January 28, 2026

A Triangle Contains Three Sides

Anthony Bourdain once said, “I’m a big believer in winging it. I’m a big believer that you’re never going to find the perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one.”

I started this journey off with a mid-day departure from Kempegowda Airport. As for many things in life, I do enjoy a good “break” sidequest with the Uber driver, well, now my new friend, Venkatadri. I buckled myself in for this tight itinerary for the Republic Day weekend, with very little leeway in between each city in the Golden Triangle.

With such a short time in Delhi, I opted to visit the UNESCO heritage site Qutub Minar, a monument constructed to honor Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. I marvelled over the sandstone and marble that was used to construct the minaret, a monument that stands tall and mighty through the test of time. As a little surprise, the light show lit up the monument as soon as I was about to leave. I had a lot of plans in Delhi, however my late arrival into the city only led me to a hungry stomach. For the first time on this trip, I never imagined a combination of smoked pork thali would enter my stomach, especially in a heavily vegetarian country like India.

Now I needed to find a place to sleep for the night. Where else would be better than being around the New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)? I decided to be an adventurous idiot and take a stroll into the nearby Bharat Nagar to find a place to stay; this is where I ended up finding a cheap unattended hostel for 350 rupees. No functioning sink or shower? Not a problem. Roaches and a stained pillow? Not a problem. Constant noise until 2am and being locked in the hostel? Not a problem either, this was all for the “no reservations” mindset that Anthony Bourdain had. For $4 I was not going to complain about the experience, as this will power me through the night to hop onto my morning train.

Next stop, Agra.

The morning delays got me, so I went along with a tout around Connaught square for 20 minutes and 100 rupees. My train ended up being delayed for over 2 hours, but hey, I cannot complain for $4 for the train ticket. The ride into Agra was uneventful but I accomplished the dream of mostly every tourist and visited the Taj Mahal under extremely optimal weather conditions. With no Uber and Alo available for the Republic Day weekend, I hailed in more autos than I imagined. As a bonus, my last auto didn’t know where he was going and we ended up on the wrong side of Agra.

Next stop, Jaipur.

I initially was seated in front of a family who offered me a healthy helping of chapati and some sort of pea sambar, an offer I could not refuse. For about 30 minutes I sat comfortably, from then, I stood for about 4 hours after I got booted from my seat. For a bit, me and the man who was sleeping in front of the hand-wash sink and toilet talked about getting to Jaipur. After 4 hours of standing, a man offered a berth to me; Sleeping two men on a tiny sleeper car berth was not on my bucket list but it was an experience nevertheless. I slept so well that I almost slept my way to Udaipur. Making it to Jaipur was not the end of the story however, I booked a last minute hostel on Agoda in hopes of sleeping immediately after arriving.

I arrived at the site of a demolished building, where once could’ve stood the hostel I would’ve stayed at. I spent the rest of my night trying to find lodging, and eventually located a nice hotel that was not overbooked after around 1.5 hrs walking across town. Then everything that next morning fell into place, but in a very good way. Amer Palace had the most breathtaking scenery of all my destinations in Jaipur; You could see Jaigarh Fort and the lake down below, I could only think, “You know what, whoever designed and built this had strategy, but also aesthetics in mind, because dang it is nice.” Before going to Jal Mahal, Hawa Mahal, and Johri Bazar, I took a little sidequest. With some convincing and 100 rupees, the police officer inside of Amer Palace topped any sort of tour guide charging 500 rupees. The officer took me down several windy and dusty staircases, leading me to a restricted entrance area of the fort.

After all the chaos, I worked my way into the bustling downtown of Jaipur. Having all the street food and chai that my heart desires, seeing plenty of tourists near the Hawa Mahal. I then spent time walking down the main bazaar roads and the little sidestreets. I soaked in every interaction and the hecticness of Republic Day. Finally, I ended my day with a Rajasthani thali at Laxmi Mishtan Bhandar; Got driven to the airport and enjoyed another sidequest with bubbly happy juice with my Uber driver.

By,
Tin