Present moment: We're standing on our wooden balcony listening to the deafening roar of the Tirthan River below us and looking into the narrow valley with its steep mountains covered with grass and tall cedars. In the valley in between are a few widely scattered houses with lots of land, vegetable gardens and, of course, apple orchards in this region, for which the mountain state of Himachal Pradesh is famous. Every now and then a blue shimmering butterfly flies by and a gray tabby cat nestles purring around our legs. Otherwise, not too much seems to happen here at the perceived end of the world, at the end of the valley.

Here in the green Tirthan Valley we want to come to rest, in this remote spot that seems to be completely unknown to Western tourists and attracts only few locals from Delhi looking for peace, hiking in the Great Himalaya National Park or fishing for a trout. We don't particularly want to see or hike much, but for once just be and listen to the sound of the river, the days divided by meal times and the position of the sun. Of course, we could be experiencing much more right now, doing much more, but why should we?

Our current thoughts revolve around the meaning of this journey, this great privilege that seems so unfair given the very limited opportunities of many we encounter. We sometimes wonder the last few days why we humans are incredibly good at planning our lives instead of just living them. We can study for years, chase after diplomas and degrees, accumulate material things, collect experiences - but really there is only this one moment, the present, and nothing else. Why is it so difficult for us to concentrate only on what is? Staying in nature in a calm environment help us personally a lot to find our balance again and that’s exactly what we need after this first week in India, because once again everything went differently than planned. Let’s quickly rewind back to Delhi, to the beginning of this trip part 3.

Farewell from Switzerland Part 3

After a little more than four months in Switzerland, it was time again for us to say goodbye to beloved people, places and memories of an extremely intense time. Time seemed to slip away far too quickly this summer in Switzerland. There was still so much we would have liked to do, to work, to experience and to tell, but the departure date on August 30th was in our heads all the time. Time, the most precious thing there is. In the last months we became aware of what a home means to us and how much we still feel connected to our home region Baden. The desire to leave once again wasn’t there as it used to be and we both would have liked to extend our time in Switzerland.

But why did we leave again? There are at least two obvious reasons: On the one hand, we have stored our bicycles and part of the equipment (tent, stove, etc.) for months free of charge in a hotel in Delhi; on the other hand, Dario’s brother and his family visit us in Nepal in October.

Somewhat wistfully, we decided to return at the end of August. We were both still tempted to reschedule this flight as well, but we just barely managed to pack everything on the day of departure and be at the airport in time. With tears in my eyes, I said goodbye to my parents one more time. This is already the third such goodbye on our trip and it doesn't get easier with time. And this time, there’s no return date planned and we don’t know when we’ll see each other again.

Hot and confusing days in Delhi

After a sleepless night we arrive at Delhi airport, which welcomes us with the possibly ugliest airport carpet in the world. We smile at each other because suddenly we remember all the other typical Indian details and a kind of anticipation arises to be back in this crazy country. Because although this may surprise many, we like India and also Delhi very much, despite all the chaos and the often cumbersome bureaucracy. When we are back at the Colonel's Retreat in the pleasant Defense Colony district of south Delhi, everything feels very familiar. It's nice to be able to start like this again.

Despite the sweltering heat of over 40° degrees during the day and close to 30° degrees at night, we make some explorations to our favorite places (also read our blog about our time in Delhi: Looking for the famous culture shock in Delhi). We revisit the Safdarjang's Tomb and the peaceful Lodhi Garden and of course there is also a detour to the old town maze of Chandni Chowk with it’s amazing street food. We eat at our favorite restaurants and Dario gets a new block-print shirt at Anokhi. It's nice to be in a city where you don't have to do any sightseeing because you already know a lot of things. It makes everything much more relaxed.

