I have this idea that you can’t really get a feel for a country’s culture without heading out of the main cities or tourist places.
I feel like cities are kind of, at their very heart, quite the same around the world (with their own flair, of course), but the countryside can really show you want the country is really like.
That’s why I was so excited to be heading to the small village of Tordi Sagar as part of the G Aventures tour I was on – I thought it would be such an incredible experience.
I was right. It was.
After making our way there in the back of stinking hot jeeps, we got the chance to enjoy a meal cooked by the local people, and then tour around the village.
Surrounding Tordi is a lot of farmland – of course many of these people are from farming families.
We got to see all the hard work these people do here, and see with our own eyes where their water supply comes from and how their irrigation for their crops work.
Obviously very different to what we’d see back home. But that is why we travel – to experience other cultures.
I found it really quite interesting.
Possibly the most incredible experience in Tordi was the sunset we witnessed while sipping masala chai on the sand dunes.
It was just one of those moments where you sit and think “wow, this is my life, and this is the beautiful world we live in.”
Now, since we’d seen the beautiful sunset, of course we had to get up early and go for a hike to see the sunrise on mountain.
Totally worth the early start and physical challenge.
Visiting Tordi was definitely one of the highlights of my India trip – it really got down to the very basics, and by doing so, showed us the natural, primal beauty of India and its people.
While every country is different, and has its own beautiful story to share, this trip to Tordi really showed me how, at our very core, we are all the same, despite how much we may or may not have.
And it was just so beautiful to see so many smiling faces and meet so many lovely people, despite the fact that most were living in poverty.
I could go more into that, but I won’t.
You know about poverty. You know things you can do to help (volunteering, donating etc).
I just want to leave you with a sense of these actual people who live in Tordi Sagar.
Their individual faces will stay with me.
