India: Incredible in more ways than one

We're in Beijing as this is written and catching up on old posts. Its a long one, so hopefully worth the wait.

As Marie mentioned in a previous posting, its been 9.5 years since I last visited India. Suffice to say, things have changed a LOT. Each of my previous trips to India has consisted of traveling from city-to-city visiting family (with the exception of 1983/1984, when I was in school). Sightseeing was never really part of the plan. However, since mom wasn't with us for this trip, we decided combine visiting family with taking in some of the history of this 5000 year old country.

Here is an executive summary of each of the places we visited:

About Delhi/Agra:
The Good:
- New Delhi is a very green city, with vast amounts of forests and parks.
- Infrastructure improvements: New Delhi now has a modern and rapidly expanding metro/underground. Also, all the public buses, cabs and auto rickshaws are powered by compressed natural gas. And finally, a fancy modern airport is currently under construction.
- The architecture, from the government buildings (former British Imperial area) to the numerous temples, mosques and forts (culminating with the Taj Mahal, recently named as one of the 7 wonders of the world), is absolutely fascinating.

The Bad:
- It didn't seem possible that traffic could get any worse than it was, but it has. Apparently, each year an additional 100k vehicles are added to Delhi's roads.
- While New Delhi is certainly modernizing, Old Delhi is still in a time warp. Interesting for tourists to visit, but not so nice for the people that live there.
- The insane drivers of the Delhi bus system (aka, Blue Line) are responsible for over 60 deaths in the year 2007.

About Chennai:
The Good:
- Chennai really appears to be a rapidly developing city. The most modern restaurants, hotels and bars in the city are reasonably similar to those you'll find in other cities.
- I gained a newfound appreciation for southern Indian food (typically I prefer northern Indian food).
- Bizarre thing related to Chennai, but my French improved quite a bit. Obviously, hanging around Karl, Xavier and Marie helped out.

The Bad:
- My Hindi was useless in Chennai, as most people in the city speak Tamil. I don't know this for a fact, but would dare say English is more widely spoken than Hindi.
- Chennai is so absurdly hot, I now understand why my friend/co-worker Savi, who grew up in Chennai, turns on a space heater in our 68 degree (20 degrees celsius) office.
- The traffic and overpopulation wasn't as bad as New Delhi, but lets just say its competitive.

About Rajasthan:
The Good:
- Rajasthan is chock-full-of-history, including many restored/unrestored attractions and UNESCO world heritage sites; it shouldn't be missed by anyone. Apparently, Bill Clinton is a huge fan of the state.
- Jaipur was the first "planned" city in India (1727)
- The Taj Lake Palace is one of the most spectacular hotels in the world.

The Bad:
- Bad for us: We spent so much time in the Lake Palace, we didn't get to see any of the wonderful sites in Udaipur, which is considered the most romantic city in India.
- A prolonged drought in the area from a few years ago has really taken its toll on the ecosystem of the region.
- While Jaipur was the first planned city in the world, the city's infrastructure hasn't changed as the requirements have evolved over the past 280 years.

About Ladakh:
The Good:
- The Himalayas are HUGE. Pictures can't express the sheer scale of these mountains. To arrive at Leh airport, the plane must weave its way between mountain peaks. Very cool stuff.
- There are a large number of Tibetan refugees in Ladakh. While that normally wouldn't go under "the good", its nice to know there are secular nations that allow them to do their thing. (note: can't test links in this section as websites that reference Tibet are blocked by the Chinese government)
- Ladakh is home to the world's highest airport (Leh at 11.5k feet), two of the world's highest golf courses (Leh Golf Course and a military course), and the highest motorable mountain pass (Khardung La at 18.3k feet).

The Bad:
- The air is so thin at 11k - 18.5k feet, it takes about 30 hours to get acclimatized. For reference about how high that is, the flight from New York - Providence usually cruises at 18k feet. Also, the impact 1 car has on air quality at this altitude is much higher than any other place in the world.
- Most tourists in the region are western hippies "seeking salvation" from monks, such as the Dali Lama.
- Sadly, the ongoing border disputes between India-Pakistan in the state of Jammu-Kashmir has made it unsafe for people to visit one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Thanks to a large military presence, Ladakh, the eastern most portion of the state of Jammu-Kashmir, which shares a disputed border with China) is safe; however, the rest of Jammu-Kashmir is said to be absolutely stunning.


About family:
- Through her exquisite cooking, heaping portions and "won't take no for an answer" demeanor, in only 3 days, our Aunt Shipra was able to undue 2 months worth of weight loss.
- It was wonderful to get to finally meet Karl. His apartment is really nice, and I hope he continues to watch TV once his assignment in India concludes (he didn't own a TV when living in Paris; something about going out and having a life).
- Despite being in the their 70s, our Uncle Dev and Aunt Shipra have FAR more energy than we do (that's more a compliment to them vs. our laziness).
- Despite being in my mid-30s, everyone in my family acts as if I'm 11 years old.


About India:
The Good:
- My cousin Sanjeev described India as a collection of different regions, each with their own history, culture and language -- all under one roof. And there's a lot of truth to that; you can't visit one region and say "you've seen India".
- In 1997, the only practical car options were the Ambasaddor, Maruti 800 and Maruti/Suzuki Esteem. Nowadays, every major manufacturer has a presence here, and consumers have a much larger set of options at all levels of the pricing spectrum. Even luxury brands such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton, etc. have recently established stores in India.
- The economy is growing at about 9-10% a year, and much of that wealth is going to a rapidly expanding middle class.

The Bad:
- Corruption is rampant throughout the government. In fact, many multi-national corporations increase their contingency budget to account for "new/unknown licensing issues" (e.g, kickbacks).
- Over-population is taking a massive toll on the country's ecosystem.
- While the things are progressing in the country, given all the resources available to them, the country should be progressing much faster than it really is (more on this in a future post)

Uncle Dev summarized it best when he said "Incredible India", the Ministry of Tourism's slogan, is very appropriate, as it can be applied two different ways:
- You won't believe the history, the cultures, the beauty.
- You won't believe the traffic, the government bureaucracy, the overpopulation.