Dharma Dreams: Indian Dreams Manifest (Part 1)

The Golden Triangle Tour

featuring Delhi, Agra & Jaipur

In 2005, I remember inviting my dear friend Denise on a trip to motherland India. We thought we were going to get to travel soon after college graduation but things never go as planned...motherhood got in the way. After raising our boys to ages we thought we could leave for a little over 2 weeks, we set to realize our dreams... 7 years later, with 4 other friends in tow.

This is our crazy itinerary: MNL-KL-Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Goa-Delhi-KL-MNL all in 2 1/2 weeks. Fasten your seat belts for Amazing Race INDIA!

Before boarding Air Asia

First stop is Kuala Lumpur. We bought Air Asia tickets on promo to Delhi from KL so we decided to spend 2 nights at Rainforest Bed & Breakfast as recommended by a friend based in Malaysia. For the budget-friendly price, we were able to get a spacious family room good for 4-5 which comes with basic breakfast and wifi internet service in some parts of the B&B.


FLOW girls at the brightly lit Petronas Towers

We delighted at what greeted us at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Different mudras (yoga for the hands) on display hung above the lines to immigration. Should we follow suit and have something more ethnic to welcome our foreign tourists at the NAIA?

One thing we couldn't help notice was that the concept of marriage was so important in their culture. Look, it's even advertised on their daily newspaper! To me, it is very strange but to them, it's within their norm.

Here is Denise interviewing our bus driver on arranged marriages (Our media production skills put into action!). He claims that 99% of the time, it actually works! Another acquaintance of mine says that even if more modern thinkers in India choose to marry for love, it fails half the time. So, it seems that whatever route into marriage you choose, you still have to work at it.

And here are the jokes they tell...

Because we were on a scheduled tour for the first leg of our crazy itinerary, we didn't get to see much of Delhi. A note-worthy place in Old Delhi is the Red Fort Complex which almost glimmers at night against the blue-grey backdrop. You can pay to watch a lights & sounds show about Delhi's history in either English or Hindi. Please choose to watch the show in English. Our half-Indian companions thought we would be able to save if we bought tickets as 'Indians' and then regretted the cheaper tickets when we couldn't understand a single word of Hindi :P


Red Fort Complex

One of the many other forts you can find all over India...

For our much-awaited visit to the Taj, the whole group decided to buy authentic sarees and dress up. To us, we looked fantastic but to the locals, we were wearing it all wrong! Nevertheless, we still walked like royalty and smiled for the camera. Other foreigners took delight in us, one Japanese couple kept following us like papparazi!

All dressed up for the Grand Taj Mahal


Me, Adi & Denise playing around with our sarees against the light

my attempt at Hanuman

If I had the chance to go back to India, my first stop would be in Jaipur (if I find direct flights!) because this is where we went crazy shopping for those colorful shawls, shoes, bags and trinkets.

More gorgeous monuments all over Jaipur...