India...what a fascinating place. After getting picked up from the airport, I had about a 40 minute drive to the area of Paharanj, Delhi's backpacker area. On the ride in I can tell you I was simply blown away...cows loitering in the streets, tuk-tuks/rickshaws all over the place weaving in and around the cars and cows...total madness! Got into my hotel and pretty exhausted I got my room and crashed for the night. Early start the next morning since I was paying way too much for this room, really just wanted someone to pick me up for the airport, I moved down the street a little bit and found a room at Hotel Downtown for 250 rupees (5USD)...solid room with large bed, hot water shower and tv! Channels included Al Jazeera, HBO and Star Movies so I wasn't complaining. No air-con and given this 110 degree weather I wished I had splurged on the upgrade. Settled into the new room and went down the road to Sam's Cafe for some breakfast. Ran into two English guys on their gap year trip who were going to do some site seeing so I tagged along.
Hopped into a tuk-tuk and headed to the Gandhi Memorial where we learned tons of information about the leader and then saw the areas where we was killed and later cremated. Also here was an outline of his last steps before he was killed. Headed back to Paharanj and got some dinner off the street before calling it an early night. The heat here is unreal. In the daytime its about 110 and close to 100 in the evenings....not sure if I can handle a month of this, but I'm going to try. The next morning got up early again since my room was baking and headed for breakfast. This time I ran into a Dutch girl who was going to see the Red Fort and Jasmid Mosque. The Red Fort was really impressive, massive fort within Old Delhi and beautiful gardens on the inside. Certainly didnt feel like India especially based on what I had seen outside the fort with all of the beggars, pollution, etc. Don't get me wrong, India is a great place, but by far the poorest of all the places I've visited so far. Moving to the Jasmid Mosque where we had to cover up since we had shorts, we climbed the south tower for some great views of the city. Didn't stay here too long since we had to go around in our bare feet and the floor was REALLY hot. Again it was back to Paharanj for an early night.
This morning I woke up and booked a train to Jaipur...leaving this afternoon and hopefully its a little cooler. Some things I have yet to figure out about India...how all the locals walk around in pants or saris in this heat....the colors of the saris and how they don't get dirty since my sandals and clothes are covered in dust when I get home...I've got a few weeks to figure it out along with many other things.
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