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Published: August 9th 2006
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Back in Delhi
I had to leave Leh, the rain that started few days after i cam back from Nubra didn't stop. Leh is usually the traveler escape from the monsoon but this year (shitty for me) it did come full power and was poring down every day. the situation got more grim since the area and the people are not adapted to rain. house are build from mud brink, the roads break down, bridges collapse and there no shelter to hide when it rains, on top of that Leh is o.k but staying there too long isn't fun. Therefore i decided to take my luck and try to go stand by yesterday instead of the 8th, and i worked. I'm only regret that I didn't get a chance to go to this beautiful lake called Tso Moriri, but hi I'll go there next time.
So I arrive in Delhi yesterday around noon, and boy it's hot and sweaty here. I found a place and went exploring the city.
When I came to India almost 3 months ago, I was a Green tourist in India and didn't go about to much, so this time i made up my mind to do
more. This time the goal is explore through shopping (not a bad idea). So yesterday afternoon i go to an underground market called Palika. the place is in the center of the city, and is fucking huge threes at lease 300 shops (small ones). And man, they were happy to see me. I could not walk for more then 30 sec without some saying "hi sir" "come look my shop" "jeans" " sexy movies" etc. i mean really they would offer me skirts, children cloths, anything . Crazy. this was actually making me angry, so i left the place and went for another market which is more for local ppl. so i go there because of a local guy tip about an area of the market where they sell mobile phones, and this time really there was hundreds of shop, never seen something like this not even in Hongkong did i see so many phone. the funny thing is that they all sell the same thing. i could really deal with that so i kept on walk and walking. i was there for 4-5 hours seen many thing other then phone, like brand new plasma T.V which cost something like
a lifetime saving of an Indian worker, baby shirt for 2 Rupees, and all kind of other goods that i really don't know for what purpose they were invented. but anyway i had fun and took a Rickshaw back to the guesthouse in main Bazar, which deserve a blog entry by itself but I'm not even going to try to describe the place. I would just say that in one minute here, more things are happening then in a whole day in my "normal" life. Take this sentence were you want to, but actually you just need to come and see for yourself.
anyway, i wake this morning quit late and go out to get my Chai, and i meet this Kiwi that had been traveling for 20 years. really nice guy, see that's what i like about traveling you meet those ppl that, you don't come across in daily life. anyway we chatted and funny enough we came to the conclusion that we are "same same but different" (too complicate to explain why). Anyway then i decided to stick to my mission and go shopping. I took the metro ( Brand new, full power a/c , clean) to an
area that suppose to have a few shopping malls. I get there and yes there they are, our beloved temple of consumption, huge cement and glass monsters. how familiar.
The thing is that, i went there on the moment what i didn't realize that wearing a wife beater short and my all time favorite Source Sandals, is just a little under dress compare to all the Indians in there best Sunday outfit, not to say that foreign tourist never venture to those places. Makes you feel special, i mean not to often you get 30 ppl looking at you 😊
then i got a little hungry and in the best of the west tradition i decided to go all the way and visit the symbol, McDonald's. on top of that i have this theory how everybody should visit McDonald's every now and then to make them keep on sponsoring the free toilets all over the world. Anyway I step into the restaurant, and a little Indian voice ask me "how may I help you Sir", so far normal, right. But then when i look at the menu and then i got it, the don't sell burgers. Get it a McDonald's
that don't sell burgers. In India beef is really off limits, the cow is considered the mother of the nation, the whole story. So I eventually settled for some onion burger which was actually OK. but this i thing tells one allot about the country where it stands now, where its headed, and where its coming from.
Its now 9:10 pm in 4 hours I'll be taking the flight back to Israel, 3 months less 5 days, time flew by had ups and some downs. One hell of an experience. what I tried to do in the blog is to share a bit of this experience with you my friends, but actually you really need to come here and see and experience for your self.
I guess i would not update this blog anymore, I don't have too much to write about my "normal" life.
"The End"
Boaz
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sophie
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thankk uuu, man! 3 months is a long time. how can i go to sleep without those good-night-stories from now on?? see u, sophie