What does McDonalds India serve? Nothing with pork or beef. I had a McMaharaja and Danielle had the McSpicy. Mine was the chicken curry equiviant of the BigMac and Danielles was a spicy chicken wrap. It was good... but not that good. I look forward to a real BigMac when I get home.
The silly short-sighted person I was would have wondered what the heck these things were a few years ago. Since we have been on a few trips, we realized these were local fruits right away. Its always interesting to try something new, especially something that you cant find at home. I have no idea what these are called. The spiky fruits tasted like a cucumber and the large round one was the most sour fruit I have ever tasted.
India is crowded. I was expecting some degree of crowdedness because we have been to a few places (Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul, Rome, Istanbul) that I would think were really crowded. This place takes the cake. Its not just the crowdedness, its the lack of basic human services like sewer and clean drinking water that really make it more crowded. The streets are covered with lakes of muddy urine water, mainly because it rainy season but also due in large part to government corruption siphoning funds away from government works projects.
So... What do I think about India? Not much. We have quickly learned that the price for a local is not what we pay for anything. Its sad really. You have to bargain for everything. A bottle of water that the locals buy for 10Rupees for us might cost 100R. The first few times I just paid but now I dont pay anything. Another kinda smart move we use when getting into a Tuktuk is asking a well dressed Indian guy on the street to hail it for us. Twice, this worked out well. The taxi thinks its a local and then we hop in and only pay the price the Indian guy agreed on. Another annoying aspect is the staring. I asked Danielle when we got here to cover herself up and for the most part she has done a great job, but the creepy Indian guys still stare and still come up and try to pick her up. A common question we get is... "Sister or Wife". Its almost like she is for sale if she is my sister. I think this because we read some personal ads in the local newspaper. Things like... "Family looking to make business arrangement and marriage for beautiful daughter". Its a really foreign concept to us. The other thing is the filth. It is filthy here. Its just like Nepal where everyone just throws their trash in the street. Wanna take a pee? Pee right where you are standing. Finished with that bowl of curry? Throw it right here. Stranger yet is all the locals wear sandals. They walk through the piss and rainwater mud mixed with garbage and dont flinch. Where me and Danielle tippy toe through everything. Its also not uncommon to see people sitting in the garbage filled mud. Mostly injured stray dogs are also a common part of life. I dont know... Its hard to explain what its like without seeing it and smelling it.
