Museums in New York

There is so much to in New York and having spent 14 days here, we decided to split our posts by genre. This post is all about the museums in New York we visited. Read here for neighbourhoods and food in NYC.

America does museums well. Really well. They are huge and sometimes free. Therefore, you can get all the knowledge you want without a hefty cost.

9/11 Museum

I was 12 years old on 11th September 2001. Mum and I were sitting on our couch late at night watching TV when the first plane struck. We figured it was an accident and decided to sleep as it was a school day for me. When we woke up the next day, the world had changed. Nothing would be the same again.

While in New York, we had to visit the 9/11 site. The site itself is in downtown, close to Vasey St. It is a huge precinct and cannot be missed due to the new World Trade Center building. The site has two memorials, water fountains, for each tower and people that died in it as well as a memorial museum.

911 Memorial & Museum, New York

The entry ticket is $24 for adults. The entire museum is open to you with this ticket. Upon entering the museum, one is reminded and shocked by the images of that sad day. The museum is built several levels above the basement of the building. As you gradually travel down you learn about the building itself such as, why the towers were needed, the challenges in creating it and the geology which allowed such buildings to exist.

911 Memorial & Museum, New York

911 Memorial & Museum, New YorkShock and sadness are the repeated emotions in the museum as you learn of victims running through the fire escapes, fire fighters running in to save the people and phones calls of people calling their families for one last time. Through a series of exhibitions, we saw the victims photos and some of their belongings. You get the scale of the disaster when you see one metal pillar of the tower bent and broken like a piece of straw.

Finally, the events of the day are put in one section with news clips, quotes and air hostesses in hijacked planes. It has been nearly 15 years since 9/11 and one only understands what this day meant to America and other countries. What started that fateful day on 8:45am is still going and probably will go on for quite some time. Lest we forget!

Time needed: At least 3 hours
Visit site: National September 11 Memorial & Museum > Visit museum

American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History, New YorkThis is one of the big museums in New York along with Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. It is located next to Central Park. Due to Christmas holidays, the crowd was huge. As we got to the counter, we asked for general admission tickets. To our surprise, the cashier said “How much would you like to pay?”. “Excuse me?” we replied thinking we heard her wrong. The cashier then explained that the $22 price for adults was only “suggestive”. In Australian this means “Pay what you like, maaaate” and in Indian this means “Freeeeeeeeee!”. We still ended up donating $40.

As we entered the first section of the museum, we had to divide up the areas we wanted to see and ones we don’t. We visited the Asian peoples, African people’s and Native American section. American Museum of Natural History, New YorkAt African section, Shruti had a panic attack about not being able to see the entire museum.

After this, we skipped an entire level and ended up at the extinct animals section. Seeing as time was running out and the crowd was the biggest in this section, we did a whirlwind tour of this section. However, the highlight was definitely seeing the large dinosaur skeletons as well as the dinosaur ancestors of modern birds.

American Museum of Natural History is gigantic. One could see it all in 8 hours and not read a single word in the museum. However, for most people it is impossible to do it all and that explains the “suggestive” prices. You pay according to what you want to see. It is not just big, it is incredibly detailed in humanities, astronomy and paleontology. Highly recommended!

American Museum of Natural History, New York

Time needed: If you want to see and read it all, 3 days, otherwise split the visit by 6 hours for 2 days to go through everything. Lastly, do what we did, identify what is it you want to see and focus on it for 4 hours. Otherwise, this place will leave you information overloaded.
Visit site: American Museum of Natural History > Visit museum

National Museum of the American Indian

This museum is close to the Charging Bull, located in proximity to Battery Park. We happened to walk past this museum on Christmas day and I really wanted to see it. I felt that if we were in America, we should learn a little about the natives of this land. Actually I remember Shruti surprised me too – she wanted to see. AH WHAATT!

National Museum of the American Indian, New York

The museum is dedicated to all Natives of the Americas. You got to learn about the northern Canadian and Alaskan Tribes, Native Americans from all parts of the country, Native Central Americans, Incas, Aztecs, Maya, Mapuche of Chile, Brazilian Natives and even the Natives of the Caribbean.

National Museum of the American Indian, New York

In all, the museum is really detailed about tribes and their collections. They have interactive videos about some of the collections and one really gets to understand the differences and struggles of different tribes of this land. Even Shruti loved this museum as it had just the right amount of information. Unlike the American Museum of Natural History, it was not at all information overloaded.

