Still In Delhi

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And if we weren't, I'd have been very, very surprised. Of course, as soon as we arrived at the airport to check in for our flight to Srinagar, they announced the cancellation. Which was the most obvious outcome of yesterday's travel plans, considering we'd been seeing news of blizzards and flight cancellations to the region all day. So now we're booked in to go tomorrow, which probably works out better, as it is now sunny and all the flights are actually arriving. Think we were luckier than the flight ahead of us that had to turn around and go BACK to Delhi when the couldn't land!!

Today we spent most of the day walking around Connaught Place. Connaught Place is a bunch of circular roads near our area that feature more upmarket shops and restaurants - Levi's, Dockers, Pizza Hut (which is upmarket, compared to a few places we've been to!) etc. It actually brings up an interesting point about India: the massive class distinctions. India has an enormous middle class (most of the Indians you'd know from your various homes are probably well-educated professionals), but also an incredibly poor class. We saw a lot of huge mansions on our driving trip around Delhi the other day, and we've also seen loads of people who live on the street, begging. The area we've moved hotels to is a bit nicer than the one we were staying at (now it looks like we were staying in the most squalid street in the area, once we've acclimatized and had a look around!) Also really can't say enough good stuff about the hotel - 5GPB per night, very clean, hot water, TV... far better than what we had for the same price when we arrived!!

Today we took two motorized tuk tuk rides to and from Connaught Place and it was... an experience. Actually, Delhi traffic is really something else (we already had a minor fender bender with Mister Choudhry, at about 5km per hour!) I love how Delhi drivers use their horns the same way as we would use, say, a turn signal (called "dippers" here), or brake lights. I can probably count on three fingers the amount of times I've used my horn while driving in Canada. I especially love the bike rickshaw drivers who don't have horns, so they just bellow "HELLO HELLO HELLO" as they drive past. I've already been grazed twice.

(In saying that, I'm not sure if the traffic is more frightening here, or in Italy. Perhaps here is a bit more anarchic, but the Italians drive at much, much faster speeds... and there's a bit of anarchy there!)

Also forgot to mention what characterizes Indian streets: red saliva EVERYWHERE. Many lower caste Indians chew betel nuts like chewing tobacco, which they spit anywhere they feel. So the ground always looks red and bloody, even though it is just the betel nut.

I also saw a few more public peeers today (I just invented the word "peeer!); I think I've already seen four weenies since we arrived.

Today I bought a toque and some long underwear for our trip up north, as it is going to be quite chilly. People kept asking me for them. I don't know what an 11 year old boy does with women's long underwear, but whatever. Oh, and some dude said he liked my jacket, and asked if he could buy it for his wife. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's not that nice, and I only paid a tenner for it at Primark!

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Comments

[Sam]

Peeers
You are obsessed with these public peeers!!!