Day 91 - Monkeys, Monsoons, and More

We are officially in India! We wormed our way through the crush of people waiting for taxis and tuk-tuks, and climbed into the public bus. We and our bags were thoroughly wedged in with about twice the legal capacity for said bus. Luckily, we were some of the first on, so we had both seat and window. After a few horse vrrooms, and an ominous smell of something burning, the bus began to pull away from the airport. Then something clanked, and the bus stopped. Much yelling in Hindi, and further clattering around under the hood ensued. After a few minutes, and bit more banging, we were off and away.

The area around the airport is a plain scattered with bougenvelia, shantytowns, cows, and monkeys. All I could think was "Toto, we're not in Knasas anymore". The bus's turn signal consisted of a man hanging out the side and waving his arm. If anyone wanted on or off, the bus would slow down and the person would either jump off, or run alongside and hop on. The bus never actually came to a full stop.

Until us, of course. Our packs were somehat buried, and it was with some resentment that the driver stopped long enough for us to dig them out and clamber down.

We were somewhere in Connaught Place. There are no roadsigns in Delhi. Sometimes a building will have the address prined ona sign over the door, but often not. Our guesthouse was somewhere nearby, but which direction was anyone's guess. Beggar children tugged at our clothes, and tuk-tuk drivers tried to get us into their cabs, and street sweepers pointed us in opposite directions. After a few disorienting minutes, we found a guard at a school and he directed us partway. Where we met a yoga teacher who took us to the Government information center. I knew from my map that this info center was literally around the corner from our guesthouse, but even that "around the corner" proved to be a confusing maze of alleyways.

We found our way though. Our room consisted of a plywood box perched on the roof of the main guest lodge. By this point we had been travelling for over 24 hours. We spread our sleep sack and tumbled into bed for a few hours' nap.

After napping, I spent the rest of the afternoon plotting our next leg. Train plans in hand, we headed off to the New Delhi Railway station. Again, looks easy to find on the map, actually sort of hidden. We found it though, and immediately fell prey to a tour tout. I did clue in before we got too scammed (just a 10 rupee tuk-tuk ride to a dubious tour agengcy). We began walking back to the government office when our driver pulled up and said that if this was the wrong office, he would take us to the government one.

He still took us to a differernt office, one I'm sure he gets comission from, but we decided to go in anyway. Considering our experience just trying to buy one train ticket, we decided to book through the tour company for our first few weeks, and then to strike out on our own after Nepal.
It turns out that this company is the same one the US State department or the Indian Embassy linked me to to get more info on visas.

By now it was getting late, so we headed back to our room to plan and to tally how much we have spent to far. Our plotting was interrupted by rain thundering down on the roof. After very little coaxing, Cz stripped down to his boxers and darted outside. I hunted frantically for my bathing suit, but by the time I had it on, the squall had reduced to a shower. I was most put out.

We finished our scheming and went in search of some dinner. Another girl in the hotel had reccommended The Banana Leaf, a little place just down the road. We headed that way, and were rewarded with delicious vegetarian curry and rice, chai, and a sweet lassi. In theory, the good bacteria in the lassi will duke it out with any bad bacteria we might ingest. The restaurant had all the hallmarks of a good place - lots of people, no tourists, and an open kitchen. Halfway through the meal, the power cut out. Luckily Cz had his headlamp, which we set up on the table like a little candle. For about five minutes we had a very romantic little dinner. Then the lights came back, the fans whirred to life, and we were back in the thick of things.

A short dash across the highway (the underpass closes in the evening), and we safely back in our little room. Where we discovered ants had invaded my pack. We de-anted, sealed up everything that ants might find atractive, and crawled into bed once more.

Delhi is like nothing I have seen before. It is noise and colour and chaos on a scale I could not have imagined. Right now I'm having a bit to much of a sensory overload to give a verdict on whether or not I like it, but it certainly is exciting!