We left New Delhi and headed for Kathmandu, a place I’ve dreamed about visiting. The name itself conjures up mystery. Everest, prayer flags, rugged snow-capped mountains, adventure! 

As for India, we spent 4 ½ weeks in total there, between two trips. I have mixed feelings which I have to make sure I keep certain emotions in check to be fair.

Our time in Delhi

Our first few days in Delhi were typical from what I’ve discussed with others. Loud, crowded, dirty, noisy, polluted. While in Delhi, we saw some things that make Delhi famous such as the Lotus Temple, however other places were closed due to Republic-day holiday. While we were wandering the partially closed Chandni Chowk market near the Red Fort, we observed a youth passing people and feeling their pockets. I guess he was planning on who to target for pickpocketing. It was at that point, with the crowds building, similar to July 1^st in Canada, we headed back to our hotel. 

A few days later, we boarded a high-speed train for Agra. Let’s be clear here, this is a high speed by Indian standards, not Europe. It could reach 160 km/hr. That is a speed people do on HWY #1.  The train left on time, however in true Indian fashion, it arrived 30 minutes late. The journey was only supposed to take 1 hr 40 minutes. 

The Taj Mahal

Once in Agra, we saw the Agra Fort and then the Taj Mahal. I was blown away by the Taj Mahal. At the Taj, we hired a guide who passed on a lot of information and took some amazing pictures of us. After our one-hour tour, we said we wanted to wander about some more and take it all in. The guide said OK and curiously said “be careful”. I didn’t think to ask “why”. 

We wandered about for an hour, taking even more pictures. Then, as it was late in the day and getting cold and windy, we decided to head out. Looking at Google Maps we saw it was a 20-minute walk to the home-stay and headed towards the stairs leading to the exit. At the top of the stairs, I went to check my phone again and it was gone.   

The loss of my cell phone

I had become the victim of a pickpocket. We went to security and they looked at the CCTV and we saw exactly where the theft took place. A group of four young males came in behind us and nudged us apart, pushing and shoving in the way that is common in India. My phone, which was in a cargo pant pocket that I neglected to zip up, was an easy target. Security tried to call the phone but it was off-line.

With the loss of the phone, we lost almost all of our Taj Mahal photos. Meg took very few. We lost our internet as I had the SIM card for India. Our Indian phone number was gone. I was devastated. Heading back to our hotel I frantically thought of what to do, but honestly, I was a mess.

How I dealt with my cell phone being stolen

The hotel staff were great, they walked me some things to do with a lost iPhone, however I could not initially access my passwords. Eventually I was able to log into my iCloud account and “lock” the phone. I have since instructed the phone to “erase”. The phone has not accessed the internet since it was stolen. From the Apple site, the phone, with that EMI number, is nothing but a paper weight. According to Apple, no one can use it until I unlock it. I’ve read the phones are used for parts after being stolen. Who knows?

The past few days have been difficult for us; however, it is getting easier and this too shall pass. I do not intend to get a new phone until I return to Canada. There are subtle continental differences in phones and warranty may be an issue. I did check my warranty and I had declined theft coverage. House insurance has a $1,000 deductible and the phone was $1,050 – not worth the time/paperwork to file a claim.

There were things that were magnificent in Northern India. The Taj was amazing, Jaigrah Fort in Jaipur had incredible displays and only a fraction of the crowds of the nearby Amber Fort. Some things in northern India left a lot to be desired. For example, when we were heading to Jaigrah fort, we ordered an Uber from Meg’s phone. While walking to the pick-up point, we saw what could only be described as feral people in the streets and alleys. Everywhere was dirty and dusty. 

Jaipur Homestay – a bright spot in our travels

One exception was our homestay in Jaipur. Our was beyond amazing. It was the best hotel experience we have had in India other than the safari lodge which was $400/night. In Jaipur, we truly felt like family and we welcomed to dinner with the host and another travelling couple.