That was one side of our short time in Delhi, but of course it was also about getting our bikes back out of the basement, doing some maintenance work and making them fit again for the upcoming stage in the mountains of the Himalayas. We brought new tires, tubes and rim tapes from Switzerland and while changing the tires, Dario noticed that there was a very long crack in one rim, hidden by the rim tape. To ride with it would be too big a risk, especially on the bad gravel roads in the mountains. We contact the guys from Cycleworx, who have helped us out a few times and provide a reliable and fast service. They say they can order the right replacement rim for us, but it could take 2-3 days. We can live with that. We decide to make a short trip to Agra, to the most famous of all Indian monuments - the Taj Mahal.

Mughal splendor in Agra: Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

Rarely a trip was so spontaneous as this one. Only one hour before our train departure, it was clear that it should work out with the new rim. Our bike trip to the Himalayas seemed only a few days away. Full of anticipation of the beautiful Mughal buildings in Agra, we board the comfortable Shatabadi Express, which takes us from Delhi to Agra in just 1h 40 minutes. We check into a cozy homestay and take an evening walk to the banks of the polluted Yamuna River. From here, in the kitschy evening light, we see for the first time India's most monument: the Taj Mahal.

It was never planned to be here at all, as we usually ignore the main sights of places, as the crowds and all the fuss always put us off quite a bit. But for the Taj, we like to make an exception and so, like most western tourists, we get up before 05:00 the next day and head to the Eastern Gate of the Taj Mahal. We are there in time for sunrise and standing in front of this imposing white marble building leaves us speechless and not even the tourist crowds around us can change that. An excited Japanese tourist rushes from one end to the other to snap as many pictures as possible without people and seems quite exhausted. Not once did he sit down and just look at the monument. What is this all about? His hurry wasn’t necessary at all as there are just a few visitors here and it only gets crowded when we leave at 08.30h when all the Indian tourists start coming.

Much has already been told about the Taj Mahal, this monument of eternal love of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to his great love Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14^th (…) child in 1631. Overnight, the emperor is said to have turned gray with grief, and for more than 20 years, over 20,000 people from India and Central Asia worked on the building. Specialists were brought in from as far away as Europe to produce the exquisite marble made with thousands of semiprecious stones.

The mausoleum rises a proud 74 meters, framed by four minarets that are slightly tilted so that they would fall on their sides in case of an earthquake and not hit the tomb. The facades are decorated with ornate floral motifs and Quran verses. On the extensive grounds is a red-sandstone mosque, an important gathering place for Agra’s Muslims (and the reason why the Taj stays closed on Fridays). The identical building to the east was only built for symmetry. The mausoleum itself stands on a raised platform, thereby visually merging the Taj Mahal with the sky. No other building should disturb the sight – a masterstroke of design.

We weren’t sure whether we should visit the Taj Mahal, as we’ve seen too many pictures of it and yet the original in this case is much more impressive than the image and we’re glad that we finally paid a visit to India’s most recognized monument and one of the Seven Wonders of the New World and it really does live up to the hype.

With the Taj Mahal overshadowing it, one can easily forget that Agra has one of the finest Mughal forts in India. The mighty Agra Fort, another World Heritage Monument, was built in the 16th century by Emperor Akbar as a fortress and residence and is still partly used by the military. Only one part is open to visitors, but inside are already several palaces worth seeing, made of red sandstone, white marble (yes, the influence of Shah Jahan again), gardens, pavilions and mosques. There is also a secret door to a former underground harem, that we couldn’t locate. Shah Jahan spent his last 8 years in a gilded prison at the Agra Fort with a view of the Taj Mahal, after he was banished by his son Aurangzeb.

Even today, the view of the Taj Mahal from the fort is still unobstructed and we get an idea of how the city may have once looked under the Mughals. Fortunately, the love story ended reconciliatory for him, as after his death Shah Jahan was buried in the catacombs of the Taj next to the love of his life. A love poem on marble stone.

