New Delhi, India - Day 2

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I got back to my room around 5 this afternoon, and laid down to watch a cricket match on TV and dozed off. I woke up now 2.5 hours later, thought I'd only crash out for 20 minutes. My hotel is fantastic, they own other business including two FANTASTIC cafes here in the same building. I met a wonderful Tibetan merchant today, the first guy I met when I ventured out. He had me in his shop for tea, and gave me a Tibetan astrological reading. But he told me that I should go through the hotel staff for all my needs because they'll bend over backwards for me. I was going to take a NICE luxury state operated Volvo bus to Dharamsala next week. This guy said no, take one of the Tibetan operators private coaches, it's a better service. There are offices all over for tickets (different operators), but he said go through my hotel, it's the way things are done here. Good advice as I got a 33% discount doing so!

Yesterday I finally ventured out of the comfort of the airport in the afternoon for the pre-paid taxi stand that everything I recommended told me to take. It's price controlled, you pay in advance so the driver doesn't take advantage of you. Well, the taxi ride was certainly like anything in the movies or science fiction, it was surreal! Just the variety of vehicles, and the controlled chaos that is negotiating traffic. No such thing as right of way or LANE obedience here. But as with all things Indian, the once constant is that it is a paradox and it just works, so if one resigns to that fact, they will be fine. I recognized my driver was immensely skillful. I dozed off for a second, even in this madness of noise and horns, and awoke to a horned cow driven cart next to me. I was all "whoa! THERE it is!" We ventured on the road, and I feel I landed in the sea of humanity.

I got up here around 4PM to the Tibetan Colony called Majnu-Ka-Tilla. I feel like I stept out of India into Lhasa, Tibet. It's a vibrant Tibetan refugee settlement. It's like a miniature city. I got to my room, and laid down about 5 and watched a little Indian TV (on my Toshiba mall mounted flatscreen). I woke up first at 4AM, 11 hours later, then went back to sleep until around 9AM. It felt great.

I got up and then went out and explored the village here - the city within a city. There's a wonderful park adjacent, and we're right on the bank of this major river Yamuna. The city has dumped 58% of it's waste in it, but have since paid 1/2 billion dollars in an effort to clean it. Across the river are the real shanty towns & slums of Old Delhi. You can't seen them, and from this side unless you know, it's just a great vegetation laden river bank, a refreshing scene from the madness that faces west.

I walked up and down the Tibetan merchant laden pedestrian paths in this enclave exploring and meeting people. I later met a group of Tibetan monks fresh over from having fled Tibet. That was something.

I LOVE INDIA!!! This is a wonderful place. I'm very comfortable, and think I prepared well and thus had realistic expectations. I was so tired and a little nervous about leaving the clean sterility of the efficient modern airport for what was beyond weary what laid beyond. Once I did, it was fine, and I've had little culture shock yet. I feel very comfortable here in the Tibetan camp which is sort of an oasis in New Dehli.

Well, that's about it. Everything is so cheap here. I'm in this amazing (Tibetan) that's so modern and nice, nicer than many cafes there. They have free wi-fi (wireless internet) so I woke up to come down here before the close at 10.

Tonight is a chicken tikka masala sandwich on a long multigrain roll along with a banana lassi. A lassi is a unique yogurt based India milkshake that is SO GOOD. Less than $2.

It was interesting I was in one of the world's wealthiest centuries-old cities on Tuesday, and one of the poorest on Wednesday. Talk about dichotomies and extremes.

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Photos

Unpacking
looking through everything for my Steripen I last saw at the bottom of my pack Monday morning at 3AM packing in Colorado Springs.

Photo 3
Wall mounted flatscreen Toshiba and Taha Sky satellite for all one's Bollywood and cricket viewing needs.

Photo 4
Adequate tile flooring and wall in the bathroom. I'm just grateful the toilet isn't a whole in the floor.

Photo 5
Sign outside the building where my hotel is located as well as numerous Tibetan shops and services.

Photo 6
Just a view between one of the alleyways between buildings.

Photo 7
sign on the adjacent park to the Tibetan refugee settlement enclave, Manju-ka-teela..

Yamuna River
Just behind Manju-ka-teela (Tibetan Colony refugee settlement enclave). This is a small farm, and the farmers appear to live in very small, meager shacks.

Yamuna river
A tributary river to the Yamuna right next to it. I expected this to reek due to all of New Delhi's waste being deposited here for decades. The government has poured in 3/4's a billion dollars into cleaning it. There was a faint smell of petrol about though that lingered. I'm sure it's anything but clean even after this cleanup though, just may smell less.

Yamuna river
looking back from the Yamuna west bank to Manju-ka-teela.

Photo 13
looking back from the Yamuna west bank to Manju-ka-teela.

Photo 15
interesting local avian.

Manju-ka-teela
looking down the main "street" (which is pedestrian).

Photo 18
sign into the building my hotel is located which also includes a two story mall of Tibetan shops and services, and two utterly fantastic cafes owned by the Tibetan business that owns the hotel.

Photo 19
A wonderful photo I saw in a travel agency office showing His Holiness The Dalai Lama flanked by other great masters, HIs Holiness Sakya Trizin, HH 17th Karmapa, Lait Rinpoche (the current incarnation), and others.

Manju-ka-teela
main street

Photo 21
My new friend, the first person I met today. He offered me tea and we had a long, rewarding conversation. He also gave me a Tibetan astrological forecast. It doesn't appear at all in this picture, but I couldn't get over how much he resembled Geshe Kunchok Tenzin so much that he could be his brother.

Comments

[Trish]

Loved reading this!
Nyima, keep it coming! Makes me very happy to hear of your adventures! Blessings! Trish

[sangpo]

Thank you!
Thank you Trish. Please feel free to subscribe, that way you'll be auto-notified when I post. Just visit my main page here www.mytb.org/nyima and select the "SUBSCRIBE" button on the right. If you've done so since your post, please disregard.