In the morning, we flew to Leh (in the state of Ladakh). It is located in the Himalayas. We had some hectic moments in the airport, but we were able to successfully make it on the plane. The flight to Leh was worth the trip to India alone. It was amazing! The Himalayas were so beautiful! The day was very clear too! Once we got to Leh, we got picked up by our driver and taken to our hotel. We were told to hang out in our room to acclimate to the altitude (3,500 meters/11,483 feet above seal level). I felt my heart racing during this time. They brought us chai tea and lunch in to the room ...it was very yummy! Later in the afternoon, our driver took us to some sights around Leh. I was definitely feeling a little out of breath at times. Our room was a little cold...minimal heat and we also didn't have running water due to the fact that it was winter there. We had to use a bucket of water to flush the toilet and to shower. ...however we did have a television with cable and internet occasionally!
On Day 3, we decided to take a day trip to Agra (where the Taj Mahal is located). It was a 4 hour drive round trip. Overall the trip to the Taj Mahal was worth it! Our tour guide was great and the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort are very beautiful.
On Day 2, we braved New Delhi. We looked up a few places to go to in the city and headed out of our apartment. We did have to a change our plans a bit because a few things were closed. Overall, it was a pretty overwhelming day - with people, stimuli - but the air quality was slightly better than the day before! We flew from Chicago to Dubai to New Delhi. We watched a lot of movies/television shows along the way. We arrived at our hostel at around 5am. We slept for a few hours and then forced ourselves to get up. We had breakfast at the hostel and talked with other travelers to get a feel for what we should try to see in the city and how we would go about doing it. We were able to get a lot of good ideas and helpful tips. After breakfast, we decided to go to Old Delhi to go sightseeing. Very overwhelming. The air quality was also very poor. We were able to see a lot of things...but it was a stressful process and some things we discovered by accident. Qutub Minar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutb_Minar |
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