India is mental but, I love it

Taj Mahal sunrise

Whenever I talk to people about travel, India often comes up as somewhere I have visited. With that I always get the question “What was it like?”

It’s the one question I really struggle to answer because India is so different to anywhere in the world and that’s why it’s so unique.

My first day in India was off to a rocky start but it grew on me, I learned to like it more and more as each day would bring new and utterly different experiences. So I feel as though I should do a quick recap of some of the lows, highs, funny and interesting times I had.

Where an elderly women sat each day, Pushkar

Right from the get go my arrival was far from welcoming as I got ripped off and sent on a wild goose chase just trying to find my first destination. Frustration and disappointment were just a few of the feelings I had to cope with initially.

I can tell you now, I am still relieved that I even made it out of India alive, especially after some of the driving I experienced, Wow! When I took my very first bus ride in the country, never before had I clung to a seat headrest with such terror and fear for my life. The rickety, overcrowded and dusty old (and I mean old!) bus placed images in my head similar to the way they used to transport criminals between jails back in the 70’s, as the window bars clunked and clanged.

Every time I heard the brakes shriek my body became taught, bracing for a deathly

random scooter in Jaipur

collision as each passenger was pushed forward in their seats due to the force of the bus eagerly slowing down. In the distance through the dust of the road, headlights became so close only to shave past us. The sense of relief calmed me and sent my blood pressure back to its normal rate. That was until 10 minutes passed when history repeated and it happened again, this was consistent on every bus, all the way through India as I risked my life getting around by their local buses.