National Museum of the American Indian, New York

I wish there was a museum of Australian aboriginals like this!

Cost: free
Time: 2.5 hours
Visit site: National Museum of American Indian > Visit museum

Museum of Jewish Heritage

Museum of Jewish Heritage is close to Battery Park as well. We picked it primarily because it was close to theĀ  National Museum of American Indian. We visited it on Wednesday night and it was free to visit with donations.

While we had no one reason to visit this museum, we had always been intrigued by Jewish people and their stereotypes. The first part of the museum is primarily about Jewish practices, language, religion, politics and their arrival in America in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The second part is all about the build up of anti-jewish sentiment in Europe and the rise of Nazi Germany. It is quite scary when one sees the ghettos, media control and violence by Nazis. Even more sad is the fact that very few western nations at the time wanted to help the Jews.

The final part is about the end of war and creation of Israel and the future of Jews in the world. While we went in with no expectations, we ended up learning so much about the Jewish people, their plight and their future.

Like the Nation Museum of American Indian, this museum had just enough information and the events were recited in a visual story format making it very easy to follow.

Cost: $10 donation
Time: 2 hours
Visit site: Museum of Jewish Heritage > Visit museum

Conclusion

America has amazing museums. They are grand, well kept, detailed and extremely knowledgeable. Some can also be free depending on the day and time of week. If you are on budget, we recommended checking the timings of the museums so you can plan a good day out without hurting your wallet.

While we left out some big names, those were primarily art museums and we didn’t think we would enjoy them. New York City has a museum for all types of interests and can keep one occupied for a week.

Celebrating New Years in New York

Being in New York for New Year celebration is a dream and this year we managed to fulfill it. There is lot more enthusiasm on New Year’s eve and we could see everyone getting ready to welcome the new year. We did a bit of research on where we wanted to spend NYE. Well, wasn’t very easy. The city has a few options ranging from extremely touristy to local and extremely expensive to the usual bar expense.

But first, a photo of us.

Arranged Travelers

Time Square Ball Drop

When we told people in New York that we would be here for New Years eve, the usual line we heard was “oh! You’re going to the ball drop?”. Shruti and I had never heard of the ball drop until we came to New York. We knew there was always a massive crowds in Times Square on NYE but weren’t familiar with the ball business.

After talking to people, we found out that there is a big ball on top of a pole which slides down the pole. Of course, it’s not that simple. There are huge crowds controlled by the NYPD and it is almost a lockdown. This event is free but like the Sydney fireworks back home, people here get up early, find a good spot and hold on to it throughout the day. We decided to check it out, after all, we wanted to be part of a massive party.

We did our research and found out that usually the massive crowd starts getting there at 3pm and there are no public toilets and food options in the area. So basically once you get in, you stay there till 12:15am. If you move or get out, you lose the spot. And to be honest, there is no where to move or go too. We prepared ourselves to stay out in the cold, avoided any water and decided to carry some food with us too. We left home at 3pm and got to the closest subway before 4pm. Walking out, we realised what we were getting in!

7th Av was a complete lockdown. Even the side streets were closed and had police standing at all barricades. On 42nd St we were told to go 46th St to get access to the area but upon reaching there the police recommended 53rd St. After walking around the crowd for good 30 mins, we finally managed to reach a spot where police was letting people in. We queued up for security check and were told that back packs are not allowed!

Times Square on New Years

We were aghast. We had read the police website and done our research but nowhere did it say that backpacks were barred. I have see the show COPS and fighting with the American police wasn’t an option. We discussed other options such as depositing our bag at Penn St station cloak room, throwing it away and even going back home to leave it. None of them were feasible so we had no choice but to look for alternative location for NY celebrations.

Tip: Times Square gets extremely packed. To see the ball drop up close, get there as early in the day as possible, stay away from fluids and wear warm clothes. And, most importantly, don’t carry any bags!

Central Park Party and Fireworks

We googled NYE locations and Central Park was another good location. Central Park has a midnight run and an open air concert from 10pm onwards. As we were in the city early, we decided to head to Central Park straight after being rejected from Times Sq. It was around 7:30pm by the time we got there and had to wait in the cold. Being in a park in December weather (note: it was one of the warmest NYE in New York), it was absolutely freezing! There were not many people and we figured it work be a quiet event.

