Even the parks, where families picnic and kids play cricket (the most popular sport in India), are covered in trash. But besides the smell and the thick smog lingering above the skyline New Delhi is a beautiful city. Our favorite thing so far has been to people watch. There are so many different sounds and smells that fill your senses as you walk down the streets. Cars are constantly honking and street food is being cooked around every corner.
    Our first, and only day in Delhi was jam packed with things to do. Our hostel owner informed us that we had arrived during a nine day festival called Devi Festival (No Vitara). People were celebrating all over the city and it was a holiday (vacation) for everyone.
    When he found out that we had literally packed our bags and arrived in India with no plans or trains booked he became very worried. He told us that because of the festival people were traveling all around India and it could take weeks to get a train. He explained, "In India people are not organized, but very organized at the same time."
    He also said that the next morning we had to go to the International Tourist Center to talk to a travel agent and book our trains. We were a little surprised beacuse we had figured that we would plan as we go. Now we were being told that we had to plan everything in advance.
    The next day we met with Lucky for some chai tea (which is delicious here!) and he introduced us to our personal driver for the day. We were confused and didn't want to spend money on a driver, but he assured us that it was on the house. We were skeptical, but decided to go with it.
    The driver brought us to breakfast first, where we enjoyed some traditional dishes of paper dal (which is an incredibly thin and HUGE fried pancake filled with curried potatoes and vegetables and served with various dipping sauces) and another sort of spicy pancake (thicker, more like a pancake you can get in the States) with an abundance of different spices on top. We were very excited to get such a filling meal for only 1 dollar each!
    From there he brought us to the Tourist Center where he patiently waited outside while we met with a travel agent. We were still confused and skeptical about why the hostel was doing this for us, especially for free. I assumed that we would be charged later for everything.
It turns out, going to the tourist agency was the best decision of our lives! We told the man all the places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do and within ten mintues everything was planned and set into motion.
    Originally we decided to only tour the South, but we were convinced to check out a few things in the North. According to everyone we met the North was the most culturally rich part of India. We decided to check out Jaipur, aka the Pink City, and then head to Rathambour National Park to see tigers! From there we would head to Agra to check out the Taj Mahal. Not only would we get to see all this, but we would have a private driver the entire time! We then found out that many tourists hire a private car to get around. It is inexpensive and incredibly convienient. When we asked the travel agent if it would be easier to take cabs or tuk tuks (small three wheeled, open aired cabs that are very cheap) he replied, "Would you rather pay the same price to get somewhere with or without an argument?" With that we decided to get a private car. Two minutes later we were introduced to Sanjay, our new driver for the next week.
    Sanjay is from the countryside, about four hours from New Delhi. He works as a private driver and every couple of weeks drives all the way down to New Delhi to drive tourists from around the world to various places in Northern India for days or weeks at a time. He has informed us that he loves women and whiskey. He tells us that while he waits for us in the car park he talks with his other driver friends, enjoys, and looks at all the beautiful ladies.
    When we hopped into Sanjay's car he asked, "where would you like to go?" in somewhat broken English. We were completely clueless about any of the sights in Delhi so we told him to take us to all the good spots. We then proceeded to hit every tourist spot in the city including the Lotus Temple, a park dedicated to Gandhi, some gardens, Parliment and a few different tombs. All were very beautiful especially the gardens, but because of the holiday we had to suffer through the crowds and unbearable heat (while being jet lagged). At each spot Sanjay dropped us off and waited in the car park with all the other tourist vehicles. When we returned we hopped in the car (with AC) and headed to our next spot. So far, so good!

Smooth Sailing (March 20, 2012)

    After 29 hours without circulation to the lower halves of our bodies we finally arrived in New Delhi. I was slightly nervous to step outside of the airport into 95 degree weather and overpopulated streets, but once our flights had gone smoothly and our bags arrived on time my worries started to fade.
    The night before our flight I was slightly stressed out when I found that Brian was able to check in online for his flight, but for some reason I could not, no matter how many times I tried. I began to believe that this was an augury for our entire trip. It always seems that when things start out on the wrong foot it goes downhill from there.
    Brian kept reassuring me that everything would work out. At least we both had our flights to San Francisco, right? My thoughts were more along the lines of, "this travel agency just robbed 800 dollars of my money and now Brian is going to make it to Asia without me!"
    I decided that being stressed out before our trip was not going to help and somehow fell asleep.
    At PDX (Portland, OR International Airport) my worries did not subside when I tried to check in at the front counter. For some odd reason, Bonnie, (the woman working at the desk, whose name I kept in the back of my mind in case our bags never made it to Delhi) could not check me into my flight to Beijing or New Delhi either. She convinced me that this was normal and I just had to check in with China Air when I arrived in San Fran.
    Bonnie furthered my worries when I noticed her handwriting our baggage tags. She told us that, even though we were unable to check into our flights, our bags could.
    Bottom line, I had a lot of bad thoughts running through my head about our trip.
    When we made it to San Fran I was relieved to discover that Bonnie had been right! I was able to check into my flight to Beijing and New Delhi at the gate. Phew! One worry down.
    The woman at the gate then wanted our baggage tags from Portland. She looked puzzled when we handed them over and said, "What are these?". Brian and I looked at each other, slightly confused. "Well those are our baggage tags". She replied, " It doesn't say where your final destination is".
    Oh god, our bags are not going to make it to New Delhi. What are we going to do without our UV water purification lamp or the multitude of over the counter drugs? I thought to myself. I realized later that these were trivial things to worry about in the long run. Although, our water purification lamp has been incredibly useful thus far.
    We decided not to worry too much about the bags until they actually didn't show up in India.
    However, it was smooth sailing from there. Our flights all took off and landed on time. We didn't get sandwiched between fat people or crying kids and when we got to New Delhi our backpacks were waiting patiently for us. We were first in line at customs and when we stepped out of the front door a man from our hostel was holding a sign that said "CATHERINE BARTOLINI". He brought us straight to the front door of Hostel New King where we were greeted by "Lucky" the hostel owner, even though it was 3 AM.