I arrived in Delhi, India at about 9:30pm on Tuesday night, which translated to 4:30am Australia time. I was pretty exhausted when I got off my second flight after traveling for nearly 19 hours. I had arranged an airport pick-up from my hostel so I called after picking up my luggage to tell them I had arrived. They told me to stand outside by the big pillar next to (some word I couldn't understand). I left the terminal and discovered that there were quite a few big pillars and they all seemed to be for taxi pick-up. I wasn't sure how they were coming so I instead crossed the street and stood where all the passenger cars were pulling up for arrivals.
After a few minutes a man came up to me and asked me where I was going. I told him I had someone picking me up because I figured he was trying to get to take his cab. After a few more minutes, it appeared that my driver still hadn't arrived and I had no idea how I was going to find him in all of the traffic madness. I bit the bullet and called on roaming charges from my cell phone (there was no pay phone outside) and was told to stand by Pillar 1. I tried to explain that that was for bus service, but finally grudgingly crossed the street to the pillar. Then the man who had approached me originally came toward me and I realized he must have been the right guy all along. He brought me to a car with a driver and I took off with the two of them through the streets of Delhi. About 10 minutes into the ride, it dawned on me that they could be kidnapping me and there was nothing I could do about it. Even when we pulled into a parking lot that looked more like a construction site than a building complex, I wasn't sure we were in the right place. Fortunately someone then came out of the hostel to greet us.
When I got to my six-bed dorm room I was the only one in there and I fell asleep within minutes... only to be awakened every two hours throughout the night as one after another guest arrived and turned on the light. The fourth and last person showed up probably around 7:00am. I guess that's the price you pay for staying in a hostel and I could always have put on my sleep mask if I'd had enough motivation. By about 8:30am I was up for the day myself and down for breakfast in the lobby.
Following breakfast, I went with the four guys who had arrived in my room overnight to the Garden of Five Senses just down the street from our hostel. I'm not quite sure what the five senses were exactly. Sight I got, but the only scent I really smelled was that of food and the only sound was that of other people talking. I touched a few plants for good measure and ate some samosas from a food stall, which I guess counts as taste. The garden was nice, but it was so arid that it wasn't like gardens back home. The area also seems to be a big make out spot as we kept running into couples while walking down a wooded path. I had the most fun while sliding down a conveyor belt slide that was supposed to generate electricity, but had long since been broken.
After the garden we took the metro to an area near Old Delhi and walked to the Red Fort. Along the way we were walking down a major road that was so jam packed with cars, tuk-tuks, food vendors and pedestrians that it was nearly impossible to get through. When we arrived at the fort we saw a massive (red) structure that is 2.5 kilometers in length. We decided not to go inside out of protest after discovering that the local admission price was 10 Rupees and the tourist price was 25 times that at 250 Rupees. We later learned it was the same deal for all the World Heritage sites in India. I know that most Indians are a lot poorer than visiting foreigners so it makes sense, but still doesn't seem quite fair after we've come all that way.
We headed back early that day, enjoyed a free dinner at the hostel and then went to bed a bit early. On Thursday, I woke up with a case of the Delhi belly, but still decided to drag myself to the Qutb Minar with about five people from my hostel. The minaret is apparently the tallest free-standing stone tower in the world. The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque right next to it was the earliest mosque built by the Delhi Sultans in the 1100s. Given my state of distress I had a bit of trouble really getting into what I was seeing and had more fun taking pictures of the funny-looking Indian squirrels. The thousands of school kids at the site had more fun shaking our hands and taking our pictures. At times it was hard to tell what the main attraction was--the mosque or us gringos.
After leaving the Qutub Minar we took the subway even farther out to the Akshardham Hindu Temple on the banks of the Yamuna River. The temple is only six years old, but it is incredibly ornate with elaborate carvings in sandstone in marble. It only must have cost about a trillion dollars or so to build. Security is also incredibly tight around the complex. You can't bring in any bags or cameras so photos were obviously out of the question. You also had to go through a full-body pat down that almost felt like it crossed the line even though it was conducted by a woman. Since we didn't want to leave our bags at the coat check, two of the guys agreed to wait outside while the rest of us went in. Following the temple visit, everyone else went get something to eat in the main commercial center called Connaught Place, but I was feeling so bad that I decided to go back to the hostel with one of the other guys. We had plans to go to one of the big malls and try to find some American food to eat for Thanksgiving dinner, but my hostel mate fell asleep shortly after we got back. I resigned myself to a free dinner of rice and gruel (as I called it mainly because I didn't know what was in it rather than that it tasted bad) at the hostel. Happy Thanksgiving to me!
On (Black) Friday, I was feeling a bit better and headed over to Connaught Place with another American girl who had just arrived the night before. We ate lunch--my first Indian meal in a restaurant--and tried to find a local bazar, which turned out to just be a bunch of cheap men's clothes. We then sat in the park in the center of Connaught Place until we started to get weirded out by the antics of some of the men around us. Meredith went back to the hostel and I met up with my friends, Vikas and Sarah, from New York who happened to be in town visiting Vikas' parents. We had drinks at a "Western"-style coffee shop and then browsed at a nearby antiques market where Sarah, the interior designer, looked for some new ideas for her design work. It was really great to see them and get another little taste of home for even a short time.