Pollution in Delhi – terrible on a good day

Delhi was dirty. Air quality index hovered between 375 and 500. People in Victoria go crazy if the index hits 20. You could see the pollution in the air. When we flew from Mauritius to Delhi, on an overnight flight, we landed at Delhi’s airport around 8:00 AM. This was well after sunrise. As we were on our final approach, I honestly thought we were still flying through clouds. At about 100 meters from the ground, we saw the runway break through the smog and the plane touched safely down.

Our flight from Jaipur to Delhi had a similar experience. Half way though the 75-minute flight, the pilot said the visibility in Delhi was 50 meters due to haze, they don’t like to say the air is polluted. In order to land they would require a CAT 3 trained crew. The pilot then said the crew was CAT 3 trained and as long as the visibility stayed at 50 meters or better, they could land. Similar to our previous arrival from Mauritius, we did not see the runway until about 100 meters above ground.

There is no way they would try that in Canada, however if they did not do this in India, they simply would not fly. Beside, the alternate airport likely had the same visibility so why use the alternate? A number of Indian people we met said India is famous for two things – people and pollution. There does not seem to be a will to fix the pollution problem. Breathing the air is like smoking a pack or two of cigarettes a day. I wore a mask about half the time. Meg wore her mask about 95% of the time.

Moving forward and being safer

I hope to write more about India, because I did enjoy much of it, I am hopeful I won’t paint the entire country with the brush of one organized pickpocket group. As for me, I am getting used to not having my security blanket (phone) next to me. I have tightened up my personal security, zipping pockets and using a money belt. I am thankful that my passport was not stolen, nor my credit cards.

Thanks for reading and stay safe.

On our second day in Mumbai, we woke up and enjoyed the wonderful breakfast at our hotel. Before heading out, we made sure we were all packed and ready to go. Having seen numerous games of Cricket the day before, we walked back over to the Oval Maidan, the local Cricket pitch. This is a large, Grade I recreational ground, situated in South Mumbai, about a ten-minute walk from our hotel. It is so named because of its oval shape and is where anyone can play Cricket. On the weekends, up to 50 games are being played with balls crossing into each other’s area. 

The passion for Cricket in India cannot be under estimated. I very much enjoyed watching despite not having a clue of what the rules are. The only issue I had with taking all this in, was there were no females playing. Heading back to our hotel, we checked out of hotel and met up with our driver for the day. Heading through the traffic for The Gateway of India where we would catch a ferry to Elephanta islands.

Elephanta Island

The one hour and ten-minute ferry ride took us to the UNSECO world heritage site where we met our guide for the tour of the Island. Only residents of the Island, about 1,200 in total, can be guides. We learned a lot about the symbols, the carvings and life on Elephanta Island during our two-hour stay. Catching the ferry back our driver took us to our travel agent “India Someday”. They could not have been kinder or more helpful. They confirmed the number of details and gave us more advice and pointers for remaining 2 1/2 weeks.

We returned to our hotel, which was only about five minutes away, where we claimed our luggage, having left it after check out. Ready to head to the overnight train we went down the road and got some street food to snack on for dinner. The travel agent warned us the food selections at the train terminal were not great.

Getting to the train station

Driving the one-hour and 20 minutes from south Mumbai to North Mumbai was chaotic. Arriving safely at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, or LTT train station around 7:00 PM, we munched on our dinner sitting in the utter chaos that was the terminal. Our 8:50 PM train was announced around 8:00 PM and we went to our platform, finding the position where our car would be. The train arrived at 8:30 and we boarded, going to our two person sleeper cabin.

Our cabin and meal options.

For those who have not taken a train in India, it can be an experience. They were sleeper cars with 80 berths in them however, our sleeper car only had 24 berths. That is the difference between travelling first class and third class in India. First class also gives you air conditioning and since the overnight low in Mumbai was 28, air-conditioning was a very good investment. The train left a little bit late and after we got underway a room steward brought us our sheets. He then confirmed that we wanted dinner.

