Final Post - Mar. 12 - Delhi, India

Sunday, March 12 :: Delhi, India :: 0km today / 5740km total

Well this is it. My last day in South Asia. I'm all set for the long planerides home, and took it quite easy today, taking in the last bit of India for... a long time, at least. I'm happy and ready to be coming home, but at the same time I'm also very sad to be leaving here. It really has been an incredible experience, and I think I'll really start to miss the Subcontinent in about a month or two. Three months ago I came to the Subcontinent thinking I knew a bit about the cultures here, but there is so much to absorb that I leave knowing that I only scratched the surface. I know that I'm in for major culture shock when I get home - last year I suffered culture shock coming home from 2 months in SE Asia, and this trip has certainly been a far deeper experience. I may have to go camp out on Gerrard St. East for a while! But Gerrard East ("Little India" in Toronto, for those that don't know) bears only a superficial relation to what you experience in India or Pakistan. Even the food in the restaurants there is quite different from the average meal you'd have here.

I thought I'd put down some of my final thoughts and impressions of the three countries I've travelled through, while I'm here and the memories are still vivid.

Nepal: A fantastic country with a gentle, friendly people. If they can get past their civil war and banditry I'd love to come back and do the Annapurna Circuit (at least!). Exotic Kathmandu was my favourite large city of this trip. Sandwiched in the middle of my trip, it was nice to go to a country where women had a close-to-equal status with men, at least compared to India and Pakistan.

Pakistan: A country you have to be careful in, especially female travellers, but once you understand and adapt to the culture, a wonderful place to travel - all in all my favourite country of this trip. Other travellers that I've met over the years - male and female - have consistently given Pakistan a good review, second only to Iran in many cases. For those unwilling to adapt or "When-in-Rome" it, Pakistan is a bad bad place to go. Pakistanis think of the Karakoram Highway as the 8th Wonder of the World, and I have to agree with them - I have never cycled a more spectacular road, passing through scenery that you can scarcely believe exists. I want to finish the KKH - Gilgit (Pakistan) to Kashgar (China). Not next year, but in a few years.

India: I can't put one finger or description on India, because it is far too diverse. Apart from being large and geographically varied, India is a dramatic mix of religions, history, cultures, and people. Thats what mades India so exciting. Even at the relatively slow pace of a bicycle, things were constantly changing around me as I travelled through. In terms of sightseeing India definitely shines in terms of buildings and monuments - its the rare country that can compete with India's wealth of manmade historical sites. Yes, travelling India is tough, I've never travelled through a country that offered so many headaches, and at times it got to me, as you can probably tell from this blog. But thats part of the whirlwind of India, and also part of travelling for 3 months straight. You can't be chipper and happy all the time. If you were to ask me if I would recommend India to travel to, there would be no simple answer, and I would have different answers for different people - for some people the Himalaya would be great, for others Goa, for others the Cosmopolitan, progressive cities of Delhi or Bombay, for others the Buddhist environs of Darjeeling, for others the Mughal history of Rajasthan, for others the quieter, easygoing states of Gujarat, Maharastra, or Kerala... when I look back on it, for me, really, it was all incredible.

Bye from Delhi!