Drained By Delhi...

Ok, been a few days since I posted, but I have to say this. Delhi is perhaps the most draining city I have ever been in. Maybe I'm just really exhausted right now (I am) but My God - today was really hard. Thank the stars for Arjun's kindness, he saved me from running to the airport and buying a one way ticket right back to the US. I think it was the New Delhi Train Station that did me in - it's just fucking insane, so many people, so much pushing and shoving, so much loud noise and train horns and trash and dogs touts and misinformation. I will try to reflect on the rest of the city, though, now that I have a few hours of downtime...

---------------------------------------
Traveling to Delhi and The Hilton Hotel
---------------------------------------

So I left Goa for Delhi on Saturday afternoon on a different flight than what I originally booked a long time ago. That original flight was supposed to be direct between the two cities but Kingfisher decided to change it so that I had to go through Mumbai. And I found out that it was delayed by 2 hours at that! So a few days before I left, I booked a SpiceJet flight that was direct and was also the same flight that my friend Katja was on, so we got to travel together. Traveling together seems much more enjoyable than traveling alone, I'm finding...

So we get to the Delhi domestic airport terminal, collect our baggage, and go to the prepaid taxi stand. Katja's hotel was right next to the airport while the Hilton (where I'm staying) is a bit farther away, so we couldn't share a taxi and had to part our separate ways. I got my prepaid taxi, found the guy, and then we were off. He knew where the area was but didn't know the exact hotel, so he had to ask around first. Then, once he knew, we were off...

Delhi traffic is as insane as it sounds - perhaps more so than Mumbai just by the sheer number of people that live in this sprawling metropolis (18+ million). People, People everywhere and all the time - that is the theme in India, I'm finding. I arrive at the Hilton and holy cow - talk about a fortress! Tons of security in this place. They scan every bag you care before you enter, each time you get a full pat down too. But they are polite about it - maybe even overly polite, as everyone in this place is constantly giving me Namaste hands. No one else does that in the city (it's way too formal) but seriously every single Hilton employee does. Anyway the hotel is amazing - check out some pics of the lobby that I took:








I was so tired from traveling and kind of scared to venture out on my own here. That's been a common theme - in Mumbai I was able to figure things out faster, but Delhi is a mystery to me and it's seems more intense. It's not evident where I can even go to eat around here - maybe I'm just in a frazzled state of mind, I have been ever since I got here, I don't know why. So I ended up getting room service and having dinner in my hotel room - which was AMAZING! Check out the pics:







-----------------------------------------------
Day 1 - Humayun's Tomb, Lodi Garden and Qawwali
-----------------------------------------------

So the following day I met up with my friend Arjun. He came to meet me at the hotel and we connected right away - I like him, he's really easy to talk to and quite intelligent, we shared some great conversation over lunch. Check out my authentic Veg Thali I had at said lunch:



We then took the Delhi Metro towards the city center to see some of the sights. Let me tell you, the Delhi Metro was like an oasis of order to me. It's run very well, it's VAST and covers a lot of area, it's clean, it's safe, it's a great way to get around (and not even that expensive). They are very strict and will fine you for many violations if they catch you (at least, the literature on the wall and in my pamphlet says so). But the one factor they can't control is the sheer number of people using it. In some stations, the trains were so packed that you had to wait for the next one. Not so uncommon in big cities (London has the same problem) but here people Push and Shove to get in and out of the train - no one waits for people to exit first, and then the others to get on. No it's every man, woman and child for themselves, it's extremely chaotic from that perspective. But hey, that's Delhi's mantra - chaos that somehow works...

So the first sight we saw was Humayun's Tomb, a Mughal architectural tomb that was first built to house the remains of the second Mughal emperor Humayun in the mid 16th century. However, many other notable rulers in the area's history were buried there as well, and there are a lot of tombs around the place. It's big and a nice place to visit, and we got some pretty good photos too:














Afterwards, we decided to head through Lodi Garden, a really nice park that also showcases some old 15th century edifices (also intended as tombs, I think). But I found the vibe to be SOOOOOO much more laid back - lots of park culture, meaning people enjoying a stroll, laying on the grass, playing cricket, enjoying nature and the scenery. Arjun and I sat in a grassy field in the park and discussed our lives in general - it was so lovely, I really enjoyed it. Here are some pics of Lodi Garden:







Afterwards, we ended up going to an art gallery and checking out some of the local Indian art. Plus they were serving free food and drink - score!! I would have NEVER found that place on my own, nor knew of it's existence. Shortly thereafter we headed over to the India Islamic Cultural Center where they were putting on a performance of Qawwali:




Arjun basically explained to me that it is Muslim devotional music usually sung by a family of brothers or other relatives. They sing mostly in their local dialect but sometimes switch over to Hindi (so I'm told), but none was in English, so I had to pull context clues using the VERY limited vocabulary I could figure out. Qur'an, Masjit (which was also in Malay language and means "Mosque" there), and some others that I can't remember right now. All in all, I appreciated the performance from the artistic perspective (they guys sing for a really long time without a break, and very LOUDLY) but I didn't connect with it personally. I'm sure there are many obvious reasons why I didn't connect with it (partly because I couldn't understand what they were saying but also because I don't resonate with that style of music), but I'm very happy to have gone none the less. We had a short dinner afterwards at a really cool, funky Asian fusion place - think Pacman wallpaper in the bathroom! Check it out:



I got back really late as my hotel is quite far from the heart of Delhi, so it takes almost an hour on the metro for travel. Needless to say, I was beat...

