Delhi Arrival

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A 14 hour flight, a spill of cold water on my lap and my arrival in Delhi is here!!

Wow, 10.5 hours ahead. I didn’t know if I should nap or force myself to stay awake. The flight was an easy one. I had a 21 year old college girl whose dad was relocated to Delhi for business so she was heading ‘home’ for the winter break sitting next to me. United airlines had movies like Goonies, Ghost, Coming to America, etc… The 21 year old had never seen them! I gave her my recommendations and she gave me hers. It took me 6 tries to get through Amazing Spiderman as I kept falling asleep. Yep – it took almost 12 hours to get through a 2 hour movie. Thank you sedatives.

Upon arrival, the 1st thing I noticed, was the smell in the air. It brought me back to Cappadocia, Turkey. The faint smell of candy… For some reason I enjoy this intense smell; while others loathe it.

I spent my 1st night at the ITC (a beautiful hotel). I arrived around 11pm Delhi time. I received a great corporate rate through my company; otherwise I probably would not have stayed. It was amazing! This hotel housed most US presidents during their time in India. The hotel has such crazy security upon entering; it made me smirk in a good way. I dropped my bag off and headed to the bar to grab a beer. There were a few people watching cricket – but no one really to shoot the shit with. By midnight I was ready to go back to sleep somehow. I was awake at 4am, but back to sleep at 7. I woke up to have breakfast at 9 and fell back asleep again at 10. Finally got up by 12 and checked out.

I hired a driver to take me to one of the famous tombs and to Lodhi gardens. I started at the gardens. Here it is almost like NY Central Park. Families, couples and friends were scattered throughout the gardens throwing Frisbees, having picnics, laughing, lying around, etc… The grounds themselves are beautiful. It was quite a peaceful walk. Post walk, I stayed to have lunch at a beautiful restaurant at the gardens. Post gardens, I went to a tomb. I ran into 3 aussie guys who I ended up wandering around with. They were all working in Delhi for some time for JP Morgan. Then I ran into a guy I met on the plane named Patrick. Patrick is also in Delhi for work; he invited me to join him for the rest of the afternoon, but I only had my driver for another 1.5 hours and we had more to see…

After passing a few more monuments, finding my hotel where I was meeting my tour group in west Delhi was a nightmare! The roads are a mess and the traffic is the worst of the worst. My driver insisted he knew where he was going. He stopped every 5 minutes to ask for new directions. He kept telling me not to worry. Ummmmm. When we finally got to the hotel almost 45 minutes after we started looking, he insisted I went over the mileage for the day – even though we were just under time. He asked for another 1,000 rupees. WTF! I gave him a 500 rupee tip which wasn’t enough in his mind (20%). I got annoyed and gave him another 200 rupees to shush him as a grown man giving attitude isn’t attractive.

Overall it was a good day – The one thing that was surprising is how lush Delhi is. There is so much greenery. I am not sure why, but this is something I did not expect.

My tour group seems pretty great so far (I am trying Intrepid for the 1st time) – there are a total of 12 people. All are couples with the exception of my roommate and I; but who cares! It will be an experience no matter who is here. It’s India for Christ sake!! BTW – The Jewish star also is a Muslim symbol in Indian culture. I learned something new today.

Time for bed as tomorrow starts a walking tour of Old Delhi bright and early.

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