He seemed somewhat surprised that we were happy with a vegetarian meal. While we are not vegetarian, after 12 days on a cruise ship, eating beef almost every day, a vegetarian meal was a good break for our system. Our meal started off with tomato soup, which was unlike any tomato soup I had ever tasted. It was very good, however, it was very spicy, and Meg was unable to finish hers due to the heat.

We then received a tray with five dishes on it, and it was quite tasty. We ate in our cabin and after finishing, the steward came and cleaned we are plates. It was now 10:30 PM and the steward came back and said he had some breath mints and how much of a tip would we be giving him? I kind of looked at him and his friend standing next to him with his arms folded across his chest. There were signs all over do not tip staff, but curiously, his plate with breath mints on it also had some bank notes on it. I looked at him, and then he said how much you tip me? Caving into the basic extortion, I gave him 100 Rupees just so he would go away.

We then got into bed and tried to fall asleep to the trains rocking. Our coach was only two cars back from the engine and, similar to Thomas the Tank Engine, the horn sound incessantly. This naturally woke us up regularly throughout the night. We seemed to sleep best when the train stopped, which I thought was at a station, however I never looked out the window to confirm this. We were due to arrive in Goa, at the Madgaon station at 5:40 AM and we dutifully each set an alarm so we would not sleep through. This is where it got interesting…

A temporary panic attack!

Two berths down the coach from our two-person room, was a family in a four-person unit including two children. The three-year-old child had a tantrum of epic proportions after getting on the train which lasted about 30 minutes. Eventually everything was quiet. At one point I woke up during the night, when it was pitch black, and heard the child speaking. I thought to myself, “are we there? Are they getting ready to get off?” I looked at my phone and it was only 4:30 AM. Then I panicked and thought “is Goa on a different time zone?” I searched the internet and found all of India is on the same time zone, which I knew, but for some reason, at 4:30 AM, I could not remember. 

Well, I was up now, so I crawled down from my upper berth, managing not to step on Meg who was fast asleep on the lower berth, and went to the loo. Returning to our berth, I thought I might as well stay up, since I’ll be getting up shortly. I did a quick search of Google maps and found we were only half way there. This was supposed to be a nine hour journey, we had been travelling for seven hours, what’s up with that? I have now learned Indian trains do not seem to run with the same efficiency as Japanese trains. I turned off my alarm and tried to find Meg’s phone to silence hers, but woke her up doing so. 

Traveling along India’s train routes

I texted our driver to say we would be late. He replied back immediately, saying he was following the trains and would meet us there when we got there. Just before 9 AM we arrived at Madgaon station in Goa, over 3 hours late. Our driver was waiting for us. We then did the 40-minute drive to our hotel through lush forests and fields.

Arriving at our resort at 10 o’clock in the morning, we weren’t able to check in. Depositing our luggage with the concierge, we went and had a late breakfast, changed into our bathing suits and went swimming in the Arabian sea. We then walked around the town, scouting out places to eat et al. 

Goa is beautiful

Our first impressions of Goa were very similar to beach resorts in Mexico, but without the vendors on the beach. Of course, there were vendors in the town, which is basically one road in this part of South Goa. The north part of Goa is a bit livelier, translation, party town. Goa’s south is more family orientated. The beach is amazing: about 2 ½ km long of fine sand and between 50 – 100 meters from the buildings to the ocean, depending on the tide. Being only 15 degrees north of the equator, the sun and heat are relentless and the days are 11 hours long at the winter solstice.

We are now on day four of our four-day beach phase of our India trip and absolutely loving it. This has allowed us to catch up on outstanding chores, including updating the web site and Instagram pages. We are working on visas for the next phase of our trip and getting ready for our 4:30 AM departure from our resort to the airport 

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to ask any questions or suggestions in the comments section.