ENTER INDIA

Hey Everyone,

Our India adventure started on November 26th from the Sunali border. The ride to the border was a thrill in itself. We saw a bus that had rolled off the same cliff our driver raced around seconds before. Soon after, our tire blew out delaying us for an hour or so. Then we passed a smoking truck on its side. When we made finally made it to the border we ran into another minor problem. The one extra day in Pokara eating steak cost us $33 (for a 1-day expired visa) and an hour of hassle before the officers would let us leave their country.

The second we crossed the line from Nepal into India I knew there was something that I loved about the country. I'm just can't quite put in words what it is. Perhaps this feeling has something to with the non-stop chaos I'm so unaccustomed to. Cows roamed everywhere, horns honked without reason, people crowded the roads, beggars grabbed my arms, and the combination of incense and poop made me nauseous.

Instead of taking a car to the train station in Gorokpor like the typical westerner we opted to save a few dollars by taking the local bus for 3 hours. We counted 52 Indian people (and us) packed into the 26 person bus. I was crammed against the window on my left with Ari squeezed against me on the right. Ari had it worse... Not only did Ari get constantly elbowed in the head, but he had an obese Indian lady straddling his right thigh...

MY FIRST NIGHT IN INDIA

When we arrived at Gorokpor train station that night, we were too pooped to try to find a night train to Varanasi, our first destination. Instead we stayed across the street at Hotel Elora (arguably the worst hotel of all time). I had to wear shoes inside our room, because the floor was so dirty. I woke up to the sounds of banging on doors in the middle of night. I didn't think much of the obnoxious sound and tried to go back to sleep. I was initially more concerned with the twenty fresh bug bites I had acquired in my sleep and the buzzing mosquitoes around my head. The rapping continued and kept moving closer and becoming louder. It was 1 am. Ari and I were now wide awake and turned on the TV. Every station had the same breaking news: Bombings in Bombay. Our minds started to churn a little bit and before we had time to put the puzzle pieces together the knocking started on our door... No voices, just knocking. I didn't even think to get up to get the door. With a hard knock our deadbolt popped out of place and the door swung open. There were several policeman and our hotel manager standing in the doorway. "Routine police check, go back to sleep." There were other tourists standing outside the door irritated and asking "what the problem is." We asked the manager if this check had to do with what we were seeing on TV and he answered "yes." The knocking continued for another 30 minutes, and eventually I managed to go back to sleep. Strange first night...