Khao Sarn Road in India - Parhaganj

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I have no idea how I gonna describe this famous and chaotic area, despite of you've been to Khao Sarn Road before, you will never pictured this place in India unless you spend a few nights there.


Parhaganj is a backpacker's ghetto paradise from all over the world, the main street is about 1 km long from Delhi train station to the west, the place is mad but in a great way and great management of traffic flows - holycows, goats, dogs, chickens, flies, dirt, cars, people, beggers, scams, touts, noise, smokes, smells, are sharing and moseying around the same 5 meter wide single striaght lane mud road, imagine this single lane of road with 5 lanes of traffic all trying to get up and down at once, while people stepping each others. When I got off from the autorickshaw, hundred of thousand men came and yelling at me :

"TAXI, SIR?" ...... Obviously not! I just got off from the taxi...! ...
"ARLO ARLO! HOTEL??" ....
"ARLO MY FRIEND, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?" ....
"JAPANESE? KONICHIWA? KOREAN? CHINA?"
"PLEASE COME TO MY SHOP, JUST LOOK! YOU DONT'T HAVE TO BUY" ...... if I don't need to buy, why do you want me look at your shop?....

My best drill in India is be patient and ignore them! Once your first response to them, the touts will become double or triple.

I was trying to avoid being stepped by the cows and people, and escape from the attention of the touts, I accidentally tripped over a begger who was sleeping infront of me, I felt down on the mud road, my hand was full of smells of pee, while a little boy was running and trying to sell his shoes, sleeping bags, tents, carpets, socks, umbrella, speakers, USB driver, books, maps, TV, towels, fake diamonds, underpants, alarm clock, whatever non-sense for tourists and within his visibility, he can sell, and get tiny commision. I experienced once a young man brought a pair of bra and asked me to buy for just 20 Rupee.

It was 44c and the 30 minutes walk was totally exhausted, I slowly escaped into a cafe and didn't want to walk back again. I begin my rest with a glass of Masala & Ginger Chai, which was refreshing after the chaos, and madness, but Parhaganj was simply amazing, in the variety of people, colours, atmosphere, smells, and sounds.

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Comments

[Justin Ling]

Parhaganj
There's nothing like this place on earth.....it's just out of this world! Did you know they even have a Jewish prayer center in this area...catering to the large volume of Israeli backpackers.