Via an email to my family on our 4th day::
"We left early this morning from, New Delhi, the capital of India. It was poverty like you couldn't imagine. I am not exaggerating, it was unlike anything you have ever seen and I am positive of that. Take any bad part of America, the WORST as far as poverty goes and multiply it by 10.
We took an early morning train (we are sick of Delhi, LOUD DIRTY and people hassle you at every step) we set out for Agra, India. it is where the Taj Mahal is. Our room at the guesthouse, out the window you can see the full Taj Mahal. We have a rooftop lounge area with a full view. We are literally a minute walk there. We will go tonight for sunset. It costs 740 rupees, which is roughly 18 dollars, pretty expensive. But its one of the wonders of the world, so we have to.
We just got back from the train station, because we are getting out of here in the early morning. We are headed to Hadiwar, the holiest city in India, then to Rishakesh, also a very holy land. No meat, no beer, no cigarettes for the next month. There are mountains and its cooler there, we both are ready as we could be for that. its just so damn loud and dusty here.
Our experience has been INTENSE so far. Kids begging for money, holding knives (20 minutes ago at the bus station), but we are playing it savvy and getting acclimated just fine.
Would I ever want to go back to New Delhi or Agra, doubtful, but the reason we came here was for the north country. We knew just as we knew in Thailand, we have to go through the big passage city i.e bangkok. But we ended up loving bangkok the second time we went. As for New Delhi, i know for sure there would be no changing my mind. It is truly a unique place though, you could never say otherwise.
So we head north tomorrow on a train at 10:45 to Haridwar, India. The Ganges river is there, so the air is cooler and cleaner. we CANT WAIT.
Tonight we go to see the Taj Mahal. It is as amazing as you would think seeing it from down the road on our roof. It is the absolute definition of EPICNESS.
Anyhow, we got our tickets for the "dreaded" second class. People pack in like sardines, I know I won't like it, but I KNOW FOR SURE Maris wont. So we will try and upgrade to air con as we have been told we could.
So that's our experience in an email so far. We have been through the storm, now comes th beautiful calm that will make it all worth it.
From Haridwar we go to Rishakesh for a yoga thing. Maris is stoked, I am....well I am excited to be in the city and have new experiences. It is the mouth of the Ganges river, which is about as holy as it gets in Hinduism.
Ok we are going to go get ready to visit the Taj. Take care. We are safe and playing things smart. Just as we found out when we got to Thailand, It ALWAYS sounds way more dangerous than it is. Taking precautions and keeping our heads on straight has proven easier that we imagined. Probably from our time in Thailand.
We met a really cool guy from Montana and some Argentinians, we will meet them in Rishakesh in a few days.
Alright guys, Love you all. Take care, I will try and keep you up to date. We do not have our laptops, so the internet is not really as accessible as it was in our past travels.
Love you
_Brock"
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The Beginning
The Beginning
I am a 25 year old, southern Gent. I've been bothered by the fact that I've not traveled the world or even left the country, sans a trip to Cancun when I was in High School, but that was so muddled with tequila and strip clubs (sorry mom), that It doesn't REALLY count- that I have decided to take a adventure across the globe with the love of my life.
All I needed was a motivator, I needed someone to push me to travel and tell me, "Now's the time to do this, and we should totally do it". She came, she said those magic words and now we've got our bags packed, watching the calendar.
I had intentions on moving to New York City with my girlfriend. We are both really big into music and both have a spot in our hearts for the city. The opportunity escaped us after having our hopes deflated by the freaky rent prices there. We kind of ditched the New York idea immediately following a trip there and the mention of Thailand.
We had always tossed around the idea of traveling together. I knew I wanted to travel with her. The first place she mentioned was Thailand, and after 20 minutes on Craigslist, checking out places and prices, we were sold (prob not the best way to chose where you want to spend your life, but that's just how it happened, and this is my story). Thailand it was.
So here we are 6 months later, a ticket for Bangkok dated August 4th in our hands. When people ask us how long we will be in Thailand, we say "Indefinitely". We are ready for a life change, something that might coax us into never coming back.
I have been dreaming of the sand and the crystal beaches since we mentioned the move, I have also had nightmares of being locked up and having to deal with a girlfriend who has been kidnapped by some crazy python handler, but those are just dreams.
The truth is, I have never been so excited and nervous at the same time for anything in my life. Right, now as I sit on my couch in South Knoxville looking out the window at the homemade bird feeders we made, on a hot Sunday afternoon, it blows my mind to think that in a little under two months, I might be laying in the sand with the tide riding up my mini bathing suit, with some concoction of a random Thai's design to sip in one hand, watching long-tailed boats float over the horizon, holding the love of my life in the other.
I expect to be shocked, excited, impressed, disappointed, lost, scared, found, happy, comfortable, uncomfortable, drunk, frightened, enlightened, ready to come home, ready to stay forever- all at different times on this journey.
But one thing that will never change will be when I am an old man, maybe back in South Knoxville, sitting on my porch in a rocking chair with my old wife, widdling some crazy little thing old men on porches widdle, I will be able to look over to my wife and ask, "Remember that time we went into that local bar in Thailand and we saw that Thai Prostitute perform that "Ping-Pong show?" I am glad we shared that moment together."
And she will say, "Brock that's disgusting" and then smile a little bit.
_Brock
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