Let me first tell you about driving around in the cities. Traffic laws and lights are mere suggestions. More than one vehicle can fit in a lane, and also lanes are suggestions. They get within inches of other cars, motorcycles etc. However, I didn't see single accident. One tiny motorcycle to motorcycle bump but with no damage. Imagine LA in rush hour traffic, but people managing to squeeze their way around the other cars. I will post pictures later, but it really doesn't do it justice.
Auto rickshaws- They are my favorite form of transportation. I'm sure this would not be true in the hot summer months, but for now they're perfect! It's basically a tricycle with a motorcycle engine, a backseat with a domed roof. It is open on both sides so you can get the full experience of the cities while riding in one. You hear all the noise, smell all the smells and get a better overall sense of the culture of the place than you can from inside a car. Also, they are different in different cities. In Delhi they were pretty much all the same. Black with a green stripe, back seat a plain black leather bench. In Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) they are much more ornate. Totally blinged out with embroidered leather seats, sparkles and stickers painted on and some of them even had rims! In Jaipur they were more ornate than Delhi, but not as nice as Agra, but they were longer with trunks that could fit a decent amount of luggage. Again, I will post pictures later.
Motorcycles/Mopeds Who knew you could fit people on a motorcycle? That's right, I saw a Dad driving with a kid in front of him, one behind him, then mom on the back (sitting side saddle because that's how most women ride here) holding a baby. I only saw 5 people once, but 3 and four are very common. The driver is usually the only one with a helmet (if at all) but it's not normally strapped down, so it's pretty much pointless. Also I saw a mom, dad and two kids on a bike. That's some good balancing!
Trains - Not really so different from Amtrak except for the bathroom aspect which I will go into in the next blog. Also, I saw a mouse running around on the floor of two different trains. Nice.
Metro- The running of the metro and how to navigate them is basically the same as in New York, but there aren't nearly as many lines (by this I mean different train tracks, not queues). However, they are jam packed at rush hour. You are packed in like a sardine. There are almost no women on the cars I was in probably because there are separate women's only cars. Which I was tempted to ditch Suman and go to when we were being bodyslammed on the way on and off. People do not wait for you to get off before they start trying to get on unless there's literally no room for them. It's a shoving, pushing mob of people.
While talking about lines and queues, they are non existent in India. People will cut in front of you, push to the front whatever it takes to get to the front. It's not wonder so many people get trampled in Temples. The only place there was a line was at the Taj Mahal, and that's because there were several men there with guns yelling and pushing people back if they tried to cut in line. Oh, the gun situation is very common, every cop has a huge gun and they DO NOT take security lightly.
You get frisked, walk through a metal detector and get your luggage scanned every time you get on the metro. There are men stationed there with large guns, and even a couple in sand bag barricades with semi automatic weapons. Mind you, nothing was going on, they weren't on high alert. This is everyday. Gotta love terrorists. Ok. I'll write more later. We are going to the bazaars in Mumbai.
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