Get it India

Forget about seat belts, hot showers, wifi, beef, power or personal hygiene, this is a post about India.

My plane arrived in New Delhi just before midnight on the 26th of July where I was greeted by a familiar face amongst the sea of black hair and dark skin; Mr Jordan Cutts.

*Note we stuck out like dogs balls.

From the airport a taxi dropped us at our hostel; The Smyle Inn in the suburb of Paharganj, although we didn't have too much to 'smyle' about after we were informed we were staying in one of the most dangerous areas of the city.

That aside we jumped in a rickshaw the next day and took off to see the sights in New Delhi; namely India Gate and Humayun's Tomb. The day wasn't complete without the occasional beggar and our driver insisting we visit his 'friends' shops. These were common themes throughout India.

The next few days we embraced the crowds, noise and smells and survived the streets of Delhi.

One highlight in India's capitol was our cooking class. We took a taxi to the outskirts of Delhi and arrived at a run-down apartment block. We walked up a few flights of stairs and found our intended address. It certainly wasn't what we expected; we envisioned a big kitchen with a cooking class full of tourists. What we got was a small apartment with no one but ourselves, our instructor and her family. It was awkward at first with Jordan and I wondering if they were going to rob us however once we got going we really started to enjoy ourselves.

We prepared masala chai; a traditional sweet Indian tea, potato pakora with a coriander chutney, followed by mutton rogan josh with pulao rice. No Indian meal is complete without bread, so of course we also learnt how to make roti and paratha. The cooking class was a great experience; it showed us what goes on in a real North Indian kitchen, and we enjoyed our meal with some new found friends.

I can safely say that Jordan and I loved the food India had to offer, and we didn't tire of eating curry. We ate at some of India's best restaurants, to stalls on the side of dirt roads. We learnt that mutton in India is goat, and that the majority of meat dishes are based around chicken, which suited us just fine. A typical meal for Jordan and myself would consist of two chicken dishes, one rice, two Kingfishers, and of course a double helping of nann.

The weekend had arrived in Delhi so we thought we'd do the usual and get our binge on. Again it wasn't to be, the only 'club' we found was one where men in turbans sung to Linkin Park and failed to skull even half a beer. We found out that New Delhi doesn't have a club scene. We did however meet one local who decided he'd take us on a tour of New Delhi's most exclusive clubs. He'd brag about the millions of dollars he had, but failed to get us on a single dance floor. We later dubbed him the Delhi douche, and rightly so.

After 3 nights in Delhi we made our way to Agra with the help of our driver Asok; at the time we were unaware of the comedy that would ensue at his expense. His stutter, repetitive questions, and lack of communication skills provided Jordan and I with hours of entertainment/frustration on our long journeys. Unfortunately he failed to get us hashish which ruined his chances of a decent tip.

Agra served us up some memorable sights including the epic Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. Even though we made it to the Taj at 6am, when its supposedly cooler we still looked like drowned rats in our photos.

We then made our way to Jaipur. Some points of note in the Pink City were Amber Fort, The City Palace and Raj Mindir Cinema where Jordan and I sat through a four and a half hour Bollywood film; Bhag Milka Bhag. Despite our lack of Hindi we thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend watching a Bollywood film if ever in India.

Jodhpur was next on the Golden Triangle route; a four hour drive west. The spice markets and Merangarh Fort kept us entertained before our final stop; Pushkar. This was one of my favourite places in India for a few reasons. Pushkar is surrounded by mountains and has a beautiful lake in the middle of town. It also boasts the 'Rainbow Restaurant' which provided us with energy we needed to climb the 500 steps up to Savirti Temple in the form of space cakes.

After 7 days on the road dodging cows and conversing about cricket we returned to Delhi. I bid farewell to Jordan as he prepared to ease back into western civilisation with a night at a 5 star hotel; The La Lit. I jumped on a 14 hour bus headed north to Dharamasala.

India is something else. It is the least westernised country I have ever been to. India has managed to keep it's own identity even after so many years of British rule. Jordan and I often found ourselves saying "thats so India" because there are so many aspects that are uniquely Indian, and thats why I'll always have fond memories of this country.

India is well worth the cold showers, the gut wrenching smells, the sweat, the dioreeha and hecklers. It is a country full of colour, smiles and surprises.