Incredible India!

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Monday 12th May, 2008
New Delhi

We arrived here Monday around 11 am. Our organised airport pick up was not there waiting for us at the airport, so shubie went over to the pre-paid taxi boot to pay for a taxi to our hotel. I was very nervous leaving the 'safety' of the airport, as I've heard many different stories about what to expect. Anyway, we were led toa dusty old black mini van. The very first thing i noticed was the heat, and the dust. It was like walking out into an oven of a dry, hot, 42 degree heat. We were driven through some crazy traffic to our hotel. This place is so different from anywhere i've been to. It tackles all of your senses. Sights, sounds, smells and feeling. The sights are such things as the people - women in the most beautiful saris, so bright and pretty; the poverty - dirty streets and the beggars; the pretty orange and white flowers. Smells - pretty flowers that are sold for weddings; pewtrid sewerage smell; smelly armpits; sweet insence and yummy cooking smells on the streets. Sounds - constant horns/bells/etc honking and blaring. This is their way of saying "look out, i'm coming through". And the feeling of hotness and sweat on your skin.

We made it to our hotel, and i was so happy to see a lovely enterance with polished black marble steps and a doorman. Inside it was beautifully air conditioned bliss. very tranquil compared to the outside. We checked in and were shown to our room. How nice it was. A massive double bed, with ensuite, cable tv, air cond and a mini bar of cold drinks. We slumped onto the bed and rested. We woke up around 3pm to order room service. It was delicious. 1 dish was a spiniach and feta curry, and the other was a spicy dahl one, which we demolished both of them with yummy naan bread. How spoilt i felt. the chef who came to collect it was a bit sad, because we left a little bit in the bowls. He asked if we didnt like it!
Price wise, it was very reasonable. Our room was only $50 per night (1/3 of the usual price) with breakfast buffet included (buffett!! woo hoo). The room service meal was only $8 for the whole meal for the 2 of us. After filling up, we rested again. I was too nervous/anxious to go out, plus too buggered. We slept til morning. Actually i awoke at 3am, bright as a spark. I eventually went back to sleep. India is 5 hours behind Aust. time so there was a little bit of jet lag.

Tuesday 13th May
We awoke early and hit the buffet breakfast up on the rooftop terrace. The sight is not much, but it is set up nicely up there. I ate sooo much breakfast. I think they will charge me “extra tax” when we check out!
We caught a tuk tuk and went into Connaught place. It was 9:30am when we got there and the only shop open was McDonalds. We got ourselves an ice cold Ice-tea and sat in the air conditioning. I watched a naked little 2yr old boy walk past and cough up a rupee coin. No clothes so no-where to hide it. On our walk into the place from the tuk tuk I got approached with “madam madam, you need taxi?
We left the McDonalds and caught another auto to the Red Fort. This place is massive. It’s on big grounds, so much that its confronting compared to the people all living on top of each other out in the streets. We bought our tickets from the “foreigners” que and wandered around the grounds. A young boy asked me “photo?” but I ignored him. I thought he wanted money but he didn’t, he only wanted a photo of the “gori” (white girl). I felt bad that I ignored him and walked away. This was my first real day in India, and I was looked at and starred at by every single person that walked and drove past me. That’s a lot of people looking at you. I don’t mind, as they are just fascinated by my clothes and skin. Anyway I was looking at everyone back, especially at the beautiful saris that the ladies wear, and the jewelry they wear: bangles, hair clips etc.
We left the red fort and caught another ride to Gandhi’s Memorial gardens. Another massive parklands in the middle of a crazy city. On our way in, we had to take off our shoes and walk barefoot. Shubie paid a bit extra so that our shoes didn’t get stolen by someone else walking out. Walking around was so hot on our feet. Inside this memorial site is in the open, with an eternal flame and lots of orange flowers. A family was getting ready to have their photo taken, so I took their photo too! The girls giggled at me as they were looking at my camera. We left and took another ride back to Connaught place to do some shopping. Shubie took me down into an underground plaza. From the outside no one would know it was there, it looked like access to an underground rail station.. Once down there he took me straight to the leather jacket shop. I tried on a few jackets and settled on a nice one with red stitching. Shubies friend Karen also wanted one, so we found one for her too. The shop keeper wanted 300 euros for my jacket alone! Shubie laughed at him and somehow talked him down to $200 aus dollars for two. Well done Ramu! (Aka shubie). Walking out of the leather shop we got hounded with everyone trying to sell me something. A lady in a sari touched my arm as she walked past me. I don’t know why. It was a gentle touch to my arm. I guess it was for good luck or something. We left the underground markets and found the outdoor markets and wandered around. I bought 2 nice tops. After those markets, shubie took me to the ‘middle class’ markets to look around and look for some sheets and blankets for niamh. We bought a few things there and went to cool off again with an ice tea at another Maccas. This one was mega packed. Wall to wall people.
We got back to the hotel around 6pm and ordered room service again for dinner. We also ordered Gulab Jamun, a sugary sweet dumpling for our dessert. Yum! We went out again to the local markets around the corner from the hotel. I bought some hair clips and some presents for people. When we got in the News on TV reported 7 bomb blasts in the town 200km south called Jaipur. They were planted around the city on bicycles, and had killed 100 and injured over 200 people. Delhi is on Red alert.

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