A Brief Vacation from Travelling

I arrived in India one week ago today, flying from Seoul, South Korea to New Delhi. This, obviously, broke my vow to never fly yet again. Opposed to the past flights, when my only option for pushing further east was to fly, I had other options to get to India. I could have taken the ferry from South Korea to China, taken trains across China and then taken a jeep over the Himalayas to India. It was actually a leg of the journey that I was very excited about before I began, but 6 months of travelling had caught up with me and I was feeling very fatigued. Also, I wanted maximum time in India. Taking the land route there would have cut at least 2 weeks into my allotted time for India.

I was greeted in New Delhi with news that a bomb had killed 11 people outside the High Court in the capital. Great. About an hour after I arrived in New Delhi, I felt the building I was in shake violently for about 3 seconds. I was convinced that another high powered bomb had gone off in my vicinity, but I later found out that it was "only" an earthquake. 4.2 on the richter scale. That was actually the first earthquake I'd ever experienced, so it was a little exciting. It didn't cause any significant damage or injuries, which is the perfect kind of earthquake to experience. 

View from my balcony in New Delhi the morning after the quake

The next day I took the train 20 hours south to Pune, where my friends from Austin, Rohit and Caroline live. They moved here a few months ago after living and working in Austin for 4 years. Rohit has been the perfect host here. He's an indulgent person and he's been a welcome addition to my relatively austere lifestyle the past 6 months. Compared to past locales that I've visited, I've done precious little in Pune but man, it's been so great. I've read the newspaper everyday, getting back in tune with what's going on in the world and India. Did you know that Pune has the highest murder rate of old ladies in all of India? 

The Duronto Express, 20 hours from New Delhi to Pune

I have also made up for 6 months of practically zero shopping by going on a few shopping sprees here in Pune. I've bought myself clothes to replace the now monotonous wardrobe of 5 shirts and 3 pairs of pants that I've been carrying around. It's amazing how a new t-shirt or a new pair of underwear can lift your spirits. It's also made me realize that shopping can be educational, too. Going to the bazaars and haggling over $2 scarves and $5 t-shirts has exposed me to an integral side of India: commerce. 

I was shocked to find that India's neighbors to the north (specifically Kazakhstan) do not haggle. From my experience, they give you a price (usually exorbitantly high because you're a foreigner) and then don't come down. Even if you walk away, they just watch you go to the next stall until you inevitably find someone who will sell it for the right price. Not so in India. The sellers here have INVITED me to haggle with them. They really enjoy it and laugh and pat you on the back at the end. I've gone with locals on most of my shopping excursions to get a feel for it, and I don't think I've gotten ripped off yet. 

Napping rickshaw driver

The casual life of Pune will end tomorrow morning though when I board a flight to Jammu, up in the north. Then, on Friday, I'll get in a jeep and drive 5-6 hours north through the Himalayas to Srinagar, the main city of the Kashmir Valley. This will probably be my most adventurous journey yet, as Kashmir can be a bit dicey. But I've done my research and am staying with a trustworthy host so I feel comfortable with it. It'll be a good experience to see and experience life in an area as unstable as Kashmir.

I have a feeling that internet will be limited there, as it was in China, so I'll probably not be able to update again until the week after.

Cheers!