Delhi

My first day in Delhi was awesome, and I am already loving India, although adjusting slowly. I will start by telling you about my long journey here from Europe, which seemed like it lasted forever. I said goodbye to gelatos and pizza with a sigh and headed off to Rome by train which took about 4 hours. Then took a train right to the airport which I paid way too much for and then had about 7 hours to kill before my flight. I hung out in a cafe that was opened all night and took a nap for a few hours on a leather sofa. After finally getting on the plane, I got into Amsterdam that morning and had a short layover before boarding the plane to New Delhi, which was packed. I met a guy from Wales in line who was doing the same thing as me, except he had no plan whatsoever. More power to him, but I am very happy I have some things taken care of so far. So boarding the plane was a lot more intense then I had thought it would be, with x ray scanners and security check. Finally got on the plane and sat next to a guy from Calcutta, who told me to try the sweets when I got there. Very nice guy who was happy to hear of my travel plans. The plane took forever (about 7 hours which was long enough) and we were served two Indian meals. Then we arrived and I got through customs easily before picking up my bags and to my relief, I saw a sign with my name. This was my driver. I told him I needed an ATM so he took me to one inside the airport, only to find that it was temporarily out of service.Found another one, same thing. The third one seemed promising...nope out of service. I had to laugh. We got on the road and I experienced my first taste of India traffic, which is totally absurd. If you think they use their horns a lot in New York, think again. Seemed like they were having a conversation back and forth . I knew what to expect so I was not terrified after almost rear ended about 4 cars. I had my trust in my driver, although the whole experience was comedic if anything. Lanes are not really paid attention to really, as we drove in the middle of the line for a good while. Bikes, cars, rickshaws, people and dogs all tangled together on the road and somehow not killing each other. It is a wonder. My driver started to talk to me after a long silence, his English was not great but I understood a few things. He was very friendly and I was appreciative of the ride. We got to the hotel's street in Pahar Ganj on Main Bazaar road, which I have to admit was a little scary as we pulled up at night. It was not Florence, lets put it that way. We went to another ATM which did not work, and finally found one that did. Thank god. So I checked into my room and found it kinda run down, but hey, I am not in Kansas anymore, and now I find it quite nice. My standards are already dropping I suppose. There is a bed, AC, a bathroom and shower, which will work just fine. Anoop Hotel it is called and they also have a rooftop restaurant which is cool. So I got comfortable and took a shower. washing away the grime that had been building up over my long journey from Europe. Not the cleanliest of showers, and water was on the cold side, but I decided to just embrace it. Tried to charge my phone but as soon as I plugged in my adapter, the power cut off in my room. (chuckle) Had to go get reception to help me. I decided to wait until morning to try again. (the same thing happened today, but after a little fooling around, I got it to work without killing the power).Then I settled down to sleep. So ended my first night in India.

I slept until 1 today, as I was still really tired from lack of sleep, and wanted to take it easy for a bit and not try to do too much. Baby steps. I got some lunch on the roof, vegetable briyani and chapati bread, which was very good and met a Russian guy who had been in India for a year and was just leaving for Moscow. I remember he said everyday in India is a happy day. Then decided to head out into the streets.A lot different scene during the day and a lot more inviting. The road I am on is full of shops, selling just about everything. I saw little music shop and a kid about 12 years old waved me in and told me to sit down. I picked up a guitar on the wall which sounded awful and played a bit, but the kid wanted me to buy his little drum. Which was cool, but I was not interested. He did show me a drumming technique that I still don't understand, but involved dragging your finger across the drum. I wandered out of there and a women carrying a baby walked next to me asking me for something I could not understand. I said " no I cannot help you." but she kept persisting for a bit, until finally I said leave me alone, which did the trick. Met a few people that were very nice and were not trying to sell me anything, but most were. They welcomed me to India and said India is a great country. I went in a few clothing shops and got a two pairs of pants and two shirts. Now I fit right in. They are really comfortable and really cool looking I might add although I probably paid too much. You all would laugh a bit if you saw what I was wearing now. One guy tried to sell me sunglasses for 700 rupees, more than I paid for any of the cloths that I got. I said no, 100 rupees. We finally settled on 150 but after I gave him 200 and asked for change, he said no 200 thank you. I decided to let it slide, just a dollar to me anyway. I will get the hang of this haggling thing.Bought some bananas at what looked like a big outdoor market and then headed back the other way. I wanted to get to Conought Place and go to Rikhi Ram music store but I could not find it. A cycle rickshaw driver offered to take me into Conought Place, so not wanting to get lost, I obliged. Into the chaos that is Indian traffic I went, sitting on the back of this bicycle in this metal platform, which at first was very uncomfortable but I quickly got used to it. He let me get out and walk around Conought Place a bit which is a huge circle of shops, and it was interesting. He then took me to a four story store which had musical instruments on the top floor. I went up and met the owner who was very nice and told me to sit down and relax. someone brought us both bottles of water and I looked at the sitars and tablas. He told me I did not have to buy, and that if  my money was meant to come to him then it would, if not then that would be ok. He said please come back after a brief chat and told me to enjoy India. Then my rickshaw driver who was still waiting asked if I wanted to see the monkey temple. I thought why the hell not and we headed there on some busy streets. I almost collided with other cars about 10 times, but we made it safely and it was an experience in itself just on the road. The temple was a huge structure in the form of the monley god Hanuman, and was really cool from the outside alone. A little boy outside the temple told me to take off my shows and left them on a little rack and went in barefoot. This was cool. I was now in my first Indian temple, there were many displays involving statues of several gods adorned in beautiful colors and necklaces. They were like alters, and pople would stand or kneel in front and pray. There was one man with a huge book written in sanskrit who was chanting something softly. As I walked over to one of the alters, a man who worked there adorned my forehead with orange paint and put a red string around my wrist. Then I opened my hand and he poured water into it and told me to drink, so I acted if I did, since I was scared to drink the water, and put the rest on my head as the others did. Then he gave me something that I have no idea what it was and told me to eat one. I put it in my mouth but then took it out when no was was looking. I have all the respect in the world for the rituals but I was not gonna chance getting sick. I went over to another alter which had Kali (the destroyer goddess if I remember correctly), and Saraswati, who I recognized because she always plays the Veena. I was adorned with ash on my head and more string around my wrist.So that was cool.

Gave the boy who watched my shoes 10 rupees and he said thank you with a smile. Then my cycle driver took me back to the hotel as it was just getting dark. He told me to give him 1000 rupees, which was totally ridiculous, but after arguing a bit I decided to just cave in and forget it. He was really helpful and even though he charged me way too much, it is still very cheap compared to where I come from. Besides, it is hard work pulling me all around on a bicycle. But this kind of spending will not continue, I will be sure to work out a price before I go anywhere and stick to it. I had vegetable curry at the hotel which was really good, and met some Belgians who were just leaving but told me a few places where I should go and commended me on my Indian eating style. Now I am here and will get to bed early again tonight. So far, I have made out well, and I am loving India. Tomorrow I worked out a tour around Delhi that will last most of the day starting at 10 AM with a guy at the hotel. I am excited to see some more of Delhi and it is nice to have a guide since I am not confident on my own yet. Until next time, Namaste.