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New Delhi - Nighttime
I took this picture from the roof of my guesthouse Please imagine yourself waking up tomorrow in the international airport of New Delhi, India. If your anything like me your used to at least having the availability of such comforts as air conditioning, seatbelts, and being able to understand what the hell everybody around you is saying. Well, all of the sudden all that good stuff is gone. You are in a different world now. You really start to realize this a few minutes later as your cab driver casually speeds directly towards oncoming traffic and lays on the horn. This is it, you think. Your about to die already, trip is over. As you raise your hand over your eyes to block the sight of impending doom, the cab driver ducks into a gas station at the last moment, and you fake like you were just covering an awkward cough-sneeze type of thing. Delhi makes a big first impression.
After a few more minutes I realized that the speeding against traffic thing was apparently quite a common practice and nothing to fret about, as my driver did it several more times in the fifteen minute trip. At the end he dropped me off at what is called the Paharanj
Empty Paharanj
This is the Paharanj at about 6:00am. Unfortunately I didn't get any shots during its usual madness. area of New Delhi, the place where most new backpackers stay after getting out of the airport. I find it curious that things have worked out this way, because the Paharanj is probably the dirtiest most obnoxious place imagineable. I was there fifteen minutes before I bolted for the train station to buy a ticket out, and that appeared to be the typical routine. Imagine a dusty, muddy, enclosed alley, and then fill it with cars, rickshaws, autorickshaws, cows, stray dogs and cats, and TONS and TONS of people, and you have thePaharanj. And the temperature is around 110 degrees! To make matters worse, every westerner is constantly hounded by Indians trying to scam you or sell you drugs. Literally about every four seconds someone walked up beside me to try to sell me hash and shit. They will say anything to try to get you engaged, and then peddle away. You have to completely ignore them, and even then they still follow you for a minute or two. I really wanted to get a video of all this, but when I left my guesthouse for the train early the next morning the place was deserted. I'll try to upload
Temple Statue
A giant statue at the temple in Dehra Dun it anyway, incase anyone is curious just what the place looks like.
I have been in India only a few days, and the place is indescribable. Yesterday was a very interesting day. I had spent a couple days in a mountain town called Mussoorie, but found it kind of boring so I caught a bus back down the mountain to a large city and transport hub called Dehra Dun. I believe this bus was older than I am by far, but then again I also thought that it was full when I got in. However, as I nabbed the last seat crammed in the back, a dozen more Indians came in behind me until it was SRO. The thing was packed tight. As the bus pulled away from the station a few mor Indians jumped in on the move and we were off.
This was an incredibly steep, curvy drive, but luckily in India they compensate for this by making each lane half as wide as normal. Additionally, instead of the complicated fuss of breaking around curves, using turn signals, and passing only on straightaways, Indians simplify things by just laying on the horn whenever one of these
Thief!
This monkey stole and ate this entire jar of sugar from my guesthouse in Rishikesh. actions would normally be necessary. They also pepper these honks in every few seconds regardless, just to drive defensively I suppose. As we careened around each hairpin turn it was clear that even some of the Indians were getting a little nauseous. I can be sure of this because one threw up out of the window right in front of me. It was an adrenaline rush, but once again just as I was saying my peace the bus levelled out and we strolled into Dehra Dun a few minutes later.
Dehra Dun did not strike me as an interesting place initially, but on the train from Delhi I had talked with an Indian guy named Arvind the whole way. He was very curious about America, and I was about India so we talked a lot. His English was pretty good. Though, occasionally when I asked a question that seemed pertinent to what I had thought he had been saying, a very confused expression would cross his face. Anyway, he lived in Dehra Dun and had wanted to kind of tour me around if I passed back through. I called him up from the bus station, and we were touring Dehra Dun via motorcycle half an hour later. We went to a huge buddhist monastery and explored the grounds. I wish pictures were allowed inside this place because it was filled with amazing artwork from wall to wall. Just as we left the weather went from sweltering heat to monsoon rains! This made being on a motorcycle very interesting. As we sped through city streets and back alleys, there were a lot of naked Indian children dancing naked in the streets and stuff. So, at the end of the day I bought Arvind dinner as like a thankyou. For the both of us combined the bill came out to about $.85 american, I still have no Idea how this is possible.
Today I am in a very beautiful place on the Ganges called Rishikesh. More later!
--For the rest of my photos please visit www.beaumurphy.smugmug.com
--Also, please visit my website www.beaumurphy.com, set up to chronicle my travels top to bottom. thanks!
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Ces Murphy
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First Blog entry reactions
Well, you are most certainly in a whole new world. You paint quite a picture with the narrative , and then of course the pictures are incredible. Two weeks into the trip--so far so good!