India sum up

Now that we’ve been traveling for awhile outside of India I’ve come to some conclusions. First, traveling to India is best described as an experience. I can’t simply say it was great or bad or fun or difficult b/c it’s all those things at once. It is full of extremes, so much so that it has become a standard for all travels good and bad.

For example, since we’ve been in Thailand and Australia we’re constantly comparing things to India. We’ll say things like, boy it’s pretty crowded here, but not India crowded. Or, wow the clothing here looks really interesting, but not as beautiful India. Or, these people are so nice, but not quite as nice as India. Or, wow things are really efficient here, not like India.

The second thing is that so much of India cannot be experienced anywhere else in the world and I’m not exaggerating by saying that. Thailand was beautiful and we loved our time there, but we could have a very similar trip somewhere in southeast asia or the south pacific. Australia is also a blast, but we could see a lot of similar things in the U.S. or somewhere in Europe. However, we can’t see thousands of people washing themselves on the ghats of a river with the women’s beautiful saris laying on the rivers edge drying. In no other country, Shirley and I wouldn’t be the center of attention in a street where there are cows wandering around eating trash, rickshaws speeding all over the place, and everyone honking like mad. In no other country, would someone we literally just met (5 minutes ago!), invite us to their cousin’s wedding and not allow us to thank them b/c it was their honor to have us there.

There were definitely times when traveling in India didn’t feel like a vacation, but rather work. However, it was all worth it. Before going to India, we would read travel journals that made dramatic statements like “India defies definition,” or “India is a country of contradictions,” but now that we’ve been there we realize it kinda is true. I couldn’t sum up our trip there in one sentence. For Thailand, I could say it was super relaxing, we ate great food all the time, and we had a wonderful time. Australia is huge, too much to see in a month, similar to the U.S. except cleaner, and amazing beaches and coral reef. For India, I really need to sit down and talk to you b/c even all the writing I’ve done here isn’t enough.