Central Park on New Years Eve

At 10pm, the music came on and we couldn’t wait to start dancing to warm up. We worked our often terrible moves but we couldn’t care less as we felt quite cold earlier. The crowd kept building up but we only noticed when we tried to move out of the moshpit to photograph the fireworks. It wasn’t easy and we didn’t get far but when the midnight hour hit, we saw amazing fireworks over Central Park.

Perhaps, the ball drop wasn’t meant to be for us but we saw the next best thing. In the end, it was a great experience! We ended up celebrating New Years in New York at the next best known venue.

Central Park on New Years Eve

Other Options

Brooklyn Bridge Fireworks

Brooklyn Bridge has fireworks over it which can be seen from the Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo and other areas in Brooklyn close to the water. People generally get there as early as 4pm to get a good spot.

Williamsburg

Williamsburg is the hipster part of New York and has some cool bars with NYE parties. Being outside of Manhattan, the places are good value and you can enjoy good music as well as cocktails for the midnight hour.

Clubs & Parties

Lets face it: Time Square is full of hustlers trying to get you into clubs for NYE. They will promise anything to get you to buy the tickets like seeing the ball drop on the street, free drinks and entry to Times Square. While some of this may be true, most of them are touts conning you into a club for a high price while you won’t see the ball drop and end up queuing behind the bar or for toilet.

A couple of friends visited a club near Time Square. Their experience sounded terrible and costly. If you really want the club experience on NYE in Manhattan then its best to get early so as to avoid the last minute rush.

Tip: If you really want the ball drop experience for a lot of dollars then consider booking a view room at the Marriott Marquis close to Time Square or paying for dinner table at close by restaurants.

An American Christmas

So if you have been following our blog or the insta gallery, you know we are in Big Apple. There is plenty to see and do and lots of our friends and families here as well. When we had a chance of spending Christmas with Shruti’s family in New Jersey, we just could not say No! Although our wish to experience White Christmas went down the El Nino drain, we had the family trump card with us.

Christmas Eve

We were walking around Manhattan and googled events happening on Christmas eve. Turns out, there was a carols session taking place in Washington Park. We finished up with what we were doing and headed to the park.

We got there about 45 mins early only to realise we got there late. Most of the park benches were already taken.Ā  We strolled around and snapped photos of the big Christmas tree by the park arch and massive colour patterns. It did look really pretty at dusk time. Btw, fun fact, Christmas trees in America are the real trees, the actual pine trees, not the plastic ones we pick up from a store back home.

Christmas Colour Patterns, Washington Park, New York

After waiting for about 20 mins or so, the choir lined up and started singing the carols. We didn’t know this earlier, but this session was a ‘sing-along’, so the member of public were singing alongside the choir. Though at times the public missed the high pitch notes, it was all in Christmas spirit and laughed off.

Washington Park, New York

I very quickly realised that Shruti knew some of the carols and I suppose that came from here schooling in a Christian school. While she was singing bits and humming most of the time, I stood there smiling and taking in the first-time-experience. Next Christmas in Sydney, I will definitely be googling for it.

Washington Park, New York

The Busy Bull

The travel from Brooklyn to New Jersey is more than an hour so we decided to knock off a tourist spot along the way, the Charging Bull!

Based on a report in 2014, over 50 million tourists visit New York every year. Unfortunately for us, a large number of those visiting during Christmas had the same idea as us. When we got there, we were almost shocked to see the massive crowd.

Charging Bull, New York CtyAs it is considered lucky to touch the bull’s head, there was a massive queue for it. We quickly realised that if we were to queue up, we would be standing around for 30 odd mins easy. So we decided to head to the backside of the bull. Turns out, we weren’t the only ones thinking of it too. There was a queue to take pictures with the bull’s bum and that wasn’t short either.

Charging Bull, New York Cty

We quickly gave up and tried taking shots from whichever angle we could. Any part of the bull was acceptable by us.

Charging Bull, New York Cty

The Ride to Jersey

New Jersey is adjacent to New York City but is separated by Hudson River. There is a train link between the two called the PATH train. Shruti’s cousin told us to get off at Exchange Place and he would pick us up from there. Turns out it is a great spot to admire the NYC skyline and the river.

PATH, New York City

New Jersey is home to many Indian immigrants and this was proved by an ad for ‘Comedy nights with Kapil‘, a highly successful Hindi comedy show, in the PATH train. Almost felt like India!

