A lost afternoon in Delhi

I tried to sleep off my sickness; a plan that was partly successful. I awoke a bit less achy and a bit hungry. Moving slowly, i had breakfast at the hostel. The rooftop was crowded full of young backpackers, traveling in large groups or as couples. I did find one other solo traveler to chat with and we swapped storied over our puri, bread, and bananas.

Today there were just a couple of things i wanted to see, but mostly i was looking forward to the journey. I took the Metro south (i am seriously in love with this metro system - cheap, easy to navigate, women-only cars, and the trains come every minute, literally. Signage told me that obstructing the metro car doors can land you four years in prison, but i can see why with that marvellous efficiency.) i got off near the Lodi Gardens, which i wanted to visit, and promptly turned in the wrong direction and spent the next hour lost, wandering through some quasi-residential neighbourhood, which was quite pleasant - leafy and a bit quiet with a slightly diminished cacophony of horns. 

So i walked back to the metro station, this time turning right instead of left, and went to the lovely and leafy Lodhi gardens, which are dotted with mausoleums, ice cream vendors, and couples laying in the grass. I walked around for a while and then napped on a bench under a tree.

I then walked on a busy and uninspired road forever before stumbling upon the Lodhi Hotel, where i ducked in for a cigar and a beverage. The hotel is super fancy and i was sure i would be denied entry, but they welcomed me and set me up in a pretty courtyard with birds and statues, and i smoked a Cohiba Behike and generally chilled out.

Back on the street i walked and was trying to find Hazrat Nizam-ud-din Dargah (a shrine) I never did find it but i sure had a great time looking. I ended up in a labyrinthine marketplace, which was very clearly in the Muslim part of town. The signs had switched to Arabic, the men wore tradition Middle Eastern clothes, and the women were covered head to toe to fingertip in black (a color choice i can get behind), with not even slits for their eyes (a visual impairment i cannot). The market was great. Crowded and noisy. People selling carpets and wall hangings with passages from the Koran, halal butchers, sellers of dates and bananas. I had a great wander, but then i turned one corner and a bunch of men started shouting at me. Not angrily, but with urgency. I had stumbled into some entrance to a holy area, i think, but i couldn't discern if they wanted me to take off my shoes or leave because it was men only. Either way, i politely backed up and turned around, but before leaving i bought a toothbrush, as i had dropped mine in a pool of stagnant water next to a toilet that morning.

From there i went to Humayun's Tomb (which is not located on the lonely planet map as indicated) and visited the mid-16th C complex of tombs and gardens. It was beautiful. 

I hired a tuk tuk (haggling successfully and theatrically) to take me back to the nearest Metro station and i returned to the hostel where i napped for too long. It is now 11pm and i am sitting on a balcony drinking ginger lemon honey tea and watching the activities in the street. The air is perfect and i feel good.

Tomorrow i leave for Kathmandu.

Agra

After a restless two hours of sleep i awoke on my second day in India ready for a long day trip to Agra. This would by my one escorted tour of the trip. I knew i could manage a day trip to see the Taj Mahal on my own, but Agra has so many great, far flung sights, that booking a guide seemed prudent.

I left for the train station at 5:15 am, at which time the station was teeming with people. Some waiting for trains, but many more sleeping or camped out with bags and carpets. 

The train to Agra was great. The day before a man i chatted with told me that i should not take the train and that i should cancel and take the bus because the train is not safe for a woman traveling alone. That certainly was not my experience. It was rough-looking but comfortable and the price included water, tea, breakfast, dinner, and ice cream. I am fairly sure however that it was the breakfast that left me sick and vomiting for the rest of the day. I still have no appetite. Anyway, the ride was great. I got to see some of the countryside and also number of residential areas which i can only describe as slums, with modest, broken habitats, and piles of garbage. We also passed parts where there were dozens of men squatting and shitting by the railroad tracks. So many of them. I never seen anyone defecate before and now i have seen more than i can count. I guess you have to go somewhere. On a similar vein, i also saw women making and leaving to dry dinner plate sized cow patties which were then stacked up into tall mounds, like large beehives. The dung is used for fuel.

So i arrived in Agra at about 8am and was met by my guide, who took me right away to the Taj Mahal. I am so glad we did this first, as this was just before the vomitting and painful muscle aches set in. The Taj Mahal did not disappoint. The walk into the complex was impressive and along the way were working camels and curious monkeys. Finally, we stepped in, passed through a gate that in its own right was amazing, and then were facing "The Taj", as my guide called it (but i won't call it that; i haven't earned that level of familiarity).

It was beautiful in all of its gleaming white symmetry. He told me the history and noted the architectural details - sometimes it is great to have that available. We circled it, with me taking a zillion pictures, and then we left.

Out next stop was after a long ride into the country. We visited Fatehpur Sikri which was a former, walled city from the 15th C. It was quite magnificent and i enjoyed looking at it and hearing about the king and his many wives, but at this point i started to feel lousy. 

After that was lunch, which i spent throwing up as soon as i had my first and only bite of lentils. Following lunch we visited the Agra fort, which was also great and beautiful. By this point though i was aching so badly walking was unpleasant and i threw up in a garbage can.

