Delhi

Delhi - Day 1

I arrived in Delhi at 10:45am and it was an absolute breeze getting thru the airport, got a prepaid taxi to where i am staying and that was that, it was no trouble at all and i felt completely at ease and practically jumping with excitement. and then its been pretty much been going steeply down hill since there. I arrived at my hostel, and well, all in all, its not to bad! i am rooming with three indian men, one who looks like he is one of those scammers on the streets, but he as been asleep all day, was asleep when i arrived and was asleep when i came back. the other one is balding, reads the newspaper and goes on his laptop. the other is chubby with a big beard and red hair. none of them speak english. once i arrived i felt so extremely far from my comfort zone i dont think it exists anymore. delhi is the most intense city i have ever been in. me and my senses have been bombarded from every single angel. never trust an indian. they always, and i mean always want something from you. i have not spoken to a single indian yet who did not want to take my money from me (apart from the three guys i am rooming with, they are pretty quiet) delhi is expensive. its the capital city of india and i have been ripped off left right and centre. i am white, i am foreign, i am a target. i was walking along the water at the India Gate and there were some children swimming so i thought, 'hey great photo op!' so i walk on over and all of a sudden they start swimming frantically towards me yelling 'money! money! money! you! money!'. so no photos of there. i think have taken about 19 photos today of architecture at humayun's tomb...not quite the number i was hoping for, i am just not comfortable yet in my environment to be sticking my lens in peoples faces. speaking of humayun's tomb. entry fees. 10Rs for Indians to Humayun's Tomb, 250Rs for foreigners. i went. because i needed to get away from the streets, literally, every 3 seconds there is about 15 car horns going off all around you. rickshaws are pretty fun to drive around in, but god damn indian streets are mad! so i went to Humayun's Tomb today.....one of the guys in the bed across from me is masturbating....great..... anyways. I spent a good three and a half hours there, just slowing wondering around the buildings and the garden, sat down inside for about an hour, getting used to things. came back out of the tomb, and i was locked inside the fortress around it. i eventually found a way out thru a hole in the wall and had to walk around the entire thing which took a good 45min in the baking sun (it is unbelievable how hot it is, humid, 42 degrees, baking) and i had to walk thru, basically where the 'untouchables' live, the lowest people in the caste system. the poverty in this country is unbelievable, and i have hardly seen anything, no matter where you are driving, if you are white and foreign, when you stop, you have homeless children running up to you begging and trying anything to get your money. everyone wants your money here, i can honestly not walk down the street for more then 3 minutes without being approached by someone trying to scram my money from me. so that i suppose is delhi in a nut shell on my first day. its not the best of places, and all in all i am just really looking forward to getting my trip up and running and out of the cities. frankly, where people are more honest. oh and restaurants and shops, as far as i can see, are damn hard to find! i have already gotten sick of trying to buy something and being asked a ridiculous amount of money for it, ie the same price or more as sold in the uk. i dont want to haggle and argue i just want a bottle of water for less the a pound!...well this post has been a rant and a half. i guess i am just stressed and freaking out a bit. its my first day in a totally different country and i think i have the culture shock from hell. but i know it will pass and i will learn to love it here. however, on the upside. the nicest tourists in the world! because when you visit a 'tourist site' there is pretty well only indians there. and when ever two tourists see each other we both think 'I thought i was the only one!" and its a Hi hello, how are you my name is _____ what brings you to india? etc etc etc. i hung out with two guys from new york whom i met at India Gate for a good hour or so before i went home. they just saw me. walked right up and said hi! tourists here are wonderful, in the hostel, if two foreigners see one another its a smile, hello and a hand shake and some chit chat, really great. i am loving it here. i just need to get used to it and get over the culture shock. i cant wait to be in varanasi! one more day and a half here in delhi. and off to the hindu holy capital of india, Varanasi.