American Suburbia

Shruti’s cousin, Nikhil bhaiyya picked us up Exchange Place in Jersey City. We drove through small towns of New Jersey which serve as the suburbs of NYC. Along the way, we saw the port of New Jersey. However, the best thing for me was seeing all the trees completely bare in winter. We don’t see that back home.

New York Skyline

The suburb are home to huge houses, lots of trees and lots of cars. The distances make public transport less frequent and making cars an absolute necessity. On the way back, we saw American McMansions, huge houses built on big blocks of land. While we thought Australia has huge houses, American houses out do those easily. It is the land of big food and big houses!

The Christmas Lights

We reached Edison, suburb in New Jersey named after Thomas Edison, as the sun was going down and we realised the houses were all decorated for Christmas. Living in Brooklyn and moving around in Manhattan didn’t really give us the full blown Christmas feel. Soon Nikhil bhaiyya realised that we were enjoying the lights so he decided to take a detour and show us more. Like back home, here Americans try and outdo one others. Some houses had the lights over including the the trees in the front yard.

We soon drove up to one particular house which was lit from roof to ground, leaving so spot unlit. I suppose that put all the neighbors in a weak spot as there was no other house lit up on that street! Talk about wiping out the competition.

Note: sorry we couldn’t take any photos as we were driving along and it was raining.

Meeting the Extended Family

Nikhil bhaiyya’s house was full of people Shruti and I had never met. Apart from his wife and twin girls Gauri and Shefali, there was his brother-in-law and cousin sister’s family. His brother-in-law, his wife and two daughters had driven over for Christmas from Washington DC while the cousin sister, her husband and two kids had driven from Pennsylvania.

Apart from being wowed by meeting so many people, I was impressed by them following the American culture so religiously (pun intended). They drove across states every Christmas and Thanksgiving to see one another.

Christmas Gathering

The American Life

Bhaiyya and his relatives are all immigrants to America. They migrated here over 20 years ago for better opportunities for themselves and their kids. We had long conversation about America, its governance, states, weather, its culture and the life in this country.

Contrasting it to Australia, it couldn’t be more different. We have 6 states and 2 territories with little difference between some of them. USA has 50 states and most of them are vastly different to each other. The relatives were from 3 adjacent states next to each other but from their conversation they appeared to be vastly different.

While Jersey was close to New York, it’s culture was remarkably different. Similarly, Virginia sat on the edge of Washington DC and Southern America making it a political melting pot. Pennsylvania was between the two but was still different and even had Amish communities which are against the use of technology for religious reasons.

The weather was another major difference. While Australia is mostly hot, it had mild temperature and lack of major destructive forces except fire. America though can be very cold and has several different types of natural disasters. While we whinge about a rainy day, America gets snow storms where everything shuts down. They told us stories of snow storms and frostbite which certainly scared us for Alaska.

Another interesting aspect of America is the politics. The contest in Democratic and Republican convention is heating up. Though almost everyone at the Christmas dinner were Democrat supporters, they had all been hit by the costs of Obama Care. On the other hand, almost everyone agreed that Trump was a douchebag. Guys we’re all the same after all!

Indian American Ambitions

There were a few kids and teens at Bhaiyya’s house as well as Siddhant, ‘a grown up kid’, who was in 3rd year at university. The conversations with them and their parents revealed the high aims in education and in life. Moreover, the teens were already thinking of university, sometimes 3-4 years before entry.

There seemed to be a culture of following each other to the pursuit of the American dream with importance placed on family, background and knowledge. Perhaps this is how it had been for Jewish, Irish, Chinese and Italian immigrant families. Not long to go till we rockstars, judges, academics and politicians with the Indian background.

Goodbyes

We were having so much fun enjoying the food and conversing with the family that we ended up staying the night in Edison. The next day, we said our goodbyes to everyone. A few hugs, feet touches and waves later, we were out and back on the way to NYC.

The Spirit of Christmas

It was unexpected but we ended up spending the “real” Christmas with family. Having lived with my parents and not have many relatives in Australia, I couldn’t “go home” for Christmas. It was a similar case with Shruti. Surprisingly, a Christmas on the road ended up taking us “home for Christmas”. While we had never met the family before, a “home” afterall is a warm place, with great food, good vibes and amazing conversations. And that’s the spirit of Christmas!

