Back from India… with Diarrhoea

I am back from my two-week hiatus in India. I will blog about the trip via a day-by-day account once I settle down and have time to organise the thousands of photos.

I’ve been suffering from diarrhoea since I drank a cup of hot chocolate at a small cafe in Agra two days ago… We let our guard down on food and drink towards the end of the trip – should not have done that. Paying for it now.

The trip left me mentally and physically drained, but also enriched in other ways.

I now very much appreciate the clean, potable tap water and faultless sanitation system in Singapore. I don’t have to to watch every step I tread as our streets are generally free of human and animal excreta. I also need not drink pre-packaged water everyday.

I appreciate not being harassed incessantly by countless touts, beggars, con-men and tuk-tuk drivers who all want a share of my supposedly fat wallet just because I am foreign. “Hello? Where you from? Korea? Japan?” they cry at the sight of my yellow face.

There are honest and sincere people in India too, but the sad thing is, I cannot tell them apart from the rogues who are merely putting up appearances for the sake of fattening me for the kill.

At the beginning of the trip, Rachel and I maintained our composure and were courteous to everyone, including all the penny-grubbers who will levy tips and miscellaneous bogus fees from us at every opportunity.

On the last few days of our trip in touristy Jaipur and Agra, we lost our patience. We trusted no one in India from that point. Everyone is a suspect cheat – even their civil servants, policemen and hotel personnel. The travel guide books advise you to go to the tourist office and pre-paid taxi booths to avoid cheats; however, they didn’t warn you that there are cheats there too. I will elaborate more in my blog posts on the trip.

India is an exotic country to visit. I appreciate the culture, the heritage, the common people, but the corrupted side of India dampens the experience.

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