India beginning!

---

---

Welcome to Zoe's travel page.... proceed with caution!

Day 1, Delhi.
My arrival into Paharganj by night was like creeping through the back door of a movie set, a silent Black & White preview of the following day. As my car moved through the sleepy streets with scattered silent bodies of those whose home these were, slowly heads lifted one by one from their place of rest, their eyes peered, to view what or whom disturbed their restless sleep. Then several hours later waking up to view a colourful opening with many sounds and extraordinary cast lining the Main Bazaar street, as revealed to me from the balcony of my hotel room. My first day in India was about to begin.... Stepping out into the unknown was frightening and exciting at the same time. (kind of like a first date) Just try to imagine for a few seconds, ... close your eyes and then open them, waking to a new world, a world somewhat familiar from the television screen and yet so distant and set back in the past, of sounds and smells so rich and peculiar, of colours that are brilliant and the Sun shining ever so bright... That was the feeling of waking up in India, ... incredible and unforgettable India.
On my first day in the market I met Ricky, who after showing me around for a few hours managed to extract a considerable sum of money from me for his school books (or so he said). Later in the afternoon I made another friend, Ashika. He invited me over to his girlfriend's house for indian food. Heidi is Australian and with her friend they cooked for us. After this experience I started to feel a lot more relaxed about being in India. I still had a day before joining my tour group.

---

Photos

Main Bazaar
My first picture

Ricky Martin
My first friend, introduced himself as Ricky Martin and that's what I called him. Ricky took me to pick out an Indian Punjabi suit on my first day in Delhi. It was a good tactic to trick the locals into believing I'd been in India a long time, so they would scam me less than the newcomers.

Dress like the locals
This is my Punjabi suit. Most women wear colourful Saries, however it takes years to learn how to do it. A Sari is a single piece of material, which is wrapped around the body and over the head in a special way. The better ones are made from silk.

The market place
Busy winding streets with interesting stalls and shop keepers fighting over the tourists, inviting you in for Chai just to have a look at their goods. Sometimes it would take me a whole hour to make it half way down the street. Everyone wants to talk to you, to know where you're from and find out what you're doing in India. It's no walk in the park, though there is plenty of poo to dodge on the ground as there are just as many animals as people roaming the streets.

Holy Cow!
Cows are sacred, of course, and are left to their own devices, free to roam the busy streets. Cars, rickshaws, bikes and people will divert to avoid them. Occasionally you can see someone stopping to touch a cow and then blessing it (or themselves, not really sure how it works).

Sharlatan
...posing for photos is this guy's job.

One photo please...
... show me the money! I quickly learned that taking a photo of someone pretty much always leads to paying them money for it. It's a good idea to negotiate the terms in advance to avoid any surprises... or just do a runner. I was once chased down the street by an old guy with a chainsaw in his hand for pointing my camera in his direction. I don't know if he thought it was a weapon or a spell casting device?

The overnight train.
A few of us from the tour group taking the sleeper train to our next destination. I had the top bunk. The wake up call at 5am was someone yelling out "Chai, Chai,...blah blah.. Chai, Chai."

It was the Perfect picture....
...until He decided to stand in the middle. damn it!

A fort
name forgotten

Comments

[Franco]

India, Wow!
Hey Zoe, looks like the experience is breathtaking. Great photos, I particularly like the one with the cow poking his tounge out at you! Keep safe, be in touch soon.