Spirit of Christmas

Local Food Outlets in India

As part of our Must Do in India post, we mentioned “fresh food” under “must experience”. So we thought we should expand on that a little. Having traveled quite a bit in India, we picked up a pattern for food. Somehow cheaper food at local outlets tastes better than most mid-high end restaurants.

Ideal Indian Food

Shruti and I have been eating North Indian home food since we were able to eat solid food. While we can’t claim to be experts, we know when we get a good Indian meal. After all our ‘most’ favourite dish is a North Indian dish, dal chawal being Shruti’s fav while paratha & rajma is mine. We can eat that day in day out.

Ideally, food should be light, hot (in temperature not spice), flavourful, cooked fresh (not reheated) and not too oily. While each dish may vary in taste, these are the must characteristics for all Indian food.

Parathe wali gali, Delhi

Problem with Restaurants

The oil

Firstly, restaurant food is rarely light. Even the humble daal is full of oil or butter amongst other spices. This of course also means that the food is incredibly oily as well. This makes you bloated when you finish your meal. Add in a desert and its calories central!

Expensive

The restaurant food is quite expensive comparatively. An average vegetarian curry is around Rs 250-300. If you add in the service charge, a meal for 2 people will easily go over Rs 1000. While this may not be an issue for many middle class Indians, it certainly was a problem for us as backpackers. We can’t afford that food economically everyday.

Oh My Paneer

Many parts of India have a large number of vegetarians. Understandably, restaurants cater to their audiences but for some odd reason there is an oversupply of paneer (cottage cheese) dishes. Shruti and I aren’t particularly fond of paneer which means we had to look for non-paneer dishes which would almost certainly be too oily. Bummer!

Same ol’ Food

There is a peculiar problem with Indian restaurants almost everywhere in North India as well as other big cities. Due to overwhelming number of North Indian tourists, the menu in most restaurants is quite similar. The general menu of every Indian restaurant is: 4 daal dishes, 10 paneer dishes, 1 eggplant dish, 1 okra dish, Indian Chinese food, idli and dosa to represent the South Indian cuisine.

Other than this, we found that now mock Italian had started to enter the menu as well. Unfortunately, by catering to all audiences, they don’t get any of those right.

What are Local Outlets?

Basically where the locals eat on regular basis. It can be the dhabas in North India, small home food joints or ‘fast food’ outlets.

Dhabas started as truck stops on the highways around India. The number of Dhabas are higher in Haryana and Punjab due to GT Road being one of the oldest highways in India. Dhabas cater to truck drivers and families traveling in buses and cars.

Home food joints are usually found in South India and North East India. They are small outlets run by a family. The board outside will say “home food” or something similar. Usually they are only open for lunch but if you are lucky, you could find some open for dinner too. The food cooked by the family is as they would eat at home.

‘Fast food’ outlets are usually found in bigger cities. They focus on time efficiency – quick seating, quick order, quick serviceĀ  and quick payment. They are very popular during lunch hours, especially around office areas. Generally speaking, a person maybe seated in the outlet for 25 mins top.

Thukpa in Sikkim

Why Local Outlets?

The food at local outlets is cheap, simple and earthy. Generally the amount of food cooked is based on the traffic of people visiting and so it tends to be fresh and flavoursome.

The curries at local outlets on average cost between Rs 100-150. Thali, a combination of various curries, served with rice and bread is pretty common as well. Usually, a good thali could range between Rs 100-150 too. Very economical.

Oh wait, there is still the best part – local outlets generally serve local area cuisine. That means, you are eating like a local. Dishes like sarson ka saag and makki ki roti in Punjab, rotla with jaggery in Gujarat, meal on banana leaf in Kerala or thukpa in Sikkim.

Meal on Banana Leaf in Kerala

Which Local Outlet?

If you go looking for them, there are plenty of local outlets around. While most of them maintain a certain level of hygiene, it doesn’t mean there aren’t any not-so-clean ones. We recommend asking a local, they will have the best answer to it.

So next time do check out local food outlets in India.

Rotlo in Gujarat

How India Treated Us

In one word – Brilliantly. India gave us a great experience.

Before getting into all the details, let’s have a quick look at our travel in Asia, time lapse mode.

So back to India.

Why India?

We are Indians by birth, but left India at early age – read about us here. We hadn’t seen much around in India and Shruti hadn’t even seen the Taj Mahal (till September this year).

