Ok, so I have to admit that India was never high on my list of places to visit. I just pictured India as being an utter cacophony for the senses, a chaotic assault on sight, smell, sound and, most importantly, on my stomach. Since Indian food in America made me sick, I figured I would undoubtedly get Delhi Belly and spend the entirety of a trip crouched over some horrid public toilet, bemoaning evil curries and likely contracting something that killed the settlers in my childhood Oregon Trail game.
And then I moved to Oman. And India is soooo close and I did finally successfully try Indian food and not die. But I still didn't want to go. Most of the expats in Oman are from the Indian subcontinent, so I sort of figured Oman was like a much better smelling, cleaner, richer cousin of India. See, no need to go, especially since over the last few months Western media has been really focused on the rape and, specifically, gang rape issues in India. So, further justification for not going to India and dying of dysentery and/or gang rape. And, finally, even the tour company included a warning for India - it said that even really experienced travelers found India challenging and culturally shocking to travel to, further justification for me avoiding the second most populous country in the world altogether.
Except...India has tigers. And the Taj Mahal. And I really enjoyed studying Hinduism in school. And it's such a big and diverse country with so much fascinating history. And it's only three hours away. So, against what I thought was my better judgment and after many hours of agonizing over itineraries and tour companies, I booked a 2 week G Adventures trip to India to see tigers and the Taj Mahal and started stocking up on Immodium and Pepto Bismol and camping toilet paper.
I justified this trip on the basis that half the trip was spent in national parks stalking tigers, so that in and of itself would limit the amount of time I would be exposed to the crush of humanity that I expected (or slums or dodgy curries or utterly horrid toilets). Plus I convinced my roomie from Borneo to go with me, so at least I wouldn't be violently ill each day in front of a total stranger. And I booked a female taxi driver from the airport to reduce my chances of being raped until I could join up with the tour.
A few weeks before the trip my dad told me about a TV special he watched where they discussed sanitation in India (or lack thereof) and that so many people got sick because people working in kitchens still wiped their asses with their hands and then prepared food without properly washing their hands. So I bought enough pre-packaged food to bring with me that I figured I could survive on granola bars alone if necessary. The day before the trip started, one of my coworkers told me to avoid wearing sandals in Indian cities because of the "rivers of poo". My mind was filled with images of slums and human feces free-flowing in the streets, with the stench of a billion people's curry-scented BO and utter lack of sanitation. I might have canceled right then if my friend hadn't already flown to India from Australia...and I'm so glad I didn't.
I have so much to say about India it's going to take me multiple blog postings and time to continue sorting through my 2000 pictures. But it truly is an incredible country with unbelievable wildlife, architecture and history. The people were friendly and wonderful and the chaos of sight, sound and smell was invigorating rather than off-putting. While I can't say my stomach was 100% normal, I never got sick, nor did most of the other people on my trip. And though the tiger safaris didn't result in any up-close encounters, we did see two tigers, which just left me wanting more.
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| The tall grass didn't help, but at least you can see it's an actual tiger! |
So while I figure out how to sort through my thoughts and photos of an unbelievable two weeks, I'll leave you with my favorite picture that I took of the Taj Mahal:
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