Delhi, typed but not read

Well, here we are.

I guess I'll just give a quick rundown of the flights: they sucked mostly.

Now for the good stuff:

We arrived in the New Delhi Airport at the lovely hour of 1:30am. We wandered up to customs, and after a bit of a wait in line we sailed on through and grabbed my bag (Lauren carried her's on). After a bit of wandering we went to go grab some Rupees, it was a little harder than we expected. The stalls were all money changers, so no cards, only cash. Then a nice gent pointed out that we could just get some Rupees out of the ATM...duh We sheepishly went over and checked it out. Our first attempt was fruitless (apparently you have to enter an amount), however our second attempt was a great success! Now 2500iR richer we went looking for the car the hotel was supposed to send for us. We'd looked briefly during the money hunt, without a sign (pun intended). This time there was a sign for wood castle, but the name was wrong... after a brief chat and a call back to base we headed out into the night.

Delhi's a crazy place, even at 2am.

Getting out of the airport was fine, but the ride into the city was a real eyeopener. We'd been warned that there was lots of honking, but what we hadn't understood was that honking replaces indicating, as well as letting car/trucks know that you're around/passing them. I felt surprisingly safe all things considered. I feel that might've been the sleep exhaustion though.

My first impressions of India was the contrasts. Major construction projects had small tent cities starting up in them, the side of the highway was scattered with makeshift dwellings and there were strips where the tour bus drivers would park to sleep. The infrastructure was magnificent, sweeping train and road overpasses and fairly new highways.

We took an alley to get to the hotel, which is on what can only be described as a small alley off of a larger alley's round-a-bout. Yeah, the alleys have round-a-bouts. There are dogs everywhere, all basically the same kind of dog, and best left alone. Not that they'd bite you or anything, they haven't got the energy. mostly just that they're probably sleeping on the dirtiest part of the street.

Just a quick note on dirt: it's everywhere, literally everywhere. I was amazed by the thoroughness of the job a cleaner was doing until I realized that that was how it had to be done, and probably all day.

The hotel, wood castle, is a nice little spot. It's a five or six story building wedged in between all the others in the area. the rooms are clean, and they've got ice cold sealed bottled water available for 15Ri (by the way, the conversion is about 2.25$CAN to 100Ri). Basically everything we needed. I'll put some pictures of it up in the next post, I forgot to bring my camera down. We didn't really sleep, we were still so whacked from the flight. After a bit of a nap we got up for some breakfast (not the best, but included in the room). Then it was planning time.

One of the managers (I'm still not entirely sure who's in charge... there always seems to be at least three people hanging out in the office) took us into the back office and gave us a rundown. First off, he suggested we leave. No joke. We're booked in Delhi until Monday. He said that we can do everything worthwhile in about a day and a half. Then he gave us a few Delhi suggestions and a possible route for the rest of India. He was immensely helpful. Now it was time to get to it.

Our plan for the first day, since we were so tired was to head to Old Delhi. It's a little quieter and laid back than the rest of the city. Lies. It's nuts. Once we'd gotten there on the Metro, which is a great way to get around, we started to wander towards the Red Fort. I forgot to take pictures of the streets, but I'll take some somewhere else, and it'll be the same. There's not real order to anything. There are lights, but only at major intersections. Oh, and most people just kind of sneak through them. Crossing the street was fun once we got the hang of it, kind of a "dance with death" sort of thing (probably the last thing our mothers want to hear...) I guess it wasn't that bad, Death was dancing a very slow polka and we got to improvise. Plus, there are lots of large concrete things to hide around/on.

We eventually got to the Red Fort, after lots of "help" from touts. I've discovered that they give up sooner when I'm wearing my sunglasses. We wandered around the fort a little bit on the outside, then Lauren and I hit a bit of a wall. The heat, combined with the exhaustion and the probable dehydration, finally made us cool it. Which was great. The crowds outside of the red fort grounds (in the main streets) were intense, and the smell is indescribable. It's only a bad smell if you're near a homeless hideout. Other than that it has a richness, especially in the fort where there was some digging going on. We took a little break in the shade by the wall, then headed back to the mess to find water.

We decided that the best bet would be McDonald's. The glorious golden arches. The menu was an interesting collection, but we were only looking for water. I ordered two, which Lauren promptly raised to five. It cost us a whopping 85iR! Oh wait...
After downing three of them we were feeling more human. Lauren needed some sunscreen (we'd dropped the ball and left ours in our room), so we went to the chemist's and picked up a tube. Next step, the fort!

We snagged our tickets and joined the line. It was here that Lauren pointed out something that I'd really missed. The ratio of men to women. There are probably 2-3 women for every hundred men. However, this pays off in interesting ways for Lauren. First off there are cars on all of the metro runs that are exclusively for women, and so mostly empty. It wasn't ever really necessary for her to ride on one, but it would be great for a solo lady traveler. This also paid off in the line for the fort. I was stuck behind fifty or so other gents in the sun, while she was ushered (yup, they came and got her) up to the front to be checked through security.

Now's a good time for a note on police and security and the military. The military and the police are effectively the same, but the military carry bigger guns around.

The fort is still actually an active fort (hence the military), so there were some restricted areas. It is also immense. Really really big. I also cannot do it justice with words, so I'll post as many photos as I can get away with.

As for personal security, I've felt perfectly comfortable even in the crushing mass of humanity that is the city streets.

After the fort we decided it was time for some food and a nap (or an early bedtime?) so we headed to the metro. We hailed a bicycle rickshaw, and headed out. Almost immediately into a traffic jam. So our driver hopped off, got someone to watch his bike and walked us the rest of the way. Which was good, because he took a different route then we had. Great guy, all smiles, strong as an ox and an absolute wizard at finding holes in traffic.

So now I'm here, belly grumbling away as I write this now epic novella for you on our first couple of days. I think I'll start writing in my journal and give you guys a little less detail. Lauren's upstairs, she wanted to "just close her eyes" for a bit(in her nightgown). So I'll find out about supper and haul her off.

No sickness yet,
All our love,
Neal and Lauren

PS pictures soon