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 2 - New Delhi Train Station, Dilli Haat, Bahai House of Worship
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, here is where the real experiences began. Originally I had a train ticket booked for travel to Agra today, but I decided to extend my stay in Delhi 1 more day so that I could see more of it (and limit my time in Agra, only want to see the Taj and maybe Red Fort, that's it). So I couldn't even cancel my train ticket (as I was past the 24 hour limit for cancellation), so I had to let it expire. And I had to pay more money for the extra hotel night (Hilton is EXPENSIVE - just imagine the price, won't go into it :-) ). And all the train tickets to Agra for Tuesday (tomorrow as of this writing) were booked last night. But Arjun mentioned to me that I could go to the International Tourist Ticket office in the New Delhi Train Station and get a reserved quota of tourist tickets that they always keep on hand prior to 24 hours departure...

This meant I needed to venture out on my own to the train station. Arjun (bless his heart :-) ) helped me by providing a hand drawn map of the routes I will need to take on the Metro and on foot, but even with his help I still encountered problems (maybe I was expecting to encounter them??) I have limited orientation in Delhi, it's just so overwhelming to me...

Anyway, I got on the Metro, got off on the right stop, walked through this bizarre Hippy Market and entered into the train station from the back end. However, once I got in, I was lost and didn't know how to get around. The signs pointing you in the direction you need to go are confusing and sometimes not even working - or just plain incorrect. Arriving at Platform 1 is the train from Varanasi, but in reality it's on Platform 4. But maybe everyone knows that already who frequent train travel in India??? Anyway, I looked and looked and looked for the tourist office and couldn't find it. I was on high alert as I'm told touts often confront you directly and try to redirect you to another location besides the tourist ticket office. No way, not going to happen, I am on a mission, I WILL find this office!!!!

I eventually found some tourist information office, but lo and behold, it's not the place that actually issues the tickets. Fine, it's information, maybe they can help me, and help they did thankfully. I even had a nice chat with the guy who gave me the info - he was intensely curious about my profession and where I lived, and repeatedly told me his son is a successful engineer for Airbus and lives in France...

So I head back out through the Platforms looking for the tourist office. Now that I was in the front of the station I actually saw signs that point you to the place - FINALLY!!!!! Thank GOD!! I found it!! Go inside - holy shit, there's an enormous queue of people. Ok what do I do? What is the first step? I don't even know, people are just sitting on chairs with pieces of paper in their hand - what is it I'm supposed to do to get a ticket??? I'm aggravated at this point and hungry (I didn't eat yet). Finally I see a sign that says "Start Here" - fill out the paperwork, and then see another sign that says "Queue Starts Here" Ahhhh ok I get it now. I waited for about 35 minutes in the queue before I finally saw a reservation officer. Sure enough there were tickets available on trains to Agra, and he got me on an express train that leaves around 7:10 am. So this means that tomorrow, I have to be up WAY early and leave the hotel around 5am or so, to get there, figure things out, figure out the platform, etc. Ugh - hopefully it will be ok... It will be ok... It will be ok... Can you tell that I'm at my wits end lately????? LOL :-)

Afterwards I find the metro station nearby and head out to meet Arjun and his friend Marco (who is currently couch surfing with him). We meet at an open air market called Dilli Haat - a nice place, a lot quieter than the other markets but still some high sales pressure asking you to buy scarves, etc. We find a nice outdoor cafe where I have some Tibetan Momo's for lunch. These are the same kinds of Momo's that Sati, Martha, myself, Caroline and Jaime made a few months ago - they were delish! Check it out:




Then We decided to head off to the Bahai temple, only to find that it was closed! We did get a few pictures though:









Marco, Arjun and I walked back through a nice park on our way to the Metro and stopped and chatted while enjoying the scenery. It was nice...

Then I had to head back to the hotel, as I have to get up early in the morning and head off to the train station for Agra tomorrow. I parted ways with Arjun and Marco at the Rajiv Chowk interchange on the Delhi Metro. I am so glad I connected with them during my time in Delhi, it made things a lot easier...

Now - off to bed, try to relax, try to just allow things to happen. Remember the post from yesterday, I can do this, I can find comfort and safety in the midst of chaos... Though feeling shaken, I still send Love from India :-)