It is well known that India is diverse and we had to experience it. So when we decided to quit our jobs and travel, we knew we had to spend quality time in India.

The next task of planning our itinerary in India was a big task. There is so much to do here – history, culture, food, nature and spirituality. Where do we go and what to we skip. After many discussions, we had a plan and booked our transport and hotels well in advance.

Recap

We started our trip in Delhi visiting my family and Haridwar, Rishikesh and Agra to escape the heat. We also managed to apply for USA visa in Delhi.

Once we started backpacking, we first covered the south and west region, i.e., Hyderabad, Hampi, Goa and Kerala. We then spent some quality and spiritual time in Varanasi and Bodhgaya before visiting family in KanpurĀ and Mumbai.

Goa

While in Mumbai, we tried to renew Shruti’s passport but it was unsuccessful. We then went on a 15 day trip of North EastĀ and Kolkata. We continued our travels in Rajasthan for 11 days before returning to Mumbai and getting Shruti’s passport.

We briefly went to Gandhidham, Gujarat where Shruti’s parents now live to celebrate Diwali and my birthday. We then flew to Delhi for Peru visa and attended my friend Amrit’s wedding. After a small tour of Amritsar, it was time to meet and say goodbye to family in Delhi before returning to Gujarat to visit Saurashtra and Kutch region.

Family, India

Family aside, we were able to see a variety of places in India while keeping some obvious places for next time. It has been a great journey across this great land.

Mistakes

  1. Biggest mistake – booking EVERYTHING in advance!
    We had to book transport, otherwise traveling in train would have become impossible. India has a huge population (well known fact) and covers huge area. This makes train the most convenient way for transport. Train tickets go on sale 3 months in advance and usually get sold out early. We had no choice but to book in advance.
    The hotel bookings though could have been avoided.
  2. Taking flights – expensive mistake
    As we were visiting India during the monsoons, we had to pick our destinations carefully and check the weather well in advance. This led to quite a few flying trips within India. We ended up spending almost Rs. 80,000 (USD 1200) on flights within India.
  3. Booking tour packages – we realised we could have done it cheaper
    We chose tours for Kerala and North East as the logistics was getting difficult. WeĀ  could have managed it on our own, but decided to take a convenient option.
  4. Doing things too fast – The trip was a mad rush at times
    We had plenty of time in Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Shillong. It allowed us time to stop and think about things around us. Although we couldn’t spend a week Ā or more in Rishikesh like many white backpackers do but we should have avoided theĀ rush in places like Agra, Hampi, Gangtok and Udaipur.
  5. Cultural shyness – We rarely scratched beneath the surface
    Now, being from India, there are a few cultural norms and cultural issues we have grown up with. This means it was always tough for us to photograph a Hindu Sadhu (holy man) because after that he may get offended or ask for money. We didn’t ask people in Varanasi how drugs are affecting kids because being from India, we knew the set boundaries when speaking to strangers and elders.

What we gained from India

Where do weĀ start? While we made some mistakes (see list above), we gained a lot of experiences in India which are invaluable. WeĀ ticked off quite a fewĀ places off ourĀ bucket list namely, Brahmaputra riverĀ andĀ root bridges of Meghalaya in the east to Mehrangarh fort and Mewar kingdom (Udaipur)Ā in the west andĀ Kerala backwaters in the south to Varanasi in the north. While the distance between them is huge and it cost us a bit, I have to say,Ā money can’t buy the vastĀ experience.

Secondly, I feel Australia has a habit of depressing us. There are issues with liberals and labor, property prices, traffic and alcohol-fueled violence. However, not until you see a country with a huge difference between rich and poor, sectarian violence and hatred and dishonesty in people that you realise how grateful you are. It is not until you hear our experience of getting a passport and then hear of an Indian gangster in Australia having an Indian passport that you realise the law is not the same for all.Ā The term ‘first world problems’ makes you realise how tiny our problems are until you have lived in a country like India.

Finally, we have learnt that it is very important to be accommodating. In India, the word used is ‘adjust’. Here there are plenty of cultures, religions,Ā languages and every person has their own set of problems, but for some reason the country is moving forward in a very disorganised form, the actual term is ‘organised chaos’ is apt. As we will be traveling to South America, we are ready to be culturally shocked and embrace it with open arms.

Look out for complication of must do in India.

Camels on Beach, India