The city of Agra (approx. 2.3 million inhabitants) itself clearly owes its world fame to the Taj Mahal and the other Mughal buildings. Otherwise, the polluted, chaotic city in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh is not particularly worth seeing. We wander through the maze of the old town in the bazaars behind the Jama Masjid, where the few once magnificent havelis have fallen into disrepair and we find ourselves in the middle of India's usual hustle and bustle, including cows, snack stalls, countless vendors and Rikschaw-wallas. Agra is quintessential India, not just a little. Colorful, loud, chaotic and accompanied by an unpleasant smell of waste. It’s unbearably hot and the clothes stick to our bodies. Everyone around us wants to earn money and tells us his version of the truth and hopes for a fat tip for it. It’s harder to stay relaxed in Agra compared to other places and I seem to remember that I once titled the city “Agro” on my first visit 16 years ago.

Bad news from Delhi

On this trip, however, I can enjoy our stay in Agra, at least until this afternoon when we hear back from the bicycle mechanic in Delhi. They managed to order the wrong rim for us, it’s too narrow and won’t fit.

Luckily, we’re in India. The land of “jugaad” – the art of improvising. They’ve asked someone, who usually works with cars, to weld the rim so that we could continue cycling more or less safely. We cling to every glimmer of hope. Now we just have to wait one more day and then we’ll get the finished wheel delivered in Delhi and could head for the mountains the day after. Soon we’ll be cycling through the Himalayas.

Race against time: India doesn’t make it easy for us

We return to Delhi on Wednesday morning and fortunately there’s a free room at our hotel. We start to pack for the upcoming mountain stage, buy some groceries and the anticipation slowly rises. But the cyclist’s karma isn’t on our side this time and in the evening, we get our wheel back, but the welder couldn’t repair it and the wheel looks even worse now and is completely bent. Not rideable. Too dangerous means also the courier, when we tell him about our Himalaya plans. Now, one evening before our planned departure, it’s definitely clear: We won’t be cycling for a while.

We are deeply disappointed and above all also very exhausted and confused from all these many changes of plans. It’s all aggravated by the fact that we can’t continue storing our bicycles and luggage in the hotel, as the high season starts and they don’t have space for it. So now we are standing here with a broken bike and way too much luggage. And time is pressing, because tomorrow morning our train leaves for the mountains. For once, a solution is not in sight at all.

So often we had to master such tedious situations on our journey, but we realize: This time it’s once too much. We have enough. For a year now, we aren’t able to be cycling freely as we did at the beginning of the trip and this for a variety of reasons (countless bicycle defects, strokes of fate, yoga teacher training & massage course in Rishikesh, visits from friends, returning to Switzerland for work etc.). Since the rear hub of Lisa's bike broke on the Pamir last September, we haven't been cycling for more than a few days. So far, we’ve always been able to motivate each other and make new plans, but this time it feels different. It is now the famous "once too many". Our mood is down and we seriously ask ourselves if we shouldn't just leave the whole thing and return to Switzerland for good. It's not a good moment for us and for once we can't lift each other up, as we both feel miserable.

We won’t know until Thursday morning if we will be allowed to leave our luggage at the hotel after all, and our train is already leaving Delhi at 07:40 h. It seems to be a race against time. Our heads are spinning and we’re overwhelmed with the situation. Finding sleep is difficult this night and this time it’s not due to the usual heat. We set the alarm clock for 04.30 h and when we wake up, we still don't know what we’re going to be doing next. At 06.30 h o'clock we finally hear back from the hotel: We can leave our bicycles and our luggage there after all until the end of the month against a fee of EUR 100.-.

This means, repacking everything once again at the very last minute; storing our bicycles back in the basement and taking a taxi to the train station. We rush to our platform and board the train just in time and soaked in sweat. We set off in the direction of the mountains and more pleasant temperatures. What an odyssey of thoughts that only slowly come to rest. Now, it’s at least decided and nothing can be changed: The bikes are stored and we are backpackers for the next three weeks.

We look at each other and are glad that we are going through all of this together, it makes it so much easier to look ahead and stay positive. We’re looking forward to the moment when the joy of travelling and exploring returns. But it sure will as we’ll soon be surrounded by fresh air and remote valleys with dark deodar trees and waterfalls. More about our trip to the mountains in our next blog.