Let's recap the last two days...
Day 1-Visited the Red Fort. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected but there was little shade and I was sooo hot. I was shocked to see that a lot of Indians have no respect for historical sites. They'll still pee on the walls. They'll still climb fences. They'll still picnic in closed off areas. It was a little sad. Because people don't respect government boundaries, these places are crumbling.
-Visited the Jain Temple and Bird Hospital (yes, it's a hospital for birds). Jainism is a sect of Hinduism that adheres to strict vegetarian and non-violence laws. For example, nothing made of leather is allowed in the temple and many people in their old age decide to stop eating completely as to keep themselves from killing plants. While there, I fell down some marble stairs that were wet and bruised my arm pretty badly as well as the arch of my left foot and my butt. I have a very dark, very tender line across my back and butt where I fell on the stairs. Ouch. It was difficult sleeping last night.
-Visited the Jama Masid Mosque. Pretty spectacular. The courtyard can hold over 25,000 worshipers and it's the largest in India. I saw lots of people drinking and bathing in a large water tank front and center but the water was so dirty and green from algae and mold. I wouldn't touch it. Upon entering, I had to put on a Muslim dress which was interesting and I also had to take off my shoes--torture! The red sandstone of the courtyard was searingly hot! But it was worth it. :)
Day 2-Bought tickets to Agra (the Taj Mahal) and to Lucknow (some other cool stuff). I will be leaving really early tomorrow for the Taj. Should be fun.
-Went to lunch were I found myself being followed by two men secretly working together. It was pretty scary. They both followed me for several blocks even after I told them to go away (in both Hindi and English). I eventually ducked into a cafe where one of the men pretended to walk on as if I didn't notice him but then returned to the cafe after I had ordered and proceeded to sit next to me, whispering on his cell phone. I tried not to look at him or let him know I was even aware of his existence. But then he started asking me questions so I silently shook my head as if I didn't understand and shortly after he stood up and left, talking to someone just out of site of the cafe window... But it wasn't over. I stayed there for a while because I felt like I was being watched and yep, I was. Maybe 5 minutes later the other man who followed me and tried talking to me curiously walks in, notes me, looks around the cafe as if I wasn't the agenda and then walks out. I was pretty creeped out at this point so I stayed there and watched the window for a while. I saw the two men walk by (seperately) at least a dozen times each over the next two hours, always looking at my table and abruptly looking away. It was just too coincidental. When I hadn't seen them for a half hour or so, I quickly left and got in a tuk-tuk. Weirdness. Good thing I'm rather observant and discerning when it comes to talking with strange men!
-Visited the National Museum which was huge! I spent at least 4 hours there and still skipped exhibits! The best though was on Indian miniature paintings which were both colorful and exotic in the most wonderful ways.
-After the National Museum, I walked down the mall with a pistacio ice cream cone to India gate (a big gate commemorating those who died during WWI). It was hot but beautiful.
-Walked to the National Gallery of Modern Art but was pointed in the wrong direction by a taxi driver whom I wouldn't take a ride from. I was furious when I discovered it. Good thing I didn't go too far. The museum was pretty interesting and I tried hard to talk to the other foreigners there but was met with awkwardness and a reluctancy to talk. Pretty much sucked.
-Went to the Ba'h'ai Lotus Temple. Ba'h'ai (correct spelling?) is a universal, monotheistic religion that believes all religions have common elements reflective of the one Creator. They welcome people of all faiths to their temples for prayer, worship and meditation. I tried to pray there but found it just wasn't right. So I chalked it up to a tourist site and left (but first visited their information center). From my observation, Ba'h'ai philosophy seems to be a little discorded in that unity was God's "new idea" or "new purpose" around 1800, yet he's the same God of every religion of all time... Hmmm. Wouldn't unity be his idea from the beginning? Ba'h'ai seems to teach truisms based on the teachings and writings of 4 sages, however, I don't see how it constitutes a religion. More of a philosophy of tolerance if you ask me...
What's with the photos?Well, I'm having difficulty finding the optimum format for photos with my camera and thus far Flickr has determine TIFF images too big and RAW images incompatible. I should be able to post and upload some tomorrow when I revert to JPEGs. Sorry about the wait. Someday I get it all together...
How am I?I am sad and lonely. I didn't think it would be so hard to meet people. I've only managed to talk to two--TWO!--and neither were interested in talking for more than 5 minutes. Everyone here is in pairs and I feel like the only solo traveler in all of India (though I know it's not true). And I miss Jeremy. I miss him so much. And I'm sad because I miss him so much. It's really tempting right now to just pack up and leave. Go somewhere else. Back to Korea. Straight to Australia. I've even considered home (though I wouldn't do it). I hate being alone. I'm not a solo person. I don't know how I'm going to do this on my own... But I've told myself that I must stick it out for at least 5 weeks. If I'm still miserable after that, I can leave. That's my deal. Let's see how it goes... Pray that I meet someone tomorrow to hangout with for at least a couple hours. I'll be taking the train to Agra and that should be a good place to meet someone. I don't know if I can go through another day alone. I might become a hotel hermit.
So, I continue on! Photos soon, I promise!
