Semester at Sea: Delhi and the Taj Mahal in India (Part 1)

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When the ship docked in Chennai, India (which is also known by the name Madras) I wasn’t sure what to expect from this huge and diverse country other than it’s where the Taj Mahal is located. I was beginning to get used to hot, tropical weather as I’d just visited Vietnam and Cambodia’s temples including Angkor Wat.

Prior to the ship docking at a new port, we always have a pre-port session where the shipboard faculty and staff present the shipboard community with important logistical and cultural information about that country. We were told to be prepared to see many people living in poverty and more pollution/garbage than in some of our previous ports. Since we only had six days in India, my friends and I rushed to see 5.5 different cities (that .5 to be explained in Part 2) all over the country and used many different forms of transportation to get to those places.

Chennai

The Customs and Immigration process was fairly simple to get through and the diplomatic briefing was short as well. This meant 600 Semester at Sea students were set loose on India before 11:00am. I chose remain on the ship to attend the Yoga Demonstration first which was really interesting. The positions that were shown to us seemed slightly impossible, but we were assured that after enough practice anyone could do them. Even years and many yoga classes later, I’m still not sure how convinced I am of this statement’s validity as there were some very pretzel-like positions. Since the yoga demonstration ended late, I just went to the dining room on the ship for lunch. 

Shopping and Sampling Dishes with Locals

There were a number of Indian students who were visiting the ship, and they were kind enough to give myself and a few other Semester at Sea students a ride into town so we could see some of Chennai and do some shopping. A couple of them accompanied us since they seemed concerned about our ability to find our way around. We went to an area that had a market and many shops, and had an interesting time trying to buy Indian clothing. The sizing is (of course) completely different, but I was able to buy a beautiful dark emerald green sari and blouse.

More Indian students joined us and we went to a restaurant called Hot Chips where they ordered us a variety of Indian dishes to try. A lot of the food was too spicy for me, but in the spirit of starting my eating adventures I tried it all just to see what I liked. The curry dishes were not for me, but tandoori and naan were going to be my friends.

It was a lot of fun hanging out with the students from India, but we eventually had to head back to the ship and hopped in some auto-rickshaws (motorcycles that are enclosed into a small three-wheeled car) to get back to port. Unfortunately, our port was really hard to find and the driver had to stop several times to ask for directions! Eventually we made it back, and since I needed to get up early the next day I decided to start packing for the days ahead.

Delhi

By 5:00am the next morning I had met up with my friends to head to the airport and catch our flight to Delhi. We were impressed at how organized and easy it was to get through check-in and security. We had been warned that travel in India can be very difficult and disorganized. 

Upon our arrival in Delhi we bought some toothpaste and sunscreen since we only flew with carry-ons and weren’t allowed to have any liquids with us. To get to our hotel, we got a pre-paid taxi from the airport which made it pretty easy. However, it took us two HOURS to get to our hotel because the traffic was so insane in Delhi. There seemed to be a lot of construction for their metro, and Delhi is extremely sprawled out. Our hotel ended up being down an alley near a big bazaar which was really interesting. 

After we’d settled in we went to a nearby tourism office to plan our trip to Agra the next day. We ended up booking a car and driver with a tour included since we couldn’t get train tickets. Next up was lunch and wandering around Delhi for the rest of the afternoon. Our wandering lead us to the India Gate and government buildings including the parliament houses and the Presidential Palace. My friends and I decided to take the advice of our Global Studies professor, Don Gogniat, to ‘Take the time to really smell the roses’ and just sat down for a while at the parliament buildings to enjoy the day. It was lovely to slow down and relax for a while amidst the hustle and bustle of the Indian capital.

That evening we explored the bazaar outside our hotel and went to a local restaurant that was recommended to us by our hotel. We really enjoyed the food and we met a couple of girls from Britain who were both traveling India solo. One of the girls was only 18 years old on a gap year between school and university, and had been traveling by herself in India for six weeks. This rather blew my mind as I would have never been brave enough to travel solo to India at 18. 

As an added bonus during the time we were in the restaurant, a cow attempted to join us, but was chased out by the proprietor. Cows are given pretty free reign in India as they are considered sacred in Hinduism, but they’re still not allowed everywhere. We spent a long time in the restaurant chatting with the other travelers we met before heading back to our hotel intending to crash for the night. When we arrived back though we realized that there was a little internet cafe right next to our hotel where it was only ten rupees for thirty minutes. We all decided it was worth a quarter to get some internet time since it was scarce on the ship (one of the 5 Weird Things About Shipboard Life). Finally it was time for bed because we had another early morning the next day.

Road Trip to Agra

Bright and early at 6:00am we checked out of our hotel and met up with our car and driver to go to Agra. The drive took about 3.5 hours between Delhi and Agra. Interestingly at one of the toll stops, there were many people coming up to car windows to sell things like bottled water and jewelry as well as people with trained monkeys that sat on sticks held by the owner. I thought using the toll stop was a great tactic to catch sales with tourists in an area that may not draw a lot of tourists. However, seeing the monkeys made me a bit uncomfortable since you have no way of knowing if they’re treated well by their owners.

Our first stop when we arrived in Agra was at Akbar’s Tomb to enjoy a sample of Mughal architecture before heading to the area near the Taj Mahal for lunch. Our lunch was quite good with me sticking to the tasty, but not spicy, tandoori chicken and naan. We also tried some lassi, a yogurt drink, which one of my friends enjoyed, but I didn’t particularly care for.

Taj Mahal Time!

Finally it was time for the main event and one of the seven Wonders of the World: the Taj Mahal. This was the second Wonder of the World I crossed off my bucket list and easily one of the things I was most looking forward to seeing during the semester. It was definitely worth the wait, and although everyone has seen countless pictures of this building, it’s so much better to actually be there. We spent a lot of time wandering around the grounds, and were able to go through the interior as well. It was so beautiful with very intricate inlay work that was just incredible. It was hard for me to believe I was actually there as the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and famous buildings in the world. 

Surprisingly there weren’t very many western tourists there, so we were watched a lot by curious Indian tourists. I’d like to note that staring is very common in India, and isn’t considered rude as a it would be in the US. Many people even asked to have photos taken with us, which we found fun if a little odd. 

After leaving the Taj Mahal behind, we stopped at a local marble artisan workshop where they showed us how they do the same kind of inlay work that was used in the construction of the Taj Mahal. Next our tour took us to another workshop where we were able to watch the hand weaving of beautiful, intricate carpets. The skills these artisans possess are so impressive and wish I could have purchased some of their handicrafts to bring home.

Agra Fort

To wrap up our day in Agra we visited Agra Fort since it was cooler there towards sunset than during the middle of the day. The reason being that it’s made predominantly of red sandstone which retains more heat than the white marble used in the construction of the Taj Mahal. The fort was huge and an incredible place to visit. While the exterior looked rather intimidating with it’s formidable red walls, the interior was very beautiful and looked more like a palace. Here, again, we were very popular with the Indian tourists for pictures, especially myself for some reason. Our guide tried telling me that I looked like an Indian actress (whose name escapes me), but I’m pretty sure he was just trying to flatter me.

Leaving on an Overnight Train

From the Agra Fort our guide took us to the train station where we were taking an overnight train to Varanasi at 11:00pm. We were really early so we had dinner and waited in a restaurant in the station until it was time to leave. Our train was surprisingly timely (we had been warned that they could be hours late) and we settled into our bunks for the night. 

I was loving India so far and couldn’t wait to see what the next few days would bring as we continued our travels across this vast and diverse country.

Read more about my adventures on Semester at Sea!

Have you visited any wonders of the world?