Delhi - Day 2

I have found India. My out look on delhi and india has changed. not completely, but it has. I really had a wonderful day today, and the decision to go to india alone, was the best choice i could have made. This morning I had a bit of a sleep in until 10:30am, hopped into the shower, best shower i have ever had, felt so good to be clean and have a break from the heat. and by the time i had gotten out and changed, the indian guy i am rooming with (balding guy who reads the newspaper) came in and, he does speak english! we chatted for almost 3 hours about politics, religion, india, money, the people here, and all the basics about one another. really really great. after that i decided to go to connaught place, so far out of the 'tourist spots' it is my favorite, its bright, colorful and vibrant, and of course, dirty as all hell. indians have no respect for there country and where they live. this is the dirtiest and most unhygienic place anyone could be, everyone is constantly spitting and littering everywhere, they dont understand the concept of garbage bins, every bit of rubbish they have, is tossed on the streets, oh and india has the worlds largest toilet, the country itself, i cant tell you how many times i have seen people 'doing their business' on the side of the road and well, india smells like poop and curry, but you get used to it.(good example is this is, a pakistani cab driver in london said to me the night before i left, "they are very unhygienic, a lot of the time, because they believe cows are holy, when a cow urinates in the street, many will rush over and start to put there hand in the stream, and then running the urine thru their hair and over there bodies.) so anyways, as i was walking around connaught place trying to find somewhere to have breakfast i bumped into this guy named Kailash whom, as it had happened a lot, tryed talking me into going somewhere he recommended to eat (probably because he makes a commission from that place for doing so (a lot of rickshaw drivers do the same, try to take you somewhere you dont want to go, like telling you your hotel has burnt down but he can recommend another place) so i 'got rid of him' and bought a newspaper and went into a little cafe kind of thing for breakfast, and they had strawberry icecream milkshakes! okay i know it is not the most indian thing to have but it was soooo nice in this heat! after breakfast, well really it was lunch, i started walking around again and guess who i bumped into, Kailash. However he was not the kind of indian i thought he was. I ended up spending the day with him. We sat down in the park, he gave me an indian cigarette and we chatted and chatted, he then said 'let me take you to real india' (we had spoken about that a lot and the difference between big cities, tourist spots, and the real india) so we meet up with his friend, and his friends uncle. (by this time i was getting a little suspicious that i might be getting scammed) so we all took a rickshaw to delhi's golden palace. a beautiful sikh temple where i did not see a single tourist, it was so unbelievably wonderful, i had found what india is. so as tradition has it, shoes and socks off, a bit of head dress to cover your hair. we walked in, sat down for about 20 min just listening to the chanting and watching the people going by praying and worshiping. people looked amazed at the sight of me, and quite happy about it as well. I was so happy at this point because i got to see a piece of india i would have never of been able to if i had not met 'a local' and the only reason why i did that was because i was on my own, that experience would have never of happened if i was with a group of friends. Once we went outside into the courtyard we were given this mush, quite sweet, with a funky texture, but good, not sure what it was tho. and there was this huge, i guess pool, more like a lake. of holy water where people go into for a blessing etc etc. absolutely incredible. at this point i could not hold it any longer, the photojournalist in me was begging to come out. so i pulled out my camera and took the best shots i have taken in india so far, i am really really pleased with them (especially the one with the three men in the water (i should hopefully be able to post pictures below, however they are not of everything i have been to as i havnt had my camera out all the time). after taking some photos again we sat down and chatted for a bit (and like a lot of indians, the guy right next to us made it very obvious he was interested in our conversation and eves-dropping, hell after 5 minutes he moved right in next to us and just stared.) and we spoke about how much ive been getting ripped off, he said that a lot of that is to do how you are dressing (shorts, but i am wearing one of my collared dress shirts so that is alright) after the temple we decided to get me some indian clothing so we hopped back into the same rickshaw as before and drove to this shop where i bought myself some indian cloths...and this is where i thought 'shit, ive been scammed, because they where f*cking £30! that is three days budget! so i was pretty upset with that and the fact that ive been scammed, very well however, into buying this. but then this turned around, and well, all in all, it was my decision to go there and mine to buy it (although i did not know the price until i had already agreed to purchasing it because Kalish was saying everything to the clerk in hindi and send to me he was getting me 'best indian price' which i figured would be about 150Rs, not 28000Rs, but it is pretty slick. so once we left i was getting a bit worried about my self as we drove to the next palace, thinking, 'at the end of this he is going to ask me for so much money for taking me on this 'tour' and if i dont pay him ill probably get mugged for everything ive got.' ie my passport, camera, credit card and all my money. but i think i found the only honest and genuinely kind indian in delhi, apart from the bald newspaper readying guy, he is wonderful, but hes not actually from delhi. Once we did the tour of the next temple (not as nice as of a temple as the one before) we went around back to this little tiny, not very well kept restaurant, were we had chai and a wonderful samosa with potatoes and curry, i also got a bottle of water, which the seal had been broken (this happens a lot, they just reuse the bottles and pour tap water into it) so i went up to the old dirty looking waiter, told him the situation, had a bit of an argument but eventually was able to get a new bottle, seal intact. at the end of the meal, which thankfully was the dirt cheap food ive been looking for and it was really really good! two samosas, two chai and a bottle of water for 50Rs! (about 65 pents, the exchange rate has changed, and not in my favor, so things are a bit more then i was hoping for) and at that point my whole mindset about Kalish changed, he really was the honest guy i thought he was at the start, he wasnt trying to get my money from me, hell he paid for our meal! after the meal we meet up again with his friend and uncle, sat down, had another indian cigarette, chatted some more, and at that point i decided i would had back home as it was just starting to get dark out. oh and i am still getting ripped off by rickshaw drivers, when i was going to pay the driver for taking me home, after being told by Kalish he got me a good price, 25Rs, which is the average fare for an indian, where as my average has been about 100Rs, so when i arrived the driver said i had to pay 380Rs! I would have none of that and told the driver off straight away, argued for a good 5 or 7 minutes and eventually was able to bring the price down to 110Rs, still not good at all, but its better then 380! aaaand that was my day. I had a really wonderful time, full of some very new experiences and a lot of learning about my self, finding a bit about what i am capable of on my own and knowing which decisions to make under pressure and having the confidence to fallow thru with them knowing they are right. I think i am over a lot of the culture shock now and i am really starting to enjoy myself! tomorrow i need to check out of the hostel by 11am, hopefully ill be able to lock up my bags as my train to varanasi does not leave until 6:30pm. cant wait

(when i made this blog in london i wasnt expecting that i would be writing so much! its good tho as i will have a record for my self of my travels.)

miss you everyone!

quinn.