India -- Summing it up

We've spent two weeks in India traveling overland across it's north towards Nepal. We've only scratched the surface of the vast country of 1+ billion people, but we're excited for our trip to Nepal. We can't truly say we love India, although there are aspects we love. Here are each of our final thoughts.

Chris' favorites
-Food -- fantastic. We really didn't have one bad meal, and we had plenty of great ones. Mercifully (and luckily), we both avoided catching Delhi belly.
-Humayan's tomb, Delhi -- finding a shady spot to escape the heat next to a mini Taj Mahal.
-Amber Fort, Jaipur -- gave us a real sense of what live was like during the Maharaja hey-day
-Udaiper -- this was our favorite city.
-Taj Mahal, Agra -- plenty said on this in our earlier post.
- Kajuraho -- this was a surprise for us. Besides the Taj, these temples was the other truly world-class site we visited. The people here were also great, especially after dealing with Agra.
- Sunrise boat ride, Varanasi -- a once in a lifetime experience.
- The little moments -- the man who bought me a cup of chai at a roadside stall; the man who shared his chapati with us on the train when he saw our dinner consisted of peanut butter and biscuits; talking with an internet cafe owner who wasn't trying to sell me anything

Chris' negatives
- The touts and tuk-tuk drivers -- especially in Agra
- The traffic, pollution, and honking -- this triumvirate at times bordered on the absurd. At times, I felt like India's entire infrastructure teetered on the edge of collapse.
- The heat -- crazy, especially the first half of our trip

Alex's Favorites and Negatives
I don't know if I can even separate everything into favorites and negatives so this is more just a rambling of my thoughts. India was one of the most interesting places I've ever visited. It was chaotic and overwhelming, to be sure, but it was also full of life and vibrancy like nowhere else. At times it was this vibrancy that actually overwhelmed me but at other times it was the most fascinating part about being there. I'm always going to associate India with bright beautifully dressed women and delicious food. I will probably also always associate it with pushy touts, unrelenting vendors, and NOISE. I wish we had more of a chance to interact with locals far away from any tourist center.

Not surprising, then, that my favorite towns were the two smallest ones that we visited: Udaipur and Khajuraho. Here we met friendly people and didn't have to deal with rickshaw drivers for a few blessed days. I was surprised to really enjoy Varanasi. We'd heard so many negative things about the touts here but it truly is a holy city and that vibe still pervades. Although I was pestered to buy flowers, take a boat, etc. as I walked along the river as soon as I sat down and closed my eyes to reflect/meditate my space was immediately respected. At least I felt like that was a line that wouldn't be crossed.

I would agree with all the same favorites and negatives as Chris but the thing that I'll most remember about India is the feelings I had while being there. There was no other experience that could've prepared me for that.