Wow, that's the first thing that came to mind being in Delhi for the first time. It overloads all the senses right away.
Seeing - Action everywhere tuk tuks, cars, people, colorful saris, a roving cow here and there
Hearing - Honking honking beep beep boop boop, "Where are you from?", "Can I help you?", "Cheap price sir!"
Smelling - Gasoline, latrine, cumin, curry, lime
Touching - HOTNESS (45 Degrees today!), grimy
Tasting - Salty sweat, delicious food
Strangely, it leaves us wanting more. We absolutely love it here. It reminds us of Burma where there's still an old school feel to mostly everything. In some ways, I expected a more modern city similar to other emerging Asian countries like South Korea and Thailand that have ammenities and infrastructure that are comparable to the Western world. I also expected to see more poverty (as in beggers) but have not seen that much yet nor have I seen anything particularly shocking compared to other places I've been to.
Today, we trekked all over Delhi in the oppressive heat managing to see the Red Fort (Shah Jahan, the same person who conceived the Taj Mahal, built this only to see himself being imprisoned in the fort by his conniving son before its completion), Connaught Place, an underground bazaar where we probably were ripped off, Jantar Mantur (very large scale astrological instruments built by a maharajah that had a particular interest in astrology). Nico had a few "holy sh*t" moments including running across the road and just averting a bus before the traffic light changed and thinking that he had been pick-pocketed when his cash was actually in his other hand. We also met a lovely gentleman Raj who went out of his way to walk us to an air conditioned coffee bar during one of our lowest, dehydrated, and overheated moments of the day. He was very much into karma and invited us to have dinner with him if we were going up to the Kashmir area. By the end of the day, we were totally exhausted and rejuvenated at the same time if that's possible!
In the coming days, we will probably switch up our plans a bit. The heat of Rajastan combined with Nico's healing eye are swaying us to delay the motorcycling for later on and in the north instead.
Pic 1 & 2- Red Fort
Seeing - Action everywhere tuk tuks, cars, people, colorful saris, a roving cow here and there
Hearing - Honking honking beep beep boop boop, "Where are you from?", "Can I help you?", "Cheap price sir!"
Smelling - Gasoline, latrine, cumin, curry, lime
Touching - HOTNESS (45 Degrees today!), grimy
Tasting - Salty sweat, delicious food
Strangely, it leaves us wanting more. We absolutely love it here. It reminds us of Burma where there's still an old school feel to mostly everything. In some ways, I expected a more modern city similar to other emerging Asian countries like South Korea and Thailand that have ammenities and infrastructure that are comparable to the Western world. I also expected to see more poverty (as in beggers) but have not seen that much yet nor have I seen anything particularly shocking compared to other places I've been to.
Today, we trekked all over Delhi in the oppressive heat managing to see the Red Fort (Shah Jahan, the same person who conceived the Taj Mahal, built this only to see himself being imprisoned in the fort by his conniving son before its completion), Connaught Place, an underground bazaar where we probably were ripped off, Jantar Mantur (very large scale astrological instruments built by a maharajah that had a particular interest in astrology). Nico had a few "holy sh*t" moments including running across the road and just averting a bus before the traffic light changed and thinking that he had been pick-pocketed when his cash was actually in his other hand. We also met a lovely gentleman Raj who went out of his way to walk us to an air conditioned coffee bar during one of our lowest, dehydrated, and overheated moments of the day. He was very much into karma and invited us to have dinner with him if we were going up to the Kashmir area. By the end of the day, we were totally exhausted and rejuvenated at the same time if that's possible!
In the coming days, we will probably switch up our plans a bit. The heat of Rajastan combined with Nico's healing eye are swaying us to delay the motorcycling for later on and in the north instead.
Pic 1 & 2- Red Fort
Pic 3 - Jantar Mantar
Pic 4 & 5- Qutb Minar (built in 1193 by the Afghans after the defeat of the last Hindu kingdom of Delhi)
Pic 6- Jama Masjid (largest mosque in India that we didn't get into because it was too complicated)
Namaste.
Namaste.
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