I rallied a bit after that and my guide and i went to sit in the gardens across the river from the Taj Mahal to watch the sunset. I had a cigar and he told me all sorts of things about life in India, women's roles, poverty, education, religion...you name it. It was very edifying and he answered all of my questions.

After the sun went down and we finished watching tourists taking idiotic pictures of the Taj Mahal (holding it in the palms of their hands, picking it up by their fingertips, making archways with their arms over it...seriously moronic, but each to their own i suppose), i still had over two hours to kill until my train and i couldn't eat or drink anything, so i suggested we find a hookah bar, which we did. It was a divey place, nearly empty, except for a few guys working there and playing the loudest, most annoying rave/club music imaginable. I was just happy to sit down and the shisha was good, even if it was smoked from a hookah that had as the neck a replica AK47.

The train ride back was a lost to me in sleep and i crashed as soon as i returned to the hostel. The day was a good one, but a long one, and i felt like garbage. I knew i would get sick at some point on this trip, but i thought i would make it longer than 36 hours.

Hello, Delhi

My trip to Nepal starts in New Delhi. The flights i was looking at at all went through New Delhi, so i thought i should spend a few days there. I hadn't been to India before. I have wanted to but just hadn't made it. Too many places within it to visit made it intimidating to try to cram in to 2-3 weeks, but on this trip i can at least see Delhi.

I arrived after over 24 hours of travel, flying through Shanghai. I landed in New Delhi at 2am, but by the time i made it through immigration, baggage, and money changing it was 3:30. I took a rickety taxi to my hostel. The drive was great. The air was warm and the traffic light so we sped through the streets, with the driver telling me about the Holi festival, helping me with my Hindi, and spotting monkeys. We also smoked in the taxi. An invitation to smoke in a taxi is always welcome. 

As we drove into the area where my hostel is in the main bazaar area of Pahar Ganj, the streets narrowed and we dodged early morning rickshaws, people sleeping in the streets, piles of stuff, and cows chilling out eating scraps left over from the market. I took all of this that i was staying in the right area.

My hostel is the Smyle Inn, a modest budget hostel on a narrow side street. I have a room which lacks any charm and while it doesn't look it, i believe it to be clean. The staff are very nice and helpful and there is a free breakfast. I am content. 

I slept for 2 hours, ate and headed out. 

The streets that had been quiet a few hours earlier were and are now wonderful madness. A whirlwind of rickshaws, tuk tuks, scooters, bicycles, vendors with carts of food and other items, medium sized brown dogs, and pedestrians. No sidewalks, so i snaked my way through it all, brushing against the people and motorists. 

I made my way to the nearest metro station and rode a few stops north into Old Delhi, which is all the chaos of the previous neighbourhood, but intensified. Men called out constantly, wanting me to take their rickshaws, wanting money, trying to sell my things, or just wanting to talk. This will grow tiresome, but today i minded it not at all. That being said, their was one boy who followed me for blocks. He spoke no English but walked too close and chattered to me. I shooed him away repeatedly and with increasing sternness. Finally, when i though he was gone, he grabbed my ass and ran off. 

I walked through a market, past a bird hospital (imagining parrots with tiny wing casts and crutches), and went to the Red Fort, one of New Delhi's main attractions. It was a complex of lovely buildings set in a peaceful park. It was pleasant but not amazing. 

From there i walked for ages, convinced i could find my was to Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque. Miraculously, despite the dearth of street signs, i found it. It is a massive mosque, teeming with tourists. Beautiful, but not on par with those of Egypt or Uzbekistan. The tourists detracted from the solemnity i think. I did relish in the mandatory shoe removal, wandering in stocking feet on the worn, warm stones.

I went back out into the streets. I walked, again for ages, to Connaught Place, a very British designed, circular shopping complex, with wide sidewalks, and a nice park in the centre, where i sat under a tree for a while, people watching.

I then walked, stopped for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant where i was overwhelmed with options, and walked down to the India gate where throngs of people strolled around and sat in the park or splashed and bathed in the pools in the park.

At this point it was only afternoon, but i was exhausted. I took the metro back to my neighbourhood through more markets and then for a nap.

A note about the metro. It is great. Cheap, fast, and there are stations all over the city. You have to go through metal detectors and get wanded to board, but the security does not seem very thorough. Each train has a car just for women. I rode the train three times today. The first time i rode in a regular car, which is just like riding in any crowded subway. The second two times i rode in the ladies' car, which i think i will do from now on. It is far less crowded and it smells infinitely better. Plus, there are no men chatting me up. 

I am amazed by the women here, how dressed up they are in beautifully coloured saris, with glittering jewelry and sandals, exquisitely long hair, and beautiful makeup. I felt so scruffy by comparison.

After my nap i went out for a stroll and to a restaurant for some dal and tea and a cigar on a nice second storey balcony, overlooking the street, enjoying a cigar. 

Before coming here everyone told me how bad the city smelled, but this has not been my experience today. Sure, sometimes i would pass a spot that reeked of urine or body odor or exhaust, but more often i was treated to the wonderful smells of strong incense, roses, and frying chilis and spices. No complaints here.

Ready for bed now. Tomorrow i head to Agra for the day.