Yesterday I left for Nepal and will now be embarking on a two-week trek to the Everest Base Camp starting early tomorrow morning. Since I don't anticipate having access to the internet and won't be bringing my computer, I'll catch you all up when I get back!
After a few minutes a man came up to me and asked me where I was going. I told him I had someone picking me up because I figured he was trying to get to take his cab. After a few more minutes, it appeared that my driver still hadn't arrived and I had no idea how I was going to find him in all of the traffic madness. I bit the bullet and called on roaming charges from my cell phone (there was no pay phone outside) and was told to stand by Pillar 1. I tried to explain that that was for bus service, but finally grudgingly crossed the street to the pillar. Then the man who had approached me originally came toward me and I realized he must have been the right guy all along. He brought me to a car with a driver and I took off with the two of them through the streets of Delhi. About 10 minutes into the ride, it dawned on me that they could be kidnapping me and there was nothing I could do about it. Even when we pulled into a parking lot that looked more like a construction site than a building complex, I wasn't sure we were in the right place. Fortunately someone then came out of the hostel to greet us.
Following breakfast, I went with the four guys who had arrived in my room overnight to the Garden of Five Senses just down the street from our hostel. I'm not quite sure what the five senses were exactly. Sight I got, but the only scent I really smelled was that of food and the only sound was that of other people talking. I touched a few plants for good measure and ate some samosas from a food stall, which I guess counts as taste. The garden was nice, but it was so arid that it wasn't like gardens back home. The area also seems to be a big make out spot as we kept running into couples while walking down a wooded path. I had the most fun while sliding down a conveyor belt slide that was supposed to generate electricity, but had long since been broken.
After the garden we took the metro to an area near Old Delhi and walked to the Red Fort. Along the way we were walking down a major road that was so jam packed with cars, tuk-tuks, food vendors and pedestrians that it was nearly impossible to get through. When we arrived at the fort we saw a massive (red) structure that is 2.5 kilometers in length. We decided not to go inside out of protest after discovering that the local admission price was 10 Rupees and the tourist price was 25 times that at 250 Rupees. We later learned it was the same deal for all the World Heritage sites in India. I know that most Indians are a lot poorer than visiting foreigners so it makes sense, but still doesn't seem quite fair after we've come all that way.We headed back early that day, enjoyed a free dinner at the hostel and then went to bed a bit early. On Thursday, I woke up with a case of the Delhi belly, but still decided to drag myself to the Qutb Minar with about five people from my hostel. The minaret is apparently the tallest free-standing stone tower in the world. The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque right next to it was the earliest mosque built by the Delhi Sultans in the 1100s. Given my state of distress I had a bit of trouble really getting into what I was seeing and had more fun taking pictures of the funny-looking Indian squirrels. The thousands of school kids at the site had more fun shaking our hands and taking our pictures. At times it was hard to tell what the main attraction was--the mosque or us gringos.
After leaving the Qutub Minar we took the subway even farther out to the Akshardham Hindu Temple on the banks of the Yamuna River. The temple is only six years old, but it is incredibly ornate with elaborate carvings in sandstone in marble. It only must have cost about a trillion dollars or so to build. Security is also incredibly tight around the complex. You can't bring in any bags or cameras so photos were obviously out of the question. You also had to go through a full-body pat down that almost felt like it crossed the line even though it was conducted by a woman. Since we didn't want to leave our bags at the coat check, two of the guys agreed to wait outside while the rest of us went in. Following the temple visit, everyone else went get something to eat in the main commercial center called Connaught Place, but I was feeling so bad that I decided to go back to the hostel with one of the other guys. We had plans to go to one of the big malls and try to find some American food to eat for Thanksgiving dinner, but my hostel mate fell asleep shortly after we got back. I resigned myself to a free dinner of rice and gruel (as I called it mainly because I didn't know what was in it rather than that it tasted bad) at the hostel. Happy Thanksgiving to me!
On (Black) Friday, I was feeling a bit better and headed over to Connaught Place with another American girl who had just arrived the night before. We ate lunch--my first Indian meal in a restaurant--and tried to find a local bazar, which turned out to just be a bunch of cheap men's clothes. We then sat in the park in the center of Connaught Place until we started to get weirded out by the antics of some of the men around us. Meredith went back to the hostel and I met up with my friends, Vikas and Sarah, from New York who happened to be in town visiting Vikas' parents. We had drinks at a "Western"-style coffee shop and then browsed at a nearby antiques market where Sarah, the interior designer, looked for some new ideas for her design work. It was really great to see them and get another little taste of home for even a short time.
Yesterday I left for Nepal and will now be embarking on a two-week trek to the Everest Base Camp starting early tomorrow morning. Since I don't anticipate having access to the internet and won't be bringing my computer, I'll catch you all up when I get back!
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